.
"Help!"
The cry was barely loud enough for even Danny to hear it. That was saying something. His entire existence was tuned to respond to cries and requests for help. Him hearing a cry for help was like the Lunch Lady hearing someone talk about, well. Lunch.
He spun slowly in place, his earlier errand forgotten, trying to gauge where it had come from.
"Help!"
There!
Danny flitted towards the source of the sound, darting between ghostly trees. He paused again. He wasn't sure if he had gone too far.
"Help!"
He adjusted his path slightly and set off again. He wasn't sure what help was needed. A shout might alert attackers to his presence. It was better being quiet for now.
Even if it hurt, not letting this person know help was coming.
He skidded to a halt, seeing an old woman ghost trapped under a fallen tree. That was a bit… anticlimactic? At least he'd be able to get to the Far Frozen on time.
"Hi!" he said, giving the old woman a grin. "I'm going to try to get that off you, okay?
"Thank you, young man," croaked the ghost woman.
"No problem," he said. "I like helping people." Was he telegraphing his Obsession? Yes. But so did most ghosts (cough, the Box Ghost, cough) and he thought it might put the woman at ease. "You're okay with me just picking this up, right? It isn't, like, stabbing you or anything? Or, wait, that's mostly a human problem. Organs."
"I'll be quite alright if you can just lift it," said the old woman. "I have been trapped here for quite some time."
Oof. In ghost terms that could be forever.
"Say no more, say no more," said Danny. He pushed the log up, careful not to let it pinch the poor woman even more. It was a bit odd – The log wasn't all that heavy. Then again, ghosts could come in different strengths just as humans could. Just because he mostly encountered stronger ghosts didn't mean they were all like that.
The ghost flew out as soon as he removed the pressure.
"Oh, thank you!" said the ghost. "I thought I would be trapped there forever." She pressed her hands to her heart. Well. Core. Sort of. "However can I repay you?"
"You really don't need to," said Danny. "It was—" Don't say it was nothing. Danny had learned that could offend people of certain cultures, and he didn't know where this woman came from. "It only cost me a few minutes," he settled on. That was the complete truth.
"Oh, but it meant the world to me." She put her hands on either side of Danny's face.
Danny smiled, feeling awkward. This was a bit of an uncomfortable situation, socially speaking, but she remembered him so much of a grandma that he didn't really have it in his heart to rebuff her.
Then again, the Lunch Lady had also reminded him of a grandma at first.
Maybe he should just…
"I know!" she exclaimed. "You set me free, so I'll do the same!" She planted a kiss on his forehead. "There you go, sweetheart. All those worries, let them drift away."
"Um," said Danny. "Okay." He bit his bottom lip. Nothing in particular seemed to have happened. "Well, anyway, if you're alright, I'm meeting some of my friends…"
"Have a lovely time, dear."
"Thanks," said Danny, flying away with a wave.
Okay. That had been weird. Anyway. Time to visit—
Who was he visiting?
Frostbite, right. Far Frozen.
Huh. That encounter must have distracted him more than he thought.
He flew towards the Far Frozen and let his mind wander as he did. He thought back to this morning. Before he'd been distracted by the cry for help, he'd been upset because… Because… By? He'd been upset about something.
Maybe it hadn't been all that important in retrospect?
Well. This was going to be a nice, long weekend, so he could relax, take it slow, maybe play with Sam and Tucker when he got back. Tucker had been talking about the new expansion of…
Of…
What was the name of that game? This was ridiculous. He'd been playing it for years.
He frowned. He been learning things from… Learning things. Once was happenstance. Twice was coincidence. Three times was enemy action.
He increased his speed.
.
Frostbite was happily preparing for Phantom's arrival later today. He looked forward to every time he saw the young ghost.
Perhaps this was why he was so taken aback when Phantom crashed right into him, sobbing, and burrowed into his fur.
"Great One," he said, "what's wrong?"
"I'm forgetting," he said. "I'm forgetting."
.
Phantom sat quietly in one of the ice-carved chairs in the library, totally absorbed by the book on his lap.
"He does not remember anything, chief?" asked one of the warriors standing in the doorway.
"Nothing," said Frostbite, thoroughly unnerved. "
"The Lethe?"
"It does not work like that. It is not slow."
Phantom gasped, then bounced out of his chair and up to Frostbite. "Look at this! Look at this! It's so cool!"
"Yes," said Frostbite, humoring Phantom. "It is, isn't it?"
"I wonder what they look like in person."
"About the same, I suppose."
"That's so cool!" He drifted back to his chair and curled up again.
"Chief?"
"Yes?"
"What are we going to do?"
Frostbite sighed. "I wish I knew."