Author's Note:
Hmm… Now she's really gone and done it.

Normally I don't like motherly characters (anyone who knows my upbringing will be able to guess preeeeeeetty quickly why), but I've always had a bit of a soft spot for Maddie. She does her best, for everyone.

Since this fic is just a side project, I'm only doing small chapters. For me, it helps keep the update stream going. I hope nobody minds! I might combine them into suitably larger ones once it's all over.

World on a Plate
A fanfic by Pseudinymous

~ 2 ~
- Shifting -

It was only now that Maddie had truly begun to examine the ghost's features, rather than look at it as… well, just another ghost. As it started to uncurl on the passenger seat, a clump of black hair was released from the death grip of its hands, and those big innocent eyes came out again. Unlike many ghosts its scleras were white, while the irises had settled on a tricky purple glow.

"Please have mercy…" the ghost whimpered, trying to look just about anywhere other than Maddie's face. "I don't want to die!"

What in… a section of Maddie's brain was starting to fall to pieces over this. Part of her wanted to remind the ghost that by virtue of being a ghost it wasn't all that likely to die of anything, but how did she really know that? She and Jack may have been experts on ghosts, but they were certainly a long way away from knowing everything. Maybe ghosts could die. Or maybe this particular purple-eyed variety of ghost, which she had never encountered before, could… but the others continued existing day in, day out, until the end of time. Who knew?

"Ehh…" the ghost hunter hesitated, swinging herself into the driver's seat in a slow and deliberate motion. She decided not to pick up the gun along the way — it was harmless to humans, and she was trying to get this ghost to open up, not shut straight back down again. "… I won't hurt you if you tell me what you're doing here."

About six percent of the ghost relaxed. The other 94 percent was wound tightly like a coil, ready to leap into the air (and subsequently into the ceiling, if it tried). Maddie tried not to picture the image too hard, as it was amusing in a situation where she almost definitely shouldn't be laughing. The ghost seemed to detect some sort of change in her, however, and its anxiety was starting to show up more as a certain shyness than anything else.

"This sucks, I've made such a fool of myself…" it muttered, dragging its fingers through its hair and letting out a small, discontented whine. "This wasn't how this was supposed to go."

Maddie blinked at it, her face falling into a confused frown. "I'm sorry? You better explain yourself now, or I—"

"Okay, okay!" it said. "I-I just have to take you to our village, Great Lady. We want to welcome you!" the voice trailed off, but the ghost added to the end, with a pathetic little murmur: "Please come to our village."

Great Lady.

The ghost hunter took a moment to process that. "What did you just call me?"

Its face went… whiter than white, and gained an unknown, and perhaps worrying, oily sheen. "Not formal enough?!" it stammered. "Oh my goodness… I'm sorry, O Great Lady of the Realm! Please don't—"

This was too much. Maddie tuned out at the smattering of violent and increasingly horrific tortures listed by the ghost, which it apparently believed her capable of. There was a heavy implication that she was also, as it were, capable of doing many of them merely by thought. The situation was well and truly up there with some of the most bizarre things she had ever experienced, and that was quite a feat when you considered one of her most recent tangles with Phantom.

"That's enough!" Maddie insisted, putting her hand out and stopping the ghost's verbal diarrhoea mid-sentence. Its mouth looked panicked, as if it still needed to be moving. "Just please, a straight answer, okay? Why are you calling me all of these names? I'm a ghost hunter, heaven knows you're supposed to run away or attack me, not worship me! You're speaking to me as if I'm some sort of god to you."

A hinge broke in the ghost's jaw, and it hung loose, hanging on one side but shut on the other. The silence said all she needed to know.

"Oh my God," said Maddie.

"B-but…" the ghost muttered back. "But you have the jumpsuit! The goggles! You wear her clothes, you have her voice!"

"You think I'm a god…"

"You are! Please come with me! My people need you—"

"I'm not coming with you," said Maddie, firmly, and the ghost's 'heart' broke right in front of her. "Your —" she paused to use air quotes, "people don't need me. I'm not your god. How could anyone think that?"

"W-we only exist because of you," the ghost stammered. "We owe everything we have to you! You created the lands and our people, O Great Lady… don't you remember?"

No, Maddie thought, she most definitely did not.

The ghost was dangerously close to curling back up into a foetal position, but Maddie wasn't interested in this. In fact, to be perfectly honest, she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do now. This strange purple-eyed ghost was nearly a wreck in front of her, she couldn't help but feel a flare of curiosity at this whole god business, and she had at least another three hours to kill before she was due to return to the lab.

But just because this ghost was weak and pathetic, didn't mean the others of its 'kind' would be. They were probably using such a disappointing specimen to lure her in and capture her. What better a way to convince her than the tantalising idea that she was a part of some sort of creation myth?

But curiosity wasn't going to bring down Maddeline Fenton. She was better than that. There were plenty of other interesting things to study in this strange realm, anyhow.

She'd take this ghost back to the lab and give it to Jack for further analysis. That's what she'd do.

The small ectoplasmic lump murmured under the sheer weight of her gaze, as if it was being weighed down by something invisible and very heavy. Maddie's gaze did that to people — first you found your knees getting weak and then all of a sudden you were buckling, and obeying every command.

"Listen," said Maddie. Her eyes were nearly glowing. "I'll make you a deal, ghost."

Silvery tendrils of hope slivered from the ghost's soft aura, and it was only unfortunate that it was not so much a metaphor as it was a proper physical description. Perhaps, Maddie's brain told her, hope wasn't the best word here. Hope had only flashed across the ghost's eyes for a splinter of a second, and its expression now indicated a deep-seated and highly dangerous hunger for… she wasn't sure, exactly, but it probably wasn't going to be good.

"A deal?" said the ghost, twirls of white energy escaping its being, "We do not make deals with gods, O Great Lady. You will come to bless our village. I am deeply sorry for the inept doorkeeper; he was eager to prove himself but seems to have failed miserably. He does not know how to handle a divine being such as yourself."

The ghost had… Maddie blinked at the ghost. It looked the same, sure, but there wasn't a chance it was the same ghost as it was three minutes ago. Her back arched in dread she couldn't contain, and her attention was drawn to the ecto-gun she so unwisely hadn't bothered to pick up, lying on the floor of the Spectre Speeder.

That was it, she was right — this was a rouse. It was going to drag her to this strange place to toy with her. It was the sort of thing that could rightfully get her killed, and she knew when gigs like this were up. Now she had to get that ghost the hell out of the Speeder (with as much violence as necessary), and then drive on home as fast as she could.

Her muscles twitched. One wrong move could prove fatal. There wasn't going to be a second chance. If she could just lie enough to satisfy it, then maybe…

"As the divine being of your world…" said Maddie, in the most careful and measured voice she had ever known herself to use, "I will come to bless your village. Please tell me where to go."

But then one of the silvery tendrils snatched her by the wrist, an otherworldly tingle shooting up her arm. "We have invented faster methods of travel for Exalted Ones such as yourself," said the ghost.

Suddenly, Maddie was struggling to find her vocal chords. "What?" she stammered.

"PREPARE FOR TRANSPORT," said a computerised voice, which had apparently been planted within the ghost's throat. And then the next thing she knew, she was gone.