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~CWA


CHAPTER SEVEN


Danny Fenton

The next day I'm in a much better mood. Of course, a majority of time in the lab was spent grinning at Tadashi cheekily as he glared at me. It was so funny for him to try to accuse me of yesterday's mishaps, but he lacked any proof or logical evidence so the others weren't so quick to blame me. Though Wasabi is pretty sure that I did it because, according to him, I had a cat ate the canary grin. The same grin is still on my face as I enter the Lucky Cat Cafe. Considering everyone else is still at the lab and it's before the lunch rush, I'm not surprised to see that it's slightly less crowded than usual. I like it. It's more spacy when I come in around this time.

Cass spots me instantly as I plop down at the counter. I give her a chipper wave of greeting, causing her to grin as she makes her way over.

"Why if it isn't one of my favorite customers? How are you doing Danny? Eating well? I still think you are much too thin. Maybe you need one of my ten pound, pound cake."

She muses to herself a bit, but I shake my head with a slightly nervous please don't expression. As much as I appreciate the concern, and really I do, I am a pretty healthy weight for my size. A good portion of my weight is muscle, though I have a feeling I need to work out again soon to keep the muscle. I wave off her concerns,

"Please, Cass, it's fine, really. I eat enough at the college, I promise."

She clicks her tongue in disbelief,

"If you say so…. So how's your project going? You never did tell me what you're working on."

She plops down in a seat next to me with a curious expression on her face. Considering the fact that everyone in the cafe seems to be taken care of, she can afford the break. She seems to need it too. Faint bags are forming under her eyes from lack of sleep and stress. Poor Cass. I know she works her hardest over here and she does the best work she can do and that's not easy. I know with Tadashi, who I've learned is her nephew (though how he came to be in her care, I don't know), at college and Hiro being in the lab a good portion of the day, she's left to do a lot of it herself. Though Tadashi and Hiro do work here as much as they can. I just can't help feeling sorry for her and my heart bleeds for her.

But I'm a bit hesitant to say what I'm working on. Though she hasn't judged me yet so after a second of debate, I finally speak up.

"I'm actually working on a portal to a world parallel to ours- Limbo. Or as I like to call it, the Ghost Zone."

I rub my neck a bit sheepishly, wincing inwardly about what she may say. Knowing Cass, she's not going to be downright rude or disrespectful. Though I don't expect the absolutely starry-eyed expression that appears on her face. Her eyes go wide as her mouth gapes at me. I can see the stars in her pupils as she leans forward with interest.

"A portal to another dimension? And a ghost one at that? Danny that's absolutely amazing. How do you plan on pulling it off?"

Well that's a refreshing response to my project. No skeptic looks. No judgmental eyes. Just genuine curiosity and awe. It's so genuine that I can see it in her eyes. Just absolute awe. Like she can't believe that I'm doing to do something that's so off the wall and original. Like she has the uttermost faith that I can do it, she just wants to hear how I plan on doing it to satisfy her own curiosity. It's just an authentic support that for a brief moment, I'm a tad overwhelmed. Man it's been too long since someone's actually supported me to purely. Even Jazz is skeptic of me and treats me like an immature kid sometimes. But here Cass is, giving me the uttermost support like a parent to a child.

I choke up for a second and blink back the tears and the memories of my parents.

"I…. I have a big plan for it," I explain after gathering myself, "Blueprints and everything. There's this specific type of metal that, while hard to get, is absolutely perfect for this because it just absorbs the shocks of energy that can come from making such a portal. It'll use up a lot of electricity and a lot of chemicals, but hopefully with the right combination it can be done. Think of it like this, every dimension is on a radio channel and it's just a matter of tapping into the right one. So by using the electricity and chemicals, I'm creating a brief break in those radio waves that can allow travel between them to occur."

I try to keep it pretty simple. There's no use going into all the gritty details when I know they would just go over Cass' head. Besides, I'm not exactly a public speaker or a poet. I'm sure that even if I tried to explain the actual science behind it, I would just fumble over words and not know exactly how to say it. This is a lot easier for the both of us in the long run. Thankfully, she seems to understand as she nods, captivated by words.

"Fascinating," she breaths, "To think such a thing is even possible. I wish you the best of luck, Danny, I really do."

The awe seeps through her words causing me to get a bit more emotional as I rub my eyes with the back of my hand. I don't really want to be crying in front of Cass. Unluckily, judging from her sudden expression of empathy, she does notice the faint tears that I'm wiping away. Her lips turn into a small concerned frown as she puts the back of her hand against my forehead.

"Are you alright dear?"

When I was a kid, Mom would speak to me just like that. Those same words. Same tone. Some concerned expression as she would put her hand on my forehead to check for a fever as I would be desperately hoping that maybe if I coughed enough, she would believe I was actually sick. It never worked. She could always tell when I was just trying to skip school and she would send me out with a freshly packed lunch and a quick I love you.

A small reminiscing smile graces my face as I laugh a bit to myself, still wiping at the tears.

"Yeah, I'm okay…."

She pulls away, clicking her tongue with a bit of disbelief but doesn't question me. It takes a moment before she finally returns the shaky smile I'm giving her. Then, as if it never happened, she's back to her normal, cheery self.

"If you say so! I better get back to work! But Hiro should be down soon!"

She gives me a chipper bye before dashing off to tend to one of the customers, leaving me alone. Though I won't be alone for long if Hiro is actually coming down. When I first met him and he blurted out that Tadashi is his brother (who apparently comes home and complains about me). Apparently Hiro could tell it was me since I'm the only one who could fit the description of 'a short Gothic ghost buster movie actor with charm but is so infuriating it causes aneurisms.' I'm almost flattered by that description actually. Thankfully, Hiro doesn't share the same judgmental prejudice as his brother. He was hesitant and cautious about me, sure, but as soon as I mentioned that I have an older, overbearing sister, we hit it off.

By now, I know all about his bot fighting among a few other things. Like how Tadashi is pushing Hiro to be a robotic engineer like him. While I don't like the idea of Hiro illegally bot fighting, I made it pretty clear to him that he can do whatever he wants with his life, but to make sure that he challenges himself. Last I heard from him, that bit of information sparked an idea in his mind of some sort of electromagnetic robot that could put itself together. To my knowledge, he's still trying to make that idea a reality.

I spot Hiro making his way down the stairs and into the cafe with a goofy grin on his face. He comes straight to me and we share a quick fist bump followed by a mimicking explosion.

"How's it goin' little Hero," I joke lightly, nudging him with my elbow as he sits beside me.

He makes an exaggerated face at the nickname, groaning a bit dramatically.

"Save a cat from a tree one time and suddenly the pronunciation of my name takes on a more literal meaning."

He leans back in his chair, propping his elbows up to rest his head on his hands and his feet go straight to the counter. I wonder how long it will take Cass to get onto him for that. If she ever notices anyway. She tends to be off in her own little world a lot. I glance at her briefly to see her sneak a few cookies off the counter as she passes by on her way to another customer. We lock eyes for a brief second as she does so, causing her to flush before she just makes a face at me and continues with her business. Pft. Cookie thief. Though is someone really a cookie thief if they're the ones that make the cookies?

"So," Hiro speaks up, a devious grin on his face, "Tadashi told me what happened yesterday- it's a good thing he doesn't know you come here otherwise I might not be able to get a lot of information out of him. But he's certain you're the one to do it and after hearing everything, I'm sure of it too. But I have to know, how? It's been driving me nuts. At first, I thought maybe Did you sneak some sort of remote electromagnetic mini-robot on his stuff so you can control it remotely?"

To be honest, I haven't really thought about how I could explain what I did. Because I knew at some point I was going to have to explain to someone, either Hiro or Wasabi, about how I did it. Though I like Hiro's explanation. Simple and believable. I can roll with that for now. I give him a small smirk and lean a bit back into the chair,

"How did you know?"

His eyes light up at being right,

"I knew it! I totally knew it! And Tadashi swore that you couldn't have done something like that, but I knew I was right!"

He cheers a bit to himself, pumping his fists into the air. I laugh a bit at him and reach out to ruffle his hair.

"Yeah, yeah, we all know you're a genius Hiro."

"So are you," Hiro points out, "I know you're working on a dimensional portal and that alone is hard enough, but to make one to go to some place like Limbo is a whole other level."

We haven't really talked about my project. The few times we've had, I've dodged around it or walked on eggshells. Never really got his opinion on it. Mostly because I thought that it would change his mind about me and turn him into his brother. But the second he mentions that what I'm doing is on another level, I feel a bit more at ease. I relax with a small sigh.

"I appreciate it, Hiro, but it's not completed."

"Yet," Hiro adds, "And it's actually pretty possible for it to work. I've done the research- though maybe looking up ghosts wasn't a good idea, I got a lot of stuff about some sort of Amity hoax or something like that. I didn't mention the stuff I found to Tadashi because I don't want him to realize we're conspiring against him."

Well there goes my total chill attitude. The second he briefly mentions Amity, I tense up. I feel my jaw clench and my hands briefly turn to fists as I try to control the minor flash of anger. It goes away as quickly as it came, but Amity still lingers in my mind. Vlad did a really good job at covering it up. Turning the Battle of Amity, or the Destruction of Amity, into a mere freak gas leak conspiracy that no one really believes. Some say ghosts. Some say it's government population control. Some say aliens. Some say Vlad actually blew the town up and is covering his tracks. All of it's not really in depth and nothing of concern, but the fact that it even showed up in a search on ghosts makes me a bit uneasy.

Maybe all he found was just brief articles of Amity being haunted which led him to finding the 'gas leak' related papers. I'm almost sure that's what happened. It takes a second, but I'm finally about to process the rest of Hiro's comment and laugh.

"You're an evil little shit sometimes, you know that?"

"Nah," Hiro brushes it off without concern, "My brother has just had it too good for too long."

The twinkle of amusement in his eyes tell me he's not serious about the statement and just making a joke that causes us to laugh even more. From the corner of my eyes, I see Cass glance at us. There's some sort of strange expression on her face. A sort of aww aren't they cute type of expression that causes me to flush a bit. There's just one problem. The pink tinge in my cheeks gets Hiro's attention and I just know that this thirteen-year-old has gained ammunition…. And he has no fear of firing.

"Ohhh," he nudges me, "Let me guess, cute girl?"

I wave him off with a grin, catching Cass' attention as I wink at her. She looks at me a bit confused as she gets a bit closer to us to hear what's going on. I click my tongue and do the classic Elvis point at her.

"The cutest."

She flushes a bit and laughs as she shakes her head while Hiro just about falls off his chair from laughing so hard. I guess my jokes just...kill. Pft. Cass is still laughing at me and Hiro as she ruffles both of our heads, shaking up our hair,

"You flatter me, Danny, and you two are just absolute knuckleheads, I swear."

With another laugh, she continues on her way. The grins on Hiro and I's faces still stay as we laugh to ourselves. It takes a moment before we're even able to speak again, catching our breaths as we hunch over a bit. When I look back at Hiro, I see no expression of humor on his face as he gets a bit of a faraway look in his eyes. He doesn't even look at me. His focus is directly at the floor.

"Sometimes I wish you were my brother," Hiro's voice is a bit soft, "Not that I don't love Tadashi and he's amazing… I really look up to him, but sometimes, he just seems too… controlling."

My eyes soften as I reach out to put my hand on his shoulder, the sudden solemn mood hitting us bother. I know what he means. I really do. For years, I looked up my sister, but as I grew older, especially when I hit thirteen and fourteen, my sister seemed different in my eyes. She was still my sister. I still loved her. She had her moments. But she was always convinced that she was right. She thought that I had to do this and do that in order to be a hero and be successful. It caused so much tension between us until I realized that all of it was just her way of trying to encourage me to make the most of my life and to not get hurt.

And I think Hiro needs to realize that too. Sometimes with Tadashi being at the college so often I think Hiro feels a bit left out or lonely. I mean, even I know Tadashi doesn't really come down to the cafe except late night and on weekends- usually spent working or sleeping. Hiro must be feeling so many different emotions about the whole thing. Happiness that Tadashi is doing so well. Pride that it's his brother whose going to SFIT, even if he calls it the Nerd Lab. Love for his brother. Resentment that even as smart as he is, Tadashi is viewed as the smart one because it's Tadashi whose at SFIT and making something for himself. Fear that he's going to lose Tadashi. Fear that if he went to SFIT, he won't live up to expectations or he'll let Tadashi down. Or worse, people there will just see Tadashi's shadow or Tadashi's little brother, not Hiro. Not the genius kid who has so much potential.

I can see it all in his face. His movements. I can see it because I've been in his position as a little brother. I can see it in the pulses of his aura. But I have heard Tadashi speak of Hiro too. Not necessarily to me, but I have overheard a few things. Stuff like how proud he is of Hiro. How he wants the best for him. That he has so much potential and he desperately wants Hiro to do something with that genius and not let it waste away.

"You know, I used to hate my sister," I speak up slowly, choosing my words carefully, "For years I hated her. I never really realized she just wants the best for me and it's her job as an older sibling to make sure that I do the right thing. It's hard and we still have fights sometimes, partially because we spent so much time just fighting when I was about your age…. But we'd be nothing without each other. She's my sister. And… Tadashi loves you, Hiro, you know that? I mean, he really cares about you. He talks about how proud he is of you at the lab practically 24/7… Or at least he does when he and I aren't arguing."

We both share a small laugh at that, the tension quickly disappearing. Though I can feel that family bond forming between Hiro and I. I can see it in our auras too. That natural bond as if we've always been family or meant to be family. I've noticed that Cass and I have been slowly forming that same sort of bond of family. I can already tell that if things escalate, these bonds are just going to stronger and soon I'll be part of the family, whether I like it or not.

Part of it worries me. I've only been here for a while. A month, maybe. And already this is happening. So strongly. So quickly. Though this is Hiro and Cass. Tadashi's family. Tadashi's only family and here I am creating this natural bond with them. So the real reason I'm worrying is over a very simple question….

If I'm bonding with his family, where does Tadashi fit into this equation?