Dont think I need to say 'thanks for the reviews', 'cause quite frankly, the numbers really speak for themselves!
CHAPTER 4 - Compromises
Danny spent the better part of what HAD to be a week in his rooms.
Not that they were'nt nice rooms, because they were; he had three in total, a bedroom, a sitting room, and a bathroom. His bedroom had a king-sized bed with hangings in red and purple. His sitting room had bookshelves lining the walls, a fireplace, and a Greecian chair he could nap in, if he so chose. It too was done in the red-and-purple color scheme. The bathroom was the same one as he used earlier, connected to the dressing room.
It would have been very nice, if he wasnt essentially grounded to these rooms.
After the page had put Danny in the rooms, muttering something about how no one ever listens to him, he told Danny that he was to stay in the rooms until the King called for his presence. Since then, the only people he'd seen were servants that delivered his food, and Dora, who kept him brief company until she was called.
Danny spent his time sleeping, soaking in the tub, and reading the books in the sitting room; the books were quite fascinating and riviting (the ones in English, anyway), and Danny thought they were adventure fantasy novels before realizing that they were either war journals or true odesseys written by adventure-seekers. Reading those made him wonder why history class never covered these time periods or happenings, but he put it out of his mind.
Days after he was incarcerated to his rooms, the former Fright Knight entered the sitting room, where Danny was engaged in a fascinating tale of a prince during a very important, life-altering war against a rival kingdom. He cleared is throat a few times to try to get Danny's attention, to no avail, then he finally stalked forward and pushed the book down so Danny could see him.
"The King wishes an audience with you," he said, sounding a bit peeved at having to actually get Danny's attention. Danny sighed, not really wanting to have another doomed meeting with his -shudder- fiance-to-be, but closed the book and carried it with him as the page led the way through the castle toward a wing that Danny hadnt been in before.
"This time, I hope you will heed my words and NOT argue with him," the page said stiffly, making Danny scowl.
"Wasnt my fault," he muttered back, shifting the book to his other hand. He ignored the sharp look the page gave him. "Not my fault he wont let anyone else voice their opinion."
"That's because he's the King, fool boy!" Fright hissed. "You dont contradict him! You dont talk back to him! You most certainly do NOT argue with him - !"
"Sounds to me like he NEEDS a talking back to!" Danny shot back, glaring at Fright. "He's not a god! He's not infallible! And I refuse to pretend he is!" He faced forward, a hard scowl on his face. Fright just stared at him for a moment.
"...Do not take this the wrong way," he said slowly, "but it is beyond me why he keeps you here with the wish to be his consort." Danny snorted.
"Maybe because I actually have the balls to argue with him," he replied sarcastically before sighing. "...But really...you and me both."
They both walked in silence until Fright came to a huge set of double-doors with an ornate gold P adorned between them. "This is the entryway into the King's personal quarters," Fright said. Danny arched a brow, silently asking why he should give a damn where they were. "If My Liege is inviting you into his quarters, it means that he wishes a...peaceful talk with you," he reiterated. "He will not risk senseless harm to his own living quarters, and so he wishes to...perhaps rein his temper with you this time. I ask that you both respect it, and not take advantage of it." He looked off to the side. "Heavens know that our world cannot take another rain of fire and brimstone after his last..." He broke off, the 'temper tantrum' left hanging for Danny to decipher.
Danny nodded, and Fright pushed the doors open. "I have brought you Phantom, My Liege," he said, giving a brief bow.
Pariah Dark, who was seated in a large wooden chair upholstered in animal skins in front of a large fire, nodded curtly and gestured Danny inside. The page gently nudged Danny forward and bowed out, closing the doors behind him.
Danny swallowed hard and looked around the room for a moment before stepping forward. The whole room, like his own, was made of stone, with furniture made of wood and animal skins, and walls decorated with ornate weapons and animal trophies, giving it an air of gentility.
There was a smaller chair across from Pariah Dark's that Danny was gestured to that he sat down in, and Danny took a moment to compose himself before daring to look up at the Ghost King.
Pariah Dark looked rather uncomfortable in his own chair, as though it caused him physical discomfort to attempt relaxing, something Danny found rather depressing. The Ghost King was staring at Danny, muscles on his brow flickering almost unnoticably to indicate that several beginnings to the topic to be brought up were being sorted through so he could begin the conversation without an argument. Finally, after several minutes of awkward silence, Pariah Dark spoke up.
"I have told you of my intentions," he began, leaning back in his chair, propping his arms up on his elbows and putting one hand within the other contemplatively. When he made sure he had Danny's attentions, he continued. "My intentions are clear and evident; I intend to marry you. I intend for you to become my consort, and the Prince of the Ghost Zone. After much...thought..." 'More like 'after much of a violent hissy fit',' Danny thought to himself. "...Although my intentions will not be changed...I am willing to hear what your terms are."
Danny blinked. "...My terms?" he asked. Pariah Dark nodded. "...Like...what do I want in all this?" Another nod. "...Other than for this NOT to happen?" A nod, though it was more curt and accompanied by an annoyed frown. Danny sighed, reaching up to massage his temples; he was getting a headache. "Listen," he said softly, trying not to rouse the Ghost King's anger. "I'm just seventeen...I'm still just a kid. I still have school, and friends, and a family, and...and I'm not ready at ALL for marriage...let alone to...to another MAN...!"
"You are seventeen, with a long list of accomplishments most older men have never dreamed of fulfilling," Pariah Dark interrupted gruffly. "In my day, seventeen was considered a full-grown man. When we first encountered in your fourteenth year, you would have still been considered a man for how valiently you fought." He scowled and stared into the fireplace. "...This day and age...it's backwards, I swear...!"
"...Be that as it may!" Danny cut back in with a bit of force in his voice. "I have a life back in the human world! I have a family, and friends, and my duties as my town's protector! I cant just leave that behind!"
"It is not like you are leaving it behind for nothing!" Pariah Dark argued back. "You are to be this world's PRINCE! Does it mean nothing to you that I find that you are the ONLY being I find worthy of this title?"
"Why not Vlad?" Danny found himself saying, a small part of his brain screaming for him to shut up and stop while Pariah Dark WASNT trying to kill him. Pariah Dark growled, and Danny had to continue. "Th...the other halfa? He's older than me...and I'm REALLY sure he's more powerful! Plus, he'd LOVE to be a prince - !"
"IF I WANTED THAT ARROGANT PISSANT, I WOULD HAVE SOUGHT HIM OUT!" Pariah Dark shouted, making Danny flinch and shut his mouth. Pariah Dark forced himself to calm down and leaned back in his chair. "The half-breed that calls himself 'Plasmius' has power, but his power is not pure." He growled to himself, and Danny debated making a break for the window behind him. "I sensed an...unnaturalness in his power..."
"We're HALFAS. We're nothing if not 'unnatural'," Danny said, scowling to himself. Pariah Dark glared at Danny.
"I meant, idiot boy, that the half-breed used unnatural means to acquire some of his power!" he barked, clenching his hands into his armrests. "Whereas YOU have NOT!"
Danny stared at the Ghost King. "...V...Vlad enhanced himself artificially?" he asked, insult creeping into his voice. "THAT'S why he's so powerful?" Before Pariah Dark could reply, Danny let out a sound of indignation and shot out of his chair, almost tipping it over. "I've BUSTED my ASS to get where I am today, and he throws his FAKE progress in my face everytime he manages to beat me! What the FUCKING HELL!" He threw the book he had brought with him on a table next to the chairs and pulled at his hair. "DAMMIT!"
Pariah Dark stared at Danny, feeling the same indignation at Vlad Plasmius' unnatural means of acquiring power, even with a different reason. Yes, he had found half-breeds in general a mite insulting, but Danny was a different matter; only a pure soul such as the boy's could have acquired the sacred ice powers of the Far Frozen. That was another reason why Pariah Dark didnt bother with Plasmius; Danny had a pure soul, quite unlike any ghosts' he had ever seen. That alone was enough to catch his interest.
Now trying to avoid his quarters being destroyed, Pariah Dark reached out and pushed Danny back into the chair. "You neednt worry about the false ghost," he said gruffly. "Consider it an honerable complement that I couldnt give a damn about his unnaturally-acquired power, and find your pure power enticing."
"Forgive me if I dont really appreciate the sentiment," Danny replied darkly, crossing his arms. He sat in silence for a long while. "...Is there any way I can convince you out of..." -shudder- "...marrying me?"
"None," Pariah Dark replied without hesitation. Danny sighed, leaning his forehead on his fist.
"Damn it," he muttered. "...I'm just...I'm not even eighteen yet...I can barely leave the house without my parents' permission, let alone get married...!"
"Is eighteen such an important age?" Pariah Dark asked, sounding as though he found the matter ridiculous. Danny nodded sharply, his eyes still shut tightly to ward off the massive migraine. "Why?"
"It's the age that I'm recognized as an adult," Danny replied, sighing. "...It's...kinda weird, I know, but...that's the way it is."
Pariah Dark made a noncommital sound and gestured to Danny. "It matters not, at this point. I am willing to extend the engamement until your eighteenth year, but until then, I am still willing to hear your terms."
Sighing, seeing that Pariah Dark was NOT going to let it go, Danny raised his head and gave Pariah Dark a bland look. "My terms? Fine." He sat up straight, looking Pariah Dark in the eye. "1) Stop terrorizing the ghosts." Pariah Dark opened his mouth in objection, but Danny went right on. "2) Stay out of the human world. 3) Let me visit my friends and family. And 4) let me have say in the way you run the kingdom." He leaned back in his chair. "There. Those are my terms, take 'em or leave 'em."
Pariah Dark looked about ready to completely blow a gasket, but the only thing that suffered his wrath were the armrests, which splintered under his hands. "Impertinant brat," he growled. Danny scowled right back. He HATED being called impertinant brat (nearly every ghost he'd fought called him that).
"You asked for my terms, and I told you. Dont bite MY head off just because you didnt like what I gave." Danny stared the Ghost King right in the eye, having learned long ago that breaking eye contact first was the sign of the weaker ghost, and Danny was damned to an early Hell if he was going to let Pariah Dark think him weak. After a few minutes of the stare-off, Pariah Dark scowled.
"You may go," he said, gesturing Danny to the door. Danny stood and turned, resisting the urge to stalk out and slam the door behind him, and opened the door, finding the page on the other side. "Take him back to his rooms," he commanded.
Fright nodded and led Danny out of the wing with a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"I see you and the room are intact," he commented dryly. Danny snorted.
"For now," he griped. "He wanted to ask me what my terms were for the," - shudder - "marriage. Like we're discussing a prenup or something..."
"Terms ARE prenuptuals in this case, boy," Fright replied, rolling his eyes. "What did you request?"
Danny gave him a sidelong glance and relayed his terms to Fright, who stared at him. "...What?"
Fright shook his head. "...You certainly have a pair on you," he muttered, walking into Danny's wing of the castle. "I'm amazed My Liege didnt descintegrate you where you sat."
"...To be honest? Ditto."
They finally came to Danny's rooms, and page gave a brief nod before turning.
"...Wait."
Fright turned back around, seeing Danny wringing his hands. "Could you...please tell my friends I'm okay? And...to stay away. I dont want them getting hurt."
The page blinked in surprise from the request, then collected himself. "I shall see what I can do." With that, he turned and left Danny in his rooms.
Yeah, kinda ending on a frayed rope, but meh. I have more.