Night Wind
By: Wilona Riva
Disclaimer: Butch Hartman does; I don't.
ain't no rest for the wicked
The seven trees. Her seven phantoms.
Long ago, she'd been gifted with sevens. It was the time of the Ingathering, when the world was still new and the damnable Ryu king had tried to claim her throne. Thrown down by the Ancients, she had snarled some pathetic accusation at them, only to one of them pronounce a curse upon her and her race-never could they abide the light of day. A further curse was added: one day, she would fall to a son of the Ryu king.
The Night Wind fled as the curses were pronounced upon them. Upon arriving in the darkest part of the realm, the Night Wind King summoned his daughter and presented her with the seven glowing alder trees growing amidst the seven towers surrounding the nighttime gardens.
"I gift these to you, Lunaris," Night Wind whispered, running a dark-green hand against the rough bark. "Take care of them and they will guard you well. The first spirit born when the first tree blooms you must protect. Care must be taken that neither the Ryu nor the Ancients take hold of him."
"Father, what will happen?" she wondered.
"The Ancients will turn him over the Clockwork Chronos, who will implant the seeds of our destruction within him," Night Wind replied. His bushy dark-gray eyebrows furrowed at the horrible thought. "He will torn from us and bound into an unending loop of time until the curse is fulfilled. Should this come to pass, Lunaris, let the spirit go. Embrace your fate."
"I will never submit to the Ryu king!" she shouted at him.
Night Wind chuckled softly. "Never is a long time. If the First of my children is lost, another of his race can find him. They are linked by silence and thought. Farewell, my child."
"FATHER!"
That was the last time any of the Night Wind folk ever saw their great lord, Night Wind. The reign of the Queen of the Night Stars had begun in fire, blood, wind, rain, and sevens.
"Danny, listen to me," the phantomic spirit heard the human female say, as she moved into his full line of site. She cupped his chin and lifted his head, forcing him to meet her eyes. "Everyone is new at least once in their lives. This is your home room. Your teacher is Coach Tetslaff. I'll see you later."
Phantom's eyes widened. The hunters' daughter was leaving him alone in a room full of half-grown humans and an adult ape who looked like she could bite him in half and spit out clear across the room. This was worse than the Queen of the Night Stars had him...he squished that thought. Best not to think about it.
He took a deep breath and watched the hunters' daughter move with an uncommon grace through the sea of students. Looking through the glass of the classroom, he squared his shoulders and entered the room.
"What?" the teacher barked at him, her green immediately focusing on him. She watched the unknown boy looked quickly around the room for an escape route, and chuckled.
"Relax," she told him. "Give me the paper that the old book reading windbag gave you." He handed the yellow slip over to her. "Hmm, the Fentons..."
She looked him over sharply, then walked over to the windows and shut off the natural flow of light from the day star. The boy's transformation was quick. Two rings of bluish-white light formed and split, travelling to his polar regions.
"A real ghost," she whispered in awe. "I wonder if... Naah! Unicorns are not real, Elizabeth."
"They are," her new student replied. "They serve the Ryu Warrior-Maiden, Pandora."
The human female smiled. "So the silence finds a voice," she said. "You know my name, now tell me yours."
He pursed his lips and shook his head. The boy's white-gloved fingers came together and formed strange symbols. I am called Phantom. I have no name.
She reopened the blinds and watched him quickly call up the rings, cringing away from the light. So natural light bothers him. Lancer says the Fentons did warn him about it briefly.
"Boy," she barked at him, causing him to jump. "You will remain human at all times while in my room. As you have demonstrated, you will not use sign language of any sort in my class. You have a voice; use it."
The ghost shook his head.
"And pray tell, why not?"
His fingers started to form the symbol, then he thought better of it. Spying a dry erase marker, he picked it and began to write on the board.
Students drifting into the classroom, read as he wrote.
I am called Phantom; I have no name. I was sucked into a portal and captured by hunters, who forced me to come here , while they build a containment unit to house me and steal my energy and lifeblood to fuel their weapons.
I owe allegiance only to the Queen of the Night Stars. The female hunter gave me mortal clothing and a human name. I am to be called Daniel.
I am Night Wind, not one of the damnable ryu.
I can speak as you do, but my kind, as custom dictates, do not speak in front of others unless granted permission. You WILL NOT force me to become as you are.
"Then why are you here at all, ghost boy?" a latina girl asked, swishing her long,, dark hair over her shoulder. "You look human to me."
Phantom looked over his shoulder with one casual, sapphire eye. He wrote out one final sentence, then pull the marker back in its place. Mrs. Tetslaff was amazed; he even remembered to put the cap back on.
"Sit down over there, Daniel," she said, pointing out a seat between a tall, well-built blond boy with bright sky-colored eyes, and a smaller, dark-skinned boy with a strange, round things on his face.
The blond boy smiled warmly at him, while the dark-skinned boy scowled. "Welcome, Fenton to Casper High." He extended his right hand; Phantom took it and held it up in one hand and looked at it on both sides.
Dash smirked. "Custom dictates you shake hands when you meet someone."
"But not always," the dark-skin boy muttered. "And I'm, Tucker. Go away and not nice to meet you."
"Unless you are certain Goth chick or a computer nerd, he won't give you the time of day," Dash explained.
"Baxter! Fenton! Class began ten minutes ago!" Elizabeth shouted, throwing an eraser at them. Dash caught it and sent it sailing back at her, which made a loud whomping sound on her desk.
Lunch period came and found Daniel standing with a tray of mush in his hands, his head aching, shoes wet, and no place to sit. He was about to go and join the table where Dash was waving at him to come over, when a girl with short, dark hair and really pale skin grabbed his arm and yanked him over to a table she was sharing with the dark-skinned scowler.
She smiled at his confused expression. He looked over to where Dash and his friends were scowling at the girl and making hateful gestures. She followed his gaze and rolled her eyes.
"They're not the friends you think they are, Danny," she said. "You don't remember us, but Tucker and I were sent by the Clockwork Chronos and the Watcher to make sure you remember your mission. You must find the Seventh and fulfill the prophecy."
Phantom turned to her with a very sharp look.
"Look," Tucker said, putting down his PDA. "I don't like being forced to do this." He looked down at the muck on his plate. "Or to eat grass growing out of mud," he added.
"Clockwork said it was best to start at the beginning. Things are not the same and Danny is not our Danny. He only knows about being Night Wind," Sam argued. "We have to teach him."
"Fine," he grumbled, then sniffed as Mr. Lancer passed by. "Do you smell steak?"
Sam handed Danny a carrot stick. "Here, eat this, while I handle Meat Boy over there."
Elizabeth scratched her head, staring at her new student's final sentence, still visible on the board. "If that don't beat all," she said.