Along Came The Spider.
Author: Invader Johnny.
Plot: Danny finds out that even ghosts have some unexpected fears DxE.
Disclaimer: I don't claim ownership of the show Danny Phantom, the rights to the cartoon rightfully belong to Butch Hartman.
Author Notes: What can I say? This idea is a result of watching an episode of "Billy and Mandy" if you're a fan of the cartoon then you would know Billy has an extreme fear of spiders, Particularly his "son" Jeff who is... You guessed it, a giant spider.
"Get your ass back here dipstick!" Ember bellowed angrily, strumming her guitar as she flew, creating one "fist blast" after another in the hopes of hitting the ghost boy.
"Right..." Danny said sarcastically as he kept dodging Ember's assault. "Because you screaming makes me so want to go fly into your waiting arms..."
Ember's eye twitched uncontrollably. "Don't make it sound like we're together because we are not!"
"I wasn't trying to." He replied confused "It was... You know... Witty banter."
"Well cut it out!" She hissed. "And stay still!"
An ecto-ray hit a tree, which Danny thankfully dodged.
"Now why would I want to do that?" He shot back. "So you can use me for target practice?... Yeah I don't see that happening."
Another ecto-blast hit a random park bench.
"Well you should have thought of that before destroying my stage!"
"For the last time Ember!" The hero said exasperatedly "It was poorly constructed; it was going to collapse whether or not I showed up!"
"SAYS YOU!"
"Yeah, says me!" He snapped in annoyance "For fudge's sake Ember! If you had taken one step let alone stand on it, you could have gotten seriously hurt! I was doing you a favor!"
"By vaporizing my stage?!"
"I didn't even touch it!"He pointed out, annoyed. "Blowing some wind was meant to prove my point!"
"All you proved was how much of a nuisance you are!" She snarled, her green eyes turning red with rage. "So how about you come over here so that I can thank you by ripping you apart!"
"Uh, how about no?"
"Who said you had a voice in the matter?!" Ember sneered. "Just my luck that the one time I want nothing more than to play my music with no strings attached, you show up and ruin everything anyway for my adoring fans and I!"
"What fans?!" Danny snapped "If you didn't notice Ember, the park is almost empty!"
"Haven't you heard of the Internet dipstick?" She retorted smugly "One guy and a cell phone is all it takes for the night to turn wild in a matter of seconds!"
"Ok, you know what?" The Halfa said tiredly "I so don't have the time or energy for this."
Danny unhooked the Fenton Thermos from his belt, an action which made the pale ghost go stiff.
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way Ember." Danny said evenly "You can either go into the Ghost Zone willingly or I can make you go."
"That's low dipstick" Ember said, narrowing her eyes "First you ruin my night and now you're threatening me?" She scoffed. "Some hero you are."
"And who are you to tell me how to do my job?"
"True, I may not understand your logic behind protecting this backwater town." She agreed dismissively "But even I know never to kick someone when they're down!"
"I hardly consider you ready to rock being down in the dumps." Danny said dryly.
"If you must know dipstick." She huffed "I just broke up with my boyfriend and getting ready to rock was meant to be the perfect pick me up."
Danny raised an eyebrow. "You were seeing someone?"
"I was." She confirmed. "What? You don't think I'm capable of getting a worthy prey?!"
"A prey?" Danny mocked "Don't tell me you've been hanging out with Skulker?"
"What if I have?" She challenged. "Believe it or not ghosts can have social after-lives outside of you dipstick."
"Wait... You don't mean...?" His eyes widened as large as dinner plates at putting two and two together. "You were his girlfriend?"
"Ding ding ding." Ember sang sarcastically "Fifty points for Gryffindor."
"I'm sorry but..." Danny gaped like a fish out of water. "But... It's a bit hard to believe that you were the girlfriend he was talking about while trying to get my pelt and prove he wasn't a lousy hunter."
"Are you really surprised he sucks?"
"No, I'm more surprised that he wasn't lying." The hero admitted "You do know that he's really a tiny green snot, right?"
"Well unlike you, I can't afford to be picky about who I date."
"Really? You think with your powers, mesmerizing someone would be a piece of cake."
Ember narrowed her eyes dangerously. "You think I wouldn't be able to get a date unless I use my music to attract some poor schmuck?!"
"Do I need to remind you of the fact that you used mind control to get people to adore you just so they could say your name?"
"Hey! That was different!"
"Oh yeah?" Danny challenged, crossing his arms "Then by all means, enlighten me."
"I well.. uh.. you see... Wait a minute! I don't have to explain squat to you Phantom!" Ember hissed "What I will do is break you in half!"
The ghost diva flung her guitar at Danny, ready to break his skull with her instrument, and if it broke in the process? Well Ember wouldn't consider it a big loss since she had a replacement back at her lair.
Danny of course dodged the guitar colliding with his head with ease.
"Maybe you should consider playing baseball Ember." He teased "Could work better than being a no hit wonder."
"YOU'RE DEAD!"
"And to that I say batter up!"
"Your witty banter is starting to be a pain in my snow white a..."
Danny raised an eyebrow curiously.
"Ember would never stop talking, especially when she wants to use that mouth of hers to verbally abuse me."
She was no longer levitating nor was she attempting to flying near him to cause him bodily harm. In fact the moment Ember stopped talking she just stood still, doing a very good impression of a statue, almost as if Medusa had done the job.
"Ember... You ok?"
The diva however didn't seem to acknowledge her surroundings anymore; she simply was totally paralyzed.
"Even if we're not on the best of terms, I gotta know what's up with her."
With that in mind, Danny couldn't help but notice the fear in those green eyes of hers. That was more than enough for the Half-Ghost to suspect that something was very, very wrong.
"What could possibly have her scared out of her wits?" He thought "In all the time I've known her, I've never seen her show a fear of anything."
Danny looked behind him, hoping to see any kind of indication of what exactly had the singer over the edge.
"... Nothing."
Well, technically not nothing, it was just a tree but Danny was sure it wasn't what had the pale ghost so stiff.
"Maybe it's what's up in the tree?"
So he took flight.
"Nothing but leaves, no scary animals, nothing supernatural unless I count the deafness of the situation ... So what gives?"
Ember finally made a whimpering sound, Danny turned around and looked down to meet his rival.
He soon noticed that she was shaking uncontrollably.
"Ember?"
She whimpered again.
His boots touched the ground, cautiously walking to the older teenager.
"Ember, cut it out, you're starting to scare the crap out of me." Danny ordered gently "And considering we're both ghosts that's saying something."
"Sp... Sp... Sp..." She kept spluttering "Sp... Sp... Sp..."
"What are you trying to tell me?"
"Sp... Sp... Sp..."
Danny knew then that while Ember was trying, she wasn't going to tell him what was going on, so he was on his own to figure things out.
Fortunately for him, he didn't have to do much investigating. Danny walked in circles around the ghostly singer and was surprised to find out that Ember had a little friend on her back and it wasn't her guitar.
A small spider was crawling up the singer's back.
Danny made a face of disgust, he had never been fond of spiders and from the looks of it Ember shared that feeling but probably a bit more extremely.
By this point she had her eyes closed, unable to move, unable to turn intangible and rid herself from the arachnid, instead all she could do was splutter what Danny could now say for certain was trying to scream "Spider."
Ember squealed when she felt its many legs making contact with her pale skin.
So being the good guy that he was, Danny swiped the arachnid from her back and put it down on the ground (but far away from the diva).
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"
Danny had to put his finger inside his ear to try and get rid of the ringing he was hearing.
"Geez Ember, you really have quite a set of lungs."
"Did you kill the spider?!" She asked hysterically looking in all directions.
"Huh?"
"DID YOU KILL THE SPIDER?!"
"Wha...? No I just set it free somewhere."
Ember slapped him on the back of the head.
"Ow!"
"What kind of idiot doesn't kill a spider?!"
"The kind of person who's best friends with an ultra-recyclo-vegetarian." Danny shot back while massaging his head.
"For future reference, you see one, you kill it!"
"Why didn't you?" Danny questioned "You have ghost powers too, you could've turned intangible or teleported it somewhere else or something!"
"Because it was your fault!"
"How was it my fault that a spider was crawling up your back!" Danny snapped back "What the hell kind of logic is that?!"
Ember shuddered in disgust, almost as if she still felt the tiny legs crawling all over her body. "It just is Dipstick!"
"Wait..." Danny muttered, the pieces of the puzzle setting in perfectly "Ember... Are you... Are you afraid of spiders?"
"What?!" She bellowed darkly "Of course not!"
"There's nothing wrong with that you know."
"I am NOT scared of spiders dipstick!"
"Ok then." Danny said, lifting his arms in a motion of surrender "Then you're not going to freak out by the fact that another one is crawling on your boot?"
"Say what?"
Ember looked down and much to her horror, a spider was crawling on her boot.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKK!"
The pale ghost jumped so high in the air she almost looked an Olympic gymnast making a leap.
Ember was so terrified that she didn't notice landing in Danny's arms, she kept looking at the spider or at where it could have gone since late at night was hardly the best time to see, despite her ghostly view.
"Is it gone?" She asked looking down in all possible directions, holding onto Danny for dear after-life.
"I think you scared it off." He rasped.
"Are you sure?"
"I'd say fifty/fifty."
Ember suddenly realised the compromising situation she landed them into, blushing furiously she pushed herself out of Danny's arms, thankful that the poor lighting of the park wouldn't make it obvious that her face turned from pasty white to tomato red.
"So... Uh you're afraid of spiders?" Danny asked tentatively.
"Go ahead and mock me." Ember snarled "I'm sure you're going to have a field day with this."
"Do you really think I would do that?"
"Why not? I haven't exactly done anything for you to not get a little payback at my expense."
"Ember, if there is something I would never do, is kick someone when they're down." Danny said while crossing his arms. "So I'm not about to cause you grief over your arachnophobia."
"Arachno what now?"
"Oh sorry, my sister kinda tells me what a specific fear is called." He answered sheepishly "Erm basically, I'm saying I'm not going to use your fear of spiders against you."
"Really?" Ember asked suspiciously "Why not?"
"Because I'm not Plasmius."
She rolled her eyes "You and your hero complex Phantom... Go figure."
"But if you don't mind me asking... Why are you afraid of spiders?" Danny inquired "I mean we both know there are far worse things in the Ghost Zone, I mean for starters I've seen Skulker hunt insects bigger than a car! And you're afraid of the small ones?"
"Ok two things." Ember hissed "One, never mention my ex-boyfriend in my presence again and two; I can handle the big bugs, they're easier to kill, it's the regular sized spiders that creep me out... I mean, you never know where they could be, they hide in plain sight and some are very poisonous!"
"But... Wouldn't you be immune?" Danny questioned confused "I mean, you're dead."
"Thanks for reminding me dipstick." Ember said dryly "But if you must know when I was alive some jerks put a whole bunch of spiders in my locker and I've been scared of them ever since."
"Oh... Wow... Harsh."
"You're telling me." Ember muttered hugging herself. "I know spiders can't hurt me but... The fear is still there, under my skin."
"Erm... Hey Ember?"
"What?"
"Do you... How would you feel about maybe... Getting a bite to eat?"
"Are you asking me out on a date?" She asked surprised.
"Hardly a date." Danny pointed out "I don't have that kind of money, just maybe a burger and fries at the Nasty Burger."
"Why the sudden change?" Ember asked suspiciously "Just a few moments ago you were about to cramp me into that thermos of yours."
"Well your stage is gone and the spiders didn't exactly calm you down, so I'm being a gentleman and letting you have a night in the human realm with no strings attached, now you can either question it or you can enjoy it."
Ember put her guitar in the holder, tired of carrying it around.
"This little fiasco with the spider stays between us... Got it?!"
"Got it."
"You really won't tell anyone about my fear of spiders?"
"What fear of spiders?" He asked cheekily.
For that statement he was rewarded with an irreplaceable peck on the cheek.
"You know what dipstick?"
"Umm... What?"
"You're not half bad."
"My spidey senses are tingling." Danny said jokingly.
Ember narrowed her eyes "I take it back, you're the worse!"
"Aw, your mean!"
"Yeah? Well get used to it!"
The two of then flew away from the park afterwards.
With secret smiles on their faces.
Arachnophobia is the fear of spiders, as if the story itself wasn't definition enough.
I'm aware that spiders aren't insects but I'm sure Danny doesn't know that, even though Sam most likely told him countless times.
Truth be told, there were so many potential women in Danny's life that I considered could have had the phobia, like Desiree, Kitty, Sam, Valerie, Star, to name a few, but I ultimately picked Ember since she's my favorite ghost gal in the show and I wanted something unusual she would fear since fire would be quite predictable and ironic unlike spiders since she's already dead and would have no reason to have an anxiety for something so small when in the Ghost Zome there are things far worse than these predaceous arachnids.
I want to think I did a pretty nice job hinting the possibility of something starting between Danny and Ember because of their unwanted "guest" but I don't think I'll write more because sometimes certain scenarios are better left to the imagination.
Also, I couldn't resist the idea of making a reference to Spider-Man, because why not? I mean the "Ghost Sense" is basically a parody of the "Spidy Sense."
So, do gimme your thoughts on this fic, as always I accept any constructive criticism you head my way.
Invader Johnny Signing Off.