Chapter Text
Danny floated past a couple of tiny islands and wondered if he should just go to the Far Frozen after all.
He was exploring a new area, but there didn't seem to be a whole lot of anything to actually look at or do.
It was nice to not have to fight for his half-life like he did in most of the Zone, but on the other hand he was so bored.
The next island was much bigger than all the previous ones he had passed, which was promising. It was still pretty small compared to the Far Frozen or even Skulker's stupid hunting island, but big enough to land on and take a look around.
The area where he landed was a small meadow full of overgrown grass and sprinkled with colorful flowers. In the distance there was a small forest.
A place like this back home would be full of bugs, birds, squirrels and maybe even people. Here there was nothing and no one.
Just the plants and a slight breeze that caused them to sway gently.
Before he could get too unsettled by the lack of… life? Unlife? Activity.
Before he could even figure out what to call that, a sudden movement caught his eye.
He followed it towards the edge of the forest.
Carefully he floated over to see what else might be on the island.
It was a rabbit.
Not a ghost rabbit. A regular rabbit. A pull it out of a hat, pure white type rabbit.
“That’s not right,” Danny said to himself.
He looked around to see if there were any natural portals nearby but came up empty.
Although, just because he didn’t see one now, didn’t mean the poor thing didn’t fall through one that had already closed.
“I should really get you home before you eat too much of that ghost grass.”
Danny floated closer to the rabbit but just before he could get his hands on it, it hopped out of reach.
“It’s okay buddy, I'm not gonna hurt you,” Danny said as he slowly creeped closer again, “I'm just gonna pick you up to get you back home.”
He tried again to snatch up the rabbit but it took off running instead.
“Aw come on! I'm trying to help you!” He took off after the rabbit.
It tore through the woods much faster than he had expected, but he wasn’t going to give up that easily.
He knew he could out fly the animal but he didn’t want to hurt it by being too fast. He had to go at just the right speed to gradually do more than keep pace.
He learned that the hard way when he had tried to scoop Tucker up during a ghost fight. He felt so bad when he saw the bruises on him the next day during gym class.
And it was just one more reason for the local ghost hunters to be mad at him.
He pushed the memory aside so he could focus but just before he got close enough, it dropped out of reach down a hole.
Unfortunately, Danny was going much too fast to stop and he slipped down after it without much thought if that was a good idea or not.
The hole was much bigger and far deeper than Danny was anticipating so he picked up the pace.
His fingers were nearly able to touch the rabbit's fur when his descent changed.
He wasn’t sure how, or why, but somehow he stopped flying.
He did not stop moving.
Switching from a speedy, but controlled fall, to a plummet, was so jarring, Danny instinctively started to flail to try to slow down or grab onto the sides of the hole.
His attempts just caused him to start tumbling instead.
“No! No! No! No!”
It was hard to tell as he flipped around, but he could have sworn he passed framed portraits and random bits of antique furniture. None of it seemed to move as if they were suspended in place.
He was worried he might crash into something so he tried to make himself intangible, but that failed too.
Before his short life could flash before his eyes, he started to slow down.
He hadn’t run into anything, and the air around him didn't feel any different, yet he slowed down all the same.
He tumbled in the air a few more times before finally landing in a mismatched pile of colorful and incredibly plush pillows.
Most of his body was completely submerged in the pillows, but considering all the other piles of things he's found himself in, this was rather pleasant. 10/10, would land in again.
He looked up the way he came and sighed.
“That might as well happen,” Danny muttered to himself as he gazed up at the ceiling that was lacking a giant hole.
He tried to phase out of the pillows only to be reminded that his powers still weren't working.
It was just as well that the way he came wasn’t there anymore, he couldn’t fly anyway.
There was a soft thump that drew Danny’s attention back to the ground in front of him.
The rabbit had emerged from the pile and was checking a pocket watch. It squeaked in surprise, tucked the watch into his vest pocket, and hopped off around the bend of the hallway ahead.
“Pretty sure that rabbit wasn't wearing clothes earlier.”
Danny pulled his way out of the pillows and couldn't help but notice the rabbit wasn’t the only one with new clothes.
While his new outfit was still black and white like his jumpsuit, it was much fancier.
He was now wearing a black suit coat, the kind with tails. He also had black dress pants that stopped short at his ankles and white dress shoes with a slight heel.
He had a white button up with matching belt and gloves.
The belt was just a belt, but his new gloves were much more detailed. They were shorter, stopping at his wrists, and had lacy trim with cut outs on the back of his hands that were shaped like his hero logo.
Just to be sure, he pushed one of his sleeves up and found his jumpsuit wasn’t there.
“I can't tell if it's weird that my clothes were replaced completely or if having this on top of my jumpsuit would be worse?”
He was tempted to dig through the pillow pile to see if his jumpsuit was in there somewhere, but he wasn’t sure what he was going to do with it if he did find it.
He also had a feeling if he stuck his head in there he’d end up with a stupid hat or something and he was not a hat person.
With nowhere else to go, Danny walked down the hallway to see where that rabbit had gotten off too.
The hallway led to a small room with a single door.
“Guess I'll see what's behind door number one.”
The heels of Danny’s new shoes clicked as he walked across the checkered tile floor, echoing slightly in the empty space. He looked up and was surprised by the vaulted ceiling, it seemed so out of place in a room this small.
It didn’t take him very long at all to cross the room and reach the door.
Unfortunately the door was locked.
It was also a bit too short for him, but it was larger than the rabbit.
The rabbit that was nowhere to be seen.
Danny sighed and knocked on the door hoping someone might be able to help him get back to the ghost zone. Or back to where he had been before he…
“I'm so dumb.” Danny chided himself, “how did I miss something so obvious?”
He started to pace in front of the door.
“I followed a rabbit, a white one no less, down a hole and ended up here! Of course it's real! Why wouldn't it be? Just my luck.”
“Not sure what luck has to do with the realness of anything,” a voice Danny didn't recognize said with a scoff.
Danny spun on his heel towards the voice and only found the door.
He knelt down in front of the door and was able to get a better look at the doorknob. Carved into the brass plate above the knob were a pair of eyes, currently giving him a very annoyed look. The keyhole mouth was closed in a firm frown.
“Sorry, that came off rude.” Danny apologized, “I guess I'm just frustrated.”
“Oh that's quite alright, my boy,” the doorknob smiled. “What seems to be the trouble?”
“I thought the rabbit was lost and I followed him so I could help. Although, now I think he wasn’t lost after all, but now I am! I can't go back the way I came. I thought if I kept going forward I could find another way, but now I'm here and I'm too big for your door.”
“This might not solve all of your troubles, but I know how you can be the proper size to pass through.”
“You do?”
“Why of course!” the doorknob said happily, “Just take a drink from the bottle.”
“Bottle?”
“On the table just behind you.”
Danny turned and found there was in fact a small table with a little frosted glass bottle.
“I don't think I saw that when I came in.” Danny said knowing full well it hadn't been there at all.
“Sometimes things that are obvious are also hard to see. Just a matter of perspective.”
He supposed that made sense in a philosophical sort of way.
He didn't think the doorknob meant it that way since he was referring to a table appearing out of nowhere.
Danny picked up the bottle and read the small label.
Drink me.
He flipped it over but it was blank.
“How much do I need to drink?”
“Just enough to get to size. Too much and you'll go too far and could shrink into nothingness.”
Danny gulped down his nerves. “No pressure.” He mumbled to himself.
“Oh wait!” The doorknob said quickly. “I almost forgot, there should be a key up there too. Wouldn't want you to forget that.”
Danny looked down to the table and found there now was a small brass key, the handle was shaped like a flat little diamond.
It also hadn't been there a moment ago.
“Thanks,” Danny said as he picked up the key and tucked it into his jacket pocket.
“Think nothing of it. It was more for my benefit anyway.”
“How so?” Danny said as he uncorked the little bottle.
“The last time I forgot, the poor girl cried her eyes out. It took so long to get all the water out of here.”
That sounded familiar to him, but It had been forever since his mom had read him the story.
“But that was ages ago.” The doorknob said with a fond smile.
Danny put the glass bottle to his lips and carefully tipped it back. The liquid was thicker than he expected and took its sweet time reaching his lips.
He tapped the bottle to hurry things along. Which did work, a little too well.
A sizable dollop of the syrup-like drink dropped into his mouth.
He hurriedly pulled the bottle away and set it on the table.
Once the shock had died down he was able to savor the taste.
“Oh, it kind of tastes like a cherry slushie.”
He suddenly felt like he was falling. Not falling backwards, more like being dropped or perhaps more like the floor falling away.
He instinctively tried to brace himself by gripping onto the table but he couldn't reach it.
The ground was much closer and the feeling of falling stopped just as quickly as it had started.
He looked up and found the tabletop was now above his head.
“Now that's better, don't you think?” The doorknob asked with a grin.
Danny nodded in agreement. He may not be crazy about being even shorter, but it was nice to know he wasn't going to get stuck here.
He pulled the key out but wasn't sure how he was supposed to use it. Just sticking it in the doorknob's mouth seemed rude.
Then again, asking might make him look dumb.
Being rude seemed worse.
“May I?” Danny asked, holding up the key.
“Why of course, good sir!”
The doorknob opened his mouth and made a perfect keyhole shape.
Danny placed the key inside and turned it until it clicked.
The key vanished and the door swung open.
“Welcome to Wonderland.”