Hello my wonderful readers! In this chap we'll see (read?) Clockwork! Enjoy!
The day in Amity Park started cloudy with a faint rain, making little dropping sounds against the buildings windows. Danny woke up at the sound of his alarm clock going off, groaning he got up of bed and went to shower. Feeling refreshed he went downstairs to have breakfast, he found some cereal and milk, and started to eat knowing that cereal was never contaminated.
Danny leaved to school flying invisible and intangible to avoid the rain, luckily from him most ghosts didn't like to get all wet when they came to the human world, so he got to sleep all night. He was with a good mood that Friday because, besides the recovered sleep, Pandora has told him they were going to visit another brother of hers. He was so excited to have a new uncle that he did some loops in the air.
In his way to school Danny remembered his lasts lessons with Pandora, now he could understand more Greek and hold a more or less coherent conversation with Athens's citizens; he had became so good at sword fighting that Pandora told him that soon he'll can practice with other weapons, in the meantime he has built ice swords and trained at home and against malevolent ghosts. After the end of some lessons Nocturne seemed to always come to visit them, in such occasions they came to know each other better. Danny learned that Nocturne was one of the ancient ghosts that defeated Pariah Dark, alongside with Pandora, Clockwork, Vortex, Undergrowth, and other powerful ghosts, and about his duty as Master of Dreams.
Once in school he reunited with his friends and went to classes. School was as normal as Danny could get with more bullying from dash because he was angry that the weather made his football practice more difficult, some ghosts that came out of the zone, though they were only ectopuses, apparently they are the only ghost that like the rain.
After school the three friends went to the nasty burger, the rain was still falling but not as much as early in the day.
"Hey Danny, I was thinking..." Sam said while taking a bite of her tofu burger.
"About what Sam?" Danny asked, putting some ketchup in his fries.
"Well, now that Pandora adopted you, What about Clockwork? I remember you told us that your time line is his responsibility now and that he's your guardian or something" Sam said, she didn't remember exactly all of what had happened, but she had a general idea.
"Hmm, I don't really know" Danny said after thinking for a moment. After the whole evil-self incident, Danny only saw Clockwork one time in which was to help his friends, and Vlad, from the ecto-acne, resulting in a lesson about time travel and its consequences.
"Dude, you should ask Pandora about that, I'm sure she'll know what to do" Tucker suggested, eating his second double-meat burger.
"Yea... or Nocturne" Sam added.
"Ok I'll do that" Danny agreed.
Danny told Sam and Tucker about Nocturne being his adoptable uncle the morning after he knew, and also about what he learned about him in his other visits. Sam and Tucker weren't sure what to think at the beginning, for one side they were glad that they had an enemy less, and for the other side they didn't know if he could be trusted, they worried that he would betray Danny or use him for some plot; though their worries were placated a little when Danny mentioned what he found out about Nocturne when he visited Athens.
That night Danny flew to the acropolis a few hours early than usual as Pandora requested, she told him the travel to her brothers liar would take some time because it was in an isolated part of the Zone. Danny approached Athens, still in a good mood, and entered like he always did and went into the palace looking for Pandora. He found her in the study room and, surprisingly to him, Nocturne was there too.
"Hi Pandora, hi Nocturne" Danny greeted them once he entered the room.
"Hello Danny, how was your day?" Pandora asked while hugging him.
"It was fine, but rainy with some ectopuses trying to scare people" Danny said, hugging back Pandora.
"Ugh, that ghosts are so annoying" Nocturne said frowning at the mention of the ectopuses.
"You don't like ectopuses?" Danny asked after being released from the hug, leaning his head to the side.
"There are a lot near my realm, always trying to fight or scare me when I come out of my liar" Nocturne explained, crossing his arms and deepening his frown.
"He he true, they always do that" Danny giggled after imagine Nocturne fighting ectopuses.
"Alright, now that we are all here we should get going" Pandora announced and lead them out of the room.
"Are you coming with us Nocturne?" Danny asked curiously, seeing that Nocturne was following them.
"Yes, after I told him about visiting our brother he wanted to come with us" Pandora responded smirking at Nocturne.
"Really?" Danny asked, rising an eyebrow. He knew that Nocturne hadn't visited Pandora in decades, so he wasn't sure if that was true.
"Your mother is very persuasive child" Nocturne said with a deadpan expression, making Danny laugh.
After that they started their travel to the Ghost Zone, with Danny flying in between Pandora and Nocturne. They keep flying for an hour and Danny noticed that a lot of cogs and clocks started to appear, floating in the Zone's ecto-atmosphere, he recognized this place and he knew they were near Clockwork's tower and then he remembered the chat he had with his friends in the fast food restaurant after school.
"Hey! I know this place" Danny said trying to start a conversation.
"You do?" Nocturne asked surprised, not many people knew this part of the Ghost Zone.
To answer Nocturne's question Danny told them that he met Clockwork, the ghost Master of Time, and that after some events his time line is the responsibility of the Time Master now, he opted to not mention them about his future self because he feared that they weren't going to accept him if he told them that, in ten years, he destroyed everything in that alternate time line.
At Danny's explanation, Pandora started an angry rant in Greek that Danny didn't understand so much, but for some reason it made Nocturne amused
"Uhh did I said something to make you angry?" Danny asked Pandora with worry.
"No child, you didn't. I'm angry at what information someone didn't tell me" Pandora said with a frown.
"Oh... this is going to be good" Nocturne added with a smirk.
When the Timeless Citadel came to view, Nocturne leaded them to the entrance, which confused Danny a little. As they reached the doors, Danny couldn't help but admire the huge grey tower and how much it appeared a giant grandfather clock; before Nocturne could knock, the doors opened by themselves, allowing them pass. After they entered they went to the mirror room were Clockwork was waiting for them, in the way there Danny came to the conclusion that Clockwork was the brother Pandora wanted to present him, resisting the urge to facepalm, he understood why she was so angry. When they came into the mirror room, Clockwork turned from his mirrors to greet them.
"Hi Clockwork" Danny said smiling.
"Hello Danny, is good to see you again" Clockwork greeted smiling and ruffling Danny's hair, earning a playful "hey!" from Danny.
"Hello brother" Pandora and Nocturne said, though Pandora said it with more irritation that Nocturne.
"Would you join me in the kitchen?" Clockwork asked and went through a door before Pandora could said something.
They follow him to the kitchen, Danny didn't know Clockwork had one and looked around in awe. The kitchen was large enough to fit twenty persons in it, there was a table made of purple glowing wood that had cogs engravings in the legs, at the sides it had matching chairs with the same engravings in the back and black pillows in the seat which looked very comfortable. There was an oven, a fridge, a sink and cupboards made of black wood. The floor had black and green tiles and the patterns they made had the form of sand clocks.
"It's nice to have visits once in awhile" Clockwork said, starting to prepare some tea.
"Yes it is, how have you been brother?" Nocturne asked while sitting in a chair, still smirking.
"You know the usual, watching the time stream, making sure timelines don't fall into chaos, trying to not blast the observants when they come for nothing more that annoy me, nothing much" Clockwork said while putting some snacks on the table.
"So the usual also includes helping a young half ghost and becoming his time guardian?" Pandora asked with a eyebrow raised.
"Well no, that's not usual. Though it's not usual that you adopted said half ghost neither" Clockwork said smirking and starting to put some space between him and Pandora.
Seeing what he was doing, Pandora reached out to smack him in the head. Clockwork, having predicted that, dodged the hand, though he didn't predict the other three that quickly follow, one behind the other. Then Clockwork made a questioning look at Pandora, while rubbing his head and pouting. This made Nocturne start laughing so hard that he almost fell from the chair, and Danny didn't know if laugh or not, though he looked very amused.
"That was for never telling me you were Danny's time guardian, even after I adopted him" Pandora explained, looking satisfied with herself.
"Ok, I deserved that" Clockwork agreed with a little smile.
"Alright, as fun as it is to watch Clockwork get punisher by his sister, I wonder how are we going to tell this to Vortex and Undergrowth. For what I heard, they are Danny's enemies" Nocturne commented.
"You are right, it wouldn't be good that the Masters of Vegetable Life and Weather were out of commission because they attacked Pandora's son" Clockwork said while going for more snacks and the teas.
"Would you really hurt them that much?" Danny asked Pandora while helping Clockwork with the snacks.
"Not much darling, they just may not have the capacity to move for a few months, that's all" Pandora said, seating in one of the chairs.
"Wow really?" Danny said in awe, he was impressed by how powerful Pandora was knowing that Vortex and Undergrowth were very difficult to defeat.
"Of course, she is one of the most powerful ghosts that exist. I remember that time we were young and got lost near the Dark Forest, and we had to fight for our afterlives against a leviathan, she practically made that beast go away with one hit" Nocturne said grabbing one of the cookies Danny had just put.
"It wasn't one hit, I just punched that thing in the face with all my arms at the same time, so technically there were four punches" Pandora said picking up her tea cup.
"You made that thing cry Pan" clockwork said smiling and sitting himself in a chair in front of Pandora and besides Nocturne.
"It was a weakling anyway" Pandora said shrugging.
"Wow, that's amazing!" Danny exclaimed with his face full of wonder and seated besides Pandora
They keep talking and drinking the exotics teas clockwork prepared for them, Danny really liked his, even if he wasn't a fan for tea, this one was very sweet and he swore he could taste chocolate in it. After a few moments Pandora brought up the theme she wanted to talk with Clockwork, remembering what Danny told them in their way to the Tower.
"Clocky, I want to know why you didn't tell me you were Danny's time guardian" Pandora asked.
"Well, I might have forgotten about telling you that, my work had been a little more busy than normal this months and the observants hadn't be of much help either" Clockwork admitted while drinking some of his tea.
"And that's why you haven't spend time with him?" Pandora asked crossing two of her arms and rising an eyebrow.
"Sadly yes, that is something I would like to fix" Clockwork said putting down his cup.
"How are you planning to do that?" Pandora asked a little irritated with Clockwork for not spending time with his ward.
"Hmm I know, you could help me in some of my school subjects like Pandora helps me with improving my fighting skills and teaching me Greek" Danny suggested Clockwork, thinking it would be cool to spend some time with his guardian uncle, besides he always has liked the Tower.
"Yes that's a good idea, I would gladly help you with your school work" Clockwork said smiling at Danny.
"Really? Thank you, thank you thank you!" Danny exclaimed and flied out of his chair to hug Clockwork while continuing with his thanks. Clockwork was surprised by Danny's hug and that made Nocturne laugh at his surprised face.
"Who knew the Time Master could be surprised?" Nocturne teased, while Pandora smiled seeing that Clockwork returned the hug.
"Yes, yes keep laughing dreamer" Clockwork said trying and failing to glare at Nocturne, he was too happy for Danny's hug to be really annoyed at his brother.
"Ah come on, don't tell me you are not enjoying your nephews attention" Nocturne said smiling.
"Yes I am, thank you, besides this is one of the few time lines in where Danny is my nephew and not just my ward" Clockwork added freeing Danny from the hug.
"There is another thing I want to know. How exactly you two meet? I know something must had happened to be a time guardian, and I know you were omitting some information Danny" Pandora asked, watching to her brother and son, that had seated next to her once more.
Danny, after seeing the look in Pandora's face and with some guilt, told her everything about his encounter with some ghosts from the future, how he really met Clockwork and about his evil self. He related of how that version of him became crazy by grief when all his loved ones died, that he went to live with Vlad and convinced him of striping his ghost half, and when he did his ghost half ripped and fused with Vlad's own. Danny told her that that version of him called himself Dan Phantom and that he destroyed countless of humans lives and ghosts afterlives.
He mentioned of how he fought his evil version and win but that almost lost his friends and family and how Clockwork saved, giving Danny a second chance. When he stopped talking, Danny looked down to his hands in his lap and waited for their reactions, fearing that Pandora would reject him because of that possibility.
After hearing Danny's tale, Pandora took a moment to understand the new information, she didn't want that future for her son or anyone and was sorry that Danny had to pass for that experience. Nocturne has similar thought of that of Pandora, and wondered if Danny was coping as fine as he seemed to be, though he suspected Danny was hiding was he truly felt about that. When Pandora finished to process it, she got up of the chair and went to hug Danny.
"I'm so sorry you had to go through that Danny" Pandora said, worried about Danny.
"Y-you are not scared of me, or repulsed because of the monster I could become?" Danny asked with his head resting in Pandora's shoulder, his hope raised and he tried to contain tears of relive.
"I could never hate you Danny, you're my son" Pandora said smiling and hugging him a little more thigh.
"Thank you" Danny said leaning more into the hug, feeling relieved and allowing some tears to fall.
"We know you are not evil Danny, and that you're not going to become that" Nocturne said smiling comfortably.
"Thanks" Danny mumbled drying his tears with his hands.
"Though I wonder why did this has to happen to Danny?" Nocturne asked watching at Clockwork.
"Because the Observants asked me to end Danny's time line after seeing that possible future, I knew it wasn't fair to Danny because it wasn't his fault, so I decided to not listen to them and give Danny a second chance" Clockwork explained.
"So this Dan Phantom was returned to his original timeline?" Pandora asked, she wanted to know what happened to that dangerous ghost.
"Well... no, after Danny captured him in the thermos and made the promise to not become that, the time line fell out of existence, and I will not free him in any place and moment that he could cause death and destruction" Clockwork said.
" He's still in a thermos?" Nocturne asked knowing very well that is not comfortable to be there for a few minutes much less days or months.
"Yes, I have him in my Tower hidden from malevolent beings" Clockwork answered.
"Good. Though the next time I see the Observants we are going to have a little talk" Pandora said while going back to her chair, still hugging Danny.
"Oh... I would love to see that" Nocturne said smirking.
"Why is that?" Danny asked while leaning in Pandora's embrace, he was seated in Pandora's lap and didn't resist when she put him there, he kind of liked being comforted from that terrible memories.
"Because that could go two ways, one they resolve everything talking and I so want to see how Pandora attacks them verbally, and two the Observant would try to ignore her and they'll pay for that, believe me nobody wants to anger the Guardian of Hope" Nocturne explained smirking even more at the mention of the second way.
"Good luck with that. Realms know I have tried to put some sense in those one-eyed jerks by talking, maybe they need the feminine touch to make them see reason" Clockwork added.
"Hey Clockwork, was that a pun?" Danny asked smiling.
"Maybe, maybe not, you'll have to look between words" Clockwork said smirking, making Danny snort.
They continued to talk of many topics, Danny learned about some of the adventures the three of them had, sometimes joined by Vortex and Undergrowth, they told him of how they fought Pariah Dark and his skeleton army, it was an epic and long battle, knowing that it's very difficult to destroy a ghost, they decided to put him in the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep. The conversation continued for a few more hours, they haven't see each other in decades and decided to keep chatting, even after Danny fell asleep in Pandora's lap, they just keep talking with their voices toned down.
"I should put Danny in his bed in the Living Zone, it wouldn't be good if he's not found by his parents in the morning" Pandora said, getting up from the chair and lifting the sleeping Danny with her.
"Alright, we'll see you next time Pandora" Clockwork said waving.
"Yes, farewell sister" Nocturne said.
"We still need to talk about when you are going to help Danny with his school work Clockwork" Pandora said waving and left the Timeless Citadel.
Pandora flown to the Fenton Ghost Portal making sure Danny was sleeping. When they reached Fenton works she went straight to Danny's room she put him in his bed, took off his shoes and tucked him in. Before Pandora could leave, Danny changed to his human form and opened his eyes a little.
"Sleep child, you're in your home" Pandora said, stroking his hair.
"Mmmhh-kay..." Danny mumbled and went back to sleep with a smile in his face.
Welp this is the end of the chap!
Prplzorua I hope you read the part you requested!
Inviso-Al: yes Dani will appear, just not for the next 2 chaps (maybe)
So I have to tell you guys something, next week I start college again and will be a little slower in the updates
Anyway, if you guys like it please leave a review and if you have any request you can put it in a review or PM, see ya! XD