I don't own anything recognizable. Danny Phantom is owned by Butch Hartman/Nickelodeon.

-Another short little drabble tacked on here for Sandy Hook. Thanks to all those who read the first part of this, and thanks to those who favorited and left reviews. I'm glad you guys liked the way I took on Clockwork's character...

For the victims of Sandy Hook - Rest in peace~

Underneath the purple gloves his knuckles are most definitely white, Clockwork muses as he glares daggers at the Observants. Of course, being as unobservant as they are, they don't notice.

"...so we need you to relinquish the thermos."

"What?"

One of the two Observants scoffed. "Come now, Clockwork, don't act so surprised. We need you to relinquish the thermos that holds Danny Phantom's evil self."

Clockwork arched an eyebrow, red eyes glowing brighter with barely checked rage. "Relinquish the thermos? To you? Hmm...I don't see that happening.

"And before you ask 'why not,'" Clockwork continued as an Observant made to speak, "keep in mind that unlike you, I see all the possible futures and their consequences. You can only focus on one. Giving you the thermos would mean that we are one ghost short for the apocalypse you know is coming; why would any sensible ghost risk total annihilation just for what he once was?"

The Observant grumbled. "Clockwork...we have orders."

"I know. But I am telling you that the High Observant will see the error in this, once you explain what I have just said."

They shifted, and Clockwork turned, growling. "Look. I am busy right now. If you wish to pursue this, come back later."

The two Observants shared a glance, and then vanished from the tower, leaving Clockwork to turn back to his main screen with a sigh. "I cannot believe they didn't even notice the carnage happening right now," he murmured. "But what really annoys me-" he began to snarl here- "is that they won't even let me try to make it right!"

"It wouldn't have happened if I was out, you know."

With a hiss, Clockwork spun and glared at the thermos sitting innocently on the other side of the room. The dents were old - the occupant had long since stopped trying to (futilely) escape.

"I know Dan. I know everything, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, timekeeper," Dan Phantom scoffed from inside the cramped Fenton Thermos. "Which is why you should let me go. Prove your point to those damn floating eyeballs."

"Dan," Clockwork growled, "now is not the time for it."

There was silence in the tower for a few moments, an eerie silence, broken only by a final bang coming from the screen.

"In my future, I had mastered making portals. I was there the second I caught wind of it."

"I know."

"Only that first teacher succumbed to her wounds. I'd saved the rest of them."

"I know."

"I was never evil!"

"I KNOW!"

Silence again, this time shattered only by the soft ticking of clocks throughout Clockwork's tower. Eventually, Dan repeated in a whisper, "I wasn't really evil."

"I know, Dan."

"I was just...the emotions never really did leave. If anything they increased one-hundredfold. I was acting out in grief and self-preservation."

"I know."

"And I'd saved them."

"I know."

"...So why can't you let me free, set time back a few hours, and let me save them again?"

"...It's not the way it works," Clockwork muttered, shuddering as exhaustion suddenly overcame him. "It's...it's just...not..."

"I could always eliminate the Observants too."

"Thanks for the thought," the time ghost muttered sarcastically, "but still...I can't..."

"..." In the thermos, Dan shifted, leaning his head against the interior wall and propping his feet up across from him. "C'mon, meddler," he finally hissed. "Surely you can do something."

"The Observants and I have a deal. I can't mess with the timestream whenever I very well please. I can't save everyone. Nature must run it's course. It's just... the way it works. I honestly don't like it, especially at times like this..."

"Obviously," Dan scoffed, shifting again inside the thermos. "So why do you listen to them?"

"...They see me as...dangerous. It's self-preservation, I suppose. With a few certain...liberties. They're not quick to forgive but it's not like they can get another timekeeper from thin air."

And Dan laughed for the first time since he'd been locked up in the thermos about seven years ago. "Wow, Clocky. You're almost like me in a sense."

"Don't call me Clocky."

"Whatever you say, Clocky," Dan said with a grin. "But, what? No denial?"

"No. I know it's true."

"...So let me out. Please?"

"What makes you think a simple please will make me let you out?"

"It was worth the try, right?"

Clockwork hummed thoughtfully, attention on the screen again. Sirens were wailing, people were screaming...chaos. Needless violence.

Nothing he could do.

But in another timeline, a former hero had managed to save most of the victims of such a senseless tragedy. And at least in one version of Earth, they were living happy lives.

Here, he could hope and wish and dream but it wouldn't happen. Their souls were free and the world mourned.

Unfortunately it was just the way it worked.