Disclaimers: I do not own Danny Phantom
Author's Notes: Just a friendly note. The Alternate Future Rift in this chapter is a portable rift that allows Clockwork to send people to alternate futures. The Past Clockwork uses it to send Dan ten years into the future because the current Clockwork can no longer do so. It is important to point this out because Dan is not going to an Alternate future, but the same future he was in at the beginning of the story.
This is not a mistake, Clockwork uses the Alternate Future Rift as way of symbolizing that this future is no longer the current future, hinting that Dan does alter time as intended, but whether or not the new future is any better than the old one is yet to be seen.
Just thought I should clarify that.
Also remember this is a continuation of the last chapter of book 1. So the beginning of this will sound similar.
As always I thank you for reading and ask that you please review.
Chapter 12: Go Back, Then Go Forward
(Back With Clockwork…)
He showed him everything…
Everything that transpired that day one year ago, the CAT, and what would have happened if he had not altered time. He also showed him what happened when he did, everything he needed to know was shown to him…well almost everything.
"Is that everything?" Danny asked as the time rifts returned to static.
"Yes Daniel." Clockwork said. "I have shown you everything that has happened. Everything that took place on that day."
"And you are sure my dark self is still locked away?" The boy went on.
It was a question that would not be answered, Danny knew this, and clockwork knew that he knew this. Of course he could tell Daniel the truth, but Danny needed to learn to live without him. Ever since the day of the CAT the ghost boy would come to him for answers that he could not find on his own, but now it would appear the chances of him making it out of this was slim to none.
And if Danny didn't learn to think for himself then he could soon be sharing his fate.
The Time ghost shook his head the boy before him had changed much since this quest of a new future had begun, and he would change even more in the days to come. However, the time ghost could not ignore the sleepy baggy eyes, Daniel hadn't been sleeping well (that much was obvious): the boy felt so alone in this.
'Perhaps I have been too stern.' Clockwork thinks as concern fills him. 'I should be honest about Dan.' He decides. And he would be, but only if Danny was honest with him. 'He needs to know he can still count on me, I just want him to not depend on me entirely.' However, if he chooses to leave Clockwork in the dark, then clockwork would do the same in return. Not out of spite, but out of respect, if Daniel wanted to figure this out on his own then so be it.
"Daniel why did you ask me to show you this?" He asked.
Danny bit his lip as if he was contemplating on whether or not to answer, finally he seems to shake it off. "It's nothing." He said as he began to make his leave. "I just keep having these weird dreams about...him and the world ending."
Clockwork suppressed a frustrated sigh, of course the boy would keep him out of it, and perhaps it was for the best. Danny had a bright future ahead of him, one that would cause him to make decisions that would make these current ones seem dwarf in compression.
"I'm sure it is nothing." Clockwork assured him as he watched him go, but his face does not reflect his words.
"Yeah you're probably right." Danny agreed, but his tone does not sound convinced.
Clockwork watched him go, as silence wraps around him once more.
It does not last long.
"You are a terrible liar." A dark voice muses from behind him.
Clockwork turns to see a dark shadow before him. "So are you." He said.
Dan steps forward, he is in his human form as well sporting a black shirt, and jeans with his long black hair in a ponytail. "It's happening a lot sooner than I thought." He said as he stroked his black goatee in deep thought.
Clockwork nodded. "It won't be long now." He agreed turning to the future rift. It's nothing but static now, and will be for now on.
"Why is this happening?" Dan said. "I thought me changing was supposed to make the world better."
"I told the observers this would happen." Clockwork sighed. "Weather I killed you, or simply changed your mind about cheating. If Fate truly wants the world to go to waste then someone else would take your place."
"I know that, but I thought we handled this. We were supposed to have more time!" Dan shouted. It's like someone it purposely contradicting our efforts, but who?"
"I'm afraid I don't know." Clockwork said.
"How do you not know?" Dan yelled, his eyes going red. "You are the father of time!"
"Yes, but not for much longer." Clockwork sighed, and gestured to his rifts.
Dan's eyes widen usually the rifts are projecting images of the past, future, and present. However now they only showed static, like a TV with bad reception. "Clockwork what is going on?" He asked.
"I can only see times design for as long as I am alive." Clockwork explained. "I could see ten years into the future a year ago because I was supposed to still be alive then."
"But now you're not!" Dan said stunned.
"No I am not!" Clockwork said bluntly. "However, since time is still playing forward for us I can assume I was replaced."
So his suspicions were correct, the ghost king had replaced him. 'Does Clockwork know this?' Dan wondered. 'No wait of course he know, there is no other explanation. The real question is does he want me to know? Or is he going to play dumb with me too?' He supposed the only way he'd know was to ask a stupid question.
So he did.
"But by who?" Dan asked.
"I am as in the dark as much as you are." Clockwork told him.
Anger bubbled to the surface. 'Of course he's going to play dumb, he always plays dumb forcing me to figure things out for myself! Why do I even bother!?' "How am I supposed to fix this if you can't give me anything to go on?" Dan hissed, his forked tongue sticking out with disgust!
"I guess you'll just have to save the world the old fashion way." Clockwork mused. "You do remember how to save the world don't you?"
'Humor, he thinks he can use it to lighten the mood, well he's wrong.' Dan decided. 'He wants to play dumb then I'll play bitter and see how he likes it.' He knows he's acting childish, but the dumb time wizard was asking for it. "Very funny you useless time wizard." Dan said. "But I'm not going to justify that gag with an answer."
Clockwork watched as Dan turned into his ghost form. "I guess we'll have to do this the hard way then." Dan mused.
"I can only send you backwards." Clockwork said.
"Yes, but your past self should still be able to send me forward." Dark Dan argued. "Correct?"
"In theory yes." Clockwork agreed. "But are you sure you want to do this?"
Dan grimaced. He knew what he was about to do was risky, and could ultimately get him killed, but this was the final step to the plan. His past and present self could do nothing to help them now, but his future self could. However getting there was proving to be harder then he thought. "How much time do you have?"
"10 years and three days." Clockwork answered robotically.
"I will be back before then." Dan promised as he put a time medallion around his neck, before diving into the past rift.
Clockwork sighed, "No…." he whispered. "No you won't!"
(Following Dan…)
(1 year and three months into the past)
Dan sped through the ghost zone as fast as he could, choosing an ideal place to make his own portal.
He had to time this just right…
If he screwed this up he could not ask Clockwork for help, and if he was honest with himself he'd have to admit knowing this scared him.
'Stay focus.' He warned himself. 'Just take it one step at a time, Step 1, find Clockwork.' He nodded at the thought, it shouldn't be too hard. If he remembered correctly his younger-self should be beating him up right now, which means Clockwork should appear at the Nasty Burger at any time.
Dan stops and forms a portal, if his calculations are correct he should appear right behind the Nasty Burger. Which is key, after all he didn't want his younger-self to mistaken him for his old evil self.
That would be bad.
Taking one last deep breath the ex-villain stepped through the portal and to his relief his calculations are flawless. He finds himself in the back alley of the Nasty Burger and pears out just in time to see himself get sucked up into the Fenton Thermos.
"Time's up!" his younger-self declared.
Dark Dan allows himself to be sucked in since he's too weak to escape, besides it doesn't matter anyways "and you're too late to save them!" He yells.
Danny caps the thermos then looks over his shoulder. "Oh no."
Dan can see it too.
The heat indicator is now all the way over in the red. The glass over it cracks then shatters. The cracking, leaking tanks hiss with steam. Dan feels the urge to stop it, to save them as his old past threatens to destroy his resolve. He manages to stop himself however, reminding himself that this is not his old past, but his new one.
Past Danny runs toward the Nasty Burger, trying to go ghost, but the ring of light fizzles out, he can't change! "I can't go ghost!" He screams then trips on a rock and falls flat on his front "No!"
He and his loved ones stare at each other for an instant, and then the Nasty Burger blows up. The shockwave sends Danny flying with the dust and rubble; then everything freezes. A clock hand traces out a blueish white circle, which resolves into a child Clockwork. Smiling, the ghost flies up to place a medallion around Past Dan's neck, it is in this moment that Dan decides to reveal himself.
"Wait!" he declares as he steps out of the alley.
Clockwork turns and smiles knowingly. "Awe Daniel." he checks his watch. "You're early, perfect."
"Yeah, yeah and me being early is going to make a huge different." Dan scoffed.
"More than you know." Clockwork assured him. "Now are you ready to finish what we started."
Dan nodded. "Yes."
"Very well." Clockwork states and waves his staff allowing an alternate time rift to appear. "This alternate time rift will send you to the future that you seek, but once you are there I cannot bring you back, you will be stuck in that time stream forever."
This threw Dan at a curve,"But I have to go back." He declared. "I have to protect my younger-self, I have to protect you."
Clockwork shook his head. "Your younger-self is ready now, he has a full grip on his new abilities. As for me I will still be alive when you get there."
"Yeah for three days!" Dan snapped. "How am I supposed to protect you, and save the future all in three days?"
"Simple, you don't." Clockwork answered.
"But the Ghost Zone needs you." Dan snapped. "I need you!" he admits despite himself.
Clockwork shakes his head. "Daniel a lot will happen in these three days, and I will need you to focus on what is important."
"You are important!" Dan argued.
"Securing the future is more important." Clockwork corrected him.
Dan balls up his fist in pure rage. "Why do you have to be so difficult? Why can't you just let me-"
"Daniel you will already be their when I die." Clockwork told him. "You will watch as the Ghost King Ends me, and in order to stay in his favor you must let him."
"No…" Dan said. "I can't…I won't."
Clockwork laughed. "Grown attached have we?"
"How can you joke at a time like this?" Dan snapped. "You're going to die, no worse you're already dead, no instead you're going to be erased from the afterlife. There is nothing after that!"
"I know." Clockwork said simply. "I have made peace with this fate since the moment I saw your face. Since the day we first met I knew my own demise."
"I can't just watch you die." Dan rasped.
"Listen Daniel no matter how much you want to you cannot save us both. It's either me or them." Clockwork told him.
Dan wanted to grab the stupid wizard and shake some sense into him, but he suppressed the feeling, it was obvious that he had made up his mind, and if he truly cared he would respect his wishes. "Fine I will leave you to your fate." He said bitterly, and went to leave.
Clockwork's next words stopped him however. "Be careful Daniel, I won't be there to save you." He warned.
Dan gives him a reassuring nod, sure most of the time he would use comments like that as a reason to lash out at the Time wizard before him. However, Dan had come to understand the truth, Clockwork wasn't scowling him about a future failure; he was showing genuine concern. Out of all his years as the Time ghost he had spent his time alone in that tower, until Dan came, and as rocky as their relationship was in the beginning the two had grown a strong friendship.
"I'll miss you." Dan admitted.
Clockwork smiled. "Please this old time wizard? You won't give me a second thought." he joked, obviously trying to lighten the mood.
"I mean it." Dan said. "I am who I am today, because you decided to care."
Clockwork nodded. "We'll you have your friend Valerie to thank for that." he told him. "Now go, we only have one shot at getting this right."
Dan nodded. "I won't let you down." He promised before diving into the Alternate rift.
Clockwork smiled. "I know you won't." he said as he turned back to the younger Danny before him. "But then again I know everything..."
(Still Following Dan…)
[10 years into the future: 3 days before the Ghost King wakes up.]
This was it,
He was truly on his own now.
True Clockwork would still be alive for three days, but the closer his death became the less powerful he would be. This was the curse of being the Time Ghost, the moment he vanishes, is the moment his destine replacement would die in the human realm. That individual would slowly gain his powers as Clockwork lost them forever.
So as much as Dan wanted to see him he was better off staying away, besides he was no longer Dan now, and he wouldn't be for some time. Without another thought he shifted his form to that of the Phantom Knight, at the moment a duplicate of this form was standing by the Ghost King side and had been since he rejoined Clockwork in the tower before going back to the past.
That would mean his duplicate had been pretending to be the Phantom Knight for ten years now, and while it felt like seconds to him Dan knew his duplicate had felt every second of those ten years. The strain of withstanding two forms for so long was a painful one, but it was necessary.
A lot would happen in these three days and Dan would most likely be in two places at once off and on, so this had been good practice for him. He would reunite with his duplicate to rest, and then he would separate again and begin his work; there was much to do after all.
So much to do.
He entered the Ghost king's castle to see that everything was in order. "Good." he rasped, he was starting to feel the strain. And as if on cue the duplicate Phantom Knight appeared.
"What took you so long?" He asked.
Dan scoffed. "Get over here." he ordered, and the duplicate obeyed. Dan sighed in relief as they united, feeling better already.
"Alight." He said to himself gaining his baring. "Let's get to work..."
Chapter Twelve: END!
Author's Notes: As always I thank you for reading and please review.
The next Chapter will be up soon
Yours truly RoxieDivine ;)
