It's my first DP fic woot woot! I hope you enjoy it, your reviews will be appreciated and flames will be used to cook my noodles that I have sitting on the stove :)
Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.
Manifest Destiny
Prologue: In the beginning
Time, is like a river. Flowing endlessly and swiftly, meandering this way and that, branching off into each and every direction. Powerful and impossible to stop, impossible to keep track of, unless of course you are an all-powerful ghost created for the sole purpose of tracking and making sense of time. That helps a little.
The ghost of Time chuckles as he continues his musings.
The river of time will flow; the same way all things must end however it always amazes the Father of Time how each of these rivers make their own way through the space of the universe. How a thought, an act, a moment; can completely change the direction, the bearing of one person's time-line. Causing the singular time-line to explode and branch out into different directions, bringing about a myriad of experiences, moments and memories.
The Father of Time continues to watch the flows of time through his many monitors. He resides in a magnificent clock-tower that resides in the space where the past, present and future flows of time conjoin. His clock-tower is malevolent in appearance, complete with twisting spires and gargoyles to ward off any trespassers who stumble upon his realm.
The ghost of Time himself is ever-changing, a symbol of his devotion to the element he's meant to guard. He changes from the appearance of a baby, to that of a middle-aged man and then again to an old sage. His ghostly skin is pale blue; he wears a purple cloak, complete with a cape and hood. He wears gauntlets that are adorned with watches as is his belt. Running from below his neck down his chest is a window, inside one can see that his insides are naught but gears; clicking, swirling and turning, operating the pendulum that swings in accordance to Time itself.
His face; although ever changing, has two eyes that glow a startling crimson and a scar shaped like a lightning bolt running down from his forehead down his left eye. Perhaps the main attraction is his staff of Time, the source of his power. It is simple in design, yet its power is anything but. It has a shaft that is as long as his body, in any of his forms and on top sits a base that holds what looks like a V, with the ends slightly sharpened towards a small clock that seemingly levitates in the space between. With a wave of his staff, the Father of Time could shape and distort any of the time-lines he watches over; he could freeze time-lines, twist time-lines, and if he so chose to, end them. Such is the power of the Eternal Clock.
Suddenly, Clockwork feels the strangest of sensations, something akin to a…pull to one of his smaller monitors. The Father of Time swings his staff and the screens obey his silent command. The image that is on the smaller screen moves to his largest screen, its size is equivalent to a 76' television the humans use to entertain themselves with. As the Time ghost observes the moment that is occurring, he suddenly understands the feeling that attracts him to this particular moment in time.
It is destiny. Destiny demands that he witness this moment.
The moment is this; a mother with shoulder length auburn hair and lavender eyes lay in a hospital bed sweating and panting. However the look on her face is pure bliss as she holds the bundle of joy in her arms. It is a baby boy. On the left of her stands an ogre of a man, his body is massive in size and he wears what looks like an orange jumpsuit with black boots and gloves. His hair is cut short and black but his eyes are a dazzling blue. His face breaks out into a lop-sided grin as he looks on at his baby boy. Next to the father, stands a small girl who is trying to peer over the bed at her new sibling. Her hair is like her mother, auburn in color but longer in length and her eyes are a paler hue of blue than her father.
From a normal perspective, it is nothing more than an ordinary childbirth. However to the ever observant eye of Clockwork, this child is anything but normal. The birth of this child heralds a significant change in not only the human world but the ghost zone as well. As if synchronizing with his thoughts, the monitors around the main monitor come to life, already showing many different time-lines regarding the young boy, foreshadowing the obstacles he would encounter and the many enemies he would have to confront, it is amazing. He has witnessed an event similar to this, years earlier, but nothing on this scale. It is phenomenal. Clockwork wonders if this boy's presence would attract the attention of his eternal sibling.
As if summoned, the air in the castle descended into the temperatures known to man as Absolute zero, the temperature at which all life ceases to live. Even ghosts were not completely immune to this unmerciful frost however they had not to worry because the embodiment of Death never leaves the confines of his realm, unless of course to visit his dearest brother. Clockwork can survive his brother Death's frost for he is eternal, like time. Clockwork notes his presence but does not turn to meet him, millenniums of being together has brought about the kind of kinship that only brotherhood could create. Slowly, the Grim Reaper (a catchy name Clockwork always thinks) glides over to reside by his brother. In silence, they watch as the young girl is placed on the hospital bed and gets to hold her little brother for the first time.
Clockwork glances over at his brother to see if he has changed at all in the last century or so that he's seen him. Unsurprisingly he didn't, for death never changes. He is a constant, an absolute. As all things live, they must always die. For that is the way of the universe. Death's appearance is an enigma. He is covered in what appears to be a cloak of shadow, torn and ragged at the ends. The black of his shadow is so dark, Clockwork often muses that others who see it would be hypnotized by the never ending darkness. He is like a mist at times but for now he takes on a more solid form. His skeletal head is an ivory white yet it is marked with three black tribal markings that seem to manifest from his spine and move over the crown of his head but it is there that they separate. The first line runs down the middle of his face, stopping at his nose. The left and right lines travel down the side of his skull and along his jaw line till they stop an inch apart from each other under the mouth. His skull is covered by a hood, an extension of his shadow cloak. The hood itself is peculiar in that there is a row of spikes that start at the back of the hood and stop at the top. In his right skeletal hand (also marked by a single black line that travels from the top of his forearm, and bleeds between his fingers to rejoin in the palm of his hand) he grasps the ultimate weapon, the taker of lives, the reaper of souls, and the destroyer of worlds. The Arbiter of Souls is a weapon unlike any other.
"This child has been marked by destiny." Death rasps; his voice is like a whisper. His breath is visible as he speaks, "It makes me wonder brother."
Clockwork is silent at first, watching as a human in a blue uniform, a nurse he recalls, takes the young child away. The monitors gaze follows them,
"Indeed, what are you thinking?" Clockworks voice is cool and calm, devoid of urgency.
"What you will do when the Observants above find out about this child's destiny." Death whispers.
Clockwork fights down the urge to roll his eyes at his brother's mention of the Observants. The Observants were ghosts whose sole responsibility is to observe Earth and the Ghost Zone, though they are not allowed to interfere in any way. Of course, this does not bother Clockwork except for when they try to manipulate him into altering the time-lines in small detail. He blatantly ignores their involvement in the conversation as he catches on to what his brother implies.
"Destinies, brother. There is more than one for this child." Clockwork corrected but Death continues undeterred,
"Yes, but if I'm reading these time-lines correctly…mostly all of them point to that future."
As he says this, he points the tip of the Arbiter towards a monitor near the top. An image of destruction is displayed. Cities' lying in ruins, dam's destroyed, bodies lie broken and burnt all over the Earth and the cause of it all laughs darkly before turning it's gaze to the sky as the world burns around it.
Clockwork ponders this for a moment, before looking to a screen in the lower left-hand corner. On this screen, a ghostly male floats over his kingdom. He is adorned with a crown of flames and his eyes are an electrifying green. He looks out over his providence and smiles a genuine smile as his Queen appears behind him and wraps her arms around his waist lovingly.
"That may be true, but this future." Clockwork points to the King and his Queen on the screen, "is just as much a reality, the only difference between the two is the boy's will to live, will to fight."
Death chuckles lightly as he regards his brother,
"It would seem you have made up your mind then, how will you protect him from the Observants' will?"
Clockwork answers immediately as he turns back to the main monitor, watching as the nurse puts the young child into a crib.
"When the Time comes, I will become his mentor."
Death silently turns back to the main monitor before asking incredulously,
"His mentor Clockwork? You would teach this hybrid the way of Time?"
Clockwork slowly shakes his head,
"No brother, I will not teach him the ways of the Time-line…however I can offer…subtle suggestions as to how he should act or offer him guidance in the use of his eventual ghost powers."
Death slowly nods his head as he watches the newborn cry out,
"Hmmm…I see. The Observants won't be pleased."
Clockwork smirks as he could hear the smile that creeps on to his brother's hidden face,
"Yes I know, that's just a bonus."
The Reaper laughs in that same raspy voice and the two brothers slip into silence once more as they watch the young child. The young boy who is destined to grow up into a curious fourteen year-old, destined to walk into a dysfunctional portal and tear open a hole between worlds,destined to become the infamous….
Danny Phantom.
Hope you enjoyed it, review! :D