AN: Wow people really like the first chapter. I didn't even think it was that good. Sorry it took so long for this. There's gonna be a delay between chapters. This isn't my only story and it's a little difficult to switch between them thought-wise when something pops into my head for one of the others. It's also hard to focus when I'm crazier than a man on an acid trip.

DISCLAIMER: I own neither of the series or any side elements displayed in this story.

"talking"

"thinking"

"demon/dark talking"

"ATTACKS"

Scene change (Soundtrack Notifications)

flashbacks

Lyrics

BEGIN

The ever present two-toned green background of the Ghost Zone gave the three returning home a feeling of relaxation. Their visages becoming more ghost like as they floated. Skulker skin became metallic and the lenses in his eyes gaining a brighter tint. Ember's skin became the pale white it was known for and she let out a sigh of relief when she noticed her hair was once more its normal blue. Danny had the biggest change as his jacket disintegrated, the white of his T-shirt turned black with the red turning white, his black hair dulling into gray, and his blue eyes transforming to a glowing neon green. Energy flew from the three's transformation and formed into a gold medallion with CW on it which Danny grabbed from the air before him.

"I hate that thing! Why is it every time we use it my hair turns green?" Ember snapped while running her hands through her hair.

"You're complaining about your hair? It made me look like I was human again. I actually forgot I had powers." Danny snaps back before his eyes droop along with his body. Skulker grabs him by the back of his shirt and Ember throws his arm over her shoulder.

"You pushed your limits whelp."

"Tin-head's right kid. You don't have as much power to spare as we do."

"I know. I just can't believe I'm this weak. It's like all my time as a half ghost was worthless."

"You were alive then. You had the energy from your living side to draw from. If anything, it was more of a handicap to your ghost side because it didn't draw from obsessions like the rest of us. I'll take you back to your lair. Skulker, can you deliver the emerald to Clockwork?" The hunter gives a nod as Ember fishes the emerald from Danny's pocket and tosses it to him.

"Hey, I can deliver it myself." Danny protests, attempting to take the emerald from Skulker's grasp.

"No you can't. Your energy well is almost dry and you need to rest." Ember pulls him away from the hunter who takes it as his cue to leave.

"Rest can wait. This is too important." He was silenced by her glare. "Fine, I'll rest." She gives a victory smile as she pulls him to his afterlife home. He spared a look at her to see a smaller smile on her face, kinda like the ones Jazz used to give him when she was doing her sister thing, except this had a hint of more to it. Danny liked making Ember smile since he died. She was the first to find him after it happened and took to looking out for him ever since. Hell, a lot of his old enemies and all of his otherworldly friends came to see him when they heard the news and surprisingly enough Ember wasn't the only one to pull a 180 with how they treated him. Johnny 13 took him out on his bike and showed him the best places for the residents of the Ghost Zone to hang out, Technus taught him about the rules since Walker was still an ass, Wulf showed him how to construct his lair, and after his mouth was pretty much raped in a make-out session, a certain princess gave him permission to visit anytime. The biggest deal was when Clockwork allowed him to see the events up to his demise. He didn't show everything though, just enough to know that his parents had declared war on the Ghost Zone and he was their first target. According to the others, none of the ghosts were there from natural causes and none of them remember dying at first. They usually had to search out the facts on their own to piece everything together, so Clockwork revealing as much as he did was unheard of for the residents of the Ghost Zone.

He didn't even notice when they entered the door to his lair. As a child he always wanted to be an astronaut and fly through space but since he was only a kid he had to settle for gazing up at the stars. He spent a lot of his time looking for new places to stargaze and found his favorite spot when he was eight. An abandoned train yard outside of Amity. He would sneak out nearly every night for a year just to lay on top of those abandoned train cars and stare at the night sky. It was the only thing he never told anyone about, not even when it was destroyed for a government funded research center. As his only true sanctuary in life, he recreated the train yard exactly for his lair. Well not exactly like the real thing because no matter what he did he always thought the place felt empty, but environmentally it was the same.

Ember lays him down on some debris before floating to sit on one of the cars. Danny watches her start kicking her legs back and forth through the open space where the side door once was, her gaze turned toward the stars above them. Danny was about to sleep off his recuperation when he noticed Ember was humming to herself. Now that alone usually wouldn't be enough to warrant his attention were it not for the actual tune she was humming. He hadn't heard it in years. There was a girl, a few years older than him. "Yeah she lived in the yard. She had blue black hair. She wore really old clothing and she was sick with something. Uh, what was her name? I couldn't pronounce it. Em... something. Emer.." "Em...ber...ald. Yeah, that's it. I called her Emberald cause I couldn't say her name right." He passes out shortly after making his revelation, never seeing the smile that grew on Ember's face as she switched from humming to singing.

Though a thousand words

Have never been spoken

They'll fly to you

Crossing over the time

And distance holding you, suspended on silver wings

And a thousand words

One thousand confessions

Will cradle you

Making all of the pain you feel seem far away

They'll hold you forever

Danny dreamed of the teen girl who brought him out of his shy shell and became one of his first friends alongside the other inhabitants of the old train yard. How could he have forgotten them all? If it weren't for them he would have just been the weird quiet kid with the ghost crazy parents and over protective older sister. Come to think of it, if he hadn't befriended the train yard gang then he would never have become friends with Sam and Tucker or tried to fix the Ghost Zone Portal which led to the accident which made him into a half ghost, and he definitely wouldn't have manned up and become Danny Phantom the ghostly protector of Amity Park. And even though that last part ended up getting him killed by his own parents, he wouldn't trade his life for the world. Who knew just a few short months with a group of strangers would do more for him then fourteen years with his own family.

Flashback

"Hey kid! What do you think you're doing here?"

"..."

"What? Come on kid, speak up."

"Stars."

"Huh?"

"The stars. They're so pretty here."

"You seriously came all the way out here to stargaze? Won't your parents get worried?"

"They won't notice. They never do. They're always busy with that ectoplastem stuff."

"Busy with what?"

"Ya know, that ghost stuff."

"I think that's ectoplasm."

"That's what I said!"

"You're a pretty weird kid."

"..."

"Oh come on, don't cry. I didn't mean it. I was joking."

"R-really?"

"Yeah really. So don't cry. Big boys don't cry and you're a big boy right."

"R-right."

"Now there's a million dollar smile. What's your name kid?"

"Danny."

"Well Danny, my name is Emerald."

"Emberald?"

"Okay, we're gonna have to work on that. Just call me Ember for now."

"Okay Ember."

"Now how about I introduce you to the rest of the gang."

Flashback END

Titans Tower

The Titans were recovering nicely from their recent butt kicking. Cyborg and Beast Boy were playing a racing game on the giant screen. Starfire was doing some kind of cooking in the small kitchen. Raven was trying to reassemble her broken belt (her eyebrow was twitching enough to show her lack of progress) at the table. Robin was also sitting at the table except he was going over his memories of his fight with Danny.

"He was holding back. He could have ended it with his powers at any time but he kept it going. Why would he do that? Was he buying time for something?" Cyborg laughs as he once again beats Beast Boy at the game. Robin looks over to the two other males on his team. "How can they play that thing? The graphics are horrible." Robin's attention is again diverted when he hears Starfire give a small scream, which made him turn towards her and get a face full of green... something. "Ugh, it's like being submerged in warm Jello. Why do we even have a kitchen in the Command Center anyway?" He wipes his face clean and gazes around the room. "Who even planned this room? Everything's crowded together and we have three sets of doors when we only use one. I don't even know where those other doors go. I don't even want to start on the stairs. I mean come on, is it really that difficult to make a level floor? There's so much wasted space. It's almost as annoying as Slade's mask. WHY DOES HE ONLY HAVE ONE EYEHOLE?" Robin's face clearly showed annoyance from his train of thought. Something Beast Boy noticed when he moved from the couch to get a drink.

"Dude, I think Robin's going into that super obsessive Slade mode." Beast Boy whispers to his metallic friend.

"Seriously? Over those guys from last night? They didn't seem that bad."

"Not that bad! One of them tried to turn us into trophies."

"And we'll kick his butt if he shows up again. Even if Robin does his emo brooder thing, he'll get over it if we give him time."

"You realize I can hear you right?" The two teens saw Robin's cocked eyebrow (or is it maskbrow?).

Beast Boy scratched the back of his head, a nervous smile on his face. "Sorry."

An alarm gains the teams attention. Robin vaults over the couch and effortlessly slides into the chair at the computer. "Mad Mod's started a riot downtown." He stands to face his team. "Titans Go!"

Chapter END

Dammit dammit dammit! I wanted to get this out yesterday but I couldn't get to a computer. I'm so sorry. I always put in a self imposed deadline for the chapters I work on and it hurts when I fail even by this much. I don't even have that much here. I can't apologize enough. I made you all wait for so long and I didn't even deliver that well.

On a lighter note, this story got 11 reviews for the first chapter. You guys and girls out there rule! It kinda makes me wonder if this can beat FBC in total reviews.

Side note: I put up a new poll to find out which of my stories is most in demand. If you have time, check it out.

I won't make any promises but I'll try getting a new chapter up before the month is over. Life is surprisingly hectic. Until next time. Lumpeyeone, singing off.