AN: Happy New Year! It is still technically before January 1st for me and so I've still kept my promise of updating before January :) You can now expect a return to more frequent and regular updates. I hope you enjoy! Oh, and if you are in need of a new year's resolution you should make yours to review the stories of humble authors such as myself regularly. Once again thanks for reading.
P.S. because of the beginning of this chapter, I wish to cover my bases and reaffirm that I do not own either Danny Phantom or Young Justice.
"Nice Try, Jazz, but me, my future, I'm Inevitable."
Danny heard Jazz's scream even through the folds of time. He urged himself to fly faster not knowing if it was even possible to do so in this wormhole. Finally, he could see the end of the tunnel, but the sight that greeted him caused his stomach to drop. He watched as Dan unceremoniously threw his sister across the Nasty Burger Parking Lot against the boiler that was mere minutes away from exploding. Danny let his nerves settle. This would just be another fight, just another enemy, just like every other day.
"Hey old man! Ready for a blast from your past?" Danny rocketed into his older self sending the elder ghost flying into the city. He raced to his family. "Don't worry, I won't turn into that. EVER. I promise." He noticed Mr. Lancer's look of bewilderment and shock. Danny mentally chuckled. Dan must have told them his secret. "I guess sort of this explains my periodic absences huh."
Danny suddenly found himself flying backwards into the grip of Dan. He should have freed his family sooner. Still... "What are you gonna do? Waste me? What happens to you then?"
"You don't get it do ya?" Dan's calm voice sent a shiver down Danny's back. "I'm still here. I still exist. That means you still turn into ME." Dan punched Danny into a wall, the ghost gauntlets tumbled out of his backpack. "I don't have to waste you. I just have to run up the clock until your entire life falls apart."
Danny Turned intangible lunging for the gauntlets and let himself sink into the ground to reappear behind his enemy. "Maybe if you remembered more about your family, you'd have remembered the Spector Deflector!" Danny attached the belt to Dan's waist, "Or the ghost gauntlets!" Danny pulled back and delivered a punch using the gauntlets that sent Dan into an oil tanker that burst into blue flames.
Danny rejoiced inwardly, and began to make his way back to his family. A cold hand grabbed at his shoulder. "Your time is up Danny. It's been up for ten years." Danny was suddenly surrounded by four Dans. Oh, if only it was a trick of his head due to an injury. The next few minutes consisted of an entirely one-sided battle, with Danny the recipient of the beating.
"What makes you think you can change my past?" The now singular Dan accused Danny.
"Because I promised MY FAMILY!"
Dan erupted into laughter. "You are such a child. You promised?" Dan drew out each phrase in amusement.
"Yes! I PROMISED!" A surge of power built up in Danny's chest. It fought its way up through his throat ready to escape with the last few syllables of his exclamation. But as quickly as the feeling came, it vanished. Dan stood above him laughing. Danny attempted to stand -it would not end this way- but he couldn't. He collapsed back on the asphalt defeated.
Dan spared a quick glance at the boiler and Danny's family. He smirked. "I guess the future is more set in stone than you would like to believe, Danny." Danny, with all his remaining strength sent a large eco-blast at the elder ghost causing Danny to revert to his human form. The attack was easily deflected. "They're too weak to escape, and you're too weak to save them."
In one last attempt at victory, Danny pulled the Fenton Thermos from his belt and activated the stream. But it was too late. Dan had already flown away.
Danny ran to his family. The vat dangerously close to an explosion. He desperately tried to revert back to his ghostly self, but he couldn't; he had no energy left. Danny tripped over a rock torn loose in the rubble, and for that one moment everything seemed still. Sam had closed her eyes while tucker's still seemed hopeful, pleading with Danny to rescue them. Mr. Lancer still seemed as if he hadn't quite figured out what was happening. Jazz was wearing that expression, the one that she wore when she said 'I'm proud of you little brother.' His dad was still struggling against the ghostly chains, but his mom, she was smiling sadly. Despite the ectoplasm that covered her mouth, Danny could tell: she was smiling. Then his world fell apart.
The explosion tore through the restaurant, a strong wave of heat thrust Danny backwards, and though the flames never touched his body, agonizing burns spread across his body. He became aware of another presence as he floated midair: Clockwork.
"I'm so sorry Danny. I know that this will bring you no comfort, but everything is the way it is supposed to be. There was nothing you could have done."
No. Danny could not accept that. There had to be some way to fix this! What if...
Danny woke in a cold sweat. He curled up into the smallest ball he could muster. It was still Dark. He was laying on the grass in the middle of a field between Skulker's armor and the thermos containing the ghost. After the attack, after he'd found Tucker's beret, Danny had taken to the sky. He'd flown past Wayne Manor and kept flying until he'd landed here solely because he was too exhausted to continue. Sleep had immediately overtaken the young halfa.
That memory had plagued his sleep since he first woke up in Wayne Manor, but it had never been so complete or so vivid. Danny had spent four days reliving that memory, searching for a way to reverse time so he could save them, even if it was only in his mind. He didn't need this constant reminder. Yet something tugged at the back of his mind, something telling him that the memory was wrong. An event that happened that for all intents and purposes shouldn't have. What if...
No! He would not go down that road. He would not give in to his obsession. He couldn't, no matter how much he wanted to, because now he had so many more people to protect, so many more responsibilities. Something wet and salty touched Danny's lip. He was crying. Danny tried to stop, but he couldn't. Nobody was around to see him though so he eventually gave up and let the water flow.
"I'm still here. I still exist. That means you still turn into ME." The words echoed through Danny's mind. Dan. Dan was back. Some part of Danny had hoped his older, evil self would stay hidden, content to wait out eternity until he faded to nothing waiting for Danny to become that monster. The more rational side of Danny reminded him that he always knew this would happen. Dan was not the type to leave with his tail between his legs, especially after he had won their last battle.
Despite Danny's attempts to remain optimistic, he knew what Dan said was true. If Dan still existed, then it was possible, no probable, that Danny would become Dan. He'd thought that by avoiding Vlad, by staying with Bruce, by fully submerging himself in heroics that he had indirectly defeated Dan. Obviously not. And if he was content to just scare Danny, to just send him a warning: a note, then obviously Dan wasn't weak. He wasn't desperate enough to come after Danny himself; rather, he sent Skulker to find him. and Skulker certainly wasn't pressured enough to complete his task of finding Danny and immediately leaving. He had attacked Robin for fun. If Dan was willing to allow Skulker that kind of freedom (because Danny was confident Dan had the power to completely control the hunter) then Dan was in no real hurry to secure his future.
Danny had to do something to stop his future. He could run away, go back to Amity Park, or hide someplace else. He could fly off into the ghost zone as deep as he could so that he became so entirely lost that he would never be able to find his way back, or, He could go find Clockwork so he could send Danny into the future again. If Danny is not in his own time then he can't become Dan in the present! But none of these plans guarantee that Dan won't eventually find Danny and drag him back to complete the grim future. Oh, God, what should he do?
Danny laid in the grass lost in thought and worry for the future until the sun rose, and a large shadow stretched across the field covering Danny. Turning around to face the shadow's origin, Danny found himself looking up at a familiar black cape and cowl. The man's normally stoic expression betrayed the slightest hint of concern. Danny wondered how the hero could have found him. Then he noticed the small red light blinking on his discarded utility belt a few feet away. Batman stared down at Danny before turning around and walking swiftly to the jet. How could Danny fail to notice the plane's arrival? Danny swiftly picked up Skulker's destroyed suit and thermos and followed the elder hero to the jet. The pair spent the flight back to Wayne Manor in silence.
Clockwork had promised everything was how it was meant to be. Looking at Batman Danny wondered if Clockwork knew this was what would happen. It didn't matter. Dan had given him a warning. Danny would use this time to prepare. He wouldn't become Dan. He'd promised his family he wouldn't. It was a promise Danny Intended to keep.
