Work Text:
The people of Amity Park were at a loss; they had no idea what to make of the newest and most popular story. It was something that caused arguments, confusion, and utter chaos in some cases—more specifically in the Fentons’ case.
There was only one ghost who saved people, and that was Danny Phantom. That was it, and that was a known fact whether people had been biased on it being all a ruse or not—Phantom was the only ghost who actively saved people.
That was just how it was; until now, of course.
It wasn’t just the fact that another ghost had saved someone, no, it was who he saved and how the person reacted to being saved by him.
An unknown ghost had appeared completely out of the blue one day, a ghost with pupiless red eyes that had a scar over one of them, blue skin, a purple cloak, and a clock embedded into his chest with a matching clock staff in one of his hands.
The Fentons had been testing out a new weapon near the parking lot of the grocery store the ghost had been at during the time it all took place.
The weapon itself was large and shaped like a technological enhanced crossbow, Maddie Fenton was aiming it at a little blob ghost floating by at the time while her son and daughter tried to get her to stop and just get in their car so they could leave.
The weapon, to absolutely no one's surprise, had not worked properly at all and had malfunctioned; sending the metal arrows that were the ammunition flying everywhere.
Most flew out of the way and were of no immediate danger to anyone, but one of them had flown off to the side; where one Danny Fenton was standing unsuspectingly.
The teen had absolutely no time to move out of the way, just barely enough time to merely put his hands up halfway in a sad defense for himself.
That’s when the ghost showed up, the Clock Ghost—as he was temporarily dubbed by the many onlookers—had blocked the arrow’s path towards Danny with his own body, taking the hit for himself.
The Clock Ghost merely grunted at the arrow sticking out of his chest, slouching over slightly as his blue skinned hand reached over to awkwardly hover over his wounded area.
A ghost had jumped in front of a human and saved their life, and not just any human, the son of the most ghost-hating ghost hunters in all of Amity Park.
The ghost had saved Danny Fenton’s life. However, that wasn’t where the surprises ended—no, not at all. When Danny had opened his eyes after noticing he felt very much still alive, his eyes widened and his face dropped to a horrified expression.
“Clockwork!” He had shouted out as he quickly placed himself under one of the ghost’s arms, holding him upwards.
The ghost—now known as Clockwork, had simply given the boy a small smile, “I am alright, Daniel, it’s not a major wound for me,”
The Fenton boy looked to be on the verge of tears, “You got hurt,”
“I will heal,”
“You’re not supposed to get hurt! You’re–you’re supposed to be all knowing and powerful and all that stuff!” Danny looked baffled by the very notion of ‘Clockwork’ being wounded.
Clockwork had awkwardly given the teen a hug with the arrow still lodged in his chest, “It was myself or you, Daniel. I made the choice I knew I wouldn’t regret,”
The ghost vanished from visibility, leaving a shocked crowd of Amity Parkers—including every single one of the Fentons but young Daniel, who just seemed to still be concerned for the ghost’s wellbeing.
A recording of the whole thing had been sent to the news, and within an hour it was on every media platform imaginable.
Fenton Boy in Cahoots with Ghost?!
Ghost Saves Ghost Hunter’s Son!
Youngest Fenton Has Secret Connections with Ghosts?!
Fenton Boy Has a Ghostly Guardian Angel?!
The story was a hit, and everyone wanted to know more about it. People swarmed the Fenton boy at school and anywhere in public that they could reach him. Even in his own home the paparazzi waited outside for him to make an appearance.
The boy refused to say much on the story, just that the ghost was someone he had met before and ‘trusted with more than just his life’ and would never elaborate more. He stayed away from the cameras and out of the spotlight, he hardly spoke of the ghost of Clockwork.
Another surprise, however; had shown up just two days after the whole debacle as sweet, shy, loner Danny Fenton had revealed just how much connection he had with the ghostly inhabitants of Amity Park.
Lance Thunder and Rebecca Lanes were the two reporters the new channel set to get an interview from Maddie and Jack Fenton on the subject of their son’s surprising connection with Clockwork.
It started off as normal as things could get with the Fentons, the cameraman had to dodge Jack’s blind waving of a bazooka and Rebecca displayed some pretty good reflexes as she managed to evade a wayward laser.
Lance was lucky enough to avoid any weapons and lasers, but he did have to spend the first twenty minutes trying to get Jack Fenton to shut up for five seconds to explain why they were actually there; but they did eventually get the two eldest Fentons to sit down and begin the interview with everyone (physically) unscathed.
“We’d like to know how you feel about Danny’s newly revealed connection to the ghost of Clockwork,” Rebecca sat with her legs crossed, eyeing the large blaster on Jack’s belt a bit nervously.
“Well, it was definitely a surprise to us,” Maddie sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, “Danny’s been rather stubborn with listening to logic,”
“Meaning?” Rebecca pushed.
“He doesn’t believe all ghosts are ectoplasmic scum!” Jack frowned, “He won’t listen to us when we say Clockwork’s using him to get close to our weapons and destroy us!”
“You think Clockwork is trying to ‘destroy’ you and take your weapons?” Lance raised an eyebrow.
“We’re ghost hunters,” Maddie shrugged, “If there was any way to get to our weapons and sabotage us, a ghost trying to gain one of our kids’ trust would be the obvious way to do so. Jazz stays away from ghosts mostly, and we thought the same for Danny—but he was always a bit naive when it came to trusting people too easily. Ghost or not,”
“He saved your son’s life,” Lance frowned, “Clockwork saved Danny’s life and you think it was all some kind of elaborate lie?”
“He’s probably what made it malfunction in the first place!” Jack bellowed suddenly, “He’s just trying to look good in Danno’s eyes!”
Maddie nodded, “Clockwork is just another lying, manipulative, conniving—”
A large bang interrupted the huntress that was followed by a groan of pain from the basement.
The two Fentons sprung into action, wielding blasters as they flew down the stairs; the reporters and cameraman struggled to keep up as they bounded down the staircase and into the lab.
The bang seemed to be from an empty beaker judging from the glass on the ground and the groan was likely from Danny Fenton, who was holding his foot in pain.
“Danny?” Maddie put away her blaster and walked up to her son, “What are you doing down here?
“I’m fine, thanks for asking,” Danny snapped before relaxing as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, “Sorry, just stubbed my toe on the table and knocked the glass over, that’s all. I was—I was just looking for my backpack, but couldn't find it. Didn’t mean to interrupt you guys,”
“Why’s the Specter Speeder all powered up?” Jack walked over to the large spaceship/submarine-looking machine.
“U-uh, I accidentally hit the button?” Danny squeaked out.
“He’s a bad liar,” Lance muttered under his breath.
“The button’s inside the Speeder,” Maddie raised an eyebrow, “Danny, were you trying to take the Speeder?”
“...maybe?”
“That’s my boy!” Jack laughed as he ruffled Danny’s hair, “Trying to take out the ghosts right from the source, eh? A true Fenton!”
Judging by Danny’s awkward laugh, that was not what he was trying to do at all.
“Mr. Fenton,” Rebecca walked up to the teen boy, “By any chance were you trying to get in contact with the ghost known as Clockwork? The one who saved you?”
Danny paled, “Uh—nooooo?”
“Bad liar,” Derek—the cameraman—quoted Lance.
“Danny!” Maddie scolded, “We told you, Clockwork is a dangerous ghost who’s using you to sabotage our work,”
“No offense, but if Clockwork wanted to sabotage you, he would have already done so,” Danny raised an eyebrow, “And he definitely wouldn’t need me to do so, either. I’m just trying to go check on him, that’s all. I…I’m just worried about him,”
“Ghosts can’t get hurt,” Maddie sighed, “It’s a ploy, he wasn’t actually injured—”
“He was!” Danny snapped, “He was injured and it was terrifying! He’s not supposed to get hurt! He–he’s…He’s the strongest person I know! I…It scared me, Mom. What if you managed to really, really hurt him?”
Danny’s eyes looked glassy and watery, like he was about to cry, “I owe him everything, he cares about me a lot, Mom…I just want to know why—why he didn’t just freeze time to save me! He–He’s supposed to think things through, so why did he just jump in like that!?”
Danny rubbed his head like he was getting a stress headache, “Why would he risk himself for me like he did?”
“I’m sorry, can we go back to the part where you said he could freeze time?” Lance blinked.
“Hm? Oh, yeah. Clockwork is the Master of Time, he can see the future and freeze time at his will and all that fun stuff,” Danny shrugged, “He showed me a paradox once, it was confusing but really cool,”
“I’m sure,” Lance choked out.
“I’m going to go see him,” Danny stood with his voice firm, “And you can’t stop me,”
“Then we’re going with you,” Maddie crossed her arms, “If you want to see for yourself that Clockwork is a liar and is perfectly fine, that’s alright with me, but we’re going with.”
“Absolutely not,” Danny frowned, “You’ll just shoot him at first glance,”
“We swear not to,” Maddie held her hand over her heart, “Until Clockwork inevitably attacks us, we won’t raise a weapon to him,”
Jack blinked and then sighed as he set his blaster on his belt with the lock on as a show of agreement.
Danny pursed his lips, but after a moment of thinking and realizing he wasn’t getting out of this, he just sighed and opened the Speeder’s doors to let everyone in—the trio of newspeople following quickly behind the eldest Fentons.
“If you shoot Clockwork,” Danny warned as he took the front seat while Maddie sat in the passenger one beside him, “I’ll never forgive you,”
Maddie just rolled her eyes as Danny hit a button and the Speeder lurched forward into the Ghost Zone.
“How did you and Clockwork first meet, Danny?” Lance asked once the initial chill of ominous energy had passed from entering the Zone.
“Let’s just say that it wasn’t the first time he’s saved my life and leave it at that,” Danny replied ominously.
Derek glanced out the windows with his camera in hand, “What’re the doors for?”
Maddie piped up, “Jack and I theorize that they’re portals to the living world so they can terrorize and—”
“They’re called lairs,” Danny interrupted, “When a ghost materializes in the Realms, they’ll have the instinct to create a lair or their place of dwelling.
Sometimes they’re in the forms of islands, like the ones you’ll see once we get deeper into the Realms. But those are only for very powerful ghosts; the more powerful, the larger the lair. So lairs are more commonly in the form of doors; which are pocket dimensions created by the mental-core bond ghosts have upon materializing.”
The five adults blinked in shock.
“Woah,” Lance breathed, “How did you know that?”
“I’d like to know that, too,” Maddie raised an eyebrow at her son.
Danny blushed in embarrassment, keeping his eyes fixated on the Zone in front of him, “Uh…this isn’t my first time here…or the second…or third…or twelfth…”
“What?!” Maddie screeched, “Daniel James Fenton, why are on earth are you going into the Ghost Zone so much—”
“Infinite Realms,” Danny interrupted, “It’s actually called the Infinite Realms, Ghost Zone is more of a nickname,”
“That doesn’t answer my—”
“How did you learn so much about the Ghost Zo–Infinite Realms?” Rebecca butted in with her notepad and pen in hand.
The youngest Fenton ran a hand through his black hair, “Clockwork taught me a lot about the Realms and how things work here, along with pocket dimensions, alternate universe-slash realities, and stuff like that.
The more ghostly stuff I learned from asking, ghosts really aren't so bad when you’re nice to them.
Heck, even the Wisconsin Ghost—His name’s Plasmius, by the way—has chilled out a lot recently. If I knew all he needed was a little social interaction once a week to stop attacking, I would’ve let him tutor me months ago!”
Danny chuckled as his eyes scanned the green horizon, eventually falling onto a large clock tower that was approaching their sights, “Welcome to Long Now; also known as Clockwork’s clocktower, everybody,”
In front of them was a small floating island with—sure enough—a clock tower perched on it.
Danny parked the speeder on the island and opened the doors, taking the lead as the adults followed the teen up towards the tower and watched as he knocked on the door, subconsciously holding their breaths as the entrance opened.
“Daniel,” Clockwork’s ghostly form appeared, “I see you’ve brought some acquaintances, come on in,”
The humans, minus Danny, all entered cautiously.
The inside of the tower had been altered to look like a normal, human home with a small kitchen at the far side of it upon entering the cozy living room. Off to the side was a spiral staircase leading upwards, into the other layers and floors of Long Now.
The news reporters sat on the couch, Derek took the armchair with the camera slowly moving to take everything in while the two ghost hunters stood uncomfortably as they watched their son hug the ghost.
“You okay, C-dubs?” Danny asked as he sat down on the other couch across from the reporters while Clockwork conjured up another armchair with a small flick of his hand to sit in.
“Daniel,” Clockwork chuckled, “You should know by now that the wound from the arrow is as small as a papercut to me,”
“Yeah, but not to me,” The teen muttered.
“Clockwork, If I may ask,” Lance leaned forward, “What is your connection with Danny Fenton?”
“How did you two meet?” Rebecca added, “And how did your relationship expand into whatever it is now?”
Danny and Clockwork shared an odd, unreadable look.
“He saved my life,” The Fenton boy replied, with a cold glare that made it clear that he wasn’t going to be answering that question in detail no matter what and that it was best just to let the topic drop.
Well, no one could say Rebecca was an idiot, because she let that topic drop quickly.
“Daniel is a wonderful young man,” Clockwork leaned onto his staff, “He’s also very unique, one-of-a-kind, if I may,”
“What exactly makes my son one of a kind?” Maddie sneered at the ghost, then carefully made her expression go neutral when she caught her son’s eye.
She wasn’t sure where he learned that look, but it was terrifying and she wasn’t going to push it.
Clockwork’s lips twitched up into a small grin, “Well, for one, he’s my apprentice, second, the future Ghost King, and third, a god in the making.”
The room was silent. Unearthly so, which one could credit to the Infinite Realms not being Earth, or credit the fact that it wasn’t everyday you found out a scrawny teenage boy was going to become Time’s apprentice, a king, and a god all at once.
Derek coughed, “...cool,”
Danny groaned and shoved his head in his hands, “Did you have to say it like that?”
The ghost sipped tea from a cup he didn’t have a moment ago, “Incredibly so,”
“I hate you,”
“I can exist with that,”
“What do you mean Danno’s…all that,” Jack swallowed, curiosity trumping any prejudice he had at the moment.
“Simple,” Clockwork’s tea cup vanished, “I am Time itself, so I have made Daniel my apprentice, and therefore he is Time’s Apprentice.
As for the Ghost King, upon his full death he is destined to become one of the most powerful ghosts in the Realms, and because Pariah Dark is no more, he is to take up the crown and ring.
Thirdly, his power plus his connection to myself and the Realms as a whole makes him the perfect candidate for godhood. Does it make sense now?”
Derek coughed again.
“Yeah,” Rebecca nodded slightly, her voice cracking, “Yeah, makes total sense,”
“Alright then,” The Time Lord stood, “I’m afraid I have to go handle some things, it was lovely to meet you all—Daniel, don’t think this is an excuse to avoid training tomorrow, and good day,”
The Master of Time vanished into thin air, leaving the humans alone, confused, and in shock.
“So,” Danny fought a smug look trying to get onto his face, “Did you enjoy the field trip?”
Jack Fenton promptly fainted.
The whole incident had made the news later that night, with Danny groaning and whining the whole time as Jazz smacked him repeatedly for not telling her about the apparent ‘godhood’ qualification.
All in all, Amity Park slowly started accepting ghosts (when one of your citizens is the future ghost king, you might as well make peace, right?) and Danny was able to live somewhat peacefully (after the whole situation died down, of course).
Many years later, at the ripe age of ninety-two, Danny Fenton died.
At age one hundred, Ghost King Danny Phantom took over the rule of the Infinite Realms.
At age one hundred and twenty-two (despite only looking like a twenty-five year old in general), Phantom; god of Protection, young heroes, ghosts, and Death’s Balance, was created.
Two hundred years later, in Amity Park, the Godly Ghost King Phantom did an interview with Lisa Gene on his story, and how he came to be.
After all, Phantom always did have a soft spot for his hometown, much to his mentor Clockwork's amusement.