A/N:
Hello and welcome to the Wednesday update, dear readers! This is the final chapter of Act Two! Exciting stuff right? This chapter, and the next one, will be from Danny's perspective, so the two of them are evened up in terms of POV chapters before the end of the fic. This one is a bit of a doozy, but don't worry! Ohm has returned to make this chapter less all pain no breaks, and more 'sweet and sour.'
We're reaching the final stretch of the fanfic, and I'm excited to bring it to you. No other announcements before the chapter. I'll see you at the bottom!
Chapter Summary:
As things calm down post-plague, Danny gets a visit from his favorite ghost eels. Then, he finally gets a chance to speak to Valerie...
Chapter Specific Warnings:
Discussion of Drug Use(joking), Violence, Paranoia, Delusions, Mild Body Horror, Description of Physical Injury/Gore, Angst.
Chapter Title:
Quietude: a state of stillness, calmness, and quiet in a person or place.
Fey: (dialectal, archaic or poetic) About to die; doomed; on the verge of sudden or violent death.
Federation: an organization or group within which smaller divisions have some degree of internal autonomy.
7:49pm; December 7th, 2005; Amity Park
Danny watched the citizens of Amity Park, all dressed in colorful festive sweaters and juggling freshly purchased packages, rush in and out of the Beverley Mall. The entire area glowed with a blanket of holiday cheer, taking on the colors of the strung lights twinkling in the darkness of the night. At the front of the Mall sat the baskets for various charity drives, bell-ringing volunteers wearing Santa hats, as shoppers tossed change or reached deeper into their wallets to fill the baskets to bursting. One of the baskets bore the name of the fund the city had created to aid people with recovery after the curse finished disrupting tech throughout the greater Amity area. That one saw more donations than others, the teens manning the table and ringing the bells doing their best to draw attention to the cause and spread the word of the organization's purpose. Although it had been commissioned to handle the cleanup following the outbreak, because of the severity and length of the event, the town finally gave in to the need for a more permanent local relief fund. Donations would travel to needy families throughout Amity for the techpocalypse, all the cash earmarked until the end of the year to aid business owners and suburban families alike, before they reconvened in the new year to set up a budget to plan for common disasters.
His friends planned to sunset the website, and its toxic forums, by the end of December and hand the domain over to the new charity. Good riddance in his opinion. If he had to read through one more of Dash's Phantom rants to ban the asshole after January first, he'd blow up the other boy's laptop. The Baxter's were rich enough to buy him a new one the next day, but the catharsis would be worth its weight in gold. He'd told Sam and Tucker that Dash owned the GhostTeen account, and skipped over everything else to do with that night in terms of their conversation. He'd shown them the advertising packet, and shoved the fan mail into the bottom of his drawer. He'd burn it this weekend now that everything calmed down; he just hadn't had a chance.
They were going over it together on the phones as he did patrol. Unfortunately, Team Phantom agreed Dash did have some brains between the bones of his skull, because the designs for the line and the plans for launch were actually good. Once they'd started going through the papers in detail, he'd realized Dash oversold the input from Ms. Avery or anyone else. Everything carried the fingerprints of his direct involvement, with meticulous attention to even the tiniest bit of information he knew about Phantom. It still landed somewhere between creepy and awe-inspiring. Not the good kind like 'awesome', but the bad kind like 'Biblical down-pouring of fire by the Old Testament God'. If the dude's brains had enough wherewithal to come up with all of this, then he shouldn't be flunking school. Once again, he wished he'd focus more of the fanaticism into passing Sophomore year and less into the basketball season as he tried to put the team on his back and carry them back to state. "I actually like the designs for the hoodie. I kinda want one, which is saying something, because I know Dash made it."
"He's got a mind for fashion and graphic design. It's weird he doesn't take more art classes." Sam had a digital copy on her computer, Tucker too. He'd scanned them the previous weekend.
"I bet he'd call it 'gay' if he did take them. You heard how much he complained about dance classes. Those things are just exercising to a beat. It's more like athletics than performing art," Tucker said.
"Dash thinks everything is gay. At least, everything he hates," Sam pointed out. He tried not to wince at the topic of conversation, refocusing on the jaunty Christmas music and excited children dancing along below.
"I want to turn him down, you know, on principle, but it feels like a stupid idea at the same time. I don't want the money, we can just donate it to the Amity Disaster Relief Fund since most of the disasters are ghost fights anyway, but the connections seem important."
"And the opportunity for propaganda, never underestimate the power of a good story. Being able to do something about the narrative surrounding Phantom, putting out our own PSAs, just generally changing the country's opinion on ghosts, all of that is worthwhile."
"Wow, that's a lot more thought about a non-tech, non-girl topic than usual, Tuck. What gives?"
"If Phantom's popular, and I'm his tech guy, then I'll get loads of dates."
"There we go, that's more like the Tucker I know."
"I do think it's a great plan in general, leaving me with mountains of phone numbers aside, because the GIW controls the tone of conversation around ghosts in America. After you had that big bounty placed on your head, every ghost hunting somebody in the country showed up. They all left, went back to whatever holes they crawled out of, and spread a bunch of rumors about what a malicious being you are." Tucker paused to slurp on the last of his can of Wild Monster. "You've had positive incidents since then, but a lot of it is only covered by Amity or other local news departments. The GIW can blast their propaganda on every radio station in the nation, completely uncontested. If we had more sweet lucre, we could do something about it. And since Sam doesn't want to open her infinite wallet, we'll have to pimp you out instead."
"Wow, Tucker, that rant went so many places, some of them terrifying. Do I get a say in the hours I'm worked like a mule for media consumption?"
"Nope! We're going to treat you like the future former child star you are."
"Tuck, all of those kids ended up on drugs or dropping out of the public eye to spend years in therapy," Sam protested as he flew away from the Mall. He wanted to fly somewhere quieter for a bit before continuing patrol.
"You like drugs, don't you, Danny?"
"Hm, I don't think I should answer that question. Are you a cop? You have to tell me, or it's entrapment."
"Well, I like drugs."
"You have had exactly zero drugs in your life. You're a sheltered suburban teen."
"I drink caffeine all the time."
"That's not drugs."
"It is technically a drug, Sam."
"You knew he meant illegal drugs, Danny."
"Well, maybe he does those too? Maybe he has a secret life he's never told us about, and your lack of support is silencing him?"
"How am I supposed to dictate my dope boy diaries with this lack of support, Sam?" He and Tucker burst into a fit of laughter, no longer able to contain themselves. "I mean, we both know I'm the hardest one here. I've done...real time in Casper's detention center." He had to stop to take a breath in the middle of the sentence, his loud chortles and snickers sucking up his air.
"Is that what you tell people online to make your detentions sound cooler?"
"I'm a hardened criminal."
"I don't know why you're pretending like this. We both know I'm the only one who's done anything illegal."
"Oh yeah, all the graffiti."
"It's called street art, Danny, and you'd know that if you were cool," Sam sniffed, sounding affected and snotty. "All of the real action is with the goths."
"I hack things every day. Don't you complain about how illegal it is every time I do it?"
"It's only illegal if you get caught," she said, repeating his own excuse back to him.
"In that case, you haven't done anything illegal either."
"I'd say there's no proof I did anything illegal, but the writing is on the wall, all over Fifth Ave." They all laughed for a minute, the silliness of the discussion getting to them, and Danny felt a relaxed sense of something settle through his bones. He was above the neighborhoods near FentonWorks, hovering over their favorite 7/15, staring up at the night sky. He could see a few of the brightest stars here; the light pollution in outer Amity, where he lived was less intense, and he considered heading above the artificial glow to get a good look at them. It'd been a long while since it had been calm enough for stargazing. It was too cold this time of year to fly his friends up to join him. They'd learned that was a summer weather only activity after Tucker caught the worst cold of his life, but he still wanted company.
Valerie could fly. Her suit had life support systems, heating, or something. It had to, if she could zip around in sub-zero weather without a care like that. Maybe the two of them could fly up above the clouds and enjoy the starlight. It'd be great before the ghosts remembered Amity existed, and tried flooding back through the temporary portals now that Whispering Panic curse was gone. He drifted higher, listening to his friends bicker about something inconsequential, their voices pleasant white noise as his mind relaxed with the rest of his body. The full moon was coming up. He could see the heavenly body waxing every night on patrol. Soon, it'd be large and gorgeous, taking up the night sky to cast a silvery dreamy glow over everything. He could see the scene playing out in his head. He grinned as he imagined the way the moonlight would shine in her hair, the way the stars would look framing her face, the way her vivid green eyes would look sparkling with amusement as he got her to laugh at one of his puns. He could feel her bumping shoulders with him, sitting on open air above the clouds, body hot against the cold of his ectoplasm... Stupid fucking crush. He diverted the train onto another track before the fantasy got any more detailed. He was not trying to make himself miserable tonight.
The last time he'd actually talked to Valerie was weeks ago, when he'd handed her that flash drive. He'd seen her around since then, flying in that disturbing new suit, but they hadn't spoken. As the tech incidents died down, so did their interactions. The last time he saw her, even flying around, she'd felt...hostile. Like she was biding her time, waiting for the best moment to strike. It didn't feel like she was idly watching him, it was like being stared down by a predator. The pink of the visor went completely black, and the only thing left was the shiny black material of the bodysuit and the sickening pattern of changing swirls all over. If he looked too long at them, he'd found when he handed over the drive, he felt disoriented and unmoored. He hated everything about that thing.
He pushed the repellent thoughts away, shaking himself mentally, like he did with his hand whenever he touched wet food while washing the dishes. Val wasn't here, and he was on this flight to relax. He tried to clear his mind, taking a deep breath in, and out… and exhaling a wisp of his ghost sense. Great. There went his quiet evening. "Hey guys, I sense a ghost."
"No, they can't be back already. It hasn't even been a full week!" Tucker's opinion mirrored his own.
"If it helps, it feels pretty weak, not as strong as Boxy even. It's probably an animal ghost come to sniff around now that things have gotten quieter." He concentrated on the feeling of the energy, the signature feeling familiar. "I'll go check it out, probably suck it into the Thermos, and go about my evening. No reason to let a little ecto-cat or something ruin the night's vibes." He flipped away from the allure of the starry sky, sparsely populated though it remained at this elevation, and looked around the area below him. Something hovered near the back of the 7/15, glowing green, arcs of electricity sparking through the air. "Oh no, that better not be who I think it is."
He flew down, and sure enough, there was Ohm, gnawing on the exposed wires of the newly repaired transformer behind the 7/15. The transformer was beginning to make a concerning sounding whine and pressure built in the air. Ohm continued wriggling, pulling away chunks of steel. "Ohm, you stop that right now!" He flew closer and sent a wave of his energy towards the ghost, power bristling full of scorn and admonishment.
Mreeep? It jolted, wires still in its jaws, and turned around to meet his gaze. Seconds passed with the eel caught with its face in the metaphorical cookie jar. It shook its head back and forth a few times, eyes wide and flashing gold, before a flow of energy returned. He felt the desire to binge his favorite chips, and the urge to hide the bag from his parents in the wall so they wouldn't find proof later. He tasted cherry garcia and smelled his dad's fudge. He saw himself hiding his hands behind his back with an empty candy wrapper from a dozen incidents in childhood. Ohm relaxed its jaws for a second, and then went back to chewing, sucking down the electricity coming from the wires with more haste.
"I'm looking right at you!" It chewed faster, snapping through the thicker cables and wrapping closer to the transformer. The wave of energy this time reminded him of himself a few weeks ago, hand in his pocket, trying to convince Jazz someone else had just texted her. Maybe he wasn't smarter than a ghost eel. "If you don't get that out of your mouth right now, I'm gonna come take it from you."
"Why does it sound like you're wrangling a toddler?"
"That's how every pet parent sounds, Sam. My aunt does the same thing to both of her cats."
"Ohm, look at me, stop chewing on that." He flew closer, tugging the eel away from the bottom of the transformer. The ghost whined and started trying to wiggle out of his grasp, making itself as floppy and slippy as possible. "You can't eat that! The 7/15 needs that to cook my hot dogs!"
"Real convincing argument, Danny."
"Come here you little…" He finally got a firm grip on Ohm, and started pulling it away from the store's back wall. The eel let out a sad sounding trill, and he felt the disappointment of his mom telling him couldn't have dessert. He tugged it further away, its jaws finally prying away from the wires...its outer set of jaws in any case. Clamped down to the copper inside the bundle making up the cable was a tinier set with even more teeth. "How do you have another set of teeth?! Let go!" He shook its head back and forth, trying to dislodge its grip without sawing through the remaining functioning wires inside the cable.
Mmmmmreeeooowwww it trilled, guzzling down as much energy as it could every second it stayed attached. Ohm's stripes began turning a dull gold as its beady eyes focused on the cable ahead of its snout.
"Please, come on, you're gonna be sick if you eat all this at once. I don't want to clean ghost-eel vomit." He pulled a little harder, wincing as another two wires snapped and the lights inside the 7/15 flickered. Finally, in a moment of brilliance, he remembered he could turn intangible. He coated the both of them in the power and watched triumphantly as eel's jaws slipped off of the cable and they both retreated from the building's brick wall. Ohm let out a miserable sounding howl, going limp with its tongue hanging from its open jaws.
"Uh, Danny?"
"Stop being such a drama queen. You're fine." He felt the sensation of his bare arms and legs rubbing on the carpet wheeling around his tiny body with all the force he could muster. He tasted the salt of his tears and felt the shortness of breath and stuffy sensation that came with sobbing in the middle of the toy aisle. "You throw as much of a tantrum as you want, you are not shutting down my favorite 7/15 for another week. I need those hot dogs; they're half the reason I live anymore."
"I guess the ghost is ok, then?"
"It's throwing a baby fit because I won't let it drink itself stupid on a couple thousand volts of electricity, Sam. No animal cruelty happening here." He flew them both above the 7/15, tail end of Ohm slung over his back like a sash, droopy head cradled in his hands. "Buddy, I'm going to put you in the Thermos, and then we won't be able to play, if you don't stop being so dramatic." Instantly, the 'dead' eel perked up. Head snaking up to bump against his forehead and mouth heading towards his bangs. He dropped Ohm before it could chew his hair again, and crossed his arms. "I know you knew better than that." The image of him sitting up late at night playing video games with his headphones on to hide his activity came from the eel's energy. "Just because I'm naughty sometimes, doesn't mean you should be too."
"I don't know Danny, that sounds an awful lot like 'do as I say, not as I do'. When did you become such a hypocritical father?"
"Shut up Tucker." The other boy's cackle made him grin despite himself. He focused back on Ohm as the eel started moving. "Don't try to sneak back down there. You're not that clever." He closed his eyes briefly to concentrate, and thought of the feeling of chasing his friends on the playground.
Merirp? It asked, coming closer to swim up one arm and settle on his shoulders. He felt the contentment of a warm meal, belly full, after eating at his friend's house. Ohm pulled closer, radiating warmth and pulsing with the thrum of heavy clouds and shaking earth.
"I bet you're full after chowing down like that. Ok, why don't we fly around a bit, and then you can head home. I needed a distraction anyway."
"Uh, and what are we, chopped liver?"
"Sorry, Sam, you're not the kind of distraction I'm looking for."
"You hear that? He does need your feminine comforts."
"I'd rather use yours, Tuck."
"Saucy, I didn't know you felt so strongly about me." He stayed over the 7/15 a moment longer to wave to the perplexed owner and sheepishly point at the back of the store. Its lights were still flickering. The man's face went from confused to flat as he got a look at the eel.
"At least you caught it before it did too much damage," he shouted up at them, before waving them off to go examine the transformer.
"I have nothing but the most potent desires for you my lord," he replied to the tech geek, heading towards the airspace of the restaurant strip, "why, to even gaze upon your countenance fills me with such wanton passion."
"Which ridiculous harlequin novel did you get that from?"
"One of Jazz's, it's set in England during...some time period. It's not really very clear. I don't think the exact time period is the point."
"The point is how badly I want to rip the bodice from your bountiful bosom!" He released Ohm from how hard he started laughing, wheezing and bent over, filled with levity.
"Ok, that one you definitely read from the same book."
"Stole it off your desk." The eel swam in lazy circles around him, seemingly content to bask in the positive energy he was surely radiating right now from all his amusement. It bumped into his shoulder with its snout once, and then swam farther away, eyes looking below, focused on an area with a collection of power lines.
"I don't think so!" He rushed over and gathered it up again. "No more snackies bud, you can't be hungry."
"I don't think it's ever actually hungry for any of this energy."
"Unfortunately, you always have room for dessert."
"Does it...taste sweet to it? How would you even know?" He released the eel with an admonishing glance, turning away to take in the sights below. The strip had almost recovered, every place ordering new machines to replace the few that needed to be broken due to homicidal urges. The evening crowd was in full swing at the sports bar, and the parking lot at the Nasty Burger was overflowing. He winced, thinking of Valerie working on shift, dealing with the rush, and turned away.
"Every time it sends over energy while thinking about eating electricity, I'm reminded of dessert."
"You never did explain how that Energy Exchange thing worked." Ohm circled farther away, energy beginning to feel playful instead of greedy for more electricity.
"Uh—" Time slowed to a sloth's pace. He felt the attack coming before he could see it. A laser, amaranth and dazzling, shot across the sky. He could tell from here, somehow, it was powerful enough to rip Ohm in half. He drove himself in between the attack and the eel, shield coming up on instinct. "Huntress, what the fuck?" He ignored his friends' alarmed cries, and reached up inside the safety of the shield to click off the phones. He'd call them back after he handled this.
She stopped in front of him. Her approach filled the air with a susurrous presence that itched at the back of his mind. The material of the suit reflected none of the light from the city below, leaving only a void shot through with the dizzying, spasmodic swirls of spidery powder pink. The caliginous nature of the armor, emphasized by the now featureless helmet, only aided in its unnerving aura. She wasn't on her board. Instead, she flew on wings, great black ones with the feathers lodged in sticky webs of fuchsia pearlescent fluid. She held them taunt on either side of her, catching the wind, and they held her aloft. "Phantom," her voice sounded like it was coming from the bottom of a well after she'd drowned, "why are you impeding my hunt?"
"You just tried to kill Ohm."
"It's a menace harming the citizens of Amity and needs to be purged."
"It needs to be captured and released back into the Zone."
"So it can return and subject us to its ruinous behavior?"
"What's wrong with you; it's just a dumb animal! I think it thinks my hair is food half the time. It's completely harmless." He pulled his Thermos off of his belt, and popped the top. "This is an absurd conversation."
"Phantom," she hissed, flying closer to slash claws across his shield, "don't you hide that little monster inside your metal contraption."
"Red—"
"Do we look 'red' to you?" She pressed the palms of both hands against his shield. This close, he could see the way her finger joints changed shapes to create the talons. He sucked Ohm into the safety of the Thermos without taking his eyes off of her. In response, she let out a metallic sounding howl that rattled the windows below them.
"Valerie, you have to calm down. I'm not going to let you hurt Ohm." She moved away, flinching like he'd struck or threatened her, drawing her arms around her torso like a shield of her own. "I don't know what's wrong," he could guess, looking at that ugly thing smothering her underneath it, "but you can't just kill ghosts like this."
"Why," the blank void of her helmet shifted shapes, changing from round to more elongated and back again, "worried about your survival, ghost?" Her voice rasped against his ears, as if the very sound of it was coated in the same wrongness that made up the suit.
"I can take care of myself." Something sounded like wind chimes or the tinkle of little bells, and he realized she'd been laughing. "You couldn't take me out if you tried, and you don't want to try."
"Oh, but we do want to try. I want to know what your ectoplasm feels like between my fingers." The wings shifted, changing with tortuously slow movements into a hoverboard. She'd managed to stop her fall a few meters above the roof of the tallest building. She rejoined him higher in the air, board fighting to stay active. "It's so full of energy, I'm sure it glows the best shade of green in Amity."
"What's wrong with your board?"
"Stop worrying about us, Phantom, and start worrying more about yourself."
"Why should I have to worry about you, Valerie? We have a truce." He felt his muscles coiling in anticipation, watching every stray twitch and taking in every errant tendril. As soon as he got this thing off of her, he'd blast a hole right through Plasmius' chest.
"How do you know our name?"
"What?"
"You know our real name, the one I use in civilian life, but we did not tell it to you. In fact, you knew who we were before...yes, all the way before during the fight with the Ghost King."
"I'm not sure what you mean. Your dad said your name."
"How did you know he was our father? You were completely sure he could stop me." He didn't have an excuse prepared for that.
"Any adult would have stopped you from getting into that suit if they were responsible." Nailed it.
"You revealed our identity to a stranger, hoping they would neither harm nor take advantage of us? It is so much easier to understand your true evil nature when you explain yourself."
"When di—"
"No more questions! No more idle talk. The plague has ended." The suit's already shifting form dissolved at the edges, fuzzy static jerking in and out of existence over the entire surface. "We have no more need of this alliance."
"You said you liked it."
"We said whatever was necessary to protect the peace of the city. It is needed no longer, just like you. Now, in interest of our previous amity, I'll give you one chance to return to the Zone and stay there. Refuse," she drew closer—talons lengthening—a subtle pink glow building around her where the static fuzz lived, "and we will eradicate you." He felt a wave of hurt and rage radiate from the center of his core, hollowing him out as it worked from the marrow of his being to the surface. The wave leaked into his aura and billowed away into the distance between them, brushing against the shifting surface of the armor. The static stopped.
She drew further away, hissing like she'd been injured. He sent his energy towards her on purpose this time, eyes watching for any change. The static stopped again, her form staying humanoid, and the weight of dread and anxiety staining the air lessening. The suit was cursed . "Whispering Panic. Val, it's infected." When had it happened? Right before the appearance changed? He thought back to the malfunctions he'd witnessed. No. It'd been longer. "You have to take it off."
"You want to watch us plummet to our death?" She sneered.
"Land first! You have to stop using that thing, it's cursed."
"Lies."
"I just watched my energy stabilize it. It's malfunctioning because it's cursed."
"Liar."
"Please, Valerie," he dropped his shield, flying within a foot of her, with his hands outstretched. A mistake. One he paid for in blood. She slashed a deep gash across his chest, only his reflexes from the last year of ghost hunting stopping it from traveling deeper. He pressed a hand into the center wound, feeling the pulse of his core two inches below. He'd summoned another shield on instinct. When he looked up, he saw her frenetically slashing away at it, trying to find or make a weakness to exploit. She almost ripped out... He swallowed the thought, buried it under a mountain of adrenaline, and squared his shoulders. "You're going to take it off even if I have to rip it off of you." A furious howl of rage answered him, and the talons started gouging out tears he had to focus to fill in. "You can't out fight me…"
… Winning hadn't been necessary, she merely had to stall him out. He limped away from the fight, only in marginally better shape than her. They'd made a mess of the strip, plowed over Main, and landed in a park, their deadly fist fight drawing in bystanders. His energy could stabilize the suit, but only enough to strengthen her attacks. He'd relented, run away, when he realized she'd continue fighting until it killed her. She'd twisted her body out of a lock with a sickening series of cracks to aim another attack towards his core. She might want to kill him, but he didn't want her dead.
He slouched against a wall—a few blocks from home—in human form, hiding under the awning of the building's roof to avoid her circling patrols. He'd need to sneak up into his room, without using his powers or alerting his parents, so he could stitch these cuts. His blood leaked out, sluggish and wet against the inner layer of his clothes, the smell of iron and citrus mixing in the air. A quick peek down his shirt showed more green than red, and he grimaced. Ectoplasm was harder to clean.
Another blur of black passed his position in the sky before, finally, a sound between an old internet modem and a human voice slashed the skies. The blur sped off, and he waited a count of fifteen seconds before he started towards FentonWorks. He pulled out his phone and texted Jazz to distract their parents, mind whirling with panic. The suit was infected, hostile, and bonded to her. It was convincing her they were the same being or some inseparable symbiotic combination. He'd rifled through Vlad's database once to see how it worked; it basically lived inside her body. How was he going to get it out? How could he get it off of her when it was her? He stopped and caught his breath, feeling the edges of the cuts pull with each gasp. He leaned against another building, just up the street from home, and pulled at the roots of hair in growing terror. What the fuck am I going to do?
A/N:
Welcome to the bottom, dear readers! Woooo, what a chapter! It looks like Danny and Valerie's truce is kaput, and Danny is now aware of just how sick she is. She did slice and dice him, though, so I wonder what he can do about it?
Sign-ups for Invisobang for Authors open in just a week! I will be taking part this year, and I hope to see some of you joining in. Naturally, I can't give any hints at what my IB piece will be about in detail, but I can say that if you've enjoyed this fic, you should like my IB one as well. I can say it's not the sequel to this, but it will be another long fic!
Valentine's Core Exchange fics will ALSO come out on the 14th, and I'll be posting mine then as well! I can't say what that one is about either, and I can't give any of my usual snippets and previews, so you'll just have to sit tight until then.
Can't wait for more updates as we hit the final stretch of this fic? You can check out my writing/art tumblr where I have already posted bits from the Third Act. Additionally, there's Lore posts, meta, and more.
Blog: balshumetsbaragouin . tumblr . com
I'll see you all for the Saturday update and the first chapter of the Third Act!