Empyreal
empyreal (em-pir-ee-uhl) adj. - pertaining to the highest heaven in the cosmology of the ancients.

-Six-

"I said no."

"But – but Clockwork –"

"No. And that's final, Plasmius. I don't want you to come around here asking again." Plasmius clenched his fists, trying to restrain himself from lunging at the ancient ghost. Clockwork held his staff firmly, eyes narrowed at Plasmius. Plasmius then just huffed and turned away, trying to calm his own fuming brain.

When he turned back, Clockwork had transformed into a faded old man who looked very tired. Plasmius didn't change his expression; he instead huffed again and flew off into the depths of the Ghost Zone.

Clockwork sighed and turned back to his castle, glad he was able to keep Plasmius outside of it this time. Every time that man came to him, either because he was trying to be sneaky or just to barter with him, Clockwork was insistent on keeping him out of the castle, and out of reach of Phantom.

The timekeeper touched a bony finger to his looking-glass, watching Plasmius fly into what appeared to be a portal to another part of the Zone.

"How many times…" he said in a tired voice. "How can he not understand…"

"Master?" Clockwork spun around, surprised to see he was not alone. What he saw before him was a child; at least, a child in his eyes. He had stark white hair and green eyes, and was adorned in a violet cloak with Clockwork's own symbol holding it at the hood. In his arms was a little green ghost pup, wagging his tail and looking at Clockwork.

"Yes, what is it?" Clockwork said, waving a hand at the looking-glass. The image vanished.

"What did he want this time?" the boy asked as Clockwork walked by him. The dog yipped as if he were asking the same question. Clockwork sighed again and looked up at all the different clocks that went up into the very crevices of the castle.

"What he's always after, Phantom," he replied. "Immense power."

"Why does he come to you? Is he trying to take your power?" Phantom asked, sitting down on the floor. But the ghost didn't answer; instead, he disappeared, shimmering out of sight and most likely reappearing in another portion of the castle.

Phantom absent mindedly stroked the ghost dog's neck, staring at the spot where Clockwork had just been standing. Cujo wiggled his little body in the boy's arms and nudged his head into the crook of Phantom's elbow, giving a tiny, satisfied bark. Phantom slid the pup off of his lap and stood up, turning to the looking-glass. He had never really been allowed to use it, or even look into it. He knew he wasn't supposed to, and that he would probably be caught, but his curiosity was growing so powerful…

Against his better judgement, he cautiously walked over to the mirror-like sphere, glancing around nervously. If he had a heart, he knew it would be racing.

Carefully, he pushed his pale fingertips against the glass, his eyes traveling over the window to other worlds.

As soon as he touched it, it began emanating a powerful light. Surprised, Phantom stumbled backwards a few steps, his hands shaking. The glass shined brightly for a few more seconds, and then dimmed greatly. Phantom peered into it, squinting to see better.

He saw something that resembled… a house. It appeared to be made out of dark red bricks with white window shutters. Phantom walked closer, a confused expression crossing his face. Why was he seeing this?

Cujo yipped behind him, and Phantom leaped nearly three feet into the air, shaken by the dog's sudden appearance. Phantom again turned to the glass, but the scene had changed. He was seeing a cemetery.

It was an old cemetery, with many washed-out and faded headstones, some of them crooked or half sunk into the ground. Little chain link fences or statues separated families from other families. It was one of those old-fashioned family plot cemeteries.

Trees were dappling the light from a dying sun into the graveyard, making it look almost pretty. The scene seemed to focus on one particular plot. This plot had many old headstones, and they were all kept into one area by one of those miniature chain-link fences. A family crest was hanging from a metal plaque from what Phantom assumed was the front of the plot. He stood back a little bit, wondering why on earth he was looking at a cemetery.

"Cujo," Phantom started, "why do you think we're seeing this?"

Cujo just wagged his tail in reply. Phantom looked at it thoughtfully.

"Maybe Master was—"

"Was what?"

Phantom's entire body went rigid as Cujo began barking happily at the sight of the elderly ghost, and when Phantom turned around, he was face-to-face with his master.

"Uh—well—umm—" Phantom stammered, biting his lower lip. Clockwork raised an eyebrow, reverting back to his normal form. In his normal form, he was always much more menacing than in his child or elderly form.

Clockwork waved his staff, and the looking-glass went blank again. Phantom frowned and looked back at Clockwork.

"Master—I know I'm not supposed to, but—"

"Forget what you saw," Clockwork said, in a voice much colder than Phantom was accustomed. Phantom's mouth hung open a little bit, surprised at Clockwork's tone. He had never spoken to him like that before.

"But—"

"I said forget it!"

And he vanished.

Phantom frowned. He was positive that he was now screwed. Clockwork had offered him the chance to become human just a few weeks prior, but now he knew it wouldn't happen. He disobeyed his master's orders and thus, paid the price.

Phantom sat back down, defeated. Cujo came trotting up next to him, panting happily and wagging his tail. Phantom scratched his ears.

"I want to know, now," he muttered, more to himself than anyone else. "what kind of power does that idiot Plasmius want, Cujo?" He said, turning to the ghost dog. The dog didn't reply. "Why was a house – and then a cemetery – shown to us? Me?" he corrected himself. He turned back to the looking glass, but he knew that his master had now done something to it to prevent him from looking at it for the time being.

Cujo barked.

"I want to know, too," Phantom said, his tone defeated.

Hmm, kinda pointless chapter here. I really wanted to do an interlude chapter, looking at how Phantom lived in the Ghost Zone and his days leading up to when he became human. Ooooh. Anyway, this kinda sucks, I apologize. Thankfully I had this mostly typed up already, or I wouldn't have even finished it. I'm in a real Harry Potter fixation (like the rest of the world) after finishing the 7th book, and I don't want to write a fanfic for a different fandom if I'm not into it. It won't be very good. So I'll finish the next (better) chapter when I get down from my high. Yeeeeeeeup. So I apologize for the shittyness, I just wanted to put something up!