Edit: There's something extra that I sneaked in at the bottom in the A/N. Please read it post-haste!
Teral: Come on, what makes you think it's such a good idea to cut it off right after Igos?
Laret: She's bound to lose interest sooner or later, and she's already struggling with the other multichapter fic.
Teral: Yeah, but there's no way to fit in that one scene in the shorter version. Let's let her live a little, huh?
…In case any of you are wondering, I'm having a fight with myself, and I don't know who's winning. The fight is concerning this fic, and if you feel totally in the dark about what they're talking about…good! You're not supposed to know! I own diddly squat.
"You can come inside for lunch, if you want." Professor asked. "Our house is small, though."
"Oh no, we wouldn't want to impose on you." Maddie politely declined.
While the Professor tried to at least get them to use his kitchen, Danny and Jazz walked back into the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle…I mean, the RV…and started rummaging around looking for stuff to make a sandwich.
"Any luck, Danny?" Jazz asked after a few minutes.
"Well," he said as he pulled his head through the cooler's top, "I found some of Dad's Fenton Toast."
"It'll have to do. I couldn't find any other bread, but I found the toaster." She said while taking the Jack shaped bread. "Did you see jam? This stuff's horrible dry."
"That's exactly what Tuck said." Danny grinned at the memory as he lifted the jam jar up to eye level.
"Wasn't that at the same time as Amorpho?" Jazz plugged the toaster into one of the outlets in the RV and popped the bread in.
"Yeah. I still can't believe Mom and Dad fell for their lie, though. I mean, ripping people's faces off?" Danny chuckled as he searched for a knife.
"Um," Pamela's small voice caught the siblings' attention, "can I have a piece?"
"Of toast? Well, if you really want it—"
"No, just bread." Pamela interrupted him while looking warily around the van.
"Okay." Danny replied after shrugging. He handed the piece to her.
"Thank you." She squeaked as she ducked out of the car in a hurry when the toast decided to pop up.
"Wonder what that was about?" Jazz asked rhetorically while Danny shrugged.
"Maybe her Dad likes to "experiment" in the kitchen, too." He suggested while covering his piece with jam. "If he does, I don't blame her."
Jazz shrugged and went to cover her toast in the sticky stuff as Danny walked out. After doing a quick search, he saw Pamela talking to Link and could easily hear their conversation.
"You're sure you're not hungry?" She was asking.
"Don't worry about me!" He said perhaps a little too loud. "I can go for a good while without having to eat!"
"…You're sure?" She sounded a bit dejected.
"Positive." His stomach apparently disagreed, since it made an audible protest. Link looked close to blushing as he slowly took the bread from Pamela while muttering, "Fine, you win."
"Link?" She asked hesitantly while he took a bite. Hearing his grunt, she continued. "Is it possible to…rip someone's face off?"
His eyes bulged out like those squishy stress reliever things and he came very close to choking on the bread.
"Where did that come from?" He replied after getting his coughing under control (quite a feat with no water available). Danny winced—she must have caught the last part of his and Jazz's conversation. It didn't really happen; it was just a cover story Sam and Tucker came up with when his powers went on the fritz and he couldn't change back to Danny Fenton. "Well, don't worry about it." He heard Link answer. "I've seen plenty of weird stuff, and Face-ripping monsters isn't one of them."
"Are you sure?"
"I've seen a side of Termina you couldn't, and shouldn't, even dream of. One of the few things I haven't seen—" a small explosion sounded inside the music box house which caused Link to pause and sigh before continuing "—is your Dad's cooking. You'd better stop him before he turns something…or someone purple." Pamela was running towards the house without before the sentence was even finished.
Link couldn't help chuckling as he watched the frantic girl run to stop her father from doing something quite drastic. He followed her with his eyes and stopped on that kid from earlier, who looked a little too absorbed in eating his toast. He didn't even try to stop the malevolent grin from spreading across his face as he decided to have a little fun and mess with some heads. Hero or not, he was still a teenager and allowed to be a little evil. "Fierce, you're gonna love this."
He chuckled again, but this time it had a deeper ring to it, and it did its job as the boy stiffened where he was leaning against the big vehicle. "Of course I've never seen a monster rip its face off." Link stated just loud enough for it to carry, slightly surprised that it held a bit of Fierce's emotionless tone, and adding extra emphasis to 'monster.' "Monsters don't rip faces off; they rip you apart if you can't fight back. Me, on the other hand…I'm a different story altogether. I could take my face off as easy as one would take off a mask."
"Smother him in double messages, why don'tcha!?"
"Dude, I seriously think you shouldn't've done that."
"Scaring others isn't nice!"
"…I've seen better…"
"Everyone's a critic." Link glumly thought butmade sure it didn't show. He could practically hear the cogs in the teen's head turning while he stared rigidly ahead. His toast, forgotten in the sudden pensive mood, dropped to the ground virtually unnoticed, along with the boy's hand—it changed from normal to mostly see-through.
"Not again." He said exasperatedly as he reached down to pull the toast off the ground. He made a face at the dust covered jelly and went inside the van to throw it out.
"Maybe I shouldn't have dropped so many clues." Link thought. "If he figures it out, I'll be shipped off to the loony bin…or to that new therapy stuff people were talking about."
"I heard it's being lead by the Mayor's wife."
"Oh, dear Goddesses have mercy." Link mumbled while gently rocking his head in his hands. After a moment, he sighed and glanced up. His eyes widened.
There, above the house. Crows. His hands slid behind his back and under his shield while he watched the birds with practiced ease. He pulled out his bow and nocked an arrow, and he frowned. What the…?
They didn't look like any crows he'd seen: they were green and glowy and looked more like vultures. And, why were they wearing red hats with skulls on them? Link shrugged to himself, and replaced the arrow for one of his more special ones. This one was pure gold and a perfect conduct for magic, and by far one of his favorite toys. He pulled back the bowstring and fought hard to keep from giggling at the feeling of magic pulsing through him to the enchanted arrow. He couldn't stop a giddy smile from forming on his face.
Link lifted his head to catch sight of the vultures and not a moment later he lifted the bow and fired with marksmanship that would put even snipers to shame. Light exploded from the arrow as it shot towards its target, leaving a very small trial of magic in its wake. The Glowtures, he decided to call them, actually took notice of the speeding projectile but by then it was too close to dodge. The arrow tore clean through one of its wings. It cried out in pain, and the others displayed more un-monster-like habits: the two that weren't hit grabbed the third and seemed to try to lower it to the ground—and out of sight. Link wanted to jump up, yank his sword from its sheath, run up to wherever they landed and finish off their miserable…
Link blinked as he abruptly stopped that train of thought. Since when did he do the whole gory thing willingly? He groaned as he found out where the unexpected feeling had come from and smacked his forehead.
"Alright," he muttered inaudibly, "which one of you is responsible of giving me bloodlust?"
Somewhere in his head, Fierce grinned.
I personally like that ending. As for Teral and Laret, they're still fighting--I mean having a heated debate about the subject. Please leave a review!
Edit: There is now a poll in my profiley page thingy majigger regarding the direction that this plot will go in. Teral and Laret couldn't settle the matter peacefully (even with the sudden expansion of their council), so the matter is now up to you, the readers. The question isn't hard at all, fairly short, and hopefully confusing.
Have a say in this fic's fate! Go vote!