#Christmas truce 2019

[crescenthoax]

a nightmare before Christmas • pt2

🎄or an Annika, Floris, Willa and Targtowers Christmas tale🌟

Part One

Part two

Part three

Summary: Aemond, Daeron, Aegon and Helaena had different things planned for Christmas, but one same fate: their father’s old cabin.

Basically an i’m never gonna love again christmas modern AU because we need to spread some joy on these times and I wanted to write something fun. Mainly centred around Aegon x Female OC.

Part 2/3. Part 3.

🧣⋆.ೃ࿔*:･⍣ ೋ *ੈ🎄‧₊˚ . *ੈ✩‧₊˚ ೃ࿐🌟

“I can't believe you convinced me to do this,” says Aegon, shaking his head. “I don't need no game nor excuse to get wasted.”

“Oh, come on. We’re all going to play,” Helaena tells him, amused. “Even Aemond.”

It translates easily to: ‘You can't be more boring than him.’

It’s not that Aemond is the boring type, in fact, he's just so reserved and responsible that he's gotten used to having fun in other ways. But everyone has seen him drink whiskey as easily as soda and smile as if he had two hooks on his face and scarlet–flushed cheeks while dancing during Annika's New Year's party on the yacht in 2019.

Everyone sits in a circle around the coffee table in the huge living room. Logan stirs some logs in the fireplace, trying to revive the flames before sitting down between Helaena and Annika on the couch. Aegon is sprawled on one of the individual and comfy, green velveteen chairs, just like Aemond on the other, and Floris sits with Willa and Daeron on the other couch.

“So, does everyone know how this works?” Annika asks, finishing pouring herself a glass of white wine. On the table, there is an exaggerated amount of drinks to choose from. “Someone says something, and if you've done it, you drink. If you haven't, you don't. It's simple.”

“Never have I ever explained a game we all know just to seem smart,” Aegon laughs. “And now you drink.”

She sighs and takes a sip of wine after flipping him off. So much for the ‘truce.’

“Logan, why don't you start? That way, we can get to know you better,” Annika insists.

He feels a bit pressured with the number of new and curious looks around him, but he seems to handle it wonderfully. “Hmm. Never have I ever... been to a party I wasn't invited to.”

“Easy!” Aegon singsongs and drinks from his beer. Daeron, Logan himself, Annika, and Helaena follow suit. Surprisingly to everyone, Floris also drinks, drawing attention. “Are you kidding me?”

“Why do you sound surprised?” She shakes her head, pretending to be offended. “Never have I ever gone skinny dipping.”

“I love the new Floris,” Aegon mocks, drinking. “Singleness agrees with you.”

Everyone drinks this time, except for Annika and Daeron, and she gets some skeptical looks. She puts her feet up on the couch to get more comfortable, her black ballet flats shining even brighter than the Christmas tree. “What? I find it unhygienic.”

“Never have I ever creeped an ex on social media,” Willa dares to say this time. Helaena and she are the only ones who don't drink, and Floris joins them while she shifts uncomfortably, seeing that Aemond does drink.

Aegon sees the opportunity to create a tense moment and seizes it. “Never have I ever lost my virginity to someone in this group.”

“Are you serious?” Helaena sighs.

“Very.”

The only ones who drink are the broken–up couple and the one that sticks together like peaches and cream. Willa takes a long gulp of her fruit cocktail, probably trying to shake off the embarrassment. She has not yet understood that no one really cares.

“Never have I ever had a crush on my siblings’s friends or on my friends's siblings,” Aemond says, accusingly looking at Aegon.

“All hail Cassandra Baratheon,” Annika murmurs before drinking. Daeron and Logan follow her, and so does Aegon, without any problem. Helaena turns her head trying to make sense of the situation, but Annika quickly adds, “Never have I ever been with someone of the same sex.”

She drinks. It doesn't surprise anyone that Aegon also drinks. It surprises everyone that Floris does.

“What!?” Helaena demands, laughing. “When!?”

“Never have I ever had a threesome,” Aemond basically answers for her. Annika chokes on the water she's drinking, and Aegon bursts into laughter when he sees the ex-couple drink, along with Logan and himself.

“Well, I don't have to know everything,” Daeron complains, wrinkling his nose in disgust. He usually is the one who always lags behind when it comes to knowledge about his brothers's lives, and to be honest, sometimes he feels it's better that way.

“Never have I ever broken the law,” Willa says. It's not surprising that everyone drinks this time, except her and Logan. Rich people thing, apparently.

“Never have I ever gotten a piercing,” Logan offers.

Helaena is the only one who drinks, her navel and ears heavily jewelled. And then, Aegon looks at Annika and shakes his head.

“I can't believe it. After all this time, and you still are a fucking cheater,” he addresses her.

“Excuse me?” She chuckles, feigning ignorance.

“You just lied.”

“But she has no piercings,” Floris defends her. Annika tightens the glass in her right hand and shifts uncomfortably on the couch.

“She has her right nipple pierced!” Aegon growls.

“Aegon!” Annika shouts, annoyed. “That's not something yours to share.”

“God, you always do the same thing and cheat on this stupid game. Why did you want to play if you're not going to expose yourself?”

“I don’t need them to know what I have pierced and what I don't. It's not about that,” she grumbles, crossing her arms.

Daeron furrows his brow. “How do you know she has a nipple piercing?”

“And when did you pierce your nipple?” Helaena asks, confused.

Annika bites her lip for a moment, suddenly too aware of the piercing that now seems to be warming up, the sensitive, raw skin against her bra. She was supposed to get both nipples pierced, but she couldn't bear the pain, at least not sober. She would come back someday for the next one, of course.

Aegon had taken her to get it done when she visited him in San Francisco last spring. The last time they saw each other. He promised her it would feel good afterwards. It's not something she has experienced yet.

He notices what the memory does to her. Annika moves again, too uncomfortable under his accusing gaze.

“I saw her naked this afternoon. I found her in the shower when we arrived. It was accidental,” Aegon explains casually. Annika's cheeks flush, yet she's grateful that Aegon thought so quickly to cover his tracks.

Now, that’s kind of a lie.

He had seen her naked since Annika's 20th birthday. She spent some time at the Targaryens’s house in London during lockdown, and there came a moment when they were so bored that one night, after swimming and drinking by the indoor pool, she came out dripping from a dive and went into the changing rooms to dry off. He followed her and didn't say anything; he was so bored that he held her against the wall and ate her out until she cried. He always had a thing for her and knew she was as bored and lonely. That night, she sneaked into his room, and he fucked her until she begged him to stop. Earlier, she had told him not to stop when she asked, so they fucked until he passed, and she had trouble walking the next day.

She had never felt such connection with someone before. They got along so well inside the bedroom that it was almost addictive. When they were alone, they got along even better than they did when they were with the others. And it made sense. It made all the sense in the world for them, but not necessarily for the world.

So when they wanted to have fun, without explanations, they flew to see each other. Or they met in places where they couldn't be found, like the time he fingered her at the Eiffel Tower on a random Thursday night in March.

And no one ever suspected. Until...

“I can't believe you said that,” Annika clicks her tongue. “Okay, if that's how you want to play. Never have I ever used Aemond's toothbrush.”

“You did what?” Aemond grumbles, turning to his brother with unease. “Dude. What the actual fuck?”

“Well, thank you very much, you witch,” Aegon rolls his eyes and takes a sip of his beer. Then he smiles at the blonde sitting across from him and extends his can to her. “Never have I ever used Annika's toothbrush," he says, finishing the can with pride.

“God, you're such a pig!”

“Now I understand why Aegon's room is always a suite,” Daeron mocks, putting an arm around Willa's shoulders and leaning back on the sofa, pulling his girlfriend towards him. “You never used my toothbrush, right?”

“I once used dad's toothbrush to brush Sunfyre's teeth,” Helaena adds, tipsy as she could be. Everyone looks at her strangely, and they burst into laughter instantly. “I was really mad at him.”

“Why?” Willa laughs.

“I really don't remember. It must have been important for me to decide to brush Aegon's dog's teeth with his toothbrush,” she shrugs. Logan looks at her amused and shakes his head.

“It's such a Helaena thing to do,” Floris adds. “Remember the time Annika released Helaena’s spiders in the classroom and told Cressida they were poisonous?”

“Why would you do that?” Willa asks.

“Because I hated that bitch,” she replies simply. “She was sort of like my nemesis. She hated me too.”

“I fucked with her,” Aegon adds, “in her cabin when we went to that horrible camp with our school, during lunchtime.”

Floris grimaces in disgust. “But she was in our cabin.”

“I know. She insisted on doing it on Annika's bed,” he laughs, and her jaw drops. “She got back at you; you have to give her that.”

“And you participated in that?!” She screams. “Aegon, I can't believe you!”

“Oh, don't be so pristine. It was over the sheets. And hey, we could have put your toothbrush in the toilet of public bathrooms, but we didn't,” he replies.

“Okay. Never have I ever done it in someone else's bed,” Logan intervenes, somewhat familiar with the dynamics of distracting Annika and Aegon from tearing each other apart like wild dogs.

Everyone drinks, except Annika. “As I said, it's unhygienic.”

“What do you not find unhygienic?” Daeron teases her. “Okay, I want to know this, and I think it's the moment. Never have I ever been with a teacher.”

“You're still on that? I already told you I didn’t!” Aegon leans in to push his younger brother's arm playfully.

“You were sober when I asked you! I thought you were lying for my sake,” Daeron defends himself, laughter vibrating through the walls. “I had heard the rumours.”

And everyone's laughter accompanies his, except Aemond and Floris, who remain in a creeping silence, looking at each other.

“I mean, it's something he would do,” Helaena shrugs.

“No, I had heard that...-“ He stops speaking, the smile on his face turning from confusion to more confusion than grace when he looks at Aemond in deafening silence, just like Floris by his side. When everyone notices it, the atmosphere seems to dissipate. “I had heard that... Hum, one of my brothers... That...”

Helaena and Annika look at each other. Then Annika looks at Aegon, who keeps his mouth in an ‘O’ shape and remains motionless, trying not to add more fuel to the fire.

“C’mon,” Floris speaks for the first time. She and Aemond exchange glances, and the coffee table is not the only thing separating them because it feels like there are miles between them. Floris's voice is cold, just like her eyes. Annika knows her well enough to know that she's drunk. “Rules are rules. If you've done it, you drink.”

“I don't understand,” Logan murmurs, a bit lost.

“No? Well, let me try again. Never have I ever found my boyfriend fucking one of our high school teachers in my own bed, only to find out they had been screwing behind my back since we were in high school.”

Floris finishes her glass of red wine in three long gulps. Helaena stays silent, her hand resting on her mouth to hide the surprise. Logan and Willa shrink in their places, while Daeron scratches his head uncomfortably, and Annika bites her inside cheek.

Aegon takes a small sip of his drink with a loud noise. “Aemond… This is fucked up. Really, really bad. The kind of thing I would do.”

Floris leaves the empty glass on the table with so much accidental force that it breaks. Helaena startles, and Floris stands up, swaying. “This has been fun. Have a good time.”

She walks away without even looking back at Aemond, leaving everyone too bewildered to react quickly. He sighs, leaves his drink on the table, and tries to stand up.

“Floris, wait...”

“Haven't you done enough?” Annika spits venom, getting up and pushing him back into his seat. No one understands if Aemond doesn't resist her push or if she really used brute strength. Through gritted teeth, she points at him with her index finger. “No. Don’t you even dare.”

It's she who takes light steps and disappears upstairs, following Floris. Aemond shifts uncomfortably.

“I wouldn't do it if I were you,” Aegon warns.

“Man. What the hell?” Daeron sighs, running his hands over his face. “How long has this been going on?”

"I don't know. It happened a couple of times in our graduation year, and then we met each other last year, and... I don't know. It's been...”

“Aemond, right now, no one has a worse opinion of you than I do,” Helaena tells him, placing a hand over her heart. “Who did you screw?”

He puts his hand on the bridge of his nose. “Mrs. Rivers.”

“The health teacher? Seriously?” Aegon jokes.

“And you didn't think, I don't know, to break up with your long term girlfriend before doing it? Or after?” Logan intervenes. Aemond looks at him seriously.

“Who the hell do you think you are?”

“Hey,” Helaena tells him. “He's a friend.”

“He's not my friend,” Aemond hisses. “He's just a stranger who came to our door like a lost puppy.”

Aemond stands up and disappears, not up the stairs but towards the dining room, and Aegon is almost sure he hears him heading to the yard. Surely to smoke a cigarette secretly from all of them because God forbid he lets his friends and family know that he also feels and makes mistakes and drinks and smokes and is not the perfect child everyone thinks.

“Hm, Willa, do you want to eat something? Would you help me clean this up?” Helaena offers to the girl who looks terribly uncomfortable. At the same time, she signals Aegon to check on Aemond.

Aegon shakes his head, and Helaena stiffens her face. She has a look that's too demanding sometimes that reminds him of his mother's, and it gives him chills. It makes him get up from the couch and hit Daeron's shoulder to follow him to the yard.

He obeys, a bit confused. “Where are we going?”

“To see if Aemond is okay.”

“Of course he's okay. He's Aemond. And if we had to be checking if someone is okay, it should be Floris,” he says.

Aegon stops him in his tracks and grabs his shoulders. He looks at his brother, although he's taller than him, he still needs to learn a thing or two. He understands that the age difference between them is enough, but he also understands that Daeron is no longer a child.

“You're a man now, and that means you must learn something about this family. It's a twisted family of fucked–ups, and we screw up every day. I've messed up. Helaena has messed up. Mom and Dad specially, blah, blah. It happens, it's like it's encoded in our DNA. Aemond screws up too, and I'm sure you'll do it someday too. Not necessarily with Willa, it just will happen. And no one understands the feeling better than us,” Aegon explains. “This is what being part of this family is about. And we have an unspoken agreement; no matter what it is, we get through it. We don’t judge. Aemond is our brother, so we are not gonna judge him even though he deserves it.”

“Alright. I understand,” Daeron says and follows his older brother. As they suspected, Aemond is smoking, to the youngest’s impression. “I feel like I don't know you.”

“You don't,” Aemond mutters.

“Are you okay?” Daeron asks, resisting the urge to punch him or roll his eyes. “Why didn't you tell us what happened?”

“Yeah, like I would judge you for it,” Aegon laughs. “I hooked up with mom's pilates instructor while dating Alysanne.”

“Oh my God. I'm not like you, Aegon.”

“Realization sucks, right? It's tough. We've all been there. Fortunately for you, I'm the worst of us,” Aegon laughs. The two youngest ones remain silent, and the sound of crickets is the only thing heard for a moment. “Screw you both. You could try telling me otherwise.”

“Well...” Daeron hisses.

“Fuck you, seriously” Aegon flips them off. “Back to the important stuff. What happened with Floris?”

Aemond gets lost staring at a fixed point on the snow-covered ground, as if he's recalling all the events that led him to do what he did. But he can't. “I don't know,” he confesses sincerely. “I don't...”

“Do you love her?” Daeron asks.

“How could I not love her? She's been with me all my life. And I've been with her all her life. Since we were kids. School, my accident, high school. Birthdays, funerals, parties. She's always been there. We've always been me and her. Just like Helaena and Annika. Or Aegon and… Alcohol.”

“Oh, no. You’re making jokes now?” Daeron panics, and Aegon chuckles. “That doesn't mean you love her. It means you're used to her. And Floris doesn't deserve that. Neither do you.”

“I know she doesn't. She deserves something better,” Aemond says. “And I really care about her, and it hurts to have lost her, and it hurts to think about a life without her.”

Aegon rolls his eyes. “She'll always be there. You know, Helaena will never let go of those two girls. They've always been a pain in the ass for us and always will be. That's the fun part of being us.”

Aegon knows they would always be with them because their friendship with Helaena was not going to end. He knows Annika and Helaena would always be friends. But Aegon and Annika wouldn't always be together.

“I guess you're right.”

“Why didn't you invite me to come here with you?” Daeron asks suddenly. “I could have... I don't know. I understand you didn't want to spend Christmas at home, but I didn't think you wouldn't want to spend it with me.”

“Hey, you didn't want to spend it with us either. Otherwise, why did you come here with just your girlfriend?” Aegon questions. “We thought you'd get bored, and honestly... You are still not old enough to enter the casino or drink excessively.”

Daeron rolls his eyes. “You think I don't have a fake ID? I could have come with you.”

“And if you had come, we probably would have avoided this nightmare before Christmas situation,” Aemond says, scratching his good eye. “I don't know, I guess it’s hard for us to think you’re not longer a kid.”

“Sometimes it hurts being left out all the time, you know?”

“Welcome to being a Targaryen in the real world,” Aegon says, patting his shoulder. “You're officially invited to our Christmas getaway in 2024. And this time, it will be just the three of us.”

“No, I think I'll go home for Christmas next year,” Aemond shakes his head. “It's a pain in the ass, but not as much as being here in this situation.”

“I shouldn't have asked about the teacher thing,” Daeron laments.

“You had no idea. I didn't even know either,” Aegon sighs. “Did she tell the girls? Helaena seemed surprised. And I don't think Annika knew either.”

Aemond shrugs. “When it happened, she packed her things and didn't say a word to me. We know Floris; she's quiet, reserved, and she won't show what she doesn’t want you to find out. She wouldn't go with Helaena to tell her that her brother is a liar and a cheater, and she wouldn't tell Annika because she's also my friend. Was. Whatever.”

“I don't think she'll stop talking to you; she'll just give you a hard time. You know Annika,” Daeron reassures. “By the way, is it true about the piercing?”

Aegon smirks. “It's true.”

“Did you see it?” Daeron asks, with a grin.

Aemond smacks him on the back of the head. “Have some respect.”

“Oh, I saw it,” and other things. Daeron wants to ask what he has always wanted to ask, but he bites his tongue, remembering the situation that unfolded because of his questions. Aegon notices and appreciates it. “Well, the party is obviously over. We should eat something and go to bed. If we're lucky, the storm won't be so bad, and you can leave tomorrow.”

“Oh, yeah,” Daeron says, suddenly a bit dejected. He actually wants to stay. “Right. That sounds good.”

🧣⋆.ೃ࿔*:･⍣ ೋ *ੈ🎄‧₊˚ . *ੈ✩‧₊˚ ೃ࿐🌟

Annika and Floris made no appearance while the rest had dinner watching a horror movie. The girl went downstairs for some food for Floris and then apologized to Willa and Logan for their absence, going back upstairs with her friend immediately.

Aegon drank more beer with dinner, and as soon as they finished eating, Aemond tried to wash some dishes, then went to his room alone without saying a word. Daeron had looked at Logan and Helaena, who were talking and laughing as if nothing had happened, with a strange expression and asked, “Where do you plan on sleeping?”

Helaena pinched his cheek as if he were a little kid. “You are adorable.”

It was her kind way of telling him to fuck off.

And although Daeron invited Willa to swim in the indoor pool, she claimed she wanted to go to bed, too tired to even breathe. If he had to be honest, all the drama had exhausted him too. So, the gang was reduced to Aegon, Helaena, and Logan. Aegon couldn't stand to third wheel with her little sister and a guy who dresses like some dude out of a Netflix Christmas rom–com , so he grabbed some beers and went up to his room with plans to drink until he passed out.

It doesn't happen.

He grunts and gets out of bed, exhausted from trying to sleep. The drunkenness already is part of his natural mental state.

The only lights on the house are the Christmas tree lights tinkling at a strange pace, and besides the muffled music echoing from the pool and the occasional laughter from Helaena, the only thing that can be heard is the squeaking wind. He makes his way to the kitchen feeling utterly cold; the heating in his room was so high that the change is brutal. He's not going to bother looking for the heating controls at this hour, and the fire in the living room fireplace has almost died down.

The refrigerator light beams on Annika's figure. She's sitting on the counter, with a glass of water, a pack of cigarettes, and staring at her dimly lit phone screen. She's wearing a black and pink satin pyjama set, tank top and shorts, and a somewhat warm robe, but she looks frozen. Her hair is wet.

“Late-night swim?” Aegon asks, startling her. “That brings back memories.”

Annika clicks her tongue. “No, I had to shower. Needed to get Floris's vomit off me.”

“Yikes,” he sticks out his tongue. “How's she doing?”

“Well... She... It's going to be tough.”

"You didn't know about…?”

She shakes her head, putting her phone aside. “No. She came to our flat one day with suitcases and teary eyes, and there was no need for her to say anything. We assumed that, well, she would tell us in her own time. She just said they wouldn't be coming back together, not like other times, and we figured it must be serious because she flew from Boston to New York,” she explains. “Did you know?”

“No, of course not,” he shakes his head. “Hey, don't give Aemond a hard time.”

“I couldn't care less about Aemond.”

“Did she fall asleep?”

“Passed out from crying too much, rather. I can't believe he did this to her. I mean... Ugh. It's something we might have expected from you, certainly not from him.”

“Oh, well,” he shrugs as he takes a seat on the bureau next to her. “I know my limitations, believe it or not. For starters, I would never be in such a closed relationship for so many years. They were in a cage, both of them.”

Annika rolls her eyes. “Can you believe they had a threesome?”

“I know, right?” Aegon laughs, and she joins in. “The kind of stuff I'd expect from you. Trying to revive a relationship that's clearly dead by adding a third party.”

She laughs. “Sounds like something I would do. You know how much I tend to cling to things even when the odds aren't in my favour.”

Aegon sighs. “So...”

“So...?”

“Can I see it?” Aegon suddenly asks, and Annika looks at him confused. “Your piercing.”

“I thought you said you saw it in the shower,” she says, placing the glass of water on the marble table. It makes a noise that feels louder than it actually is, and she squirms uncomfortably at the thought that someone might have heard it and finds them there, alone, together.

For someone who claims to be a loner, Aegon has a constant need for attention and contact, especially if it's from Annika. It's nothing new; he used to pull her braids when they were kids to attract her attention. Now he begs her to let him see her boobs. Normal.

He smiles. “I didn't. Everything was full of steam and foggy.”

“But you saw it. You were there when I got it done,” Annika reminds him, embarrassed. “You gave me the little piece of chocolate when my blood pressure dropped. You put a can of Coke on the back of my neck and helped me button my blouse.”

“First of all, it was Dr. Pepper. And second, it doesn't count because I didn't see it properly. And you left before we could do anything...” He shrugs. Annika squints her eyes. “I want to see it. Please.”

“You exposed me in front of everyone and almost got us caught. Why would I show it to you?”

“Because you're good at giving me what I want,” he says, devilishly smiling as he leans toward her.

“And what about what I want, huh? Not everyone can have what they want. I want a unicorn, for example.”

“I'll buy you a horse and pay to have a surgical pink horn put on it. Damn, I'd pay to have wings attached and teach it to fly if you want a freaking rainbow pegasus,” he roars, his voice deep.

Annika laughs and lowers the strap of her satin pajamas so Aegon can see. Not sure why she does it, but Annika loves to give him what he begs for. He doesn't ask for permission to stroke the side of her breast with his thumb, right at the curve. He moves her wet hair back and sighs as he feels the goosebumps on her skin.

“I like it. Although sometimes I catch it with the towel, and it's a little annoying,” she tries to ignore the fact that he's touching her after months and that when he touches her, her skin turns scarlet, just like everything around her. She looks up to find his gaze. “You were right, anyway.”

Annika never knew how, but it was he who had convinced her to get them because she was so sensitive in that area. Maybe she just wanted to please him, or maybe he knew that Aegon, even if he didn't admit it, knew her very well. He always knew better when it came to her.

“Have you tried it?” He asks.

“No, not really. I'm afraid it might still get infected. Besides...” She paraphrases, and Aegon lightly strokes the surface of her skin with his fingers. Another shiver runs through her, and she falls silent. “We shouldn't.”

“It's Christmas Eve. We're both alone...” He suggests, brushing the tip of his nose against hers. “I know you don't like being alone on holidays. You always have someone to warm your bed. And your options here are quite limited.”

“You're alone because you want to be alone,” Annika tells him, letting out a sigh. “I might have left, Aegon, but you let me go.”

“And you never tried hard enough either,” Aegon retorts. He pushes her swiftly, standing up and cornering her against the kitchen counter, slipping between her legs hanging from the high stool and placing his arms on the counter on either side of her body. Their breaths mix. “Please, let me do it.”

“I mourned you, Aegon,” Annika reminds him. “It hurt, what you did. How you laughed when that woman at the store mistook us for a couple. How you looked me in the eyes and said that what we had was all in my head. It was humiliating. That's why I left, because you hurt me. And after all that, you blame me for not reaching out for you? How can you say that?”

“I would have hurt you worse if you hadn't left, and you know it,” he says. He doesn't ask for permission either when he delicately strokes the tip of the jewelled nipple with care, and Annika hisses, hypersensitive as ever, melting in his hands. He smiles. “There it is. That’s my sweet girl. My favourite girl.”

She doesn't say anything and covers her mouth when he leans and catches her nipple between his teeth carefully. He knows how she likes it best, and the taste of the soft flesh mixed with the metallic aftertaste it’s exceedingly erotic. It's so intense that she has to close her legs together immediately as she feels that tingling sensation, although his body doesn't allow it. The way she feels stimulated inside and out is almost unbearable, and she unconsciously puts her hand through her shorts because she knows Aegon will spend a while playing with her before even doing anything.

When she tries to ease that discomfort, Aegon grabs her wrist and removes her hand from her shorts. She shivers when she loses contact, but he brings her fingers to his mouth to suck them clean, and Annika breathes heavily.

“Please,” she implores, grabbing him by the neck. He knows she's not asking him to fuck her exactly; she's asking for more. She tiptoes, grabs his cheeks, and tries to make him look into her eyes. “Aegon, please.”

He grunts with difficulty. He shoves his hand inside her shorts, pulls her underwear to a side and, without warning, shoves two fingers in; she's so wet that it offers no resistance.

“Isn't this enough?” He asks, moving the way he knows she likes. Annika opens her mouth and moans against his lips, and through the refrigerator light, he sees her wet eyes and a tear sliding down her cheek. “Why isn't this enough, huh?”

Why am I not enough for you? If I were, maybe we could be.

“I want...”

“No,” he hisses to silence her and prevent her from finishing that sentence. “You want to come on my fingers, that's all. You want my body. And I want yours. That's it.”

No, it's not.

She shakes her head. He doesn't stop, feeling Annika's heart beating against his own chest and how she tightens around his fingers as she struggles to stay still and not make any loud noises.

“I want you,” she tells him, quickly and muffled in a moan, against his lips when she orgasms. Aegon kisses her and swallows the pathetic declaration she utters, holding her with the other hand to feel her close before she goes away forever, but she seems to read his mind. “It's me, Aegon. Me. I'm not going to leave, and I want you. And I want everything from you.”

He wishes he could say yes to her, but he doesn't. He can't do that to Helaena, no matter how much he desires the same. He has to sort out his life first. He's not going to stop drinking. He can't see himself working in his father's company, marrying her, having children. He can't see himself disappointing her over and over when he turns out not to be what she wants.

She wasn't raised for the conventional either. She also has an intense fear of abandonment that would make her do anything for him to stay. This ends in two ways; either she leaves when she realizes she made a mistake and hates herself for letting herself be hurt by him, or she becomes an unknown version that assembles and disassembles for his entertainment.

In both scenarios, he loses her. Physically and emotionally. Two sides of the same coin.

Aemond couldn't stand a relationship of so many years and cheated on Floris. Aemond. The perfect son, Aemond. The perfect boyfriend, Aemond. The gentleman who would propose as soon as he graduated from college, buy an apartment, provide for his family, and have Alicent's first grandchildren...

“Say something,” Annika begs him, pulling him out of the thoughts that have fallen one after the other like a row of dominoes. She clings to him while with the other hand she runs it over his bare torso. He hasn't realized that he no longer feels cold. “Aegon. Anything. Anything, please.”

He can't.

“This is who I am. This is what I can offer you.”

“I'm not a child anymore. I don't want to fly to another country to see each other in secret and act like a couple for two weeks just for you to discard me like trash and go fuck someone else when you’re bored of me.”

He’s never bored of her, though. He just drinks her away. Smokes her away. Fucks her away.

And he knows it's been enough when she sobs.

He puts his hands over hers and separates her from his body. Now he feels the cold of Aspen again. If there was mistletoe above their heads, it's most likely withered. He gives her a kiss on the forehead and wipes away the tears falling down her cheeks.

“I'll leave my door open,” he warns her as he walks toward his room without looking back. But he knows it's useless; Annika won't come.

He leaves her crying in the kitchen, silently, on Christmas Eve. Because that's the kind of person he is. Annika knows. She has always known. She has seen the girls crying in the kitchen before; this time is no different. She has seen the girlfriends he brought on family trips. How he runs them dry. How he breaks their souls.

But Aegon knows that Annika is not like them. He knows that Annika means much more than anyone else. And he knows he can't. He would feel like a bird trapped in a box. He would make her miserable...

He promised to her mother he wouldn’t.

And he knows she deserves something better.

“At least admit it,” she asks him, from the other end of the kitchen when he's about to cross the door. He doesn't turn to look at her. “At least admit that it was real.”

But he leaves nonetheless.

🧣⋆.ೃ࿔*:･⍣ ೋ *ੈ🎄‧₊˚ . *ੈ✩‧₊˚ ೃ࿐🌟

Freya died when Annika was fifteen, and Aegon seventeen. She had been diagnosed with one of those strange and lethal diseases a few months earlier. Aegon couldn't remember the name, but they had told him. He still doesn't know why to this day.

Perhaps because he was the eldest. Because Alicent had pushed him out first, a measly two years before Helaena, and two measly years before Freya gave birth to her daughter. Annika only found out about her mother's illness a month before she passed away. And when it started to get ugly, her parents sent her away. She couldn't be with her when she died, couldn't say goodbye, couldn't ever come to terms with it...

And she never found out that Aegon knew all along.

Alicent had always told him that he had to take care of his younger siblings and, by extension, Annika, who seemed more like a sister to Helaena than he ever was. Annika wiped Helaena’s tears and Annika fought Helaena’s bullies and even Aemond’s at times. Freya said that Annika could take care of herself, but she wouldn't object to having Aegon around. At times, Aegon might have felt that Freya was the only person who still saw him as the golden child and not as the boy who fucked up everything he touched. Freya would entrust Aegon with her most precious possession without a second thought.

But one day, on one of those days when she was pretending to be okay for her daughter's sake, she saw Aegon drinking his third glass of the evening and shook her head. She put a hand on his shoulder and sighed. “I'm not going to ask you to take care of her once I’m gone; it's not your responsibility. But it would hurt me a lot if you were the one who ends up hurting her.”

Two years later, he went off to college and said he wanted nothing to do with that damn debutante ball, but he made the damn mistake of attending anyway.

The rest is a story not fit for Christmas.

🧣⋆.ೃ࿔*:･⍣ ೋ *ੈ🎄‧₊˚ . *ੈ✩‧₊˚ ೃ࿐🌟

The holidays should be a time of love and peace, and yet, in the Targaryen Aspen retreat cabin, the only festive thing is the fact the atmosphere is as bitter as the mistletoe. Helaena, Logan, and Willa, the designated cooks and the only ones who seem to know how to use the stove and microwave, are the ones preparing breakfast. Floris sits on the windowsill, watching as the snow falls heavily and sticking to the ground outside. The noise of the television and the crackling fire is all that can be heard.

Aemond and Daeron play a game of express chess after setting things on the coffee table for breakfast. Aegon watches them while smoking a cigarette inside, much to Helaena's dismay, as he has no desire to step onto the icy exterior.

Annika is the last to appear, wearing those ridiculous fur boots and a pink Chanel sweater with a Camellia logo. Her steps and the sound of the two huge suitcases being dragged down the stairs make everyone look towards the staircase, desperate for someone to break the ice. She shrinks under the attention, very uncharacteristic of her, and Aegon sees Helaena and Floris exchange worried glances.

“What are you doing?” She asks, watching them prepare pancakes for breakfast.

“Breakfast,” Willa says. “Do you want coffee?”

She shakes her head. “No, I don't want coffee. I want to leave. The night has passed. I thought everyone would be ready to leave. Usually, I'm always the last to be ready.”

“You can't leave. The roads are filled with snow that probably no one will clear until after Christmas. There was a storm last night. It's not safe,” Logan reminds her, pointing to the TV where the weatherman urges residents and visitors to stay indoors until further notice. “Even if you could cross the road, there are no flights available.”

Annika smiles and takes off the sunglasses she was wearing. “No, I'll ask my dad to send his pilot, duh. I'm not taking any commercial flights. I wanted to ski for Christmas, and that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to the nearest place with snow and a sauna.”

Daeron and Aemond look at each other, aware that the unpleasant part of Annika is speaking. Something is wrong.

“Well, I don't want to leave. We're here already, we can make it worthwhile,” Hel tells her. Annika rolls her eyes.

“Fine, you stay. Floris?”

She opens her mouth and sighs. “It's not that I want to stay, but flying in these conditions... I don't know. It's only two more days. Maybe even tomorrow we can leave. I'm not going to risk it.”

“Great. I guess it's just me,” Annika grumbles, grabbing her suitcases. “Well, have fun, I suppose. Au revoir. Arrivederci. Goodbye. Chau.”

“I'll go,” Floris says, resigned, and walks behind her. Daeron does the same, and Aegon follows them out of pure curiosity. “Annika, you can't leave!”

“She's right, it's not safe!” Daeron shouts from the door. She has started to drag her suitcases down the stairs with difficulty, the stupid boots slipping on the ice. The car is covered in snow, and it will take her a while to clear it, not to mention that the snow keeps falling.

“Watch me!” She says, reaching the bottom of the stairs with the first suitcase. She holds onto the railing and makes the ascent again, slipping several times. Then she grabs the other suitcase.

“At least let me help you,” Daeron offers. He shakes off the cold and takes Annika's suitcase. She struggles for a moment, insisting she can do it, but he prevails and lifts it.

“Be careful,” Floris says, putting a hand to her mouth. “Annika, would you call when...?”

“Fuck!” Annika yells when she slips down the stairs. Aegon sees her lose balance and fall to her ass, hitting herself several times before reaching the stone path.

If he weren't concerned because he heard her hit her head against a step, he definitely would have burst into laughter. Floris also screams, shocked, and Daeron drops the suitcase in the snow to rush to help her.

“Annika!”

“Daeron, don't throw my suitcase in the damn snow!” She reproaches him, holding her head with one hand.

“Yeah, she’s okay,” Aegon deduces, descending the porch steps carefully. Annika doesn't even acknowledge his existence.

“What happened?” Helaena asks, coming out with the rest through the front door. “Oh, God. Are you alright?”

“I'm fine. I tripped,” she admits, defeated. Daeron and Floris take one of each arm and help her to her feet. When she stands and puts her weight on her feet, she begins to whimper in pain and holds onto both. “Ouch, ouch!”

“What's happening?” Daeron asks.

“My ankle!” She complains. “It hurts, hurts! Oh, God. What if it’s broken? What if I can't walk ever again?”

“Calm down. I don't think it's broken; if it were, you'd be crying,” Logan tells her, quickly descending the stairs. He replaces Floris' grip on one side of her body. “Can you put weight on it?”

“No, it hurts like a son of a bitch. Shit,” Annika moans, and Logan lifts her into his arms to take her back into the house. “Daeron! Bring my suitcases!”

He sighs but obeys. The last thing he wants is to bother her more than she already seems. Everyone enters behind Logan, and he takes her to the living room while Floris cleans the melting snowflakes from her hair.

Logan leaves her on the couch and sits in front of her on the coffee table, resting her foot on his lap. Without asking for permission, he tries to untie the boot, but he doesn't understand much about its operation. He tries to remove it with pressure, but she screams and writhes in pain.

“No, no! Don't do that!” She scolds him. “Damn it. I can't believe it.”

“I don't want to say I told you so, but I told you so,” Floris says, arms crossed. “Those boots are the death of you.”

“Maybe we just need to cut the boot off,” suggests Aemond.

Annika throws a cushion at him for the brutal idea.

“Not the Moschino. No!”

“It's probably just a sprain. But either we cut it off, or I could still trying to take it off and hurt you even more,” Logan tells her.

“I would sacrifice the boot,” Helaena tries to reason. “We can get another pair. You can't get another foot; that's for sure.”

“Kill me. Kill me now,” she says, bringing a cushion to her face and screaming into it. “Fine. Cut them. Kill them. Just do it quickly. I don't want to see.”

Helaena squeezes her shoulder, standing behind the sofa where Annika has put her head on the backrest and taken the cushion to her face. Willa hands Logan a knife, who puts it through the boot and tries to cut the material with considerable difficulty while Annika whimpers. If one were to see the scene from a distance, they would probably think they were cutting off her foot.

When he removes the boot and the thermal sock, everyone analyses the extremely swollen ankle with disgust.

“Is it bad?” She asks, removing the cushion from her face but not daring to speak. Aegon puts it back on her face, wrinkling his nose, but she hits him. “Don't touch me. Logan. Is it really bad?”

“Well...”

She opens her eyes wide. “Oh, my God!”

“Hey, don't worry,” he tries to calm her, patting her knee gently when she starts to cry. “You'll be fine. Painkillers, rest, and lots of ice. Everything will be fine; you'll be walking in—“

“Give it to me,” she reaches out her arms.

“What?” Logan asks, confused.

Aemond lightly hits his arm. “She means the boot.”

“The... The boot?”

Aegon nods. “Yes, she's crying over the boot.”

“It was so beautiful!” She exclaims when Willa hands it to her, and she hugs it with distress. “It's not fair. I bought them on our trip to Milan. They were the last pair. Do you remember, Flo? Do you remember how we were walking, and I saw them in the shop window, and...?”

Logan looks around, not understanding how no one seems surprised or confused by the girl's attitude. It's Daeron who whispers in his ear, “She cries over trivial things to avoid crying about what she really has to cry about. The odds of her being incredibly sore are very high, but she won't admit it.”

“Oh, well,” he scratches his neck, uncomfortable. “Bring her some ice. Try not to put weight on your foot for a while and keep it elevated.”

“Hey, look on the bright side. At least you didn't ruin your cashmere sweater,” Helaena says cheerfully. Willa frowns, observing her pink sweater for a moment.

“I want to go home,” she protests. “Why does everything have to happen to me?”

“It'll be okay. We'll have breakfast so you don't take a painkiller on an empty stomach, and you can try to leave when the swelling goes down,” Logan reassures her, getting up from the table and walking to the kitchen. Then he turns to Floris. “Yeah, she's not going anywhere. Not today, at least.”

Floris bites her lip, a little amused, and shakes her head. “A Christmas Eve to remember,” she says, and then helps everyone set the table for breakfast.

By mid–afternoon, everyone has had a few drinks and taken a dip in the indoor pool. Floris and Aemond maintain an incredibly mature distance, astonishing Aegon as he discusses it with Willa. Daeron seems to have become very friendly with Logan.

Annika didn't want to move, and in a sour mood stayed on the couch watching some stupid Christmas movie.

“They are cute,” Willa says, referring to Helaena and Logan. Her red curls are dripping water, and she holds onto the edge of the pool while sipping a sip of a daiquiri Aegon made for her.

“Whatever,” he says, rolling his eyes.

“Don't you like someone making her laugh? Daeron always says she's a pretty lonely person and has a hard time getting along with others.”

“Aren't we all?” He chuckles. “I guess... It's always us who bring our girlfriends home. I mean, if we don't count the little friend Daeron brought home at seven years old who started crying when he showed her Aemond's snake, and his mother picked her up half an hour later, you would officially be the first girl Daeron brought. And Aemond and Floris have been together forever. And I...”

“Bring a different girl to every gathering?” Willa laughs.

“Yeah, as pathetic as that sounds,” he continues. “The point is, Helaena has never brought anyone else but Annika. She's her person. We got so used to it that now it's weird to see her with someone else. I don't think any of us realized that one day we would meet her partner.”

“It's weird. They seem to have that confidence that makes you think they've known each other forever,” she ponders. “Anyway, it's nice that they get along. She can't be with Annika all the time, I think. Eventually, they'll have to find a significant other.”

He dips his head in the pool to avoid hearing the last words and then emerges, leaning his elbows on the pool's edge, rubbing the water off his eyes.

“And that will be a great day for everyone,” he sighs ironically. Willa inspects him carefully. “What?”

“Nothing,” she shrugs. “I mean... I'm very observant.”

“Yeah, I remember. A very curious little mouse, I told Daeron.”

“When we went to your house in San Francisco, do you remember the day it got really cold, and the airline had lost my luggage?”

“Hm, vaguely.”

“You gave me a sweater to wear while Daeron and I replaced my clothes.”

“I did?”

“Yes. You told me to be careful not to ruin it,” Willa tries to make him remember. “It was a pink cashmere sweater with a Camellia. Like the one Annika's wearing.”

Aegon bites his cheek. He knew he shouldn't lend the clothes Annika had forgotten at his apartment. Man, Annika never lends her clothes. How could he be so stupid?

“Sure... It's… It was mine. We bought it on sale. You know, two for the price of one,” he says, nervously laughing. He’s more worried about Annika finding out he lend her sweater. “It's very soft, much softer than any other fabric. I like wearing it. Yes. And I love pink. I have that sweater at home, and a lot of other pink clothes. I'd show you...”

“Aegon,” she sighs amused. “I'm not going to say anything.”

“You're not going to say anything about what?” He asks, trying not to sound mortified.

“You and Annika,” she murmurs, so only he can hear.

Aegon laughs. “There's no me and Annika.”

“You knew about her piercing, and she looked too worried when you mentioned it, but not surprised. Come on. I think everyone knows; they're just waiting for you two to say it and pretending not to know,” Willa tells him.

“There's nothing to say. It was... Nothing. Just something physical. It didn't mean anything.”

“What didn't mean anything?” Daeron asks, appearing out of nowhere behind Willa and hugging her around the waist. “Is Aegon bothering you?”

“I think I'm bothering him,” she says playfully.

He climbs onto the pool's edge, coming out of the water dripping, and walks to grab a towel without saying a word. After almost completely drying himself, he goes to the living room where Annika watches the Grinch, sitting in the same position they left her, with a blanket over her lap and ice over her head.

“He looks like you,” he tells her, ignoring the fact that he left her crying in the kitchen the night before. He always does that.

“I'm not in the mood,” she says, not moving her eyes from the screen. He peeks behind her and shakes his head to wet her. “Bite me.”

“Aren’t you a delight,” he says, taking a seat next to her. “Are you in pain?”

“No,” she replies, arms crossed and clearly a bit drowsy from the painkillers, without even looking at him.

“I thought we called on a truce.”

“I think we shouldn't talk at all,” she tells him. The indifferent tone stirs something acidic in Aegon's chest, and he squirms with sadness. “Oh, sorry. Was I too harsh?”

“I don't understand why you're angry. I should be angry. You gave me the blue balls. At least you got to finish.”

She looks at him and lets out a laugh. “I can't stand you.”

“Where do you think you're going?” He asks when he sees her trying to get up.

“Far away from you,” she says, being careful not to put weight on her foot. Aegon takes her arm and throws her back on the couch. She lets out a groan and wriggles, trying to escape his grip, but he holds her by the waist and presses her to his chest. “Let me go.”

“There’s something you need to know. Willa knows about us,” he warns, putting his mouth to her ear. She shifts uncomfortably. “It's just a matter of time before everyone finds out.”

“Then you kill her to keep the secret. God forbid someone finds out you touched me, or even looked in my direction.”

“Do you think that's the problem?” He asks, his palm resting on her stomach, lips against her neck. “You think I care if anyone finds out?”

“You made it pretty clear.”

“Do you want me to make you come again in this sofa where anyone could walk in and see us?” He asks, kissing her under the ear as he moves his hand from her navel to her centre. “You might understand that’s not what I’m worrying about, then.”

Annika hits his hand off and lets go of his grip. “No. I want you to leave. I'm serious. I don't want you to talk to me, look at me, or breathe in my direction. I don't want you near.”

He smiles crookedly. “Definitely harsh.”

“Go away. I can't go up the stairs, so I'm asking you to leave.”

She leans back against the backrest and covers herself with the blanket, resting her cheek on her hand. Aegon sighs in defeat. He’s not used to being rejected by her, if she ever got complicated usually some sweet talking and his fingers worked like charm to remedy her.

“Annika...”

“I don't want to hear your pathetic excuses,” she says. “You can take your blue balls and shove them in the snow as far as I’m concerned. And if you feel lonely, you have two hands.”

He looks at his hands.

It would hurt me a lot if you hurt her.

If he stays, he'll hurt her. If he leaves, he'll hurt her.

Freya was wrong. His mother, too. He can’t take care of her.

“Can I stay here and watch the movie at least?” He sighs, noticeably tired. She looks at him sideways and doesn't answer, but gives him a piece of her blanket. He settles a bit closer to her and curls up in his place, feeling a bit cold. “Do you want something to drink?”

“I want you to shut up.”

He nods. “Okay. Deal. I'll shut up.”

But he can't. He glances at her certain times, focused on the movie and looking as unhappy as ever. He clicks his tongue.

“You know...”

“No. I don't want to know.”

“Fine,” he nods again. Moves his leg frantically and manages to keep quiet for two full minutes. “But, if you think about it...”

Annika puts the TV on mute and turns to look at him. He stays silent when those green eyes haunt him. “It was real. It wasn't a waste of time. I wasn't just another one of your girls. It was different. It always has been. You were there, and it was real.”

“Of course, it wasn't a waste of time,” he starts saying. Freya's voice drills into his head. It would hurt me a lot if you hurt her. “And it was real.”

“And why don't you admit it?”

“What do you want me to admit?” He sighs, tired, and rests his cheek on the back of the sofa. Silver hair wets the green fabric, but he doesn't care.

“That you want me.”

“I can show you how hard I am so that –“

“That you love me,” she corrects.

He tries to escape, almost panicked, but she takes his cheeks and forces him to look at her. Her eyes are hypnotic. Her cheeks. Her skin. Her hair. The nose and eyelids reddened from crying so much because of him.

Of course, he does.

She's so close that their lips almost touch. He has leaned over her, because he does love her. Because she's right. And she no longer wants to run away... But he can't say it. However, he finds another way to be honest.

“I knew when your mother got sick,” he says, delicate as if confessing a sin. “I always knew. And she told me I shouldn't take care of you because you could take care of yourself, but that the idea of me hurting you would sadden her. I can’t do that to her.”

She leans back even though he tries to kiss her. She moves back so much that it cuts through his chest.

“What?” She gasps, not understanding. “What... What are you talking about? What does that even mean?”

And there's more. And there's so much you don't know. Because I've loved you since we were kids. Because I've taken care of you since we were kids. You don't have the right to treat me like a villain. I've always taken care of you. This time is no different.

“Aegon,” she calls him, in a sob. But he doesn't react, so she hits him in the chest. “Are you fucking kidding me? Why would you say something like that? Why would you even –“

“Because it's the truth. You wanted to know the truth. There it is,” he says. “We can't be together, Annika. I've learned to live with that, and you should too.”

🧣⋆.ೃ࿔*:･⍣ ೋ *ੈ🎄‧₊˚ . *ੈ✩‧₊˚ ೃ࿐🌟

Floris pours herself a glass of water while Aemond looks at her with a dangerously careful gaze. He has always been tough, since they were kids, and it worsened after the incident with his eye. The sapphire only makes him appear tougher, ruthless, even.

But Floris cannot see anything other than his good side. His heart. The way he cares about his family, even Annika, with whom he always had a somewhat distant relationship. He cares.

That's why it was strange when she found him with their professor. It wasn't strange to have packed her things and taken the next flight to move from one state to another in less than six hours though.

He didn't object.

It's the first time they see each other, and there's a lot to say. He sent her things, and everyone moved on. She doesn't know what happened to the apartment or that damn snake of his that wouldn't let her have a puppy because it might eat it.

“Floris,” he finally calls her. She can't look at him. She can't see the person who cares and matters to her, who would never have hurt her. It's a different person standing beside her. “Please, look at me. We need to talk.”

She shakes her head. “We don't need to talk.”

“We need to clear things up.”

She smiles ironically. “What do you want to clarify? You slept with a teacher multiple times over these past few years and brought her to my house, to my bed. Do you have a valid reason? Other than the fact that you obviously no longer love me?”

Aemond weighs it for a moment. And then nods.

“I do love you.”

She laughs. “Sure.”

“You're my best friend. The best I've ever had in my life.”

“And then? Why did you do this to me?” She asks. There's no anger in her tone, as if the anger had dissipated after the exhaustive conversation with Annika, who she covered in snot and vomit. It's curiosity, no more, no less. It's intrigue.

“It has nothing to do with you.”

“I know I have my issues, but I firmly believe I've never done anything to hurt you. Not intentionally at least. I haven't been a bad girlfriend or a bad friend either. So, I ask you again, if you love me, why did you do this to me?”

“Because I love you,” he nods. “It's easy for me to love you, Flo. It's warm, and you feel like home to me. But I'm not a kid anymore, and neither are you. Adults have to leave their homes to create their own paths.”

Her eyes fill with tears. “I thought we were happy.”

“We were. I am. And I really don't want to lose you... But I cannot keep doing this,” he sighs, and gently takes her hand. “I'm sorry. It was stupid. And I don't think you can forgive me, but...”

“You're right, I can't,” she tells him, sniffing. “You should have told me what you felt when you felt it. You shouldn’t have let me waste all this past years. We could have found a solution; we did when, you know… Or we could have... –“

“Flo, there was nothing else to do. We tried everything,” Aemond tells her, a bit firmer now. “You don't love me in that way either. I know you, and I'm sorry. I've felt this distance between us for a while. You're not happy in Boston. You're happier with Annika and Helaena in New York. You would be happier if you had a dog instead of a snake. You would be happy if you explored a bit of who you are and what you want to be besides me.”

She sobs. “How am I supposed to go on after this?”

Aemond knows she might not, but maybe, after all, it's the only way for her to understand that between them, there's nothing but the love they've outgrown. Childish, puppy love.

“I'm sorry. It was stupid. And I'm not even seeing her. I guess I needed a getaway car, and that's the one I found... I guess you'll have to be the better person here and forgive me. It will take time, but I hope you know that I really mean it when I say I regret what I did to yoy.”

Floris clicks her tongue and rubs her face with her hands. “Well, you never apologized for anything. So I guess you are saying the truth. But it only makes me feel worse because this means you screwed up big time and you’re aware of it.”

He lets out a little laugh and leans in to kiss her on the forehead. “You taught me a lot. More than anyone else in my life. You gave me everything you could, and it's time for both of us to move on with what we taught to each other. When you're ready, when you're at peace... I hope I can be your friend again. Because I can't bear the thought of you not being in my life anymore.”

She understands what he means. Not in a romantic way, but they know each other too well. No one will ever know him so much, and vice versa. No one will ever live what they lived together.

“I’m always gonna love you,” she confesses. Again, not in a romantic way, but there's no need to clarify that.

Aemond tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’m always gonna love you, too.”

“I need time. A lot. When I go back to New York, I'm going to transfer a university there. I fell behind a bit, but I'll catch up. I'll go to therapy, and I'll learn to forgive you. But I don't want to see you for a while.”

It hurts him almost as much as the pain that sometimes paralyzes half of his face.

But he knows he deserves it.

“You'll be fine,” he tells her. “You were always… Resilient. More so than me.”

“I know,” Flo smiles. “I’ll be fine. I got my girls with me.”

[vladdyissues]

Pompep Christmas Truce 2023 🎄🎁Pompep Christmas Truce 2023 Pompep Christmas Truce 2023 🎄🎁 Pompep Christmas Truce 2023 Pompep Christmas Truce 2023 🎄🎁 Pompep Christmas Truce 2023 Pompep Christmas Truce 2023 🎄🎁 Pompep Christmas Truce 2023🎄🎁

I haven't done a fandom holiday gift exchange since 2019 and I am exxxxcccciiiittteeeddddd

[undertale-museum]

Behind the Stacks

Part 1 (Here) / Part 2

The Orb bought the archive from a private collector who we'll call "Being X." This is relevant due to the surplus of exhibits that have yet to be archived and some that have fallen apart.

Most of them still exist but several had to be salvaged from Comic Dubs or other people's reblogs.

None of the following has yet to be archived. There are links with mature themes but no full nudity as far as the Orb can tell from a cursory glance.

_Roughly 21 items

.

Look Into Abyss by drawloverlala

sans, alphys - waterfall

.

All That's Left by dyonisia96

sans, gaster - labs

Note: dub

.

Asylumtale by furgemancs

sans, frisk

Note: dub

.

Shattered Realities by Ink-Mug

Sans, Gaster, Papyrus

Note: dub

.

Skele-Chara by InsanelyAdd

Papyrus, Sans, Chara

Note: deviantart link gone, only dub available

Edit 3June24: We haven’t checked deviantart yet but InsanelyAdd did have a back up of the comic saved on Tumblr

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Game of the Creator by Gloomyowl

Red, Blue, Underswap Ensemble, Underfell Ensemble

Note: dub

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Can't Find it by Gochigocochi

Comic 2 / Comic 3

Ink Sans, Dream Sans, Cross Sans

Note: Japanese/English

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Crushed by Garbi (nsfwgarbagedump)

Sans, Red - Kustard - Surface

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 /

Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 /

Note: +18, mature themes, revealing clothing, no smut

Kustard by [same]

Sans, Red - Underground

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 /

Part 5 / Part 6

Note: +18, mature themes, no smut

Guide: Being X found this source, last time ze checked 3-4 years ago some of the comic was on patreon or sub-based website

Later Guide: Part 6 skips several dozen pages. This may be why Being X noted that some may be on patreon. This theory is, as of 18May24, unconfirmed.

Love Fool by [same]

Sans, Mobfell Red - bar

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

Guide: there may be more of Love Fool. Again, Being X collected and we have yet to check if it has updated. Considering it's from 2019, doubtful.

Guide: the Sans Comic Dub video was lost. RIP

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Lover of Piggies Dubs

(Crayon Queen Multiverse Verse ) April Fools Comic Part 1 - 6 by loverofpiggies

Christmas Party AU Movie (Undertale Comic Dub)

Momma CQ [ Halloween special!! ] Comic Dub

Sans and Frisk look so adorable The Movie【Undertale Comic dubs】

Momma CQ   /  Playlist

Guide: copied straight from OG archivist's notes, none of the links are broken incredibly

Guide 2: loverofpiggies content is still intact. we haven't archived the dubs as of yet.

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Hopetale by HappYenDay

Undertale ensemble

Dub [3:20]

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Cross x Dream by crossxdream

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The Truce by Jakei

Ink Sans, Error Sans

Note: only salvaged link

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Undervirus by Jeyawue

Sans, Papyrus, Undertale Ensemble

note: dub

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[brookstonalmanac]

Events 12.25 (after 1900)

1914 – A series of unofficial truces occur across the Western Front to celebrate Christmas. 1915 – The National Protection War breaks out against the Empire of China, as military leaders Cai E and Tang Jiyao proclaim the independence of Yunnan and begin a campaign to restore the Republic. 1927 – B. R. Ambedkar and his followers burn copies of the Manusmriti in Mahad, Maharashtra, to protest its treatment of Dalit people. 1932 – A magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Gansu, China kills 275 people. 1941 – Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, appointed commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet on December 17, arrives at Pearl Harbor. 1941 – World War II: Battle of Hong Kong ends, beginning the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. 1941 – Admiral Émile Muselier seizes the archipelago of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, which become the first part of France to be liberated by the Free French Forces.[citation needed] 1946 – The first European self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction is initiated within the Soviet Union's F-1 nuclear reactor. 1950 – The Stone of Scone, traditional coronation stone of British monarchs, is taken from Westminster Abbey by Scottish nationalist students. It later turns up in Scotland on April 11, 1951. 1951 – A bomb explodes at the home of Harry T. Moore and Harriette V. S. Moore, early leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, killing Harry instantly and fatally wounding Harriette. 1962 – The Soviet Union conducts its final above-ground nuclear weapon test, in anticipation of the 1963 Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. 1963 – Turkish Cypriot Bayrak Radio begins transmitting in Cyprus after Turkish Cypriots are forcibly excluded from Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation. 1968 – Apollo program: Apollo 8 performs the first successful Trans-Earth injection (TEI) maneuver, sending the crew and spacecraft on a trajectory back to Earth from Lunar orbit. 1968 – Kilvenmani massacre: Forty-four Dalits (untouchables) are burnt to death in Kizhavenmani village, Tamil Nadu, a retaliation for a campaign for higher wages by Dalit laborers. 1976 – EgyptAir Flight 664, a Boeing 707-366C, crashes on approach to Don Mueang International Airport, killing 71 people. 1977 – Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with its president Anwar Sadat. 1986 – Iraqi Airways Flight 163, a Boeing 737-270C, is hijacked and crashes in Arar, Saudi Arabia, killing 63 people. 1989 – Romanian Revolution: Deposed President of Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife, Elena, are condemned to death and executed after a summary trial. 1991 – Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as President of the Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next day). Ukraine's referendum is finalized and Ukraine officially leaves the Soviet Union. 1999 – Cubana de Aviación Flight 310, a Yakovlev Yak-42, crashes near Bejuma, Carabobo State, Venezuela, killing 22 people. 2003 – UTA Flight 141, a Boeing 727-223, crashes at the Cotonou Airport in Benin, killing 141 people. 2003 – The ill-fated Beagle 2 probe, released from the Mars Express spacecraft on December 19, stops transmitting shortly before its scheduled landing. 2004 – The Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which successfully landed on Saturn's moon Titan on January 14, 2005. 2012 – An Antonov An-72 plane crashes close to the city of Shymkent, killing 27 people. 2012 – Air Bagan Flight 011, a Fokker 100, crashes on approach to Heho Airport in Heho, Myanmar, killing two people. 2016 – A Russian Defence Ministry Tupolev Tu-154 carrying members of the Alexandrov Ensemble crashes into the Black Sea shortly after takeoff, killing all 92 people on board. 2019 – Twenty people are killed and thousands are left homeless by Typhoon Phanfone in the Philippines. 2020 – An explosion in Nashville, Tennessee occurs, leaving three civilians in the hospital. 2021 – The James Webb Space Telescope is launched.

[xprojectrpg]

PHASE 2

2015: Little Paper Dolls: The team arrives in Canada and quickly track down the source of the strange telepathic message, however things don't quite seem right; X-Force storms the underground base, having far more fun with it than should be legal; Jean and Emma find the source of the distress call, and Emma and the strange girls clearly do not get on; someone touched something they shouldn't have, and suddenly it's all going to hell; even if the other you isn't really you at all, talking to ‘yourself’ is an incredibly surreal experience, and it doesn't help when they're both incredibly paranoid. Miles makes a journal entry about how awesome the new Star Wars movie is. Molly and Topaz brave the mall to go Christmas shopping.

2016: Jean wonders what the mansion thinks are the best Christmas movies to introduce to her niece and nephew.

2017:

2018: The Danger Room Paradox: Maya boasts about being a Star Wars hotshot pilot; Laurie texts Kyle about arguing with Jean about wanting to cut into Natasha’s head to cure the zombie virus; Terry texts Kyle to let him know Minecraft doesn’t count as a second date.

2019:

2020: Operation: Siege Perilous: X-Force holds a briefing on a new case, a series of deaths where the cause is unknown but they look drained of all life energy and it’s decided Jean should be brought in for psychic help; Gabe and Natasha go to a dump site to look for clues; Kevin and Clea call on a member of the magical underground; Amanda brings tea while Wanda hits the books; Marie-Ange gives new recruit Topaz a lesson in field work; Artie and Amanda meet after using their respective resources and finding nothing; back at the office, Doug starts teaching the injured Jubilee more about computer research; Jean and Emma look for psychic residue in Central Park and are ambushed by the culprit, a psionic parasite called Roma who pulls all of them into a pretend dimension; in Roma’s dimension, X-Force is called on to protect Dr. Strange, who is being attacked by the Black Court of the Hellfire Club, breaking a truce between the two groups; both groups set about locating Illyana Rasputin, the Hellfire Club so they can steal her Soulsword, X-Force because Strange left hints about her and the Darkhold, a mythical magic text; Cypher is hired by both groups to assist, but sets up X-Force in a trap when he tells them Illyana’s location but not that the Hellfire Club will be there; meanwhile, Sarah Morlocke looks for help from X-Force as her people are vanishing; during the ambush, leader Remy Lebeau is captured and Natasha Romanoff and Wanda Maximoff killed while Felicia Hardy is rescued from certain death by the enemy, Gabriel Cohuelo; Cypher kills Charlie Plunder back at X-Force headquarters; Remy is brought before Selene, the Black Queen and manages to kill Sebastian Shaw before being killed by the Black Knight, Amanda Sefton; the remaining team arrives back home to find Charlie’s body and Sarah letting them know a mass abduction of the Morlocks has taken place; in a suicide mission to stop Selene getting the Soulsword, X-Force attacks the ritual; Jubilee is killed by Amanda before Amanda is herself killed by X-Forcer Adam Destine; Kevin, disguised as North, is taken before Selene and reveals the reason for his disguise - he has hidden forty pounds of Semtex in the gut of the larger man which went unnoticed; Kevin blows himself up and badly injures Selene; in a series of flashbacks, Kevin undermines Gabe’s loyalty to the Hellfire Club; Remy meets clandestinely with the magically-enslaved Emma Frost and makes her a deal; Amanda sees the departure of her lover Marie-Ange as the result of Remy’s death; back to the ‘current time’, Emma turns on Selene and with Adam’s help infuses Jean with the power of the Darkhold, which had previously been in Illyana; Black Court members Topaz and Clea attack Adam while he’s vulnerable, but Emma saves him and he teleports out with Illyana; Jean battles Selene, killing her with the combined power of the Darkhold and… something else; the amount of power Jean carried lets her reveal Roma’s machinations and with Emma helping her stay sane, defeats her and uses the pent-up psychic energy released by her death to heal the cracks in Xorn’s patchwork universe and exposes the truth about M-Day; X-Force return to themselves, realising no time has passed at all and that the other world wasn’t real; Emma calls everyone back to talk about the ramifications; Jean, distraught about what she has learned, goes to Kevin (who was her lover in Roma’s dimension) for comfort. He does his best but emotions are weird.

2021: On the day of X-Force’s office relocation to District X, Artie texts Amanda to remind her she needs to pack up her cubicle; Jubilee helps Kevin pack his bar; Kevin and Felicia check out a potential new local ‘The Original Kirby’s’; Darcy helps Wanda organise the layout for the new “Weird Magic Shite” offices and storage; Jubilee lets X-Force know she and Clarice will be handing out wine candy in the new office’s reception area, in costume; Marie-Ange and Topaz work on unpacking Avalon-lite - one of the back offices in the new building.

2022:

[qhostbyrd]

Gosh this is last minute, but here’s my Holiday/Christmas Truce gift for @wanna-bee-artsy!! They asked for somethin with Dan, Dani, and Danny hanging out. I’m really sorry its not much !! ended up getting swamped in Dec. with some college application stuff. I had something else in the works, but my art program was crashing because of some new virus protection software my dad put on my computer yesterday, and it corrupted a lot of stuff i was workin on. Was gonna post this back on the 30th but I couldn’t find your @ ;0;” The BG is from a screencap of Clockwork’s lair that I painted over w/ some extra details. I really hope ya like it though! Its Jan 1st here right now, so happy new year too! Hope you had a good holiday!

[ghosttrolls]

Hey, everyone! Here’s a drawing I made for @darks-ink for this year’s Christmas Truce!! I hope you like it! :)

[oraclemilf]

 Here’s my Rich History truce art for @rapidfireecho!!! I bet Danny is considerably Not Thrilled to hear Clockwork and Vlad were dating, especially since Vlad is being so damn smug about it.Clockwork just wants his boys to get along. 

[plazmawulf]

Happy Holidays @ecto-american! I was your secret Santa! I was looking through your prompts and you know what? Inverse Trio is super underrated and I love it, It was really fun to do! Plus I’m a sucker for goth Danny because that’s always fun to draw.

I hope you enjoy it!

[bloopsalot]

I didn’t plan on being so early for the holiday truce, but I didn’t want to forget to post it when I already have this done and the scheduling/queue scares me.

This is my holiday truce gift to @ani-phantom​ who asked for their oc Laura and one of the requested genres was friendship soooo Crimmas Coco with a ghost thats had time to make the Scientifically Perfect coco

And a bonus sketch when I was getting Laura’s color pallet figured out

[fruity-hub-blog]

Punt

Christmas truce gift for @katherine-apollo-karma

Who asked for hurt/comfort mentor Vlad or mentor Clockwork and I was like Why not ALL???

I hope you enjoy!!!

“Danny, I think it’s about time you got home.” 

Danny looked up at Clockwork from where he was, sitting upside down in a chair while reading a book on Zone culture.

“Awe… but this was getting really good. Did you know that there’s a black market hidden in the ghost bazaar that sells appearance modification jewelry?” 

“It’s a black market for a reason.” Clockwork chuckled. “Half of them don’t work, and the other half leave you permanently disfigured. I’m having you read that book so you know what to avoid, it’s not a winter catalogue.” 

“I know.” Danny sighed and bookmarked his place, righting himself from his strange position. “But imagine if they did work, that’d be awesome.”

“You have the ability to alter your appearance at will Danny, aren’t you learning that very skill right now?”

“Yeah… but it’s not exactly easy. Vlad makes me practice all this focus and emotion stuff before we even begin with the cool shit. By the time we get into it I only ever have like ten minutes before curfew.”

“And on that note I really insist you must be on your way or you’ll be late.”

“Right.” Danny floated up and made to leave. 

“Oh, do you think you could take this with you?” Clockwork asked, handing Danny a large gift bag. “For Vladimir. I’d give you your gift now but I’d have the sneaking suspicion you’d sneak a peek.” 

“Me? Never.” Danny grinned innocently. “Yeah I’ll get the Fruitloop his gift. He’s still not interested in Zone lessons though, if you’re trying to bribe your way into teaching him.”

“Gifts are not bribes Danny, but since we are on the subject, would you be so kind as to ask him how long he intends on searching for the city of Punt by himself?”

Danny gave him a confused look. 

“Don’t worry, he will understand. Now get going.”

“Aye aye captain!” With a mock salute Danny vanished. 

———

“Vlad? Dude? Where are…” Danny spotted Vlad on the other side of the lab, intent on whatever the hell he was doing at his desk. He grinned and set Vlad’s gift down next to the portal.   

He floated closer… and….

“VLAD!” Danny grabbed his shoulders and quickly went intangible as Vlad whipped around brandishing a hot soldering iron. Molten solder went everywhere and Danny started cackling. “You need hearing aids old man? Or ghost sense aids?” 

Vlad’s eyes flashed red briefly. “Four hours. Four hours of micro-soldering Daniel. Does that mean nothing to you?”

“Four? Huh… means you’re getting better at anger management...:” Said Danny, who never saw a proverbial hornet’s nest he didn’t swing at with all his might.

Vlad took a deep breath and his eyes faded back to their human blue. “It’s… fine. It’s all fine. It’s more than fine. In fact since you brought up emotion regulation, I think we will work on that today.” He dusted the ruined remains of his project from his suit and stood up. 

“Ugh, come on! We’ve been doing emotion regulation for the past month!” Danny flopped to the floor dramatically. “Teach me something cool already!” 

“Correct me if I am wrong Daniel but did cool pick up a new definition meaning horrifying and painful? Because that’s what will happen when you try some of these advanced techniques and inadvertently cut off the blood supply to one or more major organs.”

“Okay, okay! I’ll work on my damn emotions mom. Just stop lecturing me about it.” Danny sat up with a glum look.

“Or what?” Vlad asked with a hint of a smile. 

“Or you’re gonna see something actually horrifying.” Danny grumped, sounding more like a toddler that had lost an argument than any legitimate threat.

“Oh, the half pint hero is going to terrify me, the horror. I am practically quaking in my boots.”  Vlad stood up and transformed. “Now, just a refresher, tell me all you know about ghosts and emotion.”

“Ghosts and emotions are basically the same thing because ghosts are made from emotion.” Danny started reciting in the bored way a teen does when asked to read in front of the class. “Since half ghosts are still alive, their ghost half is fueled by the emotion of their living half just as much as it is by food or water. If you pour too much emotion into your ghost half all at once you risk hurting your human half.” Danny closed his eyes, trying to remember more about what Vlad had taught him. “Emotions can be used to make your powers way more… uh… powerful like you and attack of the duplicates but you have to keep your emotions in check or it’s curtains. I haven’t more than half died yet because I only ever tried using emotion specifically as a weapon once and I was using someone else’s power so it didn’t hurt me…” Danny opened his eyes again. “That’s all I got.” 

Vlad sighed. “And you wonder why we’ve been at this for a month. Looks like I’m sending you home with homework again.” 

“Of course.”

Vlad and Danny worked on meditation and mindfulness exercises for two hours before Vlad sent him home with an armful of handwritten notebooks. 

Before he left Vlad stopped him to give him back the bag he had left next to the portal.

“Oh, that’s for you.” Danny said absentmindedly as he tried slipping as many of the books into his bag as possible.

“For me? but you hate Christmas.” Vlad looked at the bag like it might be another prank.

“Nah, it’s from Clockwork. Your gift from me is my wonderful personality.” Danny grinned as he was able to stuff all but two into the now distressed looking bag. 

“So it’s a bribe.” Vlad said flatly, looking at the gift with disdain. “You can take it back. I’m not going to give him the idea that he’s winning.” 

“Oh! That reminds me! What’s the City of Punt?” Danny asked, seemingly out of left field.

“The… what?”

“The City of Punt. Clockwork asked me to ask you how long you were gonna keep looking for the City of Punt by yourself… or something like that.” 

Vlad looked confused for a moment, then understanding started to seep in. “Why that smug little…” Vlad set the gift down on a nearby chair and crossed his arms. “I will search as long as I darn well please and he is going to just have to live with that… or die with that, I’m not picky. ” 

“So…?” Danny prompted. 

“I’m not going to explain his insults for him. He can do that on his own time.”

Danny raised an eyebrow but then shrugged. “Guess I’m telling him he was wrong.”

“About?” Vlad asked, still in a huff.

“He said you’d explain it to me.”

Vlad’s eyes narrowed. “It’d serve him right to be wrong every so often.”

______________

Danny floated into the mansion the next day with an air of optimism. “Vlad! I read all of your diaries and I have a lot of emotional halfa facts I can tell you so you can teach me cool shit!” Danny zipped in and out of rooms until he finally found Vlad in the same study he had left him in. “Uh…” Danny floated closer, squinting. “Dude… are you seriously drinking ectoplasm? That’s taking the whole vampire aesthetic way too far…”

Vlad glanced from the wine glass to Danny and then snorted. “ ‘S not blood. Just zone made. Stuff from the zone does tend to glow after all.” Vlad swirled the glass and took another sip. “To your health… or something else you still have.”

“Not sure I buy that.” Danny eyed the glass suspiciously. “Not to mention you don’t seem plastered...” 

“How on earth would you know what plastered looks like Little Badger?” Vlad asked, suddenly very interested in what Danny had to say. 

“I’m a senior in high school Vlad. Discounting your standard ‘my parents are gone let’s trash the place’ parties which I don’t drink at, There’s a kid in my third period that I’m like 90% sure brings a water bottle full of vodka to every class. Had no idea how he was getting away with it at first cus that shit reeks but then I realized that ghost senses meant I was able to pick up on more than humans.” Danny shrugged. “But to answer your unasked and frankly insulting question, no Vlad I’m not getting smashed in my downtime. I have enough trouble with power control when I’m sober, thanks.”

Vlad seemed to be trying to figure out if Danny was being truthful with him and finally decided that he was. 

“Believe what you wish. I’d offer you a drink but you are underage, there are laws about that sort of thing you know. Something something core still developing something fermented grapes and young ghosts bad.” 

“You mean developing brains?” Danny couldn’t help but smile at the idea of a ghost zone PSA along the lines of ‘this is your core on spectral booze’ who knew ghosts even had alcohol?

“Eh potato potato.” Vlad waves a hand dismissively.

“You just pronounced potato the same way twice you potato.” Danny laughed. 

“Yeah, so? Bite me.” Vlad drained the rest of his drink and got to his feet with a noticeable wobble. 

“No, sit back down.” Danny floated over to him and guided him back to his chair. “Last thing I need is you busting your head open. There isn’t really an emergency department for the living impaired.”

“But it’s cold.” Vlad asserted. “I would like to start a fire.”

“Call me crazy but I think that you should avoid open flames right now.” Danny retorted. 

Vlad crosses his arms and pouted, leading Danny to try desperately to hold in his laughter. Vlad was acting like a toddler. “Look, I’ll light a fire if you promise to sit here and not cause trouble, okay?” 

“Hm… fine. But then you have to make a really good fire because it’s really cold.”

“Yeah okay, deal.” Danny started arranging logs in the fireplace and kept an ear out for any escape attempts from Vlad. “Where’d you get all that ghost booze anyway? I’d figure it would be illegal what with Walker seeming like the kind of guy to take prohibition and run with it.”

“You gave it to me.” Vlad said simply, causing Danny to turn around and try to figure out if Vlad was messing with him. 

“I didn’t give you shit. Wanna try that again?”

“Language Daniel.” Vlad said. 

“Then don’t lie Vladimir.” Danny countered.

 “Didn’t lie. You did give it to me. It was from Clockwork. But you delivered it.”

“So that’s what was in the bag. Huh… nice gift I guess. Didn’t really peg Clockwork as a booze guy but hey, I guess adult ghosts can do what they want. Then again I didn’t think that you’d drink anything Clockwork gave you.”

“I was trying it to be polite. It’s just… a little more than I bargained for.”

“How much is a little?” Danny asked as he lit the kindling. 

“How many duplicates are you making right now?” Vlad asked slowly. 

“Ah that’s more like a lottle Vlad. How do you manage to sound that coherent if you’re that far under?” 

“Years of practice.” Vlad deadpanned. 

“So does that mean you’re not as pissed at Clockwork anymore then?”  

“Don’t get me started on that historical pile of nonsense. Punt.” Vlad scoffed. “Could he be more annoying? Actually I take it back, he probably can and will in the future.”

Danny knew there was some tension between his two mentors.... Or more accurately, Vlad had something against Clockwork. He sat down next to Vlad on the couch. “So… you gonna tell me what kind of sick burn I’m missing out on?”

“He’d like that, Mr. Know It All. Fine, he gets his way no matter what, might as well.” Vlad fumed. “Punt was a city that existed around the same time as Egypt.”

“Okay… still not seeing why this makes him an asshole.” Danny said slowly.

“It makes him a jerk because no one knows where punt existed. There are theories of course but there’s no certain answer. Mainly because no one thought to write that down, it was just common knowledge. So to start off with, he is comparing my refusal to train on ghost basics to that by implying that I’m never going to find the information I am looking for because every idiot in the ghost zone knows it and no one is going to waste time writing it down. He’s also implying that I could just go ask any dead idiot, or him, obviously he wants to be the cryptic information master. Asshole.”

“Vlad… you just cursed.” Danny laughed disbelievingly “Starting to buy that your smashed now.”

“He had twenty damn years to help me with this ghost bullshit, and he only takes an interest in me now that… what? I’m stepping in on his territory as a mentor? What’s the point of it? I know he’s just trying to make me look like a fool, and I am not going to be played for a fool. I figured everything out on my own and I am doing just fine so he can keep his nose out of my business. I neither want nor need his help.”

Danny was shocked, not only had Vlad Masters cursed several times but he had opened up about his feelings which was a rare event. Vlad did have to learn it all on his own, he just never really thought about it before. At one point, Vlad was just as terrified of his powers as Danny was. He had no idea what he had become and if he was even alive anymore. Even more than that Vlad didn’t have a Sam and Tucker to help him out. He really had been all alone. 

“Vlad… you’re right.” Danny said slowly.

“I’m… what?” Vlad had been ready to rant more about Danny’s seemingly perfect mentor but he hadn’t expected that kind of a response. 

“You did have to do it all alone. That sucks. I can’t even imagine having to figure this all out without help from someone else. But… we don’t have to figure it out alone anymore right? We have each other now and even if everything else sucks, we don’t have to be alone with it all anymore.” 

“And when I’ve taught you everything I know? Or how about when you realize you only really need one mentor when one of them is omnipotent? He can teach you everything I could and ten times better.” Vlad asked tiredly. “What could you possibly want to stick around for?” 

“Other than the fact that we are the only two of our kind?” Danny asked. “You’re basically family at this point dude. My dad considers you as good as his brother so that makes you my uncle. Family doesn’t ditch family, and I won’t ditch you.” Danny had a feeling that Clockwork had never wanted to actually teach Vlad. He was pretty sure that this was what he had wanted in the end and he made a mental note to thank him for it. 

“Promise?” Vlad asked, looking like that was more than he ever hoped.

“Promise.” Danny hugged him. 

[five-rivers]

Lethean

@ghostpetrol  Hello!  This is your Winter Truce gift!  :)  

This is mainly from your ghost king prompt, with a little bit of Skulker and friendly banter thrown in for seasoning. This wound up being much, much longer than I first expected it to be, and I hope it's coherent and enjoyable.  Happy holidays!

Read on FFN

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Lethean

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It was a town hall meeting about the ghost problem, so, of course, the ghosts had to show up. They didn't arrive in the usual way, however, which was swooping down on a crowd from the sky, or phasing through the ceiling. Oh, no. That was too pedestrian for these particular ghosts.

No. Instead, they tore the air open in dozens of great, green rents, and surrounded the assembled citizens of Amity Park in a matter of seconds.

But this was Amity Park. Ghosts were expected, not merely ironic.

There were ghost hunters in attendance. Many ghost hunters. The battle was pitched before the ghosts had fully entered the room.

The ghosts wore robes of black, gold, and white. Their skin was green, their claws long and sharp. Each one had a single, huge eye.

There was one exception, a ghost that looked slightly more human, though few present saw him. One ghost wore a purple robe, and held a long staff topped with a clock. A very few who he passed by later claimed he was crying, weeping, whispering, "I'm sorry," as he floated through the crowd.

As for the other ghosts, all anyone heard them say over the screams, ectoblasts, and ghost rays was "The King!" and "For the King!"

(Although there were a few that claimed the phrase wasn't "for the King," but "find the King.")

Then, as quickly as they had arrived, they were gone.

It took hours for Amity Park to realize that five teenagers had disappeared with them. After all, the five of them were always vanishing during ghost fights.

.

Danny awoke to the sound of running water. It was a pleasant sound, but not one he thought he should be sleeping near.

Nevertheless, he opened his eyes slowly. He felt languid and oddly heavy, though that might have been because he was wet.

Why was he wet?

He had been laying in the middle of a large, airy, atrium-like room, in a kind of depression with a drain on the bottom. The room itself was quite pleasant, and its numerous water features had provided the noise he was hearing.

He found what was in the room to be less so. There were people laying on the ground, scorch marks on the walls, and splatters of red and green on the floor.

He ran to the nearest person, a human girl with long, red hair. He checked her over. She didn't seem to be injured very much, except that she was unconscious.

On checking the other four, he found they were much the same.

They felt awfully familiar, but he couldn't recall where from. Actually, now that he thought about it, he couldn't remember any 'wheres' for them to be from.

This probably wasn't a good sign.

He looked around himself, trying to find a clue to who he was, or what he was doing here, other than his name. The only thing that really stood out to him was the complicated spigot set on the ceiling above the depression he had woken up in.

Then he saw the ghost.

His first impulse was to interpose himself in between the ghost and the humans, easily calling spectral power to his hands. But the ghost was crying, and he felt familiar in the same way the humans did.

He felt like family.

Danny let the ectoenergy he had gathered fade to nothing. He drifted hesitantly to the alcove the ghost was huddled in. It was on a balcony wrapping around the room, and Danny didn't see any stairs. He would have to fly up there.

"Hello?" he said, his voice echoing in the atrium. "Are you alright?" He floated up a little farther. "Can you help me? I think my- my friends are hurt, and I- I don't know what to do. Or why I'm here," he added more quietly, "or where I am." Or anything else, really, except his name.

"I'm sorry, Daniel," said the ghost, his voice ragged.

The ghost knew his name! That was a good sign, right? The apology... That was less good.

Danny flew the rest of the way up, and peered over the rail. He gasped. The ghost, who wore purple and definitely had a thing for clocks, was chained to the wall.

No longer cautious, Danny flew to the ghost's side. He tugged experimentally on the chains.

"Do you know if there's anything I can do? Is there a key?" He pulled a bit harder. The chain separated from the wall. "Oh. Huh." Abruptly, all the locks on the chains fell open. "Huh."

The ghost straightened, unfolding from the alcove. Danny flinched back at the sudden motion. The ghost was much taller than he had thought. But then, he suddenly wasn't. He was much smaller, younger, a baby. Then he was old.

Danny wilted back in confusion.

The ghost sighed, as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders. "My apologies, Daniel. I am Clockwork, the Ancient Master of Time." He returned to the appearance he'd had when Danny had first seen him. "I serve reality, the Infinite Realms, and the King of All Ghosts."

"Okay," said Danny. That sounded somewhat familiar. Not that he actually remember any of it, but he might have heard it before. But... King of All Ghosts? The term gave him a bad feeling.

The ghost put a hand on Danny's shoulder. "Daniel, what do you remember?"

"I- Nothing. I don't- My friends, I think they're hurt. They're unconscious. Can you help? I don't know what to do."

"There is nothing wrong. They are simply taking longer to recover from the purification ceremony than you."

"The what?"

"The purification ceremony," said Clockwork. "It is required for the King and his court to be purified with the waters of the five rivers, the Lethe, Acheron, Cocytus, Phlegethon and Styx, before the King ascends the throne."

Danny looked around, nervously, as if expecting a king to pop out of the floor.

"Daniel, you are the King."

Danny blinked. Oh. He hadn't expected that.

"Did something go wrong?" asked Danny. "You were chained up, and it looks like there's a fight. And I don't remember anything."

"Not remembering anything is part of the purification. It is to ensure that you are an impartial and fair ruler." Clockwork said the words almost as if they were physically hurting him. "As such, I cannot give you the details of what happened. Suffice it to say, there were some who did not agree with your nomination to the throne."

"Oh," said Danny again. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure you are the King of All Ghosts."

"No. That my friends are alright. They are my friends, right?" It wasn't like he had any evidence to back that up, after all. He could be wrong.

"Yes. They will be awake in just a few minutes, and they are your friends. Your very best friends."

Danny nodded, relieved in more ways than one.

"Shall we go down, and greet them?" asked Clockwork.

"I- Yes," said Danny. "Yes, that's a good idea."

.

"I don't get it," said the girl who called herself Ellie. She adjusted her ponytail again. She had done so eight times since they had say down. "You're saying he's the King of All Ghosts, but he's definitely human. That doesn't make sense."

Danny frowned. "But I'm not human. Not entirely. I'm half-ghost. Shouldn't I be saying the same thing, anyway? All of you look human."

"None of you are human," said Clockwork. "You are liminal spirits. You may appear human, but you have ghost cores. That is enough for you to be called ghosts."

"Cool!" said the girl who had introduced herself as Sam. "Does that mean we have powers? Dark abilities?"

"Of a sort, yes."

"Nice."

"Hey, Danny," said Tucker, "you don't seem too happy. Are you alright?" His fingers twitched, as if they wanted to touch something that just wasn't there.

"Of course he isn't," said Jazz. "He's just been given a huge responsibility he knows nothing about." Jazz was the first person he had checked on, when he woke up. "So have the rest of us, actually. What does the King's court actually do?"

They had left the atrium, and were sitting outdoors on violet grass under a swirling green sky. A few meters away from them, the ground abruptly ended. Clockwork had told them that they were on one of many floating islands in the Infinite Realms.

"That depends largely on the King," said Clockwork, half-bowing to Danny.

Danny squirmed. "It can't all be up to me. Can it? I mean, why even have a king at all, then? I could just, you know, not do anything."

Clockwork nodded. "You could choose to do nothing. Your mere existence is enough for the Infinite Realms. You inform their shape, their nature, and, to some extent, the nature of their inhabitants. For example, the last King of All Ghosts was a violent man. When he took the thrones, the environment of the realms became more hostile, more dangerous, less hospitable. Many larger islands fractured. Wars became more frequent. People as a whole became more aggressive. But there are other traditional roles, that you may take up, or not, if you so desire."

Wow. That made Danny feel even more apprehensive, if anything. He turned to the last member of the group. "What do you think, Valerie?"

Valerie shrugged, crossing her arms. "I think this whole thing is ridiculous, and I'm going to wake up in bed any minute now. I mean, ghosts, really? And you're in charge of all of them? No offense."

"No, that's fair," said Danny. He didn't feel kingly, that was for sure.

"Perhaps," said Clockwork, "I can bring you to your residence."

Danny looked back at the large building they had come from. "So... We don't live here?"

"No. This building is only used for the purification ritual."

"Wait," said Tucker, "how are we going to get there? Do you have a plane, or something?"

Danny turned to look at him. "You don't remember that we can fly? I mean, you've seen me and Clockwork flying."

"I must've gotten a higher dose of purification, or whatever," said Tucker. "I don't remember that at all. I thought that was a you thing. What about you guys?" he asked, turning to the others.

Ellie levitated up from the grass in response. Valerie clicked her heels together, and what looked like a high-tech surfboard popped out from the soles of her feet. The surfboard (hoverboard?) began to float, with Valerie on top.

Sam and Jazz, meanwhile, looked on with confusion. Then Sam snorted, and shook her head.

"Okay, Tucker, pure of heart, let's see if we can't figure this out."

.

The Observants arrived at the black castle only a few days after Danny and his friends had settled in. Clockwork ushered Danny to the cavernous throne room, and his friends gathered close around him, ready to fight, if need be. They had seen the Observants enter the castle from an upper window, and they had disliked the one-eyed ghosts on sight. None of them had yet determined why, and Clockwork wouldn't say anything.

Danny especially didn't like how Clockwork seemed to be almost afraid of the Observants. He hoped the little practice they had done with their abilities and powers would be enough, if things got violent.

He settled into the overlarge throne, very aware that he was wearing a t-shirt and pajama bottoms. Valerie, with her armor-summoning abilities, was really the only one dressed for a confrontation.

"Open," he commanded the doors on the far side of the room. They obeyed, swinging inward.

The Observants filed in. Danny pulled his legs up onto the throne. He probably shouldn't have, he knew it made him look younger and less confident. Too late. Putting them down might make him look indecisive, on top of all that.

The Observants stopped before the steps leading up to the throne. One of them raised up an elaborate chest, and eased it open.

"We have brought you your crown, your majesty."

So they had. The Crown of Fire flickered softly in the confines of the chest.

A second Observant raised a smaller box. "We have brought your ring, your majesty."

The Ring of Rage laid, quiescent, on the crushed black velvet lining of the box, the carved skull on its front glaring up at Danny.

Danny pushed up, out of the throne, and hovered a few inches over the ground. He flew down the steps to the Observants, and examined the Crown for several minutes. The Observants seemed to be holding their breaths, waiting for something.

Of course, they were ghosts. They didn't have to breathe. Even Danny didn't have to breathe, when he was in ghost form.

He reached down and picked up the Crown. The fires it was wreathed in immediately changed from a sickly, rotten green to a pale, icy blue-white. The Crown itself expanded and thinned. Danny tilted his head. He hadn't expected that. He lifted the Crown up over his head, where it stayed, floating.

The Observant closed the chest and quickly withdrew. Danny turned his attention to the ring bearer. It occurred to him, then, that they were afraid of him.

Why?

He'd ask Clockwork, but Clockwork probably wouldn't say.

He picked up the ring. It turned a dark, silvery gray, and the skull disappeared. Odd. He put it on the middle finger of his right hand. It fit perfectly. That Observant pulled back as well, disappearing among the others.

"Your majesty," said a third Observant. "It is time for you take up your responsibilities as King of All Ghosts."

.

Danny retreated in confusion. The Observants wanted a lot of things, most of which didn't really make sense to Danny. Valerie pushed the door firmly closed behind them.

"Alright," said Tucker, pointing at Danny. "If this is going to happen a lot, we need to get you some better threads. Like, something cool."

Danny looked down at his pajamas. "Yeah, probably."

"Also, we should probably look into the laws and precedents of the Infinite Realms, if we're going to be called on for advice."

"And by we, we mean you, mostly," said Sam. "Since you're the King. We'll help you, though." She elbowed Danny, lightly. "As much as we can."

"We can run interference, if nothing else," said Ellie, leaning into Valerie's arm.

"Thanks," said Danny, smiling slightly.

On the inside, he was freaking out. He had felt directionless ever since he had woken up, and that feeling was worse than ever. He didn't know what he was doing, or what he should be doing.

It was awful.

"Hey," said Sam. "Look at me, Danny."

"What?"

"It's going to be fine. Don't worry. According to Clockwork, we don't technically have to do any of this."

"Right," said Danny. It wasn't as much of a relief as it should have been. He felt bad. All his friends were trying so hard to help him, and he was basically useless, no help at all.

There was a knock at the door. "Your majesty, you can't just ignore your responsibilities. We will help you, advise you!"

Clockwork sighed, heavily. "You do not have to do anything, Daniel, least of all whatever they want." His words dripped with venom.

The banging continued. "Clockwork! Open this door!"

Clockwork jerked towards the door.

"Stop!" said Danny.

Clockwork stopped, and seemed to sag in relief.

"Can they make you do things?" asked Danny. "Were they the ones who chained you up before?"

"I cannot tell you."

"Why? Because they told you not to say anything?" asked Danny, suspicious.

Clockwork was silent. He wouldn't look at Danny.

Danny bit his lip, incensed on Clockwork's behalf. He threw open the door. The Observants weren't going to take advantage of him, and they certainly weren't going to take advantage of any of his friends.

He threw open the door.

"Your majesty," started the Observants.

"No," said Danny. "Whatever you're doing to Clockwork, you're going to stop. You can't order him around anymore."

"Your majesty," said what he was taking as the head Observant, "I don't know what he's been telling you-"

"Nothing. Which is the problem," said Danny. "Did you tell him not to? Were you the ones who attacked the purification ceremony?"

"No one attacked the purification ceremony!" protested the Observant. "We were running the ceremony."

Alarm bells started to ring in Danny's head. Big, nasty ones.

"You were running the ceremony." Danny looked between the Observants and Clockwork. "The ceremony where we all lost our memories."

"It was necessary," said the Observant. "All the Kings go through it."

"He's lying," said Jazz, suddenly.

"How do you know," asked Valerie.

"I don't know, I just do. How did you know how to use your suit?"

Danny turned a glare to the Observants. "Stay away from me and my friends. Including Clockwork. Don't you dare order him around anymore. Or else."

"Your majesty-"

"Get out."

"But-"

"Get out of our home. I don't want to ever see you ever again. Ever." He slammed the door.

"So, uh, we didn't have to forget our lives?" asked Ellie. "Is that the takeaway here?"

"No, I think the takeaway is our memories," said Tucker.

"That's one way to put it," said Danny. He rubbed his eye, angrily. "Clockwork, is there any way to get our memories back?"

"I can't say," said Clockwork, miserably. "I'm sorry, Daniel."

"That's the first thing you said to me," said Danny.

"It is."

"Because the Observants made you lie?"

"I can't say."

Danny groaned.

.

The Observants weren't the last petitioners. Surprisingly, most of them wanted to work in the castle. Cooking, cleaning, guarding, tailoring, doing various... castle-things. They wanted to fulfill their Obsessions in service to the King. Which was Danny.

Honestly, he didn't get it. He wasn't nearly cool enough to deserve that. He especially wasn't cool enough to deserve the praise the big white yetis heaped on him. But they were nice.

Danny was finally becoming more relaxed, too. Somehow, having more people around was helping him. He liked seeing what people were doing. He liked seeing them happy, and they seemed to like him helping them, and explaining various things to him.

Which was very good. Because he didn't really know a lot. Hardly anything, actually. He was pretty ignorant, sadly.

Right now, he was with a pair of tailors who were putting him into a suit vest with long tails and short pants. The vest was probably very nice, but Danny didn't know much about suits. All he knew was that it sort of made him feel sort of elven, or fairy-like.

There was a knock on the door, and Jazz stuck her head in.

"Hey," she said, "we have company. I think you'd better come."

"Is it the Observants again?" asked Danny. The one-eyed ghosts hadn't given up. He, Sam, and Tucker were looking for ways to keep them out of the castle.

"No. They're from the Far Frozen."

"Okay," said Danny. "Sorry guys, but I need to go."

"That's fine, your majesty, we are almost finished." The tailor waved her hand, and the stitching finished itself off. "Do you like it?"

Danny looked in the mirror, and smiled at the star patterns in the embroidery. "Yes, it's very nice. Thank you."

"No, thank you. It has been far too long since my work was worn by someone deserving."

Danny blushed. He didn't know if he was deserving.

"Okay. Well, bye," he said, slipping out the door. He turned to Jazz. "Did they say what they wanted?"

"Just that it was important, and you could help. They were worried," she added.

They entered the room where Jazz had left the yetis to wait. They both bowed immediately. Danny still wasn't used to that.

"Jazz said that you needed my help?" he prompted.

"Yes, Great One," said one of the yetis, rising. "I am Snowfall of the Far Frozen, and I have been sent by Chief Frostbite."

Danny nodded. He'd only met Frostbite the one time, briefly, along with a bunch of other leaders, but he liked him. He was big, soft, and friendly.

"The Far Frozen is in danger. A recent battle has displaced one of the Fire Islands, sending it flying towards the Far Frozen. The temperatures are becoming unbearable, and collision is imminent."

"What can I do?" asked Danny. He wanted to help, but he felt that averting a natural disaster on this scale was beyond him. "Do you need help evacuating? New homes?"

Deep-seated worry passed over Snowfall's face before being hidden again. "One of the powers of the King is redirecting the movements of the floating islands."

"Oh!" said Danny, brightening. Maybe he could avert a natural disaster. "How do I do that?"

The two yetis looked at each other. "We were hoping you knew."

"Oh," said Danny, much less energetically. "I guess I'll... go see if Clockwork knows."

.

Danny stood barefoot on top of a snow drift in the Far Frozen. The Far Frozen was beautiful and peaceful. The snow felt good on his feet.

Less good was the giant, flaming, erupting volcano floating a few miles above the island. He could taste ash on the wind. The tips of the Far Frozen's great glaciers were melting. He could feel the heat on his face

He reached into himself, into his core. Cold flowed out from him, chilling his surrounding. Snowflakes condensed from the air around him, and fell gently to the ground.

He looked over his shoulder at his friends. "Do you think it's getting farther away yet?"

Sam and Tucker were almost unrecognizable under all their layers. Both of them had relatively warm cores. Valerie was wrapped up in her suit, which was impervious to temperature changes. Jazz was dressed warmly, but not like Sam and Tucker. Ellie, meanwhile, had had much the same reaction to the Far Frozen as Danny, which was to say, she loved it.

"It is not," said Clockwork.

"Has it at least stopped getting closer?"

"No."

"Has it... Slowed down?"

"Yes."

"Well, that's progress, right?" He looked back up at the volcano before he got an answer. "What if I went up there, and just, you know, froze it? It'd still hit, but it wouldn't melt anything any more, right?"

"Daniel, you can do this."

"I know, I just don't feel like I can." The sentence came out as a very un-kingly whine. "It's a giant mountain! It's ridiculous."

"Maybe that's the problem," said Jazz. "Not feeling like you can do it."

Danny groaned.

"We all have weird powers," said Sam, teeth chattering. "Tucker has that electricity thing, I have my plants, you have ice, Jazz has mind powers... Why is this so much weirder."

"I don't know!" Danny threw up his hands, and glared at the approaching island. "Why won't you just go away?" he demanded. "You're hurting people! Go somewhere you aren't. This place is huge! You have plenty of room!"

"Ah, there we go," said Clockwork.

"Wait, what, really?" asked Danny, flabbergasted. "That's what worked?" But even as he said it, he felt a sensation of rightness settle in his core. It was moving away. The Far Frozen was safe. He had done a good thing, today.

"Note," said Tucker. "Talking inanimate objects does work, I'm not crazy."

"You are crazy," said Valerie. "You named that PDF-"

"PDA," interjected Tucker.

"-Janet. Who does that?"

.

The Far Frozen might be a snowbound wasteland, but Frostbite really knew how to throw a party. There was food, music, dancing, lights, everything.

Danny was maybe just a little intimidated by all the cheering they were doing, but, hey, it was still pretty cool.

After a while, though, the yetis calmed down or were distracted, and he was able to slip away and find a quieter side room to hang out with his friends in. He collapsed gratefully onto an icy couch.

"Wow," said Tucker. "That was a party. Like, the best party ever. I don't think I've ever been to a better party."

"I don't think we've been to any parties, except this one," said Danny.

"Huh?"

"We haven't been to any parties. Not since we lost our memories."

Tucker blinked. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I hadn't really thought about that. Maybe we should throw one when we get back to the castle."

Danny sighed, and was surprised to hear a nearly identical one from Ellie.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I just-" Ellie sighed. "I don't want to go back to the castle."

"You want to stay here?" asked Sam, sounding shocked. "But, it's so cold."

"Well, it's really nice here, and it would be good to learn more about our ice powers, but, I mean..." she trailed off, uncertainly.

"What if we traveled around?" asked Danny. "I've been looking at some history things with Clockwork. Human kings used to do that, travel around and see where they were needed. I think we could help more people that way. The castle is kind of hard to get to."

Ellie sat up from where she had been laying. "That would be nice," she said. "I think I'd like that."

"We'd be able to learn more about the Realms, too," said Sam, thoughtfully. "But we should probably put a limit on how long we stay in any one place, except for the castle. So we don't put too much strain on anyone. Either our hosts, or ourselves." She gestured to herself and Tucker. "We don't all like the same things. Obviously."

Danny nodded. "We'll want to stay if we're in the middle of something, though."

"That's reasonable," said Sam. "Just-" She shivered. "Well, you get it. It's cold here. You two Phantoms probably wouldn't feel great about hanging out in a tropical jungle."

"That's true," said Danny. "What do you guys think? Val? Clockwork?"

"Sounds cool to me," said Valerie, shrugging.

"It will open many opportunities for you," said Clockwork. "It will, however, be wise to return to the black castle periodically."

"Okay, cool! I guess we're decided, then. Tomorrow, we'll have to ask if they have any maps here, and figure out where to go!"

.

"They don't look dangerous," said Valerie.

"They're really pretty," said Jazz. She sighed. "It's so cool that they're real."

"Are you kidding?" said Danny. "Do you see those horns? Those hooves? Feel that ectosignature? They're dangerous." He narrowed his eyes and peered over the large rock he was hiding behind. "And evil. Very evil. The most evil."

Grazing in the center of the floating island was a herd of unicorns. They were black and hot pink, with long, grey horns, and sharp teeth and hooves. Their manes were made of ghostly flame. On the other side of the island stood the flaming ruins of a once-thriving community.

Removing them was the latest task Danny and his friends had taken on. They'd been traveling and helping people for some time. Months, maybe. But it was hard to tell exactly, because the Infinite Realms didn't have strictly defined days and nights. Some of the individual Realms did, but not all of them together.

"Come on, Danny. They're animals. They don't have the awareness to be evil," said Sam. "They're just acting according to their nature."

"Either way, we still have to chase them off."

"No, no, that's not going to work," said Sam. "They'll either come back, or bother someone else. What we need to do is relocate them."

"What's the difference?" asked Ellie.

Clockwork wasn't with them today. As Master of Time, he did have other responsibilities. He had said something about a complex paradox he needed to untangle before he left.

"The difference is that one is humane, and actually fixes things, and the other just makes the problem repeat later."

"No, I mean, practically. What would we have to do differently?" asked Ellie.

"We'd need to find a place to relocate them to, first," said Sam. "Then we'd have to catch them, somehow, or guide them away."

"Oh yeah! Clockwork gave me a thing like that! Look." He showed them the shiny green and white cylinder.

"I've got something that looks like that, but square," said Valerie, "and redder. Actually, it doesn't look like that at all. Why did I think it did? Anyway, it catches ghosts. Yeah. I'm pretty sure, anyway. I haven't tested it."

"Okay. So, we can't just leave them here while we search for a place to put them. Sorry, Sam. They're just too dangerous. They might attack somewhere else. Once they're all caught, then we can find somewhere to relocate them to."

Sam sighed, but nodded. "You're right. So how should we approach this? Maybe Val and I could go around from behind, and we can kind of pinch them together?"

That was a good idea. "Yeah, I was sort of thinking-"

"Hey, guys?" said Tucker. "They're looking at us."

The unicorns were indeed looking at them, Danny saw. The closest stamped its hoof, and lowered its horn.

Danny swallowed. "Oh, jeez."

.

A few hours later, Danny and the others laid, out of breath and exhausted, on another, much smaller floating island.

"Okay," said Danny, weakly raising an arm. "That didn't go to plan."

"There was a plan?" asked an unfamiliar voice. "You could have fooled me."

Danny snapped upright, his first instinct being to defend his friends. Of course, their first instinct was to defend him, so all their various weapons and glowing fists wound up pointed at the hapless ghost.

The ghost in question was encased in silver armor modeled (very roughly) on human anatomy. He had rivets, a green, fiery mohawk, and sort of stubby legs. He also looked rather intimidated.

"Uh," said Danny, lowering his fists. "Sorry. Who are you?"

"I am Skulker! The Ghost Zone's greatest hunter!" He puffed out his chest.

"Hunter!?" screeched Sam. "You mean you hunt poor innocent animals?"

Skulker looked sideways at Danny. "What can I say that will make her not attack me?"

"Do you hunt animals?" asked Danny.

"It's not like I kill them! Make your girlfriend stop looking at me like that!"

"She's not my girlfriend!" objected Danny, quickly.

"I'm not his girlfriend!"

"You're back at that? Really?" asked Skulker. "I know your memories got erased, but really?"

"You knew us?" asked Jazz, with interest. "Is there anything you can tell us?" They had met several people who had knew them before, but their accounts of what they had been like were... confused. At best.

"You were the greatest prey I've ever had the pleasure of hunting!" said Skulker. "And also one of the best hunters. Except for me, of course. But that," he pointed back towards where the unicorn horn still was, "that was pathetic. What happened?"

"Well," drawled Danny, "it might have something to do with that whole memory erasing thing you were talking about. By the way, are you, like, really a tiny little ghost inside a robot suit?"

"Oh my gosh!" said Tucker, floating higher. "You're a mecha? That's so cool! How do you work?"

"I am cool," said Skulker, "and- Wait. How did you know that? How did you know about that?"

"I don't know. Your ectosignature is just kind of weird. But, back to you, you're a hunter? Have you hunted, you know, unicorns before?"

"They're actually why I'm here," said Skulker, proudly. "But then I saw what you were doing, and it was just so hilarious that I couldn't stop laughing long enough to properly pilot my suit."

"Cool. But have you ever caught one before?"

"No. Actually, you once saved me from being brutally dismembered by one. But, today, that will change! Today, I capture a unicorn for my collection!"

Danny tilted his head. At this point, no one was threatening Skulker anymore.

"By collection," said Sam, slowly, "what do you mean, exactly?"

"My collection," repeated Skulker, "on my island. I let all my prizes roam free, of course, so I can have the pleasure of hunting them again!"

"Okay. Yeah. That's good enough for the demon horses," said Sam. "We're teaming up and giving them to you."

"I- What? No, that's a terrible idea," said Skulker.

"That's a great idea!" said Danny.

"No."

"Yes!"

"I'm the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter! I don't team up with anyone."

"But shouldn't the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter be able to teach people how to be great hunters?" asked Jazz.

"Ohhhhhhh," groaned Skulker.

Danny smiled.

.

"Ssooooo," said Danny, sliding in next to Tucker. "You were a pharaoh before. I wonder how that works, what with your tech Obsession?"

"Well," said Tucker, vaguely waving his hands at the tall, shiny pyramids in front of them. "I don't think tech is my only Obsession. Protection isn't your only Obsession. But, I probably fell in here through a portal from Egypt. That happens."

"Speaking of which, do we even know what time period it is out in the human world?" asked Danny. "I've seen people from all over. Like, the farthest back person I've seen is from, like, prehistory, and the farthest along had this raygun thing going on for them. But maybe they were just Obsessed with science fiction."

"Who knows," said Tucker, shrugging. "Hey, I think- I think I need to stay here for a bit longer. I just want to, I don't know. Find out who I am."

"That's cool, dude. Take all the time you need."

.

"... and he just... gave you a sword?"

"Yep," said Jazz, looking down at the object. "I think he was an Ancient, like Clockwork. Fright Knight."

"So that's... That's Soulshredder," said Danny, pointing. "The sword that will send you to a dimension that contains your worst fears if you get cut by it."

"Yeah," said Jazz.

Danny rubbed his eyes, and sat down on an overstuffed chair. They were staying in a rather nice house in Logres-Prydain, which was a rather nice, large archipelago ruled by certain deceased and imaginary British monarchs.

They hadn't done anything there, except for playing tourist, Logres-Prydain was a very stable realm, apart from its fits of melodrama. Not at all like Albion, the other realm ruled by former British leaders, which had far more than the occasional colonial impulse. Still, it had been a nice, relaxing vacation.

Until now.

"Did he say why?"

Jazz shrugged. "He said that it belonged to the first defender of the King, and he wasn't doing that anymore."

"Oh. Well. I guess that makes sense. You're going to have to get sword lessons, though. I told you that you should have joined the rest of us when Frostbite gave us lessons."

"But the library."

"Yeah," said Danny, remembering. "The library. It was pretty cool." He paused. "Do you think Fright Knight would give you lessons, or should we get, like, the Green Knight, or something?"

"Uh. Since he kind of left right after giving this to me, I'd say the second option."

"Good call."

.

They stood over the hulking, but defeated form of Undergrowth, former Ancient of Plant Life.

Danny had never seen Sam look so awesome.

"How did you take control of his plants?" he asked, tapping one of Undergrowth's vines with his foot and freezing it. Maybe Undergrowth was tied up by Sam's plants, but Danny didn't want him to root himself again.

Sam shrugged. "I don't know. I think I might have done it before? It felt sort of familiar. You know how it is."

"Yep," agreed Danny. He sighed. "So, what do we do with him?"

"Isn't he wanted?" asked Valerie. "I think I saw a poster or two, back in Logres."

"Mhm. By the Observants, though," said Danny.

"Okay," said Ellie. "So what? Make them work for their keep, or whatever."

"Not a bad idea," said Danny. "I kinda feel like we might regret it eventually, but I don't really care. What do you say, we wear Undergrowth down until he fits in the thermos, take him to the Observants, and then go back around, pick everyone up, and go home?"

Sam stretched. "Sounds good to me. This whole thing," she waved at the ghostly jungle around her, "has given me some ideas about how to Observant-proof the castle."

.

"This is actually really cool," said Sam. "I thought it would be like a zoo, with all the animals in cages, but it isn't."

"I told you it wasn't," said Skulker, sulkily.

They had stopped by Skulker's island while circling back to Logres-Prydain to pick up Jazz. It wasn't quite on the way, but Sam and Valerie had wanted to see it. Sam because she was still suspicious as to Skulker's treatment of animals, and Valerie because she wanted to learn more about hunting. She really liked hunting. Almost to a disturbing degree.

Danny hoped she wouldn't wind up after his skin like Skulker apparently had been.

His life had been weird before. He wished he knew more about it, wished one of the ghosts he met would tell him something more than, Oh, hey, I used to fight you a lot, but I want to be best friends now.

He wished he knew why none of the ghosts would say anything. It couldn't all be because of the Observants.

Could it?

"Skulker," said Danny, interrupting. "What were our lives like?"

The ghost went quiet. "Complicated," he said, finally. "More than I ever knew about, even if I did hunt you and observe your behavior meticulously!"

"Wow," drawled Ellie. "That's not creepy at all."

"You lived with your parents, and your sister," continued Skulker.

"Ellie?"

"No, the red-haired one. You went to one of those human schools with your girlfriend and her," he pointed at Valerie, "and that tech-y boy."

"You mean Tucker's not from ancient Egypt?" Oh, boy, he hoped that wasn't going to turn into a problem later on.

"No. Why would you think that?"

"Long story. What about me?" asked Ellie.

"Honestly, I don't know where you came from. You're related to him, somehow, though."

"Oh," said Ellie, clearly disappointed.

"But that's really all I know."

"That's it?" asked Danny. "Do you know what happened to our parents?"

"No. It isn't like we were best friends. Oh, yes, that's right. You and the huntress used to be enemies. Once I pitted you against one another on this very island! Good times."

"Okaaaaaaaaaay," said Danny. "This has been fun and all buuuuuuuuuuuut I think it's time to go." He started floating away, awkwardly.

"Sure, whatever," said Skulker, waving. "Visit soon! I have to introduce you to my girlfriend!"

.

"Clockwork?" asked Danny. "Are you okay?" Ever since they'd gotten back to the castle, Clockwork had been acting nervous and stressed.

"I'm fine, Daniel," said Clockwork, fidgeting with the hem of his robes. "I am simply... anticipating."

"Anticipating what?"

"Certain... Events. That will happen."

"Like, bad events, or good events?"

"Events," repeated Clockwork.

"Give me a hint?" asked Danny, half-playfully. He leaned back in his chair, and played with the toes of his bare feet. He actually quite liked the suits with short pants the tailors kept giving him. He was less certain about the pocket watch, anklets and other decorations they were adding lately, but he did like the ticking sound the pocket watch made, so it was all good.

Clockwork shook his head. "No, Daniel. I can't tell you about the future. I apologize for being distracted. Now, where were we?"

"I think you were talking about the Swan Princesses, and the settlement of White Mountain?"

"Indeed." He waved his hand, and an image appeared in the air, like a holographic projection. "Now, if you will turn your attention here..."

.

"How do you like it?" asked Sam. She and Tucker had been working on a new barrier for the castle for the past two weeks. The result was floating, interlocking, shifting hedges of black roses grown over a framework of shiny tech. It was a bizarre, but oddly appealing combination.

"It's great!" said Danny. "But it isn't going to keep people who need us out, is it? As in, people who need us who aren't the Observants?" He'd asked the question before, but he felt the need for confirmation.

"It'll let people who ask for help in," said Tucker, proudly. "People who say they need help. My stuff will also give me alerts whenever something unusual comes up."

"So will mine," said Sam, quickly. "Not as quickly, but it'll be good as backup, if Tucker isn't available."

"That's really amazing, you guys. I wish I could have helped."

"Pft. It's no problem," said Tucker, waving his hand. "You've been really busy."

"Still," said Danny.

"No, dude. You were stopping a war, weren't you?"

"And averting a natural disaster," said Sam. "The Lethe flooding could have been a real problem."

"Not to mention rescuing all those guys the ghost hunters caught, and figuring out what to do with the ghost hunters," continued Tucker. "What did you do with them, anyway?"

Danny shrugged. "I just kicked them back out into the human world. I hope they don't come back."

"Anyway," said Sam. "There is something you can do with this, if you want to. We left room for your ice, and-" she took out a papery packet. "Tada! Iceflower seeds. Between the two of us, we should be able to make them grow, and then you can have just as much warning when someone is knocking on our door as we do."

"Cool!" said Danny. Then he grinned. "Literally."

Sam and Tucker groaned in stereo. "Seriously?" said Tucker.

Danny shrugged. "The pun was just sitting there. You couldn't expect me not to take it. But, really, Sam. Where did you get these? I thought Frostbite said they were almost extinct."

"Eh, well, I got help from the Far Frozen, and we all asked around. I'm thinking about starting a seed bank, or a botanical garden. You know, to preserve ecological diversity."

"In her copious free time, you know."

"Shut up, Tucker."

.

This was Jack and Maddie's fifth trip into the Ghost Zone. Every time they got further in. Every time they improved the Specter Speeder. This time was different, though. Last time, they had seen the Ghost King.

It had only been from a distance, and he had looked very different from when he had dragged Amity Park into the Ghost Zone two years ago, but their instruments didn't lie. He was the only ghost who could possibly have that much power. No other came close.

Maddie wished the encounter had lasted longer, that the Ghost King had stayed still long enough for their instruments to analyze his ectosignature and determine what his powers and weaknesses were. If she and Jack were to defeat him, and get their children back, they needed every advantage possible.

At the same time, Maddie knew they had been lucky. If the portal hadn't opened up before the Ghost King attacked them, they could have been killed. They hadn't been prepared to face him, then. Now they were. The Specter Speeder had been fitted with all of their very best weapons. They were ready. Ready to get their children back, or die trying.

The universe seemed to agree with them. They had yet to have a single ghostly encounter. The Ghost Zone was quiet, quiescent. The sky spun slowly around them, islands passing by in the distance.

"According to the ghosts we questioned," Maddie said, "the Ghost King's castle should be this way, and he should be in residence."

Jack nodded grimly. "I wi-"

"Don't say that word. Don't you remember what happened last month?"

"Sorry, Mads."

Maddie bit her lip. "So am I. I didn't mean to snap at you." She sighed. "I'm stressed. What were you saying?"

"It would have better," said Jack, cautiously, "if any of the ghosts had known why the Ghost King woke up again."

"It would have been nice to know what had woken him up in the first place," said Maddie. "But it doesn't matter. We're not trying to put him to sleep." A flash of odd color caught Maddie's eye, and she leaned forward, looking up through the windshield, to try to see what it was and where it had gone. "Did you see-?"

A bolt of fuchsia energy hit the front of the Speeder and splashed against the shields. Alarms sounded in the cabin as the Speeder was forced down. Maddie cursed, and began activating weapons. Why hadn't the ghost detector gone off?

Oh. Now it activated.

"Big ectosignature, Mads!" shouted Jack over the noise.

"The King?" asked Maddie, as green, then pink, hit the shields.

"Not quite that big, but- What's that?" The Speeder shook under another barrage.

Maddie yanked on the controls. "Two colors! There must be two of them!"

"The engines!"

"What?"

A temperature warning suddenly went off. Were they overheating? No, the engine temperature had dropped. An ice user? Like Phantom had been?

Maddie revved the engine, but it was too late. It had gotten too cold, and they were dead in the water.

Yet another fruitless trip. Maddie hit the steering wheel. They could probably fight their way out of this, with all their weaponry, and rig up a way back, but they'd have to go back to the drawing board as far as their rescue attempt went.

It was probably a good thing. If they were brought so low by these ghosts, they would have been destroyed by the Ghost King. But, still, it was so frustrating.

"Maddie, I can't get a lock!"

Maddie snapped back to the present, and frantically started pressing buttons.

Then the barrage stopped, suddenly and completely.

"Still only one ectosignature?"

"No, I have two, but one is so small, I can't-"

A red figure on a board swooped into view in front of the Specter Speeder. Maddie froze completely. That was Valerie Gray.

Yes, she was wearing that red ghost hunting armor, but Phantom had revealed her, back when the Ghost King had dragged Amity Park into the Ghost Zone. Maddie wasn't likely to forget that, or anything that had happened then.

"Ghost hunters!" shouted Valerie Gray, loudly enough to be heard inside the Speeder. "Disable your weapons, and open the doors of your vehicle."

A ghost girl appeared out of thin air next to Valerie. The board tipped somewhat, and the girl seemed to laugh, gesturing at Valerie with a teasing gesture.

The ghost looked like Phantom, almost like she could be his sister. His twin, even. That would be incredibly rare, among ghosts. But then, Phantom had always been an oddity, right up until he had disappeared entirely.

Maddie wasn't surprised he was involved in this, however tangentially.

She fumbled for the PA microphone. "Valerie Gray?"

The conversation outside stopped, as both girls turned their attention back to the Speeder. Valerie's mask receded from her face.

"How do you know my name?"

"You don't recognize us?"

"Kind of hard to, considering you're in that big thing. All I know is that you're the ones who've been harassing people and causing problems." Valerie crossed her arms. "Why don't you come out, then we can talk about whether or not we know each other."

Maddie lowered the microphone, and turned to Jack. "It's obviously a trap," she said.

"But she might know where Danny and Jazz are," said Jack, "and even if she doesn't, we have a duty to her, as well. She's a victim, too."

"She might be overshadowed," said Maddie, even as she nodded in agreement.

"She's definitely under some kind of control. Otherwise she'd never work with a ghost. But I think we have to risk it. For Jazz and Danny."

"For Jazz and Danny," agreed Maddie.

She pushed open her door and leaned out. The void of the Ghost Zone yawned dizzily beneath her, the ectoplasmic mists spiraling down forever. She waved at Valerie. "Alright, let's tal-"

The ghost girl was abruptly next to Maddie, and there were four of her.

"Gotcha," she (they?) said, grinning, as they grabbed onto her and Jack.

Maddie's vision blurred, and when it came back into focus, she found herself next to Valerie Gray, supported in the air by two copies of the ghost girl. Jack was similarly imprisoned.

"So," said one of the copies. "What should we do with these guys? Any thoughts, Val?"

Valerie Gray regarded them silently. There were streaks of red in her hair, and flecks of gold in her eyes. An affectation, or a side effect of living in the Ghost Zone for so long?

"You say you know me," said Valerie. "How?"

"You mean," gasped Maddie, trying not to think about the endless drop beneath her feet, "you don't know us?"

"No. I don't. What are you even doing in here? You're human."

"So are you!" said Jack.

Valerie shrugged. "Not entirely. I'm going to ask again, what are you doing in the Infinite Realms?"

"We're looking for our children," said Maddie.

"Oh, we can help with that," said the ghost girl. "When did they die?"

"They didn't," snapped Maddie. "They were kidnapped, by your king!"

Valerie snorted. "I highly doubt that. When was this?"

"Almost a year ago," said Maddie. "The same time you disappeared."

"Uh huh," said Valerie. "Well, it wasn't our king. He hasn't been reigning for that long, yet. I doubt it was the last guy, either. Last time I checked, he was still locked up."

"What were your kids' names?" asked the ghost girl.

"Their names are Daniel and Jasmine," said Maddie.

"Okay, cool. Hey, Val, what do you say we have our resident mind reader take a look at them?"

.

The floating island the ghost girl had set them down on was tiny. Barely large enough to pace on. If the ghost girl or Valerie had been on it with them, it would have been far too crowded. As it was, the two girls had chosen to float some distance above the island while one of the ghost girl's duplicates went to go get the 'mind reader.'

Maddie surreptitiously checked her suit's built-in weapons for the fifth time. Maybe it would be better to attack the ghost now, but then the absent duplicate would still be free to gather reinforcements. If the 'mind reader' was the ghost controlling Valerie, defeating it could free her, and get the Fentons an ally.

If not, then- then-

Maddie didn't know. She had come into the Ghost Zone with so many plans, but they had all depended on having the Specter Speeder, which was now a floating dot in the distance. More than that, she was distracted by Valerie's apparent amnesia.

Would Danny and Jazz remember them? Would they be under the control of ghosts as well? How would they get past that? They had expected them to be imprisoned, yes. They had even expected them to be hurt, or controlled. But amnesiac? That hadn't been something they had planned for.

"Here we come," said the ghost girl, above them.

Maddie looked up, and traced her gaze to two approaching dots. They grew larger and larger, until they resolved into humanoid figures. One was the ghost girl. The other...

The other was Jazz.

She had a blue streak in her hair, and her eyes flashed pale yellow-orange when she looked down at Jack and Maddie, but it was definitely Jazz. It was Jazz, despite her anachronistic clothing, despite the long, thin, and wicked sword strapped to her waist.

It was Jazz, and the blank look on her face when she met Maddie's eyes confirmed her worst fears. Jazz didn't remember them at all.

.

"They're telling the truth," said Jazz.

"They are? Really? You and Danny are their kids?" asked Ellie.

"That's what they think, anyway," said Jazz. She glanced back down at the couple. "They're also hiding enough weapons to equip an army."

"You should have seen their spaceship thing."

"And what Val said to them when they were in their spaceship thing. She sounded like Walker!"

"I did not."

"Did too!"

"Okay, okay," said Jazz. "But what should we do with them? Send them home? Get Danny? What?"

"Well," said Ellie, "what do you want to do?"

Jazz sighed. "I don't know. I'd just as soon not deal with this. I mean, we've all been curious about our pasts, but our responsibility is to the Realms, and they're, well. A menace."

"You don't feel anything for them?" asked Valerie, sounding surprised.

"I do, but..." Jazz shrugged, unable to explain just what she felt. "Anyway, they think we're being mind controlled or something. I don't think we can just get through to them. But if we just send them back to the human world, they'll come back. At least, that's the vibe I'm getting right now."

"It's like with the unicorns," said Ellie. She paused. "Does that mean we have to relocate them?"

"No, I don't think that would work. Or it might work," Jazz corrected herself, "insofar as getting them out of the way, but not in terms of having a satisfying conclusion. I mean, imagine if we left them on an island somewhere. We'd always be wondering and worrying about them, wouldn't we? And they'd always be trying to escape. But... I think you have a point, comparing them to the unicorns."

"Wow, thanks, Jazz. I was beginning to think that everything I said was wrong."

"Oh, come on. I'm just trying to talk myself through this."

"I get it, I get it. Go on. Tell me how I'm right."

"I think we need to give them what they want, at least partially, then they won't feel the need to come back. It might help us get some closure, too, as far as our former lives go."

"Meaning?" prompted Valerie.

"Meaning, we should take them to Danny."

.

"I'm getting a signal from the barrier," said Tucker. He was decked out in all his Egyptian gear, but also with a whole lot of tech. It left something of an odd impression.

Danny looked up from a pile of correspondence. "Oh, yeah? Is it the Observants?"

"No, it's Jazz, Val, and Ellie with a couple of humans." Tucker drummed on the table. "I'm going to go check it out."

"With the side effect of leaving us with all of this," said Sam. She gestured at the table full of letters.

"Hey, it's Danny's fan mail," said Tucker, pointing finger guns at the two of them. "Catch you later."

A few minutes later, he came back.

"Hey, guys. Problem. Big problem."

Jazz came in right after him. "I don't know if it's a problem, exactly, but Val and Ellie are outside the barrier with our parents."

.

"Is this what you were talking about?" Danny asked Clockwork. "That event you were talking about earlier."

Clockwork shrugged, misery evident in his motions.

"Is this the Observant's orders, still? I could smack their eyeballs right out of their heads..."

"What are we going to do?" asked Tucker. "Talk to them? Send them away? What?"

"How about we make them go through our maze?"

"Wh- Why would we do that?" asked Danny.

"I don't know. It sounds like fun. Oh! It might make them reveal their weapons. That would be good, right?" Sam shrugged.

"I guess, but I think that might be, you know, unnecessarily cruel," said Danny.

"Yeah, so?"

"So, that's bad."

"Is it?"

Danny shook his head. "Let's go to the throne room, and let them in. It sounds like a lot of their aggression to ghosts is them thinking that the 'Ghost King' is involved with our kidnapping. Which, I mean, yes, clearly I am involved in my own kidnapping, but, you get it."

"It would be good if they stopped attacking people," said Tucker.

Danny groaned. "Yeah. I can't believe I have to worry about my parents randomly attacking people."

"It isn't all that unbelievable. You're pretty violent."

"And you aren't?"

"Hey, I'm not denying it."

.

The ghost girl, who was apparently named Ellie, held Jack and Maddie as they and Valerie floated over a castle trapped within a ever-shifting framework of barbed-wire-like roses and ice.

It looked like a prison.

Slowly, the spinning layers came to a halt, revealing a path to the castle at their heart.

"Looks like they want to see you," said Ellie, flying down. She set the two humans down on the edge of the island, and then gestured at a huge pair of doors. "Go ahead," she said. "We're right behind you."

Maddie's lips twitched at the threat, but turned away. Let the ghost think Maddie was afraid of her. She and Jack walked forward, past the ghosts guarding the doors, and into a long, broad hallway.

At the end of the hall was a dais. On that dais was a throne. Jazz stood just beyond the last step of the dais, below the throne, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword. To the throne's left was Tucker Foley, Danny's best friend. He was dressed like something out of a documentary on Egypt. To the throne's right was Samantha Manson, decked out in poisonously bright flowers and a ragged green dress.

In the throne itself sat Danny, wearing a neat suit and a crown that burned with blue fire. The tips of his bare toes fell just short of reaching the floor in front of the throne.

"Jack and Maddie Fenton," he said, in a clear, carrying voice. "Please come forward."

Maddie looked over her shoulder at Valerie and Ellie. Their expressions suggested that Jack and Maddie had better start walking.

As they approached the throne, Danny pushed himself out of the throne and stood. Other than the odd clothing choice, Danny looked the same as he always had. Unlike the others, odd lights didn't shine from his eyes, and his hair wasn't streaked with strange colors.

"Hi," he said, in a more normal tone of voice. "I'm told you want to talk to me. To us." He smiled faintly. "I'm afraid none of us remember anything from more than, hm, call it eleven months ago, though."

Maddie's brain was still trying to process the situation.

"You really don't remember us?"

"I'm sorry," said Danny. "We don't. You seem somewhat familiar, though, if that helps."

It didn't.

"You're the Ghost King!" exclaimed Jack, suddenly.

"I am," said Danny.

"But," said Maddie, as the throne and the crown suddenly clicked into place for her, "how? You're human!"

"Only half," said Danny. He shrugged, and light rippled across his skin. His hair went white, his eyes green, and his skin darkened.

Phantom stood in his place.

Then, before Maddie could blink, he was Danny again.

"That's apparently enough," continued Danny.

"How..." Maddie couldn't get enough air to ask the question.

"I don't know exactly," said Danny. "But from what I've read, it can happen if a portal opens up on you." He tilted his head. "We would like to hear what we were like, though. Not many people will tell us. Are you alright?"

"Breathe, Mom," said Jazz. "Go ahead, breathe. Everything is going to be fine."

.

The room they were in now was much smaller. Almost cozy, despite all the death symbols and ghostly trappings. Maddie eyed a scythe hung above the fireplace suspiciously.

Jack had taken a ghost detector out of his suit, and was scanning the children. All of them had ectosignatures, but none of them showed up as so much as overshadowed.

"Why don't you remember anything?" asked Maddie as Jazz tucked a quilt around her.

Danny rolled his eyes, and the flames of his crown flickered higher. "A certain group of ghosts thought it appropriate to revive an archaic purification ritual which used the waters of each of the five great rivers, one of which is the Lethe, for my coronation. They have been punished appropriately." He shifted his weight. "But tell us, what were we like? What were our lives like?"

.

"Come home," said Maddie, her voice hoarse from all the stories she had told. "Come home, all of you. Whatever this is, we can fix this."

Danny shook his head. "We can't." His voice was rough as well. He had told his share of stories.

"You can. We can hide the changes to your appearance."

"No, we physically can't. We bathed in the waters of the Five Rivers of the Infinite Realms, including those of the River Styx. We're bound here. We can't set foot in the human world."

"You can visit, though," said Jazz. "Whenever you like."

"As long as you don't attack any of my subjects," added Danny.

"We can't leave you here," objected Maddie, "as slaves to ghosts."

"We aren't slaves," said Tucker, annoyance clear in his voice.

"But you don't actually have to leave," said Danny. "You could live here. The same prohibition against attacking people would apply, however."

Jack and Maddie exchanged a glance that conveyed thousands of words. "We would like that," said Maddie, returning her gaze to her son.

Danny smiled, and clapped his hands together. "Excellent! I'll see about having some rooms made up for you. Come on," he said, standing, "let me show you what we've got.

Maddie followed him out of the room, her eyes fixed on his crown. She wasn't giving up. This wasn't over yet.

This wasn't over at all.

[howdoib]

Ice Cream

A Happy Holiday and a Merry Truce Day to you @inessen-kryo , my lovely gift receiver. I give thee Amethyst Ocean ice-cream-based fluff.

The void surrounded and melted around him swirling in gentle musings and quiet dreams. Ice cream. And suddenly the void was gone. Danny opened his eyes. Ice cream sounds really fucking good right now. His leg swung over the deep red couch and popcorn crunched beneath his feet. 

Tucker lay comatose on the scarlet rugand the oversized TV spun the little circle of another episode. Jotaro was running across the street now on the screen. Danny had watched this episode. Ice cream first. 

He stumbled towards the kitchen- or more accurately the mini food court in Sam's basement. The carpet was smooth tile floor now and the appliances nearly blinded him with their shining glow. He reached for the freezer door and froze. Beneath his hand the handle felt deceptively warm. Is it kind of rude to eat people's food without permission? Well. I mean Sam is rich. Yeah well just cause she has the ice (Danny smirked) doesn't mean she's not a person.

Fine. He released the handle and headed back to the couches. But ice cream. His stomach lightly gurgled.

"Let's see here… ice cream… ice cream.." He mulled aloud. Maybe he could go the store real fast? Nah. He was broke. Uhhhhh… Go home and grab some?? But why tho?? He could always make some. How???? I don't have any way to- he rubbed his neck. His hands were ice cold. Holy shit I'm dumb.

The air felt heavy around him and pushing his senses outwards he felt the teensiest bits of it. It was so much like himself and it was everywhere. He drew it close. 

 Sam hadn't meant to leave their little sleepover downstairs- especially not with Danny having fallen asleep on her arm. Which wasn't adorable at all. But unfortunately she had this thing called plants and physical health and while Tucker and Danny may not follow a set schedule Sam sure as heck would. So friends over or not when it was 5 O' clock Sam got up (an hour of sleep be damned), dragged her way over to the greenhouse (oh to be cursed a nightowl) and watered her godforsaken plants. And when that was done she dragged her way over to the basement gym and did her cardio and her stretches and her lifting. And only then, could she drag her way back to sleep.

Today, obviously, was no exception. Her lillies were watered and her flytrap fed. The dainty orchids sprinkled with ice and her roses trimmed. The mulch was shifted and the greenhouses temperature checked. Finally, with every bit of humidity controlled, and everything all as it should be, Sam was off to work out.

First came stretches which were easy and menial, but when you don't stretch? Holy shit that's when you're sore. And of course who could forget that good ol' cardio.This day (if that's what you call five in the fricken morning) was dedicated to technique. Specifically martial arts. Which was fine- great actually. Throughout the week as she lifted weights or ran all she had thought about was when for she could feel the satisfying thump of sand and the swooshes of each limb straining and trembling in perfect form for hours rather than just a 20 minute run through. 

The bag thunked beneath her quick fists. Her legs stepped forward and back, dancing and spinning on her toes. Knees bent and bouncing. Her stomach growled. Shit. I'm trying to gain muscles not lose weight. 

Her fists froze by the punching bag. She could feel her lungs panic for air. The legs beneath her felt just a bit too wobbly. Uhhhhh how do I fix this? Yes! Carbs. Protein. 

Sam pulled herself away from that mesmerizing bag and towards the door. With a drag of her hand it was dark again. The door swung out and gently thundered shut. Her bare feet padded lightly across the hallway and towards the little kitchen area. She opened the door and

oh. That's beautiful. 

All around her were glowing bits of green, hovering and dancing through the air like pollen caught in the light.. Ceiling, walls, and floor- every last appliance, every last furnishing- had sprinkling of dots upon them. The world was cast in irradiant green. And Danny- Danny was at the center of it all. 

The lights thickened near him, bathing him in heavenly lighting. Little specks of this glowing dust clung to his eyelashes and danced in his midnight hair like stars. His skin seemed to glow and maybe it really did. Oh and his eyes- blue sure, but shining so emerald, so bright. His dark brows furrowed together in concentration. Facing down towards- 

 Danny's eyes were assaulted by a blinding light on the light.

"What the fuck are you doing?!!" 

He looked up, his hair swirling a swirling halo "Oh hey Sam. Just making ice cream."

Sam looked down at the goop dripping from his cupped hands.

"Is that what you call that?" She said dryly. 

"Well… I mean it's not going perfectly to plan but-" His gaze snapped up. Sam's entire skin was dripping with sparkling beads. Her golden hued skin lining the curve of her lean arms. Her collarbone glimmering softly and her lips a soft pink without her usual dark gloss. Wait does Sam wear makeup??? Oh wait yeah, duh. Her arms flexed lightly. A little dot of green floated lazily across her face. Her eyes were a swirling galaxy of ectoplasm stars and a deep violet vortex. Her hair was tussled and he could hear her heavy breathe from here. She wasn't wearing her usual black band of a choker and her neck was tantalizing slender and just beneath her neck and smooth collarbones he could see the curve of-

"Why do you look like you came back from war?" 

"Deflection. Classic." Sam said, "but if you must know I was working out. You know, like people who wanna be strong."

Danny's eyes snapped to her crossed arms. Looks pretty strong to me. His cheeks felt warm against the cold of the air. Shit. Now I don't have time to unpack all that but-

"Um. Yeah. So ice cream." He turned back to the goop in his hands. Totally not just to avoid looking at the thin but definite curves of her strong body. Ice cream. Yes ice cream. He shoved some ectoenergy into his hands. Oops. Uhhh maybe ice??

Sam sat down at one of the counter bar-style stools. "You know you can just get ice cream out of the freezer, right?"

He could feel her gaze piercing him. It was hard to think of the light and airy feel of ice cream.

"Can't. I'm emotionally invested now." He lightly proclaimed.

"Whatever." She rested her smooth jaw on her hand. Her arm flexed again and she leaned forward slightly. Shit. 

Oh yeah I gotta- I'm making ice cream. It looked airier now. He shot out a burst of cold. 

"DANNY! What did you do?!" Her mouth was wide open with uproarious laughter and her entire body curled inwards. The ice cream had exploded everywhere. The cabinets were splattered and ceiling stained.

"Uhhh I-" Sam was still laughing. He felt his body shaking. "I made ice cream…"

She pounded her fist on the table. "Ice cream!" She howled. "Is that what you call that?"

Danny felt his face split open. He was laughing too now.

"Ye-ah." He dug out from his throat. "Ice cream."

[q-gorgeous]

@shuradrawz merry christmas! i combined two of your prompts for a full ghost danny and space au i hope you like it :DD

[ghostgothgeek]

Exposed.

Holiday truce 2019 gift for @pigte! I tried to incorporate all three of your topics in some form, I hope you enjoy it and have a great holiday!! :) 

Rating: T for swearing, mild gore

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Vlad Masters was having a rough day, to say the least. He spilled coffee all over his favorite dress shirt, Maddie had blatantly ignored him at the grocery store, another one of his clone experiments had failed, Maddie (the cat) threw up on his lap, he had to fight off Daniel for a short period of time...and now…

Now he was getting beaten and bruised and, for lack of better terms, having his ass handed to him by the Red Huntress, the ghost hunter hellbent on revenge. He had been grooming her to go after Daniel as Phantom, not himself as Plasmius! Using a man’s own weapons on him was some sort of cruel joke this terrible day had been playing on him. Especially when said huntress is a fourteen year old girl who didn’t have ghost powers. Now that just hurt a man’s ego. 

“Come back here, ghost scum.” Valerie growled, kicking off her hoverboard and following hot on Plasmius’s trail. 

Valerie Gray, on the other hand, was having a great day. She had a run in with Phantom, where, much to her dismay, they agreed to a temporary truce. She had caught two ghosts already, she got an A on her Spanish test (she would know what Paulina was really saying about her now), and she was already maiming Vlad Plasmius, third most annoying ghost on her list (one and two are Phantom). 

Plasimus took a glance over his shoulder to see the teenager rapidly catching up to him. He grimaced and went invisible, keeping on his path.

Valerie pressed a button on her wrist cuff, activating a new screen inside her helmet. “Time to take this baby for a test drive.” She smirked as her thermal imaging sensors went on. She easily spotted a very cold entity flying just in front of her where the ghost she was chasing just was. “Pfft. Amateurs.” She snorted and held out her gun, aiming directly for Plasmius’s back, and fired, hitting him directly. She smiled in satisfaction.

“Ahh!” His invisibility flickered in and out as he grabbed his searing shoulder. “What the-” It felt like something was digging into his skin. His eyes widened as he saw the teen once again coming full speed at him, a look of pure rage and vengeance on her face. He quickly took off again, flying lower to the ground. “I didn’t buy her that!” 

Plasmius quickly landed behind a tree and transformed back to human. He rolled his shoulders back a couple of times, still feeling the burn from her gun underneath his suit. No matter, he was decent enough to make it home from here. 

As he called for a car, Valerie swooped down to look for Plasmius. She growled when there was no sign of him, although she did see Mayor Masters getting into his car. “Stupid ghosts,” she muttered as she started typing things into one of her gadgets. “Good thing that blast didn’t just burn you.” She looked at the GPS in her helmet and smiled when something popped up on the radar. “Yes! Mrs. Fenton’s ghost tracking system worked!” 

Valerie took a small moment to celebrate and reminded herself to thank Mrs. Fenton for letting her test some new inventions. Danny had been reluctant to let her talk about ghosts with his mother, but Valerie had eventually worn her friend down. 

She took off, following the little dot on her screen. “Weird, it looks like the ghost is trailing Mayor Masters’ car…oh no, he’s after the mayor!” She had followed the car back to the mayor’s mansion, surveilling the outside once she saw he was safely inside his home. 

Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, she double checked her radar to see that the ghost was indeed here at the mayor’s mansion. “What are you up to…” She pushed a button dismantling her hoverboard and storing it back in her boots and looked around for an open window. For the mayor’s safety. She quietly climbed in and scoped the place out. “Mr. Masters?” She whisper-yelled and started checking out rooms in the mansion. 

Why did the mayor’s mansion suddenly have an eerie feeling to it? She had been here dozens of times, but for some reason, today the atmosphere was more sinister. She had only been in a few rooms of the large estate before. Perhaps it was because she was charting unknown territory. She slowed her breathing down so she could be quieter, and continued tip-toeing down a seemingly never ending hallway. 

She had heard some faint beeping coming from nearby. Glancing in one of the rooms, she saw a picture frame with an otherworldly glow behind it. Bingo. 

Valerie scanned her surroundings before entering the room and glanced up at the painting of the mayor. She rolled her eyes. The mayor was nice and all, but after losing everything on Phantom’s accord several months ago, she was realizing how insignificant most superfluous things, such as a twelve-foot tall headshot of yourself, were. Men and their egos.

She tried lifting the painting unsuccessfully. It was worth a shot. She double checked her surroundings for a button or a switch, and started playing around in the dark with items until she found the switch beneath the fireplace mantel across the room. She quickly maneuvered her way into a lab. “What’s this?” 

It looked similar to the chemistry labs at school; there were all sorts of glass beakers filled with miscellaneous liquids, notebooks laying askew, and she recognized a Bunsen burner. She walked over to a chalkboard with formulas written all over it. She had never been a mayor before, but she was pretty certain a mayor didn’t need all of this. This looked vaguely like the Fentons lab, though she had only seen it in brief one time, but this lab was more...creepy.

Valerie quietly looked around at all the machinery, looking for any sign of Plasmius or Mr. Masters. Could he be held hostage in his own home? None of this was adding up.

Alert, she jumped at a small thump behind her. She stiffened, turned, and had her gun pointed and ready to fire at whatever the source was. “What the…” She lowered her weapon and removed her helmet, carefully approaching the...whatever that was.

It looked vaguely human, but she was certain it was most definitely not human. 

“H-hello.” She jumped back when the...thing…spoke. It was somewhat shaped like a human; it had limbs, eyes (though one of them was slowly dripping down its face) and a mouth, obviously. The rest of it was glowy green goo. It looked like a person had been half melted in a nuclear power plant mixed with Frankenstein’s monster that had gotten run over by a truck, exploded, and then was put back together to resemble a human. Definitely some nightmarish hybrid that could have only been cooked up by an insane scientist. 

“Uh, hi?” She looked at the thing suspiciously, quickly glancing around to see if there were any other current threats. Heart pounding in her chest, she took a deep breath and tried to steady her voice. She needed answers. “What...what are you?” She raised an eyebrow, keeping her gun at standby just in case. 

The creature pointed to a computer screen behind her. Keeping an eye on the monster, she glanced at the screen. 

Clone Experiment #360: Failed

Notes: Less ectoplasm; need to strengthen ghost powers; human aspects making progress

She looked back at the thing. “You’re a clone? Of what?” Valerie searched for a mouse beside the computer and...was that a picture of Mrs. Fenton?! She grimaced and clicked on the computer, showing a new screen.

Clone Experiment #361: In Progress

Notes: Still developing, but most promising; switched genders and adding another human’s DNA helped stabilize; shows most sign of life; need more Phantom DNA

Valerie’s eyes widened. “You’re a clone of Phantom?!” She raised the gun back up at the monstrosity. It nodded and took a step closer. “Stop or I’ll shoot!” 

“P-please…” 

She tilted her head in surprise. The thing wanted her to shoot it? 

“Please shoot. End pain.” She stared into its somewhat familiar eyes and she saw suffering and despair as it moved one of its eyeballs back into place. 

“You...you can feel all of that?” She looked at the deformities once again and cringed when it nodded. “Who did this to you?” She demanded. 

“Master,” raising a goopy limb, it pointed to a painting of the mayor on the wall similar to the one she came in through. Odd. It paused before pleading again, “P-please...shoot. End me.” 

Valerie gulped and weighed her options. The thing was kind of a ghost, which she is set to destroy, but it still seemed vaguely human. It clearly had a soul, a tortured one at that, which meant she was ending a life and she didn’t think she could live with that. However, the thing was clearly suffering and she would be giving it a mercy kill. “I...c-can’t.” It started advancing towards her so she raised her gun again, arm shaking. “Don’t come any closer! Please!” 

“Can’t do more experiments. End pain.” It continued to move towards her. “Please.” She looked at its pleading eyes before shutting hers, turning her head away, and pulling the trigger. She flinched when she felt warm goo hit the side of her face, hearing it splatter all over the wall behind her as well. She opened her eyes and looked at the glowing ectoplasm splattered across the lab. She was still trembling. 

“What was that noise?” Valerie barely made out a voice that sounded similar to Plasmius’s. Shit. No time to process the murder she just committed. She forgot why she was there in the first place: to protect the mayor and catch a ghost. She quickly found a spot to hide while she charged up her weapons, preparing for battle and hostage negotiation. 

“...incompetent children and their lack of discipline.” She heard him muttering as he flew into view. “What?! What happened here?!” He flew over towards where Valerie had been standing before, looking at all the gunk covering his equipment. He pressed a button and a hidden wall suddenly came into view. 

Valerie gulped. More experiments. Just like the one she just destroyed. Some looking more like Phantom, some looking more like goo in a jar. One seemed to resemble a little girl, “Dani Phantom #361” written below the tank she was floating in. There were at least eight clones there, some hanging from chains. She could hear some of them whimpering. 

Plasmius scanned the wall and saw the empty spot. “Hmm...must have been more unstable than I thought. It appears #360 combusted and broke free of its bonds.” He typed a few things into the computer. “Now to get this painful contraption off of me!” Plasmius transformed back to his human half, his hand clawing at the silver device embedded in his shoulder. Masters stood where Plasmius once was. He grabbed some forceps and starting prying at the tracking device, not stopping or even wincing as blood oozed out around it. He set the forceps down and wrapped his fingers around the device. With a brief glow of his fingers, the device was zapped off his shoulder. 

Valerie could smell the burnt circuits along with the stench of the clone ectoplasm in the room. She could feel her stomach churning, but she was strong. She held her breath as she watched Vlad Masters glance at his watch.

“Oh fudge! I’ve got to meet Ed at seven for D&D!” He slapped a piece of gauze on his wound and looked for some medical tape, continuing to mutter to himself. “Last week I was late from Spectra’s book club running long, and if I’m late again I’ll miss Harriet’s spinach puffs! Better fly there.” After tending to his wound, two dark rings surrounded the man and flash of light filled the room, Masters becoming Plasmius once again.

Valerie’s eyes widened and she covered her mouth to mute her gasp. She couldn’t believe what she just saw. Plasmius/Masters quickly flew off. She blinked rapidly as she gathered her thoughts, making sure what she just saw is what she think she just saw. The mayor was trying to clone Phantom? Is that how he had ghost powers himself? The mayor was a ghost?! And not just any ghost, a ghost who had harmed her and who she had been hunting for months on end, despite Vlad Masters’s insistence to focus on Phantom instead of Plasmius. Of course. 

And Phantom. Phantom had tried talking to her when they formed their temporary truce earlier this morning, ironically setting aside their differences over the man whose house she was standing in; the man who wasn’t really a man at all. Phantom’s warning about Mayor Masters echoed in her head.

“You can’t trust him, he’s not who you think he is.”

He was right. She didn’t completely trust Phantom’s word, of course, but considering the new information she unraveled over the past ten minutes, Phantom…was telling the truth? Maybe she had to reevaluate her stance on Phantom.

No. Just because he isn’t as malevolent doesn’t mean he wouldn’t destroy her if he had the choice. He’s still a ghost. Just like Vlad. 

Vlad Masters. 

Valerie felt so stupid. Here she was, top ten in her class, and she didn’t make the connection between Vlad Plasmius and Vlad Masters. They talked similarly, behaved similarly for the most part, tended to show up one after the other...they even had the same first name for crying out loud! She should have just ignored her grudge and listened to Phantom. He never hurt her like Plasmius did, after all. No, Danny Phantom was pretty civil towards her, she supposed. 

Wait.

Phantom.

Danny Phantom. 

Danny Fenton.

“Oh shit.”

[cardcaptorkatara]

For the 2019 Christmas Truce for @going-dead

Some Danny and Dani family bonding. In the middle of the night the two sneak out and decorate the entire park in a festive way. It’s Danielle’s first Christmas, and Danny wants to be better this year for her, so they plan this big elaborate tree decorating with ornaments featuring the names of all the families in Amity Park as well as the ghosts for the annual truce.