Since Anne Mc Caffrey is /OFF/ the banned authors list I am assuming that that means we're allowed to do Dragonriders of Pern fanfiction and I'm writing a gatekeeper fic with an Anne Mc Caffrey cross in it so there:P
The dream, it was so... real... Danny once more found himself in the realm of blackness. Three cherry trees stood out of the darkness so complete, that Danny thought he really /had/ died, instead of just being a half ghost.
The scent of the cherry blossoms was heady on the air. And a handful of them fluttered on an invisible, indetectable breeze. Hanging from each tree was a different artifact. A bronze mirror, a silver string of diamonds as cold as the moon, and a golden sword with a dragon's claw and opalescent orb clutched in that claw. Then the cherry blossoms became so thick that they obscured their source.
When the blizzard of blossoms finally disappeared, instead of a tree with an artifact, three groups of three people each stood under the tree. Where the mirror tree had been Tucker, Sam and a shadowy figure that Danny couldn't make out stood back to back. Where the diamond tree had been stood Vlad, his mother, and... again, a shadowy figure that Danny couldn't make out. And finally, where the sword tree had been, stood Valerie, Dash, and... Danny? Danny was in his ghost form, and was carrying a sword!
Danny sat up straight in bed in a cold sweat. His mother was knocking on the door. "Danny! Wake up! Or you'll be late!"
"Coming mom!"
At school
Mr. Lancer was waiting for them at the board when they had English first period. "Sit down, everyone. Our latest unit will start with Japanese Mythology, and will end with a paper on Sei Shonagons the Pillow Book or Murasaki's The Tale of Genji /or/ the The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi." He said with his usual growl. "And if I find anybody sleeping, whispering, or passing notes in class they will have detention, where they will be writing Japanese Symbols on the Board for me."
Danny groaned and then got hit in the head with a cleverly tossed crumpled piece of paper from Dash.
Danny growled softly at Dash. But there was nothing he could do in front of Lancer, who was busy drawing Kanji on the board. "The Japanese have three alphabets; Katakana, Hiragana, and Kanji. Their art has several symbols and their mythology has hundreds, perhaps even thousands of deities. There are only a few that you'll need to memorize for the test."
The board had three sets of Kanji, drawn in a triangle. "The Japanese have a trinity of Gods that are said to be the ancestors of the Emperor. Amataratsu; Goddess of the Sun, Tsuki Yomi; God of the Moon, and Susonoo; god of Storms. Amataratsu's sacred animal is the raven and every Emperor or Emperess is given copies of three sacred artifacts, a bronze mirror, a sword, and a string jewels..."
Danny had been about to fall asleep, when the words, "Bronze mirror, sword and string of jewels" cut through his drowsiness.
"In addition, there are four sacred animals, Seiryuu the azure dragon, is a Japanese equivalent to the imperial dragon of China. He is associated with storms, rivers, and the direction East. Suzaku the black Phoenix is the leader of the four, and is the God of the southern direction, fires, and lakes. Byakko, the white Tiger, is the god of the West, mountains, and is associated with wind. Genbu, the Turtle, is the God of the North, associated with forests and the element of Earth."
Danny was listening very hard now. How could a symbol he'd never known about appear in his dreams?
"There are seven Gods and Goddesses associated with the professions of the common people of the Feudal Era. Benten is the Goddess of the arts, rides a white dragon, and is known to Western Mythologists as a triple Goddess, one who takes the form of a youth, a mother, or an old lady, Bishamon is the God of war, and appears as a mounted Samurai with a pagoda statue in his hand, Daikoku is the God of wealth and associated with Farmers he will often be pictured with a sack of rice and rats are his sacred animal. Ebisu is the God of Fishermen, an important deity for an island nation such as Japan. Fukurokuju is the God of Wisdom, good luck, and longevity. His symbols are a stag, a tortoise and a crane. Hotei is the God of laughter and happiness, shown with a pipe, and carrying a bag of rice. Jurojin is the last one, the god of the elderly, because the elderly were revered in Japan."
"There is a pair of weather deities called Taka-Okami and Kura-Okami, each take the form of a wolf. Taka Okami is a god of rain, and Kura Okami is a god of snow, who takes the form of a wolf with wings."
"The final deity I will mention is Daruma, a deified patron of Buddhist Monks. It was Daruma who brought Buddhism to Japan. Who can tell me what Deified means?" And Lancer droned on...
But the lesson left Danny with a feeling of dread...
"Danny, are you okay?" Sam asked worriedly.
"What makes you ask?" Danny asked as he walked exhaustedly down the street with Sam and Tucker. "I've been having perpetual… well… they aren't nightmares, but they're weird dreams. And then Lancer assigns not just one, but three books that I haven't even heard of, and then talks about three symbols I'd never heard of that, none the less, appear in my dreams."
"Oh dear." Sam sighed as she peered curiously at Danny. "I'll bet Jazz would know something about dreams. Have you asked her?"
"No, and I don't want to." Danny said crossly. "It was just… weird and I don't want her to psycho analyze it."
The two of them exchanged a look. That was when Valerie came running over. "Danny, can I talk to you for a second?"
"Er… hi Valerie…" Danny said with a nervous smile.
"I don't think its anything that can't be said around us?" Sam asked with an arch of her eyebrow.
"Depends." Valerie said calmly as she held out a small pendant. "I have mine, do either of you know what this is?" She asked with a glare in at both of them.
"no way." Sam gasped as she regarded Valerie. "You too? I had no idea the other cell was so close."
"That's because there are almost as many shadows wandering this city as there are ghosts."
"I know what it is too, so what?" Tucker asked, as both he and Sam held up pendants of their own.
"Er… what's going on here?"
"Valerie, walk with us. I thought it was odd that neither the Lord nor the Lady had tapped Danny." Sam said in an all business tone.
"Well Benten did, because he's certainly not in your cell." Agreed Valerie. "To the park?"
"Definitely."
Along the way Danny listened to Sam and Tucker chatter. "Okay, so do you have his key?" Sam asked once they got to the park.
"Yup, but he doesn't get it until we're /aaaaallll/ done." Valerie replied as she pulled the pendant from around her neck.
Sam closed her eyes, focusing on her own pendant, hanging from her hands, point towards the ground.
Tucker's eyes had gone blank, vacant as he focused also.
Then the three of them chorused. "By the strength of the Gods, by the Grace and Power of the Dragon Masters. Reveal my true nature!"
Energy rings covered all three, so bright that Danny couldn't see them for a moment. Then the light cleared. Danny blinked.
Sam was wearing a Japanese Miko's uniform, Black and sapphirine blue. Half a dragon's mask was slung over her face by an equally sapphirine hairband, almost like a headdress. A bow and quiver of arrows were strung over one shoulder, in addition to her pendant which had transformed into a rapier with a dragon on it.
Tucker was wearing an outfit that was at once ornate and simple at the same time His hair was slightly longer and the hat had become an ornately carved wooden black fox Mask, which sat on the top of his head, ready to be pulled down and protect his face in danger. You could see his eyes through the eyeholes, and the mask covered half his face instead of his whole face. He also had a sword, a long almost sickle like blade made of bronze, which had come from his pendant as well.
Valerie's outfit had changed also, instead of a normal outfit she wore a red dress reminiscent of an Egyptian queen. Ornate, sanguine red and midnight black, winglike attachments hung from her arms and the back of the dress, with shimmering feathers. Instead of a sword, she had a glave.
Danny rubbed his eyes once, then again. "Wait a minute, what is going on here?" Danny demanded.
"A full transformation is what. A gatekeeper in true command of their power can affect a transformation into spirit form." Explained Valerie. "There's a network of dimensions, and a network of gates between them, and gatekeepers are the warriors trained in protecting those dimensions."
"And it's not easy. Just like there are ghosts here, there are shadows as well." Explained Sam. "The Shadows are created from the negative emotions and psychological issues of people." She explained. "They can travel dimensions easily and they're /way/ more powerful than any ghost ever will be.
"And because so many of the ghosts in the ghost zone have issues, and because we're the easiest to reach, Shadows from the ghost zone reach us. A /lot/ of them. So we need only the best as gatekeepers." Finished Tucker.
"And Benten and Suzaku have chosen you as the next gatekeeper in my Cell. Especially after both my apprentice and Journeyman got themselves killed. So I end up having to train you and Dash as my apprentices. I've already taken care of him." And all three of them changed back to their normal forms in unison.
"Wait a minute! I have to work with Dash?" Danny squeaked, groaning in irritation.
"Yup." Valerie sighed. "And unlike Lancer, I don't turn a blind eye to bullying."
"Swell, I am /so/ reassured." Danny said with a gulp.
"Are you /sure/ you're not asking too much of Danny?" Sam asked with a sarcastic smirk.
Tucker rolled his eyes. "I don't think we are." He said with a meaningful look Sam's way.
Sam sighed and rolled her eyes. "So what do we do now?" She asked.
"Well, for one thing Danny, here's your gatekey." Valerie fished a pendant from her pocket. She handed it to Danny. Danny took the small object, and turned it around and around between his fingers. It had, not a dragon or phoenix's head, like Valerie's or Sam's, but a silver and black Tiger's. "Yours is special." Valerie explained. "That's all Benten said. But usually pendants with a symbol /other/ than a dragon or a phoenix indicates that you're stronger than an other gatekeepers."
"So what's after this? He's training with you and Dash? How often?" Sam asked. Good point. What if a ghost attacked while he was training?
Dash came running then, a pair of katana strapped to his belt. "Valerie! I came! Wait a second… Fenton? You're in on this too?"
"I'd prefer if you call me Danny." Danny said, disgustedly. "And I'm as upset as you are over these arrangements."
"What makes you think I'm upset?" Dash demanded. "It means that you're growing spine Fenton!" He said with visible glee. "That's my major problem with you, even when I beat you up you never fight back."
"Like I'm supposed to fight back against a tank?" Danny asked archly. "And it's /Danny./"
"I'll call you what I like. Valerie can we get going?"
"Where are you headed?" Asked Sam.
"Pern." Replied Valerie. "We need to get them a familiar."
"But I've gotten along without a familiar." Pointed out Sam.
"I like to keep my boys, or girls, in touch Sam. The firelizards of Pern would be able to do that. They can go between and be anywhere in seconds. They're empathic yes, but that's only a little bit of a drawback and /every/ strength." Valerie explained.
Sam sighed. "Tucker, do you think we should tag along?"
"Where Danny goes we do." Tucker said calmly as he slipped his gatekey under his shirt again and straightened his hat. "man, I just can't get used to wearing a mask instead of a hat."
"Great, we're going to Cove Hold, see you on the other side." Valerie said with a grin as she extended her gatekey once more and slashed a hole in space. "Come on boys. This is your first portal into the Aether, and whatever you do, don't touch /anything./"
Danny stepped through Valerie's portal. As soon as he had, he was floating in space. He was floating through blackness towards a gate. Other objects floated around him. Cherry blossoms, a scroll sealed in silver wax, a golden chalice marked with a symbol that he vaguely recalled as a triple Goddess symbol, a very menacing looking black scythe, a small metal figure of an organoid floating in mid air, a black communicator from the Teen Titans universe, a beyblade made of pure gold, a ribbon cup made of silver, an opalescent Digivice, a set of Tarot cards bound with a red pendant (probably Escaflowne) lots of objects that Danny recognized from cartoons, and others from books, like a spellbook marked with the sigil from Diadem, a goosegg net from the Talent Saga, a long, wicked looking fang, a unicorn's horn, a magic wand. Mindful of Valerie's warning he was careful not to touch anything.
Valerie nodded to Dash and Danny. "In the Aether there are many objects to sidetrack you. Touch them, and they open into a portal and suck you in." She explained as she pointed to the silver ribbon cup. "They're usually colored silver, gold or black. Silver for the moon, gold for the sun, black for storms. Some of them aren't. Be careful of that one." She pointed to a silver circlet with a bright sapphirine gemstone in it. "That one's about to open up. It leads to the Rayearth Universe. Watch."
Three figures, vaguely visible as female, each dressed in a different color, green, red, blue. A fourth with tanned bronze skin followed them. They floated towards the silver ribbon cup. Slowly they came into focus and Danny recognized them, with shock, as the Magic Knights and Caldina, from Magic Knight Rayearth. Hikaru paused, waved, and then gathered around the silver ribbon cup with her friends. The four of them reached out to touch it and disappeared.
"Come on, I've opened the arch. When you make your portals, have a /very/ clear intent on where you want to go. It will appear to you as a portal and not as an object. That's how you know where to go." Valerie explained. "To everybody else the archway looks like a Harp carved in the shape of a dragon." She told them as she paused at the entrance. "Hurry, the spell only lasts so long."
Danny quickly floated through. Dash followed him and then Valerie kicked her heals together to activate her jetboard and swoop through, and the portal closed behind them.
Danny came out on a beach, the cleanest most pristine beach that he'd ever seen. The sand was powdery and pure white beneath his sneakers. The jungle was a riot of colors and shapes of all kinds, enough to keep a biologist busy for a lifetime. The sun was just barely setting in the tropical sky. Three bright stars were visible above them, flaring brightly in the setting sun, and a malevolent sanguine red star shone out in the sky. Clouds gathered on the horizon, but didn't threaten rain for a good long time.
Valerie and Dash were just collecting their wits. But there was no sign of Sam and Tucker. "Hey, where are Sam and Tucker?"
"They're going to meet us at Cove remember?" Valerie replied. "As far as I know they'll be coming to Cove from the opposite direction. In the meantime we have to get going." She led the way along the beach, on her hover board. Danny resented the fact that she had one, but he followed her and Dash reluctantly.
Valerie was quickly sizing up the situation. She was utterly aware of her surroundings. If the sky threatened thread, then the animals around them would know before she did. In the meantime she had to keep her eyes open.
Dash was looking around him, just as curious as Danny was. He'd once gotten into detention with the English teacher that subbed for Lancer when the bald headed teacher had gotten the flu once, and had to read Dragonsinger from cover to cover before he was allowed to leave. He knew about thread, and he knew about dragons and he definitely knew about firelizards. "So this is Pern." He commented.
"That's right, and we need to get going to Cove Hold. Be careful of thorny plants, jungle snakes, wherries and anything that has a stinger, unless you want to become an amputee that is." Valerie said with a smirk at both boys.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a golden blur went zipping down at Dash, pecking at his face. "Yaaah! Firelizard!" He squeaked as he stepped back, once, twice, three paces before the queen firelizard landed on the beach sands, coiled around a mound of sand and egg and snarling at Dash, Danny, Valerie, and anybody who dared disturb her nest.
"Easy, we aren't going to hurt you." Valerie said, pulling something out of her backpack. It was a wrapped package, obviously from a deli counter somewhere. "I brought lizard snacks, just in case we ran into an angry queen and a clutch about to hatch." She explained as she unwrapped a portion of the package. "I told the butcher I got these from that they were for my dog, a little white lie never hurt anybody when it comes to gatekeeper relations with non gatekeepers." She said with a wink.
The contents were animal guts, chopped up into small cubes. "eeeeew." Danny commented when he saw them.
"Lizard lure." Valerie said with a smirk.
"Sam would freak out."
"Oh I know she would, but what she doesn't know, doesn't hurt her." Valerie replied as she pulled out a chunk of meat. "Hey lady, see this? I got you something." Valerie said as she held out the piece of meat. She set a handful of them a good way away from the nest. Pacified, the queen allowed the trio to look at her eggs.
Valerie carefully brushed away the top of the mound of sand covering the eggs. She pulled out an empty backpack and a pair of packs that, when activated, produced instant heat. She placed them in the bottom of the pack and, one eye on the queen, started putting the eggs into the sack. The queen saw what they were doing and then squeaked protest, headbutting Valerie in the chest before disappearing between, reappearing over Dash's head, and yanking at his hair with her talons.
Danny felt a wave of empathic rage wash over him. Coming directly from the firelizard. He cried out softly, wobbling away from the wild queen with one heck of a headache. Then the queen screeched loud enough to rip his soul, or so it seemed to Danny. Then she disappeared and the feeling passed. Danny was left on his hands and knees, panting.
Valerie gave him a sympathetic look. "Danny? Are you okay?"
"I could… there was a wave of rage, and then anguish and…" Danny panted as he slowly, carefully got to his feet.
"Firelizards are empathic." Explained Valerie as another queen, slightly smaller, landed on her shoulder and curled a tail possessively around her neck. "Guys, meet Zulima, my queen firelizard." The firelizard chirped at Danny and rubbed her cheek against Valerie's cheek. "What surprises me Danny is that you felt the firelizard emotions so strongly. Normal humans don't have that much empathy." She explained as she lead the others along the beach.
Danny mentally added. /But a ghost might./
Dash rolled his eyes at this. "Aren't there some humans who can speak to dragons? Maybe Danny's one of those?" He suggested.
"I doubt it." Valerie replied. "First of all most of the people alive who hear dragons are girls. Only one of them is male, Master Harper Robinton, and that is /not/ common knowledge. Second of all, some of the original settlers here were genetically altered with a substance called Mentasynth that makes people telepathic. The telepathic traits, while probably recessive, still crop up from time to time in the modern Pernese. However, since you can't /get/ mentasynth anymore, since the aliens who made it, the Eridanis were wiped out by the Nathis there's no more way to get mentasynth. So there's no way that Danny could have been altered by it." Valerie explained. "Now I suggest we drop the topic." Valerie finished putting the firelizard eggs into the sack and stood up. Then she bristled and looked around. Slipping the backpack on her back she knocked her heals together and activated her hover board. Zulima shrieked in fear and disappeared. And the air was so still, as if the world were holding its breath. "You two get on… now! It's coming!"
"What?" Danny demanded. "What is?"
"Thread! Can't you boys feel it? The stillness? I was worried about this." Dash was smart enough to climb on behind Valerie and Danny quickly did as he was told. "I knew this would happen. I should have done some threadfall calcs to see if the area was safe." She started speeding along the beach, heading /towards/ a low, gray mist on the horizon. "We have to find a cave, or a body of water, able to shield us for fifteen minutes. Thread will have passed over us by then." Valerie's eyes were wild in fear.
Sure enough, the mist descended and separated and suddenly flashes of fire were visible, along with the glint of bronze, brown, blue, green and gold. "Benden! The Benden wings have met thread! Or I think that's Benden." Dash added.
"Ijit. Shut your mouth and let me fly!" Valerie growled as the two boys hung on. But thread was close, too close, and then it was there! The silver strands hissed on the sand. One missed, then another, but the third caught Danny across the shoulder and arm.
Danny just couldn't take it any more. "Going ghost…" He muttered, just before Dash shoved him into the water. Danny transformed under water and felt the threads melt way, hissing. Fish rippled through the water and suddenly with a squee a dolphin lifted the transformed/barely conscious Danny Phantom from the water.
Valerie let out a shriek of shock, then she knelt by Danny, tears in her eyes and brushing away a stray lock of hair from his face, and this was the last thing he saw before he blacked out.
When Danny's eyes cracked open again he could /not/ believe what he was seeing. The being kneeling over him had short, thick black hair. Her skin was pale, almost silvery, wings extended from her arms and an odd crest hung around her neck. She wore a black and silver jumpsuit that had that odd, three moon symbol on it in an abyssal blue shade. A simple headband pulled back her hair.
"Hnnn…"
"Danny! Thank goodness you're alright!" The being gasped, tears in her eyes.
That's when Danny recognized the "being" "Mom?"
Maddie smiled a small crook of a smile that Danny had never seen on her. "Yes, this is my spirit form. And if Valerie had only /asked/ me to do the calculations before taking you here I could have /told/ her that thread was due."
"You're a gatekeeper?" Danny's eyes were wide, still not comprehending that A. His secret was out. B. His mother was a gatekeeper.
"That's right, since I was very young. Myself, Jack and Vlad were a Benten cell. But Vlad split off after your father and I got married and Jack hung up his sword, for good. I've tried convincing him to come back. He refused, though he was very worried about you." She added.
"Mom…" Danny reached up to hug his mother. His arm wouldn't move, the whole appendage felt heavy and deadened. "My arm…" Tears filled his eyes.
"It's just numbweed. The Pernese use a salve for an anesthetic. And…" A tear slipped from her eyes. "You wouldn't want to see your arm right now. You were a mess when the Eastern Wings brought you in. All over a clutch of firelizard eggs! Oh I could skin Valerie right now!" Maddie's tears were both relief, worry and anger. "And then you…. Hiding that you were Danny Phantom all this time… it must have hurt… I must have hurt you with all my talk about hunting ghosts…"
"You know…"
"Valerie said she knew the signs. Ghosts have increased empathy, and when the dolphins plucked you from the water you were bleeding ghost ichor, not human blood. Honey, you transformed while you were unconscious, and being a ghost was probably the only thing that saved your life in that fall." Maddie stroked Danny's hair tenderly as his tears came. "I'm so sorry… I should have noticed too… I should have said something to Jack… just… how…?"
"The portal…" Danny said, finally letting his tears go. "I tried to make it work, and it shocked me!" Danny sobbed into his mother's shoulder. "When I woke up, I was like this… I learned to hide it…. I did my best…"
Maddie nodded, wrapping those two wings around Danny, who shuddered. "And I should have come forward to you. But I thought, since you weren't a gatekeeper and didn't appear to be a ghost, that I should wait. Nearly all ghosts know about the gatekeepers. So even if I had found out I would have assumed…" Maddie sighed in disgust
Danny was having one of those moments where he didn't want his mother to let go. Because some tiny little part of him, Danny the child, was honestly scared, both of himself and the thread that had almost killed him.
"Heyla!" Came a call into the room. "Go right in sirs, and ladies." Was added politely.
Maddie set Danny down just in time to see his father, his sister, Vlad, Dash, Sam and Tucker come barreling through the door. "Huh? Dad? Jazz? Sam? Tucker? And Vlad… what are you doing here?"
"We came to make sure you're alright. Not everybody survives a threadscore." Vlad said archly.
"What he said, you really should calculate whether or not there's a threadfall /before/ you visit this world. And the ocean is the worst place to be, because the dragons don't always fight over the seashore." Pointed out Dash.
"Whatever that meant…" Danny muttered.
"It's simple son." Jack pointed out as he took a seat on a couch in the guest weyr. "The natives here found out that you could calculate when the thread you saw is supposed to come and where. By their calculations thread was supposed to be over cove early yesterday."
Vlad pinned Jack with a look, as though not expecting an intelligent explanation from him. Jazz shuddered. "May I see your arm Danny?" She asked.
"Sure, there isn't much to see, it's all covered in bandages and I can't move it. It doesn't hurt though." Danny paused. "What do you /mean/ yesterday?" He demanded.
"Ah, the glories of numbweed." Jack agreed. "Smells nasty, but by spooks it works!"
"You were out a whole day." Tucker shuddered. "And if you unwrap your arm your wounds were nasty. Sorry to have a bad bedside manner but its true."
"And you hiding from Master Healer Oldive didn't help either." Sam pointed out.
Tucker glared at her. "I can't help having a fear of doctors. And he looked /creepy./"
"But he saved Danny's /life/ Tucker." Pointed out Sam. "Otherwise he'd /be/ a ghost by now…" She gulped and clapped a hand over her mouth.
"It's okay." Valerie sighed as she told Sam. "I figured it out. It wasn't too hard considering that when he came up he was bleeding ghost ichor instead of human blood. You know what they say, blood doesn't lie."
Danny groaned. "So basically my secret's out." He sighed.
"Basically." Said Vlad with a roll of his eyes. "You really should be more careful about the secrets you keep."
"Don't tell me you knew about this?" Maddie demanded.
"What? Me? Of course not!" Vlad replied. "Just that a person with a secret to keep should be careful."
Maddie glared at Vlad and grabbed both him and Jack and dragged them both out of the room. "The three of us are going to have a loooooonnnngggg talk."
"Somebody's gotten her feathers ruffled." Was the last comment heard from Vlad before they were out of sight, but a loud smack could be heard along with Vlad whining "oooowwww…"
"It also explains a thing or two to me." Valerie said with a sigh as she took a seat on one of the benches.
"What do you mean?" Jazz asked as she took a seat next to Danny on the bed.
"I mean that Danny was super sensitive to firelizard emotions. The lizards are empathic. One of them got mad at Danny and he almost collapsed from it." Valerie explained. "About fifty percent of ghosts are empaths, about a tenth of those are hypersensitive to empathic and telepathic emanations. That's how people like Freak Show were able to control ghosts. He tapped into their emotions and the rest is gothic history. Danny's very likely an empath, and the sense hasn't consciously shown through yet."
"Wouldn't it be my luck if I turned out to be hyperempath?" Danny asked grumpily.
"Oh come on, I'd love to be able to read minds, if only so that it would help me understand the girls." Tucker said with a grin.
Danny grunted and turned his back to Tucker.
Sam sighed and turned to Jazz for help. "Danny this is no time to be surly."
"This is every time to be surly." Replied Danny. "I'm stuck in bed. People are going to notice my absence and I can't use my left arm. The numbweed's deadened everything. I can barely move it! And… there are other things…"
"What other things?" Tucker asked curiously.
"Nothing I want to talk about…" Danny muttered.
Sam pulled Tucker, Valerie, Dash and Jazz aside. "This is not good, sometimes when people are injured, the issues they have with the injury, as well as a lot of pent up emotion, can create a shade. All it's going to take is an emotional trigger and we'll have an evil version of Danny flying around causing mischief. And depending on how strong the emotion turns out to be, it will be /really/ strong."
"Why don't we keep a watch on him. Tucker, you can go first." Valerie suggested.
"Why me?" Tucker demanded.
"Because you're Tucker Foley and you're stupid." Replied Dash as he shoved Tucker towards Danny.
"Sam, Dash, Jazz, we have a meeting with the Weyrleaders." Valerie told them. "I'll have Zulima keep a watch on you two. If something goes wrong send her to me." Valerie said as she dragged the other three off.
Tucker groaned and turned back towards Danny, who was, as before, oblivious.
Outside, Talina's gold Arwith was asleep, and glowing as bright as the sun. The bronzes, eyes rippling menacingly with a very vivid violet, were in various stages of hunting. This was a leadership flight, and every bronze in the Weyr knew what was at stake. Across the Weyr riders of all colors looked up from their work.
Monarth dipped his head down towards his kill. With a slash of his mighty claws, the bronze dragon beheaded a bleating herdbeast, the head went flying, spraying crimson flame across his already burning bronze hide. The bronze bent his head to drink.
Then Arwith awoke, lust, hunger, yearning, and vicious, vicious hunger rolled over her and her rider in waves.
In the guest weyr Danny cried out, curling into a fetal position. "No…" he whispered… "no…" as the wave of lust washed over him. "oooooh…"
Zulima shrieked and disappeared between, leaving Tucker without a messenger.
Outside Arwith was bent over her kill, licking daintily at the blood and growling at the bronzes. Danny cried out as he felt the hot, fresh blood trickling down his throat. "no… no stop it…" Danny whispered. "Leave me alone…"
Tucker's attention was drawn first by the shriek and then by Danny's cry. "Danny?" He asked worriedly.
But Danny was far away, there wasn't just a rider and a dragon in that mating queen's head. There was Danny as well. Arwith took to the skies, and Danny's soul felt fit to burst with the strength of the queen's joy, not just joy, passion… lust and desire… coursed through him.
Danny cried out as he felt strong arms scoop him up and shake him slightly. Disoriented, he could see Tucker, but he was reacting as a queen would. "T… Tucker…?"
"Danny, what's wrong…? Please tell me?"
"I see… the dragons… they're…" Danny broke off with a hiss, eyes glinting madly golden, flickering between specter green, and dragon gold. He arched his back, as though he were being lifted by invisible wings. The viciousness turned to a coy, almost taunting smirk. Then he cried out. "Come on bronzer boys, you know you can do better than that… you can't even touch me… no, only one can… " Flicker green. "Tucker… can see… the dragons… oh gods it hurts…"
"I'm here buddy." Tucker pulled Danny into his arms.
"I… I think if I close my eyes, and just… let it happen… the only thing I can do… have to do… is let it happen…" Danny panted, sweat starting to bead up on his forehead and tears forming in the corner of his eyes. Danny was trying very hard to will down his feelings for Tucker. His desire was almost uncontrollable. But he /had/ to… he couldn't let anybody know who he /really/ cared about. Yet his desire was pooling between his legs, and the wind was stoking his skin to a fiery sensitivity.
Crying, Danny surrendered to the blast of emotions from Talina's Arwith. It was oddly, a freeing experience to be one with the queen, sailing through the skies flying through clouds. He had flown as himself before. But never had he felt such grace and power!
The queen wove through a cloud then, and blundered right into Monarth's waiting talons. Danny whimpered as he felt necks and tails twine. His human body was aching terribly for one person. Danny's eyes opened, glowing golden, shot through with bronze. Wordlessly, the yearning planted all over his face Danny reached up and yanked Tucker down to kiss him. "Oh Faranth… take me… free me!" Danny panted, "Tucker take me…"
Tucker gasped, but he couldn't struggle against Danny's ghostly strength. And the kiss, it felt kinda good. So much better than any girl could have managed. "Take me Tucker…" The gold slowly drained from Danny's eyes. "I need you…I need you to be part of me…the queen… I still feel her at the back of my mind… she's screaming with passion… and I need… I need…"
CUT!
Sorry, no lemon, I have the uncut version on The Ghost Sector forums, but its under restricted, you need a passcode for it. :P