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A single pop sound, a flash of blue light and he was outside the metallic device. His vision blurry, Dan painfully opened his eyes and blinked. He pinched the top of his nose, trying to chase the sizzling, straining to see again despite the brightness of the room burning his orbs.
"Dan, I pleaded in your favor with the Observants. As long as you behave well, without any destruction and remain under my supervision, you are now free of your confinement. Congratulations." Announced the ghost in front of him reverently.
Dan hadn't seen Clockwork for years, not since the devastation he made in his timeline. The time ghost was in his default form, imposing, his ghostly tail swinging left and right and exactly as he remembered.
"Why?", was Dan’s first word outside his prison.
"You behaved well the last few years. After all our discussions, I think we could now trust you a bit and give you a second chance," Clockwork smiled softly, clearly more thrilled by the news than Dan himself.
Dan thought about the announcement and just how Clockwork had come to this conclusion. The two of them, indeed, had been talking to each other for quite a while now through the wall of the thermos, about everything and nothing, his sins and even Clockwork's favorite ice cream flavor. And when the latter had no time to devote to him, Dan tried to soothe himself with the sound of light footsteps on the ground, sounds that relieved him a bit from his boredom and loneliness.
Dan even surprised himself by starting to enjoy their conversations and his interlocutor, for under his condescending tone, turned out to be hiding a really pleasant ghost, albeit one with a little bit of a weird humor at times. Maybe they could even speak of a kind of friendship. However, his newfound freedom was still-
Dan sneered. Of course this all had to be bullshit.
“Are you a masochist? Out of your mind? Or maybe you are just stupid, not knowing that my special condition is making you vulnerable? Don't you know I could have been playing you, lied to you, made you believe me, trust me," A large grin spread across Dan’s face, crooked and malevolent. “If I want to, time guardian,” Dan raised his hand and leisurely approached his claws, going for Clockwork’s throat, menacing, “I could end you right here, right now. Making you deeply regret.”
Clockwork gasped, forcing himself to stay still. “You wouldn’t,” but his voice was shaking despite him. He hoped that it wasn’t possible to hear the doubt under his words, because-
Dan was right, he didn’t know.
Dan’s claws kept coming closer, toward Clockwork's cheek, slowly, closer; he lightly touched the blue skin and scratched the lightning-shaped scar. Despite his impassivity, Dan noticed Clockwork's bottom lips trembling a bit under the gesture, his grip tightening around his staff, and his tail stopped moving. It was odd. Dan frowned. He carefully picked a lock of white silky hair and gently rubbed his fingertips against it, allowing himself to lose his thoughts a bit into the softness. So pretty. Then, he PULLED.
Clockwork hissed, making Dan cackled an ugly, choked, breathless laugh; from the megalomaniac he was, it was strangely warm. He released the time god from his grip.
As Clockwork was recovering from the tingles of pain, cursing against the paradox, Dan bypassed him to head toward the door. “So, old man,” his face was wearing a smile brighter than the sun, full of childish betrayals and mischief’s promises, ”Will you show me around?”