Disclaimer: Don't own DP.
Hey, everyone! Wow, this is a pretty good updating time for me, lol. But I have good news! NeoRetro10K has created a title card for Quantum Paradox! You can visit the original image on deviant art, under NeoRetro10K's name. A super-awesome shout out is deserved. I'm so pleased and excited. It's beautiful! So to celebrate, here's another chapter!
Quantum Paradox
Chapter 11
Clockwork watched as Danny trudged back into the tower quite a while later. The boy did not fly. He floated a few inches off the ground, moving one foot in front of the other.
The older ghost said, voice soft, "Daniel?"
His charge lifted his head, eyeing Clockwork with a bloodshot gaze. Then Danny looked down again. He kept trudging towards the portals.
With a sigh, Clockwork said, "Daniel, you must understand that I-"
"-Shut up." Danny's hoarse voice tore through the air with a hiss. "Just shut up." He waved Clockwork off with a careless hand. "I don't want to hear it."
Clockwork honored his request and remained silent. He leaned a bit heavier on his staff, gripping it tightly.
Danny's features were drawn and gaunt of life. He looked as if he had cried, his eyes rimmed and nose tipped red, but no tears streaked his cheeks even though they blurred his vision. His once-proud shoulders were permanently stooped.
And he trudged through to the portal into present-time Amity Park, back home without one more word to his mentor.
On the other side of the portal, Amity Park looked sunny. Fluffy clouds bounced in the sky, and a light wind twirled around him. He'd been dumped out in the middle of town, where bright cars rumbled by.
Danny scowled, wincing at the glares of the sun from passing windshields. He turned himself invisible to avoid drawing attention to himself.
What was this? Why was the world not raining or dark or depressing? Why were some people laughing?
Amity Park was still in mourning, it had to be. It needed to be in mourning. How dare it look happy.
From behind a building, he materialized and transformed back into his human ego, his feet lightly hitting the pavement for the first time in quite a while. He winced. His legs felt asleep in the worst way; pins and needles stormed up his spine, and he nearly doubled over. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to reground himself. "Jesus," he breathed.
It felt as if the entire world, his own body, was against him.
"…Having trouble there, little badger?"
Danny froze. Horror filled him. Slowly, he turned around just as he realized that his ghost sense had gone off.
Vlad leaned against a limo, smoking a cigarette with one hand and holding a martini in the other. He looked as he always did, prim and proper, sleek in Armani. But his blue eyes were piercing, scanning Danny over.
The boy back stepped. "What are you doing here?" he said, voice in a snarl of surprise and anger. He could have sworn this alley wasn't ever used.
Vlad kicked his foot off the wheel of his limo, inhaling on his cigarette. When he blew out the smoke, it was in rings. "My boy, this building is my office. I was out here for a spot of fresh air, but now I'm far more interested in your little visit." He hummed. "And here I was just thinking of you."
Of course. This building would just have to be Vlad's mayoral office.
Danny stood ramrod straight, waiting for Vlad to transform and attack, waiting for a magenta plasma blast to shoot at him from out of nowhere. Vlad thinking about him was never a good thing. He narrowed his eyes, fully aware that he looked probably as intimidating as a wet sock. "What do you want, Vlad?" He spat the name.
The older man tsked. "Such disrespect. And here I was about to question after your health. Really, Daniel, you look terrible." Some glimmer of humanity bled into Vlad's eyes. "I do believe that your family will be ecstatic to know you're not dead."
His eyebrows furrowed. "Not dead?"
"You've been gone for a few good days. Your mother came to the building today to file an official missing persons report. She looked very distraught. " He shook his head. "What an awful thing to do to her, Daniel. Leaving her like that."
Danny turned away. "Like you know."
If Vlad were ever capable of snorting, perhaps he would have in that moment. He instead opted to take another drag on the cigarette. Then, in a smooth, careless puff of smoke, "You think I don't know what it's like to lose the woman I love?"
Fire rose up in Danny's stomach, clenching his fists and gnashing his teeth together. All he could manage was to turn around and glare at Vlad.
"Ooh, the scary eyes. Really, Daniel." Vlad raised his martini glass to eye level, appraising the liquid in it. "You should know that the pain never really goes away."
"I'm not you," Danny managed to whisper, throat choked up in a multitude of emotions. "I'll never be you."
Vlad's lips twitched up in a humorless smile that made his eyes shine like black rocks. "No. I suppose not." He sipped that martini. "I suppose that you wouldn't have the emotional stability to stand in front of national television and tell all the mourning families that their children and mothers and fathers will be remembered by the masses. By lifeless plaques." He laughed, but it was bitter. "You couldn't do it like I did. You lack finesse. You lack control."
"And you lack real compassion," Danny retorted, eyeing his enemy. His throat was still raw. It hurt to talk. It hurt to talk about the accident. "I bet some people saw through your speeches. I bet they saw the real you."
"Did they?" Vlad asked. He hummed. "You weren't around for my speeches, pity. I don't know how you would know."
For the first time, Danny noticed the slight tremor in Vlad's hand as he raised his cigarette again. Funny. He hadn't remembered that being there before. Wait a minute.
Vlad didn't smoke either.
The older halfa stared beyond Danny, off into the distance of the buildings across the street. "Samantha was a lady. A true match for you. It's a real pity."
Panic overwhelmed Danny at the sound of Sam's name. Everything came back. His breath hitched. "Don't. Don't say her name." He hid his emotions with a sneer and a glare. "You didn't even know her."
"I knew her through you well enough." Vlad's voice stayed smooth, borderline regretful. Then he waved off Danny's response with a flick of his cigarette. "Now go. I'm in no mood to fight you today, Daniel. Go back to your family for comfort and hugs. Let your mother know you are alright." A hint of a smile lifted the sharp muscles of his face. "And come back to me when you need real understanding."
The mayor of the town threw his cigarette onto the ground and mashed it dead with his shoe. Then he raised his martini glass in a mocking toast and walked around the limo to the side door of the city building.
For some strange reason, Danny felt all of his hatred and frustration for the man bleed out of him. He felt numb as he watched Vlad disappear behind the door.
The wind picked up and ruffled Danny's clothes, also catching on his face with a coolness he hadn't expected. He raised his hand in fear and ran it along the side of his face in consternation. Tears.
He hadn't even known he'd been crying.
A/N: Ooh, Vlad just wrote himself in. I swear, I was actually going to begin the final arc of this story, and bam. Hello, plot complication and one really twisted dude with a cigarette and martini. I do really enjoy writing Vlad. He makes me feel sophisticated and witty when I'm writing him.
So…anyone have any ideas as to what will happen now that Vlad is in the mix? Anyone have any ideas at all for me?
This is my New Years gift to you guys, since I left my notes for Chained and Theoretically Illogical back at my college. I hope you can live with an update from this story!
Thanks to: ShadowDragon357, Guest, MsFrizzle, Word Doc, and NeoRetro10K for reviewing! And thanks again to NeoRetro10K for the super awesome title card that is now the image for this story! (This is my first fanart, I'm soooo excited! I feel loved!)
Thanks for reading,
Lightning Streak