I don't own anything other than plot and Original characters. Have fun reading!
"What do you mean there are others? What the hell is that supposed to mean!?"
Vlad's voice rose as he himself stood up in anguish, a sharp stuttering noise coming from the chair at the forceful movement..
"Vlad, please. Calm down, I don't think you want to be waking up your guests with such a ruckus," reasons Robert.
He gestures to the staircase behind Vlad, as if to shove further the idea in Vlad's face.
Vlad takes a quick peak, checking to make sure the others haven't woken up.
"Old man, you better explain to me right now what you just said," Vlad threatens, reverting back to the man he once was.
Robert sighs, "Vlad Masters, I refuse to tell you anything. Try asking with a less 'violent' tone if you want to know so badly."
"You….." Vlad tells himself to calm down. He wouldn't get anywhere trying the old method; the ugly, disgusting version but it was just so easy to fall back on.
'No. You cannot back out of this, not this time.' he thought to himself.
"...I'm sorry about that," Vlad's voice noticeably quieter than before, "It's just a bad habit at this point. Let me ask again, is there anyway you could tell me who these others are? Please…"
"Why do you want to know? What difference does it make knowing those who remember what you've done?"
Vlad responses, "I just… I would rather be prepared than get caught off guard meeting one of these people."
"Well, unfortunately I can only tell you one person as those are the rules given to us," Robert explains.
"There are rules?"
"Yes. We were told an explicit set of rules to follow to give you more motivation towards achieving your goal."
Vlad looks down at the floor thinking 'Clockwork doesn't trust me. I knew it wouldn't be easy but…'
He sighs, "Who is the person who remembers me as I was?"
"That would be Skulker. A tip for you Vlad, take this seriously. Skulker has become quite close to the Fenton family; do anything to them and he won't hesitate to throw you to the wolves," Robert warns.
Vlad laughs, a hand covering part of his face, "of course Clockwork would pull something like this. A formal employee task to watch over me when part of his job was to watch over the Fenton boy. How ironic."
"This isn't a joke Vlad. If any of us deem you dangerous again or purely unredeemable, no one will hesitate to report you to Clockwork."
"I know. I'm not stupid. I just…. I'm worried. I truly don't want to mess this up; not for me or for anyone. It was lonely up there Robert. Nothing for miles and miles, and the darkness that surrounds you….I can't go back."
Vlad lets himself sink into the cushions, his emotions running wild through him like never before. That familiar spark of loneliness had thrown him back, forgotten with his time knowing and laughing with his new friends. Going back is not an option.
"I think that's enough existential crisis for now. It's late, you should get some sleep. You are still human even if it's only half." Robert suggests.
Vlad softly replies, "Yes, that sounds like a good idea. Looking into the past is never fun is it?"
"No, but it teaches you how to live your future. Something I chose not to do, now look at me. Stuck in my own abode outside of the ghost zone of course. But that's another story for a different time. Goodnight Vlad, I wish you luck."
Robert gets up with a slight flourish, his cape bellowing out, his face gaining back a bit of his green pallor and fades down into the floorboards. He waves a single hand at Vlad, disappearing from sight. Vlad gets up from his seat, shuffling her feet slightly making his way up the stairs. The banister gleems from its new coats of polish, the walls no longer suffering in their chipped sadness. A beautiful soft yellow replaced the old garish blue, to bring more life into the house as Vicky described it. He had also been bad with decorating, at least until he "fell" into money and let someone else do the job. The walls were bare in the hallway toward his room, just as they were last time but it doesn't feel as empty to Vlad. There was a sort of warmth in the house, whether it's the new paint job or the fact that there are other people in the house besides him, Vlad can't tell. All he knows is that he's tired and his new bed is much softer than the original.
'Maybe sleeping will come faster this time considering how exhausted I feel,' He thought, opening his bedroom door. Not being in the master bedroom had felt odd the first few nights but now he preferred this. It felt better; less space to fill with clutter. His bed covers have never looked so cheery either; they were bright pink with a simple swirl design, a mishap from the bulk order in furniture and curtains. Vicky had apologized tremendously when it shipped in meanwhile Vlad had just laughed it off. It had been the first time he'd laughed since his return. So he kept the covers, matching them with some cream sheets and similar colored pillows. To anyone, it'd look like a child with a love for strawberries had picked them, not a grown ass adult. Even the walls of the room matched the bed, with the cream of the sheets but the swirls of the pink covers. Vlad brushes his teeth and heads for bed. His head sinks into the silky pillow, thoughts swirling before he closes his eyes and falls into a dreamless sleep.
"VLAD! ARE YOU UP YET?" Vicky screamed outside the door.
Vlad groans as he shoves a pillow onto his ear, making a futile attempt to block out the sound.
"COME ON VLAD! TIME TO EAT OLD MAN!"
"Sweet cherry pie, why must you do this," Vlad whispers to himself. He sighs, sinking further in the bed.
He hears his door opening, "You know how she gets Vlad."
"What did I say about privacy Elian," Vlad says peeking out from underneath the pillow.
"Vicky said she'd go away if I did this. Would you rather hear her screaming?"
"God no."
Vlad shoves aside the pillow, groaning as he stretches out the kinks in his body. He takes a glance at Elian, "I would like to get ready if you don't mind."
Elian smiles, "Oh don't mind me, I'm just here for a good show."
"Sorry to say but I think I'm a little expensive for your tastes, not to mention a bit old." Vlad retorts, getting up from the bed to the wardrobe a few steps away. He just couldn't leave some of his old fashioned taste behind.
"Vlad, you don't really look old to me. Besides, didn't you know that the silver fox look is in."
He could hear the smirk, "Thank you for the compliment but I would like to change Elian. So would you kindly?"
Elian sighs, "Alright. I'll meet you downstairs. Hopefully Vicky hasn't burned down the kitchen."
Vlad chuckles as Elian closes the door behind him.
'What should we wear today? The yellow plaid or the white one?' Vlad pondered, shuffling through the hanging clothes. 'Hmm, I wore white last week so we'll go with yellow today.'
Vlad readies himself and heads downstairs.
"I get you're old but damn, you couldn't hurry up?"
"How about you don't yell outside my door and I won't take as long next time Vicky," Vlad retaliates, pulling out a chair. The scent of maple fills the room; the table is covered with an assortment of toppings for the waffles Vicky sets on the table along with warm maple syrup.
Vicky smiles, "Alright guys dig in! Hope you like the recipe."
Elian piles four waffles on his plate while Vlad takes two but steals the maple syrup.
"That's super rude. You learned how to share, right?" Elian pouts.
"Says the one who took half of the waffles on the damn table. So you'll have to wait your turn."
Elian grumbles to himself instead, taking the bowl of cut strawberries near him.
"So, Vlad," Vicky asks through bites of her food, "What are you gonna do?"
"What do you mean?"
"About the whole college friend thing?"
Vlad looks over at Elian who was plowing through his tower of food, trying not to make an effort to meet Vlad's gaze.
"How exactly do you know about this?"
"I couldn't really sleep, it felt too cold in my room for some reason so I walked over to Elian's room."
He finally looks up, "That was a nice surprise by the way. I love being woken up by a haggled old woman."
She throws a blueberry at him from her plate, "Go back to shoving your face with MY food. Anyway, we were just chatting until he asked my advice about the whole thing. Mind you, I think you should do it. I can't really see why you shouldn't."
Vlad's eyes glaze over, looking back down at his food, "There's simply a lot of history between myself and them. I'm afraid all these years apart would make things quite awkward and uncomfortable for everyone."
"Isn't that how things are? Anyone would be awkward after not seeing their friends after so long. People change you know?" Elian garbles out.
"I just-"
"No excuses Vlad," Vicky cuts in, "Sometimes you just gotta do rather than second guessing yourself. It's not healthy to internalize these things. Trust me on this one."
"Who are you and what have you done to the goofy Vicky." Vlad interjects.
She chuckles, "We all have our rough patches Vlad. What's life without its challenges? Now hurry up and before Elian inhales everything."
After breakfast was over, both Vicky and Elian head out to their respective jobs leaving Vlad to contemplate his decisions. 'Is this really a good idea and so early on?'
"If you don't take the first step then no one else will."
"For the love of strawberry cheesecake, what is it with ghosts and random advice!"
"It comes with age," Clockwork says with a smile, "Especially in my line of work."
Vlad scoffs, "And what exactly took you so long to visit?"
"You try to escape the eyes. I might rule over time but I'm never really left alone as a precaution against interference. Granted that hasn't stopped me yet when I'm needed."
"Well, I'd rather not have this conversation in the kitchen…" Vlad tapers off.
Clockwork extends his hand, "Then please, lead the way."
Vlad heads off for the upstairs towards his favorite room in the entire mansion; A sitting room with the largest sets of windows in the mansion facing the forest. It was one of the last rooms to be finished but it was well worth the wait in Vlad's mind. It was in the same shade of soft yellow that covered the rest of the house, decorated simply with cream colored furniture and a tan rug. Vlad gestures to the sofa and Clockwork takes his place among the bead-embroidered pillows.
"I don't quite remember you having such taste before Vlad," Clockwork ponders.
Vlad shrugs, "I didn't really have a hand in the decorating. I left most of it to Vicky. I'm not really an expert for these things and I'd probably have it end up looking like it did before. Some things are hard to leave behind."
"Have you decided what to do? You never know when another opportunity can occur," Clockwork relays.
"Is this a good idea? What if I end up making a fool of myself or worse," Vlad said, his hands gripping onto the sofa.
"Vlad you must realize that if you follow the current path, where it ends will be right where you started. Sad and alone as if you never left," Clockwork warns.
"I thought you weren't supposed to tell us about our future."
"As I've mentioned before, the Watchers only have so much power over me. They are not the ones that hold the power over time."
Vlad groans, "When did decision-making become so difficult. It was never this hard before."
"Trying to become a better person has always been a challenge for those with a problematic past. Just keep in mind that you must commit to it as you have with your more villainous deeds."
"I do have one request if you can grant it Clockwork."
Clockwork leans forward, "We shall see."
Vlad lets out a sigh," Is Daniel, or rather, Danny one of those who will judge me. Can you at least tell me that? Considering you didn't even bother telling me about them in the first place."
"...He is not one of them. I wish you the best of luck Vlad. You have always been a resilient character and I believe in you. Goodbye Vlad Masters," he replies giving a sincere smile to Vlad.
Clockwork stands, moving away from the living room to the front door, his form slowly fading away the closer he got the door.
"Wait Clockwork," Vlad exclaims, "What about my funds? Do I still have access to them?"
"Don't worry about the money Vlad, you can still use your cards with no worry. Now I would highly make that call to Madeline before the nerves get the best of you."
He passes through and disappears completely leaving Vlad utterly alone.
Pulling out his phone Vlad begins to dial the number, his hand hovering over the call icon.
'Am I ready for this,' he thinks, 'Am I capable of making the right choices. Everything has gone so wrong for me. Can I change?'
His mouth tightens, 'It's now or not at all Vlad. You have to do this.'
He lets out a breath and raises the phone to his ear.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Maddie. I'm just calling to accept your offer. It would be lovely to you both and the children."
"Oh, that's wonderful. When will you be coming over so I can start setting up the spare room?"
Vlad thinks for a second, "Would next week be alright for you. I can come later if that's too soon."
"Nothing is really too soon these days Vlad. Jack and I don't have much to do these days with the kids being gone." she explains.
"Okay then…. I will see you next week Maddie. Hope you have a nice day."
He hangs up on her, not wanting to make the call more awkward than it already was.
"I guess this is happening. There isn't any going back, you have to do this," he says to himself, "Now where exactly did I leave my luggage."
Hi everyone! I'm back kinda. So I took another impromptu hiatus from this story mostly because I had zero motivation to write for this story. Recently though, I contracted covid and having so much pent up energy from not being able to do anything sparked something to continue this story. Hopefully it last long enough where I can get some chapters done. Overall I hope you enjoyed this chapter despite, again, being written at different time so sorry if the pacing got weird. Oh and I'm doing okay, my symptoms were really mild. Anyway I hope to see you guys next time. bye bye.