Hey, so, in previous author's notes, I warned you guys that my update schedule might be a bit chaotic. Well, that was before my state caught on fire so badly that the sun turned red from smoke.

Yeah.

I'm going to keep trying to post regularly. I'm not in any immediate danger from the fires (unless you count smoke headaches). My family and I are doing fine. We've even got our electricity back, for now. We aren't dealing with anything the rest of the state isn't. But on top of everything else... It's pretty stressful, and it's hard to write like this. It's hard to do anything like this.

I'm hoping things will stabilize by next week, and this will turn out to be me being over dramatic, but things might get choppy. This is just a heads-up.

I'm too stressed to answer reviews, but I read all of them. Thank you all so much for taking the time to send your thoughts.

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Chapter 215: New Roles, Old Stories

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"They've settled the rules?" asked Danny. His heart was beating at what would be a normal rate in any full human, which meant that he was about a second from a heart attack. "That quickly?"

"Not quite settled, but like I said," Hemlock spoke calmly, "they accelerated things out deference to human needs and timescales." He slid a slim booklet across the table to Danny.

"What's this?" asked Danny.

"The rules."

"All of them? I thought there'd be more."

Hemlock made a humming noise. "Well, the point of the initial committee is to pare things down to a manageable level."

"Okay," said Danny. He opened the packet.

"Danny," said Hemlock, reaching across the table to lightly touch Danny's hand. "It's going to be alright. They decided to take our," he smiled, "recommendation, for the most part. They want you to swear to abide by these rules and not dispute the trial's outcome before they finalize these."

"Alright," said Danny. "I'm going to need to read through this before I do that, obviously, but are there any highlights? Things I should focus on?"

"For the most part," said Hemlock, "if these rules are followed, the trial will follow much the same structure as one in the human world. Specifically, those of America. The first step will be the selection of the twelve jurors, which will be split evenly between residents of the Infinite Realms at large, residents of Amity Park, and residents of your lair. All jurors will be adults who have, at some point, been human. They will all also be parents."

"A jury of their peers."

"Precisely. Who better to judge them than those who know how they should have acted?"

Danny nodded, tamping down on his discomfort. It… did not say good things about him, or their chances, that he wanted his parents' trial to be anything but fair, did it? In a perfectly fair world, they would be found guilty and punished. In the world Danny wanted, they'd be let off, safe, and then they'd all go home to Amity Park to beat the GIW into the ground.

But things needed to be fair, otherwise other people would get hurt, sooner or later. One set of rules for his family and a different set for everyone else spelled trouble, no matter how Danny looked at it. He knew that.

The internal dissonance gave him a headache.

"Other than those requirements, the jurors will be selected randomly from the available pools of candidates."

"That makes sense," said Danny.

Hemlock nodded. "After that, comes the trial itself, which will mainly consist of the questioning of witnesses. All witnesses will be sworn to the truth with a drop of Stygian water." He paused for Danny to nod. "After all witnesses are called, the jury will be sequestered until they can make a decision concerning which charges brought against your parents are valid. Incidentally, while they will be tried at the same time, their guilt or innocence will be independent of one another. Your mother may be found guilty of something your father is declared innocent of, and vice-versa."

Danny scowled. "Vlad's the one that suggested that, isn't he?"

"Well, through his advocate, Foxglove, yes," said Hemlock.

Danny grumbled a bit, but, honestly, having them separate means that one of them will probably have a lesser sentence. One of them will get off easier. Yes, Danny wanted both of them safe, but… He sighed. Vlad was probably hoping to throw Jack under the bus, but considering what had actually happened, as long as the thing with the shadows didn't come out, it would turn out the other way around.

Maddie had been the one to shoot him, after all.

"And after that?"

"After that is sentencing," said Hemlock. "The jury may make a recommendation about what sentence they believe is appropriate, and the verdict will determine the level of punishment, but, ultimately, Themis will decide."

"Pretty straightforward."

"In theory," agreed Hemlock with a sigh. "In practice… One of the elements of this that I am less enthusiastic about is that the witnesses are not limited to those of the defense and prosecution, and neither is the questioning. Any advocate representing a person of high enough standing may participate. Including those of the witnesses."

Danny grimaced. He couldn't imagine that not being a train wreck. "So, like, everyone on the initial committee, or…?"

"No, thank goodness. You, your family members, the members of your fraid, your teacher, your classmates, Technus, and, unfortunately, Plasmius, are the only ones who qualify."

"Why Technus?"

"He is a primary witness, and the one to report the crime."

That made sense. "And my classmates?"

"Primary witnesses. Of course, their privileges are somewhat more limited than those deemed to be directly affected. The advocates of witnesses may only question their own clients."

"And Vlad?"

Hemlock's lips twisted oddly. "Evidently, he is your godfather, and the person listed as your next of kin, should your parents die. Foxglove leveraged the fact most skillfully."

"Wait, what? Really?" Why did his parents never tell him these things?

"Yes, I'm afraid so."

"Great," said Danny. "But they took death and torture off the table?" he asked, reminding himself of the positives.

"For the most part, yes. Unfortunately, they wish to maintain several items you wanted removed, the argument being that psychological torture is the basis of any punishment."

Danny sighed. "Of course. Which ones?"

"Well, if you will turn to page twenty, I can start to walk you through them."

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Danny downed the tiny vial of Stygian waters. Technically, it wasn't necessary for him, he had to keep his promises always, not only when bound by the waters of the River Styx, but he knew the gesture would make the initial committee feel better.

"Should the initial committee choose to adopt the rules proposed in this packet," he said, carefully, "I shall, for the duration of the trial, abide by them to the best of my ability and not dispute the results of a trial that follows them, no matter what those results may be. Nor will I attempt to remove or otherwise shield my parents from whatever punishment is decided upon by said trial, except in a manner consistent with said rules." He took a deep breath that he really didn't need and looked around the room at the initial committee. "Are you satisfied?" he asked.

He could see quite clearly that some people definitely were not satisfied. Most likely, they had hoped he would stumble on his words, mis-phrase his oath, promise to follow whatever rules the committee came up with, or otherwise trap himself.

Jerks.

Good thing most of them would not be active participants in the trial.

"Yes, thank you," said Themis from her place presiding over the committee. "That will be more than sufficient. Thank you, Mr. Phantom."

Danny gave Themis a short bow, and quickly left the room. He could feel eyes on the back of his neck as he went.

Time to try and revive his siblings again.

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A sharp whistle rang through the hall the jury volunteers had been herded into. The conversations began to die down.

"Alright!" shouted Astraea, pushing a stray strand of hair back behind her ear. In her other hand was a clipboard that looked like it was made of stone. "We're going to be conducting interviews for jury members. Please be prepared to come forward when your name is called. Gloria Ormolu, Tiffany Snow, Kenton Clark, Connie Jones—"

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For what must have been the thousandth time, Connie wondered if she should have stayed in Amity Park. She wrote articles for a science magazine. A very small science magazine. She really didn't have any business being here. She should be trying to get back to her kids.

"Connie Jones?"

"That's me!" said Connie, with forced cheer. "And you are?"

"Astraea Iustitia," said the ghost. "I will be conducting this first interview, after which you will either be handed off to my colleagues or released from responsibility."

"And what does that mean? Released?"

"Well, normally it would mean that you would be free to leave and continue your existence. But as you are human, and these are very unusual circumstances, what it effectively means is that you will be accommodated here, at Libra, until someone is free to take you back to Amity Park."

Connie nodded, nervously. "Alright."

Astraea smiled, her white eyes fixed on something to Connie's left. Was she blind? She didn't really act like it, but what did Connie know?

"Good. Do you have any children?"

"Not with me," said Connie, her apprehension spiking again. Not in Amity Park, either, or she never would have come. Connie's daughters and wife had been visiting her wife's parents, out of state, when everything went to hell in a handbasket.

Astraea waved her hand. "That doesn't matter. The initial committee added the requirement that jurors be parents, so we need to comply with that. So, do you have children?"

"Yes," said Connie. "I do."

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Ricky elbowed Mikey.

"What?" asked Mikey, annoyed.

"I'm bored," said Ricky.

"Okay? So?"

"So, I don't know. Just, once you take away the constant threat of death or whatever, just, uh. You know. The afterlife is… boring."

"This is more than the afterlife," said Mikey. "I mean, some ghosts were born here, apparently? It's so weird that they still want to be called ghosts. Like, wouldn't spirits or something be better? Fae? Otherworldly entities?"

Ricky groaned. "They want to be called what they want to be called. Who cares? But I want to do something."

"I get it," said Mikey. "I just—" he made a gesture with his hands. "Superpowers. I want them. Like, so much. I know they can suck, I've read comic books—"

"I know," said Ricky. "We're best friends. I've read the same books."

"Well. I want them. It's dumb, but I want them."

Ricky hummed. "Danny's back. Maybe we can harass him into teaching us now."

"He's super busy, though. With the trial. I mean, I remember when my mom got sued for something she said on the air, and that was really stressful. I can't even imagine what this is like for him."

"Yeah. So maybe we can take his mind off of it."

"That's a thought." Mikey leaned back on his bed and covered his face. "I kind of miss school. I miss having stuff to do other than talk to lawyers – advocates, I mean – and sleep." He didn't say that he missed his parents. That went without saying.

"Me too. Do you think we should tell anyone else, or just go on our own?"

"Eh," said Mikey. "Let's go do this."

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Danny was easy to find. Probably because he wasn't hiding. No, he was sitting in the middle of one of the large flat lawns in the middle of Libra.

Teaching Valerie how to blast pink ectoblasts from her hands.

"So… we're not the only ones with this idea, I guess."

"Guess not," said Ricky, toeing the edge of the grass. "So…" he trailed off.

Danny was somehow a lot more intimidating now that Ricky knew he was no longer either a) human or b) dying. Well, dying was sort of an exaggeration, but the whole time Ricky knew he was Phantom, Danny hadn't exactly been well.

Now he was.

Turns out outcast classmates were scarier once you knew they could have killed you at any time. Not that Danny would do anything like that. And Ricky and Mikey had certainly never done anything to deserve it.

Dash on the other hand… Yeah, that was another story.

But, again, Danny wasn't like that.

So.

Ricky stepped onto the lawn and waved. "Hey," he said. "Can we get in on this? These lessons?"

Danny grinned, brightly. "Sure!"

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Paulina had been content to watch Danny and his friends play with ghost powers from the sidelines. Like, she was starting to get that the Phantom she had built up in her mind wasn't exactly real. She was… not exactly okay with that. But she was dealing.

Going out with a superhero – going out with a dead person – hadn't really been achievable anyway.

At least, that's what Star had been telling her for the past few days. It helped.

Paulina was still peeved. At herself, mostly. She could have gone out with Danny. He'd asked her out more than once. Nowhere near enough to be creepy, not like Lester. Or Nathan. Whichever one of the twins was stalking Valerie. But still. He'd liked her.

It gave her a headache. She'd been friends with the three of them, Danny, Tucker, and Sam. Mostly Sam. They'd been… nice. Up until that last big fight with Sam in middle school. But they weren't exactly what Paulina thought of when she thought of superheroes.

They probably all hated her, now. She'd made a fool of herself, playing with Danny's feelings to get back at Sam, chasing after Phantom, rejecting Danny.

She was shallow. Sam was right.

(Not to mention, she didn't have the time, resources, or willpower to keep up her beauty regimen. At all. If the A-List hadn't already been shattered, it would be now.)

At least she had Star and Kwan. Star might be trying to make friends with Mikey, and Kwan had spent most of their time here trying to pull Dash out of one existential crisis after another, but they were there for her, they had her back. So did the other A-Listers, to an extent, she supposed, but they had their own issues.

She had her dad, now, too. He'd come from Amity Park with some of the other parents. But all of them had been called away by one of the Libran ghosts, and Paulina couldn't really talk to her dad about this anyway. It would be so embarrassing.

So, she was watching Danny do weird ghost stuff with his sisters and his friends and tried to let go of her jealousy. She was still working on it when Valerie walked over. It was harder, with Valerie there. Valerie had been an A-Lister!

But that was the point. Had been. Until Paulina kicked her out for what was, in retrospect, a really shallow reason. She'd hurt Valerie. She owed her, in a sense.

Then Mikey and Ricky showed up.

Well. Paulina might be improving herself. She might be a work in progress. But letting those two nerds into the spotlight without her?

Not a chance.

(Especially since Star seemed to have some kind of crush on Mikey.)

(Gross.)

She grabbed Star's wrist and marched out onto the grass.