Dan stood in the expansive lab of one Vlad Masters, with Danny on his back. The older halfa was explaining how the device worked, and that it should locate their timeline with relative ease. He then handed it to Dan, who inspected the small remote briefly. He then looked back up at Vlad-who now sifted through some extra notes and diagrams lying on the table.
"You know, you're a lot less of a fruitloop than I thought." Dan said with a smirk, while Vlad rolled his eyes.
He then looked down when he felt Danny wrap his arms around him. "Thank you for your help, uncle Vlad!"
Vlad's eyes widened as he looked at Danny, before glancing at Dan. The man just shrugged, gesturing for the man to say something. So he looked back down at his fellow halfa and smiled, gently patting him on the back while a chuckle escaped his throat. "You're welcome, Danny."
The older halfa then turned his attention to Dan, as Danny returned to his back, and frowned. "And before you go, I have to apologize."
"Apologize? You're not trying to kill me, are you Vlad?" Dan questioned, curiosity growing when he shook his head.
"I talked to Maddie over the phone a few months ago, and after what she said you did to her I thought about sabotaging this moment." Vlad admitted. "But not only did I think better of it, I also realized the woman I loved was stolen the day young Danny went missing. Hopefully, after all of this, she'll return someday."
"You're so cheesy." Dan commented, before looking between the device and Vlad. "But you're a good man this time around. Try to stay that way-it makes my life easier."
And with that, the two were traveling through time, leaving Vlad alone in his lab once again. He could only sigh and hope they made it back safely, as he turned to what he had been working on before. Plots against Jack Fenton and everything he stood for…
Vlad skimmed one of them, before a frown formed on his face. He slid the documents into the garbage and proceeded to clean out a drawer of others. After everything Maddie had said, he found the two didn't need anymore pain in their life than what Dan had given them.
A cold darkness crept along the walls of the mysterious room Dan found himself in, the natural glow of his flaming hair barely cutting through it. All he could see in front of him was blackness, broken up by occasional bits of reflective metals. Slow and monotonous ticking also set the area to a quiet beat that was already driving Dan mad. It sounded eerily familiar, and yet horribly wrong.
"Dad, what's that?" Dan felt Danny hover away from him, his ghostly aura managing to break up some of the darkness around him. He pointed to a doorway down a narrow corridor, which held a faint green glow that casted long shadows on the walls.
Dan gestured for Danny to get back, and proceeded to float the two of them invisibly towards the entrance. Upon peering inside, the full ghost noticed two thing. The first was the massive wall of glowing screens that seemed to climb all the way to the top of a high ceiling. And the second was the ghost, floating before them with a staff in hand and a slouch to his shoulders.
A tired groan escaped Dan, before he turned the two of them visible once more. He entered the room, steps breaking up the steady beat of the countless clocks, before he stood behind the time master. "Cl-"
The ghost raised his staff, and opened a portal beside them. "Leave."
Dan scanned the man, before he sighed. Sitting Danny down, the full ghost said. "I'm not sorry for what I did to him, but you shouldn't be so bitter about it."
Clockwork glanced at the phantom with tired red eyes. "I'm not bitter. This is how history has always worked. Things like this happen."
"If that were the case, this room would have always looked like this." Dan said sharply, before he frowned. He grabbed the ghost by the shoulder, and whispered in such a way that Danny couldn't hear. "I know you hate me. I know you hate everything I've done, and everything I will do. So fine, erase me whenever you get sick of the fact I exist, but Danny gets to live."
Releasing the time ghost, Dan took his son into his arms. With one last glare at the elderly specter, he stepped through the portal and left him alone.
And once they were gone, Clockwork held up his staff. The screens centered on Danny Phantom, with the variable of his father removed. On one, he was beyond distraught-wouldn't do anything but float in the ghost zone beside himself. On another, he was angry. He didn't know where his father had gone, and took it out on countless people in countless timelines. In yet another he felt nothing-was never human. He walked the barren wasteland of his world with complete emptiness and a cold that expanded with every step. And in another he was the most powerful ghost in existence-with a misery that infected everything around him.
Shaking his head, Clockwork turned the screens again and watched the birthday party the two had just had play out. It looked so mundane and normal, and even heartwarming. It made the time master's jaw tighten, as he raised his staff one final time to gaze at himself.
He was tired, so very tired… And so, for the first time all of the screens turned dark. The tower was plunged into blackness, as Clockwork called for the Observants. Said Observants were utterly surprised when they arrived and saw him in the dark.
"Clockwork? Why did you want to see us?" The green ghost questioned, looking further surprised as the time master placed his staff in the Observant's claws.
And then, floating towards the door the time ghost said. "If I keep that staff any longer, I will do something I know I'll regret…"
Confusion passed between the Observants now, as another asked. "What do you mean?"
"I would be taking away the life of a monster, who finally became a man."
A/N: So! First, the remote. How does it work? Because I am bad at explaining things-I will now tell you. The remote itself can't take you through time. Even with all of Vlad's genius, considering how early this story takes place when compared to the canon, I doubt he could achieve that just yet. Instead, it takes you as close to whatever time period you want to go as possible without sending you anywhere-and since Clockwork is all of time-I thought it would be interesting if it kept locking onto him. Does that make sense? No? Perfect.
Second, guys-I want to add more plot elements to this so badly (like the idea of Vlad doing something stupid which-lets be honest-he will do in this timeline eventually. He is being left alone with his thoughts after all. As the past has shown, that is not good.)
I have so many random, dumb ideas for this "AU" it's ridiculous. Unfortunately, getting myself to finish anything is like trying to pull the tooth of an ant (Impossible because ants do not have teeth... Unless it's some strange ant-creature, then very rarely). So... I'm putting my Tumblr to good use. The link to it will be in the final chapter that will be posted tomorrow along with further details. There is also my Deviant-art that is available since I shall be making a folder for this stuff specifically.
I feel like this author's note is getting kind of wordy, a specialty of mine with everything except stories, so I'll finish by saying I'm glad you guys know how to work with Sam and Tucker as well as I do. One day I should make an AU where they get more than background attention... Look out for that in 50 years, while I continue to not want to end this but do anyway because otherwise there would be years between chapters.