Chapter Text
"I know you're probably not going to tell me anything, but I'm going to ask anyway." Danny sighed. "You probably already know what I'm going to ask."
Clockwork smiled amusedly at the young Ghost King. "Yes, but go ahead and ask anyway."
Danny narrowed his eyes at Clockwork, mildly annoyed. "Is there any way you can tell me how to use the disk to get Rin home?"
Clockwork smiled cryptically. "You can make natural portals to the Ghost Zone, correct?"
"Uh, yes..." Danny furrowed his eyebrows. "Your point?"
"Red tinted blue, world tinted green, you figure it out, Daniel." Clockwork smiled mysteriously.
Danny sighed. It was the best he was getting out of the Timelord.
"Red tinted blue, world tinted green..." Sam murmured. "I wonder..."
"It's a riddle," Tucker said.
"Well, duh! But what does it mean?!" Danny flopped onto his bed.
"Well, world tinted green...the Ghost Zone is considered another world, right? It's also green." Tucker shrugged.
"Okay, so the Ghost Zone is connected, maybe that's why Clockwork asked about my ability to create natural portals." Danny figured.
"Okay, so a natural portal to the Ghost Zone is needed to get Rin home, but what about red tinted blue?" Sam asked, "What's that mean?"
"Ask Rin?" Danny suggested.
"Probably our best bet." Sam agreed.
Rin hummed as he bit into his sandwich at the lunch table. "So, what's up?"
"I got a few answers out of Clockwork, but they're very vague. We've got that a natural portal to the Ghost Zone is needed, but we can't figure out the other part of the riddle," Danny informed the half demon.
"And this riddle is?" Rin asked.
"Red tinted blue." Tucker piped up.
"Red tinted blue," Rin repeated quietly. "I think I know, although I'm not positive."
"Give us whatever you've got." Sam smiled encouragingly.
"My blood is tinted blue. Since blood is red, then I thought, maybe, my blood would have something to do with it." Rin shrugged.
"That's actually a really good theory, and it makes sense. But what do we do with an ancient, Gehenna artifact, your blood, and a natural Ghost Zone portal?" Danny asked.
Rin whipped a hand above his hair. "That's over my head."
"Pity." Sam sighed.
Tucker shrugged when they turned to him for any ideas and went back to messing with his PDA.
"Do you have the disk?" Rin asked.
Danny nodded. "Yeah."
"Can I see it for a second?" Rin asked.
Danny nodded and pulled the object out of his pocket, handing it to Rin.
Rin eyed the symbol. "If you look closely, you can see that the symbol is engraved slightly, meaning that if you put a type of liquid into it, say blood, it would probably hold a small amount."
"So, you're guessing your blood would go into the engravings?" Sam asked.
"It's a theory," Rin said, "I'm not sure about the Gh-" Rin was cut off as a big hand grabbed the disk away from him.
The four turned quickly to see Dash smiling smugly at the group. "Give it back, Dash!" Sam hissed.
"Why? What's so important about it?" Dash smirked.
"I don't understand why you insist on continuing to annoy me," Rin frowned. "but I'm not in the mood. Just give it back, Dash. It's not yours."
"Like I care. If you want it so badly, fight me for it. Just remember, one more 'slip up', and you're expelled." Dash laughed.
By this time, the whole cafeteria was staring at them.
Rin growled dangerously. "Just give it back. You're playing a dangerous game here, Dash."
"Fine, if you don't want to fight me for it, it's obviously not that important," Dash said, gripping the thin stone disk with both hands.
"Dash, no!" They all yelped, but it was too late.
Dash tried to break the thing, but it glowed brightly and sent Dash flying across the room into a wall.
Tucker caught the artifact before it hit the ground. "Caught it!"
Dash groaned slightly before standing up and glaring at the group. "What the hell was that about?!"
"I told you that you were playing a dangerous game, Dash. It seems you lost." Rin smirked.
Dash clenched his fists. "That freaky stone thing threw me into a wall! I can get you expelled for this!"
"Expelled for what?" Danny asked, "Rin didn't touch you. You took what was his, and you ended up getting hurt, but Rin never laid a hand on you. You can't pin this on him."
"I think I can! The teachers will believe me over you losers any day! They still haven't caught me shoving you losers around all the time, and they won't if I continue to lie to them." Dash laughed.
"Maybe so, but not when we have video proof," Tucker said, holding up his PDA. "I couldn't miss you getting your butt kicked by Rin for a third time if he did lash out, so I got everything on tape."
"That includes your admittance to lying about everything all the time." Sam smirked.
The group smiled at Dash's pale face. "You lost this time, Dash. Hopefully, it won't be the last." Rin smiled dangerously.
Luckily, they were able to pass off the glowing attack as a defense mechanism the Fenton's had installed on the disk. It wasn't impossible, considering the almost impossible feats they had accomplished over the years.
Rin's detention was called off since the staff didn't have a choice unless they wanted to look bad.
Dash received detention for the rest of the year, as to make up for the lies he got away with and the punishments other kids were unfairly given.
At first, the staff was going to give him a week's worth, but when Tucker's video went viral, several parents called the school to complain, and the staff had no choice but to punish Dash more severely.
The rest of the day went by smoothly, aside from Dash's death glares that weren't all that scary.
Lizzy drove up to the school and Rin grinned at her, hopping in. "Hi, Lizzy!"
"You're happy. What happened?" Lizzy asked as she drove towards Eclipse.
"Let's just say, Dash finally got what was coming to him." Rin laughed.
Rin hummed to himself, passing out dishes and taking orders.
"Rin! Table 13 is yours!" One of the chefs called, smiling at the half demon who was so engrossed in his dish.
The teen had really grown on all of them, and even though Lizzy was the only one who knew the truth, the whole staff knew there was something different about Rin, not that it mattered much. The boy had dug his way into their hearts either way.
"Got it!" Rin responded, quickly finishing his dish and handing it to one of the full-time waiters to give to the respected table.
Rin made his way through tables, notepad and pen in hand as he stopped in front of his customers. "Hello, my name is-"
"Rin!" A small voice cheered in joy.
Rin blinked and look at the little girl. "Lilac?"
"Hi! I'm really happy you came back!" Lilac giggled.
Rin cocked his head, confused, but her mother, Helen, merely chuckled. "She means that she's happy you're our waiter again."
"Oh!" Rin realized. "Well, in that case, I'm happy you came back, too!"
"You kept my present!" Lilac laughed as she pointed to the sticker that was under Rin's name tag.
"Yes, I did. Lizzy wasn't too keen on me having something as childish as a sticker on my uniform, but she's just a grump. Stickers aren't childish. In fact, before I moved here, I had a whole bunch of stickers under my bed that I stuck to my brother's uniform. It annoyed him, but I was just being nice." Rin grinned.
Though young, Lilac's brother, Kyle, who was older by a few years, was not as naive as his younger sister. "Sure, nice..."
"It's true!" Rin insisted impishly.
"Yeah, see, Kyle! Stickers aren't just for little girls!" Lilac stuck her tongue out at her older brother.
"Whatever." Kyle rolled his eyes.
"So, what would you like to eat this time, Princess?" Rin smiled.
Lilac laughed at her nickname and ordered, followed by her family.
Lilac's dad, Tyler, sighed and stared at Rin. "I think we got off on the wrong foot last time we were here. I'm sorry for being so cruel towards you when I had no solid proof that you had actually hurt that boy on a whim."
"I did hurt him." Rin raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, but I'm sure you know of the video of that boy confessing. He pushed other kids around, bullied them. I can't say that you had no reason to get angry with him." Tyler shrugged halfheartedly.
"No problem. It happens all the time." Rin waved it off. "I'll be right back with your food."
"It seems that little girl and her family came back." Lizzy smiled knowingly at the blue-tinted, raven-haired boy.
"Yeah, your point?" Rin muttered, searching the cupboards for the appropriate ingredients.
"You like her." Lizzy smiled.
Rin turned around to give Lizzy a weird look. "She can't be older than five, Lizzy."
"Not like that!" Lizzy scowled. "Geez, what goes on in your head?"
"Lots of things, Lizzy. Things your human mind wouldn't be able to handle." Rin smiled bitterly.
Lizzy sighed sadly. "She's like a light, isn't she? So innocent and naive, so young, and it warms your heart that she willingly stood up for you when she probably didn't even understand the actual situation, didn't it?"
"She's a little girl with a bright future ahead of her. Yes, I see someone that I wish I still was, and I enjoy feeling that I still am when she talks." Rin laughed, shaking his head. "I barely even know her."
"You don't have to know someone to feel like that. Besides, I happen to think she thinks otherwise," Lizzy told him.
Rin shook his head and chuckled, but didn't say a word.
When Rin got back to their table and handed them their food, Rin smiled. "Just ask if you need anything."
Lilac's small, pale hand grabbed his large one as he began to walk away. He turned to her, his expression curious.
"Lilac, Rin needs to get back to work," her mother told her.
"I want him to stay and talk!" She whined.
"I would love to, but I have a job to do." Rin smiled at her apologetically.
"No, you don't." A voice sounded behind him.
The family and Rin turned to look at the person.
"Lizzy?" Rin asked.
"Come on, Rin. You work yourself to the bone everyday, and this job is really the only thing you look forward to. It's depressing. You can have a small break." Lizzy smirked.
"But Lizzy-!" Rin spluttered, shocked.
"Rin, you're the only person I know to actually enjoy going back to work. For once, act like a normal teenager and enjoy this. Please." Lizzy begged.
Rin sighed, letting out a puff of breath, his bangs fluttering. "Fine, you win this round."
"Oh, it won't be the last." Lizzy quipped, walking away.
"You can stay now, yeah?" Lilac asked.
"Yes, Princess. I can stay." Rin chuckled.
"Yay!"