Chapter 14
I'M SORRY!!!! So, so sorry! I decided at about one this past morning that I needed more editing time…this chapter was really difficult to get right. At least it's only a day late right?
I tried to take all suggestions into account. Thank you for all of your wonderful ideas! A good suggestion though from me would be to read each scene with about a five minute break between each. It's kind of weird to read straight through. I would know, I've done it about five times…this is where a beta for this fic would have come in really handy…ah, well, too late now.
Again, these are all scenes from Lilith's past in the Ghost Zone. They go in chronological order, so you won't get confused, I hope. The first scene takes place after Lilith gets back from playing with Box Lunch. (Her second day in the Ghost Zone)
Disclaimer: See chapter one.
:-) :-) :-) :-)
Maddie: (reminiscing) We shared everything, secrets Bunsen Burners, soda…
Jack: Ah, yes, nothing says bonding like backwash!
Maddie: Danny's just shooting up so fast; those special times seem to be slipping away. (she sighs) Ah, I miss them…
Jack: (playing with puppets) Maddie…they all have to grow up sometime…'Curse you Jack Fenton, you've defeated me once again!' Ha!
:-) :-) :-) :-)
"Here, see, I got some new clothes for you to wear." Skulker said, in some desperation trying to get his new pet to speak. Lilith looked up at him with blank eyes, and then turned back down to her feet. She was sitting on the couch, as she had been for most of the day. The previous day had been busy for the both of them to say the least, but now Skulker had been hoping things would quiet down.
"Are you going to put them on now, or never?" He asked rhetorically. Her clothes were worse than before. Who knew what kind of mischief Box Lunch had gotten her into earlier that day. From all the stories Skulker had heard about her, he quite frankly didn't really want to know.
Lilith looked at him with the same blank eyes. She stood up off of the couch and started to take off her shirt with some trouble.
"Okay, wait, hold on! You do not change in front of other people!" Skulker said quickly. "Go to the other room; remember we talked about this last night?"
She complied wordlessly as she took the new clothes into the next room. He waited a few minutes before she came back, looking a bit embarrassed. She continued to stare at him for a while.
"Well, what is it?" Skulker asked impatiently.
"I don't know how." She said simply, wincing as if waiting to be yelled at for saying anything.
Skulker paled. Neither did he. He had 'asked' a sales lady to give him an outfit for a four year old girl and she had given him one with no instructions, no questions and one of the best 'I'm really afraid of the ghost in front of me' looks Skulker had seen in a while.
This would be an adventure.
"Alright, come on, let's get this over with." He shoved her into the other room and they proceeded to struggle through the (sometimes) every day occurrence of changing clothes.
When it was done, Skulker forced her to a mirror. "Well, do you like it?"
Lilith nodded immediately. She didn't want to say no to her new caretaker. It was a simple enough outfit, a blue slipover dress with a white t-shirt to go with it, a red headband to keep her hair from blowing in her face. Lilith couldn't help but smile just a bit. She did like it.
Skulker noticed the smile and patted her on the head. "Good. Come, its time to show you around. You'll need to get familiar with things around here."
She followed him around obediently, taking in all of the sights and not saying a word.
"I need to get some measurements from you. Its standard procedure, I do this with every new being I capture. Lean up against the wall over here." Skulker explained as he led her firmly by the shoulder to a section of the wall with a rather big measuring stick on it.
"Hmmm…a little shorter than average for a human female, but still normal." Skulker said mostly to himself. "Although, you are the first naturally born hybrid. I suppose I should allow for some inconsistencies. Alright, time for weight."
Again, her weight was lower than normal, but Skulker passed this off as having not eaten much in the past several days.
He set her down on the couch. "Open wide." He ordered. She did so. He looked around her mouth and then stuck a thermometer in it. A minute and a staring contest between the odd couple he took it out again.
"Well, you look to be healthy enough. Good. The last thing I need is you getting sick. Do me a favor Ghost-child and don't get any of those pesky human child diseases."
Lilith blinked at him in a completely innocent fashion.
She didn't understand his decree, therefore when she got the Chicken Pox the very next week, Skulker was not in a good mood.
"Can't you move any faster, Spectra?" He asked impatiently. There were four of them. Lilith was in her newly made bed as Bertrand wrapped up her fingers so she wouldn't scratch any of her sores. This made the young girl very irritable. She pouted with her face and gave a pleading look to Skulker, but to no avail.
Spectra glared at Skulker. "I have a doctorate in child psychology, not in medicine dimwit. It's the Chicken Pox; she'll be over it in a week." She said shortly.
"But I don't have a week! There's hunting and…" He protested.
"Deal with it Skulker. You were the one who picked her up, she's your responsibility." Spectra said packing up. "Just call when she's old enough to actually understand what's going on. I'll be sure to come around and feast on the misery. Come on Bertrand, we're out of here."
"But…"
"You heard what she said." Bertrand said as they made their way out. "The kid isn't going to die. Isn't that all you care about anyway?"
Luckily for Skulker he didn't have to answer as he got his own door slammed in his face. At the moment that question was easy to answer. Later on, it would be much more complicated.
Scene
She was still doing it. She had been doing it for the last…ten minutes, Skulker decided as he looked at the clock. All he had wanted to do that night was relax. Was that really so much to ask for? He had spent the better part of the last two years taking care of the child. He just wanted the night to feast and relax.
"Please don't kill it! It didn't do anything to you! We can still keep it!" Lilith sobbed hysterically. She had been clinging on to Skulker's arm for the past ten minutes and sobbing her eyes out. Why? Because Skulker was preparing one of the many ghost creatures to feast on that night. Lilith had caught him in the act and things had gone downhill from there. The only reason she hadn't stopped pleading was because at this point, Skulker really didn't feel like yelling at her. Had he done that, she would have stopped, gone off to her cage and go back to being her usual quiet self.
"I'm going to eat it, Ghost-child. You can stop crying now." He said for the fifth time. It only made her cry harder. She was holding on to the hand that held the butcher knife. He didn't dare chop up the creature until she had settled down.
He kept trying to remind himself that she was merely six years old. She didn't know any better. He tried his hardest to make her see that she was a part of his collection of rare and unique creatures and that she had no say in what he did or even in what she did. Oh yeah, that was working great. Skulker often thought this with heavy sarcasm.
"Please don't, please! We can keep it in the bathtub; you don't ever use it anyway!" She cried. "I don't want to see it dead!"
"It's already dead." Skulker said with superhuman patience. In front of him, the ghost creature was tied down securely to a cutting board. It struggled as if it knew what kind of situation it was in.
"Don't eat it! We can still keep it!"
There she went with the 'we' again; once again proving that she didn't understand her own station in life. Skulker had given up on trying to explain it to her for now. When she was older he would try again.
He sighed and did something he should have done ten minutes earlier. He set down the butcher knife and picked up the small girl.
She was still sobbing as he lay her down on her bed. "Please don't…." She repeated over and over again.
"Hush Ghost-child, go to sleep now. I need you to get up early tomorrow, got it?" She curled up into a crescent position as Skulker put the covers over her, an attempt to make her go to sleep sooner more than a comforting gesture.
In that moment Skulker realized that part of the reason she didn't understand was his own fault. He treated her better than his other prey. This was something he couldn't help. Raising the child was a full time job and despite the frequent headaches, he was surprised to find that he enjoyed it.
"You promise you won't eat it?" She sniffled, calming down a bit now that she was out of the kitchen.
"Go to sleep, Ghost-child. Now." He insisted.
"I'm not tired." She mumbled, the pillow cutting off some of the sound. Skulker sighed, thankful that she had a short attention span.
He left her side and closed the door to the cage, then turned on the ghost shield around it. She looked as if she had fallen asleep. This was expected. She had been up early that day. Box Lunch had come by unexpectedly and she had not taken a nap at all.
He grinned. Now; for peace, quiet and very much earned feast.
Scene
A typical description of a seven-year-old on Christmas day could be illustrated with a battery. In the morning, the child(ren) wear down the parents in anticipation of presents. Once the parents were finally up and running in the afternoon however, the children were tired and ready for a nap.
It should be said though, that Lilith wasn't a typical seven-year-old. She was sound asleep on Christmas morning. In honor of the annual Christmas Truce there had been a party late that night. Skulker had taken her with mostly as per the conditions of the Truce.
None of the ghosts had figured out how the Truce applied to her yet being that she was captive, but since she was too young to make a decision for herself they let her come to the parties and continued on as normal. As far as they were all concerned, she was one of them now. The fact that she was Danny Phantom's daughter didn't seem to matter much any more.
But it still didn't change the fact that they hated him. No amount of care for his only child could change that.
Since Lilith's arrival, the Christmas Truce hadn't been what it used to be. Before, the other ghosts had actually needed it to get along. Even though it had been decided long ago that she was in Skulker's immediate care, with her around, it gave them a sense of shared purpose, a new obsession if you will. Although, it could be argued that this was merely an extension of their hatred of Danny.
But parties with adults went late. Before midnight had even struck Lilith had been fast asleep somewhere in Pariah's Keep, the typical gathering place as it was usually unoccupied. Box Lunch had lasted only a little longer, with the child ghost being a year or two older and from sheer strong willed personality.
Skulker had been in a frenzy trying to find his charge and had been even more worried upon finding her asleep next to the coffin of Forever Sleep. The last thing any of them needed was the ghost king awakened. And if he were to awake, he would remember the certain halfa that put him back to sleep and the consequences for Lilith would not have been pretty.
But that had been last night; Skulker's fears were alleviated when Pariah Dark did not awake and Lilith continued to sleep. Now this morning, it was time to wake her up. More celebration and the Christmas dinner were later that night.
"It's time to get up Ghost-child." He said, taking the blankets off of her bed. The girl stirred and forced herself to sit up in bed, rubbing her eyes. After three years she knew better than not to do what Skulker asked of her right away.
"I'm tired." She responded back. "I don't wanna get up…"
"It's Christmas day! All children want to get early today! Remember you promised to help me make that chocolate cake for the Christmas feast tonight." He said, crouching down her level and giving her a quick pat on the head.
Lilith gave off a little bit of a smile, which was rare for her at this age. She liked it when Skulker was a little funny and not serious and angry at her like he was most of the time.
For Skulker's part he was used to dealing with the small child. There were certain ways to coax her into doing things that weren't associated with violence. He found it much easier to deal with her this way. He also found it unnervingly natural to do.
"Come, I have something to show you." Skulker said. The tone was even, so Lilith wasn't sure what to make of it. She jumped out of bed and followed him into the main living area, which was decked out with tons of Christmas decorations. Some might have even said too many. Skulker was certainly a fanatic about the holidays.
Skulker bent down towards the bottom of the Christmas tree and pulled out a cage with a little green dog in it. He took it out and put the puppy into Lilith's arms. She had trouble holding it at first as it squirmed and yipped, but soon started licking Lilith's face, accepting her as its new friend.
"This is Cujo." Skulker explained. "Most of the time we leave him alone, but I'm giving him to you for a while to take care of."
Lilith's eyes widened. "Really?" She asked in utter disbelief.
Skulker smiled in satisfaction. "Yes, he's all yours. Soon you're going to be helping me take care of the other ghost animals in my collection. Cujo is already house-trained, so you'll get to practice with him." He stopped, and then added after a moment's thought, "Merry Christmas Ghost-child."
Lilith looked down at Cujo, who was panting at her with a happy grin on his face and then back up to Skulker. Then something happened. Looking back, it had to have been a little bit of a Christmas miracle. She grinned. It was probably the biggest smile she'd had since arriving in the Ghost Zone.
"Thank you! Thank you Skulker!" She said, giving the hunter a giant hug he wasn't expecting. "I promise I'll take really good care of him!"
"Err…yes, of course you will…" He said uncertainly. She was never this enthusiastic! "Now get off of me!" Lilith did so immediately, but instead of shrinking away from him as she usually did after he yelled at her, she continued to smile.
"Ah! There you two are!" Said a nasally voice. "I was wondering where you had gone off to. You weren't in your lab…"
"Technus, look! Look at what Skulker got me!" Lilith proclaimed proudly as she stuffed the salivating Cujo into the technology ghost's face. She was jumping up and down in excitement.
Technus gave Skulker a confused look, but for once in his afterlife, he didn't have anything to say. Probably because it had nothing to do with his specialty.
"What do you want?" Skulker groaned.
The master of technology sighed. "The Lunch Lady's oven broke…and she came running into my lab asking for the replacement parts…she's ransacking it right now…but you know how she is. I don't dare stop her. Besides, if she doesn't have a working oven, we don't get her cookies tonight."
"I love her cookies!" Lilith said gleefully, a noticeable sparkle in her eyes. Again Technus didn't know what to make of this sudden transformation in the girl. Usually she was so silent her presence was barely noticeable. She never contributed to a conversation unless poked and prodded.
"Go play with the dog, Ghost-child." Skulker ordered. "Somewhere outside, but don't leave the island!"
Lilith was already out the door and in her ghost form. "Okay!" She called back as she let Cujo down on the ground. The ghost puppy ran off and Lilith ran after him.
"What's gotten in to her?" Technus asked.
"I gave her the dog as a present." Skulker sighed. "I showed her kindness! I did it to get her ready to help me take care of the rest my collection, but …well…look at her! She's happy! She's never happy!"
"Look on the bright side! Maybe she won't be as quiet anymore! You should think of sending her to a place of schooling in the near future!"
"To the human world?! Are you insane! Do you realize how many things could go wrong. Worst of all it would give her ideas! Ideas I've tried very hard to never let enter her mind! If she sees the other children she'll want what they have! Everything will be ruined!" Skulker yelled.
Technus thought for a moment. "Then, perhaps I, Technus, master of…" Skulker's glare cut his rant short. "…uh…could be of some assistance! I am most familiar with the math and sciences!"
Skulker thought. "She does need to learn to read and write as well. A little bit of home schooling never hurt. I'd rather not have her to grow up knowing nothing. I know the Ghostwriter has been rather bored in Walker's prison…he would be the best person to instruct her in that regard."
"Well, the Ghost-child does technically belong to you." Technus mused. "Whatever you wish, but eh, just don't tell Desiree I said that, 'k?" He said, looking a bit nervous. Skulker opted not the respond to that.
He watched Lilith float around with Cujo, playing some sort of fetch with her small, concentrated ecto-blasts, her first real power that she had learned to control only a few months earlier. She had been very excited about it, but had shown restraint by only showing Skulker and Box Lunch.
"'Belong to me'" Skulker mused on Technus's words. "…yes, yes you do." And that was all he really wanted.
Scene
"Ah, there you are Ghost-child; I've been looking for you all over the place." Skulker said as he walked into the dining area. Lilith was at the table, practicing her writing in a book the Ghostwriter had given her. She had a slightly different outfit on. She claimed the blue jeans and red T-shirt were much more comfortable than a dress. Besides, it had long since become too small for her.
She smiled when he came in. "Look! I'm almost done!" She exclaimed proudly, showing him her messy writing. The sentences she had written down were hardly readable and Skulker wouldn't have known they were words strung together had the real sentence not been typed above the writing.
Instead of saying what he thought of her writing he switched the subject to why he was really here. "I was out hunting today and I've caught a very rare beast. Come, I'll show you."
"It's not big and scary is it?" Lilith asked in apprehension. "The big ones try to bite off my hand when I feed them." She complained.
"This one is…WHAT? No, it's not going to bite off your hand. You just have to be more forceful with them." He said, slightly exasperated. At nine years old she was still as infuriating as ever.
Raising a child, Skulker had found very quickly, was no small task. Especially when he had to walk the fine line of her being part of his collection. Her cage was next to the large room, yes, but she was hardly ever in it. This was not how he had planned out her life. But somehow, things had worked out. She was helpful, doing chores around the lair. It gave Skulker more time to hunt and pay attention to other matters Plasmius put forth for him. Sometimes he couldn't help but wonder if he would have done the same thing for the original ghost-child.
Possibly, but he certainly wouldn't have been happy about it and would have probably tried to escape a lot. Lilith had been young, perhaps too young for the hunt to really have been a challenge. He had time to shape her mind and mold it to what he wanted; to make her want to stay. So far, it had worked like a charm.
"It was an incredibly difficult catch." Skulker continued on gloating. "But as always I was victorious in the end."
The two entered the room full of cages; Lilith's eyes immediately went to the newcomer. It was a larger cage, as it was a larger ghost creature. It looked sort of like an ectopus in her eyes, but larger and a bit more menacing. There was something about it that made her suddenly very uncomfortable.
She scooted closer to Skulker, feeling a bit safer. The hunter ghost prodded his new catch with a shock stick, it squealed in pain before giving off a low growl.
Its growl diminished as it caught sight of Lilith. The two locked eyes for what seemed like an eternity. The young girl was so entranced she hardly even noticed that Skulker was still speaking.
"You as well?"
Lilith halfway screamed as she ran behind her guardian, interrupting his monologue. "It talked!" She said, rather frightened.
"You're imagining things, Ghost-child. It can't talk." He sighed; a bit exasperated that she hadn't been paying attention to him.
"But it did! Didn't you hear?" She said nervously, giving short glances back at the creature.
"I heard your whining!" He said back pointedly. "You can't keep making things up like that. Go ahead and start feeding the other specimens. I'll teach you to have a little more backbone when dealing with them."
Lilith did as she was told, just happy to get further away from the strange new creature. She started at the furthest end with the smaller creatures. Most of them were docile and she sometimes let them out of their cages for a while to hold and pet them when Skulker wasn't looking. They reminded her of Cujo, her old pet. Skulker had made her let him go after a year or so but after a while she had adopted these other creatures as her own. She enjoyed looking after them. Deep inside her experience with Cujo told her that she needed to set them free, but Skulker wasn't happy when she did that…
At the moment Skulker had left to do other things. She knew he'd be returning soon, so she continued to work a bit faster rather than her usual snail-like pace.
Finally she could avoid the larger creatures no longer. She inhaled deeply to prepare herself for the task. It was never fun.
Surprisingly, this day was not as difficult as it had been before. None of them tried to bite off her hand and they all ate with relative silence. Lilith turned herself once more to the new creature. There was something unsettling about it.
Without Lilith even noticing the two locked eyes again, she unconsciously dropped the bag of food she had been carrying. One of the Creature's many octopus-like arms slithered out past the bars of the cage. The arm snaked its way around her and the tip began to caress her face in a loving manner.
"You too are a prisoner here?"
This time Lilith didn't scream. She was literally frozen in fear. It really was talking to her. It was talking to her in her head. Telepathy. She had briefly learned about it once, but could not remember much about it.
"No." She whispered in response to the question, subconsciously shaking her head.
The arm that was around her seeped to the back of her neck. She felt no pain as it punctured into her skin.
"I see your prison." The Creature said exclusively to her. "I see your memories, the pain you've gone through, all at such a young age." It said, sounding very sympathetic. "You are not loved here…"
"No!" Lilith shouted suddenly, thoroughly shocked by the statement. "It's not true!"
"What's going on in there?!" Skulker's booming voice came closer with each word. The Creature retracted its arm quickly and the hunter ghost entered to find Lilith looking very frightened. "What are you doing Whelp? You're screaming for no reason!"
"It…it was talking to me!" Lilith protested.
"For the last time Ghost-child, it does not talk." Skulker said, walking up to her. He took her by the wrist. "Come, its past your bed time anyway." Lilith didn't struggle as he took her along with him towards her own cage, nor did she speak. Not even to complain about having a specific time that she had to go to bed. She was greatly troubled by what had transpired that day and hoped it wouldn't happen again.
The Creature continued to stare at her with its beady red eyes even as she left the room.
:-):-)
That night silence reigned in Skulker's lair, as it typically did. Skulker was off hunting, as he usually did at night. This was done mostly so Lilith would not be lonely during the daytime hours. She still had yet to completely get over her fear of being alone. The girl herself was fast asleep, breathing lightly under the blankets.
In the collection room, the Creature's eyes glowed a bright red. The bars of the cage melted open with merely a thought from its mind. It floated out of the room and stopped to gaze upon Lilith's sleeping form.
One of its tentacle arms turned off the power to the ghost shield, then used its mind power to melt the bars to her cage, as it had done with its own. Gingerly it used another tentacle to uncover the blankets and then wrap them securely around the young girl.
She did not wake as it flew away from the island.
:-):-)
The first thing Lilith felt as she woke up was cold. The hard surface she lay on was not the comfort of her bed. She woke up instantly with a frightened expression on her face. Her oversized shirt and her long pajama pants were damp and it made her cold. Wrapping her arms around herself, she began to get warmth from rubbing her body. This didn't work so well, so she changed into her ghost form, which at least was warmer than what she had on her human side.
At the same time she began to get familiar with her surroundings. She was in Pariah's Keep. A place she was familiar with. Good. She'd been here a few times with Box Lunch, exploring and stuff as well as the parties a few times a year with the whole company of the Ghost Zone. Skulker had told them stories about the old day of Pariah Dark's reign over the Ghost Zone and the short incident when he had escaped.
It was the one time her father had been spoken of in a relatively nice sense. He had saved the Ghost Zone. And whether the other ghosts wanted to admit it or not, he had their thanks for it.
It still didn't change the fact that they hated him though.
"Is it any wonder that this is why the hunter ghost keeps you? You are not only human, but ghost as well." The Creature loomed over Lilith. She shrunk back to the wall in fear.
"Wha…how did you get out?" Despite this, Lilith was scared to realize that she wasn't really surprised it had broken out. "What do you want with me?" She didn't see any of the other creatures here. It was only the two of them and a ghost king locked in the Forever Sleep.
"I have rescued you. That place is a mockery of our existences. We do not belong there." It reasoned.
"No! You don't understand! I live there, it's my home. You can't take me away from my home! Skulker'll come after you! He'll find me, and then you'll be sorry." She countered.
"Your home in which you, a human, live in a cage, under the guardianship of a ghost who cares little for your well-being? You and I are the same in his eyes, both rare, intelligent and nothing more than a challenge. Your life is as a game to him."
"He does too care!" Lilith yelled at it. She looked quickly to her right and then ran. There was an opening in the castle walls. She could escape and find Skulker, and then she'd be safe.
The Creature's eyes glowed red once again and Lilith gasped lightly as she found herself lifted off of the ground with a light red glow around her body. It wasn't by any will of her own, but by the telekinetic power of the Creature.
"I am saving you from a fate worse than death. Do you really want to spend the rest of your existence in cage? Never knowing the truth?" The Creature dropped Lilith down gently against the wall. She looked at it in a resigned way.
"You can't keep me here." She told it confidently.
"And the hunter can?" The Creature responded. "What attracts you to him? He treats you poorly."
"He saved my life." She said meekly. He did too care. "Bad people would have gotten me if Skulker hadn't found me. He's all I've got."
The Creature considered this for a moment. "If he is all you have, then you have nothing. Has he ever told you why he saved you?"
"That's not true!" Lilith said, still sitting against the wall. She felt more and more desperate and a loosing argument coming.
"When he is tired of keeping you, he will kill you. You and I are no different. Now, come with me, I shall help you to escape to my dimension, where you will be safe." It said, extending a tentacle towards Lilith.
The girl still clung to the corner. She shut her eyes, half hoping to wake up in her own bed and none of this ever happening. "No…it's not true, please stop it." She pleaded.
Before the Creature could grab hold of her again, it let out an ear-splitting cry of pain. Lilith looked and saw that Skulker had truly found them and he was engaged in the battle of re-capturing the Creature.
The Creature growled at it turned to face its adversary.
"I'm not sure how you were able to escape your cage, but I'm giving you one chance to come quietly, Beast. Normally an escape warrants the honor of having your pelt on my wall, but I'm feeling generous today." Skulker said with confidence.
Lilith saw the Creature's eyes glow bright red. She knew now what this meant. "Skulker! Look out! It can do stuff with its brain!" She shouted, not remembering the pronunciation of telekinetic in the heat of the moment.
"Ghost-child?! What are you…?" He didn't have time to finish the question, as he found out very quickly what Lilith had been talking about.
"Now Hunter, you shall know what it feels like to face your imminent destruction." Every weapon Skulker tried was rendered useless as they were all torn from his suit the moment he brought them out. "You will no longer torment those weaker than yourself."
Skulker felt his ectoplasm move wildly about, much different than normal. If it kept up this way, it would surely explode and he would be done for. The hunter became the hunted in his final moments.
"Leave him alone!" Within two seconds of Lilith's demand, Skulker felt the pain ease, and return back to normal. He hit the ground with a clank.
He looked around to see strings of ectoplasm spewed all about the Keep. On the end across from him was Lilith, currently his greatest prize. Her hands were outstretched and she was shaking, very nearly in tears. Skulker came to the shocking realization that she had just released an ecoto-blast powerful enough that it had destroyed the Creature. Speaking in human terms of the situation, she had just saved his life.
Lilith finally seemed to get a hold of herself and ran over to Skulker in tears. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to destroy it." She sobbed as she clung to him. She was reminded of the several times in the past that she had watched Skulker eat the ghost creatures. It hurt that she had now done something much, much worse.
"It's alright Child, there was no avoiding it." He was too shocked to say anything else.
"I know how much you wanted to catch it…but it was scaring me and it was going to hurt you." She continued to cry. "I killed it…" She said, slipping into human terms again. "I killed it…"
"Come, let's get you home." He said finally, at a loss of what else to say. He certainly couldn't tell her his thanks, it might further ruin her. He especially couldn't get over how powerful her attacks were, at such a young age already. He knew now that he could not continue to merely over power her. She had just destroyed a difficult catch in his eyes with a single ecto-blast. It frightened him more than he wanted to admit.
"Skulker, why did you take me in?" She asked as they walked away. She was wiping away the last of her tears. "For real?"
"For my collection, Ghost-child. You're one of a kind. I couldn't let that pass." He said rather truthfully.
"Like all the other creatures you have?"
"Yes." This was one subject he had never lied on. As long as she knew her place things would be just fine. He'd actually been waiting for this opportunity, for her to finally be old enough to understand.
"Oh." Lilith tensed. "Skulker….do you care about me?" She asked hesitantly.
Skulker looked at her quizzically. "What kind of question is that? Of course I do! You're one of the single rarest species out there! I certainly care for you more than I do the others. You're much more helpful."
"But…do you love me?" Lilith said, laying her head down on his shoulder as they continued to fly back to the island. "I…remember my mom; she used to say that a lot. She cared about me too, but you never say it."
"That, Child, is something that won't be happening here. I may care for you, but I'm not your mother. I only took you in because of what you are."
Lilith's heart sunk. She realized the Creature had been right. She was a prisoner here and there was nothing she could do about it. She liked Skulker and was attached to him, too much perhaps. She realized with a heavy heart that despite all of this, she could never bring herself to leave here; her home.
She was afraid though. What if she really was no more than another creature for his collection? Did his run away policy apply to her as well? She was frightened at the thought that he could and would kill her as their true relationship became fully comprehendible to her.
"Okay." She responded, trying to relax and thinking about going back to sleep. At the same time trying to salvage what little pleasant thoughts she still had. All of her memories of the two of them seemed to suddenly take on new, sinister meanings.
Skulker was having thoughts of his own. The attack was still on his mind and it was disturbing him as it probably would for a long while. She was going to be as powerful as her father, that much was clear. The thought of this had crossed his mind, but he hadn't been expecting it this early. The other ghosts needed to be informed of this.
Then a thought struck him. If she was powerful enough to destroy that powerful a ghost creature, then she would have no problems dealing with the rare bests he typically hunted. She would be an excellent sidekick. She was small and packed a big punch. It was ingenious. He only faulted himself for not thinking of it earlier.
Her mind needed to mature however. Technus and the Ghostwriter already had dibs on when they would tutor her, after a very amusing battle between technology and the written word. He could wait though. They had the rest of forever, and Skulker could resolve himself to being patient for once.
For now though, as he arrived back at his lair, he allowed her to sleep in. After today, she deserved at least that.
:-) :-)
Two eyes glared at him while he went about his duties. The two figures refused to speak.
Clockwork blinked innocently. "What?" He said as he sent the Creature back to its own timeline; many hundreds of years in the past. The ectoplasm that the two had seen were merely small bits from the Creature, Lilith would have destroyed it had Clockwork not stepped in. But it was very much alive, just very, very injured.
"You did it again!" The first Observant yelled.
"Did what again?" Clockwork said, playing dumb. "I tend to do a lot of things that you two don't agree with."
"The timeline was not at stake, you did not have to do that." The other Observant said scoldingly.
"You shouldn't be watching over her in the first place! Your priority is to Danny Phantom and his evil other." Said the second, taking a chilling look at the cracked thermos on a nearby ledge.
"I am watching over them." Clockwork defended. "Everything is going as it should, as usual. You two have nothing to worry about. Now, don't you have some more observing to do? Or other ghosts to annoy?" He said flatly.
The Observants shared a look of disapproval, but left Clockwork to his own once more. The ghost of time smiled as he watched Skulker put Lilith in her bed. "All in due time…" He said mysteriously. He switched the scene to a very distraught looking Danny in Vlad's darkened laboratory basement. "Don't worry Danny; it'll all be over before you know it." He said, but at the same time he felt sadness for his protégé. It seemed a hard fate for one who had worked so hard to protect those he cared about.
But Clockwork knew everything, so he wasn't worried at all.
Scene
"Box Lunch…are you sure this is a good idea?" Lilith asked hesitantly. After seven years of friendship between the two, Lilith knew better to know that her best friend's schemes were never without consequences.
The child ghost waved off Lilith's worries with laugh. "Naw, it'll be fine! Now come on and throw the first pitch!" She said, waving a baseball bat carelessly around. She wound up for the anticipated pitch.
Lilith sighed. "Okay, but if we get in trouble for this, it's your fault." She said in a small voice. Box Lunch smiled as she knew Lilith would never do that. Lilith formed a baseball sized ecto-blast in a ball. She aimed and threw it towards Box Lunch's strike zone.
Box Lunch hit it square on with the bat. The two watched the ball of ecto-energy fly through the Ghost Zone…
…and then through the window of the highest tower of the ghost penitentiary.
It was a classic example of getting into trouble. Only getting in trouble with Walker was different than getting in trouble with one's parents. The girls stood perfectly still for about five seconds. Lilith turned and dared to speak first.
"What do we do?" She was shaking all over.
The girls saw the gates open and the police vehicle roll out. "Run!" Box Lunch yelled, grabbing Lilith's stunned body by the arm and dragging it with her.
In the end it was no use. They both knew the routine having seen it many times before. Cuffed at the wrists and ankles, then shoved into the police vehicle and then dragged off to the prison.
Everything happened in such a blur. The next thing Lilith knew, she was strapped down to a chair with a very bright light focusing on her.
"Hello Punk." Lilith recognized Walker's voice, but was too focused on getting adjusted to the light.
"Hi Walker." She greeted back in a nervous voice. She put on a smile for good measure.
"You see this?" Walker said, pointing to a slight burn on his cheek. "I got hit by a rather unexpected ecto-blast that came through the window in my office. Care to explain?"
Lilith felt like dropping dead right then and there. She was nervous and afraid. So, she started to talk.
"I'm so, so sorry! I didn't know that Box Lunch could hit that hard and I should have made it stronger so it wouldn't go that high and I didn't think. We shouldn't have been playing so nearby your prison and we weren't even going to play baseball at first but Skulker wouldn't let us use his training facilities and the island is too dense to do anything there so we just kind of flew around and we ended up here and we…"
"Stop!" Walker yelled. Lilith stopped and shrunk under his gaze. Everyone could tell when she was nervous; she'd always start to talk fast and try to apologize a million times. "Just seeing you roam around free is annoying enough. This gives me the perfect excuse to lock you up for good. You can serve your father's thousand year sentence for him."
"But what did I do? We can fix your window!" Lilith said hopefully, ignoring the part about her dad. She had good practice with doing that. Walker growled. "And uh…I know a really good ointment for ecto-blast scars…"
"I think, for you, Eternity would be an excellent amount of time." Walker said gleefully.
"Uh, to fix your window? I don't think it'll take that long, only a couple of hours and…" Lilith asked with a sickening amount of hopefulness.
"No." Walker had a very satisfying grin. "To spend locked up in prison. Although," He said considering something. "Maybe, if you're lucky, I can cut your sentence short."
"Really?" Lilith said with a smile.
"Of course, any date you'd like for your execution?" He said with a wicked grin.
Lilith paled. "I…don't think Skulker would like that very much…"
Walker frowned. "Which is why you probably won't be here for long. Consider yourself lucky he got to you first punk. But you're staying in prison for the night. He can't get you out of that."
Lilith finally exhaled in relief as she slumped back in the chair she was restrained to. "Okay." She said with a resigned sigh. She was used to being the captive. One night in Walker's prison wasn't going to kill her.
Although Skulker would probably destroy Walker once he got wind of this. The two were fairly evenly matched as far as Lilith could tell. This wouldn't be the first time they butted heads. She didn't like it when they fought though. These days it was normally over her.
"Well, I'm done with you for now. Enjoy your stay." He said with evil intent.
Lilith forced a smile.
The next day Skulker was dragging both girls out of the prison. He wasn't happy and Walker was in pain. "What were you two thinking? Do you both always have to find the easiest ways to get into trouble?!"
"We were playing, Frog-man! There's nothing in that stupid book of his that goes against playing baseball!" Box Lunch defended as Lilith continued to be silent, lost in her own thoughts.
"Anything that makes Walker angry is against the rules! You two need to just stay away from there, I've only told you this a thousand times!" He said scoldingly. "You know the way home, Pest. I'll drop you off here."
Box Lunch stuck out her tongue at him and turned to go to her own home. The trip back to the lair was spent in silence between the hunter ghost and the eleven year old girl with ghost powers.
Skulker closed the door with a slam when they arrived. Lilith cringed. "I'm in a lot of trouble, aren't I?"
"You know I don't like it when you don't come back at night." He said after a moment's pause. "I can understand that it was Walker's fault that you were delayed, but if it had been…" Skulker stopped himself short and pounded his brain for almost letting out the secret the entire Ghost Zone was keeping from her.
"I'm sorry." Lilith said dejectedly after a moment. She turned her eyes towards the ground.
"Sometimes I don't even know what to do with you." Skulker admitted sorely. He knew what he wanted to do. To keep her locked up all day and continue the tradition of hunting her around the island. She finally had begun to realize that it was not hide and seek.
In the ensuing silence, Lilith had another question she wanted answered. "Skulker, why doesn't everyone like my dad? He looks nice in the picture."
Skulker launched into his explanation. "Your father is our enemy. In short, he defeats us and puts us back into the Ghost Zone. Many of the other ghost see keeping you here as revenge. You're a prisoner here. Nothing more, nothing less. "
"What do you think?" She dared to ask.
"A pet that asks too many questions." He responded immediately. "Now, you have chores to do and I have errands to run. And when I get back you had better be done."
Lilith sighed deeply. "Okay."
And suddenly, things began to make a lot more sense to Lilith. Admitting it was all true would be the hardest part. When the telepathic ghost creature had attacked she had been so sure of her loyalties. Skulker and Box Lunch were the two beings she trusted more than anything in the world. And yet they were so different to a point that Lilith really didn't know where she belonged anymore.
Box Lunch said she needed freedom. Lilith kept denying it.
Skulker kept saying she was meant for captivity in his care. Lilith honestly didn't feel like a prisoner. Only when he talked to her about it.
Right now though, she wasn't sure what she believed.
Scene
"Happy thirteenth Birthday Lily!" Box Lunch yelled unexpectedly, causing Lilith to jump at her desk in surprise.
"Ah! Will you stop that?!" Lilith turned around in her seat with a stern look on her face. "You made me loose my train of thought! This stuff isn't easy you know!"
Box Lunch looked on amusedly. "Then why are you doing it? You don't have to know this stuff. Besides, it's your birthday, you're officially a teenager! Take the day off!"
Lilith sighed. "Is it just me, or are you just looking for an excuse to get out of class?"
"Come on, let's go do something." Box Lunch pleaded.
"Both of you should be working on revising your final drafts of your papers." The Ghostwriter said, coming out of nowhere.
"Booorrr-ing!" Box Lunch complained.
The Ghostwriter glared and was about to speak before he was interrupted by his 'co-teacher'.
"They should be working on the math and sciences!" Technus argued. "It's much more useful to understand the inner workings of the great technological devices of the world!"
"I did bring the ecto-weapon you wanted." Lilith said as she dutifully held out the device for the master of all technology. And to her, he certainly was.
"Excellent work Ghost-child! I shall use this wonderfully crafted piece of machinery to take control of…" A stern glare from the Ghostwriter cut off Technus's signature rant. "I uh…what I mean was, what an excellent learning opportunity to examine this device's inner workings!" He smiled fakely.
"Not with your papers on the history of the Ghost Zone due tomorrow." The Ghostwriter said sternly. "I trust the two of you just have a final editing to do?" He prodded.
Lilith nodded in response. "Yeah, I did that last night." The Ghostwriter gave a smile of approval, as he often did. She was a very diligent student.
Box Lunch rolled her eyes. "You're such an overachiever Lily…"
Technus oooed at the weapon. "Hey, is this the new proton disrupter….?" The Ghostwriter promptly took it away from him. Technus looked like a baby that just had his candy stolen from him.
"Class is dismissed for the day. Those rough drafts are due tomorrow…"
"And your science lab!" Technus cut in. The girls raised an eyebrow.
"Which one?" Lilith asked.
"The uh... weather one...yeah, lets go with that one! All those scientific instruments..." He sad gleefully.
The Ghostwriter growled. "..both are due tomorrow…right Box Lunch?" He asked pointedly.
Box Lunch was looking over her fingernails as if something about them was more important than whatever the Ghostwriter was saying. "Yeah, I got'cha." She replied unenthusiastically.
Lilith stood up and sighed. "We'd better go and get our work done. See you tomorrow." She said as she changed into her ghost form and led Box Lunch out of the ghost library, their classroom for all practical purposes.
"Why do you always do that?" Lilith asked as soon as the two were far enough away. They were both on their way to Box Lunch's place, where the Lunch Lady usually had something baked for the two of them.
"Do what?" Box Lunch asked with a shrug.
"Not care." Lilith said a bit sadly, but with conviction. "You never care about your schoolwork. It's important. And making poor Sindney do it all the time isn't very fair..."
"Important how? I'm a ghost. I learned all I needed to know years ago. I only keep going because that's what you do all day. You're the only person in the Ghost Zone worth hanging out with every day. Besides, you'll actually need this stuff." She admitted. Lilith looked a bit hurt and guilty for making her friend do something she didn't want to do.
Box Lunch noticed her look. After all these years of them spending day in and day out together the teenage ghost knew exactly what was on Lilith's mind. "You're not going to spend your entire life under Skulker's thumb, Lily. You've got to get out."
"Box Lunch, you know I don't like talking about this…" Lilith pleaded.
"But it has to be talked about! He's been keeping you away from everything that you should have! Being around other human kids your age for one, a real family…" She didn't get much further in her lecture.
"Stop it!" Lilith yelled sharply. "I'm so sick of you saying that! My biological family is dead! My family is here, in the Ghost Zone. Nothing will ever change that!" There was silence between the two as they both thought about what had been said. "I'm sorry." Lilith said softly, eyes down. "I didn't mean to yell at you like that…"
Box Lunch was silent for a few moments longer before speaking again. "That's what Skulker's told you, but have you ever asked anyone else? What about this Clockwork guy you keep talking about?" Pause. "You need to get out of here Lily. At least experience the human world in it's full before making a choice, I mean, you don't even know what its like besides the haunts we do and the movies you watch! I can't make a decision for you, but I can try and persuade you, even if it seems like you've already made up your mind."
"But I…" She stuttered.
"I know you Lily. You've always wanted to go to school with other kids your age. You deserve it. You need it. It's not like you're leaving forever." Box Lunch argued.
"…I'll talk to Skulker about it…" Lilith consented after a few moments' contemplation.
"And finally we have progress." Box Lunch said content. "Although if you ask me; frog-man shouldn't have anything to do with it."
"He has everything to do with it." Lilith defended. "He took me in when I needed it the most. His intentions may not have been the purest…but it was a beginning at least. I owe it to him to at least ask him. He's done a lot for me, a lot of things he didn't have to do. Please understand that."
Box Lunch sighed. "I do. More than you think." She shrugged. "In any case, this is getting too serious! We've got cookies to eat at my place, and then what do you say about playing with the virtual Sims at your place?"
Lilith smiled. "Playing Doomed on a virtual reality setting on the World Wide Web with humans we only know by screen name?" She smirked. "Always."
"Okay, but this time I get to be the mage." Box Lunch said quickly. "Last time you were the mage we got pounded by ShakespeareWarrior. What the heck kind of screen name is that anyway?"
Lilith laughed. "Okay, fine. But I get to use the broadsword! You make me use the rapiers too much. I don't like the motions as much."
"For the birthday girl? Anything. It's a deal. Team Phantom is ready for action!" Box Lunch joked. The girls high-fived and raced on towards the smell of freshly baked cookies, laughing all the way.
:-):-)
Now the day of fun was over. They hadn't beaten their main rival in Doomed, but had lots of fun running around the levels. Skulker had finally yelled at them to get off. There was no sun in the Ghost Zone, but it was getting late according to the clock.
Lilith now found herself gathering up the courage to bring up the question she had promised to ask. Skulker was watching the big plasma screen television on the wall opposite the couch they were both sitting on. Lilith was wrapped up in a blanket leaning up against Skulker's arm, staring blankly at the fireplace on the adjacent wall. It was the only illumination in the lair at the moment. She easily got lost in her thoughts watching the giant flames dance around.
It was these sorts of nights that were her favorite, when she felt the safest; the most secure. The atmosphere had a calming effect on her. As if nothing could go wrong. Perhaps this was the reason why she felt she could finally ask.
"Hey Skulker, can I ask you about something?"
"You know you can talk to me about anything, and that you should." He told her, flipping through the channels and putting the Discovery channel on mute.
Lilith sighed heavily and turned around to face him. "I…I've been thinking lately." She said, trying to phrase her question in the form that would earn her the least amount of yelling. "And I was wondering if you'd let me go explore the human world some more. For purely educational purposes, that is!" She ended hastily.
Skulker gave her a look. "What kind of exploring…?"
She looked away from his gaze. "Well…see, I learn about all these different places in the library and we go see them…but it's just me and Box Lunch. I don't know what other kids think, human kids. I…I'd like to go to school in the human world for while." There she had said it.
"Absolutely not!" Was Skulker's expected reaction. "You don't understand what it's really like! What's wrong with Technus and the Ghostwriter? They're doing a good enough job aren't they?"
"It's not them!" Lilith defended. "It's me. I know I don't understand. That's why I want to go. There's only so much you guys can teach me here. Please, you know I haven't asked for much, but this is one thing I think I really need to do."
Skulker grimaced. As he looked back on everything, he realized she was right. "I don't like it. I can't let you go." Inside he was panicking. He had hoped the day would never come when she would be asking for these types of things.
Lilith took one out of Box Lunch's reply book. "You can't, or you won't? What harm could it do to send me to school there? I promise I'll always come back home. I just want to know what it's like to be around humans for a while…"
"And if you like it better then what will you do? You belong to me; it's easy for you to forget about that anyway, it would be much easier for you there. I want to be able to keep an eye on you."
"Then put a tracking device in me, or something else like that. I wouldn't ever leave here, not by my own choice, I swear I wouldn't. You've got to believe me." She pleaded. "I'm getting older every day. I won't get another chance like this ever. Not when I'm grown up."
"You're still too young." Skulker was slowly coming out of reasons to say 'no'.
"I'm almost my dad's age when you started hunting him. I think that's old enough." Lilith countered.
"You'd have to hide your powers. If they knew of your ghost powers I'd be unable to help you. Humans don't like ghosts." He said plainly.
"I can do that." Lilith said with growing confidence. She was starting to believe she could win this argument. "I don't use my powers much anyway. I can do without them for long periods of time."
Skulker looked her over, considering his options. This was the thing he wanted to avoid. Sending her to school in the human world would change her mind, he was sure of it. Even for the four years of high school. It was risky, something he really didn't want to let her do.
But it was the look in her eyes that made him think. She hadn't had that look in her eyes for a long time. She truly wanted this. It wasn't just some random scheme that Box Lunch had planted in her mind. This was real.
And if things got too serious he could take her out. Or wait until she grew tired of it. Either way would work. She was smart enough to know when and where to use her powers.
He still didn't like it. It went against his actions and what he wanted to accomplish. Yet, Lilith wanted to go so badly. He would have another reason for her to look at him in favor. He would also have another thing to hold against her if the need ever arose. It was a win-win situation in this light.
"I still don't like it." Skulker said truthfully. "I don't want you to leave the Ghost Zone. When I first found you I wasn't even planning on letting you leave your cage. You've been extremely fortunate. If I let you do this, it has to be on my terms. Understand."
Lilith nodded eagerly. "So…you'll really let me go to school in the human world? With other kids my age? You're not just messing with me?"
"You've proven to me before that I can trust you. I can only hope that my trust is not unfounded."
"Thank you! Thank you!" She said, giving Skulker an impulsive hug. He pulled her away as he always did.
"Condition number one." Skulker said sternly. "You must come back every single day. No exceptions. There are still others out there who would be after you in a moments' notice if they knew who and what you were. I won't loose you just because the Guys in White were visiting that day."
"I promise I'll be careful." She said with more excitement than anything. She honestly hadn't believed that he would agree!
"Second condition, is that there will be no romance." Skulker knew from first hand experience in trying to hunt Danny that love was a very powerful thing. It hadn't helped that said romantic interest had a very nasty upper-cut (okay, granted pretty much all of the women that boy hung out with had amazing fighting skills…). He rubbed the bottom of his chin in painful remembrance. Never again had he tried to use the friends as bait. It was inevitable that Lilith would gain friends, although there was the chance that he hoped she wouldn't, but getting too close to a member of the opposite sex was not something he wanted her getting involved in. She was that age where hormones raged rampant.
Besides, if she devolved romantic feelings, it would tie her to the human world. Something Skulker wanted to avoid at all costs.
"Third is that you tell no one of your ghost powers. I think that explains itself." Skulker finished. "If you do these three things I don't think there should be a problem." Thusly he invoked Murphy's Law, albeit unknowingly.
"I really can't thank you enough." Lilith said gratefully. "I've always sort of wanted to do this…I was just always so afraid to ask. I won't let you down, I promise!"
Skulker sighed as he turned the television back on. "I could still change my mind; you aren't guaranteed to go yet." He warned.
"I can go shopping on e-bay for some really awesome school supplies!" Lilith rambled, not even listening any more. "I've always wanted one of those one-strap bags for a backpack! Do you think I'll need colored pencils? I wonder if they have pencil sharpeners in the room, and what different subjects there will be? I've got to take an art class I've always wanted to do some painting but the Ghostwriter says that the library would get too messy and I'd get it on the books, do you think they'll have an art class for beginners though 'cause I don't think I'm very good at it. Hey, do you think…"
Skulker sighed as he allowed her to continue. At times like this he really did wonder who was in charge around here.
:-) :-)
Just over one year later…
"Do you have everything ready yet?" Skulker asked impatiently.
"Have you seen my jacket?" Lilith frantically asked. Tomorrow would be her very first day at school in the human world. She was nervous, excited and couldn't be happier all at the same time.
"You're wearing it." He said indifferently, and went back to looking at a map of the Ghost Zone. He had a mission to go on the next day while she was gone.
Lilith blushed in embarrassment. "I think I've got everything. I got all the stuff the letter said to bring." The letter detailed all the items she would potentially need for the school year. It had been addressed to her. To her! It was the first piece of mail she had ever gotten. After that day there had been no letting her spirits down at all.
"Then go to bed. You'll have to get up early to be there on time." Skulker still didn't like the whole idea of school. He'd asked Technus to keep an eye on her that first day, as he wouldn't be able to himself.
"I'm too nervous to sleep." She admitted. "I mean…it's really the school my parents went to, right? What if no one likes me?"
"You'll be fine." Skulker insisted, staring intently at the list of things he needed to find. "And you'll be even better if you get plenty of sleep."
Lilith nodded. "Yeah, you're right." She said as she headed off to bed. She stopped as she reached the door to leave the main living area. "And thank you; for everything. I really do mean it."
"Go to sleep Ghost-child." He said without looking up from his papers.
"Okay…good night." She walked in her 'bedroom' and closed the caged door behind her. She jumped lazily onto her bed. Her head happened to be pointed in the direction of her bed stand. On it was the picture she cherished the most. "I'm coming back for a while Mom…" She said to the picture. "It's not much, but I want to know what you and Dad were like. What you were really like. Who knows, maybe I'll find you there." Lilith chuckled slightly. "It would be really neat to have really known you guys…"
She closed her eyes and began to dream. She dreamt of her mom and it was nice. Little memories she never knew she had. By the time Lilith was deep asleep she was dreaming of the day she had been separated from her mother. There was nothing she could do about it until she woke up and began a new day when her life would change yet again.
Scene
A/N: Remember when I said I wanted a lot of suggestions? "Ask and you shall receive." I ended up with 20 pages on Word (10 point font-non double spaced) and 11,000 words for this chapter, not counting the author notes. This should last you at least two weeks. Mostly because I have very busy times coming up with classes gearing up for Finals and going home for Thanksgiving. I can't guarantee any specific dates for the next post right now.
However, if a whole bunch of you send really awesome reviews of encouragement (but helpful criticism is still always needed too!), I may have to find more time in my day. If nothing else, tell me what scene you liked the best, or that you thought worked the best. Or maybe what scene didn't work for you? When I first started creating this fic, it was these sorts of scenes that came to mind. I tried my best to make all of them fit into how the characters think and why they make certain decisions.
The scene with Lilith not wanting Skulker to eat the ghost creature was based on a true event. Let's just say I was very adament about keeping the Northern Pike my mom had caught in the bathtub instead of her eating it.
Special thanks always to those who reviewed the previous chapter; Meagaisnttheworld, Blackstar456, katiesparks, hermie-the-frog, DP fan and Rishi-Rishi.
We return for the conclusion of the main storyline next update! See you then!
-Unrealistic :-)