There was laughter. He couldn't remember the last time he'd laughed this way, the last time he laughed because he was happy. It must've been years ago...
The party had been going on for several hours now, and the room was humming with conversation. Maddie was nearby, smiling and radiant, wearing a long blue dress with black accents. Danny was entertaining his two friends just across the room while Jazz lectured a large group of fascinated guests on some matter of psychology or other.
Vlad took another sip of his drink. It was odd, he couldn't remember the details of how he'd come to this point, how things managed to turn out the way he wanted them to. He was happy, but something still nagged at him. There was still a piece that didn't quite fit.
"Something wrong, Vlad?" Maddie had come over while he was musing and was now looking up at him with those dazzling purple eyes of hers.
"Nothing. I was just thinking," Vlad replied. No sooner had the words left his mouth than a painful burning flared deep in his throat. He took another sip in the hopes that the drink might help, but the pain only became worse as a result.
"You sure? You don't look so good," Danny added as he came to stand beside Maddie.
"I'm fi—" the rest was cut off by a gasp as intense pain lanced through his chest and abdomen. The glass dropped from his weakening hand and shattered, spilling its bold red contents on the carpet. Was it the drink? Had it always been that color? It was similar to one he knew, having researched flowers of that same shade before.
Another wave of pain hit him, this time leaving him so weak that he dropped to his knees. It felt like he'd swallowed fire, like his insides were melting. Vlad looked up and spotted them on a nearby table: bold red petals, leaves of such deep purple they appeared black under anything but the harshest light. Blood blossom. His mind struggled to comprehend how they must have gotten there as blood dripped from the hand he held over his mouth, the other clutching desperately at his coat front as the poison tore him apart from the inside.
Someone scattered blood blossom petals over him, a few coming to rest on his head and shoulders where they glowed uncannily in the fading light. Those that fluttered past came to rest in the growing pool of blood on the floor below him, their color matching so perfectly as to be nearly invisible.
"We've got you now, monster," Maddie's voice whispered in his ear, followed by the high-pitched whine of an ectoblaster as it prepared to fire. There would be no missing at this range. It was a guaranteed kill shot, and Vlad was far too weak to even hope to get away from her in time. All that was left for him now was to wait for the inevitable.
Vlad's eyes snapped open, and he lay staring at the ceiling while his breathing slowed. Only a dream. That was a relief. There was one thing that had carried over into the waking world however, and that was the burning in his throat. Wretched acid reflux, ruining what was a perfectly good dream. He almost couldn't believe he'd forgotten to take the acid reducer before going to bed.
The ceiling was the wrong color. Vlad blinked and sat up to find that not only had he been sleeping in one of the guest bedrooms, he was still wearing his usual black suit. He looked to the window and noted that it was twilight, while the last memory he could recall before this was of reading a book in the library long after dark.
Strange dreams, waking up in an odd location wearing day clothes and unable to remember how he got there in the first place. It all pointed to one ghost: Nocturne. Vlad grit his teeth as he got to his feet. He knew the ghost from the surveillance recordings he'd gone over after the first incident. It was embarrassing enough to be gotten by him once, but twice? He would be sure to make the ghost pay for his meddling in person this time.
There was a thin band of pressure around his head too, which he noticed now that he was properly coming up to speed after waking up. Vlad raised a hand to his head and found a smooth metal circlet. Apparently Nocturne had decided to use some sort of magic artifact instead of technology this time. That was interesting. At least there would be more for Vlad to examine after the fact.
Vlad lifted the circlet off his head and turned it over in his hands. The metal it was made from appeared to be polished silver, with a black stone set in the front that glittered with white star-like flecks. It felt lighter than one would expect from a solid metal band, and had fit so snuggly on Vlad's head it might as well have been made specifically for him. In any case he was definitely looking at an artifact rather than some sort of ghost technology, perhaps he would be able to beat additional answers out of Nocturne once he found him.
He set the circlet on the bedside table and shifted to his ghost form. There was no telling where Nocturne was at the moment, but he was bound to show up if Vlad harried his Sleepwalkers enough.
A small band of Sleepwalkers was just drifting by as Vlad phased through the roof of his house. Vlad grinned, happy to be able to take out his annoyance on something so quickly and unleashed a barrage of energy blasts at the little group, destroying two and diving away before they even realized he was behind them. He skimmed along the rooftop, invisible and ready to duck back inside his house should the need arise as he waited for another opening. There was no need to get mobbed by Sleepwalkers, after all. Nocturne would come as long as they were being pestered.
Star-strewn sky surged up in front of him so quickly that Vlad almost lost track of where he was. He rolled right and flew higher, coming to a halt several dozen feet above Nocturne's head.
"Even quicker than I expected. Good," Vlad said, showing his fangs as he grinned down at Nocturne. "I wanted to give my regards in person this time." A bright magenta aura coalesced around Vlad's hands as he swung his arms in a wide arc, hurling blade-like waves of energy down at his opponent.
The attack met its mark, slicing Nocturne's form crossways before dissipating just behind him. Nocturne smiled as the pieces stitched themselves back together to create a single unmarked whole. "Ah yes, the rich man who dreams of the things that money can never buy," he said smoothly, stretching upward to bring himself closer to Vlad. "Isn't the dream I made preferable to the reality that continues to spite you so?"
Vlad's grin held, for the sake of keeping Nocturne from noticing how the comment ruffled him if nothing else. "I don't see the appeal if I can't have it in the waking world, actually," he replied. At this distance he could see that the ghost had done some accessorizing since his last appearance in Amity Park: a golden crown with a dark, oddly-refracting gem set in its front, the ends trailing into chains that looped around Nocturne's horns to keep the headpiece in place. Vlad allowed himself to drift backward, keeping distance between himself and Nocturne. He still had no idea what the ghost was capable of this time.
Nocturne chuckled. "A pity. You'll find that the waking world is actually much farther away than you think it is." He withdrew and closed his eyes, concentrating. "Let's see how you like my bladewing blackbirds."
They materialized in the air between the two as Nocturne opened his eyes again, small and with wings glinting like obsidian in the twilight. The birds hung in the air a moment, turning gently in the breeze before pointing themselves at Vlad and darting forward with an uncanny shriek.
"Oh please," Vlad said, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched. He flew to the left and avoided them easily as they whistled past, his attention already on Nocturne again. "You're going to have to do better than—" he dropped the sentence when he noticed the trio of stragglers as they darted toward him, leaving little time to avoid them. Vlad threw himself to his right, their wings tracing burning lines across his left cheek, shoulder, and lower arm as they streaked past. He lifted a hand to touch his face as he distanced himself from the flock and pulled it away to find his fingers coated in ectoplasm.
"Are they sharp enough for you?" It was Nocturne who showed teeth this time as he grinned up at Vlad. "They aren't called bladewings for nothing." He pointed to the flock, which aligned itself and darted in for another attack.
Vlad fired a barrage of energy blasts at the approaching flock, trying to reduce their numbers before they got to him. The birds shattered like brittle stone only to reform moments later and continue the attack. He whirled and flew upward in the hopes that they might lose strength if they got too far away from Nocturne.
It was in the act of speeding upward that Vlad noticed how close the sky felt, almost as if it had a ceiling now. That couldn't be right. He could still see clouds above him, and the first few stars as they appeared in the sky. There was no way—
He ran smack into it at around the height of Amity Park's tallest buildings. Though smack wasn't quite the correct word. The apparent ceiling was soft, opaque and colored to mimic the sky above, and it clung to him even as he tried to extract himself from it. A wave of panic shot through him as he realized how much this delay would allow the bladewings to catch up. Vlad thrashed as the seconds ticked by.
Finally he burst free, the stuff trailing away from his body to rejoin the rest of the barrier behind him. The bladewings surged in as soon as he out. Vlad turned intangible on instinct as they approached, only to find that they were able to cut him regardless. He whirled and sped away. With the raw altitude option cut off he would have to try other means of foiling his opponent.
Vlad chanced a glance at his roof as he sped toward the ground and saw that Nocturne was still there, apparently unconcerned that his opponent was flying away.
A pair of Sleepwalkers charged him from the right as he neared the ground. He destroyed the both of them with an energy wave and kept going, making for a cluster of trees where he might be able to scrape a few of the birds off his tail. More Sleepwalkers followed, this time in such numbers that three of them made it past Vlad's flurry of attacks and grabbed his arms.
He poured on speed as he neared the trees, two Sleepwalkers on his right arm and one on his left. For now he'd just have to drag them along with him while he tried to shake the bladewing flock.
The familiar chill that accompanied intangibility settled over Vlad as he came upon the first tree, the sensation almost enough to dampen the pain from the multiple cuts he'd suffered already. All three Sleepwalkers mimicked him in phasing so they could stay with him while the bladewings collided with the foliage behind him. Vlad dropped his intangibility and spun as soon as he was out of the thicket, flinging Sleepwalkers away from him as they lost their grip.
A chorus of now-familiar shrieks sounded nearby as a second flock streaked around him, their wings tracing dozens of new cuts on his body and even re-tracing those that already existed, deepening them bit by agonizing bit. Everywhere he moved there were more bladewings waiting to push him back by threatening deeper cuts than those they were giving him now.
"Pain, misery," Nocturne's voice echoed as he materialized just beyond the whirling obsidian prison. "Aching loneliness. Why lead such an empty existence in the waking world when you can live in dreams forever?" The ghost leaned closer, watching Vlad as he floated at the center of the bladewing flock. "It's not too late. Surrender now, and I'll send you back to sleep, back to the world that will give you anything you could possibly want."
Vlad took a deep breath, pushing the pain of his injuries back as he glared up at Nocturne. The ghost's taunts were already hitting far too close for comfort, and Vlad wanted nothing more than to shut him up at the moment. Energy formed a sphere around him and exploded, shattering the cage and the bladewings that formed it. He sped away and kept low to the ground where the birds would have less room to maneuver once they reformed.
Nocturne straightened with a sigh. "A pity. I'd hoped you would see reason." He waved a hand wreathed in purple.
Vlad suddenly found that he was falling, the ground rushing up to meet him even as his momentum continued to carry him forward. He ducked, tucking his head and right shoulder just before he hit the ground. The roll was rough but considerably better than landing on his face would have been.
He skidded to a halt and straightened, conjuring a shield to give himself some cover with a flick of his hand. It evaporated almost as soon as it appeared. Vlad blinked, confused by the sudden failure of the ability and created another. This one flashed out of existence just as quickly as the first, taking the energy he used in its creation along with it.
"I told you the waking world was farther away than you thought, did I not?" Nocturne called, dissipating another of Vlad's shields with a wave of his hand. "And since you won't accept the dreams I could make for you, you'll have to settle for this nightmare instead."
Cold realization that Nocturne was now much too powerful to handle on his own settled in along with the renewed bladewing onslaught. Vlad swept the shredded remains of his cape around himself and vanished, leaving only a pale whirl of magenta energy in his wake.
The bladewings scattered as their quarry disappeared and darted about as if searching for him. Nocturne remained where he was, unbothered by Vlad's disappearance. The hybrid would find that there was no escape soon enough.
Vlad reappeared in the shadow of an apartment building and slumped against the nearest wall, ignoring the pain from his injuries as they made contact with it. Nocturne was using entirely new abilities from what Vlad had seen on the surveillance footage, especially now that he could disable ghost powers with a mere wave of his hand. It had to have something to do with the crown he wore now, and that had to have some sort of weakness.
The oldest cuts—those that hadn't been re-traced by the wretched obsidian birds—were starting to close themselves as Vlad straightened and took stock of his current state. Ectoplasm stained most of his jumpsuit as it oozed from dozens of cuts all over his body and already his energy reserves were lower than ideal, both from the fight and from his body healing itself. The burning in his throat was still there, Vlad having been so eager to take out Nocturne that he'd put off dealing with it. Still, he was sure he was supposed to have more power than this. The nagging worry that he might be weakening surfaced briefly before Vlad pushed it away. It couldn't be that. The fight and current dimensional weirdness were just weighing on him, that was all.
In any case Vlad would need help to defeat Nocturne now, and that meant asking Danny Phantom for help, much as Vlad hated the mere idea of having to do so. There was no question that Danny would want to liberate the city but there was that whole business with Vortex that the boy was probably still sour about. He'd just have to find a way to work around that, hopefully with as much of his pride intact as possible by the end.
Vlad slowly lifted off the ground, relieved to find that he had his powers back under control now that he was away from Nocturne. He checked the street for Sleepwalkers and started off when he found it empty.
For once the enormous Fenton Works sign was a relief to see as Vlad turned the final corner onto their block. He saw no sign of the Sleepwalkers or their master as he continued, which in itself was worrying. Nocturne should've been more concerned about Vlad getting away, but so far he'd found no evidence that the ghost was looking for him at all.
He skipped the front door entirely and phased through the wall to Danny's room. It was as good a place to check as any, given Nocturne's specialty. Vlad found the boy asleep on his bed, another of the silver circlets on his head.
"Well at least that part was easy," Vlad muttered as his feet touched the floor. He walked over to the bed and reached out to remove the circlet from Danny's head.
The moment Vlad's fingers touched the circlet an invisible force threw him into the far wall. He got to his feet with an annoyed groan and rolled his shoulders to shift things back into place, wincing as the movement pulled at his still-healing wounds. So simply removing the circlet was out the window, but Danny must've found a solution with the helmets before. Had it been as simple as removing them surely the boy would've woken more than just Jazz and his friends.
Which pointed to the use of a ghost power, probably overshadowing the sleeper now that Vlad thought about it. Akin to overshadowing, at least. He approached the bed again and hesitated this time as he thought ahead on what might happen. The goal was to wake Danny up, so that would likely involve disrupting the dream enough that it turned sour, just as Vlad's had earlier. Couldn't be too hard. Just showing up would be enough to do that, given what Danny expected of him every time they met.
Vlad realized he was procrastinating because of the gaps in his information. He shook off the hesitation, took a deep breath, and dove in.
A few moments passed in darkness before he appeared in front of Amity Park's city hall. Vlad looked around. Everything appeared to be normal at first glance... Except for the big globe-supporting statue of Danny Phantom that stood in front of the city hall building. That was different.
The area in front of city hall was vacant save for Vlad himself, but he had a bad feeling that he just couldn't shake as he looked up at the statue again. He drifted behind the building and returned to human form. Just finding Danny might be sufficient to warp the dream, no need to go about attracting potentially-violent attention by appearing as Plasmius. Vlad looked down at himself, dismayed at how utterly ruined his clothes now were.
There was a gasp behind him, and he turned to find that there was a crowd of people now standing just a few feet away. Vlad's spine prickled with fear as he noticed the shock on their faces. Had they seen him change? He was so sure there was no one even within viewing distance when he transformed. Vlad cleared his throat and opened his mouth to speak, only to have a woman's scream cut him off.
"Plasmius is back!" the woman cried as she pointed an accusing finger at Vlad.
He jumped when the civilians drew ectoblasters from their pockets or purses and ran, clearing the corner of the city hall building just as the first shots were fired. Another crowd was waiting for him near the statue, this one already armed and taking aim. Vlad transformed and dropped through the ground, a few well-aimed shots blowing up the concrete where he once stood.
One of the vacant office buildings nearby offered a place to hide while Vlad caught his breath after that little surprise. The dream felt very real, and something told him that if he got injured here he would regret it later. He didn't want to risk getting burned by an ectoblaster on top of the lacerations from earlier, especially when he would still have to fight Nocturne again after this.
A door slammed open on the far side of the room and people started pouring in, each one waving an ectoblaster like the those outside.
Vlad phased up to the roof, leaving these pursuers to navigate the stairs in order to get up to him. It looked like flying was the only option for staying out of their grasp for now. He rose higher and hoped that they wouldn't bother firing on him from such a distance. A chill ran down Vlad's spine, signalling that a ghost was near. He turned as Danny Phantom flew into view, the teen's mocking voice already reaching his ears.
"Let's see who had the nerve to—" Danny stopped when he realized who it was. The landscape around them shimmered as if viewed through heat, then resolidified. "Vlad?" he said, clearly shocked by the older hybrid's presence. Bold black eyebrows snapped down in a glare just a moment later. "How'd you get back from space? What are you doing here?"
"Ah good, I don't have to go looking," Vlad said, feeling relieved. He'd noticed the distortion of the landscape earlier and was only just taking time to really process what Danny said. "Wait, space? What do you mean space?"
"Wow, your memory's even worse than before," Danny said with a cruel smirk. "My dad left you in interplanetary space after you held the whole world hostage, and we've all been better off without you around." He punctuated his point with a plasma blast.
Vlad dodged the blast and rose until he was level with Danny. "Well that's a shame now, isn't it?" He crossed his arms over his chest, ignoring the flare of pain from the cuts that still covered them. "None of this is real, Daniel. It's time to wake up from this precious little dream and face reality."
"Reality?" Danny laughed, shaking his head. "You're the one living in a dream here, Plasmius. Especially if you think I'm gonna let you get away." He took a deep breath and unleashed the powerful sonic attack that Vlad still remembered from the first clone incident.
While Vlad's first encounter with the attack had been bone-jarring and disruptive to his powers, this time was far worse. Vlad screamed in pain as every cut that had recently closed itself was torn open by the first wave, those that had still been open growing more severe with every passing moment of exposure. He dropped, falling below Danny's range and landing hard on the parapet of the building below. There he fumbled for a grip on the solid concrete slab only to find that his hands and arms refused to work properly. Vlad fell again and landed in an alley between that building and the next, the brief use of his flight ability having saved him from breaking bones on impact. He transformed, too weakened from the attack to maintain his ghost form any longer.
The flurry of pounding feet from the nearby mouth of the alley told Vlad that he would soon have unpleasant, trigger-happy company. He struggled to his feet, his body a mass of pain, the cuts on his back worsened from the force of the landing. Vlad took a few faltering steps forward, then forced his body into a run. If he was going to make it out of this he would have to find a place to hide and escape the dream.
Vlad hurtled headlong down alleyways, at times turning corners just as those in pursuit came near enough to fire. The path he took twisted confusingly, never once letting him out onto a street, always presenting another turn for him to take. No block in the real Amity Park was like this, and he was sure that a few of the turns he'd taken would have been physically impossible if this were reality. A small, distantly analytical part of his mind puzzled away at the oddness of it as he ran. Was the dream actively trying to confuse him with this, or was it a matter of processing ability?
As if in answer to the question Vlad's surroundings rippled briefly like the surface of a pond. There was now only one set of feet following him, nearing the corner he'd just come around, and this alley ended in a solid brick wall. He stopped before this final obstacle and looked up, the sky above a mere strip of blue between buildings. It seemed impossibly far away.
Too weak to fly or phase, nowhere left to go. Vlad would have to try getting back out of the dream while whoever this was shot at him. He put his back to the wall, closed his eyes, and concentrated on leaving, just as he'd done so many times before when overshadowing someone. This was similar enough, it should be easy.
Nothing happened. Vlad broke out into a cold sweat and tried again as he heard the pair of boots round the corner. All it did was make him feel more tired.
Vlad opened his eyes to see who it was that followed him, and found that he was faced by none other than Jack Fenton. It seemed the dream had a liking for dramatic flair, or was actively trying to spite him. The cold, unavoidable question of whether he could truly die or not in Danny's dream blitzed across Vlad's mind as he stared at this new opponent.
Jack Fenton, built like a bear and carrying a charged ectoblaster in his right hand as he walked closer, his bulk seeming to block the entire alley and any means of escape. Strangely the big man had no expression on his face as he came to a stop. It didn't change even when his right arm lifted and brought the blaster level with the center of Vlad's chest. This wasn't even Jack as Danny saw him, it was some security protocol placed in the dream by Nocturne to keep outsiders from meddling, dressed in the image of Danny's father.
With little strength left in his legs and Jack's finger on the trigger Vlad took the one course left that would get him out of taking a lethal shot. He allowed his legs to buckle and tipped himself to the left as he fell in the same moment that Jack pulled the trigger. The shot grazed Vlad's upper arm, creating a painful burn where it touched his skin. He was just barely able to keep himself from clamping his left hand over the burn on instinct, settling on gripping the length of arm just below it instead.
Vlad pushed himself to his knees and had just gotten one foot under himself when the blaster was levelled at his head. Jack had come up while Vlad was on the ground, and was now within point blank range. Even if this thing shared the man's poor aim there was no way the shot would miss.
"Wait, stop!" Danny's voice came from somewhere behind Jack, out of Vlad's field of view. He could hear the panic starting to rise in the boy's voice as he came closer. "Dad you can't shoot him, stop!"
This can't be happening. He's not a murderer! It was Danny's voice again, this time echoing on the edge of hearing. The alley rippled around them. Dad would never do that! What's wrong with him?!
Jack's arm shook, struggling between pulling the gun away and keeping it steady.
Danny appeared at his father's side, gripping Jack's left arm with both hands. "Dad, stop. This isn't the way." He reached out with one hand and pulled Jack's weapon arm down, away from Vlad's head.
Another fluctuation rippled past. Vlad blinked as he realized that the dream was faced with a dilemma. Remove Vlad and break itself by forcing Jack to act out of character, or allow Vlad to stay and risk him bringing it down regardless. Either way Danny would wake up in the end. An idea solidified and lodged itself in the front of Vlad's mind. The dream was tipping on the edge even now, but this could topple it for good. He wanted to be out. If this worked there would be no risk of the dream re-stabilizing itself after this point.
"Going to finish what you started, twenty years ago?" Vlad asked quietly, his voice just loud enough for both Danny and Jack to hear. "Could you at least answer one question before you do?" He looked up and saw that Jack's face was attempting to twitch to a proper expression, faltering between compassion and sadness with the blank face caught between. Vlad took that as a 'yes' and braced himself as best he could, hoping that Danny might not remember this potential show of weakness when he woke up. "Why did you leave me?"
The dream tried to recover. Jack's expression snapped to one of righteous anger as he looked down at Vlad. "You threatened the world, you—"
Vlad cut Jack off before he could go any further. "That's not what I meant. Twenty years ago. You put me in the hospital and never looked back. You didn't even stop by to check if I was still alive." A humorless smile came to Vlad's face, accompanied by an equally-dry chuckle. "Would you have even shown up for my funeral if I had died? What did I ever do to deserve that?" It was funny in a twisted way, to think that being dead might've garnered more attention from Jack than being alive ever had after the accident.
There was no reply. Another ripple spread around them, this time leaving large dark cracks in the concrete and bricks of the alley.
The ectoblaster fell from Jack's hand and clattered to the ground.
Danny still stood at his father's side, his bright green eyes wide with shock as he stared at Vlad. Apparently this revelation wasn't one that had crossed the boy's mind before.
Vlad lifted his head and locked eyes with Jack, whose expression was steadily coming to match the one that Danny wore. "I needed you then, Jack. So tell me why. Tell me why you abandoned me when I needed you most."
"I don't know..." The statement echoed, having come from two mouths instead of just one. Danny released his unmoving father and stepped back, one hand on his mouth. It was clear that he hadn't intended to speak himself, but the answer had come from him as well. He stood there in stunned silence, then looked up and met Vlad's eyes.
The alley dissolved into darkness. Jack vanished, leaving the two alone. The dream ended.
Beyond the darkness there was the loud thud of a body hitting his bedroom floor. Danny's eyes flew open and he sat bolt-upright on his bed, still partially overwhelmed by the shock of the dream. He wrenched the circlet off and threw it across the room, then looked toward the sound and found Vlad on the floor as the older hybrid started to get up.
"Vlad!" Danny swung his legs over the side of the bed and slid off as he tried to catch up with what was happening, reaching out to take Vlad's arm. "What's going—"
A yelp from Vlad cut him off, and he peeled Danny's hand off his upper arm. There was an ugly burn there that he'd touched by accident.
Danny took a step back as he realized just how injured Vlad was. "What happened?!" he demanded. Through all the times they'd fought or otherwise interacted Danny had never seen Vlad in such awful shape.
"That wretched ghost Nocturne is back and he's got a dangerous new toy," Vlad replied, his voice tight with both anger and pain. He braced one hand against the floor and pushed himself to his knees, then got to his feet. Vlad turned to Danny, showing even more injuries on the front of his body. The normally-pristine suit he always wore was in ruins, bloodstained and ripped in every place he'd been cut.
"Nocturne did this?" Danny asked in disbelief. The ghost had been annoying, but even Danny hadn't taken anywhere near this much damage during the previous fights with him. Vlad was supposed to be stronger than this.
"Oh no, it was the Box Ghost," Vlad said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Of course it was Nocturne, I just said so!" He looked down at himself again. "Actually half of this was you," he added, giving Danny a tired glare.
"What?! I did no—" Danny stopped himself as memories of the dream resurfaced. He'd used the Ghostly Wail on Vlad right at the start of their fight, but he'd had no idea it could have this sort of effect on open wounds. Danny coughed, suddenly feeling a bit ashamed. The two were enemies, it was true, but this time Vlad got hurt while trying to free Danny from Nocturne's dream. "It's not like I meant to do that."
Vlad decided to drop the matter, to Danny's relief. "In any case, we need to work on defeating Nocturne first and foremost. If my suspicions are correct, he's already pulled the city into some sort of dream dimension."
"That's new," Danny remarked, back to watching Vlad. The man was doing his best to hold himself straight, but Danny could see that he was shaking. He paused as a thought struck him, and he hurried over to his window. Danny opened it and looked out onto a sky colored by purple twilight. "What time even is it right now?" There were no Sleepwalkers in sight, which Danny found odd; they should've been drawn by the noise of his argument with Vlad if they were around.
"Looks like there was a power surge," Vlad said, having leaned over the bed to check the digital clock on Danny's bedside table.
"Wait." Danny looked down the street. Despite the growing darkness the streetlights had not come on. There wasn't a single light in any house up or down the street either. "That's not right, the power's out. We must be on the backup generator right now." Without any explanation to Vlad, Danny dropped down through the floors until he reached the lab.
The Fenton Ecto-Electro Generator thrummed in a corner just as it was supposed to, but it was the silence of another Fenton invention that instantly grabbed Danny's attention. "Oh no," Danny whispered as he dashed over to the far wall, where the Fenton Portal sat dark and empty. He checked the inside of the portal before moving on to its control panel; all the data declared that it should be functional, and yet it remained dark.
Vlad interrupted Danny's second attempt to get the portal running again as he entered the lab from the main stairway. "I suspected as much, and I'll bet anything that mine aren't working either," he said with a tired sigh. "Have a look at this," Vlad added, offering his cell phone for Danny to see. No signal.
Danny drew his own cell phone from his pocket and found the same thing.
"Completely cut off. We won't be getting out unless we defeat Nocturne." Vlad tucked the phone away in his breast pocket, which had miraculously survived the shredding the rest of the suit received. He'd bandaged himself up while Danny was busy, pale gauze and wrappings showing through the rips in his clothing. The place on his right upper arm where the burn was now sported a wide swath of bandages. "We need to see if there's any information on the artifact he's using. I've got books in my library that should help."
"Hey," Danny said, his eyes narrowing as he looked up at Vlad. "You didn't have anything to do with Nocturne coming here this time, did you?" It wasn't completely out of the question; Vlad could very well have gotten Nocturne's attention by making an attempt to steal the artifact he was using.
"Daniel you know perfectly well that ghosts have been showing up uninvited long before I ever came here," Vlad replied, his voice dangerously patient.
"Sure. Except the times you were involved in. Like the ectopusses, the vultures, the Ghost King, Vortex," Danny counted the incidents that first leaped to mind on his fingers, adding special emphasis to Vortex. Vlad had brought that ghost to Amity Park himself and then left Danny to fight him alone, and Danny wasn't about to let him forget it anytime soon. "Guess I'll find out if you're telling the truth soon enough."
Vlad let out another long, tired sigh. "Nocturne established himself here long before I even woke up."
"How did you wake up, anyway?"
"Acid reflux twisted my dream into a nightmare. I'm guessing the dream Nocturne laid on me wasn't as strong as the one he made for you," Vlad replied. "In any case, we need to get moving. Nocturne could be getting stronger the longer we leave him."
"Right." Danny couldn't argue with that, and the suggestion that Nocturne made Danny's dream stronger made sense. He was the one who defeated the ghost last time, after all. "I'm gonna grab a few things before we head out."
The Fenton Thermos was the first gadget Danny picked up, and he paused to consider what might be effective. Vlad watched him, a thoughtful look on his face.
"Nocturne disabled parts of my ghost power during my fight with him," Vlad said as Danny considered one of the hand-held ectoblasters. "He might be able to do the same to anti-ghost weapons."
"Well we won't know until we try," Danny replied as he picked up a blaster. Vlad looked like he wouldn't be able to withstand a stiff breeze, let alone another fight with Nocturne. Hopefully there would be a weakness to this artifact Vlad mentioned that they could exploit. He selected a few other light weapons and shifted to his ghost form, clipping them to his belt along with the Fenton Thermos. "Alright, ready to go."
Vlad switched to his ghost form as well, and Danny couldn't help but stare; the damage was even more apparent while Vlad was in his ghost form. His jumpsuit was stained with ectoplasm, his cape shredded, and even portions of his horn-like mane of black hair had been lopped off. "Are you quite finished?" Vlad asked impatiently.
"Yeah, sorry." Danny scratched the back of his head and looked away in embarrassment. He hadn't meant to stare so openly. It was still a shock to realize just how badly Vlad had been hurt.
The two phased up to street level and looked around. There were no Sleepwalkers in sight, just as there had been none earlier. Danny still found it strange, especially since Nocturne knew Vlad was on the loose. He should've set Sleepwalkers to look for him or at least keep an eye out.
They flew on, staying low as they made for Vlad's house. The hope was that Nocturne would be away when they arrived; they would have to improvise if he was there before they could get information on the artifact.
Vlad was lagging behind. Danny watched him from the corner of one eye as they flew, still suspicious but convinced that Vlad's tiredness was genuine. The older hybrid's arms drooped, lacking the strength to remain at his sides, and Vlad's solid red eyes were half-closed more often than not when Danny glanced at him. Maybe Vlad would do better if they were able to rest and eat after getting the books they needed. He didn't want to fight Nocturne by himself, given what the ghost had put Vlad through.
Danny spotted the band of Sleepwalkers first thanks to his lead position. He stopped short, grabbed Vlad's cape as he drew even with him, and pulled the older hybrid down into a cluster of trees below to hide. They were in one of the city's older parks, a small green oasis among all the concrete and brick. Danny felt grateful that Vlad had allowed this one to survive, as did Vlad no doubt. He wondered if Vlad would add a few more such parks after this, as he'd done after Undergrowth attacked the city; even Vlad had been wary of drawing that monster's ire again.
The Sleepwalkers rose and gathered around an oddly-glowing portion of sky. It looked almost as if a bright yellow crack had opened up and was trying to spread. They gathered around it, pushing the space closed with their hands and holding it until the yellow light faded.
A hand gripped his shoulder as the Sleepwalkers flew out of sight high above, their job done. "Daniel," Vlad hissed, keeping his voice low.
"Yeah, they're gone," Danny assured Vlad as he turned to face him.
"No, look." Vlad pointed to a nearby branch.
Danny gave it a brief look and found nothing amiss. "Yeah so? It's a branch."
"On the branch," Vlad insisted. He guided Danny closer, one hand still on his shoulder, and cupped a malformed protrusion from the branch with one open hand. It was small, barely the size of Vlad's hand, the main body connected to the branch by three legs—two thin and twig-like and the last a flat slab—with a small lump at the top that resembled a head. The shape was familiar, even if the texture was odd.
"It's a bird," Danny whispered as realization dawned on him, his eyes still locked on the bark-covered songbird. An uncomfortable chill settled on his back. What was a bird doing fused to the branch like this, as if it were part of the tree? Was it another effect of this dream dimension Vlad mentioned earlier?
"Let's get moving." Vlad released Danny's shoulder and rose out of the trees, Danny following close on his heels.
This time Vlad remained level with Danny as they flew, even at the quicker pace Danny was setting for them. The discovery of the wooden songbird had scared a bit of energy back into him.
At last the roof of Vlad's mansion came into view, presently Nocturne-free much to their shared relief. There were no Sleepwalkers in sight either. Vlad wasted no time in leading Danny to the library, immediately flying to the shelves that contained the books he was after. He moved along the shelf, handing books off for Danny to hold as he pulled them down and carrying the final four books himself. There were eleven in all that he guessed might hold an answer to what they were dealing with.
Vlad looked around the library. "It's too open in here. The attic should have better hiding places." He rose and phased through the ceiling, Danny following him.
The attic was a maze of boxes and unused furniture, with an abundance of places they could tuck themselves away and read without being easily spotted. Weak light from the eternal twilight outside shone through the windows on either end of the space, enough to see by but too dim for reading. They chose a spot near the center, closed in by stacks of boxes on two sides and furniture on the third.
Danny set his stacks on the floor and leaned back against the wardrobe that formed part of their hiding place. He looked up, about to ask Vlad if there might be any reading lights he could go back and grab for them to use.
Before Danny could speak, Vlad set his own burden on the floor and cupped his hands before him. Dim red light grew behind his fingers and solidified into a steadily glowing globe, just bright enough for them to read by without drawing too much attention outside their hiding place. Vlad balanced the globe in one hand and reached out, setting it in the air between them where it hung like a miniature star. "Right. What we're looking for is a crown with a black gem set in the front and is associated with dream powers." He then returned to his human form to conserve energy and opened the topmost book from his pile.
The attic was silent save for the rustle of pages as Vlad flipped through the book. Danny stared briefly at the globe before turning to the books he'd set on the floor, wondering if he might be able to make a light globe that was as low-profile as that. The red color would be difficult for him to make, that much was certain.
Vlad was beginning to droop by the time he got to the third book. He rubbed his face with a sigh, careful to avoid brushing the now-bandaged cut on his left cheek. "I might have to rest my eyes for a bit," he admitted, pinching the bridge of his nose with two fingers.
"That's fine," Danny replied. Hopefully Vlad would feel stronger after a bit of rest. He returned his attention to the book spread across his knees as Vlad leaned one shoulder against the wall of their hiding place and closed his eyes.
Scattered memories from the dream resurfaced as Danny opened another book. Tell me why you abandoned me when I needed you most, Vlad had said. That couldn't be right. Danny knew his father was careless at times but he'd never let a good friend down like that. Vlad had to be lying.
Danny tried to refocus on the task at hand, but the memory continued to nag at him. He shoved it aside and read the book's table of contents, then its index, searching for any mention of dream artifacts. Another memory solidified, of the night before Danny met Vlad the first time. His father told him that the two hadn't spoken since the day of the accident.
A strange creaking sound got Danny's attention before the thought could go any further. He snapped upright and listened, worried that there might be Sleepwalkers in the attic. But that couldn't be right. Sleepwalkers floated, they didn't walk. That and the sound wasn't quite like the creaking of floorboards as they were stepped on. It was continuous and grating, quieter than he'd expect, and it was coming from—
He looked to Vlad, who hadn't moved since the noise started. Danny's blood ran cold as he noticed that the woodgrain of the floorboards was creeping up Vlad's legs. The book tumbled to the floor as Danny jumped forward, both hands extended in preparation to slap Vlad awake.
Vlad snapped back to wakefulness after the first slap, mouth opening to yell at whoever had the audacity to assault him while he was sleeping.
Danny clamped a hand over Vlad's mouth before he had the chance. "I know, I know, I'm sorry I hit your cut," he whispered quickly. "But—look." Danny tilted Vlad's head forward so he could see what was happening to his legs and removed his hand. The woodgrain withdrew back to the floorboards as they watched.
"What," Vlad managed after a brief, stunned silence. "But—how? I wasn't inanimate before I woke up. At least I don't think I was." He looked up at Danny. "And I know that you weren't, so—" An epiphany stopped him short. "It's the circlets. Anything that doesn't have one of those goes inanimate once they fall asleep."
"Oh no," Danny grumbled as he sat back. "I left the one I was wearing in my room."
"But the one I was wearing could still be here." Vlad transformed without getting up and vanished into the floor without another word.
Danny left him to it and went back to reading. This book had an entry that was promising:
The Dreamkeeper's Crown
Primary tool of power belonging to Strigios the Dream Warden. Forged from aethergold and set with the First Dream gemstone, the Dreamkeeper's Crown had the ability to bring the wearer's dreams into reality and create pocket dimensions in which they could reside. While Strigios was at his peak the Crown could work miracles; in his corrupted form he used it to bring many horrific nightmares into reality.
During Strigios's fall from power the First Dream was badly fractured, and the Crown believed to be beyond repair as a result. It was lost shortly after the fall and has been missing ever since.
It sounded like it could be what Vlad had described earlier, but only word from the older hybrid would be able to confirm whether this was the artifact or not. Danny set the book open on the floor where Vlad would be able to see it and moved on to the next one.
Vlad reappeared as Danny set the most recent book aside, a silver circlet with a black jewel set in the front held in his hands. He spotted the open book and knelt down to read it. "This looks like it could be it," Vlad said, tapping the page with a finger. "Not as much information as I'd like, but at least we have a name to look for now." He took a seat and looped the circlet over one arm, then picked up a new book to check. There were very few left to look through, only two including the one Vlad now held.
"Found it," Vlad said, spreading the book between them so Danny could see it as well. "A legend about the fall of Strigios the Dream Warden."
Danny set his own book aside and leaned over to get a better look. The entry even had an illustration of Strigios, a large owl-headed humanoid with curved dragon-like horns.
"That's exactly what I saw Nocturne wearing earlier." Vlad pointed to the crown that rested on Strigios's head, then brought the book a bit closer so he could read. "So Strigios was corrupted by Outsiders, brought countless nightmares into reality, had to be taken down." He turned the page, revealing a shadow whose shape was a twisted mockery of what Strigios had been before. "Says that he was defeated with one of his own dream creations and the First Dream badly fractured in the battle, after which the crown was lost."
"So how did Nocturne get his hands on it?" Danny asked as he sat back. "And you'd think it wouldn't work that well if part of it was broken."
"Must've gotten lucky, and he could've found a way to stabilize the jewel after he recovered it," Vlad offered as he reread the legend. "No mention of circlets at all. Perhaps Nocturne made them using the crown." He took the circlet from his arm and stared down at it. "This could be the solution."
"Yeah but we only have one—"
Sleepwalkers burst through the walls of their hiding place, ready to pile onto the two hybrids before they could escape.
Danny froze those at his back without even turning to look at them, the cold forming a sheet and rippling outward like a freezing wave. A part of him felt extremely proud that he'd managed to master the ability to such an extent, but congratulating himself on that would have to wait until after the battle. He caught Vlad by the collar and swung the older hybrid behind him, freezing the rest of the Sleepwalkers once Vlad was clear.
It seemed the time for laying out strategy was already over; Nocturne would show up soon now that his Sleepwalkers had spotted them.
"Might as well greet our guest," Vlad said, looking up at the ceiling. He and Danny lifted off the floor and phased up onto the roof.
Nocturne appeared moments later, his form so large that his head was even with the roof of Vlad's mansion. "Ah, the rich man has returned," he said smoothly. "And now the ghost boy is with him, well isn't that interesting. I even took extra measures to ensure that he wouldn't wake up." Nocturne gave them both a toothy grin. "I take it you've discovered that there's no way to escape from here. Come to surrender to me in person?"
"Hardly," Danny snapped. Cold formed around his hand and surged at Nocturne as he pointed, encasing the ghost's head in ice.
The ice held for only a few seconds before it shattered, Nocturne looking less than amused as it fell away. "Yes, that power was very annoying last time, too." He waved a hand over Danny as the hybrid prepared to fire again.
Danny looked down at his hands in shock as the power slipped from his grasp. "Wh—" He was cut off when Vlad's palm came into contact with his shoulder, shoving him clear as Nocturne's massive hand came down. After a midair cartwheel Danny caught himself and backed off to put distance between himself and Nocturne.
"Don't let your attention wander," Vlad reminded him as he joined Danny in the air, his eyes already on Nocturne again. The typical horn-like style of his hair was now pressed flat against his head by the circlet—he'd decided that it was time to test their theory.
Nocturne followed them with his eyes but remained where he was. "Ready to go back to sleep already?" he asked upon noticing that Vlad was wearing a circlet. "You can't do that very well in the air, allow me to fix that for you."
There was no hand-waving this time. Danny dropped as the power of flight was wrenched away from him. It felt like having his legs suddenly kicked out from under him, and the power refused to respond no matter how he strained for it.
Vlad stooped and caught Danny by one arm before he could fall far, then lowered him to the driveway below and released him.
Danny drew an ectoblaster from his belt and took aim as soon as he was on the ground.
"Your anti-ghost gadgets do not work either," Nocturne added.
The weapon fell silent in Danny's hand. "Oh come on," Danny groaned, returning it to his belt.
Nocturne was focused on Vlad now, no doubt puzzled by the fact that the hybrid was still in the air. He lifted a hand and three flocks of black, glinting birds appeared in the air around him. They aligned themselves and surged forward in a shrieking wave as Nocturne pointed at his opponent.
"Let's hope this works." Vlad swept his arm in an arc before him. The circlet flashed magenta in response as an oily black liquid rained down on the approaching flocks.
The birds wobbled in their attack and began tipping into each other, their balance thrown off by the tar that now coated them. Soon the flocks were grounded, the birds twitching as they struggled to get free.
Vlad dropped to the ground and braced his hands against his knees. "Drat," he snapped, straightening.
"Wait, what's wr—" A blast from Nocturne knocked Danny flying into a nearby tree, with another following on its tail as he got to his feet. Danny tipped to the right and tried to dodge, knowing he wouldn't be able to avoid the attack without the ability to fly.
A bubble-like shield, glowing the same magenta as Vlad's power, formed around Danny before the second blast could connect.
"The circlet drains energy when it's used for conjuration. Stay in here until I hand it off to you." Vlad's voice echoed inside the shield, despite the fact that the older hybrid was too far away for Danny to hear him. "If he takes you out before I can wear him down we're both finished."
"Enough!" Nocturne appeared in front of Vlad, towering over him like a dark, star-flecked monolith. "Why do you help this boy? He despises you!" He pointed one claw-like finger at Danny as he continued, "He'd be downright giddy if you were gone forever, left to rot as you drifted through the cold emptiness of space!"
"That's not true!" Danny yelled through the shield. "That was the dream you made!"
Nocturne laughed. "While it's true I got the dream started and added a bit of security, everything that happened in it was born of your own mind and desires. Everything, including the demise of your hated archenemy." He looked down at Vlad, who was now avoiding eye contact with him. "Why help the ungrateful little brat when he thinks so little of you?"
Vlad's shoulders drooped. "Perhaps you're right..." he said, his voice echoing inside the shield as well.
"No! Vlad, don't!" Danny pounded on the shield with his fists, but it held firm. "Don't listen to him!"
"Yes, that's right," Nocturne continued as he brought his head down closer to Vlad, as if they were holding a casual conversation. "There's no use helping him, the way he sees you will never change." His hands loomed to either side of Vlad, slowly moving closer as Nocturne prepared to make a grab at him. "We could work together, even. Bring the world of dreams to everyone on this planet. Wouldn't that be grand, getting anything you wanted on a whim?"
"Snap out of it!" Danny yelled, ramming the shield with one shoulder. "He's lying to you, it's a trap!"
Vlad's arm moved in a blur, snapping up and firing an energy blast that hit the crown's gem dead-on.
Nocturne howled in surprise and snapped upright, hands lifting to check that the crown was still intact.
"This is my town," Vlad snarled as a duplicate appeared on top of Nocturne's head. Unlike the original, it wore no circlet. "This is my territory." The duplicate spoke in unison with as it slammed a hand down on the First Dream. "And I want you gone!" The top part of the gem came free in the duplicate's hand, a clear cover that had been placed over the original to protect it.
"No!" Nocturne cried. The duplicate stiffened as Nocturne impaled it on blade-like fingers, then went limp and dissipated. "How dare you lay your filthy hands on this sacred relic!" he thundered.
Vlad was already flying toward Danny when Nocturne turned on him. The circlet was off his head and held in one hand, reaching out to hand it off.
Nocturne swung wildly, one arm catching Vlad mid-air and hurling him into the nearest wall of his mansion. "I'll make your corpse into a puppet," he snarled as he drifted over to where Vlad lay against the wall, unmoving. "You'll dance for my amusement for eternity."
"Hey Nocturne! Aren't you forgetting someone?"
Rage turned to fear when Nocturne realized what was behind him. He moved away from Vlad, trying to get clear before it was too late.
Danny grinned as the shield dissipated, his unruly white hair pinned down by the circlet. "It's about time you said goodnight!" He filled his lungs and unleashed the Ghostly Wail, catching Nocturne before he could get out of range.
A high keening ring sang out at the very edge of hearing, audible even above the howl of Danny's attack. It ended in a sharp, brittle ping as the First Dream shattered. The sky above shifted and rippled, its color changing from the purple of twilight to the glaring sunlight and pale blue sky of summer noontime. The circlet on Danny's head vanished along with the twilight, his hair snapping back to the usual style in its absence.
Nocturne screamed in pain, his hands held to his head and his body shrinking as he keeled backwards. The force of the Wail knocked him flying before he could hit the ground and dumped him near the fence that surrounded Vlad's mansion.
The crown slid off of Nocturne's head and fell to the grass as he lifted himself up, the socket at its front conspicuously empty. Nocturne cradled the relic in his hands as Danny approached, seemingly oblivious to the fact that there was an enemy bearing down on him. Even the beam from the thermos capturing him didn't garner much reaction until the crown fell from his hands. Nocturne swiped for it once before it was out of his reach, and kept an arm held out to it as he was drawn inside the Fenton Thermos.
Danny slammed the lid on the thermos the moment Nocturne was inside. An explosion of birdsong from every direction made him jump, the voices' owners having awakened from their unnatural sleep. He smiled, clipped the thermos to his belt, and walked over to where the Dreamkeeper's Crown now lay.
Even in direct sunlight the crown didn't seem quite normal. It gleamed with an unnatural brightness, as if it gave off more than just reflected light. He picked it up and found that it was even lighter than he expected, even though it was meant to be worn by something with a head over a dozen sizes larger than his own. What had the book said it was made from? Something called aethergold? It was incredible stuff to have this sheen and such little weight compared to normal gold. He'd have to make sure this was put somewhere safe, since there was no telling what sort of mischief might be achieved with just the crown. Vlad would probably be able to come up with some crazy use for it if given time.
"Oh no, Vlad!" Danny whirled and flew back toward the mansion, the crown held in both hands with its chains trailing along behind him.
Contrary to expectation, Vlad was nowhere in sight when Danny reached the mansion. The only signs that he'd been there at all were cracks at the place he struck the wall and a few smears of blood where he'd come to rest at its base.
Danny looked from left to right, trying to find some sign of where Vlad had gone. Not even a set of footprints to tell him where he'd disappeared to. As Danny turned to fly toward the front door a small serpentine shadow flicked by at the edge of his vision. He whipped his head to the right, where he'd seen the shadow as it passed, but there was nothing in sight. Danny frowned. His ghost sense hadn't gone off either, and yet he was sure he'd seen something just now. What else could it be, if not a ghost?
He checked the Fenton Thermos and found nothing amiss, no sign that Nocturne had somehow slipped out unnoticed. Had he imagined it? Now that he thought on the shadow again, it was about the right color for Nocturne but the shape and the way it moved were wrong.
In any case it seemed to have gone now, and Danny still had Vlad to find and a few curiosities about the crown legend yet to be satisfied. He wanted to try to get the man to a hospital or a doctor at least, given the shape he was in. The legend he could find if he just returned to the attic where the books had been left.
Nocturne's words returned to nettle him as he phased through the front door. Downright giddy if you were gone forever, he'd said. "Vlad!" Danny called, one hand cupped to his mouth while the other held the crown. "Hey! Why'd you disappear on me like that?" He paused to listen, letting the hand drop to his side, and received only silence in reply.
An uneasy knot formed in his stomach as he flew up the main stairway. Vlad had given Danny many reasons to hate him, there was no question about that. Still, he was hesitant to wish death on the man. That wasn't something he wanted here in the waking world. Dreams were different, they didn't operate by normal logic, however real it felt to him at the time. That was just another trick from Nocturne, and the ghost trying to remove a threat before it could get out of hand.
"Vlad!" Danny called again as he touched down on the second floor landing. His phone interrupted any further searching, chiming out Sam's ringtone in the relative silence. He retrieved it from his pocket and answered. "Hey Sam."
"Danny! What happened? I just woke up from a really vivid dream and it's been over a day since I was last awake. Is Nocturne back?"
"Back, and dealt with," Danny replied, re-adjusting his grip on the crown. "He had some crazy dream artifact this time, but Vlad helped me take him down."
"Wait, Vlad helped you? Seriously?"
"Yeah, and he got really beat up in the process." Danny looked along either side of the landing, but both directions were empty. "Hey could we maybe save the play by play for later? I got a little unfinished business I'm trying to take care of." The phone rang in his ear, this time with the racehorse tune that he'd assigned to Tucker. "Can you add Tucker?"
"Gimme a sec."
Danny crossed his legs tailor-style while he waited, floating a foot or so above the landing. He laid the crown on his knees; it was big enough that it rested across them easily with length to spare, its twin chains settling in jumbled piles on the floor below him.
"Danny!"
"Hey Tuck," Danny replied before Tucker had a chance to continue as Sam had earlier. "It was Nocturne."
"Aw man, is he still on the loose? I can get to your house and—"
"Nope, already caught him."
"Danny says Vlad helped him," Sam's voice cut in.
"Wait wait, Vlad helped him? The same Vlad who became mayor just so he could mess with Danny?"
"Yep, that's the one."
There was a lengthy pause as Tucker considered it. "That's really weird," he said finally.
"And suspicious. What happened to the artifact after you beat Nocturne?"
"It's right here with me," Danny replied, glancing down at the crown.
"Good. Keep it close, Vlad might still be after it."
Danny closed his eyes and took a deep breath, wishing Sam would just trust him this time. "Sam, I really doubt Vlad's gonna be interested in this one." He knew she brought it up because she cared, it was just so annoying to be treated like he was an idiot. "I'm pretty sure I permanently broke it, and there's no way Vlad could ever wear it. It's a crown that's half as big as I am, and it's made for something with horns." Danny paused. "Actual horns," he added.
"Well, alright. Just be careful while you finish things up, okay?"
"Wanna give us the lowdown over a Nasty burger and fries later?"
"Sounds great, Tuck. I'll let you guys know when I'm heading back."
"Alright. Later, Danny!" There was a beep, declaring that Tucker had hung up.
"See you then." Sam hung up as well.
Danny put the phone back in his pocket and unfolded his legs, taking the crown in both hands. He touched down on the landing and considered where he might look next. The lab under Vlad's mansion was a good possibility. Vlad probably had something to accelerate healing down there, perhaps that was where he'd gone.
The ghost portal was open and filled with the swirling green energy of the Ghost Zone, but Vlad was nowhere in sight down in his lab.
"Vlad!" Danny turned slowly in a circle, watching for any indication of a trap or sign of a body. "Did he go into the Ghost Zone?" he asked himself as he peered into the swirling portal. If Vlad was well enough to travel in the Ghost Zone then he might not be as badly hurt as Danny had feared. The worry eased a bit as he leaned back and looked at the ceiling. Might as well have a look at those books again.
Danny lifted off and flew to the ceiling, phasing through floors until he reached the attic. It looked considerably more friendly with real daylight coming in through its windows. Their hiding place was easy enough to find, and the books were still spread on the floor where they left them earlier.
"Oh Vlad! I'm gonna touch your stuff!" Danny waited just in case Vlad was still around and this was enough to draw his attention. There was no reply. Danny passed the crown to one hand and picked up the book with the Strigios legend in it. Vlad was a quick reader and had moved fast enough that Danny hadn't been able to keep up. He wanted to know the whole story behind Strigios's fall and maybe look up a few other things, like who those 'Outsiders' were supposed to be.
Half an hour passed without Danny noticing. He'd found a couch in Vlad's library—out of view of as many of those ridiculous busts as possible—and lost himself in the book of legends. The Dreamkeeper's Crown rested across his lap, where he could easily keep an eye on it while reading.
As it turned out the Outsiders were a scary bunch of creatures that came from a dimension somewhere beyond the Ghost Zone. They were nightmarish monsters that even ghosts had reason to fear, causing and feeding off the misery of ghosts and humans alike, and had been driven back into their home reality shortly after Strigios's fall. Danny felt glad he would never have to deal with them. Ghosts were enough of a problem already.
A few other names from the era stood out alongside Strigios. Kara the Spirit of Battle had been one of Strigios's friends before he fell to corruption. She had been key to bringing Strigios down and beating back the invasion force of Outsiders afterward, Kara fighting so long and hard that she was dispersed in the end.
The sound of a door being closed reached his ears, followed by footsteps and a happy, burbling meow.
"There's my little Marty McFly." Vlad's voice came from one of the rooms leading to the library, sounding genuinely more happy than Danny could ever remember having heard before. "How's my sweet marshmallow boy?"
Danny didn't know whether laughing would be appropriate or not. Amusement already tugged the corners of his mouth up into a smile that he tried to hide with the book. Vlad actually got a cat. He couldn't believe it. Vlad was a cat person after all!
"Where's your sister, is she hiding again?"
There was a happy meow in reply.
"Well let's go find her."
Danny felt as if his ribs might crack at any moment, he was working so hard to hold in the laughter now. Not just one, but two cats. How had Vlad managed to slip this one past him? He couldn't believe he hadn't found out until now. Danny turned invisible; he didn't want to intrude on this little moment until he couldn't contain the laughter any longer.
Vlad entered the library, dressed in a pair of jeans and a pale blue longsleeved shirt, a slender white cat resting comfortably in his arms. He'd almost made it past the couch Danny was seated in when the teen couldn't contain himself any longer.
"That's a cute cat, Vlad." Danny popped back to visibility, still trying to keep himself from collapsing into a laughing fit. "Were they fresh out of the fat villain model?"
"Oh, wonderful," Vlad said dryly, glaring at Danny from over the back of the couch. "What are you still doing here? Shouldn't you be off celebrating your victory with those friends of yours?" He set Marty on the back of the couch, on the end opposite from Danny.
"Had a few things I wanted to clear up first," Danny replied. Vlad seemed more energetic now, and there were no cuts or bandages on his face. The amusement from learning that Vlad had ended up following his advice evaporated as he considered how to phrase the rest of his reasoning for staying. "Where'd you disappear to, anyway? I was worried you keeled over somewhere."
Vlad watched him for a few moments, one hand braced against the couch back while the other stroked Marty. The cat purred and rubbed his head against Vlad's forearm. "Why do you care?" he asked, his voice laden with suspicion. "Wouldn't you be happy if I was out of the way for a while?"
Danny looked away and rolled his eyes. Back to that already. At least he didn't have as much reason to worry with Vlad feeling well enough to push back like this. "Look," he said, turning to Vlad again. "You helped me beat Nocturne, and you stuck it through to the end even though you were hurt. I think that deserves a bit of concern when you up and disappear right after being down for the count at the end of the fight."
"Fine." Vlad scooped Marty up again, cradling the cat against his shoulder with one arm and stroking his back with the free hand. "The ambient energy of the Ghost Zone helps its inhabitants to re-energize. It works in a similar way for us." He sighed. "Now if you could please leave, I have a few matters to attend to myself." Vlad looked down at the book and crown in Danny's lap for the first time. "You didn't happen to bring the rest of them down, did you?"
"They're still up there."
"Well then that's one task that's still on the list." Vlad looked to the far side of the room as he considered something, then turned back to Danny when the teen hadn't moved. "Was there something else you wanted? You know I could call the Guys in White to remove you if you don't leave yourself."
"We both know that's not gonna happen," Danny said dismissively. "Last thing you want is them sniffing around when you have a ghost portal hidden in your library." That was odd. It wasn't like Vlad to make such an empty threat when he could just toss Danny out himself.
"Right. Guess I'll spend the next few days finding a new place to put that, too," Vlad grumbled.
"Actually I wanted to ask if I could borrow this book," Danny added quickly, choosing to take the initiative. "Thought it would be a good idea to study up on stuff like the crown in case some other ghost shows up using something like it."
Vlad glared at him. "Fine, but under two conditions. One, you leave my house. Two, you bring the book back in pristine condition. No exceptions. Understand?"
"Deal," Danny said with a smile. He closed the book and lifted off the couch, the crown held in his other hand. "You'll hardly know I borrowed it."
"Yes good. Now go away."
Danny obeyed this time, phasing through the outer wall of the library and starting toward home. Vlad's words from the dream came back to haunt him again. Danny frowned. He knew his father wasn't a bad person, it had to be a misunderstanding of some sort. Jack would never hurt a friend on purpose.
Having Nocturne dealt with was a relief, but the entire encounter had given Danny a lot to think about.
A/N: There are varying headcanons about Vlad's cat and why it changed models and personalities. I'm using the headcanon where he found out the first one was male and decided to rename and keep it. Cat Maddie travels better, so Marty tends to stay home.
Also big thanks to Phantomtype for the IC-checks and encouragement. This probably wouldn't exist without you!