The lights are off, though whether it's for mood or for intimidation, Danny couldn't say. It had seemed right, at least, when he began setting up the circle.
He is in a little house on the edge of town that isn't abandoned, technically, but has been up for sale for a good few years now with no takers. On the kitchen tile in front of him is a circle drawn in the juice of crushed blood blossoms, with candles at four points around it. Around the edge of the inside of the circle, more juice forms small sigils, all with one straightforward purpose.
It's night. Outside, Danny can hear the wind pound against the flimsy glass windows, and a chill permeates the building. Fortunate, then, that he hasn't been bothered by the cold in years.
He presses the bare edges of his human fingertips to the blossom juice, hissing at the slight burning sensation but not drawing back. Before he can talk himself out of it, he reaches for his core and sends a spark of energy around the circle and into the sigils where they connect with the main lines, lighting up the juice with an eerie green glow.
Vlad Plasmius, Danny thinks as he feels the circle radiate power, and in a blink, the energy converges in the center.
Danny sits back, opening his eyes—when had he closed them?—and looks up to find a very bewildered Plasmius floating above the center of the circle. Danny blinks in surprise—rather than the childishly villainous costume he'd expected, the man wears simple lab clothes, his black hair fallen around his shoulders loosely.
When Danny gets ahold of his tongue again, he says, "Putting on a show for me when we fight, huh, Vlad?" He grins cheekily, and Vlad's gaze zeroes in on him, his lips pulling into an irritated scowl. Before Danny's eyes, the man's hair lifts up and curls into the style he's used to, and his clothes meld into his familiar white outfit and cape.
"What is your goal with this, Daniel?" Vlad asks flatly, glaring.
"Oh, nothing, really. You just see fit to pop in unannounced enough that I figured I'd expedite the process."
"This isn't a joke," Vlad barks, floating forward, but before he can get close to the edge of the circle, a wall of energy flares up in front of him, forcing him back again.
"Relax, fruit-loop. I know full well what someone can do to a ghost in a summoning circle. Rest assured I have no intention of doing any of that," Danny says, shuddering at the thought. Suffice to say, this was probably how Freakshow had made Lydia so unfailingly loyal to him, even without the staff.
"Then what is your intention?" Vlad says sharply. "What could you possibly want from me like this? I am at your mercy in this circle."
Danny grins, meeting Vlad's eyes. "Yes, you are." Huh. He's never noticed before, but they're just a shade darker in the center, where Vlad's pupils must be.
Plasmius doesn't seem to know what to say to that, looking him over, his eyes searching. He stays silent, and so does Danny, and so they stay there quietly watching each other until the sun begins to rise—which hadn't really been far off, anyway. Danny should feel vulnerable, sitting on his knees on the dusty floor of the kitchen as he is, Vlad's floating form looming over him. Despite that, though, he feels absolutely in control.
Danny's gaze flickers away from Vlad when he notices the sky begin to lighten outside. Then, without acknowledging Vlad again, he reaches out to extinguish one candle before moving on to the rest. He finally meets Vlad's eyes again when he lays a thumb over the edge of the circle, ready to smear it, breaking its hold.
"See you, Plasmius," he says, grinning, and breaks the circle before Vlad can respond.
Vlad doesn't mention what had happened the next time they see each other in person, when Danny is chasing Skulker around as he's trying to report back to the Masters Mansion. Instead, he soundly kicks Danny off his property, and since Skulker disappeared—presumably down to Vlad's lab to enter the Zone on his own terms and not via the thermos—Danny made the executive decision to let it alone and screw off.
Odd, though. Danny had been sure the man would accost him, looking for answers, at the very first opportunity. Instead, he let Danny go.
The second time Danny summons him, he catches Plasmius again in his relaxed state. Again, he changes appearances, scowling down at Danny. Idly, he wonders if Vlad has just happened to be in ghost form when he's summoned, or if the summoning forcibly changes him. Food for thought.
"I quite hope this isn't going to become a pattern," Vlad says instead of greeting him, sounding very much like he knew it would. Danny tactfully ignores the question.
"Do you think I'll be more scared of you if you look like that, or is it a PR thing? Like, the big scary 'Wisconsin Ghost' is your alter ego's alter ego?"
Vlad blinks. "As if I owe you any answers," he says carefully. Danny tilts his head.
"If you tell me, I'll let you go early," he promises, and maybe he even means it. He's not sure yet. The lack of a serious inclination either way seems to throw Vlad for a loop, and he watches in amusement as the man tries very hard to seem impassive while he fails to read him. Eventually, to Danny's pleasant surprise, he speaks.
"It's not to scare you, you arrogant child. Having a strong image is important in the Ghost Zone," he says snippily. Danny raises an eyebrow.
"And you figured a Saturday cartoon vampire was the look to go for?" Danny snorts out a laugh. "No offense, Vlad, but I'm questioning your taste, here. A creepy dude in a lab coat with blue skin and red eyes is way more unsettling, at least to me."
Vlad levels him with an unamused glare. "I don't blame you for not having noticed, since you're about as thick as the rest of them, but much of the population of the Ghost Zone are about as intelligent as the children who watch Saturday cartoons," he bites. Danny glares.
"I resent that. Also, Clockwork and Pandora and Frostbite are loads of intelligent!" he protests. Unexpectedly, Vlad rears back a bit, his eyes widening.
"You've met the Lord of Time?" Vlad splutters, alarmed. Danny hadn't known Clockwork was that important—well, okay, he'd had some idea, but he hadn't realized the guy would get this kind of reaction—but he makes a split-second decision to roll with this as long as he can keep that incredulous look on Vlad's face.
"Yeah, he's cool," Danny says simply, watching with glee as Vlad seems to go through each stage of grief. As the man rounds out to acceptance, Danny hits the nail in further. "His house is pretty cool, even if his taste in décor is a little weird." And there he goes again.
After collecting himself, Vlad says, "I am not even going to ask what kind of mess you got yourself into to warrant the Lord of Time's intervention." He shudders.
That sobers Danny quickly. His amusement fades, and he looks away. "See you later, Vlad," he says eventually, extinguishing the candles with a gust of cold air and reaching forward without pause to break the circle. Vlad disappears, and Danny lets the memories of Dan come.
Vlad cancels on the dinner he'd invited himself to at their house that week. Danny's mom had seemed perplexed but more relieved than anything else, so he counts that as a win.
By the fifth time Danny summons him, Vlad finally lets his hair stay down, much to Danny's delight. He hasn't yet gotten much of a look at Vlad's ghost form in its natural state, so before saying anything, he takes a walk around the circle, looking at him. If it also makes Vlad tense, like he's prey being circled by a predator, that's just a bonus.
Vlad's hair is longer than he thought it was, reaching to the middle of his shoulder blades, and it looks like he takes good care of it. The lab coat he wears is a dusty gray, only recognizable as one for its shape, and the shirt beneath it is a dark blue with a black stripe in the middle. It's not the most fashionable thing in the world, but it's more interesting than his plain white pajama suit, so Danny likes it.
He sits back down in his usual spot before Vlad gets uncomfortable enough that he changes back, settling down with crossed legs and looking up expectantly.
"What?" Vlad asks. He clearly means it to come out irritably, but it sounds more curious than anything else, and Vlad snaps his mouth cleanly shut.
"Why do we look so different?" Danny asks. It's not what Vlad expected, for sure, though Danny's not certain how Vlad has any expectations at these meetings anymore.
"What do you mean?"
Danny shifts forms, the room lighting a bit more with his glow in addition to Vlad's. He takes off one glove, flexing his fingers and holding up his hand.
"I mean, my skin looks human. And I don't have fangs, or pointy ears, and my eyes look the same, even if they're a different color." Danny pokes at his canines, no more sharp than a normal human's. "We're supposed to be the same, but…"
Vlad does something new, which Danny perks up at; apparently fifth time's the charm for new behavior. Vlad stops floating, and sits down cross-legged in the circle, mirroring Danny, though he's careful not to touch the blossom juice.
"What was the initial transformation like for you?" Vlad asks. Danny would call him out for avoiding the question, were it not for the considering tone Plasmius had taken.
"Um… it hurt, and when I came out of the portal, I looked like this." At that, Vlad sucks in a little breath, but doesn't seem too surprised.
"I've always suspected you are more… perfect, I suppose, of a halfa than I am. For me, gaining my ghost form was more like being infected with a virus than a clear-cut transformation. It was a year and a half before I could switch back and forth." Plasmius' tone is carefully neutral, but Danny grimaces anyway at the implication. "I suspect we seem so different because of the difference in how we came to be."
"Did it hurt?" Danny blurts out before quickly shutting his mouth, feeling his ears grow hot. Much to Danny's surprise, Vlad's lip quirks up a bit in amusement before settling back to neutral.
"A little." He doesn't elaborate, and Danny finds that he doesn't really want him to.
It takes Danny a while to notice it, since there's usually buffer time between Vlad's schemes, but the man starts to lay off antagonizing him, and even making threats or acting against his dad. In fact, Vlad seems to ignore the Fentons entirely when not approached. Even Phantom is left alone, and Danny wonders not for the first time what it all means.
He didn't really expect the summonings to change anything. He's not even sure what he's doing them for, to be quite honest, except for the trickle of confidence that had filled him that first time, when Vlad had said "I am at your mercy."
Regardless, Vlad stops attacking him, and the ghosts that work with him—save Skulker—begin to give him a wide berth.
"Why do you put up with this?"
It's the first time since the initial summoning that Danny has been the one to start the conversation. They're on number seven or eight by now, and Vlad had already opened his mouth, an irritated (faux-irritated, really) "What?" on his tongue.
"What?" It does come out, though more perplexed than annoyed. This is also the first time either of them have acknowledged their interactions outside of the summonings.
"I mean, you could just not talk until I let you go out of boredom. Or you could shake me down when we see each other anywhere else. Why do you put up with this?" he asks calmly. Danny's wary of reminding Vlad what he could do, but he's burningly curious, so in his eyes it's worth the risk.
Vlad is quiet for a while. After a moment, he opens his mouth, but then pauses and closes it again. Eventually, Danny just speaks up again.
"Do you still think if you don't cooperate I'll do something stupid like bind you to me?"
"No," Vlad replies instantly, and it rings true. "No, I rather hope you have more intelligence than that."
"Well, I do. I wouldn't do that. Just so we're clear," Danny says, and Vlad nods, distracted.
"I…" Plasmius trails off again, before seeming to gather something in himself. "These are the only times you actually listen to me, Daniel. Or ask questions. Or do anything other than shoot at me."
Danny just stares at him. He'd kind of suspected this, though the hypocrisy of Vlad's words almost makes him laugh.
"Why do you think I always shoot at you, Vlad?" he asks tiredly.
Vlad doesn't miss the implication. He answers anyway. "You're a child. You're petty and you don't want to listen. I'm the 'bad guy,' so you shoot first and ask questions later." Danny's sad to realize that Vlad really believes that.
"Plasmius, my first impression of you was that you wanted to kill my dad," Danny begins, and Vlad stiffens, though at his tone or his words, Danny doesn't know. "I didn't know anything about your history with him beyond what Dad told me. I love my dad. You were—that whole situation scared me."
Vlad says nothing. He just looks at him.
"I didn't want anything to do with you because I wanted to protect Dad. I didn't trust you, and for good fucking reason, because you didn't stop! You just… kept trying to get him out of the way so you could seduce my mom or whatever the hell it is you want. You shoot first, when I'm only trying to protect my family!"
Danny doesn't know when he started shouting, but he breathes heavily, trying to reign in his anger. The Vlad in the summoning circle has always seemed different to him than the Vlad outside of it, and Danny doesn't want to be angry with him, or to remember all the horrible things he's done. He wants back the man who had talked to him openly about his theories on why they are the way they are.
"I listen to you here because while you're in that circle, you can't be off somewhere, plotting to hurt anyone, or shooting at me."
Vlad still doesn't respond. He stares at Danny silently, his face a perfect mask. Danny stares back for a while before sighing and breaking his gaze.
"Bye, Vlad," he says, and doesn't miss how Plasmius' mouth opens as if to stop him before he extinguishes the candles and breaks the circle.
And then he's gone.
During the in-between, Danny notices when Valerie comes to school looking like her world has broken down. He wishes he could go over and talk to her, but it hasn't been long enough since they broke up; every time he's tried to strike up at least a friendship again, she's walked away.
He can't help but notice, though, that when he passes her in the halls, the faint hum he gets from her suit is gone.
Danny doesn't plan on summoning Vlad again, having cleaned up the vacant house and donated the last of his blood blossoms to Sam, for floral experimentation. He's content to keep whatever peace Vlad had started, hoping beyond hope that the their last meeting wouldn't antagonize Vlad into breaking it.
Imagine his surprise, then, when one night as he's getting into bed he feels a sharp tug on his core as he's dragged across town.
He appears in what looks like a library, an absolutely massive one, with gaudy décor fit only for an obscenely rich person. Sure enough, standing on the outside edge of the circle is Vlad, human, looking at him with an expression marginally more readable than it is in his ghost form. Looking down at himself, Danny notes that yes, he was forced into Phantom. He decidedly does not give away his relief that he hadn't shown up in pajamas.
Vlad waits, and to Danny's surprise, he realizes that the man is waiting for him to start, like Danny had always did for him.
"So, are you going to do something stupid like bind me to you?" he opens, wary of starting the conversation on the serious note he's sure Vlad intends to take it to.
Vlad blanches, immediately responding, "No. No, that's not my intention." Danny gets a funny sense of deja-vu, thinking back on their first meeting like this.
"Then what is?" he asks, playing along.
Vlad is quiet for a fair while. Danny says nothing, content to wait him out.
"I despise your father," Plasmius opens. Danny nods. Nothing he doesn't already know. "And I am fond of your mother, as you know." He pauses, seeming to form the words in his mind before he says them. "I don't want you to feel like I am your enemy."
"Tough," Danny deadpans. Vlad smiles bitterly for a brief moment before letting it fall.
"Quite. I have… I have been thinking, since I saw you last." Vlad transforms, and Danny watches him settle into his ghostly body. The natural one, not the front he puts up. "I have come to the conclusion that it is more important to me to have an… ally, I suppose, who understands the position I'm in, than to chase after a woman who doesn't want me." At that, Danny's eyebrows make a fair bid for his hairline.
"I'm not your ally," Danny says, and Vlad averts his eyes.
"I know." His tone is level, but around him swirls an aura of regret, and Danny finds himself utterly curious. "I had hoped you might be willing to call a truce, at least. And perhaps we could begin to…" He stops, face pinched, like he doesn't know how to word it.
"Patch things up?" Danny suggests. Vlad meets his eyes again, and though Danny's sure that's not how he would have said it, he nods.
It's a lot to consider. Here is a man who has done nothing but make his life miserable, someone who Danny resorted to trapping in a summoning circle just to have any power over (that was the reason, he realized eventually, though he loathed to admit it to himself), someone who is perhaps the one person in either dimension who might understand what Danny goes through. Here is a man who has done awful, vile things, and here is a man who is, despite everything, asking for forgiveness.
On paper, Danny knows the answer he should give. Vlad does not deserve forgiveness. It's surely what his friends would tell him, and if his mother knew, what she would, as well.
But Danny knows what it's like to be a halfa. Danny understands, on some level, the hurt Vlad had gone through to end up so bitter, and he knows the impulse to act violently—gives in to it far more often than he should. He understands obsession—for what else could that blind dedication be?—and he doesn't necessarily blame Vlad for succumbing to it, especially when it's been focused so blindly on his family. Danny's always suspected it would be harder to be devoted to an individual than a whole town.
Vlad is not a good person. He can admit that freely. But Danny kept summoning him back for a reason, and maybe it's selfish to want someone he can share his experiences with, even a bad person, but Danny feels privately that in this, at least, he deserves to be a little selfish.
And if Vlad is lying, then Danny will blast him to kingdom come.
"Okay," he says simply, and Vlad nearly does a double take.
"You… you would be okay with…?"
"Yeah," Danny says, surprising even himself with his sincerity. "I'd like that."