Gravitational Phantoms

Chapter Ten

Danny's whole world started to shake and crumble, and he unconsciously backed up until he hit the wall. The hybrids legs buckled out from beneath him, and his breath came in ragged pants. Two words repeated like a mantra in his head, pounding through his skull.
They know. They know. They know. They know. They know. They know.
"H-how lo-long?" Danny asked tentatively, shaking visibly. The twins slowly crouched down to his level.
"Since we found you," Dipper replied softly.
"Wh-wh-what a-are y-you go-going t-to d-do?"
Mabel gently rested her hand on Danny's shoulder blade.
"Nothing," she assured him. "And neither will Wendy, Stan, Ford, or Soos."
"Th-they a-all kn-know t-too?"
"Yup," Dipper confirmed. "But they know not to tell anybody."
"We promise," Mabel added.
Danny shivered. "Y-you wo-won't se-sell m-me t-to th-the ag-agents?"
"Of course not," Dipper said, exchanging a glance with his sister. Agents?
Danny nodded. His heart was racing, which was dangerous for a Halfa. They had naturally slow heartbeats, and if they got to be too fast, it could be potentially half-life threatening.
"Are you okay?" Mabel sounded concerned.
"Y-yeah. I-I just n-need to sl-sleep."
The twelve-year-old twins led they ghost boy back up to the attic room.
"Just shout if you need anything, okay?" Dipper told him. Danny nodded and climbed into Mabel's bed. He wrapped the sweater that she had given him around his body, enjoying the comfortable coolness.
The Halfa closed his eyes and let sleep overtake him. It had been an truly exhausting day.
Dipper and Mabel sat down together in the yellow chair, flicking on the TV. It was playing Help! My Mummy's a Werewolf 2: This Again!
After a while, Stan walked in. He was counting a handful of money and smiling. When he saw the twins it disappeared.
"Who dropped your ice cream?"
"We told Danny that we know about him being a Halfa." Dipper said.
"Okay, so?" Stan frowned.
"He-he asked us not to give him to 'the agents.' You don't think that-"
"Listen kid," Stan sighed. "I hate those guys just as much as you do. But I don't think that they would do that to a child, no matter how strange they are."
A scream rang out from upstairs. The three members of the Pines family looked at each other for a moment before taking off up the stairs.
They were joined about halfway up by Ford, who had scratches up and down one side of his face.
"What happened to you?" Dipper asked as they flung the door open.
"Kappa. Nasty little river monster from Japan."
Danny was thrashing and screaming the same way that he had been last night, but this time he was saying words too instead of just screeching.
"Please!" He sobbed. "Stop! I swear I'm your son! I swear! Please! Stop! No more no morenomorenomore!"
Dipper clapped a hand over his mouth. His eyes were wide.
"Does he..." the next second he had bolted out of the room. Dipper almost didn't make it to the bathroom in time before he vomited.
In a few seconds his sister joined him, and when they were done they just sat there, staring at each other.
Mabel let out a hiccuping cry. "Why would anybody do that?" She whispered. "That's so awful! It's-it's just...ugh!"
Mabel punched the side of the sink and yelped in pain. "Why would somebody do that to their own kid, Dipper?"
The boy hugged his sister. "I know."
The two could still hear the screams echoing from the other room.
"He'll be okay," Mabel said under her breath. "He'll be okay."
Someone crouched down next to them. Actually, two someones. Four arms wrapped around them, and there was a long group hug.
"He's going to be alright, kids. It's going to be okay."

Danny stood on the ruins of what looked like it might have once been a house. He had been pulled out of his nightmare and into this black, white, and grey dreamworld somehow.
An icy feeling began to creep over his skin, and he felt as if somebody was watching him. Danny shivered, and suddenly the universe shuddered. Ripples moved from his body and bubbled around his body.
Something that felt like talons latched onto his waist and shoulders, ripping him apart. Danny tried to scream, but nothing came out.
Without even looking, Danny knew that his body had been split down the middle, black and white, ghost and human.
One side of him was in his Phantom form, while the other looked like Fenton.
"Well, well, well," somebody was talking to him. Danny spun around, searching for the source. "How's it going, DP?" The Halfa still couldn't see who was speaking.
"I see that Shooting Star and Pine Tree found you before you could bleed to death."
Where was that coming from?!
"Honestly, I'm surprised. I didn't think that the old men would want you to corrupt their great-niece and nephew."
A hand grabbed his hair and raised his head up. Something touched the bottom of his chin. Danny tried to pull away, and slammed into an invisible wall.
"Don't worry," the voice purred. "I've got a lot of big things coming, and I'll need all of the puppets that I can get."
Danny raised a hand and blasted at the force. The world shook again, and this time different colors started to leak through. One latched onto his arm and began to squeeze. It started to slowly drag him into wakefulness, although how Danny knew that he didn't know.
"Who are you?" Danny managed to choke out. There was a long silence, and Danny's mouth started to function properly again. "Who are you working for? What are you where am I? How do you know who I am?"
There was more silence, and Danny started to wake up. Just before he could, the voice rang out again.
"You can call me Bill."