DPTTrocks: No, no crossover. I'm afraid that was just a throwaway line.

mangageek3: Yeah, Danny's timeline is tied in knots. Heh's got his work cut out for him.

Anne Camp: It is for me :)

DarkFoxKit: Well, when someone as cute as Danny likes you, it's hard not to like them back, right? ;)

17: I'm glad you're still enjoying the story. It's great to keep seeing your comments!

fictionaddiction1: Yep! I was back at school this week. It's been... a week. Yep.

Black Cat: Yeah, I always kind of like it when you've got a time travel set up and it compares and contrasts a past and future version of a character. It's a cool way to show growth!

Thank you for your reviews!

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Chapter 178: From the Present Day

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Ellie knew who Dan was. Of course, she knew who Dan was. Her knowledge was exclusively second-hand, of course. She probably could have spoken to him when he was imprisoned in Clockwork's lair, but who would want to talk to an evil, alternate-timeline version of the person they were cloned from? Not Ellie. The whole idea struck a little too close to home.

So, when the wall blew up and the two of them got separated, Ellie had no intention of giving up, no intention of just letting Dan take Danny. It didn't matter that Ellie's head was bleeding, or that she could feel hairline fractures in her arm, those would heal in a day, or less, Ellie was going to fight.

First, though, she had to find the fight. It wasn't with her in this half-destroyed room.

Ellie pulled one of the seamstresses out from under a pile of rubble, then turned human and let herself drop unimpeded through the dust, debris, and remaining pieces of the wall. As soon as she was in clear air again, she went ghost, and charged an ectoblast in each hand. Her preparations weren't a moment too soon, because she was almost blindsided a moment later by Dan.

No, she decided, this wasn't Dan. Not the real Dan, anyway. Ellie didn't doubt that she and Danny had built Dan's powers up in their minds, beyond where they were in reality, but she knew Dan was stronger than this. He had to be, to have defeated Danny the way he did. This was a duplicate, and not one the original was spending a lot of focus on.

Even so, it was a match for Ellie.

They tumbled. Ellie disengaged as soon as she could. She preferred to fight enemies like this at a distance. But the duplicate was fast, as fast as she was.

She dodged left, and right, trying to get some room to act. Dan's duplicate was hit by an attack from somewhere to Ellie's left, giving her a window of opportunity. She cast ice-infused ectoplasm at the duplicate, and then, it vanished.

Ellie stayed on guard. He could just be invisible. Then one of Dora's guardsmen shouted, and pointed up.

Far above Mattingly, Danny was struggling against Dan's grip. Ellie hissed, and rushed to follow Pandora and Dora up.

Then Danny was gone, disappeared through a portal. A moment later, so was Dan.

Ellie came to a shocked halt. She shook her head and gathered herself, accelerating to catch up with Pandora and Dora. Pandora was cursing. Dora had returned to humanoid form, and was pale behind her green skin.

"What happened?" asked Ellie. "Do you know? Did Dan-?" she cut herself off, swallowing.

"That thrice-damned fool Issitoq, unless I miss my guess," said Pandora.

"You think Issitoq has him?"

"Maybe. At the least, he will know where Daniel was sent, and I intend to wring it out of him."

"Not by yourself, surely, Lady Pandora," said Dora.

"No. The Observants are not supposed to act in the world, except when the timeline is under serious threat, or when they are called upon to act as judges. Most of them have taken oaths against it, serious oaths. I will not be the only one who wants to take them to task over their infractions. Or Issitoq's usurping of the prerogatives of the Council of Ancients."

"I will join you," said Dora, quickly, "and a company of my best men."

"Me too!" said Ellie, stoutly.

Pandora was already shaking her head. "No, you must stay here, both of you."

"What? Why?" Ellie put more anger into her words than was, strictly speaking, warranted. She was worried for Danny, he could be anywhere- Or, worse, any-when. What did Pandora mean, saying Ellie couldn't go? Danny was her brother, her twin, and her best friend.

Pandora's face was grim and troubled. "You remember that I told you, you are the closest thing Daniel has to an heir. If the worst has happened, the Realms will still need a ruler. King or queen."

"Wh- But you said that I wasn't- that I couldn't. That I didn't meet the requirements."

"You don't. But we might be able to change that in the future. More easily than finding someone who meets them already. Daniel was the only one. You should stay clear of this battle. Please, Danielle, for the sake of the Realms. For the sake of those people in your and Daniel's lair, if nothing else."

Ellie opened her mouth to argue, then closed it. "That's not fair," she said through her teeth.

"Fair isn't my job, love. But, trust me, if there is any way to get Daniel back, I will do it."

The guards from Mattingly were starting to catch up to the three women.

"I'll escort you back to Mattingly, but I need you to stay, or at least not go looking for trouble."

"Lady Pandora," started Dora, hesitant, one hand slightly raised, "do you mean to say that Danny, Sir Phantom, that is, is who the Ancients chose?"

"Yes," said Pandora. "So you understand the necessity of making sure nothing happens to Danielle, Queen Dorathea."

Dora nodded.

"Danielle, please," said Pandora.

"Okay, fine. Fine. I'll stay," said Ellie, "but you'd better bring Danny back." She squeezed her eyes shut, and licked her lips. "Please."

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Smith opened the mould, slowly, carefully. The new ring, the symbol of the new king's power and character lay within. With a delicate pair of tongs, he removed the ring, and quenched it first in ice-colored ectoplasm, then in the more common green variety, and finally, in a clear solution.

He pulled it out and examined it. Yes, that was just about right. It needed some flame-burnishing, and quite a bit of polishing, in his opinion, but the main work had been done.

The ring was silver-white on one side, and dusky, star-struck black on the other, merging in the middle in subtle swirls. It had taken several tries to get that element right, but, oh, it had been worth it.

Smith tilted the ring so that the 'stars' caught the lamplight and twinkled white, blue and green. There might have been slightly more black than white in the ring, but those stars balanced it out, nicely.

He put the ring down on a fine cotton cloth he had prepared for the purpose, the better to study its coloration, and shape. Yes, this casting had worked well. The color was good. No obvious flaws. He would have to polish away some extra metal, make the surface smooth, but he would have to do that, regardless.

Yes. It looked good. Very good. It was subtle. Understated. Tasteful. Entirely unlike the Ring of Rage.

He smiled. Soon, Smith would be able to present the ring to its new owner.

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Ember sat on the railing, tuning her guitar. Having a captive audience was great! But tiring. Even for a ghost. She was taking five. More than five, actually. She was letting the humans do their human stuff while she rested.

The human stuff. She stuck out her tongue. One thing she definitely didn't miss from being human was the bathroom stuff. She did just fine without eating every day, too. Though every once in a while was fine. Same with sleeping.

Speaking of, thinking of, rather, was Youngblood's ship equipped for humans? It had to be. She remembered checking it out when the two of them had come up with the plan to kidnap all the adults in Amity Park (and then the world), and the Dead tended to put that kind of stuff into their buildings out of habit. Ember knew she did. But the ship had been wrecked a couple of times since then. Ember wasn't sure if they'd rebuilt the- What were they called on a boat? The heads?

She struck a chord. Whatever. Not her problem.

"What's it like, being a ghost?"

Ember turned on the railing. That one girl from Amity Park, the one who sometimes flew around in a weird red suit, was standing some distance behind her. What was her name again? Something to do with color.

"Wow, bunny, you don't waste time on small-talk, huh?"

The girl scowled. "I need to know, and you're the only ghost around here that's my age."

"Yeah, so?" It was true, in terms of when Ember had died, anyway.

"So you're the best one to ask. What is being a ghost like?"

"Pft. That's a stupid question. What's being a human like? I mean, it just is." Ember turned away, watching the ectoplasmic clouds slide past. "It's like, what's being a girl like? How're you supposed to compare that to anything?"

"You were alive once, weren't you?"

Ember pressed her hand flat against her guitar strings, stilling them. She was having a good day, so she wasn't going to get mad. Still. "Didn't babypop teach you anything, bunny? That's not something you talk about to people." She didn't look back at the girl. Valerie. That was her name.

"Yeah, but, look, I need to know."

"Why? It isn't like you'll have to deal with it for a while, huh? Unless you've got cancer, or do something stupid." Ember paused. She'd heard the story of how the humans had been kidnapped. "Again."

"I'm having to deal with it now."

"Huh?" Ember turned again. Valerie was flushed red under her dark skin, but that wasn't what caught Ember's eyes. No, what had Ember's attention was that Valerie's eyes were glowing. So were her hands, a little bit. Ember raised an eyebrow, and floated up over the railing so she could stand facing Valerie. "Okay, you might have a point there."

"Might?!"

Ember shrugged. "Look, I'm not a scientist or a philosopher. I didn't even take a lot of science in high school." Or anything she didn't need to graduate, except for music, and she'd never even gotten to graduate. It had been at least twenty years since then, anyway. "I can't say what you need. I don't think you're dying, though. If that means anything to you. Did Phantom not notice? 'Cause babypop is usually pretty anal about this kinda thing. I'd think he'd explain. Or his friends." Ember started plucking notes on her guitar again.

Valerie's face started to do interesting things. "Yeah, but what do you think it is?"

"I dunno. I'm not an expert. I'd say liminality, but it could be sorcery, too. Or it could be both liminality and sorcery. Or it could be something else." She shrugged. "Phantom would know more. He's liminal. And I heard a rumor that his nerd friend, the one who can't sing, was a sorcerer in a past life. Or something."

Valerie's eye twitched.

"But that's just a rumor. Phantom's pretty definitely liminal."

"But what's it like?" insisted Valerie.

"Being liminal? I dunno. It's not my thing."

"Being a ghost. Having Obsessions. Not being able to make choices."

Ember laughed. "I don't know what you've been looking at, bunny, but I make plenty of choices. All the darn time. I'm not throwing you off this boat for being annoying and rude, after all."

This earned a new scowl from Valerie, and Ember showed her teeth.

"As for Obsessions, well, they don't exactly come out of nowhere. I was obsessed way before I died. Dying just let me do what I wanted without having to explain myself to a bunch of losers." Ember brushed back her fiery hair, and strode forward, past Valerie. "Now you'd better go do whatever you've gotta do, 'cause the show's 'bout to start up again."