Disclaimer: I don't own DP

Thanks to Iblamepie and Galance for reviewing last time! I really appreciate it!

This chapter takes us to the very end of this story. I hope you enjoy!

Quantum Paradox

Chapter 21

Danny awoke in a cold sweat. The room before him was a bland white with soft curtains, and he gripped the bed sheets around himself instinctively. Bed sheets. A bed. Hotel.

Still in great confusion, the boy struggled up, feeling the stick of his sweat and the odd gasps of his own breath, as if he had been running a marathon. The sleek clock on the bedside table said it was eleven in the morning. The brochure for a job fair had a red circle around its start time—nine in the morning.

He held his chest as he closed his eyes, struggling to recalibrate. "What the hell," he gasped, nearly hyperventilating. "What the—?"

It all came back to him in a flood of images and sounds, like something between a dream and a memory.

He recalled his final conversation with Vlad, who had admitted to placing him in a simulation that had gone terribly wrong. Tears burned at his closed eyes as he inhaled shakily.

He was late for the job fair, just as Vlad had said he would be.

With disjointed movements, he untangled himself from the bedsheets. "Shit," he breathed. "I missed it. I actually did." At this point, the job fair would be over in a half-hour, which meant it would be pointless to even attempt trying to make it. He supposed that worked alright because he was two seconds from genuinely crying.

"Are you kidding me?" he cried softly to the ceiling. He stood from the bed but continued to lean on the comforter. The material felt thick and solid. Something about it felt real. He was desperate for anything real. "I actually missed it?"

Danny ran a hand through his hair. "Clockwork," he breathed suddenly. "Vlad said to go to Clockwork. I can do that."

Suddenly, he dematerialized, his body surging up through the roof of the hotel and out into the sunny air.

Soon enough, Danny appeared at the door of Clockwork's lair, hidden deep within the Ghost Zone. He flew through the threshold without so much of a warning, his green eyes searching.

A familiar, deep voice greeted him. "I assume you want proof that this is the true reality," said Clockwork, Master of Time. His voice was old and tired, and he faded into the room of clocks, where Danny floated in anxiety.

The boy was pale in fear. "Tell me something I don't know," he demanded. "Something Vlad wouldn't know either."

Clockwork hummed, looking away. "I do not blame you for testing me," he said. "After the events of the last several days, you must be very angry with me."

"That's one way to put it," Danny snarled, his voice still hitching.

The old ghost sighed and then said, "Very well. I shall reveal a secret that no one else knows. You can verify this with your sister when you see her. Jazmine Fenton has had several trysts with one Dashiell Baxter."

Danny paused, his face twisting. "…What."

"It will be quite embarrassing for her to admit," the ghost said, waving a hand. "She will demand to know how you discovered her, when she has been so very careful to hide it. I imagine this will, of course, not settle your fears right away."

The boy had a shocked and disgusted look on his face. "My sister wouldn't date that—that thing that—"

"—Sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction," Clockwork cut in tiredly. "But I assure you, that's something you would never even think to suspect, is it not?"

Danny hesitated again, face still in a twist. "No."

"Then you have your evidence." The old ghost sat down in wooden chair, leaning forward on his scepter. "These thoughts are not stemming from your own mind, which means you are in a true reality."

"And if you're the true Clockwork, then you know why I'm here," Danny said. His voice wavered.

"I do."

"Then why did Vlad lie?" he asked, voice quiet and soft. He was trying to hold himself together but was failing. "After the simulation, he said I would have gone insane—that wh-when everyone dies, I'll get left behind."

"Danny," Clockwork said softly. "In any timeline where Sam Manson dies as a young woman, you turn to darkness. Vlad's simulation brought that out in you. The train crash and Sam's death and every event in the simulation was but an illusion—but on several occasions, Vlad attempted to bring you out of the simulation, and you attacked him. The simulation wiped your mind of that, which is why your memories feel so…fragile."

Danny swallowed hard. He began to hyperventilate. Clockwork wouldn't lie to him. "I what?"

"Vlad, for all of his own darkness, hoped to find family in you. Not even he expected the results of that simulation." Clockwork said, "or the revelations he'd have of your fears." The ghost paused. "It quite terrified him, to see you become so…unbalanced."

"Are you defending him?" Danny demanded in fear.

Clockwork cut in, "I disagree with his measures. I find him abhorrent—a sad and terrible waste of potential. However, he did discover a weakness of yours, and I cannot fault him for that."

Danny stepped forward, a hysteric entering him. "What, that I love people? That I care when they die?" His eyes brightened hard with tears. "Vlad made up shit—he made up so much shit."

"Do try to keep calm," Clockwork reminded him.

"He said I'd never see them again," the boy cried. "That once they die—I won't die, and I'll never see them—!"

Clockwork sighed and grew into an old man, tired. "—There are many ways you might die in the future, as there are for everyone. As your human side ages, so will your ghost side, just as you have seen this in Vladimir Masters. And when your human half dies, you will have enough stored energy to continue powering your core. Or you may choose to fade out along with your human side, which would only require that you do not intake energy from around you. The choice will be yours, and only yours, to make. Vlad, in his ignorance, simply doesn't understand that he has a choice as well."

"But what about the other side?" Danny begged. "Will I make it to the other side, just like them? If I can die, it means I'll see them again, right?"

Clockwork chuckled—a soft, indulgent sound. "You believe me to be a god of sorts. Daniel, my powers are constricted to worlds with time. What you are suggesting is an existence not only outside of a certain timeline but also outside of the very dimension of time itself. That is inherently outside of my power. I am not omnipotent and omnipresent."

"You mean you don't know for sure?" Danny asked incredulously, wiping his eyes.

"No one knows of the great beyond," the Master of Time said. "Only those who have passed before us. But you should not allow fear of the future to control your present, in which your friends and family are alive and well."

The boy looked entirely haunted. "Are they well?" he begged softly. "And for how long? I mean, if I'm just gonna lose them—at some point or another—"

Clockwork stood from his chair, his old form towering over that of his charge's. "—Daniel," he said gently. "We are always frightened by what we do not understand. You cannot allow your fear of the future to hinder your enjoyment of the present, which is full of bright and happy things if you let it be."

"But Sam," his voice hitched. "I mean, what if I only have 50 years? And that's it—forever?"

"You do not know if that is the end," Clockwork pressed. He softly patted Danny's shoulder, almost in a fatherly way. "Dear child, you are allowing unfounded fears to control you. Energy cannot be created or destroyed. In ways, we all go on, even if we do not understand exactly how."

The boy's breath hitched as he cried tears before his mentor. "I can't lose anyone," he whispered. "I just can't."

"I am aware," Clockwork said dryly. He pulled away from Danny, his eyes softer than his tone. "That is why you are under my care—to ensure that you live a full and good life, and that you use your gifts well. A part of that is helping you to keep your family and friends safe."

"B-but…why did you allow this, then?" Danny begged. "I saw Sam die, and it was so ugly—again and again."

"I would have preferred to avoid allowing you further hardships, but you had to realize your fears. As a result, you can work to control them. Likewise, Vlad had to realize that his futile attempts should be put to rest." Clockwork waved his hand at the portals. "He knows how dangerous it is to trifle with your future now. He will likely leave you alone for a long time. You scared him. And even more, you made him think."

The younger ghost fell silent at that, feeling distant with himself.

Clockwork leaned on his scepter and said, voice slow and gentle, "I can…repress certain memories, regarding Sam, if you'd like. You will not forget the general experience in that simulation, but I can remove the images of her."

Danny's green eyes flickered up to him, watery and wide. "Please," he begged. "For the love of god, please."

The old ghost paused, searching his charge's eyes. And then he gently placed his fingertips against Danny's temple, closing his eyes. He eased into Danny's memories and closed the door to the puzzle piece Sam, and the funeral, and the vault and cemetery, blocking it off so that the images would be things at the tip of the boy's tongue—something Danny simply would not be able to recall.

As Clockwork slowly shut the doors, Danny's face slowly lost some of its tension. He closed his eyes and dared to ask, "Why do you defend Vlad at all? You say he's a waste, but you just turn your eye from him."

Clockwork gave him a tired smile. "If you could understand the cycle of evil, and one day you will, you will understand that all perpetrators are victims too." He paused. "Not that Vlad should be allowed to let this cycle continue."

One Samantha Manson swung in a hammock in the backyard of her parent's house, reading an old book. She had earbuds in, listening to an old metal rock song, but she felt goosebumps on her skin. Looking up, she noticed one Danny Fenton materializing from the bushes, still wearing old jeans and a wrinkled shirt.

Her beautiful face lit up. "Danny!" She pulled out her earbuds and surged off the hammock, tossing her book aside.

The boy reached out to her with silent abandon, pulling her into his arms tightly and hiding his face within the smooth strands of her hair.

Sam sunk into his embrace in great contentment. "How did it go?"

"I don't know," he whispered, closing his eyes.

"Did you get any job offers?" she asked. "Get any interviews?" Her thin fingers ran up to the back of his head, a spark of concern weaving into her. He hadn't combed his hair that day, which was odd for someone just coming back from a job fair.

He hesitated, unable to fathom that very little time had passed for her, whereas he felt the advanced passage of time in Vlad's simulation. "I—" He pulled away, only to stroke her face. "I just…missed you." A lump rose in his throat. "I didn't go."

Her purple eyes focused on his in increasing concern, noting the haggard look to him. "What? Why?" She gave him a soft, concerned stare as she stroked her fingers down his face. "You've been looking forward to that job fair for months. You said NASA was going to be there."

"I know," he whispered. "But I—Sam, I…" he trailed off, unable to speak words. His throat tightened again. He managed only to pull her back into an embrace. "I don't wanna leave you."

Sam began to catch on that Danny was struggling with something heavy. She hugged him back tightly. "It's okay," she told him. "Whatever this is, it's okay."

His breath hitched, his voice a vibration in her hair. "Is it?" he breathed. "I saw this world where you weren't in it. It was scary, Sam. It was so scary."

The lines of her body melted against his with a familiar ease. "Oh, Danny," she whispered, a dreadful amusement on her face. "You worry about everything."

He swallowed hard. He ran his hands down her back, feeling the breath in her and the beat of her heart. He could still feel the anxiety from the simulation, even though he could no longer recall Sam's dead face from it. "I know," he finally whispered.

Sam's voice was muffled against his chest. "You're always worrying about things."

"I know."

"You're ridiculous sometimes," she whispered. "And I love you for it."

His heart melted, and he held her tighter, not wanting to ever let her go. "I love you too."

This reality he found himself in, if it were the true one, seemed nice enough. Sam was alive and well. He himself wasn't kidnapped anymore. The universe didn't seem to be hiding any great secrets beyond his sister having an affair with a jock idiot. It struck him that he quite liked this place. Maybe everything would be okay in this reality, if he didn't wake up from it.

He tried to squish that thought, but it remained in the back of his head like a burning ember, to itch at his thoughts whenever he let them wander.

Meanwhile, one exhausted and haunted Vladimir Masters sat in the silence of his mansion, holding a singular glass of wine. He sat cross-legged on the floor besides the remains of his simulator, his gaze locked upon it. "I couldn't stop it," he murmured in awe. "His anger—and pain—" he took another hesitant drink. "So raw. Like a battering ram."

As he muddled through his thoughts, something else began to happen.

"Vladimir Masters," came an old, aged voice.

He looked up in surprise.

Before him, a powerful ghost materialized, bearing dark purple robes and a scar over one of his red eyes.

"My name is Clockwork," the ghost said. "I am the Master of Time."

Vlad paused for a moment, and then he raised his wine glass, a wry smile on his face. "Ah, so the great guardian exists after all. And here I thought you would be mentoring your young ward, instead of paying me a visit. To what do I owe the honor?"

Clockwork did not seem so amused with his careless tone. "I think it's time we had a chat, particularly over your dangerous ignorance." Before Vlad could speak, the ghost added, "And to run a simulation of my own, in hopes that we might...address your insanity as well."

A/N: Thus ends Quantum Paradox, for any souls who might still want to enjoy this old story. In my original plotline, this isn't exactly how I imagined it would go, but I had something similar in mind. I feel pretty good about it, but I'll also admit that I'm just tired.

Thank you again to NeoRetro10K for creating this story's cover art. And thank you to all who have read, reviewed, or placed this story on your alerts or favorites. I appreciate your support!