What I've Done Chapter 1
A bright green spring forest rushed pass the darkly tinted window. A large limo wound itself through the mountainous terrain of Colorado. The bright sun shined strongly on the black vehicle as if trying to penetrate the large rider's seat where the defeated teen sat. A pale skinny teen aged boy rode along in the large car. He just slouched in his seat and stared longingly at the picture he held tightly, as if it would float away into a void if he let it go.
A large expensive looking mansion showed up on the far away horizon. A giant "V" decorated the area just above the entrance to the perfectly symmetrical house. Danny looked out the darkened window long enough to see the sight before he bowed his head and let the tears run down his cheeks.
Everything was a reminder to him. Everything reminded him that he screwed up, that he couldn't save those closest to him, that he was powerless in the end. A thick wet tear splashed the glass clad picture he held, blurring the bright happy faces of his parents, sister, and friends.
He wished desperately to live in that picture, to live where the time stood still at that point, when they were all alive and happy. The pain of loosing them all at once because of his stupidity trumped the fact that he was now being forced to live with his arch enemy, Vlad Masters."
He quickly wiped his tears. He couldn't let that old creep know how much this was hurting him. He took the hour left of the long boring ride to calm down and stop tearing up.
The limo had finally gotten through the worst of the Rockies and made its way into Wyoming. Vlad was standing just in front of his obnoxiously large doors when it pulled up in the large circular driveway. Danny got out and took out his bags as the driver helped pull out the old worn reminders of his strange parents. The limo took off once all the belongings were unpacked. Danny watched the long black car ride down the driveway into the wild forest that surrounded the ritzy estate.
Vlad stared down at the young sad teen and stood awkwardly. He had taken the opportunity to take in the boy he had always dreamed of as a son, but now that it was happening, he didn't know what to do. He placed a hand on the boy's should, to comfort and console the boy. Danny quickly returned his attention to the picture in his hand.
"Daniel, I hope you will enjoy it here. It's not much and it can't fill a hole in your heart, but it may just be nice to escape for awhile here. We have pancakes too. Those always help." Vlad tried. Danny just grabbed a couple of his bags and started walking towards the large mansion.
The grey haired man let out a sigh and grabbed the rest of the luggage. The green and golden clad entry way greeted the distraught teen. He looked lazily at the Packers jerseys that were encased in glass along the walls. Vlad quickly walked in behind the boy and tried again. "This is a rather large house. You can pick any room you want as yours. As long as it isn't mine or my lab of coarse. I don't want you sneaking a peak at my precious evil plans." He smirked to himself. This had to set the boy off, it just had to.
Danny looked at a corner on his far right as if it held the answers to the world. He shrugged after a while. Master's sighed, "Very well then, Daniel. I'll set you up in the upper right wing. That entire side of the house is yours to do with as you please. Just don't go making any rabid ghost animals because that's my job." He hummed waiting for a response. None came.
"Apparently this teen angst won't even acknowledge a good joke." He steamed as he lead the boy to his new room. He found a good room in the end of the hall on the top floor. He shoved the boy's things into the room and pointed towards the bathroom. "There are phones in most every room. Just dial nine to reach me. If I need to get a hold of you, I'll do the same, so don't forget to pick up the phone if it goes off. Don't worry about outside callers, I never get them." He started to walk away, then remembered something and turned around. "We're going into town tomorrow to get you new cloths and stuff. It's mandatory since I've seen your wardrobe and it's rather repetitive."
Master's shut the door on his way out and Danny was left alone in the unimaginably dark room that seemed so empty and lifeless. He stood in the dark. He didn't feel much like moving, like turning on the light or even finding the bed to sit on, so he just stood there. The cheep wooden picture frame pressed in his hand kept him glued to the present. Time passed. He didn't know how much, he didn't care, it just marched on as always. "That's what happens when you die, time goes on for everyone else but you." Danny thought to himself.
He finally looked around the room. It felt like something important was missing. After a while of just looking into a pitch black void, he realized that this room had no window. He thought it strange since the outside of the mansion was just covered in windows, yet this room had none.
A high pitched noise rang through the room interrupting his thoughts. He stumbled around in the dark trying to find where the noise was coming from. He quickly realized it was the phone and that Vlad must have been calling him. He tripped over one of the oversized suitcases and knocked down the phone in the process so that the receiver landed next to his head. "Uh… hello?"
"Daniel, it's getting late. What would you like for dinner?" Vlad asked.
"Not hungry." He huffed into the phone. He hadn't had an apatite for a few days.
"I'm sorry, I thought I asked you what you wanted for dinner, not IF you wanted dinner. Now let me rephrase this, pick a meal or you will eat what I want to eat and you WILL BE EATING."
"I'd love to see you make me." He huffed back quietly. He was not in the mood to deal with this yet. He just wanted to be alone in his dark room.
"A challenge? I do so love those dear Daniel." Vlad said before hanging up the phone.
Danny put the receiver back on the holder and just laid sprawled awkwardly out on the floor. He was too out of it to care where he was at this point. He felt his eye lids resist opening in the complete darkness. He slowly relaxed into the feeling of sleep. He refused to give away to the temptation though. Dreams came with sleep, and his weren't the best ones to drift into. He tightened his grip on the picture in his hand. The cheep wood, which was splintered in one of the corners, started cutting into his palm.
"It's almost depressing how pitiful you are right now." A voice rang out behind him. A bright pink light lit up the large room. Danny rolled onto his back so he could see Plasmius floating in his room near the door.
"What do you want, Masters? Plasmius? Vlad? Er… what ever." He said, already getting annoyed by the fact that the man he had to live with now had two names to be called.
"I told you, you are going to eat with me downstairs. That was an order, and you will obey my orders." Plasmius grabbed the boy by the red collar of his shirt and phased down through the house to the large dining room. He threw the boy into a chair near his at the end of the table.
"Are you always this nice and hospitable to your guests?" The teen smirked to himself. "Oh I'm sorry I forgot you never get those because no one likes a creepy single evil old man."
"I see you are at least talking now. To bad you can't say anything worth while." Vlad said. Now sit still while I bring the food in." Vlad transformed back and walked into the kitchen. He brought back plate after silver plate of food ranging from lobster to what looked like Kobe burgers. He brought in two wine glasses and a bottle of red wine to finish it all off.
"Don't you have any butlers or maids or whatever to do this for you? Come to think of it, the house is rather empty." He said as he looked around.
"I'm an evil villain with a secret identity and a lab full of ghost related horrors. I'm not dumb enough to let people with prying eyes into my home. Besides, doing all the chores myself gives me something to do besides plotting to rule the world and take you down." Vlad said as he poured the contents of the wine bottle into the two glasses, filling them both up to about half way.
"I hope you don't mind red wine. If you rather I have some white, but red goes better with the meal." He said as he handed Danny a glass of wine and took his seat at the head of the table.
"I'm fourteen." Danny said as he set the glass down and pushed it away.
"Is there a point to you making the most obvious statement about yourself, or are you just trying to get a conversation going? If it's the later, then you might need to work more on your social skills."
"Remember the whole "too young to drive not in college yet" rant? I'm too young to drink alcohol too."
"Nonsense. One glass of wine a day is actually good for you. It helps you grow and can cheer you up a bit." Vlad swished the red liquid around the glass before he took a sip of it. "Now drink up my boy. It's a happy occasion that you have come to stay with me!"
"It's not all that happy for me." Danny murmured as he took a quick sip of the bloody red wine. "It's sweet?" He asked as he eyed the glass.
"Yes, hope you don't mind. I don't like that bitter stuff all that much. I'd rather have a sweet flavor." Vlad told Danny. "Now, on to the food. It's about time to put some meat on you. You look like you haven't eaten since the acc… well for a long time."
Vlad grabbed some lobster and butter and put it on his plate with some fresh cooked green beans and broccoli. Danny eyed the food suspiciously. "Wait, if you don't have any workers, then that means you cooked all of this?"
"No I have a magical spell where lots of delicious food just falls from the heavens into my kitchen. Of coarse I cooked it. I can see why your grades are all poor." Vlad said as he started cutting up his lobster.
"I think I just lost my appetite, even more so." He looked at the food. The smells enticed him and just the sight of it reminded him that he hadn't actually eaten anything for a few days.
"Too bad. You need to eat something soon. Just because you are depressed doesn't mean you shouldn't eat. Why not make some relatable food item to ease yourself into eating? Might I suggest making your own Nasty Burger?"
Danny took in the though and finally though he might as well try it. The lobster looked like something that only rich snobs would eat anyway. Besides, it's almost impossible to make a burger taste bad, so the threat of Vlad's cooking lost some of it's bite. Danny lathered the Kobe beef with ketchup, onion, some cheese and a lot of salt before daring to take a bite.
The taste was unbelievable. It was delicious and moist. Danny wanted to savor every little bit of the burger. He chewed slowly and tasted every bit of it. He even closed his eyes so he could focus on the taste better.
"Is it really that good, Daniel?" Vlad taunted. "I suppose when you are raised on cardboard and idiot scraps my cooking is quite appealing, isn't it?"
Danny snapped back to reality. He quickly swallowed the mouthful of food and defended himself. "I just haven't eaten for awhile. It's weird to chew after having kept my mouth closed for so long. That's all." He went back to eating his burger, trying to enjoy it inwardly while not letting on that he loved the taste.
"Well, here is a toast, to your living here. Let the days be many and happy." Vlad said as he gulped down his wine and poured himself another glass. Danny took it upon himself to do the same. The sweet liquid left his throat warm. He set his glass down after having taken so much alcohol in. Vlad happily refilled the teen's glass. "My, for a minor who shouldn't drink, you sure are enjoying it."
The rest of the meal was quiet and uneventful. Vlad finally cleared away the table as Danny finished off his third glass of wine. He sat back in the chair. The whole room seemed to spin and the air was thick and hot as if he were sitting in a sauna. He tried to think clearly. Trying to figure out how to get back to his room and sleep off this weird tingling sensation. It was too hard to think things through though. He was forced to just sit back and wait.
"If you aren't too out of it from having a few too many swigs of wine, why don't you join me in my screening room. I'm sure I have a movie or two you'd enjoy watching while you rest after such a large meal.
Danny grumbled. Even when drunk he couldn't stand Vlad messing with him. He got up and accepted the challenge of walking to the pre-mentioned room. After two sets of stairs and one rather long hallway they had made it to a private theater room. Vlad grabbed a few new released movies and popped the most interesting one in before taking a seat on the large black couch. Danny was sitting in the middle of it, too zoned out to focus on the movie.
"You don't seem to be looking all that well. Maybe you should just go back to your room and sulk for another week or so." Masters smirked. It was good to see challenging the boy still aroused a response from him. Maybe it wasn't too late to restore the Danny Fenton he knew.
"I'm fine. It's just a move how bad can it be?" Danny asked as the movie started. The lights in the room automatically dimmed and the film flickered to life. Bright colors and quick paced action scenes started the movie off and sent a painful headache through the teen's skull. There was a little too much stimulation in the movie for him at that moment.
Danny lost his balance and fell down on his side on the couch. He made a comment about the pain in his head as he fell unconscious. "Sorry Daniel, but it seems I've won this round." Vlad smirked as Danny fell unconscious on the couch. His head rested comfortably on Master's lap as the movie progressed.