I just had to do a scene with Clockwork. He's so cool! I mean, I don't think of him as a good or bad guy, I think he's neutral, not really on anyone's side but then I haven't seen that much DP yet so I can't really say that much. But that doesn't stop me from thinking he's awesome! So, here I present a chapter dedicated to Clockwork and maybe even hints of something to come in the future…!
(Eh, on a separate note, the Specter Chains are something I cam up with off the top of my head. Don't take any note of them. Like I've said before and will say a million times, I haven't seen the much DP…please no flames…)
Eight: Whispers of Time
Clockwork had been keeping an eye on young Danny Fenton since the incident concerning the boy's future. But not too close of an eye, the guy did have his own schedule to attend to. It wasn't until he heard about the rumble in the Yokai Ghost pits that he decided to check up on the halfa. And, lo and behold, there he was with the last remaining Yokai Ghost Fox in existence; leave it to Danny to get himself into neck-deep trouble. No doubt the Observers weren't too happy about it but then…Clockwork never did care for them anyways.
"Danny Fenton," He murmured to himself, watching the boy laugh as he walked down the sidewalk with Sam, Tucker, and the Yokai Fox Amethyst, "How do you always get tangled up with these things?" He waved a hand over the scene so that it rippled and changed, "It would have been better if you had never met her…"
He watched the new scene, what would happen a year later, his eyes narrowed as he gazed at Danny's tear-stained features. The scene rippled again and blood splattered everywhere only to shift to Danny standing in front of the open Ghost Zone portal, still human, gazing into it, a bloodied knife in his hands. Green light illuminated his face; it was pale, deathly so, his eyes empty, his skin drawn, dark bags under his eyes, and he was shaking slightly. He whispered something. Clockwork shook his head and changed the scene back to present day; Danny sitting with his three companions at a library table, not really doing anything in particular, just hanging out and laughing at something Tucker had said. All of that would disappear very soon.
Clockwork didn't know why he cared so much about what happened to the halfa. For him, time was an endless existence that he controlled, life was a play that he could stop and rewind and fast forward at will, and people were merely the actors who did what they did with no other thought of it. His fingers tightened on his staff and he traced the out line of Danny's gleeful face with one finger, eyes lost in thought. Danny's destiny was so twisted and fading in and out of darkness so much so that even the great Clockwork wasn't sure that what he'd just seen was what was going to pass in one year. Maybe something would happen. Maybe he would have to interfere again. Just maybe.
"Clockwork…" The time controller rolled his eyes towards the ceiling and turned around to face the two Observers that had entered his lair, "We know of the Yokai Ghost Fox's escape into the human realm and her contact with Danny Fenton. We also know that this could be another path that leads to his becoming evil."
"Why are you here?" Clockwork growled, leering at them, the effect suddenly lost as his form changed into that of a toddlers, "Danny Fenton was left to my care." His form changed again, "You need not be bothered with him anymore."
"If he becomes Phantom, Clockwork, we all will be bothered…!" One Observer stated, pointing at Clockwork, "And it will be you to blame…!"
"Blame me if you will." Clockwork spat, turning away, "But right now, he's enjoying himself and I will let him continue to do so. Besides," He glanced back over his shoulder at the two Observers, nearly sneering at them, "Who says he's going to go evil? The future isn't set in stone."
The Observers shared a look and left. Clockwork was being as impossible as ever and they weren't about to waste their time fighting with him to get their point across. Clockwork sighed, leaning heavily on his staff, training his glowing orbs upon Danny's glittering blue ones. The boy was completely unawares that he was going to set in motion events that could destroy the human race. And he could stop that destruction…but at a price. There was always a price, as Clockwork had learned throughout the years, always a price for every action. He recalled the scene he had witnessed just last night…
…"No…No…Stop it…" Danny Fenton twisted and turned beneath his sheets, brow furrowed by some disturbing dream he was having, "No…! Sam…? Tucker…? Anyone…? No! No, I didn't! Stop it! NO!" He kicked out at something in what Clockwork now assumed was a nightmare, "I didn't do it! Let me go! No! No, please, anything but that! Don't do it to me! Please! No!"
Clockwork leaned forward and then, making a snap decision, opened up a window that showed what it was that was making the boy cry out in his sleep. It was disturbing.
Danny Phantom was being dragged through piles of rubble by his parents, bloodied bodies all over, Amity Park destroyed. Tears and blood coated him as he struggled in their grasp, unable to get away due to the Specter Chains clamped on his wrists.
"I didn't do it!" He was crying, trying to get away but to little avail, "It wasn't me! Sam! Tucker! Help me! Tell them it wasn't me! Tell them it wasn't me!"
"They're dead, stupid boy!" Vlad suddenly loomed up, standing beside a metal pole where a handful of people waited with glowing green chains, "You killed them!"
"No I didn't!" Danny sobbed as his parents threw him against the pole and let the people tie him there; his mother was crying sorrow and rage and his father looked ready to kill, "I didn't! Please! Stop it! Don't do this to me! Not to me! No! No, no, no!"
"I can't believe you'd do this Danny…!" Jazz stood before him, bloodied, sobbing, "My little brother…I can't believe you'd betray us all…! Why, Danny, why!?"
"It wasn't me!" Danny screamed, "It was Trice! It was all Trice! I didn't do it! It wasn't me! Please! Jazz! Don't let them do this to me! Please!"
"Trice was dead when we found you!" Vlad snarled at him, pointing a strange looking gun at the boy's chest, "All we saw was you, red-eyed and bloodied, with bodies and destruction all around you…!"
"I didn't do it! Not on purpose!" Danny leaned away from the gun which was charging an unearthly white blast, "Please, Vlad, don't do this to me! ANYTHING BUT THIS!"
"You don't have the heart to control those powers, Daniel…!" Vlad hissed, jabbing the weapon into Danny's chest, "And you let Trice control your anger! This is your fault!"
And the white light blasted out, ripping out Danny Phantom, destroying the ghost powers that had made Danny so unique. Danny screamed in agony…
And awoke screaming in fear, tears running down his face. He hoped it wasn't true. He kept repeating to himself that it had only been a dream and that it wasn't going to happen. Just a nightmare. But Clockwork knew what Danny was thinking; what if Trice does make me so angry that I snap like I almost did the other day. But what if this time, there's no one around to stop me? What if everything I hold dear is destroyed…and it's all my fault…!?...
Clockwork turned his gaze back to the four kids, smirking at their smiling faces. Two human kids, a halfa who didn't know the extent of his powers, and an extremely young Yokai Fox who understood very little about the human world. What an odd group. And to imagine, if Danny had only been one hour later getting home from school, that none of this would have happened. Amethyst's father would have tried to escape with his daughter only to have them both be killed by the Yokai Tabby that had been chasing them. Then the Tabbies would have stayed in the Ghost Zone and Clockwork wouldn't have to worry about Danny going evil again. Of course, that worry wasn't until later. When something bigger than the Yokai Ghost Tabbies reared its head.
"I can only influence you so far, Danny Fenton," He muttered, "I'm not about to ruin the fabric of reality for the likes of an ignorant boy like you…!"
And he meant every word of it.
Next time on 'Melody in Red'
Amethyst: What is this!? It smells like it's drowned in something!
Sam: They're drowned in grease, Amethyst, and they're called French fries.
Danny: Hey, Sam, you know how we all had French Toast this morning?
Tucker: (snickers)
Sam: Yeah, so what?
Amethyst: (watching with a worried expression on her face)
Danny: Well, French Toast is soaked in egg, you know…!
Sam: You're point Danny?
Danny: Eggs are considered a meat product!
Tucker: (laughs so hard he sprays soda out his nose)
Sam: DANNY FENTON I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!! (chases after him with a spork)
Amethyst: (watches with interest)
EmptyHeart: I had eggs this morning with toasted beer bread. And for the longest time I thought eggs were a vegetable or something so I'm making fun of myself with this…!