*firmly reminds self that as I said I'm writing this by the seat of my pants and I can whine about quality when I'm not doing that* (Like, maybe on my next fic.)

In other news, my internet and phone are down, but right now I'm at an airport and Yay-free internet!

x.x

M'gann's lips smacked together softly as she opened and closed her mouth in unease. The sound shuddered in Danny's mind like a ticking clock, counting down the seconds until she protested. If she did, it would be futile.

This was going to be amazing, and she just had to give him a few moments. His fingers shook as he placed the bucket on to the top of the door. Out poked his tongue. He floated above the bucket to check how well it bisected the bucket-base. Good enough.

"Are you sure that's stable?" M'gann's voice floated through the door.

"Yes!" Danny answered, and let go with a flourish.

The bucket tipped off the door. Danny started and grabbed it in the first foot of its fall. Water sloshed out, hitting him in the face and soaking his white hair.

"Bleurk!" He spat. He shook his head, a spray of droplets falling to Kid Flash's floor. Dammit. Hopefully he wouldn't notice until it was too late. Danny squinted at them through wet eyelashes. It didn't look too bad.

He placed the bucket back on top of the door. M'gann hummed with concern.

"Urgh. Just give me a minute." He let go slowly this time. The bucket stayed stable. Danny whooped and flew through the door.

M'gann gave him a tentative smile, and Danny felt accomplished. Her gaze was drawn away and the sight of Kid Flash's booby-trapped door removed the smile from her face.

Danny waved a hand to get her attention. "Now we hide and wait!"

He hid from sight. M'gann peered uncomfortably at the place he'd vanished. She stuck out in the hallway like a sore thumb. This wasn't going to work. Wally would see her if he came down the hallway and might notice something was wrong.

He appeared.

"Um, M'gann?" he asked, and paused to figure out how to word it. He wanted her to stay, but if she drew attention to the door...

"It's alright, I can go invisible too," M'gann said with a tight smile.

"Cool!" Danny crowed. "You and me wait together then!"

M'gann suddenly glanced to the entrance of the hall. "Danny? Sorry, I've got to go. I – uh – just remembered I need to make tea!" she squeaked. She faded out of sight, leaving a faint outline behind which he could follow with his eyes as it flew down the hall.

Nothing like a ghost's invisibility.

Danny had little time to wallow in his disappointment. Steps approached, slow ones. Perhaps it was Kid Flash - he didn't run all the time. He blinked out of sight and grinned to himself.

Superboy rounded the corner.

Danny sighed. Superboy looked towards him with a confused frown. He didn't meet Danny's eyes, so Danny doubted he could see him. He knew someone was there, though. He approached Danny's hiding-spot. Damn! He slapped a hand over his mouth.

Fwup!

Superoy paused and squinted towards him, staring right at Danny's hand where it was held beneath Danny's nose. Danny cringed, and began floating away.

Superboy's eyes didn't follow him. The bucket caught his attention. Danny suppressed a sigh of relief, but then Superboy reached up towards the bucket. Danny sped over. Superboy's fingers were inches away. Danny appeared by his side and grabbed his shirt in a fist and pulled.

"Hey, don't touch that!" he said.

"There's a bucket there," Superboy dead-panned, as if that gave Danny all the info he needed to know.

"Yeah," drawled Danny. "I put there."

Superboy looked from him to the bucket several times. His eyes unfocused. Glazed and unseeing, they slid to left and his cocked his head. Nothing happened for a moment. "Is M'gann here?" he asked.

Danny's head shook. "Nope, she… said she had to go make tea."

"Right," Superboy crossed his arms, his expression shuttering. Kid Flash's door might as well have insulted him. He was looking about as movable as a human boulder and began Danny to fear for his bucket. If Wally came now, the game would be up.

"Look… how about we go now?" Danny asked. He scooted behind Superboy and pushed at him. Superboy moved with the movement. Danny was surprised. He pushed again.

Superboy's hand snapped around his wrists. Danny winced. He glanced away from Superboy's stare. His mouth twisted in a 'who me?' smirk.

If Superboy understood the expression, he didn't respond.

"Why is there a bucket up there?" he asked harshly

"Err, no reason."

"Wrong. Answer."

"Okay, okay! It's a prank on Kid Flash." Danny phased his hand out of Superboy's grip and wrung it out. He stretched it. The feeling began to come back. "You know… he irritates me, I irritate him…"

"Like fighting." Superboy nodded imposingly.

"Kinda. But, usually with less bruises and more humiliation. See, Wally wasn't letting me eat, so I…" he pointed up at the bucket.

Superboy would have raised an eyebrow if he was the type. He looked very unimpressed.

Danny grimaced and trailed off. "You were looking for M'gann?" he asked.

"No. I was looking for you. I want to ask you—"

"Hey, that's cool but can we talk somewhere else? Wally will see us here." The words spilled out before he could stop them. Superboy's serious expression was making him antsy.

Superboy nodded. Danny followed Superboy outside. The trees pressed in on them. Birdwings beat the air noisily as birds fled their presence. Superboy walked with purpose though there was no path, and remained silent when Danny asked after their destination. Danny rolled his eyes, throwing his hands up in the air.

The stopped in a clearing, before a sapling growing in a circle of recently upturned dirt. Superboy squatted and brushed the dirt to make it level. Leaves rustled around them and the wind shifted Superboy's hair.

"What is this place?" Danny breathed.

"Tell me about Wolf." Superboy answered.

"Wulf?" Why would he want to know about Wulf? Danny asked, a prickle of helpless anger surfacing at the thought of his once-friend. Superboy would not be talking about him, though. Wolf was also the name of the dog had pushed Superboy away from a disintegration beam, saving him at the cost of his own life.

Wulf had claimed that the dog was himself. He'd pointed at it. "Me," he said. Then he'd left Danny to this place filled with crazy super-powered people who thought he wasn't real!

"He was in the dreamworld. He died," Danny snapped.

Superboy didn't respond. He kept gazing at the damned plant in its circle of unturned dirt. It seemed unnatural, as if it had just been planted by a person instead of growing by itself.

"Wait—is Wolf buried there?" Danny sputtered.

Superboys nodded. Discomfort prodded at Danny's anger. Wulf was dead, double-dead, but even the sight of Wolf's grave would not dispel his anger. Why did Superboy have to show him this?

Oh yes. Because Danny didn't want him to spoil his prank.

Danny sagged into the grass. Funny how a symbol of life grew over the creature he'd only known in death.

Tears pricked his eyes. He wiped at them. Thankfully, his hands came away dry. "Damn you," he muttered. He wouldn't cry for Wulf. "Damn you, Wulf!" he choked.

His fingers nudged a stone in the grass and they curled around it. He gripped it hard and flung it towards the plant. A hand snatched out and cut its trajectory short, and the sapling stood unruffled. A growl escaped Danny. Superboy pulled him away, dragging him to his feet.

"Don't."

Superboy's voice was laden with anger.

Danny already regretted it, and didn't protest the tight hands on his arms. Wulf was only a memory now, Danny couldn't hurt him any more than he could comfort him. He stared at his grass-stained clothing, idly noticing that he was in human form.

"Sorry," he murmured.

"Tell me about Wolf," Superboy repeated, the hands of Danny's arms falling away. "Your friend. The green wolf."

"Oh." How did Superboy know about the connection? Was he guessing? "I… met him when he was being controlled by this gh-er-uy called Walker. We got his collar off and he helped us beat back Walker and his goons. We became... acquaintances."

Superboy nodded. "What are ghosts?"

"Er, what?" Danny squeaked. He looked up sharply. Where did Superboy get this stuff?

"Was Wolf a ghost?" Supeboy continued.

"Um…" What the heck? Danny couldn't say yes without sounding like a lunatic! "Why would you ask that?"

"Wolf was my friend. Answer me."

Danny was talking before he knew he'd decided to. He told Superboy about Wulf, about how he'd met him, how he spoke Esperanto and how Wulf had kidnapped him from school. He spoke about Wulf's ghost lair and how Superboy's picture had hung there.

Superboy's brows drew together. "I have heard... they say ghosts are created because they have unfinished business. They come back to... fix it."

Danny shrugged uncomfortably. "The origins of Ghosts are unknown."

"Unfinished business," Superboy answered glumly. "And they would… disappear once they finished their business." He blinked slowly in misery. "M'gann... did not kill Wulf."

"No!" Danny shook his head. "I mean, M'gann definitely didn't kill Wulf."

"Wolf saved me. He finished his business. So, I killed Wolf!" Agony carved its way onto Superboy's face. Danny stepped back, alarmed.

"But why did he die? No-one else died!"

Superboy lanched his fist at a tree. Danny jumped. The bark cracked and flew like confetti and the tree swayed. Danny pulled his ghost transformation over himself. He was ready to go intangible any moment.

There was no telling where the Mountain was if Superboy decided to turn his anger on him - Danny didn't fancy being lost in these woods. There was nothing but trees. Hang on, no, in between the branches the earthy tones of mountain were almost indistinguishable from the brown trunks of the trees. If Superboy attacked him, he could go intangible and zip back to the mountain.

"Did they!" Superboy roared.

"No." he agreed, and put his hands up to placate. "Now, let's just calm down, alrighty?"

"Why didn't you help him?"

"I didn't know that that would happen," Dannny protested. He wasn't at fault here, Wulf was the one that had dragged him along.

Superboy's eyebrows rose with utter disbelief. The tree he had punched creaked ominously. Danny looked between them - the tree that looked like it might fall at any moment and the guy who looked like he believed Danny deserved a punch. He decided to make his getaway. The darkness of the edge of the clearing welcomed him.

"I know you're real." Danny halted. He smiled despite himself and turned around to face Superboy.

"And I don't like you." Superboy sounded petulant.

"Oh." What could you say to that? He gave the sapling - Wulf's grave - a contemplative look. And odd question tugged at him mind.

"Why Eseperatanto?" he asked.

Superboy shrugged. "Constructed language. Like him." he pointed at Wulf's grave. "Like you. Even Me. Real, but constructed."

Danny snorted to himself. Lancer would come up with a conclusion like that. His life wasn't a classic to be over-analysed. Superboy glared at him. Time to leave.

Thump! His back was hit by something hard. He was pushed into the dirt. His back stung, a throbbing pain radiating out from his side and making him shudder. For a moment, he couldn't breath through the pain. It ebbed, and he looked up.

Superboy stood over him.

"What was that?" an ectoblast Danny's fist green.

"The sign."

"The sign?" Danny's ectoblast fizzled out in confusion. Superboy pointed at his back.

Paper rustled in the breeze and something stroked against his tender back. Comprehension dawned. Danny tore the paper off his back. The sticky-tape let go of him reluctantly. Danny waved the paper in Superboy's direction.

"You're not supposed to actually kick me."

Superboy blinked.

"Oh."

Damn Wally.

x.x

ps. To my knowledge, 'Wulf' and 'Wolf' are pronounced exactly the same, one's just transliterated into Esperanto.