Gashicalmy: No worries! Your English is perfectly understandable, and I managed to confuse a bunch of ther people with the tower, too. Think of each floor being a different AU. Thank you for taking the time to write a review!

Alec Gateway: Thank you! That's great to hear!

17: Yes, poor Danny. He deserves all the naps.

DJTimmer: That's a very interesting idea! I hadn't even thought of that.

Annie Camp: Yep! If the universe the floor tries to overlay you with is too different, you can no-sell it. The Mailman's job is his Obsession, so it can't change.

Potkanka: I know, it is surprising. :)

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Chapter 134:

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Mr Lancer dragged Mia, Hannah, and Sarah in through the door, sweating at the almost supernatural feat. Mia, the smallest, was flung over his shoulder, Hannah was caught in the crook of his arm, and he held onto the back of Sarah's shirt, keeping her from bolting. Ashley trailed after him, alternating between holding onto the back of his shirt and trying to bite him.

All at once, as he crossed the threshold onto the next floor, Mr Lancer's strength left him.

He collapsed under the weight of four teenagers. A groan escaped his lips.

"Oh, hey," came Daniel's voice. "It's Danny's teacher. Sorry, I lost your name."

"What?" said Mr Lancer, as Mia, Sarah, Hannah, and Ashley, suddenly much quieter, scrambled off of him. He looked up. Daniel was sitting on a nearby couch. "Daniel?"

"Not exactly," said 'Daniel.' "He needed a break. I'm Ellie. Danielle."

"What?" repeated Mr Lancer.

"I'm overshadowing him," explained the... girl? Girl.

"I'm not paid enough for this," he said, moaning into the ground.

"Neither am I, yet here we are," said Ellie. Twelfth Night, Daniel used that same tone, sometimes. Sarcasm and mischief.

No, he was not paid enough for this.

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Ellie hummed in Danny's voice. As expected, it did sound a lot different than hers, but it also sounded different than it normally did. It was interesting.

She surveyed the room. Everyone was staying far away from one another, especially the two girls who had been flirting earlier. Ellie could taste the embarrassment. That was an interesting wrinkle. Usually, overshadowing someone had the side effect of cutting off one's ability to absorb emotions from external sources. It must be because Danny had his own mechanism for absorbing emotional energy.

Or maybe it was because Danny as partially made out of ectoplasm. Who knew? Ghost stuff could be ultra weird.

Danny's teacher, Mr Lancer, kept looking at the door back to the previous floor.

"It's been a while," he said.

"Yep!" said Ellie, cheerfully.

She was enjoying the break, though she was becoming just a tiny bit concerned. She still believed that they would be fine, but she had thought that most of them would make their way up here. Rather than just five.

None of Danny's classmates were what she'd call geniuses (not counting Sam and Tucker), but they weren't idiots. This floor was a logical rendezvous point. It was an escape from the chaos, and from the lack of inhibition, the lack of control, that floor engendered, and it was safe. Safer than leaving the Tower, or trying to stay.

"Should we... go get them?" asked Mr Lancer.

"That would be unwise," said Prunella, "and likely impossible."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you want to go?" asked Prunella. "If not, then you'll likely turn right around and come back here. You should not worry so much about how long it's taking them to come. Logic will not be the first thing on their minds, only their desires in the moment."

"Okay," said Ashley, "but we have to eat soon, you know? I think I've lost ten pounds."

Ellie examined her. "I don't think so," she said. "But it has been a while since you've eaten, hasn't it?" Ellie pushed off the couch, compensating for Danny's slightly different frame. "We can go look while, um, Mr Lancer waits." She balanced with a touch of flight, keeping Danny's injured leg well clear of the floor.

"I can do that, love," said Prunella, standing. "You should rest."

Ellie made a face. Rather, she made Danny's face make a face. Right. Well, she had decided to do this, so she couldn't complain. She sat back down on the couch.

"That's probably a good idea," she said.

Prunella nodded. "You ought to be safe here, even without supervision. If any of those awful hooligans came here, their profession would change, and they would no longer be after you." She looked around at Danny's classmates. "Do you children want to come with me?"

"Yes," they all said at once. They stared at each other in horror. "No," they said.

"Gosh, and I thought Danny was joking about how awkward high school is."

They turned their frustrated glares on Ellie.

Ellie waved a hand. "You should all go. More eyes, better chance of finding something, right?"

"I'll go," said Mr Lancer, getting stiffly to his feet.

"No," said Prunella, "you should stay with those two," she nodded at Ellie (and Danny). "I feel that they should have some supervision, and seeing you might help any of your students who come up."

"Students?" said Mr Lancer, shaking his head. "I don't-" He blinked, then turned to Ellie. "Why did you call me Daniel's teacher?"

"Because you are?" said Ellie.

Mr Lancer opened his mouth, then closed it again. Then he said, "No. I'm not. I'm an EA."

"A what?"

"An educational assistant. I work with students in the SpEd program."

There was a lull in the conversation.

"What does this floor do, anyway?" asked Hannah.

"What's sped?" asked Ellie.

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The Digressed Tower was now visible in the distance, shorter than a fingernail held at arm's length at this distance, and frequently obscured by floating debris, it was still quite recognizable. At least, it was recognizable to Pandora.

Pandora was not especially pleased with the periodic proximity of Missing Theory to Elysium. Once, when it had just been Theory, she had loved it. The Ancient Greece of Earth had been the home of many innovators and philosophers, after all. The presence of Theory had complemented that aspect of Elysium. Back then, the advance of science and technology had long been a driving force behind hopes for the future, something that Pandora, as the Ancient Master of Hope, encouraged.

But then had come those awful wars in the human world, driven in part by science, bad science, and Theory had disintegrated. The turmoil in the Infinite Realms had fed into that of the Earth, and vice versa, the connection between the two worlds causing a feedback loop that went on, escalating and escalating, until, finally, the source of the problem was eliminated. But by then, it was too late. Theory had devolved, most reputable scientists migrated to other communities, like Method. Those who didn't were either bound to the area by hard-to-move lairs or experiments, were insane, or were the very people who had caused the issue in the first place.

It was only recently that the Digressed Tower, one of the most ambitious philosophical projects ever undertaken, had become well-traveled again- And that was for recreation, not the original purpose.

Now they were sailing towards it.

Pandora had been there many times before, both before and after Theory's collapse, but this was the first time she had been here with an entourage like this. This was the first time she had come with humans in tow.

She was still unsure if it had been a good idea to bring them. Considering the intelligence that Sam had acquired with her pictures, and whatever had occurred to bring Daniel to the Tower, they were likely sailing into a war zone. Chaos, even by the standards of Missing Theory.

But what was she to do? The children needed their hope, and they most likely would have found a way, a dangerous way, to follow if she had tried to leave them behind.

"We will arrive in just a few hours, Lady Pandora," murmured the captain.

Pandora nodded, one hand tightening around a spear. "Make sure that everyone knows," she said, "including the children."

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Danny's leg was, in many ways, quite similar to Ellie's. At least, that was the case when Danny's leg wasn't broken, sprained, and otherwise messed up. Ellie's was a little more slender, her bones a little lighter, but otherwise, it was the same. That meant that Ellie's core had a pretty good idea of what Danny's leg should look like. That had been Ellie's intention.

Feeling another person's bones, muscles, and tendons knit themselves back together was a bit weird, though. It was also proceeding more slowly than it would if it was Ellie's own leg, even though she was focusing all her energy on it, and Danny's core was working on it as well.

Ellie sighed, and shifted Danny into a more comfortable position. Cujo yipped, and scrambled to snuggle up by her side.

She had thought this would be... faster... somehow.

Mr Lancer cleared his throat. "So..." he said.

"You're going to try small-talk?"

"There isn't much else to do, is there?"

"Mhm," said Ellie. "You could go to sleep. That's what Danny's doing."

"Is he?"

"Yep. That's how it usually works in overshadowing, although I have more, uh, contact with Danny than usually happens with overshadowing. I guess this is edging into possession. Just, you know, technically. I think. I'm not really good at the distinctions, and maybe it would be different since he's letting me do it? Uhh. Danny was paying more attention than I was when we had this explained to us."

"Who explained it to you?"

"Clockwork. He's sort of like our guardian, when it comes to ghost stuff."

"I think Daniel mentioned him."

"Probably."

Ellie looked down and flexed Danny's ankle. It still hurt, but it was getting mobility back.

"Do you stay with Clockwork, then?" asked Mr Lancer.

"Sometimes. Sometimes I stay with Pandora, or the Far Frozen, or, you know, other people. If I stay with anyone at all. I like to travel."

"Oh? Where to?"

"Anywhere, everywhere. I liked Japan."

"I've been to Japan, just the once."

"Yeah, where?"

"Tokyo. Danielle, have you ever had, er, any formal, ah, education. On Earth, that is."

"Does it matter?"

"I-" Mr Lancer faltered. "I'm honestly not sure. I suppose you plan to live here, in this world, and there isn't an easy way to get you into a school long-term, so..."

"Eh. It doesn't really matter to me. I can get just as good an education here as anywhere else. Clockwork gives us a lot of hands-on history, I drop in on Ghostwriter and the Library of Tongues for books, I know enough math to get by. I do what I want."

"Ghostwriter?"

"Yeah. I think you'd like him, actually."