Esparia's A/N: Well, stop my heart and call me stiff. You guys liked it?! Admittedly this was pulled from my butt and I'm not satisfied with it, but I wasn't really expecting this much feedback on it. I have a vague vague idea of what I'll do with this but... that's liable to change.

Advice From The Dead

(Of Mice...)

Mikey was about as low on the food chain of high school hierarchy as anyone could be without becoming a complete social pariah. He's been there for as long as he was in school, and public schooling really was the worst when it came to deterring actual bullying. Breaking up fights? Sure, you'd get a teacher or two that'd step in. But when it comes to plain everyday harassment? It was up to him alone to stand up for himself.

He used to stay near the teachers' line of sight so he wouldn't be too physically harmed but things changed when it came to middle school and he was more on his own. He had friends, of course, but they didn't have much power over people. They were pretty much the same rank as him. That was when things started getting worse. He could handle rough treatment in gym or recess, but it changed in focus. The bullies started to realize they needed better grades and either copied or outright stole Mikey's homework. Pantsing also became a thing that just seemed to mark people. It was when there suddenly was this... divide with his classmates.

The high tiered group became more influential, getting good grades through varies means and holding their positions through tyranny and fear. The middle tier didn't associate with the low tier and supported the high tiers. The low tiers were given a few options, become basic punching bags and/or sacrifice their time to the whims of the high tiers.

It was high school that it kinda combined the issues. Geeks were shoved into lockers and pushed around and nerds (who were just slightly above the geeks) would do their bully's homework. They high tiered got boiled down to a handful that were dubbed the A-Listers. They were the apple of the school's eye. They could do no wrong and everything negative about them would be overlooked and swept under the rug. It was unbelievably frustrating.

Let it not be said that he didn't try to fight back... but, after a while, it just seemed pointless. Swirlies, getting shoved into lockers, the humiliation, it never really stopped even when he fought back as hard as he could. If anything, it had gotten worse before stabilizing back to the same old routines.

School, the bullying, life, did any of it matter? Did he even matter?

He wondered that more often then he probably should. He knew, on some level, that he could end it all fairly simply. There were... options at home. There were buildings tall enough.

It was on one of those nights that he got enough guts to even partially go through with a plan. He never went all the way with it. Just looking at how far the ground was beneath him made his feet tingle and he'd chicken out, like the coward he was. Couldn't even take a few steps, what was wrong with him?

So it surprised him when he turned and saw a familiar ghostly figure floating beside him.

Oh he was embarrassed, and one day he'd realize he was also relieved, when he realized he was found out.

The local ghost hero had said he was going to help him. Was going to come over to see him again. Mikey was a nobody, and he knew it. He was nothing, so why would the self proclaimed hero of Amity even bother with someone like him when there were so many other people that could use Phantom's help? But it was kind of him to say. Phantom was kind... or evil, depending on who you listened to.

Still, Mikey wouldn't have held it against the ghost to 'forget' about what he said to Mikey.

Which is why he was so surprised when late a few nights later, Phantom flew into his room.

Well, he supposed anyone would be surprised with the local ghost zooming through their window like it was no more a hindrance than air. Which was why he now lay on the floor, beside his desk, staring at the ceiling like a total doof.

Bright green eyes blocked his view of his ceiling, slight worry but mostly amusement dancing in them. "You good there Mikey?"

He quickly stood up, embarrassed. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why are you here?"

The phantom boy tilted his head to the side, reminding Mikey vaguely of a bird studying a particularly interesting looking bug that they may or may not eat.

"I said I'd come back and check on you, didn't I?" Not waiting for a reply, as none was expected, he continued, "so have you been doing your homework?"

"I just finished."

Danny waved his hand dismissively. "No, no, not that crap school assigns. My homework? Been thinking of those five things?"

Mikey shrugged. "Couldn't really think of anything."

Danny hummed. "Okay, well, can you think of anything for today?"

Mikey shrugged again.

"Surely there was at least one thing that wasn't awful."

Mikey sighed, he supposed the ghost wouldn't leave until he offered up something. "I guess it was nice that Lancer didn't assign anything today."

Danny nodded encouragingly.

"Uh, this morning there was this cloud that kind of looked like a cat, that was neat I suppose? Can't really think of anything else. Sorry."

"No it's okay, man! That was fine for a first go at it. It takes time to get into the groove of it, but hey, what would you say if I kidnapped you for an hour or so?"

"What? Why?"

"I mean, why not? You finish your school work?"

Mikey nodded a bit reluctantly.

"Awesome! Hop aboard and lets get flying."

Mikey hesitated a moment before climbing onto Danny's back. He didn't mind heights, not really. But the fact that the only thing between him and falling to an untimely death was a sometimes corporeal spirit of a dead teen wasn't exactly something that inspired the safe feelings.

The first time he was given a lift, he had been a little to preoccupied with the events from before and the possibility of falling to notice anything else. This time however, he was a little more prepared and so became aware of how cool it was to actually fly.

He could feel the chilly air blow past his face and through red hair, smelling fresher and crisper than the air near the ground. It was oddly exhilarating to fly like this. Like he was on a laid back rollercoaster who's tracks weren't set. It probably helped that the ghost consciously seemed to try to keep and even course towards their destination.

"Where are we going?" He asked the ghost.

"Who knows?" Was Danny's reply. "Wherever we want."

They were headed nowhere. They could go anywhere, actually anywhere. Flying and being able to turn invisible while being able to go through walls would let you go anywhere. As much as he, and Amity as a whole, were getting used to ghosts and ghost attacks it still never really occurred to him that ghosts could go and do anything anywhere at anytime. Sure when the ghosts where there it was obvious how outmatched they were compared to them, even those blobby ghosts.

Yet he never really heard about them doing any vandalizing or stealing. The Fentons were always making a fuss about how ghosts were all mindless evil imprints that were programed with a way of being. Obsessed with one thing or another and not caring who or what they harmed in the process. If that was true, wouldn't at least one of those ghosts sneak into a department store and grab a TV or something? It'd be really easy for them to do, but wouldn't it be noticed or did Phantom stop them from doing that? He'd ask but he didn't know how the ghost would react. It was evident that ghosts were at least more complex then what the Fentons said, or at least the humanoid ones were. Those blobs seemed pretty mindless in their terrorizing.

Phantom himself could be stealing them blind if he wanted, but he didn't seem to do that unless one counted that whole fiasco that involved some circus? He wasn't to sure about that and the details were fuzzy, he hadn't been paying much attention at the time. But he remembers hearing that the ghost heavily denied his part in that, something about mind control and if ghosts were real then why not mind control? So stealing was probably out the door on that, so then what did Phantom even do when he wasn't fighting ghosts? Did he ever even stop or was he always looking for other ghosts? Could he even ask?

"Uh, what... what do you do in your free time?"

Danny craned his neck around to look at Mikey, an uncomfortable angle if he was anyone else. "What? Like my hobbies?"

Mikey shrugged, regretting his decision to say anything but not wanting to return to the awkward silence that was from before. "Sure, you can't be fighting ghosts all the time, right? You'd aught to know some cool places to hangout at or do something, right?"

"Yeah, I hangout with my friends. I do fight a lot but usually nothing too big pops up. I play video games like Doom and stuff, read up on what's new, I like astronomy, and just... ya know, do things? Nothing too interesting I guess, but I know this one place that has good food and the a park's always open. Man, didn't realize how much of my time was spent fighting ghosts until now, haha, I need more hobbies. What about you Mikey? What do you like doing?"

"I play video games and hangout with my friends too, Doom's pretty awesome. I spend a lot of time reading and, well, homework takes a while."

"You're doing one of your bully's homework, right? That's gotta take up a lot of your time."

"Yeah... you probably think I'm pretty lame huh?"

"Nah, you got a brain and use it. I'd say that'd land you as pretty awesome," Danny said.

"But I get bullied and I'm helping my bullies, don't you think-"

"Yeah, that's not the smartest thing for you to do." Danny cut him off. "Empowering them and stuff does you no favors but it doesn't help them too much either. But it's even more of a shame on them for bullying you and it sucks; they have this power over you and you can't feasibly get them to back off. It's wrong of them that they're picking on you and using their status against you. It's not your fault. You're not picking fights with them and they're abusing you and the people they think are 'beneath' them.

"These powers, over the living, I could bully anyone I want but I don't. I mean, getting bullied, it makes you feel like crap, right? It's meant to humiliate the victim to make the bully feel better about themselves. It's a disgusting abuse of power and I refuse to do it. Yeah, I've self indulged and shoved a bully or two in a locker and I regret it. But what does that make me? Where does that leave me? It's an empty victory to pull on over on them and it doesn't really teach them to stop hurting you. Point being you shouldn't take it. They shouldn't dish it out. The teachers should be helping you instead of enabling them.

"You're dealing with an already tough situation and doing the best you can given the problem. However, if you keep letting yourself get beaten down your situation isn't going to change. Stop doing their work, it doesn't help anyone. They never learn the subject and your time is leached away. Talk to a teacher, to the principle or vice principle. If they still brush it off raise a bigger fuss with others backing you. Get a restraining order. There's a lot you can do to help your situation but it's not and never will be your fault that they decided to hurt you. Do you understand that Mikey?"

Mikey nodded unsurely. On some level he did, but it was hard to believe that it wasn't his fault. He got kicked down enough to sort of expect it, but what Phantom said rang true. He just couldn't do it. He wasn't brave and he was scared what would happen if Dash found ever found out.

Danny sighed. "You don't have to do anything right now, it's okay to plan what you want to do. But, remember that you can do something and that being idle won't get you going anywhere. A mouse compared to a human is significantly weaker, but a mouse can still burrow to where a human can't reach. Just because you're the mouse doesn't mean you have to get stepped on. Hm? But it's a bit late, I'll drop you off, maybe we could hang out in the park this weekend?"

Mikey smiled. "Sure, and... thanks Phantom."

"No problem, dude!"