Author's Note: Yes, it's not August 27th. Sorry, school got in the way more than I anticipated. This took me four days to write. oo
I don't think it turned out very well, but I'll let you be the judge of that. And, some of the words Emily says are supposed to be misspelled. I don't know about you, but I couldn't talk very well when I was little. Yeah... she has a short attention span, too.
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"We were under the assumption you changed all of this the last time, Clockwork."
The blue ghost blinked, looking towards the two Observers once again standing in his doorway. His expression remained serious, even as his appearance became likewise of a child.
"I did not change his future." He responded. "The boy made his own choices, and changed his own future."
"That's not how we see it." One of the Observers said, followed by the other.
"You intervened instead of simply getting rid of him. Without your help, the end of the world would be upon us as we speak." Clockwork glanced to his desk, sitting amongst the ever turning gears surrounding his domain. On top of it, a thermos sat shaking in anticipation. He knew they were talking about him, and he was excited. Clockwork held back a sneer and said.
"The only way to prevent the future was to show him. I did not wish to dispose of a boy with such…" He paused, becoming an old man, "Potential." The two Observers looked at each other, eye to eye, as if in a meeting including only them. In hushed voices, they turned back to Clockwork.
"So you have not seen it." Clockwork gaped. He had wished the subject had not been brought up, although he knew that it was the reason the Observers were there. He heaved a sigh, and hovered over in front of the future portal. He nodded.
"I've seen all three of the paradoxes."
"We don't care about the other two. We only care about the one." One Observant snapped, anger crossing its nonexistent face.
"What are the chances that all of this…" The other said, its tone calmer, "Everything we… he fought to prevent, will happen again?" Clockwork stared into the face of the future portal, watching what had not come to pass. Yet, anyway. At the climax, the end of all they tried to prevent in the first place, he looked away and to the twin Observers.
"I dare not say."
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Danny collapsed on his bed as soon as he turned human. Exhaustion overwhelmed him as he fought against the sheets into a more comfortable position. Lying on his back, he stared at the ceiling and ran a hand through his wind-blown hair. On his nightstand, the clock read 11:45 PM, leaving Danny with less than six hours of sleep before school.
The house stood perfectly quiet, leaving Danny to believe that his parents were either asleep or in the basement. He knew Jazz not to make any noise, so for all he knew she could have been awake. Four hours before, Jazz had called him – begrudgingly – and told him that she had already covered for him. If anyone asked, he took the bus home with Tucker. It soon led into Jazz lecturing him about safety, in which he suddenly spotted Skulker and hung up.
Danny rolled over on his side, blue eyes disappearing behind heavy lids. Sleep began to weave into a blanket of black around him and he welcoming it, feeling as weightless as when he was flying. Just as it overtook him—
--he shivered, and a breath of blue escaped him. He groaned dramatically and slapped a hand to his face, screaming inwardly about just wanting to relax. Danny rolled over, about to fall out of bed, when he noticed a faint green aura radiating from a corner of his room. He blinked, and sat up.
"Hello?" He called gently into the corner, mainly in order to not draw attention from his parents or Jazz. The aura shifted slightly, following the form of a little girl.
"Are... are you him?" She asked in a gentle manner. Danny met the ghostly eyes of a pale little girl, not a day over seven years old, with brown hair was tied into two messy pigtails. She was the classic appearance of a seven-year-old, complete with teddy bear and all. Danny sat on his bed, blinking, and replied.
"Who?"
"The halfa that they told me about. You can be a human, or you can be a ghost."
"Oh." Danny chuckled to himself, still amused by the name. "That's me." The girl didn't seem to smile, her eyes falling to the floor.
"I think I'm lost." She said slowly, stepping away from the corner.
"Well, I don't know how you ended up here but—." Danny blinked, seeing her facial features completely in the light. His stomach suddenly tied into knots. Freckles dotted her nose and cheeks, her eyes hazel, matching the exact description of… "You're… the girl who went missing." She didn't answer. "Emily."
"I guess so." She replied. "I don't remember any of it. Just the swings…" Emily gave a small smile – a real one, as if she was ignorant to her ghostly appearance – and twisted her teddy bear around in her arms. Danny frowned. It had been only three days, the hopes of her parents believing that their daughter was alive broadcast on the news that very night. No suspects had been arrested, no evidence found, and no sign of Emily anywhere. Still, her parents had enough optimism to forbid the police from searching Bloody Mary Lake. Danny lowered his head, now realizing they had no idea.
"I have a question." Emily whispered, suddenly standing in front of Danny. The teen looked up, trying to fight back his sullen expression.
"Shoot."
"Do you know why I can't go see my mommy and daddy again?"
"Who told you that?"
"The Powers that Be told me so. They said that I shouldn't go see my mommy and daddy because they're too emot… em… emotionally unstabool." Danny pondered this for a moment.
"Maybe it's for the best." He replied softly.
"They also said that I wouldn't be able to remember what happened because they took away my… memories of the whole occ… oohccerrance." Emily sighed, flopping her teddy bear onto Danny's bed. She climbed onto it and jumped up and down, the waves of the sheets bouncing Danny as well.
"You don't remember how you…" Danny clutched his stomach, remorse piling up as he finished quietly, "died…?" Emily didn't reply, either enjoying herself too much or not wanting to. Danny watched her for the moment, until she stopped and fell onto the bed.
"I'm tired. Mommy would be mad if she knew I was up this late." She got up, taking her bear with her. Danny watched her walk towards the wall, until his door suddenly opening distracted him. His parents (or rather, his father) crowded the doorway.
"Danny?" His father asked. "What are you still doing up?" Danny glanced across his room, where Emily was no longer.
"Nothing, Dad." He replied. "Just… thinking."
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"What do you mean Emily Penn was in your room last night?" Sam said the next day at school, walking beside Danny and Tucker as they headed towards lunch.
"I mean, Emily Penn was in my room last night!" Danny repeated. "She was just there, asked why she couldn't see her parents, jumped on my bed, and walked off!"
"Are you absolutely sure it was her?"
"It looked like the picture they've been showing on the news." Sam grimaced, the feeling Danny felt the night before welling up inside of her.
"That means… She's..." She didn't finish, looking away for a second to absorb everything. She eventually came back, anger replacing her sadness. "What kind of sick bastard would do that? To a little girl! Did she tell you who did it, because if she did, I'll—"
"No." Danny said quickly, not wanting to hear the gruesome details of what Sam would do. "She said 'the Powers that Be' or something erased her memories." A little ding! from Tucker's PDA distracted him for a second, before he went on. "Whoever that is."
"If she ever comes around again," Sam growled, pushing the doors to the lunchroom open, "ask her."
"You won't have to." Tucker said, looking down at his PDA. Danny and Sam stopped as he held up his PDA, a news bulletin pulled up on the screen. "They found the guy who did it."
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Author's Note: What's this? A revalation!
I have no clue when the next update will be, so just hold your breath and wait. Hehe, Clockwork.