A/N: So this entire thing is inspired by the third challenge posed by VampireFrootLoopsRule, in which one writes a song-fic(s) to every song they know to one's favorite artists/bands. I have plenty of favorites, so I decided to use one of the hardest I could use for this challenge, just to make it that much more difficult for myself. And, since I love Alternate Universes so much, this is set in one of those.

Band: Chameleon Circuit

Genre: Time Lord Rock a.k.a. Trock

Reason: Because I love Doctor Who, they're songs are very Whovian and I felt like attempting to meld the two fandoms together without involving a crossover narrative-wise.

Song Omissions and Reasons: "Journey's End" (from the CD "Chameleon Circuit") and "Big Bang Two" (from the CD "Still Got Legs") because both recap the season finales of the 4th and 5th New-Who seasons respectively and are difficult to adapt in a pleasing manner.

Song lyrics centered and in italics. Names of the songs are given as chapter titles.

Rated T for language, character death, violence

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Danny Phantom. I do not own the rights to the music of Chameleon Circuit. I do not own the rights to Doctor Who, from which the songs were inspired. Whew, now that's out of the way…Enjoy!

Carry the Fire

By MidnightResWri

Act 1: He is Like Fire

Scene 1: Gallifreyan History 101

"Alright class, I'm the Professor

I'm gonna begin the lecture today

Now, just so that we're all clear

This is Gallifreyan History 101

In his tower, the Master of Time watched a specific point in time. A fixed point, he knew. One that must happen for every timeline to remain stable. He invited the visiting Observants to watch.

Fixed points were rare events, after all. And they needed to see this happen.

He had always known it would happen. Had already seen it happen in all the variations that could occur. Yet, this was not simply viewing the future event. The time streams of the universe had finally caught up to this anchoring moment. The Observants had chosen an opportune time to try to worm some sort of leash around his neck. And he knew, as did they, that they needed more than a petty problem to move the Master of Time to their whim.

So please make sure you're in the right class

There's always one isn't there

Right for the rest of us we've got a lot to cover

So let's get started"

The boy in the viewing globe walked down the stairs into his parent's basement. His only two friends followed after him, nearly bouncing down the steps. The black haired girl would later deny having felt such clear joy when the trio spoke of the event later in life. The African American boy shoved his glasses back up his nose with a finger while gushing over his fantasies of the technology he'd be able to see. It was the boy's first time showing anyone the lab, though it was still incomplete.

At first we were just Gallifreyans and that was fine

Just taking up space and biding our time

His parents were up in their room, going over calculations and their blueprints. They had their essays, research, and calculations that took years to solve spread on their bed. The woman in her blue hazmat suit chewed the end of a pencil as she studied five different documents at the same time, scratching out notes on a notepad in her lap. Her husband in orange sulked over the design of their invention that cost millions of government money. He reached for pages covered in math. He couldn't discover the location of the design flaw.

Their focus on their work would leave the three young teens alone in the basement.

Until Rassilon came along

With his ever present sense of right and wrong

"So…this is the lab," said the boy, Daniel 'Danny' Fenton, age fourteen. Human. He shrugged his shoulders as he glanced around the place. He saw the half-finished inventions his parents spent most of his childhood working on. He didn't have a memory of his parents that didn't have one of them tinkering with something or working on a design.

"Wow," said the girl, Samantha 'Sam' Manson, age fourteen. Human. "It's amazing down here." She walked over to one of counters filled with the inventions. She picked up a cylindrical shaped object, careful to avoid the sharper edges of the incomplete invention.

"That's the understatement of the century," said the other boy, Tucker Foley, age fourteen. Human. He rushed to one of the few finished inventions carefully placed on a shelving unit in the back of the lab. "This place is a gold mine for technology." He examined what he could see of the gun he held in his hands. "This stuff is so far ahead of the rest of the world!"

Danny rubbed the back of his head and turned his attention to the large impression into the wall. His parents had shown it to him three weeks before. Wires had hung from the ceiling and paneling still had to be bolted into place. Now, it looked like everything was ready.

He was there when they tried to turn it on, only to have something fail along the way. Danny didn't know what happened. The physics and theories were too grand for him to grasp. "You guys wanted to see the portal," he muttered, his eyes fixed on the thick metal rim.

"Aren't you curious?" asked Sam, lowering the cylinder to the table. Her violet eyes trailed over to the prized invention as well. "I mean, to see a completely different world."

Tucker had abandoned his focus on the ectogun and embraced the outermost parts of the portal. He had the look of being in love with the very machinery. He stroked the metal frame with one hand, whispering his declarations of admiration. "Beautiful working of metal," he cooed. "What wonders would you have created."

Danny chuckled at his friend's behavior. "Come on, Tuck. It's not gonna marry you, you know."

"Oh hey," Sam's voice cut off whatever Tucker's response would have been, "I found a camera. And it's not even messed with."

She held up the camera, blowing off some dust. It was an old Polaroid. A smile lit her features when she looked between Danny and the failed portal. He tilted his head, trying to understand what she was trying to tell him.

He was strong, he was mighty

He was the founder of Time Lord Society

He was never an observant boy, mused Clockwork from his vantage point. An Observant narrowed its eye. "Must this occur?" It asked in a deep bass of a voice. It sounded pompous even with the tone used. It grated on his nerves, but the Master of Time held his irritation in check.

"You know this is a fixed point," he answered, his form shifting into that of a child. "This must always happen in every reality where the Fenton line exists."

"This child will not have an easy life," said the other Observant. A prideful tenor for a voice.

"Neither did—does—Vladimir Masters," Clockwork mentioned, fiddling with his time staff. As an afterthought, he raised a finger to his finger to his lips, "Now please be quiet while you watch. You might learn something."

Now this is the subject that everybody finds the hardest

But you're gonna have to pass it if you want to earn your TARDIS

Nobody's graduating from this academy

Until you've all mastered Gallifreyan History (Gallifreyan History)

Sam laughed. "Come on, clueless," she opened the camera to see if there was any film. Her smile widened. "This camera has film in it. Let's get a picture to remember this day by."

Danny shook his head. He hated getting his picture taken. Ever since his parents had told him that pictures were once thought to steal a piece of one's soul—and with their obsession with ghosts, he had taken their words seriously—Danny tried to weasel out of every picture. He didn't believe in that now, but the habit was hard to kill. "No way, Sam."

He backed away from her when she stepped forward, raising the camera to her face. She mimed taking a picture, getting the expected reaction. Danny threw his arms over his face. He tripped on his own foot and fell onto a box. The cardboard top folded in under his weight and he could practically feel the protective spandex beneath his jeans. Danny struggled to get out of the box.

His friends had taken pity on him, having been foiled by something so simple as cardboard. They each took hold of an arm and pulled him out. "Thanks," said Danny, now rubbing his neck from embarrassment.

Now Rassilon had a buddy called Omega

His interstellar science would amaze ya

He found our source of power

And devised a cunning plan in under an hour

His friends peered inside the box. The boy dug inside it for a little while before pulling out a white and black suit. It looked like it would fit Danny like a glove. Sam and Tucker shared a knowing glance, twin smirks planted on their faces.

Tucker wrapped an arm around his shoulders. He held up the suit to eye level. He didn't miss the look of disgust on his best friend's face. "It'll be fun, man," said Tucker. "You can even get dressed up in this spare hazmat suits."

The black-haired boy recoiled under his friend's arm at the mention of those hazmat suits. His father had showed them to both him and Jazz long before the portal had been under construction. They had been sized for their expected sizes when they would be old enough to be lab assistants. Danny hated the one pointed out for him. Having his father's face on it didn't help him warm up to it either. "Are you serious?" His eyes narrowed and he ducked fully away from his friend. "There's no way I'm going to get my picture taken in that thing."

Sam shook her head and laughed. "It's just one picture. We won't show anyone. Promise." She glanced at Tucker, who nodded eagerly in agreement. This would be their little joke for the future.

Danny looked at both of his friends, suspicion clear on his face. But he knew they wouldn't budge on something like this. He lowered his head, snatched the hazmat suit from Tucker, and muttered that he would do it. He didn't have to look at them to know that they were doing their individual victory dances. He did hear their triumphant high-five as he started climbing into the suit. He had sworn he'd never get into it. If only because his parents thought he'd follow their family business.

He was temporarily blinded by a flash from the Polaroid camera. He hadn't even gotten both legs in the stupid suit. "I thought it was just going be one photo," he growled, rubbing the spots out of his blue eyes.

"We'll take a few," Sam snickered. "Then we'll choose the best one for the scrapbook."

Danny pulled his arm through the sleeve and looked at his friends. "There's a scrapbook?"

The Goth shrugged. "Well, yeah." Then her eyes narrowed and she raised her fist at the two boys. "You tell anyone I scrapbook, I'll feed you to a bunch of hungry pigs."

Tucker swallowed at the thought of being eaten by bacon. Danny shivered at the thought of never being found again. She looked satisfied that her secret was safe. The friends watched Danny finish getting his suit on. He zipped it up revealing Jack Fenton's smiling face. He saw Tucker cringe and Sam made an open sound of disgust. At least they shared the same opinions of how the thing looked.

Danny tugged at the spandex. "Can we just get this done with?"

It went sour, he was erased

But at least now we could travel through time and space

Sam walked over to him, examining Jack's face on his chest. A small smile curled on her lips when she peeled the sticker away. "There," she said, "that's much better. Now, go over to the portal's entrance. Tucker and I will take turns taking a photo. Since I took my first one," she handed Tucker the camera, "it's his turn."

Danny sighed and walked over to the portal's entrance. He wondered if he should strike some sort of pose. From the way Sam was standing, he took that as a hint. No one could say he was completely clueless. Sometimes he got the hint. So Danny placed a fist at his waist and raised his other hand with an offhand flourish. He copied an expression he'd seen on his parents all too often when they talked about their inventions. It took every ounce of his concentration to keep his face still while he heard Sam and Tucker snicker. Then the flash of light. Temporary blindness. And Danny relaxed.

"Okay," he said, "the next is the last one. I'll take that camera from you by force if I have you." He crossed his arms, partly as a way to make sure he was still whole, partly to try and appear authoritative.

"Buzz kill," Tucker grumbled, passing the camera over to Sam.

Danny threw his best friend a glare and shrugged. "Whatever. I just wanna get this over with."

He started to pose again, like some sort of mad scientist. Danny thought he might as try to have fun with the last picture. But Sam stopped him. "Wait a minute," she pointed to the interior of the portal. "Get inside it."

"Why?" Danny looked between the girl and the interior of the portal. He felt a ball of nerves bunch in his stomach.

"Pretend you're working on the finishing touches," said Sam.

Now if there's a subject that's impossible it's this

In comparison, the Untempered Schism's a piece of piss

But nobody's graduating from this academy

Until you've all mastered Gallifreyan History

(Gallifreyan History)

The Master of Time felt the seconds tick down to the exact second that the fixed point began. Every surface of his lair used for viewing points in time became locked on this one moment. Every angle in that room one could possibly imagine could be seen. He spied one of the Observants watching the scene from the vantage point of within the portal itself. The other annoyance had taken to looking from one viewing portal to the next. "Clockwork, this is amazing," the tenor exclaimed.

"Hm, it's not so special," the ghost shifted into his oldest form, his beard nearly longer than his wiry ghostly tail. "If I wanted, I could watch every point in time this way."

"Is this your doing then, Clockwork?" The bass rumbled. His eyes were still fixed on the scene playing out before him. He watched the fated child put the suit on over his clothing from behind. He heard the conversation with a hollow echo behind each word. He saw the picture taken from his awkward angle. The Observant mused, then, that it was also the best angle for witnessing this moment in time.

"It is not," the Master of Time rose from the floor, aging back down to his adult form. His eyes glanced upon a close up of Danny's expression as the camera flashed. "My viewing portals are temporally sensitive." He smiled as his eyes traveled to another port, showing the three together on the same frame. It was one of his smaller surfaces. But that was just fine. Everything was fine. "Especially to those rare fixed points. They key in on those moments, watching them at once."

The Observants glanced at each other. The tenor said in a quiet voice he thought Clockwork could not hear, "We could use his power. We would be able to see more of these…fixed events and make them work in the favor of the High Council."

"Indeed," said his partner, "it would greatly increase our own authority."

They had forgotten that Clockwork did not need to hear their voices. He already knew what they wanted. Had known what they would say before they said it. He shook his head at their stupidity. His red eyes turned to a larger viewing port, watching the event finally unfold.

Ahh, let's go!

Danny stepped into the portal. There was no light on the inside. His parents didn't see the need of one. It was supposed to work when they plugged it in. No light necessary. He felt his way along with a hand on the smooth metal paneling. He could hear his own breathing echoing off the walls. Adrenaline started pumping through his system as his brain processed just what it was he was doing.

He was walking into the portal his parents spent years slaving over. He was standing in their most prized work. He was touching the interior of the portal that should have opened a door to the world of the dead.

Danny didn't see the stray cable until it was too late. His hand hit something protruding from the wall as he fell to the ground. There was a cry of shock from his friends. The standard question might have been asked. He crawled to his knees and shook his head. He heard something whirring around him. A pin prick of light formed at the very end of the small shaft.

Danny stared at the light as he picked himself up. The light grew in intensity and eventually became large enough to fill the space of the portal. He could hear them calling to him—just barely—over the whine of something powering up. He turned around to tell them they would need to speak louder. The minute he did, the light flooded around him, filling his vision with brilliant white. Danny gasped and tried to find the walls of the portal to find his way out. He had the feeling that he needed to get out.

From behind him, Danny was caught in a blast of pure ectoplasm. A breach between realms ripped open, catching the unfortunate teen in its explosive birth. His scream echoed through the lab. His friends called out to him, but he could not hear them. Danny grabbed his head as he felt his heart stop. A small voice in his head told him he was dead, but he couldn't be. He could still feel the pain. There was no way he could be dead.

He felt freezing cold. A cold that carried the feeling of dread and death worm its way into his body, staying with him. Danny's scream ended prematurely as his tried to breathe against that cold. He couldn't draw in any air to his lungs. Maybe he was dead.

Eventually, the blinding light subsided. Danny, while still conscious, stumbled out of the now open portal. His friends gasped when they saw him. Had he a mirror, he would have shared their reaction. Instead, he gave them a wry smile, trying to show them that he was fine. His ears were still ringing from his own scream and the whine of the machine turning on. He saw their mouths move in speech, but he couldn't hear them.

Sam touched his shoulder, but he didn't feel it. She gasped and pulled her hand to her chest. Tucker took an involuntary step away from him. Danny's smiled dropped and he looked between the two of them. What had gotten into them?

Their friend looked inverted. Black hair turned snow white. Baby blue eyes became neon green. The suit had even become inverted. He gave off the feeling of death and decay. Both teens wondered if their friend had died inside that contraption and they were only seeing his shade.

Danny took a step forward, stumbled and fell to his knees. His vision wavered and he closed his eyes. A bright light, not unlike the one he had seen inside the portal, passed over his eyes. He felt warm, even when he fell to the cold lab floor. The boy lost consciousness.

So now we're all Time Lords and that's just fine

We're traveling through space, bouncing through time

The scream had pulled his parents out of their stupor with their calculations. They paused in their work as their tired minds processed what that horrible sound was. Maddie was the first to react, her motherly instincts kicking into gear. She pulled her overweight husband to his feet and pulled him out of their room. That sounded like her son. Her baby boy was in trouble.

The woman flew down the stairs. Her husband lumbered after her, but she wouldn't wait for him. She had to get to her boy.

She threw open the door to the lab, descending into the basement. She shivered near the bottom, but pushed that aside as she noted Sam and Tucker kneeling over her son's unconscious form. A green light washed over the three of them. Something told her that was an important detail, but she pushed that aside for the concern for her son. "Danny," she whispered.

Sam and Tucker turned at the sound of her voice. They looked like they wanted to say something, but they looked too terrified to form anything coherent. They moved away from their friend enough for the woman to rush to her son. The woman knelt down at her son's side. A trembling hand reached for his neck, to find a pulse. An audible sigh escaped her when she felt a slow, but steady, heartbeat. "Jack," she said. "Jack!"

The man finally entered the basement. His eyes landed on the working Ghost Portal. "It's working," he said, excitement bubbling inside him. "It's working Maddie-cakes!"

"Jack, it's Danny," she told him. The man snapped from his joy and went to his wife. She looked worried for her son, but didn't to move him. She was afraid Danny would die if she did.

The man's face fell when he saw the shape his boy was in. He looked like he'd been electrocuted, burned, and battered by some cruel force of nature. His words stayed locked in his head for once. Jack turned to the remaining teens, piecing together a question. "Kids," his voice lost the joviality it usually held, "what happened?"

"We w-were just m-messing around," said Tucker, messing with his glasses. He looked to Sam, hoping she would be strong enough to answer the parents.

"Dan-Danny was showing us the lab," began Sam, not meeting the eyes of either parent. She hugged her arms to her chest. "We just wanted a few pictures for later. I-it was my idea that he go in the portal. It was gonna be the last picture. Pretend he was working on the portal."

"Oh no." Maddie threw away what self control she had and rocked her son in her arms, running her fingers through his hair. She had already pieced together what happened after her son entered the portal. Tears formed in her eyes. "Jack, call an ambulance."

But we've made it clear not to interfere

And that's a rule to which we all must adhere

But I fear that the Doc

Is about causing havoc in his big blue box

Now that takes us up to date and everything's just gravy

I only hope it doesn't get messed up by Russell T Davies

Nobody's graduating from this academy

Until you've all mastered Gallifreyan

Until you can say you're Gallifreyan

Until you know all about Gallifreyan History

Clockwork turned his attention away from the viewing ports. Most of them were already drifting to other times and places. Other planets. Other timelines. He had watched what he always knew would happen. Now the time stream returned to its ever flowing, ever flexible state.

Until the next fixed point came along.

It would be another thousand years before an event like this happened again somewhere in the vast expanse of the universe. He casually aged himself down to the same age as the boy who nearly died completely. The boy would become integral towards shaping the planet's history.

He saw every possible reality. Realities in which he fell into the darkness and the lure of abusing his new power. Ones in which he remained steadfast in the light and incorruptible. Ones in which he fell into the spaces between, dancing in the gray areas. Ones where every choice was his. Ones where he was used as nothing more than an object.

Yes, Clockwork mused as he rubbed his chin, the boy had so much potential. The paths of time branched off from this moment. He had the whole of time at his feet. Very few individuals had that amount of power.

The Observants were back together, quietly discussing what they witnessed. He knew they would watch this boy. They knew what he was.

Daniel Fenton would need allies. The Master of Time knew he would meet the young boy soon. He would become a friend in the mind of the teen.

He gave the Observants a glance and let out a breath. "The show is over," he pointed to the door. "Your purpose here has been fulfilled." The two green ghosts bristled in anger at the superior way Clockwork spoke to them. "Until the next time."

"Right same time next week"

The two ghosts left his tower and Clockwork went to the one viewing portal still lingering on the scene. He smirked as he watched the boy on a stretcher being carried up the laboratory stairs. His parents' worried expressions and mutterings. His friends looking guilty and frightened at the same time. This was going to be a new experience for all of them. But especially for Daniel "Danny" Fenton, age fourteen. Human-ghost Hybrid.

And everything was just as it should be.

A/N: I know, we started with the accident that started it all. But as Clockwork said, it's a fixed point. It must always happen. Okay, so I'm totally bringing in some Doctor Who-ish views on how time works. It totally works for this, I think.

I also apologize for the use of a pretty-obscure-outside-of-the-fandom-and-especially-obscure-to-those-outside-the-UK choice in music. You'll just have to go to youtube and listen to their songs if you don't know them. And that's a shame (not). Even if you don't like Doctor Who or have never watched it, the songs are still very entertaining.

If you enjoyed it, or even if you didn't, I'd love to have some feedback.