Chapter Text
“Dipper?” Danny asked, every fiber of his being telling him to grab his human and leave, “Are you sure this part of the woods is… Safe?”
“Perfectly,” his boyfriend assured him, “There aren't even many creatures out here.”
When the adventurer told him there was something in the woods he wanted to check out - from the 1st journal - and he thought the halfa might be interested, Danny saw no problems. But as he drew closer and closer to the spot Dipper was leading him to, the more nervous he got. There was a sort of charge in the air, the half-ghost felt it was the reason no supernatural entities were in the area. He sure wanted to leave.
“Dipper, I really don’t think-”
“Here it is!”
A large crystal, shoulder height, looking like Quartz. Danny immediately panicked - after his run in with Freakshow, he began researching the effects various crystals could have on ghosts; the results were a frighteningly large amount - but the energy in the small clearing, stifling at this point, had already caught him. It forcibly dragged him by his wrist until he was dangling above the concerningly sharp point of the magic trap.
He let out a cry as he could feel his core being ripped out, dividing him in half. It ended in a bright flash of light, and he could feel the magic let go of him, blowing him across the clearing in the opposite direction of his newly separate ghost half.
~Linebreak~
Dipper was horrified. He had just wanted to show Danny the crystal, a nice safe adventure. He had expressed an interest in how science and magic mixed, and the giant Quartz spire was a great example. He hadn’t expected it to react to his boyfriend!
The hybrid’s scream echoed around him, pained and haunting. The Quartz spire let out a bright flash of pure white light and the brunette had to resist the urge to cover his eyes, trying to see what was happening to the hybrid. Two figure were thrown in opposite directions, both hitting trees.
The first figure Dipper saw was the one that was thrown to his left, back presses to the tree he hit, but there didn't seem to be any branches holding them up. When green eyes snapped open, his breath stopped. That was Danny’s green, the green that somehow inspired both chills and comfort.
This Danny scanned the clearing, eyes landing first on the other figure lying at the base of his tree.
“Fenton!”
The white haired figure shot forward to land in front of-
“Danny!”
His boyfriend, raven haired Danny, unmoving.
The adventurer dashed forward, kneeling down to check on the - thankfully only unconscious - man. His breathing was deeper than his usual, but he was alright.
His gaze snapped up to the other figure when he caught movement in the corner of his eye. Sharp eyes - Danny’s eyes - criticized the clearing. Apparently seeing what he wanted, this strange white haired version of his boyfriend heaved the unconscious one onto his back, grabbed his wrist, and started to run in the direction of the Mystery Shack.
The trip through the woods was much shorter than usual. Danny(?) hissed at any rustling bushes, the scent of blood from the head wound drawing out predators. None dared to come close. Dipper attempted to ask questions, but his ‘guide’ was wound up so tight he could only speak in quick, panicked Latin. With his limited knowledge - Magic Latin was a bit different from speaking Latin - the only thing the adventurer managed to catch was something about ‘protect’ and ‘humans’, which led him to believe that this was Danny’s other half. His instincts.
The crystal in the clearing separated his boyfriend’s supernatural half from his human half. Fascinating as that was, Dipper knew that must have been extremely painful, and was feeling, above all, guilt. He was the one who ignored Danny’s anxiousness, he got them into this mess.
He also didn’t notice they were already at the Mystery Shack until he felt someone lick the tears from his cheek. It was the white haired Danny, unnatural green eyes shining with concern. He nuzzled the mage’s neck, purring a bit to try to get him to calm down. Dipper was a bit ashamed to admit it worked, and he let himself be led into the shack.
Danny(?) gently lay his human half down horizontally on their couch, inspecting the gash on the back of his head. It was fairly shallow, but it was bleeding quite a bit. The supernatural entity nuzzled part of the human’s neck, whining a bit in an attempt to get him to wake up. When that didn’t work, white-haired Danny hovered over him to carefully watch his condition, spectral tail forming only to flick agitatedly.
“You guys back already?” Bill’s voice approached, “What, did you forget-” the demon cut off, taking in the sight of his boyfriends; one literally split in two, the other in a daze, tear tracks down his face. “Something…” He finished lamely.
Danny(?) jumped forward to put himself between his humans and the demon, giving him a weak growl before seeming to recognize him. He carefully smelled the demon, almost like a cat would, to confirm it. Circling around the blonde once before pushing him towards the unconscious form on the couch, green eyes flicked from the dream weaver to the other Danny and back again. Dipper noticed that Bill seemed to observe the other for cues, only doing what the unknown supernatural being deemed appropriate.
The demon summoned something - Dipper couldn't see from this angle - and the white haired Danny nipped in his direction at the unapproved use of magic. Bill placatingly lifted his hands, showing him the roll of bandages, and calmly said something in Latin. The adventurer only recognized the word for blood. When no further action was taken against him, the blonde slowly moved to wrap the human’s head wound.
When he finished, Bill inclined his head toward Dipper. Danny seemed to approve and nuzzled the demon’s shoulder as thanks.
“We may just need to call off that guessing game.” The dream demon started. Dipper had no arguments.
“Why are you being so… Compliant, with him?”
“Kid, he isn’t the whole Danny - just his protective instincts.” The blonde explained, “He wouldn't hesitate to fight me if he thought I was trying to hurt either one of you. And he’s powerful, arguably more so now. That’s not something I wanna tango with.”
“Exactly how powerful is he?” Dipper asked, a bit breathless at the admission - if Bill “being of pure energy with no weaknesses” Cipher didn’t want to risk a fight, the halfa had to be able to do considerable damage.
“He won the title of prince when he was 14. The only reason he isn't King yet is because he doesn't want to be.”
Dipper was going to ask more, but they were interrupted by groaning from the sofa and another “Fenton!”
“Ph’nt’m?” The human Danny slurred, most likely from a concussion, and scrunched his face up as the green eyed entity immediately started peppering his face with kisses, “Nuuuuuuuu, whyyyyyyyyy?”
“Kisses make everything better!” Phantom chirped, as if quoting someone. At least he was finally speaking English.
“Danny…?” Dipper trailed, seeing his problem as both halves turned to look at him, the human giving a short “Yeah?” and the other making an interesting trilling noise. Scratch that on the English.
The adventurer gave his demon boyfriend a mildly distressed/mostly confused look, and the blonde took that as his queue for introductions.
“Pine Tree, this is Phantom, Danny’s ghost half.”
“Ghost.” He groaned, feeling like an idiot as it all clicked into place, “That makes a lot more sense than what I was thinking.”
“What were you thinking?” Fenton asked genuinely.
“Grim Reaper.”
“There are two general classifications of ghosts,” Bill continued as if he wasn’t interrupted, “Vengeful Spirits, which is the kind you hear about most - I believe you’re familiar with the type?”
“Ma and Pa from the Dusk to Dawn.” Dipper nodded vaguely.
“And Protective Spirits; less common but usually quite powerful in their own right, as they draw off positive energy. It’s the reason Danny and I have both been able to stay at the Mystery Shack so long without upsetting any balances - we draw off opposite energies. You don’t hear about Protective Spirits nearly as often as their work is overlooked, or credited to ‘Guardian Angels’, which is absurd; Angels are stuck-up, selfish, pretentious ass- ” Fenton cleared his throat loudly, cutting off what would have probably been a long rant about how the demon didn’t like various supernatural creatures.
“Anyways,” The adventurer interjected into the now silent room, “Why did this happen? And how do we get the two back together? I assume this isn’t good for them.”
“Most definitely.” Bill agreed, “What exactly happened that they ended up like this?” Dipper explained the page from Journal 1, the Quartz spire, and the halfa’s increasing nervousness as they approached the clearing.
“Kid, Quartz is a stone of purification. It was probably created by a tribe of Mages from Gravity Falls early years for use on a possessed individual. The magics of that area probably thought Phantom was possessing Fenton, and separated them.”
“So it’s reversible?”
“Magic pulled the two halves apart, it can likely fuse them back together.” Bill rubbed his chin, considering the twin interested looks he was getting from the couch. “I can put something together, but it’ll take a few days, and it’ll definitely take two users. That means you’re helping.”
As it was, a few days were more than enough for the franticness to subside, and Dipper allowed himself to observe the newly separated facets of his boyfriend. It only made him fall deeper for the whole version he had come to know.
Phantom was cuddly, almost cat-like in his noises and actions. He cared for his humans to a fault; the adventurer ended up having to close the shack up for the interim, after a customer got a bit more aggressive with Dipper than the spirit liked. While he understood English fine, the ghost only spoke Latin, and mostly to Bill. The human often caught him calling the demon by a title that made the blonde’s ears flush - from what he could gather, it roughly translated to ‘Lord of Dreams’.
After the concussion subsided, Fenton was found to be lax, with a notably different fashion style from before - looser, more punk-rock. He gave off a sort of “I don’t care” vibe, and Dipper had to admit it was pretty hot. It seemed this half was what Danny would have been if he had not become half-ghost.
Low and behold, just over 3 days later, the preparations were complete. A massive magic circle had been drawn in white chalk just outside the Mystery Shack, the two smaller circles contained within overlapping like a Venn diagram. An absurd amount of runes had been incorporated, but the brunette only recognised a handful of symbols. Bill had given Dipper the Latin required, and the Mage had spent the afternoon memorising it. Phantom had been a helpful study guide, naturally speaking Latin himself.
While Fenton had simply shrugged and stood where directed, Phantom had to be more or less coxed to stand in his spot. The two outside the circle shared a nod, and began to perform the spell. Dipper recited the Latin, watching as the two forms began to bleed together. Instead of the harsh white light emitted by the Quartz, the circle was bathed in a soft green glow, and eventually Dipper couldn’t tell where Fenton stopped and Phantom started.
As the words tapered off and the light dimmed, only Fenton stood in the place where the circles overlapped. Danny(?)’s knees buckled, and Dipper barely waited for the demon’s okay to enter the circle and help the other up into a vaguely vertical position.
“... Danny?” The adventurer asked hesitantly, aware of the deeper meaning behind the questioning.
“Grim Reaper, huh?” The halfa questioned jokingly, holding back a wince at the waves of memory.
Dipper couldn’t help his startled laugh.