Artistic Help Chapter 3: Slip Out, a danny phantom fanfic

AN: No note just story. Legi sur.

Slip Out - Beck, do not own.

The rest of school had gone smoothly for Danny nothing really out of the ordinary... well excluding the fact that Ember was there. He had trusted her not to be a menace to society while he finished his academics, Ember decided to stick with him though. Why though he wasn't sure, he figured she would have been bored out of her mind just sitting in class. The only problem with her seating arrangement was where she sat, which was on his shoulders. Honestly, who the hell comes up with that? Just sitting on other peoples shoulders, not exactly the easiest place to sit.

Danny tried his best to ignore it but she needed something to do, and Danny's head just so happened to be within her reach. At first she started to use it as a drum, nothing to loud but enough that Danny felt each tap. After a while Danny was getting real annoyed, so he decided to give her leg a little nip. Instead of shouting in pain a soft moan was heard through the classroom, Ember got the message after that, right before giving Danny a solid smack. Then she started running her hands through his hair, which Danny actually quite enjoyed, it felt nice. Ember was just marveling at how soft it actually was, she figured that his hair was rough, but it was softer than a bunny's fur.

This was basically how it went until school was over that was when Ember got really excited and practically pulled Danny out of that accursed structure.

"Hey calm down, you're gonna pull my arm off." Danny whispered, yanking away from Ember's grasp.

"Hey we're burning daylight here dip- baby pop." She amended, she figured she wouldn't insult him while he was helping her.

"Relax we have plenty of time, music can't be rushed it flows when it wants." Danny said in an almost zen manner.

Taking his time he grabbed his books from his locker that he needed back at school, meeting Tucker on the way out.

"Dude there you are, what the heck happened? One minute you're in class the next your nowhere to be seen." Tucker interrogated.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Something just really called for my attention at the time, nothing to big to handle." Danny half-lied, hoping Tucker would think it was a ghost.

"Oh a ghost? Ok then." Tucker concluded.

Danny let go an inward sigh of relief, thankful that his friend didn't push for anything further.

"Hey so what was that sound in class? I could have sworn it was a girl moaning in class." Tucker brought up. Danny did his best to keep a straight face knowing exactly what, and who, that was. " Yeah I heard, it did didn't it? Think it was any of the girls in class?" Danny asked, deflecting the act to one of his female classmates. "Not really sure. I don't think so, but there were a few with red faces so who knows, maybe?" Tucker responded after thinking for a bit.

"You are so going to pay for that later Dipstick." Ember whispered into Danny's ear. Danny only smiled and whispered back in a cocky tone, "It sounded like you enjoyed that little nibble. Did I leave a mark?" Though he couldn't actually see it Ember blushed hard and deep at that, she had checked it and indeed right on the inside of her thigh was a small little hickey. (If Kitty saw that she SO wouldn't hear the end of it.)

"Who you talking to dude?" Tucker asked noticing his friend's behavior. "Oh, ah, nobody just reminding myself to not forget about those extra credit questions Mr. Lancer gave us for homework. With my grades as they are now those would definitely help." Danny half-lied. Tucker nodded, indeed his friend did need a pick-me-up if he could get one, his grades really dropped since the accident.

" Oh yeah huh? You really should get those done, you're really going to need it." Tucker agreed. "I know." "So do you need some help with them, you know I'm acing the class?" Tucker offered. "Nah, I'm fine I got it." Danny declined.

"Anyways I got to get going, I got...stuff to do." Danny said before grabbing Ember's hand and running off. "I'll catch you later Tuck!" He called back at him. Tucker just waved Danny off, he could have sworn he was holding a hand when he ran off, but he just shrugged and walked away.

(20 minutes later)

"Ok Dipstick where are we going?" Ember asked. "We've walked past your house already." She said as she gestured behind her.

"Yup, but we're not going to my house. You think I'd have been able to keep my musical talent hidden all this time if I practiced at home? My nosy sister would have been the first to find out, and Sam and Tucker would have know this whole time as well." Danny countered.

Ember nodded at the sensibility of the statement, it really seemed like he didn't want to let anybody know about his talents. 'The dipstick really does keep some secrets, who knows what else he's hiding.' Ember thought.

"So is that why you didn't tell the geek-" "Tucker" "Tucker... what you were really doing today?" Ember asked.

"Well partially, I really don't want to publicize it."

"Kitty told me you showed her."

"Ah right, well first girlfriend and all wanted to make an impression, and by that time I found out it was Kitty."

"You knew it was Kitty? So then like why?"

"Kitty would have been a better girlfriend than Paulina, and if it were Paulina my affinity for music would not have stayed a secret."

"Wait til Kitty hears that, so what is the other reason you didn't want to tell him?"

"Well you were really nervous and kinda embarrassed to ask me, I didn't feel like it was my place to tell somebody else, even my best friend, I'll leave that up to you."

Ember was slightly astonished at the care Danny was using to deal with her situation, even though all he's going on is blind faith with her. He really is too good of a good guy. Ember noticed that Danny was taking a corner ahead of her into an alley, in her thoughts she must have stopped walking. She hurried to catch up with him but as she rounded the corner he was nowhere in sight.

"Danny? Where'd you go?" Ember queried as she started walking down the alleyway. All she could see was a few boxes, trash bags, and the dumpster at the end. "What the hell where'd he-" At that moment a hand flew from nowhere and latched itself onto her." Ahhhhhh!" She screamed as she was pulled through one of the walls.

"Did I scare you Ember?" Danny questioned.

Ember opened her eyes, Danny was holding onto her arm in a large mostly dark room.

"No I must have been your imagination." Ember denied as she extricated her arm from his hand. "Sure I did, just happened to imagine you scream like a schoolgirl." Danny teased a grin on his face hidden in the dark. "You did Dipstick!" Ember punched his shoulder. "Ember McLain does not get scared."

"Ow, chill out a bit. Oh wait fire core, suppose you don't know the meaning." Danny shrugged as he rubbed his shoulder where she punched him. "I so know the meaning." Ember said angrily, her hair glowing brighter. "Ok ok you do, just calm down before you burn the place down." Danny supplicated. Ember calmed a bit her hair turning back to her regular shade of blue.

"Ok, thank you, now let's get started shall we?" Danny said as he flipped a switch, the lights overhead flickered before they buzzed to life flooding the room with light. What Ember saw was a site to behold to her, the room was spacious and the walls were filled with an array of instruments. She had quite a few of these at her realm, but in different colors, and some she didn't own. What really drew her attention were the bass' and guitars at the far end. In the section he had a yellow Fender Telecaster that just seemed to play to you, a beautiful Gretsch White Falcon, a 1949 Fender Broadcaster Prototype that seemed like it just came off the line, but what caught her attention the most was a Gibson Les Paul with what seemed to be bullet holes in it. She carefully took it off the wall and examined it, wondering if it was still playable.

"Caught your eye did it? Got it from a friend, used to have an amazing band they toured once here when I was younger, probably why I got so determined to learn." Danny said with fondness of the memory. "Wanna give it a whirl?" He pulled out a power amp and plugged it in, Ember was still skeptical about the dubious looking guitar but decided to strum out a few chords. To her surprise the strings hummed out clear and true, playing a sound that just seemed right for the guitar. "Wow, was not expecting that." She said.

Danny just smirked, he had the same reaction when Ray handed it to him, he was more surprised that he gave it to him to be honest. He pulled the Telecaster off the wall and decided to play a song of theirs.

"Here rock star, try and play along." Danny said. Ember just looked at him and took up a stance ready to follow as best she could.

I don't know since when I changed to such a cold-hearted guy
I have to warm this frozen, icy, lonely heart to thaw
I like being wrapped with warmness more than anything else for sure
I'm gonna take my coming days and fill them with laughter and joy

I let myself down by being crueler than I thought I would be
I'm just a loser learning to care for the soul inside of me
I don't give my heart to no one cause I don't wanna waste my time
I tried to love this loneliness to slip out from where it hides

Ember was amazed at Danny's voice he sang so clear and his pitch was perfect.(No pun intended.)She did her best to try and keep up at first, but soon she was to wrapped up in Danny's playing to continue. The feeling he put into the song was just amazing, and the feeling that she got from listening to it was just something else to her. Dead or alive she hadn't felt a song move her the way this song did right now.

Sorrow is what I hate but it's grown my sensations
Regrets taught me how to make any hard decisions
Peace is always by my side but I've never felt it once
Love is not a word reserved only for sweet romance

Well, I'm scared,I'm scared,I'm scared,I'm scared to death
And I'm scared to keep on going on my way
Well, I'm scared,I'm scared,I'm scared,I'm scared to death
And I'll tell myself I'm special till the end

Recalling my torn, broken, aching heart of these long days
And all the memories I wanted to forget for making waves
Recalling, breaking, aching, crying, making sure I see
That'll take it all and grin at the future on it's way to me...

I don't give my heart to no one cause I don't wanna waste my time
I tried to love this loneliness to slip out from where it hides...

Danny finished it out with a soft strum, he opened his eyes to see Ember there with a slight slack jawed expression. "That was a song from my friends band, it was the one that really spoke to me. I guess now it can apply to my life even more." Danny said in a somber tone. He made a small ice crystal in his hand to further prove his point, before he evaporated it back into the air. Ember kinda felt bad for him, he never asked for any of this. The story of how it all happened was known throughout the Ghost Zone. He was just a victim of circumstance, he puts himself on the line daily to protect others, not always getting a good reaction from those he saves, and the ghosts just keep contributing to it. Ember felt kinda terrible about herself because she was also one of those ghosts who made his life even harder.

"Hey Baby Pop, um... sorry for, ya know, everything..." Ember meekly apologized.

Danny just looked at her, a soft smile forming on his face. " Thanks Ember, but it's ok, it's not really your fault."

"Yeah, but, I did contribute to the problem."

"Hey it's in the past, besides it really made me grow as a person, and it got me out of a lot of school hahaha."

Ember just smiled, under all the banter and sarcasm he really was mature for his age, most would have whined about the situation but not him. He was even willing to help her out now, just on her word that she wasn't going to be evil. His schedule was hectic enough, yet he agreed no questions asked, she felt a bit bad about that.

"Well I suppose we should start with what you tried to write. Did you happen to bring anything that you were working on? Maybe we could gleam something from one of them." Danny suggested.
"Actually yeah, hold on." Ember said. She concentrated a bit and suddenly a small vortex appeared over her palm, after it vanished it left behind a small book, papers and sticky notes hanging out the edges. Ember hesitated in handing it to him, even if she wasn't satisfied with most of them they all held her feelings in them.

"Hey Ember?" She looked at him. "It's ok, if you don't want to you don't have to."

Ember took a deep breath, then she extended her hand with the book in it. " I came to you for help, and if you're willing to trust me, I'm willing to trust you."

Danny took the book and gave her a smile, he headed over to a table against a wall where he opened up the book. There were words and lyrics scrawled on just about every inch of the pages, yet it all seemed so coherent to him. He could read all the feelings left on these pages as if he felt them himself, Ember really did care a lot about her music.

"Well it would seem we have our work cut out for us."

Hyphen Note: Been playing Destiny... didn't really know how to end this chapter, and I haven't had any sleep for a while, so if this seems weird I blame it on that. If you can find the hidden reference bonus points to you.

-Tia Estas La Vivo