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ibelieveinahappilyeverafter · 6 years ago

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Worldbuilding

Inspired by Phanniemay 2018, Day 6

Prompt: Worldbuilding

Alternate Universe: Starts in 1983, skips to Danny age ~17

Pairing: Established Iambic Prose after time skip

Rating: G+

Author Notes: So I made this in response to the one my girlfriend made HERE, and all those snippets of Ghostwriter’s ‘stories’ are snippets of my own work in progress novels! I had a lot of fun writing them, so I hope you have a lot of fun enjoying them - I might post them separately on my writing blog later.

Summary: Andrew Riter, now going by the Ghostwriter, finds a curious keyboard when still getting used to his new state of life. He’s not quite sure what it does, but he might as well figure it out - it’s not like the dead had much time to lose.

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Click here to see the other stories that were inspired by Phanniemay 2018.

“Hello… What’s this?” Pushing a few old papers aside that looked similar to aged newspaper, Andrew Riter blinked down at what looked like a sleek, white computer keyboard. “Strange.”

As usual, there was no one to answer his musings as he pulled the keyboard out - not that he was surprised. Andrew had only been a ghost for a few short months, but he knew he was alone. Even if there were other ghosts in this hell, he knew he wouldn’t want to meet them. He and his brother both had feared the dead too much- His brother… Randy.

Shaking his thoughts off quickly, Andrew swallowed as he sat back and inspected the keyboard more closely. It didn’t look anything like what he was used to and if it weren’t for the letters and numbers labelling the keys then he would have never guessed this was a keyboard. It looked like something from the future, not from the year 1983.

Turning it over in his hands, he noticed that there were no indents on the back or any places for wires to connect to or come out of. In fact, it almost looked like a toy - he would have passed it off as such if it wasn’t for the fact that the keyboard was… Not quite glowing, but there was something about the way it was made that gave him pause.

Sitting down on the floor where he had found it, Andrew set it across his lap, staring at it in contemplation. “It would be nice to use something beyond pen and paper to write, of course.” This library had not crossed over with the computers the college had and there was no trace of a typewriter in sight. He had been making due with the pencils and spare paper he had found, but he was getting low and desperate enough to contemplate using the empty pages on the back of the older books that had come with him to… wherever he was.

“Of course, you would only be useful with a screen, wouldn’t-” Something flashed in front of Andrew. He was up and on his feet with a knife pulled out in near a heartbeat, eyes wide as he saw… As he saw nothing. There was no one in front of him and no strange objects, but he had seen something. “He… Hello?” He wasn’t sure if he was grateful that there wasn’t an answer or not.

Swallowing and creeping forward, Andrew paused when he almost stepped on the keyboard. The keyboard. Sitting back down, Andrew dropped his knife and placed the keyboard back on his lap. Nothing. “Screen?” Purple light appeared and Andrew blinked as he stared at a screen. It wasn’t- It looked like a hologram. Or at least, it looked like how holograms had been described in the books he had read and the stories he had written.

“Right. Alright. Nothing to worry about. Nothing but a keyboard that can hear and respond to me. Right.” He had fallen into one of his novels and he wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Actually, if it was one of his novels then he was rather justly terrified. “Okay. Um…”

The screen was blank and purple and there seemed to be a trimming of green around it. There was nothing on it to indicate just what it was doing there. “Pull up new document?” The screen flickered and there was now a blinking cursor in the top left corner of the screen, Andrew staring with wide eyes and oh, wow. “Are- Are there any saved documents?” Nothing happened, Andrew frowning and okay, think like Ches- No. Bad. Ches was bad. Think like Peter.

“Pull up saved documents.” The screen flickered and a window was pulled up that was light green and had ‘EMPTY’ flashing across it. “Right. Great. Okay. Aha- Ha! Alright, then!” Was he panicking? Andrew was pretty sure he was panicking. Screw it, he deserved to panic. “Okay, okay, okay, um, new- New document.”

The window disappeared and he was back to staring at the blinking cursor. Swallowing, Andrew wracked his brain before lining his fingers up on the keyboard and typing out a simple line.

The oddity, fittingly enough, was found among scraps of old newspapers from long ago. Perhaps it was birthed from the past or perhaps it was left by someone who wished to return there, but the keyboard was sleek and shining and did not belong to the world it was in.

“Nothing happening so far.” Well, no, there were words appearing, but it wasn’t causing the world around him to self-destruct or any such nonsense, so this was already better than most things! Chewing on his lower lip, Andrew nervously tapped the keys lightly enough that none of them were pressed down. “Right. Um. Save?” ‘FILE SAVED’ flashed across the screen, Andrew blinking before frowning. “View saved documents.”

The window opened again, Andrew seeing that there was now a file in there labelled as ‘DOCUMENT 1’ and oh, no, he would not stand for that. “Close window.” Oh, hey, that worked! “Save file as New Beginnings.” ‘SAVED’. “Ha, easy as can be.” He’d have a breakdown later, but for now it was working. Right. What else could he do with this?

“New document.” The words he had typed disappeared and he was left with a fresh new page. Interesting. “Right. Right, a story.” Biting his lip, Andrew looked around the room for any inspiration before he sighed. “I suppose I can just rewrite what I’ve done before.”

“I lied, you know.” The words were softly spoken and Andrea half hoped that Peter wouldn’t have heard them. He did, of course. He always heard her.

“Oh? You might have to be a bit more specific. I have a feeling you’ve lied about a lot of things.” As reluctant as she was to admit it, that did get a laugh out of her.

“I… It wasn’t my dream to sign up for the Air Corps.” There was silence from Peter and Andrea knew he wouldn’t speak again until she was done. He was both kind and cruel like that. “I mean- I’ve always admired the Iron Admiral, you know? He’s the kind of hero you grow up hearing stories about! But I- I never wanted to join. It was- I was being chased.

“I’ve told you a bit of it by now, right? Foster brat bounced around different homes? I didn’t like the one I was in then so I left and I got into some trouble. It’s- When you’re on the streets you do what it takes. When you don’t have anything, you do whatever it takes to get something. Long story short, I took something from the wrong group. I don’t… I don’t know what they would have done to me if I hadn’t run into the Admiral. He wanted an excuse and I-”

“You told him you wanted to join the Corps,” Peter finished, Andrea nodding with a laugh that she knew didn’t sound anything like a laugh should. It was dark, and bitter, and drenched in the lie she had built around herself. “You don’t want to be here.”

“I didn’t.” Andrea looked out over the edge of the ship - her ship - and breathed in deeply. “I didn’t want anything to do with a kingdom that would throw their kids over the cliff just as soon as they would save one to look good. The royals, the system, the way it’s all done- It’s so stupid and I hate it all, but… I don’t know about the Corps, but this crew isn’t about just serving blindly, is it?”

“If it was, do you think I would still be here?” That managed to get another laugh out of her, Andrea looking down to her pocket watch and idly spinning the turner. It stayed silent as always. “We’re all here for one reason or another, Andy.”

“Yeah.” This was the ship full of those who were seen as the rejects. The lost and broken and damaged ones who had no use. This… This was the ship full of dreamers. “It’s funny, though, that I found a home in the last place I ever wanted to be in.”

“That’s typically how it works.” There was a warm silence, Andrea trying not to jump when she felt a hand cover hers. “I find that doesn’t have to be a bad thing, however.”

“No…” The ship that she had heard only stories of had become her home and she was finding she wanted her lie to become the truth. “No, I don’t think it is.”

A life of

Pausing to adjust his glasses, Andrew glanced back to the screen and promptly had the urge to throw it across the room because there was now an airship right in front of him. Taking a moment to stay utterly still and see if it was about to attack him, Andrew slowly let himself relax when he saw the airship was just… floating.

“Curiouser and curiouser, yes?” No one answered him, but Andrew couldn’t help but feel as if something agreed because that airship- It was The Singing Maelstrom. It was the ship Andrew had written about for years and it was the ship he had even dreamed about. If he squinted, he could almost make out two humanoid figures on the bow of the ship.

It didn’t seem to be real since nothing happened when Andrew threw the knife through it, but it was definitely there in front of him. A hologram made by the keyboard? Why? Shaking his head, Andrew took a breath and alright. Maybe it was The Soundless Clock that caused this to happen where he had put so much time and care into that book. Maybe one of his more recent ones would react differently?

“Fine! I’ll be in town cutting my hair, dying it black, getting a belly button piercing, and picking out a tattoo if you need me!” Slamming the door shut behind her as hard as she could, and displeased when it only made a muffled sort of noise, Sage near screamed as she stomped off into the woods. “You can’t keep me trapped here forever!”

Making a face at the people who were staring, because that’s apparently what people did in small towns, Sage headed into the woods as quickly as she could. She wasn’t stupid enough to step off the dirt path, but she quickened her pace so she didn’t have to be around that camp any longer than necessary.

“Stupid sheriff.” God, it wasn’t- Her mom had never once mentioned this Sheriff Greene and how, apparently, he was a childhood friend that she had grown up with- What even was that? That wasn’t- Sage and her mom didn’t have secrets. They didn’t… Hadn’t…

Picking up a rock and throwing it as hard as she could at one of the trees, Sage winced as she felt the strain in her shoulder which just made her even more irritated. “I hate you.” God, how had this all- She wasn’t even sure who she was talking to anymore. “I hate you.”

She didn’t stop walking no matter how much her body screamed for her to take a breath. She knew she was going to be screwed over later when it came to getting the strength up to go back, but she didn’t care. She didn’t care.

Sage wasn’t sure how long she walked until she started calming down, but when she finally did stop her legs were burning, her feet felt sore, and there was sweat everywhere on her. She didn’t let herself sit down on the ground, though, instead choosing to stand and look around the clearing she had ended up in.

It really was beautiful. She had always loved drawing and painting pictures of the woods that she had printed off from her computer, but now that she was here it just… A picture couldn’t compare. She kind of hated herself for how much she didn’t hate it, but, well. She was starting to get a little bit tired of hate. Maybe that meant she was getting better.

“Oh great and mighty woods!” Raising her arms out like she would when speaking to a god, Sage tried not to laugh as she pictured Stacy if she was here. She would be doing the same thing while calling her crazy, no doubt. “I ask you for your guidance!”

A breeze whipped around her, Sage laughing at the timing of it all. Closing her eyes, Sage took a deep breath and let the wind cool her down, some of the uncomfortable pain leaving for a few brief moments. It wasn’t fair that it was Sage standing in this beautiful clearing. Her mother was the one who had loved the forest. Stacy was the one who did strange little things that didn’t make sense and loved the ‘aesthetic’ of nature. Sage…

“Any advice would be great.” Sage was a city girl. She had lived in big cities and she knew her way around the dark streets and seedy transportation better than she would ever know her way around the woods. “This isn’t supposed to be my world.” It wasn’t. It wasn’t, so why was this starting to feel like home?

Sighing, Sage walked over to one of the trees, patting at it gently. “At least you don’t judge a girl for talking to herself.” Leaning against the tree for a moment, Sage looked up to the canopy of leaves that caused filtering sunbeams to flicker through. It was so beautiful and she kept feeling like she couldn’t even properly appreciate it.

Glancing around and seeing she was well and truly alone, Sage braced herself as she sucked in a deep breath. There was something she had always kind of wanted to do, but never had the courage to.

Cupping her hands around her mouth, Sage sucked in as much air as possible before she howled. She put everything she had into it. All of her frustration, all of her anger, all of glee, all of the wild abandon, and every scrap of courage that allowed her to finally do something so silly.

Her air ran out and the howl trailed off into silence, Sage breathing raggedly as laughter started bubbling out of her and-

A howl came from behind her.

Looking up cautiously, Andrew slowly grinned as he saw an image of towering trees and a wolf peeking out from behind them. The wolf blinked and disappeared. “Incredible.” Getting excited now, Andrew spaced down a few lines to start a new entry, wracking through his mind for his most recent novel. If it worked like the other two, then maybe…

“Nope, no, I changed my mind. Yeah, you know what, let’s just stay right here. Doesn’t that sound like fun?” Star didn’t even get to stand fully before Ches was pushing her back down into her seat and buckling the belt over her. “Hey- Hey, no, that’s not- Kidnapping!”

“Star,” Ches sighed, cupping her cheek and probably making her flush as red as the ship they were on. “At your age it’s called abduction.”

“You ass.” Kicking him hard in the chest, Star rolled her eyes when he went down laughing. “Okay, maybe I do still want to do this, but I’m starting to think that maybe we shouldn’t use this ship? Or any ship of yours?”

“Hey! My ship is the best ship in the galaxy, I’ll have you know!” Ha- Aha! He couldn’t be serious. There was no way he was serious. This rust bucket looked as if it had barely managed to land when she first saw it come in at the docks. “There’s more to her than you know.”

“Yeah. Okay. Right. Great. Can I leave, now?” Instead of becoming sane and agreeing this was too dangerous, Ches gave her cheek a pat and near bounced up to the control panel. “This is a very small ship for travelling the galaxy, you know.”

“Yeah, it is.” That was all she was going to get? Ches had rambled for weeks while fixing his ship about all there was out there and now was when he chose to get coy on her? Bastard. He knew it worked. “Right, we should be just about ready.”

“Just about? Why just about?” Blinking as Ches spun around in his seat - they could spin? - Sage swallowed when he looked her right in the eye. “Ches?”

“I need you to be honest with me right now, okay? Whatever I ask, you have to answer with complete honesty.” That… That didn’t sound like the goofy, hyper Ches she had come to know. She really should back out now. She shouldn’t leave her colony. There was no place for her out in the stars. She… “Do you have any living family in this colony?”

“Yes.” At Ches’ look, Star looked away. “Cora, at the diner? She��s my aunt on my mom’s side. She’s been helping to look after me since my family died.”

“Would she want you to come back if you left? Did you even tell her you were leaving?”

“Yes. I told her.” Star shut her eyes, trying not to think about the heartbreak in her aunt’s eyes when she had come down the stairs with a single bag and wearing the headband that had been her mother’s. “She won’t try to get me back.”

“That wasn’t my question.” No, it wasn’t, but Star wasn’t going to answer that one because she knew what the answer was. “Are you going to regret leaving more than you would regret staying-”

“Never.” The word escaped passed her lips before she could stop it, eyes cracking open to see Ches’ eyes looking back into hers. The swirling violet colors caught her attention just as they had when she had first seen them. “I’d regret staying for the rest of my life.”

“Do you want to come with me?” It was the same question that she had been asked over and over again before she had finally said yes with a voice full of hesitation and doubt. She didn’t hesitate this time.

“Yes.” The two were silent before Star gave a small, nervous smile. “Fly me away to the stars?” Ches stared at her before he grinned wild and free.

“To the moon and back, then?” Ches laughed, moving to flip a set of switches in an order that didn’t make sense, but that was okay.

“Beyond it. For as far as we can go.” Star had time to learn everything. She had time to see everything.

“Forever seems a long way.”

“Then we’d better get started.”

Star looked forward and felt the need for adventure stirring in her veins, her breath coming fast as she laughed and threw herself forward hands braced against the console and come on. Come on. The world is waiting and the stars are right there and-

“Let’s go.”

Much more eager when looking up this time, Andrew beamed and laughed in delight when he saw the ship from the story ready to take off towards the moon that was above it. He had figured he was a ghost and he knew he could do basic ghost things - flying and phasing through objects and becoming invisible - but this? This was something else entirely.

“Save as Old Ideas. Open new document.” The screen cleared and the images disappeared like fog on a summer morning, Andrew grinning as he tapped his fingers against the keys for a moment.

They say dead men tell no tales. Joseph Whitley would like to punch the person who had said that and then introduce him to the dead men who wouldn’t shut up.

Pausing halfway into the study, Andrew leaned against the doorway and grinned at seeing Danny curled up on the couch and, yet again, reading Andrew’s books. When he had agreed to tutor Danny Phantom he hadn’t expected the boy to know about his writing and he certainly hadn’t expected to learn how much he adored it.

“Hey, Andy.” Laughing to himself, Andrew walked over and pressed a kiss to Danny’s temple, peeking at where he was in the book and, ah. Dirty Paws, today. “So, be honest, how much did you base this dude off of Randy?”

“I believe the character’s name was Randy until I changed it in the final edit.” Grinning at the laughter, Andrew waved it off. “I don’t always base the characters off people I know.” Just the main characters.

“Alright, I’ll pretend to believe that lie.” Danny looked like he had more to say before he glanced down at the book and promptly got distracted, Andrew laughing himself this time.

“You act as if those books are your entire world.” He had never met someone as devoted to those books as Danny - especially Soundless Clock.

“They are.” Danny sighed, looking back up at him. “I know you don’t get it when I tell you this, but these books are- They were everything at one point for me. I mean- Jeez, Andy, when I first learned you wrote these I thought you were like J. K. Rowling or something!”

“I have more diversity.” It seemed Danny didn’t know whether to be amused or offended, but Andrew personally found his humor wonderful. “Thank you, Danny.”

“Yeah. Of course.” And now… “For what?” Adorable.

“Mm, everything, I suppose.” Twenty years of being alone and forcing others away and then a silly little half ghost had crashed in, destroyed a novel, and changed everything.

“That’s not fair.” Danny blushed far too easily, really, but Andrew supposed it was adorable. “That’s not fair, Andy.”

“Whoever said a writer was fair?” Laughing as Danny huffed and grumbled to himself, Andrew continued on to his desk, pausing as he caught sight of some yellowed old papers out of the corner of his eyes. “Vidya, what are those?”

A strain of tumbled notes flew through his head, his lair just as confused over the sight as he was. Frowning, Andrew walked over and brushed the paper aside, curious when he saw a flash of white and then… Oh. “I remember you.”

“Andy? What’d you find?” As Danny sat up on the couch, Andrew sat down on the floor and pulled out a sleek, white keyboard that wouldn’t be out of place among today’s computers. It looked the same as it had the day it was destroyed. “Is that your keyboard thing? Cool! I always felt kind of bad I busted it up.”

“You did,” Andrew said quietly, fingers brushing against the keys. He… He had stopped using it for writing only a few years after he found it and instead used the typewriter. A part of him, he supposed, liked to pretend he was still normal. Now, though? Andrew Riter had grown just as much as the Ghostwriter. “Screen.”

A purple and green edged screen flickered out in front of him, Andrew laughing as Danny near fell off the couch to fly over to him. “I didn’t know your keyboard could do that!”

“It could do a lot,” Andrew smiled, the smile getting wide as Danny sat down and leaned against his side. “View saved documents.” The window flicked up and Andrew paused at seeing there was only one file. “Well that can’t be right.”

“What? Is there supposed to be more?” Quite a few. Andrew had made hundreds before he put the keyboard away, so why was there only one?

“Yes, there is.” There was only one file, though, and it was one Andrew didn’t remember. “From the Beginning.” How strange a name. Still, though.

It couldn’t hurt to take a peek.

#danny phantom #iambic prose #ghostwriter #phanniemay18 #pm18d6 #everafterphanniemay18 #so yeah there's some of my ORIGINAL shit in here #enjoy #my writing

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