Author's Note: This is nearly the last chapter I have completely typed out. After chapter 15 uploads are going to slow way down.
It was still drizzling on the way to school the next day. Danny sat quietly in the passenger seat as Jazz drove them to school. While Maddie hadn't quite given up the control of having Phantom driven by a Fenton, she had allowed Jazz in the driver's seat instead. In the meantime Maddie and Jack were frantically trying to find Danny, their panic hadn't seemed so obvious while they were also scrambling to create a new identity for Phantom.
Danny found himself watching his mom as she spent hours on the phone with distant relatives to see if Danny had shown up at their homes or if they'd seen him. She'd also spent time organizing to have Danny's picture appear on the news, yelling at the cops for not doing anything, or trying to convince websites to host ads with Danny's picture and the caption, have you seen this boy? Danny had found the posters and billboards quite embarrassing, and jokingly told Sam and Tucker he was sorta glad he was stuck as Phantom. It was almost as embarrassing as the time they'd gone through town with a giant billboard of his face tied to the GAV.
Despite these efforts of course Danny Fenton remained missing, much to the despair of his did they know he was right in front of them riding to school with Jazz at that very moment. Jazz sighed and pulled into the parking lot at Casper High, looking over at Danny, who had remained quiet the entire journey. Normally this wouldn't be too much cause for concern—both siblings had a lot on their minds—but Danny seemed to be trying to say something, only to shake his head and mutter to himself unintelligibly.
"Okay, obviously something is wrong, so why don't you come out and say it already." Jazz let the car idle as they sat in the parking lot, students milling about in the schoolyard as she waited for Danny to respond.
Danny looked out the window quietly and absent-mindedly rubbed his right hand. He thought about it—the incident—the dream with clockwork; what to even say about everything he'd learned. Danny looked down at his right hand again, the one that had suffered the most from the incident. Even now there was a faint tingle to it—while he'd regained motion and sensation, the hand continued to remind him of his fate.
"I…" Danny sighed, he suddenly felt so tired. He wanted to be angry—he was angry, there was just nothing he could do about his anger. Danny shivered and looked back to Jazz, who was looking at him expectantly. Danny tried to figure out some way to phrase what he wanted to say without sounding absolutely crazy. I had this dream last night where the ghost master of time said I was going to die soon… that would likely freak her out. I used my ghost powers last night... Yeah, no, it was great, I was just in crippling pain afterward and felt like a living corpse. Hahaha, I mean, more than I usually do… Danny frowned, perhaps his mental rant had been a bit too sarcastic, but honestly he didn't know what to say.
"When you're ready, I'm here." Jazz assured.
Danny wanted to snark back that he knew that already, he just didn't know how to put what he needed to say into words. His fists clenched, his right hand one, thrumming briefly, as if someone had played a violin bow over the nerves.
"I…" he started again, "I… clockwork… ghosts… intangibility." It all came out in a jumble of words. Jazz frowned as it the gibberish that spilled from her brother was completely indecipehrable, "ItriedtouseghostpowersandthenitdidntquiteworkallgoodrightuntilitdidworkandtherewassomuchpainithoughtiwasgoingtodieforthesecondtimeyesterdayandwiththepoweroutandtheneverythingwasdarkandiwasthrowingupbloodandectoplasmandthelightningandmywholebodywasstiffandcoldandmyhandstillhurtsithoughtithadbeenchoppedoffithurtbutthenitwasblueandfistinafistclenchedagainstthepainandithinkibledectoplasmfromyeyesandthentherewasadreamthatwasntadreamwithclockworkandhetoldmeiwasdyingandthatididnthavemuchtimeleftonthisearthandthatusingmypowersexceleratedmydesabilatzaionordehumanizationthatiwasgoingtodieforsurewhenthehourglassranoutiwasoutofTimeandthatTimewasntonmysidenotlikeiteverisand…"
"Danny." Jazz grabbed both of her brother's hands, "Calm down I can hardly understand you. I heard something about ghosts and powers and pain, and possible bodily injury in addition to time and an hourglass… but I really can't understand anything you're saying. Take a deep breath and slow down." Jazz squeezed his hands. Danny tried to follow her instructions, but it in fact took several deep breaths before he was calm enough to try and speak. He didn't get the chance though, the school bell rang startling them both. Danny felt both relieved and cheated. He had a chance to unload and wasted it, but it saved him from the torment of Jazz's reaction to the news.
"I have to get to class." Danny ducked pulling his bag out with him and he raced up the steps into Mr. Lancer's classroom. Mr. Lancer greeted him with a nod, the rest of the class filed in.
You would think that after a week or two of sitting next to a celebrity it would get old, but apparently the novelty had yet to wear off and people stared at him and whispered behind their hands just as much as the first time. Danny wished that he could get used to the attention or that it would slowly go away once he proved to be uninteresting, but so far there had been no such luck.
He stared hard down at the desk in front of him. There wasn't anyone he particularly knew in this class, people he saw everyday and knew the approximate names of, but no friends, at the point he would even take an enemy. Danny shivered and a few seconds later the Box Ghost's head appeared from out of the desk in front of him. It took him a minute to realize what this meant as the ghost didn't shout or wave his arms about immediately.
"Beware."
Danny sighed, his eyes narrowing at the ghost.
"I'm not in the mood." He stared at the head in his desk, the Box Ghost blinked stupidly in response.
"You seem different somehow, not the cylindrical container of doom wielding foe I have known." Box Ghost floated out of the desk and started examining Danny, who glared at the ghost in return. Box Ghost floated around him in a little orbit and Danny noticed that the class had all moved to the edge of the walls and were doing their best to phase through them. He didn't see what the big deal was or why they were so frightened, it was only the Box Ghost. Danny watched the Box Ghost as he hovered around his head humming to himself.
"You are you but not you, why are you so powerless?" Box Ghost squinted, coming to a stop in front of his face, his eyes narrowing as he studied Danny.
Danny felt like he was watching his life from the outside in, as if through a fun house mirror. He couldn't figure out how to respond, he didn't know how to make words or sounds or sentences. Ironic that he was sitting in English and couldn't make use of the language. Danny held his head running his hand through his hair.
"White hair… white…" Danny stared back down at the desk oblivious to the Box Ghost who had grown tired of waiting for an answer and was attempting, and in some cases succeeding, to scare the class with rounds of "boo" and "I am the Box Ghost," and of course "Beware." Danny was distracted by his own humanity, the Box Ghost had called him powerless, the Box Ghost! It wasn't like the ghost was wrong though, Danny was powerless. He laced his fingers together and rested his forehead between his hands, hiding his face as he took shallow breaths, his heart beginning to pound again.
Screaming eventually got the attention of the class next door who peeked in to investigate Sam and Tucker along with the throng. They rolled their eyes when they saw the Box Ghost but hesitated as their eyes fell on Danny staring at the desk, his hands covering his face.
A loud noise jerked Danny's head up, the Box Ghost had found an oh so coveted box in the classroom and was ejecting its contents upon the student body. Danny shook his head and stood up.
"I'm not in the mood." He repeated, "Not in the mood." He mumbled. Luckily the contents were not deadly, but the practice tests may have caused a few paper cuts.
"Beware." The Box Ghost yelled at Danny. Danny grabbed him by the front of his overalls.
"I said I'M NOT IN THE MOOD. I'm dying, and I'm going stir crazy, and I hate every second I spend in this stupid place trapped in this form with no escape from the endless parade of fucking humans treating me like some science project! I am not in the mood to put up with your crazy box fetish and your stupid rants." Danny growled glaring into the Box Ghost's eyes.
"Beware?" The Box Ghost shrugged then disappeared. Danny's knees gave out and suddenly he felt like vomiting again.
Tick-tock, tick-tock, your time is running out.
The voice wasn't real, more of a hallucination, but he pressed a hand to his mouth the keep himself for being sick in front of everyone. Sam and Tucker were immediately at his side.
"I can't do this." He mumbled to them, pulling his hand away just enough to speak, before shivering and wrapping his arms around himself.
"We're just gonna take him to the nurse." Sam smiled as the two supported his weight. Danny let his eyes close, letting his two best friends lead him through the halls. He didn't want to be here, didn't want to think, didn't want to be human anymore, not like this anyway.
They ended up not at the nurse's office but a disused broom cupboard that they had taken the liberty of dubbing PhantomHQ-at-School. They eased Danny onto the ground, Tucker pulling a sweatshirt from his backpack and folding it into a pillow so Danny could lean back against the wall. The makeshift pillow was tucked behind Danny's head and he sagged in it, his eyes remaining closed.
"Danny… dude…" Tucker snapped his fingers in Danny's face. Sam pushed him away.
"Danny, come on, wake up." Sam shook him gently. Danny slowly opened his eyes, shaking his head.
"I don't want to do this right now." He whispered softly, his eyes pleading with them to not ask questions about what had happened, not while he was trying to sort out his head. Why it had taken so long for the shock to hit him he didn't know. Perhaps it was the school, perhaps it had been his yelling his problem at Jazz so fast that she couldn't understand, perhaps it had been the Box Ghost or more likely the dream with Clockwork. Danny rubbed his face and shivered, he didn't know how to start to explain his dream, clearly it hadn't gone well the first time.
"Are you going to tell us what happened?" Tucker prodded gently, Danny looked at them, his eyes filled with desperation and pain, Sam and Tucker each put a hand on his leg, reassuring him that they were there for him no matter what. They didn't need words for that.
Suddenly it was spilling out, the things he hadn't meant to tell them, the things he'd meant to filter out of the story. The attempt to use his powers, the brief success and subsequent consequences, the dreams about dying in the portal, the dreams about the endless darkness and a door he could never quite reach and falling and at last the hourglass. The hourglass clocking the amount of time he had left to live. They sat silent the entire time just listening. As Danny finished, silence stretched between them, Danny leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes. The bell rang and soon the halls were filled with bustling activity again. Sam locked the door in the off chance someone would try and enter the closet.
"Dude." Tucker said at last, "I trust your judgment and all… but I have to point out… these dreams could just be dreams right? That doesn't make the whole thing with using your powers any less scary, but it could just be a dream."
"I'm telling you Tucker it was more than a dream." Danny sat up, "It was real… I know I was asleep, and I know that I was dreaming, but that doesn't make it any less valid! We've been to people's dreams before, right? Obviously a ghost as powerful as Clockwork would have been able to accomplish something like that if I could." Danny pointed out, it came out a bit more snappy than intended and Tucker held up his hands.
"I believe you, I was just hoping that there could be a light at the end of this tunnel." Tucker surrendered.
"Tucker's right Danny, you don't need to snap at him." Sam folded her arms, "that said we should make a trip to the ghost zone."
"With Danny powerless and the Fenton portal locked? Good luck getting Jazz or the Fentons to agree to it. As far as we know, we're the only humans to ever go into the ghost zone. I don't think the Fenton's would be pleased with the idea." Tucker frowned.
"Speaking of Jazz, does she know?" Sam turned away from her fight with Tucker to interrogate Danny. Danny sighed.
"I tried to tell her this morning but the words wouldn't come." Danny wrapped his left hand around his right as if to protect it, "I tried." Danny sunk back into the chair. Sam and Tucker exchanged looks.
"Look Danny, we can explain the situation to her if you want, it seems like you've got a lot on your plate at the moment." Sam took Danny's right hand into hers, "But… I think we should tell your parents."
"What?" Danny sat up, "No way."
"Danny… I hate to say it but you aren't looking too good. Your parents, if nothing else, could find a way to stabilize you." Tucker argued. Danny was silent for a moment.
"No." He insisted, Sam and Tucker opened their mouths to argue, "Before you say anything, if it is necessary, I will tell them, but they probably won't believe me, they will probably think I'm crazy, and more importantly, as much as I hate to admit it… Clockwork is right, Time only flows in one direction. No matter what happens… they might be able to slow down the clock, but eventually I'm going to die… according to Clockwork… eventually is rather soon." Danny sighed.
"Slowing it is good no matter what isn't it?" Sam pointed out.
"I don't want to tell them ok! I can't tell them right now. I have the whole being human thing and dying as a human and other things like doing school work and trying to avoid my mom… I can't deal with their reactions and doubts right now!" Danny stood up, Sam and Tucker exchanged looks.
"Calm down." Tucker, "We won't tell them if you don't, it's your choice… I'm just pointing out options." Tucker held his hand up. Danny sighed.
"I know. Sorry." He held his head in his hands as the tardy bell rang signaling the start of the next class, "I just can't do this, I can't be here, I hate this."
Sam and Tucker exchanged looks. Danny felt pathetic and useless and trapped. He was tired of feeling like his life was spinning out of control.
"I just can't live like this!" He stood up and punched the wall, unfortunately using his right hand, which still hadn't fully recovered. His nerves vibrated all the way up his arm and Danny fell to his knees cradling his arm and swearing.
Sam and Tucker frowned, they wanted to say something, anything to make him feel better, but neither of them could think of anything. A knock came on the door and Sam peeked out. Valerie raised an eyebrow before letting herself in. Sam scowled.
"You know people can hear you cursing in here." She said to Danny. Danny glared in response, which somehow struck Valerie as funny. Till she caught Sam and Tucker's looks.
"Whoa who died?" She folded her arms.
"Dying." Tucker corrected, "And it's Danny." He said, earning an elbow from Sam.
"She doesn't need to know that Tucker." Sam hissed. Valerie frowned.
"Excuse me? I may not be perfect, and I know we have our differences, but that was cold." She frowned, "I'm Danny's friend too."
"Stop arguing! I can't deal with it, I am so not in the mood to keep you two from each other's throats." Danny grumbled standing, yet still holding his arm, his knuckles were bleeding and he shook his head.
"You know what. I'm tired of you two and your stupid rivalry. It made sense when Valerie was out to waste me, but she's cool now. I can't believe you guys still can't stop squabbling when I am dying!" Danny's depression was giving way to anger, anger at his friends for yelling at each other, anger at Clockwork for not telling him, warning him, anger at his parents for their inventions, anger at the Fenton Portal, just hot anger. Danny wasn't sure why he switched moods so fast, but anger felt better than nothing, certainly it was better than the emptiness that had crept up into his chest. He forced the door open and marched out leaving Sam Tucker and Valerie in the closet while he went to his next class.
Maddie had avoided Phantom since the computer incident. Something was wrong, something was off, and something didn't quite sit right, something… Maddie frowned. Jack bustled around the lab behind her as she stared at the DNA sequence with a frown. Jack was taking a blood sample from the puppy, he hadn't been as perky or cheerful lately, Phantom had been worried about Cujo and brought it to their attention. Since then the poor dog had numerous tests run on him. So far they couldn't find much of anything, and the poor dog stayed in confinement, seeming to grow weaker day by day. Maddie stared at the DNA sequence harder. Something about it was wrong. On a sudden whim she ran it through the database. She expected it to take a while, given that it would run through the computer first before utilizing the Federal database, but within seconds it popped up. Maddie stared at the result a 99% match.
"Jack…" Maddie called. Jack placed a vial of blood in the centrifuge before coming over to his wife.
"Yeah Mads?" He looked over his wife's shoulder, "That can't be right." He frowned.
"I'll double check." Maddie typed a few commands into the computer; it beeped once again before spitting out the same result. Maddie expanded the window. The 1% that didn't match up was cosmetic.
"This can't be right." Maddie echoed her husband. She turned to Jack.
"Remember when Danny got his appendix removed?" she tapped her finger against the desk.
"Yeah, he was six." Jack nodded.
"I have an idea." Maddie left the browser and headed upstairs, Jack frowned before pulling a picture of Phantom off the desk and following her.
The computer abandoned displayed the results of the search to an empty room.
99% match Danny Fenton to Phantom.