Written for Day 4 of Ectober Month 2021: Rot!
Jack's heart was rotting from the inside out.
No matter how distant Vlad had been in the past years, Jack never stopped considering him his best friend. His closest friend.
And now he was gone and Jack would never get to tell him goodbye. Vladdie was always busy, with some mayoral duties or millionaire business to attend to. He'd told Jack they'd hang out sometime soon, but soon never came.
Now it never would.
If only they'd had more time.
Maddie was taking Vlad's death hard too, but for her it was different. She wasn't friends with Vlad the same way he was. He was grateful for her, though. When the opportunity presented itself, she was the one that pulled through and volunteered to arrange Vlad's funeral. Jack didn't have the courage to volunteer himself, but he wouldn't have it any other way. Even though he hadn't spent much time with Vlad in the end, he could make up for it in this way.
That was the plan, at least.
Until his best friend's body was stolen—defiled—by ghosts.
The numbness in Jack's heart subsided and all that was left was a corroded husk of a man. He felt like the sludge at the bottom of an ectogun. Pathetic, helpless. What could he do? It wasn't like the police would tell them which spook did it.
Jack wanted to crawl into bed and lie there forever.
If there was anything important, Maddie would handle it… she was strong like that.
(Oh, how he wished he was as strong as Mads. Beautiful, resilient Mads…)
In the few hours Jack spent awake, he spent most of his time tinkering. It gave him something to focus on, a goal. Until they discovered which ghost they had to hunt down for Vlad's body, Jack would invent, create. He and Vladdie used to invent together, way back in the day. The police said Vlad still invented, that he'd kept a laboratory underneath his mansion. Jack wondered why Vlad never invited him to work together. It would have been like the old times!
But Vlad hadn't said a thing about his continued interest in ghosts. It was almost as if Vlad avoided speaking about them, dancing around the subject. Well, not completely. He talked about Phantom some, about how the nuisance ghost kid was driving up infrastructure costs and how there wasn't much left in the city budget. Though, that was the extent of his interest.
Everything was politics with Vlad.
Still, Jack couldn't make sense of why Vlad would hide his interest from him. They were friends, were they not? Jack was so certain they'd reconnected, but now in light of it all he couldn't help feel a smidge of doubt. Had Vlad really had no time for Jack or had he been putting on?
No, Vlad wouldn't do that.
They were best friends. Best friends wouldn't lie to each other.
Right?
"You good, dad?" Jazz asked.
They were eating dinner now. Maddie had ordered takeout Chinese food from that place down the street from the bait shop. Jack had been meaning to bring Vlad there so they could go fishing again like they'd done back in college. Hell, maybe they'd bring Danny this time! The three of them in a canoe on old lake Eerie, telling jokes to pass the time…
"Yeah." He stabbed a piece of chicken with his chopsticks. He didn't think that was how he was supposed to do it, but he didn't have the patience to figure out how to otherwise use the utensils. "I'm good."
Even if Jack went fishing now, it wouldn't be the same. Vlad would still be gone, stolen from them.
That was the hardest part, knowing that nothing would ever be the same again.
"If you ever need to talk about it, we're here for you," Jazz said. "Times are tough, but that doesn't mean we have to go through them alone."
There were dark circles under her eyes. Jack hadn't thought Jazz was that close to Vlad, not like the rest of the family, but this was affecting her too. His daughter was kind, but Jack would feel bad burdening her more.
She'd argue otherwise, that she enjoyed helping others. That she was born to be a psychologist. Nonetheless, her wellbeing mattered just as much. Jack wouldn't drag her down with him.
"Thanks, sweetie." Jack forced a smile. It felt like weeks since he'd smiled last. "You're all already here for me. I wouldn't ask for anything more."
Jazz nodded. She shot an unreadable glance at Danny—he was taking it hard, Maddie told him—and back. "But if you do need more, we can talk about it. You know that?"
"I know. Thank you."
Jack fell asleep immediately that night, out before his head even hit his pillow. Nothing about his sleep was restless; it was dreamless sleep. Though, Jack did wake in the wee hours of the morning, just a little before sunrise. No matter how much he tossed and turned, he couldn't go back to sleep.
Well, if that was the case it looked like he was going to have an early morning in the lab. Back to work.
Jack crept down the stairs, careful not to wake the rest of the house. The clock in the living room said that it was almost half-past four in the morning. His children definitely wouldn't be happy about that if he woke them up.
The door to the lab was, as he left it the evening before, locked. Jack entered the pin to the deadbolt and softly opened the door.
It took him a moment to process, but there was a voice coming from the lab.
… a ghost?
"—do with you, huh? … Ugh, it shouldn't be this hard…"
Jack gulped. That wasn't just any ghost, it was Phantom. Holding his breath, Jack slipped his hood over his head and descended the stairs.
Phantom's ethereal voice rang through the lab.
"I know, I know! … I can't not send you back to the Ghost Zone, what am I supposed to do? … Okay, no. Having me steal a corpse is not helping me! … Oh, fuck this."
His heart dropped into his stomach.
Phantom had… stolen a corpse?
Phantom had stolen Vladdie?
Jack turned the corner to the lab and found Phantom pacing mid-air in front of the portal. He was holding a Fenton thermos, talking into it like a microphone. No, that wasn't right. He was talking to a ghost he'd captured.
"As much as I love the idea of letting you do whatever you want in the human world, it's gonna be a fat no." He paused, hearing something Jack couldn't. "But that's just it, Fruitloop, we're not the same anymore. You're dead. I'm not. The Ghost Zone is where you belong now."
Jack reached for his nearest weapon. He thanked his blessings that he'd left the Jack o' Nine Tails on the counter closest to the door. He raised the device and aimed it at the unsuspecting Phantom. He had stolen Vladdie from them. He was the reason they couldn't go forward with his friend's funeral.
Everything was its fault!
The device shot toward Phantom, tendrils arching outwards to ensnare their target. Startled, Phantom dropped the thermos and tried phasing through the weapon's coils, but it was too late. The Jack o' Nine Tails had already taken hold.
Jack jammed the button on the side of the device and electricity shot through the tendrils. Phantom cried out in alarm, knees slamming into the floor. Jack stood over it, reveling in the raw fear in the ghost's alien eyes. Good. It should be afraid.
He was going to make it feel the same he felt when it stole his best friend's corpse.
"J—Jack—"
It knew his name. That didn't surprise him as much as he thought it would. What did surprise him was the pleading look the ghost gave him as it struggled with the coils latched to its skin, suit, and hair.
"You stole Vladdie," he said. "You stole my best friend before his body was cold, you sick spook!"
Phantom shook its head. "I swear, it isn't like that—"
"Oh, shut up!"
He pressed the button again and more electricity ran through the device. The shocks wracked Phantom's form, its eyes rolling to the back of its head. Its mouth was ajar and his hair began to smoke.
The shocks receded and Phantom slumped the rest of the way onto the floor.
"That stung," it hissed. "Can we not… do that again?"
Jack clutched the Jack o' Nine Tails. "You'll tell me what I want to hear if you don't want me to kick it up a notch. Got it, ghost?"
Phantom was in the fetal position now, hugging its stomach in pain. "... got it."
"Why did you take Vladdie's body, no—!" he cut himself off. "Where did you take him?"
Phantom swallowed. "Th—the woods. I buried it. Well, phased it underground. Deep. So it wouldn't be found."
"You have some vendetta against Vladdie? You don't want him to have a real grave?" Jack reasoned
Burial rites were one thing that ghosts took seriously, and interfering with those was one of the worst things a ghost could do to another. Jack couldn't know what Phantom had against Vlad, but the evidence was all there; as far as ghosts were concerned, this was an act of vengeance.
"Y—yes! Sure, that's it!"
"I should end you right here," Jack said. "Nobody disrespects Vladdie like that, nobody disrespects me like that! How dare you! What did Vlad ever do to you?"
"Uh, it's kind of a long list. Kidnapping, experimenting, cloning, harassment, public humiliation, political campaigns against me, hunting me for sport—take your pick."
"Stuff it, spook! I know Vladdie. I know him well enough to know that you're full of shit."
"Oh, do you?" Phantom swatted at the Jack o' Nine Tails' coils. "Jack, I'm not saying this to hurt you, but Vlad isn't who you think he is. I'm sorry that you can't lay your friend to rest, but it's better this way."
"And who are you to tell me that! You're the one who stole him!"
Jack could only see red. In a blind rage, he pressed the button on the Jack o' Nine Tails again. Phantom seized, back arching and limbs folding in on themselves. Once again, its eyes rolled back in their sockets and the lab started to smell like burning flesh.
"St—sto—"
The ghost coughed into its hand. When it moved its palm, Jack realized that its glove was now stained green. Ectoplasm.
The weapon cut off. It could only handle so much voltage before it overloaded.
"'m sorry," Phantom panted. "Don't wanna die again… Dad, 'm sorry. Don't let me die…"
How pathetic.
The ghost still thought it was alive.
"You're not going to die. You're dead." Jack didn't know why he bothered. "It'll take more than some shocks to destabilize you."
Phantom seemed unconvince but said nothing.
"What I don't get," Jack continued, "is if you're such a good ghost, why do you continue to hurt people. Vlad was precious to me and my family. Didn't you ever stop to consider what stealing him would do to us? To me? Of course you didn't. Because all your compassion and feelings are nothing more than a facade to win the town over. You don't care about real people." He crouched down and met Phantom at eye level. "You don't care about the living."
Phantom clenched its jaw. "I do care. You don't know what I feel."
"I do," Jack said. "Nothing. You can't hide that you're empty inside."
Not like Jack hid his emptiness.
"You're wrong. I feel sorry for your family. I feel sorry that I ruined your chance to grieve. It shouldn't have been this way, but I had no other choice."
"You did have a choice! Don't lie to me!"
Jack raised the Jack o' Nine Tails, readying to press the button again. Phantom's eyes blew wide.
"I didn't! I didn't! I can—" he swallowed "—I can take you to him. To where he's buried. If that makes it better?"
What.
It had to be a trick. Phantom was telling him what he wanted to hear, right?
Even so, the ghost might follow through if Jack held it to its word. And used the Jack o' Nine Tails as an incentive…
"Tell me more. About where you buried him."
"In the woods. It's a desolate area, hard to find. I know the way and I could show you! If you feel that'll make up for uh, stealing his body?"
It won't make up for it. Nothing would make up for it. But Jack wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Knowing where Vladdie had been buried was better than never knowing. To always have that question in the back of his mind, wondering.
"Show me."
Phantom opened its mouth then shut it again. "I uh, I can fly us there?"
Not a chance.
"I'll drive, you give me directions. If you back out, I'll shock you. Got it?"
"Uh, I mean I'll try but I'm not sure how well I can give road directions. I know how to get there aerially, but that's it?"
Of course the ghost didn't know roads. Why would a ghost need roads when it can fly straight over them?
Jack pinched the bridge of his nose. "We'll figure it out."
It was an awkward maneuver getting Phantom out of the lab. After a few minutes, Jack decided that the Jack o' Nine Tails was too much of a hassle and slapped a pair of ecto-cuffs on Phantom instead. That would at least keep it from phasing out of the GAV when Jack wasn't looking.
"Um." Once in the passenger seat, Phantom held up its bound wrists. "You'll have to do my seatbelt for me."
Jack took a moment to decide whether it was serious or not, and when Phantom didn't follow up with a punchline Jack again wondered why he'd gone along with this plan.
"You're a ghost," he reasoned. "You don't need one."
"But… basic safety? My dad always says to wear seatbelts."
Jack cranked the ignition. "Well, your dad isn't here, is he?"
"Uh. Right."
Neither of them spoke until Jack had pulled out of the neighborhood. Phantom tentatively reached for the stereo before resting its hands in its lap.
"Can we change the radio station? I'm not feeling Jazz's feel-good bubblegum-pop music."
The question threw him for a loop and Jack almost veered onto the shoulder of the road. Nonetheless, he kept his composure.
"How do you know this is my daughter's station?" he accused.
Phantom tensed. "I guessed?"
Oh, sure it did.
"'You guessed?'"
"Yeah, I'm a super good guesser."
"Mmhm," he hummed. "How long have you been watching my family, Phantom?"
"I haven't! I don't watch your family, at all. That'd be weird and invasive. Besides, you're ghost hunters! If I was watching you, wouldn't you have noticed me?"
"I'd hope so, but for some reason you suspiciously seem to slip off our radar. But you know that. You can't not know that," he pointed out. "That means somehow you have a way of watching us that we can't detect."
"I swear, it was just a guess! This is girl music, so I figured that your daughter left the station on!"
Phantom was an enigma. Just when he thought he'd figured the ghost out, it managed to surprise Jack.
"What counts as girl music?"
"Come on, this is literally Britney Spears. I don't know what more to tell you." Phantom shook its cuffed wrists. "Can't we just change it to 98.5? Something a little more hard rock?"
"You want 'hard rock,'" Jack echoed. "How old are you?"
"Fifteen." The ghost stuck its distinct, green tongue out. "Bet I've got better taste than you."
"Oh, I'll take that bet. I'd wager you've never even heard of Def Leppard."
"Ouch. Now that stings. Do I appear that uncultured?"
"You're dead if you haven't noticed. Yeah."
"I get around! I know music and stuff!"
Jack turned onto a two-lane road. "What stuff does a ghost listen to, then?"
Phantom mumbled something Jack couldn't quite make out.
"What was that?"
"... Five Finger Death Punch."
That was one of the bands that Danny's goth friend had gotten him into. He'd never listened to it himself, but he was familiar with the name.
"You and my son have something in common, then."
"What!" it flew forward before hitting the dashboard and slumping back into its seat. "I don't have anything in common with your son!"
Well, that was a strong reaction.
"Um. Alright? I just meant you listen to the same music, I guess." He narrowed his eyes. "You don't have anything against my boy, spook?"
"No, no! Danny—is that his name?—he's a good kid. Just uh, we're not really similar. We're the most different people on the planet."
Hm. Well, that made sense. Danny was considerate and benign, albeit sometimes rebellious there was good in his heart; Phantom, on the other hand, was sharp-tongued and ruthless, it was nothing but a ghost bound to its obsession. They were nothing alike.
"I agree with that."
There was a lapse of silence when Jack began to come up at the edge of the woods. "Where should I turn now?"
"You can pull to the side of the road just up here. There isn't really a good place to park, I think."
Jack found himself following the ghost's directions, reluctantly following it through the dim woods. It was just about dawn now, specks of red light dotting the horizon as the sun began to rise. He wondered when Maddie would wake and if she would notice he'd left with the GAV, but put it to the back of his mind. This was more important. He could always explain later.
Traversing through the woods, Jack found it ironic how human Phantom appeared in the morning light. It couldn't fly while it wore the inhibitor cuffs, subject to the pull of gravity. He wondered how it felt to be grounded as a ghost, unable to twist and glide through the air. Phantom didn't once complain, in fact, it seemed at ease with walking through the woods and navigating tangles of tree roots. Jack couldn't once remember a time he'd seen Phantom's feet on the ground.
"It's just ahead." The ghost's voice reverberated through the trees, despite being only two feet ahead of Jack.
Finally, they reached a small circle of trees—maybe only seven or eight feet in diameter. If it hadn't been for Phantom's insistence that they'd reached the spot, Jack would have never guessed this was the place.
This was where Vladdie was buried.
The surrealness of it all shook him to the core.
Jack fell to his knees and ran his hands through the dead leaves, some still damp the autumn rain. The dirt underneath the thick foliage of leaves hadn't even been broken. After all, what need did a ghost have for a shovel when it could just phase through the ground?
"No." He couldn't let it end like this. "No!"
Phantom hovered over him. "Jack… I'm sorry."
"You did this to him! You put him here! How could you!" He swatted in the ghost's direction. "It's your fault Vladdie's here!"
"I—I didn't kill him if that's what you think—!"
No. He hadn't considered that until now. Maybe he should have considered it.
Nonetheless, Jack didn't know what the truth was anymore. He didn't know why Vlad had been taken from life, he didn't know why his friend kept a hidden lab underneath his mansion. All he knew was that this piece of ectoplasmic scum had stolen his body and that's what he was here to rectify.
He wouldn't let this be Vladdie's final resting place.
Jack ran his hands down his toolbelt. There had to be something here to make the job easier. An ectogun, broken circuit board, screwdriver, the handle for the Fenton Bazooka, Fenton Capture Cube, a second ectogun… ugh! None of it was good enough!
Just when he thought all hope was lost, he found it. The Fenton bo staff! He extended it to its full length and stood opposite Phantom. The ghost looked bewildered, to say the least, but Jack paid it no mind.
"What are you—"
Jack began doing away with the top layer of leaves that dressed the ground. Once the soil was exposed, Jack plunged the staff into the ground and used it to pull up dirt. It didn't have the most optimal results, but Jack was driven.
He did it for Vladdie.
"Are you trying to dig him up!"
Phantom reached for the staff. Jack pushed him to the ground before he could even get close.
"Stay out of this, ghost! You've done enough! I'm setting things right for once."
"Jack, you can't dig him up! He's—he's gone. He needs to rest."
"Well, he can't rest here, can he? He needs a proper burial." When the world bled with color, Jack tried not to make a deal of blinking the tears from his eyes. "One with a casket and—and a real send-off!"
"I understand, I do, but you physically can't dig him up. He's thirty feet underground."
"Do you think I care!" He spun and pointed the staff at Phantom, who was still sprawled across the ground. "I don't care how long it takes, how hard I'll work, I'm going to get Vladdie back. I—I—" he choked back a sob, "I can't leave him again. Not like last time. Not after the accident. I know he never forgave me, I know, but I—I was so awful! I have to do this for him, even if he'll never know. I have to! I won't let him rot here!"
It was something he'd never admitted to his own wife. An awful, dreaded truth that haunted the back of his mind. He wasn't there for Vlad when his friend needed him, and as much as he tried to pretend that everything was fine, he knew that Vlad had never been busy. He knew that his friend cut him out for a reason. Jack tried to make up for it, he really did, but he thought he'd have more time. It turns out, it was too late after all.
And that left him here.
Jack would bury him right and proper if it was the last thing he'd do.
Phantom's face fell. "He shouldn't have blamed you, though. Holding a grudge for that long isn't—"
"Don't talk to me like you know me!" Jack prodded the staff at Phantom's chest. "Don't talk to me like you know my life! You know nothing! Nothing!"
"Jack, I—"
"Just leave! Go terrorize the town for all I give a shit." He brought the staff between the links of Phantom's ecto-cuffs and severed them. The cuffs fell to the ground and Phantom scuttled backward before hopping foot or so into the air. "This is your chance! As long as you don't mess with me or my family, I don't care."
The ghost's voice was no louder than a whisper.
"Jack, please, listen to reason."
He ground his teeth. "Don't make me regret setting you free!"
He turned his back on the ghost, hoping that was enough to get the spook to leave. With the bo staff in hand, Jack resumed digging. The ghost must have left eventually because when Jack glanced behind him after a few minutes of silence, there was no one there.
Good.
It actually listened for once.
What a miracle.
He must've been digging for half an hour when his muscles began to cramp. He wasn't as young as he used to be and it was laborious work, but Jack wasn't one to give up when things got tough. No, sir! He was a Fenton, and Fentons went the mile! Sure, the morning sun was beginning to get warm and he hadn't eaten breakfast yet, but he would dig and dig and dig until he reached Vlad.
In half an hour, he'd managed to dig a small hole of about one foot deep. Not bad for someone without a real shovel. Only twenty-nine more feet to go.
He could do it.
He wouldn't give up on Vladdie.
Despite the rising sun, Jack found that the temperature had abruptly dipped. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and he couldn't help but feel something was off.
Jack was a ghost hunter. He knew the signs of a ghost when he saw them.
"He's still here…" an echoic voice wafted through the trees.
Just as he'd thought.
Phantom had returned.
"I told you to mind your business, spook!"
Jack set the staff aside and reached for his tools. He hadn't wanted to waste the time driving off Phantom, but it looked like he had no choice now. He drew the ectogun and disengaged the safety.
In an instant, Phantom appeared to Jack's left with his hands raised in surrender.
"I'm not here to fight you, Jack."
"Oh, so you're just here to watch?" he sneered.
"No. I'm actually not here for me." The ghost shook its head. "I have someone you need to talk to."
The space beside shimmered and a familiar figure appeared. Between the white cape, blue skin, and deep red eyes… he'd know the ghost that tried to overshadow him anywhere.
Jack gripped the ectogun tighter.
"Wisconsin Ghost."
He'd last seen this specter in the morgue before he and Maddie installed a ghost shield. Jack had been following her direction, mostly, but he had found it strange. Could he be the true culprit? But no, Phantom had already admitted he'd done it...
The ghost growled. "That is not and has never been my name."
Phantom shrugged. "I mean, it is a popular moniker of yours—"
"Shut it, Inviso-o-Bill."
Phantom clutched his chest. "Oh, now that just hurts."
"I'm sorry," Jack cut in, "I don't understand what this is."
The Wisconsin Ghost groaned. "Must I do this, Daniel?"
"Uh, yeah. You agreed to it. It's either this or the thermos, now spill your guts so he doesn't dig them up."
The ghost scowled. "You have such a way with words."
"Part of my charm. Do it."
"Ugh. Fine." It crossed its arms. "Jack, I must implore you not to dig up Vlad's body. He does not want to be excavated."
In a flash of light, a dark circle appeared around the ghost's waist. Jack readied the gun, bracing for an attack that never came. Instead, the circle passed over the ghost's form and left someone new in its place.
Vladdie.
Except it wasn't Vladdie. He was suspended above the ground, on equal footing as Phantom. He was translucent and his movements were too sharp. The closer Jack examined him, the more he seemed to fade into static, blurriness. The most damning thing was his eyes. Rather than their guileful blue, they burned a vicious red.
He was nothing more than an imitation.
"I do not want to be excavated," not-Vlad finished.
"No." Jack clenched his jaw. "You can't trick me, ghost. I'm not new to this game, I know how your illusions work!"
"Jack, I haven't been honest with you in the past, but I assure you that this is not an illusion. The truth is that I've been a ghost much longer than I've been dead, that I've had one foot in the grave since the accident."
"That doesn't make sense."
"It's complicated. There's a state of being where a person can exist as both a human and a ghost at the same time. My time in the hospital changed me, and since then I've been able to transform into a ghost and use ghost powers."
Jack knew Vlad better than that. "Vlad would have said something, though."
The ghost's eyes flared red. "Well, you weren't there to know, were you! You left me, Jack. One moment, my face is torn to shreds because of your negligent lab safety—which, I find it ironic you haven't even learned from that blunder considering it happened not once, but—"
Phantom coughed. "Keep on topic."
Vlad sighed. "Right. One moment, the portal zaps me and the next you and Maddie are engaged. In those months before your wedding, you visited me maybe once? Twice?"
"The doctors said you needed—needed space."
"Maybe a real friend wouldn't have listened to the doctors and visited anyway. Instead, you stole Maddie and I never forgave you for that."
Jack tried not to wince. "... I know."
He scoffed. "You know! You know and you haven't even fucking apologized?"
"What was I supposed to do, Vladdie? In the past year or so, I've tried making up for it, I've tried to reconnect."
"Maybe acknowledge it! Instead of acting like we're old pals! Instead of pretending you didn't kill me!"
Jack's stomach sank. "Killed you?"
"I was a ghost, Jack! Half-human, half-ghost. That ecto-acne killed me and you weren't there. All you cared about was warming up to Maddie." He laughed. "Once I was out of the picture, you could live your dream, right? I was dead to you?"
"No, that wasn't it! Vlad, I—I was a coward. I thought you hated me, and I was too afraid to see that I was right."
"Maybe if you hadn't been so afraid, I wouldn't have spent most of my life obsessed with you." The faint aura around him flickered. "Maybe I wouldn't have died again. But that's… that's on me."
"Got that right," Phantom grumbled.
"No one asked, Daniel!" Vlad snapped, promptly recomposing himself. "You know, Jack, I've wanted to tell you this for years. I've wanted to tell you about how much I despise you, detest you. I wanted the perfect moment, to steal your wife when your back was turned—make her see how much better we are together. I wanted your children to call me their father."
Phantom gagged. "I'm gonna vomit."
"You know," he resumed, "I thought I'd savor the moment when you realized what kind of monster you made me into. That I spent most of my life as some bastardized ghost-human abomination. That I was something so terrible and powerful with abilities that your feeble mind could never comprehend. But this… you digging up my corpse with a stick…" he laughed, but the pleasure never reached his eyes, "this is just sad. Did I spend all those years hating you to end up here?" Now his laugh seemed to come from the trees rather than from his mouth. "Was there ever a point to it all?"
Jack, on all accounts, was speechless.
How could he ever respond to that?
It was one thing to suspect, to feel, that Vlad had never forgiven him. It was another to learn he'd spent most of his life hating him.
Was he such an awful person? Jack tried to do his best, he really did, but his enthusiasm blinded him. What else had he missed?
Who else had he hurt?
"I'm sorry, Vladdie. For everything I put you through. You can hate me all you want, I probably deserve it."
"But that's just it, Jack," he said. "Sure, you're a bumbling idiot who doesn't deserve your own wife or children—that's a given. Still, you'd dig me up because you think that's what I want." He looked almost pained. "You're a stupid fool, but an earnest one."
Jack looked down at the staff on the ground. "Why don't you want a real burial?"
"I can't let the government know what I was. Besides having my image ruined, the discovery of half-ghosts would be catastrophic if they tried replicating what happened to me. I think it's in my and everyone's best interest if that doesn't happen."
Phantom coughed something that almost sounded like "hypocrite."
"I'm still not sure I understand that ghost-while-living thing, but I'll respect your wishes. If that makes up for everything I've done," he said.
"It doesn't, but I'll take it." Vlad shook his head. "I spent years plotting against you. I stole millions, overshadowed the right people to make me rich—I became everything you're not because I thought that would make Maddie love me. Still, she loves you and I can't force her to change that. Not for real. When I got to know your son, I wanted him just as much. He refused my offers, refused to renounce you."
That was another punch to the gut. "Danny did?"
Vlad nodded. "Now that I'm dead for real, I can't have them." He clenched his fists. "I can't go back to my life, as much as I want to. I'm so tired of working for something out of my reach. It's exhausting. I suppose it's what killed me. Hell, I don't even have a reason to kill you anymore. I don't have a purpose here."
"Vlad…"
"Jack. I never liked you and I don't forgive you, but I don't need to kill you to make things right. It took me far too long to realize, but I think now things are as they should be." Vlad turned over his hands. "Take care of your family, especially Daniel. You don't know it yet, but he needs all the support he can get. Please don't do to him what you did to me."
He didn't understand.
"I—sure?"
"Good." Vlad's shoulders drooped, relaxed. He turned to Phantom. "I know that I was awful to you, but I'm glad I had the chance to know you. To know that there was someone out there like me, that could understand where I came from. I'm sorry that I let it end the way it did."
Phantom opened its mouth and then shut it again. It looked just as speechless as Jack.
Vlad ran a hand through his hair and Jack noticed that rather than its regular white, that it had faded to black. It looked shorter too, how it had looked in their college days. Was Vlad… growing younger?
"After all this time," he whispered, "I think I'm ready to move on."
His form began to flicker as if he was dipping into invisibility, but Jack knew at the bottom of his heart what was happening. He and Maddie had studied the phenomena extensively but had never seen it happen in person.
Vlad's ghost had no reason to stay in the world of the living.
He was crossing over to whatever came next.
It was supposed to be a good thing, Jack thought. It meant that Vlad's spirit was no longer at odds with whatever was tying him to Earth. It meant that he was at rest. Jack should be happy about this! Moving was good, healthy!
Instead, Jack felt numb.
There were so many things he wanted to ask him. So many things he still didn't understand. What was a half-ghost, really? What had he meant when he asked for Jack to not treat Danny the same as him?
"No," Phantom whispered. "Vlad, you can't…"
Vlad was just an outline of a man now, in limbo between this world and the next. When Vlad spoke, it sounded more like waves egressing back to sea than a discernible human voice.
"It's my time, Daniel." His mouth didn't move with the sound. "Take care."
There was a rush of wind and Vlad was no more.
Jack and Phantom were alone in the small clearing, staff forgotten on the ground beside the shallow hole that Jack had dug. He doubted the ghost would ever admit it, but there were tears in its eyes too.
For a good minute or so, neither of them spoke. It felt unreal. Jack was afraid that speaking would make it real.
"We should go home," Phantom finally said.
Jack couldn't remember picking up the bo staff and vacating the clearing, but the next thing he knew he was buckling himself back into the Ghost Attack Vehicle. Phantom was in the seat next to him, head in its hands. Jack wasn't sure the ghost had followed him or why it chose to ride in a car rather than flying. Nonetheless, his brain was too muddled to care.
Jack cranked the ignition and pulled back onto the road, putting the woods far behind them. Phantom said nothing for most of the car ride, but as they came upon the intersection that led to the main part of town, the ghost broke the silence once again.
"Can we get ice cream or something?" it asked, voice strained. "It's been a fucking day."
Indeed it had.
Jack wasn't one to take suggestions from a ghost, but what the hell. He sure as hell wasn't ready to face his family after what he'd just experienced.
Jack cut on the turn signal and pulled into the nearest drive-thru. He was surprised the Nasty Burger wasn't as busy this time of morning, but Jack wasn't complaining.
"What do you want?" he asked his passenger.
Phantom's green eyes scanned the menu. "I'll take a strawberry-banana shake."
Funny. That was his son's usual order.
Jack was more favorable to a hot fudge sundae, himself.
The employee at the window had her fair share of questions when she spotted Phantom in the seat beside Jack Fenton. Though, when Phantom cut her a glowing green glare she handed over their order with a fast "have a nice day!"
Phantom wasted no time draining its milkshake and if it was any other day, he'd probably wonder how a ghost was even able to drink a milkshake. Instead, he gave Phantom a once-over and helped himself to his own sundae.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you the truth about why I buried him sooner." Phantom circled its straw around the empty cup. "I knew learning he was a ghost would hurt you."
He'd electrocuted Phantom, accused it of unspeakable things.
No. Jack had accused him of unspeakable things.
"I understand now," he said. "You're not as bad as I thought, you know?"
Phantom nodded. "I get that you and Maddie don't trust ghosts and I get why. But some of us do mean well. I mean well. I thought that burying Vlad would cause fewer problems—half-ghosts like him can't be discovered. I never did it to cause you pain."
Phantom spoke of half-ghosts as if he knew more of them.
More people who were like Vladdie.
"I believe you." Jack swallowed a spoonful of sundae. "I think that Maddie and I need to learn more about ghosts."
"If you have any questions, feel free to ask." He paused. "Given you're not trying to rip me apart or anything."
"That sounds good. The not ripping-you-apart, I mean."
"For sure." Phantom gave a hollow laugh. "I should probably be off now. I've got… places to haunt and stuff."
Jack hummed. "G'luck with that."
Phantom vanished from the seat beside him, leaving only the empty milkshake behind. Jack took his time finishing his own sundae before driving back home. He knew Maddie and the kids would have questions about where he'd gone that morning and he wasn't sure he could answer them. Not at first. Nonetheless, something in his heart felt lighter—the blistering rot beginning to subside.
After all, if Vlad was able to let go of all the hurt after all these years, maybe Jack would find a way too. In his own time.