Remember: The Ember Mclain Story
Prologue: Remember
Yeah! Ohh-ooohhh!
It was, it was September,
Wind blows, the dead leaves fall,
To you, I did surrender,
Two weeks, you didn't call...
Your life goes on without me,
My life, a losing game,
But you should, you should not doubt me,
You will remember my name...
Oh, Ember, you will remember!
Ember, one thing remains!
Oh, Ember, so warm and tender!
You will remember my name!
Your heart, your heart abandoned,
You're wrong, now bear the shame,
Like bad dreams in cold December,
Nothing, but ashes remain...
Oh, Ember, you will remember!
Ember, one thing remains!
Ember, so warm and tender!
You will remember my name!
Oh-woo-oh-woo, Ember!
You will remember!
Ember, one thing remains!
Ember, so warm and tender!
You will remember my name!
Yeah! You will remember my name!
-The Ghost Zone-
One year after the events of "Phantom Planet"
Ember Mclain cursed the cold, green mists of the Ghost Zone skies as she drifted in haste toward the place she needed to go. "Sky" was an awful word for it. Skies were supposed to be blue, with big fluffy clouds that looked like you could just plop right down on them and nap the day away, with wind blowing through your hair in a welcomed embrace of cool, soothing wind. This was no sky. Not to Ember, anyway. There was no wind in her hair, there were no white fluffy clouds, there was no welcome, and it certainly wasn't blue. It was just a big, ugly, murky, green, hellish fog.
Ember hated it, but there was no time to dwell on it now. She had something important to do. Everything had gone smoothly for her so far. And if that dipstick ghost boy Danny Phantom kept out of the way, everything would continue smoothly. Even so, she couldn't seem to get rid of that dammed nagging feeling in the back of her head that he would show. "Ugh…shake it off Ember…can't lose my focus now. Almost there." She said to herself. A Memory broke loose and flashed through embers mind.
There was a boy…somehow she knew him, but couldn't piece together where from. "DON'T LEAVE ME! PLEASE! IM BEGGING YOU! DON'T DO THIS TO THIS TO ME! PLEASE! DON'T LEAVE ME!" pleaded a voice. The scene shifted and there were flames everywhere….and agony…terrible searing pain and agony…a piercing undeveloped death scream-
"AGGH!" Ember screamed. She tried to grasp the memory to find out more, but not in time. The memory was forced back inside of where it had been locked away. After recovering from whatever that was, she noticed where she was. She made it. Below her was a large landmass covered in snow and ice. It was The Realm of The Far Frozen. "Finally…" Ember said to herself. She tightened her guitar strap to stop the guitar from sliding off her back, and began to float downward.
"Stop right there, Ember!" demanded a familiar and annoying voice from behind her.
Ember stopped and turned around. "I don't know why you want the Infi-map, but I do know that whatever the reason, it can't be good!" Danny Phantom exclaimed. "Beat it, Dipstick. I don't have any time to deal with you." Ember said. "Sorry to disappoint you, but that's not going to happen." Danny replied. "This isn't another 'Take over Amity Park and make the adults bend to my will' scheme. This is something I need to do for myself. Now go away!" Ember said, ready to grab her guitar if necessary. "Yeah, like I'm going to believe that! There's no way I'm letting the likes of you take what's not yours." Danny declared, ready to fight.
"I don't want to keep it. I just need to look at it." Ember explained. "Look, if you really must know I'm trying to find Clockworks Headquarters. I can't remember anything about my life—about who I was…my memories were taken from me, and Clockwork's the only entity who came give them back. Now GO AWAY!" Danny relaxed his muscles. He finally realized Ember wasn't lying. "You were alive?" Danny inquired. "Duh! Of course I was. What do you think this place is? This isn't just some other dimension-not every ghost here is a crazed villain. This is the land of the dead, Danny! We're all DEAD! Every ghost here can't move on until they've finished their unfinished business. That's why we're here-we're trapped, unlike you! Do you really think any of us would stay in this God awful place if we had a choice! I need to get out of here, but before I can I need my memories! Now will you please go away?" Ember asked a little more politely.
"I don't think you want me to," Danny said, bringing the Infi-map out from behind his back. "Because I have it. I needed to borrow it from Frostbite again so that I could find-wait, did you just call me Danny?" "Yeah. That's your name, isn't it? Danny Phantom or Fenton, or whatever." Ember said. "Yeah, It's just you always call me dipstick, or baby pop, or ghost boy, or some other name like that." Danny said. "It's nothing personal…I call anybody who annoys me a dipstick. Just then I didn't feel like calling you one. Look, I'm not looking for a fight. I need the Infi-map to take me to Clockwork's Headquarters. That's it. After that you can have it back. After I find Clockwork, I won't need it." Ember asked. "If what you're telling me is true, I'll let you see the Infi-map on one condition." Danny bargained. "What?" Ember asked.
"I'll take you to him if you let me come with you. I need to ask him a few questions myself." Danny bargained.
"Fine. Whatever. Just let me look at it." Ember agreed. Danny opened the Infi-Map, which projected several doors in midair. "It's more complicated than I thought…how do I read this thing?" Ember said looking at the map She chanted off a few familiar realms as she spotted them on the map. "Walker's prison….Skulker's lair…" "Still can't believe you dated him." Danny joked. She gave him an annoyed glare. "Shut up Dipstick…" Ember said as she continued to search the map. "The Splitzone…no…Klemper's realm…Ugh I hate that ghost…Pariah's Keep…Pandora's Lair…The Shadowzone…The Gates of On…what are those two? Never seen them before." Ember commented.
"Neither have I." Danny said. I can't find it…stupid map where the-" Ember said. "You don't need to endlessly search. The map can take you right to it." Danny informed her. "How?" She asked. "You just ask. Here, grab a hold of the map." Danny instructed. Ember did as he said. "Take us to Clockwork's Headquarters!" Danny asked the map. The map spit out a rift and shot up into the sky with Ember and Danny holding tightly onto it. The map curled around and sped into the rift just before it vanished.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Clockwork gazed into his time window and watched Ember and Danny as they came closer to his headquarters. "Sir, it seems The Ghost child Danny Phantom and Ember Mclain are-" "I know." Clockwork said to the Observant behind him. "But…how?" asked one of the Observants. "I know everything. Ember Mclain wants her memories restored, and young Danny Phantom has questions of his own." Clockwork said. "We do not believe the girl is ready for her memories." one Observant asked. "She nearly broke the balance of both worlds because of her anger!" said the other. "You cannot restore them to her! We forbid it!" They both declared.
"I'm not asking your permission. Your job is to observe the events of time and my job is to keep it. You do your job, and I'll do mine." Clockwork said. "But-" the Observants objected. "They're here." Clockwork interrupted. Ember Mclain and Danny opened the door to Clockworks quarters and step inside. "Ah, just in time. My, Ember Mclain and Danny Phantom, what brings you to my headquarters?" Clockwork asked. "Don't act surprised Clockwork, you knew we were coming..." Danny said. "He knew we were coming?" Ember asked in surprised. "He knows everything." Danny said. "Everything, indeed." Clockwork said with a smile.
"Then I don't have to tell you why I came here." Ember said. "I wouldn't be much of a master of time if I didn't. You want your memories back. Unfortunately, I can't give them to you." Clockwork informed her. "What do you mean you can't! You took them away from me, didn't you? You should be able to!" Ember protested. "You misunderstand. I can't give them to you because I don't have them. Your memories weren't taken. They were locked so that you couldn't access them." Clockwork explained. "Well unlock them already!" Ember demanded irritably. Clockwork floated up to one of his many clocks and began to wind it.
"I understand you have a few questions for me Danny. No need to ask them. I already know what you're going to ask. Don't worry. After you see Ember's memories you'll know the answers." He said. After Clockwork finished winding the clock, he floated back down to his time window. "Come here." he instructed. Ember and Danny came over to him. Through a window of ectoplasmic energy, Danny saw images of different things passing.
At one time, it showed himself in his human form as Danny Fenton, at another moment, it showed Skulker roaming about his lair, and then it showed him as Danny Fenton again, but this time he was with his friends. "Do you know what this is?" Clockwork asked gazing inside the window. "No idea. But it better unlock my memories…" Ember said. "In due time Ember, in due time. Be patient." Clockwork said. "This is how you keep track of time right? You can view anything." Danny answered. Clockwork nodded. "Yes I can. This is a time-window. With it I can view all things that were, all things that are, and all things that are yet to be. When you receive your memories, focus them here so that we can all see them.
Pay close attention to what you are about to see Danny." Clockwork instructed. "Why do I need to see them? I wasn't even born when she was alive." Danny asked. "You and Ember have more connections than you know." Clockwork answered. "We do?" Ember asked, curious. "Oh, yes. Before I give you your memories, I must inform you that what you will see will not be pleasant memories. You will find them paved with grief, sorrow, pain, loss, agony, anger, and hatred. My Observants do not believe you are ready for them. However, to undo the damage you have done, you will need to have them back. Now then, are you ready?" Clockwork asked. "Don't you already know that?" Ember asked. "Of course I do, but do you?" Clockwork asked back.
She stood silent for a moment. "I'm ready. I'm ready to remember." Ember decided. Clockwork raised his clock staff, and brought it close to Ember's face. "Look directly into my staff." Clockwork instructed. He pushed a button. The hands on the face of the clock on the clock staff began to spin. They move around, faster and faster and faster until ember could no longer see them. There was a flash, and afterward, it was as if something her mind unhinged and fell loose. Memories poured through Embers head. She remembered it all, every little detail right up to her horrible, bitter demise.
And then another memory flashed by causing Ember to gasp. She stared at Danny Phantom, wide eyed, as if seeing someone she lost a long time ago. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Danny asked, confused. "I knew it…you're ghost half is…I knew it!" Ember said with tears in her eyes. "Knew what?" Danny asked hopelessly confused. Before Ember could respond Clockwork interrupted.
"Focus your memories onto the Window of time so we can see them.' Clockwork told her. She stood up, wiped the tears from her face, and projected her memories onto the Window of Time. The image shifted into an image of Ember that Danny had never seen before. It was Ember when she was alive. She had beautiful long brown-red hair tied up in a long fiery ponytail, and very beautiful piercing green eyes. She wore a pair of bark blue denim jeans and a black t-shirt with a heart surrounded by teal blue fire on it. An old battered black guitar case was slung over her shoulder.
"Whoa…that's you when you were alive…" Danny said. "Yeah…that was me. I look happy…" Ember said with sadness. "You were beautiful." Danny complimented. "Thanks. Now watch. This is where it began. Remember the boy I mentioned in my song? Well this is how I met him." Ember said. Danny gazed into the window of time and saw for the first time the beginning of Ember's tragic story.