*Updates story literally because I need the doc for another chapter* Haha nice.
Nah, I'm kidding. Although I do have the next chapter ready to go… Merry Christmas! Enjoy the update, you silent readers! :p
Welcome to a bridge chapter that's almost long enough to be a normal chapter, where Danny deals with his problems via anger and avoidance, Sam needs to look up the definition of an apology, and Jazz thinks she knows what's going on but actually knows nothing.
Hah, fun times.
Chapter Warning; Someone breaks a small child's hand and Danny needs to chill. Also, fuck off Positgen. You don't even do anything bad but you still need to leave.
Onwards!
Bridge 3;
"Be still," Volana's command over their mental link forced Tozi to stop their fidgeting. Kulo, who was floating to their left, seemed smug in reply. On their other side, Sio just seemed annoyed.
"Is my presence truly necessary?" Sio asked, "I could have remained behind, as could Tozi. I especially find it difficult to understand why they need to be here. Surely the High Council will notice if they're missing?"
"Tozi is my responsibility," Volana said, "They have the same right to be here as any of us."
"Yes," Kulo added on, "And if we had left them behind, they would have reported us to the High Council!"
I wouldn't. But Tozi didn't argue the claim. As infuriating and wrong as Kulo was, fighting with the higher-ranking Observant would only end painfully for them. Fidgeting again, they reminded themself that it would only be a few more centuries before they could outrank Kulo. They were beyond excited for that day.
"Be still!" Volana commanded again, her nails digging through the fabric of Tozi's robes. "I will not tolerate your constant movement any longer. Your actions are much like Olia's, and I am sure you need no reminder of her fate."
Tozi forced themself still again, fear racing through their core. They knew Kulo would be enjoying their pain- like the sick, wrong Observant he was- but they made no effort to stop it. They couldn't be Olia. They refused to be Olia.
"If the child is finished," Kulo spoke up, sounding bored, "Could we get on with this? Sio and I have to examine our wonderful Time Master in less than an hour. I have a few jabs I need to work on if they'll have any hope of poking a hole in his mental shell."
"Of course," Volana ripped a hole between their world and the human realm, moving slowly through it. "As we discussed, everyone. Do not disappoint me."
Kulo went next, Sio and Tozi following invisibly behind. They watched as Kulo greeted the ghost they were meeting. Positgen Plasmius, a being outside of their rules who had pledged to reveal information in exchange for the safety of those he cared for. It sounded like a noble goal, but Tozi knew better.
Volana had explained that those Positgen wanted to protect were plotting to destroy everything the Observants held dear. Amorpho was a shapeshifter; a nasty creature who if he so desired could infiltrate their home and destroy them from the inside like Olia had tried to do. Vlad Masters was a human thief who stole Positgen's energy to use it for his own nefarious deeds. This made him a threat to all ghosts, not just the Observants.
But by far the worst criminal he was protecting was Hourglass.
It was a fake name, of course. Volana had made it clear that she'd decided on the name herself. Hourglass was an age manipulator, presenting herself in the form of a young humanoid teenager. The daughter of two traitors, adopted by two more. She'd been raised to hate the Observants, unable to see how they only wanted to help. They'd almost gotten a hold of her, half a century ago, and had the Master of Time not arrived they would have had a chance to rehabilitate the young ghost. Despite how young they'd been at the time, Tozi could clearly remember the terror and chaos that the attack had caused. Volana still had a scar.
Sio's elbow caught Tozi in the ribs and reminded them that they were supposed to be paying attention. Names, places, any bit that sounded like something Positgen hadn't meant to say would have a trace placed upon it. They had to keep track of their potential assets, after all. And any clue he revealed could lead them to getting, as Volana had called it, their prize.
Tozi wasn't sure what the prize was. They'd been too scared to ask.
"He just lied," Kulo spoke over their mental link, "Sio, did you catch that? I can feel the fear rolling off him in waves."
"Focus!" Volana hissed. She sent a pulse of annoyance towards all of them and returned to her conversation. "Could you repeat that, please? I must have misheard. You didn't say he was a portal jumper, did you?"
"I am not putting a trace on the phrase portal jumper," Sio said, "Do you have any idea how difficult it will be to sort through? That's worse then putting one on the name Hafia!"
"Make Tozi do it," Kulo suggested, and Tozi sent him an angry pulse.
"Exactly," Positgen's voice did not waiver, and gave no sign to anyone but Kulo that a lie had been told. "All the reports of him seem to be in different places. The only logical conclusion is that he's a portal jumper."
"I find it difficult to believe that he would stoop to such a disgraceful class." Volana said.
"Volana, please," Kulo urged, switching back to their mental link so Positgen wouldn't hear, "I'll be able to get more information if he believes we don't know he's lying."
"I will not tolerate-"
"Just let me do my job!"
Tozi flinched. If they or Sio had used that tone with Volana her nails would have pierced their skin. Volana sent a rush of emotion at Kulo, but did not move from her stance.
"If he was trying to get away from you, he might." Kulo spoke with an odd tone that was far too light and happy. Tozi couldn't understand why Volana seemed amused.
"Be quiet, you," She said, not at all harshly. Tozi considered asking Sio to explain what was going on, but didn't. They didn't like talking much. Their words never came out right. "Please continue, Positgen." As he did, another rush of emotion was sent towards Kulo. "Never do that again."
"I quite enjoyed it."
"No. Never. Listen to me when I tell you that if you ever disrespect me like this again I'll-"
"Some of us are trying to listen," Sio interrupted, "And with Tozi's limited attention span I doubt they heard any of that."
Tozi considered defending themself, but was distracted by a bug. They moved closer to Sio, trying to get the buzzing creature to leave them alone.
"I've taken the liberty of preparing a map for you." Positgen held out a cube, "It contains every possible location where I believe he will appear." Kulo took it from him, "Was my information satisfactory?"
"Extremely so," Kulo said.
"Not remotely," Volana added on. "What sort of fools does he take us for?"
"Volana, I have several names, in addition to the ones you mentioned from before." Sio said, "I believe our mission can be called a success. What do you say to using it against everyone he cares for and blaming it on his inability to tell the truth?"
"That is what we do best," Kulo said. He shook Positgen's hand and teleported them four Observants back into the Ghost Zone.
Kulo and Sio said their goodbyes, and teleported away again. Tozi moved closer to Volana, terrified by how open the Ghost Zone around them was. Volana dug her nails into their hand and pulled them close.
"Who do you think you are?" She snapped, "When I give you an order you follow it to the letter. That man is lying to us, and you were too busy with your own needless thoughts to find anything useful. Is this how you treat me? After I defended you against the High Council when they wanted you destroyed?"
Tozi squeaked, trying to pull away.
"You caused us to lose our greatest asset," Volana's nails snapped a bone in Tozi's hand, "And you continue to create problems for our cause with your incompetence. Give me one good reason why I should not destroy your core, Tozi. Use your words."
Tozi didn't have any words to use, or any reason why Volana should spare them. They were worse than Kulo; he may be wrong, but at least he followed their code. Tozi couldn't even do that. Kulo was special; Tozi was defective.
Volana pulled her hand back and whirled around, watching something behind her. "Kulo, if you do not stop this instant I will report you to the High Council!" Tozi rubbed their hand as the other Observant appeared. "I believe I may do that anyway. Don't you have a job to do?"
"Sio's locating him," Kulo replied, "And I have some unfinished business with that thing."
Volana placed herself between Tozi and Kulo. "You should not have tried to brush off your guard duty to go chasing rumors!"
"This rumor was true!"
"Enough!" Kulo moved back as Volana shrieked, and snapped her fingers to hold him in place. Tozi flinched, hiding behind their mentor. "You are attacking Tozi because they acted reasonably when confronted with your ridiculous claims. I will not tolerate you acting like this instead of dealing with your own faults!" She threw him aside, and Tozi sent a pulse of admiration towards Volana. "It is your fault that my greatest asset is now out of our hands, not this child's. You will help me get him back," Her energy wrapped around Kulo's chest and held him tightly. Tozi could imagine it crushing his core and shivered. "Or else. No more games. We operate on my terms, not yours. And my terms dictate that you will not hurt Tozi. Is this clear?"
"Y-yes!" Volana let him fall, and the other Observant teleported away.
"The nerve of that man," Volana said, turning back towards Tozi who was still clinging to her robes. "How dare he manipulate us like that?"
Tozi relaxed. Volana hadn't meant to hurt them; it'd been a scheme orchestrated by Kulo. They weren't defective, Kulo had just given them false feelings. It wasn't the first time, and Tozi was ashamed that they hadn't realized it.
Volana pulled Tozi off her robes and sent a sympathetic pulse their way. "Come on; we need to fix up your hand. Afterwards, if you'd like, I believe there's two lesser assets of ours who are in need of some more training."
Tozi sent an excited pulse Volana's way and allowed her to teleport them home. It was always fun to watch their assets fight, and was more than worth the injury on their hand. For a moment, Tozi regretted refusing to take over Kulo's guard duty two months ago; Prince Phantom's fights had always been the most interesting. He'd done so much good for their cause under Volana's hand, and in such a short period of time, too! Tozi couldn't understand why he'd run away. Why would anyone ever run away from the Observants?
How could they expect to do anything worthwhile if they weren't with the Observants?
.-.-.-.-.-.
"Hey dude," Tucker said, and Danny walked right past as if he didn't exist.
Sam, who was standing a few steps behind him, raised an eyebrow. "That's new."
"That's not normal," Tucker said. "He just brushed us off."
"Think he's possessed by another ghost?"
Tucker really hoped that wasn't the case. Students left the halls when the first bell rang, leaving the two of them mostly alone. "We should follow him."
"Don't," They turned to see Prince behind them, leaning against the lockers and playing with his sleeves. "He's not overshadowed. He's just mad."
"Mad?" Sam crossed her arms, "What did you do?"
Prince shook his head and wrapped his arms around his body. "Just leave him alone. He wants to be left alone. He'll be mad for longer if we don't let him be alone." He disappeared.
Sam and Tucker exchanged a look as the bell rang again, and they raced off to their class. They'd talk to Danny during the next period.
But when the next class came, Danny sat at the front of the room, the desks around him taken up by a group of nerds. Tucker and Sam reluctantly moved to their seats on the other side of the room, and spent the class trying to catch Danny's eye. He refused to look their way.
When lunch came, Danny sat alone at a table outside until they found him. He was muttering something, and despite the fact the ghost wasn't visible, they could hear Prince mutter back.
"Hey," Sam said, setting her tray down and sliding into the spot across from Danny. "So why are you avoiding us?"
Tucker sat down on Danny's left, trying to make it more difficult for him to leave. He didn't think Danny would, but then again, he never thought he'd have a fight with his best friend. "Did something happen?"
Danny stared down at his lunch, poking the meatloaf with his spork. "Can you guys leave? I don't want to do this here."
"Why not?" Sam challenged, "Why have you been avoiding us? What's going on?"
Tucker looked up, "Sam, don't attack him."
"No, it's fine," Danny set down the spork, "Attacking people is what you do best, after all."
Sam frowned, "Excuse me?"
"The orders on the whistle, Sam." Danny looked up, and Tucker saw the bags under his eyes. "You used him. You-" He dropped the spork, "I'm not doing this here." He walked out of the room, leaving his food behind.
For a moment, there was silence. "That's why he's been avoiding us?!" Sam threw her hands out in the direction Danny had gone, "I was trying to help him!"
"You didn't, and now he hates us." Tucker frowned, "He hates me."
"This is bullshit-"
"No, you don't get it," Tucker said, "I've never fought with Danny before. We share everything! This is our first fight and it's because of you." He picked up his lunch and after a second, grabbed Danny's as well. "I'm going to go find him. You should stay here." He left, leaving Sam alone with her lunch.
Danny avoided him for the rest of the day, but when Tuesday came he started to send awkward smiles Tucker's way.
Sam wasn't so lucky. Danny did his best to avoid being in the same room as her for the rest of the week.
.-.-.-.-.-.
Infinite moved slowly through the time tower's halls, trying to pretend that doing so wasn't incredibly awkward. So maybe avoiding his problems for a week hadn't been the best plan. So maybe he should've just dealt with the whole Stopwatch situation and gotten it over with instead of waiting for it to build up to the point where just walking through halls was uncomfortable. Well maybe, Stopwatch shouldn't have stabbed me!
One of the doors opened, and Time Turner stepped out with a pastry in hand. He stopped when he noticed Infinite, and the two stared at each other for a minute.
"Hello," Infinite said.
"Hi," Time Turner replied. "Your arm's looking better."
"Uh, thanks." Advantage of ghostly healing, he guessed. He no longer had a stab wound. Always a plus.
"I'm really sorry about that, by the way." He shifted, taking a bite of the pastry as he looked away. "I wasn't trying to hurt you."
Infinite raised an eyebrow, "Uh… yeah I don't think we're on the same page here."
There was a squeak behind him, and Infinite turned just as Hourglass slid to a stop in front of him. "Hello!" She smiled, fixing her hood, "You haven't been here for a lar-" She made a face and pulled at her robe, "It's nice to see you." She said instead. "Thank you for taking my side."
Behind him, Time Turner groaned.
Infinite looked over his shoulder, one eyebrow raised, as the shorter man stepped back. "I didn't say anything!"
"Right," Infinite leaned against the wall, looking between the two of them. "So, I feel like I'm going to get mugged now. Anybody got a knife?"
"Oh, I do!" Hourglass said, and held out a hand. Ectoplasm twisted on it to form a stick, which then grew a bright red blade. She held it out to Infinite, smiling.
"…That question was kind of rhetorical, but okay." He pointed a pair of finger guns at her.
Hourglass narrowed her eyes before smiling once again. "Well, um, as I said, thank you for taking my side! Uh-huh. My side. Completely."
"I feel like you're making fun of me," Infinite replied
"Good," Time Turner said.
There was a crash from further down the hallway, and Infinite looked over to see that Stopwatch had knocked over an end table. And here comes the stabby asshole. Wow, okay, that's not a name I'm using again.
"Hourglass!" He called, flying away from the fallen table and to her side. "Check it out!" He held out a handful of folded paper stars.
"Oh! They're so pretty!" Hourglass said, taking them. "Did you make these?"
"Yeah!" He turned to Time Turner and Infinite, grinning and oblivious to how Infinite edged away from him. "They're origami stars."
"Cool beans," Time Turner said, looking intently at his pastry.
"Cool beans?" Infinite repeated, raising an eyebrow. "What, did you not cook them?"
Stopwatch let out a quiet, sputtering laugh. Hourglass gave him a curious look before turning back to Infinite and clasping her hands in front of her chest. "Thank you again," She said.
"Why are you thanking him?" Stopwatch asked, and Infinite bumped Time Turner with his elbow as he took another step back. "Did he teach you any more paper folding you can show me?"
"I'm so lost right now," Infinite said, "So very lost."
There was another crash, this time as a door opened too quickly and sent the fallen table flying across the hallway. Tempest stood in the doorway, staring at it for a second before she loudly exclaimed, "What the fuck?"
Time Turner and Infinite both pointed towards Stopwatch when she turned towards them.
"Why the hell do you keep breaking my décor?" She snapped, moving towards him. "I'm trying to keep this place looking presentable, not destroyed. Do I need to break you?"
"No?" Stopwatch frowned and looked rather bored. "I just knocked a table over, why are you threatening me?"
As Tempest came closer, Infinite could see the little knife shake in Hourglass' hand. "Don't you have a murderer to defend?" She whispered.
Her voice had been quiet, but Tempest stopped as soon as Hourglass spoke. "Don't you, Royal?"
"Oh God dammit," Time Turner whispered.
Stopwatch stepped back to Time Turner's other side, not noticing how Time Turner shifted closer to Infinite. Hourglass floated across from Tempest, glaring at the other ghost. "I defend the man who did centuries of good; you defend a murdering double agent."
"You defend a man who killed hundreds of refugees because of a rumor, you useless fuck," Tempest said, "I defend a child who just wanted to help."
"And I," Infinite raised a hand, "Have no idea what's going on here."
"They've been fighting like this since the laser tag ended," Time Turner whispered, "Let's just walk away before we have to pick sides."
"Tyler!" Tempest snapped, "How many beings did Pariah Dark destroy?"
"How many did Warrior Boy and Dark destroy?!" Hourglass shouted back.
Time Turner made a gun with his fingers and pretended to shoot himself in the face.
"Okay," Infinite said, moving forward and putting himself between them. "This is ridiculous. You two aren't children, there's no need for-" He caught sight of the ectoplasmic energy coating Tempest's hands, and the way Hourglass was holding her knife. Almost subconsciously, he rubbed where Stopwatch had stabbed him. "-Me to get involved! Heh, heh- you know what, I'm going to run away like a coward now." He shoved Time Turner as he tried to leave, "Come on gang, let's get on going!"
"No," Stopwatch said, holding out an arm to block them, "This is wrong." He lowered his arm and pulled Hourglass back with his other. "This is wrong, and we can't pretend for a moment that it's right."
"Balls," Time Turner whispered, and Infinite raised an eyebrow.
Tempest scoffed, "You really aren't on my side, are you?"
"Just because I think Pariah Dark is an asshole doesn't mean I'm going to let you attack her!"
"Technically," Infinite said, "She attacked Tempest…"
"Either way!" Stopwatch made a wild hand motion, nearly hitting Time Turner in the face. "Stop fighting."
Tempest scoffed, "Practice what you preach, you little shit." She aimed a blast at the center of his chest.
As soon as she fired, Stopwatch's demeanor changed in a second. He batted the blast away, ignored the burn which formed on his hand, and kicked off from the ground. He fired two violet disks in quick succession, both of which were absorbed by the shield she raised. Tempest snapped her fingers and bright blue tendrils of energy shot out from around her. One wrapped around Stopwatch's wrist and threw him into a wall. Hourglass' knife grew into a sword as he got back up, stretching his arms.
"This is fucked up," Infinite muttered.
"I blame you," Time Turner said, using Infinite as a shield when a blast landed a little too close to them.
Stopwatch's entire arms were covered by ectoplasmic energy, while Tempest only had what was swirling around her and still hadn't moved off the ground. She blocked everything sent her way with another shield, but with how much Stopwatch was moving she couldn't get another hit on him.
Meanwhile, we're just standing in the middle of a war zone. Infinite pulled Hourglass back and pushed her behind him. Her weapon was gone now, and she looked extremely uncomfortable with the fight going on above them. This makes sense. We should probably stop them. He barely had enough time to throw up a shield to block the blast coming directly for his face. Or just run. Running looks good too. Why am I still here? He took a step back and bumped into Time Turner. Ah.
Stopwatch snapped something in which sounded like "Tiy xgwlrubf vurxg!" and Tempest laughed up at him.
Man I sure do love it when I have no idea what's going on. Is that Ancient Ghost? Why does he know that language?
Half a second after he'd finished the thought, Tempest and Stopwatch were both immobilized by bright red energy. The trio of bystanders turned to see Clockwork floating there, the same energy coating the top of his staff, and looking incredibly unimpressed. "That," He said, "Is far more than enough."
Hourglass ran out from behind Infinite and hid at Clockwork's side.
Tempest made a big show of 'breaking free' from Clockwork's energy when he let her go, and Stopwatch looked annoyed as he was placed on the ground. "I will not tolerate any of you attacking each other," Clockwork said. "This time, you will not be punished. But if you give me any reason to believe that this is happening again you will be. Severely."
"Damn," Infinite mumbled, "Guess we'll have to cancel Tuesday fight club."
"It was still better than laser tag," Stopwatch mumbled back.
Clockwork pointed his staff at Infinite. "Is something funny?"
"Jokes are," Infinite replied, and contemplated removing his right leg so he could whack himself over the head with it.
"The war this divide caused is not the material one should use for jokes." Clockwork glared at him. Well, I'm dead now. Farewell sweet Samantha. "Enough ectoplasm has been spilled already without adding in your own."
Tempest hesitated for a second before clasping her hands behind her back. "I apologize," She sounded sincere, "I should've considered the consequences of my actions instead of letting my emotions rule me. I'll do my absolute best to avoid it in the future."
Clockwork nodded, and turned to Stopwatch.
Stopwatch, who had crossed his arms and looked like he was pouting, uncrossed them to motion towards Tempest. "What are you looking at me for? She started it!"
Time Turner's hands wrapped around Infinite's arm and pulled him into one of the rooms. Infinite raised an eyebrow, and Time Turner let go of his arm to go close the door. "You looked like you were enjoying that as much as I was. Which is, uh, not at all."
"What was that even about?" Infinite asked, "I've never seen Hourglass actually try to fight someone."
Time Turner shrugged, "Hell if I know, it's probably a Royals thing. Tardis used to bitch about how she couldn't train Hourglass to defend herself because she was worried she'd hurt someone."
"And now she aims a knife at Tempest," He crossed his arms, "Ah, violence. My favourite pastime. I mean, Tempest is kind of an asshole so it's not that bad-"
"She's not 'kind of an asshole' Infinite," Time Turner stepped back. "She's perfected playing up her negative traits so that people won't like her because she considers herself a danger to society. Sometimes she still tries to get rid of me, and I'm the closest thing to a friend she has."
"That's not exactly a good reason to be a jerk but okay, whatever." He didn't feel like fighting about this. "So why is she somewhat nice to me?"
"I don't know if you've noticed, but you spent a while being overly nice to everyone- including Stopwatch- to protect yourself. I guess she identifies with you?" Time Turner shrugged, "She also really liked that you're starting to call people out on their bullshit. Either way, she likes you enough that she took your side for the laser tag thing and risk being near Stopwatch."
Laser tag? How the hell was I at laser tag- Infinite slouched, time travel. It's always the damn time travel. Thank you, Time Teleportation, for continuing to appear when nobody wants you to.
"Maybe she thinks you can defend yourself?" Again, Time Turner shrugged. "I'm not a psychologist. And it's a pretty lame excuse-"
"So you admit, it is an excuse."
Time Turner stopped and stared at Infinite for several seconds. "No," He said, "She has her valid reasons-"
"Yeah, but right and reason are too different things." Infinite tipped his head to the side, raising a hand so he could tap one finger to his chin. "Just because you have one doesn't mean you have the other. Like, take Pariah Dark for example; his entire family got murdered, but does that give him the right to murder a bunch of people? Just because there's a reason behind an action doesn't mean it's morally right. Or Raine- can her young age really justify her actions? And furthermore-"
"Oh, hey!" Time Turner interrupted, "I just realized that I dropped my snack outside. In the hallway. I guess I'll just have to go get that!" He was out the door in seconds.
Infinite shrugged as the door clicked shut and sat down in a chair. He grabbed the medallion around his neck and held it up in front of his face.
"I could deal with the laser tag now," He said, "Or I could wait until I'm about to die and do it literally at the last minute." He hesitated, "I'd better do it now- annnd I'm talking to myself again. Hah, wow, I look like I'm crazy. Fun times." He let go of the medallion and felt it bump against his chest. Black sparks shot off his fingers, and seconds later he landed on his feet on the roof a week ago.
He slipped towards Tardis' room and leaned against the wall, trying to look natural. Time to figure out what happened at laser tag. Also, it's kind of chilly, I should get a sweater... eh, I'll take one of Isaac's. As long as I give it back he won't care.
Infinite tried to make himself comfortable as through the wall, he heard Tardis call his past self.
.-.-.-.-.-.
Unless she was working with her garden, Sam wasn't a patient person. Still, she'd tried to be patient, and to let Danny be mad, but he wasn't even talking to Tucker. This was stupid, petty, and she wasn't going to let them break up over this.
Sam nearly threw her lunch tray down across from Danny, staring at him as he jumped to his feet and glared at her. "How do I fix this?"
"Are we really doing this now?" Danny hissed, and from the corner of her eye Sam could see Tucker weaving across the cafeteria towards them. Unfortunately, one of the jocks got in his way.
"Well you won't do it anywhere else," She said. Danny scoffed and started to walk away, but Sam caught his arm before he could. "Danny, please. Just talk to me. Tell me how we can be friends again!"
"You should listen to her," The disembodied voice of Prince said, shocking Sam into letting go of Danny's arm.
Danny scoffed, "What, did she force you to agree with her on this too?"
"Danny, no."
"I didn't," Sam said, "I promise, Danny, I was only trying to help you."
Danny crossed his arms, "Yeah, considering that you've been lying to people and pretending to be their friends your whole life, I find that hard to believe. Leave me alone, Sam, okay? I don't want excuses."
Sam stared at him for a second. I thought he knew about that. Why is it just becoming a problem now? "Prince Phantom," She said, "Make sure he stays." She turned and walked across the cafeteria, her eyes focused on the table where Mia and Rebecca sat.
Rebecca's eye lit up when she saw Sam. "Hey Sam! You're back!"
Sam ignored her and climbed up onto the table. "Attention students of Casper High!"
Desperate for drama, they all turned towards her. Tucker snuck away from the jocks around him.
"As most of you know," She said, "Mia Bynes and Rebecca Blackwaters cannot be trusted. They pretend to be your friends, they convince you to trust them, and they abuse it. If you tell them a secret on Tuesday the entire school will know by Thursday." She clenched her fists and looked down at Danny. "I am here today because I used to be like that too. Because I used to have a fight with them, find someone who would put their faith in me, and abuse that to hurt them. In March, I realized this was wrong, and I separated from them for good. I made new friends- better friends- who actually care about me. And I care about them too. I would and will do whatever it takes to keep them safe. But I am not a bad person anymore." She jumped off the table and looked back at Mia. "If you want to piss off people, you're going to need a new fake girlfriend. By the way, you two are awful people and I hate you both. I'm never coming back. Just wanted to make that clear."
Rebecca sniffled and ran out of the room crying. Mia raised an eyebrow and gave Sam a plastic smile as she waved goodbye.
Sam made her way back to where she'd left Danny, Tucker joining her side halfway there. She expected Danny to be waiting there and say that he understood, then this stupid fight would be over. Instead he was gone.
"If you really wanted my help," Prince said from somewhere behind her, "Then you shouldn't have ordered me." The air around them got warmer and the ghost was gone.
.-.-.-.-.-.
Tucker's heart pounded in his chest. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"Tucker," Sam said, "I stood up in front of the entire school on Monday and begged for his forgiveness. This has been going on for two weeks and its bullshit. Unless you want to go through another week of Danny hating us, we're doing this."
Tucker nodded, and didn't stop Sam as she rang FentonWorks' doorbell.
Nobody yanked open the door and aimed an ectogun in their faces, which was the first clue something was wrong. After a few minutes, Sam rang the doorbell again, and Danny's Mom open the door.
"Oh, hi kids!" She had a red stain on her jumpsuit. "Danny's upstairs with his Dad, so he might not be willing to hang out with you two."
Yikes. Danny was being forced to spend time with his Dad. Tucker might have felt sorry for him, but Danny still had been a giant jerk for the past week.
"Actually, we're just here to talk to Danny about a school project!" Sam lied easily, "It'll only take a few minutes."
"Mom!" Jazz called, "The noodles are boiling!"
Maddie whirled around and rushed deeper into her home. "Jasmine, get out of the kitchen!"
"Mom-"
"Don't argue with me, young lady!" Tucker watched as Jazz was pushed out of the kitchen, noticing that she was still in her pajamas. "You had a severe head injury, so you will sit down and rest!"
"It's spaghetti, Mom," Jazz said, "It's not difficult! Just let me help! Danny hasn't been eating, and I want to make sure you do it the way he likes it!"
So we're not the only thing he's been avoiding at lunch. Sam and Tucker exchanged a look as they stepped inside and closed the door behind them.
Danny was sitting beside his dad, watching Ghostbusters on the guest bedroom's TV. Much like his daughter, Jack was still in his pajamas. He was talking quickly about the ghosts in the movie, and Danny appeared to be hanging onto every word.
Sam pushed Tucker forward, and he knocked on the doorframe. Danny turned quickly, eyes narrowing as he noticed who was there.
"Sam, Tucker!" Jack paused the movie. "Danny, go spend time with your friends!"
Danny's eyes went wide and he turned quickly back. "Dad-"
"Danny," Jack said slowly, "You've been spending too much time in the house. Go to that Nasty Burger place you kids love!"
"Um, but Mom said dinner's going to be ready in ten minutes?"
"…Sam, Tucker!" Jack grinned, "Are you going to stay for dinner? You can listen to me blather on about ghosts!"
"That's a nice offer, Mr. Fenton," Sam said, "But we really need to speak to Danny first. Would that be okay?"
Jack shoved his son towards them, causing Danny to fall to the floor. "Go on then! Take your time!"
Tucker wasn't really listening, staring at Jack Fenton's right leg. Half covered by his pajama pants was a thick, white cast. Danny had signed his name in big letters and shaky cursive across it. There was a pair of crutches on the ground, too.
Danny stood up and smiled back at his dad, "Don't unpause the movie until I'm back!"
"Take your time!"
Danny led them into his room, which no longer had windows. He crossed his arms and looked them both over. "What?"
Tucker looked to his left as Prince appeared, playing with his sleeves, then back at Danny. "What the hell happened here?"
"Birds mostly," Prince whispered. He shrunk back when Danny looked over at him.
Sam didn't look at the ghost, focusing all her attention on Danny. "Talk to us," She said. "Just tell us what's going on. We can help you!"
"Oh, like you helped me by ordering Prince?" Danny said, "Thanks guys. Real helpful."
"I didn't order him," Tucker said, "That was all Sam!"
While Sam glared at him Prince quietly said, "You didn't stop her."
"So that's why you were telling us to leave him alone?" She stepped towards Prince, "You don't care about Danny, do you? You just want-"
"Would you stop attacking him?!" Danny snapped, slipping in between Sam and Prince. "At least he's not smothering me everywhere I go and actually letting me be mad at him! Every time I even think about forgiving you guys you refuse to admit you screwed up and just blame him!"
"You're mad at him?" Tucker said, "Then why are you taking his side?"
"Just because he did something horrible doesn't make what you guys did any less wrong."
"Danny, this is stupid!" Sam tried, "We're your best friends!"
"There you go again!" Danny pointed at her, "I've told you exactly what my problem is and you still refuse to admit that you messed up! Would it kill you to apologize? You stood up and told the whole school that you care about me but you can't spare a few seconds to say that you're sorry?"
"I'm sorry," Tucker said, and Danny turned towards him. "I wasn't trying to hurt you."
Danny shook his head and stepped back, "I'm not the one you hurt."
Prince floated slightly off the ground and moved back when Sam and Tucker looked at him.
"We're sorry," Tucker said, not trusting Sam to apologize but wanting this stupid fight over with. "We weren't trying to hurt you."
Prince, to his credit, didn't explode with rage like it looked like he wanted to for a second. "I forgive you," He said calmly. He turned towards Danny and spoke quietly, "Please stop fighting now."
Danny raised an eyebrow, "Prince, I can feel your emotions. Don't lie to me."
"You can what?"Sam snapped, and Prince pulled back a little further.
"I can feel Danny's too," He mumbled, "It's a thing we do."
"That's fucked up," Sam said, "That's really fucked up."
"Are you done?" Danny crossed his arms. "I'm not doing this. I could be spending time with my dad, instead I'm stuck with your excuses. Go home, guys. Until you can actually admit what you did was wrong I don't want to deal with you. Prince, make sure you're not alone with them. They might do something else." He stormed out of the room, and a second later, Prince disappeared.
Sam grabbed Tucker by the wrist and pulled him down the stairs. With a furious shout she kicked the front door open and pulled Tucker out onto the street with her.
"Um, the door really didn't deserve that."
Sam looked as if she was about to kill Prince as she whirled around. Tucker pulled his wrist out of her grip and took several steps back as she moved towards the ghost. Prince didn't seem to care, and simply closed the door.
"You could've broken it," He said, "That's not going to make Danny like you again."
Sam stopped right in front of him. "What the hell do you want?!"
"Danny to be happy." Prince said softly, playing with his sleeves. He shook his head and looked directly at Sam, "And he's not happy right now. He's angry and upset and it's our fault. If you care about Danny, then we need to make an effort." He held out his left hand, "Truce?"
"First of all," Sam said, and Tucker moved hesitantly towards her, "You shake with your right hand."
Prince pulled his hand back, "You're not even trying."
"You want me to try?" Sam glared at him, and Tucker was torn between trying to break up the fight and just walking away. "Why don't you try to explain the fact that you apparently dropped Danny off a roof? Or what happened at the science fair? Or why Danny's dad and sister are injured? Or why Poindexter, or Skulker, or the Lunch Lady were attacking us?! Ghosts are coming into our town and it's your fault!"
"My fault? I'm not the one who turned the portal on!"
"Oh, so you're blaming Danny now? Because he tripped?!"
"Why the hell was he in there in the first place?!" Prince made a wild motion with his hands, and his eyes seemed too bright. "You guys weren't in it, so why was he?! Danny wouldn't do something like that on his own! He's not an idiot! So no, I don't blame him, Samantha. I blame you."
"Do not call me-"
"Oh, I'm sorry, do you not like that?" Ectoplasm was starting to swirl around Prince's hands, "I would call you something else, but I'm under orders to only use your name!" He pulled away from Sam, his eyes still too bright. "It was your fault, wasn't it? Tucker actually cares about him; you don't care about anyone but yourself!"
"Are you calling me selfish?"
"Do I need to call you deaf, too?"
"From the first day you came here you've done nothing but mooch off of Danny," Sam snapped, "You lied to him, you threatened him, and now you apparently share emotions?! You're dangerous to him and everyone here! No wonder you have to obey orders; without someone to tell you what to do you're going to get us all killed!"
"Sam-" Tucker said, but cut himself off.
Prince's eyes were too wide, and he'd flattened himself against the door in an effort to get as far away from Sam as possible. He looked like he was chewing on his bottom lip. Frost spread out across the door and up the walls. As Sam backed away and Tucker reached her side, Prince pulled his hands back in front of the center of his chest.
"You said it just like-" He stopped and rubbed one of his eyes. Prince shook his head and looked down at the ground, hands still held tightly in front of his chest, and shoulders shaking slightly. "I was right," He whispered, "Why do I even try? I was right. You don't deserve another chance," He raised his head, "You're just like them."
He disappeared, leaving Sam and Tucker alone in the street.
.-.-.-.-.-.
Stopwatch steadied himself. This was it, the moment of truth; would his newest trick work once again? "I couldn't find anything; Infinite kept me busy."
"Damn him!" The older ghost shouted, and shot an ectoblast at the wall. It landed among the other burns, and gave a demented looking smiley face a nose. "This is the third time!"
Stopwatch tried not to look surprised. The first time, he hadn't been lying when he blamed his failure to complete the man's task on Infinite; laser tag had been very distracting. The second time, Hourglass had been the real reason he was busy but Stopwatch refused to put her in danger. Now? He was just curious to see how long it would last.
He could almost understand why Infinite would be a threat. The door Stopwatch went back to every weekend had to be moved constantly now so Infinite couldn't find it again, and he wasn't half bad in a fight. Still, he was just an annoying dork. Before Stopwatch had left that evening Infinite and Time Turner had been trying to see how many chairs they could balance on top of each other. The only sort of threat Infinite posed was the threat of stealing all Stopwatch's friends.
"Then we have no choice," The tone from the man in front of him shocked Stopwatch, "Kid, you can head back. Stay away from Infinite. It appears we'll need outside help to deal with him."
Stopwatch stared at him. "I- what?"
"Did he turn you into an idiot?" The other ghost snapped, "I'm going to find someone who can successfully eliminate that menace. We are months away from putting our plan into action, and I refuse to let Infinite Hour get in our way!" He glared at Stopwatch, "Go back to the Master of Time, and stay out of Infinite's way. You have no idea what that man can do."
"Plan?" In all his years of gathering information, learning to fight, and having them threaten Hourglass it had never occurred to Stopwatch that there was a reason behind it! "What plan, what are we doing-"
"Once there's no chance of Infinite or anyone else stopping us, I'll tell you." Energy spun around his fingers, "Now go. Home."
.-.-.-.-.-.
Prince didn't like spending his time at Danny's school invisible. It was exhausting, but if he was going to be near Danny all the time he had to do it. So maybe that was a good thing about Danny being mad at him. If Prince wasn't around his human, he didn't always have to use his powers.
Prince pulled his arms closer and leaned against the lockers of an empty hallway. No. It's not a good thing. I don't want Danny to be mad at me. He pulled at his hair and squeezed his eyes shut, core twisting painfully in his chest when he threw up a mental barrier so Danny wouldn't have to feel it. I shouldn't have listened to Positgen. I should've told Danny. I'm so stupid!
The unfortunately familiar sound of Sam's footsteps echoed through the hall, and Prince allowed himself a moment to press his hands against his ears. He didn't want to deal with that Observant-like jerk!
Sam turned the corner before he could go leave, so Prince just glared at her. Just like with the Observants, he wouldn't show any weakness. They preyed on that, twisted it and used it against him. He was free now, and he wasn't going to let anyone control him again! "If you order me I'm going to hurt you."
Sam stopped and looked him over. "You're not allowed to hurt me."
Prince shrugged, "Stuff falls over. Accidents happen." Loopholes.
She didn't leave. Prince wrinkled his nose and looked away. I don't want to be near you.
Sam took a step towards him. "Is Paulina a ghost?"
"Huh?"
"Paulina," Sam repeated, slower this time as if she thought Prince was stupid- which she probably did. Bitch. "Is she a ghost?"
"I… don't know?" Really, Danny was the one with the weird ghost sense thing. "Did you see her fly or turn invisible?"
"No, but you're scared of her!"
I'm also scared of you, and you're a human. Prince crossed his arms, "Danny's the one who can sense ghosts. Go ask him."
Sam narrowed her eyes and Prince heard footsteps. As she spoke, Tucker came around the corner behind her. "I can't. He's sitting at her damn table." She took a step forwards and Prince caught sight of Tucker's annoyed expression. "Danny is sitting at the same table as the damn A-list even though Dash and his fucking friends keep throwing shit his way and insulting him! And Paulina is just sitting there, watching him, like some mind controlling ghost enjoying a show!"
Tucker made a face, "Sam," She turned quickly to face him, "I know you hate her but she's not a ghost. Danny's just sitting with them because if I come close the jocks will attack me, if you come close you'll start a fight with one of them before you can get near him. He's still avoiding us."
Danny knows Paulina scares me. He doesn't want me, either. Prince turned invisible and phased through the wall. He slumped in a corner on the other side, hands pulling on fistfuls of his hair.
He didn't bother to block his emotions off from Danny. What did the human care? He probably hated Prince! Powers above, he was so stupid! Why had Danny even liked him in the first place? He didn't think, and he got people hurt for stupid reasons. Warrior Boy should've thrown him away, instead of Hafia.
There were soft, almost silent footsteps, and Prince quickly raised his head. One of Danny's classmates stood down the hall from him, frozen mid-step.
Slowly, she held up her hands. "I just want to get to my locker."
Prince nodded and moved to the left. The woman, still walking quietly but now with her bracelets loudly jingling, approached his side and pulled open the door beside him. Prince held his knees close to his chest as she rummaged through her locker.
"Have you had any lunch?"
Prince raised his head and looked over at her, completely confused.
She leaned back, looked directly at Prince, and repeated her question. "Have you had any lunch?"
Prince hesitated before shaking his head.
"Would you like some?" When Prince didn't answer again, she held out a plastic container towards him. "My dad took me out for dinner last night and he hates having leftovers. So I brought them with me, but the cafeteria was selling meatball subs today. The leftovers are still good, and you'd be doing me a favour. Do you want them?"
Frowning and completely confused, Prince reached out to grab the container. It was still warm. He pulled off the lid and looked at the contents. There were two things, separated by a plastic wall.
"Hope you like lasagna," She said, "And the apple pie's pretty good, too. Here's a fork." She dropped the utensil on top of the dish, "I'm Valerie, by the way."
"I'm Prince," He replied, and poked what he assumed to be the lasagna. "Why is it still warm?"
Valerie shrugged as she closed her locker. "It has a button on the bottom that I can press to heat it up. Pretty cool, right? My dad got a bunch like it in a gift basket a couple years back."
"Oh, cool." He scooped some up with the fork and gave Valerie an uneasy look.
She held up her hands, "I'm just waiting until you're done so I can take the container back."
Prince nodded and tried not to look at her while he ate. It was really good, he had no issue admitting that. Valerie seemed nice, too.
He wondered how quickly she'd hate him if she learned he was a ghost.
There were quick, loud footsteps which shocked Prince. Valerie looked over as a blonde woman slid around the corner. "Jesus Star, what are you running from?"
"You'll never guess who's sitting at our table," Star said breathlessly. "Like Val, holy shit- it's great."
Valerie looked confused, "Is it Manson? Is she trying to fight Dash again?"
"Better," Star grabbed Valerie's hands, "Like, Dash and Kwan have been trying to get a reaction out of him all lunch but he hasn't even looked at us. They're getting so frustrated and it's great."
Valerie sent a look Prince's way, her mouth open like she was about to speak- but then she closed it and looked right through him.
A quick look at his hands confirmed that Prince was invisible, and probably had been since Star startled him. He phased through the lockers before he could scare them by turning visible again.
Prince finished up his lunch quickly, amazed by how good it was- the pie especially. He wanted to thank Valerie, but when he checked the hallway again she had left.
Well, at least that meant she was less likely to figure out he was a ghost.
Prince phased into a classroom, grabbed a piece of paper and a pen, and attempted to draw the piece of pie. It was sketchy and looked weird, but redoing it meant stealing more paper. I should've kept the pie so I could reference it. He sighed, and went to work writing his message.
'Thanks for the food! It was really good! :D -Prince, your hallway friend'
'Ps. Sorry for disappearing, your friend scared me. :O'
He returned to the hallway and intangibly stuck the note, container, and fork back into Valerie's locker. Wait, Prince pulled the note back out and clicked the pen, then she'll know I'm a ghost and hate me, just like everyone else. Maybe we can be friends if she thinks I'm a student? He added another line to his note.
'Pps. Your locker was open so I just put all this in here! I locked it afterwards, I hope you don't mind. =^.^='
Prince stuck it back in the locker and smiled. There. Everything's fine now. Maybe she'll want to talk to me if I see her again.
Maybe I'll be fine with Danny hating me after all.
.-.-.-.-.-.
Sam seemed pissed when Prince disappeared on them again. Tucker didn't care; Prince hated them, and he wasn't fond of the ghost either. The less time they spent around each other the better. He'd make peace with Prince if it would get everything to go back to normal with Danny, but since that didn't seem like it would happen until Sam apologized, he was stuck being lumped in with her.
"Paulina's totally a ghost," She said.
"I don't think so," Tucker replied, "Danny probably just picked her because she's hot."
Sam reached over, snatched Tucker's hat off his head, and shoved it in his mouth. "Then why is he sitting across from Dash, huh? Paulina's pretty, but that's all she has going for her. If Danny had a choice, he would move!"
"Actually," They both turned to see Jazz leaning against a row of lockers, "He did move- after I forced him to, that is." Jazz approached them, looking incredibly disappointed. "Would you two mind explaining exactly why my brother thinks he needs to sit near Dash Baxter, who has been bullying him since second grade, just to stay away from you two?"
Tucker spat his hat out and pretended to be busy fixing it. Sam looked honestly upset at Jazz's words.
After an awkward moment, Jazz sighed. "I'm sorry, that came out harsh. I shouldn't have opened with that, not when it might be my fault."
"Your fault?" Sam and Tucker repeated.
Jazz nodded. "While we were away, I had a talk with Danny about… well, what everyone says about you, Sam. And Mia, and Rebecca."
Sam clenched her fists, "I'm not like them."
"Well, you were once." Jazz's tone was harsh once again, "I know what you three did to Stephen in middle school."
"Stephan?" Tucker repeated quietly, not recognizing the name.
"That was all Mia," Sam said, "I had no idea what she was doing until it was over! I never wanted him to get hurt, he wasn't a bad guy."
Jazz shook her head, "For Danny's sake, I'm going to pretend I believe that. Look, Sam- and Tucker, you too- the last thing Danny needs right now is to be alone. The pills he's supposed to take for his Epilepsy cause hallucinations- which was not included in the list of possible side effects- and to make matters worse, he's trying to pretend we don't know about them! He won't talk to us, and we don't know how to help him. We were going to try and get money from Mom and Dad's old college friend, but-" She pulled her hair back, revealed stitches on the side of her head. "That didn't go very well."
Tucker's gut twisted. "What happened?"
"I don't remember much of it; a severe concussion will do that. But Mom," She took a breath in, "She says that during their college reunion Dad and I were possessed by ghosts. My dad shot me," She rubbed her arm, "And was forced by a ghost to attack the guests. Part of the house fell down, and a woman named Alice Winters even died." Sam's eyes went wide and Tucker bit down hard on his lip, "Someone antagonized the ghost possessing my dad until they separated, and Danny got between them. He- this other ghost appeared, lifted Danny up, and did something to my brother." Jazz's hands shook, "Mom started tearing up so I didn't make her tell me the rest."
Tucker couldn't find the words. Jesus, Danny, why wouldn't you tell us? Why didn't Prince help you?!
"That's horrible," Sam's voice was numb, "How could that happen?"
Jazz shook her head, "I'm still trying to come up with a logical explanation. But since then, Danny's been spending as much time around us as he can. He was down in the lab with Mom before school, was lying on my bed when I was trying to study for exams- hell, when our grandparents called last week he even listened to Grandpa talk about how the people of Amity Park have an accent for almost an hour! You've heard my dad ramble about ghosts, but his dad and languages is almost worse!" Jazz took a moment and several deep breaths to calm herself down. "It's like Danny thinks if he looks away for a minute he's going to lose us."
Tucker's heart was pounding now, out of fear for his best friend. Sam's hands were shaking, and she looked as if she was about to fight whatever ghost had hurt Danny.
"The last thing Danny needs right now is to be alone," Jazz said. "I'm working on getting him help- the school has called someone in, and she'll be here next week, but please-" She stretched the word as much as she could, "In the meantime, don't give up on Danny. I know he's stubborn, and I know this is probably my fault, but don't give up on him. Can you guys do that?"
"Yeah," Tucker said, and Sam nodded.
Jazz forced a smile. "I'm going to give him a ride home. Someone gave him a black eye. Could you guys pick up any homework he might have?"
"We will," Sam promised, and Jazz left them alone in the hallway.
"Sam?" Tucker asked, "Who's Stephan?"
"He's in the grade above us," Sam said, "In seventh grade Mia almost convinced him to kill himself. I didn't know, Tucker, I swear to god that I didn't know." She cut him off before he could speak, "Next time we see Prince I'm apologizing. I don't care if we can't trust him, Danny needs us."
"That's not what an apology is," Tucker replied, and Sam glared at him.
"Would you rather keep fighting?" She hissed, "Come on, we've got a ghost to find."
Unfortunately, Prince- and for a large part, Danny- would avoid them for the rest of the week.
.-.-.-.-.-.
Tardis was a perfectly smart and reasonable being, but how the hell she'd ended up being the technical leader of a group of idiots who couldn't understand how to fact check their theories was beyond her. As was the fact that at some point in the last couple months, they'd found a dead tree to stand on and scream their stupidity from. Honestly, the tree hadn't even been there a few months ago.
Pariah would probably like the damn Royal Sympathizers; they were almost as stupid as he was.
Everyone was crowding around the tree, pressed shoulder to shoulder and standing on the ground, even though Tardis was positive that more than half of these assholes could fly. And there was a ghost standing in the tree, shouting about Warrior Boy and Dark. Fan-fucking-tastic. Tardis wasn't nearly drunk enough to deal with that bullshit.
Even if those rumours had, admittedly, gotten most ghosts to avoid the stable portal to the Human Realm. If Prince stayed out of the Ghost Zone, he might actually be safe.
She was close enough to make out some of the words the idiot in the tree was shouting. It sounded like they were trying to come up with a plan of attack against Warrior Boy and Dark. That would be useful, if those shits were actually out there. Maybe I can scare them into calming the fuck down.
She shoved her way through the tightly packed crowd and ignored their obvious surprise with her presence. Other than the duplicate she usually sent to make sure Hourglass got there and back safely, she hadn't actually gone to any of these meetings for well over a year.
Tardis pushed two other ghosts aside and looked up the tree, where Hourglass was shouting about battle plans while Ember sat on a branch looking on approvingly. Damn it, Ember, I liked you.
"Dark is the stronger of the two, but Warrior Boy's the smartest! He'll summon Dark to his side, even if we separate them. We need to take him out first-"
"And how are you going to do that?" Tardis asked.
Hourglass pressed her lips together and tried to appear smaller.
"Hey boss!" Ember called as she waved at her. She pointed towards Hourglass, "The kid's getting really riled up."
Hourglass slowly floated down and pulled her hood over her face.
"I noticed," Ugh, Tardis was going to have to deal with that, wasn't she? Fuck it. She turned to face the crowd, noticing that from this angle it seemed a bit thin. "So you're going to fight Warrior Boy and Dark, are you? Well go on then," She crossed her arms, "Don't spare any details, tell me exactly how you plan on doing that. Battle strategy is fascinating."
In the resulting silence, some asshole imitated a cricket.
"We didn't get that far," Hourglass whispered, "But we have to do something."
"Why?"
Her voice was barely audible, "Or they're going to hurt Prince."
Tardis frowned, and looked over the somewhat nervous crowd. She fucking told them. "Unless you all want to go the same way the Royal Army did, I suggest you don't seek them out. Your lives do not matter to them. They don't care if you have people who would miss you, let alone people who love you." Her core pulsed in her chest. "They've hurt enough beings already. Hourglass? We're leaving."
This time, the crowd parted to let her through.
The Ghost Zone formed a path in front of her, and once Tardis was satisfied with how far away they were from any idiotic prying ears, she turned towards Hourglass. "Why would you tell them where Prince is?"
"They said Warrior Boy is out there!" She snapped, her hands shaking, "I- I'm not letting him hurt Prince again!"
Tardis groaned, "He isn't. This Warrior Boy they're talking about is just the human you got him stuck to, remember? Apparently, having someone who looks vaguely like one legend stand next to another means that two thousand years of baseless rumours have suddenly come true."
Hourglass squeaked and covered her mouth. It occurred to Tardis that she might have been a bit harsh. Oh well.
"Prince… doesn't look like Dark!" Hourglass said, picking her words carefully.
"Honey, you never saw him." Tardis stared at the child floating there, who was refusing to make eye contact. "How much attention have you been paying to the Timeline we gave you?"
Hourglass looked to the left and didn't reply.
"Hourglass," She said firmly, "You need to watch it. You wanted us to stop treating you like a little kid, so we gave you a Timeline. You can't just leave it like that-"
"We're alone," Hourglass muttered as she spoke, "Nobody can hear us. You can call me my name."
Tardis frowned. "That's still bothering you?"
Hourglass' clenched fists were mostly covered by her sleeves. "It's my name. I- I don't care what the Observants say about it being dangerous, I want my name back." Her voice shook and she dropped to a whisper. "It's always bothering me."
Tardis sighed and reached out to awkwardly pat the child in front of her. She didn't do comfort. I should have brought Infinite with me.
An explosion stopped her from having to deal with that, and Tardis felt Hourglass cling to her arm.
"What the fuck was that?" She turned towards the source, back the way they'd came, and sirens rang through the air. "Oh, hell no."
The floating island the Royals had been meeting on was covered in pink smoke and swarming with Walker's guards. Tardis took a step back, ready to run- she was not about to deal with that bastard today- when she caught sight of the weapon forming in Hourglass' hands.
Tardis snatched the long sword away from the child and grabbed the fabric of Hourglass' robe as tight as she could. "What are you doing?!"
"Walker's- he's been-" She shook her head and tried to speak again. "He's been picking off the Royals one by one for weeks! Now he's attacking them all! I have to help!" She reached for her sword.
Tardis held it out of reach. "You wouldn't even attack training dummies when I tried to teach you how to fight! Now you're going to take on the entire Ghost Zone police department?!"
Hourglass sniffed and frantically wiped at her eyes. Tardis let go of her sleeve as Hourglass bit on her lip in an effort to get her tears to stop. "They're my friends."
Fucking hell, I am weak. Tardis pushed Hourglass' hood back and gripped the sword tighter. "I need you to listen to me, okay?"
Hourglass nodded.
"I'm going to go help them." Hourglass looked up, her eyes shining and wide. "You need to run. You turn around, you fly away, and you don't let them see you. Honey, they will destroy you if they get the chance."
Hourglass covered her mouth, "But- what about…?"
"I'll be fine," She lied easily, and brushed a loose strand of hair out of Hourglass' face. "Walker and I have history. I'll give him a kiss and he'll fuck right off."
Hourglass didn't look like she believed a word of that. As long as she ran, Tardis didn't care. She took a step past Hourglass, then a few more. A look back confirmed that Hourglass was still standing there, her hands shaking as she watched the disaster on the island unfold.
"Did you not hear me?!" Tardis snapped, "I said, run!"
She hesitated, but in the end Hourglass dove off the path.
Tardis moved quickly, and it was easy enough to reach the island. Walker wasn't there, but his asshole second in command was.
"Sir," One of the officers said, "She isn't here."
"Search the area," Bullet snapped, "She has to be here somewhere."
"Hey boys," Tardis called, and felt the attention of hundreds of guards on her. Two of them threw an injured ghost into the back of a van. Fucking hell. "What are you up to?"
"Seize her!" Bullet shouted, and two guards rushed at Tardis. She balanced on the balls of her feet and swung the sword, cutting through them both.
One guard's chestplate was sliced right through and had a light scratch across his chest, while the other was holding tight to the unstable ectoplasm of his arm.
Tardis gave the sword a look over. "Hm, Clockwork's weapon would have killed them both. She needs to work on her technique." She pointed its tip at the first's chest, "You. Be a sweetheart, tell me who you're looking for."
The guard pulled back, staring at her with wide eyes. He didn't even hesitate, "Hourglass!"
Tardis plunged the sword into his gut and twisted it. "Leave her the fuck alone!" She pulled the weapon free, unstable ectoplasm dripping from it's tip as the other guard screamed his partner's name. She kicked him aside and looked back up at Bullet.
He wasn't moving, and neither were the rest of the guards. They were all staring down at her in horror.
"I didn't hit his core, if that's what you're wondering!" She snapped, and her own core pulsed in her chest. "Next time this happens I won't be so generous."
Bullet's hand moved towards something on his belt.
Tardis ran through several options. She couldn't fight them off, not with just Hourglass' dull sword. She'd lose and be handed off to Walker. If he wanted information about Hourglass, he'd be using a particularly painful way of getting it that Tardis had no desire to re-experience. If she used her death core, she's win in a minute- but then she'd be destroying them, and once the Observants caught wind of it they'd have her executed her before Clockwork had any idea what had happened.
She lost either way.
Bullet pulled the weapon from his belt and Tardis core twisted in her chest.
Whatever happened next, she'd fight them every step of the way.
.-.-.-.-.-.
Clockwork's core twisted in his chest and he frowned. A glance around the room confirmed that he was alone, and there was no outside reason for his core to be acting that way.
He pushed the thought away and went back to focusing on the Timeline ahead of him. He'd deal with it if it started to interfere with his work.
Tozi is a small child who has done nothing wrong except for the several things they have done wrong. Also, I have no idea what their gender is. Precious baby child.
Anyway, Sam… she has a point. Prince cares about Danny, but that doesn't change how much of a dick he was in the beginning. On top of that, Sam and Tucker only know a small amount of what we and Danny know about Prince. If I were her, I'd be scared too. And anger's a lot easier to deal with than fear.
Although, that "Do I need to call you deaf, too?" Is definitely one of my favourite arguments. Prince totally won that. Marry Christmas to me! :D
Danny, on the other hand, needs to chill. Child, talk to your friends. This isn't fucking SOS Text.
Speaking of SOS Text! Infinite also needs to chill. Stop using your time travel powers you shit, you're turning my order of events into a tumbleweed. Someone's going to catch on you shit.
Love for this story fuels my soul. Literally. Connections consumes me. So you all should tell me who your favourite characters are, because if you do, I'll probably write scenes from their point of view! But not for the next two chapters. They're mostly done already.
Next time; Prisoners of Love! Hah, ghost jail, what could go wrong?
