Hey, happy Friday! I've got to say, you guys are way crueler than I am. Oh my gosh. Yikes.
Anne Camp: Danny will get some real recovery time before too long. :)
Black Cat: I kind of feel like wishing for Danny's core to be healed wouldn't work. Like, my headcanon for memory blank is just that Danny's core was suppressed, not that it was gone. So Desiree could create the illusion that Danny's core was healed, but it wouldn't work long-term, and Danny's body would probably eventually reject whatever Desiree did to it. Desiree wasn't really around, anyway... Also, narrative reasons... You get me?
Picky: Thank you for reading. You'll have to read to find out what will happen. :)
Richard1081: You'll have to wait and see~
17: Good to see you're still here, I look forward to seeing your reviews. :)
lenasmith106: Yes, he is a poor Danny, he needs the sleep.
fictionaddiction01: That's really nice of you to say! I am working on some original stuff, but you probably won't get rid of me any time soon. I do plan on writing more Grandfather Clocks, but I haven't worked on it for a bit, because there's some upcoming Danny and Clockwork fluff in here that's had me distracted. I was going to do Ectober week at the end of the month, but it's not a week anymore? It's a month? I don't know what's going on with that, but I don't currently have the mental fortitude to do a whole month of prompts. It's always good to meet another educator. I hope your kids aren't giving you too hard of a time. :)
sairen629: Ooh! A crowning trial sounds interesting. I'm not sure it'll work with what I've already said about the ghost king, but I'll have to think about it.
grapeytae: Maybe ;)
Thank you for reviewing!
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Chapter 161: Where's Danny?
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Danny woke up, and he was cold. He sighed in relief, a puff of cold mist curling above his lips, and sinking back down to his face. His core must be overcompensating.
He sat up and blinked slowly, muzzily. He was back in the room he'd slept in before. Apparently, the ice hadn't ruined the bed, because it was nice and dry now.
Ellie was in human form, sitting in a chair across from him, drawing with crayons on a lapboard. She looked up. There were dark circles under her eyes.
"Hey, you're awake," said Ellie. "How do you feel?"
Danny thought about it and wiggled his toes. "Better," he said. "My legs still feel weird."
"Yeah, Dr. Iceclaw said that would happen. Want me to get him?"
"No," said Danny, pulling a pillow behind him so he could sit up. "Not yet." He sighed and rubbed his chest. "Thank you, Ellie."
"What for?"
"Helping. Coming to get me, and doing the medical stuff."
Ellie laughed. "You don't have to thank me for that."
"You thank me for that stuff," said Danny, "and it's polite."
"I guess."
"What are you drawing?"
Ellie turned the lapboard around. "Just rainbows."
"Cool." He tilted his head. "They're backwards, though."
"They're ghost rainbows."
Danny blinked. "Is that a thing?"
"I don't know. I feel like it should be." Ellie sighed and put the lapboard to the side. "I'm going to go get Dr. Iceclaw."
"Okay. Um. Everything went okay, right?"
"Yeah, it was fine," said Ellie, waving a hand. "I didn't do a whole lot."
"I didn't, like, um... Dr Iceclaw was really worried that I would- That my core would shock you, or something."
"Nah. You just wiggled a whole lot." She frown. "Well, I guess, not really. You wiggled a bit. Froze one of my fingers. But, you know," she wiggled all of her fingers, "I do ice just as well as you do, and it was because I twitched and hit you, so don't go getting angry at yourself.
"I wasn't going to," said Danny.
Ellie gave him a look.
"Okay, maybe I was."
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"Our clients are missing?"
Hemlock regarded the other advocate (who was very much his junior) with weary eyes. He had gathered together all the advocates for the human students (many of whom had only met their clients once) to tell them the rather disturbing news.
"I'm afraid so."
"But we can't properly proceed without consulting them. We won't know what they want!" This complaint stirred up a mutter of agreement.
"I'm aware. I called you together to propose calling for recess, until such a time as our clients can be located," said Hemlock.
"But that will give our opponents more time to plan," said the advocate, floating up so she could glare at Hemlock at eye level, and shaking back her pale blonde hair. "To collude! To, um, uh, Ivy, help me out here."
"Strategize?" suggested a woman with red hair.
"Yes, yes. That."
"I don't believe that we have any other options, Miss Nettle. As you said, we cannot ethically proceed without our clients' input."
"If we are going to ask for an extended recess, perhaps we could also ask for the others to be barred from speaking each other," said another advocate.
"Would we have enough support for that?" asked another.
"I don't believe so," said Hemlock. "I do invite all of you to ask around, of course, but I hope you will support my motion for a recess regardless, when the committee reopens."
This statement was received with reluctant nods.
Hemlock rubbed his nose. "Now, do any of you know where I could find Lady Pandora's advocate?"
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"So, your suggestions were favorably received in the last sessions," said Azalea. "If things continue this way, we will be having an American-style trial. Or as close as we can get to one, anyway. There is quite a bit of debate occurring, of course, but the general consensus is that such a trial would be fair."
Wolfsbane nodded genially. "There was a short recess called for everyone to confer with their clients. As you were the ones to propose this course of action initially, we were hoping to go over-" Wolfsbane broke off as there was a knock on the door.
Azalea got up and went out. Jack and Maddie exchanged glances.
"Now, as I was saying-" started Wolfsbane.
The door opened again, and Azalea stuck her head in. "Wolfsbane? I think you'd better come."
"Alright," said Wolfsbane. "Excuse me."
"What do you think is happening?" asked Jack.
"I don't know," said Maddie. "Nothing good. I don't think Azalea would have called Hemlock if it was minor."
"You're probably right, Mads."
Maddie reached across the table, and pulled over some of Wolfsbane's papers. She frowned. They were all Greek to her. Literally. Greek, in neat, short, graphite strokes. Maddie didn't speak Greek. Or read it.
She pushed the papers back across the table, frustrated.
The door opened. Wolfsbane and Azalea came in, followed by an incredibly ugly, balding, bearded man. He looked oddly familiar to Maddie, as if she'd seen a picture of him before.
"Madeline, Jack, this is Hemlock, my partner. He's representing Daniel."
Maddie's hands curled into fists on the table. Judging by Hemlock's expression, whatever news he was bringing was bad.
"Last time I spoke to Daniel, he asked me to tell you if anything significant happened."
"Significant like what?" asked Jack.
"I recently received word that Daniel and several of his classmates were kidnapped."
Maddie's heart dropped. "Kidnapped?" she said, faintly. "Kidnapped how?"
"That wasn't clear, I'm afraid," said Hemlock. "There are currently efforts underway to locate them, and I am confident that they will be found." He drummed his fingers on the table.
"Who took them?" demanded Jack, angrily. "Is Jazz okay?"
"Jasmine is fine. She is currently assisting the search. Who took them is, sadly, unknown." Hemlock took a step back. "That's all I know," he finished, apologetic. "I will, of course, send word when I hear more." Hemlock rapped once on the door, and was let out before either Maddie or Jack could ask any more questions.
Wolfsbane coughed; an affectation, surely. "Well, that is going to change a few things."
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Dan hadn't expected the random ghost he accosted to actually have any information about Danny. He'd been bored, really, and frustrated, looking for something to do. Shockingly, the ghost, a pale green thing with a smooth body, had actually been helpful. He had provided Dan with a number of rumors involving Danny. Apparently, little Danny had gotten himself into legal trouble of all things.
But beyond that... Dan had thought the ghosts screams of pain and fear would be pleasant, invigorating. They weren't. They weren't enjoyable at all, to the point where Dan had to wonder, had he ever found pleasure in screams? Or had he just grown used to them, had he just come to see them as a sign that he was getting closer to his goal, that he was was doing what he needed to?
He let the ghost go, frowning all the while. He felt... uneasy. There was no reason for a weak feeling like that. None at all. He wasn't human, after all. He was a ghost. An evil, unfeeling ghost. A powerful evil, unfeeling ghost. As soon as he recovered from his time spent in the thermos, he would be able to beat any ghost in the Realms.
His frown turned into a scowl. He shouldn't have let that ghost go. He could have destroyed it, and consumed its energy.
The thought made his core ripple.
Dan snarled, and began to pace back and forth on the little island he had claimed for his own. What was wrong with him? Had Clockwork done something to him? No, no, as much as he wanted to, he couldn't blame the meddler for this. This was older than that. He recognized this.
These feelings, these were the buried dregs of his morals. He thought he had destroyed them once and for all, replaced them with duty, with purpose, with the joys of jobs well done, and skills and talents put to use, with the pleasures of defeating opponents and solving puzzles, and the dubious delights of physical experience. He had thought. He had believed.
He forced them down again. It didn't matter what he felt. He had things to do. He had to do them.
(And why should he?)
He forced the thought down again.
This time, this time, this time. How would he do things this time? That was the question of the moment. He stilled himself.
This time, he would kill Danny first. He had already decided that, hadn't he? No reason to have doubts over letting one ghost go, he had already decided to do it. A mercy for little Danny, a mercy for another version of himself, a mercy he would have begged for, if only he had known. Danny wouldn't know the pain of being alone in the world, wouldn't have the terrible weight of knowledge on his shoulders.
(Never mind the very practical motive of absorbing Danny's power.)
So, where would Danny be, while he waited for the trial of his parents?
Not Long Now. The eyeball wouldn't have let Dan out. There would be no point. Issitoq also wouldn't have told Dan to 'find' Danny, if that was the case. Could he be at Libra? Dan didn't like the thought of fighting Themis and Dike in his current state, not to mention everyone else who had to be there. The Far Frozen? He had the same feeling about Frostbite and the yetis. Their security was too good, anyway. He wouldn't be able to break through without destroying someone. Several someones. Elysium? No. Pandora was there.
He shook his head. Whether or not Dan could break into a place was no indication of whether or not Danny was there. In fact, it was more likely for Danny to be in a place Dan couldn't easily get into.
What if they had managed to find Danny's lair? Dan would never be able to pry him out. Sure, he'd managed to scoop weak ghosts out of weak lairs, but too many stronger ghosts had managed to evade him by hiding in their own, personal little worlds. What a nightmare, if Danny had managed to find his. Dan had never even found it. He hadn't wanted to find it. He hadn't wanted to see the ruin a mind like his, a soul like his, would generate.
Frustrated, Dan slammed his fist down on the island, and it shattered into boulders, stones, and clumps of dirt. He snarled. It should be dust with how hard he had hit it.
… With how hard he had tried to hit it...
He was weak.
He closed his eyes. He hadn't gotten as far as he had in the original timeline by being stupid. He hadn't started off strong. He'd had to be clever, he'd had to be sly, and subtle, and sneaky. He had built his powers up slowly. He could do this. He didn't have to break through. He could sneak in.
Maybe.
It was like being fourteen and confused and alone all over again. It was like being confused and scared, because his parents had just died, and so had his sister, and so had his friends, and so had the only other adult he felt like he could trust at all. Except, it wasn't, because all those people that had died in his original timeline hadn't. Not yet. If he wanted to, he could go find his parents, his sister, his teacher. He could go walk the streets of his city.
He had done that before, when he had first come to this time, but he supposed it hadn't quite sunk in. It had been like an illusion to him, something easily pushed away, pushed past.
Not so much now.
But they weren't his. They weren't Dan's. They were Danny's. That was painful.
That was painful?
What was he thinking? He wasn't feeling anything so weak, so human as pain.
He was a monster.
He needed to be.
