Round and Round Again
Danny Phantom fanfic by Teribane
Rating - T
Summary - One day Danny cheated on a test. And the rest was history. -Oneshot-
AN - This is not, actually, my headcanon. Not even close. But it was an intruiging idea and kept bugging me until I wrote it. If it's been done before, please brick me and then politely direct me towards where so I can stare at it myself. ^^
No, the Observants don't remember the different timelines.
Hm. I may have used too much repitition, although that was sorta the point of the story. Anyways, enjoy!
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The first time round it actually happened the way it always would have been, if certain others didn't see fit to try changing things.
Danny, fighting ghosts all day and all night, missing class, then missing sleep, grabbing snoozes whenever he could, and sometimes when he couldn't afford to - he was desperate, desperate to get a good score on the CAT. Yes, Lancer had locked the answer key away - but that was no trouble to Danny Phantom, who could phase through whole buildings, who could stay invisible for hours on end. He just snuck up quietly, unseeable, and reached a hand straight through the briefcase, dragging out the folder he needed.
But Lancer noticed it missing later. And overheard Danny's friends trying to argue him out of using it. After the test, he called together Danny's parents, and Danny's friends and his sister went along to lend support - and the Nasty Burger exploded.
Danny went to stay with Vlad. He asked him to rip out his emotions.
And the rest was history.
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The second time round Clockwork reset history, hoping it'd turn out differently if Danny was never tempted to cheat. But the time ghost wasn't careful enough, and Dan, having knowledge of Clockwork from explorations of the Ghost Zone, found out about the reset in enough time to grab a medallion and interfere.
And the rest was history.
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The third time round Clockwork tried to help more directly, simply grabbing Danny and sending him forward into the future. But Danny never found out about what awaited him in the future before Dan grabbed him - he got knocked out right away, and came back only in time to see everyone blow up.
And the rest was history.
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The fourth time round Clockwork was more careful, directing Danny to a better spot. But Dan still trapped Danny in the past long enough to kill everyone. And Danny, even knowing what awaited him, was angry enough, filled with enough grief, not to care. Danny had never promised. So he went to Vlad.
And the rest was history.
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The seventh time round Sam and Tucker died in the future. Danny was sent out of Amity Park, sent out of the depressing memories, sent to stay with Vlad to recover.
And the rest was history.
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The thirteenth time round, Clockwork was desperate enough to try and actually kill Danny, sacrifice an as yet innocent life to save millions of others. It was only one life, after all, and one that would end up the most evil being that ever lived, even if it was among the best right at that moment.
It didn't work. Clockwork accidentally killed Maddie, Jack, Sam, Jazz, and Tucker instead.
And the rest was history.
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The twenty seventh time round Clockwork finally realized time itself wasn't letting him destroy Danny. But too late to stop his efforts in this circle of the clock.
And the rest was history.
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The hundred thirty first time round, Danny broke his promise.
And the rest was history.
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The hundred seventy third time round, Clockwork, trying to change his habits enough to fix everything, was off enough that the Observants took over the job themselves. They tried to kill Danny. They failed.
And the rest was history.
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The hundred seventy fourth time round, Clockwork still didn't know what was strange about him. So once again, the Observants tried to murder Danny.
And the rest was history.
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The hundred seventy fifth time round, the Observants realized that time itself was stopping them just a little too late.
And the rest was history.
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The hundred seventy sixth time round, the Observants tried to kill Danny again. This time Clockwork tried to stop them and did so at a critical moment. He caused everything himself.
And the rest was history.
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The hundred seventy ninth time round, Clockwork managed to convince the Observants to try to change Danny's future instead of killing him.
They did try, but they weren't very good at it. Certainly not good enough.
And the rest was history.
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The hundred ninety eighth time round, Clockwork finally found out how to act normal enough not to alert the Observants - or at least not to the point that they took over the operation themselves.
But he wasn't good enough to uphold this facade and save Danny, not this time.
And the rest was history.
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The two hundred twenty seventh time round Danny didn't actually go into the future. Instead, Clockwork tried to send Dan back in time to the past, just for a short time. Just to show Danny what would happen, in an easy, obvious way.
It backfired. Horribly. Dan stole a medallion when Clockwork's attention was diverted, rendering himself immune from the time ghost's powers. Then he caused havoc, blew up Danny's friends and family himself before heading back to the future. The only difference? More people died.
And the rest was history.
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The six hundred fifty eighth time round, Danny tried to repress his grief. He couldn't - all he could repress were a few simple memories, not the huge arcing wave of guilt.
One of these memories was that of his promise.
And the rest was history.
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The three thousand five hundred twenty first time round, everything almost went right. Clockwork was working very carefully, using more of his energy this time then ever before. He was nearly ready to pull Danny out of the future when the Observants decided he was overexercising his powers. Their argument with him distracted him just a touch too long.
And the rest was history.
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The six thousand forty ninth time round, Dan overshadowed Danny without Clockwork noticing. He got sent back in time when the trio returned.
And the rest was history.
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The twelve thousand four hundred seventy sixth time round, Clockwork decided to try helping Danny friends and family at the last moment, instead of concentrating on Danny himself.
The twelve thousand four hundred seventy sixth time round, Danny captured Dan, turned to run and help - and couldn't go ghost. The explosion happened. But Clockwork preserved everyone, and not only that, sent Danny back in time to his own body to rectify whatever had gone wrong before.
The twelve thousand four hundred seventy sixth time round, Clockwork ended up with a single version of Dan stuck in a Thermos in his tower, and Danny ended up alive, happy, and in no danger of that ever changing.
The twelve thousand four hundred seventy sixth time round, it worked.
And the rest was finally, finally history.
(Even if the Observants were still a pain.)
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One day Danny cheated on a test. And the rest was history.