Hello, everyone. So. I haven't been updating my fics on here because of reasons (they're lame reasons, don't worry about it) for the past six months, but I'm going to try and catch up with everything. I won't be able to do it all at once, but I'll be doing my best. To see all the chapters I've added to multichapter fics, just keep going until you don't see this message at the top of the chapter anymore. Sorry about this!
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Clockwork rearranged the tuning forks and added a few more, before handing Danny the stopwatch, which had been set to a time Danny couldn't read, the numbers seeming to shift and blur under his eyes. "Hold this tightly. When possible, try to match the rise and fall of your core vibrations to its tempo."
Danny nodded, and tried to focus on the slight ticking of the stopwatch.
"Also, keep in mind the requirements we outlined for your compelling voice."
"It should be debilitating to use, and I can only use it under specific circumstances."
"You must truly believe in what you're saying and be in a peak emotional state."
"It can't even be orders, then, can it? Just facts." He ran his thumb over the glass face of the stopwatch .
"Clever," said Clockwork as he petted Danny some more, making Danny blush and purr ever-harder. Then, he picked up the tuning forks one by one and held them against Danny's chest, without ringing them. "But don't completely cut off that aspect. Also keep in mind that we intend to improve your voice. In terms of endurance, quality, and ability to reproduce sounds."
As Danny reorganized his thoughts, Clockwork finished the series of tuning forks then went back to the beginning. This time, he rang them before tapping them against Danny's chest, and every time, Danny's core and voice sang. Clockwork did not always wait for Danny to finish with one note before giving him a new one, which sometimes made him warble between two notes and sometimes, somehow, made him reverberate with both notes at once.
By the time Clockwork had run through the whole series, Danny felt as if he'd been fighting ghosts all day. But the ache in his chest had changed from the tight feeling of something being crushed out of existence to the tight feeling of something new growing in the place of something old, like dandelions springing from a crack in concrete.
"Change to your human form," said Clockwork, and Danny obeyed.
It was strange. He couldn't hear it or feel it nearly as well, but he was definitely still purring, the vibrations stroking his heart and lungs.
Clockwork started with the first tuning fork again. In human form, with its greater breathing reflex and fleshy organs, the sustained notes were more taxing. Sometimes, he had to gasp for air mid-note. A few rather disturbing others, he had been unable to do even that, his lungs trying to push out non-existent breath, his vocal cords vibrating in vain.
Then, Clockwork uncorked the vial of thick, golden liquid and acquired a slender silver stirring rod.
"Tilt your head to one side," he said. "Further. Perfect." With the stirring rod, he took a tiny drop of the liquid and inserted in Danny's ear. It made his ear ring. "Other side." He put a drop in that ear as well. "Head up. Open your mouth." A third drop was deposited on Danny's tongue, making his whole mouth burst with floral sweetness. "Swallow."
"Honey?" asked Danny.
"Much lauded by singers and doctors for its soothing qualities." He capped the vial again. "Shirt off."
Danny shimmied out of his t-shirt and draped it over his knees. Clockwork picked up the first tuning fork again, struck it, and held the chilly tips to Danny's bare skin.
"Return to your ghost form," said Clockwork after he had run through the entire set again. He picked the vial of honey up, and Danny tilted his head to one side, anticipating Clockwork's next request. Clockwork repeated the pattern from before.
"Why my ears, though?" asked Danny, after popping them. His voice was just a little raspy.
"Powers like this are often easier to develop when one has good hearing. Shirt off."
Danny unzipped his jumpsuit and pulled his arms out of his sleeves before tying them around his waist, out of the way. At the center of Danny's chest - right where Clockwork had been resting the tuning forks, actually, was his star-shaped death scar, the place where the portal had first intersected him.
When Clockwork laid the tuning fork against his skin this time, he shivered all over, even though his skin was cooler than the crystal.
By the time Clockwork reached the end of the series, Danny was starting to feel out-of-breath and tender even in ghost form, not unlike how he felt immediately after using the Wail.
"Become intangible," said Clockwork. "Hold it. Stay still."
This time, instead of resting it against the surface of Danny's chest, the tuning fork went in, and Clockwork held it there, overlapping his core. Like this, it wasn't only Danny's core and voice that sang, but his whole body. More than that, each note lasted longer without solidity to dampen them, and Clockwork started to do complicated things with the tuning forks, like putting in two at a time, or backtracking, or playing short melodies.
By the time he reached the end, Danny felt as if each of his muscles, bones, and organs had been given its own individualized workout. Even his powers felt sore.
He struggled to keep his mind on his assigned thoughts and tasks, his attention narrowing to them, unable to think about more than that. He didn't want to disappoint Clockwork.
"Turn human," said Clockwork.
Danny did, focus occupied enough that he was unable to anticipate what would certainly come next.
"Become intangible," instructed Clockwork, brandishing a new tuning fork. "Hold it. Stay still."
If the prior round had been taxing, this one was exhausting, not least because he'd rarely spent so long intangible at all, much less as a human. Terrifyingly, his hold on it flickered a few times. He didn't have the brainpower available to imagine what would happen if he did that while a tuning fork was intersecting his heart, and he was glad for that.
Clockwork used the same methods as before, the uneven progression putting more and more strain on his body. Finally, though, they reached the end.
"Take a moment to relax," said Clockwork, as he started to put the tuning forks away.
Danny slumped, thoughts scattering. Feeling vaguely dazed, he watched Clockwork remove two small boxes from the large chest. Both were lacquered wood decorated with delicate inlays and an ornate keyhole.
Clockwork took the stopwatch from Danny's hand and replaced it with a box and a key. The box was covered with stylized flames.
"Insert the key and turn it once, only. Then open the box."
There was a great deal of resistance in the key, and Danny got the distinct impression that a sliver of his ecto-energy was siphoned off as he twisted it. But he turned it all the way around and opened the box. The music box, rather, because it became clear that was what it was fairly quickly.
Instead of a ballerina or something similar rotating in the center of the box, a clockwork mechanism unfolded itself and ticked away in time with the music.
As for the music, it was a warm, crackling tune. Literally. It made him feel cozy. It made him feel warm. Almost as if there was a fire crackling nearby, but it was too warm. Sweltering. And he could taste blood in his mouth.
By the time the music stopped, he was covered in a thin layer of sweat.
Clockwork passed him the next box, putting the first aside. This one was covered in fractals, like snowflakes or cracked ice. "The same," said Clockwork, simply.
Danny turned the key and opened the box. The clockwork within it was different, but no less abstract. The music was cold, cool, and sad. The grief of it tugged at Danny's heart, and also his core, somehow managing to trigger his ice powers. They started to freeze him, bit by bit.
He sort of missed the music when it stopped, but he was also relieved.
"We shall wait for your ice powers to return to equilibrium," said Clockwork.
"Thanks," rasped Danny, wiping tears from his face. "Okay, I think I'm ready now."
"Five minutes longer," said Clockwork. Then, exactly five minutes later (Danny knew because he had counted using one of the clocks on the walls), "Alright. Which box appealed more to you?"
"The box itself, or the music?" asked Danny.
"The latter," said Clockwork.
Danny chewed his lip, thinking. "They both had good points," he said, finally. "I think I liked them about the same. I almost feel like I should pick the ice one just because it's ice, you know?"
Clockwork gave a small hum.
"But I like being cozy, too. But that was too warm. And the other one was too cold. I don't like freezing myself like that."
"One would not expect you to," said Clockwork.
"I do think I like them both about the same," said Danny, earnestly.
"Hm," said Clockwork.
"Sorry," said Danny.
"There is no need for you to apologize, Daniel. It is merely a somewhat unusual circumstance that will take some careful timing to resolve. Luckily, that is something I excel at."
Danny's voice was too tired to provide a giggle, but he did smile. However, something else occurred to him. "Were you not able to see what would happen?" he asked.
"On occasion, things that I am very close to are difficult for me to see clearly," said Clockwork. "Other times, it is simply more rewarding to live in the moment, as it were." He patted Danny's cheek and then gave him the fire box again. "Wind this as far as it will go."
Danny nodded, and turned the key. It became harder and harder to turn it as he went, and each turn consumed more of his energy. After something like thirty turns, the key clicked and refused to move. He gave the box back to Clockwork.
"Now the next one," said Clockwork, pushing forward the ice box.
Another thirty turns later, Danny was feeling quite tired. "What next?" he asked.
"Next, we open these." Clockwork took Danny's hands and put them on the lids of the music boxes.
"Both of them?" asked Danny. "At the same time?"
"Yes," said Clockwork. "It will put you under strain, but that is a necessary component for the changes we desire."
"Mm," said Danny. That sounded good. It would be good to be strained like that, to be bent into a better shape. "When?"
"Now."
Danny had not expected the boxes to work well together, but they did. The songs seemed to compliment one another, and the temperature effects seemed to cancel out. The emotions… nostalgia was the wrong term. It was more like looking at something, knowing it wasn't going to last, but knowing it was good anyway. Or like finding a safe, soft place to rest after something bad had happened.
And, as the music boxes played past where they had left their tunes before, they pulled at Danny, drawing his voice out of his throat and into song.
At first, Danny's song was forced to alternate wildly between the tunes of each box. But then, his voice was tugged into a third melody that wove between the other two. Something unique, with a strong rhythm. Something like a promise to protect, or at least remember. It reminded him of Clockwork, somehow.
But thirty turns kept the music boxes going for a long time, and Danny's voice had already been tired. He got quieter and quieter, every note hurting more and more, until all he contributed to the music was a near-silent rasp.
The music stopped.
Danny breathed, and rubbed his throat. It hurt.
A damp cloth pressed against Danny's forehead, and he leaned into it, his body eager to rest. Clockwork allowed him to, for a little while, but then used the cloth to wipe the rest of Danny's face and the space behind his ears.
"Only a little more," said Clockwork. He offered up the golden vial. "Drink this."
As soon as Danny did, sweet golden energy suffused him. It wasn't like rest. It was more like drinking a cup of coffee. Or two. Or seven. Plus espresso. Unlike coffee, however, it also coated the inside of his throat soothingly. He licked the inside of the vial, greedy for more.
When he was done, he looked at the table where Clockwork had set up his things. All that was left was the choker collar.
At least part of what that was for seemed very obvious to Danny. He pointed at it.
"Of course," said Clockwork, picking it up. He moved to stand behind Danny and ruffled his hair before looping the collar around Danny's throat and starting to clasp it at the back of Danny's neck.
Danny gagged a little as the stone jiggled against his throat. Was he drooling? He felt like he might be drooling. Very briefly, he had a vision of becoming a fountain of honey, what he had drunk multiplying inside himself and then being expelled through his mouth. But, as useful as such a fountain would be, he doubted that was Clockwork's plan for him.
He licked his lips and sat on his hands so he wouldn't try to grab at the collar. There was a little more jiggling, then the stone settled into place. It wasn't exactly comfortable, but there was a certain degree of rightness in how the collar currently laid.
Danny raised his hands to feel it as Clockwork resumed his seat. The metal laid almost flush with Danny's skin. He… actually couldn't find any clasps in the back, but, really, that was just how ghost clothing worked sometimes.
Clockwork tapped the centerpiece of the choker collar, recapturing Danny's full attention. The way the impact transmitted to Danny's throat made his breath hitch ever so slightly. "This stone has been imbued with power from a great number of ghosts who were inclined to music, sound, or silence. I would like you to channel as much of your power into it as you can."
Danny tilted his head to one side and hoped Clockwork would understand his question.
"The process should be nearly identical to providing start-up power to your parents' devices. Again, as you do it, think of our goals. Intention matters."
Danny nodded, closed his eyes, and put his hand over the stone. Slowly, at first, then more quickly as the stone proved to be easier to give power to than most of his parents' gear, he fed energy into the stone. More and more and more, until what had been a steady-if-tired stream faltered. He teetered on the stool, only staying upright by gripping it with both hands.
The exhaustion was luxurious, plush, like he could sink into it.
His half-lidded eyes landed on tools in Clockwork's box, each one carefully put away in its own little compartment. He felt weirdly jealous about that. Or maybe not so weirdly. He tipped sideways, and Clockwork caught him.
He was picked up, bundled into Clockwork's arms. Then, he was carried. The motion began to lull him into sleep.
Upstairs… down a hallway… through a door… This was his room, the room Clockwork had given him. The dark sheets on the bed reminded him very much of the cloth lining the tuning fork box. And was that a little cavity in the bed? Shaped to hold Danny nice and still, protected and ready to be used?
Clockwork laid him down, making sure each of his limbs was in the right place. Careful, careful. He sighed. After all that work, being put away nicely in his cubby felt good.
"Sleep, Daniel," said Clockwork, and so he did.