Chapter Text
Never to suffer would never to have been blessed.” – Edgar Allan Poe
Danny couldn’t stop the future. That much was true. Despite not cheating on his CAT and doing every single thing by the book to make sure that this future was not a reality, it had happened anyway. The nasty burger had blown up. His parents, Jazz, Sam, Tucker, they were all in the building when it happened. They had all made sure to be there for him . To celebrate him. And now here he was, staring at the remains of the Nasty Burger, backpack slumped to the ground at his feet, mouth agape as he stared at the carnage before him. It had not been an explosion from the Nasty Burger itself that had taken out his loved ones. It had been the Ghost Investigation Ward. They had come to the stupid fast food restaurant in search of him . It was also him. It was also Danny that seemed to ruin every good thing that had ever happened to him.
He had asked all of them to meet him at the Nasty Burger. He had come up with the perfect way of coming out to his parents. Not just his sexuality but also to come out to them as a halfa. It was perfect. It was in a public space so his parents were, hopefully, less likely to freak out just as much and they wouldn’t have nearly as many weapons on them. Not only that but he would have his friends and sister there as moral support. It had been a perfect plan, but it seemed to be all for nothing as he watched the remains of the building burn.
Nothing was ever going to be the same. Everyone was gone.
“There he is! There’s the boy!” A guy in white shouted, pointing his gun at Danny. The halfa scooped up his bag quickly before he bolted, just narrowly getting his with the gun. Danny swiftly changed forms, white rings encapsulating his body for just a moment, one step he was human, the next step he was a ghost. Intangible and invisible as shots fired at his back as he raced to his house, taking to the air quickly. Upon arrival, it was there that Danny realized that this location would be compromised too. The portal would be unguarded and Danny could not give these fuckers access to the zone. The fifteen year old raced through the house grabbing things he deemed important and shoving them into his backpack after dumping out the original contents. He grabbed pictures of his family and friends, grabbed a few mementos and raced to the lab. From there he downloaded every piece of information as fast as he could. Once everything was securely downloaded, Danny wiped everything before sending an ectoblast at each and every invention. Just as he heard the front door upstairs slam open, Danny was already in the portal with it set to self-destruct as soon as the portal doors closed.
Danny barreled through the portal before being met with the soft, comforting feel of ectoplasm wrapping around his body like a comforting blanket. Everything had happened so fast, it felt as though he had barely even blinked and life as he knew it was over.
For the first time in his life, Danny Fenton was alone.
Shaking the thought from his head, the halfa flew, no clear destination in mind. SAFE/SCARED/ALONE ran through his mind as he let the ectoplasm steer him wherever it thought he needed to go. Danny didn’t know what to do from here. He definitely was not going to go to Vlad of all fucking people. That was a surefire way of Dan becoming his reality and he couldn’t do that. As angry and sad as he was right now, he would rather feel this pain and hurt than ever in a million years risk becoming Dan.
Before the young ghost knew it, he had found himself in Clockwork’s lair. Of course this was where his body and the ectoplasm took him. If anyone knew what Danny needed to do, it was Clockwork. The ghost knew practically everything, surely he could help Danny now.
Clockwork was standing in the front of his tower when Danny had arrived, almost as if he had been waiting for the young halfa. Danny would not be surprised if he had. The ghost king all but fell into the old man’s arms, a broken sob cracking from his throat at impact.
“There, there,” the ghost murmured, running his hand along white wispy hair. “I am so sorry Daniel. I never thought that this timeline would happen. It was a one in a million chance,” he said softly as Danny cried into his chest.
“Wh-what do I do now? I don’t want to turn into Dan, I can’t,” he sniffed, pulling away and wiping away the ectoplasm that fell from his eyes. Clockwork slowly shifted into his young adult body and held Danny’s face in his hands.
“This is a different timeline, Daniel. You will not turn into Dan. The fact that you came here rather than to Plasmius should tell you that much. What we can do from here is continue onward. You have a home in the infinite realms, Daniel. You have a kingdom of ghosts who care about you and want to see their king doing well.”
Danny nodded and pulled away from the ancient altogether. “You’re right. You’re right. This is my home now, Clockwork,” he said, trying to muster up the strength that he really did not have within him. “And if this is my home, I think it’s time I become the best Ghost King that I can be.”
Clockwork gave him a sad smile. “It is your choice, Daniel. We can always find you a new home within the human realms,” he offered. Danny shook his head no. No, that would not cut it. Danny was done. He was done with humans entirely. No matter how hard he had tried to be a hero, how hard he tried to help people it only turned out in loss. Everyone he cared about was gone, save for Dani but she was ancients only knows where living her best life. He couldn’t burden her with his grief, she was only a child, she didn’t need that on her plate. Not when she already dealt with so much trauma of her own.
“No. I’m done with the human realm. I don’t think that I will be going back,” he said quietly, feeling a resolve growing within him. This was it. This was going to be his life–or well, afterlife now and he would do everything he can to make it better.