Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. Whether or not that goal can be reached, we'll see... This is The 365 Project, 18 February.
After 'Girls' Night Out', with Kitty's help, Ember does some math involving subtracting Skulker and adding up everything she wants in a guy, coming up with an answer with the added bonus of possibly dividing Amity Park's trio of protectors.
First, a bit of back story; I was introduced to the song "No Sleep Tonight" by The Faders through a fanvid for a show I like. It wasn't until later that I found the actual music video to the song and it wasn't until last night or so that I was watching it and had the sudden thought of 'Hey, that's like something Ember would do'. So today, you get this...
Disclaimer: "Danny Phantom" and all associated characters and situations are created by Butch Hartman and used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit. "No Sleep Tonight" by The Faders is owned by them and their recording label and is also used without permission or intent to profit.
-o0O0o-
"No Sleep Tonight"
By; J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'
-o0O0o-
If she had been walking, ghost rock star Ember McLain would have been pacing her realm in the Ghost Zone. Instead she was merely floating back and forth as she went over recent events in her mind.
"Friggin' smart-mouthed Marilyn Manson wanna-be goth, next time she kisses that empty-headed jock it won't be to free the dipstick, it'll be because I have her under a love spell so deep that she'd need a shovel just to see the light of day," Ember ranted, "I might even perform at the wedding, just to rub it in..."
Laying on Ember's couch with her legs hanging over the end, Kitty kicked the air before addressing her best friend, "You're mad at her but not the other two? I don't think you're really mad about them beating us, are you?"
"Right now that rich-priss 'oh, my parents are so mean to me - they want me to wear pink and dresses while I'm spending their money to save the Snail Darter' whining princess is probably sucking face with the dipstick," Ember snapped back by way of answering, "And what do I get? Skulker! The 'greatest hunter' who couldn't hunt down a mouse if he had a dozen cats with him!"
"Not to mention Phantom beats him every time they fight," Kitty casually pointed out.
"You're not helping," Ember snarled.
"So your boyfriend sucks and you just got whipped by the girl who's ga-ga over the guy that whips your boyfriend every time they fight," Kitty shrugged as best as she could despite her position on the couch, "I hate to say it, but sounds like she's got the better guy."
"Like you have room to talk, Kitty," Ember stopped to look at the other ghost girl and rolled her eyes, "Has Johnny ever beat him either? In fact, has any of us ever beat him?"
"Nope," Kitty answered easily, "But the rest of us don't go around proclaiming we're the greatest within five minutes of being dumped back in the Zone like Skulker does, either."
"And you know what really burns?" Ember started 'pacing' again.
"I'm sure you're going to tell me."
"At least the dipstick is a ghost like us - well, half a ghost, anyways," Ember shook her head as she floated, "That goth is just a normal human, all of them were, and they still beat us!"
"In my defense," Kitty lazily raised a hand, "Phantom's sister probably still had a little repressed anger towards me to work out from the whole 'trying to use her as a host' thing, so I have an excuse for her beating me."
"Every time I lose to the dipstick, though, it's because of that freakin' goth!" Ember shouted in frustration.
Kitty dropped her hand and closed her eyes, "Really?"
"Yes, really!" Ember's back-and-forth floating picked up speed, "The first time, I had the dipstick lovestruck and out of it, what happens? She kisses that stupid jock and the heartbreak breaks the control over the dipstick allowing him to fight me while his geek friend ruins my show!"
"Then, and then," Ember pointed a finger into the air, "It turns out she's the one who discovers my hidden messages brainwashing Amity's adults, giving the town's kids a reason to fight me and Youngblood."
"And now Phantom wasn't even there, just his sister, their mother and the girl; and you, me and Spectra all three lost," Kitty added without opening her eyes, knowing that when Ember started going on these rants the best thing to do was just relax and let her burn herself out.
"Yes!"
"Well, don't look at me, Em'," Kitty yawned, "My kiss only works on guys."
"Yeah, and it didn't help us much, did it?" Ember grumbled, "I still got beat by that rabbit food-eating freak. I'll bet she's never even met a cheeseburger, forget about eaten one..."
"You're jealous," Kitty concluded.
Ember turned to glare at her friend with near-literal fire in her eyes, "I am not!"
"Yeah, you are, you're jealous," the green-haired ghost repeated, "You said it yourself, the goth has Danny and you've got Skulker. You know what I think? I think you want your 'Baby-pop' for yourself, Em'."
Ember raised a hand glowing green with ecto-energy and pointed it at Kitty, "You take that back or I'll-"
"Or you'll what?" Kitty calmly opened her eyes and pointed a blue-glowing hand at Ember, "No one's cheering your name here, Em' - we're on equal footing power-wise and you know I fight a lot dirtier, you really want to pick a fight with me?"
Lowering her hand and letting the energy surrounding it fade, Ember snarled, "It's that goth I want to take shots at."
"Yeah, because she's got the guy you want," Kitty chuckled, quickly increasing the ecto-energy she had built up when Ember growled back at her, "Face it, Em', he's got what you want. You want someone who wins in a fight? He's put every one of us in that Thermos at some point. Rock and roll for a taste in music? He likes both the oldies and hard rock - in fact, guess whose cd he has in his collection? Yours. You want someone who pays attention to you? He's attentive and protective - speaking from experience here; I mean, I did go out with him a few times and you know what else? If Johnny ticks me off one more time and you haven't bagged 'Baby-pop', I'm going after him myself."
This time, Kitty smirked when Ember growled at her and snarled, "Over my dead body!"
Dropping the ecto-energy that was building up in her hand, Kitty put both hands behind her head and knitted her fingers together, "We're ghosts, that part's a given, Em'... But thanks for proving my point."
"Oh, cripes," Ember swore as she seemed to deflate upon the realisation of the truth in what Kitty was saying, "I do want the dipstick."
"Too bad for you he's probably with Ms. 'Save The Snail Darter'," Kitty remarked casually, knowing just what buttons to press to get her friend to do some things.
"Aw, hell, no," Ember countered, "I'm Ember McLain, rock star, ghost diva, and I don't take second place on the charts to nobody! I get what I want and I want my Baby-pop to get with me!"
Dropping to the ground, Ember walked over and snatched up Kitty's red leather jacket from where it was laying on the opposite end of the couch from the girl herself, "Can I borrow this? Thanks!"
As the rock star dashed up the stairs to her bedroom without waiting for an answer, Kitty shook her head, "Yeah, sure, go ahead."
Another yawn and Kitty remarked to the empty room, "Well, at least now I can take a nap without listening to her ranting and raving for a while."
Kitty had just closed her eyes when the loud slamming of a door - which she concluded to be Ember leaving heading for the human world - disturbed her and she opened her eyes with a groan to glare at the door.
-o0o-
It was a new day in Amity Park, all the boys were back in town from where they had been sent during the ghostly girls' night out and more than a few of the girls were appreciative of the fact - of course, there were also some who wouldn't have been upset if the boys had stayed gone, but there's always going to be people like that. But, for the most part, with the fact that the boys were back, the girls were now on the prowl. One in particular had a target in mind as she walked up the sidewalk towards the entrance to Casper High School. Reaching into a pocket of her borrowed jacket with her ungloved hand, Ember pulled out a flip-open mirror and gave herself a quick look-over; she'd traded her usual cropped singlet top for the red and torquiose corset she'd worn when she worked with Youngblood and tied her hair back with the bandanna from then, too, removed her trademark eye makeup and put on Kitty's red leather jacket over it all. Bluntly, she was dressed to kill, specifically to kill any relationship between the goth and her Baby-pop. Casually, she tossed the mirror over her shoulder and smirked as she heard it shatter on the pavement, she'd known Kitty and Johnny too long to be worried about things like bad luck. As she walked by, Kwan turned his head to look at her and ended up walking right into Star, causing them both to end up being knocked to the ground. For Ember's part, she shook her head and chuckled as she kept walking. She knew she was here before the dipstick since he hadn't even woke up yet when she had slipped through his house on her way out of the Ghost Zone, so she had plenty of time to set everything up before he got there.
-o0o-
Twenty minutes later, Danny 'Danny Phantom' Fenton was at his locker trying to get his stuff together for his first class before Dash showed up with the intent of shoving him into it again when the school's intercom system crackled to life.
"You want me, you want me all the time," a female voice sang over the intercom, causing students to stop and listen, "And you don't need nothing else."
-o0o-
In the school office, the secretary was pounding on the Principal's office door, demanding to be let out while Ember sat at her desk, arms on the desk and head in her ungloved left hand before she picked up the intercom mic and leaned back in the office chair, kicking her feet up onto the desk as she continued to sing.
"But you seem to be a little oblivious, so I'll show you the way if you think that you need some help..."
-o0o-
In the hallway, Danny frowned in confusion at the intercom as the girl kept singing - the voice was familiar, but he couldn't seem to place it - and took a step back as he shut his locker door. What he saw caused him to gasp in surprise as somehow during the time he had his locker door open, someone had painted on the entire row of lockers, one word stretching five lockers down the row with each letter taking up a locker door.
Danny's eyes narrowed and his fists clenched as he read it aloud, "Ember..."
He was about to get out of sight and go ghost when he looked at his hand that had shut the locker and groaned, his hand now had torquoise paint all over it.
'First, wash hand,' Danny thought to himself, 'Then stick rock star in thermos.'
-o0o-
Walking past the office on his way to the restroom, Danny stopped and hazarded a glance in, jaw dropping as he saw that the room looked like a hotel room after being trashed by a rock star - which, considering this was Ember that was lurking around the school somewhere, wasn't too far off the mark - and from the pounding and demands he was hearing, the school secretary was locked in the Principal's office.
He was a hero, however, and after a moment's considered thought, Danny did what any good-hearted, but misunderstood and persecuted hero would; he left the mess for the janitor to clean up, not intending to be blamed for it by sheer virtue of the sole fact that he was in the area.
'Spider-Man would understand,' Danny joked to himself mentally as he started back down the hallway in the direction of the restroom.
-o0o-
In the boys' restroom, Danny washed the paint off of his hand and took the extra time to splash some water on his face; school hadn't even started yet and already there were ghosts causing trouble.
"It's going to be a long day," Danny muttered, a wisp of blue escaping his mouth with the last word.
As Danny straightened up and prepared to go ghost, he happened to look in the mirror to see that Ember was standing behind him across the restroom, leaning against the wall casually like it was an everyday thing for her to be standing in the boys' room watching the guy who routinely stuck her in a thermos washing his hands.
"I certainly hope so, Baby-pop," Ember commented as Danny quickly turned around, not sure what he was supposed to make of the look in her eyes, nor the smile - not grin or smirk, but smile - on her face.
"What are you doing here, Ember?" Danny demanded sharply.
Now Ember grinned, "You really want to know why I'm here, Baby-pop?"
As she started to saunter towards him, Danny made a distinct tactical error; he backed up and found himself trapped between two sinks with a wall at his back and Ember closing fast. His first instinct was to go ghost and try to phase through the wall behind him, but something in the ghost rocker's eyes told him that would be a bad idea.
"Don't bother, Baby-pop," Ember shook her head slowly, never breaking eye contact with Danny as she kept moving forward, "I stole one of your parents' ghost shields - the only way anyone's getting out of this restroom is through that door and..."
With Danny now definitively trapped and Ember mere inches from him, she raised her hand and pointed it at the door. Both hand and door glowed green for a moment before the door slammed shut. Before Danny could say anything, Ember slipped out of Kitty's jacket and let it drop to the floor, the corset she was wearing leaving him with a distracting view of her bare shoulders and the barest hint of cleavage as she reached up and slid her arms around his neck...
-o0o-
When Danny finally walked into a classroom and sat down with his friends, he confused everyone by sitting on the other side of Tucker instead of between him and Sam like he normally did.
"Hey, where were you, man?" Tucker asked, "You missed first period."
Danny shook his head and exhaled slowly, "Tuck'... you wouldn't believe me if I told you..."
-o0O0o-
Author's Note; While it wasn't the original intention when writing this story, it occurs to me that it could be considered as a prequel of sorts to one of my other Danny x Ember stories, "That Would Be Telling", as to how Danny and Ember got together.