So this is the first chapter written entirely in December. Hopefully, my writing style hasn't changed too terribly much from October, or, if it has, that it's an improvement.
Thing that bothers me weirdly: There are no reviews for chapter 21. I know why it's like that. It's because I messed up and posted the wrong chapter, and then did a double post to fix it, but... It still bothers me, because it's a zero when I look at it on the legacy stats... I don't know why it bugs me so much. Does that ever happen to you guys? Just something that bothers you weirdly?
Thank you for reading!
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Chapter 95: Magenta
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It would be unfair to call the scene that awaited them in Elysium chaos. Someone had clearly put a lot of effort into organizing all the various spectators, photographers, journalists, cameramen, nobles, and foreign dignitaries, but the effect was, well, it looked chaotic. Especially with all of the colors, all of the variety, all of the noise.
It was a bit intimidating, really.
Danny was initially confused as to why they were all there, but then he remembered, oh, yeah, biggest trial in ages. Right. He and his classmates were the biggest and best reality show in the Zone.
Thankfully, they didn't spend much time in the streets outside Pandora's palace. They were quickly ushered inside, and lead to rooms where they were given Elysian clothing and other accouterments.
Then they were brought to a great, vaulted eating hall. Danny and his friends were brought to the place of honor at the high table. His other classmates, to his relief, were scattered around the hall with responsible minders.
The tables were stocked with foods from dozens of Greek cultures, from ancient sitos and opson, to modern gyros. There were also foods that had only ever been served in the Ghost Zone. Keik pyrkagias, prasini soupa aimatos, and Stygian pomegranate were staples here. As was wine. Lots and lots of wine. He had forgotten about the wine.
Danny hoped his classmates remembered not to eat anything that glowed.
He sighed, and snuggled into Sam's side. He took up most of the bench with his sprained ankle, but there was just enough room for Sam to be his support.
"Dude, are you trying to push me off?" complained Sam, trying to shove a piece of bread topped with vegetable opson into Danny's mouth. Danny let her.
"No," he mumbled around the bread. "You're comfortable."
"Lovebirds," sang Tucker.
"You know that the only reason that I'm not hitting you with something is that we're at the grown-ups table."
"Um, Sam, this isn't actually-"
"I know, Jazz. It was a metaphor." Sam made a face. "Sorry, I don't mean to snap, I guess I'm just tired."
"Then you should try this," said Pandora, passing Sam a cup.
"Ooh, thanks," said Sam. "Mhm. I can smell the caffeine. It isn't coffee, though. What is it?"
Sam and Pandora then got into a conversation about the various medicinal plants that grew in the Zone. So Sam was happy. That was good. Danny hummed.
Strangely enough, no one was approaching him. He usually got at least a few people trying to strike up a conversation with him when he visited. Either he looked a lot more pathetic than he thought, or Pandora had warned everyone off.
He would have to thank Pandora. Maybe once she finished her conversation with Sam.
Or maybe not. He saw several Egyptian representatives coming his way. He frowned faintly. They weren't from the Feathers. They weren't wearing Ma'at's symbol. He hadn't ever had much contact with the other Egyptians, unless you counted just a few days ago at Duat Hospital. Maybe these guys were from the hospital. It would explain why they looked familiar.
Actually, wait. They weren't looking at him. They were looking at Tucker. Egyptians. Looking at Tucker. Ooh. He had been wondering if something like this would happen. Well, not actively wondering, not with everything else that was going on. It was just something, a thought, that had been hanging out in the back of his brain for the last couple of years.
He prodded Tucker with his good foot. "Hey," he said. "Tucker."
"Wha?" said Tucker, a sausage halfway in his mouth.
"Do those guys look familiar to you?" he asked. "The Egyptians? I mean, um, the ones with the bandages, and the jackals? They are jackals, right?"
Tucker looked over, and blanched, almost choking on his sausage. "Yeah," he said hoarsely, once he had managed to swallow. "They're jackals. They're, ah, jeez, Danny." He glared at Danny. "You know perfectly well that they look familiar to me. What should I do?"
"What's wrong?" asked Sam.
"I don't think anything is wrong," said Danny, watching the Egyptians approach. The gray-coated jackals were really rather elegant. "It isn't like Pandora would let anything bad happen here, and no one wants to start a war. Just relax."
"What if they want to kill me?"
"No one wants to kill you, Tuck."
"I don't know about that," said Sam, playfully.
"Oh," said Pandora, leaning over. "Those five have been looking forward to meeting you for a while now, since just after the last time you three visited, in fact. They most certainly do not want to kill you, Tucker."
"Right. So what do they want?" hissed Tucker, leaning over so that he was half balanced on Danny's bench. The Egyptians were now close enough that they might be in earshot.
"Probably something to do with your lookalike," said Danny, pulling a bunch of grapes from the table. "Seeing as they're from Duulaman's country. Kingdom? Kingdom."
Then the Egyptians crossed all but the last couple of meters between them and the high table, and came to a halt. The three jackals laid down, and the mummies knelt.
"Great king," said the one on the left. "We greet you on behalf of your kingdom, on behalf of your people."
"Um," said Tucker. "Okay?"
Then the one on the right began to speak. "We rejoice that you have returned to the countries of Day and Night, after so many years," intoned the other one. "We pray that you shall see your kingdom again, and lead us to a new glory."
"I, um," said Tucker, flustered. "I- You know, I'm really flattered, because I am the best, but you do realize that I'm not actually Duulaman, right? I just look like him."
The two ghosts exchanged glances. "You were cursed, to be unable to enter the Aaru or the Houses of the Night until you lived twice," said the one.
"Remember, oh great king, your people. We have waited for you. We can wait longer," said the other, his eyes burning with green fire. "We are not traitors, like Hotep-Ra."
"We pray that you will remember us," repeated the first. "But we will wait." All five of the Egyptians rose, and backed away.
"Well," said Tucker, voice strained, "that wasn't eerie at all."
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Dr Iceclaw presented Danny with a pair of crutches and Danny beamed. After being dependent on other people carrying him around for the last several hours, he was ready to do just about anything to have independent mobility again, even if it was something that he would otherwise consider somewhat, well, annoying.
"Thank you!" he said, ecstatic, situating the crutches under his armpits, and swinging out of his seat. "Alright!"
"Be careful, Great One," said Dr Iceclaw. "You don't want to jostle that ankle, and your shoulders are not entirely healed yet. They won't take much of that before you must rest."
"I know," said Danny, cheerfully, balancing himself. "I'll be careful." He sat back down in the chair. "I'm not going to be running around anymore today, either. Gosh, I'm exhausted." He tipped his chair back until Jazz gently pushed it back onto four legs.
"Let's not add a head injury to your list, okay?" she said.
"You mean another head injury," said Danny. "Wow. That sounded funnier in my head. I must be really tired."
"I don't know why," said Tucker, tapping slowly on his PDA. He yawned. "You had that nap right before we got here."
"Yeah, right after he fought a giant ghost whale," said Sam. "Thanks for not letting Valerie kill it, by the way."
"Wasn't really a 'let' thing, to be honest," said Danny, making a face. "Um," said Danny, turning towards Pandora, "do we have the same room as usual?" he asked.
"All bundled together in the same bed?" asked Dr Iceclaw, archly. "Not with that ankle. All it will take is one of you rolling the wrong way, and you will be damaged even more. Besides, I need to set up a sling, so that you do not roll over onto it yourself."
"I have arranged for separate rooms to be prepared," said Pandora. "Don't worry, you will all be nearby one another."
Danny sighed, deflating. "Okay," he said. "I guess that's fair. Where am I?"
"The usual room," said Pandora.
"Wait, but, um. Oh. These guys are the ones in the other rooms. Okay. But shouldn't the girls-?"
"We'll be fine," said Sam. "Pandora has enough beds for everyone. Be comfortable in the bed that you're used to."
"It isn't the usual room for me, anyway," said Jazz. "I don't really come here very often."
"Right," said Danny, tilting his head. "You know, you do fit in really well here. I wouldn't think that this was your first long term visit. Right?" he twisted slightly to look up at Pandora and Dr Iceclaw.
"You are doing very well, Jasmine," said Pandora, encouragingly. "You all do well." She paused, two of her hands on her hips, the other two crossed. "There are some colleges here. You should take a look while you are here."
"I don't know..." said Jazz.
Danny yawned hugely. "I've gotta sleep now, guys... I'm sorry."
"Yeah, we're tired, too," said Jazz. "We can talk about this tomorrow, right?"
"That will be fine," said Pandora, warmly, patting both Danny and Jazz on the shoulder.
Danny swung back onto his one foot and crutches, and started for the door. He knew where he was going. His friends walked with him, none of them really talking. Danny was glad. He was far too tired right now.
Dr Iceclaw then spent several minutes fine-tuning the sling he had set up over the voluminous bed of the trio's preferred guestroom. Danny, meanwhile, spent the time trying to get comfortable. Jazz, Sam, and Tucker took advantage of his relative immobility to poke him with pillows, throw blankets at him, and generally fool around to Danny's sleepy delight, Pandora's restrained amusement, and Dr Iceclaw's frustration.
Finally, however, Danny got tucked in, pillows piled around him for support, and was left alone. Even the wisps chose to flit off, jingling something about exploring while Danny slept, and about how they had heard that humans liked to sleep in the darkness. Bless them, trying to be so solicitous, so careful of him. He really didn't mind the wisps' faint glow. He actually liked it. It was comforting, like nightlights, like starlight and moonshine.
For a long while, Danny was content to drift on the edge of sleep, aware of the room around him, but only vaguely. Fragments of dreams buoyed him up, geometric clouds, images and sensations, the feeling of being just about to hear a story, to have an answer, to be held closely.
But then a feeling of uneasiness overcame him, and hooked him out of those half-formed dreams, giving him the uncomfortable impression of not having slept at all, his bedclothes bunched uncomfortably under the small of his back, his blankets, pillow, sling no longer cradling him, but constraining him. The vastness, the emptiness of the bed felt suffocating and exposing in equal measure. He tried to shift into a more comfortable position, but no matter how he laid himself among the pillows, he couldn't quite recapture sleep. Nor could he shake the feeling that something was wrong.
Being who, and what, he was, he couldn't ignore that, even though there was an insistent, tired, voice that told him that he should, that Pandora and her people would take care of it, that they wouldn't appreciate him poking his nose into things.
His core twinged, momentarily more painful than his ankle, or any other part of his body. Danny briefly wondered if his painkillers had worn off, but Dr Iceclaw would be showing up if that was the case. He would just go look around, take a walk, settle his mind. Everything would be fine. The GIW were gone from the Zone, he was surrounded by allies, what could be wrong?
He shouldn't ask that question. He knew better.
Still, it was probably just some weird sound that he associated with trouble at home. He levitated a little bit to pick his leg up out of its sling, carefully rolled to the edge of the bed, and picked up his crutches. Then he picked himself up out of his bed, and made for the door. He might as well stop by the bathrooms while he was up, he was a little thirsty, and his mouth had that gross just-woke-up taste, even though he could have sworn that he didn't actually fall asleep.
He passed the threshold, and paused, something, some sound, some movement, making him turn sharply to the right.
The magenta firefly that was the business end of a blaster stared back at him. Beyond that, Danny could see Valerie's silhouette against the dimly glowing walls.
"I'm sorry, Danny," she said, voice barely above a whisper.
"Valerie, wha-"
She shot him.
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(Monotone) I bet you thought I was done with these cliffhangers. Well, you were wrong. Mwahahahahahahaha. Haha. Ha. I am so evil.
