Chapter Text
Danny had been married to Melinoe for a few years now, and if anyone had told him back, he would one day be married to the Goddess of Ghosts, he would have laughed in their face.
And yet, here he was. He met her while he was in the Ghost Zone.
Melinoe had been overjoyed when she first met Danny. To her, it was nothing short of miraculous to find another being who was both alive and dead—just like her. Well her and the Goddess Hel, but he wasn't Norse.
But at the same time, he was a true anomaly!
He was not born from divine lineage but instead transformed by an accident. He wasn’t just a ghost or a newly formed god; he was something entirely new. And that was what fascinated her to no end, as she did meet him.
For Danny, the feeling was mutual. After years of fighting ghosts and protecting Amity Park from most of the Ghost of the Ghost Zone, it was refreshing to meet spirits who didn’t want to immediately challenge him to a fight.
Living in the Ghost Zone had been an adjustment, but after the catastrophe with the Guys in White and the forced closure of the portals connecting the mortal world, he had little choice. Even if he spends most time with Pandora, Clockwork or Frostbite.
Time functioned strangely in these realms, and he had lost track of how long he had truly been there. He did age very much too, he was as tall as his dad and buff too! Had it been now Years? Centuries? It didn’t matter much anymore.
It had been Pandora who first pointed out something odd about Melinoe. Danny had assumed she was a ghost like him, but that wasn’t entirely true. She was a goddess. The Goddess of Ghosts, to be precise.
That revelation had left Danny stunned. It wasn’t every day you found out your wife was literal divine royalty.
Melinoe, on the other hand, had been equally shocked when she learned that Danny was the one who had defeated Pariah Dark. She had heard of the ancient tyrant, the King of the Ghost Zone, who had once nearly unleashed destruction upon the mortal world.
And yet, Danny—this young, reckless, and entirely mortal-turned-ghost—had managed to defeat him.
Sure, Danny admitted he hadn’t exactly won in a fair fight, but that didn’t matter to Melinoe.
“Neither did my father and uncles when they fought against my grandfather Kronos,” she had laughed, delighted. “Victory is victory.”
That alone cemented in her mind that Danny was not ordinary. He was an heir—whether he wanted to be or not—to the Ghost Zone.
More than that, he was immortal. And could very well become a Chthonic god in his own later.
And Melinoe found herself oddly excited by the idea. I mean, who wouldn't want her husband to be immortal with you.
It wasn’t long before Danny met her father: Hades, Lord of the Underworld, King of the Dead, and, as Danny quickly learned, a man who was absolutely exhausted from ruling for millennia.
The moment Hades laid eyes on Danny, he knew he had just found his ticket to retirement.
For ages, Hades had been burdened with the weight of his domain and all the work of doing it.
While Zeus did nothing in the skies and Poseidon ruled over his ocean, Hades had been left alone in the Underworld, tirelessly managing the endless influx of souls into the Underworld daily.
And now, standing before him was a young, immortal spirit who was already governing a spectral realm of his own. More importantly, this Ghost was dating his daughter!
The perfect heir.
Danny had barely had time to process the encounter before Hades hit him with his grand plan.
After a while, and while Persephone was with her mother, Demeter.
"I can finally retire," the god had declared, looking almost giddy at the prospect.
Danny, understandably, had been taken aback. "Wait, what?"
"You're already the heir of the Ghost Zone, right?"
"Well, I mean... sort of?" Danny had replied hesitantly, "I'm still being trained.”
Hades nodded in satisfaction. “Good enough. You can then rule both.”
Danny had sputtered, glancing at Melinoe for help, but she had only given him an amused shrug. It wasn’t a terrible idea, really.
“You’d have to take over eventually,” Hades had reasoned. “Why not learn the ropes under my guidance before taking on full responsibility?”
And with that, Danny’s fate was sealed.
What followed was a grueling, nearly 10 year-long training period. Hades did not go easy on his son-in-law, and Danny quickly found himself juggling his responsibilities in the Ghost Zone while learning the intricacies of ruling the Underworld too.
He had to understand the laws governing the dead, the bureaucratic nightmare that was the afterlife, and the vast pantheon of deities who oversaw different aspects of the realms.
It was exhausting, but with Melinoe by his side, it was also exhilarating, she was really good at helping him.
And then, at long last, the day finally came.
Hades officially stepped down, handing his throne to the New King Danny and Queen Melinoe.
“Finally,” Hades sighed in relief. “I can focus on the more important things in life.”
Those “important things” turned out to be spending more time with his wife, Persephone, traveling across the Underworld, and engaging in hobbies he had long neglected, the one he couldn't do since the first Titanmachia.
For the first time, Hades was free from the burdens of rule, and he had never been happier.
Danny and Melinoe were now the rulers of the Underworld. It was scary at first, but Danny realized that his years of fighting ghosts, making peace, and keeping things in balance between realms had prepared him for this. With Melinoe's experience and wisdom helping him, he was sure they would succeed.
Danny checked also on Poseidon, expecting the sea god to have done something similar with his heir, Triton. Poseidon had made Triton his heir from the start of his Birth.
If Hades could retire, Poseidon—who had an heir for thousands of years—should have done the same by now, right?Apparently not.
Danny asked Hades about it, and the god just scoffed, saying, "My brother is a terrible teacher."Danny sighed and shook his head. If he was going to name a Heir, he would do it right. Or he would give the throne to Triton when he was ready.