A Man For All Seasons (Queen or Freddie Mercury Fanfic)

41. What's Eating Danny Phantom

Julia

Believe me, I never expected my mother to be so receptive to me and my dilemma- my mother, who had always known the least, but assumed the most, about Freddie. In the moment, as I poured out my heart to her, I forgot to notice how strange it was, that she poked no holes in my story, made no mad dashes for the phone to send me on a one-way trip to the mental institution, showed no signs of doubt at all. So great was my need, I suppose, to purge, to unload the burden one of the few people I even remotely trusted anymore, that I passed it off as merely familial bonds combined with Freddie's incomparable aura, which had miraculously convinced her before I could say a word.

As the evening wore on, however, the comfort I found in our talk soon shifted into cold, white-lipped fear that maybe I had made the same mistake as Freddie.

After all, Brian (and maybe Roger) had been compromised, as had my cousin Roxie. After just one or two of Stuart's pretty lies, people we hoped we could lean on had been weaponized, turning safe havens into enemy strongholds. What confidence could I claim that the rats hadn't beaten us to the house that afternoon? What were the odds that every syllable of my conversation with my mother was picked up by yet another cleverly hidden microphone?

And what proof would I have, if either of those things proved to be true, that my family had not actively helped to set the trap?

I would not know for sure until the rats actually appeared- and as far as we knew, they had not. With each passing hour, I lifted my eyes and mouthed another prayer of thanks for Rudy. As long as we had him on our side, we could still afford to smile.

But that didn't alter the fact that Freddie only had two days left - and whatever my mother's motivations, the rats' schemes, and Rudy's capabilities, I needed to make up my mind.

Luckily for me, the fellows I loved the most were working overtime to help me do it- but I can't say I approved of their tactics.

Danny

Konnichiwa! I'm back!

Not for long, though. Sadly. It's just this one part, then it goes back to the same thing where just the grown-ups talk, and you have to guess what I'm thinking. And even though that's way easier, because I don't always know what to say, I've really missed talking to you guys. So, I am gonna try and say as much as I can, while I can.

So here we are. We've all eaten, and we're just hanging out in the living room and trying to decide on a game to play. I'm on the couch next to Freddie, while Mom's kind of halfway perched on the corner behind us, so she can still get up and move around. The Christmas tree sparkles right behind her, and there's not much space between the sofa and the wall anyway, so she looks a little crowded back there, but she doesn't seem to mind very much. Uncle Scott and Aunt Shelley are over on the other sofa; Grandma's sitting with her back to the fireplace and Grandpa's standing up listing out some card or board game options for us to "yea" or "nay." Uncle John's on a phone call or something right now, but he'll be back in a minute. The only other person missing is Scarlett, she started getting really fussy halfway through dinner so she's been put to bed.

I really hope Cassidy is about to go to sleep too, because she won't leave Freddie alone with all her stupid pictures. I wonder if she's starting to annoy him, because she sure is annoying me. Why doesn't she go show all that stuff to her own dad and stop interrupting me and mine?

"Well, here, I'll just bring down what we got and we'll go from there," Grandpa says, and runs upstairs.

Freddie nods at him, uncrosses his legs, then looks at me. "What's your favorite game, Mr. Phantom?"

Easiest question ever. "Clue!"

"Oh, Cluedo? That's a good one."

"What's that?"