Disclaimer: I own nothing from Danny Phantom

(Updated 3/26/2025)

Chapter 30: Clash of Wills

Vlad's POV

As expected, Nocturne was no match for me during our battle, ultimately crumpling against one of the walls I had hurled him into, bleeding a rather peculiar type of ectoplasm from his numerous wounds that shone like starlight or liquid silver. Although he had no need to breathe, Nocturne was wheezing as well as he turned to defiantly face me once more when I approached him again, silently wondering whether to consider this level of punishment sufficient or if I actually should extinguish his existence. Despite his already weakened state, I was taken aback by how fiercely Nocturne fought since I received a few minor injuries of my own, but those would heal long before Danielle noticed anything out of the ordinary.

Clutching the wound on his shoulder where I had shot through, unable to heal fast enough and now bleeding profusely from his claws, he looked up at me and asked, "Haven't you had your fill of vengeance, Vladimir? I have already told you everything I know and shown remorse for the pain I have caused, so there's no need for us to prolong this pointless squabbling."

"That is for me to know and you to find out," I responded icily, deliberately crushing one of his tendrils beneath my boot.

"I see. Well then, I suggest you choose quickly," Nocturne said with a knowing tone, raising my suspicions so I asked him why he was in such a hurry to meet his end.

Instead of answering, he lifted his gaze once more to the hole in the roof, and when I turned just enough to see it as well while keeping him in my sights my eyes widened at the sight of a small but unmistakable silhouette of certain someone I recognized soaring past the false moon and exclaimed, "Danielle!? What is SHE doing here?!"

Angrily whirling back around to glare at Nocturne, I seized him by the throat and demanded, "What is the meaning of this? How did she know where to find me? Did your 'old friend' Clockwork or one of the others infiltrate my castle to go after her again?! I WARNED YOU of the consequences if they—!"

"Vlad, stop!" Danielle shouted, soaring through the hole in the roof to get to us. Her hands crackled with ecto-energy, but her voice was more guarded rather than angry as she continued firmly, "Let him go. He's had enough..."

Landing a short distance behind me Danielle ordered again, "Vlad, I'm serious. Drop him."

Slowly turning to face her while still holding Nocturne up with one hand, I began in utter disbelief, "Danielle, are you seriously going to stand up for Nocturne after EVERYTHING he's done to you? Why...? We both know he doesn't deserve—"

"You might be right, but this isn't about what anyone deserves. It's about doing the right thing..." She began, lowering her hands ever so slightly before further explaining, "After our argument earlier I had a feeling you'd come here to settle the score so I I slipped into the lab after pretending to buy Isla's story about where you disappeared to so late at night when I woke up from another nightmare. It took me a while to remember how to get here, but I knew I had to stop you from making a huge mistake too..."

Danielle tightened her fists and growled, "Please, Vlad, don't prove him right about you. If you're here, Nocturne must have already shared the rest of that future I couldn't bring myself to discuss with you before. But I refuse to accept that part of his prediction—the one where you do something awful, like my parents did, that ruins our lives. I know we don't always see eye to eye, but I refuse to believe that you're going to go back to being the same manipulative jackass you were when we first met, the one who lied to me, especially now that we're supposed to be a family! So before you ask how I knew you'd be here, I'll be honest: I just had a bad feeling something was off and came to check before my friends arrive, since we both know this will be your last chance to pull a stunt like this for a while."

Meeting my gaze and then looking at Nocturne, Danielle repeated in a weary, broken voice, "Now for the last time, just put him down. Nocturne isn't a threat to us anymore, and I have something I'd like to ask him too, if you don't mind. After that, you asked me what I want, so here it is: Vlad, I want to go home so we can start fresh and forget all of this ever happened. I want things to go back to how they were before we knew anything about him or the future. I want to go on vacation with you and laugh over stupid jokes with my friends without wondering if it will be the last time I see any of you before I-"

As her voice broke at the end and Danielle anxiously placed a hand over her heart, the final words of the Fates suddenly came rushing back to me. As a farewell gift, we, the Fates, offer you this warning: justice without mercy shall herald only destruction. When the time comes, we urge you to choose mercy over vengeance. Or else you risk losing the one you cherish most to the darkness that is slowly taking root in her heart, ready to emerge.

I also recalled Nocturne's plea just before our battle when he said, You mean a great deal to her, Vladimir, but I understand that you are set in your ways, and vengeance is all you know. If she discovers that you came here to destroy me, she will lose faith in both you and herself, blaming herself for your choices.

I clenched my teeth, caught between my desire for revenge and Danielle's plea to spare Nocturne. Because yes, I'll admit it, I AM a creature of habit and I have held onto many petty grudges and justified ones for years. I don't just let anything go. That said...I don't want to lose Danielle which is the whole reason why I'm here.

I came here looking for answers more than anything and primarily attacked Nocturne to act as a warning to the rest of the Ghost Zone. A warning not to underestimate me again or think Vlad Plasmius has gone soft. But, I'm not going to fight Danielle over some ghost who isn't worth our time, especially if she intends to play the hero and defend him even if it means going against me. So, with a heavy sigh, I gave into her demands and lazily tossed Nocturne aside in disgust. And for the first time in years, I simply walked away without looking back, keeping my gaze firmly attached to Danielle as she lowered her battle stance and approached her.

She didn't react when I put my hand on her shoulder, but in parting, I found myself adding bitterly, "We'll talk about this when we get home, Danielle. For now, do what you must with Nocturne, and I'll be waiting just outside to teleport us back to my portal. Just make it quick because I still don't trust him. But I DO trust you, little badger, although its a shame the feeling isn't mutual…"

Danielle's POV

"I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I hate being right..." I muttered dejectedly to myself once Vlad teleported outside to wait for me.

What he said at the end really hurt. It's not that I don't trust him; I just don't want to let Vlad go too far again. If he does, there's no turning back. I've already lost one home, and I can't bear the thought of losing another, especially if Vlad continues to do terrible things behind my back that force me to remove myself from the situation—for both our sakes. I still felt horrible about the idea of fighting him even if it was necessary to stop Vlad from executing Nocturne. I don't want Vlad to think I hate him or anything like that. I just know him well enough now to anticipate he'd to do something like this...

Walking up to Nocturne and pushing aside my troubling thoughts for now, I extended my hand and asked "Are you alright? Can you stand?"

Shaking his head, Nocturne responded with a hint of sadness, "No, I'm afraid I can't. Still, I want to thank you for saving me. You truly are a noble soul."

"No, I'm not..." I sighed, nervously rubbing my arm after letting the energy dissipate from my hands. "It feels like all I do is hurt the people I care about, just as you predicted, even though the world hasn't ended yet. If it weren't for me, Vlad wouldn't have returned here to do this to you. I managed to convince him not to rush back the last time he started worrying I'd never recover from the shock of seeing what could happen to me in the future. But I guess I must have upset him more than I realized earlier tonight, and he decided to take his anger out on you"

Taking a deep breath, I looked around, trying to sense if Vlad had a duplicate spying on us. Then I knelt beside Nocturne, who was sprawled on the black marble floor, and spoke in a low whisper. "Listen, we all make mistakes, but I want you to know that I don't think you're evil. While I can't forgive you for the hell you've put me through—especially since I haven't slept a wink since then—I believe there's still a way for you to make everything right. You can make change memories, right? So, can you make Vlad think I was never kidnapped?"

His sleepy eyes widening in shock Nocturne asked, "Wait, do you intend to betray Vladimir?"

"What? No! I'm not betraying anyone!" I glowered, my eyes flashing purple which I didn't notice at all. "Damn it Nocturne I'm trying to save you AND Vlad before you both rip each other to pieces if he decides to come back the second I turn my back again to finish you off! But these nightmares I've been having, they've been getting worse and I know for a fact that has nothing to do with you messing with my head again thanks to Vlad's new medicine. Its more like they're fragments of someone else's memories that keep getting shoved in my face, and that's a serious problem."

Swallowing hard, I admitted, "I think...there's someone else lurking in the back of my mind now, watching me, waiting for something. And since it's obviously not you or your Dreamweavers I don't know who it could be besides a certain someone from the future who shouldn't even exist yet! I can hear her whispering things in my ear which is why I want you to help me stop her. If you take away our memories, maybe Vlad will abandon the whole quest for justice bullshit. He probably came here to make you alter MY memories so he can carry out his plans against whoever he thinks might come after me next. But if I forget what happened between us, I won't be able to catch him in the act next time!"

After considering my words, Nocturne replied earnestly, "Very well. I will assist you, as it's the least I can do. But are you certain about this, my child? Rewriting his memories could be perilous, as it might leave you exposed to the unknown presence from the future that you think is haunting your dreams. Clockwork himself cautioned me about the risks involved in this."

"No idea who the hell Clockwork is, but this is my decision to make, not his, and definitely not yours. Whatever happens next, I plan to face it head-on and I can't do that if I keep going crazy and agonizing over every little choice I make like what color socks to wear," I nodded firmly. "Vlad's not wrong about that. And I don't want to see him become something I know he's not any more than I want to end up as that evil version of myself. So before Vlad takes away my ability to choose, I need you to help us have start fresh so we can find happiness again instead of hurting each other. Consider this your way of helping me find a way out of this mess because isn't that what you were already trying to do from the beginning?"

Closing his eyes, Nocturne nodded reluctantly, grimacing as he phased his hand into his chest. He withdrew a small, flickering black flame, reminiscent of a candle's tip, and said, "Take this. It is a fragment of my core that will temporarily grant you the ability to control and influence your dreams, as well as those of others. However, I do not trust myself to fulfill your request without risking making another terrible mistake, and I am too weak to enter anyone's dreams except my own and the ghosts who also in this realm. I must now enter a deep slumber that could last for months, perhaps even years, to fully recover.

"Absorb this before you leave my castle, but refrain from invoking my power until you are confident that Vladimir cannot prevent you from accessing his dreams. If you still wish to proceed once you have successfully entered them, recite this spell, and only the memories you wish to change will be overwritten with false ones."

As Nocturne gently curled his claws around the flame, I heard a soft, breathy whisper before he directed it toward me. I cautiously accepted it, feeling a calming sensation wash over me. This time, I realized it was because I was holding a piece of Nocturne's core, offering me a brief glimpse of his true self. It reassured me that he never intended to harm me. Absorbing the flame just like I would reabsorb my own ectoenergy, I gasped when something flashed in my mind again and I blinked in surprise, sensing that the presence I had felt in my dreams was... happy about something, which couldn't be a good sign.

With a growing sense of dread in my stomach, I glanced down at Nocturne and thanked him despite still having my doubts about whether I was doing the right thing then left to rejoin Vlad outside. Although from the look of things, Vlad's was still pretty pissed that I came here without permission. But hey, he came here behind my back first so I'd say that makes us even.

"So. What did you want to ask Nocturne?" Vlad asked with a raised eyebrow, eyeing me suspiciously.

Shrugging, I shot him a pointed look and replied, "Unlike you, I politely asked him to promise me he won't interfere with our dreams anymore. Not if he knows what's good for him. I also warned him that if he ever tries to pull something like this again, I'll trap him in a Fenton Thermos and never let him out. I think that's a much nicer option than letting you go ahead and beat the shit out him."

"Language, Danielle," Vlad said with a frown, then pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a heavy sigh. "At any rate, my business is done here so let's return to the castle since it would seem we still have much to discuss."

"That makes two of us," I answered defensively, flying up next to him, ready for Vlad to teleport us closer to his portal in just a few quick bursts.

I felt a bit dizzy after the third time Vlad teleported us, but obviously, I've barely slept for the past two weeks so I haven't exactly been feeling too great anyway even though my ectoenergy has fully recharged. Vlad noticed I looked a bit pale too but didn't say anything until he opened the portal for us and we stepped into the lab again. I scowled at him however when Vlad suddenly suddenly announced that he was locking me out of his portal as punishment for following him and argued that he's the one who ditched me first so it's not like I had a choice! If I can't use his portal anymore, what's to stop him from doing it again after our vacation? Assuming, of course, that he doesn't cancel that too.

Glancing at the nearest clock Vlad let out a small grunt since it was well past 2am and we were supposed to get up early to get my hair cut before Vallen, Trish, and Sam arrive once they transfer to his private jet. Regardless of the time though Vlad told me to follow him to his private study to talk. Once inside he asked me to sit down which I only really did because my legs felt a bit wobbly. Then we started our serious discussion, but no surprise, Vlad tried to justify his reasons for sneaking off into the Ghost Zone. Obviously, I wasn't in the mood to listen so I told him he should have just talked to me before deciding to go after Nocturne again on his own.

In response, Vlad stated, "Whether you agree or not is irrelevant. Nocturne is our enemy, and if we want to deter other ghosts from challenging us, we must demonstrate that it's not worth the risk. Ghosts respect those in power, so I acted out of necessity."

"Um, hello? Did you forget that Nocturne only came after me because he thought I'm going to become a HUGE threat not only to other ghosts in the Ghost Zone, but the rest of the entire effing world? If you ask me, all you've done is put a bigger target on my back..." I argued, sagging deeper into my chair and crossing my arms with a huff. "I already kicked his ass plenty good last time so you could have just left him alone since he got the message loud and clear. I made sure of that."

His own eyes flashing red even though Vlad had changed back to his human form the moment we were inside the castle again, he began in a low menacing voice, "That may be true, but you almost lost your voice by overusing a new power that you say only your future self should possess. You've been plagued by nightmares every night since! That's why, at the very least, I hoped to 'convince him' to honor his promise to help you forget that vision, so its shadow won't continue to haunt you, Danielle! As your father, it's my responsibility to—"

"But you're NOT my dad!" I yelled before I could stop myself and we both froze.

Sitting up, I leaned forward, covering my face with my hands and pressing my palms against my eyes to hold back the tears that threatened to fall. I continued shakily, "I'm sorry, Vlad. I didn't mean it. I'm just really tired and stressed out, but we can't keep taking our anger out on others like this. It doesn't solve anything. That's why I went to stop you—this isn't who we are. You're not a villain, and I...I don't want to become one either! So ok, I get it. You only want to help me, but so did Nocturne in his own weird way. Yet you took things way too far and I feel like it's all my fault!"

Feeling too drained to speak, I concentrated on my breathing, trying to hold back tears as I heard Vlad rise from his seat. I didn't resist when he quietly wrapped his arms around me again, a gesture that reminded me that despite my hurtful words, he still loves me. I didn't want the guilt of what I had just said to consume me. I'm so tired of hurting him the same way my parents hurt me and I'm afraid of hurting my brother and my friends too. I'm at a loss for what to do. That's why Vlad and I, for different reasons, both believe we're better off without these memories. Let's just hope my plan works before Vlad decides to take matters into his own hands again because I have to be able to fight my own battles without him swooping in to save me at the last second.

After all, if I can't even do that much...

...then we're all doomed.