So I went to the doctor again, and it turns out I have bronchitis. *Long sigh.* So. Yeah. I'll be sick for a while yet, it seems. Hopefully my coherence hasn't suffered too much in these coming chapters, but if it has, you know why. I've written up to chapter 91, now, so... Yeah. I've been sick for a while, and you'll be getting stuff I wrote while sick for a while. Please, if you spot any typos, inconsistencies, or plot holes, tell me.

Hey, I have a question to ask. When I write things, I often can't decide exactly how to say things, so I just list all the ways of saying something, especially if it's an internal dialogue thing, as a kind of emphasis. You guys have probably noticed that while reading this. Is that bothering or confusing any of you? I know that it's nonstandard.

Important reminder! I'm putting this on pause for Ectober week so that I can use my buffer while I try to do NaNoWriMo. I will not be updating this next Friday or Sunday.

Feedback is always appreciated!

Thank you for reviewing/favoriting/following! I love getting those notifications. :)

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Chapter 81: Get Well Soon

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"You want us to leave?" asked an aggrieved citizen of Harmony.

"What? No, no," said Adrestia hurriedly. "We are just asking if some of you will come with us, to testify to the courts, while we put that guy," she hooked a thumb over her shoulder, at Jack, who was being glared at (and tied up) by Meg, "and his wife on trial."

"For what?"

"Murder," said Meg. "Kinda. It is sorta more complicated, you know?"

"But what could we possibly testify about?"

"All sorts of things," said Adrestia. "You live in part of the crime scene, which is also the victim's lair. We also want you to testify against the people who attacked your town. And, yeah, I know that most of you didn't see anything, but, at the very least, your inconvenience and suffering will be taken into account during sentencing. It might take a while, but as soon as you're done, we'll bring you back."

Adrestia scanned the human population of Harmony hopefully. Many ghosts had already agreed to come, so as to honor the bonds of vassalage and debts of hospitality they owed to Phantom. The humans looked a little dubious about the whole affair. Adrestia sort of understood.

It had been a long, long time since she had been in a similar situation, but she could remember, barely, a time when she had lived in a small, isolated community. Back then, she, too, had been dubious about new things from the beyond, especially when those new things wanted something from her. The attack by the agents would have only worsened their view of outsiders.

But then a man stepped forward. "If what you say is true," he said with a pronounced Scottish accent, "then it would be remiss of us to not go with you."

Others began to step forward, then, but they all agreed. They wanted more information before they actually left.

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Ellie was only sort of listening to the negotiations taking place between the adults behind her. She knew that she should pay more attention, but the kids from Harmony were, in a word, awesome.

Ellie hadn't had a lot of contact with kids her age, unless she counted Poindexter, Ember, and maybe Dora. Ellie actually wasn't sure what Dora's age was. She had met other child ghosts, but most of the time she had only met them once, or twice, without any expectation of seeing them again. These guys, though, she would probably see them again. They lived in her lair.

"... and then," said Byron, laughing, "she stuck it up her nose! Can you believe it?"

"That's nothing," said Ellie, "wait until I tell you the prank I played on Danny this one time. You know those pullover sweatshirts with the big pocket in the middle?"

As Ellie told the story, her eyes drifted over to the Amity Park group. They were... Less cool. Actually, factoring in Paulina, who was scarily obsessed for a human, and Dash, who was loud, grating and boastful, Ellie didn't know how Danny stayed sane. Some of them were okay, she actually kind of liked Mia and Hannah, but at least half of them were actively unpleasant. Including the teacher, who kept staring at her.

"...of course," Adrestia was saying in the background, "we will also be taking everyone from Amity Park."

Ellie sighed internally. She really didn't want to have to spend any more time with the Amity Park people than she had to. They might start growing on her. The horror.

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Valerie didn't know what was happening. That had been happening a lot, lately, and she wished that she had questioned Danny and his friends more thoroughly when she had the chance.

She wasn't with the tea-drinking old woman any more. The grandson had come in, bringing a strange ghost woman behind him. Valerie had, of course, attempted to defend herself. But almost as soon as she fired the first shot, she found herself loosing consciousness, her vision going black.

The next thing she knew, she was tied to a chair in Danny's house while two people whispered behind her.

She hated ghosts.

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Danny woke up while the doctors and nurses were moving him onto a gurney, and insisted that he could walk just fine, and fly better. He couldn't, of course, but his rhetoric was so convincing that they compromised with a wheelchair. Danny was fine with this. This way, he could see where he was going, and he could hug the stuffed animal that Sam had picked up for him from the gift shop.

(He wasn't entirely sure what animal it was supposed to be, but it was black, and very soft, and he loved it.)

She had also tried to give him a flower earlier, but he had tried to eat it. He wasn't entirely sure why he did that. He didn't usually eat flowers. Well. Broccoli was technically a flower. So was cauliflower. He ate those.

The corridor outside the room frightened him. The lights buzzed too much, and the noises from the other rooms put him on edge. They were wrong, and people were hurting, and he had to do something, do something now, he had to fix this, he had to help them, protect them, this was his fault, the agents, the Guys in White, they were here, and they were going to hurt him, hurt everybody, hurt so much, hurt everything, everywhere, everyone, he had to stop them, and what was that noise?

It was then that he noticed that he had climbed, backwards, out of the chair, up onto Frostbite, who had been pushing it. He was half-buried in Frostbite's, thick, cold, white fur. It muffled the sound, and he pushed closer to Frostbite. The soothing, icy hum of the larger ghost's core was clearly visible to Danny.

After a few minutes, he allowed himself to be coaxed back into the wheelchair. It was then that he noticed the needle in his arm. He kept trying to pull it out, but Jazz kept stopping him. That meant that it had to stay in. But it was in his arm. He didn't like that.

He knew that he was sick. That there were a lot of things wrong with him. He knew that he wasn't thinking clearly. He just couldn't help himself.

Then they got to the elevator, and Danny was instantly distracted by the shiny buttons. They were so round, and they had so many different colors! They were in Egyptian too, and Greek, which was always fun. He pressed one, and went to press another, but Jazz stopped him. He frowned up at her, but then Clockwork said something about 'ghost elevator,' and gave him a smile and a small nod.

That must mean... That must mean that Clockwork wanted him to press the buttons! All of the buttons! He would press all of the buttons! For Clockwork!

He smushed his hands onto the buttons, giggling when they lit up. A pair of little ghosts, (wisps, he pulled out from his memory, with some effort) drifted down from the vicinity of the ceiling to watch his work. That gave him an idea he (usually?) couldn't communicate well with the wisps, because they used colors, not just sound, but now... Now Danny had all the colors!

He tried to tell Tucker this. Tucker just had to put buttons on his Pretty Detention Activator and everything would be a-okay! It would probably be better at math, too. Calculators had buttons. And now Danny remembered where he left his calculator. It was in that one tree, in the park. He had forgotten, because, well, Technus, and then no sleep, but now he remembered! He was the best, and now he was going to pass that math test. Where was Mr Lancer?

"I don't know," said Tucker. "Probably back in the lair."

Danny stared at Tucker. Could he read minds now? Wait. Oh. Danny was just talking. That explained all the weird looks. Okay. Yep. Oh, and here he was, changing colors now. Too bad that just 'red all over' didn't mean much to the wisps by itself. He sunk down in the chair, blinking.

"I'm sorry," he said, suddenly, the words spilling out of his mouth like snakes. He knew, because he had caught a ghost disease that did that once. Make snakes grow in your stomach. It was gross, and it kind of hurt, too. "I don't think I'm quite right, here. I think its too hot. And there are," he frowned, searching for the word. "Sounds? I think I messed up."

His friends and family told him that he hadn't messed up. They sounded so sure. Danny had to believe them. But then why did he feel so awful?

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"To the Far Frozen," said Frostbite. "We have better facilities for cold core ghosts."

"And it is closer to Long Now and your lair."

"I need to think up a name," said Danny. "Or maybe I can make Ellie do it. Yeah. Are we flying?"

"We are riding, Daniel," said Clockwork.

"Dora is lending us one of her carriages," explained Sam. "It just got here."

"Oh. Okay," said Danny.

The elevator doors dinged open, making Danny jump. He tried to interpose himself between his friends and whatever whoever had opened the doors bad bad bad bad, but there was nothing there. Just an atrium. A kind of normal place. He giggled at the inscriptions on the walls. Most of them were just names of donors, but some were stories, or jokes, and they were funny.

As Frostbite wheeled him forward, Danny waved cheerily at the other people in the atrium. But he paused when he came across a mother and child.

"Jazz," he said, "where's Mom?" He had the feeling that something bad had happened to her, that she had been in some kind of danger, that she had been hurt.

"She's fine," said Jazz, stiffly, not meeting his eyes.

Danny made a questioning sound in the back of his throat. "Where?"

Jazz looked down at him. "If you'd like, I can go check up on her," she said.

"Stay with her?" asked Danny.

"If you want me to," said Jazz.

"Please," said Danny. He didn't want Jazz to leave him, but he was worried. "Where's Dad?" he asked, less worried about his father, for some reason.

"Still in your lair," said Jazz. "With Mr Lancer and your classmates."

Danny blinked. "I have a lair?" He narrowed his eyes. "Is this about me cleaning my room? Because it isn't that messy."

"No, Danny, your room is fine. Do you still want me to go stay with Mom?"

"Yes," said Danny. "I want a hug first."

Frostbite stopped pushing the chair, and Jazz came around to hug Danny, carefully avoiding the IV. "You get better soon, okay?"

"Okay," said Danny.