I did another prompt from tumblr! This is from dpmarvel94 again. :)
Thank you for your reviews! Long time no see Ms Frizzle!
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Gone
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"The monster you're afraid of turning into doesn't exist."
"What do you mean?" demanded Danny, angry and loud, his voice echoing off the far walls of the main hall of Clockwork's lair. "You're the one who showed me!" His breath caught in his throat, and he fought back a sob. "He's imprisoned here!"
Clockwork shook his head, slowly, sadly, and Danny hated how much pity he saw in those ancient eyes. "No, Daniel. He isn't. Let me show you."
Danny didn't want to follow. He wanted to rant and rage and argue. He wanted Clockwork to give him a solution. Any solution.
But he did follow. Because if he followed, Clockwork could be wrong, and then Clockwork would see that Danny was right and he would do something.
Anything.
Clockwork led him through a small door on the side of the hall and down a long, dark spiral staircase. Danny hadn't known Clockwork's lair went down so far, so deep.
"Why do you have stairs?" asked Danny. "You can fly."
"In case I find myself without my present abilities," said Clockwork. "As you have found yourself, in the past. One does well to prepare for the future."
"That's what I'm trying to do," said Danny. He fiddled with his remaining glove. He had used the other one for… It didn't matter now. It would stay gone until he could go human again and reset his ghost form.
Clockwork hummed noncommittally as they reached the bottom of the stair and started off down a narrow stone hallway. There was only one door, a heavy, barred one, all the way at the end of the hall, illuminated by a dim, flickering light.
The hairs on the back of Danny's neck stood on end. If Clockwork had been shooting for ominous, he had certainly managed it.
Clockwork glided forward, smoothly, and Danny hurried to keep up with him, his ghostly tail flicking in frustration. With a gesture, Clockwork raised the bar on the door, and it creaked open, revealing a spotlighted plinth. On the plinth was a Fenton thermos.
Danny swallowed, unwilling to go any closer, as if he might be contaminated by its mere presence.
Clockwork had no such compunctions. He picked up the the thermos, and held it out to Danny.
"Read it, Daniel," he said.
"Read what?" asked Danny, choosing instead to look at Clockwork.
Clockwork lifted the thermos again. "What does it say?" he asked as Danny flinched back.
Biting his lip, drawing blood with his newly-grown fangs, Danny looked down. The thermos was in pristine condition. The screen on the side read 'EMPTY.'
"I- I don't understand," said Danny, shaking.
"The timeline has changed," said Clockwork. "He never existed."
"But-" said Danny. "But he has to, I-" The tears he'd been suppressing began to leak from his eyes. "You'll still bring them back, right? You can still bring them back?"
"I am sorry, Daniel, but I could only save them before because their deaths were a result of a paradox. This was always going to happen."
Danny sank to the floor. "But- But that's not fair. I tried so hard and… I can't…"
"I know," said Clockwork, patting Danny's shoulder.
"I can't do this without them," said Danny, feeling small.
"You can," said Clockwork, setting the thermos down by Danny's knee, the metal clinking against the stone floor. "You will."
"I don't know what to do," said Danny, scrubbing tears off his face. "Everyone is gone. The- The- Even the house is gone. There's just a hole in the ground and the portal. I don't have anything, anymore."
Clockwork bent his arm around Danny's shoulders. "You have time."