(A/N) I totally updated in time, I just time traveled into the past to prevent myself from writing, for classified reasons. So there! And if any of you have ever read the Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi (which you really should), I borrow her writing style a little bit at the beginning. Credit where it's due!

Now, I'll stop blathering about my writing and-

Jack: Start blathering about ghosts!

Yea, actually. And it's all down there. So read!

Chapter 20

Danny just flew. It was like there was nothing else in the world to stop him. And honestly, he felt there wasn't. Frostbite didn't trust him enough to tell him his own secret. The Fentons were too ignorant for thier own good. His friends were ghosts and weren't his friends anymore after betraying him. He was being bullied because of his parents.

Nobody cared for him.

He flew far

far

far

away, until he honestly didn't know where he was. He really didn't care, so long as he was running away, away from all of this. His life used to be so simple, too. Wake up. Train his powers. Have fun with friends. Learn schooling from Vlad. Explore the Zone. Sleep. Repeat. He had loved it!

Now he was broken and disjointed, his days a sapling that suddenly grew into a huge tree, hundreds of tiny branches splitting at the ends, each its own problem. Sam and Tuck would listen to him, he knew. But what could he say? For his protection and the rest of the Ghost Zone's, he had to keep his mouth shut. His friends couldn't be here for him; how ironic it is that he needed them the most right now.

Away

away away away from all his problems. But what would that do? He'd have to go back eventually. He couldn't worry anyone, abandon them.

Sighing, Danny shook himself out of his angsty mood. He had to go home and face his problems, because they'd catch up to him if he ran anyway.

Sadness, fear, anger. Fear, anger, sadness. Anger, sadness, fear. That was what lay for him at home, and sounded just as terrible no matter how you put it.

He couldn't go on like this. Too many feelings inside of him, too much too much too much. He needed to clear his head, sort out his feelings, revive his happy. He needed the one person who could tell him for certain what he should do.

He needed Clockwork.

Legend has it, the Time ghost only shows his lair to those he allows. So he somehow needed the ghost to allow him. But how?

"Clockwork?" He yelled into the vast expanse of green. "I need you! Please, help me," he desperately called. But there was no answer. "Please!" He yelled again, voice cracking. He sounded pathetic. Must be why there was no answer. "Please," he whispered.

Nothing.

Danny let out a scream of frustration. Angry at himself, angry at Clockwork, angry at everything, he sped off in a direction, as if he could outrun his weak pleas. He didn't need anyone. He would do this on his own.

Suddenly, he was tackled by a green blur.

Danny flipped over in the air, the breath knocked out of him. He felt something wet on his face. He opened his eyes to find an adorable dog licking his face. Only, the dog was green and floating.

"Argh!" He cried, shoving off the dog and getting ready to fly off again. Only, the dog wasn't happy with that. Danny turned away, only to hear a low, rumbling growl. He slowly turned around to find a huge 10 foot dog growling at him. "HOLY SHI-" Danny was cut off by the dog forcing Danny on its back.

"Bad dog! No! Ah!" Danny cried helplessly. The dog just shook its head and started to run. Accepting his fate, Danny leaned on the huge dog as it ran top speed, only to hit his head in something hard. "Ow!" He whined, rubbing the sore spot. What has he It his head on?

Danny looked down to find a medallion, with the letters "CW" carved into it. The medallion was around the dog's neck. Under the medallion, Danny saw a tiny paper. He lifted up the circle only for the paper to shoot off into the air.

"No!" He cried, straining to grab it. He fumbled. "Wait-" he stretched as hard as he could, barely catching the lazy piece of paper. He sighed a breath of relief and righted himself on the beast's back, and opened up the note.

Not yet, young Phantom.

-CW

P.S. His name is Cujo.

Danny smiled a huge smile.

"Thank you," he whispered, his voice carried off by the whistling of the "air".

Somewhere, closer than Danny thought, his gratitude was heard. Clockwork smiled fondly at the boy yet to fulfill his life. He watched his screen like time passage, watching Daniel fly home with the dog the boy was beginning to grow fond of.

The Time ghost saw Danny absentmindedly rub the medallion, and it made Clockwork smile. "Not yet, little Danny."

Clockwork fast forwarded the time passage to a time of blurred colors and people and words and hope and fear and love and betrayal and jealousy and envy and contentment. A blur of emotions and pictures. Clockwork looked on, a weary smile on his worn face, middle aged for now.

"Not yet."

Danny found himself in front of the Fenton portal. He was thrown off playfully by Cujo, and then proceeded to hug the dog tightly. "Good job, boy." For some reason, he noted it was Thursday. Tomorrow after school, he'd see Frostbite. He understood his situation was difficult, sure. But he wouldn't make it through unless he could repair relationships with the ones he loved.

And that didn't mean forget. It just meant forgive. He could do that. He needed to.

So with a heaving sigh, he stepped through the portal that was his birth parents'.

Danny didn't know how long he was in the Zone, but it must've been a few hours at least, because his parents and Jazz had vacated the house. He felt sad and guilty. Ignoring himself, he transformed into his human state and grabbed some tasty fudge. He considered going back to school, but it was fleeting and a definite no.

He lazily switched on the television. Any distraction he could. But for some weird reason, the news was the first channel. "Ghost hunters Maddie and Jack Fenton have been proved right after all this time! Ghost are real and they came to attack our poor town today!" The reporter cried as the camera turned to Danny's parents and sister fighting off Skulker. Danny gasped in horror as his family slowly lost any advantage they had. They were now in defense mode, desperately trying to land a hit.

Danny shot up. Damn Skulker! The ghost was about to get a taste of his wrath. And Danny swore he'd enjoy it. Anger trying to mask his true fear and worry, Danny shot out of the Fenton home, in ghost form already.

It took a little, but he realized. He was ready to fight.