Chapter Text
Danny’s eyes hurt. He had been working through the backlog of disputes from Pariah’s time asleep for the last decade and yet the mountain of paper barely had a dent in it. He missed when spending just 2 hours on homework seemed absurd.
Picking up probably the millionth petty territory dispute he had looked at that day, he decided that he needed a break. It had already sat for a millennia, it can wait a few more days for Danny to take a break, or a few years if he needed it.
Danny put the paper back on the desk and stood up. His office was usually a tribute to all the things that brought him joy, but the mountains of papers were covering a lot of that up right now. Behind all the work he was ignoring he knew bookshelves lined the wall, filled to the brim with books on Physics, Astronomy and the occasional comic book. There were models of stars that glowed and flickered like the real things. He wasn’t quite sure they weren’t real stars, they were a gift from Dani and he had been too excited about it at the time to ask.
Looking through the gaps in-between the towers he could still see some of his photos. Photos of him, Sam, and Tuck from high school. Photos from his sister’s graduations. In the one from her bachelors she smiled proud, but in the one from her doctorate, her face was beat red and she seemed to be swinging a fist at whoever was taking the photo. Danny chuckled when his eyes glimpsed that one, he had been taking the photo while calling her Lord Farquaad for the billionth time that day, finally making her snap. To be fair, no one could pull off those outfits without looking like some failed Disney villain. He had done the same to Tuck when he graduated.
Avoiding reminiscing too much on the past, he dragged himself out of his office, and plopped himself on the nearest couch, facing his eyes to where the ceiling should be. Instead of a flat surface, he was greeted by the expanse of space. Though being the Ghost King had its down sides, like actual continents worth of paperwork, the perks were pretty good.
Relaxing into the couch a bit more, he looked out into the beyond. Currently he could see the Milky Way Galaxy, though the position of a few planets and the addition of some stars told him that it wasn’t his Milky Way. Or maybe it was. It had been so long since he had looked up into the sky in his birth realm that maybe the stars had moved without having the courtesy to tell him.
Not liking the trail his brain was going down about how long it had been since he called Amity home, the young king rolled over onto his side to try and get some rest. He closed his eyes for a brief moment only to be woken up immediately by the sound of a cuckoo clock going off, marking the hour. Glaring at the offending object across the room he noticed a piece of paper attached to the seconds hand, being dragged quickly across the numbers as if trying to taunt him.
Danny rolled back over and groaned. He should’ve known Clockwork wouldn’t let him take a break, no matter how much he wanted it. He pushed himself off the couch and onto the ground, regretting it immediately when his face slammed into the black stone. He don’t know what he expected, but the pain did the job of waking him up and he bolted upright, using his core to make his hand a little colder before placing it on his self-inflicted injury.
Taking one last look up at his or not his Milky Way, he turned away and walked towards the clock. Grabbing the note and cursing whoever thought it was a good idea to have a painfully indirect stopwatch as an advisor, he opened it up and started heading down the hall.
Danny had a feeling that he would not be getting back to that paperwork anytime soon, and it will inevitably continue to grow while he was away. He was dreading the continents turning into planets of their own. Maybe they would gain their own evil gravity that would pull even more paperwork in. Not that he would ever admit it to anyone dead or alive, but that thought almost made him start to miss homework. At least homework always ended.
~~~
Fright Knight stared at the Sarcophagus.
At Pariah.
Even after centuries of serving under Phantom, the temptation to open it and free his old king was still there. Whispering under his armor, pulling him astray.
He had been in this room, hundreds of times before, staring at it. Sometimes empty handed, others with his sword, and even a handful times with the Skeleton Key in hand. On those days, his fingers would twitch and his arm would be sore from how tensely he was holding it back, even though he never brought himself past the threshold of the keep with the key in hand. He didn’t trust he could stop himself if he entered the room those days.
Phantom had entrusted him with the key after Vlad retired to the mortal realm, as a sign of good faith and that there was no hard feelings over who he used to serve.
Fright Knight had sworn his loyalty, there should be no reason to distrust him. His word was his blood, the only thing that gave him honor, no matter what dishonorable things he had been ordered to do. He did not swear himself to the young King lightly.
Sitting down and looking back in his life, that oath was the best choice he had made in a long time. Though naive, the little king had done what he promised. He had worked tirelessly for decades, but eventually, relative peace was brought to the zone. Fright knew that it was only a matter of time under his rule that peace would reign across the entirety of the realms.
He and his knights would do everything in their power to achieve that, as was the will of their king.
And yet…
He sat here, distracted, tempted… weak.
Some part of him feared the peace, the quiet. It made him uneasy. When the zone is at peace, everyone is unpredictable. Everyone is just as likely to shake your hand and introduce themselves, or decide that they’re bored and want to start a friendly duel to the death. Friend and enemy blur together, and he often finds himself questioning if there even is a line between the two.
Before the peace, he had been so certain of himself and everyone around him. Everyone who wasn’t his knights or Pariah was the enemy, and it was his sworn duty to eradicate his enemies.
Now, he was unsure. He ran into battles where he didn’t know who was an enemy or friend, and he fought until his king was able to calm them down or make the decision on friends and foes.
Fright had noticed the change affecting his knights too. Now that they weren’t constantly on the march, some of his knights picked up other hobbies. His best marksman also makes the best cheesecake, and even developed a vegan version for the King’s spooky mortal friend.
A different knight actually declined a promotion due to recently adopting one of the free roaming young ones and having concerns that it would take him away from home too much. (Fright gave him a raise and the amount of hours he had to work. He knew those gremlins were the hardest test of honor one could face, and to willing take that on was the type of crazy he wanted in his ranks)
Everyday he was met with uncertainty and a million new battles that could only be won without a sword.
Thats why his mind kept bringing him back here. Why everyday, he was afraid his will would break and he would release Pariah into the zone again. Fright Knight new it would strip him of all his honor, that it would make the lives and after lives of every being connected to the realms so much worse than they currently are. But the weak part of him yearned for the certainty that it would bring, the ease of the predictability of war.
Not today.
Today, he would defeat this weakness, destroy the temptation and prove himself to be the honorable Fright Knight of King Phantom.
Hardening his resolve and remembering his plan, Fright stood back up and approached the Sarcophagus. The flames from his helmet and cape caused shadows to buck and weave around the room, almost giving the voices that tempt him form. Placing his hand on the Sarcophagus and looking at the crude depiction of the old kings head, he made peace with what he had to do.
He’s glad that he will finally be rid of this thing.
Backing up he turned to the ground to the right of the Sarcophagus, and channeled all his strength to make a portal to another realm. A mortal realm.
It was hard, making sure it was correct. He had never been to this world, he was unsure that any ghost had. All of the natural portals had been sealed by its residents, cutting them off, and no ghost wants to go to a world cut off from the zone. There is no natural ectoplasm to replenish the energy it took to get there.
Thats exactly why Fright chose it.
It was a simple plan, really.
Push Pariah’s prison through the portal, seal it, and never look back.
Though he is asleep, the old tyrants core still consumes ectoplasm to keep him alive. With no way to replenish it, his core will slowly eat at his reserves, and eventually running out, it will consume itself and the source of the Fright Knight’s greatest temptation, will crumble into dust.
After a few minutes more, he was sure the portal was going to the correct realm and it looked big enough to fit the Sarcophagus. The shadows on the wall were larger now, and dancing more rapidly, as if it was his enemies panicking that his plan was working. More accurately, creating the portal drained enough of his energy that the flames that made up his cape and hovered around his helmet were dimmer and less stable. Fright Knight stuck with his first thought, the sight of panicking enemies made him feel akin to how mortals describe looking at sunsets.
Glancing back at the Sarcophagus, Fright;s worry grew. He had to do this quickly, he didn’t like how much it was draining him to keep this portal open. It was as if the world on the other side was so devoid of ectoplasm, it was determined to take all it could of his.
Fright Knight moved around to the side of the Sarcophagus and pushed with all his might. At first it seemed like he wouldn’t be able to tip it. He should have foreseen this, the being held within was once the most powerful ghost the zone had ever known, but after a few moments, the prison started to lift. After rocking it a few times to build up momentum, Fright was able to tip the thing over and into the portal.
As soon as he watched the last bit of his old king’s final resting place slip through the pool of radioactive green he let the portal snap shut and fell to his knees.
He did it.
Pariah will plague him no more and never be a threat to Phantom or the zone again.
He could almost fool himself into thinking he did this for honorable reasons, but deep down he knew that he only did it because he knew he wouldn’t be strong enough to resist forever. Better to rid himself of the opportunity instead of waiting until the day he finally broke and used that blasted key to destroy everything King Phantom had fought so hard to build.
Looking down at his shoulder, his cape no longer flowed behind him in a wave of warm purple. Instead it was almost completely gone, the only hint it was ever there was the small flames flaring every once and a while from where the base of the cape should lie along his shoulders and back. Glancing around the room the shadows had seemingly tripled in size, shrinking and growing ever so slightly from the remnants of his cape. Considering their size, he would bet that the flame on his helmet was no larger that the one on a candle.
The mental imagery of that caused Fright Knight to let out a breathy little chuckle. This had to be the most thoroughly he had ever been drained, and all because of a stupid portal.
As that realization hit, Fright Knight let the darkness consume him, the relief that he eliminated his weakness causing him to rest more soundly than he had in a long time.
~~~
Meet me in grand hall.
Thats all the cryptic stopwatch had written. Why he couldn’t just send a text or schedule a meeting like a normal person was beyond Danny. You would think someone who knows the future would be better at giving him a heads up.
Danny walked through the halls of his palace(the phrase still felt awkward on his tongue even after all this time), scowling at the ground and looking as if he hasn’t slept in 10 years. All in all pretty good considering it had been 15.
If someone had looked past the annoyance on his face, they might tell you they saw a skip in his step, or, if they were truly observant, a hint of excitement in his eyes. If you ever approached him with these accusations he would deny it beyond his grave.
Truth is that Danny is used to Clockwork’s shenanigans by now. After he had left behind Amity Park for good, the time god had become sort of a mentor figure to him. He taught him how to use his powers, when ghost’s could and should be talked down and when it was better to talk to them after they got the murder out of their system.
Eventually, Danny had learned how to make the decisions on his own, and started to rely on the old man to advise rather than teach. He even got settled enough to ignore that advice on occasion. Whether that was a good decision or not… All Danny could say was that he hasn’t died again or destroyed the world yet, so do the details really matter?
Besides just advising Danny, Clockwork also gave him “quests”, usually summoning him by sending him a note much like the one he held in his hand. These quests often took him across the realms, sometimes just to help a ghost who was lost find their way to the zone, other times was to stop one when they were going too far.
The helping people and ghosts part was amazing, don’t get him wrong, but what actually got Danny excited about these missions, was exploring the realms. He does a lot of that in his free time, but somehow the missions Clockwork sends him on always take him to the most interesting corners of infinity.
Some are completely different from anything he’s ever seen. The laws of reality itself are different and it expands beyond what Danny though was plausible, let alone possible. Others are almost exactly like his memories of home, but the little differences create that feeling that kids get when seeing something completely normal to adults for the first time. Everything is always so beautiful when its new.
Its been so long since he’s been on one of these missions, let alone outside of his office and away from the paperwork. He can afford to be a little happy about the call, at least in his head.
Though he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t also atleast a little worried. Clockwork often attaches notes to clock hands for Danny to find, to the point that a small pattern had emerged. If Clockwork just needed Danny at some point that day, he would place the note on the hour hand, but if it was a matter more urgent, the notes were on the minute hand. This was the first time he had seen a note on the seconds hand.
After walking for what felt like a small eternity down the hall, Danny arrived at his destination. He pushed open the large door without bothering to knock. Clockwork was there young and with his pocket watch, snapping it shut as he walked in. “Right on time your majesty, though there is no time to waste so I must ask you to take your seat” he said, gesturing to the seat across from him.
Danny took him in, Clockwork was fidgety. He never gets fidgety. Danny used his flight to boost his footsteps so that he got to the seat just a little bit quicker. “Whats up?” he asked.
Clockwork hesitated a second before his demeanor hardened, shifting into his middle aged form, the confidence Danny knew returning. He let out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding. The world isn’t ending, yet.
Clockwork grabbed a cooler from under his seat, placing it on the table. “I packed you lunch.”
Well… That was probably the last thing he expected this meeting to be about.
Danny looked at the cooler on the table and slowly slid it towards himself. Waiting for… Well he didn’t know quite what he was waiting for but he was waiting for something.
After a few moments of the other ghost just sitting there, Danny broke the silence
“Am I going somewhere?” he asked hesitantly. As if he spoke the event into existence, he felt the tug of a new summoning start to pull at his core. This was gonna be a hard one, he could feel it.
Groaning Danny picked up the cooler and tossed it into his pocket dimension. Couldn’t let the ghost king look like he was ready for a picnic. The tugging was getting a little more insistent now, but still bearable enough to stay and shoot Clockwork a withering stare.
The ghost responded by shifting into his older form and laughing maniacally. At least someone was enjoying this.
Suddenly, Clockwork shifted back into his child form looking at Danny. He better hurry up with this cryptic message, the tugging was getting harder to ignore. By the force of it this was going to be a long journey.
“You can’t come back until you fix it. Remember keep your eyes open,”
Danny’s right side starded to go force, fading and wisping away into an invisible portal, like smoke being sucked into vacuum. Clockwork’s eyes had a glint in them that Danny hadn’t noticed before. It wasn’t exactly reassuring.
“have fun,”
Next was his legs and torso, soon he wouldn’t be able to hear what he was saying. The pulling at his core was so strong now it almost hurt. Wow remind him to teach whichever cult is doing this how to draw the runes better. They definitely messed a few up with how their summons was grabbing him.
“and believe in —!”
The last part of the message got cut off but Danny had heard it enough times in other messages to get the gist. Though it had been a while since the cuckoo clock had said it. Danny needs to believe in himself, he knows. Brushing it off as crazy cryptid being crazy, and cryptic, Danny let the summoning pull him where it needed to. Flowing along the ecto-currents of the zone, almost letting himself relax.
Clockwork’s final words kept nagging at the back of his mind. It had to have been at least two centuries since he’d last felt the need to tell Danny to believe in himself, what is he being dragged into that the stopwatch felt he needed to hear it again?
~~~
“— them!”
Clockwork watched as the young king got swept off into this new adventure. Definitely missed the last thing he said. Shifting old he muttered to himself “I’m sure he’ll figure it out… eventually.” before leaving to go watch this through his scryer.
He tried not to worry too much, if there is one thing he has learned from watching their new or soon to be cold friend, its to have a little fun in life.
It all usually works out in the end, right?