Hokai, this is mostly a short filler chapter, but it ties up a few ends from the last chapter. 'Kay? Kay.
Commissions
It had been a long and arduous month for Pariah Dark, pretending that everything was just fine when in reality he was silently agonizing over the loss of his beloved Crown of Fire. He had always internally yearned for its presence, to make him feel whole again, but that dull, ever-present ache had intensified into heart-gouging agony once he learned of who had it, and the fact that he could not retrieve it.
Its loss was painful; the thought of breaking his vow to Phantom was even more painful. So he took the lesser of two evils, and stuck with his vow while suffering in silence.
Though he kept the incident a secret from his young fiance, Phantom was constantly giving him 'looks', and even asked him what was wrong. At that moment, Pariah Dark honestly considered just telling him; just to share the burden. But it was not Phantom's burden to share. He didnt want his fiance to go off half-crazy and bull-headed into the human world to challenge Plasmius and risk him getting hurt.
So he put on a smile and told Phantom, "Nothing at all." And that was that.
That night, Pariah Dark sat alone in his sitting room, as usual lamenting over his crown as he tried to do just the opposite, deftly doodling on the page of his journal he was supposed to be writing in, and was brought out of his numb thoughts when the wood in the fire snapped sharply. He looked down at the paper and saw that he had been making a scratchy sketch of himself and Phantom, in a little fantasy of their upcoming wedding day. On the head of the sketch of himself was the Crown of Fire, but Phantom had no crown.
Pariah Dark paused and frowned. It was tradition that at the wedding ceremony, he would be recrowned as king, and his bride would also be crowned as Queen or Prince. But Phantom had no crown to be christened with.
Well, that wasnt right, Pariah Dark thought to himself. Phantom NEEDED a crown, and not just for decoration. Like himself with the Crown of Fire, Phantom needed a crown that would display his power and element. He needed a crown of ice...something enchanted to give his Prince-to-be power that equaled his.
And the only place to commission such a crown was the Land of the Far Frozen.
Luckily for him, he had never made a true enemy with the Far Frozen; he knew that when they combined their powers, they had strength unimaginable. But they only used that strength against enemies, so Pariah Dark kept a peace treaty with them, and left their land alone during his last great reign, even though he had been denied a commission for their armor.
But this was different, he thought. Phantom told him that they were not only allies, but friends of his. Surely they would not object to have a crown of enchanted ice commissioned for their Prince-to-be.
There was only one way to find out.
The next day, he asked Fright if he could borrow Night Mare to go to the Far Frozen. Fright agreed, and after Pariah Dark told Fright to keep an eye on Phantom, he made his way to the Far Frozen.
The Ghost World was in constant shift (with the exception being his own Dark Realm); he once knew the entire layout of his world by heart, but with all those centuries in confinement, the Far Frozen had shifted to much farther than he remembered. It took a good two hours to reach the border of the Ice Realm, and since Night Mare was a bit sensitive to the cold, he left her on the border and trekked the rest of the way up to the gates.
He was met with several heavily armed guards, and he raised both hands placidly. "I come in peace," he stated. "I wish to speak to your leader, Frostbite."
There were a few murmured objections, but then the gates opened and Frostbite himself stepped out and up to Pariah Dark. They stared at each other for the longest time before Frostbite held his left hand - the ice-encased one - out for the Ghost King to take.
"It has been many centuries, Pariah Dark," Frostbite said. "I have not seen you since I was young."
Pariah Dark took the offered hand and shook it. "I do recall you," he said, nodding. "I knew your father in my last reign. We kept a treaty of peace. I hope we are able to continue it."
Frostbite nodded back and lead the way into the main city and to a relatively new palace of unbreakable, unmeltable ice. He noticed Pariah Dark glancing around with interest. "We built this in reverence to our Great Hero," he said, opening the doors to a large sitting room. "We understand that you are to be marrying him."
Pariah Dark sat down and encased his body in a thin layer of heat; he rather disliked a cold atmosphere. "I am," he replied. "And that is the reason why I am here." He waited for Frostbite to sit down across from him before continuing. "I wish for your people to commission something for me..."
"This will not be like your previous commission for our armor, will it?" Frostbite asked carefully. Pariah Dark shook his head.
"No, not at all," he replied, tenting his fingertips. "It is for Phantom." At Frostbite's intrigued and eager expression, he elaborated. "I wish to commission for him a crown of ice that he will be christened with on our wedding day."
The bright gleam in Frostbite's eyes told Pariah Dark that this would be a very successful errand, indeed.
In all honesty, Pariah Dark left the Land of the Far Frozen in a terrific mood. In just a few short hours, he had successfully received the commission with promises of the finest-quality work and enchantments the Far Frozen could provide, and in return, Pariah Dark renewed the peace treaty with Frostbite.
Even Night Mare seemed to pick up on his improved mood, as she had a little more hitch to her giddyup as she carried her master's King back to the Dark Realm. Pariah Dark dismounted the Mare and handed the reins back to Fright, who asked him how the errand went. Pariah Dark replied with an actual small smile about its success, and was headed back into the castle to see his fiance when Dora came running out, a look of fret on her face.
"MY LIEGE!" she cried, coming to a pause in front of him. "Sir Daniel...he's...he's not in the castle!"
Pariah Dark immediately turned to Fright. "Is he in the courtyard?" he demanded. Fright paled slightly and shook his head.
"No, My Liege," he replied. "Perhaps he is in the villa...?"
"I just CAME from the villa, Fright, and I did not see nor sense him!" His aura began to flare from anger and, admittedly, panic. "I left him in YOUR care! WHERE IS MY FIANCE, FRIGHT!"
The poor page looked about ready to faint from fear, when he glanced behind his King and saw a figure in the distance running toward them. "My Liege...!"
He needn't had even spoken; at that moment, Pariah Dark felt a pull of power behind him; the familiar aura of his two most valuable possessions...together...! He spun around in time to see Phantom, in human form, running up to them, panting hard from all the running, and looking pale with exhaustion.
Danny didnt even cease running until he was close to slamming right into Pariah Dark, and held the Crown of Fire up with his shaking hands. "...I...I got it...!" he gasped between breaths. "...I got it back...!"
Pariah Dark stared at the Crown incredulously, as though it was just an illusion, before reaching out and touching it with both hands. Once his fingers came into contact with it, the Crown of Fire burst into full green flames and emitted a pulse of power strong enough to make the whole Dark Realm shake slightly.
The Ghost King managed to tear his attention away from the Crown long enough to come to the realization that Phantom, his fiance, had saved it. For HIM. Without thinking, he let the Crown hover midair, cupped Phantom's face in both hands and kissed the halfa hard, an overwhelming gratitude filling his heart. It took him a moment to realize just what he was doing, and quickly pulled away, hoping and praying to all the gods he knew the names of that this wouldnt just completely crash and burn the moment.
Danny had expected words of gratitude from Pariah Dark, but he hadnt expected that kiss at ALL. He had frozen when Pariah Dark kissed him, but to his amazement, he hadnt frozen out of fear.
...Just...BIG shock.
When Pariah Dark pulled back with a look of horror on his face, Danny just blinked.
...Then smiled.
"...Anytime," he said in his usual blasé 'it was nothing' tone.
Then he fainted.
*snerk* I crack myself up...