Chapter Text
Danny Phantom would soon be obsolete.
I stood in my home, getting ready to start my first attempt. I had calibrated everything as best I could with the samples I had collected; Valarie had proven quite effective at gathering them. She was an investment and she was already paying dividends. Daniel had spurned me once again and that was the last time I would let him do so. That boy was such an insolent brat, always thinking he was so clever and intelligent. Playing my affection for him and his mother against me, using it trick me and subvert me, he would learn. Oh yes, he would learn.
I could imagine the shocked look on his face when he came face to face with his own clone, my perfect son.
This son wouldn't hate me, he would think the world of me, he would love me and I would guide him and protect him. He'd still be Danny Phantom, to an extent, so I'm sure I'd have to expand his world view and teach him that the world isn't in black and white. It would take work, but it was work I was more than happy to do. Oh yes, the boy would be mine soon enough.
It was time to begin.
My lab was sleek chrome, with a Master’s grade ectoplasmic shield around the room. The walls were solid titanium and the door would take 50,000 lbs of pressure to break down. A man’s lab is his sanctuary and for a man as exceptional as myself, my sanctuary needed to be built to match. A seven figure computer occupied the entirety of the right wall of my lab, with voice control, administered by an artificial intelligence that I personally designed. There were multiple consoles and access points, bags and bags of stored supplies, homemade medicines, that sort of thing. A standing chalkboard was available for any stray thoughts I might have. I had placed a hospital bed in the room at some point, which in came handy every now and then. Naturally the ghost portal was placed towards the back of the room. There was even a luxury cart available, with one of those pod based coffee machines. Bad for the environment, good for my soul.
Oh and of course, there was a cloning vat adorning my wall, with what would hopefully be the perfect clone of the boy that did nothing but spurn me. This was my first attempt and if it didn’t work, I’d just try again. And again. And again. Danny would be my son, and nothing would deter me from that. As I went to press the “Create Clone” button, I felt my hand freeze. Literally as I went to hit the button my whole hand stopped as if it had been trapped in one moment in time.
As quickly as it started, it passed. I shook it off and went to press the button again. Just as my finger touched the words “Create Clone” my hand froze again. I pulled back and tried with another hand, then with my elbow, every time the appendage of choice was stuck, frozen, and unable to actually touch the button. Every time my appendage would unfreeze after a moment or so.
I almost jumped out of my skin as a voice behind me said "You are as arrogant as they say Plasmius, you know that?"
I turned to see a tall blue ghost with a long beard and a gold staff facing me. My transformation took less than a second, I braced for attack; this ghost was in my territory and that could not be allowed. He’d breached my lab! This was unacceptable, and if he was interfering with my ability to start cloning my little badger he’d just signed his own re-death warrant. I went to pounce, only to find myself completely motionless. Everything but my head was completely still, unable to do so much as even wiggle a toe.
The bearded ghost wagged his finger at me. "Ah ah ah Plasmius, if you attack me you won't hear what I have to say. And trust me, you'll want to hear what I have to say. I’ve got quite the little deal to offer you."
I gave him a cold stare. "The Plasmius residence doesn’t welcome solicitors, so unless you have a nice box of girlscout cookies I think you’d better leave.” I paused for dramatic effect and added “Before things get unpleasant.”
The specter ignored my words and started circling around me. "Come now Plasmius, you love making deals. You don't want to hear what I have to offer?"
He stopped while he was behind me. Despite my cunning, this thing had me dead to rights. I needed to play into his hand, keep him talking long enough to find a way out of this scenario. So I answered "Fine. What is it you have to offer? Are you sure it isn’t thin mints?"
He deciding to continue circling me before stopping right in front of me. He looked me dead in the eye and said "You want Danny. I can give him to you. Interested?"
It’s not shocking that a being who could violate my lab’s safety protocols so brazenly would know what my obsessions were. It is doubtful he could deliver on such promises. My best efforts had yielded nothing. But, I was still trying to buy more time, so I pretended as if he’d offered me everything I’d ever wanted. With wonder and amazement in my eyes I asked "How? How could you make him love me?"
He regarded me for a second before breaking into a laugh. The laugh was ancient and hard as stone. It made my skin crawl. "My dear Plasmius, I am Clockwork, you may know me better as Father Time. I see all paths and I know all futures. I can direct you to the path you need to be on. I just ask for one small favor in return."
I couldn’t help but break my composure, I started openly laughing. "So, Father Time himself comes to hand deliver me Daniel Fenton. Very believable. And, for the sake of argument, what is it you would want from me? What do I need do to acquire Daniel Fenton? Be your slave forever? Give away my wealth? Die a slow death from cancer?"
He gave that same laugh. "So dramatic Plasmius, really. I don't ask all that much from you. Besides, don't you want the real Daniel to be your son?” He tapped my cloning bat with his rod. “Not some facsimile?"
I angrily retorted "It won't be a facsimile, it will be a perfect copy. It might take some trial and error, but I’ll crack this code."
He smirked down at me, he didn’t take me seriously for a second. "You are hilarious my dear Plasmius. I can see everything, you never make the perfect clone. You do get close, but not quite."
My canines were showing, my eyes were glaring at him. "I'd kill you for your insolence, if you didn't have me trapped like this."
He calmly said "I'm sure you'd try."
Hatred simmered in my heart. This putrid ghost was speaking of things he had no right to. I wanted to tear him limb from limb. "I'd more than try, without your little staff."
In that same infuriating tone he said "Fortunately I have my little staff. And you don't have a little badger, how fun."
My eyes glowed pink without any conscious thought on my part. "I will murder you."
He looked around the lab, before casually asking “You really don’t have many places to sit in here do you? A bed and a single executive style chair?” I seethed. He shook his head "How about you take a few moments to calm down and think about my offer. When you are done with your little tantrum, I'll tell you what I want from you in exchange."
I snapped "You come into my lair, interrupt my work, throw Daniel in my face, and then accuse me of throwing a tantrum? You are quite bold."
He walked over to the hospital bed and sat on it. He yawned "And this is quite boring. If you listen to me you'll understand that all I want to do is help you. You want Daniel to call you Dad? You want him to give you a hug, spend Christmas with you, and train with you? All you have to do is listen to me." He crossed his legs over one another and laid his staff down on the bed. “I’m only here to help.”
I screamed "You break into my home, attack me-“ He interrupted what I was saying with a yawn, which broke me from my rage induced stupor. I closed my eyes for a moment to let the rage dissipate. Once I could speak without raising my voice I said. “Fine. What is it you ask of me?”
He stood up from the bed, with his staff in hand again. "Vlad Plasmius, all I need you to do is save the world."
...............................
Over the course of the conversation we eventually moved to my study. He told me that was frankly laughable, which is why I was laughing. "So let me get this straight, Daniel's family dies, he comes to live with me, and I fail him? Oh no, my heavens, I fail him so badly he ends up destroying the planet?"
Clockwork was sitting on a packers themed couch in my room (custom made, it cost more than a new Lexus). It was a yellow and green couch, obviously, and there were small side tables to the left and right. Clockword was leaning back, rod still in his right hand. I was pacing around the carpet, trying to absorb the outlandish story I'd just been told. I stepped over to my scotch decanter and started to pour myself a drink. Clockwork shot me something of a questioning look, so I asked "Do you want one?"
He gave a small smile. "Yes. I thought you'd never ask."
I nodded and poured him a glass to match my own. As I walked over to hand him the glass I said "I hope you realize that this all sounds like the plot of an edgy kids cartoon."
Clockwork grabbed the scotch with his left hand, keeping his right hand around that powerful staff he seemed to derive his powers from. He took a sip and savored it for a moment. "You know this really is fine scotch. I don't usually drink anything less than 500 years old but this is truly exquisite.” I rolled my eyes, he was incredibly obtuse.
He gave me a small smile "Do you have any cigars we could share? Maybe something Cuban?"
I walked over to my desk and opened up the drawer. My cigars were kept at the top in a splendid mahogany box, I grabbed one and threw it to him, which he caught. I went to throw him but he waved me off. He examined the cigar for a moment in his hands before saying “Oh yes, a Cuban, from 1978 no less. Excellent choice my dear man, excellent choice.” His eyes tilted from the cigar and he shot me a suspicious look. "Don't tell me you'll make me smoke alone."
I rolled my eyes before getting my own cigar. I looked at him, waiting for him to pull out his lighter or create fire or whatever it was he would do, when the cigar simply lit. He didn’t apply any force to it (at least not a visible one). It was like he had flipped a switch and turned the cigar to the “ON” state. I fumbled with my lighter for just a moment before lighting my own. We both took a small inhale of the cigar, and took another sip of scotch to wash it down.
I looked at him again and said "This can't be real."
He flicked some ash off his cigar. "It is."
I asked "Ok so let's say I believe you, that Jack and Madeline die in a freak explosion. That Daniel willingly comes to me and I somehow, through some cosmic misalignment fail him. How could Daniel become that evil?”
He answered “Grief."
I asked "Oh is that all? Grief. Who would have thought? Grief ends the world." I waited for him to respond and when he didn’t I reworded my question. "Grief? Grief drives Daniel Fenton to destroy everything?"
He took a puff of his cigar and casually said "Not just his grief, but yours."
I asked "What would I have to grieve?"
He answered "Madeline. Your father. Tom. Jack even." I went to respond but he kept going “Your childhood. Oh and your mom of course.”
I sat back in my seat as I took that in. I’d long since grieved everyone on that list, but for Madeline and Jack of course. Though, I doubt I’d ever truly grieve Jack; hard to grieve someone you’ve wanted to kill for twenty years.
He motioned towards my glass, which I decided to drink. He took a pull of his scotch as well. "You’ve been grieving for 20 years now. You never quite learned how to move on did you?”
I laughed, for the first time in hours. “I never moved on? Vlad Masters, the billionaire, one of the world’s most successful businessmen and soon to be ruler of the ghost zone, I never moved on?”
He asked simply “Yes, you’ve definitely moved on. That’s why your study and lab are filled with pictures of all your friends and family.” He looked around for a moment, before pointing to a small picture of Daniel I had up on my mantle. “I especially like that one, you two must be well acquainted.”
The glass in my hand shattered.
He smugly said "I hit a nerve. Get a new glass if you would, I can't drink alone."
I did what he said, if only to give myself time to calm down. Eventually I returned to my seat. "How does my supposed grief play into this?"
He answered "I'd have to pause time for days to fully answer that question, and I simply don't have time for that. The short answer is that Daniel can't handle his grief, you can't help him handle his grief, and eventually it spirals."
I raised my eyebrow, but he said nothing. I asked "How does it spiral?"
He answered "You remove Daniel's ghost half, because he asks you to, because he wanted to be a full ghost. His ghost half attacks you and steals your ghost half. The resultant creation destroys the planet."
I took a minute or so to process that. Eventually I asked, with as much might as I could "The boy, he asked me to turn him into a full ghost?"
Clockwork nodded. I asked "He, he asked me to help him die."
Clockwork gave the same simple nod. I asked "He asked for my help committing suicide?"
He gave that same nod. After another minute or so I downed my glass and asked "And I gave it to him?"
Clockwork didn’t even nod this time, he just shot me a sympathetic smile. For a moment I couldn't breathe, I felt pain in my chest and fear consumed me. I felt like I was drowning. It took me several minutes to calm back down, to ground myself in reality again. My eyes shot to Father Time, he answered my question before I could even ask "It’s called a panic attack Vladmir. You should look into them, they will likely be a regular occurrence for you going forward."
I just sat there silently, trying to collect myself. What he said couldn't be true, I'm Vlad Masters, I don't fail and I certainly won't fail enough to make Daniel want to die. Sure, I endangered him sometimes but I couldn't possibly....
No. This couldn't be true. He had to be deceiving me. This was a plot, plain and simple, and I wouldn’t stand for it.
I stood up suddenly and spoke in a dark tone, I’d been played for a fool long enough tonight. "You are lying."
He sighed. "Arrogant as always, Plasmius."
I continued. "I would never fail Daniel like that, let alone help him perish. I refuse to believe it."
He downed his glass and stood up to match me. He said “You’re right I think, my influence has run its course. I think now is the time to introduce you to someone you’ll listen to. Someone you hold in higher regard than Father Time himself.
My mouth opened to retort, but before I could say a thing I was encased in a green light, and teleported elsewhere.
……………………………………………………
I was in the ghost zone.
I think.
It had degraded since I'd been there. It looked duller, less green than usual. I couldn't see any ghosts but after a few minutes I found a landmark I knew and was able to navigate from there to my portal.
It was well hidden of course, behind the purple football I had placed in front to keep unwanted visitors out. I walked into the portal, hoping Clockwork was still there so I could explain the basic etiquette of being a house guest.
Emerging from the other side, the first thing that I noticed me was the smell. It smelled rancid, like the room hadn't been cleaned in years. My lab was in shambles, my seven figure computer was in pieces, my bags of supplies and medicines were ripped open or discarded on the floor in what appeared to be a miniature avalanche of trash. There was one computer terminal going, flickering on and off.
Before I could take a second step I heard "Come to kick an old defenseless man while he's down?"
I knew that voice. I asked "Vladmir?"
Someone sitting in my chair quickly swiveled around and suddenly I was face to face with myself. Or a version of myself anyway. His suit was tattered, his toenails were almost a foot long, he was using a cane and his hair was messy and unkempt, complete with an untrimmed beard.
He looked at me as if I was some golden goose. He asked "What time are you from?"
My eyes blinked a few times as I collected myself. “2008. Uh…” I trailed off for a moment, which was unlike me but frankly I was more than a little out of my element. “How do I know you’re m-“
My future-self cut me off "When we were six, our father picked us up by the throat and choked us because we didn’t clean up properly for dinner. We never told anyone."
I swallowed and nodded. “It’s you.” That was all I could bring myself to say. He hobbled over to me, and as he did the stench got noticeably worse. He reached me and put his hands on my shoulders; his breath smelled like rotten tuna. He said “You realize what this means don’t you? It means we can stop it. We can save Daniel, keep him from ever going down this road. This, this is a gift.” Tears dropped from his eyes.
I wanted to try and get away from him, but I mean, he was me. I wouldn’t want myself to pull away from me, would I? This was all confusing.
He spoke again "I failed him. We failed him. I tried to help him by making him a full ghost and I, I was wrong. You can fix this, you can prevent him from dying. You get it don’t you? It can all be better now."
I uncomfortably nodded for a bit. “Yes, we can…save him.”
My future self must have noticed my doubt because the next thing I knew he slapped me across the face. Before I could even respond he said "You don’t get it do you? I'm talking about saving Daniel Fenton, the boy you claim to want as a son, you self-centered ass! Do you not get this? Do you not get that he died under our watchful eye?"
I snarled, ready to meet his little smack in kind, which is when he turned to the monitor and said “Chester, play footage of the last ghost gauntlets trial."
..................................
That was when it all became real.
Seeing my past self didn’t do it. Meeting with Father Time (and seeing his powers in action no less) didn’t do it. Seeing my lab in a state that would only occur during the apocalypse simply wasn’t enough.
But seeing Daniel bleed out in my arms, as he cried and begged me to hold him, that did it. The boy clung to life for a few minutes as blood spurted out of him. He kept saying “It hurts.” As I saw myself hold him in my arms I said “Shh Shh it’s ok, I’m here. I’m here Daniel, I’m not going anywhere.”
The child cried and clung up to my chest, not wanting to let me go. “Don’t leave me Vlad. Please. It hurttsssssss!”
I saw myself start crying. “I’m not leaving you Daniel, I promise. You’ll be ok. I’m right here, you’ll be ok.”
The boy stopped suffered after a minute or so. The recording ended.
It was all real now. Bile rose in my stomach, my mouth was dry. "I fail him? We, We failed him?"
My other self was standing on the other side of the room now, in front of the same executive chair I had in my lab, except his was stained and the stuffing was poking out of it. "I was the only person in the world who could hope to understand his situation. He came to me. For protection, for safety, for love and affection, guidance and direction." He turned back to me. "This is where I led him." He gestured with his arms towards the room around us. "Daniel died not ten feet from where you stand."
He sat back down in his chair.
I couldn't find words for a second. The horrors of what I'd seen played before my eyes. Instead of giving me a moment to pull myself together my future self called out "You don’t have time to pity yourself right now, I have things to tell you Vladmir. We have a boy to take care of."
I turned to him and though it was hard to speak up, I said "Tell me how to stop it."
My future self had clearly given this a lot of thought. He continued "You can't let him just stick around the mansion all day. You aren't enough, he needs a social life. Force him to go back to school, any school he wants, drag him there if you have to. Hug him, for the love of God hug him and don't ever hit him! Not once, not to help him train not to help him grow, not because you lose your temper after months of him being himself. Don't!"
I nodded. I wished I could take notes. He continued. "Don't force him to train with you, let him come to you. That's very important. Read every piece of literature you can get your hands on, we suck at being there for him. I assumed he didn't want me looking over his shoulder, I assumed he hated me and didn't want anyone's help. Oh God."
He started sobbing into his hands. "Just do better, please do better. I'd do anything to take it all back."
I don't know why I even asked it. Was it me trying to ignore the enormity of what I'd seen? Was I trying to deny it all? No. Yes. I asked “Would you give up your money, your wealth, your fortune?"
He looked at me with hatred burning in his eyes "You're still thinking about money?"
I couldn't find an answer. He continued "That boy coming to stay with you was the last chance at being loved that you will ever get. You fucked up with Maddie and Jack, you might as well of killed Tom, and if you can't understand that this boy, this special boy is the only thing that matters..." He trailed off, before leaping from his chair, only to fall down to the ground without his cane. That didn’t stop him, he stared at me "Daniel isn't a ‘top priority’ Plasmius, he is your only priority. Wealth doesn’t matter anymore.” He writhed on the floor as he tried to stand up, but he didn’t break his stare. “I don't care if it means cutting off a damn arm, you do it. You do whatever it takes!"
My future self finally managed to stand up, at which point he gestured around the room. "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
This version of myself was a tad too dramatic. This timeline seems to have made my future self forget his knowledge of how to be pithy.
He almost fell but instead managed to plop himself back down in his chair. I could hear the agony in my own future voice. "I finally got what I wanted. Jack was gone and Daniel willingly came to me. I was so ready to take him under my wing, for him to be my shining apprentice, my son." A tear came to his eye and he angrily looked around my whole lab, gesturing all over again before he asked "Look on my works ye mighty and despair. My boy is dead. Tell me Plasmius, do you feel like a winner?"
Usually I would've stopped to pity myself, or to write some grand narrative about the tragedy of my life. About how things weren’t fair and how the only reason I lost was because the deck was stacked against me.
The time for that was over. Not just now, but forever. Daniel needed me. It was his time.
My other self was now sobbing in his chair. I moved closer to him, and put my arms on his shoulders. In a firm voice I said "I'm going to stop it. I give you my word." I waited a moment, to see if he’d be able to compose himself. “We never break our word, remember that.”
I pulled my arms off his still sobbing form and looked upwards. “I understand now, Clockwork. I’m ready.”
………………
In a flash I was back in my study. Clockwork was still sitting on my couch, still nursing his drink and smoking his cigar. I shakily walked over to the bottle of scotch. This was a fine scotch, meant to be sipped and savored. I brought the bottle to my lips and took a long hard pull; I let it go from my lips and took a deep breath before stumbling back to my seat.
I looked at Clockwork with determination and asked "I'm going to stop it. Tell me what you need me to do."
In a conspiratorial tone he said “You’re one of the men now, you know.”
I had had a long evening and didn’t quite understand what he was saying "What?"
He clarified "You're one of the men in the backroom now Vladmir. Smoking cigars and sipping scotch, talking like gentlemen while we decide the fate of the world." He gave a small chuckle. "It's what you wanted since you were a little boy and now you have it."
I felt a chill surge through my body, I quivered and it took me a moment to come back to normality. He wasn’t wrong, since I was twelve I’d dreamed of being “a decider.” I wanted to be someone who could make big decisions with other gentlemen while we all walked around in a suit and chainsmoked cigars.
Those men seemed so small to me right now.
I couldn't believe I was going to willingly denigrate myself like this; Anything for Daniel I suppose. I looked to Clockwork and met his eyes. In a voice filled with contrition I said "Please, Clockwork. Tell me how to stop it."
He brought his glass to his lips and drowned it, before suddenly standing up. "We start tomorrow." Clockwork started to walk towards my desk, I called out desperately "Not tonight?"
He got to my desk and picked up one of my cigars, I suppose he had finished his own a while ago. "Tonight is for reflection Plasmius. You want my help? I want you to really dig deep, and think about what you are trying to prevent, and why.”
I felt my leg shaking like I was some impatient school boy. This was something I needed to start tonight; I couldn't waste time with the boy's life in danger. If Clockwork wouldn’t help me tonight, then I’d simply start reading books on parents; in particular books on parenting traumatized children.
Clockwork turned from the desk and faced me, with a cigar in his hand. "Do you mind if I take this one for me? These were rather good, and I might need one later."
In my head I was cataloging the different types of books I'd need to read to be of any help to Daniel. Books on trauma, grief, adolescent emotions, raising an adopted son, they'd all be necessary, at a minimum. In my reverie I blindly nodded and agreed to Clockwork's request before it caught up to me. I pulled my head up to look at the specter and asked "What does Father Time need a cigar for?"
Clockwork gave me a condescending grin. "You have a bad habit of questioning me while I'm trying to help you."
Without a second thought I held up my hands in contrition. "Take it. It's all yours. Sorry I questioned you."
No one else had ever received an apology from Vlad Masters in his own home, I can assure you of that.
He took the cigar and placed it into the pocket of his cloak, before looking me up and down. "Tomorrow, Plasmius, we get started tomorrow. As long as you listen to me, this cigar will come in handy."
He had already made it clear I wasn't to ask about the cigar and I don't think the time at which he would help me was up for debate. Contrition was a small price to pay to avoid the fate I'd just seen. I simply said "Understood. And, thank you."