Vlad walked slowly back to the main entrance of the house. It had become a habit of his to go there whenever he was particularly worried about Danny's behavior. Which was quite frequently actually. He had not changed the décor at all, even though Danny himself never visited it. Vlad hated to admit it, but in an odd way it was a memorial shrine. Not just to Maddie, but to Jack as well. More then that though, it was a shrine to the friendship they all once shared, so long ago.
Contrary to what Danny might think Vlad had been telling the truth when he fiest showed this area to the boy. He was in mourning, and not just over Maddie either. When Vlad initially heard what had happened, he had been of two hearts and two minds. He was very upset and despondent over Maddie's passing, but he was also glad that Jack was finally gone.
Lately though it had started to really hit him. Jack was gone, and it hadn't even been by his own hand. He had been cheated out of the one thing that he had wanted more then anything else, save Maddie herself. At least that was how he had looked at it in the beginning. Then he began to slowly realize that it wasn't just that he had been cheated out of killing Jack himself, but that with Jack's death, one of the main driving forces behind his anger at the world was gone. There was no longer someone to hate and plot against.
Oh, Vlad liked to think that when it came down to it, he was still evil at heart, but he was coming to quickly realize that all the evil in him no resided in only one place and that was his ghost half. Not surprising really, since his ghost half had essentially been built around hatred and anger. When he transformed into a ghost, the rage still managed to run through his veins, but now it was mostly powered by his hatred of the world in general for a vague feeling of non-acceptance. Even that side seemed to be growing a little weaker every day though without any new hatred to feed it. Who knew, maybe one day he would be content to get a cat and live a non-violent, peaceful life.
He stopped and stared at a picture of a very young Maddie. How could he let her down so badly? Danny wasn't happy here, but Vlad knew he wouldn't be happy anywhere else either. Was it really such an insane idea that Danny had? Was it really so wrong to try to do whatever he could to be happy again? Vlad touched the glass over the face of his love. Maybe it was for the best after all.
'Maybe,' he thought to himself. 'Maybe Danny would be happier as nothing more then a ghost. And who am I to deny him that one last chance at happiness?'
"I swore to you Maddie that I would care for him to the best of my ability and I will," Vlad remarked to the picture before him. "Even if it means separating his human half from his ghost half. Besides, it isn't as if he's actually going to die. His human half will still be alive, and that is the half that will still need caring for no matter what. I just hope that wherever you are, you understand."
Vlad put his arm down and walked back out. If he was going to help Danny separate, he needed to finish getting the lab ready.
The following morning there was no breakfast, no chit-chat and no meandering around the mansion. Danny had not changed his mind with a good nights sleep. If anything, he was even more determined then ever to see this idea through to the end.
"On the table, then," Vlad spoke gently.
Danny got up on the table and laid down, ready for Vlad to strap him in. It took only a few moments for Vlad to do so. When he was finished with that, he donned a surgical mask and the ghost gloves.
"Now, I'm not going to lie to you Daniel, this is most likely going to hurt tremendously. So are you sure you want to …"
"Yes," Danny nodded stoically.
"Very well then. Let us proceed." Vlad looked down at Danny and suddenly felt as though he was looking at this boy for the very last time. A tear crept quickly into his eye and he found it hard to swallow. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he activated the gloves and brought them down into Danny's body.
It was a more difficult process then he thought it was going to be. Danny started crying out in pain as Vlad rummaged around inside, trying to get a gripe on Danny's ghost half. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, he felt the gloves grab a hold of it and began to pull. Danny's human body started to pull along with it, breaking most of the straps holding it down, as though unwilling to let this part of him go, but it was useless. After a strong yank by Vlad, Danny's ghost half was pulled free and hung limply from the gloves, while his human half lay back on the table shaking uncontrollably.
Danny Phantom looked up at Vlad and pushed himself off the gloves. It took a moment for him to get his bearings, but as he looked around he saw his other half and knew that it had worked. So why then, did he still feel so lost, and alone and guilty? Why was he still in so much emotional pain?
"It didn't work," he muttered as he clutched his head. "I shouldn't be feeling anything. I shouldn't be feeling anything at all!"
"Daniel," Vlad replied as he set the ghost gloves down. "Did you really think it would be that easy to run away from your emotions and to stop caring about people?"
"You did!" Danny rounded on him. "You stopped caring about everyone but yourself and getting what you wanted!"
"True," nodded Vlad. "But you're forgetting that I had years of practice and that when all is said and done, I'm evil, and you … aren't."
Danny balled his hands into fists and turned his head away from Vlad as he continued to float in the air. Vlad was right. He was evil. Danny's eyes caught sight of the ghost gloves and he snapped. Something possessed him in that brief moment. He grabbed the gloves without thinking and lunged at Vlad. If Vlad could spend his whole life not caring about anyone then so could he. Hatred and anger burned deep inside of him as he went to pull Vlad's ghost half out. Vlad screamed. Danny could hear the blood rushing through his guardian's veins. Vlad's heart beat sped up with each searing twist of agony until finally his ghost half came free while Vlad's human body was flung back against the wall by the force where it fell to the floor unconscious.
"You're mine," Danny sneered as he pulled Vlad Plasmius into his own ghost form. If Danny had thought that separating from his human half was painful, he was wrong. This was much worse. Sheer torture in its most base form. Ripples of electricity raced through his nerves and his mind split into two. Had it hurt this bad when he first became a half-ghost? A voice deep within him answered 'No. But that wasn't worth the pain, and this is.'
He clutched his head has it began ripping apart with fire. His vision blurred and his senses melded into a cold hard lump. He could feel something else in his mind with him. A growing evil that threatened to suffocate him. This wasn't what he had meant to happen, but try as he might he couldn't fight it. All of the could that had been Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom mixed, broke and gave way under the torrent of evil that had been Vlad, while the memories of Vlad broke and gave way to the pain and anger that was Danny, fueling the evil even more.
When his vision finally cleared he smiled. The guilt that had plagued him from the knowledge that he had somehow managed to kill his parents was gone. In fact, he was actually feeling somewhat happy that those annoying parents of his were gone. For the first time in his life, Danny felt absolutely free.