Work Text:
Mom,
Danny stared at the paper in front of him for a long, long moment.
Mom, there’s something I need to tell you
Mom, I have to tell you something
He didn’t have to do this.
Mom, you know the accident I had as a freshman?
He really, really had to do this.
Dear Mom,
Why do people even start letters with “dear” anyways?
Mine dearest mother
Mother,
Hey mom, I have a fun little secret to share.
You know how there’s a portal to hell in our basement? Well, hell on earth doesn’t tend to positively affect those around it
Clockwork said that this decision to tell her would make or break the timeline. Danny wasn’t sure why Clockwork would tell him that. Danny didn’t know which decision would break the timeline. He was too scared to ask.
Mom, I died when I was fourteen and you didn’t notice
Madeline Fenton, you are cordially invited to
hey lol remember that time the town got pulled into another dimension? totally unrelated to what im abt to say lolz
The pen ink was bright green. Most everything in his lair was. Frostbite said it would change and grow as Danny does.
Mom , did you know that ghosts aren’t unchanging blobs of ectoplasm? Dont ask how I know
Jazz was worried. She’s always worried, though, so that’s not any different.
Dad, I was going to tell mom this but you're less likely to kill me about it
Mom, remember how you keep saying you want to rip Phantom molecule to molecule?
Mom, when I died I
Mom, great news! I didnt actually die. Dont ask.
The paper was starting to wear thin under all the writing and erasing Danny was doing.
And then I faced god and backflipped into hell. I think that's how the quote went. Well, I wasn’t backflipping, and I’ve fought more than one “god”. The hell part is accurate though.
He could feel the crown calling to him. He didn’t particularly want to answer the call. Pandora said if he doesn’t don the crown then it would wear him whether he liked it or not.
Hello Mom,
I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing to invite you to the coronation of
Danny looked up from the letter. Jupiter floated past him and crashed into Mercury. The Sun was in the corner and Pluto was missing. Again.
As amazing as his lair’s solar system was, it was still bright green. An unfortunate quirk of being a (relatively) newly formed ghost.
Mom, I’m just going to rip the bandaid off. I’m a ghost.
Mom, remember how you lost contact with your college friend because of a mysterious illness? Well, I speedran that illness. The illness is death, by the way. He’s not much of a friend. By the way.
This lair wouldn’t be his lair for much longer. The palace bends to the will of its king. Nobody needs their baby lair when they’re a king. He felt bad, abandoning it.
Mom, I have a ectobiological discovery that’ll blow your mind. They call me a halfa. Half what? The important bit is I’m half alive. The other important bit is I’m half dead.
Mom, fun fact. The ghost zone leadership operates by right of conquest. Remember what I was saying earlier about fighting gods?
Mom, fun fact. The ghost zone leadership operates by right of conquest. Another fun fact is that I've fought gods before, so really you don’t need to worry about this next bit
Hey, at least everything wouldn’t be neon green, then.
Mom, God isn’t real. I think i’d’ve killed them by now. “Killed” in the loosest sense of the word. They probably would’ve killed me for real all the way, by now.
The ceremony was a week from today. Today was the deadline to tell her. Clockwork didn’t look particularly surprised that Danny procrastinated until the last minute to start the letter.
Mom, ghosts are way more intelligent than you give them
Mom, ghosts are way more intelligent than you give us credit for. They even have a governing system! Had. My bad. I’m working on fixing it. How?
Mom, I failed my 10th grade Gov exam on the American Executive system. Sorry for not telling you before. You didn’t notice at the time. I’m telling you now because
Make or break the timeline, Danny.
Mom,
I’m writing this letter because I’ve been hiding something from you. I don’t know if you noticed. There's a lot of things you haven’t noticed. Remember the accident I had in the lab when I was fourteen? When I was hospitalized for a month? You and dad were so excited the portal finally turned on that you didn’t question how it happened. Or how I was doing. That’s fine, I didn’t really care, because Jazz was there for me.
I died, Mom. I died and I didn’t really die and I half-died. They call me a halfa. The other ghosts, that is. Half-dead, half-alive. I’m Phantom, mom. I fight the other ghosts to keep the town safe. They’re mostly cool now, though. Fighting each other for all eternity with no true winners or losers isn’t really appealing to them. Most of them. This isn’t the point.
There’s one ghost I fought where winning or losing did matter. It mattered a lot, actually. His name was Phariah Dark, and he was the king of the Infinite Realms. Was, because I beat him. And now I’m the king of the Infinite Realms. I promise I didn’t do it on purpose. Become king, I mean. I did beat him on purpose. This also isn’t the point.
My coronation is on Halloween. The ghosts think it's funny. And auspicious. And convenient. This is kind of short notice, but Clockwork didn’t really give me a ton of time to prepare to tell you.
I know we haven’t, you know, talked a lot recently. We’re not talking now. You’re in the lab back at home, and I’m in the Zone, writing a letter to you instead of talking to you face-to-face. But I still want to ask you to come. To the coronation. To my coronation. I’m being officially crowned the King of the Infinite Realms on Halloween, and I, Daniel Fenton, am inviting you, Madeline Fenton, to my coronation. There we go. I said it.
I love,
Please dont kill,
Cordially,
Thanks,
Sincerely,
Danny Fenton
Make or break the timeline, Danny.
Danny summoned the Crown of Fire into being. He held it in one hand, carefully, cautiously.
In the other hand he picked up the letter.
It burned in a blaze of red-orange-yellow.