Restless - Ch. 5

Chapter 5

Danny was shooting through the Ghost Zone at speeds he didn't even know he could reach. His brain seemed to have gone into auto-pilot. He couldn't think. His eyes were streaming tears and he wasn't sure that it was just because of the speeds he was going at. There was only one thought on his mind: Clockwork can help.

He landed outside Time Tower(1) and instantly felt the absense of ... well, time. Clockwork had his time medalion things infused into his tower, so it could exist outside of time, so it was always accessable. Danny opened the door, sticking his head through, looking around nervously. Normally when he came to see Clockwork, the ghost knew and was at the door. Maybe the Time Lord(2) was angry with him?

Danny stepped around the door, closing it silently. 'Clockwork ... ? Hello?' the halfa called out, shuffling into the Tower, eyes wide like a deer caught in the headlights. Making his way into the main room Danny gasped as he saw the shattered pieces of the Time Orbs on the floor. The one that was left looked like Amity Park in the present day. Something was going on here. Something bad.

A shiver wound its way down Dannys spine as he looked around. There was a glowing green stain on the floor which looked ominous, and a bit closer to the halfa there was what looked like a lump of metal that had been melted to a glob on the stones. Add that to the fact that Clockwork was nowhere in sight and the Time Orbs were in pieces on the floor and that gave whole a whole heap of trouble.

Danny backed up quickly. Clockwork was either seriously injured or dead(again) and for all the teen knew the person who did this was still in the Tower. Suddenly, the halfa stopped dead. He bolted for the closet where Clockwork kept the Thermos. Trembling, Danny fell to his knees.

The Thermos was broken.

And not just broken, but shattered into tiny little pieces. This was not good. At all. In fact, this was the worst thing that could have happened. Shakily, Danny got to his feet. He had to get out of here and warn everyone. He took a step back and froze again. There was something behind him that hadn't been there a second ago. Oh god. Danny took it back. This was the worst thing that could have happened. Titling his head back, Danny locked eyes with the smirking form of his older evil alternate-future self.

'Hello, Daniel.' Danny shivered slightly, his eyes wide and terrified, the pale skin of his ghost half even paler than normal. Darks' smirk widened and he walked back into the main room, sitting on a couch that hadn't been there previously. It was positioned just infront of the last remaining Orb of Time, and looked exactly like the one (Not that Danny noticed) from Darks room in his dream.

'Come and sit, Danny-boy,' Dark purred, gesturing at the empty space on the couch beside him. Dannys eyes flicked to the door and back to the flame-haired ghost, but as if Dark knew what Danny was thinking, he scowled and waved a hand at the door. A green energy shield formed a barrier around the exit. 'Come and sit,' Dark repeated, a little more threateningly than a moment ago.

Danny twitched. Part of him wanted to run and find another escape, but the majority wanted to go and sit next to Dark and find out why the older ghost hadn't vapourised him yet. Still shaking, the teen made his way over to the couch and sat down as far away from Dark as he possibly could - without falling off, of course.

'Any reason you came here today then, Danny-boy?' Dark purred, still looking at the remaining orb that was showing a frozen view of Amity Park a few moments after Danny entered the Ghost Zone. Danny didn't say anything. 'There's blood spatter on your clothes, and I know it isn't yours. Anything you want to tell me now?' Dark asked after a short silence, turning to face his younger self.

Danny winced and turned intangible, the blood falling through him to the couch. 'I ... ' he started, his voice cracking. Danny licked his lips, trying to steady himself. 'I killed Lancer.' The admission came in a rush and Danny felt the blood rush to his face in shame. But Dark barely blinked.

'Is that all? From the way you were acting I thought you'd massacred the whole city,' Dark snorted.

Danny looked over at Dark. He knew that the blue-skinned man was crazy and murder was an everyday thing to him, but ... the way he acted as though killing Lancer wasn't a bad thing ... it made the fifteen-year-old want to trust him, to listen to him more. Danny curled himself into a ball on the couch.

'But ... I'm sure they know who did it ... I ... I'll never be able to go back home.'

Dark laughed and Danny shivered again, his eyelids closing of their own accord. 'Did anyone see you?'

'Well ... no ... '

'Did you leave anything behind that might incriminate you?'

'Kind of the opposite really ... ' Danny mumbled into his knees.

'Oh, really?' Dark asked with interest, crossing his legs and interlocking his fingers, leaning back on the couch and smirking. 'What did you do?'

Danny blushed a deep crimson. 'I ... kind of wrote on him ... with a knife ... '

Dark chuckled again and the younger ghost had to stop himself from shaking at the sound. He didn't know what it was, but every time he heard Darks laugh it just seemed ... pleasurable. Danny flushed even redder at the thought. 'What did you write?' Dark purred out, his red eyes gleaming.

' ... 'Dark Dan was here' ... and then a smiley face, winking,' Danny replied hesitantly.

At that Dark let out a proper laugh, the deep baritone echoes bouncing around the tower. 'A smiley face? Well, at least you have an excellent sense of humour,' he chuckled as he calmed down. 'But you see? There's nothing that they can pin on you. It looks like someone else killed Lancer. As long as you don't act guiltily, then there's no reason for people to be suspicious.' He hooked his arms around Dannys shoulders, pulling him against his side, noticing (But ignoring) the almost silent startled squeak that came from his younger self. 'Afterall, everyone in Amity knows you as the quiet Fenton kid with a C- average or the ghost hero who protects the town and would never do something to hurt anyone good,' the villian purred, his fingers stroking Dannys HAZMAT suited shoulder.

'I - But, well - How am I supposed to act normal?' Danny stammered out. 'I've just killed someone, and I don't make a habit of it, unlike you.'

'You should, it's an excellent conversation topic,' Dark murmered, grinning, his fangs glinting. 'But, if you're truely insistant on not owning up and continuing to be the hero, I suppose I could help you. I'll talk to you, in your mind of course, wouldn't want people to think you've gone insane now would we?' he laughed quietly. 'I'll talk to you and tell you what to do, hmm? A little nudge in the right direction every now and then, just to keep people off your tracks.'

Danny looked up at Dark suddenly, shooting him a glare filled with suspision. 'Why are you helping me? I thought you wanted to kill me? Or at least turn me into a mini version of you.'

'Well, priorities change and why wouldn't I want to help you? You're me. And I always help myself,' Dark chuckled, grinning evilly. 'Oh, and if you're going to leave, take this,' the ghost said, offering out one of Clockworks Time Medalions.

'Why?' Danny asked, taking it and throwing it around his neck anyway.

'It's a teleport device. Just click the button on the top and you'll come straight back here. I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot more of each other, Danny-boy,' Dark smirked, standing and shoving Danny through the Orb of the Present and back into Amity Park.

Dark chuckled to himself. Oh, he would be seeing a lot more of Danny. And not in the way the teen thought.