Danny was having a rough day.

It started when, at three in the morning, Skulker decided to pay him a visit via the loudest fucking flying scooter that Danny had ever heard in his life, which, mixed with him being literally slammed into the side of a brick building only minutes afterwards, led to a pounding migraine that left him in a heap on the sidewalk for a little over an hour, surrounded by the crushed bits of Skulker's metal suit.

At seven fifty-five, he woke up way late. As in, the-final-bell-rings-in-five-minutes-and-I-can't-find-a-shirt-that-doesn't-smell-like-dead-cow late. And then Mr. Lancer, his homeroom teacher, gave him a detention when he slid into the room two minutes after the final bell, wearing one of his dad's giant Fenton Works sweatshirts with nothing underneath. Five minutes after he sat down, breathing laboriously, his ghost sense went off and he had to rush out of the room with a quick, "I have to go to the bathroom!" which resulted in another detention, as he hadn't been given permission to leave the classroom.

And then, as the gosh diddly darn icing on the cake, Dash Baxter met him in the hallway after second period and tripped Danny as they passed. "Oh, so sorry!" He had exclaimed overdramatically, and then he grabbed the fabric of Danny's tired old backpack and tore a hole right through the bottom. His books and crumpled papers went flying and he ended up late for third period.

Oh, he almost forgot to mention: Clockwork hadn't been leaving him alone. It was always Ghost King this, Ghost King that. Danny couldn't handle being the Ghost King, he was positive. Sure, he hadn't had his coronation yet, but Clockwork was always mentioning training and studying. The first time his mentor brought up studying, Danny had laughed in his face. He didn't even have time to study for his vocabulary tests, for fuck's sake. Why couldn't Clockwork just be the Ghost King? He seemed perfectly capable.

Danny had decided that he couldn't do this anymore.

Rather than heading for the lunchroom, he trotted down the hall and towards the office. He stopped before turning the corner, put on the most pain-filled face he could muster, and slowly stepped out and made his way to the office desk.

"Yes?" said Ms. Coverly, the secretary.

"I feel really sick," said Danny, forcing his voice to become hoarse. "I feel like I'm gonna throw up."

Ms. Coverly had pulled a face, eyed him up and down, and muttered, "You do look a bit pale…"

Internally, Danny had taken that offensively. Externally, he nodded weakly.

Ms. Coverly sighed and ran a hand through her ridiculously teased hair. "Alright, I'll call your parents."

"Can you call my sister instead? My parents are really busy at work."

"Uh …"

Danny coughed so hard his throat had actually started to hurt, making sure not to cover his mouth.

Ms. Coverly had pulled out the phone before Danny's cough was finished. "What's your sister's number?"

And then he was in Jazz's car, smiling broadly at her as she scowled down at him. "Just because I'm on break for the month does not mean you can call me willy-nilly and pretend to be sick.

"You're a blessing, Jazz. Bless you." Danny had put his hands together as though praying, bowing twice.

Jazz had sighed heavily.

This was what was running through his head as he floated aimlessly through the quiet green abyss that was the Ghost Zone, turning onto his back and supporting his head with his hands. My life kinda sucks, he told himself. Just a little bit. But, hey, at least I finally got this moment of silence to myself.

And then he was falling.

Danny's back hit soft grass and he flailed, yelling even after he was already on solid ground. It took him several more disorientating moments before his head wrapped around what had happened.

He'd fallen through a natural ghost portal.

Danny groaned, squeezed his eyes shut, and took a few moments before lifting up his head to observe where he'd ended up. Then he heard a noise that sounded a lot like a mixture of crackling electricity and rushing wind from behind, and he turned his head quickly towards where the portal had been.

Key words: had been. It was gone. Behind it, a crowd of befuddled people stood watching him. Someone screamed out something in a foreign language, and pitchforks seemed to materialize out of thin air.

"Fuck," Danny said.

"AAAAH!" The villagers said.

They were upon him before he could blink, and Danny caught a glance at the sharp end of a pitchfork pointed directly at his skull before he phased through the ground and ended up behind the crowd.

"Clockwork, I could really use your help here!" Danny shouted, which was, apparently, a mistake, because the villagers spun on their heel and came running after him once more. A pitchfork narrowly missed his head.

"CLOCKWORK. I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME." Danny screamed, twisting around trees but trying not to stray too far from where the natural portal had dropped him off. He was hoping and praying that it would just show up in the same place and take him back to his time, where he could flop into his bed and fall asleep. You know, now that he thought about it, leaving his room had been a Bad Idea. He never should have entered the Ghost Zone. Bad things always happened when he entered the Ghost Zone.

Something heavy hit him in the back of his head and he hit the ground hard, later colliding with a tree. Several leaves showered down upon him.

Danny's bleary eyes stared down at what had caused his fall. A rock. Some fucking villager hit him in the head with a fucking rock. That migraine that he'd gotten at three in the morning from Skulker came back full force.

"Cwockwork," Danny muttered, his tongue feeling swollen in his mouth. He could taste blood.

And then the scene disappeared, and he was lying on a metal floor surrounded by clocks. His head continued to swim.

"Now, you sure did fail that test, didn't you?" A familiar voice queried, and purple robes floated into view.

"Twest?"

"Of course. To become king of the Ghost Zone, you must undergo a series of highly intensive tests. Your reliance on me was a bit concerning. You must figure out how to solve problems by yourself, Danny."

"I fackin' hat yoo, Cwockwork."

"We'll work on your language tomorrow, hm?"

And then Danny passed out.

im so behind on dannymay that its funny.

anyway, im too tired to really talk right now. honestly, i don't know how i managed to write this chapter. it's a little strange and ooc for clockwork and rly rly strays from the moment in time / clocks concept, but hey, oh well.

pls review ! i love to hear your thoughts, whether good or bad (dont send all out hate tho i have a low enough self esteem as it is)

xx

ps: to those that are reviewing, im rly sry that im not responding. ive just been soo incredibly busy lately. i just want you to know that i appreciate your reviews nontheless and i do read them. i promise. i also love them and they make me cry tears of joy, so there's that too.