The Crossroads Betwixt Life and Death

Chapter 21: Unusual Behaviour (Danny's P.Ø.V)

I didn't know what Vlad had done when we'd got back to his house. But I'd gone straight up to my room...I'd wanted to stay with Vlad and have him explain to me why he hadn't told me anything sooner...but I just couldn't. I was trying to process everything he'd said to me...and the fact that he'd actually told me what was going on. I still found it hard to process that he hadn't tried to worm his way out of telling me or making some deal or other.

Nothing in my life was ever straight forward or easy, was it? Everything had to be difficult.

I'd been lying on my bed for ages, I kept seeing everything all over again, I was trying to make sense of it all. But I hadn't been having much luck. I'd come down for food a while ago only to see that Vlad was nowhere to be seen. I guess he was in his study or his lab. And after what happened last time I wasn't going to go looking for him in case something happened like last time. In case I found that he was hiding something else from me and he turned all angry on me.

It was around 5'o clock now and I was lounging in the sitting room with the TV on and my iPad was next to me on the couch. I'd been emailing Valerie for the last few minutes. She'd sent me another email after I'd run out of school yesterday so of course I'd replied. I just hadn't checked before now since I'd been kinda busy.

I'd told Valerie why I'd left...well...kind of. I'd just said that I couldn't go back...which was true. And she'd worried about me which was kinda nice. But there was no way I was going back to Casper High. She got that, she understood why.

I flicked over the channel when a news report caught my eye...was that...Vlad? With a gun? In a hospital...okay...was that weird or what? I carried on watching and suddenly I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Was this for real? Was I dreaming? I watched without taking my eyes off the screen as the news reporter carried on describing the situation.

"...The criminals were apprehended by the police soon after Mayor Masters heroically..."

Oh my god! She made Vlad sound like a regular hero! I couldn't help but laugh now. It was what I'd call cruel irony. After everything I'd done to save people in this town and got beat up for some people still thought I was trouble. Vlad had done little to help people here, and after one good deed he was suddenly a saint!

What gives?!

Was this what he'd meant earlier when he'd said that Clockwork was rubbing his nose in something? It was really...un-Clockwork-like. I'd never seen him do something so...open, before. Usually he acted from the sidelines, not like this. This would've really pissed Vlad off.

When the man actually walked into the room with a paper folder open in his hands and a pen balancing on his right ear, I stared over at him.

"You're a regular superman, aren't ya?" I asked him as I laughed quietly. I sorta forgot that I wasn't speaking to him since this had really took me by surprise.

"What?" he asked as he paused in reading the folder and stared at me. I pointed with the remote to the TV report. It showed the footage from the hospital with the men and woman pointing guns then it flashed forward to Vlad going Jackie Chan on a man in front of him. It showed him push the doctor woman behind a pillar and him shooting the fire alam and shooting the woman in the foot.

I had to admit it was pretty impressive. Without going ghost I doubted if I could have dealt with something like that. "I had other matters to deal with and being held 'hostage' by fools would have disrupted my day," he replied. Then he threw the folder onto a chair and poured himself a glass of the horrible wine he seemed to like.

"Uh-huh," I nodded. I could believe that. He hadn't done it to save any of the people in the hospital, he'd done it because it was inconvenient to him. How like Vlad. So did this mean that it was what he'd meant earlier when he'd said that something had happened today? Even in his mind this had to register as a definite 'something.' "Somethin' you wanna tell me about?"

"What's that suppose to mean?" he snapped at me.

"I dunno, just that it took a while for you to tell me about other stuff, and since I'm liking the whole 'honesty' thing...if this had anything to do with..."

"Yes, alright, alright," he sighed, "Here," he tossed a small envelope to me from his folder and I took several pieces of paper.

"What the heck is this?" I muttered as I turned some kind of strange message upside down wondering if it was like a puzzle or something. On another piece of paper was the message written out again but there were the words; 'Keys unlock more than doors' written in loopy handwriting. "Is that what this says?" I asked him and he nodded.

I set it aside to look at a photo, "Is this...you?" I asked him.

"Yes, almost 20 years ago," he said, "Apparently that photograph and the note was handed to Dr Evelyn Grant this morning."

"Right...so what about you going Jackie Chan on those dudes on TV?" I asked confused.

"I found Clockwork's insignia on the guns, it was him telling me that I can't beat him. That message is in his language," Vlad said and I looked at the writing again.

I was more than shocked that her told me this so easily but maybe he was frustrated about everything. He was a bit snappy. But I guess he had a right to be.

"Why would you wanna beat him?" I asked. There was just no way to bet someone who could predict the future. But Vlad didn't look as though he was going to answer me, instead he snatched the remote from me while I was thinking and he changed the channel.

I couldn't help but think about his 'heroics', I mean it's not everyday I could see Vlad act like that. I'd already learnt that there was more to him than I'd thought before, but he had admitted that he'd not done this for the other people that had been in the hospital. People that didn't have ghost powers and who were scared of bullets.

I would have acted to protect them, Vlad said he'd acted to not waste his day as a hostage. But he could be lying. Had he done to to protect those people? I had already admitted that there was more to him than I'd thought. Suddenly I thought of the woman he'd pushed out of the way on the footage, why had he moved the woman doctor out of the way if he didn't at least care about her? "What about that woman?" I asked him.

"What woman?" he asked, sipping his wine.

"That woman doctor...what was her name...Grant! Doctor Grant, what about her, you pushed her outta the way in the hospital when you..."

"Evelyn, was in the way," he said louder than me.

"Uh-huh," I nodded.

"What?" he demanded and I had to fight not to smile. Annoying Vlad would never get old.

"Nothing," I shrugged lifting my iPad to my face to hide from his death glare. I tried to appear indifferent. Emotionless. Like he always did when he annoyed me...Vlad had it down better than I did though. "You don't think, y'know...Clockwork's gonna do more stuff like that, do you?" I asked quietly as the news presenter stope talking about Vlad's 'daring heroics' and about the sudden normal weather.

"I don't know," he replied, and I got the feeling that he was telling the truth.

"Oh..." I sighed. This could be a problem.

We sat in silence for a while, I had no idea what to say and Vlad didn't seem to mind the quiet. I continued to stare at the TV, but I wasn't paying attention to it, the news had probably finished and it could be talking about world war 3 for all I knew.

"You should leave him to me," Vlad said. I looked over at him to see him staring straight at me. It was kinda...creepy.

"Who?" I asked stupidly, but as I said, I had been zoning out for a while.

"Clockwork, Daniel," he sighed, "You'd only walk straight into a trap if you tried to..."

"Oh, like you did, you mean?" I snapped.

"That wasn't a trap, he was trying to prove a point, I told you. And it's not me the Observants want to deceive," he said and I sighed. He did have a point: it was my family they'd...and it was my life they'd ruined, not Vlad's.

"Yeah..." I muttered, "I know...I get it...err...what exactly are you planning on doing? I mean you can't exactly surprise him, can you?" I asked, "You're not gonna..y'know..."

"What?" he asked and I frowned.

"...I dunno...kill him or something...I dunno if you can kill a ghost, but..."

"Would you care if I did?" he asked. I didn't know, I really didn't, before I thought he was my friend, my ally, but now...would I care?

"...I don't know..." I replied quietly and turned my eyes back to the TV, then we both went silent again. At least I did anyway, I wasn't paying much attention to Vlad so I couldn't exactly be sure. Things were so messed up, and they were getting worse. If Clockwork wanted to he could kill Vlad as well then I would be alone again.

...And what could I do to stop him if he did?

I tried listening to the TV but it seemed so loud in my ears, I'd only out the volume on low but suddenly it felt like it was on full blast. Everything seemed out of proportion, like on those wacky mirrors they have at carnivals and things started to spin. The voices felt loud enough to split my skull so I reached for the remote and fumbled around to turn off the volume, but everything was still too loud.

I heard the wind screaming and roaring and howling outside, and even the sound of the clock ticking was blaring in my ears.

"...Daniel!" I heard and all of the noise faded away.

"Wha..." I muttered and rubbed my eyes. That was really weird.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing...just a headache..." I said. I guess I was trying to convince myself more than Vlad, but he seemed to believe me.

"Then perhaps you should go to bed," he suggested and I nodded.

"Yeah, I guess," I said.

"Aspirin's in the..." he started but a interrupted him quickly.

"No, I'm okay...'night," I muttered and floated up through the ceiling to my room. I floated over my bed then I let gravity do its thing, honestly, this thing was so damn comfy it was a miracle I got out of it at all. I didn't know they made beds this good, but as I'd already learnt: money definetly had its perks.

I lazily kicked off my shoes and hugged the soft covers as I shuffled under them, trying to move as little as possible. I glanced at the clock and saw that it wasn't very late, but it was kind of tired, and it was quiet up here. My head felt better already...I guess that was what a panic attack was like.

I guess all this was driving me nuts. Great. Not only was I hearing the voices of my dead friends and family, I was having panic attacks as well...if that even was a panic attack. It wasn't a headache, it was gone now. Oh well. If I worried about every little thing wrong with me I'd never leave my room. And I was fine now. So I closed my eyes and concentrated on the soft mattress, the warm blankets and the cloud-like pillow.

When I woke up it was pitch black and it took me a moment to adapt despite me ghost enhanced senses. I guess it was because I was still half human so I still had half human vision, which in comparison to ghosts was really bad. I looked across for the clock and saw that it was just after 3 in the morning. Well, considering that I'd gone to bed early in the afternoon it was bound to happen. It just meant that I'd never be able to get back to sleep.

I lay there for a while, just staring at the ceiling, which to be honest really wasn't that interesting. So I turned my attention to the door, the desk, the chair, the sliding doors of the wardrobe, the curtains, the sofa, the tv screen and all the stuff I'd bought from the mall which I still hadn't put away.

I didn't expect Vlad to do it for me, I just had more important things on my mind at the moment than the state of my room, so it hadn't been done yet.

I was still bored though. I didn't have anything else to do.

Soon I got an idea though, maybe it was just because I was going nuts since part of me screamed that it was a really dumb idea. Clockwork and the Observants had killed innocent people and in doing so they had ruined my life. And they had threatened Vlad's as well. I deserved some answers.

...Maybe it was just anger talking...

Maybe it was a bad idea, but I felt like I needed to talk to him, even if I was walking into a trap.

After everything I'd been through I decided it was better to be safe than sorry, if I was in there longer than I thought then if I left a note for Vlad he'd know and he'd be able to help me. But if I was in and out in a few minutes then I could get rid of the note before he'd even woke up and he'd never need to know about my little trip.

Yeah, that was it, I'd leave a note. I jumped out of bed and rummaged around the desk and scribbled a note for Vlad, then I floated slowly to his room and made sure he was asleep before leaving said note on his table. Then I flew through the floors and to the basement to the portal. Usually the Fenton portal was open all the time, or at least I knew how to open that one when it wasn't.

I looked at this one and it was locked. With a password. Not good. I didn't want to risk putting the wrong one in and setting some alarm off. Then I'd wake Vlad up and I'd be dead meat...well, maybe not dead meat but I'd be in trouble.

So I flew out of the house and over to Fenton Works, through the portal and into the ghost zone. I didn't even take the time to enjoy the feeling of freedom that came with flying through the green air, I was here for a reason. Vlad would probably kill me, he really hadn't wanted me to try anything. But it was my life that had been messed up, I had a right to be given some straight answers.

I know, Clockwork wasn't usually one for straight answers at the best of times, and I knew I'd promised myself never to speak to him again. But what other choice did I have?

"Clockwork?" I asked quietly as I landed in his tower. I made sure that I was on alert. After that trick he'd pulled with Vlad at the hospital today who knew what he'd do to me if he got the chance.

"Danny, I knew you'd come," I heard the time ghost say. His voice was even more...echoey than usual...which was kinda creepy.

"Right," I growled, "You're gonna give me some answers, and don't gimme that crap you said before, about me understanding in the future. Vlad told me about your little 'plan'."

"I know he did," Clockwork replied emotionlessly as he came out from the shadows to hover in front of me.

"And he told me about your 'robbery'," I added.

"I know he did," he repeated and I was getting really, really annoyed.

"I know you know!" (*1) I shouted angrily, and I felt my hands burning with ghost energy. I counted to ten in my head without looking away from him, I couldn't take any risks here. "Why'd you do it?" I asked as calmly as I could.

"Why do you think?"

"Agh! I didn't come here to play mind games! Just give me a straight answer for once!" I shouted. Personally I think I deserved at least one straight forward answer, but something told me I wasn't going to get it.

"We all have someone to answer to, I am no different, I answer to the time stream. I work for the majority and to ensure that nothing threatens the...the greater good, I suppose you could call it," he said.

"That's the biggest load of b..." I started but he spoke over me.

"No, it isn't, and you know it, I know you do. I interfered once before for your benefit, I cannot do so again, I have helped in small ways...in whatever ways I can, but some things are out of my power."

"I thought you..."

"No, Danny, believe me, I was against this from the start," he said and I frowned.

"Then why'd you do it?" I demanded but I didn't get an answer.

"I am truly sorry, Danny," he said, and he didn't actually look really sad, more sad than I'd ever seen him. But any pity or understanding I felt soon vanished as I saw about a dozen Observants appear from the shadows and they stared at me with their creepy, one eyed...eyes.

I sighed as I realised I had walked into a trap, I knew it had been a bad idea, I knew I shouldn't have come. But at least I learned that, however small, Clockwork did feel...sorry for what he'd done. And that the Observants were my enemy. I flew up into the air as they began to attack me and I let my hands fill with green ectoplasm.

I wasn't going to get any help from Clockwork, and Vlad would be asleep for hours yet. Not good.

"What'd you want?" I shouted angrily as I shot back at them. Clockwork was just floating and watching, like last time.

"That is none of your concern," one of the Observants said to me.

"Nome of my concern! I think it IS my concern! You killed my family!" I screamed and shot ice at them, "Why me? What'd I ever do to you?!"

"You are a threat, but not the only one. Vladimir Masters has been free from restraint for years, he too is a threat to our world, to our survival. Both of you have been carefully watched, but we decided it was necessary to intervene," another of them said.

"So you did it just to piss us off! Well guess what?" I shouted, "It worked!" I attacked with my ghostly wail and sent them all flying through the far wall. It made me feel good, strong...until the recoil set in. The horrible effect that mde me feel like a weak little kid. I fell to the ground and held my head in my right hand.

Clockwork still hadn't moved and he wasn't showing signs of moving any time soon either. I glared at him in my best Vlad-like death glare and then I stared back across at the Observants who were getting back up from my attack. In the heat of the moment I'd made a really bad move and I doubted I could even stay ghost much longer let alone fight them all off. But I had to. I couldn't let them think I was a push over. I wasn't weak.

I'd regret it soon, but for the moment I was just glad that I'd wiped the smiles off their one-eyed faces! But since they seemed to really dislike me and I wasn't in the best condition to fight maybe it would be better to retreat.

With one last glare I jumped up and flew as fast as I could away from the angry, one-eyed Observants and Clockwork, I saw his tower shrink as I flew faster. But I also saw said one-eyed ghosts flying after me. Uh-oh, this wasn't gonna end well for me. Things like this never did. I cursed under my breath and sent a wave of ice and snow at them, I didn't expect it to stop them. But maybe it would slow the, down.

With their vision blocked for a few seconds I went invisible and carried on flying as fast as I could. My bad luck continued though as they followed me despite my invisibility. I dodged quickly as they attacked, my agility and speed were two parts of my powers that I was really proud of, and they had probably saved me more times than my actual ghost attacks...well...except maybe the ghostly wail. In this case though it had caused more trouble...whoops.

I swerved in and out of floating rocks and around the doors, I may have passed Johnny 13 and Kitty having another loud argument but I was flying too fast to tell them apart from a rock. It wasn't easy since everything was all blurry.

After a while I spotted Vlad's portal, if I remembered right then my parents' was at least five minutes away at the speed I was flying at. And with a dozen pissed off Observants behind me I didn't want to tempt those odds. But I didn't know how to open his portal...from either side. I settled for blasting it first, I blasted it with as much energy as I could hoping that something would happen.

I don't know what I was expecting, maybe it would miraculously open for me, maybe Vlad would near something and he'd open it for me. I really don't know. But the Observants would reach me in seconds if I didn't do something I'd be in big, big trouble.

"Agh! Open up, fruit-loop!" I shouted as I attacked the portal again. I had no idea what time it was. Would Vlad even be there? Would he even be awake? I had no idea whatsoever. The chances of me surviving this were really, really slim. I mean the chances of survival were so slim that...

My optimistic thought process was cut off as the portal actually opened and I fell inside as I was pushing on the door. "Ugh," I muttered as I hit the ground and changed back; I couldn't stay ghost anymore.

"Daniel," I looked up to see Vlad hovering there and the Observants just coming through the portal. His eyes widened like saucers - a look of complete and utter shock that I'd rarely seen on his face. I lifted my hand to attack one of the Observants but all that happened was a little green spark and I stared down at my hand.

"Uh-oh," I muttered and looked back up at the ghosts in Vlad's lab. Not only was I powerless but Vlad would kill me for this later.

I wasn't surprised when Vlad didn't waste a second before duplicating and attacking the Observants. The four Vlad's quickly attacked and didn't give them any time to attack back. He sent powerful blasts of ectoplasm at the Observants and I found the new experience of rooting for Vlad kind of weird.

I tried again to attack but it didn't work again, but Vlad didn't need my help, he never needed my help, he was tough enough to fight them. Not like me. It annoyed me that after one ghostly wail I was out for the count, and I'd had to run...or fly away. At least usually I could do two or three wails, but I guess I hadn't exactly been very healthy lately, so it could have been worse.

Soon the Observants were thrown around the room and some flew back through the portal. Vlad actually threw some of them through it and it didn't take long for him to win. Of course, I rolled my eyes, what was a couple of Observants to Vlad?

"What. Happened?" he asked slowly, and carefully. It was strange that he could scare me just as much as when he was shouting as he could in this tone. I shivered on the floor and nervously rubbed my left arm. I looked up to see that he'd locked the portal again and his duplicates had vanished. The lab looked like it had been home to a mini tornado and Vlad looked pissed.

"Well...err..." I began but he apparently didn't want to hear an explanation despite the fact that he'd asked for one.

"I told you not to interfere!" he shouted and it felt like whole building shook.

"I was..."

"I didn't tell you for my health, Daniel! They are dangerous, and you're not exactly in the best condition to be fighting powerful ghosts. Do you really have a death wish?" he demanded and I shrunk back towards the wall. He could really intimidate when he wanted to.

"I didn't..." I muttered, only to be stopped again.

"What on earth were you thinking? If I hadn't heard you do you have any idea what could have happened? If I had been a second later...What the hell were you thinking?!"

"I left a note..."

"Huh, you left a note!" he repeated, "That's not the point! Boy, do you have any idea...don't you even...Just tell me, what was going through your mind when you decided to go in there and...what the hell did you do, anyway?"

"I...kinda went to Clockwork's tower...and I...kinda said he was full of crap...and err...I got sneak attacked..." I answered cleverly. Vlad only seemed to get angrier though and he raised an eyebrow at me.

"And that doesn't seem at all to sound ridiculously risky to you?"

"Maybe..." I said quietly.

"Maybe," he repeated and shook his head, "Maybe, you should have listened to me in the first place. Maybe you should have considered the consequences before doing something so stupid!"

"I just wanted an answer," I muttered.

"And did you get one?"

"Not really," I said.

"Did you expect to get one?" he asked and I shook my head. "I could have told you that, and you wouldn't have had to risk your life!"

"Yeah..." I muttered and he sighed. Then without saying anything else, he floated away through the ceiling, leaving me alone with the mess of the lab.

It was strange, but I felt almost as though I'd disappointed him somehow. I hadn't though much...or really at all what he'd think of my little trip, but maybe I should have done. I'd never seen him like that...well maybe a few times in the last few days. He was acting almost like...my dad. My mom and dad had acted like that when I did something reckless without telling them?. It was weird to think that Vlad was acting like a parent, I'd never thought that he had a paternal bone in his body. But I guess I was wrong on that account too.

Geez, how many times could a guy be wrong about something? It was kinda depressing to think that really. With a Vlad-worthy sigh I picked myself up and made my way up the stairs and through into the sitting room. I guess, now I was the bad guy...

(*1) Bonus points if you can tell me what Disney film this idea is from. It just came to me when I was typing it but it was just so funny I decided to leave it in.

A.N. And, there you have it. I hope I didn't disappoint you. Although I should point out that only four people reviewed last time, it was probably a contributor in why it took so long to update. I want to finish this and I will. But it helps if I know that there's interest in my work. But what can I do, I can't hold you to ransom, but opinions are, as I'm sure you know, very welcome.