Chapter Text
no
Danny’s chest burns.
no … no no
His ears ring.
His eyes sting.
No! This wasn’t-... no no no no-
His vision is starting to blur, but he can't tear his eyes away from the pile of burning rubble where a Nasty Burger once stood.
A Nasty Burger he was just about to go in.
A Nasty Burger his family was still in.
Danny posts his hands against the glass covered ground, trying to get up. He needs to get up. His arms shake. His palms bleed. He needs to get up now! He needs-
Danny yelps as his elbows buckle and his face slams into the asphalt. Everything hurts. He needs to save them. Sam and Tucker. Jazz. Mom and Dad. They are still in there and Danny needs to get up.
He tries again, but can’t even get his arms under himself this time. He sucks in a breath, but immediately regrets it as he coughs and wheezes. There’s tears dripping down his face as he resigns to dragging his body across the road toward the fire. Danny tries reaching in for his powers, but only finds a familiar weakness he can’t place and a growing pain.
Rocks and glass dig into his arms and rip at the burn on his chest as he pulls himself forward, but he doesn’t focus on that. All he sees is the rubble in front of him. All he hears is the roar of the fire raging right in front of him. He has to save them. He will save them because this isn’t what is supposed to happen! He didn’t cheat on that stupid test! He already defeated his evil future self! It’s been months since then! What is happening should not be happening right now!
More tears slip down his wounded, dusty face. They are alive. They are alive because they have to be and he’s going to save them.
They are alive and when this is over they are all gonna be ok.
Please. They have to be alive.
He makes it barely half way before the sound of an Ecto-weapon charging up to his left causes him to freeze.
“End of the line Ghost boy!”
Danny’s breath is rasping and uneven as he shakily looks to see a Guy in White proudly standing above him with his weapon aimed at Danny’s chest. At his core.
The lone operative is quickly joined by more of the GIW who then surround Danny's battered form. He starts hearing more Ecto-weapons charging up and being trained on him.
A fresh wave of tears floods Danny’s eyes as his body shakes with more than exhaustion.
One of them picks up a radio. “Ecto-entity known as “phantom” has been apprehended.” he smugly says, “Requesting containment and transportation, over.” There was a muffled reply but Danny didn’t care to listen, he directs his focus back to what matters.
The Agent notices his gaze wandering and grabs Danny roughly by the hair, pulling his head and chest off of the ground. Danny hisses through his gritted teeth as he returns his attention to the man glaring down at him. “Eyes up here ghost.” The Guy in White spat. Danny’s vision is spotting dangerously and he is terrified, but he has to save them.
“Please-” Danny rasps, “my famil- my family! They’re still in there!” he takes a shuddering breath hoping the GIW would at least save them before taking him in. Please save them . The Agent stares at him coldly as he pleads until his face takes on a look of sadistic pride. “You mean the people you manipulated into thinking that you were their son? Their brother? Their friend?” he questions, face darkening, “The people you twisted until they were no longer respectable people? Until they accepted your abominable nature?” He tilts Danny's head farther up, closer to his own face, “You mean the people you just killed?”
At that, Danny punches out an uneven and quick breath. A shattering breath. It feels like his very being is shattering–splintering off at the venom that keeps pouring from that agent’s mouth as he gloats. He can't hear much of it over the roaring in his ears (or was that the fire still raging on in the background?), but he hears enough to know that they were never gonna save his family. Never planned to.
1. They wanted it to happen. The agent went on about how they set up their Ghost Weakening devices around the area. How they knew when Danny and his family would be here.
2. The explosion was their plan. The agent spoke highly about the research team finding out the combustibility of Nasty Burger special sauce and how to utilize it.
3. They caused it. They waited until he was just at the door, about to go join his family for his birthday party.
It was them.
It was all their fault.
It
Was
All
Their
FAULT
__—_____________________—__
Fawcett City Planetarium was incredible! Danielle Fenton thinks, as she skips through each exhibit picking up and putting back souvenirs. She had an amazing trip sightseeing in Canada, but she had to make her way back to Amity in time for Danny’s 15th birthday. The gifts she bought in Canada were cool, but she didn’t think they were quite what her cousin would want. Though he would deny it and say anything she got him was more than enough. That’s when she spotted this place.
While flying over a city close to Amity she saw spotlights in the sky directing her attention to the grand re-opening of the city’s planetarium. When she landed to get a closer look she overheard people in the entrance. A superhero battle damaged the place or whatever so they had to rebuild and boy did they! It has everything! From scaled models of the solar system to a giant theater that plays visuals and facts about the stars! Ellie is in heaven and on a mission.
She happily skips over to the more star oriented section and feels her chest thrum in excitement. Bingo . She has struck gold. Her cousin would die for a gift like this. She carefully grabs the constellation encased in a glass ball and takes a look at its label.
YOUR OWN PERSONAL GALAXY!
PUSH THE BUTTON AND WATCH AS YOUR BEDROOM TRANSFORMS INTO THE NIGHT SKY!
Batteries not included
She quickly makes her way over to the tired looking cashier dodging a few squealing kids on her way. She sets her prize on the counter. “Will that be all for you today?” the cashier mumbles, barely heard over the sounds of happy kids and laughing parents. Luckily Ellie’s hearing is scary good “Yes!” she basically shouts, bouncing on her toes when she catches sight of the spaceship themed wrapping paper to the right of the employees head. “Can you wrap it in that spaceship paper?” she points “please!”. The worker tries to disguise a sigh as they turn to grab the wrapping paper behind them and begins expertly packaging the gift. “Thank you so much!” Ellie hands the worker her black card, courtesy of a certain fruit loop. The cashier hands the card back along with her present wishing her a scripted good day and to come back soon.
We are definitely coming back! Ellie thinks as she practically flies to the exit. She has to bring Danny here, he would love it. Maybe after the party and gifts they could fly over. The shops and some of the exhibits may not be open, but Ellie remembers seeing a sign saying the theater closes super late and the telescope exhibit openes once the sun set.
As she is walking out, making a beeline to an alley across the way, her eyes happily wander back to the gift in her hands when she freezes. A familiar glowing green post it note is plastered on the top, and in a handwriting she knows all too well, it reads:
Save Danny
-CW
__—_____________________—__
“Out of all the possible timelines…” Clockwork sighs.
To say this outcome shocked him would be a lie. He knew that this path was a possibility, he just hoped it wouldn’t come to be. He had hoped Danny would be able to skate by, but that’s not what happened.
He wishes he could change this, however, this timeline was one of the many that was set in stone. A timeline that, once it begins, there is no turning back.
Could he have prevented this path from ever beginning? Yes. Still, there is a reason he didn’t. This road is filled with death and grief. Danny’s grief. He will be challenged. He will have to take on a great responsibility that someone so young should not bear. Even so, the path will lighten, what starts as rough will smooth and Danny will make new bonds that will ensure the continued survival of the realms.
Clockwork floats through his tower, form shifting from adult to elderly, his mind continually going through the twists and turns this new path holds. All those possibilities.
Yes, it’ll all work out no matter how desperate it gets. No matter how hopeless.
Everything’s the way it’s supposed to be
__—_____________________—__
Something erupts
_
They're gone
_
It burns
_
They weren’t supposed to leave
_
Danny’s body is numb. It’s dark, or are his eyes just closed? He can’t see anything, can’t hear anything. What happened to the GIW? Did they get him? All he can remember is grief. All he knows are racing thoughts of what happened. His friends. His sister. His parents. They’re all gon-
A wave of stabbing pain makes itself known at the center of his chest, ripping outward. His body spasms violently as he gasps. What was that? The numbness he once felt is now replaced with shooting pins and needles spreading across his body. Another wave of pain tears through him and Danny sobs. The cuts on his palms, the burns on his chest, the aching of his scalp are all being drowned out by the waves of sharp agony pulsing throughout his veins.
Wave after wave Danny is left crying out, unable to do anything.
wave
Stabbing in
Wave
Splintering out
Wave
Gasping in
WAVE
he passes out.