Ok, this chapter was really hard to write. We don't see a lot of the observants in TUE, so it's hard to write their personalities. Sorry if you think they're OOC. I tried my best.

Ok, with that out of the way, enjoy chapter nine!

The observants observe. That is their main purpose in life… or afterlife, if you want to get technical about it. When you watch as much as they do, you're sure to pick up on a few things, and the observants were not as objective as everyone seemed to think.

They know a lot more than people give them credit for. They see patterns where others only see unconnected events. They were watching Clockwork since before he was a ghost, and even then knew what he would become. They watched Danny step into an inactive portal in a blank white jumpsuit, and knew then what would happen.

They cannot see the future, as Clockwork can, but they see as fact what others see as wisps of ideas floating on the wind.

And now, they saw what Clockwork thought. They knew what he planned to do.

It was a game of conflicting motives and plots- Jack Plasmius longed for love, and to be accepted. When that was denied him, he took out his rage and pain on other ghosts. And now he was enraged against Danny Phantom, eager to annihilate this latest reminder of the woman he once loved.

The Fenton children wanted to return to where they really belonged. It was ironic that these two, who wanted only to make everything right, were the ones on whom everyone else's plans relied- everyone tried to control their every move, To make them puppets, even if they didn't realize it. They would be put through so much more, before they were home again.

Samantha Manson, who wanted to save her parents, the two adults whom she claimed to despise and reject, who didn't care what she had to do, or who got in her way.

Tucker Foley, who battled his morals, and what his heart said was right, against the logic his head his head presented. Who wanted to help his best friend, but was confused, who simply wanted to understand.

There was Clockwork, of course, who was perhaps the hardest to figure out of them all. He saw into the future, and adjusted the present as he saw fit.

Now there was the other Samantha, and the other Tucker- best friends of Danny Fenton, at the moment their only concern was surviving ecto-acne, but very son, if Clockwork did what they expected him too (Which of course he would), they would have a much bigger problem on their minds.

And then there was the two of them.

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Maddie Fenton walked out of the quarantined area in the center of her living room, her shoulders hunched, and bags under her eyes. There was no point to it… They would die, Vlad, Sam, Tucker… she had tried to save them, but it was just like college. Only this time, there was no hospital to save them.

On top of that, Danny had disappeared a few days ago, and Jazz had vanished soon after that. Ghosts, she was sure, even if she couldn't do anything about it now.

Maddie had walked out of the living room and half way up the stairs before she realized something.

It was quiet. Deathly quiet, not just the quiet she'd become used to in the past few days, but truly quiet. Like time had stopped, almost. She looked up, to see a blue ghost with a scar above his eye, holding a… odd looking staff.

Shocked, she asked, "What are you doing here, you odd manifestation of ectoplasmic energy and post-human consciousness?"

The ghost did not make a threatening motion, instead, he said, "I am here to help." He threw an envelope at her feet, and vanished. The world started again.

Bending down suspiciously, she picked up the envelope. Opening it, she saw a piece of paper. Only two words were written on it. Diet Cola.

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"And then I will test your DNA to see whose son you really are, and then take that information and…"

It had been three hours since Danny had woken to find himself inside the cage, and he now fervently wished he was asleep again. The cage caused him pain whenever he so much as tried to go ghost, so he was in his human form now, sitting uncomfortably on the hard floor.

To make matters worse, his dad had been monologueing the entire time! Three hours of talking about who knew what, and Danny was ready to hit his head against the bars of the cage and try to knock himself out, and he would have too, if they didn't shock him every time he touched them.

The doorbell rang.

"That must be my paper boy!" Jack exclaimed, phasing through the wall. Danny heard him change back to Jack Fenton, and barley had time to wonder why any paper would deliver to a 'haunted' abandoned house, when he heard a loud yell from his dad, "A spy!"

Next he recognized Tucker's voice (Since when does he deliver papers?), yell "What? No!"

Apparently his dad didn't believe him, because three minutes later Tucker was sitting next to Danny.

"He captured you?" asked Tucker.

"Yup." Said Danny.

It was a pretty bad situation all around.

And to make matters worse, he started monolougeing again.

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"Jazz, are you sure this is the right place?" Sam asked. "I mean, if you've never met this ghost, how do you even know he took my parents here?"

Jazz squirmed uncomfortably. She had told Sam that this was probably where her parents were, but not how she knew or why.

"Um… internet?" she said nervously.

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"Jack, Jack! I isolated the impurities that are causing the ecto-acne!"

Maddie ran into the quarantined area, looking younger and happier than her husband had seen in a while. "It's Diet Cola! Quick!"

Fifteen minutes later, Vlad, Sam, and Tucker were sitting up in bed, looking a little weak, but fine.

The world stopped again.

Maddie looked around. Both Vlad and Jack were frozen, immobile. Sam and Tucker were moving though.

They were talking, and though Maddie couldn't hear everything they were saying, she caught the words 'Clockwork' and 'Danny'. Then Sam gasped and pointed to the ceiling behind Maddie. The same ghost from before was floating there. Sam and Tucker seemed to know them, because they didn't start screaming and freaking out.

"Clockwork!" Sam shouted.

"I'm glad to see you are fully recovered," the ghost, Clockwork, answered. "But I'm afraid I have to ask you something."

Tucker and Sam nodded. Maddie was confused. When did they get to be on such good terms with a ghost? She decided it was time to intervene.

"What's going on here?"

Sam gasped, "Mrs. Fenton! What are you doing here?"

Maddie raised an eyebrow. "I live here."

Sam and Tucker still looked like a couple of deer caught in headlights, but Clockwork said, "She will be a great assistance in what I need you to do."

"What do you need us to do? And where's Danny?"

"Maybe it would be best if I started from the beginning…" Clockwork explained everything that had happened so far in the other time-line (Conveniently omitting the fact that both Danny and Jack were half ghosts and Maddie was married to Vlad), finishing by saying, "Maddie, you must not worry about your children, they will be fine, as long as these two do what they need to."

"Which would be…?" Tucker asked.

"I need you two to go to that other reality, and help rescue Daniel. He is running out of time…"

Sam and Tucker nodded, and all three were gone, leaving behind a very worried and confused Maddie.

Well, there you go, chapter nine, right on schedule! Sorry if it seems a little rushed… my science teacher seems determined to smother my class with homework… anyway, hope you liked it!