Chapter 9

Seperation Issues

Randy, Percy, Hermione, and Spud were all trudging along the path next to the newly made black river. It was extremely quiet. They kept their ears out for any sound something else was coming their way.

"So," Randy started, looking at Percy. "Back when we were trying to run from the water, you said some pretty strange things."

Hermione picked up on his train of thought, "That's right. You said the water was 'dead'. How can water be dead if it was never alive in the first place?"

Percy sighed. He should have expected this.

Spud hummed thoughtfully, "You know now that I think about it, you seemed pretty surprised to be wet. Are you a mermaid? Cause that wouldn't surprise me really. Our principle was a butt kicking mermaid police before Rotwood took over. She used a wheelchair."

Everyone else gave him a strange look trying to figure out if he was joking or not

"I'm not sure how to respond to that information." Percy mumbled, then louder he said, "Alright so we're going through each other's nightmares."

Hermione frowned, knowing he was avoiding the subject. "Seems so. Nightmares about our worst fears, too."

"Your's is drowning right Percy?" Randy asked. "Cause you seemed pretty freaked when the wave was coming."

Percy stopped walking and sighed, running a hand through his hair. Everyone took this as a chance to rest.

"Yeah. Been keeping me up for weeks." Percy looked at the black water running next to them. "Annabeth and Grover like to joke that I'm part fish. I'm not and never will be afraid of the water. It's practically in my blood." He kicked some rocks into the river, scowling. "It's a stupid and irrational fear I didn't even know I had till a month ago."

"Awww, that's wonk!" Randy exclaimed. "That means we have to go through everyone's nightmares!"

"Merlin's beard! You're right!" Hermione gasped, "That's what the ghost meant earlier! We're going through sixteen life threatening nightmares!"

"Fifteen." Spud corrected. "We already went through Percy's."

"But at least we know what to prepare for." Percy spoke up. "We're going through our nightmares. We already know what's going to happen."

Spud shuddered. "Mr. Honk Honk will try to eat our faces." He tugged at his hair. "Again!"

Randy tried not to snicker, "A clown?"

Spud pointed at him defiantly, "I'll have you know that clown has tried to eat me twice in my life."

Percy patted his shoulder, "We'll deal with that when it comes. But right now we should probably try to find everybody else."

The four of them were walking next to the river, having finally caught their breath after nearly drowning.

"So melting into goo huh?" Howard spoke up. "That's a….that's some nightmare."

Ellie shrugged, "My creator wasn't that good of a person."

Harry gave her a strange look, "Creator? Wouldn't that be your father?"

Ellie's face twisted and she growled out, "He betrayed and used me. He's not my father. That's why I carry Danny's last name."

The other three couldn't think of what to say to that as Ellie stomped forward angrily.

"Al-alright. Ok. So um, spiders?" Harry fumbled out awkwardly.

Annabeth picked up on the change of subject. "Oh! Yeah, it's a family thing funnily enough. I've just always been terrified of them. I freeze up whenever I see one and can't do anything."

Harry grinned, "Sounds like Ron. At least you won't have to go through it twice. And not all the nightmares are bad."

Ellie, having calmed down, slowed her pace so she walked next to Annabeth. "What makes you say that?"

He snickered into his hand, "Hermione is terrified of failing a test that would get her kicked out of school. I would imagine that's what she has been dreaming about lately."

The corner's of Annabeth's mouth turned upwards, "Grover admitted he's been having nightmares of bunnies."

Howard grinned, "I know Cunningham gets freaked by chickens. Can't stand to be near them. But he's learned to embrace it."

"So he's gotten over his fear?" Ellie asked.

"No. He just literally embraces it. He hates it but he's had to hug a chicken so he didn't get us pummeled by some shoobs."

Jake tuned out Tucker's rambling after about ten minutes. He should be rewarded for putting up with the ramblings that long. He didn't have that great of an attention span.

His eyes wandered over the purple foliage and took in the eerily beautiful, and creepy swirling sky of the place. He'd have to tell Gramps and Fu all about the Ghost Zone when he got back.

"If we're going through our nightmares," he muttered, unintentionally cutting off Tucker's rant. Ron let out a relieved sigh as Tucker was cut off. "That means we're going to have to go through fifteen more nightmares. Maybe fourteen."

"There's sixteen of us mate. I think your numbers are off." Ron commented.

"Percy's nightmare already happened. His nightmare was drowning." Tucker said. "He was yelling about it as we were running. So wouldn't that make fifteen?"

Jake shrugged, "Trixie. We had a bad experience with ghosts a while back. She's been scared of them ever since." He waved his hand around them. "We're in the Ghost Zone, according to Tucker. That's why she was so freaked earlier. This whole place could be based off her nightmares but I'm not for sure. So I'm saying fourteen at the least."

Ron nodded, "Makes sense. But not all the nightmares are going to be that bad right? I mean 'Mione is terrified of failing classes."

Tucker snickered, "I'm sure not all of the nightmares will be-" his smile fell as he realized something. "Oh no. Danny…." He shook his head.

Jake frowned, "What about him?"

"It's his nightmare. It's just…." Tucker shook his head and groaned. "He was just starting to get over it too."

Even though he probably didn't want to know, Ron asked anyways, "What's so bad about his nightmare?"

Tucker fixated his gaze on the ground, "It's more of a memory. The last time we dealt with him, Danny thought me and Sam, Danny's parents and sister, and our English teacher had died." Tucker gave a humorless chuckle. "We were captured, tied to an overheating boiler. He thought he had watched his whole life go up in flames. The worst part was he believed it was all his fault. "

Jake was pale, "How did you…."

"Survive?" Tucker finished, "A friend helped him. Gave him a second chance to make things right. But that incident has haunted Danny ever since."

Ron tugged at his sleeve, "And we're all going to have to deal with it? Here I thought Harry's fear was bad, but blimey."

Jake rubbed his eyes, "And what's Harry's?"

Ron shrugged, "Just having his soul sucked out by a dem-demon." He winced as he nearly slipped up.

Tucker and Jake groaned.

Grover was absolutely sure there was something wrong with both Danny and Trixie. They were taking this whole thing too lightly! There should have been a million questions, some denial, definitely some freaking out. But nope! Danny made a few goat puns that had him pulling at his hair and Trixie was asking about what all songs he could play on the pipes.

That wasn't normal. Even Percy had been freaked out a little when he discovered Grover was a satyr.

These two though….

"Alright!" Grover stopped walking, throwing his hands up in the air. "Why are you taking this so calmly!?"

Trixie and Danny paused, looking back at him.

"You should be doing something other than asking about my pipes or making stupid puns! What is wrong with you two?!"

Danny smirked, "Are you done freaking out now?"

Grover sighed and nodded.

"Alright then. I'm good friends with Pandora. You're not the first satyr I've met." Danny's smirk turned real smug when both Trixie and Grover gave him shocked looks. "I've also met a centaur and Medusa, as well as a hydra. She also has a three headed dog named Brutus that's of the same breed that Cerberus came from. Sure, they're all ghosts but I'm no stranger to the more mythical side of reality."

Trixie started laughing, "Oh! Oh man! I know it's not my secret to tell, but Jakie is a big celebrity in the New York magical parts. I'm not exactly a stranger to mythology either." She shook her head, still smiling, "This is probably what those freaky future twins meant last time they visited."

Danny tilted his head, "'Freaky future twins'? They're names wouldn't happen to be Kara and Sarah would they?"

"Yeah that's them! You know them?"

"From a friend of mine actually. I've never personally met them-"

At that point Grover gave up trying to understand his two companions and just continued walking. Maybe this would all make sense after this whole nightmare mess was over with.

Once they were somewhat dry, they started walking again. As they followed the river, they talked about all sorts of things.

Sam learned Rose's favorite color was red, she was a black belt and gymnast, and was pretty knowledgeable on mythology like Sam was. Rose had met Jake freshman year of high school and then was sent to a boarding school. Which was about the time they got together funnily enough. Then she moved back for her sophomore year before her whole family moved to Hong Kong. Her and Jake broke it off when she moved countries but reconnected when he and his family were visiting for a festival of some sort. To Sam it was a pretty epic love story and she was super happy for her new friend. The blonde was actually pretty cool.

Rose learned that Sam had always been into dark and spooky things since she was young, since her grandmother read her the classic horror tales for bedtime. But her favorite color was green and blue. She learned that Sam was an Ultra Recyclo Vegetarian and had been ever since she was twelve and discovered what happened to the animals that food was made of. Sam was also a skilled martial artist and athlete. She had met Danny and Tucker in the second grade when she punched some bully named Dash in the face for picking on the boys. They had been friends ever since. Rose also learned, quite by accident, that Sam has had a huge crush on Danny for the past year.

"-and you couldn't imagine how funny their faces were when they found out that I was the one kicking their butts at the game. They had spent weeks ranting about Chaos kicking their tails, then telling me I wouldn't understand how to play the game. They learned their lesson alright. Never underestimate a girl. Danny hasn't said anything else about girls not being able to do something since that incident."

Rose smirked at the shorter girl, "I can imagine. He seems to be pretty smart, and not bad looking either."

Rose watched amusedly as Sam's shoulders tensed up, "What do you mean? I thought you had a boyfriend."

She nodded, a smug look on her face, "I do. And I thought you had a crush on Danny. Turns out I'm right."

Sam sputtered, caught of guard. "What? I don't-I'm not-and he's-friend! He's just a friend!" Sam finally forced out.

Rose gave her the I-know-you're-lying-so-don't-even-try-to-deny-it look.

Sam sighed and kicked a rock into the river. "That I happen to have a huge crush on." She relented begrudgingly.

Rose gave her a friendly smile, "You don't want to ruin your amazing friendship with him, huh?"

She nodded, "Him and Tucker are my best friends. I don't….I just feel like everything would be ruined if Danny found out my feelings."

"Or everything could turn out for the better." Rose nudged her with an elbow.

Sam smirked, "Yeah, it could. But it's still really complicated right now. You know we fight ghosts. We're a well oiled team. I'm afraid that if things do go awry with Danny, we won't be able to fight together and then someone will get hurt."

Rose nodded, "I understand. But I would tell him if I was you." She looked down at the dragon on her wrist. "You never know when that chance could be taken from you." She muttered.

Things fell silent between the two for a few minutes. Then Sam spoke up. "Thanks."

"For what?"

"I'm best friends with two boys. I don't get to talk about stuff like this with them."

"Boys just won't understand." Rose smiled and shook her head.

Sam laughed. "Exactly!"

She stopped giggling when she saw two people in front of them, hidden in the shadows.

"Rose. There's someone over there." Sam pointed at the two shadows.

She squinted at the darkened shapes partially concealed in the shadows of the trees. "That looks like….I think that's Jake." They started walking forward.

"And Danny." Sam waved at the two. "Guys! Over here!"

The two didn't move but the girls kept walking closer. "We've been looking for the everybody else. You're the first we've seen since we got separated."

"Have you seen anyone else?" Rose asked, a bad feeling forming in her stomach.

They still didn't say anything. The girls slowed their walking. Something was wrong and they knew it. As they walked up they noticed the two were standing side by side, their backs to the girls.

"Jake?"

"Danny? Are you….is everything alright? That drowning thing gave us all a scare."

Rose had grabbed Sam's forearm, keeping her from walking forward anymore.

The boys turned slowly to face them. Jake gave Rose a toothy grin, his eyes a glowing red with a slit pupil making him look more reptilian than ever. Sam watched as Danny's pitch black hair fell over his bloody red eyes, casting eerie shadows over his face.

Sam felt her heart stop when Danny asked softly,

"How should I scare you?"

If you didn't realize, that last chapter was a joke. April Fools! I bet you guys hate me. I bet you guys hate me even more for this cliffhanger. ;) Sorry not sorry! Ha! Some of you guys were really sassy with your answers and it just cracked me up even more!

Oh my gosh did I have fun writing this! Hermione is suspicious, Ellie has anger issues, Tucker and Jake are in despair, Sam and Rose are fearing for their boys, and Grover? He's just done. Done with it all.

I want y'alls opinions on something. This story is a bunch of crossovers put together. I was thinking of moving the story around some, to cover the other areas. Like this is under DP and RC crossovers right now but if I moved it I would put it under, say, DP and ADJL crossovers till I update it again, and then DP and PJ, and then DP and HP. It would stay under DP but just be in a different section till the next update. And I will let all of you know where it's going to be at next of course. I was just wondering y'alls opinion.

I was listening to the Undertale soundtrack as I wrote this and the words just flowed. I should do it more often.

Not much more to say other than:

6-19-23-12-15-4-25 15-5 23-10 15-12-12-3-5-15-9-10, 4-16-19 3-10-15-2-6-5-19 15-5 23 16-9-12-9-17-5-23-11, 22-3-25 17-9-12-20 22-25-19!

Key: CLUE

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