Hello everyone! I just want to give you guys a heads up. My school district is starting up classes in a couple of weeks, and our in-service teacher trainings are starting next week. I'm also going to be full time this year (yay!)! This shouldn't impact the overall update schedule for Mortified, but 'shouldn't' isn't 'won't,' and the time of day when I post will probably be... chaotic. If you live very far from my timezone, you may get updates on a completely different day. So, just, yeah. Brace yourselves, I guess?
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Chapter 213: the Family We Embrace
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For once, Sam didn't mind being suffocated by her father. Well, twice. She had seen him yesterday.
"I missed you, too, Dad," she said, patting his back. Her voice was muffled against his shoulder.
"I'm sorry," said Jeremy Manson. "I just can't stand it, not know where you were, or what was happening… And all the awful things happening with the GIW! Your mother was beside herself." He paused. "I know you want to stay with your friends, but are you sure you couldn't stay here with the rest of us? Or maybe they could move down here. I'm sure we'd find room."
"Sorry, Dad," said Sam. "Danny just really needs the support right now. I mean, you know what this trial's about."
"Well, yes, but…" Jeremy sighed. "I'd just like you to stay here, where I can at least try to keep you safe. Especially since your friend seems to attract trouble. Not that it's his fault!" He said, waving a hand. His exclamation turned a few heads. This was a large room, but almost all the humans currently in Libra were packed into it. "I realize that, now, but I still worry for you. It's my job, you know."
Sam let out a long breath. She'd been about to snap at her father, and now she felt a little embarrassed. "I know." She leaned into his side, and scanned the room, letting her eyes flick over familiar and unfamiliar faces. "Have they talked to you about what they want you to do, yet? Have you gotten an advocate?"
"Advocate?"
"It's what they call lawyers, basically."
"It's my understanding that I'm a character witness, of sorts," said Jeremy.
"Yeah," said Sam. "Do you know what you're going to say?"
"Not until I know what they're going to ask. What even would ghosts consider bad, anyway?"
"Mostly the same things we consider bad," said Sam. "Is Amity Park really, you know, cut off from everything now? Under a giant shield?"
"Yes," said Jeremy. "At least, it was when we left. I can hardly believe it myself." He paused. "I'm worried about what will happen," he said. "About our family. Your mother's medication…"
Sam tensed. "How much does she have left?"
"Another month," said Jeremy. He was looking out at the crowd, now. "A lot of us agreed to come because we were hoping to find allies. That the ghosts would help us. Do you think they will?"
"It depends on the ghost," said Sam. She shrugged. "It might be better to talk to the people in Harmony."
"They're real, then?"
"Yeah. Some of them are just over there," said Sam, nodding to the opposite corner of the room. "At least, I don't recognize any of those guys from home?"
"You're right, I don't think they came with us," said Jeremy. "I'm just a bit… stunned. About how all of this even… happened. It doesn't make sense. Is your friend- Is Danny even alive?"
"It's a long story," said Sam.
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"Tucker! You're back!"
Tucker was enveloped by two hugs. He patted his parents on the back. "I did say I wouldn't be long," he said.
"We were just worried," said Angela, pulling back to cup the side of his face with her hand. "So many things could have happened! We just- I know the ghosts aren't at all like what the GIW say, but some of the aren't very nice, and there are so many here…"
"It'd be like attacking someone in police station, Mom," said Tucker. "Assuming it was a police station where they actually did what they're supposed to do. Like, the platonic ideal of a police station." He made a face. What would that even look like? "Anyway, the GZ is sort of a platonic ideal sort of place. Am I even using that term right?" He sighed. "I'm babbling. I'm just really glad to see you guys."
"We're glad to see you, too," said Maurice. He leaned forward to touch his head to Tucker's. "But there were times… There were times I was glad you weren't in Amity, these past weeks. It's been bad."
"That bad?" asked Tucker.
"They found one of the weirder little cults," said Maurice. "One of the ones that worships ghosts, you know? Packed them all up on busses. Tried to drive them off to who-knows-where."
Angela started kneading Tucker's shoulders, the way she did when she got upset. "So much of it was like watching one of those movies about- about the Holocaust. They arrested so many people- and for nothing!"
"Well, it's over now, right?" asked Tucker, patting her elbow. "You chased them out, and Danny's got that shield up, and back home they're working on getting word out about what the GIW did. So, it might all be fixed by the time this is done and we can come home."
Tucker knew better than that. Nothing ever worked out that well, that easily. The grim half-smiles on his parents faces showed that they didn't buy it either.
But Maurice's smile slid into something more genuine. "Now, you never did tell us why you were dressed up like an ancient Egyptian decided to go to business school, yesterday."
"Uh," said Tucker. "It really is a long story. A long, really weird story."
"We're here, aren't we?" asked Maurice.
"I'm sorry, is that a comment about how it's weird that we're here to begin with, or about how we aren't really doing anything else, so we have time?" He got a chuckle from his mom. "Anyway, if we're going to do this, we should find somewhere to sit down. It really is long. Like, over three-thousand years long." He nodded towards a mercifully unoccupied bench.
"I don't think you have to cover the entire history of Egypt," said Maurice.
"The whole history of Egypt would go way farther back than that. But, anyway, you remember how we used to joke about how much I looked like Pharaoh Dulamaan?"
"You aren't posing as a Pharaoh, are you?" asked Angela, latching onto Tucker's arm again.
"Not 'posing.' Posing is definitely the wrong word. But, like, maybe me looking like Dulamaan wasn't as much of a coincidence as we thought it was?"
"I have no idea what that's supposed to mean, but I think I need to sit down," said Angela, for reaching for the back of the bench.
"Reincarnation is apparently a thing sometimes."
"I think I need to sit down, too," said Maurice.
"So, this started over three-thousand years ago, when Pharaoh Dulamaan was cursed by a Mitanni mage, also apparently a thing, to live twice and be forced to see the end of Egypt…"
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Somehow, Danny had managed to invite in not only Dan and Nephthys, but three other Ancients. He got a sort of vague impression that Pandora and Sojourn had been looking for him, but Nocturne had emerged yawning from a door and had only come after being snagged by Nephthys.
"So," said Nocturne, making himself at home on Danny's bed. "We're all caught up, now? No more time travel paradox secrets?"
"Not that I'm aware of," said Clockwork.
"No, I think everything has worked out," said Nephthys.
"I wouldn't be back if there was," said Sojourn. "Unless something happened while I was gone…"
"I have not heard of any significant time knots," said Pandora, "with the exception of Dan, but then, I also knew nothing of the paradox you all are currently referring to."
"Grandfather didn't know about it," said Danny, trying to head off an argument.
"I am aware," said Pandora. "Why are you all here?"
"There's a trial on," said Nocturne, stealing the sheets off Danny's bed.
"In this room," clarified Pandora.
"Nephthys grabbed me," said Nocturne. "I was going in completely the opposite direction."
"It looked like fun," said Nephthys. "All of us, in the same room together, after so long. Why, we could change the world. The very fabric of reality flutters under our fingertips." She drummed her fingers together, an evil grin on her face.
"I feel like we should refrain from doing that," said Sojourn. "As a general proposition."
"Eh, I'll settle for changing history, I suppose," said Nephthys. She draped an arm around Dan's shoulders. "Like with this guy." She patted him on the chest with her other hand. "I can already tell that we're going to have a great time."
"Are you still doing the grim reaper thing?" asked Sojourn.
"I took a break," said Nephthys, "but I was thinking about starting up again. It'll be a great bonding experience!"
Dan's expression was that of a person who would be blushing if he had even a drop of blood in his body. Next to Danny, Jazz slowly sat down on the floor. Nocturne was on the bed, and Pandora had taken the chair. Sojourn was leaning against a wall with the air of a man who had perfected the art of leaning against walls. Danny and Ellie had chosen to float, as had Clockwork.
So, Nepthys had decided to claim Dan. Danny had kind of thought she was going to, especially after that thing in Long Now where she claimed that Pandora and Clockwork both 'had' a Phantom, and that she was going to take Dan to even things out.
It was still really weird. Especially since Dan wasn't a kid. Adult ghosts could and did form fraids. Most fraids were made up of adult ghosts, since child ghosts were rare. But Danny got the feeling that usually the decision to do that wasn't so… unilateral. But maybe parenting was what Dan needed, anyway. He didn't seem opposed, per se, and Nephthys was describing more of a 'partners in crime' sort of deal.
Still. Weird.
Also, Danny called Nephthys aunt on a regular basis. Did this technically make Dan his cousin by ghost rules? That was… that was something…
(He was obviously physically related to Dan, and historically related to Dan, but did he want to be socially related to Dan? Just because he didn't despise Dan's very existence anymore didn't exactly mean that he wanted to go hang out with him at the Christmas Truce. Maybe. Probably.)
(Dan had only been not evil for, like, a week, tops. Danny needed more time to adjust.)
"So, we all just… randomly decided to come into this room. For no reason. Because we saw other people come into this room," said Pandora.
"Technically, this is my room," said Danny. "The room that was given to me, anyway. I kind of assumed you guys wanted to talk to me, or Ellie, or Grandfather." He paused. "Or Jazz, I guess."
"Thanks, Danny," said Jazz.
"I wanted to check in on you, yes," said Pandora, "I only thought there was some meeting happening."
"I was walking with you," said Sojourn, amused.
There was a knock at the door. Danny sighed, and went to open it.
For a split second, he stared into a pair of bright green lights, the only visible part of a face otherwise obscured by a steely grey helmet.
"Um," said Danny. "Hi?"
Fright Knight immediately dropped to his knee, making Danny jump.
"My liege!" he exclaimed, holding up his sword on the palms of his hands. "As the faithful servant of the King of All Ghosts, I have come to swear my loyalty!"
Danny blinked down at his former enemy. "Okay," he said. "Um. I'm going to be honest, I'm not sure how to handle this. Do I take the sword, or something else? I mean, you're already knighted, right? Can you be double knighted?" He should have paid more attention to Dora when she was talking about knighthoods.
"You're supposed to take it, and then bestow it back on me, binding me to use it in your name and for your honor, for so long as you have the right to rule," said Fright Knight.
Danny glanced back over his shoulder at the others. The older ghosts nodded at him encouragingly. Jazz and Ellie shrugged.
"That's it?" asked Danny.
"Well, there is a more formal ceremony for when you are officially and publicly acknowledged, but, yes."
Carefully, Danny picked up Soulshredder. He remembered how sharp it was from their last encounter. Getting sliced by it had hurt.
"Fright Knight," said Danny, "I bestow Soulshredder on you, for you to wield in my name and for my honor. I bind you to this, for so long as I have the right to rule." He placed the sword back into Fright Knight's hands. "You may rise. And, um, do you want to come in?"
The green lights that served as Fright Knight's eye blinked out for a split second as Fright Knight looked into the room. "You are having a meeting?" he asked.
Was it just Danny's imagination, or did Fright Knight almost sound hurt?
"Not a planned one," said Danny. "This just happened."
Fright Knight rose. "I am honored to join this entirely unplanned meeting, my liege!"
Over Fright Knight's shoulder, Danny spotted something white, which soon resolved into Frostbite coming around the corner.
"Great one!" said Frostbite, waving. "You look well!" The yeti was able to cover the distance between the end of the hallway and the door quickly. "I came to be here when the trial started and to check on your health, if you will allow me."
"Um, sure," said Danny, "but we're having a meeting now. Do you want to come in?"
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Danny's room was a bit crowded, what with five Ancients, the two ghosts Danny wanted to make Ancients, as soon as he figured out how, both his sisters, and Danny himself all squeezed in, but they made it work.
Frostbite coughed into his fist. "So, what is this meeting about?"
"I'm going to be honest, I sort of lost track," said Ellie, rubbing her earlobe.
"It isn't really a meeting," said Clockwork. He drummed his fingers nervously on the side of the box. "We all just wound up here. At the same time. It wasn't planned."
"A strange coincidence, to be sure!" said Fright Knight.
Danny swallowed a scream of frustration. That would not be productive, presently.
"Well, Ellie and I were going to try and see if we could figure out how to heal our other siblings," said Danny. There wasn't much point in hiding that.
Sojourn's eyebrow went up. "I hadn't realized you had other siblings," he said.
"Nor did I!" said Frostbite. He sounded hurt. "Are they human, like Miss Jasmine?"
"No," said Danny, "they're, um…" He floated across the room and gently pulled the box from Clockwork's hands. "They're here," he said, opening it.
"Ohhhhhh," said everyone who hadn't already seen them.
"So, uh, any ideas? You guys have been around for a while, right?"
"The best thing," said Sojourn, "would be to bring them to your lair and nurture them there."
"Well, we can't do that unless someone portals us, or teleports us, I'm not picky, to my lair. Because otherwise it would take too long, and we'd get the Gracious Ones sent after us in a non-gracious mood."
"I would," said Sojourn, "but I do not know where your lair is." He spread his long-fingered hands. "It has been many years since I was in this part of the worlds."
"The next best thing, great one," said Frostbite, "is actually what you have here, now. A safe space, lots of free ectoplasm, adult supervision, and the…" Frostbite paused, frowning at Dan. "Excuse me," he said, "but who are you, exactly?"
