'Til Death Do Us Part Chapter 11: Turn the Page

The vast expanse of the Ghost Zone passed around them as they flew in a bird-like formation, with Danny at the head while Sam, Jazz, and Tucker flew from his arms like a great pair of wings. Progress was slow, as Danny wasn't able to easily carry so many people even in this place, but they kept on as fast as they could. If any ghost or human alive could tell them what they needed to know, it would be Clockwork. But his home was in the furthest reaches of the Ghost Zone.

It didn't take much physical strength to fly, but Danny was feeling drained soon and had to move toward a landmass to rest. It was larger than the one they'd landed on after jumping in the Plasmeus Portal. The opposite ends of it wound off into the distance in either direction. Danny figured it must have been one of those few places in the Ghost Zone that could qualify as a continent.

Danny sighed in relief as his ghost form faded and he stood before his friends as plain old Danny Fenton.

"You have any idea where we are?" Sam looked around curiously.

"No idea. I've never entered from Vlad's portal before. All I know is we have to go inward, which is toward the doors." Danny pointed the right direction. "Other than that, your guess is as good as mine."

"You know, it occurs to me that you have an awful lot of enemies here." Jazz said nervously. "Maybe we shouldn't run around advertising our presence. Especially while you're trying to keep a low profile to avoid the Reaper."

"No argument here." Danny replied. "Trust me, if anyone can stay invisible, it's me." Danny smiled and poked his thumb into his chest with a humorous smile.

"Danny, look out!" Sam yelled from the side and tackled him to the ground. From right where he'd been standing came a tremendous impact, as if something heavy had hit the ground. Danny landed in a pile with Sam, looking around quickly to see what was happening. A thick, powerful motorcycle screeched to a halt on the continent, its rider revving the engine while his passenger looked down at Danny suspiciously.

"What're you doing in the Ghost Zone?" Kitty demanded.

"Leave this to me, baby." Johnny 13 kicked the kickstand down on his bike and climbed off, leaving her straddling the seat while he stood to face Danny with his hands crossed over his stomach. Danny pushed himself up to his knees warily, but wasn't overly alarmed. Johnny 13 was one of those ghosts in the Ghost Zone who didn't hate him or want to take over the world, despite an altercation here and there. "Well well. Danny Phantom, wandering through the Ghost Zone. As a human no less. You've got some guts, I'll give you that."

"It's not by choice I assure you." Danny replied as he climbed to his feet. "We're just trying to find someone."

"This is a pretty big place. Could you be a more specific than 'someone'?" Johnny asked.

"We know where he is, we just have to get there." Danny replied. Johnny smirked and tapped the side of his head with one hand.

"I don't see a ride. Trying to fly the whole way? Not a good idea if you ask me." Johnny smirked. "Might want to find yourself some wheels, save you time and headache. Especially since you're dragging the peanut gallery along." His gaze swept across Sam and Tucker, but stopped when they focused on Jazz standing close behind Danny. "Well, look who else it is..."

"We're going to be late, Johnny." Kitty said from the motorcycle, clearly perturbed by his attention toward Jazz. Danny wasn't much happier about it, but decided to let it slide for the moment.

"Yeah, I'm coming baby." Johnny waved a dismissive hand at his girlfriend. "We were just on our way to a concert." Johnny approached Jazz, an act that made Kitty look like she'd leap into his back and rip his heart out. "It's one of the hottest gigs in the Ghost Zone. Why not take a breather from what troubles you and come along? I promise a good time for all." His smile was a bit too suave.

Danny expected Jazz to tell him off, but instead she said, "Sure, that sounds like fun. Doesn't it guys?" Danny, Sam, and Tucker all looked up at her blankly, but she just returned Johnny's smile with one of her own. "I think we could all use something to take our minds off of what's been happening lately."

Johnny was clearly as surprised by the others, but he soon shrugged it off with a grin. "Great, come on. My bike can get us there in ten minutes." He turned to walk back to his bike.

Instantly Danny, Sam, and Tucker all whirled on Jazz. "Are you nuts!?" Sam exclaimed. "We're in a hurry here!"

"We don't have time to sit around and wait for this thing to catch up with Danny!" Tucker added.

"We're going to keep waiting if we don't find ourselves some transport." Jazz said. "Danny's strong, but there are a lot of us, and it would take forever for him to carry us all the whole way." Jazz's smile remained in place as she waved over their heads at Johnny, who received a slap from Kitty once he reached her. "We need wheels. Wheels Johnny has."

"That is a good point." Danny blushed sheepishly. He wished he'd thought of that earlier. He was glad Jazz was sharper than him.

"We go to the concert, make nice with Johnny, and ask him to give us a ride. He seems like a sucker for a pretty face, so I should be able to wear him down." Jazz grinned.

"Yeah, watch it Miss Spears. Don't get too carried away." Sam smirked. Jazz blushed and looked away nervously.

"You guys coming or not?" Johnny called from his bike, where Kitty was huffing on the seat behind him, as if refusing to touch him while Jazz was around.

"Come on. And look enthusiastic." Jazz told them as she moved to rush toward the bike as if excited. Sam, Danny and Tucker exchanged a glance, then pasted on their best happy schoolgirl faces and skipped after Jazz.

Despite how small the bike seemed, all six of the riders fit on it. Though Tucker, who was in the back, was hanging off the end and clinging to Sam's waist for dear life the entire way. Jazz somehow found herself seated right behind Kitty, who was audibly snarling through almost the entire trip, which was short on the astonishingly fast motorcycle. With this thing their trip to Clockwork's tower wouldn't take more than two hours. They had to use this thing.

They never left the continent they'd landed on earlier, the wheels flying across the ghostly landscape until a massive stage loomed in the distance. Its construction was similar to something Danny had once seen of Woodstock footage though, with spikes and flames shooting out of every orifice, it was not a symbol of peace and love. Danny's face went pale and his heart sank when he saw a name written on a giant banner over the stage with a face attached to it.

"This could be bad, Danny." Sam said into his ear, since she was seated directly behind him.

"We just need to lay low. Maybe she won't spot us." Danny feverishly hoped that was true as they approached the stage upon which Ember McLain, the ghostly spirit of youthful rock and rebellion, would soon play. She was also one of Danny's worst enemies, with the attitude of an angry teenager who could hold a grudge for years and years.

Johnny's bike slid to a halt outside of the massive crowd of ghosts and spirits who had gathered. The sheer number of them was astonishing, and with some nervousness Danny recognized a more than few familiar faces among them.

"Relax." Johnny said as though sensing his tension. "Nobody will be looking at YOU." He grinned and gripped Danny's shoulder, leading him into the large crowd. The three girls and Tucker followed them through the gang of ghosts. As nervous as Danny was, Johnny was right. Not a single face turned toward him. All eyes were focused on the center stage, where a massive blue flame suddenly roared into the Ghost Zone. At its center stood a powerful, feminine figure with a guitar hanging across her stomach.

The flames whirled around her body, then flared outward over the crowd's head, dissipating into the air by the time it reached the back. Ember stepped forward into the middle of the stage, gripping the guitar in both hands with a wild look on her face.

"Alright boys and girls! Who's ready to break something!?" Ember shouted to the eager crowd. A uproarious response greeted her, feeding the shining blue flames on top of her head as her wicked grin grew wider. "Then scream it for me babies! Scream it loud and don't ever stop!"

"EMBER!" The crowd roared as Ember's backup band appeared behind her in a series of powerful explosions. The music began on a powerful note that battered the eardrums and would have left the audience deaf if they hadn't already been deafening themselves with their screams.

Jazz had to scream to be heard over the noise of the crowd and the music. "Evil ghost or not, she really knows how to work a crowd!"

"WHAT!?" Tucker screamed at the top of his lungs.

"I SAID-" Jazz stopped and shook her head. "NEVERMIND!" Jazz blinked in surprise when Johnny laid his arm around her shoulders, grinning down at her with a suave look. Kitty, Danny noted, was too absorbed in the music to realize what was happening behind her.

"How are you liking the music!?" Johnny shouted.

"It's great!" Jazz grinned and didn't push him away. They were here to get his cooperation after all, pushing him away wasn't the way to do that.

With nothing else to do, Danny turned back to watch the show. Ember really was quite the performer. Her stage presence was unlike anything he'd ever seen on Earth. She would have been commanding and strong even as a normal person, but her displays of ghostly fire put any technological pyrotechnic displays to shame. The music was a little hard to swallow in his opinion, but she clearly had her fans.

They stood through the whole show, and to Ember's credit Danny found himself really getting into it. He and Sam even decided to have a few dances, though Danny spent much of his time defending Jazz from both Johnny's advances and Kitty's homicide attempts. It was difficult keeping his favor without simply giving him Jazz's body to play with, but they managed to get through it somehow until the ghost on stage appeared winded by the powerful displays she'd been putting forth.

"Yeah baby! Good times!" She shouted into the microphone in front of her. Even with her breath coming in deep gulps, her voice was still powerful. The crowd roared back in response. Despite her fatigue, her face was still lit up by a broad grin that seemed strangely genuine to Danny. Was this what all ghosts were like when they weren't trying to break into the real world?

"I gotta call it a night, but there's no way I'm leaving without one last song." Ember shouted, to a return chorus of screams. "This one is a bit different from the others, but if you don't like it, why the Hell should I care?" The band behind her vanished one by one amid a blast of fire, leaving only Ember herself standing up on the stage. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as her fingers began to strum the strings of her guitar.

Suddenly a massive explosion rocked the entire continent. The blast ripped right through the middle of the crowd, sending ghosts flying in every direction. Several who were caught in the middle of the blast simply vanished, their ectoplasm roaring off into the space of the Ghost Zone. The crowd, panicked at first, fell deathly quiet when they turned and saw another ghostly figure approach from the way Danny and the others had come.

"Nobody move." Valerie lowered her arm to her side as the massive ecto-cannon that had risen from her wrist slowly melted back into her arm. "We've got some questions."

An angry fire flashed in Ember's eyes and she stepped forward on the stage. "How dare you interrupt my concert and destroy my crowd!? Who the Hell do you think you are!?"

"She is my emissary." A deep voice inside the mind commanded. A wave of cold energy swept across the crowd. Even Ember, a ghost of flames, looked like she was shivering, though the fire in her eyes was as strong as ever even as the black cloak of the Reaper floated toward the crowd. The ghosts moved out of the way quickly to get as far away from it as possible. Only Valerie stayed close, standing in front of it like a bodyguard.

Ember dropped off of her stage and marched toward the two intruders. The crowd passed to let her by until she reached the two, standing in front of them with her guitar in her hands and her lip curled in a vicious snarl.

"What do you want?" She demanded.

"The ghost-child known as Danny Phantom." The Reaper replied smoothly. "His ecto-energy was last felt near here. This is the closest area to his landing place."

Johnny looked down at Danny in surprise, but Danny slowly shook his head, looking up at the bigger ghosts with an almost pleading gaze. Johnny looked uncertain, but he nodded and turned back to watch the confrontation before them.

Ember responded with a laugh. "You think I would hide him? I would sooner crush his neck under my boot."

"You would not lie to me." The Reaper's tone implied that it was a simple fact rather than a question.

"No, I don't have him. So just get out of my domain. There's no reason to stay here and destroy my fans!" The crowd exploded into a chorus of gasps and screams as the Reaper suddenly flung itself in front of Valerie, its skeletal left hand snapping up Ember's neck before Danny even realized what was happening. Ember gasped for breath as she was hefted high into the air before the crowd, as if the Reaper were displaying a trophy.

"You forget, spirit. You all continue to exist only by my good graces." The Reaper hefted the scythe into the air with its other hand, holding it up in front of Ember. The scythe swung around suddenly. The blade went straight through Ember's stomach, eliciting gasps and winces from the crowd. Even Johnny looked sickened as thick green ooze began to drip from her stomach around the blade.

"Y... you..." Ember's face twisted in pain, her hands clutching at the blade as if to push it out of her. The Reaper yanked his blade out of her stomach and let her drop to the ground, where she lay half-curled with her hands over her stomach, coughing and gurgling in pain.

"When my good graces run out, you will know the embrace of oblivion." The Reaper turned its faceless gaze on the others gathered there. "All would do well to remember this." With that it turned to leave. Valerie turned to follow, though she glanced back at Ember with a strange expression on her face. Still she turned away and left without another word.

For several minutes after they left the crowd could only watch Ember cough and struggle to move. The pool of green ooze, which Danny now recognized as ghostly ectoplasm, expanded slowly around her.

"Ghosts can't die..." Danny looked up at Johnny. "They can't, right?"

"When a ghost dies... they just stop existing. No more... they're done." Johnny replied. Danny turned to look at Ember again, then looked back at Sam, Jazz and Tucker standing behind him. They all looked as shocked as he felt. They never imagined a ghost could get like this, so sad and pathetic in the last moments of their afterlife. To go away, to simply not exist... what horror could being a ghost be compared to that?

Danny turned to look at Ember again, his fists clenched. Ember didn't even do anything wrong this time. Sure she was a pain, but she'd stayed quiet lately. She even seemed concerned about the other ghosts. Her only crime was being here when Danny was. She was about to fade into oblivion just because of Danny.

His mind made up, Danny raced forward. He was glad to hear Sam, Tucker and Jazz right on his heels as he ran, breaking into the crowd that had formed around Ember to kneel down at her side. Her eyes were wide as the pool of ectoplasm beneath her continued to expand.

"Y... you..." Ember sputtered weakly when she saw him kneeling above her. Her eyes were wide in fear. She didn't want to die any more than Danny did. She didn't deserve to die any more than he did. Not now, and not like this.

Danny gestured for Johnny, who'd just walked up to them with Kitty, to hand over his trench coat. When Johnny didn't hand it over Danny glared up at him. "Come on, hurry it up!"

"Nobody's ever survived that." Johnny said. "Nobody's ever been stabbed by that scythe and gone on to talk about it."

"We'll make it happen, now hand it over!" Danny demanded desperately. This time Johnny handed it over, and together the four normal humans wrapped it around Ember's limp form.

With Ember's body wrapped to prevent any more ectoplasm loss and make her easier to carry, Danny slipped his arms under her and climbed to his feet, cradling her in his arms. "Jazz, Sam, Tucker, I need you guys to stay here a little while for me." He looked at Johnny. "We need your bike. I think I can save her, but we have to get to my basement and use my dad's equipment."

"No problem." Johnny said. "You stay here too, Kitten. Make sure nothing happens to the humans."

"Of course, Johnny." Kitty nodded, looking unusually solemn.

With everything taken care of, Danny turned to leave the crowd, making his way back to Johnny's bike with Ember clutched in his arms. Valerie already died because of him, and Sam came so close he had already begun to grieve for her. There was no way he would allow anyone else to be hurt because of his fight. Not even someone who wanted to see him dead.

TO BE CONTINUED