Fanning the Flames (of my Heart)
Daniel "Danny" Fenton tossed and turned in his bed, gripped in the treacherous binds of a nightmare. Fire…it roared around him. The smoke filled his lungs and burned in his eyes, but the hero was determined to save the girl in the middle of the flames. Danny tried to reach within himself and use his ghostly power, but he could not find it! Determination setting into his face, Danny fought the cloudiness in his mind and continued to crawl toward the brunette girl. Danny called out.
"I'm *cough* *cough* here to save you!"
As she turned to him with a sad smile, Danny reeled back because her eyes were ectoplasmic green! Unfortunately, Danny bumped into a support timber in his shocked state and gasped as he heard it give with a loud *crack!* Danny stared in fear as the burning roof above the teenage girl groaned and fell on her.
Danny jarred awake with a single name leaping from his lips: "AMBER!"
Danny sat up in his bed in a cold sweat. The young teen looked around his room and heard a pair of feet running to the room.
Danny prayed it wouldn't be his psycho parents because he had a feeling this recurring dream had to do with his ghost hero side. Please, let it be Jazz.
As he looked at the door, half expecting it to be blown to bits by a weapon in his Dad's hand, Danny tensed, readying for a fight if need be. Relief flooded the young Halfling when Jazz burst through the door with worry on her face.
The older sister slowed down her approach to Danny's bedside once she saw Danny was not being attacked and sat down on the edge of his bed. "What was it this time, Little Brother?"
Danny gave a small smile when he saw Jazz had a notebook and pencil in hand. "It's been the same dream for about two weeks." Danny began. "I'm in a burning house, and this girl is trapped inside with me. I try to access my powers to find I can't. Then, she looks at me and smiles before the house collapses on her. Then, I wake up."
Jazz tapped her chin in thought. "Is anything different about this time around?"
Danny gave a slight nod as he scratched the back of his head in nervous embarrassment. "Her name is Amber."
Jazz nodded. "I think you have repressed memories Danny. They were triggered by the accident that gave you your powers."
Danny's eyes widened. "You mean from a past life."
Jazz nodded before she got up from the bed with a kind, almost maternal smile. "Try to get some sleep, Danny." She told him gently before she walked out and turned off the light.
In the Ghost Zone, Clockwork, Master of Time, smiled as his constantly shifting form stayed as a young man for a fraction of a second longer. "Showtime…" The ghost said as his viewing window swirled with ectoplasmic energy as the Timekeeper watched Danny and his sister. "Revive her heart, Daniel, and good luck."
As Ember and her band left the GZ, Ember tried to shake the foul mood she was in thanks to Skulker but couldn't. To make her feel better, the Ghost Rocker decided she needed a power boost to show Skulker who was boss, and the whole world was her target audience. Starting simply, she leaked her song on the net. Then, she set up a tour beginning in Amity Park.
"Love is for suckers," Ember grumbled as she prepared. "You'd think a girl would learn."
A small part of Ember that still remembered the boy who caused this whole landslide of events cried out to feel warmth and love again, not just mindless adoration her music produced.
Danny couldn't sleep for the rest of the night. The burning flames roared through his mind. What were you doing in that house, Amber? Danny thought as he lay in bed and listened to sounds of the night.
When day came, Danny sighed. It was almost great…until a mentally challenged ghost that reminded Danny of Lenny from "Of Mice and Men" tried to be his friend. Danny felt bad for putting the ghost in the Frost Lair, but he was in a pinch and had to work fast. Danny sighed and tried to heat his body back up once he got in the Fenton Speeder. Once Sam grabbed his hands to warm them, Danny felt his cheeks heat up and would have responded had the song Tucker was singing along with badly hadn't caught his attention.
"Oh Ember…so warm and tender! You will remember my name."
Danny felt an odd sensation come over him as he sang the words softly to himself. The pain in those words…it made Danny's heart shatter. Who would be so cruel?
Sam looked between her friends and saw that Tucker's out of tune singing seemed to make Danny frown in sadness, not irritation. "What's wrong, Danny? Tucker's singing driving you crazy?"
Danny shook his head. "I was listening to the lyrics and it's sad."
Sam nodded at the explanation but thought, There's more that you're not telling me.
The concert in Amity Park was coming along swimmingly. In a few hours, she would be more powerful than ever. Ember sighed. It would have normally bring her spirits up to see so many fans running around acting like idiots because of her power, but today was different because today was the anniversary of her death: suicide by house fire. It was stupid in retrospect, but that's why she became a ghost. Ember was an outcast in life, so in death, she was powered by the attention drawn from her fans. Ember only wished she could find love again. In public, Ember swore to Kitty and others that she would never love again. In private, that's what she longed for. Once she found love again, she would have all the adoration she needed and could return to her passion of songwriting with no ill intentions. Until that day, Ember forced herself to be content with the the mindless adoration to fuel her.
Over the next few days, Danny noticed Ember McLain fever sweep across the entire world. It screamed ghostly trick. Danny didn't get confirmation until the night of the concert, as he walked up to the stage set up outside Amity Park High, Danny felt a familiar chill roll down his spine.
The rocker is a ghost. Danny thought as the Ectoplasmic Green eyes of the girl on his nightmare flashed back into Danny's mind. No way! Could she be the same girl?
The thought was ludicrous yet also was the idea of a half ghost superhero. When Danny saw her, he shook his head. What am I thinking?!
Her entire look screamed, "I'm a rocker who died on pills." The lyrics of her song wouldn't leave him alone.
"You will remember my name." He mumbled. She was left after she gave herself to a douchebag and, already being an outcast, saw only one course of action.
Danny shivered at the implications of his dream in this new frame. He started to feel sorry for Ember.
That's when the two halves of the Halfling's psyche: Danny's Heart and his Head declared war and began battling it out. She's a ghost, a dangerous hypnoghost that feeds on attention. His Head growled.
She wouldn't be that way if she wasn't lulled into a relationship then humiliated by the douchebag who did it! His Heart fired back.
If she were to find someone who would get to know her and learn to adore her, she wouldn't be an evil manipulative ghost anymore. She would quite possibly be happy.
His Head had one final trick: What about Sam?
Danny stopped for a moment and considered it. Her feminism and antiestablishment pose on everything made her very difficult to get along with. She would probably be great friends with DC's Poison Ivy.
I wonder if Harley would be willing to share though… Danny blushed, shook his head, and growled, "Focus!"
Sam came up to him suddenly. "What are you thinking about that you need to focus on?"
Danny jumped at the sound of his friend's voice. "I think Ember is a ghost, and I know how to beat her."
Sam had a dark smirk on her face that unnerved Danny when he said that. "You're not jealous. Are you?"
"Of her? Please, she's just feeding off of the power in song to make people her slaves. Why would I be jealous of that?"
I can think of a few reasons, Danny thought but only shrugged at Sam's question. "In order for my plan to work, we have to wait until Amber is at her strongest."
Sam raised an eyebrow at Danny's slip. "Don't you mean Ember?"
Danny nodded. "That's what I said."
Sam shook her head, I hope you know what you're doing, Danny. Sam thought with a bitter scowl.
Once the concert was in full swing, Danny flew in. Her hair is beautiful when it's strong like that. The ghost-boy thought as he looked down at the inferno of robin egg blue atop her head.
Once Danny landed, he sighed and gulped down air. Here goes nothing… Danny thought as he started to sing "As Long as You Love Me" by Backstreet Boys. Come on. You have to admit this song is a perfect answer to "Remember".
The crowd stopped chanting Ember's name and looked at Danny Phantom as the Ghost Boy sang, backed up by Ember's own band. Ember felt the power leave her and glared at the source of the power loss. Her glare faltered as she watched the Ghost Child Skulker wouldn't stop complaining about sing to her.
He can't be singing to me. As Danny neared her, Ember could feel the desire radiating off of Phantom. "What are you doing stealing my show, Dipstick?!"
Danny looked disappointed for a moment. "I was aiming for something more valuable." With that perhaps cheesy line, Danny kissed the flame-haired rocker.
Ember was stunned, but she felt her power well up to unimaginable levels as tears of green flames slid down her cheeks.
As the pair reveled in the feeling of that kiss, Sam sulked away with a dark look on her face. "You will be mine, Danny Phantom!"
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