The funeral was a few days later. It was a short procession; Vlad had requested that he be buried underneath the football field outside his house. Hundreds of people, mostly employees of Dalv corp. its subsidiary, Axiom Labs, attended. Danny looked for Valerie and her father halfheartedly, but saw no sign of them. After the majority of the mourners had left, a man approached Danny in the main hall of the castle.
"Daniel Fenton, I presume?" He asked. Danny looked him over. He was a middle-aged man, probably somewhere in his forties, and had jet-black hair and green eyes. He was wearing wire-framed glasses, and a black suit and black tie.
"Please, call me Danny."
"Fine, Danny. My name is Mr. Starkman; I represented the late Mr. Masters."
"And what do you want with me?"
"You're mentioned in his will. I'm obligated by law to inform you of you standings with regards to Mr. Masters." Danny glanced nervously towards his family.
"Oh, of course they can come as well, since you're a minor and all." He led the Fentons to Vlad's private study and sat behind the desk.
"As you all know, my client was, shall we say, well-off monetarily. It's my duty to inform you that he left everything he owned to one Daniel Jack Fenton, born April 4, 1991." The four stared back at him in shock.
"Everything?" Maddie asked incredulously.
"Everything."
"Wow…" Danny murmured. He and his parents all signed the documents that had been offered to them, and Mr. Starkman left to finalize all of the details and oversee the transfer of funds. They sat in shocked silence for a moment, but were interrupted by a soft mewing. Danny looked down and saw a small kitten scampering around the floor. It was white but had black paws. Also, the top of its head and ears had black fur, except for a white vertical streak that began just above the eyes.
"Aw…look at the little guy…" Jazz cooed.
"I guess he's technically yours, Danny. What're you going to do with him?" Maddie asked. Danny thought for a minute.
"I know someone who'd love to keep him."
The next day, Vlad's (although technically it was Danny's) plane touched down under an overcast Amity Park. As soon as he got home and unpacked, he put the cat in his jacket pocket and made his way over to Sam's house.
"Danny?" The Goth asked, surprised to see him so soon. "I didn't think you'd want to talk to me or Tucker this soon after…you know…" Danny shrugged.
"Can we go to you're room for a minute? I need to tell you something important."
"Sure!" She led him upstairs. "What was it you wanted to talk to me about?" Danny swooped down and kissed her. She held it for a bit, then pulled away softly. "What was that?" she asked. Her tone was soft, not accusatory.
"That was me taking someone's advice for once."
"Elaborate."
"Vlad's last words to me were to never let the one I love get away, or else I'll turn bitter and alone like him. I love you, Sam, way too much to ever risk letting you disappear from my life." She grinned and pulled him into another kiss.
The two of them woke up the next morning in each other's arms. Sam opened her eyes and jumped back in surprise; on top of Danny's head there was a black and white cat! She giggled and quietly reached for her camera, and snapped a picture. The cat yelped and jumped away, and the sudden noise woke Danny up.
"Wha…" he muttered. She showed him the picture. "Oh, ha ha Sam."
"Yep, I'm hilarious. Now explain why there was a cat on your head."
"Oh, I'd forgotten to tell you last night…we found him in Vlad's study and I thought you'd like him."
"Aw…that's so sweet of you!" She kissed him on the forehead. "What's his name?" Danny grinned.
"His name is Plasmius."
THE END
Well? How was it? That's the closest thing I've ever written to psychological turmoil, although I couldn't resist throwing in some fluff at the end.
Oh, by the way, I picked this up from another author earlier this afternoon, but I can't for the life of me remember who exactly it was. So apologies if you're reading this and think that I'm stealing your idea. HAPPY VLAD DAY! That's right-May 5 is the second anniversary of Vlad's first appearance on Nickelodeon. That's probably the reason why my brother told me thatBR was on TV today ...hmm... I would have watched it myself, but I was taking the SAT's this morning. Hooray. Luckily, my parents let me off of doing regular homework all afternoon, so I was able to write this fic instead of schoolwork. Yay, standardized testing! (Author slaps himself). Why am I still talking? I am such a spaz.