Danny had grown up. Point blank. He was eighteen now; older, wiser, more mature. He knew things now, saw things now, that he hadn't before as a scared fourteen year old boy already trying desperately to get a handle on regular life let alone a half-dead one. But now he was starting to understand some things a whole lot better than he used to. Like motivations and excuses and masks.
He understood now how most of his enemies worked and he used that against them. Skulker wanted Danny's pelt, which he couldn't exactly give, but he could appease the hunter with the sport of it all (it was almost amusing when one watched from afar, like a giant game of hide and go seek) and Skulker was happy to leave the town alone for the most part after that.
Ember wanted fame and adulation. So Danny let her have that, just under the stipulation that she couldn't take over the world or control anyone's mind. Ember had been surprisingly cooperative.
The Box Ghost just wanted to be feared and the haunted house Danny helped him set up was working out in his favor with that. Turns out floating boxes could actually be pretty scary (at least if you were that average tourist that is).
He'd learned over the years how to appease all the ghosts that occupied the area and he'd created a peaceful coexistence between them and the town.
One could say that Danny had pretty much defeated all of his enemies.
All except for one.
Vlad Masters/Plasmius.
The man was still somewhat of an enigma to Danny. Sure, his motivations and desires were pretty clear, they had been since Danny was fourteen and Vlad had announced his ultimate evil plan so long ago. Vlad wanted Danny's mother, wanted Danny's father dead, and wanted Danny as a son. That was the end of the list and as far as it went.
Danny even knew why the old fruitloop wanted these things. Jazz had long since psychoanalyzed the man and explained it all to Danny. The old man was jealous. And hurt. And angry. He wanted what he believed Jack stole from him those many years ago. He was hurt that his friends had seemingly abandoned him after his accident those many years ago. And he was angry that he still couldn't get what he wanted and had wanted since those many years ago.
But that was the point. The "many years ago". What Danny still didn't understand was why Vlad, even ten-twenty-going-on-thirty years later, he just hadn't let go.
Vlad was a smart man. Danny knew this. Vlad knew this. Nearly everyone knew this. But, apparently, the mad could hold a grudge like no other. Maybe it was the ghost in him, maybe it was just who he was. Either way, Vlad's continued need to have what was impossible, was looking more foolish and more childish by the day. The man was stubborn to a fault and determined to make himself miserable for it. Danny had had nearly enough of it all.
Which was why, when Vlad tried his latest plan for trying to win Danny over as his son, Danny tried a completely new tactic.
Getting into Vlad's head.
They were in the middle of Danny's living room, Vlad having been invited over to see Jack's latest invention (the Fenton Ghoul Glider; a small helicopter like vehicle that can run on pure ectoplasm, one of Jack's more brilliant creations), and Vlad used that opportunity to try and get under Danny's skin. Unfortunately for him, Danny had a similar plan.
"Come now, Daniel," Vlad said smugly with his hands clasped behind his back, "you're a senior in High School now. It's time you started thinking about your future. Your bumbling idiot of a father can't provide you the same type of opportunities that I can. Join me and there's no path my influence can't help you take. I know you've always wanted to be an astronaut…"
Danny didn't rise to the bait, he'd gotten a lot better at controlling his emotions around Vlad. He simply leveled a contemplative stare at the other halfa.
"That's true," he said slowly, "but how can your influence get me all the things I may want out of life when they can't even get you what you want?"
Vlad scowled at him, "Sadly, money can't buy you everything. But it can buy you a spot working at NASA."
Danny remained impassive, simply staring at Vlad with his arms crossed over his chest and a small frown on his face. "You can't do this forever, Vlad," he said eventually.
Vlad matched Danny's neutral face with a cool one, trying to look, for all the world, unfazed, despite the unease now roiling in his stomach. "My dear boy, I don't know what you mean."
"This, Vlad," Danny gestured vaguely between them, "you can't keep doing this. How many years have you planned and plotted and you still haven't gotten what you wanted? How many failed attempts is it gonna take to get through that crazy skull of yours? My mom doesn't like you, Vlad. I'll never be your son and I'll never let you hurt my dad."
Danny was a bit heated now, giving up his indifferent façade in lieu of his sudden anger, "You can't get what you want this way, Vlad! It doesn't work! Give up already!"
Pink, burning ectoplasm gathered in Vlad's clenched fists, steam rising from between his fingers like he was clutching hot coal in his bare hands.
"I. Will. Never!" Vlad growled with bared fangs. "I will get what I want!"
Danny moved quick as lightning and held the other halfa up by his fancy lapels, fists slamming Vlad into the living room wall where he gasped in pain and surprise. Danny's eyes were colder than ice and the toxic green of them shook Vlad to the core.
"Even if it costs you your life?"
Noticing that Vlad had been suitably shocked into silence, Danny let go and backed away but didn't drop his icy glare.
"You're wasting your life like this, fruitloop. Reevaluate what it is you actually want, because I don't think it's this. Do you want my mom or just the woman you thought was stolen from you? Do you really want my dad dead or do you just want to take out your frustration and hurt on him? Do you really want me as your son or are you just desperate for a family?"
Vlad flinched away at every word, closing his eyes and shaking his head. He didn't want to hear it. He didn't want to hear any of it. This was not how this was supposed to go! This was not what he had planned! He wrenched himself away from the wall with a snarl, turning his back to the boy and preparing to leave as soon as possible.
Danny let him go without another word, just watching his tense back walk right out of the house. HE sure hoped Clockwork was right about Vlad, that he was capable of change, because he really pitied the man if he couldn't.
As soon as Vlad's fancy car pulled away from the house and left his line of sight, Danny sighed and collapsed on the couch. He rubbed at his temples and mostly hoped that Vlad took his word to heart instead of pissing him off. Maybe it was his paranoia, but Danny felt that he'd done more harm than good and he dreaded what Vlad might try to pull next.
It was to Danny's great surprise that three weeks later Vlad showed up on his doorstep looking like he'd been through hell and holding a bouquet of wildflowers.
The usually suave and well-put-together businessman looked like a wreck. He had deeper than usual circles under his eyes and his hair was a mess around his head; only loosely pulled back into his customary ponytail. He hadn't bothered to put on his usual tie or his usual suit jacket either for that matter. He looked like he hadn't slept in years.
Danny stood, blocking the doorway with a raised eyebrow. "What do you want, Vlad?"
Vlad shuffled in place awkwardly and coughed weakly into his hand before murmuring something just out of Danny's hearing range.
"What was that, fruitloop?"
"I'm here to apologize, Daniel," Vlad replied softly, fingers curling around the flowers in his hands like a lifeline.
"What?"
Vlad sighed deeply, "I realized, the last time I visited, that your words held some merit. I need to… reevaluate. To let go and move on. So," he gave an awkward half-shrug, "here I am."
Danny narrowed his eyes, "Do you mean that?"
Vlad nodded and gave a quiet but sincere, "Yes."
"Alright," Danny said and leaned back, opening up the doorway for Vlad to enter.
The older man looked up in surprise, flowers nearly falling from his hands. "Alright?" he repeated incredulously.
Danny nodded with a small smile, "Alright."
"But-," Vlad couldn't even speak. He'd tortured himself for weeks going over what he wanted and how to get it and thinking over so many strategies on how he'd convince Daniel that he no longer wanted to fight and it couldn't be this easy. There was no way in hell it would be this easy.
"Vlad," Danny started, seeing the hesitation and disbelief on the other's face, "I know you. I've fought against all your 'evil schemes' for years now. I can tell when you're telling the truth and when you're lying to me now a days. And if I wasn't willing to give you a second chance from the beginning I wouldn't have suggested you change in the first place."
Vlad looked damn near ready to cry. He felt damn near ready to cry. He'd been so conflicted for so long and after so much consideration and turmoil he'd finally come to the conclusion that he'd be better off forgiving and asking for forgiveness in return. And he'd thought it'd be so much harder than this. After Danny had woken him up from his self-absorbed, pompous, jealousy-fueled stupor, he'd come to realize just how much of, well, a fruitloop he'd been. He thought he'd have to work for years to gain any sort of shred of acceptance. He'd thought it'd take eons to finally gain the love and family he'd truly yearned for that he'd been throwing away all these years and now…
"Ew, don't you start crying on me, old man," Danny said good-naturedly, "You still have to make peace with the rest of my family."
"Of course," Vlad said with a tenuous smile.
"Don't think this is the end of it though," Danny said as he ushered Vlad inside the house and plucked the strangled bouquet of wildflowers from his hands.
"I-," Vlad stepped back slightly, fear knotting in his stomach at the sudden turn around.
Danny smiled to reassure him and dragged him past the doorway, "I just meant that it might take a while to fully gain my trust, fruitloop, not that I'm about to kick you out of the house and shun you."
"Oh."
"Dad! Vlad's here!" Danny called and Vlad braced himself for the inevitable suffocating bear hug.
"Vladdie!" the call echoed through the house accompanied by the raucous thump of heavy footsteps and Vlad was suddenly enveloped in the customary spine-snapping hold.
But for once, Vlad couldn't find it in him to be bitter about it.
"I'd like to start over, Daniel," Vlad says later in the night when he was alone with the younger halfa, having been happily ensconced between his old college friends for most of the evening he was feeling much more relaxed and at ease (Maddie had been taken by Vlad's sincere apology and complete lack of pick-up lines from the man and had forgiven him easily after he'd proven himself, Jack hadn't even needed an apology, he was just happy to see his old friend).
Danny turned to him with a serious look before holding out his hand, "Hello, my name is Danny Fenton nice to meet you."
"Oh ha ha, very funny, Daniel," Vlad returned with a genuine laugh, more amused by the younger's antics than annoyed like he might have been before.
"I don't have a clue what you're talking about, sir, we've only just met!" Danny sputtered in mock offense, fighting a smile as he teased the other.
"Oh my sincerest apologies, young man, I must have mistaken you for someone else!" Vlad gave in to playing along. He took Danny's offered hand and gave it a firm shake, "Vlad Masters, a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Danny's slow and ecstatic smile was what really made it worth it all.
"Good to have you here, Vlad."
"It's good to be here, dear boy."
"Now," Danny said with a hint of excitement as he settled into the couch beside Vlad, "When are you gonna teach me all those cool tricks you can do with your ghost powers?!"
Vlad was taken aback at first by his enthusiasm and the sudden request but he recovered quickly with a laugh, "Whenever you're ready to start, Daniel. I'd be happy to teach you anything you wished."
"Yes!" Danny pumped a fist into the air and bounced in place, "Right now! We're starting right now! C'mon, old man!"
Vlad laughed again as he was dragged off the couch and towards the Fenton basement lab, despite the somewhat late hour of the night.
"Calm down, Daniel! The lab isn't going anywhere!"
"Vlaaaad!" Danny whined in protest as he attempted to drag his new teacher down the stairs by force, "C'mooooon!"
Vlad, still chuckling at the boy's antics, was mostly floored by the comfortable and familiar way that Danny was now treating him. Like he was actually welcomed here, like he was actually welcomed by his new… dare he say it? Protégé. It made a strange new warmth he hadn't felt in years bloom within his chest. It was new and slightly scary, but he wouldn't trade it for the world.
Vlad smirked as he transformed, letting the circles of black light surround him and change his very being. He felt lighter as he spoke to the similarly transformed Danny, "I'm not going to go easy on you, little badger."
Danny matched his vicious grin, eyes still shining with excitement as he opened up the portal to the Ghost Zone, "Wasn't counting on it, fruitloop."
"Good! Then let's start," Vlad shouted as he sped like a rocket into the portal, laughing at Danny's shout of "Hey!" as he was left behind.
Vlad didn't think he'd ever felt this happy and content before.
"Sit still," Vlad fussed as Danny shifted around and broke concentration for the umpteenth time.
"I can't," Danny whined as he slumped over onto the floor, laying down and giving up completely on meditating when all he wanted to do was get up and fight something. He was way to antsy with this part of training, "This is too boring."
Vlad peeked open an eye and sighed when he saw Danny sprawled out on the green yoga mat he was supposed to be concentrating on. "I can't teach you the "cool stuff", as you put it, until you've learned to harness your core."
"But I already know how to do that!" Danny protested while swinging his arms up in the air to emphasize his point, "Frostbite taught me all that a long time ago!"
"No," Vlad corrected as he broke his own meditation pose, "that overgrown abominable snowman taught you how to release the pent up energy in your core so you wouldn't freeze yourself to a full death. You've learned a few pretty tricks but there's so much more you can do with the powers of your core, Daniel."
Vlad opened his palm and caught his wayward student's attention when he absently started to play with the flames that started to flicker there, his fingers dancing with the fire as it grew hotter and brighter and bigger. With a careless flick of his wrist he could make shapes and shadows. When he knew he had Danny's full attention he closed his hand into a tight fist and extinguished the blaze.
"You can do all that in human form?!" Danny asked excitedly, leaning close to look at Vlad's hands as if they alone could teach him how to do it all.
"Easily," Vlad answered, "and I imagine you'll be able to do the same with ice. Once you have learned to channel the energy of your core properly. Which you will have to sit still to do."
"Fine!" Danny huffed as he settled back into the meditation position Vlad had shown him earlier. His hands fell loosely in his lap and he took a deep and calming breath.
"Good," Vlad said in approval, "now close your eyes and concentrate. I'll guide you through this so just focus on my voice and what I'm telling you to do."
Danny gave a small nod and took another deep breath.
"Start with your breathing. Take long and calming breaths. Focus on the air going in and out of your lungs. In and out. In. And out. Good."
Danny let his breathing slow and his eyes slip closed. His posture relaxed slightly and he lost sight of everything else aside from his lungs, his body, and Vlad's soothing instructions.
"Relax and sink into the form I showed you. Release as much tension in your muscles as you can. Very good, little badger. You're doing well, just keep it up. Just melt and breathe and don't worry about anything else."
The slight ache in Danny's shoulders disappeared as he let them drop, slowly, and a tingling warmth spread through his body as he let his high-strung muscles ease from their always-on-guard positions. His back was still straight and his head held high but it seemed effortless now to keep them that way, the faint crick in his neck seemed to disappear.
"Now, here's the tricky part. Focus on the center of your chest. Focus on that cold sensation in the middle that's always there. It should feel like a ball of snow just floating inside your chest. Very good, my boy, very good. I want you to focus on that icy feeling until it gets stronger and stronger. Pull it out. With each breath you take it should get colder and colder. Imagine the cold as a ball of ice, let the frost expand outwards in larger and larger arcs."
Danny found the ice Vlad was talking about and did as instructed, letting it get colder and colder until his teeth were on edge and he felt like he should be shivering madly, but he wasn't. He let it grow bigger and bigger but he made sure to keep control. He could feel the chilled breath leaving his lips like an icy wind; like he'd had way too much spearmint in the middle of an arctic tundra.
"Excellent Daniel!" Vlad exclaimed happily, "Now look."
Danny snapped his eyes open at Vlad's command and gasped in surprise as he took in the sight. Snow. It was actually snowing. In the middle of Vlad's mansion! Inside! Danny laughed in delight as he raised his hand to catch one of the falling flakes.
"Very good, my boy," Vlad complimented with a wide smile, "See what sitting still for just two minutes can get you?"
"Yeah, yeah," Danny said with a hand behind his back and a sly grin, "you're the teacher and you know what you're doing blah, blah, blah."
Vlad snorted at the boy's antics but let him carry on. Just before he was about to suggest moving on to something else for a while he noticed Danny's hand move away from his back with a large snowball about to be launched at his face.
He smirked as he reacted too quickly for it to hit and melted the snow mid-air with a small burst of flame from his finger.
Danny pouted at his failed attack and Vlad rolled his eyes before taking a deep breath and releasing it in a heated rush, instantly melting and then evaporating all evidence of Danny's impromptu winter wonderland.
"Woah," Danny whispered as he dropped his pout.
"Indeed," Vlad said with a smug chuckle, "Now, I believe you wanted to learn something a bit more entertaining?"
"Yes!" Danny shouted as he leapt to his feet in excitement. "Let's go!"
"I wouldn't be too eager, little badger," Vlad warned with a grin as he flexed his fingers and dropped into a casual fighting stance. "Next we're doing strength and speed training. Get ready to test your reflexes, Daniel."
Danny yelped as he dodged a fast swinging fist, "Hey!"
"You asked for it, my boy!"
"You're on, old man!"
Vlad was enjoying a very nice mug of hot chocolate at the Fenton kitchen table as he listened to the lighthearted bickering between his two best friends that he had missed dearly in all the years he hadn't heard it. It was nice. This. Everything. To just sit back and relax and bask in the glow of companionship so easily offered and the sweet taste of a perfect cup of hot cocoa. He felt content and warm.
But there was also something lingering in the back of his mind that set him slightly on edge. He frowned lightly as he stared at the dregs of chocolate now sitting at the bottom of his empty cup.
He was at war with himself. To tell or not to tell. One the one hand, they deserved to know how they had truly wronged him and how he had wronged them in return. One the other hand, did they really have to know? It'd be far easier for Vlad if they continued in ignorant bliss this way. There was no advantage for him to tell them the full truth. But a small voice in the back of his mind, one that sounded suspiciously like Daniel, told him that he should tell them simply because it was the right thing to do. He didn't like that voice and usually he ignored it, but he was trying to be a better person and deep down he knew this would help.
Softly, he cleared his throat to get the Fenton adults' attention.
"Yes, Vlad?" Maddie asked patiently as she stopped Jack's inane rant about something or another. Jack would have protested but even wasn't so oblivious that he didn't feel the tension in the room. Whatever Vlad wanted to say, it seemed important.
"There's something I've been meaning to tell you…" he sighed heavily and decided to just get it over with. Rip the secret away like a band-aid.
The Fenton's waited, quietly for once, for their friend to continue.
"The portal accident. All those years ago… It did more to me than just give me a nasty case of ecto-acne."
"What do you mean, Vlad?" Maddie asked with concern, "What more could it have done?"
"What's going on, V-man?" Jack asked with just as much concern.
Vlad set down his mug and clenched his fists to control the sudden wave of anger that took over him, "That portal accident half-killed me is what's going on, Jack!"
He closed his eyes and tried to reign his frustration in but it bubbled out anyway in the sharpness of his tone, "I was dying in that hospital after your careless mistake caused the accident! The ecto-radiation from the acne was literally ripping me apart from the inside out and completely morphing my DNA! And then," he spat heatedly, "to add insult to injury. The both of you abandoned me there to run off and get married! You left me there! Alone and dying!"
"Vlad…" Maddie trailed off with tears shining in her eyes, she didn't like the pain she could feel nearly radiating off of her friend. She didn't like that she had been complicit in causing it. She wanted to comfort him but didn't have a clue where to start.
Jack was feeling much the same as his wife, "They wouldn't let us see you, V-man. Said it was too dangerous in case you were contagious. But that's no excuse," he said firmly, which caught Vlad's attention enough to look up, "We should have tried harder to visit and make sure you were alright."
Vlad took a deep, calming breath, releasing all the pent up bitterness and rage that had haunted him for near on thirty years now. "No, it's alright, Jack, Maddie. It's in the past now."
He hesitated as he stood from the table, the wooden chair making a rough squeak as he pushed it back, "That's not what I wanted to focus on, anyway. I wanted to show you… What it did to me. How it changed me."
He started at his hand and flexed it with a tense concentration so he wouldn't have to look them in the eye, "I also wanted to trade forgiveness for forgiveness. I've done…. Some very terrible things to you as well. Even though you both aren't fully aware."
"What do you…"
Both Fentons were shocked into silence as a sudden transformation took over their friend, black shadows flowing over his body and turning him into something… else. Vlad was… Vlad was a ghost! And that nasty Wisconsin Ghost to top it all off.
Maddie instantly reached for her gun but Jack held her still and shook his head.
"Vladdie?" he asked tentatively.
Vlad, now in the form of Plasmius, gave a weak nod. "Yes," his voice echoed slightly as he spoke and it unnerved the both of them. "I'm terribly sorry."
Maddie released a weak sob, "Vlad! We're the ones that should be sorry!" She dropped her weapon completely in favor of wrapping her arms around her torso for comfort. "We killed you," she said in a strangled whisper.
Jack placed an arm around his wife but looked too stricken to speak, guilt eating him up inside.
"No no no," Vlad said in a rush, changing back to human to try and reassure them, "I'm not, by some miracle and against all logic, fully dead. I'm called… A halfa. In the ghost realm. I am both dead and alive at the same time. But I am, still alive."
Whatever Vlad had been expecting to happen, and he hadn't expected much but the worst because he refused to think about it for too long, he hadn't been expecting to be pulled into a tight hug by both Jack and a tearful Maddie.
He was shocked at first but soon relaxed in the warm embrace of his friends. Jack was silent but he refused to let either of them go, while Maddie clung and whispered about forgiveness.
Vlad hugged the both of them back with a fierceness and begged for forgiveness too.
"It's good to have you here, V-man," Jack said eventually.
"It's good to be here, Jack," Vlad replied sincerely.
The rest of the night was spent in piles of blankets, the three of them curled together on the couch with no compunctions about personal space, and all of them enjoying copious amounts of fudge and ice cream. They switched back and forth between remembering the good times they shared and popping in old 80's feel good films that they missed.
Jazz and Danny found them like this, happily chatting away and laughing without remorse, and the children ultimately decided to join them and listened to the wild stories their parents and Vlad had about the glory days and watched all the corny films they reminisced about. Neither child knew what brought on the sudden need for closeness between their parents and Vlad but… neither one of them minded either.
In the end, it turned out to be a rather nice night for everyone.
"Daniel," Vlad started curiously one day after training, "what prompted you to give me a second chance in the first place? It's been months, I know, but it's one thing I haven't figured out. Why the change?"
Danny snorted as he mopped up the sweat he'd worked up during strength training, "I hadn't really changed my mind at first, actually. I was still pretty mad at you… But a good friend of mine convinced me you might have some good in you."
"Oh?" Vlad looked over with interest, wondering just who would have been able to change Danny's mind and why they thought he'd had any shred of decency in him back then.
Danny grinned, "Yeah, Master of Time and all that junk, I figured what he was saying probably had some merit."
"Master of Time…?" Vlad repeated softly. But that ghost was supposed to be a legend! There was no ghost in the world that could actually have that kind of power! It was impossible!
"Yup!" Danny said cheerfully as he searched around for his bottle of water, "That's Clockwork for you!"
Danny tilted his head to the side in thought as he absently fiddled with the lid to his water, "You know, now that I think about it, he was pretty adamant about you having a good side. Hmm."
Vlad nearly chocked on his own water when he saw Danny's sudden sly grin that followed that statement. Oh dear lord.
Danny cackled before coming over to slap Vlad on the back, "Don't die on me, old man."
Vlad bit back another harsh cough, Danny was growing stronger than he realized and that thump to his back would probably leave a mark.
Vlad half-heartedly shoved him off, "Then don't get smart with me, young man."
"Uh-huh, whatever," Danny made his way towards the exit of the usual training room before he turned back with a grin.
"So, did you want me to set up a date or what?"
"Daniel!"
It was weeks later from that moment, months since Vlad's initial turn around, and both Vlad and Danny were relaxing after a tiring round of sparring, simply lounging about on the extra-cushiony, extra-large couches in Vlad's extravagant living room. Music, a randomly chosen station on the radio, played softly in the background as Danny worked on his applications for colleges (with the help of Vlad's tutoring and the help of Vlad's backup with fighting ghosts, Danny had made a sharp turn around his grades so he had a high chance of getting accepted wherever he wanted) and Vlad worked on paperwork for his various businesses.
The early spring sun shone through the grand windows in honeyed beams and a soft breeze blew through the room, whispering over the two occupants in a cool greeting and rustling the white curtains that hung over Vlad's open windows. The clean scent of soap and fresh lilac hung about the room unobtrusively. Birds could be heard chirping and the music of the radio flowed on to various pop songs but other than that there was nothing but the sound of gentle breathing, page turning, and the occasional frustrated sigh. It was nice, to have such casual company to fill these quiet moments with.
"Hey Vlad," Danny quietly spoke up after some time.
"Yes, Daniel?" Vlad looked up from his paperwork to meet an intense blue stare aimed his way.
There was a softness in Danny's eyes as he smiled at the other man that still startled Vlad, "It's good to have you here," he repeated the words from weeks earlier when they'd first made a truce with what felt like a mountain more of fondness.
Vlad had to look away to hide the overflow of emotion in his eyes, "It's good to be here."
And it was then that Vlad knew he'd made the right decision. That finally, finally, he had everything he'd ever wanted.
Acceptance.