Made it back from the doctor. Totally sick and blah. I got pumped full of that stuff that makes you not feel anything – local anesthetic – and got through my surgery just fine. I now have stitches and a full-body ache. *not pleased*

It’s all for the best, I guess.

I won’t get the results back for the dysplastic growth that was removed for about a week, so I won’t know if it’s melanoma until then, but the doctor said strong odds are that it’s not. So that’s good. If the test results come back as melanoma, I’m going to have all sorts of issues and medical tests to go through.

So, for now, I’m just going to sit here in my chair and be in pain and not care about the world.

Okay, so I’m going to go swallow another advil or three, and then sit here and be in pain, but just not care nearly as much.

Maybe watch the rain. The rain is nice.

Yes, I’m still a little out of it. *sigh*

I plan to do nothing this weekend. XD I know I said I’d have a RL update for you today, but I’m not feeling up to working on it. It needs some serious editing work and is missing a whole section still. Tomorrow, maybe. I really want to get it up this weekend though. My favorite scene thus-far is in the upcoming chapter.

Random drabble time?

Yeah. Random drabble time. Beware.

-Cori

--

Um… drabble about… Oh, I know. Let’s do an AU-ish thing. Can’t beat AUs when you feel like I do. And we’ll fall back on the character that’s easiest for me to write.

I dodged to the left as the ghosts shot blasts of semi-congealed ectoplasm towards me. I knew that if those things hit me, the ectoplasm would wrap around me like a net, rendering me unable to escape. Breath was rasping in my throat and sweat was trickling into my eyes.

My feet slipped on the destroyed asphalt and I swore softly, stumbling back to my feet and dodging down a dark alley. It was one of the only advantages I had as a human: in the darkness of the alleys, I was nearly as invisible as the ghosts. Green-garbed ghosts appeared at the end of the alley, glaring down to where I was crouched.

“We know you’re here,” one of the ghosts called, slamming the stick he was carrying into the wall of some forgotten building. “Come out.”

My teeth bared as I glared at him, but I didn’t move. If they caught me, all they would do was drag me back to the lab and put that chip back in my head. It was only chance that had allowed me to escape; I wasn’t going back to that zombie-like state if I could help it.

“Go find her,” the ghost ordered. Two humans walked around the corner of the alley and started towards me, stumbling a little in the scattered trash.

I slipped farther into the shadows, my eyes darting from one to the other. There would be no sympathy from the zombified humans, no matter how much I begged. Being seen or caught by them would mean the end of my little escape attempt just as surely as it would if the ghost managed to get his hands on me.

Unfortunately, I’d chosen a dead-end alley to hide in. There would be no hiding from the humans searching for me. Climbing over any of the walls would be get snagged by the flying ghosts. There were no doors or windows to disappear through.

My back was pressed firmly against the back wall, my mind still struggling with a way to escape even though it seemed to be impossible. Fingers curled firmly into the brick, feeling my already-chipped fingernails break further.

“This is pointless,” I heard the guard yell and I gritted my teeth, silently agreeing with him. I was only prolonging the inevitable, but I was dead-set on staying free for as long as possible.

When one of the human males stepped to within a few feet of me, seconds from being able to see me huddled in the shadows, I tensed. If I had to go out, I was going to go out fighting. I shifted onto my toes. I was going to pounce the instant he made eye contact and make him work to take me in.

Suddenly a cold hand appeared over my mouth, stifling the startled yell, and felt myself get yanked backwards through the wall. I saw the human start and turn towards me, but the wall solidified between us before I could make out his face. Strong arms curled around me – one still over my mouth, the other around my stomach, pulling me back against a cold body – and held me still.

My eyes widened in panic, struggling against the arms. There was no doubt that a ghost was holding me; a ghost that would drag me back to claim some sort of reward and return me to slavery. A slammed an elbow around, trying to catch the ghost in the side.

“Stop it,” the ghost hissed, his voice low. “Do you want us to get caught?”

That made me freeze. I was confused by what the ghost was saying – surely the ghost wanted to be found to claim his reward? After a moment I shifted slightly, wriggling my shoulders in an attempt to get him to release me. The ghost seemed to catch onto what I wanted, the arms loosening and the hand falling away from my mouth.

“Stay perfectly silent,” he breathed. “They’re right outside.”

I nodded, knowing he wouldn’t be able to see it in the complete darkness of the boarded-up building, but not willing to speak. My breathing sounded loud in the silence and I struggled to slow my gasping for air, trying to figure out what was going on.

It was possible that there was some sort of rebellion out there, and it was possible that I’d stumbled right into them. I felt a brief flash of relief at the thought. The chances of it being true were slim, but it fit all of the puzzle pieces I’d been thus far. It would explain why the ghost wasn’t interested in being caught and why he’d ‘rescued’ me.

If I was really rescued. It was always possible that this ghost was simply keeping me for some other reason.

“Why were they chasing you?” The ghost had spoken a little louder, allowing me to assume that the other ghosts had moved on to search for me elsewhere.

I turned to look at him, the darkness hiding everything but the green flecks of light in his supernatural eyes. “I escaped.”

The eyes moved like he’d cocked his head to the side. “What about the chip?”

“Taken out,” I said back, keeping my voice low. My stomach twisted at the thought of telling this ghost the truth, worried that he’d use it to bring me back to where I didn’t want to be, but if there was even a small chance that there really was some way to stay free, I couldn’t chance a lie. “There was some sort of malfunction and they were fixing it. I worked free of the cell and ran.”

“Smart.” There was a pleased note in his voice. “Just you?”

“Yes.”

There was a second of silence, then he said, “You wouldn’t mind if I checked, would you?”

I hesitated. There was no was on Earth I was allowing some ghost to control me – even for the split-second it would take for him to check if I was telling the truth. I started to shake my head to tell him that I didn’t want him to, but a cold hand touched the back of my neck and the world fizzled around me.

It was over almost as soon as it started, but I couldn’t stop the convulsive shiver, pushing away from the ghost. There was a horrible taste filling my mouth, shuddering at the thought of being controlled, sliding along the floor until I ran up against something and was forced to stop.

“Sorry,” he whispered. “But I couldn’t chance bringing you anywhere until I knew for sure.”

Logically, I couldn’t blame him. But every cell in my body was screaming in disgust of what had just happened. After all the time I’d been locked away in my own mind by those chips, I hated not being in control of my own actions.

“Let’s get out of here.”

I stayed where I was. I didn’t want to touch him.

“We’re going to be found if we stay,” he said with a sigh. “We need to get to someplace safe, okay? I’m sorry I did that, but I needed to know. I wasn’t going to drag a chipped human to my home. Come on.”

My body fought against the logic in that statement. Finally I managed to move, my skin crawling as I reached forwards, finally catching hold of his arm in the darkness. “Never do that again,” I ordered softly.

“Deal,” he whispered back, a cold hand wrapping around my waist. A cold tremor fled down my spine and we were airborne, the ghost dragging me invisibly through the roof and off into the evening sky.

--

We landed in a small clearing many minutes later, him dropping me the last few inches and allowing me to regain visibility. I saw him shimmer into view, an old red backpack slung over black clothes, simmering green eyes barely visible under his too-long white hair, the ghost in front of me looking somewhere around twenty-five years old. He grinned at me, and then froze. “Maddie Fenton?” The words were barely breathed.

I nodded, narrowing my eyes. My gaze flickered back over his clothes, settling on the supernaturally white hair. A sinking feeling settling into my chest, I licked my lips. “ Phantom?”

A small smile flickered on his face and he nodded.

“You look… different,” I managed.

The sardonic grin on his face matched the look in his emerald eyes. “Ten years of running from everyone does that to a person.”

“Ten years?” I gasped. I stared at him in confusion as the smile vanished from his face and he nodded slowly.

“You didn’t know?”

Shaking my head, I turned around to look in the direction of the destroyed remains of Amity Park. “It didn’t feel that long,” I whispered. “It was all like a dream.”

“I wish,” he snorted. “It’d be great to wake up someday, wouldn’t it?” He moved up next to me, looking into the sunset and shifting his backpack. “Come on.”

I blinked, pulling my eyes away from the barely-seen town, and watched him walk off. I didn’t have the time to freak out about this now – I needed to deal with things as they happened. Losing ten years of my life… that I could have a crisis about later. The business of staying free needed to be dealt with first. “You’re part of a rebellion?” I asked, catching up to him.

He shrugged. “As much of a rebellion as there is.”

The cryptic response wasn’t what I wanted. I took a deep breath and tried again. “How many are there?” If there were enough of the rebels, perhaps I could get some kind of team together to free more people. Maybe even my family.

“Including you and me?”

“Yes…”

“Three.”

I stopped. “What?”

“You, me, and Danielle. You’re the only human I’ve met that’s not been chipped.” He shrugged and looked over his shoulder at me.

“Why haven’t you freed anyone else?” The demand was out of my mouth before I really knew what had happened.

He scowled, his expression dark. “You don’t think I’ve tried? Over and over? I can steal all the humans I want, but I can’t disable the stupid chips Technus put in your brains.”

I ran a hand over my face and into my hair, feeling ten years of uncut growth. I wrinkled my nose, annoyed at the small discomfort of having my hair be so long, and walked along beside him for a few minutes in silence, wrapping my mind around the fact that it was just me that was free. Phantom was tense and obviously frustrated, his eyes glittering in the late-evening shadows.

“You’re living out here?”

He flinched at the sound of my voice, but nodded and seemed to try to relax. “The ghosts leave me alone if I stay out here.”

“Why were you in Amity Park?” I asked curiously.

He shifted his backpack again. “Had to pick up some supplies,” he muttered. “Usually I stay out of town though. The less attention Dani and I get, the better.”

It was obvious that the ghost wasn’t going to be returning me to the ghost’s hands – at least, not in his current mood – and I relaxed a little. “Thanks,” I finally said, “for helping me escape.”

He snorted and sent me a short smile. “Don’t thank me yet, Maddie. Life out here isn’t so hot. And knowing what’s just on the other side of those trees is a daily depressing thought.”

“Can I ask you a question?”

This earned me a small chuckle. “Have you done anything but ask me questions?”

“Why?”

He glanced curiously at me. “Why what? Why help you?”

I had a strong guess as to why he’d freed me. My question encompassed so much more than my own freedom. “Why all of this? Why did the ghosts take over the human world? Why didn’t we win this time? I’ve always wondered – I guess I’ve been wondering for ten years – and since you’re a ghost…”

A small cabin came into view through the trees, but Phantom came to a stop. His eyes were fixed on the ground for a moment, an odd guilty look on his face. “It’s kind of my fault,” he finally answered. He shot a look at me. “See, I didn’t go evil.”

With a blink, I tried to process the fact that it was ‘kind of’ Phantom’s fault that this was all happening. I hadn’t really gotten up a good head of anger before Phantom continued.

“In the original time line, I went evil and destroyed the Ghost Zone,” he muttered. “I kind of became the Pariah of the ghosts before I turned my attention on the human world. But in this time line, that didn’t happen. I never destroyed the Ghost Zone.” He shrugged uncomfortably and looked away. “Some of the ghosts stepped into the power void I left by not going evil. I guess you could say that the destruction of Amity Park was fate. If not me, it was going to be someone else. In this case, Technus stepped up.”

“I don’t believe in fate.”

He just shrugged again. “In the original time line, by this point Amity Park was on its knees in front of me and I was just about to be overthrown. In this world, Amity Park and the entire ghost zone is again on its knees, but this time in front of Technus. If it’s not fate, it’s definitely an interesting coincidence.”

I stared at him as he started walking again, heading for the cabin, my forehead wrinkled as I tried to process what he’d told me.

“Interesting,” he called, turning around with a bit of a grin. “You don’t believe in fate, but you apparently have no problem with the idea of evil future selves from other time lines.”

I couldn’t help the derisive snort as I headed after him. He was right – I hadn’t even given those things a second thought. As I walked up to the small cabin, I shook my head, my mind already beginning to plan. If I could talk Phantom into helping me, I had no doubt that I could get a rebellion going. Now that I was free to do what I wanted, I was positive that it would only be a matter of time before the world was once again free.

Nobody messes with a Fenton.

--

Yeah… that was odd and weird. *lmao* But okay, whatever, moving on. Not going to edit or reread. You can just deal with whatever I randomly wrote, sorry for mistakes and such. I’m going to go take a nap.

--



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