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Danny awoke as his body fell with a dull thud against the ground. In an instant, he was shooting up to his feet to prep for an attack, only to feel a pressure against his wrists jerking him back down.
Confusion and panic warred in his mind as he studied his wrists. More specifically, the shackles on them, which were bolted to the floor beneath him. Some part of him recognized the floor beneath him as the floor of his own bedroom and when the hell did a shackle anchor point get installed?
He gave them another sharp pull, trying to focus his strength to snapping the restraints from him. They held firm, strong and tight against him, scrunching up the blue of his long sleeved shirt between them and his very human skin. Even then, he could feel the chill biting through the fabric, which was even more concerning. Danny did not feel the cold anymore, ever. Although, right now, he also couldn’t seem to feel Phantom , so these were apparently suppressing his powers as well. Great. That’s great.
He pulled his eyes from the cold metal, glancing around his room.
And felt a chill deep in his soul.
Before him, oddly out of place in his star themed bedroom, floated Clockwork and two Observants, staring at him.
The Observants were staring at him, giant eyeballs that they were. He’d met them before, of course, but even then, he couldn’t help but flinch at the sheer hatred and anger he saw in their gaze. That was new, from them. Clockwork was slightly off to the side from them, studying Danny with emotionless red eyes, head tilted slightly to the side. Danny felt extremely uncomfortable in that moment, under Clockwork’s eyes. While the Observants were angry, he was used to being looked at like that. By other ghosts, by some of the humans of Amity who still didn’t like him, in his mother and father every time they ranted about catching Phantom at the breakfast table. He was used to being looked at like the scum of the earth.
But Clockwork’s eyes felt like they were studying him, like he was an interesting specimen, chained to the floor of his own bedroom.
At least that explains how he ended up moving from laying on his soft bed to collapsing to the ground - Clockwork stopped time. Danny’s ghost sense was useless against Clockwork.
Danny sat up as much as he could - which wasn’t much. He managed to get to his knees in a kneeling position before the shackles had no more give in them. He tried to ask what exactly they were doing here at - he glanced at the clock - 11:52 PM, but when he tried to speak, he realized there was a gag in his mouth, secured around his head so he couldn’t spit it out. He is entirely blaming being pulled out of a deep sleep abruptly and the chains on him as the reason he somehow missed they had gagged him. The silence seemed to stretch endlessly.
Danny felt tears begin to fall from his face, he knew there was only one reason these ghosts would be in his room, would’ve felt the need to tie him down and bind his powers.
He still ended up evil, didn’t he? He still ended up hurting - killing - people. And Clockwork decided to just end him, to listen to the Observants this time and execute him.
All the fight left him, he slumped back down to the floor. He wouldn’t try to fight them, even if he could. Danny, more than anything, never wanted to hurt anyone. If there was no stopping him from becoming like that, despite his promises otherwise, then he would accept death. Or whatever death looked like for him. He’d had a good run, hadn’t he? He’d gotten more time than he should’ve when the portal brought him back. He’d gotten to cheat death for long enough.
Danny just knelt his head forward, accepting his fate. Waiting for Clockwork to deal the final blow. Of course, he wanted to live. But not at the cost of others’ lives.
Apparently, this was what they had been waiting for.
“Go get the sister.” He heard Clockwork say.
At that, Danny (tried to) shoot back up, wordless yells coming through the gag. He would let them kill him, but he didn’t want Jazz here! She didn’t need to see Danny die! He renewed his struggling, he’d let them take him somewhere else but please don’t make Jazz watch his execution!
“Why?” One of the Observants asked.
“She will do it. He will fight us. He won’t fight her.”
Danny tried to scream even louder. What the absolute hell? He wasn’t fighting! He wasn’t going to stop this! But Jazz couldn’t kill him! Even if she knew it was because he turned bad, she loved him too much. No matter what, she’d always see him as her little brother. And, some small part of him, a part that believed she’d do it if necessary, he just didn’t want that. He didn’t want his last memory to be his sister preparing to kill him, tears on her face.
His struggles went without acknowledgement.
“He cannot fight us,” the other Observant scoffed.
“He absolutely will headbutt you.” Clockwork said, the ghost of a smile on his face.
Why was Clockwork smiling?! Danny thought Clockwork liked him! The betrayal of Clockwork smiling about Danny’s demise hurt in a way that accepting his death didn’t.
The Observants looked at each other, shrugged, and phased through the wall behind them, the one between his and Jazz’s room. They were only gone for a moment before dragging Jazz into the room, kicking and screaming. Where were his parents? How were they not waking up? There were three (and a half) ghosts currently in the house! Their daughter was screaming!
Danny had a sneaking suspicion, however, that Clockwork had something to do with it. It was no secret he was an Ancient, as was Nocturn. If this was something needed to keep the future safe, he had no doubt Nocturn would lend his hand.
The Observants were much stronger than they looked, apparently, as they held Jazz firmly between them by her shoulders, even as she clutched Bearbert to her chest.
“Jasmine, please do stop fighting.” Clockwork said, turning his attention to the pink pajama clad teenager.
Jazz listened, at least for a moment, studying the scene before her. And then she went even more haywire when she saw Danny. The Observants just looked irritated as they grasped her tighter. His room was utter chaos. He was still screaming through his gag, Jazz was screaming, the Observants were practically glowing in irritation. Yet still, Clockwork just watched with that small smile on his face.
“Jasmine, no one is in danger. We need you to help Daniel.” Clockwork said.
Jazz did not stop trying to kick at the Observants (damn ghosts not having knees!), but she did turn her attention to Clockwork.
“Help him?!” She practically screeched. “What have you done to him?”
“Only what is necessary to allow the ceremony to occur.” Clockwork responded, his tone oddly soothing.
“Ceremony?” Jazz asked, easing up on her attempts to physically attack the ghosts holding her. Danny asked the same thing at the same time, but the gag swallowed it.
“It is his coronation day.” An Observant said, voice laced with venom.
“…huh?” Was Jazz’s extremely eloquent reply as she kept her teddy bear clutched against her.
“He beat Pariah Dark in single combat.” Clockwork said, his voice much kinder than the Observants. Jazz and Danny shared looks of bewilderment. Seeing no response from the humans, the Time Ghost continued. “He is King now. Will you let me explain if the Observants release you, young one?”
A glare that could melt even ghost ice came from Jazz, even as she nodded. Clockwork gave a small nod to the two ghosts holding her and they released her.
“Talk,” Jazz said sternly.
“Of course. As I said, he challenged and beat Pariah Dark when Pariah invaded nearly two years ago. He is now High King of all ghosts.”
“And you tie him down?”
“He had to first pass a test, which he has. After everything with Pariah, the Council of Ancients agreed we needed to vet the young prince before crowning him.”
Danny was utterly and entirely confused. What test? All he did was sit here?
Apparently Jazz was wondering the same thing. “Test?”
“He accepted his death.” At this, Clockwork finally returned his gaze to the halfa on the floor. “You believed we had came to end you, did you not?”
Danny gave a slow nod. He still wasn’t entirely over the whole bombshell of him being a freaking king to a dimension he barely visited!
“And you did not fight us once you realized.”
“Then why is he still bound? Why am I here?” Jazz piped up.
“He may still try to refuse the crown and the new power it will give him, and we are on a time limit, unfortunately. You will be the one crowning him.”
“Why would I do something he doesn’t want to do?”
“If he does not accept, we will accept it as surrender. He will be executed and the crown would pass to us,” an Observant said, sounding entirely too gleeful at the idea of killing him.
“But… he’s a child .” Jazz protested. “Those are typically bad ideas! Can’t you rule for him until he’s at least older?” She pleaded, aiming that at Clockwork. Apparently she was none too happy about the Observants excitement at executing him.
Clockwork just gave a sad shake of his head. “That simply isn’t a thing in the Realms. The new king either accepts and rules or surrenders and ends.”
“It’s been two years since Pariah! What have you been doing since?”
“His core was not matured enough and Pariah’s core was not destroyed in battle; the Realms were able to pull the energy from Pariah until now. But Pariah is nearly out of energy and on the verge of Fading and your brother’s core has recently fully matured.”
Danny absolutely was not hearing this. This was a nightmare. He didn’t want to abandon his human life, he didn’t want to rule! He wanted to graduate school and play video games! Hadn’t he already given up enough? He’d died and when he came back, dedicated himself to protecting people even though all he wanted was to spend time with Sam and Tucker and stargaze. How much more was he expected to sacrifice? Angry tears came to his eyes as he began struggling again. He didn’t care what happened next, he was not going to become a king. He didn’t want to spend who-knows-how-long ruling a freaking other dimension with the memory of his human life behind him.
“And there’s the fighting back I mentioned.” Clockwork stated simply.
Jazz bit at her lip, glancing at Danny, indecision written across her face, and Danny was remembering his thought that Jazz would never kill him. And Danny knew he wasn’t going to avoid this. If the options were something he didn’t want or his death, Jazz would go with the former. Clockwork had been right earlier, Danny realized. He would fight the Observants with every fiber of his being, with or without his powers. But he’d never be able to hurt Jazz. Damn Clockwork for being smart. Damn Jazz for being a good sister. Damn Observants for… well, just damn them in general.
Danny’s suspicions were confirmed as Jazz sighed, nodded, and returned her gaze to Clockwork.
“What do I need to do?” She asked, sealing his fate.
“Go to him, we will give you the items to place on him and we will handle the rest. Oh, be advised, though. Suddenly accepting this much power… it will hurt him. But only temporarily and he will be alive at the end of it.”
Jazz set her face into stony determination, crossing the few steps until she stood in front of Danny.
Danny looked up at his sister towering over him, trying to wordlessly beg her to stop, though he knew it was useless. She wouldn’t let him die.
“Do you wanna hold Bearbert?” Jazz asked, holding the bear out to him. Initially, Danny wanted to refuse, to keep fighting back. But it was over. And he wanted comfort. So he gave a short nod, the tears that had returned to his eyes earlier renewing. Silently, Jazz leaned down and put the stuffed animal on his lap, where his hands could grasp it. Danny took as deep a breath as he could through the gag, digging his fingers to the soft, age-worn fur of his sister’s beloved bear.
The Observants flanked to either side of his sister, well out of reach of the headbutt he viciously wanted to give them, red boxes in each of their hands that definitely were not there a second ago.
“The ring,” the Observant to Jazz’s right side, the box melting in his? her? its? hands, dripping to the floor through ghostly fingers until the sickly green of the ring was the only thing that remained. Jazz turned to the ghost, who dropped the ring into her hand as if she was something gross they didn’t want to touch. Rude. If Danny could tell these stupid Observants apart, he’d absolutely be handing that one its own ass later.
“Any finger is fine.” Clockwork informed, far behind the other three.
Jazz nodded, kneeling down to Danny’s level. “Let me see one of your hands, little brother.” She said softly.
Danny closed his eyes, unwilling to see the pain and sadness in his sister’s eyes, but loosened his right hand off of Bearbert, turning it slightly to put his palm out.
“I love you,” Jazz stated shortly as she slid the ring onto Danny’s finger.
And then fire erupted in his very veins. It pierced every nerve he had, easily one of the most painful things he’d ever experienced as he screamed through his gag so loudly it was barely even muffled, he was blinded by pure light surrounding the ring.
He vaguely heard Jazz fall backwards, shrieking in shock. “What’s happening?” She yelled.
“As I said. This much power at once… it is painful.”
By the time Danny could feel anything beyond pain, he was curled up on the floor, tears puddling up under his head. Stubbornly, unwilling to look weak right now, he forced himself back to a kneeling position, holding his head as high as he could, though he did see the ring on him. It had changed, no longer a green band with a skull looking at him, but simply a thin black band. At least that would be easier to hide. As strong as he was trying to be, he couldn’t stop the shakes making his body tremble.
“The crown,” the second Observant said, as though what Danny had just suffered was practically boring. Again, the box melted until the Crown of Fire burned in their hands.
Jazz pushed herself back up to her feet as well. Her hands shook as the crown was placed in them, with the same disgust as the previous one. It hovered slightly above her palms, flames flickering angrily. She took a deep breath before returning to stand in front of Danny. Danny looked at her for only a moment before bowing his head.
If he’d thought the ring hurt, it was a tickle compared to the crown. This was worse than anything he’d ever felt, including his death.
And that’s how the next King of All Ghosts ended his coronation. Screaming, sobbing, convulsing on the floor of his own bedroom as electricity seemed to burn him from the inside out, bound by shackles, glow in the dark stars twinkling above him on the ceiling, clutching his sister’s teddy bear as the only comfort he had. His sister, the one who crowned him, sobbing in her pink pajamas, surrounded by NASA memorabilia and blue walls the same soft color as the pajamas he wore, the very normal high school textbooks on the desk beside her laughably out of place.
Eventually Danny’s screams settled as the agony began to fade. He could feel the crown against his head - it had settled properly onto him, not floating, and felt very small.
“Long may the King reign.” The Observants said bitterly, flickering out of existence.
Clockwork waved his hand and the binds holding Danny evaporated as if they’d never even been there, gag going likewise.
As soon as he was free, Jazz dropped to the floor in front of him, wrapping him in her arms as they both sobbed. Danny pulled away at some point, only to be greeted with a permanent reminder on his floor. The square of the shackles anchor had been burned into the wood. This room would never be his safe place again, somewhere free of nightmarish connections. This had been the last place like that he had anymore.
And now his coronation was burned into his floor.
“Long may the King reign.” Clockwork said, moving closer to the two on the floor.
Danny was exhausted. He didn’t even have it in him to be angry, he just wanted sleep.
“What happens now?” Danny asked, his first words since this all started.
“I will be here this weekend to begin your education.” Clockwork answered, glancing at the clock behind them. Before he disappeared too, he spoke again, a final slap to the face for everything that had happened today. It continued to echo in Danny’s ears even after Clockwork had faded.
“Happy sixteenth birthday.”