"Oh look, I think he's waking up," a deep voice chirped happily.

"Well if you keep screeching like that of course he would," an elegant voice hissed.

Danny's head pounded as he slowly opened his eyes. Darkness surrounded him and he felt a chill consistently wash over his body. His chest burned every so often but would quickly be replaced by a feeling of cold. Hot and cold sweats formed on his brow as he fought to catch his breath.

"Oh dear, maybe all of us being here is too much for him to handle in his current state," the deep voice from before whispered, worry in its tone.

A scoff could be heard, "Nonsense, if he can't handle this then he certainly can't handle what's to come. This will be good for him," a familiar voice declared.

Danny felt a hand wrap around his arm and lift him to his feet. As the halfa's head spun from dizziness he rubbed his eyes in an attempt to see into the darkness. He didn't have to wait long as a small ball of light appeared, illuminating the space around him. Danny looked for the source of the light and saw it resting in the golden hand of a skeleton.

The skeleton was completely gold, draped in an elegant robe that had a collar that reached up past the top of its skull. It had white embroidery covering it in a series of different symbols that Danny could not figure out the meaning of. A little golden dove rested on its shoulder, preening its feathers. Due to its bony face, the skeleton showed no emotion in its empty eyes, but Danny could sense excitement radiating off of it.

"He is such a fascinating creature, never seen anything like him," the deep voice from before said. It seemed to be coming from the skeleton, though its mouth did not move.

"He is unnatural. He reeks of the living," the elegant voice said disapprovingly.

Danny whipped around and saw a blue skinned ghost standing behind him. She had white hair that reached past her waist and flowed freely. A piece of golden fabric was wrapped around her eyes, with a symbol of an eye embroidered on it in white thread. She wore a flowing white dress with a golden belt and in her hands she held a small harp with silver strings and a silver body. Her lips were currently pursed in a scowl and, while Danny couldn't see her eyes, it felt like she was glaring at him.

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, who are you guys?" Danny asked, looking from the woman to the skeleton.

The skeleton chuckled, "We're just memories, child. Memories of our former selves." The skeleton raised a bony hand to stroke the dove on his shoulder and it sang happily. The orb of light in its hand grew brighter and started to float above the three, though the darkness still felt overpowering. The skeleton reached forward and placed a bony hand on Danny's chest. "It is an honor to meet you," it said before withdrawing its hand.

"Shouldn't it be the other way around?" the blind-folded ghost scoffed.

"Hey now, we should be showing gratitude to the boy. After all, being a vessel is no easy task," the familiar voice said.

Danny looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. His eyes nearly popped out of his skull as an all too familiar greasy haired ghost emerged from the shadows. "Vizier!" Danny shouted, scrambling backwards and crashing into the woman ghost, who shrieked upon Danny touching her and pushed the teen to the ground. The halfa stared up at Vizier, who merely peered down at Danny in confusion.

"How do you know my name, child?" Vizier asked, his voice holding no malice.

Danny struggled to form words, terrified of the figure in front of him. But the more he stared at Vizier, the more he noticed he looked different. The Vizier before him looked less haggard, his hair wasn't as long, it barely passed his shoulders, his robe wasn't tattered and looked almost new, as his eyes held not a single ounce of resentment.

"What is going on right now?!" Danny cried out, floating into the air, away from the three ghosts.

"All will be revealed in time, boy," another familiar voice answered. A blue clock formed in the center of the three ghosts and from within it, a middle-aged Clockwork appeared.

The halfa's eyes lit up at the sight of a familiar friendly face. "Clockwork! I'm so glad you're here, who are all these other ghosts? Why is Vizier here? I thought you said you-"

Clockwork held up a purple gloved hand. He floated up to Danny, taking the teen by the arm and leading him back to the ground. "You must have a lot of questions, I understand, but unfortunately the current version of me does not have your answers," Clockwork explained. He gestured to himself and the ghosts around him, "Myself, and all my brothers and sisters here, are fragments. Pieces of ourselves from a time long ago. We are nothing but a representation of power. I have not viewed a timestream for many millennia."

Danny stared blankly at Clockwork and the Elder Spirit sighed. "I am sure the version of myself you have met has not informed you of what you currently hold in your possession," he said, poking the teen's chest.

"Despite your desire, you never did make things easy hm?" a voice purred. A starry serpent with glowing red eyes and a small iridescent pendant on its head emerged from the ground and wrapped itself around Danny's leg, slowly climbing up until it reached the teen's shoulders. It wrapped itself once around Danny's neck and seemed content resting on the halfa's shoulders as if it were a decorative scarf. Small even breaths escaped it as splashes of gold, blue and purple sparkled over its starry body.

"Nocturne?" Danny asked, reaching a hand up to pat the serpent on the head.

The serpent leaned into the touch, "Ah, so you have met me as well, little one? From your tone, I suppose I look much different from this in your world," the serpent said, Nocturne's voice coming from its mouth. Nocturne nudged Danny's hand away and grew in length, so that his serpent face was up close and personal with Clockwork's disapproving one. "So, how do you think your little plan is going?" he hissed, a forked tongue flicking in and out of his mouth.

Clockwork's brow furrowed, red eyes narrowing dangerously, "I'm certain that if he knows you, not well."

Nocturne threw his head back as laughter erupted out of him. His laughter died out as he used the tip of his tail to wipe away a shimmering tear. "This is all so terribly interesting, but I don't think our little guest can stay for much longer," the starry serpent said, staring upwards at the glowing orb of light in the darkness, "I can sense the boy awakening."

"Oh what a shame, we didn't even get to introduce everyone," the skeleton said sadly, the dove seemingly depressed by this news as well. "He already knew you three, Serenity and I didn't even get a chance."

"Oh quit being a crybaby, Lumen. It is unbecoming of an Elder Spirit," the white haired ghost, whose name was apparently Serenity, scolded.

The skeleton, Lumen, approached Danny and allowed the Nocturne serpent to slither onto his arm. Nocturne came to rest on Lumen's shoulders, locking eyes with the golden dove and licking his lips hungrily. "Until we meet again, child," the skeletal spirit said. The dove on his shoulder sang a small tune before it, Lumen and Nocturne faded into the darkness.

Danny whipped his head around, seeing the same happen to Serenity and Vizier until only he and Clockwork remained. "I'm so confused right now," Danny moaned, his head pounding; though he couldn't tell if it was related to everything that he had just experienced or some other source. "Why do you and Nocturne not know who I am? Why is Vizier still here? And those other two... I'm so tired of being confused," the teen sighed, collapsing to the ground feeling a wave of exhaustion wash over him.

"As I said before, every Spirit here is nothing but a fragment. We are not the Spirits you may have already met, just manifestations of their power infused in the Pendant," Clockwork explained, shifting to his elderly form. He leaned down and rested a hand on the teen's shoulder. "If the Clockwork you know has not explained the truth of your situation to you, unfortunately there is nothing I can tell you. I can only urge you to trust him," he offered, his tone trying its best to be comforting.

The glowing ball left behind by Lumen started to flash and Clockwork looked up at it, shielding his eyes from its powerful light. "You must leave now. They're summoning you back," Clockwork said, looking back down at Danny and lifting the teen to his feet. He placed a hand on the teen's forehead, his hand glowing with blue energy. "Your existence is very valuable half-breed. I'm certain your Clockwork will not allow harm to come to you," his eyes looked down and he briefly glanced at Danny's chest, "and you have Nocturne's protection as well," he said, as Danny's vision became blurred. "Have faith in the Time Master, and everything will work out in the end," were the last words Danny heard before he slipped back into unconsciousness.

Normal Line Break here. Hope everyone is enjoying the story! I'm currently enjoying a nice cup o' Joe. Alright, I'll let you all get back to reading.

Danny's eyes snapped open as he bolted upright, gasping for breath. White rings formed around his waist as washed over him, reverting him back to his human form. His eyes darted around seeing Sam and Tucker on either side of him, both with concerned expressions on their features. His gaze fell on the other side of the room where Fright Knight was busying himself with helping a barely conscious Nocturne.

"Danny, you alright?" Sam asked tentatively. She and Tucker both slung one of Danny's arms over each of their shoulders and helped the teen to his feet.

"Yeah," Danny groaned as he stood, "I think so." Memories of what he had experienced while unconscious came flooding back. Encountering Clockwork, Nocturne and Vizier and none of them recognizing him, and the two other ghosts. He could barely make sense of what little he had understood from that encounter. "Have faith in the Time Master," kept repeating itself in Danny's head, almost like a mantra.

Danny managed to push himself off of his friends and approached Nocturne, who was being helped to his feet by Fright Knight. "Lumen and Serenity," Danny said as he approached the starry spirit, "those names ring a bell for you?"

Nocturne and Fright Knight froze, their attention turning to Danny. Fright Knight looked shocked at the words he had just heard come from his former liege's mouth while Nocturne's expression was unreadable.

"And what if I do?" the starry spirit hissed, shoving Fright Knight away from him.

White rings formed around Danny's waist as he ran at Nocturne. By the time his transformation reverted him back to ghost form he was soaring through the air and aimed his fist for Nocturne's face. As he was about to land the blow, a shimmering tentacle wrapped itself around his ankle and flung the halfa into a nearby bookshelf. Books flew off from their places and fluttered to the ground causing the shriek of a hidden Ghost Writer to be heard. Danny rested in the broken shelves, gasping to reclaim the breath that had been knocked out of him on impact. He swallowed hard, peeling himself out of the splintered wood, green blood leaking from his wounds. He didn't get far before a giant starry hand wrapped itself around his throat and the halfa found himself staring into a pair of angry glowing red eyes.

"Do not mistake my behaviour thus far as mere fondness for you, boy," Nocturne snarled, his face filling Danny's vision, "My actions are not of my own will". His eyes burned with anger and bore into his helpless victim's. His grip around the teen's throat tightened as the fingers on his other hand formed into five pointed blades.

The whine of two blasters charging caught Nocturne's attention as a green blade was pressed to his throat.

"Drop... the Prince... now," Fright Knight warned, his brown curly beard morphing into purple flames as he pressed his blade harder into Nocturne's throat, not enough to cut but enough to warn that Fright Knight was serious about banishing the Elder Spirit to a Nightmare Realm.

Nocturne side-eyed the Ghost King, noticing the two humans had their wrist rays also trained on him. He sighed, releasing Danny and the teen crashed into a pile of books below. Without a word Nocturne leaped into the air, phasing through the ceiling and leaving the remaining inhabitants in the library speechless. Sam and Tucker rushed to Danny as Fright Knight stared up at the spot in the ceiling where Nocturne had disappeared.

"My actions are not of my own will."

Fright Knight had long suspected that Nocturne was planning something, what with how close he had been trying to get with Danny all of a sudden. But now, with the doubt Ghost Writer had planted in his mind over Clockwork's actions and Nocturne's parting words, he was more sure than ever that the Elder Spirits they knew were hiding something from them. 'Not like confronting either of them will accomplish anything' he thought to himself. For now, he would continue his own research, and do his best to keep an eye on Danny while pacifying the Observants. The burden on the Ghost King's shoulders grew heavier by the day, but if it could lessen that of his young liege's worries it was of no concern to him. He gazed down at the once again unconscious teen and floated down to him.

"We must take Danny to the infirmary wing, they can treat him there," Fright Knight assured the panicking humans as he scooped the halfa into his arms. Leading the way out of the library with Sam and Tucker hot on his heels, he started to formulate a new plan of action.

No longer would they wait on the sidelines for something to happen or for Clockwork to give them a clue of what is to come. Fright Knight was going to do some investigating of his own, and hopefully expose whatever it was that Clockwork and Nocturne were hiding.

Hello darlings, the Posh Line Break is here to offer you a new pair of boots fresh from my newest fashion line. I do hope you enjoy them, as well as the rest of the chapter! Farewell for now my darlings.

"So he's met Serenity and Lumen, has he?" Clockwork asked, staring at the starry spirit draped across one of the support beams in his viewing room. Nocturne had rather unceremoniously crashed into the room babbling nonsense and had only recently calmed down enough to explain to Clockwork why he was so flustered.

Nocturne nodded, resting his hands under his chin and wrapping his body around the beam. "I'm not certain if he's met any of the others, but I could definitely sense the energy of your fragment and mine," Nocturne explained, leaning backwards off the beam and dangling upside down like a bat. "The Pendant is fusing nicely to him, though I have to admit these side effects are getting most annoying; I nearly killed our precious vessel because of a little outburst," the starry spirit admitted. He slithered to the floor, adjusting the iridescent pendant hanging from his upturned horns, "How much longer, exactly, will this take?"

"The way things are now, with the Observants beginning to get involved, my actions are limited," Clockwork said, swiping his hand across the viewing screen in front of him, rapidly sifting through timelines and events in the timestream. "And I can only do so much with my own abilities," the Time Master sighed, "As much of a pain Vizier was, his Relic would be very useful right about now."

"Don't you get all mopey on me now, it's creeping me out," Nocturne said, shuddering as he dropped to the ground, splatting into a starry puddle before reforming his body and slithering over to Clockwork. He placed a hand on Clockwork's shoulder in a rare show of concern for his fellow Elder Spirit. "We are doing this for them, right? With the halfa's help, our goal is closer than ever before," he said, a smile gracing his pale face as he joined Clockwork in staring at the rapidly shifting timelines. "All that's left to do..." he added before trailing off as an image of a swirling mass of green and black ecto energy filled the viewing screen, destroying pieces of the Ghost Zone and consuming every ghost that crossed its path.

"Is to ensure the Phantom Prophecy comes true," Clockwork finished, as the viewing screen showed a familiar white haired ghost boy and his friends watching the swirling mass of ecto energy on the viewing screen approach them.