Danny Phantom - The Next Chapter

The Best Laid Plans

Seven Months Earlier

Vlad rubbed at his burning chest from the impact of the asteroid. He had been so busy moping about what had happened over the past couple of days that he hadn't even noticed the enormous mass barrelling towards him until it was right on top of him. He vowed never to deal with ectoranium again as his skin burned through the torn fabric of his shirt. He mentally sighed and stared down at the Earth that slowly rotated before him. From this distance, it all seemed so peaceful, so serene. All of the things he had fought, stolen, and lied for just seemed so trivial from here. He had tried so hard to claim the authority he felt he had so desperately deserved, clawing his way into a position of power after he had lost everything to that idiot, Jack Fenton.

Anger started to burn in his eyes and he released a silent scream, the vacuum of space smothering any sound he tried to make. He had been so close to having everything he had ever wanted. He would have been all-powerful, no one could have stood in his way, not even Danny Phantom. And once he would have become the most powerful person in the world, Maddie would have had fallen over herself to choose him over Jack. It would have been perfect, but of course Jack Fenton had to come along and ruin it once again.

He screamed again and again, the silence pressing in on him until his anger finally started to ebb away. He glared down at the Earth again, feeling a hollow emptiness colder than the space around him replace the anger. He was accustomed to being alone; he had been for most of his life after getting his powers, but now he wished there was someone, anyone around. Not for comfort, but for someone he could blame all his problems on. But there was no one but himself drifting in a lazy orbit around the planet. And despite his best efforts, the blame started to slowly shift onto himself.

Stupid plan, he thought despondently, I should have known the asteroid couldn't turn intangible. And for Daniel to claim the idea for himself? Idiot. I should have planned for that eventuality. Why did I reveal myself so soon? I might have been humiliated but at least I wouldn't be drifting in space.

Before him, the Earth rotated enough that the United States were coming back into view. He focused in on Illinois where, somewhere amongst that green, Amity Park stood, safe from any danger and undoubtedly filled with people celebrating the departure of the asteroid. Somewhere down there, Maddie would be spending time with her family and his despondence grew at the mental image of her smile setting her violet eyes sparkling. He had always loved her eyes. But now he would never see them again, never see her again. Part of him wanted nothing more than to keep blaming Jack, but without anywhere to direct his anger, he was coming to the realisation that there was no one to blame but himself. He had gotten himself into this horribly convoluted predicament, and now there was no way to get out of it. No one to overshadow or pay off. He was alone.

He drifted aimlessly for the next few hours or so, letting his orbit carry him around the Earth, watching as people he couldn't see started to resume their normal lives from a distance he could never cross. They would already be moving on, elevating Danny to a global hero while the name of Vlad Masters would be ground into the dirt, scorned and mocked. If he ever dared to show his face anywhere on Earth, he would be cast out, hated for what he had tried to do, never given a place amongst society again.

That was the thing with the absolute solitude and silence that space presented; it gave him time to think, to go over his past and try to work out what had led him to his current position. It had all started with that fateful accident at college with Jack and Maddie. But no, that wasn't right either. It had started when he had first met Maddie in their first class of Physics 101. He had been immediately smitten by her, drawn to her like a magnet. And instead of just ignoring him or outright mocking him like the girls had in high school, she had spoken to him, smiled and laughed at his feeble attempts to break the ice, and filled him with such a rush that he had told himself then and there that he would do anything to be with her, to make her as happy as she made him. And as they had grown closer, he had fallen for her more and more.