Danny popped his head into the entrance to Clockwork’s lair. “Clockwork?” he called out, the sound echoing.
“Daniel, come in.” Clockwork’s voice carried from a hallway near the entrance.
Danny slipped the rest of his body through the door and gently closed it behind him. He bobbed up and down as he floated in the direction that he had heard Clockwork’s voice coming from. He passed through a long hallway into a room that was fairly large for the tower. There were several couches and couch-like objects arranged in a rough semicircle facing a large time viewing screen.
Clockwork was comfortably spread out on what Danny was pretty certain was a chaise lounge. He had his cloak thrown over the back and his tail was waving off the long end. His staff was propped up against a side table that held a large bowl of faintly glowing popcorn. If Danny didn’t know better he’d think this was a weird movie theater.
“How do you like my movie theater?” Clockwork asked with a faint smirk.
“Uh, it’s nice...” Danny answered as he floated over to Clockwork. “What are you watching?”
Clockwork’s smirk grew and he waved his hand at the screen. “Notable moments in time. Care to join me?”
Danny gave a little shrug, “Sure,” he said as he floated directly over Clockwork before cutting out his flight. He dropped the two feet down to his mentor and landed on his chest with a soft thump. Clockwork waited an extra second before saying “Oof,” and striking a dramatic pose. Danny snorted and snuggled into Clockwork’s arms, switching his legs for a tail that immediately curled around Clockwork’s waist.
Once Danny was settled, Clockwork waved his hand and started the screen again. “Allow me to rewind back to the beginning.”
The picture in the screen rapidly reversed like a VHS tape being rewound, speeding up faster and faster with each tick of the pendulum in Clockwork’s chest. A few moments later, the picture suddenly stopped on a few specks floating towards each other in nothingness. After a few seconds of watching the specks drift they finally touched and a tiny corona of light flared around them. They seemed to hang suspended for a moment before they rapidly split apart, each bumping into other specks that appeared on the screen as they grew further apart. A chain reaction of bouncing particles continued to spread and the picture zoomed further away as the distance between reactions grew.
Danny watched entranced as waves and light pulsed out from each of the interactions. Once the cosmic dust had spread enough to be indiscernible, he laid his head down against the glass door in Clockwork’s chest. “That was super cool, but I wasn’t expecting you to show the actual beginning.”
Clockwork ruffled Danny’s hair and said, “It is a very notable moment in time. How about I switch it back to the notable moments that I was watching when you came to visit?”
“Sure.” Danny said, his voice slightly muffled as he was facedown.
A moment later he peeked back up to see himself as a toddler in the bathtub. Toddler Danny was shooting a rocket ship through the air and making ‘whoosh’ noises. He had bubble foam up to his chin and coating his hair. “Clockwork!” Danny complained and thumped his head back down. Clockwork chuckled and patted Danny’s hair. He ignored the halfhearted glare as the screen switched to little Danny leading a young Tucker around a playground. Both little boys were wearing matching outfits.
The next scene that caught Danny’s attention was the basement lab at Fentonworks. It was right after his accident with the portal. The Danny on the screen floated out of the portal and slowly fell to his knees. Tucker and Sam ran towards him as the scene changed again.
Danny falling through his bed and floor into the kitchen in his sleep.
-
Danny falling out of bed and floating instead of hitting the floor.
-
Danny’s foot sinking through the floor while walking in the school cafeteria, causing him to fling the contents of his lunch tray over Sam and Tucker.
-
Danny pouting stuck halfway into the floor at school until his friends pulled him out.
“You know if you get stuck figuring out your powers and are unsure of them, you can always come to me for advice.” Clockwork said while prodding Danny’s side with his finger. Danny yelped and jerked to the side as the finger hit a ticklish spot. He let out an involuntary giggle when his opposite side was poked. Clockwork continued alternating tickling his sides until Danny was laughing and squirming, grumpiness forgotten.
“Yeah I know.” Danny answered with a smile when he was finally allowed to catch his breath. He settled down and cuddled back up to his guardian. “It is kind’ve unfair that you basically have infinite embarrassing home movies.”
“I never pretended to play fair Danny.”
Danny hummed and turned his attention back to the screen, “Do you have something else we can watch aside from me?”
“Of course,” Clockwork replied, “How about funny moments and fails throughout history?”
“That sounds good.” Danny said.
Clockwork waved his free hand, the other one currently holding Danny, and the screen changed to show a young George Washington falling backwards off his pony and landing in the mud. The future president then stumbled over a root when he tried to get up. Windmilling his arms wildly, he tried to regain balance before falling face first back into the mud, his long coat to falling over his head and exposing a pair of frilly bloomers.
Danny giggled again, “George Washington wore bloomers?” he asked.
Clockwork smirked up at him, “It was more common back then than you would think.”
A little while later Clockwork was tucking Danny into a soft bed draped with the night sky.
He would be able to have peaceful and restful sleep; he had all the time that he needed.
Danny lay in his sleeping bag listening to the snores of his family from the nearby tents. At nine years old, he was finally old enough to have his own tent. He drew his cold feet up further in an attempt to warm them. He hadn’t planned on having an adventure tonight. He had only left his tent because he had needed to go to the bathroom. The night sky out here was nothing like in the city. He clutched the watch in his hand before uncurling his fingers to examine it again. The starlight shone through the gap in the opening of his tent and made the watch face shimmer. The face reflected bright blue and there were faint green swirls that almost looked like they were moving. He rubbed his thumb over the engraved initials on the back. C.W.
Danny tilted his head back as he considered what they could mean. He had called himself Chrono, and he watched over Danny. Chrono means time; Danny had looked that up the last time Jazz took him to the library. Maybe the “W” stands for Watcher. The Time Watcher. Now that’s a cool name. He looked back out at the sliver of visible sky. The stars were what got him into trouble this time. He thought back to his unplanned adventure just a short while ago.
-
Danny woke up to an urgent need. He crawled out of his sleeping bag and unzipped his tent. The grass and dirt felt nice between his toes as he stumbled to the edge of the clearing. He scratched his side as decided he wasn’t far enough away from the tents to relieve himself yet. He didn’t want Jazz complaining or Mom scolding him. The thought of waking anyone else up barely crossed his mind, he just had to pee, and he didn’t need someone to hold his hand for that.
Danny shuffled over to a cluster of bushes and did what he came for. With his business taken care of, he started walking back to the camp before pausing to look up at the sky. There were so many stars! He looked around for another clearing where he could see the sky better. There were so many trees blocking the stars from his view. He trotted over to a larger gap between the trees and sat down as he gazed at the stars. He could even see the colors in space!
“Someday I’m gonna be an astronaut and I’m gonna visit you.” He told the moon.
Danny wasn’t sure how much time passed before he was startled out of his peaceful reverie. A high-pitched screaming sound made him jump to his feet. He looked around wildly before sprinting back in the direction he remembered the camp being. He passed several small clearings and many trees before he slowed to a stop. Nothing was chasing him and he couldn’t see his family’s camp. He turned on his heel and tried to spot any familiar landmarks. Nothing. He didn’t recognized a single tree, shrub, or rock.
Danny heaved the heaviest of sighs and leaned against a nearby tree. Now what was he going to do? He rubbed his bare arms to warm them up. It was colder than he remembered when he left his tent. He didn’t want to try to keep walking in a random direction when he was already lost, he might end up even farther away from where he was supposed to be.
He pulled out the watch that Chrono had given him when he was little and rubbed his fingers over the engraving. ‘Now would be a really good time for him to show up and save me again.’ Danny thought. He didn’t really expect to be saved this time though, they were several hours drive away from home and he had never seen the man outside of Amity Park.
‘I could try yelling for someone to come find me. I don’t know if I’m close enough for them to hear me and I don’t want to get in trouble for wandering off.’ He tried to brainstorm a way back. ‘I don’t know if what made that noise was a normal animal or some kind of monster either.’
Danny hugged himself where he was leaned against the tree, the night sky might be pretty, but he really wanted to go back to his tent now. “Hello? Is anyone out here?” he called softly into the dark. He felt something crawling on his arm and jumped away from the tree, smacking at his arm in the hopes that whatever bug had touched him would be knocked off. He couldn’t help the small whimper of distress that escaped him. Being lost in the woods at night was scary.
He was just starting to consider yelling for his parents or Jazz to come find him, if they could even hear with how loud his dad snores, when he heard a quiet rustling sound and froze in place.
“Hello?” he whispered, not sure if he wanted an answer or not.
Suddenly, a figure walked around a large tree near him. The person was carrying a long staff with a clock on the top and the clock was glowing very brightly. The watch that Danny was clutching also started glowing.
It took a moment for Danny’s eyes to adjust to the light, but when they did, he recognized the purple cloak and white hair right away. “Chrono!”
“Hello, child,” he replied, “You seem to be lost.”
Danny dashed over and squeezed his savior’s middle in a hug. “I’m so glad to see you. I didn’t think you would be able to help me this time since I’m not near home.”
Chrono laid his hand on Danny’s shoulder and said, “Child, I will always come for you when you need me, no matter when or where.”
Danny looked up at the man as Chrono lifted him off the cold ground and tucked him into the purple cloak. “Are you my guardian angel?” he asked.
His rescuer just smirked slightly and said, “I wouldn’t call myself an angel, but I am and will always be your guardian.”
Danny tucked himself under Chrono’s chin as he was carried back to the familiar sight of his family’s camp. The faint ticking sound that always came from him was reassuring to Danny. When they had reached the edge of the clearing that held the tents, Danny turned to snuggle further into Chrono’s arms. He hardly ever got to see him and he felt so safe when his guardian held him.
“Why do you watch over me anyways? I’m just Danny, not anybody special.” He asked with his face pressed to the man’s chest.
Chrono lifted one hand from where it was supporting Danny’s weight to turn his face and meet his eyes, “Child, you are so special. Even if you are ‘just Danny’ for now, you are important to me. Why wouldn’t I want to help you and care for you?”
Danny tried to hide his face again but couldn’t with the hand holding him in place. “I don’t feel very special most of the time.” He admitted. “I’m not very good at math or reading and I don’t listen very good when I’m told to do things.”
“Oh Daniel.” Chrono murmured as he gently wiped away a tear that Danny hadn’t realized he’d shed. “You’re going to be amazing. Someday you will save the world and you’ll see how much you mean to so many people. These things that you are worried about may seem big right now, but you will overcome them in your own time.
Danny sniffled a little and hugged Chrono as tight as he could, “Do you really mean it? Promise?” He asked. His voice muffled once more against his guardian’s chest.
“Promise.” Chrono replied as he held the child close.
They stayed like that for an unknown amount of time before Danny relaxed his hold slightly to shift position. He looked up at Chrono’s eyes, fascinated by the slight red glow they gave off and gently traced the lightning bolt scar that crossed the left. Chrono closed his eyes and let the child feel the mark.
“Where did you get this scar?” Danny asked.
Chrono opened his eyes again to look at him, “I gained it as a punishment for another’s crimes. Maybe someday I will tell you the story.” He said.
“I’d like to hear it and all of your other stories someday.” Danny replied. His eyes were starting to droop as the excitement from his adventure began to wear off.
“I’ll make sure to tell you when I’m able. Now, however, it is time that you get back to sleep.” Chrono strode forward until he was only a few feet from the open tent Danny had left so long ago.
“Don’t want to go back to sleep, I want to stay with you longer.” Danny pouted as he was set down upon his feet.
Chrono ruffled the boy’s hair, gaining a sleepy scowl, and said, “We will meet again soon, but for now, back to bed. Go on, I’ll be watching.” He smirked slightly at the end of the phrase. Danny couldn’t help a grin himself, his guardian had said that every time they had met when it was time for goodbye.
Danny gave him one last hug, whispering, “Love you,” before shuffling back into his tent and zipping the opening most of the way closed. Once he was settled in his sleeping bag he watched through the gap as Chrono smiled back at him and quietly said, “I love you as well, little one.”
The man then turned and walked a few steps further from the tents. He swept his staff in a large crescent shape and a swirling blue light enveloped him. When Danny blinked the spots away, he was gone.
Now Danny had been lying, still awake in his tent, for several minutes as he wondered at the night’s adventure. He stroked the engraving once more, no matter how long he held it, the metal never got too warm. The watch wasn’t glowing anymore, but it still felt good to hold it in his hands. A tangible proof that he wasn’t alone. That someone was watching over him, someone who had some sort of magic powers. Danny wasn’t sure if he could really save the world someday, or even do his chores when he was supposed to, but stranger things had happened.
