A/N: As compensation for a weird publishing schedule lately, this chapter is like 5,000+ words! I hope you like it. There's SO much setup for this arc, and I feel like it might be a long one, so instead of many chapters, each one will just be longer. If they feel too packed, that's why, lol.

Thank you SO much for reviewing, you guys. It makes me smile so much when you all review and let me know how much you like the changes to the canon. I'm keeping it somewhat close, but this is the arc where you might see how the story will change from here on out, so I'm being really careful with it.

As such, I won't be returning to a Friday posting schedule. Instead, I'll be writing as much as I can and posting when I can (just... not with any kind of structure), so keep an eye out! (Somewhat) editing this and making sure it makes chronological sense is top priority, so don't give up on me if there's a pause between posts.

I'm SO excited for Vlad to arrive - I hope you are, too!

As always, thanks for reading and reviewing.

-Song

"I can't believe you two," Sam grumbled Tuesday afternoon. "Neither of you are speaking to me, is that it?"

"Don't feel so left out. We're not speaking to each other, either," Danny pointed out. Sam looked less than impressed. "I'm kidding. I'm not ignoring you Sam…"

"Don't pretend like that isn't exactly what you're doing. You won't even look at me!"

Danny was hiding his face behind his locker door, that was true. He felt terrible for ignoring Sam's texts over the weekend but even worse for getting the entire Breckerman farm set ablaze by an evil ghost. Facing Sam was just a reminder.

It didn't help that coming back to school today had been a nightmare. The fire was all anyone could talk about since he'd arrived. A few students had asked him if he was alright. Even Brittany James had waved at him at lunch and called out, "Glad you're okay, Fenton!" She must have seen him and Tucker emerge from the woods, all bruised and bloody.

And speaking of Tucker, Danny hadn't seen him all day. Tucker had successfully avoided him both during classes and at lunch. Danny couldn't even catch his eye in Lancer's English class. When class ended, Tucker was the first one out the door and down the hall, disappearing among the other students. Danny was starting to feel like maybe something had broken between them. Something that was starting to feel like it couldn't be fixed.

"Danny…" Sam said softly, poking her face around the side of the locker. "Please. Talk to me."

Danny scrunched his eyes shut for a second and took a deep breath. Maybe Tucker wasn't talking to him anymore, but he couldn't ignore his only other best friend. He closed the locker door and looked at her.

"Okay. I'll walk you home."

The final bell rang an hour later, and Danny made good on his promise. The air was cold, and they bundled up in their coats and hats. Snow hadn't fallen yet - it was only the first week of November - but it would. Danny could almost smell it in the air.

The silence hung heavy between them, and he wondered if she would speak first. After about ten minutes of walking, he realized he would have to break the ice.

"Want to hear something stupid?"

Sam raised her eyebrow.

"My parents are taking me and Jazz to their college reunion this weekend. In Wisconsin."

Sam's mouth hitched up a fraction of an inch in a small smile.

"Apparently it's being held in a castle formerly belonging to the Dairy King. You'll never guess what it's called."

"The castle?" Sam was biting her lip to keep from smiling now. "What is it called?"

"Castle Gouda."

A sharp bark of laughter escaped her in a white puff of steam, and Danny smiled. Sam frowned and narrowed her eyes at him.

"That's not what we're here to talk about," she scolded.

"I know," he said. "I just hate when you're mad at me."

"I'm not mad," she said. "I'm worried."

"You're always worried."

Sam shrugged. She couldn't argue with him there. She was always worried.

But then again, she wouldn't be so worried if the boys would just be honest with her. If they would stop running off on their own and getting into trouble. She had run off once to fight the shadow ghost and had gotten sliced up pretty badly on her back. But unlike Danny, the wound hadn't healed overnight.

She was just a human - fragile. And so was Tucker. If they were going to stay safe to hunt ghosts together, then going rogue couldn't continue.

"Tell me what happened that night."

Danny took a breath, then let it out. Now his breath was clouding in front of him, steaming up the cold air.

"Okay. I'll start from the beginning."

He explained everything he remembered. He admitted to lying to her about his ghost sense. He told her about Skulker and about how a missile had set a dry tree ablaze. He told her about Tucker arriving in the nick of time and about how the two of them took down the ghost using the Fenton Thermos. He told her about the tree collapsing over them, nearly crushing them, and about how he flew Tucker out of there just as the forest became a wall of fire.

What he couldn't tell her, what he didn't even know for sure himself, was why Tucker was so angry.

"I know I messed up," Danny said. "He was right, I made the wrong calls. But I couldn't have known-"

"No, you couldn't have," Sam agreed. "I don't think we've seen anything like Skulker before. Of course you didn't make the right calls! But what you said at the farm wasn't true. What happened wasn't all your fault."

Danny was quiet for a moment. Then he said, "Thanks, Sam."

"But," she scolded, "you shouldn't have lied to me."

"I know."

Sam stopped on the sidewalk and faced Danny. He paused, standing over her, his soft blue eyes on hers. His expression was apologetic; he was willing to listen to whatever she had to say. Sam tried to quell her sputtering heart. She wanted to be as serious and sincere as she could right now.

"Don't do that again, Danny Fenton," she commanded. "Don't you lie to me again. Not even a little one. Not even to spare my feelings."

Danny's mouth quirked up at one side. His black hair fell over his eyes, and Sam's breath caught in her throat. It wasn't fair that he'd become so tall and supernaturally handsome after the accident. How was she supposed to stay mad in the face of that?

He leaned forward and hugged her. Sam blinked, surprised, her heart now out of control as he wrapped her small frame with his strong arms.

"I won't," he said, squeezing tight. "I'm sorry."

She tried not to totally lean into him and succumb to her feelings. Instead, she patted his back, all awkward and flustered.

"I know you are. It's okay, you don't have to-"

"Just let me be sorry," he whispered.

Sam swallowed and let him hold onto her. She glanced around them, wondering if there were onlookers. Wondering if anyone could see how pink her face was - if it was completely obvious she was in love with her best friend.

But she also didn't want to keep missing the moment.

Sam closed her eyes and let go. She buried her face into his chest, the ordeal of Halloween melting out of her into a warm wave of relief. She felt his heartbeat against her cheek.

Thank goodness it's there, she thought.

Things would be okay, the hug said. They would be okay.

The moment ended before she was ready as Danny pulled away from her.

"Friends again?" he asked, grinning.

She could see the tension was melting out of him, too. She was so happy she could do that for him.

"Always friends." She said and started walking again, cool, collected, acting as if she wasn't totally a goner inside her heart. "Duh."

...

Danny caught up with her. They walked shoulder to shoulder for another half of a mile before Sam asked, "What are you going to do about Tucker?"

Danny's mood soured again.

"What am I supposed to do? I apologized. I've texted him a dozen times."

"He shouldn't have said what he said to you," she clarified. "But I can understand what he's feeling. It's not easy being the helpless human next to your superpowered best friend."

Danny glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "Do you really feel like that around me?"

Sam shrugged. "Not all the time. But yeah, there's only so much a Fenton Thermos can do to make you feel better when a ghost is barreling down at you. Even the little blob ones."

"What am I supposed to do? Ask my parents to invent some battle gear for you guys?"

Actually, that wasn't a bad idea. Danny was sure that if he asked his father if he pretended he was interested in joining the family business, Jack Fenton would whip up something for him and his friends. But that would make his dad too suspicious, and he couldn't arouse his parents' suspicion.

"No," Sam snorted. "I'm just saying I can see where he's coming from. There's so much we still don't know. If Skulker was this tough to beat, what will the next one be like? Or the next? Where does it end?"

"I don't know if it does end…" Danny kicked at a stone on the sidewalk and shoved his hands in his coat pockets. Sam frowned and stayed quiet.

His statement wasn't a surprise. This was something that had been on all their minds, though none of them admitted it to the others. What if Danny's newfound powers meant a life sentence of hunting ghosts? If there was no one around to stop ghosts from invading Amity Park... If this power came with great responsibility…

Would it ever end at all?

"I'll get stronger," Danny declared, cracking through the icy silence between them. "I'll make sure this doesn't happen again."

"You can't alway push yourself like that, though. It isn't all on you. We can all work smarter, not harder."

Danny looked at her. Sam was looking ahead.

"We'll tell each other the truth from now on," she continued. He winced. "And we'll make sure that we're more prepared. Maybe we can't order custom battle suits from your parents, but there are other weapons in your basement we can sneak out."

Danny smiled. "Oh, for sure."

Gadgets and gizmos aplenty littered the shelves and work tables of the Fenton laboratory. There must be something Danny could pinch for his friends if it meant keeping them safe on hunts.

"There are plasma guns and thermoses. A ghost fishing pole. I think there might even be ghost-be-gone spray," Danny joked.

"You're making that up."

He laughed, his mood lifting again. They were nearing the bus line that headed downtown to Sam's place. Danny stopped her before they reached it, his strong hand gentle on her forearm.

"But… What about Tucker?" he asked her. "What am I missing here?"

Sam chewed on that for a little bit. Tucker had said he 'couldn't do any of it anymore,' but what did that mean? What couldn't he do anymore?

Ghost hunting? Their whole friendship?

It couldn't be.

"Maybe the answer is to do nothing," Sam suggested.

"What?" Danny stared down at her. "I can't just let this go. He's my best friend, Sam."

Sam gave him a reassuring look.

"I know. I'm not saying let it go. I'm saying leave him alone for a while. Go on your family trip this weekend and let me worry about Tucker. I'm sure an unannounced visit to his house and a meat lover's pizza will get me in the door. Besides, his mom loves me. She won't turn me away."

Danny smirked. "Conniving. I like it."

Sam shrugged. "The best way to Tucker's heart is through his stomach. It isn't rocket science."

"You've got me there."

Sam wound her arm through Danny's, and he tucked her against him to combat the cold. They waited for her bus together.

"What about you?" she asked.

"I'll fly home."

When the bus arrived, Danny waved as Sam climbed up the steps. She sat in one of the window seats facing him and blew on the cold glass. When it fogged up, she drew a peace sign, and Danny rolled his eyes.

She was corny, but she was right. Giving Tucker some peace - letting himself be at peace, too - was probably what they both needed. If Tucker still felt angry toward Danny after a week, maybe more words would need to be said. But for right now, Danny could just focus on himself and his family - his crazy family who were planning to cart him off to Wisconsin this weekend. Maybe a little mundane family time might just be what the doctor ordered.

What could possibly go wrong?

The rest of the week passed by quickly. Ghostly activity was quiet, so Danny spent the week with Sam, updating the Gothica with information on Skulker, the Ghost Zone, and deciding whether or not to send him back through the portal (they did send him back for fear of the Thermos breaking open).

He did homework on time. He got decent sleep.

After a few days, Danny realized he'd lived through a totally human week without incident. No blobs appeared, and no Box Ghost jumped out of his closet to try and scare him… but there were also no texts from Tucker.

Well. That wasn't Danny's problem, was it?

Danny sighed and stared down at his phone for the hundredth time that week, hoping it would ping with a text from Tucker. It was Friday night, and he was supposed to pack for Wisconsin. Instead, he tapped his mechanical pencil on his notebook and considered shelving his homework until Sunday night when he returned.

He was a wreck and couldn't concentrate. He kept imagining a whole weekend away with his parents and Jazz; a whole week without being able to complain about it to Tucker.

Yikes.

Danny's phone finally pinged, and he snatched it up, but it was Sam.

S: Operation ML pizza is a go for tonight. I'll update u tomorrow

D: Plz do. Going to WI in the AM

S: Roger. Will text when I can

D: K. Thx Sam

Danny didn't have high hopes for Operation Meat Lover's Pizza, but hopefully, Sam would at least get her foot into the Foley's front door. As for him, he turned off his desk lamp and threw some clothes into a backpack. He also added his Nintendo Switch and a pair of headphones, his toothbrush, deodorant, and his phone charger. Then, he crawled into bed, confident he would have enough brain power to finish his English homework on Sunday night when they came home.

As he rolled over in bed, he tried not to think about anything at all.

…

Danny awoke to his alarm with a start. He hadn't even remembered falling asleep.

"Ugh," he groaned and squeezed the phone button to snooze for ten minutes.

Before he could shove his face back into the soft warmth of his pillow, his sister knocked on his door.

"Be down in fifteen! Breakfast will be on the table and then we are going."

"Uggghhh," he growled this time.

Ten minutes passed quickly, and his alarm went off again. Danny pulled himself from bed and began his morning routine. About ten more minutes later he was downstairs, somewhat presentable, tucked into a dark green hoodie and soft jeans. His black socks made his steps soft on the carpeted living room floor as he approached the kitchen.

"...will be good for him," Jazz was saying from the kitchen. "You get that, right?"

"Of course we do," their mother agreed. Danny paused in the living room and leaned on the wall just behind the doorway.

"We know what he went through, Jazzy," their father said. "We all went through it."

Danny sighed quietly, his shoulders falling.

"So we agree? No ghost talk this weekend?"

There was a long pause. Then his parents agreed.

"Thank you," Jazz sighed. "So. Why can't we just take a normal car? Why do we have to take the RV?"

"The Fenton Family Assault Vehicle is a safety precaution, not just a ghost hunting vehicle," their mother insisted. "It has nothing to do with ghosts this weekend! I just trust the air bags more than another car, that's all."

Jazz groaned, and Danny felt it was safe to enter the kitchen now.

"Hey," he said with a yawn.

"Good morning, sweetie," his mother cried. "Breakfast?"

Danny's stomach growled as he took in the bacon, eggs, and toast waiting for him. He poured a glass of orange juice and thanked his mother.

"We leave in about twenty minutes so eat up. I don't want to stop on the way to… Vlad's."

Danny once again felt that his mother was more uncomfortable with this trip than she let on. He wanted to ask, but his father was going on again about how excited he was, and how he was curious about Vlad's job, house, and life since college. His father seemed so happy.

Maybe it was a question for another time.

...

Soon, all four of them were packed into the Fenton Family Assault Vehicle - the RV for short - for a six-hour road trip to Wisconsin. Danny and Jazz sat in the back, double-buckled in for their own safety. They grew bored as the miles melted away.

Danny peered out the window, chin in his palm. He was trying to stop staring at his phone when a trio of huge birds crested over the treetops alongside the highway. He shivered a little and narrowed his eyes up at them. What were they? And why did they give him such an uneasy feeling?

He leaned into the window and squinted harder, but they flew off and disappeared.

Just then, Jazz tapped his shoulder hard, making him jump.

"Ah!" he cried. "What?"

"Can you believe that Dad's been friends with a powerful, intelligent billionaire for decades and we've never heard about him until now?" Jazz asked.

"I mean, Dad's been forgetting or rerouting important information in his head probably his whole life. So, yeah I can believe it."

"I just think it's such a huge thing to forget about."

"He hasn't seen him since college, remember? They're not really close anymore. No reason to bring up a guy who never visits."

Jazz thought about that. Loud music was blasting from the front of the RV, so she raised her voice.

"Dad?" she called.

Their father turned down the loud music. "What, Jazzy?"

"Why haven't you and Mr. Masters seen one another since college? You said it's been twenty years, right?"

"At least!" Jack cried.

Their mother turned in her seat. "Well… there was an accident."

"Accident?" Danny and Jazz asked together.

"Yeah," their father said sheepishly. "In our senior year of college."

"We were inventing a prototype for the ghost portal. All three of us, together. Think of it as a club project."

"We were the only three members of the club," their father said with a smile as though it were a good thing.

"Well…" their mother hesitated. "It was our thesis experiment. We were hoping it would lead to more scholarships, then a doctorate."

"We were trying to prove to the world that there is an afterlife," their father added. "That ghosts really exist, and that they walk among us."

"Right and… well the portal sort of backfired onto Vlad. A blast of ecto-energy caught him in the face. It gave him a terrible skin deformity. Your father and I later published a paper on it instead of the portal. We called it 'ecto-acne'."

Danny winced. He'd had enough experience with portal mistakes to sympathize with the man.

"You published a paper on his deformity?" Jazz asked in shock. Their mother looked embarrassed.

"It totally ruined his social life," their father explained, unperturbed. "We didn't see him graduate, on account of his hospitalization."

Danny and Jazz looked at each other in shock. Hospitalization? Ecto-acne?

"Yikes," Danny whispered.

"I was under the impression the friendship had expired then and there," Maddie finished, "but I guess he's letting bygones be bygones."

"Heck yeah!" Jack crowed. "We finally get to see how he's doing after all these years!"

"It's been over twenty years since you sent him to the hospital and published a paper on his trauma. You think everything is going to be fine?" Jazz asked, incredulous.

"Jasmine," their mother scolded.

"Well, sure!" Their father seemed not to hear the sarcasm in Jazz's voice. "He invited us, didn't he?"

The truth of the statement was undeniable. They had been invited. Yet Jazz settled back into her seat with her arms crossed, afraid that the weekend would turn into some sort of awkward, mid-90s revenge plot cooked up by a spiteful billionaire.

...

She was pleasantly proven otherwise upon their arrival to Castle Gouda.

After several hours of driving, the Fenton family arrived at the Masters' estate around early afternoon. When they parked, the grand double doors to the castle opened, and Vlad Master stepped out. He was a blue-eyed, dapper man somewhere in his mid-40s. He looked like a man who'd kept his weight under control and in his favor after college, unlike their happily large father. He wore an expensive-looking tailored black suit with a red tie, and he wore shiny leather black shoes which tapped gracefully on the gravel drive. In his coat pocket was a neatly folded red handkerchief, and his long silver hair was tied loosely behind his head with a red band.

Vlad's outward appearance gave off a sense of wealth and superiority. He reminded Danny of the Mansons, with their noses in the air and their thick wallets full of hundred-dollar bills. But when he approached them, Vlad Masters' expression was actually full of excitement, and - unlike the Mansons ever had - he grinned at the four Fentons with a noticeable amount of joy.

But the most important thing Danny and Jazz noticed about Vlad was that his face was perfectly fine - almost handsome. Not a single trace of deformity to be seen.

They gave each other wary looks.

"Madeline!" Vlad cried, stepping forward to meet them. He took her hands in his and kissed her knuckles. "You are a vision of beauty, as always. It's been too long, don't you agree?"

"Oh, well… I mean it has been twenty years."

"Twenty too long! And Jack... Why, you haven't changed at all."

"Vladdie!" Jack yelled, gathering Vlad up in a hug and crushing the smaller man's form against him. The expression on Vlad's face changed for a second as he struggled to breathe. "Wow, Vlad your face looks great! How did that happen?"

"Yes," Vlad bit out before Jack set him back down. He straightened his tie. "The ecto-acne cleared up a few months after graduation. Of course, you two were already engaged and off hunting ghosts by then. I read your paper. Interesting analysis."

"You should have called!" Jack insisted. "We'd have brought you along on our hunts!"

"My talents were put to better use elsewhere." Vlad turned and gestured to his literal castle. "You understand."

Danny admitted to himself that becoming a genius billionaire probably paid a lot better than ghost hunting.

"These are our kids," Jack said. "Danny and Jazz."

"Jasmine," Maddie clarified. "Our eldest. Danny is our youngest."

"Of course," Vlad said, stepping forward to greet them. "Pleased to meet you. I'm an old friend of your parents."

Jazz took Vlad's outstretched hand easily and shook it, all business. Danny did as well, but he got some kind of weird shiver up his spine when he did. Vlad grinned down at him, and Danny realized that Vlad's eyes weren't just blue but a sort of blue-gray. Icy, in a way. Still, Vlad seemed nice and genuinely happy to see them.

"Nice to meet you, too," Danny said with a smile, choosing friendliness. "Nice house."

"Oh, you like it? It was a steal."

"You do look great, Vlad," Maddie added gently. "I'm so glad that… well that the scars didn't last."

Vlad beamed at her. "You really think I look great?"

"Of course we do!" Jack interrupted. "And, you know, after everything, we were just grateful to have gotten an invite."

"Yes, well," Vlad said, clearing his throat. "I had a lot of time to think in that hospital. When I thought the ecto-acne was permanent, I vowed to make something of myself in spite of it. I wouldn't let it slow me down, and it didn't."

Jazz nodded, no doubt thinking about the article in Money Magazine again. Vlad Masters certainly had made something of himself.

"And recently, I realized that letting old wounds fester would lead to nothing. I decided it was time to rekindle our friendship." He smiled at them all once more and turned toward the castle. "Welcome, at last, to my home!"

Danny and Jazz stifled giggles as Vlad made a grand sweeping gesture with his arms. The castle was ridiculous. Bronze plaques of cheese slices adorned the front gates. Gabled roofs and Gothic spires stretched high into the Wisconsin sky. On top of the spires, a trio of large birds stared down at them, their feathers almost shimmering in the sunlight. Danny blinked up at them, surprised. They looked just like the birds from hours ago on the road. Before he could identify their species, they flew away quickly.

"Look," Jazz whispered, pulling his attention back. She pointed at another bronze plaque that was welded to the stone just next to the double wooden doors.

The plaque read: "Castle Gouda: Est. 1924".

Danny snorted, and Jazz elbowed him hard, only making him giggle more. Luckily, the adults ignored them.

"You'll be staying in the East Wing of the castle, of course," Vlad continued. "It's perfect for a family. There are several bedrooms and bathrooms, and even a game room, if you two are so inclined?"

Danny and Jazz smiled at each other.

"Do you have a TV I can plug my Switch into?" Danny asked.

"My dear boy, of course! I helped build the Nintendo Switch, didn't you know?"

"You did?"

"Well, I helped fund it."

"I thought you invented things?" Jazz asked. "Do you mainly invest now?"

"Oh, yes. I gave up on the inventive career track ever since the 45 Black Box."

Jazz blanched. "Y-you invented the 45 Black Box? The part they use in military hyper jets to make them faster!?"

"Oh, yes. And, well, it's difficult to top something like that. To be honest, I haven't really tried. Besides, you wouldn't believe how well the United States military pays for something like that. Or Russia, for that matter!"

The billionaire laughed heartily at his own joke as they entered the castle. Danny shivered again, and Jazz just looked both appalled and impressed. He could tell her humanitarian side was warring with her scientific side.

"So, Vladdie," Jack asked, clearing his throat. "Who's all coming to the festivities tonight?"

"Oh," Vlad thought aloud, "many of our graduating class have RSVP'd, and of course we've plenty of space to house them if need be. Harriet is coming-"

"Hairy Chin? I love that gal!"

"Jack," Maddie scolded. "She hates that nickname."

"And of course there are some science alums, as well as a few chess club members…" Vlad continued.

Jack and Vlad led their group as they walked into the castle. The two men chattered away as if nothing had ever happened between them – as if their father's story about the accident was such a distant memory that time had wiped it away as clean as Vlad's face.

"I guess," Maddie said quietly to her children, "that's that?"

"Bygones really are bygones," Danny agreed with a shrug.

The three of them followed behind through the massive hallways, passing by tapestries from all parts of history and even some display cases filled with art.

Then they came to a display for the Green Bay Packers.

"You really like the Packers, Mr. Masters," Danny stated, stopping to view a signed football by the 1997 team.

Jerseys and helmets hung proudly alongside it. Vlad stopped and turned. He grinned wide.

"Oh, yes, I'm a huge fan."

Jazz rolled her eyes, never the sports fan. "I don't understand. You have billions of dollars. Instead of filling your castle with jerseys why don't you just buy the team?"

"Because the city of Green Bay owns the team, and they won't sell them to me!" Vlad snapped.

"Got to appreciate his tenacity," Danny quipped. Jazz elbowed him again.

"You'll get 'em, Vladdie." Jack called from the front of the tour line as he investigated a suit of armor. With a sharp tug, he accidentally broke loose one of the arms, which clattered to the floor.

Vlad sighed. For the first time since their arrival, Vlad seemed to be clutching onto his patience.

Their father turned, embarrassed. "I mean, keep at it! You always get your man."

"Yes… I do, don't I?" Vlad agreed quietly under his breath.

The billionaire ignored the dropped knight's arm and continued to lead the way further into the castle.

"And here is my favorite room," Vlad announced, opening a huge pair of double doors. "The library."

Maddie and Jazz gasped in delight when they saw the rows and rows of books inside. It was like a movie set – great tall ceilings and dusty tomes-lined shelves that stretched from floor to ceiling. Plush reading chairs and sofas were tucked between stacks, which stretched far into the room.

It was a labyrinth of knowledge owned by a Green Bay Packers nerd.

"Wow." Danny whistled. "You were on the chess team, weren't you?"

"Speaking of," Vlad said, ignoring the quip, "what do you say to a game... Madeline?"