Bonjour, mes chers! For those of you who may not yet be aware, you'll see that this is a rewrite of the original From the Beginning. For those of you who have been paying attention, you'll notice that I've been teasing something I've called 'The Revival' for the last few months on my blog. Put simply, it's the final revival and rewrite of From the Beginning and Guardian. The stories have both been planned out from beginning to end and are planned to finish around the end of 2018 if all goes according to plan.
This has been done because I was not happy with the story as it was and could not, in good consciousness, finish Guardian as it was. The entire world has been changed, there have been massive overhauls to the story and characters themselves, and the other books now have definite plots as to where the story will go.
So, real quick, the series has been renamed to Guardians and will contain, as of this moment, four books. From the Beginning and Guardians (the new title) is due to be completed by the end of 2018 with the third book starting early 2019.
I've also made a new blog to keep up with all things Guardians since we're in this for the long run! It's a tumblr blog under the name theguardiansseries. This will be where new chapters, art, and everything else is posted.
I hope you understand this choice and if you do? Thank you so much for sticking with me all of these years. If you decide to leave Guardian behind once and for all then hey, I understand. I've been there and done that too. No matter what, if you've ever read even a chapter, then thank you, and I hope my words made you smile at least once. Make sure to check out the blog for everything you need to know and bonus content here and there!
From the Beginning Exclusive
A Written Trailer
"Hello? Anyone here?" Danny shifted outside the massive library, hesitantly knocking on the doors and oh. Okay. That happened, then. Right. Doors swinging open without anyone there. That was his life, wasn't it? "Great. I'm trapped in a horror movie and it's not even a good one."
Pushing his way in, Danny swallowed at the silence and the thousands of books that he could see even from the front doors. "Hey, uh, Ghostwriter dude? Your doors kind of opened and I came here to, um, visit?"
::
"Huh." Danny crouched down, tilting his head at one of the broken murals. While the other murals at Pariah's Keep had been beautifully painted across the walls and held strong even now, this one was shattered on the floor. "I wonder what you meant."
There had been one with ten cloaked figures crowning Pariah as king, but then the next few had shown Pariah's fall and his subsequent imprisonment. Danny half wondered who had drawn the murals, but he was willing to chalk it up to it being a ghost thing. Reaching a hand out, Danny brushed his fingers against the mural he was currently inspecting.
While there were ten figures, they weren't the shapeless cloaked figures from the other murals. These ten all had varying sizes and heights, but it was broken in the way that only one figure was separated from the rest. Danny wondered if thesewere the original Ancients. He never heard much about them, and he was pretty sure 'the Ancients' was just the Observants in disguise, but these ghosts definitely didn't look like Observants.
Shifting his balance, Danny almost tumbled forward before he caught himself, both hands now braced against the cracked mural-
Golden eyes that shone like molten gold and death and hate and loss and pain and how dare they how dare they how dare they when it had been him to bring them all together and if they wanted to suffer than he would show them and he would make them see him he would make sure they never forgot again-
Grunting as he hit the floor on his back, Danny stared up at the ceiling and only absently realized he was gasping for breath and what… What had that been?
::
"Recent? Recent- It's always been like this! You've always been so damn prideful and full of yourself and it's gotten worse ever since you became 'Phantom.' You think you're above everything!"
"Above- You have no idea what I go through! I'm trying to be 'in charge' because I, at least, know about all these damn ghost things-"
"And I don't?! I've been right here this entire time and learning it all the same time as you! I've been here the whole time and you don't even see me! I'm nothing but the tech guy to you!"
"At least you know what you are! I don't even know if I'm alive anymore some days-!" Danny's voice died in his throat as he saw the shot that was speeding towards them and while it might hurt ghosts, this was a shot that could kill humans and no-
::
"The blame seems to lie in both parties this time around, so why not agree to forgive and forget on both sides?"
"Jeez, does everything you say sound like it's from some kind of Hallmark card?" Laughter bubbling out at the annoyed look he was given, Danny shook his head and forgive and forget, huh? Not bad, but… "Hey, Ghostwriter, what about something else, instead?"
"Oh, please. 'Something else' typically means a battle royale and I'm uncertain about you, but I prefer to solve disputes these days by-" Ghostwriter's mouth closed with a snap, Danny's grin growing wider as he continued to hold out his hand.
"Hi, there. My name is Danny and I'm a half-ghost idiot with a saving people thing. I hate Christmas, I love my friends, and it's nice to meet you." The long silence was worth it when the ghost finally clasped his hand, genuine smile on his face.
"Hello, Danny. My name is Ghostwriter and I'm obsessive over my books and tend to talk to myself outloud. It's nice to meet you, as well."
::
"You don't understand- I wasn't even a ghost." Danielle, the little girl that had pretended to be his cousin the last week, looked up at him as if begging him to understand. Danny found it hard to when he was strapped in some machine and doing his best to not panic. "If it wasn't for Daddy- If it wasn't for Vlad, then I would still just be a half-formed spirit thing floating around the Ghost Zone. He gave memy life back."
"That doesn't mean- That doesn't mean you just go and do everything he says! You're your own person, aren't you?" Please- Please see that this was wrong. "Do you really think this is the right thing to do?"
"No, but… Danny, please. He's hurting. Daddy loves me, but he's hurting and I ran away to see if he would care enough to come get me and he did! I didn't think he'd hurt you, too, but please, you have to help him."
::
"So, yeah." Danny took a breath after a rambling apology that had went on for far too long, a little of the weight falling off his shoulders when he saw Elliot's smile. "I'm… I'm sorry that we got off on the wrong foot. I can kind of jump to conclusions, sometimes, and I didn't mean to make you feel like you didn't belong. Trust me. I know how it feels."
"You could have just said sorry," Elliot laughed, stepping forward and resting a hand on Danny's shoulder. "It's alright. I did kind of push my way between all of you."
"It's hard to be a new kid," Danny shrugged, and, okay… Maybe Elliot could be okay. Maybe everyone was right and he had just been a jealous brat. "Right, so, um, yeah. It'll- It'll be nice to have another friend around here."
"That's sweet." Elliot laughed again, grip tightening on Danny's shoulder for a moment. "I never would have thought that ghosts could pretend to be so kind."
"Gh… Ghosts." Danny watched as Elliot's glasses slipped down and no… No, there was nothing warm in those eyes. "I don't-"
"It's okay." It was the same feeling as when he had stepped into the portal and felt his palm press against a button. A missed step. A wrong move. An unseen threat. A mistake. "The Guys-in-White have been very eager to meet you, Danny Phantom."
::
"Give her back!" Ice crawled through his veins and Danny knew that each breath he breathed out was filled with crystals of ice and snow. "She's not yours."
"Meddlesome child." Plants with thorns and toxins deadly even to ghosts rose up, Undergrowth at the center of it all with Sam sitting under him. "She will be Queen. This child will carry on the work that has been left unfinished for far too long! After her death is complete, she shall be the one to heal the world."
"Maybe, but she doesn't need to die to change things. She never has." Energy colder than anything he had ever felt poured into his hands, and this. This was why he had first started fighting back. Someone needed to stop the ghosts.
::
"I always wondered, but why do you risk so much to protect your town? Surely you've read enough comics to know how poorly life is for a 'hero.'" Ghostwriter stared at him steadily, curiously, and Danny felt all his lies die in his throat.
"I…" He told everyone it was because he had always dreamed of being a hero. He agreed that he had a 'saving people' thing. He swore up and down that if he didn't do it, then he'd regret that he never got the chance to do something so amazing. None of it… Not all of them were lies, but they weren't the truth.
"You risk everyone and you don't have to. I've known you for months, almost, but I just can't understand it." Ghostwriter was honestly confused and Danny couldn't help but laugh. Really. Shouldn't a writer have known before anyone else? "Wha- Danny?"
"No, no, it's just… It's simple, isn't it?" At the look, Danny shook his head. "Bad things… Bad things happen sometimes, right? A lot of times, you can't do anything about it, and you just help where you can and keep on going. The thing is, though…" Danny swallowed, looking up at Ghostwriter and taking a steady breath.
"When bad things happen and you have the power to stop it and you don't? Then the bad things happen because of you. If I have these powers and someone gets hurt and I can do something? I'm going to do it. It's not because I'm playing at being hero, but because I'm doing whatever everyone else has always done. I'm protecting my home."
::
"Danny-" If this Reality Gauntlet thing really worked, which he had just proved it did, then they would never remember this, and that? That was perfect.
"I love your stupid poetry, I love how you mutter under your breath when you have a new idea you want to write about, I love your stupid hair and how you can never completely get it to lay flat you hypocrite, I love how you sometimes go hours without realizing that your coat that you've been looking for is on the back of the only couch you ever sit at, I love how you can't see without those stupid glasses, I love how you have to always have your tea in just the right way or you won't drink it, and I love, more than anything else, that you saw me."
Andrew seemed struck completely speechless, Danny giving a hopeless smile. "I always thought it'd be Sam, you know? Maybe Paulina or someone else from school, but then I met you, and… God. It's like I met you, and I knew- I wasn't looking to ever fall in love like I did, but then I met you, and oh, man. I lost so bad, Andrew. So I'm going to say it now, just this once.
"I'm in love with you, Andrew Riter. I love you. You're never going to remember this, but I thought you deserved to know at least just once."
::
"Oh, I see." Still crouched and ready for danger, Danny eyed the ghost that was in front of him in the dream he had found himself in now. He didn't know where Nocturne was, but he was going to be ready for anything. "She must be dreaming…"
"Right, yeah, okay, dream that knows it's a dream. Great. Is there where the walls start oozing blood?" A laugh escaped the ghost in front of him. It was definitely a ghost Danny had never seen before. The hairstyle alone was something he definitely would have remembered considering it was dreads tied up with beads and chains and, yeah, definitely not something from today's style. "You should know that I don't go down without a fight and-"
"Hush, young one." The ghost walked forward and before Danny could fly away, he was taking a necklace off and pressing it into Danny's hands. It looked like a dreamcatcher or whatever, only… It was glowing and the thread seemed like ghostly energy rather than thread. It reminded him of Clockwork's staff, weirdly enough. "When you see Nocturne, gift this to him. He will know what it is."
"I, uh, yeah. Okay?" This was a very weird dream, but if Danny didn't have to fight, then, yeah, hey, great. "Do you know where to find him, right now? I'm kind of trying to stop the entire world from entering into a sleep coma."
"Follow this path until it ends." Great. Cryptic. Just what he needed. "Young one…" The ghost bit his lip, Danny near jerking back in surprise when his cheek was cupped. "Oh, such young ones. I'm sorry for what you will face."
::
"That's that, then, huh?" Danny rubbed at his eyes before looking back to the results of three night's all said the same thing no matter how many times he reworked the problem. "I'm dying."
He felt like the words should have torn something apart in him, but all they did was make him tired. He supposed, somehow, that made even more sense.
::
"You know, GW, I have a feeling that we're going to be great friends."
"I find that I rather agree with you on that."
Now, let's begin...
"Come on, Danny, it's not like it's going to kill you to just try it!" The attempt to slam the door shut in his sister's face was tragically stopped by a strategically placed foot. The girl didn't waste the moment and immediately used her levage to squirm into the room like the demented creature she was. "If you're not going to tell anyone to avoid being a 'burden' on them, then the least you can do is write it all down."
"Jazz, for the last time, I am not keeping a diary." Danny loved his sister. Really, he did, he loved her, and he was trying to be better about being kinder around the holidays after the Christmas he just had, but she was really tempting him to go out and destroy something. A building, maybe. Shopping mall? Either way, it would be messy and entirely her fault. "Why do you even want me to keep a diary?"
"I told you, Danny, it's because you won't talk to anyone." Ready to defend himself, Danny paused when Jazz held up a hand for silence. "I'm not blaming you. I know there's things you probably can't talk about, but that's why this would be good for you. It'll help you think about and work out your emotions without self-destructing first to get there."
"Seriously?" Seeing the incredibly serious look on his sister's face, Danny groaned and gave up any hope of forcing her out the door. Even with his half-ghost strength, Jazz was a force onto herself that couldn't be stopped. The Fenton genes had really taken hold of them, sometimes. "I still don't see how a diary is going to fix me."
"Danny, it's not about trying to fix you." Setting the stupid diary down on his desk, Jazz moved to envelop him in a hug and, yeah, wow, okay. Maybe Danny could use a few more hugs if he wasn't even trying to act annoyed by it. "It's about trying to help you."
"Isn't that the same thing, basically?" The hug tightened and Danny was suddenly extremely grateful that his ghost half gave him better endurance. "Okay, okay, got it, the stupid journal is going to help me!"
"Oh? I thought it was a diary." Poking his tongue out at Jazz's teasing, Danny wiggled his way free to look down at the stupid thing. It was black and had green pages on the inside.
"If I have to write in it, then it's not a diary. It's a journal." Cautiously flipping the cover over and opening the journal, and half expecting something incredibly horrible to pop out, Danny paused at seeing a scribbled note on the inside from Jazz and his friends. "I knew the green would be their idea."
"Mhm. It's mint green, too. It's supposed to be easier on the eyes and cause less eye strain." Oh. That was… That was kind of neat of them. "Tucker wanted it to be neon green."
"That doesn't surprise me." Maybe Danny should dye Tucker's hair neon green for a while. It wasn't like anyone would really see it. Probably. "Okay, so, I write in this stupid journal. How long do I have to do it for?"
"You have to write about every ghost you've encountered at least once and then at least a few sentences about every ghost fight starting now. Other than that, you can write whatever you want and however much you want."
"Are you kidding me?" Every ghost- Did Jazz realize how many ghosts Danny had gone up against? He had gotten his powers a little over a year ago! "That's like giving me even more homework to do!"
"The maybe you'll do your other homework to avoid this homework." Oh, his sister was evil. She was vicious, and cruel, and heartless, and would likely rule the earth one day. At least Danny knew where Bearbert was if he needed a hostage. "It doesn't have to be an essay, Danny. Think of it like talking to a friend that'll never tell your secrets to anyone else."
"Yeah, unless they read it," Danny snorted and oh- Oh. Maybe he could come up with some cool, secret language to use. Then again… That was effort. "And didn't we learn how bad an idea diaries were with the whole Tom Riddle thing?"
"Yes, only this 'journal' doesn't talk back and try to get you to kill people." Jazz finally released him from the hug she had forced on him, pushing him towards his chair. "Just try it. If nothing else, it'll at least help you keep everything straight about which ghost you fought when."
"You just want my life to be as organized as yours," Danny complained, dropping into his desk chair and staring at the note his friends had left him. He guessed it maybe wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to write it all down. Maybe he could even turn it into a story one day and have it published. 'Danny Fenton and his Bullshit Adventures' had a nice ring to it. "Fine. I'll try writing in the stupid journal."
"Really?" Jazz near lit up, throwing her arms around him and kissing his cheek. Pulling a face, Danny tried to struggle away, although he could admit only to himself that he didn't struggle all that much. "That's great! Here I thought I would have to bribe you-"
"Whoa, wait, what? What bribes? What kind of bribes are you making?" Because while Jazz was about as decent a cook as their mom, her baking was great. It wouldn't be the first time Jazz had bribed him with baked goods, either. "Jazz, that's not fair, if you planned to do it then now you have to do it."
"Really?" Jazz snorted, shaking her head. "Fine, maybe if you have something written by the time I finish my fudge, then I'll let you have some." Oh, hell yes. If it was one thing any Fenton could do, then it was make fudge. Jazz, luckily for him, made the best fudge.
"I'm on it." Turning back around to face the journal, Danny snorted as Jazz stuck a pen between his fingers before near prancing away. Danny guessed he would be pretty happy if he won, too. "Right. Okay. How hard can it be to write something about all the ghosts?" It wasn't like there were that many. "Wait- Hey! Do I have to write about the accident, too!"
His door shut with a soft click and Danny decided that was as good as a 'maybe' which, technically, could mean no. Alright, so. First ghost attack after he got his powers. That would've been… Jeez, the first time he met the Lunch Lady- No. No, actually. That would have been those Ectopusses that had attacked Sam and Tucker. Jeez. He had almost forgotten about them.
It had hardly been a month since his accident in the portal and his dad hadn't even noticed when the ghosts came in and grabbed his friends. Thinking about it, fighting them off had been… That had kind of started Danny's 'hero' career. He hadn't even thought of using his powers until he managed to save his friends with them. That moment of fighting back had changed everything.
Fuck. Jazz might actually be right when she said this would help him. Groaning and adjusting his grip on the pen, Danny began writing his thoughts down. At least he didn't have to worry about anyone else trying to read the stupid journal. If nothing else, he could always burn the stupid thing to get rid of all the evidence.
Right, okay. What was after that? It had been the stupid Ectopusses and then it had been the Lunch Lady. God, that mess had been- Just the lunch menu had caused a wreck, but then add a vengeful ghost to the mix? At least it had caused Sam to tone back on her vegetarian thing. Plus, he had started to understand his powers, after that mess- Hey! That was also the first time he had used the Fenton Thermos!
"Feels longer than a year," Danny mused to himself, the silence in his room settling around him before he was sighing and grabbing his phone, putting on some music. Silence wasn't bad, but having at least something playing in the background helped. "Right, Lunch Lady and then- Oh, god, Skulker."
That horrible event had been good in finding out how ready his friends were to fight ghosts for him, but that whole mess with Skulker and the purple back gorilla had just been exhausting. Sampson- Er, Delilah, was still doing well, at least, in the zoo. It was kind of funny that they thought Delilah would be the last of her kind until they found out there was another solution. It was just how Danny thought he was the only one of his kind until, well…
Right. After that was Dora and finding out he could overshadow people, then it was Technus and Danny's whole self-esteem about being popular, and then it was… Desiree? No- No, it was Poindexter and then it was Desiree. Jeez, he never would have thought that Tucker was so jealous over everything if that hadn't happened.
God, the more he thought about it and wrote everything down, the more crazy it all seemed to get, like it had all started building up. Ghosts were thought to be made up, and then suddenly it was Vlad, Walker, Spectra, Cujo and Valerie taking up the mantle of Red Huntress, Ember, Johnny and Kitty, Fright Knight, Freakshow, the Guys-in-White, Pariah Dark, Youngblood, and then Dan and Clockwork.
His life had started out perfectly normal and he had been like any other fourteen-year-old and then he had pressed a button and now his hometown was like Gotham City! And he was the Batman! After seeing the future and looking at what he could have possibly become… It wasn't that hard to imagine him becoming 'evil,' really.
Clockwork had changed things to show the worst possible outcome, yeah, but he had explained it to Danny later. Danny would have gotten desperate and stolen the answers on his own with his powers, and then after that… It wouldn't have been hard to use his powers for other shortcuts. Vlad was example enough of how power could go to one's head, and Danny was half ghost. Ghosts were… They were volatile.
Maybe he wouldn't have been as bad as the Dan that he saw, but he still… He wouldn't have been Danny Phantom, anymore. He had started to forget why he risked so much to help people and then that little event had reminded him. It had given him just what he needed to keep going. It… Fuck. Clockwork had planned it all from the very beginning to help Danny even with the Observants meddling in his life. That was- That was pretty awesome, actually.
Right, okay, focus. Ghost fights. The most recent ghost catastrophe was with that Ghostwriter dude. Ugh, he had been stuck in rhyme all day. It… Thinking about it now, when he wasn't so angry, it… It had kind of been his fault, hadn't it? God, he had been an outright dick when he met the Ghostwriter.
He had destroyed the guy's novel - his only copy of it - and he had gloated. That would've been like someone destroying one of Jazz's research papers or one of his model rockets- One of the ones that had taken him literally weeks to build. Danny had destroyed that book to scraps and then gloated about it. If that had happened to Danny, then, yeah, he would have been pissed about it, too.
Danny hadn't even properly apologized, had he? Then again, the other had taken it way too far when he trapped Danny in a poem and almost ruined his life. It was so totally not his fault- The start, maybe, but not the end.
There was a quiet thud of a plate being set down beside him, Jazz smiling at him. "How's it coming along, then-"
"It wasn't my fault." Danny crossed his arms and leaned back, glaring at Jazz as she blinked at him. "It wasn't. Like, yeah, okay, I destroyed the guy's poem, but he then trapped me in another one. That's not my fault!"
"Wait, wait, is this about that ghost you fought the other day that you told me about? Ghostwriter?" Of course it was!
"Like, yeah, okay, I was kind of a dick, but there was no need to take it that far! Besides, he's a ghost, he probably would have attacked me when he realized who I was, anyways."
"Uh huh. And all ghosts attack you on sight, then?" Yes. Except, well… No. Poindexter wasn't all that bad when Danny ran into him, these days, and while Clockwork had attacked, he had done everything to help Danny prevent something far worse. Cujo had been the best, of course, and Johnny and Kitty were sometimes tolerable. "It sounds like you feel bad about what you did."
"Oh, please, I do not want to deal with psychologist Jasmine, right now. Where's sister Jazz?" Danny grabbed a piece of fudge and oh, god, it was so good. It was good enough that he didn't even argue when Jazz stopped his music and sat on the bed.
"Alright. It sounds like you feel bad about what you did." Huffing, Danny grabbed another piece of fudge out of spite. "You'll get sick if you eat too much of that."
"You're such a mom. And I'm not- That guy almost destroyed my entire life! I mean, okay, yeah, I can understand wanting to get back at someone, but he almost made me lose everything." The entire town and his friends and family had near turned against him.
"Was he really just doing it to get back at you, though? From what you told me, it sounded like he was trying to teach you a lesson about being a Scrooge."
"That- Yeah, but…" Thinking on it, he kind of did learn a lesson from it all. That poem had shown him that relying on his friends was okay, and that taking joy out of the little things was better than being so angry at everything. It was the same lesson Clockwork had taught him, just on a smaller scale.
He had learned that anger could accomplish a lot, but letting it consume him was a lesson he had failed to learn before Clockwork showed up. It was a lesson that Vlad was still failing and Danny had almost followed in his footsteps without even realizing it. He had learned to not take shortcuts, but he had forgotten to not hold onto that anger until Ghostwriter showed up.
"Maybe he wasn't such a bad guy, after all?" Jazz swiped a piece of fudge for herself, munching on it as she smiled at Danny. "He might be happy to know you learned a lesson from his poem, you know."
"And I'd be happy to avoid Walker and his jail." Although, knowing that the guy could rewrite and alter reality, he probably wouldn't be in there for very long. Really, the Box Ghost could get out of Walker's prison most days. "I'll think about it." At Jazz's look, Danny stuck his tongue out. "I said I'd think about it."
"That means you won't do it." Yeah, well… "Do you want my advice?" Mm. He supposed he could always use a little more advice in his life. "I think you should apologize." Nevermind. He didn't need advice that badly.
"Yeah, but, you know, if I see him, there's a good chance I'll be pissed enough to try and punch him in the face. That's probably behavior you shouldn't be encouraging, and all."
"Yes, but he is a dangerous ghost, so I suppose if you feel like you're being threatened and you happen to punch him after apologizing, well," Jazz shrugged, her smile more of a smirk than anything else. "I suppose there's nothing I can do about that."
Staring at his sister for a long few moments, Danny finally pushed himself up and moved to the bed, drawing Jazz into a hug. "You're a great big sister and I promise I'll try to limit myself to only one punch."
"I'm sure," Jazz laughed, hugging him back. "So, are you going to do that now, then? Mom and Dad probably won't notice if you step out for an hour or two."
"Yeah, might as well." Plus, they both knew that if Danny didn't go now, then he probably never would. Although… "I might visit someone else first, though."
"Really? Who? Sam or Tucker?" Hmph. He had more friends than just Sam and Tucker.
"Neither. It's someone who might be able to help me not punch Ghostwriter in the face." Because, yeah, he did kind of want to apologize, but he also needed to know if Ghostwriter was going to be a threat, as well as if he really had been trying to help or if he was just fighting Danny for revenge. "I'll be back in a few hours."
"Alright." Jazz looked skeptical as Danny stood up and let his transformation take hold of him, the cold in his room no longer really affecting him. Probably a ghost thing. "Just be back in time for dinner."
"Don't worry. I'll be perfectly on time, today." Danny grinned before shooting down to the basement. Hopefully, if he was willing to share, then Clockwork should at least have a few answers for him.
