Danny shrank back into the pillow behind him, shaking slightly. There were just so many people! What if they tried to hurt him? The girl with long brown hair that he had guessed was Mabel hopped forward and gave him a small smile.
"I'm Mabel," she said happily, confirming Danny's suspicions about her name. "And this dork is my younger-by-five-minutes brother Dipper."
The younger, fatter man with buck teeth waved. "I'm Soos."
The two final people other than Wendy spoke. "I'm Stanley, but Stan is fine," the slightly shorter one said. The other one studied Danny for a moment longer, and he trembled underneath his gaze.
"I'm Stanford. But Ford is less confusing."
Danny nodded, only moving his head a fraction.
"I-I'm Danny," he said softly.
Mabel grinned, showing off her blue-and-silver braces. "Wendy told us. Are you hungry?"
Danny blinked. Why did all of these people want his opinion? He was just a no-good freak, who got what he deserved. Realizing that Mabel was still waiting for an answer, he moved his shoulders in a small shrug. Danny was hungry, and he couldn't remember the last time that he had eaten something. But he didn't want them to see him eat. They hardly knew him, so why were they being so nice?
"Awesome! I'll go make you something right now!" Mabel left, mumbling to herself about what she was going to make.
Dipper sighed. "I'll go make sure she doesn't put anything inedible or glittery in it."
He followed after his sister. Danny's shoulders relaxed ever-so-slightly. He was far more comfortable around people younger than him, but there were just too many humans in the room. Wendy noticed his discomfort and made a filcking motion with her hand.
"Shoo," she told the buck-toothed guy (Soos, right?). "There's too many people in here."
He nodded backed out the door. Wendy nodded in satisfaction before turning back to Danny. "I've gotta go now, or my dad will accidentally break my house." The redhead waved to the remaining men in the room. "See you two tomorrow."
When she was gone, Danny stiffened again. He was glad that there were less people in the room, but now he was alone with a pair of men that he didn't know anything about. The shorter one, Stanley, coughed. "Well, this is getting weird."
He walked over to the table-thing and leaned on it, followed by his brother. Danny tensed even more, because now they were uncomfortably close. Stanford elbowed the other man.
"You're scaring him." Stanley backed up. "Sorry."
They stayed that way rather awkwardly for another few minutes. Danny did not relax, because he didn't know if they were just trying to get him to lower his guard before they attacked. Suddenly, there was a loud crash from the hallway. Danny jumped up with a yelp of surprise, falling onto the floor. The Halfa let out a small cry as pain shot through his entire body.
"Whoa there, kid! Be careful!"
Danny felt a hand on his shoulder, and immediately scrambled away into the closest corner. He rocked back and forth, eyes wide as his heart pounded. The ghost boy started to hyperventilate, irises flickering from blue to green and back again.
He was in the lab.
No, he was in an attic room with people who had helped him.
The agents were circling closer and closer, cruel expressions on their faces.
Stanley and Stanford both crouched down, slowly moving closer so that they could calm the hybrid down.
The sea of white coats parted, revealing a pair of familiar outfits.
Danny was trembling now, eyes squeezed shut as several stray tears leaked from them.
Someone slapped him across the face hard enough to send him tumbling to the cold concrete floor.
Dipper and Mabel stuck their heads through the halfway open door.
"Sorry about that," Mabel said sheepishly. "Just a slight miscalculation."
"What happened to Danny?" Dipper asked.
Stanley shook his head. "He got startled and fell, then got scared when we tried to help him up. Now..." he hesitated. "Now I think he's having a flashback."
"That's not good," Dipper gulped. He had done a report about World War II in sixth grade, and knew quite a bit about PTSD.
The whip snapped against Danny's skin, the ectoradium scorching his flesh. He screamed in pain, dark spots dancing across his vision. Just when he thought he might be able to succumb to unconsciousness, a splash of freezing water woke him up.
Mabel tried to get closer, but Stanford held her back.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said grimly. "He's stuck in the past. If something happens to him right now, he might lash out and hurt you."
Danny howled in pain, trying to break free of his bonds as electricity coiled around him.
"Scream all you want, freak." Maddie sneered. "Everyone knows that ghosts can't feel pain like humans can."
The four members of the Pines family watched as Danny twitched and muttered, sweat coating his body. Mabel frowned.
"Isn't there anything that we can do?" She murmured sadly, watching the teen.
Stanley shook his head. "Usually there would, but the kid doesn't trust us yet. We might make it worse if we try to help him out of it."
Finally, after what seemed like forever, Danny's eyes cleared. He winced in pain, touching his chest gently. Dipper ran out of the room at top speed, charging back in with a bottle of pain pills.
"Here. You should probably take..." he checked the label. "About two, maybe three."
Dipper extended his hand. Danny flinched back, looking at the younger boy warily.
"It's okay," Dipper assured him. "I won't hurt you."
The raven-haired teen reached out hesitantly and took the bottle. He opened it and tapped out two capsules, then slowly handed the orange container back. Dipper picked up the glass of water that Danny drank out of earlier, and the older teen swallowed the pain pills.
"There's some soup downstairs for when you're hungry. I even watched Mabel while she made it; one hundred percent safe to ingest." Danny nodded slowly. He felt a bit safer around the brunette twins than the others, except maybe for Wendy. They were smaller than he was, so they simply scared him less. Mabel moved up beside her brother and stretched out her hand, moving slower when he flinched.
"Come on," the girl said quietly, which was no easy feat. "Let's get you back into the bed."
Danny warily accepted her hand, still untrusting of kindness. Mabel lifted him to his feet, showing off surprising strength for a twelve-year-old. Her brother ducked under Danny's other arm for support, and the hybrid froze. But the boy made no move to attack him, and he relaxed as much as he dared. The older pair of twins moved out of the way, and their younger counterparts set Danny on Mabel's bed. The ghost boy curled up beneath the blankets, noticing just how tired he really was. The agents never let him get very much sleep, and when he did it was punctuated with awful nightmares. Just before the others left the room, Mabel grabbed one of her many stuffed animals (the tiger that she'd had since she was five) and held it out to Danny.
"He'll protect you from monsters," she said earnestly. Danny looked at the tiger for a moment before a taking it. Mabel beamed.
"Goodnight Danny," she chirped, before skipping off down the hall.