Overview: A shorter piece than others written for Danny Phantom having his memories taken and left with a powerful ghost named Clockwork that says they’re friends.
Fandom: Danny Phantom
Relationship: Danny Fenton | Danny Phantom & Clockwork
Characters: Danny Fenton | Danny Phantom, Clockwork
Rating: General Audiences
Word Count: 3,472
Summary: Danny Fenton was friends with a ghost named Clockwork; a ghost that could control time. It sounded cool, when he thought about it, but the problem was that Danny had absolutely no memory of ever being friends with a ghost. He may have been fourteen, and, admittedly, yes, he had gotten himself zapped by his parent’s Ghost Portal last week, but he wasn’t an idiot. Who actually believed someone when they told them they had amnesia, after all? (Posted to AO3)
memories were made to be forgotten (but you weren’t)
Danny Fenton had, like every bored teenager before him who had too much free time during study hall, daydreamed unlikely possible scenario after unlikely possible scenario to try and alleviate at least some boredom until it was time for lunch. Nowhere in his daydreamed scenarios, however, had Danny imagined that he would be held captive by a ghost called the Master of Time who claimed that Danny had amnesia and that they were actually ‘good friends.’ Danny may not have been the top of his class, but he had seen basic safety videos like every other fourth grader.
He had also been brought up on his parents and their research and stories and knew how dangerous ghosts, and anything associated with them, could be. Danny had learned that well enough last week after his parents’ Ghost Portal and his… accident with it. He hadn’t gotten in trouble for it, though, and he was perfectly healthy, so he was taking that as a win!
No, the real trouble for him was the fact that he was facing down a ghost after waking up somewhere he had never seen before with absolutely no memory of why he was there or what he was doing or what was going on. His parents, his sister, his friends, absolutely no one was nearby, so that left Danny to try and bullshit his way out of the situation as best he could because otherwise he was probably going to be the next ghost his parents studied.
“Look, man, I’m not saying I don’t believe you, here, but…” There was absolutely no way Danny believed a single word out of the ghost’s mouth. Really, though? Him? Friends with a ghost who claimed to be able to control time? As if. “Look, it’s, uh, it’s cool, and all, I guess, to know that ghosts are real, but are you sure you don’t want to talk to my parents or something about all of this?”
“Well,” the ghost said – ‘Clockwork’ he had said his name was, which, right, totally fake name. “At least you haven’t lost all of your memories… Can you tell me the last thing you remember, Daniel?”
Danny immediately made a face, because Daniel, before shaking his head, denial and a refusal to answer anything at the tip of his tongue before he paused and thought that maybe arguing with a ghost wasn’t the best of ideas. He would just have to comply until his parents rescued him, although… It could take them a while to notice he was missing…
Gathering his thoughts and shoving down his panic with enough force to make him feel exhausted already, Danny crossed his arms. “I remember I was just sitting in my room, er, doing homework, and then suddenly I wake up here.” At least, if anyone asked him he had been doing his homework. “You know. Kidnapped. And in danger-”
“Daniel, if I wanted to harm you then you would already be dead.” That was supposed to reassure him?! “The fact that you are here, unharmed and not even bound, should, at the very least, dissuade you from the idea that you’ve been abducted, yes?” Oh, god, this ghost was worse than his sister.
“Yeah, so, uh, I understood all of those words separately and junk, but-” Danny cut himself off as he saw the ghost moving towards him. Danny’s immediate reaction was to raise his arms, squeeze his eyes shut, and pray for a miracle, but instead he felt his body move before he could even think, rapidly stepping back and to the side and dropping into one of the defensive positions that he half-remembered his mom maybe teaching him years and years ago.
The ghost stared at him, looking as caught off guard as Danny felt before he was moving back and away from him, looking at him curiously and oh, god, Danny hated when people looked at him like that. It meant they were studying him. Maybe Danny could pretend he was just… stretching?
Before he could rush to defend himself with an excuse, though, Clockwork made a soft, curious noise, “Only the memories, then, but not the instincts…” Oh, god, Danny was in a horror movie about to be sacrificed or cut to ribbons, wasn’t he?
After dropping his… whatever he had been doing, Danny moved jerkily a few feet away, at least getting a piece of furniture between them as if that would help matters. “Look, just… what do you even need me for?”
“Ah, I had wondered if that paranoia of yours was developed or innate.” Was- Was the ghost taking shots at him after kidnapping him? What a jerk. Danny would be so glad when someone showed up with some kind of plan to get him out of there – hopefully soon. “If you’ll recall, I informed you that we have a positive relationship and you have amnesia. It’s safest for you here-”
“Why would it be safe here and not with my family?! Or in a hospital?!” Actually, Danny should definitely be in a hospital if he had amnesia or something, so the fact he wasn’t meant this ghost was definitely lying. “No offense, but I’m not a big fan of believing in something that’s obviously a lie. Now let me go.”
The last few words echoed for a few seconds, Danny trying to keep his glare up as mentally he panicked because what had just happened with his voice? Instead of even so much as cracking, which Danny admitted, at least to himself, sometimes happened when he was emotional, his voice sounded like it had gotten deeper and it sounded… menacing. Like Danny could actually back up whatever threats he made – a good thing, but also a weird thing.
“Daniel,” Clockwork sighed, sharp and tired, as he met his gaze with a frown, moving forward again. “I only have your best interests in mind.” The ghost hadn’t even fully finished talking before Danny was scrambling back and grasping at something – anything – to protect himself because he was suddenly filled with the overwhelming urge that words like that only came before pain and-
It was as sudden and shocking as the Fenton portal had been, Danny feeling like the breath had been stolen straight from his lungs as ice crawled through his veins, something in him building and building before snapping out, Danny staring with wide eyes at the sudden dome-shaped wall of green that appeared between him and the ghost who looked as surprised as he did.
“Well, I suppose that’s proof enough that your memories were merely suppressed instead of erased altogether,” Clockwork said cheerfully, as if Danny hadn’t just- Just- He didn’t know! Danny didn’t know what he had done, but suddenly there was this thing between him and Clockwork and Danny somehow knew, with everything in him, that he had caused it and how had he done that? “Daniel…?”
“I just…” Danny stared at the green-tinged ghost, just on the other side of the shield, or wall, or something that Danny had made. “I… What did I just do?”
Looking down at his hands, because he somehow really had done that, Danny froze at seeing he was wearing gloves where a second ago there had been nothing. What’s more, he realized, the gloves were a pure, bright white that looked to be glowing and, after twitching his fingers, Danny realized they were his hands. They also weren’t the only thing that had changed.
While Danny didn’t exactly have a mirror to look in, he didn’t need one to see that everything he was wearing was different. Whereas before he had been wearing jeans and one of his shirts, now he was wearing what looked like one of his parent’s hazmat suits only it was pure black with white boots and it, like the gloves, were glowing a soft white.
“What…” Danny swallowed sharply, looking back up at the green thing he had made that slowly seemed to fizzle out and fade away to reveal Clockwork staring at him as if afraid of him. “What happened to me? What did you do to me?”
Clockwork was silent for a moment – which meant he was thinking up a lie Danny would believe. Well, if Clockwork thought that was gonna work on him, then he had another thing coming because everything was- It was insane. “Daniel… do you remember your parents’ portal and possibly an accident involving it?”
“I- Hang on, what?” Danny blinked, some of his panic draining out of him at the question that had taken him completely off guard. “How… how did you know about that?” Because no one should have really known about that. Yeah, sure, his family technically knew, but his friends had been the only ones to be there.
“Well,” Clockwork chuckled, as if Danny wasn’t questioning everything he thought he had known about the world. “I did introduce myself as someone close to you, didn’t I? You’ve talked to me of that incident yourself, Daniel.”
“Yeah, nice try, buddy,” Danny scoffed, shivering as something about his voice sounded wrong. It sounded like it had… echoed. “You-” What was wrong with his voice? “You introduced yourself as the Master of Time. No way you didn’t use some weird ghost power to see what happened yourself because there’s no way I would ever trust a ghost.”
Clockwork sighed, something fond and amused as if this was all some sort of game to him. “You were very untrusting at this age, weren’t you?”
Danny felt a spike of anger because was this guy fucking serious?! Danny was stuck in a place that he had never seen and had been kidnapped by a fucking ghost! This was the opposite of just simply being ‘untrusting.’ “If you think for one second that I would ever trust you, then you don’t know me at all.”
What broke up the suddenly tense silence between them wasn’t Clockwork, but a loud snapping sound that reminded Danny of ice breaking and cracking near the beginning and end of winter. It also sounded like it had come from him, and Danny couldn’t help his startled glance down, eyes wide as he saw that ice had formed around him.
Except… Saying that ice had formed around him seemed too simple. No, instead it looked like it was coming from Danny, ice rapidly spreading out from around his feet as frost climbed up his arms in spirals and loops that almost distracted him from the fact the ice at his feet acted as a mirror. He half wished that it had distracted him completely, but instead Danny was staring down at what was basically a mirror that showed he… didn’t look like Danny Fenton.
His eyes were flickering between a toxic green color and a bright, icy blue and his hair- His hair was a bright snow white that matched the frost crawling up his arms; frost that was starting to spiral and wrap around his shoulders and sides.
“I’m…” The glow around him wasn’t from the suit, Danny realized slowly, and then all at once; as bad things always were. “I’m a…” It was from him. The glowing, the ice and snow, the shield, all of it had come from him.
Snapping his head up, Danny looked at Clockwork, hating how his voice came out weak and scared, but unable to help his question of, “Am I dead?”
“What?” Clockwork blinked, as if surprised Danny would ask that and maybe that was why Clockwork thought Danny trusted him if he really had lost his memories; because he was a ghost, too. “No- No, no, no, Daniel, you aren’t dead-”
“Don’t lie to me!” Danny shouted, hating at how the sound was almost a scream more than anything else. “I’m- Look at me! I’m a ghost, and I don’t know what kind of world you’re living in, pal, but if I’m a ghost then I-”
Danny’s words tangled around a hitch of breath, the realization hitting that… he had died. That was the only explanation as to what had happened to him. He had somehow died and become a ghost and maybe he really had lost his memories or this ghost was just trying to use him, but either way he had died.
“Daniel.” There was something in Clockwork’s voice, something soft and caring and enticing enough that Danny found himself looking at him before he could realize it. The ghost’s expression matched his voice. “Daniel, if you believe nothing else I say to you, then believe this. You are not dead.”
“But I’m…” The words died on his tongue, Danny to scared to say them. It was obvious enough what he had been about to say, though, Danny thrusting his hands out as if to emphasize the point. Spirals of frost had near overtaken his body, at that point, and the ice cracked again as it grew more at his feet. For the first time in a very long time Danny realized he was absolutely terrified.
“You, Daniel James Fenton, are something very different,” Clockwork said gently, floating a few inches closer slowly and gently. “Listen carefully to me?” It sounded like an order as much as it did a request, but something about the way it was said had Danny nodding shakily, latching onto the words as if they could make him stop feeling like he couldn’t breathe– Could he breathe? Did he need to?
Clockwork nodded back, voice still soft, “Thank you. Now, you don’t have to close your eyes, but it might help with what I’m about to tell you to do. There should be this feeling of warmth in your chest, somewhere close to your heart. Do you feel it?”
Danny opened and closed his mouth, hundreds of arguments and words dying in the back of his throat before he shivered as he felt the frost reach the back of his neck. It started to look and feel more like ice than it did frost, and it was terrifying enough that Danny shut his eyes on instinct.
“Ssh, it’s alright, Daniel. You’re alright.” Years and years of his parents’ lessons screamed at him to not trust a thing the ghost in front of him said, but something deeper had Danny relaxing just the smallest amount, even as he hated himself for it. “Do you feel that warmth?”
“I…” Danny didn’t open his eyes, terrified at the spreading feeling of ice, but he did try to feel for whatever Clockwork was telling him about. A feeling of warmth near his heart sounded impossible with how cold he felt, but slowly, slowly and surely and deeply, Danny felt something inside of him that he could call nothing but warmth. “I think I do.”
“Good. That’s good.” Clockwork’s voice was still soft, and something about it made Danny think he was relieved. “I want you to visualize yourself holding that warmth and then clutching it with both hands. Do you think you can do that?”
He wanted Danny to what? “I- I can try?” Even if nothing happened it was still a distraction from whatever was happening to him and, well, how hard could it be? Danny was good at daydreaming, after all, and it was easy enough to picture that feeling of warmth as if it were a small, glowing ball – something orange, maybe. It would be something orange and yellow with maybe a few red tones thrown it.
Danny could picture holding something like that easily enough, and while it did take some focus, he could picture clutching it within both of his hands and squeezing-
Danny’s eyes snapped open as he felt the warmth suddenly crash over him like a bucket of hot water, bright light flashing in front of him and forcing him to blink his eyes quickly before he looked down and saw the ice that had been climbing up his body was gone. The suit or whatever he had been wearing, as well as the glow, were also gone, leaving nothing but human skin and his typical outfit of jeans and a t-shirt. “I’m…”
“You’re not dead, Daniel, and you are also not a ghost – at least, not quite,” Clockwork laughed, something in his tone that made Danny think he really had been worried for him. Looking up, and slightly startled at seeing Clockwork so much closer, Danny stared at the hand that was held out to him.
Danny took it hesitantly, surprised when Clockwork pulled him forward and out and away from the pile of ice that had been building up around his feet. “Did I… really cause all of that?” It looked like that one small part of the room had gone through winter itself, covered in ice and bits of snow.
“It’s a long, long story,” Clockwork chuckled, this time his laugh soft and barely there before he was moving Danny’s hand, gently, to rest over Danny’s wrist. “You know how to find your pulse?”
“Yeah, of course I do,” Danny frowned, fingers searching out his pulse absently for a few seconds before he was nodding to himself as he found it. “See? It’s right…” Danny trailed off, blinking as he realized that he had a pulse. To have a pulse, though, he needed to be alive, which meant he wasn’t- He wasn’t dead. “I have a pulse.”
“You have a pulse,” Clockwork confirmed, smile flicking into something larger for a moment. “Do you still believe you’re dead, then?”
“I mean, it feels slower than it probably should, but, uh… it’s still there,” Danny admitted, letting his hands drop to his sides as he stared at Clockwork, who had just helped him through what would probably become a metaphor for a panic attack. “So, you, uh… You really aren’t here to hurt me or anything?”
“No, Daniel,” Clockwork said, slowly and gently setting a hand on his shoulder. It felt familiar. It felt nice. “I’m here to help you if you can finally believe that.”
Danny would never be able to explain it to himself or anyone else later if he tried, but in that moment the only thing he could think to do was rush forward and throw his arms around Clockwork, hugging him tightly as his hands buried in the cloak like it was second nature.
Clockwork, on his part, didn’t even hesitate, arms sliding around him in return and making him feel safe. “I know this is difficult for you, Daniel, but you will be safe. You’ve lost quite a few of your memories, but we, both myself and your friends, are working hard on getting them back for you. I imagine it can’t be easy to believe me… but can you try?”
“I…” Danny swallowed, feeling his throat working in silence for a few moments before he pushed himself back just enough to see Clockwork’s face. Danny couldn’t see a trace of a lie or anything else. If anything, Clockwork looked more worried than Danny did. “I don’t believe you, but…”
This was someone he knew. Now that his panic and fear had faded away, Danny could tell that this was truly someone he knew; someone who cared for him and wanted to help him. That- That had to be more than enough, right?
“I don’t believe you,” Danny said more firmly, hands clutching tightly at the other’s cloak. “But I trust you.” It was the first thing Danny had said that felt true to him. “Is that enough for right now?”
“Oh, Daniel…” Clockwork said his name softly, like it was something important. “That is… That is more than enough, Daniel.”
Danny smiled, ducking back in to hug Clockwork tightly for another minute before he finally cleared his throat and stepped back out of the, admittedly nice, hug. “Okay- Okay! So, uh, obviously this is pretty crazy and weird, so can you maybe explain a bit more about that whole amnesia thing and maybe why I can do that?” Danny asked, gesturing towards the pile of ice that didn’t look like it would be melting anytime soon.
Something he said must have been funny because Clockwork was laughing, but he did lean forward to ruffle Danny’s hair in a motion that felt as familiar as the hug he had given him. “Yes, Daniel, I can explain why you can do that. It might take a while, though.”
“Good thing you’re the Master of Time and all that, then,” Danny joked, staring at Clockwork and giving a wider smile because, well, maybe ghosts weren’t as bad as his parents had made them out to be.
Somehow, Danny thought to himself, even if these supposed memories of his never came back, well… He had a feeling that everything would be okay.
It was a good feeling.