TUE?

Chapter Six

They screamed as they fell to the ground, hitting the pavement of a cracked street in what looked like somewhere in the middle of a mostly destroyed Amity Park. Tucker was the first to stand up. He brought a hand to his head.

"Woah. This is some serious Déjà vu," he said, adjusting his glasses. He held out a hand to Sam. Sam took it and he pulled her up.

"Tell me about it," she said in a slightly sarcastic voice. She crossed her arms. "Danny, what exactly is going on here?"

She and Tucker looked at Danny and Danielle, who had both just stood up and were brushing themselves off. Danni frowned.

"Yeah, Danny. What's going on? I've heard of Clockwork, but I thought he was like, only a myth or something. And what was he talking about?" she asked. Danny sighed hesitantly. He looked at Sam and Tucker and made a desperate face.

"Look guys, I never told you about what happened when you were here the first time. I didn't think…I would never have guessed that it could happen to Danni."

"What could happen to me?" Danni was getting angry. Why couldn't he just tell her?

"You remember that thermos I told you not to touch?" he asked. Danni paled a little, but didn't say anything. She shifted her body so that besides the straps, Danny wasn't able to see the backpack. She nodded dumbly.

"Inside that thermos was me, ten years in the future. One of the most powerful ghosts in the future Ghost Zone. And I- he was evil. It's kind of a long story, but basically I trapped him in the thermos before he could kill my family and Sam and Tuck and Clockwork reset time for me so I could have a second chance," he said. Then he turned to face his best friends, his expression softening. "That's why I gave the answers back to Mr. Lancer. I promised you guys I wouldn't let him happen. That I wouldn't cheat. Clockwork took the thermos from me and he's been trapped outside of time ever since." Danni looked horrified.

"If Danielle's evil in this timeline, where's Danny?" Sam wondered. Danni wasn't paying attention to her.

"Danny," she started confidently. "I won't let this happen. If you could prevent it. I'm sure I can too." Sam looked around at all the destruction.

"How do you think this all happens?" Tucker asked, gesturing to the entire city. The streets were cracked, cars were strewn everywhere, buildings were smoking, and the city itself was basically deserted. Danni felt horrible.

"I don't know. But based on what we all saw in Clockwork's, I'm pretty sure that I'm the one responsible."

Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, someone in red popped up in front of them. Clearly a woman, she was sporting what looked like an almost impenetrable ghost hunting outfit. At least ten guns were trained on both Danny and Danielle.

"Oh, no," Danny gulped. All ten guns whined in unison, creating an eerie effect.

"Got that right, ghost."

"Valerie!" Danny and Danielle yelped in unison.

"Can't fool me this time, Phantom!" she cried and fired. Pink netting shot out of the guns and covered the two ghosts in front of her. She took aim at them with a huge ecto-cannon. And then she lowered it and blinked in confusion. "Wha-? The- there are two of you!"

And slowly, she became aware of the two panicked kids standing on either side of them. "Sam-?" her voice shook with horrible surprise. "Tucker-?" She lowered her weapon and it powered down. Her eyes became even wider, if possible. "I-it's not possible! This is a trick! You can't be alive!"

"Wait, not alive again?" Tucker asked surprised and more than a little annoyed. He turned to Sam. "What are we? Destined to die?" Sam huffed.

"Looks that way," she said. Then she smirked, full of twisted humor. "Huh. Taking the CATs really was a waste after all."

"The CATs…" Valerie started, thinking back to her more happier memories. "So long ago…" Then she hefted her gun to her shoulder again so it pointed at Danny and Danielle and stood far enough away so that if she pulled the trigger, it would hit both of them. "You're damn right they didn't matter! You killed them! You killed him!" she shrieked, pointing at Danny. Danny was confused until it became clear that she wasn't talking to him. She was talking to Danni. Oh, no.

Valerie's grip on her gun strengthened as she steadied it, preparing for the recoil. Oh no oh no oh no oh-

Her finger tightened on the trigger, but suddenly she was sent flying to the other side of the street by a green blast.

"Actually, I'm pretty sure that was me," a woman's voice came. Suddenly, a tall figure appeared in front of them.

There, right in front of them was the older Danielle they had seen from Clockwork's tower. She was looking straight at Danni. "And you, eventually."

---

The four teens stared at her in horror. Danni's jaw dropped completely. Now that she had seen future self up close, she realized how…pretty she was. No, not pretty. Beautiful. It was weird talking about herself in this way, and certainly not modest, but she couldn't not admit it. The terrifying flaming hair, fangs, red eyes, and pale complexion, aside, she had thick black eyelashes, red lips, an almost sweet, petite face, and a perfectly toned body. And Danni could practically feel the power radiating off of her. She was all Danni had ever wanted to be. And it made her sick.

How could she possibly become evil?

The future Danni suddenly trapped Sam and Tucker with a wave of her arm in a power the real Danni had never seen before and they were suddenly frozen in place and glowing a dull green.

"Hey Sam, Tucker," the she started in a smooth, drawling voice. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

She walked past them. She was playing calm, cool, and collected, smiling sweetly. Up until she saw Danny.

"And Danny," she said, her voice suddenly a low hiss and her face a scowl. But then she took a calming breath and the horrible smile and sweet, innocent voice returned. "To what could I possibly owe this little blast from the past?"

Then she saw the medallions hanging around all of their necks. She growled.

"Clockwork, that stupid-" Suddenly, she was cut off by a pink blast from the apparently forgotten Valerie. She fell to the ground, landing on her back in a cloud of dust.

The future Danni was momentarily surprised, her eyes widened by a fraction, but she was instantly in the air, flying at Valerie for an attack, fists were glowing a powerful green. Valerie hesitated in fear for a fraction of a second, but instantly snapped out of her stupor and shot grenades at the future Danni.

Danny watched in horror as almost the same exact events from all those months ago played themselves out. The Danni of the future had a different fighting style than the Danny of the future, but even so, Valerie was soon on the ground with at least several fractured ribs. He watched in horror as the future Danni walked casually up to where Valerie lay, grabbed her jumpsuit, and picked her up as if she weighed no more than a bag of feathers.

"Finally, after all these years! I promised I would come for you last because you were doing me a favor, hunting Danny," she said, her voice taking up a deadly tone. "But even so, he still liked you, didn't he? I promised him I would kill everyone he ever loved. And I won't go back on my promise just because of his pathetic death!" With that, she punched Valerie, sending her flying. Sam and Tucker blinked. The Danny of this timeline was dead?

"Valerie!" Danny cried, snapping the pink netting that had trapped both him and Danni. He flew at her as fast as he could, a look of concentration crossing his face as he tried to propel himself faster than he could actually fly. Danni, on the other hand, stood where she was, frozen in place by sudden realization. No way…it couldn't be! She wasn't that bad... Was she?

She didn't know details but she had a pretty good idea of what had caused this future:

Jealously.

huh. well there you go. thanks for reviewing. suggestions always welcome but i have most of the basic plot figured out by now.

yeah, you said it, major deja vu

and hah yes, their future is so screwed.