Tears flowed freely from his luminescent green eyes, limbs weary from the flight through the ghost zone. His white hair hung in front of one eerie glowing eye, a gear-shaped talisman still hanging around his neck.
Shoulders were sagging, mind still plagued with the memory of what he had seen.
Dead bodies littered the streets, children screaming as they drowned in their own blood. His own figure, suspended above the carnage, watching with gleaming red eyes and blood-soaked gloves.
He shuddered.
Phantom had asked clockwork…pleaded with him to help him find a way out of his terrible future. The ancient ghost simply closed his eyes in sadness, turning away.
"I have meddled enough. No longer can I alter your timeline."
The city below him gleamed beautifully, while his vision flashed between this one, and the future where buildings had been brutally torn down, the aquamarine bay dyed red with blood. Danny let his vision blur, thankful that he could no longer see.
It did not relieve his pain though, for the images refused to leave. Playing over and over in his head, echoes of their screams for mercy never truly left.
Phantom bit his tongue, making his decision.
His head turned, recognizing the familiar roar of his parent's RV. They were hunting again.
Perfect.
He glided downward, purposely charging his fists with ectoplasm to brighten his beacon. They saw it, swerving down the street toward his hovering form.
His eyes shifted, and the buildings around him leapt with flames, their hungry crackle loud in his ears. People burned alive within those flames, consumed and forgotten by those ravenous lights.
He was the cause of those flames. He was the one who had set them ablaze, cutting gas tubes and creating the spark, laughing as the first humans began to burn.
He blinked again.
Somehow his slim figure had descended to the street, boots mere inches above the ground. Doors of the RV opened, his parents leaping from the insides, guns in their hands, muscles tensed and ready for a trap.
This seemed too easy. His green eyes seemed in another place, filled with bottomless pain and heartbreaking distress.
"Don't move, ghost!" Jack's cry was loud on the mostly-empty streets, dark eyes focused on the young hybrid.
"I wont"
His voice was soft, sobs barely held back.
Jack opened his mouth in confusion, while Maddie merely charged her weapon, refraining from firing.
His pallid boots hit the asphalt, dazed form wobbling slightly.
He watched as they took a few steps closed, the blasts held just within the barrels of their guns painfully bright in his eyes.
Again, his vision shifted.
The heavens threw down destructive energy in the form of lightning, poisoned rain falling upon the dying city, doing nothing to put out the flames.
Phantom stood smugly atop the FentonWorks op center, arms crossed as he surveyed the destruction. Behind him, his parents were struggling in their bonds, throats too sore from screaming to say anything.
The ghost's voice was cruel, merciless as he murmured to himself.
"Beautiful… don't you think so?"
He turned to face them, eyeing the tears that streamed down their face.
"Oh, don't cry. There are still survivors. I think Jazz is still alive somewhere."
His blood-dyed gloves picked them both up without effort, dragging them into a standing position.
"See? There is a survivor! Look! Over there."
He shot a thin green blast at the building beside the lost little girl, her bright hazel eyes widening as she took in her last breath.
Bricks and glass skewered her slim body, bricks mutilating her beyond recognition.
His parents sobbed harder, his mother falling away from his bloody grip to collapse on her knees, shoulders shaking with the force of her sobs.
The girl had Jazz's eyes.
Blink.
Phantom had fallen on his knees, hunched down slightly with his head clenched in his silvery gloves. Tears squeezed out from his closed eyes, breaths shortened to quick gasps as he attempted to control his crying.
Maddie was tempted to kneel down beside him, motherly instincts screaming to aid the teen. She listened to his every word, despite her claims to hate him.
"Wasn't my fault… it wasn't… me… I'm not evil….. Not…wouldn't…. never. I would never kill… anyone…."
He fell on his side, curling into a tighter ball, white hair ruffling as his grip upon his skull tightened.
Jack watched him curiously, not having any idea why the ghost would act like this.
"That's not my future….. I wont do that….I'm not evil"
His mother took a few steps toward him, lowering her weapon. Had something happened to show him a possible future? He obviously thought he wasn't evil.
His voice lowered to a fierce whisper, words nearly incomprehensible as they were mixed in with his sobs.
"Im…..sorry…. not….fault…..no."
He stopped talking, just breathing roughly now, relaxing slightly.
His eyes snapped open, causing her to step back slightly and raise her weapon.
"I have to end it."
His eyes glowed a brilliant green, all of his eyes taken over by the color, his pupils no longer visible.
He turned toward his parents, getting up on his knees, watching them for a few seconds through his white hair.
"Destroy me."
His command was strong, demanding that they comply.
They didn't react until he lifted up into the air, gliding toward them. Then they merely focused their weapons on him, distrust plain in their glaring eyes. A small charge of ectoplasm ignited around his fists, but quickly faded, his powerful aura dissipating as quickly as it came.
He collapsed on the ground, eyes unblinking as he stared at them. Maddie quietly asked the ghost boy her much-wondered question, drawing out a second, smaller gun.
"What wasn't your fault" She was going to add ghost to the end of her question, but seeing his mental state prompted her to lay off the venom for now.
He turned his head, looking up at her with those blank green eyes.
"Clockwork showed me a future that he could not change."
Two timelines flickered over one another, nearly overlapping. Phantom in one lorded over his mother, crimson flames swirling up over her helpless form.
While Danny in the other time shrank away from her approaching form as she kneeled down beside him in an instinctual way to try and comfort him.
Both phantoms murmured in soft voices, one in fear while the other purred in satisfaction.
"A city painted in blood, and I am its king. No one could stop me, and no one will live."
Maddie was consumed with flames, her cries of pain echoing across the crimson landscape. The last survivor was cut down, and flames swept toward the horizon.
Her arms wrapped gently around his trembling form, whispering comforting nothingness into his ear. Ghost or not, the boy was suffering in a way she could not wish upon any person. Jack stood protectively behind her as the ghost boy wrapped his arms around her waist, crying his heart out at the images he saw…that he had created.
"Its alright phantom… It's okay Danny."
Her lips turned in a small frown as she said those last words, her conscious mind pulling back as she attempted to treat him simply as a mother would treat her child after he had a nightmare. Her black-gloved fingers gently combed through his snowy hair, hazel eyes gazing down at his closed ones. She watched as tears flowed from the corners of his eyes, the droplets having a pearl-like sheen. She caught one on her finger, the strange substance quivering for a moment before falling from the surface of her glove.
She looked back down, finding the teen had opened his eyes. They were no longer pure green, but merely swamped with misery and sorrow.
"I'm sorry…. " He looked away hugging her closer to his sold body. "I'm so sorry….mom"
Her heart stopped at his last word, mind trying to rationalize what he had just said. Perhaps she reminded him of his mother, or he was so distressed he thought she actually was his mom.
Was that why he had never really tried to attack them? Why he never went all-out in their short battles?
Did he think of her as his mom?
He was no longer really crying, just taking short, gasping breaths as he attempted to stop the waterworks.
His hands were no longer wrapped around her, slim form resting lightly on her lap, while his head was supported by one arm. Phantom drew a soft, shaky breath, looking up at her sadly before closing his eyes, apparently falling asleep.
Did ghosts sleep?
This question flitted over her mind as she looped his legs over her other arm, picking him up gently and getting to her feet.
Jack raised the barrel of his gun in questioning, while Maddie merely shook her head no, and climbed into the back seat.
"Drive carefully"
She muttered to him, sitting down and laying phantom across the back seat, resting his head on her lap. It would be so easy now, to take him in for experiments and questioning, but after such an intense display of emotion, she wasn't sure if she could go through with that.
She fingered the medallion around his neck, gazing at the intricate CW on its surface. ClockWork?
After a moment's hesitation, she lifted the trinket from his chest, slipping the black ribbon over his head and placed it on the armrest next to her. Phantom shifted slightly in his sleep, but relaxed shortly afterwards, his eyes no longer flickering madly under his eyelids.
She sighed, brushing a few strands of his white hair out of the boy's face.
Why on earth did she feel so protective of him now?
Was it that word, mom, which sent her over the edge from merciless huntress to worried mother?
Jack swerved slightly, grinning apologetically back to his wife before slowing down, stopping in front of their house. The FENTONWORKS sign was as vibrant as ever.
She opened the side door, slipping her hands under his slim form. She couldn't help noticing his build as she lifted him from the RV's interior. His chest was muscled just enough to be visible under his outfit, arms still showing their inner strength, despite being limp. Even in sleep, his face seemed worn down, exhausted and faintly worried. As if he carried the world on his shoulders.
Maddie sighed, placing phantom gently on their couch, telling Jack not to disturb him. Her husband had inquired upon the nature of the medallion she had taken off phantom, but she merely asked him to leave it on the table. They would figure this out later.
She gazed at his slumbering form for a moment, smiling to herself as he unconsciously snuggled deeper into the crevice between back and seat of the couch.
Leaving her hood down, Maddie headed toward the kitchen, turning on theove and starting to make supper.
A half hour passed, and Jack was now napping at the table, having fallen asleep while trying to fix up the ghost gabber again. Maddie bent down, opening the oven and slipping on some oven mitts to take out the lasagna she had made.
She stood upright, steaming dish in her hand as she kneed the oven door closed, turning around.
She let out a short yelp, having not expected to come face-to-face with Phantom.
He had woken up a few minutes ago without her noticing
His hair was disheveled, falling messily in front of surprisingly alert green eyes. They darted toward the dish of falling lasagna, narrowing for a moment.
Phantom crouched down, hands rushing out to catch the thing in mid air.
He did not wince or cry out in pain, merely letting out a soft sigh as he got up to his feet, placing it gently on the stove.
Maddie gaped at him for a moment, one for his quick reaction, and two for the fact he had just handled something that would have sizzled away a regular human's hands and left them whimpering on the floor.
Pushing it gently away from the edge, phantom turned his head slightly, looking at her from the corner of one eye.
"Lasagna?"
She nodded in silence, watching his reaction. Or lack of, anyway.
He was silent for a moment before turning to face her again. The weary look on his face was still present, but she had to admit that he hid it very well.
"Why didn't you destroy me when you had the chance?"
Maddie averted her gaze from his piercing green one, leaning against the opposite counter.
"It wouldn't be fair. You were helpless…and I couldn't do it."
His eyes darkened, looking down at his hands as his fingers curved into a fist and released.
"You did hear what I said, right?"
"About the city being painted in blood? Yes…. But why did you call me mom?"
Silence.
Steam from the lasagna wafted up toward the ceiling, while Jack snored softly at the table, its grain being imprinted on his cheek. The faint buzz of the ghost portal was barely audible, defeat pulsing from phantom's black and white clad form.
He glanced up at her, saying softly.
"Because you are my mother. You created me, in more ways than one."
He paused, as if wondering if he should go on. Closing those eerie green eyes, he continued.
"When I… Danny, that is, went down to fix the portal that you made; he put on an inverted version of my outfit. Minus the Insignia. I… well…. he activated it accidentally from the inside and was electrocuted. And fused with Ectoplasmic energy.
That's when I was created. At first, Danny never wanted to turn into me, since I was a ghost…and you hated ghosts. He didn't like the thought of you hating him as well, since he loved you so much. "
Phantom smiled sadly then, looking back up at Maddie.
"We were both afraid for our existence. In one hand, Danny argued that you would love him unconditionally. Ghost, human, or something in between. While on the other hand… You always screamed at us that you would destroy all ghosts, and you wanted to tear them apart." He chuckled to himself, adding "Molecule by molecule"
Maddie was silent, trying to absorb this information. Was he saying that he and…her own son… were the same person?
"Just remember…mom… If you want to take me out of Danny, you are removing a part of him as well. A part of his mind, a part of his emotions and body. He is half dead, half alive with me inside of him. Without me…"
Phantom sighed.
"I suppose he is just half"
The white-haired ghost turned away, a small shimmering tear trailing down his cheek. He walked swiftly out from the room, flying upward through the ceiling and landing in his room.
Maddie heard the bed creak, and set her oven mitts on the counter, jogging up the stairs and into her son's room.
Danny was laying in bed, face wet with tears, black hair casting his sapphire eyes into shadow. He did not acknowledge her presence, and it hurt her a little.
The mother of two sighed, trudging downstairs and taking a seat next to her husband.
She was still not fully aware of the situation, her mind numb from shock. However, as she watched jack snore placidly, a conclusion was formed.
She stepped into the living room, laying down on the couch that phantom…no… her son had slept in.
Jack would wake up to the smell of dinner soon, coaxing her out of the world of dreams.
But for now… she needed rest.
The world could wait for another day.
In his lair, clockwork watched with a small smile on his face, red eyes glowing with appreciation for the boy's unknown tact.
His cape fluttered a bit as he turned around to face another screen, where the boy's new future showed. The old ghost glanced down at one of the many watches adorning his arms, sighing in contentment.
Sunlight danced across the half-ghost's face as he played in the streets with the new youth of that year, his dark hair soaked from the water fight they were having. Blue eyes sparkled with joy as he leapt away from a thick stream of water that was aimed at him by Sam's daughter, smiling playfully when she and her mother tried to gang up on him.
His gift, and his curse. The ability to change the world was in the hands of a boy who would forever remain fourteen.
He knew of the repercussions of his actions, and clung firmly to the status of town hero. Through good times and bad, danger and paradise. Even when the world despised his guts, he would continue to help others.
Because, in the end…
It was worth it.
Reveiw!