#There could be so many outcomes that Clockwork can see

[dcxdpdabbles]

DCxDP fanfic idea: Timeline Prevention Squad

Clockwork is trying to catch up on paperwork because even the gods had to do tedious work. He is flipping through pages and pages of time concerning reports when he stumbles across a particular request stuck between three old Speed Force crimes reports.

A request from Mordecai Wayne asking the time accident for help to his original time. It was filed through a ritual of one of his lost temples.

Clockwork gapes at it, suddenly realizing he forgot to follow up and had left Mordecai Wayne - better known as Bruce Wayne - to fling around the timeline.

Clockwork, when he was young, had allowed humans to set up temples and given them direct runes to send their burned parchment to him for requests. Initially, he designed the request ritual to enable humans to help or prepare for future disasters.

Give them a little warning in the form of deviation.

Then, humans turned it into trying to control the future. Or to change what had happened by having altered the past. They started thinking he would move the times to fit their desired outcome.

Tried to offer people sacrifices when he ignored the requests. Clockwork can watch the timelines like an observer over a parade, but humans put on the parade at the end of the day.

It was their free will that gave him a show. And it was this free will that cost lives that shouldn't have ended because of other humans' greed.

He closed his temples, scrambled his runes, and let his temples rot.

Clockwork thought he got them all, but he obviously left behind some crumbs of his old worshipers.

Those crumbs were enough for Bruce Wayne to painfully piece together and redo his ritual to send him a request for aid in his time placement.

He hadn't even read it, having flung it into one of his filing cabinets to look over later and... didn't.

Clockwork snapped his fingers, pulling up Bruce's timeline. He winces when he sees it too late; it's past the point, but luckily, Tim Drake pulled him out and brought him home.

People don't know that Clockwork can't undo timelines- he just makes new ones that stream off his intervention.

The most recent time he stepped in was with Danny Fenton in a universe created due to Merlin asking Clockwork to save his lover Arthur, and thus, certain events did not come to pass- like the finding of Gotham.

He rescued Daniel's family by freezing them just as the explosion happened, allowing the young hero to think his dark future had never come to pass. That was not true.

There is still a world where Daniel's family died in the explosion, and it existed right allowed side the one that they didn't.

He could do the same and step in to prevent Bruce from ever getting hit with the Omega Beams, but that would create six different timelines, which would be a pain to file for. Daniel was only two, and he-

Wait. Daniel.

That's what he could do!

He couldn't make up the fact Bruce Wayne got lost in time and asked for aid. But he could send compensation in the form of one eager gooddoer who would help him in his ultimate goal.

Make Gotham safe.

And who better than a child with a strong sense of justice and the power of a minor God?

After all, Bruce's request wasn't to get back home. He thought he was going to die from the overlapping beams. Bruce thought there was no more hope for him.

Instead his request was

Please allow me to ensure my kids are okay and will be alright once I pass.

He picks up his sticky notes, scrambling a quick message to Danny. He pauses momentarily, wondering if he should admit his mistake, but that would.....ruin his reputation.

He chooses to lie by omission.

Dear Daniel,

Please come to my Keep. I have a mission that requires your assistance in an alternate timeline.

You must help keep Bruce Wayne and his kids safe. Whatever the costs are, as is his request for aid from a higher being.

Daniel couldn't resist a mission that sounded like he was a hero, and it didn't mention who the aid was requested.

To ensure Daniel will never learn he will....tell him that the Waynes could never see Phantom or......or he be trapped there forever!

Yes perfect.

A few seconds after sending the sticky note through a portal, Clockwork senses Daniel pick up the note.

And suddenly, he sees events flash before his eyes. Scenes of Daniel following Gotham's hero. Rescuing them from their worst rouges while Bats. Circling through the nights to stop the more minor pity crimes that they were too exhausted to handle.

Enrolling into Gotham Academy to ensure their civilian safety and status. Getting close to the younger Wayne and even obtaining an internship with Tim Drake to help him at WE.

Then, Daniel gets more substantial and robust due to all the deaths that drenched Gotham. It would be just like a Kryptonian on a planet of a Blue Sun.

It would make him more robust than a yellow sun, and Daniel would flush there!

Clockwork smiles as the visions end. He did a great thing making this suggestion. Phantom will be fantastic in Gotham!

Now, hopefully, that pesky free will won't ruin his plan-

A vision of Daniel being worshiped as a Phantom as different Gotham natives start to believe him, and an unlock god appears.

Clockwork winces, but he figures if no human ever sees Phantom unless he is there for righteous heroism, he can understand why they were confused.

Which isn't so bad-

A different version of Daniel possibly appears in the future. This one shows Daniel in a bright red suit at WE with Tim Drake hyperventilating not too far away. Apparently, he suspects Daniel of being Phantom, but his hormones are getting in the way of his logical thought.

This wasn't so bad as it wasn't a cult. It was just risking Daniel's secret identity. Then again, he could honeypot his way out-

A different future appears. One where Daniel accidentally convinces the Bat children that he's stalking their Father. They think Daniel fancies Bruce Wayne, despite the alarming age difference, and try to block him at every turn.

This is okay; there were different outcomes, but nothing bad.

And it's already been done. He can't change the past, not without making more timelines.

He sighs.

Hopefully, this will all work out. Somehow.

#dcxdpdabbles #dc x dp crossover #Timeline Prevention Squad #Clockwork send Danny on a fake mission #Danny takes it very seriously #a whole new dimension for him to play in? #yes please #There could be so many outcomes that Clockwork can see #some are crazy

[sixofkingdom]

The Crows as DnD Characters

This is DnD 5e, though I'm curious to see if any other systems have more suitable classes for the Crows.

Kaz: Rogue, Mastermind

This one is straightforward, Kaz is the scheming tactician of the Crows, and Mastermind Rogue fits on all accounts. He can help his allies, gain insight on his enemies, has access to useful tools (including proficiency with cards, which is an important element of his character), and Kaz is legendary for his bluffs. Misdirection might not be strictly in-character, but the rest are perfect for Dirtyhands.

Inej: Rogue, Thief

Rogue is an obvious choice for the Wraith, but the archetype isn't as apparent. You might be tempted by assassin, or swashbuckler for her daring acrobatics. Until you read Second-Story Work and Supreme Sneak for Thief. Climbing, jumping, and sneaking up on people so reliably you get mistaken for a ghost. Yeah, Inej is a Thief Rogue.

Jesper: Fighter/Sorcerer, Gunslinger/Clockwork Soul

Jesper's a Gunslinger through and through, but he's also Grisha. Which could suggest Forge Cleric since he's a Fabrikator. But I think Clockwork Soul Sorcerer is a lot more in line with his current abilities, which allows him to even the odds in a fight, and affect the outcome in many slight ways. Restore Balance and Bastion of Law are subtler manipulations that seem in line with what Jesper usually does in combat.

Matthias: Fighter, Battlemaster

It was tempting to put Matthias down as a Ranger Monster Slayer, which is a good way to hunt some Grisha, as well as allowing for some kinship with animals. But the fact that Rangers have access to spellcasting made this a difficult choice. I'm gonna err on the side of caution and put him down as a Battlemaster. The maneuvers like Grappling Strike and Ambush seem to be in line with his skills.



Nina: Cleric, Domain of Order

Cleric has a wide spell list which includes restorative and healing spells, as well as enchantment spells, which the Domain of Order focuses on enhancing. Heartrenders are deadly, yes, but Nina's more benevolent magic is also not insignificant. Channel Divinity: Order’s Demand seems to replicate the ability to halt and make enemies drop their weapons, briefly incapacitating a whole group of them. But Nina has a lot of options out there!

Wylan: Artificer, Alchemist

Ignoring the spellcasting, which can be re-flavored to be the effects of items, the Artificer is the foremost choice for a demolitions expert. Now, hear me out. Artillerist's spell-list is perfect for being the results of bombs, and as for the canon... Who doesn't love canons? It's hard to place Wylan anywhere else, without losing important tool proficiencies and mechanics, so I'm sticking with Artificer

#six of crows #crooked kingdom #grishaverse #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #wylan van eck #jesper fahey #nina zenik #matthias helvar #dnd #dnd 5e #ttrpg #shadow and bone netflix

[spectacled-renegade-writes]

An Early Start - Chapter 25 - Final Chapter - Danny Phantom

Ao3: Here | Masterpost: Here

Ao3 Description: The accident that turns Danny half-ghost happens when he is four years old and leaves him trapped in the Ghost Zone. Clockwork finds him and takes him in to raise. But what happens when Clockwork sends Danny back to the human-world ten years later when a permanent portal appears?

Chapter 25: Epilogue

Danny learned the following day that Clockwork did not perish. He was in his room, still recovering, playing a game of chess with Vlad. He only noticed time stop because of a fly, which abruptly stopped buzzing around his room. Moments later Clockwork appeared and placed a time medallion around Vlad’s neck.

Danny choked on his breath and ignored the way his recovering body screamed at him as he jumped off his bed to hug Clockwork, knocking over the chess board in the process. Clockwork’s familiar chill and scent of oil filled his senses, and Danny just stood there and hugged him, and didn’t let go for many moments. Clockwork did not resist but instead hugged him back.

Danny had to wipe away a tear when he finally let go. “I thought… I thought you were…”

“I know.” Clockwork replied gently and Danny couldn’t help but laugh, because of course he knew.

“Where were you?” Danny demanded, but not a hint of spite in his voice.

“You were correct.” Clockwork explained, while Vlad watched on in fascination. “I was captured. But I needed to get a few affairs in order after you defeated the ghost king, which is why I could not see you right away. For that I am sorry.” Clockwork turned to look at Vlad approvingly but when he spoke again, it was clearly still directed at Danny. “Congratulations. Your mission was a success.” He turned back at Danny. “I am so very proud of you.”

Danny smiled, sitting back down at the edge of his bed. “Did you know the whole time? That Pariah would be released?”

“I did,” Clockwork confirmed, something of a hum. “It was one of the more probable timelines. But defeating Pariah Dark wasn’t your mission.”

Danny tilted his head and glanced at Vlad, like maybe he knew what Clockwork was talking about, but Vlad only shrugged so Danny turned his attention back. “Then… what was my mission?”

Something of a bemused smile crossed Clockwork’s lips as he changed from an old man to a baby. He pointed to Vlad. “He was.”

Vlad sputtered. “Me?”

Clockwork nodded. “Indeed.” Clockwork set his scepter on the floor and balanced it upright like the laws of physics shouldn’t allow, and sat atop it. “A timeline existed-“

“Existed?" Vlad interrupted despite himself. "As in past tense?”

Clockwork merely nodded again ever patiently. “Very few timelines can be erased completely but this particular timeline you erased, Danny, it was very special.”

“What happened?” Vlad couldn’t help but ask, hungry for knowledge.

Clockwork finally turned to Vlad and said, quite bluntly, “You destroy the world.”

Danny watched as Vlad paled.

“…I what?”

Clockwork casually worked on winding one of the many watches on his wrist as he spoke. “There was a timeline, the most probable timeline back then, in which Danny received his powers at fourteen. In that timeline, the most probable outcome was that he would save the world you nearly destroy. But in this timeline, as all things that change, it was different, because Danny is different.” He finished winding his watch and moved on to the next one.

“Does that mean…” Danny spoke slowly, a devastating realization dawning on him. It was quite rare for Clockwork to speak of other timelines, whether they have come to pass or have yet to be. “That if I wasn’t different, or if I couldn’t save the world, you wouldn’t have taken me in?” The realization was crushing and he felt something like betrayal. He looked down at the scattered chess pieces. “Was I just a pawn this whole time?”

Danny couldn’t bring himself to look at Clockwork but when Clockwork spoke, it was still in that same smooth, patient tone he always had. “We become close in every timeline you’re born into. You are not a pawn, Danny, and though it may not feel like it, I had nothing to do with the choices you made that led to this timeline.” He reached out and placed a hand on Danny’s shoulder as he shifted to a young man. “This timeline, the one where you received your powers when you were four, it was one of the most unlikely timelines to occur. But, it still happened, because your choices have always been yours, and you have always had your free will.”

Danny felt his shoulders relax and he looked back up at the ghost he considered his father. He knew Clockwork has never lied to him. “I’m sorry.” Danny whispered.

“Apologies are unnecessary. Time is a fickle thing and it can lead to doubt.”

“Since his mission is over,” Vlad spoke up, and they both turned their attention to him. “Does that mean Daniel must return to the Ghost Zone?” Danny couldn’t help but hear the apprehension in Vlad’s tone when he spoke.

Clockwork merely smiled, floating off his seat to get close to Danny. “That all depends on Danny.” He said. “You will always have your free will and should you choose to return to your home in the Ghost Zone, you can.”

“You mean,” Danny breathed. “I can come home?”

“You can.” Clockwork confirmed, floating back again.

A million and one thoughts flooded Danny’s mind. On one hand, a spark of excitement and longing grew for the home he missed so dearly. On the other hand... he looked at Vlad. He thought about the friends he’s made, the family he’s made, the sister he returned to. Danny didn’t know if he could leave them behind. His heart ached at the thought of each choice but he realized it really wasn’t a choice at all. “I’ll visit you,” he whispered, staring at the floor. Then stronger, he looked up at Clockwork. “All the time. I’ll visit you.” Danny watched as a gentle but proud smile cross Clockwork’s face, and Danny continued. “I’ll introduce you to Jazz and my friends. We can still have our lessons, too. But… I can’t leave the dear people I’ve gained in this world.”

“I always suspected as much,” Clockwork replied. “Even if a choice such as this has always been fifty-fifty. Still, it’ll always be difficult for a father to watch his child go out on his own.”

Danny felt himself choke up and tears sting his eyes.

Clockwork turned to Vlad. “You take good care of each other. I’ll be watching.”

“I will.” Vlad promised.

So, Clockwork took his scepter, and the medallion off Vlad’s neck, and smiled at Danny. “Until next time.”

Danny watched, while waving goodbye to his dad, as time restarted with a wave of the scepter.

A moment of silence past and Danny and Vlad looked at each other. Then, with an air of incredulity, they picked up the chess pieces off the floor, and restarted their game.

-

Life got better after that. Many changes happened and all of them were good. First, Vlad bought a mansion in Amity Park “so he could be closer to family”. They hung out often and learned much from each other. It also felt nice to finally have another person who understands you like no one else does.

Second, Danny introduced the two people who raised him to each other. Danny brought Jazz to the Ghost Zone and when she met Clockwork, she grew very emotional. She thanked him for taking care of her brother when she could not and asked many questions. They talked for hours, late into the night by standards of the human world, and shared many stories. Danny would later learn that Jazz would then on visit Clockwork on her own from time to time. It made him so happy that they got along so well. But he always knew they would.

Third, and most life changing, most of the humans and most of the ghosts grew to like Danny. Though his human parents weren't two of the people who saw Phantom in a new light. But Danny realized he was okay with that. They didn't matter enough to him to care, and he knew who his real parents are.

Also, of course, his human half was still mostly an outcast in the human world too, simply because he has been deemed as weird. But that didn’t bother Danny like it used to. Not everything can be fixed, something he has since learned to accept. No life was perfect, but that didn't mean it still couldn't be good.

In the Ghost Zone, for the first time ever, the other ghosts actually acknowledged him, greeted him even, as he resumed his explorations. It was a happiness Danny never thought he could achieve.

For the first time in his life ever, Danny finally felt like he belonged in both worlds, and when he closed his eyes at night, he could feel peace hum in his chest.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Ao3 Notes: I can't even begin to describe how grateful I am to each and every one of you. Whether you've left comments, kudos, bookmarks, or even simply read each chapter without any interaction, I am so, so grateful to each and every one of you.

During the last third of this story a lot of stressful things began happening in my life and my mental health took a decline, but this story kept me going. You all kept me going. I didn't want to disappoint you and now here we are, and I truly hope you enjoyed it to the end.

Even though I don't often reply to comments, just know I have read each and every one of them, and each and every one of them has meant so much to me. They're like little doses of serotonin for my brain.

So thank you, dear readers, so very much for reading my little story.

For one last time, thank you so much for reading, for your support/continued support, and I truly hope you have the most lovely day/night. <3

#an early start au #danny phantom #danny phantom fanfiction #danny phantom fanfic #mute!danny fenton #disabled danny fenton #danny fenton #clockwork #vlad masters #vlad plasmius #jazz fenton #lost time #renegade writes

[aikoiya]

DP HC - Nocturne, Weaver of Dreams

Ya'll, @thesoulspulse mentioned something super cool as a concept for a good Nocturn that I think is legit way cool.

They said that "Nocturne uses threads from the Tapestry of Fate to weave hints of someone’s past or future into their dreams while Clockwork monitors the timeline directly and sees more possible outcomes based on a person’s choices. Sadly, Nocturne’s method while effective isn’t perfect since he can’t see the full picture ironically, but that doesn’t stop him from trying to do what he can."

That is super cool & could even work for a straight neutral Nocturn too. I also really like their redesigns for ghosts. Especially the one for Undergrowth.

I think it goes with my idea for Nocturn quite well:

#dp #danny phantom #nocturne #characterization #neutral!nocturne #good!nocturne #undergrowth redesign

[deskofmaji]

And now for something different...

So sometimes when I’m bored...  I like to play a little game.

It’s sort of a game of chance.  It involves DND dice and many, many different topics.  Characters...  Styles....  What I need to draw inspiration from...  Sometimes garbage is the outcome.  Sometimes you get things like this.  I have no intention of continuing this or in any way giving it any more context.  Just know that in this AU, wherever the hell it came from, Karr apparently has a pet chicken.  No it doesn’t turn out well for anybody.

This has been the object of high amusement for a few of us and now, it has made its way down to Tumblr

Enjoy....

Also be aware that it does have some very strong language.  Thank you TikTok for coming up on the DND Dice...

The dice made me do it...

xXx “Karen!”

Kitt gave out a soft groan of protest as he came online a bit reluctantly, a scan thrown across the room as he looked for the source of the noise.  It was early…  Very early…  The garage was still mostly dark but even in the darkness it was lit enough to be able to see without the assistance of night vision and he could hear the abrupt flap of wings that told him the morning routine was starting up.

Across the garage was the sweeping gold of his brother’s scanner, the black and silver Trans-Am’s attention obviously on the source of that flapping.

“Karen, don't even think about it!”

Karr’s voice nearly bellowed out as those wings flapped, Karen the chicken struggling her way up onto the top of the outdoor pet pen that was set up beside Karr’s parking space.  Why the hell they bothered to stick her in there he would never know.  It wasn’t as if it kept her in…

“Karen you ratchet ass bitch!”  

Every morning…  Like clockwork…

“Karen, don’t you fucking dare!  I will end your existence, you little KFC reject!  I swear to all that is holy, there will be some fried chicken wings on the menu tonight!”

Kitt gave out another soft groan as he tried to come online a bit faster, only to give a brief jolt as a hand laid on his roof and Bonnie muttered a sleepy ‘goodmorning.’

“Those two are starting early this morning.”  She muttered softly.

“It’s how they bond, leave them alone.”  Kitt suggested as Karen struggled her way up onto Karr’s hood, wings flapping as she moved her way up to settle down on the space where Karr’s hood met his windshield, her little bird feet holding onto the windshield wipers.

“Karen, you do it and I swear I will end you!”  Karr snarled out, flicking his windshield wipers which only caused Karen to move a few inches out of the way, the bird clucking steadily.

“Damn it Karen!”  Karr barked out, as the chicken abruptly abandoned her roost just as quickly as she had struggled her way up there…  A pristine, white egg left in her wake.

“And where the hell do you think you’re going?”  Karr called after her as the chicken flopped to the ground and waddled her way across the garage to scratch around for breakfast.  

“You’re just gonna walk off and leave the kid?”  Karr yelled, causing Bonnie to give out a snort of laughter.  “I’m not babysitting for you Karen!”

Karen gave out a loud squawk from across the garage making it clear that she didn’t really care about Karr’s current plight.

“You’re an unfit mother!”  Karr yelled right back at her as she waddled her way towards the door.  Bonnie chuckled softly and opened it for her, the chicken heading out into the pre-dawn light.

“Awww that’s cute Karr.”  Bonnie giggled, earning a growl from Karr’s engine.  “You have a grand-chicken.”

“Would somebody please come get this thing?”  Karr half snarled.  From outside Karen gave out a loud squawk.  “Get fucked Karen!”  Karr yelled after her.

Bonnie absolutely lost it then, laughing as she made her way across the garage to get the egg off of Karr’s hood.

“Bonnie, we can all only hope that one day we will all find love that burns as intense as Karr loves that chicken.”  Kitt mused with a soft chuckle.

“Bonnie…”  Karr started, his voice dropping from yelling at the bird to a sugary sweet tone.  “We don’t really need that egg…  Be a dear and throw it as hard as you can at Kitt’s windshield…”

Kitt revved his engine, abruptly seeing the danger he had brought himself into as he backed up.  “Don’t you dare!”

Bonnie rolled her eyes, a soft laugh given out as she made her way back towards the breezeway that connected the labs to the mansion, egg in hand.  

Oh if only all love stories ended as they did between a car and his pet chicken…

#knight rider #fanfiction #chicken #what the hell #don't ask #karr #kitt #bonnie barstow #humor

[eabwriting2023]

Change The World - Day Two

Dear Our rotted planet,

Is there someone way to reverse what has happened? I would give my life so that you could change.

I am nothing but a tiny worker ant in the system, I have no power over my fellow human beings. I am weak and insecure, my body hangs like a skeleton I am no match to fight, however something inside me is telling me different.

For millennia you grew and thrived, mountains full of snow, landscapes full of crystal clear waters and luscious green grass. I am truly sorry on behalf of my fellow beings that you turned into this.

We were warned time and time again, time ticking, flying around the clock handles, but did we listen? Of course not? Why should they change when convenience kept improving?

Bone idol, walking creatures disinclined to change their minds. The oxygen they loved so very much, gone replaced with powder. The trees that once housed birds, disappeared into nothingness replaced by sky scrapping glass.

We are sweltering within you. I know you feel the same. Boiling like a melted pot of tar being baked on tarmac.

I know I am not alone when I say I need to change the world, I need to transform you into what you used to be. When I look upon the mess we’ve created I see the pain in your eyes.

Like a dying creature, your wrinkles are more apparent. The energy you used to inspire has smashed into thousands of pieces. I long to see your former self with happiness surrounding you, please tell me what we should do?!

If time travel was real, I would travel into the past where everything began to go horribly wrong. The Industrial Revolution with its smog filling up the skies. Red brick building’s starting to arise from the ground.

As I write this, I keep a secret from you, Earth. I sit upon a leather chair with screens staring back at me and buttons ready to be pressed.

When I say, if time travel was real, I am lying to you once more, for I may look weak, mild with a puny frame but what lacks in strength makes up in mind…

A genius brain I have incased inside my head of skin. While people passing by doubt what I know to be true, I believe in myself.

The screens flash neon lights, the many buttons vibrate as I am suspended in a clouded mist of speckled dust, no time period in particular.

I pull a level towards my body lifting the entire machine from the ground that forces me to fly back into my seat.

I’m doing this for you, you know that right?

1801.I am welcomed into a world I am unfamiliar with full of rolling hills, full of clear air to breathe. The grass around me green and natural like the earth should be. This is how I imagined my world to look.

With my fantastically enormous brain working like clockwork I figure out a solution. I know exactly what and how to change your outcome.

Dear the same, but newer, greener planet from 1801 the year I speak from,

Nothing I do will ever change their minds. I regret everything I ever did. Humans are stupid, pathetic mongrels that will never see a change.

Do not ask what has troubled me so… all I can say however, I write this troublesome letter while sitting in Bedlam Hospital!

#creative writing #writing #life #nanowrimo

[cpmcalculators-stuff]

Exposed! 5 Myths of YouTube Success

Four billion recordings are seen on YouTube every single day; 27 million recordings are watched like clockwork and 2.7 million are seen consistently!

So why you haven't sent off a YouTube channel for your business yet? Perhaps you're keeping yourself down since you trust one of these 5 legends.

cost per mille calculator

Uncovering these 5 fantasies ought to facilitate each business visionary's stress and tension over jumping into video showcasing.

YouTube, Your Business and 5 Legends of Viral Video

As of late, YouTube's gathering item chief Baljeet Singh composed an article named "YouTube, Your Business and 5 Legends of Viral Video".

Legend #1: Your Video Needs to Become famous online or It's Useless

Regardless of whether a great many individuals were watching your recordings, it doesn't ensure a good outcome. Millions are pointless. Having the ideal people watching is urgent!

Singh refers to a toy organization, Rokenbok, as a great representation.

At the point when specialty toy stores were shutting down, Rokenbok began a YouTube channel showing engaging and instructive recordings. These recordings have prompted the store prospering when they in any case would be bankrupt.

Since their toys are expensive, they don't anticipate that individuals should purchase anything whenever they first find out about Rokenbok. The organization perceives that they need to fabricate a relationship with the family first.

Seems like a great deal of business visionaries isn't that so?

Rokenbok currently says, "YouTube is turning into our most significant vehicle for promoting."

Example Learned: Don't stress over becoming a web sensation! You can have extraordinary video advertising accomplishment without it. Legend #2: Just Entertaining Recordings are Well known

Could you at any point consider much else exhausting than roof tiles?

Ceilume, a 40-man organization which produces enhancing roof tiles has assembled in excess of 1,000,000 video sees on their YouTube channel and deals have expanded by 15% thus.

Why are their recordings so intriguing? They educate their crowd in how to introduce, fix, and clean roof tiles, and they exhibit the quality and cost of their item.

This point may not be drawing in to you or me, however to their interest group it's useful, educational and clearly has had an effect.

Illustration Learned: Quit attempting to be entertaining! Make recordings that interest your ideal interest group by giving them data they can utilize and profit from. Fantasy #3: Just Youngsters are on YouTube

In all honesty, there are a ton of more seasoned individuals on YouTube!

That's what singh says "55% of all ladies 18-54 use YouTube." And YouTube arrives at 20 million females matured 35-54. (Oprah's site arrives at 19 million!)

Make certain to streamline your recordings with catchphrases that apply to your crowd, and regardless of what their age, you'll track down them on YouTube.

Illustration Learned: Regardless of whether your objective market is beyond 18 years old, you'll track down them on YouTube. So you should be there as well, prepared to give them what they're looking to. Legend #4: Individuals Just Watch Engaging Recordings on YouTube

Uh, re-read Legend #2 above. 1,000,000 perspectives for a roof tile channel!

As a matter of fact, "how to" recordings are looked through multiple times more than "Music Recordings. Instructions to recordings rock!

A fast hunt of how to recordings on YouTube uncovers recordings on the best way to:

Barbecue like a master Put on cosmetics Plant a nursery Sew Change the oil in your vehicle Supplant your pool channel Scoop canine crap Indeed - how to scoop pup crap! One such video has north of 2,500 perspectives!

Example Learned: Regardless of whether you or your business is essentially as dull as dishwater, a how-to video designated to your market can help your business and your deals. Legend #5: Recordings Should be Expertly Finished to be Powerful

A portion of the "lower creation esteem" recordings that are shot while simply playing around really proceed as well as the prearranged "higher creation esteem" recordings.

As a matter of fact, when Usher previously marked Justin Bieber (who at first acquired his perceivability through YouTube), the recording name settled on the purposeful and vital choice to keep developing Justin on YouTube with home-created recordings preceding sending off his most memorable collection. They perceived the fantastic power and credibility of "amateurishly created" video disseminated through YouTube.

Rokenbok Toys (from Fantasy #1 above), in like manner found that a portion of their "lower creation esteem" recordings shot while just "messing about" proceed as well as their prearranged "higher creation esteem" recordings.

[bruhnfoster8]

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[bubblegumbeech]

The Losing Move

Day two Ectoberhaunt:  Scream vs Laugh

AO3

It started with a scream. That’s how Clockwork knew it was finally time. 

He hesitated, of course. There was so much to lose, so much still uncertain, paths branching in different directions, moments shrouded imperfectly from his view, strings of fate tangled and misused. But he was the Master of Time. He could hesitate and no one would ever know. 

Not even them. 

Clockwork made a portal, leaving his Clocktower and walking towards a tall grey rock almost as old as time itself, weathered by age and nothing like the statue it had once been standing proud in a garden of overgrown thorns and long dead leaves. Nocturn appeared next to him, a swirl of inky black void scattered with stars and nebulae. 

“Did you hesitate?” he asked. 

It was a valid question. An important one too, if they were to succeed. Clockwork’s hesitation could lead to an uncertain future, to a failure in their plot. And then they would be lost, set back hundreds of thousands of years again. 

“No.”

Nocturn accepted his answer. Perhaps he knew that Clockwork was lying, perhaps he did not. Either way, they both turned to the stone. 

It wasn’t long before the others appeared. 

Misery Vex was the first, then Sojourn, on and on until they all stood, surrounding the stone. 

Misery turned to Clockwork. “Did it take?” she asked, and he flew forward, taking off one of his gloves to run his hand along the smoothed side of the rock. It hummed, an energy unlike any else, unique to here yet everywhere and nowhere at all. Very chaotic indeed. 

“It has.”

She hummed an affirmative, linking her hand in his before reaching out to take Sojourn’s. Clockwork reached for Nocturn and as they all linked together they formed a shield, thick and impenetrable between their varied talents, around the stone. 

“How long will this take,” Vortex said, ever the impatient one. He was jittery, yellow cords of lightning constantly jumping all over him in a nervous jumble, branching in and out of each other like writhing snakes. 

Clockwork sighed. “Not long.”

“You musn’t get too close,” Misery warned.

“I know.”

“You musn’t go too far,” Nocturn reminded him. 

He knew that too. 

“You’ve failed before,” Misery said, her voice steady and calm. She was not wrong, nor accusatory. He had faltered, it had led to a less than ideal outcome. He would not admit this. 

Clockwork didn’t allow any emotion on his face. “The threat is contained. My faults did not lead to the failure of our mission.”

She scoffed. “No, only to ‘inconvenience’. Right?”

As far as she knew. As far as any of them did. They relied on him, to determine if their future would be a success. He was the only one who could see which path to take, what choices would lead to their victory. He was the only one who knew just how thin the chance was, how precarious the choice. It would not benefit them to know. He did not need their doubt.

“Who was it?” Sojourn asked, referring to the scream that had summoned them here. The scream that had echoed hauntingly throughout the entirety of the Infinite Realms. 

Clockwork hadn’t looked. He looked now. 

“A boy, fourteen years old, between child and adult, between living and dead, between here and there.” 

Nocturn smiled, “How fitting.”

The stone shattered. Power and chaos, magic and will swirled around in a tornado, beating against the solid weight of their shield and making what was once so obviously strong seem weak and pitiful in comparison. 

Vortex’s eyes glowed in excitement. It was a sign, they all knew, that things were getting close. 

Eventually the storm faded and all that was left was a weathered pile of ash and rubble where there had once been a stone, where there had once been a statue, where there had once been nothing at all. 

It would come to nothing once more. 

Soon.

  The Infinite Realms had been lifeless for so long. Nothing more than ambient ectoplasm and void. A place. Nothing more and nothing less than it had to be. Many of the denizens had never seen them alive, existing as they once had. The panic was only natural. The frenzy, exciting and new. The heart of it all beating again. 

There was one ghost in particular, of course, who had only known the realms as they existed now. Sure there might also be others, newly made and newly dead, but this one was the important one. He’d been the one to give his life for the life around them now. 

Or at least, he’d given half of it. 

The Observants, of course, were furious. 

They had attempted to hunt down the Ancients, knowing it was they who had done this, who had planned this and then hidden it from the view of those who watch. Vortex had been taken first, as expected, and Undergrowth had fled to the mortal realm. The others also split, the time for them to come together was over; the time to prepare for the end was nearing. 

Clockwork, of course, their ever loyal subservient pet that could not leave his tower without their knowledge, that could not use his power without their permission, he’d never been looked at twice.

“You told us the threat was neutralized.” Nocturn said, sliding up next to one of Clockwork’s monitors. He watched a scene, where Daniel and Pariah fought. It was not a real fight, of course. Pariah had long shed the haze of bloodlust that had driven him mad, and was now attempting to be endearing, to rebuild a trust Clockwork had never actually had in him. 

Clockwork took a sip of his tea. It was made from some of Pariah’s newly grown coraleander leaves and made a thick, murky green tea that Clockwork quite enjoyed the taste and texture of. Unfortunately that was exactly why Pariah had grown them, and while Clockwork had snuck them away like a petty thief, he doubted that the missing leaves had gone even a moment unnoticed. 

It was infuriating and Clockwork sipped at it slowly, savoring it’s warmth.

“He is no longer the King. In fact, there is no King at all, just as I said it would be.”

Nocturn turned to meet his eyes, tilting his head just slightly in suspicion. “Yes, you did. Though I suppose the others thought you meant he would not escape his sleep. Or at least, that he would not escape his sleep until after .”

Clockwork looked away, towards the monitor. Pariah had soundly defeated Daniel and was laughing. Likely at the way the poor boy looked, his hair a mess and covered in the very coraleander leaves Clockwork was drinking. He’d need to wash them off before he transformed back into a human. While they wouldn’t be immediately deadly to a Half-Ghost, they would form a large, hard to explain, rash. 

“That wasn’t what I said though, was it?” Clockwork met Nocturn’s eyes once more. 

The other ghost just snorted and shook his head. “No, no I guess it wasn’t. Clockwork, the tightrope you’re walking, that future you see that you haven’t told us about? I really hope you get it. I do. Because the brightest lights cast the darkest shadows and I can’t imagine what would happen if you missed.”

Clockwork’s tea had gone cold. He continued to sip it. He ignored Nocturn’s words and he watched the screen as Pariah helped Daniel stand, only for Daniel to tackle him when he wasn’t expecting it. 

“I’ll take that under consideration.” 

It was becoming habit, he found, to lie to Nocturn. 

  Daniel was at the Clocktower, eating a plate of cookies and complaining about some of the varied ghosts he had to deal with and fight on a regular basis in his mortal realm. It was a side effect, of course, of Phantom’s new role as the Heart of The Infinite Realms. The smaller, weaker ghosts, especially younger and newly dead ones, had attempted to flee the Realms when they noticed the sudden changes. 

When the Observants had become so busy trying to find the cause of the change, so busy trying to hunt down what was left of Chaos’ children, that they could no longer micro-manage the state of the Realms. Could no longer constantly overstep their authority and keep their tasteless ‘Order’. 

The Realms had become more and more lively and Clockwork had found himself in a perpetual good mood. He took a cookie for himself. Nocturn caught him baking the other day; his expression had been dry as he congratulated Clockwork on his adoption. It was  a pointed accusation. 

He had shoved it to the back of his mind and decided to make some forgoent tea to go with the cookies. He hadn’t offered any to Nocturn. 

Daniel paused in his musings for a moment before speaking again, his voice careful. “I’ve been visiting Pariah.”

Clockwork hummed, not looking away from his screens. “I am aware.”

“Of course you are.” Daniel rolled his eyes. Then he sighed like he didn't know how to bring up what he was going to say next. “Did you… Did you know he was going to get free if you sent me after that key?” 

Ah, so he’d figured it out then. “It was a possibility. Each and every choice you make creates an entirely new future with entirely new consequences.” 

“He doesn’t seem all that bad…” Daniel argued, as if Clockwork was going to disagree with him. Clockwork raised an eyebrow, the one with the scar Pariah had given him, and looked over to him. “I mean, he just. When he first woke up he was really mad right? But like, I’d also be really mad if I finally woke up from a forced coma only to have Vlad there.”

Anyone would really. 

“And even though he sucked Amity Park into the Ghost Zone, no one actually ended up getting hurt. At least, no more than usual in a ghost attack. And I’ve been talking with the other ghosts that have been ‘Challenging’ him and they all say he's a pretty cool teacher… Like, he knows how to fight and he’s good at showing them how they can use their unique powers-”

Clockwork didn’t interrupt Daniel as he rambled. It was rare, at least since he’d been deposed, to hear lists of Pariah’s more positive aspects. It wasn’t uncomfortable so much as mildly frustrating. Was this part of Pariah’s ploy? Get Daniel to fall all over himself to recite poetics about Pariah to Clockwork. He should have learned by now that whatever affection he might hold for him, it would not be enough. Not to stop his plans, and certainly not to stop the others.

“So uh, you know, he seems… chiller. Without the crown and ring and stuff.”

“Yes, it was the Ring of Rage Daniel, what did you think it was used for?” 

There was a small imperceptible shift in Daniel’s expression, as if he’d realized something and made the choice to file the knowledge away for later. He must have learned that from Pariah as well. “So, if there’s things that can change even powerful ghosts like Pariah, are there things that could change, say… one of the Ancients?”

Was Daniel befriending another Ancient? Clockwork smiled, that was good then. He could hold that against them, the weight of his failure to keep an emotional distance wouldn’t be as stark, if another Ancient or two fell just as easily to Daniel’s pleasant company. He could use that, he simply had to find out which of them it was. Perhaps Sojourn? He was always soft for children, but Clockwork hadn’t been aware of him returning to the Barrens lately, and Daniel rarely went any further than the Time Locked Lands or the Far Frozen. 

“It is good to befriend others Daniel,” he says halfheartedly, searching through his mirrors to locate Sojourn, “but remember not to trust too easily. You never know the goals of those around you, if they might be using you towards their own ends.”

“Of course,” Daniel replied, his voice hard. 

Clockwork looked over to him, he was staring at the dregs of his tea, expression dark. 

“Would you like more tea?” Clockwork offered, wondering what had plummeted the boy’s attitude so suddenly. 

Daniel looked up, a small smile on his lips, “Yes Please.”

Clockwork left to make more, his mind still trying to find which Ancient Daniel had befriended. 

  “The Observants are completely ignorant of your machinations,” Pariah said as Clockwork entered his study. “Of course, they don’t know you as well as they think.”

Clockwork should stop visiting him. Should never have started, a fact that Nocturn was only too happy to remind him of. Sometimes Clockwork wondered if Nocturn got his taste of Chaos from Clockwork's mistakes, he seemed so dedicated to reveling in them. 

“I didn’t come here to talk about the Observants. I have my fill without the need to remark upon them when absent from their presence.” Clockwork was scowling. He could hide his irritation, but despite his lies and trickery he was hardly an accomplished actor. 

Pariah chuckled, flipping another page in the thick book he’d been reading. The title was faded, but Clockwork recognized it easily enough. It was a detailed history of the Infinite Realms after King Dark had been sealed away. It was a long history, though not as long as the history that came before his reign entirely. 

It was also the exact kind of thing Pariah would read cover to cover, like the obsessive monster he was. 

“I suppose you came to warn me away from your ward then?” Pariah asked, his voice casual. Clockwork scoffed, allowing a roll of his eyes before floating over to Pariah’s shelves and grabbing one of the books that looked recently used. It was about old soul binding rituals, much like what had happened to Fright Knight. It was amusing, the thought that Pariah’s oldest friend might still be whining about his little curse. 

“Hardly,” Clockwork said, idly flipping through the pages, “if I could control Daniel I never would have let him near you to begin with.”

Pariah smiled, placing his own book down. “Yes, I imagine you wouldn’t have. It would be a mistake to let me get close to him and realize he is the reason the Infinite Realms have started to sing.”

He’d figured it out then. Of course that wasn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility. Unlike the Observants, Pariah was wickedly intelligent and fully capable of coming to the appropriate conclusions. “Sing? An interesting way to describe it.”

Arms encircled his waist and Clockwork was pulled back into a warm chest. Pariah’s chin rested on Clockwork’s shoulder as he spoke softly into his ear. “Is it enough? The realms feel alive, weaker ghosts are fleeing or banding together once more. It resembles the time we once had, between Chaos and Order. Will you stop here?”

“There’s nothing more I can do,” he lied. 

Pariah hummed an agreement and reached out to flip a few pages through the book Clockwork had been holding. There was a beautifully illustrated drawing of a necklace, bewitched and layered in curses. Pariah must have memorized the pages, of course. “Would you wear jewelry if I made it for you? I would see you decked in gold and finery if I could.”

Clockwork slammed the book closed, just missing Pariah’s fingers. He didn’t think about the earrings Pariah had once gifted him, or how he wore them even now, dangling hidden beneath his hood. “You should know better than to ask that.” 

He felt a smile against his neck. “Then I won’t ask.”

  He held the Thermos in his hand. 

The other Daniel was a menace, truly. But he would not be so desperate to ruin Daniel’s life anymore. It had been long enough for him to realize that his existence was no longer predicated on Daniel’s decisions, or on the loss of his family. 

It would change him, of course. The knowledge that he exists in the same time as his once family will either soften his grief, or sharpen its edges. There were so many paths he could take, and Clockwork could not see them all, did not bother to look much further than the distance he needed him for. 

There was something more important than his grief that he and Clockwork had in common. Something Daniel and Pariah likely had in common with them as well: the detestation of the Observants. 

Clockwork opened the thermos, releasing Daniel’s worst nightmare and not thinking about how the young half-ghost had given it to him so easily, had trusted him so quickly when all Clockwork had done was protect his human family one time. 

The other, once possible, Daniel appeared in an explosion of light and matter and immediately attacked, using his claws to scratch at Clockwork’s face. He was prepared for that though, years trapped in a thermos had eroded much of Dan’s more refined aspects. It would work in Clockworks favor of course, he had made sure of that.

For now, Clockwork froze time and moved behind him. That way his wild attack would meet nothing but ambient ectoplasm and Clockwork could speak his piece. Provided his piece took less than a second to speak.

He allowed time to flow and watched as the other Daniel floundered, confused, only to instantly realize just what Clockwork had done and turn around, ready to attack once more. Clockwork smiled as their eyes met and asked, “Would you like to End the Observants and their Order?”

the other Daniel attacked him, but Clockwork could see the consideration in his eyes. The thought had been implanted, now all he had to do was sit back and watch. the other Daniel had always been rather good at ruining things after all. 

“CLOCKWORK!” Daniel yelled, flying frantically into the Clocktower. “Clockwork Dan escaped somehow! He attacked Amity Park!” 

His desperate flight slowed when he saw Clockwork floating casually at his screens as he always had. He was watching a specific screen now, and pulled the image onto the largest one to share with Daniel. “Yes, I know.”

Daniel looked between him and the screen, his expression growing more and more confused. “But, he was here though. Locked up. How did he escape?”

Clockwork didn’t turn to look at him. “I’m sorry Daniel,” he lied. “Your trust in me was misplaced. He escaped while I was distracted with another matter and I was unable to stop him. It’s my fault.”

Daniel’s eyes widened, searching for something in Clockwork’s expression, and then in Clockwork’s screens. The only thing he saw though, was the other Daniel causing havoc and destruction. After visiting Amity Park and re-traumatising Daniel’s sister, the other Daniel had been driven away by Daniel, whose power had become far superior in the time since they had last met. It was only natural of course, Daniel’s existence was unique and far beyond that of Dan’s mangled pieced together form of conflicting obsessions and damaged cores. 

It was possible, Clockwork knew, for the other Daniel to stabilize properly. Perhaps he could become a proper ghost, perhaps he could stop attempting to restrict what humanity he had left. Either way, it did not matter in the end. If anything, his existence was a fun riddle that would play itself out long after Clockwork’s plans came to fruition. 

Clockwork looked over at Daniel, his expression hidden behind the shadows of his hood. The boy was staring emptily at the corner of the Clocktower that led to the inner dungeons where the other Daniel had been hidden away.  After a moment he turned away, hiding his own expression, and began to walk. As if his legs had become too heavy to fly. 

“It’s fine. I’ll get him back. It won’t happen again.” There was a promise in his voice and it softened to be almost inaudible entirely. “I won’t let it.”

After he left, Clockwork turned back to the screen with the other Daniel on it. He was finished terrorizing the ghost from before, and was now floating listlessly in the void of the Infinite Realms. Likely, he was warring with his obsessions- or his emotions- it was hard to tell which. Eventually though, he shook his head, looked up as if to catch Clockwork’s eye, and flew off.

In the direction of the Observants. 

  It’s eyeball was glaring at him, the normally dull yellow of it’s sclera bright with fury. “You were given responsibility over him! You were entrusted to keep him from destroying the Realms!”

Clockwork’s own eye twitched as he fought back an eyeroll. Those who Watch were as predictable as ever, not showing up at the moment of Dan’s release but instead at the moment he began to take his rage out on the Observants. Their responsibilities had always been superfluous though, a vague excuse to do as they pleased in the name of Order. 

“I failed. He escaped. Woe is me.” He floated over to one of his more intricate gadgets and began to tinker with it, pretending to be busy. “Surely an Order such as yours, full of powerful ghosts that command the Realms, did not come to me in fear though? He attacked you directly, does that not make your vow of inaction void?”

“ You-! ”

“Of course, it would be different if you simply couldn’t defeat him. But… he’s only a decade dead. That would be an embarrassment.”

The other Observant that had come to scold (and demand his servitude) floated in front of its companion so as to cut off a likely incensed reaction. “He’s an abomination, and an amalgamation. Surely you can understand why we wanted him dealt with before it came to this.”

Clockwork inclined his head, playing at civility. “Perhaps then, you should seek to work alongside Phantom. I have it on relatively good authority he’s also trying to deal with your resident menace.”

Both of the Observants took his suggestion as an insult, one even growing red with it. “That Abomination? He should be destroyed along with it!”

“Pity,” Clockwork said, turning back to the screens and watching as the other Daniel tore the core out of another Observant’s chest and crushed it in his palm. He wasn’t even absorbing them for their power. It was a waste, but Clockwork was certain it was a waste born of trauma. Dan’s creation had, after all, been due to a botched absorption with a powerful ghost core. “You can leave now.”

“You must deal with this.”

“I will deal with it when the time is right,” he said in lieu of an answer. 

The Observants, disgruntled and unwilling to leave, as if hiding in Clockwork’s lair would somehow protect them, made comment after comment demanding his action and threatening punishment should he fail. He replied with sarcasm and an aloof attitude that soon had them leaving out the door if only to try and do what they could to tighten his bonds. 

He sighed, there was time still. He should make cookies, that always seemed to calm him, help him to exist in the present and not become impatient for what is yet to be. He headed to the kitchen, only to see an unexpected visitor at his table. 

“Nocturn, you’re early.”

The other Ancient nodded. “Yes, your plan seems to have worked flawlessly. The Authority of the Observants has been shaken. Much of the power they had gained through fear and reputation has dwindled, but…”

Clockwork raised an eyebrow as he opened his cabinets. There was egyptian sand flour left over, it would be dryer than using something more modern, but the age would add a good aftertaste. He just needed to add extra Honey-Wasp bits from the outskirts of The Undergrowth and that should balance it. Maybe some purified ectoplasm. Pariah gifted him a jar after he had somehow managed to create a device to filter it from the Infinite Realms. 

He had also made an absolutely unsubtle offer to join him in his new ‘sauna’ that Clockwork had pointedly refused. 

“But?” he prompted, there was little information he could glean from silence. 

Nocturn watched him prepare the batter. He sighed and stood, grabbing a knife and helping to mince the Honey-Wasps before speaking again. “But they still have their numbers, and much of their actual power. And Clockwork, Pariah has made his move.”

“I know,” Clockwork admitted, “but is that not in our favor as well?”

“Not if he takes more power from them, Pariah on his own is not a fight we can accept lightly. Anything more being beholden to him is hardly something I wish to see.” 

Clockwork cracked a Kraken’s egg into the mixture and moved the bowl closer to Nocturn so he could scoop the Honey-Wasp bits into it as well, without losing any of the juice. Mixing it would be troublesome, some of the more experimental batters attempted to gain sentience and would try to escape the bowl. “It will work in our favor either way. the other Daniel caused havoc, their power was broken across the realms. Pariah is merely salting the ground we have burned.” 

He used a dull knife to cut into the batter and stirred, stopping any attempts at formation. Nocturn grabbed the bowl from him, forcing eye contact. “What if he seeks something else?”

“Haven’t I already escaped the chains he bound me in before?” Clockwork laughed. “Do I not have allies that would find short work of cutting chains that I did not allow to bind me?”

The bowl was set back down and Clockwork and Nocturn both made short work of dividing the dough and setting it into the oven. “We could not break the bindings of the Observants,” Nocturn said as Clockwork closed the oven door. 

“That is different, that was part of our plans. They needed to never suspect me, if we were to get this far.” Clockwork waved him off. “Would you like a cookie?”

“We have to wait for them to cook, Clockwork.” Nocturn said, exasperated.

Clockwork simply rolled his eyes and increased the time surrounding the oven. “I don’t wait.”

Daniel hadn’t visited again since Clockwork allowed the other Daniel  to escape. It was possible, he admitted in the back of his mind, that Daniel blamed him for what happened. As well he should. Yet, the thought left a sour taste in his mouth. 

He was watching the screens again. Aiming them in every direction he could to see everything as it played out. Most were occupied by the remnants of the Order he had set about decimating. A few were dedicated to their interconnected Lair, the place where they held their play courts and kept their prisoners. It was where they kept Vortex before he was freed. One screen though, was aimed at Pariah’s Keep. 

It had been a simple thing that Clockwork had neither encouraged nor discouraged, Daniel’s visits with Pariah. But now that Clockwork’s own visits had come to an end, it had become something distinctly bitter, a feeling that was building in his chest, where his core hummed, that Clockwork was ignoring with all the practice of a man dead set on his goals. 

Daniel would visit again, of course. Clockwork could even tell the exact date and time, or at least the most likely ones. He didn’t look at the futures where Daniel never came back, there was no point in uselessly fretting about it. He’d be fine, there were more important things to deal with now. 

He could feel the pressure of his binds loosening as more and more of the Observants were hunted down. Not all of them were ended by Dan, of course. They had made many enemies. Both Vortex and Undergrowth had gone out of their way to visit quite a number themselves, along with a few of the other Ancients. Clockwork was certainly tempted to do so, alas, the restrictions upon him prevented it still. And the only way for those restrictions to end was for those wielding the reins to End. And well, then there wouldn’t be anyone left to take his ire out upon would there? 

Instead he allowed his own part in their demise to be enough for his bruised ego and the millennia of torment he’d undergone beneath them. Then he ate a cookie and kept watch of his screens. 

Pariah was teaching Daniel how to use a sword. Pandora had attempted to teach him swordsmanship but Daniel had been disinclined to it. He wasn’t particularly elegant to be fair, and the finesse and practiced movement of Pandora’s sword was more akin to an art than anything else. Her limbs risked entanglement if she wasn’t careful and had developed a style suited to such. 

Daniel was much more inclined to blunt, ferocious movements. He often thought with his fist before anything else, even as a ghost with a multitude of powers to command. He used speed and strength to win and outmaneuver his opponents and despite his lack of polish, he often won due to those two traits alone. Pariah was a talented teacher, in that he was clearly taking what Daniel had already in ample supply, and taught him how to wield it appropriately to its maximum use. 

He was still only beginning of course, but Daniel was a fast learner and had grown significantly in a short period of time. 

Clockwork had toyed with the idea of taking Daniel on as an official apprentice once or twice before. Teaching him how to exist beyond the means which he had become accustomed to as a human. While he would not have Clockwork’s inclination for time specifically, Daniel’s connection to the Realms would allow him a level of control over his surroundings and the beings that exist in them that simply does not exist in anyone outside of the Ancients. And even then, Clockwork’s Time was different enough from the others’ domains to be unique in and of itself in a similar vein to Daniel’s powers. Even if they’d only just barely begun to show. 

But it was a risk to do so before everything else came to fruition. If Daniel realized his plans, it would be troublesome. He likely would not agree to the lengths Clockwork is willing to reach, and more than that, there is no guarantee that his existence as half human would not have him attempting to side with Order over Chaos. No, it was better to wait and see how it all played out first. There wasn’t much left to do before the end. 

Yes it would lead to anger. Perhaps even to hatred. It would be fitting for Clockwork. He had never known a love that had yet to turn. That had truly been any kind of unconditional. 

But he would be free. 

Finally, finally free. 

Free from this horrid linear existence, free from his servitude, free from his bonds. The root of him, the core, had been born from Chaos, from the mess of all things and no things, and like any child wishing to cradle in the arms of its mother, Clockwork longed once more for it. 

He had been patient, as had the others. There was little left to do. 

  When Daniel finally visited again Clockwork had made cookies. 

They resembled human chocolate chips, if one squinted, and Clockwork had made sure to take them out of the oven just as Daniel arrived so they would be warm.

“There you are Daniel,” he greeted. The cookies were still moving and he had to give the tray he was holding a bit of a shake to get them to stop. He doubted Daniel would eat them if he thought they were alive. 

The boy didn’t look well. He had deep bags under his eyes, and a skittish, weary look about him. 

Clockwork clicked his tongue. “You need to sleep,” he said, not waiting for Daniel to speak. 

“What?” The boy lifted his head, confused. 

“I said, you should sleep.” Clockwork grabbed one of the amulets from the wall and placed it around Daniel’s neck. “I’ll stop time for a few hours, you can sleep here if you want.”

Daniel just blinked. “Oh.”

Nodding, Clockwork turned back to his screens so he could keep watch. Nocturn had warned that Pariah was making his move and Clockwork was determined to keep an eye on him now, when the timing was most crucial. 

He felt a tug on his sleeve. 

“Clockwork…”

He looked down to catch Daniel’s eyes. “Yes?”

“Nothing,” he sighed, “thanks.” He grabbed the amulet in one hand, a torn expression on his face. Then he floated off to the room Clockwork had given him to sleep.

Watching as his ward wandered off, Clockwork waited until he was out of sight to grab hold of time and let it rest for a moment. It was the least he could do. 

It wasn’t long after their fall that the final thread snapped and Clockwork opened his eyes in triumph. Everything was available to him now. There were no hidden futures, no shrouded pasts. His screens multiplied around him as even his Lair was freed from its limits. Like a beast stretching from a long hibernation, Clockwork lost himself to his Obsession, revelled in the freedom he had long gambled away. 

The Infinite Realms felt it as he left the Clocktower for no reason other than because he wanted to and he didn’t have to ask. He didn’t have to come up with some convoluted reason as to why this was perfectly acceptable before his own body allowed him to leave the doors of his own Lair. It felt wonderful, he almost took down his hood to see everything around him with the eyes of a free spirit. 

He didn’t though, it would be too much of a hassle to wrangle his hair back and he didn’t really want someone to see him so freely bared. It was enough in every way, that he was finally free. 

“I almost forgot how powerful you were, Clockwork.” He turned to see Misery Vex, lounging comfortably just outside his lair. “The Eyes Around Us are gone then?”

Clockwork nodded, looking to the future, looking to the past. She had been waiting here for him, but not for long. And she wouldn’t have waited much longer. “Are you ready for what happens next?” he asked. 

“Are you?”

He nodded again. There weren’t any more preparations to make, how could he be anything but ready?

They didn’t meet at the Clocktower this time. 

It was no longer necessary after all. This time they met in the night. The soft evening of eternal sleep and dreams, Nocturn’s lair. It was spacious if nothing else, and creative with its decoration. Should one of them wish to sit, they merely needed to chance sitting and see if the space around them would accommodate. It suited him immensely. 

“Have you found her yet?” Misery asked.

Sojourn nodded, a small enthusiastic smile hidden under his beard. “Yes, Clockwork and I were able to locate her shattered core amongst Pandora’s boxes.”

“ It will not be easy to receive her, and it will only be more difficult to revive her,” Nocturn warned, “especially if we wish to keep this to ourselves. Rather than risk the entirety of the realms turning on us as they did the Observants.”

Clockwork nodded, “we shouldn’t do much in more than pairs. Sojourn and Misery should seek Pandora. Nocturn and I can set the ritual once the pieces are complete.”

“And the rest of us?” Undergrowth scowled, he hated Nocturn’s lair. It was cold and empty, barren of any more physical matters and there was nowhere for him to take root. Clockwork suspected half of the reason it was that way was intended to irritate Undergrowth specifically. 

Sojourn clapped his hands together and smiled, his eagerness truly knew no bounds and his obvious delight was nearly infectious. “You’re our escape plan of course! We’ll need help once we locate the right box, Pandora’s obsession is hardly a good one to be on the wrong side of.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Vortex grinned.

Clockwork couldn’t help but agree, what are they waiting for indeed? 

  “What is Chaos, Clockwork?” Daniel asked. But Clockwork was distracted.

He hadn’t expected Daniel to show up today, he hadn’t paid attention to it. There was so much to do, so much to get ready for. The time was now after all. 

He took care to answer anyways, the changes that were to come would affect the boy. At least a little. He was strong enough that he would thrive in Chaos, and it would help to nurture his Obsession, if the weaker denizens of the Realms needed help. And they would

“Chaos was the first, how it all began. Everything started with Chaos or nothing could have been at all.” 

Daniel frowned, a small furrow in his brow. “That… didn’t really-“

Clockwork paused for a moment. “Is something wrong Daniel?”

He sighed. “So if you were made from Chaos, is she like, your mother?”

“No. Chaos is not sentient so much as conceptual.” Clockwork frowned, “though I suppose she predated concepts as well if she was the first. Chaos was neither one thing nor many things. It’s safe to say Chaos was everything and everything came from her. But that did not make her nurturing” 

Clockwork looked back at Daniel, letting time flow smoothly once more. It wouldn’t do to delay. 

There was a hint of something in Daniel’s eyes, a wariness that Clockwork had never seen before. It must have been due to their conversation, but Clockwork couldn’t place what about it would have Daniel on edge. Chaos would not be any more a threat to him than it would be the other Ancients. 

“Clockwork, if Chaos came back…” he paused, as if the words had been stuck in his throat, “what would happen to the humans? The mortals?” 

What a strange question. “Life would not exist as it does now, utter chaos would not permit it.”

It had been something of a sport, to watch Sojourn and Misery in their attempts to find and excavate the remnants of the Core of Chaos. Clockwork and Nocturn had watched it from the safety and comfort of Clockwork’s lair, on the largest of his screens. 

“They’re having fun aren’t they?” Nocturn mused, taking a sip of his tea. He’d made it himself in Clockwork’s kitchen, had been insistent about it when he’d seen Clockwork start to make his own.

“Pandora is a valiant warrior and a good fighter. Misery has been on the sidelines for some time since the end of Pariah’s court.” Clockwork’s tea was cold. He frowned and set it aside.

“Yes, it’s good to see her stretching her limbs. I hadn’t seen all of them since her last fight.”

Clockwork thought back, the fight Nocturn was referring to played on one of the smaller screens. It was a gladiator based competition, where Pariah had sent her as a member of his court to show his power. She had challenged the Lord of Little Crawlers to a duel and shredded him to pieces before even five minutes had passed. Then she had collected herself, reset her veil, and gone right back to Pariah’s Keep. 

Now she was using every extra limb she could against Pandora, swords clashing with long knitting needles and strings of silk. Watching the fight was mesmerizing to be sure, almost akin to a dance, if not for the frustrated vulgarities being thrown around and Sojourn’s overly eager cheering from the back.

“Do you think they’ll make it?”

“Sojourn will remember what they’re supposed to be doing when he almost drops one of the boxes held in his arms. Upon that realization he will sneak away while Pandora is distracted and meet with the others. From there they will come here with their spoils and it will be our turn to prove our worth.” Clockwork answered, easily detailing the future ahead of them. 

Nocturn nodded and took a sip of his tea.

  It didn’t happen exactly like Clockwork had predicted. But it was close enough. Sojourn had bypassed Vortex and Undergrowth completely and simply flown straight to Clockwork‘s lair on his own. Nocturn spared Clockwork a glance, but he remained unaffected. It was still on track to be an ideal future. 

Once Sojourn entered his lair Clockwork grabbed hold of time with his hand and twisted , forcing it to bend and still under his palm. The trip to the Cave was only a step after that and once there, he let loose and released time to settle amicably around them.

“Amazing,” Sonourn said, “I do think I’d like to travel this way more often. It’s quite convenient.”

Nocturn patted him on the shoulder and grabbed one of the delicately detailed boxes he’d been balancing precariously in his arms. “You’d need to be very careful if you did, there’s no telling what might get caught up in all that twisting and turning.”

“It won’t matter much longer after this,” Clockwork said, taking his own box. 

The entirety of Chaos was not here, her core long since mostly destroyed, but there was enough to recreate something should they use the ritual they had devised. 

It needed to be hidden, so they had found a cave. It was ancient, and once thought to be a reliable doorway into the spiritual and mortal realms, every wall was covered in ancient arts and writings. No rhyme or reason between them, a bit of a mess conceptually, but perfect for their purposes. Once Vortex had destroyed it in the mortal realm, it had been simple enough to recreate, especially using Undergrowth and Misery Vex’s powers. 

Most ghosts dared not travel here, where they placed it. It was a deeper part of the Infinite Realms, where the pressures of the ambient ectoplasm was strong enough to kill even some of the more stable spirits, certainly more than any Watcher could have ever handled. 

Clockwork gathered the ashes in the center of their chosen chamber. Three rights from the first left. Nocturn moved around the edges, the walls solid and firm under his hands as he tested them. And Sojourn, setting his own box aside, lit the flames. 

It began. 

They had known the work would be hard, tedious even. Most mortals, when they picture rituals like this, imagine chanting and holding hands, perhaps some use of indomitable will. But this was far more personal, more hands on.

Clockwork took the broken edge of a shattered piece of core, and began to mold it, shaping and soothing it into a puzzle-like shape. He had spent time looking into human carpentry practices, and had come across the traditional Chinese techniques of Lu Ban. 

It had taken more than a human lifetime to learn it properly and then suit it to his own needs, but he put it into practice now, shaping the shattered pieces anew and slotting them together so that they might fit and stay snug.

Sojourn had weaved together layer after layer of treated ectoplasm into a fine cloth and was now sewing it into a fitted dress, each stitch small and tidy, seamless against the weave. 

The one who stoked the flame, who kept its energy strong and the newly forming core well fed, was Nocturn. He kept a measured gaze upon it, not once turning away or getting distracted. 

This continued for an eternity, the creation, or recreation, of something both ancient and now new was exhaustive work. But eventually, Clockwork felt a hum. A small, weak thing that would have left him breathless had he needed to breathe. 

Chaos was born again, though faint, though weak. Not anything close to what she once was, but still, she was there, feeding on the flames of her own ashes, pieces of her own core held together and finally finding life. 

They needed to keep going. This was delicate work, if they got distracted, if there was even one misstep, it would be over. Chaos would be what she is now, what they made of her, and not what she needed to be. 

The fire went out.

“ Damn ,” Nocturn hissed, quickly turning to look around. He did not bother to relight the flame, it was too late. Clockwork felt hollow, had they truly failed? But how? 

He acted quickly, bundling the newly formed and still fragile core into Sojourn’s half sewn garment and thrusting it fully into the other Ancient’s hands. 

“You are the fastest of us, run, hide her away before we lose her entirely.” Sojourn nodded solemnly, flying quickly through the winding tunnels that led out of the cave. 

Nocturn scowled, “whoever is there should be glad I am merciful. Come out now and I shall forgo eternal torment for a quick End.”

There was only silence. 

Clockwork was growing irritated himself and looked to the future, only to see Nocturn tackled into a wall by a familiar black and white blur. 

“Daniel?!” He said, his thoughts screeching to a halt. But, there was no way. He couldn’t have followed them. He would have had to know about the cave and been lying in wait for the exact moment to-

There was a soft sound, like the clinking of a delicate chain, as Clockwork felt a weight upon his neck. All at once he felt the universe stand still, as if he had been trapped in the moment, the singular moment no longer able to spread himself beyond. It was cloying, claustrophobic. Something he never thought he’d experience again. 

And he knew who was behind it. 

“You’ve always been impatient my dear.” Pariah spoke softly, his lips far too close. 

Clockwork fled, slipping between moments to force space between them almost on instinct alone. Pariah simply let him go, a smug smile on his face. No, he wasn’t supposed to be here. How did he know about this place?

What had he placed on Clockwork’s neck?

He lifted a hand, not taking his eyes off of Pariah in case he decided to get any closer, and felt around his neck. It was a chain, delicate and just long enough to have slid over his head and dangle its pendant at a point on his chest, just above the glass. The shape of it was vaguely familiar, but Clockwork couldn’t place it.

“What have you done to me?” he asked, using anger to hide the tremble in his voice.

Pariah’s expression softened and he took a step forward. “Did I not say I would see you decked in gold?”

No…

The necklace…

It had been a cursed necklace, layered in charms meant for protection that slowly twisted into possession and control. It shouldn’t have been strong enough to cause any trouble at all to Clockwork, if something this simple had worked, Pariah would have used it long ago in the peak of his madness. 

Clockwork grabbed the chain, intending to rip it off, but Pariah spoke, startling him. “I wouldn’t, you’ll only hurt yourself.”

“Then why did you put it on me?” he tugged at the chain in emphasis, without his strength. Pariah never warned for no reason. 

The bastard smiled, like Clockwork had asked a stupid question, one he should know the answer to. Clockwork scowled, and moved further away from him. His back hit a wall. The cave, while earlier it had been comforting, a sign that eternal chaos was close at hand, that all Clockwork had done was paying off in the end, it was now more reminiscent of a stone cage. 

A trap.

He’d walked straight into a trap, one Pariah had been laying since he awoke. And Clockwork had never paid it any heed, had not bothered with his machinations because he assumed Pariah would be too slow, had thought whatever he did would be too weak. He had underestimated him, and now Pariah Dark was walking towards him, a lion stalking its prey.

Clockwork froze time.

He was still moving. Clockwork had frozen time and Pariah was still moving . 

It shouldn’t have been possible, there was nothing restricting Clockwork’s power in that way. He felt the threads of all existence tangled around him, grabbed the ones moving forward and tugged, sharp, desperate, to keep them still. He felt them still. 

Pariah kept moving though. 

“How-?” Everything else had frozen, all around them was silence and the only things that moved were the two of them. It was a strange kind of dance, one stepping closer and the other floating away. 

“I made it myself, the charm. It ties you to me, obviously.” Pariah caught him, gently because he didn’t need to use force, didn’t need to use any of the almost limitless strength behind him. “It’s based off the contract you signed with the Observants, I hadn’t honestly expected it to be so blatantly one sided when I read it. Though I suppose it was on purpose, a miscalculation on your part, in the end.”

Clockwork pulled his hand away, but Pariah simply moved with the action and stepped closer, crowding against him. “It doesn’t work like that,” Clockwork said through clenched teeth. A one-sided contract that gave away so much of himself was necessary. It was also only possible because Clockwork had signed it. Pariah couldn’t mimic that without Clockwork’s consent, that wasn’t how it worked. That wasn’t how any of this was supposed to work. 

Pariah hummed in agreement. “It wouldn’t be, if that was all I did.” He brushed a lock of hair from Clockwork’s eyes. “The Order of the Observants was in chaos. They were desperate. They wanted someone powerful to protect them. They were willing to give anything for the possibility they might find safety.”

Then he pulled out a medallion of his own, a horribly familiar one.

Oh.

So that was all it took…

Pariah was right, it had been a miscalculation indeed. 

“Even if they gave me to you, the contract dissolved with the Order. I felt it break.” 

“It did,” Pariah took hold of one of Clockwork’s hands and held it to his lips in a kiss, “But I had you for long enough. Long enough to bind you to myself instead. All it took was some craftswork.”

He let go of Clockwork’s hand to touch the pendant hanging from his neck instead. It was a gentle, reverent touch, as if thanking the damned thing for its work in keeping Clockwork trapped for him. “Luckily I was up to date on all the most prominent binding curses. I have a friend who suffers from such an affliction after all.”

“Fuck you.” 

Pariah laughed, a genuine surprised chuckle that truly lit him up from the inside. His eyes were so warm, his hands burned like brands, and Clockwork wanted nothing more than to tear out his other eye with his teeth. “Come Clockwork, you’ve failed. Let’s go home.” 

  Pariah led him back to the Clocktower, his lair. His home and prison. Clockwork stormed past him once they were inside. “And what is your plan now? I can’t imagine I’d be much use in subjecuting the Realms, as you can see I’m quite traitorous by nature. All of my previous masters can attest.”

“Then it’s good I’m keeping you for your sense of humor,” Pariah said as he closed the door behind him. 

It was the first time Pariah Dark had ever been inside Clockwork’s lair. Pariah had always been a cautious ghost, it made sense that he wouldn’t allow himself the vulnerability of being inside another powerful ghost’s lair, a place where they quite literally held all of the power and had all of the control. 

The irony of course, was that the moment Pariah had stepped inside, it was Clockwork that felt vulnerable. Exposed like a raw nerve, every part of him standing on end, tightly coiled and ready to flee. 

“How is this exactly how I have always envisioned it?” Pariah says dryly, his eyes roaming freely, invasively over every nook and cranny. Every randomly placed cog and haphazard ticking machine. It was a chaotic mess, naturally, it was Clockwork. 

Clockwork picked up a twentieth century alarm clock and weighed it in his hands before chucking it as hard as he could towards Pariah. The bastard caught it, of course. And Clockwork scowled.

“Did you often picture yourself waltzing into my Lair?”

Pariah set the clock down carefully, as if it would break. As if it were truly a piece of Clockwork himself. “I don’t see why I shouldn’t have. You were certainly at home in mine.”

“Oh please, half the Realms has access to your Lair. We are not the same.” Clockwork scoffed, crossing his arms and floating awkwardly in the middle of the room. He didn’t want to be any closer to Pariah, but neither did he want to risk being backed into a wall again . It seemed a recurring treat for Pariah, to cage him in that way. 

There was a touch of mischief in Pariah’s smile when he replied. “Perhaps we can change that, would you like more visitors?”

“No.”

“Pity.”

Clockwork grabbed another trinket to throw, this one he had pried from the walls. Pariah handled that just as easily, an uncomfortable expression aimed at the destroyed part of Clockwork’s wall. He was truly the most obnoxious perfectionist. If Clockwork’s mangled mess of a lair was going to bother him he shouldn’t have bothered to come inside.

In fact, if he was going to be disappointed so easily he shouldn’t have chained him in the first place. It wasn’t as if the bindings guaranteed something like loyalty. They couldn’t even force him to act should he not wish to. Clockwork wasn’t going to change from how he had been for eons under the damn Eyes. 

“Why did you do this?” Clockwork asked, “And don’t dare say it’s only because you said you would. You may be meticulous but you are not beholden to simple words.”

Pariah had fixed his wall. And was now attempting to reinstate the very same decoration Clockwork had used as ammunition. It was strangely domestic to see and Clockwork felt rage simmer and build. Would he simply make himself at home then? Perhaps he would seek to combine their lairs in a twisted amalgamation so that he might seek order where it damn well did not belong.

“You were going to leave.” 

What a useless excuse. “Did you lose your ability to reason permanently to that crown?”

This time it was Pariah that rolled his eyes. “Obviously not, if I was able to out-fox Clockwork of all ghosts.”

“You had help.” Clockwork said through grit teeth. He wouldn’t ask who, he didn’t think he could handle having it confirmed.

Pariah’s eyes sparkled. “So you knew?”

“I figured it out.”

“Feeling very betrayed, Clockwork?” This time Pariah’s smile was sharp, a vicious little thing that certainly made him more recognizable as the fallen tyrant he actually was. 

Clockwork refused to rise to the bait. He did not regret, it was impossible to feel regret when every single decision he’d ever made had been so thoroughly calculated. “I wasn’t going to leave. Where would I even go, Pariah?”

“You were leaving me.” Pariah walked towards him, quicker than his usual slow prowl. Clockwork had chanced a step back himself but it only served to darken Pariah’s expression further so he stilled instead and allowed himself to be caught and held. Pariah’s hands were heavy, one landing on his hip and the other reaching for his wrist. “You were disappearing to the flows of Time, one minute here and the next somewhere no one could follow you. You speak of chaos and the freedom it would give you, but you lie to yourself when you say that is all that you desire. The freedom you had so desperately sought, how lonely would it have been.”

Pariah had not been able to talk after that, too busy weathering Clockwork’s sudden violent outrage. 

Nocturn was the first to visit him, to see Clockwork’s anger, his desperate lashing out. He had the same expression he’d always had when the topic of Pariah or Daniel had come up. The look of undisguised pity, as if he had known from the start that Clockwork would fail, that he would be chained in this way, the moment his freedom was closer than at any other time. 

“We do not hate you for your failure, Clockwork,” Nocturn said, and Clockwork bared his teeth. It had been sometime since he’d carved out an eye in petty vengeance but he was not above making it a hobby.

Nocturn simply kept his distance, just one step away with one of those damned medallions around his neck, stopping Clockwork from freezing him in place in his own lair. “You’ve always been easily twisted by affection, too willing to be tied down with familiarity.”

His words hurt, like an arrow piercing through Clockwork’s chest. He hadn’t thought it would be so literal, hadn’t taken Pariah’s threats seriously. Had believed, genuinely, that he would be able to escape whatever bonds Pariah had fashioned for him. Had not thought to protect himself thoroughly enough and now all was for naught. Nocturn said he harbored no ill will, but he should . 

And Clockwork was distraught that he did not. 

He deflated and Nocturn floated closer, just within range. But Clockwork’s arms hung heavy, and he was exhausted now, the weight of it all too much. “You should. Chaos is lost to us.” he spoke, his voice barely audible.

“Yes,” Nocturn acquiesced, “but Chaos was lost to us long ago. It was a child’s hope, that we could get it back.”

“You are content then? To rot in containment in an infinite realm of order and stability?”

A laugh escaped Nocturn, perplexing Clockwork and only flaring his temper worse. The other Ancient didn’t even try to hide as he fell into a laughing fit. “I would not be, no. But my oldest friend, I am not the one in containment. I have always known you look too much towards the forest and its tallest trees, very rarely have you ever noticed the grass or the leaves.”

“Speak sense,” Clockwork snapped. It was his job to speak in riddles, he had little patience to hear them now. 

Nocturn did not call him on his hypocrisy though, instead he shook his head and floated closer, relaxing next to Clockwork as if they were two friends taking tea. “It was not, as you believed, an all or nothing gamble.”

“Was it not?”

“No, the realms are back to Anarchy as they should be. The Observants were the last hold in their attempts to tame them, and they have been destroyed. There is no King, not even a sleeping one, and Chaos exists.”

Clockwork listened, the cold weight of failure that had settled in his chest chipped and cracked as Nocturn spoke on. “She does not exist as she had.”

“But perhaps this is a better way,” Nocturn pondered, “last time, Chaos reigned so supreme it seemed all were insistent to seek order. Then order reigned supreme and we sought Chaos. Perhaps now, with the Realms alive once more, and order and Chaos in balance, it will last instead.”

Nocturn placed a hand on the top of Clockwork’s head, petting his hair. “The other Ancients and I shall seek our fun, and find ways to exist in this new existence. It is only you, I am afraid, that will remain trapped.”

Clockwork slapped his hand away, “How comforting, Nocturn. Do you also go to the newly dead and tell them not to weep, at least they were the ones that died and not others?”

Nocturn’s hand returned to pull his hood down over his face and Clockwork had to slap it away again. “It is not in my perogative to comfort the newly dead. I thought only to inform my dearest friend that he had not earned my animosity. A fear he might have had, failing the plan we had painstakingly worked towards for eons.”

“I don’t want to be chained any longer.” Clockwork admitted. It had been so long since he’d had any semblance of freedom. Did he even know what it would feel like anymore?

“We know. Though some, like Misery Vex, believe it karmic, that your attachments, which had led so thoroughly to our defeat, came back in the forms of chains for you alone. But know that if one day it comes to pass that I can free you, unlikely as it may be, I shall make the attempt.” Nocturn stood, leaving Clockwork alone in his tower. 

“Clockwork?” It was Daniel’s voice. It was the first time his young ward had come to visit since the binding. It was not a comfort to hear his voice, to see that he was okay. It was not .

He didn’t acknowledge Daniel when he entered, wouldn’t have let him in the door if he still had complete control of his Lair… But he’d bargained that away long ago in a gamble that had failed him entirely. 

Instead he floated to his screens. Ever since the fall of the Observants, he could see properly at least. Pariah had no interest in obscuring his vision, had even less in controlling what it was he could see. Pariah’s only interest had been binding Clockwork to him so that he might not escape, so that he might not regress, so that he might not lose himself to the chaos of infinity and escape his limited existence.

Clockwork scowled, still ignoring Daniel’s presence, his attempts at conversation. Pariah’s interests should not have mattered. Because Pariah should not have won . Because Pariah had lost before and Clockwork had been so certain that he would again. Because- 

Because Clockwork had made a mistake when he sealed him away. Because Clockwork knew he could not bring himself to end him. Because Clockwork had seen an opportunity to see Pariah again and had known it would be a mistake but had wanted so desperately just to see him again. Wanted to see him free of the haze of anger the ring and crown had obscured him in, but a ghost’s natural state was obsessive. And Pariah had never hid his desire to keep Clockwork as he was, Clockwork had simply brushed it off as words of affection. He should have known better really, Pariah was hardly the type to speak lightly, and had never claimed what he did not mean with his entire core. 

The screen he was watching was boring, most things were now that he had no reason to keep track of the threads, no overarching plan to work towards. It was so simple. A young ghost was trick-or-treating with a watermelon instead of a pumpkin and was turning into a large candy-based monster whenever someone turned them away. 

It was the middle of summer where the ghost was, and Clockwork allowed himself to appreciate the tiny bit of chaos that the ghost was bringing to the small mortal town. Nocturn had told him that not all had been lost, Clockwork may be trapped, but Chaos had been released. 

Just enough. 

He sighed. 

“Why are you here Daniel?” he finally asked.

Daniel straightened up, he’d been rambling, no doubt in an attempt to cajole Clockwork into joining conversation or listening subconsciously. He hadn't been.

He was also carrying a plate of cookies that Clockwork had not seen, because Clockwork had not looked. When would he learn his lesson about that? Why was he always looking too late?

“I wanted to check on you,” Daniel said, setting the plate of cookies down now that he was sure Clockwork had seen them. “Pariah said you were… having a hard time.”

Clockwork scowled, too many things tearing at his chest at once. Damn Pariah, damn him . 

“Having a hard time?” he said with a false calm. “The plans that I made eons ago, plans that had been in work before your mortal realm even knew what time was, were ruined by someone I trusted. Someone I did not think would step so easily between me and my goals. Exactly what kind of time should I be having, chained to my own lair without even the authority to deny entrance to whom I wish?”

There had been a small flinch, Clockwork noticed, when he had mentioned betrayal. But if Daniel felt any guilt he didn’t look it. He raised his head, eyes full of determination. The very same expression Clockwork had seen through his screens so many times, in the fights against the other Ancients. The plans they’d made to make him stronger, to keep him stable, so that when the Chaos had been released he and the Realms with him would survive. 

He had certainly survived. 

“Pariah said this was the only way to save you.” Because of course that was what Pariah had told him. Because Daniel was intelligent, but Daniel was also a child and all too willing to trust any competent adult. A flaw that Clockwork himself had been so quick to take advantage of. A flaw that cursed him now. 

“Do you really believe that Pariah Dark has my best interest at heart?” he would have sneered, if it had been anyone else. If it hadn’t been Daniel, who was practically his own child. Instead, he asked softly, his frustration drowned entirely by exhaustion.

Daniel still answered him though. “You were changing Clockwork,” What? “The same way you told me Pariah had once changed.”

He hadn’t, there was no way it had been so obvious. He hadn’t, it wasn’t as if he had lost himself to his obsession, nor had he gained power that grew out of his control, what was he talking about?

“You were distant, as if you were struggling to stay in any given moment. Sometimes you’d forget everything going on around you, and others you seemed to be somewhere or some-when else entirely. I mean,” Daniel took a breath, “you’ve always been a bit cryptic, but you were losing yourself entirely . Halfway through a conversation you would start talking completely randomly, in languages long dead or unrecognizable. Or you’d start talking about things that had never happened or had happened forever ago.”

He was almost shouting now, his eyes shining with more than just energy and Clockwork felt a sting in his core. He had known that Daniel would disapprove, that he would get angry. But it had not occurred to him that his anger would be pointed towards this rather than his blatant manipulation of Daniel and his friends.

“And your actions! They were reckless, Clockwork!! Releasing Dan? What the hell?! ”

It was Clockwork’s turn to flinch. “Your future self’s release had always been part of the plan. It was why I had you leave him with me to start with. I was not losing myself Daniel, I was revealing who I actually am.”

Daniel made a desperately frustrated noise. “Do you think saying something like that is going to convince me we were wrong, Clockwork? I- I trusted you! I care about you! You’re-”

“So you’d cage me and try to force compliance so that the more unsightly aspects of myself can be filed away? So you can teach me to be better, like some kind of petty human criminal, Daniel?” He let his anger take over instead. It was easier, so much easier. It was what he had always done with Pariah. 

Daniel rolled his eyes. “How dramatic,” he said dryly, “Didn’t you do the same thing to Pariah, wasn’t what you did like way worse? You’re throwing a fit just like he said you would.”

“If you trust Pariah Dark so much, why are you even here? Have him make cookies for you. I'm sure he’s fully capable.” Clockwork wasn’t throwing a fit, he was angry. 

Daniel sighed, grabbing one of the cookies he’d brought. They had long gone cold, but it hardly mattered to Clockwork, he wouldn’t be eating them. “Pariah has a lot of faults, and there’s a bunch of things I don’t really like about him. He’s manipulative, methodical. He never lets me half ass anything and he’s really picky. He doesn’t actually care if a person dies or a ghost gets Ended, and we fight about that kind of stuff a lot. But…” he met Clockwork’s eyes, his expression looked hurt, heartbroken. Clockwork didn’t want to see it. Had never wanted to see Daniel like this.

“He’s never outright lied to me. I’ve been checking, ever since… Well. I don’t just trust anyone at their word anymore. So yeah okay, I know he’s manipulating me just like he was manipulating you, but he never lied to either of us about his intentions. He didn’t do what you did.”

Clockwork couldn’t look at him any more. He’d made so many mistakes. If he was truly destined to fail… He should never have revealed his true nature or intentions to the boy. His disappointment burned almost as much as the chain Pariah had placed around Clockwork’s neck.

It didn’t matter though, that Clockwork could not stand to see him, because Daniel flew towards him and grabbed his face gently, hands on either side of his cheeks. 

“I don’t trust you anymore, Clockwork, but I still love you. So does Pariah. We can fix this, okay?” Daniel said and Clockwork’s eyes widened at the threat. 

He had truly lost, hadn’t he?

#Danny Phantom #ectoberhaunt 2021 #Dark ages #Pariah Dark #clockwork dp #Pariah/Clockwork #Bee's writing #fanfiction #Clockwork having not great morals sorry yall but its been a long time coming and I HAVE been hinting at this exact ending :3c

[marshmallowprotection]

TW: Panic Attack

"My love, are you alright?"

You weren't able to respond to him. Your voice wasn't something you wanted to contend with, not when your mind was whirling with thoughts. You just stared blankly ahead of yourself at the wall. If you moved, it would break the illusion that you had and you would break down.

If you tried to speak, you knew that it would cause your chest to cave in and everything would follow it.

The feeling that the walls were closing in and the world was going to fall on top of you would sink in like the heavy summer rainstorms of your childhood. You didn't want to break down in front of Saeran.

Saeran had the weight of the world actually on top of him. You didn't have that problem. All of the problems you had were wounds of the past that shouldn't have scared you and yet here you were, on the cusp of breaking down because one memory flooded to the forefront of your mind like clockwork.

Nails dug into your knees as you quietly rocked back and forth. Control, you thought. There was a need to control and suppress the panic. It was bleeding out by the minute. The only reason you knew Saeran was there was because he came to the bedtime after ending a phone call with Jumin and Jaehee.

He was trying to secure another line to see where Saeyoung could be. He was the one who could've had a panic attack and had an excuse for it. You'd no reason, you thought over and over. You had no reason ti be panicking and now you were going to worry him. The last thing he needed was to be worried tenfold.

If you worried him, he was going to focus on you.

If he focused on you, then he wasn't going to be able Saeyoung.

If he wasn't focused on his twin, then Saeyoung was going to get hurt since he wasn't any closer to be rescued.

If he got hurt, then Saeran wasn't going to be able to heal properly because he would blame himself for not being able to save him.

Your mind was a s huge wirling pit of thoughts that seemingly did not stop. It seemed like every outcome led into a worse outcome. You could not see anything that ended well. All you could see were things that would get worse and worse if you got in the way.

Too much, too much, too much, too much.

You didn't want to get in the way here. You just wanted to be supportive and be there for him. You didn't want your problems to get in the way of everything. You had been trying to keep all of yourself together throughout all of this for the sake of everyone around you and it was just too much.

Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop, make it stop.

If you could just keep yourself together for a little longer. If you could just keep going and going for a little longer. There would be a time for you to worry about yourself later. There would always be time for it but right now it just wasn't a good time.

So why couldn't you stop this feeling?

You felt hands press against you as the unease pooled closer and closer to the top of your chest again.

Jolting upright, you stared into a very familiar pair of light eyes that looked filled with concern. Saeran opened his mouth to say something but he hesitated. You couldn't feel anything except the dread, but his warm hands felt soft against yours. Something about it felt familiar to you for some reason.

"Breathe," he advised you.

You still felt clammy but your lungs agreed with his request. You drew in a breath. It was clumsy and you gasped, choking it down for what must have been the first time in minutes. Saeran took the time to guide you through your breaths, very methodically counting for you as you tried to get it under control.

You could breathe but it still felt so bad.

That was when the tears decided to ring their ugly head. You knew it was coming but you had no power to stop it. It was an ugly mess as you choked out a sob, feeling your body trembling and shaking for the first time in what felt like to be hours.

You shook your head, "Can't... can't... can't. I can't, Saeran."

"It's okay, my love," his voice was so soft as he unwrapped your fingers from your legs. He did not comment on how you had been clawing at the seams of your bottoms. He drew you into his arms and you just broke down and sobbed. You couldn't explain it, you couldn't tell him, but he was there for you.

You always had to be strong. You always had to be the bigger person. But it was so hard. It was so hard and you were so tired of the suffocating feeling. You felt like you should've been grateful for what you had and where you were, but at the moment, all you could think of was the shame of breaking down when everyone else had it worse than you.

What right did you have?

"You don't have to talk about it. I don't know what has upset you but I'm not going anywhere. I'm not going to leave you when you feel like this. If the best thing that I can do for you right now this hold you while you cry, I'm going to stay here as long as you need," he murmured.

Did you deserve that?

"You don't have to stay," you whimpered. Your hands clutched to the back of his shirt. At the same time, you felt peace with him so close but you didn't want to be selfish. "You're working so hard. I know what it means to you, Saeran. You're so close to finding him. I know you need all the time you can get. I'll figure something out. I'll be okay. I'll be fine."

"I don't want to get in the way. It's nothing. It's not a problem. You don't have to worry. I just need to cry it all out and then I'll be okay in the morning. You should go ahead and get some rest for the night. I'm okay. I promise."

It was at that moment why it struck you as familiar.

Ray had tried to do the same thing to you once before. He had tried to deflect everything because he felt like he didn't deserve to be cared about. It was why you had been able to comfort him in the first place. You knew what he was feeling personally and that's why it was so easy for you to handle it.

It wasn't the same thing when it came to yourself. It was easier when it was other people that needed help. It was never easy when it was yourself. It did always feel like everyone else's problems mattered so much more than yours.

"My love," his voice was much more firm this time. You didn't lose your grip on him but you did feel the way his thumb began to draw circles on your back. "Please don't think that my priority is only on my brother. I know in my heart that he is alive. I am sorry that I did not realize that it was so overwhelming for you as well."

"I I know that you have always been my rock. You have always been my guiding light. You're the reason that I have been able to survive all of this and not have a breakdown. I have been so caught up in our happiness and being free that I'm afraid that I did not notice how rough it has become for you."

"You don't need to hold back on my account. Please, don't pretend everything is okay when you want to cry. Tell me that you need me. Let me be the shoulder that you can cry on. Let me be that person for you that you were for me. My love, if you need to cry, cry. If it's not okay, tell me that it isn't. I want us to be honest with each other. You always let me confide in you, I want you to be able to confide in me. It is not a burden to me."

In many ways, you knew that he was right. You knew that he was right. But it didn't take away the shame that you felt in your heart. It was something that you had dealt with since you were very young. It wasn't going to go away in a day. Yet, to hear him confirm that it was okay to cry made you whimper more. When you were growing up, nobody told you that it was okay to cry.

You haven't had anybody back then to tell you that it was okay. You didn't have anybody that wanted to listen. Your voice was always silence and ignored. It was why you tried to be The Guiding Light for people. It was why you always tried to look out for others. Because you had never been looked out for.

In so many ways, your roles had been reversed.

It seemed like he had been able to learn for himself what you had been trying to learn for so very long but had been unable to master. That it was okay to confide and trust other people. So, for what it was worth, you clung to your lover as tightly as you could.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

"My love, you have nothing to be sorry for. You're always caring for everyone. Let me take care of you now. I promise to protect your heart as you have cared for mine. Just let it all out... cry as you need. I'm staying."

And you wept as Saeran kept his promise.

#tw panic attacks #tw panic attack #tw anxiety #mod kait #mystic messenger #mysme #saeran choi #mysticmessenger #choi saeran #saeran mysme #mysme saeran #saeran mystic messenger #saeran mm #mm saeran #mystic messenger saeran #saeray #saeran #ge saeran #saeran x reader #not having a good time

[starsuh]

if fwb!jaemin can’t have you for forever then you can at least get tattoos together

featuring. na jaemin x reader

genre. fluff | wholesome fwb!au | very slight angst undertones

wc. 1.2k

warnings. none.

soundtrack. tattoos togethers by lauv.

Spontaneity was one of the many characteristics of Na Jaemin that had drawn you to him. From when he had first suggested being friends with benefits after you had both gone through bad breakups last year to showing up at your doorstep earlier that day to go on a post-exams trip to the beach.

You still would’ve never expected this, however.

He grabbed your hand, giddily bouncing on the backs of his feet as he turned to you to say: "Let's get tattoos.”

The crowd flowed down the boardwalk the same way the Han River would always meet its banks, with you parting its waves as you stood with a shocked countenance. Fishermen and tourists alike grumbled as they bypassed your still figure, staring at the grinning man with a look of utter perplexity.

"Let's get what?" Your brows furrowed. You must've misheard him, surely. 'Let's get tacos' sounded more likely coming from the man who could stand in the face of any type of seriousness and laugh. Tattoos were meant to last forever, something that people with your type of friendship never had.

"Let's get tattoos together," the corners of his lips upturned, pulling your interlocked hands upwards. "So we can remember this."

Jaemin had an inner happiness so independent of the outside world that his smiles burst from within rather than of masked pretenses worn in obligation. Often times, you found yourself almost envying his nature until you found it directed towards you.

You could only laugh, allowing the boy to pull you beside him and continue your path across the boardwalk. You leaned forward to better assess his expression. “For real?”

With the afternoon light reflecting on his clear skin, he looked like molten gold and the promise of happier days. His eyes twinkling as he looked down at you looking up at him. His other hand reached up to pat your head to which you ducked away with a scoff, resuming your pace slightly behind him. You hid your smile with a cough.

He tugged you closer to the shore, away from the crowd. Kicking off your sandals, your feet dug into the warm embrace of the earth. Jaemin followed suit.

"Yeah," he said. "We could get matching crab tats to commemorate the time we thought we had syphilis."

"Oh my god, for the last time, crabs aren’t-“

"Anyways!" He clapped his hands. "It's a cute idea, right? You're welcome."

"Getting that permanently etched into my skin sounds like I'm asking for bad luck," you paused. "Or asking for actual crabs."

"Listen," Jaemin placed his hands on your shoulders, catching your gaze with a countenance so serious that it caught you off guard. "Whether it's ocean crabs, STI crabs, or crab tattoos, as long as it’s with you I’d be fine with any of them."

You could see the wind-stirred shores in his eyes. If you were braver, you thought, you’d submerge yourself upon their depths completely. All else but him would be but one blur, and you’d find yourself falling so deeply in love with the feeling that you’d choose to stay there, with the sands and waters, no matter what, even if such feelings weren’t meant to be had for the boy with shining eyes and a smile brighter than the sun.

But, it was only a joke. Such an outcome could only be made in jest, in the universe where the two of you existed on parallel lines, close but never intersecting. So you laughed. Laughed and shoved him away, tumbling onto heaps in the sand at the absurdity of it all. The lingering seriousness in his eyes, however, would remain in the back of your mind as you contemplated the unexpected request.

Like clockwork, he tucked himself behind you; legs beside your hips and arms around your waist. A soft kiss was placed against your neck, not out of want but out of simple reassurance. You supposed there were some things in life that would never numb or dull, his warmth one of them.

“Are you actually serious,” your brow raised. “About the tattoo thing?”

“Yeah,” he hid his face where your shoulder met your neck. “Why not get a tattoo with a person who means a lot me, you know?"

“But why?” The unsaid question rung in the sudden silence. ‘Why want permanence for something temporary?’ After all, the unspoken rules of being friends with benefits was that it would end when either, one, feelings got involved or two, when one finally found someone they wanted to be serious with.

“Because, I love…”

He sighed, turning you around so that you were facing him.

“Can I kiss you?” he asked, though he didn’t need to. Jaemin didn’t kiss like how books described and movies portrayed. He kissed like he was telling a story; the one of you and him, on a beach, far away from the rest of the world. It was the promise of a new reality. Of heartache and passion. Friends didn’t kiss like this, you thought, and a softer voice in the back of your head whispered back: nor do friends with benefits.

You hovered soundlessly against his lips afterwards, simply feeling each other's presence. This was intimacy— the revelation that you could be the truest form of your whole being and not fear judgement or reprisal. He had always been that person to you, but you had never realized until now, with his hands tightly grasped around yours as if he feared that at any moment you might let go.

“I know that we might not last forever but you don’t understand how badly I want us to,” his secret was whispered against your lips and caught by the wind. “I think the thing I’m most afraid of is forgetting. Forgetting our memories and everything you've made me feel, because I don't think I understood what moments were worth making memories of until I met you."

You kissed him once more like a silent prayer to any god who could hear you that the next words to leave your lips wouldn’t end in regret. “Fuck it, let’s do it.”

He tilted his head in question. “What?”

“Let’s get tattoos.”

And that's how you found yourselves at the tattoo parlor three hours later, admiring the small bandages on both of your left wrists. You ended up getting the crab tattoos much to Jaemin’s happiness. They were smaller than a thumbnail and laid in the center of your upper wrists like an oath that you found yourself not minding.

Yours was done first and you loved it before you even saw it. It was simple and inked with black but you didn't need more than simple, not when someone as thoughtful and kind as Jaemin existed in your universe and wanted to stay in it.

When Jaemin’s was done, he had immediately barreled towards you and attacked you with a tight hug, twirling you around and off your feet. You laughed without care for volume or pitch as you playfully smacked his shoulder to put you down.

He leaned his forehead against yours with what could only be described as a love-struck grin (you didn’t understand how you hadn’t seen it sooner). “Hypothetically, what would you say if I asked you out on a proper date?”

You smiled and reconnected your hands with his. “As long as we don’t order crabs or get more tattoos on it, then I hypothetically might just say yes.”

#jaemin #na jaemin #nct #nct scenarios #nct imagines #jaemin scenarios #nct dream imagines #jaemin x reader #nct dream angst #jaemin fluff #nct dream scenarios #nct dream fluff #nct fluff #nct angst #jaemin imagines #jaemin angst #nct x you #jaemin scenario #nct imagine #jaemin imagine #nct scenario #nct x gender neutral reader #nct x y/n #nct dream scenario #nct fic #nct blurbs #nct dream blurb #islo writes

[omgrachwrites]

Save You - Sirius Black

Pairing: Sirius Black x Muggle!Reader

Summary: When your friend comes to you, bruised and bloodied its obvious that he needs to be saved.

Warnings: fluff, angst, mentions of abuse

Prompts: “Can you please come and get me?” “Hey just look at me. Breathe.”

Words: 1379

Disclaimer: Both Sirius and the reader are sixteen in this fic!

A/N: This is for @kashishwrites​ 300 writing challenge, congrats again honey, I hope this is okay! Hope you guys enjoy, also Sirius is a bit out of character in this fic, he’s a lot more vulnerable so I hope that’s okay! I love you all! xxx

The pub was busy, busier than usual so collecting the many glasses from the patrons should have kept you busy, it should have kept your mind from wandering, in reality though, it was just the opposite. Your manager – and your friend – had seemed to notice that you weren’t your usual self tonight so he sent you on a break so you could catch a breather. You found yourself standing and shivering in the cold night air in the smoking area and you took a long drag of your cigarette as worry wriggled in your stomach like worms.

Every Friday night, your friend Sirius would come and just chat to you, you didn’t know much about him but you knew that he made your heart flutter every time you saw him. You only knew him from the pub, he’d started coming in so much in the last couple of months that you had struck up a sort of friendship with him. His stormy grey eyes were always wild and vulnerable; it looked like visiting the pub seemed to be an escape for him, from what you could not say.

He’d always come in at 8pm like clockwork, he’d never been late and he’d never not turned up, it was past 8pm and he wasn’t here. You were worried that something had happened to him, or maybe he had just got sick of coming to see you, maybe he had found someone better. You didn’t know what outcome would terrify you the most.

Sighing, you flicked away the stub of your cigarette and headed back inside, popping a strip of chewing gum into your mouth. You breathed out in relief as you walked back inside and you were instantly enveloped in cosy warmth. There weren’t very many cosy pubs on this side of London so you made the most of it.

“Are you okay Y/N?” your manager asked from where he was serving behind the bar and you shot him a smile though you still felt worried.

“I’m fine, really Nick,” you assured him, though he didn’t look like he believed you, but he didn’t argue the point.

You ignored his concerned glances as you resumed collecting glasses and chatting with the friendly regular customers, it was mostly older gentlemen but they always tipped well. About ten minutes later the pub doors opened, letting the freezing cold winter air gust into the warm pub. You shivered and on instinct, you looked up and gasped, covering your mouth as you felt your stomach jolt. It was Sirius but he didn’t have his usual teasing, lazy smile on his handsome face. Instead, his face was covered in blood and he had a black eye, it looked like he’d been to hell and back. You vaguely wondered whether he could have been fighting.

“Y/N,” he breathed, “I’m sorry to turn up like this but I didn’t know where else to go, I didn’t want to bother anybody.”

“Oh Sirius,” your heart broke as you walked up to him, “you don’t have to apologise for anything, I’m glad that you did decide to come here. Come on, let’s get you cleaned up,” you gently took his hand and led him into the staff roof, “sit down sweetie,” you smiled at him kindly as you rooted around for the first aid kit.

You began by cleaning his face as gently as you could with an anti-septic wipe; he winced as you cleaned off the dry blood. You didn’t want to pry but he looked so sad, just like a wounded animal and you wanted to help if you could, “what happened to you Sirius? You know that you can tell me, don’t you?” you asked in concern as he averted his eyes to the carpeted floor, scuffing it a little with his black army boots.

“My mum happened, she did this to me,” you felt a burst of white hot anger go through you like a knife. How could a mother do this to her own child? Sirius was so wonderful, “when I piss her off she responds with violence. I’m not perfect like my brother. I tell my friends it doesn’t affect me but she’s my mother, the woman who is supposed to love me unconditionally is the one who is throwing the punches,” you heard his voice grow panicky and tears slipped down his cheeks, you had to try and calm him down.

“Hey, just look at me,” you cupped his cheeks, wiping his tears away with your thumb and when he looked at you, you smiled, “breath. Sweetheart, you don’t deserve what she’s doing to you, you’re so amazing Sirius and I want to help you.”

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, “if anything happens to me, will you come and save me?” his voice was pleading and scared, he sounded so much like a little boy that it broke your heart.

You rested your forehead against his gently, feeling his warm breath wash over your face, “of course I’ll come and save you. I’m not going to leave you,” you stroked his blood soaked hair off his face.

He gave you such a devastatingly handsome smile that it turned your insides to complete mush, and you were okay with that. As you continued to clean his wounds you chatted to him, trying to distract him from his problems if only for a little while. You had persuaded him to stick around – you were so worried for him – until the pub closed. When it was ready for you to go home he promised you that he was going to stay with one of his friends, even though you told him that your parents would be okay with him staying at your house. You never wanted him to go back to his mum’s house.

As he left you made sure to give him your number in case he needed you for anything, “call me if you need anything at all Sirius. Please keep yourself safe and don’t go back there,” you handed him the piece of paper that you had written your number on.

His eyes were nervous as he took it from you but he quickly covered it up with a smile and he kissed your forehead, “thank you so much Y/N,” he shot you one last grin before he disappeared down the dark street.

It had been a couple of months and it seemed that Sirius was doing well, much to your concern he had gone back to his mum’s house but he said that everything was alright and that he’d really gone back to make sure his brother would be alright. You were stuck in your room doing homework when the landline that was connected to your room starting to ring. No one really ever called your landline.

“Hello?” you asked as you picked it up.

“Y/N,” it was Sirius’ voice and he was breathing like he was in pain, “thank heavens, I thought that I was using this payphone wrong,” his voice was thick and it sounded like he’d been crying, “can you please come and get me?”

“Of course,” you said instantly, “where are you darling?” as soon as he told you his address you hung up, gave your parents some lame excuse and took off into the night.

You walked off the London Underground to see him waiting for you, you got a shock when you saw him, he looked much worse than he had done when he’d come to the pub. As soon as he saw you, his face crumpled and he began to cry.

“Oh Sirius!” you gave him the most gentle hug that you could muster as he sobbed into your shoulder.

“I was an idiot to go back, I’m so sorry to bother you again, Y/N. I shouldn’t let her get to me this much.”

You shook your head as you stroked your hair, “don’t you apologise, I’m just glad that you’re okay,” you cooed, “but you can’t go back there darling. You just can’t.”

“Please don’t leave me,” he sniffled.

“I’m never going to leave you,” you promised as you gently brushed your lips over his in a feather light kiss as you held him close, afraid that he’d disappear.

--------------------

@kashishwrites​ @smiithys​ @siriusblackspam​

#sirius #sirius black #sirius orion black #pads #padfoot #moony wormtail padfoot and prongs #sirius imagine #sirius one shot #sirius fluff #sirius angst #sirius x reader #sirius x reader insert #sirius x you #sirius x y/n #you x sirius #sirius black x reader #sirius black x reader insert #sirius black x you #sirius black x y/n #you x sirius black #reader #muggle!reader #angst #the marauders #the marauders era #marauders #marauders era

[mymadmedleyw]

Death

(ao3), belongs under Certain Moment of Time, could be read independently, just as each for the days will be shorts, but all together forming a whole picture

(As this is the last chapter within the 'Going Angst Week 2021', a little reminder about the right order in reading the chapters chronologically (I suggest CMOT link): 4, 6, 2, 5, 3, and 7, 1)

tw: miscarriage

---

Blood. One could say after seeing it many times, sensing its rusty, salty odour within the air might have lost the sensibility to it after a while. But it never ceased on the weight if it was about loss, about death.

Then it always changed to the horrible, suffocating disinfectant scent with the white surrounding and the sound of silent sobs. Just as this time. They didn't even dare to count for how many occasions they ended up here, broken and devastated.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…" mumbled for like the thousand times the hollow voice. "It's all my fault, I shouldn't have- I shouldn't have-" the sentence trailed off by another chuckling, squeezing hard on his hand that was holding hers, never letting it go.

Every attempt, every hopeful try led back here and- and it just twisted his heart, seeing, again and again, the slightly greyishly paled skin that years ago was beaming. Years ago…

Suddenly the picture of the small child in her arms came back, like that could have been a mirage. Sadly, he was well aware it wasn't, that happened, but- what he had done wrong?

Vlad pressed his forehead on her, taking the same question that he was asking from himself during the past few years. Why he hadn't told her? It was the same damn question, but with a different meaning this time. Time… yes, that it was.

He clearly could remember the day in the hospital bed, staring at the black and white photograph, bringing for them good news again… and then he couldn't tell what had happened, but he had woken up with years of memories in his mind and- and then as he had sat up, holding his throbbing head someone put a hand on his shoulder, asking with the greatest concern if he was okay.

It had needed hours to understand it wasn't a dream, and by lunch – made by the most amazing woman on the Earth – his mind settled too.

As much weird it was, but this was the truth. Madeline Masters. His wife. Also aware of his state – that they, according to his new-old memories, together tried to keep at bay. He knew he lied to her about its seriousness. That she only was informed about the simply side-effects: floating, invisibility and intangibility, sometimes glowing hands – but she had no conscious about the rest, about the other form… (which learning from a memory surprised Vlad too).

He kept then on with that lie, just as with the other one too, that somehow, he remembered a time when everything was different.

It worked for years. To tell the truth, Vlad forgot everything after their first positive test, even after the second, or the third, but-

Then he didn't dare to count. He couldn't recall anymore the days when she was happy – except in that other life. He slowly was destroying her, breaking the sweet image of his love… He tried to tell her several times to give up, but as much as stubborn she was, like feeling she should have been a mother, she never listened.

Then he eventually had run some tests (surprisingly facing with the result wasn't even his worst day, because his worst day was now…). The accident in the lab, five years ago ruined his biology. It was his fault. Vlad had been on to tell her, several times really, that they- that they wouldn't ever have a child, but- but he had been afraid. He still was afraid. He was a coward, fearing to lose her, so then he never told her, but now…

"Daniel…" a hollow, weak breath was formed into a name. "I thought- I chose- I really thought this time…"

"It's okay…" Vlad whispered, fighting against the suffocating guilt.

Daniel… he almost could imagine a view of a boy with her kindness, smartness and maybe with his steel bright eyes, and-

A soft sniffling broke the silence in the room, he knew it would take days and weeks to calm her down (or months, especially that this time she really had hoped…). But then she would return to her obsessed determines, again, not giving up until she would be able to fight for it…

But Vlad couldn't watch it, not again. This time, it had endangered her life too. He just couldn't let it happen, not anymore… especially as the date slipped into his mind. It was the same as on the letter, containing the black and white picture of their second child… she would have been expecting her second and-

He bit his lips as hard as it drew blood, rusty, salty and sinner. The sound of the woman, the so loved Maddie died away in a faint snuffling, undoubtedly dreaming about a great life he couldn't give her… Even though Vlad was conscious of their reality, he still wished to fulfil her dreams…

Wish… suddenly his eyes snapped open, remembering word-to-word to his half-mumbled sentence before everything had changed and he had woken up in this dream (nightmare…).

Would it be that easy? –Vlad wondered, sceptical about such childish way, but then he grabbed on it, tight, as ridiculous it sounded, and he'd have literally killed to make her happy. So then, he opened his mouth, already putting together what he wanted to say, and then-

"Won't work." stopped him an abrupt voice, then the owner cleared it. "I set the rules with Desiree. She is not allowed to grant any timeline-altering wishes, unless I allow it." Vlad blinked at the sudden presence of someone else, searching with his eyes immediately to catch the person, but there was no sign of anyone, just a quiet ticking sound was telling someone was definitely there.

A moment passed in silence, making Vlad wondering about if he hallucinated the voice, but then it spoke again. "Clockwork, by the way, Master of Time – though it's rather a given title than a name. Theatrical, isn't it?" Vlad scoffed at the unmistakable enjoying waving of the words, whoever this ghost was – because, based on the invisibility it was undoubtedly an unearthly creature from the other realm –, he clearly was amused by this scenario.

"What do you-?" Vlad started, frustrated by the spectre's presence and mocking.

"Want?" was Vlad interrupted. "From you? Nothing… albeit your stubborn wish created a glitch that didn't suppose to exist. A knot, that tangled the flow of events, blinding me. In short," the ghost took a break. "you scarred the time." well, that definitely sounded like a lecture… but then, the title slipped into his mind, along with the accounting for: Master of Time.

"You can make it back…" Vlad pieced together. "You can change on the time, change on this all." he couldn't tell if it scared him or filled with him hope, but definitely that drew out a way – more like an alternative – after the wish-one. For a short time, the ticking skipped a beat, like the ghost would have been stuck on a thought, but then talked again.

"Yes, I can change on this all." was Vlad's sentence, almost exactly repeated. He didn't have to be a genius, to feel it wasn't an admitting. "But I won't." was it added, not even a second later. "I might be responsible to watch over the timelines, and every single outcome, but on this, I am afraid, I can't do anything. You created it, it's your duty to fix it, and decide." Vlad stunned. Decide what exactly? This or- that? It wasn't an actual question, he could give the answer easily, but-

Suddenly he averted his gaze from the space where he suspected the ghost was floating invisibly – getting on his nerves by that – then he looked back to the woman, gazing at his wife, and gently got out a long curly lock of hair that fell into her face. She seemed so calm, pale, yes, shattered by the tired wrinkles under her closed eyes, and…

"I see you already made your decision." Vlad heard the cursed voice again. He didn't have to guess to know his eyes were burning red, clenching his jaw and fighting inside to not lash out at the ghost, transforming to his other outlook and end the ghost, it that was even possible in case of a timeless existence. Was it really counted as entertainment for him? This?!

"It's not a decision." Vlad spitted.

"No, it really isn't." said the ghost sternly, accompanied by a sound that gave an impression like an old clock would have been adjusted, bored by the current discussion as if it had been something obvious, or expected. "But I am seeing no future over this certain moment, neither in this time or your original one. Just imagine, how it could be to be blind after millennia. Curious, I was for centuries to learn what it caused. Well, it turned out it was just a desperate hybrid's wish, fighting against his true nature, cornering himself to endless suffering than accepting the new him… comical, isn't it?"

It felt harder and harder to hold back and stay unmoved listen to the words, but as much as he loathed hearing it, if this Clockwork could mean the solution from this, then-

"Besides, what happens now, how you decide, is beyond me, I can't see through it, until it happens." defined the being, at the same time out of nowhere a swirling green-ness formed in the air. It was similar to the Proto-Portal, which Vlad had seen many years ago, but this was enough big for anyone to walk through it. "It's either this time or the other one, the knot you created still makes the connection available. But it has to end. Only one could remain."

Vlad swallowed, lost in the neon colour, like an unescapable doom that followed him everywhere. He remembered his time, his muscles still could recall the seizures, the endless days in that hospital room, and reading about his friends' perfect life against his… the ghost was right, he had been desperate, now he could control his other side, but it could be only thanked to Maddie, this Maddie… in that other world, he was nothing but- he was literally nothing… here, now, on the other hand, he had the love of his life, but still-

Suddenly, he put together no matter how he'd choose, what path he'd take, it would turn his heart a stone, destroying by the ghost's words the other time. But then, he took a glimpse at the resting woman, at his Maddie, silently sleeping unaware of another being's presence in the room, only lost in a dream-world her mind created. For a moment, he wondered about the possibilities, about the alternatives, but then, hard, Vlad realised it was out of the question.

He never felt his limbs as heavy as he stood up from the chair, earlier placed beside the hospital bed, to mean support Maddie after the loss... And he never felt more hatred towards anyone – even towards Jack – that now took over his entire body about the ghost.

"I really hope, you are able to see your so cherished future now." Vlad cursed, the sourness and hurt suffocated him from inside as he took a step towards the greenness.

"I do." acknowledged the Master of Time, but not spilling anything else, what it would mean or how things would turn out. But Vlad knew even if the ghost was aware of some outcome, he wouldn't be informed about those. As Vlad disappeared behind the gate between the two realities, he took himself a promise, to somehow, when everything had settled, whatever it would take, he would find Clockwork and claim justice.

#going angst week 2021 #going angst week #danny phantom #vlad masters #clockwork

[entracteofevil]

Round Table Discussion with the Cover Illustrators

Entr’acte of Evil, page 142-145

--First, everyone please introduce yourselves.

Ichika: I’ve been responsible for the first cover and the illustrations for the series. My name is Ichika.

Suzunosuke: I am Suzunosuke. I normally just draw what I want to. I was able to make the cover for the second book.

You: I am You, and I was charged with the cover for this book. I’m really nervous, but I look forward to being able to do this interview with you.

--When did you all first start making illustrations?

Ichika: Since I could first remember. I don’t recall it all that clearly, but by the time I was in first year I was already drawing.

Suzunosuke: I think it was about middleschool. Apparently when I was a kid my parents were consulted by my teachers on the fact that I couldn’t actually draw pictures.

--You couldn’t draw pictures?

Suzunosuke: Even when I was made to stay behind by myself in kindergarten, the only things I drew were like little pictures of flowers on my drawing paper. It wasn’t that I was sick or anything like that, I was just a normal kid who couldn’t draw.

--I see, that’s very unexpected. What about you, You-san?

You: I don’t clearly remember when I first started drawing as a hobby, but my first picture was when I was three years old, and was a portrait of my caregiver in nursery. Back then I always wanted to use every color of crayon I had, and I guess the fact that I’m still always using rainbow colors even now just goes to show that what you learn in the cradle you carry to the grave.

Suzunosuke: I think that’s cool.

--Incidentally, when did you start making pictures related to VOCALOID?

Ichika: I think around 2007…maybe? I remember the first time I drew Miku was after listening to Yuuyu-P’s “White Season”.

Suzunosuke: I don’t remember how many years ago it was, but I feel like the first thing I drew was Kurousa-P’s “Cantarella”.

You: I listened to VOCALOID the first time in the winter of 2007, so I think it was probably around that time.

--So then, when was the first time you encountered AkunoP’s work?

Ichika: It was right after “Daughter of Evil” was posted on Piapro. I had just finished up making a PV, and when I was looking for new content on Piapro I got drawn in by the title and started listening to it.

Suzunosuke: The “Servant of Evil” was on NicoNico Douga’s rankings, and when I opened up the PV it had a tag saying to watch it after “Daughter of Evil”, so I watched them in order of “Daughter of Evil” and “Servant of Evil” for the first time.

You: Like Suzunosuke-san, probably in the autumn of 2008. The “Daughter of Evil” had a lot of buzz when it was first uploaded! I saw it in so many places with Ichika-san’s illustrations~ It feels so strange to see it having taken this form so many years later.

--Suzunosuke-san and You-san, this was the first time you’d seen a song that used Ichika-san’s illustrations, wasn’t it?

Ichika: I’m sorry for being alive…

Suzunosuke: Sorry, haha

You: Hey, hahaha

Ichika: I’m honestly really shaking here, haha

Suzunosuke: Maybe we should reply with “You’re a very wonderful person” ha ha.

-(Laughs) So what was everyone’s thoughts on the work when they saw “Daughter of Evil” and “Servant of Evil”?

Ichika: I think the imagery in it was really easy to get emotional about. I also thought it was a really interesting concept that although “Daughter of Evil” and “Servant of Evil” had a really different feel to them, they still felt like part of the same story.

Suzunosuke: All else aside I thought it was really sad, and I kept getting stuck on the fact that Allen couldn’t be saved. Still, it was because it was such a sad story that I was captivated by it. It also really made me feel the potential of the VOCALOID genre. It’s a derivative work, but also original content.

You: At the time I had thought it was really interesting and unusual to make a work with such dark fantasy elements using VOCALOID. I also really liked how catchy the tune was. It was also really impressive with all the derivative songs and fanart that got uploaded as things went on. I think it’s a work that shouldered a main pillar of the VOCALOID community in its heyday. And it’s really cool that it’s continuing to spread around the world even now.

--What image do you get of its creator, AkunoP?

Suzunosuke: Given he’s got “Akuno” (of evil) in his name, I thought he might be a scary person.

Ichika: Generally the people who do DTM have a kind of science-y image, so there’s that. And when we actually met, I remember he was a lot like that image. Though he was a bit thinner than I had imagined. Maybe if Akuno-san had shown up to our first meeting with his sunglasses look I’d answer that his image was different, haha.

You: Before I met him offline…He made a lot of romantic-type works, so I actually wondered if maybe he was a woman. When we actually met, it was apparently right after he’d changed his look, so I was a little amused to see him wearing a leather jacket and sunglasses.

--Have you all met AkunoP-san wearing sunglasses?

Suzunosuke: I actually just brushed him off because I didn’t know who he was for a second. As a fan the way he is now is probably close to his image as AkunoP, I would think.

Ichika: I also brushed him off.

You: Everybody brushed him off!

--Well that was an unexpected outcome, haha. Next, do you have a favorite AkunoP work?

Ichika: I actually really like “Clockwork Lullaby”. I prefer the quietly compelling melody and lyrics. Aside from that, I remember when I listened to “Daughter of Evil” I was really drawn to it, wondering what other kind of work he’d done, so that left a significant impression.

Suzunosuke: I think that might be “Re_Birthday”. The flow of sin and rebirth is so painfully beautiful, and I always get misty-eyed no matter how many times I listen to it.

You: Like Suzunosuke-san, I like “Re_Birthday”. I really love the music, and as for the story of it I think it’s really great it has that theme of salvation.

--I see. I had thought that Suzunosuke-san might say “Lunacy of Duke Venomania”, so that was surprising.

Suzunosuke: I could also say “Lunacy of Duke Venomania”, but I don’t want people to think I’m someone who likes erotic content, haha. But that’s also another song that I really like.

.

About the Novel Illustrations

.

--How did you feel when you heard about the “Daughter of Evil” becoming a novel?

Ichika: I was simply surprised.

Suzunosuke: I thought it was awesome.

You: I thought it was awesome for Akuno-san. I thought there must have been so many fan’s voices there, and that kind of invisible strength was deeply moving.

--Ichika-san, in the first book you did the cover illustration as well as the ones in the book itself—What was something that was hard about that?

Ichika: I’d have to say highlights.

--Highlights…! Certainly you had to do quite the interaction there… Honestly, was there any point where you were like, “I hope these editors step in dog crap”? haha

Ichika: Nah, ‘cause ever since I’ve become able to put in highlights more seriously, so I’d say it was good practice, haha.

--Suzunosuke-san, you were asked to do the cover for the second book; how was it when they approached you for that?

Suzunosuke: I had thought for sure that they were going to have me just do a pinup on the inside of the book, so then I was kind of like, “Now what?” The others who’ve been involved in it are such amazing illustrators, so I wondered if I’d be good enough for it.

--Was there anything you had trouble with?

Suzunosuke: Drawing the two of them to be just adorable was a little hard.

--I understand you had a bit of revision going on…?

Suzunosuke: Oh no, I saw that as being good training in a lot of ways, so even now it’s a good memory for me.

--You-san, you’ve been asked to do a lot of color illustrations each time, and in this guidebook you were entrusted with the cover illustration. How did you feel after finishing your work?

You: I really like doing the pinups, and I’ll generally paint them as I like, but I dealt with the cover with some different feelings in mind. As a fan I thought that Ichika-san would be given preference for sure. And I’ve refined on my composition a bit looking over past work. I wanted to emulate the flow of things up to now, so like Suzunosuke-san’s work I made it very horizontal.

--Who are some characters that were fun for you to draw in this novel series?

Ichika: All the characters are fun to draw, but if you’re gonna make me choose I’d say Elluka…I had this sense of security while drawing her, like it wasn’t an issue if I made her look a little bit like a villain.

Suzunosuke: I’ve only drawn two characters, so that would be the harmonius Clarith and Michaela. That pair so really cute, so I like them a lot.

--Suzunosuke-san, are there any characters that you would like to draw?

Suzunosuke: I love old man figures, so I’m a bit intrigued by Leonhart. Though I know that’s probably not what you were looking for, haha.

Ichika: (after half a second) It is!

Suzunosuke: Yay, haha

--You-san, you’ve probably drawn all of the main characters at this point; are there any that you’re fond of?

You: Everyone’s fun with how cute they are. I think Riliane-chan is really precious with how her hair is done up. And then there’s the princely Kyle-san—for some reason I’m always grinning when I draw him.

--Please tell us the impressions you were left with as the story has developed.

Ichika: I wasn’t expecting the romantic love between Michaela and Clarith, so that surprised me a bit.

Suzunosuke: I was actually really surprised that the base for Michaela and Gumillia’s appearances were those characters in those other songs.

You: I was also surprised at Michaela and Clarith. I felt the books complemented the content that wasn’t expanded on in the songs, which made them have a lot of interesting points. I think it’s also pretty great that I can now listen to the songs with a fresh perspective.

--Conclusively, how do you think the story will develop in the third book?

Ichika: I think Kyle’s mom is gonna be the final boss.

Suzunosuke: Hmm, I think all of the countries might get wrapped up in the fires of war. All the preliminary announcements have a pretty foreboding feeling to them.

You: All will go according to the will of god (AkunoP).

--Please let us know any final thoughts you have.

Ichika: Thanks for having me here. I don’t know yet how the third book is going to go, but I look forward to being able to go through the novels again with you.

Suzunosuke: I’d be really happy if I could be with you on the sidelines. This interview has been great!

You: I’m really happy to be linked to this series and involved in the work in this way. Thank you very much!

--Thank you very much for joining us everyone!

directory

[blackevermore]

x Secrets of The Lake: The Company of Misery and Pain

{ Chapter 2 }

Summary: Vladimir Masters' family tree has always been tainted by secrets swept under the rug. From generation to generation there have been countless reasons the Masters' family had seemed to keep private from the public. Even to this day, Vladimir was no exception. But what was one to do when a restless spirit from the settlement years finally breaks free from restraints and demands you answer for your ancestor's crimes? Vladimir doesn't know. However, Clockworks does.

Notes: We just having fun, rewriting some of the canon, new adventure new characters. I will apologize now for any grammar, spelling, weird sentence structuring in advance. My brain writes faster than my fingers and even when I go back through to reread it I still miss things. Sorry about that!

Word Count: 3287

If Vlad could find a stronger word besides irritating...aggravating...ah- vexatious! The vexatious ticking around him was about to drive him up a wall the longer he waited for Clockwork to acknowledge him. When Vlad found the calling card he only had to wait until after his morning coffee for the time ghost to open a portal to his lair. Vlad didn’t feel the need to change himself as he strolled through the portal, but he wished he brought a chair if it meant waiting.

“So much time but not enough done,” Clockwork finally finished his business viewing another timeline. He turned and gave Vlad a polite smile as he nodded his head to greet the other. “I’m happy you chose to adhere to my calling, this is a rather important conversation.”

“I figured I had no choice considering anything that has to deal with you means danger.” Vlad said aloofly and Clockwork only chuckled, friendly-ish banter, but Vlad was serious. The last time he dealt with the time ghost timelines were doomed and certain baddies were wreaking havoc. Vlad couldn’t help but wonder about how Clockwork was keeping Dan. Or rather where, Clockworks lair was larger than it looked and every door led to another endless path of nowhere. Perfect for keeping people away from things they shouldn’t be doing or seeing.

“This danger is rather serious as the one before considering it’s linked to you.” Clockwork waved his hand to open another portal to the Ghost Zone. Images flashed by like a slide show showing different groups of habitats covering their ears in fear or trying to hide. Vlad held his breath, believing Clockwork was about to show him another doomed timeline. Vlad really didn’t wish to be sent off on a rescue mission again, one was all he could handle. But instead, the last image that flashed across the portal was of a female ghost standing in the middle of lake as ecto-energy shot off of her like lightning zapping the water but also the trees around her. Her body shifted in blurs from left to right as her mouth twisted into a horrid scream. Vlad nearly stumbled back in disbelief when he recognized that face as the girl from his nightmares.

“You’re speechless as if you’ve seen her before.” Clockwork turned towards Vlad with a raised brow.

“That’s the ghost that’s been haunting my dreams as of recently. I knew it had to be a ghost but what does she want with me? I don’t even know who she is.” Vlad said, annoyed and very confused.

“But you do,” Clockwork waved his hand once again across the portal and the image was now of the ghost alive weaving a basket by the water. She looked so different from the other image, happier, calm and relaxed, not at all in pain or screaming with anger. “Or a part of you that wishes to remain hidden does.”

“What does that mean?” Vlad bit his tongue from snapping at the time ghost for being vague. Clockwork always loved dragging things out and making both Vlad and Danny think before telling them anything. But right now, Vlad wasn’t in the mood, that ghost that has been haunting him has been confirmed and now Clockwork was saying he knew her. Vlad was keen on remembering faces, if not names, surely if he ever met someone like this dead or alive. 

“Vladimir, your past is catching up with you and causing trouble within the ghost zone. I’ve known about her since my creation, she was not as bad as she is now. A very sad ghost that normally kept quiet on her small island plot. But now she has found you-”

“Found me? What on Earth does that mean? I’ve never seen her before.” Vlad rudely interrupted and Clockwork sighed. Dealing with halfas was always a tricky thing but what was one to do when they’re the ones causing the problems.

“In this life you have never met her, you were born again as Vladimir Akimovich Masters. But in another life you were someone else, your great ancestor who settled in the new lands with only a servant in tow. For so long you were able to avoid what happened due to being born again and again, without stopping through the Ghost Zone. But it was this timeline that you finally found your way there, when you became a halfa you created the energy that dragged her from the depths of her sombre. You awakened her the moment you got stronger.”  Clockwork waved his staff around in the air and the room grew dark. They were no longer in the lair but at the island the ghost resided in. Vlad heard the sound of soft weeping come from behind him and when he slowly turned around he was standing inches away from the girl. She didn’t seem to notice him as she grumbled a few words and shook her head back and forth.

“Death has already found me,” she said. Vlad’s core almost froze when he heard those words so clearly. “Death has already taken me away.” The girl fell to her knees and clenched her chest. Vlad took a step back and looked over his shoulder to see if Clockwork was there but he wasn’t. Vlad was completely alone with this ghost even if he wasn’t actually there and that was unnerving. 

“Death...has finally… found you!” The girl’s head shot up with fiery green eyes stabbing Vlad right through the chest. Just like in the nightmares she gritted her teeth in anger then let out the same wail Vlad heard over and over again night after night. Vlad stumbled to the ground and covered his ears to soften the attack. The wail quickly faded away and Vlad shot his eyes open to see that he was back in Clockworks lair. The ghost looked very unpleased, worried even and tired.

“That is what the Ghost Zone has been hearing over and over in waves every hour. All because of you.”

“Because of me?!” Vlad yelled back, surely Clockwork had also seen the countless nights Vlad had been up and how tired throughout the day he was from this wretched ghost. If all this was to be true you can’t fault someone from the present for things that happen in the past. Vlad had no control over anything that happened or anyone that was already dead centuries before he was conceived. It was one thing to actually cause the trouble that was unfolding around him, but to be accused felt so disrespectful. Vlad was already on the road of trying to stray away from being known as just the villain of a finished story. He had made his peace with Danny, helped to even save the world from Dan, he released his control over his minions only to call upon them when needed. This was insulting and it only made Vlad angrier.

“You have no control over what has been done but you have the power now to fix it. If this isn't handled now while I give you the chance to do so then your future will be no longer. Besides, wouldn't you rather put a restless spirit to rest now rather than being stuck with them for eternity?” Clockwork chuckled when he saw Vlad’s eyes shoot open. There was no point in trying to argue with Clockwork, Vlad knew that, he was right about a lot of things and a lot of outcomes. Vlad lowered his head and took in a deep breath.

“And what pray tell do you expect me to do.” Vlad steeled himself as he waited for an answer.

“Aid the young Phantom in finding Tayonna before she finds you outside of the Ghost Zone. I cannot promise you talking will silence her soul but try to figure out how to put her to rest. Or at least get the screaming to stop. I can hear it all the way from here and it disturbs my work.” Clockwork thumbed back towards his endless floating timelines he had to oversee and shook his head. 

“Daniel knows about this?” Vlad asked, a bit grateful he wouldn’t have to figure this out by himself.

“I have not spoken to him but he was in the Ghost Zone and heard it himself. He has already planned on investigating some time soon, it would be best if you go with him.” Clockwork turned away from Vlad and floated up towards another portal that showed a timeline. “That is all for now Vladimir, I wish you luck in fixing this before it’s too late.” With that Clockwork opened a portal for Vlad back to his home. Vlad had so many questions he wished to ask but he knew they would fall on deaf ears. So he turned sharply on his heels and left through the portal. Once he was back in the kitchen of his home he fell into a nearby chair and covered his face with a hand. 

He really wanted a drink but when he checked the clock above the sink, it was still the same time it was when he left. Wonderful, he still had to be at work in half an hour and deal with human interactions. Vlad closed his eyes and gave himself a prep talk of not calling off and to go be the adult he was. With a few more grumbles of food and candy related curses, Vlad pulled himself together and headed to work. Vlad failed to notice the small puddle footsteps that followed him all the way to the door.

---

“Why can’t I go!?” Dani yelled towards Danny as she slid down the stair railing. Dani had overheard Jazz and Danny talking about what was going on when she came home from school and was excited about an adventure. "I wanna go!”

“No. You have school and I don’t have time to explain everything to mom and dad if you get us caught.” Danny rolled his eyes as he made his way to the kitchen to get a snack. 

“You have school too, that was a crappy excuse.” Dani crossed her arms and leaned against the table.

“Yeah I know, that’s why I’d make a great parent one day.” Danny rummages through the frig for a moment before settling on shredded cheese. It may have not been 3am there in Minnesota but it was 3 am somewhere and that was good enough. Dani whispered an ‘ew’ and Danny shrugged before stuffing his mouth.

“Come on, I wanna help find this ghost and pow pow!” Dani punched the air a few times in her “oh so killer” fighting moves.

“How do you know it’s a bad ghost?” Danny smirked and put a hand on his hip.

“How do you know it’s not?” Dani cocked an eyebrow and Danny silently agreed. “Besides, you totally need me, I’m the better Phantom here.” Dani flipped her ponytail and struck a pose. Danny let out a ‘ha!’ before stuffing his face again and placing the cheese back into the frig before turning invisible and slipping through the floor. Dani laughed and followed him to the basement. When they made it to the ground Danny changed into his ghost form. Dani was about to change too but a hand quickly stopped her and Danny told her no. 

“Now way are you going, if I remember correctly you need to pack to go back home. You know how Vlad gets when you’re never ready.” Danny said.

“Ughhhhh! He can wait! I haven’t been there in 6 months. I think he’ll be fine if I’m not ready for five minutes.” Dani crossed her arms and pouted but it didn’t phase Danny as he placed a hand on his hip and pointed for her to go back upstairs.

“I wish I was the older one,” Dani grumbled, turning invisible and flying away. Danny groaned and shook his head before turning back towards the portal. Danny wouldn’t have minded Dani tagging along if he had a better understanding of what was going on. But the older brother in him didn’t want to put her in danger. That was also the reason he hadn’t told Sam and Tucker about it. Over the past few years, Danny had found himself still sticking a toe in the ring before asking for help. Unlike before when he did it for hero points, he now was just worried about everyone around him. Danny stepped over to the button to open the portal and braced himself just in case he was opening it to another scream. Luckily the only sounds that came were the normal everyday portal sounds. Danny floated in and closed the portal with his remote on his utility belt. Wouldn’t want anyone who shouldn’t be out getting out.

Unlike the day before Danny actually saw other ghosts out and about. But something still felt odd or more so upsetting. As he flew around he tried to pinpoint the negative energy. Just then he heard fighting coming from his right on a random floating rock.

“Johnny I don’t wanna ride with you anymore!” Kitty yelled as she kicked off the bike and walked away from her boyfriend. Danny cocked an eyebrow as he watched Johnny and Kitty, it wasn’t unusual to see them going at it every once and a while. But something told Danny to keep watching. 

“Babe we don’t have time for this, whatever it is, we gotta get somewhere safe so we don’t hear that screaming.” Johnny kicked out his kickstand and hopped off his bike.

“No! You’re being reckless again, you’re always being reckless and look where it got us. I told you when it started let’s go to the human world and you told me no. Why don’t you listen to me?” Kitty crossed her arms and snatched away from Johnny when he tried to touch her.

“Well I didn’t think it would get this bad but now it's driving us all crazy. Get on the bike and we’ll go wherever you want, ‘k?” Johnny was trying to reason with Kitty but the other seemed to only get more upset. 

“I don’t wanna go there anymore, you’ll just try and chat up that redhead again!” Kitty turned and screamed at her boyfriend then quickly covered her mouth. 

“What?” Danny whispered to himself. That was so long ago, Danny himself almost didn’t remember it and he was the shittiest when it happened. Kitty had long forgiven Johnny after he explained why he did what he did. They even made up and were stronger together than before. So why would she bring up old news all of a sudden?

“J-Johnny why did I say that?” Kitty was scared by the words that left her mouth. She asked him again in panic and Johnny shook his head and grabbed her hand to hurry back over to his bike. They quickly rode off farther into the Ghost Zone. Danny flew off as well heading mindlessly in the opposite direction but was quickly stopped in his tracks when a blast nearly took off his face.

“Screw you Skulker!” Danny looked down and Saw Ember and Skulker ready to go head to head. Now this was new. Ember was fired up and ready to strum her boyfriend away with on note, while Skulker already had his weapons drawn. Danny had never seen them fight like this unless it was against him. Of course, the couple threw jabs at each other but honestly, they were in love.

“Just admit you were wrong, Ember, and we can move on from this.” Skulker refused to lower his weapon, the tech ghost was ready for anything.

“Why do you keep saying that? I didn’t do anything, you’re the one that fucked up!” Ember rose her peck in the air and slammed down on the strings sending a wave Skulker way. The other ghost quickly dodged it and fired back while Ember used her guitar to block it.

“I didn’t do anything! You’re the one that started it!” Skulker yelled back.

“Started what?!”

“I don’t know!” Skulker lowered his gun and thought for a moment. What were they fighting about? No really why were they fighting? They were just watching tv and talking about new music when all of a sudden they were at each other’s neck.

“I don’t know either,” Ember floated to a rock and placed her head in her hands. Skulker flew over to her and wrapped an arm over her shoulder. It was then he noticed Danny watching them.

“ What is going on?” Danny flew a bit closer and the couple shook their heads.

“The screaming is making everyone lose their minds, or what is left of them.” Ember answered. She looked so tired and worn out.

“Have you guys been fighting a lot?” Danny had a very weird idea that he wanted to test out.

“Is it noticeable?” Skulker scuffed and pulled Ember in for an apology hug. Ember smirked and accepted it.

“I just saw Johnny and Kitty fighting and it was weird.” Danny thought out loud as he tried to fit the pieces together.

“That’s not new, what’s new is Box Ghost and Lunch Lady fighting. I saw them yesterday throwing things back and forth before Lunch Lady got the upper hand and shoved Box into a container.” Ember started to chuckle to herself and Skulker followed. The couple then started cracking jokes about how dumb other ghosts were. 

“Has anything else seemed out of place around here?” Danny hated to interrupt their kiki time but he really needed answers.

“Desiree has been crying about that sultan guy again.” Skulker answered.

“Poindexter keeps muttering about somebody named Dexter wanting to apologize to him or whatever.” Ember added. “Did you know Spectra and Bertrand were a thing? I didn’t until I saw them going at it.” Danny made a face of disgust, he honestly thought Spectra would be with someone else.

“So it's mostly couples or people with some type of relationship being affected, but why?” Danny scratched his head trying to figure out the connection and the screaming but he kept drawing a blank.

“Oh god don’t tell me the screaming is coming from a heartbroken ghost, that is lame.” Ember said, she rolled her eyes and made a fake gagging noise.

“Seems like the likely case.” Danny had to agree with her, that was pretty lame.

“Well she needs to get over it, we’re already dead, move on.” Danny had to bite his tongue from calling Ember a hypocrite when it took a long while for her to move on to Skulker.

“Skulker, do you have any idea where the screaming could be coming from?” Danny asked, hoping for a lead. The tech ghost removed his arm from Ember and hit the button on his wrist to bring up an echo map. He tapped at the holo screen a few times then turned the projection towards Danny.

“Southbound heading almost towards the pits, which is surprising. No one in their right mind should be near the pits.” Danny had heard of the pits before, it was basically the darkest part of the Ghost Zone. It was said that no matter how hard you tried to light your way it seemed to only get darker and darker. “You’re going to go, aren’t you?” Skulker asked Danny and the young ghost smirked and shrugged.

“Someone has to keep you all under control, if not me like always then who? Catch ya later.” Danny bided a farewell to the couple who seemed to be in a way better mood and started to head downward. 

#📖Ghost Stories👻 #vlad masters #Danny Phantom #my writing #Secrets of The Lake #dp fanfic

[maskedemerald]

Unexpected Company

Hi this was written as part of challenge in a writing group I'm in, just wanted to write some child Danny and how Clockwork handles that. Hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

Clockwork gets an unexpected guest while waiting for the Observants to stop blocking their sight. They don't really know how to deal with people never mind scared children.

Clockwork wasn’t used to having company. While from time to time, in fact more often than they would like the Observants would turn up demanding something or other, those arrogant over inflated eyeballs didn’t really count as guests. Aside from that the tower hadn’t played host to anyone but Clockwork for almost an eternity. Especially not the kind of guest they had right now and Clockwork had no idea what they were doing for the first time in just as long. The situation had only begun a couple of mortal hours ago, Clockwork had been glaring frustrated at their viewing screens as they buzzed with static. The Observants were blocking their sight for some probably foolish reason. Clockwork could see nothing but static as they looked through the eras of the timeline. This was one of the worst parts of working for the Observants and there weren’t exactly many good points. For a being like them no matter how frustrating the lost time glaring didn’t really mean much. They would have glared at the screens till their sight was returned if it wasn’t for the small yelp behind them. Clockwork twisted round to find the spark of a closing portal and on the stone floor below it a small child. A child that was getting his breath back. A living child. Clockwork stared. The child sat up on his knees and looked round with confusion on his little face. Something else building in the expression that engulfed everything when blue eyes landed on Clockwork. His breath hitched and he flailed back. The movement sent him tumbling across the floor. Panicked sobs as he tried to push up against the wall. He clung tightly to a small pangolin plush toy. Clockwork frowned at the fact that the child hadn’t just fallen right through the wall. That would have been normal but nothing about this was normal. Clockwork floated closer.

 “...Please…” They were sure they heard the child beg. “... don’t… don’t hurt me…”

Afraid, understandable really. They floated over and settled on the floor in front of the boy. They could have just left him be till their sight returned and they could see where he came from but Clockwork felt sorry for him. However Clockwork didn’t know how to deal with children. “If I was going to I already would have.” Clockwork said bluntly.

The child flinched and tried again to scramble away having only just noticed how close Clockwork had gotten. Apparently that wasn’t the right thing to say. In the scramble the boy found his feet. Clockwork rose from the ground ready to try again. The boy bolted. Clockwork sighed and floated after him. Last thing they needed was the child becoming lost in the tower and as a result not getting returned to the timeline.

“... leave me… leave me alone!” He half shrieked once he was again backed into a corner. Clockwork winced at the volume he could reach.

“I’d rather not. It would be less than pleasant to lose track of you. I wouldn’t appreciate finding a skeleton in a few centuries.” Clockwork knew the moment the horrified look crossed the child’s face that they had again messed up. They groaned. How did anyone function without knowing the outcome.

“Please don’t kill me!”

“Seriously? What part of that said that I would have anything to do with that. I expressly said I didn’t want that.” Clockwork sighed, how had he gotten that out of it.

“I… I don’t wanna be here!” He sobbed. “I wanna go home.”

Clockwork held their head, if they could have a headache they were sure they would. “Obviously, however there is nothing I can do about that for the moment.”

There was silence and then. “You… you can’t?” He asked through sobs. “I… don’t wanna be stuck here… here is scary.”

There were far scarier places within the Zone, if anything the child had actually gotten lucky to have ended up here. Even if Clockwork didn’t feel so lucky. “There are worse places you could have ended up. You are not stuck. I have no intention of keeping you here. Once I can you are going to be gone.”

The boy looked up. “You… you’ll let me go home.” Clockwork nodded.

 The child was like a pendulum, one moment panicked and afraid. Now he was sobbing into Clockwork’s cloak. Clockwork really didn’t understand children. They floated them back to the other room resulting in the boy tightening his grip the moment they were moving. At least that was normal. Human children didn’t exactly fly. Clockwork set the boy on a bench, his sobs had become sniffles. Clockwork watched the child as he calmed. It took a while. They kept looking back to the screens but still saw static.

“How long do those fools even need.” They growled quietly. The boy thankfully didn’t seem to have heard, he seemed too young to really understand the politics of the Zone and Clockwork didn’t fancy explaining it.

“...You… you’re not bad… not like Mommy and Daddy said?” The child said looking up at them, still afraid. It took Clockwork a moment to realise it was actually a question.

“I suppose not.” Clockwork mused though they had no idea what exactly this child even thought they were. Probably a demon or some other such nonsense.

 The child sat there restless as a silence fell. Clockwork had no idea how to keep the child occupied or even that they had to. So they were taken off guard as they had returned to glaring at the screens as the child spoke up.

“Why’d you keep watching the fuzz, fuzz means it needs fixin.” He chirped, the tears gone leaving puffy eyes the only sign of them. Clockwork looked down at the child as he poked at the bottoms of the screens. As high as he could reach. Clockwork wasn’t sure what the feeling they were getting from this was but they liked it.

“They are not broken, however I am waiting. Waiting till I can send you home.” They explained, trying to keep it simple.

The boy frowned. “Is the power off? We don’t normally get fuzz then.”

“Power?” Clockwork raised an eyebrow now again confused by the child.

“Yeah, sometimes if the power’s out Tuck’s mommy won’t take us home till it works. You’re waiting for power?”

Clockwork couldn’t help the laugh. “In a way.” There was some logic to that.

 They found themself watching more times than they should have watching the boy instead of the screens, not that anything had changed there. He had gone back to the bench to wait and was now sitting with an alarm clock that had floated past. He was fiddling with the old thing that like him had drifted in from the human world. It didn’t work like a lot of the clocks that found their way to the tower. Clockwork fixed them when they had time however they hadn’t gotten round to that one. Once in the tower they came to represent paradoxes so took more work than a normal clock. They couldn’t help but watch the look of concentration on his face. Clockwork glanced once more to the screens, still nothing. This was going to be a while. Watching them only made it more frustrating. They drifted over to the child, who lent against them as he continued to pick at the clock’s workings.

 Clockwork’s sight returned as it always did, all at once with a surge. Every event missed in the mortal world. There was really never any reason to watch the screens, just not normally anything else to do. They clutched their head, the closest thing to a headache they ever got was this.

“Are you okay?” The child asked worried.

Clockwork looked up at them. For a moment they were tempted not to say anything, just for a little more company. They stopped that chain of thought. Even if they could they shouldn’t. The child wouldn’t like it and the Observants wouldn’t either. Not that they cared what the Observants thought. It was time.

“I am fine… however I can now send you home.” Clockwork said rising from the bench.

“Yay!” He hopped up, a smile on his face.

Clockwork found where in time the child had come from quickly and soon there was another more stable portal in the tower. It would lead to the child’s room. He would be home and safe. He looked nervously at the portal. For a moment Clockwork thought he might not leave. Hoped he wouldn’t leave.

“Thank you!” The child hugged them before rushing through the portal eyes closed as if to ignore his fear.

 The portal vanished and Clockwork was left alone. Seconds ticked past and then the clock the child had left in their hands after the hug started to ring. Its hands turning. Clockwork stared. Had that child really fixed it. Had he just fixed a paradox. A human child had just fixed a paradox.

 “That’s not meant to happen…” Clockwork muttered.

#Danny Phantom #fanfic #writing #clockwork #cute