𝕰𝖈𝖙𝖔𝖇𝖊𝖗𝖍𝖆𝖚𝖓𝖙 2021_Day 03 [Trick]
~Original~
Category: Electric Core AU, post-Reign Storm (AKA Pariah Dark's Episode), Hurt/Comfort, Angst,Suspense, Attempted Humor.
Trigger warning: Panic attack, Astraphobia, (past) Electrocution.
𝕯𝖆𝖞 𝖙𝖍𝖗𝖊𝖊: 𝕮𝖗𝖞𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖉
The storm had showed up out of nowhere.
Sure, the weather had always been crazy in Amity Park even before the Fentons had opened a portal to the Underworld, but this one had been so sudden!
There had been not even a cloud in the sky, then, after a gargantuan thunderclap, rain had started pelting the football fields while the game between Casper High and Kibosh¹* High had been in full swing.
While this usually wouldn't have been enough to scare off the players and the spectators, lightings were a serious matter in an open field, so the game had been hurriedly suspended and the people had fled to the nearest cover.
For Gwen, that had been under the bleachers. She was short, so her legs wouldn't have carried her far enough to avoid getting drenched to her very bones.
This was why she had decided to wait it out, seemingly alone, until at least the heavy rain would have turned into a drizzle.
However, the girl in her last school year hadn't considered that somebody else would have had her same idea (or better, similar reflexes to dive under the nearest cover for other reasons).
As the girl tightened her blazer around herself to keep her body heat where it belonged (it had been a nice temperature before the storm, but now the wind and the humidity were making the air cold and miserable), a whimper made itself heard among the drumming of the raindrops on the bleachers.
Gwen looked around to try to find its source and, lo and behold, in the darkest and narrowest corner under the seats, the shuddering shape of a boy younger than her was trying to fuse with the wood and the ground.
‒ Hey kid, you alright? ‒ Gwen called, a bit concerned, but the other teen made no move or noise to acknowledge her. Was he a ghost? The mandatory class had explained how some of them were stuck in a sort of traumatic limbo, where they couldn't respond to stimuli from the world of the living. …Although, that option was quickly dismissed when the boy jumped at the crackle of lighting.
…Maybe he was just Astraphobic?
Gwen couldn't fault him, thunderbolts were harsh mistresses, no one could predict them and they could potentially be lethal. Luckily the bleachers had been insulated since last month after being destroyed by the invasion of the "Ghost King".
(Many citizen had been reassured by Phantom after the incident about the impossibility of such occurrence to repeat itself and she was one of those who believed him.)
So, they were safe, for now.
What could Gwen do in the meantime?
The shudders and whimpers were so pitiful that she couldn't stand hearing them while waiting for her opening.
Carefully, she crawled towards him and called him again, just to be sure that the issue hadn't been that he couldn't have physically heard her under the strafe of the storm.
Getting no response, Gwen lightly touched him on the shoulder.
Abruptly, glowing toxic green eyes filled her vision, blinding her with their intensity. The upper-class-girl squeezed her eyes shut and didn't bolt away under the rain and the danger of the lightings only because those headlights had been filed with big fat tears and their expression had been one of primal terror.
The boy was more frightened that her, whatever he was.
‒ Shit kid, sorry for startling you. Are you okay? ‒ The shoulder under her hand shuddered with a sob in response. Slowly, the light shining through her eyelids dimmed, so she blinked rapidly to get rid of the spots that his irises had left on her retinas.
The boy's eyes were still green, still glowing, but now their intensity was the one of a nightlight. Probably physical contact was being both a comfort and something grounding him from his (possible) panic attack. ‒ There, kid. We're safe under this rubber bleachers. No lighting will reach us while we're tucked this far away from the edges. ‒ The boy twitched a bit at the word, but settled at her gentle squeeze on his shoulder.
Gwen thanked every higher being she knew of for her homeroom teacher making the CPR class mandatory. There had been a section on how to help with panic attacks, so she followed the instruction she remembered.
‒ Are you up to speak right now or do you want me to try something else? Blink twice if you're still non-verbal. ‒ She requested, allowing the boy to get a quivering inhale and a heavy gulp.
‒ I th'nk I c'n… ‒ He coughed through the tears, almost choking and prompting her to sit beside him to pat his back.
‒ Easy there! We don't have to hurry, we'll be stuck here for a while. ‒ She reassured. ‒ I'm Gwen, nice to meet you despite the circumstances. But I guess that bonding on shitty rainy days isn't so bad, I mean we're sharing a common awful experience that we will laugh on later! ‒ She tried to distract the other from his phobia with humor.
That seemed to be the winning idea, because the boy stifled a gurgling laugh and the trembling subsided a bit. ‒ I g'ss. 'm D'nny.
‒ First year? ‒ She presumed, getting a nod. ‒ Yeah, the first impact of the High School Experience™ can be pretty terrifying in the normal circumstances, never mind with the added bonus of ghost attacks. ‒ At his flinch, she grimaced immediately. ‒ Sorry, are they a trigger for you?
He shook his head minutely, half-closing his eyes and thus dimming the light shining under the bleachers. ‒ F'ght th'm ever'day. J'st ann'ying. ‒ He slurred, looking suddenly tired.
Panic attack did that to people. What worried more Gwen was what the statement implied.
How could Danny fight ghost? He was so scrawny and even if the eyes-lightshow was bizarre (but nothing threatening), only adults fought against ghosts (that she knew about). …Maybe he was just delirious?
‒ Okay. ‒ Should she address the glowing eyes or the astraphobia?
Before she could decide, the weather anticipated her, making the ground shake from a thunder so loud that it seemed as if the lighting had crossed the sky directly above them, but with no flash. The instant later, had not been for Danny's eyes, they would have been plunged in total darkness, as if the sun had been swallowed by the thunderclouds or an eclipse.
They both recoiled, plastering themselves against the back of the steps, and stared at the biggest opening of the bleachers, where the heavy rain sounded as if it was increasing in intensity. Was it the work of a ghost after all?! Were they attempting to drown Amity Park?
Danny was taking it in the worst way possible, because whatever coherence he had managed to grasp during their conversation was gone and he was clinging to her left arm, as if trying to shield himself. Not that she could blame him: even if his delirious claim had been true, him being scared shitless of lightings/thunders must have overrode his "fighting experience".
At least his eyes were glowing brighter, allowing Gwen to see in green hues the structure under the bleachers.
Thunders were almost continuous now, varying only in pitch, alternating between a rumbling deep and an almost swishy high. The darkness seemed even to deepen outside Danny's cone of light.
Something was coming towards their location.
Gwen should have insisted more with her parents about buying the Fenton Deterrent™ keychain²*, at least she could have bought time to let them escape!
But no more time now.
Something had just landed outside their canopy by the sound of it, since after the deepest thunderclap, the rumbles had ceased and a thud could have been heard.
Gwen and Danny took a shuddering breath when under the green glow a massive black beak as big as their head came into view, followed by a humongous feathered head. The being's eyes were black pools, surrounded by an electric azure sclera that shone with their own inner light, as if they were made by caged lighting.
The bird-like entity peered at them, seemingly emotionlessly, then slowly it reared back, disappearing from the view. Gwen chanced a look at her fellow student, but he seemed too frozen by terror to even react in whichever emotional direction (be it either relief or scared anticipation).
A noise like a bomb exploding along with a blinding white-azure light assaulted the duo, together with a great gale that pushed them back. Danny had curled around her front a millisecond before the wind had crashed on them, allowing her to keep her breath, instead of being cut off by the air-force.
Gwen, driven by fear, clung on his back after circling his body with her arms, "using" him both as a shield and a lifeline, but at the same time ready to throw him over her shoulder to flee. She was tiny, but Danny was so scrawny that he didn't weight more than her backpack on its worst days.
As soon as she was able to see again, she blinked wildly and Danny shifted to plaster his back to her front and fully shield her, despite his terror. Why? He was quaking, for goodness' sake, how could he even be able to think in his evident full-swing panic attack?
(In fact, he wasn't. It was just his obsession acting up without conscious thought, like when he had dived to cover her from the air-force.)
In the bright shine of the boy's eyes, Gwen could barely make out a small-ish shape, hopping in the rain toward them and then stop on the threshold of the bleachers. After a brief hesitation, a bird the size of a chicken with a dark "X" pattern on its chest emerged from the darkness, shaking itself from the water that had collected on its feathers. …Which crackled with visible electricity when the bird ruffled them.
Danny recoiled back and, if Gwen hadn't been already convinced that he had astraphobia, this would have been the confirmation. In response, she squeezed her arms around his torso and slowly attempted to drag him and herself out from one of the sides of the bleachers. She didn't know if this was the same behemoth from before (but shrunken) or one of its chicks; nevertheless they had to stay as far away as possible from it.
Or at least, the urge was there until the being chirped like the Tesla coil from the Science Club. It sounded… forlorn. Was it a deception or was it genuine?
Apparently, the oddball-that-was-her-new-acquaintance Danny was the balance needle for this interaction, because, instead of shrinking back, he perked up, sucking a breath. …Had he understood the bird?
‒ What does it want? ‒ Gwen whispered, testing her theory.
‒ He f-felt my- me while flying above Amity. He thought that there was another of his kind hiding here. ‒ Danny's voice shook, but it seemed that facing a sentient being instead of a force beyond human comprehension (i.e. lighting) had made him more coherent.
‒ How can that be? Your lightshow is appreciated in dark places, but you're just a freshman. ‒ Gwen retorted, not unkindly. Given how much ectoplasm circled around Amity, she had figured out by now that this was a side effect of a contamination. Heck, one of her friends before Pariah had been stuck as invisible after a mosquito bite for a while³*!
‒ I was electrocuted at the start of this school year in an incident. ‒ His voice was barely audible above the strafe of the storm, but that made her heart drop.
Yeah, no wonder that he was terrified into a panic attack by the thunderstorm! Quickly Gwen, change topic! ‒ So now either he wants to bond with you even if you're not one of his kind or he's just disappointed and about to go away? ‒ She went back to the matter on hand.
The bird seemed to contemplate her words, before tweeting two electrical tunes that Danny translated. ‒ He wouldn't mind to know me better and I would like to as well, but… ‒ He shivered.
‒ Hey, you could ask him to tone down the electricity, couldn't you? ‒ She encouraged. ‒ Explain him why you're scared, since he's sentient and can understand us.
The cryptid-like bird hopped once to get close, then chirped something that Gwen assumed was a question, because Danny answered. ‒ E-electricity hurt me deeply. They told me I a-almost died for it, so… Even if I'm capable of what you said, I don't know if I would ever try to use it actively. I-I… ‒ He chocked a sob, curling on himself.
‒ Shh, it's okay to be upset. ‒ Gwen murmured, patting his torso to make him relax even a fraction. ‒ Deep breaths. ‒ While Danny attempted to follow her instruction, the girl looked at the avian entity, scrutinizing him. Am I really going to do this? When a soul-wrecking sob made her junior schoolmate shudder, the answer veered to "Hell yes". ‒ Excuse me, thunder-bird, since you can understand us, can you answer a question?
The supernatural entity tilted his head, as if curious, then nodded.
‒ Thank you. ‒ Better be respectful when addressing unknown beings until they could be trusted, Amity and Phantom had thought her as much. ‒ If, and only if, Danny decides to accept your companionship, will you stop anything you're doing whenever he will tell you to stop? ‒ While the context was on a completely different plane, this wasn't dissimilar to what Gwen would have done for any girl, while confronting their partner in their stead.
Consent, in whatever kind of relationship (either romantic or platonic, like this case), was the foundation to build a healthy rapport.
And Gwen was doing this only because Danny had said that he wanted to know this creature better.
The bird nodded without missing a beat, with no hesitation, and with a resolute aura. He hopped forward until he was right before the duo and bowed, displaying his wings on the sides of his body with not even a spark in sight. Even the rain seemed to have quieted down into a drizzle, while slowly the deep black darkness outside the bleachers faded into gray.
Gwen and Danny could leave whenever now, but the boy had to answer the avian being at least, even if it was a "no".
Green eyes dimmed down with the increasing natural light and with that, the tears faded a bit as well. Danny managed a shuddery inhale, but then nodded. Hesitantly, he somewhat managed to stay curled while distending his left arm that only now Gwen could see marred by a Lichtenberg scar thanks to the better light.
The supernatural bird straightened and gently nuzzled the fingertips that twitched at the contact, but then settled as no pain came. The boy relaxed a bit, daring to pet the bird, who, encouraged by his actions, hopped up on his hand, somehow managing to shrink down from chicken-size while doing so.
Now the avian eldritch(?) creature had the size and similar shape of a bluebird, but retained the bird-of-prey like beak and the two tassel-like plumes on his tail. The eyes were the same as well, but, since they were this small, they were less imposing than when it had been behemoth-sized. They seemed even expressive, now!
(If this was because Gwen wasn't afraid anymore, it's not for us to know.)
He chirped happily, gaining a smile from the previously hysteric and panicked boy, who dried his remaining tears with his right sleeve.
Gwen released her hold on the junior schoolmate and shifted to reach a part where the bleachers were high enough for her to stand and stretch away the tension. ‒ Well, what would you know, in Amity people can't get bored! ‒ She chuckled at Danny's startled expression that morphed into humor as well.
‒ Yeah. Thank you for helping me, Gwen. We wouldn't have managed to reach this conclusion without you. ‒ This much gratitude in Danny's now azure eyes was actually uncomfortable. She hadn't done that much really!
‒ I just did what any decent huma- sentient being would have done. ‒ She amended, broadening the term, in consideration to their company.
‒ Nonetheless, we're still grateful. ‒ The birdie nodded along.
‒ Then just keep me posted, if you can. Well, at least until the end of this school year. I want to make sure you both are okay. ‒ That surprised the boy, who blinked at her.
‒ Of course. ‒ A cell phone went off suddenly, startling the three of them.
Gwen fumbled desperately with her pockets to fish out her device to shut off the Pokémon ringtone. She had been the cool senior until now (even if accidentally, mind you), this was so embarrassing!
After shutting down the music, she turned to the opening of the bleachers, completely flushed. ‒ Well, that was my mother, I have to go. ‒ She glanced at the duo. ‒ See you on next lunch break?
Danny was grinning ecstatic, while the bird was tilting his head in confusion. ‒ Of course! You don't tell my secret and I don't tell yours? ‒ He teased.
‒ Deal! See ya Danny! ‒ She took off her blazer, ready to brave the drizzle while using the cloth as a shelter, when Danny added.
‒ Oh, you were right by the way! Animikii is a thunderbird!
¹* Searching on Wikipedia, Kibosh is the main antagonist of Casper (the Friendly Ghost) in several series.
²* Gadget designed as a stun grenade against ghosts. It looks like a metal keychain with a cartoonish classical sheets-ghost and the Fenton logo impressed on the side. By strongly pulling the chain then throwing the metallic figurine at the attacking ghost, it will "explode" into an harmless flash & boom that will buy the holder enough time to flee from danger (because it usually stuns ectoplasmic beings for five-to-ten seconds).
³* "Doctor's Disorders" episode reference.
A/N. And that's a wrap!
The thing about Gwen being chill for the glowing eyes and the alluded electrical abilities is because of "Doctor's Disorders" events.
After the episode, if someone accidentally gains temporary ghost powers is seen not as (too) odd anymore.
They will still have to contact either Phantom or the Fenton to get help, but after the Ghost Invasion and being pulled into the Ghost Zone, most of the Amity-parkers are resigned to "abnormality". ~(≧∇≦)~
In this AU Danny could have a double Electricity-Ice core as I read in some of Floralflowerpower's (and somebody else I don't remember at the moment) posts (I still haven't decided), but let's focus on the Electric part for a moment… ᴡʜᴏ ɪꜱ ɢᴏɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴍᴇɴᴛᴏʀ ʜɪᴍ?
I mean on one side (the Ice core), we have the canonical "Ice dad" Frostbite (thanks DP-Marvel94 for the nickname suggestion), but on the other (the Electric core) who could fit the role?
Enter Animikii the Thunderbird, who'll be both the mentor AND the emotional support/therapy "animal" for Danny to (at least partially) overcome the trauma of his half-death. Who wouldn't love a ball of feathers after all? (⁎˃ᆺ)
(I may continue this one-shot in the future if enough people are interested, so please let me know what you think! 〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜)
As for the description of the thunderbird, I plucked the majority of the details from what I found on the lore of North America indigenous population:
the "X" on its chest,
the huge size,
the bird-of-prey characterization
and the name: "The Ojibwa word for a thunderbird that is closely associated with thunder is animikii" [-cit. ReligionWikia page on Thunderbirds]).
However, the two long tail feathers came from the "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" interpretation.
While the HP franchise had been ruined by its authoress, the Thunderbird depiction in the first movie had been so majestic that that particular had stuck to me so much that I didn't realize it until I was writing this Author Note.
If you saw anything incorrect or offensive, please let me know. (シ_ _)シ
Hope you liked this, type ya tomorrow!
Will Day 04 be Goo or Glitter? Check in "Domestic Phantoms" and you'll find out!