Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or Christmas.
It was Christmas Eve in Amity Park and everyone was happy. Snow was falling into light clumps on the ground, kids were eagerly anticipating their new toys, and two halfas were fighting to the death over the city.
"Just give up already, Vlad. You know I'm going to win." Danny said as he charged up an ice ray and fired it.
The shot managed to clip Vlad in the side but he ignored it as he flew up to Danny and grabbed him by the throat. "Not this time, my boy. I'm afraid this time I've created the perfect plan to take back what rightfully belongs to me."
Danny struggled against the older halfa's grip but made no sign of showing any stress. In fact, he just smirked. "Vlad, I think you should chill out." Before Vlad knew what happened, Danny grabbed onto his hands and froze them. He then turned intangible and flew out of Vlad's grip.
"Get back here you little brat!" Vlad shouted, using some of his ectoenergy to break out of his bonds.
Danny floated in circles around Vlad as if he was lying in the air with his hand supporting his head. "Come on, fruitloop. Where's this grand plan you said you had."
Vlad let out a low growl before lunging at Danny and throwing him to the ground. Screams were heard all around then as civilians began running in every which direction to escape the battle between the two halfas.
"Of course, now everyone decides to run away." Danny muttered. "Why didn't they escape before the battle was moved right next to them." he tried to lift himself back onto his feet, but was stopped when Vlad came down and pressed his foot into Danny's chest.
"Now how would they be able to see our fight, little badger? Humans love a good fight." Vlad stated as he began to press his foot even harder into Danny's chest, ignoring his screams of agony. The younger halfa could only grab onto Vlad's leg and dig his fingers into it, trying to relieve some of the pressure."
Plasmius just shook his head and applied more pressure. "Now now, Daniel, we don't want you fighting back, now do we? Just go to sleep and let your Uncie Vlad take care of everything else."
Danny tried his very best to stay awake. He thought of his friends, family, even Dash, and tried to use them as inspiration to stay awake and continue fighting, but it was all in vain as the darkness around the edges of his eyes grow bigger and bigger until they enveloped most of his vision. "V-Vlad," Danny grounded out before he went limp under Vlad's foot.
Vlad looked down at the younger halfa and smirked. "There. Was that so hard?" he began to charge up a ectoplasmic blast in his right hand, hoping to send it straight into Danny's heart to stop it and give the younger halfa a painless death. Today his enemy would finally be defeated and he could finally claim Maddie as his own. Things were looking up for him. So why was he feeling remorse. He didn't know why he felt it, but it wouldn't go away and was beginning to irritate him.
Danny Phantom was his enemy, the one being that foiled his attempts at a happy life since the very beginning. Some people might consider Plasmius to be the villain, he had put many people in danger to try to get what he wanted, but he always thought of Danny as the villain, no, not Danny. It was Jack Fenton. That man was the true villain, stealing Maddie from him and destroying his life by giving him ectoacne. The oaf needed to pay for his actions.
Perhaps Danny didn't need to die though. No, that's preposterous! Danny defended Jack with his life. There was no way Plasmius could get to him without first killing Danny.
Wasn't unconsciousness enough though?
The young halfa was no threat to Vlad and the man could do whatever he pleased for the time being, so why didn't he just leave Danny be?
Vlad took a glimpse at the young halfa and turned away. The battle was over. Nothing more was needed.
The older halfa was about to fly away when the icy wind picked up and slammed the halfa back onto the ground.
"Blasted wind!" Vlad shouted as he began to rub his butt. It wasn't the power of the wind that annoyed him, but the freezing cold brought on by it. All because it was Christmas Eve, one of the coldest times of the year.
Vlad looked towards the sky and noticed the growing blizzard. If Vlad didn't kill Danny then this blizzard surely would. He needed to protect the young halfa from the cold winds. But how?
Vlad built up some ectoenergy in both of his hands and released it in the ways of a dome surrounding both halfas. Another gust of wind came and pounded into the dome, but the ectoplasm held. It looked like the two were stuck for the time being.
The older halfa could always take Danny and bring him back to his mansion, but with all the battling they have been doing lately, he barely had enough energy to get back to his mansion by himself, much less with an intangible passenger.
Vlad decided to take a seat on a rock near the edge of the dome and tried his best to occupy his time. Life was so boring when you had nowhere to go and nothing to do. The only things Vlad had to concentrate on were the strong winds outside the dome, and Danny's slight snoring from his unconscious body.
Is this my sworn enemy? Plasmius thought as he watched Danny's chest move steadily up and down with his breathing. A young teenager? The older halfa began to slouch in his seat as the rock began to get comfortable to sit on. Hmm, he looks so peaceful when he sleeps. So different from his usually arrogant demeanor.
His life must've hit a new low if he needed to attack a teenager to get what he wanted. Was it possible that he was just as bad as Jack Fenton, the man who destroyed his life and possibly the life of Maddie too? He was thinking about destroying the life of a teenager. Isn't that so much worse. At least with Vlad he was able to live out more of his life and complete high school. Danny would never experience his first love, his high school graduation, anything that Vlad was able to do.
Vlad let out a sigh as he looked away from the younger halfa in guilt. Perhaps he had been reacting too aggressively. He didn't want to be responsible for the death of a teenager on his hand, he only wanted Jack's life. Besides, he couldn't be suspected of the murder of a kid with the upcoming mayor elections on his hand. That just wouldn't look good for his reputation, something he spent most of his life building up.
"Nanghhh," Danny groaned as he slowly opened his eyes and blinked when he took in the sight of a purple ectoplasmic dome over his head. "What do you want, Vlad?" he asked, never actually looking at the older halfa. "Are you going to finally finish me off like you've been saying, or try one last crazy attempt to turn me into your fruitloop son?"
Vlad got off the rock and walked over to Danny, offering him his hand. "What do I want?" he repeated. "I'm not entirely sure yet. Right now I want change." The older halfa tried to give his best reassuring smile he could, but it felt extremely unnatural and no doubt looked the same.
It seemed to have some effect though, because after a hesitant look from Danny the teen took his hand and was lifted up off the ground.
"So is this just a temporary alliance, because if it is, I would like to know before you stab me in the back, Plasmius." Danny was tempted to put some venom on Vlad's ghost name, but decided not to in fear of changing Vlad's oddly peaceful and nonthreatening mood.
Vlad looked towards the snow and began to shoot a continuous beam of ectoplasm at it, creating figures in the snow to bide the time. He created an angel, a star, and, of course, Maddie. "I don't know yet. I was just thinking of seeing where this takes us."
Was it time to bury the metaphorical hatchet? There was no way he could finish Danny off for good, so that meant they would be in an eternal battle. The two halfas have been fighting for a long time. Vlad would undoubtedly have to give up his plots for revenge against Jack though. He would also have to give up any chance of Maddie coming to him. He would be all alone.
"Daniel, tell me something," Vlad said, pausing from the star he was drawing to look at the younger halfa who had spent all that time staring at him. "What do Jack and Maddie think of me, my human half."
Danny raised an eyebrow at Vlad's question but made no comment on it. Instead he thought about it for a moment, actually taking his question seriously. "Well, dad's your biggest fan of course. I don't think anything you do will ever change that. Mom on the other hand, thinks you're a little bit of a creep. She doesn't say it to your face though out of respect for dad."
"Oh," Vlad said as he returned his attention to the snow, this time with a sullen expression. Even his dearest Maddie hated him right now. Ironically, it seemed like the only one that actually cared for him was the man who ruined his life. "I have no one," Vlad mumbled out barely above the whispers of the wind. "No one to care for me, love me, call me father. I'm all alone."
"That's not true!" Danny shouted. "My dad would do anything for you. If you asked him to go to mars and bring back a rock from the planet, he would do it in a heartbeat. Even though my mother may think you're creepy, she still treats you like an old friend. I'm also sure that if you stopped all your sexual advances, she'd be more open to you. Jazz thinks of you as a role model, at least career wise. You also have everyone in Amity Park who want to see you succeed so you can, in turn, bring success to them too."
Vlad stayed quiet for half a minute, fully taking in everything Danny said. "What about you? You never mentioned what you think of me."
Danny hesitated to answer. What did Vlad have to ask such hard question? He wasn't even sure what Vlad was to him. Was he an enemy? A sparring partner? His motivation to succeed? A father figure? Perhaps his mentor? "You….You're the reason I am who I am and why I know what I want to be, a guardian. Without you, I probably wouldn't be anywhere close to where I am now with my ghost powers, I definitely wouldn't know what to do with my life, and I may have even given up my powers by now."
Vlad just huffed. "Don't you think that's a little cheesy Daniel?"
"It's the truth." Danny said defiantly.
The older halfa stared into the determination in Danny's eyes. "Yes, perhaps it is."
It's time to end all of our fighting. I need to move past this phase in my life and enter a new, more open, phase for me to prosper and grow.
Vlad let out a sigh as he looked towards the purple dome. It shined with new life as the wind began to die down. "Maybe it is time to bury the hatchet after all."
Danny raised an eyebrow. "Hatchet? What hatchet? Why are we burying it?
The older halfa scrunched his eyes with his hand and looked away from the dome. Sometimes that boy could be so ignorant. "It's a figure of speech, Daniel. It means to call a truce, stop a conflict, make peace, something I am trying to do right now." Vlad looked at the teen and noticed that the boy was as stiff as a rock. "Don't let this come as a shock to you. I simply can't waste my time with silly plots of revenge when I could be running a multi-billion dollar company and fully realized city. I'm a busy man you know."
Danny grew a huge smile on his face. Maybe things could finally change for him. The halfa had been looking for a mentor of sorts, someone to teach him more about his powers, and Vlad made a pretty good, albeit not perfect, fit. Also, the billionaire hadn't mentioned anything about training, but perhaps their relationship could grow into that. It didn't have to immediate. "But wait. What about my dad? You're just going to leave him alone?"
Vlad let out another sigh, though it sounded fake and overdramatix to Danny's ears. "Danny my boy, I already told you I have no time to pursue any attempts at revenge against your father, even if he did steal the lovely Madeline from me-"
"Gross." Danny interjected.
"Anyway," Vlad continued, glaring at the teen. "I call for a truce." Vlad would've said more, but a sudden thought struck him. "Actually, I want to invite you and your family for my annual Christmas party. Every year I use it to try to garner more money and support for my upcoming mayoral campaign. There are going to be a bunch of executives from businesses and corporations, the boring sort, so I would like to invite your family to...liven up the party so to speak."
Something still didn't seem right to Danny. He began to eye Vlad suspiciously, trying to find any bit of ill intention. "If you try anything, Vlad-"
"Nonsense, Daniel. I am a man of my word." Vlad pointing his hand at the dome and shoot an ectoplasmic blast right through it, destroying the entire dome. Luckily the wind had died down considerably and both halfas have regained their strength. "I expect to see you there tonight."
Vlad turned intangible and flew back to his mansion. It was time to prepare.
The first half of this twoshot is finally complete. Yes, this will be a two chapter long story. I hope you all like it and please leave a review to show your support. Either way the second part is coming though, so don't feel pressured to review. Anyway, I hope everyone has a great Christmas Eve!