A.N. I don't know what this is…just a filler, I think. It was originally part of a longer one-shot, but it didn't fit in well, and was just making the whole thing too weird. So now, I've edited it so it can stand alone.
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Vlad was in his study. He was playing chess; the board in front of him was halfway through a game, but the seat on the other side of the table was empty. Vlad was playing alone. Listlessly, he moved a piece forwards.
"Checkmate," the man said, but he said it dully, in a flat monotone. Stirring, he sighed and reached over slowly to pick up the white king. Bringing it to his face, he examined it closely, frowning in silent contemplation.
The chess piece was a replica of the man he loathed, down to the jumpsuit and goofy grin. Vlad then scrutinized the other chess pieces in turn. He himself was, unsurprisingly, the black king, with Maddie as the white queen. His own black queen was just a standard store-bought piece. He hadn't made replicas for most of the figurines, mostly because the piece in question did not have a real-life equivalent in Vlad's mental chess game of life.
Among the black pawns was a replica of the Red Huntress. She was the only human custom-made pawn on Vlad's side of the board (Maddie-the cat-was a pawn). On the other side, Jasmine, Samantha Manson, and Tucker Foley were pawns as well. The boy was there too as Phantom, glaring upwards in open defiance.
The set of Vlad's jaw hardened as he narrowed his eyes at the small minifigure. He growled suddenly, and gripped the Jack figurine tighter. He glared at it for a moment, mutely, than glanced down again suddenly, struck by a sudden idea.
Methodically, he began to put all the statuettes back into their proper places. When he was done, only four pieces remained in his hand; the white queen and king, the dark king, and a pawn. Maddie, Jack, Vlad, and Danny. Slowly, as if it pained him, Vlad placed Maddie on the white edge of the board, before putting himself on the opposite edge of the board, on the black side. Now only Jack and Danny remained.
Vlad considered the two pieces for several long moments. Then he put Jack on the front line, and placed Danny's figure next to his mother's as the king.
"He was never just a pawn, anyways," he muttered.
A.N. I wrote this 'cause of how Vlad's usually so dismissive of Danny. It seems to me that he doesn't spend enough time scheming to get Danny on his side. He's always flirting with Maddie, or trying to kill Jack. Frankly, it's annoying. So, this is Vlad realizing that Danny's a lot more important than to him then he'd earlier believed. Oh yeah, and it's inspired by a D.P. episode-don't know which one-where we see that his chess characters are shaped like real people. Maddie's a queen, Jack's a king, and Danny's a pawn. That didn't really sit well with me…Danny a pawn? Oh, wait…the original thing may have been a fan art…don't remember….Anyway. Vlad wants to kill Jack. To him, Jack is a means to an end, that end being Maddie and Danny on his side. So why is Jack a king? I mean, really. But I'm rambling. Sorry about that. Thanks for reading!