Chapter Text
It had been two days since the Fentons had left their note on the table telling their kids they’d be gone for a bit. They hadn’t even said why, just that they were going to be gone for a bit and left some money for food. They never said where they were going or even how long they’d be gone. Danny would’ve been upset, if not for him being used to his parent’s frequent disappearances.
Jack and Maddie were barely his parents, anyway. They weren’t the ones to put band-aids on scraped knees. They weren’t the ones who tucked him into bed when he was little. They weren’t the ones who made sure he got to school on time. Jack and Maddie weren’t the ones who raised him, that was all Jazz. He barely even saw his parents now, they had locked themselves in their lab in the basement to finish the portal. They disappeared shortly after completing it. Jazz said their impromptu vacation was probably caused by the crushing failure of their life’s work.
Danny didn’t care. They cared more about that stupid portal more than their own children, so much so that their mourning of its failure drove them to leave their dumb, teenage kids alone for an unknown amount of time. He didn’t care if they left, anyway. With them gone he could finally give his friends that tour of the lab they’d been pestering him about for years. They had made plans to visit the day before, so at least that’ll be out of the way soon. Maybe he would be able to see the stars tonight.
They had agreed to come over at 3:00, now it was 2:56, they should arrive soon. Danny decided to sit on the couch, flicking mindlessly through the channels on the tv. Minutes passed by, but he was dead to the world. A knock at the door startled him, knocking him out of his thoughts. Danny got up, opening the door to greet his friends.
“So where is it?” Tucker looked like he was about to start bouncing off the walls, whipping his head around as he stepped inside the seemingly average living room. Sam was trying to seem more aloof and disinterested than Tucker, and was successful to some extent, but was still clearly excited to see a potentially spooky lab, if her fidgeting with the camera hanging around her neck was any indication.
“Just over here.” Danny gestured to a hallway, a large futuristic door was at the end. There were several other doors lining the walls, but they were all the average doors you’d expect to find in someone’s house. Danny walked to the end of the short hallway and pressed his hand on a screen next to the door. There was a beep then a hissing noise as the door slid open.
The three teens walked down the stairs to the basement lab. Tucker looked around like a kid who’d just had ice cream for the first time. “You’ve had all this tech under your house this whole time?” Tucker was almost shouting. Sam narrowed her eyes skeptically. “Where did your parents get the money to do all this?” Sam made it a habit to question where the Fenton’s funding came from, and Danny couldn’t blame her.
“I’m honestly not sure. They say they’re privately funded, but I have no clue who would be crazy enough to fund them.” Danny just shrugged, he knew it was shady, but it wasn’t like he could do anything about it. Sam just scrunched her nose while she snapped a photo. “What’s that?” Tucker pointed at the dark tunnel in the basement wall.
“That’s the portal my parents tried to make. It was supposed to go to the ‘ghost zone’” Danny clearly did not believe his parent’s theory, even if he didn’t add the air quotes, his voice was dripping in sarcasm when he said ‘ghost zone’. “Obviously the portal didn’t work, because duh, so it’s just a hole in the wall now.” Sam grinned at Danny.
“You know what would be cool?” Sam held up her camera. “If you stood in front of it and I took a picture.” Danny hesitated, he knew his parent’s inventions could be quite explosive. But the portal was shut off and didn’t even work, right? He should be fine, right? He should still put on his hazmat, just to be safe.
“Okay, just give me a minute.” Danny said while walking to where the family’s suits hung. He grabbed his and stepped into the closet to change. True to his word, he stepped out in a minute, now wearing the white hazmat and black gloves and boots. “Do those suits even do anything?” Tucker pointed his thumb at the remaining suits on the hooks.
“Of course!” Danny rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t have put one on if they didn’t. The boots and gloves are rubber, and the rest is supposed to keep out corrosive chemicals.” He explained while walking to the portal.
“Can you stand just a little to the left?” Danny took a few steps left. “Back to the right a little…” Sam kept instructing him on where to stand, and by the time she was done, he was standing right back where he started. Tucker just gave Danny a sympathetic look from where he stood behind Sam.
Sam took a few photos of him and the portal, most of which were too dark to see. While she and Danny were looking through the photos, Tucker got an idea. “Hey Danny!” Danny looked up from the photos he was supervising. “I dare you to go in the portal!” The portal was shut off, it should be fine. He was wearing his hazmat, he should be fine.
“Sure, but you’ll owe me 20 bucks.” It was a just a stupid dare, it’d be fine. Danny put his hand on the wall of the dark tunnel, using it as a guide as he stepped further in. Danny’s eyes were slow to adjust to the dark, and even then, it was hard to see. He could make out loose panels and exposed wires, but only barely. Danny was only paying attention to the other walls and ceiling, not the floor or the guide wall.
His hand felt warm, why was his hand warm? It burned, he could smell the melting rubber of his glove before he saw it. He whipped his head around, but he couldn’t react fast enough. He felt the exposed wires connect with his burnt hand, he could feel the electricity flow through. He couldn’t tear his hand away, he was stuck. But something happened. He must have moved the wires, because next thing he knew, all he saw was green.
Sam felt her heart drop as she watched the portal activate. She heard her friend scream as the smell of burning flesh filled the basement. She wanted to look away, to close her eyes and cover her ears and run. But she was frozen on the floor of the lab. Huh. When had she fell to the floor?
Tucker didn’t know that would happen. Hell, he didn’t even know there was power connected to the portal! It couldn’t be his fault, right? But he dared Danny to go into the portal. No, he couldn’t have known. But he dared him to go, and now his best friend was dying right in front of him. It was his fault, he dared him to go in. His fault.
Jazz knew Danny had invited his friends over to see the lab. She didn’t see any reason to stop him, after all, he knew lab safety. She had drilled it into his head since they were young, even when their parents hadn’t. She regretted not stopping him now. She had run down the moment she heard her baby brother’s scream. Once she saw the portal on and working, she knew where he was. If she had watched him closer, if she had stopped him, he wouldn’t have gone in. Was this her fault? She was the one who was supposed to be looking after him, right? Was she the one to blame, or were their parents responsible?
He needed to get out of that death trap. He was exhausted, he could barely move, but he had to get out. Swirling green covered everything, obscuring the tunnel to a mere silhouette. With what little energy he had, he pushed himself up and crawled to the portal entrance. It didn’t want him to leave. The acid green clung to his body as he dragged himself out. Finally out of the glowing tunnel, he collapsed on the cold floor of his parent’s lab.
Nobody dared to move as they stared in horror at the tunnel in the Fenton’s basement. While their vision was obscured by the swirling portal at the tunnel entrance, they could make out the remains of one Daniel Fenton. Only, instead of being eerily still like they should, the three could see the burnt body heal. The flesh stitched itself back together, it looked almost alive again. It wasn’t-couldn’t be. The body wasn’t breathing, it couldn’t be breathing.
Then it moved. It was slow, clearly injured, but it still dragged itself to crawl. It dragged itself through the portal, almost recognizable. “Danny?” Jazz knew this couldn’t possibly be her brother-but she still had hope. But this wasn’t him, Danny had black hair and blue eyes, but this creature's hair was pure white, and its eyes were a toxic green. The hazmat it wore was similar to Danny’s, but the colors were inverted. No, this wasn’t her brother.
When it finally collapsed on the stone floor of the basement lab, something odd happened. A ring of bright white light appeared around the body’s mid torso, then split and the two rings traveled over the rest of the body. When the rings of light disappeared, the only one left on the floor was Danny. He was clearly conscious, if only barely, and very out of it.
“You owe me twenty dollars, Tuck.”