A Truce?

I actually slept quite well when I got home, but it didn't last long, as soon as I woke up early in the morning, I couldn't get rid of the image of Vlad looking so pitiful. So, as soon as I could, I flew to his house again. I expected him to totally waste me when he saw me, so maybe it was a dumb idea for me to literally fly to my death and sign my down death warrant with my almost 200 mph speed limit. I'd never had a hangover before, and I'd never really seen anyone with one except on tv a few times, so I had no idea what Vlad was gonna be like, but I couldn't help but feel like I was doing the right thing...mostly, and not just for myself either.

"Vlad?" I whispered, floating through his house. Somehow it was difficult to be loud in a place so huge and empty, "Vlad...anybody home?" I asked again, moving from room to room through the walls.

Eventually I came to the most amazing kitchen I'd ever seen, it was all in black and white with marble counter tops, but the curtains were closed against the sunlight. I looked around to see an island in the middle of the room, at which, Vlad was sitting with his forearms on the surface and his head was resting on them. He had a small glass in his hand. At least it didn't look like the stuff he'd been drinking last night, it looked more like fizzy water...although, why he was drinking fizzy water was beyond me.

"Oh, hey, there you are...wow...you look..." I stuttered, getting a good look at him when he raised his head.

"...Quiet...Daniel...be very quiet," he said and I raised my eyebrows. He was more pale then I'd ever seen him and it kind of looked like he had a cold. It was strange as well seeing him without the usual, perfect black suit jacket and tie he always seemed to wear. Instead, his trousers and white shirt were creased and crumpled as though he'd slept them and his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows.

"So...this is you with a hangover, huh?" I crossed my arms in mid air.

"Urgh," he sighed and waved a hand at me, "Go away," he muttered, taking a sip of the drink.

"Erm...what is that?"

"Aspirin," Vlad answered simply.

"Well, it's your own fault, dude," I smiled a little. In a way I was strangely glad to see him like this; it made him seem normal - human. Sometimes, I think that Vlad chose to act less human to distance himself from people, I don't know why he did it, but all it had gotten him was a big, lonely, empty home to drink by himself in. "Y'know, I really thought you were smarter than this," I laughed and he gripped his head, tangling his fingers in his white hair.

"...Quiet," was all he said.

"Okay, okay, quiet, I got it," I held up my hands slowly.

"Uh, what are you doing here?" Vlad asked me weakly.

"I...came to see how you were?" I answered, even to me it sounded unsure, but Vlad probably wouldn't notice anyway the way he was.

"Oh," he sighed with a confused expression.

"I bet it's been a while since since anyone said that to you, hasn't it?" I guessed sadly, but he didn't answer, instead he drank the rest of the water.

I watched as he slowly pushed himself up from his seat and carefully made his way to put the glass by the sink, but when he turned back around he knocked it off the counter. So, I quickly flew across to it and caught it before it could smash on the hard, shiny floor. I put it back on the counter, away from the edge and backed away slowly to sit on top of the island without taking my eyes off Vlad. "I didn't come to annoy you or anything," I explained when I saw him frown at me, "We're both half ghost, that's got to count for something, right?"

"I've already told you that," Vlad said.

"Yeah, but when you say it, it's usually when you're insulting my dad, attacking me, or trying to get me to be your 'apprentice' or something," I quoted the word with my fingers in the air. "...What'd you think'd happen, y'know, if you told my parents what'd happened to you?"

"...I..."

"Most of the time I can't get the thought outta my head, I just want to tell them, but I don't," I admitted, "I think my dad would be sorry for what he did, but you can't expect him to feel bad about something if he doesn't even know it happened, right?"

"Enough, Daniel," he said, "Don't start again."

"Oh...s...so you do remember what I said last night," I stuttered, "That's...that's good, I guess."

"Yes, fantastic."

"...I won't tell anyone," I said, thinking he'd only care about how it would affect his 'image'.

"...No one would believe you, anyway," Vlad said after a minute.

"No, probably not," I agreed, "But still...it's pretty sad that you let it get that far anyway. I mean, 23 years of...that...isn't good."

"I don't need a lecture from a child."

"Yeah, maybe you do."

"Go away," he repeated.

"No," I said. I was feeling unusually optimistic about this, and he certainly wasn't in any shape to waste me if he tried to fight me anyway.

"Don't you have anything better to do?"

"Nope," I answered quickly with a smile, "I'm gonna stay right here till you start listening to me...and if you don't," I grinned as my eyes caught some shiny silver pots and pans. I floated over to them, I picked two of them up, one in each hand, and then I clanged them together, really, really loudly. Even to me the noise was loud, but to Vlad, right now, it probably sounded a million times worse than it really was. "If you don't, I'll just do this...all day..." I laughed.

He really looked miserable; his eyes clenched shut and he raised a hand to rest his head in. "Daniel," he spoke quietly, but I didn't listen as I banged the pans together again. A second later, a weak, and I mean, weak, ecto-blast came my way so I just turned intangible - it didn't even make it to the wall behind me before it fizzled out in the air.

"You gonna listen now, or do I have to do this again?" I asked him, raising the pans again.

"No, enough," Vlad sighed so I smiled.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" I said, putting down the cooking utensils. I was sure he'd never look at pots and pans the same way again after this, and at least if it didn't work out I'd always have the memory of Vlad Masters being cowed by stainless steel cooking pans.

"You really can be evil when you put your mind to it," he said sitting down on one of the island seats facing my back, so I floated into the air to face him.

I admit what he said got to me again, "I wasn't trying to be 'evil'," I sighed, "So stop saying stuff like that."

Vlad stared at me, I think in confusion for a minute before he gave a small smile, "It really does irritate you, doesn't it?"

"Huh?"

"That you are like me," he said.

"No, I'm not," I glared at him and he chuckled quietly. "...It irritates me that you think that though," I said, "Look, I didn't have to come back, I don't have to try and talk you into this truce thing, but I'm doing it because it's the right thing to do."

"You and your 'morals'...they're going to get you into serious trouble one day."

"Whatever," I shook my head. "Can we at least agree to a cease-fire...just for a while?"

"What am I to gain from a cease-fire?" Vlad asked and I dragged my hands through my hair in frustration.

"It doesn't always have to be about 'gaining' something! Haven't you ever done anything because you thought it was right?" I asked angrily, but he didn't say anything. "I know it'd difficult..."

"...It's impossible..." he interrupted me, "You can't have everything."

"It's not about that..."

"Yes it is. You want everything to be perfect but you don't understand anything. You want us both to 'get along' to make your life easier because as it stands, in your words, I am your 'arch-enemy'. It may surprise you to learn that my plans don't revolve purely around causing you grief. You've given me no reason as to why you want this truce..."

"I just said..."

"Don't lie to me. The thought must have crossed your mind before now, what would make you decide to act on it now? You mentioned Clockwork, didn't you? I suppose this is his doing..."

"Yeah, I admit, I talked to Clockwork, but it was only because you kept saying how like you I am! It got on my nerves!"

"You mean it scared you," he winced, I think at my shouting a second ago.

"Well, if you and all the other ghosts didn't keep attacking me just to drive me crazy..."

"You think I attack you merely to annoy you? You think ghosts attack this backwater city - out of the whole world, to annoy you? No, they attack it because your parents don't exercise proper restraint in their 'work'. They attack it because you made yourself so visible, so next time you moan about fighting ghosts so often, think about why you have to. Don't whine about having so many 'enemies' when you do nothing intelligent to change the fact or even to understand why they do what they do. I am not the way I am purely to make your life hell, although I must admit, the prospect does rather enthral me," Vlad said and I froze. "Don't you dare, accuse me of being 'selfish' or 'evil' or anything else that suits you, when you don't understand a single thing I do."

It probably took a lot out of him to give that speech and I could see he meant what he said. I'd been so confident before, and now I felt like a popped balloon. He sounded so heartfelt, almost like a wounded animal and I floated down to kneel on top of the island counter.

"I'm trying to change that now, Vlad," I whispered. I wanted to get angry and shout back at him, I really did, but I just couldn't find it in me. "Okay, first...at first I was trying to prove to myself that I wasn't going to end up doing bad things like you keep saying I will...I even told Clockwork I didn't think this thing'd work out. He told me that if I spoke to you last night I'd understand why you're the way you are, but I just ended up getting confused," I told him truthfully. "...Now I'm even more confused."

"Oh, my heart bleeds," Vlad scoffed and I let out a deep breath to stay calm.

"And you're not making it easy, either," I told him.

"I told you, Daniel, you can't have everything," he said, moving his head to rest in his hands, proof that he was still not in good shape if this really did come to a fight. "I offered you so much and you threw it back in my face, what do you expect me to do?"

"...You wanted me to leave my family!" I yelled and he buried his face in his arms again.

"...Petulant little brat..." I heard him mutter but he continued before I had a chance to shout back, "...You don't know...I had to learn everything by myself, there was no one for me to even take ideas from because I was the first of my kind! Ghost portals weren't so accessible 20 years ago. I couldn't just nip into the Ghost Zone whenever I wanted and see what they could do with their powers. You've no idea how much easier your life is. You know your capabilities because almost from the beginning you've seen what ghosts can do - what I can do."

I hated to admit it but he was kind of right...actually he was really right. I couldn't imagine not being able to go into the Ghost Zone when I wanted, because from when I'd had my powers my parents had the first real working portal - that I knew of - so there was plenty of ghosts to go round. I always knew what different powers different ghosts had so I could see what I could and couldn't do. Vlad hadn't had that luxury; the almost-portal that caused his accident was the first one in the world, so things were different.

"Mmmm," I sighed simply, "...I never really thought about it like that..."

"You're a child, of course you haven't," Vlad said.

"But...I think...you're right," I admitted and he raised his head to look at me, "And...I'm sorry...for everything, I guess."

"You're serious?"

"Yeah," I sighed, "I am."

"Well, then, apology accepted, I suppose, but I'm not exactly sure how you thing a simple apology will change anything between us," Vlad said.

"Are you kidding me? 'A simple apology!' It was so not simple! I really meant it!"

"I know, and though it's a welcome change, and serves as proof that you are finally maturing, you no doubt, believe that I will drop everything 'evil' so that we 'get along'. Correct?"

"Erm...well, maybe..." I shrugged, "Look, you're doing it again, can't you just, please, act like you want this to work...for five minutes?"

"You think I don't?" Vlad frowned.

"I don't know!" I shouted, then he grimaced again and I held up my hands in apology. "You keep saying you want to teach me things, and I wanna learn 'em, but not if you're gonna want me to do things I think are wrong. Why can't we just try to get along for a while?" I demanded while trying not to shout and I could see that he was thinking.

I knew he really wanted to teach me about ghost powers, and hopefully, that was more important to him than his evil schemes, because it was to me. I thought we could actually get along if we tried, but at the moment it seemed like I was the only one doing the work.

"Very well, Daniel, we'll do this your way. We'll see how long this lasts," he said after a few minutes and I let out a breath of relief.

"Thanks, Vlad," I smiled.

"Don't thank me yet, it could all go horribly wrong."

"Think positive, V-man..." I said and he glared at me and I stopped smiling in an instant, "...What? Too soon?" I asked, and he still just glared at me. It was making me nervous. "Well, I erm...I guess I'll leave you and your hangover alone now," I said.

"Much appreciated," Vlad replied sarcastically and I gave him a quick salute before I flew up through the roof, into the sky.

A.N. Okay, once again, I really I intended this to be a one chapter thing, but I couldn't help but write this little sort of epilogue to go with it. If anyone thinks that Vlad is being OOC I apologise, but I think it's a plausible idea, which is why I wrote it. I'm not a fan of OOC stories but everyone has their own opinions of what they think it entails, so you'll have to let me know what you think.

I think, judging from all the Danny Phantom stories I've written, that I'm a big, big Vlad fan, (huge understatement) and as such, I only ever seem to be able to write Danny and Vlad father son things, or at least ideas where they have a better relationship, (Note, I am not a fan of slash in any fandom.) I just really like the idea of Danny learning things from Vlad even if he doesn't realise it at first, because in comparison, Danny has it much easier than Vlad even though Vlad's rich, well to do, etcetera, etcetera...did I mention rich?

Anyway, bottom line; this story is as finished as its ever going to get, and I'm still much too obsessed with this little cartoon than I would honestly like. TTFN!