Hey everyone, I won't be posting responses to reviews for a little bit, because I'm on vacation with family. I am still reading them and appreciating them greatly, and I will try to answer all questions at a later time. Thank you for understanding! :)

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Chapter 144: Andrew

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It turned out that everyone hated that floor, with the exceptions of Nathan, Lester, and Ashley. Ashley was very excited by this because she thought it might mean that she had an identical twin out there somewhere, but Rebecca had opined, rather rudely, that it was more likely that how many siblings she had didn't matter, since Ashley was adopted.

Danny wasn't sure he cared. He had sunk pretty deep into depression. It hurt to find out that the person he was closest to just didn't exist. It was like finding out he'd been missing a limb all his life and no one had bothered to tell him. His heart hurt. His head hurt.

Mia was crying. Hannah was off on a rant about aliens stealing her sister. Everyone else was silent. Even Vlad, who was walking way too close to Danny and Ellie for either of them to be entirely comfortable.

Ellie and Danny, meanwhile, had become almost glued to one another. They didn't have quite the relationship of real twins, they didn't have that lifetime of knowledge, of interaction, of experience, but it was better than being alone, and they almost had it, with the memory sharing. Danny shuddered closer. He should try to pull himself out of his depression, for Ellie's sake, if not for his. He should try to cheer her up. But he just couldn't call up the willpower.

He missed Andy. He couldn't believe- Well, he could, after all the other floors. That was why he hadn't barreled outside to rescue Andy from the mercenaries lying in wait outside, like he dearly wanted to. That seemed to be the general sentiment.

Ancients, how was this floor more depressing than the floor where their parents were dead?

"What's the next floor?" asked Danny.

"Zombie apocalypse," said Ellie.

"Plague," corrected Vlad. "Well, epidemic, really. It creates a recent one, in an area you spend a lot of time in."

"Well, I always get the zombie apocalypse," said Ellie. "So does-" she broke off, frowning deeply.

"Your twin?" asked Vlad, voice softer than usual.

"Yeah."

"What is- What would she be like?"

This, surprisingly, started a whole series of stories, of anecdotes and vignettes. Everyone described their twins, picking the best out of hundreds of stories. Mia was still crying, but she was laughing, too.

Danny realized what had happened, what was happening, halfway through his own story about Andy and the biology frogs. They were in mourning, not for people who were dead, but for people who never existed in the real world, who never would exist outside of their own minds, and this sharing was letting them ease that burden. Maybe most of his classmates would forget his stories, but some would remember, and that made Andy a little more real, somehow.

Eventually, they got to the next set of stairs.

"Time to get the plague, I guess," said Elliot, entirely without enthusiasm, because, well, who would have been excited about getting the plague?

Mr Lancer frowned. "That- We aren't actually in danger of getting sick, are we?"

Vlad sighed. "No. Remember, the people who built this were doctors, at least in part, and they didn't build this to study diseases. They wouldn't have wanted to spread one, or, worse, create one."

"So it's safe?" asked Mr Lancer.

Danny almost burst out laughing. "Mr Lancer, we're not safe now."

"A fair point, Danny," said the teacher. "This next one, it is... The fifty-ninth floor?"

"I guess," said Ellie, shrugging.

"Eighteen more," whispered Mr Lancer. He probably thought he was inaudible, but half-ghosts had sharp hearing. "Only eighteen more." He said it like a prayer.

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"Oh, jeez," said Danny. "Wow. Okay. So, you guys are all alive, apparently."

Everyone stared at Danny.

"Wait," said Elliot, "we're dead from your perspective?"

"Not really, obviously," said Danny. "But most of you, yeah."

"Zombie apocalypse?" asked Ellie, who was wearing a lot of leather.

"Ah, no. It was the snake thing. Viral snakes. You know about the snake thing, right? Did you ever get it?"

"Let's say, no."

"It's, uh. Snakes. That bite you. And then they, um. Make more snakes inside of you. It started off as a ghost thing, but then made the jump to humans in Amity, and, uh, humans couldn't really handle that kind of thing. I mean, for ghosts they just sort of, uh, grew off the outside, like, um. Snake tumors. Then they'd get over it. But humans... Yeah. Humans are, uh, less good about that kind of thing, so, um. You know. But not everyone is dead? And it turns out you aren't dead at all really, huh?" Danny finished brightly. His eye twitched, he was so optimistic. "Isn't that great?"

"Are you crying?" asked Sarah.

"No," said Danny. "Hey, Lester."

"What?"

"If you see a snake, don't let it bite you."

"Don't let it- Are you saying that I'm patient zero?"

"Maybe. So, uh, what happened with you guys?"

"Snakes."

"The flu."

"The flu."

"Bird flu.

"Flu."

"Swine flu."

"Plague," said Vlad.

"You would get the plague."

"Measles."

"Ebola."

"Smallpox."

"Smallpox? Really? That's kind of lame."

"Look, tell that to China."

"Zombies."

"Also zombies."

"Thank you!" said Ellie. "See, zombies are normal!"

"Not really. I mean, it looks like most plagues are actually the flu."

"Hello there!" said Prunella.

Danny stared. "What- Where have you been?

"Well, I'm a doctor, not a fighter, and the talent floor is cold."

"Why was it so cold, anyway?" asked Ricky.

"The air conditioner broke."

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After that, the plague floor turned out to be surprisingly peaceful, though at the end of it Mr Lancer was whispering 'seventeen.'

Danny was, personally, exhausted by the whole ordeal. It turned out that he wasn't dead in very many of the others' universes, probably because they needed him to get here in the first place, but he was seeing (and remembering from the last several floors), people who had been dead for over a year, and this after being convinced that he had a twin. A twin that he didn't have, that he would never have. This kind of emotional jerk-around would have been tiring even if he was in top physical shape. Maybe that's why the walk through this floor was so peaceful. Everyone was about to fall over. Again.

It seemed that was their whole journey through the Tower was. A bunch of tired walking, brief bout of intense activity, and then collapse. Sometimes without the intense activity.

(Of course, Danny was the only one who also had to deal with having swallowed a powerful ghostly artifact whole, and the only one who had recently been turned into a dragon. He thought that these two things taken together might make him feel just a little, tiny bit more crappy.)

They eyed the stair with disfavor.

"You don't think you can fly us up?" asked Elliot.

Everyone in the group who could fly turned and glared at Elliot. Even Cujo. Especially Cujo.

"What is the next one?" asked Danny.

"Don't remember," said Ellie.

The class, as one, turned to Vlad.

Vlad raised his hands in negation. "I'm afraid I've lost the order. I usually skip this group of floors. They're unnecessarily trying."

They looked to Prunella.

"I think it will be more interesting if you don't know what it does."

The twitch of Danny's eye intensified. "You think it will be more interesting?"

"Yes. Don't worry so much. It isn't anything terribly traumatic. You might even find it interesting, yourselves."

"Excuse me," said Mr Lancer. "That isn't exactly our goal, here."

"So? No reason you can't do both."

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They went up the stairs without getting anything from Prunella, and without jogging Vlad's memory. They were, therefore, surprised when everyone seemed to sprout extra body parts. Some of them were obvious, like an extra (if slightly shrunken) arm. Others were more subtle. Extra fingers. Extra teeth. A couple people looked like they didn't have extra anything, Danny included.

Ellie had wings. Vlad had horns. Prunella was wearing four arms, in the Greek style. Cujo had two tails. The wisps didn't look like they had anything extra, but who knew? Maybe they had an extra layer of ectoplasm, or something like that.

"Extra body parts, huh?" said Danny, heavy with resignation. At least his wings didn't show up in human form. Maybe he could convince everyone that he had an extra kidney.

"Yes," said Prunella, happily. "I'm rather surprised that no one grew an extra eye. But then most of you are human, hm?"

Danny made a face.

It turned out that the few others that had no visible extra body parts did have extra organs. It also turned out that not one of his classmates, not a single one, believed that he, Danny, had one. On the contrary, several of them asked him if he had wings like Ellie.

Stressful.

"Hey," said Mia, a touch testier than she usually was. "Maybe you could all, like, back off a little? This isn't cool."

"Very not cool," agreed Sarah.

"Stop harassing him. He's not comfortable."

"None of us are comfortable," pointed out Rebecca, "and it's his fault we're here."

"Oh," said Paulina, "stop being so- so-" she waved her hands, showcasing her extra pinky, "ugh!"

"I think that technically it's Valerie's fault," put in Ashley.

"Can you stop? Please? Or at least blame Spectra?" asked Danny, tiredly. "This isn't accomplishing anything."

"I, er, I think maybe we should stop," said Dash, scratching his nose.

Danny couldn't help but give Dash a sidelong look and assess weather or not he could have been possessed while he wasn't looking. It was possible, but not terribly likely.

"Yeah," said Dale, "you would side with your boyfriend." Dale had been quiet up until now, probably because he'd gotten the crap kicked out of him in the fight with Dash. He sneered, extra canine snagging on his lip.

It took Danny's tired brain too long to process the words. He didn't know Dash had a boyfriend. Wasn't he going out with Rebecca? Didn't he have a ridiculous crush on Jazz a few years ago?

Wait. Oh boy. Oh, heck. Really? Really, Dale? After he and Dash got into a giant fistfight, which Dash won. Did nobody here have a sense of self preservation?

Well, no. Otherwise they wouldn't be here in the first place.

"What did you say?" demanded Dash, muscles taught.

"I said, of course you're siding with your boyfriend. You know, Fenton. It's so obvious, like, you just pretend to beat him up, but instead you go off and-"

"Mr Gordon!" exclaimed Mr Lancer. "That is quite enough!"

Dale said something hugely insulting and not fit to repeat.

"Please," said Danny, "this isn't helping."

"Oh, and you are?" said Dale. "What good are you, freak?"

Danny wilted. Dash went to hit Dale, but Danny grabbed the back of his shirt, quickly followed by Ellie. In a shocking display of common sense, all of the rest of the class piled in between Dash and Dale, forcing them apart.

"Mr Gordon," said Mr Lancer, "I know this is a stressful situation, but that doesn't excuse this behavior."

"What, you don't want to talk about how Paulina isn't the only one with a shrine to Phantom, huh, Dash? No wonder, I bet you're secretly-"

The later half of the sentence was drowned out by a wave of protest from the other students.

"That's really gross," said Ricky, who had been one of the closest to Dale, looking queasy.

"Stop being such a jerk," said Valerie, nose wrinkled in disgust. "You're such a hypocrite, too. Didn't Phantom save you a bunch of times? Screw off."

Dale blushed slightly, but squared his jaw. "At least I'm not shooting at him, 'Red Huntress!'"

There was a quiet 'Ooh.'

(Prunella was standing to one side, taking notes.)

"Hey," said Ellie, sharply, "I'm new to this whole 'high-school drama' thing, but could this wait? You know, until the whole mortal danger thing is over? Maybe? At least don't fight each other. Ancients, I don't know how Danny deals with you all, considering how self-absorbed you are!"

"We're not that bad," objected Mikey. "Are we?"

Dale attempted to lunge across the small crowd.

"Oh my god!" exclaimed Star. "Are you forgetting the freaking ghost mafia that just tried to kill us? Like, not even an hour ago? Or the dragon?"

Danny swallowed, remembering the amulet that was currently in his stomach. He really hoped that wouldn't cause any complications. It probably would. He just hoped it wouldn't.

"Can you, like, not make this harder for everyone?" continued Star. "Like, seriously? Just stop fighting with each other! It isn't rocket science! We've got enough issues without you inventing fifty more! I mean, I'd prefer not to die just because you can't deal with..." she faltered. "Whatever. I don't know what your problem is." Star switched her glare to Dash. "I don't know what either of your problems are. But I'm tired of 'em!"

Star was shaking by the end of her rant, third arm quivering.

She sniffed, tilting back her chin. "Come on, Mikey."

"Uh, what?"

"We're going?" prompted Star.

"Just, uh, you never talk to me. You think I'm a freak."

"Uh. Newsflash, nerdlio, I'm the one with three arms."

"You hang out with Paulina."

"Uh. No I don't."

"Yes you do!" said Paulina, panicked.

"Uhm," said Star, somewhere between suspicious, confused, and apologetic.

Dale didn't like that everyone had been thoroughly distracted from him, and attempted to sucker-punch Kwan. Kwan, who was about twenty pounds lighter than usual and had six fingers on each hand, ducked. Elliot, who was standing next to Kwan, yelped, pulled back his arm, and punched Dale right in the face, knocking him out.

Everyone went silent, staring.

"I panicked, okay! I take boxing lessons!"

"No you don't," chorused the class.

"Okay, I don't," admitted Elliot.

"Uh, so, we're friends?" asked Mikey. "What about Ricky?"

"You're all friends!" said Danny, forestalling another long digression. "All of you! All of us! Everyone in the class!" He circled the group to check on Dale.

"Even Dale?" asked Nathan.

Danny let out a sigh of relief as he found that Dale wasn't bleeding significantly and his pulse was steady. "Yeah, sure, whatever. Ancients, he's going to have brain damage at this rate. Does he have a glass jaw or something..?" He prodded Dale's face.

"He does not," said Dash. "Not that I'm defending him or anything, um, Fento- Phantom." He sounded nervous. Scared.

Danny pushed the heels of his hands into his eyes. Ow. That hurt. He pulled his hands away, putting them very deliberately on his knees.

"I'm not going to attack you. Hey, someone is going to have to carry him. He's pretty out." Danny poked Dale's face again.

"Here," said Ellie, flying over. "I have an idea."

(People tried to touch her feathers as she passed by.)

Danny stood and stepped back. "Go for it."

Ellie raised her hands, a few sparks flying off her fingers. "This'll be fun."

"No, wait," said Vlad. He sounded like he would prefer to do anything but speak up. "That won't work on a human." He swept his hair back behind his horns. "I'll wake him. It won't be pleasant. For either of us." The edges of Vlad's body went wavy and transparent.

"No, wait!" shouted Valerie, right before Vlad sunk into Dale's body. She cursed. "No-good, body-stealing..." she trailed off into outraged grumbles.

"So, what were you going to do?"

"Shock him? Shock him? Like, how much?"

"I don't know, until he wakes up?"

"Ellie..."

Dale sat up, eyes red.

"Well," he said, in Vlad's accent, "this is disgusting."

Vlad flew out of Dale, who immediately gripped his head in pain.

"Thanks," said Danny, directing the monosyllabic expression of gratitude at Vlad.

Vlad preened. "If only you let me train you-" Vlad cut himself off. "Excuse me."

Why had- Oh. Yeah. The secret wasn't officially out yet, for Danny. That was sporting of Vlad, considering that his secret was already out. Danny couldn't quite bring himself to say that it was nice.

"Dale," said Danny. "Can you get up? We've got to go."

Dale's response was muffled, but clearly uncomplimentary.

"We'll leave you here if you can't," lied Danny, who would do nothing of the sort, "just FYI, you know?"

With a groan, Dale got to his feet.

"D'you want some ice?" asked Danny.

"'M not a wimp."

"Okay, whatever, but do you want ice?"

Dale growled and stomped off.

"We're going this way," said Ellie, pointing in the opposite direction.