Chapter 319: THE END IS THE BEGINNING IS THE END
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As midnight swept over the Earth, stripes of light and shadow unfolded over the Ghost Zone. Danny watched with wide eyes. It was his first time seeing it. Fire and ice crackled over their edges. Summer and winter. Darker and lighter.
"A new year," breathed Danny, and so it was by many older calendars. "A new beginning. The death of the old sun, the birth of the new, and every death a life returned, and every death a rebirth." The ghosts who had come to watch the ceremony, held just close enough to the Core for it to be uncomfortable, raised their candles, flashlights, ectoblasts, and other assorted light sources. All at once, they extinguished them. They crossed, solemnly, from the dark to the light, or the light to the dark.
And then, of course, came the raucous cheer that served as a prelude to intense partying.
Danny sighed and smiled. But as the celebration continued, his smile faded away as he thought about what else would happen today.
"A new beginning," whispered Danny.
"A new beginning," agreed Clockwork, patting Danny on the shoulder.
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"Sammy," said Pamela, "is this really necessary? You don't need to do this now. This kind of thing… it isn't going to make any difference if you do it now or in a few years. You're young."
"All the more reason to do it early, right?" said Sam, turning the page of her book. She'd packed ages ago, and all there was left to do was get a bit more rest before it was time to go. "It's like saving for retirement, or life insurance, right?"
"I don't like the idea of you wandering around the Ghost Zone all by yourself. You're still only a teenager. You should be worried about college applications or something."
"Some of my friends are," said Sam. "Well. I don't know if I can really call Dan a friend. A friend-in-law?"
"Why can't you call him a friend? Isn't he some aged up version of Danny?"
"Well, yeah, but…" Sam trailed off. "Never mind. Didn't you and Dad take a gap year to go backpacking around Europe?"
"We were already in college," said Pamela, waving off the point. "It was just a summer. And I was with your father."
"Okay," said Sam, "but I won't be completely alone, either. At least for the first part, Jazz and Tucker will be going with me." She looked up from the film she was putting in her camera. "It'll be fine. This will be a challenge, sure, but it isn't supposed to be impossible."
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"It could last a while," said Tucker, "but I don't think it has to be done all at once, so I'll be back to visit at least."
Angela sighed. "I suppose you can't say when?"
"You know how time can be in here, and when we try to make plans…" He shrugged and started going through his bag again. He wanted to make sure he had everything he needed. "You know how they go. I'm going to keep working on the whole… Ghost Zone internet thing to try to solve it. But this first."
"We know, you've been looking forward to this," said Angela, standing up. "It's like that fantasy road trip you talked about the other year."
"That might have been less fantasy than you think," said Tucker. "There was this thing."
Maurice sighed. "There are still a lot of things, aren't there?"
"Yep. Like, I tried to tell you the major ones, but…"
Maurice laughed a little. "But sometime you forget which ones you've told us and which you haven't. It's alright. Your mother and I have our fair share of stories."
"No, we don't," said Angela.
"We do!" said Maurice. "It's alright, son. We know how these things go. Just don't leave us holding the bag on this whole kingdom thing, alright?"
"I mean, I don't think the Egyptians would have you take over anyway, if something did happen to me—"
"I think he's talking about the Regency Council," said Angela.
"Ohhh. Yeah. Danny's a lot."
"The helping rule a whole dimension thing is a lot," said Maurice. "We're happy to do it, and we love Danny, but…"
"Yeah," said Tucker, "I get it. But that's kind of why I'm doing this." He shrugged, and gave a crooked smile. "Running a dimension is a lot. I don't want to leave Danny holding the bag either."
"I guess I just don't like the idea of you missing Christmas and Kwanzaa."
"Hey, we've had more holiday parties this year than we ever have. I think I can afford to miss a couple." Tucker paused. "I'll miss you, though. I really will."
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"What are you reading?" asked Danny, unbuttoning the formal clothes he'd worn for the solstice ceremony. The building they were in wasn't far from where they'd held the ceremony, and now they were just waiting for Sam, Tucker, and their families to get here. It was remarkable how much faster you could get places in the Zone when you had portal users like Sojourn willing to accommodate you.
"It's a loose account of the journey of the last person to attempt the Pilgrimage," said Jazz. "Clockwork lent it to me."
"He must have just lent it to you," observed Danny. "You haven't gotten very far. Or have you been leaving your homework for the last minute?"
"I've been busy."
"A likely excuse."
"It's—Hey! Don't get undressed with me in here!"
"It's only for a second," said Danny, rolling his eyes. "It's not like I'm naked." He recalled his regular suit and cloak. "Did I get everything situated right?"
Jazz sighed in annoyance. "It looks like it."
"Good," said Danny, sitting down on the couch. "So, anything interesting so far?"
"Mostly just why they were chosen and the first place they're going."
"Well, that's interesting… but not anything you didn't know already." They'd been told at least some of the basics after Ereshkigal gave them permission to attempt the Pilgrimage. He shrugged, then leaned into Jazz's side. "I'm going to miss you. It'll be weird for you guys not to be around."
"I know," said Jazz. "But we won't ever be too far for you to come get us with a portal."
"I do know a lot of people who can make portals," agreed Danny. "Some of them can even make accurate ones!" He wriggled his hands. "Not me, though. And the Pilgrimage is supposed to be weird. You guys had a hard enough time finding us when Spectra kidnapped us."
"That's true, but we're not being kidnapped. You should have a better idea of where we're going. And we can always send letters."
"The Unstoppable Mailman is unstoppable."
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"So," said Danny, "everyone ready?" He clapped his hands together, projecting cheer. They stood on an island promontory, stripes of light and darkness still radiating through the ectoplasm, literally glittering crowds of ghosts visible in the distance.
"Yeah," said Tucker. "We'll miss you, man." He gave Danny a one-armed hug.
"Don't get too comfortable without us," added Sam, pulling both him and Tucker into a larger hug. The hug, having reached critical mass, rapidly attracted more huggers.
"We'll be back before you know it," said Jazz.
They pulled away, slowly, reluctantly.
"You really don't have to go now," said Pamela. "You can go later."
"She's right, Sammy," said Jeremy.
"But I do," said Sam. "I want to go."
"And, hey, safety in numbers," said Tucker. "We've got at least one awesome fighter on this team."
"Yeah," said Danny, slyly. "Jazz."
"Hey."
"It's true," said Sam, "Jazz is a pretty awesome fighter."
"Hey. I'm not bad, either!"
Danny patted his shoulder. "You're not bad, but Jazz is awesome."
"Wow, I'll have to remember that for the future," said Jazz, adjusting one of her swords that had been knocked askew in the hug. Sam and Tucker turned to talk to their parents and families. "Danny… Don't do anything crazy while we're gone."
"Don't worry, Clockwork won't let me."
"Oh, I am considerably less certain about that than you are," Clockwork said. "But then again, you do always seem to find ways to surprise me."
"Damien will keep me out of trouble," corrected Danny.
"Sure will!"
"Damien, don't take this the wrong way, but you definitely give me the impression of an enabler."
"Not quite sure what that means."
"That's okay. Just… Don't die. Either of you. And brush your teeth and stuff. Go to bed at a regular time. All of that."
"We'll do our best," said Danny.
"Alright!" exclaimed Sam, with just a touch of a laugh in her voice. "You can't change my mind! I'm going! I won't be gone forever."
"I think that's my cue," said Tucker, leaning in for one last hug with his parents. "Stay safe. I'm not the only one that got into trouble. No more revolutions, okay?"
"We can't promise anything," said Angela.
The three of them stepped away, toward the edge.
"You have the directions we gave you memorized?" asked Clockwork.
"Memorized and programmed," said Tucker.
"Have a good trip," said Danny.
"We will," said Sam. "But if we keep going like this, we'll be here all night." She grabbed Tucker's hand and grinned. "Next time we see you, we'll be the next best thing to immortal."
"Unless," said Jazz, "you wind up being part of the Pilgrimage yourself— Ah!" Sam had grabbed the strap of her backpack and pulled her over the edge. "Bye!"
"Bye bye!" said Sam.
"See you later!"
Danny waved energetically. "Goodbye!" he shouted. He kept waving long beyond the time they'd be able to see him clearly between the ectoplasm and the shadows. "Goodbye."
He turned away from the edge of the island and let himself float, just a few inches from the ground. Parents and friends, siblings and Ancients all looked back at him, set against the backdrop of his kingdom.
"Now," said Danny, "for everything else."
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And that's it! The end! Or is it the beginning?
Wow! It's been almost five years! I started writing this in May of 2018 and posted the very first chapter on May 31st, and it was my very first multichapter fic (the Dannymay collection on FFN doesn't count, shhh). I started it as an experiment - I wanted to see if I could manage longer projects - and as a homage to the popular Into the Mind and Field Trip type fics. I loved them so much! Pondus Omnium, Backpack, the Reality of Virtuality, and Strength were such good fics (you can still read them on FFN), and I wanted to start to pay it forward for the fandom, so to speak. I intended to just write 50k. That seemed like long enough to have the characters find their way out of Danny's lair and go home. If you look carefully, that *is* about when the lair arc ends. But I just kept having more ideas, and, well...
If you got here, you know.
But I never would have made it so far without the feedback I've gotten from all of *you* over the years! It's... amazing to read everything you write to me, and I do read it all, even though I don't reply very often. It's amazing, being part of this community and seeing all the stories and art everyone makes. Even more amazing to see how much Mortified has changed things, how much *I* have changed things. You never quite realize how much of an impact you can have.
And... it's sad, to say goodbye to Mortified after so long spent working on it. It's been a big part of my life these last five years. I think 700k is long enough for me to label it a magnum opus, as silly as that sounds for a fanfiction.
Don't mistake this for a goodbye from *me,* though! I have a lot more left to write, both for fanfiction in general, for the Danny Phantom phandom, and for this universe in particular!
In fact, keep a lookout on Mortified's five-year anniversary... You might see something...