GhostWorm: The Faerie's Tale (Worm/Danny Phantom)

[Axle]

Theme Song: Teen Idle

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XXX​

A mother's love never dies...

"The path to paradise begins in hell"

- Dante Alighieri​

Prologue​

Fire. The world was on fire. The smog covered across the sky, blinding the victims by an unnatural darkness. Ciara suffocated when she breathed. Next to her, her mother's lifeless arms wrapped around Ciara body.

Ciara wait until she'd stop breathing, unwilling to leave her mother's side. She waited, hoping her mother could save her from the fires. Of course she couldn't. But Ciara didn't know how to accept that. Ciara kept whimpering her mother's name over the sounds of explosions heard from the distance.

The world was falling apart. Everyone she once knew was dying for reasons she didn't understand. And before she could allow herself to go quiet from the smoke entering her lungs, a monster appeared in front of her.

It came out from the fires, poised as though it were a demon risen from hell. Ciara only knew of creatures such as it through fairy tales her mother had told her. It was a demon in the flesh, ready to pull her into an abyss of agony fit only for nighttime stories.

One more time, she called for her mother's name. "Mommy," as she knew it.

And then, a light rose.

An image of every human in an instance. Spirits converging, ghosts moving, people evolving. The world was just grand scheme for a much larger play. Small vessels for the comfort of sprites. Fairies, as her mother had once told her.

Her mother stood as a goddess. She stood tall and proud as any mother could to protect their child. In an instant, the demon fell back afraid of the spirit. And Ciara's mother sliced the demon into pieces.

Once the demon fell, destroyed, a second spirit rose up. It was the demon again, only it looked more human. Like it had been purged from its deformities.

Ciara still couldn't breathe. She was about to fall over and succumb to her mother's fate, but then she could hear a slow hum from her mum.

It was a lullaby.

And just as her mother had done a few hours before, her mum held her in her arms, and sang as she carried Ciara home.

XXX

She was alone. Trying to understand why the world was so big to her eyes. She begged and she pleaded as she could, hoping to gain whatever more the orphanage didn't have to offer. Her happiest moments were in the library, where she couldn't be judged for sitting down and reading fairy tales all day.

Some days she would see a demon, or a ghost, pass by. She was never sure how to respond to it. Should she have spoken with them? Try and kindle a companionship out of spiritual camaraderie?

Ciara was only 10 years old when she decided to keep her world of fairies a secret. They were beautiful to her, and she worried that sharing the secret could cause her spirits to go away.

Her autumn hair and emerald eyes should've made her very desirable in Ireland, but no one had decided to adopt. Few people wanted the responsibilities of children during those troubled times. Her only method for coping in the world was through reading, where she could get lost fantasies to escape the nation she didn't understand.

But as days went by, and weeks become months, she desired for her fantasies to become more than just dreams. She became cynical. Something cold was growing inside her. Ciara no longer saw people as something alive, but instead, only as vessels for faeries. Husks meant to carry the beauties that she saw. The faeries were more alive than people ever were.

And so, she picked and plucked. Picked and plucked as faeries passed by. She gave them names, gleeful that they could be added into her family. There was no distinction between purposes and morals for her, all the faeries were equal, all the faeries could join her.

So many vessels dead, very few understood why.

It made her happy. Her family was growing, her love expanding, her fantasies were coming to life. No one suspected the 12 year old girl to be responsible for the deaths of so many.

Just as she was about to pluck another fairy from another vessel, the vessel turned around, and gave Ciara the warmest hug she'd ever had in her life.

"Angel collector," the women in the the black suit said. "You needn't travel this path alone."

She spoke like a character from folklore, cryptic and alluring. "Who else could walk this path, but I?" Ciara asked her.

"Phantom," she answered.

Without requesting it, the women in black picked Ciara up like her mother once did. She felt warm, warmer than her fairies had ever provided for her.

A portal opened.

The Sprite princess wasn't sure where the women was taking her, perhaps to paradise? Perhaps her story was to end in the arms of this stranger. Either way, Ciara felt calm for the first time in years, and having her story end in peace was something that seemed pleasing at the moment.

XXX

Disclaimer: I do not own Worm or Danny Phantom, and this fan fiction draws heavy influences from the Teen Titans/Danny Phantom fan fiction "Titan's Phantom".

End Credits: Kaleeo - Broken Bones​

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[Axle]

But everything turns cold with time...

"You have one business on earth – to save souls." - John Wesley​

GhostWorm

Chapter 1: Mystery Meeting​

A lullaby had awoken her. Just as it had every morning. It came in the form of a dream, constantly reminding her of the life she once had. The light from her window tugged at her face. Ciara extended her arms in a cat-like movement as she moved out of bed and changed into her day-time garments. Stepping out from the shower, she could smell bacon coming from the living room.

'The witch is still here...'

Ciara headed downstairs to find her guardians sitting across from each other at the dining room table. The king smiled at her, "good morning, princess."

His mistress scowled at her presence, "wake up earlier." She spoke in a distinctly Slavic accent, "or I won't feed you next time."

Ciara wanted to lash out at the women, but refrained herself. They were her guardians, and her kingship would expel her from his courtship if she harmed his mistress. Without saying a word, she picked out food for herself and headed to her room to eat breakfast.

She made sure to wait for them to depart before leaving her bedroom for school. She never cared for arriving there late, and most days she wished she wasn't compelled to attending it.

Casper high was a colonial styled building, which would normally be appealing to Ciara. And it was, the style and architecture made her feel like she was living in an age where witches were greatly feared. But Casper high itself was just another public school, and all public schools only existed for peasants.

She walked straight to the library. Self-studying was her preferred method of learning. For awhile, teachers penalized her for never attending class. But after a lengthy conversation with Mr. Lancer, she stopped getting pestered for skipping as long as she'd turn in her schoolwork on time.

Their shared interests in literature was probably what swayed him.

Ciara read away into her books, glad she could spend hours of her day encompassed into stories she loved. Eventually, her stomach grumbled. She hadn't brought lunch that day. The lord's mistress was still upset that she'd ruined the toaster the week before.

'How was I to know, that you shouldn't put forks inside of toasters...'

She wasn't getting packed lunches anymore, and it forced her to consume the slop that the cafeteria had to offer. Taking a deep breathe, she put away her book and walked to the cafeteria.

"What in Dante's inferno is this?" Ciara asked. The tray had grass on it... With mud still attached to the stems.

"New lunch menu," the school employee said. "Next!"

"But I require nutrition. Protein." Ciara pointed to her tray, pondering how the other students could accept that as food. "This is unfit even for strays."

Her voice came out low and raspy, indifferent to anyone else's opinion. "Look kid, if you don't like it, don't eat it. Do you mind letting me do my job?"

Irritated, Ciara left with her tray at hand. Instead of eating it after taking a seat, she rested her head on the table to bemoan at how low her life had become. "Reduced to eating soil unsuited for peasants, what a pitiful princess I hath becometh."

She sat alone. There were no friends for her in school. She'd never made an effort to reach out for other students. And why would she? She was a goddess in a world of insects. The need for camaraderie escaped her, largely because the faeries she'd collected were more than enough companionship for to her.

Ciara still wondered why the pathfinder had taken her to Amity Park. She was given a shelter with two guardians that made sure to take care of her, which was certainly better than what the orphanage had to offer. But Ciara still wondered why she was taken to Amity park of all places.

'I thought living here would give me purpose, not questions. Why was I brought here?'

"FENTON!"

Ciara looked up. A blonde haired hair athlete student marched across the cafeteria with a tray of garbage at hand. His blue eyes glared at a black haired teenager with fear in his eyes."I ordered three mud pies. Do you know what they gave me?" He pointed at his tray. "Three. Mud. Pies. With mud. From the ground! All because of your girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend," the dark haired teen retorted.

"I'm not his girlfriend!" the goth girl added, not helping his argument.

The athlete grabbed the boy by his shirt, and spoke directly to his face. "These are the best years of my life. After high school its all downhill for me. How am I supposed to enjoy my glory days eating mud!"

"Your awareness of the world is quite impressive, young athlete." No one payed attention to Ciara's remark.

"Actually its topsoil," the victim's friend unnecessarily explained.

"Whatever." The athlete threw Fenton back on the table. He placed the tray in front of him. "Eat it. All of it."

Ciara rested her head on her hand, curious to how the boy would respond. She supposed that conflicts between people could be interesting as story books as well. After looking a bit more closely at the boy, she noticed a cold mist release from the boy's mouth.

"Uh..." Fenton put the spoon down, and raised his tray. "Garbage fight!" He threw the mud into the athlete's face.

The cafeteria erupted into roars. Every student raised up their platters of garbage and flung it towards each other like animals. Ciara crawled under her table. 'Madness. Humans are mad, and I'm the only sane one!'

She crawled across the cafeteria floor towards the exit. She caught a glimpse of the athlete swearing his vengeance on Fenton, right before falling on the floor in mud. There were a few moments as she crawled where someone had nearly hit her with dirt, but one of her spirits made sure to slide the mud around her as though there were a barrier protecting her.

She made it to the hallways, brushing at her knees as she stood up. "Animals," she muttered. "They liken to animals."

Ciara walked towards the restroom to ensure that the garbage hadn't touched her. Her soft red hair was clean, though she still felt like dirt clots had landed on it. Her freckled face felt smooth after washing it under water. The gray dress outfit didn't have any noticeable stains on it, but she ran a spirit across it anyway to make sure germs hadn't fallen on her. Ciara's emerald eyes still seemed distant in front of the mirror, it was like she didn't belong in the world she was living in.

She hated it. Everything about the world. She wanted to become something more, but it was like existence was holding her back. It had been two years since she'd collected another fairy, and it was driving her insane. The world was becoming more dull, and she was almost willing to wipe out the school just to turn the her world into a fairy tale again.

'If there are no knights in this world, perhaps if I became a witch, a knight would come to rise?'

Hero or wretch, Ciara yearned to turn the world into a fairy tale. She stepped out of the bathroom, and noticed... Food, flying passed her.

Steaks, ribs, beacon and sausages flying passed her in a comical manner. The randomness of it all made her walk back in the bathroom and shut the door. She called forth one of her spirits, and asked it to become her eyes. "Elohim, Essaim, Elohim, Essaim, I implore you."

Her spirit became her eyes. It looked passed every surface, allowing its vision to reflect across surfaces and surfaces again until she gained a perfect vision of the school around her. The hallways were becoming a mess of meat, a ghost boy was facing off against an mad butcher.

'Why can't I see him?'

The mad butcher's faerie was obvious, she had grown old from dementia and madness. Her faerie hated change, and couldn't adapt as other humans could.

But the ghost boy... She saw nothing. He had no faerie yet what he did was clearly on par with what faeries could do. How was that possible? It was like he frolicked between this world and the next.

"Cookie?" The women stopped fighting to offer one in a polite tone.

The violet eyed girl shook her head fearfully.

The mad women screamed, "THEN FACE THE CONSEQUENCES!"

Dementia. Ciara only pitied her. She watched the ghost boy tussle with the meat covered butcher, changing into various gross shapes to fight off the boy. It attacked out of vengeance, anger, and pain. She was excited to watch the boy fight, but then two teenagers entered the bathroom.

Her spirit lost sight of them, it could look across surfaces and opened doors, but not through people. The tanned teenager scanned Ciara from head to toe. Her hands were on her thin waistlines while her blonde friend stared quietly, wondering from which angle they should interact with this new student.

"Wow," she spoke in a thin Spanish accent. "I like how you dress up the same way my grandma used to."

Ciara understood the insult. "It's Celtic," she said plainly. "I wear it for cultural reason, do you honestly mean to tell me you don't understand that?"

The girl cocked her head back from the mild criticism, the response was very informative to her.

"You're from Ireland?" The blonde hair girl asked, referring more to Ciara's accent, "my grandma's from Ireland to."

The first girl crossed her arms, letting her friend know that she shouldn't talk. "I'm Paulina, are you new here?"

"I was home schooled last year. I moved to America two years ago."

"That's so cool," The blonde couldn't help herself. "Paulina, remember back when you came here for the first time?"

Paulina smirked, "listen Ciara, if you want to fit in in school, you have to start wearing outfits that are less..."

"Goth," the blonde blurted out laughing.

Ciara's mouth twitched, but they didn't notice it. Paulina took out a pen and paper and wrote her phone number on it. "Here, I'm gonna do you a favor. I have an idea about what would look good on you, so we're gonna go shopping later today."

Ciara arched an eyebrow, "why?"

"Because, you're better off hanging out with us than those losers at the loser table." Paulina and her friend took a moment to check their makeup in front of the mirror. Ciara took the time to check the fight between the ghost boy and the butcher. Nothing. It was over, she'd missed the most interesting thing she'd seen in years because two adolescents felt the need to disturb her peace.

She wanted to lash out at them, but then Paulina placed a hand on Ciara's shoulder. "Later, I'll even let you borrow my makeup kit, pixie girl."

Pixie girl? Had she called her that because of her small frame? Was it an insult?

"My name's Star, by the way," the blonde haired girl said. "Paulina likes giving people nicknames."

So it wasn't an insult, more like an acceptance to the group. Pixie, like those tiny magical creatures from fairy tales. She smiled, "sure," Ciara said, "I'd like that."

The two of them left ahead of her. Ciara left shortly after to find out what happened to the ghost boy. Her spirit skimmed across the hallways using echolocation to map out the people nearby. But it couldn't get a clear image of the people it could sense.

She decided to experiment. Using her echolocation ghost, Ciara added the third eyed spirit to direct its sights on the most likely targets.

Movement occurred in the basement. 'The school had a basement?' Her spirits carefully observed the butcher, trying to forcefully feed a a well cooked meal to a student.

"My dear child," the demented butcher spoke sweetly. "Meat is good for kids, it helps them grow, it makes them smile. Why won't you eat?"

The girl was covered in meat. She was sunken into a pile of it up to her shoulders. The women's powers kept it tight, making escape impossible. "Because we don't need meat," the girl answered confidently. Hostilely she added, "that's fat."

"Silence!" She screamed, causing pieces of food to rise up and fling across the room. "You need discipline, manners, respect! You know where that comes from? MEAT!"

Her tone lowered in an instance. She politely asked, "now, chicken or fish?"

Ciara noticed two warm bodies listening in on their conversation. The ghost boy and his ally. After an exchanging of words between them, the ghost boy jumped forward and attacked.

His element of surprise gave him a quick advantage, but that advantage short lived. He soon went on the defensive as he exercised his abilities of evasion. Shapeshifting, transforming and changing shapes to avoid the women's blows. In a few instances he fazed in and out of existence to avoid her attacks.

As she struggled to hit him, she eventually called upon the tons of pounds of meat in the basement, and covered herself in a bodysuit of flesh. She quickly gained the advantage as she tried to crush each of the running teenagers.

Eventually, the ghost boy decided to runaway. He grabbed a hold of his companions, and disappeared from the building.

'Where did he go? How did he do that?'

She used all of her tracking spirits to search for the three of them. They were nowhere to be found, at least not in the school.

'Did he pass through the veil?'

Ciara walked into the basement. The floor reeked in rancid odors leftover from expiring foods that had become unedible. The butcher was still scanning across the area for where the children might've gone. She was large, obese. Looked to be old either from the natural result of time or from a side affect of her awakening. She saw Ciara. "Why, hello," she said smiling. "Would you like some chicken soup?"

"I'd rather eat dirt, hag."

"Then prepare to eat destruction!"

The rancid meat quickly surrounded her again, and she launched her arms at Ciara. The hand exploded. Burnt meat flung across the basement leaving the lunch lady disorientated.

Ciara launched another explosion at her, this time at the body suit. Pieces of it flew off, exposing vulnerabilities.

A second spirit appeared. It came in the form of a three headed dog. Marching towards the women the dog devoured meats getting flung its way until it began biting off portions of the women's bodysuit.

The third spirit had eight invisible arms, each five meters long. The arms extended in front of Ciara and held the meat women against the wall. As the dog spirit finished devouring the food, Ciara spoke calmly to the butcher.

"I have a request," she said. "When you find the ghost boy again, don't hold back."

Ciara's voice came out venomous. She was not fucking around. The ghost boy was obviously the phantom pathfinder had spoken to her about. She wanted to know his limits, what he truly was, and why she couldn't see his faerie. "Kill him if you have to, I don't care. Just don't hold back."

The lady looked away for a moment. She whispered, "will you promise to eat a balanced meal with meat?"

Ciara rolled her eyes, "fine."

"Then they will regret ever having gone without a nutritious diet!"

She broke from Ciara's grasp, and meat pushed the dog spirit away. The lunch lady laughed maniacally as she floated around the room ranting to herself. Satisfied that the fight was over, Ciara slowly backed away from her, leaving her in her deranged state.

XXX

"But... I like my gowns."

Paulina and Star shook their heads disapprovingly. "You need color!" Star said to her, throwing a dress into her arms.

"And stop covering your ankles," Paulina added. "you've got nice legs, don't be afraid to show them."

Ciara came out of the fitting room in a tight-fit blue patterned sundress. She was embarrassed with herself, she always tried to blend in with her surroundings, the clothes made her feel like she was putting herself on display. "But, won't people... Look at me a lot?"

"That's the point," Paulina said in a matter-the-fact tone. "You're supposed to make guys want you. That way, they'll always want to be around you for when you need them."

"Need them?"

"That's how you make people like you," Star explained. "When enough guys like you, everyone else will fall in line. It's how popularity works."

"But, why would I want that attention?"

Paulina rolled her eyes, "Look, either everyone can like you. Or everyone can hate you. Which would you rather be?"

Ciara thought about that for a moment. She actually wasn't sure what category she wanted to fall under. 'To be the witch tugging at conflict in every legend, allowing for heroes to rise. Or to be the one admired, the centered focus of the tale?'

"Now try this one next," Paulina put another dress in her arms, and pushed her back into the fitting room.

XXX

Ciara's new gown was... Cute. Her shoulders were exposed to reveal her smallish frame, and her black skirt cut just above the knees. Star was kind enough to curl the ends of her hair making it feel more alive than it did before. Paulina showed her how to add light touches of makeup to brighten up her skin.

They only allowed her to wear the black dress because it had gold flowers patterned across the ends. She yearned to dress with class. Eloquence. Not simply attractive without style. Many people noticed Ciara for the first time since she began high school. For a moment, she felt like an adorned princess, with princes wanting to line up for her hand in marriage.

The feeling was short-lived. Two protests had organized at the school entrances, but they felt more like two festivals competing against each other. On the left side of the field, a cookout with staged dancers in meat costumes danced to entertain the audience. On the other side, hippies and grass root protesters sat on blankets cheering to a goth dressed girl's chants.

"Veggies now, veggies forever!" The hippies cheered with her. "Veggies now, veggies forever!"

A teenager in a red beret hat took up the mic on the 'meat' side of the field.

"What do we want?" The speaker yelled.

"Meat!" the crowd yelled.

"When do we want it?"

"Now!"

Ciara groaned, 'it's just a lunch menu, who cares!' Ciara ignored the causes and decided to walk to the closest food stand to buy a hot dog. 'I hope this doesn't make me endorse anything.'

Just before she could take a bite out of her food, the hot dog floated out of her hand. All the food from her side of the field began rising up, amassing above a food truck and forming into a twenty foot beast with no particular form. The shadow covered across the schoolyard. It's eyes had fire puffing out from it's head. It's scream shook the ground, "It's lunch time!"

The protesters from both sides dispersed as the ghost boy flew up from the crowd. Ciara watched in awe as the phantom faced off against the twenty foot beast.

'At last.'

He kicked it, and the ground shook as the monster impacted the ground. It must've weighed hundreds of pounds but the phantom wasn't fazed by his own strength. The lunch lady punched back, and phantom went flying across the air but came back as though he were a flying comet.

Like a comet, the phantom's fist caused an explosion of food at the monster's center. Ciara eagerly called upon a spirit to accelerate her own speed. She moved close enough to see miniature monsters of meat form and surround the ghost boy.

Using a hard flying hook kick, the hero took out each of the meat minions with ease. His attack dispersed the monsters into piles of heap but they soon regenerated back to their original forms. The minions rushed to pick up phantom and carry him off.

Ciara realized she had underestimated the lunch lady's power. Her insanity was much more relentless today than it was yesterday. Ciara tapped her heels, commanding her spirit to accelerate her speed further. She'd never been so excited before. Collecting faeries was easy, but watching heroes and monsters fight was exciting. She couldn't help but cheer for the underdog just as she would during all the fairy tales she'd read.

Eventually, the phantom faced off with the lunch lady. He had a... Soup thermos in his hand.

"No! Soups not on today's menu!" The demented women yelled.

He retracted, "I'm changing the menu. Permanently." He whispered to himself, 'please work.' He pointed the thermos at her, "I hope I'm right!"

A bright energy released from the thermos. Tinker Tech. The energy grasped at the lunch lady and pulled her inside the container. She screamed as her body shrunk and drained into the container. Phantom smiled.

"Astounding," Ciara said revealing herself. "Where do you hail from, Phantom?"

"Phantom?" The boy asked. From a distance, they both saw two adults in jumpsuits walking closer to them. "Uh, I gotta go."

He disappeared. Ciara's eyes widened. 'How did he do that?' She even wondered if he had a faerie following him or not.

"Cape detected." The two adults looked down at Ciara. One man was robust, large, with thick arms and impressive shoulders. The women in blue had a toned figure, she had auburn hair with violet eyes. Beautifully young for her age. The mechanism in the man's hand spoke. "You would have to be some sort of moron, to not notice the cape, directly ahead."

"He's..." Ciara murmured, "invisible?"

"I'll get you yet, cape boy!" The large man pulled out a... Butterfly net, and began swinging at the air.

Ciara pointed away. "I think... He went invisible that way."

"We've got a runner!"

He ran, and his partner followed after him. Ciara shook her head, 'what was that about?' An orange haired teenager covered her face in shame behind them. "Sorry about that," the girl said. "Just... I'm trying, okay?"

"What?"

"Never mind." The girl turned around to walk way. She muttered to herself, 'back to square one.'

Ciara looked across at the abandoned schoolyard. Things had become a mess, but she was glad to finally see Phantom pushed into action. Amity Park had knights of it own and Ciara wasn't sure what part she played in. Regardless, the young princess was feeling more alive than she ever had before.

It seemed, that a new fairy tale was finally coming to life.

XXX

Ciara looked at the mirror that night. She thought about what Paulina had told her. Looks matter. They don't say who you are, they say how you want the world to see you.

Ciara looked down at her dress. One of her spirits tapped the ends of it to change the pattern scheme on it. The flowers became fires, dyed as black. The rest of her dress became gray, symbolizing the blur between life and death.

It touched at her eyes, making the color go from an emerald green to a deep cold blue. Her hair transformed into an aurora gold. The freckles on her face disappeared and her eyes and hair dimly lit off their prospective colors.

Ciara was born anew. Someone different. A reaper? A watcher? A spirit? A witch? Ciara wasn't sure. She was completely clueless as to whether to become Phantom's adversary or ally. Either way, the Phantom's tale was finally about to begin.

XXX

End Credits: Kiss the Sky

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[Axle]

I've chosen my shackles...

"Words are a pretext. It is the inner bond

that draws one person to another, not words." - Rum

GhostWorm

Chapter 2: Bonds​

The aroma of spiced scrambled eggs caused Ciara to awaken earlier than usual. She sleepily walked downstairs to find out who was cooking. To her bitter surprise, it was the mistress. The women had on a cooking apron and a tight-fitted t-shirt that made sure to outline her petite body structure. Her yoga pants told Ciara that she had just woken up, and hadn't changed because her husband was off for 'work'.

The eggs on the stove hissed, and the mistress's cigarette only added more smoke to the kitchen. Ciara quickly turned around, but was called out before she could hide. "Nice dress you had, the other day," the women told her.

Ciara wasn't sure how to respond. Was that sarcasm? Was it another criticism she had for Ciara?

"It was better than anything I could've chose," she admitted, sounding defeated. The mistress stroked back her short, charcoal hair to give a proper glance to Ciara. "I have some jewels I can let you borrow. They'll match some of the new outfits you have now."

'A boon? A treaty of peace? Or a wicked test to determine what kind of women Ciara was?' "Why?" Ciara asked, critical of the women's kindness.

Her forehead scrunched, showing where stress lines would eventually settle in with age. She pulled the cigarette butt out from her mouth. "Because, you looked nice, and I think you'd look nicer with earrings. I've spent two years trying to get you to dress like a lady, and you decided to do it without me? Fine, I'm okay with that. But it could be better. I left my jewelry box on coffee table, borrow anything you like, just bring it back by the end of the day."

She shot a warning glare at Ciara, "and if you loose any of them, I'll never feed you again."

Ciara gasped in fear, aware that the threat was very real, and very deadly.

With the addition to her earrings, Ciara and Paulina quickly became the centers of attention in school. Ciara even noticed a few boys tripping over obstacles out of their mesmerized stares toward them. "This is... Strange," Ciara pointed out.

Paulina reassured her. "Relax, you'll get used to it."

Her and Ciara sat down at the shade of a tree. Paulina took out some frozen yogurt for her to eat, Ciara's lunch box was filled with well cooked pasta that smelled fresh with seasoning.

"The school dance is coming up," Paulina said. "Have you thought about who you want to go with?"

"No," Ciara said flatly, savoring each bite of her pasta.

"You can't tell me you don't like someone in this school. Kwan might be your type, I know that Dana likes him, but I can get him to ask you out if you'd like."

Again, Ciara was more interested in her food than the conversation. "No," she repeated herself.

Before Paulina could start an argument with her, a dark haired teenager leaned his arm against the tree. It was the boy who had started the 'food' fight a few days ago. He had an awkward smile on his face that feigned confidence. His dim blue eyes and nervous posture did nothing to flatter either of the girls.

Paulina didn't even pay attention when he tripped over next to her. She bemoaned. "Please don't say you've suddenly fallen for me. That line is so last semester."

"Really?" Ciara tilted her head, "is it odd that I find the quote charming."

"You've got a lot to learn, sister."

"Yeah," the boy said dizzily standing up. "I mean, that's not- what I'm trying to say is...Um, I'm Danny." Danny's pants fell o the floor. The exposed poka dot patterned underpants quickly became the focused source of ridicule among all the students in the courtyard.

Ciara pulled her head back. "If you were hoping to copulate with one of us, I believe you missed a few steps."

Paulina laughed along with the crowd, "a gentlemen usually tips his hat, but I'll give you points for originality!"

A grim looking girl walked to the boy's side. Her combat boots and cross-stitched skirt made her seem hostile. Ciara couldn't help but be impressed by how well her dark styled clothes were complimented by her violet eyes and lipstick. "Kudos, you just set an all time record for drowning in the shallow end of a jean pool."

Ciara cocked her head back. 'Did she just insult us?'

Paulina glanced back at Ciara in disbelief, and then looked back at the dorks in fury. "Oh no, you did not just call me shallow."

The dark themed girl defended her friend valiantly, "If you mean do you think I could stand in a puddle full of you and not get my feet yet? Then yeah." She took her friend away, leaving herself with the final insult.

"Let's kill her." Ciara said in a deadpanned tone.

"Oh, we will," Paulina said, thinking she had spoken metaphorically. "How angry you think she would be if we lured her boyfriends away from her?"

The mischievous plan made Ciara snicker. "More furious than death itself."

XXX

Suddenly, the plan made her feel sick to her stomach. She didn't mind going to the dance with someone she didn't like, but she did mind going to the dance with someone who repulsed her. Ciara had caught Tucker Foley asking out every other girl in school. The boy had no standards, and the thought of having to dance with him made her feel pathetic.

'What sort of princess dances with toads?'

Ciara looked off to the distance scanning across the mall. Sam and her friends were eating at the food court discussing things she couldn't overhear. In this tiny tale that Ciara and Paulina were forming they'd both typically be portrayed as either the wretched seductresses stealing men away from loyal women, or the royal princesses, demanding an offering for a grave insult.

So what was Sam? A loyal knight? A dark princess? Oddly, Ciara liked her character, even if she'd committed herself to becoming her enemy.

"Sixteen weeks!" Paulina yelled, "You can't tell me I have to wait sixteen weeks for a shirt!"

Ciara rolled her eyes. Paulina definitely fitted under the category as 'spoiled princess'.

Gods. Watching over the world waiting which directions humanity can walk to ensure their own prosperity. Fairies. Encompassing humans in an invisible spectrum waiting in their wakes before determining who is worthy. Husks. Billions upon billions of husks standing dormant waiting for the faeries to be used.

"Ciara!" Paulina was shaking Ciara awake. "Ciara, we have to get out of here! There's a-"

There was a roar across the mall. It's screech shook heavy objects on shelves and made the ground shake in tremors. The scales were a silvery blue that made a metallic noise as it walked. It was a salamander with wings. Green fires breathed out from it's back and head. The mouth was fuming in flames, and it cried inaudible noises as droves of people ran away.

The faerie was furious. It stood behind the dragon commanding it like the god that it was. It was angry, and it had nowhere to channel that anger towards.

Ciara's mouth gaped open. "A dragon," she whispered.

"Yes, a dragon," Paulina yelled. "Now let's get out of here!"

"A dragon," Ciara laughed. Paulina took her by the arm to run away, she couldn't hear her muttering to herself as they ran. "They're real."

In an instant, a boy in a black jumpsuit and silver hair fell from above and launched a fist into the dragon's face. She heard the echoing metallic clunk as he pounded into the twenty foot monster.

"A knight," Ciara squealed. She shook Paulina off and ran back towards the battle.

"What are you doing?" Paulina yelled back. Another tremor shook the mall. She quickly gave up and headed towards the exits. "Fine, you're on your own."

With bystanders running away from the fight, Ciara quickly found an empty fitting room for her to transform in. Her dress became gray, and her hair became gold. In the blink of an eye, her eyes glowed blue and a dense mist surrounded her. A spirit handed her a white scythe. Another spirit handed her a sword and shield made of mist.

She eerily floated to the center of the mall. The dragon held Phantom within it's grasp before Ciara called out to him. "Phantom," she said. An echo helped carry her voice.

Phantom and the Dragon looked up at her. Ciara tossed the sword and shield to next to the ghost boy. She used her scythe to swing at the dragon's neck. It extended, and she pulled the beast's head back. The dragon stumbled back, and Phantom was released from it's claws.

"Fight," Ciara commanded.

The ghost boy looked at the translucent sword and shield. He picked it up aware that they had strange properties to them. Ciara let go of the dragon, just in time for the Phantom to begin slashing at the creatures scales.

The dragon wasn't fazed by either of their weapons. It's crystalline skin repelled any damage their sharp conjurations could commit. Phantom on several occasions disappeared and reappeared to dodge the dragon's claws and bites.

Ciara was astonished that the ghost boy could disappear with her weapons still at hand. From her own standpoint, it was a sorceress and a tainted knight fighting against an unkillable dragon.

"This isn't working," the phantom told her.

It wasn't supposed to work. It was supposed to be fun, supposed to be a challenge. But she wouldn't let him know that.

Phantom glanced around. He jetted towards the stores and collected clothes and wares to throw onto the dragon's face. The fabrics spread across the air and were easily aimed onto the dragon's massive head. Rugs, towels, leather fabrics, they landed onto the beast's eyes at every chance the ghost boy could aim. It's large skull had trouble shaking them off.

In it's frenzied rage, the dragon opened it's mouth and began setting fire to the air around it. Phantom quickly launched it's sword into the beast's mouth, letting go of the hilt before it's fire engulfed the weapon.

It's screech was like a wail, crying in pain.

Eventually, the dragon laid down coughing. Except instead of succumbing to death, the flames on its head and back grew, engulfing the vicinity around them. Before Ciara could draw out her shield, the ghost boy shouted "watch out!" and formed his own shield around the both of them. Ciara was once again amazed. "Ghost boy, where doth thou sorcery hail from?"

"Sorcery?" Danny asked.

The dragon rose up. It quickly whipped it's tail at them, and flew the opposite direction. Ciara and Danny both flung back. A faerie cushioned Ciara's impact, but the ghost boy didn't seem to need her aid. After he was flung into a metallic stand, he got up easily, seemingly without injury.

The dragon broke through the ceiling, and flew off at speeds neither of them could follow. A light touch from Ciara could've killed the dragon, but she was thankful that such an aesthetic beast could live to fight another day. Phantom looked up at the sky, and then back at her. Ciara floated over to the ghost boy.

"Who are you?" They both asked at the same time.

Sam and Tucker Foley were spotted a short distance away from them. Ciara quickly placed a mute dome around herself and Phantom.

"Why can't I see your Faerie, ghost boy?"

"Faerie?" Danny asked. "And why are you calling me ghost boy?"

"Where did you believe sorcery comes from?" Ciara calmly floated around Phantom, her mist gave off an encompassing aura that held the boy's attention. "All sorcerers, witches, and enchanters, may only do what they do because faeries allow it. They take up a vessel, and then bestow their blessings onto us lucky few."

Ciara leaned closer to the boy. She placed a finger on her lip, "but where's your Faerie? I've seen faeries on every blessed knight and wretch I've met, except for you. Where doth your power hail from, ghost boy?"

"I uh..." He stepped back. "That's personal."

"Your secrets safe with me," she tried reassuring him.

"Listen," Phantom said, trying to be confident. "I need to know, are you a hero, like me?"

Hero. Such an arbitrary word to her. Many gifted would try and portray themselves as legends worth following, but she still saw all vessels and faeries identically. True legends, were made by actions, not labels.

"You don't know," she said, ignoring the question. "You don't know what you are, do you, ghost boy?"

"Why do you keep calling me that?"

"Because," she floated away from her dome, and allowed a faerie to finish her message to him. "Faeries keep the blessed alive, and to have a blessing without a faerie is to be both alive and dead at the same time. You walk a thin line, Phantom, and I yearn to know of how your legend will end."

The dome collapsed, and Ciara disappeared to the outskirts of the mall. Small crowds had formed to try and catch what had happened. Ciara was easily able to transform back to normal without anyone's notice.

"She's over here."

Ciara looked over. A dark skinned girl with an orange headband and curly hair was pointing at her. Paulina stepped forward from behind her and grabbed Ciara from her shoulders. "Are you crazy?" Paulina embraced her for a hug, "I thought you were dead."

"Paulina... I can't... Breathe..."

She let her go, "what happened? I thought we were supposed to escape, not run towards the dragon."

"I..." She hadn't even considered that people would be worried for her. She looked down at her guardian's necklace to find an answer. "Dropped my amulet."

Ciara lifted up her golden chain from her shirt. A bright green emerald gleamed at the centerpiece of her necklace. "Oh my God, it's beautiful!"

She was glad Paulina had an unhealthy fixation towards beauty. "It's my mum's," Ciara explained. "I couldn't leave it behind..."

"Still not worth getting killed over," the other girl said with her arms crossed. Her name was Valerie, they hadn't formally met yet, but Paulina had spoken... Critically about her.

"Maybe..." Ciara said, deciding not to extend the lie. "Can... We leave? I'd rather not talk about what just happened." It was a smooth lie, and Ciara was proud of it.

XXX

The mall's ceiling was wrecked and a few stores were burnt up from the battle. The damage was minimal and the mall would close for a few days, but since there were no deaths or injuries, it certainly wasn't considered a tragedy compared to most other cape confrontations.

The following day Star could join the group, and the four girls decided to go to the nasty burger to eat a meal together. Ciara had the excuse to eat quietly now, and she did so. None of the others pestered her as she ate.

"Danny Fenton, really?" Valerie said. "He's the second biggest dork in school."

"To be honest," Star deduced, "he'd be a lot cuter if he changed his attitude... A lot."

Paulina chuckled, "I'll let you borrow him once I'm done with him."

"Wait," Star said, "do you mean-"

"Oh God no!" The three of them bursted out laughing.

Ciara didn't belong there, she could feel it. Their aura was so confusing that she thought she was listening to white noise instead of people. She hated them. Why was she spending time with them? Paulina had offered to lend her clothes and that was it. She might as well have been a dress-up doll for her to play with.

"Hey Valerie!" An Asian American boy walked up to their table. He wore a Casper high football jacket that outlined his athletic prowess. "You'll never guess what happened to me, Dana said she'd go to the dance with me, so your dateless!"

Valerie nearly choked on her fries as the athlete pranced away. He was so fixated on his new date, he didn't care that he'd just stood up Valerie. "Oh no," Valerie said, "tell me that didn't just happen."

"It gets worse," Star said. She pointed to Tucker Foley, "He's the only one left in school without a date."

Tucker Foley was sitting at a table across from them. His two best friends spoke to each other quietly while he shamelessly eyed each of the girls at their table. "That boy is a toad," Ciara blurted out.

"True," Valerie said, "but he's still the only guy without a date. And since I'm going to that dance-"

"Wait!" Paulina said. "Let him ask Ciara out, she's never even been to a dance before."

Star and Valerie stared at her, "really?" they both asked in astonishment.

Ciara nodded, "is that bad?"

Tucker finally stood up from his seat and approached their table. Paulina, Star, and Valerie immediately rose up and left. Before Ciara could follow them, all three of them faced their palms at her to firmly gesture for her to stay.

By the time they were gone, Tucker took a seat across from Ciara."Hi, I'm-"

"Yes." Ciara interrupted. She had a blank face on herself devoid of expression or affection.

Tucker stared quietly, unsure if she meant what he was speculating, "Say again?"

"Yes." She repeated herself. Ciara was already irritated that she was forced to repeat herself.

"Yes to..." Tucker waved his fingers at her, hoping she'd complete the sentence for him.

"Yes. I will go to the ball with you." She felt her pride dwindle.

"Yes!" Tucker cheered, "I just got a date with the prettiest girl in school!"

Ciara shook her head, the flattery was not appreciated.

XXX

Star enjoyed experimenting on Ciara's hair. On a few occasions, Ciara would hear an 'oops' from behind her. Whenever that happened, she would turn on a spirit to find out what had occurred, always to discover that it was a stylistic error as opposed to a permanent error.

"How do I look?" Paulina came back in a bright pink dress that exaggerated her torso and glittered beneath her waists. Her long sleeve gloves added to the femininity her dress expressed. "Trying new dresses always makes me excited for my quinceanera."

"You look wonderful, Paulina." Ciara was courteous whenever she could be. "Boys won't be able to take their eyes off you."

"Speaking of which," Star said in amusement, "am I the only one here on a date with someone she likes?"

Ciara sighed, "Star, I envy you so much."

Star, Ciara, and Paulina all stood in front of the mirror to judge their outfits before the dance. They were all matched in style with the exception of color schemes. Ciara's dress was a morbid green, while Star's dress was golden yellow. Ciara was reminded of princesses and nobles headed towards a royal ball, looking for princes to win over for holy matrimony.

But as she glanced over at Paulina, she was then reminded of Sirens, luring men away with their alluring songs only to entrap them into cruel and bitter deaths. Paulina eyed at Ciara's necklace. It was as though she was lusting for it.

"It matches your eyes," Ciara said noticeably. Paulina jolted her head up, not realizing she'd been staring. "You should borrow it for the dance."

Her eyes widened, "really? You'd be alright with that?"

Ciara nodded and smiled. She untied the necklace and helped tie it around her neck. Paulina gleamed in excitement as she saw herself with it in the mirror. Before Paulina could express her gratitude, there was a knock on the bedroom door. It was Paulina's father. He was a large muscular man with graying hair, but he had a warming aura that glowed in hospitality.

"Princessa," his voice was soothing, it was almost as though he considered each of the three girls his family. "Danny, is on the phone. He wants to speak with one of your friends."

Paulina picked the phone in her bedroom, she spoke for a few minutes before passing the line to Ciara. "Um..." Paulina had a look of uncertainty in her eyes, "Tucker wants to talk to you."

Ciara raised the phone into her ear, "yes?"

"Yes," Tucker said, "glad we could chat again. I've been meaning to talk to you about the dance."

"I've already said yes, what more do you want from me?"

"Right, about that. Something came up, we can't go to the dance together anymore."

Tucker almost squeamed as the words released from his mouth. There was a long pause over the phone like the air had gone harrowingly cold. In a flat tone she replied, "you made an oath. And now you've broken it?"

"As I said before, something came up, it's outside of my control."

Ciara's grip tightened around the phone. "I do not believe you understand oaths, Foley. The nature of oaths is that they remain immune to changing circumstances."

She said his name venomously, like she were enacting a curse unto it. She overhead Tucker argue with Danny before addressing Ciara again. "Listen, I'm really sorry, I'd like to go with you, but I just... Can't."

She slammed the phone down.

Star covered her mouth to hold her breath, "You just got stood up... by Tucker Foley!"

Star hung her head down in laughter. Paulina couldn't help but laugh at well, more by Star's phrasing than the situation itself. Inside Ciara's mind, she was already forming methods of vengeance she could enact on Tucker.

XXX

The air around her was cool. A light chill walked across her skin as she floated above the high school where the dance took place. The music was strange to her, lively, but also a nuisance from her perspective.

Her goosebumps reminded her that she wasn't sleeping. Faeries danced around her. Spirits of fallen vessels she'd purified from the past. They alternated, taking shifts to dance and entertain the princess in the sky. There were twelve when the Pathfinder had found her, and that constellation number had helped make Amity Park's lack of faeries tolerable.

The Dragon had changed that, she wanted it as a part of her collection.

Ciara looked down at the student body, none of the people there had faeries above their heads. They were only vessels, and it was impossible for her to know which would be chosen by faeries. Then she looked off to the school yard, and she noticed a young girl with her arms crossed upset at the student athlete speaking to her.

"So, do you like quarterbacks?" The blonde teenager in white came off as more arrogant than charming. "Because a lot of people wish they could date a star quarterback."

The pale skinned girl stroked her glove behind her golden locked hair. "Why aren't you at the dance?" she asked, ignoring the athlete's question.

"Maybe because maybe I'd rather be here with you, than there." It came off as surprisingly smooth, something no one listening thought he had in him.

"I wouldn't," it came off solemn, but the athlete took it as an insult.

"Fine," he said finally giving up. "Stay here and whine all night, like I care." He leaned off the fence and walked into the building. The girl was finally alone, and she wasn't sure whether it was a blessing or a curse.

"Why," Ciara asked.

The girl stood back in shock at the Faerie queen above her, "you!" she screeched. "You attacked me!"

"I do not believe I initiated that confrontation."

"Still," her eyes glared and flashed red for a short moment, but she quickly clenched her chest back, suppressing the faerie's power back in place. "Ugh... Just... What do you want?"

Ciara could see that her faerie hated the girl, as the girl hated it. "Why do you fight yourself, Fafnir?"

"Fafnir?"

Ciara rolled in a low mist into the field. Her voice began to resonate and echo as she prolonged speaking, "you are cursed by your faerie. Enchantments tied to instincts always lack control from their vessels."

"What?" She asked, "what are you talking about?"

"You fear you can't suppress your spirit forever. You are right to fear yourself, for wrath is something no human can ever control."

The words clicked into place. Controlling her tantrums had become essential to controlling her beast, but having a lifetime of anger issues had now boiled into catastrophic results. "I can try," she said, repeating a phrase she'd told herself thousands of times.

"Stop trying," Ciara said. "Embrace the wrath, turn it into your sword. You wish to be free from your curse?" Ciara moved closer to her and extended her hand for her to hold. "Allow me to free you."

"Who are you?" The golden hair girl asked.

Ciara didn't have an answer ready for her. But by the time she took Ciara's hand, she didn't need one.

XXX

"Ciara?" Star said amazed. She walked towards Ciara with a glass of punch at hand. "I thought you weren't coming."

Ciara looked across the gymnasium full of students. Mr. Lancer was speaking to two of the chaperons; the unusual tinkers she had bumped into before. The mass of students made it impossible to use her tracking enchantments, so she could only use her eyes to search for her desired target.

"Wait," Star said with a mischievous grin, "did you come to the dance by yourself?"

Ciara didn't understand why that was considered humiliating. "I'm looking for Foley."

Star finally laughed aloud, "who'd have thought you'd get hung up over Tucker."

Ciara's stomach churned, but she hid her shame. "Have you seen him?"

Star looked away, and decided to give her a half-answer. "Have you tried checking the punch table?"

Ciara walked over to the table. Parched, she took out a flask for herself. She paused mid-drink in puzzlement at the sight of Sam. She looked astonishing, the Victorian styled purple and black dress matched her perfectly. It sparkled, and Sam's pigtails only added more to her gothic personality. Contrasting from the generic wares around the hall, it was a breathe of fresh air compared to the expectations that most people had.

"You're gorgeous," Ciara said instinctively.

Puzzled, Sam replied, "thank you. It's a stupid dress, my parents got it for me because they thought I'd like it."

"It matches you perfectly. It's like everyone else wears what's typical, but yours is better because it's unique. It's gorgeous and individualistic."

Sam couldn't help but blush, "aw, you're so sweet." Sam looked over to Danny talking to Paulina on the dance floor. "Hey, I'm sorry I called you shallow before. It was uncalled for, I shouldn't be so judging."

With a single sentence, Ciara felt as though a heavy curse had been lifted. Any qualms she had towards Sam quickly melted away. "Looks can be deceiving," she said.

"Just like books," Sam snorted.

Before they could both further expand upon that topic, Tucker walked towards them adjusting his tie. "Ciara?" he said in disbelief.

Ciara's fury flared back up, "Foley."

Like a deer caught in headlights, Tucker froze.

"Yeah," Sam commented. "What's up with that? I thought you said she had to bail."

"I uh-"

"Mind telling me why you broke your oath?" Ciara scowled.

"Um."

"Wait, he broke off with you? He told me you broke off with him."

Tucker wanted to squirm away, "maybe I should-"

"Perhaps he deceived both of us," Ciara wondered.

"Why would he..." A revelation entered Sam's mind, "wait, am I some sort of pity date?"

Caught red handed, Tucker fell back on blaming his best friend."It was Danny's idea."

"Danny?" Ciara and Sam said together.

"Ugh, I can't believe this," Sam said. "I feel like such an idiot."

"It's fine," Ciara said surprisingly nicely, "I can understand why he chose you over me..."

Tucker and Sam both felt a pang of guilt pass them. Sam hastily elbowed at Tucker's arm. At his wincing of pain, she whispered 'go', to him.

"Right," Tucker said. "Hey Ciara, wanna dance?"

Ciara lifted her head up. "Really?" She eyed at Sam, wondering if she was breaking some sort of unspoken rule.

"Relax," Sam reassured her. "I am so tired of this guy, you borrow him."

"I owed you a dance anyways," Tucker said, "glad it could work out." Before Ciara could comment, he took her by the hand and rushed to the dance floor.

Ciara had never danced before. Fortunately, Tucker was no master either. They both fumbled their feet as they tried to dance eloquently to the music around them. And while most people would be embarrassed, Ciara was relieved that eloquent movements weren't expected from her. It was like moving without a weight above her shoulders. Her foster mother would've been greatly disappointed, but she was glad it didn't matter for tonight.

Together, she and Tucker danced two dances before they heard a scream from the bathroom.

"Shallow witch!"

Sam and Paulina were tussling outside the girl's bathroom. Sam tackled her to the ground as she grabbed at her necklace.

"Get this freak off of me!" Paulina cried.

Two chaperons grabbed the girls and split them apart. Sam made sure to rip Ciara's necklace to pieces before letting go. Her foster mother's screech echoed within Ciara's head.

"You are such a loser," Paulina managed to yell, "you can't even get a date with your own friends."

Sam shook away, and jabbed a finger at Paulina's direction,"if getting a boyfriend meant being shallow like you, I'd rather be dateless than a witch."

"Get a clue," Paulina pointed back. "Your friends are dorks, and the only reason Ciara said yes to Tucker was to piss you off."

Sam looked over to Ciara. For awhile, she didn't want to say anything. But as the growing crowd around them fell silent, an answer was demanded from her. "It's not my fault your friends act like tools."

Tucker commented, "to be fair, I don't mind being used."

With that, Ciara knew she needed to add more weight to cement to her allegiance to Paulina. "For the record Sam, maybe you should heighten your standards. Then maybe you wouldn't be so desperate for pity dates."

The crowd gasped in amusement.

Sam slowly stepped away from the chaperon. She lowered her head down, humiliated, and ran out of the gymnasium in a morbid silence. Tucker shimmied away from Ciara and went after her, Danny followed behind them. Before they all exited Paulina yelled, "and for the record, your dress should belong in a horror film."

The crowd laughed off at Sam. Strangely, Ciara was offended by the comment. Paulina placed a hand on Ciara's shoulder, "nice, we got them back good."

Ciara stared up at the gymnasium skylight, she finally had an answer for Fafnir. She was a witch, not a princess.

XXX

End Credits: Electric Guest - American Daydream

​

 

[Axle]

"Sigurd the Dragon Slayer. With a sword descended by Odin, bestowed upon him by his fallen father, Sigurd slayed the cursed-tainted dragon, Fafnir, earning the title Dragon Slayer. After bathing and drinking in the beast's blood, Sigurd gained invulnerability and wisdom from the monster's remains."

​

Her corpse dropped to the floor. The aura lifted from her body and collapsed into the girl she had just touched. A tiny dragon frolicked into the girl's hand as though it was being initiated into her soul. She smiled, clasped the dragon away, and headed into the school building.

​

There were more inside of her. Surrounding her as though they'd lived with her her whole life. Her grasp around her powers were fluid, only she was adaptive enough command her tiny beasts. They were her spirits, her ghosts, enslaved to do her bidding. With a wide enough collection, she could've become powerful enough to take down nations.

​

He yearned to know how strong she could become. It also conflicted him. Was it better to hunt her now, while the prey was still available? Or to wait until she matured, in order to prolong the challenge? He decided to opt for both, hunt her now and play for the sake of pleasure, but collect her remains later to extend the game.

​

XXX

There was never an escape...
​

"You're a big-game hunter, not a philosopher.

Who cares how the jaguar feels?" - Richard Connel

-The Most Dangerous Game

Chapter 3: Two of a kind​

​

The ends of her mouth twitched. Her fingertips pressed tightly against her novel while she glared down at the pages. Crooked voices rubbed against her eardrums as she wondered how close she actually was from her own personal hell.

​

"Did you see what she was wearing?" Paulina's grin was wicked, satisfied only from the scolding of others.

​

"I know, she is such a freak!" Star muttered off like a mutt barking for its master.

​

She hated them. For crying out loud, they were in a library! Ciara couldn't believe how chatty they could be for a room designed for silence. Paulina and Star's conversations involved the most redundant subjects she could imagine. Gossip, makeup, boys, fashion magazines. If sounds physically took up space, their breaths were as wasteful as garbage.

​

Ciara shook her head, trying to fight off the urge to physically drag them out from the library. Paulina mistook her gesture as an agreement, "it's actually really sad, if she wants people to notice her, she could at least not be a freak about it."

​

Lifting an eyebrow, Ciara commented, "maybe she doesn't care, and everyone else cares what she looks like, except for her."

​

The two girls paused a moment. Star muttered, "well, she should care."

​

Finally giving up, Ciara closed her book and rose up from her seat. "I left my homework in my locker, I'll be back later."

​

Paulina raised an arm, "oh, give me the answers when you get back."

​

"Me too," Star said, "I hate English. Mr. Lancer's books are so stupid."

​

Ciara's face was stone cold. "Sure," she said in a stoic tone.

​

Slowly walking to her locker was more like a deadman's walk of shame. School had become a dread as she couldn't stop imagining herself far, far away from it. Every second seemed like a waste of her precious time. Paulina, Star, and Valerie all wouldn't stop pestering her with their worthless woes. Lunch became a battle. Both because she was forced to eat the slop that the school offered as food, and because Valerie and Paulina's passive-aggressive attitudes kept putting her in the middle of their pointless quarrels.

​

The boys were worse. While the girls would share venomous words with her, boys wouldn't stop staring at her like she were an object they needed to posses. Some even followed her, eyeing her body with their desperate fantasies for her (she was also certain someone made a shrine of her inside their locker).

​

Slowly opening her locker, she couldn't help but rest her head inside. Breathing deeply, regretting the bonds she'd chosen to form, she groaned, "why me..."

​

"Maybe your just lucky," a teenager spoke down to her. Looking up, she could see Dash's golden greased hair and chill blue eyes reflecting down at her. "Lucky that I bumped into you."

​

He smiled, her mouth flat-lined. "That's not luck, that's punishment."

​

His jaw dropped, but he didn't give up so easily. "Yeah well, you know I scored four touchdowns-"

​

"I don't care. No one cares. You think people care but they only pretend to care. And if that's the only boastful deed you have in life, you're more lost than every other student in this school."

​

Dash froze in place. His identity was built up from his own athleticism, to have that gutted away from him was like taking a shot at his being hood. "Yeah well, I think its cool..."

​

"Of course you do," she said, twisting the blade further. "You live in your own little world. Like an ill-witted fool."

​

Dash's pride broke down like fragile pieces of glass. He slumped his shoulders over and dug his hands deep into his pockets. Murmuring to himself, he walked away from her. 'If only I could take this anger out on something.' Danny Fenton passed by him. Dash completely spun around to stalk him like prey.

​

Ciara took a deep breathe and smashed her head against the locker door, "I hate it here."

​

XXX

​

Ciara looked off distantly. The school was minuscule from her perspective, taking up a small patch of grass from the entirety of Amity Park. If it disappeared, it would've been like removing a carpet stain that ruined the rest of her view.

​

She called upon a spirit. The first had the face of a horse, it's blue aurora followed wherever it moved. The second was robust, with lighting streaming out from its arms and legs. It's electrical symbol at its chest glowed the same color as its red lightning. The last spirit was on fire, to the point that it's being was only distinguishable as a stick-like fiery outline.

​

She commanded them. "Clouds of black, I summon thy might. Rhiannon. Danu. Cailleach." They danced, and the sky above her formed gray. The air above cooled with winds breezing kindly against the grass. Leaves fell as heat began collecting into the atmosphere. The storm brewed. Ciara wondered how long the rain dance would continue before she had enough power to demolish the school.

​

Are you attracted to catastrophes, Phantom? She remembered the last two times she encountered him. The Meat Butcher. The Salamander. At the height of every public crisis he would arrive. She only speculated what it would take to summon him.

​

"Resourceful," he said from behind. "Emulating rain by emulating the environment, did you learn that on your own, or did the idea occur while in class?"

​

The voice came from a mechanical tin man. He wore an exoskeleton that made him larger than a bodybuilder. Its helmet had the outlines of a skeleton, with his jawlines opening when he spoke. His eyes matched the head inside, expressing delight upon gazing at Ciara.

​

"You're... A warlock?" But her eyes deceived her. Whereas Ciara could typically see Faeries pulling the strings of actions of those they follow, there was no Faerie inside his suit of armor. Unlike Phantom, it was clear he was simply a normal man using the weapons of a warlock without having the supernatural abilities to build them. "Or perhaps, a warlock impostor?"

​

Skulker's laughter was mechanical. "No, I am not a warlock. I am something much greater than any title you could come up with. You may call me Skulker, the greatest Specter hunter of all time."

​

"Specter?"

​

"How else did you think powers derived from?"

​

Ciara thought about that for a moment. She had never considered that others might call what she saw as faeries as something else. "You mean faeries."

​

"Fairies? Ah, I see." He typed into the screen on his forearm, "that's what you've chosen to call them. More importantly though, you're a clairvoyant. Your value goes up each time I learn more of you."

​

"Value? Value of what?" The faeries stopped in their place. They turned their heads to Skulker with an icy, soulless stare.

​

"Value for hunting, of course. I am a collector. A collector of things rare and unique. And you, reaper girl, are that, and so much more." The tin-man laughed in arrogant delight.

​

Ciara rolled up her fists. "You will find that I am not so easily preyed upon."

​

"If you were easy prey, I would never have chosen to hunt you." Fire and lighting crashed into Skulker's armor. His feet didn't move an inch off the ground. The suit's insulation obstructed the blast as though it were a light wind. "It would be a pity if that were you most powerful attack. I was hoping you would put up more of a fight."

​

Ciara scoffed off his comment. Cerberus rose up in front of her and growled like Skulker were fresh meat for him to pry into. "That is a wish you will soon regret."

​

Cerberus the mutt pounded across the ground as it closed the gap between itself and Skulker. The moment it headbutted Skulker, Skulker grabbed him by the neck and began choking him to death. The twin heads of Cerberus tried biting at Skulker, but their attempts and chewing him down were met with coursing electricity running out from his body.

​

After the middle head choked to death, the other two fell to the ground. Ciara's eyes widened in astonishment. Skulker's strength and durability could've matched Achilles, but in the end, she reminded herself that Skulker was just a man. A fragile, nimble, weakling man.

​

A thousand small suns fell from the sky. Smoke bombs blocked out his vision. Neon lights burned through the ground around him. Ciara wasn't going to waver from his false strength. Skulker charged through all her attacks and smashed his heavy body against her. It was like a literal truck had sent her flying. She numbed up her body and levitated herself to avoid impacting the ground.

​

Peasant bastard. The cretin had no powers, he impersonated the chosen to compensate for his weakness. We blessed endure great suffering to be chosen for blessings, and this one impersonates us without having suffered at all? It was an unredeemable sin.

​

"You are filth, Skulker."

​

He smiled, "no, reaper girl. I am the epitome of all predators. You, and all that are like you, are fair game for me to prey upon."

​

Ciara gritted her teeth. She hurled another hundred fireballs at him, this time more as a distraction than to do him damage. She circled above him and punched down at him with invisible arms that sprouted from her back. Not only did Skulker block them, but he also parried them as though they weren't invisible. Skulker eventually leaped through the invisible arms and punched her in the face. When Ciara fell down with a bleeding nose, gliding mechanical wings grew out of Skulker's backpack revealing that he could fly.

​

Disoriented and infuriated, she decided to draw out from the thunder she'd begun creating earlier. The storm had brewed, and she only needed a conduit to channel it into her desired direction.

​

Skulker sensed that Ciara was changing her tactics. He cracked his knuckles and neck and positioned himself in a fighting stance. His crooked grin gleamed in excitement, glad that he could show the ingenuity of his suit.

​

Ciara shook her head, pathetic fool. Crackling sounds shook the trees in place. The world went dark as Ciara's clouds blotted out the sun. At Casper high, students began preparing a tornado drill, unaware to how dangerous the storm truly was. Wind whistled so loudly that crying animals hid to their shelters. A golden spirit appeared in front of her, and it pointed one hand at the sky and the other towards Skulker. The thunder united into a single force under the conduit. The conduit amplified the lighting with its talent.

​

The energy released as a beam. Skulker's entire body became covered in light. The beam almost blinded Ciara as it burned the ground surrounding him. As the energy slowly died down, the scorched hill Skulker stood on was decimated, but the tin man was still standing in place.

​

Skulker was almost proud of her. She was a worthy prize to him, and perhaps even a worthy rival. He knew she could grow up and become more durable through time and experience, and become the most priceless opponent. But it wasn't right for him to kill her, not yet. He wanted wanted her to mature. And he needed to force her potential out of her.

​

Skulker's burning body flew into Ciara. He reached her in less than a second and headbutted into the ground. He turned off his jetpacks just to drop his feet onto Ciara's chest. She spat out blood.

​

Skulker pointed his forearm at Ciara's head. He smiled, letting her know he was boastful. His blast overwhelmed her body, and turned her into a circuit board for surging electricity.

​

XXX

​

Waking up felt like surviving from a train wreck. Jittering twitches ran across her finger tips. They tingled from the after shock that still resided. Breathing was painful. Slow, deep breathes weren't enough to calm her irregular heart beats.

​

Walking down the stairs was a challenge. She fell over several times but tightly held onto the railing to help her way down. The house was empty. Darkness covered the living room while night time crickets sang from outside.

​

She didn't remember walking home. She remembered dying by Skulker's hand, and then waking up in bed. What had happened? Looking around the emptiness of her home, Ciara was too battered to want to think about it. She dropped onto the sofa and held herself tight, allowing for what specialized fairies she had to speed up the healing process. She closed her eyes, and whispered her mum's lullaby to calm herself to sleep.

​

"Come away oh human child

to the water and the wild

Come away, human child

With a faery, hand in hand

For the world's more full of weeping, than you can understand"​

​

XXX

​

"Where was she all day?"

​

Anna and Roy looked down at their adopted daughter. Her tightly arched brows told them she was having trouble sleeping. Sleeping on a lumpy, worn-down couch without bed sheets or pillows made them wonder what made her think it was a good idea.

​

"She had trouble sleeping," Roy's chin arched low as his calm blue eyes locked onto Ciara with focus and concern. "Like when we first adopted her."

​

Anna's eyelids fell low, recollecting how poorly she had handled that situation. "What should I do?"

​

"You go to work tomorrow, I'll talk to her in the morning." Roy placed a hand on Ciara's head, but Ciara instantly murmured and turned herself away from him.

​

Anna leaned low and whispered into Ciara's ear, magically relaxing her into a deeper sleep. Roy took her into his arms, and gently carried her into her bedroom for her to rest.

​

XXX

​

Classical music played in the background. The volume was just loud enough to help Ciara raise awake. She shook her arms and legs to test out her motor skills. The soreness across her body was gone, and the tingling sensation she'd been worried about subsided into a light numbness on her hands and feet. It would heal.

​

Mozart's string quartet symphony grew louder as she headed into the kitchen. Roy sat at the dining table with a heavy book at hand. He smiled as Ciara entered the room. "Good morning, princess."

​

Morning? It was 8am. She'd slept the entire day. "Good morning, my king."

​

Roy pulled out the candy stick from his mouth and pointed a pinky at Ciara's direction. His slim figure made each of his movements smooth. Dressing up professionally was a habit for him, even on the days he didn't work. A crimson colored dress shirt and black ironed dress pants emphasized the enthusiasm he constantly had in him. "You know Ciara, even sleeping beauty had a bed to sleep on. We found you passed out on the couch yesterday." He went up to her and patted her head, "are the nightmares back?"

​

Ciara's cheeks grew red. Her beginnings there weren't her proudest moments. Rather than answer him, she reached for a jolly rancher from the candy jar that sat on the dining table. She almost ignored the question. A moment of silence passed between them before Roy finally frowned, letting some guilt fall unto Ciara. "I've just been tired," Ciara said half-lying. "The people I've been working with at school, they give me headaches."

​

"Headaches?"

​

Ciara nodded, fully aware of how easily she could emit an image of weakness to other people. "Mr. Lancer partnered me up with people who talk a lot. It... Leaves me tired some days. It's like, everything they talk about doesn't interest me, so hearing them talk is like hearing radio static I don't understand. I end up being tired after spending all day with them."

​

There was enough truth in that statement to fool most of Roy's intuition. "Can you request to work alone?" Roy asked while twirling the candy stick in his hand.

​

"That's not really an option." Ciara had thought about that, but she knew Paulina would take it as a personal insult.

​

"Are you sure that's the only reason? Is there anything else that's been on your mind lately?" Ciara shook her head, allowing for Roy to let out a sigh of relief. "Well alright. Push through this as much as you can. If you ever need an excuse to come home early or skip school, just tell them we need you home for medical reasons. We'll lie for you."

​

"Thank you," Ciara thought about Skulker. How long would her guardians cover for her?

​

Roy poked her forehead and smiled. His honesty and ignorance gave Ciara a sense tranquility that she wholeheartedly needed. "Be sure to ditch those partners once the project is over. Boring people aren't worth a princess's time."

​

XXX

​

Returning to school was like nothing had changed. She still had bruises that her powers couldn't heal, but boys still gawked at her and her 'friends' still spoke like hawks chewing over prey. Ciara counted how many days were left for the project's deadline. She calculated the hours left, then the minutes, and then the seconds. Counting the time was her only reminder that time was indeed moving forwards.

​

"Ugh," Paulina said. "Those losers keep staring at us."

​

Looking up, Ciara noticed Tucker, Sam, and Danny all turning away from glancing at them. They no doubt still had sentiments from homecoming. "Don't waste time thinking over them, even out of anger. It's not worth our time."

​

"Amen to that."

​

As Paulina and Star continued talking while Ciara worked on the project. Ciara made sure to shuffle between faeries from out of sight. They practiced combinations between the bookshelves in the event that Skulker would show himself again. The exercise was relaxing. As she practiced reaction and clairvoyant powers, she heard a large mechanical suit in the school basement, clapping methodically as though to grab someone's attention.

​

"I gotta go," Ciara said standing up.

​

Paulina and Star looked at each other, and then at Ciara. "You're not gonna ditch us again, are you?" Star asked.

​

"Yeah, I missed the homework assignment yesterday because didn't come back. You better not leave again."

​

"I won't," Ciara promised. "I just need to meet with someone."

​

The two girls grinned deviously, but Ciara walked off before they could pry questions from her. Her walk downstairs included preparation. She transformed into her golden hair alias while making sure to charge the strengths of any spirits that could deliver a heavy first blow.

​

When she reached the basement floor that she'd once faced the mad butcher in, Skulker was humming in a tune that was distinctly familiar to her. "Be quiet," she demanded. Skulker huffed, then stopped. "Why did you spare me yesterday?"

​

"Because hunts are never entertaining when they end too soon."

​

"This is not a game of cat and mouse."

​

"My word, I hadn't taken you for a girl who watched cartoons."

​

Ciara sighed in disappointment. Skulker was referring to the out-dated show Tom and Jerry. Ciara was referring more to the Cat and Mouse in Grimm's Fairie Tales. "I am not as nimble as you take me for. If this is a game to you, it will never pan out in your favor."

​

A silicon dragon arose from the shadows behind her. It's eyes glowed green as neon smoke fumed out from its mouth and back. "Oh my," Skulker said in delight. "The dragon from the mall attack? This is how you plan on combating against me?"

​

The Dragon sprinted at him, it's stomach dragged across the floor as it aimed to crush Skulker with his crystalline body. "Why do you think I visited Amity park in the first place?" Skulker smacked the dragon's face with his fists, he cracked open the dragon's mouth and launched liquid nitrogen into its stomach.

​

The fire of Ciara's dragan burntout. A dagger extended from Skulker's arm, and pierced through the dragon's crystal skin. Aware that the dragon had failed its use, she called it out of existence. Skulker was more than satisfied. "Why do you think I visited Amity Park in the first place?"

​

Ciara glared at him. "She was your prey, wasn't she?"

​

"Indeed," Skulker said. "But if losing her meant finding you, I'd say it was a fair trade off."

​

Skulker lunged in Ciara's direction. Ciara, copying maneuvers from what she'd seen from Phantom, used shape shifting and cloaking faeries as she ran away from Skulker's advances. I'm sacrificing offense for evasion, she remembered, I won't win this way.

​

As she moved and spun around the packages of the basement floors, Skulker easily found her whenever she hid. He can see me, but I can't see him, she realized. A direct result of her having a faerie and Skulker being normal.

​

As she tried sprinting away, while studying what she could from his movements, a chisel hit her. Or at least, a nailhead scratched across her shoulder. She was spending so much time evading, Skulker hadn't even begun using his long range weapons until now.

​

More chisels hit her. Her legs and arms had light scratches bleeding across them. None of them were vital hits, but he was sending the message that he could hit her but she couldn't hit him. She stopped running and turned around and faced him.

​

Her body became encompassed by a forcefield. The forcefield was a metallic color, giving the impression she'd turned herself into metal. Fire spun around her. Like a machine, she punched Skulker's stomach as he sprinted towards her. A loud cracking sound hummed across the room. The punch froze Skulker in place, taking the forefront of the blow and holding still like the breathe was smacked out of him.

​

Before Ciara could smirk at the small victory, Skulker laughed. "Let me clarify something," Skulker said with her punch still lodged in his stomach. "I would never have survived as a Specter hunter, if I couldn't survive the damage of a Gatling tank."

​

He returned the punch back to her in full force, making Ciara crash through a pile of packages. Her body was shaking. Skulker was only a husk without a faerie. He had no right to pick a fight with her or any of the other chosens. Yet he did so with cocky arrogance. Picking at her like she were a game carrying no threat to him.

​

"You pathetic wench," she growled. "You are nothing. You are less than a speck in the grand play. We blessed, we are destined for more than you can possibly imagine. Your strengths aren't even your own. You are only a bastard, doomed to be nothing more than wasteful space to us graced."

​

Skulker stared at her in an uninterested gaze. Her body was battered, he could see that she could still grow up to become an ignorant girl. "You're quite naive." Skulker walked towards her taking long. "As special as you believe you are, you're just like so many others. Allow me to enlighten you; you're not special. Your specialty is not unique. And in the end of the day you're just as mortal the rest of us."

​

Skulker cocked a bomb from his belt buckle. It wasn't meant to hurt her, it was a teleportation tool that a friend had given him. "I'd like for you to see my home. A pocket dimension given by a friend. I want you to look inside, take a glance, and tell me again if you still think you have a grand destiny."

​

The bomb exploded by Ciara's head. Her body tingled. She was blinded. For a moment, she wasn't sure where she was anymore. A low humming entered her ears. Blinking her eyes out, she caught a glimpse of what Skulker had done.

​

It was a cabin. The silence within it was abnormal. No sounds were heard because there was only a ominous hum that hallowed from outside. Like there was no atmosphere. The room was made of finely crafted wood that made the ornaments organized in a cleanly professional manner.

​

The ornaments were dead capes. Heads stuck out from the walls the same way an animal hunter would flaunt their kills in a boastful manner. Each mannequin had masks over their models. Some with burns and cuts implying a story and history for each person he killed.

​

The floor had an artful cape rug with boots and gloves attached to the corners. A helm was attached to the side positioned in an identical way a bear skin rug would be placed. Iron gauntlets hung from the ceiling like chandeliers. They looked like tinker tech. A stuffed human doll laid seductively on the piano, Ciara wasn't sure if it was a mannequin or a stuffed human.

​

Another bomb went off, and she was returned to the basement of Amity Park with Skulker standing in front of her. The loud ringing almost stopped her from hearing him speak. "Tell me Ciara, which one of us are the speck in this grand play of yours?"

​

Ciara's silence spoke volumes. She flashed a light in his eyes and fled with all the energy she could muster. She ran to the school halls and hid in the bathroom, hoping Skulker wouldn't risk being seen in public. Scrunching down to the side of the toilet, she noticed her legs were heavily bleeding. She felt woozy before deciding she needed to burn her wounds shut.

​

XXX

​

A paranoia was growing. For days, Skulker constantly picked battles with her whenever she was alone. Each fight damaged her more, scarred her more to the point that she wore long sleeve shirts and dresses solely to hide at her wounds. Bruises, cuts, burns, things she couldn't heal; so she had to hide them.

​

The only safe haven she could attain was when she was in the company of people. Any moment alone risked a confrontation from Skulker. She wasn't sure how much longer he'd entertain the game of cat and mouse.

​

"You're going out?" Ciara asked.

​

Anna helped Roy with his tie. Their violet colored wares complimented each other in a way their youth and passion shared. Sometimes Ciara thought they were a happily ever after couple, with herself being the illegitimate daughter they didn't deserve.

​

"My mistress cooks too much, wives need breaks too." Roy had adopted the nickname from Ciara. For some reason, Anna took it more as a compliment than an insult.

​

"It's true," Anna said adjusting his tie. "True men show their wives what they're worth."

​

"But I can't afford that, so we're just going to a restaurant instead."

​

"And not enough men appreciate dates after marriage anymore."

​

Roy thought about that for a moment. "Now that I think about it, doesn't living together count as quality time?" She choked him slightly with his tie. "Never mind. Forget I said anything."

​

Ciara twiddled her thumbs together, "may I... Sleepover at a friend's house tonight?"

​

The two adults stared at her. "On a school night?" They asked in a skeptical tone.

​

Ciara nodded, not offering an explanation. The couple looked at each other for a long moment, communicating without words. It was like they knew a secret of hers but they didn't want her to know that they knew her secret. I hate it when they speculate about me...

​

XXX

​

Paulina was pleasantly surprised when Ciara knocked on her door. Things quickly became comforting when her father offered to cook them both dinner. Ciara had wished she could enjoy the well cooked meal, but she was too focused on Skulker, cynically watching Ciara from a safe distance above the rooftop.

​

In Paulina's room, she wasn't sure how well she'd sleep. The paranoia was growing. How long will he hunt me for? She knew she couldn't win, Skulker had too many victories under his belt. She was child's play from his eyes.

​

"Ciara, why are your arms cut?"

​

Paulina grabbed at Ciara's arms coming out from the bathroom, wearing pajama pants and a short sleeved t-shirt for sleep, the cuts on Ciara's arms were revealed. Paulina looked at her like she were a ghost, like she'd committed some sort of deplorable act that only deserved sympathy. "I have cat," Ciara lied. "She scratches me... A lot."

​

Paulina looked away, deciding to drop the subject out of fear of saying something wrong. Ciara sighed, she'd forgotten to cover up the scratches from Skulker's fighting. Hiding her cuts from her guardians was as simple as using a faerie to obscure their vision. They asked to see her wrists after she began wearing longer sleeves. Their fears had quickly disappeared after they're eyes deceived them.

​

So focused on Skulker's nearby presence, she'd forgotten to use the same trick with Paulina. "Be more careful," Paulina said gloomily. "You getting hurt isn't cool."

​

When the lights went out, and they both laid back on their prospective mattresses, Ciara noticed something for the first time. Paulina stopped talking to me. Under normal circumstances that would be awkward, but Ciara loved the newfound silence Paulina had gained.

​

"My mom died in Columbia." Ciara looked over next to her. "You were adopted, right? I lost my mom when I was little, I still remember what she looked like." Paulina turned her head to Ciara, "do you remember your parents?"

​

"No," Ciara lied. "I don't know if they ever cared about me or abandoned me because they didn't want me. My foster parents always tell me that it doesn't matter, but I still wonder a lot."

​

"Anna is nice," Paulina said. Ciara rolled her eyes in the darkness. "I didn't have a mom to teach me all of these things growing up. I figured if no one would show me, I'd try and learn these things better to make up for not having a mom. My dad always says, 'a princess can always be a princess, with or without a mom.'"

​

Ciara's mom had once called her a pixie. Probably because she'd always been small, tiny, like maybe Ciara had fitted in her mother's hand; once upon a time.

​

Her mom's spirit was still with her. It was a remembrance of her mother's image. Golden hair contrasted to Ciara's natural autumn hair. Calming blue eyes as beautiful as ocean waves. She loved her mother's eyes.

​

But she'd forgotten her face. Only the brightest colors on her mom's head were what she knew for certain. Summoning her mother's spirit didn't give the spitting image of her mom, it only gave a memory. Uncertain of what she looked like, Ciara could only hope that her mother's face was identical to her own. She hoped that someday, she would become identical to her.

​

"Paulina, have you ever heard of the story of Deirdre of the sorrows?" Paulina shook her head.

​

"Once upon a time there was a girl born to a very proud king and queen. She was destined to grow up and become beautiful women, with beauty that would become the envy of all the lands. But that beauty was also a curse, because she was also destined to cause feud and war among the men that would all fall in love with her.

​

So her father, in an attempt to protect her and to protect his kingdom, sent her to foster parents to protect her from the future she was destined to have."

​

Ciara remembered Pathfinder's power. What was it in Ciara's future that made Pathfinder move her across the world just to alter destiny? Had Pathfinder condemned her to death, the same way Deirdere of the Sorrows ended?

​

"Sometimes, I pretend my parents were royalty, and that they sent me away to have a normal life."

​

"Is that why you like those books so much? You like to pretend things?"

​

Ciara's eyes closed shut, "yes, I like to pretend."

​

XXX

​

The exhaustion was beginning to show. She stopped tidying up in the mornings, and was now solely reliant on Paulina's company to avoid Skulker's advances. Paying more attention to her faeries than where she was walking, she bumped into Danny in the hallways.

​

"Sorry," Danny said, just as Ciara said, "pardon me."

​

They looked at each other, the exhaustion from each of them was obvious. From the dark circles underneath their eyes, between Danny's messy hair and Ciara's lazily tied hair, they both looked worse for wear.

​

Tucker turned the corner and reached out to Danny, "C'mon Danny, we've got ten minutes before you're late for gym." Tucker paused to look over at Ciara, "wow, you look-"

​

She hissed at him.

​

"As beautiful as ever."

​

Ciara was about to insult him, but chose to hold her tongue. Just take the compliment Ciara...Sam followed behind Tucker. "Oh look, it's miss sunshine again. Lemme guess, asking for time management advice from Tucker?"

​

Ciara's gritted her teeth, "I don't have time for this."

​

Just as Ciara was about to walk off, Danny placed a hand on her shoulder, "hold on, we've been wanting to talk to you about something."

​

She shifted around and glared at him. "What? What is it that makes you think you're even worth an ounce of my time?" Danny froze from her cold hard stare. "I thought so," she said as she walked off.

​

"What's with her?" she heard Tucker ask once she left their hearing distance.

​

"Maybe all the people pandering finally got to her."

​

Ciara held her breath, remembering again that there were two more chosen people in town living in plain sight. Fenton's family was infamous for their tinkering, she made the decision to stop by his home after school.

​

XXX

​

Danny Fenton, the child of two warlocks. Faeries flocked to children the same way children flocked to fireflies with bafflement. Ciara suspected that Danny might become chosen for enchantment. But for now, Danny was only a husk with the potential to carry a faerie. She wouldn't bother to harm him in the meantime, but there was indeed a chance that she'd take his faerie if the chance ever came by.

​

Ciara had often wondered what would happen if she took the Fenton couple's faeries. Warlock faeries always had a madness to them that repelled her. Their obsessions with sorcery and alchemy always bordered insanity to the point that they could destroy themselves just to feed their obsessive creations. If two had joined her, would she go insane too?

​

The basement looked to be like a bomb shelter. Clear metallic surfaces with metal tables carrying alien weapons ready to be used. It was all too foreign or her. She tapped onto each of the warlock's inventions, trying to feel how alive each mechanism worked. Although she was blind in their methods of magic, she could felt that invention could break the known laws of the universe.

​

The vault was their most impressive invention. She placed her hand on the iron vault at the end of the room. Her hand slowly slid down its surface as she waited for Skulker to arrive

​

"A doorway to the other side," Skulker said walking down the stairs. "I hadn't thought they had it in them."

​

Ciara could almost feel the life that existed on the other side. How many more worlds were there beyond their own?

​

"How comedic," Skulker said as Ciara wondered to herself. He picked up some of the guns the Fenton's had on the table. "Every one of these are rigged to implode. Either the Fentons are obsessed with making sure no one else uses these, or they're so foolish that they're doomed to kill themselves. I'd place my bet on the latter." He looked through the scope of one of the guns, "it's like if a plain person tried their hands at Specter tech."

​

"Like you?" Ciara reacted.

​

Skulker scoffed, "hardly. I'm aware of my ignorance towards Specter weaponry. But I've certainly trained how to use them."

​

"You... have a Warlock mentor?" Ciara thought of the prophet Merlin.

​

"More like entrepreneurs."

​

Entrepreneurs? That was a word she didn't understand at all. Ciara stepped back from the doorway and looked unto Skulker for the first time. His size boasted in strength and confidence that Ciara could no longer emulate.

​

"Do you envy us?"

​

"Of course not. I refuse to be outmatched by those atrocities."

​

She thought long to herself. His eyes were like her eyes in the same way that they both took the souls of the blessed. "Why us? Are we really worth the challenge? I gain power from each faerie I collect, but what do you collect?"

​

"Something more than you could ever understand."

​

Skulker walked next to Ciara and looked down at her in her glowing form. "I'll offer you a chance." Ciara looked unto him with her eyes steady. For the first time in her life, a husk had the power to end her life easily, and she was powerless to prepare for that scenario. "If you can collect 100 Specters in one year, I will hunt you again after that time is up. If I win, I will spare you then. But if you don't collect all 100 by then, our next confrontation will be your last."

​

He yearned for a challenge, one which only she could provide. "It took me 7 years to collect 13 faeries, you expect me to collect 100 in a year's time?"

​

"Lighting a fire beneath our feet is the fastest way to find one's true potential." Skulker extended his hand, "do we have a deal?"

​

The choice was obvious. In truth, she'd have said yes even if Skulker had asked her politely upon first meeting. But right now Skulker was shackling her into a chain built out of terror and control. Before Ciara could agree, an ominous voice echoed from afar.

​

"You know, in this town most people knock before visiting the Fentons."

​

Phantom stood floating with his arms crossed, with a mischievous grin across his face. "Phantom," Ciara and Skulker both said.

​

"Glad the name's catching on," Phantom threw his fist across Skulker's head. The hunter retaliated by launching lasers and missiles at Phantom's direction, but the ghost boy easily disappeared and reappeared from sight just to evade and hammer Skulker at every chance he had.

​

This is good, Ciara thought to herself.I can run away now. Where there was once confidence and pride, there was now fear for survival. Speculations began to form. What if Phantom loses? If we work together to kill him now, would it help me survive later?

​

She was now eerily aware for how desperate she was. Her breaths were fast and her hands uneasy. Too afraid to challenge him, she backed away as Skulker grabbed Danny by the neck. "It's time to put you back in your cage."

​

Phantom cried for help. He cried for her for help. Eerily aware that they could lose even while working together, Ciara ran towards to the stairway. As she took the first step, Phantom yelled, "Ciara!" She froze. How did he know my name? "I saved you- at the schoolyard. You... owe me!" He was choking from Skulker's squeeze.

​

A few days ago, the choice would've been easy. But her terror was holding her back. "I'm... Indebted to you?" Her voice came out stale, wishing the statement wasn't true. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and used her invisible arms to jerk Skulker away from Phantom.

​

"My, this has certainly gotten interesting." Phantom floated to Ciara's side, taking a fighting stance facing Skulker. "I haven't fought a duo since... I dunno, three months, tops?"

​

It was a childish statement, but it still scared Ciara. "Yeah well," Danny spoke with a newfound confidence, "some advice; never fight a guy in a lab full of tinker tech he can use."

​

It seemed like Skulker lifted an eyebrow from beneath his helm. "You're joking, right?" Phantom grabbed some mechanical gloves and charged his fist into Skulker's suit, the electricity was enough to short circuit some of his tools. "How did-" The gloves exploded in Phantom's hand, revealing the flawfulness of Fenton inventions.

​

Phantom then grabbed a metallic bazooka. It fired one shot which exploded in both his and Skulker's face. Ciara watched in bafflement as the ghost boy grabbed and destroyed each weapon in the lab, slowly deteriorating Skulker's suit in a suicidal manner.

​

"You know, I could use some help here." Phantom said coughing in smoke, "believe it or not... This really hurts!"

​

Ciara passed her only two healing faeries at the ghost boy. She looked around for a tool to use, she found a tiny remote control and pointed it at Skulker.

​

"Hold on, don't touch that!" Phantom's warning came too late. The vault door at the end of the room opened. Heavy wind began pulling the contents of the room away. The insidious green light from the portal behaved as though it was oblivion. Danny and Ciara pulled at the floor, while Skulker's suit began to pull inside in pieces.

​

Skulker grabbed Ciara by the leg, and Phantom took her by the arm. He closed his eyes, and fazed Ciara's body out from Skulker's grip. Astonishment befell Ciara as she felt like she were air for a short moment. Skulker's eyes were furious, like humiliation was something deplorable from his perspective. He glared at the both of them before falling inside.

​

Phantom threw a tool at the control panel, causing it to break and shut the portal down. When Ciara and Phantom fell to the ground, Ciara instantly stood up in shock. "You know my name?" She asked in heavy breaths.

​

Phantom stood brushing off ash his jumpsuit. "I saw your real face outside of school. I took you home that day." Phantom stared at Ciara impressed by her ability to change. It was the first time they realized they were both the same height. "Ciara, I asked you before, you're a hero, right?"

​

"No, I am not a hero. I am a spirit collector."

​

The ghost boy tilted his head. "So... As a Phantom, are you going to collect my soul?"

​

Ciara gave off a soft chuckle, one tired from running and fear. "Know this, Phantom. I am indeed indebted to you, but if you ever reveal to anyone my true name; I will take their soul, just as I have many others."

​

Phantom's face turned pale. Before he could talk any further, Ciara flew away in a rush to experience her newfound peace.

XXX​

Milky Chance - Fairytale

​

 

[Axle]

I learned to love my cage...
​

"People generally see what they look for,

and hear what they listen for."

- Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

Chapter 3: Two of a Kind: 1/2​

"Smile!"

The flash dazed him for a bit. His vision fizzled back to normal after shaking his head. "Okay, I showed you the portal. Can we get out of here now? My parents could be back any minute." Danny turned his eyes back at the unsealed vault. It's emptiness was eerie in the end of his parent's laboratory. "Besides, they say it doesn't work anyway."

Sam took a single step into the tunnel. She grinned. It's spherical design was the most impressive invention the Fentons had ever made. The enormous tunnel carved into the wall like a train tunnel. It was cold inside. Stepping inside was like taking a step out of a warm living room and into a chilly mountain side. "Wow," she grinned as she took photos of the interior. "C'mon Danny, parallel universes? This is the coolest thing since capes became mainstream."

She stepped back out, careful not to trip over the wiring inside. Danny looked next to her and smiled, "y'know what, you're right. Who knows what sort of awesome super cool stuff exists outside of that portal."

Tucker looked over at the Fenton's work bench. He picked up a metallic backpack that looked like an expensive leaf blower. "Hey Danny, is this the invention that let's people teleport?"

"It was supposed to. But they can only get it to make popcorn."

"Sweet." Tucker pulled a bag of chips from his backpack and began loading the funnel with snacks. "Your parent's inventions always end up better than they wanted. Are you sure that portal isn't actually a giant sauna?"

Danny did a double take of the portal. He was reminded of how the symmetry of the portal was different from all the previous inventions. It was more artistic in design. All the portal's materials were brand new, contrasted from the typical scrap metals his parents normally used. "Actually, I think this is the real deal. I heard them talking about how they had help from Doctor Haywire."

"Really?" Tucker's eyebrow raised. "This could actually work."

Danny put on his paper colored jumpsuit. "Hang on," Sam demanded. She ripped off the patch of his father's self portrait from his chest. "You can't travel other universes with that on your chest."

Danny shrugged, and took his first steps into the portal. A few paces in, as he tried to find his footing in the darkness of the tunnel, his fingers slipped passed a dormant switch his parents had forgotten about. Electrical circuits instantly crackled inside. There was a bright green flash as everything changed, his molecules became rearranged.

XXX

He could and couldn't remember what he saw. To describe it as a dream would've been an understatement. The entirety of the world and more flashed before his eyes in one millisecond of a second. He saw everything. Everything and more; once. Waking up was like waking up from an ocean. He had drowned, died, and come back to life. Everyone was just a droplet, one small make up of everything.

Sam and Tucker were the firsts to see Danny awake. Their eyes were wide and morbid, like Danny's body had been disconfigured in an irreversible way. "What-" his voice came out hollow. It was like he hadn't drank anything in months. "Happened?" he managed to croak out.

With a slight trembling in her hands, Sam picked up a mirror and handed it to Danny. His eyes were glowing green. The hairs above his head were snowy white and misting. The skin on his face had become pale. Rubbing his fingers across his cheeks was like brushing against paper, and Danny noticed that the gloves on his hands had become an inversed white color.

"What happened?" Tucker asked in disbelief.

"I don't-" Danny disappeared. Realizing his face vanished from the mirror's glass, he pushed it to the ground and it shattered.

Sam and Tucker looked at each other. Tucker's voice came out low, "did he just... Die?"

Danny reappeared, still white haired and emerald eyed as before. "Why... can't I," he couldn't feel his breaths. He was breathing but it wasn't alive. The heartbeat beneath his chest was gone but the rest of his body still functioned.

"Should we..." Sam spoke in fear, "get your parents?"

Something in Danny must have clicked. Because the prospect of what his parents would've done to him horrified him. In an instance, a white glow glided down his body and returned him to his normal state. Normal. The word suddenly became alien to all of them.

XXX

"Aaaaand..." Maddy finished the final touches of her project. Her blue jumpsuit covered her head with it's red goggled hood over her eyes. "It's done!"

"It's done?" Danny's father creeped up behind her. He lifted up the invention from the kitchen room table ecstatically. "It's done! This cape finder will lead us straight to the capes!"

Danny choked on his cereal bite. "The um," he coughed out, "the what finder finds what?"

"I can't wait to capture a cape," Jack gloated taking wide strides around the kitchen, "when we do, we'll tear it apart molecule by molecule! For science!"

"Voluntarily of course," Maddy said in a pleasant tone. "We'll be sure to put them back together, if it's possible.'

Jazz didn't look away from her psychology textbook, "stuff like that is exactly why sponsors stay away from you guys..."

"MOVE FORWARD," the tiny square box said. Maddy and Jack eagerly stepped forward, inching closer to their son. Danny backed away from the table. They eventually kept walking closer until Danny was finally backed away to the wall. "CAPE DETECTED."

His father raised an eyebrow, "that can't be right. This one must be a broken too."

Danny let out a sigh of relief. As he did he nearly fazed through the wall behind him. Wondering if telling his secret would've be better than having it discovered, Danny decided to come clean. "Actually, Mom, Dad, I need to tell you guys something."

"That's not all you need," Jazz said putting away her textbook. She stepped forward to the three of them, "you need guidance, and parents that can provide it."

"Sweetie," Maddy said kindly, "I know what we do doesn't always make sense sometimes, but you're only-"

"Sixteen, and legally an adult in some states. And as an adult, I will not let your insane obsession with tinkering to pollute the mind of this impressionable little child." She hugged her brother tightly, "come you abused unwanted wretch, I'll drive you to school."

Unable to speak, Danny was taken out of the kitchen still wrapped in Jazz's arms. "Hmm," Maddy wondered, "that's weird, Jasmine never offers to drive Danny to school."

"There can only be one reason for that. She's hiding something." He glared at his children, "she's a cape..."

XXX

Danny's mind wandered as he cleaned up the mess the lunch lady had created. Someone needed to clean it up, and Mr. Lancer had decided that he and his friends were overdue for punishment. Dash, to his own pleasure, supervised the three of them as they cleaned up the garbage in the gymnasium. Except Dash was more focused on talking on the telephone than watching the three of them clean.

"Hey guys." Danny took a moment to stop cleaning the slop around him. Danny looked over at his friends, particularly at Sam, who was ashamed she had to touch the rotting meat. "I think I can do this."

"What, cleaning this up on your own?" Sam asked in a hopeful tone.

"No, I mean being a hero."

It had been a full month since he'd gain his powers, but he was still somehow able to defeat the villain that was several times stronger than him. He had acted out of impulse. When he saw the lunch lady wreaking havoc, he jumped into action without any concern for his own well being. Was that what being a hero was all about?

Tucker and Sam glanced at each other and exchanged smiles. For Sam, her dull world was finally becoming lit. She'd always been told to accept the world for what it was, but for once, her closest friend had the power to change everything. "I think you already are," Sam said in approval.

For Tucker, it was like watching a wish come true. Growing up, Tucker and Danny had always dreamed that they could become heroes. He was proud of his friend. "Did you see how you fought that meat giant? You've only had your powers for a month, and you already beat someone ten times bigger than you!"

Danny grinned in pride. He remembered all the heroes he'd seen on television, and how he had a chance to live that life. "Being a hero, helping people when they need it. If other people can do it, why can't I?"

"Exactly," Tucker placed his arm around Danny's shoulder. "Of course, you're gonna need some side kicks to help protect your secret identity. Unless, you know, you're alright with your parents finding out about you."

Shivers fell down all of their spines.

"Speaking of which," Sam pointed to Danny's backpack, implying the thermos with the lunch lady's shrunken molecules inside. "What are you planning on doing with that?"

"Well, I'm not handing her to my parents, that's for sure. She might be a villain, but I'm not evil."

"I wish there were a prison where bad parahumans couldn't cause-" Sam snapped her fingers, "I just got an idea. But we're gonna need to bail."

Danny nodded, "you don't need to tell me twice."

Slop was tossed onto Danny's head. Dash yelled at him with the landline at hand, "you missed a spot." He grinned in delight at Danny's misery. "Everywhere."

"Don't you have better places to be?" Sam's eyelids fell onto him with disdain.

"And miss watching you losers get covered knee deep in meat? No way."

Tucker sighed, "you'd think athletes would have better places to be. And you say I'm the one who doesn't have a life." Dash let out a low growl. "Why did I just say that..."

"Get ready to spend the rest of the night in a locker, Foley," Dash stepped down from the bleachers towards Tucker's direction. He instantly dropped his mop and sprinted away. Dash chased after him.

"Finally," Sam said with a smile. "Glad Tucker's big mouth finally came in handy."

Danny snickered. Looking down at his fists, he tightened his muscles and transformed into his alter ego. The jumpsuit he'd worn during the incident returned inversed in color. His eyes glowed green and his snowy white hair returned with a light mist-like aura emitting from it. He couldn't explain it, but he felt as light as a feather. Like his weight wasn't there so he could float freely without the force of gravity holding him back.

Danny picked up Sam with ease. They flew off, with neither of them afraid of falling.

XXX

"I can't believe her," Sam sat back on the football field bleachers in her gothic styled dress. She hugged at her knees with a newfound shame she hadn't known before. "I try to be nice, and I get treated like garbage for it? That's the last time I'm ever nice to popular kids." For the first time in her life, she was excited to go to a dance with her friends, but now the whole night was full of nothing but regret.

Danny sat a step below her with his eyes held low. Like Tucker, he didn't mind being used by a pretty girl, but he did mind being used to bully one of his closest friends."I'm sorry Sam. You're right, dances are just lame."

"Speak for yourself," Tucker said smiling in his tuxedo. "Besides that last part, I think I've seriously got a shot with Ciara."

Sam rolled her eyes, "you are so desperate."

"If desperate works, I'll take it."

Sam stood up from her seat, she stretched her arms high up in the air. "You know what, forget dances. They're lame, sexist, overrated, mainstream, and way too melodramatic. Remind me to never go to another dance again."

Danny gave off a soft chuckle, "sure thing, there are better things to do anyway."

"Like fighting dragons," Tucker said.

"Yeah," Sam pointed to Danny, "like fighting dragons. Who needs this high school drama when we're team Phantom? We're too busy fighting bad guys to care about the pretty little perfects." Sam stuck her tongue out in disgust. She rolled up her fist and shook her arm, trying to display the strength the other girls couldn't have had.

Danny was finally able to smile again, "I couldn't be a hero without you guys. And... Are we really going to be calling this 'team Phantom'? Isn't it way too close to my actual name?"

Both of his friends shrugged. When Sam, by chance, glanced down beneath the bleachers seats, she gasped in disbelief. "She's," she pointed down under. Tucker and Danny turned their heads to see a glimpse of a limp body collapsed on the ground.

She was wearing a blue glittering dress undoubtedly intended for homecoming. Her hair was a smooth long blonde and her skin was now paled from her time spent deceased. As the three teenagers stood in front of her, Danny's breath came out stale, "that necklace around her neck." The chain was gold with a large green ruby that shined at it's center. "It's the same one the dragon had from yesterday."

"This is her, isn't it? She was the dragon from yesterday." Tucker gave Danny a scared look, to which he nodded. "Who could have..."

"Wait, that girl who helped you yesterday." Maybe it was newfound cynicism she'd gained from homecoming, but Sam wanted answers from whomever had done this crime. "Do you think she was the type to murder?"

Danny wasn't sure how to answer. He'd only spoken to the girl for a short while, and he wasn't sure whether to deduce that she was very wise, or simply insane. "I don't know."

XXX

Returning to school was surreal. Like a dark cloud was hanging over Danny and his friend's heads. The girl was found by authorities in the morning, but no announcement was made about who she was or what town she'd come from. It was possible her family had asked to keep the incident confidential, but none of them knew for certain if that was the case.

While some of the other students still looked at Sam with mocking faces, she was now above being concerned over something as trivial as high school drama. "We just gotta find her," Sam said walking by Danny's side, "and capture her if she's the one who did."

"Right, and what if I end up sending her through the portal and she's not the murderer we thought she was." Danny's tone was doubtful, full of a new sense of uncertainty he wasn't familiar with.

"I said find, not capture." Sam, Tucker, and Danny stopped by Tucker's locker. He took the time to plan out Danny's day schedule on his PDA.

"She's got a point," Tucker said. "Even if she's not the murderer, just talking to her might get you a partner in crime. It's a win-win situation."

"Right, but what if she's the villain and I lose?"

"Then it's a win-win-lose situation."

Danny rubbed at his temples, "it's weird, but I think she's stronger than the other people I've seen." Danny ran his hand at the back of my neck, "whenever I'm near someone with powers, I get goosebumps here. But when I was near her, they were worse than usual. It was like she was a bunch of super powered people in one."

"Well that's weird, someone really needs to come up with rules on how these powers work. I think I'm gonna start a catalog of all the capes we face off."

Sam lifted a finger, "here, how about we just train more before we go looking for her. You might be strong, but you're still no match the big four."

"I don't think I have to be that strong," Danny softly chuckled. He looked down at the palms of his hands, "but it would make me feel better. When I fought with her, I threw up a shield around the both of us, but I still don't know how I did it."

"Do you think she might've done it?" Tucker asked.

"No, even she freaked out when I did it. I'm not falling apart like I used to, but I still have no idea how to use my powers."

Sam offered a theory, "maybe your powers let you copy other cape powers. When you threw up the shield, was it the same as hers?"

Danny thought back for a moment, while the girl's shield was a thick glass-like white, Danny's shield was a shifting green color. "Yes and no. My shield looked like hers, but it was a different color."

Sam nodded, "if it's training you need, I've got an idea on how you can have more time to train while working on Mr. Lancer's extra credit project. A few nights at the zoo should give you time, space, and an excuse to train without your parents thinking anything."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but my parents being suspicious of me are the least of my problems right now." Danny still felt some relief from his friend's offer, "but spending more time figuring myself out? That sounds pretty good."

After Tucker finished adding time blocks into Danny's schedule, Mr. Lancer ran across the hallways with a loudspeaker at hand. "Tornado drill!" He ran comically to warn all of the students in school. "Everyone, stay away from the windows, and huddle down just as you've practiced!"

A thunder began to roar and ceiling lights began to flicker. "Paradis Lost, I repeat, this is not a drill! This is not a drill!"

The skin behind Danny's neck crawled. Mist fell out from his throat, "oh no." Danny looked out the nearest windows. Beneath the heavy clouds and storming rain, an unnatural bright light flashed from the distance on a hill. It was a beam almost identical to Legend's. "Guys, I'm gonna need some cover."

Tucker and Sam nodded on queue. They ran to Mr. Lancer to direct him away from Danny. Mr. Lancer was hastily guided away, allowing for him to leap into the air and transform into his Phantom state.

Danny flew across the halls and fazed through the walls in the direction of the light. He crossed the courtyard in minutes and came face to face with a metallic brute stepping over the girl that had once helped him. He came just in time to watch her get electrocuted into unconsciousness. "Hey," Danny yelled shakily, "you- leave her alone!"

The giant robotic man looked over at the sound of his voice. His skull like helmet raised a metallic eyebrow. "Who, or what are you?"

"Um... Phantom?" Danny looked down at the girl again, remembering that regardless of what she might've done, he still needed to be a hero. "I'm Phantom, and if you know what's good for you, you'd better leave her alone!"

"What are you, her partner?"

"As far as your need to know, she's a friend and I'm not letting you hurt you!" Danny flew towards the metal man and kicked him across the face. The metal man was pushed back slightly, but didn't fall over.

"A boy without a Specter? My, this town is full of surprises." He ran towards Danny to headbutt him with his metal skull. Danny faded out of existence to avoid its clash. "Where did-" Danny reappeared to slam his fist across his face.

The mech suited man was baffled that his sensors couldn't detect him. A level of excitement rose within him, but he knew better than to fight an enemy without any prep or knowledge."Another day, ghost boy." Jet wings sprung from his back. He flew off at speeds Danny couldn't follow.

Danny shook is fist in triumph, he yelled, "and... Don't come back!"

He breathed out, but looked down in worry remembering how damaged the girl could've been. When he flew closer to her, he lost control of his breathe. Danny fell back to the ground in disbelief. "Ciara?"

Her dress had returned to the bleak black color he was used to seeing. Her hair was a dull amber, not glowing gold as it had been before. She was lying asleep with her eyes closed, breathing heavily from the damage the other villain had done.

When Danny reached out to her, circuits of electricity shocked him. She was still shaking, alive but clearly in pain. Unsure what to do, he examined her to figure out if she'd be okay. I should take her to the hospital... but they might find out who she is...

Then Danny noticed two faint figurines of people dancing around her head. They were almost completely transparent, easily missable unless actively looking for them. It was amazing how alive they looked. They were as animated as a living person would be. He could feel what they were doing, healing her, fixing her injuries.

"Are those... Faeries?" Danny asked. Deciding that it was better that she heal on her own, Danny lifted her up, and took her home.

XXX

"Ciara is what?"

Sam looked to Ciara's direction is disbelief. Ciara's tiny stature wasn't intimidating in the slightest. Sure, Sam had a negative bias towards her, but she certainly didn't look like parahuman material. "She doesn't look like a cape."

Tucker wanted to agree with her, but felt obligated to play devil's advocate. "To be fair, neither does Danny."

Danny furrowed his eyebrows in offense, "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

"Do I really need to say it?"

Danny paused, and decided to let the comment slide. "I should go talk to her. We both have powers, doesn't that mean we should... Be friends?"

Sam snorted, "right, I'm sure the possible witch cape would love talking about powers with Danny Fenton."

"But if I tell her I have powers, doesn't that-"

"Wait, so you're gonna give up your secret identity, just like that? Aren't you a little worried she might tell your secret."

Danny wasn't sure how to argue that. He was still new to the cape game. Wasn't there some sort of unspoken rule against sharing secret identities to others? "She wouldn't do that...Would she?" The question came out meekly.

"After homecoming, I wouldn't [put it beneath hers."

"Wow," Tucker grinned, "you're really still mad about that."

She shrugged, trying to disguise her grudge as something more practical than personal. "If I'm gonna be mad, I might as well focus my hate towards something worth loathing."

"I'm pretty sure it's a bad idea to get on a cape's bad side." Tucker said.

"Nah, I'm pretty there's an unspoken rule where you shouldn't kill people you'd obviously wanna kill."

"Unspoken rule?" Danny asked. "You've really thought about this."

"Never underestimate the power of observation," Sam smiled.

"Look guys," Danny gestured his hands up, "if she's really the murderer, then let's just... Be careful about what we do next. I don't wanna shove her through the portal by mistake."

"Thank you!" Tucker exclaimed. "I don't want the only girl I've got a shot with thrown into another universe."

Sam rubbed her forehead, "you are so desperate."

"Hey, if Danny still wants to chase Paulina, then I have the right to chase someone out of my league too."

"That's different," Danny argued.

"How so?"

"The girl I like isn't a cape."

"And how are you so sure about that?"

Danny fell silent, he gave a long look to Paulina sitting next to Ciara. Sam rolled her eyes at them, "both of you are idiots."

XXX

Danny dashed across the zoo cages alternating between his ghost state and his solid state. He flew at the highest speeds he could muster playing chicken with himself, making sure to only become transparent mere seconds before reaching each cage. This alteration, between falling apart and staying together, improved his motor skill the same way juggling heavy weights could bring better dexterity to a person's hand-eye coordination.

Danny returned to the zoo's observatory gasping for breathe. Tucker tossed him a towel and a water bottle. "Time?" Danny asked gasping.

"Fifteen minutes," Tucker said proudly. "Getting faster every day."

Danny chugged down the beverage quickly, "I'm gonna need it. That metal guy ran off without trying to hit me. Maybe I'll be able to actually beat him the next time I see him."

Sam looked out the window with her binoculars. She carefully observed the gorilla, more interested in nature than at Danny's training. "Here's a thought. What if the metal guy was a good guy, and he was trying to stop Ciara?"

Danny choked at his drink. He hissed back, "we don't know that."

Sam chuckled. She couldn't help but enjoy the mild torment she gave to Danny. "Samson..." She said shifting her attention away. "So... Gifted. So... Majestic."

Danny shook his head. She'd spent more time focusing on the school project than at Danny's progress. "Sam, you've been watching that gorilla scratch his butt for... How long?"

Tucker checked his watch, "six hours."

"Time sure flies when you're training or majestically scratching your butt."

"C'mon guys," Sam said eagerly. "It's only a matter of time before we find out something about Samson that nobody's ever learned!"

Skulker watched Danny from the lion's pen. His feats were impressive. Danny was no doubt getting stronger. "Astounding," Skulker said to himself. "The power is evolving, faster than what's naturally possible. Just what are you, ghost boy?"

Skulker tapped some buttons on his forearm. "Did you look at the scans?"

"Yes," the raspy voice from his arm said. "And if the recordings are true, then what we have here is an anomaly of some sort... Or at least I think so..."

"What sort of anomaly?"

"I honestly have no idea."

Even though Skulker wasn't surprised by his response, he couldn't help but sigh. "His existence shouldn't be possible."

"Indeed. The boy's parents are tinkers, correct? It might be possible that they altered him in some way, which allowed him to gain powers without the components to attract a Specter."

"Their tinkering is a joke. How could they possibly understand the complexities of human biology?"

There was a long pause on the radio, he was obviously trying to think of something smart to say. "That is... A very good question."

Skulker rolled his shoulders. "Nicolai, do you wish for me to bring him to you for research?"

Nicolai groaned, well aware that Skulker was also asking for payment for his services. "No, I will fetch the boy myself."

"Very well." Skulker hung up the line and stepped out from the cage. "But I suppose one round with him wouldn't hurt before then."

Sam looked back at her friends, first realizing that they had fallen asleep cuddling each other. She rolled her eyes, "fine, we can go home now. But first," Sam took the opportunity to photograph the two boys lying next to each other, "boy's hugging makes every yearbook funny."

When Skulker had stepped out from the cage, the purple back gorilla began making loud noises to grab the attention of anyone that would listen. Noticing Samson's movement, Sam left the observatory to try and serenade the animal.

Skulker flew to the observatory in gleeful delight. He looked down at Danny, vulnerable in his normal state, holding his ally like a small child would. "Sometimes, I wonder how capes like you last as long as they do."

Skulker pulled out a snake from a bag, one which he collected from the zoo. It slithered across Danny's leg up to his neck. As soon as the hissing reached Danny's ear, he opened his eyes at the sight of a rattlesnake. He jumped up and screeched with Tucker holding his hands. When the snake jumped off from them, they looked up and screamed together at the sight of the mechanical man.

"Serious question, does idiocy just run in your family?"

"I'm going ghost!" Danny yelled. Within seconds his body transformed into the impressive costume Skulker had seen before. Skulker made sure to pay special attention to the glowing white rings that ran across his body.

"Nicolai will have a thrill opening you apart." Skulker grinned, "my thrills, however, are a bit more straightforward than his."

Danny punched into Skulker's chest, pushing him through the observatory glass and crashing into the air. His jet wings sprung out, allowing him to meet with Danny in mid-air.

"You're the one who attacked Ciara before," Danny said to him. "Who are you? And what do you want?"

"I am Skulker, the greatest cape hunter in the world. I am a collector of things rare and unique. And you and the reaper girl, are both rare and unique."

"Reaper girl?"

Skulker fired a homing missile at Danny. Danny was able to evade them by going invisible, but once he returned to his solid form, the missiles returned to his direction and electrocuted him upon impact. His powers short circuited with the electricity. He fell to the ground while his second form disappeared from him. Skulker smiled at he easily he was defeated, noting that he'd need to stockpile on electric weaponry for future confrontations.

"Tell me ghost boy," Skulke flew down to where he fell. "How did you get your powers? Was it from your parents, I'd be quite impressed if you said yes." With electricity still surging through Danny's body, the boy only groaned in pain. "I'm guessing it's difficult to fight with a thousand volts of electricity running through your head." Skulker kicked at Danny's ribs. "I'm sure you have much more potential in you, but I'm also sure you'll never surpass the reaper girl."

"Ciara..." Danny coughed out, "YOu're talking about Ciara… Why did you call her reaper girl?"

Skulker laughed, "because she steals the power of every cape she kills. She's going to become a one woman army someday, at the expense of thousands." Danny remembered the Faeries he'd seen when he helped her, were they spirits? Skulker pressed his foot onto Danny's head, "or at least, I'm hoping I can push her that way."

A loud howling was heard from the distance. Looking up, Skulker was met with a 300 pound gorilla slamming its body into Skulker's chest. Sam followed behind it, "check it out Danny. Cross species communication is totally a thing."

"You let a three hundred pound gorilla out of its cage?"

"On the plus side, he really wants to help you." The gorilla howled an angry scream, riling all the zoo animals in their cages. "Or maybe he's marking his territory, it's a little hard to tell."

"Please," Skulker groaned, "do you really think some endangered ape could possibly-" The ape slammed onto Skulkers back and began pounding its fists into Skulker's body. More annoyed than angry, Skulker sprung out his jet pack wings and ascended into the air to get the animal off its back. He muttered to himself while flying off, "I refuse to start hunting endangered species."

XXX

Mental exhaustion had finally gotten to Danny. Between worrying about Ciara and wondering if Skulker would attack again, insomnia was kicking in. When Ciara passed by him in the school hallways, he was tired and desperate enough to ask her a question.

"What?" she said to him with hostility in her voice. "What is it that makes you think you're even worth an ounce of my time?" Danny froze from her cold hard stare. Danny gulped, and pulled his arm away well aware of her true power. "I thought so," she said as she walked away.

Sam couldn't help but chuckle. Tucker asked, "what's with her?"

"Maybe all the people pandering finally got to her."

"Not now Sam." Danny said once she left their view, "what am I going to do?"

Sam tossed the thermos for him to catch. Danny frowned. "Hey," Sam said with her hands up, "this isn't as fun for me either. I don't like her, but this is about her being a murderer, not me being mad over some lame dance."

Tucker couldn't help but sigh, "just do what you gotta do, man. If she's a bad guy, she's a bad guy. You've gotta stop her one way or another."

"I know." Danny breathed out, "I just… I just really don't want to believe it."

"Believe me Danny, me neither."

XXX

Danny laid back on his bed. He lifted the thermos up to the ceiling contemplating what move to make next. It wasn't fair. The Lunch lady obviously had something wrong in the head. She ranted off about food and meat like her mind was something separated from reality. But Ciara wasn't like that, and that's what made things harder. She was just another teenager, enrolled in school and living her life out just like anyone else.

Did she really murder the dragon girl? He didn't have the answer yet. And although Danny didn't know anything about the dragon girl, he knew that she didn't deserve death the way that it happened. The humanity in her was still felt from her when he and his friends found her. Her formally dressed body looked so human, undeserving of punishment.

If Ciara really did murder her, then what did she deserve? What did any criminal capes deserve? As a hero Danny didn't have any other choice on how to treat her. It was the cost of heroism. But how many more fates would he have to literally carry into his hands?

A deep chill fell out from his breathe. He recognized the heaviness of it immediately. Ciara was in his home. Danny stepped up and transformed into his invisible Phantom form, and floated into his parent's basement.

"I gain power from each faerie I collect," Danny heard Ciara say. "But what do you collect?"

"Something more that you could never understand," Skulker answered. Danny looked around the lab, wondering why they both were meeting there.

"I'll offer you a chance." Skulker said. "If you can collect 100 Specters in one year, I will hunt you again after that time is up. If I win, I will spare you then. But if you don't collect all 100 by then, our next confrontation will be your last."

No, Danny thought to himself. You can't push her like that.

"It took me 7 years to collect 13 faeries, you expect me to collect 100 in a year's time?"

Thirteen in seven years. The chances of Ciara's innocence kept dimming.

"Lighting a fire beneath our feet is always the fastest way to find one's true potential." Skulker extended his hand, "do we have a deal?"

It was then that Danny decided to make the decision for her. Ciara, I'm giving you a chance. "You know, in this town, most people knock before visiting the Fentons." Danny smiled, letting them know he wasn't afraid of either of them.

"Phantom," they both exclaimed.

"Glad the name's catching on."

Danny struck Skulker across the head. When the metal man tried retaliating with projectile missiles, Danny made sure to disappear and re-appear for consecutive time sequences, long enough to cause the missiles to impact without hitting him.

Just when Danny thought he understood Skulker's tactics, Skulker gripped him by the neck. "It's time to put you back in your cage," he growled.

Danny looked over to Ciara. She was running away. C'mon Ciara, give me a reason. A single reason not to shove you into the portal. Danny screamed, "Ciara!" He shouted in desperation. Ciara stopped in her place. "I saved you-, at the schoolyard. You... Owe me!"

Her eyes widened at Danny. "I'm... indebted to you?" An invisible force of nature separated Danny from Skulker's grip. Danny jumped to Ciara's side, taking a fighting stance ready to face off Skulker.

"My, this has certainly gotten interesting." Skulker grinned. "I haven't had a duo fight me since... I dunno, three months, tops?"

Danny grinned, "Yeah well, some advice; never fight a guy in a lab full of tinker tech he can use."

Skulker cocked his head back. "You're joking, right?"

He was lucky that the chaotic nature of the weaponry was something Danny grew up with. His suicidal antics against Skulker were completely unpredictable. Chunks of his armor fell off as Danny smacked, shot, and exploded tools into Skulker's direction. But Danny sustained heavy damage as well. "You know, I could use some help here." Phantom said coughing in smoke, "believe it or not... This really hurts!"

He felt his body going numb, and his bruises slowly fading away. Looking to his sides, two transparent creatures stood at his shoulders. Faeries, or ghosts? Danny wondered.

When Ciara accidentally opened the portal, Danny made sure to keep Ciara from falling in. A large part of him shamefully wondered whether he should let her fall, but his compassion was too great to let her slide. He let Skulker fall, but kept his arm latched to Ciara's.

When Danny shut off the portal, he and Ciara fell to the ground gasping for breathe. Danny grabbed the Fenton thermos that laid next to him, and hid it behind his back.

"You know my name?" She asked him in an exhausted tone.

Danny nodded, hoping he could get a testimony from her. She'd have never spoken to Danny, but Phantom was something she could respect. "I saw your real face outside of school. I took you home that day." Please tell me I'm making the right choice. "Ciara, I asked you before, you're a hero, right?"

I'm giving you chance. Just lie to me, tell me you're a hero.

"No, I am not a hero. I am a spirit collector." It was the last answer Danny wanted to hear.

Danny did his best to fake companionship, "So... As a Phantom, are you going to collect my soul?" Inside he was scared.

Ciara gave off a soft chuckle. "Know this, Phantom. I am indeed indebted to you, but if you ever reveal to anyone my true name; I will take their soul, just as I have many others."

Danny fell sick, the truth had finally come out from her. And even though he was willing to let Ciara leave his home, he'd heard enough to decide that she was his enemy.

XXX

​

 

[Axle]

Don't tell me I should escape...

"But who prays for Satan?

Who, in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray

for the one sinner that needed it most?"

- Mark Twain

Chapter 4: Attack of the Killer​

XXX

The milkshakes the Nasty Burger offered felt too cheap for Ciara's tastes, but that didn't stop her from drinking it. She was so accustomed to Anna's cooking that fast food felt beneath her. She wondered to herself, 'Maybe I should learn to cook?' but shook her head at the thought. Anna would put her through hell if she failed at such a mundane task.

"Okay, uh, let me get the mighty meaty cheesy melt." Paulina spoke naively to the cashier. She paused for a moment, realizing she needed to balance out healthiness and tastiness to eat the meal without guilt. "Um, how meaty is that?"

Ciara's tone was flat. "I would assume mighty meaty melt would be mighty meaty, considering the title it's earned."

The cashier had a bored look on her face. She was of college age, clearly believing that the fast food industry was beneath her. Piggybacking off of Ciara's comment, she answered, "what she said."

"Well, can I get it a 'might-less' meaty?" Paulina asked with an innocent smile.

Ciara tilted her head, "are you being oxymoronic? It would hardly be mighty if it were 'might-less' meaty."

The cashier rolled her eyes, "that's one mighty mini meaty cheesy melt." She placed the order on the board.

Ciara gave a blank stare at the cashier, questioning her existance,"do Americans just throw words around not caring for their literal meanings? The dialect in this restaurant should be a crime."

"Paulina, Pixie!" Star called out, "I saved you guys a seat." Star waved at them from the far side of the restaurant. She still had on her cheerleader skirt from staying late for practice, and matched it with an orange polo shirt to make it come off as casual.

When Paulina's meal was ready, Ciara refilled her milkshake to join her and Star at the table. She stayed quiet. Grateful that she'd gained the reputation of shyness, Ciara had the excuse to stay quiet and ignore Paulina and Star's conversations whenever they ranted off to each other. To her friends, she was a good listener. To boys, she was innocent. In reality, she hated everyone.

"Hey Paulina," Dash said with a proud smile. "There's a party at my place this Saturday, you're all invited." Dash handed an invitation to each of them. "It'd be great if you came," Dash said, specifically for Ciara's sake.

"Definitely," Paulina answered for her. "I already know what she's gonna wear." Ciara hummed to herself, not willing to reject the invitation in front of Paulina. The only reason she stayed on Paulina's good side was to avoid being on the receiving end of her gossip.

"Ugh," Dash looked over at Danny and his friend's direction, "I gotta invite Fenton too."

Star paused from eating her salad, "are you serious?"

"His sister will only come if I invite him too. I need more upperclassmen to come." Dash looked over at Paulina, "hey Paulina, do me a favor. Tell everyone to dress up like losers for the party. I don't want him to have a good time if he has to come."

Ciara lifted an eyebrow, "for a boy who thinks of Fenton as inferior, you sure seem to revolve your lifestyle around him. Perhaps it's a sign of gay attraction."

Dash's mouth gaped open. He stared at Ciara for a full minute before processing what she'd just said. "What?"

Star and Paulina busted out laughing. Ciara added, "or perhaps insecurity. I can never tell the difference."

Before Dash could defend himself, Paulina managed to agree to his request. "Sure thing Dash, we'll help you out. Who am I to go against love?"

"Wait, that's not-"

"Like kindergartners bullying their crushes!" Star added. "It all makes sense now!"

Dash's face was turning red with embarrassment. He was about to say something to Ciara, but her blank stare came off as more naive than scornful. "Just... Wear whatever you want there." Dash walked off shamefully, grudgingly giving Danny his invitation card.

Star elbowed Ciara's side, "I'm so glad we added you to the group."

"I know right?" Paulina agreed. "It's great having her around."

Ciara stayed quiet, she couldn't disagree less.

XXX

The cooking smelled good, but she knew better than to try and strike up conversation with Anna while she was in the kitchen. Ciara stealthily crept up the stairs as quickly and invisibly as possible. Before reaching the top of the steps, her foster mom called out to her.

"Ciara, what's this?" Her tone was like a woodpecker. Anna only ever spoke to Ciara to nit pick at the tiniest fallacies she saw from Ciara's life. The moment she saw Ciara's party invitation left on the living room table; she pounced at it.

"That's an invitation to a party," Ciara answered. "It's a thing some boys at school invited us to."

Quickly and without permission, Anna opened the letter and read it's content. Anna might as well have considered Ciara's property as anything other than her own's. "You're not going," she said as a statement.

I wasn't planning on going, Ciara thought to herself. But she was steeply offended by the fact that Anna seemed to believe that she couldn't make decisions on her own "Why not?" Ciara asked in a disbelieving tone. "Everyone else is going. It's something that happens every year."

"Parties are stupid," Anna answered with a scorn. "It's just a worthless event for people to do idiotic things with strangers. No good comes out of it, and people are stupid to want to go."

Ciara slowly stepped her way downstairs. She gave her foster mom a disbelieving look that made Anna seem as dense as a marble brick. "But my friends are going."

"Like I said, parties are for stupid people."

"Did you just call my friends stupid?" Ciara scrunched her face, letting Anna know how offended she was by the statement (even though she wasn't).

"If they go to this party, yes. Nothing good comes out of it and it's a complete waste of time. Which is exactly why you aren't going." Anna took the invitation and ripped it to pieces, returning to the kitchen to throw it into the dumpster. Ciara followed behind her.

"How's it stupid?" Ciara's voice was whiny, like she were a little girl who couldn't get what she wanted. "What's wrong with wanting to go?"

"Because trouble happens at these things," Anna's eyes fell low. She returned to the stove to cook the meal she was preparing for her husband. Faint memories were creeping up in her, regrets from her youth that she didn't want to see mirrored into Ciara. "Things always happen at these things that make girls regret things later."

"I'm not a child," Ciara said like a child. "I wouldn't do anything I wouldn't want."

"Ciara, you're fourteen. You don't know-"

"Drugs. Sex. Alcohol. I get it, those things happen. But my friends don't do stuff like that, and I wouldn't either if I went."

"You don't know anything. I know so many girls-"

"This isn't Russia, Anna. And this isn't Ireland either. We don't do dumb things like that at parties, no one is going to-"

"Shut up!" Anna screamed. "Things don't go as good as you think. So when I say you aren't going, you aren't going!"

Ciara stared in surprise. She was used to Anna's scolding and nagging, but she rarely ever screamed at Ciara's face. Ciara shook her head and left with quiet reply. "Fine," she murmured for Anna's sake. But in her mind, she'd already decided to go out of spite.

XXX

The hardware on the tabletop looked old, but the Fenton's reputations preceded that. The whole town knew they were tinkers so no one stopped to doubt the functionality of the electronics that were for sale.

Star was oogling the radio, hoping that it had an alarm to help her wake up in the morning. Paulina picked up a stereo, remembering that her old one had recently broken.

"Five bucks," Sam told Ciara with her arms crossed. "And no, I can't go any lower."

Sam's calm attitude hid any contempt she had for Ciara, which surprised the both of them. Both of them had expected to speak with a level of hostility toward each other, but instead, Ciara simply walked up to Sam just to ask her about the toaster.

"Five bucks for a functioning toaster? Why would anyone want to haggle such a good deal?" She shook at the box of metal. Ciara liked to pretend she was a merchant, visiting a market place from a fantasy novel. "One dollar."

Sam shook her head, "I know I shouldn't, but I wouldn't mind getting Danny mad right now."

"Why so?" Ciara asked out of genuine curiosity.

"Don't worry about."

Sam gestured for her to meet with Danny. They both headed towards him with a casual stride. Ciara had trouble deducing what Sam thought about her, and it was the same for Sam vice versa. Although they were unofficial enemies following homecoming, none of them expressed any signs of dislike.

They reached Danny just in time to watch Mr. Lancer purchase a hair removal tool. "Don't you need hair for that?" Tucker said to Mr. Lancer, specifically referring to his bald scalp. Ciara and Sam cringed, fully aware of the naive insult he just implied.

"Good one mister Folely, I'll remember that on Monday. When I'm grading tests." Ciara couldn't help but grin in approval, she lifted her hand up for Mr. Lancer to hive five as he walked off. "Keep turning in those book reports, Ciara. I still always enjoy reading your writings."

She back snapped at him, "will do, Lance-o-lot."

Sam snorted, then turned to Danny. "She wants to buy a toaster. I told her you'd give it for a bargain."

Danny stepped back in surprise. "Ciara," he shouted out like someone was ready to pounce on him. "What... Are you doing here?"

"Toaster," She answered stating obvious. "Is it not for sale?"

"Oh Yeah," Danny stuttered. "Yeah, it is. And I'll give it to you for free." He put on a crooked grin. Sam was laughing in the background.

"Really?" She tilted her head with a raised eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because, you know, you're such a valued customer! I wouldn't want you to get upset, or anything. At me, or anyone here." Danny landed his hand on the soup thermos on the table, almost like he needed it for protection. Tucker rolled his eyes at him.

"Oh," Ciara said pleasantly surprised. "Why thank you, Danny Fenton." Ciara looked across the merchandise for sale with heavy curiosity. "This garage sale, are these tinker tampered projects?"

Danny was still on breathe, it seemed as though someone was interrogating him. "No! These are just some old junk my parents used to fix up, no tinkering at all!" He croaked out a laugh that sounded pathetic.

She sighed, remembering how insignificant he was. "I see. Tis a shame, I've heard tinker inventions are sold for high prices."

Again, Danny laughed more than was necessary, "oh, yeah, but you know, I don't need my parents killing me for selling their stuff." He gulped at his own comment.

Ciara shook her head, wondering if Danny had any potential to make his life meaningful. It began to feel hopeless for her to expect Danny to become blessed by a faerie.

"Hey Fentina," Dash called out at Danny in an insultful tone. Immediately, Danny pointed his thumbs at him while staring at the rest of them. Ciara, Tucker, and Sam all nodded their heads in approval, he left ahead like he needed their permission to manage his own garage sale.

"Strange boy," Ciara commented.

"You don't know the half of it," Tucker added.

"And like your one to talk," Sam said.

"Excuse me?" Ciara squinted back. "I'm not the one who dresses goth for attention."

Sam scoffed, "I don't live on the approval of others, Ciara. Can you honestly say the same?"

Ciara stayed quiet, fully aware that she couldn't be honest in that regard.

Danny could be heard closing the deal. "See you tonight. And just because I can't believe I'm saying it I'll say it again; see you tonight." Before leaving, Dash winked in Ciara's direction with a sly grin that implied he was still going with his devious plan. Ciara almost growled at him.

"25 bucks I'm in!" Danny shouted. "Oh man, I better get to the mall before they close."

"Danny." Ciara called out. Danny's excitement froze mid-sentance. He'd almost forgotten that Ciara was in close proximity of him. When Danny slowly walked back to the three of them, Ciara explained it to him. "Dash is planning on making a fool out of you. I know he gave you a dress code, but he's actually going to make everyone wear retro-dork clothes so that you're the only odd one out."

"And why are you telling him this?" Sam asked with her arms crossed.

She shrugged. "Because I hate Dash more than I dislike Fenton."

Danny and his friends exchanged glances at each other. They communicated with each other in silence almost as though Ciara wasn't there. She squinted. It was vaguely reminiscent of how her guardians stared at each other when speaking about her without using words.

"Um, okay," Danny said in a more relaxed tone. "I'll get the clothes, wear something underneath, and if it's true, I'll just change out for the party and return the clothes tomorrow."

"Not fully trusting me?" Ciara correctly stated. Danny took a step back. It felt as though he was afraid he'd just gained Ciara's hate. "A wise choice, maybe there's hope for you yet, Fenton."

Danny gulped. Ciara turned around ready to walk home with Paulina. She sighed, and was already mentally preparing to hate the party.

XXX

Ciars's overalls hardly stood out over the ocean of people wearing pocket protector dress shirts and tight fitting t-shirts that made the whole student body look like middle schoolers. Her white plaque dress shirt was oddly more comfortable than what she normally wore, but her pigtails felt too much like a safety hazard for her to appreciate. "Do I really have to wear glasses?" Ciara asked Paulina. The thick framed glasses nearly covered half her head. "I don't even need a prescription. It seems pointless."

"Exactly," Paulina said smiling. She had on an exact replica of what Sam typically wore. "It's so horrible it's cool."

"High school culture confuses me," Ciara admitted.

Immediately after stepping through Dash's front door, Paulina abandoned her to speak with some upperclassmen, some of which were college students. Feeling alone, Ciara tip toed her way across the living room until she reached the kitchen.

Open drinks sat on the table while an upperclassmen was taking the liberty to pour some into the punch. Ciara was oddly annoyed by the fact that he didn't know how to mix drinks correctly. She looked around at all the other students from school. The strangeness of it all seemed foreign, she couldn't help but feel like everything Anna had said about parties was true.

Some older boys took the time to try and earn Ciara's approval, offering her food and company which she quickly repelled with her venomous attitude. It reached to the point where she was the only one who hadn't taken a drink. The idea of needing to be intoxicated to enjoy herself wasn't thrilling to her.

Looking for Paulina, she found her flirting with a group of boys, letting them flaunt over her beauty like it was the only thing that mattered to her. Star was talking to a long-time crush of hers. It was oddly nice to see, even if it did take several drinks for her to muster up the courage to speak with him. Kwan was having a great time thanks to his naivity, playing more games than he could handle for anyone who requested him to so. Dash was surprisingly responsible, hosting and maintaining the party as best he could.

Ciara wanted to go home. There was nothing she wanted to do there. She'd been so accustomed to the company of her faeries, the company of people seemed plain to her. Maybe I do need a drink, she thought to herself.

"Hey Pixie," Star called out. Star walked up to Ciara with her new boyfriend at hand, he was a short brown haired boy from another school.

"Wanna play a drinking game?" The boy asked her.

"Why?"

"Because it's fun!" Star shouted, louder than necessary.

"That's not what I meant. I meant, why would I want to create an obstacle for myself to stop myself from getting drunk?"

Star stared at her for a few minutes. "What?"

"So that's a yes," the boyfriend said. She shrugged, to which the boy boldly took Ciara's hand and lead her to Dash's basement. A ping pong table stood at the middle of the room with Dash standing at the far end of it

"I got her," the boy said.

"Thanks," Dash said high fiving him. Ciara rubbed at her templates, these idiots!

Ever since Ciara had befriended Paulina, the school students constantly kept trying to hook up her and Dash together. It annoyed Ciara immensely. They kept believing that two popular students belonged together. Dash thought it would be ideal for both their reputations, Ciara thought Dash was too much of a numb skull for her to spend time with.

"Fine," Ciara said.

"Do you know how to play?"

"Yes, each ping pong I bounce into a cup on your side, you take a drink. For each ball you dunk, I'll take a drink."

"That's right, line them up!"

A crowd formed around the both of them. Twenty shot classes were lined up at the edge of the table. The plastic cups were already prepared in a triangular order. It was a pathetic attempt to try and get him and her drunk together.

Ciara tossed three balls, each made it into the cups. "Your turn."

"Um," Dash said in disbelief. "We're supposed to take turns."

She scoffed, "this takes too long. Hurry up."

Dash tossed a ball in Ciara's direction, it skidded off the table.

Ciara tossed one at Dash, making him take a drink. Another ball was missed by Dash, followed by another score by Ciara. "C'mon man," Star's boyfriend said. "You're better than this."

"I don't know what's happening," Dash said. He took another drink more out of depression than for the sake of the game.

"That's 6-0." Ciara said. She was hoping she could kill him through alcohol poisoning. "Give up?"

The crowd cheered him on, "no way. No way you can beat me at my own party."

After a few more rounds, Dash was having trouble standing by his twelfth drink. "Here's a lesson," Ciara said. "Don't play this game when you're already buzzed."

The crowd partially booed him in disappointment, half of them were only interested in seeing the shy girl from high school get drunk. "Again," Ciara said picking up a shot glass, "why do you make obstacles to stop yourselves from getting drunk?" In a shining moment of bravery, Ciara gulped down six shot glasses in a single minute. It wasn't because of some stupid game, it was strictly for the sake of appeasing the crowd.

Dash collapsed to the ground. "All of you are pansies," Ciara stated. The students roared and cheered in excitement, both to honor Ciara and to simultaneously belittle Dash.

Things became easier after the game. Ciara stopped bothering to repel impostors, and expressed her thoughts out to people whether or not they truly cared for it. "Zeus was an asshole," she said partially dizzy, "Poseidon should've killed that motherfucker."

Boys listened to her not completely understanding her references. They spoke to her more for the chance of hooking up than to actually listen to her. "Hey Ciara," some would say, "wanna go upstairs?"

"Fuck you," she'd answer. "I'm telling a story."

It reached to a point where Ciara's legs were too tired to stand. Needing a place to rest her head, she walked to the balcony to feel the light midnight chill skip across her face. "Hello," she said in a loopy tone. "Glad you listened to me."

Danny Fenton turned his head around. He was wearing what he typically wore in school, feeling somewhat distant from the rest of the party. "Ciara?" Danny said in disbelief. "Are you okay? You're... Red."

"I'm peachy," she said, knowing what he meant. "How are you?"

"Oh, you know," Danny hid his hands in his pocket. "Having a blast."

Ciara could tell he was lying. She offered him the drink in her hand.

"Oh, no thanks," Danny said stiffly. "You know, I'm uh... Driving home."

It was a weak lie. "Not a sheep I see," Ciara smiled. "I keep gaining more respect for you."

Danny stared blankly at Ciara. It was like he was analyzing her, judging her for her actions. "Ciara," he said in a low tone. "Are you...gonna be okay?"

"Nope," she said smiling. "But being okay is overrated. We should've invited your friends, the party would be better with your team."

"Team?"

"Team Fenton," she chuckled, "in honor of the Fenton Tinkers."

"Oh, right. Sometimes I forget people know me for that."

They both looked out from the balcony and fell into a momentary silence. They had little to say to each other, but both secretly wanted to escape from the party. Where as Danny was realizing he'd prefer to hang out with his real friends, Ciara slowly realized she had no real friends to fall back onto. "Let's go upstairs," Ciara offered. "To talk."

Danny's face beamed red. "Um, no thanks. We can talk here."

She took him by his hand, "I just wanna talk."

"No, really, we can just talk here." Ciara yanked him across the living room floor. Danny's feet dragged across the carpet as Ciara brushed people aside.

"I just wanna talk." Students stared as they passed by. Some with their mouths opened in disbelief as Ciara forcefully pulled Danny towards the stairs.

"Ciara," Danny yelped. "No, really, it's fine."

"I just wanna talk." It was spectacle. By the time Danny was successfully pulled to the second floor, the people in the living room began cheering his name.

"Danny! Danny! Danny!"

Horror overtook him. "No, I-"

It was too late. Ciara pushed him into Dash's room, and locked the door behind them. She quickly walked over to Dash's bed, and dropped her weight onto the sheets. "Let's talk," she murmured.

Danny stood afraid, looking at Ciara with conflicted images of evil and innocence. He couldn't shake off the nagging feeling that everything that was about to transpire was going to be wrong.

Whispering could be heard from outside Dash's door. People pressed their ears against the wooden frame, eager to learn if Danny would become a man. "I think they can hear us," Danny pleaded.

"Who cares," Ciara stood up on the bed and jumped up and down like a child. Loud creaking noises escaped from the mattress which could be heard from outside the door. "Who cares, who cares, who cares."

Some cheering was heard from outside, as well as the voices of disappointment from boys who'd been interested in her. After a few more minutes, the crowd in the hall dissipated back into the party. Danny covered his face in shame. He didn't want rumors of him to begin.

Ciara stopped jumping and dropped herself back onto the bed. She looked toward the ceiling and asked, "is Jazz a parahuman?"

"What?" Danny asked in shock, "of course not, and don't even think about trying anything."

"Like what?" Ciara asked suspiciously.

"Um... Like revealing her identity... If she were a cape."

"Oh."

They both turned silent. Being alone and talking one on one for the first time didn't offer any new topics that they wanted to share. For Ciara, she just needed peace. An escape from the world she was forced to live in with someone else who needed an escape as well. For Danny, seeing Ciara in this strange new light was unsettling. He knew truths about her that no one else did, so he should have had no issues with what he was about to do next. He unhooked his thermos.

"You must really like soup," Ciara chuckled. "I thought that was a beer container when I saw it."

Danny shook his head, "no, this is something else."

"For soda pop?"

"No," Danny shook harder. "This is..." His hands trembled. His face was becoming cold with shame.

"For water?" Ciara suggested. "Drinking water doesn't actually help detoxicate."

"Please stop talking, this is hard enough as it is."

Ciara stared at him. Danny wished Ciara had some sort of mask on to hide the humanity on her face. He didn't want to envision her as someone alive and a teenager like himself. Ironically, the only reason he didn't spot on a mask himself was to humanize himself. He wanted to be a hero, but also human, in the eyes of the public.

Now he knew why capes wore masks. It was to hide their fears, their sadness, and the innocence that came with facial expressions. Ciara laid in bed staring at him like an innocent teenager that had drank too much. The visual of her villainy was melting away. "Thirteen." Danny said to remind himself.

"An unlucky number," she snorted. "You can thank Judas the betrayer for the title of that number."

Danny looked up at her again, feeling less and less like a hero. His emotions were like a mirror. Ciara could somehow feel the emotional distress Danny was emitting, like his aura was dimming, and she matched that dim with her own insecurities. Reminiscing she said, "tell Sam I'm sorry."

"What?" Danny recoiled. "Why?"

"Because Sam is cool. I wish I were more like her. And I wish homecoming was different." She rested her head onto a pillow and yawned. She pointed to the ceiling."And tell Tucker to stop hitting on me. It's annoying."

Danny rubbed at the templates of his nose. "Okay, fine. I just need to..." Think. He couldn't do it, Ciara was too human for him to see as a monster. "Ciara... I need to talk to you."

"That's why we're here," she stuck her tongue out.

"I swear," his voice was shaky. His inner conflict was too much. "Ciara, be honest with me. Do you really think you're a good person? Really? Because I need to know this."

Ciara coiled her head at the thought. Am I good person? "It depends," Ciara said. "My mom seems to think so. My foster dad thinks so, my foster mom hates me though. I don't know, do you think I'm a good person?"

"No," Danny answered quickly.

Ciara frowned, genuinely upset by Danny's answer. "I said I was sorry, people are supposed to forgive after they say sorry."

"That's not how it works, sometimes saying sorry doesn't fix anything." Danny's voice came out hostile. He was angry but not at her.

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know, make up for it?"

"How?"

"I said I don't know!" He yelled, "why are you asking me? This isn't about me, this is about you! I'm trying to make a decision here and I don't know what to do!"

She didn't have an answer for him, or at least, none that he wanted to hear. Instead, she began humming to herself. She closed her eyes and began singing a melody she'd once heard in the orphanage.

"A man may drink and not be drunk, a man may fight and not be slain

A man may court a pretty girl and perhaps be welcomed back again

Come fill to me the parting glass,

good night and joy be with you all

Good night and joy be with you all"​

Danny listened to her peaceful tune. It was slow and loosely tied, with lyrics he couldn't fully understand. It was calming, peaceful. A peace that he needed. A long amount of time for him to breathe to himself. Ciara quickly drifted to sleep.

After a few more minutes of pacing around the room, Danny decided to transform into his Phantom state. Maybe he was making the wrong choice, but the other choice wasn't right either. If there were a better way, a better way than imprisoning her like a monster, weren't heroes supposed to find better ways?

"Ciara," Danny said in a soft voice. "Can you make me a promise?"

Ciara drowsily opened her eyes to see Phantom floating above her. "Phantom?" She mumbled, "I didn't invite you here. But... That does sound like something I'd do."

"Why did you kill people?" His voice was heavy. The long weight of judgment carried it low.

"My faerie demands it," she said softly. Ciara's blurry vision caused her to blink lightly as she talked. "My blessing is to take the faeries of others, and who am I to fight fate?"

"That's it? You've killed thirteen people only because you can?" He shook his head, "you really are a villain."

She squinted her eyes at him before letting out a yawn. "Very judging, Phantom." Ciara tilted her head. "Am I being judged?"

"Yeah, you are."

"Hmmm... And what would the consequence of this judgment be?"

Danny was hesitant to answer her. At that moment, Ciara was in a state which he could easily defeat. Her guard was down and she had a high level of trust with him. He thought of using that to his advantage. "The consequence is, whether or not we can be friends."

"Friends?" She chuckled. "You mean allies?"

"Sure, whatever you want to call it."

Ciara hummed to herself for a moment, trying to remember what she wanted from Danny. "Do you know who Pathfinder is?"

"No, I've never heard of him."

"Not surprising. Pathfinder is the shadow pulling the strings of destiny. I've been told my destiny is tied with yours, I only wonder whether we're tied as enemies, or allies."

Danny sensed that Ciara was calling upon her spirits, ready to fight even in her intoxicated state. He held strong. "It's your destiny Ciara, which would you rather have?"

"I'd rather not decide. Too many people regret the choices they've made."

"Then let me decide for you." Danny extended his hand for her to shake. "If you can promise to never kill another person again, I'll promise to be your ally."

Thirteen faeries, It was a nice number for Ciara to keep, the only reason she collected Fafnir in the first place was because she was more worried Fafnir's wrathfulness would kill Phantom. Ciara was indebted to him, he'd saved her life once and maybe he'd save it again. Maybe an alliance was worth the small discipline.

"Very well. I won't take another faerie so long as we're allies." She extended her hand for him to shake. "You can be the knight, and I will be your lion."

Phantom took her hand for him to shake. Ciara could feel the sigh of relief escape from Danny's breathe, but it came out with a cold mist as well. "Oh no."

The computer screen in Dash's room projected a cynical smiling face. The screen was statically green, with a red mouth and eyes glaring at them. Wires from the outlets began pulling out, twisting the desktop and monitor together into a single entity. The computer screen buzzed static out, causing the lights in the room to flicker out. "Yes!" The face on the monitor said. "It is time! Calling all mechanized allies! Come to me my minions! It is time. It is time to fulfill your destiny!"

Every light propping out from the computer emitted a shockwave causing flickers among the lamps and electrical appliances in Dash's room. Wires floated up. An army of colorful teddy bears escaped from Dash's closet and marched across the floors. "Prepare yourself Phantom! For the deadly and horrendous power of Technus, the Technological Master!"

Phantom squinted, "why did Dash have teddy bears in his closet?"

Ciara didn't move, "is it odd that I wish I had some of my own?"

Hot chunks of metal popped out from the Teddy bear's chests like machine guns. Phantom yelped in horror as he instinctively put a shield between the bears and himself. Ciara stared in amusement at Phatom's shield. "Sir Phantom, since when did you steal that shield from me?"

Danny took the liberty to shield Ciara as well. "I have no idea, but I could use a hand here." Ciara applauded. "Not like that!

Burning iron and electric lasers clashed against his shield. The monitor sprouted out spider-like metallic legs and began scratching at his shield. Danny held strong, but his strength was faltering.

Ciar droopily rised up from the bed, her movements were sluggish, like she hadn't slept in days. With a loud yawn she yelled, "stop!" And a faerie charged an electric energy to shut down all of the teddy bear minions.

"Hey," Technus said from his computer monitor robot, "I'm the master of minions here, not you."

Ciara flicked a middle finger at him, "they're my servants, not minions. Don't complain if they're better than yours."

The screen gritted it's cybernetic teeth. The robot crawled out of Dash's window and into the streets outside. "Ciara," Danny said, "we gotta-"

"Call me Spirit Master!" Ciara yelled. "Or ghost buster, or faerie goddess, or phantom queen, or-"

"Ciara, focus!" Phantom interrupted. "Look, I don't know who that guy is, but I only have one way to get rid of him." Danny lifted the thermos to his side.

"Did you steal that from Fenton?" Ciara asked. Then she paused for a long moment. "Wait... Fenton... Phantom..."

Before she could connect the dots together, a giant mechanical arm reached into Dash's room, grasped onto Phantom, and pulled him out the window. "Help!" he yelled. The machine stood at fifteen feet tall. It was made of pieces of junk and scrap metal that made it seem more makeshift than tinker. There was a laundry machine for its torso and a rusty television set for the head. It's arms were made up of power tools, kitchen supplies, and battery powered toys. Danny struggled to escape its heavy grip, attempting to faze, but unable to due to the electrical currents coursing through the machine.

Ciara shook her head, she wobbled to the side as she moved. "Right," she rose up her arm and transformed into her alter ego. Except it didn't come out quite right, instead of transforming into her gray black-flamed gown, she stayed in her techno-nerd attire and only changed the color of her hair from red to gold. "Leave my ghost toy alone!"

"Ghost toy?"

The mechanical robot yanked Phantom across the air and flung him miles into the sky. The fifteen foot machine man laughed maniacally at his own strength. "Fear me! For I am Technus, Master of all thing-"

Ciara jumped out the window and smashed her telekinetic arms into his television screen. She pointed at him as she landed back onto a bush. "Fear me! For I am reaper girl! Master of all things spiritual, destroyer of all things light! Collector of all things power! Queen of-"

"Hey!" Technus yelled, "evil monologues are my gimmick."

She flicked him off again.

Steam fumed out from the machine's pipelines and a blue wave of power escaped the robot at once. Energy ran across the entire neighborhood causing pieces of hardware to activate. They sprouted limbs and metal heads, with added components of weaponry that they were never designed for. These miniature robots sprinted their ways across the streets, and reached Technus to add themselves into his arsenal.

The countless minions on the ground pointed their weapons at Ciara, firing a rain of missiles and hot metal in her direction. It was like a toy army pointing to a single target in the middle of a war zone. Ciara rushed out of the bush, tripping as she accelerated her speed forward and into the city alleys. Her body wobbled and looped as she ran forward. A faint barrier covered her backside for protection against the burning hailstorm.

Her feet lifted. Her body swayed as it swung lazily in the air. She flew across and around alleyway into alleyway to avoid the line of sight from each of Technus's creatures. By the time she finally flew fast enough to escape his perimeter, she crashed into a fire escape. An open dumpster had softened her fall.

"Owwww," she whimpered. The garbage around her was hard, yet comforting enough for her to want to stay there. She yawned, I'm sure Phantom will be fine.

After a few more minutes of resting, Ciara heard the sounds of screaming from outside the dumpster. "Help!" Phantom yelled. He screamed several times over the sound of crashing and thumping across alleyway walls.

I'm sure he's fine, Ciara murmured to herself. Phantom screamed in pain between Technus's monologues. "I am Technus! Master of all tinkership, ruler of appliances, destroyer of worlds, ender of enemies! None can challenge my mighty power!"

Ciara yawned again, telling herself that she would fight him another day. Technus gloated his wicked plans, "what a fine specimen, ghost boy. I will have a wonderful time, ripping you apart molecule by molecule."

Phantom screamed in horror not knowing what that could entail. More electric shocks shrieked, giving a light show equivalent to an exploding power plant. Ciara's eyes were closed, she noticed the flashing lights simmering through her eyelids. "Turn... Off... The lights," Ciara murmured.

The dumpster lid opened on its own. Two familiar teenagers looked down at Ciara.

"Wow," the goth girl chuckled sarcastically, "I can't believe you're our last hope."

The glasses-eyed boy grimaced, "on a side note, I'm offended that you dressed up like a geek even though you're not, but I'm still flattered you tried."

Ciara squinted up at them, "Foley? Sam? Since when were you invited to the party? I don't remember inviting you guys... Though it does sound like something I would do."

Sam groaned aloud, "Phantom! You need to save Phantom! You're the reaper girl right? Phantom saved you, now go save him!"

But I'm tired, she grudgingly groaned in her mind. "I'm busy," she said.

"You're in a dumpster bin," Tucker pointed out.

Although they were in the middle of a crisis, Sam quickly took a snapshot of Ciara's predicament. She then said, "You need to help him, now!"

Ciara groaned like a dying animal, "fine," she said. "Just give me some pain killers and I'll get right to it."

Phantom screamed in pain as Technus slammed him within his mechanical arms. Each time Danny tried hitting a piece of metal with his fists, the metal would morph into a weapon, exploding into his face. "Surrender yourself!" Technus yelled over his speakers, "for science!"

"There's no time!" Sam and Tucker yelled. They both grabbed Ciara by the sides and lifted her out from the trash can.

"Ciara, you gotta-"

Ciara's knees fell, she sat back against the dumpster and rested her head next to the metal bin. Sam looked up at Danny again, "yup, he's doomed."

With her eyes still closed and tired, Ciara began spinning her arms around to summon two faeries to dance above her head. They danced together in a tribal symphony as they floated higher and higher into the night sky. Ciara's wrists twisted faster and swung more violently as more time went on. After a few more minutes of her orchestration, rain clouds brewed.

A third faerie appeared, a golden conduit to collect the thunder energy. The Technus robot had become thirty feet tall since Ciara had last seen it, and it was outfitted with every tiny tool and heavy appliance from every the dumpsters of the city. A single thunder bolt smashed directly into the mechanical man. In an instance, the collection of heap metal collapsed into the garbage it originally was. Every electronic collected short circuited into a permanent death. And all electricity within a ten block radius was short circuited.

Phantom stood in the middle of the burning garbage heap, groaning in pain but alive and well enough to pull through it. Sam and Tucker stared at the fallen hardware in amazement. "Ciara," Tucker said, "that was incredible. You're-"

Turning around, they watched Ciara vomit into the dumpster she was pulled out from. "Gonna need a ride home," Sam said.

XXX

Sam convinced Tucker to take Danny home, leaving Sam to drag Ciara home with her arm hanged across her shoulder. "Sam," Ciara gurgled, "you're way cooler than Paulina. Like, why can't you be the popular one, and I be the geeky one?"

Her head was hanging low because it felt heavy. She spoke to Sam in between her incoherent mutters to herself. "Yeah," Sam said, "keep talking about how awesome I am." Sam, conveniently enough, could record everything Ciara was saying with the electronic device in her hand.

"Goth is badass, it's like pagan, only modern." Ciara's feet dragged against the sidewalk. No one else was walking that night, and even if they were, there was nothing suspicious about a teenager helping another teenager walk home.

"You're pagan? No way, I've dabbled with tarot cards, but learning about the dark gods is pretty cool."

"I know, right?" Ciara chuckled, and yawned. "Sam, I don't wanna go home, can I crash at your place?"

"Nope," she said firmly. "I'm a disappointment as is, I don't need my parents thinking I go to parties and drink too. Especially since I don't."

Ciara snorted, "see, you're cool. You say no when you have to."

Reaching Ciara's doorstep, Sam didn't even knock on the door before it opened on its own. A tall women, with short black hair and beautiful body figure, glared icy blue eyes at Ciara and Sam. She looked down at them like they were dirt, as though she was debating whether or not the shut the door directly at their faces. The burnt out cigarette in her finger tips only added weight to the toxic atmosphere around them.

"Ciara, get in." She demanded.

Taking her arm off of Sam, she dragged her feet inside. Ciara whispered, "if you can't find my body, it was her." Ciara stumbled her feet inside as quickly as possible.

Ciara's foster mother glared down at Sam's pathetic stare. "Don't ever come near my family again." It was a heavy warning, and Sam knew better than to question it. Anna shut the door at Sam's face and turned to face her adopted daughter.

Roy looked down at Ciara with a shaking head. She was a mess. Her clothes were partially torn and she smelled like a pile of garbage. Roy, not completely sure what a father should do, rubbed heavily at his eyes. "Ciara, we thought you were better than this."

"I told her not to go," Anna said calmly to him. Her tone instantly turned hostile shifting towards Ciara. "And you end up doing exactly what I wanted you not to do!

Ciara laid on the couch slumped back and yawning. "Mistress, I need my rest."

Roy nodded. "We can't talk to her like this. Get some rest, we'll talk tomorrow-"

"People die doing what you did tonight!" Anna screamed directly into Ciara's face, fully aware that her headaches were hurting her. "Your mother died in a car accident. You should know better than to be stupid like that drunk driver!"

It was all a lie. Ciara wasn't sure what Pathfinder had done, but the records on her adoption papers said her parents had died through a car accident. It was rarely ever brought up, but the prospect of her foster mother scolding her like her biological mother infuriated her.

"Shut the fuck up." Ciara lifted her arm up, "just because you fucked up your childhood, doesn't mean I will too. I wasn't sold like a whore by my parents, so quit acting like I'll become as screwed in the head as you."

Anna's mouth dropped open. Roy wanted to defend her, but he was at a loss for words. Anna looked down to the side with slow forming tears in her eyes. She turned around. "I give up," she whispered to herself. Anna headed up the stairs.

"Good," Ciara drowsily replied.

Anna screamed to her husband from the stairway, "she's your daughter now! I don't care about it anymore! I want nothing to do with that thing anymore!" She left up and slammed their bedroom door shut.

Roy sat quietly on the couch. Ciara had passed out and he could only hope that Ciara wouldn't remember those final words in the morning.

XXX

​

 

[Axle]

I'll never stop failing you...

"Many things are not as they seem:

The worst things in life never are."

- Jim Butcher

Chapter 5: Splitting Images​

Dexter's excitement had a glow to it. After years of physical and mental torment from the student body of his old school, he finally had a chance to restart his life on a new sleet. No one knew him there, and Dexter intended to take full advantage of that.

His grease combed hair and plaid tucked dress shirt made him seem uptight. The glasses covered half his face which exaggerated his egg-headed appearance. The bow tie was his mom's idea, he didn't want to disappoint her.

For some odd reason, Dexter had the feeling to smile at everyone he passed by. None of them smiled back at him, but he didn't mind. It was only his first day and they'd come around. After getting the cold shoulder by the band geeks (maybe they were too busy with their instruments), Dexter took a turn to walk pass the athlete's locker room door.

Elsewhere, Ciara waltzed her way into the principal's office. No one was there, which disappointed her. She had hoped to exercise her hypnotic powers fool the main office staff into taking the week off, but apparently they preferred arriving late for school. She turned on the intercom.

"Attention Casper high." The loudspeakers ran across the school, almost half the student body recognized Ciara's voice. "I'd just like to clear the air with the truth. No, I did not hook up with Dash over the party last weekend. That's him spreading lies because he's insecure about his virginity. Also, he keeps a collection of teddy bears in his locker due to mother issues, and wets himself whenever he gets embarrassed. I hope that cleared things up, thank you for listening."

The piss comment was a lie, but she figured if the school found out about the teddy bears, they'd believe the rest of her comments as well. Back at the locker rooms, some boys had already dug through Dash's locker.

"Hey guys!" Dexter watched a large athlete left the locker room. He had a Casper high football jersey with combed over hair and a dark skin tone similar to Dexter's. "Check out what I found in Dash's locker!"

It was a big purple teddy bear with large round beady eyes. It had a pink bow tie on the noose, and the athlete lifted it up for everyone in the hallway to see. Upon squeezing it, the teddy bear said "I love you, do you love me too?"

Instantly, all the students in the hallways, even the band kids, turned their eyes to a blonde haired athlete who was covering his face in hot shame. They all laughed loudly at him, and didn't stop even after he ran out of sight.

"I think the just wet himself!' Another athlete said.

"Poor virgin doesn't know any better," a band nerd added.

Dexter squinted at all of them, "no one deserves to be bullied."

Walking to his new locker, he took the time to carefully unhinge the rusty old lock. After opening it, he stared at the golden framed mirror attached inside. "Cute bow tie," the girl behind him said.

Turning around, Dexter lost control of his breathe. A stunning blonde cheerleader had just complimented him! She had a flower hairpin that touched up her head, and had warm blue eyes that bloomed from Dexter's perspective.

"T-t-thank you," he said nervously. Then he fell quiet, completely unsure what to say to the gorgeous girl.

The girl clicked her tongue, "Locker 724, I didn't think anyone would use that again."

"Really?" Dexter stared, "why?"

"The last guy who had it committed suicide." Dexter's heart skipped a beat. A heaviness fell within him as he looked into the mirror across from him. "I heard he was bullied pretty bad. People did weird pranks to his locker a few years ago. I never met the guy, but its a pretty dumb way to go out if you ask me."

"I don't think its dumb," Dexter said softly. He pressed at his own clammy hands, trying to remove the wrecking feelings he once remembered. "People always think that's a stupid choice, but people don't always get that it's not really a choice. It's more like.. A disease."

A pause. He knew it wasn't much of an explanation, but a large part of him wanted her to understand. "Like, you're trapped in a dark tunnel, and you can't find the exits. It's just... Too dark to see the light anymore." He stared at the mirror inside with a reflective gaze. Reminiscing on the dormant memories of his morbid past. "You can't hear people anymore because you're drowning in your own darkness, and you're stuck only with your own thoughts. Except those thoughts are horrible, and they tell you to do horrible things... It's not really a choice, being sick never is."

Star stared at Dexter for a long moment, reading him like a book. She wasn't smiling anymore. She knew she'd struck a cord in him and wasn't know how to respond. She looked around for a moment, wondering which mental decision she should make. After moment of silence, she opted to be nice to the new kid. "I believe you," she said with a smile. She changed the subject. "I'm Star, by the way. Are you new here?"

Dexter's mood quickly lit up, remembering again that a pretty girl was talking to him. "Yes. My name is Dexter, and it's spiffy to met you."

Star chuckled, "Spiffy? That's adorable." Dexter blushed heavily beneath his glasses. "I've gotta go to gym. Take care of yourself, Dexter."

Star left Dexter with a wide grin on his face. Turning back to the locker, he nodded to himself. The boy who owned this locker before would be a reminder of his former self. With an intense gaze at the mirror, his eyes glowed bright with an ominous white light. "I'm glad I have the power to change things."

XXX

Lunch was particularly quiet. Dexter had no place to sit since he was still invisible to the other students. He finished lunch quickly so that he could spend the rest of the hour in the library. Heading back to his locker, he caught a glimpse of the same blonde athlete from before, running across the hallways screaming. Live frogs filled in his pants. "This school is totally haunted!" He yelled.

Running passed Dexter, he clenched his fist. Why do people keep bullying that guy? It wasn't right, and Dexter was ready to take action for it. He walked back to the boy's locker and found live frogs running around the area. He paid particular attention to the "save the frogs" button that was lying on the floor.

Around the corner, he heard another student laughing. Suspicious, Dexter walked around the corner and found a raven haired teenager laughing heavily, with a slimy 'save the frogs' box next to him. "You," Dexter said in his shrilly voice, "you're the jerk who did that to him, weren't you?"

Danny was laughing so hard he didn't notice the cold air escape from his mouth. "Yeah, but you gotta admit, that was pretty funny."

"Oh yeah," Dexter jabbed his finger at Danny's shirt. When Danny locked down, he flicked it up to tip at his nose. "You think being a bully is funny, bub?"

Danny scrunched his face, "hey, knock it off."

"Why, so you can pick on another poor defenseless kid?"

"Defenseless?" Danny remembered all the times Dash physically abused him during his outbursts of anger, "man, do you have it backwards."

"Don't hand me that jazz, clyde," Dexter pulled out his pen from his pocket protector, and squirted its ink onto Danny's shirt, "let's see how you like being bullied."

Danny was almost ready to use his parahuman strength on Dexter, but restrained himself. He growled, "look, you'd better back off, or I'll-"

"Or you'll what? Spaz?" Dexter pushed him.

Danny glared, and it was then that he noticed the cold air constantly leaving his breathe. Out of instinct, he turned around to check if Ciara was around. Then he realized his goosebumps were pointing towards Dexter. "Hold on," Danny said with his hands up in defense, "you're a parahuman?"

Dexter's eyes widened, "wait, how did you know that?" Dexter realized cold air was escaping from Danny's mouth. "Unless... You're a parahuman too?" Dexter almost wanted to laugh, he'd finally found someone who was in the same boat as him. But then, a dark thought passed his mind, "and you've been using your powers for evil!"

Dexter's eyes instantly glowed bright. The intensity grew as he stared deeper and deeper into Danny. The world became fuzzy as the two boy's gained throbbing headaches. Nausea kicked in, and by the time the light dimmed down, they had to re-blink their eyes until the sun spots could escape.

There was tingling sensation across their finger tips. The feeling ran across their whole bodies, but it didn't escape the hands and feet. "What?" Danny said dizzily, "what did you just do?"

Dexter looked down to his new hands, "wow," he said excitingly, "you're so light."

"No, really, what did you just do? Why do I feel..." Like a ton of bricks.

Dexter smiled. He instantly leaped to the air to try out Danny's powers. "Holy Hootsie Toosie." He floated up for a full minute, trying to make sense to Danny's weightlessness. Danny, from Dexter's body, looked up.

"Why am I floating?" He stared down at his hands and his eyes widened. Looking down at his shirt, he plucked at the pocket protector he didn't have on before. "What did you do?" Danny screamed.

Dexter smiled, "giving you a taste of your own medicine."

Dexter, with his new strength and dexterity, flew into his former body and began fazing their bodies to the ground. Slowly understanding Danny's powers more, Dexter closed his eyes as they intangibly fell down to the boiler room below. They both staggered. Dexter blinked with dizziness, "Wow," Dexter said wobbling, "your powers are wild."

Danny's head was still nauseous. He finally understood what was happening. "I can't believe this, you're in my body now?"

Dexter grinned, quickly forming a mischievous plan in his head. "It's about time you know what it's like to be on the bad end of the stick." Dexter flew into Danny again, and fazed Danny into the broom closet nearby. He picked up a broom to lodge the door stuck in place.

"You can't do this!" Danny yelled out in panic, "that's my body!"

Dexter floated with his arms crossed, "doesn't feel so good to be the powerless one, does it buddy?"

"You don't understand, there's this girl, she might-"

"Save it. I'm not interested in your high school mojo." Dexter slowly floated away and shifted into his intangible form. He made sure to speak loudly enough for Danny to hear, "now if you don't mind, I'm gonna put this body on a test run. Y'know, decide whether or not I should keep it. And by the looks of it, with your powers, it looks like it's gonna blow that way."

It was a bluff. He didn't actually intend to keep Danny's body forever, but he wanted Danny to understand the feeling of uncertainty that bullies often gave to others. Danny yelled out to Dexter, to which he replied, "see ya later alligator!"

As he left Danny to be alone with himself, unable to cry for help over the sound of the boiler machine, Dexter felt proud. He thought he'd left him with a strong; don't believe actions don't have consequences.

XXX

Rising up to the middle floor, Dexter just narrowly managed to avoid letting Danny's parents see his powers. Tucker, fortunately, was able to direct attention away from him.

"No capes here, mister and misses F." Tucker quick stepped in front of Dexter, cloaking Dexter's use of Danny's powers.

Mr. Lancer said, "only a girl trying to create a diversion for her own needs."

Sam glanced over at Dexter. "Right," she said looking at the box of frogs in her hands, "right, no capes here."

The three adults sprinted off, hoping to gain the chance to use the Fenton cape grabbing tinker gloves. Tucker turned over to Danny, unaware that Danny had lost his body. "Watch it Danny. Your parents almost caught your intangible act.

Dexter smirked, this is going to be fun. Sure, he was going to give Danny's body back eventually, but that was no reason to not have a little fun before then. They headed back to the biology lab with Sam's box of frogs. As Sam and Tucker talked, Dexter couldn't help but announce, "Spiff diddly dee, man. So this is what it's like to have friends!"

Sam raised an eyebrow, "you sure you're alright Danny?"

Momentarily forgetting he was Danny, Tucker repeated his name. "Danny?"

"Oh, me? Yeah, right." He felt ecstatic, "I'm right like ike, Mike."

Walking further ahead, Dexter saw the poor sap that Danny had been picking on earlier. He was hitting at the vending machine angry that it wouldn't accept his Canadian coins. "Hey, let me help you out, pal."

Dexter carefully stuck his hand at the back of the vending machine. He activated Danny's powers and pushed a soda to through the dispenser. Dash's eyes widened, he didn't think Danny had any good talents to offer. Taking the soda and chugging it, he thanked him. "Thanks, Fenton."

"No, problemo."

"What, are you going through puberty?" Dexter grinned, and Dash let the question slide. Rubbing his chin, Dash thought for a moment. He asked, "you know, I'm a little tight on quarters. Think you could get a few more sodas for me and my pals?"

"Haha, you betcha." Dexter pushed a dozen more sodas through the vending machine.

"Danny," Sam criticized, "that's stealing."

"Oh, I'm sure that poor kid lost more than his fair share of quarters to the vicious bullies in this school." He grinned and looked up, "it's time someone settled the score. Hey, everybody, Egg creams are on me!"

Dexter passed the soda to Dash's peers, Kwan even laughed at his egg cream comment. The following fifteen minutes composed of Dexter rigging the soda machine dry, until he passed over forty soda cans to the star athletes and socially preferred students of the school. Ciara was among one of them.

"Here's to Fenton!" Dash said raising his soda up. The students cheered for the free drinks, and Dexter felt very proud of himself by the time the vending machine ran out of juice.

"Hey, Fentonmeister," Kwan said to Dexter, "We're one short for touch football. Are you in?"

"Posi-lutely abs-itively"

"Posi-lutely?" Kwan laughed aloud, "when did you get a sense of humor?"

Dexter left the school hallways with new peers and proud of his good deeds. Sam and Tucker watched in astonishment as their supposed friend left with a new following. "Odd," Ciara said approaching the friends from behind, "I've nothing against thievery. But this is certainly... A switch in character."

Sam commented, "peer pressure tends to corrupt the feeble minded."

Ciara placed her hands in her pockets, and scrunched her mouth with a pang of shame, "I suppose."

XXX

The team got into position behind Dexter. There were silent nods across the football field. The game began, and Dash unexpectedly passed the football to Dexter, his entire team scrammed away from him, leaving Dexter at the mercy of the opposing team.

The other team bolted toward him like monsters. Dexter, instinctively, activated Danny's power. He managed to make it look like the opposing team had stumbled upon themselves.

Once the opponents pounded each other to the ground, Dexter slipped away and ran to the other side of the field. With no one understanding how it happened, the athletes began pondering whether or not they should invite Danny to the official team.

Dexter did a classic jazzy dance at the football line. Typically it would come off pathetic, but Dexter's newfound confidence made the dance more entertaining than shameful. Dash yelled, "party at Fenton's house!"

"Hot Dog, where does he live?"

"It's your house bonehead," Kwan laughed, "is he hilarious, or what?"

Ciara rolled her eyes, the word 'party' had become toxic to her. Between the rumors of her, Dash, and Danny, the ridiculous hangover and the irritation of not remembering everything that happened, another party felt like punishment to her. She, Paulina, and Star walked up to the winning team.

"Sounds great," Paulina said, stamping the approval that all of her peers should go.

Fuck. Ciara thought to herself. She also noticed Dexter looking at Star, like he was embarrassed by her presence. Ciara shook her head, men are both pathetic and short minded.

A moment later, Sam came by, offering Kwan a 'Save the frogs' button. Dexter eagerly endorsed its style, causing the nearby students to flock at the badge like hurdled sheep. Sam smiled, fully aware of how manipulative she was being to the crowd. And once again, Ciara was impressed by her.

"Hang on folks," Sam said as the demand for the badges rose. "Plenty more in my locker where that one came from."

"Danny," Ciara said, shortly after Sam had left. "May I speak to you, in private."

Dash glared at Dexter. For the sake of tugging his anger further, Ciara took Dexter by the arm. "Please," she said in a soft, damsel like tone.

Unaware he was being used, or that Dash was fantasizing torturing him, Dexter said, "sure thing, darling."

Dexter finally noticed the crowd's whispers as he left with Ciara at hand. Dexter thought to himself, 'wait, was this the girl Danny was talking about? Is she his girlfriend!?'

Walking beneath the bleachers, Ciara used her faieries to make sure no one was over listening to their conversation. After making sure the perimeter was secure, Ciara turned to Danny and asked, "Fenton, I've been meaning to ask you two questions, and I'd like to ask the irrelevant one first."

"Um... Okay." Dexter now realized how pretty Ciara was up close. She was probably the second prettiest girl he'd spoken to all day.

She asked, "am I still a virgin?"

Dexter cocked his head back, "excuse me?' his voice came out shrilly.

"At Dash's party last weekend, I remember us going alone to Dash's room together. Everything afterwards was rather... Construded for me. Since you weren't intoxicated that night, perhaps you could provide the answer. Am I still a virgin?"

"I..." Dexter was lost at what to say. He couldn't say he wasn't sure, and he especially didn't want to mislead the girl. Trying to come up with the best answer, Dexter thought more about Danny's character. So Danny goes to parties a lot? He answered with what he thought was the truth. "No," Dexter said in a flat tone with a frozen stare, "you are not."

Ciara looked at him for a long, silent moment. Her face was blank, and showed no signs of emotion from Dexter's words. She looked over at the football field and said, "I see. Hopefully Paulina can now stop pestering me about the subject."

Dexter sighed in relief. Unsure what else to say, Dexter added, "you're welcome."

Ciara looked back at him for another minute. Her stares were becoming unnerving, not because they were scary, but because the momentary silences between them forced Dexter to think self-perpetual doubts about himself. "Now," Ciara continued, "I'd like to ask you the more pressing question."

"Pressing?" Dexter patted his forehead, "willies, what could be more pressing than that!?"

Ciara shook her head, "Danny Fenton, how did you awaken?"

Dexter took a step back, "excuse me?"

She poked at her chest, "We, are blessed children. Chosen by faeries to posses gifts of power. My blessing allows me to see the faeries in others. Today, since I saw you in school, I noticed your faerie pulling the strings of your destiny. You've been chosen by the spirits, and rather than reap your power for my own, I'd like to know, how did you awaken, and what is the nature of your power?"

Dexter stared at her with his eyes wide, "you're a parahuman?"

"As the commoners call it, I suppose so. We are ascended, Fenton. And I'd like us to forge an alliance rather than a rivalry."

Dexter wasn't sure what to say, in all honesty, he wanted to laugh. Two parahumans in this school? And better yet, Ciara sounded more like the good guy than a bad guy to him, different from Danny Fenton. "Holy guacamole," Dexter said, "I can't believe it, another parahuman!"

Ciara nodded with an honest smile. She would never admit it aloud, but companionship was something she'd been longing for as of late. Unblessed humans bored her, and Phantom seemed more like a wandering spirit than an equal companion. Danny Fenton, however, had two tinker parents growing up. In a way, he could understand her upbringing better than anyone else.

"Fenton," Ciara asked, "may I ask what gifts were bestowed upon you?"

Dexter froze, suddenly remembering he was still possessing Danny's body. He choked on his own words. "I... Um..." He didn't want to admit who he was, nor did he want to take away from the intimate moment he was having with Ciara. So, choosing not to oust himself, he said, "I can go invisible."

He turned his hand intangible to demonstrate the power Ciara wasn't impressed by his power, but she still smiled from the sight of his confirmation. Dexter told himself he'd explain the situation to Danny later, and hoped there could be an understanding between all three of them.

Ciara stepped closer to Dexter. She placed her hand on his cheek. "I suppose it matches with your character. You do, after all, have the tendency to hide from the people whom antagonize you."

Dexter's possessed body turned hot red. He didn't even pay attention to her words while her soft finger tips tapped at the side of his face. Ciara pulled her hand back, and gestured back to the football field. "It seems the student body believes we're star-crossed lovers... I see no reason to prove them wrong."

"What?" Dexter said turning pale.

"I'm simply commenting, if the school thinks we should be together after the events at Dash's party, I see no reason to be against that."

"Are..." Dexter shook his head, his voice came out squeaky again. "You asking me out?"

Ciara nodded, "you can refuse, of course. I'd rather not force you into an unwanted bond."

Dexter's mouth gaped open, he wasn't sure what to say. Again, he was in Danny's body. He wondered again if this girl was the girl Danny had been so worried about before. If that were the case, Dexter would be doing him a favor by saying yes. Who, after all, would refuse the advances of such a beautiful girl?

"Sweet mother to betsie," Dexter said with a grin, "that would be radical!"

Ciara chuckled, "first you steal from the school to gain social standing, now you've adopted new dialect. Your awakening has truly changed you, Fenton." Ciara pecked a kiss on his lips, and took him by the hand to walk back to the football field's crows.

Paulina elbowed at Star, "hey, look guys, guess who came back from the school's kissing spot."

The rest of the crowd laughed, and began imitating kissing sounds as a way to tease Ciara and Dexter. Everyone was teasing in a friendly manner, except for Dash, who glared at Dexter with his arms crossed and fists clenched. Happy to see Dash upset, Ciara decided to further infuriate him by leaning over and kissing Dexter on the cheek.

"It's not my fault he's less desperate than Dash," Ciara eyed at him, the whole crowd knew she was referring to the constant lies Dash would spread about himself and her. Ciara added, "I guess I prefer the sweet ones."

There was a mixture of 'awes' and 'ohhs' by her verbal insult and charm. With Dexter just giving Danny a boost of reputation in the matter of hours, and Ciara sealing that popularity by fortifying a relationship, the crowd approved of Danny for the first time in his teenage life. Dexter couldn't help but smile, he thought to himself, Danny owes me big time for this.

XXX

Ciara thought about how she'd tell him about her awakening event. She'd never told anyone before, and for some reason, she felt... anxious to talk about it. It was like she'd chosen to forget the memory most of her life, and opening the old wound might've brought fears she'd oppressed.

Still holding hands while walking through the school halls, Dexter couldn't help but feel more and more doubtful about himself. Sure, he could probably play the charade for the rest of the day, but pretending to be a good boyfriend was a lot harder than pretending to be a good person.

"Can we meet after school?" Ciara asked in oddly soft tone. "I'd like to talk to you about... My awakening."

"Sure thing... Darling?" Dexter wasn't sure how to refer to girlfriends. Dexter swallowed. "But right now I think I gotta... Meet with a friend somewhere..."

Ciara raised an eyebrow, "with who? Foley?"

"Yes," he answered blinking, not knowing who that was.

"One of my faeries tells me your hiding something."

Dexter stared at her for another moment. He knew she had multiple powers, the power to sense powers in others, but he didn't think she was also a human lie detector test. "I just..." Dexter fumbled his words, "need to check on something real quick."

Ciara paused for a moment, and pulled her hand away from him. She didn't look irritated, but Dexter sensed something had disturbed her. "Very well," she said, "I will be at the library if you need me again."

Dexter nodded, and quickly ran down the hallways. Going down the stairs, he reached the boiler room and closet where Danny was left behind. "Oh jeepers." he exclaimed. Inside, the closet door was opened, and his old body was gone. "Where'd I go?"

Immediately, a butterfly net encompassed Dexter's head and shoulders. A potato sack then fell over that, causing Dexter to stumble on the ground. "Barnacles! What's going on!"

Dexter heard his own voice from outside the sack, "you're giving me back my body, that's what's going on!"

"Hey!" Dexter yelled within the sack, "you should be rubbing my back, bub! I got you a really great girlfriend!"

Danny yanked at his hair, "you did what? With who!?"

Dexter heard Tucker answer from outside the potato sack, "Ciara," he said in a flat tone.

"Ciara!?" Danny yelled in shock.

Sam, next to Tucker and Danny, said, "we didn't want to tell you because we knew you'd freak out."

"How-" Danny was at a loss of words, "I was gone for a few hours. How did this happen!?"

"Beats me," Tucker shurgged. "Apparently this guy has better lady skills than the both of us. If my watch is right, you and Ciara have been officially together for forty five minutes."

Danny pulled down at his jaw, and gnawed at his fist, "Ciara? Reaper girl Ciara!?"

"Hey!" Dexter said trying to push out of the sack, "why can't I ghost through this stuff?"

"Tinker tech," Sam answered. "Danny's been having us keep tinker tech to use in the school. That net was meant to keep parahumans from using shape shifting powers."

Danny grabbed the bag and lifted Dexter up, "alright, you better give me back my body, or I'm beating us both up!"

Tucker sighed, "not very threatening dude."

"Alright, scrappy doo, alright," Dexter said. "I'll turn us back, just... Take off the sack so that we can see eye to eye." They removed the sack, but kept the butterfly net on him. "I was gonna turn us back, I just wanted to teach you a lesson."

Danny gritted his teeth, he'd have punched Dexter in the face if their bodies weren't switched. Before Dexter could to stare into Danny through the eyes, Danny (still in Dexter's body), Sam, and Tucker, were all lifted in the air.

"Why have you assaulted my suitor?"

Ciara came down to the boiler room with her golden aurora hair and her grey black flamed dress. Dexter was shocked by the sight of her, the glow emitting from her body made her seem more like some transcendent being than the teenager he'd known before.

"Ciara?" Dexter asked in shock.

She nodded at him, "why have these three assaulted you?"

Ciara looked up at Tucker, Sam, and an egg headed boy pressed up against the wall. They were held up by her telekinetic grasp. Ciara raised an eyebrow. Sam and Tucker were Danny's friends, yet they'd somehow teamed up with whom she thought was a stranger.

"Funny story," Dexter tried to explain from inside the net that held him. "Here's the thing. My power isn't actually going invisible... Its actually switching bodies."

She paused. Ciara looked up at the new student and exchanged looks between Dexter and Danny's body. She guessed that it was Dexter's faerie she saw in Danny, not Danny's. "Switched bodies? Then... That boy up there. That's your true form?"

"That's right," Dexter said with a nervous grin. He babbled on, filling the air with meaningless words. "And don't worry about your secrets being told. It's jazzy, we can all keep a secret, because Danny is also-"

The three teenagers immediately yelled, "shut up!" from the air, interrupting him from telling their secret. Dexter paused, and waited for Ciara to respond.

"I see..." Ciara's voice was oddly soft. It held its natural calm demeanor, but carried a level of uncertainty that came with the weight of her powers. "So... You lied to me. I trusted you with my secrets. We kissed in front of everyone. And you're telling me... It was all a lie?"

The world fell mute. All four of them stared in silence while Ciara's breathes began to heave. Clenching her fists, she said, "tell me, bodysnatcher, if I damaged your true body, will you still feel pain?"

Ciara launched Dexter's true body into the boiler machine, causing a loud clanking that released steam and heat into the air. Danny screamed in pain as Ciara pulled him back.

"Danny!" Sam and Tucker yelled.

"He didn't do anything," Dexter pleaded. He wiggled himself out of the Butterfly net.

"Ciara!" Danny yelled getting smashed through more of his surroundings. More hot air released as Ciara dragged him across the floors and walls, making him nauseous as he moved. "Stop!"

Ciara's voice became venomous, "I'm not even sure if I want to collect his faerie. Such a power is grotesque by nature."

"Ciara," Dexter said running at Ciara, "stop, or else I'll-"

Looking back at Dexter, Ciara glared and asked, "or else you'll what, cretin?"

When Dexter approached close enough to see her, Ciara lifted him into the air and growled in anger. From her grasp, Dexter stared into Ciara's angry eyes, and glowed his powers into hers. Both of them shook as Dexter's spirit fell into Ciara's body, and Ciara's spirit fell into Danny's.

XXX

Ciara couldn't breathe. It was like the world had gone silent in the wake of a battlefield. For the first time in her youth, her spirits were gone. The ones she'd grown up with and learned to love were missing. Everything seemed dim. Worst of all, in the first time in her life, her mom was no longer with her.

She looked up, choking on her own breathe. Are normal people always this nimble? The answer was no. Danny's should've obviously carried some weight, his legs should've felt tired. But instead, she felt nothing. It was like the numbness around him was natural.

A thought clicked into place. She'd seen Danny go invisible before even though it was Dexter using his body. How did he do that? Was there something different about Danny? Did he have a power that lacked a faerie? She thought about Phantom, and then an unconscious change occurred.

Five seconds. The heart stopped mid-beat. Blood flows within the vain became still. Four seconds. A connection severed. Making the world seem distant and non-existent. Three seconds. White rings split across his body. Molecules tingled as it passed. Two seconds. Eyes glowing brightest green, and hair feeling as cold as snow. One second. Danny's body became raw power. A power that could not be seen or sensed.

Ciara's eyes widened looking down at her white colored gloves, she looked over at Dexter's original body and said, "Fenton? You're..." As the words almost came out, she was sorely disappointed she hadn't noticed it before.

Ciara looked over to Dexter, who had just robbed her of her body. "Oh jeepers," Dexter said in shock, "I'm a girl." Instinctively, Dexter patted his own chest.

"Don't touch me you creep!" Ciara yelled. She flew into Dexter and pinned him against the wall. She chocked her old body and demanded, "Turn me back!"

The faeries. They were faint memories now. Whispers that were disappearing. She'd never gone a day without them, and now Dexter had robbed all of them from her.

Dexter coughed back, and summoned her own telekinetic to push Ciara back. Ciara gasped as she flew back. Never in her life did she think her faeries would be used against her. "Insolent bastard," Ciara yelled in disgust. "Give me back my faeries!"

Ciara fired a laser at Dexter. She wasn't sure how Phantom's powers worked, so she tried mimicking her own powers she'd used in the past.

Dexter fired a shield around himself, deflected the laser, and redirected her own laser attack back to her. He then launched a frenzy of energy blasts and fireballs at Ciara.

Ciara screamed in pain. Not physical pain, Danny's body was nearly numb to that. It was the pain of having her own faeries used against her that made want to cry.

In a feeble plea, she cried out, "give me back my family!"

This time, the scream came out in a seismic wail. A sound wave released from Ciara's mouth and punched Dexter across the body. The boiler machine was hissing with cracks. Lights at the school flickered and radio devices everywhere became distorted.

A loud ringing entered everyone's ears in the boiler room. Ciara walked up to Dexter, and grabbed her original body by the collar.

XXX

Dexter was out of breathe. But it wasn't Ciara's attack that had hurt him, it was the exhaustion that the faeries had carried. All thirteen faeries were screaming into Dexter's head trying to control the entirety of his thoughts.

They spoke to him like people, each carrying their own voices trying to make themselves more relevant in his head. "Death by fire," one said. "Kill her. Kill everyone. Then yourself last."

The spirits were like monsters. They wanted to instruct Dexter to do terrible things. At the same time they were wandering souls. Tormented just by being kept alive. She'd killed them, and now they yearned violence.

They whispered in into his ears, asking for death's peaceful embrace. More than anything though, they wanted his own death. Like life for them was torture, and only the host's deaths could set them free. It was no wonder Ciara was so screwed in the head, she was surrounded by the dead like an accursed witch.

XXX

"Switch us back," Ciara ordered, holding Dexter by the collarbone. Dexter was out of breathe and couldn't concentrate. He did exactly as he was told, just to get the voices out of his head.

Ciara's body felt heavy again. Her faeries were angry, but they quickly calmed as she serenaded them. She moved to the edge of the room to face the wall. She talked calmly to herself to re-center her connection with them.

Danny and his friends ran over to Dexter. Before he could even say a word, Dexter vomited at Danny's feet. "Well," Danny commented, "at least these are your shoes and not mine..." Breathing heavily while trying to push away the traumas that came from Ciara's body, Dexter looked up at his original body, and returned himself and Danny back to normal.

Ciara sat against the wall alone, catering and listening to her faeries. "I'm sorry," she whispered to them. And they whispered back, 'Punish him." It was a cruel reflection of her thoughts. Silently agreeing to their request, she looked over at Dexter, and levitated him to the air.

Dexter choked. His neck was tightened to pause his oxygen flow.

"Hold on," Danny yelled, quickly regaining his strength and flying closer to Ciara. "You made a promise with me."

She remembered that promise. Ciara stared at him with expressionless eyes. "He used my body like a rag doll, and treated my faeries like slaves. You wish for me to ignore these sins?"

"That doesn't matter," Danny argued, "you made a promise. It's you're job to keep that."

She put Dexter down and stopped from strangling him. Dexter wobbled back up on his feet, nauseated and ready to faint. In an calm tone, Ciara said, "very well, I won't kill him... But he won't go unpunished."

Her telekinetic arms shoved Dexter against the wall and helplessly held him there. With the gesture of a finger, her power pressed into his head and gouged his eyeballs out.

Dexter screamed in pain underneath the sound of hissing steam and metal. The boiler shook and growled as it was ready to explode. Sam pulled the fire alarm, and Tucker called the paramedics from his PDA. They lifted Dexter crying in pain and carried him off as Danny faced Ciara.

Danny looked over at Ciara with horror in his eyes. He recalled the time he first realized she was a murderer. No longer willing to hesitate, Danny pulled out the thermos from his side and pointed at Ciara.

She raised an eyebrow. Mist filled the room as they both became shadowy figures within the steam. Sam and Tucker left just as Danny fired a blue energy from his tinker made thermos.

XXX

He couldn't beat her. He missed, or rather, her power allowed her to avoid the beam. When Danny looked down at

his thermos again, it crumbled within his hands like disintegrated sand. Ciara was stronger than him, and when she disappeared in front of him, the boiler finally exploded.

When the school evacuated, teachers assumed Sam had pulled the fire alarm as a distraction for her 'save the frogs' campaign. She would've been punished if she and Tucker weren't seen pulling Dexter out from the burning boiler room. The paramedics took him away, and students only watched in pity as the newly blinded student was taken to the hospital.

XXX

Ciara was a bit more distant than usual, not really paying attention to Star or Paulina atop of the bleachers. "We should visit him," Star said referring to Dexter.

Paulina raise an eyebrow, "why? We didn't even know him."

Star couldn't disagree. She only had a short conversation with him, but she still felt bad that something so bad could happen on his first day of school. "Still, I feel bad for him. Did you see how bad he was when the ambulance took him away?"

Star was among the first students to see Dexter put into the medical vehicle. Paulina bobbled her head, "well, yeah. But we didn't even know him, why he want us to visit?"

"C'mon, Paulina, he's probably in the hospital all by himself. No one else in school knows who he is." She thought about how lonely Dexter might've felt. Star turned to Ciara for support, "Ciara, how about you? Wouldn't it be a good idea to go? Just to visit?"

Ciara looked down at her poorly made sandwich. She wasn't sure why Anna stopped cooking for her, or why she stopped talking to her. Lost in thought, comparing Anna to her real mother, she looked up at Star and shook her head. "Sure," she said, only half caring to what Star had said. "I see no reason not to."

Paulina sighed, and Star smiled. With a two to one vote, it was decided all three of them would go.

XXX

"Hey Dexter," Danny said sitting to Dexter's bed side.

With a weak smile and soft voice, Dexter replied, "hey there, halfa."

"Halfa?"

"Half human, half ghost." He let off a small chuckle. It was becoming harder for him to be optimistic. His head was all wrapped around in white bandages, covering the empty eye sockets. "I really messed up," Dexter said in a quiet tone.

"I did too," Danny said. "I knew she was dangerous, but I thought she could change... Some hero I turned out to be."

"Danny," Dexter said, not wanting Danny to doubt himself, "Ciara is a good person. Her powers are just messing with her head."

Sam and Tucker, sitting at chairs by the hospital room window, glanced at each other. "What do you mean?" Tucker asked.

Dexter explained, "every spirit she takes, she hears the voices of their lives all the time. From their worst moments to before they died. When I was in her body, they were yelling at me to do horrible things. Its a miracle she's not as bad as they tell her to be."

Danny shook his head, "yeah, but there's nothing we could do about that. It's not like there's a tinker that can fix brain damage." Danny blinked, and shook off the idea of handing Ciara over to his parents. "No, I should've just launched her to the portal sooner. Then you wouldn't have lost your powers."

Dexter chuckled, "Danny, there's no point in thinking what could've been done sooner. After all, I'm here anyways." Dexter let out a sigh, "this is as much my fault as her's. I... Tried so hard to be a hero, I guess I made enemies out of people who weren't enemies."

Star opened the hospital room door. She quietly let herself in, and lifted an eyebrow at the sight of the guests. "Danny? Why are these losers here."

"Uh," Danny stepped back. When Paulina entered through the door, Danny asked, "what are you two doing here?"

Paulina rolled her eyes, guessing Danny was awestruck by her beauty. "Visiting Dexter of course. We're not heartless you know." Paulina glared at Sam, to which Sam rolled her eyes.

"Star?" Dexter said straightening up.

"Hey there, Pointdexter," Star greeted.

Tucker elbowed Danny, signaling that now would be a good time to leave. Danny said, "hey, we're gonna go now. We'll be sure to visit tomorrow."

Dexter sighed, "no, I won't be here tomorrow. My parents are taking me back to my home state. I'll be home schooled for now on."

XXX

Ciara sat alone in the hospital waiting room. She had her mother's faerie dancing eloquently in the palm of her hands. "I'm sorry, mum." She whispered to her, glad no one could hear her. "I promise... No one will use you like that again."

Danny and his friends left the hospital wing and reached the waiting room. Ciara clasped her hands tight, and hid the faerie away. Ciara looked up at the trio from her chair. "Phantom," she said, remembering who he truly was. "Where do we stand, ghost boy?"

She still remembered what Pathfinder had told her. She'd waited two years to meet Phantom, were they really destined to be enemies?

Danny remembered what Dexter had told her, he couldn't believe Ciara had earned his forgiveness. "I want to help you, Ciara." Danny said to Ciara. He thought to himself, 'because that's what heroes do'.

Ciara asked, "Do I look like a damsel in distress to you, Fenton?"

"Nope," Sam commented. "But looks can be deceiving."

Ciara glared at her, Ciara would've been much more ruthless to Sam if she didn't respect her. Sam continued, "Dexter told us your faeries of demons."

Ciara's eyes widened. She never even considered that possibility. "They are not demons," she said.

"Here's a riddle," Sam said, pushing the limits to Ciara's temperament. "If a spirit tells you what to do, how to hurt, and when to hurt people, you're probably not talking to faeries, it's probably an age old 'demon in disguise' problem."

"My faeries are not demons," Ciara said in a cold stern voice.

"C'mon," Sam said wanting a human reaction from her. "You can't seriously tell me you haven't heard of something like that from all those fairy tales you love to read. Because I'm pretty sure demons are more likely than faeries to tell people to hurt others."

Ciara swallowed, and repeated, "my faeries are not demons."

"And why, exactly, would a faerie tell you to hurt others?"

"Because we're better than you," Ciara said like it were a fact. "All of us, the blessed ones with powers. We deserve to get what we want, not husks like you."

Sam snorted, "Right, did you come up with that on your own, or did your demons tell you that?"

"They are not my demons! They are my family!" She stood up, and yelled loud enough for the nurses to hear her. They looked over, and she sat back down to avoid causing a further spectacle. "I'm here for closure. If you're here to lecture me about forces you couldn't possibly fathom, then just leave."

Danny took a step forward, "Ciara, are you still going to keep your promise?"

"A promise I made inebriated?" Ciara huffed a laugh, "I think it's time I make my own decisions. Leave me alone. I want nothing to do with you, or Phantom anymore. You are no knight, you're an omen. Stay away from me, and the only promise I'll make is to stay away from you."

Danny didn't back down. He asked again, "Ciara. Are you going to kill people? Because if you do, then we're enemies, forever."

Ciara crossed her arms. "Fine. I won't steal another life again."

Ciara made a mental note to herself, because there's a difference between stealing life, and having it gifted.

XXX

After Paulina and Star left Dexter's room, Ciara visited him, explaining that she had felt woozy by the thought of him, but had now mustered up the stomach to see him. It was so easy for her to pretend to be nimble. "Evening, skinwalker," Ciara said in a calm voice.

Dexter didn't say anything. He decided he'd be better off listening than saying anything to her. "Chosen child," Ciara said in the most serene voice she could muster, "your faerie yearns for freedom, we can both sense it. You are incapacitated now, and are destined to live the rest of your life yearning for your true strength to be used."

Ciara placed her hand atop of his, "do you feel that? The feeling of your power wanting to escape? It's liberation, liberation from your torment. Take it, and become a freed."

Dexter faced ahead, matching his covered face with her eye level. She said, "I can free your spirit. Just say the word 'yes', and you're greatest gift will never go to waste."

Dexter clenched his fists. He leaned close to her face and hissed, "fuck you."

Ciara stepped back, eyes wide in surprise by his response. He yelled to her, "I am more than just my power. And I wont' let you make me believe my life is over."

"But-"

"Go to hell!" Dexter screamed, "because if you can't see a person's worth as more than just their powers, then it just says how little you think of yourself!" Dexter tried to cry, but only sniffles came out. "Just... Leave me alone."

Completely loss with words, Ciara left the room with her pride left less intact.

XXX

​

 

[Axle]

"Madness is relative," Nicolai said to the young woman in front of him. He took the cylinder from the metal lab bench and shook it to ready the woman for her trial run. "Madness is subjective. What is socially mad for one culture, may be the norm for another. That is why I'm never offended by being called mad. It is my genius that no one can argue. Genius is universal, undeniable. So when I'm called a mad genius, I'm never offended, because geniusness is what can never be disputed."

"What are genies?" Desiree asked her mother.

Her mother counted the earnings she'd just gained. Her daughter was a gem, and she often wondered if she'd grow up to become another petty con-artist like herself. "Jinn are slaves by choice," the gypsy woman said to her daughter. "Slaves by fate. Slaves of dreams. Having free will, yet choosing to fulfill the wishes of others."

Nicolai handed Desiree the vial. She was a young, tan-skinned woman that held a thin Turkish accent. Beautifully grown, surviving her whole life on the advantages her precious body had to offer. But now she was growing older, and the realization that her most valued asset would whither away was dawning onto her.

"I ask for one thing," Nicolai said turning back to his work bench. "Bring me the ghost boy, and I'll give you a life's worth of wishes."

"Slaves?" A four year old Desiree asked her mother.

Her mom nodded. "Although you don't understand it now, everyone is a slave. The trick, is to choose whom you wish to serve."

Desiree had fallen in love. A wealthy man she thought would love her back. But she was just an affair to him, and now she wanted, more than anything, to fill this void left in her heart. "Wishes" Desiree said quietly, rubbing her fingertips at the vial. "I want to grant wishes."

Nicolai's teeth showed as he grinned. He was old, pale, sagging skin that came from the late part of his lifespan. Perhaps in his youth he could've captured Phantom on his own, but that was no longer an option. He'd need to delegate that task onto someone else. "There is a girl, Reaper Girl. Her power is formidable. If need be, capture her as well."

Desiree nodded. Her destiny was in her hands. She was no longer victim of fate, chance, or the will of others. From now on, her shackles would be chosen by her own volition. Wishes would come under her command.

"I want to be like Jinn. I'm okay with being a slave," Desiree told her mother.

"Good, you're already smarter than most."

Desiree drank the vial. Bringing life into the dreams of others, was her one true desire.

XXX

Because hope demands sacrifice...

"No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality."

― Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

Chapter 6: What you Wan​

XXX

Tucker hanged upside down from the goal post. He was wearing a casper high raven uniform, letting the feathers dangle to the ground as he helplessly hung over the football field. The football team didn't take their game loss so well, so they took out it out on the closest dork that was on the field.

Tucker let the blood slowly rush to his head. Somewhat disappointed that Danny had to leave to walk Sam home, and leaving him helpless and stranded as the victim of the football team's bullying.

Ciara walked towards him. She walked a few feet beneath him, and stared up at him with big round eyes. No smiles or frown, just her staring at him. "Um..." Tucker finally asked, "Can I help you?"

She was quiet. No one was left on the football field so Ciara just cherished the silence around them. Before Tucker could ask again, Ciara said, "what am I to you?"

"Excuse me?"

"What am I to you?" She said again, with an inflection in her tone.

Tucker blinked at her. It was hard for him to imagine her as the girl who'd crippled Dexter, she seemed so normal in her gray colored sundress. He asked, "um… I don't know what that means."

Ciara looked to the side, remembering that people often didn't understood what she meant. "As a parahuman.... What are we, to you, non-parahumans?"

Ciara waited for an answer. Tucker stared down at her curiously. He wondered if it was his job to be nice to her, or cut her out completely. "Just… Regular people with powers."

Regular, Ciara thought to herself. Why did that offend her? That phrase is an insult. "That's it?" She asked. "Just people with powers? Nothing more?"

"Basically," Tucker said.

"Why? Can't you at least fear us?:

Tucker didn't answer immediately. He never wondered why he wasn't scared of parahumans. Maybe his former crush with her was why he wasn't afraid of her either. "Danny has been my best friend my whole life, and that didn't change when he got his powers. I can't see parahumans as anything more than just regular people with powers."

Ciara winced, upset that he didn't see through her perspective. In her mind, people like Tucker should've served people like Danny, not be treated as equals. Ciara asked. "Nor ascended beings? Nor chosen by Gods?"

Tucker thought about Danny again. He didn't think that highly of him. "Sam actually thinks that."

Ciara's chin perked up, "really?" she asked with a piqued tone.

Tucker nodded, "no one knows how parahumans exist. Sam says it's dark magic, I'm more into the alien theory."

Sam thought like Ciara did. It was yet another reason to admire Sam. But with the way Sam had insulter her, Ciara could never admit that aloud. "May I ask... where Sam is now?"

"You're not gonna murder her, are you?"

Ciara glared at him, "of course not, I'm not an ogre." They both fell quiet. After another pause, and realizing she might've given the wrong impression, she asked, "you asked me to homecoming… Before you knew of my gifts. What did you see in me back then?"

Tucker blinked twice. Wondering if being honest was the wrong thing to do. "The prettiest girl in school."

Her lips scrunched. "That's it? Nothing more? Just an object of beauty?"

"Not... an object," he let those words to hang, deciding not to elaborate.

A group of football jock approached and saw Tucker hanging upside down. They all wore their matching, crimson colored football jerseys.

"Hey guys, look" One of the jocks said, "it's a pinata! If we hit it hard enough, maybe candy will fall out."

He wanted to prove his masculinity through bullying.

"Leave him be," Ciara ordered them.

The boys looked at Ciara. Kwan was among them and asked, "Hey, does Dash know you talking to this nerd?"

"Dash might be my boyfriend, but he doesn't control me. Go away, and find something useful to do with your time."

"Sheesh," a curly haired jock groaned, "no need to be hostile." With that, the jocks decided to walk away from them, silently agreeing not to get on Ciara's bad side.

When the jocks were out of earshot, Tucker turned his head at her. "You're going out with Dash?" Ciara nodded. "Well, compared to the other things you've done, that's not the worst decision you've made."

Ciaral glared at him. A transparent, scythe-shaped claw extended from out her back. She sliced the rope at Tucker's feet and let him crash to the ground unmagestically.

Looking down at him in his raven suit, Ciara said, "leave my loneliness unbroken, quoth the Raven; Nevermore."

Ciara walked away from him, leaving him in a dizzied state with a headache to worry about.

XXX

Anna's mood was different. Ciara noticed her casual criticism was gone. The newfound peace should've been a blessing but it was plainly obvious that Anna's view towards her had changed. Had something occurred? It was like Ciara wasn't worth Anna's time anymore, and she was pretending Ciara wasn't a part of her life.

"Anna... Could you show me how to make a grilled cheese sandwich?"

Anna looked ahead at Ciara from the dining room table. She was reading the newspaper in silence. "I thought you hated cooking." It was a factual tone. It wasn't an answer, just a truth she'd picked up that Ciara constantly implied.

Ciara answered, "you won't always be home to cook. I could at least try..."

Anna let out a short breathe. As mad as she still was with Ciara, she didn't like seeing her helpless. She put down the newspaper and stood up. "Come here." She turned on the stove.

Anna cracked some eggs on the stove and let Ciara watch. She explained how long to wait for them to cook before adding more ingredients. Ciara asked questions about what wouldn't work, and Anna easily answered. By the time they were done, they'd made enough grilled sandwiches for Ciara to take to school for a week.

After they were done, Anna felt more relaxed than she did thirty minutes ago. The feeling of forcefully staying angry had subsided. Ciara silently took a bite of a sandwich, glad she could enjoy another home cooked meal.

Ciara wanted to say 'thank you,' but not bluntly. Just a show of appreciation without fully expressing it. "So… I have a boyfriend now."

Anna's eyes shot up at her. It was a subject Anna often pushed onto Ciara, one which Ciara always deflected. "His name is Dash… He's very nice, which is surprising since I thought he was an airhead. He's also a star athlete of our football team. A lot of people like him, so people in school say we're a good couple."

Ciara took a bite of her sandwich as she waited for her reply. Anna stared at her with piqued interest. To her, romance was an art, it was something she'd always wanted to give Ciara advice about. "You love this boy?" Anna asked in a flat tone.

Ciara almost choked her food. 'No,' Ciara thought. "Does that matter?" Ciara asked.

Anna tapped a finger on the table. Like treading through a landmine, Anna thought carefully of what to say next. "It depends. Do you want to stay with him forever, or do you think this won't last for long?"

Ciara furrowed her eyebrows. forever? "...No…" Ciara answered, "not forever."

Anna nodded, "then, why are you dating him? I ask, is because it's good to know what you want out of a relationship. If you don't know what you want, you could end up trapped with someone you hate for no reason."

"People wanted to see us together. So I thought it would be a good idea."

Anna frowned, and Ciara thought to herself, a sign of disapproval? Finally!

Anna said, "that's not the worst reason to stay with someone. You just need to promise yourself, don't be afraid to leave him when you can't tolerate him anymore. There are plenty of better boys out there waiting."

Ciara smiled, and Anna asked, "do you have someone else in mind?"

"No, not right now."

"When you find someone better, don't be afraid of chasing him. True love is worth it." She could have elaborated more, but she wasn't sure if Ciara was interested.

"How can I tell what real love is?"

Anna smirked. That was a long and complicated subject, and she thought about how to water it down for Ciara's unique understanding. "The moment the idea of being with someone in reality, becomes better than your fantasies, is the moment you know you're truly in love."

Ciara's eyes widened, "that's what love is?" Anna nodded.

XXX

At the Amity park movie theater, Paulina stared at 'Saynoara Pussycat' poster for a bit longer than the rest. While the rest of her classmates went off to get snacks for the upcoming movie release, Paulina couldn't help but stare at the poster a little longer, fantasizing of the social stature Sayonara Pussycat had gained. "Sayonara Pussycat is so cute!" She said to herself, "Why can't I be that popular?"

It was at that time, that just the right person could hear Paulina speak. A young woman in blue, gypsy attire, reminiscent of her own Ottoman heritage, placed a hand on Paulina's shoulder. "So you desire," she smiled, "so you wish it."

It was Saturday midday, and the right person couldn't help but hear Paulina's plea. She couldn't help but place a hand on Paulina's shoulder, "so you desire, so you wish it."

A light mist fell around Paulina's body. Blue up close, but quickly fading into nothing. Paulina breathed in only a speck of it, and it was enough for her mind to go completely absent. Her eyes became loopy, and she slumped her body forward, moving without thought.

Danny and Tucker stepped into the theater ready to buy their tickets. Danny made a final ditch effort to call Sam over his Fenton walkie talkie.

Sam sneezed hard over the radio line, "Ugh! I feel like I'm going to die. I hate being sick!" She sneezed again over the line.

"Hang in there, Sam. Tucker and I are gonna come visit you when we're done at the mall. You want us to bring you anything?"

"No, no, please. Don't bother. My folks are taking pretty good care of me."

Over the line, Danny heard a doctor yell, "clear!" And the sound of electrical defibrillator about to start.

Before hanging up, Sam yelled, "guys, it's just a cold!"

As Tucker brought the popcorn and Danny took a slurp of his drink, Paulina slowly made her way to the duo. The skin across Paulina's body was soft. Relaxed, as thin as paper. She walked across the corridor with a dead look in her eyes. She was hunched back, groaning, muttering soft words to herself when she finally bumped into Danny.

"Paulina?" Danny said in shock.

Paulina leaned in close onto Danny's chest. She looked up at him and said, "you think I'm cute, right?"

Normally, Danny would be flustered by having a beautiful girl like Paulina so close to him, but there was something distinctly wrong about Paulina's movements. She moved off balance like she was drunk, and slurred her words in a sleepy daze. "Paulina, are you alright?"

Paulina backed off from Danny's personal space, and she tilted her body away from him. After a cold breath escaped from Danny's breath, Paulina walked deeper into the back of the theater. "Tucker. I-"

Tucker lifted a hand, "Do what you gotta do."

Danny followed Paulina to the back of the theater, eventually she opened an empty storage room for him to follow her in. The first thing he noticed were the ominous fumes filling the room.

Danny choked on his breathe.

"Phantom," an echoed voice said. "Tell me your desires."

Images, flustered across Danny's view. He saw things, warmth, being praised, loved by the masses like the hero he'd always wanted to be. He was standing on a podium, with everyone he'd ever met throughout his life cheering out his hero name 'Phantom! Phantom! Phantom!"

Danny shook his head, "what is this?"

The voice whispered in a hushed tone, "tell me your wishes, ghost boy, and they shall be granted."

Danny shook his head harder, his mind was descending deeper and deeper into the lovely comfort of his dream world. As much as he knew it was fake, he didn't want it to be fake. And as he intoxicated himself more, he cared less and less about his own reality. Panicking from the descent of his mind, Danny yelled, "I'm going ghost!" And transformed into his Phantom state. In one quick instance, the delusions disappeared.

He was back in the storage room, with Paulina rocking left and right like a dazed teenager. "My my," Paulina spoke, in a voice that clearly wasn't her own. "And so, the ghost boy has a battle cry."

"What… Did you do to Paulina?" His first thought was that her body got taken over.

Paulina's mouth worded in a voice not her own, "what is it you truly desire, Phantom?" She stepped closer to him. Her hands pressed against his chest, and her breaths were so close his face could feel its warmth touching his skin. Paulina spoke with her own true voice. "Wealth? Love? Praise?... Lust?"

"Knock it off," Danny pushed her back. "Whatever you did to Paulina, turn her back or I'll-"

Paulina pounced at Danny like a cat. Phantom squinted, and fazed out of existence, letting Paulina crash into a shelf of boxes behind him. Paulina laid back on the fallen boxes. With a grin and another woman's voice, Paulina said, "You truly are, quite the specimen, ghost boy. But no matter, I've other ways to fulfil the old man's wish."

"Old man?" Danny said. "Who-"

Paulina blinked her eyelids rapidly. Her head shook her head and she looked around with a dazed look in her eyes. "Wha… Where am I?" She spoke in her normal voice. "And why do I feel that I'm special and adorable?"

Danny stayed quiet, and watched her close from his invisible state. "Because I am!" Paulina stood up with a smile of confidence. She looked down at her watch, "oh man, Sayonara Pussycat is starting! How could I have missed the first five minutes?"

Paulina walked out the room in a rush. Danny watched her leave unsure what to say or think.

XXX

Stop talking, Ciara wanted to tell him. Dash was oogling her the entire time they were there. Ciara was actually excited to watch this movie. To her pleasant surprise, she had a taste for horror films. They didn't scare her, and watching the plot unfold around a vengeful undead teacher appealed to her.

Dash was ruining it for her. Dash had chosen the movie because he expected the jump scares to cause Ciara to hold onto him on occasion. Instead, she paid more attention to the movie than anything Dash had to say.

"You know… You have, like, beautiful blue eyes."

"My eyes are green."

"Oh, sorry, I was thinking of Star."

Ciara squinted at him.

"Shhh," someone from behind them said.

"You have something to say!" Dash yelled back to him.

Ciara gritted her teeth, it was a surprisingly good movie, and Dash was ruining it!

The guy behind Dash yelled, "yeah, stop flirting with you girlfriend and just watch the movie!"

Dash yelled back, "what did you say about my girlfriend!?"

Ciara interrupted, "Dash, can you please get me more popcorn?"

Dash glared at the person behind him. He snatched the popcorn bucket from her hand and left the theater to bring snacks. The teenager behind her said, "you need to tell him to shut up."

Ciara murmured to herself. Was staying quiet spineless? She only wanted to stay with Dash to make up for the scene she'd made with Danny. Her reputation needed recovery, and she was too weak willed to lash out at Dash in the meantime.

Ciara looked down at the stuffed animal at hand. Dash told the football team the teddy bear he had was meant for her. She couldn't tell if the statement was true, but Dash was glad to give it to her when he did. She left the teddy bear on her seat, and walked out of the theater.

XXX

Ciara stared down at the wishing well. She thought about the wishes her fairies used to have. They all reflected a people they'd chosen, the aspirations and dreams of the people she'd stolen from.

Ciara listened closely, and plunged into the memories of her fairies to hear their wisdoms. She closed her eyes, and repeated their wishes into the wishing well.

"I am the Phantom Queen," Ciara whispered to herself.

She looked down at her hands, and stared into her mother's spirit. The fairy spun silently, am I robbing you of a peaceful rest? Ciara dug deeper in her mother's memories, and found peace inside the memories of herself through her mom's eyes.

She hated that Dexter made her doubt herself. She'd never questioned the purpose of her fairies until now. Worst of all, she still admired Danny. She wasn't sure what to make out of him. He was a chosen one, yet without a fairy? Did that make him an omen, or transcendent?

And what about Skulker? An abomination yet a mortal man was strong enough to hunt fairies. Why was everything she knew getting challenged with this new reality?

"I hate this world," Ciara said to her water reflection. "I hate this world so much. There are no dragons, no elves, nor knights. Fairies are the only thing worth living for."

Somewhere along the line she'd given up on this world, and fell back solely on the worship of myths and legends.

"A wishing well," a woman next to her said with a sly smile. "And what, my fair maiden, could a princess such as yourself truly desire?"

Ciara liked that question, it made her feel special. Without turning to Desiree, Ciara answered, "for me to dream, and to never wake up."

Desiree grinned, fumes began escaping from the pores of her skin. "So you wish it, and so it will be granted."

XXX


Fortuna flipped a coin into the wishing well. All her wishes, she could make on her own.

A teenage boy stepped next to Fortuna. Zurvan, still an adolescent by all standards, looked down at the wishing well with a confident smile which looked like arrogance. "What's the difference between wishing, and hoping?"

Fortuna stayed quiet. Zurvan was albino, with brighter than average red eyes, and paper pale skin that almost seemed liked defect. Zurvan said to Fortuna, "wishing is hope in its most aggressive form. A wish is made, and then it's over. Hope, is slow. It's a light we have to build from within ourselves."

Ciara was a child when Fortuna had found her. It was a kidnapping. One small step to make the world less morbid, all at the expense of a little girl's misery. Ciara could never know the things herself and Clockwork knew. It would destroy her. So, they could only sit back and watch as her life descended into the pain they'd picked for her.

Zurvan asked, "what did you wish for? I know everything, but I don't know what you're thinking."

Fortuna didn't answer, she only thought the wish, 'I hope you can understand the pain, but I wish that you never had to."

XXX

Sam stretched herself awake, her cold was finally in the late stages of recovery. She stepped out of bed and put on her military grade black combat boots. She wrapped her goth bracelets around her wrists, and connected a black choker collar around her neck. She sneezed as put on her backpack. Before she could step out the bedroom, her parents called her from her living room home.

"Sam Manson!" Her mother called, "I don't care how sick you are, you come down here this instance!"

Oh snap, Sam thought. In one swift movement, she kicked off her combat boots and placed a bathrobe over her body. She hunched herself over and croaked out, "I'm coming!" In a sickly tone. Whatever they were angry about, maybe the remains her cold could garner some sympathy.

She stepped down the stairs looking as sickly as she did two days ago. To her surprise, Ciara's foster parents were in the living room. "Mister and Misses Forest?" Sam's eyes were wide, she even forgot to feign sickness.

Roy was a handsome man, with black slick hair that had a slight swirl to it. He wore dress clothes, and looked to be ready for any business scenario while in his untucked dress shirt. Anna, in contrast, looked exhausted compared to from when Sam had last seen her.

She still wore a slim dress that outlined her thin body figure, but her eyes were exhausted. Like she hadn't smoked or slept in days. "Sam," Anna spoke out when she stood up from the couch. "Sam, do you know where Ciara is? I remember you were there with her that one night… Please tell me you know where Ciara is."

Sam's eyes widened. She looked over to her parents. "Drinking." Miss Manson said to her daughter, "I know teenagers are rebellious, but didn't think that involved alcohol."

"But I didn't"

"Enough, Sam Manson." Her mother interrupted, "we'll talk about this later. For now, Anna is here to speak to you about something."

Sam compared the couple to her own parents. While her parents were definitely of the high noble class, Anna and Roy looked like a younger couple that were lost at what to do. Too young to raise a daughter, but still trying. Whereas Mister and Misses Manson had years to raise Sam, the Forest couple were amateurs in terms of family matters.

"Do you know where Ciara is?" Anna asked in the most pleading voice. Whereas before Anna wanted nothing to do with the girl dressed up like a rebel, Anna's face was now desperate for answers.

Sam slowly shook her head, "I've been sick these last few days. She went missing while I was here…"

"Please," Anna's voice croaked. "Do you know anywhere she could've gone?"

Sam shook her head.

Anna, babbling, asked, "are you lying? Just tell me she's alright."

Roy took Anna by the hand, "come on Anna, there are other students who might've seen her."

Anna swallowed the lump in her throat on her way out. She'd asked Dash's parents, Paulina's father, Star's parents. Sam was her last hope for answers, and that had failed her as well.

Roy and Anna left the Manson mansion's door, leaving Sam exposed to being alone with her parents. "No more," Sam's mother said. "No more going out, no more friday night movies, no more allowance. No more… Free time! We might have a lot of rules in this household, but from now on, those rules apply outside the house too."

"But-"

"Was it Danny?" her father asked. "I bet it was Danny. His parents are trainwrecks, I bet they're the ones introduced you do these… Freak interests."

"Did you just call me a freak?" Sam paused, and added, "did you just call my friend a freak?"

"They're tinkers," her mom said. "I wouldn't expect any less."

Sam clenched her fists, "his family are freaks? Look at you, you both walk around like you're better than everyone.At least his family don't pretend to be perfect for everyone else."

"Sam-"

"You both live in your own little world, and if you guys want me out of your life, fine!" Sam ran up to her room.

She was already changed. Her parents didn't bother knocking on her door, she stepped out the second story window, and climbed down outside her home.

XXX

"Three days," Danny Phantom said hovering over the city. He spoke into the walkie talkie, scanning across the night sky from a bird eye's view. "Three days, since Ciara disappeared."

Sam walked across the alleyways of where they'd defeated Technus. She looked over the leftover trash from the Technus robot, and searched inside the dumpster she'd pulled Ciara out of. "Maybe she just ran away? She did always act like she hated people."

"Either way, her parents deserve to know what happened to her."

Tucker walked across the school halls at night. He had his flashlight on, and looked around the gymnasium where homecoming had happened. He thought back to when he thought kindly of Ciara, before he knew had powers/. He spoke over the walkie talkie, "I just wish she'd left some sort of clue. I know she hated people, but it's obvious she can't think straight with those fairies in her head." Tucker took a seat on the gymnasium bleacher.

"I still say they're demons," Sam said, finding some broken glasses in the dumpster.

"Let's not argue that again," Danny said with an eyeroll, "demons, fairies, ghosts. Is there really a difference?"

Tucker sighed, "she just doesn't think regular people matter, because those spirits make her think they don't. She doesn't kill people for the fun of it, she just think it's her job as the soul collector to catch fairies."

Sam said, "that still doesn't make it okay. And why are you defending her?"

"I'm not defending her," Tucker clarified. "I just wish she could get the help she needs. She could be a real hero, if she wanted to."

"Why do I have to be a hero?"

The voice came from within the gymnasium. Tucker turned to his side, and saw Ciara stepping out from the shadow of the doorway. Letting the moon's light simmer down on her from the gymnasium window, Tucker could see that she'd changed.

Ciara was wearing white clear dress. Her hair was silver and her eyes were a dim red. Her body was… Boney, like she hadn't eaten for days. Her voice came out stale, and her movements were nimble. Malnourished, with a thirsty voice.

"I can be anything I want." Ciara said, "why be hero, when I can be a goddess? Or a witch? Or a reaper?"

Tucker blinked at her. "Ciara?"

"Ciara?" Danny said over the walkie talkie. "Wait, is she there? Where are you now Tucker?"

"I'm in the forest," Ciara's mouth said. Her voice came out exactly like Tucker's, and it spoke into Tucker's walkie talkie without him touching it. "She's sitting near Lake Eerie, I'll stay here and keep an eye on her."

Danny responded, "I'm on my way, Tucker."

And with that, Tucker's radio crushed into pieces. Tucker stared at her in shock.

Ciara walked closer to Tucker. He noticed a cool blue mist following behind her. "Why be a hero?" she asked in her crooked voice. "I can be anything I want, why settle for something so small?"

Tucker backed away slowly, but Ciara put an invisible wall behind his back. She moved closer to him, and Tucker squished back as Ciara leaned forward in front of his face. "What would you do? If you had all my power? Would you win my heart?"

Tucker gulped. Something was clearly wrong with her. She was always a bit cynical, but now she looked insane. Like dementia had dwindled away her sanity. "You're not Ciara."

"Indeed," a voice from behind Tucker said. The gypsy woman stayed within the darkness, allowing her smog to cover any chance Tucker had at seeing her. "Ciara was growing very wary of making up her own stories, so she decided to give that responsibility to me."

"What did you do to her?"

Ciara leaned her body onto Tucker, and breathed onto his face, "I want to know how my story ends. Which destiny was chosen for me?"

Tucker gulped, "Ciara, that person is controlling you."

"Oh darling," Desiree said with a laugh. "I've only given her what she's always wanted." With a whiff of her fingers, more fumes entered Ciara's lungs. "And wouldn't you agree, Phantom Queen? Aren't you happier than you've ever been?"

Ciara's mouth thinned wide. Images of everything, a garden surrounding her, magic swirling across the sky, pixies that were actually flies skimming passed her face. "Yes," Ciara answered, "it's the happy ending I've always wanted."

XXX

Tucker walked with what was equivalent to a giant knife against his back. Pincers, invisible, were poking him forward, reminding him that he would die if he didn't do as they said. Ciara walked by his side and pushed Tucker forward as Desiree lead the way.

"Ciara," Tucker said softly, "she's mind controlling you, you can't let her do this."

"Servants often play great roles in fairy tales," Ciara answered in a calm tone. "If you serve Phantom, I see no reason to choose my own master."

"That's different. Danny is my best friend, I'm more than just his sidekick."

Ciara tiled her head, "lovers?"

Tucker blinked, "wait, what?"

"I wouldn't judge."

Tucker shook his head, "of course not! We're just friends!"

Ciara smirked, "does that truly make a difference?"

"Of course it does!" Tucker finally stopped in his tracks. "Me and Danny have each other's back no matter what. Desiree is just using her powers to manipulate you, why can't you see that?"

Ciara's spike poked at Tucker's back to move him forward. She said, "I'm aware of what you say. And if you can't see why I still follow her, then you'll never truly understand me."

After more minutes of silent walking, Ciara, Desiree, and Tucker reached the lake on the other side of the forest. The lake stretched a few miles wide, it was often considered a dead lake, hence the name 'Lake Eerie'. At the dawn of night, the lake looked black from the lack of stars. The cloudy sky with a half covered moon barely gave any light for Tucker to see.

Ciara walked forward and kneeled in front of the lake. She hummed to herself as Tucker stood back. Desiree found a nice tree to lean back on. With her arms crossed, she said to Tucker, "my, my, you really do hold out hope for the girl. Love goes a long way, doesn't it? If you'd like, I could make her uncontrollable lust for you, with jst the snap of a finger." She snapped her finger to emphasize the point.

Tucker glared at her. Desiree turned to Ciara and asked, "what would you say to that, my darling reaper tool? Do you feel like falling in love tonight?"

Ciara shrugged, and hummed to herself like she wasn't really listening. Tucker said, "your powers won't last on her forever. Ciara's stronger than that."

Desiree threw her head down with laughter, "you know, my powers typically work with trickery, but in the reaper girl's case, she was already disillusioned long before I even found her."

Ciara sang words to herself.

"Come away oh human child."

To the water and wind"​

Desiree spoke as Ciara sang. "Ciara had been far away from this world long before I came along. All I did was make the fantasies more sensible."

"Come away, human child

With a faery, hand in hand"​

Tucker said to Ciara, "Ciara, you can't keep living in a fantasy world. You-"

Ciara snapped her head back at Tucker. With gritting teeth, she huffed a bold of lightning down from the sky, landing it right in front of Tucker's feet. When Tucker jumped back in shock, Ciara yelled, "Don't ever tell me what world to live in."

Tucker froze, and after a minute of silence, Ciara slowly turned her head back to the lake and returned to singing.

"For the world's more full of weeping, than you can understand"​

Desiree laughed again at Tucker's reaction. She said, "see? Lost in her own little world. I only ever gave her what she'd always wanted."

XXX

Danny and Sam walked through the forest together keeping close to maintain safety. It was pitch black, the forest only amplified the starless sky. Danny's phantom state had night vision with his power, and Sam carried a flashlight.

Danny said. "You can still go back, you don't have to put yourself in any danger."

Sam patted the thermos at the side of her belt buckle. "No way, I've been keeping score of how many times you've needed to be saved. I have a feeling you're gonna need me for a sidekick tonight."

Reaching the forest clearing, Danny and Sam walked forward. Tucker was standing next to Ciara at the lake. Tucker was spoke quietly to her, "Ciara, if you don't let go of this, you won't have any chances left."

Ciara still hummed to mute Tucker out. Danny turned to the side and saw Desiree leaning against a tree. Danny commanded from her, "let them go."

Desiree yawned, and shrugged, not at all intimidated by Danny's presence. "As you wish."

Desiree pulled back her aurora smoke from the lakeside, letting the smog reflections and hallucinogens around Ciara disappear. Ciara gritted her teeth. She turned to Desiree and yelled, "bring them back!"

Storm clouds brewed in the air. Ciara's powers were stronger, like she was letting aggression take complete control of her,

Desiree called out, "it appears the ghost boy would rather I ignore your wishes. Perhaps if you, oh, I don't know, incapacitated him, I could go back to giving you the dreams you so rightly deserve."

Ciara glared at Danny. She had visibly changed. Fed up with the world, she stopped eating and drinking. It was like she'd fallen back solely on Desiree's dreams to ignore her sickness. Returning to her 'normal' place of mind, she remembered Danny Fenton only as the one robbing her from her dreams.

Pathfinder. The one who'd intertwined her own destiny with his, for a destiny she didn't understand. Was she a demon child? Was she destined to become so monstrous, she'd been put within Phantom's world view just to be slain? Ciara could accept that, but she wouldn't die without a fight.

Fafnir's spirit rose up from the lake. The body of a skeleton with a ghost like transparency to it. It was larger than the original, with an eerie mist surrounding it. She'd mixed her powers, making the dragon shape more ghostly.

"Dora..." Sam said.

"Fafnir!" Ciara yelled out. "Know your damn legends!"

Danny called out, "Ciara, I gave you two chances. Dexter wanted to help you, but if you won't take it, then I can't keep hoping for you."

"I'm not a monster," Ciara said, "I am Morrigan, the Phantom Queen."

The dragon jumped from the lake and slid forward. Sam ran out the way as Danny placed a barrier around himself. His shield shattered like glass the moment Fafnir reached him. Feeling a new pain, a pain that ripped within his body, Danny was flung into the trees like a flailing rag doll.

Rising up quickly, Danny fired lasers from his arms and glided closer to the dragon, The lasers flew through Fafnir like it were a ghost, and Danny resorted to disappearing to avoid getting physically hit again.

"You're a husk, aren't you?" Ciara said, unable to detect Danny. "You're like Skulker, a product of witchcraft thievery. An abomination not worthy of being chosen."

She closed her eyes, and used a sensory fairy to try and find Danny. Before she could detect him through the wind, Ciara felt a heavy hit in her stomach.

She hadn't expected the super strength. Ciara's frail body was flung into the lake. She smacked through the surface and quickly dropped beneath the lake.

The spirit dragon disappeared as Ciara sank within the lake. With Ciara focused on Danny, Tucker and Sam sprinted towards Desiree.

With the wave of a finger, Tucker's body became intoxicated by her aura. He froze in place. Sam, however, didn't stop from tackling her. Desiree yelled, "what witchcraft is this?"

"It's called having a tacky belt, you should try it, gypsy was so last century."

Sam bodyslammed Desiree, took out a pair of Fenton parahuman rope (Sam also wondered if it was just normal rope with the word Fenton in front of it), and twisted Desiree's limbs until she could tie her arms and feet together. Sam grinned, "wow, super humans should really learn to use their natural abilities."

"Insolent fool!" Desiree yelled falling to the ground, "I'll have you hanged you witch."

Sam chuckled, "no wonder Ciara likes you."

Tucker snapped out from his illusion. He looked over to Danny staring at the lake.

Danny hovered over it while fires spread across the edges of the forest. The flames gave the lake a bright reflection for everyone to see. The water began swirling, and gradually became a typhoon that reached the lake's ground level, with Ciara standing at the center of it.

"Ciara," Danny called out, "we don't have to-"

An ice pick flung at Danny's head, he narrowly dodge by tilting. The water rose up to mimic the height of a tornado, with shards of icicles spinning around the waves.

The tornado of deadly icicles shot picks at Danny. Danny fazed away and flew right through the tornado to meet Ciara at the center of it. Within the eye of the tornado, both Ciara and Danny could feel a quietness inside the typhoon.

"I don't have to be your enemy," Danny said.

"You don't know that." Ciara shot icicles at Danny. After disappearing, Danny reappeared with a kick spin around her face. He went invisible, and only became visible seconds at a time to attack Ciara across different parts of her body. Even as a fairy healed her body, Danny's strength made the kicks and punches more and more painful.

Ciara surged electricity across her body, and electrocuted the entire water tornado to fall atop of herself and Danny.

The water fell from the sky and returned to the lake crater with Danny and Ciara struggling underneath it. Ciara surged more electricity between the both of them, trying to drown them both in an attempt to stop Danny.

Minutes past, and Danny's strength eventually waned. Ciara stayed close to Danny and began choking him with her telekinetic arms. He tried to breathe, but couldn't as the electricity and brute force took the energy out from his body.

Danny's phantom state disappeared, returning him to his regular teenage form. Ciara swam back up to the surface carrying Danny from behind her.

She gasped for breathe crawling out of the lake. Danny was dropped next to her like a rag doll. Ciara stared up at Sam and Tucker, watching her in horror. She glared at them letting them know she'd won.

Before they could even think, Tucker and Sam ran closer to him.

Ciara still breathed heavily, feeling the bolts of electricity across her own body. It was painful, and she was only lucky her fairies stopped her from passing out. Sam cradled Danny's head within her hands, "Danny, please wake up..."

Ciara's stared at her for a long moment. Slowly, she allowed a fairy to help maintain Danny's life. Ciara crawled a few feet away from them, sat forward and closed her eyes to breathe out more easily.

Her eyes sank shut as her head bobbed between awareness and sleep.

"The moment the idea of being with someone in reality, becomes better than your fantasies, is the moment you know you're truly in love."

There it was, the thing Danny had that Ciara never experienced. She could see why romance was needed in so many fairy tales. It was sanctuary. A serenity that only another could provide.

Only Ciara's mom had ever given her that before. Beyond that, Ciara had given up on the concept of love.

Danny's body gave off a small glow. A transparent fairy could be seen dancing over him, and his friends knew what was happening. Tucker looked over at Desiree, and knew that they would take Danny away unless they did something right now.

Tucker took the thermos from Sam's belt buckle. He walked towards the half asleep Ciara.

While Ciara was flirting the line between sleep and awake, a small light formed behind Danny's body. The small light shifted colors, and slowly grew into a portal with the silhouettes of three people. They stared at Ciara silently as time stopped instantaneously. The fires across the forest froze in place, the ripples in the lake calmed despite the recent tsunami. Every blade of grass stopped moving in the wind, and Sam, Tucker, Danny, and Desiree, became statue bodies in the stasis of time.

When Ciara opened her eyes, one figure stepped out from the portal. It was familiar woman who wore a tailored black suit with a fedora atop of her head. "Angel collector," Pathfinder said in a calm voice.

Ciara's ears perked at the sound of those words. She stared wide eyed as the oracle spoke to her. "Fairy tales aren't about tragedy, they're about leaving breadcrumb trails to find our ways back from catastrophe."

Pathfinder stepped forward and embraced Ciara for a hug. They stayed still for three minutes, and Ciara was petrified that a stranger was willing to hold her so closely. Just before the woman could finally let go, Pathfinder kissed Ciara on the forehead, and left from her direction. Pathfinder walked slowly to the portal, and Ciara whispered, "I've... Been reading the stories wrong..."

The portal disappeared from space, leaving only small traces of light in its place. The fires returned, noises of the burning forest continued. Time returned as the breeze in the wind moved the grasses and rustled the lake's pattern shapes. Ciara was left more frozen than when time was stopped.

Tucker raised the thermos to face Ciara, and tears began falling down her face. Ciara yelled aloud, "I thought fairy tales were about running away, what the hell am I supposed to do!?"

Tucker froze in shock from the sight of Ciara crying. She yelled at him specifically, "what the hell am I supposed to do!?"

Her fairies weren't whispering to her, they were crying now. She'd never let these emotions escape before, and now they were reflecting them. Ciara cried out, and Tucker shamefully pressed the switch that drained Ciara's body into the thermos.

XXX

Roy sat in his bedroom side. He scratched his head as he spoke into the phone, ""Dad… I don't know what to do." A few years ago, his dad had told him not marry Anna. His father had cut contact from him until he'd told him the news of adopting Ciara.

"This is what being a man is about," his father spoke to him in french, with a distinct accent from Canada, "you think those kids on milk cartons are ever found? I kid goes missing and dies, are you going to roll over and die too?"

His father was never the comforting type, but since he'd lost a son, he could offer Roy some insight.

"Listen Roy. You are a man, pretend to be strong because Anna needs your strength more than you do. Be good for her, and don't you dare let anyone see you're weak, because if a wife can't survive losing a child, a family dies if the husband can't save her from that."

Tears formed off the edges of his eyes. Before they could drop down his cheeks, footsteps thumped as Anna ran up the stairs. "They found Ciara!" Anna said with a phone in her hand.

Roy's face shot up and hung up the phone instantly. "How?"

"Outside the forest," Anna grabbed Roy by the arms, gesturing for him and her to leave. "They found her unconscious, I don't know if she's hurt, she's at the hospital now!"

XXX

Ciara stared out the hospital room window. She was glad to have a view of the sky, even if the shrub blocked half the glass. The light touched at her face while she rubbed the top of her forehead, recalling all the nights her mom had kissed her on that same spot.

Bandages were wrapped around her head and arms, and even though she healed herself, she liked recovering naturally. She wanted to relish the pain before it was gone.

Ciara's fairies…. Were now quiet. They didn't want to disturb this peace. The silence kind of scared her, but she wanted to cope with it.

They didn't speak, but she could still talk to them when she wanted to. She hadn't heard their silence in a long time. And the quiet was nice.

Anna stepped into the room. Ciara almost flinched as she came in. They both fell still at each other's presence.

Once upon a time, Ciara liked her new family. Anna was a mother she'd always needed, with Roy the father she'd always wanted. Somewhere along the line, seeds of doubt entered Ciara's mind; she was an illegitimate child, not deserving of a real family.

The face of her real mother had gradually been replaced by Anna's, and the idea of forgetting her true mother's face horrified her. In one quick instance, Ciara shut herself off, and defaulted into pretending Anna was a wicked stepmother.

Anna couldn't help but recall Ciara's twelve year old self, back when she was first adopted, and was excited at starting a new life.

"Fairies!" Ciara said running out in the dawn. "I knew it! I knew they were real!"

Little Ciara took Anna by the hand and they chased the flickers of light closest to them. When she caught one, she stared at the bug plainly. "This… Is a beetle..."

"They're fireflies," Anna said. "They say that every firefly has the spirit of a loved one."

Ciara's smile beamed, and Anna smiled in return.

Anna let out a deep breathe, "I had a dream the other day…. I dreamt that I could have children... I had daughter, and when she grew up, she grew up into you."

"Stop," Ciara said with a fists clenched, "just… Stop. Stop pretending to be my mom."

The words ran cold, but for Anna, it was something of a relief. A suspicion she always had, had just been confirmed. "Okay," Anna said, "I'll stop pretending."

XXX

Roy asked, "did anyone hurt her?"

"She was only dehydrated," the doctor was a Japanese American man, about twice Anna and Roy's age. He was completely stoic, blunt, yet fully sympathetic towards Anna's panic and concern. "She's under observation now, she says she doesn't remember anything. And we'd like to keep her here for a few days, with your permission."

Roy looked over at the three kids in the waiting room. He noticed Sam was among them. "Excuse me," he said walking up to them, "were you the ones who brought Ciara here?"

"Sort of," Tucker answered instantly. When Danny had healed, and they were all leaving the forest with Desiree and Ciara in the thermos, it was Sam that convinced them all to release Ciara at the nearby hospital.

Sam elbowed Tucker, "he had some help. He's actually the one who went out looking for her."

Roy embraced Tucker for a hug. "Thank you, she needs a heroes like you."

Danny lifted a finger, and Sam smacked his arm down and murmured, "just let him have this."

XXX

After Anna returned from seeing her, she invited Danny, Sam, and Tucker to see her before they left. Entering the room, Ciara looked more relaxed than she ever had before.

"Listen," Tucker said firstly with a hand clenching his arm, "I'm sorry-"

Ciara threw a pillow at him, "don't apologize, knights never apologize."

Tucker caught the pillow, "but…"

"I was your enemy, and you beat me. Don't make things more complicated than they have to be."

Sam chuckled, "should we leave you both alone?"

Ciara used her powers to levitate the pillow, and throw it at Sam instead. "Stop being a jester."

Danny rubbed at his shoulder. It was dislocated by their fight. There were also bruises across his body that hadn't healed before she'd been sucked into the thermos.

Ciara let out a sigh. It wasn't guilt that she felt, just stupidity. Like she'd been fooled into fighting the wrong person for the wrong reasons by her own vague interpretations. Nothing she could do could make up for that, all she could do was make up for lost time.

Ciara took a magazine that was sitting on the desk next to her. She rolled it up in her hands. She called up a fairy to finish the rest o f Danny's healing, and said, "kneel."

Danny raised an eyebrow. "Kneel?"

"I'm going to knight you."

The three of them blinked, "oh."

Danny stepped on one knee in front of her bed side. With a deep breathe, Ciara said, "Danny Phantom. For your valor, courage and pureness, I, the Phantom Queen, dub thee, the Phantom Knight."

Ciara sat back on her bed. All those questions she had about herself were subsiding. The doubts of destiny now irrelevant. Whether she understood why or not, her destiny was intertwined with Phantom's, and his light was the only light she could trust. "Thank you, Danny."

XXX

And with sacrifice, comes hope...