Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any characters associated with the series. If I did, I'd have a ghost army at my disposal, wreaking havoc everywhere.
This is a fic that I started because a friend of mine likes the pairing and told me she didn't see enough good stories for them.
Danny hated himself. Clockwork had sent him back a split second too late, and the Nasty Burger had exploded, killing all of his friends and destroying his mortal body in the process. He would have gone back to Clockwork, but he couldn't find the time-twisting ghost, no matter how hard he searched. In fact, he had searched so hard that he was now lost, wandering aimlessly through the Ghost Zone. He'd passed several natural portals to the living world, but there was nothing there for him but painful memories.
Just as he had given up everything, he ran into one of many people he didn't want to see. Skulker. He had enough power to take the brute, but nowhere near enough resolve to fight. "What is it, Skulker?"
"Simple, whelp. I heard about your little depression problem and decided to put you out of your misery." The hunter whipped out a familiar-looking thermos. "Like it? I designed it especially for you. It's a new piece of weaponry that can rip a ghost apart, molecule by molecule, until there's nothing left of you but empty space that smells like hormones."
"Honestly, I don't care anymore. If you're so happy with your new toy, why don't you try it out?"
"Well, aren't we pathetic? Since you want it so badly, I suppose I must oblige you." The hulking bionic shell pointed the open end of the thermos at Danny, open end first. It began to glow.
As Danny closed his eyes, a new, yet known voice entered his ears. "Isn't that a bit harsh, Skulky? He may be a brat, but he doesn't deserve to die."
"Don't question me! This whelp will die for his many years of humiliating me!"
Danny opened his eyes to the image of Skulker backhanding Ember, who had presumably been the one defending him. "Hey, that's uncalled for. Just because she was showing a shred of decency doesn't mean she needs to be beaten senseless."
"Be quiet, boy. She's my catch, and as such I will do as I please with her."
"I'm just saying. I know a bit about ruining relationships, seeing as I just about murdered my friends and family. Looks like you're about to travel the same path."
"Silence, you insolent little shit. This bitch needs to learn discipline, so I'm teaching her. You have no say in the matter."
"Oooh. Big bad Skulker learned a few curses. You're starting to piss me off with all of your treating people like possessions nonsense."
"And what are you going to do about it?"
"This." A beam of green light hit Skulker square in the jaw, knocking the fake thermos out of his hand. "You should have killed me when you had the chance."
Danny caught the spinning thermos and opened it towards Skulker out of habit. By the time he realized what he had done, the hunting ghost had been torn to shreds. Danny simply floated there, gaping. He had done it again. He had been responsible for yet another being to be wiped out of existence. As the realization sank in, he became increasingly horrified, bordering on going into shock. He was pulled out of his despair-ridden trance by Ember's voice.
"Thanks for sticking up for me but this doesn't make us square, got it?"
"Yeah, Ember. Whatever." Danny started floating away.
"You think you're the only one in the entire Ghost Zone with problems, don't you?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means you gotta stop wallowing in your self-pity and move on. You indirectly killed some people, yeah. You did accidentally annihilate a Ghost. That may be some messed up stuff, but what's done is done. You gotta stop living in the past. Don't start worrying about the future, either. The here and now, that's what matters."
"You sound like your speaking from personal experience."
"Maybe I am, maybe not. See you later, dipstick." The ghost rock star winked as she flew away.
Danny sighed and headed in the opposite direction. He realized that what she said was true, but there's no such thing as instant recovery. He decided to take his depression to the same place normal people did. He headed for the nearest bar.
He went on like this for a while, moving from bar to bar, drinking his troubles away, though he had no idea what they were serving him that could make a ghost drunk. He quickly became famous across every bar in the Ghost Zone as a lone drinker who didn't socialize much except to ask for another drink. No one bothered him. This was partly because, without him protecting Amity Park, they had no need to fight him, and partly because few were willing to face one of the most powerful—if not the single most powerful—ghosts in the world in a drunken rage.
After about seven months of this repetitive drinking, he stopped at a bar called the Creepy Cantina, picked a corner and asked for a particularly strong beverage. Suddenly he heard a voice he recognized.
"Make that two."
Danny simply mumbled, "Ember."
"Nice to see you too, baby pop."
"So what brings Ember Mclain, the most famous musician in the ghost zone, to a rundown place like this? No offense, Joe." He addressed the last part to the owner, who happened to be the bartender.
"None taken. It's a dump."
"Anyway, the question stands."
"Well, business isn't great. People just get bored of the same songs, you know?"
"Why not just write some more?" Danny gave her a somewhat questioning look. It was the first display of emotion elicited from him in a while.
"You make it sound so simple."
"You do have literally all the time in the world to write."
"It doesn't matter. When I'm not inspired, I can't write. Period. End of story!"
"Calm down, Ember, just trying to help."
"Yeah, sorry. Must be the booze." By now they had both finished five or six drinks. "Why are you helping me anyway. Aren't you supposed to be some kind of lone wolf who doesn't say a word to anyone but the bartender?"
"Yeah, I guess that about sums it up, but I'd be worse off if you didn't help me out a while back. I'd still be just a wanderer." The silence bathed them for a while at the memory of Skulker's final day, until Ember broke it.
"Hey, I know! Let me see your iPod! Don't give me that look, I know you have one."
Danny pulled the device out of his pocket. "Why do you want it?"
"Maybe if I listen to some other music, I'll get inspiration for some new songs."
"Then you won't get much help here." He started to put it back.
"Why not? Just give it here." She yanked it out of his hand and started scrolling through it. "Hey, why are all of the songs on your iPod mine? You don't have some sick perverted rivalry crush on me do you?"
For the first time in the two years since he'd entered the Ghost Zone, Danny Phantom blushed. "No, No. Nothing like that. I just thought if I was going to spend eternity in the Ghost Zone, I should listen to the music of the Ghost Zone."
"Oh, okay. That makes a little sense. Shit, is it really that late? I gotta go, but thanks for the drinks, baby pop."
"Wait, wha—" And just like that, she was out the door. He footed the bill, noting that she had drunk twelve mugs of whatever that stuff was. He chuckled inwardly at the thought of her being arrested for flying while intoxicated and left the building to find the nearest hotel.
His joke wasn't nearly as funny when he woke up the next morning to the crappy hotel T.V. showing a mug shot of Ember, who was arrested the night before for unsafe flying. "Oh, the irony," He mumbled.
She was being held by Walker, which Danny thought was a bit extreme for a little drunkenness. Suddenly, his cell phone rang, and he remembered that he had had a lot to drink last night, too.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Danny. I'm in a little pinch here."
"I saw it on the news. Where'd you get this number?"
"I've still got your iPod, dipstick."
"Oh, right."
"Now can we please get back to my single, very important phone call?"
"If it's so important, why call me?"
"Kitty's mad at me for kissing Johnny a while back. Long story. Maybe I can tell you when I get out of prison!"
"Alright, alright. What do you need?"
"I need you to come post my bail."
"I already paid for all the drinks you had last night."
"Which is why you should help me. You're partially to blame for letting me drink so much."
"Fine, Fine." The line went dead.
He got directions and made his way to Walker's prison. He posted her twelve thousand dollar bail, muttering about how ridiculous it was. They were walking out of the prison when there was a heavily accented voice behind them.
"Where do y'all think you're goin'?"
"I paid her bail, Walker. We're leaving."
"I'm afraid I can't allow that. You see, All the publicity from her arrest, combined with you posting her bail, has made this prison a hefty sum in funds, to say the least. Therefore, I cannot allow her to leave."
"Alright, Walker, since I'm obviously going to have to fight you, why don't we raise the stakes? If I win, Ember and I both have our records wiped clean, and I get back the money for her bail."
"That's a lot to ask. What if I win?"
"I double the bail amount and you keep her here."
"That's all?"
"And you get me."
"That's more like it. You're on, boy."
The fight, while intense, was over in a matter of seconds. Walker shot ecto-rope at Danny, and Danny simply dodged it and fired several ghost rays in rapid succession, all finding their marks somewhere on walker's body.
Walker was forced to admit defeat, and Danny got his money back.
Ember, of course, had something to say as soon as they got out of the prison.
"Well wasn't that sweet? You risked your ass to save mine. If I didn't know better, I'd think you had a soft spot for me."
"Save you? Please. I just wanted my money back. Besides, I've beaten him before, and he hasn't gotten any better."
The flaming-haired rock star rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, dipstick."
"Well, anyway, I guess this is where we go our separate ways. Bye, Ember. See you at some bar somewhere."
"Hmm… Nah, I think I'll hang out with you for a while."
"Do I have a choice in the matter?"
"Nope."
"Fine, just make sure you can keep up." The green-eyed boy sighed and shook his head.
"Alright then."
The two continued on, wandering in search of a bar, chatting idly on their way. They mostly talked about music, seeing as that was Ember's business. When Ember asked where Danny got all the money he'd been using from, he revealed that he'd stolen it from Vlad Masters. Eventually they passed a building that wasn't a bar, but sparked the ghost singer's interest all the same.
"Hey, look! A night club! Let's go in."
"No."
"Please? We don't have to stay long."
After a few minutes of arguing, she dragged Danny into the club and they got a table. "Now what?" Danny asked, not hiding his reluctance to be there at all.
"Now we dance."
"Hell no."
"Come on, baby pop!"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I don't dance."
"Please?"
"I paid for your drinks last night and got you out of prison today. I'm fine with doing those things, but I refuse to dance."
"You need to loosen up." As she said those words, a song by her came on. "Please? It's my song."
"Fine."
They got onto the dance floor and Danny kept things small and simple, while Ember danced her heart out. She spent a while trying to coax him out of his shell, and when he finally did some lame dance move, she couldn't stop herself from laughing. He immediately left the dance floor.
She chased him back to the table and tried to convince him that she thought he wasn't that bad, which was a complete lie. He was terrible. She failed, and they ended up not doing much for the rest of the night. They crossed the street and rented a room with two beds, causing her to tease him about his need for boundaries.
"Sorry, Ember, but a few drinks and a bad dance move doesn't make us that close."
"Yeah, yeah. I think you just wouldn't be able to contain yourself."
They lay in their respective beds for a while before Danny asked, "You still awake?"
She responded, "No, I'm dead asleep." The pun made them both chuckle slightly.
"Remember when I killed Skulker and you said that stuff to me? "
"Vaguely."
"When you said you spoke from personal experience—"
"I said might or might not."
"Okay, if you were speaking from personal experience, what was the experience?"
"Well, It's not that long of a story…"
A/N: As stated above, this is for a friend. That does not, however, mean that it will be a simplistic, stupid love story. There will be a larger plot behind it, I'm just not quite sure what yet.