I now present, a slightly early update! :D
I spent the next half hour explaining the basic gist of what had happened in my life to caused this to happen. Fish sat there, understanding in her eyes. How she was able to make sense of my babbling so easily, I'll never know. Perhaps she was simply one of those ridiculously smart kids they spend years tailoring into the best candidates for the highest jobs a district could offer. Nothing really seemed to confuse her, and when an expression resembling that of someone completely lost started to pass over her face, it was gone as soon as I got through the end of my next sentence.
Rachel listened as well, and while she wasn't as totally lost as anyone (with, apparently, the exception of Fish) outside of our district, she was still having a hard time grasping the concept of a half-ghost. It wouldn't surprise me if her religious teachings taught her there was only the living and the dead, nothing in between. Several times she either stopped to pray or recited some various biblical verse to keep her head on straight. I'll never know how that helped her, but if it kept her from running in fear, then more power to her.
Danny, they're just now figuring our what to say about your powers. Do you want to hear this or not?
I considered for a moment. It might give me an unfair advantage, but I really did need to know if they were planning to throw me to the dogs on this one. I needed to know what I was up against. "Yeah, I need to hear this."
Alright, give me just a second. A crackle filled my ear until a faint, and static filled voice came through
I must say, that is quite the turn of events. For the first, and likely only, time in Games history, we have a real live super hero in our midst. For those of you who aren't quite as familiar with District 12, we now have, Danny Phantom, teen ghost fighter and widely regarded hero in the arena. Now I think we see the emergence of a definitive winner here.
An new voice came on, the second commentator.
You know, I'm not so sure. He has fought to save the other tributes rather than kill them, his hero complex might cost him the win. Most tributes would have let the others die without a second thought, as it would bring them closer to the win, but two years of saving lives seems to be stopping that response in the ghost powered teen.
True, but the real question is, what will the Game makers do about this turn of events? Will they stick to their normal rules and let the other tributes find out on their own, or will they consider this a big enough advantage to issue a warning?
"Sam, cut it off. I don't need to hear anything else." Okay, well, that wasn't entirely true. I really didn't want to hear anything else, I wasn't ready for the main onslaught of speculations and comments that would come with the revelation of who I was. And as far as whether or not they'd reveal my secret to the rest of the tributes? Well, I guessed I'd find out soon enough.
And as though given some unspoken cue, a booming voice suddenly filled the air.
Attention Tributes. Attention Tributes. Due to some unprecedented and unforeseen circumstances, some rules are being disregarded in order to make this announcement. It has come to our attention that there is a half-ghost hybrid in the arena as one of this year's tributes. The name and district of this tribute will not be announced, but you have been warned they are out there. Again, there is a half-ghost hybrid in the arena.
The voice cut off at that, leaving me to let loose a small sigh of relief. It was a fair verdict, it gave a fair warning to the rest without telling them who to hunt down as their toughest competitor. Now, I just had to hope Fish and Rachel wouldn't turn on me.
There was a comfortable silence around the camp for a while after the announcement was made. As Fish started to take her turn in cleaning up our dinner and hiding the remains of our campsite, Rachel finally found the will to speak again.
"Why did you do it?" I gave her a quizzical look, that sentence could refer to anything. She understood what I meant as she continued. "Why did you save me from the ghost? It would have done you more good to just let me die. I'm not complaining or anything, but why save me?" I sighed as I gave in and answered her.
"Because I've already lost two human lives to ghosts in these Games, I refuse to lose another. It's my job to hunt down those idiots and keep people safe."
Fish cut in here. "What he means is his hero complex won't let him leave someone to die." I glared at her, I never thought anyone could be more of a sarcastic pain in the ass than Sam.
"I do not have a hero complex!"
"Oh, sure. And I'm Santa Clause." I sent her another glare. "Oh please, Danny. I've been around you for not even a week and even I can tell you've got one."
She is right, Danny.
"Oh, shut up Sam, you are not helping right now!" At this point, fish finally realized I was talking to thin air.
"Sam? Who is this 'Sam' of which you speak?" She had her arms crossed and a look on her face that told me she wasn't going to let me off the hook with this one. If I managed to get her and Rachel out of the Games alive, I was going to take Fish to meet Sam. It was one of those things that just had to be done.
"A friend from back home."
Are we still just friends? I had hoped you weren't as clueless after our goodbye. I was amazed that she was bringing that up now, more so that she was so willingly opening up to me about it. Sam wasn't one to make heartfelt emotions like that known without much preamble. Maybe it was just the stress of the Games in general that was getting her to open up.
"Sam, we're whatever you want us to be." I paused, trying to decide if I was willing to share this next bit over national television. Sure, I had revealed my ghost half, but this was so much harder. I finally decided to just go with it, get everything out there. "I love you, Sam. I want you to choose where this relationship goes, I don't want to push you." I think she was speechless.
"Would you like to explain why the hell you're talking to thin air for those of us that are slightly more sane than that?" Yeah, I really had to introduce Sam to Fish.
"I'm not talking to thin air, I'm talking to Sam."
Fish and Rachel shared a look. "There's no one there, Danny." Oh, they thought I was crazy. Best to let them know I'm still in perfect mental health.
I pulled the Fenton Phone from its place in my ear. "I'm not talking to thin air, I'm talking into this. I'm surprised you hadn't noticed it yet, Fish."
"I noticed it, I just didn't realize it worked."
"Seriously? I've been talking to people back home through this the whole time I've been here and it never occurred to you that it actually worked?" Why yes, I was going to milk this rare opportunity of outsmarting her for all it's worth.
Congratulations, Danny. Now you've revealed that you're not only a super hero, but also that you've got a way to contact your home district. You're really playing this smart.
"You know what, I am trying here Sam! Just leave me alone about it!" I stuck my tongue out, for once hoping the cameras were on me to convey the fact that I was just playing around to her. I didn't really want a royally pissed off Sam greeting me when I got home.
With your luck, you're going to end up being the only tribute in history to actually get disqualified from the Games.
"And that would be a bad thing...because?"
Disqualified doesn't mean you'd make it home. You know, she had a point.
"I'll try to be more careful, okay?"
Good boy. I gave a fake scowl. Go to bed now before you fall asleep standing up.
"Yes, mother."
Good. There was a pause before I heard her say the words I'd been waiting to hear for years now.
I love you, Danny.
I was going to post this later, but it begged me not to do it. :P
Comments and feedback are welcome as always! :D
Invisible One
