Summary: Danny is plunged into the world of fantasies, where upon he meets Louise, his master from that day onwards. A war brewing on the horizon. Conspiracies laced through the noble brass. Mysterious cultists sought after Danny with an unnatural zeal. Something along the lines of a god waking from his slumber. And yet, Danny's more afraid of Louise than anything else.
See the end of the chapter for Author's Note for information on this chapter and all future chapters.
The Hedgehog's Dilemma
I
Danny fell from the sky. Plummeting through the air, the world a blur of blue and green. Wind lashed through his clothes pulling it tight against his body. He flailed his arms out in a desperate attempt to right himself. Even with all his years dealing with the sky he never quite got the hang of the principles of falling to his death.
The ground crashed into Danny like the ocean waves, knocking the air from his lungs. The grass sprung out, a cloud of dirt bloomed around his impact shielding him briefly in the cloud of soil and grass. It was only when the cloud settled did Danny realize he was still alive.
Danny pried open his eyes, his vision swimming with white dots. The sky was a mesh of swirling wisps. He blinked more, his vision slowly refining with every attempt. Then finally—the sky. It was daytime? Danny could've sworn it was night just a moment ago.
Danny pushed himself off the ground and leveled himself on one elbow. He rubbed the back of his head where a throbbing lump was beginning to form.
There was grass beneath him. Stone walls stretched around him in the distance like some kind of a medieval compound. The buildings loomed overhead, bright and ancient in their masonry. Strange. Amity Park definitely didn't have any kind of castles. Maybe Vlad had dragged Danny back to his mansion? He wouldn't put it over the Fruitloop to commission a medieval castle to complete the aesthetic of his lair.
Voices drew Danny's eyes lower. His body seized up. There were two dozen kids surrounding him staring at him with baffled eyes across a generous berth. Danny glanced down and let out a breath of relief he didn't remember taking. He was still in his human form.
The crowd of people murmured to themselves. No doubt speaking of Danny's strange predicament. They were all dressed in uniform; white dress shirts and a thick black robe that hung open. Did he land in some kinda private school?
The girl standing closest to Danny was staring straight at him, a critical gleam in her uniquely pink eyes. Her hair was a blossom of pink that rolled down to her lower back. She was short, a head shorter than Danny—who wasn't even all that tall himself. The girl frowned, clearly dissatisfied.
Danny rolled over to his stomach and pushed himself off the grass. His arms were wobbly. His back screamed with a burning ache. His legs felt like lead, refusing to move beneath him.
Through the power of will, Danny pushed himself upright until he was kneeling. He looked up to the strange pink girl. Her frown deepened as she got a better look at Danny's face. A man was standing behind the girl. He was the only adult in the group. The teacher?
The pink haired girl turned and shared a glance with the older man. The man's face twisted into a wince as his eyes fell back on Danny. What's with the stares? It's like they saw something gross, just like the face Sam made when they ate at Nasty Burger.
"Um," Danny craned his neck, trying to remember where the hell he should even begin, "where am I?"
The pink girl turned again to the older man. The two spoke again. The language was… strange. It didn't sound like anything Danny had heard in Amity Park, then again he didn't have a wealthy frame of reference. The tone sounded sinisterly like German, but… not.
The argument between the two was short. The pink girl turned back to Danny, her previous apprehension sealed behind fierce determination. She crossed the distance between herself and Danny.
Danny attempted to stand up to meet the girl, but a sudden lance of fire shot through his knees up into his hip.
"Guhn-!"
The pain was like magma flowing down his leg, and lightning up his sides. Danny's vision was speckled with white light. His body suddenly tensed.
Danny remembered seeing something…
A mountainous man—no it was a beast—rose over Danny. The shadow blotted the hanging crescent moon. One massive hand reached out and slammed into Danny's body, covering him from neck to waist in its massive palm. Danny's right heel had hooked onto the concrete ledge and broke through the building, not without twisting his knee painfully forward.
Danny's vision returned to him just as his legs buckled and gave out beneath him. He fell for the second time that day, landing in the small arms of the girl before him. She held onto him gingerly, unsure whether to push him off or hold tighter.
"W—Wait…" Danny gasped into the girl's shoulder. He raised his hand and gripped onto the girl's shoulder, his fingers were trembling from the effort. His vision blurred and mixed together.
Danny raised his hand and touched his pulsating head, trying to alleviate the pain. His fingers brushed something wet. When he pulled his hand over his face he saw scarlet where his fingers had touched his forehead. Then almost as if to taunt Danny, blood oozed down his brow and brushed against one of his eyes, shading the corners of his vision red.
The teacher pulled out a stick from under his robe. With whispered words, he pointed the stick towards Danny.
The girl pulled Danny away. She glared at his face. Danny tried desperately to return her gaze, but his eyes became unfocused. The girl's eyes softened. She touched his face, her fingers were warm against his cheeks. Her hand slid lower onto his jaw and lifted his head upwards to face her.
The girl took a deep breath and rose onto her tip-toes. And—
—And She kissed him…
Danny's eyes widened. All of the pain his body hosted seem to vanish for those agonizingly slow three heartbeats. All at once, Danny could feel the girl's arm around his body, the scent of her hair crowned around them, and, of course, the soft lips that pressed tightly against his.
Some remote part of his brain kicked him for losing his first kiss to a stranger.
The girl pulled away. Her cheeks were red, probably a reflection of Danny's own face.
"It's done." The girl broke their silence, most likely from the embarrassment more than anything else. Her voice was the same, but her words were remarkably understandable. It wasn't English, not by a long shot. But, if Danny didn't pay attention he wouldn't have even notice the completely different dialect.
"Uh," Danny swallowed hard, and nodded. He didn't trust his voice to hold firm at that moment. The girl was far more collected.
"Good, you will be my familiar from this day forward." The girl declared with the finality that frightened Danny.
"W—W—What? W—Wait a minute!" Danny began to protest, his hand balled into fist. Danny had experience in unwilling servitude and that is not something he's going to sit still for. "If you think you can—!"
Danny's words died in his mouth as a crushing fire consumed him. His body began to burn and sizzle. His skin felt like it was drying into crisps, a thousand razors scrapping along every surface of his skin. His bones were bending and his muscles were tearing apart. Danny was saved from the pain as exhaustion stole away his consciousness.
II
Danny came to lying on just about the second worst bed he's rested on, and the number one worst headache. The room came into view and immediately he realized he wasn't dreaming. The walls were cream colored, striped by wooden supports. There was a bed—funny, he thought he was the one sleeping.
Danny pushed himself into a sitting position and groaned. What the—? Was he sleeping on the floor? His body was aching like crazy. If he didn't know any better, he thought he had just fought a horde of ghosts.
"You're awake." The voice was familiar. Danny found the pink haired girl sitting on a nearby table, her legs crossed. She set down her book and rose. Her glare firmly in place as she gazed down onto Danny. "About time. I was about to go to sleep."
"Where the hell are we?" Danny glanced around the room. It was definitely a bedroom of some sorts, or rather a dormitory. But, Danny would be damned if any schools in America had this kind of fancy accommodations. "Who are you?"
The girl puffed her chest out—her very modest chest—and placed her hands on her hips. The pose was very… arrogant, if she were a little taller…
"My name is Louise Françoise de la Baume—"
"Ni—"
"—le Blanc de la Vallière." The girl, Louise, finished with an upwards tilt of her chin as if expecting "ooh's" and "aah's". Danny decided this was as best a time to sneak in his own introduction.
"My name's Danny Fenton." Danny reached his hand out from where he was still sitting cross-legged. "Nice to—uh, meet you."
Louise ignored his offering hand and turned around. Danny felt his eyes twitch. This girl—who the hell does she think she is?!
It was in Danny's grumbling that he missed the article of clothing landing over his head, draping his head in a creamy white shirt. He pulled the shirt off, expecting it to be some kind of offering, but realized—dreadfully—that the shirt was for a female, a small female.
Danny looked up just in time to catch Louise bending over the waist. Her shirt and bra already thrown off so Danny could see her perfectly toned back, clean and unblemished. He unwillingly traced the valley of her spine from her sharp shoulder blades, pass the tout curve of her waist, and down to her round, firm—
Danny's bulging eyes darted to the floor.
Louise was pulling her underwear just pass her knees—her legs reached on for miles, smooth down the subtle curves of her thighs and calves—before she lifted one leg and then the other to free her small clothes. She rose to her full (short) height and toss the underwear behind her. It landed on Danny's face…
Danny squeaked, his face flushed a deep crimson. He flailed his arms until he managed to knock the underwear off of his face. He pushed the clothes away, kicking them as far away from him as possible. His heart was hammering against his chest. He found it hard to breath. His head began to swirl.
"W—W—W—What are y—you doing?!" Danny almost cried out. He was furiously covering his eyes with one arm and waving Louise to stop with his other.
Louise slipped on her night gown and threw a glare at Danny, who slowly peeked in between his fingers, before lowering his arms. His eyes were adamantly avoiding Louise.
"What do you think? Wash my clothes. Buy my errands. Clean my room. That's your job as my familiar." Louise listed off the tasks with a flick of her fingers.
"What? Since when did I agree to be your slave?" Danny exclaimed, his embarrassment forgotten. Louise raised an eyebrow.
"Agreement? Agreement is between two people. You are a familiar. We don't need to come to an agreement." Louise folded her arms. Danny felt like gagging. The finality in her tone was almost as if he wasn't even a person. Well, Louise didn't consider him human—but that thought in itself was baffling.
"Are you saying I'm not a person?" Danny bit back. His anger flaring. After years of being called 'welp' and 'halfa' the idea of someone dehumanizing him wasn't anything new, but those words were usually geared towards Phantom, not Fenton. For all Danny knew, Louise had no idea he was a halfa. So then where did she come to the conclusion that he was anything less?
"Of course not. I summoned you as my familiar, therefore you are my familiar." Louise snapped. Her patience was running short. She never imagined she would have to clarify the parameters of their contract to her own familiar. It simply didn't happen.
"That's stupid-!"
Louise turned away, dismissing Danny's outburst. She crawled into her bed and kicked the cover over her.
"Hey, are you listening to me?" Danny made to get stand. A string of electricity ran through his body. He fell back onto the heap of hay. Danny pulled the sleeve of his red hoodie back and found bandage wrapped along his forearm and up his shoulder. He lifted the hem of his hoodie and found his stomach in a similar state. "Man, what's the medical bill for this?"
"Just clean my laundry and that'll be your payment for now." Louise said from her bed, her back was turned to him.
Danny raised an eyebrow. "You're the one that applied these?"
Louise didn't answer. In the dim light of the moon through the cracks of the curtain, Danny thought Louise already fallen asleep. He sighed and sank lower into the makeshift bed and pulled his right arm—his good arm—under his head and decided to sort everything out tomorrow.
"Just go to sleep." Louise finally commanded. There was the thickness of sleep in her voice.
Danny bit his bottom lip. Of course he'd end up in such a cruddy situation. Fate wouldn't have it any other way. But, Danny was used to taking things in strides. He felt a little uncomfortable at the thought that he was almost unfazed by this strange string of events. It certainly wasn't the weirdest thing that's happened to him.
"G'night."
III
Danny woke up to the most annoying alarm in his entire life.
"Get up! You—You dog!" Louise yelled from over Danny's prone form. Her arms were crossed and one feet tapping impatiently on the floor.
Danny groaned. He rolled over on to his back and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. He looked up and found an unfamiliar ceiling. Danny's eyes unfocused as he tried to remember how he got himself in this mess.
"Get up, dog!" Louise yelled, again. She stomped her foot and jolted Danny into a sitting position. He glared back at Louise.
"Morning to you, too." Danny grumbled. Louise huffed and walked to her dresser. Danny stretched his right arm over his head and yawned. Louise's white gown fell over Danny's face. He froze up, remembering the events of last night and began to dread what was to come. Danny pulled the gown off and bore his gaze on the wooden floor, reluctant to confirm his fear.
"Well?" Louise snapped. Danny's shoulder slumped.
"What?" Danny bit back. His eyes were still trained on the floor.
"Stop sitting there like a useless dog and help me change, dog!" Louise barked. Danny growled under his breath.
"You can change your own clothes!" Danny snarled. He inadvertently glared up at Louise. He froze, again.
Louise was naked. Completely naked. She stood just a meter away from him, her hands on her round hips. Her small perky breasts just barely covered by the pink of her hair, leaving very little to imagination. Danny's eyes followed the curve of the underside of her breast down to her flat, lightly toned abdomen. Her waist dipped beautifully inwards before belling out into a wider hip. Her thighs were firm and pale. Her body was blushed with pink that almost matched her hair.
Danny's face flushed a deeper red than Louise's hair. He gulped to alleviate his dry throat. His chest was hammering so loudly he was sure Louise heard him. He couldn't breathe.
"Eeep." Danny eyes fell to the ground again still wide with disbelief. He gripped tightly onto her gown, raising it over his chest, trying to muffle the drums of his heart.
"What're you waiting for." Louise was far more level headed for some strange paradox. Danny knew deep down that it was because she didn't see him as human.
"I'm not going doing any of that!" Danny shouted, but his tomato face hindered the impact of his words.
"That's your job, dog!" Louise yelled back. "If you won't do your job you won't be getting a meal today!"
"Like hell! Go change yourself!" Danny cupped his eyes with both hands to avoid any more slip-ups. "Aren't you embarrassed at all that a boy's seeing you—you n—n—naked?"
Louise trained her glare with practiced ease. Her arms crossed over her chest and leaned on one feet swaying her hips to the side. "I thought we've already been over this. You're my familiar, not a boy."
"It's the other way around!" Danny growled. "I'm not your familiar!"
Louise's eyes widened only by a fraction of a millimeter. Her face softened, turning from a sneer into a genuine frown. A thousand thoughts raced through Louise's mind, but nothing formed into coherent words. Her shoulders sagged a little. She turned around without another word and retrieved her uniform from the dresser. She began to dress herself with unnecessary force. She kicked her feet into her skirt and slammed the table by accident, spilling her tea on the hardwood.
Danny's hands eased off his eyes and glanced tentatively up at Louise. The sight of her mostly clothed unshackled a vice around his chest and allowed him to sigh in relief.
Louise finished fastening her cloak before leaving the room. She stood at the threshold of the door for a moment, before turning her head to the side, showing Danny her profile.
"Don't expect to eat today." Louise slammed the door close. There was the sound of keys rotating in a lock.
Danny groaned, sliding down further on the floor.
"Great." Danny exhaled the word.
Time passed slowly in the room. Danny stayed lying on the floor for what felt like hours staring out the window. He gauged the time by the color of the sky, but in the end he gave up on counting time. After the first hour Danny gathered enough strength to sit back up. He crossed his legs and lifted his left hand up.
Danny clumsily tugged the bandage off his arm, pulling it tighter more often to actually loosening it. His arm underneath the bandage was wrinkled with the bandage's markings. A pale crack webbed from his elbow to the base of his palm. It was shallow and thin. Danny remember feeling fresh blood gushing out of his arm before he had passed out. No doubt the wound was much, much worse yesterday. The best thing about being a halfa's gotta be the accelerated healing.
Danny flexed his hand, squeezing them into fists. It was a bit stiff, but otherwise normal. Danny removed the remainder of his bandages and tossed them on the floor next to Louise's dirty laundry.
Danny hopped on his feet and stretched for the first time in almost 24 hours. He moved across the room and looked through the shelves. He spotted several books in weird Sumerian characters. He wracked his mind flipping through the pages. He shrugged and replaced the book. It seemed researching his situation was a no-go, which was a relief because the last thing Danny wanted to do was sit in the room all day reading geography.
After exhausting all other option, Danny found himself standing in the front of the door. He tried the knob in anticipated futility. He sighed before squaring his shoulder. He pressed his right hand flat against the door and breathed deeply. Then pushed his hand into the door. His palm slid pass the wood and sunk deeper into the door. Danny pinched his brows in concentration. He carefully phased his hand, then his wrist when his hand had passed the door. Then his arm. Then his elbow.
The process was slow. It took him a handful of bated breaths to pass fully through the door. Carefully, he phased separate parts of his body until he was completely on the other side. His ghost powers were always very limited in his human form, but he didn't want to risk going ghost. Who knows what kind of strange magic barrier or what-not they had at this school.
The hallway was exactly what Danny had expected to see from a medieval school of magic. A lot of crude stone bricks and wooden supports. Danny made his way through the hall and down a spiral staircase. It appears he was in the residential building as no one was present.
Danny whistled when he made it to the lobby. They had all kinds of decorations; statues, paintings, a goddamn indoor fountain; all kinds of crazy high collar designs. Danny felt like he was walking through a museum.
The morning sun shone over a clear blue sky. The grass was lush under Danny's feet. The air smelled of nectar and fresh soil. There were several large buildings clustered at the center of the compound, rising larger than the residential building. Many of the buildings were lined with strange, domed towers. A mountain range rose over the tops of the wall that surrounded the compound.
What caught Danny's attention was the pale red disk that hung in the sky. It was a moon, not the familiar moon Danny remembered gazing at for the last sixteen years of his life, it was huge. A clump formed in the pit of Danny's stomach as he realized he was indeed very far from home.
Danny made his way into one of the larger buildings. His nose caught the scent of a sweet aroma and began to follow it. He moved through the larger hallway passing several students chatting to themselves. A few tossed glances at him, but kept to themselves. With his red hoodie, Danny stood out like a sore thumb.
Danny turned a corner and paused. He heard raised voices, one of which was very familiar. He poked his head out of the corner and spotted Louise facing three other students, all taller than herself. Her back was turned towards Danny. One look at the leader of the trio told Danny they weren't friends of Louise. He's seen this a hundred thousand times before at his own school.
The redhead that stood in front of the other two girls had one of the smuggest grin Danny had ever seen. She was twirling her hair around her finger as she spoke to Louise, not even looking Louise in the eye.
"So where's your familiar?" The redhead asked with a sinister smoothness to her voice. "Don't tell me he ran away? Not surprising. If I were your familiar I'd run, too."
Louise bristled at the comment.
"It's none of your business." Louise growled. She was already in defense mode. Danny realized this was a routine to the four of them.
"Oh, so he did run away." The redhead laughed. The blond beside her joined in with a whining giggle. "As expected from Louise the Zero. It must be embarrassing being the only second year without a familiar. Don't worry, I'm sure the Headmaster can loan you a pig or something from the stables."
"My familiar is in my room!" Louise snapped. Her hands turned to fists.
"Mhmm." The redhead nodded. She examined her nails as she spoke. "Honestly, you surpassed expectations by summoning a commoner. I mean, I knew you were zero, but I never expected you to be this much of a failure."
The redhead and blond broke into another fit of laughter.
"Shut up, Kirche!" Louise growled. She was shaking now.
Danny's hands balled into fists. He made to walk out, but stopped when Louise continued to speak.
"My familiar is amazing and majestic! He's the best familiar that's ever been summoned! We're just working out some issues." Louise exclaimed furiously. To anyone it sounded like simple denial or maybe just a blatant lie, but Danny felt his cheeks flush nonetheless. He knew she didn't mean it, but it still brought him guilt thinking she would defend him, even if she was just trying to save face. "You wait and see. I'll show you how amazing my familiar is."
Louise pushed pass the three girls and marched down the hall.
"I'll be waiting for your next failure, zero!" Kirche called after Louise. The two laughed again as they watched Louise disappear behind a corner.
Danny turned back the way he came and made his way back to the residential building.
IV
Louise had returned to her room later that night. The sun had well pass the horizon when the door rattled and open to a haggard Louise. She walked into the room, dropping her cloak messily on the ground and moved to her bed where she fell flat on the puffy cushion.
Louise rolled over and glanced at the folded clothes that sat beside her. She raised an eyebrow. She turned and searched the room before finding Danny sitting at the table following her with his eyes. She looked back at the clean clothes.
"Did you do this?" Louise asked. There was disbelief in her voice. It was Danny's turn to raise an eyebrow.
"Well, yeah. That's what you told me to do, right?" Danny said nonchalantly. Louise frowned and pried her eyes away from Danny.
"Why? I thought you weren't my familiar?" Louise grumbled under her breath.
Danny sighed. He slumped into his arms where he sat backwards in one of the chairs, his arms folded over the back of the chair and his chin resting on his arms.
"I still don't understand what's going on." Danny admitted. Louise looked back to Danny. His gaze lingered on the floor at the foot of Louise's bed. His lips were curved in a mild frown, betraying his calm demeanor. "It's frustrating. But… but, I don't see why we can't cooperate. I'll be your familiar. I'm sorry… for this morning. I didn't mean to be so rude."
Louise was quiet for a long moment. She stared at Danny while he gazed at the ground. She wasn't sure how to feel. Her chest was heavy, a mix of apprehension and uncertainty. If she was honest with herself, she'd been nervous the whole day about this confrontation. Louise had expected another fight, another fallout. Some part of her mind had almost accepted the failure of her relationship with her familiar. But, just now, like a light breeze, the coolness of relief touched her chest. She felt the budding of excitement.
"Whatever, just make sure you listen to what I say next time." Louise said, forcing aggression in her tone. Danny sighed and nodded.
"Yeah, yeah. I hear you." Danny waved her off.
"Wait a minute." A thought struck Louise. She rose into a sitting position and glared at Danny. "How did you clean my clothes if you've been locked in this room the whole day?"
Danny froze. He looked up and met Louise's hard eyes and instantly knew he was in trouble. Clearing the clog in his throat with a gulp, Danny chuckled nervously.
"I have my skills." Danny said, rubbing the back of his neck. Louise continued to glare at him, his gaze darted away from hers and wandered aimlessly around the room.
"Whatever." Louise concluded with a huff. She picked herself off the bed and moved to the dresser. She began to unbutton her shirt, stopping briefly when she heard the strangled noise Danny made.
Louise paused, her fingers paralyzed by some unseen force. Her cheeks flushed red. She shook her head, ridding the strange shyness that came over her. She stripped clean and tossed her clothing behind her, where she knew Danny was still sitting. Her heart was pounding fast against her chest. Breathing was laboring and soon she found herself sighing quietly. She shook her head, again. What's wrong with me?
"Clean those before tomorrow night if you want to eat." Louise's voice was firm, but if Danny had seen the blush on her face she would have lost all credibility. So she stood there, naked, facing her dresser trying to calm her nerves. She must've had a tiring day to get so worked up, Louise decided.
"S—Sure." Danny's own face was beet red. He was staring hard at the ground. He thought of closing his eyes, but he couldn't find it in himself to do so.
Louise finally pulled her gown on, before crawling into bed. Danny made his way to the stack of hay on the ground and sprawled out on the floor. He stayed there for a while, staring at the dark ceiling and waited for sleep. He thought about his situation. He thought about how long it'll be before he found a way home. He thought about his family probably worroed sick over him. Then, at last, he thought about how much his very existence meant to Louise. Where he stood between her and failure.
"G'night."
Author's Note:
I don't know why I'm writing this honestly. I guess this is like my guilty pleasure.
In this story, Danny is 16, one year older than at the end of the show (I think? Or perhaps the same age). Phantom World has happened, although I doubt it matters much in this story. Also, nothing happened between Danny and Sam.
I do intend to make Danny and Louise into a paring as I have a serious lack of interest in any other character.
Honestly, the Hedgehog's Dilemma could be the title of every single chapter in this story, lol. I should've named the entire series that, but idk. I like In You I Trust. It has a nice ring to it.
Lastly, I haven't seen Zero no Tsukaima in—mmmmmmmm, like, six years or so. Whenever Season three came out. So I have yet to finish the show AND I have sizable gaps in my knowledge. However, like a good lil fanfic writer, I'm in the process of reembarking on that kinky journey.
Leave your thoughts. I can use any advice you have.
