Merry Christmas! I said I'd be back, and here I am… with 14k of fic for you.

I wrote most of it in two days. Fear me. It's even longer than the Connections update.

My favourite Arc continues, with some good old fashioned breakdowns, hard-hitting insults, bad plans, characters that are an absolute blast to write, plot info, referenced torture, and a moment of implied cannibalism…?

Honestly, I'm not sure how that last one happened.

Onwards!

Part 11;

Danny hit the half-melted snow with a painful splat and spent a good minute lying there in pain. Eventually though, he pulled himself off Tardis and pocketed his cell phone. She didn't move at all, and after an awkward moment of hesitation, Danny rolled her through the slush and dumped her behind someone's shed.

In his defense, he still really didn't like her.

Danny turned around, trying to examine the strange new place he'd been dropped in and really, really regretting giving Isaac his boots.

It was a shared backyard between two incredibly fancy houses, with hedges surrounding them instead of fences. In addition, there was a huge, sweeping forest behind them. Everything was covered in a layer of half melted snow. One tree, however, had apparently decided that it didn't want to be in the forest and was instead right in the middle of the yard. Someone had built a treehouse into it, with a ladder built into the tree to get into it. It'd be great for kids to play in; whoever owned these houses were definitely awesome people in Danny's book.

The door on the house farthest to him swung open and a little boy ran down the front steps. "Gwen! Grandma made cookies! They came to life and Nana got super-" The child stopped abruptly, staring at the base of the tree.

Danny followed his gaze to see the limp form of a little girl leaning against it.

Danny made it to her side seconds after the little boy did. He dropped down beside her, trying to figure out why the little girl wasn't moving.

She wasn't injured; there was no blood or bruises anywhere on her pale skin, and her breathing was normal. Her brown hair was in curly, slightly uneven pigtails, but didn't seem to be at all messy. Her bright green jacket wasn't zipped up, but that couldn't be an issue; it was perfectly warm enough for that. The only other thing that caught Danny's eye was a purple stone, crudely tied black string to make a necklace. It was kind of pretty, he guessed, but it didn't explain why she was lying there.

Danny looked back at the shaking little boy, and couldn't shake the feeling that his black hair and purple eyes were familiar. Do I know anyone with that appearance besides Sam? Her cousins, maybe? Not important. "Hey," Danny said softly, so he wouldn't spook the child, "What's your name?"

"Dylan," The child whispered.

"Cool; my name's Danny." He looked back at the girl, "Is this your friend?"

"Gwen," Dylan said, "Her name's Gwen. Gwenyth Vivienne Baxter."

"Cool, that's- wait." Danny's head shot up and he turned to stare at Dylan, "Baxter?"

Dylan nodded, took several steps back, and took a deep breath in. His hands shook as he shouted. "Steven your sister's not moving!"

From inside the treehouse, there was a shout of "What?!" and another little boy poked his head out of the treehouse's door.

He looked almost exactly like a shorter-haired Gwen and appeared to be about the same age. Were they twins, then?

"Who is that?!" Steven shouted, and nearly threw himself out of the treehouse. Danny jumped to his feet on reflex, about to grab the child, but someone beat him to the punch.

Peter, his red-headed future son, along with his friends Joseph and Mary, had caught the dangling child. And they were all staring at him.

"Forest spirit," Peter whispered. "He's real! Mary, pay up!"

"Hey," Danny said awkwardly. "Uh… I am in fact real. Were you gambling about that?" He raised an eyebrow, "You're like, nine."

Steven twisted out of Peter's grip, landed in the soft snow beside his sister, and instead of checking on her immediately shoved Dylan back. "What did you do?!"

"I didn't do anything!" Dylan shoved him now, "Don't push me!"

While the little boys- they had to be around four or five- argued, Danny looked up at the older three. "Hey, uh, shouldn't we do something about…" He motioned to Dash's daughter.

The very idea of Dash as a parent was horrifying, not to mention the fact that he was apparently Danny future self's neighbor.

"You're real," Peter had a huge grin that was fairly similar to the one Danny could recall seeing in old pictures of himself. He has my smile!

Danny grinned back, "That I am." I can make dad jokes. I can make so many dad jokes.

"My dad said you weren't real," And now the grin was gone. Thanks, future me. "And if you were, then you were a flicker so that it didn't matter."

I have no idea what that is but I think I should be offended.

"How did you leave the forest?" Mary asked, looking very judgemental for a nine-year-old. "We thought you couldn't."

"Why did it take you four months to show up?" Joseph asked, "And why is the first thing you do injure her?"

"Hey! I didn't hurt anyone!" Danny protested, and flinched when Steven yelled at Dylan again.

…When Dash's kid yelled at his.

Danny stepped between the two, looking down at them both with crossed arms and a disappointed expression. "Are the two of you babies?"

"No!" Steven snapped.

"Kinda?" Dylan said, looking up at Danny in confusion.

Am I being sassed by a four-year-old? Who taught him how to be sassy? Danny sighed and shook his head. "You know what I mean. Use your words, and talk calmly. There's no need to fight." He stepped back and lifted Gwen out of the snow. "Anyway, we have a bigger issue. Let's focus on that, okay?" He smiled at the five children.

Dylan turned slowly back to Steven. "We have to use our words," He said calmly.

Steven's grin was very, very concerning. "Oh, our words!"

"Mommy!" Dylan screeched.

"Papa!" Steven screamed.

Danny turned quickly to the right as Dash's future door opened to reveal… Kwan?

The door to his own future house remained closed. Danny was sincerely disappointed.

Future Kwan was staring at him, and Danny raised an eyebrow at the man's kiss the cook apron. After an awkward moment of staring at each other, Danny pulled his phone from his pocket and snapped a picture. Hah, blackmail.

Kwan pointed a wooden spoon at him. "Get away from my kid!"

Danny looked down at Steven in confusion. "Wait, I thought they were siblings?"

"Get away from my daughter!" Kwan threw the spoon away and charged at him.

"Whoa, whoa- what?" Danny stepped back. I should listen. He could break me.

He gently set Gwen back down in the snow and took several steps away, watching with his hands in the air as Future Kwan stopped beside his daughter. He took several more steps back when the man glared at him.

"Look, she's fine, I didn't do anything, everything's fine…" Kwan stood up with the little girl in his arms and Danny took several more steps back. "Everything's fine, we're all fine!"

"Don't kill him!" Peter called down, "That's the forest spirit who saved us!"

"There, see?" Danny pointed a pair of finger guns at Kwan, "Not a bad guy, pretty decent dude, just trying to help!" I don't like this. This is too weird. I need to get out.

Kwan opened his mouth to say something, and Danny took that as his cue. He turned on his heel and launched himself over the hedge behind them.

Danny rolled down a slope, coating himself in mushy snow before landing in freezing mud. Hands beyond numb, he phased out of the muck and switched to his ghost form. Find Clockwork, go home. Find Clockwork, go home.

He could hear shouting from up the back, some from his future neighbors and some from the family he wanted to know more about. Danny had so many questions- he wanted to know everything about his children- but it would be better if he didn't look into it. He didn't want to ruin this future. Don't think about it. Find Clockwork, go home. Come on Fenton, you can do this.

He took off blindly into the forest before the temptation could pull him back.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny's escape flight was cut short when pins and needles coated his body, and barely a second later he felt like he was being electrocuted. He turned back to his human form and crashed through several branches before hitting the ground.

"Why?" He hissed, and after testing to make sure no part of him was broken, slowly sat up. "I should not have survived that." His breath came out in a cold puff, and Danny hesitantly looked around for anything that could've triggered his ghost sense.

A growl from above and a huge droplet of drool which landed on his head answered that question quickly.

"Hi Cujo," He said. Danny stood up slowly and started to scratch the ghost dog under his chin.

The ghost dog replied by enthusiastically panting and attempting to sit in Danny's lap, knocking the hybrid flat on his back.

"Cujo, no," Danny laughed as he tried to squirm free, "You're not a lapdog!"

"Cujo, off."

The dog switched to his smaller form and moved to the left. Danny sat up and looked in the direction he had gone, staring up at the dog's owner.

That is, staring up at himself.

"The suit's different," Danny said, slowly standing up. Why would he make the symbol green? "Uh, your collar looks like it's made of piano keys. Or is that metal?" It occurred to Danny that he should stop criticizing his future self's fashion choices.

Future Danny stared down at him, "What are you?"

"Uh… isn't it obvious?" Danny switched to his ghost form and morphed his legs into a spectral tail. "Ta-da? Jazz hands?" He started to do said motion before abruptly stopping, "Oh man if she's here that's going to be super weird."

"She's not here," Future Danny said calmly.

"Oh, good." Danny clapped his hands together, "You know, you're really calm about all this." He stuck out his bottom lip, "Wait, is it 'cause you don't-"

"It's because I don't believe you."

Danny snapped his fingers into a pair of finger guns and pointed them at his future self. "Eyyyy, same thought! Good job, future me!"

Future Danny looked incredibly frustrated, "If you were my past self, I would remember this happening!"

"Yeah, unless someone took your memories away." Danny grimaced, "Oh I hope that's not a thing that happened…"

Future Danny crossed his arms. "If you are my past self- which I still don't think you are- how did you get here? You don't have one of Clockwork's medallions or anything like that."

"Well, Clockwork didn't send me; I came here by accident." At his future self's confused look, Danny tried to ignore the twisting concern in his gut that maybe his memory loss theory had some validity. "I uh, fell in portal while trying to stop a time traveling murderer then broke us both out of prison because Walker was torturing her."

Future Danny tented his fingers in front of his mouth and took a deep breath in before pointing them at Danny. "You broke a time traveling murderer out of prison?"

"Hey, Walker was torturing her. What was I supposed to do?"

"Leave her!" Future Danny snapped, "If she was a murderer, why would you bring her here?!"

"You think I planned this?" Danny snapped back, "Look, I don't want to do this time travel shit anymore! I just want to go home!"

There was a moment of awkward silence before Future Danny said "What do you mean, anymore?"

Danny floated back a bit.

"It's you, isn't it? You're the reason Clockwork's locked his doors." He moved forwards, and Danny bumped into a tree. "You're one ripping holes in the universe!" A pause, "And you're using my appearance to do it."

Danny made a face, "Dude, come on, you're me. Don't be like this."

"I won't let you hurt my family," Future Danny said, "I won't-" His form collapsed into itself, ectoplasm staining the snow, and leaving Tardis standing with an outstretched hand on the other side.

"Huh," She said, "That was easier than I thought it'd be." She stepped in the ectoplasm to reach Danny's side. "Did you fuck up your legs or something?"

"What? No," His spectral tail split back into his regular legs, "Is he…?"

"A duplicate?"

"I was going to say dead."

"He's a duplicate; it doesn't matter." She glared up at Danny and jabbed his chest with a finger. "Now unleash us."

Danny pushed her hand away. "I have no idea what that means."

"Cut the act; you and that creepy prison guy leashed us! Just burn whatever part of you he leashed so I can just fucking leave already."

"As tempting as you leaving sounds," Danny said, "I still have no idea what you're talking about. Also, where's Cujo?"

Tardis pulled away from him and once again, drool landed on Danny's head.

"Ah," He said, looking up at the growling dog, "Found him." He reached up to pet the dog, only for Cujo to snap at his hand.

"Move!" Tardis shouted, grabbing Danny by the wrist and dragging him deeper into the forest.

"Whoa, hey- hey, let go of me! Hey!" He shot an ectoblast at her ankles, tripping her and sending them both tumbling down a bank. Once again, Danny found himself lying in freezing mud and slush, but this time the thin ice covering a pond was only a foot away.

Danny yanked his hand away from Tardis and glared at her, lighting his hands up with ectoplasm when she glared back.

"Leave me the hell alone," He hissed.

"If that was an option, I would." She narrowed her eyes, "The last thing I want to do is spend the next month stuck like this."

"Whoa, whoa- a month?!" He floated up and away from her, "Screw this. Screw you! I'm going to find a portal and go home." He started to fly over the pond.

"Would you let me finish?!" Tardis shouted after him.

"No! I don't care!" Halfway over the pond, Danny spun around and screamed at her. "You literally killed Isaac just for caring about me! You're a horrible person the world would be better off if you had never been born!"

"Don't you think I know that?!" Tardis shouted back.

"Oh no, you're not about to guilt me into dealing with you!" Danny fired an ectoblast at her, and Tardis rolled out onto the pond to escape. "I'm done! I saved you from Walker, so leave me alone! I just want to go home!"

"You think it's that easy?!" Tardis shouted back, jumping to the side when a thin patch of ice cracked under her feet. "If there was a way to stop this stupid time travel then I'd have used it years ago! You're never getting home! You're stuck bouncing through the Timelines, just like me!"

"I'm nothing like you!" His ectoblast hit her in the chest. She slid back, the thin ice of the shallow water cracking under her. Danny floated closer to her and looked down at the ghost. "Once I get back into the Ghost Zone I'm going to find the Master of Time and tell him all about you." She looked up at him with terrified eyes, but Danny barely noticed. "Isaac is the last person you will ever hurt."

Tardis shifted onto her knees. "I'll die before I let him touch me again." Her palms shot out and wrapped around Danny's ankles.

Danny crashed onto the ice and screamed as she peeled back his flesh, layer by layer, piece by piece. Her nails dug into his leg as her palms sunk deeper down, making Danny's world nothing but pain and screams.

Tardis pulled her hands off him when Danny was forced back into his human form. Half wheezing in pain, Danny tried to pull away from her.

The thin ice of the pond cracked under him and the freezing water swallowed Danny whole.

It was dark and disorienting, but it numbed the pain in his ankles. Danny sunk deeper- or maybe floated up?- and turned slowly in the water. It was hard to feel anything; it was so cold. His fingers seemed to have disappeared, even though Danny swore he could see them a few inches away from his face…

The water rippled, tiny currents hitting his skin. Danny found himself turning, and he looked up at Tardis. Her blue dress spread out in the water around her, and one hand covered in sparking blue energy was holding tightly onto a purple stone, crudely tied with black string to make a necklace. The other was reaching out for him, and the fingertips grazed his chest.

The pond exploded around them.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Sam pulled Tucker along behind her. "You said you wanted to come!"

"You never said we'd be going back to a hospital!" He whined, causing a blonde-haired doctor to turn his way.

Sam held the Infi Map tighter and made a motion that she hoped would get Tucker to lower his voice. It had been surprisingly easy to convince Frostbite to let them use the map. Still, Sam didn't know when they'd get another chance like this. Tucker couldn't ruin it. "We can't exactly corner him at his house! This is the earliest point in time we could reach where it makes sense to talk to him."

"How do you even know he's here?!" Tucker continued to whine, "What were you doing at the hospital?!"

She dragged him around the corner just as her past self threw her salad over Isaac.

Sam's gut twisted, and she nearly fell forwards. She was dimly aware of Tucker asking if she was okay as she used his shoulder for support.

The feeling faded after a long minute, and Sam straightened up. "What the hell just happened?"

"Maybe you can't be in the same room as your past self?" Tucker offered. "Isaac left, by the way. Looks like we'll have to pick another point in time to bother him!" He started to walk out of the hospital.

Sam caught Tucker by the back of his shirt. "He's got to be here. Try to find his sister."

"Which one?"

"No idea."

"We can't just stand here," Tucker said, "Let's look somewhere else, or at least get something to eat. I'm starving!"

"You're always starving. We're trying to find information to save Danny, remember? Not lunch." She caught sight of a Styrofoam cup, and Sam recalled how Isaac had abandoned his food when she had moved tables. His food's still here. "Maybe he's in the bathroom. Let's go check." She continued to drag Tucker as they crossed the eating area.

The bathroom was mostly empty, but Sam could hear muttering coming from within. She shoved the Infi Map into her coat pocket and peaked around the corner. Isaac stood in front of a mirror, picking lettuce and croutons out of his hair.

"Fucking shoot me," He muttered, "Time to step in front of a truck. That's definitely how you talk to people, definitely- god, I'm so bad at things. Why am I so bad at literally everything?" He put a hand on his face.

Depressing, Sam thought, and felt Tucker brush past her.

Tucker reached out and pulled a tomato out of Isaac's hair. "Let me help you out there, pal."

Isaac screamed, cartwheeled on the counter around Tucker, and nearly crashed into a paper towel dispenser. His eyes were huge and his breath came in short, ragged gasps.

"Sorry," Sam said, and stepped into the bathroom, "Did he scare you?"

"Yes," Isaac placed one hand over his heart and the other on the counter to steady himself. "Jesus, okay, okay…" He took a deep breath in and pointed at Tucker. "Are you a ghost?"

Tucker frowned, "No?"

"Are you sure?" Isaac narrowed his eyes, "Because last time I saw you you were pretty damn dead."

"He's not a ghost," Sam said. "And he wasn't dead. Isaac, we have some questions for you."

"Oh, sure, now you want to talk. What, are you going to throw a moldy baguette at me next?" He crossed his arms, and a piece of lettuce landed on his shoulder. "And that's not even getting into the whole giving me a heart attack in the boys' bathroom thing or the fact you've completely changed your outfit in the three minutes since I last saw you. Have you maybe considered that I don't want to talk to you?"

"Then talk to me," Tucker said.

"Haha, no," Isaac had flattened himself against the wall, "You might be dead. I've got enough problems without talking to dead people."

"Enough," Sam said, "I'm sorry I threw salad at you, okay? If it makes you feel better, I'll answer your questions about Danny."

"Do you people not speak English? N-O. Noooooooo." Isaac pried himself off the wall, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to find my sister, go home, and force my cat to love me."

Sam was done. She was done with the questions, done with the time travel, and done with letting people get away before they told her what was going on.

She grabbed Isaac's arm as he tried to push past her. "Who is Infinite Hour?"

"Let go of me!"

"Answer my question and I'll consider it."

"I don't know!" Isaac snapped, "I've never heard that name before!"

"Funny," Tucker said, "Because he knows a lot about you."

"I don't know anyone named Infinite!" His breath was coming in short, ragged gasps again, "Look, just let me go, I don't care what's going on-"

"Why were you so interested in Danny?" Sam cut him off.

"I'm not- I'm not!" His hands were shaking and his words steadily came out faster, "I just- I don't know- Mom told me to leave ghosts alone so I started looking into Danny Phantom, okay? It's to spite her, okay?! And I hurt your friend but everything went to shit before I could apologize which sucks because he seems like a pretty cool dude and I really want to get to know him- there! Okay! Please, just let me go!"

Sam did. Isaac stood there for a second, staring at her, before he ran out of the bathroom.

"You definitely went too far." Tucker looked disappointed in her.

"I'm done with asking questions," She said. "Tucker, I can't do this anymore. It's been well over a month since Danny came back and we still have no idea what's happening!"

"Sam-"

"What are we going to do, Tucker? Isaac's a dead end, Infinite hasn't given us anything useful, Danny won't talk to us-"

"Sam!" Tucker hissed again, "Maybe we should get out of public before someone overhears-"

"You two," Sam and Tucker froze, and turned back to see a tall woman with black hair; Isaac's older sister. "What the hell did you say to my brother?"

Tucker stepped back and Sam tried to find a good lie. Instead she got distracted trying to remember the woman's name. Ruby? I think it's Ruby.

"You know what? I don't care." Ruby stepped towards them, "None of that matters anymore, because you have destroyed weeks of recovery! I don't really know who you are, nor do I care, but if I catch you near my brother again I'll-"

"Do nothing?" Sam interrupted, thinking back to the snowball fight. "You can threaten us all you want, but you're not going to do anything."

"You don't know that," Ruby stared at them, but her hands shook. "You don't have any idea what I can do."

"If you're anything like your brother, I'd imagine it involves backflips and cartwheels." Sam glared at the woman, and ignored how Tucker quietly said her name. "All I asked him was if he knew Infinite Hour."

Ruby's hands stopped shaking. "Where did you hear his name?"

Tucker stepped forwards, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"That research was top-secret!" Ruby hissed, "How did you find it?! How do you know about him?!"

Sam and Tucker's voices were in sync, full of hope. "You know who Infinite is?!"

Ruby stepped back, "…No," She backed out of the bathroom.

Sam and Tucker dived forwards, grabbing her arms. "No, please!" Tucker said, "We're sorry we scared your brother! It's Sam's fault!"

"I won't do it again!" Sam promised, "Please, Infinite wants something from our friend! We need to figure out what's going on!"

"I don't know anything!" Ruby pulled her arms free, "Leave my family alone!"

Loud footsteps echoed, and the blonde-haired doctor who'd heard Tucker's whining entered. "This is the boy's bathroom, not a fighting ring." She said, her voice carrying a faint accent from somewhere in England. "Ruby, your siblings are waiting for you."

Ruby nodded and backed out of the room.

"I checked the security cameras," She said, "You two exited a hallway that you did not enter." She pointed at Tucker, "He is currently in quarantine upstairs, and you left the building several minutes ago. And now you're asking about Infinite Hour?"

Sam and Tucker stepped back.

"Time isn't something you can mess with," She said, her words sounding rather rehearsed. "You can't change the past, and you can't twist the world to your whims."

"Who are you?" Tucker asked. "Are you a ghost?"

"Why would a ghost check a security camera?" Sam muttered.

"I am just as alive as either of you," She said. "I am not an idiot, children; I know the stories. I didn't pick this town without doing my research." She held out her hand, "Give me the map."

Sam pulled out the map and grabbed Tucker by his sleeve. "Get us out of here!" She shouted, and the map began to glow.

Sam and Tucker were yanked from their place in time, and the universe ripped around them.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny landed, choking and soaked, on someone's carpet. He turned intangible in a desperate attempt to dry off and stop shivering. Coughing again as he returned to solidity, he rolled onto his back and stared up at the small room's roof. Tardis didn't appear to be anywhere near him.

Something soft whacked Danny on the side of his face and he turned quickly to the right, staring at the stuffed red lizard which had been thrown at him.

He looked up a bit more to see the baby who had thrown it.

"Hi?" Danny said awkwardly, sitting up and holding the stuffed animal.

"Hi," The small baby said back rather excitedly, standing up in their crib. They made a grabbing motion towards the lizard.

"Oh, right." Danny struggled to stand up- his ankles didn't hurt that much in human form, thankfully- and tossed the baby their toy. "Here."

It landed awkwardly in the crib, but the baby didn't seem to be paying much attention. Again they made a grabbing motion towards Danny, reaching for him with pudgy hands. "Up," They said, "Up!"

"Oh, um, okay." Danny reached down and pulled the baby from their crib and held them awkwardly under the arms. "Cool. I'm holding someone's child and don't know where or when I am. This is normal." He looked down at the baby, "But you seem to know me. Are you related to someone I know?" Blond hair and green eyes. Who do I know with blond hair and green eyes? A picture on the wall caught his attention, and Danny looked up to see what looked like some sort of party. A pregnant blonde lady who Danny had never seen before in his life looked out as an unfamiliar overly excited man with brown hair held up a giant banner saying It's a Boy!

"So you're a boy, huh kid?" Danny muttered, holding the baby closer to him. "Cool. I'm holding someone's son." He squinted at the people in the picture, "Now who are you…?"

"Roo," The baby said.

"Roo? Okay, sure, I can call you- wait," He looked down at the baby, "I was asking about your parents."

"Roo!" The baby said again, reaching back to grab something behind Danny.

Danny turned slowly back to see a little blonde girl peaking at him through the half open door.

"Roo!" The baby said again, reaching for her.

"Yeah," Danny muttered, "I got that."

Roo stepped back, obviously shaking. Unlike her brother, she didn't seem to know Danny. "Daddy?" She called out, "There's a guy in here!"

"What?" Someone called, things crashed to the ground, and a few seconds later the door was being yanked open by the overly excited man from the picture.

Who, unsurprisingly, was no longer excited.

"Oh no," He whispered, looking intently at the child who was now reaching for him, too. "Uh, hello, sir?" He seemed unsure of his words and slowly stepped into the room, "Please don't hurt my son."

"I don't want to hurt anyone," Danny said, one hand awkwardly holding the baby while the other moved to his neck. "But uh, weird question, what's your name?"

The man frowned. "Uh, Andrew. Andrew Alexander Nathaniel-"

"Right. Got it." Danny was fairly certain that there was nobody he knew named Andrew. "So, uh… is this your kid? He's pretty calm."

"Yes," Andrew stepped towards his son's crib. "What's your name?"

"Oh, it's Danny." Maybe Andrew could be an ally, like Candice. "It's Danny Fen-" Danny dropped to the ground on reflex, barely in time to avoid the thing that had been aimed at his head. On the ground with the baby held tightly on his chest, Danny tried to piece together when exactly Andrew had pulled a baseball bat out from behind his son's crib.

"Leave my family alone!" Andrew screamed as his son sobbed, and Danny curled up into a ball.

I have to get out. His core pounded in his chest and Danny twisted into green ectoplasm.

He landed roughly in a hillside forest, Andrew's son still held tightly to his chest. "Uh-oh," Danny whispered. He moved to his feet once again, holding the still crying baby awkwardly with both hands. "Oh no wait this is bad."

"There you are!" Danny turned quickly, watching as a still-damp Tardis hopped over a fallen tree. "I thought we'd be farther apart-" She stopped, several yards away from him, and switched from speaking ghost language to English. "Is that a baby?"

"Uh…" Danny attempted to hide the child behind his back, "No?"

"Did you steal someone's kid?!"

The baby was now upside down and crying louder behind him. "Nope."

Tardis glared at him, "I don't care if you lie to me but at least hold the kid right!"

Danny frowned, "Wait, what?"

"I mean, honestly," She started towards him, and Danny was too confused to move. She snatched the baby away from him before he could turn around, and started to walk away. "You're worse than Pariah."

"Excuse me?!" Danny rushed to her side, "Don't you dare start comparing me to that bastard-"

"Hey!" She held the baby closer and glared up at him. "There are little ears present! Don't teach the baby swears!"

Danny raised an eyebrow. "Right. Give him back now."

"So you can severely injure him with your inability to properly hold children? Not if your core depended on it." She shuffled the baby, who's cries had softened into hiccup and shaking breaths. "Did you get his name before you stole him?"

"Hey, his dad almost hit me with a baseball bat. It's not like I meant to take the little guy." Danny rubbed his arm, "But no. And can you put him down, please? I don't trust you-"

"So I've heard." She stopped and turned, looking rather bored up at Danny. "Here's the deal sweetheart; you don't want to leave me alone with this kid because you hate me. I don't want to leave you alone with him because you've already stolen him from his family and if you do anything else he'll probably be not just severely injured but also scarred for life. So it looks like we're stuck together until we can find a home for Baby Blue here since neither of us trusts the other enough to be alone with him." She pointed to his dark blue duck-themed pajamas as she spoke. "And when I say a home, I'd prefer it to be his own."

Danny took a step away from her, "I'm not going anywhere with you."

"Wow," She didn't sound impressed, "You're leaving the kid you kidnapped with someone who's actually tried to kill you. You're definitely not getting him back now." She started walking again.

Danny groaned and ran after her.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny sat cross-legged in front of the violet campfire Tardis had lit, the baby on his lap. It was late, and for Blue's sake, she had suggested they stop to rest. This was definitely not a situation he thought he'd ever be in.

And to be honest, even if Tardis wasn't there, he still wouldn't be enjoying it.

"No," Danny said as he pulled Blue back, trying to stop the baby from putting his hand in the fire.

The child replied by crying.

Tardis snorted, and Danny glared at her. She looked like she was trying not to laugh. "Yeah, you would find children on fire to be funny."

"It's not that," She said, "You just reminded me of someone." She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and stared into the fire.

"Cool. I don't care." Blue continued to scream, and Danny sighed. "Tardis, can you make him stop?"

"Hand him over," She said, leaning around the fire and holding out her arms. Danny passed the screaming child over and wrinkled his nose.

"He kinda smells."

Tardis rolled her eyes, "He smells like a baby." She started to bounce him on her lap, twitching fingers covered in twisting blue energy in front of his face. Blue stopped crying and started to stare blankly ahead.

"What are you doing?"

"Putting on a show," She replied, "The one good thing about these stupid powers, they can keep children entertained."

Danny frowned, "Stupid?"

"I'm a Time Manipulator," She said, "I never signed up for any of this other bullshi-" She cut off abruptly, looking down at the baby on her lap. He didn't seem to notice.

"Time Manipulator?" Danny repeated, raising an eyebrow for a moment. Sounds familiar.

"Time Manipulator," She said again, "Freezing time, rewinding scenes, changing our physical age, able to mess around with collapse points without literally collapsing the Timeline, and setting reset points."

"I understood maybe half of that," Danny said. That kind of sounds like what Clockwork does. "And the other stuff?"

"Reality Manipulation," She twitched her finger, "Giving other beings false sensations to influence how they perceive the world around them. Time Teleportation- do I need to explain? And melty powers," She put her hands over Blue's ears, "Fuck the melty powers."

"Huh," Danny nodded, tense until Tardis took her palms off the kid. "And where does leashing fit into all of this?"

"You don't know?" Her eyes flickered over him, "Have you never been leashed before?"

"I've never even heard the term before."

"But you were talking like you knew the Master of Time," She said, "With a core like yours, there's no way he would've-" She stopped abruptly and went back to focusing on Blue.

Danny narrowed his eyes, "What was that about my core?"

Tardis shook her head. "It doesn't matter."

"Obviously it does!" Danny snapped, "You know something, and I'm sick of playing this stupid circle game! What do you know about the Master of Time that I don't, huh?!"

She didn't answer, and honestly, that was exactly what Danny had expected. While Blue started to babble about something, Danny sighed.

"Fine. What are leashes, then?"

"They're a way of keeping someone somewhere," Tardis said as she scooped the baby onto her lap, "If you go too far away from what you're leashed to, you'll receive a shock."

Danny made a face, but was extremely thankful to finally be getting some information. "And Walker leashed us?"

"Looks like," Tardis sighed, "To break a leash you need to burn whatever it is you've been stuck to. Or, just, pull it every minute or so until it snaps. But that doesn't always work," She started attempting to bounce Blue on her lap, "And it's extremely painful for everyone involved."

Danny raised an eyebrow, "And lighting ourselves on fire isn't?"

Tardis put her hands over Blue's ears again. "Don't you fucking sass me."

Blue started crying, and with an annoyed huff Tardis scooped him into her arms and moved to her feet. Danny rose too, watching as she tried to calm him. "What's wrong?"

"He's cold, exhausted, and probably hungry." Tardis looked over at him, "How often do humans need to eat?"

"Pretty often," Danny replied, stepping around the fire to move closer. "We should find some dinner for him."

"Well no shit," Tardis didn't bother to cover Blue's ears, but Danny found it unlikely that the child could hear anything over how loud he was screaming. "But most stuff in this damn forest is going to make him sick, and-"

"Sick?" Danny cut her off, "Wait, that- I know what to do!" He switched to his ghost form and flew up, high above the forest. They were surrounded by mountains, but climbing up the side of one was a ground of lights. The city!

"Hey!" Tardis called up towards him, "What the hell are you doing?!"

Danny dove back down to the ground and pointed in the direction of the lights. "There's a city that way! It's a bit of a flight since we can't go too fast with Baby Blue," He booped the child on his nose, pausing for a second from motioning excitedly with his arms. "But it'll definitely have some sort of hospital! We leave the kid there, and a note saying what happened- well, not all of it, nobody will believe us- and then he'll be fine! What do you think?"

"I think you're an idiot," She said. Danny slowly lowered his arms as she continued, "If we're going anywhere, we're walking. You're not flying with this kid. And how do you know it has a… hospital?" She seemed unsure of herself.

"You don't know what a hospital is, do you?"

Tardis glared at him. "It sounds like a gathering place. How will we know where's safe for him?"

"We'll hand him over to a doctor or nurse or something," Danny said, "Trust me. It'll work."

"Trust you?" She stepped back, "I only understood half the words you just spouted and you expect me to just go along with your stupid plan!"

"Would you rather spend the rest of the night here with him crying?!"

"If it keeps him safe, then yes!"

"He'll be safer around people who can help him!"

"How do you know they'll help him? You don't know them!"

"Neither do you!"

"Dammit, Dylan!" She snapped, "Every time you put your faith in people like this they try to kill you!"

If it wasn't for Blue's crying, they would've been overcome by an awkward silence.

"Danny," Danny said. "My name's Danny."

"I know that," Tardis looked away as she squeezed Blue closer to her.

"Really? Because I don't think you do. Who the heck is Dylan?"

"I told you, you remind me of someone. A lot." She still wasn't looking at him. "Let's leave it at that." She started to walk away, "We'll use your stupid hospital plan. But Blue's not flying."

Danny raised an eyebrow and ran after her. Dylan was the name of one of my sons. Is that just a coincidence? It had better be, otherwise I'm going to have a really weird talk with those boys when they're born.

No one paid any attention to the violet fire they'd forgotten to put out.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Blue had exhausted himself and stopped crying during the two hour walk out of the forest. In the forty-five minutes it took to find the hospital, he'd fallen asleep in Danny's arms.

Tardis looked over at him for what had to be the tenth time, and before she could offer some totally needless advice, Danny said "I am supporting his head."

Tardis closed her mouth, looked away, and went back to walking a step behind him. Danny shrugged, shifted the sleeping child, and kept walking. As long as Blue was safe, he could tolerate Murder Girl for a bit longer.

"Do you have a plan?" She asked, "Or are you going to just chuck him at one of these doctors and hope for the best?"

Danny pushed away the image of him throwing Blue like a football. I can't even play football. "I'm going to find a friendly looking nurse, hand over the kid, explain that I accidentally kidnapped him, and run for my life. Could you get the door?"

Tardis reached forwards, grabbed the hospital's door, and pushed.

It didn't open.

"Wow, you pushed the pull door." Danny nodded towards the sign which very clearly said pull. "Good job."

Tardis narrowed her eyes at the sign. "That says pull?"

"No, it says 'free cupcakes!'" Danny mocked, "Just get the door."

Tardis made no move to do so. "What does it really say?"

Danny rolled his eyes, "Pull. P-U-double L. It's literally right there in plain English. Read for yourself."

Tardis glared at him and pulled the door open.

"Thank you," He stepped inside and looked around for anyone who could help. Tardis followed, the door slowly swung shut behind them.

Blue stirred in his arms, and Danny frowned. He could carry the kid when he was still, but trying to hold onto the baby when he was awake and squirming was a whole different situation. If Tardis caught him struggling she'd snatch Blue away. Danny attempted to rock the baby back to sleep as he moved deeper into the ominously empty lobby.

"Hello?" Someone called, their voice echoing through the building, and Danny lost all his nerve.

What was he thinking?! Was he just going to walk up to someone and say 'Here you go! I'm a time traveler who accidently kidnapped this little guy because his dad tried to hit me with a baseball bat! Please make sure he gets back to his family!'

No, he wasn't going to say that, because that was dumb. At the best he'd end up in the psych ward; at the worst he'd end up with the Guys in White.

When the person working in the hospital turned the corner, Danny held Blue tighter and popped into invisibility. Tardis followed suit.

While the worker looked over for them, Danny heard an elevator ding. A dark-skinned woman got out, nodded to the worker, and went out the door. Danny dove into the elevator and looked up at the security camera in one corner, hoping he could hold his invisibility long enough. He picked a floor at random and waited for the elevator to take him there.

Danny returned to visibility after he was out of the elevator, and looked over a sign. Neurology. What's that?

The door to the stairs creaked open and Danny jumped. With Blue completely awakened and crying once again, Danny felt even more uncomfortable under Tardis' glare.

"If you're going to change your plan," She said, "At least tell me first. And hand Blue over before you attract the whole damn building's attention."

"Whatever happened to not teaching the baby swears?" Danny grumbled, but handed Blue over anyway. He stunk.

Tardis made a face, "You better put your plan to use soon, because I don't have anything to change him with."

"Ew," Danny muttered, then shook his head. "Follow me. I know what I'm doing." He started towards Neurology.

"Forgive me if I don't believe you," Tardis said, but followed him anyways.

There was another receptionist- as Danny presumed the lady downstairs had been- where the sign had led him. "Stay here," Danny muttered as he started down the hall. "I'm going to check it out." He switched to his ghost form and turned invisible.

A blonde woman walked into the room ahead of him, and Danny watched her sit down in the waiting room. The receptionist leaned forwards and spoke with a friendly smile, "How'd that surgery go, Freya?"

The blonde woman, Freya, ran a hand down her face. "He survived," She spoke with a faint stereotypical British accent, "Anything interesting happen while I was working, Anne?"

The receptionist nodded, "Your husband called twenty-seven times in the last three hours."

Freya sat up quickly, staring at the receptionist. "You're kidding."

"No. He said it was something about your son-"

While Freya practically flew across the room to the receptionist's side, Danny rushed back to Tardis. He gave her a thumb's up, and when she replied with a confused look, motioned for her to follow. He didn't bother to return to invisibility, and took Blue from her. He was almost certain that Freya had been the woman in the picture, but there was one way to find out.

Danny set the baby down in the doorway and motioned towards the inside of the room. Blue stared up at them and babbled quietly for a moment before Freya's voice carried out into the hall.

"Hello, Andrew? I was in surgery, what happened? Whoa, Andrew, slow down, slow-"

"Mama," Blue babbled as he crawled into the office. "Mama mama mama-"

Freya gasped, and Danny and Tardis flattened themselves on the other sides of the door. They watched as she rushed forwards and scooped up her son, sobbing as he did.

"Oh, my baby. Isaac, my little baby…" Freya muttered as she held her son close, and Danny's blood ran cold.

No way.

He pictured Isaac in his mind, the way he'd appeared right before all this had started. He had green eyes, and his eyebrows were blond, so that was probably his natural hair colour. And Isaac's sister, Ruby, had recognized his face when they first met. She recognized it because she saw me steal her brother.

Danny ran his hands through his hair, trying to calm down his breathing. He could go in there right now and warn Isaac's mom. But what would he say? 'Don't let your son go to Starbucks on January 13, 2014, because he'll be stabbed in the throat after dumping his drink on a ghost trying to murder me. Also, sometime before that your husband dies. Also, make sure Isaac puts on his shoes.' That's dumb. This is dumb. He frowned, didn't Isaac not get along with his mom? Oh god, what have I done?

Tardis was giving him a curious look. "Is something wrong?" She whispered, and Freya's voice stopped.

"Anne?" She said carefully, "Could you hold my son?"

"Of course," The receptionist said, and Isaac started to sob louder. Danny's core twisted in his chest and he floated there, frozen, as Freya stepped towards the door.

Tardis grabbed him by the hand and yanked him down the hallway, running instead of flying. If Freya saw anything, it would have only been a blur.

Tardis turned a corner far too quickly and blue sparks jumped between her fingers. Danny tried to pull his hand away, hoping that maybe he'd be able to separate from Tardis when her powers dumped her somewhere else in time. But no- her grasp was far too tight, and it felt like her hand was stuck to his wrist.

She landed on top of him, and the two rolled down a pile of rubble.

Danny hissed in pain and brushed some grit off a scrape on the back of his hand. His blood smeared, and Danny's face twisted. Gross. He turned to Tardis, who sitting up beside him and examining her hairclip.

Danny crossed his arms, "Was that necessary?" She looked slowly his way and blinked blearily. Despite himself, Danny was unable to stop a flash of concern. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Mmm, might puke," She mumbled, and placed the hairclip back in her hair.

"Oh. Uh," Danny struggled to his feet, "Don't do it on me."

Tardis nodded, and Danny climbed up their rubble pile. Everything around them was destroyed, and looked like the set of some post-apocalyptic movie. His heart twisted in his chest, and Danny thought of that horrible future.

"…Sam?" He called out, hesitantly, not really expecting an answer. "Val? Ellie?" He slid down the other side of the pile, "Tucker? Anyone?" This is stupid. I'm probably not even near Amity Park.

He heard Tardis heave behind the pile and gagged. Gross. She's a ghost, why does she need to puke? Danny started moving quickly away from her, curious to see how far he could get before the leash pulled him back.

Danny pulled himself over the wall of an old building and looked back behind him. Gee, this would be a cool place to play laser tag.

Five seconds later, two of the rubble piles closest to him exploded.

Danny dropped to the ground, covering his head and his neck with his hands. Dust caught in his throat and caused him to choke. He wheezed, trying to get back the breath that had been spooked out of him. Danny shifted, raised his head, and peered out onto the rubble field in front of him.

He knew the man who stood there, perched on top of a pile. On bad days he still haunted Danny's dreams.

Danny sunk back down, glaring at his jerky future self. Heck off, Dan. Wait, why was that my first thought? He shook his head. Never mind. I beat him when I was fourteen, I can beat him now! Granted, I also had a thermos and the element of surprise but… okay, focus. New plan; get to Tardis and get out of the original horrible future. He watched as Dan turned towards another pile and blew it up. Newer plan; hit him from behind, grab Tardis, and run. Danny willed himself into invisibility and climbed back over the wall.

Dan seemed to be focused on something, and Danny floated off the ground. He didn't want his footsteps to give away his position. He needed to keep the element of surprise for as long as possible.

Dan snorted out some red-tinged air and Danny suddenly remembered that he wasn't the only one with a ghost sense.

But Dan didn't turn around, instead he rushed at another pile and dragged Tardis into the air by her left arm.

"Well look who our wonderful Time Master sent!" Dan laughed, and Tardis yelped as she was pulled higher into the air. Instead of trying to pull herself off and fly away, she clung to his arm. "And here I thought he'd given up and locked me out! How desperate is he? You look pathetic!"

"Put me down!" Tardis' voice shook. She looked around wildly, and Danny stayed invisible.

"Hm, no," Dan squeezed her wrist tighter, "As amusing as that could be…" A snap rang through the field and Tardis' face twisted in pain. "I think I'll just kill you now instead."

"Oi, Hothead!" Danny shouted, returning to visibility with ice coating his hands, "Chill out!"

He shot Dan out of the sky before his future self could fully turn around, and flew to his side. Danny pulled Tardis to her feet and pushed her behind him.

"I am not you," Danny said, watching as Dan raised his head, "I'll be seventeen in a couple weeks, and my family is still alive. I have bigger problems than your stupid little mind can ever understand. You are not inevitable and I will never be you."

Dan grinned, "Nice speech." His hands lit up with energy.

"Thanks," Danny threw up a shield of ice when he fired, "I spent the past couple years with my family thinking it up!"

The ice shattered, and Danny barely turned intangible in time to avoid the shards. Tardis didn't follow the same plan, and ice dug into her arms when she flinched.

"You can melt people with your palms and freeze time but you can't turn intangible," Danny muttered, "Terrific."

Danny dove to the right as Dan charged him, barely avoiding the attack in time. But he didn't turn quick enough to stop the ectoblast to his back. He crashed to the ground, letting out a hiss of pain.

"Pathetic," Dan landed beside him, "Why would she bring along you? You're nothing." He reached down and pulled Danny up by the front of his suit.

"Wow," Danny replied with no emotion in his voice, "That would've hurt if there was anyone in existence who cared about your backwards opinions." He kicked him in the neck and twisted away. "I've moved on from you. I've got bigger things to worry about than a future that will never exist." He landed gently and planted his feet, "The only one who's 'nothing' here, is YOU!"

His ghostly wail ripped from his mouth, the waves crashing into Dan and throwing him into a pile of rubble. It toppled over and buried him.

Danny coughed and dropped to his knees, clutching his throat as he turned back to human. That hurt a lot more than it should've. Where'd Tardis go? Once again, the other ghost had disappeared. Whatever. Danny coughed and struggled to stand back up.

Something hit his back and Danny keeled over, face first into the ground.

"Weak," Dan hissed, and pressed his boot deeper into Danny's spine. "You aren't my past, either."

"At least I'm something," Danny hissed back, not sparing the taunt a moment of thought. "You- you're a bad dream, nothing more- and people forget bad dreams!"

Dan cackled. "I suppose I could let you live, it would certainly be amusing… but that isn't how I work." He dug his heel into Danny's spine, "Your core seems powerful. It will be an excellent feast."

Danny was silent for a second. "Alright, screw this, nope- get off of me, no way, I'm not doing this." He knocked Dan's foot off him and spun around to face him. "Feast. Like, eating?" He stood up and didn't wait for Dan to reply. "What the hell is wrong with you?! I get it, everyone died so you ripped out your emotions and then you went batshit crazy, I know that part- but how do you get from that to eating ghost cores?!" He shot a blast of ectoplasmic goo to cover Dan's mouth, "I'm not finished yet! How do you even get to this state, anyway? And don't start blaming Vlad, because when everything fell apart he got better, and he tried to be decent. You? You're like some twisted personification of fire and death. There is no possible way I would ever be you! And you don't even acknowledge whatever part of you that Vlad is, so it can't be that big. You're like the Soul Shedder personified- and that is not a compliment, you walking disaster! You suck! And further more-" A hand closed around the back of his throat.

Dan had made a duplicate.

The original stood and blasted Danny in the face. He skid along the ground, the rubble tearing his pants and jacket to shreds. The duplicate disappeared, and so did the ectoplasm covering Dan's mouth.

"There's no one left to care about your little rants." He stepped forward, ectoplasm twisting around his hands. Danny barely threw up a shield in time to stop the red blast aimed at his chest. It cracked under the blue that followed. "Why won't you just die!?"

Danny sent out a mental apology to everyone he knew couldn't hear him.

"Time Out!"

Danny blinked. Tardis was in front of him, wielding a sharpened pipe like a sword. Her hairclip was missing, and her left arm hung uselessly bent at her side. Dan had ectoplasm dripping from a hole in his shoulder.

"For the record," She said, "I liked his dramatic little rant. I thought it was charming."

Dan hissed and lunged at her. Tardis dropped the pipe and held out her right hand. She grabbed his injured shoulder and energy shot through the ghost.

His form shifted and smaller Dan in Danny's own jumpsuit crashed to the ground.

"What?" Danny whispered.

Tardis glanced at her hand, "When the fuck did I get age manipulation?" Little Dan picked himself off the ground and she stepped back, "Shit. Shit, never mind, not important… Danny!" She scooped the pipe back up and held the blunt end towards him. "Now would be an excellent time to use your powers!"

"Me? Why can't you?!"

"I just froze time and fucked up his age, I don't have the energy to do anything else!" Her eyes turned desperate, "Please. I don't want you to die here."

Danny forced himself back into his ghost form and he grabbed Tardis under her arms. "Let's go." She screamed as he pulled her into the air.

She whacked Danny's shoulder with the pipe, "Put me down!"

"Ow, hey! You just told me to use my powers-"

"I meant time teleporting, you idiot!" She tried to hit him with the pipe again, "You use black ectoplasm! The two times we met before this, you- just do it before he catches us!"

A bright green blast caught Danny on his left side and he crashed to the ground. Tardis landed on top of him and scrambled away, still holding the pipe tightly in her right hand. Ectoplasm leaked around a thick, black scab on Danny's side as he tried to sit up- wait. How long has that been there? He shook his head and struggled to his knees. I can fight. I can still do this, I'm not dying here.

Dan, still small, crashed into Tardis and pinned her on the ground. The pipe rolled uselessly away. "Change me back!" His voice cracked halfway through.

"I don't even know how I changed you in the first place!" She stretched out her arm, trying desperately to reach her weapon. "Get off of me!"

Danny forced energy into his hands. When Dan hissed at Tardis again, a ball of ice smashed into his face.

Tardis grabbed the pipe and plunged it into Dan's chest.

His form glitched. The edges shook, and pieces flickered between his true form and human disguise. An eyeball slipped out of it's socket and landed on the ground, dissolving slowly. Tardis pulled the pipe back out, and a misshapen orb dropped onto her chest. She scrambled back, the pipe landing beside her- the missing portion of the orb rolled out one end. Dan's hand shivered and dripped down, piece by piece.

His form collapsed, soaking the ground with ectoplasm. Tardis scrambled away from it, away from the man she'd killed.

Danny leaned back and puked.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Who's there?!"

Sam and Tucker ducked behind a bush in the surprisingly well landscaped yard the map had dropped them in. On the porch in front of them, a man in a muscle shirt and boxers was waving around a flashlight tapes to a baseball bat. Sweat coated them, from fear and heat, as the tried to avoid being seen.

"Get us out of here!" Sam hissed, and the map made no motion to do so. "Why aren't you working?!"

"Did you break it?" Tucker whispered.

"I don't know, maybe?" She shook the map, "Come on, take us home!"

A bright light focused on them. Underwear Man had spotted them. "Why are you two wearing winter jackets in the middle of June?"

"…We're Canadian?" Tucker said as Sam attempted to hide the Infi Map.

"I'm not even going to pretend I believe that." He focused his light on Sam. "What are you hiding?"

"Nothing!" She said, "Certainly not a gun that I'll use to shoot you if you come any closer."

Underwear Man didn't fall for it. "That was not a gun. Who are you two?! If you have any association with the dead, I banish you!" He grabbed some sort of whistle from around his neck and blew it.

"Whoa, buddy," Sam held up her hands, "First of all, that wouldn't have worked. Ghosts don't just go away when you yell at them. Second, we didn't mean to end up here. How about you go put some pants on and we'll just head home?"

He glared at them. "That thing is not human. Human inventions can't tear the fabric of our Universe, only the dead's creations can do that. Don't think I didn't detect the rip you made!"

Tucker, incredibly discretely, coughed and called the man crazy.

"I heard that!" He snapped, "You two have no idea what you're messing with. Hand it over!"

"Oh, like you understand!" Sam snapped back, "We've been dealing with ghosts since we were fourteen. We've fought back things you couldn't begin to grasp, and I am tired of people standing in our way when we try to deal with this! So go back in your damn house, put on some pants, and leave us alone. We have a time traveler to investigate. Tucker, let's go find some way to help Danny."

Underwear Man grabbed her shoulder. "Who's this Danny?"

"Our friend," Tucker said, and pulled the man's hand off Sam.

"Is he the reason you're looking into, as you said, a time traveler?"

Holding the map tightly in her hands, Sam pointed at him. "Why do you care?"

Underwear Man snatched the map and ran back inside.

"Hey!" Sam ran after him, Tucker right on her heels. Faintly, she heard a dog bark.

Underwear Man ducked into a room when they entered his home. Sam and Tucker immediately followed, and watched as he ducked into a room. Sam followed, seconds away from kicking his ass.

But then she entered the room and froze.

Pictures, articles, and red string coated every inch of the walls. Underwear Man opened a closet door to reveal several wheeled bulletin boards. He pulled one out, looked down at the map, and swore quietly. "It runs on core energy. Shit, I'm breaking it!" He pulled out a plastic bag and shoved the map in. "Ah, good old plastic. Let's see… portal detection, very clever. And there was one just above my house… hm, I'll have to get more wards."

"What is this place?" Tucker whispered, and once again a dog barked.

"I don't know," Sam replied, and looked over Underwear Man. In the light, she could see tattoos covering his arms. A date stood out- February 17, 1997. Danny's birthday?

"This is my study," Underwear Man supplied. "I needed somewhere to store my work, and since my employers never actually gave me an office this is all I've got. I get to work from home though, so that's fun. Plus I get to spend more time with the kids." He turned back towards them and held up the bag, "Is this the legendary Infi Map?"

"How did you know that?" Tucker asked.

"The Fall of the Ghost King is a key point of my research," He replied, and pulled out another wheeled bulletin board. In the center, Sam could see a drawing of Pariah Dark, armed with his mace as Infinite stared up at him. "This map was one of the artifacts he discovered, but after he was sealed away it disappeared." He pointed to Infinite, "And I suspect Infinite Hour to be the reason why. Is he the time traveler you were referring too?"

Tucker stepped forwards, "What do you know about Infinite?"

"Far more than I'd like to," He admitted. "I never properly introduced myself. The name's Andrew Hunter. And you two are?"

"Hunter," Sam repeated before Tucker could introduce them, "Do you have a son named Isaac, and a daughter named Ruby?"

Andrew narrowed his eyes, "What do you two know about my kids?"

"Omelette, sic 'em!"

A small, fluffy, and incredibly noisy dog burst in, yapping all the way. It started to jump on Tucker's leg. Sam turned back to the door as her friend reached down to pet it. Two children were standing there; a little blond boy and a girl with obviously dyed red hair. The younger version of Isaac looked up at his sister. "Your plan was bad," He whispered.

Andrew sighed and scooped up the dog who seemed determined to lick Tucker's hand. "I'll be right back. Look, but don't touch." He moved past them and closed the door behind him.

Immediately, Sam grabbed the map. Its ghostly glow was gone, and it seemed stuck on one scene.

"Sam," Tucker whispered, "Sam, we've got a problem."

"Of course we do!" She hissed, and could faintly hear Andrew asking his kids what they were doing up so late. "The Infi Map is broken! Tucker, what are we going to do? How are we going to get home?!"

Tucker held a white pen in front of her face. "Beside that."

Sam grabbed the pen and turned it slightly. A silver-printed GIW was written across the side. "Oh, God- Tucker, we can't let the Guys in White have the Infi Map!"

"He's right outside the door and this room has no windows," Tucker pointed out, "How are we going to get it away from him?"

"I don't know," She turned towards the door, "Maybe if we run out we can get past him before he realizes some-" She froze, and beside her Tucker's breath caught in his throat.

She'd recognize him anywhere. Even if he was hiding his face and looked a bit damp, Sam could recognize Danny in a heartbeat. He was still in the coat he was wearing when he fell in the portal, still missing shoes, and still Danny.

And he was cowering on the ground with a tiny blond child in his arms.

The picture of her best friend was hanging on the back of a door, taped to a dartboard. A white dart had been thrown and landed in Danny's throat. Around him were pictures of burned buildings, raging violet flames, and police tape.

"We need to get out of here," Sam whispered.

"Yeah," Tucker muttered, unable to take his eyes off the picture, "We do."

.-.-.-.-.-.

They'd made a campfire in the shelter of a destroyed building. Danny had found an old can of beans, and set it next to the flames. Across from him, Tardis had produced her hairclip from some sort of hidden pocket in her dress. Her left arm was still bent at an awful angle, and shards of ice were sticking out of her skin.

Danny quit staring when she looked up and examined his own clothes. Miraculously, his socks were the only part of his outfit that wasn't destroyed. The jacket's sleeves and his jeans were torn into pieces, but his socks were still in perfect condition. I can't believe my ghost socks are magic. He laughed at his own dumb joke. Jokes… jokes were good. If he joked, he could ignore the sight of Dan dripping apart ectoplasm sliding away he's dead he's dead he melted he dissolved he was you now he's DEAD AND YOU JUST SAT THERE-

Tardis hissed, and Danny looked up as she snapped her left arm back into place. Tears rolled down her face, but she was surprisingly quiet considering that she'd just set her own broken arm.

"Why do ghosts have bones?" Danny wondered aloud, desperate for any sort of distraction.

"Oh, are we playing the question game?" She looked up at him, "Ghosts have bones because we want to. It's how things work with us. Apparently having a human frame helps process energy better or… something."

"So I guess you don't want to fly then?" Danny said, in a slightly mocking tone. He didn't expect Tardis stand up, her face twisted and her fists clenched.

"I didn't fucking ask for this!" She snapped, "You think I woke up one morning and decided that I wanted to be able to die if I fell too far, too fast?! I loved flying! It was my goddamn favourite thing and now my core's too fucking broken to let me use it! Do you have any fucking clue how hard it is to get around when you can't fly and teleporting makes you puke?! Fuck, I can't even shoot ectoblasts anymore because my core's too damn busy with melty hands and powers I shouldn't even have! Don't you act like you understand!" Her voice cracked at the end, and she was cradling her left arm.

Danny held up his hands, "Gee, sorry."

She glared at him and sat back down, still cradling her left arm and picking out ice shards. The beans didn't seem to be cooked yet; Danny moved them closer to the fire.

"Are you going to explain what the fuck happened back there?" Tardis asked.

Danny looked up at her, "Tone down the swearing, would you? It's making me uncomfortable."

She glared at him, "We both were nearly murdered by some idiot who had the same symbol on his chest as your other form does. Plus, you were acting like you knew him. So who the hell- excuse me, heck- was that?"

The fire flickered between them, filling the uncomfortable silence. In the end Danny sighed, pulled off his coat, and folded it up to use as a cushion. "Dan. We dubbed him Dan. When I was fourteen, there was this test that everyone said would determine my future. And, well, they were right."

Danny hadn't really talked about that horrible future with anyone before. Sam and Tucker had seen most of it, and when Jazz had wanted to talk about it the incident was still too fresh. Nobody else knew. But Danny was not Dan, and he never would be. He would never become a sadistic killer who wanted to cause everyone pain. Clockwork had stepped in to prevent that.

He finished his tale of those horrible events, and felt like his gut was twisting. Talking is supposed to help. Why do I feel worse? "The Master of Time saved everyone," He said, "And that's not all. He let me go back in time to find a way to save my friends, and when my core was injured he saved me again. I can't do this time teleporting stuff anymore, but who cares? I never liked it anyway." Tardis was staring into the flames, "I don't know what your problem is with him, but he's a good person. No, more than that- he's a hero. He's saved countless people and helped even more, which is more than anyone could say about you."

Tardis made a noise. At first Danny thought it was a sob, or maybe she was offended, but no- she was laughing.

"For fuck's sake," She wheezed, and ignored Danny's disapproving frown. "It's like when making you, some idiot decided to take all of Dylan's trust and hope and 'there's good in everyone Gwen!' And then mash it in with all of Time Twister's absolute stupidity. Powers Above, he has you wrapped around his little finger! The Master of Time's a hero, he's a good person- you know nothing." She rolled up the remains of her left sleeve. Just below her shoulder was a green mark, sunken into her flesh, and shaped like a large hand. Lighter scars were at the end of the fingers, as if someone had been piercing her flesh with their nails. She wasn't laughing anymore. "You know nothing at all."

She turned her back on him and lifted her hair. Below the collar of her dress, Danny could see pieces of more hand-shaped scars. Some were a darker green than the rest. Handprints decorated her hidden flesh, marking her up with scar upon scar.

"What happened?" Danny whispered, almost afraid to ask.

Tardis turned back towards him. In the firelight, Danny could see more thin scars along her hairline. "He wanted information," She said, "Pariah was getting too powerful, gaining too many followers, and teaching too many ghosts that they were worth something in this stupid world. Your hero wanted him gone so he could have total control." Her hands shook, "Dylan would've given him more information, he always knew exactly what Pariah was planning, but nobody could touch him. There were rules, if they hurt him Pariah would come save him in a second." Her laugh was short and bitter, "Nobody was there to do that for me. The rules didn't apply to me."

"It started out little things, stupid things- he'd ask me questions. Then he'd ask to see me alone and ask more. I never told him anything," She was shaking, "He got angry. He'd use his damn melty powers on me, just enough to hurt but not enough to be caught. I told him everything but what he wanted." She pulled up her dress to reveal several handprints above her knees, "He started leaving scars."

Danny's heart twisted in his chest, "Why didn't you tell someone?"

"Are you crazy?! He would've killed them!" She dropped her dress and looked up at him with damp eyes, "He'd tried to do it once before- that's why there were laws protecting Dylan. If he'd tried to help me he would've been melted!" Tears slid down her cheeks, "I tried to out last it, wait for him to get bored or something, but he never did. And I told him something important." She wiped the snot leaking from her nose on her sleeve, "Mary's daughter could use age manipulation; the Observants' laws said she belonged with the Master of Time. She was a little kid, we couldn't hand her over to him! He would've hurt her! Pariah had the idea to use some of his artifacts to keep her and her brother at a young age so nobody would pay any attention to them. They trusted me with this and I told him. I gave him his fuel to start his war. I tried to warn Mary, but she was furious at me. She didn't want to listen to any reasons, or- or excuses-" She wiped her nose again, "And then Warrior Boy walked right in and crushed their cores. I caused the war. It's my fault they were destroyed. Everyone who ever cared about me is gone and it's my fault! It's my fault that Pariah broke, that Dylan's gone, and Steven-" She broke down, her voice shaking through sobs. She repeated, over and over, "It's my fault."

Danny didn't know what to say. He sat there, wanting to do something, and realized that Tardis was practically a child. She appeared younger than fifteen, definitely- and when she was sobbing like this, she seemed closer to twelve. This was a child who had been tortured. Why would Clockwork do that? Had Pariah really been that much of a threat? It didn't make sense! "But he's a good person," Danny whispered, "He- he saved everyone for me, why would he do that?" Desperate times call for desperate measures. He'd never do something like that normally! That's got to be it!

"Same reason my brother thought the bastard gave two shits about him," Tardis mumbled, "We all called him the Golden Boy, since Time Twister could never do a thing wrong. Just because he was useful to the Master of Time and the Observants. Meanwhile Dylan and I were leashed to things so we'd stay out of the way, trapped on the roof, pushed out windows… fuck, at least most people ignored me. For Dylan, it was hell. But every time someone hurt him he'd refuse to accept Pariah's protection so that he could try again, try to figure out what he did wrong, try to be better…" She trailed off, staring at her hands. Her lips moved with words Danny couldn't make out.

"Who's Time Twister?" He asked.

"Steven- my brother. My stupid asshole twin brother." She clenched and unclenched her fists, "Dylan and I used to make fun of his ghost name all the time. Twist Tie, Peppermint Twist, Tornado… god, he hated it. But we would only switch to our human names when something awful was happening." Her voice got quieter and she started to fiddle with her necklace. "Dylan hated his. Every time I use it, part of me hopes he'll show up to yell at me."

Danny's eyes focused on the purple stone around her neck, crudely tied with a black string. Her name's Gwen. She has a twin brother named Steven. She has a friend named Dylan… oh, hell, please tell me she doesn't know anyone named Peter. Please tell me this is some sick coincidence. My future son can't be dead, and- and tortured, and abused- oh God, how could they have died? Ghosts? What sort of monster kills children?! And what sort of horrible person turns them into this?

The can of beans caught fire and exploded, sending a hundred boiling hot beans right at Danny's face. He screamed and dropped to the ground, desperately trying to protect his head. Beans coated his hair and the back of his shirt, and sauce dripped in front of his face.

"Holy shit," Danny whispered, "They beaned me."

Tardis fell back, clutching her sides and shaking with laughter. Caught up in the post-breakdown state where nothing felt real, Danny laughed too. The beans had put out most of the fire, and he could see Tardis clearly.

What she had done to Isaac was unforgivable. There was no way around that, and Danny would always be upset. But she was barely done being a child. She had suffered, and she was trying to find a way to deal with that. Maybe, once they got home, he could find a place for her. With Dora, maybe, or Frostbite. They could keep her safe. And he was almost certain she'd be excellent friends with Ember; maybe he could introduce them.

"You are hereby banned from cooking," Tardis said, "You suck at it. You're absolutely fired." She snorted, and nearly broke out laughing again.

"Why do you have to flame me like that?" Danny asked, and wiggled his eyebrows when Tardis raised her head.

"Oh, Powers Above, you're terrible." She was smiling. But slowly, her smile dropped. "Danny?"

"Hm?"

"For whatever it's worth, I'm sorry about your friend." Danny's full attention was on her now. "I just- I thought, that if you were Warrior Boy and just didn't know it yet or something, I could save everyone. It's a dumb excuse, and I hate myself for believing it, but- Warrior Boy took everyone who cared about me away. I just want him to know what that feels like. But you don't really look like him- he was a lot shorter than you. I was just too stupid to listen, and your friend paid for it. It doesn't fix anything, but I'm so sorry."

Danny offered a small smile. "I'll tell you what. If we ever meet Warrior Boy, I'll hold him down while you beat him up. Okay?"

Tardis smiled back. "Okay." She stood up, "You're absolutely coated in beans." She walked over and picked a few out of his hair. "This is disgusting."

"Hey, you should see your hair," Danny replied, "It's like a beehive made out of other beehives."

"Oooh, clever, how long have you been working on that?"

"Roughly a day. You like it?"

"Hm, I've heard better- oh," She stopped, "Huh."

"What?" Danny looked up to see that her right hand was coated in sparking blue energy.

"Guess I got my energy back," She said, "Breakdowns are useful for something after all."

Danny slipped his coat on and grabbed her wrist. "Awesome. Any chance you can drop me off at home? Or at least somewhere tropical?"

"So needy," She tsked, "Next stop, Hawaii!"

The energy did not drop Danny in Hawaii, but an alleyway beside a dumpster. A dusting of frost covered the ground. Tardis was gone; obviously, they'd been separated again.

Danny stepped out of the alleyway and frowned at the street. He recognized it. What was so familiar about this one street?

And then he caught sight of the Ops Center above a roof.

Danny switched to his ghost form and took to the air, probably breaking his record flight speed. He dove intangibly through the Ops Center and slid down the stairs, heading straight for the kitchen. "Mom, Dad! I'm finally-" He froze.

His parents, Jazz, and Vlad all stared at him. Danny stared past them.

His younger self stared back, and bits of spaghetti fell out of his open mouth.

"Oh," Danny floated back, "Shi-"

"Ghost!" His parents screamed, and pulled their weapons out from under the table.

"Wrong house!" Danny shouted back as he dove out the window.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Candice heard something fall in the kitchen, and she excused herself from her husband's arms to go investigate. She was unfortunately not surprised to see Infinite making himself a sandwich.

"You don't live here," She said.

"I don't live at all," Infinite replied, in a tone as if he'd won their argument, and went back to putting peanut butter on a piece of toast. "Rebellion," He muttered, and licked off the knife. He motioned like he was about to put it back in the peanut butter, but Candice grabbed it before he could. She put the lid on the jar and dropped the knife in the sink.

"Go home, Infinite," She said.

Infinite stuck out his tongue. "You don't own my life." He dropped another piece of toast on top of the peanut butter one and took a bite from his sandwich. "Ew, needs to be cut into triangles." He swallowed and set the sandwich down, "I am going home, actually. After this."

Candice raised an unconvinced eyebrow.

"No, really." Infinite shrugged, "Look, if I have my timing right- which I hope I do, because I put a ridiculous amount of research into figuring out what happens when here- Danny's going to be away for a while. So if you've been able to convince him to do something- anything- to change the future, then it'll already have gone into effect. I thought I'd pop back home, see how everything's progressing, and check back in here in a week or so?"

Candice couldn't believe it. "You're really leaving?"

"Well, yeah." Infinite said, "I don't like staying in one place for so long. It's weird and uncomfortable. I feel like everything's going to-" He made an explosion motion with his hands, complete with sound effects, "-if I stay much longer. So, yeah. Do you want anything from the future?"

He was grinning. Candice rolled her eyes and shook her head. "No. I'm perfectly fine here with my family."

"Aw, cute. Sure you don't want a flying car?" When Candice shook her head once again, he grinned. "Good. We haven't commercialized the flying car. Back to the Future was made by a liar." He picked up his sandwich and waved at her. "I'll try to tone down the explosion, okay? Just for you, because you're my bud."

"Please do," Candice smiled, and she waved back. "Goodbye, Infinite."

"Goodbye, Candice Gray." He gave her a dorky two fingered salute, and black energy shot off from his fingers.

And then Candice's vision was overcome by black static. Wind whistled in her ears, and her hair whacked her cheeks.

When everything calmed, she was still in the kitchen. Infinite was on the ground, shaking and holding onto the center of his chest.

Candice stepped towards him and realized that the windows were broken.

"Mom!" Valerie called, "Is everything okay?"

"Fine!" Candice called back and dropped to her knees. "Infinite," She hissed, "What the hell was that?"

He didn't look up at her. Pieces of broken glass surrounded him.

"Infinite," She said, much more forcefully this time, "What was that? What did you do?"

Infinite collapsed onto his side and struggled to sit up, still holding the center of his chest. "That's-" His voice was hoarse, and he winced in pain. "Never- it's never… happened before."

"Well, what was it?" Candice pressed, "You said you were going home. What happened?"

Infinite was still shaking, and when he looked up at her Candice saw honest fear in his eyes. "I don't know."

Infinite raised a hand again, but no black sparks shot off from it. He hooked his thumb under the strap of the stopwatch around his neck and shook his hand frantically. There was still no reaction.

"Candice?" Her husband called, "Valerie and I are coming in!"

"No, no," Candice called back, "Don't bother! There's just… a lot of broken glass."

"My powers aren't working," Infinite whispered, "Why aren't they working? They're fueled by emotional energy and the one thing I definitely have a surplus of is emotions!"

"We're coming in with shoes!" Valerie called.

"Infinite," Candice said, "You need to leave."

"What do you think I'm trying to do?!" He hissed, and pulled his hands closer to his body. "Nothing's working, why isn't it working?"

Candice could hear her husband and daughter coming. They only had a few more seconds. How would they react to seeing what Infinite had done to their kitchen? Not well, she assumed- this would cost significant funds to fix. Not to mention the fact Valerie really hadn't liked him in the first place, and she apparently hunted ghosts…

But even if he had broken everything, and did not seem to understand how insufferable he could be, Infinite had still saved her life.

Candice attempted to step around the broken glass so she could meet her family in the doorway. "Run," She whispered, and stepped forward to buy him some time.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA GET FUCKED INFINITE!

Oh, I have been waiting for this for so long. You dun fucked up, Infinite~! Looks like someone's a bit stuck!

I am so glad this ended up being the Christmas update. And honestly, having Isaac appear again is my Christmas present to me. He's so much fun to write and I missed him. :D

Also, Tardis. She's such an interesting character and I love her more than I thought I would. She's such a dysfunctional ghost. Of course, there's also her claims about Clockwork… she really needs therapy. Also for everyone she cares about to stop dying. That might help.

So, couple things; if you've been following me on Tumblr for a while, you'll likely remember that a while ago I kept getting really emotional about how much Andrew loves his kids. That still stands. He's such a good dad. We'll be seeing more of him throughout this arc, I can tell you that now. But can we just take a moment to appreciate the fact he named his dog Omelette?

Also, future Danny! He is based directly off of Butch's 'Ten Years Later' designs. Look them up if you'd like. I have my own opinions about them, which I'll reserve to decrease the length of this note, and stick with the first time I saw Danny's new suit I thought it's collar was made of piano keys.

Anyway, thoughts?