It's literally the day before Feburary 1st and I have January's update right here! I have a plan of updating every month, so let's cross our fingers I'll stick to it!
Before I continue on with this update, I wanted to address this (amazing) review that I got! I won't put the whole thing here since it's a little long but Mistress Soul, I love any and all criticisms, especially if they're in a form of a wall of text! I'm also flattered that you think this is a promising story and I hope that I don't let anyone down as I write this fanfic! If at any point, ya'll have questions, hit me up PM on here or on my tumblr(the url is the same as my username here) and I'll answer them...as long they questions that'll spoil the plot!
Shout out to my beta, sarasanddollar and my phamily on Slack who has put up with me rambling about this! Enjoy the chapter!
3. Making My Way Downtown, Running Fast, Homebound
Both human and ghost slept soundly, safely hidden away from the Observants, their chests rising and falling in sync. Star was the first to wake up, turquoise eyes opening slowly, blearily scanning the room in confusion, before remembering the events from before. Sitting up against the wall, she clutched the still sleeping Time Master close. Not having the heart wake them up, she decided to wait for Clockwork to wake up on their own.
She didn't have to wait long, sensing Clockwork squirm around for several seconds before slowly sitting up. They frowned in confusion as they rubbed the sleep out of their eyes, looking around in the strange room they were in. Clockwork finally removed their hands from their face, red eyes fixated on Star. Glancing downward, they realized they were sitting on her chest; surprise morphed into mortification when Clockwork saw their tail was tightly wrapped around her arm. Star swore she caught a glimpse of a dark purple blush from the Time Master when they yelped, shooting up like a weed and unfurling their tail from around her arm.
"Do you mind?" Star grumbled, "I have no time what it is, but in all honestly it's too early for you to be screaming like this."
Clockwork only shot her a glare, "I'm not screaming."
She rose an eyebrow, "Really?" she deadpanned, "Then what exactly are you doing?"
"Not screaming?"
Rolling her eyes with a sarcastic "Of course you aren't," she pushed the Time Master from in front of her, wary of their case as she did so. Slowly, she stood up, resting her hand against the wall for support. With a tired smile aimed at Clockwork, "I'm sure you're ready to get rid of me?"
"Absolutely ready." They frowned, then a dreamy smile took over, gripping the time staff close to their chest. "Sleep. I can finally sleep."
"After you send me home," came the cheery reminder. "then you can sleep all you want!" Clockwork snapped out of their daydreaming, looking down to see that the girl was standing right in front of them to the point that their chests almost touched. Talk about personal space.
The ticking in their case suddenly sped up, "Personal space." They grounded out.
Star took several steps back. "Better?"
"Much." came the terse reply. Sharply turning around, Clockwork floated away, phasing through the wall. Star immediately followed, opening the door, stepping into the hallway, crashing face first into the Time Master's arm.
"You know what's crazy?" Star grinned into their sleeve. "How we keep crashing into each other."
"You know what else is crazy? How 'we' would imply that it's both of us continually crashing into each other when it's just you crashing into me." Clockwork stated, moving the arm Star had her face planted in as a sign for her to get off them. "Star, my arm is sore. Please extract your face from it."
"Whoops, sorry." They felt the pressure lessen, silently thanking the teen for doing so. Clockwork looked around, their chest suddenly tightening seeing the dried ectoplasm splattered across the walls. The ticking in their case sped up even faster, painfully ringing in their ears as the ectoplasm gained its luminous glow and began to slowly dribble down the walls. Hastily, Clockwork tightly grabbed Star's hand, ignoring her surprised yelp as they teleported to the main part of the Citadel.
Slowly, Clockwork loosened their grip of the teen's hand, the rapid ticking slowing down to a peaceful, rhythmic pulse. Star felt the Time Master's hand loosen their grip on her hand, and nervously wrung them as she teased Clockwork. "Normally most guys would wine and dine me before grabbing my hand to gallivant across town. Or tower, in your case"
"...Well then, good thing I'm not like most guys?" Ccame the jovial response. Star knows that it was tense, from the way Clockwork said it through clenched teeth, shoulders squared along with the scythe suddenly appearing and being gripped like a lifeline.
Seeing that merely talking wouldn't properly ground the Time Master, Star decided to take a page out of her book on how she would calm Paulina or other anxious cheerleaders down. Yes, she realizes, that Clockwork is not Paulina, that these methods won't necessary work but there's no point in not trying. Slowly, she slinks in front of Clockwork, wondering if they can actually see her standing there.
"Clockwork," Star began, grabbing one of their gloved hands and holding it tightly in hers. "Can you feel me holding your hands?"
They let out a strangled noise, "You don't have to speak, just, shake your head yes or no." As a response, she received a jerky nod. 'Good.' she thought. "Can you hear my voice?"
"If I couldn't he-hear your voice, then how am I able to give you a response Lewinski?"
Star rolled her eyes, "A simple 'yes' would have been enough you smartass. But can you name me five things that are in this tower?"
"That would require thinking, something I rather not do at the moment."
"Understandable," Agreed Star, deciding it was now time for her to let go of Clockwork's hands. Tilting her head to the side, a devious grin tugged at the corners of her mouth before eagerly clutching Clockwork's hands and dragging them off towards the door.
"Star what are you doing?" They asked calmly despite the fact they were being dragged around in their own tower like a piece of furniture by a fourteen year old girl. Instead of answering, she turns around, flashing a cheeky Cheshire grin before turning back around, continuing to drag them around the Citadel. Did she not realize that if she kept this up, she'd run them both into the door?
"You are aware if you keep this up, you're going to make us crash into the wall?"
Clockwork didn't have to see it but they heard Lewinski grin and a ebullient giggle let loose, "Maybe I am, but you can teleport."
"Teleport where?"
Another giggle, "Amity Park!"
"Amity Park? I've never really been there, except, of course for business. I think it's time to see what this city has to offer." said Clockwork, feeling Star slow down to a near stop. Rolling their eyes, a equally deviant smirk came about, "You know what? To hell with it, let's go to Amity Park."
With a snap of Time Master's fingers, a bright blue light encompassed the two and the Citadel now empty.
A bright blue light flashed in the middle of a empty street revealing two young teens, one with blond hair, while the other had blue hair. The blonde leaned over on a light pole as she caught her breath, "Who would have thought that I apparated twice in a day? I finally understand how Harry felt when he and Dumbledore apparated to Slughorn's." she breathed out, "Being squeezed through a tight rubber tube? More so like being scattered apart into millions of pieces while being squeezed into a tight rubber tube." She looked in the direction of the direction of the other teen, "Is it safe to assume that you have no idea what I am talking about?"
"Why assume when you know?" the other teen commented shrugging their shoulders, leaning back against the wall. "Of course I don't know what you're talking about."
A breathy laugh let loose from the girl. "Whatever, we gotta bail. Let's go Clockwork." Grabbing Clockwork's hands, the girl sprinted down the streets of Amity park, Clockwork following along like a piece of string being pulled along, trailing behind the girl. They held back a tiny smile, instead frowned and 'argued' with the other teen to let them go.
"Aww, look at those two, Adam. Aren't they precious?" A young woman asked, hazel eyes watching the scene from the roof of a bakery. Her sandy brown hair was pulled back into a tight frizzy ponytail at the nape of her neck, part of which was covered by a dark blue hood. Adam looks over her to see what exactly she's squeeing about, giving her a pointed look of confusion. She points out in the direction of the streets. Following the direction she was pointing in, Adam turned his head to look at the two teens zipping through the streets, raised an eyebrow and then turned his attention back to the woman. "All I see is a young girl draggin' 'round some boy. The girl's chattering a million miles an hour while the boy is frowning, shootin' off the mouth,"
"I see friendship Adam, and in all honestly I think he's enjoying it."
"The heck? Martha, who would want to be dragged around like that?"
Martha hums contently. "That boy would. He may not look like it but he's enjoying it." Twisting the promise ring on her finger, she looked up at her significant other. "It kinda makes you think of the Doctor and his companions, you know? How the Doc always runs around everywhere, dragging his companions everywhere he goes?"
Adam resumed staring at the two teenagers running through the streets, rolling his eyes in amusement. It never ceased to amaze him how Martha would always find some way to interpolate Doctor Who into any situation that came about, "Well if that's the case, then who's the Doctor and who's the companion? What are they running from? Are they even running from anything?"
Martha tilted her head in thought, pondering her boyfriend's question. "They're both the Doctor and the companion, don't look at me like that! It's true! Both of those kids are like them, their friendship blurs the predefined lines of Doctor and companion, but that's how it should be!" Seeing Adam playfully hold his hands up in mock surrender, she playfully swatted his chest, crossed her legs together, grabbed her thermos out of her satchel, and slowly sipped on her honey lemon tea. After taking several sips, she lowered the thermos down from her lips, running her finger around the rim of the thermos. "Who knows what they're running from? They're teenagers, they could be running from anything! School, homework, friends, parents, ghosts! Then again, who said they're were running from anything? Why do they have to be running away? Why can't they be running towards something? Just because you're running, it doesn't necessarily mean you're running from something."
Adam grabbed a small bag out of his girlfriend's satchel and munched away on the goldfish that she had packed, "Maybe that's the case, maybe. Who knows?" She had several good points, all of them impossible to refute {at the moment Adam amends, he'll figure out another rebuttal for later}, "Do you ever think, that those kids run so much to the point that 'fast running' would come naturally to them?"
"If you live in Amity Park, Adam-"
"-you gotta run fast."
"-you gotta run fast."
Adam continued to munch on his goldfish, "Wait, that should be the motto of Amity Park." he blurted out suddenly.
Now it was Martha's turn to look confused, "What?"
"If you live in Amity Park, you gotta run fast. That should be the motto." Adam simply said, "You know since we have at the bare minimum two ghost attacks per day."
"Makes sense babe," said Martha absently as she drank more of her tea. "Fine print should read: expect your bills to be spiked up significantly at times, deductibles go through the roof, insurance agents hang up on you when you explain that a 6 foot tall metal ghost robot crashed into your home, ghosts randomly float up to you and say, 'Hey what do the dead say to the living? Hello from the other side.'. All in all Amity Park is a weird liminal space and by living here, you've pretty much expected to die at practically any moment."
An amused snort, "Perfect babe."
"Martha I just realized something."
Martha sat her thermos on the roof, "What is it?"
"That's Lewinsky's kid we just saw running around."
"Star, you're going to get us run over!"
Star turned around to look at Clockwork, "Come on silly! Do you really think I would let that happen?" That insane grin took over as she still ran, her small hands tightly gripped on Clockwork's wrist. The two took a sharp turn, the Time Master narrowly avoiding a collision with a lamppost, shot Star a irritated glare,
"Star, I almost ran into a lamppost."
"Wouldn't have happened if you were actually running!" She glanced at Clockwork, "But seriously, if you didn't want to be dragged around like this, all you had to do was let go," she said calmly.
"Really?" They asked. Part of them doesn't believe her, wants to believe her, "Just let go?"
Star skids to a stop, "Yep!"
Slowly, Clockwork slinks their hand out of hers, looking everywhere else but in her direction as they shifted from side to side. "We didn't have to stop running, Lewinski."
"But you-"
"I don't mind running, but I do mind being dragged around like a rag doll, and almost crashing into lampposts." Before the blonde could open her mouth to protest, Clockwork jerked a thumb at the lamppost several feet behind the two. "Yes, the florist, Mr. Caven saw it."
Seeing that she was unable to argue back, Star deflated for several seconds before straightening her back, smirk taking over, "So you want to keep running?"
"Did I not just say that?"
She stretched, raising her arms over her head, "Yea sure, I heard you but so you honestly want to keep running?"
The Time Master arched an eyebrow before throwing their arms in the air, "Yes!"
"You're kinda cute when you're angry." She said, leaning over inches away from their face, "The real question is: can a Time Master keep up with the co-captain of the cheer squad?"
In response, she got a haughty scoff, "Of course I can. Why do you even ask?"
"That's not what it sounded like earlier." To get them riled up, she settled for poking Clockwork's chest several times. It might cause her to be on the receiving end of their wrath, but she'll take her chances.
"Perhaps that was because I was being dragged around," They grumbled, folding their arms, "But I know I can outrun you."
"All bark and no bite, is that what I'm hearing?" Star faked a yawn, still hiding a triumphant smirk. "Either way, we both know the truth, you can't outrun me."
"I think I'm hearing the same from you, so why don't you put your money where your mouth is?"
Hearing this, she quirked an eyebrow up. 'Put my money where my mouth is? If that's what you want.' "Let's make this a little bit more interesting: if I can outrun you home, then you have to come and hang with me again."
Clockwork rolled their eyes, waving a hand in the air as they spoke, "And let's say you don't manage to outrun me? What do I get out of this?"
Placing a perfectly manicured nail against her cheek, "How about I give you the Hamilton soundtrack? Free of charge?"
"Either way it goes, I still would have to interact with you."
"I know!" She exclaimed, "You get what you want, and I get what I want!"
Clockwork doesn't bother to say anything more, instead they shrugged their shoulders, "Whatever, time for you to show me what you've got."
"My house is the house between the maroon and gray one on Crossed Over Boulevard. " instructed Star, tossing her hair into a loose ponytail. "Ready to get your butt kicked?"
"Can I say the same to you?"
"Did you really think you could beat me?"
"Before I did, now, without a shadow of a doubt, I know I can't."
Star's triumphant smirk grew even wider as she leaned over on the railing of the stairs. "You know this means you owe me another meeting."
Clockwork gave the girl a small smile, "I suppose it does. Was it not part of our deal?"
"Yea! When do you think you'll come over?"
They pretended to think, "Time is my mistress, I'll come whenever she permits. Or whenever I can sneak out my tower." Clockwork reached over Star to open the front door. "As for now, you have to go home."
Star looked between the door and Clockwork, a fond smile taking over. "The last twelve hours have been pretty interesting. Or tiring, in your case." She laughed softly. "Don't be a stranger Clockwork!"
"I don't intend to be."
Stepping through in her doorway, Star gave them one last smile before entering her house, "Have a good rest, see you whenever."
"Whenever Star." Clockwork parroted back, slowly descending down the steps hearing Star close the door behind her. "Whenever."
Okay! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! See you next month for Chapter 4! Also keep an eye out for some new fics from me as well!
As always, R&R and feedback is greatly appreciated!