Room 2342 Just Ain't No Fun

[gone_byebye]

Ray pulls the door open, a bundle of books under one arm. "Evening, Danny," he says as Egon shoulders his way past him. "How's it going?"

Comments

[gone_byebye]

"Tempting possibility, but no," Ray said. "A friend of mine apparently knows how to open the door so it leads into pretty much any world he wants. I figure if we point him at your world-"

He stopped, wincing, but the damage was probably already done.

[goinghost.livejournal.com]

"What are you going to do, Ray?" Danny said, his face lighting up. "Are you going to find my friends? Is that it? Do you think they can do any better than you? Do you think I wouldn't kill them if I could right now? My emotions were my weakness; the fact that I ever cared about them was what made me weak."

[gone_byebye]

Ray stared at him, lips thinning for a moment; then he shook his head. "You're going to regret saying that one day," he said. "And I don't think you're free of that weakness, either. Wanting revenge is still an emotion. It's going to get you in a lot of trouble one day."

Pause.

"... that sounded better before I actually said it out loud."

[goinghost.livejournal.com]

"I'm sure everything does," he said scathingly. "And I won't regret it. In fact, I think I migth even enjoy it..."

It was then that he had the uncontrollable subconscious urge to punch yourself in the face!

"OW!"

[gone_byebye]

... okay, that was new.

"What the heck was that for?" Ray wondered aloud.

[goinghost.livejournal.com]

Dan stared at his fist.

"Nothing. I...I must've twitched or something. Because I'm being cramped all the time because of you." He shook it off. "Anyway, like I said, I'll probably enjoy it, tearing them from--"

There was another tic of his subconscious, this time to fly headfirst into the field, you jerk! making him bounce off onto the floor, painfully.

[gone_byebye]

"I didn't think ghosts had muscles to get cramped-" Ray actually jumped back at the impact. "Now you're just being freaky-"

Blink. Blink.

"O-ho," he said, almost gleefully. "Iiiiiii know something youuuuuu don't know...."

[goinghost.livejournal.com]

"Stop it!" he shouted at whoever was controlling him.

Make me!

He shot sideways into the field, slamming his side and shoulders against it then dropped again.

"What are you doing to me?" he demanded of Ray.

[gone_byebye]

Ray just smiled. "You tell me," he said, sticking his hands in his pockets. "Because whatever it is, if I'm doing it it's so subtle that even I don't know that I'm doing what I'm doing. Believe me, if I could psychokinetically control ghosts' movements I would've done it a long time ago. Hey, as long as we're at it, do you do loop-de-loops?"

[goinghost.livejournal.com]

Dan scowled, then flew into the top of the shield again, falling to the ground in a heap.

And the thing was, even though he couldn't understand why...he felt like he deserved it.

As he sat up, he blurted out, weakly, "I won't ever hurt them!"

Then he knew what had been causing him to hurt himself, and looked even more furious--and maybe a bit scared.

[gone_byebye]

Ray's expression changed at that, shifting from guarded glee to open desperation in an instant. He shot forward as far as the first barrier, stopping just short of the outermost energy field. "Danny? Danny, hang on, buddy, we're going to help you- gods, Danny, I'm so sorry-"

All things considered this was probably not the best response to the situation. The fury was, after all, the stronger of the visible emotions. But Ray, for all that he was a genius, was the heart and not the brain of the team- and that guided his actions, more often than not, regardless of the possible consequences.

[goinghost.livejournal.com]

"AAAUUGH! Stop it! Stop it!"

He was holding his head now, and looking confused and pained, as if he had a splitting headache. "This isn't supposed to be happening! I'm not supposed to feel this way!"

He felt...guilty. He was horrible. He was horrible and ashamed of himself, and no, no, this couldn't be happening, he felt hatred, and anger, and underneath all of it, hurt...

And...

And who was he?

Was he a hero?

Was he a freak?

Was he a monster?

Was he something else entirely? Was he some hideous amalgam of them all?

"STOP IT!" And then he was wailing again, with enough force that the generators nearly overloaded and failed, like before. However, Egon's upgrades and Harper's tweaks just managed to prevent that from happening--but only just.

[gone_byebye]

The last throw took something out of him, but he's gonna move-

Reflexively, Ray pillbugged, pulling into a ball that any child of the Fifties would recognize as the instinctive form of 'duck and cover'. He peeked out and over in Danny's direction when the wail stopped.

If Danny's friends didn't turn up soon, he was going to have to get Eddie to open the door to Amity Park after all.

[goinghost.livejournal.com]

We're one person. That means I'm just as strong as you. That means you can't live without me.

You can't live without me either.

Then we'll just have to see who comes out on top.

It didn't matter which part of Danny's psyche was saying which, really. After his tantrum and mental, he was left in a kneeling position, swaying slightly. He fell over on his face and curled up in a ball, holding his head, very still.

[gone_byebye]

Ray exhaled, uncurling himself.

"I'm sorry, Danny," he repeated; and then, because it really seemed like the closest he would ever get again to anything safe, he went back to his folding chair and sat down with his own book.

It was gonna be a long night.