HOLY CRAP YOU GUYS! I ask for ten reviews, and I get nearly double! Y'all are the fricken best!
Also, fair warning: finals are coming up, and thus, I might have enough time to write in the upcoming weeks. But I might stupidly procrastinate like I always do so who knows.
Anyways, enjoy! (*cackles evilly*)
Chapter 9
It all happened so quickly.
To Stan's shock and alarm, Danny collapsed as something around the house flared blue, and Ford rounded on his brother with terror flashing in his eyes.
"What have you brought here?!" he demanded, pushing Stan roughly against the wall of the foyer. "What is he?! I made sure anything supernatural couldn't enter my home!" The word "supernatural" was spat with such vitriol, disgust, and horror, that Stan briefly wondered what his brother had encountered, before he pushed that to the back of his mind. The slightly shaking hands gripping his collar and the wild, wide-eyed look Stan had in his eyes was more important. And, most importantly, what was wrong with Danny?!
Stan glared back and quickly shoved his brother off. "He is a good friend of mine, and none of your business!" he snarled back, before he quickly rushed over to Danny. "Hey, Casper, you doin' okay?" he asked urgently, patting the halfa's face, and Danny groaned, before his tan skin drained of color.
He weakly pushed himself up into a sitting position, and stared at his hands with dawning anxiety in his eyes. "I can't feel it anymore," he whispered worriedly to Stan. "It's – it's gone."
"Casper?" Stanford asked in confusion, fear, and wariness, "But you said your name was Danny–" Realization crossed the researcher's face, and suddenly, both Stan and Danny were staring down the glinting end of the crossbow again. "You brought a person possessed by a ghost into my home?! And you knew, Stanley?!"
"Not possessed," Stan corrected sourly, ignoring his brother's second question and the hurt that accompanied it (and briefly marveled at how his brother was so quick on the uptake – even if he was slightly off with his deduction). With a shake of his head, he helped Danny back onto his feet.
"Half," Danny sighed, before he shook out his limbs. He still felt as weak and shaky as the day he had his powers zapped from him by Vlad, back in his high school days. "I'd rather not say."
"I don't think you have much choice in the matter," Stanford growled dangerously.
Both Stan and Danny traded worried glances. Despite the expression on Danny's face, he color seemed to be returning, and Stan took that as a good sign. Slowly, the conman relaxed, but he still kept a wary eye on his friend's condition. He met Danny's eye, and he shrugged.
'It's your call,' said the shrug, and after a moment, Danny heaved a defeated sigh.
"Fine," Danny reluctantly grumbled, leaning against a nearby wall for support. "My name is Danny Fenton, and my parents' research into the paranormal accidentally turned me into a half-ghost, or halfa, if you will. Happy?"
"What are you doing here?!" Stanford demanded aggressively, and Stan groaned at his Ford's paranoia.
"Calm down, Poindexter, he's here because of me!" he snapped, and knocked the crossbow out of his twin's hands. "I wanted him to come with me. Besides, he's one of the most morally uptight ghosts I've ever met in my life. Never lets me have any fun," he finished with a grumble.
"Not my fault you can't go two miles before you try and pick someone's wallet," Danny replied, and he exchanged a small, cheeky grin with Stan.
Ford watched their interaction with wide, cautious eyes, before he sighed and gestured for them to follow him further into the house. "Fine. I'm trusting you on this, Stanley," he shot over his shoulder in a frigid tone, and immediately, Stan's tentative good mood vanished.
"Sheesh. Maybe you wanna explain what's going on here?" Stan demanded, trailing after his twin, and with a grimace, Danny quickly followed. He didn't like what was going on, and he liked it even less to not have his ghost powers as backup. "You're acting like mom after a tenth cup of coffee."
Not to mention that the entire house looked like a mad scientist's dream.
"Listen, there isn't much time to explain," Stanford muttered rapidly, gathering up a pile of papers and a red and gold book. "I've made terrible mistakes, and I don't know who I can trust anymore." He paused, and twisted the head on a nearby skeleton away from him. Man, talk about really paranoid – and scared. Really scared, Danny noted. He was acting like the halfa, when Danny returned back to the US after World War II.
"Hey, easy, let's talk this through," Stan soothed. He looked really alarmed at his brother's erratic behavior, and he carefully laid a hand on his twin's shoulder.
Danny watched Ford soak in the moment of comfort – just a moment – before he twisted around, and Stan dropped his hand.
"I have something to show you," he said, with a suspicious glance at Danny. "Something you won't believe."
Stan huffed, and rolled his eyes. "Look, I've been around the world, and I've met Casper the Friendly Ghost over there," he said, jabbing a thumb at Danny. Said halfa snorted at the nickname. "Anything you say, I'll understand."
Ford nodded, and fixed piercing brown eyes on Danny, still sharp and suspicious despite the bags beneath them. "And you?"
Danny flashed Ford a weak, reassuring grin. "Dude, I'm half ghost, and from the year 2012 in another dimension," he told the twin, whose eyebrows shot up in surprise at the new information. "I'm sure it won't be as surprising as what I've been through."
Ford contemplated Danny's words, but after a moment, he nodded and moved to the side. He yanked on a specific book, and to Danny's and Stan's surprise, a hidden door swung open to reveal an elevator.
Ford led them into the elevator and pressed the "Floor 3" button. The elevator doors closed, and a shudder, the elevator began to descend.
They traveled in silence, and Danny eyed Ford's anxious fidgeting and tapping. The poor man really was a mess, he thought. Maybe he and Stan would be able to help the guy out. However, with all that Danny had seen so far, it didn't look good. It looked very suspicious. Maybe even incredibly dangerous.
Danny's suspicions were confirmed when the elevator doors opened to reveal a gigantic lab with what could only be a portal. To where, however, Danny did not know. Slowly, Danny's mouth slipped open, and he stared at the portal with wonder and a small kindling of hope.
"There is nothing about this that I understand," Stan announced loudly and immediately, eyes fixed on the strange portal. It was nearly twenty feet tall from base to ceiling, with a ten-foot circular opening suspended in the middle of the triangular device. Strange ruins and writings covered the rim of the opening, and they glowed with an ominous blue-green light.
Danny found himself snickering, especially when Ford gave his twin what could only be a look of fond exasperation before it quickly vanished.
"It's a trans-universal gateway, a punched hole through the weak spot in our dimension," Ford rattled off, stepping closer to the portal with a wave of his hands. He turned back to Stan and Danny, and continued, "I created this in order to understand the secrets of the universe." His expression then grew grave, and he warned, "But it could also be easily harnessed for terrible destruction!"
Stan's heart leapt, and he caught the glimpse of hope in Danny's eyes. This was it. This was what would get Danny back home. This is what would help Danny be reunited with his friends and family. And Stanford had just handed them the answer to all of Danny's problems. In the form of a giant portal that Stanley didn't understand.
"That sounds promising," Danny muttered wryly, half to himself and half to Stan, and Ford scowled.
"Yes, thank you, Peanut Gallery," he said waspishly in reply, before he turned back to his twin, who was still staring at the portal with a growing smile on his face. "Anyways, that's why I shut the portal down and hid my journals, which explain how to operate it. There's only one journal left, and I trust only you to take this."
He handed the journal over to Stan, who stared at the journal, then at his twin with confusion bordering on suspicion and fear, his budding smile gone. He looked up to meet Stanford's manic expression, and Ford gave a weary sigh.
"I have something to ask of you," he said quietly, and Danny felt like he was intruding on some personal, intimate moment. "Remember when we were kids, and we had that dream to sail around the world on a boat?"
Stan's eyebrows rose, and something akin to hope crossed his face. A small, eager smile appeared, but it swiftly disappeared when Ford aggressively said, "Take this journal, get on a boat, and sail as far away as you can! To the edge of the earth, and bury it, where no one can find it!"
Stan stared after Ford while his twin paced away, with disappointment and heartbreak on his countenance, before it morphed into anger.
"That's it?!" he yelled at his twin, fury quickly covering up his hurt. "You finally want to see me after ten long years, and it's to tell me to get as far away from you as possible?!"
"Stanley, you don't understand what I'm up against!" Ford snapped back immediately, still pacing. "What I've been through!"
Danny opened his mouth to hastily interrupt, to calm them down, but Stan didn't give him the opportunity to do so.
"No!" Stan's voice lashed out like a whip. "You don't understand what I've been through! I've been to prison in three different countries! I once had to chew my way out of a trunk of a car!" Huh, Danny had never heard that one before. "You think you've got problems?!" Stan gestured wildly at his hair, and bellowed, "I've got a mullet, Stanford!"
Okay, despite the seriousness of the situation, that was pretty funny, Danny mused as he frowned at the brothers almost nose-to-nose with each other.
"Meanwhile, where have you been?! Living it up in your fancy house in the woods! Selfishly hoarding your college money, because you only care about yourself!" Stan finished with a harsh jab into Ford's chest.
Ford's shocked expression quickly shifted into anger as well, and he harshly smacked Stan's hand away.
"I'm selfish? I'm selfish?!" he demanded with a low edge of danger to his voice, which quickly rose in volume the longer Ford spoke. "How can you say that after costing me my dream school! I'm giving you a chance to do the first worthwhile thing in your life, and you won't even listen!"
"Well, listen to this!" Stan aggressively snapped, holding out the journal. He dug into his pocket, and pulled out a lighter and flicked it open. "You want me to get rid of this journal?! I'll get rid of it right now!"
"No!" Ford lunged, and six-fingered hands closed around the book. "You don't understand! This is my life's work!"
Okay, this was getting out of hand. Danny stepped forward, and began, "Okay, guys, knock it off. Stan –"
However, the pair completely ignored Danny, and Stan growled, "You said you wanted me to have it, so I'll do what I want with it!" He yanked the book out of Ford's grasp, and flicked the lighter on again.
"My research!" Ford cried, and before Danny could stop him, he tacked his younger twin, knocking both the journal and the lighter out of Stan's hands.
Quickly, Danny leapt forward, and snagged both flying objects before the twins could recover. However, he realized with dread that they weren't still fighting over the journal – they were fighting each other.
Ford scrambled to his feet, but Stanley tripped him, sending the young scientist tumbling to the ground and through the lab's doorway. With a snarl, Stan leapt after him, bodily tackling him to the ground. Danny hurried to separate them, but a kick from both of the brothers sent him flying into a nearby machine. He gasped as searing pain split through his head, and dazed, he sank to the ground, blood already pooling from a cut on the back of his head.
Heedless to his friend's plight, Stan continued to wrestle his twin with strength fueled by anger. He managed to pin Ford against a series of buttons and switches, unaware of the powering lights and flipped switches.
The portal turned on with an ominous hum, and Danny pushed himself to his hands and knees.
"You abandoned me all these years, you jerk! It was supposed to be us together, but you ruined my life!" Stan bellowed, pinning his brother down, and with a gigantic surge, Ford managed to push his brother off of him with a violent kick.
"You ruined your own life!"
The kick slammed Stan back into one of the activated machines, and Danny's eyes snapped wide open when Stan screamed in utter agony. His head jerked up in time to see Stan collapse, clutching his shoulder as a faint sizzling sound echoed around the room, and Ford scrambled to his twin, eyes wide, horrified, and immediately apologetic.
"Stanley! Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! Are you al – ow!"
He reeled back from the furious punch that Danny threw at him. He stumbled back into the room with the portal and tripped over a switch, while Danny sagged in exhaustion and pain.
"You – you branded him!" Danny snarled despite the world tilting off-balance. "He's your brother! And you – you -!"
By then, Stanley had managed to get to his feet, fury and anger towards his twin overcoming pain for the moment. He approached Stanford, seething and clutching at his burned shoulder.
"Some brother you turned out tobe," he growled, disappointment, pain, and fury spilling out with every word. "You care more about your dumb mysteries than your family?! Then, you can have them!"
He gave Ford an aggressive shove, intending to turn around and leave his brother alone, but something strange had him stopping in his tracks.
Ford, upon being pushed, began to float up into the air, and gradually, towards an ominously glowing portal. Everyone's eyes widened in fear and alarm, and Danny forced himself to straighten.
"Going ghost!" he growled under his breath, reaching for that little spark of power within him. However, when he felt nothing, worry, desperation, and alarm sluiced down his back like ice. "Going Ghost!"
"Whoa, hey, what's happening?" Stanley yelped, and terrified brown eyes met identical ones as Ford started to float closer to the portal. "Hey, Stanford!" he rushed to the edge of the safety zone, and Ford began to yell out in desperation.
"Stanley, Stanley, help me!" he cried, frightened the nearer he drew to the portal.
"Wh – what do I do?!" Stanley demanded, begged, but it was too late. Danny collapsed, unable to keep standing anymore, and Ford's jacket and legs were sucked into the portal. "FORD!"
"STANLEY! DO SOMETHING!" Ford screamed, but before he could say anything else, he disappeared into the glowing light of the portal.
"STANFORD!" Stan bellowed, but with a crackle of energy, the portal exploded, and both Stan and Danny flew back.
There was a moment as Stan tried to collect himself, and once the lights faded from his eyes and the ringing disappeared from his ears, he sat up.
"Stanford?" he asked hopefully, worriedly, but a small clatter interrupted him. His eyes landed on a pair of glasses on the cold concrete floor – Stanford's.
And in that moment, he realized that Stanford was gone.
Heart leaping into his throat, he raced towards the dying portal. "Stanford, I didn't mean it!" he cried, banging his fists desperately against the cooling metal. The lights around the portal began to dim, and Stan threw himself at a nearby lever. "I just got him back! I can't lose him again!"
He pulled and pushed with all his might, but when it didn't budge, he dropped it with a scream. "Oh, come on! STANFORD!"
Only silence greeted him.
Then, an idea struck him. He whirled around, intending to ask Danny for assistance. "Hey, Danny, you know about portals, right?! Fix -!" He stopped, and he paled.
Danny was on the ground, blood creating a sizeable pool around his head. Stan stared at his friend for a long moment, stunned, before a small voice at the back of his head told him that Danny was going to die unless he did something.
"Danny! Oh, man, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" Guilt, fear, and a hundred other emotions welled up in his chest, clogged his throat, and he gulped and resisted the urge to sniff. "Hang on, you'll be okay!"
He slung Danny over his back despite the agonizing burn on his shoulder, and began to race towards the elevator. However, a familiar book caught his attention, and he slowed.
The red and gold journal sat at the edge of the lab, mocking him, taunting him for his failures. And with a heavy heart, he grabbed the journal and stuffed it in his coat pocket before rushing out of the lab.
"Please don't die," he whispered into the growing darkness.
And neither Danny nor the portal responded.
WHOOOO WASN'T THAT FUN?! I bet you guys weren't ready to go on a FEELS TRIP, were ya?!
Also, I know many of you were hoping for Danny to go into the portal. I have a very good reason why I didn't do that. And no, I won't say why.
Funnily enough, I was listening to cheery Disney songs while writing this. Someone please send psychological help.
Okay, and another note: Let's see if we can break a new personal record for me and hit TWENTY REVIEWS THIS TIME! LES DO THIS!
Posted and Edited: 11/17/2016, 10:49 PM
