Sneaking Dudley through the halls had proved tricky, but not as much as Casper had been expecting. The trio had gotten lucky, Mosshead was doing a skateboard stunt outside, and most of the students had went to watch him fail…and possibly get mildly hurt. They had put Dudley in a bucket and Casper draped his sweater over it. (he of course wore t-shirts under his sweaters) They had ran into the skeleton twins, but they were too busy taking about some "hot skeleton super villain in Mexico" to notice. Whoever the hell that is…
They finally got to Casper and Ra's room. Mantha promptly shut the door behind them and they released the bird into the room, who made some rather distressed honking noises at first, as if he had found the whole ordeal undignified. They quickly turned the bathroom into a makeshift pen for him, complete with food, (stolen from the cafeteria) water, and a bed that was a rolled up towel.
The three had played with Dudley for a bit, but soon Mantha had to go back to her dorm for the night, and Ra had to go to sleep. Casper stayed up for quite a while, hanging out with Dudley, watching movies on his phone. Eventually though he got tired and had to go to sleep.
Sadly, he didn't get much of it...
Casper awoke abruptly, terrified. He had the same nightmare as the previous night. Chased into a log by some monster he didn't get to see. And like the night before, he had frozen his side of the room. He took a hot shower, (which Dudley enjoyed as well, protesting when it was over) and then waited for morning.
Casper tapped his foot impatiently against the tiled floor. He was in history class. He had hoped to take Dudley to Cap, but the pirate hadn't arrived back yet. The pirate was visiting his mother, so Casper had been forced to go to class, and leave Dudley alone in his room.
Safe to say he felt incredibly anxious.
Mrs Hopper turned on a presentation about the great werewolf rebellion of 1927, the wolfs facing a crushing defeat at the hands of Kibosh.
He sighed. This was going to be awhile.
History was over, finally. He rushed and checked on Dudley, the little duck was fine. Sadly, Cap still wasn't back yet. Casper ate lunch in his room and then had to go back to class. There was Science class, and then Gym. After that, he could spend the rest of the day watching Dudley.
For now, he'd have to try and be patient…
Classes were finally over. The trio went to Casper and Ra's room, they stopped dead in their tracks when they noticed the door was open.
"Oh no…" Mantha muttered as they sprinted into the room and saw the bathroom door was also open.
Dudley was nowhere to be seen.
"Alright, no need to panic, we haven't heard any screaming, so nobodies seen him yet." Mantha assured, trying to calm down Casper, who was trying his best to do so.
"Where would a duck go at Scare School?" Ra scratched his head.
"He'll likely head for water" Casper answered. "You two check the docks. Since I can go through walls, I'll check the school."
Ra and Mantha nodded before heading off to the docks.
Casper started looking around the school, staying invisible the entire time. He had just phased into the hallway behind Mosshead and Slither, who were chatting. Their conversation sparked his interest.
"Did you hear that Alder and Dash found a duck in the school?" Mosshead stated.
"Like a normal one?" Slither raised a brow.
"Yeah! Weird, huh?" the troll laughed.
"What are they going to do with it?" Slither asked.
"I don't know, but I saw them take it to their office." Mosshead shrugged.
Casper wasted no time flying to Alder and Dash's office, phasing right into the building. Luckily Alder and Dash were nowhere to be seen, not that Casper really cared right now. He was far too worried about what they might have done to Dudley. He looked around frantically for his pet.
He didn't see the duck anywhere. He was getting incredibly worried, and he already was to begin with.
And then he noticed something on the desk.
He walked forward slowly, the room growing colder by the second. He swore his heart stopped.
On the desk was a plate. On the plate was a half-eaten cooked bird, Dudley's size. In a trash can next to the desk was a load of duck feathers.
"No…" Casper stumbled back, ice forming with his steps. He stumbled back onto the floor and then crawled back into a dark space of the room. He pulled his knees to his chest and rocked back and forth a little. "They wouldn't have…" Tear started to run from his terrified eyes. "They would have checked to see if it belonged to somebody first! …Right?... They would have checked first!" His breathing was shallow, his vison blurry. "They wouldn't have-"
"They would."
He didn't know what to do with himself. He felt consumed by sorrow and grief. He felt like the world was awful. Any everybody in it was too. But then he thought of his friends and he felt guilty for thinking that. But more than anything he felt mad.
Mad at Alder and Dash.
All they ever did was make him feel miserable! They tried at every turn to make his life awful! He was sick of it! He hated them! Hate! He wanted to…to…
He wanted to hurt them. He wanted to teach them what they truly were; scum. Awful disgusting scum, dirt to be thrown and stepped on! He wanted them to fear for their lives, to know the pain they caused him!
Casper held his head, it hurt, like something was pounding inside, trying to get out.
He wanted to throw things! Break something! He wanted to scream and laugh and cry!
He wanted havoc, and hellfire!
He was feeling so many things, he couldn't focus, the room was spinning, his head screaming, his body shaking, his eyes crying, his voice unable to speak. He saw red.
He felt consumed.
Thatch was walking past the science room when he noticed a rather unusual heartbeat. He focused in on it; It was shallow and fast, something small.
"HONK!"
He hissed and covered his ears, the sudden loud noise. The vampire looked into the doorway of the science class to see a duck in a cage on Mr. Burns desk, the dragon teacher trying writing notes down on a sheet of paper. "Oh great, he's got Caspers duck."
Thatch thought for a second before giving a big exhale, preparing for the stress this was going to cause. He walked into the classroom, Burns noticed him right away and smiled brightly.
"Oh thank god, he's in a good mood. That makes my job easier..."
"Thatch, look at this fantastic specimen that Alder and Dash found! It'll make for a wonderful dissection tomorrow!" the dragon stated enthusiastically.
"About that…Alder and Dash send me here to take it back."
"For what reason?" Burns raised a brow in suspicion.
"Turns out this Duck belongs to Ra…he has to take care of it for a day. It's some sort of a sacred ceremony from him family. So that he can prove his worth to...the gods." Thatch lied smoothly.
"…taking care of a duck proves his worth to the gods?" the dragon raised a scaly brow.
"Look, I don't understand the logic ether, but all I know is that if something happens to this duck, Ra's parents will be furious. And Alder and Dash would like to keep the rich parents happy, funding for the school and all that." The vampire waved it off.
"But…dissection… and then I could have roasted duck afterwards…" Burns sighed disappointedly.
Thatch shrugged.
"If you wanna keep the duck, then keep it, I'm just a student doing what I'm told. But if Ra's parents come to the school with a lawsuit, I think we both know who Alder and Dash will pin it on…And I'd hate to lose such a smart teacher…"
Mr. Burns looked rather worried for a second, side eyeing the duck.
"They're right, it's not worth the risk! The school needs my amazing intellect! Take the duck back to Ra!" Mr. Burns exclaimed.
Thatch forced himself not to smile. He picked up the cage and draped his jacket over the top, covering the water fowl from view.
"Alder also said that he didn't want to hear another word of this. He doesn't want to risk Ra's parents find out…Best to forget this entire thing ever happed, you know?" Thatch added
"Yes, that makes sense. Tell them everything is back in order."
"Will do."
Thatch quickly left the classroom, once he got far enough away, he gave a huge sigh in relieve. That worked out better than he had expected. He ran a hand through his hair, trying to calm himself down. In times like this, he really wished he could hypnotize people. But no, he had to be born weird. What kind of vampire was he without hypnosis powers?
He started walking down the hall, walking past a big window. He looked out the window for a second and quickly had to do a double take.
Alder and Dash's office was in flames.
Sometime easier;
The gargoyle guards outside the headmaster's office suddenly heard a large noise inside the building. They turned and looked each other confused for a moment, before running inside. They stepped a few feet into the room. Everything seemed normal.
Then a bookcase slammed on the floor behind them, blocking their exit. Before they could react, something red darted around them, tying them up in wires and bungee cords. Duct tape was slapped over their mouths before they could even scream.
The red thing in question, came to a standstill in front of them. It was covered in red fur, had deer like legs, and hoof like claws on its hands. His face was like the cross between a deer and a cat, with and evil, wide grin of sharp teeth. He had dark red unruly hair, and Ruby, crystalline, devil horns, with a long forked tail to match. His eyes were blue, with slit pupils of a darker, navy blue. Those eyes screamed insanity.
The creature laughed at them, his voice like a hyena mixed with an elk. He had wanted them to come in.
(cue Scissor Sisters "I can't decide.")
The figure leapt up onto the second story railing and started pulling books out of the wall shelf, ripping them apart and tossing them into a pile on the floor, it's creepy grin holding the entire time. The creature started tearing other things apart, like seats and lights, breaking everything he could. He tore open a safe and looked rather interested at what he found inside. He pulled out a bottle of fairy wine. He sniffed the lid carefully before ripping the cork out and chugging part of the drink.
He then started pulling out drawers until he found cleaning liquid and matches. He turned and looked at the poor gargoyles. They saw the look on the creatures face and frantically shook their heads back and forth. The creature just smiled. He began pouring the highly flammable cleaning liquid onto the pile of papers and books, as well as around the room. He chugged a bit more of the fairy wine before throwing it into the pile as well.
The creature then waltzed over to the desk and pulled a rabbit cage out from under it. He grabbed a picture on the desk and tossed it inside the cage, before sprinting over and placing the cage/bunny next to the gargoyles.
He then threw a couch through a window, loudly shattering it. (the window, not the couch,)
He then grabbed the matches again, and stuck the entire box against the wall. All the matches lit up and he tossed them into the alcohol soaked pile, it lit up in flames like a firework.
The creature leapt over to the gargoyles and the bunny, grabbed them, then leapt out the broken window. He jumped down to the stairwell and leapt off of the railings until he reached the ground, where he promptly left the gargoyle and rabbit, laughed mischievously, and ran off and out of sight.
The gargoyles sat there and watched the building go up in flames, the sun setting behind it.
Thatch stared at the on fire building. That can't be a good sign…but he didn't hear any alarms in the school, so how bad could it be? Either way, it served for a good distraction. He could see a crowd of people gathering outside. He was about to leave when he turned and saw Mantha, like 4 inches in front of him, glaring at him. He flinched and jumped back a little.
Her hands were on her hips and she looked mad as hell. Down the hall he heard running footsteps, he looked past her shoulder to see Ra slide around the corner and into the hall. He jogged over to Mantha, he was out of breath, clearly winded.
"D-damn Mantha…y-you can run!" The mummy coughed out, hands on his knees
Mantha kept glaring at Thatch. She extended her hand out.
"Give me the bird." She demanded coldly.
"Ok." Thatch answered casually without skipping a beat.
Mantha was taken aback, her expression becoming extremely confused.
"…What?" She raised a brow.
"You're gonna take it to Casper, right?" Thatch asked monotone.
"Yeaaah…Wait, how do you know he's Casper's pet?" She looked at him suspiciously.
Thatch smirked and rolled his eyes. "I was at the docks last night; I saw you guys sneak him into the school."
"Oh…" she blinked, then became confused again. "Why do you have him? I heard Mr Burns had him."
"Tricked Burns, got the bird." He smirked and held up the cage for emphasis.
(and Mr burns would likely give him a different bird if he ever found out.)
"…but why?" Mantha asked, still a bit confused.
"Humm?" Thatch raised a brow.
"Why are you helping? You hate us."
"Burns was gonna kill him. I'm awful, but I'm not 'Let someone's pet be eaten' levels of awful." He rolled his eyes again, crossing his arms. "And besides, if one of his pets died, Casper would be so depressed, he'd ignore all my teasing. And where's the fun in that?" Thatch lied, looking away to hide the slight blush on his face.
"…well, ok then…" She muttered, still suspicious.
Thatch handed her the cage and was about to walk away, but then turned back. "Oh, Ra,-" He didn't see the mummy anymore.
Mantha turned around as well, and didn't see him ether. Then they both looked down and saw Ra was on the floor, flat on his back, looking exhausted.
"Why were you two running up here anyways?" The vampire snapped at Mantha in a confused kind of way.
"We were outside looking at the fire, then I saw you in the window, holding the cage." She side eyed him in a glare.
"Oh…" he mumbled with an embarrassed blush.
Ah yes, a master of stealth.
"Anyways," Thatch continued. "Ra, if anyone mentions something about an ancient family ceremony involving a duck and the gods, just pretend you know what they're talking about."
The mummy raised a brow at him from the floor. "What?"
"Don't ask." The vampire waved it off as he left.
There was a moment of silence as Mantha looked out the window at the burning building, the sea monster desperately trying to spit water on it.
She then turned her attention Ra on the floor.
Mantha; "Are you ok?"
Ra; "I think I need cpr."
Mantha; "Yeah, you're ok."
Ra; "Aw."
Mantha and Ra found Casper in his bed, quietly sobbing. They gave each a confused and concerned look.
"Casp…we found Dudley…" Ra stated quietly.
Casper shot up in bed and turned around. What followed were various cries of happiness that were too distressed to be understood. The ghost hadn't even bothered opening the cage, he stuck his arms through the bars and phased Dudley through them, and into a tight hug.
Mantha and Ra exchanged a shocked look. They didn't know he could make other things, or people, intangible. They thought he could only do that to himself.
Buuuut, now was not a good time to ask about it.
"I-I thought you had been eaten by A-Alder and D-Dash!" Casper cried and gave Dudley a kiss on the head.
"What?" Mantha muttered in confusion.
"W-where did you find him?!" Casper choked out, whipping tears away with his sleeve.
"Actually, Thatch found him." Ra pointed out.
"He didn't want you to become too distracted for his bulling." Mantha snorted in annoyance.
The ghost looked at them with confusion.
"Thatch…saved Dudley?"
"Yeah, but."- Mantha was interrupted as Casper handed her the duck, a giddy smile on his face.
"Wait-what are you doing!?" She shouted at him as he started to fly off.
"To go thank Thatch!" He exclaimed over his shoulder, and flew off.
Thatch was in his room, by himself, minding his business. When suddenly he is hugged very tightly by somebody. He was about to hiss at the person, but then noticed it was Casper, so he blushed instead.
"What the hell are you-" He muttered under his breath in both a fluster and confusion.
"Thank you for saving Dudley!" Casper exclaimed happily.
"You mean the duck, it's not a big deal!" the vampire hissed in embarrassment.
He was even more flustered when the ghost grabbed his face and kissed him on the cheek.
Thatch's face burned. His brain stopped working as well, he couldn't form a sentence to save his life.
Casper backed up and smiled at the vampire, his face glowing blue.
"It's a big deal to me." He gave a smile full of thankfulness, almost crying again.
And without another word, Casper flew off.
Thatch held his cheek and stumbled back onto the top of his coffin.
His brain was actively trying to refuse to process what just happened.
Future readers, look up the old Casper episode; "Fright from Wrong" for better context about this chapter X3 I already know my current only two readers have seen it XD