Clockwork's sweater, heh, my younger brother got one just like it from the Renaissance Festival and I thought it'd be funny for Clocky to be wearing something like that!

Ten: School Bells

"I have to what because of what!?"

"Keep your voice down, Dan," Clockwork made shushing motions with his hands, scowling, "Danny's sleeping."

Dan made a feral growling noise and flopped back onto the couch in the living room, glaring daggers at the Time Master. Jazz was upstairs attending to Danny and had left Dan Phantom and Clockwork to their own devices. Clockwork drummed his pale fingers on the arm of the chair he was perched in, impatient with Dan's pouting, and the huffed as a few strands of white-blonde hair slipped from the slicked back style he had it in and fell into his redish eyes. Instead of his usual cloak and tunic, the Ghost of Time was wearing a black, hooded sweater with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows; the words "I Am The Bad Guy" printed on it in white; a pair of slightly faded black jeans, black sneakers, and a black choker with a tiny clock in the middle on his neck. Jangling over his wrists were three bracelets with thin silver chains and glowing blue stones.

"Why do I have to go…?" Dan grumbled finally, looking up at a picture of the Fenton family hanging on the wall, "This is dumb."

"Quit whining, I've had it up to here with hearing you complain!" Clockwork snapped, waving a hand over his head to emphasize the point and slicking his hair back at the same time, "Tomorrow, you're going to act like Danny and go to school like Danny and do everything Danny would do so that no one's the wiser! Am I understood?"

Dan grumbled something that sounded insulting.

"I said am I understood!?"

Dan cringed, the black mark over his left eyes pulsing with an eerie blue light, and nodded, spitting an insolent sounding "yes" through his gritted fangs. The light faded. The older version of Danny sat back on the couch, his face blank but his eyes blazing anger; there was nothing he could do to defy Clockwork. At the moment.

Early next morning found Jazz sitting at the kitchen table, glaring across it at her little brother and her little brother's future self who looked like her little brother. Dan had taken on Danny's appearance and, under Clockwork's orders, was going to be Danny for the day; that meant going to school, hanging out with Sam and Tucker, and doing whatever else it was that Danny usually did on a school day; because the Fenton boy himself was too injured to be moving about and to have him stay how would look suspicious.

Naturally, the only person in the least bit content with the situation was Clockwork and that was because he was going to be staying at home with Danny in the hopes that Phantom might somehow decide to come back.

"This is the dumbest thing I've ever had to do. Ever." Dan grumbled, looking the perfect imitation of the grumpy Danny beside him, "I feel so puny."

"At least you get to go somewhere," Danny growled back, "I'm stuck here with ol' Clock n' Gears…!"

Jazz rolled her eyes at both of them, stood, put her dishes in the sink, grabbed her bag, shoved Danny's bag into Dan's arms, and headed towards the door. When Dan didn't follow she sighed and turned around. Danny himself slunk out of the room to go pout in front of the TV. With the TV on.

"Come on, up!" Jazz ordered, tugging at Dan's arm, "You're going to be late!"

Dan hissed something under his breath and promptly sank lower in his chair with his arms wrapped tightly around Danny's bag.

"Daniel James Fenton—!" The older Fenton sibling stopped when she realized what she'd said. Dan's blue eyes were wide as he blinked at her. Jazz swallowed, let go of Dan's arm, and stepped back a little bit, "Uh…I mean…" She turned away, shouldering her bag, "We should…get to school."

Dan stood up slowly and trailed after Jazz, the bag still clutched to his chest. Then, as they clambered into her car, he smiled at her.

"What?" Her tone was sharp, almost scared, and she looked away from him when his cool grin widened.

"No one's called me 'Danny' in almost thirteen years, let alone Fenton." He looked out the window as the street rolled by, "I killed too many people for them to even consider me…" He let the words trail off and Jazz shivered to hear them said in her brother's voice.

They pulled into the school parking lot.

"Danny!" Dan found himself tackled by Sam and Tucker before he'd taken two steps away from the car.

"Gah…!" Crushed in their hugs and unable to escape, Dan glanced at Jazz but she was already walking away. For a split second, Dan's cover slipped and his blue eyes flashed red but then he managed to compose himself once again and wiggle out of Danny's friends' grips.

"Geez guys," He gasped, massaging his side, half-grinning, and trying to scrounge up old memories he'd repressed for a long time, "Do you have to strangle me?"

"Dude, we were worried! What did Clockwork want?" Tucker asked, scooping up Danny's bag from the ground where Dan had dropped it when he'd been smothered and handing it back, "And what was with that note on the bottom of the paper, huh? Who wrote that one?"

"Uh…" Dan swung the bag over his shoulder to buy time (why did he have a purple bag in high school!?), "Well he…he just…wanted to lecture me." He let a scowl slip onto his face, "Tell me how I had to be Phantom again and stuff like that."

"Danny, we were worried about you," Sam slipped her hand into his as they headed towards the school, "Clockwork's note told us to stay out of the Ghost Zone and then at the bottom…"

"It…" Dan searched for an excuse for the note that he had written at the bottom of Clockwork's original note. Then, inwardly, he grinned darkly. Time to mess with Danny, "It was my future self; Clockwork let him out of the thermos."

"WHAT!?" Tucker and Sam screeched to a halt and Dan turned around to look at them, "IS HE NUTS!?"

"Apparently, he thinks I—Dan can help get Phantom back. My ghost powers aren't gone they're just…separated from me." Dan forced a bitter tone into his voice as they resumed their march towards the front doors, "And that dumb a—!"

"Fen-turd!" Dan suddenly found himself hoisted into the air, his feet dangling off the ground, "Where ya' been? I owe you a couple rounds!"

Aw spite… Dan thought miserably before he slammed into the concrete, was heaved up again, dragged rather unceremoniously into the school, and stuffed into his own locker, Aw freaking, living spite…

"Tucker have you noticed that Danny's been acting a little…weird?" Sam whispered as they watched Danny firing rubber bands from across the room, "I mean, he's been sort of jumpy and angry all day and he doesn't want to talk about anything that has to do with ghosts or his powers."

"Maybe he's having withdraw symptoms." Tucker replied softly, trying to get past a sonicWALL on the internet with is PDA.

"W-withdraw symptoms!?" Sam stuttered, "From what!?"

"Hm, I dunno, not kissing you. OW!" Tucker rubbed the back on his head and straightened his beret as he did so, "Alright, so, I deserved that one…"

A rubber band twanged off the screen of his PDA and smacked him square between the eyes, knocking his glasses askew in the process. The two of them looked up to see Danny howling with mirth from across the crowded classroom, one hand around his middle and the other slapping the top of his desk.

"Oh yeah, he's on something," Sam growled, "And he's going to share it with me later."

True to her word, Sam cornered Danny during lunch when the boy slipped out of the cafeteria (probably to head to the Men's room) and pinned him to the wall. It wasn't like he could go anywhere.

"Alright buster, talk! What's gotten into you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Danny looked genuinely startled by the question but Sam wasn't buying the "I'm-an-innocent-bystander-with-huge-puppy-eyes-how-can-you-not-love-me" act today.

"Danny, you've been acting strange all day! You're nervous, you get angry quicker than usual, and I know what's been going on has been hard on you; it's been hard on all of us; but these mood swings are really starting to—!"

She was cut off by Danny's lips pressed against hers.

It had been a long time since they'd kissed.

The last time they had it had been right before the horrible incident with Zodiac.

Unconsciously, she brought her hands up and wove her fingers into his hair and felt his hands slide over his waist and up her back to her shoulders where they gently twisted amongst the black strands that brushed the base of her neck.

Then he pulled away, slowly, blinking like he was in a daze, and traced a finger across her jaw line, pressing it lightly to her lips. She stared at him. This was so un-Danny-like that it just…it just…

"You're so beautiful when you're ticked at me." He muttered and kissed her again.

"Sam? Sam…! Earth to Sam! Heeellllooooo!" Tucker waved his hand in his friends' face as she slowly sat down next to him at the cafeteria table, staring blankly ahead without really seeing anything, "Hey, Sam, you still in there?"

"Wh-what?" The Goth blinked and looked at the techie as though just noticing that he was there, "Oh, sorry Tucker…"

"So, what's wrong with Danny?"

"Eh…nothing."

Tucker's eyes narrowed and he peered at Sam over the tops of his glasses, "You…you two kissed, didn't you?"

Sam's face turned pink,

"SHUT UP FOLEY!"

In the bathroom, Dan leaned forward on the sink, frowning at his reflection in the mirror. He stared at those familiar blue eyes so darkened by confusion and finally reached and ran a hand over his face with a heavy sigh.

"Why did I do that?"

"YOU DID WHAT!?" Danny's scream could have broken the sound barrier and his eyes were so wide they were nearly bulging out of his head. Dan, now back at the Fenton home and out of his "Danny guise", laughed weakly at the stares he was getting.

"Look, Danny, she had me cornered, what was I supposed to do? Tell her everything?"

"Better than you…than you…than you kissing her!"

"Seems to me she rather liked it."

"Shut your face! You of all people kissing my Sam…I should tear you to pieces!"

"I think she wanted a kiss, Danny."

"You don't know anything! You don't have feelings!" Danny was on his feet, face white with rage, red blotches on his cheeks and his blue eyes blazing, "YOU'RE NOT EVEN HUMAN!!"

There was a silence.

"Danny, I don't think—." Clockwork began but Dan was already a step ahead of him and on his feet with his fists clenched and red eyes glowing.

"Not human, huh!? Not human, huh!? Not human!? I don't have to take this from a sniveling brat like you!"

"You were a sniveling brat too! You just killed it!"

"I'm not listening, la la la la!" Dan stuck his fingers in his pointed ears, closed his eyes, and started making loud noises to block out Danny.

"He's acting like a four year old…" Jazz grumbled and then watched Danny stomp his feet furiously on the carpet, "They both are…"

Clockwork only rubbed his temples in exasperation.

"You stupid, pathetic, older self! You went to Vlad! To Vlad!"

"I can't hear you! La la la! I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves! Everybody's nerves! Everybody's nerves! I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves and this is how it goes! Bum, bum, bum! I know a—!"

"Oh, real mature! You're the older version!? I don't think so! I'm going through a whole lot more than you! Hey! Listen to me you dumb ghost! I'm yelling at you! HEY!"

"—nerves! Everybody's nerves! I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves and this is how it goes! Bum, bum, bum! I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves! Everybody's nerves! Every—!"

"Don't make me come over there and show you just how much I hate your stinking, rotten, moldy, guts! I'll blast you into—!" Whatever Danny was going to blast Dan into was cut off by a series of hacking coughs as the Fenton boy fell to his knees on the floor, arms wrapped around his still bandaged middle, wheezing for breath. Dan immediately stopped his singing and took his fingers out of his ears, glancing at Clockwork. Jazz dropped to her brother's side.

Danny's face was contorted in agony, his eyes squeezed shut, his whole frame shaking as he coughed and fought to breath, sweat beading his forehead. Jazz slapped his back a couple of times and then made for the phone but Clockwork grabbed her arm and pulled her back, "Danny's DNA is splitting; as you can imagine, it's pretty painful. There is nothing you can do."

Danny rolled off his knees and onto his side, convulsing, his mouth open in a silent scream. He dug his fingers into the carpet and kicked his bare feet out, stretching across the floor like he was pinned to a torture device before curling back into a ball and burying his face in his limbs. After a few moments, he became completely still.

"Danny?" Jazz whispered, slack in Clockwork's grip. Dan was crouched on floor, peering at Danny like he was some interesting road kill.

The Fenton boy moaned softly, gasped, and rolled over onto his back, his black hair shadowing his eyes as he lay panting on the carpet. Dan inched closer to him and leaned forward, his pale, clawed fingers trembling as he poked his younger self in the shoulder. Danny yelped and shot upright, starring wide-eyed at his future version.

"Oh, Danny…!" Jazz sobbed and flung herself out of the Ghost of Time's grasp, throwing her arms around her little brother, "Danny…! Please, I know you…I know you don't want to be Danny Phantom anymore but I…" She pushed him back, hands on his shoulders and tears running down her face, "Look what you're doing to yourself!"

Danny blinked slowly and looked from his sister to Clockwork to the blank-faced Dan and then back to his sister. Shakily, he reached up, pushed his bangs aside, dropped his hand and lifted his shirt up. Just visible over the top of the bandages around his middle his usually smooth, pale skin looked as though it had been burned and sliced. Black and red, torn flesh, swollen welts, and ugly, twisted bunches of knotted tissue were spread up the left side of Danny's chest.

"It's begun…" Clockwork said in a low voice, "Danny Fenton, your DNA is tearing itself apart because it's unstable. To fix this problem you need to join with Phantom again. It is the only way." Danny's blue eyes were bright with horror and fear, "Now you see the truth. Hopefully, it will not be too late."

Dan sat back cross-legged on the floor with his arms crossed over his chest. From the dull glint in his eyes, Clockwork could tell he was thinking hard about something.

"Danny—."

"Shut up, I don't want to hear it." The teen struggled to his feet, wavered, and then stumbled his way over to the stairs, "I don't want to hear how I have to be Phantom again." He tripped up the steps, "And I won't do it, you can't make me."

Jazz hurried after her brother, leaving the two humanoid-looking ghosts in the living room.

"Well, he's right, you know." Dan's cocky sneer brought Clockwork's attention to the floor, "You can't make Fenton and Phantom become one again. They have to want to."

"True," Clockwork replied, aiming a kick at the ghost only to sweep it away at the last second and drop into a chair, "But if Danny doesn't come to his senses soon, there won't be a Fenton or a Phantom to put back together again."

I'm sorry that ended on such a depressing note. But it's finally started; Danny's DNA is tearing apart and so his body is deteriorating right before his eyes. That must be living spitfire painful.

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review! Byes!