Chapter 2: Nervous

"Mr. Fenton, I understand you have no appreciation for the great artists of our past, but would you please try to stay awake?"

Daniel Fenton drowsily lifted his head off his desk, blinking as his teacher walked away angrily. He sighed, picking up his pencil and stared at his blank paper, originally meant for note taking. His best friends, Sam Manson and Tucker Foley, threw him several concerned glances. Although they understood why Danny didn't care for Lancer's class, he would usually at least feign some interest while the teacher lectured.

"Anyways, as I was saying before Mr. Fenton decided to take an afternoon nap," Mr. Lancer continued, "don't forget the Halloween Dance is in two weeks and the paper on Dante's Inferno is due next Thursday. Any questions?" A sea of blank sophomore faces stared back. "Well then," Lancer sighed, closing his book and placing it on his desk, "have a safe weekend and class dismissed."

The students all abruptly stood, loudly chattering as they made their ways out of the room. The jocks and cheerleaders laughed obnoxiously, some purposefully hitting Danny and his friends' books to the floor as they walked out. They boasted of their weekend plans, Paulina going to a spa, Dash going on a camping trip with his family, Kwan visiting his grandmother in another city, et cetera, et cetera… Grumbling as they picked up their spilled books, the gang didn't notice the teacher as he approached them.

"Mr. Fenton, a word?" Lancer said, gesturing to his desk.

Throwing a confused glance at his friends, he quickly shoved all his material into his backpack. Waving them away and gesturing a "wait for me outside," he walked to his teacher, who was seated at his desk, waiting.

"Daniel," Lancer began. "Is something bothering you?"

Danny froze. "I don't know what you mean," he replied slowly.

"You've been extremely distracted as of late," Lancer sighed. "Your attendance close to never showing up, and when you do, you sleep through all your lessons," Danny looked down sheepishly, "Your grades are dropping, and I feel as though I see you in detention daily. As a teacher, it is my duty to ensure that you pass high school. However, I need your cooperation. So, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," he replied, a little too quickly. His teacher raised a brow, unconvinced. "I appreciate you worrying, Mr. Lancer," he sighed, "but the things I'm going through are… kinda hard to explain."

"Alright, I suppose," the teacher sighed. "Just remember, if you ever need someone to talk with, I'm always here to listen."

"Got it," Danny said gratefully. "Have a nice weekend, Mr. Lancer!"

"Finish your essay, Mr. Fenton," was the reply he received.

Hurrying out of the classroom, he saw his friends standing by the door, waiting for him. Seeing him walk out of the room, Sam looked at him quizzically, asking, "So what's up? What did Lancer want?"

"Nothing," Danny sighed. "He just saw that I was kinda out of it and asked if anything was bugging me."

"Yea, what's up with that, dude," Tucker interjected. "You've been really really out of it this entire week!"

"Sorry guys, I'm just tired," Danny yawned. "After Dani left, Vlad hasn't made any moves on getting even. I don't even want to know what that crazy fruit loop could be planning."

"Hey, maybe he finally realized that he's no match for team Phantom," Tucker said sympathetically. "About time, too," he scoffed, flexing his nonexistent muscles. "Otherwise, he would get himself in a world of hurt."

"Right," Sam snorted sarcastically, pushing the doors of the school open. "Because Vlad Masters, billionaire criminal mastermind and town mayor would tremble in fear at the power of three teenagers."

"You never know," Tucker shrugged. "Right, dude?"

"Huh? Oh… yeah…" Danny replied absentmindedly. "Listen, I'm just gonna go home okay? Hang out this weekend?"

"Sure, I guess," Sam looked worried again. "Do you want us to walk you back? It looks like it's about to rain soon and-"

"No, I'm fine," Danny cut in quickly. Guilt flooded him for interrupting his best friend, but he really needed to go. "I'll see you guys later, okay?" Without waiting for their reply, he turned and briskly walked away.

Sam and Tucker looked at each other, the same thought swimming through their head. They needed to give their friend some space, until he was willing to come and talk with them. Shrugging, they turned to walk the opposite direction. After all, only time would tell.

Walking alone, Danny shivered as a particularly cold breeze wrapped around him. He honestly didn't know why he was so nervous lately. At night, every small noise would set him on edge, be it a pebble getting blown around outside or the creak of the floorboard (most likely his dad getting up to look for his midnight stash of fudge). It usually ended with him not getting an ounce of sleep, or when he did, nightmares would plague him continuously. That haunting laugh would echo around him, taunting him to take action. Yet every time he turned, no one would be there.

Of course, all this took a toll on his everyday life. As Lancer had said, he would fall asleep in class, only to be jerked back to reality by a very mad teacher. The attendance, on the other hand, was a complete other story.

He quickly scanned his surroundings, looking for any stray pedestrian. Other than a kindly old lady walking her dog a few blocks down, the streets were all empty. All the citizens of Amity Park were probably at home, hiding from the bad chill that was blowing around town. Running into an alley, he closed his eyes and let the familiar icy feeling overtake him.

A flash of white light later, Danny Phantom took the spot where Danny Fenton had just been standing. Launching himself into the air, he felt a shiver go down his back. Not the "ghost sense" shiver, but the feeling you get when someone is watching you. Spinning around, all guards in high alert, he tensed when he saw no one. Not a single soul was present. The old lady had long since disappeared.

Shaking his head, half to clear his thoughts and half to shake off the feeling, he lazily drifted through the air, following his route to get home. For some strange reason, the ghost activity increased as of late. Ghosts that usually never came out suddenly decided it was a good idea to terrorize the small town. Danny was sure he had sent Skulker back to the Ghost Zone almost a million times by now. And each time he warned them to never intrude on his turf again, they didn't listen. You'd think that after saving the Ghost Zone from being blown to bits by the dumbasses in white, they'd listen to him a bit more.

Halfway home, he froze. It was that feeling again. The feeling of being watched. Not daring to turn around, he gradually picked up speed until he was flying at almost 50 miles per hour. The feeling never left.

Landing in the alley by his home, he quickly changed back to his human form and ran towards the door. The feeling was growing stronger, and it felt closer for some odd reason. Slamming the door behind him, he let out a deep breath and slid down to the floor, thankful to be home. Letting his backpack flop down next to him, he simply sat there, back pressed against the front door and eyes closed. Hearing footsteps, he cracked one eye open. The familiar blue jumpsuit immediately gave away who it was.

"Hey, honey, how was school?" Maddie Fenton asked, squatting down next to her son and brushing his long bangs back, planting a light kiss on his forehead. The one thing he could appreciate about his mother, besides her wanting to tear him apart molecule by molecule, was that she didn't ask questions. Asides from the usual, "how was your day," and "learn anything new today," she never needed to know anything else. Of course, it could just be her mom powers telling her that something was bugging her son, and he most likely didn't want to talk about it (cuz she would be 100% right if that was the case).

"Glad it's the weekend," Danny sighed truthfully. "When's Jazz getting home?"

"You're father is picking her up now," his mother replied, carefully getting up and patting of the dust on her jumpsuit. "Her car broke down a few days ago… are you hungry, dear? Want anything to eat?"

"No, I'm fine," Danny said quickly, pushing himself off the floor. "Actually, I'm kinda tired. I'm gonna take a quick nap, is that okay?"

"Whatever you need, honey," Maddie said. "I'll be right down stairs if you want anything, alright?"

"Thanks, mom," Danny breathed gratefully. Giving her a quick kiss on the cheek, he grabbed his bag and climbed the stairs to his room. Although a nap sounded amazing, noting from previous nights, Danny was sure he wouldn't be able to sleep this time either.

Watching her child retreat into his room, Maddie Fenton sighed. She knew something was bothering Danny. He looked like he hadn't had a proper night's rest in months.

She didn't know when it started. One day, he had gone from being the usual cheerful child that she had always known and loved to looking worried 24/7. Dark bags clung to the bottom of his eyes and he always looked like he had something on his mind.

He wouldn't tell her.

There was no way he would tell her.

Although she didn't know everything that went on in his life, she knew that he and his sister were hiding something from her. Something big.

But, she would wait. If he wasn't ready to tell her, then she wouldn't pressure him. She just wanted her usual happy boy back. Sighing, she turned and walked back to the kitchen. Jack and Jazz could be back anytime now, and at least one of them would be famished. She might as well begin dinner to get her mind off her troubled younger child.

Danny collapsed on his soft mattress, letting out a sigh of relief. He wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and sleep for a million years, but it was like his senses were put on hyper drive. When the wind rustled the leaves, he felt like he was jolted by electricity. When a car would drive by, his ears would ring. And even in the confines of his own bedroom, he could feel the eyes of some unknown enemy trained on his back. Ready for him to drop his guard. Waiting for him to show weakness…

Wrapping himself up in his thick comforter, he squeezed his eyes closed, trying to will all the noises away. He didn't know why he felt so nervous, and he wasn't sure how much longer he could take it.

Clockwork opened up his portal, making sure to freeze time as he did. Seeing the boy's messy room again was somewhat comforting.

Speaking of which… where was the boy? He looked around, stroking his long beard thoughtfully. Spotting the blanket and the noticeable lump underneath it, Clockwork chuckled and pulled away the comforter a bit. The boy's face emerged from the fabric, and although he wasn't asleep, Clockwork could tell that his young friend was tired.

Quickly looping a medallion around the boy's neck, he prepared himself for the surprise that was sure to come from his arrival. As he predicted, the moment the medallion rested around his skin, Danny's eyes flew open.

"Wha-what?" he stuttered, looking around in a flurry. He shoved the blanket off his body, confusion written clearly on his young face as he saw the frozen clock by his bed. "What's going on?"

"Hello, Danny," Clockwork, now in his adult form. "Remember me?"

"Clockwork?" the young halfa asked. "What are you doing here?" Getting out of bed, he worriedly said, "If this is about what happened last time with dad, then I'm sorry, I didn't know it would-"

"No, no, this isn't about that," Clockwork waved his hands to cut off his young friend. "If only it were that simple… this time it's infinitely worse."

"Why, what happened?"

"I'm going to assume, that for the past few weeks, you've been feeling stressed, nervous even. Like you're constantly being watched and followed."

"Actually, yeah," Danny replied, slightly bemused at how Clockwork could possibly know all this. "Why, what's going on?"

"I'm sure you remember our… first adventure together," Clockwork began slowly.

"Of course," the halfa said still confused. "You tried to kill me, sent a bunch of weird hybrid future ghosts to try, then I accidentally took Sam and Tuck to the future where we met-" He stopped. "We met…"

"Yes," Clockwork concluded solemnly. "I'm not sure how he did it, but he is a lot more dangerous, especially since he's out of the time stream."

"How," Danny asked hoarsely. "How did he-"

"I don't know," Clockwork was obviously mad, mad that he didn't know and that he couldn't see. "However, now that he is out of the time stream, he can do whatever he wants to you without worrying about how that could affect his future."

"Then all those feelings," he muttered. "All those times I thought someone was watching me. At night when I couldn't sleep because something was there… that was all Dan?" Anger and fear coursed through his body. "I thought you were watching him!" Danny hissed. "How could he have escaped?"

"I'm really sorry, Danny, but I don't know," Clockwork replied, annoyed. "Either he managed to gain enough strength to break out of the thermos, or somebody released him."

"Who would release Dan?" Danny rasped. "He's literally one of the worst ghosts that could ever exist."

"Careful, child," Clockwork warned. "That's your future self you're talking about."

"That was my future," Danny replied angrily. "But I changed that. I'll never turn into him. As long as Vlad never makes those stupid gloves-"

"It's not that simple, Danny," Clockwork sighed. "All you did was change one outcome. You changed the most likely outcome of you becoming Dan, but there are still many ways that that will be your future. And Dan knows that."

"What can he do?" Danny scoffed. "I beat him once, and I can do it again."

"There's something you should see," Clockwork said uneasily. It was the first time Danny had ever seen the time master look so unsure. And it made him worried. "There isn't much time to waste, we should get going."

Danny nodded, still worried. When the Master of Time tells you there isn't much time, that's when you need to start worrying. Quickly changing to his ghost form, he nodded. "Let's go."

The time master, now in his child form, smiled grimly and waved his staff. Wordlessly, he floated through the purple portal. Danny took one last look at his messy room, from the old computer on his desk to the rocket model he had built when he was younger. For some reason, he felt as though he wouldn't be home for a while. Sighing one last time, he lifted off the floor and darted through the portal. He couldn't keep Clockwork waiting any longer.