*AN: Sorry if this is really slow, it's mostly gonna be focused on Danny's POV as he figures things out, and I figured that last chapter needed the full conversation to be there. In case you forgot, the last chapter finished with the revelation that Danny had a whole life with Vlad looking after him for most of it. Then he realized he forgot it all... good times
(Figured I should say this now, this is not VladxDanny. That's just not the nature of this fic)
"I just forgot my entire life?"
"Daniel, that's all behind you. You cannot mourn something you don't even know about. You're here now and I will help you get readjusted." Vlad took Daniel's hand, which had been resting on the table. Daniel didn't look up. "Trust me, my boy."
"I'd like to ask some more questions." He looked up briefly, meeting Vlad's eyes with his own wet ones. He hadn't been crying, but the news was enough to get him close.
"Of course. Ask me anything at all."
Daniel nodded. "Okay, um... how long have you had your powers?"
"Since college. My two closest friends and I, we used to search for ghosts together. One became rather obsessed, dragging us along with his misguided mania. He was messing with forces he didn't understand, and I was collateral when it blew up in his face."
Daniel watched Vlad's expression the whole time, watching the tired, detatched resentment he had cross his face. "Are you still friends, or..."
"I've moved past them, Daniel. I've found more important things in my life." His other hand clasped on top of the other, now both gently holding Daniel's hand. He liked how warm the much larger, calloused hands made him feel. He truly believed they were those of someone who'd known and cared for him for years.
"Oh," Daniel smiled to himself. The implications said he was more important than that. It was a nice enough thought to distract him from the dread of his missing memories. "So, other than me, are you like a recluse with not a lot of human interaction?" He raised his eyebrows to embellish his slight teasing.
"I wouldn't say that," Vlad chuckled. "I have plenty of relations with countless large companies and important figures in the world. I'm anything but introverted: I'm a politician." He must have seen that Daniel's eyes had slightly glazed over as Vlad bragged, because he cleared his throat awkwardly. "Basically, we're rich. Billionaire rich."
That was definitely enough to catch Daniel's attention. "Billions?" He repeated, eyes wide. Vlad nodded, patting Daniel's hand once. "How did you get so much?"
"Well, if you were listening, I just explained that. But the short answer is work, determination, and white male privilege."
"Billions." Danny was sure if he were in a cartoon, he would have stars in his eyes.
"And this is merely one of my many properties. This mansion is the one I use most, but I have real estate all over the country! And some outside of it." He was back to bragging, but Danny didn't care this time. He was hanging onto every word.
"Do people know you're a half ghost, then?"
Vlad barked a laugh. "No, dear boy. There are some things that simply aren't for the public to know. We're the only two in existence, Daniel. If people knew what we are? Bad things would happen."
Daniel went silent for a moment. "Soooo," he lowered his head, smiling up at Vlad with an innocent look, "can you show your ghost power now that we've talked?"
Vlad sighed, loosening his hold on Daniel's hand and pulling them back. "If you've no other pressing questions at the moment?" Daniel shook his head. "Very well then."
Vlad stood and took up a rather dramatic pose, in Daniel's opinion, with his arms crossed and his head tilted upwards as if he weren't already towering over the still-seated Daniel. One black, seemingly magical ring formed around Vlad's waist. It split in half, and as the two halves separated from the middle, the space revealed between them changed. They revealed a vampire-like ghost with pale blue skin, gelled black hair, pupil-less eyes, and sharpened canines. Dark eyeliner surrounded those red eyes, and the rest of his fashion choices were anything but subtle. His white and red cape billowed even though there was no wind. His far more muscular form was covered with black and white, leaning far more white, with thick black gloves and boots. On his waist where the rings had started, a grey belt was clasped around him.
Daniel gawked at the ghost before him. It was impressive in all senses of the word, if not slightly intimidating. "That's... amazing! And you're telling me I can do that too?"
"Indeed. Your ghost form isn't nearly as developed due to your age, but you can create a similar transformation." Vlad barely finished his sentence before Daniel cut him off.
"Tell me how!"
"Alright, close your eyes." Daniel did so, returning to the blackness that had been all he'd known this morning. "Focus inward, try to find a source of energy in your gut. It may feel similar to how caffeine does, or possibly a weight. It feels different for every ghost, but as we're a bit of a phenomenon, we can't know exactly what to expect."
Daniel mentally scanned his midsection. It definitely felt like a larger concentration of energy, but it felt colder than expected. It was like a small half-melted ice cube seeping into the rest of him, except it didn't fade. "Okay, I think- I think I found it." He peeked an eye open to see Vlad, still imposing and vampiric, watching him with those blank eyes and both brows raised.
"Daniel, you've accessed it." He nodded in approval. "Now try to get control of that feeling and spread it through your entire body. You should feel a change as the feeling transforms you."
Daniel focused hard, but opened his eyes in surprise when he actually felt a change. It was a powerful difference between this and before, so different than the warmth of the whole morning as a human (more or less.) He felt detached, less real or connected, and the cold that had been rooted in his stomache was now thrumming throughout his whole body.
"Hm." Vlad's eyes grew scrutinizing. His feet left the ground and he floated around Daniel once. "How does it feel?"
"Fine, I guess?" He wrung his hands together. "It's like... before I was normal, but this is just a different kind of normal. Like I should be used to this."
"I see." Vlad didn't seem approving or disapproving. He just watched, making Daniel nervous more than anything.
Daniel looked down and wondered at the magic jumpsuit that he was now in and his bleached hair. He'd been sure it was black not long ago.
Vlad spent the next few minutes guiding Daniel through turning intangible, then teaching him of ectoplasmic projectiles, ectoblasts, throughout which he stayed in his ghost form and watched Daniel warily.
Vlad only seemed satisfied after Daniel successfully--after a few rather explosive attempts that he still felt guilty about--created an ectoblast. He returned to his human form and instructed Daniel to do the same.
Next came a shortened tour of the mansion, and Daniel was aquainted with the general layout. There were two stories excluding a basement which he apparently wasn't supposed to go down (he was definitely sneak down later.) By then it was noon, and after the two had lunch, Vlad retired to his private study. This left Daniel by himself in the massive property. As tempting as the basement was, he didn't feel up to poking his nose in off-limits areas just yet, not while he was still gaining his bearings and still with less than a day of memories. Knowing himself, though, it was only a matter of time before his curiosity got the best of him. Until then, however, he thought it would be best to spend some time in his room.
Upon re-entering the room where he'd woken up, Daniel felt a nostalgia over something he couldn't remember. He might have grown up in this room. It didn't feel like a room that carried any particular past, it just felt empty. Sure, the bed was warm and the sofa looked comfortable, but other than that he had no possessions. He had no band posters or old toys. He had no notebooks or pictures. He had no clues at all as to how it was like growing up. At was as though no one lived here at all. He made a mental note to ask Vlad about that later.
Daniel lounged unceremoniously on the sofa, glad for the respite after he'd spent the day following Vlad around. It was finally time to think about everything, but the scope of his situation wasn't something he could grasp easily. A part of him didn't even want to consider the implications of having a missing fourteen years of his life. He wanted to just ignore that and continue on like he had this morning. He hadn't even considered something being amiss, just for those few precious hours before he asked those damned questions. But he knew he had to care at some level. It was his life, and he had to know about how it had been lived to live this one properly, right?
Unfortunately, Daniel was at a dead end. He knew vaguely what his life had been, seen evidence in the way he could become ghostly and how Vlad seemed to be someone he knew for a long time. This was good, but there was no detail, no insight into what he did with his free time, what he liked to eat, or where he was at with his powers, to name a few topics. The thought of his powers effectively shifted his mindset to curiosity. He got an idea and switched to his ghostly form, shivering at the transition. He begun practicing simple intangiblity, and then ectoblasts when he got cocky enough. He didn't blow anything up this time, but achieved the green mystic thrumming to glow in his hands before he was inturrupted.
Vlad came to pick Daniel up for dinner and the two ate in relative silence with the occasional question or light conversation floating through the silence, but mostly without anything notable happening. It seemed homeschooling as a half ghost would start tomorrow, even though Daniel was already learning from even brief conversations with Vlad. He was anxious to hone his ghostly powers now, though. There seemed to be so much potential in that area.
"Are you sure we have to wait till tomorrow to train?" Daniel asked in a droning whine implying heavy boredom. "It's not like I have anything more to do right now."
"I told you that we are waiting till tomorrow," Vlad hissed, "do not test my patience." Vlad stood, his burning glare softening to a smile. Daniel couldn't tell if it was genuine or not. "Now, I believe we are done here. You should enjoy this time to get aquainted with home."
Daniel agreed, but he definitely wanted to see the basement now. If he was supposed to do nothing for hours, he could at least explore something new. So when Vlad was gone once more and a butler--Daniel hadn't seen the butler before, but it made sense that Vlad had one--came to clear up the dishes, Daniel crept to the door from his shortened tour.
When it came into view, Daniel changed to his ghost form and turned intangible to float past it, noticing how natural the action of floating felt. He was instantly met with darkness, but not silence. Something hummed within the blackness, buzzing lowly with a vibration that shook Daniel to the core.
*AN: soooo this is a really weird chapter when it comes to pacing (not to mention a pain to write, but that's on me for making the plot like this), but soon we'll get some more interesting stuff now that we've sort of got a sense of normal going in the Masters manor. Including whatever Vlad is hiding in the basement... Thank you all for the support--I mean wow, it's not been a week you guys! Thanks for giving my fun little fic a try :D