A/N: Hey pepperonis! It's been a while, I hope you guys are still with me. Been cram packed with school lately, been on academic probation for a while, and that sucks I guess. Mostly math has been completely messing with me. I only managed to get through the next chapter, it got pretty long and I decided that no one likes long chapters. Unless you do? Well, I don't know what you guys want from me. Haha.
I'll try and put in more of the other characters, but no promises.
On with the story, now, I guess.
Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls or Danny Phantom
Undisclosed summer
Jazz woke up first, though it wasn't much of a surprise. She would always wake up before her brother, and she was okay with that. If anything, it meant that she was becoming more of an adult. The teenager stretched and did a small yawn before glancing over to see her brother drawing something on some copy paper. She rose an eyebrow and sat up on the mattress, "Danny?" She asked, unsure if what she was seeing was real. He didn't answer her, and she then noticed that he was listening to some music. "Danny!" She said a little louder.
He turned and saw his sister looking at him in concern. He took his ear buds out of his ears and looked tiredly over at his sister, "Sorry, did you say something?" He asked in a monotone. His face was completely drained, and he looked to be on the edge of collapsing.
"Geez, little brother, did you sleep at all last night?" She asked lightly, standing up from her bed and walked over to the small desk that Danny was currently doing his artwork on. She leaned over and noticed a few dark swirls, but nothing that was artistic, "What are you working on…?" She asked, trying to take a better look.
"Nothing," Danny answered with no emotion. He showed his sister his scribbles, and she frowned at the swirls of nothing. "Just couldn't sleep," he answered, placing his face in his hands tiredly. "Every time I did…" He trailed, looking outside of the triangular window.
Jazz glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes, "Danny?" She asked, making him shift his attention from the window and towards his sister. He rose an eyebrow and stared up at her blankly, "What happened every time you slept?" She asked, trying to help her brother the only way she knew how. She was trying to be an aspiring psychologist, after all. She could at least to this much to help him out.
To be honest, ever time Danny closed his eyes, he saw Vlad winning. He saw him living with Vlad and becoming completely miserable. His father's name on a tombstone, and Vlad basically ruling the world. It was a nightmare every time he closed his eyes, and he couldn't get any sleep at all. He wondered if it was all tied into him losing his obsession. It felt much worse than the time Jazz had broken it, this time it felt completely shattered. "Just…bad dreams," he answered, knowing that if he told Jazz everything, she would try and help. He didn't have the energy to deal with her today, and besides, he doubted that she could even possibly help him.
"Can I keep this?" Jazz asked, making Danny glance back at his sister with a small shrug, "You know, I kind of like it," she lied through her teeth. She was going to study it, knowing that there had to be some sort of symbol within the scribbles. She had studied enough case studies to know about mental patients and their artwork. Maybe there was a hidden meaning within the artwork itself?
"I guess," he answered half-heartedly. He stared back out the window, finding himself lost within the small image of the wilderness. He wanted to fly through the trees, but at the same time, he wanted to stay right where he was. He just didn't have the energy to do anything he wanted to do. Besides that, he doubted that his ghost powers would work regardless. "Jazz, can you…" He trailed, placing his arms on his desk to lay his head on them, "I don't know, just leave me alone?" He asked, again with no emotion.
Jazz didn't know what was happening to her brother, but she didn't like it. Usually when he told her to leave him alone, it was snappy and filled with frustration or annoyment. This time, it was as if he didn't care. He didn't care enough to raise his voice, or even lift his head for long. "Uh, sure…" She muttered, placing the picture in her pocket to analyze later, "Do you want me to get you anything?" She asked, wanting to see if he'd be okay, "Water? Food?" She suggested. She was about to go on, only when she heard the room's door open.
"That will not be necessary, Jasmine," Vlad stated, making Danny grow tense if only by the sound of his voice. However, the teen felt drained that he couldn't muster up enough energy to glare at the older hybrid. Instead, he decided to ignore him and attempted to not drift off to sleep. When he slept, all he had was nightmares. "We are going to the diner down the road for breakfast this morning," he informed the girl, who was standing in the middle of the room still dressed in her pajamas.
"Sure, just let me get dressed first," Jazz spat out, making sure to glare down the man as she exited out of the room. She grabbed her usual attire from the small closet and stomped out the door. Vlad heard her abating footsteps as the teen went down the hall and towards the bathroom. The older hybrid decided to not comment on her attitude and decided to instigate his favorite pawn.
Vlad walked over to Danny, who could hear him coming from a mile away, "Feeling any better, Daniel?" He asked in honest curiosity, and the teen groaned in response, digging his head deeper into his arms. The teen wanted to disappear, but he knew that his ghost powers were more unreliable now than they had ever been, "I'll take that as a no," he commented on the teen's lack of communication skills.
Danny raised his bed and looked at the older halfa, "What do you want from me, Vlad?" He asked, not in the mood for any of his games, "Want to annoy me to death?" He asked, not waiting for Vlad to answer him, "I'll say that you're already half way there," he grumbled placing one arm up and resting his head on his hand. It was all the teen could do to show his distaste for the man in front of him. The younger halfa was too tired that he hadn't even realized the small pun he had said, and Vlad didn't find it funny to show any response to it.
"You're slipping into a depression," Vlad informed intelligently. Danny rolled his eyes, not wanting to deal with the man at all, "Why don't you save us both the trouble and agree to join me?" He lowered his voice to the teen.
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Danny asked with a glare. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Sam and Tucker walking through the hallway behind Vlad. They were chuckling and laughing with each other, and Danny's breath hitched in his throat. His eyes grew wide, and he straightened his posture, trying to find where they had went to.
Vlad noticed his change in attitude and turned his head to where the teen was looking. Not seeing anything there, he was assuming that the teen was testing his patience; it was a thing that the teenager liked to do quite frequently. When Vlad looked back at the young halfa, it dawned on the man, "It's from the lack of sleep," he muttered mostly to himself. He then stared seriously into the teen's eyes, "You're experiencing hallucinations."
Danny let out a snort, focusing his attention back to the man in front of him, "Okay, then can the hallucination kindly leave me alone?" He asked, a small smile on his face, as if he had found the greatest joke that had ever existed. Vlad on the other time didn't find it as funny as the sleep deprived teen had and narrowed his eyes.
"You think you're comedic, Daniel?" Vlad asked, growing angrier by the second. Danny noticed the shift in demeanor and started to chuckle, much to Vlad's annoyment. How could the teenager have let himself get this bad? It was borderline psychotic, but that wasn't a surprise to the man. Danny liked to do stupid and reckless activities.
"I think that I'm hilarious," he answered, almost falling off the chair because he couldn't keep his body up. He closed his eyes, waiting for his body to hit the floor, only for Vlad to catch him before he fell. The older halfa let out a scowl at the teen's neglect for himself before he heard Jazz enter the room again.
"What do you think you're doing to my brother?!" She exclaimed, and Vlad rolled his eyes. Dealing with a sleep deprived teenager he could barely handle, but now he had to deal with an over protective sister for her sleep deprived brother. Vlad's day was going from bad to worse in the span of a few seconds. How lovely.
Danny could barely keep his eyes open as his family and Vlad entered the small restaurant. In fact, Jazz was by his side the entire time to make sure he didn't trip carelessly over anything small. He tried to get out of breakfast, but Vlad had his ways of persuasion. It took the older halfa almost possessing Jack for the younger halfa to agree to the outing…even though he was about to collapse any second. They chose a table, and each of them sat in a wooden chair.
"Howdy!" Lazy Susan called out as she pulled out a notepad to take their orders, "What can I get you all lovely folks?" She asked with a friendly smile. Danny rested his elbow on the table and half fell asleep where he sat. His eyes were closed, and Jazz glanced at her brother in worry. She decided that she would order for him and save him the trouble of using any energy.
"My brother and I will just take some pancakes," Jazz said gently up at the older woman. Lazy Susan nodded and glanced at Vlad, who was sitting next to Jazz. He was looking at Danny in mild interest and then handed the menu to Maddie.
"Some tea," he answered, looking up at the woman as well. Maddie and Jack ordered the all you can eat pancake buffet, and left it at that. Jack was laughing over a joke he had just made, and Maddie slapped her husband on the arm playfully.
Danny had a few minutes of sleep before he jolted himself awake, his eyes wide with fear. Jazz frowned when she saw a faint green light up in his orbs before they returned to their normal hue of blue. He looked around for a few seconds, finally realizing where he was before he ran a hand through his hair, releasing a small sigh of relief. This action, however, as subtle as the teenager wanted it to be, was caught by everyone at the table. "Son?" Jack asked, making the teen glance over tiredly over at his father, "Maybe you should head to bed when we get back?" He asked, genuine worry in his tone. "Get a few Z's before three!"
Jazz looked over at Danny, and soon everyone at the table was looking at the teen with unwavering gazes. Vlad in particular looked at the teenager like he was a test subject that the older halfa was trying to figure out. "Uh…" He trailed out, not liking the attention. He felt his bags underneath his eyes, and in general he just felt overwhelmingly tired. "Yeah," he agreed, not liking all the attention as he slowly stood up, "I'm just going to go for a walk," he said, wanting to get away from them all. He just wanted to be by himself. He needed to figure out what was wrong with him.
"I'll go with you," Jazz said, her protectiveness getting the better of her as she too started to get up from her seat. Danny shook his head with minimal effort, and Jazz let out a frown at her brother not wanting her around. "Okay, just come back soon," she added, looking down at the table.
"Sure…" Danny mumbled rubbing his face with his hands to wake himself up. He almost tripped over a table leg, before he righted himself back up. The teen didn't care enough to get angry, and instead just shrugged and placed his hands in his pockets.
Maddie followed her son with her eyes, and as soon as he exited the eating establishment, she frowned. The mother noticed that he couldn't even walk in a straight line. "I'm worried about him," she admitted, looking over at Jack. She missed the flash of malice and amusement that was in Vlad's eyes. Jazz, however, did not, and the teen girl clenched her fists underneath the table. "He seems…I don't know, disturbed?" She asked, trying to find the right word, "Stressed?"
Vlad let out an exaggerative sigh, "I didn't want to tell you this…" He trailed, placing a concerned look on his face. Jazz let out a glare at this, she knew he was faking. She knew exactly what he thought of her brother. And it wasn't concern, it was a strange obsessiveness. "But Daniel has opened up to me."
"He…" Maddie trailed, in confusion, "Talks to you?" She asked in an unbelievable tone. Her son doesn't even talk to her about his problems. She was a little jealous that he was talking to someone like Vlad of all people. Especially since the two of them both know how Vlad feels about Jack. She was hurt at that fact, and was a little angry. Had her son chosen Vlad over her?
"He has," he continued his lie. Jazz knew that this was a ploy for the man to turn things around in his favor. He was a business man, after all, when he saw an opportunity he would take it. "He says that he's completely stressed from school. That he doesn't have many friends, and that he wishes he could have a new start…" He trailed, placing a hand up dramatically to his face, expressing his concern.
Jazz cleared her throat, drawing the adult's attention to her, "Maybe that's just what you inferred from his talks with you," she hissed out, unable to keep the rage out of her voice. "I talk to Danny on a regular basis, and he is completely fine at school," she boasted, knowing that she was starting a fight with Vlad. The girl saw his eyes narrow towards her, but she didn't care at how angry he got at her. She needed to defend her brother, because if she wasn't there, then Vlad might have already won the war, "And even though he has a small number of friends, that's all he needs."
Maddie glanced at her daughter for sticking up for her brother. She placed a hand on her face in thought, after all, they were brother and sister, and surely they would talk more to each other than someone like Vlad. She had also never heard her talk so strongly about Danny, it seemed like she was trying desperately for her to believe in her daughter. "Then what do you think is wrong with your brother?" She asked, wanting to know what her psychologist in training thinks.
"I think he just needs time to recover from this funk," Jazz answered honestly, giving her diagnosis to her mother. "Before we start jumping to…conclusions," she stated, drifting her eyes to Vlad, who seemed to shrug his shoulders in response.
"I absolutely agree with Jasmine," Vlad earnestly countered. Jazz rose an eyebrow at the complete turnaround with his argument. "I was just so concerned with Daniel that I thought of the worst," he said, shaking his head, as if scolding himself. Jazz then knew what he was doing, he was a great manipulator. He would win with either argument, and the teen hated that. "After all, I think of him like a son," he said, placing his hand on his heart.
Jack stood up and ran over to Vlad to embrace him, "Oh, Vladdie!" He yelled, adoring the fact that Vlad cared so much about his family, "Of course you were only looking out for him!" He chided out, letting go of the man before he started to lose the ability to breathe. Jazz secretly hoped that somehow her father would have ended his evil existence right then and there. She had her hopes let down when she saw the older hybrid start to intake air ruthlessly.
Maddie nodded, her thought of Vlad lightening up, "I understand that you care about Danny," she said with a small gentle smile, "It means so much to me that you're taking it so personally." Jazz saw the small blush that appeared on Vlad's face, but unfortunately her mother did not. The teen girl wanted to scream out in frustration; how was her family so blind?
"Anything for the family," Vlad stated with a small smile of his own. He glanced over at Jazz and gave her a half smirk at him winning the battle. She narrowed her own eyes at the man, and it was at that moment that the waitress came back with a tray and a small amount of flyers.
"Here's your food, folks!" Susan greeted, handing the tea to Vlad and then placed the food on the table. Maddie rose an inquisitive eyebrow at the flyers as she took her plate of pancakes before Jack had decided to ear her share as well, "Oh! Silly me!" She yelled, chuckling a small amount at her own forgetfulness, "There's a promotional party at the Mystery Shack tonight!" She stated, shaking her head as she placed the rest of the food on the table and then the small packet of papers.
Jazz looked quizzically at the flyers, unsure if such a party would grab her attention or not. It grabbed something of hers, and she slowly took a flyer to read it. For some reason it had glitter all over it, and some of it fell onto her pancakes. She didn't mind, Vlad had ruined her appetite anyways. It was then that she remembered who lived there; Dipper and Mabel Pines. The last one that had talked to her brother was, in fact, Dipper, and since Danny refused to tell her what had happened, she was going to get answers of her own. "Hey, mom?"
Maddie placed her food on the table and started to dig in already, "Yes?" She asked, not knowing why her daughter was asking her something to begin with. Her daughter hardly asked her anything since she considered herself an adult.
"I'm going to this," Jazz said, raising the paper to show her parents, "I think Danny will miss it though," she stated, placing the paper back down on the table.
"I suppose if he gets enough…" Maddie trailed before her eyes widened at the fact that her son was no longer with them. She had forgotten that he went on a walk, and hadn't returned. "Danny!" She answered, remembering him, and was worried that something had happened to him.
Vlad stood up, placing a hand towards Maddie, signaling her to not get up, "I will look for him," he answered, a small comforting smile on his face. Maddie nodded her head and placed her hands on the table, "I will return in a few moments," Vlad stated, straightening his suit as he strolled over to the front door and opened it.
Jazz stuck a piece of her pancake in her mouth and looked at Vlad until he disappeared from sight, "Frootloop…" She whispered under her breath, knowing that he wanted as many moments to be alone with her brother as possible. She hated that man, but knew that there was nothing that she could do or say to get her parents to think of him the way she did. Especially not after that little speech and his commitment to find him. She swallowed and tried to brain storm ways she herself could take the older halfa down. She seemed perfectly fine with poisoning the man in his sleep.
Danny had managed to walk out into the forest a little ways before collapsing next to a tree. Vlad didn't have to look very hard to find him, especially with his ecto-signature completely off the charts. He let out a sigh when he found him, relieved to find the teen all in one piece and not be mauled from whatever they had in Gravity Falls. He walked up to the teen and looked at his face. It looked worse from before, the bags under his eyes seemed to grow in size. "Daniel," Vlad spoke to the teen, letting him wake up on his own.
Of course, Danny had just had another nightmare with him being Vlad's son, and opened his eyes suddenly. Vlad was standing right in front of the teen when he noticed the younger halfa's eyes flash green for a few seconds, along with an ecto-blast from his hand. The older halfa turned intangible to avoid the attack from hitting him, and instead it hit a nearby tree. Vlad's eyes narrowed at the teen at the sudden attack, and Danny took a few seconds to realize that he was no longer dreaming. He looked up and noticed the man that was causing him nightmares in the first place standing directly in front of him, "Vlad," he breathed out, sitting up and placing a tired hand on his face.
"Bad dream?" Vlad asked, stating the obvious out loud.
"No," Danny spat out sarcastically, "And even if it was, I'm not talking to you about it," he hissed out, standing up. He glared at the man as he took a step, but not before losing his concentration and tripping over an exposed tree root.
Vlad rolled his eyes and caught the stubborn teen with his quick reflexes, "Have you finally come to your senses?" He asked the teen, and Danny pushed him away from him. He didn't want the man's help in any way, shape, or form. The older halfa was persistent though, and the younger halfa was about to break. Especially if he didn't get sleep pretty soon. Still, the lack of sleep was helping him in a small way. He was too focused on him being tired that the depression from his broken obsession was overlooked.
Danny scoffed at the man, "Came to my senses a long time ago," he answered, taking small steps, careful to notice his surroundings this time, "I found that you're a real big frootloop," he commented, hearing the growl from behind him. He didn't notice the ecto-blast coming at him until he was too late. The teen fell to the ground, his back burning uncontrollably from where the attack hit. His healing wasn't working because of his unreliable ghost powers, and he should have known that talking back to Vlad would mean trouble on his end. Trouble and hurt.
"I am a patient man, Daniel," Vlad said, walking to the teen. He watched as the younger halfa's back arched with pain, and how he was struggling to stand up. Vlad couldn't himself when he placed a foot on the teen's back, pushing him down to the harsh ground. He added insult to injury, and he could practically feel the teen's body squirm from underneath him. "Yet, even this game of ours is getting tiring," he stated, twisting his foot, and he only stood there when the teen let out a growl of pain.
"That…" Danny hissed out, "Really sucks for you," he commented back, once again trying to stand up, even with the full weight of Vlad's foot on his back. Not to mention the added burning from the man's ecto-blast still affecting his back. "Why don't you just…" He clenched his teeth when a surge of pain came through him, "Get yourself a cat?"
Vlad glared, this time bringing Danny to the ground once again by placing more weight on his foot, "I require a son," he argued, watching how the teen plummeted back to the ground. "You should accept your fate and save us both the time and trouble," he said, "Because mark my words, Daniel, I will get what I want," he muttered darkly. He watched the teen with mild interest, curious to see what he would do, or what he would say to him.
Danny let out a frustrated sigh, "You think I don't know that?" He whispered, though Vlad could hear it as clear as day. The older halfa's eyebrows raised, of all the things that the younger halfa would say, he wouldn't think that would be one. Usually the teen held his super hero morality above everything else. That there would always be a way out; that you always have a choice. He was completely surprised when the teen agreed with him. "I know you always get what you want…" He whispered again, not wanting to say it loudly. He still had a small amount of pride residing in him.
"Then why stall?" Vlad asked, getting over his shock and wanting to know the teen's thought process.
"Because in chess, the winning player always gets cocky towards the end," Danny stated, pushing Vlad's foot off of him. Vlad had let him, of course, because he wanted to hear his answer. Vlad was more so amused by this childish thinking. So, he hadn't been broken as much as he would have liked. Yet, it was the beginning of the teen's downfall, the older halfa knew that.
Vlad let out a chuckle and shook his head, "You still think that you can get through this summer?" He asked, watching the teen stand up, holding the tree next to him for support. "By simply stalling me?" He asked, watching as Danny's gaze fell to the ground. "That's a fool's game you realize," he lectured, making Danny growl in frustration and start to walk away.
The older halfa watched as the teen went on his way, "You know how many games of chess I've actually won, Vlad?" He asked, looking back at the man, not yet done with the conversation, "You think I'm stupid, but I at least know how to play."
"What say you to a game?" Vlad asked, walking over to the teen, watching how confusion spread across his face. "Aside from the one that we're currently playing, of course," he added a small smirk appearing on the man's face at the inside joke that they had. Danny didn't think it was funny and instead narrowed his eyes at him.
"No," Danny dryly answered, walking away from the man. They were walking alongside each other, and Vlad wore a smirk on his face still, "Unless you have something that can fix me that doesn't make me join you," he stated, not believing that Vlad would willingly help him without any sort of payment in return.
Vlad chuckled, "Of course I can help you, Daniel, would you like to play a game?" He asked, knowing that the teen would be drawn in by his nonchalant attitude. He wasn't disappointed when the teen eyed him wearily. "The usual if you lose, of course," he stated with a shrug of his shoulders, as if it wasn't that big of an issue that they were talking about.
Danny made a frown when they arrived at the diner, "I don't know," he muttered, not knowing if he should take the man's deal. He had been down this road before, but the constant nightmares for whatever reason that he kept having: they needed to stop. He needed some sleep, or he was going to go crazy. "Fine," he finally agreed when they got to the door.
"Excellent!" Vlad mused as he quickly opened up the door for the teen with a wicked smirk placed upon his face. Danny looked at the man before he looked unsure of himself. He couldn't stop thinking that it was a mistake to even play a game that Vlad was a master at. Still, he needed to go through with it. Vlad was a lot of things, but in the end he always held up to his end of the bargain. "What say you tonight?" He asked, knowing that the only person who could talk the teen out of it would be off to a party. Danny nodded stiffly before he walked through the door, wanting to already be far away from the man as possible. Vlad loved it when things began to turn into his favor, and he watched as the teen started to head to where their table was located at.
His dreams were all the same. Him waking up in a room that was up in Vlad's mansion. Instead of his usual clothes, he was dressed in what Vlad wanted him to wear. A nice dress shirt along with slacks, or something of that nature. Fortunately his hair was left the same, and for that he was grateful. He would awake in the bed that was five times too big for him with Vlad entering his room with a smirk on his face.
"What shall I take away from you today, son?" He asked, continuing from the last nightmare he had. The last one he had taken away his sister from him, and the one before that he had killed his father in front of him. Danny soon realized it was a dream and shook his head, refusing to indulge the nightmare in front of him.
"This isn't real…" Danny whispered, staring hard at Vlad, who started to practically prance into the room. The teen knew why he was in a chipper mood; the older halfa had won. "This is a dream. Wake up. Wake up…" He chanted to himself, covering his ears. It wasn't working, it would never work. He was stuck here, and he couldn't get himself to wake up and be free of this sick scenario.
Vlad chuckled pitifully at the teen's resistance, "Ah! I know!" Continuing on from what he had said earlier. Ignoring the teen that was currently in denial, "Samantha Manson," he said with a devious grin on his face. He watched as Danny's eyes widened at that, and he looked up at the older halfa.
The teen was at a loss for words and then panic spread across his face at an exponentially fast rate, "Vlad, please don't!" He pleaded, knowing that it wouldn't work. It had never worked in his last dreams, and he knew it wouldn't work now. "I'll do whatever you want! Please, just leave her and Tuck alone!" He begged, and Vlad smirked at him, filling the teen with absolute dread. The older hybrid walked over to the bed with calculative steps and was right in front of the teenager. He was staring him down, and Danny could do nothing but look into his soulless eyes.
"Don't worry, son, soon there will be nothing left holding you down to the name of Fenton," he stated, patting the frozen teen on his head. Danny grew angry at that, much like he always had in the previous dreams. Vlad then chose to turn around and started to walk out of the room. Danny aimed an arm at the retreating Vlad's head and fired away mercilessly. He only focused on his anger and hate of the older hybrid, and conjured his ghost powers on that. Before they could land, he heard a shriek.
"Danny!" Jazz screamed, almost getting blasted in the face as she quickly dodged away from the couch. Danny had decided to take a small nap on the couch, and he groggily looked around and realized he was no longer dreaming. "You almost hit me!" She lectured with a frown.
Danny sat up, still very much tired, "Sorry…" He apologized sincerely, though it came out bland and emotionless. He looked over at his sister to assess the damage, but found that she was fine. She was also dressed up to go to a party, and he rose his eyebrows at that, "Going somewhere?"
Jazz let out a sigh, "Yeah, the Mystery Shack," she stated, watching as pain flashed in Danny's eyes before he quickly glanced down at the ground. "Did you want to come with me?" She asked, making sure about her theory that Dipper had done something to her brother was accurate. He let out a glare and ran a hand through his hair.
"Have fun," he spat out, standing up from the couch and walking into the kitchen. He needed some kind of caffeine if he was going to survive the night with Vlad. True, he knew how to play chess, but that doesn't mean he knew how to play well. If he couldn't play good when he was fully awake, he could only imagine what it would be like if he was half asleep while playing the strategic game. Jazz glanced at her brother before letting out a determined breath. She walked over to the front door and exited the small wooden cabin.
"Ready to start, Daniel?" Vlad asked, appearing out of seemingly nowhere. Danny was opening up the fridge and found a soda before cracking it open. Vlad eyed the refreshment, but decided to not say anything about how unhealthy it was. Even if he did offer some tea to the younger hybrid, he knew for a fact that the stubborn boy wouldn't accept it. Especially since the trust between them was as temperamental as it was.
Danny took a couple of chugs from the drink and then looked the man in the eyes challengingly, "Sure," he responded back to him. Vlad led the way into a small room that was on the first floor. Danny wasn't too keen on exploring the cabin, so he didn't even know that there was a room down the hallway. He wasn't surprised when they walked into the room and found that a table had been set up with a chess set on it. "This doesn't faze me at this point," he whispered under his breath. Knowing how Vlad was always making chess analogies, he wasn't shocked to see it all set up inside a closed off room.
Vlad sat on one end of the table, and Danny did the same. Danny had the white set, and Vlad, respectively, had the black set. "Anytime you're ready," he said in a nonchalant voice as he eyed the sleep deprived boy in front of him. "After all, white goes first," he mentioned causally.
"Yeah, yeah," Danny mumbled in annoyance. He picked up a pawn and moved it two spaces on his first turn. "Is there ever going to be a day when you aren't so…" He trailed when he noticed Sam standing next to him. He knew it was because he couldn't sleep, but this was too real to him. He looked over at her, and she smiled gently back at him. He took his fingers off the pawn figure and placed his hands on the table.
"Hallucinations again, Daniel?" Vlad asked, himself moving the pawn in front of the rook. He looked smugly at the teen, who darted his attention on the man in front of him, "Seems as if you have a lot resting on this game," he commented, taking his hands off the piece.
Danny narrowed his eyes at him, "Either way, it's a win-win for you, right?" He snapped at him, looking down at the chess board. He bit his bottom lip in thought before taking out his knight. He hoped that dumb luck would win him this game.
Vlad chuckled at him, "Of course. I set it up that way," he stated with a small shrug as he took out one of his main pieces, that being the rook. Danny looked unimpressed at the man as he moved his knight once again. The teenager held no strategy and knew that this would not end well for him.
Jazz arrived outside to find the person she wanted to see selling tickets. Dipper Pines. She narrowed her eyes, stomping ever so menacingly towards the twelve year old boy. She was interrupted when she felt a small hand on her arm. A small hand with a strong grip. "Jazz!" Mabel's voice lit up when she found the teen in front of her.
"Huh? What?" Jazz asked, snapped out of her concentration suddenly. She looked down and noticed the small girl cladded in 80s clothing. "Mabel?" She asked before getting dragged inside the Mystery Shack. "Ooh, he got off the hook," Jazz mumbled to herself, narrowing her eyes at the vanishing boy from her sight, "For now," she promised darkly.
"We're going to dance off our pants!" Mabel yelled as she fist pounded in the air. When she started swaying her body back and forth, she glanced over at the teenager standing next to her. Her body slowly started to slow down, and she rose her eyebrows at the sight of the rigid teen. "Is something up?" She asked her friend.
Jazz, who was too busy glaring daggers outside the window to where Dipper was, looked over at Mabel with a sheepish smile. She placed her hand in the air and laughed nervously, "Who? What? Me?" She asked, not helping her case that she sounded extremely nervous about being caught already. "I'm fine!" She argued, placing her hand down by her side. Mabel cocked her head, her 80s outfit for the party hanging off her body loosely. "This is some party!" Jazz commented as she looked around the room.
Mabel's eyes lighted up at that, "Isn't it just the greatest?!" She yelled out with a big smile. Jazz couldn't help but reacting to Mabel's smile with one of her own. It seemed the young girl's emotions were contagious. "Grunkle Stan told us we could have one!" She chided out, clapping her hands together enthusiastically. She looked back at Jazz and then her smile dropped, "You don't really like to dance too much, do you…?" She mumbled out. The girl was disappointed that her friend didn't have a shared interest in parties.
"I never really was," Jazz responded, patting down her long hair. It was her nervous tick whereas Danny's was to rub the back of his neck. Jazz couldn't help but think she instilled that behavior at a young age. She had that nervous tick since she was four, but then again, with embarrassing parents, you had to develop a nervous tick from somewhere. "Look, Mabel, there's two girls over there," Jazz said, directing her thumb to the back of the shack. A girl in green, and another girl in a pink shirt were standing in the corner and talking. "Why don't you greet them?" She asked with a small smile.
"Okay!" Mabel yelled, a friendly smile overcoming her features. After all, the child loved to make friends, and this party was an excellent chance for that to happen. Jazz watched as the girl ran to the corner, and the teenager let out a small sigh. It wasn't that she didn't like Mabel, it was just that their ages clashed too much. Not to mention, Jazz acted older than what she looked. She glanced around the room and her eyes accidentally landed on a tall teenager who was wearing a hood. He looked up at her, and she pulled away her eyes quickly.
The teen boy, however, took that as an invitation to come over. Jazz tensed, already hearing his footsteps approaching her and realized too late that she should have walked away. Why was she such a dunce to social cues? "How you doing?" The teen asked her with a flirtatious grin.
Jazz tried to hold in the scoff she was feeling, but it escaped from her throat, "I was doing okay, but then you came over and ruined my night," Jazz spat out, not having the time or patience to deal with hormonal teenagers when she needed to talk to Dipper. She needed to find out what happened to her brother, and why Dipper would say such a thing to hurt him as he did. "Excuse me," Jazz politely said through clenched teeth, trying to pull away from the conversation.
"The party just got started," the teen said to her again.
"Then go find some other tramp to trot," Jazz muttered out, and then let out a glare when the teen grabbed onto her wrist tightly. He wore a confused expression, and Jazz recognized that what she had was a more eighteenth century slang to 'GTFO'. She rolled her eyes and then decided that this teenager wasn't worth her patience. She was about to throw the teen over her shoulder, since she had the battle experience to do it, but another teenager's voice interrupted her thought process.
"Robbie, leave her alone," Wendy hissed out, stomping over to where the two of them were. Jazz looked up and found a red head approaching them. Robbie, the teenager who was holding her wrist, decided to let go. Jazz brought her hand up to her chest and glared over at the teen who had dared to touch a Ghost Hunter's daughter. "Sorry about that," Wendy said gently.
Jazz tried to let out a smile, although it turned more into a grimace, "It's fine," she said simply, deciding to walk over to the front of the Mystery Shack. It was then that she spotted Dipper on the stairs. When his eyes landed on her, and her eyes landed on him, he decided to sprint up the stairs. The young child almost tripped a few times as he did so, and Jazz was left astonished; if not a little offended. "Did he just…" She drawled out, trying to figure out what had just happened, "Run from me?" She muttered, placing her hand on the hand railing. "He's definitely guilty," she decided, absolute conviction loomed in her tone. She narrowed her eyes, her lone mission in tracking down Dipper was already underway. She placed one foot on the step.
"Are you going to make a move?" Vlad asked, his legs crossed as his arms were laying on his chest. It had been at least ten minutes, and Danny wasn't too sure about what to do. He only had a few pieces left on the chess board, and he was definitely losing. When Vlad had let him take stupid pieces, Danny had fallen for the trap already seconds too late. He would move his knight to take a pawn, Vlad would move his rook to take his knight. All the teen had left was a king and a bishop. His hands were on the bishop, and he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer.
"Y-Yeah…" Danny trailed, looking down at the chess board. The bag under his eyes were growing worse, and he didn't know what else to do. The inevitable loss was hanging on his shoulders, and the end would come any second now. Had he truly been so sleep deprived that he had actually agreed to a chess match? With Vlad of all people? Letting out a shaky breath, Danny leaned back in his chair. He had run out of soda about an hour ago, and the teen was amazed that he had made it this far. From the look on Vlad's face while they were playing the game, the older halfa had thought so too. "Uh…" Danny trailed, looking at the chess board in confusion. The black and white colors of the chess pieces were beginning to lend together. "I just…" He whispered, placing his head in his hands.
Vlad let out a sigh of disappointment, and looked over at the sleep deprived teenager. He had a theory of why he was encountering such nightmares, but he didn't know the source. "You said the color gold," Vlad stated from out of the blue. Danny raised his head and looked up at the man with squinted eyes. He tried to focus on the man, and when the teenager blinked a few times his vision cleared. "From that time at the convenience store," he explained, catching up the teenager to his train of thought.
Danny let out a shrug, "What are you getting at?" He asked, knowing that the man never simply said things just to say them. There was always something more with his words, something that he was leading up to. The teen just wasn't in any mode to play the man's games today. It was then that it all clicked together, "You think that wherever I went, it messed with me?"
"Messed with you?" Vlad asked in a scoff. It was such a simple explanation that the teen had come up with. The man uncrossed his legs and arms, sitting up straight in his chair. "In a matter of speaking," he supplied, grinning at the teenager. Danny blinked a few times, waiting for the man to continue his thought process. When a minute passed, and Vlad supplied nothing else except his grin, the teen started to get frustrated. He narrowed his eyes at the older halfa.
"Are you going to tell me or…?" Danny trailed, and then Vlad let out a dark chuckle. The teen tensed at his answer, and he felt his face start to pale. Why on earth did he think that any answer from Vlad would come free? The only answers form Vlad would be the ones that he would willingly tell the teenager.
Vlad leaned onto the table, looking at the teen's tired and frightened face, "Perhaps if you win this game," he stated, already knowing that such an effort would be impossible from the teen. Danny knew this as well as he glanced down at the chess board and only seeing his two measly pieces. The teen could go on a tangent about how it wasn't fair, or that he was being set up for failure at every step. He knew that it was already too late for that. Danny decided that he might as well end his misery, and he gripped the bishop in his fingers. Looking at the possible things he could do, he saw that Vlad had a trap at every one of them. Every possible space he would lose his piece by one of Vlad's.
The older halfa saw how scared the teen was at losing the match. After all, if the teen lost he would willingly join him. He would have to do everything that he would say, that included being his son and apprentice. If things fell into his hands, then perhaps he wouldn't need to search for The Society of the Blind Eye. It wasn't as if he wanted to see the boy's obsession being broken twice within the very first week. That didn't mean that it wasn't desirable to see the teen being broken down in front of him. And who else would be left to pick up the pieces except for good old uncle Vlad? His family had been blind, all except Jazz, but it wouldn't be long before she soon would also join him.
Danny couldn't stop his shaking. He didn't want to join Vlad, but his idiotic agreement from earlier kept replaying in his head. He would never become this sleep deprived again. Although, he suspected that if he was living with Vlad from now on, the man would never let him have much freedom. That probably included his sleeping schedule. The teen was about to move into one of the spots, and Vlad's fingers twitched in anxious retaliation to take his piece. "I…Don't…Want to join you," Danny whispered out, breaking the older halfa's concentration.
"I don't think you have a choice anymore," Vlad answered honestly. The teen was surprised when the man didn't hold a smirk or a grin on his face. Somehow, the teen would have liked it better than Vlad not having any expression at all. With Vlad being serious, it meant that he wasn't playing around anymore. Danny was shaking so much, that he started to feel sick. One last move, and he would be a bird in a cage. And he would never be let out again. "Finish it, Daniel," Vlad ordered, staring into the teen's eyes.
"I don't…" Danny whispered, his voice breaking up. His eyes were becoming even heavier, it was getting harder to stay awake. It then occurred to him that those dreams, although they might have been exaggerative, they wouldn't be dreams anymore. "No, no, no…" Danny stated, taking his fingers off his bishop, placing it back down to where he had picked it up.
Vlad narrowed his eyes, "Is this your stalling tactic again?" He asked, his voice not having a trace of amusement in it. "You did say I always got what I want, why are you trying to fight that now?"
Danny looked up at the halfa, "I-I just…" He whispered out, his eyes becoming clouded with the tears that were welling up in them. "I'm scared of what will happen."
"I've already told you, you will belong to me," Vlad stated, as if owning another person's life and possibly soul wasn't the worst thing in the world. Danny flinched at his tone, knowing that his fate was sealed. "Enough with your stalling, either surrender or make your final move," he hissed out, his eyes narrowing at the teenager again. Danny could tell he was becoming annoyed, and the teenager knew he was running out of stalling tactics. Deciding to go out on one last heroic effort, he stared the Devil in the face as he picked up the bishop once again. Vlad stared into his eyes and he saw the final look of defiance within those orbs of his. The last fire that the hero had left, and Vlad let out a smirk. And he would be the one to crush that fire and make sure that it would never spark again. Vlad would make sure of it.
"What are the two of you doing?" Jack's voice boomed into the room as he opened the door. Vlad's smirk dropped immediately, and Danny had let out a jump of surprise when the voice had suddenly appeared. The teenager lost his concentration and dropped the piece onto the board.
Danny's eyes widened, being so sleep deprived that he didn't know if it was the king or the bishop that he had picked up. His heart was thumping so loud that he could feel it throughout his body. He looked down at the chess board and let out a breath of relief that it wasn't the king. If it were, then he would already be Vlad's. He leaned back into his chair and looked up at his enormous father who was walking over to his chair, "Hey, dad," he greeted tiredly.
Jack's face turned into a smile, "Playing a nice friendly game of chess?" He asked, looking down at the board rather than the players. If the fat man had decided to look at the players, he would have found that the two of them were staring into each other's eyes. There was nothing nice, or friendly about this game of chess. Vlad then narrowed his eyes at the teenager before looking up at the man with a small gently smile on his face. "Wait a sec…" Jack trailed, looking over at his son, "Aren't you supposed to be in bed resting?"
"He couldn't sleep," Vlad supplied the answer before Danny could even open up his mouth to explain what was going on. The older hybrid glanced at the younger, a gaze that told him to be quiet if he didn't want Jack to die right here and now. Danny complied, looking down at the ground instead. "Since I was up, I offered him a game of chess."
"Always looking out for Danny-O! Thanks, Vladdie!" Jack mused with a grin, not reading the atmosphere in the room at all. Danny dared to look up and found the gaze of Vlad Masters upon him. The man was staring at the teen with a mixture of amusement and fondness. "Oh! Danny, you seem to be in a bit of a stump!" Jack stated, making Danny suddenly look up at his father.
Danny raised his hands up to his chest, "Uh, yeah, I was going to lose," he explained, watching how Vlad glanced over at Jack again. "I was just going to surrender-!" Danny stated, placing his hand over on top of the king. He knew that he wasn't going to win anyways, and that Vlad had everything he wanted. His finger danced on the pointed tip of the king, but before he could flick it, Jack practically pushed his son out of the seat.
The teenager barely caught himself before he fell to the floor. In his place, his dad had chosen to sit at the chair. Danny's eyes grew wide, what did his father think he was doing? Jack cracked his fingers, and Vlad rose an eyebrow, no doubt thinking the same thing as the teenager. "It's been a long time since we've played, eh, Vladdie?" He asked rhetorically, looking down at the fallen bishop. "Danny, where was this at?" He asked, pointing his index finger to the fallen chess piece.
"Um…" Danny trailed out, his voice almost hitched in his throat, "Right there," he instructed, placing his finger to where the clear space was. Jack nodded, redirecting the piece to its proper place. "Dad, what are you doing?" He asked in a hushed whisper, already knowing the answer.
"I'm going to finish this game for you, son!" Jack stated, sticking his tongue out of the corner of his mouth. He focused on where he should move, finding his chess tactic rusty from years of neglect. He only usually played checkers with Maddie, and Maddie was killer at checkers. Danny's eyes widened at that, how was his dad going to win when he couldn't? Besides that, his father literally had his life in his hands at this moment. Jack pulled something that Danny hadn't seen coming. Instead of moving all the way into where Vlad had wanted him to go, he stopped halfway. "Your turn, V-Man," Jack boomed, grinning at his adversary.
Vlad narrowed his eyes at this, picking up his queen. He had used a tactic that would definitely work against Daniel, but now Jack was playing the game. He couldn't remember the last time he had played against Jack, Vlad was sure that he had won all the times they've played, but he had blocked out all of their happy memories together. He wasn't sure on how to take down the fat oaf anymore.
It was Jack's turn, and Danny couldn't stop his mild trembling of his body. His anxiety was building up, could his father win against Vlad? The older hybrid watched as Jack took his queen, and it was at that moment when the business man realized that Jack was something he wasn't used to; a wild card. Vlad let out a small chuckle at that, looking up at Jack. The memories started to resurface. Truth be told, back in their college days, Vlad had only won against Jack once. And that was when Jack was completely drunk. Vlad moved his bishop, and Jack realized that he was going after his king. It was silent for a few more turns, each one in deep focus. Danny could only watch in awe at how well his father was playing, and he couldn't help but think that his father was awesome at that given moment.
A few more turns came after that, and then Vlad placed his fingers on his king and knocked it onto its side, "You win, Jack," he answered grimly. Danny didn't think it was possible that Vlad had lost to his father. He didn't think it was possible that Vlad had lost at all. Jack let out a chuckle, standing up from his chair and walked over to the door.
"Chess is fun!" Jack said in a happy voice, opening up the door before closing it behind him. From the moment the door had closed, the teenager felt that he was being watched. A deafening silence was in the room, and Danny slowly looked over at Vlad. The teen knew he felt uncomfortable, and Vlad's glaring at him proved it wasn't his imagination.
"It's always so close, isn't it?" Vlad asked, standing up from his chair. As soon as he did, Danny let out a flinch and decided to stand against the wall for support. "You almost joining me, but just before you do, someone comes in to save you," he muttered, spitting out each word as violently as possible. The man placed his hands behind his back and started to walk towards the teen.
Danny's breathing became frantic, and soon he saw Plasmius before him instead of human Vlad. The teen blinked for a second, wondering if it was his imagination or his sleep depravedness. The next second when he opened them, he found an ecto-blast in his stomach. This Plasmius was very much real and hurting him. The teen couldn't breathe, and he placed his hands on his stomach to find a glowing fist still there. "V-Vlad…" He said in a raspy tone.
Plasmius wouldn't let him say anything else and he grabbed onto his shirt and launched him across the room. The teen slid on the table where the chess board was at, knocking the pieces off the board and making them fly around the room. Danny landed harshly on the ground, already heaving Vlad's ecto-blast on his back from earlier, and now with his back hitting the ground…they didn't mix well together. He let out a hiss of pain, raising his head to where the half ghost was. "Perhaps I do need to look for that legend after all…" Vlad trailed, looking over at Danny. Before the teenager could say anything else, Vlad had teleported in front of him, clenching his shirt in his hand before raising the boy into the air. "Willingly joining me would have been much more amusing, but now I'm running out of patience."
"What…?" Danny tried to ask, but Vlad slammed him into the wall. His back took the brunt of the force, and the teen clenched his eyes in pain. His super healing would have worked rather well in this situation. That is, if his powers were within his reach. He opened his eyes back up and stared into Plasmius' red eyes. "Vlad…Hurts…" He struggled to say, but Vlad seemed to know that he was hurting the teen. Danny let out a grunt of pain as Vlad slammed his back into the wall once again. Black stars started to appear in his vision from the unbelievable pain he was experiencing.
"I know it hurts, Daniel," Vlad hissed out at the teenager, "Why don't you just pass out already, hmm?" He asked, lifting up his hand as it lit up pink. The teen couldn't do much of anything do get away from the older halfa. All he could do was endure the pain and let Vlad do what he wanted to him. Danny stared into his eyes once again, hoping to find something in there. Maybe concern or regret, or something that wasn't evil. He didn't have to look long, since there was nothing in them except obsession. Danny's form slumped, no longer trying to defend himself from the psychotic older hybrid. He had given up on fighting, and Vlad seemed to enjoy seeing the teen so submissive. "Good," Vlad praised before firing his blast.
All Danny felt was a surging pain in his side, and then…Nothing.
"Dipper, where are you?" Jazz called out in a sickingly sweet tone. She had been chasing this damn boy all over the cabin for the last two hours. When she turned around, she saw one Dipper. She started to chase after him. Then, another Dipper would run in another direction. She was passed the point of being nice and understanding. She was out for revenge, and revenge she would have.
She started to pass a corner on the upstairs level, and ran right into a screaming Dipper. They collided with each other and both fell to the ground. Dipper's checklist went flying into the air, and Danny's picture from earlier in the day also went flying into the air. Jazz caught Dipper's paper, whereas the child caught hers. "What…?" Jazz began to ask, but upon closer examination of the paper she had a frown on her face. This was how to get a girl, and not just any girl, but Wendy.
Dipper's eyes widened when he saw that Jazz was holding his paper. It was then that his eyes fully landed on the artwork. He furrowed his eyebrows and looked at it closely. He recognized those symbols from the journal. "I know these," he whispered out. Heavy footsteps came from behind the two of them, and Jazz looked up just in time to see an army of Dippers heading towards them. She glanced down at the real Dipper with an accusatory stare. "No time to explain!" He yelled, quickly standing up, gripping the artwork tightly.
"Stupid Gravity Falls," Jazz cursed under her breath, but she followed Dipper's lead and followed him. They were running through hallways and secret passages that Jazz didn't know were physically possible. They went into a room that was upside down, and she wondered who designed this building to begin with. Dipper quickly skidded on his feet and ran into the gift shop. When Jazz made it into the room, the child quickly slammed the door shut behind him.
"The roof!" Dipper yelled, suddenly remembering that they had an entrance to one of those. Jazz looked at the door, and then heard paper's being slammed against the door. It wasn't long after that when she saw a paper Dipper trying to wedge himself through the crack that was underneath the door. The teen girl's eyes widened in shock but decided that there was not time to explain her thoughts on the subject. Dipper quickly pulled back the curtain and offered Jazz to go up first.
When the girl managed to make it up to the roof, she saw that the sun was almost coming up. If she was younger, her parents would kill her for staying out so late. She hadn't gone to sleep at all this night, and had stayed awake until the next day. Here she thought Danny had sleeping problems. Dipper closed the hatch behind him and took a few steps back. His eyes never left the exit and after a few passing seconds, there was absolute silence. "I think-!" Dipper began to say, but soon enough there was one paper Dipper that had made it up to the roof. It slammed the hatch open, making both Jazz and Dipper jump at the violent noise.
"Admit it! You hurt the only friend that you have at this stupid place!" Paper Dipper screeched at him. Dipper tensed up at the accusation, but he also knew it was true. "He told you his weakness, and you completely killed him! Oh man, and you thought you were the smart one!" He ranted.
"Jazz, I-!" Dipper began to explain, knowing that he had been caught about it. Jazz placed a hand up telling him to keep quiet. "You already knew, didn't you?" Dipper asked dryly, and the teen girl let out a sigh and nodded her head. Dipper looked over at his paper duplicate with a frown, "I know I've hurt him! That's why I'm trying to fix things!"
Paper Dipper let out a chuckle, "Oh, yeah, I know all about how you sent those two other copies in search of that thermos," he stated with a shrug of his shoulders, "Like they'd actually be able to handle that," he added nonchalantly.
Dipper didn't comment and instead felt a trickle of rain hit his face. He looked up at the sky and found that there was a small morning shower. "Yeah? Well, I don't need you to remind me of all my flaws," he hissed out, with a smirk on his face, "If you see Tyrone on the other side, make sure to give him a warm greeting from me."
"What?" Paper Dipper asked, and that was when there was a sizzling noise. Jazz looked over at the clone with wide eyes. He was melting, and Jazz could only stare at his shrinking form. "Wendy will never like someone like you, and you'll never have any friends!" Paper Dipper yelled out, reverting back to his paper like state. "Someone as nerdy and reclusive like you will never be liked by anyone!" The Paper Dipper shrieked his last words as the paper rolled off the roof.
Dipper let out a sigh of relief and collapsed on the roof. It had been a long night, battling with his own demons. The matter about Wendy. The effects on what he had done to Danny. He felt terrible, and he was so tired. Jazz decided to sit down by him, not letting the small trickle of rain bother her. "Didn't you come here to yell at me?" Dipper asked in a sullen tone.
Jazz shook her head slowly, "I think your evil twin already did that for you," she stated with a kind expression as she turned to where the child was. Not even Dipper, for what he had done to her brother, deserved such cruel statements about him. "Besides, I came here for answers," she said, making Dipper's eyes widen.
"Answers?" Dipper asked, making Jazz dig into her pockets for where she had stored Dipper's paper. It was his Wendy checklist, and he felt his face flush in embarrassment. He was about to ask if she had read it, but at this point, he was okay if she had. Jazz would never judge him for anything, and neither would Danny. It was then that he realized that he held Jazz's paper in his pocket, and he slowly took it out. He looked down at the swirls and found a few symbols that he recognized. "Right," he answered, digging in his jacket and finding the large book. He brought it out and turned to a page where a triangle shadow was.
"What is that?" Jazz asked, inching her head closer to where the book was. It was in some sort of code, and she couldn't understand the symbols that were on the top of the page.
Dipper looked up into her worried eyes, "It's what you came here for," he answered, looking back onto the page of the book, "Do not summon at all costs," he read from the book, already deciphering the code as if it were second nature for him. "I'm guessing this is Danny's, right?" He asked referring to the picture that he was holding, and Jazz gave a small nod. "His name is Bill Cipher," Dipper explained, looking down at the page, "And I think he is the one tormenting Danny."
Jazz blinked, digesting the information slowly, "What exactly is he?" She asked, not understanding why this creature would be plaguing her brother to the extent that he wouldn't be sleeping.
"A dream demon," Dipper responded with wide, worried eyes.
Danny was surprised when there wasn't anything that he was dreaming. Vlad had just knocked him out, and he didn't appear in that room in Wisconsin. He was nowhere close to Vlad, and instead there was just a black and white outline of Amity Park. Relief rushed over him, and he laid on the sidewalk that was directly outside of his home. "No Vlad…" He whispered out with a small victorious smile.
"But there is me!" Came a voice that Danny knew he recognized from somewhere. The teen looked around and found that there was a floating yellow triangle with one eye. Danny immediately stood up, now cautious of this new entity. "The name's Bill! Bill Cipher!" The triangle introduced with a twirl of his staff.
"You're from the convenience store!" Danny accused with a glare, charging up an ecto-blast to fire at the triangle. Bill rolled his eyes and in a gold flash, Danny held a small lollipop in his hand. All trace of his ghost powers were gone, and he quickly dropped the candy from his hands. The teen wasn't surprised that things weren't going his way. Most things in life were not.
Bill floated up to the teenager with a chuckle, "I have to thank ya, kid! You gave me enough fear from nightmares that I can wander around Gravity Falls freely now!" He boasted, making Danny glared at the creature in front of him. It was true, this Bill Cipher was causing him all of these nightmares with Vlad winning. "Your fear is so addicting! I kind of want to stay a little longer, just to see you suffer! Hah!"
Danny let out a growl and narrowed his eyes, "How about you get out of my head?" He offered, the dangerous tone was enough for Bill to float a few inches back. Ghosts were dangerous, Bill knew, and if he wasn't careful with this situation, he could easily kill him right where he was. "You were never invited in here to begin with."
"Relax, kiddo!" Bill yelled, clapping his hands together. Soon, the black and white Amity Park held color to it. "Don't you remember the time where I helped you save your fat father?!" He asked rhetorically. Danny continued to narrow his eyes at the creature before he lifted them up and blinked his eyes.
"That was you?" The young halfa asked with a raised eyebrow, "Why help me?"
Bill chuckled, his laughter echoing off of the buildings, "Because I like you!" He responded, "You interest me; both of you."
Danny picked up on that in seconds, "Vlad and I?" He asked suspiciously, "Why?"
"You walk a thin line between death and life! How could I not?!" Bill asked with a roll of his eye, "You really resent him, don't you?! The other one!"
"He's only trying to kill my dad and make me his son…" Danny trailed, shaking his head at the obvious answer, "That definitely might make me hate him," he answered honestly.
Bill let out a cackle, "You remind me of myself a few thousand centuries ago! I really look forward to seeing you crushed!" Bill added, making Danny growl, his hand filling up with ecto-energy. He blasted it mercilessly at the creature, and Bill had to teleport a few feet away to avoid getting him, "Well, you know that he'll get what he wants eventually. MAKE SURE NOT TO TURN A BLIND EYE," Bill added as his voice turned serious, winking at Danny before he left. Or, at least that's what Danny think he did. Bill only had one eye to begin with.
After the creature had left, Danny had woken up. The last words that the thing had said to him really seemed to be nailed into his head. He looked over to Jazz's bed and found that she was just getting into it. She turned and faced the wall and away from him. "Make sure not to turn a blind eye…?" Danny asked, knowing that it was a hint but not knowing how it was one. He looked out the window and found that the sun was coming up. For the first time in a few days, he felt well rested and ready to tackle the day's events.
To be continued...