A/N: I figured it was time to get Jazz in here. I rather like her, mainly because she surprised me while I wrote her.

This Act begins with an instrumental song. So, no lyrics to keep you company. The Act's title, however, comes from the second song. Also, I think I lied in the summary. I believe the happier days died when Jack did. But I'm not changing it, you hear? I like that summary, darn it! Oh, and the chapter's longer than usual. No lyrics to tie me down. [S]: Laugh an Evil Laugh!

Another thing of note: The PRIZE for guessing the major players in this act based on the Intermission goes to…VampireFruitLoopsRule. Well, you had one character too many, but bravo on seeing through the thinly veiled characters. You may collect your PRIZE at any time. Details provided at the end of the chapter.

Disclaimer: Songs, show, characters, yadda, yadda are not mine etc, etc. Let's just get on with it, yes?

Carry the Fire

By MidnightResWri

Act 2: Treacherous Compliance

Scene 1: The Subwave Signal

Jack Fenton had been buried two months. Danny stood at his snow covered headstone, reading the text his mother had chosen.

Again.

His shaggy hair covered the dull blue of his once bright eyes. Oh, he missed the sound of his father's laughter. The memories of being called down to the lab to see the latest invention echoed in his mind. Danny wished for those days to return and go back to when things were simpler.

He had grown to hate the murderer who could never be given the justice deserved. Danny dreamed of revenge he could never hope to achieve. He knew the power difference and hated himself for being so useless. And, because of his guilt, the boy threw himself at the ghosts, coming home with more injuries than he cared to explain. The therapist put him on suicide watch for a while after his first serious injury.

Danny knew he couldn't tell his mother the truth. That he knew the killer was not a simple spirit. He couldn't tell his sister. He couldn't tell the therapist. They wouldn't believe him. His hands tightened in to fists at his sides.

His sister, Jazz, stood at his side. She had come home to find her brother on the ceiling, though she wouldn't tell him that. She didn't tell their mother, when she woke up to see her husband's bloody corpse, about her brother's bizarre disregard for gravity. Jazz counted herself lucky that she never needed to explain how her little brother had curled up in the air. He had already fallen to the table before the women emerged from the basement. He refused to talk about it, anyway.

Jazz was supposed to take him to his therapist, but they passed the cemetery on the way thanks to roadwork. The redhead obliged his request to stop and phoned ahead to say that her brother wouldn't be able to make his appointment. The secretary understood. Both the psychologist and Jazz agreed that openly mourning would help his recovery. Let him grieve, he had said.

She would happily give him the world to see those gray eyes return to their former baby blue.

Danny let out a scream, falling to his knees and began to sob. He couldn't bring himself to care that his shins were now freezing and wet. He couldn't bring himself to care that his sister could see his weakness. She didn't care that he let her see it.

"My, my, what a splendid show," said a high tenor voice accompanied by the sound of muffled applause. "I always do find cemeteries to be full of inspiration."

Danny's breath hitched at the sound of the stranger's voice. He hiccuped as he tried to keep his tears inside. Strangers didn't need to see his grief.

Jazz saw her brother attempt to pick himself back together and turned around to glare at the newcomer. His skin was paler than she'd ever seen before, being nearly white in color. His top hat obscured any hair he might have had. The man wore sunglasses, hiding his eyes. She took a sharp breath before clenching her teeth and pointing at him with an accusatory finger and said, "Don't you dare talk like that in front of us!"

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry," said the man, taking a step forward, his smile plastered on his face. His strange and Gothic inspired staff stabbed into the snow. "I'm just a harmless entertainer, looking for ways to improve my act."

He extended a gloved hand towards the elder sister, "The name's Frederich Showenhower. To adoring fans, I'm called Freakshow, Master of the Ring of Circus Gothica."

"What is that, some kind of advertisement?" asked Jazz, crossing her arms. The young woman didn't take his hand. She didn't like the vibe he gave off. Seeing this, Frederich lowered his hand. She stole a glance at her brother. He looked like he needed more time before she could get him to move. This stranger stayed near them, one hand shoved into his overcoat's pocket.

"You can view it as such," he mused. "My train did just pull into town a few hours ago. I thought I might get lucky and see the famous Danny Phantom if I strolled through the usual haunts of the restless dead."

Danny stiffened.

"I'm sure you'd be better off running around the town like the rest of the ghost hunters," she said, spitting out as much venom as she could muster on the last two words.

"Yes," said Frederich, "I could do that, but the cemetery is for the dead, after all. Ghosts and the like are drawn to these areas." His eyes slid to the boy's back still turned to him. "I am curious, though. What is the reason for such anger and grief in the child?"

Danny spun around, glaring at the pale man. He opened his mouth to tell the man where he could go and stick his curiosity when he saw something red and swirling within the small sphere on the top of Frederich's staff. The words caught in his throat as his eyes fixated on the orb. His face lost its anger, becoming a blank slate. Instead of insults and without emotion, he said, "I watched my father die at the hands of a ghost."

He shook his head, blinking rapidly. Where had that come from, wondered Danny. The top of the staff looked so nice. He could have stared at it without pause. The answer just flew out of his mouth before he realized what he was doing. It just felt so right to answer the man. Danny fought the desire to look at the orb again.

"Interesting," said the ringmaster. He raised his eyebrows, the response something he never expected to hear. He didn't expect the rage to die away. In fact, he would have welcomed it as another source for inspiration. He already had the basic outline of a script and staging forming in his head. Nothing was solid, he reminded himself, changes could be made this early in the show.

Neither sibling noticed he moved the staff so his free hand covered the orb. Frederich would content himself with watching this strange boy.

Danny took a step away from Frederich, bumping into his father's headstone. Jazz caught him before he could fall and leaned in towards his ear. She whispered, "What's gotten into you little brother? You've never said anything about dad's death before."

"I don't know," he matched her volume. "I…just…"

His voice trailed off and his sister gave him a tired smile before stepping away and giving him space. Jazz's eyes never left him, which did not go unnoticed by both hybrid and ringmaster. Danny kept his eyes planted on the ground, pushing away his sister's gaze and a strange longing to lose himself in that alluring red. He, instead, focused on the excuse his sister was forming for the two of them. She said something about needing to get home soon. Their mother expected them home.

He scowled, shoving his hands into his pockets. Hearing the lie made him feel sick, but at least it overrode the longing for the calming swirls. Maddie didn't like them coming home early from his appointments. She either holed herself in her room, or sat at the kitchen table, stirring at cold and stale coffee, trying to pretend her office wasn't the basement lab. He never liked seeing the tear stains on her cheeks, either. A reminder that everything was his fault.

Frederich extended his hand once more to the brother and sister, holding two tickets. "I'm feeling quite generous at the moment, children," he said, careful to keep his eyes on the oldest sibling. "Here are tickets to the opening night of my circus. Tomorrow after sunset. I can promise you it'll be spectacular."

Jazz took the tickets, said her thanks and wished him luck in finding Phantom. She pulled Danny along after her toward her car. The boy struggled to keep pace with his sister. The tight grip on his arm kept him from falling behind, but also made it harder for him to gain his footing. He watched the white ground move beneath his feet until they arrived at the car. He heard the doors click open the moment Jazz let him go.

Danny opened the car door and took a deep breath. He threw a quick glance back at his father's grave. The black coated ringmaster remained standing there, leaning his weight on the staff. The boy shuddered when his eyes met Frederich's shaded ones. Danny snapped his eyes away, stopping briefly on the red topped orb. Like before, it felt natural to lose himself in the constant motion. "Danny," hissed Jazz, snapping his attention away from the man and his strange staff. "Get in the car."

Numbly, he nodded and did as he was told. Jazz drove them out of the cemetery, heading for home. "What was that, Danny?" She asked, her hands tightened around the steering wheel. "We've been keeping that private. You haven't talked about that day to anyone."

Danny's lips became a thin line. He stared out the window, watching the buildings of Amity Park fly by. He didn't expect his sister to understand.

"Sam tells me you're not even talking at school," said Jazz. She sighed and continued, "I'm worried for you little brother."

The hybrid turned his head to look at his sister. He saw her eyes flick over to meet his for a quick second. "His staff," he said, hoping her genius would figure it out on her own.

"What about it?" she scoffed. "That over-stylized thing? It probably would've been fine if it didn't have that stupid clear ball on top."

"Clear?" He tensed his shoulders, eyes wide. That orb was definitely not clear. "Not red?" He fisted his hands.

The redhead shook her head. "Where did you get the idea it was red?"

Danny opened his mouth to respond with the truth, but could not bring himself to say it. He had the feeling it would feel utterly ridiculous to say it out loud. He shook his head and resumed staring out the window.

After a few minutes, Danny asked, "Are we going to his circus?"

Jazz shrugged ran a hand through her long hair as they slowed to a stop. "Only if you want and if mom says it's okay. Even though he's a total creep, he might run a decent show. We can always use the distraction."

Maddie had stared at her son with an open mouth. He had asked her for permission to go out somewhere with his sister. She was even more surprised that he looked almost eager to go. She couldn't refuse her baby boy anything that might make him smile and told the two of them to have fun when they went the next night.

So, there the siblings stood at the entrance of Circus Gothica. The performer, a woman covered completely in tattoos, accepted their tickets. Danny shivered when she approached them and looked over his shoulder and then at the sky. He shifted his weight, looking ready to run until the feeling passed, having dismissed it for the winter chill, and settled down. Jazz gave her brother a curious look, but did not press it. The woman guided the two teenagers to their seats within the largest tent, the location stunning them.

They sat in a private booth above the stands with a perfect view of the center ring. A space heater warmed the booth. Jazz shrugged out of her coat and sat down, pulling a book from her purse. She only came to humor her brother. Danny sat beside her, tugging at the hem of his shirt. He leaned forward as far as he could to see more of the ring. He noticed Jazz shaking her head and frowned at her lack of interest. He was grateful, though, that she agreed to come with him.

After a few more minutes, the lights above them dimmed until only a spotlight remained. The crowd fell silent as a man stepped into the light. From their angle, Danny could not see the face beneath the brim of the top hat. He already knew who stood in that bright light, though. His eyes locked on the staff and the red tipped orb, feeling his emotions fall away from his awareness again.

"Ladies and gentlemen," announced Frederich, "I, Freakshow, welcome you all on this journey with me to the darker realms. Nothing witnessed here is an illusion or a trick." He spread his arms open, his coat billowing open. "Everything will challenge your perception of reality." Here, he raised his staff and his head, looking in the direction of the two youths he met in the cemetery. "Surrender your preconceived notions of truth and love. Surrender your indoctrinated belief that we live in a world of rationality. Because here at Circus Gothica, the world becomes a little more terrifying and a lot more awe inspiring." He backed out of the spotlight, so the audience could no longer see him. "So, join us as we open your mind to the impossible."

The tent's lights burst to life, blinding the audience for a moment before the music began. Danny stared at the spot Frederich had occupied. The ringmaster told him to join them. Join the circus. He couldn't explain it, but Danny thought the idea to be brilliant. He stayed in his seat, mulling his options while the performance started below. The tattooed lady danced with a tall, thin man. They eventually started rising into the air, eliciting gasps from the audience. Other performers joined the two from the air, gliding down from the cieling in wide circles around the couple trailing black, white, and red banners. Below, skeletal figures emerged with swords and spears, circling one other as a pair and started clashing their weapons in time with the band.

Danny's eyes widened and he ignored the persistent shivering, despite the searing heat right beside him, he had since the moment the performance began. Jazz, too, set her book down and watched the dancers, the banner bearers, and the choreographed fight. The more he watched, the more Danny wanted to fly up with the others. He wanted to be with them and forget everything. He wanted to forget his father's murder, the hybrid who killed him and the grief and longing for vengeance that ate Danny's heart.

So, the boy stood up and walked out of the booth. His sister asked him where he was going and he mumbled a half-hearted reply of searching for the bathroom.

"Hurry back," said Jazz.

Danny nodded and descended the stairs. His face lost the awe he held for the performance the moment it became background noise. His mind became a haze as he made his way around the public area until he came to a curtain separating the backstage from public viewing. He paid no attention to the signs telling him he should not be there. He pushed the curtain aside and joined those backstage. Danny ignored the chaos around him of those rushing to get into costumes. He failed to notice the more transparent bodies floating behind more solid figures or that some of those spirits slipped in or out of the humans.

He only stopped once he arrived behind the ringmaster of the circus, standing at the point where the two curtains met before the center ring. Frederich's critical frown turned into a pleasantly surprised grin. "I saw you leave your seat, boy," he mused, rubbing circles on his staff with his thumb. "I had my doubts, to be honest." The man turned around to face the hybrid. He tapped a finger to his chin. "You're certainly not ghostly."

Danny said nothing. Frederich circled the boy. "What do you see in the crystal?"

"Red," he replied. An automatic response Danny couldn't be sure where it came from. "Swirling red."

"Interesting," Frederich stopped behind Danny, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "You wouldn't be like my performers, would you? Possessing this child?"

Shaking his head, Danny answered, "No. I'm half-ghost." Danny raised a hand to his head, digging the heel of his palm into an eye. "What am I saying?"

"Half-ghost?" echoed the ringmaster. "There's no such thing. Prove yourself, child."

Danny wanted to resist the order given by the man. Revealing his secret was the last thing he wanted to do. He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes tight. He heard Frederich's boot tapping beside him. His chin was forced up and he cracked an eye open to look at the man. "Didn't you hear me?" the man asked. "Prove. Your. claim."

He transformed into Phantom and the emotions of hundreds of people and spirits slammed into him. He blinked and shook his head, clarity flooding through his system from the shock. He realized what he had done and who had witnessed his change. "Oh god," he rasped. "Oh dear god." He didn't move. He asked himself why he stayed in place. He needed to leave. He exposed his secret to a virtual stranger.

"Well, well, well," said Frederich, drawing Danny's attention back to him and to the orb. The swirling red dulled his empathic abilities, but he still felt that curiosity, greed, and overall desire for him. He stared at that orb, the force as compelling as it was repelling for the young hybrid. He stayed locked in place. "A full and solid spectral body. I wouldn't even need you to possess an actor. You have your own body to return to…Danny Phantom."

Frederich drew a line down Phantom's jaw with a finger and then jerked the boy's head left and right, examining it. He smiled, baring his teeth. "Well, you'll just have to go into the fifth car of the train until I come for you, now won't you? Don't be seen. Don't be heard. Stay there and await my further instructions."

Danny nodded and faded from visibility.

It'd been hours. Jazz grew agitated in her seat. The Circus was nearly done and Danny hadn't returned. She hoped he didn't use the outing to runaway. Jazz ran her fingers through her long hair. "So you came, too," said a disappointed voice. She turned around to see the ringmaster leaning against the booth's support beams.

"Mr. Showenhower," she said, her voice cold. "I didn't think you mingled with the audience."

"I don't," he said, examining the finer details of his staff. "It's bad showmanship."

"Then why are you here?" Jazz straightened her shoulders.

"Obvious," he said. Frederich lightly tossed the staff into the air and caught, staring at Jazz. His lips stretched into a wide grin. "I need you out of the way, my dear."

Jazz stood up from her seat, taking an involuntary step back. Her book clattered to the floor. She knew what it meant when someone said that. Her eyes landed on the book on the floor. A plan half-formed in her mind. At the moment, it was the only option. She moved quickly, grabbed the book, and then her coat, and gave the text a silent apology. She chucked it at the ringmaster. "You'll have to catch me first."

The sharp corner of the book hit his chest. He cried out, taking a few steps back. Jazz took the opportunity, pushed past the ringmaster and ran down the stairs. She darted through the growing crowd, shouting for her brother. She needed to get him and get going. She could already hear the cries for her to be stopped. The other members of the audience did nothing, thinking it was another part of the show. She continued shouting for Danny.

When he didn't show himself, Jazz left the main tent, struggling to put her coat on as she ran through people milling around the area. They looked at her with bemused expressions. She stopped for a moment, catching her breath. Cupping her hands to her mouth, she called for Danny. He didn't answer. No one came running up to her. The girl looked over her shoulder and saw the ringmaster aiming that crystal-topped rod in her direction. Performers rushed out of the tent after her.

With one final cry for her brother, Jazz took off for her car. She knew she would feel guilty about it later, leaving her brother. But she needed to get out of there. Tell her mom that the circus was insane. Tell her mom that Danny's missing and that it was her fault. She unlocked the door and got in, hesitating to start the car. Could she do that to her mother? It would only break her heart more.

She bit her lip and started the car as the cast of Circus Gothica got into view. The tattooed woman jumped onto the hood. Jazz screamed and started driving out of panic. She smashed into the cars around her, not bothering to stop and assess the damage or do the other proper procedures. She couldn't, not with murderous circus performers after her. Jazz stepped on the gas, still screaming. She swerved quickly to throw the woman off.

It wasn't until Jazz turned onto the road that her hood became clear of the room. The scream died down and she breathed heavily, trying to calm herself down. Her arms trembled and her knuckles turned white. "Oh my god," she moaned. "Oh my god. I just left my little brother. I left my little brother at a psychotic circus."

Her mind refused to process that and she shut up until she pulled into a diner parking lot. Jazz peeled her fingers off the steering wheel and turned off the car. Her heart settled back to its usual steady beat. Her breathing slowly returned to normal. "Okay, Jazz," she said. "You'll go back there for Danny. You just need a plan. Can't let mom know Danny's missing and probably in that freak's hands. Why Frederich Showenhower would want Danny, you'll just have to figure out. Can't go home yet."

She licked her lips and looked over her shoulder. No one approached her. She was safe for now. She sank into the driver's seat, adrenaline draining from her system. "I need to find Danny's friends. They might know something."

Danny did not hear his sister call for him. He heard nothing from within the train car. He hadn't moved, though now he no longer had that orb right in front of him, he tried. His ghostly limbs refused to cooperate. He was terrified that he couldn't move. He couldn't return to humanity and the living. He was stuck and he hated it.

Frederich entered the car after many agonizing hours of uselessness on the boy's part. He turned the staff in circles with his thumb and fingers. Danny's resistance to the original order lessened with every second the orb stayed within sight. "What do you want with me?" he asked, his voice strangled.

"Hm," the ringmaster frowned. "I never gave you permission to speak." He pointed the crystal tip at Danny's nose, a sneer on his face. "But to answer your question. I want you as a performer for my circus. And not just any performer. You'd be the main attraction. Wow the audience with everything I put into your little head. Eventually, you'll be so wrapped around my thumb, you'll be begging to get me everything I desire. Just like the others."

The boy widened his eyes and took a step back. The sick joy and perverse interest toward him disgusted Danny. He used those emotions from the ringmaster to ground him against the liberating feeling coming from the staff. He twisted his face in his revulsion and spat in Frederich's face.

The man wiped the saliva off his cheek. "Change back to human," he ordered. Danny obeyed. The satisfaction that his orders would still be followed did not sooth the ringmaster. He gripped the metal rod tightly before using it to strike the boy's face.

Danny cried out and crumpled to the floor. His mouth filled with the metallic taste of blood, which he spat out onto the floor. The fluid dripped from his mouth as he continued spitting. He felt more hot blood on his cheek, flowing down from his eyebrow. A huge, ugly bruise bloomed over half his face. His body started the healing process, though it would have been faster in his spectral form. He struggled to his feet, but Frederich used the staff to sweep his arms out from under him. Danny fell to the floor, the pain keeping him from influence of the sphere for the moment.

"I don't understand it," said Frederich, standing over him. "Is it your human part that allows you to resist it or are you this aggravating for everyone? You must tell me."

Danny tried getting up again, now spitting out only the remnants of the blood from his wound. His other cut still remained open and bleeding. "Fuck you, Showenhower."

A steel-toed boot slammed into his chest, forcing him to roll onto his back. Danny couldn't keep his eyes off the swirling red. "Well, well, well. It seems we'll have to teach you some manners, won't we little ghost boy?" The man leered at the captured boy still fighting against him.

Danny coughed as he drew in breath. Frederich stepped one foot on Danny's chest, leaning the orb as close as possible to the boy's face. Danny struggled to breathe. "It's inevitable, you know. You're sister left you here with me."

The hybrid stared at the man in disbelief, seeing his astonished expression reflected back at him in the sunglasses. Jazz couldn't have left him there. He grimaced when the boot repositioned itself to dig the toe into his chest, a strangled grunt noise pulled from his throat. Frederich leaned down, putting more of his weight on that foot, and chuckled. "We're going to have a grand time breaking you, now aren't we?" The ringmaster motioned to two performers standing in the shadows. The stars of the first act stepped forward, bowed their heads, and reached down to take Danny's arms.

Frederich stepped off the boy, letting the two take him. "Bring him to the center ring of the main tent. No patrons should be left lingering around at this hour. We can teach him together to respect his master." He grinned as he watched the three leave the car. The boy started resisting against the grips of the man and woman. Frederich called out one last order, "Lydia, if he puts up too much of a fight, feel free to punish him as you see fit. Just don't kill him." The tattooed woman nodded.

The ringmaster waited a few minutes to collect himself. He brushed off invisible dirt, straightened his hat and took out his pocket watch, noting the time. He heard a scream that could only belong to his new prize. Frederich smiled and left the car, walking to the main tent without a care in the world.

Sam and Tucker rode in Jazz's car, confused and worried for their best friend. They only came along with the sister after they saw her panic and confusion. Their parents tried to stop them from going out and failed. Both children knew the promise of punishment awaited them.

Jazz wanted answers immediately, but both younger teens refused to answer her. "We need to get to somewhere private," the friends had told her.

So, she drove them to the Nasty Burger, long after it had closed. The hour neared eleven at night. Not a single employee loitered in the store at that hour. The three sets of fresh footprints wouldn't be noticed in the well-trafficked snow, either.

Sitting at one of the outdoor tables, they began to talk. "Jazz, we need to know what's going on," said Sam. "Danny's not…" she almost said he wasn't around his home. That he was somewhere further away. "He's not answering his phone."

"I left Danny at a circus," the girl admitted, feeling small.

"You what?" Both friends jumped up from their seats, leaning over the table. They glared at the sister.

Jazz looked away from them and licked her lips. Sam, still glowering, demanded that Jazz to tell them everything. The older girl obliged leaving out no detail in the hope that they would know something. She started with the cemetery and went through her most shameful moment. "I didn't know what to do," she said. She buried her head in her arms. "I think he wanted Danny and he definitely wanted me dead. I can't do this alone. Please tell me what you know."

Tucker shared a look with Sam. She sighed and nodded. The boy took a breath and said, "We need more information on this Circus Gothica and Frederich Showenhower, first."

"Then we'll deal with this," added Sam, gesturing to herself and Tucker. "Just Tucker and I. We'll be able to find him, I promise. But this is something the two of us need to do to get Danny back."

"No!" cried Jazz. She threw her hands palms down on the table. "He's my brother and I know there's something weird going on with him. He won't tell me, but I know! This whole thing is my fault."

Sam paused and took a sharp breath. "You know? For how long?"

Jazz nodded. "I don't know the specifics, but the day…the day my father was killed…" She squeezed her eyes shut, fighting the stab in her heart. "I saw him on the ceiling. He was just…floating there. I think he was in shock and I don't know how he did it. That could be why he wanted Danny. But how could he know about that?"

"Your conversation," said Sam, furrowing her eyebrows. "He told you he saw red in that staff, but you didn't. That might be a clue."

Tucker pulled out his PDA, accessing the Internet with a few buttons pressed. "I'm looking up all the public information on this guy for now. I'll have to use a laptop or desktop to dig up more." He typed in keywords, pulling up multiple web pages. His eyes darted around the screen, taking in the information. The girls waited on edge for him to finish. "Yeah, I got nothing. Other than his show being lauded as an astounding show and otherworldly in their acts. Standard praise for this sort of thing. Once I'm in my room, I can get something substantial."

"Otherworldly?" asked Sam. She grabbed his sweater, pulling him closer. "Tucker, think about Danny. He's about as 'otherwordly' as you can get!"

Tucker swallowed and laughed. "Sorry Sam," he said. "You might be right. But, before we jump to any conclusions, we'll have to find out what's up with that staff and dig deeper into this Showenhower guy."

Jazz felt some of her worry dissipate. While it wasn't gone completely, she felt a little more hope that she would get her brother back. "Alright," she said. "I saw a poster saying he'd be here for a week. The show was almost over around nine. That gives us plenty of time to come up with something."

"Oh no," said Sam, a dark smile lighting her lips. "We're going as soon as we're able. If I'm thinking correctly about this Freakshow, we'll be able to get there by tomorrow." She raised an eyebrow at Tucker. "If you pull an all nighter, that is."

"What is thing you call 'sleep'?" he asked, caressing his PDA with a thumb. "I'll have everything we'll need by tomorrow."

A/N: Okay, so there you have it. End of Act 2, Scene 1. Danny's under Frederich's, aka Freakshow's, control and his staff is less conspicuous as the mind-control device to full-humans. Even he can't see the swirling red of the sphere.

As for the PRIZE I mentioned above. I've decided to offer one during each intermission to those who can accurately guess the players speaking or performing the action described in the tidbits provided in their reviews. Shouldn't be too hard, considering I've tried to make it obvious without coming right out and giving you the names. Anyway, you get your choice of the following and I will make it reality:
An original short story or poem.
A one-shot fan fiction or poem.
A drawing of whatever you want (within reason). (Colored or B&W)
An exclusive look at the next chapter, story, one-shot of any one fan fiction listed on my profile you'd like to see.

I'll work on your choice and have it ready within a week, barring exams or deadlines for classes, in which case it might be delayed another week. If you ask for the drawing, please keep in mind I do not have a graphics tablet (yet. I'm working on it), so if you ask for colored, it will either be with colored pencil or marker. I do, however, have a scanner.

Should multiple people win the PRIZE, I'll try to get things done within a reasonable amount of time. Just don't hate me if it takes a bit longer. Also, the PRIZE for the Intermissions will be closed after the next chapter here is put up.

To claim your PRIZE, just PM me with "PRIZE" as the subject and tell me your choice in the body. After that, we'll discuss the finer details, like format, subject, genre, how you want it delivered over cyberspace, etc. FYI, I'm only going to respond to valid claims to the prizes.

Hm, I probably could have come up with this idea before hand. Okay…to be fair…I'll keep your "guessing" (it's not guessing anymore. This chapter just hands it to you on a silver platter.) open to the next three people who want to claim it before I get the next chapter up after this. Just PM me with the character names and your choice for this one, 'kay?