Phantom Falls

26: Home

The above artwork does not belong to me.

Danny gazed out the window of the Fenton family assault vehicle. Trees and asphalt seemed to blur together as he let his mind wander.

His month in Gravity Falls had been pretty cool. After the ordeal with Dan and Bill, everyone who'd been there had formed a strange sort of bond. The underlying mistrust had vanished. Danny spoke freely of his many adventures in Amity Park with the seven others who'd been there.

They never actually found the septem tigris, but they saw its tracks on the edge of a deep gorge, along with a large buck's. At the bottom was a river full of sharp rocks, and Danny suspected that the cat may have gone for a permanent swim. Unlike the predator, the deer's footprints led away from the scene as if it had walked away.

Mabel seemed okay now. It had taken a lot of reassuring and upbeat attitudes from the others, but Danny had convinced her that she wasn't a bad person for what she had done.

"You're pretty much a hero, you know that?" he'd told her once.

She'd looked at him mournfully. "Then why do I feel so terrible?"

He'd smiled. "Take it from me, Mabel, being a hero isn't fun, and sometimes it doesn't seem to be worth the hurt. But that's how it's always been. Do you think it's easy for me, or any of the other superheroes out there?"

The girl had thought about what he said a lot. She still didn't think of herself as a 'hero', but she knew she wasn't the bad guy, either.

The rest of the month, they'd all had fun solving mysteries and swimming in the lake. Soos had returned from a week-long trip, so they'd all spent some time with him. And Wendy's friends often accompanied them, as did Candy and Grenda.

Pacifica hadn't yet confronted her parents, but she was drifting away from their pompous lifestyle in various ways. She even started dressing a little differently, too. Jeans and a tee-shirt suited her well, though it had taken some getting used to. Danny was glad that she was finding her own way.

All in all, life was good. Already he was missing the smell of the mountains and the laughter of his new friends. But as the RV pulled up to his driveway, Danny found that he had missed home more than he thought.

He'd missed some people, as well. Specifically, the two people sitting on his porch.

The teen stumbled out of the car. "Danny!" Sam and Tucker shouted. They grinned and ran to him, Sam tackling him in a hug.

He laughed. "Wow, you'd think I was gone for years." He smiled down at the girl in his arms.

Tucker clapped him on the back. "Dude, that's how it feels. Though it looks like some of us missed you more than others." He looked between Sam and Danny, who were still hugging.

They blushed and seperated. The techie wiggled his eyebrows. "Tucker!" Sam excaimed, smacking him. He just grinned wider.

"Did you do okay without me?" Danny asked. The two rolled their eyes and nodded, telling him all about their encounters with Desiree and the Box Ghost. Nothing big had happened while he was away.

"Danny!" Jazz called. "Come help with the luggage!"

He smiled and helped bring everything inside, laughing and talking with his friends nonstop. He told them all about the crazy Mystery Twins, chill Wendy, stingy Grunkle Stan, and all the other interesting people he'd met. They half didn't beleive his tales of the triangle demon and elusive scientist, the weird creatures and objects that he'd seen in a daily basis.

That night, they decided to watch movies at Sam's. When they were alone, he finally admitted to his experience with Dan and Bill. Thankfully, they didn't apologize or treat him differently or pretend to understand, but they were there for him, and they waited patiently when he had to pause and gather his courage to speak.

They were suprised at the fact that Danny had an all new body. He'd looked in the mirror earlier and saw that all of his scars were still there, including the gashes and punture wounds.

And then there were the bullet marks. Three on his chest, one of them right above his heart. The scar tissue was bright white and knotted, showing starkly against his skin. He would never forget his deaths, that was for sure.

"Danny," Sam said, when Tucker was asleep, "you know you can tell me anything, right?"

The halfa didn't speak for a moment. "Yeah," he finally answered, "I know."

She scooted closer on the couch and leaned against him. "Good," she said sleepily, "'cause I wanted to say that I'm here for you to talk to, always. Okay?"

He smiled, putting an arm around her. "Alright."

They fell asleep cuddled up like that, much to Tucker's delight the next morning. After all, a picture of them curled up together would make excellent blackmail.

End