It was still bizarre to see Vlad in pale blue scrubs and slippers every time he visited. Some days he had restraints attached to his clothes to prevent his outbursts from escalating into violence, other days he was allowed to move his limbs freely, provided he had supervision, and today was another one of those 'other days'.
Daniel sat across from him in the recreational room, keeping a reasonable distance between them. It may have been Vlad who lifted his head and smiled in greeting, but he was liable to be taken over by Plasmius at any given time. Though, fortunately, Danny had managed to subdue the man's ghost form with Fenton tech.
Vlad moved to pass a black crayon he had been writing with to a nearby observing nurse, and then slowly folded his piece of paper shut. Before it closed, Daniel spied the words 'is coming today' and 'we should' and swallowed uncomfortably at the implications, looking up at the elder man.
"So," he began, bringing his hands up onto the table. Folded and neat, so unlike himself. "Uh, progress on the equipment to separate you two is coming along." It was always awkward to initiate conversation with someone who so often fluctuated between being lucid and being wholly submerged in his 'Masters Family' fantasy.
"He won't be happy to hear that." There was no need to ask who 'he' was. "He doubts I'll be released even if you do separate us. He said I'm insane regardless of his presence inside of me."
At least Vlad didn't think he was his dad today. Danny always hated to have to remind Vlad they weren't related, because it was the only time the man ever seemed content.
"Uh… and what about you?" he asked. It was a fairly standard question in their conversations. Vlad always sought out Plasmius' words when giving an opinion. "What do you think?"
Vlad tapped the tips of his fingers together, uncontrollable fidgeting he only ever exhibited when talking to a Fenton. "I think I'm doing better. They're going to allow me to have a roommate soon. I've been evaluated and considered safe for certain residents to be around."
'Certain' residents. Probably the ones larger than him, and there were plenty of those in the facility.
"That's good," Danny said, nodding awkwardly. "I didn't think they'd allow that with Plasmius' track record…?"
Vlad shrugged. "He's been quieter recently. Probably planning something to put us back in solitary confinement. Last time he fell into a silence, he'd taken someone's shoelaces and—"
Danny threw up his hands to forestall the tale. "Whao, no need to get descriptive! I can guess what happened."
Vlad gave an apologetic nod, somehow managing to make Daniel feel as if he was being looked up at despite their vast difference in height. "Right, I… do forget how sensitive you are, sometimes. Comparatively, anyway."
"It— it's okay." He didn't like it when Vlad looked at him like that, like an old dog staring past the bars of an abusive home. He swallowed thickly, turning his face to the table. Fourteen was too young to know how to respond to such desperation. "I want to have a word with Plasmius before I leave, if that's okay?"
He didn't raise his head to see if his request visibly hurt Vlad.
There was a gentle 'crick'ing sound, a neck being pulled taut, and then he could practically feel Plasmius' eyes regarding him with intense loathing. "What is it, little ghost boy? You've chosen a terrible day to initiate conversation with me." As he looked up, he saw wiggling fingers, unrestrained and free to inflict harm if Plasmius so desired.
As he was among groups of people, there was no way Danny could use his powers to protect himself here. He pressed his chair back as a precaution.
"I read the diary." He examined Plasmius' expression for any hints of anger before he continued, "…Right, so I read the diary, and I just… I still don't get your motive for doing everything you did. You said you lov—"
Plasmius' hands jerked into fists, and Danny reconsidered the phrasing of his inquiry. "Uh, I mean, I can't tell when you're lying and when you're telling the truth, so I — I was wondering if you could clear that up for me?"
"Why should I?" Plasmius asked, which wasn't exactly unexpected.
"Don't you want someone to know what your real intentions were?" Even if they were bound to be heavily, heavily sugar-coated to put Plasmius in a better light. He frequently made Vlad out to be the guilty party in conversation.
Plasmius' reply didn't come until Danny's nerves were beginning split, his heels raising off the ground in preparation to run. "He couldn't tell the difference between my lies and truths, either." Plasmius folded his arms and leaned into the back of his chair, smiling broadly. The nurse in charge of him looked to be rapidly recording his activity, leaning in to eavesdrop on their exchange. "Almost everything I said that he didn't call out as a lie was true. I did care, and I did want to help him change."
He turned to the nurse, glaring at her until she shrank back a few steps. A safe distance for their conversation to enter 'halfa' territory. "He had a problem. I spent twenty years listening to that problem, listening to him regurgitate how much he loved Maddie over and over again, even when he had cut himself off from her life. Twenty years later, I was still listening to him mourn 'what was meant to be', so when my efforts to breach his consciousness finally succeeded…" He shrugged a shoulder, looking to Danny for commentary.
Danny had to tread carefully if he wanted Plasmius to divulge the entire story. "You… planted a diary for him to write in?"
"Noooo," Plasmius hissed. "I planted his old diary at his desk to kick him into gear, and then I had him start writing in a new diary. I knew he would, I'd pretty much memorized his thought patterns by then."
"And how it ended…?"
"Not what I wanted. He was meant to break, but not like this. I wanted us – I wanted him to be happy, and he was never going to be happy if I didn't break him into little pieces and reconstruct him like a jigsaw first." A heaving sigh. "Certainly, there would have been remnants left behind, but nothing he couldn't function without. I never thought the situation would turn into something that would slip through my fingers when I tried to take the reins."
He leaned forwards, on his elbows, closing in on Danny's personal space. "One day, I woke up lying in the bathroom on my back. Now, this wasn't unusual, because I'd indulged in alcohol frequently during my first days of control. But I was more than a little surprised when I realized I was lying in a pool of my own blood." There was audible regret in his voice, his pinched expression softening. "I realized then I had pressed too hard. I'd snapped something in him I couldn't glue back together, no matter how hard I tried and how much I wanted it. He had been resilient before this, so I had never thought…" There was a moment of silence. "I merely wanted to fix him, Daniel, and I still think I can. You're going to ruin him if you take me away; I'm the only stabilizing force he has left."
It took considerable effort not to challenge Plasmius' perception of his relationship with Vlad. To provoke a violent response would be disastrous, and not just for himself.
"Thanks," Danny ground out, dipping his head low to hide a clenched jaw. "Could I speak to Vlad?"
"Of course, but first…" The other man was squeezing in further, hips against the table. So close Daniel could almost feel his breath, and the nurse overlooking them was visibly a hairsbreadth from calling for help. "Your ghost half could breach your consciousness one day as well, little one. Be sure you treat him right."
Crick.
Distress curdled in Danny's stomach.
"Was it an informative conversation?" asked Vlad's calmer, softer voice. Danny watched him drop back into his seat with a forced smile.
"Yeah. Yeah, it was." He started to push up from the table. "I just wanted to say goodbye to you properly before I left."
"Oh." Vlad followed suit, pushing himself out of his seat with his arms lifted, hands extended as if he were preparing to give Daniel a departing hug, before he quietly descended back into his chair and curled his arms against his sides. "Not mine, not mine," he murmured to himself, turning his head up at Danny and raising a hand in a wave. "Until a later time."
"Y-yeah," Danny stuttered, smile faltering. "I'll see you next week."
Barely able to resist the urge to intangibly escape the building, Danny sped past Vlad just as the man unfurled his paper and gestured to have his crayon returned.
–
They're wrong to even think about taking me from you, Vladimir, but don't you fret; I've devised a plan to get us out of here. All you need to do is be quiet for me during the extraction.
Don't be afraid of what's coming. Hold onto me, and I'll take care of you.
I'm going to fix everything.