Last time...
Happiness isn't in the destination, it's in the journey.
"What in the world is that supposed to mean?" Konduki whispered to himself, a thoughtful hand on his chin as he pondered over the disturbing words given to him by this prophesy room. He shouldn't have let his temper get away from him earlier. Anger never does anything to help one think clearly, and that was exactly what he needed to do to decipher these new prophesies.
"Vlad?" Skulker called over to the near comatose man.
"Hmm?" he asked, raising an eyebrow lazily.
"I need some supplies for the tracker." Skulker spun around in his swivel chair to face him.
Vlad stood and nodded. "I will return with them. What is it that you need?"
Skulker gave him a list of very scientific items. "I will them right away." Vlad left the house, thankful that he could help anyway possible with finding Danny.
"Hush little one, yes, don't say a word."
"Oh my darling, Clementine!"
"Danny, please calm down." He giggled deliriously.
"Now, why would I do that?"
"Hush, little one, yes, don't say a word."
"You have a pretty voice, anyone ever tell you that?" he laughed.
Thalia ignored him and kept singing. "I promise I will buy you a mocking bird."
Danny turned his head a bit and said, "So pretty."
"And if that mocking bird don't sing, I promise I will buy you a diamond ring." She paused to hear a comment from Danny. She was met with a soft snore.
After a while of listening, about fifteen minutes, Thalia stood and walked over to him and placed one finger on his forehead. This allowed her to see what he was dreaming of. She held it there for only a second.
In that second, she received an image of a young girl, about Danny's age, with a short bob of black hair. She owned starling violet eyes that must've charmed the boy. Thalia looked at his face. A slow, small tear slid down his scoffed cheek.
Beyond that tearful image however, Thalia could feel the broken fragments of his mind floating around. They were disconnected and full of different emotions in each one. Honestly, it was quite beautiful. each piece was a different color, creating an impossible blend that couldn't be recreated even if she tried. So beautiful and yet so sad that this beautiful picture was the cause of the slumbering, insane, child hanging limply on the wall in front of her.
It brought tears to her eyes to look at him. She did this, if not with her own two hands, then with her silence. It was her fault why he broke. She had to fix him. She left, leaving the door open.
Minz, who had been hiding in the corner, stepped over to the lightly, gracefully. "Danny?"
The boy in question groaned and fluttered his eyelids. Of course, once he saw Minz, his eyes lit up, still dead, like the Fourth of July. He screamed, "Kitty!"
"MEROW!" Minz cried with wide, purple eyes. "It's me! Minz!"
"Minzy! Minzy! Where ya been?" Danny happily said. He sounded drugged. He sounded loopy. He sounded insane.
"I've... been here," the cat admitted. He thought Danny would be mad... but he was not, he was... happy.
"Well, that's great! Glad you came! I missed you so much! Been so lonely. Only was here! Nice and all, boring though." Danny's mind was so diluted that he missed some words.
Minz tilted his head to the side, trying to decipher what could possibly be wrong with the child in front of him. Danny had gone back to swinging lightly, causing his wrists to bleed in irritation and his chains to jingle.
The ghost cat's eyes widened. he knew that look in his eye. It was the look of madness. Pure and simple madness that consumed you completely. He had seen it in a number of ghosts around the Zone, and he could spot it when he saw it.
"Kitty, kitty, Minzy, Minzy. You're a pretty kitty, too, you know that? I had a kitty once, but he wasn't really mine. I had to share him with Jazzy, but then we found out that we were allergic, so we had to give him away. Poor kitty... Say, how'd you die, kitty?"
"Umm," Minz started, "I'd rather not say."
"That's okay 'cause you don't gotta." Danny happily swayed hurting his wrists farther. A drop of ecto-blood fell to the dirt ground.
"Tell me about Jazzy," Minz said, changing the subject.
"Jazzy! She is my sister and she is so nice! She thinks she knows everything!" Suddenly, ecto-blood wasn't the only thing dripping, tear were as well. Danny kept going, as if they were nonexistent.
"Well, she sounds... like a nice sister."
"The best! The bestest! She is so awesome! I miss her a lot an' stuff... but she will hug me when I come back!" Now Danny's tears were flowing but he didn't seem care, he didn't seem to remember that before, he'd never cry.
Minz walked up his invisible stair to Danny's face. There he licked away the tears. "Thanks, Minzy! You're awesome like Jazzy and Sammy and Tuck! Just so awesome like Thalia!" Danny was saying all of this, but inside he wanted to scream and cry.
Minz meowed and rubbed his head on Danny's scratched up cheek. Inside, Danny said thank you. For once, he had total agreement, because, outside he said the same thing.
Minz smiled at the affection in the child's voice. In their short time in this prison, they had become friends. More than that, they had each risked their lives, or afterlives as the case may be, to help one another. With a sigh, Minz examined the now purple wounds on Danny's skin, "Pomegranates..." he mumbled to himself.
"Oh you like them too?" Danny's still teary eyes focused a little on the green cat in front of him. "You should have been here earlier!there was plenty of pomegranate, but Thalia smashed some on my stomach. She's crazy right? Now all that's left are the seeds." He nodded to the floor where he had spit out the seeds from earlier.
Minz's cat eyebrows scrunched together. Did the boy not know that pomegranates were a cure for something? Minz just couldn't remember what.
"Oh, Minzy! What's wrong?"
Minz looked at him, just as if he noticed him at that moment. Danny was smiling ear to ear. The boy seemed over joyed. "There is nothing wrong, Danny."
"I like kitty kissies."
"What?" Minz asked, completely confused by the boy's words.
"Kitty kissies! Kitty kissies!" he sang over and over.
Minz blinked but finally understood. He began licking Danny's face. This elicted this cry from the boy, "Yay! Kitty kissies!"
On a level of wrong to ten, this was negative terrible.
He wanted him to beg.
He wanted him to cry.
He wanted him to hurt and regret and forget.
But Danny didn't want to. He remembered what happened when Konduki first came back.
(Danny pov)
I was elated. Kitty kissies, what I wanted most, besides crying and screaming and kicking like an infant, at that time.
Minzy was being the nicest kitty ever. I was being licked all over my face.
Then the bad stuff started. Minzy ran to the corner, and a man came in, looking angry. I wondered why he was angry.
"What the matter?" I asked, truly wanting to know why he was so mad. I didn't want him to be mad or Thalia to be hurt. For some reason, I thought these were cause and effect.
"Are you being smart with me, boy?" he growled.
"No! I was jus' askin'!" I giggled. "Only doggies growl, silly."
Smack! He had hit me. I looked at him with teary eyes and asked, "Why'd you do that?"
Minzy looked ready to strike, but with the last bit of sanity left, I shook my head.
Konduki thought I shook it at him.
For some reason, he seemed mad at me. I wondered why, so I asked him again, "Why?"
The ghosts eyes narrowed and sparked with fury. "Why?!" He reechoed. The boy dared ask him why?
I was crying, I was hurting.
In order to get him to stop, I'd have to beg.
"Please... stop..."
He had punched me in the gut after I asked why again. He was punching me over and over again.
"I couldn't hear you..." He punched again.
"Please! I wanna go home!"
"Forget it, you're never going home," he snarled.
That's when it all snapped again.
"I said please stop!" I kept begging. I begged, cried, hurt, even regretted. But... I wound never forget it.
(normal pov)
Konduki was surely surprised when Danny opened his eyes again and they were a bright lime green. Something in the boy had been revived. Renewed.
"I will never forget it!" he yelled, breaking the bonds on his feet to kick Konduki.
Now he was retaliating.
His lime green eyes were shut tight as he tried to break the upper bonds.
He pulled and strained against the tight metal, but it was no use. Perhaps a little ectoplasm would make it more doable though?
"Forget it, boy," Konduki growled as he picked himself up.
"Never! I'll do whatever it takes to get out of here! I promise!"
Konduki gasped... The prophecy... The promise.
Danny continued, "I'm going home. I don't want to be here, so I will leave. No blockhead like you is gonna tell me what to do."
Konduki growled yet again. The loopy Danny would've laughed and told him what animal he resembled. This one glared in response.
What happened next shocked all, including the hidden girl in the hall. Konduki ran up to the boy and hit him in the side of the head with a pipe no one noticed him pick up. Danny's head rocked to the side.
Konduki was breathing hard as he stood in a battle like pose, pipe held like a sword. He teleported out of the room.
Thalia ran in, he had crossed the line.
Her eyes were blazing in fury as she gazed upon the unconscious boy. No sooner had he regained some semblance of sanity, he was list to darkness. There was no telling who would emerge once he woke up. She lifted the limp head before her to examine the emerging purple welt.
This was far enough. She had sat on the side lines for too long. It was time to fight back.
She breathed stiffly as she broke the upper bonds. They crumbled in her petite hands.
She held on to him, with strength that came from anger, and placed him gently on the cot.
She glared to the corner. "Get out here, cat!"
Minz came over, tail flicked down. "Yes miss Thalia?" he asked a bit scared.
"Sorry to yell... Just get me something to clean him with."
Minz nodded, hurrying to find an item able of such task.
He zipped through wall after wall, finally coming upon a four post bed. "This looks promising..." He quickly jumped up and snagged the sheet and began to quickly drag it back to the cell his friend was in.
"Miss Thalia?" he asked once he returned.
"Yes?" She spotted the sheet. She genuinely smiled. "Yes, this will do." She took it from him and began to mend Danny.
She was careful with her movements, not wanting to aggravate the wounds or make him move so much that his wrists would start bleeding again. His crazed mind had sure done a number on that particular area with all his swinging and rocking back and forth. Now the joint was covered in both wet and dry blood and ectoplasm.
Danny moved slightly and groaned. Thalia inwardly freaked out, but remained a calm demeanor. "Shh," she opted to say after a while of tossing.
Danny pinched his eyes tight against the ache in his body. Again with the pain, he thought sarcastically. He really didn't want this right now... He had fought off the insanity because he felt that he could beat Konduki better with his full faculties, not because he wanted more pain, the very thing that had driven him over the edge in the first place.
Thalia thought quickly... It might be best to wake him... so I can get to his other wounds.
"Danny..." she whispered. "Danny."
His eyes shot open, a bright lime green. Thalia's jaw dropped a bit. "Hm?" he asked.
She looked around for the cat. "I... um, I wanted to clean your wounds... Please?"
She felt as if she had to ask permission. He nodded quickly. Too quickly.
Danny winced as the quick motion stretched and pulled at some of his wounds. "what is with that guy and hurting me?" he had asked the question more to himself, but Thalia answered anyway.
"He thrives on pain. The pain of others is like nectar to him, I do not know why..." she trailed off, eyes downcast as she remembered her own pain. But as she replayed her death in her mind, her eyes glowed with determination. "We must put a stop to him. once and for all. But I do not know how."
"Oh, don't worry. I know that he's going down. And if I go down—"
"Don't say that!" Thalia said, cutting him off. She accidentally pushed too hard on his stomach wound, causing the teen to yelp. "Sorry!"
Danny offered a weak smile. "S'okay. Just surprised me is all." He looked around him for a moment before realizing what he was looking for wasn't in sight. "Hey, where's Minzy?"
"Who?" Thalia asked, looking around.
"Minz... The cat..."
Thalia throw her head back with her hand on her forehead. "The cat... of course. I'm not sure, I asked him to get this and he left," she said, holding up the sheet.
Danny's mouth formed an 'o' of acknowledgment. He knew how much that cat despised being in one place for very long. But then his brow furrowed in confusion, "Wait... when did you two meet?"
"Hmm? Oh, yes... Well you see... Minz has been living in my castle. One day I found him snooping in my kitchen and I told the only way he could be allowed at stay is if he could bring mail back and forth. He, of course, agreed.
"I didn't expect him to meet you, he and I tend to stay away from this room," she said glancing around the room, eyes darting from corner to corner. "But, I suppose this is the reason he came. He told me when I first met him that he had something very important to do. Of course, he told me he had to wait for years. I thought he was lying after a hundred or so."
Danny's eyes wide at the sheer thought of living for so long. "He's been waiting for that long?"
Thalia nodded. "I suppose he was right. Without his help, you would surely have died of infection long ago. And I do believe he helped you fend off your brief bought of insanity as well."
The halfa's eyes were downcast, shamed by his weak-minded state. "I-I couldn't take it anymore. It just hurt so much. A guy can only take so much pain before it becomes unbearable, ya know?"
Now it was Thalia's turn to avert her eyes. "Yes... yes, I know very well of a human's tolerance for pain. But we so rarely receive the relief we desire before it is too late, do we not?"
Danny simply blinked. "Um... I'm a C average student, you're gonna have to explained."
Now it was Thalia's turn to blink. "It doesn't stop when we want it to," she rephrased.
Danny nodded, trying to act like that was the most obvious thing in the world, even though he completely missed it. "I guess so. especially when its other people that put you through it."
Thalia kept her gaze on the floor. "I-I must apologize for that. I truly believed you had the Key. I still do, but that was wrong of me to force it out of you through pain."
"That's okay," Danny said, "You thought what you were doing was okay 'cause Konduki told you that."
"It's no excuse." Thalia thought she was right. Ignorance was no excuse. Ignorance got you killed.
Danny winced at one particular wound. Thalia was being as gentle as she could, but the wounds weren't going to be cleaned without some consequence. "Thank you, by the way."
Thalia shot her gaze to his in bewilderment. "What for?"
"For... I don't know... Helping me get my wounds clean, I guess. For realizing what you did was wrong. Most wouldn't"
"How are you a C average student, again?" Thalia asked. He seemed pretty deep and intelligent. It surprised her so to discover that he didn't receive high grades.
Danny chuckled. "You have to be in class to pass it. When you miss a lot of material, there's not a lot you can learn."
Thalia tilted her head to the side. "But why do you not go to school? It is a privilege to learn. I would have loved to had the chance in my youth."
"Wait," Danny clarified, "you didn't go to school?"
Thalia sighed. "Only boys did, young ladies learned to cook and clean, shows us our place," she said, ending sourly.
Danny winced and hissed as Thalia applied pressure on his stomach wound. "I'm so sorry!"
"It's fine. really, it's not like I'm not used to pain anymore..." Danny's grim tone was enough to make Thalia feel even guiltier, but she didn't show it. She felt especially felt bad that he was in so much pain. His leg twitched after hitting a nerve.
Finally having enough, Thalia conjured up some of her ectoplasm into her hands. "Would you rather be unconscious for this? I believe that part of whatever Konduki used against you is still lodged in your system. I will need to excavate it and it will be very painful."
"You wouldn't," Danny pointed out. "Besides, you don't know how to shoot ectoplasm."
Thalia narrowed her eyes and shot the wall above his head.
"Well, okay, maybe ya do," he said with a frightful grin.
"Yes, maybe I do."
And Danny could see she was serious. The intensity in her eyes said that she cared about his well being, but would go to extreme lengths to get him well again. Even if that meant hurting him in the process.
"It is no big deal," Thalia comforted, "I am simply going to rest your mind with my ectoplasm. It shouldn't hurt much, if at all."
"Thanks, I feel so secure right now," Danny muttered, his words dripping in sarcasm.
"You should, I've done it before."
"Wait, what?" Danny blinked twice, as if that would answer him.
"I've put you to sleep before, no biggie."
With that, Thalia reached her hand out to a panicked Danny and let her calming energy pass through hkm. His eyes grew heavy before finally closing in sleep.
"Well, at least he's asleep."
"Thalia!" a call came from the hall, sounding panicky and air deprived.
"What, Minz?"
"We need to figure out that riddle!"
"What riddle?"
Minz opened his mouth to speak but was stopped by his need for air. "Hang on... Meow! I haven't run... that fast... in CENTURIES!"
Thalia raised an eyebrow and waited for the cat to catch his breath.
"Okay, I just overheard Konduki and... well you should just hear it..."
Thalia's eyes widened at those words. She could almost feel the tension in the air that they brought. "What does this mean?"
Minz shook his head in bewilderment. "I don't know, that's why I—" He stopped abruptly. "What did you do to Danny?"
"Umm... What could possibly mean?" Thalia asked as she attempted to conceal the boy.
"Danny, he's... out cold." Minz walked over to him.
"He was really tired. You should probably leave him alone."
"Thalia," Minz said to coax the answer out, in a accusatory way, "what did you do?"
Thalia avoided the piercing stare of his violet eyes. "He needed rest. And I needed to remove some foreign substance from his system. It would have been very painful if he were conscious..."
Minz raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Is that all?"
"Of course, what else would there be?" Thalia crossed her arms against her chest.
Minz searched her face. "I suppose nothing..." he trailed off. He could tell that she was hiding something, though not with malicious intent, but he couldn't place his paw on it.
Thalia avoided eye contact. "Well, are you going to help me get these fragments out or not?"
"Well, um... I had this thing to do..." he trailed due to Thalia's glare. "Or, ya know, I could assist you instead." Thalia nodded, happily.
After fifteen minutes of working, Minz cracked the silence with his lovely meow, "Maybe we should tell him the riddle. Bring some new blood in."
Thalia did not take a liking to his idea, quite the contrary. "What! Are you crazy? Are signing his death certificate?"
"How would telling this boy a riddle, that may be about him, harmful?"
"Simple, Danny's mind slipped and can easily slip again. What if he said something to Konduki?"
Minz nodded. "Yes, but it is important that we figure this out, milady. He could know the answer." He went back to work, trying to figure out the riddle. His curious mind simply had to know what the words meant. And were they really the whole thing or only part of a picture that painted their demise?
"We can't..." Thalia shook her head in despair.
"And why not?" Minz countered.
"Because!" Thalia started. "Because... I do not wish to see him hurt..." she finished in a small voice.
Minz nodded and snuggled into the uncomfortable girl. "I don't want that either, but perhaps the answer could bring us a step closer to all of our freedom."
Thalia raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean? You can leave whenever you please."
Minz snorted. "No. I am just as much a prisoner within these walls as you are."
"But," Thalia argued, "you always deliver my letters to my friends."
Minz snorted once again, "That is different. I must always come back." Minz meowed and looked at Danny. "Could we possibly wake him?"
Thalia frowned. "I suppose. We are going to have to figure out what to when Konduki returns." She added with crossed arms darkly, "And he will return."
"You're right. Right now, though, all I want is a hug."
"Ohh... Come here, you green little kitty, you," she said as she grabbed him into what he claimed to desire.
She placed him next to Danny. "I will be right back, promise."
"What about the boy?" he asked, nodding toward Danny.
"He will wake soon."
Minz looked nervous. He really hoped the child's state of mind would hold up. Last time he had awoken, he had done so with the light of insanity dully pulsing in those emerald orbs. To Minz, that had been one of the most terrifying things he had ever witnessed. "Are you sure he'll be alright?"
Thalia was just about to leave, but she stopped to give the green fur-ball a reassuring smile. "His wounds are bandaged and clean, the rest is up to him. But I have faith he'll pull through don't you?"
Minz glanced at the boy, an inquisitive expression painted lightly on his features. "Yes, I suppose so." He turned to her and nodded. Thalia disappeared into the nearby air. Minz smiled, he knew she had things to think about.
Plasmius was back to pacing in Skulkers home in the ghost zone. according to the mechanical ghost, the device was so close to the end of its completion, that the rest of the preparations could be made. But Vlad was anxious, and had no desire to do anything except leave with the device and race to find Daniel. He could feel it in his gut that the boy was in ever growing danger and it ate at him to have to wait this long.
In agitation, he scuffed his feet across the floor, moving to hover over Skulkers form to watch his progress.
"Plasmius, I cannot work if you block my light," Skulker growled.
Vlad frowned. "What are you talking about? You don't have any lights in here!"
Skulker smiled knowingly. "No, but I can't work with you hovering over me either!"
Vlad frowned, but moved anyway. "How much longer?" he asked.
Skulker sighed and wheeled his chair as to face him. "Shouldn't be too much longer, I've to add the ectosignature recognizer. That should be it."
Vlad's shoulders tensed less.
"Danny?" Minz whispered.
"Hmm? Just a minute, Mom, school can wait..." Minz snickered at Danny's mumbling.
"I do think it's time to get up, Daniel."
"Ahh!" Danny screamed as he shot up. He groaned and flopped back down, arms around his abdomen. "Don't do that! I thought you were a fruit loop!" he shouted.
Minz raised an eyebrow.
"What in existence is a 'fruitloop'?"
Danny tried to stop the pain that had flared, but he chuckled at the question. "Its... just a nickname I gave to an enemy of mine. He's a little loopy..." The last sentence was a stage whisper, as if sharing some secret. To emphasize his point, he twirled his finger around the area above his temple in the universal symbol for crazy.
"A crazy enemy? Terrible."
Danny chuckled. "I guess all bad guys are a little crazy, huh?"
Minz nodded. "They tend to be. But I still do not understand how I reminded you of this enemy."
"You called me 'Daniel.' He's the only one who does that. Well, unless I'm in trouble at home. Then I'm 'Daniel James Fenton'." The last part was in a high pitched voice, a good mimicry of his mother's disapproving tone. He laughed, but it died off quickly. He missed his mom...
"How pathetic is it to say I want my mom?" Danny curled up a bit, his voice coming out soft and childlike.
Minz's eyes filled with sympathy. "It isn't pathetic at all. Its actually quite brave of you to say so. Most wouldn't admit that." He curled up against the child, comforting him with his energy and warm body.
Danny thought he felt tear on his scratched and dried bloody cheek. All he wanted was home. What was he going to say when he got there? "Hey, Mom, if your wondering where I was for the past two weeks, a ghost was using another as a puppet and told her I had the key to her happiness. Oh, please excuse all the major wounds, such as my stomach..." That didn't even sound like him.
"Maybe you could help me," he said to the cat.
"With what?"
Danny sighed. "What am I gonna tell my parents?"
"That is a problem."
Danny repositioned. "Do you think Thalia would be mad at me if I changed back?" he asked, glancing at him.
Minz looked at the boy as well. "She'd arrested for murder." He saw the sad look Danny adopted. "But you should go ahead, I'll tell her I advised it." Danny gave him a grateful look.
Danny sighed in relief as the rings passed over his broken form. His ghost persona was cool most of the time, and it did help him heal, but right now he just felt so disconnected from the real world, he needed to feel his beating heart and warm blood rushing through his veins. To be able to look at his hands and not see an ethereal glow and slight transparency that said he wasn't really all there. he needed stability, and his human body provided that.
The wounds flared, but it was a dull ache compared to the bliss he was feeling of finally being warm, something that didn't occur in the Ghost Zone naturally. On top of that, Minz's green body was radiating heat as well, keeping him comfortable despite the pain.
Minz looked up at the boy's face. He had black hair, so contradicting to the form he saw him in first. Minz nudged his side, causing the boy to open his blue eyes. "I wonder how they might've looked before." His shirt, a use to be white color, had a nearly unrecognizable red oval.
"How what looked?" Danny asked, bring the cat from his thoughts.
"Your blue eyes," the cat answered, tilting his head to side as if to see better. "When they were dull, I cannot imagine it."
"Maybe they weren't...?" Danny asked, unsure of what the cat was saying.
"Your green ones were very dull, when you were broken, that is. I know that the two are always connected."
Danny fidgeted, he didn't want to talk about that, and he said so, too. "I don't really want to talk about it." He glanced at the cat, hoping that silenced him, and closed his eyes.
Minz relented, opting for a topic change, "How good are you at riddles?"
"Riddles?" Danny asked. Minz just nodded. "I don't know, I know Jazz and Sam can spit out the answer just like that," he said, snapping his fingers.
"So, are you any good at them?" Minz asked with hope.
"Sometimes, just depends."
Minz frowned, but nodded. Maybe he shouldtell Danny, even if it's against Thalia's wishes.
"I'm going to have to change back soon," Danny said with a sigh.
"Why is that?" Minz asked.
Danny shut his eyes tight. "It's starting to hurt more that it was."
"Maybe I should clean them again," he offered.
The rings appeared and went their separate ways.
Minz watched as the black and white HAZMAT suit, or what was left of it, replaced the blue and white tatters. He quickly set to work on cleaning the green wounds with his tongue.
Danny grimaced as he gazed at his lacerations, causing the ghost cat to pause. "Is this disgusting to you?"
Danny laughed. "Not what your thinking... But, um... are my cuts supposed to be green?"
Minz raised an eyebrow. "Well, yes... They are red, too, see?" he said pointing to the stomach wound.
"Yeah," Danny breathed out.
"About that riddle..." Minz started.
"Cat! I am going to kill you!" a voice raged.
"I swear, I didn't tell him!" Minz defended.
Thalia glared her poisoned daggers. "You were about to!"
"Thalia..." Danny sighed.
Thalia looked over at Danny. His faced was saddening. It was like he was begging to know. Thalia sighed. "The beginning of eternity, the end of space and time, the beginning to every end, and the end to every rhyme," she repeated, sounding defeated.
While she spoke, Danny wrote what she said in the dirt.
"See, I told you it was a bad idea," she said to the cat.
"No you didn't! You thought he'd just say to Konduki! I've trying to solve it for four hundred years!"
"E."
"Well maybe your not as intelligent as you originally thought!" Thalia countered.
"I thought by bringing fresh blood in it would make it easier!"
"E!" Danny said, exasperated.
"Well, you were wrong again!"
"Guys! Will you listen to me!" Danny shouted, sitting up. He had tried to stand, but that ended in failure.
Thalia blinked and turned to him. "Of course, Danny, what is it."
Danny pointed down to what he wrote in the dirt. "E."
Written crudely in the dirt, "The beginning of Eternity, the end of spacE and timE, the beginning to every End, and the end to every rhymE."
By the look on the green cat's face, he would have face-palmed if he could. As it was, he let out a groan of mixed frustration and exasperation and flopped onto his back. "Out of the mouths of babes..." he sighed and sent a light glare to the smirking halfa. "I have stared at that riddle or a very long time and it takes you literaly five minutes to decipher."
Danny laughed, rubbing the kitty's belly good naturedly. "Hehe. Sorry."
Minz covered his face with his paws. "I mean, four hundred years and it took you four minutes."
Danny laughed and continued to rub his belly. Thalia crouched down and looked at his arm. "I thought so. I just wanted to see to make sure," she said, dropping his arm, much to Danny's dismay.
He winced as the pain in his limb flared. "Ouch, what did you do?"
"I was trying to see if your arm was broken. I am sorry, I did not mean to drop it."
Danny rubbed the pained area lightly, feeling the bone protrude slightly. "Yikes, that's going to have to be set..."
Thalia frowned. "You're right... Um... Minz, could you make a sling?"
Minz adopted a blank expression. "I'm a cat."
"Oh, yes, well, I suppose you are." Thalia looked around until she spotted the white sheet Minz had gotten her earlier.
Danny chuckled at his friends enjoying their company. "So... I'm curious, where did you live before you died, Minz?"
Thalia walked over to the sheet as Minz answered the boy's inquiries, "London. It would've been nice to live in Egypt, they are nice to cats there."
Danny nodded then looked over at Thalia to see what she was doing. This prompted his next question. "What are you doing, Thalia?"
Thalia stood straight and glanced at him. "I am going to make you a sling. Now that I think of it, we have to do something about Konduki. Minz." Said cat looked over. "I need you to use your special power."
Minz nodded and closed his eyes. "His 'special power'?" Danny asked.
"Yes, Minz can sense when a ghost comes. He can also tell who it is. He's going to make it so we can tell if Konduki gets near the castle."
"Kinda like my Ghost Sense," Danny mumbled to himself.
Danny nodded in understanding, but then another thought occured to him, "So... What was with the riddle again?"
Thalia stiffened, clearly unnerved by the inquiry. "Well, aren't you curious? Can't we just wish to know the answer?"
Her efforts to hide her unease, though valiant, failed completely.
Though, there were other tactics. "Minz, could you help me?" she asked, making no eye contact with Danny.
"Of course, what do you need?"
Thalia though for a moment. "Well, I need to know how to make a sling."
Danny frowned at the ghostly duo. "Seriously? You insist on making me a sling and you don't even know how to make one? I'm not buying it."
Thalia turned and frowned. "I simply forgot. I've never had to make a sling. I thought Minz would know."
Danny shook his head. "You're a terrible liar."
Thalia's frown only deepened. "Am not!"
Danny smiled to himself, concealing it by face palming. "Are to!" he sang.
Thalia's face became green with anger, the ghostly equivalent to red in the face. "Am not!"
Thalia was seeing red and her ectoplasm swam in her hand at the ready, "i am NOT!"
Danny's eyes widened. "Jazz never did that," he muttered. Out loud he said, "Wow, you're mad."
Through the red that was currently her world, Thalia saw Danny's innocent green eyes just staring at her. He was just messing with her, just teasing. It made her the bad guy to try and shot his head off.
She took a deep breath to calm herself and let the energy dissipate in her hands. "I-I am sorry, Danny. I did not mean to get so mad..." she trailed off, clearly embarrased.
"That's okay." Danny shrugged lightly. "I guess I pushed a little too hard. I used to do that with my sister all the time. Before, ya know, she got all weird on me." He grinned as he ecalled his sister, always sitting on the couch or at the kitchen table with some thick tome he could barely pronounce the title of.
Weird how this little annoyance, a quirk he believed Jazz to own, filled him with such emptiness.
Danny's eyes were cast down, reminiscing and missing those he had been taken from. He bet Lancer was giving a test or pop quiz today, which would make Tucker groan because he had been playing Doomed all night and forgot to study. Sam would roll her eyes and probably put down her book to get out a piece of paper and start doodling, ever prepared for everything. Jazz would be in her advanced classes and probably trying to read as well, but failing miserably because everyone else in the class were "children and too immature for this level of work". His parents would be down in the lab, working on the latest invention that would undoubtedly have either the word "specter" or "Fenton" possibly even both. His enemies would all be rampaging through the streets, and Vlad would be scheming to off Danny's dad and "steal" Danny's mom from the "fat oaf of an imbecile". Ahh... Good times... A small smile touched his lips, but sadness still clouded his eyes.
Then the bitterness came. He would have these things, these normalities, if it weren't for Thalia. Selfish Thalia. Everything's about Poor Little Thalia, he heard a piece of him say. Poor poor Thalia, all alone. So sad. Poor Little Thalia.
Danny felt bad. Thalia was always sad and here he was, complaining. He shook his head.
But she did cause all of this, the voice insisted.
"She's trying to help," he whispered.
"What?" Minz asked, he had good hearing, but Danny had spoken so softly that he couldn't hear it.
The halfa looked up into the curious gaze of his friend and shook his head, clearing it of rogue thoughts. "Nothing. I... just talk to myself a lot. Old habit"
"Old habit?" Minz asked. "Seems like it's still here," he chuckled.
That cat's laughing at you...
Danny frowned, Minz was laughing at him. and it wasn't the first time either. No, that wasn't right. Minz was laughing with him, not at him.
You weren't laughing, the voice pointed out.
Danny sat up straight. "So...?"
"Danny!" Thalia yelled. "I'm telling you to lie down! Listen to me!"
Now she's trying to tell you what to do. she doesn't care about you, she never did. she's a selfish ghost who only cares about her precious "key."
Danny clutched his head. "Stop! Be quiet!"
Thalia's eyes widened as she stepped back. A tinge of fear came across her, starting in her chest and spreading. "I-I'm sorry," she stuttered, tears springing to life.
She should be.
"No she shouldn't!" Danny screamed, running his hands in hair, slowly beginning to rock back and forth.
Thalia backed away from the distressed child, fearing what the outburst meant. "What's wrong, Danny?"
But he couldn't hear her. He was too busy trying to ward off the voice's scathing words. There were two now, both competing for dominance in his mind.
You should kill them now while they're distracted.
Why should he? they're helping him!
Get out...
They don't help, they hurt. Look at all the cuts that Thalia made on you! You wouldn't have them without her.
That was Konduki! Not Thalia.
He needs to be eliminated as well.
"Get out!"
Thalia lips fought between talking and silence. They wobbled.
Danny brought his knees to his chest and buried his head, trying to protect himself from the voices. Trying not to cry. "Get out! Just get out!"
Thalia thought he was talking to her, she ran out the room, sobs controlling her.
Tsk. Tsk. Poor Little Thalia.
"Get out..." Danny dryly sobbed.
Minz wasn't so easily scared, however. He knew that this was a battle that Danny had to fight on his own, but he could help in his own way. He carefuly stalked forward and wrapped himself snuggly around the boys shoulders, trying to sooth him.
See? He's helping...
No, he's being a nuisance. get rid of him Danny, he's going to betray you eventually.
"No. No. No."
His sobs were no longer dry, his face was not either. Glowing tears littered it, making to shine all pretty like. Two streams.
That cat is annoying! Let's off him! Give him the heave ho!
"No!" Danny screamed. He sat up and saw Minz's wide eyes. He grabbed him into a hug. "They can't hurt you. They can't hurt you..." he mumbled over again into the green fur.
He's already in your arms, just a little ecto energy and he'll be good as gone.
"Minzy's my friend... Minzy's my friend..." He was slipping fast, reverting to the nickname he had used when his mind was unstable before. This was shaping out to be a similar situation, but much worse.
The ghost cat licked Danny's tears away, whispering encouraging words to the boy. "It's alright. It's alright."
Now he's lying to you? how can it be alright when you're in a cage!
He has no say in that!
"No! Minzy, Minzy... My friend, Minzy!" He sobbed into the cat and started rubbing him to his cheek. "Not my Minzy."
Minz stayed put, as if to comfort the boy.
I think you killed it... He's not moving...
Danny's eyes were wide. "NO!" he screamed, putting Minz on the cot. Danny fell next to him, whithering in the pain he rediscovered, tears covering the majority of his face. Some on Minz's coat as well.
"Don't die, Minzy, don't die..." His sobs racked his bruised body and he clutched at the ghost cat with both arms, even his broken one.
Minzy just raised his eyebrow. "Danny? I'm already dead..."
"They want to hurt you! I can't let them!"
Is it just me, or is he ignoring us?
"Who does?" Minz asked, his heliotrope eyes soft and kind. What was wrong with Danny? He wasn't like this last time.
"I don't want them to hurt you!"
"No one is going to hurt me, Danny," Minz said softly.
That's what he thinks... the voice was getting more malicious, drowning out the other voice until it was no longer there at all. Only the bad voice was left, tainting the boy's thoughts.
That was when Danny could offically say he lost it.
"No. You will not hurt him! You. Will. NOT!" Of course, that was when Danny emitted his Ghostily Wail.
Minz flew, hitting the wall.
Told ya...
The poor cat was bruised and dazed, but compared to the weak halfa on the floor, he was perfectly fine. Danny was on his side, trembling and teary eyed. He kept mumbling, repeating himself, but it couldn't be understood what exactly was being said.
Danny twitched violently. He was reverted back to his human form, the pain multiplied. He shook his head.
Konduki shook his head. The riddles were disturbing to say the least, and he needed to find the answers. Fast.
He stepped lightly to the cell that had occupied all his time for the past week or so. Perhaps the child would know the answer? It was worth a shot.
His eyes lit up in anger at the scene in front of him. The boy was off the wall! That idiot girl! She will pay dearly.
His eyes flashed in anger, and he stalked forward. Only to be stop when he realize what was before him. The child... was broken... He had done it! All his hard work had finally paid off!
Danny's eyes flung open. "You... You stay away from Minz!" the child yelled, finding strength. He jumped up and transformed. He eyes were simply slits. "Leave him alone." It was sturdy and definant.
Konduki raised an eyebrow. "Who the blazes is Minz?"
But Danny was past all reason, he advanced on the ghost and lit his palms with ectoplasm. "Stay away from him! Leave us alone!"
You should kill him, you know, the voice said with fervor, and for once, Danny considered listening.
ck: Whoo! 7,574 words in FF editor! Yeah!
vfr: hehe. You didnyt think we would actualy let danny be sane for long did u? Blame the muses!
ck: Yeah... Blame them...