Chapter 277: Starting a Conversation

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"Hey, idiot."

"Are you really starting a conversation like that?"

"I'll start a conversation any way I want."

"Okay, whatever, I don't have to stick around for this, I have things to do."

"Wait," said Dan. "Do you know what happened with Dmitri?"

"Sojourn brought him to the hospital," said Danny. "He was really hurt, I guess."

"You guess?"

"I can't actually go find out until the Guys in White are all processed. Is that it?" Danny paused for half a second. "Well, then, I'm going—"

"I hear I have a new sibling," interrupted Dan.

Danny turned to give Dan a raised eyebrow. "A new sibling, is it?"

"Shut up," said Dan. "Just drop it already."

"Can't," said Danny. "But, yeah, Dustin. He's awake now."

"You could stand to sound happier about it."

"I am happy about it—I just would like it if he didn't attack me first thing. I'm getting tired of that. It shouldn't be too much to ask my friends and family to not attack me."

"It does seem to be a pretty common thing for you. Haven't almost all of your allies attacked you at some point or other? I'm sure he'll get over it, just like the rest of those morons."

"Are you trying to cheer me up?" asked Danny, incredulously, squinting up at Dan.

"No," said Dan.

"Good. It feels gross."

"Would you rather I be evil again?"

"No," said Danny. "I'm glad you're not evil." He paused. "You didn't become king or anything in your timeline, did you?"

Dan scoffed. "No," he said. "Why even ask me that? You know all the stuff you had to go through to get picked. Do you think I ever beat the old man or passed his 'tests?' You're smarter than that. At least I thought so."

"Yeah," said Danny. "You got Fright Knight to work for you, though."

"He was only working for me until he could stab me in the back. Trust me, there was no loyalty lost between us. I only kept him alive because I thought he was funny."

"He wasn't alive though."

"Figure of speech."

"This is why ghost languages exist. But you didn't have any, like, authority? You didn't have to make hard decisions?"

"I was an omnicidal maniac, so, no."

"At least you admit it," said Danny. He rubbed his face with both hands. "Do you want to go visit him? Dustin?"

"Sure, whatever, why not?"

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Tucker adjusted his glasses and squinted at a letter.

"Someone's letting Danny write his own letters again. He really needs someone to at least proof them to make sure he doesn't slip into ghost. Or make him go to sleep. He doesn't slip as often when he's well rested."

"What has he asked for, great pharaoh?" asked the royal secretary (Tucker had, after careful consideration, upgraded the position of royal mail opener to something more comprehensive).

"Uh… I think this is just a normal letter, actually," he said, scanning the letter. "How am I doing, am I settling in, how are the coronation rites going, is everyone treating us nicely, have I gone crazy because of no technology yet… Gee, Danny, you sure have a lot of faith in me, huh?"

(Tucker refused to think about what his parents jokingly referred to as 'tech withdrawal symptoms.' He was still trying to get in touch with Technus. The ghost who started all this shouldn't be this hard to find, but he was.)

"And… He has a PS. Okay." This sheet of paper was of a different type than the others, and the writing on it was much more scratchy and hurried. "Do you know what aglaophotis is? Or who would know about it?" He vaguely recognized the name. Something from a video game, maybe. But that probably meant it was a real thing the video game had used as inspiration, and not accurate, anyway.

"I don't know of any location like that, great pharaoh."

"No, it's a plant, apparently," said Tucker.

"In that case, great pharaoh, the royal herbalists would be the best people to ask."

"Right. I know I've met them, but they hang out…"

"Their gardens, or the royal laboratories."

"Wait, we have laboratories?

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"So, Mr. Thirteen—"

"I prefer Johnny, actually, ma'am."

"Johnny, then," continued Nephthys. "He was under Freakshow's control for a significantly longer period of time than Mr. Burns. I believe he might help us determine his plans, the degree of his control, or at least where he was going."

"Excuse me," said Mr. Lancer, "shouldn't we have held Dan back as well, if we were going to talk about this? He was tracking Freakshow, right?"

"That's a good point," said Frostbite.

"Should we call him back."

"No, no, he needs to bond with the others," said Nephthys. "He wasn't with Freakshow, either. Johnny, here, was, and so was his friend, Shadow." She put her hand on Johnny's shoulder and leaned forward.

"Uh," said Johnny. "I don't actually remember anything from the past, uh. While."

"That's why we're going to help you remember," said Nephthys.

Johnny would have probably paled if he were alive. As it was, his expression merely became rather sick.

"What about the president's proposal?" asked Mr. Lancer.

"It'll still be there when we're done with this!"

"I'm sure, but I was under the impression that the GIW agents were going to be executed soon," said Mr. Lancer. "If this runs over, we won't have time to return to the topic. I've been to many meetings like this for the school board and the union, and that's always what happens."

"I must concur with William," said Frostbite. "Shall we make that a motion?"

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"Hi, Dan!"

"Damien," said Dan.

"Hi," said Danny.

Damien, who had been waiting at the end of the hall, fell in with Dan and Danny. "So, anything interesting?"

"We got an offer from the president, but I don't know if we're going to take it. It seems like a waste if we don't, but…" Danny sighed. "I don't know if the others see it that way. I think they don't want to, um. Break the rules for the president. Or… seem to be breaking the rules? But I don't think it's really breaking the rules. It's still a prisoner exchange."

Damien shrugged. "They probably know better than we do. They are way older than us, after all."

"Just because they're old doesn't mean that they know better," said Dan with a scoff. "It just means that they're out of touch."

"Maybe it means that for humans, but it isn't like ghosts can go senile."

"Old man time sure seems like he's making a good go of it."

Danny glared up at Dan. "Are you just being contrary for the sake of it?"

"No."

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Johnny was kicked out of the council chambers, with strict instructions not to leave. Of course, Shadow immediately wandered off, and Johnny chased after him.

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"Maybe you should go in first," said Danny. "He knows you, and you can say whether or not he's okay with seeing us. I don't want to upset him."

"You really don't want to get punched again, do you?" asked Damien, playfully. However, Danny could see understanding and no small amount of distress of his own reflected in Damien's eyes.

"I don't want to distress anyone," Danny said, shutting his eyes.

"Hey, don't worry. I'm your bodyguard. I'm going to keep anyone from punching you." He knocked on the door and slipped through.

"Uh huh," said Dan, skeptically. "He's your bodyguard. Right. He's more of a twig than you are."

"Be nice," said Danny. "Besides, Damien is great at his job."

"You don't even need a bodyguard."

"I'm a prince," said Danny. "I'm sure there are lots of people who want to attack me. Maybe even kill me."

Dan regarded Danny with something between derision and disbelief. "You've fought Ancients. There isn't much out there that will kill you. Isn't it against your hero code to humor someone by letting them do something that will get them hurt?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sort of, I guess. I don't like to take choices away from people, though. Plus, Damien is more of a social bodyguard than a physical one."

"A social bodyguard."

"Kind of like a chaperone."

"You're older than he is," pointed out Dan. "Don't tell me you're using him to hide from people who just want to talk to you."

"Eh. More to give annoying people the slip, but sometimes."

"And they say I'm the evil one."

"I'm not sure who 'they' are, in this case. The number of people who know what you did is still rather limited, as far as I'm aware."

"I poured out my past to a full court. I don't doubt it's in the rumor pool, now. Common knowledge, by the end of the year."

Danny shrugged. It wasn't untrue, but… "I think you'll find that people either care less than you think, or it won't spread as far as you fear. Either that, or people won't really understand the scale of what happened. I'm the one they're familiar with, after all."

"And you'd never go off the deep end, is that it?"

"You're proof I might have," said Danny. "So, no. But they might not believe it. Unless I'm way more public about my mental breakdowns than I've been so far."

Dan snorted. "Something I should know about?"

"I have mind control powers now."

"All ghosts can overshadow people, unless they're total losers. Why would that give you a mental breakdown?"

"Mind control, not overshadowing. Like Freakshow."

"Huh. Well, that sucks."

"Uh huh."

"Sucks that the universe feels fit to give you awesome powers you won't even use."

"I hate you so much sometimes."

The door to Dustin's room opened again.

"Good news!" said Damien. "He wants to see you!"

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Dustin's room shared a wall with Frostbite's, other ghosts in residence at Libra having moved to make room.

(It might have been contradictory, for beings that didn't sleep to need or want rooms, but it was necessary, to keep fights from breaking out. Short term was fine, but too many ghosts shoved together with no release, reprieve, or place to retreat to spelled trouble. When Danny's trial had been ongoing, everyone had been on their best behavior, but it had still been tense. It was better, now, when many of the spectators, clients, and advocates involved in that trial had left.)

This made the room feel like the inside of a meat locker. Incidentally, this was a temperature Danny was comfortable with. There was a good amount of furniture, of about the same quality as was in the room Libra was letting Danny use, and several pieces of clothing in Far Frozen blue were strewn around the room. Otherwise, there was no personalization. Not surprising. Dustin hadn't been here long enough, hadn't truly existed long enough, for something like that.

He had, however, enough memory and experience with combat to position himself with easy access to any number of potential improvised weapons. His tension was palpable.

"Hello," said Danny. What could he start with, after everything? "I'm sorry."