I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment proposes only, no money involved.
Screams filled Death Square as panic erupted after Eternal Feather cut her own throat under the influence of a witch. Tsugumi fainted for the sight of all of her friend's blood.
Danny was holding Eternal Feather in his lap. He had torn off his cut sleeve in order to make a quick bandage over the wound but it was clear that such measures were dreadfully inadequate.
"Danny, we need to get her to a hospital, now!" Sam shouted still in hand shovel form. Danny's mind was spinning, an ambulance would take to long, the crowded streets couldn't hold the emergency transports.
Danny lifted Eternal Feather up in his arms and started running towards the nearest hospital he knew of, Doctor Stein's. But he felt so slow as he ran. "We won't make it in time." He said. If only he could just go ghost. He would be able to fly there in no time at all, but he couldn't.
Sam's thoughts were around the same. Each of them was thinking of the wind blowing through their ears as it did whenever they had flown in Amity Park. 'We need to fly.' They each thought again and again. The thought grew stronger and stronger along with their soul waves which were merging together, going back and forth between them, growing stronger. The same black aura that they had used on the first day of school gathered around them.
Eventually they couldn't take it any more. "We need to fly!" They shouted and the soul waves condensed over Danny's back forming a pair of short black wings, hardly more than his holders width, but they still allowed him to take to the air.
"We... we're flying." Danny said shocked but Sam got him back on track.
"Danny, girl now, questions later!" Sam shouted. Danny nodded and leaned forward causing him to rocket towards where he knew Stein's hospital to be.
Doctor Stein was sitting on his front porch reading some files on the data he had gathered from observing Phantom. What his measurements were saying excited him. For starters, Phantom didn't have a true healing wavelength, that is a soul wave that promotes healing. Instead his soul seemed to have a memory of how his body is supposed to be and reconstructs anything that became too damaged. Rather than just a sound soul being created by a sound mind and body, his body and mind were also maintained by the sound soul. This created a loop which forced stability.
No normal human body should be able to react that directly to their soul waves to such a extent. This must be where his exposure to ghost waves must have come into the picture. Stein looked out over the city thinking of the possibilities that such a soul offers.
But then he noticed that the boy's soul waves had intensified and were heading straight for him. Danny came down out of the sky with short wings made out of pure soul waves, condensed until made visible even to the unperceptive eye. In his arms was a girl a little older than he was who was bleeding from a wound in the neck.
Stein looked down at his cup of coffee and poured it onto the ground. "Last time I use instant coffee." He mumbled. But he soon realized he wasn't delusional as Danny ran up to him and quickly demanded his help.
Stein nodded and brought the girl into his hospital and got to work immediately. 'First time I've had a live patient in a long time.' He thought as he gave Danny and Sam instructions on how to help and pulled on his gloves. 'Shouldn't be too hard.'
Two hours of grueling surgery later Stein was finishing the bandaging of the young weapon girl's neck and Danny and Sam were cleaning the equipment.
"Her life isn't in any danger anymore, but she will need to stay here for a while." Stein said pulling out a cigarette that Sam snatched away from him.
"Don't smoke in front of a patient." She snapped at the world's strongest meister. "What kind of Doctor are you?"
"A researcher kind." Stein grumbled. But he noticed that even though the Eternal Feather's life was out of danger Sam's soul was still full of uneasy. Uneasy that had nothing to do with the day's events. "Sam, I need you to please change Eternal Feather into some hospital gowns. It wouldn't be right for me to do something like that." Stein pointed out before turning to Danny. "You should leave for this. Go and get something for yourself to eat, it will help with the nerves. I'll send your partner out later."
Danny nodded and left the room in a hurry, he was not used to seeing that much of someone else's blood. Stein handed Sam the hospital gown and put a privacy curtain between them.
As Sam worked she heard Stein asked her a question. "So what's on your mind? You seem preoccupied about something." Stein asked. Sam nearly froze as he said it.
"Wh... What do you mean? Nothings wrong." Sam said unconvincingly.
"Most people who just had a friend hospitalized wouldn't say that." Stein pointed out. "Some thing is wrong and you are trying to keep it to yourself. But doing so is bad for your soul waves. Keep it up and you won't be able to resonate souls with Phantom anymore."
Sam bit the inside of her cheek. She didn't want to speak out her innermost thoughts, but she didn't know what she would do if she couldn't be Danny's partner anymore. "Promise you won't tell anyone."
"Doctor patient confidentiality; unless it is to save your life nothing will leave my lips." Stein said calmly from the other side of the curtain.
Sam swallowed as she gently pulled one of the sleeves into place. "It's this whole... Deathscythe thing." Sam admitted. Stein nodded though the girl couldn't see him. Most students worried that they were not good enough to be Deathscythes, but Sam's next words threw him for a loop. "I'm a vegan for Death's sake, I don't even eat meat, and they want me to eat SOULS!"
'Oh for the love of... that's what this is about?' Stein thought miserably. 'If she refused to develop as a weapon because of this, then my experiment will be ruined. I will never see the full extent of a ghost soul wave enhanced weapon. At least not without doing something that Death would have my head for. I got to fix this.'
"Interesting. So you find your views as a vegan to contradict the goals of the DWMA, is that right." Stein asked trying to think of how he was going to persuade her.
"Ye... yeah." Sam admitted.
"Alright then, tell me... why do you not eat meat?" Stein asked.
"Because I don't think that I have the right to eat another innocent creature." Sam said definitely, it was a strong belief for her.
"You say that you won't eat another innocent creature... but are prekeshin's innocent? They are beings who have murdered and eaten dozens if not hundreds of human souls. Can you really call them innocent?" Stein asked the young weapon.
Sam paused thinking about the logic. "Still... eating souls." Sam said, it seemed almost like a whine. "Why can't we just stop them... and put them in prison or something?"
"I understand that our methods are not perfect. But if we concentrated all of that madness into one place like a prison, then who knows what might happen. And if we do not create Deathscythes then we may not have the power to stop a keshin when one emerges." Stein reasoned. He pulled out another cigarette and lit this one. Taking a long puff he blew the smoke towards a window. "It is simply the lesser evil. Should the madness return to the world, all innocence would be at risk of being destroyed."
"I... I understand." Sam said as she finished dressing Eternal Feather. "It isn't the same as abusing our power over innocent animals. We are gathering our strength to protect the people who can't defend themselves."
"Exactly." Stein said relieved that the girl saw things his way.
"I'm done." Sam said before moving out from behind the curtain.
"Ah, thank you." Stein said grinning a rather terrifying grin. "I hear that some of the girls friend who were at the incident are waiting out in the hall. Want to help me set up a few pranks for them?"
Sam actually laughed. "Are you serious?"
"Nothing is better for the soul after a event like this then a little shock and some laughter." Stein said, though the true was that he just like to mess with people.
Danny had just passed Tsugumi, Meme and Anya in the hall and assured them that everything was going to be ok before heading out the hospital. It was true that he was a little hungry but before he could start heading home to make some lunch he was stopped by Clay and Akane.
"Phantom, we need to talk to you." Akane said pulling Phantom to the side of the street were no one could overhear them.
"I guess you are here for a report of what happened." Danny said, he looked a little tired from the day's experiences. "Eternal Feather was possessed by a witch named Shaula Gorgon."
The two Intellegence agents exchanged looks. "Are you sure? How do you know?" Akane asked.
"Because I asked and she said yes." Danny said shrugging. "I suppose she didn't see any point in denying who she is."
"But how did you know that name?" Clay asked suspiciously.
"After you wouldn't tell me what was going on after the traitor incident, I did a little digging of my own." Danny said looking at the two. "It wasn't that hard to figure out. The brand she puts in her victim's eyes is really a Scorpio mark. After you know what their theme is, it isn't hard to research the witch. Eternal Feather had a simular mark in her eye whenever she attacked. Shaula puts people to sleep and then uses them like puppets. I tried to shock Eternal Feather out of her sleep but the hold the magic had on her was too great and seem to be renewing after my attempt to break it. If I had to venture a guess, I would say it was a hypnotic drug acting as an receiver for her magic."
Clay and Akane looked a little embarrassed. After all, it took them weeks to figure all that out. They pulled out a sketch of a girl. "Did you see this person in the crowd?" Clay asked shocking Danny the picture.
Danny looked hard at the drawing. It was of what looked like a seventeen year old girl in a sailor uniform with one large braid behind her back. "So that is what she looks like... would have been nice if you told me that when I asked a few weeks back. I searched the faces in the crowd by I don't think I saw that one. She did say that her real body looked around seventeen." Danny admitted.
"She spoke to you? What did she say?" Akane asked.
Danny's face darkened. "She said a lot of things. It seems she's been stalking me since the incident in the alley. And she hates the DWMA's policy on eating witches' souls to gain power and keep the peace... can't say I blame her. That kind of peace probably doesn't have much appeal to someone who has to watch their loved one's die."
"She's been stalking you?" Clay asked weirded out.
"She said that she watches me while I train, though I never noticed her. My soul waves do get me a lot of unwanted attention. Like Doctor Stein." Danny said thinking about the things that Shaula said. She wanted him to join her.
Akane nodded. "Thank you for your cooperation. Please come and talk to us if you remember anything else." Akane said but before any of them could leave something that looked like the disembodied head of Eternal Feather ran pasted them on its braids. "What... was that?" The Intelligence agent asked unable to comprehend what had just happened.
"I... don't... know." Danny said just as confused. Things were getting really weird lately.
"You're finally getting to go back to the girl's dorm, you excited?" Sam asked Eternal Feather as they walked with Danny back towards the girl's dorm after she had been discharged from Stein's hospital after three days.
Danny felt a little guilty that he had not visited her while she was at the hospital, but he was filled with regret. He had been unable to stop her from getting hurt, and no matter how many people told him it wasn't his fault he new better. If he had been stronger, if he had broken the witch's control, than Eternal Feather won't have gotten hurt. Sam shared simular feeling about it. But when Stein had asked them to escort her back to the girls' dorm they agreed.
"Yes, it will be nice to see everyone again." Eternal Feather said smiling. "Thank you again for getting me to hospital so fast and helping Doctor Stein save me." She said for probably the fifth time.
"Please stop mentioning it. It was the least we could do." Sam said trying to keep on a happy face. "I can't wait to see the others faces when they see the fake windup screw." Sam and Stein had convinced Eternal Feather to play one last practical joke on Tsugumi, Meme and Anya.
"As long as you think it will go over well." Eternal Feather said smiling. She glanced over at Danny how had been quite the entire time. It was a hot summer day in the middle of a heat wave, but Danny was still dressed in his usual jeans and jacket. "Aren't you hot, Phantom?" Eternal Feather asked trying to get him to talk.
"Hm? No, not really. I have an ice based soul wave so I don't really get hot." Danny said shrugging. "What about you? That outfit isn't exactly for this kind of weather." Danny commented, Eternal Feather was wearing her usual nun like clothes.
"I will have to change when I get back to my room." Eternal Feather admitted chuckling a little.
They turned into the dorms to find that Anya and Tsugumi were standing out front. It looked as if Tsugumi was splashing water on the ground.
They spotted Eternal Feather as they approached. "Miss Eternal Feather!" Tsugumi said excitedly.
"You got discharged today?" Anya asked glad to see that their upperclassman was alright.
"If you'd said something, we would have picked you up." Tsugumi added.
"That's ok, Doctor Stein asked Phantom and Sam to take me. And I already knew the way." Eternal Feather said smiling. "There is not need to concern yourselves. It did leave a little bit of a scar, but at the DWMA, scars are badges of honor, right?" Eternal Feather pulled down her collar to show a scar running across the right side of her neck. All the other students winced.
Seeing everyone's sad looks Eternal Feather put her hands on her hips. "It's nothing at all, ok? See?" She said spinning around so that Tsugumi and Anya could see the fake screw on her back.
"She has a screw in her back!" Anya and Tsugumi shouted together in surprised. Sam broke out laughing and Danny was reduced to giggles as Eternal Feather pulled the screw off.
"Sam and Doctor Stein were right, that did go over well." Eternal Feather said smiling.
"Sam that was mean!" Tsugumi complained giving that flusted face that made Sam laugh even harder.
"But it fixed the awkward moment so well." Sam said through her chuckles.
"Ah, Eternal Feather! You're out of the hospital!" Meme said running up to join the group. "I'm so glad you're feeling better!" She said happily.
"Thank you. You're looking well to Meme." Eternal Feather said greeting her friend.
"Yes... but." Meme admitted but then looked over her shoulder with a concerned expression.
Jacqueline was stumbling around half heartedly behind her. "Have to... celebrate... your discharge... sometime..." Jackie said though she didn't look at any of them.
"Miss Jacqueline... what's the matter?" Tsugumi asked as the lantern joined the group.
"You look like it's the end of the world or something." Sam said crossing her arms.
"Kim and I have broken up." Jackie said. Everyone was rather shocked. "After we became partners, we were doing so well together." Jackie brought up her hands so that the others couldn't see her tears. "What am I going to do!?"
Suddenly the bun on her head burst into flames. The girls staggered back away from the heat as Danny stood their blinking.
"Jackie! You need to control yourself!" Sam said sharply. Jackie looked up at the other EAT class weapon. "You're give off a lot of heat. I'm sure that is the reason why Kim wants some space right now. Usually she's fine with it since you only raise the temperature around you by a few degrees but in a heat wave that becomes harder to bare." Sam said moving closer to Danny. "Danny, little help here."
Danny nodded and the blue in his eyes grew even brighter. The temperature around them drop several degrees until it was cooler than it had been a few seconds ago.
"You just need to learn to control your own powers a bit better, then I'm sure Kim will take you back." Danny said letting up on his cold as Jackie regained her composer and the fire on her head died.
"You... you think so?" Jackie asked sniffling a little.
"Sure, when Danny first started producing ice I had to band him from my green house because he would freeze all my plants, but he learned control and so can you." Sam said putting a hand on Jackie's shoulder. "Why don't the two of you go to were you can't burn or freeze anything important and practice some. I'm sure Danny could give you a few pointers." Sam suggested.
"I can?" Danny said meaning it as a question.
But Jackie didn't take it that way. "Thank you Phantom." She said tearing up again and her hair caught fire again. Sam had to back away quickly.
'This could take a while.' Danny thought a little worried before leaving with Jackie to go to one of the training halls at the DWMA.
(To lazy to write bonding between Danny and Jackie. They would have talked a lot about Kim.)
Thank you to whatever guest pointed out that I kept using peasant instead of patient. I had no idea how to spell patient.