"A ghost formed INSIDE your domain?" The observer was borderline delirious when he heard Clockwork's story. The glob with one eye was currently racing among piles of paperwork, grabbing and looking them over in a state skin to panic as Clockwork casually watched from the sidelines. The observer's domain was a huge center of bureaucracy, with hundreds of the green clothed globs wandering the halls and doing the paperwork of the universe. Clockwork had always been annoyed with them, but when he needed information, the observers normally had it.
Only this time, the observers, the all seeing eyes of the universe, were blindsided. Hard.
"How could this happen?" It asked the lord of time, who simply shrugged and turned into baby. "The ghost could have just broken in, right? Tricking you with malicious intent?"
"No," Clockwork stated, looking at his staff. "I looked into my pool and it showed the ghost clearly forming. He had no idea who or what he was, normal for formation." The observer looked clearly pissed, crossing his arms in some kind of angry protest at the mere fact that the observers didn't know something. Clockwork simply laughed at the sight and left, deciding he would have to get information elsewhere.
"But where?" He said for himself, looking into his pool of time and 'seeing all' and still getting no answers. There was this fog around Youngblood, like there was no time where the ghost could exist. 'No time…' Clockwork had to rub his temple at the concept. A ghost that formed like him was impossible, but him? He had formed here, he had made this lair ages ago and outside of time. It was a sore subject, but he would have to ask Youngblood if he remembered if he remembered anything after his rest. If there was Anything he could use to get some kind of information.
"Mr. Clockwork!" He heard a voice some time after he had started to work, looking up from his time portal to see the child ghost fly down the stairs, bird flying next to him. "I can fly! Did you know that?"
"Hello, child." Clockwork said calmly back, putting his hand on kid's head. "You're a ghost, and we can all fly." Youngblood's eyes got wide. He looked at his glowing green features, the bird who was literally a skeleton peering at him through strange bony holes. His arm, which he took in with great alarm.
"I'm a ghost, right." The child muttered, put out. Clockwork put his other hand on Youngblood's arm, smiling gently as the kid looked up at him.
"Being a ghost isn't that bad, you know. We have powers." He said with a flourish of his hand, making the young face light up with the joy that fit it so well.
"What kind of powers?"
"Oh, we have all kinds." Clockwork elaborated. "I have mastered them, and you can as well, with practice." If it was possible, Youngblood's face got giddier.
"OOH, SHOW ME!" He yelled, pumping his fists. The bird smacked him on the head, muttering something about 'enthusiasm' and 'control'. Clockwork merely nodded, floating up in the air and gathering energy that glowed a neon blue in his hand.
"This is ecto energy, as named by ghost hunting humans, who ironically got it from time travelling ghosts. One of the more interesting paradoxes, really." Clockwork began, noticing the kid below him already had his eyes glossed over. "The manifestation of the energy is a result of the buildup of excess energy already generated in your-" He looked down now, floating down and dispersing the energy as he realised Youngblood wasn't listening. He waved the same hand in front of his face, streaking blue energy that dispersed through the air.
"Youngblood," He cooed, "Wake u~p." The ghost startled to attention, focusing his attention on the time lord.
"Whoa, what is that on your hand?" He said, tracing the blue mist with his own green hands.
"If you paid attention, you would know."
"Oh, well if you weren't so boring, I guess I would." Clockwork exhaled loudly,slapping his hand to his forehead, and started to drift toward his portal, leaving the young ghost in his thoughts. But then he was interrupted by a tiny hand on his wispy tail.
"Um," Youngblood said, "If I try really hard and pay really really close attention, because I'm really really sorry, can you show me the cool ghost energy thing again?" Clockwork couldn't resist the face the boy was giving him, and put his hand back on his shoulder with the same glowing energy. It radiated heat and made Youngblood extremely uncomfortable.
Still, Clockwork maintained the smile, so sickeningly sweet, and squeezed Youngblood's Shoulder slightly. "One rule. No dosing off in the middle of my lectures. Is that clear?" The child quickly nodded his head, saluting with his peg metal hand. Clockwork noted to look into military kids for the blur that Youngblood produced in the time stream.
"Your energy flows through your core," Clockwork said to the young ghost, who now consciously fought his boredom to learn. "It stores in your 'body' and you can utilise it to it's fullest if you concentrate." His hand lit up again with the blue energy. "Try it yourself, young one, feel your energy flowing within you."
Youngblood closed his eyes in concentration, his body shuddering slightly as he looked inside himself, looked for his core...
Clockwork was delighted to see the kid start to glow brighter than usual mere seconds after he tried to reach his core. 'He is truly talented,' He thought to himself as Youngblood gathered the energy into his hands a few seconds after. 'not many ghosts can access that energy a day after formation, just the gifted ones. He is definitely qualified…'
The energy in youngblood's remaining hand gathered into a ball, and he cracked his eyes open to see it, his face transforming into pure joy after he noticed what he had done.
"Mr. Clockwork!" He almost yelled, stretching his hand out to the older ghost, "I did it!" Clockwork was indeed proud of him, and reached his hand out to pat him on the head, but when he did… The energy released from the child's hand, flinging him into the wall. Clocks cascaded onto Clockwork as he hit the solid surface, burying him in seconds. Youngblood hurried over to him, and his bird picked up the staff that had somehow left his hands during impact.
"Oh, no!" Youngblood yelled, digging through the clocks, "Clockwork got buried by his own time! The irony!" Clockwork emerged from the pile of now broken clocks, looking at them somberly and grabbing his staff from the skeletal bird. "Sorry, Mr. Clockwork," Youngblood said to the man holding a particularly ornate clock that had now been broken into pieces. "I didn't mean to do it, honest." Clockwork turned his attention to the child, letting the clock fall to the ground.
"All you need is practice, Youngblood." He said to the ghost now looking at him with slightly tearful eyes, "And I will be more than willing to give that to you."
More lessons began soon after, and Youngblood caught on quickly with the actions more than the words. Every morning the young ghost would rush out of the room the time ghost had graciously given him to stay in, meeting his master and learning his skills. His peghand remained, though, until Clockwork addressed it one day, pointing to the useless metal rod sticking out of his arm.
"I can use this?" Youngblood remarked, waving around the peg. "What can I even do with it, roast meat?" Clockwork shook his head, taking one last look at his time portal to take a break and spend time with his new charge.
"You can change it's shape." He said, holding the metal rod, only a few inches long and protruding out of the stump his arm. "All you have to do is direct energy into it with a clear picture of what you want it to turn to in your mind, and then it will obey you."
Youngblood looked at the metal in amazement, forcing himself to contain himself and concentrate. He pictured the rod bending different ways and becoming a hand, spreading one end out into five… And Clockwork gasped,causing the whole process to fail and Youngblood's eyes to dart open. "What happened?" He asked, looking at the old ghost who never grasped in his afterlife.
The ghost in question was looking incredulously at Youngblood's 'toy', as they called it, who had formed into some kind of skeleton hand and was now twitching on the floor.
"So it is controlled by your mind as well," Clockwork said, baffled, not taking his eyes off the hand on the floor. "I wondered why the bird seemed to have a separate consciousness, but maybe it was fuel by your obsession, yes, that-" The time ghost was interrupted by the sound of Youngbood's delighted scream, and looked in relief to see him with two hands. One was metal, but both were functional, and the kid was crying at the sight.
"Hands," He cried between sobs, "Clockwork, I have HANDS," Clockwork simply gave his charge a hug barely stopping the chuckle that was ripped from his throat as he felt both sets of fingers hold him back.
"My boy," He said, petting his hair, "You are truly a talented ghost."