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sailor-toni · 1 year

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I’m Humanity's Last Hope, But My Hot Arch Enemy Came to My Balcony Missing His Arm, and Confessing his Love for Me?!?

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Dan Phantom had disappeared two years ago after he was a hair's breath away from destroying the last of humanity. The anti-Ghost shield was destroyed, and their weapons were useless against him. The last thing Valerie Gray saw was a younger Phantom with Sam and Tucker alive and fighting. Then she woke up in the hospital, with her father at her bedside, praying. Much like the citizens of Amity Park, who huddled up in their homes, praying for Dan’s wrath to be quick and painless. And many believe someone had answered their call, for in the disbelief and silence Amity Park rebuilt itself once again. A new shield was erected, and life moved on for those who survived, leaving those like Valerie Gray behind, wishing to be rid of the gory past. But how could she let go when she knew he was going to come back, and when it came to Phantom, she was never wrong.

“I didn’t know where else to go.” The sound of the rain smashing upon the metal roof was drowned out by his words.

Valerie’s grip loosened at the sight of him. Dan Phantom, humanity's greatest threat, was standing at her balcony door, his left arm reduced to an oozing green hole, and his ghastly blue skin bleed through his ripped suit. He smelled of sulfur and fire, with half of his white cape, reduced to half of its size. The remaining half had been burnt to a black crisp. All while green ectoplasm ran down his body in thick rivers. With a sigh, she moved aside and let him in.

Phantom’s hulking form came into the light of the apartment, limping past the kitchen before throwing himself upon the velvet bench, his head resting against the wall of photographs. Star had been the one to come up with the idea. A gallery of photos, one for everyone she cared about, so that when they passed they wouldn’t be forgotten. Valerie tried to remember when this all started, was it freshman year when Phantom started showing up? Was it when he ruined her life (for the first time) and made her father lose his job. Valerie chucked in her head, at fourteen she was so angry and frustrated. Her home was gone, her friends had dropped her, and the two of them were forced to move into a run-down apartment building. The first week they lived there, the water heater broke. She remembered crying in the locker room the next day, ashamed at having to use the school’s showers to clean herself. Phantom was smaller back then, but it wouldn’t be the last time he ruined her life.

Her first aid kit was an army green metal box filled with borrowed medical supplies and surgical tools. Her fights with Phantom and other paranormals had made her medical expenses skyrocket, and Valerie found it easier to collapse on her couch and fix herself up.

“I’m going to have to clean the area up before I can fix it. It’s going to sting,” She said.

“Do your worst,” He said. His smirk was smacked clean off his face when Valerie grabbed the remainder of his suit and pulled it off his shoulder. The fabric was soaked in ectoplasm and had begun to harden over the hole. Dan bit his lip, grunting in pain. “This must make you happy, to see me like this.”

“Why would you say that?” The wet fabric was cut clean off his skin, landing on her hardwood floors with a splat. The skin around the wound was torn, with parts stretched and twisted into small skin strands. It looked more like torn leather than skin. Deep in her medical kit she pulled out a brown bottle of peroxide.

“I don’t need that. Unlike you humans, ghosts don’t succumb to infe-” He cut his own words off with a loud grunt. Ectoplasm started dripping out of his clenched mouth, as the foam of the peroxide cleaned the dirt and debris away.

“Ghost or not, one should always make sure wounds are clean of any poison or dirt before treatment.”

“Since when has peroxide removed poison?”

“Don’t be a baby, it’s just peroxide.”

“You dumped half the bottle on me!”

“It’s a big hole,” She pressed a wet cloth against it, gently rubbing away caked green blood and anything the peroxide couldn’t catch.

“I now see why you fight on the front lines.”

“Pardon?”

“Well, usually women tend to work as nurses, not as soldiers. As women tend to be more motherly and nurturing; but you seem to be lacking those qualities.” Only Dan Phantom could say this to her with that smarmy smirk on his face. Like he expected to be praised for his observation. Valerie took the cloth, wrapped it around her two fingers before quickly jabbing it deep into his wound. “WOMAN!” He threw his head against the wall, throwing several pictures off their hooks. “You cruel bitch! AH! FUCK!”

“Talk shit, get hit. You came to my house, you follow my rules,” Valerie said.

“I came to you for help! Not to be assaulted!”

“Is that not the reason you attack Amity Park every few weeks? You fly in proclaiming yourself to be god, only for my lonesome self to kick your ass back to the Ghost Zone. At this point one would think you have developed a fetish for it.”

“You think I am a masochist?”

“Only a masochist would attack Amity Park over and over again, and lose every time.”

“I have not lost!”

“Your goal is to take down the ghost shield and destroy humanity. You monologue it everytime we fight. Yet the city is still thriving, I would call that a loss. Now strip.”

“Excuse me?”

“You have more cuts and wounds on your chest, I need you to take your shirt off, so I can get to them.”

“Of- course.” With his remaining arm Phantom grabbed his shirt, and phased it off his body. His chest was sculpted like a Greek statue; with the cuts and bruises mimicking the destruction of time upon a statue's body. A new warm damp cloth was retrieved from the kitchen to wipe away these wounds, while Phantom held a rap to his exposed hole. Her stash of band aids had been raided and taken over by Paulia’s and Star’s children who came over with their mothers for visits. So Peppa Pig and Firetruck band-aids were used for the scraps and bruises. “Do you have any __?” The end was left hanging, for the first time in a long time Phantom looked concerned? Worried?

“No. My friends have children and I watch them when I’m not busy fighting you.”

“Ah I see. You do have a motherly side,” Dan chuckled. Valriew wrenched her arm back for another strike. “NO! NO! No! I was making a joke!”

“You know the rules!”

“Do you do this to the children?”

“The children know how to keep their mouths shut. Plus, I like them more than you.”

“That wounds me Valerie.”

“Aw… well, get over it.” She said, With a fresh roll of gauze, she shoved as much as she could into the gaping wound. “Tomorrow morning I’ll replace this with fresh gauze and we will change it out every day and night until it closes up on its own. Since you’re a ghost, that shouldn’t be too long.” A second roll was wrapped around his chest and shoulder, securing the wad in place.

“You always surprise me. I didn't think you would actually help me,” Dan looked up to her, his red eyes meeting hers.

“Did you come here expecting a quick death?”

“No, but I don’t have many allies. I’m afraid that is one of the many consequence s of world destruction. Not many are quick to lend a helping hand to the one who is destroying it.”

“So you came to me?”

“When I thought of hope I thought of you.”

“Mmm… I can tell when you’re lying.”

“Am I? Are you not humanity's last hope?” Valerie thought about dumping the vodka in her fridge on him, but he wasn’t completely wrong.

“I was, but since you’ve been gone for so long, there is nothing to protect humanity from.”

“How long have I been gone?’

“Two years.”

“Hun, it felt longer.”

“Where did you go?”

“Did you miss me?”

“UGH- don’t ask me that bullshit. Just answer the damn question.”

Phantom’s laugh was like red velvet cake, deep and smooth, “I missed toying with you,”

“I didn’t miss your taunting, now tell me what happened to you. Before I lose my patience and kick you out.”

“You won’t do that.”

“You wanna test that?”

“I like to see you try.”

“I’m sorry who just bandaged your body? You know I think I have more peroxide in the bathroom.”

“NO! I think the first half gallon was enough.” Valerie finally broke character and laughed at the ghost. Her hand gripped the wall to keep herself steady.

“Are you scared of peroxide?”

“Only when you use it my dear.” Dan said. He sighed, pulling himself up and began his story. “Clockwork did this to me.”

“Who’s Clockwork?”

“The ghost of time. When humans die they become ghosts, when animals die they become the beast that roams the ghost zone, when plants die they become the floating land that make up the Ghost Zone. And when every day that dies and becomes a new, it becomes one singular ghost. He has made himself guardian of time, watching over it to make sure everything goes according to his plans. He had my younger self travel to the future and trap me in the Fenton thermos. And then he kept me in his tower outside of time, in order to ensure I did not cause trouble,” The last word he said with one set of air quotes. “I only managed to escape when the seal became rusted, and I tried to return to the past.”

“Why the past? You can’t kill your past self, that's suicide.”

“No, I wanted to change the past,” Dan turned his gaze downward. “To tell you the truth all I could think about inside that soup can was you. I know with everything I have done things could never work out between us. I realize far too late that this was a mess of my own doing. But maybe I could go back and get a second chance as Fenton. To be able to tell you, I love you, without the guilt of what I’ve done. But I was weak from captivity and I fought the ghost of time, and you can see the rest.”

TIK TOK TIK TOK. The clock in her kitchen dragged every second through her body like a rake. She always knew who Phantom really was. It wasn’t hard to figure out, Danny disappeared whenever trouble appeared, and he always came back with his skin painted in shades of pain. She didn’t want to notice, she loved him. Danny was her first kiss, and she had broken up with him to protect him. What a fool she was.

The second time Phantom ruined her life was when she was 15 years-old. The Nasty Burger had exploded, destroying the entire Fenton family and Danny’s Friends. Danny disappeared with a rich relative and Phantom's presence in Amity Park was gone. She spent months looking for him in every shadow and rooftop. At that young age she would never admit it, but without him there she was lonely. At 27 she was still lonely without him. He was the only one that knew who she really was. Ghost Hunter, soldier, hero, teen girl. If she could go back, Valerie would want to find out more about him, to know him like she knew him. Or at least to know him before his return.

Phantom came back with pale blue corpse skin, burning hot hair, and those horrible eyes. At first glance she assumed it was a new ghost, for the skinny boy was wearing anothers eyes upon his face. They were too big for his face, and full of undeniable rage.

Then came the destruction. Blood flowed through the streets as men, women, children, it didn’t matter. If it moved, Phantom ripped it apart and scattered its corpse upon the ground. Her hair was drenched in blood, as he held her down strangling her, his gloves twisted upon her neck. Those red eyes bore down on hers. It was as if he was forcing his hatred into her soul. She couldn’t remember what she said to him, but he threw her. The glass windows tore through her back, ripping through her suit and cutting deep. Her spinning vision was no hindrance to her next movements. Gun raised, the whiplashed broke her shoulder, but the scream from Phantom sent shock waves through her body. One thought rang through her hazy mind; Phantom had only come back to ruin her life a second time.

The fact that Valerie Gray was 15 year-old was quickly disregarded, as she was brought from the hospital bed to the front lines to save humanity from Phantom.

“I understand if you hate me,” Dan said.

Valerie looked upon her gallery wall of photos. At 13 she had dreams of attending MIT and becoming an engineer. At 12 she had plans to marry a man who saw her as his equal and formed a life with him. At 11 she had proudly told her father that she would give him no more than three kids. But right now she was 27 years old, and she never got a chance to graduate from Casper High.

“You give me plenty of reasons to,” She replied. TIK TOK, TIK TOK.

“And yet I let you in,” she mumbled. Dan’s head snapped towards her, for the first time in a long time his eyes were truly his own. “I don’t know what that says about me, but whatever answer you're looking for I can’t give now.”

“I understand,” He sent his gaze back down.

The third time he ruined his life was two years ago. Without Phantom Valerie found herself bored. Yes, she took out the smaller ghost that tried to fill the power vacuum, and many still proclaimed her a hero, but she had spent the past two years in stasis. Watching the days go past like molasses on a cold winter’s day.

“But it’s late. Let’s talk more about this in the morning.” She sighed.

Dan pulled himself up from the bench, hissing in pain as he did so. She wrapped his arm around her shoulders and helped him to the living room.

“You’re letting me stay here?”

“You said you had no one else to go to.”

“What if I try to do something?”

“I’ll pull your other arm out, now-” Her words faded away as the two rounded the corner.

On her couch was an old man with blue corpse-like skin in a purple hood and his legs hand formed together into a specter-like tail. The man snapped his pocket watch close, before tucking it into his tunic, the silver chain hung loosely around his waist. .

“You!” Dan hissed.

“I assume that is Clockwork?” Valerie said.

“Your assumption is correct,” Clockwork replied.

“The creep has probably been here the whole time listening to our conversation.”

“T’was an interesting one.”

“I didn’t think there was a ghost more annoying than you,” Valerie said. Dan rolled his eyes.

“You must be jesting Ms. Gray, for I am nothing but a gentleman.” Clockwork said.

“Sureeee A gentleman who eavesdrops on private conversations,” Valerie reached behind her, feeling the handle of her ecto-blaster hidden under her end table. “Can we cut to the chase. Why are you here, and what do you want?”

“Val, you can’t fight him,” Dan said.

“Don’t worry, I am not here to finish you off, the world will do that for me. I am here to offer Ms. Gray a deal,” Clockwork floated up, his face began to morph and shrink, twisting away the wrinkles until all that remained was a blue skinned child.

“First explain that, what the hell was that,” Valerie said.

“As Dan has explained before, I am a ghost of time, the ectoplasmic leftovers of every second,, every minute, and every hour. As the days go past my body gathers more and more energy, resulting in a bodily form that is less than stable. I ask you to not mind it, I am sure my form will change at least three more times before we strike our deal.”

“And what deal are you making Mr. Ghost of every second, minute and hour?”

“And what do you mean by the world will take care of me?” Dan snapped back.

“My powers over time allow me to see every possible future, and when the most plausible future for the young Fenton boy was to become that,” Clockwork jabbed towards Dan. “I decided to intervene with time. Call it a bad habit of mine, but I prefer to see a peaceful world, rather than wanton destruction. So, I brought this doomed timeline to life and thrusted the young man. I am sure you remember that day, I believe you called him cute? Either way it was success, not only was the young man able to trap Dan, but he changed his course on life. The future now shines much brighter. But I am now stuck with a paradox. This future will never come to pass, meaning everything that happened after the death of the Fenton family and the nasty burger explosion will cease to exist. I have been using my power to keep this world alive, to allow its inhabitants to know peace. But I am only a ghost of time, helpless to time itself, and time does not like paradoxes. Before the sunrises this world will cease to exist. Living only in the memories of those who managed to travel here two years ago.”

“What?! Well what can we do?” Valerie said.

“Nothing, all are powerless to the march of time. But while looking back on the timeline, I realized that for a hero as great as you, this seemed like an ill-fitting end. Thus, I am here to offer you a deal. I give you the ability to live in a world where Dan Phantom never destroyed Amity park, and in exchange you sometimes do things for me.”

“What kind of things?”

“You can’t be considering this?” Dan asked.

“Given what he did to you, and who he is, I don't doubt him,” She replied.

“Nothing crazy. Getting rid of a person here, moving a ghost there, small things to maintain the future of humanity.” Clockwork said.

“Why would a ghost want humanity to stay?”

“Because it is very, very rare for a ghost to be born fully formed without the aid of another ghost or a human soul. If humanity disappeared, eventually all ghosts born on humans would pass on and cease to be. And that would leave me quite bored.”

“How virtuous of you,” Valerie whipped out her gun. “But I prefer to live in my own time now tell me how to fix this world.”

“If I knew how I would tell you, but I am no deceiver.”

Valerie blinked. Her TV came down with a thundering crash upon Dan’s body. The missing body weight sent her stumbling forward. Then she was stumbling backwards, as if pushed. Regaining her balance she felt cold hard metal against the nape of her neck.

“How?” She breathed.

“I am the ghost of time, therefore I am able to manipulate it to my will.” Clockwork spoke behind her, her gun wrapped in his aging hand. “Here take this. I speak the truth when I say I mean no harm to you.” He gave the gun back to her. The barrel had been sliced open and its core removed. Rendering it useless.

“What about Dan?” She asked.

“Since he is the reason the world has become like this, he will stay here and face his untimely end. A fitting end for someone like him,” Clockwork said.

The floor shook and rumbled under them. The sky beyond her apartment was cracking and swirling into a deep void. The rising sun spun into the pitch black vortex, depriving the world of its last sunrise. Signaling the end of this world.

“He comes with me,” Valerie said.

“No,” Clockwork grimaced.

“Yes, you told him that he hasn’t earned a second chance, but how is he supposed to earn one stuck in a soup can?”

“Fine, but you will be responsible for anything he does.”

“I accept that,” Valerie moved forward and grabbed the pocket watch from Clockwork. The black metal had a blue CW engraved upon its surface. She put it around her neck before grabbing the thermos from him, and for the fourth time, Dan Phantom had found a way to drastically change her life.

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