Darkzdragon 'Onyx': *Flips closed a book* Another one complete… *Looks around* At least I'll be able to fill my time with reading until Fox or Dora find a suitable match for my 'fiance'...
DarkFoxKit: *Comes into the library* Hey Onyx, I need some advice. Do you think we should go with the classic glass slippers or just go with high heels?
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': What…? Glass… no, no glass slippers. That sounds like a death trap waiting to happen. And I hope I'm answering that for the being you found to replace me and not me.
DarkFoxKit: *Looks at the dragon sized shoes behind her*
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': They're for me… aren't they… *Sighs* Shouldn't you be out looking for someone to replace me?
DarkFoxKit: I was, but Prince Aragon is getting impatient and bored. So Princess Dora told me to come back and try to entertain him while she continued looking for his replacement bride. I might not be doing such a great job since he's already getting tailors to make your dress.
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Please try to find a way to hold off this wedding for as long as possible. I'm begging you, Fox.
DarkFoxKit: Hmm… well I might have some ideas, but it'll take some time to put into motion. *Grins* Just try to not be bored for a bit, I'll be back soon~
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': I'll probably be here, reading… hoping you and Dora find a replacement.
DarkFoxKit: Just be prepared to run, and possibly hide, and maybe even scream. *Smiles sinisterly as she slinks off into the shadows*
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': … What?
Chapter 55: A Fluffy Friend
I unwrapped the box that Jazz gave me. It was pretty big, the size was enough for me to be able to wrap my arm around it. What could be in this box?
When I finished unwrapping the box, I opened it up and… I felt my blood draining from my face when I saw what was inside.
"Aren't you going to take it out of the box?" Jazz asked as she looked at me expectantly.
No… what I saw in the box… it's already staring at me with those evil beady little eyes. I felt my body trembling a little.
"Andy, don't you dare start locking up on me," Jazz said with a warning tone. "It isn't Bearbert, so you have no reason to fear it."
I finally found my voice and said, "Jazz… what were you thinking? What is this monstrosity!?"
"Firstly it isn't a monstrosity, secondly I was thinking that instead of trying to work my way around your problem, I would address it head on," Jazz responded with a small smile. "That usually is Danny's response to his problems and it has a surprisingly successful track record."
"Yeah well, Danny didn't have to face this!" I turned the box upside down, letting out the thing inside onto the floor.
"Andy, you need to realize that it isn't going to harm you, it is a simple teddy bear," Jazz stated.
"What kind of teddy bear is this?" I asked, pointing at it. "It's half white and half pink, and it's got a black eye on the white side and a red eye on the pink!" I noticed it also had a golden ribbon tied to the ear on the pink side, but that was beside the point.
"It's supposed to be cute and unique, Andy," Jazz answered as she walked over and picked the teddy bear off the floor. "As for the one red eye, maybe it's part of the design, or this one just got a different colored eye by mistake. Do you really think something this adorable would hurt you?"
"It's their adorableness that makes them deadly. They'll draw you in, and strike when you least expect it," I hissed as I glared at the white and pink bear in her arms.
"Well, I didn't know you were that judgemental," Jazz said with a sigh. "That would be like me saying that all ghosts are the same and they're all evil and deadly and you know for a fact that it would be an untrue statement. You don't know that all teddy bears are the same, for all you know, this one will protect you from Bearbert."
I frowned and shook my head, "Jazz… you know that I just don't like teddy bears. Why couldn't you have just gotten me a rabbit plushy or something?"
"Because you don't have a problem with rabbit plushies, you have a problem with teddy bears," Jazz instantly responded. "I'm here to help you with your issue, not to let it go on, especially since it was my fault you have this issue in the first place. Now, how about a little bit of a compromise or a solution to you thinking that it may hurt you? I got you little accessories for the teddy bear that should make you feel a bit better."
"Accessories? How is that going to make me feel better? I'd still have to deal with the whole teddy bear problem, accessories or not," I said with a frown. "And I'm not a little kid, why would I even play with a teddy bear in the first place?"
"Because its therapeutic," Jazz answered as she walked over and grabbed the box that I had tossed and reached inside. I heard her ripping some tape off from the inside of the box before she pulled out another smaller box. "Go ahead and open this, I promise there isn't a teddy bear in that one. It's the accessories that I think will help you."
I raised an eyebrow at Jazz, "Yeah well, unless it's an accessory that protects me from that bear, I'm not interested."
"It could be just that," Jazz said as she held out the smaller box. "There are mittens, booties, and other stuff that would cover up the teddy bears paws and mouth. That should help you to feel a bit better since that would leave the paws and mouth useless."
Mittens and booties? I don't see how that will stop a demonic bear. I frowned to myself, but I took the smaller box from Jazz anyways.
"They have elastic bands and you can even add little padlocks to the accessories to make sure that the teddy bear can't take them off," Jazz said with a smile.
"Jazz, how would you know I wouldn't just toss the bear out after you leave me alone with it?" I asked.
"Because you know that if you don't use that bear to deal with your problem I can always go find others," Jazz answered stubbornly. "I went out of my way to find the least intimidating and cutest looking teddy bear possible."
I looked at the bear again and sweatdropped. A half white and half pink teddy bear with a red eye was the least intimidating one?
"It's either this or I'll get a Bearbert of your own," Jazz threatened.
I shuddered as I thought about being haunted by a Bearbert of my own.
"Well, what's your choice? Take this bear and deal with your problem or would you prefer a Bearbert of your own?" Jazz asked. "And you can't just hide it either, I will check in at random times to make sure you're working on your problem and not just running away from it."
I hate it when she gets this way. I frowned to myself. "Fine, fine, fine, I'll take this… bear and try to deal with my… problem."
"Where are you going to store it?" Jazz asked. "When not using it to deal with your problem I want to have it somewhere out in the open where you can always see it. If you're watching it than it can't do anything, right?"
"I don't know, I'll probably put it on my desk or something," I said. I'll probably not get any sleep tonight.
"That'll work just fine," Jazz said as she walked over and put the teddy bear on my desk. "Oh and according to the label on the box that it was in, it's name is Hope."
"Why Hope?" I asked. Of course it has a cutesy name, all those teddy bears do.
"I think the story on the box said that Hope was born of the culmination of all the hope in the world," Jazz answered before she gave a small shrug. "But in reality it's probably just a really cute name. It does fit really well to the situation, because I hope that she'll help you get over your issue."
"Whatever," I grumbled. "Is there anything else, Jazz?"
"Nope, you can look at those accessories and put them on Hope if you want and then get to whatever you were planning on doing before I showed up," Jazz said with a smile. "I just want you to take some time out of your schedule tonight to spend with Hope."
"Yeah sure," I said with a strained smile. "I'll spend some time with Hope." Spending time to find a good reason to get rid of her.
"And remember what I said, if Hope makes a sudden disappearance than you get a special Bearbert teddy bear all for yourself," Jazz warned, almost like she read my thoughts. "Now, I have some books I would like to read, so I'm going to get going."
I watched Jazz leave my room, closing the door behind her. As soon as Jazz was gone, I looked over at the white and pink teddy bear called Hope.
"Great, what am I going to do with you now?" I grumbled to nobody in particular as I flipped the accessory box around in my hands.
I opened up the accessory box to see exactly what was inside. There were mittens, booties like Jazz said, but surprisingly there were also a few teddy bear sized diapers in here as well as something that looked like a pacifier but meant for toys, and there were also a few small locks in the box. There were a few other things in the box that I couldn't identify without picking them out as they were beneath the locks.
I couldn't help but feel a little insulted at this. Does Jazz really think I'd play with a teddy bear like a little kid? I don't care about the accessories, I just want this bear gone as soon as possible. But Jazz won't let me get rid of the bear unless 'my issues' are resolved. I could try lying… no, Jazz would see right through me. Maybe I should ask Danny for help…
I nodded to myself, there was no way in the coldest reaches of the Ghost Zone would I willingly touch this teddy bear, let alone use the accessories on it. I closed the accessory box and put it on my desk, a little bit away from the teddy bear, and left my room. I needed to get away from that thing for now so I could come up with a plan to rid myself of it.
I walked into the living room to see Danny was writing something down on a notepad.
"Danny?" I said, catching his attention.
"Hey, bro, what's up?" Danny asked before he raised an eyebrow. "Actually, what's wrong, because I can tell something is bothering you. It has to be something big to visibly bother you."
I frowned before I sighed, "Jazz gave me a gift."
Danny raised his eyebrow even more. "She did?"
"Yes… It was a teddy bear. An unusual kind of teddy bear, but a teddy bear nonetheless," I answered. "And she threatened to give me a Bearbert if I try to dispose of the teddy bear."
"Ahhh, so she finally doubled down on dealing with your teddy bear phobia," Danny remarked. "That explains why you look so…" Danny looked down at his work sheet. "Distraught?"
"... Ugh, what am I going to do, bro?" I asked before I started to pace back and forth. "I can't get rid of the teddy bear, or Jazz will bring in another Bearbert. I can't live with the teddy bear, because I'll never get a moment of peace. I can't ignore the teddy bear, or Jazz will make sure I spend time with it herself. What makes her think I can just play with a stupid teddy bear and be all hunky dory about it!?"
Danny looked down and frowned, "Uh Andy, you might want to calm down."
I frowned before looking down myself and saw my legs were phasing through the floor. I managed to stop myself from sinking down and pulled myself back up, making my legs solid again. I usually had better control over my powers, but the emotional distress was making me lose some control.
"There's really only two options, I think, since we're dealing with Jazz's perseverance," Danny said. "You could deal with the problem head on like Jazz wants. Or you could… I don't know, tie it up, make it so it's unable to move, that way it makes you feel a bit better so you'd be able to deal with it more easily."
"... Do we have any duct tape I can use?" I asked.
"I doubt Jazz would let you use duct tape," Danny pointed out. "But you could always tie it up tightly with string or something."
"Fine, I suppose that's better than nothing," I sighed. "I better go before Jazz comes and forces me to spend time with that thing."
"There should be some string in our art supplies container in one of our bedroom closets," Danny said.
At least Danny isn't trying to think of ridiculous nicknames for me again. I nodded before I headed upstairs, back into my room.
When I opened the door, I noticed something very strange. The teddy bear that Jazz got me wasn't on my desk, instead it was sitting on the windowsill.
"What the heck?" I said out loud to myself. "Jazz must be messing with me… right?"
That doesn't make sense though, if Jazz was trying to help me overcome my fear of teddy bears, why would she move it? I looked at the teddy bear.
I guess I'll have to move it back? I frowned to myself. Maybe that's what Jazz is trying to do, make me pick it up. I picked up Bearbert before, this shouldn't be too hard…
I reached over to grab the bear. My hand hesitated for a few seconds, I was trying my hardest to not tremble. My hand wavered near the bear for a few seconds before I finally touched the teddy bear. The teddy bear was surprisingly extremely soft and fluffy, way more than Bearbert was. I picked up the teddy bear and quickly but stiffly walked over to my desk before putting it down. When I put the teddy bear down on the desk and let go of it, I released my breath that I didn't know I was holding.
"Okay… glad that's over with," I said in relief. "Now, I just got to find some string…" Oh wait, I remember seeing other items in the accessory box. Maybe I can see if there are any accessories that would be useful after all.
I picked up the accessory box and opened it before I dumped it out on my desk. I saw that among the accessories I identified there were also what looked like outfits for the teddy bear as well as some ribbons. Those ribbons are probably there in case the child who would play with this thing wanted to change out the ribbon on the ear.
I picked out a very long, blue ribbon from the pile of accessories on my desk. This looks like it'll work just fine for what I have planned.
I walked closer to the teddy bear that was sitting oh so innocently on my desk. I'm not going to take any chances. I began to wrap the teddy bear up with the ribbon, making sure it was nice and tight before I tied the end of the ribbon into a knot.
"I don't know why my sister would think I would play with a teddy bear," I said as I put the spare accessories back into the box and closed it back up. "But as long as she sees me 'spending time' with it and that it hasn't disappeared, I'm not breaking any of her rules. She never said I couldn't tie it up, in fact she probably even got me the accessories knowing I might use it for this exact purpose."
When I was satisfied that the teddy bear was tied up nice and tight, I decided to stay in my room and do my homework for the evening. At first I worked at my desk, but even though I tied up the teddy bear, I grew uncomfortable. At a certain point I simply decided to switch over to Danny's desk since he wasn't using it and finish my homework there.
After I had finished my homework, had dinner with my family and cleaned myself up and got ready for the first long nights of many, I sat down on my bed as Danny came in himself. Danny looked over at my desk, seeing the still tied up teddy bear on it.
"That's the teddy bear Jazz got you?" Danny asked me.
"Yes, that's the one," I said. "Do you see any other teddy bears around here?"
"No, I was just saying that it doesn't look all that scary," Danny continued.
"I never said it looked scary, just unusual," I grumbled. "Of course nobody would think a teddy bear was scary, otherwise their tactics wouldn't work."
"Bro… it's late, please don't start this conversation again," Danny said with a yawn. "Especially since it's my turn to do the early morning rounds… I'd prefer to have more than one or two hours of sleep."
"It's fine, I already tied it up. It shouldn't bother us tonight," I said, but I still glared at it.
"Yeah, I can see that," Danny said before he stripped down to his underwear, he then put on a pair of pink pajamas. "You sleeping in that?"
Danny pointed at my t-shirt and pants.
"Maybe," I grumbled.
"Don't be stubborn, we both know that you hate going to sleep with your day clothes on," Danny said. "Just put on some PJs and try to get some sleep, if you can't fall asleep by the time my alarm is set to go off to do the morning rounds than you can turn off my alarm and take the rounds yourself. I could use the extra sleep…"
"Maybe I will," I sighed before I went over to my closet. "I'm not sure if I'll even be able to sleep tonight…"
I took out my blue PJs before taking my clothes off and putting the PJs on. I looked over to see Danny was already under the covers of his own bed.
"Hit the lights when you're done changing," Danny mumbled from under his covers.
"Yeah sure," I said as I walked over to the light switch and turned off the lights. I headed over to my bed and got under the covers.
"Night… bro," Danny said with a loud yawn.
"Goodnight, Danny," I said.
Not long after I said my goodnights to Danny, he was already softly snoring. Lucky dog, he can fall asleep that quick while I'm still wide awake…
I looked up from my bed, seeing the teddy bear still on my desk, tied up. I need to relax. It's just a stupid plush with stuffing inside. Why am I so scared of it? This is so pathetic…
I laid my head back down onto my pillow. I didn't feel very comfortable in this position. I tried to move around a little bit, but I still felt uncomfortable. I started to shift around more in my bed, but nothing was helping me to feel comfortable. I think I moved around too much, because I felt my bed frame bumping into the wall. Suddenly the blinds on the window next to me fell, startling me.
I looked at the blinds, frowning. Dad didn't do a great job installing those blinds on the window. I looked over at Danny. He's still asleep. I looked over at my desk. The moonlight was shining through the now blind-less window. I felt my heart beating faster when I looked at the teddy bear. The red eye looked like it was glowing sinisterly in the moonlight. There was no way I was going to be able to sleep looking at that. I pulled my blanket over my head. Feeling like if I hid my head away, the teddy bear couldn't get me.
I can't believe this. I can fight with ghosts, an army of ghosts, yet I'm scared of a stupid teddy bear in the moonlight. I shook my head. I can't help but feel scared, but I didn't want to wake Danny up for something he sees as petty, all I could do was stay under my blanket and hope that morning will come soon. Though I was a bit surprised that Danny didn't wake up when my blinds came crashing down.
After what felt like hours of my hiding my head under my blanket, there was something that made my ears twitch. I fought to keep my breathing under control so I could listen to whatever it was that I heard a second before. After getting my breath under control, I heard what sounded like soft grunting coming from the direction of Danny's bed.
Huh… maybe it's just Danny having a dream or something that's causing him to make noises in his sleep I thought to myself as I heard the grunting go on for a bit before it stopped. Looks like he settled down.
I opened my eyes under my blankets since I knew at this point I wasn't going to fall asleep. I looked up at the underside of my blanket and saw that moonlight was hitting it, causing a good portion of it to light up. Suddenly, a portion of the moonlight hitting my blanket was blocked. Whatever object was blocking the moonlight slowly moved across the bed sheet until it stopped. After stopping, I saw that it started to turn, and to my horror the object slowly became defined as that of a small bear. The shadow then shrunk down and I could hear the window latch being slowly moved.
This is not my imagination. Something or someone is definitely in here! I quickly got out from under my blanket and turned towards the uncovered window. It was there that I saw that pink and white teddy bear, standing on the windowsill, moving by its own will, and it was no longer tied up.
"Ah-ha!" I yelled out.
The pink and white teddy bear jumped before it turned around towards me. Both of us simply stared at each other, a smirk adorning my face. Danny and Jazz will have to believe me now!
I then heard groaning from behind me before a soft object hit the back of my head. Looking back, I saw it was a pillow.
"Andy… go back… to sleep…" Danny groaned before he started snoring again.
Seriously? How could he just go back to sleep like that? I looked back at the living teddy bear.
It looked at me before I saw its mouth open up, which was surprising enough, but then it began to speak.
"Open the window," The pink and white teddy bear that was named 'Hope' said in a soft, high pitch feminine voice.
I frowned at it, half expecting the teddy bear to jump at me with a chainsaw or something.
"You don't want me to be here," Hope said. "And I don't want to belong to a child that won't love me, especially if that child is a freaky teenager with a seriously strange teddy bear phobia."
"I'm not strange, and it's not a phobia," I hissed. "You're clearly alive, so I was right to suspect you."
"Congratulations, you found the only living teddy bear," Hope said sarcastically. "Now, are you going to let me go? I mean you do want me gone as much as I want to be gone."
"Of course I want you gone," I growled, still looking at the teddy bear called 'Hope'. "But I can't let you leave."
"And why not?" Hope asked as she put her plush paws on her hips and tapped one of her feet.
"Because if you disappear, than Jazz is going to bring in my worst nightmare… well, second worst nightmare," I grumbled. As much as I fear Bearbert, he's still nothing compared to Corrupted Danny.
"Then why not go to the store and get a teddy bear that looks exactly like me?" Hope asked. "I'm the only living teddy bear of my kind after all, all the others are just lifeless piles of fluff."
"Of course that's just my luck, I get the living teddy bear with an attitude," I grumbled.
"And it's just my luck that I get a human that hates teddy bears," Hope retorted. "I didn't agree to this only to end up with a rotten child like you."
I frowned as the strangeness of the situation just hit me. "Wait, why are you alive? I thought teddy bears were just toys."
"Does that really matter to you, Mr. Teddyphobia?" Hope asked.
Is it an AI teddy bear? Was someone testing it and Jazz just happened to buy the one with an AI in it?
"Look, if you aren't going to let me out then I'll just have to do it on my own," Hope said before she turned back around and started to fiddle with the window latch again.
"Tell me," I said, not wanting to let it escape. If I can catch this thing than I can prove to everyone that it isn't just an unreasonable fear.
"Tell you what?" Hope asked, turning back around. "Tell you how I'm the only living teddy bear? That's easy, I'm a ghost, and if you don't let me out I will haunt you~" As she said the last part she waved her arms, probably trying to scare me.
"You're a ghost?" I looked at her doubtfully.
"Yes, I am a ghost, and I'm a powerful one too, so if you don't want me to haunt you for eternity, you'll come over here and open this window for me," Hope responded.
"If you are a ghost, then why don't you just phase through the window?" I asked.
"... because… I'm uh… oh I know! It's because I don't want to use my powers, otherwise I might damage this form of mine," Hope answered, obviously coming up with an excuse on the spot.
"Right…" I said, not believing her. "Look, whether you're a ghost, some kind of AI or just a living teddy bear doesn't matter to me right now. I can't let you leave until I show my sister that you are indeed alive."
"You realize that if you try to keep me here and show me off I can just act like I was earlier and they would think you're more crazy than you already are, right?" Hope pointed out. "Heh, they might even send you off to an insane asylum with how crazy you would seem."
"You want to leave don't you?" I asked.
"Yeah, but I'm not going to reveal myself to your entire family just to do that," Hope quickly responded. "If I did that, there's a chance that I would end up being ripped apart and dissected by a government agency or something."
I stared at her for a good minute. Hope looked nervous at my staring, before I said, "... Do you know how to use a chainsaw?"
"... What…?" Hope asked, caught off guard by my question. "Do you really think I would try to open your window with my plush paws if I knew how to use a chainsaw?"
"Good, let's keep it that way," I said, still glaring at her.
"Just let me out already, you stubborn child!" Hope snapped. "I don't want to belong to a child like you, and even if you keep me and tie me up, I'll keep trying to escape. I only signed up for this whole thing in hopes that I would belong to a kind child or someone that would actually love me and care for me! Not a messed up teen that fears teddy bears like they're going to hunt him!"
"You don't know me," I growled.
"I don't need to know everything about you to know that you have a stupid fear that I'm sure no other being in the world has!" Hope snapped. "The only reason I ended up with you is because your sister wanted to try and make you a little less of a freak!"
"..." I felt a hot feeling bubbling inside me. I turned back to Danny for a moment, seeing he was still somehow asleep.
"You're as much a freak of nature as I am! Fearing teddy bears, ha! That's such a childish fear! Perhaps you should go back to preschool so they can teach you that stuffed animals can't hurt you!" Hope yelled.
I gritted my teeth as I started to feel angrier at this teddy bear insulting me.
"Were you dropped on your head as a child or something? I mean your twin over there turned out perfectly fine by the looks of it. I'm surprised your siblings care enough to deal with your insanity!" Hope continued before she started to run out of breath. "If I was your sibling I would've let you deal… with your stupid fear… all on your own! … that way… you wouldn't… be able to… hold me back…"
I felt my hands getting hot, I could see the room lighting up with green light. My hands were building up my ghost ray, and I was sure my eyes were glowing purple too.
"You're nothing but… a simple… freak," Hope finished, finally running out of breath.
Without warning, I flew at Hope quickly, stopping right in front of her. I then grabbed the big mouthed teddy bear, turning her intangible before throwing her through the window. I turned myself intangible, going out the window myself before activating the core inside, turning into my ghost form.
"You know what? Screw the consequences, I just want you to disappear!" I snapped angrily.
I watched the teddy bear began to head towards the ground. After a few seconds Hope collided with the ground.
"... that's… all I want too…" Hope said weakly as she began to try and stand up. "Maybe this time… I'll actually disappear…"
I glared at Hope as she struggled to stand up, "Who are you, really?"
"I told you… I'm a ghost…" Hope said as she managed to get herself to at least her knees. "A ghost… that wanted another chance at life… a happy life…"
"How can you be a ghost?" I demanded. "You don't have a ghostly aura, and you haven't shown any signs of being a ghost at all."
"I… lost my powers… when I was fused with this… teddy bear body…" Hope answered as she continued to try and stand. "I… didn't want to live on as a ghost… I wanted… a happy life… one where I didn't have to fight to survive…"
"You fused with a teddy bear?" I frowned. I've never heard of such a thing before.
"Not on my own… I had to seek help… but yes, in the end… I ended up fused with this body," Hope answered as she finally managed to stand up. "I thought that I would find a nice home… where I could be loved and cared for… but if I have to deal with people like you… I'd rather die again… perhaps this time I'll pass on… instead of going back to being a ghost."
"That's a nice sob story, but you pushed me too far," I growled as I raised my right hand at her, preparing to blast her away. "You insulted my fears and my intelligence as well as my very being. You're nothing but an insensitive, selfish ghost."
Hope just sighed as she looked down, defeated.
I started to charge up my ghost ray in my hand. I looked at her and started to hesitate.
"What are you waiting for? Just… end me…" Hope said as she looked back up at me, opening her arms in an open invitation for me to strike her down. "Just… please make it quick."
… Do I really want to do this? She may have thrown a lot of insults at me… but she didn't really do anything wrong. She just looks so… sad and pitiful, not evil and diabolical...
"What are you waiting for!?" Hope yelled before she started sniffling. "What? Do you want me to beg? Would that make you happy? Would that be enough for you to finally end me? … Fine… if that's what it takes…"
Hope started to get down on her knees and bowed down onto the road below, looking much smaller and even more pitiful than before.
I found my arm shaking as I watched her do this.
"Please… end me… I'm begging you… please… just end my pitiful life," Hope begged.
… What am I doing? I can't just end her like this. If I do, I'm really no better than Dan… or Corrupted Danny. I dissipated the ghost ray in my hand and walked towards the still begging teddy bear.
"Please…" Hope softly said, her voice growing weak as I heard her sniffling. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw small drops of what looked like tears hitting the ground beneath Hope. "please… just… end me…"
I felt a heavy feeling in my chest. I sighed before I transformed back into my human form, still wearing PJs. I bent down and slowly picked Hope up. I held her back, so I could see her face.
Hope quickly tried to cover her face with her paws. "Please… don't torture me like this… just kill me…"
I took a breath and sighed, "I'm not going to kill you."
"Don't lie to me…" Hope muttered as she continued to cry. "Your words don't mean anything… you just want me to lower my guard before you hurt me, making it all the more painful… you're just like the rest of them…"
"No… I'm not…" I frowned, seeing her cry. She's not a monster, she's scared… she's like how anybody would be in her position… She's just as scared of me as Juliette was when I found her…
"You are!" Hope yelled. "You're just like the ghosts and humans that wanted to deceive me and use me before! I… I know now… I'll never have a happy life… I should just give up on that dream… that hope…"
Without thinking about it, I lifted Hope to my chest and hugged her tightly. I don't know what came over me, but I didn't care at the moment. I made this poor innocent soul cry, and this is the only thing I could think of doing to comfort her.
"No…! Stop..." Hope said as she tried to push herself away from my chest. "I… I don't… I don't want to fall for the same trick again… I don't…"
"I'm sorry," I said quietly. "I know I've hurt you. I know I can never make it up to you. But just know that I don't want to hurt you anymore."
"... if you really… want to make it up… then let me go…" Hope said as she stopped trying to push away from my chest. "Just… let me leave… let me… find a nice home…"
"I…" I hesitated. "I will let you go, but only after I find someone who I can trust to take care of you. It's… probably too late for me to show you any of the love you want. But I don't want you going out there alone."
I waited to hear a response from Hope, but I didn't get one. I slowly pulled her away from my chest and looked at her. Hope's eyes looked like they had when she was sitting on my desk. I couldn't help but give a small smile. Heh… guess she must've passed out.
I decided to go back into my house. The door was locked, but I easily phased through it, and headed up into my room. I saw Danny was still asleep. I guess Danny is a heavier sleeper than I thought. He probably only wakes up to an alarm clock or his ghost sense.
I placed Hope back down on my desk before I looked at my bed. It could use a change, I've been using the same bedsheets for almost a year now.
When I finished putting the new sheets on my bed I looked at the clock and saw that it was 4:55AM, Danny's alarm would go off in five minutes to wake him up for the morning rounds.
I sighed, knowing I wasn't going to get any sleep after everything happened so I turned off Danny's alarm and put on some regular clothes before I transformed into my ghost form. I looked over at Hope on my desk and sighed. I picked her up and put her on my bed, resting her head on my pillow before pulling the covers onto her. She'd get a better use out of my bed than I would at this point.
When I was sure Hope would be comfortable, I flew through the window again and started the morning rounds. While I was flying through Amity Park, I started thinking about what I could do for Hope.
I doubt Hope will give me another chance after I almost blasted her like that. I did promise I would let her go if I found someone who would give her the care and love she wanted. Should I give her to Sam? … No, Sam doesn't like bright, cute plushies like Hope. Maybe Jazz? … No, Jazz wouldn't believe me, and she has Bearbert anyways. Who else…? I looked down to see the opera house that Juliette was staying in. Juliette? … Yeah, maybe Juliette would like Hope around to keep her company.
I nodded to myself before I flew down into the opera house, phasing into the roof.
"Ugh! I've spent the past day trying to make you work! Why won't you work for me?" I heard Juliette groan from the stage. I floated down to see that Juliette had her head down on the keys of a really old looking piano. "I know you can work… you aren't broken… you just need to let your sound be heard. I'm sure you have a beautiful sound."
I landed on the stage and said, "Hey Juliette."
Juliette shot up and looked at me, her face turning red before she managed to say, "Oh, hello Andy… how much of that did you see?"
"Enough to know you were talking to it," I chuckled.
Juliette's blush intensified before she looked down, trying to hide her face. "It's… not what you think?"
I chuckled again before I cleared my throat and said, "Anyways, Juliette, I came here to ask something."
"Oh?" Juliette asked as she lifted her head to look at me, some of the red leaving her face. "What is it that you wish to ask?"
"I was wondering if you'd like to take care of a living teddy bear?" I asked.
"... come again?" Juliette responded in confusion.
"Well actually it's a ghost fused with a teddy bear's body," I answered.
"How… about you sit down and tell me the whole story before I give you my response," Juliette said as she motioned to the piano bench.
Juliette and I sat down on the piano bench together and I began telling her the whole story, starting from when Jazz gave me the gift.
"I see… so you wish me to care for her because you wish for me to give Hope the love and care that she desires, is that correct?" Juliette asked after I finished telling her the story.
"Yeah," I answered. "I really hurt her, emotionally, so I know she wouldn't give me another chance. So I was hoping you could give her what she wants."
"I am sorry, but I must deny your request," Juliette stated.
"What? Why?" I asked, frowning.
"I want you to speak to her first when she regains consciousness," Juliette answered. "Once you have spoken to her and asked her what she now thinks, and if she still wishes to find another home, can you come to me. If she still wishes to find another home where she can be taken care of and loved, then I will accept your request to take her in and care for her."
"She already hates me," I said with a frown. "Why would she change her mind now?"
"Because you showed her true kindness in the end," Juliette responded with small smile. "That could be enough to sway her desire."
I doubt it would be that easy. "Alright, I'll talk to her at least. But thanks for accepting her if she still wants to find a new home. I'm sure you two will get along great with each other," I said.
"Don't doubt the power of a simple act of kindness, Andy," Juliette stated as she looked me in the eyes. "From your expression I can tell that you don't believe that something like being kind to Hope can change her opinion of you and her desire, but you are wrong. All it takes is one small act of kindness to change one's entire viewpoint on life."
I listened to what Juliette was saying, a part of me hoping that there was some truth to that. I wanted to believe that Hope could at least forgive me to the point where she could trust me to find her a good home.
"A simple hug can be as moving as a well prepared speech, something so small like that is more powerful than the deadliest weapon you can imagine. I remember stories that my father told me, of how the simple act of a hug ended a feud between two kingdoms that raged on for thousands of years," Juliette continued. "I hope that you can trust in the power of kindness, as it is more powerful than any other force you have ever or will ever meet. Now, before you think of a response, I think there was something you said you were in the middle of?"
"Huh?" I asked, not exactly sure what Juliette was talking about.
"Your morning patrol," Juliette reminded. "I'm sure you wish to complete it before the rest of your family awakens and finds out that you are not in bed."
"Oh right," I said as I stood up. "Thanks again, Juliette. I'll see if I can come by later with Hope."
"Speak to her first before you bring her here," Juliette said. "And do not tell anyone what you saw when you came in or I shall make you regret it."
"Hey, I wouldn't do that do you," I said with a smile before I flew out of the opera house to continue my morning patrol. I felt a little better after talking to Juliette.
ZAFT Prime: DarkFoxKit: As you can see, Jazz gave Andy a teddy bear. Andy is not amused.
Jewel moonstone: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Glad you love the series. Have I ever had a moment where I was doing something normal and thought it was normal? Or have I ever had a moment where I was doing something normal and stopped for a second to question myself if what I was doing was actually normal? Cause I've had the latter happen to be me a bit, but I can say I have quite had the former.
DarkFoxKit: I'm pretty sure everyone has had that moment at least once in their lifetime.
Kitty: DarkFoxKit: Well Andy will still be Andy Phantom, he just might have a new nickname for his ghost form since someone somewhere is bound to figure something out if Danny kept calling him Andy even in their ghost forms. We don't have a nickname for Andy Phantom yet though, but Night Phantom sounds pretty cool. Ah, it's too bad you gave up on the story, but I guess that does happen. I've written plenty of stories that never got published or finished.
Oh we have big plans for Reality Trip, and it's going to be fun. :3 For us, not so much for Andy and Danny. As for the mind control thing, I doubt Freakshow would do that since he never used his gauntlet to mind control the heroes. But Andy would definitely be paranoid with Freakshow, especially since he's half ghost himself now. And awesome, we would love to see more of your theories and reviews.
Anime lover 3593: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Glad you're still enjoying the story. Andy is definitely more of a tactician than a front line fighter. I'm glad there are so many readers/fans that understand the need to step back from a project from time to time. We were writing CoM for a year or two straight, so we were a bit burnt out. Thankfully this break from it is really helping, despite those readers who only want another chapter or say we're abandoning the story. Thank you for your comment, and I hope to read more in the future.
DarkFoxKit: Andy's definitely got his work cut out for him, being beaten by Technus and almost dooming the world as a result really doesn't help his confidence, but he's still trying at least. Danny is there to help pick Andy back up when necessary. Thank you for your support, we really do appreciate the understanding.
prisontaker: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Because it's fun~
RandomTribute: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': I am sorry, but this is not the Hunger Games, there will be NO tributes. As for why this story doesn't have more love, I couldn't tell you. Perhaps it's because Danny Phantom is a bit more niche than Pokemon. I ask that you leave the 'Love' to cupid and Sherry from Fairy Tail.
DarkFoxKit: While it is fun to use some of the move romantic and lovey dovey stuff, we're not romantic writers, so that's probably why there isn't a lot of romantic love in the story. Unless you mean there needs to be more fan love for this story, in which case I agree with you. :3
FireSoulKid: DarkFoxKit: You're disappointed that Andy didn't finish off Technus himself you mean? Your description was a little vague, but I'm going to assume that's what you meant. Onyx and I did debate a bit on how the battle should end, and we decided it might be more believable to have Andy lose. Technus, by himself, isn't so bad, but when he's surrounded by advanced technology like that, he can be just as dangerous as Pariah Dark. Valerie can only do so much with what she had, and Andy is still inexperienced, but at least Andy has Danny there to pick him up when he's been brought down. Don't worry though, Andy will get his time to shine.
Luna Lillyth: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': I'm gonna start off at the end and say that the fight was extremely fun to write. I understand that it seemed like Technus was going to kill them, but he honestly probably doesn't have the stomach to kill. He probably wanted to incapacitate them with an extreme amount of pain. He wanted them out of the way so he could accomplish his goal. I think I will leave the first part to Fox.
DarkFoxKit: It's actually my own personal headcanon that there aren't a lot of twin ghosts in the Danny Phantom's lore, since in the show we never really see any twin ghosts. Yes we've seen ghosts that look alike, but they're just background ghosts that don't have any distinct personality or even any real physicality. So it's my belief that twin ghosts are extremely rare in DP's universe, hence why so many ghosts mistook Andy as Danny. As for the whole hybrid contradiction thing, people can be smarter than you give them credit for, maybe nobody in Amity Park would figure it out, but someone somewhere in this big world could put two and two together, and that's dangerous.
Heh, it's good to see that writing the battle scenes have been an improvement for us. I've always wanted to be able to write a battle scene where the readers can easily imagine it, and even feel it, and it looks like we did a great job with that. And as for Technus not killing them, it's in my belief that most ghosts don't want to kill humans because that means more competition for them if their ghosts arrives in the Ghost Zone. That and Technus only wanted to incapacitate as well as intimidate them, not kill them.
Blue: DarkFoxKit: Hey, it's good to see you on here again. It's been a while since I've heard from you. And wow, we picked a great day to upload that chapter then. XD As for the nickname for Andy's ghost, we haven't thought of one yet. ^^'
Raidentensho: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': *Smiles* You'll just have to wait and see what we do with Vortex. I promise that it will be interesting and unique to the canon episode.
Mana: DarkFoxKit: Yeah, I've always wondered how they would handle it after Technus reached the satellite and was taking over the world's technology. We decided it would be best to just stop Technus from reaching the satellite altogether.
I always thought it would've been better to have Vlad give Valerie the upgrade instead of Technus, because all Technus did was give Valerie the means to destroy him easier.
Do we really see human Danny shirtless in the later seasons? Perhaps that's why we couldn't tell if he had muscles or not in his human form. But I like to think that the ghost form's experience does eventually carry over to the human form, I just find it hard to believe that human Danny doesn't gain any benefits from fighting ghosts for so long.
I really haven't thought of a different name for Andy, the idea just kinda sprang up.
I don't know that much about Goths other than what the show depicted them as, so I can't say I really agree with the whole showing off Sam's athletic abilities since I feel she's borderline Mary Sue at this point, but that's just me.
Scrappy Doo Fan: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Thank you, but I don't think either of us need to move faster than light. Glad you find the fanfic interesting, hope this chapter was just as interesting. Sean Astin or Travis Willingham? To be honest, don't really know them, I'll have to listen to their voices later. Andy with Ember? That's definitely a unique ship, don't really have much else to say to that.
DarkFoxKit: Heh, maybe for you it's a unique ship, but I've had people shipping Andy and Ember way back in My Brother's a Ghost when I introduced Ember. I don't even know why, I think it's because at one point Ember pointed out that she and Andy were lonely at the time, but that didn't mean there was any romantic feelings between them. Ah, the things people will ship just because of a few words said to another.
cass: DarkFoxKit: Well, here's a new chapter, and your answer to what Jazz gave Andy.
eeveemaster: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Not quite sure why Danny would have wings considering he is half ghost, not half angel or half bird.
DarkFoxKit: I don't want Danny to have wings, I feel like that's weird. I mean he might be able to create wings on himself made of ice, but otherwise I don't see how or why Danny would get wings. And I didn't understand what you mean by 'this story is 1 of her 7 major stories'.