The Ghost King (of Miscommunication) Ch. 21
Part 1-12,Part 13,Part 14,Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20
So this kinda got long. I wouldn't be able to fit the explanation part without posting off of my ao3 schedule. Also the chapter would be, like, way longer than the ~2K I've been aiming for.
So! Here's this, and I'm gonna try to post the explanation-scene as a separate chapter on Thursday or Friday. (It'll probably be big on its own anyway).
Info:
Self-concept upon death hugely impacts ghost form, and Sam & Tucker expected white hair bc of Danny. So by the time Jazz became a ghost (read: Died) it was just an expectation that white hair and green eyes would be a part of that.
(Danny's own palette swap is an effect of his beliefs about what happens when things burn [white to black] and bleach in heat [black to white - like the flag on the moon]. White hair being associated with stress/death, green eyes because green was all he could see, etc. Just a lot of jumbled, morbid, last-minute thoughts while he was dying combined with pre-existing, subconscious beliefs about life and death.)
Jason's form is his exact form from when he died - minus all the injuries and plus the full-white eyes (not just normal eyes behind a domino mask - I know that varies by version for some robins. This is full-whites. They do still turn green when he's angry tho)
Jason only realized he’d been tricked after they finally called it a draw.
For all a snowball fight barely counted as a fight, he certainly felt calmer after getting some of his energy out.
He’d been so distracted enjoying himself he hadn’t even thought of using the chaos to bolt - not that he would have anyway, given he still didn’t know where to find a portal home.
The girl flits in front of him just in time for him to catch his breath.
“Nice to meet you,” She holds out a hand, grin as exuberant as it had been throughout the game - minus the feral tinge of competitiveness.
“I’m Danielle,” she offered as he shook the proffered hand. “But call me Elle - or Dani with an i if you want to mess with someone.”
The mischief on her face at the suggestion made him think she’d done so before.
She almost certainly already knew his name, but not telling her himself would be rude - a death sentence if they really were fae. Still, that she hadn’t prompted him should make it safer. Maybe.
(If the initial kidnapping was permitted by Danny hearing his name then he certainly didn’t hear a prompt from him, but who knows if inaudible whispers count. At least he can see that Danielle’s mouth hasn’t moved)
(Not like he isn’t already kidnapped anyway. What’ll they do, double kidnap him?)
“Jason,” he says as he disengages from the handshake, smiling genuinely despite himself.
(And he meant to smile, he did - he’d read enough stories to know how important being polite to the fae is; one wrong word and you’re 15 ribs shy of a full skeleton. Or a brother shy of a full family. It was half the reason he’d spoken as little as he had - but he hadn’t meant for it to be real)
“I’m sure Danny told you aaaaaall about me already, and yes, I really am that cool.”
Danielle - Elle - breaks Jason out his mental spiral. He just manages to smother his laugh with a cough.
“Ah, the tour actually got kind of off track, so I hadn’t had a chance to mention you yet.”
Elle gasps dramatically, putting both hands over her heart and flopping to the ground at Danny’s proclamation.
“Oh, I am wounded! I am shattered! I am abandoned and unloved!-” Danny laughs “-I am filing a formal complaint! I am requisitioning forms to have my darling emotional support Panther, Palu, moved to the Palace-”
“You- Emotio-WHAT!?” Danny reels back, expression horrified.
Elle floats up to sit a foot off the ground, arms and legs both crossed. She glares at him for about 5 seconds before sticking out her tongue and grinning.
“I’m kidding, you big chicken.”
“She ate my cape made with Actual Stars, Elle.”
Elle laughs at Danny’s clear relief and the following pout. Jason himself fails to suppress a snort.
“Well,” Danny huffs, turning to Wulf. “While these two are busy laughing at my expense, I wanted your opinion on something.”
He gestures to a more distant tree with his eyes, and Wulf follows as he floats away - probably aiming for out of earshot.
Elle abandons her laughter to float upright just in front of him - the floating equivalent of standing, he supposes.
“Anyway, like I said, I’m Elle. Long story short Danny’s ex-arch-nemesis who shall not be named wanted to adopt Danny and handled the ‘no’ really poorly and tried to clone him. I was the only surviving clone, and after trying to kill Danny on said manipulative ex-nemesis’ orders he managed to change my mind about said nemesis, helped stabilize me, and eventually ended up adopting me.” She said, in the most nonchalant manner possible, which, wow, the story really did not call for.
Jason desperately wants to know the long version.
“Sooo…” she drawls, smile gaining a teasing edge, “I guess you can actually just call me big sis.”
She laughs at his suddenly blank expression.
“No? How about ‘best big sister ever?’ Oh! Oh! Or ‘Coolest big sister in the Realms?’ Get it? Cuz ice powers.”
She flits around him as she speaks, wiggling her fingers and loosing a few flakes of snow at the last bit for emphasis, giggling.
Jason isn’t sure how to respond without insulting her somehow.
“Never expected to have a baby brother,” she muses, “but then with how readily he adopted me despite my origins I guess it isn’t all that surprising. Especially with you being a halfa and all. We’re really rare, I’m sure you’ve noticed. Or maybe not - you are only like a week old, technically.”
“I’m 22,” he corrects, unbelievingly.
And hey. Wow. Jason is not a fan of that.
(Yes, he’s glowing. Yes, he’s visibly de-aged 7 years. No, he has not accepted any of the potential implications that has regarding his human-ness.)
Jason has roughly 100 more questions after her little info-dump than he did before.
Before he can debate risking those rib bones, what can only be one of the infamous ‘eyeballs’ shows up.
It sure is an eyeball, just one giant eye takes up most of its head, but for the thin green outline that connects to the rest of its body - only seen by the matching green of its hands, which themselves bear off-puttingly long claws.
It is also wearing quite possibly the most pretentious robes he has ever laid eyes on.
This coming from someone who grew up watching Brucie Wayne play air headed, carefree rich boy like it was his true calling - the man had a designer collection of dramatic robes to greet unexpected late-evening guests with.
By the terse greetings and short follow-up, this was a common exchange.
The eyeball - Greg, why not - turned its eye on Jason just then.
For all its size, the eye moved just as fast as a normal one. The motion was wrong in some indefinable way; grotesque to see. He did his best not to react, cautious of setting the being off; this one seemed more volatile than those he’d met thus far.
Despite the lack of a facial expression, Jason couldn’t help but feel like he was being sneered at.
Thankfully its attention on him was brief, turning back to address Elle after only a beat.
“If you are quite finished shirking your duties to play in the snow, the Valhallan representative is waiting to speak with you.”
“What??? He isn’t supposed to be here for another hour,” Elle questioned, brown pinched.
“It has been an hour, Phantom.”
He floats to her side to point towards the palace.
“If you would be so kind, I would like to get this over with.”
“Uuuuuuugh,” Elle groans, drifting slowly in that direction despite the apparent distaste, “Can’t you just watch from your lair like Clocky always does?”
“You know very well that matters of exceptional import and tumultuous path selection require personal observation in order to maintain timeline coherency. All royal meetings for-”
“‘-at least the next three weeks fit the criteria.’” Elle makes air quotes as she speaks, turning to face Greg while still floating towards the palace, backwards.
“I know, I know. Blah blah regulation, blah blah timelines, blah blah paperwork. Heard it. Got it. Thanks.” She concludes with an eyeroll, before looking back at him.
“Have fun with the rest of the tour!” she yells, smiling and waving as if she was already a mile away. “Make sure Danny shows you the map rooms!”
And then she turns and zooms away.
He can sense the faintest bit of rage coming from Greg, and he barely hears the muttered ‘Insufferable abomination’ before the…guy?...eye… follows suit.
He watches until the eye disappears into the building.
At which point he hears a small sigh from beside him.
He nearly jumps out of his skin in startlement, whipping his head around to find Danny floating placidly by his side, saluting into the distance.
“Good luck, Elle,” he says mournfully, “Rip to your good mood.”
“That bad?” Jason asks, resettling his nerves.
“The Observants always make everything either as boring as they can or as difficult as they can. It could be worse though; the Valhallans are a party people so it should balance out. Best case scenario they’ll spend the end of the meeting annoying ‘Greg’-” he adds air quotes at this, grinning, “-together.”
‘The Observants must be the eyeballs then,’ Jason thinks. ‘The name is a bit on the nose…or eye.’
“Anyway!” Danny twists and drifts to float in front of him. “We’ve got another hour or so before dinner; ready to get back to the tour?”
Jason opens his mouth, then pauses.
He takes a glance around and asks “Where is Wulf?”
“Oh, he’s off picking up a preorder - Volume 15 of, uh…something? I don’t remember the name. But don’t worry, he’ll be back in a few hours.”
And wow, the promise that Wulf isn’t just hovering unseen in the background does a lot to untense muscles he hadn’t realized were tensed.
“Right. Sure, tour away.”
He held in his questions, for all that he was bursting at the seams for answers.
Because really: Clone? Archnemesis??? Was this a hero-villain thing or a fae politics thing? Cloning generally wasn’t a thing heroes did, but kidnapping wasn’t either.
What did Elle mean by ‘Halfa?’ Or technically a week old???
Also: brother? Adopted? There’s no way, right?
Being yanked off of the streets of Crime Alley by some dude living in a veritable castle to be adopted with little to no explanation was not something that happened to people twice.
Let alone when he is, in fact, a grown-ass man.
The next section they visit is Elle’s, located close to the final tower on the same side as the Specters’ had been.
The first room is filled with complex ice sculptures - a panther the size of a horse, a normal-sized cat, a few of the yetis, a kid in a pirate garb with a parrot, a girl covered in…Lunch Boxes? Danny, Jazz, and Spike were scattered among more unfamiliar statues.
They take their time in this room, Danny pointing to a lot of the people depicted and giving him names to go with faces - he even recognizes a few of them from earlier parts of the tour, and makes sure to commit them all to memory.
Then came the rooms that looked like a cosmopolitan’s dream collection.
A room dedicated to world maps through the ages - little groups of similarly-aged maps slowly orbited each other in globe-like patterns while newer versions and even a few of alien worlds lined the walls.
At least 3 rooms are dedicated to photos from all around the world - he spotted the Eiffel Tower, the Pyramids, the Congo from above, the Great Wall of China, Niagara Falls - plenty of well-known tourist locations, as well as a wide variety of nature shots. The nature shots took up an entire floor-width room, and were arranged to transition from one biome to the next.
The next room is full of souvenirs; postcards, foods from around the world frozen in more of that crystal-clear ice, weapons, clothing, jewelry - a little bit of everything.
Another swift pass-through - and by, since one of them was occupied - of the meeting, sitting, and nap rooms has them finally arrive at the room that was probably the reason Elle said ‘map rooms’ and not just ‘room.’
It was domed like an observatory, but instead of the night sky it showed that infinite green.
Different sections zoomed in and out, just slowly enough to take in. The room is scattered with cushions and telescopes aimed up. At the very center stands some kind of machine, spitting out paper which, when he floats over to look at it, reveals a single, ever-growing map.
“Elle is obsessed with travel,” Danny says fondly. “She was away more often than not at first, but then she got the idea to map the Realms - a map that can be referenced rather than a single ‘take me where I ask you to’ artifact.”
He floats up towards the dome as he speaks.
“It might seem pointless with how much paper an infinite amount of realms will take to map, but the mechanism feeds the map data into a computer that sends everything to be incorporated into Tucker and Technus’ Zone Map App. It updates constantly, what with the fluctuations in the Zone, but it’s always improving.”
“Fluctuations?” Jason asks, processing the ‘infinite amount of realms’ remark.
“Think of it like space; there’s gravity against the constant growth of the universe. The zone expands and contracts, like the flow of a tide. Except it’s moving in all directions instead of just the two.
But it expands more than it contracts, and just like on the sea or in space things can drift closer together or farther apart. Following specific streams can help, but only so much. Reliable navigation was pretty hard to come by before Elle, Tuck, and Technus started working on this.”
“Impressive,” Jason says softly.
And it is. The thought of mapping a veritable ocean with important bits that never stayed in the same place…it seemed nigh-impossible.
Opposite the third tower - “We can tour my tower after dinner,” Danny had said - lay the section belonging to Jazz and Spike.
The first thing they come to is familiar - the library.
“Anyone can use the library, but Jazz is the one in charge.”
Jazz, who had so calmly and proficiently wielded a gun.
Who had gifted him a gun.
Who had expressed her own love for literature.
They’d even briefly discussed some of the classics and yet-
“Jazz made that impossible excuse for a sorting system!?”
He couldn’t bring himself to worry about upsetting him, he’d just have to risk the ribs. That ‘sorting’ system was a travesty that could not stand unchallenged.
Luckily, Danny only chuckles a bit.
“Come on, it’s not that bad,” he snorts, shaking his head.
“Not that- how are you supposed to find anything!” he shouts, throwing his hands into the air.
“You ask,” Danny answers, brow raised.
“WHO!? THERE’S NO RECEPTIONIST!” Jason scrubs his hands against his hair in frustration.
Understanding dawns on Danny’s face at that.
“Here, let me show you,” he says, nodding to the doors before zooming through.
Jason follows, anger simmering under his skin - fully his own, for the first time in years.
“Library,” Danny says as Jason comes to float beside him, “May I please see The Guide to Phantom Palace?”
A book soars from a wall shelf to float, wiggling in front of him like an eager puppy.
“Thank you!” Danny says brightly, before turning to hand the book to Jason.
“The library is sentient,” he explains. “Good manners are key, by the way - Jazz is in charge, but the library can and will kick people out if they're rude or incautious with food and drinks.”
Jason stares at the book in his hand a moment, frustrated at the simplicity of it and the hour he spent looking aimlessly, but at least a bit soothed at the presence of a way to actually find things - even if the organization still makes no sense.
“Why the emotional organization system, then?” He finally asks.
“That’s for Jazz,” Danny answers. “This library is a part of some psychology project she’s doing - the return system, at least. Ask the library for the book you want - or you can ask for suggestions based on certain criteria. It’s sentient, it can help you find things - and when you’re done with it you put it back where you think it should be based on your own emotions.
Or if you don’t want to participate you can just put your books back on the shelf by the desk and Jazz will rearrange them however she sees fit.”
“Psychology project?” Jason asks after pause.
“Ah, you’d have to ask her. She told me all about it when it was first getting set up, but as much as I tried to understand it, it was all Greek to me.”
“Anyway!” he claps, “Now for the rest!”
The rest of Jazz’s section seems to follow the psychology theme.
A rage room that looks well-loved - battered, glowing clubs and a variety of damaged items from tech to glass to dummies that appeared to be slowly healing themselves.
A soothing room full of soft things and calming music and candles and even a few flowers.
A sound-proof room for quiet, a therapy room for meeting with ‘patients.’ Then of course there were the business meeting, paperwork, sitting, and nap rooms. And a combat room.
The nap, combat, and sitting rooms seemed to be shared, with the second part of the section - Spike’s - branching off from the sitting room.
Spike, of course, had his own cursed paperwork and meeting rooms.
Then came the ‘this is the home of an artist’ rooms.
An enormous circular room was dedicated to acting as a color wheel, the walls slowly shifting from deepest reds to darkest indigos, with every shade and color in between. In the center of the floor was the darkest shade of black, radiating out to a blinding white where it met the walls - the ceiling was the opposite, a bright white dot radiating darker until it met the walls as a void-like black.
A room filled with sketches and paintings, a room full of blank or half-made canvases with pencils and paints and brushes floating all around - seemingly where they’d been abandoned, a room full of miniature landscapes matching both locations he’d seen on earth and the strange landmasses he’d seen on the journey to the castle. And then what Danny called an archive room, where Spike stored older projects that he no longer wished to display.
Skalfred found them just as Danny finished explaining the room.
“Perfect timing!” Danny grins, turning to Jason. “Race you there?"
They’re near the library. Jason knows the way.
He zips around Skalfred and out the door in lieu of an answer.
He can just faintly hear Danny sputtering, ‘You cheater!’ coming out around the echoing laughter behind him.
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Elle’s name - she initially chose Dani because she didn’t want to change herself just to differentiate herself from Danny - lots of people have the same name, and she has just as much right to it as Danny.
But it also made her feel too much like a copy and less like a person - especially with the confusion when she started living with the Fentons.
Then Jazz suggested Elle would be a nice name - it’s part of her name already and it’s like Elle Woods, known badass. They then watched legally blonde, and Dani decided it was a really cool name and started going by Elle. She’s a lot happier with it - no more discomfort when being spoken too, and they can still call her Dani when she and Danny are both in the room and they want to annoy the Observants or other people by doing The Bit(™) [both pointing to themselves ‘who me’ - other person, also in on the bit, facepalming and saying ‘Danny’ - them ‘which Danny.’ Of course no one told the observants Dani also goes by Elle. One time one got tired of it and went ‘Obviously the Danny with the crown of fire.’ And Danny makes the Crown of Fire appear (separate little mini-rings-transformation) at the same time Elle pulls a Burger King Crown actively on fire from her Halfa Pocket Space and they both go ‘which crown of fire’ and it is by the blessing of not having organs alone that the observant in question did not immediately have an aneurysm from sheer, apoplectic rage.]
Palu - Danny is a dog person, Elle is a cat person. Palu is named for Cath Palug - the closest thing I could find to a cat-equivalent of Cujo’s namesake. Same neon-green fur as Cujo, but all-purple eyes. Palu can be the size of a cat (around twice Cujo’s puppy-size), but can get up to the size of a horse (just slightly smaller than Cujo’s max). Unfortunately, Palu is very fond of Being Enormous And Also Hunting Everything That Moves That Isn’t Dani, so they put her in one of Sam’s conservation areas where she’d be happy. She liked it enough to move her lair - an incredibly large pet-bed in a small forest of cat trees - and Dani visits whenever she wants to see her.
