My computer has gotten very confused by me putting the future in the present…but here's another chapter despite the protests of my laptop. (oh, and just for clarification, I wrote this so that Phantom Planet never happened)
Chapter 18:
Danny POV-
"So…Wren let the cat out of the bag, huh?" my future self asked.
"Well, Sam figured it out too," I shrugged.
"I should have guessed," he chuckled rolling his eyes, "But I guess the other question is, did you let the cat out of the bag?"
"That cat is so far out of the bag that it just got run over," I replied.
"And Wren puppy-dog-eyed you into training her, didn't she?" he guessed.
"Oh yeah," I nodded. "So you knew they had ghost powers?"
"Well, I never officially tested it, but, yeah, we had our suspicions," he told me.
"What do you mean?" I wondered.
"You know how women get sick when they're pregnant?" he asked me.
"Yeah…" I answered slowly.
"Well, most women don't puke ectoplasm," he shook his head, remembering it, "Oh, and apparently, ectoplasm stains tile, and, rugs, and the toilet, so be prepared to replace the entire bathroom."
"Nice to know," I grimaced, "So…when do you…I…we?...tell mom and dad?" I questioned.
"When Danielle comes back. It was kind of a big shock for them at first…and you actually have to transform like five times before it starts to sink in…but hey, that's pretty good considering…them," he laughed and I laughed too.
"But something tells me you didn't come her to talk about that," he said after a minute and decided to sit on the floating green couch.
"No, I came to figure out my next move," I sighed, sitting on the other end of the couch.
"Why? What happened?" he pressed with an urgency in his voice.
"Technically…nothing, except that Vlad decided to come over for dinner and took too much of an interest in Wren," I told him. He pressed his lips together.
"That means he'll probably wait about a day and a half to two days before attacking," he considered.
"That's what I figured…but that doesn't give me a lot of training time," I told him.
"No…it doesn't…maybe I should come help you…?" he pondered.
"No, something tells me that would be a bad idea. You have your own Vlad to deal with, plus, that would just conveniently put us both in one place," I shook my head.
"Well, the future Vlad, as far as I know, hasn't had much—if any contact with your Vlad, so anything he does know will be slim. Tell you what, keep Wren and Jackson out of school tomorrow and train them somewhere Vlad won't know about…if you can get mom and dad out of the house, the ops center would probably be a pretty good spot…if not, try the alleyway behind the school. Don't use the one by the Nasty Burger or the one you usually use to change, both of those are bugged," he suggested.
"Okay, that sounds good," I replied, "Now, I said, pulling the Fenton Phone out of my pocket. I know two people who probably would like to talk to you."
He grinned and I pushed the connector button on the side.
"Hey Sam, you there?" I asked.
"Yeah Danny, I'm here, is everything okay?" she asked quickly.
"Yeah. Everything's fine. Wren and Jackson are there with you aren't they?" I expected.
"Yeah, why?" she asked.
"Put them on, I have someone who wants to talk to them," I smirked.
"Hello?" I heard Wren's voice, followed by Jackson who joined the conversation on another set of Fenton Phones.
"Hey guys," the future me said.
"Dad?!" Wren exclaimed.
"Dad is that you?!" Jackson asked.
"Yeah guys it's me," he chuckled.
"Oh my gosh, Dad I miss you so much!" Wren cried.
"What are you talking about? You've seen me every day," he grinned looking at me.
"Oh…yeah… no offence," she called to me.
"Yeah, yeah, I see how it is," I rolled my eyes and the older me smirked at my response.
"Well—Wren—you certainly did a great job of keeping the secret. What have I told you about the delicate balance of the time stream," he scolded, but from where I was, I could see that he was just teasing.
"It wasn't…all my fault…" she squeaked.
"Yeah, I know. Your mom is pretty good at figuring things out," he smirked and I heard three sets of laughter on the other side of the phone.
"Is everyone okay?" Jackson asked.
"Yeah, everyone's fine," he said, but the look on his face told me it was a lie.
"Why didn't you ever tell us about you?" Jackson asked. The older me looked down guiltily.
"I wanted to, Buddy…but…I figured you'd be safer if you couldn't be used in the wrong hands…I'm sorry you had to find out the hard way," he told them.
"So when we're trained can we come fight the war with you?" Wren asked.
"What? No. It's too dangerous," he protested.
"But—" she tried to plead.
"Not another word on the subject, young lady. I just called to tell you both that your mother and I love you. Tell Eli too, okay," he said.
"Okay, love you too," they answered in unison, but Wren sounded disappointed.
"I'll be with you guys again soon," he promised.
"Okay, bye dad," they replied and then the end went dead.
"Who is it? Who's the one that's hurt?" I asked.
"Jason and Kwan did a raid on a ghost camp. They got caught. Jason didn't make it…and Kwan will probably never be able to walk again," he told me. I vaguely knew Jason, in my time he was just another football player, but judging by the amount of pain of his face, he must have been a loyal ally.
"Oh man. I'm sorry," I sighed.
He shook his head.
"No…ya know, we're at war…you can't save them all…I guess," he sighed.
"Don't beat yourself up too badly," I told him, knowing that is exactly what he was doing, "Sometimes even we can't save everyone. Sometimes if things are meant to happen…they'll happen no matter what we do," I told him, but even as I said it, I knew I didn't believe it either. It always feels like there is no excuse for not being able to do anything, when we have all this power, and should be able to save everyone.
"Gee, thanks," he said sarcastically rolling his eyes.
Finally, Clockwork decided to come back out.
"Hey, where have you been this whole time?" the older me asked.
"You didn't need me out here," Clockwork stated simply. We both were about to argue, but Clockwork held up his hand.
"You," he pointed to me, "Came here to find out what you needed to do next, and now you have it. And you, he pointed to the older me, came here to find out how your children were doing and get a message to them, and now you have done that. I just managed to save myself some," Clockwork smirked, "time."
Then he vanished again.
"Well, I guess, it's time I left," the older me announced, standing up, "Take care of my…our...kids," he told me.
"I will," I replied.
"Oh, and keep an eye on James…I don't want him to think it's okay to date Wren just because I'm 22 years in the future," he grinned.
"Got it," I agreed. He changed back to human form and allowed himself to fall through the floor. That' how it works in the Ghost Zone. A ghost can't pass through walls, but humans can perfectly fine, which always makes going down, so much easier than going up.
So, I followed his lead, 'falling' the five stories to the ground and then falling through the ground until I was once again floating in the empty Ghost Zone. I looked for my future self but he was already long gone. The Ghost Zone thankfully, hadn't changed drastically, so I was easily able to find the portal, and began the thirty minute flight back home.