The Past is Present
Chapter 2: A New Reality
As he walked through the crowds of whispering teenagers, Danny nervously rubbed the back of his neck and found his friends and his sister standing by the lockers.
"What the heck is going on, Danny?" Jazz asked him.
"Erm..."
"Yeah, dude, Dash was here running round like crazy telling everyone about...y'know...that Vlad's your..." Tucker whispered.
"It's kinda a long story," Danny sighed, "But...yeah, I guess everyone knows now. Probably even end up on the news or something too," he grumbled.
"What happened?" Sam asked.
"Well...Vlad turned up when Dash was chasing me...he told him about the...well, then Dash ran off. I guess Vlad scared the bejesus outta him."
"I would'a loved to see that," Tucker muttered.
"And then erm...Vlad drove me here...in the Mercedes...made a big show of it, too."
"Y'think this makes you and Jazz the richest kids in the school now?" Tucker asked.
"We're not his kids, Tucker," Danny said.
"No...but still."
"Oh, man what a day," the young hybrid grumbled.
During class, Danny couldn't help but notice that everyone was staring at him and when it was time for lunch as he, Tucker and Sam made their way over to a table. As they sat at their own table, across from them Danny heard Paulina shout out to him.
"Danny! Danny, come sit with us," she smiled at him and Sam scowled.
"Don't listen to her," the goth whispered to him. "You know they're only interested in your money. Vlad's money," she said.
"Yeah...but she just asked me to sit with them! Me!" Danny exclaimed, "Sitting with...Paulina..."
"Oh, brother," Sam rolled her eyes and grabbed her tray before storming off.
"You really gonna sit with them?" Tucker asked, "'Cause, y'know Sam's right."
"...Yeah, but it's Paulina!"
"...Yeah," Tucker nodded and they both grabbed their trays and walked over.
"Who invited the dork?" Dash demanded, staring at Tucker.
"...He's...err...with me?" Danny muttered, nervously.
Paulina shrugged after a moment and Tucker practically radiated happiness as he and Danny sat down.
A very smug looking Danny walked home between his two friends, with Tucker also happy and Sam, not so happy.
"I can't believe you let them just...after everything they've done..." Sam muttered. "You're not stupid, Danny. You know they don't care about you, especially her," she hissed.
"We got invited to a party, Sam. A party. We never get invited to parties! And you can come too!"
"I don't want to, I never cared about their parties! If I just told them I had money, they'd treat me like that too, but I don't want that!"
"But..."
"I really thought you understood," she sighed. "I guess not," she said before walking off ahead of them.
"So...we goin' to the party?" Tucker asked.
"I...I don't know. I mean...it's not like...like I don't know that it's all about the money to them but...Vlad said I'd have to get used to being treated different now everyone knows," he sighed. "Hey...did err...did Sam seem...mad?"
"Man, you're so clueless," Tucker muttered.
"Huh?" Danny blinked.
"Anyway, the party's not till Friday, right? Well, we got three days to talk her round," he replied.
"Yeah, yeah, I guess so," Danny nodded.
"Hello, Daniel, how nice of you to join us," Vlad's calm, educated voice greeted Danny when he walked through the front door.
"Huh?" the young hybrid blinked, confused.
Vlad was sitting on the sofa, sipping from a slightly chipped mug of steaming tea across from Jack who had pulled up a chair so that the two of them were sitting on opposite sides of a small table which held a checker board. Vlad was winning and Jack was looking very contemplative as he stared down at the board.
"I got a good feeling about this one, V-man, I'm gonna win this time," the orange clad ghost hunter declared.
Vlad rolled his eyes and sipped his tea daintily. Jack said that every game they'd ever played in college and he'd never ever won a game yet. "Of course you are, Jack," Vlad scoffed but of course, as always, his scorn wasn't noticed at all.
"What's err...what's goin' on?" Danny asked, walking towards them.
"I'm playing a very stimulating game of checkers with your father," Vlad replied, dryly.
"Errr...ooooookay then...I'm err...I'll just...be going to my room then. Yeah errr...I'm err..." Danny stammered, surprised beyond belief.
"Come on, Vladdie, your turn," Jack said.
"Why don't you stay here and tell us how your day went, dear boy," Vlad said, clearly ignoring Jack's urging to make his move in the game.
"Errr...it went...err...great," Danny mumbled.
"Care to elaborate?"
"Errr...nope," he muttered quickly and tried to run away up to his room.
"Off to do your homework? And so eager too," Vlad remarked, silkily. "I'd imagine it pays to get your work done as quickly as possible."
"Yeah, Danny boy, if there's homework, get to it, we talked about the grade thing, remember," Jack said.
"I know, dad," Danny sighed, glaring at the smug looking Vlad.
"How...bout...that?" Jack then declared as he moved a checker piece.
"King me," Vlad drawled, moving one of his own straight across the board and over several of Jack's.
"Oh, shoot," the man bemoaned and slouched forwards.
"Why don't you go and help Maddie in the lab," Vlad suggested to him.
"Great idea, Vladdie," the man ran off, leaving the two hybrids alone.
"Do you actually have homework?" Vlad asked him.
"Err...yeah, a bit," Danny answered.
"How are your grades doing?"
"...Bit better...maybe."
"Maybe is not good enough, Daniel," Vlad sighed.
"I'm trying ok it's just...a lot to catch up on," Danny admitted.
"Then sit down," Vlad told him, gesturing to the sofa.
"Huh?" the teenager stared at him in confusion.
"Sit down and do your work and if need be, I will help you. Clearly you'll get no help from your parents," he explained.
"...You're gonna help me do my homework? You?" Danny summarised, still confused.
"I think it's fair to say that I'm of above average intelligence, I'm sure that I can manage to be of assistance."
"Fruitloop," Danny grumbled.
"You really should be thanking me, not insulting me, you know. I single handedly, in one day, dealt with your ridiculous bullying problem, made my relation to you public, raised your reputation sky high in that squalid cesspool of a school, and now I'm offering my help yet again," Vlad drawled, sarcastically.
"Yeah, school was great, now thanks to you I get mobbed every time I leave class."
"Surely it's an improvement on being chased by an ape."
"..." Danny bit his lip and he couldn't deny that.
"Now, sit down and show me what you have to do," Vlad reiterated, calmly.
"Seriously? You're really gonna do this?"
"Do I look like I'm joking?"
"Honestly, it's hard to tell sometimes with you," Danny replied.
"Well, I'm not and you know that I don't like to repeat myself."
"Fine, okay, doing homework with my ex-arch enemy now, totally normal," Danny said, walking over to the sofa and dropping his school bag onto the floor before he sat down. "Just don't blame me if you get so bored your eyeballs fall out," he said, beginning take out his books from the bag. "I'm err...a bit behind..." he muttered when Vlad raised an eyebrow at the number of books Danny ended up with.
"In that case, you're not leaving this room until it's all done and I'm going to sit here and make sure of that. You really do need to do something about your grades, little badger and if no one else is going to do it, then I will."
"Oh joy," Danny muttered.
"One day, you'll thank me."
"Uh huh."
"What's...going on?" Jazz asked when she came home shortly after. She stood staring at the sight of Vlad and Danny sitting next to each other on the sofa with half a dozen text books around them.
"Vlad's found a new way of torturing me, save me," Danny replied and Vlad rolled his eyes.
"Focus, Daniel, the battle of Waterloo was 1815, not 1851," the older hybrid said after reading through the lines Danny had written.
"Urgh," Danny flopped back onto the sofa. "Y'see...torture, Jazz!" he exclaimed.
"You're...doing homework?" Jazz blinked.
"Uh huh," Danny nodded.
"And...Vlad's helping you?"
"He's torturing me! How many times do I have to say it?!"
"About time you made a start on all that work," she replied. "I thought you said you'd done the history stuff last night," she added.
"Err...this is err...more stuff..."
"Right," she replied in disbelief. "Well, you're gonna be at it a while. I guess mom and dad are in the lab, right?" she asked and he nodded. "I'll cook dinner then," she said, walking through into the kitchen. "I think we still have some pasta somewhere unless mom and dad used it all for their experiment yesterday. What'd they need it for again?"
"Who knows," Danny sighed.
"Nope, it's all gone, shoot," Jazz grumbled from the kitchen.
"They were using food in an experiment?" Vlad asked.
"Yup. Y'know they made the Christmas dinner come to life one time...I told you that, right? Weird things happen in this house," Danny shrugged. "So, no food again?" he called to Jazz.
"There's vegetables, for some reason they never use vegetables when they're messing around with food in their experiments. Guess I'm making vegetable stew," she said.
"Meh, that's cool" Danny said.
"Is the lack of food a regular occurrence?" Vlad asked, stoically.
"Not really," Danny replied, coolly. "Now..what was it you were saying about this water battle?"
"Waterloo, Daniel, Waterloo," Vlad sighed.
Both Fenton children knew that their parents loved them, that much was true, but it was also true that occasionally, their parenting was a little, shall we say, distracted? Sometimes, food was used in experiments and not replaced. Sometimes they could spend all day and all night in the lab and leave their children to cook their food and get themselves to bed at a reasonable hour. But on other days it was the exact opposite. To both Danny and Jazz, it was normal. Vlad however, wasn't impressed.
"Done!" Danny exclaimed, happily and he slouched back onto the sofa, "Finally."
"Yes, now don't let it pile up like that again," Vlad replied.
"Sir, yes, sir," the teenager a lazy salute.
"Well done, Danny," Jazz smiled and began to close all of the books. "And Vlad's right. I mean, there's been hardly any ghost attacks lately, so you've got more time to do schoolwork."
"That just means they're planning something, Jazz, I can't sit around every night doing math when they're out there doing..."
"Daniel," Vlad interrupted him.
"But I have to..."
"No, you don't. How many times must I say it? This town can survive without you. You, however, will not amount to anything unless you do well in school."
"He's got a point, little brother."
"But you can't just...side with him!"
"I can if he's right," Jazz shrugged.
"But you...but he..."
Before Danny could say anything else, Maddie walked into the room, pulling her goggles up onto her head.
"Danny, Jazz?" she said, "Vlad? What's...what're you doing here?"
"I arrived this afternoon, my dear, surely you remember," he answered.
"Oh, right," the ghost hunter replied, "Sorry, Vlad, we've been really busy down there, we had three explosions. Three!"
"Nothing to worry about I'm sure," Vlad replied, "Jasmine and I have been hard at work helping Daniel with his homework."
"Oh...well that's...good," she said, shocked. "I just came up to start dinner," she said.
"Maddie, my dear, it's half past nine...at night," he told her. "Jasmine was good enough to cook, and a very excellent job she did too. I believe she left some for you and...Jack."
"Half past...but I thought..." Maddie trailed off, looking at the clock on the wall. "Oh, kids I'm so sorry, I was just so caught up in..."
"Mom, it's fine," Danny said, quickly, "Jazz made dinner, it's cool."
"I really am..."
"It's ok, mom," Jazz assured her, all the while Vlad found himself biting his lip to stay silent.
It was hardly his place to criticise, especially after everything he'd done, and Maddie was, after all, the woman he still loved. But something in the back of his mind, a conscience he thought he'd long since done away with, was telling him that this was wrong. But what right did he have to say anything? And he loved Maddie. His three weeks away in the Ghost Zone hadn't changed that but he'd never before thought about the home life of the two Fenton children. His godchildren.
"Well...alright then," Maddie said. "Thanks for helping, Vlad. I should probably get back to the lab...Jack was on the verge of...Well, just make sure you do to bed soon, okay, kids? Vlad, can you..."
"No later than ten o' clock, Maddie dear, billionaires' honour."
"Seriously, Vlad, we don't need a bedtime," Danny grumbled.
"That kind of attitude can put the time back to quarter to, young man," Vlad said, sarcastically.
"Say what?!"
"Maddie! It's working! Uh oh, no it isn't...it's gonna blow!" Jack's loud voice echoed from the lab and then a loud explosion rumbled through the house.
"Oh no, not again," Maddie ran off. "Goodnight, kids, goodnight, Vlad," she called, without really stopping to consider just how odd it was that Vlad was there at all. But when she can Jack were in that frame of mind, nothing could really break through. At least for Maddie, once the inventive phase wore off, she'd stop and go over the whole situation and wonder just what on earth had made Vlad help Danny with his homework or even agree to make sure her children went to bed on time. But not just yet.
"There they go again," Jazz sighed and stood up. "I'm calling it a night, I wanna get to the library early tomorrow," she said.
"You're both nuts, y'know that," Danny told her, smiling.
"Takes one to know one, Danny," she replied and childishly messed up his already messy black hair.
"Hey!" he cried.
"Night, little brother," Jazz said. She then turned to Vlad with a curious expression and smiled. "Night, Vlad," she added and left.
"What a weird day," Danny muttered.
"I'm sure that by traditional standards, all of your days are 'weird'. You're half ghost, dear boy," Vlad remarked.
"I mean...y'know...weird even for me. I got invited to a party today, y'know, that never happens. There was a party here once, like in my own house, and I wasn't even invited, I mean, what the heck?! And now it's just like, hey Danny, wanna come to a party!"
"Ah, that'll be your enhanced reputation, you're welcome, incidentally."
"Fruitloop," Danny muttered again but Vlad just chuckled. "Man, what's going on with you today anyway? You drive me to school, throw me to the lions and help me with my homework, are you try'na be like super unkie Vlad or something?" Danny asked.
"I'm doing what you and Clockwork demanded," Vlad replied, "I'm doing what I need to. I'm being...not an enemy."
"Oh," Danny breathed.
"Is it not working?" Vlad asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Err...well, we're not fighting, right? That's...good."
"How gratifying."
"Y'know," Danny began, thoughtfully. "No one's ever helped me with my homework before. I mean, Jazz does and Sam and Tuck sometimes but I mean...like mom and dad. It's still torture though."
"All children would agree with you, I think."
"Except Jazz, she loves homework," Danny said, dryly.
"Ah," Vlad gave a small grin, "Admittedly so did I."
"Weirdos," Danny muttered.
"Well, you happen to owe these two 'weirdos' a great deal after listening to your whining the least few hours."
"I didn't 'whine'," the teenage hybrid protested.
"You most certainly did," Vlad replied, seriously. "So, as payment, I insist that you and Jasmine join me for dinner at my hotel tomorrow evening after school."
"Err...why?"
"It gives me the perfect opportunity to flaunt my wealth."
"Figures," Danny snorted.
"Quite frankly, after seeing the deplorable state of your food supply, you really should be thanking me."
"What'd you mean? It's not that bad. Me and Jazz can deal with it ourselves, we're not babies, know. And Mom just forgot, she was busy, that's all."
"Busy creating a weapon designed to destroy you," Vlad retorted.
"Well...she doesn't know it's me!"
"I'll have a driver ready and waiting for the two of you after school tomorrow. You'll just have to look for the most expensive vehicle in the parking lot. I don't think even you will have a difficult time of it."
"Hey!" Danny cried.
"I don't suppose you've ever been, but I happen to be staying at one of the most expensive hotels in the area. It's a little out of the way, but such is the price of luxury," he sighed dramatically.
"What the..."
"You'll probably stand out quite hilariously dressed as you are, but people should know better than to comment once they see that you are with me."
"Will you just..."
"And I really don't..."
"Vlad!" Danny yelled.
"Yes?" Vlad blinked at him, raising an eyebrow.
"We're not going to some fancy hotel in the middle of no where," Danny said.
"Why ever not?"
"Because...we don't...do fancy stuff. And why would you even want us there?"
"Consider it my demand for helping you. After all, I rarely do something for nothing."
"So...for helping me do homework...you're gonna take us to a fancy hotel and give us fancy food? Did you hit your head when you went to Canada or something?"
"Just think how awkward you'll feel, I assure you, it won't be walk in the park."
"Geez, everyone in this town already thinks me and Jazz are weird, we live in the building with the giant tin can stuck on the top. You're gonna have to do better than that."
"Just do as I say," Vlad rolled his eyes.
"But..."
"And when someone does a good deed, I believe you're supposed to say 'thank you'," Vlad replied with a small grin.
"I..." Danny began but stopped. Vlad had actually done something good, for whatever reason, he'd helped Danny with his homework as well as saving from Dash that morning and driving him to school. "Right...erm...thanks, Vlad," he said, clearly surprising the older hybrid.
"You'll come to dinner?" Vlad managed to ask after a moment.
"Err...sure," Danny answered.
"Splendid," Vlad said and glanced at his watch.
"Don't tell me," Danny said, sarcastically, "It's past my bed time?"
"Not quite," Vlad smirked.
"Oh, goodie," he grumbled and Vlad chuckled.
At ten o'clock exactly, with Jack and Maddie still in the basement lab and with no signs of leaving it anytime soon and with Danny climbing the stairs off to his bedroom, Vlad left the house and drove back to his hotel. He walked through the halls of expensive luxury without really seeing any of it and he didn't even hear the hotel workers asking if he wanted anything. Vlad made his way to his suite of rooms and eventually found himself staring at his reflection in the large bathroom mirror. Despite the changes, Vlad could still only see his father staring back at him. The same white hair, the same cruel blue eyes, even the shape of his nose and his face, all of it was Vladislav and those weren't things that he could change.
He grimaced at his reflection and before he knew what he was doing, he punched the mirror and watched it shatter into a thousand tiny shards around him. Breathing heavily, it took him a while to notice the shards embedded in his fist so he removed them one by one and watched as each gash quickly healed over perfectly. He turned away from the mess and padded into the bedroom where he threw himself onto the bed and curled up beneath the soft sheets.
A.N. It's been a loooooong time since I updated this fic. I think I ran out of ideas, I have a few but I'm not sure how to make a story out of them yet. I'm trying to figure it out. I'd love to know if you guys have any ideas. Let me know what you think :)
