Danny stood in disbelief.

Gone… they were gone this time… no, no no no this couldn't be happening… it wasn't meant to happen, not when he'd finally done it, not when he'd defeated Dan, it was all supposed to be alright.

Danny looked around frantically. There was no one there yet. But where was he? Where was the purple hood and time staff? Where was the forgiving smile and wisened red eyes? Clockwork had saved them before… he must have… he must have got them out without being able to tell Danny. Danny went intangible where moments before he couldn't and ran into the flames and wreckage to make sure they were gone.

Moments later he wished he hadn't done this.

He stumbled out of the destruction and flames, tangible and burnt, the powers hadn't lasted long, and what was more he fell to his hands and knees and retched violently.

"Oh god… oh god no… NO…" he whimpered, coughing from the smoke and shaking his head. He was trying desperately to forget having seen those charred remains…

There were sirens in the distance. Danny panicked. He couldn't stay here, he couldn't handle this, it was too much, it couldn't be real, he had to escape this, he had to find someone. But the realization that everyone he knew and loved had just been destroyed hit him like one of his future self's punches to the gut. Danny suddenly realized tears had started streaming down his face. As though in a daze, he got to his aching feet… and he ran. He did not stop. He crossed the road, the heat of the fire dimming rapidly as he put distance between it and himself, sirens and flashing lights dimly registering in his peripheral vision. They drew his eyes back automatically, and he almost turned back to the burning wreckage… as though he needed to look at it one last time for closure… but Danny couldn't do it, because looking back would remind him what he saw in that fire, would remind him that this fate was irretrievable, and he couldn't handle it… he couldn't accept it even if somewhere very deep inside he knew he had to face the fact that it was real and inescapable, but his conscious mind kept clouding the fact with little insignificant thoughts like 'i'm burnt and it hurts', 'if I don't get away they'll ask me questions', 'if someone saw all this (and would be remarkable if no one had) then they know my identity and they'll arrest me and hold me captive', 'my shoe is falling off', 'i'm bleeding', 'i'm dizzy', 'I can't breathe, I have to stop but if I stop I'll start to think about it'…

In the end, Danny was so exhausted he tripped and fell. He fell hard, and though he threw out his arms to catch himself, he hit the side of his face on the sidewalk. His palms and right cheek now stung and bled. He dragged himself to his hands and knees and forced himself to stand, but he couldn't force himself to run because his knees shook too much from adrenalin, so he sunk to the floor of an nearby alley wall, scooting into the shadows as a fire truck came blazing past. Danny was panting and wheezing and tried to quieten himself so he wasn't discovered. But no one was there. Anyone who had heard the siren or been woken by it was either turning on their TV to try and find the problem on the news or trying to ignore it and get back to sleep.

Meanwhile, a half ghost sat bleeding and grasping his hair in his hands in an alley below them. A half-ghost who after finally finding a means of dispatching his evil future self had just lost everyone he held dear… and his school teacher… and was trying to block this thought from his mind.

Danny sat shaking and panting, grasping his large mess of hair in his fingers as his forehead rested on his palms and his elbows on his knees. Where was he going to go?

After running a considerable number of unsuitable places through his head, he decided on one that was probably no the safest, but it was the closest and most familiar. His own house was only two blocks away. Disregarding his knee's second protest at being used, he forced them on at a jog. He couldn't walk, his mind wouldn't allow him to accept moving at a pace slower than a jog, not after where he'd been, what he'd done and seen and lost… his fight or flight instinct was still in full swing and switched to flight mode.

As he jogged he took his mind off the pain in his lungs by considering what was going to happen. His house was going to be the first place anyone was going to look for him when they realized he was missing… although, they might assume him dead if no one HAD witnessed the explosion to say they'd seen him running away… but it was very unlikely no one had seen… if not at the actual site, then running down one of the dimly lit streets where at least two people had come out to see the cause of the loud bang. Perhaps they had noticed him? By any means, if and when they came looking, his house would be the first place they did. However, at his house were two means of escape. He could hole up in the op-centre, or go into the ghost zone where there were endless avenues to explore as hideouts…

When Danny reached his house however and phased through the locked door, he did not go to either of these places. He found himself dragging himself exhaustedly up the stairs and to his bedroom. He collapsed onto his bed and stared at the ceiling. He became acutely aware of the sting of the burns on his arms and the dry blood caked on his cuts where ecto-plasma had leaked before… he would regain strength enough to use his ghost powers again within the hour, but he didn't want to think about that… he didn't want to think of the inevitable memories and realizations of this disaster lurking at the edges of his mind either. He didn't want to think at all… he didn't want to know, he didn't want to feel this pain anymore, not the physical aches of his fight or the fire or the stabbing at his heart that had nothing to do with his battles. He wanted it all to go away as tears leaked from the corners of his eyes and he closed them, pushing down on his emotions and thoughts and forcing them away. He did not open his eyes again. Exhaustion won out in the end and he fell into a fitful sleep that only his body could benefit from but mind would regret.

"You made your bed clockwork, and now you will lie in it!" Said the first Observant, turning his impartial green eye on the purple robed ghost.

"You don't have the authority to…"

"You do not say what authority we have". The second observant cut him off shortly.

"You meddled in the time line the first time, and now the timeline has deemed that your actions deserve equal consequences. You may be a master of time, but you still do not control it" the first observer stated. Clockwork glared at them furiously but said nothing. He turned to the image of the halfa, lying beaten and sleeping restlessly in his bed. "Alright. I made a mistake. But only in that I did not secure Dan well enough. That has seen its consequences, the timeline has seen fit to punish the ghost boy and me. But this time, it is not the end of all things. This time he is aware of what turn his fate will take if he is not careful. And I will take personal responsibility. He will live the fate of Dan. If it comes to that, I will kill him. But I would prefer a chance to stop that ever happening. He trusts me, he will accept my help." Clockwork said in a voice of strained calm, trying to put his intentions to the observants as delicately as possible so as not to provoke an immediate disapproval. He hated having to have his intentions verified by stubborn, blinkered fools such as these Observants, but now he had no choice. And he didn't want more chaos to ensue due to his fault… and apart from this, he did feel a small niggling need to help the ghost boy… he'd grown on him… a headstrong fool he may be, but his intentions were always pure. It would be criminal to let that be destroyed and turned into a heartless monster.

The Observants looked at one another for a long moment, as though speaking silently by way of some sort of iris movement Morse code. Eventually they turned back to Clockwork.

"Very well. You may assist him, so long as you do not alter the timeline directly. Your destiny is influenced by his, you can influence his decisions as he is, but you cannot undo what has been done. Doing so will cost you your position."

"What do you mean, cost me my position? You might be able to foresee my dismissal at some point, but you cannot enforce it" Clockwork said roughly, the gall of the narrow-minded ghosts before him starting to get on his nerves.

" Exactly. We can see the consequences of everyone's actions on the timeline, including ghosts, including you. If you reset things as they were or save lives that should be lost, or even take him back to see them again, it will be your downfall. We are not enforcing this, we are warning you. We only know what we see, and we see all."

Clockwork's face was sullen and stony. "I see. Then I suppose I best get a move on. Time waits for no ghost… even if they are the master of it…"