"And so, The Far Frozen does not fall within the boundaries of the Ghost Zone monarchy as they declared their independence as a Realm during..." the Ghost King trailed off, looking at his young pupils with an expecting gaze.

Danny and Tucker flipped through their notes, stammering incoherent words as they searched for the answer to the question.

"The War of Frozen Flags," Sam answered with a smirk, leaning back in her chair and interlocking her fingers behind her head.

Fright Knight closed the book he was holding with a loud clap. "Correct once again Lady Sam," he said cheerfully, turning to face the large blackboard behind him. He picked up a piece of chalk and placed a tally mark in a column holding the letter 'S'. "That brings Lady Sam to a striking lead of seventy-eight correct answers, Sir Tucker with fourteen and the young Prince to a small, but not unremarkable, six," the Ghost King finished but turning around to shoot an encouraging glance at Danny.

The halfa groaned, slamming his head facedown on the table, his white hair falling over his face. "My head feels like it's been in the Fenton Fryer," he grumbled, lifting his head to rest his chin on the table, "How are you so good at this, Sam?"

The goth shrugged, "As sophisticated as the Ghost Zone apparently used to be, their names for wars are surprisingly simple. Like really, calling a war between the Far Frozen and the Melting Molten, Age of Hot and Cold?" she said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, I remember that one, truly a fascinating sight," a voice chimed in.

The three teens all groaned in unison as they turned to see a familiar starry spirit, hanging off the back of Ghost Writer. For some reason, Nocturne had decided he had nothing better to do than to sit in on Fright Knight's lessons to the young Prince-in-training and his friends. And when he wasn't eavesdropping in on their lessons or adding his two-cents worth, he was busy harassing Ghost Writer; who had quickly learned that maybe the praise given to the Elder Spirits was not deserved by all of them.

"If I recall correctly, that war waged on right until that other kingdom appeared and helped talk out a peace treaty between the two Realms," Nocturne chuckled, "If you call turning into a dragon and obliterating all their armies a peaceful discussion." As Nocturne continued to chuckle, Ghost Writer's annoyance became more and more evident.

"If you would like to converse with the half-breed and his human friends, by all means do so. Just not on my BACK!" he shouted, his broken glasses become crooked on his face.

Nocturne shrugged, sliding off the wounded ghost and shrinking in size until he was slightly taller than Fright Knight. He glided on the floor to a position behind Danny, placing a hand on the ghost boy's shoulder.

Sam's hand twitched under the table, resisting the urge to activate her Fenton Wrist Ray and blast Nocturne into next week. But she stayed her hand as she watched Danny be completely unfazed by the sudden contact. The goth shot a glance at Tucker who merely shrugged in response.

"Why don't I give them the next lesson Galahad, old friend?" the Elder Spirit said with a toothy grin, tilting his head innocently.

The sound of Tucker gagging distracted the group for a moment, but the technogeek waved his hand as a signal that he was fine.

"It appears my pupils don't mix very well with your teaching methods," the Ghost King offered, patting Tucker on the back.

Nocturne hummed to himself, hand still on Danny's shoulder. Danny had noticed that Nocturne had been very attached to him lately. Almost every time their paths crossed, which seemed to be happening more and more frequently, Nocturne would either try to have physical contact with Danny or just linger very close to the teen. The young halfa at first found it weird and did his best to avoid the starry spirit but eventually grew tired and gave in to Nocturne's odd habit. Considering everything else Nocturne had put the teen hero through, Danny could stand a little uncomfortable bonding time.

Nocturne snapped his fingers, a cheerful look growing on his pale features. Ghost Writer shrieked as a blue, leather-bound book whizzed by his head and into Nocturne's hand. "How about this then?" he offered, placing the book on the table. "I'll translate the Codex of Creation for you. After all, it contains the wealth of all Elder Spirit knowledge. And no funny tricks this time, I swear on the Creator." Nocturne finished by holding out his palm to Fright Knight as a soft glow emitted from it.

Fright Knight raised an eyebrow at the gesture, and eventually returned the gesture. "Translate away Mind Master," the Ghost King sighed.

Giggling almost as if he were a small child opening a present on Christmas, Nocturne sat next to Danny and began flipping through the pages of the Codex as another small notebook floated beside him with a quill rapidly flying across the pages. 

Relieved that he managed to find a way to distract the starry spirit, albeit frighteningly easy, Fright Knight tried to resume his lesson. "So, the War of the Frozen Flag was the war that established the Far Frozen as its own Realm, but when it came to the war against the Ancients, whose side did the Far Frozen fight on?" he asked.

"Trick question!" Danny shouted, leaping out of his seat, "That war was not a war waged in battle. The Ancients learned that the Elder Spirits were planning against them and struck them down without hesitation!". The young halfa looked excitedly at Fright Knight, waiting for praise at getting the answer right. Instead, he received a look of horror.

"What in the name of the Creator are you talking about, my Prince?" the Ghost King asked, his voice slightly trembling. "The ancient texts say it was a battle waged across many centuries against every force in the Ghost Zone. It is very improper to make things up."

Sam and Tucker stared at Danny in shock. What he had just said was nowhere in any of the books they had read so far or what Fright Knight had taught them. Even Nocturne gave Danny a quick side-eyed look of concern before returning to flipping through the pages of the codex.

Danny's ears flushed a deep shade of red as he sat back down, muttering a word of apology. He had no idea what had suddenly came over him. He hadn't even read the book that Fright Knight had given him on the war against the Ancients, how could he feel so confident about something he knew nothing about?

As the Ghost King was about to resume his lesson, a chill washed over the room. "D-Did the A/C go on the fritz?" Tucker questioned while shivering, "Do ghost castles even have A/C?"

Sam rolled her eyes as she rubbed her arms trying to retain some warmth. As she fought off the chill in the room, a glance at Danny was all it took to make her blood run cold. The halfa's lips were a deep blue and frost was appearing on his tan skin. His body looked like it was becoming an ice statue.

"Danny!" Fright Knight cried out, flying to the halfa's side, "Control your powers! Remember your training!" A shake from the Ghost King seemed to snap the teen out of whatever trance he had been in and the chill in the room faded as Danny almost immediately returned to normal. The teen gripped his hair as he shook off the last of his chills.

"W-What just happened?" he mumbled, clearly dazed.

Sam and Tucker watched Danny with great concern. It is no surprise to see their half-ghost friend lose control of his powers but never to this extent. Even back when he first discovered his ice powers he hadn't reacted this badly.

"As troubling as that little cold front was, I think our young prince suddenly gained a new problem," Nocturne grumbled, his face scrunched into a scowl as he looked down at the codex. All attention was now on the starry Elder Spirit.

Nocturne slid the book to the center of the grand table and with a wave of his hand, a page lifted from the codex. A shriek of horror could be heard coming from the Ghost Writer but it went ignored. "This page, contains a prophecy," Nocturne informed the group.

"Okay, and what does a random prophecy have to do with Danny?" Tucker asked.

Nocturne's scowl was directed at Tucker for a brief moment, but it was long enough for the technogeek to slam his mouth shut. "This writing translates to The Phantom Prophecy."

A horrible silence filled the room and Nocturne returned the page to the codex. With another wave of his hand the symbols flew off the page and rearranged themselves in the air in English.

The Phantom Prophecy

Creatures of death will rise, the living will fall,

One who walks between life and death, the saviour of all,

Captured by death, saved by time

The Prince walks, unaware of his crime

A King without his crown, a bearer of sin

His core, the souls of eight within,

On Day of First Death, two worlds collide,

Presenting destruction and darkness to all who defied,

Find the King, awaiting his throne,

Lest the sins of two worlds be forced to become known

A deathly silence fell over the room as multiple sets of eyes stared in disbelief at the words floating in front of them. Even Ghost Writer had paused in his search of the many shelves lining the walls of the grand library to stare at the words that hovered before the three teens' eyes. 

"What the heck is this?" Sam managed to squeak out, "This is a joke right? Because if it is it isn't funny, Nocturne." The goth's violet eyes glared daggers at the starry spirit but her gaze was not returned; as Nocturne seemed to be equally horrified by the prophecy as the rest of them were.

"I assure you, human, that this is no joke," Nocturne hissed, not even giving the teen a side-eyed look. Splashes of gold, blue, and purple fluttered over his starry body as his clawed hand found Danny's shoulder.

"What does this mean?" the halfa mumbled, shaking off Nocturne's hand and floating up in the air to swipe at the prophecy as if his weak attack would destroy those terrifying words. "One who walks between life and death? Prince unaware of his crime? Souls of eight?!" as Danny continued speaking, his volume got louder as he read off every detail he could glean from the obscure passage. He turned his gaze to Fright Knight, his tan skin becoming as pale as his skin in human form, "This can't be talking about me, right?!" he asked, sounding more like he was pleading the Ghost King to tell him he was overthinking it.

Instead all he received was a look of great sorrow. Fright Knight sunk down into an available chair, no trace of the foreboding warrior Danny had once called his enemy. "I regret to say that I truly do not know," he managed to say after a long inhale and exhale.

"This thing, almost quite literally, has your name on it dude," Tucker said, his panic being the most evident out of every person in the room. 

"But still," Sam quickly interjected as she watched her ghosty friend wobble back to the ground, "maybe it means nothing? I mean who knows how accurate that old book is anyways?" The goth reached for the Codex of Creation, flipping through the pages of symbols hoping some kind of answer would present itself. "Ugh, I can't read anything in this book. Nocturne, can't you-" Sam cut herself off as she noticed that the starry spirit was no longer at the table. In fact, it appeared he was no longer in the library at all. Sam clicked her tongue in annoyance, "Typical."

Danny fell back into his seat and slumped forward, his head crashing to the table with such force it caused the books set on the table to jump in the air. "And I thought my life couldn't possibly get any worse," he mused, feeling his throat tighten. "First I get these stupid powers, then I almost die more times than I can count, I have to learn to be a Prince to pacify some freaky eyeball heads and now there is apparently a prophecy that may or may not have me in the center of it." Danny felt tears well up in his eyes as the stress of his situation started to sink in. Blinking them away he sat up, looking from his friends, to the still hovering words of the prophecy and then to his own hands.

Forming fists, he turned to Fright Knight who was slowly recovering from the shock of the reveal. Sam and Tucker stared at their half-ghost friend, wondering what his next move was going to be.

With a look of stern determination in his eyes Danny furrowed his brow and sighed. After a brief pause he stood and slammed his hands down on the table, glaring at the glowing words in front of him. "Alright," he grumbled, "So what do we do now?"

littlest line break here. i missed you all soooooooooo much! i made a bunch of cookies to celebrate the chapter being posted! please enjoy!

Clockwork floated silently in front of his viewing screens, watching over the timeline as he had done for his entire existence. One would think after doing this for so long he had grown utterly exhausted of the task. An existence cursed to be alone and carry the weight of two worlds on his shoulders. A knock on the doors of his tower stirred Clockwork from his thoughts.

Well, he wasn't as alone as he would have liked to be.

Without waiting for an approval to enter the tower, a familiar starry spirit showed himself into Clockwork's viewing chamber. 

Nocturne slithered behind Clockwork, increasing his size until he was barely small enough to fit comfortably in the room. "What is the meaning of this?" the Elder Spirit of Mind hissed, his eyes glowing a dangerous red.

Clockwork adjusted the time on his staff as he shifted to his elderly form. "I take it that you've discovered it," was all the Time Master said in response, keeping his back to Nocturne.

A low rumbling noise filled the room but quickly died away as Nocturne shrunk in size, sighing as he returned to his normal height. "Honestly, I wonder how you were the one that got away sometimes," Nocturne chuckled, "If they had known you'd do something like this they would have banished you with all the others."

"As if I'm the only one here with his own agenda," Clockwork retorted sharply, casting a side-eyed glance at Nocturne.

The starry spirit growled, "True, but I am quickly regretting it," he complained. Nocturne flexed his hand, causing his twinkling fingers to become glittering blades, "Just being around him now causes me to act unlike myself. I clearly have been without control of my powers for far too long."

Clockwork resisted the urge to comment on Nocturne's general lack of skill and instead retreated to the far corners of his chamber, with his fellow Elder Spirit hot on his heels. The purple clad spirit stopped in his tracks as he felt Nocturne's looming energy try to overwhelm him. "I feel it unnecessary to tell you this," the Time Master warned, shifting to his toddler form, "but it appears you need a reminder." 

At a blinding speed Clockwork shifted to his middle aged form and morphed his staff into a scythe, pressing it against Nocturne's starry neck. His eyes glowed a dark red and bore into Nocturne's. "I am more powerful than you ever were and ever will be," Clockwork hissed, leaning closer and closer to Nocturne's face, "Do not interfere with my plans and I will keep the Observants out of yours; lest you wish to join our fallen brothers and sisters."

Nocturne raised an eyebrow but held up his hands in surrender. "Me? Interfere?" he replied, mocking a hurt voice. "Oh how you wound me old friend. I merely wish to be included." Clockwork lowered his scythe as a devilish grin appeared on Nocturne's features. "I may have been a coward and gave up my spirit status, but you know I'm always ready for a good fight." A childish glee seemed to take over Nocturne as he swayed side to side with excitement.

Clockwork sighed, realizing the problems that lay ahead for him. Both with Nocturne and with the humans that had put their faith in him.

A/N: Ok, no more promises. it seems every time I say that I'm back for good my mental health decides to do a swan dive into the toilet. So no more promises, aside from one. This story will be completed. It may take me a long time, but it will get done. That I do guarantee. I have put too much thought into this story to abandon it now and all the other projects I have planned. I thank those of you who still read this story and put up with my multiple disappearing acts. Thank you all so much, and see you in the next update!

(Also really sorry about how short the chapter is, they'll start getting longer again once I get back into the swing of things)