I do not own Danny Phantom in any way, it's all owned by Nickelodeon!
It's a Ghoulful Life
"I am so out of here!" screamed a teenage boy as he slammed the front door of his house, drowning out the noise of the argument running rampant in the inside.
Every year was the same thing over and over, fighting over the stupidest debate possible between two fully grown adult, acting less mature than teenagers.
"I'm going to blow off some steam," he exclaimed as he snuck back into the house and into the basement which had been repurposed into a high tech laboratory for ghost hunting.
At the end of the shiny lab, was a large hexagonal portal cut out from the wall. This portal granted the user access to the mysterious Ghost Zone which sprawled for millions of miles on end.
The teenage boy activated, and passed through the portal, emerging in the other side, surrounded by an eerie green glow and floating doors as far as the eye could see.
Floating to a nearby island, the boy began to lash out on his surroundings, firing off small ecto energy blasts off at the surrounding rock and tree-life.
"Why does my family have to be crazy?!" the boy screamed out, not caring who or what was listening.
Unfortunately for him, he seemed to have attracted the attention of a few ghosts from nearby, including on extra michievious one.
Not even noticing, he let off another large blast and lashed out again.
"God, I wish I was never even born at this point!" he screamed.
And the damage was done. Just a little bit off the the island, a particular ghost had a broad smile grow on her face.
"So you have wished it, so it shall be..." she bellowed and snapped her fingers.
Everything seemed to have gone white for a few moments, like a concussion blast from a war zone, and all that could be heard was a horribly loud ringing noise.
That same teenage boy sat up slowly, clutching his head. Somehow he had been knocked onto the ground with not much recollection of how.
'Weird,' the boy thought as he rose to his feet. He left the small island, and began floating aimlessly through the Ghost Zone.
After a couple minutes, he stumbled upon a particular door that intrigued him. There were Christmas lights lining the frame and he could see the flashing of lights from underneath the door itself.
Having remembered why he was there in the first place, he decided to throw caution to the wind and knocked on the door.
A larger ghost, wearing an all white suit, and a large black hat answered the door.
Looking down at his clipboard, he scanned the list for the boys name.
"What's your name boy?" he asked once he came upon the realization that he didn't even know.
The boy looked at him like he was crazy.
"Are you kidding?" he asked incredulously, "How do you not recognize me?"
"Listen son, if your name's not on the list, then you're not allowed in. Them's the rules boy," the large ghost announced before a much smaller female ghost butted in.
"Come on Walker, lighten up, it's Christmas after all," she pleaded with him. She was dressed much less formally than Walker was, dressed in a red bikers jacket, long black boots and some fishnets.
Walker stared the boy down for a few moments before finally relenting.
"Fine, I'll let you in boy, but if you cause even an once of trouble I'll throw you in the Ghost Zone prison faster than you can say halfa," he exclaimed as he stepped to the side, allowing the boy to enter into the party.
The realm was huge on the inside, with tables all over the place sporting various snack foods, drinks and party games all for the guests enjoyment.
"Hey, thanks a lot back there Kitty," the boy said as he followed the ghostly girl back through the crowd of the party.
She turned around to look at him.
"How do you know my name?" she asked surprised. She could have sworn she had never seen him before in her life.
The boy was taken aback. Now two people he for sure had interacted with before were acting like they had never even seen him prior.
"Are you kidding, you're doing this too? Don't you remember me?" he asked desperately.
She silently shook her head while looking at him like he was slightly crazy.
"Listen kid, I gotta go do party managing stuff, so just stay out of trouble and stop weirding me out, got it?" she said matter of factly as she turned to get as far away from him as she could.
The boy was left standing on the spot, completely baffled at what had transpired since he arrived at the party.
So far, two separate people had just seemingly forgot him.
Not knowing what was going on, the boy drifted off towards the corner of the main area, towards a bar like area set up with punch, eggnog, and various waters and sodas.
Not even bothering to grab himself something, he just sat there in silence while he observed everyone else at the party having fun and having a good time.
'What the hell is happening? I know almost everyone here, yet almost no one seems to recognize me,' he thought to himself.
While he was caught up in his thoughts, he didn't notice a female ghost pull up a stool and drag it up close to him so that she was right next to him.
"Hey there Baby-Pop, I haven't really seen you around here before, are you one of Kitty's friends?"
The boy jumped at the sudden attention, which also caused the ghost girl to jump in response.
"Geez, didn't mean to scare ya," she said holding back laughter.
"It's alright, I was just...caught up in my thoughts," the boy said.
He turned to look the girl in the face for the first time. She had glowing baby blue hair which was so vibrant, that it looked like real fire. She was pale, but it worked and she wore tight leather clothing which complimented her well. He had already known who had saddled up next to him at the bar just by her voice, but he still took a minute anyway.
'Guess she doesn't remember me either considering how she's acting,' the boy thought as he decided on his next course of action.
"So uhh... what's your name?" he asked the girl sitting on his right.
She looked over at his glowing green eyes and batted her own, making herself look flirty.
'Uhh, this is kinda weird,' he determined. Having one of his enemies flirt with him was not normal, even for him.
"My name's Ember, Ember McLain," she answered, "and you better remember it!" she added quickly.
Having already known her name, he chuckled internally at her remark.
"And you are?" she pressed.
"Oh," he began, snapping out of his thoughts once again, "My name's Daniel...but you can call me Danny," he said trying hard to force a smile on his face.
Even though he still didn't know what was going on, he had to admit, talking to Ember without trying to kill each other was pretty nice.
She sat there for a moment analyzing the look written on Danny's face.
"So, what's got you so down in the dumps?" she asked. His grief had been plastered all over him. Really anybody could have noticed.
'I wish I knew,' Danny thought.
For the life of him he couldn't understand why absolutely no one at this party recognized him. Especially when he could name every single ghost there.
He was awoken from his thoughts by a loud snap right in front of his face.
"Right...sorry. Well...it's a really long story, I doubt you'd really be interested in it," he said in a low tone.
She looked at him with reassuring eyes, and nodded her head slowly, showing him that he had her full attention.
He then began to explain all of the happenings of this night, from him storming out of his home, to how he ended up here. He chose to leave out the bits about no one remembering him though.
"Wait, so you're a halfa?" Ember asked pointedly, "Wow, the only one I've ever seen is Vlad Plasmius, and that guys a Froot Loop."
For the first time tonight, Danny wore a smile on his face.
"No way? You call him that too?" he said excitedly. "I frickin hate the guy!"
"Me too!!" Ember yelled in response.
The two were happy to find some sort of common ground and the conversation branched right from that.
"So what has he done to get on your bad side?" she asked genuinely curious.
He thought for a moment.
'I better not let any details slip that I'm Amity Park's protector, especially since it doesn't seem to have happened now,' he thought quickly.
He made up some story about how Vlad was jealous that he was not the only halfa around the Ghost Zone anymore and that he's tried to end him a whole bunch of times.
"What a tool," Ember said as Danny nodded in agreement.
The two continued to talk for awhile, and not once did the conversation ever feel dry whatsoever. Danny and Ember were having the time of their lives just talking to each other, even though to Ember, they were complete strangers.
She told him all about her obsession with guitars and writing music, and she even gave him a cd of her debut album.
They even had the same music taste.
'Wow, I never thought Ember would be this cool,' Danny thought.
After a while, Ember got up to go grab them some drinks from some other part of the party, and Danny had a moment to himself.
He began to take in his surroundings finally. There were ghosts as far as he could see. Some that he recognized, and some that he had never even seen before. The only thing he knew for sure, was for some reason, not a single one of them recognized him.
Suddenly, Ember reappeared holding two drinks, one for her and one for the ghost boy.
"Hey, thanks," Danny said as he took a sip. It was surprisingly good, and he had a feeling it may not have been normal eggnog as it had appeared.
While the two continued to talk, the lighting in the room got low and the music turned from the vibrant party music, into a slower tune.
Ember stood up and extended her hand down towards Danny.
He looked up at her for a second confused. He had never danced with anyone before.
"Well come on Dipstick!" she said tugging him away from his stool.
She lead him through the crowd of ghosts, right to the middle of the room. He noticed a bunch of other ghost couples dancing all around him. Kitty and Johnny 13, and even (gross) The Box Ghost the Lunch Lady.
He looked at the DJ booth, and found Technus standing behind the turntables. He noticed Danny's gaze and returned it with a wink as he gestured towards Ember.
He had a feeling he knew how the slow song had gotten in the rotation.
Instinctively, he placed his hands around Ember's waist, and she placed her own around his neck. The two started to move slowly, taking each movement as if it were an intimate display.
She leaned in closer to Danny and began to whisper into his ear.
"Ya know BabyPop, I don't know if it's the drink talking but you're pretty light on your feet," she said, which made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.
It was true, he seemed to be a natural at this whole dancing thing.
The two got closer and Ember rested her head on Danny's shoulder as they rocked back in forth together.
'This has got to be the weirdest night of my life,' Danny thought after realizing he was slow dancing with one of his enemies.
A huge flash went off, blinding Danny and Ember, and the two were left rubbing their eyes only to find Kitty standing a few feet away holding a polaroid camera which was now spouting out a picture of Danny and Ember together.
"Kitty!" both of them yelled. They then looked at each other and laughed, realizing they both yelled at her.
Instead of answering, she dropped the picture in Danny's hands and skipped off before they could yell at her again.
Shaking their heads while looking at the picture, they both walked back to where they were sitting not too long ago.
They returned to find someone occupying their spot.
Danny poked them on the shoulder, and the ghost turned around to reveal a familiar face.
"Hello young Daniel, young Emberline," the ghost said in a proper tone.
Danny's eyes widened and he looked at the ghost sitting on the stool.
"Hi Clockwork?" he asked somewhat accusatorially.
Ember looked at Clockwork, then to Danny with one eyebrow cocked.
"Hey Clockwork, how do you know Danny? This is the first time I've ever seen him around here," she questioned.
Danny was worried.
'Yeah, how does he know?'
His question was answered, much to his chagrin, which only caused more questions to arise.
"Why, of course I know young Daniel, he is the protector of Amity Park," Clockwork bellowed as he turned into his elderly form.
'Here's where it all goes to crap.'
"Now if you'll excuse me, I simply must be going," Clockwork exclaimed as he wished them a Merry Christmas, and disappeared.
Ember looked at Danny with a questioning look.
"What did he mean, "Amity Park's protector"?" she asked in an accusatory tone.
He knew he had to come clean.
He began explaining his true life, including how he became a halfa and how he had fought just about everybody in the room, including her.
She looked only a little hurt.
"How come you're being so cool with me now then?" she asked.
"Because for some reason, no one here remembers me and I didn't even mean to be here originally, but once I got here and began talking to you I saw how cool you were and thing moved so fast and..." he explained before being cut off by Ember.
"It's okay, I get it." she said calmly which caught Danny by surprise.
"So since you said no one remembers you, and you apparently lived a whole different life, do you remember what you did before getting here?"
Danny wracked his brain trying to remember. He recalled storming out of his house after his parents yearly argument, and coming to the Ghost Zone.
"so then I came into the Ghost Zone and wait a second..."
'Oh my God,' he thought upon realizing his situation.
"I said "I wish I was never born" out loud and I think Desiree must have heard me and granted my wish!" Danny explained as he began to have a panic attack.
Ember couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"So basically, your life has become a overrated Christmas special?" she asked while holding back laughter at her own joke.
"I know what we have to do, just follow me okay?" Ember told him as he dragged him along through the crowd.
Finally, she found the wish granting ghost floating around outside of the front door by herself.
"Desiree, Danny here really needs to ask you to grant a wish of his, just hear him out please," she began explaining. "he's cool with me," she added once she saw her sceptical look.
Danny tugged on Ember's arm for a moment.
"Hey wait, but if everything goes back to normal, you won't remember any of this. I had such a great time with you tonight and I don't want you to go back to hating me," he said pleading.
Ember couldn't help but blush. Danny was talking about giving up his whole normal life just to be with her.
'Oh my God my life is a Hallmark movie.'
Thinking for a moment, she made up her mind.
"I can't let you do that," she said matter of factly, as she reached into Danny's pocket and pulled out the picture of the two of them together.
He looked at her confused and she quickly squashed his confusion.
"Something to remember you by," she said batting her eyelashes, "and now, something to remember me by."
Pulling him by his shirt, the two met in a tight embrace and their lips met. It was the greatest sensation either of them had ever felt. Her delicate lips felt great on his own, and he didn't want the moment to end, this lifetime or the next.
After about a minute, the two parted, and Danny knew what he had to do.
"I wish everything about my life was back to normal!" he yelled as Desiree snapped her fingers. Everything seemed to start spiraling around him where he stood, and the only constant was Ember. For some reason, she was the only thing not distorted. He blinked, and she was gone.
He blinked again, and he was looking up at his bedroom ceiling.
Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes and felt some moisture.
"Ah man, it was just a dumb dream," Danny realized as he felt his eyes water a little bit more.
He begrudgingly got up and got dressed and made his way downstairs and into the living room.
Then he heard a noise from down below.
He noticed that all the other bedroom doors were shut, meaning it wasn't his mom, dad, or Jazz.
He crept down the rest of the stairs as silently as he could, hoping to maintain his element of stealth on whatever intruder he would find.
"Hey there BabyPop," a familiar voice said from the direction of the couch.
Danny's eyes widened, and he powered up and transformed into his ghost form.
"Chill, I'm not here to fight you," she said, surprising Danny.
"I'm here to thank you."
She made her way over to him and to his dismay, hugged him in the tightest hug he had ever received.
"Ummm?"
"Thank you so much for last night, and everything you said to me. It meant so much to me that you were about to give up everything to be with me," she said sweetly into his ear.
His eyes widened and he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"Wait, but how? It never happened, I had to wish it all away?" Danny questioned as Ember began digging around in her pocket.
She revealed the picture of the two of them together from the night before, while they were having the time of their life.
"Let's just say it jogged a few memories," she said smiling as they hugged again, which led to a deep kiss that the two ghostly teens enjoyed for a long time.
As they parted, they looked into each other's own pair of emerald green eyes, and agreed on one thing for sure.
"This was definitely the best Christmas present I could have asked for," they both said as they stood there, basking in the warmth of each other's embrace, for what felt like an eternity.
The End
So I got the idea for this watching It's a Wonderful Life, obviously. I figured I could spin it into a Danny and Ember fic so I tried to do my best. I really hope you guys enjoyed, and I'll definitely be updating my other stories really soon! Hope you guys enjoyed, and if you did, leave a review and tell me what you thought! 'Till next time!
