Human Nature
Second in the Magik Trilogy
By GirlX2
"Take my advice, when you meet anything that's going to be Human and isn't yet, or used to be Human once and isn't now, or ought to be Human and isn't, you keep your eyes on it and feel for your hatchet." Mr. Beaver, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
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I own Neither the RGB, or Mr. Beaver. This is the second in what will hopefully be a trilogy of stories, and the sequel to 'Pete the Magik Dragon'. (So, if you haven't read that, your going to be very lost...)There's also a nod to the venomently anti-E/J-ers, althoghI don't feel that way myself. I'm neurtal. Anway,enjoy!
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Chapter the First
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It had been so long, but at last, they were back. They were venerable. But best of all, the young one was ready to turn.
She smiled and faded into the darkness.
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Peter slowly sat up, his heart sinking. His gaze traveled across the darkened bedroom to where Egon lay sleeping. The blond was deep within REM sleep. Were it not for the overwhelming feeling of terror that had permeated his brain, Peter would have suspected it was a peaceful slumber. He stood, and walked quietly across the room as not to wake the other men.
'Damnit! It's been nearly a month since he's had an episode.' Peter placed a hand on the sleeping scientist's forehead. Egon twitched slightly, a soft moan escaping his lips.
Peter closed his eyes, waiting for the familiar gold thread to appear. It did, and he followed it to the lab door; the gateway into Egon's mind. He opened the door, stepped forward, and let his ethereal dragon wings guide him to the floor. As he did, the brunette reflected over the last six months.
Egon's recovery from their trip to the past had been extremely rough. After spending a simulated year trapped with the horrors created by Merdaf, he was deeply scarred. He hadn't spoken aloud for nearly a month afterwards. Peter, trained therapist that he was, eventually managed to coax the blond back to verbal speech. He'd been using telepathic communication during the interim.
Egon's telepathic ability had continued to grow, even after he'd started talking again. Like Peter, he could communicate telepathically. In addition to that he was also an empath, capable of transmitting and perceiving emotions (thus Peter's alert to Egon's dreams). It had helped in the recovery as Peter was able to clearly sense-
'Hell, I was bombarded with his emotions'. Peter thought. It had taken some time before Egon was able to keep his emotions to himslef, let alone block other's. He'd managed to shield himself by using psycic walls. They'd discovered that talent one day when Egon wasn't in a particularly talkative mood, and Peter found himself locked out of his friend's mind. He suspected it wouldn't be long before Egon could use psychic blows like Merdaf had.
Peter landed softly on the gray floor. Slowly he looked around, bracing himself for the worst. Even though Merdaf was dead, the effects of his attacks still occasionally caused Egon to experience horrific images while he slumbered. It was entirely possible that he may see his friends-and himself-being tortured.
Once at Egon's request, he'd tried letting Egon sleep though the nightmares. Egon was able to wake up, but afterwards he'd stopped talking for another week. They decided until a permanent cure could be found, Peter would internally wake Egon from the dreams.
Terrified cries met the brunet's ears, snapping him out of his trip down short-term memory lane. He hurried towards the sound.
What must have been a six year old Egon came into view. A monstrous parody of his father loomed over the blond child, screaming at him. Peter winced. He'd hardly ever seen Egon attacked. Generally, Egon was forced to watch the others suffer.
"Its time for you to stop all this Boogeyman nonsense, and grow up!" Mr. Spengler yelled. Egon cowered against a wall, tears streaming down his face.
'Father issues. That's a new one.' Peter thought grimly.
"Egon." Peter said, stepping into his line of vision.
"Peter?" Egon asked, snuffling back tears. The father-monster was still yelling, but the 'volume' had been turned down.
"Yeah." Peter said.
"Damn." Egon growled in a very un-childlike manner. As he did, his father disappeared, and he rapidly grew back to adulthood.
"That was a first." Peter's eyebrow rose. "Usually don't see your Dad 'round these parts."
"He called today. It wasn't pleasant." Egon got to his feet. "He ended the call screaming that I needed to 'Grow up and stop wasting my time with Ghostbusters.' I guess that's what triggered this."
"Well, at least its over with." Peter said cheerily, preparing to leave Egon's mind.
Egon sighed. "It's been over a month since I had one of these dreams! I thought, perhaps…"
Peter placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know, but we all knew it would take some time for you to recover."
"I can't go thought the rest of my life needing you to come save me." Egon said, a tad sourly.
"As soon as we get a hold of that book Dena told me about, I won't need to." Peter reminded him, as they approached the now-grounded door.
" 'The Tome of the Unknowable'? Ray's been chasing after it for months. I seriously doubt it even exists anymore." Egon slid his glasses up his nose.
"Well, this is neither the time nor the place to discuss it. We can discuss this in the morning if you'd like." Peter switched effortlessly into 'therapist mode'.
"Not necessary Peter, but thank you." Egon dredged up a smile. "Since I know what triggered this, therapy would be irrelevant."
"Then I'll let you go back to normal sleep." Peter said as he exited Egon's mind. His 'real' eyes opened, revealing the still-sleeping Egon. Peter nodded, satisfied, and returned to his own bed.
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Ray stirred his coffee quietly as Egon and Peter came down the stairs. He watched the two as they conversed psychically. Egon's eyebrows rose, and Peter began to laugh aloud.
"Hey guys." Winston nodded at them over his paper.
"Hey Zedd." Peter grinned.
'Good morning.' Egon cleared his throat. "Sorry. Good morning."
"Its cool." Winston went back to his paper. He'd long become used to such oddness.
Ray nodded, but said nothing. He watched as Egon and Peter resumed their telepathic repertoire. He frowned slightly.
'Don't they know its rude to have private conversations in front of other people?' He thought sourly.
"What's up for today?" Winston asked.
"The usual. A few class threes, some class twos." Ray answered mechanically.
"Any luck on tracking down The Tome?" Pete asked.
Ray shook his head. "I've followed it as far as being stolen from the Vatican, but I don't know what happened to it after that."
"I doubt you'll ever track it down Ray. It would be nearly impossible, seeing as you can't figure out what the thief did with it." Egon said nonchalantly. "Besides with Peter's help, I'm nearly-"
"I'll find it, Egon." Ray's voice had gone cold. "With enough time, I've tracked down every book we've ever needed."
"Alright Ray." Egon said, a note of surprise in his voice.
"We're not gonna accomplish anything if we just hang around here all day. Let's get moving." Winston folded his paper.
"I'll join you at the Ectomobile in a moment." Egon replied, and walked down the spiral staircase.
Winston grinned at the other men. "Ever since we got back, he's been pretty attentive to Janine."
"Yeah, that's putting it nice." Peter chuckled.
"Can we please go five minutes without discussing Egon and Janine?" Ray slammed his coffee cup onto the table. "It's not that interesting! She's been flirting with him for five years, its about damn time he did something."
There was a stunned silence.
"Take it easy Ray, we're just kidding around." Peter finally managed.
"Don't tell me to take it easy Peter. You've been riding me about that damn book for the last six months, and I'm getting sick of it." Ray growled. "I've got enough on my plate just doing daily repairs on the Ectomobile, without running errands for you and 'lover boy' down there."
"Now wait a minute-" Peter began.
"You wait a minute. I'm going to load the gear." Ray started down the stairs.
"Stantz, whatever the hell's wrong with you, you'd better get over it!" Peter yelled after him.
"What the heck is wrong with him lately?" Winston stared in amazement.
"I don't know, and I don't care." Peter said angrily. "He's been acting like a jerk for a week now, and I'm sick of it."
Winston shook his head and started downstairs.
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There was an uncomfortable silence as the Ghostbusters traveled homeward from their last job of the day. Egon mentally asked Peter what was wrong, and sent him a questioning emotion, but the brunette simply shook his head. Egon began to hum 'Don't worry be Happy', causing the younger man to laugh.
"You two want a room?" Ray grumbled gruffly from the drivers seat.
"Just drive the car Stantz." Peter shot him a harsh look.
'Peter, did something happen with Ray?' Egon was whispering, even thought the thoughts could only be heard by Peter.
'He's being a jackass, ignore him.' Peter replied curtly.
Egon sighed aloud.
"And don't think I don't know you're talking about me." Ray said in a frosty tone. "Just because you've got that freaky mind-link, you're no better than the rest of us."
"Ray, SHUT THE HELL UP!" Peter yelled, his breaking point reached.
"YOU shut the hell up!" Ray turned to face Peter.
"Lookout!" Egon yelled, pointing.
Winston watched, terrified, as the car headed straight for a telephone pole. He threw his hands up, to brace for impact. There was a soft jolt, as the car hit something and gently bounced backwards.
As Winton lowered his hands, the car rolled backwards to a slow stop.
"Is everybody okay?" The dark man managed.
"Uh, yeah." Ray said.
"Yes, I think I'm alright." Egon said shakily. "Peter?"
"Yeah, I'm okay." Peter unsnapped his seatbelt and got out of the car. "What stopped us? We didn't hit the pole!"
The men got out and examined the undamaged car. Egon frowned slightly and traced the bumper with his fingers.
"This is very odd. Something prevented us from hitting that pole. We didn't come close."
"I didn't see anything." Winston volunteered.
"We all know Ray didn't see anything." Peter said darkly.
"If you and Spengler hadn't been so busy giggling like schoolgirls, maybe I could have concentrated on the road." Rage burned within the red-haired man. He clenched his fist, wanting very badly to punch Venkman.
'He'd your best friend!' A small voice protested in the back of his head. Whether it was Egon talking to him or his own inner voice, he didn't care. He growled.
An incredulous look crossed Peter's face.
"Did you just growl at me? Stantz, you're psycho!"
"Guys, its been a stressful week, lets just-Ray, NO!"
Egon was cut off as Ray rushed at Peter, fists balled. Peter stood his ground, eyes narrowing.
"STOP!" Winston bellowed, his hands out. Ray seemed to slow slightly, but still hit Peter's gut. Peter, expecting a slight blow from the other man, was thrown backwards several feet. He gasped, winded.
'Peter!' Egon's anguished cry rang through everyone's minds. He was instantly at the psychologist's side.
Winston rushed forward, grabbing Ray in a bear hug. "Ray, stop!"
Ray twisted in the grip. He growled, fighting the darker man like an animal in a trap. Winston's eyes widened as Ray slowly worked his way free.
"Ray, listen to me, something is wrong with you!" Winston pleaded. Ray snarled at him, spinning, trying to free himself.
Peter watched the two struggling men as Egon helped him to his feet.
'Peter, are you alight?' Egon's concern flooded the psychologist.
'I'll be okay, but something is definitely wrong with Ray.' Peter tried to shake off the alien feeling.
Ray finally threw Winston off. He spun to face the older man, teeth barred. Winton put his hands out.
"Ray, its me. Its Zedd." Winston said in a calm tone. "Something is wrong with you. Think it out."
A look of confusion and panic crossed the red-head's face. He suddenly seemed unsure of himself.
"Ray." Winston said soothingly. "Let us help you."
'Its okay Ray.' Egon slowly approached the man. At the mental intrusion, Ray grabbed his ears and began to whimper. He sank to his knees.
"Ray." Peter said quietly. Ray sank to the ground, shaking. "Ray, its gonna be alright. We can-"
Ray yowled inhumanly. The other Ghostbusters stepped back at the horrifying sound.
"Egon, what's going on?" Winston said, alarmed.
'I don't know!' Egon, in his panic, had reverted to telepathy. 'Peter, what do we do?'
"I don't know." Peter half whispered. His eyes were fixed on the youngest Ghostbuster.
Ray was aware that there were voices around him, but he no longer cared. Agony flooded him. Pain wracked his body, causing him to spasm erratically. His blood was fire. His skin was ice. He heard the others yell, but couldn't open his eyes. The terrified man rocked on the ground, filled with pain, fear; and lingering rage. He howled again, the sound more beastly than human.
Then, in an instant, the pain was gone. He opened his eyes, staring to the terrified faces of his friends. As he got to his knees, the others quickly backed away. Peter's green eyes widened in a curious kind of horror.
Ray's gaze traveled to his hands, splayed in front of him on the ground. Long nails-claws really-dug trenches in the ground. Fur that began nearly at his fingertips traveled up his arms, disappearing under the cuffs of his uniform. Ray gasped.
'Ray?' Egon's mental voice startled the terrified man. He leapt nimbly to his feet, and began to run.
"Ray, no!" Winton's yell followed the younger man. He heard the others running after him. They were to slow, though. He could easily outrun them now.
Whatever 'now' meant.
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End of Chapter the First