I found this chapter backed up on my phone and managed to upload it from said phone. Which is really a first gen iTouch that probably wants to be put out of its misery. After a few fix ups, here we go!
Chapter 6
By the time Phantom got his mom to shore, and the three Fentons got themselves home after making sure Phantom was okay, it was almost seven o clock in the morning. The sun had barely risen on the sleepy little fishing village, with only 3 occupants now knowing what lay beneath the waters, waiting to strike again. But they had to regroup. Most importantly, they couldn't panic. This might have been the first kraken the older Fentons had encountered, but not the first sea or lake monster. This would take come careful planning. For now; they needed to focus on what they did know. Maddie and Jack told this to their son, and told him to go lie down and rest for now. Everything would be fine.
Except nothing would be, and Danny knew it.
Danny was so tired he could hardly remember his own name. He barely recalled stumbling up from the docks, and thankfully no one questioned them or the lack of the Fentonfisher in its normal spot. His mom, while shaken and scraped up, promised them both several times she would be just fine, and to stop worrying. She'd thanked Phantom (they all hard) and bid him farewell for the moment. Danny had felt terrible leaving the merman behind in those waters, but they had no way to carry him back with his Dad helping his Mom. Danny couldn't begin to comprehend what it must be like being in the same 4 mile radius space as a monstrous kraken, so he was a little stunned when Phantom urged them to go and even butted Danny out of the surf to follow his parents.
Surely Phantom was scared, right? They'd almost died from that thing. Phantom had almost…
With that and a dozen more chilling 'what ifs' threading through Danny's thoughts, he found he couldn't sleep, not even a little. The boy lay on his bed and stared at his ceiling, aware of his heart pounding in his eardrums as he tried to calm down and stop thinking about that long black arm coming down on them. He wanted nothing more than to get some gear and go out and make damn sure that kraken could never harm him or his family or, or Phantom again. But he didn't even have the first clue about how to deal with that monster.
Except…Phantom certainly seemed to know.
It had attacked the boat, they just happened to be on it. And it had been dark. Easy to mistake a boat for a whale, which, according to his parents, was the kraken's natural enemy. Danny sighed and knitted his eyes shut, trying to think. Phantom didn't go after humans unless they went into his territory, and even then that was to just wreck their equipment to get them to leave. It wasn't like he jumped onto the boat and tried to murder anybody. As far as Danny knew anyway. But this thing had. Its sheer size alone almost killed them. If not for Phantom and the other merpeople, Danny probably wouldn't be having this thought right now. He'd be dead.
Well, that did it. He couldn't sleep, and he didn't want to think. He just wanted to act.
The next thing Danny knew, he was halfway to the grotto before he realized he'd taken one of his parents oxygen tanks and his swimming gear. That he'd snuck out, and hadn't even left a note. (Not that his parents would notice. They were too caught from this morning, just like Danny had been.)
The boy froze right there in the sand.
…then kept walking. Screw it. He'd had enough bad ideas already (Letting Phantom sleep alone, putting him back in the water so quick, not telling his parents where Phantom's home was) what was one more?
Danny wondered if Phantom was having trouble sleeping too.
oOo
Phantom was currently dead to the world and intended to stay that way, thank you very much.
He was pretty tired, in a word. His shoulder didn't feel too bad, but the Hafgufa had gotten in a fair few hits of his own, so he was mostly just sore and weary, especially after getting Momdad back to land. He was glad he'd done it of course, but now that everyone and their mother in the reef knew the Hafgufa was out there somewhere, Phantom could slink into the warmer, shallower waters of the grotto and get some rest before it came back. Curled up in just right the place in some soft sand between some cool rocks, he begrudgingly cracked open an eye when he heard the familiar plip, plip of stones entering the water above him. They sank almost to the bottom before he made a noise of complaint and shoved his tail over his face, trying to block out the light and the nagging sensation to go see what his little mate wanted. He glared at the glittering surface and shut his eyes when nothing happened.
He loved his boy, really. But Danny should be resting in his home too, not here.
Plip! PL-PLIP! Four little stones plummeted to the bottom all at once. Phantom burrowed down deeper, grunting. In a minute, for Neptune's sake.
Then there was a soft splash, the sound of someone entering the water. Phantom jerked up in surprise and it quickly grew to horror when he saw his human swimming down toward him. Danny had always waited for him when he called, (granted, Phantom did always come when called, but that wasn't the point!) The point was Danny, his little guppy, was not the greatest swimmer all things considered, certainly not compared to that titan below the drop off. The merman whined and pulled himself up to meet his human halfway, clacking his teeth in agitation.
The dolt just smiled tiredly and shrugged.
Phantom frowned and flattened his fins. He then proceeded to try and herd his precious human back to the shore where he was safest, but Danny ducked him and swam into the reef, grinning playfully.
No, this was not a game! Phantom wanted to yell and reprimand and he did, but of course it came out as warbled growls and clicks as he streaked after Danny. His human didn't seem very interested in listening to reason. Briefly, Phantom wondered when he'd started becoming the one to speak reason. Maybe Dani was right. Phantom glanced back at his tail. Maybe he was finally growing up. Phantom turned back to his baby to see where he'd gone and was startled to find Danny was half over the reef and diving down for something. His human pulled back up, holding something in his hands.
Looking back Phantom should have realized what would happen when Danny found parts from his sunken whale. The merman saw the way he froze, treading in the water as he held the wheel reverently in his grip. He must have recognized it. Around them there were other bits and pieces of the ship thing, what was too light had floated away already with the tides.
Phantom gave him a look of sympathy and stayed by his side, understanding the moment the human needed. It hurt, to lose something important, and almost lose something much more important as well. Still, Danny shouldn't be sad. There were many upside down whales up there! Surely, his human could get another one? Momdad and Danny were much more irreplaceable, Phantom's just relieved that he and the others were able to save them. Phantom watched his human's face, the way his blue eyes hardened and he dropped the wheel, but swam out farther to pick something else up. It was so small Phantom was impressed his human spotted it, lying among some coral. Had his clever boy been looking for it? It was a bright, human made red on two sides, with silver in its middle, and small enough to fit in the palm of the boy's hand. Phantom wondered what it was. Danny traced some lettering on one side of it, his eyes sadder than before and then fiddled, pulling things out of it. He showed them to Phantom.
The merman, forgetting how close to the drop off they were getting, chirruped in surprise and leaned forward for a look of his own.
Wow! Lots of little shiny human teeth! Hm, that one was very sharp. And a little pair of scissors. Let's see, some of these were…kn-ives, yes. Phantom didn't know what that round tooth with the pointy end was for. Before Momdad, most everyone in the reef assumed knives were human teeth and claws the humans had detached from themselves to make weapons, like how sharks lost teeth but grew them back easily. Except Phantom was sure Danny didn't have any of these little teeth on him anywhere, he'd just picked up the red thing, after all. Humans were just plain strange.
Phantom watched Danny mess about with the many toothed object, wondering what made it so special that caused his human to stuff if into one of the pockets on his swim trunks. He was so lost in thought he almost didn't notice Danny swim farther out over the edge without so much as a word. Phantom snapped out his train of thought when he noticed the distance. His minnow's sudden bravery was more than a little confusing. He flattened his fins and shot after the foolish human, clicking his tongue angrily to scold Danny.
What was his minnow thinking?! He could attract—
Then Phantom felt it. Danny must have too, judging by the look on his face.
He and Danny looked down as one at the black waters of the deep sea, watching the black begin to move and rise. It occurred, dimly, this might just be what Danny wanted to happen, but Phantom filed that thought away for later. Right now, he just had to worry about the wakening Hafgufa, sliding slow limbs up from the depths. Phantom noticed they were strangely sluggish, while Danny was most certainly not slow at all. Phantom was a sensitive creature; he was surprised when he felt waves of his human's anger reaching even his frills. He'd never seen his sweet little good natured minnow this furious before. The merman cried out in surprise, forgetting anything about stealth as he watched his human dive down at the rising limbs. Danny met a limb and raised the red many toothed tool, bringing the sharpest down deeply into the flesh. Below them, there was a screech of anger, loud and high pitched. Even Danny winced.
Phantom roared and without even thinking, dived down after the boy.
The thing wasn't looking for a fight, Danny! It was only going to flee, and if he wasn't careful, he could trigger—
Too late.
Phantom's eyes widened in horror as a thick black ink surged up from the monster in rolling clouds and swept around them. And of course Danny got the brunt of it, floundering underwater and tricking to kick for the surface, for air. He couldn't see in this apparently, because he nearly got sideswiped by a tentacle. There was a clank as Danny's tank was shoved off him, he had to shimmy out of it to avoid being dragged down from one of the monster's recoiling arms. Phantom growled and shot forward, closing his eyes against the stinging ink and rolling downward to knock Danny's body out of the way in time for a second tentacle to snap around the bottom of his tail in place of Danny's legs.
He winced, but, better him than his mate.
Phantom undulated his body and tried to swim up with what was essentially all of the Hafgufa attached to him. It didn't really work, his body strained and he gained maybe a couple inches, but still Phantom fought to get the human closer to the surface before he turned back to fight the arm. They rose out of the ink cloud, or maybe the cloud had moved away? Danny twisted down to see what was on his waist pushing him up. Phantom saw his eyes widen when he looked behind him to see the rest of the tail engulfed in a pale arm, and the merman gave a tiny reassuring smile. He released the human's waist to free him, so he wouldn't get dragged down when Phantom did.
But Danny narrowed his eyes and suddenly charged direction, folding down to drive his red and gray human tooth into its arm like he'd done before. The arm released, writhed and curled back into the dark, but Phantom knew others were coming. He didn't take time to celebrate his freedom, just shot sideways and grabbed Danny by his waist, swimming down into the cloud. Of all the—his stupid, foolish, amazing human.
At first, Danny protested, fists hitting his chest weakly. But Phantom held him firm, wincing when bubbles fluttered by them. Without his gray cylinder, Danny had no air, that's right.
Danny needed to trust him.
He was the one who didn't need clear space to see, Danny was the one at most risk here. Phantom roared silently as they drove downward. Seconds later, information filled his mind. He grinned in triumph and dove to the right, swimming strongly despite the sting in his tail of new scales touching the salt water already. The merman rolled them under a lowering arm. He barreled past another and turned all his scales black as could be, blending craftily into the ink. Green fins lightened to reflect, his skin turned darker, the glow of Phantom's eyes all there was. Danny gave a noise of surprise, but Phantom simply folded his fins and dived. He sensed the closeness of the monster's one good eye but ignored it this time, fighting off his instinct to slaughter/murder/kill/PROTECTDANNY—
Almost…there…
Two seconds later the cloudy water began to clear. The cloud was finally dissipating. The Hafgufa was coiling lazily and seemed to be half considering following the moving figure with two or three curious arms.
They were maybe two feet from a tall rock formation, which Phantom plummeted them toward at a horrifying pace. Phantom was essentially swimming upside down to avoid ramming head first into what he'd learned was a mountain. He streaked down it, darting into a sudden hole just big enough for him and Danny to fit through. Nowhere close for the Hafgufa to follow them, and it probably wouldn't if it was spitting ink to hide. It wanted out of that fight as much as Phantom had. Yes, he felt it start to drift back down now that he and Danny were out of sight. Good.
The human let loose a noise, hands gripping his sides started shaking, weakening. Phantom tilted his head down and sealed their lips together, pumping in air for the boy as he swam through the long tunnel. It widened suddenly, and then narrowed so much Phantom felt rocks scrape his top fin. He flattened his body and wiggled them through, slitted eyes staring at the suddenly wide cavern he'd swam them into.
It was then he relaxed his hold on his human, but headed for the surface he saw anyway.
oOo
Danny was arguably only half conscious when Phantom had dragged them out of the Kraken's ink cloud, so while inwardly he was screaming bloody murder at the sight of the ocean bottom coming up to them at such a break neck speed, he couldn't really show it verbally or physically. He was slumping in the merman's grasp, and basically at Phantom's mercy. Any other self respecting creature might have simply left his dead weight body behind but…but not Phantom. He was relieved of course, when Phantom pulled them into that tunnel. Danny had never been so glad to see a rocky hole in a wall ever before in his life. And Danny was also relieved Phantom noticed him going limper in the merman's arms. He had a great lung capacity after all this time, sure, but he was still human. And he lost his oxygen tank, too.
Then Phantom was breathing for him—oh god lips—and he could think just a little clearer. Clear enough to notice the water was going to end soon. He didn't know how Phantom managed to find an underwater cave with an air pocket, but he was so happy he could cry.
The next thing Danny knew, Phantom was dragging them to the surface, panting himself even as he shoved Danny's body onto shore. The human coughed a bit and rolled to his knees, ignoring the world for a minute, in favor of double and triple checking his best friend. He made a noise of surprise at the glowing algae covering the rocks, illuminating the dark cave. He watched Phantom's skin fade to tan and his scales become not quite pitch black as they were before. His frills fanned and Phantom shook his head like a dog, water droplets going everywhere.
"You okay Phantom?" Danny murmured, twisting to watch the merman heave himself onto shore. His tail had just flopped limply in the surf with a soft splash. The merman let his arms slide out from under him, and he stuck out his tongue, exhaling loudly. His ear frills flapped and sagged as far down at they would go, the merman's toxic colored eyes giving him a wounded, exhausted look.
"Aw, buddy." Danny smiled softly in humor and relief. Phantom was fine. Just tired. And dramatic. Danny found this strangely comforting.
He carefully hauled the rest of the merman's body on shore, wincing at the raw scales from the kraken's suction cups when it had snagged Phantom's tail. Phantom dropped it into the cool sand without a problem though.
"They look okay…just sore and fresh I guess, huh?"
"Grwun." Phantom gave a guttural, sleepy response that seemed to mean 'yes' as he shifted one hip fin into a more comfortable position. Phantom crossed his arms under his chin and sighed again, but this one was lighter, more pleased sounding. All Danny could do now was let Phantom rest, the human mused quietly to himself. He certainly couldn't ask the merman to swim them out, and he didn't even know where around Amity they were. Assuming they were still near Amity. He sighed and glanced sadly at his one remaining flipper, before taking it off.
"Phantom, I'm sorry…I didn't think that…" Phantom cracked open an eye to look over at him. Danny lay down next to him and fiddled with his goggles. He was staring at the ceiling, at the walls, anywhere to keep from looking at the merman he'd let down. Who'd never let him down, when he probably should have.
"That didn't go as planned." Danny whispered, trying to keep his voice from cracking.
What if Phantom's tail hadn't gotten free? Or he got hit while he was giving Danny air?
They had been seriously outclassed. No, Danny had been outclassed. Phantom had defended himself (and Danny's family) from it before with only getting a few bumps and bruises in return. And here Danny was dragging the merman back to fight it because Danny wanted to do it himself so no one else would get hurt. He'd been trying to protect Phantom and what he done? Gotten the merman right into harm's way.
Phantom could have died. They both could have.
"I might as well have put you in a net and left you on a raft for that stupid Kracken." Danny moaned, placing his palms over his eyes and shuddering. The merman was suddenly draping a pectoral fin over his stomach, crooning and snuggling into his dripping black hair.
"P-Phantom, stop, I, I'm trying to apologize here."
"Sorry."
"Yes, sorry! I'm sorry I made—"
"I'm sorry, Danny." Hummed that familiar voice.
The human felt his breath catch. His throat clicked as he twisted to stare at the merman with a deer in the headlights expression. Phantom bumped their noses together in an Eskimo kiss and stared at him through half lidded eyes. He was smiling kindly.
"Dangerous for you. I will…protect you better. Promise." The last p was purred a little, and the sentence ended in a low croon but it got through loud and clear anyway.
Oh god, oh god. To hear his perfect, amazing best friend apologizing to him for something that had essentially been caused by Danny made the tears well up. Phantom saw this and raised a careful clawed thumb to brush some away; offering him a smile that was too sweet natured looking to belong to something he knew had brutally tore into a kraken's arm and possibly murdered a man.
"P-Phantom, no it's not your fault buddy. I-it's not, okay?" At the merman's dubious look Danny leaned forward and hugged the merman tight. He used their position to bury his face in the merman's chest and hide for an instant, unable to face this magnificent creature. Guilt curdled in his stomach and made his heart clench.
He'd fucked up.
Phantom wouldn't let him be like this for long though. Next thing Danny knew Phantom was rumbling and rubbing their cheeks together. The scales felt cool against his skin, but Danny was so used to nuzzling from the affectionate merman he just managed a weak smile and let Phantom do what he pleased. Phantom wrapped his hip fins round him, hugging him closer and crooning softly. Next came the tail, there it was, tightening a bit around his legs and all the way down to his ankles. He was basically engulfed by the larger body and to any outsider it probably looked like the merman was trying to constrict the kid but Danny knew there no place safer for him than with Phantom. Danny also knew what he was trying to say, just like he had known Phantom hadn't really wanted him out in the reef earlier.
The human blushed and tried to push the merman's girth off him, but found himself smiling faintly. Hey they were alive, and Phantom clearly didn't hate him.
"That's something, right?" Danny spoke out loud, smiling getting wider as Phantom shoved and nudged and generally made himself a nuisance. He stopped the butting when Danny finally started rubbing an ear frill between his fingers.
"You're too cute sometimes buddy." But Danny did feel better. They continued their little game for a bit until Phantom finally seemed satisfied Danny wasn't in a slump anymore and pulled off to flop back down in the sand. He was still tried, after all. Danny chuckled and let him rest, patting the merman's scaly shoulder.
"Thanks, Phantom."
Danny wrung out his shirt and stood up, finally lifting his head to see where they'd ended up. What he discovered caught by surprise he almost tripped over the merman half asleep by his feet.
"H-holy! Phantom—" (Phantom yawned and grunted.) "Check it out! It's all this…this human stuff." For once, Phantom didn't mirror his enthusiasm.
In various conditions of damaged and disrepair, but Danny recognized almost everything. Jeeze, was that a car tire? A lot of little odds and ends, and trinkets. He ventured closer to the piles, raising an eyebrow at the sheer amount of watches or time piece related things.
"What even is this junk? Weird. And where would someone even find a Grandfather clock?"
Phantom crackled and clicked his tongue from behind him.
"Oh, yeah. Probably one of those super old sunken ships, huh? It looks really water logged, actually."
Phantom purred, closing his eyes once more.
Danny turned back from the wall of random stuff before he could give into the urge to pick some stuff up and inspect it further. None of this stuff randomly made its way here, not all stacked and arranged neatly. These were someone's possessions (useless or not) and he didn't really want to go stepping on toes (or, uh, fins) until he knew for certain just what it was that owned all this junk. You didn't know someone like Phantom without also knowing when to exhibit some caution. Still…that looked like a compass. And he could use that to figure some stuff out.
He walked around the small sandy beach some more, looking down into the caves that were on either side of them. Deciding to throw care to the wind for a second, Danny went back to the wall of human things and gingerly picked up a compass, flipping it open.
"Jackpot! It still works." He looked over his shoulder and saw the merman's raised, judging eyebrow.
"Relax Phantom, I'm just borrowing it for a second. I'll put it back! Now, which direction did we come from?"
Phantom pointed behind him, slightly to the left.
"Hm, so…that makes three tunnels. The one underwater we came from." Danny walked as close as he could get to each one. "That tunnel is west. And this tunnel—" He pointed to his right, "Is to the Northwest. And the other is about the Southeast." Danny paused and closed the compass with a tiny click.
He put it back, walked the few steps to Phantom's side and dropped into pretzel style, hands on his cheeks.
"That doesn't really tell us anything without a map." Danny admitted glumly.
Phantom made a noise of mild amusement and stretched around him loosely, humming in the back of his throat. He looked a little better, even if his damp gills were making that whisping breathy noise. It was sort of comforting actually, and Phantom would go back into the ocean when he needed to. Danny found himself eyeing the one tunnel opening that had some solid ground. The water would only come up to his knees maybe if he walked through it. It was probably shallower than that even. Plenty of room and water for Phantom to follow him, and if it got too deep Phantom could go on ahead and see what was down there before he took Danny. Or maybe there was nothing down that tunnel.
But maybe there was something.
One glance at the merman dashed his thoughts. Phantom was still tired, and he'd probably freak out if Danny tried to go exploring by himself. So Danny turned his attention to stare into the still, dark blue water before them. Suddenly he became aware that something was staring right back.
Something with sharp, sharp red eyes.
Danny gasped and leaned back from where he sat in the sand. They weren't alone in this cavern, shit. He glanced uneasily where Phantom was lying in a half circle around him, right up on shore, and at the distance between Phantom's tail and the water's edge. Totally open and helpless.
"Phantom," Danny hissed, staring at the spot he saw the glowing crimson eyes in the water boring holes into his. The merman jerked at his voice and chirruped at him, twisting to look at him. Danny's hand found the merman's shoulder and tried to push.
"Phantom, you gotta get out of here," If Phantom was in the water he could get out of harm's way better, Danny would be fine, right? He had a feeling whatever it was probably looking for Phantom. He'd had enough of the two of them being in danger to last a lifetime.
But the merman followed his gaze, frills fanning. He spotted the eyes and tensed. Okay, now Phantom would move right? Totally—
The merman's eyes slitted, and he snarled. Danny tried shoving again but Phantom had become immovable, god it was like trying to move steel. The noise was more harsher and angrier sounding than normal, what with Phantom being out of the water, but it got the point across. With a cackling noise he flattened his fins and swung his tail around Danny, bracing himself on his arms as he leaned against Danny's right arm. Danny scooted clumsily back on his butt as the red eyes got closer and Phantom edged with him, keeping his tail firmly in front of Danny's legs as they backed up. The merman scowled and gave long threatening growls even as the figure rose from the water. And…
"Whoa."
Phantom grumped and gnashed his teeth, he wasn't about to acknowledge how imposing this newcomer looked. Not until they showed him the same awe he deserved. Danny ignored his merman for a moment. Phantom tucked his tail just a little more firmly round Danny's legs, still on the defensive.
The blue skinned, purple scaled merman stared at them coolly. Even below them he was at eye level, a long tail holding him up in the shallows. His worn cape was messy and waterlogged, his eyes scarlet but his expression wasn't…evil. At least, Danny had seen scarier. You could be intimidating without being scary, Phantom had certainly proven that. His right ear frill was ragged and shorter than the other, and Danny knew that wasn't good. The really interesting thing was probably the small clock hanging on a chain around the merman's neck. It wasn't ticking, but the glass was intact, and had no rust like Phantom's watch did. And oh, the merman was wearing gloves, and on those long gloves there were even more watches, each a different style and make. Each broken, but not rusted. Each taken care of.
"Ah…" And then Danny realized as much as he staring this guy was scrutinizing him right back. His self consciousness made this ears burn and without thinking he leaned back against Phantom's comforting cool side. The merman's tail fin brushed his ankle in absentminded reassurance, and Phantom switched tones to spare him a soothing hum before going back to glare warily at the new merman. This was clearly someone Phantom either didn't know or did know and didn't trust. Danny wasn't sure. This did nothing to soothe his own uneasiness. But then the new merman was opening his mouth and—
He talked.
"Interesting." The merman's voice was calm, even in the face of Phantom's slitted green eyes shooting sparks at him.
Danny blinked. Phantom's quiet, warning snarling faded for a moment in clear surprise.
"You talk!" Danny blurted.
"We all talk, human. I just happen to talk a little better to you than your friend here." He gestured, and since he wasn't straight up lunging and going for anyone's throat, Danny thought maybe Phantom could relax a little. Maybe blink.
"Phantom? Ah, hey, Phantom…take a breath, buddy. I don't think he's gonna attack us." Danny shifted to a kneeling position, still in the safe half enclosure of his merman's long body. Phantom glanced and snorted, shaking his head, frills flopping. Danny chuckled and rubbed his shoulder till he felt the merman gradually settle down, albeit reluctantly. But he kept shooting suspicious glares at the other merman, especially when his human turned away to address the other again.
"Sorry, we've uhm, we've had a long day. We found this place trying to get away from a kraken and, you didn't happen to see that did you?"
"The kraken? It's gone back to sleep for now, on the bottom of the ocean. You've got a while before it will rise again. And in any case, he should tell you it's coming long before it actually does." The merman noted, nodding his head toward Phantom. Who wrinkled his nose and curled his lip to show his nice vicious pointy teeth. Danny fearlessly stroked the ear frill closest to him until Phantom muttered, but closed his lips. Danny wasn't really thinking about his actions, he just did it. But this earned him another look from the red eyed merman.
"O-oh, that's good, I, I guess… I'm Danny. And this is Phantom."
"Hm. Did he tell you that what his name?"
"What? No, I, I gave it to him."
"Humans." But before Danny could ask what on earth that meant, the merman went on, "You can call me Clockwork. You have entered my territory technically but I'm not one to split scales. You're welcome here. You might want to tell your merman that, before he decides to pick a battle he can't win. Just like you did with the kraken a moment ago."
As if on cue, Phantom escalated his snarling to a short, full on shriek of indignation. He slightly uncurled his tail to slap it down in the sand. It might have been a more menacing action had there been water to slap it on, but as it was Phantom slapped twice and curled back up, all but into Danny's lap. Danny on his own defensive.
"How did you know?! A-and we were just fine! Phantom could have—"
"Phantom couldn't have done two things at once. You're lucky you escaped with your life." Clockwork went on, staring at Danny in such a way the human felt words stick in his throat, and it tightened briefly as Danny felt guilt try to consume him all over again.
"Phantom is young and insolent; he is a guppy that hasn't grown into his second tail fins yet. And yet he took on the monster, twice this time. For you. How interesting." Clockwork somehow managed to not so much sound insulting as he did matter of fact. Danny's mind was caught on the first part of the merman's sentence.
"Yet? You mean Phantom's not done growing?!" Danny cried incredulously.
"Are you?"
"Well, no…" Danny trailed off, wondering what Phantom would look like fully grown by merpeople standards.
When Danny pulled back in uneasiness, Phantom noticed. The merman tucked him tighter to his side and growled, keeping his tail round the boy but still leaning his torso forward like he was considering charging Clockwork. The older merman looked more amused than anything, like a tiger watching a kitten. Danny slung his arm round the merman's shoulders in a feeble attempt to try and hold him back. It sort of worked, but Danny had a feeling it was because it was more about who was doing the asking, and not what Danny was doing.
"Like I said before. Make him stop that racket, would you?"
"You could tell him." Danny muttered, a sudden surge of teenage stubbornness rearing its ugly head, especially after that last remark about Phantom being insolent. He wasn't! He was just, ah, protective!
"I could. But what would be the fun in that? It would hardly give me the information I wanted."
Danny's brow furrowed in confusion and a little uneasiness.
"I'm testing you." The other finally informed. When Danny continued to stare blankly, Clockwork sighed.
"Watch."
Danny saw amusement flash through Clockwork's eyes as he moved a hand toward him. The human stiffened and all it took was a little wave of uneasiness to pass through him, when he became aware that he wasn't entirely alone. Phantom's sharp teeth clashed a moment later where Clockwork's hand had been. Jeez, he was faster than Phantom, talk about reflexes. Still, Phantom could have taken off the guy's hand. They'd just met!
"Phantom! B-be careful! We're guests here!" At Danny's scolding tone, the merman frowned deeply and whacked him with a pectoral fin. Danny shoved back. The pushing match ended quickly when they heard Clockwork's snort of amusement.
"I haven't seen something like this in years."
"H-huh? What? A human or, or another merman?" Danny asked.
"Both. One of each, and so close."
"Erh, well, there's a funny story to that—"
"I'm aware." Danny opened his mouth but Clockwork held up a hand. "Everyone around there waters is aware of the story everyone's calling 'The Ghost and his Minnow.'" Clockwork gave a hint of a side smile, watching Danny put the pieces together.
"…Ghost? Minnow?"
"Grrow?" Phantom jerked at the word 'ghost' and watched him expectantly. Danny stared back, more than a little lost.
"Wait. Wait Phantom is…are you…are you called Ghost?'
The merman lifted his chin at Danny's words, humming an affirmative. Danny stared.
"So wait that would make me—hey! I'm not a minnow!" He felt his cheeks redden and he crossed his arms, glancing away from Clockwork, who merely smirked.
"That's the title your merman gave you. You wouldn't deny his name when he doesn't deny yours, would you?" Danny winced, caught.
"Well, no-oo—"
"Good. Then come with me."
"Huh? But…" The boy trailed off, watching Clockwork's large figure snake toward one of the tunnels.
"You need to understand something before you try and take on the kraken again, or you'll lose more than your swimming gear, boy. And grab that flashlight; I understand humans can't see well in the dark." That was all Clockwork said in terms of explanation.
Danny's hands fisted at his sides at the reminder of his failure. How had Clockwork known? Had he been watching and hadn't helped? Still, he couldn't argue with Clockwork though, and it sounded like the merman wanted to help him, so…it should be safe, right? Danny spotted a flashlight, and checking to see if it worked, which it did. He glanced at Phantom dubiously, but then he saw the merman was already half in the surf and watching him. The merman's intelligent gaze burned back at him, and Phantom wiggled an ear frill, standing up on his braced arms. Danny made up his mind, eyes turning a bit harder in determination. He imitated one of Phantom's noises without thinking, a sort of 'tsk' noise that was made by hitting his tongue with his teeth. When added with a nod of the head, the entire motion basically meant 'follow me.'
Phantom responded by flicking an ear fan and pulled himself into the water, meeting Danny as he stood hesitantly at the mouth of the tunnel, the water shifting round his thighs. He paused and watched Clockwork's purple tail slipping in front of them, the merman still half risen from the water as he moved. Danny jumped when little sharp teeth nipped the back of his legs playfully. Danny moved out of the way of Phantom's jaws, snorting in amusement as he was basically herded into the tunnel by Phantom from behind.
Clockwork was staring back at them this whole time.
"W-what?" Danny stopped when he saw Clockwork looking at them again like that. He clutched the flashlight in both hands like a lifeline, feeling his cheeks heat up again. Behind him, Phantom groaned and edged around him, giving a faint glare as he eyed the other merman.
"….nothing." Clockwork said smoothly.
Danny huffed and trudged through the tunnel, following the merman's back. He glanced down into the water and spotted the four fins at the end of Clockwork's tail, realizing he was a grown up. (Was Phantom going to get this big?)
"Weirdo." The human whispered to his merman.
Down at his hip, Phantom sniggered.
"I heard that."
Both human and merman had the decency to wince sheepishly and hurried their pace after Clockwork.
Danny followed Clockwork, and Phantom followed Danny. When it got to dark to see, and not even Phantom's glowing scales helped, Danny flicked on the flashlight and was glad he did. He was going to have to bend over to walk through this next part so he didn't knock his head. Phantom would have a conniption and he was pretty sure Clockwork would tell him to walk it off or something equally useless.
"So where are we?" Danny ventured, grateful for Phantom's fins brushing his ankle or foot as he swam beside him.
"Underground." Clockwork said helpfully. "More specifically, we're still in the territory of the merpeople that live in the reef here."
"But I thought you said this was yours—"
"It is. And as Pariah dictates I oversee these tunnels and what goes on in them. We have a bigger cave in Pariah's territory, but someone else oversees that place. I used to be considered…sort of a rouge, I guess you could say? This is more secluded, quiet. At least, it was before that wretched kraken woke up." There was amusement laced in Clockwork's words up until the kraken. Danny listened with interest, wondering who Pariah was. The name sounded familiar.
"How can you speak English? Did a human teach you?"
"…Yes. One did. But that was a long time ago. I've always been more curious than most of the others concerning humans and their interesting little ways. After learning the human language from its source, I tried to understand their items as well." Clockwork's tone suggested he didn't want to talk about whoever it was that he used to know. It seemed a sensitive subject, so Danny tried to win points by avoiding it.
"So you collected all this stuff? And the watches?"
"They are what interest me most. I discovered 'how a clock works.' That is where my first name comes from. Humans created this strange concept of time, and I spent years wondering why. It helps them keep order, apparently. Time is a concept, not a reality. Why are some people old at 18 and others young at 90?"
This was apparently a rhetorical question, because Clockwork went on.
"Merfolk live by the sun and moon, they live by the tides. That is, so I've been told, the natural way. But not the most useful of ways, you'd agree? Your Phantom there has no concept of minutes or hours, he knows short and long. Yes, he may understand it once it's explained to him, but that watch on his wrist is simply a trinket. He doesn't know what it means." Clockwork turned, following the progression of the cave.
Suddenly, Danny saw some fluttering light ahead of them, dim and orange. Flame? Down here? Wow, Clockwork really did know a lot about humans.
"So he just has to learn. I had to learn about that stuff to. We have schools, you know?" Danny chuckled as he watched Phantom lift his head out of the water with a starfish slumped sadly over one eye. He whined until Danny helped peel it off.
"Down here, someone who spends all their time learning may be eaten before they can apply their knowledge. And that's if their knowledge is applicable to their situation. In the ocean, instincts help you survive. Books help you thrive."
"I know what's it like down here, okay? You don't have to tell me." Danny tossed Phantom's little starfish friend back into the water, "Phantom's got a lot of scars and…and so do you." Danny managed bravely, glancing at the torn ear frill. He wondered how that affected Clockwork. It seemed like a debilitating feature but he didn't act like he was any lesser to him. The merman glanced back at him, and Danny met his gaze evenly.
"Time stops everything from happening at once, Danny. And man needs to understand everything that is going to happen, will happen. Whether we want it to or not."
The human swallowed but followed Clockwork's red tail out into the opening. He got two steps into the room before there was a noise behind him and a webbed hand grabbed his ankle and yanked him back. This whole time he'd neglected to notice Phantom sniffing the air and growing increasingly uneasy.
"Gyah!" Danny nearly dropped the flashlight, and himself. "Phantom! C-careful! What's wrong with…you…"
Danny trailed off, staring into the round cavern before them. There was no floor, it was covered in ocean water. In the center it got drastically dark, deeper. And along the walls were three or four openings with rusty gates covering them. In-between them were sloppily made torches with thick pudgy candles, lighting the area up, if only a little bit. Danny looked into the closet one and saw it was empty, except for some shackles nailed to toward the top of the hole. His brain kicked a neuron in gear.
Jail cells. These were jail cells.
Danny lifted his head to see Clockwork standing by the farthest one, watching him expectantly. Phantom tried to tug him again, all his frills on end and quivering angrily at something.
"W-why did you bring us here?"
"To show you what happens when the merfolk need me. When they want time on their side to count the days, weeks, months. I am Clockwork, the Keeper of Time. And I am the one who keeps track of the life sentences we give men who've wronged us, human."
Danny felt himself walking to where Clockwork was standing, looking into the particular cell. Phantom growled and waded after him, swimming through the water reluctantly. Both of them stopped and stared into the cell at once. And both of them had different reactions upon what they saw.
Danny stiffened and took a step back. Phantom curled around Danny again and glared daggers at the slumped, bound figure, hissing softly in warning the entire time.
"…Vlad…" Danny said, in a very small voice. Phantom's noise escalated to a full on growl.
Vlad lifted his head and glared at them.
