Hello! I have decided to post an extra chapter this week after all, because Thanksgiving. Sorry for breaking my schedule. I hope no one minds?

I do feel a bit nervous about this chapter. I'm a little worried that I rushed the events here. What do you think? Please give feedback! Thank you!

MrsFrizzle: Hello! I'm glad you got your computer back! Thank you for reviewing! I think that you might have misunderstood me a bit with who is getting a guarantee of ghosthood. Danny's already a ghost, and he's not really aging. He's been worried that his human friends and family are all going to die and leave him. Not actively worried, because they're all quite young, but it's one of those lurking concerns. So he's happy, because Jazz, Sam, and Tucker will be able to stay with him as ghosts if they do the pilgrimage. As for the other things you mentioned, you're entirely right. Some of that is on purpose, however, and I hope to address those bits going forward. I'm not trying to create one of those 'perfect societies' that you get in a lot of Fantasy and Sci-Fi, just a functional one. The GZ is supposed to be sort of messed up. I hope that makes sense. (And also that this doesn't come across as confrontational or sarcastic or anything, what with lack of physical cues. I really value your input.)

Never Morrison: Thank you for your feedback! I'm glad I caught your attention. Hopefully this next chapter will live up to expectations. I hope that you don't mind if I ask which parts of this story elicited which response. For personal improvement purposes. Thanks either way!

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Chapter 88: Together

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Clockwork came back into the room after the messenger left. He had left to confer with Nephthys about something. Phantom didn't know what Clockwork was discussing, but he was upset and he wanted to be near Clockwork because Clockwork always made him less upset.

He flew to the older ghost and hid in his robe. This was a good place to hide. The cloak was big and thick, and close to Clockwork.

He didn't want to be exposed like this when all of those people came back. He liked them, and they were his, but they were not gentle people. It hurt to be around them, sometimes.

Then, there was Clockwork, carefully holding him, and Phantom could relax again, secure. "Daniel," said Clockwork, speaking to both Phantom and his literal other half. "Frostbite and I are going to have to examine you again."

"Okay," said Fenton, and Phantom could hear the wheels on his chair moving.

"Does that mean that I'm going to melt?" asked Phantom, hesitantly. He felt, rather than heard or saw, Fenton freeze. He hadn't considered that, apparently. Neither had Phantom until this moment.

Clockwork petted Phantom's hair through his robe before settling an arm around his shoulders. "Not the part that matters," said Clockwork. "Just this shell."

"Will it hurt?" whispered Phantom.

"It shouldn't. It might be scary, but I know you are brave."

"If you say so."

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Fenton sat on the edge of the table, and knocked back the thimble of medicine, trying to keep it from touching his tongue. "That tastes gross," he said, as he laid down, Phantom laying his head on his shoulder and curling into his side. Fenton hugged him with his one arm.

"Many medicines do," said Frostbite, apologetically.

"I know," said Fenton, shifting his weight. He had tried to hide it, but many of his wounds, especially the bullet wounds and his unhealed ankle, had begun to ache as the day wore on.

His eyes began to drift closed. He gave Phantom one last comforting squeeze. Everything would be alright.

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Phantom waited until Fenton's breathing evened out to sit up. "I thought that I was going to fall asleep, too?"

Clockwork smiled, tightly, sadly. "I'm afraid not quite yet, Daniel."

"Oh," said Phantom. He pulled himself inward. "What do I need to do?"

"Here," he said, offering his arms to Phantom.

Phantom climbed into them, wrapping his arms around Clockwork's neck and inserting his head beneath the older ghost's chin. Clockwork turned, and brought Phantom to the tank, which Frostbite had pushed out into the center of the room again.

"Oh," said Phantom again. "When can I go to sleep?"

"I just want you to know what's going on," said Clockwork. "It's only fair."

"Okay," said Phantom. "I know now. I want to go to sleep."

"I'm sorry, Daniel," said Clockwork. "You can go to sleep."

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Clockwork and Frostbite examined the small delicate sphere floating in front of them.

"He is much improved," observed Frostbite.

"He is," agreed Clockwork. It was true. The bruising was almost gone, as were the cracks. He glanced at Daniel's human half. He, on the other hand, looked much more fragile. He had bruises that had not been present yesterday, and his skin was thin, pale, faded. His wounds were not healing as they should be, and Clockwork had noticed that he had been picking over his lunch, feeding most of it to Phantom. "But he is not."

"No," rumbled Frostbite. "He deteriorated quickly. I believe that the stress got to him." He sent Clockwork a rather dirty glare.

Clockwork had the grace to look ashamed. "I did not plan for all of this to come down on Daniel at once." (Again, he could murder the Observants.)

"Hm," said Frostbite. "No. But I do not think that it would be wise to keep him split for much longer."

"No."

"Then, here we go."

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Danny woke with a start. He felt chilled, but whole. He sighed, a white curl of mist issuing from between his lips and winding up to the ceiling. His ghost sense. He smiled, stretching, catlike, and rolling over.

"Hello, Daniel," said Clockwork.

"Clockwork," said Danny, happily, enthusiastically, still sleepy. He sat up and looked around for his grandfather. Then he hummed as a familiar, friendly presence settled next to him on the table. Another, larger, fuzzier one sat on his other side. "Frostbite," he said, happy to have someone on his other side.

"Are you feeling better."

"Yes," said Danny, leaning into Clockwork. "I think so. Do you have any water?"

"Here," said Clockwork, cupping Danny's hands around a small glass.

Danny drained it quickly. "Being drugged always makes me thirsty," he observed.

"That is a side effect," said Clockwork.

Danny rubbed his chest. "I'm together again," said Danny.

"Yes," said Clockwork.

"However, Great One, I would recommend that you refrain from using your active, or more advanced powers for the time being. Your core is still fragile. It will be prone to fracturing again for some time."

"Your passive powers, on the other hand, should be fine," said Clockwork. "As should your basic abilities."

Danny sighed. "Why can't I ever just be better?" he asked frustrated. He adjusted his position slightly. "What am I supposed to do about my class?" he asked. "They can't stay here. There's only the one room that's heated, and we're in it."

"If I might have a suggestion?" said Clockwork. Danny looked up at him, hopefully. "They are schoolchildren, are they not? Then perhaps a field trip would do them some good."

Danny's eyes narrowed. "I can't tell if that's a brilliant idea or a terrible one," he said, finally. "What would I transport them in? I don't exactly have a car. Or a bus."

"I'm sure that we can borrow whatever transportation they come in on."

"Really? You're sure?"

"If not," said Frostbite, "we have transportation that you can borrow."

"Thank you, Frostbite," said Danny. He licked his lips. They were chapped, and the little splits stung, although they didn't hurt nearly as much as his still not entirely healed bullet wounds. He sniffed, then sighed. "I'm hungry."

"We can set you up with a fine diner, Great One," said Frostbite.

"Hm. Will the wisps be there?" asked Danny.

"We will allow some of them to join you, if you would like."

"Thank you. And Jazzand Sam and Tucker?"

"Absolutely."

"Thank you."

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They left early the next morning. Danny, and Clockwork, too, so Danny thought that it was probably a good idea, thought that it would be best to meet up with Danny's classmates and their Libra escort early in the day, so that they would have time to travel to their real destination. Elysium.

Elysium was a much better place to bring the class than the Far Frozen. It was a reasonable temperature, to begin with. The Labyrinth was a bit tricky, but the thing was, that going through the Labyrinth wasn't strictly necessary. Yes, Danny had to go through it because Pandora had locked down her Realm upon the theft of her box, and flight above about six feet on her island hadn't been possible, but that wasn't something that was always, or even usually true. Most of the time it was perfectly possible to simply fly across the Labyrinth to the center of the island. This is what Danny intended to do. They had sent a letter ahead to Pandora, who had replied with an enthusiastic yes. She was the Master of Hope for a reason.

They were riding on a flying barque. A great, three-masted, antique ship. It hadn't seemed like something that the Far Frozen would normally have. They were generally on the more hi-tech end of the spectrum But Frostbite had explained that they had won it from a group of pirates who had been attacking them fairly often... three hundred or so years ago. But they said that it was seaworthy. Or Zone-worthy. So. Up they went.

Danny was having a fine time watching the ship pilot itself, the helm spinning to and fro, the sails and ropes snapping in a nonexistent breeze. There were hammocks strung up one deck down. Enough for the entire class and then some.

He rolled his cane over the top of his thighs, contemplatively. Danny hadn't wanted to bring a cane, but he had wanted to be in the chair even less, and, though it was better, his ankle still wasn't right. If he was going to be doing a tour for his class, if he was going to be leading a tour for his class, he would be doing a lot of walking. He could keep weight off of his ankle with flight and levitation, but he couldn't do that in front of his classmate. Well. He could, but faking walking while levitating wasn't something he did every day, and would probably take more concentration that he could spare. The cane would help, although he'd have to be careful not to overwork his arms to spare his ankle. He had been shot in the shoulder, after all.

This was a peaceful interlude, here on the ship. No one would track him down to ask him something else, here. Very few people knew where he was. Those that did, he had either just left, or were on the boat with him.

Sam seemed to be sharing similar sentiments, if her body position on the bench next to him was any clue. "This is nice," she said.

"Yeah," said Danny, now looking up at the swirling purple and green clouds and floating doors and islands that filled the Ghost Zone sky. The Ghost Zone could be beautiful. It could be ugly, too, but then so could the Earth. He breathed in deeply, tasting the ambient ectoplasm.

But the moment was too sweet to last.

"I see them!" shouted Tucker from the prow of the boat, where he had been perched like a second figurehead. "They're on a magic carpet kind of thing."

Danny sighed. Time to give the ship its instructions.

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Mr Lancer had enough of all this nonsense. He was a teacher. A teacher! Yes, he accepted responsibility for his students when they were in his care, but he wasn't a- a- Arabian Nights, he didn't even know what kind of person would have the training and mindset for this. Some kind of lunatic combat philosopher. A hero in the old style. Someone mythic. A saint, perhaps. Someone not named William Lancer.

He hadn't signed up for this. He hadn't even signed up for being in charge of these students for more than a few hours at a time, strictly speaking.

So he thought that he could be forgiven for being in a state of shock, and not doing very much... Well, he couldn't even call it classroom management at this point. There was no classroom.

They weren't even in an enclosed space. They were on a flying carpet! A large flying carpet, yes, but a carpet. Entirely exposed to any random ghost that they might cross paths with. Well... To be truthful, none of the ghosts they had met in Phantom's lair, and since leaving it, had been particularly aggressive. In fact, they had been nothing if not polite. Still, there was the example of all the ghosts who attacked Amity to consider, and Mr Lancer didn't entirely trust their ghostly escort to protect them.

In other words, Mr Lancer was scared. With good reason.

When a ghostly pirate ship appeared out of nowhere to hang above the , Mr Lancer was downright terrified. What did they want?

But then his students, his students, poked their heads over the railing and waved down. Daniel, Jasmine, Mr Foley, Miss Manson were on that ship. It wasn't a pirate ship, then, Mr Lancer realized once he got his heartbeat under control. That didn't answer the question of what they were doing here. Mr Lancer had understood that they were going to meet the four of them in a place called the Far Frozen, not here, in the middle of, well, nowhere in particular. A green and swirling void.

Where had they even come from? Was one of these green clouds much closer to them than it appeared?

He supposed that it didn't matter. The 'driver' of the carpet signaled up to the children on the ship with a series of complicated hand gestures. Daniel signed back. Then the 'driver' angled the carpet up, to the deck of the ship, sneaking it over the railing to land.

"Fenton?!" exclaimed Dash, loudly, before Mr Lancer had a chance to react. Mr Lancer wasn't sure why he sounded so surprised. It wasn't as if he hadn't had several minutes to process Daniel's presence, and he had known that they were going to meet Daniel, his sister, and their two friends. It wasn't that shocking to find them here... Or maybe Mr Lancer had run out of shock when the ship appeared overhead, and Dash was reacting normally.

"Hi, Dash," said Daniel.