Chapter Text
Death. He’s surrounded by death. Bodies mangled and half-eaten fill the streets, while their blood pools around his ankles. The smell of rot and ash is enough to choke the living to their demise. Well, if there were any humans still left standing. The idea of survivors once comforted him. Now he only pities their prolonged suffering. Hope only brings pain in the end. Father taught him that.
His crimson eyes snap back into cold and clear focus. That’s right, Father is most likely awaiting his report. He lets out a sigh, a habit he has retained from his human life long after its end. Father has always allowed him to indulge in such guilty pleasures, though, for it does not prevent him from doing less of a job.
He begins to walk, his armor splashing against the crimson puddles of liquid. He prefers walking to floating, as it helps him feel the weight of his actions on him. It keeps him from succumbing to the flames of his core’s hunger for destruction and conquest completely. It reminds him of how many innocents have been killed or had their cores shattered (or worse) by his blade. It keeps him numb to most things, such as the fact that he is a monster. It’s at that moment he notices his reflection in a window. His cold gaze briefly turns into a resentful grimace. A dull pale blue hue is spread across his skin. At first, it reminded him of the Anomaly, but now it instead invokes images of HIM, and he growls. It’s all HIS fault. If it weren’t for HIM, he wouldn’t have been forced to break his promise to them. If HE hadn’t been so power hungry, then humans wouldn’t be fighting in a battle that they could not win. If it wasn’t for HIM… if it wasn’t for PLASMIUS…
The ringing of a bell cuts him off, as a sense of foreboding begins to come over him, like time has ran out, like-
Like the presence of someone Father despises most, who had betrayed him as well as his son.
Like someone who filled him with false hope for a better future before Father had awoken him to the truth.
He can’t help but grin viciously as the fire within took over, not even trying to rein it in. His long white hair, usually down and flowing as if it were seaweed in water, stopping just at elbow, whips itself into a braid that flickers back and forth like a snake in mid-air. His hair ends become flickers of fire, as if the braid was a bomb fuse that had just been set alight. His claw tips, encased in the armored gauntlets they always are, twitch with excitement. It was only a matter of time before this traitor showed up, Father had said, and as always, he was right.
His head whips around, and the purple cloaked figure he catches sight of only widens the grin. A quip has found its way onto his tongue, and he lets it go free. He wants this to HURT.
”Well if it isn’t the White Rabbit! Where were you? You’re late, far too late for that important date of ours. 69 years late, I think. I would joke about that number if I was still him, but I haven’t been either of those two for decades. Of course, you would know that, Clockwork.”
The vernacular of his old selves is far too easy to slip back into after decades of speaking in the way his Father taught him to. This way of speaking, however, holds no value for him anymore.
”Hello, D-“
He cuts the Master of Time off as soon as he hears the letter D, his eyes burning with endless fury. How dare he. Such disrespect shall not be tolerated, especially from someone as wretched as Clockwork.
“You will not address me by that name if you wish to even attempt to speak to me, nor by any other name that person went by. Daniel James Fenton is gone. He was weak, and it cost him everything. You stand before the High Prince of the Infinite Realms, Prince Phobos Dark, son and heir of His Majesty, the High King of the Infinite Realms, the King of Ghosts, future ruler over all worlds, King Pariah Dark.”
Prince Phobos Dark pauses as he waits for a response. He’s expecting something sarcastic, perhaps something like-
“I see you’ve finally memorized that response, ‘Phobos’.”
Once again, Phobos allows himself to indulge in his leftover human vices by responding once again in a manner similar to the person he was long ago. The prince rolls his eyes, giving the Ancient of Time a dismissive glare.
”Of course you would know that. You know, if Father were here, I’d have attacked you instantly. But I would rather get answers first. You have had decades to correct the timeline, yet you allowed Father to do as he pleases. I have long since accepted my fate of endless warfare. For what other reason is there for I to do otherwise? Those who I killed in the name of their salvation are no longer in this plane of existence, having wasted my sacrifice in a futile attempt to save someone who no longer exists. But you know everything, do you not?” His previously crimson eyes shimmer ghostly green with twisted amusement while his lips curl upwards into a sadistic grin. Phobos spreads his arms outwards, the fire roaring its approval in his ears. “Look upon it all, for this blood stains the hands of you as well as I! For you could have prevented any of this, or stopped it at any time, but you stood idle! Tell me, was this your intent all along to watch me suffer? For what else would be the reason for your interference back then but to fill me with false hope?” The fire is scorching inside. There is nothing else but burning, glorious burning-
“I’m gonna have to agree with shithead over here, what was the point of any of this?”
The ice returns, and thought comes back. That voice… Phobos knows that voice. It’s all too familiar, as well as the face of the ghost that appears next to Clockwork. The figure floats with their arms crossed and an unimpressed look on their face, with something familiar around their neck. Clockwork gives the person a shit-eating grin.
”As the human Will Smith once said, it is rewind time.”
It’s getting hard to think, but he’s so close. He can die in a few seconds. But right now, Danny just needs to push this shut and-
“0% power left.”
There’s a unimaginable pain stabbing into his heart, and as his vision blurs, Danny gasps for air one last time, tears falling from his eyes.
His heart stops, and everything goes black.