Reviews:

Alder Hill: I don't mind long reviews. That being said, you have a point about me not really having much choice and about Skulker not being able to get that powerful. Hopefully this chapter is adequate at explaining everything.

Akakiru: Spectra? Sooo... You want Charlie to be depressed? Because that's what Spectra does. She makes people depressed so she can feed on their misery to keep her human form young and beautiful. I mean she did try getting DNA from a bunch of people to make a permanently young and beautiful body but that's not very threatening. That being said, you want a badass moment from Lucifer? Fine. I can do that. Though it will take a few chapters.

Chaosh.H.A.O.S: He has all of the powers he had in season two. I'm treating each season like a separate school year for him. Still, with Fright Knight and later Vlad actively training him, I might be able to have him get some later powers a bit faster. Namely cryokinesis and pyrokinesis. I'll have to think about it though.

3DJoker: If that were the case than it would have effected both Danny and Vlad significantly more do to them having spent a lot more time in Hell than Skulker. So while it's an interesting idea, I'm afraid it just doesn't make sense in the context of this particular story.

DeadmanwalkingXP: I thought I made this fairly clear already. I'm going with the Octavia x Danny pairing. Loona wouldn't make sense due to how aggressive, psychotic, and generally bitchy she is. The girl literally kicked a baby stroller with the baby still inside of it just cause she was a little frustrated and wanted to blow off steam. While that might sound funny on its own, it's really not if you consider the fact that she could have and probably did seriously injure or even murder that kid. Danny would not like that sort of thing, at all. He'd be more likely to view her as a criminal than a friend let alone anything more than that.

Danny awoke with agony in his shin and left elbow and a complete numbness in his left forearm and hand. "Agh!" He cried out as shot up to a sitting position and clutched at his elbow, only to realize it felt different. Continuing to feel it, he realized he couldn't feel his forearm with his hand. In fact his hand was passing right through where it should have been. Looking down he saw that it was completely missing, and had a bandage covering the stump.

It was then that his memories of the previous day and his fight with Skulker came flooding back. He was still alive, he realized. He had somehow managed to survive, but at the cost of one of his arms.

"Ah, Prince Daniel, you're finally awake." Said an eerily familiar voice. Danny looked at the source of the voice and saw Fright Knight standing next to his bed.

"Fright Knight?! Wh— Ow! What are… you doing here? And w-what… do you mean by… p-prince?" Danny asked, trying his best to deal with the pain of his severed arm.

"Vlad Plasmius has used his ownership of the Ring of Rage and Crown of Fire to claim the throne of the Ghost Zone. As his adoptive son and only child, you are the Crown Prince of the Ghost Zone. As King Plasmius' most powerful and only knight who is currently awake or not busy guarding dangerous or important angelic, demonic, or ghostly artifacts, he sent me to save you from that foolish hunter Skulker. Now he is having me guard you while you recover. As for how I got here, several of us knights were to serve as diplomats to the other realms should the ruler of the Ghost Zone be unable to or merely not wish to go in person for whatever reason. Thus those of us meant to serve as diplomats have books with incantations that allow us to travel to the realms we were designated as diplomats for among several other spells. I was a diplomat for Hell specifically." Fright Knight explained.

"Vlad's the king…? I… I don't know h-how… to feel about that." Danny stated.

"You should be elated, honored even. You are royalty now, my prince. And next in line for the throne in the unlikely event something should happen to King Plasmius. There is no higher honor." Fright Knight stated.

Danny was silent for a moment as he processed this. Eventually he asked, "So… What happened to Skulker?"

"For his crimes against the throne he has been sentenced to ten thousand years of living out his greatest fears. A rather light sentence considering the crimes he has committed but it can certainly be extended should you or the king wish it. That being said, I've already searched his armor and found several items of interest. I've already reported them to Lord Plasmius but I suppose you should be made aware as well. Allow me but a moment to retrieve them." Fright Knight stated before phasing through a wall.

Moments later he came back holding several objects in his left arm. He set down two of the things he was holding on Danny's desk, but held up a black orb. Or at least Danny assumed it was an orb. It was so dark it looked like a hole in reality, so Danny could only make out the circular shape but none of the details, if it even had any details to begin with.

"This is the Devil's Orb. It is a powerful demonic artifact captured by Pariah Dark's armies during the war between Lucifer's forces and Heaven during his rebellion against the creator that resulted in him and his followers being banished to Hell. It offers its wielder immense power at the cost of slowly corrupting them in both mind and soul. It was sealed away in the Ghost Zone under wards that only an angel could open. But the place in which it was kept was guarded by one of my brothers in arms who would stop any angel that dared attempt to undo the seals. A measure my brother in arms always complained about deeming his presence guarding it as unnecessary as what angel would wish to unleash such an artifact? But clearly one did so his duty of guarding it was clearly necessary. In fact, considering it is here instead of where it was sealed away, it should have been even more heavily guarded." The Fright Knight explained.

"Does… Does that mean Lucifer stole it back and… g-gave it to Skulker? I mean, he is… a fallen angel, right?" Danny asked, the pain still hindering his ability to talk.

"No. Lucifer may be able to freely travel between Hell and Earth, but he can not freely travel to the Ghost Zone or Heaven. Similarly, Lord Vlad cannot use the power of the Crown of Fire and Ring of Rage to travel to Heaven or Hell and Michael can not use his power to travel to Hell or the Ghost Zone. Granted, there are other methods which all of them could use to get to any of the realms other than Earth, but it is incredibly difficult for them to the point it's not worth the effort except in the most extreme of circumstances. Basic portals will not work for them. It is, perhaps, slightly easier for the ruler of the Ghost Zone as he can use the same methods as any normal individual so long as he simply removes his crown and ring. However, doing so would render him vulnerable whilst he is in either realm. It was a limit set upon them all by the creator when he still intervened directly to prevent yet another war from breaking out between the realms. The reason the ruler of the Ghost Zone has slightly more freedom than the other two is to act as a neutral party, a mediator between the realms as per his role as the ruler of Purgatory. However, Pariah Dark had no interest in carrying out such a role especially if it meant removing the sources of his immense power. I am unsure if Lord Plasmius has any interest in this role either." Fright Knight explained.

"Then, does that m-mean an angel from… Heaven stole it and ga… gave it to Skulker…?" Danny inquired.

Fright Knight shook his head, "Not necessarily. There were other angels that sided with Lucifer during his rebellion. So with only the fact an angel could have broken the seal in mind it could have been one of them. But there are two pieces of evidence that lead me to believe otherwise." He set the pitch black orb down on the desk and picked up something that looked like a broken cross. "This is an angelic artifact. It was the object Skulker was using to emit a holy force to repel the demons you had fighting for you. It was weak enough that I was able to destroy it, but I do recognize it. It's an artifact that Heaven still had in its possession by the end of the war. It looks much different than I remember and it's possible they may have lost it after the war, but I sincerely doubt it."

Fright Knight then set the broken cross down on the table and picked up a brightly glowing object shaped almost like a battery with a light blue cross glowing in the middle of it. "This, however, is new. It was powering several holy weapons that were integrated into Skulker's armor. I have never seen an artifact like this before, meaning it had to have been made within the last few hundred years or possibly sooner. And it seemed designed specifically for Skulker's armor or possibly the other way around leading me to believe the angels had to have some involvement in this. An exceptionally powerful one at that. Think of us Knights as the Ghost King's equivalent of Lucifer's Ars Goetia. So it had to be an Arch Angel. One of their more powerful ones as the Knight placed to guard the Devil's Orb was quite powerful in his own right."

"So, Heaven sent Skulker after me… Why? Why can't they just leave me alone?! I'm already trapped in Hell! Is this not enough for them?!" Danny shouted through the agony that was coursing through his arm and leg.

"Lord Plasmius has informed me of your current situation, specifying that I am not to help you escape from Hell before the throne passes down to you. If I may say, they may disagree with the Avatar of Time's assessment that you will not be a threat so long as Lucifer is keeping you in check. They likely believe that trapped here in Hell as you are, you are even more of a threat than you would be were you in the Ghost Zone or on Earth. They likely believe you may still ascend in power until you are equal with the three kings and then will ultimately side with Lucifer thus shifting the balance in his favor for the next war between the realms. Which they are probably certain will happen if Lucifer gains your assistance thus granting him the confidence in his ability to win that he would make another bid for power.. They likely seek to prevent this by any means necessary. Skulker was very likely just the first of many pawns in their schemes to dispose of you. The bird winged fools." Fright Knight stated with a tone full of disdain.

Danny felt numb upon hearing this, he still felt his physical agony but it was the furthest thing from his mind right now. "They really think that… They aren't going to leave me alone… Never… They won't stop until they haven't just killed me but until they've destroyed my soul, will they? Hahaha…" Danny laughed without a hint of humor in his voice, just raw despair. All of this just because he cheated on his Career Aptitude Test…

Fright Knight shook his head. "I'm afraid not, my Prince. They will continue to come after you until you get too powerful for them to destroy. Though, had Clockwork sent you to Heaven instead they would likely be upset that you were there due to your future self's sins but would believe they could keep you contained and thus wouldn't be trying to kill you but may be trying to make you loyal to them and God. However, then Lucifer would be trying to have you killed instead. Or had you been locked up somewhere in the Ghost Zone or on Earth, both Heaven and Hell would want you dead. After your future self grew powerful enough to rival the three kings and caused the apocalypse there was no possible situation in which one or both would not want to dispose of you. And the only reason Hell tolerates you now is the fact Lucifer thinks you could be a valuable asset to him or could be dealt with should you ever become a serious problem."

That did not make Danny feel better. If anything it just made him feel worse as now he knew he was always doomed from the start. Unable to decide whether he should be depressed or angry, but eventually he settled on anger. He was angry at how unfair the situation he was in was, he was angry at Heaven for thinking he was such a serious threat despite him doing his hardest to never become his alternate future self, he was angry at Clockwork for not helping him by warning him what would happen if he cheated on the C.A.T. thus preventing all of this to begin with, and he was angry at both versions of himself, the one from the future and the one he was currently. He was angry at his alternate future self for being so weak that he had to ask Vlad to separate his human and ghost halves thus resulting in him becoming evil, and he was angry at his present self for trying to cheat in the first place.

Danny was angry at just about everything. The only thing he wasn't really angry at was Hell because Hell technically hadn't done anything to him yet and according to Fright Knight it wouldn't do anything to him unless he became a problem for Lucifer. It was the only thing that had not actively been giving him a reason to be angry with or hate it. At least not yet. Yes, Hell was a den of crime and sin, of course it was, and certain individual demons tried to cause trouble in his territory but it wasn't as if all of Hell or even any of the higher ranking Hellborn demons, except for maybe Stolas, were actively trying to murder him like the Angels in Heaven aparently were.

"It's not fair…" He muttered.

"Hm? What was that, Prince Daniel? Please speak up, I'm afraid I didn't quite catch that." Fright Knight requested.

"IT'S NOT FAIR!" Danny shouted, gripping the blanket covering his lower half with all the strength his right hand could possibly muster. "My family and best friends were murdered infront of me by my future self, Clockwork did nothing to help me but decided to banish me to Hell instead and make it nearly impossible for me to escape, then despite me trying my best to not become the monster that murdered everyone I know and love it turns out Heaven wants to destroy me anyways, and I even ended up losing an arm because they sent Skulker to kill me! It's not fair! It's not fair…"

Tears started streaming down his face from a mixture of rage and grief as he remembered watching his family and friends be blown to pieces. The entire time he had been in Hell, he had not dealt with his grief but had merely ignored it and let it fester. He was too afraid to risk letting himself feel or even so much as acknowledge the painful feelings of sadness and loss for fear he might eventually become like his future self.

Fright Knight nodded and set the holy battery down on Danny's desk with the other artifacts. "I agree. It isn't fair. But few things are in reality. As a prince you are going to need to know and accept the harsh facts of reality such as this and continue on in spite of them. You will have to be strong, not just in terms of your power but in your mind and soul as well. You have to have the will to keep going no matter what hardships may come your way. Your position as the crown prince of the Ghost Zone demands nothing less. Just a few hundred years ago you would already be considered old enough to be a man, by human standards. So perhaps it is time you grow up and start acting like one instead of crying about the unfairness of the world like a petulant child."

Fright Knight then reached behind him before holding up a cube and pressing a button on it. Suddenly Danny's severed arm appeared above the cube. Fright Knight grabbed the arm and set the cube down. "You're upset you lost your arm, correct? Do you know why you lost it? You probably think it's because you were too weak, yes? That is only partially correct. You were too undisciplined, too reckless, too childish with too little skill and no true strategy to speak of. Granted King Plasmius should have helped you come up with a strategy but the fault rests on you more so than on him. Could you have truly beaten Skulker in an honorable duel? No. Not as long as he had this artifact. But could you have forced him into a temporary retreat had you done things differently, treating it like a war rather than an honor duel? Absolutely. And this was the price you paid for your mistakes." He said, holding up Danny's severed arm.

Suddenly dark purple flames enveloped Danny's severed arm and the flesh burnt to ash in a matter of seconds leaving only the bones behind. Fright Knight then tossed the skeletal forearm onto Danny's lap and said, "Heed my words and listen well! Forces divine shall end your bloodline should you decline this warning of mine! Here in this land of sin and blight, let these bones symbolize your mistakes this night! Crown Prince of Purgatory, should you not bear thine mistakes and learn from them your story shall end quite gorey. I, the Knight of Fright, have been assigned by my liege to teach you to fight. Unless so consumed are you by your agony over the world's apathy as to let yourself rot and atrophy, your first lesson will be in the strategy you forwent in your disgraceful laxity! Take up thine severed arm and let thyself come to such harm never again!"

Danny hesitated for a moment before reaching out and grabbing the bones of what was once his left arm. Taking a deep breath he wiped his tears away with his right arm before staring at the bones of the severed arm in his hand. The symbol of his mistakes, as Fright Knight called it. He didn't know what mistakes he had made with Skulker but he supposed Fright Knight was right on a few things, at least. Life wasn't fair and it never would be. He needed to stop crying about it and grow up.

To him that's what this skeletal arm symbolized more than anything. Not just his mistakes, but the unfairness of life and the fact he needed to accept that and move on. He would never get his arm back, not in exactly the same way it used to be at least. If he managed to gain a finer control over his abilities, he might be able to make an ecto-construct replacement or maybe he could use what Vlad taught him about science to make a robotic prosthesis to serve as a replacement but no matter what he did it wouldn't be the same flesh and blood he used to have. Similarly his friends and family would never come back thus his life would never return to the way it used to be. He might be able to get new friends and maybe start a family of his own in the future but it would never be the same as what he lost. It was a bitter pill to swallow but it was a lesson he knew he needed to learn, painful as it was.

"What do I have to do?" Danny asked in a serious tone as he clutched the skeletal arm in his hand and stared at it.

"Rest for now, Prince Daniel. Your wounds are healing fast but you are still injured. Lord Plasmius has informed me of your tutelage at the 'school' here in Hell. Your lessons there will continue as normal, but every evening after your tutelage at this school has concluded you shall learn what I have to teach you, regardless of your injuries. With his ascension to the throne Lord Plasmius has matters to attend to in the Ghost Zone so he won't be back for at least a week or two. When his business is concluded there, I will have to return to the Ghost Zone to defend his Crown and Ring. I expect you to practice what I teach you every evening even after I return to the Ghost Zone." Fright Knight stated, collecting the artifacts off the desk. He then floated through a wall with the artifacts in hand, leaving Danny sitting there with his now skeletal severed arm in hand.

Danny sat there staring at the skeletal arm in his hand for several minutes. Eventually he set it on his night stand next to his bed. He would have to find somewhere to put it later. For the moment he just layed back down and stared up at the ceiling of his room in silence as agony coursed through his leg and the stump of his arm.

A few hours passed and he eventually fell asleep. That night his dreams were filled with nothing but nightmares of watching his family die, his battle with Skulker, and vague glowing creatures with feathery wings trying to kill him as he tried to run and hide from them.

The next morning he wasn't in quite as much pain, his ghostly healing factor having healed quite a bit of the damage, but it still hurt quite a bit. Especially his severed arm. Getting up he transformed into his ghost form before floating above the ground to keep weight off his injured leg as he went about his morning routine. After eating breakfast he decided to check in with the members of his gang. He wanted to make sure they were okay after the fight with Skulker.

He tried to call John but it seemed like his phone was turned off or something as it automatically went to voice message. So he called Fox instead.

It rang a few times before she finally picked up the phone. "Boss, glad you're finally up and about. You got pretty fucked up in that fight back there. Roxanne barely managed to cauterize your arm in time before you bled out… So, how you feeling?"

"Better than I did when I woke up yesterday… I'm more worried about all of you. Nobody got hurt while I was unconscious, did they?" Danny asked.

"Oh, uh… About that… John sort of, uh… Suicide bombed the ghost." Fox stated.

"What?" Danny asked numbly.

"Yeah. He, like, took his boot laces, tied them around the pins on his grenades, tricked the ghost guy into fighting him up close with Rex's knife, then pulled all of the pins on the grenades at once… He was sort of reduced to nothing but a skeleton… It didn't stop the big pile of scrap, but it did hurt him pretty good. Anyway, he was the only one seriously hurt but the grenades weren't exterminator weapons so he'll be fine. His flesh is already starting to grow back. He'll be effectively dead for the next few days, but once enough of his body's healed that it can function on its own he'll wake up. It'll hurt like a mother fucker while he finishes healing. Dumb bastard deserves it too for doing somthing so fucking stupid, but it's honestly nothin' a little morphine can't fix. But on the bright side, now we know that our new weapons work on demons too since the big idiot decided to be our test dummy!" Fox explained.

Danny relaxed upon hearing that. John hadn't actually died. That was a relief. "Oh, so he's going to be alright. Good. If any of you actually died fighting for me… I… Well, I hope he wakes up soon. I'm going to make sure all of you get a large bonus on your paychecks for putting you in excessive danger like that."

"No shit? Awesome! How large are we talking here?" Fox inquired.

"I don't know, twenty thousand each?" Danny stated.

"Damn! Hell yeah!"

"Glad to see you're happy. Alright, well if everyone's alright I should probably go. I'll try to get your bonuses soon." Danny stated.

"Oh, sure. Talk to you later, boss." Fox stated before she hung up.

A few minutes later, Danny was sitting down watching television when his phone rang. Picking it up he saw it was Octavia.

"Hey, Danny. So, how did the fight go? You said it was going to happen yesterday, right?" She asked.

"Hey, Octavia… Not the greatest… I didn't exactly win… But I'm alive, so I guess that's what matters, right? Hey, would you mind hanging out later today? I sort of need someone to talk to right now." Danny requested.

"Sure. Stylish Occult, or somewhere else?" She asked.

"Anywhere is fine, honestly." Danny sighed, looking down at the stump of his arm.

"Alright then. I heard there's this new, fancy non-cannibalistic restaurant opening up near where I live. We could meet there." She offered.

"Sounds good. Where is it exactly?" Danny asked.

Octavia gave him the location of the restaurant and they said their goodbyes.

"Hey, Fright Knight, are you around?" Danny asked.

"Of course, my prince." Fright Knight stated, floating down through the roof.

"Cool… So, uh, there should be a map of the territory Vlad and I control on the desk in his room. I'm going to go meet up with a friend. So do you think you could go on patrol for me? All you really need to do is stop anyone obviously trying to make trouble or claim parts of our territory for themselves." Danny asked.

"If those are your orders then it shall be done, my prince." Fright Knight stated.

"Great, thank you. I should be back this evening so you can return here around then." Danny said before floating over to his room. Once he was inside he changed into his fancier clothes. He tied his left sleeve in a knot over his stump so it wouldn't just be hanging loosely and then hesitated for a moment as he looked at his cape. He decided to put on his cape as well since it could help hide his arm. It was a bit awkward doing all of this with just one hand but eventually he managed to do so.

He considered bringing his severed arm with him as well just to show Octavia since he knew she had a fascination with stuff that was a bit morbid, like the creepy taxidermy she was so interested in. Eventually he shrugged, picked up the skeletal forearm, and stuffed it in his backpack before throwing his backpack over his right shoulder. He then turned his backpack invisible while leaving himself and his clothes perfectly visible. Nobody would be able to tell he had it with him. So he could go into the restaurant without looking stupid.

When he was finished, he phased through a wall and started flying in the direction of the restaurant.

As the restaurant was so close to her mansion, Octavia actually arrived first. Danny landed in front of her. Well, he didn't land so much as he hovered an inch above the ground.

She looked at him in surprise for a moment. "Danny? What happened to your arm?"

"It got cut off in the fight, see? I actually have it here." Danny said before removing his backpack and allowing it to become visible. He then opened his backpack and pulled out the skeletal arm before holding it up for her to see. "I know it's a bit weird that I brought it, but I thought you might find it interesting since you're interested in stuff that's a bit morbid. It didn't lose all the flesh during the fight, my new bodyguard burnt it all off later before giving it back to me. He said it 'symbolizes my mistakes' and told me to keep it as a sort of reminder…"

Octavia stared at the severed arm for a moment. "Oh. Huh… That looks like it must hurt. Are you on drugs right now?"

"Yeah, it was probably the second worst pain I've ever experienced in my life. The first being when I went into that machine my parents built and ended up becoming a half ghost. Still hurts some, but with my ghostly healing it doesn't hurt as much as it did last night… And no. I might have been on some mild painkillers last night assuming whatever member of my gang that wrapped my arm bothered to give me any, which I honestly doubt given how much it hurt, but right now? No. I probably should be considering how much my arm and broken leg both hurt but I didn't bother. It's not important anyway." Danny said before putting his arm back in his backpack. He then put his backpack back on and turned it invisible again.

"Anyway, want to go inside?" Danny asked, motioning to the restaurant.

"Sure. Let's go." Octavia said before walking to the door.

Danny walked ahead and opened the door for her to be polite before following her inside. The two of them got a seat and looked at the menu for a bit before a waiter finally came and took their orders.

"So, you said you wanted to talk. What happened?" Octavia inquired.

Danny chuckled without even so much as a hint of humor in his tone. "Where do I even begin…? Apparently I'm the crown prince of Purgatory now."

Octavia jolted in surprise and stared at him. "What? How?"

"After I beat Pariah Dark, Vlad took the Ring of Rage and Crown of Fire. Apparently after he went into the Ghost Zone yesterday, he used them to claim the throne, before sending the Fright Knight to come save me from Skulker. And since I'm his adoptive son and only child, I'm the crown prince… But that's not even the craziest part." Danny explained.

"It's not?" Octavia inquired, sounding genuinely surprised by this statement.

Danny shook his head. "No… Apparently Heaven is actively trying to kill me. So, you know how I told you Skulker was suddenly a lot more powerful than usual? Well, apparently he had an ancient demonic artifact called the Devil's Orb that used to be locked up in the Ghost Zone under a seal only an angel could unlock. And it was under guard by one of the Ghost King's Knights, Purgatory's equivalent of the Ars Goetia, and a particularly powerful one at that. So it had to be an angel that was just as if not more powerful than that Knight. But that's not the only thing he had. He also had a couple angelic artifacts, one of which was relatively weak but dated back to Lucifer's rebellion against Heaven which Fright Knight ended up destroying when he saved me from Skulker while the other was newer. Much newer. To the point it was specifically designed to work as a holy powersource for advanced technology so Skulker could use it to make his own holy weapons."

"What the fuck? Why is Heaven trying to kill you?" Octavia inquired.

Danny sighed. "So, you remember when I told you I was sent here by Clockwork because of what he saw in my future? Well, apparently I became strong enough to rival Lucifer, Michael, and the Ghost King and I single handedly caused the apocalypse. That version of me is actually the one who murdered my friends and family, in an attempt to ensure I became him… Well, Fright Knight thinks Heaven disagrees with Clockwork in that I won't be a threat with Lucifer keeping me in check. They think I might grow just as powerful as that alternate version of myself, and since I'm in Hell I might end up siding with Lucifer thus shifting the balance of power in his favor. And they think if that happens, he'll try to attack Heaven again in another attempt to take over. So they want to destroy me so that can't happen."

"Wow, uh… This is… a lot to take in." Octavia stated.

"You're telling me…" Danny muttered miserably.

It was then that their food and drinks arrived. The two of them continued to talk while they ate.

I hope I did the Fright Knight justice. I know he has a flair for the dramatic but the wiki said he also does poetry, though I personally don't remember this. So I did my best to include one instance of him doing so. Though I'm not the best at poetry sooo, yeah...

Edit: Forgot to mention this, but yeah. Clockwork lied to Vlad. He couldn't open a portal that Vlad could go through as long as Vlad was wearing the Crown and Ring. He just wanted to trick him into signing a contract so he could never attempt to use the power of the crown or ring to conquer Earth.