#if you have any thoughts on what jewel Danny's core becomes feel free to comment

[fairy-lights-and-blobs]

Ok, but imagine that Vlad doesn't realize not having his Core is killing Danny, until the accursed Car Ride on the Way Back

The night had been going great, if with a few hiccups from Daniel's latest streak of rebellion.

A rebellion Vlad would be damn sure to impart upon the Little Badger just how important it was that he BEHAVED. It wouldn't do for everything he's worked so hard to steal obtain to be ruined just because of one selfish brat who couldn't see how kind he was being by keeping him from taking up the mantle of Phantom again.

You would think the boy was dying, by how much he's been dragging his feet lately! And those horrid eyebags...honestly, does the boy just refuse to sleep or something? Well, Vlad will ensure he adopt healthier habits and a more...positive mindset.

"Honestly, Daniel. Can you not even TRY to be on your best behaviour? Here I am, being kind enough to bring you with me, instead of locking you up at home whenever I must leave, and you go and make a fool of yourself and me! We shall have words when we get back home, rest assured..."

Vlad had been expecting many things. A tantrum, screaming, maybe even a surprise temporary awakening of Ghost powers in the boy's body. Not the eerie silence and complete lack of a reaction. Not even an acknowledgement. Honestly, does he have to make sure the boy remembers to answer, along with everything else he's been forgetting nowadays?

As their car stopped at a red light, and Vlad's still partly alive body performed the expected correction at coming to a stop, Daniel went careening forward into the seat in front until the seatbelt snapped him back into place. What was going on? Why was Daniel all ashen and stiff? Why was the last remnant of Maddie dead?

Slipping a hand into his pocket to check on the Core he had taken from Daniel's chest, Vlad Masters found himself growing frantic and desperate as the orb, usually an admittedly pretty midnight blue speckled with stars, grew dim.

Then it cracked.

And the cracks grew and shattered.

Until, within seconds, the shell that had once held Daniel's soul crumbled...

...into the finest dust Vlad has ever seen.

And soon the fleshy shell that used to cradle the ghost of it's former occupant finally gave up

And as Rigor Mortis set in, and his stolen treasure captive son finally became truly dead, Vlad felt a strange feeling...

A painful snap...right in his chest.

Was that his Obsession? Had he truly lost himself so badly he killed the last tether to any dimension?

And as Vlad, for the first time in a very long while, faced the chance that he might just Fade forever, the Throne of the Realms gently cradled a Jewel.

A Shard of Space, plucked from the Universe and molded into a proper vessel for the soul of the Boy King. As Danny Fenton lost the fight against his weakening body, from his missing, stolen Core, the stars were his last memory.

So Phantom rose from the leftover space dust and love for Space that accompanied Fenton's last heartbeat.

Alone in his new throne room, the Mourning King curled into himself and Wailed until his voice gave out.

"All is as it should be..." an old Clock ticks ever onwards to the future only he can see. If only that future hadn't come at such a cost to the Boy he had come to love as a grandson, he might've been happier about it. "The Realms have a new King. One who will learn to love them and his subjects as Pariah never cared to."

Clockwork picked up a plate of food to bring to the young royal, and took his place at the boy's side, as he had sworn to do.

"To your health, King Phantom."

DPxDC prompt where when Vlad removes Danny's ghost half from him following the events in TUE, he more specifically removes his Core.

The human Danny that remains is half of what he should be. Half his memories, half his personality, half his drive-- half of everything that matters to him. The other half of him remains trapped in the core, locked away and desperate to reunite with his other half.

Vlad keeps the core on him at all times, determined to keep it away from Danny. He doesn't fully understand what he's done, but he knows that the core has life in it, and that reuniting the boy with it could prove disastrous for him. Particularly when the human Danny that remains has become such a docile, acceptable model of a son.

Vlad attends a Wayne Gala in Gotham, with the core ever on his person. There's an odd sort of energy to Gotham. A weird, nasty curl of ectoplasm choking the air that he doesn't care to understand. It's just as present at the gala, and no less so when he meets Bruce Wayne and his assortment of children.

One of them appears ill. He stares at Vlad with wide eyes and an ashen face. Vlad doesn't think much of it when the young man turns and storms off, assuming he's finding a place to be sick.

He's not wrong.

~*~

Jason's not entirely sure what he feels, looking at Vlad Masters. It's like watching hands claw underneath a sheet of ice, knowing that someone beneath it is slowly drowning. He feels sick, he feels afraid-- he feels horror and anger in equal measure.

Jason shakes, stumbling away from the encounter. He's not sure where to even begin when Dick follows him, asking what's wrong.

Extra layer of disaster: Danny attends the gala also and his presence feels Hollow.