Danny Phantom hovered in front of his mentor, grinning like he’d just won the lottery. Clockwork raised an eyebrow, the red glow of his eyes dimming slightly. "If you say so, Daniel."
"Yes! Try taking your human form, and I’ll show you the human world!" Danny’s excitement was palpable. "So much must have changed since the last time you saw it!"
Clockwork considered if Daniel ever does listen to him. He had observed humanity through his portals—wars, empires, the rise and fall of civilizations. He had seen it all. There was no need to walk among them again.
But Danny wanted to share it with him.
That was new… the boy again forgot.
Clockwork had spent millennia detached from the world, content to watch from the safety of his tower.
The last time he had taken a physical form outside of the Tower, humans had barely discovered fire that Prometheus gave them.
Now, they had skyscrapers, computers, and something called "the internet." Danny had tried to talk all about it at once.
"You’ve never left this tower, have you?" Danny pressed. "Not since you became a ghost. You’re missing out!"
Clockwork sighed. "I see all, Daniel. Time is my domain. I do not ‘miss out.’ I see all of it, at once."
"Yeah, but it’s not the same as experiencing it!" Danny floated closer, his neon green eyes bright. "Please? Just for a little while?"
Clockwork hesitated. The boy was persistent. And, if he were honest, there was a part of him—buried deep beneath the gears and the endless ticking of time—that wondered what it would be like to walk the earth again.
Not the time, he was Kronos.
Not as a king of the Titans, Lord of the Golden Age.
Just as… something else. As Clockwork.
Clockwork’s mind drifted back to a conversation he’d had long ago, when he was still Kronos. His brother Hyperion had come to him, concern etched into his features.
"What is going on?" Hyperion had demanded. No greeting or small talk, just a demand from his King.
Kronos had looked up from his time experiments, his fingers still glowing with temporal energy as he saw what he could change and adapt. "I am unsure what you mean, brother."
"You’ve changed," Hyperion said, stepping closer. "And not for the better. You’re distant. Cold. You don’t care about the Golden Age, about Rhea, about your children. You don’t even care about your own damn kingdom!"
Kronos-Clockwork had feigned confusion. "I do not have my temper anymore for you to fear?"
Hyperion’s gaze sharpened. He remembers the old Kronos temper that the Siblings feared so much they ran away from as he became the King.
He had seen the flickers—the way Kronos’ skin turned blue for a moment, the way his golden eyes flashed red. He had felt the way time itself seemed to warp around his brother. "Whatever you’re doing with time, it’s not doing your body good. It looks like you’re ripping yourself apart. Are you even still a Titan? Or has your power already mutated you into something else?"
Kronos had that damn mysterious smile. "I know what I am doing."
"Do you?" Hyperion’s voice was low, urgent. "Because it doesn’t seem like it. You’re not the Kronos I know. You’re not the king who overthrew Uranus. You’re not the ruler who—"
"Who, you all feared?" Kronos had interrupted, his voice calm. "I remember who I am, Hyperion. Even you, my favourite siblings, wouldn’t talk to me that way, in the past."
Hyperion had stared at him, stunned. "What?"
Kronos had turned away. "You should look after my son Zeus. He’ll need guidance when he comes of age. Maybe talk to Chiron too."
"Zeus?" Hyperion had frowned. "Your newborn son’s name is Poseidon. You don’t have a child called Zeus or Chiron."
For a moment, Kronos had faltered. The timelines were bleeding together, his memories of the future and the past tangling like threads. "So they still have to be born," he murmured. "We have time."
And with that, he had left his brother standing there, whispering after him: "This is exactly what I’m talking about. Do you even remember who you are?"
Clockwork returned to the present, watching as Danny rummaged through a pile of clothes he’d brought from the human world. "Okay, so we’ve got options. Do you want to go with the classic trench coat look, or something more casual? Maybe jeans and a hoodie?"
Clockwork blinked. "I do not require clothing."
"Yeah, but if you’re going to blend in, you kinda do, and you can’t walk in a Toga, even if you did look good in it!" Danny said, tossing a black jacket at him. "Here. Try this."
Clockwork caught the fabric, examining it. It was strange, holding something so mundane after so long. But Danny was right. If he was going to walk among humans, he needed to look the part.
With a thought, his form shifted. The gears receded, his blue skin faded to a more human tone, and his red eyes dimmed to a warm blue. He stood before Danny as a tall, broad-shouldered man with white hair and a face that wasn’t Flawless, but it did look Human, yet Ancient and Timeless. Yet at the same time, he did look similar to how Danny looks.
Danny whistled. "Whoa. You clean up nice."
Clockwork adjusted the jacket. "Is this sufficient?"
At long last, the stars aligned, the spoons were retrieved and things got done just in time for @phandomholidaytruce of 2025!
@radioratdesigns I was your gifter and a stroke of inspiration struck me dead when I read your Prompts because they just fit perfectly with a plot bunny that had plopped up in my brain a day or so before the receiver assignation:
The Hazmat AU and the Big Sister Ember were exactly the Tropes I had in mind when I thought of a crossover (or is it technically an AU? 🤔) with the movie "The Polar Express".
It was supposed to be a phic, but a bout of writer block and irl issues had me stumped (I swear I tried... ಥ╭╮ಥ), but since I noticed that sometimes making art comes to me more easily, I managed to get this done at lightning speed!
ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ
Here a bit of plot and details under the cut (plus a bonus):
Danny had his accident way earlier –at 9– and so (to compel to his childish fanboyness) his suit is even more astronaut-themed to give him a (what should have been) foolproof full Hazmat suit;
due to the complicate attachment of the helmet, tho, kid Danny never had the time/chance to take it off to ask the rogues to stop attacking the town (and the glass visor is too thick and stuck (thanks Jack) for anyone to understand him);
my usual headcanon (which I use to justify why Danny's power level is so high from the beginning) is that since the energy of a whole dimension flooded inside him, he could be "on par" to the reading of an Ancient to the more experienced ghosts (thus leading them to the misunderstanding that Danny IS a small-sized Ancient that's hoarding Amity Park and its permanent Portal);
the misunderstanding could have been cleared in an instant if the Rogues had seen Danny's face, because he's scarred from the accident and you can't fake the freshness of a Death Scar to date how long a person has died (but, alas, the helmet takes too long and humans are in danger);
I'm shaking things up with the Truce to make it more star-aligned than religion-related, and so the Solstices (both) are established as one day without fighting AND one of the Ancients (following a rotation) can organize an event to which few elected can participate through invitation (it's a great honor);
this year is conveniently ((. ❛ ᴗ ❛.)) Clockwork's turn, so they invite most of the Rogues (mainly the ones who can be redeemed), some just as spectators and other as participants:
The Lunch Lady and Ember are part of the show-and-snack Hot Chocolate song;
Desiree is just a passenger, but her meeting with Danny is very much a stab to the Core;
Sidney Poindexter is also a guest, but he's also accompanying his kid cousin Robert on the Polar Express for the pre-teen's journey;
Skulker and Technus pair up in the broken toys wagon to try and invent a new weapon;
Johnny Kitty and Shadow decide to try and race the locomotive to see who's the fastest;
And last but not least the "villains" of the story, the Box Ghost, who wants to steal all the presents in Santa's sack since they're in boxes, while Walker had been pursuing the troublemaker trio on their motorcycle, but seeing so many "magical violations" he decides to imprison everyone.
Now back to Danny:
The accident happened 6 months or so before THE Christmas when the crossover takes place;
He's 9, so while he may be wary thanks to some "stranger-danger" conditioning, due to some previous positive interactions with Youngblood (kid-to-kid communication -> he already knew Danny was a kid and told no one) he's also brutally honest if a ghost asks him something, even if he's in human form;
(this leads to several Identity Reveals, Moral Crises and Epiphanies during the ride on the Polar Express for the Rogues);
Danny joined the ride to the North Pole (along with Sam and Tucker because they were at the Foley's for a sleepover) because he's this close (🤏) to give up on Christmas already and when the Conductor tells him that he could see Santa, he jumps at the opportunity to get proof that he exist and so his parents would stop arguing and ruining the holiday;
...upon learning this and that Danny is Baby™, they decide that just "not fighting" the kid isn't enough, they have to adopt him!
But where's Clockwork in all of this, you may ask?
They're watching from the sidelines, masquerading as the rooftop hobo with cryptid messages and suggestions, while the Rogues and Team Phantom scramble to stop Walker's and the Box Ghost's separate attempts from destroying Christmas.
Obviously they succeed, but... neither Santa nor Desiree (who had been asked) are powerful enough/able of such a feat (making Jack and Maddie stop arguing and/or hunting ghosts), so... there's the next best thing!!
✨Baby Acquisition!✨
On Christmas Day, when the Mansons and the Fentons come to retrieve their offsprings, Sam and Tucker can only offer two sealed envelopes (but no Danny).
One from Santa's (who offers the proof that he's real and not exactly a ghost, but also points out all the ways they killed their children's Wonder for the holiday so it's no surprise that Danny came to him to seek help) and the other from Clockwork.
The Ancient's letter reveals that since they're unfit to be Danny's parents in this timeline independently of any manipulation/choice/explanation/plea, once they'll get out Tucker's house, they'll forget about Danny and any trace of him would be erased from the town.
This is just a polite/formal communication.
The duo stalls, trying to find a loophole or a way out of this, but all comes unfortunately to an end when the parent that was having Jazz for her own sleepover calls them for an emergency due to a ghost, so they have to go.
There's almost no hesitation as they run out of the door, they just falter when this sensation of overwhelming loss hits them, but they charge on to get to Jazz and the ghost.
(Because Danny had always been their last choice.)
From then on, Jack and Maddie go on their life as aggressive ghost hunters with this constant sensation of something off/missing, always out of reach, but with sometimes slivers of glimpses immediately forgotten afterward.
(Jazz, Sam and Tucker still remember Danny and get to talk and meet with him sometimes in secret, but they are forbidden to speak about him to anyone beside among themselves.)
As their "crimes" against ghosts pile up despite Team Phantom still trying to convince them to stop during the years, they age until their time comes and due to the ecto-contamination they become ghosts.
It's only at this point that they meet Danny again, now grown up and with a life of his own and they immediately get it.
That's what- who they were missing.
But it's too late, they have done too much and kept NOT choosing him (CW had put in the fine prints that they could have remembered everything and get Danny back if only they had sincerely –and without external input, like an identity reveal– rejected their biased researches).
So they get a(n after)life sentence for crimes against the Infinity Realms and this is the last time they'll see Danny.
Danny is... disappointed, but not surprised. He grew up with the ghosts and became a well-adjusted adult, so he had realized way back that the Fentons had been a danger to him.
So he just tells his parents to spend the rest of eternity regretting their life-choices and flies away from their prison.
Sometimes... the only good choice for yourself is to cut away what hurts you and choose your Family, your Persons, on your own.
꒰(@｀꒳´)꒱
Uh. I ended writing a piece of this anyway. (・–・;)ゞ
I guess sleep-deprivation after not going to sleep after new year's party is useful for something! (≧∇≦)
Anyway, here, as a thanks for enduring my rambling (and your patience for waiting for the almost late gift), you get an alt. version of the art piece without the Polar Express in the foreground!
(Was this angsty enough? >:3c)
(A thanks to @phantommoon-art @halfalix for their support and enabling through Discord.
Sooner or later I'll be able to write this phic, I promise you!
( ◡̀_◡́)ᕤ)
Happy New Year and hope 2026 will bring good things to ya!
Summary: Danny has dreamed of glowing lights for as long as he can remember. When he almost dies pursuing them, an unknown powerful entity saves him. Now the entity is calling him too, though Danny can’t tell if it’s for good or for ill. He hopes the memories and dreams of being lovingly cradled under the stars are real. But with his parents’ stories about wind spirits that lure mer to the surface and steal their souls… how can he trust his mysterious savior?
Word Count: 4,210
Next Chapter
Also on AO3 and Fanfiction.net
Note:
It's finally here! Happy Ecto-Implosion!
A huge thanks to my artist, @ecto-stone whose art inspired this fic. Thank you for being cool with all my crazy ideas and always excited to read my ramblings. Check out the art work here!
And thanks to my beta, KindStar This story would make a whole heck of a lot less sense if it wasn't for your help. Thank you for all the constructive comments and all the encouragement. :)
And thanks to everyone reading! I hope you enjoy!
The young mer floated in the darkness. Lights sparkled above and below. All around him. He reached, wide eyes awed. If he could just touch-
“Danny! Wake up!” His mom’s voice roughly pulled him out of the dream.
Startled by the shout, Danny twisted out of his sleep hammock. “Ah! Wha- Umph!” His light-blue flank spasmed, knocking nick-nacks off his shelf and down onto him.
Nose wrinkled, he rubbed his sore side. Where was-
Oh right. His eyes flitted over the room. Rough stone walls, wovened sleep hammock, scatters bits of shell and seaweed. This was his room; he’d gone up for a nap. And..
That dream. He had that dream again. Every few months, since he was a fry, he dreamed of the sparkling lights. Suspended among them, so far, yet close enough to touch. Something in him reached, pulled towards the-
A pounding below interrupted his thoughts. “Danny!” His mom’s annoyed shout. “The door!”
“I’m coming!” The mer-boy finally shouted back, shaking the last fog of sleep away.
This time, Danny anticipated the knock.
“Get the door!” His dad complained. “Your friends are here!”
His friends! Danny’s eyes lit up. “Coming!”
He raced down the corridor and into the livingroom, eyes taking in the scene. His mom and dad tinkered with some gadget again, googles fixed over their eyes.
“I’m going out with Sam and Tuck.” The mer-boy said. “I’ll be back later.”
The adults waved him off casually, not even looking up. A stab of disappointment struck his heart. As always, they had eyes only for their work…
Danny shook his head, dismissing the feeling. He opened the door, “Hey guys.” And swam through.
“Tell us if ya see any wind spirits!” His dad yelled, as the door closed.
“So, where are we going?” Danny’s friend, a purple-tailed mer-girl named Sam asked.
“To the trench.” The boy grinned, eyes sparkling. “You guys have to see it!” Swimming fast, he pulled his friends along beside him. “If you look out over, just after the Dimming, when it gets dark, there’s all these tiny blinking lights. Like thousands of them!”
“The trench?” Tucker, a yellow-tailed mer-boy with his customary hat of woven, red seaweed, squeaked. “You mean the one where if you swim too deep the weight of the water on top of you alone will kill you?” He raised a brow. “Haven’t there been, like, rabid shark sightings near there?”
“Those are just rumors, Tuck.” Danny shook his head. “And it’s not like we’re going to swim down in the trench. We’ll just watch from the top.” He dipped down, swimming through a gap between two rocks.
The three swam for several minutes more, the blue-tailed mer eventually pulling to a stop just at the edge of the ravine. “See!” He waved excitedly. “I mean, there are no lights yet but give it a few minutes.”
The mer-boy drifted down, settling on the cluster of boulders above the trench. His friends swam over, sharing fondly amused grins at his excitement. Sam took a seat to one of his sides, her dark hair swirling around her head.
“So they’re like the lights in the above world from the stories. The floating ones, up really high?” She asked.
“Stars.” Danny nodded, awe entering his voice. “They’re called stars.”
Tucker joined the group on Danny’s other side. He blinked, disbelieving. “How'd you know that?”
The blue-flaked mer’s eyes drifted to the open water in front of them, gaze far away. His mind drifted…..
A busy market square. A tiny mer crying for his mother. A cloaked man, a scar over one red eye.
“It will be alright, little one.” A soothing, melodic Voice came from the merman.
Wide eyes traced the painted lines and dots on the stranger’s blue skin. “What’s that?”
“It is a map of the stars.” The stranger smiled kindly.
“Stars?”
Blue fingers followed the silver and gold marks. “The floating lights in the world above. In the world of air and light.” They seemed to shimmer, almost glowing. “They are called stars, child.”
Danny blinked, drawing himself out of the memory. “Someone told me once, when I was little.”
“My grandma told me she went up there, when she was our age.” Sam leaned forward, purple-eyes sparkling conspiratorially.
“How didn’t she die?” Tucker gaped. “You dry up and suffocate if you go to the surface! That's what my mom always says.”
The purple-eyes mer waved him off. “You only really start drying out after twenty minutes, and it takes at least an hour to suffocate.”
“Only an hour?” The yellow-tailed mer scoffed sarcastically. “That’s plenty of time.”
“Exactly.” The purple-tail raised an eyebrow pointedly.
This earned another scoff from Tucker and the two started squibbling.
“Bub says the far lights are giant balls of gas, burning billions of miles away.” Sam argued.
“That’s ridiculous.” Tucker countered. “They’re obviously glowing plankton in the ocean above.”
“What?” The mer-girl’s mouth dropped open, eyes narrowed skeptically.
The yellow-tailed mer motioned, one hand palm down and parallel to his chest. “There’s this ocean, the water below.”The other hand stacked on top of the first. “The air.” The stack grew, his left hand added above the ‘air’ layer. “And then the other ocean, the water above.” It was as if the parts of the world were rock strata in a cliff-face, one piled atop the other. “Except it’s upside-down so we’re looking at the plankton floating near the surface.”
“You clearly just made that up, Tucker. Everyone knows that….”
The two argued lightly and Danny smiled, just enjoying the banter. It wouldn’t be a hangout section with his friends unless Sam and Tucker gave each other a hard time. And really, they were great for letting him drag them out here. It was quite a swim, and one his parents would not be happy about him making, but it would be well worth it when the lights came out. It wasn’t the stars but it was as close as he could hope to get. And-
“Danny! Look out!” Sam shouted.
The boy jerked up, but not in time. Something gray and rough slammed into him. Sharp teeth flashed in his vision.
“Rabid shark!” Tucker cried.
Heart pounding, Danny flailed. Jaws snapped, eerily close to his tail. Frantically, the mer jabbed. “Take that!” His finger met the creature’s eye. “Gross!”
The shark jerked away, bits of gore drifting out its wound. But… madness linger in its remaining eye. The creature rushed back.
“Sam! Tuck!” Danny screamed, floating over the ravine.
He sprinted away, diving down. Frantic words, shouts sounded. The mer boy couldn’t process. Just flashes of his friends' panicked faces high above, where he had left them. Above?.... He hadn’t meant to swim this far down, below the cliff face.
“Guys! Help me!” He yelled, eyeing the shark still focused on its prey.
Above him, the groaning reverb of rocks shifted. The creature lashed out, inches from his caudal fin. Danny dodged but-
“Ah!” Too slow. Teeth sunk into flesh.
“Now!” Sam shouted.
Immediately came a heavy boom. Danny turned to look, eyes widening. Oh no. A torrent of rocks fell. One slammed into his attacker, releasing him from its hold.
“Danny!” “No!” Sam and Tucker reached towards him. But-
A wordless scream, as the boulder impacted. His bloody flank spasmed uselessly and he spun, head over tail.
The worlds spun, light above and dark below flashing. His friends’ screams…. He couldn’t understand. His breath heaved, heart pounding in his ears.
Deeper and deeper. Darker and darker. Danny spun, mind in chaos. Then-
Glowing lights sparked into existence.
Eyes widened, his heart slowed. The lights all around him… they were so beautiful.
A tiny fish, lines of glowing green flickering on its side, darted towards him and nibbled at his fingers. Danny flicked it off with a feeble chuckle.. And… his breath choked.
His tail throbbed. Weakly, he tried to flex it, tried to kick but… the limb screamed, pain radiating down. He gasped. It must be broken. He couldn’t swim.
The realization should have caused panic, especially with the blood leaking from the wound, drifting up, just visible in the blinking light. But-
The blinking light…. Two pale white jellyfish undulated past, tentacles as long as he was tall drifting behind. An octopus, orange and pink small enough to fit in his hand, darted around; glowing spots dotted its skin. Masses of green plankton gently floated.
Danny sank deeper, his mind growing fuzzy and indistinct. The water pressed down on him, heavier and heavier. His tail ached, sensation dimming as his gills fluttered, straining to take in water.
A colossal fish, long and eel-like with glowing blue dots lining its sides; a glowing spot hovered above its eyes. Miniscule jellyfish flashed different colors.
Danny’s vision faded, growing black around the edges.
A clear oval luminesced, edges red. Fanning, branching, fluttering clumps, like the coral that rooted on the rocks near home, and yet it drifted in the open water. Lines of tiny blue squares, stretching as far as the eye could see. So many creatures floated around, beings he never could dream of.
Floating on his back, surrounded by the ethereal glow, Danny reached up, towards the surface, towards his friends.
Light shone above him, coalescing. White-blue. Golden yellow. Fanning, branching, spread-wide. Expansive but near.
Something soft and light gently brushed his face. The boy reached back, the luminescence a hair’s breadth from his finger.
Just like his dream.
A whisper into his mind. Almost a Voice. It was like a song, chiming and sweeping. Light and ringing. Immaterial, ethereal. Like nothing he’d ever heard before.
Danny’s heart pumped, slow and heavy. His gills struggled. One more breath.
His watery mind barely grasped for understanding but… slipped.
He was dying.
The Voice’s words whispered soft, tender, kind. It was… a desire to save, to rescue. A plea to accept the offer. It just required a small sacrifice, something surrendered….
The mer-boy’s throat barely twitched. He couldn’t think. Couldn’t speak. Eyes fluttered, closing. One last moment. One last glimpse.
Against the pale blue, glowing white lines and dots made a familiar pattern. But he couldn’t quite remem…
Danny gasped, twitching eyes darting around, unseeing.
His mind raced. What? How? He wasn’t dead-
“Danny! You’re awake!” His mom’s voice, quivering.
The boy flinched at the sound. Too loud, too close. His head hurt.
“Son!” Large arms swept him up. “It’s alright. You’re alright. The wind spirits didn’t get ya!”
The mer squeaked, body pressed on every side. For a moment he was back in the ravine. The water crushed him. He couldn’t breathe.
Gasping again, Danny jerked out of the hold. He fell back, onto something soft and springy. He blinked, eyes struggling to focus. And…
His parents' faces, hovering just over him and frantic, snapped into view. His parents? But-
The memories hit. The glowing lights. The ravine. The shark. His friends…. His friends?!
“Sam and Tucker!” The mer-boy shouted. “Where are Sam and Tucker? Are they okay?”
“Are they okay?!” His mom’s eyes snapped wide, almost bulging. “You almost died, Danny. You could have died! You’re not allowed to go to the ravine anymore. If your friends hadn’t found you…” Her voice broke, sobbing.
The woman threw her arms around him and his dad joined, burying the boy in his parents’ arms. This time, Danny didn’t resist. He accepted the hug, though didn’t return it. For just a moment, a bitter hurt flashed through him. Oh, of course, they were worried now. After brushing him off this afternoon like always.
He huffed, eyes drifting over the…floor? He had been laying on the floor. A pile of woven seaweed blankets and pillows, stuffed with sea sponges, sat below him. Eyes flitted a few feet. His mom’s shell-decorated seat. Fish-bones needles, for one of Dad’s projects. This was his house. But…
Frantic words and questions bombarded him. But Danny ignored them, mind swimming.
How did he get here? Why wasn’t he dead? Where were his friends?!
A sudden knock came from his left.
“Is Danny awake-” Sam’s voice. “Danny?!”
His parents let go and a blink later, his friends were hugging him. This time, he returned the hug.
His heart fluttered, trembling. Finally, his own sob came. “You… you guys are okay.”
“Of course we’re okay. You… you dork.” Sam squeezed him harder.
“Don’t scare us like that!” Tucker cried into his shoulder. “We thought you were dead!”
His parents’ both rose from the floor, whipping their faces. An awkward pause, the adults’ eyes on his back while he broke down.
“You must be hungry.” His mom finally said. “Jack, come help me.”
The pair left, blessedly leaving the trio in peace. And Danny hugged his best friends, crying with them for a long while. Then…
A confused question broke through the supreme relief. “Guys! What happened!?” Danny pulled away. “That shark attacked us! It freaking bit me. I got knocked into the ravine.”
“We saw you fall. You disappeared!” Tucker waved his arms. “We were calling your name but we couldn’t see you. Sam was about to go after you but...” He bit his lip, trailing off.
“Yeah.” Danny didn’t quite register the hesitation, sitting up more fully. “I tried to swim back but couldn’t. I broke something in my… tail.”
The blue-tailed mer’s eyes drifted to his flank, widening. With a thought, the tip flicked, as natural and easy as ever. “Guys… my tail isn’t broken. But… I know… I know it was. I couldn’t even move it without screaming. This is crazy...”
He stared, flexing his dorsal fin. Moving it side to side, up and down, mesmerized by the movement.
“That’s not the only crazy thing…” The yellow-tailed mer hesitated..
Danny looked up at the words, wide eyes flitting between his two friends. “What?”
The two traded hesitant looks. Finally Sam started. “Something… really weird happened after you went over the ravine. I was just about to go after you, when these lights showed up. At first we thought it was the glowing lights you’d brought us there to see. But then they were getting closer and closer. And brighter and brighter and… there was this sound.” Her eyes widened, far away. “It started small. But it kept getting louder and suddenly it was everywhere like.. Like it was inside my head….”
Beside her, Tucker shivered. “I heard it too. Nothing… I’ve never heard anything make a sound like that before. Never. But… it was like this singing but… high and far away but somehow also really close and…”
The hair on Danny’s arms rose, something distant but so near tickling at his mind. The darkwater, bright light, a musical Voice.
“The light kept getting brighter, like it was gonna burn my eyes. It should… should have hurt but… it didn’t. I couldn’t look away.” Tucker breathed, almost dreamily. “It was so beautiful.”
Danny’s stomach dropped, a strangely calm dread. He waved a hand in front of his friend’s face. “What happened next?”
The other boy shook his head, snapping out of it. “There was this flash and you were back. You were just laying there, at the edge of the cliff. But… but.” Tucker’s voice trembled. “There was seafoam everywhere. All over you.”
“Sea… sea foam?” The dread rose, wrapping around Danny’s throat. “Seafoam? Like…”
Numbly, Sam nodded. “Your tail… it looked half gone. And your hands…” She shook. “You were dead. We were sure you were dead and.. And…”
Danny’s mouth was somehow dry. “Turning into seafoam.” He’d been dying. Sinking into the depths, the glowing creatures drifting around him… He’d been dying. He had felt it and… “I… I was turning into seafoam.” Like any other mer, returning to the foam all their kind had come from.
But… but that was impossible, Because… “I’m.. I’m not dead, though?” He asked, anxious, hopeful, desperate.
Sam nodded, eyes glazed, almost haunted. “Your eyes popped open and… they were glowing. Solid white.”
“Your whole body started glowing too. Like light was coming through your skin.” Tucker added, nervously chewing at a fingernail.
Danny stared at his own hand. This was.. This was all impossible. But… the image flashed in his head…. his veins, pulsing with light from within. Why… why did it feel so right?
“It kept getting brighter and brighter until we couldn’t see you at all.” His red-capped friend continued. “Then there was this whooshing noise, like a million manta rays flapping by, and you were normal again.”
“But there were all these white things around you. They looked like that red-coral at the reef, the branching wavy ones. But not hard at all. They were soft and smooth.” Sam’s brow furrowed. “They disappeared though. They were all gone by the time I came back with your parents….”
The purple-tailed mer trailed off, a heaviness falling over the room.
Tucker wrapped his arms around himself. “It was freaky, man.”
Part of Danny wanted to laugh- talk about an understatement. But… in his chest, his heart pounded fearfully. He’d almost died, he remembered that. But what had happened to him after?
And yet… again, it scratched at his mind. Light coalescing above him. Immense, reaching softness. A ringing, tender almost-Voice. His heart skipped a beat.
Something had saved him.
Before Danny could open his mouth to tell his friends, his parents burst in.
“Here you go!” His dad shoved a plate into his hands. “Manatee cheese and mussels. Your favorite!”
Again, a hint of bitterness rose. Apparently he just had to almost die for his parents to pay attention to him. Danny shook the thought away; it was his favorite meal…
His mom joined. “Sam, Tucker. Here’s some for you too.” She handed plates over and the five sat in a circle on the floor.
The blue-tailed mer ate the food, though he didn’t enjoy it. Not with his stomach churning as it was with the adults hovering over him.
“You’re lucky to be alive, Danny.” His mom’s sad serious eyes fixed on him. “You know you can’t go to the ravine like that. It’s dangerous.”
“Yeah!” His dad stabbed his seaweed salad violently. “Those windy spirits haunt those cliffs. They lure you with their weird songs and spooky ghost lights.” His voice lowered, slow and ominous. “You get closer and closer. You can’t look away and…”
Out of the corner of his eye, Danny saw Tucker’s widened, fearful.
“They blind you!” His dad shouted, fingers jerking like a flashing ball of light. “Then they drag you to the surface and suck out your soul!”
Both Danny’s friends gasped, faces pale. They traded knowing looks, side-eyeing him.
“Don’t scare the kids, Jack!” Mom reprimanded. “No spirit is going to touch my baby.”
“Sorry, Mads.” The other adult rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
Meanwhile, one of Sam’s eyebrows rose, a pointed though subdued question.
Subtly, the boy shook his head. And though both friends frowned, neither said anything
“You’re fine, Danny.” Luckily, his mom mis-read the exchange. “What happened was scary but it’s over.“ The woman placed a hand on his arm, an attempt at comfort. “You’re safe.”
The boy smiled, though the warmth of it didn’t meet his eyes. “I know. Thanks Mom.”
The group finished eating soon enough and the adults rushed Danny’s friends out. The trio shared a hug, again questioning looks pinned on the blue-tail. And again, Danny refused. As weird and worrying as what happened to him was, that was not a jar of slugs he was willing to open in front of his parents.
“We’ll talk later.” The mer-boy instead whispered into Sam’s shoulder.
With subtle, understanding nods and parting waving, both teens left.
Danny quickly excused himself to his room. As soon as he crossed the threshold, door closed, he let out a groan.
“Why?” He rubbed his eyes.
So much had happened, he couldn’t even begin to process. And of course, his dad had to bring up wind spirits again. It was ridiculous. Everyone knew spirits weren’t real. But…
The sweeping song danced in his head. The feeling of light on his skin, not searing or burning, but… warm and safe.
Danny twitched suddenly. His back itched, something brushing his skin. He reached under his shirt, reaching for the spot. His fingers brushed the thing, soft like hair but… not. He gripped; whatever it was, the end was hard but light, tapering into a long, thin point. It came away without resistance. He brought it in front of his face.
The boy gasped, eyes wide and mesmerized. The white object glowed, warm in his hand and pulsing with light. It tingled, the warmth spreading down into his palm. Something sparked in his veins. A flicker, a glow. Blue-white light shimmered through his skin.
With a choked cry, Danny dropped the feather as if he’d been burned. The light disappeared as soon as it left his hand, his own veins going dark. The object fell softly to the floor.
For a long moment, the boy held his breath, just staring. He swam back, slowly leaning closer, eyes fixed. Nothing. No spark, no hit of light. Tentatively, he poked the object. No reaction came.
“That’s dumb.” Danny complained, frowning at it. “ ‘s just a feather.”
The word passed his lips and the realization hit him like those falling rocks. It was called a feather. Usually part of a wing and used for flight. This thing that had somehow been in his shirt, that his friends must have seen around him when he… appeared back at the top of the ravine. It was a feather and…
His heart pounded, breath choked. He hadn’t known what this was this morning. He’d never seen a feather, nor a wing, nor flight. No one told him what they were. But… those words were there, in his head, as easy as any other. As familiar as his scales, his tail, the idea of swimming.
This was a feather. And not just any feather. It was his own.
Panicked, Danny shoved the object away. He stuffed it in the bottom of his chest, under old clothes and blankets. Out of sight. If he couldn’t see it, then it wasn’t there. It wasn’t real.
The boy paced. None of this was real. It couldn’t be. It wasn’t. He just… he just needed to go to sleep. He would go to sleep and this nightmare would be over. No more feathers. No more glowing. No more eerie wind spirits. Which saved his life! He’d be dead if it hadn’t-
No. With a frantic head shake, Danny practically leapt onto his hammock. He crawled in, tossing and turning until an uneasy sleep took him.
Great feathered wings stretched over Danny, filling his vision. They reached towards him and he reached back.
Swirling light and water. The feathers encircled him. The tender Voice sang. A lullaby. Safety, closeness, love.
Danny trilled back, high and melodic. Something in his chest vibrated. His back twitched, feathers brushing each other. He shone.
Movement. The pressure around him lessened. They were soaring, streaming up and-
A splash, tiny bubbles parted. Danny squeaked fearfully.
The Voice hummed and comfort filled the boy’s veins.
Higher. Blue surrounded, paler than he’d ever seen. And… light. Yellow and shining, all consuming.
Awe swelled in his heart. Danny stared at the sun.
The mer-boy woke with a gasp. His tail twitched, an ache deep in the muscle. His back itched; something invisible, immaterial fluttered, dragging in the water.
Danny opened his eyes and the feeling disappeared. For a flash, his heart throbbed, aching with its absence. Then he shook the sensation away. But his body still felt odd, too heavy and too light at the same time. His gills fluttered, taking in water. He breathed, the familiar movement foreign.
What was wrong with him?
The boy dragged his head up, rubbing his eyes. This was crazy. He was going crazy.
Something green flickered in the dark. His eyes jerked to the object, widening. He reached for it.
Fingers gripped the corner. A piece of green sea-weed parchment, familiar with its squid-ink dye. And yet… it glowed. His eyes flitted over the words.
Beloved child of my wings. I am pleased to know you are well. Not a day has passed and yet I long to see you, precious one. Meet me where the lower water mets the air and we will fly together under the stars. Love, your Abba.
Danny read it one, twice, three times. Slowly bringing it to his chest, the boy’s heart pounded. Joy and terror mixed in equal parts.
Safety, the feeling of being wrapped in protective wings, haunted him. His dream…. It had felt so real. And… feathered wings. That was what he’d seen above him as he died. An awesome, immense being with wings.
And this letter…. The honey sweet words soothed him. His own parents hadn’t talked about him with such affection in years. The promise of the stars, always calling to him from his dreams, lured him; he could see them, really see them.
But the intimacy, the familiarity there, from something he did not know….
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
in the latest chapter of STRPAP I eluded to the fact Danny had traveled to the MHA universe in the past and asked if people wanted to that made into an actual story, and now here it is I hope you enjoy
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.
What many people don’t know is that Kronos had always known most of the Time-lines. He played with Time, since he learned he had that power.
The moment he first laid eyes on his newborn daughter, Hestia, he knew what would come next. The visions came to him just as he was about to eat her and seal her in his stomach.
They showed him all the futures in fragments. Like the hands of a clock moving forward, he saw his life as Kronos - from that moment on, his other 5 children, his downfall, Rhea's betrayal, the war, and how he ended up in Tartarus with his body cut into thousands of pieces.
It was an inevitability written into the fabric of time and time itself. And as Titan of Time, he would know best.
Once he tried to fight his fate. In his paranoia, he had devoured his children in the desperate hope of stopping the cycle and the prophecy. But now he remembered.
Not just glimpses of the future, but memories of an entirely different existence - one he had had long after his fall on Grace, one that was beyond even the immortality of a Titan.
He also remembers his future, of being, Clockwork. An Ancient of Time, in his new home, the Ghost Zone. His Titan soul and body had been destroyed and rebuilt in this place, so that he hardly looked the same. He wasn't even sure if he was still the son of Earth and Sky as Clockwork.
And he remembered the young Halfa, the young Daniel Fenton/Phantom.
Kronos allowed a small smile to creep across his face, remembering how he had reacted when he had learned who he really was while still alive.
Flashback
Danny hovered in front of Clockwork, staring at the Ancient Ghost with wide, skeptical eyes. "Huh? You're the King of Titans Kronos!" His voice was incredulous.
Clockwork's ever-shifting form barely responded, the red glow of his eyes steady. "Yes, young Daniel. I was the Titan you read about in school."
Danny gave a low whistle. "Wow... So you really were crazy!" He laughed and shook his head. "Wait-hold on. How much meat is on a baby god?"
Clockwork tilted his head slightly, anticipating the question. "Why do you ask?"
Danny shrugged. "I mean... if you really were the Titan, and Kronos ate his children and a stone, how come you never tried to eat me?"
Clockwork's expression remained unreadable. "You have no flesh."
Danny frowned. "And a baby god does?"
Clockwork's grin was almost imperceptible. "Have you ever seen one?"
Danny blinked. "No...?"
"Trust me. They have more."
Danny opened his mouth, then promptly closed it, clearly not sure what to say, but he knew he had lost. In the end, he decided to let the whole baby-god-snacking thing go. "You know what? Never mind. I even had an idea for a new adventure!" He grinned and floated closer. "I was thinking... Maybe you could take me back in time? You know, help me out with my history class?"
Clockwork chuckled, his staff shifting in his grasp. "Ah, history. You may find it more complicated than your textbooks suggest, young Daniel."
Danny grinned. "Yes, but that only makes it more fun."
Clockwork sighed and shook his head in amusement. "Very well. Let's see where time takes us now."
Flashback End
Yes, as he found out. He just made some new jokes and that was it. Still saw him as the same mentor as before.
Kronos was still looking at baby Hestia when he left the room. He would not eat her or any of the others. He shouldn't change the timeline that much. He needs them for destiny.
Instead, he ignored them. He did still his old hobby or well future hobby of looking into Timelines.
His siblings did notice, him doing that much more. Rhea after a time gave up to pull him away from doing that or being in his laboratory. While he didn't treat her like before, she is happy he didn't tried something like their father on their children. With that prophecy... But this way.
Hestia grew up in the shadow of his disregard and her mother's care, learning to keep herself. Demeter was left to flourish with the plants and crops, fairly untouched by her father's coldness, she learned quickly to ignore it. Hera felt the sting of his lack of interest, but she was strong-willed and sought comfort more from her mother, Rhea.
Hades, the brooder in his last life, took it with stride and retreated to the underworld to build his own kingdom with the help of his uncle Iapetus. And Poseidon, the youngest of them at the moment, found solace in the vast oceans and swam in Ocaenus' kingdom.
Zeus then was born last, and by then all his children, long accepted their father and king's indifference to them. He barely glanced at the baby, his gaze lingering only briefly on the tiny fingers and toes that would one day wield thunderbolts. He knew what was to come, and he let it happen without a fight.
He was to be Clockwork, the keeper of time, not a player in the game. And he was able to notice, his titan body too did took the changed. The titans noticed how his Golden Eyes turned Red, and his hair turned white. Same with his skin to change color to Blue.
Years passed, and the children grew into their power.
After talking to others about their father. They saw their father's lack of concern as a lack of fear, a sign that they were not important enough to be considered a threat. Little did they know the truth behind those unblinking clockwork eyes.
As Zeus approached the teenage years for a god, Kronos said it was time. He knew it was time for his children to challenge him.
Kronos did not plan to stand in the way. He had seen his end, and it was not at the hands of his own children.
One quiet evening, King Cronus called his children to him for the first time since their birth.
They came, curious and wary. "I have decided to abdicate my throne," he announced, his voice echoing through the halls of the throne room.
Their eyes widened in shock. Hestia stepped back, her hand to her mouth. Demeter clutched the arm of her brother Hades. Poseidon looked out to sea, his mind racing. And Zeus, always the strategist, felt the first spark of hope in his chest.
"You are all strong in your own right," Kronos continued, his gaze sweeping over them. "I trust you to rule when I am gone."
The children and Rhea, like his siblings, didn't know what to say or had time to say anything.
For Kronos had disappeared, leaving them all to fend for themselves again.
Zeus had stepped forward, his blue eyes blazing as he looked at his siblings. "Let us show him what we are truly made of," he said, his voice resonating with newfound power. "We will not be ignored."
Time moved on,
Iapetus would stay to help, moving to the underworld with Hades to serve as an advisor to the younger immortal.
In time, a new kingdom was built as they left behind their father's kingdom. And they built their own, now called Gods, as the Titans retired and moved on with their lives.
For thousands of years, no one was sure what happened to Kronos, for they could never find him. And most of his brothers searched for him.
They talked about how Kronos must have done something with his experiments with time. They were never sure if he was still Kronos, or if he had messed up his time control too badly.
For Kronos, his body had changed, the familiar gears of time reappeared within him, and soon he was Clockwork again.
It was what he had chosen. The freedom of the Ghost Zone, his lair, had already appeared.
Clockwork smiled to himself. Here, in the Ghost Zone, he would watch time and move with his life.
Clockwork stood before a time portal, watching the swirling flow of moments. His past as Kronos seemed distant now, at least to him.
Danny Phantom entered the room and Clockwork's face lit up with joy. "Ah, Daniel. It's good to see you again."
Danny smiled. "You didn't think I'd be back so soon! You did! I surprised you!"
Clockwork chuckled quietly. "Time has a way. I knew you would come, but not right now, maybe 1 or 3 minutes later or earlier..." He watched as Danny settled down nearby.
As the portal flickered again, Clockwork looked at him as he whispered, "All is as it should be.
Summary: Danny has dreamed of glowing lights for as long as he can remember. When he almost dies pursuing them, an unknown powerful entity saves him. Now the entity is calling him too, though Danny can’t tell if it’s for good or for ill. He hopes the memories and dreams of being lovingly cradled under the stars are real. But with his parents’ stories about wind spirits that lure mer to the surface and steal their souls… how can he trust his mysterious savior?
Word Count: 5,436
Previous Chapter
Also on AO3 and Fanfiction.net
Danny pulled apart. And yet, like before, he still existed.
His friends screamed and cried, eyes frantically searching.
“He’s… he’s fine. That was just a prank. A sick prank. He’ll….”
Their words drifted away from him, simple vibrations in the water.
Still he wanted to reach out to them, to tell them he was still here, that he would be okay. His molecules drifted, ebbing and flowing. Farther apart and closer.
The spectacle attracted mers. Students gawked, teachers asking what was wrong. A current flared, streaming through the courtyard. It hardly fazed the gathering crowd, but…
No! Danny wanted to scream.
The water ripped the boy away. He swirled down the street, between the houses and shops. The world turned. It spun, flashes of color and movement. People passing by. Fish and tiny crustaceans. Stone and sand. Pieces of driftwood. A glimpse of a street sign. He was near his house…
The current shifted sharply, pushing him in another direction.
Different colors now. Pinks and reds. White and yellow and pale blue. A bumbly branching mass clicked into focus for a moment, rippled away the next. Coral? He was in the coral park.
Movement. Creatures darted through him. A clown fish. Blue Tang. Two-spot Octopus. He sensed more than saw.
A glow, waving feathers. Hope sparked. Abba?
A snap of clarity. No. His star-fishy companion.
Danny twirled for seconds, minutes, hours. He couldn’t tell long. Color and movement streamed passed him, through him.
Flashes of green. So much green. The kelp forest? He’d never been here. The fronds tickled his insides. There was so much to see! Crabs fighting. A fish guarding its eggs. Sea horses nibbling at the leaves…
No. He needed to focus. Needed to pull himself together.
Danny strained, feeling all of his spread-out self. He was big, at least as big as a pod of whales. A whale! Its song tickled his edge. Maybe he could reach it! He spread farther, branching passed the forest.
No. No. He needed to coalesce. Focus on coming together. At this kelp stalk, centered here. He drew in. Or… was it this one?
Oh! This stalk had some jellyfish. A bird! A bird just dived into his water!
Danny spread. Or maybe he grew. His consciousness darted, place to place. Ebbing, flowing, dividing, multiplying, coming together. Sight, sound, and touch magnified and melded.
His curiosity sang, delighted with all he could witness. And relief, relief from his worried friends, nosy sister, inattentive parents. No one could see him, bother him. No one could find out what a freak he was. But…
Fear lingered in a small part. He couldn’t… It was too… too much. Everything assaulted his senses, overwhelming. He had to pull himself together. He couldn’t pull himself together. He needed to…
Danny extended once more, finally reaching that distant whale. She had a calf! That was-
Having grown too large, his awareness snapped. One final burst of terror. Danny lost consciousness.
Danny hung in darkness. It suffocated him, heavy and oppressive. And the silence… it ate at him, stealing even his breath, his very heart beat.
He couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, couldn’t feel. He wanted to cry. He would cry but he had no voice. Fear gave way to despair. He was nothing, no one. Utterly helpless, alone.
But…
Light sparked, a far away star in the eternal night. Hope flickered. Danny reached, the dim outline of a hand almost visible…
A soft breeze, immaterial feathers, the warmth of that single distant star caressed his fingers.
“My foolish child.” The Voice - worried, tender, real - rang out. “Why have you been running?” An unseen hand found his in the darkness.
And Danny found his voice. “I…I don’t understand.”
“Come home, Danny.” A gentle plea. “Come home.”
Despite expecting never to wake again, Danny awoke. In the middle of the kelp forest, he floated as indistinct as a cloud. Fuzzily aware, he observed. Silver light wafted through the green fronds, turning the world blue-green. A spark of awe. This was… real. He was here.
His diffuse body swirled, parts knitting together. Serenely, he coalesced. His heart beat, returning to life. Gills fluttered, taking in breath. His shoulders, his arms…. His fingers reformed and Danny stared with newly made eyes. His white hair glowed in the dim light, his head no longer imaginary but material.
His hands clenched and unclenched, testing out the muscles. He… he existed again. He hadn’t disappeared forever.
Numb belief bled into excitement. He was back! He was okay! Everything would be-
Pain! Danny hunched over, a pain sparking in his tail. Straight down the middle, it ached. Looking down…
He was glowing, tiny jellyfish drifting around his re-materializing waist. Pale skin returned, his belly button visible. And directly below… his stomach churned with dread. No line of scales appeared at the top of his flank, just more skin. And that wasn’t all…
His tail continued reforming, from the bend in the middle to his dorsal fin but… it was wrong.
Instead of one muscular, scaly appendage, there were two. Each was the pale cream color of his arms and covered in tiny hairs. The boy kicked both, gently rising in the water, and let out a gasp. Knobby joints in the middle bent.
Another kick. He rose higher but also… dropped, the dorsal part of his tail impacting the sand. The limb, or rather limbs, collapsed. Danny landed, bouncing on his back side.
Blinking up at the surface for a moment, he sat up. He studied the end of his former tail. Each tapered into a long, flat part, pointing up towards the surface. They ended in five knobby digits, complete with nails. He flexed the nubs, head tilted. They were like his fingers but shorter and blockier.
Danny stared for a long moment, inspecting his new limbs. Then…
His lower half prickled. The hairs stood on end, skin wavering and translucent. His eyes widened, alarmed. No, he.. He couldn’t be disappearing again.
But still, the limbs defused, tiny bubbles rising. But a second later…
A snap, like air and water rushing back to him. His blue-scaled tail popped back into existence. Danny flexed the end, as easy and effortless as ever.
His heart quaked, so many feelings rushing back. Surprise, confusion, guilt, unease, relief, fear. It all swirled in him, messy and overwhelming. But paramount…
Danny sighed. He was tired. Tired of the confusion, of the fear. Tired of feeling pulled in two. Tired… of pushing away the longing in his heart.
Desperately, he looked up, pleading at the surface. “What’s happening to me?”
Around him, the fronds of the kelp ruffled in a sudden current. The jellyfish tumbled, bobbing around him. And…
A light appeared, tracing lines in the sand. They curved, elegant letters taking shape. Danny held his breath…
Come find me.
The words repeated in his head, almost audible as the Voice of the one who had spoken them.
Danny’s heart shook. Dread and awe.
The note, found in his room, his safe and private space.
Not a day has passed and yet I long to see you, precious one. Meet me where the lower water mets the air and we will fly together under the stars. Love, your Abba.
His dreams, visions, memories…
A hand finding his in the darkness. The light of a distant star. “Come home.”
A tired hope dawned….
Danny pushed himself off of the ocean floor. He swam for the surface.
Before he had time to doubt, Danny breached. Water and air clashed at their intersection and he broke through, tiny drops of water flinging from his hair.
The boy blinked, blurry eyes struggling to adjust. Darkness and light interplayed, above and around him as he bobbed. The rush of approaching water… a wave, just starting to foam, washed over him, pushing him under.
The mer rose again, breaking the surface with a gasp. But… the swish of incoming waves, again. His eyes slowly adjusted, reflected light visible on the crest. This time, Danny dove under the wave.
The boy surfaced again. He kept swimming, away from the rough waves. His gaze flitted, searching. There. A tall shape, dark with tiny spots of luminescence green, rose out of the water, strake against the horizon.
Danny swam for it. As he approached, his eyes widened, realizing. It was a cluster of rocks, dotted with glowing algae. A wave washed over him in his distraction, luckily pushing him towards his destination instead of away.
Moments later, he arrived, hands reaching out to cling to the stones. Stable, he finally let himself look around. There was… water, as far as the eye could see. A reality he was used to, one he’d experienced as long as he could remember. But up here… the water lapped, calm and measured in intermediate waves. Light sparked off their crests, countless tiny reflections leading him to…
Danny looked up, eyes widened. The stars…..they were here. They were real, floating above. His breath stilled. They were real and they shone above him. Brighter, more vibrant, more real than he’d ever imagined, ever dreamed.
His heart stirred, overwhelmed. He needed to get closer. All else forgotten, the mer-boy pulled himself onto the rocks. Arms and tail strained, slowly, slowly coming free of the water. Higher. Closer. Hand over hand, he climbed. The stars sparkled. They sang, calling him to come.
And Danny answered. Reaching the pinnacle, he laid on his back, head turned to the sky. He stared up. They were so beautiful…
The boy breathed slowly, lured into contentment. The air… so calm and still. So light, now that he was out of the water. He hadn’t even realized before, the weight that had barred down on him until now. Those tons and tons of water, an impossible mass, pressing down on him from the moment of his birth.
But now, his chest rose and fell effortlessly, somehow a thousand times easier than breathing water. His skin tingled, hypersensitive to the air’s feather light touches.
And still, he stared at the beautiful stars. Names and stories, half remembered from dreams played in his head. Polaris and Cassiopeia…
A subtle itch started in his dorsal fin.
Deneb and Sirius…
The middle joint of his tail, his fingers prickled.
Mars. Gemini….
His elbows, the scales lining his hips…
Jupiter. The Big Dipper….
They started to burn. Danny gasped, pulled away from the stars.
His skin itched, dry and his heart skipped a beat. Water dripped off, pooling under him. It wafted, trickling into the air and leaving him bare.
Danny paled. It… it couldn’t be.
An electric tingle, the whiff of ozone. An ache bloomed in his limbs. A fizzling pop.
His eyes popped, dread surging.
No. The boy rocked his hips. If he could just roll onto his stomach.... But his body failed him, refusing to even twitch. He…he couldn’t move.
His fingers felt light, sharp bubbles tickling his skin. No. No. No! Tucker’s words seeped into his brain.
“You dry up and suffocate if you go to the surface! You’ll turn into sea foam.”
His mind screamed. The surface. The surface. He’d willingly gone to the surface and… his body was parched. The foam ate at him. He was.. He was dying again.
His chest spasmed, part cry, part scream. He was an idiot. The stupidest mer to ever live. He’d… he’d done this on purpose and now he couldn’t move. His body burned, a thousand needles through his skin. He was turning into seafoam.
His eyes darted up. The stars… the stupid stars he’d dreamed off since he was little. They’d started this, luring him to that ravine in the first place. And now… they had the audacity to twinkle brighter than ever. They flickered as though seen through a mirage. A flash of blinding light consumed the world.
Danny screamed.
Hanging above him… feathers. White feathers. Colossal wings stretched across the sky. Thousands, millions of eyes stared down at him.
Panic. Terror. His dream. This was his.. his dream. Fire, burning. Uncaring eyes turning away, his soul ravaged. He was dead. He was an idiot. He fell for the trap. He was going to die.
And yet…
“Help me!” He cried.
Why was he begging? The Voice of the wind didn’t save. It condemned. It tricked. It consumed-
A song answered, beautiful, ethereal. The wind blew, ruffling the feather. Feathers that were reaching for him…
The boy recoiled, shaking with fear. But strong wings bolstered him, drawing him into the sky. He dangled, blood rushing through his ears. His eyes pinched closed. He… he couldn’t bear to look. He couldn’t. He was going to be dropped, dashed against the rocks. Crushed to death, eatened. His heart spasmed, straining against his sternum as if…. the thin gossamer of his soul, his very existence were hooked through and pulled from above.
His… his parents were right about wind spirits. And his friends…. he should have listened. He should have stayed away from the surface.
But now… now he was going to die and… and he never got to apologize to his friends for avoiding them. He never got to make up with his parents. Never got to tell Mom and Dad, Sam and Tucker, Jazz how much he loved-
Do not be afraid.
The Voice spoke and his fear died.
Slowly, Danny’s eyes opened. The light spilled in and he saw.
Do not be afraid, my child. Let yourself be re-made.
A tightness within the boy loosened and the hard barrier around his heart shattered. Something in him bloomed.
His self unwound, pieces pulled apart. He swirled, stretched so much wider and longer than before. And yet… still tiny in vast hands.
In a blink, Danny re-coalesced as something different. White feathers draped down his back, brushing against his clothing. He looked down. He hadn’t been wearing a shirt just a second ago. But… black fabric enrobed him, speckled with glowing silver dots. Stars…
From the end of his robe, knobby digits poked out. A sense of deja vu washing over him, the boy wiggled them. Like before, his tail was gone, replaced with two foreign limbs.
Legs. The Voice supplied. They are called legs. Though you don’t have much need for them now. A humored lithe.
Danny looked up, head tilted in question.
Unseen fingers brushed his feather, coaxing his wings to spread. New muscles in his back flexed. A breathy gasp caught in his throat as the new limbs unfurled to their full length.
His head turned to inspect, curious hand caressing his own feathers. They were soft, softener than his hair. And long. Each wing stretched far past the tip of his fingers, at least as long as he was tall.
Gentle hands brushed his wings again. Give them a try.
His dreams…. Flying above the clouds. It felt impossible. But… his wings beat gently at first, wind stirring. The movement felt surprisingly natural.
He flapped, wider, more energetic. Slowly, his form lifted, growing lighter.
He was doing it! He was flying! Danny spun in the air, grinning. He rose higher, gaze set on the clouds, on reaching closer.
The boy paused. He bit his lip, eyeing the Spirit. Not fearful or distrusting. But… a child, hesitant to leave his parents’ side and take wobbling first steps.
Go. Fly. I will be here.
With that calm reassurance, Danny nodded. He spread his wings and ascended. Rising rapidly, he left the surface behind. In moments, the cluster of rocks was a dim spot in the vast ocean.
Higher. Danny’s hesitant smile grew. He spun, first one loop. Then another and another and another, until he was laughing with glee.
“Wah who!” Danny found his voice. It carried on the wind, seeming to almost bounce off the sky.
And that sky… the stars hung above. Their melody sang through his veins louder than ever before. Lifting him higher and higher, his wings beat. His heart did too, light and free. The stars grew closer.
For an unknowable time span, Danny ascended. Spinning, swirling, twirling. He laughed, shouted, screamed for joy. His soul sang.
Finally…. at the top of the world. The boy spread his arms, head lifted. The wind streamed through his feathers and hair in a gentle familiar embrace. He bathed in the star's light. They shone, impossibly brighter, more vibrant, more real than he'd ever dreamed. Danny shone with them.
Slowly, his heart beat calmed, serene, at peace. His awed eyes fluttered closed, drinking in the feeling, the sound. And after a small eternity…
Danny exhaled, eyes opening. He looked down. The sea stretched far below him as far as the eye could see. Even with the supreme peace, the reality struck him. He was actually flying up here in the air. His chest rose and fell, no familiar flutter of gills but… something in his chest. Lungs, his mind supplied. He really could breathe the air.
He stared at his hands, a glow wafting around them. The feathers at the edge of his vision. Even the new familiar legs under him…
He was something different, something new.
His gaze flickered below. A white winged form hovered over the sea. Somehow he could tell… eyes fixed on him, patiently waiting for his return.
A hint of renewed worry stirred in his gut but with a sigh, Danny dove. Down to the One who had answers.
Between one blink and the next, feathers encapsulated his vision.
The boy pulled up short. He swallowed, voice stuttering. “Who… who are you? What are you?”
I am the Light of the sun, moon, and stars. The Voice of the wind. The Lines between the stars which mark the passage of Time. And I am the One who rescued you, who adopted you. Your Father, your Abba.
So many words, ideas… they clashed, wrapping around him. Danny’s mind swam, the edge of overwhelmed. “But… what are you?”
A hint of a chuckle sounded. Your mer parents would call me a wind spirit, though that is a very small, ill-fitting label for me, I think.
“You can say that again.” Danny muttered. Then he winced, half-ashamed to interrupt. “Sorry.”
But no reprimand came. Instead, the Voice softened. There is no need to apologize. I understand you are ill at ease. And I anticipate your next question. You wonder what you are.
Numbly, the boy nodded.
Well my child, simply, you are like me. Though lesser in magnitude, of course. You were born mortal after all.
Danny’s heart almost quaked. He’d already suspected it. Earlier he’d feared it but… “I'm a wind spirit.”
That you are. The Voice said kindly.
The boy’s fingers nervously ran through his hair. It was true. He was a spirit. A creature of myth and legend. His parents' obsession. “But… why? Why did you change me into… this?” He spread his arms, motioning to his wings. “Was this the price?” He swallowed.
In a way.The thing surrendered really was a portion of your mortality.
Danny blinked. “I don’t understand.”
One can not take spectral form while fully alive. And a spirit cannot be crushed by the depths. I simply hastened your transformation.
“Okay, so that's how you saved me from dying. But-” He cut himself off, eyes widening. “Wait, hastened? You said hastened.” Danny paled. “So this was always going to happen?”
It was always a large possibility. The Voice said.
The boy shook his head, heart aching. “You… you were always going to turn me into the thing my parents hate. Why? Why would you do that?”
I already said. It was to save your life. Wings reached forward to embrace him again.
Danny flinched back. “But… why were you there? Why… why me?”
The feathers retreated and somehow the tone softened even more. Allow me to reassure you. I will explain.
The light flared, great wings fluttering. Slowly the Spirit transformed. The shape changed as sky-wide wings lessened, reduced, shrank. Feathers dwindled, eyes closing and blinking away. The form became less gargantuan, less mind-boggling. It shifted into something familiar….
The boy blinked. “I…I’ve met you before.”
A figure suspended in the air in front of him. A blue-skinned man, red-eyed with tattooed lines.
Danny stared. “When I was a fry. You stayed with me until my mom found me.” He shook his head. “Why?”
The man smiled warmly, eyes soft. “You were a lost child. Of course I came to your aid.”
“I don't understand.” Danny paced the sky, part of him comforted by the reassurance but the rest… his brain anxiously churned with information. “I met you when I was little. And those dreams I've always had about the stars like… like..” “ His eyes widened, tracing the painted lines on the man's skin. “The marks on your skin.” He stopped abruptly. “It was you. All those dreams before.. you led me there. You were there in the ravine with me. I…. I was dying. But…” His brow furrowed. “You saved me. You keep calling me your child.” So much love communicated with every proclamation…. his insides almost melted at the word. “And you've still been talking to me through those dreams. But….” His heart hurt. “There was the one where I… I dissolved.”
“Your mind has been clouded with fear, Danny.” A comforting hand reached for him. “And fear is a powerful force. It quiets my Voice and brings doubt. It shields the truth, even warping it.”
Just moments earlier, Danny might have pulled away but… “And that truth is?” He relaxed at the gentle touch. “You picked me? Because you met me on the street as a child?” Not hostility, not accusation but… a wide eyed plea for understanding.
“I did. I chose you.” The Spirit nodded. “And I have chosen, am choosing, and will choose many more. I see the great wheel of Time and how it turns with the motions of the stars. And your kind, the mer, are precious to me among all things created.”
“Chosen?” Danny’s brow furrowed. “Chosen for what?”
“Life after dissolution. You came from the sea foam, the churning where the water and air collide. And so, you pass back into the air when your time comes.”
“So… everyone becomes spirits?”
“No, not everyone.” The man looked down, almost despondent. “Life is free to all but many refuse. They are too proud to be rescued by another’s power. Or too afraid to lose control and embrace the unknown.”
Danny blinked, yet another startling revelation hitting him. He still didn't understand, so many emotions and ideas swimming in his head. “Then…” This was all too much for him. “I'm not special.” Of all the questions to ask…
“I have said no such thing.” Finally, the Spirit drifted forward, his arms spread wide. “You are incredibly precious to me, my son.” Those arms wrapped around him.
Danny accepted the hug, head buried in his Abba’s embrace. “I still don’t get it.”
“You do not have to.” The Voice reassured. “Time and Existence are full of mysteries and you are still young.” Tone softening. “It is enough to trust in my care for now.”
Trust. The word repeated in Danny’s mind. Trust versus fear. Doubt versus belief. For so long, he had been pulled in two directions. The fear of the unknown, of the changes ravaging his body, of his mysterious, powerful savior… They warred with a desperate hope for something real. The light of the stars, the freedom of the wind, the love of a parent. He wanted to believe. He wanted to trust so badly.
Danny’s voice trembled, one last hint of fear. “You really… really love me?”
The hug tightened. “Yes, Danny. I love you.”
Yes. The boy’s eyes watered, overwhelmed. For a long time, he clung on, the watering escalating into tears. They streamed down his face, his body shaking.
Abba held Danny close to his chest, a hand cradling his head. The man gently shushed him, whispering sweet comforts.
Finally…. A wet, bubbling sound from below interrupted the moment. Slowly, reluctantly, Danny pulled away.
He looked down, brow wrinkling. “What was… that?” His eyes widened. Below, feather-like appendages waved out of the water. “My star-fishy buddy!”
Abba laughed. “They’re called a feathered star.” He waved a hand over the water, lines of light spirling from his fingers. As the tendrils stretched, they brush the surface. They twirled around the feathered-star, pulling it out of the water.
“What are you-” Danny started.
Then the light flashed and the creature changed. In a blink, a vague shape floated in front of the two. A glowing blue ball of light, blob-like with a fringed head and slender neck. It flew forward, nuzzling into Danny’s neck. A smooth, rounded bill peaked at his robe.
The boy laughed, rubbing the creature down the approximation of its back. “Well… I’m even more confused now.”
“I think it will become a sea duck, given time.” The Spirit smiled.
The animal settled onto Danny’s shoulder, purring softly. Abba held out an arm, drawing the boy back to his side.
“Would you like to continue our lesson?” The Spirit asked.
The boy nodded eagerly. “Yes!”
A hand guided his chin. “Again, that is the North Star, Polaris.” A blue finger pointed. “And this one…”
For minutes, hours, the sky turned. Pin-pricks of light, shooting stars, streamed across every so often as the position of the crescent moon shifted. Danny’s eyes followed each movement, wide with awe. His Father’s hand pointed to each star, painting the lines between them.
“These groups of stars which form different shapes in the sky, we call constellations.” The man explained. Stories rolled off of his tongue, perforating Danny’s brain.
The boy’s gaze traced the lines on his Abba’s skin. They were a symbol of those stories in the sky and their use to tell the progression of the seasons. The warmth in his chest buzzed pleasantly, pleased to finally understand. He snuggled into his parent’s side.
The sky lightened from dark, vivid blue to gray, the stars blinking out. Danny’s heart sank, for a moment disappointed. Then… the horizon changed. It shimmered, pastel orange and pink. Clouds drifted, reflecting the light.
The boy’s breath caught. The colors shifted, painting the sky. They melded, darkened, intensified. Slowly, a tiny sliver of gold breached the horizon. Danny’s heart stirred, taken by the scene. The sliver rose, growing into a circle of light.
Finally, the boy breathed out. His eyes fixed on the sunrise. It shone blindingly, golden tendrils touching every part of the world. All the while, Danny’s Abba held him.
An unknowable time later, the arms around him squeezed. “You should return home, little fledgling.”
The boy looked up. Home. Returning to the ocean floor hadn’t even crossed his mind but now… his heart throbbed. “I… I want to stay with you.”
Hands gently ruffled his hair. “It is not your time to dwell in the world above yet.”
“But….” The argument danced on his lips. How could he go back after all he’d seen, all he’d learned? His wings twitched, longing to spread. Abba released him. “I found you. You called me here. Home, to you. And I’m here. I found you. I..I can’t go back now, not after everything.”
“Seeing you here, at my side brings me such joy.” A hand cupping his face. “But below is still your home as well. Your friends and mer family need you.”
His wind spirit obsessed parents who ignore him? His nosy sister, too distracted fighting with their parents to notice him literally fading away? Danny shook his head. How could they need him?
And his friends? When he’d told them about Abba saving him, about the note and feather, they hadn’t understood, skeptical and mistrusting. No, more than that. They had been downright hostile. They’d stomped all over his burgeoning hope, the trust he was starting to place in the Voice who saved him.
And… the looks of terror on their faces. They’d seen him fading away, watched as he literally dissolved. And after-
Danny’s eyes popped widened. “Sam and Tucker… they saw me unravel. And… they told everyone. They must have. All the teachers and other kids saw them freaking out.” He paled. “They… what did they tell Mom and Dad?”
“You will not know unless you return.” Abba said.
The boy’s stomach twisted, dread rising. His parents faces’ flashed in his mind. Hard and angry, wielding harsh weapons and shouting about the dastardly spirit which stole their son. No spirit is going to touch my baby. The hatred in the words…. And now he was the very thing his parents despised.
Head down, the question came out painfully quiet. “Not knowing… Would that really be so bad?”
His Father’s voice rang with compassion. “That is not a question I can answer for you.”
Danny frowned, heart sinking. If Abba didn’t even know that answer, then what hope was there…
But the Spirit continued gently. “But consider those who love you. If you fail to return, they will also never know what became of you.”
The boy winced; he couldn’t help but imagine…. His mom on her knees, weeping into his favorite blanket. His dad and sister, packing up his belongings, expressions painfully tight, fighting to keep it together. His friends, huddled in a corner, trading harsh whispers and blaming themselves. All his loved ones, gathered around a stone, a memorial for him
That would be the reality, if he never came back. Grief and confusion. Unanswered questions and pain. His heart throbbed with guilt. How could he do that to them? And…
Those who love you. The words struck him. Mom and Dad, Jazz, Sam and Tucker- all his loved ones…. And those who loved him. The past bloomed in his mind's-eye. His sister asking if he was alright, gaze full of concern. His friends, though their eyes blown wide with fear, reaching for him as he dissolved. And… His parents. His mom’s voice trembling, full of tears. His dad’s arms, wrapped strongly around him, as if he would disappear.
Pain, an old bitterness, began to wane. “They all do love me. Mom and Dad really do care about me. But…” The boy bit his lip. Was that love enough?
It was as if Abba read his mind. “There is hope for your parents yet.”
Danny looked up, meeting reassuring eyes. The confidence in those words…. In his heart, that very hope flickered anew. The tension in his shoulders eased. He would never know if he didn’t return.
“Will I see you again?” Danny finally asked.
“Of course.” His Abba smiled, red eyes crinkling with the twitch of his lips. “You can fly with me whenever you wish.” The man leaned forward, “I am always only a shout, or a whisper, away.” A kiss planted on the boy’s forehead.
The younger spirit's heart squeezed. “I'll see you later then.” One last hug. “Love you, Abba.”
“And I you, my son.”
With that, the two parted. A few flaps and Danny drifted just above the surface. Wings folded and he dropped.
The ocean swallowed him. His feathers melted away, legging melding together and scales resurfacing in a familiar tingling pop.
Now a mer again, Danny sank below the surface. Tiny bubbles rose passed him. The blue sky shimmered, just visible through the water. Golden light perforated the depths. And directly above…
The flap of wings, first small and distant, grew louder. Light shone from the floating figure, swelling brighter, radiating, spreading pasted the mer-sized form.
Danny’s breath held, eyes widening. Great white wings, his own only a pale reflection, unfurled, stretching across the entire sky. Sparkling like stars in the night sky, countless eyes opened.
Above him, limited form gave way to majesty. Danny’s heart pounded, overcome. He felt small with such an immense gaze fixed on him, seeing all of him. And yet…
The Voice reverberated, singing over him. Every note rang of peace, reassurance, love.
The warmth in Danny’s chest echoed back, singing its own song of awe. There were no words for the feeling, for its magnitude, its depth. His Abba was so great and he was so small. And yet he was cared for so greatly.
Light flashed above the water, endless feathers disappearing in a cacophonous blast of wind. Only the sun hung in the sky. But still… Danny felt the kind smile, the gentle gaze fixed on him.
With his own smile, the mer-boy turned, swimming for the ocean floor. And in his heart, he knew; Everything was going to be alright.
