Chapter Text
“But whyyyy?”
Danny knew he was whining, and that it was a stupid thing to do to the master of time itself, but he couldn’t help it. Here he was, minding his own business, well on his way to set a new record with Sam and Tucker on the newest Doomed game, when he steps out of the room for just a moment to get some snacks. And who should he see but Clockwork, floating there in his kitchen and looking extremely out of place. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Clockwork just had to deliver the unwelcome news that Danny must go on a forced vacation.
Not anywhere reasonable, of course, like Hawaii or Alaska or Greenland (Danny liked the cold). No, Danny had to go to a completely different dimension, of all things.
“As I stated previously, Daniel,” said Clockwork, floating in midair, bobbing like a cork and partially phasing in and out of Danny’s kitchen table. “It is imperative that you reconcile with your ghost half.”
“But I’m fine!” Danny insisted. He crossed his arms, glaring at Time. “I feel fine!”
“Oh?” Clockwork asked, raising an eyebrow. “And when exactly was the last time you transformed into your ghost half again?”
Danny looked down and shuffled his feet on the linoleum. “A few days…”
“Three weeks, four days, 16 hours, and 22 minutes,” Clockwork corrected him. “This isn’t healthy, Daniel.”
Danny sighed. “I know, I know. It’s just been so hard to control lately.”
And it wasn’t in the way it was when Danny first got his powers, when he was constantly dropping things and falling through stuff. No, now when he transformed it was as if his ghost half was overwhelmed with feelings of loneliness and sadness and longing, though for what Danny couldn’t tell. It made it hard to think straight, let alone fight off any ghosts. Danny was just grateful that his parents had agreed to close down the portal for a month so he could take a break and focus on his finals for school. He felt extremely lucky that they had been so accepting of his ghostly reveal.
“You are struggling with control because you are neglecting the needs of your ghost half,” Clockwork said. “You need to learn to accept all of who you are.”
“But why can’t I do that here?” Danny realized he was whining again but he didn’t care.
“You could,” Clockwork stated plainly, surprising Danny. “But are you willing to let your friends and family in, let them help you, let them see you vulnerable?”
“Yes…?” But Danny knew that really wasn’t true. He was the protector! He was the one who saved, not the one who needed saving. He couldn’t ask that of his friends. Not to mention how embarrassed he would be. Only Tucker, Sam, and Jazz realized just how long it had been since he transformed, and he had been doing a good job so far of playing it off like it was fully his choice, that he was taking a break from ghostly things. Jazz had pestered him a couple of times about not repressing himself, and that he should still transform sometimes. Danny would lie and say that he had transformed while he was apart from her, and while she seemed appeased at that he could tell that she was starting to get suspicious.
Clockwork of course was not fooled. “In every timeline where I leave you here, you neglect to tell anyone of your problem, get extremely sick, and in some cases lose control of your ghost half forever.”
Danny didn’t want that. Of course he didn’t! His ghost half was a part of him, as much as his human half was. He just didn’t know how to make it feel better, or what was wrong.
“And you think people in this alternate universe will be able to help me?” Danny asked skeptically. “Do they even have ghosts there?”
“Not the type of ghosts you are familiar with,” Clockwork replied. He shrank down to the size of a toddler. “What they do have are humans who are perfectly suited to help you.”
“Will they though?”
“In every timeline where I send you to this universe, there is a 96.4% chance of your condition improving within the week. Sometimes as shortly as a few hours.”
Those sounded like pretty good odds to Danny. “And you’re sure that no time will pass here?” This was a point that Clockwork had made at the start of the conversation.
“I guarantee it, no more than a minute will pass here no matter how long you spend in the other universe.”
Danny debated it all for a moment, then sighed. “Alright, I guess I have no choice then. When do I leave?”
Clockwork’s eyes glowed. “Now.”
Danny turned around at a sudden ripping sound, only to see Wulf tearing a portal with his claws right by the refrigerator. Before Danny could think he felt a shove and suddenly he was tripping directly into the portal, a faint, Safe travels, friend, in Esperanto the last thing he heard.