Clockwork floated in the center of a room full of empty mirrors and glared around him. "Now, would you mind telling me exactly what that little fiasco was supposed to prove?" The prevailing silence was decidedly embarrassed.

"We were…" one of the Guardians began. It trailed off, but another picked up the sentence.

"We were bored," it confessed. "Eons of doing nothing but watching…you know how it feels."

"You have meddled, too, Master of Time," a third chastised.

"Yes," Clockwork agreed. "I have meddled. There is a very pronounced difference between meddling and altering the course of an entire world's future." One of the mirrors flashed an image of the evil Dan Phantom. "That was official meddling, and you know it!"

"We know," it said slyly.

"Be gone, Master of Time!" commanded yet another. "Our business is none of your concern."

"It becomes my concern when you recruit one of my charges," Clockwork pointed out. "Very well; I'm leaving. Next time, ask first." He disappeared before they could debate further. He knew what they were going to say, and they would be right. He would have said, "No."

Phantom looked around cautiously at the empty room. He was in the lab, and the distinct lack of a ghost prison told him that it was his lab. He sighed happily at being home again, where he could go by Danny again, and reverted to human mode. That was the longest time he had ever remained in ghost mode, and he was happy to see he wasn't suffering any ill effects from it. Except that he was quite suddenly aware that he had not eaten in two or three days.

He quietly snuck upstairs to see Sam, Tucker, and Jazz leaning over the kitchen table, deep in conversation. His parents were nowhere in evidence, so he walked the rest of the way in. "Hey, guys!" Instantly, he was surrounded by blessedly familiar faces, all demanding to know where he had been and was he okay. He laughed slightly, but inwardly he was anxious. "Geeze, how long have I been gone?" he asked, trying to make light of things.

"Almost two hours!" Jazz exclaimed. She noticed her brother's obvious sigh of relief, but Sam spoke before she could ask.

"We were getting ready to come in after you!"

"Are you okay?" Tucker interrupted. "What happened?"

"Okay, first of all," Danny began. "I haven't eaten in three days, and I'm very hungry. I'll tell you about it over dinner."

"Dude, it's midnight," Tucker informed him.

"Whatever."

In another world, another Danny flew across the night sky. He was grounded for leaving the house, but his dad hadn't thought to set up the Ghost Shield. It was really easy to sneak out when a person could walk through walls.

Aside from going invisible or intangible at odd, inconvenient times, having ghost powers was great. Flying was his second favorite part. His first favorite was the fact that all the shielded communities were unnecessary; that the ruin he saw below him would finally be restored to its former glory; and that he had helped in that.

He hovered motionless for a while to brush the emblem on his chest. He was Danny Phantom, now, having adopted his double's name. He wouldn't be here now, if not that other Danny. Vlad would still hold his mother prisoner; evil ghosts would still stalk the streets. Amity Park didn't need to be afraid anymore, though. And Danny Phantom was here to-

Blue transformation rings appeared suddenly to turn him human and drop him about a dozen feet before he recovered. He decided it would probably be wise to fly a little lower until he got better control of that. But he would get control. Someone had to keep Amity Park safe, after all.

A/N: Now, before you ask, I'm not answering any question about whether or not AU Danny will be making a repeat performance. Well, maybe just one. There is an idea in the back of my head. But even if it does happen, it won't be for while.

For those of you just starting to read my work, this is my fifth story. The others are, in order, Pandora's Box, Electric Rhapsody, Starcrossed, and The Dark Angel. You can find the list in my profile, along with a really cool poem I wrote.

Thank you all for reading, and your kind words. I honestly can't believe I haven't gotten any flames yet, not that I'm complaining. Anyway, next story is that crossover I was telling you guys about. Don't worry if you've never played the Suffering; just pretendit's like any other fic of mine. I explain everything you need to know in the prologue.