"We almost died, but hey, a Zeron got fried!" Krel sang as he plucked at the guitar he had managed to salvage from the bon-bon party. On the couch adjacent to his, sat Aja giddily tapping away at her cellphone with a goofy look upon her face. Both siblings wore their human disguises again, although there was no need for them to now that the day was done and they had finished retrieving Daniel's van. Krel spared a glance out of the sliding doors behind them, passed Vex who was fiddling with his serator where he caught sight of the stocky vehicle in question sitting in Mother's carport.
When they had first left to retrieve the vehicle (leaving Daniel in Vex's & Mother's care), they had discovered it sitting amongst a dusty patch of trees alongside other similar vehicles. Getting inside was child's play and Aja had spent the time drive home lamenting over the fact that the van reminded her of the Mothership except on a far smaller scale. Krel had pointed out the outdated tech scattered about the place whilst Luug scrambled around the backseat with Daniel's dog. He also had done his best to hang onto any surface for dear life as he was reminded of his sister's driving skills or lack thereof; they never did pass their driver's education.
The only other thing of note that evening had been when Aja had nearly run over three of their classmates—Tobias, Claire and Jim— and an armoured old man, as she swung the van around a sharp corner with far too much force. It had been a quick peek on his end, if only because Krel had been far too occupied with sliding across the back seat with the dogs and Aja's manic laughter in his ears to take in the puzzled expressions on their faces. Actually, that was right about the time Luug & Cujo ended up sprawled out upon his face.
Anyhow, after fleeing from the remnants of the Zeron Brotherhood, the four Akiridions plus their one human eventually regrouped back at the Mothership with all their limbs mercifully intact. Well, most of them; Daniel had passed out before they had reached the forest's edge and had lain crushed against Aja for most of the trip, which couldn't have been comfortable.
Upon reaching the Mothership, the albino had been quickly placed inside their last healing pod and slotted between their parents in the infirmary. Mother had reassured them time and time again that he would not feel any pain during the healing process, but Krel still worried anyway. He was certain that the healing pod was both unnecessary and worthless since humans did not contain cores, but Mother had stated otherwise. She had explained that as a partial ghost, Daniel did indeed have a core (referred to simply as a 'Ghost Core' which Mother had gone into great detail about) and whilst the core within Daniel was not that of Akiridion make, it was still a core in of itself for which the pod could latch onto and begin the healing process. After a few minor calibrations to make up for the organic substances of the human, of course.
In order to be hooked up to the healing pod, Daniel had to be stripped of his stained clothing, leaving the scars born on his green flesh bare for all to see. Vex had practically written sonnets about the ways of the brave warrior at the sight of them, ones that had Krel rolling his eyes and Aja's sparkling in awe. Blood, ectoplasm (the green goo) and phlegm had coagulated together on the loose materials, giving them appearance of a used wash cloth and LU-C had swooped in with a determined expression and some 60s advertisement about detergent before disappearing off into the halls of Mother with the intent to clean, clothes waving behind her like a pair of dirty flags.
The senior appeared to be okay though, even after he was diagnosed with blood blossom poisoning, at least as far as Mother was concerned. Blood blossoms, Krel had come to find were a glorious little flower that bloomed blood red (as the name implied) and sat nestled in leaves of the deepest purple. But that wasn't all! The applications of the flora astounded him even more so! Even Vex had been delighted to learn that the buds had battle applications, particularly in the realms of torture (the young king-in-waiting was sure that the commander would liked to spend most of his days in that realm).In theory, the flowers were these feats of organic earthen magic, but in practise it was much more horrifying.
And then there had been that unearthly wail which shaken Krel to his core; he could've sworn that he had heard voices from those long passed, but that was probably just his imagination. It's not like they had seen much from the elder teen in the past, just a few tricks here and there but the immense show of power had been rather scary, even in hindsight. To be able to push back hunters as powerful as the Zerons with his scream alone made the young royal to shudder at the other possible powers that Daniel could be hiding.
But before he had passed out, Daniel had appeared both tired and loopy stumbling about on wobbly feet without a care for his own safety like a drunken toddler. It reminded him of a certain blonde-haired sibling of his who was currently ogling her phone like it was the best thing in the world. "Is that from Steve?" Krel rolled his eyes as he turned back to his sister who sat giggling away at whatever Steve had said; her nose scrunched up cutely as she giddily replied with a message of her own.
Of all the boys on this dumpy planet to choose from, it had to be the one that had hit him in the face? Krel couldn't understand it; what was the fascination with involving yourself with someone outside of your family? Yes, he understood the logistics behind friends and lovers, but why? "Ugh! Sweet Seklos! The StAja is a thing now!" He groaned with another roll of his eyes, referring to the term Mary had coined the relationship earlier in the evening.
"Pffft!" Aja maturely blew a raspberry back at him in response before going back to her phone.
"StAja, StAja, makes me wanna…" Krel strummed as he tried to think up a rhyme that would annoy his sister the most. "There's nothing that rhymes with StAja!"
"You are just jealous!" Aja shot back without looking up.
"Of that blonde oaf? Haha! You must be kidding, sister!" He strummed at the guitar with more force as he leant over to shove the instrument in her face.
"Ugh! You're just as bad as Luug!" She groaned, pushing him off of the couch and onto the floor before rolling onto her stomach. "Just an annoying little puppy"
"I am not!" Krel popped up from the ground, a little affronted at being compared to the little dog who was always crying out for attention. A look of determination settled into his features and he pounced on his unsuspecting sister. She should've known not to turn her back on the enemy! "I'll show you, 'puppy!"
"Ack! Krel! G'off!" The pair rolled around the living room, bumping into varying pieces of furniture as they squabbled. Both guitar and cellphone were left abandoned where they were sitting previously, but Krel didn't care, he was just glad that they were okay.
"Time to wake up, little brother!" Jazz chirped, her voice piercing through the fog of sleep. "Or you'll be late for school!"
"Nngh! Five more minutes, Jazz!" Dan groaned, rolling over as he tried to hold on to the last few vestiges of sleep. Or at least that was the idea, instead his face met floor in the world's most graceful dismount.
"See? I told you he's still there!" Tucker appeared next with a snarky tone. He sounded no different than the last time Dan had seen him.
"What are you waiting for Danny? An invitation?" Sam sassed, clapping her hands as she tried to cajole him from the bundle of limbs on the floor. "Wake up!"
"But it's so comfy down here!"
"On the floor?" He didn't need to look to know an eyebrow had been perked.
"…Yes"
"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Hello? Is anybody in there? Hello—"
"—Hello?" The baritone was different from anything that Dan could recognise and served to wake up him much quicker than he thought possible. "Are you all right, son?"
Emerald eyes shot open and Dan sprung up into the air, tail twitching in agitation beneath him like an irritated cat. He bobbed amongst orbs of blue & green as they floated around him in lazy circles and rang with voices of the past. "What is with this place and disembodied voices?" Dan mumbled as he glanced about, eyes searching for any sign of another person in this realm with him. There was none. Instead his only company appeared to be the hundreds upon thousands of little glass balls floating around him in varying hues of blue and green. "I've never been to this part of The Garden before…" Dan puzzled as he watched a hoard of soul-like orbs bob by, (The Garden being the dimension in the Ghost Zone where all newly deceased souls went to stabilise before they either hung around to exact vengeance or moved on to greener pastures).
Dan wandered through the orbs like it was a field of flowers and easily forgot about the mysterious baritone that had awoken him. Much like souls did, these orbs showed various images—memories—that played snapshots of his life; but instead of every single memory contained in the one ball, they were split into the thousands stretching around him as far as the eye could see. Tears pricked at his eyes when he heard the familiar sound of friends and family coming from the orbs, some showing him his oblivious parents or Jazz's constant worrying. There were echoes of Sam ranting up recycling & uprooting the patriarchy coupled with notes of Tucker drooling over technology and girls in equal amounts.
He edged closer to one of the green ones that called out to him as he passed by several which (embarrassingly) declare "GOING GHOST!" and he soon found himself gazing upon one of his memories painted in a green hue. This one showed himself, Sam and Tucker lined up in front of his father in the basement whilst they were forced to listen to the jumpsuit-wearing man explain the nuances of ghost-hunting to them. Not that they had asked him to; in fact, all three had outright stated that they would rather be doing something—anything—else. But Dad was to in his head to take notice for more than one reason.
Dan chuckled as he watched his father turn his back to the three as numerous ghosts slipped from the malfunctioning portal, wreaking havoc wherever they went. Dan had quickly taken care of them, chucking them back into the portal and changing back to his human self before his father could catch wind. Of course, this had been the day when Dad had gifted them with the Fenton Thermos; a device which had become extremely useful over the years.
Moving on from that, Dan found another memory which showed Jazz sitting at the breakfast table buried beneath a pile of psychology and parenting books as she tried to hide from whatever device their parents were currently fixing at the table. Occasionally she would spare a glare towards their oblivious parents, which would only deepen when they didn't notice before retreating behind those big latin words. Jazz was the best.
Next came the memory where he and Sam had danced together following the whole dragon-Paulina thing. After Paulina had rampaged and Dan had retrieved the cursed necklace that gave her those powers, he and Sam had slow danced with no one to bother them. Except for Tucker who had stood on the sidelines whinging about being dateless again. A flush covered his cheeks when he thought of the night; he had worn his best Church suit & tie and Sam had worn a gothic dress with fishnets that suited her well. And then he remembered the comment about keeping his pants up (an issue that had been bothering him all week due to his fluctuating powers).
He passed by the memory showing the final confrontation between himself and his parents, still not ready to confront it all these years later. Some things were just better left buried. Instead, his attention turned to a ghostly-human team-up between himself, Douxie and Zoe (an Arcadian Hedge witch). The memory showed the three of them trapped inside an old possessed house down on Turner street, where a fair amount of panic and stress had been exhibited between the three as they tried to escape. Of course, being the baby of the group (his 17 years was nothing in comparison to their 10-odd centuries), they'd kept him on a tight leash as much as possible.
The next orb showed the day of the asteroid. Almost every single ghost he had ever encountered throughout that year had helped to phase the icy antenna which in turn, had transformed the planet into intangibility so that the asteroid could pass by without ending them all. The truce had been hidden behind weak excuses, but Dan took it for what it was and thanked those that had helped. Of course, that was before his parents & the rest of the world had found out what he was.
Dan paused before a final orb as it sat gently cupped in his hands. This one showed the fateful day he had gotten his ghost powers all those years ago. Sam(and Tucker) had talked him into showing them the newly designed (and failed) ghost portal after school that day. He had donned the infamous jumpsuit and entered the tunnel (after Sam had ripped his father's logo off of his chest). A few fumbling moments later and the portal was on & he was half-dead. A cocktail of emotions welled up inside whenever he thought of that bittersweet day; it had been that start and the end of it all.
Fully waking from that odd reality had been a trip and a half because Dan was confronted with an amber lid over his face and slimy goop trying to find its way into every one of his orifices. He had panicked of course, thinking himself shoved inside a coffin and buried six feet under; slightly better than an iron maiden or Fading away, but still not pleasant. Banging on the inside of the lid with frantic hands, he was ashamed to say that it had taken him a moment or two to remember that he could just phase out of the entrapment which he did so with flushed cheeks.
"Eurgh! Gross! What is this stuff?" Dan rasped, voice hoarse from all that coughing as the gloop dripped from his intangible body and fell into a puddle on the floor at his feet. He felt like a fish out of water. Despite his hoarse voice, he strangely felt a thousand times better than he had before; something he would usually attribute to his enhanced healing factor but glancing around he found himself in a place that was right out of a sci-fi film. There were wires everywhere, devices of every kind and two strange capsules that stood either side of him. Peering inside, he found himself face-to-face with strange beings that were barely there. He could make out the outline of the creatures due to the slumbering masks and bare vascular systems.
"Oh God!" Dan jumped back in fright with one hand on his heart and the other on his core. "What the hell is that?! Ah! Where are my clothes?!"
"Good morning, Daniel" Mother chirped, her sudden appearance taking the halfa by surprise which had him tripping over his own feet and sliding around in the mess on the floor. "Or should I say good evening?"
"Uh…Mother?" Dan asked as he tried to both right himself and hide his underwear from the Mothership. "Where am I? What happened to my clothes? What happened to me?"
"You are in the infirmary. LU-C has taken your clothes to be cleaned and you were placed inside a healing pod to extract the residual blood blossoms in your system exactly three days ago"
"Oh" Dan blinked at the succinct answer. "Er, thanks for that, I guess"
"You are welcome. Please proceed to the bathroom to clean up"
"Um okay…how do I do that?" A line of blue came to life at his feet and twined itself through the twisting hallways. "Er thanks?"
Dan followed the blue line through the hallways and leaving slimy footprints trailing behind him. The path took him passed more alien technology that would usually have him geeking out, but today he was far more preoccupied with wanting to get rid of the recesses of sludge that had remained stubbornly clinging to him. Turning right at the intersection which led to the bedrooms (as evident by the snores echoing out), he soon found himself in the aforementioned bathroom.
Now clothed and clean, Dan found himself seated at the kitchen counter whilst LU-C shovelled food into his mouth, fixing him a midnight snack and the rest of the house slept. It had been rather awkward wandering around in his underwear and so he had been glad to learn that the Tarrons had brought Amity over and parked her outside in the carport. Unfortunately, his pyjamas were stained beyond repair (not that LU-C was willing to give up) and so he planned to turn them into rags or something along those lines.
"…So, your core is organic in nature?" Mother questioned, her digital icon floating over the sink next to him. He and the AI had spent most of the night discussing what had happened to him today and over the passed few years. The Mothership had all-but strong-armed the ghost boy into the impromptu therapy session (something which he had desperately needed), but now they had just dissolved into useless chatter. She seemed quite interested in his Ghost Core and its functions, actually.
"Uh yeah" Dan nodded around the forkfuls of mac 'n cheese into his mouth. "They start out as like these formless Proto Cores before forming a wall & ectoplast—that's what the orbs are. Then there's the True Cores—which is the one I've got—it's the final stage and there's and added ecleus and an ectochondria for the extra powers & abilities and stuff"
"You do not know further details?"
"My parents' thesis' go more in depth on it, if you wanna know more"
"Your parents? Jack and Madeline Fenton? The failed ghost hunters?"
"They're not failures, per se…they're just pretty oblivious to uh, just about everything. They're thick, not stupid"
"This has been most informative, thank you"
"Mmhm" Dan hummed, returning to chasing the cheesy macaroni around his plate as the sun peeked over the hills behind them and the Tarrons were none the wiser.
