Happy belated birthday to silvermoonphantom, superphantom author extraordinaire! If you haven't read any of their fics yet, seriously, you should go check them out because they are nothing short of brilliant. My word.

Also, if you had not heard, there is now a birthday calendar for the phandom, so if you feel comfortable putting your username on the appropriate date (or want to look up other people's b-days for easier sneaky gift giving preparations if you ever feel so inclined) there is a link on my profile.

So this is set in Supernatural's season 5. But it's Danny Phantom character centric for once. *fistpump*

Resplendent

adj., bright, radiant

June 19, 2015

A prison wrought of gilded bars

By golden locks enclosed

Enthroned atop rare gleaming gems

The unsought gift of foes

Danny knew he wasn't in his room even before he opened his eyes.

Even if he hadn't made it to his own bed before falling asleep, none of the couches or chairs in the house were this hard and uncomfortable. And most of their floors had carpeting.

So why...?

His eyes flew open for a moment before realizing that the bright flashes of light were too overwhelming at such short notice. He scrunched his face and flung an arm over his eyes before sitting up and hunching over. Rubbing the grit out of his eyes, Danny slowly blinked downward. Then started looking around him.

It was a large room with white wood paneled walls trimmed with ornate gold knobs and flourishes. There were huge old paintings hanging in the middle of every wall. Mostly angels and battles. He seemed to be lying underneath the overhang of a tall marble table...?

He groaned. It wasn't a place that he recognized, but he could guess how he'd gotten to a room like this.

"Okay, come on, you fruitloop," he grumbled, getting to his knees and then rolling into a standing position. "Whatever this is, I'm not going to agree to it," he called out loudly to the room at large. Throwing back his head, he yelled at the ceiling, "I'm not going to be your son and Mom still hates your guts!"

When a quick glance around the room didn't reveal a door that he could leave by, Danny kicked at a nearby wooden end table, breaking off one of its legs. Served Vlad right, he thought, because the creep had really outdone himself with the decorating this time. Not at all like his cabin in the Rockies and even more grand and nauseatingly ornate than the rooms he'd seen in his Wisconsin mansion. Then again, there were probably plenty of rooms he hadn't seen there. Hidden doorways and secret passages. Labs buried deep down in the basement...

There was a heavy sigh from the other side of the room. "Honestly, Daniel, must you insist on shouting out valuable information at the top of your lungs every time you walk into an unknown situation?"

Danny stopped. "Vlad?" he asked in surprise, turning around to see Vlad slouched in a hard wooden chair that had been shoved into a corner.

"And why do you always think that everything is always my fault?" Vlad continued grousing, not moving from his seat as Danny walked toward him.

It only took Danny a moment to rethink everything he'd assumed about his current predicament. Not kidnapped by Vlad. The guy would have been gloating before he'd even woken up. Captured with him? Still didn't make much sense. And who would...? Who could?

"What... what's going on?" he demanded.

Vlad closed his eyes for a moment, trying to remain patient and collected. "What do you think is going on, Daniel? We were captured and brought to this sickeningly elaborate Baroque era prison."

"P-prison?" Danny gulped.

Vlad merely raised an eyebrow at him. "You think I would still be here if I could have gotten out?" he asked scathingly.

Danny's heart sank at the words. He'd hoped, maybe, that the guy had an escape route all mapped out as soon as he regained consciousness. But that farfetched hope was now dashed.

"So...?" he asked hesitantly.

"So nothing works," Vlad replied despondently.

Danny stared at the man hard and was opening his mouth to reply when Vlad repeated forcefully, "Nothing works. And until we know how closely we're being monitored and by whom, I'd thank you to keep your mouth shut regarding details."

Danny blinked, then grinned. A moment later, he was doubled over laughing and nodding.

Vlad's brow furrowed and he shifted in his chair uncomfortably. "What's so funny?"

Pausing long enough to stand up, Danny chuckled, "You'd thank me, huh?"

Vlad pressed his mouth into a thin line.

"Figures it would take getting kidnapped with you to hear those words come out of your mouth."

Sniffing, Vlad didn't deign to reply.

"Hmm," Danny said, trying to finally stop laughing, because this situation wasn't really funny at all. "So what's our next move?" he asked, suddenly serious.

Vlad stared at him.

"Well, you said you tried everything already, right?" Danny asked to an almost imperceptible nod from the older half ghost. "So you've been sitting here for a while masterminding while I was out cold. You have a Plan B?"

Vlad continued looking at him blankly and Danny started getting frustrated. The guy always kept on bragging about how brilliant all of his plans were every time they fought, so how could he have just been sitting here ready to accept that they were well and truly trapped when he'd had even fifteen minutes of pure uninterrupted scheming time? There had to be something he could find to help them, anyway.

"Any ideas? Suggestions for getting out of here? Any food stashed away in your pockets?"

Squinting at him in confusion, Vlad asked, "Why would you think that I have food in my pockets?"

Danny shrugged. "I dunno. I'm hungry. Was just trying to be optimistic about something, I guess."

Vlad absorbed the verbal barb as if he couldn't care less, but then his face softened with thought. "Well, if you're absolutely starving," he said, "there is food on the table." He tilted his head toward the center of the room while keeping his arms crossed.

"Really?" Danny's head shot up and he quickly crossed to the round marble table, taking in the milkshake and platter of Nasty Burger mighty meaty melts. There was even a bottle of ketchup next to the baskets of fries.

"Sweet! My favorite!" he said, rushing forward.

"I know. Mine too," Vlad said, still not moving from his corner.

Danny picked up a burger and laughed. "Really? Your favorite is the Nasty Burger? Wouldn't have guessed-"

"No," Vlad interrupted quietly. "The surf and turf from a small restaurant in France."

"The... what?"

Danny turned to see a silver tray all laid out with a very expensive- and extremely appetizing- spread of lobster and steak covered with sprigs of herbs.

"That's... that's weird," he said slowly, wondering who could have gotten Vlad's exact favorite meal shipped over from France quickly enough that steam was still rising from the filet mignon. Who would even know what the guy's favorite food was. The Nasty Burger could have been a lucky guess since the place was local and the burger-fry combo was pretty much the only thing on their menu. But knowing about a restaurant on another continent...?

"Indeed," Vlad replied, eyes fixed on the platter as if it offended him.

Danny looked back and forth between Vlad and the food he refused to touch. "You, uh, you see who brought these?" Danny asked, not very hopeful about the answer but knowing that any information about their captors would be good to know.

But Vlad shook his head.

That made Danny pause. "But... how long have you been here?"

"I'm not positive," Vlad mused. "But I'd guess an hour or two. You were out for a while," he added unhelpfully.

Danny quickly set down his burger, which was still warm, and eyed the unmelted milkshakes distrustfully. "Yeah," he drew the word out. "I'm not really that hungry any more."

I have no plans to continue, but a showdown with Vlad and Danny standing up to Zachariah and giving him a lot more trouble than he bargained for would be a lovely thing to see ahahaha. As would more crossovers set during the Apocalypse. So if anyone else wants to make that happen, please lemme know!

(and you should go read everything on silvermoonphantom's profile now~)