Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Danny Phantom.

Note (6/15/2020): Thanks for the reviews guys! I'm really happy you're enjoying this so far even though the beginning of this story is a bit all over the place but considering how much still needs to get set up before we can get into the meat of the story its to be expected. I'm doing my best to make this story the best it can be even though I'm not relying on a beta-reader anymore sadly while making sure not to make the same mistake of making things too cluttered.

Anyways I have a TON of awesome things planned out in this story so trust me, I'm hoping the wait will be worth it and I can give all of my favorite characters a proper send off we never got to see in the show. And more importantly, I get to turn Vlad into a full-on good guy and not the dork he turned into for most of season 3 of the show! Muahahahaha! Lolz! So yeah, I'm super excited to see where things go from here for Dani and Valerie too and decided to drop a few important hints in this chapter! I hope you like what I wrote and please enjoy!

P.S. (6/16/2020) A few parts of this were bugging me so I went back and fixed it. Don't worry, its nothing major just wanted to let you know!

Chapter 3: All In Due Time

(Chapter inspired by Where Do I Go? by Anna Blue)

Danny's POV

"Jazz, really, I'm going to be fine. I promise! Seriously I already feel a lot better just getting out of the house so would you take a chill pill please?" I sighed when our conversation went from being completely normal to her pulling the worried sister card on me somewhere in the middle. "Vlad's only going to Axion Labs for a few hours and nothing bad is going to happen to me staying in a ritzy hotel like this. And most of them have ghost shield's now too, remember?"

"I know, but still, the only reason I brought it up is because I'm worried you might end up having another relapse. If I wasn't stuck at school right now I'd go straight there just to be on the safe side and keep you company. You'll always be my baby brother Danny and after everything you've been through I can't help but worry, it's my job as your older sister," Jazz replied, heaving another heavy sigh then continuing-

"In my head I know it's a good thing you're leaving Amity Park, but saying goodbye again so soon has been really hard to accept all the same. Mom and dad feel the same way. Personally I'm just glad everything we told them about you seems to have finally sunk in and they're trying to be better parents." Then a bit more cheerfully she added, "Oh, and speaking of changes, I convinced them to turn your old room into a guest room now that we've have taken everything else out. That way you and Vlad can still visit us at any time. Dad wanted to turn it into a game room and mom wanted to use it for temporary storage since they're finally cleaning out the garage. Go figure, right? If only they had done this sooner..."

Snickering a little I joked,"I bet you ten bucks that once YOU move out to start college next year they won't even consider changing your old room into something else. They're always too busy going on and on about how smart you are and how you'll end up as a brain surgeon or something, which by the way...ew, and how you're welcome to come home any time like its only natural. Me? I'll be lucky if I can get a college to accept me even with Vlad's help getting my grades back up."

Making a disgusted sound on her end of the phone Jazz gagged, "Ugh you're telling me! To this day I still have no idea how they even came up with that idea! When I say I want to 'pick someone's brain' it's just a figure of speech!" pausing for a second when we both heard the school bell ring on her end, she said, "Anyways I have to go now but if you need anything, let me know alright?"

"Ok MOM," I teased before finally giving in so she'd stop worrying and added, "In all seriousness though you don't worry about me. There's plenty of things for me to do here to keep me distracted so I won't dwell on everything that happened. Besides I already promised Vlad I won't go 'wandering off to the top floor' of the building if you catch my drift so I'm basically stuck indoors too. But if it'll make you feel better I'll send you a text when he gets back from Axion Labs and keep you posted."

"Thanks, Danny. I really appreciate it. We'll talk again real soon so until then, stay safe Danny," and with that, after I said goodbye too, Jazz finally hung up the phone and I fell backward onto the bed with a dull thud.

Rolling onto my side, I stared at the phone for a minute and thought to myself, I get that everyone is worried about me but honestly, just like they're trying to accept the fact that I'm leaving Amity Park with Vlad I'm still trying to accept the fact that Dan's really gone since I didn't see him disappear with my own eyes. In the end, Clockwork was right about everything. I really did need Vlad's help to stop Dan for good and deep down I know its my fault things went as bad as they did since Clockwork warned me that not telling him would make things much harder than they had to me. Maybe if I had trusted Vlad sooner and told him everything I wonder if I could have-

Shaking my head I frowned, No, it doesn't matter anymore. It's over and I have to make a fresh start from here! I've done everything I can at this point, said everything I needed to say, and now I have to start living my life again now that I'm allowed to even have that luxury. And THAT is definitely going to take some getting used to.

I'm so used to hiding and laying low at this point that out of habit I almost felt like just staying in my room the whole time until Vlad came back and watching TV or something, but eventually I convinced myself to get up and head for the indoor pool. Vlad made sure to buy all the necessities before he left like some spare clothes and such, which thankfully included a pair of swim trunks, so I figured getting some exercise would help me unwind. There was a fitness center here too but that felt more like actual work rather than just a way for me to keep myself busy switching between swimming laps across the pool and casually swimming around.

Besides, apart from feeling the weight of the water pushing against my skin, swimming sort of felt like flying because of the weightlessness so that helped me relax a little. I also had the pool pretty much to myself since most of the fancy rich people staying here usually preferred to swim at night like you see in all those spy movies. Guess it's because they're usually too busy doing other things during the day.

And if everything was normal for me I'd be in school now too just like Jazz and the others.

I had to remind myself several times not to feel guilty about goofing off knowing my sister and friends were busy studying in class right now because Vlad promised we'd start working on finding a good school for me once we got back home since he doesn't think a personal tutor is the way to go anymore. Besides, now that I actually CAN go out in public again Vlad reluctantly agreed that I needed to be around normal people my own age again. Not that I think a bunch of rich snobs at some private school count as 'normal,' but that's the compromise we eventually agreed on as far as going back to school was concerned...

Vlad said he didn't want me to settle for less by going to some local public high school where the chances of being bullied or treated like a loser is still pretty high even if they don't know who my parents are like everyone does at Casper High. But I argued that going to a school with a bunch of rich kids who were just as likely to find reasons to hate me off the bat for no reason didn't sound appealing either. When Vlad heard me say that he just smirked that trademark know-it-all smirk of his and told me that I was probably going to deal with quite the opposite of being too popular once they discover that I'm basically now the god-son of the world-renowned Vlad Masters himself.

As soon as I became the most popular kid in school because of this by default I'd have to beat off girls with a stick and outwit the rest my peers who would either try to cozy up to me too, try to trick me into telling more than I should, or make me look like an idiot. You know like that one creep in London who tried to get information about Vlad out of me. Thinking back on that whole experience actually made me feel a bit better about this whole private school idea because for one thing that's something I could probably handle better than ghosts, and for another thing, there was a good chance I could make some real friends there too. And if not I still had Sam and Tucker who would always have my back even if they're over in the next state.

At this point, I'm sick and tired of living in fear so I want to live my life to the fullest! And with Vlad's help, I really hope that Valerie will be able to live a better life again too along with the rest of the people Amity Park. So all in all, I'm feeling pretty good about how we parted ways and with time I'm sure that the memories of Dan will fade away and so will the nightmares. And once they do, I'll finally be free to make something of myself, to have a life of my own and pursue my dreams for real.

Smiling to myself after swimming back over to the edge of the pool, I looked up at the ceiling, and since I had a strong feeling that Clockwork already knew what I was about to say I went ahead and said, "I'm glad time is finally back on my side again. I just have to make sure I use it more wisely from now on and learn from my mistakes. After that, it's all up to me to make the most of my life from here on out..."

Clockwork's POV

While I rarely express my emotions openly I smiled softly to myself upon hearing Danny's indirect 'thank you.'

It's nice to feel appreciated even though overseeing the flow of time is my job as is ensuring that the balance between this world and the Earth remains intact. Even the Observants were pleased for once when they heard the news that Dan's existence is now a thing of the past as it were rather than a foreseen doom upon both worlds. Everything is as it should be...at least as far as they are concerned. Although they made it clear that it is still my duty to keep a close eye on Danny's progress to ensure that no new evil will emerge from him to take Dan's place.

I honestly had to resist the urge to roll my eyes because as observant as they claim to be, they are really quite blind. I told Danny this before but the Observants tend to only see cause and effect, or the beginning, middle, and end; they do not see the small ripples indicating changes in the currents of time nor the way its flow can be diverted or stopped altogether. I believe humans have a term for something similar to what I am referring to actually. It's called the 'butterfly effect,' a chaos theory where the smallest change such as something as seemingly insignificant as the beating of a butterfly's wings may tip the scale and cause a tornado as a result...

On its own a butterfly is harmless, but the slightest change its wings makes in the wind currents could change everything at a moment's notice. Danny, in their eyes, is the butterfly and they fear the tornado so much that they ignore what the butterfly itself represents something good and has no desire to cause harm whereas Dan was the tornado itself. But like any storm, it is not meant to last forever. There is no such thing as an eternal storm just like the future is not set in stone.

From the moment I gave Danny his second chance, while technically this is now his third or fourth I suppose, his actions have already made drastic changes to the timeline for the better. He has made new friends and allies along the way he may not have otherwise which will serve him well in the days to come since Danny will need their love and support to heal from his emotional scars. And because Danny gave Vlad Masters his trust, support, and friendship the elder halfa is well on his way to changing his future as well...

But unlike Danny, Vlad's road to redemption is far from over.

Danny's greatest mistake in the other timeline was the naive mistake of a broken young man who had lost everything, his friends, his family, his home, his will to live, but Vlad's mistakes are far more numerous and most of his suffering has been self-inflicted. He has held onto his bitterness and anger for so long those feelings have festered and turned him into truly selfish man full of dark and evil thoughts. And while Danny has begun to change him for the better, at his core Vlad Masters is still a very self-centered human being. If he is ever to fully change in heart, mind, and spirit, there is another person he owes a sincere apology to and the chance to be given the love and respect she deserves as well-

Turning to one of my viewing portals, my eyes narrowed sadly as I began idly watching the progress of a scared little girl who was chased from the only home she knew and forced to survive in a world that would shun her very existence if they knew the truth about her. I am speaking of course, of the youngest halfa, Danielle Phantom. A girl who is now biologically only a thirteen-year-old, but chronologically barely a year old clone that Vlad Masters created separately from the others to make sure she could retain her human DNA.

Danielle's own existence beyond that meant little to nothing to him because Vlad only did this to test if he could safely do the same with his 'perfect' clone that he planned to dote upon of the only other halfa in the world at the time, Danny Phantom. And apart from her tender age, strictly speaking outside of the basic knowledge Vlad taught her, as I said, Dani is like a newborn whose innocence was shattered by his cruelty and now she is living in fear not only of the man who created her that was willing to watch her die to achieve his goals. But now she is also being pursued by another threat that may pose a great danger to us all if left unchecked...

Their future, as well as their past mistakes and while the chances of them changing, are slim no matter the outcome. However, there is still a small chance that they can be reasoned with. I have seen those who serve the government of every era and every nation rise to new heights and fall far from grace, I have seen many men and women perform noble and evil deeds in the name of their country, and sadly the latter is often done out of fear, spite, or pure ignorance. This particular group, the Guys in White, much like Jack and Maddie Fenton once believed think that all ghosts are evil paranormal beings bent on the destruction and bringing chaos to the Earth.

But generalizing our nature is a mistake. We all exist for a reason and play an important part in making the world what it is, and that world is two halves of a whole that have been like this since time immemorial. Regardless, what I am saying is that Danielle, by extension is also under my protection since she and Danny are connected much like he was to Dan. And as such, now that Dan no longer threatens the future of our world I believe that it is time for another timely intervention so that I can help set her on the right path the same way I did for Danny.

I do this because I believe that everyone in this world deserves a second chance. But for her, simply giving Dani a fighting chance for her own survival alone will drastically change her future for the better. Not only that but giving Dani a new purpose in her life once it's no longer in danger may in turn also help someone else find theirs who has lost their way. Some may think otherwise but I think it's well worth the risk of overstepping my bounds again to turn the wheels of fate in their favor.

Its time for the young Dani Phantom and a certain young woman by the name of Valerie Gray to find something new in their lives to strive for and for them to create a new bridge between humans and ghosts the likes of which has not been seen in any timeline that even I am aware of. If they can overcome their differences and find it in their hearts to forgive the man who caused them so much pain and misery, I will know once and for all that Vlad Masters has been saved from an untimely end of his own making from a time when he still believed the world revolved around him which would have nearly cost us the world itself...

Only then would Vlad Masters learn to appreciate what he still has, and see what he still had left to lose.