I got the title idea from the song "Kids of the Future" from the "Meet the Robinsons" movie.

Eight: Kid of the Future

"Don't believe-what!?" Phantom started to protest but Jazz, having been fighting ghosts off beside her younger brother for nearly three years, had adequately learned how to defend herself. The Jack-O-Nine-Tails lashed out and pinned Phantom's arms to his sides, initiating a rather painful shock on the specter that made him cry out and tumble to the floor. Jazz stood over him, the handle clenched tightly in her fingers.

"Now, ghost," She spat the word, sounding more like her mother than ever, "You tell me where my brother is…and what you've done with him."

"You know I'm not helping out to help you, right?" Dan's red eyes narrowed as he glared at Danny who glared right back at him.

"Duh!" The boy snapped, having long abandoned the cloak and was now questing around for his shirt; the search had taken him from Clockwork's screen room and into a small, storage-like place with rusty and dented old grandfather clocks leaning against the walls, smothered in dust, "Since when have you ever done anything for anyone else!?" He sneezed as a cloud of dust rose into the air, "Ugh, let's get out of here!" He shoved past his future self and into the twisting hall, looking around for another door.

"Good." Dan floated after him, relishing in the fact that Danny had to expand so much energy walking while he, Dan, could glide along effortlessly, "Now that we have an understanding, I just-."

"I wanna go home, Dan."

"Hm?" Danny had stopped walking and was standing in the middle of the hall, goosebumps rising on his arms as he remained stationary in the chill of the Ghost Zone.

"I want…I never asked for my powers, Dan, you know that."

"Yeah, what of it?"

"I wanna be normal. I just…I just want to go home and forget about all of this."

"What about Clockwork?"

"Hmph, Clockwork just spewed all that DNA crap to get me to be the hero again." Danny's shoulders hunched and he rubbed his hands up and down his bare arms, "He always thought there was something great planned for me. What a load of bull." The Fenton boy straightened up, "Dan, I'm going to ask a favor of you, even though I hate your stinking guts."

"The feeling's mutual, Danny, trust me."

"I want you to take me home. Get me out of this stupid Ghost Zone; I never want to see this place again; and take me home."

"That doesn't sound like a favor that sounds like a demand."

"Fine!" Danny shouted, his back still to his future version, "Don't help me! I don't care! I'll walk back home through the Ghost Zone if I have too! Let Technus and Skulker and Ember and Youngblood and all of them come at me! Let them blast me apart! I! Don't CARE!"

The last word echoed through the hall ominously. The silence was extremely heavy.

"Fine…" Dan sighed, "Clockwork ordered me to talk to you but he didn't tell me what I couldn't do." He grinned, showing his fangs, "It'll get you out of my hair. I'll just tell old Clocky you went looking for your ghost half."

"Ordered?" Danny smirked, raising an eyebrow as he turned to face Dan, "Now that's something I never though I'd hear from you! How come Clockwork's giving you orders?"

"That Time Master jerk has got some nasty powers hidden up his sleeve," Dan unconsciously ran a finger down the mark on his eye, scowling, "As soon as he let me out of the thermos he slapped this…this spell on me. I don't know, if I don't do what he tells me…well, let's just say it hurts. A lot."

"Why did he let you out?"

"Beats me. I guess he thought I could help you." Dan shrugged, looking unconcerned.

"Help with what? Me?"

"Dunno, guess I never will with Clockwork." Dan's expression softened a little; at least his angry look vanished and his eyes lost their murderous glare, "But…but about what happened…" Dan floated across the floor, closer to Danny who took an automatic step back, "I just-."

"Danny?" Clockwork's voice rang from the stairwell, "Dan? Where did you two get to?"

"Now…!" Danny hissed, urging his future self with wild hands gestures, "Quit gawking and let's get out of here!"

Dan didn't respond, he simply wrapped his cloak around Danny, nearly smothering him, and pulled him into a side room made completely of mirrors. Danny shivered at the absolute cold that swirled around him from his future self and the cloak and then gritted his teeth to keep silent and still as he heard the swish of another cloak outside the door.

"Danny?" The Time Ghost seemed to be opening every door and peering in to see if the two he sought were within, "Danny? Dan Phantom?" The door to the mirror room opened and Clockwork's red eyes looked right through them for a moment or two before he closed the door and made his way down the hall. Only when Dan was sure that Clockwork was out of ear shot did he drop his invisibility. Danny pushed away from his with a scowl the quickly turned into shock.

"Whoa…! Dan…check this out!" Dan Phantom rolled his eyes and turned in the direction of his younger self only to freeze as he caught sight of himself in one of the mirrored walls.

His reflection did not match his real world self. Not in the least. The person in the mirror was at least a head or two shorter though he dressed the same as Dan. Dan blinked and those haunting, familiar, innocent neon green eyes blinked right back, one almost hidden behind a memorable shock of pure, white, hair. Even the jagged lightning-mock marking over his left eye was visible in the reflection-that-was-not-his, though it stood out more vividly on his mirrored self's pale skin.

Dan Phantom was looking at a younger version of himself. Very much like the Danny he'd just agreed to take home. Boy, did that bring back memories…

…Sam and Tucker both laughing from the across the table at the Nasty Burger…fighting off countless ghosts…telling Vlad how much he hated him and would never be his son…the horror and sorrow and pain…the feeling of everything you'd fought so hard for spinning out of control…the glow of the super heated Nasty Burger sauce…the desperate cry that ripped from his throat…the blinding explosion…the only one left to turn to…Vlad taking him and telling him everything would be alright…the world fading out as the sleep drug took effect…a terrible, horrendous pain…enraged and filled with misunderstanding and pain…the dark hatred overpowering him…the petrified look on his human half's face as it cowered against the wall…the feeling of thick, warm blood on his hands…the feeling of tyrannical rage…the utter defeat at the hands of someone who cared more than he could ever understand…left alone with his thoughts for almost three years…and then…

Dan shook himself from his memories with a veritable snarl of rage, lashing out and smashing the mirror before him. Sharp shards of glass exploded around him like glittering snow. The last thing he'd seen reflected there was the same hate-filled grimace on his younger self, twisting it so that all the innocence vanished.

He hated his past.

He hated the world.

He.

Hated.

Danny Fenton.

And here he was helping him.

Irony, no?

Danny, meanwhile, was absolutely fascinated with the older version of himself he saw in the mirror. It was not at all like Dan Phantom. This future self in the glass had a smoother build, their shoulders weren't as broad, they were slimmer, and their face was narrower, with a black goatee. But through all this they still look athletic enough to run a half a mile and not be out of breath. The reflected, older Danny was also missing his shirt, wearing only a pair of blue jeans and sneakers. And he looked wide awake and ready for anything; the complete opposite of how Danny really felt. Danny's eyes narrowed and the brilliant blue eyes in the mirror narrowed too. Danny reached up and flicked his black hair from his face. His older self in the mirror did too.

"Hmph, no ghost—No!" Danny cut off his own statement with a cry of dismay as his older self clenched his fists and took a fighting stance, a flash of cold, white light traveling over his body and changing him into his ghost form. Danny looked down at himself quickly to make sure he wasn't going ghost as well and then set his horrified gaze back on the mirror. What he then saw paralyzed him with fear.

His future self in the glass was starring at his hands in dismayed sorrow; his fingers slowly melted into a green mist and then his arms and then his legs started going as well. His fervent neon eyes met Danny's with a pleading look as the rest of him faded from existence. Then there was only those beseeching orbs and then…they too vanished.

Danny gave a cry of a alarm and stumbled backwards into Dan just as his future self smashed the mirror in front of him. A thousands shards of sparkling glass erupted past him, clinking to the floor like tiny bells tolling the death song of the older Danny Phantom who'd vanished and died.

"Danny?" Dan shook his shoulder, "Danny! Come on, snap out of it! It's just some of Clockwork's dumb toys! Let's get out of here!" He dropped his voice to a low growl though they were still audible to Danny's human ears, "Lucky for me, Clocky hasn't thought to use his 'leash' on me."

Getting next to no response, he picked the boy up, threw him unceremoniously over his shoulder, turned invisible once more, and vanished out the door.

"I didn't do anything to him! I'm trying to find him! Jazz, please, you have to believe me! Jazz!...What're you…no…no, come on, don't…! Please, I'm begging you, really, it's me! Phantom! Danny's ghost half! Jazz, you don't want to do that! Jazz! JAAAAAAAAAAAAZZZZZZZZZ!"

I'm not going to get murdered in my sleep because of that cliffhanger, am I? that would suck.

So anyway, thanks for reading, please leave me a review, and byes!

"It's probably like Monopoly; everyone's going to quit half way through." –T.J.