#clockwork as danny's 3rd parent

[wonderlandsakura]

DANI AND DAN'S PARENTS AND WHAT THEY CALL THEM

Danny: Dad, Father (mostly Dan)

Vlad: Papa, Папочка (Papachka) (Dad but Russian, originally to spite Vlad cause he wanted to be called father, became a softer heritage sharing thing)

Tucker: Baba, اب (Ab) (it's dad in Arabic)

Sam: Mom, Mama, אמא (Ema) (mom/mama in Hebrew)

---

Bonus Grandparents:

Jack: Gramps, Granddad

Maddie: Grandma, Grandmom

Sam's Father: Saba (grandfather in Hebrew)

Sam's Mother: Savta (grandmother in Hebrew)

Sam's Grandma: Great Grandma Ida

Tucker's Dad: Gramps, Grandpa

Tucker's Mom: Gran Gran, Nan

Clockwork: Clockpops, Grandpop, Pop Pop, Grandpappy

Pariah (Optional): Grandfather Dowager the Late Ex-King of the Infinite Realms (Grandfather for short), Grumpy

[metalotaku-da]

So many cross overs so narrow of common hero choices. Let's expand a little.

"Rip what the hell is that?"

"It appears sir, to be a small human child. Around the developmental stage of 4-5"

"Even you know better than to cuss infront of kids.

"I was gone for five minutes."

"Actually I snapped you back to a minute after you left."

"Are You misser booser gol?"

"Yeah kid that's me. You a fan or something who got into something you shouldn't to find me?"

"No. Clockie said tis for you." Hands a sticky note to booster.

Note reads: this is Danny. You will care for him from now on. See this as payment for resetting your time line safely. If you even try pass him off to Bruce wayne/batman, I will ensure your entire familial line never touched time traversing. And you stayed forever trapped in the 31st century. -clockwork master ancient of all time. P.s. there is not conning your way out of this. I will hunt down every ancestor or decendant for all time.

"This looks very serious sir. Congratulations sir you are a father Now"

"Wow kid. Clockie must hate you. I'm so sorry."

"I'm not that bad of an option. Obviously I was judged better that batsy."

"Clockie ass hero I want to say wiff."

"OH kiddo and you asked for the greatest hero boostergold?"

"I wike space. He say geen lanern is space. He take care of me."

"I'm so sorry sir, you have already disappointed your new child. Should I take a commemorative photo of this milestone moment for you?"

"No" "yes skeets"

Camera flashes.

"I shall add this photo to a new album labeled baby book. It is labeled Danny's first disappointment, sir."

"Thank you skeets." X2 one sarcastic one pleased.

"I wan geen lanern."

"Think you're gonna need help anyway Micheal. Call one of them. Not guy."

"I would never co-parent with guy. What kind of idiot do you take me for?"

"Rip takes you as the utmost idiot sir. As does most of the justice league sir."

"Thanks skeets."

"You are most welcome sir."

"Can I pay wif the talking space ship?"

"Sure kid." Pushes skeets into the kids hands.

"I do not believe I am rated for physical interaction by children under 10 sir."

"To bad skeets." Picks up Danny who looks up at him instead of at skeets to smile all teeth. "Holy shit are those fangs? We are going to go see my friend Ted now. He will know what to do."

"He will atleast know not to cuss infront of kids. Don't know about the rest."

"Is ted geen lanern?"

Cue shenanigans. They were roommates, but adopted a child.

"Does Batman know you stole a child from him?" <- Jaime when he visits.

"Do not even joke like that. My existence is at stake."

"Batsy is the new beetle juice. In this house."

"Are You geen lanern?"

"Sorry kid I am blue beetle."

"Should I take a picture for Danny's third disappointment since becoming your child sir?"

"No skeets."

"3rd? How long you had him?"

"A week"

"Ouch. Hey kiddo why do you want to meet green lantern? Aren't these guys just as cool?"

"Considering the average human body temperature is 98.6 degrees I do not believe they qualify as cool sir." Jaime is picking up danny to hold on his hip.

"Clockie says geen lanern is space." Danny smiles.

"Are those fangs? Is this a meta kid? You like space? My scarab is from space. Isn't that just as... Oh My, no scarab!" Scarab starts to go into protect host mode while screaming danger desteoy threat in Jaime head just as Danny's eyes start to glow green at the statement and his mouth splits inhumanly wide with even more teeth. Ted and Michael scramble to grab Danny and move him away from Jaime till he gets control of the scarab again. But Danny has a death grip and won't let go of his new friend.

"I do believe sir that your new child qualifies as a meta. Should I take a picture to commemorate your child's first power demonstration sir?"

[contortionyx]

Things forgotten above:

1. The Dairy King ghost is also Danny's friend but he only showed up for a minute in one episode and Danny thought he was going to attack him for like half that time while Danny was fully restrained and couldn't move or use his ghost powers.

2. I'm pretty sure the food at home trying to hurt/kill him (and it *is* trying to kill him, it has intent) was happening for years, well before Danny even got ghost powers.

3. Imo, it's pretty *heavy* subtext that the parents neglected both Danny & Jazz to varying degrees. Hell, his parents get so caught up in arguing with each other once, they miss baby/toddler Danny, strapped in his carrier, get peed on by a dog. He still remembers this at 14. This was a relevant plot point in the xmas episode

4. There's an advanced science lab in the basement of their house that deals almost exclusively with toxic & hazardous material. At least Danny, 14 year old, (and maybe Jazz, 16 or 17?) has chores where he has to clean this lab. Btw, both times Danny dies, it's in his own home, in the basement. He frequently gets dragged back into this lab by his parents who, do in fact, go on about how they will "tear [ghosts in general or explicitly Danny himself] apart molecule by molecule!" in most episodes they appear in.

5. Their fast food place of choice is called Nasty Burger. It does explode. Twice. and Danny gets to see everyone he loves & who loves/care for him die in BOTH explosions.

6. For some reason, Danny, a freshman (literally his 1st year in high school), is taking the SAT. This test is usually for juniors & seniors (3rd & 4th year). It's not bc he's a good student, he frequently fails assignments and regularly gets C's. There is no reason for him to be taking this test yet. He's so stressed by it that his actions directly lead to #5.

7. Previous two points introduce one of the fan fav ghosts, Clockwork, the Master of Time. He works for a council of eyeballs. It's heavily implied that if Danny fucks up bad enough, Clockwork will be responsible to either contain or kill Danny. Danny is never shown to be aware of this.

8. Jazz, Danny's older sister, wants to be a psychologist. She will frequently spiral while psychoanalyzing their parents, Danny, and even herself. She gets better as the show goes

9. A prison warden ghost and his prison guard ghosts invade the town to possess and kidnap everyone just to frame Danny for it so the town will hate him. This works for a while.

10. The clown someone above mentioned? He uses Danny for crimes that Danny gets all the blame for. This also plays into why the town hates him.

11. If you see anything talking about ghosts in the show having obsessions or that Danny's obsession is protecting, that's alllll fanon. None of it is touched on in the show. Most of the show's ghosts are just dicks. Danny feels responsible for why the ghosts are there or is pushed to do it by his friends, mostly by the one that got him killed

12. A *lot* of characters think Danny and Sam, the friend that killed him, are dating or should be dating. Ultimately, they do kiss in the last episode, but we also don't talk about the last episode sooo /shrug

13. The last episode is bad. You can skip it. It rehashes plots & themes the show already touched on. Then it brushes all other plot issues under the rug and ignores them. It's probably bc the crew got word the show was being canceled either just before or part-way during production of the episode, but it's still bad.

Anyways, please give Danny Phantom a watch at least once. It's such a wonderfully insane show that barely tapped into the goldmine of concepts it has throughout it <3

the funniest part about danny phantom is that the entirety of the ghost zone somehow decides they have beef with this one 14 year old from illinois in particular. like why don’t you have beef with something that makes sense. like the irs. or the church. like you have all of these cool powers for what? picking fights with teenagers? lame. get a hobby.

[angelheartgamer]

I literally do not know how to use Tumblr in a way that matters, but I am here to scream into the void and beg for someone to take interest in this stupid fucking dp x p5R crossover please

Danny phantom x persona 5 Royal

Danny would be the death confidante for Akechi, since Akechi would have his own set obviously, he actually doesn't have all the major Arcana tho, only

the tower:Shido

Death: Danny

Judgment: sai

The fool: joker

The hermit : futaba ?(much later)

Akechi himself is the justice card still even from his own perspective.

Danny would be the ace of hearts for joker

Futaba being Goro's half-sister is canon here because I said so.

Also, Danny is 16, akechi is 18 here, because,,,,little brother vibes

Akechi enrolls Danny into jokers school, he meets Sumire and they hang out a bit, which is how he meets joker and through joker, Futaba omg Danny Futaba and Sumi cause the most chaos as a trio, perfect

Akechi, Yusuke, and Hifumi all go to the same school, but because akechi is a 3rd year they don't interact pretty much at all.

Danny upon meeting joker for the first time: you should date my dad actually

As a timeline note, Danny shows up when the actual pt are working on Makoto's palace so that I can have my space station time, but also because,,,,hehe plot.

Danny and akechi making each other realize they were victims of extreme abuse

Akechi much later allowing Danny to absolutely fuck his reputation to fuck with Shido, but also because they're teaching each other how to just be kids. God mutual healing for them pls

Danny upon telling akechi he's king of the infinite realms like: so even if you die, you're still stuck with me

A Kechi not knowing why or how this American teenager is speaking fluent Japanese to him

Danny who doesn't know he's speaking Japanese, or even that he's in Japan for like the first MONTH he's there

Ohya is the one that gets the shot of a Kechi and Danny in shibuya, them trying to sell Danny as akechis "son" is so so funny to me because he's literally only 2 years younger than him, so it's not possible, but they sure did run the article

This is not a Danny gets yeeted to a new universe au the metaverse is just a smaller dimension that exists right between the infinite realms and earth, so in a way ghosts are just shadows after death, shadows form from the self within the self, and if they progress for long enough, once that person dies, their shadow becomes a ghost, it's why even though not all ghosts are evil, there's a lot of them that are

Tucker and Futaba would either be absolute best friends who already knew each other through the hacking community or worst enemies and I can't decide what's better

Futaba is the one to tell tucker and sam that Danny is alive and ok, because Danny is stupid and doesn’t think to tell them

Danny and Akechi paint each other's nails as a form of bonding

Ghost king Danny, ghost speak, blacklight ectoplasm, I just think they're neat

A half written first chapter for this stg I am not writing more someone else do it please

Danny ends up yeeted into Japan after the last episode of his original series, except it didn't go as well as canon, his parents had only faked their acceptance, in all truth once they'd gotten home, he'd been subjected to months of experimenting, jazz had left for college soon after and didn't know anything and Danny, poor Danny, was letting this all happen to himself because he had convinced himself it was out of love, for the greater good. Eventually, he was broken out of this cycle by his friends who'd spent this whole time trying to free him, and once they did they beelined it for the ghost portal, to get as far away as they could, they took Danny to clockwork as they assumed he'd know best what to do next, and he did. He sent Danny to akechi and his friends back to their homes.

Danny, now with extreme PTSD and lots of new scars to go with it, is completely out of it when he first bumps into akechi. He just kinda ends up in the middle of Akechi's living room, staring at his hands and silently crying, and akechi, who just got home from school and watched this child fall out out a portal onto his carpet, considers calling the police for a second before realizing if he filed a report like that it would absolutely fuck his image, headlines like "detective prince akechi finally snapped?" "Child star gone crazy!" "Young detective claims child 'fell out of portal' more on this at 9" and ultimately decides that he will deal with this problem himself. Armed with his (fake because it's for the metaverse and legally he can't own one) gun akechi slowly approaches him and nudges the back of his head, and suddenly his problem disappears, quite literally, into thin air.

Danny, who absolutely panicked at being broken out of his meltdown by the feeling of cold metal against the back of his head (hmmmm how many things could this remind him of, so so many) had gone invisible and fuckin booked it to the closest corner, his mind not clear enough to get him any further, and his energy not high enough to sustain the invisibility. He was curled in a ball arms crossed out in front of him in an attempt to shield himself.

Akechi snaps to attention as suddenly the child is back but in a completely different location, seemingly much more afraid than before. Akechi thinks about it for a moment before lowering his gun and kneeling onto one knee from where he stood, raising his hands in a sign of surrender, to try and show he no longer means harm.

"Hey, it's ok, can I get you some water?"

Clearly being on the offensive wasn't going to make progress and now akechi was much more interested in this boy than he had been.

He runs through a list of things he was taught to do to deescalate a situation. Try basic questions, offer reassurance, space, and make sure not to move too quickly or unpredictably, that last one will be a little hard since his guest is in an unknown place so no matter what he does it'll be unpredictable.

Danny lowered his hands which had started shaking, waiting for the hurt, the next step, something, after hearing the older boy in front of him speak, he said something about water? Danny thought for a moment, this is all a trap, or not real, or both, or maybe hey, just maybe he finally actually died. In which case, the actions he was now taking meant nothing anyways. He opened his mouth to speak but only a hoarse impression of an attempt at speech came out, so instead, he nodded. He was so entirely unsure of his situation, and the tears wouldn't stop, god he just wanted to help, he did everything they asked, so why did it never sto- Danny closed his eyes painfully tight and repeated the word no to himself mentally in an attempt to stop his thoughts from going where they were.

Akechi winced at the sound of the boy's voice, could it even be called that, but took note of the small nod and stood to go retrieve water. Once he had the drink in hand he stood about 5 feet away from the boy and spoke again.

"Can I come over and hand this to you?" He needs to make sure not to send him further into whatever sort of attack he was having, so being overly careful about all his actions was the least he could do.

Danny he was just barely starting to regain his ability to actually breathe, shook his head no rapidly, but had no idea how to communicate his wants without his voice.

"I'll just set it on the floor right here then and go back to where I was"

Was this man an angel? How did he know what Danny wanted, when he hadn't spoken a word? Danny gave an agreeing shake to his head this time and waited for the man to go back and sit down before essentially crawling over to the cup. He relished in the feeling of the water running down his throat, of the concept of kindness being shown to him, for the first time in months.

Akechi waited for the boy to calm fully and seem more at ease before saying he was going to get bedding for him, he'd set him up on the couch, and get him some food (not that akechi had much to offer, but he was sure he could find something) and letting him rest for the night.

What a strange fucked up situation this was, akechi wasn't sure how to feel about any of it, but he did have a growing sense of pity for the boy. He'd clearly been through something, and the whole falling out of thin air onto his floor definitely didn't help. Goro didn't exactly want to subject this child to the things he himself had been through when Shido was experimenting with his abilities, so he'd keep him confined to his house for now while he sorted it all out. On the other hand, akechi doesn't trust this unknown at all, so he'd call in sick to school in the morning, and take a few days off, his grades shouldn't suffer too much given his aptitude for memorization, but it wouldn't exactly be pleasant either.

Speaking of unpleasant things, akechi checks his phone for the time, and looks at the news before sighing and softly telling the boy he was going to sleep, and pointing out where his room and the bathroom were in case either was needed. Goro also knew in the back of his mind somewhere that telling this stranger who had literally disappeared and reappeared right in front of his eyes earlier, where he slept wasn't exactly the brightest idea, but he also knew he wouldn't be sleeping tonight, too busy researching and trying to figure anything he could out. He'd even need to be careful of what he looked into though, considering the kind of mistrust and surveillance Shido had of him, wouldn't want to tip him off now would we?

Danny took the bedding given to him and hulled himself up in a corner ready to stay awake the rest of the night on high alert, or he would have if it wasn't suddenly a completely different time of day, Danny swears he only blinked but in that moment his body must have shut down, after such a long period of abuse and lost sleep, it must have deemed this a safe enough environment to sleep. What had woken him up though was the sound of something falling, he assumes it came from the kitchen nearby, but he hadn't been conscious enough on the outside to process anything else that happened, in fact, he'd almost immediately started panicking again.

Goro poked his head into the living room to see the boy wide awake and staring into nothing with a sense of panic. He wanted to apologize, but he felt speaking and startling the kid out of that state would only make it worse. Maybe he himself had needed to sleep more than he'd imagined though, because as bad at cooking as he was, dropping a frying pan was a new one. What was he even doing with the pan to begin with? He couldn't remember now, the pounding sound had rattled his brain too much.

[the-sprog]

So since I'm very bad at remembering my ideas, I'm gonna throw this out there and hope one day I'm like "WAIT didn't I have an idea for a fic??? What was it???" And I will find it on my tumblr.

It's about Danny Phantom, obviously.

There are actually two of them in here so:

The easiest one: Jack and Maddie are not stupid. I mean they're scientists, the use the scientific method. One of the things about the scientific method is that if you do a bunch of tests, based on an hypothesis and only one of them comes out disproving it, then your hypothesis is incorrect.

Phantom has disproved basically all of their hypothesis.

So, next thing to do? Create a new one. Do new tests. They take Jazz's suggestion and try and see if the ghosts of Amity are actually conscious. Because obviously they're sentient, but are they like animals? Or are they like robots with artificial intelligence?

Or even better yet, are they like humans?

They grab Phantom's attention and ask him if he would cooperate for this test. A simple Turing test. Obviously they're still wary because of everything that happened with him, and do the test with witnesses to keep both Phantom's and their minds at ease.

He passed the test. With flying colors.

They're shocked and ask him if he knew peaceful ghosts that would be willing to take the test (because, y'know. Scientific method. Need to try over and over again). Phantom would have to explain that not all ghosts are as human-like as him (as, first of all, he's a halfa, but he doesn't say that. And second, lots of them are blobs or animal-like ghosts), but cue his parents meeting Jhonny and Kitty (cause I like the idea that they have a truce with Phantom and that going out of the zone helps them with their couple problems), as well as Shadow (example of a less human-like ghost). Then Sidney, Dora, the Fright Knight (cause king ghost Danny ftw) and Frostbite.

They all pass, more or less. Some, like Dora, the light and Sidney, where given away by their choice of word, but other than that all of them passed the test.

OK SO MORE COMPLEX ONE:

I love crossovers. I love finding ways of putting the two universes together, of making them work with each other, adapting the rules so that they apply to both. (With Danny Phantom it's also really cool to just... Make him travel the multiverse. He doesn't adhere to the rules of where he goes to, so it's always hilarious. But we're not here for that now).

One of the best ones to do this with is My Hero Academia. Whenever a show has someone with powers I end up asking myself "how should that work in the world of my hero?" And start trying to incorporate it in the lore.

So, first thing first, we're getting rid of the canon story of my hero. Completely unrelated to the show. This takes place decades in the past, when the first people where developing quirks (so if I wanted to write something with this and actually use my hero characters, I'd make it so that they where hit with a time traveling quirk or that Clockwork was somehow involved).

The Fenton's hatred for ghosts? Make it discrimination against the people who have quirks.

Danny being half-ghost? His quirk's fault. He calls it Ghost, for simplicity, it allows him to come back as a sort of ghost-like creature after he dies. Somehow, one day, he doesn't die completely so his body fixes it the only way it know how. Making him partially ghost.

Obviously that would mean that all the ghosts he fights aren't ghosts anymore. They're villains with quirks, and their powers would be based on what they can do on the show, minus the basic intangibility, invisibility and flight.

Obviously only Sam and Tucker would know he was Phantom and he had a quirk, he's also kinda the only one in town with one. People would be a little racist against quirk havers, but the kids, like in the show, come around to it. And actually start loving Phantom and thinking of him as a hero.

How do I fit Vlad in all of this? Ehm ahhhh this is the one thing I didn't think about. Very basic, but could give him a power similar to Danny, were instead of a ghost, he becomes a vampire. But his quirk is caused by an accident in college, so it's artificial.

Why does Skulker (who doesn't have a quirk. He's just a guy in a suit) hunt Danny? He has a very unique quirk.

Does Dani exist? I mean. Yeah. Cloning is not so farfetched, especially with the existence of quirks.

Clockwork can control time, he involuntary does that being a child, then an adult then an old man thing. The Observants are people without quirks that keep him in check, an organization that made a pact with him to stay young forever or something in change of idk what. No idea what Clockwork would get out of it I won't lie. Money maybe? Or somehow they found a way of keeping him there against his will?

Walker (and I'll make a seperate post about this) is an ex guy in white. Yes they still exist, but they hunt quirk havers instead of paranormal stuff. Walker was kicked out because he actually has a quirk but lied about it. He's after his own kind in the show as well. I mean, he's a stickler to the rules, but he only ever seems to care when it's ghosts that brake them. Correct me if I'm wrong, but never has he punished a human. His quirk is making semi-sentient minions. They're not copies of himself. They're like clay humans with basic forms. They all look alike and have no special characteristics.

Frostbite is just... A yeti. With cryokenisis. It's a mutation type quirk.

Same goes for Wulf, he's just a humanoid wolf that can create teleportation portals. I can't think of a reason why he would only speak Esperanto though. It could be something similar to Five from umbrella academy. He accidentally got stuck in the 1600 as a kid and managed to come back only relatively recently.

I feel like all the other ghosts have obvious powers.

Cujo can become ginormous,

Technus can control technology,

Dora and Aragon can become dragons,

Jhonny gives people bad luck and can control his shadow,

Kitty can make man disappear,

Ember can mind control using music,

Spectra can use people's negative emotions to stay young,

Bernard has shapeshifting,

Youngblood can't be seen by adults (side effect: can't grow old) and his sideckick has a variant of shapeshifting where he can only transform in animals. A definitive father figure),

Box ghost can control boxes,

Pandora can control the plagues of the world,

Desiré can make people's wishes come true,

Sidney can swap bodies with people,

Undergrowth can control plants,

Pariah Dark- I... Actually don't know...

Lunch Lady can control food,

Aaaanndddd no more come to mind.

I want to do something with this AU but I can't really think of an interesting story, other than "kids from 1A get misplaced in time and Danny has to help, discovering the existence of Clockwork and the Observants, whom he hates. So he tries to get Clockwork out of there with the other kid's help" but that's it, really.

I actually have a 3rd idea, but it basically works the same as the MHA one. Crossover with the X-Men.

Substitute quirk havers with mutants and quirks with mutations and you get the idea.

The plot would be more of a "Danny gets recruited by Xavier after the trauma of almost dying activated his mutation and goes to live at the mansion. This happens after the events of season 3, alla salted to make sense in the world of Marvel, but without Phantom planet. He makes friends there, since Sam and Tucker aren't with him and everything is fine and dandy and happy. Until it comes out that the Fentons actually contribute to the creation of the Sentinels, because they hate Phantom that much.

So Danny has to infiltrate his own family to get info on how the Sentinels work so they can destroy them, since his parents are still oblivious and they made it so that the Sentinels wouldn't attack Danny thinking that his accident just somehow make him register as a mutant on machinery" and that's it.

[camels-pen]

Restrictions and Work-arounds

DannyMay Day 11 - Midnight

tw: injury

Summary: Clockwork did not take joy in watching the boy suffer, but for many hundreds of centuries they'd had to work through loopholes in their contract to get anything done, this included.

(sequel to Denial Only Gets You So Far & 3rd part of the Not Your Son series)

Ao3 Link

~

The clock struck midnight.

Blue sparks appeared across from a tall red bricked building and a clock hand appeared in the air above a flickering streetlight, spinning once in a circle to create a dimly glowing portal. A small ghost flew out and the portal snapped shut, almost catching on their tail.

Dark red eyes traced a path through a hole in the glowing green outline of the building. They trailed up the walls and windows and neon sign, landing on the child inside the light. He laid on the edge of the roof with one hand behind his neck, another on his chest and one foot dangling off the side. The metal monstrosity behind him emitting the green light was likely obscuring part of his vision, but he paid it no mind.

The ghost flew up invisibly behind the boy’s head, quietly observing him as he stared up into the empty night sky. Wind caught on the edge of the boy’s shirt and slowly ruffled it, exposing the end of a thin faded scar stretching across his side.

The clock struck midnight.

There were several bruises on his arms, most focused in certain spots on his forearms. A mix of ozone and metallic smells tickled their nose and they squinted at the stretched collar, noticing new bandage wrappings around the boy’s chest and shoulders. The ghost took their time examining him from afar, grimace growing with each passing moment.

The clock struck midnight.

They drifted to float by the halfa’s shoes, taking in more of his battered body. Ecto-burns on his palm, a hiked up pant leg with a bruise in the shape of a hand-print, a blue tinge to his fingertips.

The clock struck midnight.

Dull blue eyes watched the small dots in the sky through a harsh neon screen, all of their usual excitement gone. Replaced in favor of being lost to troubled thoughts and haunting dreams.

The clock struck midnight.

A slow, full body tremble followed by a slight parting of lips revealed where worried teeth chewed through skin.

The clock struck midnight.

Non-existent chains squeezed around their core and Clockwork tightened their grip on their staff. They held a hand to their chest feeling every slight movement from the pendulum locked behind the glass door. They turned their eyes back to the halfa.

Clockwork has watched Danny for a long time. Watched his successes, his failures, his growing skittishness around his parents. The ghost knew of many things past, present, and future in the halfa’s life.

They watched Danny beat back ghosts twice his size with four times his power, get ruffled under his feathers with ghosts who only had the ability to shapeshift—even thrown around by another child ghost and a bag of bones at one point—and foil countless schemes from one of only two other halfas in existence.

He was endearing in his determination to protect others. In his almost boundless love to spare with those he had barely met. And in extending that love to those who’ve only hurt him.

Clockwork sighed.

Though it was brief, they saw how well the two halfas got along and truly enjoyed spending time together. Had Vladimir come to his senses sooner, the two would likely have been able to find comfort in each other’s company for a long time to come; someone who completely understood their unique biology and needs was incredibly rare in the Zone, even more so in the Living Realm. If he had released his grudges sooner, put more effort into maintaining good relations, the two could’ve shared and stood proud in their identities together, perhaps bringing the third along with them to make a united group for future halfas to seek out.

The clock struck midnight.

Regardless of his limited abilities, Clockwork knew the boy would bounce back. He always did. But the pain and suffering Danny had to endure to move on were always difficult to watch. Were they able, they would curse their short sighted employers and lock them in the Keep right next to Dark's prison.

The clock struck midnight.

The ghost lowered themself down through the shrinking hole in the building’s outline. They phased through the wall.

.

.

.

The clock struck midnight.

.

.

.

The clock struck midnight.

.

.

.

The clock struck midnight.

.

.

.

They phased out of the wall, quickly squeezing themself through the smaller opening. Another clock hand appeared before them and Clockwork couldn't help but be grateful their contractors knew not how to restrict all of their abilities.

The clock struck midnight.

A flash of light went off in the street and Danny gasped, body shuddering as blue mist escaped his mouth.