Alexa, Play Mission Impossible
Summary: I wonder why Orbit was so insistent about Danny following him…
Extra Notes: I was honestly so proud of my last chapter, specifically the fight scene. Oh, I also had an extra set of eyes to help me out with this, so everyone please give thanks to the awesome @traumafactory28 for being my beta reader!
Word Count: 2,985
Orbit. They didn’t have a name before Danny gave them one. Most ghost blobs don’t, being able to recognize specific ghosts and other blobs from their ecto signature. It was nice, though. It was a nice sound, the word “Orbit”, and it felt oddly fitting for them. A name wasn’t the only thing Danny had given them, though. He also gave them protection.
It was only fair that they give him something in return. Besides, Danny is a halfa! He needs food! Not just human food, but also ectoplasm, like any other ghost. So when Orbit sensed some in the distance, he tried to lead Danny to it, but the halfa was stubborn about keeping up appearances and refused to go unless someone was in danger.
They should’ve nodded yes. In a way, he wouldn’t have been lying. Danny was in danger. Orbit was in danger.
Inside the backpack, it was mostly dark. The light of the fire was just barely a small orange glow from outside. Not that it was a problem, Orbit could see well in the dark just like all wisps. The problem was that they couldn’t tell how much time had passed since Danny rested his head on the bag or if he was asleep yet. Most of the contents of the bag -- the pajamas and the books -- were what held his head.
The rest, along with Orbit, didn’t feel the small weight, giving them hope that they could peek out of the bag without Danny feeling them move. They began wriggling their tiny body across the items. Danny had forgotten to close his bag all the way. Orbit silently thanked the Ancients for the halfa’s mistake as they crawled closer to the opening. They could see the faintest bit of moonlight on the grass, which meant it might be pretty high up by now.
The weight on the bag shifted. Orbit froze. They didn’t dare move. They waited until it had stopped moving, and then a while longer. Was Danny going to sleep? The weight had shifted to be more on the left side. Luckily, they were on the right side and had actually gained a bit more room to move with the change.
After a few minutes of waiting, they resumed crawling again. In a time span that felt both short and long, they finally made their way to the exit. They manipulated the ectoplasm that made up their body and stretched it out to better squeeze through the opening. Once they were out, they hovered just centimeters above the ground and turned themselves invisible.
Outside, the moon was now in its quarter phase and shone down on the ground from the near center of the sky. It was almost midnight. The crickets were still singing and chirping, and owls hooted from somewhere in the surrounding forest. Orbit’s eyes didn’t need much time adjusting. The backpack had blackened most of the light outside.
The wisp slowly floated around the backpack and peeked out from behind it. One of the hylians Orbit saw sleeping earlier was awake, and the one that had been awake now slept with the rest. The one that was awake wore the long blue scarf. What was his name? They couldn’t see them outside of the bag, but they did learn to recognize their voices and learn their names.
Whoever it was, they didn’t seem to notice them. They were distracted by their job looking over the rest. Orbit turned back around and spotted the thermos in the side pocket of the backpack. Perfect.
Orbit flew closer to the thermos and reached out, but hesitated before they grabbed it. They flew up a little higher, remaining invisible, and peeked over the bag. Danny was laying on his left side with his new bedroll. He had curled up a little, so it was hard to see his face and tell if he was asleep or not. Orbit flew over the bag to look at his face. Sure enough, his eyes were closed and his mouth hung slightly open as he snored quietly.
Good. He was asleep. Orbit flew back over to the thermos and grabbed at it. They slowly pulled it out to make as little noise as possible. After it was out, they used their powers to turn the thermos invisible and lifted it up as they flew higher. They picked a random direction, facing somewhere in the south, and sped off into the trees.
Orbit was small, but also very fast. Every ghost blob had to be fast, or they’d become somebody’s snack, and so it didn’t take long before they could no longer hear the campfire. They flew past an owl and over both animals and monsters. They flew higher into the canopy until they were above it and the trees looked like a lumpy blanket of soft green below. Up there, they noticed a glint of white light and turned to look at it.
It was a lake reflecting moonlight on the water. Orbit turned to the right and began heading towards it. The lake could act as a way to buy time for what they had in mind, and it was far enough from the group.
Once the forest turned into water below, Orbit dived down lower to the ground, or the surface of the water. As they grew closer to the other side of the lake, they noticed something on the coast. It was very faint, but as they approached, it became clearer. It was a pale white light. It looked like there was a shape behind it. Orbit began to feel uneasy and slowed down, but didn’t stop. The shape became clearer as they came closer.
Crud. Another poe.
This poe was smaller than the first one, the one still in the thermos, but was definitely just as dangerous. The worst part was that any attempts Orbit would make to sneak by it wouldn’t work. It was already looking right at them. It stood at the coast and swung its scythe out to try to cut them despite the large distance, but didn’t try to cross the water. It stayed out of the ripples’ reach even though there was still land to walk on. Was it scared of the water?
Orbit didn’t stop their approach, though. They only had so much time. They couldn’t waist any of it. This thing wasn’t going to get in their way. As a matter of fact, it might end up helping them.
The wisp picked up in speed again and flew over the poe. The poe levitated higher and narrowly missed them by a few inches. They shrieked in anger and turned around to follow them into the foliage. Orbit sprinted for a short distance before finding a spot on a fallen log and placed the thermos facing the roughly direction of the poe. They looked up to see it barreling after them through the branches, swinging its scythe wildly to cut its way through.
Their core buzzed as they watched the sickened ghost come closer and closer. Its teeth gnashed together, eager to crush Orbit and swallow them. The scythe cut through a branch thicker than Orbit’s body like it was paper. They took their eyes off for a split second to adjust the angle of the thermos so it was pointing directly at it. It was now racing towards them. It raised its scythe.
Orbit pressed the green button on the side of the thermos and warbled in alarm as the poe inside was shot out of the thermos, colliding with the other. Both of them screeched as they fell to the ground. The one underneath bit the other’s arm, earning a cry of pain from the one above it. Orbit grabbed the thermos and flew high into the air before either of them stopped fighting long enough to notice them.
Soon enough, the wisp was crossing the lake and mo longer heard the poes fighting. They looked up at the sky. The moon had moved a little and it was now either exactly midnight or a little after. They only had a few hours to complete their mission. If things went well, it’ll be more than enough time.
Flying over the forest and passing over the camp again, Orbit retuned to where Danny was with them earlier, when they first picked up on the “scent” of ectoplasm. As they expected, they found it while hovering near two trees that were growing a little too close together. They weren’t sure how Danny didn’t notice it. Maybe his ability to detect ectoplasm was weaker in his human form.
They started to follow it. They had to stop every once in a while to turn in different directions, trying to see which way the pull was stronger, before they could continue.
At one point, they stopped. The pull was now behind them. Orbit turned around and slowly went back the way they came, paying close attention to the pull as it slowly lessened. They scanned the area around them as they went. Suddenly, the pull was from behind again. Somewhere below. They stopped in their tracks and looked down at the forest floor.
A small green light glowed softly from between a couple of stones. Orbit turned intangible and flew through the stones, and there it was. A very large puddle of ectoplasm covered most of the stony floor of the cave. The wisp flew down quickly and placed the thermos on top of one of the few patches of dry stone, then dove into the green liquid with their mouth wide open.
The first gulp of ectoplasm was amazing. They weren’t absolutely starving for it, but that didn’t mean they weren’t hungry. It had been over three days after all, and even wisps like Orbit needed to eat ectoplasm at some point. They took a moment to eat, enjoying the feeling of their core being brought back to full strength, before they flew out and turned towards the thermos.
They picked it up and twisted it in their arms so that it was standing upright, then began twisting the lid off. They removed it and saw that it was completely empty, just as they’d hoped now that the poe was gone. They picked the thermos up again, once again holding it horizontally, and dipped it into the ectoplasm. Slowly, they dunk it further and further into the ectoplasm.
The thermos grew heavier Orbit and tilted slightly so that more would spill into the bottom. They only stopped when the thermos was nearly fully submerged in the ectoplasm. After a while, they lifted it up, now holding it by the rim of the top, and carefully carried it back to solid ground. After setting it down, they picked up the lid and twisted it back on.
Orbit picked the thermos up and flew up through the rocks, through the trees, and high into the sky. The moon was now noticeably past its midpoint. It had been over an hour since they released the poe and went searching for food. They looked back in the direction they came, thankful for their good memory and habit of mapping every direction they went in, and began rushing back to the camp.
By the time they finally got back, another hour had passed. Luckily, most of the group was still asleep, with the exception being the old man with the one working eye. He and Blue Scarf must’ve switched places at some point. Orbit kept themselves invisible and worked carefully to nudge the thermos back into the side pocket of Danny’s bag.
When they were halfway done, the halfa started moving and Orbit froze. They listened more than watched as he mostly moved his legs. They kicked at something in his dreams, but after a while, they stopped and he curled up. Unfortunately, the blanket had been kicked off while he was battling whatever enemy was in his mind. Before Orbit could try to pull it back over, they heard movement. Coming from the camp.
Orbit pulled away from the thermos and peeked around the backpack. The Old Man was coming over. The wisp didn’t need to hold back a startled noise, being silent when sensing potential danger was something they learned long ago. They watched him come closer and look down at Danny. He crouched down and reached a hand out for him.
Suddenly, Orbit’s core began buzzing with alarm and panic. What was he doing? Was he going to hurt him?! Was he reaching for his leg so he could drag him off somewhere?! Orbit quietly took in a deep breath and willed the ectoplasm holding them together to stretch out to make their mouth bigger, ready to let out an ear piercing shriek and drop the invisibility and bite into this man’s arm and--
Old Man reached over Danny and grabbed the blanket. He pulled it over the halfa, then stood back up and walked away, back to where the others lay around the fire. Orbit remained still for a few seconds before pulling themselves back together and hovered over Danny. The hylian had simply put the blanket back where it belong.
Orbit looked back at Old Man for a short while, relieved that he hadn’t done anything and a little confused why they reacted the way they did. They were sure this whole time that these people were nice and could be trusted, so why did they suddenly freak out like that when they saw him get close to Danny? Did they not trust them and didn’t realize it until now?
Whatever the reason, the sun would be up in a few hours. They needed to finish their mission. They looked down at the thermos, still halfway into the pocket, and went back down to finish. After getting it all the way into the pocket, they slipped back into the backpack and made themselves comfortable laying on top of the pajamas Danny had packed. They closed their eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.
Orbit was promptly woken up by their body being moved and squished between the bag and the clothes. They squeaked in surprise, but it was cut off and muffled by the sudden movements. They blinked and wriggled their body between the two walls until they were on top, all the while the world around them seemed to bounce. They looked around and soon realized what was going on. The bag had been lifted up and was now in the usual up-and-down motion.
The wisp calmed down and folded their arms in front of their body. They knew what was going to happen next. They just needed to wait a little longer. It was still really dark outside, but Orbit thought they could see a hint of light. Either it was the sun just barely coming up or Danny’s flashlight. They couldn’t really tell.
After a minute or two of walking, the bag was placed down somewhere.
“Was it unzipped the whole time?” Danny asked. The zipper was pulled over Orbit’s head and the wisp looked up to see Danny looking down at them.”Hey, buddy. Was the zipper open a little the whole night?” He asked in a hushed tone.
Orbit moved half their body up and down in a nod and flew out of the bag. The sky was in the late Blue Hour and there were hints of yellow past the trees, but there wasn’t a whole lot of light. The main source of light was from the flashlight from Danny’s phone. They flew down to where the thermos was and pulled it out of the pocket.
“What are you doing?” Danny asked nervously. Orbit flew down to the ground and set the thermos down. They grabbed the top of the thermos and twisted the top off.”Wait! Don’t--… open it? Where’s the poe?” Danny whispered. He knelt down and set the phone down on the ground.
The light from the flashlight vanished, and all there was now was the very little blue light coming down through the trees, the glow of Orbit’s body, and the ectoplasm in the thermos. He picked the thermos up with a hand and looked at it confused.”Where did this come from?” He asked. Orbit flew up to be at eye level with him and quietly trilled.
“You got some?” Danny asked. Orbit nodded and chirped.“Drink it?” He questioned. Orbit moved half his body up and down in another nod. Danny’s face scrunched up in slight repulsion, but did as they said and took a sip of the ectoplasm. The change happened almost immediately.
The young halfa’s eyes widened and he started drinking more and more as he seemed to realize that he’d been hungrier than he originally thought. Orbit actually started to worry that he’d drink too fast and choke on it. Humans were more prone to that accident than ghosts and it was potentially more dangerous.
Luckily, Danny stopped. Orbit peeked at the ectoplasm. It was still largely full, but had lowered an inch, or two, maybe. He let out a small breath. The relief coming from him now was nice.
“Wow. You were right.” Danny said. He took one more sip, then twisted the thermos shut. He smiled at Orbit.”Where did you even find this?” He asked.
“Hey, Danny! Come on, it’s my turn to spar with you!” Wind called out.
Danny jolted and turned towards the camp.”One second!” He shouted back. He turned to Orbit.”I don’t know where you got this, but thank you. I didn’t know I needed this.” He whispered. Orbit pressed their body against the side of Danny’s face and purred before flying back into the backpack and leaving Danny to do what he needed to do.
Danny now had his fill of ectoplasm and half of a full stomach. Their job was done, for now.
