Chapter Text
Danny would say he knew Clockwork fairly well. Both in the sense that he knew Clockwork better than he knew other ghosts, and in that he knew Clockwork better than other ghosts knew Clockwork. He knew from speaking to Poindexter, Skulker, Ember, Johnny, and Kitty (both during fights and during rare truces) that Clockwork was considered borderline mythical. Both in the sense that a lot of people didn’t think he was real, and the sense that he was regarded as a deity. Which was a weird thing to find out about someone you knew, but Danny didn’t have any room to comment. He was half dead.
All this to say, Danny had never seen Clockwork sleep before. Or act sleepy. Or even tired, except in an ‘I'm tired of your crap’ kind of way. So, the addition of a massive, curtained bed to three main room of Long Now, his lair, seemed distinctly out of character.
Out of theme, too, unless he was aiming for some kind of extended bedtime-based pun. Which was… possible. Not likely, Clockwork preferred irony as a comedic device, but possible.
Although, he also liked pranks.
Danny had no idea what kind of prank this could be, though.
He lingered in the doorway, looking over the room, trying to spot any other clue as to what was going on. Some other object, maybe. A time viewer left on a particular scene. A clock showing a notable time. Clockwork himself, floating silently in a corner.
Nothing. Nothing that stood out, anyway.
Danny slid his backpack (stuffed with social studies homework - Clockwork never gave Danny answers, but he'd give hints) off his shoulder and put it quietly on the floor. Cautiously, he approached the bed. He remembered the time Clockwork had slammed him repeatedly into a bell, and while it hadn’t hurt that much, and Danny had arguably deserved it, Danny didn’t want a repeat.
Just like before, nothing seemed out of place, other than the bed itself. Danny reached it, and lifted a hand to touch the curtain. It was multi-layered, with the top layer a lavender gauze and the deepest one a dark, heavy, purple. Brass stars were sewn into all the layers and they jingled against one another as Danny drew the curtains back.
The bed was occupied. Danny thought he might have known this, or at least predicted this. Clockwork lay there, beneath the blankets, perfectly still, not moving, not breathing. He wasn’t wearing his usual cloak and robes, but something more like a bathrobe or nightgown. His long white hair was braided over his shoulder, looping over the comforter.
But the most striking change to Clockwork’s appearance was the black and glittering ooze dripping from his eyes. It looked like there were stars trapped in it.
That… didn’t look good.
Danny bit his lower lip, then shook Clockwork’s shoulder. “Clockwork?” he said. “Clockwork? Can you hear me? Wake up.”
Yeah. Maybe not the most polite thing to do to a guy when you just showed up to his house uninvited, but Danny was worried. This was massively out of character for Clockwork. If Clockwork had just decided to take a weird nap in the entryway, fine. Danny could apologize. But if this was a sickness, or an attack of some kind, Danny couldn’t just leave. He had to check.
Clockwork didn’t stir.
Danny didn’t know enough about how ghosts slept to know if that was normal.
He stared down at Clockwork, stymied. ‘Sleep like the dead’ was a common phrase, as was ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead,’ but he’d never seen any ghost asleep. Unless he counted Nocturn that one time.
Speaking of Nocturn… The black stuff under Clockwork’s eyes was familiar. It looked like the substance of Nocturn’s body, made liquid. Sort of liquid. It looked distinctly gooey.
Could this be–? No, before, Nocturn had used bulky helmets. But that had been when they were trying to keep the whole city under their control. Maybe the rules were different when they were only putting one person to sleep.
Actually, they hadn’t even needed the helmets to put people to sleep. They’d used sand for that. The helmets had been to collect dream energy and maybe to control the dreams and keep people asleep.
Okay. So, this might be a Nocturn thing. Which meant Danny should… Do what? He should do something . With his friends, he had overshadowed them to jump into his dreams, but, historically, him overshadowing another ghost, or another ghost overshadowing him, hadn’t exactly worked well. In fact, one particular incident was downright apocalyptic.
But what else could he do?
He shook Clockwork again, fruitlessly.
Maybe he should go back home and get some backup. But then he’d have to leave Clockwork, and Nocturn might be around somewhere. Could he bring Clockwork with him? No, that wouldn’t be safe for Clockwork, with the trip through the Fentonworks lab and all.
Well, if the overshadowing looked like it was going poorly, Danny would just… disengage. It wasn’t like he wanted to fuse with Clockwork or take over his body, he just wanted to wake him up.
He ran his hand through his hair and rubbed the back of his neck. This… was probably a bad idea. Almost certainly. But he wasn’t sure if there was a good way to deal with this.
(Danny might have been freaking out about someone - even Nocturn - being able to beat Clockwork. Just a little. Internally. As one did.)
Still, he stood there, looking down at Clockwork, hoping that a good idea would come to him.
It didn’t.
He took a deep breath. “It’ll be fine,” he said to himself. “How it was meant to be or whatever.”
Overshadowing was a deceptively simple power. Go intangible and slip into something. But there was more. When Danny phased through something he could overshadow, he could feel something like a spiderweb. Something delicate, connecting it to itself. Something Danny could tangle himself in. Or, when he was sliding into a dream or video game, something he could travel down, spiderwebs turning into highways with a shift of perspective.
But in a ghost, the lines were less spiderweb and more chain net or root bulb. Dense, thick, and focused on a single point. When Danny forced an overshadowing ghost out of a human, he had to push that knot out. When he fought Poindexter, he’d lost that fight. When he’d jumped into Nocturn’s dreams… Well, Danny was glad he’d been trying to go after his dreams, because he’d been practically sucked in.
Jumping into Clockwork was the same way. He was just so strong, his will so solid, that the shift in perspective was automatic. He was swept away, inwards, and emerged tumbling into Clockwork’s dreams.
He took a minute to orient himself. Dreams were… strange. And personal. They didn’t really exist far away from the dreamer, the landscape forming and dissolving around them in a sort of bubble. But even in that bubble, the rules of cause and effect, permanence, and persistence were suggestions.
After the first time with Nocturn, Danny had asked Tucker how he’d perceived his dream, and it turned out that he’d thought there was only one Star, instead of the legions that Danny had seen. It was just that Star was everywhere.
Danny was apprehensive about what kinds of dream logic would prevail in the dreams of a person who could see time.
But this looked… Normal. It looked just like Long Now’s entryway, actually, minus the bed.
Good. Normal was good.
Okay, Danny’s next steps were clear. Find Clockwork, figure out how to shock him or otherwise wake him up, and then work out what had happened in the real world. Easy.
Except for the part about shocking someone who could see the future. That wasn’t going to be easy.
Why didn’t he ever think these things through?
He shook his head. First, find Clockwork. Then deal with the other stuff. Who knew? Maybe telling him he was in a dream would be enough.
“Clockwork?” he called. His voice echoed, but he got no other response. He flew deeper into Long Now, calling out periodically. Clockwork didn’t answer. Long Now continued to look normal.
Except– Was it getting darker? And were those stars moving in the dark?
That was all the warning he got before the shadows swirled around him and contracted, forming a sort of starry bubble. Sleepwalkers, cloth-covered ghosts with stitched-shut eyes, rose from the black like swimmers from a pool and swarmed him.
Danny fought, but the sleepwalkers were numerous and they were on their home turf. Much like during his very first encounter with them, they pinned him and dragged him into place so their master could have a better look at him.
Nocturn emerged from the darkness, and it clung to them, merging smoothly with their long robes. They glared down at Danny with deep disfavor.
“You,” they said. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to stop whatever you’re doing to Clockwork!” snapped Danny, angry at Nocturn for doing this, and furious at himself for not being able to get away.
“What I am doing to Clockwork?” said Nocturn, rising up, their body elongating and looming over Danny. They had to curve so as to avoid the low, rounded ceiling. “What I am doing to Clockwork? Better to ask what everyone else is doing to him. Uncountable petitioners, begging for this favor or that, kings seeking to use him as a tool, those cursed Observants.” Their lips curled. “You.”
“Me?” repeated Danny. “What did I do?”
“Paradox on paradox,” hissed Nocturn, circling Danny. Danny craned his neck trying to keep track of them. “Do you think your little jaunts through time are without damage? Without consequence?”
Well. No. Danny knew his trips through time made work for Clockwork. That was one of the reasons he started visiting. But that didn't explain–
“Why do you care? You attacked him and put him to sleep!”
Nocturn laughed. “You seek to take me to task, but you know nothing. Less than nothing. Eons, I have been by Clockwork's side, and the oldest of your histories is younger than our relationship.”
Danny… blinked. “Relationship?” he asked. “Like- like a romantic–?”
“Of course a romantic relationship!” Nocturn paced through the little bubble of starry darkness, back and forth. “We have been lovers since before your kind had writing.”
“Okay, I kind of got that from the history thing, but–”
“I have had enough of this world harming him. I have had enough of watching him work himself to his gears, trying to satisfy cruel masters. I will have him rest in peace. You will not disturb him!”
“And did you ask him before you did–” Danny tugged at the sleepwalkers holding him in an attempt to gesture. “--All this?”
Nocturn scoffed. “Do you ask your right hand whether it is acceptable to hold it with your left?”
“Oh my gosh,” said Danny. “This is a domestic violence thing. Are you even dating, or–”
“Our love transcends such distinctions.”
“You’re a stalker. I can’t believe this, no wonder Clockwork never mentioned you–”
Danny’s words died on his tongue as Nocturn gave him a particularly poisonous look. Okay. Yeah. Sometimes snarking at the person who currently held you captive wasn’t a good idea.
“Why would he mention me to you, when our relationship far exceeds anything you could even dream of?” they asked. It was only barely a question. But then their expression slid towards contemplation. “But he does care for you. Somewhat. He dreams of you.”
“And I dream of infinite tacos,” said Danny. “What’s your point?”
“No, you don’t.”
“Huh? I think I know what I dream about.”
“I am the Master of Dreams and Nightmares. I know what you have dreamed of, and it is not tacos, infinite or otherwise.” Nocturn leaned close, looming. “You dream of stars. Of tragedies that never happened. Of your own death. Of being loved in ways you never will be in waking life.”
“Uh, I think I know what I dream about,” said Danny. “Also, excuse you, I am loved in real life. Even Clockwork likes me.”
Oh, heck, that’s where they started. That’s what Danny was trying to distract Nocturn from.
“Yes,” said Nocturn, tapping a clawed finger against painted lips. “You might be useful. But not with that tongue on you.” They snapped their fingers and the sleepwalkers moved, pulling at Danny’s lips and teeth. “Oh, stop struggling, child. I’m not going to cut off your tongue or whatever you’ve convinced yourself of. I’m not a monster.”
Danny snapped at one sleepwalker’s fingers. “Could’ve fooled me! Augh!” The sleepwalkers got their fingers firmly into Danny’s mouth and pulled his jaw open. Their fingers tasted sandy.
Nocturn held their hand out, and one of the idle sleepwalkers, standing behind them, pulled towards it, like it was being sucked into a black hole. Its body warped, turning green, then inky, starry black as it swirled into a dripping orb a few inches across. Dark liquid dripped onto Nocturn’s palm and disappeared, absorbed into their skin.
Danny did not like the look of that. Should he try a wail? He hadn’t before, because this was Clockwork’s dream, and he didn’t know what would happen to him if Danny did something so damaging in his dream.
“This servant of mine,” said Nocturn, “will make sure you do not say anything against the rules.”
What rules?
Nocturn leaned close, bringing the sleepwalker orb with them. Danny felt something cold drip on his lips, and then press against his back teeth. The orb was far too big to swallow and he gagged, trying to throw off the sleepwalkers one more time.
But ‘too big to swallow’ was a problem for rigid humans. It wasn’t an obstacle for ghosts whose bodies could vaporize or stretch like putty. Not when that stretching was reflexive. Danny’s throat expanded as Nocturn pushed. But Nocturn didn’t push it all the way down to Danny’s stomach. Instead, the sticky, gooey ball lodged somewhere in Danny’s esophagus and compressed when the organ seized around it, but didn’t move.
Danny gagged and heaved, but the thing didn’t move. All that came up were a few splatters of black that were lost in the black that surrounded Danny, Nocturn, and the sleepwalkers.
But the sleepwalkers were fading away, disappearing, and soon only Danny and Nocturn stood there. Or, rather, in the case of Danny, knelt there. Without the sleepwalkers holding him up, he’d collapsed as he coughed.
Nocturn grabbed the back of his collar and pulled him up as the darkness around them dissolved and Danny saw… Clockwork’s workshop?
And Clockwork.
Danny tried to call out, but black liquid bubbled out over his tongue and past his lips, staining the front of his suit.
… That was gross.
But it also gave Danny time to realize that Clockwork was talking to… him? To Danny’s doppelganger which was–
Not that weird, actually. He’d been in Sam’s dream and Tucker’s dream, and Nocturn had just said Clockwork was dreaming of Danny. It was still a little unsettling to see.
“I would tell you the rules,” whispered Nocturn, “but they are the rules of a dream. You will figure them out… Or not.” They pushed Danny forward, and Danny experienced a brief moment of vertigo before finding himself sitting on the stool the dream double had been on, listening to Clockwork as he explained the function of a particular type of gear.
Okay. Danny didn’t know what game Nocturn was playing, but now that he was in front of Clockwork, he could just tell him that he was in a dream. He opened his mouth and even more black ooze spilled out. The action was completely silent.
Okay. That wouldn’t work. Could Danny speak at all, now that Nocturn had forced an entire sleepwalker down his throat.
“Clockwork,” he said.
“Yes, Daniel?” asked Clockwork, looking up.
Danny pointed over his shoulder. “Nocturn.”
Clockwork’s gaze followed Danny’s finger, and then his entire face lit up. “Ah, my love.”
“My love,” said Nocturn, significantly more possessively. He leaned down as Clockwork reached up, and they kissed.
Deeply.
Ew. Just. Ew. That was– That was going on way too long. Way, way too long.
(And some of Nocturn’s claims must be true, because if they weren’t, Danny was sure this would count as shocking. It was certainly shocking to him. )
“I believe we are scandalizing your child, my dear,” said Nocturn.
“Our child,” corrected Clockwork, absently. “I am sure he will become used to it. In time.”
“In your dreams,” said Danny, horrified, and not really processing the rest of the conversation, such as it was.
Clockwork patted Danny on the head, ruffling his hair, then planted a kiss on Danny’s forehead, which was about ten times as intimate as Clockwork had ever been with Danny, and Danny felt his thoughts grind to a halt.
What– What?
No, no, this was a distraction, he had to get Clockwork out of this dream.
“Is there something the matter, dear? I thought that you were working.”
“The problem was easily solved,” said Nocturn, carefully placing an arm around Clockwork’s shoulders. “I thought that I would come watch you teach, if it is not an imposition, love.”
“Of course not. And I am sure Daniel will not mind.” He looked at Danny expectantly.
Danny tried to form many words around a mouthful of inky ectoplasm (it had to be ectoplasm, right?) but the only one that managed to come out was, “No.”
Clockwork smiled. “Very good.”
Nocturn smiled, too. Much more sinisterly.
Danny swallowed. This… was going to be a lot harder to deal with than he thought.
He really should have brought that backup.