Janus
He remembered being that kid, that helpless, exhausted, worried 14-year-old, standing in front of the Nasty Burger as a shock wave rippled and tore through the air, invisible to the eye but burning hot and almost looking like cold, cold water in the air.
He remembered his older self (or himself… he wasn't really sure anymore) vanishing with a laugh, a twisted smirk on his face that showed off his pointed fangs, the light of the explosion burning reds and oranges on that pale, pale blue face.
He remembered falling to his knees on the concrete, ignoring the way it bit into his skin, and ignoring the red, red blood that slowly leaked onto the rough surface, and cursing time, precious time he could have used to save them. Where was Clockwork? Where was a Time Medallion when he could have used one?
Time, he mused to himself, was a funny thing. He clearly remembered these events. He remembered far, far to clearly, remembered splitting Plasmius and tearing his human self apart in rage and the despair that should have gone away and yet was so present in that moment. It was gone now, of course, falling to dust in an empty place where humanity, empathy, would have resided. Yet, he just as clearly remembered being that floating, malevolent monster, fangs bared, laughter echoing through the air, and the horror in the blue, blue (or were they green?) eyes of a young 14-year-old.
How could he function, learning of Clockwork as that helpless 14-year-old for the first time, and yet both seeing his work for the first time, and knowing who he was at the same time? He shouldn't have known the time ghost at all… but he had as he obviously had recognized the Time Medallions as they hung from the necks of a specific trio of helpless, time lost children. The confusion was tearing his mind apart in violent, vicious chunks.
HOW!, he roared to himself, DID CLOCKWORK JUSTIFY TURNING HIM INTO A MONSTER AND SAVING HIM IN THE SAME MOMENT? For, essentially, that was what had happened. He had allowed this dark, dark, version of one Daniel Fenton to manifest itself… and yet, he stepped in to stop it from happening a second time?
Paradox ate away at his mind, helpless as he was inside the Fenton Thermos. Why, if the ghost hybrid had known what he would turn into, had he allowed Vlad to pull his human and ghost halves apart? That time was cloudy in his mind, a mass of grief, confusion, and terrible, terrible, loss. Still, he should have known about his future, about Clockwork… it was an aching pain in his head even as he thrashed and writhed within his prison.
And so, the corruption of the time stream presented itself in the form of the degradation of a mind that could no longer afford decay. The decay ate and ate, and it wasn't long until all that was left was a rolling mass of anger, an emotion he should have lost when he abandoned his humanity.
He had come to a conclusion. That goddamned Clockwork was to blame for everything! Clockwork would die by the hand of the hybrid of the ghosts of hybrids. It was his destiny… after all Time itself had played its hand to create it… it must have a brilliant, brilliant destiny awaiting it.
The hybrid bared its fangs in the nothingness of the Fenton Thermos, a nasty smile curling its lips. He could wait for his revenge. Now, Time would be on his side. Revenge was, of course, a dish best served cold.
an Okay, this is probably confusing. This is based off a rather innocuous sentence in TUE, where Dark Danny looks at the Time Medallion around, I believe, Sam's neck and says something to the effect of, "Clockwork is meddling again." Where outside of the events that take place in the 'present' would Dark Danny meet Clockwork? He had to have gone through the same thing the present day Danny did… only loosing the battle to save his friends and family (and Mr. Lancer… but I'm sure he wasn't at the top of Danny's list.) This may be expanded and worked over some in a few days, to add to it making sense to anyone other than me.