Wait, what? Is this really happening? Is this real? Yes, yes it is! I am updating not even one hour after posting my last chapter!
I know, this one is a short one, and some of you are probably thinking I could have just combined the two, but no!
As a future author, I organize my chapters like one, and separation is done for a reason. Hope you guys enjoy getting a lot of questions answered.
FanficFan920: Yes! The Master of Time returns!
Looney Aces: Oh, yes. We'll have some fun with that later
Ahksirir: Thanks!
Enjoy!
"Time out." Clockwork's voice reverberated around the Ghost Zone, and everything stilled. The sky stopped swirling, the ghosts that had not been willing to help Amity fight—and there had been many of them—halted midflight, and the mindless blobs of ectoplasm that had yet to form into sentient ghosts ceased there floating. Everything but Clockwork, Danny, and a certain lair was always tick-tick-ticking away.
Another perk of Clockwork's gift, the cloak Danny bore, was that it removed the necessity of time medallions.
"What is it you would like to know?" Clockwork asked as he started floating away, in the direction of the Fenton Portal no less. Danny followed.
"You already know what my questions are."
"Yes, but I'd prefer to hear you ask them, this time."
Danny sighed, and complied the request. Apparently, this would be one of those times when Clockwork would like to pretend that he didn't know absolutely everything that was, is, and will be.
"The mark, first off. I'd like to know where that came from." Danny's had rose to press the spot on the back of his neck, where he knew the skull would be. He had found it by chance, a couple weeks ago, when deleting photos Jazz had secretly taken of him on her camera.
"Your suspicions are correct," Clockwork answered, causing Danny to scowl.
"I'd prefer to hear you say it," Danny countered hotly.
"Very well. It is the mark of the Ancients, bestowed on you not long after you defeated Pariah."
"So there's no avoiding it, the whole king thing you told me about?"
"What is there to avoid?"
"I don't know what kings do! And does this mean that I have to leave Amity? Because you know that I won't."
"I'm afraid, Danny, that you are misunderstanding the role that a king of ghosts has." Clockwork smiled at the puzzled halfa beside him. "You read the textbook?"
"With Kraeva in it? Yeah."
"So you know how the role of King of the Ghost Zone came about."
Danny nodded, despite the fact that Clockwork hadn't actually asked a question.
"It's my turn to ask you, what do you think the king of ghosts does?"
"Brings order to the Ghost Zone?" Danny shrugged, recalling what the book Dora had supplied him with said.
"Yes. Now, one more. Frostbite, Princess Dorathea, and Pandora are rulers in the Ghost Zone?"
"Yeah," Danny nodded again, not understanding where Clockwork was going with this.
"They bring order to their own sections of the Ghost Zone, as well as maintaining relations between each other. The king of ghosts is not required to do such things." Clockwork paused a moment, giving Danny time to process what he had just said, before continuing. "The king of ghosts is the most powerful ghost for a reason. They exist, to keep those like Kraeva and Pariah, from taking over and instilling a tyrannical rule upon the Ghost Zone, or the human realm."
"So it's just a title? It doesn't actually mean anything, or come with any power?" A flood of relief washed over Danny. His brief stint as commander of the Amity Park forces had proved he was an adept leader, but that didn't mean that it was a position he was wholly comfortable with and, as he told Clockwork, there was no way he would leave Amity Park to take up such a role.
"It is just a title, but that does not mean it lacks power. I believe this brings us to your second question?"
"If the Ancients were able to defeat Kraeva the first time around, and Pariah as well, why is it necessary to have someone else to do it?"
"It is true that the Ancients bear such intense power, but it can be a burden. I believe Pariah once told you something similar?"
"Yeah, he did." Danny swerved to avoid running into a frozen ghost, recognizably one of the first two ghosts he had ever fought, and a native of the Ghost Zone.
"After defeating Kraeva, they're powers were drained. While working together they were strong, the toll it had was heavy. Those markings on you face, have you seen them?"
"Sam showed them to me. Like lightning bolts, right?" Danny held up his hand and allowed a burst of electricity to crackle across his palm as demonstration.
"Yes. Those markings are conduits, as is the skull on the back of your neck. Both of which are responsible for you surge of power. I believe that was going to be your next question? The Ancients were quick to realize the fault in their powers. If another enemy arose soon after the first was defeated, they would be unable to fight. Their solution was the king of ghosts. A chosen ghost, one powerful and good, would receive their mark, the one on the back or your neck now. This mark would allow the Ancients to bestow their combined power, through you, on top of your own. By removing the need for their physical involvement, the Ancients were given the opportunity to constantly gather power, so that when the fight was over, the Ghost Zone would not be left defenseless."
"Okay, but what does that have to do with these?" Danny brushed his fingers against his jaw, and the black marks he knew were there."
"Patience, Daniel, is a virtue, and one you do no always express. But given the circumstances, it is understandable. The skull allows the Ancients to bestow their power on you, but the other markings channel that power throughout your body. If, for some reason, you were to remove you jumpsuit, you would see that almost your entire body would be covered in the design."
"How come it took so long for me to gain this power? I could have used it when I first met Kraeva, and prevented all of this from happening." Danny scowled, thinking of Hayden, who never should have died, who would have died if he had this power before. It really was all his fault. All my fault. All my fault, all my fault, all my-
"Such a strong transfer of power takes time," Clockwork's voice cut into Danny's thoughts, bringing him back to the present conversation. "Because the Ancients have been subdued for many years, they did not immediately realize that it was Kraeva who was rising in power. It also pains me to say that I was restricted from informing them of the development, but the time stream remains on the right path either way. The Ancients discovered the culprit not long before you did, and it was only when you first faced off against Kraeva that they started to gather their power, a process that is certainly not quick. Once the power had been gathered, it was transferred to you, but the disruption in your mental state caused you to use some of it before it was ready, so the conducting marks did not succeed in enveloping your body. Until you were beaten back by Kraeva, the power had been slowly spreading through your body, occasionally leaking out, until the conduit circuit had been completed, and the full force of the power had been unleashed. It would also seem that your determined state of mind accelerated the affects even further."
Danny stared down at his hands, and slowly removed the white gloves. Just as Clockwork had said, they were covered in thin jagged lines. As he was staring at his fingers, Danny remembering something important about Pariah.
"What about the crown and ring? Pariah hadn't been able to obtain his full power without them."
"Unlike the markings, the Ring of Rage and the Crown of Fire accelerate your own abilities, those obtained without assistance of the Ancients. They were created to help reduce the amount of power it would be necessary for you to borrow."
"I think I have a few more questions…" Danny hesitated, watching Clockwork nod. "Why did the Ancients disappear after they defeated Pariah? I'm assuming that it didn't actually take them that long to regain their power, so why didn't they come back?"
"One of the downsides of the mark of the Ancients, is that it can only be removed from a ghost when it is being passed on to another. At the time of Pariah's defeat, there was no other candidate for the mark, and so he was defeated while he still bore it. In the sarcophagus, Pariah must have discovered a way to leech the Ancients of their power while they were gathering, preventing them from recovering from the fight, as well as sustaining him while he was locked away. If it weren't for the mark, Pariah would have been weak and easily defeated once Vlad released him from the sarcophagus, but instead he had been able to remain strong. Once released, he had been unable to take all of the Ancients gathered power, because it required action on their side, but he was still strong enough that it would not be necessary."
"Oh, and once I defeated Pariah, and the mark was passed to me, they were able to start gathering power again?"
"Exactly. Although a large amount of their power was given to you during this fight, so I doubt that we will be seeing them any time soon."
Danny nodded in understanding, overwhelmed by everything he had just heard. "Will the markings go away?"
"Until the next time it is necessary for you to borrow their power, yes, they will for the most part, although the skull will always remain, and you may be left with a few scars do to the burning of the power. Your eyes will return to normal as well, once this fight is over and you no longer need the influence of the Ancients."
"My eyes?" Danny held a hand up to his face, and noticed the absence of a telltale glow, either green or red.
"You needn't worry about them."
"Okay. Oh, before I forget, how did I survive, in the shield?"
"I got you out, of course. When we altered the time stream, you became my ward and my responsibility, I couldn't have you die so soon. Now, is there anything else that you wish to know?" Clockwork asked. Really, every question Danny was currently thinking was already coursing through the powerful ghost's mind, but he knew that Danny only had one.
"Am I… going to be okay?" Danny asked.
Clockwork smiled sadly at him as they stopped in front of the Fenton Portal, luckily still open from when Skulker brought reinforcements earlier. Despite the emotion Danny put in to his question, his pale eyes were surprisingly dull. Clockwork handed Danny a cloth, which the halfa used to carefully wipe all traces of blood from his face.
"In time, Daniel, you will be."
So what do you think of my twist on the King Danny theory? I didn't want to go along with normal way of thinking (as some of you have said about my story previously) and for the Phantom Secrets universe, this is how the theory works out! (FYI, Phantom Secrets is the official title of the series, and any stories falling within its parameters)
'See' you next time!