Alright, alright, alright, so I lied again! But I really want to write this one! I love it! I already have so many ideas of where this is going to go! Maybe it'll shock some of you and maybe it won't. Please enjoy…!

On a side note, this chapter starts with a flashback, I thought I should make that clear.

Two: Danny Fenton

"You said you were the all powerful Danny Phantom, didn't you boy?" Clockwork asked in a slightly mocking tone, spinning his staff around in his fingers, his back to the figure curled up in a chair, "You claimed it never happens to you? You boldly stated that you were unstoppable? I did warn you before." The Time Ghost turned around, cloak billowing, "I did warn you about the dangers and trials ahead of you but you didn't listen. And now you've paid dearly for it."

"I don't…" Danny cut himself off, his face still buried in his knees, his arms wrapped around his legs, "You can't make it better?" His voice was muffled.

"I told you I cannot!" Clockwork snapped, his form changing into a toddler's, "And even if I wanted to I wouldn't do it! I won't mess up the time stream for a selfish brat like you!" He changed into a young man, "Selfish, selfish Phantom…" He growled.

Danny whimpered, shoulders shaking, and Clockwork felt a pang of guilt and sympathy. The boy was only that; a boy, a fifteen year old boy with the responsibility of the world sitting on his shoulders.

"Danny," Clockwork changed again, this time into an old man with a trailing beard, "I cannot possibly understand the torture you feel, I cannot comprehend why you continue to dwell on these thoughts when they hurt you so, and I cannot believe that you, of all people, would give up life so easily."

"You don't get it…!" Danny's voice rasped from his curled up position, he hadn't moved an inch, "No one does! If I hadn't been so…so stupid I might have been able to do something about it! Anything would have been better than what happened!"

"Are you so sure about that?" It was the tone in the Ghost of Time's voice that made those red-rimmed, puffy green eyes look up, "Are you absolutely certain that anything would have been better?"

"It's all questions with you…"

"Precisely. I don't meddle with certainties, Danny, I focus on what could happen, not what will. The flow of time must continue."

Danny cracked his eyes open, shying away from the memories, and stared at the metal ceiling of the lab, feeling stiff and beaten. He wasn't exactly sure what had happened; he recalled Clockwork telling him to "get out" and then a painfully bright light but then there was a sort of static in his mind and…and…

Danny sat up, rubbing his head, groaning softly. Whatever the Observers had done, Clockwork hadn't wanted it to happen; probably hadn't seen it coming; and Danny wasn't at all sure exactly what had happened anyway. The silence in his parent's lab was profound, no noise from any of the upper floors coming down the stairs, and he figured they must have kicked him out of the Ghost Zone and back into his home. The boy decided he hated the Observers for giving him so much grief about every little detail and he also decided to be pissed at Clockwork for…for everything that had happened.

"Stupid Clockwork…!" Danny growled, "Stupid Observers…! Stupid Yulcifer…!" He stopped half way through the motion of standing up, his hand on the table beside him, grimacing with a past memory, "Stupid, stupid, stupid me…"

He ran his fingers through his black hair, scowling, and headed up the stairs. The house appeared empty. Of course, judging from the sky outside, it was probably around midnight or something. Danny wondered just how long he'd been in that containment unit with the Observers. Stumbling through the kitchen, he tripped over a chair and slammed into the floor, taking it noisily down with him. Thunder rumbled upstairs and the next thing he knew he was looking up the barrel of a rather large and unfriendly looking ecto-gun.

"Danny?" The gun swung away and his father picked him up off the floor, "What're you doing down there? I thought you were over at Tucker's?"

"At T-Tucker's?" Danny wondered out loud. Had that been the only thing his two best friends could think of? And what did Tucker's parents think? And why the heck was his head still buzzing with static?

"Danny!?" Jazz was rubbing her eyes sleepily, "What're you doing here!?"

"I…I…I was…" Danny stuttered around for a remark, the memories of the past three weeks flooding back, blocking his thoughts, reminding him that for those twenty-one days he'd been nothing but depressed and hating himself for his failures., "I…sleepwalking…" He finished lamely, forcing a stupid grin.

"You were sleepwalking all the way from Tucker's house back here?" His mother had come down the stairs now, "And you got through the locked front door?"

"Eh…?" Danny helplessly looked at Jazz but she had her eyes narrowed at him, suspicious of his sudden change from verge-of-emo to I'm-an-idiot, "I-it wasn't locked…"

"Jack, honey," Maddie Fenton put her hand on Jack's side since she couldn't exactly reach his upper arm, "Didn't I tell you to lock it tight…!?"

"Erm…" Jack screwed his face up and looked like he was trying to remember exactly what he'd done.

"Mom, it's fine…I'll…I'll just call Tucker and let him know I'm back here. And Sam too." Danny shook his head, trying to clear it off the static that still fuzzed his thoughts with memories he'd rather not recall, "I'm tired. 'K?"

And before anyone could say anything else he'd dodged past them all and run up the stairs, slamming the door to his room and locking it tight. Falling back on his bed, he rubbed his temples to get his thoughts moving in the right direction, trying to put two and two together.

The Observers had snatched him up…locked him in that stupid containment unit…there'd been a lot of shouting and talking…Clockwork…Clockwork had preached at him for a while…and then…and then there was that light and that strange feeling and…

Danny's blue eyes blazed as he leapt to his feet, thrust his arms into the air, fists clenched, and paused, hesitating, wondering if he actually wanted to try this again. His old life was dead. That was his fault, he'd chosen not to 'go ghost' ever again. But…it wasn't like he was about to go fight or anything.

"I'm…going ghost." He said in a low voice, squeezing his eyes shut. Nothing happened, "I said, I'm going ghost." Still nothing. He thrust his fists into the air again, "Goin' ghost!" He started to smile, to really smile for the first time in a while, "I'm not going ghost…!" He swung his arms to his sides and snatched up his cell phone, slamming his finger on the speed dial for Sam's phone that he hurt himself.

"Come on…" He murmured, tapping his foot on the floor, rocking back forth impatiently, "Come on, Sam, pick up…"

Sam heard her phone going off on the stand beside her bed and scowled in her half sleep, wondering vaguely what darned underworld fiend would call her at this time of night. Heck, even she needed sleep. It rang a final time and she heard her voicemail catch it.

"Hey, you've somehow managed to reach the dark depths of Sam Manson's room. If you have anything important to say you'll leave a message after the tone."

Beeeeep.

"SAM!"

Danny's voice screaming from her machine made her jump, get tangled in the covers, leap for the phone, knock it off the stand, and scramble to catch it, hanging half in and half out of her bed, holding it to her ear when she did.

"D-Danny? When'd you get back?"

"Just tonight! Hey, get Tuck on the line, will you!?"

Sam pressed a button and waited as the dial tone rang in her ear.

"Mmmmhp," A sleepy voice moaned at the other end of the line, "This had better be good Sam, I was actually sleeping for once…"

"Hey Tucker!"

"Danny!? When did you-!?"

"Hold up there, Tucker!" Sam cut them both off, "Danny, what's wrong with you?"

"Huh? What do you mean? Everything's fine! Everything's totally awesome!"

"Dude, you know, she's right. I keep waiting for the part where you scream that someone's got a gun to your head and not to come save you."

"If someone had a gun to my head, I wouldn't put you guys in danger for the world."

"Then what is it, fess up Fenton."

There was an insane sort of giggle of laughter from the other end of the line.

"My ghost powers…!" Danny sniggered.

"—You're ghost powers what?"

"—You're ghost powers what?"

Tucker and Sam said these lines at the same time and there was another spurt of triumphant laughter from the other end. Danny sounded genuinely happy. It was strange; he'd been so depressed and upset with himself for so long that Sam longed to see him smiling on the other end.

"Gone!" Danny's voice cried happily, "They're gone! I don't ever have to worry about them again!"

"Wh-what!?" Tucker was in such a shock that his voice had risen practically two whole octaves, "Dude! You can't be serious! Why is that a good thing!?"

"Don't you get it!?" Danny's voice had lost its happy edge and was in a cross between grief ridden and angry, "I'm free! I don't have to worry about watching anyone else…This way, no one's going to come after me!"

"Danny!" Sam snapped, now furious with him, "You were unique! You were a hero! You-!"

"I know!" Danny snarled back, "That's exactly why I couldn't take it anymore! Everyone expected me to save the day! That's what they always saw from me! But I failed once and what if it happens again only worse!? What if the whole town goes!?"

"Danny, no one knows that Danny Phantom was at the park." Tucker murmured, "And now what're they going to say when he doesn't show up for while, huh? They're already getting suspicious, dude."

"I…I don't care." Danny's voice was so cold, Sam thought the phone would turn to ice in her hand, "I want to be…to be normal! I can't stand this anymore!" Now his voice was quivering with tears, "Gah…Sam it hurt so much…"

There was a click that signaled that Tucker had hung up the phone.

"Danny…Danny, why did you do it?"

"Me? I didn't do it."

"Then who did?"

"The Observers."

I pulled a 'Phantom Planet' on this chapter. Keep in mind, please, that I started the Melody series before I saw 'Phantom Planet' so anything that happens after, say 'The Ultimate Enemy' (approximately) doesn't effect this fan fiction.

Obviously, Danny felt the horrid pressure of being a hero after he realized that he couldn't always succeed and felt that, without his ghost powers, everything would be better. I guess we'll find out if he was right or not.