Cheshire's Masks
Rating: K+
Pairing: None [for now]
Ages: The students are all 14 and 15 and Mr. Lancer is... well however old he is, lol.
Summary: I see many strange and wonderful things through my eyes... I wish I could let others see as I see, beyond the masks and flesh that hide peoples' true faces... is that the Wonderland you speak of?
"And that is why Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream is more than just a comedy-" Mr. Lancer trailed off when he noticed that his students were completely unfocused on the lesson. He planted his hands on either side of his hips. Predictably, he looked right at the sleeping Danny. "Mr. Fenton? Mr. Fenton!"
Danny snapped his head up. "Demetrius!" Danny calmed and paused for a moment as he realized everyone was looking at him with mocking smiles or sneers, except for Sam, Tucker and Mr. Lancer. "Uh, it is Demetrius, right?"
Mr. Lancer shook his head. "I didn't ask you a question, Daniel." Danny shrunk into his desk a bit embarrassed as some of the class started to laugh. "Okay, that's enough everyone! Enough, we need to get back to the les-"
He stopped and everyone else did as well when they saw a flower with white flat petals suddenly start to grow then bloom in between Lancer and the students. Danny gasped and exchanged nervous looks with Sam and Tucker when blue mist exited between his teeth.
"And yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together nowadays…"(*) The flower had opened and a voice seemed to be emanating from the mask that rested in place of the flower's center. The mask was purple and shaped like a cat's face. In the middle of it's surface, two large almond shaped yellow eyes stood out with thin black slit-shaped pupils. A massive white and toothy grin stretched from ear to ear. The mask then started to rise up from the flower, bringing a body with it. The young man now before them was dressed in dated english clothing that had probably been reserved for the rich and powerful during the day.
Now standing on the middle of the flower's face, he giggled like a tiny child would. "What are you looking at, hm?" He tilted his head a little, though of course the mask's face never changed. "My name is Cathár Cheshire."
Danny was watching in apprehension and worry as he tried to figure out a way to fight this ghost without revealing himself, but the main problem was that he didn't know what the ghost could do. He could anger it if he tried to exit the room without the others.
"You can also call me the Cheshire Cat."
"Like from Alice in Wonderland?" a popular girl asked from the back.
Cathár cocked his head the other way, almost making it seem like he would twist his head clean off his shoulders. "Alice? I don't know an Alice… or a Wonderland… I knew a girl called Alicia and I see many wonderful and strange things through my eyes…"
"When did you die?"
Everyone, including Danny, whipped their heads around to look at Sam in surprise.
"Hmm… I can't say for certain. Maybe 1784 or 4817 or 1847 or…" He trailed off. "When did you die?" He then faced Danny. "Or you?"
Sam balked, stunned by the odd question and Danny paled before laughing nervously. She had had a theory about who this ghost was, but hadn't expected a question in return. "Um… I'm not dead?"
Cathár giggled. "I Guess that was a rather silly question… But there is more than one way someone can die… Sometimes the worms stay hungry when someone dies…"
Everyone gripped their desks as suddenly the ceiling's patterns and texture seemed to switch with the floor's, dripping and swirling like paint or shadows across the surfaces until they'd swapped.
"I'm going to sick," Mikey muttered, turning a bit green. Then the windows flickered and then each turned on like a TV and sprung to life with all kinds of images from different eras, genres, and stations.
"I like your magic boxes, but I like windows more. Have you ever sat near a window and watched the world outside?" Cathár hummed as he skipped backwards off the flower and phased through a startled Mr. Lancer. "Let's play a game… Which way which way to go…" Then Cathár slipped right through the blackboard, turning it blacker as if one was looking into space itself, rather than the palish green chalk covered panel.
Lancer coughed. "Alright students, let's slowly and calmly try to make our way to the gym. I'm not sure why the ghost alarms didn't go off, but the ghost hunters will probably be here soon." Everyone got up and started bustling out of the door, only to come face to face with a blank wall that blocked the way to the gym. "Through the Looking Glass… What is going on?"
"I think that ghost can alter reality…" Danny spoke up, swallowing thickly. This could not be good.
"So what are we supposed to do, Fenturd? You're parents are the freaks that know about this stuff." Dash asked, not quite able to put as much malice behind it as normal due to fear.
"I guess we go the other way."
"Hmmm... You've suffered a terrible fate, haven't you?"
Everyone flinched at the sound of Cathár's voice echoing down the hall.
"Well that's just great…" Tucker gulped, typing on his PDA.
"What do you mean?" Sam asked. Their talking gathered everyone's attention.
"My GPS says we aren't in Amity anymore."
"Tucker, we're still in the school," Danny tried to reason.
"I know it looks that way, but the GPS says we're nowhere, like not on Earth nowhere."
Everyone blinked. Kwan leaned back against a locker, trying to gain control of himself, only for a scream to make him shout and fling his body forward. It was then that everyone noticed the locker doors were bound in chains. All of the doors suddenly started to rattle and bang and more screams echoed through the air, making everyone grasp at their ears in pain.
"This way!" Danny shouted, using a bit of a ghostly wail to yell loud enough, knowing no one would notice the difference at present. The students and Lancer ran down the hallway, trying to escape the terrible noise and not trip over their own feet.
Eventually they wandered into a large circle room, the screaming was fading by then and they were now all faced with several dozen doors mashed side-by-side within the curve of the room.
"The man who comes back through the Door in the Wall will never be quite the same as the man who went out. He will be wiser but less sure, happier but less self-satisfied, humbler in acknowledging his ignorance yet better equipped to understand the relationship of words to things, of systematic reasoning to the unfathomable mystery which it tries, forever vainly, to comprehend."(*)
Everyone flinched when the ghost's voice echoed again through their sore ears.
"Oh crap…"
Everyone turned to look over at one of the jocks, a red-head, who was the first to point out that the hallway they'd come from was now gone.
"I don't like this! I don't like it at all!" Paulina yelled out, starting to really freak out. Star and she hugged, trying to find some small comfort.
"Everyone, calm down," Lancer commanded. "Our only option is to sit and wait. The ghost hunters will come and stop this Cheshire Cat."
"But Mr. Lancer, the geek said that we aren't in Amity any more!" Dash yelped.
"Mr. Foley's PDA is probably damaged…"
"Hey! I'll have you know that I keep my PDAs healthy and safe and up to date!"
"Not now, Tucker," Sam chastised, elbowing him.
Danny was more worried about the green mist he could see, coming through the ceiling as though the ceiling wasn't even there. That was bloodflower mist. The gas that rose up from the poisonous flowers was dangerous to ghosts and humans alike in the Zone and all beings tended to stay far away from the acid spitting plants. "We need to leave, now. That's poisonous gas from the Ghost Zone." Danny spoke up, pointing above everyone's heads.
The other students started to freak out and Lancer actually seemed to get nervous finally.
"But which door?" Star asked.
"There's got to be two or three dozen choices," Nathan added anxiously.
Sam gave one last look at the descending gas and marched towards a random door near the middle and flung it open. "Go!" Everyone ran or walked through.
They all soon found themselves in a thick jungle.
"Horsetails whinny if you listen close enough, Rattlesnake grass hisses if you step on it, and the Emu bush will get up and walk away on longish legs if you spook it! I'm glad you've decided to continue with our game… Let's see if you can figure out how to get out of the maze you've found yourself in. Will you go mad or stay sane, will you live or be slain? What does it mean to have a heart if it doesn't beat fast? How then do you know if you have life or just last?" Everyone flinched when Cathár appeared in front of them again, cocking his head slightly. After a long silence he spoke again to the group, who was petrified sans Danny, Sam and Tucker. "One last rule… I'm the only one allowed to wear a mask here-" Cathár snapped his fingers. A wind picked up and started to buffer everyone there.
Black bled away like ink to show white, blue flashed like lightning to green, and casual clothing rustled in the wind loosely and faded away to reveal a hazmat suit that clung tight to him like a second skin.
Eyes and mouths widened in shock.
Cathár seemed to sing his next words as he vanished from sight and left them again to the mercy of his bizarre and dangerous maze. "No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be true."(*)
I really don't know where this could go. I guess I was thinking about several reveal stories I've read in the past that focus on hanging the reveal of Danny's secret over the readers' heads for the purpose of making it more impactful and important to the masses when they find out just who their hero is. My idea was kinda to flip that whole idea on its head. Instead of trying to make the people learn more about Danny or chalk up future guilt points for tormenting their hero and having reconciliation come later, I wanted to play a game with masks.
What do they really know about Danny? Even his friends? Why is it that when the hair and eyes change and the truth is revealed that suddenly it's a given that all the pieces that make up Daniel Fenton fall into place? It doesn't matter what he looks like or what he does, or who he is or pretends to be, no one really knows him at a deeper level.
What deepest fears and rawest emotions will be let out now that no one can wear their masks? It's an experiment... it's a game... a game of pretend.
(*) = I used quotes from Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception; Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter; and Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare. I obviously don't own those quotes.
Thanks for reading!
