.
.
.
Chapter 140: Unchanged
.
Valerie was confused once again. That was becoming a theme with this place. She apparently had super powers, and so did Danny Fenton. Which was beyond bizarre. Also, Paulina was ignoring her, like she had suddenly become a social pariah.
But judging from the way she was changing, and the 'rules' she kept hearing about, there was some event in her past that might or might not happen. An event that was part of her 'worst day ever.' She couldn't even begin to imagine what it could be. Some kind of horrific... embarrassing... status destroying... super power... thing. Yeah. Maybe once she had actually eaten something, and could think straight, she'd be able to figure it out.
.
.
.
Star couldn't figure out what she was supposed to have forgotten. She didn't feel any different. A few quick questions confirmed that a good number of her classmates felt the same way. A survey of bad days she did remember, showed her that a lot of people were missing memories of ghost attacks, or of Ms Spectra. Others, like Star, couldn't figure out what had been removed.
The only real exceptions among the normal students were Ashley, who was acting like she didn't know them, and Valerie, who was trying to talk to Paulina like she was in the A-list again. Star kept trying to communicate to her that that wasn't going to work, but Valerie wasn't paying attention.
As for the distinctly not normal student, well, Kwan had been roped into carrying Danny, who'd managed to have some kind of nervous breakdown, despite the floor erasing his worst day. Star doubted that she'd ever be able to understand that kid.
Luckily, this room didn't have a lot of obstructions, so they got to the stairs relatively quickly.
The ghost girl, Ellie, sniffed, and rubbed something bright and green away from her nose. "What's this next one do? Anyone remember?"
Behind them, someone cleared their throat. Star squeaked and jumped. Vlad Masters had managed to sneak up behind them. Star was initially confused about how, but then remembered that he was some weird ghost thing, so he'd probably gone invisible to hide from them, and then waited for a dramatic moment. He'd been rather frazzled before, but now he once again looked as smooth and slick as ever.
"It alters your history to make you either royalty or nobility," said Vlad. "It takes the shortest path to that, as usual. Most of the ghosts who visit believe that they became ruler of a Realm, and are visiting the Tower as part of a peace conference. I'm not sure what scenario humans would experience to explain their presence."
That sounded pretty cool, actually. Too bad she wouldn't be able to enjoy it.
"It is also one of the floors most likely to have human food on it," said Vlad.
Well. Star was in.
.
.
.
Danny uncurled from the little ball he was in. After the last floor, after believing he had been stuck in the bad future, at the mercy of Dan, this one, whatever it did, left him feeling blessedly normal. Not that he really had any right to be using that word.
He shivered, remembering remembering. Had Dan really done all that? Had he killed or destroyed everyone Danny had even a slightly positive interaction with? Danny had thought that Dan had limited himself to the area of the Ghost Zone nearest the Fenton Portal, but apparently not.
But it was okay. It hadn't happened. It wasn't going to happen.
Hopefully, on the next floor, he would take time to remember the prior floors more clearly, and reason out what was real and what wasn't, before descending into anxiety and despair. Hopefully, he would remember this lesson. Hope was good. Yeah. No more angst comas.
He was very abruptly dropped.
Danny was pretty sure (though not entirely, due to the above-mentioned angst coma) that Kwan had been carrying him. Kwan wasn't the type to drop someone on purpose, not usually. He was more of a 'drop someone by accident' kind of guy. So, something must have surprised him. Danny moving, maybe?
Or maybe it was how sparkly everything was. Everything here was covered in gold, silver, jewels, or fabrics even Danny could tell were expensive, including Danny's classmates. He stood up slowly, keeping himself small and inoffensive, and went to the one spot that didn't look like it would cost a million dollars if he even so much as thought about getting dirt on it. That spot being Ellie. His classmates stared down their noses at him.
"What's going on?" he whispered.
"I don't know. We should be different, too," Ellie whispered back. "Last time, I was changed, too. Vlad became ghost king, and I was a princess."
"What?"
"This floor turns people into royalty."
"Oh."
"'Turns us into royalty?' As if," said Paulina. "It's the other floors that turned me into a commoner." She brushed her long, silky hair back, tucking it behind her ear. Unlike before, she was very nearly immaculate. She frowned. "Where's that ghost that kidnapped me, and what are all of you doing here?"
"That's what I should be asking," said Valerie, crossing her arms. What she was wearing was much more muted and damaged than the others, but still clearly expensive.
"Guys," said Ricky, "we've been over this before on every other floor. We've been changed. We're together, we're going up. Can we not rehash this, and just do what we need to?"
Mikey nodded in agreement. "Like, eat, for example?"
Okay, that was different. Mikey rarely voiced his opinion like that. Danny allowed himself a small smile. That was good. It wasn't Mikey's fault that he got bullied, but Danny always wondered if he wouldn't have an easier time if he was more assertive, and greater confidence was, in his case, a good thing. Maybe this would carry over, after all this was done.
Danny frowned as he thought about what else might carry over. Danny would like to think that he was the only one to have picked up scars from this journey, but he knew he wasn't. He would like to think that only positives would be brought out, but that was unlikely.
There was general murmur of agreement. The floor, styled much like a ballroom, had tables of food lined along each wall. Some of the food was glowing and ghostly, but a lot of it was human.
The humans spread out through the room, not waiting for permission, or to see if anyone was with them, or watching. Maybe extra confidence wasn't always such a good thing after all.
The only one who wasn't acting like that was Mr Lancer. Danny paused to look at Mr Lancer, no longer distracted by the others. Mr Lancer wasn't dressed like the others, either.
"Hey, why are you dressed normally?"
Mr Lancer sighed. "I don't know what I'm like where you're from, but in my universe, kings are allowed to dress casually now and again, and it isn't as if we can schedule kidnappings. Though I do understand that may not be quite what happened in reality, Daniel."
"Right," said Danny.
Mr Lancer moved off as well. Danny looked back to Ellie.
"So... why aren't we affected?" asked Danny, tone rhetorical. He didn't think that being nobility or royalty would be such a change for him that it would 'break' the floor for him, and Ellie said that she'd been affected last time she was here.
As Danny expected, Ellie just shrugged. Danny looked around the room, hugging himself around the elbows. "Do you think we should go eat, too?"
"I think we should take care of that, first," said Ellie, nodding towards Vlad.
Vlad was floating to the side in all his ghostly glory. He was wearing a real tunic, and his cape was much longer, flaming at the ends. A dark and fiery crown floated over his head, and his skin and eyes were darker than usual. He was watching Danny and Ellie with a speculative expression.
Danny frowned. "Can we... Not?" But it looked like he wasn't going to have a choice, because Vlad was coming closer.
"There is," said Vlad, hands clasped behind his back, shoulders squared, "a very simple explanation for your present situation."
"Okay?" said Ellie. "Great. You going to tell us, or what?"
"Patience, daughter," said Vlad, smirking. "Think, for what reason might a floor not change someone?"
"Because it tries to change them too much," said Ellie, resentfully.
"Or?" prompted Vlad.
"Or... Or..." Ellie's face drained of blood. "No. No, that can't be. This floor must just not be working. It happens, doesn't it?"
"You could ask Prunella," said Vlad, indicating the ghost, who was wearing a crown and mingling with other dressed-up ghosts.
"Pass," said Ellie, grabbing Danny's hand. "Let's go eat." She pulled Danny away.
"Um. As much as I don't want to deal with Vlad, what was that? What was he trying to say?"
"Nothing important," said Ellie. "We'll talk about it later."
"That doesn't sound like 'nothing important.'"
.
.
.
"Here is the plan," said Pandora. "First, we will attempt to reach the Tower without engaging. If we are forced to engage, the crew and group Gamma will fight them, protecting the ship and groups Alpha and Beta. Group Alpha will attempt to enter the Tower on or around the fifty-fourth floor. Judging by the Phantoms' description in the letter, that is their most likely location. However, as circumstances," or nerves, Pandora did not add, "may force them to move on, group Alpha will ascend the Tower until they encounter them, or until they reach the seventy-seventh floor, where they will exit. Meanwhile, group Beta will enter floor seventy-seven via the casino. They will descend until they encounter the Phantoms, or reach the fifty-fourth floor, where they will exit. Once the Phantoms and their group are located, the group which located them will adopt a protective formation and escort them out of the Tower, and back to the ship. Questions?"
A hand, a very human hand, went up in the back.
"Yes?" said Pandora, knowing what was about to happen, but hoping it wouldn't.
"What group are we in?" asked Sam.
"Sam, we discussed this. You aren't in a group. You're staying here, out of danger."
Sam sighed heavily. "I know, I know. We'll be good, we'll stay."
Pandora gave Sam a tight smile, not at all trusting her to do that. She knew that she shouldn't simply dismiss those three children, they were more than half the reason Danny had survived for so long, but she felt that the current situation was a bit beyond their present abilities and equipment. Hopefully, Jasmine would be the voice of reason, and convince them to stay on the ship, where it would be safe.
"If we all understand," finished Pandora, firmly, "let us begin."
