Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was the ticking of a clock, strangely close to his ear, that prodded Danny gently into wakefulness. He made a small sound of protest as he slowly swam towards consciousness, feeling groggy and cranky about it. He was so tired. Why did he have to wake up? Who’s dumb idea was this?

He blearily blinked his eyes open, the world coming into focus as he tried to clear them. He frowned in confusion as he took in the room surrounding him and realized he didn’t recognize it. The decor was rather plain, but old-fashioned, with thickly carved wooden furniture and delicately embroidered curtains covering the shuttered windows that let in no light. There were no pictures on the walls, but instead there were a series of cuckoo clocks, all different shapes, sizes, and styles. They seemed to be the source of the ticking that had woken him.

Danny sat up in bed, the thick quilt that had been covering him falling down around his hips. His frown only depended as he wracked his brain, trying to figure out how he’d gotten here, wherever ‘here’ was. But no matter how hard he strained his brain, he couldn’t remember anything from before. In fact, he couldn’t remember…anything.

He was just beginning to work himself up into a panic, when the bedroom door suddenly creaked open. Danny looked up, eyes wide and wild, to see a figure enter. They wore a purple cloak over their shoulders, and seemed to be covered in various timekeeping devices, including what looked like a clock actually embedded in their torso. He didn’t recognize them, but something in his chest seemed to tug him subtly towards the person. He wasn’t sure what that was all about, but he decided that it wasn’t a bad feeling, and that it might mean he could trust them.

“Ah, you’re awake,” the person said, giving Danny a warm smile. “That’s good to see. How are you feeling, Danny?”

Danny stared at the person for a moment, thinking about it. How did he feel?

“Um…kind of…confused?” he confessed, his voice thick with sleep. He cleared it, and then added, “And my head kind of hurts?”

The person hummed, drifting closer. It was only then that Danny noticed that he(?) was floating. And that he didn’t seem to have legs, just a long, serpentine tail that seemed to drift away like smoke at the end. Something told him that was normal for this particular person, though, so he decided to ignore it.

“Yes, that’s to be expected,” the person said gently as he approached. “You’ve been through quite a trial. Don’t worry, though. In time you will heal.”

He smiled mysteriously as he mentioned time, which Danny figured probably meant something significant, but unfortunately he couldn’t remember enough to get the joke. Rather than admit that, though, he started playing with the stitching along the quilt in his lap, tracing a loose thread beneath his fingertips.

He looked up again as the person pulled a chair up to the side of the bed with the staff he’d been carrying and dropped down into it. Danny flinched a little at the sudden closeness, but once again that strange tug in his chest soothed him, telling him this person was a friend, and he gradually relaxed.

“Tell me, Danny,” the person said once he was seated and comfortable, his staff resting across his lap. “What do you remember?”

Danny stilled. Had he been figured out that quickly? Maybe he wasn’t acting normal for himself. This person clearly knew him, so if he was acting strange, it must have been obvious that something was off. But was it that easy to see that he couldn’t remember anything?

Caught out and not really seeing any reason to lie, Danny sighed and shrugged. “I remember my name.”

“Good. That’s good. Anything else?”

“Um…this is…this isn’t my home,” he said tentatively, but once the words were spoken, he felt the truth of them. Wherever this was, it wasn’t his home. Something inside him, that same thing that told him it was okay to trust this person in the room with him, was also telling him that this wasn’t where he belonged.

“You are correct. We are currently in my lair.”

“Your lair?” Danny echoed, looking up.

“Yes. My lair. I am Clockwork, Master of Time, and I brought you here after an…incident left you unwell. You needed somewhere safe to recover, and this is a very safe place.”

“Oh.” Danny looked back down at the quilt. He wasn’t sure what to say to that. An incident? Had he gotten hurt?

They sat for a minute, Clockwork seemingly content to just let Danny process his thoughts. The ticking of the clocks filled the silence, and Danny found himself tapping his fingers against his legs to their rhythms as he considered what he’d been told.

“Can…I feel okay, other than my head hurting,” Danny told Clockwork, peeking up through his white bangs. “Am I well enough to go home now?”

Clockwork watched him for a moment, before he let out a tiny sigh. “No, Danny. Not yet.”

“Oh.”

“You need to focus on resting and recovering,” Clockwork told him gently, taking some of the sting out of the rejection. “You suffered quite an ordeal, and these things take time to heal, even if you feel like you’re already much better.”

“I guess,” Danny said reluctantly. Clockwork seemed to be wise, he probably knew what he was talking about. Still, already Danny was itching to get up and move around. He really didn’t feel like being trapped in a bed all day, even one as nice and comfy as this one.

He expected Clockwork to leave him to go do other things now that he’d had a chance to check on Danny and make sure he hadn’t keeled over in his sleep, but to his surprise, Clockwork started speaking instead.

“While you are recovering, however, there is no need for you to linger here, if you are truly feeling up to it,” he said with another mysterious smile, which only widened when Danny’s head whipped up in interest. “I could use some help with my work, if you’re interested. What would you say to being my apprentice for a while. Just while you’re staying with me?”

Danny had no idea what an apprentice was or what being one involved, but he had to admit he was curious. And it sounded a heck of a lot better than just sitting here in this room watching the clocks on the wall.

“Sure,” he agreed eagerly. “What do I need to do?”

“I was hoping you’d agree,” Clockwork chuckled good-naturedly. “Come, let’s get you a few things to get started. Follow me.”

Danny needed no further prompting. He hopped out of the bed, absently noting that unlike Clockwork he seemed to have legs. Oddly enough, he felt like that might not always be the case? Well, whatever his normal body was supposed to look like, he had legs now, and he used them to trail after Clockwork as he moved towards the bedroom door. Clockwork paused at the doorway to make sure Danny was with him and not having any trouble walking, and then he opened the door and moved into the hall.

Danny’s eyes went wide with surprise as they exited the room. The hallway they’d emerged into looked nothing like the bedroom, which had been warm and cozy and old-fashioned. The walls in the hallway in contrast were all cool blue stone, with large metal gears sticking out in what seemed to be random places. The ticking that had surrounded them in the bedroom seemed twice as loud now, though he couldn’t actually see a single clock from where they stood.

He turned to Clockwork to ask about the source of the ticking, only to feel the words die in his throat. Before, Clockwork had looked like a young man, perhaps in his thirties, but now he was old and wizen, with a long beard trailing down far past his waist. Danny sucked in a breath, about to ask what had happened when they’d exited the room, when Clockwork shifted before his eyes, becoming a small child.

Clockwork didn’t seem to be alarmed by these abrupt changes, so Danny decided that, like the ghostly tail, this was normal for him. He shrugged and dismissed it as being important.

“This way.” The child-like Clockwork gestured down the hallway, his voice unchanged despite his new appearance. “There are a few things you will need to become my apprentice.”

Excited to see what new strange wonders he would encounter, Danny followed Clockwork further into the depths of his lair.

Being Clockwork’s apprentice was kind of cool. Clockwork had kitted him out with a silky purple cloak, similar to his own, and a gear-shaped medallion that apparently helped make him immune to time paradoxes, and then threw him straight into work. Danny didn’t mind, though. Clockwork’s job seemed incredibly interesting.

The first task he accompanied Clockwork on was a simple one. Clockwork activated one of the viewing screens in the main room of his lair, revealing what looked to be a small island covered in mint green sand in the middle of a pink ocean. He told Danny that they had to prevent a small seed from being washed away in the tide.

“In the future, that seed will become a Hesperida tree, which will provide fruit for a shipwrecked sailor on the brink of starvation,” Clockwork told him as they stepped through the screen and onto the pale sand of the island. “That sailor will in turn become king of the Great Ruby Sea, and bring peace to this planet. If he starves to death, the planet instead will turn to war, and create a weapon that will destabilize the very fabric of time itself.”

Danny frowned in confusion. “Why are we just saving the seed, though?” he asked, before he could think better of it. “What if it doesn’t grow into a tree after all, even if we save it? Wouldn’t it just make more sense to save the future king? Or just stop the people from making the weapon in the first place?”

“Ah, but things aren’t that simple,” Clockwork explained patiently, pointing out the small seed that was lying close to the shore, just a few inches from where the lapping waves were spilling over the land. One big wave, and the seed would be gone. “If the future king is not saved by the fruit of the tree, he will not grow to appreciate the land, and he may not care for it as fervently. His lack of care may cause those who would have followed him to doubt his intentions, and thus he may not become king at all.”

“Oh. I guess that makes sense,” Danny said, moving towards the seed. “And the weapon?”

“Once the idea is in the heads of the people of this planet, the weapon’s creation is inevitable,” Clockwork said. “If it does not happen with this war, then it will happen with the next. It must be prevented from the start.”

“Huh.”

“I’ve also sworn an oath to interfere as little as possible with the timelines,” Clockwork further elaborated, sounding almost rueful as he shifted to his older form. “Unless instructed otherwise.”

Danny kind of wanted to ask, but at the same time he detected more than a hint of bitterness in Clockwork’s words. So rather than bring up a potentially sore subject, he just gave Clockwork a smile and crouched down next to the shoreline, letting the pink waves lap at his white boots.

“Your job seems really complicated,” Danny laughed.

Clockwork smiled crookedly, becoming a child. “Yes, it is. But that’s why I’m glad I have an assistant to help me.”

“With moving a tiny seed?”

“With moving a tiny seed, yes.”

“Well, I wouldn’t want you to strain yourself,” Danny teased, picking up the seed between his two fingers. He held it up to the sunlight, his expression becoming pensive as he considered the tiny seed in his hand, and the future it would help bring about. A thought occurred to him, and he looked up at Clockwork. “Can I plant it?”

“If you want to. You can also just place it here,” Clockwork gestured towards a small dip in the sand, closer to the center of the island, “and the wind will do the rest.”

Danny thought about it carefully. “I dunno. It’s a really important seed, right? Might be best to make sure it gets planted properly.”

Clockwork’s gentle smile widened. “That seems very wise.”

“Cool,” Danny said with a grin, and then he moved to do just that, digging a little hole to drop the seed into, and then carefully burying it in the sand so it was safe from the wind and the waves.

“Very well done, Danny,” Clockwork praised as Danny stood back up. He waved his staff outward, and a swirling portal appeared in the air before them. “Our task here is complete. Let’s go back.”

Danny started to walk through the portal. Just before they left the island behind, he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. He glanced out over the water, spotting a small boat floating off in the distance, with two figures seated inside. They were too far away to make out clearly, but for some reason Danny got the feeling they were watching him.

Frowning, he pushed the little boat from his mind, figuring they were just locals confused by the presence of two passing spirits. He walked through the portal and back into the cool air of Clockwork’s lair.

Danny learned to not bother asking Clockwork for too many details about their tasks. It wasn’t that Clockwork opposed the questions; if anything he seemed to enjoy it when Danny took interest in his work. But the problem was that Clockwork’s explanations were often long, complicated, hard to follow, and made Danny’s brain hurt to think about too hard. So he learned to just get the bare minimum of the details, and otherwise just do as Clockwork asked.

His new policy was tested, though, when on one of their next errands, they emerged on a grassy hill late at night, and Danny’s chest immediately started tugging him towards the faint shine of city lights in the distance. Somehow he just knew that those lights were his home. Before he even realized what was happening, he’d already started floating up into the sky in their direction.

“Wait, Danny,” Clockwork’s voice rang out, stopping Danny dead in his tracks. For a moment, he felt horribly torn as the desire to follow that pull back home warred with his need to listen to Clockwork’s instructions. He wavered in the air, fighting with himself, before eventually he settled back on the ground with a resigned sigh, turning his back on the lights and facing Clockwork.

Clockwork waited until Danny had stopped before him, and then reached out to rest a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I know you wish to return to your home,” he said gently. “But you are not yet ready.”

“When will I be ready, though?” Danny asked, perhaps a bit petulantly. He felt a little bad for asking - Clockwork had been taking such good care of him after all! He was having so much fun doing time travel tasks and seeing strange new worlds whenever he and Clockwork went out. But that pull in his chest was almost painful to ignore, and he hated not having any idea when he’d finally be able to return to where he knew he belonged.

“In time,” Clockwork answered mysteriously, much to Danny’s annoyance. But he also recognized when he wasn’t going to get a straight answer, so he let the matter drop for now.

“So what’s the plan now?” Danny sighed, moving to stand at Clockwork’s side. “Tree branch to break? Rock to kick aside so it won’t cause an avalanche four hundred years from now?”

“Stargazing.”

Danny blinked, caught off guard by the simple answer. “Stargazing?”

“Yes. Stargazing,” Clockwork repeated. And to prove the point, he took a seat on the top of the grassy hill, laid his staff down, and leaned back to look up at the night sky above.

It took Danny a few seconds to catch up, but he slowly followed Clockwork’s lead, curling up next to his side. He looked up at the sky, taking in the sea of stars stretched out above them, and a little bit of wonder crept back over him.

“Wow,” he murmured. “There’s so many of them out tonight.”

Clockwork hummed wordlessly, but it didn’t seem dismissive, so Danny continued.

“I think that’s…oh! Yes! That’s Cassiopeia! And that one is Andromeda, right next to it! Whoa, you can even see the Andromeda galaxy! That’s so cool.”

It didn’t occur to him to wonder why he could remember the names of all the constellations when he couldn’t remember anything else from his past. Just like those strange feelings in his chest, they just seemed to be a part of him. He knew about the planets and the solar system and the galaxies and stars, just as easily as he knew his own name.

“Tell me, Danny,” Clockwork suddenly spoke up. Danny hummed to show he was listening, but didn’t look away from the sky above, too captivated by the sight. So when Clockwork’s question came, he was caught completely off guard.

“What did you want to be, when you grew up?”

“When I grew up?” Danny echoed, confused. He glanced at Clockwork, but Clockwork’s expression was as unreadable as always. Danny frowned, considering the question, but he wasn’t sure how Clockwork expected him to answer. He didn’t remember growing up. He didn’t remember anything. How was he supposed to remember what he wanted to be?

“I…don’t know…” he answered, figuring Clockwork would at least appreciate the honesty.

“That’s alright. Perhaps the answer will come to you in time.”

“I guess…” Danny agreed reluctantly, and they eventually turned their attention back to the stars.

He didn’t notice when Clockwork vanished from his side, but he did notice when the woman appeared. He spotted her standing in the shadows of the treeline just past the base of the hill he was sitting on, watching him from a distance. He was just starting to wonder if he should call out to her when she started walking tentatively up the hill towards him, wringing her hands together, and watching him as if waiting for him to bolt. To be fair, when he first caught sight of her, he had considered flying away. But Clockwork, wherever he’d gone, hadn’t warned Danny about staying out of sight. His only instructions were to do some stargazing. If this woman was trouble, Danny trusted that Clockwork would have warned him, so other than sitting up to face her more directly, Danny made no motion to move.

“Hello,” he said, once the woman was close enough. She flinched at the sound of his voice, and he frowned at her unexpected reaction, but she smoothed her expression almost immediately after.

“Hello,” she replied, sounding very unsure. Then she stopped, just staring down at him with trepidation, like she was waiting for him to attack her or something.

Feeling very confused and vaguely offended, Danny decided he wasn’t very impressed with this woman so far. Why the heck was she bothering him if she was so scared of him? Why was she even scared of him in the first place? Sure, he knew from the few times he’d passed by a mirror that he looked a little bit strange, what with the glowing eyes, ghostly pale skin, and snow white hair, but he wasn’t doing anything! He was just sitting here, enjoying the stars! She was the one coming to bother him, so why was she looking at him like that?

But then he considered things further, and wondered if maybe she needed help. She might approach someone she was scared of if her need was great enough, right? As much as it pained him, he decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.

“Is there something I can help you with?” he asked her, keeping his voice as neutral as possible.

She stared at him for a moment, chewing on her lip, before she surprised him by taking a seat in the grass next to him, albeit a few feet away.

“I’m sorry for interrupting you,” she apologized quietly, still watching him with a hint of wariness and…hope? “I was wondering…what you were up to?”

What an odd question. This woman was also really odd, Danny thought. But her expression showed no signs of lies or ulterior motive, so Danny decided it was safe enough to answer.

“Stargazing,” he said simply, gesturing towards the sky above.

“Oh. Oh yes, that makes sense, you…well.” The woman stopped herself, as if she’d been about to say something else, and then she gave him a tight smile, and continued. “This is a wonderful spot to see the stars.”

“Are you here to do some stargazing too?” Danny asked her, curious. “You can join me. There’s lots out tonight, the skies are really clear.”

“O-oh, well. I mean, if it’s not an imposition…”

“Come on, pull up some grass,” Danny told her, patting the ground beside him. She hesitated, but ultimately stood and walked over. She paused once again when she reached his side, but then finally took a seat next to him. As soon as she sat down, she shuddered a little, wrapping her arms around her knees.

“Are you cold?” he asked her, eyeing her outfit. It didn’t feel that cold out to him, but the teal green jumpsuit she was wearing didn’t look very warm, and there was a bit of a breeze. “Here, you can borrow this if you’d like. I just…need it back after. It’s kind of like my uniform.”

He held out his cloak to her. She stared at it for a moment, her eyes darting between the fabric and his face as if searching for some sign of a trick or a trap. But when he just shook it gently at her, she tentatively took it, before slowly draping it around her shoulders.

“There, does that feel better?” Danny asked her with a smile.

“...yes,” she admitted quietly. “Yes. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,” he dismissed, before looking back up at the sky. Sighing, he started to trace the constellations with his eyes again. “I wonder if we’ll see any shooting stars tonight. That would be pretty cool.”

“You like the stars?” she asked him hesitantly, still curled up in her little ball. He tried to ignore the fact that she was watching him more than the sky.

“Yeah, I love the stars,” he replied with enthusiasm, unable to keep the grin from overtaking his face. “The stars, and the planets, and the sun and moon. All of space, really! It’s just…so cool.”

She paused to consider his answer, and then offered, “My son really likes space too.”

“Sounds like he’s got good taste,” Danny told her with a cheeky grin.

Her eyes traced his features for a moment, and then she subtly relaxed a tiny bit. “Yes,” she agreed with a small smile of her own. “Yes, he does.”

They sat in companionable silence for a while, Danny occasionally pointing out a constellation or star that caught his eye while the woman asked reserved questions. It was nice and peaceful, and Danny found himself enjoying the woman’s company. Slowly he started to warm up to her, especially when she started to ask him questions, and he found himself suddenly ranting about all of the stars and constellations they could see, talking her ear off about his passion.

And one point, he caught the dazed look in her eyes, and stopped mid-sentence. “Oh. Oh geez, I’m probably boring you, aren’t I?” he asked sheepishly.

“No! No, not at all!” she quickly assured him. “It’s actually kind of nice to hear how excited you are about all of this. And it’s fascinating to hear as well. I never…I never really paid much attention to the stars before, even though my son really loved…loves them.”

“Oh. Well, I’d be happy to tell you more, if you’d like,” Danny offered.

She gave him a warm smile. “Please. I’d really like that.”

Needing no further prompting, Danny launched back into his description of the night sky.

The woman listened to him patiently and attentively as he went on and on about the stars above. But eventually, just as he finished telling her about the history of telescopes, she shifted and started to stand.

“Time’s up,” she murmured, so softly he almost missed it. And then, louder, she said, “I’m afraid I have to get going.”

He was surprised to find he was a bit disappointed that she was leaving. He had no idea who she was, but she’d been very pleasant company for the evening, and he was sorry to see her go. Still, he figured she was a normal human woman who probably had things to do in the morning. She probably couldn’t afford to be up all night like him. Sleep was important for humans, right?

“Thank you for stargazing with me,” he told her sincerely as she stood, smiling happily at her.

“...you’re welcome,” she replied, sounding almost surprised at her response. She held out his cloak for him to take back. “I…I enjoyed it, too. Thank you for the cloak. And for teaching me about the stars.”

And then she turned to head back down the hill. She paused and looked back just for a moment when she reached the bottom, like she expected him to be gone already, but he just gave her a little wave. She waved back, and then disappeared into the night.

Clockwork reappeared at Danny’s side just as subtly as he’d left; one minute he was gone, the next he was sitting on the grass at Danny’s side as if he’d always been there. Who knew, perhaps he had been. Maybe he’d just gone invisible for a while. Whatever the case, Danny simply threw his cloak back over his shoulders and then sank into Clockwork’s side, his eyes back on the stars and a warm feeling building in his chest as Clockwork shifted to make Danny more comfortable. They sat together for a while in silence. Danny didn’t ask where Clockwork had gone, and Clockwork didn’t ask about the woman whom he must have seen leave.

Above them, a shooting star flew by.

Chapter Text

Danny stepped out through the portal onto a cobbled road, and immediately winced at the bright sun beating down on them, the heat and humidity of the air making him want to turn right back around and flee to the cool shadows of Clockwork’s lair. Only Clockwork’s presence at his back stopped him from doing just that.

“Where are we now?” he asked, glancing around to take in their surroundings. They seemed to be in the middle of a cobblestone road passing through the countryside. To their left were fields of what looked like wheat, while to their right Danny could see sheep grazing on the hills, a young boy in a toga and a wide-brimmed hat watching over them. There wasn’t a lamp post or telephone wire to be seen, and the air seemed oddly crisp and clear. “When are we?”

“Ancient Greece,” Clockwork answered. “In the sixth century BC, to be exact. We’re just outside of a small town called Chalstus, not far from Delphi. And it’s market day.”

“Oh. Is, uh, is that significant?”

“It means it will be a good day to do some shopping.”

“We’re here to do some shopping?” Danny asked incredulously. His confusion only grew when Clockwork held out his hand, holding something he obviously intended for Danny to take. Danny opened up his own hands obligingly, and stared in bafflement as Clockwork dropped a dozen small coins into his palm.

“You are here to do some shopping,” Clockwork instructed. “I have other matters to attend to. We will meet back here when the sun begins to set. Until then, enjoy your time in town.”

“Wait, is this a task that I actually need to do to somehow stabilize the timelines?” Danny couldn’t help but ask, giving Clockwork a flat look. “Or are you just getting me out from underfoot so you can go deal with the actual problem without me?”

“Yes.”

“Yes to which?”

“Yes.”

“Awesome. Thanks for clearing that up,” Danny sighed.

Clockwork chuckled, and then gave Danny a little shove between his shoulder blades with the tip of his staff, presumably in the direction of town. “Go on. Have fun.”

“Yeah, yeah, go save the universe without me or whatever,” Danny grumbled good naturedly. And then he started walking. When he glanced back over his shoulder at one point to look back, Clockwork was already gone.

Danny had to admit, it was kind of cool to explore the town market. Even though he still didn’t have any memories from his past, he somehow just knew that he’d never seen anything like it before. The town was small, as Clockwork had said, and so most of the items for sale were things like farming equipment and fruit. But there were a few textile merchants hawking their wares, and a single jeweler with glass beads on display shooting hopeful looks whenever someone particularly well dressed walked by.

Danny thought he might stick out like a sore thumb with his white hair and black jumpsuit. But the shoppers barely gave him a second glance as he passed through the crowds, too focused on their own tasks to care. He took his time checking out each of the stalls, poking at the goats in the pens and drooling over the hot foods being prepared. He hadn’t really felt the need to eat since he’d woken up in Clockwork’s lair the first time, but the smell of those freshly cooked meat skewers were too tempting to resist. He forked over one of Clockwork’s coins in exchange for three of them, making his way over to the shade under an olive tree to enjoy his treat.

For a while he just sat and watched the people in the market go by, enjoying seeing them go about their daily lives. The peace didn’t last, though. He had managed to polish off two of his skewers and was halfway through the third when there was suddenly a loud crashing sound from the far side of town. The air was filled with dust and screams in the distance, the shoppers all looking up in alarm.

The crashing sound hadn’t even subsided before Danny was already up in the air and flying towards the noise, skewer forgotten. He arrived on the far side of town to find a large statue had tipped over and collapsed, bits of it breaking off and scattering across the road. The area looked mostly abandoned and overgrown, so thankfully the statue seemed to be the only thing damaged. Danny flew around it in a circle, trying to figure out how it had fallen over.

He’d just spotted an odd metal contraption resting against the plinth the statue had once stood upon, when the sound of pained coughing caught his attention. The dust was still so thick in the air that he hadn’t noticed at first, but there apparently was someone trapped under the rubble.

“Hello?” he called out, trying to pinpoint where the coughing was coming from. “Hello, is someone there?”

“H-here!” a man’s voice rang out. “Over here!”

Danny followed the voice, spotting a middle-aged man pinned under what remained of the statue’s torso. His eyes went wide in alarm.

“Oh no, are you okay?” he asked frantically, dropping to the ground next to the man.

“Don’t you worry about me, Da - uh, my boy!” the man said in a surprisingly jovial and boisterous tone, given he was currently pinned under a couple of tonnes of solid stone. “I’m right as rain! Just, uh. Just a little stuck.”

“Just a little stuck?” Danny repeated in disbelief. “You’re being crushed!”

“Nah, I’m just pinned,” the man quickly assured him. “See? It missed me, but I think some part of the statue has got a hold on me. I can’t seem to wiggle out.”

Danny bent over to peer through the space between the statue and the ground. It was hard to make out through the shadows and floating dust, but he could kind of see what the man meant. From what Danny could see, the statue’s arm had been folded across its stomach, and the statue’s hand and elbow had propped the statue up enough to prevent the man from being squashed. However, the same hand was also pinning the fabric of the man’s bright orange jumpsuit to the ground. The man was incredibly lucky; he’d missed having his leg crushed by millimeters.

At least Danny knew now why none of the townsfolk gave him any odd looks for his jumpsuit. Apparently they were common here.

“Hang on, I think I can get you out,” Danny told the man. “Try not to move.”

He made sure the man was listening, before turning his attention to the problem. Probably the easiest thing to do would be to turn the man intangible, or perhaps the statue itself. But he’d found since waking up in Clockwork’s lair that his powers weren’t always reliable. One of the only things he’d been able to do consistently without trouble was fly. Everything else seemed to cut in and out if he lost even a split second of concentration. It was incredibly frustrating, but it just went to show that Clockwork was right to insist that he hadn't completely recovered from his ordeal yet.

Whatever it had been.

Deciding to use the other power that seemed to be consistent instead, Danny cracked his knuckles and then crouched down to hook his fingers under the edge of the statue.

“What are you doing there, Da - my boy?” the man asked with a mixture of curiosity and wariness.

“As soon as you feel yourself come free, you need to crawl out as fast as possible,” Danny instructed him seriously. “I don’t know how long I’ll be able to hold this thing up.”

“You’re going to lift it?” the man asked.

“Yeah. I should be able to hold it up long enough for you to get out, but you have to move fast, okay?”

The man chuckled and gave him a thumbs up. “Sounds like a plan!”

“Alright. On three,” Danny said, spreading his feet and bracing his back. “One. Two. Three!”

He surprised himself with how easily the statue moved. He’d known he was strong, after a few of the tasks Clockwork had made him complete, but he hadn’t realized he was this strong. The statue shifted easily, as if he was lifting something made of plywood rather than solid stone.

Still, the man took Danny’s warnings seriously, and crawled out from under the statue the moment his leg was freed. He scooted back an extra few feet, just in case, and turned back to whistle at the sight of Danny easily holding the statue up with one hand.

“Wow. Look at you go!” he marveled. “That’ll be the Fe- uh. I mean. You must get that from your…your uh. You…Uh. Good job, son. Sport!”

Danny watched with bemusement, letting the man stumble over his words for a few moments, before he laughed and carefully set the statue back down. “Thanks. Maybe I did get it from my dad. Unfortunately I don’t remember him at all.”

He expected the man to ask him why, but the man’s expression fell, as if Danny had just reminded him of something sad.

Feeling awkward, Danny leaned in to try to catch the man's eye. “Uh…are you okay?”

“Hmm? Oh! Oh yeah, fit as a fiddle, my boy!” The man proclaimed, thumping his chest to prove his point. “Couple of scrapes and bruises, but nothing an ice pack and some fudge can't fix!”

Danny’s eyes went bright at the mention of fudge. It stirred memories of something sweet and rich, and he suddenly craved it.

“I didn't know they had fudge back in ancient - !” He began to blurt out before he realized his mistake. Shoot, way to basically announce you're from the future, Danny. “Uh…I mean, right now?”

“Oh, uh. Right! Right, we definitely have fudge here in this place and time!” The man chuckled nervously. “Yep, absolutely.”

Moving quickly past his mistake, Danny looked back towards the statue. He frowned, spotting that odd metal contraption again, his mind whirling.

“What even happened here?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah. I guess that was, uh. My fault,” the man confessed sheepishly. “I was looking for…someone and wanted to get a better view of the area from the top of the statue! So I used my latest invention, the Fenton extendo-stepper!”

He gestured towards the contraption that had caught Danny’s eye with a flourish. But when Danny looked closer, he couldn't help but notice that the device looked an awful lot like -

“A ladder?” Danny blurted out, before wincing. Crud, he really needed to watch what he was saying. Didn't this guy just say he was an inventor? What if Danny was talking to the guy who invented ladders and he'd just caused some sort of time paradox by recognizing it?

Then again, the man had called it something completely different; a super long name that would likely never catch on. And Clockwork hadn't actually said one way or another if Danny was actually here to serve a purpose or just have fun. Maybe this was why he was here in ancient Greece. Maybe his purpose was to stop the inventor of ladders from calling them something ridiculous.

“Oh, uh. Yeah, I suppose ladder works too,” the man said reluctantly.

“So you climbed the statue and accidentally knocked it over?” Danny prompted. He hoped he hadn't just screwed up the time stream or something. Unfortunately he wouldn't know until later today when he met up with Clockwork. “Why didn't you try climbing one of the hills around town instead? They have great views.”

“I probably could have,” the man admitted, scratching at his cheek sheepishly. “But I was already here, you see.”

“Doing what?”

“Making an offering.” He pointed to something just barely sticking out from beneath the base of the fallen statue. All that Danny could make out was that it also seemed to be made of metal; it was too crushed to otherwise identify. “It was a beautiful piece of equipment, I tell ya! Could track a ghost’s position up to thirty paces, which was pretty good for the times, and held up no matter the weather! Ah, I was pleased as punch the day I got that baby working. Too bad it’s a gonner now.”

“Oh. Oh shoot. I'm so sorry.”

“No need to apologize, son! It was an accident. My own fault, really.”

“Well I'm sure that…uh…huh, I don't even know who this statue was for.”

“Melinoe,” the man told him easily, still looking a bit sheepish. “She’s apparently the goddess of spooks - I mean ghosts! Ghosts.”

“Well I’m sure Melinoe would still appreciate the thought,” Danny tried to reassure him, but the man still seemed pretty down. Thinking hard, Danny walked over to the statue and gave it a little pat. “Say, why don’t you help me get this statue back on its feet, and then I can treat you to lunch at the market. I kinda dropped my snack when I heard all the commotion, so I’m still a bit hungry, and I’ve got money to spare. What do you say?”

The man looked at him in surprise before a surprisingly grateful smile broke across his face. “I’d say that’s a brilliant idea, my boy!” he declared, raising a hand into the sky in emphasis. “Let’s do it!”

Danny ended up doing most of the heavy lifting - unsurprising given he was the one with super strength - but the man chipped in by helping to guide Danny on where to place the statue to keep it centered so it wouldn't fall over again. Afterward, he also helped find all of the missing pieces that had broken off from the statue, bringing them back for repairs.

Danny hadn't thought anything of using his ice powers to stick the cracked statue back together. The Greeks had all sorts of stories about mythical creatures popping up in their everyday lives, didn't they? And the man hadn't shown any fear when Danny was showing off his strength. So he didn't even pause when the man handed him one of the statue’s missing fingers, flying up the statue's body to slap it back on and freezing it in place with supernaturally cold ice.

He stopped, however, when he noticed the man flinch at the sudden cold. Feeling self-conscious, Danny floated back down to the man's side.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable.”

For a moment, the man just continued to look at him with that fearful expression, like he’d just noticed that Danny was something other than human. But then he visibly steeled himself, swallowing thickly, and pasted a huge smile on his face.

“Not at all, my boy!” he declared, reaching out with a hand that was faintly trembling, and slapped Danny on the back so hard Danny almost fell over. “Not at all! Just caught me off guard, is all! Handy trick, that ice stuff. Think you can use it to stick her nose back on?”

The man held out said nose almost like a peace offering. Danny stared at it, and then looked up at the man's face. He could still see a hint of uncertainty in the man's eyes, but he was obviously willing to work past it. So Danny decided to ignore it.

“Yeah, I can handle that,” he said instead, giving the man a tight smile. He took the nose and flew back up to repair the statue's face.

They worked in muted silence for a few more minutes, the man finding pieces and Danny putting them back in place. But then the man abruptly paused, holding the lobe of the statue's left ear, and looked up with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“What do you say to a bit of catch?” the man suggested, tossing the piece of stone up and down in his hands.

“I don't think I've ever played catch,” Danny admitted, surprised by the suggestion.

“It's easy! Instead of you having to fly down here to grab the pieces, I'll toss them up to you!”

“Are you sure?” Danny asked, his brow furrowed with hesitation. “Some of those pieces look pretty heavy.”

“That just adds to the challenge!”

Danny still wasn't sure if it was such a good idea, but the man seemed pretty excited about it. And he didn't seem to be struggling with the weight of any of the broken bits of stone yet. It might be worth a shot.

“Alright then! Hit me with it!” Danny called out, opening his arms wide to prepare to catch the chunk of the statue.

“Go long!” The man shouted, and then he launched the chunk into the air. Danny squawked in surprise at how unexpectedly high the man had managed to throw it, but he managed to scramble quickly enough to catch it. Laughing, he froze it in place where it belonged.

“Another one!” He yelled with glee, and laughing, the man obliged. They played catch for the rest of the afternoon, until the statue was more or less back in one piece, and the surrounding area had been cleared of rubble.

“Whew!” the man sighed as Danny finally landed back on solid ground. “I'm beat! How're you doing?”

“I've definitely worked up an appetite,” Danny said, rubbing his belly. “Looks like we have a bit more time before the market closes up, should we go get something to eat now? Maybe they'll even have fudge!”

“Sounds like a great idea, my boy!” the man said, slapping Danny on the back again. “Let's go!”

They headed side by side back to the market square, chatting amiably the whole way. Once they arrived, they grabbed their meal first to satisfy their growling tummies. Unfortunately there was no fudge to be found, but one stall was serving honey cakes and figs, which was just as good. They gobbled up their sticky treats, humming with enjoyment, and then headed back into the rows of stalls to do some more shopping.

Most of the market was farmers catering to other farmers, but he and the man ended up at the jeweler's booth, perusing the wares. The man had graciously declined Danny's offer to purchase a broach with a star and moon design, but Danny had ended up buying it anyways. The stars and moon could be used to tell time, right? Danny decided he would give it to Clockwork as a gift, to thank the other spirit for taking care of him while he was recovering. The gear pin on Clockwork's cloak looked rather old, so he hoped that Clockwork might like to switch it up a bit.

“Thank you for your business,” the jeweler told them gratefully as he started to pack up his stall. Around them the rest of the market was similarly shutting down. Danny glanced up at the sky and startled when he realized how low the sun had gotten already.

“Shoot, I've got to get going,” he told the man. “I'm supposed to be meeting someone.”

“Ah, that's alright,” the man told him, eyes locked on something across the market square. Danny tried following his line of sight, but he couldn't see anything of interest in that direction. Even still, the man added, “Looks like I need to go too.”

“Thank you for hanging out with me!” Danny told the man. “It was a lot of fun!”

The man blinked at him in what looked like surprise, before his expression melted into something conflicted, like he was somehow both happy and sad at the same time. Eventually though, he gave Danny a big grin and one last slap on the back.

“Likewise, kid,” he said, sounding slightly choked up. “I had a blast.”

Danny didn't understand why the man felt so…forlorn now. He wasn't sure how to fix it either, not to mention he was running late to meet Clockwork, so he simply grinned at the man, wished him well, and headed off towards the outskirts of town.

He arrived back at the spot on the road where he and Clockwork had parted ways just as the sun sank below the horizon and twilight set in. The wheat fields swayed in the evening breeze. The sheep and the shepherd boy were gone, back to their barn and hut respectively. Danny glanced around for any sign of Clockwork, but it seemed he'd ironically beaten the Master of Time to the meeting spot. He drifted over towards one of the wooden posts holding up the fence surrounding the sheep field, intending to hop up and take a seat while he waited.

Of course, the moment he turned around, Clockwork was floating there in the middle of the road as if he'd been waiting there the whole time. Danny stared at him, agog, for a second, before throwing up his hands with a huff. Of course Clockwork was here already. What did Danny expect, that he'd be late?

“Ready to go back?” Clockwork asked. Based on the smirk on his face, he absolutely had done his little appearing trick on purpose.

“Yep,” Danny replied, pushing off of the fence post and walking over to Clockwork's side. He watched the other spirit summon a portal, the swirling blue oval forming right over the road, washing the stalks of wheat in icy blue light.

“After you,” Clockwork gestured Danny forward. He started to approach the portal, when he suddenly paused, remembering he had picked something up at the market.

“Oh! By the way, I got you something!” Danny said, digging around in one of the hidden pockets in his cloak. He emerged with a small cry of triumph, the stars and moon cloak pin in hand. “Here! I saw this and thought you might like it! I know it doesn't quite match your, uh, outfit, but…yeah.”

He trailed off, losing steam as he started to second-guess his purchase. What if Clockwork didn't like it? Heck, Clockwork had been the one to give Danny the money in the first place! Was it bad manners to use his money to buy him a gift? Man, what had he even been thinking?!

But before he could work himself up into too much of a tizzy, Clockwork reached out and plucked the cloak pin out of Danny's hands, holding up to study it intently.

“It's beautiful,” Clockwork said quietly. “And very well made. You have quite the eye for craftsmanship.”

Feeling bashful now, Danny ducked his head. “I just thought it was nice,” he mumbled, too shy to look at Clockwork anymore.

So he was startled when Clockwork's hands suddenly appeared in his line of sight, reaching for his cloak. Danny watched in amazement as Clockwork removed the simple pin keeping Danny's cloak in place and replaced it with a familiar black gear shaped pin.

He looked up with wonder, and sure enough, Clockwork was wearing the gold pin on his cloak now instead.

“There,” Clockwork said, sounding satisfied. He gave Danny's new cloak pin a gentle tap. “I think it suits you.”

Danny glanced down at his new pin, then back up at Clockwork. He couldn't keep the blinding grin off of his face, and had to fight the urge to throw his arms around Clockwork’s shoulders in a big hug. He was so, so tempted, but he wasn’t sure if the normally stoic Master of Time would appreciate the sudden show of affection.

“Now, are we all finished here?” Clockwork asked patiently while Danny took a moment to fiddle with his new pin.

“Yeah. I think so,” Danny agreed.

“Good. Then let’s head home.”

A very small voice at the back of Danny’s head wanted to object, to remind Clockwork that his lair wasn’t Danny’s home. But it had gotten so quiet over the days and weeks that Danny had been spending with the other spirit, that it was easy to ignore now. He was happy and safe with Clockwork. Did he really need to go back to somewhere he couldn’t really remember?

So rather than argue or say anything to the contrary, Danny just gave Clockwork another grin and hopped through the portal, eager to get back to Clockwork’s lair for a rest. He had started exploring the twisting corridors whenever he had free time, and he was looking forward to seeing what kind of stuff he’d find next.

“Uh, Clockwork? Where are we going?”

Danny had arrived in Clockwork’s observation room that morning(? Was it morning? Time passed strangely here, so Danny wasn’t always sure what time it actually was. It felt like morning at least), ready for another day of helping Clockwork out as his apprentice. But to his confusion, rather than summon up a portal to some distant time in his observation screens, Clockwork had been waiting by the entrance to the room when Danny had arrived. The moment he spotted Danny approaching, he’d gestured for him to follow, and started heading down the hallway towards the main entrance of his lair.

“We have business to attend to in the Ghost Zone today,” Clockwork explained, floating out the door to his lair and into the vast expanse of the Ghost Zone itself. “Important business. Unfortunately it will also be unpleasant business. Stay behind me, and do not speak unless I instruct you otherwise, do you understand?”

Danny had been following dutifully along in Clockwork’s wake, his own spectral tail taking form as they left Clockwork’s lair behind. He shot Clockwork a worried glance at the unusually strict conditions Clockwork had set for this task. But he trusted Clockwork, and knew he had a reason for everything he did. If Clockwork wanted him to keep his mouth shut and stay out of the way, that’s exactly what he’d do.

“I understand,” he promised. They flew the rest of the way to their destination in tense silence.

When they arrived, Danny could hear the problem before he could even see it. They had been flying towards one of the many floating islands dotting the Ghost Zone, this one playing host to what looked like a giant amphitheater or stadium made of stone. Even from a distance, Danny could hear the angry shouting of dozens of raised voices. Whoever was sitting in the theater, they were not happy. Already tense from Clockwork’s uncharacteristic strictness, Danny could feel his anxiety slowly building.

They entered through one of the gates into pure chaos. Danny noted that the room seemed to be mostly filled with two groups of ghosts; one group that looked kind of like birds except they had human heads, and a second group that looked exactly like giant walking umbrellas covered with eyes. Danny had never seen ghosts like these before, and their angry shouts made him duck behind Clockwork’s back like a child.

Clockwork took in the chaos for a moment, looking out over the crowd, before he abruptly brought his staff down against the stone floor with a crack!

“Enough,” he commanded. He didn’t raise his voice, but somehow it filled the room, catching everyone’s attention and causing all shouting to cease. The sudden silence was deafening, and Danny found himself shrinking back even further. Even without shouting, somehow Danny got the impression that Clockwork was not happy, and his instincts were screaming at him that he should be ducking for cover.

Clockwork waited a moment more to make sure he had everyone’s attention, and then he calmly began to speak. “Now. I see that this discussion has become quite heated. Why don’t you end this meeting for today, and resume negotiations at a later date, when you have all had time to cool off.”

One of the bird people fluffed up their feathers a bit, looking affronted. “But they - !”

“You should all go home now,” Clockwork stated more firmly, and the bird ghost shrunk back. “There will be time for discussion later.”

A few of the ghosts grumbled and muttered amongst each other, but it was clear no one wanted to argue with Clockwork. Slowly the two groups of ghosts shuffled out of the stadium, the bird ghosts headed one way and the umbrella ghosts headed another. Even though the large room had been full to bursting, it only took a minute or two for it to empty, until Danny and Clockwork were all that remained.

Or at least that’s what Danny thought. But as he finally moved to poke his head out from behind Clockwork’s back, he realized there were still two more people standing in the room. His eyes went wide when he saw who it was.

“You failed,” Clockwork said, breaking Danny out of his surprised gaping.

“We were just - !” the woman from the night on the hill tried to protest, but Clockwork cut her off coldly.

“You failed,” he repeated. “Terribly. The Ba and the Kasa-Obake were all but ready to declare war when we arrived. You had been sent to broker peace negotiations. You failed your task.”

Danny didn’t think he could be more surprised than when he spotted the woman from the hill and the man from the marketplace still standing in the room, but now he felt his eyes go even wider. The way Clockwork was speaking to them, about having tasks…were they apprentices too?

“We tried,” the man said sadly, looking so worn and dismayed that Danny’s heart went out to him.

Clockwork was not so moved though. Danny could visibly see how tightly he was clenching his staff, the leather of his glove creaking with his grip. “It doesn’t matter, you have still failed the task that was set out before you, and therefore the challenge presented to you. Your presence here is no longer welcome. Leave, at once.”

“No!” the woman blurted out frantically. “No, please! Please let us try again! We won’t fail this time!”

“Your instructions were laid out clearly. You knew the consequences of failure,” Clockwork dismissed her harshly, nose scrunched up in distaste. “There are no second chances.”

“We just made one little mistake,” the man protested, holding his hands up in supplication. “We didn’t mean to…to offend anyone.”

“A little mistake? You were sent to create peace and almost triggered a war. That is no little mistake,” Clockwork scoffed. He drifted towards the pair, hovering over them in a way that made Danny’s anxiety spike like crazy. He was pretty sure Clockwork wouldn’t actually hurt them, though…right?

Then again, he did seem pretty angry, angrier than Danny had ever seen him. Danny bit his lip, feeling torn. Hadn’t he just been thinking that he trusted Clockwork’s judgment? But seeing how harshly he was treating these other apprentices…would he treat Danny the same way if he ever screwed up?

“I have already told you,” Clockwork intoned, his voice once again filling the room despite him not speaking any louder than usual. “You have failed. Leave this place at once, and do not return.”

“No!”

“Please! Please, let us just try again!”

“I will not repeat myself again - !”

“Wait!”

All eyes turned to Danny. He froze, finding himself suddenly the center of attention, and for a moment all thoughts flew from his head as panic overtook him. What the hell was he doing?! Clockwork was pissed, and he was drawing attention to himself?!

But then he saw the desperation on the man and woman’s faces, and he found his resolve. They were clearly sorry, couldn’t Clockwork see that?

“Wait, Clockwork,” Danny began slowly, making sure to choose his words carefully. He didn’t want Clockwork to dismiss him or think he was just being a whiny kid after all. “Look. I don’t know the whole story, but can’t you please give these guys another chance? They clearly realize they’ve messed up, and they look like they’re willing to learn from their mistakes. I mean, that’s the only way we learn, right? From making mistakes? No one got hurt, right? Yeah, okay, things could have gotten really messy, no one wants to deal with a war, but that didn’t happen. You were able to calm everyone down, and maybe now that everyone has had a chance to cool off, these guys can try again. Please? Just…let them try?”

Clockwork stared at Danny for a long moment, looking surprised and mildly impressed. He’d been hovering in the air, looming over the man and woman, but now he floated back down towards the ground, coming closer to Danny. He reached out and rested a hand on Danny’s shoulder.

“Oh, Danny,” he said gently with a sigh. “You have so much care in your heart for others, it truly is remarkable.”

Danny blushed and ducked his head, caught off guard by the compliment.

“However. The rules were set out when they started their challenge, and they quite clearly state the consequences for failing to complete their tasks. Even if I could change it,” Clockwork said sadly. “I wouldn’t. There is just as much to learn from failure as from success. This is a harsh lesson, but one they need to learn.”

Danny wanted to object one more time, but somehow he knew it wouldn’t work. Based on the defeated slump to the man’s shoulders and the way the woman started quietly weeping, they knew it too. Clockwork had made up his mind, and there was no changing it. Danny had trusted his judgment so far, and it looked like he’d have to trust it again.

“I guess,” Danny whispered, feeling choked up. He dropped his head, hiding his eyes behind his bangs. His chest hurt for some reason, and he had to fight the urge to cry.

Clockwork’s hand came up to rest soothingly on Danny’s head, and he leaned into it and tried to draw some comfort from the gentle touch, even as his throat closed up.

“I promise that you’ll understand someday,” Clockwork murmured. And then, louder so that the man and woman could hear him, he said, “It’s time for you to go now.”

The woman sobbed, curling into the man’s chest. He wrapped his arms around her, looking like he’d aged ten years in the span of minutes. His eyes were locked sadly on Danny for some reason, and Danny felt the tears that had been pricking the corner of his eyes start to fall.

“Come on, Mads,” the man murmured quietly to the woman. “Let’s go home. Jazzy-pants is waiting for us.”

“What are we going to tell her?” the woman moaned in despair.

“...we’ll think of something.”

The couple looked back sadly at Danny and Clockwork one more time, before they reluctantly left the amphitheater.

Even after they were gone, Danny and Clockwork lingered. Danny kept telling himself over and over that he trusted Clockwork, but he couldn’t help the anxious thoughts that were now circling his brain. If he made a mistake, would Clockwork throw him out like that too?

For a moment, Danny found himself wondering if he should just…leave. His eyes wandered towards the arches lining the theater, pulled subconsciously in the direction the man and woman had gone. Somehow he just knew that his home - the place he had called home, anyways - was out there. If he followed that insistent tug, he knew he would find his way back there. Maybe it would be best to leave now, instead of waiting until he screwed up enough for Clockwork to kick him out.

“I would never send you away like that,” Clockwork suddenly told him, as if he could read Danny’s thoughts. Or perhaps he could just read Danny’s expression; he was sure his sadness and distress were visible across his entire face. “Their circumstances were different from yours. They had come to me to right a wrong they had committed. The challenge was set to offer them the opportunity to prove that they had changed their ways. Their failure only showed that they had not, and that the wrongs they committed are destined to happen again.”

“Oh.” Danny wasn’t sure how he felt about that explanation. The man and woman had both seemed so nice to him when he’d encountered them before, it was hard to imagine that they’d done something terrible enough to warrant being put through some sort of trial. But Clockwork clearly knew more about the situation than Danny did.

Clockwork studied him for a moment, before letting out a long suffering sigh. “What a mess this has all turned into,” he grumbled to himself, adjusting the watches on his wrist irritably.

“So they messed up? Somehow?”

“Yes. You, on the other hand, have done nothing of the sort,” Clockwork continued, his voice much more gentle now. “More importantly, I have promised you care and protection. Even if you decided you no longer wished to be my apprentice, you are still welcome to stay with me for as long as you need.”

Danny perked up. He hadn’t realized he wasn’t working to earn his keep. “Really?”

“Of course. I had merely suggested it because I knew you’d grow bored and start getting up to mischief if I left you unattended and unoccupied in my lair,” Clockwork said with a smile. Danny found himself laughing, caught off guard by Clockwork’s teasing.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he lied, grinning.

“I’m sure you don’t,” Clockwork agreed with a huff that ruffled his long beard. “Now. Our business is finished here. Are you ready to head back?”

Danny looked back one more time towards what had once been his home. And then he turned back to Clockwork and smiled. “Yeah. Let’s go home.”

Clockwork stilled for a moment, and then a small, genuine smile grew across his wizen face. “Yes. Of course. Let’s go home.”

Chapter Text

Danny had been staying with Clockwork for months now. Every day was a new adventure for him. Some days he accompanied Clockwork to the past, or the future, or to some distant planet, with the goal of keeping the time stream intact. Other days they traveled through the Ghost Zone, visiting powerful ancients and clan leaders, for everything from brokering deals to just sharing a cup of tea. One ancient in particular, a horned spirit who looked like a piece of the night sky come to life, had spotted Danny following behind Clockwork like a lost duckling and just sighed like he was completely done with them both.

And then he'd served them the best camomile tea Danny had ever tasted, with sweet little tea biscuits to match.

Then there were the days when they just stuck around the lair, Clockwork watching over the timelines through his observation screens to ensure that all was going according to plan. On those days, Danny was encouraged to explore around the lair, lest he get bored just watching Clockwork work and start causing trouble. There were more rooms in Clockwork's lair, Danny thought, than he could find in a week of looking, so it worked as a good distraction. So when Clockwork settled into his work for the day, Danny flew off to explore.

He opened doors, flew through windows. Explored every nook and cranny he could find. Clockwork let him, and that meant he couldn't get in too much trouble doing it, right?

He'd discovered so many interesting rooms and spaces as he searched, but it was a particularly nondescript wooden door set into a shadowy recess down one rather unremarkable corridor that ended up catching his eye. You'd think that after the sunken library room with its books made of kelp and the room containing an abandoned temple in what looked like a jungle with trees that stretched so high he couldn't see the ceiling, that a random door wouldn't have made much of an impression on him. But that was exactly why Danny was so intrigued; the rest of Clockwork's lair was so fantastical, especially in this section. Why have such a plain door almost hidden from view?

It occurred to Danny that Clockwork might have had a reason for making this particular door so unobtrusive. That there might be something behind it that Clockwork didn't want him to see. But when Danny tested the handle, he found it to be unlocked, and Clockwork didn't suddenly appear over his shoulder to tell him off, so Danny decided that was a good enough sign for him that it was okay to enter.

He didn't know what he expected to find on the other side of the door, but he was mildly disappointed to discover nothing more than what looked like a small storage room. The space was mostly bare aside from a simple bookshelf that was bare except for a few packages wrapped in brown paper and twine, and a scratched vanity that was missing one of its drawers.

Danny almost dismissed the room and left. He'd already been backing out, when he spotted something lying on top of the vanity that looked vaguely familiar. He paused, lingering in the doorway, before deciding to investigate a little further. He stepped back into the room, the door shutting behind him with a soft click.

“Wha…?” He whispered, staring down at the three objects laying discarded on the vanity top.

The first object was starmap. Clearly drawn by hand, he recognized several of the constellations, including Cassiopeia and Andromeda. The Andromeda galaxy in particular had been circled in red ink, marking it as important. It took a few seconds of studying the map, though, for Danny to realize why it looked so familiar; the stars were the same as the night he and Clockwork had gone stargazing. He could distinctly remember describing these exact constellations and their stories that night, first to Clockwork, then to the woman. He traced his fingers along the handle of the Big Dipper, feeling the phantom touch of the cool night breeze on his face.

The next object was nothing he recognized. In fact, it looked like nothing more than a pile of smashed metal and wires, like someone had taken a steamroller to a particularly advanced toaster. But once again a memory rose in his minds eye, unbidden, of something metal poking out from under a stone statue, completely crushed. This must have been the offering that the man had brought to Melinoe. But why was it here? The map made sense, at least a little bit. Clockwork might have brought Danny out there so he could record the stars. But Danny hadn't seen Clockwork anywhere near the village or Melinoe's statue the whole time they were there. Why would he have the man's destroyed offering?

It was the third object that helped all of the puzzle pieces fall into place. Danny reached out with tentative hands to pick up the scroll of parchment, carefully unrolling it across the vanity. As the parchment unfurled, words written in ghost script revealed themselves. Danny wasn't great at reading ghost script yet, but he could pick out enough of the words to get the context. This was a peace treaty. But the parchment was torn nearly in half near the middle, and one corner was splattered with spilled ectoplasm, now dried.It hit Danny all at once that these were all tokens from the tasks that Clockwork had assigned to that man and woman. The first two must have been successes, but the torn and unsigned peace treaty remained as a mark of their failure. Feeling sad at the reminder of their heartbroken faces, Danny carefully set the parchment down, preparing to fly away and leave these tragic mementos behind.

But as the parchment touched the vanity, he thought he saw a spark of light dance across the surface of the vanity’s mirror. Danny paused, squinting at the glass. There didn’t seem to be anything odd or peculiar about the mirror, or the frame that held it, but something about it reminded Danny faintly of one of Clockwork’s viewing screens. He found himself reaching towards it with a trembling hand, unable to stop himself from brushing the cool surface with his fingertips.

The glass rippled like it was made of water. Danny gasped and jerked backwards, clutching his hand to his chest like it had been burned. His wide eyes were locked on the mirror, watching as the ripples traveled across its surface until the reflection of the room was gone, replaced by a much darker scene.

Was that…him? Danny leaned closer to the mirror, his brow furrowed in concentration as he studied the scene the mirror was displaying. It definitely looked like him. Same white hair, same green eyes. This Danny was missing his cloak though. And he looked to be in rough shape, his eyes bruised, his body littered with cuts and scrapes that were slowly leaking ectoplasm. He seemed to be bound to some sort of metal table, thick metal cuffs locked around his wrists, ankles, and throat, that showed no sign of breaking despite how much the Danny in the mirror was thrashing.

And then the sound came on, and Danny found himself watching, transfixed by horror, as the terrible scene played out.

”...Mom, dad, it’s me, I swear it’s me!” Danny cried, twisting his arms and legs in a frantic attempt to escape his bonds.

The woman suddenly came into view, her jumpsuit hood pulled up over her head and her goggles over her eyes, holding a handheld voice recorder. She stared down at Danny clinically, the red glass of her goggles reflecting the overhead lights so that her eyes couldn’t be seen.

“The subject continues to attempt to use deception to escape captivity, despite repeated failures,” she narrated into the recorder. “The specially-enhanced ghost resistant restraints continue to hold the subject in place, with no signs of weakness. However, we will only be able to access the subject’s chest cavity from the front in this position. Note for future iterations of ghost restraints - make them adjustable to better position subjects for examination.”

“Mom, please,” Danny sobbed. “Please, mom, don’t do this. It’s me, it’s Danny, please, you have to believe me!”

“Is that no-good spook still trying to convince us he’s our son?” the man asked as he walked up to the table, carrying a plastic bin in his arms that was full of various scalpels and knives that glinted wickedly under the bright examination lighting. “Nice try, spook! But you’re not going to trick us!”

“Dad. Dad,” Danny moaned, tears running down his cheeks. He gave a halfhearted tug at the bands around his wrists, but he was clearly growing weaker as his struggles continued to do nothing but tire him out.

“Oh good, you brought the equipment,” the woman said cheerfully, completely ignoring Danny’s cries. “I think we’re all set up now. Ready to get started?”

“You betcha, hun!” the man declared eagerly, setting the bin down on a rolling cart positioned next to the examination table and selecting a pair of pliers from its contents. “Where do you want to start?”

“Why don’t I make the first incision,” the woman suggested, pulling a scalpel out from the bin, “and you can take the initial observation notes? You can take over when we get further into the chest cavity, you’ve always been better at detail work, after all.”

“Sounds good, Mads!”

“No! No, please, no!” Danny renewed his thrashing as the scalpel began to descend, terror overtaking him as what was about to happen sank in. “No!”

And then, just as the scalpel touched Danny’s skin, the world froze.

And the mirror went black.

Danny fell back as the images vanished, collapsing to the ground with horror. He curled into himself, clutching his cloak tightly around his shoulders in a futile attempt to warm himself up, but it was no use. He couldn’t stop shaking.

That was him. That was him on that exam table, getting ready to be cut to pieces, by those strangers who had been so kind to him when he’d encountered them on Clockwork’s errands. They’d tried to cut him apart, talking about him like he wasn’t even a person, like he was nothing more than an object to be sliced open and studied.

And he’d called them mom and dad. They…they’d been his parents?

He was going to be sick.

He didn’t know long he sat there, huddled over in the middle of the floor, trying not to throw up. But eventually he managed through herculean effort to push himself back up to his feet. He stumbled back out into the hallways and then through Clockwork’s lair, the rooms and corridors passing in a blur, until he tumbled into Clockwork’s observation room, collapsing to the ground as soon as he crossed the threshold. His vision was blurry, and his body was still shaking like a leaf. He couldn’t move another step.

Thankfully Clockwork was still in the room when he arrived, and noticed when Danny entered. Danny didn’t hear him approach, but he felt it when Clockwork’s hands started stroking his back.

“Easy, Danny,” Clockwork’s voice broke through the haze of panic and horror that had overtaken Danny’s mind. “Easy, now. Just focus on the sound of my voice. There you go.”

Danny tried to obey. He listened to Clockwork speaking, his low, gentle tones a soothing balm in contrast to the burning feeling in his chest that had gripped him and wouldn’t let go. He tried to focus on the rhythmic ticking sound that filled Clockwork’s lair, no matter where he went. He closed his eyes and let the feeling of Clockwork’s hand rubbing his back become the only thing he paid any attention to, until he slowly started to calm down. His shaking became trembling, then small shivers, until finally it stopped.

When Danny became aware of the world around him again, he found himself sitting on the floor next to Clockwork, tucked against the Master of Time’s side with Clockwork’s cloak draped over his shoulders. Danny’s head was resting against his chest, his ear pressed to the glass covering the clock in the middle of his body, the soft ticking filling his ears and bringing him comfort. Clockwork had stopped rubbing his back, but his hand was still resting between Danny’s shoulder blades, providing a grounding touch.

Danny shifted, feeling embarrassed that he’d essentially been clinging to Clockwork like an overwhelmed toddler, but Clockwork released him without comment or remark, simply letting Danny pull away at his own pace. Still, Danny found he couldn’t look Clockwork in the eye as he scrubbed at his face, wiping away any traces of the tears that had apparently been running down his cheeks.

“Sorry,” Danny choked out, his voice hoarse. He focused on one of the gears sticking out of the far wall that was slowly rotating, driving some unseen mechanism in the room, and let its rhythmic motion calm him further.

“There’s no need to apologize,” Clockwork told him simply, still seated on the ground like he didn’t have anywhere else to be at the moment. “You were upset. You’ve done nothing wrong.”

“I distracted you from your work,” Danny argued weakly.

“No, you haven’t,” Clockwork quickly dismissed his concerns. “The time streams are still there, and will continue to be there when I am able to return to them. That’s the great thing about being Master of Time. I can take as many breaks as I like, and it doesn’t change a thing.”

Surprised by Clockwork’s uncharacteristic joke, Danny bit out a burst of startled laughter. “I guess that makes sense,” he admitted with a rueful grin, rubbing the gunk from his eyes.

“Now, would you like to talk about what happened?”

The smile slipped from Danny’s face as he was forced to remember what he saw in that room. A chill grew in his chest, any comfort and happiness he had gleaned from the past few minutes withering away. No, he didn’t want to talk about it. But at the same time, he really kind of needed to.

“Clockwork…that room…what I saw…was that…that wasn’t real, was it?” Danny struggled to ask, desperation stealing his words and clarity.

And yet, somehow Clockwork knew exactly what Danny was talking about. Somehow Danny couldn’t find it in him to be surprised.

“Yes. It was real,” Clockwork said quietly, almost sadly. The chill in Danny’s chest grew to a frost that burned within him.

“They…no, they…those were my…my parents?” he choked out. “They really were?”

“Yes.”

“And they…they were going to…did they…?”

“No. No, they did not harm you,” Clockwork told him, his voice firm but reassuring. “Though it was a very near thing. Had I not intervened, then yes. They would have irreversibly damaged you, both physically and mentally.”

“Oh god,” Danny sobbed, a hand flying up to cover his mouth. He felt sick again. He took a few deep breaths, trying to breathe through the nausea, and then forced himself to focus on something else Clockwork had mentioned before he got overwhelmed and started crying again. “But you stopped them?”

“Yes,” Clockwork confirmed. He was watching Danny with an unreadable expression, still sitting on the floor with his hands folded in his lap. He made no move to offer Danny any more comfort, but he didn’t shift away either. “I had foreseen that these events would take place, and that their consequences would be dire. So, I appeared to your parents before they could make that terrible mistake, and took you away from them. Afterwards I brought you here to recover.”

Suddenly, Clockwork did something unexpected. He paused and looked away, a flash of uncertainty crossed his features. Danny, who had never seen Clockwork look anything but calm, collected, and in control, was stunned.

“What’s wrong?” he couldn’t help but ask, as much as he dreaded hearing the answer.

“I will admit that I may have acted in a way that was…unbecoming of an ancient such as myself. I am not meant to show favoritism, but I must confess to having a bit of a soft spot for you, Danny.”

Danny blushed.

“And that, unfortunately, affected my judgment when it came to dealing with the incident. Rather than intervene by my usual methods of tweaking the timelines to achieve the desired outcomes, I acted personally to save you.”

“You…showed up yourself to rescue me,” Danny clarified. When Clockwork merely grimaced, obviously unhappy with that fact, Danny’s brow furrowed in confusion. “I don’t understand. Why is that a problem?”

“Because in my anger and fear on your behalf, I was not as careful with my words as I should have been,” Clockwork confessed. “The reason your parents were attempting to experiment on you was that they didn’t know the truth; that you are a Halfa. They didn’t know that your ghost self and human selves were one and the same. You had been hiding it from them, but I revealed the truth to them when I confronted them, against your wishes.”

“Oh…” Danny looked down at the floor as he contemplated this. Based on how…ashamed Clockwork sounded, it seemed like he should probably be more upset than he was. But right now, he found he didn’t really care. His parents were going to cut him open! What did it matter if Clockwork had told them he was a Halfa, that he’d revealed Danny’s secret? Wasn’t it more important that Clockwork had gotten him out of there safely?

Of course, maybe if he remembered what a Halfa was, he might be more upset. Human self? Ugh, whatever. It probably wasn’t that important.

But something else was niggling at the back of his mind. So many questions had sprung up, between what he’d seen in the room and Clockwork’s story, but one thing in particular seemed to jump to the front of his concerns.

“Why don’t I remember any of this?” he asked, looking back up to meet Clockwork’s eyes. “Did I hit my head?”

“No. That is also my doing,” Clockwork admitted, though he didn’t seem to be as troubled by this confession as the first one. “And its purpose was twofold. One, to help you recover from the trauma of your experience without the memories resurfacing and setting you back. And the other reason…well, to explain that, I must first ask a question of my own.”

“Oh?” Danny perked up. “Okay, what’s that?”

“What did you want to be when you grew up?”

Danny jerked back. “What? Oh, come on, this question again? I don’t remember! And apparently you took my memories away in the first place! How is that fair?”

“It’s not you that needs to answer the question, Danny,” Clockwork told him gently. Danny frowned at him, completely lost, but then he noticed that Clockwork wasn’t actually looking at him anymore, but over his shoulder at something on the far side of the room.

Abruptly, Danny became aware that they were no longer alone. He whipped around towards the entrance to the observation room, and let out a little gasp when he saw who was lingering in the doorway.

“Mom…Dad…” he whispered, drawing back a little bit.

He wasn’t sure what he was feeling, as he stared at the two humans standing there, watching them. His mom was openly crying, tears running down her cheeks, with her arms folded around her middle like she was giving herself a hug. His dad had his arm wrapped around her shoulder for support, and though there were no tears on his cheeks, he was looking misty eyed and sad. They stopped just past the threshold, neither daring to approach him any closer, though Danny could see the way they both seemed to sway towards him as if subconsciously pulled in his direction.

“Danny,” his mom said carefully, breathing deeply to control her voice.

“Hey, son,” his dad greeted with a lopsided smile, trying to remain cheerful despite the dour mood.

“I…I don’t understand,” Danny admitted, looking back to Clockwork.

“The question was not for you to answer,” Clockwork repeated, rising off of the floor to drift towards Danny’s parents. “It was for them. When I appeared to them and revealed the truth of who and what you are, they were immediately remorseful and begged for another chance to prove their love for you. I agreed, on the condition that they complete a series of challenges to answer a very simple question. ‘What did Danny want to be when he grew up?’ They were given tasks to complete in order to discover the answer, and prove that they were willing to love and accept you no matter what.”

“Knowing what I wanted to be when I grew up was going to show that they loved me?” Danny asked incredulously, getting upset. “How the hell does that make any sense? I probably wanted to be a firefighter or an astronaut or something! They were going to cut me open. How does answering that question prove anything?!”

“You did want to be an astronaut,” his mom cut in, her voice still shaky, but strong. “But that’s not the answer to the question. The answer is…you wanted to be someone who was kind.”

“And brave,” his dad continued, sounding equally choked up.

“And strong,” his mom finished, giving him a watery smile. “And we realize, now, that that’s exactly what you are. A kind, brave, strong, incredibly selfless young man who is always willing to help others. We didn’t understand that, but thanks to…to Clockwork, we see it now. We know that, no matter who or what you are, you are our wonderful, amazing son. And we are so sorry for what we did to you, and what we almost did to you. We have so much to make up for, Danny, but we love you, and we hope that you’ll give us the chance to show you that we’ve changed.”

“Though, we’ll also understand if you’ve decided that you can’t forgive us,” his dad added sadly. “After all we’ve done, we can’t blame you.”

“You…the challenges…how did they show you all this?” Danny asked slowly, struggling to understand. He didn’t want to trust his parents just yet, but a part of him was yearning to run into their arms, to finally feel the acceptance that he had apparently been longing for and missing all this time.

“My challenges were simple,” Clockwork piped up, taking over the explanation. “The first, for your mother Maddie. I challenged her to recreate a map of the night sky from just her memory. She was able to do so because you showed her the stars, and explained their stories, which she then remembered and used to create a starmap.” Clockwork waved his hand through the air, and the starmap that had been sitting on the vanity appeared in the room, floating next to him. “She succeeded at her task, thus proving she was willing to listen to you, and learn from you.”

His mother ducked her head demurely.

“The second task was for your father Jack. I instructed him to sacrifice something precious as an offering to the goddess of his enemies, Melinoe. He offered up his first invention, one that had been used to harm ghosts in the past, despite it having great sentimental value to him.”

Clockwork gestured again, and the smashed metal object appeared next to the starmap. Jack let out a sad little noise at the sight of it, but otherwise didn’t complain at seeing his destroyed possession on display.

“Jack completed his task admirably, proving that he was willing to make sacrifices for you, even if it was at the expense of his work and passions.”

“Aw, shucks. It was all worth it for Dann-o,” Jack said bashfully, rubbing at the back of his head.

“And then, their final task,” Clockwork began, and the mood in the room instantly dropped. He made one final gesture, summoning the torn peace treaty, which dropped down to drape across his open hands. “I sent you both to broker peace between two enemy ghost tribes. But instead, you nearly incited a war, setting back negotiations that had been in the works for centuries. This third and final task, you failed miserably.”

His parents both bowed their heads with shame.

“I had intended this task to test your willingness to work peacefully with those you had once hated, to see if you could put aside your prejudices and help ghosts rather than hunt them. It would do Danny no good, after all, if despite your willingness to listen to him and make sacrifices for him, you still hated a large part of who he was.” Clockwork gave them both a stern look.

“But…but we tried our best,” his mom argued weakly.

“Your best was not enough,” Clockwork replied sharply, making her flinch. “You failed the third task, and thus I sent you away. I told you that you would not be able to see your son again if you failed my challenge, that you were forbidden to seek him out. And yet, here you are.”

Despite the way she had shrunk back only moments before, his mom suddenly straightened her spine and glared Clockwork down with fire in her eyes. “He’s our son,” she spat out.

“He’s our son, and we love him,” his dad elaborated. “Of course we came looking for him, no matter what you said. We weren’t going to give up on him. Not until he told us himself that he doesn’t want to see us anymore.”

Clockwork stared them down silently. His parents stared defiantly back. Danny founded himself glancing between both sides like he was attending a tennis match, wondering who would back down first. The tension in the room built and built, until abruptly it snapped. To Danny’s shock, it was Clockwork who gave in, his eyes sliding shut with a weary sigh.

“Of course you didn’t listen. Danny had to get his stubbornness from somewhere, I suppose,” Clockwork grumbled.

He turned away from them for a moment, gathering the three items from their tasks and placing them reverently down on a table next to one of his observation screens. When he turned back around, Danny was surprised to see a pleased smile spreading across his face.

“You failed your third task,” Clockwork told them, approaching them slowly. “But only in word. In spirit, you actually passed.”

His parents’ jaws dropped open.

“Wait, what?!” his mom gasped.

“I had given you the challenge to test your willingness to work peacefully with ghosts. You were unable to broker peace between the two tribes, but you still made an effort, and showed no discomfort or hesitation in attempting to complete your task. Thus, while you failed the test in word, you succeeded in achieving its true goal.”

“B-but, if we passed,” his mom stuttered. “Then why did you send us away?”

“Because there was one more challenge to complete,” Clockwork explained with a shrug.

His mom’s jaw dropped with indignation. “You never mentioned a fourth task!”

“Calm down, Mads,” his dad said nervously, holding a fuming Maddie back by her shoulder. “Let’s just hear him out first.”

“Of course I didn’t,” Clockwork admitted, smirking. “These kinds of challenges always have extra, hidden, levels after all. It’s tradition.”

“I’ll show you tradition!”

“Mads!”

“What was the last challenge?”

The three adults turned to face Danny, surprised to hear him speak after he’d spent so long just watching and listening. But Danny sensed that this was important, and he desperately needed to know the answer. So he asked again, “What was the last challenge?”

Clockwork gave him an indulgent smile, before he turned and faced Danny’s parents. “Your final challenge,” he said, “was to return, after being sent away. I had made myself clear that you would never see Danny again if you failed, but you persevered and returned for him, despite my warnings, thus proving that you would not give up on him so easily. You have shown me, through the completion of all four of my challenges, that you are willing to do what it takes to change your ways, and that your love for your son is true.”

His mom and dad started crying, relief breaking over their features.

“However,” Clockwork suddenly said, and his parents both froze, looks of concern furrowing their brows. “It is not my decision if you ultimately have failed or succeeded. The final judgment lies with your son.”

Danny and his parents both stiffened, before looking at each other with wide eyes.

“Me?” Danny asked quietly, feeling very small all of the sudden.

“Yes,” Clockwork confirmed. “As this decision will impact you most of all, it is ultimately your choice. Do you forgive them, and return home to the human realm with your parents? Or do reject them, and remain here in the Ghost Zone. The choice is yours. You are welcome to stay with me if you so choose, but you are also free to return to your human life if that is what you would rather want. It’s up to you.”

“I…I get to decide,” Danny said slowly, his gaze dropping to the ground as he mulled over his options.

“You do. Think it over, take your time if you need it.”

Danny hummed wordlessly to acknowledge Clockwork’s words, but he was too deep in thought to really respond. His choice, huh? What did he want to do?

Part of him really wanted to stay. He’d been so happy here, working as Clockwork’s apprentice, spending his days either traveling through time or exploring the endless halls and rooms of Clockwork’s lair. There was so much to see and do and experience here that he figured he’d never grow tired of it, even if he stayed here for several lifetimes. And Clockwork had been so kind to him, even if he sometimes seemed a bit cold and distant. He had still cared for Danny and spent his precious time teaching him.

He looked up at his mom and dad. He didn’t remember them as his parents. He didn’t have any memories of them caring for him or teaching him. He didn’t remember them kissing his boo-boos or fixing him sandwiches or pushing him on the swings. He assumed they must have done things like that, but to him right now, they were essentially strangers.

But they were strangers who had been kind to him, too. He remembered his mom taking the time to listen to him go on about the stars, even though she must have grown bored of his stories by the end of it. He remembered his dad playing catch with him while they fixed up that statue, and then spending the afternoon shopping with him. He remembered the looks of devastation on their faces when they’d thought they would never see him again, and how they had been willing to go up against the Master of Time himself just for the chance to get Danny back. He may not have known them, but even he couldn’t deny that they clearly loved him, based on what he’d seen.

But did that make up for what they’d almost done to him? It sounded like there might have even been more, worse things that he couldn’t even remember. Did they truly love him more than they’d apparently also hated him?

He stared into their misty eyes, watching the way their tears silently dripped down their cheeks as they waited for his decision. He studied their faces, so full of hope and longing and fear that he would reject them. They clutched at each others’ hands for support, clearly anxious for his answer, but they made no move to rush him, just silently waited, ready to accept his choice no matter what it would be.

Danny looked at them, and suddenly he knew there was only one answer he could give.

“Clockwork?” Danny said quietly. “I’m really grateful for all of the time you spent taking care of me. Thank you for letting me stay here. But…I think I’d like to go home now.”

Clockwork blinked and then smiled slowly, nodding his head in acceptance. At the same time his mom let out a sob of relief, collapsing against his dad.

“I appreciated the company,” Clockwork told him, resting a hand on Danny’s shoulder. “And you are always welcome to return.”

“Thank you,” Danny accepted, giving Clockwork a smile. “I think I’d like to come visit again sometime.”

“Of course,” Clockwork agreed. “But for now, I think your parents are ready to take you home.”

Danny turned back to face them, and as he did, all of his memories came flooding back as if they’d never left him. He gasped, staring at his mom and dad in wide-eyed disbelief, before his own eyes started to tear up.

“Mom,” he cried. “Dad!”

“Oh, Danny!” his mom choked out, opening up her arms wide. Danny needed no further invitation; he rushed across the room to throw himself into his parent’s arms, clinging to them and crying.

“Oh thank you, thank you, thank you,” his mom whispered fiercely into his hair as she and his dad embraced him. “Oh Danny, I’m so sorry for everything. I promise, we’re going to make it up to you. We love you so much.”

“We’re so glad to see you, Danny,” his dad murmured, sounding equally choked up. His massive hand found its way into Danny’s hair, ruffling it gently. “We missed you so much.”

“Mom, Dad, I missed you too,” Danny told them, burying his face into his mom’s shoulder. “I’m sorry too. I should have told you the truth.”

“Shh, don’t you dare apologize,” his mom insisted gently. “We’re the ones who will need to make it up to you. And we’re going to start right now. Let’s head home, and you can tell us all about it.”

“Jazzy-pants has been worried sick,” his dad added with a wet chuckle. “She’ll be so happy to see you.”

“Oh god, Jazz,” Danny moaned, his memories of his older sister returning, along with others. “And Tucker and Sam. They must be so worried.”

“They were,” his mom admitted. “We all were. But you’re okay now. That’s all that matters. Let’s go home.”

“Yeah,” Danny agreed with a happy smile. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

They turned to leave, heading back towards the entrance of Clockwork’s lair, but just before they left the room, Danny’s parents stopped and looked back at Clockwork, who was hanging back, floating in the air and watching them.

“Thank you,” his mom thanked the Master of Time with surprising seriousness, “for taking care of our son. For protecting him, even from us. We will forever be in your debt for this.”

Clockwork just gave her a warm smile. “Think nothing of it,” he told her gently. “I’m just pleased that Danny is happy and safe.”

“On that, we can all agree,” his mom said with a smile of her own. And then she looked back down at Danny with nothing but love in her eyes, and said, “Alright, Danny. Time to go.”

Tucked into their sides, feeling safe and warm and loved, Danny followed his parents back home.