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Chapter 297: I Could Totally Be a David

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"Ah," said Danny, internally screaming. Screaming, because apparently Nocturne could have done that whenever he wanted. Internally, because he didn't want to scare off his sibling.

They looked just like they did in Vlad's lab, before they destabilized. It was sort of eerie, especially since Danny's appearance had changed since then, like looking at the past.

The newly-reformed ghost pushed themselves up, so they were sitting on Danny's knees, and started rubbing their eyes. It was vaguely uncomfortable. Danny braced himself for them to either run, scream, or attack.

"Good morning, little one," said Nocturne, making the clone freeze.

"Um," said the other ghost. "You aren't father."

"No, we-" started Danny. "Wait, do you mean Vlad?"

"Yeah? Who else would I mean?" The clone yawned, then squinted sleepily at Danny. They reached out and squished Danny's cheeks between their hands.

"Um?" said Danny.

"You're not one of the other clones. You're the original, aren't you?"

"Yep, that's me," said Danny with a grin he hoped wasn't too forced. They weren't running. They weren't screaming. Maybe it was because he hadn't fought this ghost; they'd been asleep the whole time.

"And… where are we?"

"In the Ghost Zone, near Libra."

"Okay," said the clone.

"Okay?"

"Yeah, I have no idea what Libra is. How am I here? Dad said that I wasn't stable enough to come out of the tube." The clone leaned over to push on the mattress with one hand, an expression of curiosity on his face. "So, this is what a real bed feels like."

"Yeah," said Danny, "about that…"

.

Before Danny had gotten very far past the 'you melted' part (which had been taken surprisingly well), the clone started to nod off. Nocturne took this as a cue to steal the clone and bury them underneath the mountain of pillows (which had gotten bigger).

Alright then. Danny could see who was going to claim this Phantom.

Which. Yes. They all had been seeing the pattern, believe it or not. A Phantom for every Ancient. It was still kind of weird how well they all fit.

Speaking of which, he needed to tell the others about the good news. He floated to the door and made sure to open and close it as quietly as possible.

"Hello, Daniel."

Danny jumped. Then scowled. "You did that on purpose," he accused Clockwork.

"Perhaps," said Clockwork, agreeably. "I understand you have something you want to share?"

Danny smiled at the reminder. "Yeah," he said. "The last one, the 'perfect' clone, they're awake, now." He sniffled, tears gathering at the corners of his eyes. "They didn't attack me. I can't believe they're all awake. I'm so glad."

Clockwork patted him on the shoulder, the gesture turning into a comfortable grip. "Shall we go, then?"

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They ate lunch together on one of the rooftops. Someone had brought café tables and umbrellas up there, or… grown them there? Manifested them there? Or had they just happened to fall there? Danny wasn't entirely clear how the café tables were there, or how long they'd been there, but they were there, on top of the Regency Council, and it would be a shame not to use them. The spot gave a good view of Libra and Walker's prison and it was big enough for all of them.

All of them being Danny, Clockwork, Tucker, Tucker's parents, all the clones who were there, and their associated guardians. Ellie and Pandora, Damien and Fright Knight, Dustin and Frostbite, and the new clone and Nocturne.

(Nephthys and Dan were out doing something else, apparently. It sounded important.)

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"Alright!" said Nephthys. "We're going to play two truths and a lie!"

Kitty leaned over to whisper at Johnny, the points of her nails digging at the table. "Why am I here?"

"Because Lady Nephthys is terrifying and you didn't want to leave me alone?"

"Forget why you're here," said Skulker, interrupting Nephthys's description of the rules. "Why am I here? This wasn't in the job description!"

Nephthys smiled prettily at him. "Because I invited you."

"You told me there was a great quarry here! An elusive beast! This is entrapment, I say!"

"I agree," drawled Dan. "This is embarrassing to all of us."

"But mostly you," said Johnny, sagely. Behind him, Shadow nodded.

Dan glared. He still hadn't forgiven that scrap.

"Now, now," said Nephthys, "all of you have to expand you social circles! Embrace change!"

"I'm not hugging you," said Dan, flatly.

Nephthys chuckled. "You say that now."

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The unnamed ghost tugged on the hem of his star-spangled pjs (no, Danny didn't know where he'd gotten them from, but he'd guess Nocturne) and frowned at his food. "Huhhhhhhh," he said.

"Do you not like ham?" asked Danny, stuffing some more lettuce into his own sandwich. It kept trying to fly away. "Or is it the tomatoes? You can take them off if you don't want them."

"Would you like your bread toasted?" asked Pandora, who had sandwiches in three of her four hands.

All the Phantoms shuddered.

"No," said the unnamed clone. "Thanks. Just. Eating. Are you sure I have to?"

"It would be healthier for you," said Frostbite. He set aside the knife he was using to hollow out his loaf of bread and started stuffing it with mayonnaise (Danny shivered again). "You are liminal, and that takes maintenance. But, according to the data from your siblings, you should be able to survive for quite some time without human food."

"That's not pleasant, though," said Danny. "At least, the opposite version wasn't. I didn't know I needed to eat ectoplasm at first, so—"

"I know. It's just that eating sounds so weird. Like, I'm supposed to put this in my face and grind it to a pulp. That's weird."

"I could show you how it works, if you want," offered Damien, a few crumbs falling past his lips in the process.

"That's… I mean, we could get you some soup? Or a smoothie?"

"Can't I just have an IV or something instead? That's how Dad monitors my nutrition."

"Yeah," said Ellie, "considering that he was going to melt all the rest of us and pull a kill and replace with Danny, I'd take everything he did with a grain of salt."

"That's a logical fallacy," grumbled the unnamed ghost. "Ad hominem."

"Does Vlad count as a hominid, though?" asked Danny.

"What?"

"What?"

"Yep," said Damien, "I'm confused."

The unnamed clone leaned back with a sigh. "Did Dad really try to kill you?"

"They went over it quite a bit at the trial," said Mr. Foley. He swallowed heavily. "I think they decided it was ambiguous, right dear?"

"Possibly," said Mrs. Foley.

"He did say that I was going to be obsolete and then he electrocuted me a bunch," said Danny. "But he has gotten better since then. We might even get him to apologize for real one of these days."

"That's such a low bar," said Ellie.

"Sorry," said the unnamed ghost, hunching their shoulders. "He was nice to me."

"Yeah," said Damien, "we understand that feeling."

Nocturne patted his new charge on the head. "Not to worry, I can be your new dad."

"Has anyone ever told you that you move kind of fast?"

Clockwork made a tiny little 'heh,' sound.

"Oh, don't be a Pokémon about this," said Nocturne, dismissively.

"I can make it so you were never formed," said Clockwork.

"You'd never compromise your own timeline like that… Is what I'd say if I thought you could time travel like that right now."

"If this turns into a fight," said Pandora, "I can referee."

"It isn't going to turn into a fight," protested Clockwork.

"You guys really have been going at this for five thousand years," said Danny.

He chose not to contemplate what a fight between Dreams and Time would look like. Death and Time had been scary enough.

"Sadly," said Clockwork.

"On and off," agreed Nocturne. He patted the clone on the head again. "What if we started you off with something to drink? Warm milk, perhaps?"

"Yeah, that would probably be easier than… this…" They poked at the sandwich.

"I'll eat it if you're not going to!" offered Damien.

The unnamed ghost pushed their plate at Damien, crossed his arms on the table, and put their head down on them.

"Are you alright, dear?" asked Mrs. Foley.

The ghost offered a thumbs up. "Just tired."

"Being around Nocturne will certainly cause that," said Clockwork.

"And being around you causes confusion," said Pandora.

"That is often my goal, yes."

"So," said Danny, "in the interest of not falling asleep at the table—"

"Not interested in that."

"Yes, you are. Trust me, if you fall asleep in the middle of a gathering—"

"Does this count as a gathering?" asked Damien.

"Someone will draw on your face."

"There are exceptions," said Tucker. "But this is definitely not one of them."

The ghost glared over their arms. "Are you threatening to draw on me if I fall asleep?"

"No, they're warning you that I'll draw on you if you fall asleep," said Ellie.

"We'd probably help, though," admitted Danny.

"Wouldn't stop her, anyway," agreed Tucker.

"Now, as I was saying, have you thought of a name?"

"Can't I just use Daniel?"

"No, I'm Daniel. Too confusing."

"She's Danielle."

"Yeah, but I go by Ellie."

"We also already have a Dan."

The ghost rolled their eyes. "It isn't as if there's a limit on how many Daniels there can be in the world. Besides, most people call you Danny, right?"

"Sure," said Danny, "but Clockwork calls me Daniel."

"And there really should be a limit on the number of siblings that have the same name," said Ellie.

"This is so exhausting. Why did I even wake up?"

"So you wouldn't be a naked core floating in a jar," said Nocturne, returning with a few glasses and a faintly steaming pitcher, "and because I asked you to. But if you truly dislike being awake so much, you could become a coral sponge? The gardens were decimated under Pariah's rule."

"I don't know what that is, so I'm going to say no. For now." They yawned. "I'll have to find out later."

Nocturne poured the ghost a glass of milk. "I will have to show you them sometime. They are quite striking. You, too, Daniel. A king should know all manner of his subjects."

"I'm still a prince."

"Details," said Nocturne, waving off the concern.

"Important details," said Danny. "If you don't know any other names, we could go get some books."

"I know other names! This is just silly." He raised the glass of milk to his lips and downed it in one go. "We've got a theme. All D names."

"Yep," chorused the D named ghosts.

"Except for Jazz," pointed out Ellie. "But then, she's not a clone of D number one, so…"

"Or a murderous alternate future version of him," said Damien.

"He's been cutting back on the murder," said Danny. "I don't think he's done it in—Oh, gross, I'm defending him. I'm going to have to shower." He shuddered with his full body.

"I guess I could just… go with Dream or something."

"Better to avoid that timeline," said Clockwork with a bit of a grimace.

"What?" asked Nocturne. "Why? It's a perfectly lovely name."

"Just is."

"O-kay. Guess that's been deemed inauspicious by the local fortune teller."

Clockwork adopted a hilariously offended expression.

"Which leaves me with…" They trailed off.

"You really don't know other names, do you?" teased Ellie.

"Shut up. I could be a David."

Ellie blinked. "Are you sure?"

"Why wouldn't I be sure?"

"I don't know. I just thought you might pick something less… I don't know. Traditional."

"What?"

"It's just a vibe you give off," explained Ellie, making a vague gesture in the other ghost's direction.

"Now I want to be David just to annoy you."

Danny would be more concerned about that if ghostly relationships didn't seem to thrive off spite. "I mean," he said, wanting to be fair, "you can always change it later. After you learn more names."

David waved their hand at him. "Hush, you."

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David uses they/them pronouns. :)