Clockwork didn't move when I went farther into his room. He was in his old form and seemed unable to change. His mouth opened and a faint hoarse whisper came out. "Danny…" I shuddered and leaned closer to here what he was trying to say.
"Can't talk now… too weak." He waved his hand limply and a portal appeared in the center of the room. It glowed green and then showed what looked almost like a movie.
It showed Clockwork floating around his castle monitoring time. Suddenly, one of the many portals he owned started flashing a dangerous red. Clockwork floated over and peered into the portal. "Someone is messing with the fabric of time!" He quickly waved his hands over the portal and the image focused and showed Danny's parents building the time belt out of Clockworks medallions.
The movie portal seemed to fast forward and stopped right before we went back in time to stop Vlad's accident. I watched as if I was in a trance.
Clockwork watched as Danny jumped on Vlad. Vlad and Danny landed on the ground and Danny, Sam, and Tucker disappeared. The explosion from the proto portal missed Vlad completely but blasted Jack full in the face. Maddie ran over to Vlad to make sure he was okay. When she looked back at Jack to ask if he was fine, she saw his face covered in glowing green pimples, his hair white, and his eyes staring in shock and hatred at where the boy had just disappeared.
Now I was feeling guilty. I didn't know why, but I knew that it was at least partially my fault that Clockwork was so ill. The movie started from another incident in Clockwork's castle.
Clockwork stared at the portal in terror. Then he watched as his staff shattered and he suddenly became older. He looked back at the portal and watched as Danny Fenton returned home to discover how big his little change to the past affected the present. Clockwork collapsed onto the ground and for the first time in his long life began to panic. Danny had broken the sacred rules of time, and now it was out of Clockwork's control.
Realizing how much I had affected the ghost and feeling lower that mud, I started to apologize. Clockwork motioned for me to stop and pointed at the movie portal. This time it showed me just before the Dairy King left with the other ghosts.
The Dairy King smiled at Danny and flew off with the other ghosts. They all went into the Ghost Zone and followed the Dairy King to Clockwork. Clockwork wanted to see exactly what Jack had done to the poor creatures. After a few hours they started acting strange, and the Dairy King came back to see what was going on. Clockwork tried to warn him but it was too late. The evil ghost slaves Jack had created jumped on the unsuspecting King and ripped him apart with their bare hands.
I turned away in disgust. After successfully ruining Clockwork's floor with my breakfast I went back to watching the movie.
Clockwork watched in terror as the Dairy King fused his pieces back together. The other ghosts gave him a funeral shroud and then turned on Clockwork. They drew closer and he tried to back away. Unfortunately he was too weak to escape and the screen was blocked by the other ghost's bodies. Suddenly they backed off and Clockwork reformed again. Jack suddenly appeared and gave an inaudible order to Clockwork.
That couldn't be right. If Clockwork was torn apart by those ghosts then that would mean… Crap, another trap set up to capture me.
Clockwork stood up off the bed. His face was bland but terrifyingly so. I leapt back and changed into my ghost form before Clockwork could reach me. He didn't say anything at all and came closer with each second. Smacking into the wall as I tried to go through it, I suddenly remembered that humans were the ghost here.
Unfortunately for me, that one wasted second was enough time for Clockwork to get his ghost hands on my arm and yank me away from the wall. His grip was inhuman and inghost and definitely felt like he could rip me apart. I swiftly became human and phased through his hands.
After running in fright through several wall I found myself in Clockwork's main room. The portals were all black and empty I found a shard of Clockwork's staff and instantly my guilt returned. He was a mindless killing machine because I had to mess with time for my own selfish desires.
I dropped the shard into one of the portals and was about to turn away when a flash of light caught my eye. The portal glowed green and hummed with energy. It seemed to focus and I watched as it showed me at the reunion struggling in the black box I had been trapped in earlier.
It was showing me my past, even though it wasn't too long ago. Clockwork entered the main chamber and stared at me with his eerie expressionless face. "There is no where to go now ghost boy." he said in a bland monotone.
I felt a slight smile cross my lips as I said the familiar words. "No where to run but everywhere to time travel." Without any further thought I dived into the portal.
When I finally landed in the past I realized that I had arrived just in time to see the Box Ghost and the other me fly into the ghost portal. I changed back into my ghost form and flew invisibly up stairs.
Since I had arrived in the past the ghost slaves upstairs hadn't started causing destruction yet. In fact it seemed almost like Jack was gloating to them. "My evil plan is magnificently brilliant." He said smugly. "With Daniel trapped in the Ghost Zone with Clockwork, I can execute my plan without interference."
Even though I should have guessed, it surprised me that Jack had been planning the Clockwork trap. I left the room and sped down the hallway to the reunion. When I got there I was shocked. It looked like the party decided to be a party after Jack left. Music was blaring from an unseen speaker and everyone was dancing. The little finger sandwiches that Jack had bought for the party had been replaced with candy, chips, and punch.
Every one appeared to be having fun except for Vlad. I flew back into the hallway, changed back to normal, and once again entered the reunion. Vlad looked up and walked over to me. His face held a terribly concerned look. "Danny? Are you okay? You don't look good." He pulled me out into the hallway.
"Have you seen your mom? I haven't seen her since this morning and I'm worried something bad has happened to her." The mention of my mom had snapped my memory back to what had happened recently. It had currently been focused on how I could convince everyone in the reunion to let me be the DJ…
I focused my gaze on Vlad's eyes. Clear blue orbs stared back with not a hint of hatred, evil, or distrustfulness. The old Vlad I had known was gone and had been replaced by this forty year old man who clearly loved his family and could never do anything harmful. I decided to take a chance and hope that he wouldn't think I was crazy.
"Um I haven't seen Mom, but I have something to tell you." Vlad looked at me in surprise that switched to worry. I took a deep breath and went for it. "The accident back in college caused Jack to become an evil ghost." Vlad didn't react, but he seemed to be waiting for an explanation.
"The ecto-acne he had caused him to develop ghost powers and he's planning on using them to kill everyone and rule the world." Vlad still was silent. I took another deep breath and said. "I went back in time to stop you from getting ghost powers because when you did you ruined my life." Now Vlad looked sad. I didn't care. It felt good to get it off my chest.
"Unfortunately stopping you from getting ghost powers caused Jack to get them and he is about ten times more evil than you were." Vlad stared at me with no reaction. At first I was afraid that maybe I was too late and he already was a mindless zombie, but he wasn't a ghost.
Next I took one more reassuring gasp of air and stared at his calm blue eyes. Even now they seemed to trust me. I did the most daring thing I had ever done; I changed into my ghost form directly in front of Vlad. His eyes widened and he jumped back. I quickly changed back and Vlad stared at me with a strange mix of emotions that I could not make out.
Vlad smiled sadly and said, "I guess that explains why you haven't called me dad." I blinked in surprise. Was my hatred towards the old him really that visible? Vlad continued talking. "Danny, I would like to apologize for everything I did to you." I stared at him in confusion and he continued talking. "From the sound of it I must have done something terrible for you to go back in time and change it."
His blue eyes betrayed concern. "But if Jack is evil then we have to figure out how to stop him." He looked thoughtful and I stood there in a state of shock. Vlad actually believed me! I thought back to my old parent's reactions towards finding out I was a ghost. Vlad's was much nicer.
Vlad looked back at me and said, "I have a plan, but it will involve some very dangerous situations." I grinned back. I was used to dangerous situations.
I like the new Vlad. He's a better dad than Jack was, and Jack is a better villain than Vlad was.