The tower hadn't been that far away from the battle field. As such, she'd seen it all. She had seen every hit, every blow and every move that Danny had made. Sam watched in horror as Danny killed Vlad, and cheered when he seemed to have the upper hand against Pariah and the Fright Knight.

Now, however, she was watching in horror as Pariah held Danny above the crowd. "This is the ghost who thought he could rule." Sam's ears starting ringing and her heart rate picked up. She could see Danny scrambling against the hand around his neck. She could see the panic in his face, even from this distance. She didn't know what to do or say that would make this better. "This is the ghost who thought he could take my power."

Sam shook her head. Danny hadn't thought that! It was Vlad—Vlad had wanted those powers. Vlad had stolen the crown and ring and had used them against humanity. She wanted to say as much. She wanted to be her old self, the strong and confident Sam who would have never let this happen. But as it was, she could only watch in horror as everything played out. "Let this be a lesson. And learn from this lesson that no one can rule but me."

Sam heard Danny's neck snap from where she stood. She leaned out the window, watching in horror as the now human boy fell limply from Pariah's hold. He was heading head first to the ground. "Danny!" She screamed, leaning out the window and watching him fall. "Danny no!"

How could this have happened!? He was Danny Phantom! There was nothing that could stop him! He was a hero!

She felt the tears rolling down her cheeks as she climbed onto the ledge of the window. She told herself it was to get a better view. To see what happened. She knew she was lying.

Pariah was talking again. He was ranting about how this was the new order. That he was the new ruler. Sam wasn't listening. Her eyes drifted over the crowd of cowed and terrified people. She watched Maddie run up to Danny, could hear her apologies. Sam knew it was enough. Danny would forgive her. He always forgave her.

Pariah sent a warning blast at Maddie, trying to force her away from the fallen prince. But she wouldn't budge. She was screaming her sorrow, sobbing that it wasn't fair. That Danny shouldn't have been taken. Sam turned her tear stained face away.

She couldn't live like this. There was no Danny. Pariah Dark was going to rule. He would be a worse King than Vlad.

Her body went numb. She couldn't handle this anymore. Taking a deep breath and sending out a silent plea of forgiveness, Sam closed her eyes and walked forward off of the window ledge.

She pretended she was flying in Danny's arms as she fell. She pretended that everything was alright. The fall killed her instantly, she knew. But somehow she was still flying. She pretended that the warm presence next to her was Danny.

She was happy now.

And that's how it all played out. Clockwork turned away from his viewing portal as the screen cracked. The glass shattered and the mist that swirled inside was released to the air. That time line had come to pass, and that timeline had now finished. The viewing portal had broken because it was the end of humanity. The ghosts would rule and the humans would die, but it was not the only outcome available.

Behind him, he could hear the Observants ranting about some thing or another. Probably Dan Phantom again, but Clockwork didn't really care. He never listened to them anyways. He turned his tired eyes towards another viewing screen.

This portal showed a battle. Danny Phantom was fighting some feral ghosts. Though the halfa didn't know it, there was a news van parked nearby that had gotten footage of his transformation. Clockwork knew that that footage would be the end of Danny.

He watched this one in rapt interest. If this timeline played out the same as the other he'd just finished watching, then that time line would come to pass. If there was one small difference, if the Wind came from the North instead of the West, or if Danny was punched to the left instead of the right, then maybe things would change.

Clockwork knew what was going to happen. It was very very rare that he was caught off guard; though it was not unheard of. "Are you listening, Clockwork?" He chose to ignore the Observants, watching carefully as a stray ectoblast flew towards the news van.

A smug smile grew on Clockwork's lips. This was how it was supposed to be. He watched as the blast hit the van's engine, causing the whole vehicle to go up in a massive ball of fire. He knew that the two news reporters inside –one an intern and the other days away from retirement—had died instantly in the inferno, taking Danny's secret with them.

He knew this would cause trouble for this time line's Danny. He knew that Danny would blame himself for their deaths and quite possibly go into a severe depression. But he also knew that it was much better than what had already happened. He knew that Danny would rather it be this way. Would have rather lost two humans than his whole family.

But the boy would never listen to that reasoning.

So Clockwork turned away from the screen, not watching as Danny found the van and the charred bodies inside. "I'm listening," the Master of Time muttered angrily. The Observants were so impatient.

"It did not seem like it, Clockwork. You know this is dreadfully important." The time controlling ghost merely chuckled.

"Every moment in time is important," He muttered, twirling his staff in his fingers impatiently. "Everything is done for a reason. For a lesson." Behind him he could hear Danny's wail of terror and sadness, and he smiled to himself.

Danny would not have to go through that horrible time line. His secret was safe until he chose to release it. Any time line where Danny willingly chose to tell his family was one where he was safe. If his secret was revealed forcibly, or by someone else's intervention, Danny was in danger.

An Observant huffed. Clockwork was a constant headache for them, but it wasn't like they could just fire him. "We have to talk about Dan Phantom—"

"Really?" Clockwork was exasperated. "Is there nothing else we can talk about?"

"Well we could talk about that time line you just let happen—"

"I did not let it happen. It had to happen." Clockwork corrected patiently. It was like dealing with children.

"You had to let those innocents die?"

"It prevented Dan Phantom didn't it?" The Observants paused, looking at one another and exchanging silent messages that Clockwork really didn't care to decode. As long as Dan Phantom was prevented, the Observants didn't really care about much else. They pretended they did, however.

"We suppose but—"

"No buts." Clockwork grinned when he saw how frustrated he was making his 'bosses'. They did not like being interrupted. "Dan Phantom was prevented, and that was the only task I was assigned. The boy is my responsibility, remember? This is what happened. He might not have survived it, but there was no chance of him becoming Dan Phantom."

The Observants narrowed their eye, studying Clockwork, trying to figure out how they could get around this and yell at the time ghost. "He was still—"

"No." Clockwork waved a hand. "It was prevented. Besides." He waved at the new time line, speeding it up to show them that nothing bad happened in it. "It did not come to pass after all."

Giving up, the Observants hounded him with questions about this new time line, mentioning how something could happen that would upset the whole balance, but Clockwork merely shrugged it off. He had no time for their petty arguing.

Eventually, the ghosts left. Clockwork sighed and turned back to his portal. "Everything is how it should be." He sped up the screen, leaping it ahead decades. He watched Danny hold his first born child, kissing Sam on the forehead as he rocked the baby.

Clockwork smiled, everything was going to be just fine.