I was Socially Distant before it was cool.

The Olympians, forced to yield to this compromise least even they would Stop, allowed Clockwork to exist but enforced harsh restrictions on the new Ghost of Time. Unable to leave his lair in the Infinite Realms, Clockwork was only allowed to watch, to exist, so time may flow as it was meant to and nothing else.

And to guarantee that this was enforced Zeus, in all his infinite wisdom, created the imbecilic Observants to quite literally “keep an eye on him”.

If they weren’t so obnoxious, Clockwork might have found some humour in that. Instead, his new overseers continuous ignorance of what was actually required to keep the timelines flowing made his own job increasingly difficult and frustrating. But for the sake of the timelines, Clockwork made do with what he had, he stayed in his tower, he didn’t interfere with mortals and he only watch to ensure the timelines safety.

But inevitably, timeline threatening events began to happen in the mortal realms and he was still not allowed to interfere, so Clockwork had to get creative about getting other ghosts who stumbled on his lair to fix it for him, without either the gods or their obnoxious little spies noticing.

However you would be surprised how often these sort of events arose and while the Gods were free to meddle how they pleased (and had heroes and demi-gods to meddle on their behalf where they were forbidden) Clockwork was not allowed to even talk to those that didn’t find his lair themselves and choose to enter. Which was making it incredibly difficult to fix these catastrophic incidents.

Clockwork endured this for eons, for time is both different in the Infinite Realms and different for Clockwork himself. He likes to consider himself slow to anger but even he was getting frustrated.

He was also very lonely.

The observants, the wretched things, were constantly looming over his shoulder and, even worse, trying to throw their weight around outside his tower and doing their own meddling in the greater Infinite Realms itself.

Clockwork was definitely reaching his limit, he was-

… he was witnessing a very interesting anomaly.

The creation of a Half-Ghost, the first of its kind. In any stream or realm.

So Clockwork watches with great interest as Plasmius was forged. Watches as a portal was ripped open with Vladimir Masters on the mortal side and a nameless blob ghost on the otherside, the blob ghost was ripped to shreds immediately and forced to bond with Master’s body and soul, stopping the same thing from happing to Vladimir. The resulting creation was crude, haphazard and deeply unstable at first… But it did work.

It worked and the cogs in Clockwork’s mind and core began turning rapidly.

He could see that with a stronger ghost on the otherside, strong enough to not be obliterated and even able to guide the process of the Forging…. He could see exactly where every misshapen mistake could be turned into a symbiotic artwork, how life and death could be balanced on a knifes edge to create a being that could effortlessly walk both worlds.

How he could have the one thing he thought he’d never have since his own making: something that was a part of him, but free from the restrictions he suffered. Someone to share existence with, a Child!

Clockwork was not what the Titan of Time had been, he had never had the opportunity to create anything that could even be remotely similar to a familiar bond. The Ghost of Time wanted that nearly more then his own Obsession.

And when he saw there would be another, a boy, who would go through the same process but would be obliterated because there was no ghost on the otherside to power the Forging.

He couldn’t resist.

Clockwork didn’t need to be able see into all of time to know he wouldn’t be able to keep this a secret for very long. But if he was oh so careful, there was a small chance that the boy, Daniel, would have enough time to develop and maybe survive the Godly fallout that would follow Clockwork’s actions.

There was an even slimmer chance that Daniel would thrive and be happy. Be grateful that Clockwork saved him.

There were a lot of other, much worse, chances however. Filled with so much pain and suffering and death.

Danny holds a green note, and it presumably contains an explanation.

The language… is incomprehensible.

(If Nico were here, he would be able to read it, but no one else is connected to death enough to understand ghost language)

"So, which of your parents turned out to be god?"

"None. It was the secret third option."

Everyone is confused, while Danny turns the note over and then looks to the right.

"Wow! Is this for me?"

Following his gaze, everyone can see a small cabin. On the door is a nameplate that says "Danny" surrounded by little cartoonish ghosts.

A telescope and and part of a purple bedspread are visible in the window, behind blue curtains, along with way too many clocks on the wall. The small patch of ceiling that can be seen has plastic glowing stars.

A green hammock runs from the wall to a nearby tree (which wasn't there before and even has a small house, though there are no branches or ladders to climb up to it)

Danny snorts and speaks into the void.

"Seriously? I mean, thanks, that's really cool, but you had time to build me a house, and you couldn't tell me your mythical name?"

And then another green note falls on Danny It just Clockwork >:]

Danny stares blankly, his expression unimpressed.

"If only I knew mythology"

"You don't?"

"Do I look like someone who's into myths? I mean, I know some, like constellation-related or common ones, but I wasn't really interested. And this is my punishment for sleeping through mythology class last week, I just know it!"

Danny knows he could have guessed who Clockwork is. It's on the tip of his tongue, but he can't quite remember.

Clock-work. Something to do with time?

Uh, there was someone there…someone like…

"Chronos?"

A confetti popper explodes above Danny. Of course, green and purple in the shape of a clocks.

Danny shakes off the confetti and grumbles lovingly as everyone watching loses years of their lives realizing what's happening whose son is in front of them.