It turns out, Danny's Plan C still involved the 'Infimap' he'd mentioned.
Chief Frostbite's massive form sent looming shadows across the icy tunnel walls, green-lit fire blazing in every torch bracket they passed. Harry held back a shiver as another odd chill curled through ribs and up his throat, but he managed to keep from coughing. The look on Danny's face when all of them had shown increasing signs of getting sick of this dimension is one Harry would like to never see again.
Harry was mostly resigned at the news that being a so-called 'magic user' meant that they couldn't handle the environment of the Infinite Realms for longer than two days or so. It was just their luck at this point that the one place they could rest and recover just so happened to be killing them at the same time.
Ah well.
They've rested. They've recovered. He was grateful for that, at least.
"I'm not sure about this plan of yours, Great One. Legends of the ancient timekeeper are largely seen as tales of folly and fantasy. You are the first ghost I've ever met to actually believe they exist in this realm, or any other."
"Trust me Frostbite, I know what I'm doing." Danny grumbled. "And the second we get there, I'm never forgiving him for not telling me he's a literal ghost cryptid."
"Ha! If the map even takes us to him! I'll believe you when we actually get there and meet this 'Clockwork' guy. Then again, you would make friends with a pseudo god of time." Ellie teased from her position floating above Danny, upside down.
Harry chuckled as Dany rolled his eyes in exasperation.
They finally emerge into a well-lit, underground cavern that was chock full of ancient artifacts and treasures. Harry could practically feel the wave of Hermione's rising curiosity as she looked around, eyes wide with wonder.
"Wow." Ron breathed, staring transfixed at several glowing chests set with precious metals and gems, Draco at his side in a similar state of awe.
Harry stuck close to Danny and Ellie as they followed Frostbite to a well protected alcove, which held a smaller glowing chest sat on a plinth.
"Is that-?" Harry asked as Hermione peered over his shoulder, Ron and Draco crowding close to get a look as well.
"The Infimap." Chief Frostbite confirmed with a nod. He lifted the chest's lid and pulled from it a green-glowing scroll. Beautiful, slim and incredibly ancient, but... Harry couldn't help but feel a little confused at why Danny and Chief Frostbite were looking at the scroll so seriously, with a hint of reverence on the yeti ghost's part.
Harry wasn't left wondering for long as the yeti ghost pulled open the scroll, and glowing nebula littered with glittering doors and swirling portals manifested above the glowing parchment. Draco gasped, and Hermione's hand jumped to her mouth in both surprise and awe.
"It's beautiful..." Harry breathed, light glancing off his glasses as he tired to follow the patterns of infinte pathways through the air. Danny merely snorted, Ellie once again resting on his shoulder.
"Yeah, and it's incredibly useful, but only if we keep out of one crazed up fruitloop's greedy hands." Ellie snicked at Danny's words, and Harry saw the Chief sigh before rolling the ancient map closed.
"With that in mind, Great One, make sure that you and you alone keep the Infimap safe until you are able to return it to our care." Chief Frostbite placed the scroll into Danny's hand, and Danny nodded respectfully.
"Thank you for this, Frostbite. I'll get this back to you as soon as I can."
The Chief nodded once and then gave Danny a respectful bow. Danny looked a little uncomfortable at that, but snapped back to attention as Ron tried to stifle another bout of harsh coughs and sneezes.
"Alright, let's do this. Everyone come and grab onto the map and make sure to hold on tight; once I ask it to take us to Clockwork's lair, it'll be a rough ride."
"So... it's like a Portkey?" Draco asked uncertainly.
"A port-?"
"Like the teapot that Dumbledore made for us over Christmas? The thing that left you behind?" Hermione quickly explained while gathering close like Danny told them.
"Oh. Yeah, just like that, but it won't leave you behind... I think."
"That's reassuring." Ron squared his shoulders and grabbed tight to one end of the ancient parchment. "Let's get this over with."
Harry nodded and grabbed the map too, Draco, Hermione and Ellie not a moment behind him. Danny, holding the map, nodded once more in thanks to Chief Frostbite, and then called out in a strong, echoing voice-
"H̷o̷r̵l̴o̴ĝ̵a̴ ̸t̷u̶r̴o̴!"
Harry had not been ready for the instantaneous, and incredibly violent journey they then took through the infinite expanse of the deathly dimension. His scream of terror combined with Ron, Draco and Hermione's for all of four seconds before they tumbled onto an enormous stone island that held a tall, dark clocktower. Harry had to take a moment to lay still on the cold stone for a moment before he attempted to get up again.
He much preferred travel by brooms, Floo, Portkey, thestral, even muggle car or train... Travel by ancient ghost map was firmly last on his 'least-favorite-ways-to-travel' list.
Getting back up on shaky legs was difficult, but Danny and Ellie were there to help them all up, Danny tucking the map away into his pocket. Hermione was shaky as well, Ron's jaw was clenched, keeping his mouth firmly closed, and Draco now had a faint green tinge to his face and an iron grip on Danny's arm as he was helped back to his feet.
"Sorry guys... it looks like ghostly travel doesn't mix well with magic people, huh?" Danny looked nothing but apologetic as he eyed them all with worry.
"No... That was just... It was worse than a Portkey, but it got us here, right?" Hermione asked shakily.
"Yeah, this-"
"Danny? Is this-?"
Ellie was staring up at the stone clocktower, ebony dark stone reflecting the green light of the enormous glowing gears floating around the island's central tower. As Harry watched, the massive pendulum of a grandfather clock swung through the middle of the tallest tower, a resounding 'tick' rippling outwards and rebounding through Harry's ribs.
Danny gave a relieved sigh as he patted Ellie's shoulder.
"Told you he existed." Danny smirked as he walked forward, leading them up to the faded and peeling wooden doors. "C'mon, let's go meet Clockwork. He wouldn't have let us come if we weren't welcome."
"That is- I can't believe you actually know someone who can see and control time!" Ellie burst out, just as Danny placed a hand on the doors to push them open. "Do they see everything ever? Every possible future from every possible choice a single being makes during their existence?"
Danny chuckled at Ellie's sudden excitement, and Harry forced his shoulders to relax with a small smile. They'd be alright. This was Danny's ally who'd be able to help them get back to the human world. They'd figure out what they should do next when their health wasn't on a time limit.
"You'll have to ask him yourself, maybe you can get a straight answer out of him." Danny pushed the heavy doors open, and he led them all inside to a massive room with the walls traveling up and up and up. Harry couldn't make out a ceiling through the gloom. Clocks were crowded onto every flat surface the walls had, all of them ticking and clanking as thousands upon millions of metal gears turned and worked within the elaborate looking time-pieces.
"Clockwork?!" Danny's shout echoed through the large empty space. They endured a moment of tense silence while they waited for a reply.
"I don't think he's home." Ron whispered, eyeing the large, reflective disks floating along the wall opposite the door.
"No, he's always here. This is probably a case of 'can't interfere too much-' something, something, '-fate of the timeline-' something. There's probably something here we need to see, find or figure out. He's cryptic like that..."
"Like a puzzle?" Hermione perked up.
"No, more like a 'you have the answers already, you just aren't looking at your situation the right way to figure it out' kinda situation."
"So... will this Clockwork help us or not? I don't think we have the time to waste figuring this out ourselves." Draco sniped, eyeing the clocks covering the walls with worry.
As Danny turned to try and reassure them and figure out what this Clockwork might want from them, Harry turned to take a closer look at the large disks Ron had been looking at earlier. He saw a flicker of light within one, and as he crept closer an image, or... more like a grainy video, came into focus. He watched with a bizarre sense of deja vu as he saw... himself. Like a memory made real, he watched himself battle the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets.
"Harry?"
He jumped in surprise at Ron's voice just behind him. Harry could see the exact moment Ron registered the memory now being played for them, eyes widening and face paling even further as he took in the giant serpent's head being circled by Fawkes, Harry's small form curled on the ground just before it with eyes shut tight as he clutched the raggedy sorting hat to his chest, Tom Riddle's shade standing over Ginny's body at the feet of Salazar Slytherin's statue.
"Oh my-" Hermione's gasp was soft as she watched the memory play out. Draco was speechless, and Danny and Ellie watched wide-eyed. Harry said nothing, and simply watched his younger self get splattered with large drops of Basilisk blood as Fawkes blinded the giant snake, before standing and forcing the sorting hat onto his head. Younger Harry jerked in sudden pain, as the Gryffindor sword fell onto his head from the magical hat's depths. A spitting hiss from Riddle, young Harry fumbled to grab the sword, the basilisk lunged, a flash of gleaming silver and Slytherin's fabled monster shrieked and thrashed before breathing it's last.
Harry winced in remembered pain, and his hand found the place where the basilisk's fang had pierced his arm, trying to ignore his friend's collective gasp and quick glances as they all watched his younger self stumble forward, towards Riddle and Ginny, venomous fang clutched in had and blood pouring from the open wound on his arm.
"You... Harry... you..." Draco struggled to find the right words, but cut off with a gasp when Fawkes healed young Harry's arm before Riddle blasted the phoenix away with Harry stolen wand. They were speechless as they watched Fawkes swoop back just in time to drop Riddle's diary into young Harry's lap, which was promptly stabbed with the basilisk fang that had come so close to ending Harry's life.
Riddle screamed and writhed and as ink poured from the diary, and Harry heard Danny gasp in surprise.
"Merlin Harry..." Hermione breathed as they watched little Harry, covered in slime and soaked in blood and ink, helping a sobbing Ginny up and out of the large stone cavern filled with nothing but ancient stone and a basilisk's corpse. "You never told us... This is... That was-"
"In the past Hermione." Harry said softly, but firmly. "You'd just been revived from being petrified. And Ron- don't start!- you were helping Ginny recover and your parents were fussing over you... I didn't want to be a bother..."
"Not a bother!" Ron rounded on Harry. "Harry, you were twelve!"
"So were you!" Harry snapped. He turned away from Ron and Hermione's piercing gazes, and he fought down a familiar wave of anger; of not being able to say what he wanted, of not being able to just explain that he couldn't burden his friends like that. His eyes burned. "It wasn't your job to help me get over that rubbish. I... we... we were-"
"Kids." Draco interrupted softly. "You were kids. None of you should've been put through that. And yet-" Draco tore his eyes from the screen showing young Harry and Dumbledore facing an irate Lucius Malfoy. "You faced all that and still had to put up with everything after..." Draco huffed a dry laugh. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but you certainly deserved the house points that snagged Gryffindor the win that year."
There was a beat of stunned silence before Harry couldn't help a bubble of surprised laughter.
"And the year before that, I reckon. Third year was all from quidditch though." Harry grinned softly when that pulled a more genuine laugh from Draco. A quick look at Ron and Hermione, and Harry found them still pinning him with looks full of concern. He sighed.
"This isn't really the time to get into the... darker parts of our adventures. We have more pressing things to deal with right now, but... after. Okay? After Voldemort, and horcruxes and terrible corrupt governments are all taken care of, we'll... talk about it. Alright?"
Hermione's shoulders dropped with a resigned sigh, but Ron held his gaze.
"...Okay. After everything, we're going to have this out." He said at last, and Harry knew that Ron would hold them to that. Hermione nodded firmly as well, shoulder to shoulder with Ron.
Harry allowed himself a soft smile. How did he end up with such good friends?
"You know Danny, you should probably talk about the stuff you've gone through, too." Ellie whispered loudly.
"Shh, Ellie, I'm fine."
"Like hell-"
"Actually!" Danny said loudly, stepping closer and doing everything in his power to avoid Ellie's reproachful look. "I think I know why Clockwork showed us that memory!"
"Yeah?" Harry asked, ready to move on and figure out their next steps.
"Yeah. That book near the end, the one that bled a bunch of ink when you stabbed it? That was one of Voldy's soul pieces."
"Really?" Hermione asked.
"Yep, I'm sure of it." Danny nodded.
"What makes you so sure? It was destroyed with basilisk venom, sure, but Harry was stabbed as well. Wouldn't that mean that the horcrux in his head would have been destroyed as well?" Draco asked, hand coming to his chin in thought.
"Not necessarily." Hermione replied. "Harry is acting as the soul piece's container, right? When Sirius was telling us about how to destroy horcuxes, he said that the container needs to be destroyed first, before the soul piece could be destroyed as well. Since Harry didn't die-" Hermione paused and swallowed harshly before shaking her head and continuing, "Since Harry didn't die, that essentially means the soul piece's container remained intact, so... it survived the venom."
"Alright, fine, but what does that mean for us then? Why would this Clockwork show us the diary horcrux getting destroyed? We already know that the Dark Lord made multiple."
"Woah, Danny is that you?!" Ellie interrupts them and points back at the memory screen, which was now showing Danny and the ghost, Wulf, in Grimmauld Place's kitchen. Danny's eyes shone pure green and Wulf was snarling menacingly down at the golden locket that Danny crushed in his fist as they watched.
"Oh yeah, this is when we first figured out what was going on with Harry and the soul pieces. I helped Wulf get back to the Realms right after this."
"Wow, I think Wulf tried to tell me about all this, but my Esperanto leaves much to be desired."
Danny chuckles. "I'll help you practice later, but for now-" Danny's brows furrow as he thinks. "Clockwork always does things for good reason, so he has to have some kind of point behind showing us these particular memories."
"Well, they're probably trying to give us a hint as to how to safely get the horcrux out of Harry right?" Ron asked hopefully.
"Well, I'm not so sure I like any of the option we've seen so far." Harry muttered, watching Phantom on screen open his fist and let the ashy remains of the locket drift to the ground before he transformed and fell, but the screen blitzed out and shifted to a new scene before the past Danny had finished his fall.
"Wait-" Danny said, giving the memory screen his full attention as the new scene materialized. A far more recent memory beginning to play.
"Woah... That's you guys! And is that the Voldyshort guy you guys are all worried about? The one who split his soul?" Ellie pondered, drifting closer to the screen to watch as Danny in his full Ghost King form rounded on Voldemort. Harry felt an odd sense of cognitive dissonance as he watched past Danny talk down to the most feared dark wizard of the age... who was cowering at the base of a cracked Ministry wall.
"Yeah..." Danny breathed, "I remember this now, and I think- Right there!" Harry jumped in surprise, as Danny pointed at the screen right as the past King Danny charged Voldemort, but was stopped by Nagini. Danny hissed through his teeth as he watched his past self disappear into the massive snake, causing her to writhe and twist on the ground at her master's feet.
"Right there, when I overshadowed the snake, I felt the tie between the soul shard in her and in the shreds of soul still present in Voldy himself. The last true vestiges of himself left in his body."
"Well, that's nice Danny, but overshadowing Harry will just lead to..." Hermione trailed off as Nagini seized violently and then crumbled to ash, the past King Phantom rising from the remains an instant after.
Danny shook his head quickly.
"No, no, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that if the snake's soul shard still had that connection to the original, then all of them should. I mean, how else would Voldy be able to send weird dreams and stuff to the soul piece in Harry's head?"
A beat passed as they processed that revelation.
"Alright, all these horcruxes- the soul pieces in them are still connected to Voldemort, but so what? That's the whole reason no one can kill him while these horcruxes exist, right? How does knowing this help us to help Harry?" Ron asked.
"Well, as we've just seen, I can utterly destroy horcruxes by overshadowing their 'container' as Hermione put it. So, in theory, we could go the route of finding all of Voldy's soul pieces and destroy them one by one before going after the madman himself, or-" Danny paused and gave them all a significant look. "I can just go after the original shreds of soul still left in Dark Weird and Creepy's body, and use the connections the original soul has to all pieces he made, and destroy them all at once, without harming the containers they're housed in."
"...Would that work? Would that get the soul piece out of Harry and kill all the other pieces we don't know about?"
"I..." Danny's brows furrowed and his eyes sparked green. "Tom Riddle's soul has been condemned. He forfeited the claim he had on it the moment he intentionally split it apart." Danny's voice was growing stronger, echo rebounding loudly as his eyes flashed pure, deathly green. "The corrupted shards of a dead soul will be destroyed with no further harm befalling the containers that house them."
Danny's silver rings flashed bright, and Harry shielded his eyes against the sudden glare.
"It is my responsibility to purge the souls of the damned from any realm I protect."
When Harry was able to open his eyes again, he found Danny not in his Ghost King form, but in the achingly familiar form of Phantom. Relief flooded Harry at the sight. If Danny was well enough now to transform and had enough control to morph into his original ghostly form, then he must be almost, if not fully, recovered from his time within the corrupted portal.
Although... Looking closer, Harry could still see little changes to Phantom's form; eyes burning a brighter green than Harry remembered, hair wisping up in cold flickers around the dark metal band that now lay on top of Danny's head instead of floating above it. It seems that even with control over which form he morphed into, small vestiges of Danny's Kingly power bled through no matter what.
"A responsibility that is the price of your greatness. But I know you will do the Infinite Realms proud, Daniel."
Harry snapped his head towards the new voice, Ron and Hermione jumping around beside him, too. There, floating before them was a ghost, draped in a deep purple cloak, the hood pulled up and shadowing the ghost's face except for glowing red eyes. A clock embedded in the ghost's chest ticked back and forth, while the ghost's spectral tail drifted and twined around the base of a long staff held upright in gloved hands.
So this... this was Clockwork.
"Daniel, I'm glad to see you well. I'm happy to see your new power settling enough for you to control it."
Phantom huffed an echoey laugh. "Good to see you too, you old stopwatch."
The cloaked ghost turned to the rest of them, Harry couldn't help a gasp escaping as Clockwork shifted from an adult into an ancient being with a long white beard and aged, wrinkled skin.
"A pleasure to meet you Danielle, Harry, Ronald, Hermione and Draco. How wonderful to see this timeline play out just as it should."
The awkward silence stretched as Harry stared. Ron and Ellie were openly gaping, Hermione and Draco were shocked speechless, but Danny... Danny rolled his eyes in fond annoyance.
"Yeah, yeah, act all wise and powerful later Clockwork, we've got stuff to do. I would totally rib you for not telling me that no-one else knows you exist, but my friends should probably get back to the physical world before they get any sicker, especially now that we have a working theory for taking down old Moldy. His soul is existing on borrowed time." Danny finished darkly, tone full of promise.
"Hmm. Very well, Daniel, but there's no need to worry about your living friends." The time ghost shifts into the form of a small child, but is no less impressively powerful despite their small size and half hidden face still trimmed with baby-fat. "I've stopped time for them. Their health declines no further while they are guests in my lair."
A beat of stunned silence.
"Oh... thanks for that. I guess that's why no one's been coughing or sneezing lately. But we can't just stay here forever, we need to get back to stop Vol-"
"I'm afraid... that it is not yet time for you to return to magical Britain just yet"
"What?" Harry stutters out, trying to hide a flinch as the time ghost morphs into his adult form, now looming over them. "My- Our friends need our help! Hogwarts was overrun when we left, and the Ministry is likely in shambles! Not to mention we left Sirius and the Manson's to the GIW! Why can't we go back?! We have to help them!"
The ancient ghost merely gave an echoey chuckle. "You and Daniel truly are cut from the same cloth. Look here-" Clockwork turns to another viewing screen that swirled blue before showing-
"Hogwarts?" Ron asked.
And so it was. Their school was bathed in early summer sunlight, the Black Lake ruffled by gentle winds as students out of uniform lounged together on the grounds.
As Harry watched, a thestral drawn carriage trundled through the gates and up towards the main castle doors. The moment the carriage doors swung open, Harry gasped along with the others as Ginny, Luna, Neville and Professor Sprout got out and were quickly surrounded by other students and professors, clearly with welcome and concerned questions both.
"Is this real? Is this what's really happening at Hogwarts right now?" Hermione reached towards the screen, as if hoping she could reach through and make it to Hogwarts to see for herself.
"It is." Clockwork confirmed. "After you left the British Magical Government in disarray, the magical community throughout Europe went underground. Or... deeper underground."
The screen flickered, then settled on a new scene. Harry recognized Dumbledore's office immediately, with the man himself standing before his desk with Fawkes perched on his shoulder. Other members of the Order of the Phoenix and a majority of the Hogwarts Professors stood around the office, speaking lowly with one another while Dumbledore simply stood still and silent, obviously deep in thought.
"Your school has been made a fortified safe haven. The majority of students and several many of their families have decided to find sanctuary there to avoid both the few escaped death eaters and your escaped Tom Riddle, who is still at large. Although, that is not the only thing pushing the magical community into hiding..." Clockwork's coal bright eyes shone through the gloom as the scene changed revealing, to Harry's astonishment, Sirius in his animagus form, trotting alongside the Manson parents as they quickly made their way through an unknown, grey walled hallway. Both Ellie and Danny gasped in shock as white suited agents rounded the corner in front of them, inciting a hectic chase leading out onto the now recognizable streets of central London.
"Wha- We have to help them!" Ron burst, watching with dismay as an errant green-glowing shot barely missed Snuffles' side, surely singing his fur.
Harry was in complete agreement, and had started towards the screen, intent on finding a way through to help his godfather and the Mansons, but a staff appeared in front of his chest, stopping him in his tracks. He turned a furious look onto the owner of the staff and came face to face with the ghost of time himself.
"Don't be hasty. Observe." Clockwork gestured to the screen showing his godfather and the Manson parents as they ran away from the organization who'd hunted Danny like an animal for months. Hermione gasped in horror as they watched the adults round a corner right into the middle of a street teeming with pristine white vans and trucks, all with ghostly green weapons aimed straight at Snuffles and the Mansons.
Just as Harry was about to push the staff aside and run toward the screen again, flashing red and blue lights surrounded the white vans, and Harry saw Kingsley lead the charge of muggle authorities in rounding up the protesting white suited agents; Snuffles and the Manson's slipping away in the chaos as if it were a routine. Like it was their plan all along to lead the agents into this trap.
"What is this? What are they doing?" Draco asked quickly.
"After your escape from them in Privet Drive, the Ghost Investigation Ward turned to investigating magic, the same strange energy that allowed you to evade them in Privet Drive. They found, to their great surprise, that Europe is teeming with magic and magic-users and thus they began attempting to... acquire more information on this new form of energy manipulation, to use it to their advantage in finding you, Daniel. Jeremy and Pamela Manson, along with Sirius Black, have made it their mission to stop them."
Harry released a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding.
They were okay. Everyone he'd been worrying about after they'd run from the fight in Hogwarts all the way up to when they'd escaped Privet Drive to the Infinite Realms. Everyone was as safe as he could reasonably hope for.
"So you see, your friends are safe and very capable of protecting themselves. Now-" All the memory screens snapped to darkness, leaving Clockwork, Phantom and Ellie the brightest sources of light in the suddenly too-dark clocktower. "You all have a choice to make. You must return to the physical world soon, so... where to you wish to return?"
Harry's first instinct was to say London or Hogwarts. They needed to help deal with the GIW to be able to go after Voldemort and the rest of his horcruxes. But Harry paused when Phantom caught his eye.
Right. He wasn't alone in this. Danny had a way to defeat Voldemort's soul pieces all at once, and Harry couldn't get rid of Ron and Hermione even if he'd wanted to. The looks he saw in Draco and Ellie eyes now told him that they weren't going to be left behind either. Honestly, he wouldn't have it any other way.
So... what was their next move?
"Harry?" Harry met Phantom's eyes as he floated down to land beside them on the floor. "What are you thinking?"
"...Fighting the GIW in London won't stop them for good. They'd keep hunting Danny and Ellie and any other ghost that's in the physical world."
"Harry's right, if we want any chance of defeating the Dark Lord, we'll need Danny's help to destroy the horcruxes at their source. But to do that-"
"We'll need to stop the GIW at their source." Ron followed Draco's thought.
"But... to do that we'll need to go to-"
"Amity Park." Phantom said softly.
The largest screen swirled galaxy bright and sparkling, cutting through the dark clocktower so harshly that Harry had to shield his eyes against the glare. It seems their decision had been made.
"Danny?" Ellie's concerned question got nothing but a resigned sigh from Phantom.
"It's alright, Ellie. It's... I'll be fine."
"But, Danny, we understand if you-"
"Hermione-" Phantom cut off gently, "Really, it's fine. Honestly, this has been a long time coming. I can't just ignore my hometown forever. I promised to protect that place and the people living there back when I was fourteen. It's time I actually made good on that promise."
"Well, it's only fair we help you take down your corrupt government, then." Ron slung an arm over Phantom's shoulder. "Seeing as how you helped take down ours, and all."
Phantom snorted. "Shut up dude. Come on then, let's do this."
With that, Phantom nodded once to Clockwork, and with his head held high and a steely look in his eye, flew through the waiting portal. Ellie, Ron, Hermione and Draco went through right after him. Just as Harry passed through himself, he heard Clockwork's layered voice whisper sadly.
"I'm sorry Daniel, but all is as it should be."
.
.
Danny was glad they had some semblance of a plan now, even if it did mean going back to Amity Park and facing the GIW head on after a year of running from them.
Other than that little wrinkle, it was a relatively simple plan to set all things right with the world.
Defeat GIW, then find moldy-shorts, overshadow said shorts and use the creep's connection to all the soul pieces he made to destroy them all at once without hurting their containers. Then it was a kittens and rainbows from there.
Easy, right? Nothing could possibly complicate such a foolproof plan.
Yeaaaaaaah.
They were walking out of one fire and right into another.
But, despite the odds, Danny felt like they could do it. They'd all faced some bad odds before in some form or another, (in Draco's case, very, very recently), and they'd come out on top. If they all worked together, he was sure they could beat these really bad, completely terrible odds that stood between them and the safety of their friends, families and worlds.
Danny flew through the portal, his friends right behind him.
It felt incredible to be in ghost form again. When he'd realized he had to power to destroy all those torn out soul pieces in one fell swoop if he just went to the source, felt like errant shard of his core had finally slotted into it's proper place. It was almost laughably easy to manipulate his power in such a way to pull Phantom's familiar form to the surface.
It felt good to be back. Granted, there was an added layer of barely contained power just beneath the surface of his core now, and the weight of the metal band on his head was heavy in it's unfamiliarity, but he could safely say that he was back in full Phantom-fighting form.
And just in time, too.
The moment they'd all stepped through the portal, a clock-hand swept over it, closing it in it's wake. For a breathless moment, Danny simply stared at the familiar sight of his hometown, Amity Park. It was a clear night, the stars and moon were bright enough to cast pearly light on the sleepy, familiar town that they now stood on the outskirts of.
It took a second for Danny to realize that there was no sound or movement around them, as if the entire town was holding it's collective breath.
But then Danny felt it. Clockwork's influence shifted, and time ground back into motion from where it had been frozen in place.
That's precisely when the alarms began blaring. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco flinched in surprise at the wailing shriek, but Danny and Ellie both dropped to the ground in crumpled heaps. Danny was in agony, gloved hands clamped tightly around his ears, but he forced his eyes open enough to try and spot the source of the sonic attack.
Looking past Ron and Draco's legs as they crouched beside him with worry, clearly not as a affected by a sound meant to harm ghosts, Danny searched up and down the empty street until he spotted-
There. One of the pole-like structures the GIW had constructed to drain him and Ellie of their powers way back when. It was glowing faintly and flashing a little light in time with the piercing alarm. They must have added sensors and alarms to them since he'd been gone. But, the GIW being the GIW, he doubted that they'd fixed the glaring flaw in all their previous designs when it came to him.
Even with every instinct screaming at him to pull on more power to help protect him and his friends from this new threat, Danny pushed all his energy down, down, down; containing it into a single point. He morphed once more into his human form, and he used the infinitesimally small improvement to the sound making his eardrums bleed to crawl over to Ellie.
Grabbing her face in his hands and finding her eyes open but narrowed in pain, he mouthed the words 'transform' and 'human.' Ellie morphed instantly, and the second her rings dissipated the alarm stopped.
Danny breathed a sigh of relief. So, it was triggered by the active use of ectoplasm then, just like the majority of the GIW sensors. It's good to know they hadn't figured out how to track him in human form yet, since that fact had surely saved his ghostly butt from getting caught while he'd been on the run.
Which meant no ghost forms or active powers, then. Danny's ears popped as his ears healed, which meant that his body's innate use of ectoplasm to heal himself wasn't enough to trigger the alarms. Good to know.
"Danny!" Hermione whisper shouted as she crouched down next to him and Ellie, still huddled up protectively on the ground. "Are you alright?"
"Kinda. That alarm was triggered by Ellie and me. We can't transform or use any of our powers or it'll start alarming again." Danny pushed himself quickly to his hands and knees.
The GIW will be on their way to them by now. Hell, they probably woke up the whole town with how loud that alarm was. They needed to find somewhere to hide.
"Ellie, you good? We've got to go before... Ellie?" Danny paused and put a careful hand on Ellie's shoulder, but she didn't move. Looking closer, Danny realized with a jolt that Ellie was unconscious, blood flowing slowly from her ears. She looked... starving seemed too tame a word for it; Ellie's cheeks were hollow and her skin paper white.
Danny's stomach dropped as it suddenly dawned on him; it had been nearly a year since Ellie's last transformation into her human form... and ghosts didn't need to eat. Ellie's core must have been sustaining her human form while it was in limbo, but it was a miracle that Ellie still had a human form at all.
Screeching tires sounded in the distance, quickly getting closer.
"Danny, we need to go." Ron said nervously.
"You're right." Danny lifted Ellie's too light form and settled her in his arms before turning to his friends, their wands held tight in their fists and their expressions set. "Quick, follow me!"
Thank goodness for all those late night patrols he'd done. Danny knew this town inside and out, which made it relatively easy to slip into the darker alleys and side streets, avoiding the blaring headlights and whining ghost weapons.
Danny's first choice of hide-out was the Manson Mansion. The Manson parents were in England after all, so if they were careful, the GIW would never even know they were there. With any luck, they would think the alarm going off was from some fluke or system failure and not look any further into it.
But when were they ever that lucky?.
The entire street next to the Manson house was swarming with waiting GIW agents. Sunglasses still in place even in the dark of night, and weapons armed and ready. Danny's heart pounded against his ribs at the sight of them, and his next panicked thought was that he needed to get to Tucker's house.
They backtracked, scrambling to avoid the agents patrolling the rich neighborhood. Tucker's house was all the way across town, just a couple streets over from where FentonWorks used to be. A pang of grief gripped Danny for an instant before he shook it off. Not the time.
They were so close, barely a block away from the Foley's house before they skidded to a halt beside a row of nondescript suburban houses. The roaring sound of several large vehicles pounded past their hasty hiding place, and they ducked behind the densest bushes beside a red-brick house.
Danny tucked Ellie closer to him, panic beginning to overtake him. The GIW where right there, armed to the teeth and so viscously cruel. His friend's breaths were coming in harsh pants, and Danny could sense their fear, which only compounded on his own.
They couldn't face the GIW like this. If they were caught and they had to fight their way out, they wouldn't win, they-
Boots hitting pavement snapped through Danny's spiraling thoughts. Danny fought down the urge to go ghost as he felt his friends tense and shift into ready positions behind him, as the approaching white suited agents came closer and closer to discovering them in their hiding place.
Danny held his breath and made sure his eyes weren't glowing as two GIW agents ambled close enough that Danny could've reached out an smeared mud on their pristine white pants. After a few heart stopping seconds where the agents swept the area with shaded eyes, the agent's radio crackled to life.
"Agent P, agent R. Any sign of the ectoentity?"
The agent nearest to Danny reached up to the radio and answered. "Negative C. Just traces of ambient ectoplasm. Sector gamma is clear."
"Acknowledged. Rendevous with Agents O and K to do another sweep of the initial triggering site."
"Copy." The agent turned to his companion and they began walking back towards the other white vans littering the street, each with their own team of agents sweeping the area.
Danny almost let himself relax, but his heart and core both threatened to burst out of his chest entirely when Ellie suddenly groaned loud enough for the agents to hear.
The suits froze, and turned slowly to face the bushes they were all sheltered behind. His friends were holding their breaths, utterly still and tense as bowstrings, ready to snap if the agents got any closer.
Danny could sense the moment Ron readied himself to pounce forward, but the barest moment before he did, the front door to the house they were hiding beside was thrown open with an almighty crash.
"If you don't step the hell away from my house, my paintball gun's got your names on it! Just give me a reason! Go on! Take one more step!"
Danny's jaw dropped.
Mrs. Tetslaff's voice boomed, destroying the previous quiet, drawing the other agent's eyes and causing more than a few lights to begin turning on up and down the street.
As his old gym teacher continued to yell and threaten bodily harm upon members of a government organization currently occupying the town she lived in, Danny flinched harshly when Harry grabbed his sleeve from behind. Whipping his head around to face his friend, Danny's surprise mounted even higher to find a small child crouched beside his friends.
Dressed in dark clothes, hood pulled up to hide their face, the kid, who had to be younger than Ellie by at least a year, put a finger to their lips to tell them to keep quiet, and then beckoned them away from the ruckus Mrs. Tetslaff was making; more and more people flooding the streets now, shouting at the agents and making a huge scene.
Glancing quickly to his friends and gaining swift nods, they all followed the mysterious boy around the back of the house as quickly and silently as they could, using Mrs. Tetslaff's distraction to move unnoticed by the GIW. The kid led them to a nearby house with an outdoor entrance to it's basement. Quickly unlocking the hatch-like doors, the kid lifted one up and gestured silently for them to head down the shadowed stone steps.
Hermione hesitated briefly, but then led the way down the steps into the unknown basement. The kid came through right after Danny, and then shut and locked the doors behind them, trapping them in complete darkness.
Nerves shot and still on high alert, Danny reflexively flared his eyes to see through the pitch black. There was a surprised gasp from their unknown guide, before there was a click of a switch, and light flooded the basement. Danny hissed softly as his eyes adjusted to the harsh change, and when his vision returned he found himself surrounded by his friends, all of them facing the kid that led them here who was staring at them beside the light switch on the wall at the base of the stairs they'd just come down.
Slowly, the kid lowered their hood, revealing a young boy. The boy simply stared at them in awe, and Danny used the momentary silence to try and remember if he recognized the kid's blond-ish brown crew cut hair and brown eyes.
Finally, the boy broke the awkward stare-off.
"Um- Hi." When they all just kept staring at him, the boy bit his lip before bravely soldiering on. "Um- I'm Reece, and this is my parent's basement. You should be safe here from all those agents."
"Why did you help us?" Draco asked.
Reece blinked at the harshness in Draco's tone but answered nonetheless. "I saw you guys pass by my bedroom window earlier. I thought you guys were running from the agents after screwing with them by setting off their dumb ghost alarms. Some of the other high schoolers did that a few weeks ago. But I never thought it'd be you-" Reece's wide eyes found Danny and the awe and wonder he saw there could have outshone the sun. "It's really you! You came back! Everyone said you'd come back, and you did! You're Da-"
"Danny?..." Ellie groaned softly, cracking open sea blue eyes.
"Here, Ellie, I'm here. Don't worry, we're safe for now." Danny quickly looked to Reece. "Thank you for getting us away from those agents, but we can't stay here for long-"
"Oh, I know. But don't worry! My Mom and Dad are taking care of that!"
"Your... wait, what?" Ellie began coughing harshly, making Danny wince. "Okay, before anything else, Reece, can I get a glass of water for my sister?"
"Sure, c'mon upstairs. My parents'll be back soon and they can help explain the plan."
"Plan?" Hermione asked as she followed the young boy through what turned out to be comfortable looking basement, set up with a small bedroom, bathroom and sitting area. Despite his still present apprehension to being somewhere unknown and at the mercy of a stranger, Danny couldn't help but notice that there was a fine layer of dust over the distinctly neglected looking basement.
"Yeah! When I saw you guys run past my window I told my Mom and Dad, and they used their secret adult network to call a whole bunch of other people! It's how my sister's old gym coach knew that those agents were on her lawn again. They left to go and help make a big distraction, and make sure that everyone got away from it okay. The whole town is working together to mess with the GIW all the time, so we help each other out if we get in trouble, too!"
Reece opened the door at the top of the basement stairs and led them all through a nice looking house to a well maintained kitchen, with several decorative chickens placed throughout.
"What's with the chickens?" Harry asked, inspecting a little wooden chicken that looked to be made of interconnected puzzle pieces.
"My Mom likes chickens." Reece said simply. "Here." He handed Danny a glass of water and Danny carefully propped Ellie up on a chair and helped her take small sips. Even with just the bare amount of water, she was already looking worlds better. Thank you, ghostly healing factor.
"REECE!"
They jumped as one as the shout echoed through the house.
"WHAT MOM?!" They jumped again as Reece shouted back.
"The coast is clear, did you get those trouble makers who set off the alarm?"
"We didn't set them off on purpose." Ron grumbled, clearly used to this brand of family communication. Ellie simply looked around confused.
"Yeah Mom! You won't believe who it is!"
"What? Who-" Reece's Mom cut off with a gasp as she rounded the corner, a man Danny assumed to be Reece's Dad coming to stand at her shoulder, looking just as shocked when his eyes landed on Danny. Danny shuffled in front of Ellie, and awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck as they continued to stare.
He'd forgotten all about the broadcast the GIW had sent out just minutes before they attacked FentonWorks. The whole town now knew his secret. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to come back here after all.
"See! Danny Phantom! He came back just like everyone always said he would!" Reece bounded excitedly over to his father, grabbing his hand. This seemed to shake the man out of his momentary shock.
"Alright Reece, we see. Good job getting everyone here safe." Reece's Dad then returned his attention to Danny. "Welcome back Mr. Fenton, glad to see that you've been giving those suits one hell of a fight. And who've you brought with you?" Reece's Dad turned to Danny's friends, eyeing their dark school robes with a raised brow. "Mini-cultists?"
Danny couldn't help himself. He broke down laughing at the look of utter offense on Draco's face and surprise on Harry, Ron and Hermione's.
"Oh my gosh, that's amazing! I thought you guys were cultists too, when I first saw you!" Danny managed through his laughter.
"What?" Hermione gasped. "Why would you-"
"One, you summoned me to a secret castle, into a fancy painted circle on the floor. And two, the school robes absolutely do look like something a group of cultists would wear." Even Ellie began giggling at that and Danny smiled, the last of the tension finally easing out of his shoulders.
"Regardless," Hermione turned back to Reece and his parents, who'd been watching the interaction with interest. "We're not cultists, we're Danny's friends. But we're... not from around here."
"Well, judging by your accents, you're a long way from home. I won't even ask how you got past the border guards and ghost shield surrounding the city, since it's obvious you didn't set off the alarms intentionally." Reece's Mom turned to her husband and asked, "Is George on the way? We need to get these kids to the school."
"Yep, he should be here any minute."
"School?" Ellie broke in, leaning around Danny, voice much clearer and stronger. Danny also noticed that she looked... healthy. Much healthier than she should have after just a glass of water after a year starving her human half. Hmm.
"Oh! Yes, the whole town may be infested with these horrible government agents, but you'll all be safe at Casper High. The teachers and students there have built up quite the rebellion in hopes that we could get rid of this government occupation and reclaim our town. But with you back-" Reece's Mom's eyes shone with hope as she gestured to Danny, "-We might actually have a fighting chance now."
"But... Why the school? Won't the GIW find out and disband it or-"
"Oh no, it turns out there was a secret basement full of meat that some teens found soon after you... well, right after the GIW broadcasted that video and the whole town found out who you were. They discreetly got rid of the meat and turned that place into the main base of operations for the rebellion." Reece's Dad answered, quickly peeking around the curtains in the kitchen to look out onto the street. "Oh, and George is here. You should go quickly before it starts to get lighter out."
Danny nods and Reece leads them all to the front door. Before the door could be opened, Draco peeked around a curtain, but jumped back with a gasp.
"Wait!" He hissed. "It's one of those white muggle death traps! They ratted us out!"
Before Danny's heart could truly leap in panic, Reece's Mom jumped in.
"No! No! It's not! George is the rebellion's spy! He joined the GIW after the attack on FentonWorks to try and sabotage their attempts at finding and capturing Danny! He's been feeding information to the rebellion and getting people out of trouble by hiding them in one of the suit's own government vans! He'll take you to Casper High, right to the rebellion's base! Please, we wouldn't do anything to hurt you or put you in danger! We want to help!"
A beat of silence. Danny looked down at Ellie quickly, who was standing at his side, clutching his hand. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco all looked wary and unsure, their suspicion gorging with every moment the silence stretched.
Then, Danny turned back to Reece and his family. He'd felt nothing but honest concern and... a sense of growing hope as this family that Danny didn't know helped him and his friends.
"Why are you helping us? Why risk your own safety? Why... why should I trust you?" Danny wasn't accusing or angry, just asked a simple question in need of clarification.
There was a moment of silence as Reece looked up at his parents, and then looked towards a neighboring wall. There, Danny saw a framed picture of the family. ...A family of four...
Reece's parents glanced at each other briefly, before they sighed.
"Our daughter... she was supposed to come back from college a week after the GIW attacked you and your family." Reece's Mom began softly. "When you ran, they shut down Amity Park and declared martial law. No one was allowed in or out without express permission from those horrible government agents. They... we can't even contact her. We haven't seen or heard from her in almost a year."
"We may not be actively working for the rebellion, but we do what we can to help. We just want to help rid the town of the GIW, and helping you seems like the best way of making that happen." Reece's Dad finished, holding his wife's hand and putting a comforting hand on Reece's shoulder.
Danny looked at them. A fractured family, being kept apart. It likely wasn't a unique story either. Amity wasn't a college town, lot's of kids left for more school or advanced training.
And suddenly, the deep seated fear he held of the GIW was replaced with a cold, single-minded fury. He met the family's eyes with steely determination.
"Thank you, for all you've done. I promise, I'll get our town back." He said solemnly, meaning every single word.
Danny turned to his friends, and found their expressions set and their stances ready.
Grinning viscously, Danny asked, "Ready to join another rebellion?"
Harry snorted, and grinned right back. "Do you even have to ask?"
.
.
Ooooooh baby! Hope you're ready for some Danny Phantom favorites next chapter! Let me know who you guys are particularly fond of from the DP universe! (if the majority of you say Wes freaking Weston, I swear...)
Pretty dialogue and plot heavy chapter again, but the kids got to where they needed to go so... [shrug]
Also, Danny says 'Horloĝa turo' to get them to Clockwork's lair, which means 'clocktower' in Esperanto!
See you next chapter!