Chapter 11: Thieves
"Oh, no no! stop, aw…..Howard.." Randy looked at his friend with complete disbelief as Howard capped the sharpie and began talking to his new friend, "belly button face"
"hellwo, mister bellwy button face! Who's a hungry boy, huh? Om nom nom nomnom nom…"
Tucker, Sam and Mabel were howling with laughter, and Norman was making those breathy squeals you make when you laugh so hard sound stops coming out. Dipper was taking pictures on Danny's abandoned phone, leaving Randy to watch his friend with a grumpy cat face. The high ceilinged attic rocked and creaked with laughter and Howard's abnoxious conversation.
Sam started pounding the floor, she was laughing so hard.
"Where do you guys come up with this stuff?" she huffed. Randy shrugged.
"I mean, it's not like you guys do any weird things in your free time." He said.
Sam smiled slyly. "Oh, don't we…"
She reached into her bag and pulled out a small scrapbook. Careful not to let Tucker see, she flipped through to a page in the middle and showed to Randy and Howard. They stared at the picture for a few seconds before erupting into a cacophony of noise.
"They DID THAT!?" cried Randy. Sam nodded, quite deviously.
"That's so wonk! And Adorwable!" said Howard to his belly.
Sam turned the scrapbook around. Tucker gasped in embarrassment. Dipper, Norman, and Mabel laughed even harder.
It was the picture of Danny and Tucker cuddling in the floor of the observatory at the Amity Park zoo.
The room shook with laughter. Several teens started coughing from the effort. Tucker sent Sam a poisionous glare, but both of them knew he didn't really mean it.
"Oh…that's rich, that's rich. That was great. Hey, Dipper, Mabel, what do you guys do in your free time?" asked Randy.
The twins looked at each other. Mabel stood up on her bed and declared pompously in a pretty good imitation of Dipper, "I like to read books and crush on high school red heads and dance in lamb costumes and listen to BABBA and Disco girl!"
"It's a catchy Icelandic pop group, don't judge me!" protested Dipper, but the other teens were rolling on the floor. Dipper stood up.
"Oh yeah!? Well I'm Mabel and I like to Be-zazzle things and crush on every boy I see and watch rom-coms and knit sweaters for my pig!"
"Sweaters are going to be the next big thing!" Mabel argued over the peals of laughter. The twins glared at each other, then fell into fits of giggles themselves.
Suddenly the lights flashed on. The room went silent as the teens looked to the doorway, which was currently occupied by Stan. He was wearing nothing but his white tank and blue boxers, and he looked tired and pissed. The happy air chilled with his presence.
"Would you kids GO TO BED!" he yelled. The teens all froze. Stan continued. "It's almost 2 in the morning and we all need sleep! I don't know how you kids can laugh after what happened today! I just saw on the news that some people didn't make it out alive, and most are crowded in town hall and the hospital! Now crash and we'll help you kids find you parents in the morning!" he huffed and left, slamming the door on the way out. Silence hung in the air like a tangible presence, like a weight.
"I'd almost forgotton about today." whispered Norman. He rubbed his bandaged wrist, noticing everyone else's band aids and gauze wraps. The others seemed to notice them too. Howard hung his head.
More silence.
Suddenly Danny's phone began blaring "Radioactive", shattering the serious quiet. Dipper fumbled with it in his hands before wisely placing it in Sam's outstretched hand. She answered it hesitantly.
"Hello?"
"Oh, Sam! THANK GOODNESS! Where's Danny? Is he okay? Are you and tucker? Tell me where you guys are! Are you safe!?"
"Woah! Slow down Mrs. Fenton! We're fine! The pines family let us crash at their place for the night! Mr. Pines said he'll help us find you tomorrow."
"Oh…him...well, as long as you're alright. Is Danny there? Can I talk to him?"
"Um…" Sam looked at Tucker, panicked. "He's…asleep, Mrs. F. yeah, he's fine but he kinda crashed and he's been out since 8pm. Sorry."
"Well, alright. We'll see him and you two in the morning I suppose. Get some sleep, Sam. And be sure to thank Mr. Pines for us, because we certainly won't be."
Sam smirked. "Sure thing. Bye." She hit end, and set the phone down. Tucker let out a sigh of relief.
"Yay! Danny's parents are okay!" he said. The others smiled meekly.
"We should probably get some sleep." said Dipper. The others nodded in agreement, and began settling down in sleeping bags and inflatable mattresses. A chorus of "goodnights" where whispered briefly, and then silence once again filled the room, this time bringing sleep with it.
Danny was really starting to like Agatha.
Sure, they met in unfortunate circumstances, but they had spent their scenic flight over gravity falls talking, and Danny found Agatha to be a really cool person. They had discussed where she was in the ghost zone, how she died, how epic her ghost abilities were. He connected with her and sympathized with her on levels he's never been able to with any other person, even his friends, because no one quite got it like Agatha did.
"So why'd you stay in the ghost zone?" Danny asked. Agatha paused, her smile retracting slightly.
"I thought it was obvious. Your wicked 'uncle' figured it out easily enough." She said bitterly. She turned to him, her face hurt. He sighed.
"Don't let Vlad get to you. Finding people's weakness and exploiting them is kind of his specialty. He does it to me all the time. You just have to not let it bother you. Remember, he's a straight up crazed fruit loop, that one." He assured her.
Agatha smiled at that.
"I stayed because of Norman." She whispered. Danny was a little surprised.
"You like him?" he asked. She blushed.
"No, I mean,…well, maybe. It's more like he was the first person to ever understand me, to ever help me, to ever be my friend. I just…don't want to let that go, I guess." She said softly. Danny understood.
"Hey, I get it. I feel the same way about Sa-AAAHHHGG!" Danny was interrupted as a huge mass of acidic ectoplasm smashed into his side and sent him careening downward. He immeadiatly grabbed the side of his waist and pressed hard, trying to make the pain stop. He glanced down and registered his own ectoplasmic blood against the venomous smoking poison currently burning a hole in his side. His head began to swim with dizziness. He thought he heard Agatha calling his name above him. But she was so high, how? He was falling so fast, the searing acid was being blown off, but the damage was done. Danny tried to maintain his ghost form, but he felt it slipping. He screamed. His vision was getting darker. He felt tree branches swat and slap his face. He hit the earth hard, and heard his right shoulder pop.
Ow. He thought helplessly as the white rings mercilessly changed him back into Fenton. Then darkness clouded his mind. He heard footsteps, excited voices. He painstakingly willed all he had in him to change back, change back, change back.
The white rings reappeared. Danny sighed in relief. He felt drained, vulnerable.
His vision started fading out.
The last thing he saw was a bright yellow streaking flash across the sky.
Vlad hovered at the edge of the woods, in ghost form, watching the house. The attic lights had gone out only minutes before, and he wanted to give the pines children time to fall asleep before he went in.
He flew up to the front door, turned intangible, and floated inside. He pulled out a scanner he'd paid Technus and Skulker to create, and turned it on. The scanner immeadiatly began to scan for anything with the six fingered hand that Gideon had described to him.
The Wisconsin ghost floated through the door to Stan's bedroom. The man was lying wide awake on his ratty mattress, absent mindedly fiddling with the pair of glasses he found in the hidden room with the creepy carpet. Worry and deep thought were etched onto his face.
Vlad shimmered out of the visable spectrum. Stan twitched, but didn't seem to notice. Vlad quickly floated around the room, which was surpisingly bare of anything personal, just weird and magical looking, nothing with six fingers. He then ventured into other various rooms in the shack, but no luck. He did find it odd that the vending machine received a small beep, but then he took notice of the chip bag with the Six fingered hand and the six fingered hand on one of the buttons. Odd, he commented to himself.
Having completely screened the downstairs, he floated upstairs, annoyance starting to build. He stopped outside the stairway to the attic, where research had informed him the twins and their cousin slept.
Dipper sat up in his bed and groggily opened his eyes. He glanced around, trying to see if anything was different. No, Norman was still passed out by the window, waiting for Danny. Mabel and Waddles were still snuggled in a ball on her bed. And their new friends were still spread across the floor on sleeping bags. It was quiet and cold and…
Cold?
The attic was always warm. Why would…
Dipper pulled the covers aside and grabbed the journal hidden under his pillow. He tip toed around the sleeping teens, careful not to step on them. He was almost clear when he tripped over Randy's injured side. Dipper crashed to the floor and Glanced at Randy's frame, tense. The mop of purple hair flinched, but didn't seem to be awake. Dipper let out a small sigh of relief and continued out, grabbing a flashlight off the dresser on the way to the door.
The house was creepy enough in the light of day. It was absolutely terrifying at night. No moonlight poured through the windows. The old floorboards creaked and moaned with every quiet step Dipper took. He kept glancing around nervously, thinking he saw shadows moving out of the corner of his eye. His flashlight was doing little good to comfort him. He was about to turn down another hall when-
BEEP.
Dipper stiffened and wearily glanced around the corner. Dracula floated a few ways down the hallway, frowning at a scanner. His feet weren't touching the floor. Dipper whipped his head back around the corner, eyes wide.
Ghost! He thought. And Danny's not here!
Dipper immeadiately opened the book to the page on ghosts, trying to determine how to best go about this. He started to sweat as he heard the scanner give off another beep. He flipped through the pages as hastily as he could. Another beep. Dipper's eyes desperately scanned the page. Beep. Closer, it's coming closer! He thought.
BEEP!
Dipper hastily and awkward shoved the book under the back of his short just as the Ghost rounded the corner. Dipper let out a small yelp and fell the floor. The book landed a foot from him. The flashlight rolled out of reached, leaving him blind except for the ghost's pale glow.
Vlad frowned.
"And what would you be doing up past your bedtime, Child?" he scolded, an annoyed scowl filling his face. Dipper gulped.
"Vlad…Masters?" he ventured nervously.
Vlad looked genuinely surprised, even taken aback.
"Who told you that?" he demanded. Dipper shrugged.
"Oh, just you're nephew. He's right, you don't have any taste in costuming." He said, trying to be unafraid.
Bad move.
Vlad threw the scanner, now beeping insistently, to the floor, causing it to shatter. He then swooped down and lifted Dipper up by his neck, holding him at eye level.
"Danny's not one to talk about taste, given his recent taste for disobedience." Vlad snarled. Dipper clawed at the glove around his neck, struggling for air.
Vlad glanced down and saw the abandoned journal. His smiled widened. Dipper grew fearful and shook his head at the ghost. But Vlad wasn't paying attention. He reached out with his spared hand, created a field of pink energy around the book, and lifted it up and into his open palm. Then he turned back to Dipper.
"Looks like I've got what I need. Out of curiosity, how is dear Daniel? How do you know him?" Vlad questioned.
Dipper gasped for air. "like I'm…(aaah!)…gonna tell….(uuahhh!)..you!" he wheezed. Vlad growled and spun to leave, meaning to let Gideon deal with the stubborn boy himself. He was just about to phase through the door when….
Suddenly a purple converse high top smacked Plasmius in the back of the head. He turned, still holding Dipper by the neck.
There, standing in a battle stance in nothing but his pajamas, his other shoe raised above his head, ready to be thrown, was Randy Cunningham. And he looked mad.
That's it for now! My updates are becoming far spread and I'm sorry. I'll do my best to keep it to once a week, maybe more often if time allows. If you analytical gravity falls fans were wondering, Dipper convinced stan to give him the book back on the grounds that he'd been using it as a journal. Stan agreed, cuz he's already gotton what he needs from it. Aaaaaannd, yeah. Review, it makes me happy and motivates me to keep writing. And thanks, Some Weird Chick, for that review! this is my first attempt at something this complex, and I really appreciate it! later!