Notes Before the Story:

Author's Note: This was originally posted on my old account, NiobeDRose. I've reworked it some since it was originally posted, so I hope the edits will be better. The story does contain an OC that is somewhat important to the plot, but I hope that isn't a turn off as...well, there really wasn't much I could do aside from making a new character.

Full Summary: A year has passed since the events of the C.A.T.S, and thing seemed to have finally calmed down. But, things head downhill when an old enemy gets loose and threatens to turn his world upside down, and Danny must risk everything to stop him. But will he be able to save those he cares about before it's too late?

Warnings for Rating: Violence, Character Death

Parings for the Story: Doesn't really focus on pairings, but involves Danny/Sam and slight Danny/OC (that's complicated)

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any of its associated characters. I only wish I did.

Special Thanks: As always, to my sister for her editing and plotting :)

Chapter One

"Danny, are you okay?" Sam asked through the webcam. No response came, and she added, "What're you looking at?"

"I thought I saw…" Danny said, his voice trailing as he stared intently at the open window. "Nothing. It was nothing."

"Hey, guys? I gotta run – Mom's fussing that time for bed," Tucker said after a moment of silence.

"Yeah, we should all probably get some rest…see you tomorrow," Danny replied. He closed the laptop with a quiet click. Fingers ruffled through his tuft of black hair as he stood and lifted it from the comforter. Gently, he set it down dresser, beside an old photo. He picked the frame up gingerly in his hands, smiling as he looked down upon the faces of his fifth grade friends. It seemed like forever since he'd been normal—been human…or at least entirely.

Something in the mirror caught his eye, and Danny quickly glanced up from the picture. A hand behind him reached for his shoulder; burning eyes reflected in the mirror. The picture fell from his hand, and he pivoted swiftly as he changed into his ghost form. Green eyes panned the room, examining for something—anything. The messy room was as he had left it, clothes piled in the corner and the bed unmade.

Danny turned back to the mirror and glanced the room over behind him. Relax, Danny; you're only seeing things, he thought. 'You're just really tired…' He changed back, and a soft crunch came from beneath his feet. Shards of glass sparkled on the floor and across the faces of the photograph. Sighing, picked up the frame. He brushed the glass into a tiny pile, carefully dumping it in his garbage can before lying back on his bed.

*~*~*0*~*~*

The ceiling blurred into different colors as his eyes dilated with the darkness. He looked over at the neon figures beside him, squinting to read the blurs: 2:37.

Danny rolled back over toward the window. No, he thought, it couldn't have been him…he's in the Ghost Zone…it was just your imagination…

The more Danny denied what he'd seen, the more he could not get the thought out of his head. He stared at the window, now closed and blocked by blinds. He thought for a moment, and then walked over to the window. The blinds slid open as he pulled the chord to reveal the familiar view of the neighboring buildings. Nothing more. He hesitated before letting a sigh break the silence and dropped the blinds once more.

Sleepily, he slipped down to the basement. Once inside, he walked to the far side of the room, and pressed his thumb to the cold button. A small beep of approval sounded and the Ghost Portal roared opened. He hesitated for a moment, trying to decide if this was worth all of the trouble. Yawning, he decided he wouldn't sleep without knowing for sure. He transformed and glided off into the swirling vortex.

It seemed like forever before his eyes finally found what they had been seeking; a castle was perched on a small speck of land in the deepest part of the Ghost Zone. The castle was surrounded by broken clocks and silently churning gears. Above the large double-doors, the only clock that worked read 3:48. Danny approached with caution, and realized that they had been left open. He swallowed the lump that had formed within his throat, and proceeded through the opening.

The inside was damaged—almost as if there had been a struggle. The walls were tainted with singed paint and blasted chunks of drywall. A bowl shaped television screen on the far side of the room displayed a scene in which he had seen before…and it still wasn't very pretty. He watched as his house was blasted with a bright energy beam. In a flash, the building was ablaze; the flames reflected across the glossy surface of hypnotized eyes.

Suddenly, a bang sounded through the empty building, breaking his focus from the screen. It echoed for a moment, and the silence was restored. "Clockwork?" Danny asked to the empty room. A deepening dread swept over him, and cautiously, he began to investigate. Each room was searched carefully; most of them contained bowl-screens displaying different scenes in time. Danny dared himself to be too curious.

It was strange; Clockwork was nowhere to be found…and not a single trace of him existed in the empty castle. Danny headed back to the main room in the castle with no clues as to what had caused the sudden sound – or what had happened to the mysterious time spirit. He had searched every room of the castle and turned up nothing. Danny sighed, defeated, and drifted to the door. As he took one final glance, a small table in the corner of the other side of the room caught his eye. It appeared charred and disfigured. On its surface rested a piece of scorched and twisted metal. He approached it, hoping he was wrong. I had originally been silver – aluminum or tin. On its side was a green button that had a small, shattered screen beside it…a Fenton Thermos.

"No," Danny whispered, examining the metal. He backed a few steps away before speeding back to the portal.

*~*~*0*~*~*

His room looked the same as he had left it. The sun was barely peeking through the crevices between the blinds and the alarm clock beside his bed displayed bright numbers that were smudged with sleepy vision. He sat down on the side of his bed by the nightstand.

'Clockwork is gone…there's no way to change that,' Danny thought, rubbing his eyes. 'No one would understand even if did tell them, much less could do anything about it. Sam and Tucker would be helpful while fighting, but face it, Danny: he wants them dead. Jazz, too…' His back hit the bed, and he rested his head against the pillow. Eyes closed in attempt to ease the headache and to think. Silence fell, and Danny realized how tired he was. A heavy breath filled his lungs as he sighed and he tried to force himself to relax.

Suddenly, the sound filled with noise and eyes snapped open as he jumped from his position. The clock beside him buzzed loudly, and Danny sighed tensely as he sat back down. Sleepily, he turned the alarm off, grunting as he stretched. He threw on a pair of jeans and a tee shirt. Blinds opened, revealing a warm golden-orange sky. Wincing, he let them fall again, shading the room as he crossed to the closed bedroom door. He made his way down stairs, dragging his feet to the kitchen. As per the usual, Jazz was already up, eating her cereal. Without acknowledging her, he moseyed over to the cabinet. He poured his cereal into a bowl before getting out the milk. Opening the jug, he poured.

"Um…Danny?" Jazz said, turning from her cereal, "You're missing the bowl."

"Huh?" he said, looking downward. On the counter, a puddle of milk had formed, and had leaked over onto the floor. She met him at the counter, handing him some paper towels to help mop up the mess in silence. When they finished, she returned to breakfast and Danny poured milk on his. For a few minutes, the only noises in the room were spoons clanking against the bowls and the crunching of the cereal.

"The bus won't be here for a little while," Jazz began, "I could drive you to school if you want."

"No thanks," Danny said heading to the sink to rise out his bowl. There was a pause before he felt her hand on his shoulder. "I can just fly."

"C'mon, Danny…I just want to talk to you," she said.

As Danny dumped the water out of his bowl, he heard his father's voice coming up the stairs from the basement. "I'm tellin' you, Maddie, this one will work for sure!"

"I don't know, Jack…I think it still needs some work before we test it," Maddie replied.

"What is that?" Danny asked.

"I call it the Fenton Ghost Tracker-Zapper two-point-O," Jack said. "It tracks a ghost by its ecto-signature and once it gets within a five-foot radius—" Suddenly, the device let out a loud series of beeps that became more rapid as it panned towards Danny. It pinged and a puff of smoke shot out. "Aww…" Jack said as the broken device began to smoke.

"That's strange," Maddie said, examining it. "Why was it locking on to Danny…?"

"Beats the heck outta me," Jack shrugged, taking the broken gadget. "Be back in a minute!" With that, he bolted downstairs; Maddie followed close behind him.

"Uh, that's okay, Dad—Jazz is taking me to school. See you when we get home!" Danny yelled after them. Jazz laughed to herself as he walked into the living room and picked his bag up from the couch. She met him at the door and smiled. They got into her car and pulled out of the drive.

"Thanks for the save, Jazz – I owe you," Danny said.

"You know I don't mind covering for you," she smiled. It was silent for a moment before Jazz spoke again. "You were up kind of late last night," she said.

"So what, you're spying on me now?" Danny snorted.

"No," she defended, "I just happened to be in the bathroom and heard footsteps. You were heading downstairs."

Danny sighed, "I just…couldn't sleep." There was a brief silence. Hesitantly, he debated on whether or not he really wanted to ask her… "Hey Jazz…can I…ask you a question?"

"Sure—anything," Jazz answered, keeping her eyes on the road.

He unzipped the front pouch on his bag and pulled out a wadded sheet of paper with a cyan headband. "Do you remember sending me this?"

She glanced down at the note and back up to the four deserted lanes. "Yeah…I do," she said softly. "Because someone – some ghost was posing as you. He said you were in the Ghost Zone ten years from then and…I needed to reach you…"

The air fell tense in the silent car, and his eyes studied her. Danny looked down at the note debating whether or not he should explain the situation to her. Jazz stared for a moment trying to read his expressions, his thoughts—anything that would give her a clue.

"That person…that ghost…was me…the future me," he explained. The words were hard to find and he didn't know how she would react. "He wanted to kill my friends, Mom and Dad…and you…so that I could become him. I promised I wouldn't…but…"

"Then it's okay, Danny," she assured, "you won't become him—you're better than that. You want to do what's right and help people. Plus, you said he was trapped inside the Ghost Zone." Danny didn't say anything; she smiled. "And you promised, right?"

"But Jazz…he's back. And…" he let out a breath and looked Jazz straight in the eye. "Jazz, I think he wants to kill you." She studied his face for a moment before looking back to the road.

"Kill me?" Jazz repeated.

"Well, not just you, but…"

"Why would he want to kill us?" she asked. "How does that make you become him?"

"Well, it's hard to explain…" Danny replied. "But I don't want that to happen – I don't want to become him."

"It won't – and you won't," Jazz smiled. "Like I said, you promised."

"I know but…I don't get it – he still exists…that means I do become him…"

"Don't worry, Danny – I'm sure everything will be fine."

"How can you be so optimistic?" Danny said. She looked at him and smiled.

"Because one of us has to be," she said. "Besides, you're better than that. I know you are." She caught a hint of a smile. She looked back to the road.

Straight ahead was a crazed driver on the wrong side of the road. Jazz swerved to the opposite lane to miss the large SUV, and skidded to a stop near the sidewalk.

"Danny? Danny, are you okay?" she asked shakily.

"Y-yeah, I think so," he looked towards her. "Jazz!"

Suddenly, the vehicle slammed full-force into Jazz's door. The car toppled, and glass shattered as the small car flipped twice before finally landing on its roof. Weakly, Danny opened his eyes and looked beside him.

"Jazz," he strained. Movement behind her caught his eye. He gazed into deep red eyes that burned with vengeance.

"Have a nice nap."