The second time it happened, Danny wasn't any more prepared, but at least he was alone in his room getting ready for bed when his hand began to slide in and out of existence before his eyes, sometimes bigger, sometimes smaller, sometimes ghost-toned, sometimes skeletal.
He only had a moment to panic before he was sliding-stretching-squeezing through existence again. The current spat him out into a desert, the air thick with smoke and the smell of destruction. Danny's first instinct was to get away from the fire he could feel blazing behind him, but then he heard.
A heart-shattering howl of grief cut through the smoky air. Danny whirled around and saw them; the man with the strange black mask, now whole and clearly a pointy eared cowl, cradling a battered, bloody and brightly dressed body. Danny gasped as he realized he could feel the boy's death in the very air; could taste his last moments of terror and shattered hope at the back of his throat.
The man's head shot up at the sound of his gasp and familiar blue eyes widened.
"Danny," the man croaked (how did he know his name?), voiced wrecked by the force of his grief, "is...is he...?"
"He's gone," Danny confirmed gently, guessing at the question the man couldn't bear to voice. Fresh tears spilled down the man's face and Danny felt his own eyes welling up in sympathy, grieving with this man for a boy he didn't know.
"Find him," the man begged, "please, please find him on the other side. Make sure he's...make sure he finds peace. Make sure he knows that I..." the man choked on fresh tears. Danny knelt at his side and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"I...I don't know if I can, but I'll try," he promised, "if I can find him, I'll make sure he knows he's missed. That he's lo-"
Forlorn, devastated eyes met his as Danny was pulled unceremoniously back to his bedroom.
He stared up at the ceiling, the plastic, glow-in-the-dark constellations bringing little comfort as he silently wept, his heart aching for the poor man he'd once again left behind. Dust and smoke still clung to his pajamas, the only solid evidence that anything strange had happened. He hadn't even had a chance to ask his name, or that of the ghost he'd vowed to search for.
Danny turned over and screamed into his pillow, letting out all of the frustration and sorrow tangled up inside him. Once he'd let out all that he could and his tears had dried, he stumbled to his feet, heedless of the late hour.
If he was going to have any chance of finding that kid's ghost, he needed answers.
It was time to go and see Clockwork.