I do not own 'Danny Phantom'


First Danny Phantom story.


A Second Chance

In the far reaches of the Ghost Zone, there lives a ghost of time. Clockwork, The Master of Time.

He could see everything, he knew everything. All that is, all that was, all that ever could be. It was his duty to keep time on a straight path, minus a few twists for the better.

With a single word from this ghost, the very time steam could be turned in a direction of his choosing.

Right now, this powerful ghost was annoyed.

"Clockwork!" An Observant spoke. "You know why-"

"You're here, yes." The time ghost cut in.

"We need you to-"

"Do your work." He stated.

"That thing-"

"Needs to be destroyed for his crimes, I know." Clockwork states, highly annoyed. "I know everything."

Almost everything. He thinks to himself.

There was one thing that even he wasn't aware of. For now.

"Enough of this!" One of the Observants snapped. "We demand-!"

"You do not demand me!" Clockwork stated in a rare display of anger. "You are Observants as you've stated plenty of times, you observe, nothing more!" He glared at the ghosts. "Now observe the door."

The ghosts did as Clockwork ordered.

With the distractions gone, he made his way towards a worn out thermos.

He grabbed it and moved his hand to the lid of the container. The ghost of time hesitated for a second, but only for a second. He removed the lid.

In a display of power, Dan Phantom broke free from the container.

"Clockwork." Dan spoke calmly. "To what do I owe this early freedom?"

The time ghost looked at the being before him with...pity. He could see all of the timelines ruined because of this being, and all where he doesn't exist. But none of redemption.

"I have an offer for you."

"An offer?" Dan asked skeptically. "What could you possibly offer me, and what would you want in return?"

"You are a being that lives outside of time." Clockwork spoke. "Meaning you are a living paradox."

"Well I've been called many things, but that's a new one." Dan admitted.

"The Observants want me to destroy you." Clockwork admitted.

"Why not let them try?" Dan asked darkly. "Let them face me."

"Because they only observe, though they seem to have no trouble ordering." Clockwork muttered.

"I enjoy talking down about people, but let's get to business."

Clockwork turned their attention towards his time windows, each showing the evil ghost. His life from his 'Birth' and the atrocities he's committed in his ten years of life.

"You've done horrible, unspeakable things in your time." He stated.

"Good times." Dan agreed with a smirk.

"Only to be brought down by your younger self."

"It's only a matter of time before he becomes me anyway." Dan stated uncaringly. "I'm inevitable."

"Wrong." The C.W stated. "You exist in many time lines, but not all of them."

"What?" He asked shocked.

The time ghost pointed towards one of the time windows.

"In some, you never exist because your younger self takes a different path." Clockwork stated with a hint of a smile. "He has such potential."

"What does he become?" Dan asked curious.

"In some, you continue on as the protector of Amitypark."

The window showed an image of an older Danny Phantom flying over the city

"Boring." Dan stated.

"In some you cast away your ghost half." He continues. "Others, your become full ghost."

Two windows showed an older human and ghost Danny, respectively.

"Still boring." Dan stated. "Show me something interesting."

The window showed a image of Danny Phantom sitting in the ghost zone. On his head was the Crown of Fire and on his finger was the Ring of Rage.

"You become the King of all ghosts."

"Interesting."

"One were you are worse then you've ever been."

He showed an image of the evil ghost in a desolate world. No life in either the world of the living or the dead.

Just nothing.

"Impressive." He admitted.

"Many where you save and unite the two worlds in peace."

"Yawn."

"Some you conquer them both."

"Heh."

"Some where you die."

"Back to boring."

"Many where you marry one of your female ghost enemies, or several." Clockwork stated seeing Dan with a growing smirk. "Same with your human female companions."

"Huh."

"Just as many where you marry Sam."

"Meh."

"How about where Maddie lives and you make her your bride?" Clockwork asks. "I can show you that, you have kids."

"..."

"Nothing to say?" Clockwork asked with a smirk.

"Next."

The time ghost continued moving through the potential futures. Each showing the could-have-been's and the maybe's.

"Yours."

The screen was black, but not blank, the blackness was the screen.

"What is this?" Dan asked annoyed. "Run out of timelines?"

"No, this is your timeline." He motioned to the screen.

"So what, I don't exist?"

"As I stated, the Observants want me to destroy you." Clockwork reminded. "With you being outside of time, I can do so with just the snap of my finger." He eyes the evil ghost. "You exist only because I allow it."

"Then why don't you end me?" Dan asks bravely, using his Plasmius mind. Clockwork never plays God, he's planning something.

"Your potential timeline." Clockwork states. "Even I can't see it." He motions back to the time window. "Try as I might, your future isn't being revealed to me."

That caught Dan's attention.

What can exist that even Clockwork can't see. He thought curiously.

"What does it mean?"

"You have something many would kill for, have killed for." Clockwork answers. "A second chance."

"...What?" Those words hit him for some reason.

"You have a chance at redemption." Clockwork states. "You can try to live again. I can send you to a period in time before young Danny has one of his deciding moments." Clockwork explains. "You will be given his body to move on, to live."

"What happens to him?" Dan asks.

"Do you care?" Clockwork asks.

"No."

"...This is the time I'm placing you." He motions to another window. "Here, young Daniel dies and he doesn't become a full ghost."

"Who did him in?" Dan asks. "Was it Skulker?"

"No, it was his heart." Clockwork sighs with remorse. "The stress of it all was too much for him to handle."

"So he was weak." Dan Stated.

"It's not weak to care, to feel." Clockwork states firmly.

"This timeline says different." Dan counters.

"What I'm offering you is a chance to redeem yourself."

"You make it sound like I regret what I did." Dan smirks.

"Don't you, even a little?" Clockwork asks. "You once stated to Tucker that in your weaker moments that you missed him."

"So?"

"You can have them back." Clockwork offered. "All of them."

It finally dawn onto Dan what the master of time was offering. He could have a new timeline to himself, a chance to live as he never had.

For a moment there was a sensation in his chest, so brief, but there. A human emotion.

"Those ten years I lived as I wanted." Dan states quietly. "What makes you think this will be any different?"

"Well, if I send you to this timeline, I'm sending you with something you abandoned because of weakness." Clockwork states. "I'm giving you back the emotions you cast away, I'm giving you back your life." He looked at the shocked ghost. "You can think of it as insurance."

"..."

"Nothing to say?" Clockwork asks.

"Why should I go, why not send me back to my own timeline?" Dan asked.

The master of time held out two fingers, ready to snap them.

The message was clear. Either he accepts the offer, or Dan Phantom ceases to exist.

Not much of a choice. Dan thought bitterly.

Even if he claimed to have no emotions left, there was always the instinctive drive for self-preservation. Even for a ghost.

"What do you get out of this?" Dan asked with honest curiosity and great suspicion. "You never interfere unless necessary to keep time moving forward."

"Other than the joy agitating the Observants through defiance?" Clockwork asks with a small smirk. "I get a surprise."

"...What?"

"I am the Master of time." He reminds. "I know all that has been and all that can be." He looked at the blank timeline. "The chance to not know will be...refreshing."

"You're giving me, a being who destroyed most of his own world." Dan reminded. "A second chance because you're bored?!"

"Yes." He answers blankly. "Do you have an answer?"

"Do I have a choice?" Dan asks with a roll of his eyes.

"Yes." Clockwork, raised his fingers again.

"...I accept."

"Good."


Young Danny Fenton laid in his bed.

He was so tired, in every way.

He was tired physically from the lack of rest.

Day in and day out he was attacked by ghost or saving people from said ghost. Only to be hunted by some of the humans he was trying to protect. Then there was the lack of sleep he had. Sometimes he had to go days with only a few hours of rest.

He was tired mentally from the emotional stress.

Danny tried so hard to help, only to be repaid with what? He was either hated or feared just because he was a ghost, well half ghost. To be hunted down by the people you wanted to help, by your own family! That kind of thing damages you to the very soul.

He was tired of it all! No normal fourteen year old would have been able to handle the things he did, even an un-normal would have broken.

He just wanted it all to end.

He just wanted it...

He just-

"Time Out!"

As Clockwork commanded, time stood still.

From a clock portal stepped the mast of time and Dan wearing a time medallion.

"He looks like hell." Dan stated as he looked at his younger self.

He did.

Young Danny looked as if he hadn't had a proper night's sleep in a while, if the bags under his eyes were any indication, he hadn't. Even as he laid their in a frozen state, the stress was written all over his face.

"Sadly, many timelines suffer this fate." Clockwork states sadly.

"So, what do I do?" Dan asks.

"I will restart time and you will fuse with him in the same way that created you." Clockwork instructed. "Both your consciousness and his will merge. Since he is only a halfa and you're a full ghost, you will become seventy-five percent ghost."

"I can do math." Dan stated.

"I've seen your grades." Clockwork stated with a smirk. "You never did finish High school."

"I finished college as Vlad."

"Semitics." C.W waved. "Now, a few warnings."

"Like?"

"Your power, be very careful." C.W warns. "His body can't fully handle it and you could burn through, like a flamethrower through paper mache."

"...I like that one." Dan states. "Makes me sound tougher."

He gave a small grunt of pain as C.W hit him over his head with his clock staff.

"Pay attention, this is important." C.W warned. "Each time you use too much power, your old self will burn through." C.W states. "We know how that ends for the humans and ghosts, so watch your anger."

"Anything else?" Dan asked, slightly bored.

"This is your last chance Dan, make it count." C.W advises. "Time In!"

Dan moved to the weak willed child.


Dan-ny opened his eyes.

He stood from his bed only to fall over.

Something's not right! He thought.

This was not a feeling he had experienced in a long time, not since his halfa days. It was exhaustion and emotional turmoil! Limitations to his mind and body he had long since abandoned.

He felt so...weak!

His power, it was still there and ready for him to grab. Though it was being cut off, like an ocean blocked into a river.

What he felt was of the mind and heart.

He felt...helplessness. He felt caring for everything and other emotions.

Why, why do I...feel...this?! He thought to himself.

He looked around for his answer.

He was in his old room. He looked around and saw his old things.

Posters of Humpty-Dumpty. Models of NASA ships. Pictures of him with his friends and family.

Then his emotions hit him again, even harder. He felt...everything!

The nostalgia of being in his old room. The comfort of being home. That safety you feel when under your parents roof.

Why had he ever gave these up? Then came the answers in the form of negative emotions.

The pain he had felt when he lost them all. Regret, he had done so many terrible things.

But he can change it, he can try and make up for it! All the terrible things he had did, they didn't exist, not here! He could do so much here.

But he had to be sure.

He made his way out of his room and into his home. Everything was exactly as he remembered it!

He passed his parents room. He heard the familiar sound of his father's snoring, even from the distance he was at. While he mom barely made a sound.

Dan-ny continued on.

He looked into Jazz's room to see her sleeping comfortably.

They're here! He thought with a heavy heart. They're alive!

He made his way closer to her and stepped on something. Looking down, he saw that it was her Einstein bear.

He grabbed it and placed it next to her.

"Mmm-Danny?" She mumbled sleepily as her eyes fluttered open. "Is everything okay?"

He didn't say anything. He just stared at the girl before him, his sister. He hadn't seen her in ten years.

She looks just like I remember. He thought. The statue didn't due her or anyone justice.

Danny moved closer to her, causing her to back away. He froze when she did that. He was use to people doing that.

He liked it then, but now it made him...sad? Is that what he felt?

"Danny?" She spoke.

He saw that she wasn't afraid, just curious. There was a bit of worry, but it was for him, not of him. How long had it been since someone cared for his well-being, not for his destruction.

He pulled her into a hug. It was tight, but not enough to hurt. Slowly, she returned the hug.

"Was there a ghost?" She asked shocked from his behavior.

"Yeah Jazz." He answered as wiped away the growing tears. "There was, but he's gone."

He hoped.


Review

First DP story, tell me in your reviews if you want me to continue on, or you want it as a oneshot.