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hugsandchaos · 2 days

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Day 3

Summary: So Danny’s injury is almost completely healed and the group goes through the portal to a random world, but that’s not important. What matters is that our little ghost blob finally gets a name!

Word Count: 4,414

Danny woke up the next day feeling surprisingly better, but at the same time, still tired. Then again, that was a normal thing since forever, not just after the incident. He was a little surprised that he’d actually gotten some sleep this time, even though he’d kept waking up three random times. It was early again, so he considered going back to sleep, but decided against it. This time, Sky was up covering the last shift before morning. He didn’t seem like a morning person at all.

Maybe Danny should share some of his precious, limited supply of caffeine?

The young halfa stretched and twisted his body before he stood up, unintentionally popping his back like there were fireworks in there. Sky had asked him if he was okay and laughed a little, and Danny smiled and nodded. Then he picked up his backpack that he’d once again used as a pillow and left for the ruins to get what privacy he could get to change his bandages and put his binder back on.

While he was in the dark room, only using the flashlight from his phone, Danny took a moment to think again. The other day sucked a lot, but he got some confirmation from being temporarily sick that might’ve made it worth it.

First, Hyrule’s little rant was something Danny hadn’t expected, but the way Hyrule repeatedly asked to let him know when he started to show symptoms left Danny with the impression that the group often neglected their health. The young halfa would’ve felt bad if the gratitude that slipped into his voice when he assured Hyrule that he would was fake, but it wasn’t.

Second, when Danny started showing symptoms, it came so suddenly that he was thinking at first that it was an early caffeine crash. Maybe it was part of it, though. Hyrule practically jumped to try to help him, reaching into his brown bag to search for some non magical medicine, but Danny beat him to it.

He opened his own backpack, careful not to let anyone see the little ghost blob, and reached for some of the medicine that Jazz insisted he bring with him just incase before he left. After spending probably five minutes rereading the same descriptions over and over and thinking of what he was experiencing, he finally chose to swallow a pill to help with migraines.

His stomach was felt like it was swirling around, and it didn’t help with his dizzy and suddenly fatigued he felt, but in his opinion, migraines were the worst. After that, Danny put his books away and walked over to sit by a tree under the shade, saying that he was going to wait for the effects to wear off. He had his backpack in his lap so he could keep the ghost blob close and rest his head on it. The young halfa had no plans to fall asleep, only to rest his eyes, but he ended up doing that anyways before he knew it.

When Sky woke him up, it didn’t just startle Danny because he was touching him, but because he didn’t realize he fell asleep. The realization scared him, but then he noticed that nothing happened to him. In fact, they’d mostly left him alone and went off to do their own things quietly. He was a little touched that they’d gotten non-magic food. After that, he drifted right back to sleep for almost another hour. Miraculously, it was the best sleep he’s had in a while.

Also, what was up with that weird man with the hat in his dream?

If they’d wanted to do any harm to him, they definitely would’ve done it by now while he was at a low point, while he was sick and injured.

Unless that’s an act, too.

That thought made Danny shake his head a little. The looks on their faces when they realized magic could make him sick after breakfast and when he started showing symptoms hadn’t seemed fake. He should give them a real chance.

But he’d been tricked before.

No. They were his best bet at getting home, and so far, they’ve been nothing but nice and considerate. He wasn’t going to let his guard down completely, but he wasn’t going to be a self isolating jerk, either.

“What do you think, little guy? Think they deserve a chance?” Danny asked, wrapping the bandages around the injury, which was recovering very well thanks to his fast healing. It would probably be gone by tonight at this rate. The blob ghost warbled in agreement and even sort of “said” that their emotions the other day towards him were genuine.

As a half ghost, it was sometimes a little bit harder for Danny to sense emotions the way normal ghosts did, especially while in human form, so this was helpful confirmation from the wisp. A small weight lifted from his shoulders.”If you say so.” He said. He put the jacket away after golfing it and started putting the rest of the armor covering his upper body back on. As he was doing this, a realization came to him. He glanced at the bag.

“Actually, do you have a name? I can’t believe I just asked you this now.” He asked.

The ghost blob gave him a negative response.

“How about a nickname, then? I can’t just call you “ghost blob” the whole time. I mean, I can, but that just doesn’t sit right with me. It feels rude, you know?” Danny suggested. He knew it wasn’t exactly fun to just be called “ghost” the whole time you’re talking to someone. Now and then is okay, along with certain variations of the name like “Spooks” for example, but being addressed by just “ghost” every single time gets a little annoying. The ghost blob trilled in agreement with the idea.

Danny hummed and began thinking about possible names. Blobby and Bob were a straight up no, along with death related names. This ghost blob was kind and sweet. Something death related would give the wrong impression and be insulting. A lot of ghost names that came to mind like “Casper” were just too cheesy. He looked at the ghost blob nestling on his jacket to see if anything fitting would pop into his mind.

And something did! It was odd that it was the first thing Danny thought, but maybe it would work?“How do you feel about Orbit?” He asked.

The ghost blob chirped. Well, Orbit now.

“Oh, good, because half the names that came to mind are space related.” Danny chuckled. He reached into the bag and rummaged around for another energy drink. Orbit flew out of the backpack and made themself comfortable nestled in his hair while he did so. Once he found one, he felt around for another and counted in his head.”Only three left?!” Danny exclaimed, probably with more shock than there’d be in a normal person’s voice.

Call him a caffeine addict, but he suddenly wanted to get home even more. Orbit warbled in question as Danny pulled one of them out and opened it, both sounds echoing in the small space.

“I’ll be extra tired and irritable, that’s what’ll happen.” Danny answered before taking a sip. After swallowing some, he started to stand up.“We should head back.” He said. Not needing any instruction, Orbit flew into the backpack and sat on his jacket. The poor fellow was probably wanting to stay outside longer. Danny decided he would have to find a way to get alone time for longer periods, preferably without the group getting suspicious.

He zipped the backpack up and used his only free hand to pick it up and wiggled a little to get it on. He walked out of the room, left the ruins, and was a little surprised to see the rest of the group was already awake and getting ready to eat. Except Twilight wasn’t there for some reason. Danny couldn’t see him in the rising orange light from the sun, or in the shadows that were a bit darker than when the young halfa left. Maybe he just went for an early morning walk or something.

Danny was quickly handed a morning meal by Wild when he got closer.”Thank you.” Danny said. Wild nodded and smiled a little, then went to go sit and eat his own meal. Some of the members still seemed to be waking up, and Sky was one of them. After spotting him, Danny walked over to him and showed him the energy drink.“Want some? You seemed pretty tired and grumpy earlier, so unless you plan on getting a nap in today, I think you might want a sip.” He offered.

He tried to ignore some of the others turning to look at them. Sky took the can and looked at it confused. He turned it around in his hand, careful not to spill it through the opening.

“What is it?” The hylian asked. He sounded slightly hesitant, which was fair. Danny had gotten sick just yesterday from one of their foods. Maybe offering it was actually a bad idea.

“Energy drink. It has eighty milligrams of caffeine in it.” Danny replied.

Sky looked up at him a little surprised, but smiled.“Eighty? No thanks, that might be too much for me.” Sky said, handing the drink back to Danny.”Thanks for the offer, though.” He said.

Danny shrugged a little.“Suit yourself.” He said, then proceeded to take a sip. The others were still staring at him as he went and sat down by the same tree he fell asleep against yesterday to eat, careful not to squish his backpack any. He’d managed to skip dinner the other night, but something told him that he wouldn’t be so convincing this time. Besides, he really was hungry. The young halfa felt a little exposed until they finally turned their attention to something else.

Since Danny didn’t see anyone jump or pull out their swords, he thought it was fine, though. So he put the energy drink down next to him, pausing to make sure it would fall over, then began to eat.

About halfway through his meal, a black nose came into view and started sniffing the food. Danny turned to see Wolfie was back.“Oh, you’re back.” Danny said. Looking at the wolf again, he instantly remembered his first conclusion about Twilight. He pushed that thought down. He still didn’t want to make those assumptions just yet, and it was early.

Danny was going to wait and observe first. After breakfast and caffeine, obviously. Wolfie looked at him and tilted his head, then slowly came closer to get a better sniff at his food. Danny lifted an arm against his chest and shoulders to stop him from being able to lean any further.”Sorry, but no. I don’t know if any of this is safe for dogs.” He said. Wolfie quickly pulled his head up to look at Danny, almost offended by his words.

Danny lifted his free hand up as if surrendering.“Hey, I know you’re not a dog, but you’re still related on an evolutionary and biological level. So we’re not risking it.” He explained. Wolfie was still for a bit, looking thoughtful, before nodding. He turned to sit down next to him. Danny returned to eating in silence, and once he was done, he grabbed the energy drink and downed it.

The cloud of sleepiness still hovering in his head would clear soon enough. He got his backpack off and held it on the opposite side of Wolfie, who turned to him and looked at the bag. Danny briefly glanced at him. Animals were known for seeing or sensing ghosts, and he really hoped that if he knew, he wouldn’t spill the secret or try to eat Orbit. If he even could. Danny put the empty energy drink in the same place as the one from the day before.

After that, he zipped it up and looked at Wolfie.”Sooo, do you want something?” He asked. Wolfie huffed and pointed at the back with his head.”No, you’re not eating anything in there.” Danny said blankly.

He was met with a disapproving look. From a wolf.

Wolfie huffed again and turned to leave, but Danny noticed something as his head turned. He reached out and placed his hand on the wolf’s back.”Wait.” He said, suddenly serious. Wolfie stopped and turned to face him as his expression shifted.”Open your mouth again real quick, please.” Danny requested. Wolfie looked confused, but did as he asked and opened his mouth. Not as wide as he probably could, but definitely enough that the halfa noticed the glint in the sunlight as he turned.

There was a piece of metal in his mouth, wedged between some of his back teeth.

“How did that get in there?” Danny half muttered. He turned over to his backpack and unzipped it.“I’ll make you a deal, Wolfie.” He said, reaching past Orbit and into the first aid bag that held more than a regular kit.”I need you to stay still for a bit, and if you can do that, I’ll give you some of my lunch if it’s safe for wolves.” He said. He found a very small brown bag that had different kinds of tweezers and forceps, courtesy of his parents. He grabbed one of the tweezers and pulled it out of his backpack.

When Danny zipped his backpack up and looked back at Wolfie, he looked a little surprised and even nervous. He’d closed his mouth and reared his head back some.”Oh, don’t worry, these are just tweezers. You want that piece of metal out, right?” Danny said, hoping it would comfort the animal. He was no animal expert, that honor would be better suited for Sam, but he doubted the wolf was comfortable with it.

After a moment’s hesitation, Wolfie nodded and leaned forward. He opened his mouth to allow Danny access to the piece of metal.“Alright, I’ll try to make this quick.” Danny said. Wolfie still looked a little uneasy, but did as Danny said earlier and remained still. It was amazing how expressive the wolf was.

Danny used one hand to stay balanced on the ground while the other went just past the entrance of the wolf’s jaws and teeth. Danny kept his hand as steady as he could as he focused on moving the tweezers closer to the piece of metal without grazing the teeth or gums.

Ancients, this wolf needed a mint.

Luckily for both of them, Danny successfully grabbed the piece of broken metal. He counted down under his breath, then began pulling on the metal, careful not to use too much strength. Danny was pleased to see that it came out quickly.

Wolfie let out a brief whine when he got it out and flinched, but had great enough self control to not bite or pull back. A quick scan at the sight showed no signs of infection or damage to the teeth or gums, not that the young halfa could see.

“Sorry, buddy, but I got it out.” Danny said, pulling the tweezers out and showing the canine the piece of metal that had been wedged between some of his teeth. Wolfie looked at it surprised and closed his mouth. Then he shifted his gaze to look at Danny as he dropped the piece onto a tiny ziplock bag. He’d properly throw it away later.“...What?“ Danny asked when the wolf didn’t look away.

Wolfie nudged his head under Danny’s arm and shuffled a little closer to place his head on Danny’s shoulder. Wolfie’s tail wagged twice, making rustling sounds in the grass. Danny smiled and held his arm around Wolfie.”Your welcome.” He said. That’s when he finally noticed that the rest of the group was staring at him. Time didn’t look quite as surprised as the others, but there was definitely a bit of surprise there. Four was practically the opposite, covering his mouth with a hand. All of a sudden, Danny felt a little exposed and uncomfortable with so many eyes on him like that.

“You put your hand in a wolf’s mouth.” Sky said. It almost sounded like a question asked with slight disbelief.

“Well, not really, I used tweezers.” Danny said, lifting them up.”Besides, it looked uncomfortable having a piece of metal between his teeth. Thank goodness it wasn’t sharp, that would’ve been worse.” He added. Wolfie pulled out of the hug and started walking towards the rest of the group. Danny put the tweezers away and looked at the wolf as he approached Wind.“Also, two words for you, Wolfie. Breath mints.” Danny said.

Wolfie quickly turned around and made a noise in offense. Danny almost laughed, but kept quiet and just smiled. Time stood up.“If everyone’s done eating, we need to start looking for the portal.” He said.

Very quickly, everyone packed up and was ready to start walking. Hyrule decided to walk next to Danny and Wolfie took a position at the back.”Are you okay walking?” Hyrule asked.

Danny nodded, tightening the shoulder straps so the backpack wouldn’t bounce so much.”Yeah, I’m all good. It’s actually even better than I expected.” He replied. He was still a little hesitant to talk with them, but Orbit confirming that all of their worrying and happiness towards him was genuine helped him feel more confident than yesterday.

“That’s great! And don’t worry, we’ll start your training as soon as it’s completely healed so you don’t have to worry about monsters anymore.” Hyrule said. Danny honestly felt a little irritated being underestimated like that, but he did this to himself. On purpose. Plus, he hadn’t exactly been lying, and Hyrule didn’t seem to be trying to be mean.

Danny smiled.”I really appreciate it.” He said. He scanned the group ahead.”But where’s Twilight?” He asked. Suddenly, a hand grabbed his shoulder. Danny inhaled sharply and turned around, but quickly calmed down when he realized that it was just Twilight, who pulled his hand away.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” Twilight said. Danny glanced behind him. Wolfie was gone. He looked back at Twilight, who was holding Epona’s reigns.

“It’s all good.” Danny said.

~~~~~(Time Skip)~~~~~

When lunch came around, Danny decided to sit closer to the group. He wasn’t sore from walking, it wasn’t exactly much compared to the exercise that was ghost fighting, escaping ghost hunters, escaping Dash, and does playing with Cujo count when he can and has thrown him multiple times during tug of war? And that doesn’t include how he and his best friends would have to walk to, from, and around school every day, or gym.

Sure, it wasn’t nearly this much, but the point is that he wasn’t surprised that he wasn’t tired. Hyrule and Twilight asked him a few times if he was tired, but Danny kept saying no, but he appreciated them saying that they wouldn’t mind stopping if he needed to. He was also grateful that they hadn’t asked him about his world again just yet, and instead talked about their own. Maybe they could tell he didn’t want to?

Speaking of Twilight, after he ate, he left to go for a bit of alone time, but wouldn’t you know it? Wolfie suddenly appeared a few minutes after Twilight was gone. True to his word, Danny shared some of his meal with the wolf, who left shortly after.

Three guesses as to who reappeared five minutes later, everyone!

Bingo, it was Twilight!

Danny felt like he didn’t need much more confirmation. Three times, the wolf had appeared when Twilight was gone and Twilight appeared when the wolf was gone. They both had the same eye color and marking, along with the crystal. Still, what if Danny was still wrong? And so what if he was right anyways? What would that change? As a stranger, Twilight obviously didn’t really trust Danny with this if he was leaving to transform, especially if he kept it secret from the others as well, which he wasn’t entirely sure of yet.

Twilight clearly knew them better than Danny. Not to mention the bad reputation wolves tend to have in his world. Maybe it was still attached to them in this world and others, too. And Danny knew well that if a species has a bad reputation, chances are there’s at least one person out there devoting themselves to hunting that species. It was reasonable to keep it a secret.

Now Danny felt a little bad thinking about how Twilight would feel if he was really trying to keep it a secret and Danny practically figured it out the first time they met, but he almost couldn’t help thinking how they were definitely the same. The signs were so obvious to him!

Danny mentally pushed that aside. The main thing was that whatever reason Twilight was keeping it a secret, he was going to play along for his sake. He wasn’t going to ask, he wasn’t going to give hints that he knew, and he wasn’t going to do some dramatic “I knew all along” reveal before he’d step through the portal to go home. If Twilight wanted him to know, he’d tell him. Danny was going to just move on, regardless of whether or not he was right.

“Hey, Danny.” A voice piped up. Danny blinked and looked over at Legend. The sassy one with pink tips in his hair.”I just wanted you to know that the portal is a little random. When we find it, we’re not sure if it’ll take us to your world or one of ours.” He said. Danny’s eyes widened a bit.

There were nine of them. Nine different worlds other than his own. Including him, that made ten. Since they were already in one, it was back to nine. A random chance of ending up in one of these nine other places. It was a roll of the dice. Who knew how many portals he’d have to go through before he finally ended up in his own?

“Oh.” Was all he could say. The train of thought regarding Twilight had just been ran straight through by another train.

After lunch was over, the group continued walking. Wolfie had left, and they found Twilight up ahead.

~~~~~(Time Skip)~~~~~

“That’s a weird water bottle. Why does it have tiny buttons?” Sky asked, pointing at the Fenton thermos in Danny’s backpack pocket from his place on Twilight’s back. Why he was getting a piggyback ride, Danny forgot. He probably wasn’t even paying attention at the time.

“It’s actually a thermos, but close enough to a water bottle that I can’t exactly argue. As for the buttons, my parents made it and they’re... I guess you could say a little extra. I’m not sure what the buttons do exactly, but knowing them, now isn’t the best time to find out. They just gave it to me for whatever reason. I usually put leftover soup in it.” Danny replied.

That earned an odd look from the hylian Danny was talking to, along with Twilight.“...Is there soup in it now?” Sky asked.

Danny thought about it. He didn’t remember putting soup in it before he left. But then again, he also didn’t remember Orbit sneaking into his backpack. Would it even be good by now?

Danny reached for the thermos and began twisting the top off, slowing himself down a little so he wouldn’t step on anyone’s heels. Opening it the normal way like this wouldn’t suck him into the thermos. Danny just had to be careful not to press the buttons.“I don’t think I put any in there.” He said as he twisted the lid. A second later, he opened it and got a look inside.“Nope, none.” He confirmed.

“Found it!” Wind shouted up ahead. Danny twisted the lid back on and put the thermos back into the side pocket of his backpack. Wind was waving the group to go around the cliff they were walking beside, which luckily wasn’t very tall and not much of a safety hazard to be this close to. When Danny followed them around the cliff, he paused seeing the portal.

It was the same purple that he saw only for a split second before darkness. It was shaped like a triangle, and the three points seemed to curved forwards. The dark purple only outlined the portal, the inner part of it seemed to be dark. And yet Danny thought he could see an even darker triangle in the middle. The extra dark triangle swirled, both expelling darkness and absorbing light.

Danny jumped slightly when he felt a hand on his shoulder and glanced at Twilight, who looked a little worried, along with Sky.”Don’t worry, we’re all going to be on the other side incase there are monsters.” Twilight said.

Danny didn’t want to admit it with how many times he’s gone through portals to the ghost zone, but a small part of him felt like it needed to hear that.”Thanks.” He said. He looked back and saw that Warriors, Legend, and Four had already gone through. Wild and Wind went in next, followed by Time and Hyrule, who glanced back to give Danny a look of encouragement.

Epona grew a little nervous as they got closer, and Twilight looked a bit regretful. Sky acted for him and pet her gently to help sooth her.

When they got closer, Danny paused.”Hey, Twilight? Sky?” He asked. Twilight paused and both looked at him. “I don’t see Wolfie anywhere, and magic is honestly an unexplored area to me, so forgive me if this is a childish suggestion, but is Wolfie like a magic guardian taking the form of a wolf or something and he’s going to take a different path? Is that kind of thing real here?” Danny asked.

Twilight’s face twisted a bit, as if in thought, and then he smiled.“Yeah, you could say that.” He replied.

Danny gave him a look that said “I don’t like where this is going” .“Do I want to know what you mean by that?” He asked hesitantly.

“Probably not.” Sky answered with a shrug.

“And yeah, he’s coming with us. For what it’s worth, he appreciates you not being scared of him.” Twilight said.

Danny smiled and continued walking towards the dark purple gateway with Twilight, Sky, and Epona.“He talks to you too? That’s pretty neat!” Danny said. Twilight nodded and they stepped into the portal.

(I probably don’t respond to all of your comments, but know that I do see all of them and love reading them! Sometimes, while I’m writing or trying to, I’ll go back and look at them again! Including the things said in reblogs! I hope you enjoyed reading this!)