Inspired by "Remember", the full version of Ember's song in Danny Phantom. If you haven't heard it, search for it on youtube, it's beautiful.
I don't own Danny Phantom, or any of it's characters, that belongs to Butch Hartmen, the lucky bastard who also own Fairly Odd Parents, both wonderful… well, mostly.
Anyways, I hope you like me take on 'Remember', even if it's different than what you expected.
Disclaimer: Butch Hartmen, where ever he may be, owns Danny Phantom and all characters… doesn't stop me from writing about them, but I must give him credit…
OOO
Once again, Danny was fighting against Ember McLain, but she was tired, and the battle was at its end. Opening the Fenton Thermos, he sucked her in as she screamed a stream of inaudible curses.
Closing the thermos, he sighed and said, "C'mon you guys, let's go." He failed to notice the scrap of paper that had fallen out of Ember's pocket as she had been sucked in.
But Sam didn't. She picked it up and looked at this, "Hey Danny, I think you should look at this."
Grumbling, he turned around and powered down, now Danny Fenton, "What is it Sam?"
She handed him the piece of paper, "Doesn't this look familiar?"
Before Danny could get a chance to look at it, Tucker grabbed it out of his hands and examined it, "Hey, these are the full lyrics to 'Remember'!" Looking for another moment, he spotted something else, "But what is this?"
"What is what Tuck?" Danny asked as he grabbed the paper out of his geeky friend's hands.
Pointing to the bottom of the page, Tucker said, "Right there." There, at the end of the lyrics was a signature that read To My Beloved, Please Remember. Yours Forever – M.L.
"That is strange," Danny noted. Now that he looked at it, the paper seemed a bit old and rumpled, as if it had been read over many times.
"Do you think we should give this back to her?" Sam asked. Even if Ember was a ghost, she was still a girl, and Sam knew that Ember would be severely anger if she did not get that back. But, if the boys were going to be stupid enough to keep it, they would have to deal with the consequences themselves.
Danny shook his head as he walked down the sidewalk, the other two behind him, "No, I think this could be an answer for us."
"What do you mean Danny?" Tucker asked in curiosity.
"Well, before the accident, we thought of ghosts as, well, first off, non-existent. But remember? Ghosts are beings that have unfinished business, or can't leave this world behind for whatever reason. Maybe, this M.L is the answer to getting rid of Ember for good." You could see the clocks ticking in his head.
"Wow Danny. That's actually… a good idea," Sam said, astonished a bit by how much he had used his head for a change.
"Thanks Sam," he said sarcastically to his girlfriend, "I actually do have good ideas now and then."
"Only one problem. Ember is a ghost, i.e., she's dead. This M.L. has a high probability factor that they have already passed their mortality limits, thus leaving us with no way to stop Ember," But even as he said those words, he was typing in a search engine for M.L. and Ember.
"Um, speak English please?" Fanny asked. He couldn't stand it when Tucker went into 'geek mode'.
"Ok, M.L. could already be dead," Tucker sighed, though still searching.
"Well, I don't care. One less ghost is a good thing, so we might as well try, right?"
"Affirmative."
"Alright, as long as we're agreed." They finally reached Danny's house, and Tucker turned away, knowing what to expect.
Sam and Danny embraced, lip-locking for a few minutes before they parted, a blush apparent on both of their faces.
"Well, night you guys, see you tomorrow," Danny waved as he went up the steps to his house and unlocked the door."
"Night Danny," Sam called as she turned and left, Tucker following her.
Once they were out of hearing distance, Tucker asked, "Do you guys have to do that every time you say goodbye?" He was getting sick of it. Sure, he wanted them together, but he couldn't stand being the only one without a girlfriend.
"Shut up Tuck!" Sam retorted as she slapped him in the back of the head.
OOO
"Where is it?" Ember searched frantically through her pockets, looking for that one piece of paper, her most treasured possession. "Please don't tell me I dropped it when that Dipstick captured me. Please no!"
Finally giving up, she sighed and said, "I guess it's time to pay Babypop a visit." Starting to float out of her home, she was stopped by Skulker.
"Where do you think you're going? And so soon after you returned?" He crossed his arms and dared her to defy him
Unluckily for him, she wasn't afraid of him, "I'm getting my song back now, so move it!" She grabbed her guitar, but then decided against it. She just wanted to retrieve something, not fight. She couldn't risk losing that paper, it was closest thing she had to a memory of life before death.
"Just forget about it, you don't need it. You have me now, so you don't need whoever this M.L. is." He didn't want his girlfriend thinking about anyone but him. He had hunted her down until she agreed to go out with him, she was the perfect prey, and he wasn't going to lose that to anyone.
"Don't you dare say that!" She flamed up, her fury obvious. "You say that one more time and I won't have a boyfriend anymore, I'll have a puddle of melted armor!"
"Fine, hunt down that insignificant piece of paper, but I won't be here waiting for you!" Skulker, well, skulked off.
Not, however, before Ember could yell after him, "That's it Dufus, we're through!" And flew off to the portal.
OOO
"Where is it Dipstick?" Ember shouted at Danny, who was in bed and had been sleeping.
Jumping out of bed, he had to control himself from shouting 'Ember' in shock. Grasping his hands over his mouth, he clamed down before saying, "Where is what?"
"Don't play dumb with me. Where is my song? Tell me right now or I'll-"
"Or what? You don't have your guitar with you, so what can you do," he glared at her.
"Listen Babypop, I just want my song back, so will you freakin' give it to me?" She sent him a glare and thrust her hand out.
"Not until I get some answer," He got up and turned on his computer.
"No way! Give me my song right now!" She fumed at him.
"I'll give you your damn song, just be patient and let us answer some questions, alright? No fighting, and you get it back, easy peasy-"
"Lemon squeezy? Were you seriously going to say that? And what are you doing?" She looked at the computer screen.
Ignoring her, he began to talk into the mike, "Hey Tuck, wake up and get Sam over her ASAP. I have a visitor, and it's about what we talked about earlier."
"Danny, it's 3 am, does that mean anything to you?" Tucker groaned as he talked into the screen of his PDA. His black hair was in a mess, and there was crust in his eyes.
"Tuck, listen, remember the song? Well, the owner is here, so get your butt over her now!"
"Fine, be there in a few, Tuck out," And with that, the computer screen went black.
Ember tapped her feet against the ground, "Ok, so what am I doing while we wait? I don't have all night you know."
Danny caught up and pulled a robe over his shirt and boxers, and started to head downstairs, "C'mon Pop star. You want your song? Follow me."
Floating after him, Ember followed him until they reached a door with a number pad. Danny tapped in a few numbers and the door opened, leading to a pure white room. "In," he said, going in first.
After Ember entered, the door shut, and her hair went out. Noticing this, she went, "What the hell? What is this room Dipstick?"
"It neutralizes all ghost powers, yours and mine. So this way there won't be any unexpected mind control or anything," He grabbed the wall phone and made a call, "Hey Sam, yeah, we're in the white room… Yeah, the code is that day… ok, see ya then Sam... love you too." He hung up the phone, a smile on his face.
"So, seem like you and that Goth chick are doing pretty well, gag me," she stuck her finger down her throat and fake gagged.
Rolling his eyes he sighed, "What about you and Skulker? I thought you were a ghostly item or something." He went over to a white couch and sat down, relaxing a bit.
Glaring at him, she would have shot flames at him if it were possible, "That's none of your business Babypop."
"Alright, just wondering if-" He was cut off by the door opening and Sam and Tucker walking in."
"Hey Danny, I have the song. And you're wrong, the code isn't that day, it's the second time. The first time was during second grade." Sam said, going over and giving him a quick peck on the cheek.
"Well, that was on a dare, can you blame me for not counting it?" He sighed and looked over the paper.
"Wait, what day is this?" Ember asked, her interest peeked. She failed to notice Tucker's sigh as he shook his head.
In unison, the couple went, "Our first kiss."
"Oh, gag me again with a spoon. Now can we just get this over with, I would like to go back to my pad," She didn't want to deal with this, but she didn't really have any choice.
"Ok, first off, who is M.L.?" Danny asked, "Were they somebody important?"
Ember squirmed a bit, "I don't know."
"Ok, um, did you write this song before or after you died?" Sam was the one to ask now.
Continuing to become more and more uncomfortable she answered, "I don't know."
"Well, is this song about your life before you died?" Danny questioned. He was becoming frustrated, not sure what was happening exactly.
"Listen, I don't know anything about this song. It's just my freakin' one possession! Now may I please have it back?"
Sam blinked, it was obvious the other two weren't gong to ask anything else, a bit scared, so it was now girl-on-girl time. "What do you mean, 'one possession'."
"When someone becomes a ghost, they keep one thing from their past lives, a keepsake so they don't forget. Only one issue though Dipstick, I can't remember anything about my past." She leaned against the wall, her face had a stony expression on it, but it seemed like it could break at any moment.
"Wait, so you don't remember anything?" Sam looked at her curiously.
"Didn't I just say that you moron!" Ember screamed, "Even that moron Skulker can remember who he was. But me, I can't remember anything except a stupid fire!"
"What fire Ember?" Sam moved over and put her hand on the rock ghost's arm.
"The fire that killed me," she said blankly. She seemed to somewhat go into a trance as she remembered it. "They were everywhere, the flames. Burning, so hot. I was looking for something, someone, but I couldn't find them. And I couldn't get out, no matter what I did. I finally… gave up, I didn't care. I knew what was going to happen… and I burned."
"Ember, it's alright, the fire is gone now, it's gone," Sam whispered into her ear, pulling her out of the trance.
"Y-yeah Dipstick, of course it's gone. But like I said, I don't remember nothing. So can I please have it back?" She held her hand out for the song.
"Just one more question, please?" Sam said, a calm note to her voice.
"Fine, but I want that song back."
"You'll get it. Just, is Ember McLain you're real name? Or did you get it from the song, from Ember and M.L."
"I… I think Ember is my real name, but not McLain. You're sharp goth girl. McLain comes from those initials. It sounds nice, but I know it ain't my name. Now, give me the song."
"Fine, here you go," Sam handed her the song and went over to the keypad. Typing in another combination,, the door opened. "Now you can though."
"Good riddance, see ya later Dipsticks," Ember said as she floated out, back to the ghost portal.
Once she was gone, Danny and Tucker finally spoke again, though it was annoying how they did it at once, "Wow that was amazing. I can't believe Ember… no way, you too?"
"Shut up you two!" Sam yelled, "We just opened a Pandora's box, and all you can do is gawk at Ember?"
Danny looked embarrassed as he said, "Sorry Sam, but I've never seen Ember so…"
"So human," Tucker finished for him.
"Yeah, but can you blame us? I just wonder what Ember was like as a human." Danny mused.
"Well, can we just go back to bed? I'm tired." Sam sighed. The other two nodded and they left the room, turning off the lights and each going back to their own bed, whether they were in the house or a few blocks down.