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In the darkness of the throne room, Pariah Dark loomed upon his throne, illuminated only by the flickering light of the Crown of Fire on his brow. He had been enraged when he discovered that the little upstart that had dared to challenge him had apparently just tossed the crown aside after stealing it off of his head, like it was nothing more than garbage. Imagine! Treating one of the official pieces of the Ghostly Regalia so dismissively! It had been enough to send Pariah into a fit of temper that had destroyed whatever bits of the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep had survived his initial escape.
Pariah had thought that would be the greatest insult. But oh. Oh no. Things got infinitely worse the moment he picked the Crown back up and placed it upon his head.
“But he looked so thin! Pariah, you simply must go find him at once and make sure he's eating enough, before he wastes away!”
Pariah merely groaned, having heard this complaint several times since he'd reclaimed the Crown as his own.
He really should have known better. Though there had been very few Ghost Kings before Pariah himself, the Crown and Ring had been extensively studied by the scholars of the Infinite Realms during their reigns. It was well known by the time he had claimed them that the Crown and Ring had a tendency to become attached to whomever had won their loyalty. He remembered now how awed he had been, as the newly crowned king, whenever they offered him their advice and wisdom.
Of course, he was older now, and thus had enough wisdom of his own to finally understand the horrible truth that none of the scholars or archivists had ever been able to uncover; the Crown and Ring weren't just advisors trying to guide their monarch, they were giant mother hens who were overly doting towards the ghost they'd essentially adopted! And by the Realms, it was annoying!
And now it was impossibly worse, because the Crown and Ring's loyalties were divided for the first time in their history. The whelp had ripped the Crown from him, thus claiming its loyalty, but the Ring had remained with Pariah and thus still deferred to him. They'd never been at odds like this, and their squabbling was giving him a headache.
“How dare you think of that little usurper when our True and Glorious King is right here?!” the Ring objected, right on cue. “Have you lost your senses over the millennia?!”
“You might still serve this deposed pretender, but I know who the true King of Ghosts is. And I also know he's not eating enough! Did you feel how quickly his core was pulsing? That's not healthy for a young ghost his age!”
”He tossed you aside!” the Ring protested.
”His fingers slipped, that's all! It wasn't his fault!
“Enough!” Pariah growled, cutting off the argument right before the Crown and Ring started resorting to name-calling, which was the inevitable next step. “Enough. I grow tired of your bickering. The boy discarded the Crown, and I have reclaimed it. You are both mine by right, and I am King.”
There was a heavy pause. For a moment, Pariah dared to believe he had finally settled the issue, and that he would finally get some peace and quiet. He heaved a great sigh, and settled back more comfortably into his throne, preparing to think about how to get his revenge on those traitors who dared try to trap him again.
”...do you think he gets enough ectoplasm in his diet, or is he trying to get by on ectoenergy alone?”
“Argh!” Pariah howled in frustration, slamming his fist against the arm of the throne so hard that it cracked.
And then he paused, waiting for the Ring's inevitable rebuttal, because they'd done this song and dance a dozen times already.
Only…
”...he was on the skinny side,” the Ring said quietly.
“Oh no,” Pariah blurted out, despite himself. “Not you too.”
”Ha!" the Crown crowed in triumph. ”Even he agrees with me!”
Pariah stewed in his fury, his fists clenched so tightly that the leather of his gauntlets creaked. To have both of them showing such devotion to that little upstart! The insult! The betrayal! There were no words for this treachery!
He was tempted to cast off the Crown and Ring, toss them aside like the whelp had done to the Crown. Let’s see how fond of him they still were if all this chatter about his health made Pariah lock them up in some abandoned corner of his keep where they couldn’t bother him anymore!
Of course, Pariah knew he couldn't actually do that. He was Ghost King, and that meant dealing with the Crown and Ring and all their idiosyncrasies. He'd put up with them for centuries, and he wasn't about to let them get to him now! It didn't mean he couldn't fantasize about dumping them off on the usurper and running away to finally get some peace and quiet.
…actually. Hmm, maybe there was something to that thought.
He'd been King of Ghosts for centuries. His reign had been marked by conquest and battle, and when he'd first emerged from the Sarcophagus, he had planned to resume his past tendencies with savage glee. But if he was honest with himself, he had to admit his march on the human realms had been rather unsatisfying and lackluster. He had felt like he was just going through the motions by the time the usurper had come to challenge him, the humans putting up so little resistance that they almost shouldn’t have bothered. It wasn't until the ghosts themselves got involved that there was really any fight at all, but even then, it was nothing compared to the battles of old.
In fact, the only time Pariah had felt any pleasure or satisfaction at all was when the whelp had come to challenge him directly. Their fight had been exciting, challenging! Pariah had felt his core burn with the thrill of it! And the way the boy had been using a weapon that had drawn on his own core energy, risking his own existence for the sake of victory? Now there was a worthy opponent! Pariah hadn't enjoyed himself that much facing another ghost in a fight in centuries!
…and the Crown was right, he had looked awfully skinny.
Drat. He was starting to see their point.
He went back to stewing, though this time it was more thoughtful than angry. His mind turned to the young ghost who had faced him in battle, letting the memory of their fight play through his mind's eye. There had been potential in him; though the boy's technique had been sloppy, amateur, Pariah had seen some genuine talent that could be coaxed to the surface with proper tutelage. With the right teacher, the boy could become a great warrior.
But what if he could be more than just a great warrior? What if he could become a great king?
Before he'd gone into the Sarcophagus, Pariah would never have entertained the idea of someone else being king after him for a second. Younger Pariah believed that he would rule over the Infinite Realms with an iron fist indefinitely. But he was older now, and unfortunately wearier. He didn't have the same burning passion for destruction and tyranny as he'd had in his younger days. He wasn't prepared to give up his throne just yet. But perhaps it was time to look to the future, and at what could come after.
Perhaps it was time for him to consider an heir.
He rubbed his beard, letting the thought circle his mind, testing out how it made him feel. Oddly enough, the more he thought about it, the more the idea grew on him, until a grin slowly started to spread across his face.
“Yes…” he murmured quietly to himself. Then, louder, “Yes! Yes, this is perfect!”
”What’s that, my king?” the Ring asked him.
“You're that concerned about the whelp? Very well then. Let us bring him here, train him up right, and make a proper ghost out of him!” Pariah declared, pounding his fist on the throne's arm for emphasis. “Fright Knight!”
There was a rush of purple flame, and then the Fright Knight himself appeared, kneeling, in the center of the throne room.
“You have summoned me, my king?” Fright Knight asked, helmeted head tilted respectfully toward the floor.
“Yes. I have work for you,” Pariah told him gravely. “First, summon the Observants. Those one-eyed cowards think they can manage my kingdom in my absence? Then they can be the first to hear my new decree and spread it across my lands.”
“At once, my king,” Fright Knight responded.
“Next, you shall bring the Royal Metalsmith to me,” Pariah commanded. He reached up with the hand that bore the Ring of Rage, and stuck his fingers into the flames that surrounded the Crown of Fire. He concentrated his will and, with a grunt of effort, he pulled a handful of fire from the Crown’s aura. As he drew it away, there was a flash of light from the Ring, and when the light faded, the flames in Pariah's hand had become a lump of silvery blue metal that shone pale green in the light of the Crown. “I have a commission for him, and metal here to be shaped. A diadem, I believe, would be best.”
“As you wish, my king,” Fright Knight said. And then, he hesitated. “Ah…may I ask, your majesty…?”
“You wish to know what my plans are, oh loyal subject?” Pariah asked with a dark chuckle. “I suppose, as my closest servant, that you truly deserve to hear the news first. I have chosen an heir.”
Fright Knight's eyes went wide in shock. “A-an heir? My king, this is…wonderful news!”
“Yes, I know,” Pariah agreed. He remembered several of his advisors had often been after him to choose an heir, Fright Knight included, back during the early days of his reign, in case he were ever to be defeated or destroyed, but in his youth and at the height of his power Pariah had believed it would never happen. His lack of an heir had probably been partially responsible for why the Infinite Realms were such a mess now; with no central leader to rally behind after his imprisonment, the realms had torn themselves apart.
“Please, your majesty. I must know. Who is it? Who has earned your respect to be rewarded thusly?”
“Ah, that brings me to your third task.”
“Yes, my king?”
“Bring me Daniel Phantom.”
⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆
Danny was not having a good day.
He'd already been shoved into his locker by Dash, spectacularly failed a pop quiz in math, and managed to drop half of his lunch tray into his lap when he'd been shoved from behind in the cafeteria at lunchtime. He was already feeling pretty chewed up and spat out by the time geography rolled around, so he couldn't help letting out a tired groan when, not even 5 minutes into class, the teacher suddenly called on him to answer a question.
“Danny,” she repeated, sounding a bit exasperated. “This is something that I expect you to know by this point in the curriculum. This will absolutely come up on the midterm.”
“I know, Ms. Cole. I just…get my countries mixed up?” Danny offered weakly.
Ms. Cole sighed. “We're not even talking about countries, Danny,” she told him patiently, gesturing towards the map on the board behind her. “I'm asking about geological features. Now please, Danny, try again. Where would I find the Ring of Fire?”
“Uh the…the Ring of…the Ring of…” Danny stared blankly at the map of the world, trying to force his brain to remember any of the details from their classes last week. But when he heard ‘Ring of Fire’, suddenly he found his thoughts turning towards the Ring of Rage and the Crown of Fire, which was frankly not very helpful. It had been months since he'd had to deal with them, so he wasn't sure why his brain was bringing them up now.
Wait. What had even happened to the Crown and Ring after he'd defeated Pariah, anyways?
“The Ring of Fire is…”
“Daniel Fenton.”
The whole class jumped up and screamed as Fright Knight's head and shoulders suddenly emerged through the blackboard at the front of the room. Ms. Cole let out a shrill shriek, fell back in her desk chair, and proceeded to faint, while the students all scrambled up out of their desks and towards the back of the room.
Well, all of them except for Danny, who instinctively dropped into a defensive stance when Fright Knight stepped out of the wall to stand at the front of the classroom, and Tucker and Sam who took up position behind him. But then Danny registered what Fright Knight had said before he'd revealed himself. Had Fright Knight just called Danny by name? By his human name?
“Greetings, Daniel Fenton,” Fright Knight declared, answering Danny's mental question. Yes, yes apparently he had.
“Uh…hi?” Danny responded.
“Forgive the interruption, but your presence is required in the Ghost Zone. You are invited for an audience with his majesty, King Pariah Dark, long may he reign, and he is expecting your arrival shortly. Please, gather your things so I may escort you to his keep.”
Danny gaped at Fright Knight. Just…what? He glanced back at Tucker and Sam, wondering if he was hearing things, but they looked equally bewildered, so Danny turned his attention back to Fright Knight.
“I have…so many questions about everything you just said,” Danny admitted. “But probably most important, did you say Pariah Dark? As in the former Ghost King who I - uh. I mean, who Phantom apparently beat and locked away? That Pariah?!”
“Yes,” Fright Knight confirmed simply.
“What the heck?! How is he loose?!”
“The enchantments that powered the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep were destroyed when it was unlocked,” Fright Knight explained with surprising patience. Since his arrival, he had done nothing but loom at the front of the room, showing no signs of aggression. It somehow put Danny even more on edge, especially since they were also talking about Pariah Dark, one of the strongest ghosts Danny had ever faced. “With the enchantments broken, it was a simple enough task for the king to break free, especially with the Ring of Rage still bound to him.”
Danny went pale at the reminder of the Ring. Shoot, he knew there was something he'd forgotten about. The Crown of Fire had been right there in his face, easy to see and easy to focus on. But in the heat of battle, fighting for his life and the lives of everyone in his city, the Ring had completely slipped his mind. He had completely forgotten to take it away from Pariah as well.
“S-so he's back?” Danny choked out.
“The king has regained his rightful place on the throne, yes,” Fright Knight confirmed.
“And…you said he wants to see me?”
“Most urgently, yes.”
“To kill me?”
“I cannot speak of the king's plans, but I swear on my core he means you no harm.”
“What the heck is happening?” Danny breathed, rubbing at his temples. Fright Knight was here, in his class, not attacking anyone, and telling him that Pariah Dark wanted to see him?! Maybe he had actually just fallen asleep in class again and this was just some really weird dream.
“Uh, Danny?”
Danny whipped his head around as he was abruptly reminded that he was having this conversation in front of his entire class, who were cowering at the back of the room and watching Danny's conversation with wide, fearful eyes. It had been Mikey who had spoken, and he was looking back and forth between Fright Knight and Danny so quickly Danny was worried he might be getting dizzy.
Danny turned back around to face Fright Knight and plastered a fake smile across his lips. “Why don't we have this conversation somewhere else?” he suggested with false cheer.
“As you wish, your highness,” Fright Knight said, bowing at the waist.
“Good. Wait. What did you just call me?” Danny squawked, before holding up a hand. “No, wait, tell me after. Let's just…take this outside.” That way when this inevitably turned into a fight like it always did, at least Danny wouldn't be destroying the school again.
“Of course, your highness,” Fright Knight said, gesturing to Danny to lead the way.
He gave Sam and Tucker a look, and they nodded and grabbed their bags, ready to follow behind him.
“Danny?” Mikey called out again, just as Danny and the others reached the classroom door, Fright Knight pulling up the rear. Danny looked back over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow in acknowledgement, so Mikey cleared his throat, and asked, “Are you really just going to go with the big spooky ghost? Aren't you scared?”
“It's okay, Mikey,” Danny assured him, giving his classmates a weak smile. “I'm a Fenton, right? Dealing with ghosts runs in the family, I've got this. Just, uh. Maybe someone should go check on Ms. Cole after we leave?”
“C-can do,” Mikey promised with a shaky thumbs up.
“Awesome. See you guys later!”
He led his friends and Fright Knight out of the classroom and into the nearest stairwell, hoping to avoid any other witnesses. About halfway down the stairs, he transformed into Phantom, not keen on the idea of facing Fright Knight as a human. To his surprise, rather than take offense or turn on Danny, Fright Knight actually nodded in approval. Figuring that there was no point in walking all the way out of the building now, Danny grabbed Sam and Tucker under their waists, turned them all intangible, and then flew out of the school through the wall and out into the open air, Fright Knight trailing along.
Danny brought them all to the roof of the central library, figuring it was quiet enough in this part of town at this time of day that if things got ugly, there wouldn't be too many people around that he'd need to protect. He set Sam and Tucker down in the shade of the building's air conditioning unit, out of sight from the main road. Fright Knight had fallen a bit behind, so Danny had a second to look at his friends and hiss, “Guys, what the heck is going on?!”
“I don't know, Danny,” Sam murmured as Fright Knight touched down on the edge of the roof, her eyes fixed on his helmeted head. “But if Pariah Dark is involved, it can't be good.”
“Do you think Vlad broke him out again?” Tucker whispered.
The thought had crossed Danny's mind, but he'd already dismissed it. First off, Fright Knight had said that Pariah had broken out on his own, and Danny couldn't really think of any reason the ancient ghost would lie about that. Secondly, Vlad had been the one to actually lock Pariah back up in the Sarcophagus; why would he have turned around and let Pariah loose later?
He didn't have time to say any of that to Tucker, though, because Fright Knight had already joined them.
“Alright, Fright Knight. Explain yourself,” Danny ordered, crossing his arms over his chest.
To his shock, Fright Knight actually dropped to one knee before them.
“Your Highness. As I have said, you have been summoned by his majesty, King Pariah Dark, for an audience and are required to travel to his keep most urgently. I have come here to escort you.”
“Uh, hard pass,” Danny replied immediately. “You want me to go with you to Pariah's keep in the Ghost Zone? No thanks, I know a trap when I see one.”
Fright Knight never rose from his bow, but somehow Danny still felt it when his posture went…tense. He lifted his helmeted head, and met Danny's eyes.
“Forgive me, your highness, but this request is not optional. You must come with me at once,” he told Danny gravely.
“Yeah, no.” Danny squinted down at Fright Knight with suspicion. “And by the way, what's with the ‘your highness’ stuff?”
“If you will not come with me willingly,” Fright Knight said, ignoring Danny's question and slowly rising back up to his feet. “Then I have been authorized to bring you by any means necessary.”
Danny stepped back, pushing Sam and Tucker behind his back. Here it was; the inevitable fight.
But rather than attack them, Fright Knight merely held up his hand and snapped his fingers.
Danny only had a second to stare at the other ghost in confusion before he was suddenly grabbed from behind by countless glowing green skeleton hands.
“Hey!” he yelped in surprise. “Let go of me!”
He tried to blast them away, but for every skeleton soldier he knocked back, three more took their place, until he was practically buried. Somewhere in the distance, he could hear Sam and Tucker yelling and cursing, putting up their own fight, but he was too overwhelmed to even see them, let alone help. And then, the air suddenly grew charged. Danny heard the familiar whoosh of a portal opening up, and even if he couldn't see it past all of the thralls, he could tell it was nearby. He let out a shout of panic when he felt something grab him by the collar of his hazmat suit and start dragging him backward.
“Danny!” He heard both Tucker and Sam cry out, but then he was being pulled through the portal, the familiar chill of the Ghost Zone engulfing him. He managed to free his head just in time to see Sam and Tucker, reaching for him with eyes wide in fright, before the portal closed, cutting him off from them.
The moment the portal was gone, the thralls that had been restraining him jumped away, scrambling back with a rattle of bones until they’d vanished into the deep shadows on the edge of the large stone chamber they'd landed in. Danny looked around with wild eyes, taking in the stone walls lit by flickering torches hanging from the large cylindrical columns supporting the high arched ceiling.
He almost didn't recognize Pariah's throne room at first; the last time he'd been here it had been empty and echoing, the walls bare of any ornamentation. But now they were covered in large tapestries that glimmered when the light hit them, depicting what looked like various stories and myths from the Ghost Zone's history. Along the edges of the room, plush velvet benches and gilded chairs had been set up, and a surprising number of them were currently occupied by various ghosts, mostly Observants bearing scrolls and quills. Other ghosts were milling about the room, talking quietly amongst themselves, most of them openly staring at him.
As Danny took in the transformed space, he slowly turned, until eventually his eyes fell on the raised dais at the end of the room. Where the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep had once rested, there was now a massive throne, surprisingly simple in design, but all the more imposing due to there being no embellishments to distract from its size. And seated on the throne, presiding over his court and looking exactly the same as the last time Danny had seen him, was Pariah Dark.
“Ah, there you are, boy,” Pariah Dark growled out in his gruff voice. “It's about time. You're late.”
“Forgive me, your majesty,” Fright Knight apologized, appearing out of nowhere next to Danny's side. “His highness was…resistant to your summons.”
Pariah's eyes narrowed, before he sighed and waved a hand dismissively. “It doesn't matter. He's here now, and we can begin.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Danny objected, jumping up to hover in the air so he could keep an eye on both Fright Knight and Pariah Dark at the same time. “Begin what? What the heck is going on, here?”
“Your coronation,” Pariah Dark told him firmly, gesturing towards a pedestal that stood to his right. Upon the pedestal rested an intricate silver crown that had been made to look like it was carved ice, the pointed tips like inverted icicles. The crown flickered faintly with a pale greenish blue light reminiscent of an aurora, not unlike the flames of the Crown of Fire.
“My what?!” Danny squawked, staring at Pariah in dumbfounded shock.
“Your coronation,” Pariah repeated without any change in his expression or tone. “You impressed me, when we faced each other in battle. You showed great courage, determination, and strength, all qualities that I know to be vital to a king. And thus I have named you as my heir. You shall be crowned Prince Phantom of the Infinite Realms, next in line to inherit my throne. Now, come. We are already running behind, come kneel before my throne, and we can get started.”
Danny just continued to gape at Pariah, his brain struggling to comprehend what he was hearing. A prince? Him?! Last time he'd seen Pariah Dark, they'd been trying to destroy each other, and now Pariah was trying to claim him as his heir?! What was happening?!
“Uh, I…don't know if I want to be a prince?” Danny squeaked out. “Can I at least think about it first?”
Pariah’s eyes narrowed. “No,” he told Danny darkly.
The warning was clear in Pariah's tone, but Danny unfortunately was a teenage boy, and spite was basically his default response to anyone trying to make him do something he didn't want to. So, when Pariah told him no, he merely straightened his spine, floated a little bit higher into the air so he could look down upon the Ghost King, and crossed his arms in defiance.
“You’re not getting that crown on my head,” Danny informed the assembled ghosts, glaring at Pariah.
Pariah merely gave him a little smirk. “Oh? You think so, do you?”
Danny tried to keep up his resolve, but he couldn't help the little drop of cold sweat that trickled down the back of his neck. He gulped.
Five minutes later, half the chairs in the throne room had been toppled, a pair of tapestries had been torn down, at least three columns would need repairs, and Danny was much scruffier and rumpled. He was also on his knees in front of Pariah's throne, pinned in place by three skeleton soldiers and Fright Knight himself holding him by the back of the neck like he was scruffing a particularly feisty kitten. Danny was breathing heavily, exhausted, and fuming, but unfortunately he was too tired now to escape.
“Are you done?” Pariah asked sarcastically with a raised eyebrow. When Danny merely shot him a dark look, Pariah laughed, and then gestured towards the shadows. “Alright, then. I think we can officially begin.”
An Observant in particularly ornate robes stepped out of the shadows, carrying a massive scroll that looked like it was thousands of years old. The Observant held it aloft, cleared their throat, and began to read from it in a loud monotone.
“Lords, Ladies, and Lieges of the court of his majesty, King Pariah Dark, long may he reign. We bid welcome to you all, and thank you most graciously for your attendance to this, the crowing of the one known as Daniel Phantom-Fenton, who has been named Crown Prince of the Infinite Realms and heir apparent to King Pariah Dark's dynasty. As is tradition…”
Danny quickly realized that this was going to take a while, and groaned aloud. It was bad enough that he was getting crowned (and possibly adopted?!) against his will, did they have to make it super boring too?
After what felt like hours of speeches and proclamations, ceremony and pomp, Danny finally tuned back in when he felt Fright Knight shift behind him. Danny immediately tensed, preparing himself. This might be his chance to break free!
But before he could even think of lashing out with an ectoblast or ghostly wail, Pariah Dark suddenly stood from his throne and began descending the dais, an Observant trailing after him bearing the velvet pillow holding that icy crown. The pair came to a stop right in front of Danny, and the room went still as the assembled ghosts all held their theoretical breath. This must have been the big moment. Danny fought the urge to duck away, not wanting to give Pariah the satisfaction of seeing Danny flinch.
“Daniel Phantom. Rise,” Pariah Dark intoned, gesturing for Danny to stand. Danny squirmed, but was forced to his feet by Fright Knight and the thralls.
“I hate you,” Danny informed them all flatly.
“Good,” Pariah said softly with a smirk, his voice quiet enough that the surrounding audience couldn’t hear. “Use that hate to motivate you. We'll make a warrior out of you yet.”
Danny gave Pariah a disgusted look, but he didn't have a chance to say anything before Pariah was speaking again.
“Daniel Phantom,” Pariah repeated. “I name thee my heir and next in line to bear my title, my throne and my responsibilities. To mark thee, and to show all here who bear witness that I have deemed thee worthy, I bestow upon you this, the Diadem of Frost.”
Pariah turned to the Observant holding the cushion, and picked up the icy crown. Danny had only a second to accept that this was actually happening before Fright Knight put just enough pressure on the back of his neck to force him to bow his head. With great care and ceremony, Pariah raised the crown high in the air, and then gently lowered it onto Danny's head. It fit him perfectly.
There was a pause where Pariah had let go of the crown, but hadn’t yet pulled his hands away. Danny didn't really notice though, because his senses were slowly being overwhelmed as a rush of pure energy shot through him. His core sang in delight as ice-cold power emanating from his new crown raced down his body, filling him up and making him feel like he'd chugged six energy drinks and jumped into the arctic ocean at the same time. It was a hell of a rush, and Danny found himself actually grateful for Fright Knight's continued grip on his collar, because without it he would have probably collapsed.
Fright Knight and Pariah hovered over him until Danny felt the surge of energy begin to ebb, his core adjusting to his new power levels. Slowly Danny felt himself relax - he hadn't even realized he’d gone tense - his shoulders slumping. Slowly, his eyes fluttered open.
“Easy, lad,” Pariah murmured. He rested his hands on Danny’s shoulders, holding him in place while Danny swayed. Eventually, though, Danny gathered himself, and Pariah took a step back. At the same time, Fright Knight finally released him, and Danny was left standing on his own once more. Pariah looked him over, his gaze lingering on the crown now perched upon Danny’s head, and he gave Danny a pleased smile and a tiny nod. “Good. It suits you.”
“It feels…weird,” Danny whispered, tempted to reach up and touch it, but one sharp look from Pariah stayed his hand.
“You’ll get used to it,” Pariah promised him.
“I don’t know if I want to, though,” Danny muttered, which made Pariah’s expression sour.
“We’ll talk about it after,” Pariah promised him. “For now, you must turn and face your new subjects.”
Danny had half a mind to refuse, and put up another big stink, but he wasn’t really in the mood to get manhandled by Fright Knight and Pariah’s thralls again. Besides, at this point the worst of the damage was done; the weird ice crown was on his head, and something in Danny’s core told him it wouldn’t be coming off again easily. So with a sigh, Danny did as he was asked, and turned to face the rest of the assembled ghosts that had filled up the throne room to witness his crowning.
“My subjects!” Pariah roared from just behind Danny’s right shoulder. “I present to you, your new crown prince!”
The audience erupted into cheers. Countless ghosts that Danny had never seen in his life were applauding happily for him, some looking moved to tears. It was a little bit overwhelming, but Danny forced himself to smile and wave at the crowd, hoping that was proper princely etiquette. And hey, if it wasn’t, that was Pariah’s problem. He’d decided to go and force Danny to be his heir after all, Danny hadn’t asked for this.
Danny had hoped that now that he’d been crowned and presented and claimed and all that nonsense, that the whole ceremony would be over and he could finally have his mental breakdown in peace. But to his dismay, he apparently had to receive tribute from all of his new subjects first as they declared their loyalty. The only silver lining was that apparently as soon as the crown touched his head, a new throne formed on the dais alongside Pariah’s, so at least he could sit in a nice cushy chair while all of this was going down.
Still, it felt like hours had passed by the time the last of the ghosts had knelt before him, swearing to serve him loyally and truthfully, before being dismissed and escorted away by a skeleton guard. Throughout the entire parade of petitioners, Fright Knight had stood loyally behind the twin thrones, watching over the king and the new prince, but as the last ghost finished, he stepped forward before the lingering audience.
“The court is dismissed,” he commanded, planting the Soul Shredder on the ground at his feet. The assembled ghosts all bowed to Pariah and Danny, and then slowly drifted out of the room.
The last courtier left. Fright Knight turned and started to walk back towards his position on the dais.
“You as well,” Pariah ordered, stopping Fright Knight dead in his tracks.
“My king?”
“Leave us,” Pariah commanded. “I wish to speak to my new heir alone.”
Oh no. This was it. Pariah was finally going to murder him! Danny felt his body go tense, and despite his previous history with Fright Knight, he found himself wishing desperately that the armored ghost would stay.
However, to his dismay, Fright Knight merely bowed and said, “As you wish, your majesty,” before turning and striding out of the throne room, letting the massive wooden doors close behind him with an ominous boom.
Feeling like a mouse trapped before a cat, Danny shakily turned to look at Pariah. “Is this the part where you kill me horribly now?” he asked weakly.
To his surprise, instead of lunging at Danny or drawing his weapon, Pariah Dark merely snorted. “I just spent several hours of my time naming you my heir and declaring it before all the Realms,” he pointed out gruffly. “Why would I do all that and then immediately end you?”
“Oh.” Danny blinked in surprise. “Oh yeah. I guess that's a good point.”
“Relax, boy. You're in no danger here.”
“...really?”
“You have my word,” Pariah promised. And something about how serious he sounded made Danny feel like he could actually believe it.
“Well, in that case,” Danny said, before he collapsed down further into his throne with a tired groan. He rubbed both of his hands over his face, as if he could scrub away the past couple of hours from his mind. What was kind of both frustrating and nice, though, was that thanks to the crown on his head, despite his mental exhaustion his body still felt healthy and full of energy.
He heard Pariah chuckle. “Don’t fret, boy. Court sessions are not usually that tedious.”
“That’s cool and all, but I don’t really care?” Danny whined. “I’m not planning on doing this again.”
Pariah huffed, but to Danny’s surprise and mild amusement, the ghost king collapsed down into his throne in a similar pose to Danny.
“You’ll have to eventually,” Pariah told him. “As crown prince, you’ll need to learn your royal duties, so that you’re prepared when one day you take the throne.”
“I don’t want to learn how to do this stuff because I don’t want the throne,” Danny said firmly, shifting in his seat so he could glare in Pariah’s direction. “I have no interest in any of this?”
“Well, you should have thought of that before you challenged me and dared to steal the Crown of Fire off of my head,” Pariah scoffed, giving Danny a tired smirk. “Had you actually kept hold of the Crown, you wouldn’t even have been given the chance to be a simple prince first; you would have likely been named king then and there, and I would be forced to face you again to regain my title. However, you tossed the Crown aside, allowing me to reclaim it. But in doing so, you also proved yourself as possessing all of the qualities I value in a potential heir. You’ll make a fine crown prince for the Infinite Realms.”
Danny felt his jaw drop open the more Pariah Dark explained. “No. No way,” he moaned in horror. “This is all because I fought you?!”
“You challenged a king to single combat,” Pariah pointed out. “What did you think was going to happen?”
“I just wanted to protect my home! I didn’t mean to become royalty!”
“Well, you did that as well,” Pariah said, shrugging his shoulders. “Tell me, boy. If you had known the inevitable outcome, would you have changed anything you did?”
“...n-no,” Danny was forced to admit. “I guess not.”
“Then why argue? What’s done is done.”
Danny let out a growl of frustration. “But I don’t want it! It’s hard enough being half-ghost and trying not to let it mess up my life, but now you’re adding a crown to it?! I don’t want to be a prince! I don’t want to be your heir! I mean, I have a dad already!”
“Ha! I do not claim you as kin, lad,” Pariah chuckled, shifting on the throne so he could rest his head on his fist. “It is a political position only. No bonds of blood or family have been formed.”
“Oh.” Well at least that was one less thing for Danny to worry about, which was a relief. “But I still don’t want to be the crown prince. Or king.”
“It will be many years before you are king,” Pariah said. “I have no intention of fading or stepping down any time soon. You’ll have plenty of time to acclimatize to your new position.”
“And what exactly are you going to do as king?” Danny asked with narrowed eyes.
“You dare ask me to explain myself to you?” Pariah responded, though he sounded more amused than offended.
“Given the last time you got out of the Sarcophagus you immediately tried to take over my hometown, yeah I think I’m justified in wanting to know what you have planned.”
Pariah let out a short burst of laughter. “Fair enough, boy! As for my plans, I intend to consolidate my power here in the Realms first. They have become fractured and discordant. It is my duty as king to reunite these disparate lands into one unified kingdom once more.”
While in theory, that sounded like a good thing, Danny was well aware that Pariah’s reputation was not a pleasant one, and he suspected Pariah’s method of unifying the Realms would involve a lot more war and conquest than he was comfortable with.
“And if they don’t want to unify?” he asked pointedly. “Or if they don’t like the way you’re doing things?”
He and Pariah stared each other down, the air becoming charged between them.
“If you don’t like the way I’m doing things?” Pariah asked softly, his voice barely loud enough to carry. “Would you challenge me again? Would you claim the Crown and Ring properly this time, knowing what that would mean for you?”
Danny didn’t allow his determined expression to change, even as he considered Pariah’s question.
“For the sake of the people of the Infinite Realms?” he said slowly. “...Yes. Yes I would do it.”
Pariah held eye contact for a moment more, before he huffed, the corner of his lip quirking up into a lopsided smirk. “And that is why I know I have chosen well to name you my heir.”
Danny flushed at the unexpected praise.
“But to answer your question, and to set your mind at ease,” Pariah said, sitting up more fully in his throne, “I am much older than I was back in my conquering days, and the Realms have changed drastically since back then. I am well aware that my previous methods will do nothing but bring my rule to an early end, either by your hand or by another’s. I’m not eager to repeat the same mistakes I made in the past.”
“So…you’re not planning to try to force the entire Ghost Zone to bend to your will?” Danny asked slowly.
“No. I must admit that I don’t know yet what my reign will look like, but I intend to seek out advisors to help guide me. Ones that know this new Realm better than I.”
Danny’s brow furrowed as he thought for a moment. Then, he looked back up at Pariah, and said tentatively, “If you’re looking for suggestions, I might know a few ghosts who I would trust to have the Realms’ best interest at heart.”
“Oh?” Pariah looked at him, intrigued.
“Yes. Frostbite of the Far Frozen is a good friend of mine, and he knows a lot about ghosts and their health and…yeah. He’s…he’s wise. I’d trust him.”
Danny trailed off, because as he spoke, Pariah’s expression had begun to sour.
“Ah yes. Frostbite. I’m…familiar with him.”
“You are?”
“He was one of the ancients that sealed me away.”
“He was?!” Danny could feel his eyes bugging out of his head.
“Yes. It cost him his arm, if I remember correctly.” Pariah frowned for a moment, deep in thought, before he let out a gusty sigh. “However, you may have a point. The ancients who sealed me did act in defense of the Infinite Realms. While I would much rather feed their cores to a school of hungry ectosharks, perhaps it would be better to form an alliance. At least for now.”
That sounded ominous. But at the same time, if Pariah was at least willing to listen to Frostbite and the other ancients then maybe he really had changed.
“Consider this your first lesson in kingship,” Pariah told him with a sigh. “Sometimes, as king, you will need to work with those you do not care for, in order to achieve your goals.”
“Oh, believe me, I’ve learned that lesson already. Many times,” Danny told him, thinking of all of the times he’d had to team up with his enemies to face a greater threat. In retrospect, it actually happened a lot.
Pariah gave him a surprised look that quickly shifted into a pleased smile. “Perhaps I have less to teach you than I thought.”
”Does that mean it’s time to feed him?” a voice suddenly rang out through the room. Danny jumped, looking around wildly for the source.
”Feed him? He just had to sit through an entire crowning ceremony! He’s probably exhausted!” a second voice cried, drawing Danny’s wide eyes back towards Pariah. The voices seemed to be coming from his direction.
“Oh, here we go again,” Pariah groaned, resting his head wearily on his fist again.
”He needs more sleep!” the second voice insisted, and Danny realized with slowly dawning horror that it was coming from the Crown of Fire. ”I mean…he probably does, right? How much sleep do you think he needs?”
”Well, he’s a halfa, right?” the first voice, which Danny clocked as coming from the Ring of Rage now, suggested. ”That must mean he needs half a day, right? Twelve hours?”
”Oh yes, that makes sense,” the Crown agreed. ”Pariah, there’s no way he’s gotten enough sleep, you need to send him to bed at once!”
”Wait, my king! You can’t send the boy to bed hungry! He must eat something first!”
”Oh yes, you make a good point, we can’t let him go to bed hungry!”
“Ugh, I thought claiming the boy would put an end to this,” Pariah growled, his eyes lifting towards the heavens as if asking for strength. “Not make it worse!”
“Is that…is that the Crown and Ring talking?!” Danny asked, with only a little bit of hysteria in his voice, thank you very much. No, it was normally that squeaky. Trust him.
Pariah groaned. “Second lesson of kingship. The Crown and Ring have thoughts of their own, and they will share them. Whether you want them to or not.”
”Excuse you, we are fonts of wisdom!” the Crown insisted.
”Yes, precisely,” the Ring agreed. ”And our wisdom is thus; that boy is far too thin, your majesty, you simply must get something more substantial into him post-haste.”
”I’m afraid I have to agree,” a third voice suddenly rang out, causing both Danny and Pariah to stiffen in surprise. ”I’ve been trying to calm his core’s output, but it’s a mess. This child is clearly severely underfed.”
“What the heck was that?!” Danny shrieked, his head whipping around to try to find the source of the third voice.
”Hello!” the voice called again. ”Up here!”
Reluctantly, Danny’s eyes started to roll upwards, towards the cool metal crown currently resting on his head. “Oh no. No way.”
“Ah. I suppose I should have expected this,” Pariah admitted mildly, completely unfazed by the fact that Danny’s new jewelry was apparently talking to him.
”Hi there, my prince! I am the Diadem of Frost! It’s a pleasure to meet you!”
“Oh no. No, this isn’t happening. I’m taking this off right now,” Danny insisted, already reaching up to pull the Diadem off of his head.
”No!” three voices all shouted simultaneously, making him freeze.
”No, you shouldn’t do that,” the Diadem continued, much more calmly. ”I’m still in the process of stabilizing your core. It’s been overworked for so long it’s a wonder you haven’t collapsed. If you remove me right now, it might cause permanent damage to your core. Please just wait, I’m sure it won’t take me that much longer to have you all patched up.”
”And while she’s working on it, you can have a snack and a nap!” the Crown suggested cheerfully.
“Uh, no? I’m not a baby, I don’t need naps!” Danny insisted.
”You’re a growing ghost who needs his rest,” the Crown insisted. ”Twelve hours of it.”
“No. I don’t.”
”The Ring and I have reached a consensus.”
“That’s not how it works.”
”Pretty sure it is. You’re a halfa, hence you need half a day. That’s just logic.”
“No. That’s…just no. I don’t need twelve hours of sleep. I don’t need any sleep! Well,” Danny hesitated. “I need some sleep. Just not that much. Or right now!”
”At least eat something,” the Ring offered as a compromise.
Danny glared at the Ring, but as if on cue his stomach suddenly let out a growl so loud that even Pariah’s eyebrows flew up. Abruptly Danny remembered that he’d only managed to eat half of his lunch today because the rest had ended up in his lap. And after the long ceremony, it was almost certainly past dinner time back home in Amity Park.
Danny let out a nervous giggle and rubbed the back of his neck. “I guess I could go for a little something,” he admitted sheepishly.
Pariah chuckled, and then clapped his hands twice, summoning one of his skeleton soldiers. “Bring refreshments for the new prince!” he commanded, and the skeleton saluted before disappearing into the shadows.
“Um, that’s alright, I can just grab something from the Nasty Burger on the way home,” Danny said.
“Nonsense,” Pariah dismissed, his eyes trained on the far door. “You’re a growing ghost. It’s ectoplasm you need.”
“I’m also a growing human,” Danny pointed out in mild annoyance. “And I need actual food as well.”
”You need both,” the Diadem chimed in before Pariah or Danny could start to argue. ”You’re both human and ghost, right? So it makes sense that you need both to grow. Also wow, I’m going to have my work cut out for me taking care of you, aren’t I? I don’t think we’ve ever had a halfa as a member of the royal line, have we?”
”Nope,” the Crown confirmed.
“You’re only going to have to worry about me while I’m here, though,” Danny pointed out nervously, not liking the way the Diadem was making it sound like it would be sticking with him all the time.
To his dread, the Diadem confirmed his fears only a second later. ”Nope! I’m going to be worrying about you all the time, because I’m going with you wherever you go! I’m your Diadem, the mark of your position. Not to mention the work I’m doing on your core. You can’t get rid of me that easily!”
“B-but I can’t be wearing you when I’m human!” Danny insisted. “People are going to notice the spooky glowing ghost crown on my head, and start asking questions! I have school!”
”What’s ‘school’?”
“Oh no,” Danny groaned, slapping his hands over his face. He was slowly realizing that he was in for a world of headaches. He really wished he had just run away from Fright Knight when he’d first shown up at school now.
“You’ll get used to it,” Pariah told him reassuringly. “In the meantime, let’s get you fed.”
Danny dropped his hands from his face just in time to see the skeleton guard returning, pushing a cart ladened with silver trays overflowing with glowing green food. To Danny’s surprise, despite the fact that none of the food looked even remotely familiar, his mouth started watering as the cart was pushed closer.
“Hmm, I see what you mean,” Pariah murmured to the Crown and Ring. “He really does look half-starved.” And then he raised his voice so that Danny could hear him better. “Go on, lad. Eat your fill.”
Danny floated up out of his throne and down to the cart, taking in the spread. Everything was glowing faintly green, typical of anything made out of ectoplasm, but each of the morsels was shaped or presented so beautifully it almost looked more like art than food. All the same, Danny reached out, picking up a sample that looked like some sort of exotic flower, and popped it into his mouth. The flavour immediately exploded over his tongue, and he actually groaned aloud in pleasure. It tasted amazing.
“Okay,” he admitted through his mouthful of food. “Maybe this whole prince thing isn’t so bad. I could get used to this part, at least.”
Pariah barked out a laugh.
⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆
Jazz had been pacing the kitchen floor for hours now, tracing the path between the kitchen table and the phone on the wall over and over, desperately wishing it would ring. The house was silent, though, not even a peep coming out of her parent’s lab in the basement. Her mom and dad had taken the RV out to patrol the town, searching for any sign of where Danny might have gone, while Sam and Tucker were doing the same. Jazz had been the unlucky one to get stuck behind waiting at home on the off chance that Danny returned on his own, and she hated it. She hated not being out there, doing something to help. But she also understood how important it was to be here. Thus, she paced.
When she heard the sound of the front door opening, her head whipped up in a mix of fear and hope. Fear, because if it was her parents returning already, they may be returning with bad news, and hope because it could be the opposite. But to her surprise, it wasn’t her parents who slouched into the kitchen, looking half-asleep, but Danny.
“Danny!” she cried in relief. “Oh, where have you been?!”
She started to rush towards him, when her eye suddenly landed on the glowing silver crown that was resting on his head. She drew up short, her relief immediately being replaced by confusion. “Danny, what’s that on your head?”
“This? This is the Diadem of Frost,” Danny said tiredly, which honestly didn’t clarify anything. “I’m calling her Di. Di, this is Jazz, my older sister. Say hi.”
”Hi there! Nice to meet you!”
“You…you’ve got a talking crown on your head?” Jazz choked out, feeling very confused.
“Yeah, it’s a really long story. I’m kind of a ghost prince now? And Di is stuck with me. Or I’m stuck with her, I guess. She’s going to nag me about getting more sleep, so you two should get along great.”
Every word out of Danny’s mouth was just leaving Jazz with more questions. Feeling very bewildered, she asked, “Okay, but where have you been? We’ve been worried sick about you! Mom, Dad, Sam, and Tucker are all out looking for you right now!”
“Yeah, sorry, got abducted for my coronation by Fright Knight. It was a whole thing.”
“I…I just…what?!”
”Forgive me, Lady Jazz,” Di interrupted politely, ”I’m sure Danny would be happy to fill you in on all the details, but he’s had a very long day, and he really needs his rest. Might we have this discussion in the morning?”
“I…I mean…I guess?” Jazz said, having trouble believing that she was talking to a sentient piece of jewelry. Then again, after all the crazy stuff she’d seen since her parent’s portal turned on, was this really that crazy?
”Thank you, Lady Jazz. I’m looking forward to discussing how we can help Danny improve his diet and sleep habits.”
Oh. Okay, Jazz had to admit, she could get used to having an ally on that front. Slowly she gave Di a smile. “Yes, actually, I would like that very much.”
”Wonderful!”
“Oh great, there’s two of you now,” Danny moaned. “Or four? Five? Ugh, if Pariah shows up and starts telling me to eat more, I’m out.”
“Wait, Pariah? As in the ghost king?!”
“I’m going to bed,” Danny groaned, not explaining anything. Jazz watched in open-mouthed disbelief as he did just that, dragging himself up the stairs and out of sight. She heard his bedroom door close, and then a moment later there was a muffled thud as he must have thrown himself into bed.
Shaking her head, Jazz could only hope that maybe in the morning things would be a little less crazy. And that she might get some actual answers. In the meantime, she had some phone calls to make. At least she could let everyone know that Danny was home safe and sound now…and mostly sane.