Paradoxical (by timydamonkey)
Author's Note: Look, a quick update! This chapter is kind of obviously a play-on My Brother's Keeper – I like keeping episode references in AUs, especially as changes tend to occur. There are also som references to Control Freaks in here. The end is it's own bit, however, leading right into the bowels of hell that I like to call my mind.
Chapter Eight: A Step Between Worlds
It was all Jazz's fault, really.
Anger management – that was what she'd told his parents that he needed. She was worried about him! Why did she tell them? How could she? All right, so maybe he'd scared her a bit, but he hadn't meant to.
He'd scared himself, too!
When he'd woken up, he'd been… panicked. And he'd lost control again – the result being that his bedside lamp had been blasted into pieces.
He hadn't thrown it, but what could he say? There was no 'right answer'. So he'd remained sullenly silent, and it had all gone downhill from there.
For the past ten minutes, he'd been glowering at the floor. The red-haired lady had just sat there watching him in silence, her glasses hanging off her nose, waiting for him to crack. He fidgeted uncomfortably, watched the hands of the clock. The sound felt like it was being fire-branded into his mind. He twitched. The lady continued to stare.
"When can I go?" he mumbled. He couldn't believe that he was actually asking to be taken back to class.
"You're by no means forced to be here, Danny," the psychologist said, but as he looked up at her, he saw that her smile said otherwise. "Now won't you tell me what caused that gloomy face?"
He scowled, turned away. "I'm fine."
"You have dark circles under your eyes," Spectra noted. "Have you been sleeping?" Danny rubbed at his eyes furiously, as if trying to lose the expression on his face showing his evident lack of sleep.
"I sleep," he said defensively.
"Do you sleep well?" Spectra prompted. He remained silent. "Never mind. I've just never seen a child as exhausted as you. You are exhausted in more ways than one."
"What's that meant to mean?" Danny snapped.
"Figure it out," she told him. "Why are you so angry, Danny? And why are you shaking?"
Danny shook his head as if trying to erase the words from memory. "I don't have to listen to this. I don't want to talk about anything. I don't want to be here!" He got up and practically ran from the room, the door banging shut behind him.
As it did so, Spectra smiled and said quietly, "You'll be back, Danny. I've never felt despair taste as sweet… you cannot deny me of that."
She smiled and picked up the phone in her office to dial through to the principal, but hesitated. She'd neglected to tell her young charge that in extreme cases, visits to the school psychologist were mandatory. Perhaps he wouldn't qualify yet, though.
But, she thought, it was lucky that she – and Bertrand, her partner from behind the scenes - was there to make sure that he qualified as an extreme enough case.
"Come on, guys, don't you think it'd be an educational experience?"
"Er, Sam?" Tucker asked, exchanging an odd look with Danny, who was leaning against his locker as the three of them loitered in the hallway. "How is a freakshow good for education?"
"Aw, come on! It's Circus Gothica! The one circus for Goths with absolutely none of the ridiculous happiness!"
"Wouldn't that just be depressing?"
"Hello, that's the idea!" Sam turned and rounded on Danny. "What do you think, Danny?"
Danny blinked. "Hmm? Oh, what you said…"
Tucker glared at him in mock outrage. "You didn't even listen to what she said, did you?"
"Er… well…" He grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, I was a bit distracted."
"We," Sam declared, "are going to write to that guy called Freakshow and get him to bring the Circus Gothica to Amity Park!"
"We are?" Danny was startled. "Why would we want a gothic circus here?" he asked, gesturing to Tucker and himself. The other boy seemed to share Danny's sentiments.
"Because there's never anything suitable for us here!" Sam exclaimed, collectively referring to Amity Park's Goth population in general (Danny didn't think it could be that big…).
"But would writing to that guy even work?" Tucker asked. "I mean, it's not like Amity Park's a major tourist attraction or anything…"
"Well, why wouldn't it work! I-" Sam froze, and Tucker mirrored her.
"Uh, guys?" Danny asked, feeling distinctly uneasy.
"Danny?" Sam sounded cautious, and it looked as if she was trying far too hard to remain calm. "There's-"
Sam never finished the sentence, but Danny had a good idea of the source of her worry when a chillingly cold hand clasped his wrist, and then drew him back through the wall.
Tucker and Sam blinked at the wall, then the techno geek asked in a strangely even voice, "…You just saw that, right?"
"Argh!" Danny wrenched himself out of the grip of whatever had grabbed him. He didn't know what it was. Turning around, he was startled to see a big, flat but corporeal black shadow. That… should be impossible.
But then, ghosts should be impossible, too. Their existence seemed to defy logic. Something like himself; a half-ghost, defied physics even more. To be alive and dead… maybe that was why Danny felt like such an abomination. Yet the shadow had pulled him through the wall, into the odd room – it was cosy but dusty, with a desk and a lot of piles of paper on it. Bookcases were littered with books, and there were numerous file cabinets. Danny didn't bother glancing at them. He was too concerned about the creature before him.
"Are you a ghost?" he asked quietly, still backing away from the thing in front of him.
"Astute observation, boy," remarked the shadow creature. "You should take up Psychology."
Danny pulled a face. Jazz was the pseudo-psychologist, not him. He didn't like the strange calm feeling that was floating through him. He'd almost prefer the terror; he didn't like this… acceptance. At least he'd known where he stood before. Maybe he was in shock…
"Where are we?" he asked.
The shadow ghost looked amused. "We are still inside your school. We're in a staff office, actually. I believe you may know the owner as Mr. Lancer."
"This is Lancer's office?" It was all Danny had time to exclaim before he was thrown backwards, but not by the shadow ghost.
In front of him was a glowing green ghost – well, if Danny was honest, it looked more like a bright green pile of goo. A pile of goo that suddenly sprouted wings.
Danny made a noise at the back of his throat and backed off. Okay, now he was getting scared…
The ghost fired an ectoplasmic ray at him, and he blinked, just managing to jump out of the way in time. Danny felt his own hand buzzing almost in response, and he stretched it out in front of him, staring at it. The buzzing feeling seemed to be spreading through his entire body.
Then he changed. It was the first time he realized what was happening, and a part of him was terrified. But if there was one things his dreams, twisted as they were, had taught him, it was that the best idea was to act first and then panic later. If you let yourself get panicked at first, you froze up. Who knew what would happen if he froze up while this creature was attacking him?
An ectoblast flew from his hand – he only registered it a moment later. He started in surprise, then reprimanded himself – he didn't have time for that! The ghost seemed just as surprised. It hit him, and flecks of slimy looking ectoplasm settled on the carpet. Danny squirmed.
"Oh, you've finally got a grip on yourself, have you?" the ghost mocked.
Danny didn't trust himself to answer.
"That was ridiculously weak," chided the ghost. "This is how an ectoblast is done properly," he informed Danny, then aimed for his face.
Instinctively Danny put his hands in front of his head for protection, bracing himself for impact, but his body seemed to hum again. He opened his eyes and blinked incredulously. He was looking at the world through a sheen of green light, and he watched the ectoblast coming at him in fascination. It hit the light, and Danny was knocked backwards a bit as the apparent shield vibrated.
He was just glad it hadn't broken.
He slowly released the shield, for once glad of having such a good instinct. And that was a shield… it was there to protect, not be destructive! It was just a shame that he couldn't justify his earlier ectoplasmic ray in the same way. He smiled for a minute, and then bafflingly enough collapsed to the floor.
What the…?
His exhaustion – both emotional and physical – was obviously acting up. It was, he realized, the worst time for such a thing. He felt tears pooling in his eyes.
He dragged himself to his feet, but it took a phenomenal amount of effort. The green ghost just laughed at him – the black one seemed to have disappeared somewhere during combat – and said, "This isn't very fun. So weak, such a child… I've fought babies who were more of a challenge than you."
"Shut up," Danny said, his throat suddenly inexplicably raw.
The ghost just chuckled again, then lunged at him. It wasn't what Danny had been expecting. He was flung backwards into one of the file cabinets with enough force that it rocked backwards, hit the wall and fell back forwards, no barrier there to stop it. His eyes widened.
The cabinet fell on top of him. It didn't hurt, not exactly. His instinct seemed to have managed another weak shield, which fell easily under the weight of the cabinet but stopped the impact being so damaging. He was just a little dazed, that was all. He didn't really know what was going on. And the buzzing feeling was back, and he knew that he was himself again. The minimal pain seemed to increase ten-fold, but it wasn't that mad. He'd still be able to move.
He certainly didn't know why he was crying.
Then hands were pulling him out, and a familiarly chirpy voice was saying, "Oh, Danny, let's get you out of there," and he was even more confused. Spectra? The psychologist? Where had she come from? Where had the green ghost gone – or the black one for that matter? As she hoisted him up, he looked around wearily, but they were nowhere to be seen. Spectra's glasses looked odd, they made her look like an FBI agent. Oh, she always wore glasses! The idea was funny. He giggled half-hysterically.
Spectra frowned. "Oh dear, Danny, what's wrong?" she coaxed.
He was so exhausted… his emotions had gone so haywire… He supposed that they were the reasons why it happened. He didn't tell her anything – she likely wouldn't have believed him. But it was the reason why he broke down in her arms and cried, though he'd never had admit it to anybody.
"There, there," Spectra said, enveloping him in a hug and patting him on the back. He smiled, yet he couldn't see her. She'd never felt this well fed in a long time. Clearly, she'd have to do something to make these 'sessions' be permanent. It had been a long time since she'd had the illusion that she could live youthfully under the sorrow of one person.
This was certainly one of the best days that she could ever remember!
He could still walk. He'd known that he'd be able to – everything was going to be okay! He felt so much better! He loved the surge of excitement that he hadn't felt in so long. He just wished he'd got rid of the fatigue. He was still half-asleep.
He could see Sam and Tucker. It looked like they'd skipped class, looking for him. They were standing around the wall now, maybe wondering if they could somehow grab Danny back from the room beyond – they obviously weren't sure what the wall backed up onto.
He gripped the door handle as he strode through the door just to make sure he didn't fall in such constant tiredness, but he was almost beaming, and then a twinge of pain attacked his head and light seemed to flash in front of him, so he froze, closing his eyes. He was shaking.
When he opened them again, the sight made his stomach twist and he felt like he was going to lose his lunch.
Author's Note: I love cliffhangers. :) In case it isn't obvious, and I'll say this again next chapter, the next chapter contains a scene with imagery that some of you may find disturbing. If you think this warrants a bump up an M rating, let me know rather than reporting me. I asked you all about this for a reason. Reviews are much appreciated, especially as this is the first 'action' scene I've ever written and would very much like opinions on it.