I'm posting this really late today, and I'm sorry. I have no real excuse. I just forgot. Then I wanted to stay outside, and my brain has decided that I MUST read all the Merlin fanfic I possibly can, and, yeah... I don't know what's up with that, either. (Is this hyperfocus? IDK)

Thank you for your reviews!

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Chapter 183: The Long, Hard Way

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"We need to talk," said Clockwork.

Now, Danny didn't really have any experience with that phrase outside of the romantic comedies his family liked, but he knew that it wasn't good news. He drooped.

"About what?" he asked, bracing himself.

"I have determined the timeline from which you come."

Danny straightened. "That's great! When can I go?"

Silence.

"I'm sorry, I guess that was kind of insensitive- Or," said Danny, with a growing sense of horror, "can you not send me back? Is it too far?" Was he going to be stuck here?

"No, I should be able to send you back without issue."

"Then, um... What do you want to talk about?" Danny climbed back up onto the bed, so he could sit facing Clockwork, and be more or less at eye level.

"This," said Clockwork, after another long pause. He raised a box with one hand, and opened it with another. Danny peered in.

"A crown?" he asked, perplexed. It was pretty, if rather unfinished-looking, but he was quite sure he had never seen it before.

"You must take it with you, when you go."

"Okay, but why?"

Clockwork shut the box. "Because it is yours." He put the box on the bed.

"No, it isn't."

"It is."

"Since when?"

"Since you won it from Inanna and claimed it as your own."

Danny remembered the crown he'd pulled from his body earlier. "That crown didn't look anything like that one," said Danny, pointing at the box accusingly.

"It is the same crown."

"It's not. How does that make it mine, anyway? You guys didn't say it was mine when I took it out. We just handed it off to Aunt Nephth- To Lady Nebet-Het with all the other stuff. You're not going to tell me the rest of it is mine, too, are you?"

"No. Just the crown."

"But, why? I mean, I'll take it anyway, if you think it's important, but I'd really like to know why."

It was almost unnoticeable, but Danny was certain Clockwork was biting his lower lip.

"Because," said Clockwork, before pausing. "Because," he repeated, "I discovered, while looking for your timeline, that you were voted king by the Council of the Ancients."

There was a sort of ringing sound, like they had after explosions in movies (the ringing sound after real explosions had something of a different texture to it).

"Oh." Danny sagged. "I guess you have the wrong timeline, then."

"I do not."

"You have to! Who would vote me king!" Okay, that was honestly a dumb question. He knew everyone on the Council of Ancients personally. "It's got to be the wrong timeline."

"Essentially all timelines where you exist and defeat Pariah Dark and are not named king either terminate in dead ends or would not result in you being sent back to this now."

"But I- I don't fulfill the requirements!"

"Even here and now, you fulfill the most important one. The Lady Ereshkigal likes you."

"But I'm a terrible choice."

"I believe you were the only choice."

"Imhotep did it before! Can't he qualify?"

Clockwork tilted his head very slightly. "I am uncertain. There are large portions of the time between the present moment and your future that I have not had the chance to analyze. However, I believe that there were a number of members added to the Council of the Ancients between his time and yours. With what you have told me about him, I believe that he would attempt to avoid qualifying with them unless given no other choice."

Two of those 'new' Ancients were Undergrowth and Vortex. Those two would laugh to see the world crumble into chaos, so it wasn't as if they'd vote for Imhotep. Danny probably only qualified because he'd beaten both of them up-

No, wait, Danny was still in denial. He didn't qualify. He couldn't. It wasn't possible!

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As a point of fact, five thousand years on, Vortex, in his glass-bottle prison deep within the Panopticon, was laughing. This wasn't his usual kind of storm, no, not at all. He had no control over it whatsoever. But, even in his cramped confines, he could feel it, and it was beautiful.

Undergrowth, in his own, nearby prison, was less enthusiastic.

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Of course, Danny, five thousand years earlier, had no direct knowledge of this. He had some precognitive abilities, but nothing reliable, or able to stretch that far.

As a point of fact, at the moment, Danny's breathing wasn't very reliable.

"I can't be king. I haven't even finished high school yet!"

Judging from how blank Clockwork's face was at present, he didn't have the slightest clue as to what high school was. Finally, he said, "I do not believe that any of the kings thus far have done that. They have, nonetheless, all done," he paused, as if looking for a suitable word, "respectable jobs."

"'Respectable.' Clockwork- I mean, Lord Heh, that sounds like you're just trying not to insult them outright."

"None of them have been disastrous. Not since the current system was instituted."

"Wh- What did you do, before the 'current system?'" asked Danny, distracted by his curiosity. It was what had gotten him killed, the first time around.

"It is not important." Then he tilted his head. "There were several other systems. Election by public acclaim, tests of worthiness, tournaments, right of conquest... None worked particularly well." He tipped his head the other way, eyes narrowing. "You are stalling."

"No I'm not. What do I have to do to get disqualified? Like, to lose the right to rule?"

Clockwork's eyes got narrower still. "I will not tell you."

"It isn't like I was planning on doing any of them," lied Danny.

"No."

"Please. I can't be king. I just- I can't. Have you seen me? I fell out of the bed because you scared me, and I don't understand bureaucracies! I would be a terrible king. Just awful. Don't vote for me."

"Daniel," said Clockwork, "in your personal timeline it has already happened. To change the decision would be to change this, here, now. It would change what you have done to defeat Inanna."

Danny bit his lip. "A paradox. So this has to be a closed loop."

"I shall certainly endeavor to make it so."

"Over such a long time... Would it be a big paradox? Like, a bad one? A destructive one?"

"Perhaps. It is possible the paradox would simply be absorbed. But, Daniel, in the event of a paradox, you would effectively no longer exist."

"I know," said Danny, slumping, and squeezing his eyes shut. "You told me. Or you will. But I just- I don't want to be king."

"I know," said Clockwork, "and I'm sorry."

Danny returned his gaze to Clockwork. "So why did you- will you- vote for me?"

The smiles on Clockwork's faces were faint and pained. "Because I want you to exist."

Danny felt himself deflate. "Oh. So you- You've- You will have- You had everything planned out? From now, until..." Danny trailed off, and retreated into the cloak. He always knew that Clockwork had things planned out. Clockwork could see the future, every future, after all. But, somehow, this felt different. Maybe it was just the scale, or maybe it was because Danny had thought that there was some spontaneity in their interactions, that it wasn't all planned out and calculated.

"Actually, no. Even I cannot look at five thousand years of history and have a hope of arranging each and every thing in them. In fact, for your future to have the slightest chance of occurring, Nisaba must remove my conscious memory of this encounter, and place certain other limitations on my memory."

"Um, what?"

"The Observants use my powers to see. Combined with certain idiosyncrasies of their vision, were I to consciously aim for a certain future, especially one they did not approve of, they would see it and stop me."

"That's the easy version, isn't it?"

"It is."

"That's okay, I probably wouldn't understand the hard one."

"Daniel, I must admit, even I do not fully understand the 'hard one,' as you call it. But I believe I did this in your future."

"Okay." Danny shuffled, and took a peek at the other Ancients. The Anunnaki. "Do they know?"

"They know parts. Not all. Even the little I have seen would take years to relate fully. They know what they must."

"Nu?"

"He knows."

"Does Lady Nisaba-?"

"She knows she will fade on this path, yes. Daniel," Clockwork put a hand on Danny's shoulder, "I hope to see you again. Truly, I do."

Danny nodded, and tried to smile a little. "There's an Ancient coming who might help you with that."

"Oh?"

"Pandora. She's the Master of Hope. Or she will be. Maybe- Maybe her powers can help you." Danny shrugged. "I don't really understand that part of her powers. It's subtle, and she doesn't talk about it much."

"I will... see if Nebet-Het will do me the favor of looking into it, when the time comes."

"Since you won't remember."

"Yes," said Clockwork, stiffly."

Danny shifted so he could rub his face with both hands. "I think," he said, "I'm probably going to be mad at you later. But later." The rubbing moved to his eyes, where it dislodged sand from the corners of his eyes. "When are you sending me back?"

"Now. It would be unwise for you to linger much longer. It is approaching the scheduled time for the Observants' visit."

"They schedule those?"

Clockwork pursed his lips. "I take it they do not in your time?"

"Not really, no."

"Ah. In any case." Clockwork backed away and made a sweeping gesture, clearly expecting Danny to follow him.

Danny, reluctantly, picked up the box and followed.

"Safe travels," said Nu.

Still walking, Danny looked back over his shoulder, to look at the little group of Ancients. Nephthys smiled and gave Danny a little wave, with Nocturne copying a moment later. Nisaba remained stone-faced.

Danny waved back, a little awkwardly, and almost ran into a wall.

He was going to be a terrible king.

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They didn't go to Clockwork's workroom. Instead, they went out to a round, bare courtyard.

Wait. Wasn't this..? Danny went over how they had gotten to the courtyard in his head, counting the turns they had made. It was.

"What happened to your garden?"

"Nothing. My reeds are exactly where they always have been."

"But- Your tree..." Danny gestured at the center of the courtyard. Clockwork had used that tree, with all its grafted branches and varieties, for metaphors while teaching Danny about the flow of time. Danny had even given Clockwork some branches for the tree as gifts. "Your flowers..." He gestured to the sides. The flowers hadn't been used for (many) metaphors, but Danny knew Clockwork cared about them.

"I must suppose that I am yet to plant them," said Clockwork. "Stand beside me, here."

Once Danny was in position, Clockwork raised his staff. The air took on a blue tint, and the texture of time began get odd; bumpy, almost. Then, it warped sharply. A bright blue light flared at the center of the courtyard, and Danny had to look away. When he looked back, there was a blue portal in the center of the courtyard.

"Go," said Clockwork, voice strained. "Quickly."

Danny gave Clockwork a short hug, and ran over to the portal. He looked back. "See you later!"

Five thousand years later was still 'later,' right?

He stepped through.