Chapter 2

I stand before the green ghost portal. It radiates with ectoplasmic energy, almost sucking me in as I dig my heels into the floor of Clockwork's time control room thingy. I never know what to call it. In my right hand, I hold the thermos that contains the dark me from the future. I still can't believe I'm doing this, but it's been almost a year since that party and I cannot take another minute of all of the attention. Jeez, maybe I am a little nuts. But it's not my fault. This has to end.

Clockwork, constantly shifting from form to form and age to age, looks down his nose at me as if he disapproves. I puff out my chest and look defiantly back. He sighs and mutters something under his breath.

But I don't care what he's saying, not right now anyways.

"If you must, ghost-child", he says and waves towards the thermos.

"Ignore my warnings, and we shall see what becomes of your future."

I glare up at him, feeling energy pulse out of my green eyes. I'm in ghost form, which I weirdly feel more comfortable in nowadays. It makes for a better get away from the mobs that follow my every move.

I look down at the only thing that would ever contain dark Danny. Was I truly going to do this?

I take a deep breath and close my eyes. If I didn't do it now, I never would.

I yank off the thermos lid, and throw it across the room, at the same time dodging the bright green ectoplasmic blasts that spurt furiously out of the container. I throw that down too and dart across to where Clockwork is standing, still sighing heavily and muttering to himself. He throws up a shield around both of us and we watch from the safety of it as the future me rises up out of the chaos of ectoplasmic energy he created.

"Well, well, well", he chuckles in his deep, menacing voice.

"Who would have thought young, weak Danny Phantom would be the one to release me from my prison?"

I bite back a comeback as I look fiercely into his dangerous red eyes.

"It's amazing what one can hear through a metal, uh, ghost-shield, ectoplas.. – thing", he stammers, frustrated.

I feel like laughing and crying at the same time…because that's exactly something I would say.

"Shut up", I say instead, through gritted teeth. It's all I can say, ashamed of what I've resorted to in order to end the very thing I'd wanted since the beginning of high-school: adoration.

"Ah, young me. I know exactly what you want. And, how to get it", he sneers at me, baring his fangs.

I look up at Clockwork, and he lowers the shield. I move towards Danny.

"How?" I ask, floating up to become level with his face.

"Well, little dweeb, what if we were to make a deal…"

"Alright Dan – uh you. No killing anyone. I know what I have to do in order to pay you back."

"Yes Danny, you have my word."

And he did. I wasn't going to kill anyone if the twerp was going to go along so willingly with my conditions. And so, I would cooperate with his. If I were him, I would want to be taken seriously – and I am, I think with a sneer.

We both step closer to the ghost portal. I turn around and give Clockwork a little "toodledoo" wave. He huffs at me and I laugh. If only he knew what good friends we were going to be in the near future.

Oh wait, he did. And that's probably why he entrusted the young Danny to my care. He was looking out for number one.

I hold out my hand to Danny in mock camaraderie. He just looks at it and lets out a small, almost silent snarl.

But I hear it alright, and he looks taken aback by the sound. He glances up at me, alarmed. I just smile at him. I know what's coming, and the little ghost has no idea what's about to hit him.

We arrive in Amity Park an hour before the Nasty Burger incident is supposed to go down. Sam, Tuck and the me from this time are currently in the future battling it out with the present, future evil me.

Yeesh, try saying that ten times.

I can feel Dan's gaze on me. I turn my head to look up at him as he stands beside me, resenting him for the promise I'd had to make to ensure the survival of our temporary, extremely fragile partnership. I won't even be able to break it. I know that if I do, he'll come after my family, and friends, and Sam.

And there definitely won't be a way to trick him into the thermos again.

No. The only way I will ever get rid of him is if I replace him.

If I – gulp – become him.

Only then will he disappear from existence. And right now, that is the only thing I want in the world. He smirks at me, knowingly. He knows that the only way out of this for me is his way.

I glare at him, feeling the snarl build up from deep within my chest. I may as well resign myself to my fate, seeing as my future is already altering my present, altering me.

The sound rips from my throat and I channel all the anger for this man in front of me into power. My eyes radiate with red hot energy and I feel the heat leaving them in waves.

I glare at him, almost willing the heat from my eyes to obliterate him from the fabric of the universe. But then I catch myself. What am I doing?

"You're growing up, Danny", he says smugly. "You're growing up, into me." He hissed rather than said this last word, bringing me back to reality.

He places a hand on my shoulder and I feel like throwing up at the gesture. Something stops me from removing his hand however and he guides me to one of the reflective glass windows covering the sides of a large office building.

"Look carefully at yourself, Danny", he says softly. "Notice anything different?"

I did. And the change horrified me.

My eyes have always been blue, or green in my ghost mode. But the heat of the anger that I was feeling, appeared to have changed their colour. I had been in my ghost state ever since we'd been in Clockwork's room, and where my eyes were once a soft, emerald green, they were now a blazing, furious red. The shade of which exactly matched the eyes of the man next to me.I was, quite literally, turning into him.

"I don't feel any eviller than I did yesterday!" I cried to him somewhat desperately. It was a small comfort after the physical changes I had just seen in myself.

"Oh, that will come", he says through a fanged smile like a twisted version of the Cheshire Cat. I look back at my reflection, relieved to see that the red was slowly fading away to the comforting green. I was just about to whip around to show the man my now normal eyes when an out-of-the-blue wave of nausea rips through me and I fall to the ground. Shockingly, Danny stoops over me with something almost like concern on his face.

This odd moment makes me laugh and he stands up suddenly, surprised.

My laughter fades away as I stand up too, slowly, the nausea having passed. I look at Danny out of the corner of my narrowed eye and turn away from him.

He will pay for all the pain he caused me.

Woah, wait. What? Where did that line come from? So much for "not feeling any eviller". I desperately think about my parents, Sam, Tucker, any bit of good in my life to combat the darkness of the thought. Then, an idea pops into my head. One that definitely came from the real me, and not the dark man I was becoming. One that the real me would be proud of.

Before I turn into this monster permanently, surely I can have a little bit of fun with him? That isn't against our agreement.

He's moved in front of me, to try and see my face, so I turn away from him again and face the glass building.

I close my eyes, and try to concentrate my anger on Danny again. The acid heat bubbles up inside of me and I feel the power radiating from behind my eyelids. I open my eyes and wince when I see my reflection. My eyes are pure blood red. And hard. It's amazing how cold an expression I can have on my face when so much heat is pumping through me.

I shake my head to clear it of these thoughts, and focus on the task at hand. Sure, it's unimportant and a tad vengeful, but hey, we have time to kill.