Back To the Future
Danny nervously looked around, gripping the time medallion hanging off his neck. A light breeze ruffled the trees, and slowly pushed small cloud tuffs across the sky. The serine quiet of the park around him seemed to embody peace. That didn't keep Danny from holding his breath as he slowly lowered himself onto the grass. When all remained still, and no timeghost portals popped into existence, a small excited smirk formed on his face.
Taking a few successfully uninterrupted steps backwards, Danny laughed. He let the white rings wash over him. He turned around to pick up the pace, only to smack into something solid. He hit the ground with a grunt.
Whoever he had run into laughed. "Watch where you're going, you idiot."
Danny scowled and was quick to come up with a comeback. But it died on his tongue when he saw just who he had run into. The man was tall, as tall has his dad, but not nearly as wide. He smirked down at him with his arms crossed confidently across his toned chest. Familiar blue eyes gleamed with mischief and an annoying arrogance.
"You-you're not…" Danny spoke the only thing that would come to mind.
"An evil maniac bent on destroying everything in his path? No, no I'm not." His grin grew. "But weren't you expecting that?"
Danny stood up off the ground and scrutinized his future self. "How'd you know I'd be here?"
His older self rolled his eyes. "I'll give you three guesses."
After a second it clicked. "Oh, you remember-"
The older him made an obnoxious buzzer noise. "I have no recollection of this, kid."
Danny's eyebrows furrowed. "Why not?"
"You just created a new timeline, you knucklehead!" He hit Danny over the head walking past him and falling onto a park bench. "I never visited the future a second time."
Danny frowned, rubbing his head, not appreciating the name calling. "Then how…?"
His older self sighed heavily, looking up towards the sky. The way he lounged on the bench, and the mans constant light tone suggested that his older self was almost completely uninterested in Danny's unexpected visit. But his shoulders were too tight, and how he avoided extended eye contact with Danny told him otherwise.
"Did you really think you could sneak into ClockWork's lair and get away with it?"
Danny stiffened. "I've done it before."
The man on the bench laughed. "No, you haven't!" He looked over at Danny. "You can't even find ClockWork's lair if he doesn't want you to. It's literally impossible."
Danny worked his jaw, trying to protest and process the information at the same time. "Then why would he…"
"I don't know, kid, he doesn't ever tell anyone 'why'."
"Would you stop calling me kid? I'm not a kid!"
The man's eyes looked him up and down with a raised eyebrow, making Danny flush.
"Then what do you wan't me to call you? Doofus?"
"How about my name, because I do have one if you remember." Danny scowled.
For some reason his older self grinned again. "Danny, right?"
"Yes! It's your name too!" Danny crossed his arms, not liking his older self much.
"Nah, I go by Dan now, or Daniel. Not many people call me Danny anymore."
Danny's frown deepened. He hated being called Daniel, and didn't particularly care for Dan either. "Why?"
Dan shrugged. "Grew out of Danny, I guess."
Danny huffed. "So ClockWork sent you here?"
"Nah, he just told me you were coming. I thought I'd meet you here."
"Do Mom and Dad know?" Danny asked after a beat of silence.
A strange look flashed across Dan's face, but then it was gone. "No, I didn't feel the need to tell anyone my younger self was coming for a visit."
"No, I mean do they know about you being a half ghost?"
Dan scratched behind his ear, scrunching his face, as if looking for the right way to answer. Danny now noticed that his ear had about five piercings with modest silver studs and ear cuffs.
"It's kinda pointless answering that question, you know." Dan finally said, scooting over on the bench in an obvious invitation to sit. "You've created a new timeline, meaning this one is no longer yours."
Danny sat, brow furrowed in confusion.
"You see, kid- Sorry- Danny, you change the future just by knowing it. Knowing the future will inevitably change your actions, which will result in a different future than the one you knew." Dan explained.
"So, this isn't my future?"
"Nope." Dan popped the 'P'.
Danny thought over the new information, feeling awfully small next to Dan. Images of Dark Dan flashed in his mind as he looked back up at his no-longer-future self.
"But do Mom and Dad know?" He asked again.
Dan sighed exasperatedly. "Yes, they know, and they didn't kick me out of the house or divorce."
Dan smirked as Danny shrunk in on himself. "Does this mean they're going to kick me out of the house and divorce, now that I know that?"
"No," Dan said with a snort. "There's always the chance it does end up that way… But… Danny…"
Dan bore his eyes into Danny so intensely Danny couldn't help but to stare right back.
"Don't let your fear decide your actions. Never take actions out of fear. When you start letting fear choose for you, what you fear most will happen."
A heavy sinking feeling twisted Danny's gut. "What happened?"
Dan shook his head looking away. "Don't Danny. Just stick to doing what you think is right, not what will avoid disaster."
"But-"
"You want me to tell you so you can avoid it?" Dan smiled, but couldn't have looked more tired. "Just keep doing what you're doing Danny, and don't let fear rule you. Even if you don't avoid all the terrible things that could happen, it's okay. The Earth still spins, I still smile and laugh, life continues regardless of disaster or not."
"Not if the world ends." Danny huffed, crossing his arms.
Dan snorted, "well even then there's a bright side: no one will be there to morn it's loss. Besides, the world doesn't usually end when we think it will or is ending."
Dan ruffled Danny's hair, but Danny frowned at what he had said.
"So, what exactly possessed you to come here?"
Danny shrugged, looking at the ground. "I don't know… It's just… the last time I was here… Everyone was dead, or, or hurt… And all of it was my fault. I just wanted to see for myself that I'd fixed it."
"Well," Dan slapped him hard on the back, and left his hand there, "this wasn't the path that I took to find that answer, but I can tell you one thing before you go."
"Before I…?"
Dan leaned in close, as if to tell him a secret. But he grabbed hold of the medallion and said,
"Future Vlad lied,"
Before everything vanished and Danny was back in ClockWorks lair.
Hey guys, I think this is the last of them that are already written. Tell me what you think, which one was good, which one was bad, and maybe send me suggestions!
Thank you so very much for reading this far!
P.S. Thank you, LK2!
And I'm thinking about it, OverlordChocolate, I have a few ideas.
