Gravitational Phantoms

Chapter Six

Gravity Falls. So that's where Danny was. Of course, he had no idea what state that was in, how big it was, or if it was far enough away from the lab to be safe. And apparently, gnomes were a common occurrence. That was a little bit strange.
But who was he to judge? Amity had ghosts, Gravity Falls had gnomes.
"You're taking this surprisingly well," Dipper commented. Danny shrugged slightly.
"I-I guess it's not that h-hard to believe if you've s-seen ghosts."
Immediately, Danny wanted to take that back. Why would he admit that? Maybe they wouldn't think ghosts were real. But what if they did, and would want to do experiments on them?
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that." Dipper mumbled to himself. Raising his voice to a normal level, he said, "Well, I hope that your prepared to see some more weird stuff, because there are a lot worse things than just the gnomes in this town."
"L-like what?" Danny asked nervously.
"Oh, just some werewolves, vampires, aliens, and Gremloblins. You know, the usual," Mabel said, waving her hand flippantly.
"W-what's a Gremloblin?"
Mabel wrinkled her nose. "Part gremlin, part goblin. You see your worse nightmare if you look into its eyes. Don't thow water on them or they get even worse."
"Nasty customer," Stan agreed. He glanced around at the objects strewn all over the floor. "Alright who's going to clean this up?"
"Not it!" The twins chorused in unison. Stan frowned and pointed at Mabel.
"Eeny, meeny, miny...you."
"Aww, boo." She complained. "No fair."
"Haha, yes! Finally!" Dipper cheered. Danny flinched at the noise.
"If those guys are going to make a big mess trying to marry you, than you're going to be the one to clean it up."
Mabel scowled for a second before the expression melted off of her face. "Can I give Danny his sweater first?"
"Sure, but make it quick," Stan left the room, hopefully to change clothes. Mabel beamed and pulled out the knitting project that she had been working on.
Danny realized that it was a large black sweater, with nice white and green flame-like designs on it. He took it from the long-haired girl carefully, running his fingers over the soft fibers. Despite the fact that it was really hot outside, the sweater actually seemed to radiate coolness.
At Mabel's expectant look, he put it on.
Instead of being overheated, Danny felt as if he were being wrapped in a cocoon of snow. His core shivered, and he felt as he could run/fly for miles without getting tired.
"So, do you like it?" Mabel asked, starting to pick up a cushion that had somehow ended up behind the TV.
Danny nodded and snuggled down into it. Mabel grinned.
"That's great! Because I wasn't sure that it was going to work."
"You weren't sure that what was going to work?" Dipper asked.
Mabel tugged on her collar. "Well..."
"Danny, can I touch your sweater for a second?"
"Um, okay?"
Dipper gently rested his hand on Danny's chest, then narrowed his eyes.
"Mabel, why is it cold?"
She chuckled nervously. "Funny story..."
Mabel grabbed her brother and pulled him out of the room. Danny sat back down in the yellow chair. He still didn't know how far away he was from his former home. Maybe there was a computer that he could use. Or a PDA. Tucker.
Had they held a funeral for him? Did his parents think that it was Phantom's fault? What about Sam's family? Was Jazz okay? The last that he had seen of her had been-
Danny thrashed around in the ghost proof net, trying to escape as his parents moved forward. They pointed a thermos at him, and Danny let out one final scream as he was sucked in.
When he was freed, Danny was in an ectoradium cage, the walls burning at his skin. His parents were watching him, glares on their faces.
"We've got some questions for you, ghost scum," his dad growled. Danny nodded, eyes wide.
His mother opened her mouth, but before she could say anything somebody called out from upstairs.
"Mom, dad? Where are you?"
"We're in the lab, sweetie." Danny's mother answered.
The door opened, and a ginger head poked through.
"Have you seen-DANNY!"
She rushed to the front of the cage.
"Are you okay?" She asked. Maddie snorted.
"Why wouldn't he be? It's just a filthy ghost."
"Filthy ghost?" Jazz shrieked. "That's your son!"
Jack laughed. "That's ridiculous, Jazzypants. Danny isn't a ghost."
The Halfa pressed himself up against the bars, heedless of the searing pain.
"It's true," he said, allowing the transformation to take over him. "I am."
His mom and dad stared at him for a moment. Then Jack scowled. "You're no son of ours, freak."
Danny and Jazz gaped at him.
"W-what?" Danny gasped. Maddie narrowed her eyes.
"You aren't our Danny. You are just an ectoplasmic cluster of post-human consciousness." She picked up a scalpel. "And we're going to figure what makes you tick."
Somebody rested their hand on Danny's shoulder.
"Dude, you okay?"
Danny jumped, curling into the chair cushion.
The guy from yesterday, the one with buck teeth, was standing next to him.
"You were kinda shaking and twitching, so I figured that maybe you needed help? Are you okay?"
Danny nodded, body tensed. He didn't know this person and oh no what if they tried to hurt him and he was all alone and this was really badbadbad.
"Danny!" Mabel suddenly appeared next to him. "Do you want to go up to the roof? It's really cool, and I also need to hide from Dipper. Oh hey, Soos! Don't tell Dip where I went, okay?"
She grabbed Danny's hand and dragged him up to a weird room full of funny-looking creatures and objects, then up a ladder. It was less like she was kidnapping him and more as if she really, really wanted to show him something. That made it a little bit easier to be unafraid, because the agents had always dragged him places while he screamed and fought.
When they stopped, it was on top of the roof. Danny could see the forest that surrounded the house. There was a totem pole nearby, that looked as if it had been broken and then put back together recently.
On the roof with them was a cooler and a couple of chairs that Mabel happily plopped down on top of. Danny sat cross-legged on the warm wood, enjoying the sunshine.
Down beneath him, Stan was leading a group of strange people around. He was wearing a suit and eyepatch, which Danny was pretty sure that he didn't need. Stan was carrying a cane with an eight-ball on the end.
"He's leading tours," Mabel explained. "Beneath us is the Mystery Shack, which is basically a tourist trap that he runs. Wendy, Soos, Dips, and I all work there. It's kind of funny, because they could see real stuff if they just looked into the woods."
"D-do you live in Gravity Falls?"
Mabel shook her head. "Naw. We live in Piedmont, California, but our parents sent us up here for the summer."
"D-do you like it here?"
"Oh, yes. I still haven't really had an epic summer romance, but I have had a lot of fun. I don't think that I would change it for anything, not even a boyfriend." She paused for a moment. "Do you have a girlfriend? Or a boyfriend, whichever."
Danny shook his head. "No. I d-did have a c-crush on my best f-friend Sam, but she..." Danny's eyes filled with tears. "She died b-before I could t-tell her."
Arms wrapped around Danny's waist. At first he tensed up, but then he relaxed when he realized that Mabel wasn't attacking. Danny smiled through his tears. It had been a long time since he had been hugged.
"I'm sorry," Mabel mumbled into his back. "That's really sad." Danny reached behind him and pulled her around to the front of his body. Then he curled up around her, sobbing quietly. When his tears dried up, they stayed that way for a while longer, enjoying the sunshine. That was the way that Dipper found them an hour later.