Chapter Text
It was late autumn in the small midwestern town of Amity Park. Most of the trees stood naked among the landscape as if they knew that winter was fast approaching. Deer grazed the suburban neighborhood looking for food. Birds flew high in the sky heading south towards the warm equator air. A strong gust of wind picked up leaves and swirled them around the ground. The sun was just hovering above the horizon painting the streets of the town in a golden glow.
Two teenage boys stood at the top of the steps of Casper High. It was 5:30 in the afternoon. They had both just gotten out of their after-school detention. The teen on the left wore a yellow jacket and a red hat. He was smiling and seemed unnaturally happy to leave detention. The boy on the right, on the other hand, looked disheveled. His raven-colored hair is a rat's nest, his blue eyes wide from memories that haunted him when he closed his eyes. His oversized clothing hung off his frame making him seem even smaller. He seemed to want to pull himself away from the world and retreat inside. He was a young man who less than two weeks ago held himself so strong and proud. His bravery was unwavering. That was- well- until he met HIM. A monster version of himself, twisted and corrupted, filled with murderous envy to his own friends and family. Had it not been for the Master of Time, Danny's family would once again be dead, and that awful reality would exist. Recently Danny started to wonder if it was clockwork that caused the events that lead to the future or if he just was trying to prevent them. Just thinking about it made him queasy. Time shenanigans always did.
Danny sighed, looking, and feeling rather defeated. He struggled to keep his sleepy eyes open. All he wanted right now was to have a calm ghost-free night, and head to bed for a hopefully dreamless night's rest. There is no rest for a superhero, even more so a broken one.
“Hey, Danny! How many detentions left?” the boy in the yellow jacket- Tucker- broke the silence, bringing Danny’s attention back to the present. Tucker glanced over at him as he awaited his response. Danny pondered in thought for a second, mentally checking off days.
“I have about two left. Honestly, I should count myself lucky it’s not worse. I could be in detention till I’m 90 if Mr. Lancer wanted! Heck, he could have tried to get me expelled or suspended after I took the answers to the C.A.T.”
Sometimes when he closes his eyes, he finds himself back in that future. Soon the guilty feeling and bubbling fear surround him till he is suffocating. He had no idea how he held himself together in the strange future. Honestly, he was proud of himself for holding himself together as long as he had. His future self was the scariest villain he had come across since Pariah Dark. He promised them that he would not give up and that he would not turn into that. He would not let Dan win. But once Dan was locked away in the thermos in the clockworks layer, and the test answers safely returned, he finally let himself give in to all the feelings he had deliberately shoved away. Firstly, there was fear. Fear of himself- both Dan and Phantom. Second, grief, although his family did not die, he still felt the heat of the blast and the sinking feeling in his heart. It’s not something you can shake away overnight. Third, gratitude. For clockwork saving his family, for Jazz risking herself to send the note and protecting his secret, for future Vlad removing the medallion within him and for Mr. Lancer for letting him retake the C.A.T test.
“Well with two detentions left that means you could be done before Friday!” Continued Tucker, “They are showing the Cyber Zombie Commando Movie Marathon1 Sam said she can pick up the tickets on the way to school tomorrow.”
Danny replied with quiet excitement. “Yeah! That sounds great. I guess I could do Wednesday morning detention. But Dash and Kwan are already in that one after throwing the football in the hallway today and breaking a window. Oh, and just the three of us for the movie, like old times. Jazz has been constantly on my back since the whole Nasty Burger incident. I don’t think she will leave me alone for more than an hour at a time-”
A loud honk from a red car rudely emphasized his point, as Jazz pulled into one of the parking spaces right outside the school.
“Speaking of that. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, Tucker!” He calls out, giving a little goodbye wave, as he walks over to Jazz’s car. With his right hand he opened the door. Sliding off his backpack he sat down on the seat, then he set the bag on the floor of the car between his knees.
Jazz puts the car in reverse, driving backwards till they are out of the parking space. Before shifting back into drive.
“Danny,” empathized Jazz, “it’s not natural to bottle up all of you emotions inside”
“Jazz. I don’t want to talk about it” Danny replied neutrality.
“Would you have done it though? Would you have cheated?” questioned Jazz.
“I don’t know Jazz. BUT I DID NOT. Just stop it. Okay.”
“Danny- we are just worried about you. Even Mom and Dad are concerned since you spend so much time alone in your room. I know about you, about the evil ghost version of you, and Vlad's portal, you can talk to me about what you saw in the future. You can tell me what has left you so traumatized.”
“Everyone died. Twice,” He huffed. Shifting over in his seat to turn his head and body to look out of the window, “Wait- you know about Plasmius, too?”
“Who’s Plasmius?” She responded.
Danny put his hands up in a mock defeat. He did not want to say something to give away Vlad’s secret identity. It’s one thing if Jazz figures it out on her own and a completely different thing if he told her. Last thing he wanted is Vlad to retaliate by telling everyone his own secret. Thinking for a second before adding “He is just a ghost I’ve fought a few times.”
He had tried to avoid thinking about Vlad since the incident. That man is so complicated. Present Vlad is all about evil schemes, sure his ghost powers did help him be evil. Future Vlad on the other hand seemed really distraught, like a man without a purpose. It was probably from him losing his powers, but it also could have been mostly grief. Grief over his death. The one-time Vlad finally a family and fate cruelly took that away from him too. Honestly, it made Danny feel just a bit bad for the old fruit loop. Sure, he never would want to live with that man, but Vlad did not have to take him in. He sighs.’ If only I could just ask the other Danny what happened. Would I even want to know the answers?’ Just thinking about it caused a pang of guilt to bubble in his gut. ‘Great the guilt is back’ he mumbled to himself.
Somewhere, as if in the dark recesses of his own mind, Dark Dan’s voice replied, “Oh don’t feel bad about what happened. If it wasn’t for you going to Vlad’s I would not be here. After all, the worst qualities of you mixed with the worst qualities of him created me. Face it. One day you will give into your inner darkness, and I will be waiting.”
“GET OUT OF MY Head-” Danny yelled in frustration. Jazz slammed on the brakes in response to her brother's outburst and she turned to look at him. Her mouth hung open as if she wanted to speak but was pondering what to say.
“Don’t- I’ll be fine. I just need to take a small walk. I'll see you at home.” He quickly responds. With a flick of his index finger, he hits the little safety lock on the door and opens it to let himself out of the car. He grabbed his backpack before slamming the door shut.
They were almost home. He could see the Fenton building from here. It was probably no longer than a 10-minute walk at most. The sun had all but set, and darkness started to cover the town. Danny hoped that the walk would be a chance to clear his head.
‘I don’t understand why I just yell at everyone,'' he sighed. “I’m not trying to push everyone away. I just want to protect them. Yes, it’s better if they never know.”
Across the street a metal trash can came crashing down pinging off the concrete. A normal person would have just assumed it was a wandering cat, or a curious raccoon. But Danny was not a normal person, he had ghost powers. As if on cue, his ghost sense went off causing him to shiver. He quickly turned his head across the street. There standing on his neighbor's porch was none other than the Box Ghost. The Box Ghost reached over and grabbed a box that was sitting outside.
“I’m going ghost!” Shouted Danny, his usual battle cry sounding out against the darkness. He bent his knees like a spring and launched himself into the air, flying over to his neighbors.
“Finally, I have this square cardboard container of wonderous stuff.” chuckled the Box Ghost.
“You do know porch piracy is a crime.” Danny responded, hovering over the steps that lead to the porch. Danny crosses his arms in a defiant manner, almost acting like a parent who just watched their child take a cookie from the jar.
The box ghost turns around, “Tremble before me and this box of Sarah Jane Marc’s stuff. Beware!” He shoots the box of stuff at Danny who casually catches it.
Danny powers up an ecto-blast and sends it to the box ghost.
“It’s all in the delivery” quipped Danny
The blast hits the ghost in the chest pushing him back against the door. Danny carefully places the box back down on the porch. In a swift movement, he opens his backpack pulling out the Fenton thermos.
With a quick twist of his left wrist, he pulls the cap off of the thermos, and points the thermos at the Box Ghost.
The Box Ghost became engulfed in a blue light, before being sucked into the thermos.
Danny put the cap on top of the thermos and addresses the trapped ghost in the thermos, “I still can't believe that you and the lunch lady- ew”
With that Danny pushed off of the ground and once again flew. There was something calming, almost peaceful about flying over the tops of houses at night. He flew for a good ten minutes just being among the growing night as it faded from dusk to twilight to night.
He circled back around and turned himself invisible before landing in his backyard. With a flash of blue, he morphed back into a human. Using his hands, he brushed off some dirt and fixed the wrinkles on his white and red shirt. He ran a hand through this wind twisted hair to detangle it before opening the back door into his house.
Normally, the kitchen would be empty, or his dad eating some fudge, or Jazz sitting at the table studying. He was not expecting his whole family sitting around the table eating dinner.
His mother looked over to him, and spoke, “Danny dear, why don’t you sit down and eat dinner with us?”
Danny nodded in response. He walked over to the vacant seat next to her. He slipped off his backpack putting it and the thermos on the ground next to his chair.
“Did you enjoy your walk?” Added, his father
“It was not that eventful,” responded Danny, “although it did help to clear my head.”
His mother reached over and grabbed the bowl of spaghetti. With a flick of her wrist, she scooped up spaghetti and plopped it onto her plate as she talked, “Well Jack was telling me about this superhero convention coming up in December and I was thinking we could go as a family. Does that sound exciting Danny?”
“I’m not” Danny started to defend himself, “Oh you mean like a comic convention. Yeah, sure that sounds fine.” He reaches over to grab a bowl filled with meatballs. The meatballs were slightly green, and one of them blinked back at him. He drops the bowl with a small squeak. His parents must have cooked the food in a ghost cooker. Just like the hot dogs, and the Christmas turkey. “Uh... mom the food is alive... Again.”
“Just eat it quickly before it can fight back,” Explained his father excitedly.
“I think I lost what appetite I had left. If you need me, I'll be in my room. I have to get up early for school tomorrow”
He heard the voices of Jazz and his parents started to argue. He put the thermos on his desk and sat down at his computer. He pulled up his ghost files and paused looking at the blank page titled “The Future”. As much as he wanted to write about it, he just could not. He moved the cursor up the top left and opened the Box Ghost’s file.
Danny might not have been the most organized person, his backpack was a mess, his room was a mess, his life was a mess, yet he tried his best to keep his ghost files organized. He thought that if he ever needed it, he would definitely prefer to easily locate the file he needed than to spend hours looking for something. And- well… in the worst case someone can use his files to help rescue him or save the town in his absence.
He started to update today's log when there was a pounding at his bedroom door.
“Go away Jazz” he angrily snaped
“Danny it's me-,” replied his mother, “I felt bad that you did not eat dinner, so I made you this sandwich. No ghostliness it's a regular sandwich”
In one motion Danny closed his laptop and pushed his chair back. He walked over to the door, opening it with a slight crack.
“Can I come in?” his mother asked
“Sure” replied Danny, letting go of the door and turning around. He walked over to his bed and sat down on it. He watched his mother open the door. She walked over to his desk putting down a soda and a plate with a regular sandwich down next to his computer. She turned and sat down on the bed next to him. They both sat there quietly for a moment before she spoke.
“I know we grounded you and the school gave you detention. At first, we were upset, then confused, but we are not mad at you. You did the right thing with the C.A.T’s. We are worried about you,” She pauses, wrapping her arm around Danny’s shoulders in a sideways hug, “you’re avoiding all of us, staying in your room, and skipping meals. Danny, I know there is more going on than just the C.A.T’s. Jazz told me you have been having some trouble with a few boys in your class. If they are bullying you, you can tell us or the school or Mr. Lancer. Danny, we can only help you, if we know what’s going on. We are all here when you're ready to talk to us.”
“Thanks mom. I’m just really stressed and well yeah Dash and they have been bullying me but like it’s nothing I can’t handle. And I’m sorry for being distant the past week, but I’m determined to do things the right way this time. Thank you.” Danny turns and gives his mother a quick hug, before standing up and walking over to his desk.
___________________________________________________________________________
The morning came too soon. The stars were still shining brightly up in the sky, the moon hung low on the horizon, and the streetlamps glistened in the morning fog. It was too early. But the sound of an alarm awoke a sleeping teenager. With a grunt, he rolled over in bed and turned off the alarm. He forcibly sat up, putting both of his hands on his forehead. It was definitely too early. He scooted the end of the bed and sat up. He hated waking up before the sun was up, especially on nights when he goes to bed in the early morning. Getting up and ready for school at 7am normally was hard enough but getting up at 5:30 for 6am detention was not fun. Even Jazz was not up yet. Well, Danny thought it was a good thing since she probably would have wanted to drive him to school and have another conversation. He sighed and walked over to his dresser. He pulled out a pair of jeans and a shirt. His normal style. He grabbed his backpack, filling it up with his schoolbooks and papers.
In a flash of light, he changed into his ghost form. He turned himself intangible and floated outside of his house. This was definitely a perk of having ghost powers. Flying to and from school was a lot quicker. He landed in the bushes next to Casper Highschool and changed back into Danny Fenton. He stood up and walked into the building. He was a bit early. He walked into Mr. Lancers classroom. Ignoring the eerie feeling of walking down the empty hallway.
“Ah- Good Morning, Danny. I never took you for a morning person. The early bird gets the worm- as they say.” Responded his teacher, Mr. Lancer, from behind a book. Danny, too tired to think let alone respond, nodded before walking over to his seat.
A few minutes later there was a loud crash in the hallway, followed by loud footsteps. Danny’s hands clenched into fists. ‘Was it a ghost?’ He could not miss another detention. But his question was answered as two very loud and obnoxious teenagers pushed open the door.
“YAHHHHHH! WOOOP!” The two football players cheered in unison, they were way too excited and hyper this early in the morning.
Mr. Lancer put down his book, and addressed them, “The two of you can learn a thing or two about manners from Mr. Fenton here”
“I can teach Mr. Fenton, something, with my fist.” Dash responds, whispering to Kwan. But everyone in the room heard that whisper. Danny rolled his eyes in response. Mr. Lancer slammed his book down.
“Of Mice and Men people! No fighting in detention. Take your seats.” Mr. Lacer says, waiting till Dash and Kwan were both seated, “Remember you can use this time for what you want to do, just no talking and no electronics. As always, I will recommend that you use this time wisely. After all, you do have an English exam next week. Might want to start studying for that. especially you, Mr. Fenton.” Danny sighed. He knew Mr. Lancer was just teasing him, but still. He just wished the whole world could and would just drop the events that happened last week. After everything seemed to settle down into a new routine, all his friends and family were safe, the evil version of him safely locked away in Clockworks tower, yet he was just constantly reminded of something that happened.
He reached into his backpack and pulled out his grammar textbook. ‘Might as well’. He flipped through the pages looking for chapter 8. Just as he started to read the page his ghost sense went off. ‘Oh, not again’ He thought, sending a glance at the clock in the front of the room looking for the time remaining in detention. ‘That's not good. It’s too soon to ask for a hall pass.’ He started to push back his chair-
“Time out” Came a voice quiet, old, wise, and timeless. The whole room became frozen in a moment in time. The old man ghost floated over to Danny. He looked at the young human child for a second, before pulling out a golden medallion from his pocket. He slipped the golden medallion over the boy’s head.
Danny pushed back his chair and stood up. He turned his head and came face to face with a ghost. He did a quick double take. Everyone around the room was frozen in time but him. And the ghost that was standing next to him was none other than Clockwork, the Master of Time.
“Clockwork! Long time no see,” He responded, crossing his arms, and narrowing his eyes. He did consider Clockwork an ally, but he trusted Clockwork about how far he could throw him, which was not that far.
“For you about a fortnight, for me about 15 years. So yes, long time no see,” Clockwork responded. He waved his magic staff, and opened a time portal, “Come with me!”
Danny swallowed. He knew it was not a suggestion.