Chapter One
Meeting with Time
Danny sulked into his room, flopped onto his bed and glared at his white washed ceiling. Besides him being exhausted from ghost hunting, he was now annoyed from the hour long lecture his parents had given him about curfew. It wasn't his fault that ghosts decided to terrorize Amity Park after curfew. He'd love to tell the ghosts to bug off and leave the town alone, but for some reason, he didn't think that would work. Especially with Vlad pulling many of strings having, those ghosts attack him. Danny sat up and went to put on some pink, red stripped pajamas. To tired to care how dorky they looked. However, as Danny was walking past the mirror in his room, he took a double take at his reflection. Danny was skinny, scrawny even. His skin had a slight tan to it. He wasn't by any means tall, more on the short-average size. His face was pointed, and if he lived anywhere else he may have been swarmed by girls for being so boyishly-cute. He had raven hair that stuck in every direction, and ice-cold blue eyes. Tonight he looked a mess. His hair was even worse off, sweat soaked, and (after running his hand through it) he found it was filthy. His skin was caked with mud. He tried to wipe it away and winced as his hand snagged his cheek like there was a cut there, that wasn't right.
Danny walked to the bathroom, with a new set of the same pajamas and a towel slung over one shoulder. Turing on the shower, he caught some water on the towel and started to wash his face. He winced, and ran a hand over a cut on his cheek. It wasn't deep, and even though he had reopened it wasn't really bleeding; it was about as bad as a paper cut. The cut wasn't what was bothering him, he could deal with pain. I mean, he got pounded into the ground on a daily basis. No, it wasn't the cut, it was the fact he still had the cut. No matter how small. Danny blamed the cut running across his face on exhaustion. However, through his shower he became more and more alarmed. Now to add to the cut on his face, he had a fairly deep one on his left arm, across one leg, and one running down his side. He had a very nasty bruise he could feel covering his entire back. His wrist seemed sprained. True, he technically should be dead after some of those falls and hits he took, but he had always healed before. He had been scuffed up before, a little bit of dirt, a little bruise here and there after a fight, but this-this was major.
"Danny, sweetie, you alright in there?" Danny started at his mother's voice, barely audible over the crashing water.
"I'm fine mom," what in the world did she think could happen to him while he showered? Danny chuckled to himself. Yeah, mom, except the shower attacked me and now I've got several cuts and bruises. Sure, that would go over well. His parents would probably try and 'remove the ghost from the shower,' which was ridiculous. He paused for a second, thinking that any ghost who tried to control showers would be rather lame. He started to laugh hysterically, I am the shower ghost. I control the places where people go to get clean. Beware!
"Daniel, are you sure you're okay, should I come in there?" yelled Maddie on the other side of the door.
"No, mom, I'm fine, just a little tired!" yelled Danny, getting out of the shower.
"Well, get right to bed then, its three a.m. and you still have school in the morning," said his mom and then started to make her way to her own bedroom. Danny sighed, tomorrow was going to be awful. He hoped that the bruises and cuts would heal by then. He remembered what it was like before, before he became half-ghost and Dash beat him up. His parents hadn't noticed, but he remembered waking up in the morning, his bruises hurting even worse then the day before; his body stiff and achy. Jazz had noticed when he came home with a black eye, but he blamed it on being clumsy, he could tell she really didn't believe him. She had tried to point out to his parents, but they had brushed it off. She had started to distrust her parent's decisions after that. Danny fell, onto his bed, and soon was fast asleep.
"Danny, wake up!" shouted Jazz, shaking her younger brother. Danny blinked, seemingly dazed. He glanced at his sister and blinked, trying to get the sleep from his eyes. His sister glared down at him. Hands placed on her hips. She wore a black long sleeved shirt and her face expressed her irritation. Her skin was the same shade as Danny's, but looked lighter because of her orange red hair that fell thick to the middle of her back. Her eyes were a green-blue. Blue jeans hung at her hips, and a blue hair band kept her hair out of her face.
"Go away Jazz," said Danny throwing the blankets over his head.
"Danny, it's time for school. You've already missed the bus, so hurry up or I'll be late as well," Jazz left the room in a huff, slamming the door behind her. Danny winced and sat up. He cringed as his muscles protested movement. His whole body felt like one giant bruise, and his head felt like it was stuck in the clouds. He moved slowly, putting on clothes. As soon as he walked out his bedroom door, Jazz grabbed him and hurried him down the stairs to her car. She hurried in while Danny slowly trekked his way to the passenger's seat. His sister cared too much about school.
"Danny, I'm worried about you," began Jazz, the usual beginning to one of her little 'talks.'
"How is that new?" muttered Danny darkly under his breath. Looking out the passenger seats window.
"I mean it Danny. You were out almost all night last night. You worried mom and dad sick. I know that ghost hunting is important to you, but you really start worrying about your own health. You're failing every class in school, and you seem to be getting physically effected as well. Getting three hours of sleep at night is not enough. You have to find a – balance, between everything. Your normal life, and your superhero life," Danny rolled his eyes. He was used to this lecture; his sister had been giving it more and more recently. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate that she cared for him. Or maybe that was the problem. He was grateful that she had accepted him for what he was, but sometimes she could be so overbearing. He sighed gratefully as they entered the school parking-lot reserved for seniors like his sister.
"See ya later Jazz," called Danny jumping out of the car. He briefly caught the look of annoyed defeat across her face. Before he turned and continued his sprint to the school.
"Wow, that was close Danny," said Tucker watching as Danny slipped into his seat as the final bell rang. Tucker was a techno-nerd. He loved his gadgets. He wore a to big, red, baseball hat, a short sleeve, dull yellow shirt, and brown pants held up by a black belt. He had chocolate brown skin and dull grey eyes that were overwhelmed by a huge pair of black, round glasses. He had a rounded face, slightly large nose, and thick black eyelashes. His outlook was never complete without his PDA. Which he tended to fiddle with instead of paying attention to class.
"You okay, Danny? You don't look so well," said Sam, concerned. Sam was his girlfriend. He meant girl-who was a friend, not actual girlfriend. She was a Goth, her black hair fell in a dome around her head falling short of shoulders, and showing her face, and pony tail had some of her hair straight from her head. She wore a black t-shirt that showed her mid-drift, and though that violated the schools dress code, the teachers had stopped giving out detentions, because no one seemed to follow the dress. She wore a black, green line checkered skirt that fell almost to her knees. The outfit was finished with purple tights and Black boats. She didn't have pasty white skin like most Goths because of all the time she spent with Tucker and Danny fighting ghosts. Her eyes were purple, and so was the color of her lipstick. "Though I do like the outfit." Danny blushed, he was wearing a black shirt and black loose pants to hide his bruises and cuts, and the only one visible was the one across his cheek.
"I'm fine just tired. I was up all night hunting down ghosts," brushed off Danny with a yawn. The teacher gave them a stern look before starting her lecture on history. Most of the class was taking notes, but the three friends continued in hushed voices.
"Sorry about ditching you Danny, but my parents have been giving me serious grief over coming home late," said Sam sadly. She didn't mention that she was really tired after all their late night excursions. In fact, the last month his two friends had been leaving the battles a little early since the beginning of the month. Last night, however both her and Tucker had left so that they got home fifteen minutes before curfew.
"Yeah, same here Danny," added Tucker lamely.
"It's okay, guys, really," said Danny, failing to point out that he was getting just as much, if not more grief from his parents for being out late. His parents had been the ones who came up with the curfew. A ruler cracked across Danny's desk. The three friends looked up to see their very ticked history teacher glaring down on them.
"If you three are done socializing," ground out Ms. Szlu, visibly angry. "Perhaps we can get on with the lesson." The rest of the day passed slowly. Danny kept falling asleep in his classes. He was so tired he hadn't even noticed when Dash had come up behind him. Danny was beaten up for-something. Dash hadn't been clear on his reason for attacks knowing Dash, the jock was probably bored, and Danny was an easy target. He then received an exam that he hadn't studied for at all, and fell asleep half way through. Worse it wasn't just any exam, but his final exam. He knew there was a very good chance his teachers would ask him to go to summer school. His parents would be very disappointed in him, tell him about their grades, how his mother had flawless A's and Jake had solid B's. Then after that they wouldn't even put any effort themselves to make sure he did his work. Mr. Tiam shook him awake at the end of class, instructing Danny to go see the nurse because he looked a bit flushed. Danny was half way there when Skulker decided he wanted a go at getting the halfa's pelt for his collection, again. Thankfully, the whole school had been evacuated and no one noticed that Danny Fenton was missing. They did see, however, 'Invisobill' trashing the school. All in all, this day, week, year, was heading gradually down hill. To add to the situation, it seemed he had just been abducted.
"Welcome Danny," Danny spun around to face a baby clockwork. He was rapidly aging, and a sad smile had spread across his face.
"Clockwork, I'm surprised to see you so soon," said Danny watching as the two ghosts let go of him and seemed to melt into the background.
"Don't mind them, my boy," said Clockwork, motioning Danny to follow him before floating away. Danny stood for a second, and then jogged to catch up.
"Has my older self broken out or something?" asked Danny, coming to stand next to clockwork, and looked down on the time crystal. Danny watched as ghosts, people, different scenarios filtered across the screen.
"No, not that," said Clockwork, now looking frail and old holding his scythe as if it were a cane. "I am afraid, however, that I do have grave news that pertains to you, Danny."
"How so, clockwork?" asked Danny standing next to the time watcher.
"Danny, you realize for you to become a halfa, you had to, in essence, half die?" asked Clockwork, almost as if he were, rather, stating a fact. "It would seem that this particular-necessary is having some, unforeseen effects."
"Like what?" asked Danny, thrown by clockworks awkwardness.
"It would seem Danny, that you are dying," said Clockwork, looking Danny straight in the eyes.