[donaldscrankshaw] Donald: Crossing Over: Part II

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Posted by Donald:
Crossing Over: Part II
http://www.donaldscrankshaw.com/posts/1209786957.shtml


   The Rest of the Story: The whole story can be found [1]here.
   The problem with writing a fanfiction is that it doesn't make a lot of
   sense unless the readers have the context to understand it. Mine is
   even worse, since you really have to be aware of things in the forum
   community, not just in [2]CRFH. Still, I like the story. And if you
   want the quick rundown of events, you can try [3]here, where I talk a
   bit about the comic.
   As before, all the characters, the world(s), and the events referenced
   belong to Maritza Campos, copyright 1999-2008. Only the events of this
   story belong to me.
     _________________________________________________________________

   Crossing Over
   Chapter 1
   "Change him back. Now!" Margaret shoved her pistol up under Steve's
   jaw, forcing his head back.
   "I don't know how!" Steve panted, his eyes crossed in an attempt to
   look at the gun. "That isn't what was supposed to happen!"
   "Well, what was supposed to happen?"
   "It was a B-b-banishment spell. You know, to send him to another plane
   of existence."
   "Why the Hell would you want to do that?"
   "It was the Boss's idea, to get Dave out of the way. He figured simple
   Banishment was something he wouldn't be protected against."
   Margaret stared at him. Finding out Dave was protected spooked her
   almost as much as thinking he was a target. She still wasn't sure how
   much she believed of it all. Even the miracles could be some sort of
   infernal trick, but she was beginning to believe that Satan might beâ¦
   frightened by something about Dave. That just made it more important
   to keep him from getting mixed up in what Satan was doing to her.
   "Well," said Roger. "If they messed up the spell, then maybe they
   could reverse it if they just repeat what they did."
   "Roger, I don't think casting the same messed-up spell twice is going
   to fix the problem," Margaret replied.
   "You're right. Maybe they should do it backwards."
   "Look, gun nut, our spell was fine before the cat and the coyote
   messed with it," Steve said. "That's what screwed it up. Even if we
   did exactly the same thing, the result of a miscast is random. We'd
   never be able to repeat it."
   Margaret looked at Waldo, who was still standing with his hands up
   despite the fact that no one was paying attention to him. She had even
   let her aim drift so the gun wasn't lined up on him any longer. She
   quickly brought it back on target. Both of them were idiots and
   cowards, but Waldo was more of both. "Waldo, what do you think?"
   "It's all his fault. I just did what he said."
   "Okay, you two are going to come up with a solution," Margaret said.
   "If you don't have something in twenty-four hours, I'm going to have
   to hurt you."
   "We can't do it at gun-point, you know," Steve said. "Why don't you
   leave us alone to work on it?"
   "Why? So you can flee to another country?"
   "I'm serious. We can't work with you here."
   "Yeah," Waldo chimed in. "You're one scary chick. You make us
   nervous."
   "Okay, I'll leave, but Roger's staying."
   "What?" all three of them said at once.
   "You can't leave us with him. He'll melt our brains," Steve said,
   while Waldo said, "He's so nuts he makes you look unnutty."
   "Roger will keep an eye on you, and he'll go all werecoyote on you if
   you give him half a reason. Right, Roger?" Margaret said.
   "Mmmmokay," said Roger. "But if they turn me into a girl I'm moving in
   with you."
   "Fine, whatever. I'm taking Dave out of here."
   "Wait!" Steve said. "You can't take herâhimâaway. We'll never be able
   to reverse the spell if we can't, um⦠study her, I mean him."
   "Yeah, right," Margaret said as she holstered her pistols. She leaned
   down and rolled the still unconscious Dave onto his stomach, then
   placed her hands beneath his abdomen as she pulled him onto his knees.
   She wasn't sure what disturbed her more, the breasts, the long hair in
   her face, or simply the fact that Dave was much lighter than he should
   have been. Still, it wasn't going to be easy to manhandle him all the
   way up to the apartment. His head lolled as Margaret lifted him to his
   feet, then got in front to drape him across her shoulders in a
   fireman's carry. She straightened, then glared at Steve and Waldo.
   "Roger, if they give you any trouble, eat them."
   "Ick. They smell like brimstone. I don't even want to think about what
   they taste like."
   "Hey, you can't eat us! If you do, who's going to fix this?" Steve
   said.
   "Yeah," added Waldo, just as eloquent as ever.
   "You're right," Margaret replied. "But if Roger starts with your toes,
   there should still be enough of you left to do the job."
   "Ugh. Margaret, I do not want to eat their smelly feet. Now an ear,
   that wouldn't be so bad."
   "Okay, okay," Steve said. "We get the idea."
   Margaret got Dave out the door, and headed to the elevator. Chester
   followed, mewing constantly. Something sounded off about it, but
   Margaret didn't have time to worry about that as she stabbed the up
   button on the elevator. The elevator was already on the way from the
   ground floor, and it arrived almost immediately. Margaret was just
   wondering how she was going to explain this if there was someone
   inside when the door opened and Margaret found herself face-to-face
   with April.
   "Whoa," she said. "Margaret, what are you doing carrying that girl
   around? Who is she?"
   "This girl is Dave," she said as she set him down on the elevator's
   floor, his back against the wall.
   "You're kidding. I know he's into some weird stuff, but
   cross-dressing? I mean, again?" She knelt down for a closer look.
   "Okay, you're definitely kidding. There's no way this is Dave in a
   dress." She actually poked the left breast.
   "Hey, stop that!" Margaret slapped her hand away. The elevator had
   reached their floor and the door opened. "Help me get him to our
   apartment and I'll explain."
   They lifted Dave between them, one on either side, and carried him to
   the apartment. Holding him upright, it was clear that he was now
   shorter than either of them, and his feet hovered a couple of inches
   off the ground. By the time they lay him on the couch, Margaret had
   finished telling April what had happened.
   "Wow, I had no idea that Steve and Waldo could do something like
   that," April said.
   "I believe it," Margaret said. "They couldn't do it in a thousand
   years if they actually wanted to, but by accident? It's a wonder they
   haven't turned themselves into frogs by now."
   "Nah, they'd turn us into frogs instead," April replied. "Every time
   anybody gets mutated or cursed or possessed, it's always one of us.
   Those two may be idiots, but somehow they ended up with the good luck
   while we ended up with the bad."
   "Wow, you're cheery," Margaret said.
   "Actually I am," she replied, with a brighter smile than Margaret had
   seen her wear in a long time. "Yes, it's weird, but we're still alive,
   and meanwhile things are certainly interesting."
   "Okay, I think you've gone nuts. Are you sure you're okay?"
   "It's just⦠I've been thinking. For the longest time I thought I was
   a freak. I didn't think I fit in where I grew up, and then I tried the
   real world, only to realize that I couldn't fit in here either. I
   thought that I was incomplete, not made for one place or the other.
   Then a friend reminded me that as weird as my life had been, it wasn't
   any weirder than what you guys go through on a daily basis. I'm really
   not an outsider here, but I came very close to making myself one by
   letting my anger with Mike get in the way of my friendship with the
   rest of you. And⦠I'm sorry."
   "Apology accepted and I'm glad for you and all that, but can we focus
   on Dave here?"
   April rolled her eyes. "Okay, okay. Well, aside from being a she, he
   seems okay. Chester seems to be taking this calmly." The cat had
   curled itself on Dave's abdomen and closed his eyes. "Uh, do you think
   it's just cosmetic changes, or do you think it's, you know, complete?"
   April was blushing a deep red by the time she finished.
   "I haven't checked and I'm not going to," Margaret said, her face
   beginning to grow warm as well. "We can ask him when he wakes up."
   "Wait a second," April said. "You said Chester ran into the circle as
   well?"
   "Yes. Why?"
   "I was just thinking that something seemed different about him." She
   reached down and picked up Chester, holding him up with a hand beneath
   each foreleg and looking at his exposed stomach. Margaret wondered
   what she was doing. Chester just stared at April curiously until she
   put him down on Dave's stomach again. "Well, that answers that."
   "What answers what?"
   "Think, Margaret! Chester ran into the circle as well. He seems
   different. That's because he is now a she too. And having had a close
   look at her, I think I can now say that the change is complete, at
   least for everything on the outside."
   "Oh. Oh! I didn't even think to check. You don't thinkâ¦"
   "Shhh. I think she's waking up."
   Margaret looked at Dave. His jaw was open in a yawn and his eyes were
   fluttering open, so she knelt down beside the couch and took his hand.
   It was small and soft and she almost dropped it in consternation, but
   she held on for his sake.
     _________________________________________________________________

   This has been a 1,531 word excerpt of a 17,474 word story.

References

   1. http://www.donaldscrankshaw.com/posts/chain_1207529833.shtml
   2. http://www.crfh.net/
   3. http://www.donaldscrankshaw.com/posts/1107621678.shtml