Clockwork does his best to take care of Danny, even if he can't always see what the right path should be.

Chapter Twenty Five - Timely Woes

::

"Hello, Daniel." Clockwork managed a tired smile as he saw the young half ghost fade back into the visible spectrum, changing back into his human half with a distinct pout on his face. "You really should avoid using those new ghost containment devices on Skulker."

"First of all, Skulker needs to learn to take a joke. I mean, who doesn't know what Pokemon is?! Second of all, just once can't you let me at least pretend to sneak up on you?!" So, he wasn't technically angry, but Danny reserved his right of acting like an immature brat around Clockwork. "I mean, give me some leeway here." The old ghost had dealt with worse than Danny, after all. ...Probably, at least.

"I think you've surprised me enough for one lifetime," Clockwork sighed, Danny grinning in twisted glee at the expression on the other's face. "How does so much trouble find you?"

"Genetics and the choice of being a hero," Danny smiled brightly, hiding his laugh at Clockwork's groan. "To be fair, I kind of saw this coming when I saw how bad Elle was the first time. I mean, even with me getting my powers the way I did, with you on the other side, a human body still wouldn't be able to handle all that pressure and power for long."

"You should have lived to your late fifties." And wow, there was some bitterness in there. "The chances of this happening...are lower than could have been expected."

"Well, I mean, I am rather unexpected." At the lack of an answer, Danny patted the ghost's back. "Hey, you could always use denial! Denial, I can attest to, works wonders. Until, you know, your feelings get the better of you, and you're unable to keep lying to yourself, because it never works, and then you end up confessing the secrets you've been burying for months and months right after a massive panic attack. I mean- Wait...wait...I was going somewhere with that…"

"I'm sure you were. Your words, however, seemed to have followed the path of your life, and went off course."

"Ruuude," Danny huffed, pausing for a few seconds. "So, what are the chances of me dying in the next year?" Getting nothing but a rather heavy silence, Danny let out as dramatic a sigh as possible. "Okay, what about within the next two years?"

"Must we truly discuss this?"

"I mean, I don't know. Discussing imminent death seems like something that's pretty important," Danny shrugged, blinking as he noticed just how worn and ragged Clockwork looked, hovering in front of his time mirrors as if he was carrying the weight of worlds - and in a way, Danny supposed he was. "Wow, you look more depressed than Jazz when she thinks I'm not looking."

"Hm, I wonder why that is. Perhaps because someone who I consider to be my child is slowly dying. I believe that is warrant for my stress, Daniel."

"Aw, you do care!" He was very lucky he had quick reflexes, as he barely dodged the time staff aimed for his head. "Whoa, geez, come on man, show a little sympathy, I'm dying here!" Wincing at the whack he had not dodged, he finally sighed. "Yeah, okay, deserved that one."

"Quite." Tower going silent again, Danny quietly stood next to Clockwork's side, rocking back and forth on his heels as he thought of what to say. He was never much of the reassuring type, more the type to nervously offer hugs and then panic. "Sooo… How's...it been going?" Immediately he was groaning as he smacked his forehead. "I'm so bad at this. I don't- I don't do reassurance, Clockwork! Stop being sad!"

"I see you are remarkably dramatic as always, a sign that your health is not deteriorating as fast as you believe."

"Well, hey, I mean...if you're gonna be dramatic, at least do it when you're dying- Okay, okay! No hitting me with the staff, thank you!" Relatively sure that he wasn't about to get hit again, he turned back to the mirrors, looking at them curiously. "So, did you ever find out how I ended up back in the 80s? I mean, it's like a bad remake of Back to the Future- Which makes you Doc Brown… I can see it…"

"Truly, I am unsure if I should worry about you at times, or not," Clockwork grumbled, words contradicting the small smile on his face. "As for figuring out how you ended up traveling through two time portals, marked for specific and exact events in a way that could have only been influenced by outside forces… It worries me that I haven't found something."

"What? The Master of Time unable to see something? Isn't that one of the signifiers for the end of the world, or something?" Danny ignored the rather light glare shot his way, far too used to them as it was, from multiple people. "Is time disintegrating, then? Or is it simply unstable due to an unquantified outside force? Or perhaps a constant was changed that caused a destabilization that affected events in a way they weren't meant to be affected by."

"...I...am unsure how to respond to that." It was one thing for Danny to give random theories, but for them to contain an understanding about time and space, an understanding he shouldn't have for decades, well, that was where things became worrying. "What would make you say those theories?"

"I dunno, they just sound right," Danny shrugged, looking unconcerned at what he had just said, as if unaware of the full potential of his words. "Oh, hey, I've been meaning to ask, were there ever any other timekeepers, or was it just you and Clockwise-"

"Where did you hear that name?" Danny flinched at the tone of voice, looking equal parts confused and concerned at Clockwork's expression.

"Uh- You- You told me? You said he was your teacher...and, um, the Master of Time before you, or, uh, yeah. Is that...bad?" Before Clockwork could struggle to answer, he was interrupted by a bright green dog tackling Danny to the ground. "Ow! What- Cujo! Hey, boy!" Immediately the teen was cuddling the puppy close to him, scratching the top of his head and gushing over how cute he was. "Oh, hey! Cujo! You haven't seen Sam or Tucker or Jazz in ages! Let's go find them, heh, and get a little revenge…"

Clockwork watched as Danny triggered his transformation, giving him a quick hug before zooming away, Cujo following right at his tail. It was a few more seconds before Clockwork let out a weary sigh, hand running down his face, "Too soon...far too soon."

Opening a portal, he flew into it, giving as best a smile he could as Jazz looked up from her work. At once, the woman was sighing, looking ready to knock herself unconscious with her books. "Let me guess...monumental trouble with Danny that involves danger, possible death earlier than expected, and other catastrophes."

"You are remarkably well at guessing, Jasmine."

"It's Jazz," the human stressed, rolling her eyes at the pleasant smile she was given. "Alright, what's the damage this time?"

"Not so much damage as...the possibility of it." At the raised eyebrow he was given, Clockwork let out a sigh. "I wish for you to keep an eye on him as best you can. Things are starting to head in a direction that...shouldn't exist, let alone be possible. And yet from what I've seen…"

"Does this possibility of danger involve worlds ending and multiple people dying?" At the nod, Jazz leaned back in her chair, eyes closed. "And Danny's right in the middle of it, isn't he?"

"It would seem so."

"That boy…" Giving another sigh, Jazz looked back to the ghost. "Alright, I'll keep an eye on him as best I can, but I mean, it's Danny. The chances of keeping him 100% out of trouble are, well, I'm sure you already know the chances."

"Dismal."

::

Andrew looked up from the bookshelf he was re-organizing, again, at hearing Vidya's doors slam shut rather quickly. His confusion only grew when he saw Danny soon standing in front of him, completely drenched in mud, and holding a squirming ghost puppy.

"My plan of revenge backfired dramatically," Danny nodded wisely, Cujo barking his agreement. "It was a good plan, but there were some variables I had not expected...such as Valerie. And, you know, once she's involved, there's no escaping without some form of harm, whether physical or emotional. So. You know. Mud. Mud everywhere. And...and I think poison ivy?"

"Well, to be fair, mud is rather good for poison ivy," Andrew pointed out, doing his best to fight down his laughter. It was hardly his fault if his mate, all five-foot-two of him, drenched and dripping, looked utterly adorable. "Keeps the itching and swelling down."

"Yeah. That was what Sam said. Which is why I'm covered in it." The teen glanced to the carpet he had tracked mud on, looking up apologetically to the ceiling. "Sorry about the mess, Vidya." He took the soothing violin notes as a reassuring thing. "So, um, I know ghosts don't really need bathrooms, but please tell me you have one. I'm pretty sure the mud is drying, and I can't go home yet."

"Why can't you go home?" Andrew asked curiously, already setting his books down as he gestured for the mud-coated teen to follow him, Danny doing so automatically.

"See, my first revenge attempt failed, but not my second. Sam, Tuck, and Val might also be coated in layers of mud. Sam seemed okay with it, she's used to this stuff from working in her greenhouse all the time. Tucker was not happy. Val even less so. I'm pretty sure she was close to going Red Huntress, and that was with me as human. So. Yeah. I'm hiding here. Forever."

"I seem to remember that the last time those words were spoken, you only stayed for a few hours."

"Yeah, well...I don't have a good response. I just. Mud, Andrew. Mud, everywhere." Blinking as he was pushed into a rather pristine, and large, bathroom, Danny happily noted the full and steaming bathtub, a layer of bubbles coating the service. Sending his mental thanks to Vidya, he chuckled as Cujo squirmed out of his arms, running full tilt for the bathtub and jumping in. "Sooo, since you're already here, I mean, you could help. Mud is rather hard to get out of hair, after all. And I mean, at that point you would already be soaking wet, so...you could just, you know, join me."

Danny couldn't say he was surprised as he was shoved into the sunken bathtub, popping up to see the door slamming shut, although not before seeing a furiously blushing Andrew. "Aw, come on, can't you take a joke?!" He supposed the shampoo bottle that hit his forehead meant that Vidya was siding with her owner. "Aw, come on! I was kidding! You know...mostly- No, no! Kidding! Stop throwing things at me!

"Jeez, you two are so-" Flashes of steel and a cold gaze and quick feet and run run run for the Priest with his wings of Death is after you and there is no running there is no hiding there is no escape there is no missed target there is nothing nothing nothing but the flash of steel and the taste of blood and a cruel smile and a cold gaze and dead dead dead so many dead and it was all so wrong wrong wrong but to him it was nothing but right right right and he could learn and grow and be taken away but he would always remember nothing would ever be forgotten every sigh every throw every kill every skill nothing is ever forgotten

Not for a harbinger of death

Andrew was startled out of his reading by the sudden weight in his lap, a glance showing it to be a clean Danny, almost drowned out by the too large shirt and pair of pants he had on. "Did you take care of your poison ivy rash?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. Vidya found me something for it." Andrew raised an eyebrow at the quiet tone of voice, absently wondering if something was wrong as he watched Cujo struggle to jump onto the couch, finally clawing his way up and padding onto Danny's back. From what Andrew could tell, the puppy was more of a ball of poofed up fur, than anything. "Hey, Andrew…"

"Yes?"

"I...think I had another one of those weird rampage things, only, you know, not the rampage part. Just...weird flashes, sort of like… I don't know, memories? It's all...blurred. I just...it felt...bad." Feeling the gentle scratching to his scalp, the teen let out a breath he hadn't known he had been holding, fists clenched to the scarf around his neck. "Not evil bad, but just...something was wrong? I think it's fixed now, but it still feels like it could go wrong again..."

"And do you think it will go wrong?" Danny could only remember blurs and impressions. Steel and paper. The colors black and purple. The smell of blood and the smell of parchment. Cold gazes and clever smiles. Quick feet and steady hands. It was the vaguest of pictures, and yet…

"No...it won't."

::

Flames and fire and it was your fault yours yours yours yours yours yours IT WAS ALL YOUR FAULT if you had just stayed where you were and waited for help or even left as soon as you realized but you didn't and because you didn't you caused that mess and it was all on your head every struggling breath and dying gasp aND WHY COULDN'T YOU JUST RUN WHEN YOU HAD THE CHANCE but no you had to do what was right you had to do what history commanded you had to do as you were told and wouldn't it be better if you never had to do that again if you never had to listen to anyone if you could just do what you wanted

anD wHy dON't yOu

Danny Fenton woke up with a gasp, heart racing and eyes wide as his transformation rings sprung forth, turning him into his ghostly half as he started shaking, eyes switching between a toxic green and an icy blue. Leaping into the air, he phased down into the basement, activating the portal and rushing through, flying as if he was being chased by the nightmares themselves - and in a way, he was.

By the time he started slowing down, exhausted and worn out, he found himself in front of the Clock Citadel, which really, it made far too much sense. Nervously touching down in front of the doors, he flittered inside as they opened at once. Nervous energy keeping him in the air, and hands clutching the scarf around his neck in a death grip, he finally found himself in the main tower, Clockwork looking over at him curiously. "Daniel? What are you doing here so late?"

"And you call yourself the Master of Time," Danny humphed, Clockwork only raising his eyebrow as Danny flew to the armchair he usually sat in, curling up tight and twitching every few seconds.

"I do, in fact. It just so happens, however, as a half ghost, you have a...loose grasp, on the timelines, as it were." At the confused look, Clockwork rolled his eyes with a fond smile. "It means I am unable to see the smaller choices in your life, or the ones made suddenly, and unexpectedly. The same is true of Danielle and Vladimir."

"So...does this mean that one day I can finally sneak up on you?"

"Dare to dream, Daniel." Hearing nothing but silence, instead of the expected witty comeback, Clockwork worriedly flew over to the teenager, who curled up in the chair even more. "Daniel? Is everything alright?"

"I mean...it had to happen, right? If it didn't, then I might never have met him. If I hadn't done what I did, then things would have changed, things would have been wrong...but...it hurts. Things like that can't be changed, or stopped. And Andrew doesn't even blame me- He completely and absolutely understands- And it's so frustrating. I want someone to be angry at me, I want someone to hate me for what I did - because...because then...maybe I'd be justified in hating myself…"

"Oh, Daniel…" Danny didn't fight the hug he was pulled into, and instead gave a small sigh.

"When did right and wrong start becoming so hard to tell apart…"

Morals can be rather gray, can't they?