Day 1 - Fantasy AU
Summary: In which Danny finds out that when a stranger offers him help, it's probably too good to be true.
Danny didn't notice the little ghost until he collided with it at breakneck speed, sending both tumbling head over heels.
"Ohmigosh," Danny said once he'd righted himself. He darted over to the little ghost, who was more disoriented than he. Being only a foot tall or so, they'd fallen harder and farther. "I'm so sorry, I didn't even see you! I was just in such a hurry -"
The little ghost shook their head, although their eyes still seemed somewhat unfocused. "Aye, nothin' about it, yeh hear?"
Danny tilted his head. The ghost's accent sounded Irish, or maybe it was Scottish. Celtic? He never knew what the difference was. And accents didn't mean much anyway in the Ghost Zone. They weren't exactly the greatest indicator of where a ghost was from, although Danny had heard of a reclusive tribe of spirits living out past the Forest of the Lost who exclusively spoke in an accent of buzzes.
"And where might yeh be travelin' in such a rush?" the ghost asked, brushing off their gauzy green dress.
"Oh, um, I got this summons, I think? From Princess Dora? Or maybe it's Queen Dora now…"
The little ghost regarded him for a long moment before their elven ears twitched and they broke into a too-wide grin. "Aye, Princess Dorathaea of Mattingly! Yeh shoulda mentioned somethin' sooner!"
Danny found himself at a bit of a loss. "I - what? But you just asked me."
"If yeh allow me," the ghost said, as if Danny hadn't spoken, "I believe there lies a passage fer speedier travel to the Dragon Kingdom near me home. It would do me no greater pleasure than to take yeh there! Ease up the journey a bit, aye?"
Danny wasn't sure if his head was still spinning from his tumble or from the little ghost's rapid escalation to asking to escort him. Most ghosts he met would've probably blasted him halfway across the Zone by now, so he supposed it shouldn't be surprising that there would be ghosts who would tend to the other extreme of over-hospitality.
He was also starting to register more of the ghost's appearance. Long, charcoal gray cornsilk hair draped down their back. It was neatly slicked back at the top, leaving plenty of room for their large, pointed ears. Where their nose should've been were only two small slits, and their grin (which reminded Danny of the Cheshire Cat) revealed two rows of yellowed, razor sharp teeth.
Their wings distracted him most. They reminded him of dragon wings in how they tapered to points up and down their whole length, but these were gossamer thin. They matched the ghost's chalky white skin, but Danny was pretty sure he could see the Zone's trademark swirls of ectoplasm through the wings. They stayed perfectly still, too, which admittedly wasn't as surprising for a creature that could probably fly without wings already.
"I'm - uhh," Danny stammered when he realized he'd probably been staring a little longer than what could be considered polite. "That's okay, really, I'm a fast flier…"
"Aye, but yeh shouldn't keep the princess waitin', yeh know. Yeh've been summoned, after all!"
Danny hesitated again. There was something about the little ghost that just felt… off. It was setting off his instincts, both human and ghostly. Still though, it was probably only because they hadn't attacked him yet, and he wasn't used to meeting friendly faces while traveling through the Ghost Zone. And he didn't want to offend them. If he'd learned anything since first entering the Zone, it was that most ghosts had very particular ideas about social cues.
He sighed. "Alright," he relented. "If it'll be faster, why not?"
If possible, the little ghost's grin grew even wider. "Excellent!" they said before shooting off. Danny had to scramble to catch up. For their tiny size, they were extremely fast.
"Me kin and I live just on that island o'er there," they chirped when he caught up. "Yeh'll love it!"
Danny frowned. "I thought you said the portal was near your home, not in it."
The little ghost laughed - a discordant tinkling like the dopey toy piano his baby cousin owned. "Oh, no sonny! Tis a passageway, not a portal. A Fetch, if yeh want a proper name!"
"Wait, like a dog?"
The ghost laughed again. "Yer a little fledgling, aren't yeh? Yeh'll see what I mean soon enough."
Danny was still trying to remember what on earth "fledgling" meant (and if he should be offended by it) when they arrived on the lush green island. The foliage reminded him of something he'd see on Earth. Stuff in the Zone tended to veer towards the "weird" end of the spectrum, including the plant life, but everything here - the grass, the flowers, the trees - all could've been taken straight from a human forest.
The ghosts were a different story. They all had a similar facial structure to the little ghosts and the same tapered ears, but most similarities ended there. Their hair and skin varied between shades of green, black, purple, blue, and gray. Some let their hair hang loose; others had theirs done up in elaborate braids threaded with flowers and leaves. Most wore loose, flowy dresses or tunics in muted earth tones. Though they were all small in size, they ranged anywhere from a few inches to a couple of feet.
The only other thing they seemed to have in common were the wings, but they came in such a wide variety that it was difficult to see other similarities. Some were shimmery. Some were feathered. Some were veiny, like leaves. Some were jagged and torn. He thought he spotted at least one whose wings looked like branches from a tree.
He couldn't help but gawk as he and the little ghost made their way through the forest. It was reciprocated by the other ghosts, who watched him with a hungry curiosity in their eyes. Out of the corner of his eye, a pair of ghosts no bigger than his hand giggled and ducked behind a tree as he passed by. One, sitting alone on a tree branch and kicking its bare feet, began chattering in a language Danny didn't recognize. In the distance, he heard the lilting notes of a flute.
"By the way," the little ghost said, shaking him out of his stupor, "I don't believe I caught yer name before."
Danny hesitated again. There was something about the situation that was setting off his alarm bells, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Maybe it had to do with the eerily human environment. Maybe it was putting his two halves at odds with each other.
Still though, he wondered why a little voice in the back of his head was pressing him not to answer the little ghost.
"I'm Phantom," he finally settled on. Then, because he was feeling tense and because it was a force of habit, he said, "Or punk, if you're feeling friendly. Or just ghost boy, or whelp, or-"
"Aye, I knew I recognized yeh," the little ghost interrupted. "Yeh have quite the reputation there, sonny."
Danny flushed green. "Yeah, that's… I'm definitely not the most popular guy in the Zone, that's for sure."
"But yeh also have the power to back it up, I hear!" The little ghost faced him. "Such a young 'un… and yet powerful enough to be named Pariah's Bane…"
He fiddled with one of the little pouches on his belt. He might be used to Frostbite and his tribe lauding his praises by now, but he still hated having attention drawn to some of his bigger exploits. It was especially embarrassing hearing it come from a complete stranger.
He was too preoccupied with his self-consciousness to notice the hungry glint in the little ghost's eyes.
He cleared his throat. "I, uh, did you mention your name already? I'm sorry if I missed it." He hoped his guide would latch onto the change of subject.
To his surprise, he felt their aura flinch away, although their body didn't show it. It wasn't an unfamiliar feeling - it happened all the time when he managed to get the upper hand on an enemy and he was able to assert his own power and aura - but it was unexpected given the situation.
"Me kin and me," they said tightly, "we prefer to use, ah, a more communal means of callin' each other. Makes things easier for all of us, yeh know?"
The alarm bells in Danny's head were ringing louder now. He still wasn't quite sure why, but he found himself thinking of Sam and her fixation on mythology. He couldn't remember exactly what she might've said to trigger his memory now, though. Maybe he needed to start paying more attention to her raves about myths and legends.
Hadn't there been a story about a group of creatures that were touchy about names? Maybe…
"Ah, here we are!" the little ghost said. Their face had relaxed somewhat and the tension had drained from their voice. "The Fetch! Gets yeh where yer s'posed to be in the blink of an eye!"
Danny looked to where the ghost was gesturing proudly, but he didn't see whatever he was supposed to see. It was just an empty patch of grass, no different than the rest of the grass on the island. Granted, it was kind of hard to think between the anxious thoughts and the hypnotic flute music, both of which had grown noticeably louder.
The little ghost floated forward but stopped when they noticed Danny wasn't following. "What be the matter, sonny?" they asked.
"I don't know," he said slowly. He was still searching for an identifiable portal or device or something in the grass and trying to ignore the nagging voice in his head (that had suspiciously taken on Sam's voice) telling him not to listen.
The ghost was now frowning. "Yeh - yeh have to come over here for it to work, yeh know! Won't do yeh any good from all the way over there!"
Danny had stopped listening. He'd found what the Sam-voice was pressing him to notice.
"Um, on second thought," he said, trying to keep his voice from wavering. Gingerly, he floated backwards, away from the line of off-white mushrooms a few inches in front of him. "I think I'm okay, really. I'm sure Dora will understand if it takes me a bit longer…"
The little ghost's lips curled back, revealing their razor-sharp teeth again. The music cut off abruptly. Danny felt the ectoplasm around him still suddenly as several auras flared towards him. He whipped around only to see a dozen or so of the little ghost's kin surrounding him and edging their way toward him, their teeth bared as well. The wicked gleam in each of their eyes sent chills down his spine.
"I think yeh'll want to do as I tell yeh to, sonny," the little ghost growled. Their voice grew dangerously low and soft. "It'll be easier for yeh if yeh cooperate."
Danny glared at the group of ghosts advancing on him, trying to wield his own aura against their collective one. With a particularly strong push, he snarled, and he felt his eyes blaze a little brighter. Two or three of the ghosts hesitated, but the rest of the group was unfazed by his show of power. If anything, they looked even hungrier than they had before.
"If you know my reputation so well," he quipped, twisting back to face the little ghost, "you'd know I don't have the best track record of listening to people!"
Their laugh was dark. "Yeh think so, eh?" They drifted languidly towards Danny. "Yer not as bright as they say. Even the little 'uns know not to cross paths with us. They know how dangerous we can be."
The group behind him was maybe a few meters away. "Oh, but yeh, yer different. Such a unique child… Such untold power…" the little ghost purred. They licked their lips. "Imagine what me and me kin can do with a spirit like yeh…"
Danny barked a laugh, but it was hollow. He tried to suppress his rapidly increasing fear by calling up another burst from his aura. "Yeah, right. There's no way I'm doing anything you tell me to. Now that I know what you are, anyway." The burst only succeeded in delaying the approaching group by a few seconds.
The little ghost - the faerie - laughed again. "A bit late, if yeh ask me. Shoulda realized before yeh told me yer name, hm?" They must've noticed the way Danny's glare faltered at that statement, because their lips stretched thin in a maniacal smile.
"We might not be as powerful as yeh," they said with barely contained glee, "but we have ways to… compensate, yeh might say. Give us yer name and yeh give us protection 'gainst any attack yeh throw at us."
Danny cursed under his breath. Ancients, he should've just listened to his instincts when they'd first kicked in. He should've known that when both his ghost and human halves were telling him a situation was Not GoodTM, it was usually true.
"Aye, and yer name gives us somethin' else, too," the faerie continued. They raised a clawed, bony finger and pointed it straight at Danny.
At first, he was confused. Nothing happened. Then a shooting pain ran straight through his core, causing him to double over midair. It embedded itself into his core and pulled. Even though he couldn't see anything physically stuck in his chest, he could see strands of bright green ectoplasmic energy - his energy - winding out of his chest, where his core was, and towards the faerie. His stomach turned in horror as he realized whatever had hooked into him was siphoning his energy away. He was helpless to stop it.
The slits in the faerie's face widened as they inhaled deeply, drawing Danny's energy into their own body. He felt their aura flare, and they sighed contentedly.
"A little bit of a slower process," they said with their Cheshire Cat grin, "but a good meal is worth waitin' for, eh?"
"Share! Share!" the group behind him began hissing. Danny tried to growl in response, but it came out as more of a whimper than anything.
"Quit yer whinin'," the faerie said. "Yeh'll get yer turn soon enough. He won't be leavin' anytime soon." Then, to Danny, they continued, "Most of our, shall we say, guests don't stay very long, yeh see. The humans, they end up starvin'. And the other creatures that come to our home, they just don't have enough in them to share fer long. They got little cores. Can only hold so much, yeh know?" They laughed, its discordant tinkling causing Danny to cringe in pain.
"Ah, but yeh and yer core. Yer somethin' of legend, sonny. The stories of yer power, how yeh managed to wrangle the fiercest of opponents… Why, they say yeh even came back from Oblivion's door when yeh felled Lord Pariah. Very few beins' can do somethin' like that… Very few indeed…"
The faerie spread their hand that wasn't pointing at Danny. "He's too fast, they say. Too clever, they say. Too much to be reckoned with. We'd never get the chance to have a go at yeh. But look now! Yeh delivered yerself right to us!" With a wicked grin, they crooked their pointed finger. "And now we have yeh at our mercy."
Danny gasped as the hook in his core twisted sharply. His hands pressed against his chest in a fruitless effort to stop the strands of energy from leaving his body. His core screeched and, trying to defend itself, drove its own energy against the foreign presence. Frost began to crystallize on his fingers and the tips of his hair, and he realized with a start that his eyes were glowing bright enough to cast a light onto the ground beneath him.
Of course, this only succeeded in giving the faerie a larger pool of energy to draw from. Their smile stretched wider as they reveled in the energy spiraling their way.
"Yeh know," they said, almost lazily, "this would be so much easier on yeh if yeh just step o'er that line there."
Danny gritted his teeth. Through the haze of the pain, he managed to shake his head. Snowflakes fell from his hair as his head moved.
The faerie tilted their head. "No matter, really. We have all we need to make yeh cooperate." Their eyes began to glow the same green as Danny's energy. His heart dropped violently. If he was remembering Sam's stories right, he had a horrible feeling he knew what they were about to do.
"Come to me, Phantom," they whispered, their voice low and ominous. Danny screwed his eyes shut and braced himself for the inevitable consequence of the command.
It never came.
The faerie growled. "Phantom, I command you to come to me!" they said, agitated.
An unseen force tugged weakly at Danny's body, but despite the pain and energy loss, he easily resisted. He hesitated, then opened his eyes. True enough, he hadn't moved.
The faerie faltered. "What is the meanin' of this?" they shouted. Their extended finger lowered the slightest bit. As it dropped, he felt the siphon attached to his core slacken.
It was enough for Danny. In a panic to take advantage of the reprieve and with a wave of adrenaline, his core ignited. He didn't try to contain it. With a guttural yell, he let the energy explode outward in a supernova of bright light.
When his vision cleared, he found himself in the center of a ring of icy spikes, radiating out towards the faeries. A couple who had been closer to him, including the one who had attempted to command him, had been frozen instantly. The remaining faeries hissed in fury, but they didn't approach the barricade of ice. Some of them even took a few hesitant steps away.
Danny didn't waste any time. With the connection severed, he gathered the last few dredges of energy he had left and shot straight up. Once he cleared the canopy of trees, he picked a direction he was mostly certain was towards the portal and followed it as fast as he could.
He had only been flying for a few minutes when his core finally gave out. He managed to land on a tiny, rocky island before his transformation rings washed over him, leaving him human. He crawled over to a crevice between two particularly large rocks and squeezed himself inside. He had no idea if the faeries would try to chase him or not. Being caught in human form with a depleted core sounded like a nightmare.
Shakily, he inhaled, trying to absorb the ambient ectoplasm. It'd be a while before he'd be able to build up enough energy to get somewhere safer. Maybe Pandora's. She'd let him stay with her before. He just hoped Dora wasn't too upset with him.
His eyes slipped shut. He was just so tired, so spent after losing such a large amount of energy in such a short period of time. Surely he wouldn't be spotted, folded in between these two stones. He'd be okay if he just rested for a minute, right?
As Danny drifted into sleep, he wondered if he would've been able to get away if he'd told the faerie his true name.
Here's hoping I'm able to finish the whole month on time! Even if I don't manage to publish each day on time, I plan on finishing all prompts at some point :D
All of my pieces for the month will be posted to my Tumblr; feel free to follow! hannahmanderr