Rules for Being Human
Most ghosts were once human. The rules of humanity can still be applied.
4: Repeat
A lesson is repeated until it is learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.
He was Master of Time. He was never human. He was eternal. He just was.
Clockwork looked upon normal ghosts and mortals alike with the knowledge of who they were and what had happened and what they will become; after all, he sees the parade from above. He knows everything.
But he has a knack for keeping time in such a delicate state of balance that he sometimes needs to interfere to make sure it stays on its path – or to teach someone a lesson.
He'd tried teaching Pariah Dark of his errors before it was too late. It had backfired, and he'd joined five other Ancients in a last-ditch effort to defeat the king. (He'd known it would work, of course. He just wasn't too enthusiastic about it.)
After that, Clockwork had taken a break from mortals. They were too stressful to manage sometimes. After all, he only needed to keep the timeline from falling apart. He could do that from a distance.
The halfa Danny Fenton, aka Danny Phantom, had roped him back into interfering. (He wasn't sorry.)
Danny was in need of lesson learning, and Clockwork was only too happy to oblige – despite the teen not knowing what he needed. He'd guide the boy through turmoil, and steer him on the right path. He'd make similar mistakes all too often – but it was because he would forget his lessons sometimes. When that happened, Clockwork only needed to present the lesson to the boy in another form. Danny would figure it out eventually, and be able to go on.
Humans. Constantly learning. But not always quite understanding. (Ah well, just another lesson to try and impose upon them.)
Walker did not like rule breakers. He especially did not like repeat offenders. He was the prison warden, the judge, jury, and executioner when needed; while he enjoyed his job, he wanted to make sure his rules instilled some sense of fear with these maggots.
So he'd go easy on punks, especially the new ghosts or the harmless ones. He'd give them new sentences, give them different punishments, all in the name of keeping order.
Eventually they'd learn. Eventually they'd stop. It took a long time – it could take millennia – but it left him…satisfied when a rule-breaker stopped and learned that they were wrong.
Of course, sometimes they'd go and break another rule. Then the cycle would have to be repeated all over again.
What Walker didn't acknowledge was that this was all one big lesson for him: cruelty gets you nowhere, kindness gets you everything.
Maybe he'd learn it, someday.