Summary: Vlad made a lot of terrible decisions in his life, but he never regretted one as much as this.
Characters: Vlad, Danny, and Dan
Prompt: Fave Episode (The Ultimate Enemy)

Day Two

Vlad stood in the doorway to the bedroom, the same one he had given the young boy when his family came to visit for their twentieth college reunion. It felt like years had passed since they first met, and the time had drained him a great deal. He just wanted to collapse into a seat in his study and drown himself in the hard liquor he kept stashed away for times when he felt particularly depressed.

"Daniel-"

"I don't want to talk about it," Daniel muttered, his voice sounding thick like he had been crying. He probably was still crying. He refused to even look at Vlad, another sign to suggest he was crying and didn't want the older man to know about it.

Vlad lowered his gaze, absently smoothing down his black suit. He hardly felt like the right person to speak with the boy at this time. How was he supposed to offer him help when he was dealing with his own grief? For all his desire to have a family of his own, having Daniel in his care now left him grasping blindly for answers of how to care for the boy.

"You're not the only one hurting here, Daniel."

The boy was off the bed in a flash, and even if he had the time to react, Vlad wouldn't have attempted to move to avoid when Daniel grabbed hold of the front of his suit and drove the older half ghost back until he slammed into the wall on the opposite side of the hall. Daniel's eyes were red and puffy, tracks from tears running down his face. The anger twisted upon his face didn't hide the pain and sorrow he felt shining through his eyes.

"You think you have the right to think your pain is more important than mine?" Daniel shouted, screamed into Vlad's face. "You think your sick obsession with my mom makes your pain real? I lost my parents! My sister! My friends! Even my teacher was killed in that explosion! And you think you can sit here and tell me I'm not the only one hurting?" He slammed Vlad hard against the wall, his eyes shifting to bright green in his rage.

Vlad shook his head. "That's not what I was trying to say. I loved your mother. I never wanted something like this to happen."

"Never-" Daniel released a bitter laugh. "Never wanted something like this to happen? You tried to kill my dad. Multiple times! Now you're going to try to tell me that you didn't mean for my dad to die?"

"I-" Vlad turned his gaze away from the boy. "Yes, I was bitter and jealous. Enough so that I wanted your father out of the way to get what I thought I deserved. But I never meant for you to lose so much. I never wanted you to suffer like this. If I could, I would do anything I could to help you through this."

"You want to help me?" Daniel shouted, his hands balling tighter around the fabric of Vlad's suit. "If you really want to help me, then find a way to stop me from feeling all this pain. I'm sick of feeling empty inside. Like someone reached into my chest and ripped out my heart. I can't," the tears ran down his face, and he bowed his head, "keep living like this. It hurts too much. If you can't give me my family and friends back, then take away the hurt."

Daniel didn't fight when Vlad enclosed him in an embrace. His face buried against the man's chest, his tears dampening the suit, though Vlad hardly cared about that at the moment. Daniel sobbed in his anguish, and Vlad felt his own heart breaking again. He never wanted this for Daniel. He would find some way to make things better for the boy.

It all went wrong. He meant to help Daniel, but he only made everything worse.

"I'm so sorry," Vlad whispered brokenly as he clutched the lifeless body in his arms. He squeezed his eyes shut as hot tears ran down his face. Why did he destroy everything he touched in the end? Daniel could have had such a bright future ahead of him if Vlad hadn't interfered. He sobbed into the crook of Daniel's neck, wishing for life to return to the boy's broken body. "I only meant to help you. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. You were supposed to be free and happy, without the pain. I'm so, so sorry."

"Why?"

Vlad lifted his gaze to the strange being floating before him. He could see some of Daniel in his face, but it all looked so very wrong to him. He held Daniel's body a bit tighter, and even more, it seemed like his world was crumbling down around him. He never meant to unleash this upon the world.

"You did as promised," the not-Daniel ghost said with a crazed grin upon his face and madness in his blood red eyes. "I'm free of all those pathetic human emotions."

"I'm so sorry, Daniel," Vlad whispered with regret as the not-Daniel ghost laughed, shaking the man to his core. He never should have involved himself with the Fenton family.

Author's Note: This was a hard one to think of something to write for since I've never really picked a favorite episode. I love a lot of the episodes, though there are a handful of ones I didn't like either (like the vast majority of season 3). But I think what drew me toward The Ultimate Enemy, other than we get to meet Dan, is that we get to see this redeemable side of Vlad (until his character massacre in season 3).

TheEpicDuck123: Aw~ *hides faces from compliments* You're so nice! Boo exams and finals! They make school so stressful and pile them all together, which only makes it more stressful! D8 I enjoy responding to reviews. 8D It's nice hearing from readers. =) Thanks~ It's always fun crafting worlds to play around in, which is for some reason a million times easier in a fanfic than an original work, even if I'm playing around in a completely new world. XD;; I'll try and see if I can write some more to the space one, but today's theme didn't quite lend itself to continuing that one. But maybe some of the other themes will allow it. If not, I can add it to my list of things that should be continued. XD;;;

midnight: Thanks~ XD I was in debate about whether to do it this year or not. I wasn't sure because of all the other stories I have to write, but I'm gonna see if I can keep things balanced out and work on both the stories and PhannieMay.

panfan87: I did~ 8D Haha, you'll have to wait and see if I get the chance to continue with that idea. 8D;; *squishes Danny in a hug* He's so nice and caring!

Invader Johnny: You know, I think I saw E.T. but I don't really remember it. I remember there were M&Ms and the flying past the moon on a bike and the "E.T. phone home" line, but I don't remember anything else about the movie.