Sam, Tucker, and Jazz scene! I apologize for the misunderstanding surrounding 'Melody in Red 2: Conspiracy of Crimson'. I had sincerely forgotten that I had placed the Melody series after 'The Ultimate Enemy' so I'm sorry for the confusion. So, to remind you all in correction to my folly, the Melody series is in fact after the whole incident with Dan Phantom etc, etc. Thank you for reading, the reviews, and your cooperation!

Five: Breaking the Rules

"Clockwork has Danny!?" Jazz blinked at Sam and Tucker from her perch on Tucker's bed, "And he wants us to stay away from the Ghost Zone!? Am I hearing you guys right?"

"Well, unless you've gained a sudden hearing problem by aging fifty years, no." Tucker muttered, swinging back and forth in his swivel chair, "At least, that's what his note says."

"But how do we know it was Clockwork?" The eldest Fenton child waved the note in the air for a moment, "And what about this…this 'Ghost You Forgot' business?"

"Tucker scanned it. It had Clockwork's ecto-signature on it. And Danny's too." Sam tapped her foot on the floor agitatedly, drumming her fingers on the arm rests of the other swivel chair, "So there's proof enough that they're together. As for the other notice…" She bit her lip, "The handwriting…it's so familiar. I just can't put my finger on it."

"What I wouldn't give for some awesome FBI calligraphy matching equipment right about now…" Tucker stated dreamily.

"Nerd." Sam muttered darkly.

"Sam, I have to agree with you on this." Jazz frowned at the note in her hands, "I swear I've—I got it!" Her eyes brightened and then darkened in confusion, "But…that really doesn't make sense."

"What?" Sam and Tucker asked simultaneously.

"I see this hand writing almost every single day. It's all over the house." Jazz was still looking at the paper, her brow furrowed, shaking her head, "It just doesn't make sense."

"Jazz, quit stalling. You're killing me." Tucker grumbled.

The red-head looked up at the two of them, the look of confusion in her eyes almost completely uncharacteristic,

"It's Danny's handwriting. A little sloppier, granted, but it's his all the same."

"But," Sam leaned forward, looking worried, "Why would we forget Danny?"

He watched him groan in his sleep and roll over, facing him. It was strange, seeming him like this. So helpless. So beaten. So utterly alone without what made him…him. There was an empty churning inside him and he started. Was that…was that sympathy? Sympathy for…for this!? Could it really be that maybe, just maybe, he still had a little of Danny left inside him after all?

No.

He was delusional. Shaking the thoughts from his head, he turned his attention back to the sleeping Fenton boy whose movements had caused some black hair to fall into his face. He smirked as he thought about it. He could go all mushy right here and do the whole 'I-care-about-you-more-than-anything-in-the-world-and-will-do-everything-to-protect-you-brush-his-hair-out-of-his-face-cliché' knowing Clockwork was watching him even though the Ghost of Time wasn't even in the room. Screw that. Danny had brought this misery upon himself by turning his heart inwards and wallowing in his own pain and suffering and it was because of that folly that he no longer had his ghost powers.

"Not…my fault." He growled, stalking away.

"Sam…don't…I can't…" Danny whimpered in his sleep, flopping onto his back on the makeshift bed, "I know I…Danny Phantom…Phantom…"

"Idiot." He muttered, glaring at the sleeping boy, "This is all your fault. You solve it. The only reason I haven't faded into nothing is because Clockwork…" He paused a moment, trying to think of a way to place the blame on the Time Ghost. He came up blank.

"Running away again, are you?" He swirled around and found himself face to face with Clockwork in the form of a young man, "I thought you were the 'hero' side of him, hm?"

"Hero…?" He murmured, turning his gaze to the floor that was inches below his feet, "Darn it Clockwork, don't you…" He snarled angrily and glared at the Master of Time, "Don't you dare freaking blame me! Or Danny! It was you and those stupid Observers! All of it! If it wasn't for your meddling, none of this would have happened!"

"If it wasn't for my meddling, Phantom," Clockwork said coolly, twirling his staff casually in his fingers, "Danny would have turned evil, so to speak."

He glowered at him, furious, rage boiling inside him,

"Don't…!" He hissed, "Call…! Me…! PHANTOM!"

"Calm down and go hide." Clockwork commanded, looking past him to watch Danny who was stirring from his nightmares into wakefulness, "He's waking up. And don't make a sound."

"Whatever." He said in a low voice and swept out of the room, "You'll see, Clocky," He murmured under his breath as soon as he was out of ear shot, "I don't care what you say about me! I'm going to set things right for Danny," His anger vanished and he slouched back against the cold stone wall, pressing a hand, fingers spread wide, on the glass of a nearby clock; its hands were spinning backwards rapidly, "In a way I never could for myself…"

Danny opened his eyes slowly, reached up and rubbed the sleep out of them, and then looked around, trying to remember where he was and how he'd gotten there. Oh yeah, that was right. Clockwork had saved him from Skulker.

"Awake?"

"No, I'm still sleeping." Danny turned his gaze on the Ghost of Time, "Duh, of course I'm awake. Some Time Master you are."

Clockwork, in the form of a toddler, chuckled to himself, looking amused and slightly relieved.

"You're sarcasm has returned as well. Always a good sign when you can be sarcastic." All signs of humor left the now young man Clockwork's face, "But, down to business. There are several things you should know."

"If it has to do with me trying to change my future, I don't want to hear it!"

"Listen to me for once, will you child!?" Clockwork chided, turning into a stern young man, "This isn't about other people's lives anymore, it's about your life!" The Ghost of Time took a deep breath and let it out slowly, regaining his temper, "Danny, I've told you before and I know I'll have to say it again. The Observers look at the time stream, or what they can see of it, like they're watching a parade; one event right after another, going by in sequence right in front of them. I see the parade from above—."

"—All the twist and turns it might or might not take, okay I get it." Danny snapped, "Like I want to be reminded of the problems my ghost powers caused me before…" He drew his knees up to his chin and clenched his jaw, speaking through his teeth, "Or could cause me in the future…"

"Yes, I know, it was a particularly hard trial for a youngster like yourself." The old man formed Ghost of Time wasn't angry or business like anymore, he was sad, "Facing the truth is one of the hardest things any of us must face and when it is the truth about ourselves…well, we try to escape from it." A sad smile adorned those wrinkled features that, as Danny starred at him, smoothed into the round face of a toddler again, "Danny, I try and help you as much as I can without altering the time stream too much because I see potential for you to do things that no one else would dare to do. You've faced horrors that others would never face in a million years and you've been hardened because of it."

"Hardened?" The boy muttered darkly, looking away, "You call what happened to me hardened? I was…I was pathetic." He couldn't stop the tears now, he'd been picking at the wound for the entire conversation, avoiding opening it up all together, but there was no dodging past it now, "ZeE," His voice cracked and he cleared his throat, "And Alex and all those thousands of other kids I didn't even know…they all died because I was so stupid and arrogant and…and…" He screamed wildly and threw a punch at the wall, drawing a shaking fist with bloody knuckles back to his side, "I messed up so bad…"

"We all make mistakes."

"Yeah, well, what's it matter to you? You can see the mistakes coming…!"

"On the contrary, think about what happened recently. If I had seen my mistake of not letting you out of that containment unit or stopping the Observers before they got to you do you think I would still have let it happen?" Clockwork shook his head, "No Danny, I cannot view my future and past the way I can view others' times. That is the curse of controlling and maintaining the time stream."

"I guess everything has its ups and down huh…?"

"Indeed it does. And this situation has some very severe ups and downs." Clockwork glanced over his shoulder, "And here is the up. You can quit hiding now, I know how anxious you are to see him. Get out here."

Danny rubbed his eyes and swung his legs over the edge of the makeshift bed, sitting in only his jeans as he leaned to the side, trying to see past the Master of Time. His face paled with fear and rage and his eyes widened in shock.

"Wh…what is he doing here!?"

Ooohhh, I know, it was cruel of me to end it like that but, hey, ya' know what, if I get enough reviews you might get another chapter. XD (laughs evilly) Anyway, if you're still guessing at who it is that's hanging around with Clockwork; the mysterious "he" character; all shall be exposed in the next chapter…!

Please leave me a review and thanks for reading! Byes!