AN: For this chapter I suggest the song: "Diamonds and Rust" (The Blackmore's Night cover)
Chapter Two: A Crisis Uncovered
Princess Dorathea spent many hours in her Fathers study, cleaning away the accumulated dust and grime from centuries of stagnant silence. They had been talking for hours, tiny unimportant matters, funny tales throughout the years. They never touched upon how very different Dora looked, and her father never asked her what she was.
She was perfectly happy with his choice to avoid the subject, and was content with the silly trivial conversations that they engaged in. A silence had fallen between the two of them as Dora sorted through aged parchments that littered the desk, and she had been humming an old celtic melody her father had sang to her to help her sleep.
She brushed off another scroll and waved away the cloud of fluffy particulate matter that scattered into the air. Looking over it, she smiled at the familiar slightly messy script of her fathers. She read for only a moment, long enough to determine that it was simply a correspondence to a neighboring kingdom about trading agreements, and then lightly placed it in a slowly growing stack. She wasn't sure what he wanted done with them, but for the first time in so very long she could ask.
"Father, what would you like done with all these scrolls?" She turned from the beautifully crafted chair she perched upon to gaze up at the portrait. To her shock and horror, the frame was completely empty, a simple background the only subject. Swallowing down the horrible dread that began overwhelming her form, she shakily stood from the seat and moved towards the bare frame.
"F-father?" Tears began welling up in her eyes, and she lightly reached out towards the portrait. How cruel was it that she only had a few moments with him? Could the fates really hate her so very much? She grit her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut to avoid the tears that wanted to fall.
"Is everything okay little primrose?" The sudden voice startled her terribly, and she leapt back from the frame, never quite coming back to touch the ground. Hovering a few inches off of the floor and clutching the desk behind her like a lifeline, she gazed at the portrait that was occupied once more.
"Y-you were gone… The portrait was empty!" Her father gained a sheepish look and rubbed the back of his head, fluffing up the golden curls that rested upon his neck.
"I'm sorry, I should have realized that my departure would startle you. Everything is fine, I was merely checking in with friends to tell them of our joyous reunion." Dorathea's eyes widened in astonishment, slowly coming to terms with the extent of enchantments that were imbedded in the canvas that held her fathers image.
"What is it like?" A bushy eyebrow was raised in confusion. "I mean, what is it like to travel through a canvas, through another dimension even. How is it even possible that such enchantments were carried into the Ghost Zone?" At this her father gained a slightly bewildered look and began looking around the room in confusion.
"What do you mean by another dimension? And the 'Ghost Zone', I've never heard of a place like that!" Her father laughed, assuming she was merely playing a prank on him, but as he looked at her odd jade tinted complexion and her deep wine hued eyes, as well as her entire being floating mere inches off of the ground and encased in an unearthly glow, he began to reconsider.
"I am a ghost father, by how calm you were upon seeing me I figured you understood that." A slight twinge of fear throbbed in her un-beating heart, would he be fearful of her changed state?
"A ghost? But you look nothing like the ghosts I know!" There were other types of ghosts? Dora had only ever seen those like her, albeit many had unique and varied powers, most were fairly similar in appearance.
"What do the ghosts you know of look like?" Dora raised an eyebrow to emphasize her uncertainty.
"They are without color or true form, merely passing through all that is physical. But you have been moving scrolls all day, how is that so?" Thinking about it for a moment, Dora realized that he was expressing that all of the ghosts he had seen were permanently intangible. Changing her form to be more like he had described, she looked back towards him.
"Yes! Like that, you've lost your color and I can see slightly through you. But how is it you retain your other form?" Her fathers eyes were alight with all of the curiosity and excitement of a young lad just waiting to begin practicing with Knights. His words came ever faster, and had he been sitting in a seat, Dorathea was sure he would have been bouncing right out of it.
"I-I'm not sure. All ghosts I know are capable of a physical manifestation." Regaining her own physicality, she lightly sat upon the desk and began contemplating the difference between the ghosts he knew, and the ones her father was familiar with.
"You mentioned a "Ghost Zone" earlier, what and where is that?" Dora stifled a laugh behind one delicate hand and replied.
"It's where we are Father, the realm of the Dead." Had he still been in his hypothetical chair, he would have fallen off of it in shock at this point.
"Realm of the Dead!? Why none of the magicals have ever described anything like this! How have they not discovered this 'Ghost Zone' yet?" He looked completely aghast at the idea of an unknown realm, and Dora wondered if magic really could have surpassed what she had known as a girl so greatly.
"I'm not sure Father, but perhaps it's what gives the ghosts who dwell within it the power to manifest? All that is in the Ghost Zone is made of ectoplasm, the source of our powers and existence. If you know of ghosts that have never been here, perhaps they are mere shades, not fully formed ghosts."
"That does make quite a bit of sense then, doesn't it. Helena will be absolutely astounded by this revelation." He grinned down at his daughter, but as he noticed her shock, his smile fell slightly.
"Helena? She is a portrait as well?" At his daughter's timid question the past King cringed, a forlorn look gathering in his eyes.
"No my love, she is a ghost. One of the shade-like beings I mentioned." Dora's eyes widened in both shock and sorrow. She knew what it was to be a ghost for a thousand years, but she at least had the normalcy and comfort of physicality and most things she enjoyed in life.
"I need to see her." The determination to do so came to her so quickly that she completely passed by the concern that now adorned her fathers face.
"I'm not sure that would be possible my dear." Looking up abruptly, she jutted her chin defiantly at her father. The mannerism was so like her long past mother that the old king's heart ached.
"And why is that?" Her father sighed, his eyes looking as old as the canvas they were painted upon.
"The location in which she dwells and is anchored to is strongly warded. As you were Muggle in life, one without magic, I am doubtful that you would be able to step foot in the castle." One thing her father apparently hadn't realized, was that in the past couple of centuries, Dorathea had only become more hard headed and stubborn. Especially within the last few years since she took charge of her kingdom.
"Well I would be a fool to not even try. Where is this school that houses you?" With a glint of respect for the woman his little girl had become gleaming in his eyes, he told her the location of the magical school as well as he could. Since he had never been anything but a portrait upon its walls, he could only determine what he knew from the information he garnered from its inhabitants. Though it might seem vague, a thousand years of collecting details lead to a fairly precise estimation- Rowena disclosing her plans to him of where they planned to build didn't hurt either.
"Before you leave my primrose, I must ask that you be cautious. Do not use your physical form while interacting with those of magic. They will fear you and want to take your free will so they may study you. I do not wish for you to think poorly of the magicals I have come to know, but I also know that naïvety and blind trust can be a death sentence."
Dora nodded once, a firm shake of her head that promised she would heed by his suggestion. She stroked the side of his portraits frame, and gave him a smile. With a swirl of her full skirt, she exited the room.
Within the hour, Dorathea was ready to travel. She surely could have called upon a ghost with the ability of creating a portal, but it had been far too long since she had last stretched her wings, and even longer since she had done so without the necessity of a battle.
Leaving a message for her royal court, she drifted to her courtyard before tapping into the power that was housed within her amulet. Feeling the energy of a mighty dragon overwhelm her, the princess' form was engulfed in a blue painless fire, and from that flame burst forth a magnificent dragon. Her pale cerulean blue scales shone with an iridescent gleam, and her wings stretched to a mighty thirty foot span from tip to tip.
Stretching her long slender neck, she lightly pushed herself upwards, using a familiar mix of wing power and natural ghost flight. Looping around the towers of her castle once, she bid her subjects goodbye with a small jet of harmless bluebell flames shot into the sky. Changing her course of direction, she began flying in full towards her target. It was the only set location that she knew of to exit the Ghost Zone and begin her long flight towards Scotland.
The Fenton Portal.
It was roughly Seven PM on a Wednesday evening, and Danny sat in his room struggling to stay awake. He had a paper due on Friday and he still needed at least four thousand more words on it. Why Lancer wanted to know his thoughts on 'the use of metaphors and their role in ironic situations regarding Hamlet' he would never understand.
He squinted at the screen of his laptop, wishing for words to magically appear on the screen for him. Shifting slightly in paranoia, he glanced out his window, praying to every deity he could think of that Desiree couldn't read minds. He didn't even want to contemplate how the wish granting ghost could manipulate self writing essays into something to torment him.
His messy raven locks were frazzled, and a few strands were slightly singed from a close call he'd had with an ecto blast earlier while he had been tracking down a few rogue ghosts. His parents had come across him and went after him in pursuit. Their aim had been steadily improving over the years, and they'd taken a liking to going for headshots.
Typing a few more words that he wasn't sure he even completely understood in a jumbled sentence, he rubbed tiredly at his eyes, wondering if he could just ignore his essay and take advantage of the break in ghost attacks for some much needed rest. He had gotten roughly twelve hours or so in the last three days, most of which were just light cat naps that barely let him shut his eyes.
Making up his mind, he saved his document, and hoped he'd have another chance to write some more tomorrow. Shutting down and closing his laptop, he pushed away from his desk, the wheels of his chair gliding across the floor before being tangled in some old clothes scattered about and jerking to a sudden halt.
The exhausted half ghost boy stood, and he let out a jaw cracking yawn. Popping his back and shuffling out of his jeans, he face planted into his mattress and reached blindly to his side to yank the covers over half of his torso. He sighed into his amazingly fluffy and beautiful pillow as the pale and timid light of dusk faintly shone through his window.
He snuggled deeper into the blankets and wrapped himself in their still chilled depths, thanking Clockwork for giving him a moment to rest at las-
A faint wisp of pale blue mist passed his almost snoring lips, and a few very choice words that he would never say in front of his mother followed soon after.
"Just one night. One night of sleep. Is that really too much to ask?" A slight crash in his basement answered him in a resounding affirmative. Sighing in resignation, a ring of brilliant white light materialized around his blanket burrito wrapped form and traveled in opposite directions.
As the ring traveled, his frumpy T-shirt and polka dotted boxers were replaced by a reinforced suit of the deepest ebony. A snow white belt with a few pockets for utility items adorned his hips, and as the light continued, his feet gained equally white combat boots just as his arms gained white fingerless fighting gloves that traveled to his elbows. As the light passed over his chest, the only difference in the main pattern of the suit was a logo of a P inside a D, with slight trails speeding behind it.
The real change came with his physical appearance. The raven black locks of his hair inverted themselves into the purest of snow. His soft blue eyes that were glaring balefully at the ceiling gained a completely new color, becoming an iridescent green of the richest peridot hue.
Not bothering to rise from the bed, the now glowing ghostly teen simply allowed himself to fall through the lovely cushions of his resting place. Blanching slightly at the nest of dust bunnies that his head passed through while under his bed, he uprighted himself and continued to sink lower.
He quickly flew towards the lab in his basement, ignoring silly things like walls, grateful that his parents had been too tired out from chasing him all evening to bother resetting the Fenton home security system for once. Passing through the metal door and drifting down the stairs with a sarcastic quip and eye roll at the ready for what was most likely the rummaging Box Ghost, he fell slightly short and stopped in surprise when he saw who it was that had triggered his Ghost sense.
"Princess Dora?" The princess and sometimes dragon was hurriedly rebalancing some tools onto the cluttered workbench. Being near the entrance to the Portal, the swirling green light only furthered the already pronounced jade tint of her skin. She smiled sheepishly at him, and brushed a few stray strands of her pale blonde hair from her ruby eyes.
"I'm sorry if I disturbed you, I know you are the valiant protector of this Portal, but I didn't have time to send a formal request for its use. I needed to use it to gain access to this realm, but I wanted to stay long enough to let you know that I mean no harm. That and to let you rest easy knowing there's not a delinquent ghost on the loose." Her smile wavered slightly, and she clasped her hands to fiddle with her fingers in nervousness.
Danny continued to stare slightly dumbfounded at the royal ghost. He could count the amount of times a ghost had actually been polite enough to inform him of their use of the portal for benign means on one hand. And the amount of times he trusted their promise of meaning no harm, well, he really couldn't remember ever trusting any of them.
He hadn't seen Dora since he had helped her overcome her brother Aragon, besides the few brief chats at the Christmas parties that fell under the ghost's truce. However, he had never had any issues with her since her tyrant of a sibling had been removed from power, and as his tired eyes bore into hers, he could see the sincerity that she was offering him. Her nervous twitching continued, and her small smile waned slightly. Realizing why, Danny dropped his defensive posture, and relaxed his stance.
"Sorry, I'm just really not used to anyone letting me know what's going on. Or being polite. Or not attacking me instantly. Or- eh you get the point." He rolled his eyes and gave her a slight smile, his exhaustion being forgotten for the moment as curiosity took its place.
"I understand. I have been meaning to offer this for quite some time to you in gratitude for all you have done to help my kingdom… but perhaps I could station a few of my Knights at the entrance of this portal to ward off some of the ghosts that may be tempted to traverse through it? I mean no offense, but you do not look well."
Danny's eyes widened at her offer and note to his state of being. If he was honest with himself, he really wasn't doing so great at the moment. He'd been struggling to keep up his grades, desperate to at least stay in the B range to keep Lancer and his parents off of his back. He had even managed to bring his science courses back up to an A. However, his renewed efforts towards his studies was taking its toll, and coupled with the increase in ghostly attacks he was quickly becoming completely and utterly drained.
He'd begun losing a bit of weight from the added stress, not enough to cause major concern as much of his muscle mass he had gained from fighting ghosts for the past three years remained, but just enough for his mother to occasionally comment on how thin he was getting and how 'absurd it was that school puts so much stress on teens these days.'
His eyes dulled slightly, the dark shadows even more pronounced by the slight glow that remained. Allowing himself to drop from the slight hover he had been maintaining, he stood and leaned against the stair railings behind him and looked over at Dora.
"You really want to help me?" Besides Clockwork and the Far Frozen, no ghosts ever really offered him assistance, and thinking over the possible drop in ghost attacks that could come from the portal being guarded on the other side he instantly wanted to accept this offer. His wariness and past experiences forced his tired mind to stop jumping in joy for fear of the offer all being a cruel trick.
"I do, you have helped us so many times, from defeating Pariah Dark, to bringing my kingdom the peace and prosperity that we thought was lost to us forever… It really is the least I could do." The sincerity that Danny was quickly coming to be familiar with shone ever brighter in the princess' eyes.
"I wanna meet the Knights that would guard the portal before accepting." Tilting his head slightly and expecting refusal, the halfa was happily surprised in what was rapidly becoming the norm for tonight.
"Of course, I would expect nothing less of such a fierce Guardian." A slightly awkward silence fell between the two, until Danny remembered Dora mentioning a task in the human world that had been one of the main causes for his original insecurity.
"Sooo, what do you need to do while out of the Zone?" A brilliant joy and determination flew into her eyes and expression as a smile lit up her face.
"I have been in contact with my father, a feat made possible by magic of the greatest caliber. He has told me that there is a way for me to see one of my childhood friends. He says there is a chance that it won't work, but I refuse to give up hope without at least trying my very best first. She is in a castle in Scotland, and it is my intention to fly there tonight." Danny raised his eyebrows, one arching higher than the other at the mention of magic.
"Uhh, magic huh? Like, 'OoOOo Abracadabra', pulling rabbits from hats?" Dora covered her mouth with a delicate hand and giggled slightly, shaking her head in a negative answer.
"No Sir Phantom, I speak of real magic, of the highest magnitude and capable of the most amazing possibilities." His already raised eyebrow rose further, and confusion with a touch of amusement drifted through his expression.
"Okay well, I'm entirely too exhausted to consider the implications of what you just said, so I'll just assume you know where you're going and leave it at that." The local hero let out another massive yawn before remembering something else. "Also, depending on if you pass directly over cities, actually- no matter how close you are to cities, would you mind staying invisible and intangible on your way there? I'm not sure how the rest of the world would react to seeing you, especially if you're going dragon style. That and the Guys in White have really been cracking down hard on any visible ghost activity."
Nodding her head in consent of his wishes, Dora bid Amity's protector farewell and faded from the visible spectrum. Danny gave a weary chuckle and gave the empty room a slight wave. The confuzzled teen pushed off of the stairs and shot back up to his room through the ceiling. He drifted over his bed and relinquished his hold on his ghostly half, reverting to his less glow-y form in a flash. With the switch back to human, he stopped teasing gravity and plopped down onto the bed.
Re-wrapping himself into a Danny sized burrito, he sighed in contentment. And for the first time in a very very long time, Danny slept through the entire night.
As the Dora flew, her invisible wings slicing through clouds ruthlessly in her graceful glide, she looked to the stars, using the knowledge she had assembled over the years to gain her bearings and head in the correct direction. She flew for countless hours, taking advantage of updrafts and a mixture of ghostly and physical flight to extend her energy reserves as long as possible.
Far below her the choppy waves of the North Atlantic Ocean shimmered in the moonlight. Her flight became timeless, a moment that stretched on for ages in contentment. She was happy, soaring through the cool breezy skies of the human realm. As she began tiring, the sun's light began to creep its way onto the horizon. Tendrils of indigo growing into violet and mauve. Lilac and gold soon joined the transformation of the sky, until the princess' entire field of vision was consumed by an astounding sunrise.
It was actually the first she had seen in many years, there was no sun to rise nor moon to replace it in the Ghost Zone. She cherished her moment of complete serenity, and committed the sight to her memory to enjoy forever. As pale blue overtook the sky and became the primary hue, she began to near a landmass. If her navigation skills were to be trusted she would be on the edge of Northern Ireland, and soon she would be nearing Scotland.
If all went well, she would find the School before noon. Before the day ended, she would be reunited with her dear childhood friend. If the wards on the castle her father had spoken of were an issue, she would find another way. Princess Dorathea refused to accept defeat. After so many centuries of nothing but sadness and losing, it was her turn to win- no matter how small the victory.
AN: So that finishes up Chapter Two~ I've been lining out the plot in my notes and I have things sort of figured out (I hope), so I can probably keep chapters coming fairly regularly. Once University starts back up in a few weeks I'm sure any sort of frequency or routine I get into will be jarred, but until then- Huzzah! Updates!
Thank you to everyone for reading, following, favoriting, and reviewing! Each notification puts a stupid grin on my face and makes my day. If there are any questions about anything please feel free to ask.