This is a response to Preemtive Karma's challenge 'wrong'. For those who have not read Baskets for You or can't really remember it because it's been so long since you've read that one shot, I suggest you go take a look because this takes place after Baskets for You. That said, I hope this one shot will be interesting to you.
Disclaimer: This is fanfiction.
Thursday, 9.56pm
This is so wrong.
Lyn watched in horror as her newfound friend was beaten down by the Guys in White. Unfocused green eyes met hers and she felt her heart freeze. She waited, clutched the fabric of her shirt tightly, but Danny didn't say anything. Eventually, the light in his eyes faded away and Danny passed out.
This is so wrong.
There were people comforting her, but her ears heard nothing. Her eyes only focused on her friend and she could only watch as twin rings washed over the lithe body. Gasps of surprise filled the room, but all she felt was hollow despair.
This is so wrong.
Thursday, 9.40pm
Phantom never came to visit at a fixed schedule, so she really could not have known beforehand, but she had a feeling that night that he would turn up. So when she looked towards the window and saw him there, she wasn't surprised.
"Hey," Phantom greeted and phased through the window. He had another interesting basket with him, one with three handles stacked one atop the other.
"Hey. Thanks for the basket," Lyn said and accepted the basket. She knew that it made no difference, but she just had to say, "You really don't have to give me any more baskets."
"It's fine," Phantom said. At least he had stopped blaming himself for her injury, now if he would just forgive himself. Something must have happened between this visit and the previous one.
"So, Danny, how's life?" she asked as she toyed around with the basket. The basket was more or less useless as a basket, but it was the aesthetic value she was looking for, not practicality.
"Fine. A little annoying sometimes. I still don't get why people call me Inviso-Bill. It's lame and definitely not my name." After moving out of the hospital, she had expected to stop meeting Phantom. His visit to her room was a pleasant surprise. He was no longer a mere visitor but a friend.
"I have to agree. Danny Fenton sounds much better," she said.
"Of course it… can you repeat what you just said?" There was a hint of fear in his emerald eyes.
"Danny Fenton?" Not the sharpest of the bunch but sharp enough.
"Can you spell it?"
"D-a-n-n-y F-e-n-t-o-n." There. Now, what would he do?
"How did you know? Since when?" Danny looked torn between… two options she had no idea were what.
"Since your last visit in the hospital. You look exactly like your human form with some colour difference. What I can't understand is why your parents have not picked up on the connection yet. I'm assuming that your parents don't know. Is my assumption wrong?"
Danny shook his head. For a couple who was supposedly very intelligent, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton could be very oblivious. Perhaps they had selective intelligence.
"Have you told anyone about this?" he asked.
A loud sound stopped her from answering as the door was incenerated.
"Get Inviso-Bill!"
Thursday, 9.58pm
They dragged him away like a guilty prisoner.
"When I saw that monster in your room I was so worried but you were so calm. You even managed to trick the ghost into letting his guard down," Mom said.
"That's my girl. Intelligence runs in the family," Dad added proudly.
That was my friend you just sent to his doom.
"Lyn darling, it's alright. It's gone."
Danny's not an it.
Lyn endured her parents' misguided words of comfort with a blank face. Eventually, after imparting some useless advice, she was left alone in her room.
"They have left."
Lyn turned with a start at the foreign voice. An unfamiliar ghost was hovering in her room, which had just been invaded by the Guys in White. Either he had a lot of guts, metaphorically speaking, or he was powerful enough to not care.
"The door's… it doesn't exist," she warned him and turned her gaze to the hole in the wall where the door once was. He would be visible to anyone who passed by.
"No one will pass by in the next four minutes. Let me introduce myself. I am Clockwork, Master of Time. I am here to give you a chance to stop what happened earlier from happening."
"You mean time travel?" Old man, young dude, little kid… So distracting…
"Yes. You have three minutes to decide whether to go back to the past with me or stay here in the present.
"I can't walk." The wheelchair was downstairs.
"That's not a problem."
"Then the answer is a no brainer. Let's go."
She had to right what was wrong.
It was only just before they were leaving the present that she thought of the fact that Clockwork might not have good intentions and was only trying to take her away.
Thursday, 9.41pm
Seeing Danny freeze at her window and the door in her room restored were what convinced her that they had travelled to the past.
"You would be alone after 10. Should you have a hard time convincing Danny Phantom, let him know that I brought you back to this time."
Clockwork lifted his staff.
"Wait! What happened to the present me?" In time travel stories, the time traveler always had to run around avoiding their past selves. If she was in the same place as her past self then, what happened to her past self?
"There are many ways of time traveling. You cannot move freely, so I only brought your mind back, not your physical being. Any other questions?"
Lyn shook her head.
"Very well. Time in."
Clockwork disappeared and Danny phased though the window into the room.
"Hey," Danny greeted.
"Get out. Come back after 10," Lyn said immediately.
"Why?" Danny frowned, confused by her outburst.
"If not, the Guys in White will come and catch you."
"Those idiots can't catch a ghost unless the ghost was being easy on them," Danny said with a wave of his hand.
"Well they did. Clockwork brought me back to the past, your present, so that I can stop you from being caught." Danny sobered at the mention of Clockwork's name.
"I'll explain everything later but please leave for now. Come back after 10," she said.
Danny nodded and left. Moments after his departure, a knock on the door caught her attention.
"Lyn darling, who were you talking to?" Mom asked.
"I was reciting some stuff I read this morning. Trying to figure out what mindset that character had." Since she was no longer able to pursue gymnastic, she had turned to reading as a favourite pastime. The lie was plausible. She did everything with passion, especially the things she loved.
"I see. I'll leave you to yourself then. Would you like me to turn off the lights for you?" Mom reached out for the light switch.
"It's ok. The remote control's here." Lyn held up the custom made remote control. "Night Mom."
"Goodnight darling."
Mom closed the door.
Lyn sighed in relief.
Friday, 11.43pm
"You didn't need to bring Lyn back to the past. You didn't even need to let her know that you exist. Why did you?" Danny asked as he stood before Clockwork's time-space watching screen.
"In the future, Lyn's knowledge of my existence will become very valuable to you," Clockwork said.
"Ok, but you could have just stopped time and let me fly away from the Guys in White."
"The door to your friend's room was destroyed. Two days after that, a thief will enter the house. With the door, the thief will just quietly steal some valuables; without the door, the thief would have raped your friend."
Danny paled.
"Just because of a hole in the wall?" he asked.
"Just because of a hole in the wall," Clockwork confirmed with a nod, "If you don't leave now, your parents will realize that you are not at home."
At Danny's confused look, Clockwork elaborated, "Your father will want some fudge."
The halfa's mouth formed a silent 'o'.
"Bye. Thanks for the help." Danny threw a wave over his shoulder and took off.
Clockwork turned his attention to the watching screen, where the future that could have been played out. Three years after the Guys in White fired an experimental weapon at Danny Phantom in Lyn's house, the fragile mental balance between Danny's ghost side and human side will shatter.
Insane eyes will scan the destruction once known as Amity Park. Grey smoke will fill the air and embers will dance in the wind. Fire will devourer half the city, ice will trap the other. There will be no human voice. All will be dead. Only Phantom will stand among the wreckage, laughing and craving for more chaos, more power, more despair.
Please give me some feedback. Advice on how to make my stories better would be really nice.
~Enray