Something was off.
Vladimir, having floated through the timeless zone for several hours, was starting to feel weird. A sudden shift in the air around him caused him to cough uncontrollably. There was an unnatural warm searing pain in his chest. Feeling a burning heat flaring from the center of his abdomen, he grasped a hand to the spot in agony and winced. The other hand shot to his mouth in confusion. A narrow sliver of coiled gray smoke had wrestled its way through his fangs and was lazily dissipating in front of his line of sight.
Still recovering from his whiskey bender, Plasmius angrily admonished himself. "Note to self, half ghosts should REALLY drink in moderation." He frowned. The feeling was unnatural to him and even in his drunken state, he had an inclination that the smoke was a reaction to something in his general vicinity. Pausing he closed his eyes and focused his hearing. His pointed ears twitched and his eyes opened in surprise. He could hear breathing nearby. Reluctantly and cautiously he followed the sound through several warped and congealed masses of green matter until he came to the source. He froze instantly.
A vast, shaded archipelago floated ominously next to him. Purple torrents of poisoned water dripped and dissipated from the island's waterfall like protrusions. Inky, shadowy clouds of mist danced and swayed through the spectral foliage. Clearing his head of any doubt he phased through the impenetrable black fog and into the isle's trees. Seeing a black blossom with red stripes curling around the stem Vlad froze. Touching his glove to the bloom warily, he inspected the plant.
A look of recognition blossomed across his features and his eyebrows twitched in annoyance. ' I send Skulker and Fright Knight away and end up stumbling onto Nocturn's isle myself? If that isn't the most ironic…'Growling angrily he withdrew his hand from the bloom and focused back to the task at hand.
Nocturn was fairly elusive, and Vladimir from his extensive studies knew what to expect. Vlad tensed as he quietly looped around the blooms on the forest floor. The last thing he needed was for a sleep demon to get ahold of him. He suffered enough nightmares and being fed on by a dream mahr wouldn't help his already sleepless nights. 'Okay, Vladimir...think… you're completely drunk, but you do possess some knowledge, right?'He challenged himself as stepped over the thorny stems.' Okay…'He breathed in deeply and narrowed his eyes for a moment in concentration.'Nocturn… he's an Old Norse ghoul who consumes life from dreams. A mårt.'Vlad's brow furrowed.'He's reclusive and is fond of hunting people who can't defend themselves or have heavy self-doubt.'Vlad opened his eyes and, rolling them, continued making his way deeper into the island.'Therefore, technically, I am on the menu...lovely…'Looking around, his ears twitched animalistically toward the sound of the breathing. It was labored and pained. His red eyes glinted with worry.
'Focus Vlad! If you step on any of these blasted thorn snares you won't be able to help anyone…'He reprimanded and pulled his boot back from the black tendril that had started moving towards the slight warmth emanating from his body.' I assume Skulker and Fright Knight neglected the timeless land when they initiated their search because of rumors about Clockwork...foolish ghosts and their superstitions…'Vlad's red eyes flashed, and he froze. There was currently a heartbeat to accompany the labored breathing, and it was sporadic and faint. Vladimir almost would have confused it for one of the streams disrupted nearby by debris.
Pushing his way through the lush black grass and underbrush, he made his way to a spacious field-like clearing. The grass was warped and disjointed around the center and seemed to wave of its own accord, despite there being no wind. 'Banshee's Clover?' Vlad glared at the glowing purple flowers gently waving around in the grass. ' Okay...you've discovered its feeding ground Vladimir...now what?'
Even as he surmised it... he knew what he would have to do. The heartbeat and breathing seemed to be coming from a small pile of rocks in the middle of the clearing about ninety feet away from him. The black and scarlet blossoms favored by Nocturn gently swayed around the outcropping. Looking around and not detecting any traces of the dream demon Vlad strode forward only to gape in shock as he came closer to the blooms.
The mound, as he formerly thought, possessed white-gloved hands entrapped among the flowers. He had found Daniel. Teleporting forward he quickly reached the unconscious teen. Still in phantom form, the sixteen-year-old had not needed nourishment or common necessities to survive in the ghost zone. 'He should have turned human...What's-?'Vlad paled as he fully took in Daniel's condition. A helmet like array of blooms looped and curved around his eyes, blocking any out outside visuals. The stems and their thorny protrusions laced around his unconscious form and were slowly snuggling into his chest. Green ectoplasm and carnal blood freely flowed from the wound only for the ghost zone's ambient energy to feed Daniel's body and resurface the flesh.
"JESUS CHRIST?! Is Nocturn trying to feed off of his comatose state and his core?!"His panicked voice seemed to reverberate and echo in the clearing. Vlad's hand promptly shot to his mouth. Expecting his drunken foolishness to have alerted the dream demon, Vlad grimaced in anticipation of a confrontation only to be met with stifling silence. The sole things resonating in the clearing were the sounds of Vlad's now frantic heart and Daniel's failing one paired with their breathing.
Nocturn had found a better and more sustainable food source than his usual query. He had grown weary of sifting through temporary portals in hospital morgues and feeding off of the comatose or frail poltergeists. Why risk searching out meals away from the zone when a simple substitution would feed him indefinitely? And so he had decided to capture a more coveted prize, the now widely known Danny Phantom.
Vlad, wasting no time, growled angrily and began trying to figure out how to coax Daniel safely away from the plant tendrils without injuring him. Ultimately deciding on a course of action he used his hands to produce a thin, concentrated blast of ectoplasmic energy. Hovering the beam next to the boy, he directed it at the roots of the plants ensnaring Daniel. The plants writhed and flinched away at the violent heat and shriveled once they became detached at their bases. Seeing no more possible tendril-like appendages on the boy, Vladimir gently shook his shoulders to try and rouse him from his ghost induced stupor.
In panicked whispers, he addressed the bleeding half ghost, "Daniel? Wake up for the love of God! We have to…" He was cut off by a white-gloved hand that shot up in his direction. The blast cracked into his ribs and flung him backward in the grass. Vlad moaned. His hand limply held onto the side of his chest that was practically shot through. Daniel floated above him menacingly. And then, plummeting toward Vlad's dazed form, kicked him into the trees.
Danny's date with Sam had been going great. After eating at the Nasty Burger in town they had leisurely set-up a blanket on a hill overlooking Amity Park. Not a cloud obscured the flawless crystalline sky and the constellations twinkled despite the lights from the city below them. Sam was fidgeting with a small ring on her finger and blushing next to him. "So which one is Orion again?" She questioned curiously. Daniel smiled and pointed upward.
"Orion is the one with the three bright stars. See that's his belt. If you follow the dots, you will be able to make out Betelgeuse. It's that bright star that forms his armpit. After that? You can keep following the line east along the hunter's arm to see his bow."
Sam nodded enthusiastically. " It's a shame we can't see Scorpio this time of year."
Daniel nodded absently. " Yeah, winter does that…Hey, Sam?"He turned to her deep purple eyes and asked curiously." Why the interest in Scorpio?"
She pondered this absently. "It's tragic, isn't it? In mythology, Scorpio slays Orion, the great hunter, because of a trick…"Daniel raised an eyebrow at this morbid remark. Seeing his face Sam laughed. " It's my Zodiac sign so I read up on the myth…" Daniel furrowed his brow. 'Why's she lying? Her birthday falls around August…'Daniel's blue eyes flashed for a second to radioactive green only to turn back to blue as Sam reached over to his face and kissed him.
Blushing profusely he nervously averted his eyes, "Um, was that a fake-out make-out?"Smiling widely she leaned forwards across the blanket and gathered a soda from her backpack."You tell me dream boy? Was it?"He blushed and put a hand behind his neck nervously...She saw his expression and laughed jubilantly. Leaning back towards him, she secured her arm under his jaw. " Why not test your theory?" Smiling he leaned forward to kiss her only for a sudden jolt to shake everything. Vlad Plasmius floated above them threateningly. Daniel's blue eyes flashed green in rage and shock. 'NO 'S DEAD. HE CAN'T BE ALIVE."
"Sam! Stay back I have this!'Shifting he turned toward where Sam had been sitting only to pale. An overturned grape soda bottle limply lay across the blanket. Vlad laughed hauntingly from above him. The noise fluctuated and warped like a broken radio signal. Flying upward toward Vlad, Daniel charged his hands. Blasting the figure in the shoulder he watched as Plasmius faded and rippled from view.
"A duplicate or?" Daniel floated warily in the cold winter air. A startled scream from behind him jarred him out of his ponderings. Another Plasmius was suspending Sam by the hood of her purple flannel jacket some forty feet above the ground. Daniel's vivid green eyes widened in horror.
Vlad snapped through the underbrush and trees with a sickening cracking sound. Winded, he shakily crawled away from the spectral tree that he had snapped in half from the force of his body slamming into it. Coughing up ectoplasm he numbly stared at the gaping gash that extended from his left pectoral muscles all the way down to his lower ribs. Green dripped lazily from the wound and hastily ate at the singed fabric. The teen wasn't in control of his power levels.
' Ow.' Shakily getting to his feet he experienced a moment of temporary dizziness and almost slumped back into the red and black foliage face first. Gloved hands had whirled to his knees and supported him before his face could reacquaint itself with the island.
Any other day and Vlad would have been able to intercept the boy's attacks but today… well, at present he was for lack of a better word fully inebriated. Hearing a branch snap nearby, Vladimir paled.
"Oh, fudge…" The billionaire gasped before being kicked yet again in the wounded area by the teenager. Now back on the ground, he struggled to take in a decent gulp of air after being winded. Wincing in pain he looked up at Daniel. And then it clicked. They weren't alone, and Daniel was definitely 'not at home.'The blank green orbs that locked on Plasmius' bleeding and struggling form stared at him but saw nothing. They were lifeless.
The boy was sleepwalking to Nocturn's whims. ' …. Well… this can't possibly get any worse Plasmius…'Standing shakily back up Vlad's red eyes darted around the boy trying to discover an opening.' You could always blast him?'Vlad's hands charged and then limply fell back to his sides.' Then again...there's no guarantee that wouldn't do more harm than good.'Vlad snarled at his lack of options and grimacing bit his lip and turned intangible. Phasing through Daniel he swiftly turned solid and proceeded to shake the boy in an attempt to wake him up and severe the connection. Flinging the boy around to confront him he shook him even more roughly.
"WAKE UP DAMN IT!" Plasmius all but slapped the teen. A glimmer of something sparked in Daniel's green eyes.
Whatever granule of accomplishment Vlad had gotten in his bleeding and drunken state immediately dissipated a few seconds later when another fierce, searing pain ripped through his abdomen. Daniel had shot him again. Knees buckling to the ground Vladimir struggled to keep his red eyes coherent. " ….I hate my job…" He half coherently mumbled.
Daniel could feel his heart stop in his chest. A large tearing sound echoed through the frigid air. Sam's hood was ripping. Plasmius grinned broadly at the sound. Sam's hands desperately latched onto his gloved hands in an attempt to prevent herself from plummeting. Her round eyes widened in terror and her ebony stained lips widened into a scream.
"PLASMIUS! DON"T!" Daniel's panicked voice ripped through the tension and suddenly everything shook again. The entire world seemed to spin and fluctuate around the three of them. A violent blast aimed at his head shifted his attention back to Vlad. The ghost's grip on Sam's hood was now reduced to a lone hand. The other arm was aimed at Daniel and readied to blast him again.
A peculiar muffled noise seemed to reverberate around him.
"WA…UP!"Daniel's neon eyes widened, and he floated apprehensively, but now puzzled, across from the still evilly grinning older half ghost.
"Did you just say 'Was' up?"It was Vladimir's voice surely, but the billionaire would never utter something so tactless. In reply to the question, Plasmius leisurely lifted up Sam's still struggling form in front of Daniel. "DANNY? I'M SCARED!" Sam's voice pierced through Daniel's question, and he extended his hands up in front of his face."Fruit Loop ...please...don' 's not involved in this…"
Vlad's face contorted in rage. " Not involved? Dear boy, she's just as much to blame as you are!"Sam's fingerless gloves latched desperately onto Vlad's black ones. Scuffing at her attempts to stabilize herself he looked into Daniel's eyes and smiled. "The world's hero, huh? Tell me little Badger… you can top what? One hundred and thirty miles per an hour in your current form? I know you're bad at math, so I'll make this simple Daniel. If I drop her from this distance would you be able to make it in time?"
He paused and shook Sam's dangling form to emphasize the point and the hood ripped even more. Sam's black mascara trailed down her face from her tears. Vlad's smile morbidly stretched across his features. And then he let go of Sam.
Her form stayed suspended for a split second in mid-air and then her ebony hair tousled up as she began falling. Daniel immediately dove to her. 'I can make it!' He could practically touch her.
And then the world shook and fluctuated again. Daniel could feel his heart constrict, and his powers fluctuate. When everything stopped spinning Daniel's eyes widened in anger and grief. Sam's body lay limply against the pavement where she had fallen. Her indigo, gray eyes stared into the sky unable to see. Tears snaked across Daniel's face and his hand immediately shot upward and blasted Plasmius square in the chest.
Vlad, still struggling to stay coherent could detect tepid water dripping onto his face. Puzzled, he locked his eyes up to Daniel's face and froze. Danny Phantom was crying. Vladimir's crimson eyes widened in horror. Choking against the now iron rich human blood and static-filled ectoplasm in his mouth, Vlad whispered, " Little badger...it's just a nightmare…wake-up…"
Daniel's tears seemed to only grow stronger. A breeze rustled through the grass and around Daniel, whipping his snow-white hair to and fro. A hand latched to Vlad's shoulder and hefted him up.
The boy's eyes, still distraught, hauntingly contrasted with the smile that played across his lips. 'He's feeding on him from the inside…Think…Think damn it!'Vlad dully gripped the boy's white-gloved hand in his own ebony one.'Skulker is going to annihilate me when he finds out about this little ordeal…'Swallowing nervously Vlad turned intangible and forcefully possessed Daniel's body.
Daniel's body convulsed and flashed red for a moment at the intrusion. Crimson and deepest black fought for control in his unconscious eyes. Vlad, now suspended in Daniel's body could feel the crippling lattice-like fog rolling over him. "DANIEL!" Seeing a segmented part of Daniel's subconscious netted in REM sleep Vladimir quickly fused his consciousness into the portal like void. The world seemed to ripple and pulsate and a dazzling flash of brilliant green light temporarily blinded Vlad. When he opened his eyes, the sound of agonized screaming from Daniel jostled his consciousness. Daniel was lifting a young girl's head in his arms and cradling her against himself. His body racked with grief, he shook against himself. Grimacing, Vladimir stumbled forward and seeing her lifeless eyes he froze. He could feel his guts twist and turn at the sight.
'What type of hell verse did I just stumble into?! NO WONDER HE BLASTED ME!'Vlad's gloved hand desperately latched against his still freely bleeding torso. He was feeling faint. The use of his abilities in his state wasn't going to be easy. He was the one possessing Daniel any damage made to his temporal form would most certainly transfer to his corporeal body when he returned to the external world again. He could already feel Nocturn's presence warping his resolve and his thoughts. Daniel's screams ripped Vlad from his ponderings, and he painfully began making his way towards the teen."...Daniel? Are you alright?"
Daniel's body stiffened and the sobbing stopped. Vlad's red eyes flashed with concern. Clutching the hand from his wounded chest, he reached toward the boy only to feel himself being flung back into yet another tree. "YOU KILLED HER YOU BASTARD!"
Daniel's hands continued blasting and his green eyes flashed wildly. The blasts were sporadic and fluctuate in intensity and density. Vlad's form crumbled and fell face first into the grass. His black gloved hand numbly dug into the ground as the assault continued. 'Shield… have to shield…'A weak pink dome shot up to protect Vlad from the blasts only for the sudden exertion to drain his now heavily bruised and bloody body of valuable energy. The boy's blasts internally weren't as fierce, but they did produce sizeable damage. After a few moments, Vlad started to slip and faint. His head dully hit against the ground and the pink shield shattered and broke. Daniel, seeing Plasmius' unmoving, quickly ran forward to him. Vlad's wrist moved numbly as he attempted to crawl away only for a white boot to slam into his back and plunge him back into the ground. Vladimir screamed in agony as his chest was pressed into the frozen earth.
Turning Vlad over with his foot, the teenager glared. Daniel's glare, however, turned to a look of puzzlement as his focus landed on the older hybrid's rapidly bleeding chest. He was certain his ectoblasts hadn't caused that much damage. Vlad's red eyes dully locked with Daniel's as he was lifted up. Daniel's neon green orbs, still grief-stricken, narrowed at Vlad. Lifting up one of his hands from Vlad's neck, he charged it and rammed it point black against Vlad's stomach. Vlad screamed in agony and Daniel lifted him up higher by the nape of his neck. Crimson eyes teared and his hands numbly tried to fight the grip depriving his consciousness of clarity.
After a few moments, his hands began going limp. Vlad struggled through the clinched fingers around his throat to address the teen. "...Badger…wake-up…"Daniel's hand tightened slightly. Blood dripped down Vladimir's jaw. "...Wake up...for Christ's sake…Daniel…"Tightening his grip further and hearing the low gurgle from the adult, inhuman darkness consumed Daniel's form and a wicked smile morphed onto his face. Placing his other hand around Vlad's throat, he charged his hands and began burning his neck. Vlad's body numbly writhed against the burning and his eyes began to try and close. 'Damn it…'
A movement from behind Daniel prompted him out of his pained stupor. The girl's body had morphed and shifted into a gray shadow adorned with compact stars. Its red eyes gleamed wickedly as it stared at Vladimir's injured form. Lifting his arm up weakly Vlad blasted the creature that had previously been disguising as the girl. Daniel's eyes widened at the barely conscious half ghost and the inhuman darkness snapped and faded from his body. What the blazes had his arch-enemy just fired at?!
Glancing behind them, Daniel paled. A lumbering shadow hissed and flailed as the blast made contact with its chest. The world shook and seemed to crack around them. As soon as the shadow collapsed everything faded to black.
Now back on the floating isle Vlad desperately gasped for air. The ghost zone's cold dry atmosphere stung at his chest. Red had started dripping through the green ectoplasm more profusely. His ghost form was weakening too much to differentiate the shifts between his living blood and his spectral form. 'Well, this is just peachy!' Seeing Nocturn's sprawled carcass across from him he immediately sprung back to his feet.
Daniel's limp body lay between the two of them. In a pop of pink, Vlad latched on to Daniel and teleported him a reasonable distance away. Popping back to Nocturn he cracked his knuckles. The mårt, now dazed from being knocked back into the ghost zone from Daniel, was moaning and flickering spastically without its food source. A gaping hole through its torso leaked green onto the black grass. The blades guzzled it up greedily. Stepping forward, Plasmius latched his hand under the ghost's jaw. It hissed angrily and stared into his red eyes with malice and killing intent. Vladimir glanced at his chest and smirked before casually glaring right back into the specter's equally red eyes."You really should have stayed in hiding Nocturn…god knows this has damned you."
Nocturn's jaw unlatched and his dagger-like fangs extended and exposed themselves. In ghost speak he snarled, "You're already half out of it! What makes you think I am just going to-" At this, Vladimir smiled wickedly and casually tore off the ebony glove from his right hand with his teeth. Nocturn paled. "You're the-!"
Vlad charged the hand and knocked it into the nightmare's jaw, cutting off his sentence. "Shhhhh. The boy's sleeping. We wouldn't want him to hear this…" A bubble of white energy and pink sparks encased the compact area. Vlad rolled his neck and still holding Nocturn grinned devilishly. In ghost speak, he lamented. "You just had to pursue my future prodigy didn't you?" He lifted the ghost into one arm and teleporting above him spiraled his leg right into Nocturn's bleeding chest. Nocturn realizing he was in dire straights turned intangible only for Plasmius' hand to latch on to his immaterial form and electrocute him back into reality. " You know… it's a shame ghosts and demons don't possess bones. I almost wanted you to know just how painful that really felt."Vlad snarled. Latching his hand under the ghost's robes, he pitched him back into the ground and began wailing on him with his bare hands. Five or ten minutes passed with Plasmius just charging and discharging his hands against the ghoul.
Nocturn hissed and thrashed under his grip. A taloned hand ripped into Vlad's chest and slashed deeply into the large gashes Daniel had carved into him. Seeing his condition wasn't favorable for a long confrontation Vlad charged his right hand. It pulsed and warped with a pale white mist. Purplish sparks shot from around his fingers and danced around the palm. Straightening his blue taloned hand, he rammed it into Nocturn's core. The ghost screamed and crumpled in on itself, fading into black mist as its core imploded. Breathing heavily, Vlad grasped onto his right hand as it burned and pulsed. Grimacing, he summoned a black glove from his spectral energy and re-covered the limb. Standing back up he felt the rings around his chest attempting to transform him back human. He had exhausted his resources for the night. Fighting the transformation rings he quickly walked over to Daniel and picked him up.
'Well, little badger…I think it's time we brought you home…'Holding the sixteen-year-old tightly to his wounded chest Vladimir teleported back to his portal's location in the Ghost Zone. Vladimir's spectral form immediately fizzled out of existence as he stepped into his basement. Without the ghost zone feeding Plasmius' injured body, the rings simply popped around him and cut it off forcefully in order to redirect energy to his healing. Stumbling, he began falling and he grimaced as he redirected the impact to his back in order to avoid waking up Daniel.
'Damn it.' The wounds he had sustained from both Daniel's physical form and his subconscious form dripped hauntingly through his formerly white shirt. Placing his palm to Daniel's neck, he sighed somewhat in relief. His heartbeat was stronger. Worriedly he inspected Daniel's pale form. The boy's white t-shirt flashed into existence as his own thin frame shifted back human. As the bright white rings faded out Vlad felt his throat catch. A large bleeding circle was carved into the center of his chest.
'Damn it.' Ignoring his own state of disrepair, he gently laid Daniel onto the floor. Looking around he growled. The dim light made it practically impossible to see the full extent of Daniel's injuries.'I can't go looking for medical supplies. My ghost powers are practically toast.'Vlad's hands were shaking as he elevated Daniel up slightly off of the floor and lamented his own stupidity.
Tearing off Daniel's shirt and creating strips from the fabric, he began trying to patch the minor. The boy moaned at the pressure. Daniel's chest continued bleeding through the hastily made t-shirt bandages Vladimir had fashioned and the adult clucked in agitation. Yanking off his own shirt, he grimaced as the blood dripped down his chest began pooling against his pants. Dizzy, he angrily began tearing off the bloody remnants and straightening the fabric so that it would passably conceal Daniel's wound. Shrouding it around Daniel, he quickly tied off the torn sleeves at the shoulder and hefted the boy into his arms. Vlad could feel himself slipping under from blood loss.
Vlad's eyes flashed red as he forced a teleportation against the wishes of his own body. The summer air stung against his bare chest. It was night, meaning he had been gone from Amity for twenty-four hours. Placing the boy on the doorstep, he collapsed against the brick wall and shakily tolled the bell. Dull footsteps could be heard approaching from within the home. Straightening himself against the wall, he took one last fleeting glance at the teenager and teleported back to his manor.
Doubling over in pain, he stumbled and fell to the floor. He gasped as he felt the darkness engulf him and his fatigued body slipped into a troubled slumber. His ghost-enhanced cells immediately went to work resurfacing his torn and bleeding flesh. Several times throughout the night the crimson morphed and fluctuated to green ectoplasm in an act of preservation. Ectoplasm, as the thicker of the two substances acted much like a coagulant and by extension, was needed at the moment by Vlad's human form. Survival coaxed the dimensional shifts out of necessity, starving oxygen and depleting spectral energy in spades.
Before the sun came up both the ghost and human energies stored in his body dissipated and faded. His chest, for the most part, remained wounded. Vlad stirred slowly from the stone. The early morning illuminated the crimson splattered and pooled across the white herringbone tile. Moaning, he slowly brought himself to a kneeling position. Using the island as support, he straightened himself up to stand on his bare feet. His bangs flopped into his face, partially obscuring his red eyes, as he held onto his chest. Making his way to the downstairs bathroom, he inspected his wounds carefully in the mirror. Too weak to shield or cloak his scars, he simply sighed. He hated his old wounds and the fact he couldn't conceal them ticked him off slightly. Furrowing his brow, he casually duplicated and began patching himself up. While he wrapped his hands and applied gauze and salve to his chest the clone began unwrapping the bandage rolls from the first aid kit under the counter. Once done bandaging himself, the clone fizzed and popped out of existence.
Physically and emotionally exhausted, Vladimir clumsily made his way from the bathroom and teleported to his bedroom. '.. Better to be low on ghost power than to rip myself open going up those infernal stairs…'Dropping onto the dark green comforter, he balled his fists angrily. Deep-set eyes peaked at his wrist and he groaned. It was two thirty in the afternoon. Annoyed, he ripped the offending watch from his arm and slung it onto the side table.
'Knowing Jack and Maddie, they probably hauled him to the hospital...' Turning on his back he let out a soft hiss of agony. His now watch free right hand lounged across his face as he began thinking over what his little break in character could possibly signify. The palm sparked at the thoughts that raced through his weary skull. ' Blasted seal...It hasn't been working correctly since god knows when ….'
He sighed heavily. ' It's been what? Two and a half months? Everything burns and hurts when I use the blasted thing…Is it possible I tainted it?'He rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly and then slammed his arms down onto the mattress. He glanced at his palm worriedly. 'God knows, Clockwork wouldn't pop by after our little fight last year to help…' He looked to the ceiling tiredly. 'Is it too much to ask for a little break? Huh?'
Vladimir yawned and turned to his side in an attempt to rest.