A Phantom Prophecy *DISCONTINUED*

Chapter 44: Burning Questions

Third Person POV

"Okay so let me get this straight. Basically what you're saying is Riona is going to be coming, along with a giant 'zombie' army, to attack the castle." Tucker said sitting on one of the couches in the parlor. Sam and Dani sat on either side of him with Nocturne draped across the couch across from them. Talia and Jazz had taken Scarlet to the medical wing to get a check up. Whatever she had gone through while linked with Riona took a lot out of her. Sam and Tucker had rushed into the room when they had heard Scarlet scream. After that, Nocturne did his best to explain to them what had just happened. But he was exhausted as well, so his explanation had been brief and straight forward.

Nocturne sighed, placing a hand on his forehead, "Yes, that is what I just said." He wondered sometimes how Clockwork was able to put up with these humans. Though he could see the appeal. At times they were quite entertaining.

Sam spoke up next, "What about Danny? What does he have to do with all of this?" She picked up the book resting on the coffee table that contained the prophecy. "From what you've told us, it doesn't seem like Riona has done anything with him." She opened the book, flipping to the page that held the harrowing words of the prophecy. She began to skim the page, despite already knowing the whole passage by heart, "According to this, the Diamond is supposed to be a pretty big deal. And Danny is 'supposedly' the Diamond." The way Sam said it, she sounded as if she didn't believe in the prophecy. Or more specifically, she didn't think Danny was a part of it.

The doors to the parlor opened and in came Jazz, Clockwork and Fright Knight. The ones already in the parlor, aside from Nocturne, were shocked to see the great and powerful Clockwork slightly leaning against Fright Knight for support. He was currently in his elderly form and he looked so much more frail and weak than usual. Jazz pulled up a chair and placed it next to the couch where Sam, Tucker and Dani were seated. She quickly explained that Talia had stayed with Scarlet as to make sure she wouldn't go into a panic once she woke up and saw unfamiliar faces. Meanwhile, Nocturne shifted on the couch so that he no longer took up the entire couch. Fright Knight helped Clockwork over to the couch and helped him sit down. The Ghost King then went to grab a cushioned chair and pulled it up beside the spot where the Master of Time was seated. Nocturne glanced over at Clockwork, concern in his eyes. He knew what was coming but he never would have imagined it would have taken this kind of effect on the Elder Time Spirit. And from what he had just witnessed between Clockwork and the Ghost King, he could imagine that Clockwork had informed Pavor of the situation.

Dani leaned forward in her seat, "So, did you talk to that other fang face?" She questioned, though everyone knew she was talking about Dan Phantom.

Fright Knight was the one to answer her question, "Yes we did, and after some negotiations," Pavor trailed off as his eyes drifted to Clockwork. "-we got him to consider our offer." The others glanced at Clockwork as well, but no one said a word. The Master of Time had now shifted into his toddler form and his eyes were glazed over.

"Consider?!" Sam questioned, standing up, "What do you mean consider!? We need him! He has to stop Riona so we can stop the prophecy from coming true and save Danny!" While Sam silently steamed, no one noticed Clockwork reach for the book containing the prophecy that Sam had placed back on the table. 

"Not to mention, we're running out of time. We only have a few hours before the Day of First Death and Riona has an army on her side." Jazz added. "And with most of our allies still shaken up from Riona's first attack, we don't know if we'll have time to plan a defense let alone a counterattack!" 

Clockwork flipped through the pages of the book, skimming over each one with unfocused eyes. The more he read the more he learned, and he was growing quite annoyed by what he was learning. If what he was thinking was true, then they were going to have quite a few problems. He shifted into his young adult form and continued to read, while also slightly listening to what Danny's friends were saying. They did raise some interesting points, especially Jazz.

"What if we attack first?" Tucker offered. All eyes immediately went to him. All, except for Clockwork of course. The technogeek cleared his throat and explained his plan, "Riona obviously needs Danny for some reason, and she still seems to be gathering her army. If we attack while she is still putting together the final phases of her plan, we might just have a chance to stop her." The group nodded as they thought over Tucker's plan. Tucker adjusted his glasses and added one small detail to his plan under his breath, "Of course we would need to have Dan on board with all of this." That made the room fall silent.

They all knew getting Dan to actually help them would be the biggest struggle of all. He was devious, cunning, cold-hearted, and most likely insane. If they couldn't get him to help, they were all royally screwed. "He has to help though! Guardian's letter said so!" Dani said, pulling out the letter. After they had returned from Vlad's lab, Sam had given the letter to Dani so she could keep it safe in the parlor while Tucker and herself went to speak with Guardian. The small clone placed the letter on the table and Clockwork slowly reached for it. "There's no other way! We need him! He has to help us defeat Riona and save Danny!" She shouted.

Clockwork looked over the letter, his eyes narrowing in concentration. He now had all the facts he needed to declare his final verdict on the matter. With the letter, the book, his conversation with Serenity and his brief talk with Guardian, Clockwork now knew the answer to the greatest mystery they had hanging over their heads. He placed the letter inside the book, quietly closing it. The Master of Time then reached into his cloak and pulled out a small glass orb containing an oily liquid. He placed the book on the table and gently tapped the orb on the edge of said table, cracking the glass. By this point, everyone's attention had gone from Dani to him but he didn't really notice. Clockwork was too focused on what he was about to do.

The crack on the orb made a spiderweb formation and liquid began to drip out of it. Clockwork held the orb over the book now containing the letter and allowed a few drops to spill onto its surface. "Clockwork?" Nocturne questioned, sitting up slightly and moving towards the Time Master. Clockwork ignored him and placed the orb back in his cloak. He then took his staff and tapped it on the book three times. On the third tap, the book burst into bright blue flames.

"CLOCKWORK!" Everyone shouted in unison as they scrambled to find a way to put out the flames. All the while, Clockwork sat peacefully on the couch, watching the flames dance across the book's surface and lick its sides. Pieces of flaming paper came off the book and danced through the air, glowing with orange embers. Dani flew out of the parlor and came back moments later with a bucket of water, pouring it on the book. But she had been too late, the book was no more than a pile of ashes and singed pieces of paper by that point. They all stared all the black pile on the table that used to be the book 'Ancient Artifacts of the Ghost Zone' and Guardian's letter.

Sam looked over at Clockwork who was still staring at the pile of ashes. She swore she could almost see the blue flames still dancing in his eyes. "How could you!" She yelled angrily, balling her hands into fists, "How could you destroy the one thing that we needed to stop Riona and save Danny. Not to mention the entire Ghost Zone!?"

Clockwork shifted into his elderly form once more and Sam noticed that there were dark circles under his eyes. The kind a human gets if they don't get enough sleep. But ghosts didn't need sleep... right? The elder ghost sighed, "We do not need that book of lies, nor its twin letter." He muttered. That response gained him many confused looks.

"What are you talking about?" Jazz questioned, "What lies?" 

Clockwork clutched his staff tightly in his hand and if one looked closely enough, they could see dents starting to form around where his hand gripped the staff. "It was all lies. There is no Guardian, there is no daughter, there is no Dark Castle."

The Master of Time looked at all his companions and said the last thing anyone would have ever expected. "And there is no Phantom Prophecy."

A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the lack of updates on this. Had another small writer's block. Still working through it but I was able to give you this.... uh... gem(?) of an update. Hope it's not too bad for you guys. I know its not that good and you're all probably yelling at me for that twist at the end but I swear it will all make sense. Thanks for reading and I'll see you all in the next one!