the hunted / the chosen few
Aposiopesis
All Danny saw was vague, blurred shapes on a grey-blue background. He tried to squint to see them more clearly, but his eyes couldn't move.
"D-dude, — you —ive? — is —t fu—y!" the shape that was probably Tucker said. Danny couldn't discern most of the words over the ringing in his ears, but whatever was going on had Tucker scared.
"It's okay," Danny said. Or tried to say, anyway. All that came out was a breathy gurgle.
"Come on, —y ! — have to —!" the shape that was probably Sam yelled. The shapes all shook, and Danny felt a vague sensation of movement and dizziness. Did someone shake him? Was he falling?
"Oh —, Sam. Wh— if — never —" Tucker said, shaking.
"What's wrong, guys?" Danny tried to say. What he actually said was more like "Wassangaz?"
Even that seemed to calm Tucker and Sam down. Danny didn't know why they were so worked up over… whatever, but he did want to help.
"—n— Fen—," Sam said. Some part of Danny realized that was his name. "Don't — ever sc— — like that again!" Sam said, slowly coming into focus. She looked worried. She was also above him. Was he on the floor? That was silly, why would he be on the floor? At least the ringing had stopped.
Tucker had his beret in his hands. "Do we call 911? That's what they always say to do in school, and it might be a concussion, but —"
"Someone hurt?" Danny slurred.
"Yeah, you!" Tucker said.
Danny tried to shake his head and managed a slight twitch. "Nno, I'm fine."
Sam frowned. "That's very Fenton of you to say, but you need help."
"Mom's upstairs. Got first aid. I'll go." Danny lifted himself onto his arms, which felt like jelly, only less load-bearing.
"No!" Sam said suddenly, catching him before he hit the floor.
Danny laughed. "How'd your hand get there?" he asked, gesturing to the black-nailed hand currently a foot above his face.
Sam and Tucker looked at each other. "At least we're up to full sentences now," Tucker said as Danny blacked out again.
When Danny opened his eyes, he was sitting upright against the wall. Sam and Tucker were sitting beside him.
"Alright, space case, do you know where you are?" Sam asked.
Danny frowned. "In the basement?"
Sam nodded. "That's right. Do you remember why you're in the basement?"
This one took a second. "Was gonna show you the portal." Danny turned his head abruptly to see the green swirling vortex to one side. He raised a finger and stretched out an arm dramatically. "There it is!" Had it always been so green and warm? Somehow, it seemed inviting.
"Do you remember what happened when you went into the portal?" Tucker asked.
"Oh yeah, Sam said I couldn't have Dad on my suit, and then I…" Danny rubbed his head. "I think I pushed a button."
"Now we're getting somewhere," Tucker said. "What happened when you pushed the button?"
"It hurt a lot, and then I was on the floor." Danny couldn't remember more than that, which was starting to trouble him. "How'd I get there?"
Tucker grimaced. "We tried to pull you out when you started screaming."
Danny felt the ghost of a memory pull at him. "Screaming?"
"Do you feel… different at all?" Sam asked. Danny couldn't read the expression on her face.
He laughed. "Nope." But the way it came out made him pause.
"Nnope. Noope. No-ope," he said experimentally. "What's up with my voice?"
"It might be easier if we show you," Tucker said.
Tucker and Sam hoisted him up and helped him walk over to the mirror.
The coloration was all wrong — the face in the mirror had paper-white hair sticking up at odd angles and eyes like the star stickers on his bedroom ceiling and pallid skin covered in little lines he couldn't puzzle out — and it didn't even look like him when one accounted for that — but somehow the him in the mirror didn't feel like a stranger.
"I look —" Danny started.
"Like a ghost? Yeah," Sam said. "I'm not kidding. When we tried to pull you out, you kept falling through our fingers."
"I was going to call 911," Tucker said, "but what would we say when they asked for ID, or why you were down here, or how you were hurt? Your own parents wouldn't recognize you right now, and that could get you locked up or worse."
Sam put a hand on Danny's shoulder. "I want you to know we're here for you. If you need somewhere to stay, you can always stay with me. And we're not going to see you as any less of a —"
Danny shook his head, successfully this time. "I'm fine, Sam."
"You're sure?"
He really did like how he looked now, but what Tucker was saying was slowly sinking in. Your own parents wouldn't recognize you right now. And Danny wouldn't have faulted them for it.
He couldn't slap on some sunglasses and shrug this off as Sam bleaching his hair. At the best, his parents would call the cops. At worst…
"Don't worry, kids! If a ghost ever gets in this house, your mother and I will rip it apart molecule by molecule!"
"Jack, you know we need to dissect them to get usable data…"
Danny gulped. "Can I change my answer?"
