tfw your body is everybody

Chapter 2: Three Nerds in Space (what’re you gonna do?)

After he managed to compose himself, Grace gave Danny the biggest bear hug he could muster. /Gosh, I missed hugs from an actual human being. I mean Rocky is great and all but it’s gonna take a little bit to get used to his hugs./

“What are you doing here? /How/ are you here?!?” Grace exclaimed.

“Well… It’s kind of a long story. It would be a lot easier to just tell everyone at the same time?”

“Right, right, You’re right.” Grace replied.

It was then that Rocky came rolling in in his little xenonite ball.

“Grace, Grace, Grace, Rocky can hear another heart beat now! Who is maybe-human and how did they hide from Rocky?”

At his entrance, Danny’s mouth flies open and Grace could /swear/ he saw the stars in his eyes.

“Is that…” He started. Grace smiled and said,

“Yep. First contact Danny!” he pats Danny on the back, “You’re now officially the second human ever to meet sentient alien life! This is Rocky, the Eridian!” Danny stares.

“Oh. My. Ancients. Ok, this is /definitely/ the coolest thing ever! Ohhhh man, do you know how monumental this is? What this means for science in its entirety? I mean, of course /you/ do, Dr. Grace, but like. /Still/!.” He pauses his excitement as more of what Grace said registers in his brain.

“Wait… second human ever? What about…” He meets Grace’s downturned gaze and quietly goes,

“oh.”

“It wasn’t painful or anything! I don’t think so anyway. They uh… didn’t survive the induced comas. They went peacefully.” Grace started, hoping to alleviate any sadness of the news of their deaths. Danny breathes a sigh of relief at this,

“Oh good. That means they didn’t become ghosts. So, I… guess that means you’re the only surviving crew member of the Hail Mary?” A strange look passes over Grace’s face but he ultimately decides to let it be for now. He has other, more pressing questions for Danny to answer.

“Yeah. Listen- why don’t we all move somewhere more comfortable and uh. talk?” After getting agreements from Danny and Rocky, Grace leads them all to the dormitory so they can all sit. As soon as everyone is settled, it’s decided that Grace and Rocky have a slightly shorter story to tell. so, Grace begins.

He starts with how he woke up, alone and confused because of the amnesia, how he figured out what he was sent to do, how he and Rocky first met. Then he continued with their discovery of Taumeoba, and finally, ended with how they had pretty much just sent the Beetles out and were preparing to leave for Erid when Danny appeared. All the while, Rocky interjected with corrections, quips, and snarky remarks about Grace. Danny sat there, listening attentively the entire time, mournful and laughing at appropriate moments. Grace purposefully left out the amount of times they almost died, he didn’t need Danny knowing all that. When Grace finished, Danny fell quiet for a moment, letting it all sink in.

“Dude, that’s so cool. You’re quite literally living my dream, you know that, right?”

“Yeah, I gathered.” Grace replied with a wry smile.

“How and why Danny here, question?” Rocky queries.

“Yes! I have /many/ questions about your whole… situation. Honestly, it’s a miracle I’ve stayed quiet so far, ask Rocky, he knows I never shut up.” Danny smiles for a moment before his face becomes more serious.

“Okay. I… guess this means I should start with it all started in the first place. My parents,” He stops, winces, and then continues,

“My parents managed to get their hands on some Astrophage.” He begins. This time Grace winced. Based on his knowledge of the Fentons, he could start to see where this would take a turn.

“They were experimenting and discovered that, when exposed to ectoplasm, the Astrophage… bonded with it. Like, really well too. It /energized/ the ectoplasm in ways no other element or form of life has. It made it… come alive. In a sense at least.”

Grace really didn’t like where this was going. The Fenton’s were already crazy about ectoplasm and the existence of /ghosts of all things/. Listen, Grace wasn’t one to put down anyone’s ideas in science (Unless it was the thought that there was no life without water because goSH DANGIT THERE IS SUCH THING- ahem. Anyways.) But even then, Grace knew where to draw the line. The self-proclaimed ecto-biologists and ghost hunters were obsessed beyond obsession. Them getting their hands on Astrophage held promises Grace never wanted to hear.

“Well, they finished their portal to the ghost zone, -you remember they had started on that right?- using Astrophage to help. It… didn’t work at first. So, one day I went down with my friends Sam and Tucker. Just… to have a look at it ourselves! it was never meant to be more than that! But then, well, they, kinda… sorta…dared me to go inside. At least we figured out why the portal wasn’t working! So, it turned out, my parents had put the ‘on’ switch inside the portal.”

Ok, Grace was like. /Realllly/ not enjoying where this was going. Not only were the Fentons known for their bad driving and crazy obsessions, they also had infamously bad lab safety. A miracle they never got shut down by the government honestly. Despite the looming dread, both Grace and Rocky leaned in, morbidly curious as to what would happen next. Danny paused to collect his thoughts before resuming.

“I tripped and fell onto the switch, turning… it… on, while I was still inside. The pure energy from it all… well. To put it simply, it should’ve killed me. It /did/ kill me. My molecules got rearranged to accommodate the energy. When I woke up later, I had snow white hair and glowing green eyes. I had become the very thing my parents hated. A ghost.” Danny was obviously struggling to get this part out. Practically choking on his words, tears threatening to pour from his eyes.

Grace leaned over and placed his hand on Danny’s shoulder. Mostly to remind him he wasn’t with his parents anymore and he wasn’t alone, but also because he didn’t know what to do or say. Danny cleared his throat and began again.

“Over the course of the next year or so, I developed powers. Ghost powers. Intangibility, invisibility, flying, you name it. Because of the portal turning on however, a bunch of ghosts started coming out of it and attacking the town. I took it upon myself to use my powers and protect everyone. I learned quite a bit from all that. The ghosts have mostly chilled out since then. I was even able to befriend a couple of them too! A few of them do like to cause trouble every now and then, but for the most part they all stick to their own respective things.

Anyways, moving on, I eventually managed to graduate high school and college and then I left to come find you out here. Especially once I learned Project Hail Mary was a suicide mission.” Danny said this with a slight frown. “Let me tell you, if it weren’t for the fact I’m friends with Time itself and a bunch of dead Yeti’s, it would’ve taken me so much longer to get out here. It took me long enough already, but still.

Anyway! The /reason/ I’m here is because /I/ am your ticket back home!” he says this last part with a dramatic flourish at himself.

“I can get us back to Earth in a fraction of the time it took for you to get here!” Grace knows he’s staring. He knows /Rocky/ is staring. That was a lot to process. Everything Danny told them was taking a bit to sink in.

“Can I…think about it?” Grace asks. Danny looks back at him, seemingly surprised.

“Oh, uh. Yeah, of course! take all the time you need Dr. Grace.” he turns to Rocky,

“The offer to go home is extended to you as well, Rocky. It just might take a little longer because I’m less familiar with where you’re from.” Rocky perks up at this.

“Rocky able to see beautiful mate Adrian sooner?” Danny nods and Rocky seems like his mind is made up.

Grace just sits there. Ruminating. He’s… not actually sure he wants to go home anymore. He’s become such good friends with Rocky by this point. They’ve both risked their lives for each other. What’s more, so much time has already passed on Earth. It wouldn’t be the same Earth he once knew. Yes Danny said he could get them home insanely faster than if he just took the Hail Mary back anyway. But thirteen years or so had already passed. Everyone he knew, the scarce number that it was anyway, was older. Grace hadn’t really aged during his time in space due to the coma. He would need to basically start a new life. From scratch. He’s positive that after throwing him onto the ship, Stratt had gotten rid of all his Earthly possessions. He wondered if he could establish a life on Erid with Rocky and then just… visit Earth every now and then. That was the most ideal course of action for Grace. He brings up his question to Danny after about two hours of sitting there thinking. During those two hours, Danny and Rocky had been exchanging information about Erid and travel plans and such. When Grace came over, ready to voice his queries, Danny listened. He thought for a moment before saying,

“That… could work. I mean once I have a clear path to Erid, it’ll be even easier to travel between worlds. I won’t have to spend any extra time trying to navigate around. Yeah sure why not!”

Chapter 1: Ruminations and Reunions

When Grace thought of his students, there was always one who jumped out more than the others. Danny Fenton. A thirteen year old science and engineering genius. One of the smartest kids Grace had taught.

His home life however… was chaotic, to say the least. And that was an understatement. His parents were forgetful at best and just plain neglectful at worst. They focused on their projects more than their own children. While Grace was a fellow scientist -or well, molecular biologist to be precise- even he knew when the line was crossed. Not to brag, he always felt more like a parent to Danny than his actual parents. When he could afford to, he would bring extra food for Danny whenever he saw the kid was struggling more than normal. Jasmine was the only other person who took care of Danny, but his older sister could only do so much. She was just a sophomore in high school at the time anyway.

Despite the less than ideal home life, Danny thrived in the classroom. Especially whenever space was brought up. Grace remembered one time after class when Danny confessed to him that he wanted to be an astronaut. His parents were late picking him up that day. After that Grace did everything he possibly could to keep that dream alive and to help Danny possibly achieve it one day.

It was the year after that when everything changed. The Petrova Line discovery. Astrophage. Stratt bursting into his life with reminders of his past and demands on her tongue. The kind you can’t say no to.

Grace missed his kids. He never got to say goodbye to any of them before Stratt had him thrown on the Hail Mary Project. One more thing he got to add to his growing list of regrets. Now he’s here, light years away from any humans, conversing with an alien as they finish saving their respective species. Alone together. Both of their crews may have died, but they were together now and they had managed to save their worlds. Yeah, Grace was with an alien right now. In fact, he was about to leave Tau Ceti to go live with said alien. Because he didn’t have enough fuel to get back to Earth. man, Danny would’ve loved to be here right now. Grace was pretty sure he was actively living the kid’s dream.

Grace was snapped out his stupor with a,

“Grace okay, question?”

“Yeah bud, Just… thinking. I know someone who would love to be in my place right now.” Grace replied to Rocky with a hint of a smile on his face.

“Grace friend, question?” Rocky asked.

“you could say that, I guess. He was a student of mine a couple of years before leaving earth. We were pretty close though.”

“Ahhh ok, Grace’s pebble.”

“Not qu- you know what? Sure. Yeah. I’m not gonna argue.”

“Rocky want to learn more about Grace children, statement.”

“I am always more than happy to talk about my kids!”

Grace was pretty sure he could talk about his students for hours. How smart and inquisitive they were. Their hopes and dreams and fears and thoughts that they shared with him. How he tried so hard to be the kind of teacher they could count on for that kind of thing. The favorite and cool teacher. How it paid off more times than he could count. He was there for his kids when no else was. Before he could say all of this however, the proximity alarm started going off. Was there another alien species coming to say hi? Another species hoping to save their world by studying Tau Ceti? He and Rocky share a look (or well, as much of one as they could with one of them being a sentient rock spider) and rush to go see what could be coming up on the Hail Mary.

Grace wasn’t quite sure he could handle discovering yet another alien species, he was still having trouble processing meeting Rocky! Ohhh why did this have to happen now? they were literally just about to leave the Tau Ceti system to go to Erid! It would just be plain rude to leave now. If that was an alien coming to see them, what would they think if the ship saw them, and then just left anyway? Who’s to say they wouldn’t be petty and shoot them down or something? Or if they discovered the beetles, and destroyed those? Ugh! Too many things that could go wrong! But, if they didn’t leave now, things would just get worse for him on the trip to Erid. He wouldn’t have enough food for the long trip, he would need to ration it, meaning they had to make as much of the time they had now while they still had it. Ugghhhhh Decisions. Yuck.

“Rocky, what do you think? Do we have time to stay? What’s our status?” he asked.

“Rocky not know, Rocky also conflicted” He replied. Great help bud. Thanks.

“Hmm. Fine. How about we stay for a couple more hours, exchange info if they ask for it, and then leave?”

“I like!”

“Alright. Cool. That’s what we’ll do then” Grace concluded.

They reached the control room and looked at the camera to see what was on the radar. ok. That was strange. There was nothing there. Grace checked the camera again, making sure it was working. Yep, still working. … Still nothing showing up though… That’s when the silence was interrupted. There was a quick knock knock-knock-knock knock knock on the airlock door. Shave and a haircut rhythm. Was that just a universal thing? Regardless, that was freaky. The proximity alarm was still going off, the camera showed nothing, and now there was knocking on the door? Was the Hail Mary haunted? Or was there some sort of… clairvoyant alien or something messing with them right now? Grace changes cameras to see over by the airlock, and, what in the world?

Is that…. Danny?? No. It couldn’t be. This was a -albeit strangely- humanoid being with white hair that was actively defying the laws of physics, green eyes, no helmet for protection from the void of space, no legs, just a body that… ended in little wisp, and also, something light years away from earth. So there.

“Grace, what is it? Rocky cannot see. Rocky only hear annoying alarm.”

“What do you mean you can’t see anything Rocky? Also there’s a… human out there. or, a maybe-human at least. They look human. They also look uncannily similar to someone I used to know.”

“Rocky mean Rocky no hear heartbeat or see figure outside. Nothing there for Rocky.”

“Huh. ok then.” I’ll come back to that later.

The knocking comes again, slightly more insistent. Shi-crap maybe they were just holding their breath out there! Gosh Grace, you’re so dumb sometimes!

“I’m gonna go put my suit on and let them in, ok?”

“Rocky think Grace idea dumb”

“Yeah yeah, I’m doing it anyway.”

Grace puts his EVA suit on and opens the airlock. Whoever was out there waiting patiently as he did. At least they were polite? When they got inside and the door was closed again, there was a bright light and suddenly, his old student was standing in front of him. Well, an older version, but his student nonetheless. There was no mistaking Danny Fenton.

Although how he was way out here in the Tau Ceti star system and also how he just… changed his appearance like that? It was a whole new thing to think about and Grace’s brain was going haywire.

“Dr. Grace! I knew I’d find you here! Oh man I was hoping I’d get here in time! Dude, I was flying for foreverrrr. Wait, hang on, you don’t know about that yet, oooh that’s ok, I’ll explain it later. Sorry if I’m talking too fast. I kinda haven’t talked to anyone in a little bit, are Captain Yao and Engineer Ilyukhina here? If so, where? I’d love to get you all together for this. What if I told you you could come back? it would still take awhile, I still haven't figured some things out but I could definitely get everyone back faster than how you all got here. Oh Ancients! I should slow down and let you talk, I’m sure you have a ton of questions right now.”

The kid says all of this in one breath, honestly Grace is surprised he didn’t stop for one sooner. It takes Grace’s brain a couple seconds to catch up, but once it does, Grace sputters. Yep. Ryland Grace is left speechless. His mouth opens and closes like fish gasping for air. “Danny??” He manages.