Dealing with parents can be tough.

Warnings for : panic/anxiety when dealing with parental figure, possible reference to emotional neglect/abuse

Chapter Thirty Four - Tick Tock

::

Jazz Fenton blinked as she suddenly found herself...not where she should be. She had been walking down the street to return library books, and now she was looking around a place that was suited to a medieval movie. Taking a few steps forward, and hearing a dull ticking that seemed out of sync with the hundreds of clocks she saw, she silently tried to piece things together.

"Clocks, ticking, tower. Right. Clockwork's. Must be bad if he summoned me here…" Walking around aimlessly for a few minutes, she finally stumbled upon said time ghost, who was quietly muttering under his breath as he floated back and forth between dozens of mirrors. The one in the center, she noticed, was the largest, others branching out that ranged from equal size, to those as small as hand mirrors.

"No, no, no, no, no...not yet, it shouldn't be happening yet… Not ever." The rest of the words trailed off into what she cautiously pegged as Latin, as well as...German? Making silent note of it, she walked closer again, wondering if he realized she was behind him.

"Clockwork?" At the startled jump and turn of his head, she took that as a no, he hadn't know she was behind him. "Is there a reason you put a portal in front of me?"

"I...did what?" And, wow, no. That was not reassuring her. Not at all. The Master of Time being clueless about her being in his lair. That was the opposite of reassuring, really.

"I'm assuming it was you, considering the portal was blue." At the look that only grew more confused, Jazz sighed. "Either you did it and you forgot, or you did it without realizing."

"The latter certainly sounds plausible," Clockwork admitted quietly, nervously glancing back to his time mirrors. Jazz noticed that he was acting less like the wise old master he pretended to be, and more like a panicked adult who had messed up and didn't know how to fix the mess that had been caused. "Time is moving in a way that it shouldn't...and I can't see what's causing it."

"Well, that sounds rather worrying." Worried, Jazz lightly nibbled at her lower lip, trying to figure out what could be happening. When a thought came to her, she paused and let out a sigh, "Let me guess…"

"Daniel is right in the center of it, yes."

"One day. Just one day of peace is all I ask for. But, no. I have to get the kid destined to save worlds and timelines. Of course." Seeing the tray of cookies that was floating in front of her, she slowly raised her eyebrow at Clockwork, who nervously shrugged.

"I don't receive much company, Jasmine. The two that do visit are children, and often soothed by cookies." Jazz nodded, grabbing one of the cookies and chewing it viciously.

"Lucky for you, I rather like cookies. Now, explain this to me. Just what is going on?"

"It...might take a while to explain." In response, Jazz walked over to the same armchair Danny used, sitting down and looking back to Clockwork with a raised eyebrow.

"Does it look like I'm going anywhere?"

"No...it doesn't…"

::

"If I went invisible in the middle of class...how startled do you think everyone would be?" Danny asked curiously, feet in Sam's lap as the class enjoyed the free day the substitute teacher had given them in History. Sam, on her part, had her own feet propped up on her desk, tapping away on her phone. "And stop moving, do you know how hard it is to draw moving people?"

"I'm just surprised you're drawing when people can see you," Sam snorted, glancing up to see Danny with his tongue slightly out, pencil smoothly traveling across the sketchbook. It was little surprise that most of it was filled with drawings of his mate. especially now that he could see the lines he drew better with his glasses. "And I think they'd be fairly startled."

"Mm, maybe not," Tucker pointed out, working away on his own laptop, mostly in code. "Amity's been getting pretty used to ghosts, except, you know, the last fight."

"Yeaaah, the last fight set everyone on edge," Sam nodded, tapping Danny on his ankle. "Anything we need to talk about?"

"I don't think so," Danny spoke, giving a pause of consideration. "I already talked with Andrew about it, so I'm not keeping things bottled up. And I feel fine emotionally, or as fine as I can. So, you know. Not as bad as it could be- Hey, have either of you seen Vlad recently?"

"I don't think I've seen him since the time you and GW switched cores," Tucker frowned, looking up from his screen. "Think he's plotting something?"

"He's always plotting something," Danny snorted, drawing speed slowing down. "I'm just worried that this time it might be something a bit more serious than usual...the last time he was gone this long resulted in Pariah waking up, and Elle forming. Seriously, he has knowledge of the Ghost Zone I'll never have! What if he is planning something-"

"Then the ghosts would tell you," Sam cut in, soothing his worries. "Danny, the ghosts love you, and everyone's getting along thanks to that truce. If they saw anything bad, word would get back to you." At the reassuring words, Danny nodded, slightly relaxing. "Besides, Vlad never stays quiet for too long."

"Yeah, I guess so," Danny sighed, adding the finishing touches to his drawing of Sam, who had on her usual, condescending smirk. For all that his friend could be rude, mean, and quite brash, she was also someone he would never want to lose. "Time will tell, I guess."

"Everything is a time pun to you now, isn't it?" Tucker asked, rolling his eyes at Danny's poorly contained snickers. "This is what we call having a problem, Danny. Being unable to resist terrible humor-"

"I have great humor!" At the look shared between his friends, Danny huffed and hid behind his sketchbook. "So, yeah, it's mostly puns and witty banter-"

"Witty banter that isn't that witty-"

"You are cruel, Sammy!"

::

The second Danny arrived home, he headed for the basement, stopping in his tracks at seeing his mother at the table, sipping a cup of coffee and reading one of her old science magazines. "Oh, uh, hi, Mom? I thought you and Dad went to that conference?"

"Yes, well, your father stayed behind, but I rather thought it was time to return home," Maddie smiled, Danny resisting the urge to take a step back, mentally scolding himself for even thinking it. This was his mom, granted she was a little hard on him at times...but he would be fine. "How was school? First day back, and all?"

"Oh, uh, great, I guess," Danny shrugged, eyes unable to quite meet his mother's. The last time she had asked about his day at school he had been 12, and in middle school. "Sam, Tuck, and I got into most of the same classes."

"That's good," Maddie smiled, taking a sip of her coffee. "Tell me, Danny, have you seen anything strange happening with the ghosts?"

"S-Strange? Like what?" Stay calm, Danny. Stay calm. She was just asking about the ghosts, there was no need to worry, or think about nightmares, or cold metal tables- "I mean, they seem to be acting normally."

"That's just it, though...they haven't been acting normal for almost a year, now. Out of nowhere they just...stopped fighting. No more hurting humans, no more fighting each other, no more chaos… Just perfectly getting along with humans."

"Yeah, I guess? I mean, most of Amity Park seems pretty okay with them." He had to work at keeping the note of pride out of his voice. "Is that...bad?"

"I hardly need to tell you that ghosts aren't human, right?" Suppressing a sigh, Danny quietly nodded. "Once, they might have been...but now, they're nothing but echos, faint imprints left behind with no true humanity." That was wrong though, wasn't it? He had been practically living with a ghost for almost a year...and there was no way what she said was true. "They've never been hesitant of causing chaos before, so I'm wondering...what's made them stop now?"

"Maybe...they learned the error of their ways?"

"Mm, dare to dream," Maddie chuckled, although Danny noticed there was a bitter edge to it, one that cut through him like a knife. "Well, I suppose I should get back to work," Maddie sighed, standing up and closing her magazine. "Your father and I are starting a new type of cannon, one meant to drain ghost energy and damage them at the same time- Although we're not quite sure how to work out the power usage, yet."

"Sounds, uh, powerful," Danny nervously smiled, making a mental note to stay away from any attempts at the weapon. He could speak from experience that having his energy drained wasn't fun. "Guess you'll be in the lab all day, huh?"

"For the next few days, I suppose, until we get the blueprints nailed down," Maddie sighed, glancing back at her son. "Remember what I said, Danny-"

"Yeah, I know, ghosts are evil-"

"No...that ghosts betray." With that, the basement door was closed quietly, Danny clutching his bag tighter and wondering why he was filled with overwhelming terror. He knew his mom hated ghosts, he had always know that, but this time… It sounded like she knew ghosts, or had known them… And what did she meant betray? She- She couldn't know that he-

Mentally deciding that he would visit Andrew tomorrow, when his mom would most likely be asleep, he headed for his room, nervously watching every shadow, and flinching at every noise. Something about his talk with his mom...wasn't sitting right with him. There was something he was missing. Something…

"Of all the times to be clueless…"

He had a feeling the future might not be a good one.

::

Curling up tighter on the top of the OPs center, Danny quietly looked down to his hands, which were faintly glowing. He had noticed that his aura, in his ghost form, had been getting dimmer. It was particularly bad at night, when it was more noticeable. One of the reasons that he worked hard at staying human, so as to not worry anyone.

"You think a ghost would at least be smart enough to not rest on top of a ghost hunter's house." Tensing up at the familiar voice, he glanced back, working at swallowing down the fear he felt. Maddie was standing behind him, shawl wrapped around her shoulders from the cool night air. "Hello, Phantom. Late night flight?"

"You- Uh, you could say that," Danny mumbled, quietly floating up, keeping himself as small as possible. He really, really didn't want to get shot at. "Can't sleep?"

"In a way, I suppose," Maddie shrugged, looking uncaring as she glanced over the city. "Is there a reason you decided to visit?"

"Um- Just...this has one of the best views, I guess. And flying can get kind of tiring." She wasn't shooting or threatening him, at any rate. He supposed that was good. He hoped that was good. "I...I can leave?"

"For some reason, I can't get the thought out of my head that the sudden ghostly peace has to do with you." Danny nervously backed away again, Maddie only looking at him with an amused look. "It's safe to say you've changed their minds before...so why not again?"

"I- I wouldn't really say changed their minds," Danny shrugged, floating away another few inches. "More, like, well, um. They don't all want to fight, and those that do stopped going after humans- I just… Things are peaceful. Isn't that good?"

"And yet the other day you condemned a ghost, one of your own, to death?" At the shocked expression on his face, Maddie gave a humorless chuckle. "Ghosts are my life, Phantom, and this is my town. You think I don't know what goes on?"

"She...I won't say evil, but she certainly wasn't good," Danny defended, resolute in his decision the other day. "She terrorized humans and ghosts alike. When she first appeared, she almost killed your children!"

"Yes, I gathered as much," Maddie frowned, crossing her arms. "I'm certainly not missing her...but it left me wondering. You didn't even destroy that ghost, did you? You had another one do it for you? In fact, with a little persuasion here and there, it seems the ghosts will do anything you say."

"I can tell you for a fact that's not true," Danny snorted. "I just try to get them to see what's right and wrong, and hope for the best from there. But, um, what's your point, here?"

"On some level, you can control the ghosts, influence them into making choices that they normally wouldn't. I'm just wondering, if you decide you get bored of this town and it's humans, or if someone controls you… What's to stop those ghosts from destroying us all?"

"I'd never let that happen!" Danny snapped, fists clenched tightly. "This is my home, too, you know!" At the raised eyebrow, Danny shrunk back, wondering if he had said too much.

"How old are you, Phantom?"

"H-Huh?"

"How old are you." The second time, it wasn't a question. Swallowing, Danny gave a light shrug, looking back to the ground.

"Around sixteen?" He hesitantly spoke, giving another shrug. "Like, how old am I total? Or how old in ghost? Or-"

"How old were you when you died?" Looking up in question and shock, Danny shrunk back at the analyzing gaze in his mother's eyes. He knew she was remembering every word he said, and every action he took. It was something that didn't exactly reassure him, either.

"F-Fourteen." Not technically a lie, at least. He had died when he was fourteen. Sort of.

"You've been a ghost for only two years...and you already have this much power. I wonder how much more power you can hold before it destroys you." Danny watched as she turned on her heel and headed back for the latch, not saying another word to him as she closed it behind her. Panting heavily now, and slightly shaking, he shot down towards the lab, through the portal in seconds.

By the time he arrived at Vidya's, it was close to three am, and he was just barely keeping his transformation together, as evidenced by the fact he fell right out of the air when he arrived on the steps, completely human when he landed on the ground. Hearing worried notes play in his head, he didn't respond, instead choosing to curl up tighter, heart pounding in his chest in...what? Fear? Anxiety? Worry? Adrenaline?

Recoiling at the feeling of something nearby, he looked up to see the two lions, both sniffing him and pawing at him in worry. Not getting a response, he saw one huff, Mufasa, before picking him up with his teeth, carrying him into the library. It was a few moments until the two lions phased into Andrew's bedroom, Sasha pawing at the ghost until she finally pulled him out of bed.

"Ugh! This is why I wanted you deactivated at night! You're like goddamn cats who can get into my room without a fucking care in the world!" Blearily searching for his glasses, Vidya finally throwing them at his head, he grumbled and put them on, shocked when he saw Danny dropped into his lap. He was further confused when the teen immediately clung to him, shoulders shaking, and quiet sobs leaving him.

"I… Right. For now, we're going back to sleep. Then we can talk about what the hell is going on in the morning," Andrew sighed tiredly, carefully pulling Danny to bed, and throwing the covers over them. He had just gotten his eyes closed when he heard two loud thumps, one of the lions sitting on the edge of the bed, while the other sat in the floor next to them. "Twenty years. Twenty years of peace and silence...shattered."

He sighed as one of the lions licked him happily.

It becomes a habit.