Work Text:
Danny
Febuary 28th 2017
Richie 6:27pm
Hey Danny when are you getting home from Pizza Petes?
It's getting awfully late and Trev wants us to watch a musical w him tonight
Richie 6:58pm
Danny?
Dan
Dan
Daniel
DAAANNN
Trev is yelling at me where r u???
Richie 7:18pm
Danny
Danny its getting late can you come home?
Im getting worried it's dark out
Paul's home already
Richie 7:25pm
We're coming to pick you up
Paul says the mom of that kid whos birthday it is says your phone didnt die so i dont know what your playing at, Daniel
I'm getting worried
Richie 7:36pm
Daniel
Danny what the fuck does this lady mean you've been picked up already???
Where are you Danny???
Did you get fucking kidnapped???
Please respond
danny
Im scared
Richie 9:48pm
Dan weve been looking for you for hours can you charge your phone already and tell whoevers house your at to call paul
Danny im scared
Richie 10:23pm
Pauls put out a missing report
All this shenenaniganery
Your missing now
Haha
Its nit funny anymore, dan, please come home
Richie 11:28pm
If you cant respond but you can see this, me and Ruth are looking for you downtown
Trevor and Rudy are looking round the witchwood
Ted and Pete are driving around uptown
If youre somewhere at a friend that i dont know abouts house uptown can you look out the window for Teds car?
Or come to the edge of the witchwood?
Richie 11:46pm
Im back at home
Please come back Danny im scared
Paul said he called everyone he could think of and theres no sign of you where the hell did you go
Danny you know Hatchetfeild isnt safe at night
Please dont be dead
Im scared Danny
Febuary 29th 2017
Richie 9:42am
Danny
Danny im scared where are you
I cant wait until later today when you come back from your friends house and tell me your phone died and then we can all laugh about how scared i was
Please come home, Danny
Trevor
Febuary 29th 2017
Richie 10:12am
Have you any sign of him
Trevor 10:12am
No
Is he answering you?
He's not responded to any of us
Richie 10:13amNo
For fucks sake
Im so scared, Trevor
Trevor 10:14am
I know, Rich
It'll be okay
We'll find him
I think Paul is just about coming out of the station about now
Richie 10:15am
???
???what???
Trevor 10:15am
Oh, yeah, you left at 9 I forgot
Paul got called into the station to give better information about Danny
Like where he could be, people he was with, stuff like that
Richie 10:16am
Trev ive only been out for an hour how did you forget
Trevor 10:16am
Ha ha
Paul says we should meet at Miss Retros at lunch
He's gone to beanies to collect that barista of his and then rounding the long way to Miss Retros
We're meeting Duke there
Richie 10:17am
Oh, yeah, Duke
I forgot he was like, THE guy to talk to this about
Danny
Febuary 29th 2017
Richie 12:07
*image attached*
(image description: selfie taken by Richie at a window booth in Miss Retros. Outside of the window, the parking lot and witchwood forest is visible. On the left booth of the table sits Duke Keene, Emma and Ruth. On the Right sits Paul, Trevor and Richie. The booth behind the left seat sits Pete and Ted, who are both leaning over the seat and facing the group.)
At Miss Retro's!!
Come meet us if you see this
This is going on your file so you better get here if you dont want your reputation tarnished
Duke just told me to delete that
Richie 1:00pm
Still @ miss Retros
We'll be here for another hour or two so can you tell ur kidnaper to bring you to miss Retros
Richie 5:44pm
Please, Danny
We've been looking all day
Please come back home
I miss you, Danny
-----
March 1st 2017
Richie 1:11pm
Hi, Danny
I hope you've seen the posters they put up
Me and Trev have been stopped, like, 20 times by people thinking we're you
Look at this
-*image attached*-
(image description: a missing poster for Daniel Lipschitz, aged 10. The photo used is a school photo taken on picture day of last year. Daniel looks upset with his predicament and is wearing a stained, zip up hoodie. His hair is cut choppily and uneven.)
I remember how pissed you were that day haha
It was only a few months ago, though, so.
I remember how pissed you were that morning at mine and Trevors aproximation of a hair cut
And that Paul wouldn't let you wear your headband
And that you stained your favourite hoodie
I miss you
Please come home
March 5th 2017
Richie 10:01am
*video attached*
(video description: a clip from the hatchetfeild news, recorded by hand in the Matthews family living room. An on the hour emergancy missing child report for Daniel Lipshitz. On the screen in the image from the missing poster. Donna, from the news, explains that he was last seen at a party at Pizza Pete's, and last seen with a man in a cowboy hat and leather jacket)
Your yearbook photo that you hate is on the news
Please come home, Danny
Groupchat
March 11th 2017
Paul 10:10am
Hello all, this groupchat is meant for discussing and updating about Daniels whereabouts
Richie 10:10am
Great timing
I was actually gonna head out just now
Trevor 10:10am
Is Ruth coming with you?
Richie 10:11am
No, her and Pete are at Tap
Paul 10:11am
Richie, I don't want you going alone.
Bill Woodward 10:12am
Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea, Richie.
Alice 10:12am
I could go with you, Rich
I only just got back to Hatchetfeild so i dont have to go back to school until next week
Richie 10:13am
Thanks Alice
I was gonna go to Pizza Pete's and check the security footage
Alice 10:13am
Great plan ^.^
I'll be at yours in 10
Paul 10:13am
Be safe, Kids.
Daniel
March 23rd 2017
Richie 10:00am
I miss you
Please come back home
April 17th 2017
Richie 4:55pm
Im scared
May 14th 2017
Richie 6:52pm
Please come home, Danny, I miss you
July 22nd 2017
Richie 9:07am
Where did you go?
September 19th 2017
Richie 3:22pm
Please come back home
October 30th 2017
Richie 8:44pm
Please dont be dead
November 14th 2017
Richie 8:00am
Happy birthday, Dan
What's being 11 like?
I miss you
Please come home
December 31st 2017
Richie 11:52pm
Happy new years, Danny
January 15th 2018
Richie 10:15am
Where did you go?
Febuary 28th 2018
Richie 7:62am
Im sorry
Im so fucking sorry
I shouldnt have let you go to that party alone
You didnt even wanna go in the first place
Tap with Ruth and Pete wasnt worth loosing my baby brother
Im so sorry
You asked me to go with you and I didnt
Im so sorry
Please come back home
Im sorry
Im so fucking sorry
Please dont be dead
Please
Please, Danny, please dont be dead
Just respond
Please
Just once respond
Please
Please
April 18th 2018
Richie 3:49pm
Ruth got rid of her tap shoes
She got diagnosed with anxiety
I miss you
June 26th 2018
Richie 10:00am
Please come back
Danny
August 23rd 2018
Richie 9:06pm
Ted finaly saved up enough to get Pete both hrt and an insulin pump
Isnt that cool?
Haha
Please Danny
September 9th 2018
Richie 4:50pm
Please dont be dead
November 14th 2018
Richie 8:00am
Whoohoo!!
12 years old!
How does it feel, Danny?
Not like you could tell me at all.
Your gifts from this year and last year are on your bed as usual
(don't tell Paul i told you this, but he got you this cool watch)
I miss you
Please come home
Happy birthday
January 1st 2019
Richie 12:00am
Happy new years, Danny
I hope you can see the fireworks from wherever you are
Febuary 28th 2019
Richie 10:00
Its officialy been two whole years of non stop daily searching
Well, some stop, for school.
I always get so anxious that while im in algebra or a locker youre out there somewhere, somewhere i could be finding you, and i'm not.
You know, Paul and Emma are together now!
Paul spends his work breaks searching for you with Emma instead of going to beanies
I wish you could see it
Theyre so lovey dovey usualy
I think Emma might move in soon
Either that or she's gonna officially start that pot farm in the witchwood
I miss you
August 7th 2019
Richie 10:35pm
We miss you
September 12th 2019
Richie 3:22pm
I love you
November 14th 2019
Richie 8:00am
Happy 13th!
I hope youre okay
I hope you made it
I hope youre alive
Your gifts are on your bed
I love you Danny
I miss you
January 1st 2020
Richie 2:22am
Happy new years, Danny
I hope youre alive
Im sorry
Febuary 28th 2020
Richie 5:43am
Im sorry
I cant do this anymore
I miss you so much
Im so sorry
I cant do this
I cant
------
Unknown number
August 17th 2021
Unknown number 3:46pm
Hey bananah!
Does your new phone work?
You called unknown 3:48pm
lasted 00:01:33
Hannah 3:49pm
Am i doing it right?
Unknown number 4:00pm
Yeah, youre doing it, naner!
Hannah 4:01pm
Banana
Unknown number 4:01pm
Yeaaaahhh
Banana
Hannah 4:02pm
Bnana
How do i change you from unknown
Unknown number 4:03pm
Go to your contacts list, then the icon the the corner, then edit contacts, then my number
Hannah 4:08pm
Did i do it?
Ethan 4:08pm
I dont know, you tell me!
Hannah 4:09pm
I djd it!
Ethan 4:10pm
You did it, banana!
Well done!
Sorry your phones so old
Its much easier to type on phones with no buttons
Hannah 4:13pm
It doesnt bother me
Im just glad i can call you and Lexi if i need to
Hannah picked at her cast, eyeing the missing posters beside the boarded up door by the rollerama.
A snow white spider crawled over that of Daniel Lipschitz's poster. Missing on Febuary 28th, 2017.
Hannah wondered what Webby was trying to tell her.
She sat beside Ethan and this 'Eddie Chiplucky' guy.
The announcer yelled over the speakers and Ethan covered Hannah's ears for her. She looked up at him and nodded in thanks.
Out of one door of the roller rink, stepped out a boy, about Hannah's age, in a black vest with the sigil of an hourglass on the back, a blue jacket and a blue headband.
Out the other door stepped a girl, one or two years Hannah's senior wearing a red biker jacket, an orange crop top, orange gloves and flame shaped sunglasses
They were introduced as Stopwatch and Spitfire, and then started fighting.
Mr. Chiplucky seemed to be rooting for Stopwatch
During the fight, just before Stopwatch would 'teleport', Hannah would feel a disturbance. A feeling too hard to describe, but was related to Webby's brothers.
Stopwatch could stop time, Hannah found out.
And he had to hold his breath to do it
Spitfire won, not on her own, of course, she used Hannah's help.
She was so cool.
Hannah wanted to be just like her.
Lexi
October 8th 2021
Lexi 4:46pm
I'm sorry I missed your 14th birthday, Hannah.
Hannah 4:47pm
I know, you've said
And I forgive you
Lexi 4:48
I still feel bad
Oops
Gotta go
Boss is coming in
Hannah 4:49pm
Bye Lexi!!
Hannah laced up her boots, and adjusted her hat, flipping her phone closed.
She closed her locker slowly, not wanting to squish the fuzzy, white spider crawling on the inside of the door.
When she closed it, Stopwatch greeted her.
No, not Stopwatch.
The boy from the poster.
The poster with the spider, from when she watched her first fight.
Daniel Lipschitz.
And he introduced himself as such.
And they had a nice chat
And she won the fight against Spitfire,
And she won the money
And she skated for the first time with two new friends.
And she gained two new numbers for her fresh new phone with no buttons
Primary colour gang
Febuary 27th 2021
Hannah 5:33pm
Hey Daniel are you excited for your next match tmrw?
Sophie 5:34pm
Yeah, aint you going against that Starship kid or smthn
Daniel 5:34pm
Its Starboard it think
Or Starward?
Or North Star?
You know how I am with my memory
Sophie 5:35pm
It's cause you hold your breath so much, Timepiece
Daniel 5:36pm
Yeah, I freakin know that, Matchbox
Hannah 5:36pm
Ok guys chill out
Daniel 5:37pm
But uh no not really
Im not that excited
From the Match i almost missed they seem to be able to beat my ass
Hannah 5:38pm
Awe
Im sure youll do great, Daniel :)
Sophie 5:38pm
We'll be rooting for you behind the doors Timepiece
Hannah smiled at her phone, at the nice messages Ethan and Lex were sending her. She put her phone in her locker and closed it, waiting for Daniel to start convorsation like he usualy does.
Instead, there was no Daniel.
He wasn't even on the bench
She called out his name into the locker room
No one answered
,but,
She heard sniffling coming from the boys changing rooms
She walked to the door, her knee high sneakers clicking against the hard, concrete flooring.
She called out his name again, this time telepathically.
Her senses showed he was definitely in there.
She called out a warning before opening the door and going in
In front of her, sitting on a bench, was Daniel, wearing his costume and crying while holding his phone.
She called out his name again, and he startled, red rimmed eyes darting to look at her.
She sat next to him, asking what was wrong.
And so, he started to explain.
It was Febuary 28th 2017.
Daniel was at a birthday party. One of those parties thrown by someone in your class who you don't know very well, but who's mom insisted they invite the whole class.
Danny didn't want to go, but his uncle, Paul, insisted. Saying it would socialise him more.
Not wanting to be alone the whole party, he had invited his brothers, but Richie, his older brother, said he couldn't go because he was practising tap at his friends house. Trevor, his eldest brother, said he couldn't go, cause he had to do theatre rehearsals.
So Danny went alone.
The party was held at Pizza Pete's.
Unarguably, the Pizza there is shit, the soda is always warm and the carpet usualy smells like wet cheese and grease, so the only thing he really wanted to do was play at the arcade.
He had set his eyes on two of the prizes, a little Popplio keychain for 9000 tickets, and a CD player for 10,000 tickets. Altogether 19,000 tickets. Shouldn't be too hard.
He had decided to go the the easiest machine for him to win. The cyclone. A four player jackpot wheel kind of game.
There was no one playing at any of the buttons, so he picked the furthest one over, put in four coins, (Paul gave him five dollars to put into usable coins) and focused.
Without the Mind Milk, Daniel's power isn't nearly as strong or staight forward.
With the Mind Milk, he holds his breath, everything everywhere stops. Without the Mind Milk, it only stops in a smal area around him, the area changing size depending on how many things there were to stop, and everything else, everywhere else, slowed down.
But, If he focused hard enough, he could slow time around him aswell.
So he took a deep breath, and watched the glowing light slow to a snails pace.
He held his hand over the button,
And he exhailed, letting time move back to the way it was as the machine Dinged, whirled, and celabrated.
He moved the next button, took a deep breath,
And won again.
By the end of the hour he collected all of his tickets, put them through the machine, and went to get his brothers the gifts he planned to get.
When he had reached the counter to check in his ticket receipt, the guy at the counter looked skeptical
Before they could call security (on a ten year old???), a man with a gold tooth, a cowboy hat and a leather jacket calls them off. He had introduced himself as Eddie Chiplucky.
He had explained that there were other kids like Daniel.
Other kids with a touch of the gift.
He had explained to Daniel of a place he could go, to meet these kids
And win money.
It wasn't like he needed the money, it's just.. I would be nice for his family to be a bit more comfortable.
To not have uncle Paul working late every day to support them.
So he went.
Eddie took him into the back of a limousine, and then to the old Hatchetfeild Rollerama.
Daniel vaugely rememembered going there when he was three, he didn't skate, of course, but his brothers did. And his mother, he thinks.
Instead of rollerskating though, it was a fighting ring.
It looked so cool.
A guy who could fly against a girl who could kick fire.
He wanted in.
So he asked, and Eddie delivered.
He did his first fight that same day, against the flying boy from before.
And he won.
It was awesome...
But it came with a price
He knew no one in his family would let this happen.
But he had found a place here..
With people his age, people like him.
And so Eddie gave him a propsition. As his 'handler', which is the title given to those who schedule the fights, he could give him a place to stay outside of his house. A new life.
And so he accepted.
Because he was Ten.
And stupid.
He was moved to live in an apartment with two other roomates and would be checked on every other day, to make sure he wasn't dead, and he had moved school's
And he wasn't allowed to talk to his brothers.
He got texts every day. EVERY DAY. About how worried they were, and about how they wanted him to come home,
And as he grew up, he wanted that too.
The fights were thrilling, they were awesome, he had finally found a place he belonged, but he didn't have his brothers with him.
They had searched, every day.
Every single day.
For him.
And he couldnt go back.
Cause some kids needed this lifestyle.
They needed this lifestyle, cause anywhere else wasn't safe for them.
And he was on the news. If Daniel went back, everyone would know about the Rollerama, about the fights, about everything.
It was unavoidable.
So he had to stay here. He had to stay here and watch his brothers lives through a phone messaging app.
And today was the fifth anniversary of his first ever fight.
One year ago, Richard Lipschitz gave up hope.
He had gave up on ever finding his baby brother.
He had started skipping school, not paying attention in class,
He felt empty.
And Daniel was probably dead.
He was in algebra, staring at the clock. School had threataned to expell him with how many days he had missed over time. Back in 2017 when he took a break for a few weeks, and now,
The clock was ticking slowly
So, so slowly.
And Richie just wanted to go back to his bed.
He listened to the clock ticking
And watched the hands stop moving
Wait, what?
Tick tock tick tock tick tock
The clock ticked
Tick tock tick tock tick tock
But the hands didn't move.
And when he looked around,
Nobody was moving.
It was like they were...
Frozen in time...?
But... That can't be.. Can it?
Richie got up from his chair, the sound echoing loudly against the dead silence
He walked into the hallway,
And then was immediately bowled through by a boy in a blue jacket.
He cried out in pain as he hit the floor, hard.
The boy infront of him, red faced as if he had been holding his breath, wheezed and apologised.
Then they made eye contact.
And it was him.
It was Danny.
He had found his baby brother.
Danny started speaking, his eyes growing wet with tears,
"I'm so sorry."