Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Danny Phantom.
A/N: Man, this one came up fast compared to other chapters! Music makes good inspiration. I recommend listening to some while writing.
There's just one more chapter left to go after this one! And this one finally -briefly- explains where Danny was for the past two years!
Chapter Eight: Nobody's Listening
Sam sat in her room, staring at the ceiling. She had been pacing earlier, then tried talking to Tucker and Jazz, only to storm off from pent-up frustration. She had a sinking feeling of where Danny had gone, but there wasn't a lot she could do about it at the time. Sitting up, she stared at the photo on her bedside table a moment, trying to sort out her thoughts. Picking up said item now, the gears in her head began to slowly turn. Standing, clutching the picture, she headed downstairs and outside, down the sidewalk and right to the Fenton's home. After knocking, Jazz opened the door.
"Sam?" She asked, puzzled.
"Jazz, can I go into the basement?" Jazz stared a moment when the question was asked. "Alone?" The older girl stared a moment longer at the odd sight of Sam, standing on her step, a picture of some sort clutched to her chest. Nodding a little she finally stepped aside to let her in. Watching Sam go into the kitchen and downstairs, Jazz wondered how long her parents would be in the supposedly haunted building downtown.
Sam stood in the lab basement, staring at the closed gates of the Ghost Portal. Stepping up to it, she then glanced at the DNA lock. She glanced about, spotting a glove someone had left down here. Picking it up, she turned it inside out, pressing one of the fingers over the lock. Opening with a hissing sound, the doors slid back to reveal the Ghost Zone.
Sam now turned to the Specter Speeder, climbing in and setting the picture next to her and starting the Speeder up. She knew by the time Jazz came downstairs she'd be in the Ghost Zone. Pulling up a file with a password on it, Sam knew it was the one Tucker had installed –hidden from Jack or Maddie- of the map they had made long ago of the Ghost Zone. She quickly typed in the password. Following the map carefully as she entered the swirling green beyond, Sam's purple eyes blazed with determination. She was the one now looking for 'an old friend', and wasn't leaving until she found him.
Eventually Sam did find the strange palace that seemed to be compiled of various clock towers. Pulling the Specter Speeder to a stop, Sam stepped out carefully onto the edge of the building's steps, heading inside, the picture once more tightly clutched in her hands. Leaning one shoulder to one of the double doors, it swung open to reveal the strange glowing chamber beyond, with dozens upon dozens of clocks in it, as well as several, mirror-like portals. Walking a little ways in, Sam looked about her carefully, wondering if she would have to call out.
Stopping at one of the mirrors, Sam watched with wide eyes. It was showing that day Danny vanished. Then it jumped to a few months later, showing Danny flying through the woods, harshly blasting at the ghost fleeing him. The next image was another month's jump, and she could see the slight changes in Danny's appearance. He was sitting on a cliff in his human form, resting his chin in one hand, looking out at the world with a frown. His eyes then narrowed, eyes suddenly turning from blue, to green, to red.
The next image was when it had hit the one-year mark, and Danny was in his ghost form, only a few belts on his arms, none around his waist or on his leg yet. The necklaces hung from his neck, clinking slightly as he drifted above the town, before diving down into Sam's attic. Sitting down on the couch, he set down the first-aid kit, breaking the seal on it- meaning it was new. He returned to his human form, using disinfectant to dab at a gash on his arm.
About a six-month jump, and Danny stood in his ghost form in a large canyon, looking about him with a frown on his face. He drifted a bit above the ground, before letting loose attack after attack on the canyon walls. Sam realized he was training himself, testing his limits. It was now his blasts were no longer green, but red.
A few months jumped again, and it showed Danny, his ghost self still, sitting crossed-legged on a rock, looking -in a bored manor- at the ghosts before him. Sam recognized Skulker, with not as many upgrades as she had seen, Technus 2.0 and Ember. All three looked livid, but Danny simply rested his chin on one palm. Words were being exchanged, but there was no sound for Sam. Danny suddenly stood, and the three ghosts all took a step back. Taking a deep breath, Danny clamped his shut and let loose a wail that was mixed green and red. Everything went blank.
In finally showed exactly two years after Danny disappeared –now with his new look- and he was floating high in the air, looking out at the town of Amity. A smile crawled across his face as his eyes turned blood-red.
The screen was now a swirling mass, and Sam backed away, biting her lip. So that's what Danny's past two year were. Nothing but brutal training and fighting. Turning around with a new determination shining in her eyes, Sam glared about her surroundings. Finally she took a deep breath, calling out.
"I know you're here, Clockwork! I know I've met you before, though it's fuzzy! Danny did say something about you once though! Come out! I have to talk to you- need to talk to you!" After saying this, her fingers tightened their grip on the picture she had cradled in her arms.
"Hello, child." Sam whipped around, her braid swishing, to find Clockwork. The purple-robed ghost stared back at her, turning from a wizened ghost to a tiny child-like one, then a young adult. "I was wondering when you would get here." Sam straightened up, looking the powerful ghost in the eye.
"I need your help."
"With the problem at hand, I take it?" He drifted to the mirror she had been looking at, and the image changed to show Danny sitting on the roof of Vlad's mansion. Sam recognized this as present day. Danny was looking cruelly smug, one hand holding something. He stood up, opening his left hand to let a red-and-white cape be blown away from him by the wind. Her eyes widened as she turned to Clockwork.
"H-he didn't."
"He did." Sam gulped.
Sam felt herself shaking slightly as silence fell, and she held a staring moment with Clockwork, the ghost shifting between age-forms as he calmly waited for her to speak, one hand lightly holding his staff. Sam opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't form the words, and closed her mouth again. Clockwork reached one hand out, lightly tapping the frame of the photo in her arms. Snapping out of her unmoving state, she held it out for him to take.
Looking at the picture of Sam, Danny and Tucker not long after they had turned fifteen, Clockwork raised one eyebrow slightly before handing it back to Sam. He waved one hand towards the mirror, which now portrayed that day in a still-frame much like Sam's picture. He looked at her, brow still raised in a questioning manor, but a calm smile was showing.
"This is what your visit is about, isn't it?" Clockwork asked gently. Sam nodded, unable to speak. "I am sure I know what you mean, but I need to hear you say it, child." Sam finally found her voice.
"I want you to send me back, so I can stop this from happening."
"You do realize the risks of such things." Sam nodded, but stayed where she was.
"All I want to change, is one line." Clockwork regarded the eighteen-year old a moment, before smiling again.
"Just one line?" Like before, Sam nodded.
"Just one line."
Clockwork nodded, clicking his staff. The mirror-portal's surface rippled, as if it was suddenly water. Sam stepped forwards, before stopping suddenly and turning around. She held out the photo to Clockwork. He took it from her with one hand, giving her a questioning look.
"I'll be getting a new one." Sam stated quietly, before turning around and looking at the portal. Taking a deep breath she walked forwards, the surface of the mirror rippling again as she passed through it, before all was still. Clockwork watched as the mirror returned to a swirling green surface. Drifting away from it, he set the photo Sam had handed to him down on a table. He smiled slightly.
"Time truly is, a fickle thing."