Bonjour, mes chers! A little later than I wanted, but have a Christmas update! Happy holidays to you all and I hope you're having a great time, and if you didn't get anything then consider this a present and a hug from me to you! Also, if you wish, I wrote this to the tune of Undertale's Waterfall - the music box version. The last chapter before that was written to the orchestral version of Heartache from the same game!

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Chapter Forty Nine

::

"Did you have another nightmare, mon cher?" Warm fingers slid against the back of his neck, Danny releasing a tension-filled sigh as he let himself lean back into the touch. "That bad, hm?"

"Nothing unusual." It wasn't the first nightmare he had about fires and it always seemed to get worse whenever school testing started up again - for good reason. "Him."

"Dan." It was silly. It was just a name - his name in a way - but it still sent shivers running down his spine and fear gripping at his heart. "A possibility that, I believe, you defeated years ago."

"A possibility." The warm hand left and Danny felt coldness replace it in a second, more shivers running through him as he looked at the fireplace where a small, struggling fire was going. "A possibility will never be anything else but a possibility."

"All possibilities have the potential for success and defeat." Startling at the sudden jerk around his waist, Danny laughed and settled down against the chest he was pulled against, warmth utterly surrounding and coating him. "What was your nightmare about?"

"I became him, I think." Danny breathed softly, eyes fluttering shut as the arms wound around him and held him tight. It made dealing with the images behind his eyes much easier. "You were in it, this time, though."

"I could make a very poor pun here." Lips brushed under his jaw, Danny feeling his chest vibrate with a rumbling purr as he tilted his head to better accept the touch. "Let's see, I could start off with being 'the man of your dreams-'"

"Maybe finish with that one, too." The laughter bubbled out of him, the dark and terrifying images already feeling easier to deal with. "I was Dan and you were in front of me and there was a fire."

"Was I being stupidly heroic or was I trying to join you on your mad crusade to end the world?" Humming as a palm skid down his arm, Danny closed his eyes and thought for a moment. The dream was already fuzzy and disappearing from the inside out, nothing left but the edges that could have been a warning if he was inclined to believe things like that.

"I think we fought." A palm slipped under his shirt, warm skin pressing against his own making him give another shuddering sigh as the last of the tension bled out of him. Contact was wonderful just then. "I only knew it was you because of your stupid coat." Chuckling at the huff he felt vibrate against him, Danny let his eyes flutter open. The fire in the fireplace was now truly going and this one gave off nothing but a sense of peace and acceptance. "We fought, you were on the ground hurt, and there was a fire all around us."

"A typical nightmare." That warmth that surrounded him started feeling distant, as if it was slowly withdrawing. "Come on, mon cher."

"Mm, no." Danny let his eyes close again, grinning as he relaxed. "I think I'll fall asleep right here and drop out of school and become a hermit and-"

"Danny." The tone of voice had Danny suddenly cautious, because whatever was about to be said didn't sound as if it would be good. The tone was so tired.

"Andy? Hey, what's-"

"Wake up."

Eyes struggling open, Danny stared up at stone as the dream settled over him and began to vanish like mist as the sun rose. Blinking and trying to focus his vision, Danny raised a hand to see it was healthy, pink, and human. Taking a quick mental inventory it seemed the worst thing was a killer headache and a stuffy nose that felt none too pleasant. Beyond that, though, he felt… Not peaceful, not even close, but empty. Clean. As if everything had just been washed away by a current far stronger than he would ever be.

He remembered what had happened in perfect detail, yet he just couldn't- It felt distant. It felt like something that happened in a dream, or a dream within a dream. Sitting up and noticing the room he was in, he realized why. The Clock Citadel had always had a strange effect on him when he spent too long there.

It was a simple stone room with a bed, a bookshelf, and a desk shoved against the corner wall. The bookshelf had old paperback copies of Danny's favorite books, the desk had two textbooks from last year's classes that he had forgotten to return, and his old backpack was propped up against the corner wall.

The room was a familiar one and Danny had probably spent more time in here than he had even realized. Clockwork had always been fond of letting him hide away when things got to be too much for even Andrew and Randy to help him through. God- God. He just-

Taking a shaky breath, Danny looked to the chair beside his bed. As expected, Clockwork was sleeping in it uncomfortably. An old, outdated flip phone was loosely held in his fingers and the exhaustion clear in every part of him made Danny remember that for as much as Clockwork was an all powerful ghost with control of time, he was still human in some senses of the word.

"Should I make a joke about the Master of Time owning a phone or should it be about how it's such an outdated phone?"

"Technically, nothing is outdated within the Citadel." Clockwork's response had Danny doubting if the ghost had ever even really been asleep, Clockwork opening his eyes to give a tired attempt at a smile. "Hello, Daniel."

"Hello, Clockwork." Danny expected to feel rage, and hatred, and for the screaming to start pouring out of him, but instead Danny only laid back down and turned on his side so they were still looking at each other. "I don't know where to start."

"I've always found the beginning to be a remarkably good place to try." Clockwork made no attempts at comforting him or offering apologies and that probably helped more than either of the other two ever would.

"Randy was right. Me making that portal and going through it was because I was refusing to use my ghost powers." Right. They had all been so right. He was such an idiot child.

"Yes and no." Clockwork shifted to properly sit up, Danny noticing that the phone was nowhere to be seen. Time worked so strangely in the Citadel. "The real answer is much more complicated and I'm sure I'll answer it multiple times tonight, so let me content you with the fact that while letting your power build up was dangerous, it wasn't at a level that should have caused this."

"It's what caused a part of it, though." There was silence to that, Danny nodding. He had already known the answer to that one. "You didn't even warn me." That- That had been one of the things to hurt the most. That Clockwork had seen this all happening and hadn't even thought to once mention it.

"I thought I had more time." Even if he tried, Danny wouldn't have been able to bring himself to yell at Clockwork for those words, not when there was so much anguish in them. "I saw this happening, I won't lie to you there, but it wasn't meant to happen so soon. I wanted to take the time to explain to you why we are cursed with this job, perhaps even prepare you in some small way for what would happen, but before I could…

"Your powers are unique, Daniel. Randall went about it in a wrong way, but you do need to know about them. Due to your powers and just how they work, the energy built up. Not only that, but things were changing in this time rapidly. When things change, Time will always find a way to balance itself out."

"Okay." So it had just been bad luck, then? Or was he destined to become Dan no matter how hard he and Clockwork fought? The second one seemed more likely after everything that had happened. "Why couldn't you…?"

"Don't you think I tried?" Clockwork was an ancient spirit that would never be and never had been human. Danny knew that. He did. It was just hard to remember when Clockwork looked so much like he had failed. "I tried everything, Daniel."

"I believe you." It had to be Danny. Everything was as it should be, right? Right? Turning around, Danny stared at the wall opposite him. "Can I be alone now?"

Danny listened as the door opened and then closed softly and he was left alone in his room in silence. Closing his eyes, Danny saw nothing but smoke and fire and everything burning down around him.

There was no warmth to draw him out this time.

::

It was suffocating, Randy decided. It had been hours since Danny had flown off and the entire time the air in Vidya had felt suffocating. It was as if Randy could barely breathe through the feelings that saturated the air and tainted everything like the smoke of a fire that had gone out of control. It was all he could do to keep his fingers running through Andrew's hair, the man curled up in his lap on the couch and looking more like a teenager than he ever had before.

It hurt and it felt like it burned, but there was no more option when it came to running away from this. Not from them. Not again. "We've really lost this time, mon petit." Andrew's breathing, which had just started to even out, hitched and broke as he shifted and curled to press himself against Randy even more. "Andy, please talk to me. Please."

"I lost." Andrew's voice was wracked with the grief of the dying, Randy pulling him closer and holding him tighter as if that would somehow change things. As if that could somehow keep him together when Andrew was so obviously breaking apart. "I had so many chances to tell him and I never did and he deserved to know, and now… Now I've probably lost him."

A missed step. A missed step, or a crack in the sidewalk, or even a jump over something that really wasn't there. That's what it felt like. The world falling out from underneath him and a sense of understanding that would never be coming. "Andy-"

"I died." Ye… Yes? Was Andrew regressing back into his memories? Why would he- "No, I was killed." He… "The library fire was started by someone who came to me in the library that night. He looked about sixteen or seventeen, he had black hair cut short, blue eyes that shone with grief, these silly glasses, and a warm smile that made me feel safe."

"Andy, what are you telling me." Because there was no way it could be true, right? There was no point in time where… Where… Time. Clockwork. The son of Clockwork. "Oh, God."

"He always was such a terrible liar."

::

"If Andrew had died in any other way he wouldn't have become a ghost, would he?" Danny never would have been able to say if it was days or hours before he left his room, but for better or worse he was now floating by Clockwork and near hiding underneath his cloak. He had never felt like such a child.

"There was always the possibility, but most likely he wouldn't have, no." The hand on his head felt nothing like the warmth Andrew gave him, but it felt… It felt like the Citadel. Cool and bordering on impersonal, but with a sense that he would be protected. Always. "You were right in what you did. The anger you caused him is what allowed his spirit to linger, and the ectoplasmic energy that soaked the air form the fire and the energy that you pushed inside of him from your powers is what forced his spirit to form inside our world."

"Does-" Danny swallowed, throat closing up because the answer to this question could change everything. "Is that why we're mates? Because of my energy-"

"No." No? "I knew you would ask so I took the liberty of examining some other possibilities. A thousand different realities and a thousand different lives and so many ended with you and him, happy and together."

"Not all, though." This could be the one universe where it wasn't meant to be. Danny just had to complicate things and-

"Do you truly believe that?" Looking up, Danny was unable to look away at the hard gaze he was given. "Do you truly believe that this was an accident and not meant to be?"

"I- How could it not? Everything you're saying and everything I did it should add to nothing but his being forced. It was supposed to be Andy and Randy, not-" The fingers gripping his chin had him falling deathly quiet, eyes wide as he stared up at Clockwork.

"I did not ask the opinion of the leech that has tainted you, Daniel. I asked for your opinion." His… Before this - before all of it - did he really think him and Andrew weren't meant to be? No. No, he had never thought that. Right from that first fight with him there had always been something. "There is always the possibility of a different love and a different life, but the one you've made your own has ended with those two. What you have done played no part in the feelings between the three of you."

That was all well and nice to say, but Danny still couldn't believe it. He might never believe it. There would always be the chance that he had nudged things, pushed them just so to where it had happened. "Daniel, if you still don't believe me then what about Randall?" What about him? "You have had no part in his past, nor will you ever, and yet he loves you as dearly as Andrew." Does he? "Oh, Daniel…"

"I'm trying." He couldn't even bring himself to cry anymore. Everything felt flat and lifeless, but he was trying. God, at this point he wanted to cry. He wanted to break and sob and tell his mates everything and just try to get a chance to fix it. Yet the only thing there was this stupid feeling of nothing. "I'm trying, Clockwork."

"Go see them." That finally got a reaction. Fear. "Daniel, please, I promise you with everything that I am that they will see you. They are worried, and yes, Andrew especially. You need to see them for things to be worked out. After that I will tell you all I can about this and anything else that might happen to you in the future."

"Pretty sure that's against the rules," Danny huffed a poor attempt at a laugh, a shiver crawling down his spine. The rules. Walker. That was right, though, wasn't it? Danny couldn't hide away in the Citadel like this forever. As much as he wanted to there were other threats that needed dealing with, other enemies to face, more people to save, and… "I need to see them."

"Yes, you do." Danny wasn't sure how, but between one second and the next he was on the edge of the island Citadel rested on. The jump in his awareness felt like the most natural thing and the hand against his back kept him grounded and clear. There would be time for mysteries later, but right now… "Do not hesitate and do not linger."

"You make it sound like you're about to shove me off the island." Things in Citadel were always so strange. Would this sense of empty and calm leave him once he left the Citadel? Once he left the outskirts of time where nothing had never or would never make sense? "I think I'm scared."

"You will be." That would be okay, though, because he knew how to get rid of the fear. He knew where to go to get rid of the fear. "Daniel, Spectra has escaped Observant custody. You must not linger, do you understand me?"

"Spectra?" Why were they talking about her? Spectra. Oh, they had been talking about her earlier, hadn't they? Or… No. Had they? Why was everything so… "What's the Citadel doing to me?"

"Those who are still mortal weren't meant to spend so long outside of time. I apologize for allowing you to stay as long as I have, Daniel." Outside of time… How long had Danny been in there? "I cannot see your future, Daniel. I cannot see what will happen once you leave."

"You're scared for me." Clockwork saw all. Except he didn't. Whatever he wasn't seeing was more terrifying than the thought of Danny forever spending his life trapped between moments in time- How long had he been here. "I need to go home." He wanted to go home.

"I know." The hand against his back pressed, Clockwork's words soft and comforting over him. "Be swift, little Phantom, and do not stop."

A breath in and it all hit. Sucking in gasping, rattling breaths that were already building their way into sobs, Danny spun around to see nothing but an empty spot of the Ghost Zone. The Citadel was gone- No, no, not gone. Clockwork explained it could become cloaked- God.

Okay, okay, Fenton, take it easy. Take it easy. He could think about his stay with Clockwork later, but right now he needed to stay calm and focus- Focus. Andy and Randy. His mates. His mates who he had run away from. He needed to get back to them.

Andrew could hate him all he wanted and toss him out, but Danny just needed to see that he was okay. That he really had come back and could still smile even if it was a smile he never saw again. Right. Be swift.

The world flew by him and Danny followed Clockwork's advice to the letter, except the closer he got to the library the more he started to slow. As much as he needed - wanted - to see them, would they want to see him? He had- God, he had killed him. Would Andrew even know that, though? If he had, he would have never been with Danny. Would Danny have to explain that night to Andrew before he could even apologize.

He was scared. He was so scared and the terror felt like it was drowning him and like shadows were pulling him under- Shadows… He had stopped flying.

"My, my, Danny, we have gotten ourselves into trouble."