Time gives him meaning
Yet he remains untethered
By such a constraint

Clockwork floated at the top of the tower of his lair, having completed his task of observing major activity on Earth and the Ghost Zone. A pale blue ghost with a dark robe and a timepiece affixed to his torso, he calmly anticipating his guest, one he was actually looking forward to seeing after quite some time. He knew she wasn't in the Ghost Zone at the moment and had a pretty good idea about where she would be coming from when she arrived. He knew that the only thing on his schedule today would bring something interesting to his rather monotonous existence, which made him chuckle a little. However, the "guests" that had just arrived were not who he wanted to see. Though he foresaw this possibility happening, this didn't make the intrusion any less frustrating.

"Clockwork," one of the ghosts spoke, his voice echoed throughout his lair. Clockwork let out a long sigh as he descended to their location. Perhaps his childlike appearance was appropriate to how felt their intelligence is. "The Observants. To what do I owe this….meeting?" The Observants, watchers of activity in the Ghost Zone and Earth, often employed Clockwork and other powerful ghosts for judgments that they deemed too difficult for themselves to handle. Lately, though, they had kept a close watch on Clockwork, giving him assignments that bordered on trivial.

"We came to discuss your task concerning Walker and-"

"That's been handled. The self-proclaimed warden of the Ghost Zone can easily handle these sorts of matters himself," he quickly stopped them. They stared at him for just a moment, trying to understand why he was quick to interrupt them. Normally he would begrudgingly take all of what they would say and shoo them away.

"*ahem* If you would allow us to continue. True, the matter has been resolved, but we asked YOU to resolve it. Why didn't you?" Clockwork gave them no answer for some time, shifting his looking glass to view Walker's prison, showing what seemed to be an attempted jailbreak by an inmate; said inmate was one of the strongest ghosts locked up to date. The creature somehow broke through floors and floors of lockdown areas only to be stopped by the electric collar forced upon it for straying too far from the area, something added to every inmate after two ghosts successfully started a riot and fled the prison. "Does this look like I need to step in. At all?"

"You know full well what this breakout could have erupted into Clockwork; furthermore, it was started by one of the Ghost Zone's most notorious beasts. We should be thankful that something that powerful is kept locked away."

As Clockwork became an adult, he pinched his fingers between his eyes. "No. You should be grateful that this issue was menial compared to the worst of our reality," he said calmly. "True, some of the deadliest ghosts reside in this realm, however, you know full well the worst of them are often kept in the ultimate prison for anything and anyone."

An unusually ironic chill went down The Observants' bodies. Just the mention of the one place all ghosts fear was enough to leave them stunned. One of them eventually spoke, "Yes...well, it's not like the Unworld is easily accessed. A certain sort of ghost portal must manifest for that to occur. The chances of that are abysmally low, so the issue at hand still stands."

"So, what did you expect me to do? Go into the past and attempt to convince the convict to settle down and not cause a scene?" Clockwork asked.

"Yes."

There was silence….

….More silence as Clockwork rested his now old head on his staff becoming more annoyed, wondering just how shortsighted these ghosts truly are. "I can't just convince someone to change their ways. Just because I know everything doesn't mean I control everything." One Observant flew towards an unusual looking thermos on a table. "You did manage to convince one person."

Clockwork, once more a child, turned back to his looking glass, revealing a teenage boy, one that Clockwork has observed for quite some time since he was first tasked with ending his life, however, he had different plans in mind. "That decision was his and his alone. He defied his future. I had no influence on his choice."

"Need we also remind you that you, effectively, cheated with that task to get the result you desired?" Clockwork smiled a little. "I only made sure that everything was as it needed to be for him, his world, and the Ghost Zone. Nothing more."

Clockwork continued, "Another thing about your "issue": why task the ghost of time to deal with this? Rift would have been the far better option".

"You know she doesn't take much of anything seriously despite her power."

Well then, you don't know how she really is, Clockwork thought. However, I'm sure you're frightened of her power. Just as you are of mine.

"If you wanted this inmate taken care of, she could have easily opened a portal and thrown him into the Unwor-"

"Do not speak of that place any further, Clockwork," they said angrily.

"...My point is, for something so trivial, why not take the easiest option? It seems that you only look at one possible solution rather than many and often time the most complicated option. More to the point, why did you not take care of it yourselves? You have enough clout and power as a group to speak to Walker and carry out the prevention of that attempted breakout."

The Observants were at a loss for words. "Is that all?" Clockwork asked, actually beginning to show some amount of anger and impatience.

"...Yes. We will take our leave now." As they began to depart they noticed some dents on the thermos, made from the inside out. "One more thing, are you positive that device will keep him contained? There are other ways to dispatch of him for good."

"He will remain there. Now, thank you for "gracing" me with your presence," he said as the Observants left. Even though he is here, outside of time, the boy still could become him. He could very well escape the thermos. I know the risk I'm taking leaving it here. I do wonder what Rift will think about this though. I know she knows at least some of what occurred. Clockwork floated back to the top of his lair, contemplating these things as he awaited the ghost named Rift.

**Author's Note: This is my first fanfiction and my first major piece of creative writing after many years. Feedback would be appreciated! I came up with this story after watching this video from Butch Hartman himself (see summary for link) and applying a little logic here and there. I recommend watching the video to get a lot of what will follow in the upcoming chapters. Also I recommend watching "The Ultimate Enemy" as there will events referenced from that in upcoming chapters, but if you're reading this, odds are you have already. Thanks for reading!**