He had long since been waiting for this day. Ever since the Observants visited him all those years ago, he had almost dreaded when this day would come. So much responsibility was being dropped onto his young shoulders and he couldn't help but feel that he was in no way ready for it. He let out a long sigh.

There was no avoiding it. The High Council of the Ghost Zone had been persistent on it being him and you couldn't just say "no" to them. Trust him, he tried. It took several months to get him to just consider taking the position. He put up many good arguments to the one-eyed ghosts: wanting to finish school; not wanting to leave his friends and family; being too young and obviously irresponsible. All that only allowed him a little extra time on Earth.

After the Council found out that his parents knew his secret, they wasted no time making a meeting to talk about the whole thing. To say that coming home to see the Ancients and Observants sitting at his kitchen table while his parents yelled their brains out surprised him, was an understatement. His mind could hardly grasp what was even happening. At one point, his dad even had to hold his mom back when she tried to pounce on the head Ancient after one especially frustrating argument.

He chuckled thinking back to that day. Now, his parents were more understanding of the whole ordeal, but if they had it their way, he would continue to live as any normal person with ghost powers would. He'd be going to a nice college not too far from home and be able to visit every weekend with the girlfriend he would eventually meet at school and he'd get married to someone he loved and have perfect little kids that would lead semi-normal lives.

All those little dreams were now being crushed by a heavy burden of an entire world.

Another sigh escaped his lips. He had the feeling he was going to be doing a lot of that now.

His blue eyes looked himself over in the full length mirror in front of him. His raven hair hung in his face, to the displeasure of his mom, Pandora, and his fiance. Ha, his fiance. The words still felt funny on his lips.

He thought back to that awkward meeting with the High Council when he was just 16. They had called him there on what they had declared "urgent business." Arriving at the large stadium that was being used as the meeting place, he was immediately met by Clockwork at the front doors. The ancient ghost had a smirk and glint in his red eyes that just screamed trouble to the young halfa.

He was really thrown through a loop when the first words that came from the Head Ancient was "So, do you have a girlfriend?"

From behind him, he could hear the chuckles of some of his enemies that were a part of the council. He glanced back before bringing his nervous gaze back to the center of the stadium. "Uh, no, I don't. Any reason why you're asking?" he asked in an unsure voice.

"Actually, yes. You see, due to the position you will be taking up in a couple of years, you will need someone by your side," said one of the other Ancients in a light blue robe.

"Well, I have my friends and family; isn't that enough?"

"We are referring more to a queen, young prince. You cannot be a king without a queen by your side and because you are only half ghost, she will have to be a full ghost," came from an Ancient in a violet robe with a womanly voice. Danny could only stare, his cheeks becoming flush and his eyes shifting from one ghost to another on the stage-like area in front of him. When they landed on Clockwork, he saw the large grin planted on his face. The time ghost couldn't help but be amused by his honorary son's embarrassment. The continuing chuckles from behind him didn't help either.

When the hybrid opened his mouth to reply, all that came out were unbelieving sputters. Finally, he found his voice, although somewhat shaky, "I'm only 16! Y-you can't possibly expect me to start thinking about that already, especially when I've barely even had time to come to terms with becoming the ruler of an entire realm!"

"Young Phantom, you need not worry; we have already chosen someone in advance just in case of a situation such as this. We have discussed this for many weeks now, and were able to narrow it down to a few women that we believe would suit not only you, but the kingdom as well." said the same Ancient.

Another Ancient in a dark orange robe continued in a deep voice, "There are many smaller kingdoms throughout our vast realm that have eligible princesses. At first, we thought to give you the choice between the young ladies, but thought that maybe it would be best if we chose for you. The princess we chose will be good for the Ghost Zone and will easily be able to keep you on track. I do believe you already know her. Dorathea from the kingdom of Aragon will be your queen, my prince."

The half dead teen literally felt himself stop breathing at that moment. Even in his ghost form, he had to breath sometimes and he decided that right then would not be one of those times. He started to lower from the height he had once been floating and was swaying in his lightheaded state. If it could have, his jaw would have dropped to the floor.

Not noticing or choosing to ignore the halfa, the Head Ancient went on, "She is intelligent, strong willed, and, if I do say so myself, quite pretty. She will also bring you an exceptional heir, which is actually one of the things we need to address while here. We know that you have a young clone by the name of Danielle, is that correct?"

Danny just stared at the red robed Ancient. It was one thing to tell him that he had to get married, but to choose that person and even go into talking about an heir? This was way too much for him to take in at the moment. He was a kid for Pete's sake! This is not the type of stuff his peers were going through, he knew that for a fact.

When his mind finally caught up to what the elder ghost had just asked, he stiffly nodded his head in response. "She could suffice as an heir, but we would rather you get started on having another child since your clone's location is hardly ever known." The ghosts behind Danny could hardly hold in their laughter at the shade of red that was spreading over the hybrid's face. Clockwork, himself, was having the same problem on stage.

That had been an awkward day, indeed. He had returned home to find his parents working on an invention in the lab. When they saw him standing stiffly at the entrance of the portal staring straight ahead, they stopped what they were doing and directed their attention to their son.

"How did the meeting go sweetheart?" asked Maddie with a concerned expression. There was a long pause, only the sound of ticking from a clock and the family's shallow breathing could be heard.

"I'm getting married." The looks on his parents' faces was pure shock. "And the Council's already talking about having kids." If they thought the news about him becoming king was surprising, this blew them completely out of the ball park.

Still in a zombie-like state, he moved pass his parents and upstairs to lay face-down on his bed screaming into his pillow for the next hour or so. The only interruption to his plan was the Box Ghost terrorizing the mall not 45 minutes into his wallowing.

After a week of inner turmoil, he finally gathered up enough courage to go talk to the dragon princess. He learned that she had been just as surprised and blown away by the news as he was, but it didn't take them long to start hitting it off. He found she was everything the Ancients had described her as and then some. Being a princess all her life, she also knew how to act in certain situations and how to not let the power go to her head. She would do just fine keeping Danny in his place while he learned how to be a proper prince and soon-to-be king.

The halfa still would have rather had it be his choice to marry the damsel instead of it being forced onto the both of them, but, as he was finding out, he wasn't going to get much of his way for a while.

Another sigh. His hands brushed over the front of his outfit. He was wearing a pitch black suit with a white tie wrapped snugly around his neck. He had decided that while in his human form he would wear clothes that fit to that of Earth and his ghostly clothes would be more medieval to match those of Dora's kingdom.

A knock came from the door at the far end of the room before it slid open. Pandora stood in the doorway in her normal attire looking him over for a moment. She floated over to him, revealing his mom and sister in their dresses right behind her, and started messing with his hair.

"I can't believe this day is here already," she said as she tried to "fix" his mop of black.

"My baby boy is growing up," said Maddie with tears in her eyes, threatening to fall, "Seems like just yesterday I was kissing your scraped knees." Jazz stood at the sidelines with a sad smile on her face, watching the "mothers" poke and prod the young man. Ever since he had agreed to becoming king, Pandora had been training him to be a better fighter and negotiator. It didn't take long for the halfa to grow on her and gain her utmost care and protection like that of what a mother would give to her child.

The two motherly figures had also become close in the last four years. They constantly got together to talk about Danny's progress and all the embarrassing moments that involved him. You could hardly see them separated most of the time.

"Relax, guys," he said, swatting away the hands going at his hair, "It's not that big of a deal. I've practically been doing the job for the past year, the only difference now is that I'll have the official title and the whole world will know it's me. So, ya know, no big deal or anything."

The three women in the room rolled their eyes at the young man's words. Typical Danny to pass the whole thing off as nothing when it was clearly so much more. Suddenly, the two mothers took a look at the hybrid and decided that they needed to fix every detail about him. Their hands started brushing against his suit to rid it of dust and at his hair to make it presentable.

With a yelp, Danny flailed his arms around and tried to escape the hands attacking him. When he finally broke away and had hidden behind Jazz, he peeked his eyes over her shoulders to look at the older women.

"Yeesh, if this is how you act at my coronation, I don't even want to begin to think about my wedding day," he muttered to himself, but he wasn't quiet enough to keep the words from reaching the offenders ears. Even more tears welled in their eyes just thinking about that fateful day. It was one thing to make him king, but to give him away to another woman; that was a horrible thought.

The half ghost winced at the tearful faces in front of him. He really wanted this whole thing to just end already.

"Danny, it's time," said his father who appeared in the doorway, unusually serious. With yet another sigh, the young man stood up straight and nodded. The elder adults walked out to take their places in the coronation hall while Jazz lingered behind to walk with her little brother.

Slowly, they began making their way down the many corridors in the large castle. A comfortable silence settled between brother and sister that spoke far more than anything they could have said out loud. As they got closer to their final destination, a flood of voices could be heard echoing through the hall.

"Today is the long awaited reveal of who the king of the Ghost Zone will be..."

"A pocos minutos de la 'Gran Reveal,' como algunos lo han estado llamando..."

"Just months ago, a ghost ambassador announced that the Ghost Zone would be taking on a new king..."

"Nova reĝo prenas la iniciaton en la Spirito Zono hodiaŭ..."

"Who is the mystery ghost and will he be as great as everyone has been saying, or will he turn out to be another Pariah Dark...?"

"Presto, saremo dire 'ciao' ad un nuovo leader..."

Peeking around the corner, Danny saw that the corridor was lined with reporters from all over the human world and even from the ghost realm. Because of the Ghost Zone becoming such a big part of both the human and ghost realms, it was decided that any major news team could have one reporter and one camera present at the coronation. They all had their cameras at the ready to record what was starting to be known as the "reveal of the century" by most countries.

The whole thing of having a new king coming into power had been kept under lock and key so as to prevent too much trouble for the crown prince. This way, he didn't have to worry about being hunted on Earth before he was even crowned and he could train in peace without the press on his tail at all times. Before he could pull his head back, Jazz walked out to address the news crews.

"At this time, we ask that everybody, including news crews, find their way into the main hall and find somewhere to set up. The ceremony will begin once everyone has found their place inside, thank you."

They all grumbled at having to move somewhere where they would have to wait even longer to find out who the king was going to be, but filed out anyways. Jazz gave a smile behind her where she felt her now invisible brother standing, before following the crews.

One more sigh to somewhat clam his nerves.

Once the large entry doors came to a close, he crept up to them, still invisible and now intangible, and stuck his head through. The camera people were getting situated and nearly all of the thousands of seats in the hall were filled by people and ghost he knew, with only a few groups that were unfamiliar to him. Even some of the leagues of superheros came for the big unveiling like the Teen Titans, the Justice League, some with an organization called SHIELD, and dozens more individual heroes.

Towards the front few rows, he saw his family; every available member of it. His mom, dad, sister and best friends were right in front next to his grandparents and Aunts and Uncles. Behind them were mostly cousins, some quite a few years older than him, others quite younger than him. He could see some of the really little ones poking at each other and throwing things and the older girls all gossiping together. Their parents were constantly turning around to get them all to settle down.

The next row was family that he wasn't very acquainted with, but he still felt that all of his family should be with him on this day. Some of them had even been released from duty in other countries just so they could attend. From what he was told, only some of the adults were told why they were asked to come; the rest, mostly kids/cousins, were left in the dark and expected to show up. They even gave the excuse that since Jack and Maddie were ghost hunters, they were allowed to be there and all the family was supposed to come, too.

Everyone started to settle down as the Ancients and Observants filed into the front of the hall. To Danny's left was the rest of the High Council which consisted of older ghosts like Skulker and Aragon and members of the Far Frozen. Clockwork and Pandora were seated in front on either side of the Ancients along with his fiance waiting in front of everyone. He saw Clockwork look straight at him before he swiftly pulled his head back in.

Now his nerves were really buzzing around in his stomach. He almost felt sick with what was about to happen and the implications of it. He was about to become the official king of the Ghost Zone at only 18, the oldest the Council would allow him to be without finding spells and special jewels that would literally force him to take the position.

From beyond the doors, he could hear the ceremony start. The Head Ancient was making some sort of speech about how big this was for the Ghost Zone to accept a king after the wrong doings of Pariah Dark. That made him even more nervous and when he heard the ghost coming to the part about announcing him, he felt like he was going to be sick. His throat felt swollen and his stomach was doing flips within him. Footsteps came to where the two large doors met and paused as the red robed Ancient said his last few lines.

Quickly gathering himself, Danny stood up nice and straight and put on a dignified expression. The crowd inside the hall turned in their seats and waited. Two realms full of humans, ghosts, and aliens held their breaths in anticipation. Over half of his family waited on the other side undoubtedly wondering why he wasn't with them at the moment. His hometown watched wondering if their ghostly protector would walk out of that door.

All the cameras were focused on the doors as they sung open to reveal an 18 year old boy with raven black hair and baby blue eyes, dressed in a slim suit and tie. He held his head high as the gasps spread around the room, around the whole world, at seeing such a young man and such an outcast standing in the doorway. His eyes met with Clockwork, who gave him a nod. He steadily made his way down the long white carpet that lead to the front of the hall, the cameras and eyes following his every move.

He kept his gaze straight ahead as the nervousness came back full force in the pit of his stomach. It took his all to not drop his calm expression and bolt the other way so he could hide in his closet. Looking to the front, the gentle face of Dora and his ghostly mother and father helped him to stay steady on his feet.

Nearing the front few rows where his family sat, he turned his eyes to them. His parents, sister, and best friends wore reassuring smiles on their faces. That brought a small smile to his own face that grew when he saw the proud expressions from his grandparents and some of the other adults of his family. Seeing the gawking faces of some of his cousins, especially the really young and older ones, was priceless to him. His smile became even bigger with a hint of a smirk as he looked at each of them.

All the while, the cameras caught each facial change, each footstep, each breath that he took. Even knowing of their presence, having his family there completely calmed all of his nerves and allowed him to relax for the first time since he had left the dressing room. A few more steps, and he was walking up the steps to stand by his fiance.

Once everyone was settled once more, Clockwork came to stand between the princess and prince.

"Is your Majesty willing to take the Oath?" inquired the master of time.

"I am willing," replied Danny, trying to be confident. Silence filled the hall, the Ghost Zone, and Earth as everyone leaned forward in their seats.

"Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern the inhabitants of the Ghost Zone according to the laws and customs of each kingdom and territory?"

"I solemnly promise to so do."

"Will you to your power cause law and justice, in Mercy, to be executed in all your judgments?"

"I will."

"Will you, in all your power, promise to protect the ghost and human realms, taking in the needs of both when necessary?"

"I promise." With that final answer, Pandora came forward with the Crown of Fire and the Ring of Rage. She placed the flaming crown on his head and the ring she slid onto his right hand. In an instant, the colors changed from the normal red and green to black and white. The new king turned to face the crowd.

"May I present to you, his Majesty, Daniel James Fenton-Phantom," here she paused as Danny let two halos of light travel up and down his body. He now wore a white tunic with a black belt and black leggings that were tucked into white leather boots. His hands were covered in white gloves going to his wrists that matched his snow white hair. A black cloak flowed down from his shoulders all the way to the floor, waving in a breeze. Quiet gasps echoed through the crowd.

"King of the Ghost Zone."

The humans in the room stayed silent while the ghosts broke into loud applause. They stood in their seats and hollered out praise to their new source of hope and freedom. "Long live King Phantom," they cheered. Ghosts all around the Zone joined into the celebration in their lairs and with their own families.

It only took a few long moments for the living to grasp what had actually happened. Smiles lit up their faces and they stood with the dead beings to rejoice the young king. It may not mean as much to them at the moment and they were still thoroughly confused, but that didn't mean they couldn't celebrate, too.

Danny stood tall and proud at the front of the stage with a smile on his face. He looked around the room to the rejoicing faces of the ghosts and the slightly confused, but still happy, ones of most of the humans. His attention then came to his family. The younger members seemed excited to learn that their cousin was a king like in all the fairy tales told to them by their parents. The older members were almost as confused as everyone else, but still were proud for the halfa of their family.

Jack, Maddie, Jazz, Sam, and Tucker made their way to join their youngest family member and friend on the stage. He gave them an ear to ear grin when they stood by his side; there was no way he could be doing all this without the support of his family and friends. Tucker gave him a pat on the back when he looked back to him and Sam gave him a squeeze on the shoulder on his other side.

He looked back into the cameras that surrounded him and gave a meaningful smile to each one in a way to let each country on the other end know that he would be there for it. He was going to use his power to bring as much peace as possible between the Ghost Zone and Human Realm, that was for sure.

The people that lived to remember that day would say that it was one of the most magnificent sights they had ever seen. That single moment when he stood in front of the worlds of the living and the dead, when the light shone down on his ghostly face, the way he held himself, the joined crowd of ghosts and humans; it was all so perfect. That was how everyone was going to remember him in history and the way that he was written into the books and minds of thousands upon thousands.

This one started with the last paragraph, actually. I just couldn't resist writing the rest of it. A quick note on the DannyXDora pairing; for some reason I really don't like the cannon DxS, but I do like Danny with almost everyone else, so don't necessarily expect a lot of Sam romance in my stories. Sorry...sort of.

I am a little stuck on Humming right now, but I hope to get enough done so that I can start posting chapters for you guys soon. I have so many good ideas for it, I just have to connect it all logically.

*Here are the translations of the news anchors that were talking the the hallway. If they're wrong, blame Google Translate.

"Only minutes away from the 'Great Reveal,' as some have been calling it..."~Spanish

"A new king is taking the lead in the Ghost Zone today..."~Esperanto

"Soon, we'll be saying 'hello' to a new leader..."~Italian

I do not own Danny Phantom, Teen Titans, the Avengers, Justice League, or anything else that I might of mentioned in here that you and I both know I don't own. R&R please.