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Keepers and Investigators 4/13
Title: Keepers and Investigators
Chapter Title: Where Satan Fell
Rated: NC17 (chapter rating PG-13)
Pairings: Danny/Lancer, Dash/Sam
Fandom: Danny Phantom
Danny Phantom belongs to Nickelodeon and its associates. The Call of Cthulhu role playing game belongs to Chaosium Inc.
Notes from the last three chapters.

-----

This is the first novel of the Apprentice arc.

Writing of this novel began in late 2005. The novel was finished in May 2006. It spawned a second novel began in May 2006 and finished in March 2007. The final installment, a short story, was began in March 2007 and is nearing completion. It has been edited for grammar repeatedly.

The Apprentice story arc grapples with a multitude of themes that a great many people may not be comfortable with, including but not restricted to Insanity, Slash, Het, Pedophilia, Drug Use, and in the end, Implied Master/Servant Relations.

-----

Friday lunchtime found Father Dagon grinning madly, his skin positively itching with glee as he called for Luck rolls.

“Made it,” Sam announced.

“Safe,” sighed Tucker.

Danny picked up his dice and threw them onto the table. He rolled a 96, an automatic failure.

“Daniel, make a roll.”

He threw the dice down again, a 42.

“Take 1 point of damage,” Father Dagon announced, rolling a normal 6-sided die. “Your leg has fallen through a crust of earth into a pocket of warm sludge. A thousand flies buzz from under you. They swarm all over your body, flying and crawling. Make another roll.”

Danny threw the dice for a 32, close, but a failure none the less.

“Your leg sinks down to mid thigh. You’re stunned, not from pain but from the what-the-fuck of the situation. You dimly swat at the flies trying to cover you; your head doesn’t really want to cooperate.”

Father Dagon paused for effect. The lunchroom was oddly quiet. They were listening in. He continued. “After a few minutes your head regains its focus. You’re covered in flies. You’ve sunk thigh deep into a warm sludge under the ground. It feels… alive. In fact, you think you can feel it moving. The warmth is oozing under your pants up your leg and down into your shoe. What do you do?”

Even the popular crowd fell silent as Danny began to think through the character of Reginald Eliot. “First I make the effort to get these flies off of me.”

“You can swat at them and they buzz away. You have to swat kind of rough, though. As you do so you feel the sludge climbing up your leg and down between your toes. You think your foot is completely covered in this… whatever it really is.”

“I try to pull myself out.”

“Roll it.”

Danny rolled a 54, a failure.

“Your leg gets sucked deeper and you feel the sludge oozing up to your hip. Now you really think it’s alive, it seems to be crawling out of the hole via the space between your pants and your leg. Roll again.”

An 87, another failure.

“Well, you’re pretty uncomfortable. It’s like the ground is trying to suck your leg off. You feel the sludge ooze under your shorts. It really does feel like it’s crawling, like thousands of tiny mouths are sucking at your skin. Roll.”

A 29, failed by one.

“Eh… Make a swim check, actually.”

Danny raised an eyebrow and rolled a 45, a success.

“Yeah, I’ll give that to you. You hunch your shoulders down and heave as hard as you can. It helps if you wave your leg a little bit like you’re swimming. With a sickening squelch you manage to pull yourself out. You still feel like your leg is covered in… whatever it is. It’s under your shorts, even up to the waistband of your pants. Your balls really itch. What do you three do?”

Sam made a face, like she knew she wouldn’t enjoy this. “I look at Reginald’s leg. What do I see?”

Father Dagon squirmed in evil delight. “Well… it’s one of the most disgusting sights you’ve ever seen.”

“Is my leg still there?” Danny asked.

“Are you going to look?”

“I will,” Tucker said bravely.

“Yeah... it is disgusting. You’re infinitely glad you hadn’t stepped there.”

“Fine, I look,” Danny sighed.

Father Dagon paused again before taking a hissing inhale through his teeth. “Your leg is still there. Your leg is covered and swollen fat with thousands of wriggling maggots.”

“EEEWWW!!!” Paulina and Star screamed from across the room.

Father Dagon grinned, teeth strangely bared, and seemed to feed off the disgust wafting from half the room. “You feel them all over your leg and crotch. They’ve covered your balls and cock and are trying to crawl down the other leg. They’re crawling up your asshole even.”

Tucker scrambled away from the table, falling to the floor before he remembered getting up didn’t work if you remained seated.

“Make a sanity check, Daniel.”

Danny rolled his dice. He had a very good chance of rolling with this punch… No. An 86. “I fail.”

Father Dagon rolled a die and held out his hand. “Your sheet?”

Danny handed over his character sheet and shivered. The room leaned forward, somehow knowing this would be good.

Father Dagon made a mark on the sheet and proceeded to describe Reginald’s bout of temporary insanity. “You scramble away from the hole. You try to push yourself up onto your legs but that doesn’t work; you’re too panicked. You give up pretenses of bipedality as you try to distance yourself from the flies, the hole, and that awful smell. You rip your clothes from your body, all of them. You practically shred some of them in your haste. As soon as they’re off you start clawing yourself all over, trying to get the maggots off, get them away, get them out get them out get them OUT!!…” His voice rose to a nervous scream.

He paused to pull himself together. He continued his description. “You manage to claw them off and out of you. However, your clothes are still crawling. You decide against them.” He hands Danny back his sheet. “You’re naked and covered in deep red scratches from your own claws. A few are bleeding. You’re gasping for air and shaking all over from mental exhaustion. You could really use some water right about now.”

The lunch bell rang. Father Dagon stood up. “Okay everyone, we’ll continue this on Monday. Same Bat-Time, same Bat-Channel.”

The three players giggled and collected their things before heading off to class. Father Dagon stayed behind as always to listen to the others.

“Did you hear about those maggots?” someone whispered.

“Why are there bugs around mutilated cattle?” someone else asked in another conversation on the opposite side of the room.

“That loser had really bad luck today, didn’t he?”

“At least it was only bugs and not something really scary. I’ve heard that game can get really freaky. Your characters always end up dead or worse.”

“Today was really gross. I couldn’t eat at all.”

“I wonder where Dash is.”

Father Dagon started at that last one. It was really close, almost right behind him. He looked around to see Kwan give him a long look and walk out of the room to his next class.

Mr. Lancer slid himself onto the lunch bench and motioned for Father Dagon to sit next to him.

Father Dagon gave one last look around and sat down as the late bell rang. He pushed back his hood.

“Mr. Baxter,” Lancer began, “today’s encounter was appallingly disgusting. I watched some of the students fight not to gag. That is not acceptable.”

“I’m sorry, Sir,” Dash said.

“It was beyond acceptable. It was, in fact, hilarious. I commend you. That is what a Call of Cthulhu game is supposed to be: frightening, disgusting, appalling, and it doesn’t always have to be connected to the Mythos.”

“Thank you, but I do admit to using a lot of prepared adventures.”

“What matters, Mr. Baxter, is the delivery. However, under school rules I am required to disband your little game. Instead, I’m going to make you a deal.”

“What is it?” Dash asked. He had a feeling he knew what Lancer was going to ask.

“May I join?”

Yep. He knew Lancer would ask that.

-----

Dash turned his computer on and began surfing the internet. There was this one thing on V-Bay… A message from Kwan caught his eye.

KwanTastic: Dude, I need to talk to you.
DashBash: Sure.
KwanTastic: Where you been during lunch all week?
DashBash: Well, there’s that thing Lancer’s been makin me do
KwanTastic: …
KwanTastic: Funny, I’d thought you were having fun playing that game with the losers.
KwanTastic: I know you’re Father Dagon, Dash.

Dash froze for a time. A feeling of dread washed over him.

DashBash: You haven’t told the others
KwanTastic: Not yet
DashBash: They don’t have to know.
KwanTastic: You werent recruited by Lancer for this were you?
DashBash: …no
KwanTastic: you decided to do this?!
DashBash: why not?
KwanTastic: wtf
DashBash: you wouldn’t understand
KwanTastic: try me.

Dash cracked his knuckles as he tried to decide what to say. This… was very dangerous ground.

DashBash: do you have anything you like to do for yourself? other than football and bullying
KwanTastic: sure I watch bad movies. you know that
DashBash: other than that
DashBash: do you haunt internet forums? do you read anything? do you do anything?
KwanTastic: um…
KwanTastic: I like making cookies
KwanTastic: don’t tell anyone
DashBash: see? my playing a game with the losers is just like your cookie-making
KwanTastic: but theres a diference. you do it at achool. in front of people
KwanTastic: *school
DashBash: so? they don’t know it’s me. they don’t have to know.
DashBash: please
KwanTastic: wow, you said please
DashBash: shut up
KwanTastic: ok I wont tell anyone
KwanTastc: so long as you don’t do anything embarrassing
KwanTastic: like let a teacher join
DashBash: umm
KwanTastic: wtf?!
KwanTastic: you didn’t
DashBash: I had to. Lancer was going to shut us down if I didn’t. He knows who I am Kwan. That’s the only reason we were allowed to play in the first place. He used last game’s grossness to blackmail me into letting him play.
KwanTastic: …
KwanTastic: at least make his life miserable
DashBash: can do.

-----

GhostBoy: It’s this stupid assignment Lancer has me doing. It’d riving me nuts.
FryerTuck: Wht is it? maybe I can find you an answer.
GhostBoy: do you speak Shakespearean?
FryerTuck: …
InfiniteChaos: boys, do homework elsewhere. Danny, why are we here again?
GhostBoy: Father Dagon’s introducing a new player
LitMaster has signed on
FryerTuck: Father Dagon can’t introduce a new player, we’re in the middle of an adventure!
LitMaster: I believe Father Dagon would be introducing me after the end of the current adventure.
GhostBoy: hello…::scrambles for name:: LitMaster?
InfiniteChaos: not another melodramatic sadist who refuses to give their name
LitMaster: is amused
LitMaster: I believe Father Dagon is a sadist because he is Keeper. Were he an Investigator he would not be a sadist; he’d be a masochist.
FryerTuck: whoa I don’t know if I’m old enougb to be in this conversation
InfinteChaos: ::whacks Tucker upside the head::
FryerTuck: ow
GhostBoy: hey, I wanted to do that.
FatherDagon has signed on
FatherDagon: Hello everybody.
FatherDagon: people making nice?
InfiniteChaos: Okay
FryerTuck: make nice
GhostBoy: give me the ray gun
LitMaster: What does Star Trek 4 have to do with this?
GhostBoy: the LitMaster passes nerd test 1
InfiniteChaos: but does he pass nerd test 2?
LitMaster: my other screen name is ApocalypseLord
InfiniteChaos: ::eyes go wide::
InfiniteChaos: ::faints::
GhostBoy: wtf?
FryerTuck: ::speaking very slowly:: Danny, when was the last time you played Doomed?
GhostBoy: what am I missing this time?
InfiniteChaos: You’re Supreme Lord of the Apocalypse!
FatherDagon: WTF?!
LitMaster: yes I am
FatherDagon: but but… O.O WTF?
FryerTuck: he passes all nerd tests
FatherDagon: ::pout:: I never went through these nerd tests
InfiniteChaos: well, you had Danny’s seal of approval
FryerTuck: and I’d run those background checks
LitMaster: background checks?
FatherDagon: he didn’t find much. It helped that I created this SN about 2 days before contacting Daniel.
FryerTuck: cheater
InfiniteChaos: Well then LitMaster, tell us a bit about yourself
GhostBoy: do you have a name? LitMaster is a bit unwieldly
FryerTuck: and a bit unnerdly
LitMaster: tell them
FatherDagon: fine, I’ll tell you
FatherDagon: LitMaster is Mr. Lancer. He’ll be joining us
GhostBoy has signed off
FatherDagon: wtf? where’d he go?
InfiniteChaos: I’ll talk to him. brb
InfiniteChaos is away
FryerTuck: ooookay…
LitMaster: should I be here?
FryerTuck: It’s no big deal Mr. Lancer. It’s Danny’s problem
FatherDagon: anything we sould be worried about?
FryerTuck: Danny does do a lot opf whining about your assignments
FryerTuck: you do give him a lot of extra work. Esp work the rest of your classes don’t have to do.
LitMaster: I do that because he’s capable of it. If I didn’t request him in my classes each year he wouldn’t be anywhere near his potential. He’d be mentally wasting away. Besides, they’re not mandatory. He knows this. I made sure of it. The only reason he could hav
LitMaster: e for doing them is because he enjoys them.

-----

Danny signed off from the conversation the moment Mr. Lancer revealed himself. There was no way in the nine hells he could play with that man.

The phone rang. “Hello?”

“Danny? You all right?” It was Sam.

“Yeah, Sam, I’m fine. It’s just…”

“What?”

“Why, Sam? Why does it have to be Mr. Lancer? Usually he’s so… so… Lancer-ish. I’ve got a weird feeling about all of this.”

“Danny, you need more than a weird feeling.”

Danny flopped onto the bed. Was this just a weird feeling? If so, it was really weird. Almost like… like…

Holy shit.

-----

InfiniteChaos has returned
InfiniteChaos: Everyone stll here?
FryerTuck: hey
LitMaster: I’m here.
FatherDagon: so what’s the news?
InfiniteChaos: I could never be a psychologist. I just don’t wanna know.
FryerTuck: ?
FryerTuck: so Danny’s nuts? didn’t we already know that?
GhostBoy has signed on
GhostBoy: you didn’t tell them did you?
InfiniteChaos: no
GhostBoy: good. people here have secrets. mine should be no different
LitMaster: I can respect that.
FryerTuck: so what is it? Is Danny nuts?
GhostBoy: Tucker… Tucker, this is the sound of your destruction eminent if you don’t STFU
LitMaster: so…
FatherDagon: we finish the current adventure on Monday
GhostBoy: and I guess you join on Tuesday, Mr. Lancer
LitMaster: acceptable

-----

The end of school bell rang. Mr. Lancer sat back as students marched dully past his desk. He waited a few minutes before, right on schedule…

Danny knocked on the doorframe. “You wanted to see me, Sir?”

Mr. Lancer sat up. “Yes, Mr. Fenton, come in. Close the door behind you.”

The door closed and he sighed, trying to figure how to begin. “Danny, I want your honest opinion, not as a teacher but as a fellow gamer. Are you okay with me joining your game?”

Danny perched on a student’s desk and dropped his bag on the floor. “I…” He collected his thoughts. “I’m fine with it, Mr. Lancer--”

“Please, Danny outside of class I’d like it if you called me Lyonell.”

“Lyonell then,” Danny said softly, eyes closed. “I… I think I’d enjoy it if you gamed with us. I’m just… worried.” He dropped his head.

“Worried?”

Danny looked Lancer in the eye. “I’m worried I’d enjoy it too much.” He dropped his head again.

“I see,” said Lancer as he glided over to the boy and put a hand on his shoulder. “Well, there’s no reason we can’t be friends as well as teacher and student, is there?”

Danny leaned into the touch. “No, Lyonell,” he whispered. He stood up and dragged his bag off the floor. “I’ll see you tomorrow then,” he said softly.

Mr. Lancer watched Danny leave. Oookay…

End Chapter 4