I do not own Danny Phantom.
Remember Ember
The lights in the hospital room were dimmed, and shadows danced across the white walls. Jazz lay unconscious on the white cot, quilted blankets neatly over her still form. The only sound in the room was her soft breathing.
Jack and Maddie Fenton had rushed over to the hospital the second they heard what had happened. The doctors couldn't explain what had occurred, as they didn't know what happened to the sixteen-year-old. They only knew that she had been electrified severely, but not with normal electricity. After all, normal electricity wouldn't leave strange purple and black swirls on her upper body.
The two Fenton parents were certain it was a ghost. And since they didn't know what ghost to blame, they chose Phantom and swore to get revenge.
Danny certainly felt like he deserved it. He couldn't quite get over the fact he put two kids in the hospital. It didn't matter that they bullied him on a daily basis. He would pull a few pranks and then lay off for a while.
But this was totally unacceptable. He was the hero. The hero. Not the villain.
Danny had stayed at the hospital late into the evening, alternating between the three patients. Maddie finally sent him home around eleven at night and then she and Jack camped out on two chairs in the waiting room. Maddie's head was now resting against Jack's shoulder, and the larger man had a puddle of drool forming at his feet.
Danny Phantom phased into the room. He knew his parents would kill him if they awoke, but right now he wanted to see his sister. He floated above her sleeping form and regarded the bandages on her arms. He gently pushed a strand of red hair off of her face and sighed. "Don't worry Jazz. That Darkness guy is going down. And I promise that I'll never let anything hurt you again."
And that includes Dark Dan.
...
Danny floated home after a half-hour visiting Jazz. He sleepily entered his room and jolted slightly awake when the ecto-alarm went off. He hastily transformed into Fenton and sighed with relief when the blaring silenced and the guns powered down and popped back into the wall. He stilled when he heard hushed voices coming from downstairs.
Or more specifically, the Fenton lab.
Danny narrowed his blue eyes and grabbed his baseball bat from his bedside table. He would only transform into Phantom if it was a ghostly problem. Since the ecto-alarm had only gone off when he came home, he figured it was a pair of burglars downstairs.
He decided he could handle those types of criminals in his human form.
Danny tiptoed down the carpeted stairs and cautiously turned the corner. His bare feet slapped against the hardwood floor and he approached the steel steps leading down to the Fenton lab. "Here goes nothing."
Danny leapt down the last few steps and brandished his baseball bat above his head. "Aagghh!"
"Aagghh!"
Danny stopped his battle cry and lowered his weapon. He furrowed his brow in confusion and regarded the two people in front of him, cowering in panic. "Sam? Tucker? What are you doing here at-" He paused and glanced at the clock on the wall. "-midnight?"
Tucker leaned against the wall and put a hand over his rapidly beating heart. "Dude! Don't scare us like that!"
Danny threw up his hands in exasperation. The bat clattered to the floor. "Me scare you? I thought you were armed burglars or something!"
"You were going to beat them off with a baseball bat?" Sam asked dubiously.
"Forget about the stupid bat! The point is I almost took your heads off and you freaked instead of using your elemental powers!"
Tucker just shrugged. "I kinda forgot."
"You forgot?"
"Can we change the subject please?" Sam cut in and put her hands on her hips, violet eyes glowering. "We're here because we came up with an idea that couldn't wait until morning."
Danny rolled his eyes and slumped to the floor. "Go right ahead."
"Well, since you managed to clear the darkness from Dash and Kwan using your light energy, we figured we could modify the Spectre Deflector to do the same thing. You know, repel the darkness instead of ghostly effects," Sam explained.
Tucker held up the green and silver Spectre Deflector. Danny arched an eyebrow and asked, "How do you plan on doing that?"
Sam shrugged. "That was Tucker's part of the plan."
The techgeek rolled his eyes and held out the Spectre Deflector. "Just send as much light energy as you can into this thing and it should work."
"What should work?"
"It! It will work!" Tucker snapped. Danny smirked and powered up a ball of golden energy. It hovered hesitantly in his hands and Danny regarded Tucker worriedly. Tucker sighed and threw up a wall of ice surrounding him. "Just throw the light and I'll dodge it in time."
Danny nodded and slammed the light at the invention. Tucker hastily let go and the Spectre Deflector and the light collided. Green and white lights sparked around the lab, casting eerie coloured shadows around the room.
"Nice plan Tuck," Sam snapped and dove behind a lab table. Danny quickly skirted around the malfunctioning Deflector and knocked down Tucker's shield of ice. He dragged the techgeek behind the lab table and turned them all intangible.
A blinding flash later and the trio cautiously peered over the table. The silver belt was on the floor, but instead of green accenting the invention, it had turned to gold and was glowing a little. "It actually worked," Sam marvelled.
Danny got up and approached it. He touched the edge with the tip of his finger and grinned when he didn't get a normal shock. "It did work!"
Tucker grinned. "Now all we have to do we is make about...ten more, maybe fifteen to be safe."
"Ugh," Sam and Danny groaned.
...
The sun rose over Amity Park, casting a cheerful glow over the town. Three teens were not in a cheery mood however, and Tucker was beginning to regret the fact that his plan worked. He had no sleep and missed at least five feeding times.
Danny sighed wearily and tossed another belt into the box at his feet. Sam and Tucker were collapsed on the ground, covered in ash streaks and oil. The belts were finally done.
Danny stuffed the box under one arm and grabbed the back of Tucker's shirt. The techgeek grabbed Sam's arm and they all phased back into Danny's room. The halfa stuffed the box at the very back of his closet and threw some clothes overtop. He then dropped Sam and Tucker on his carpeted floor and collapsed onto his bed.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Danny groaned and fumbled around his nightstand until his fingers gripped his cordless phone. "Hullo?"
"Danny, sweetie, are you okay?" Maddie's concerned voice seemed to echo around the silent room.
"I'm fine Mom."
"Jazz still hasn't woken up yet, so we're going to stay here for the rest of the day..." Her voice trailed off.
Guilt flared once more in his gut. His parents wanted to stay with Jazz but they were worried about him.
He didn't deserve their concern.
"I'll be fine Mom."
"Okay sweetie. Just don't be late for school. We'll be home by dinner if everything goes well, alright?"
"Yeah mom. Tell Jazz 'hello sleeping beauty' when she wakes up, okay?"
Maddie giggled. "Yes honey."
The dial tone buzzed in his ear and Danny chucked the phone back on his bedside table. He stared at the glowing red numbers on his digital clock. It was seven in the morning. An hour and a half before he had to go to school. Sam and Tucker were snoring softly from the floor. Danny grabbed a spare blanket from the end of his bed and tossed it over his two best friends. He slumped back on his pillow and his eyes fluttered closed.
...
Sam moaned softly and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She ran a hand through her tousled raven hair and realized she had fallen asleep. Tucker was a few feet away from her, curled in a ball with half the blanket around him. She tossed the rest of the blanket on top of him and stood up, stretching high. Her violet eyes drifted to the clock and she froze.
Eleven in the morning.
"Shoot." she muttered. "Guys? Guys!"
Danny jolted upright and crashed to the floor. Tucker sat up and hastily adjusted the glasses on his face. When it was clear that she had their full attention, she gestured to the clock. "It's eleven. We already missed first period and half of second."
Tucker settled back down. "Then let me sleep! It's not going to kill us if we miss a day of school."
"Our parents will," Sam argued.
Danny sighed. He stared at the wall for a moment and changed into Phantom. Sam arched an eyebrow and he glanced at her. "I'm going to take one of those belts and go see if I can find Ember."
"You might want to take more than one," Sam advised and was about to head to the lab when Danny held up a hand.
"I can do this by myself. Why don't you stay behind and catch some more z's?"
Sam hesitated, torn by the fresh renewal of fatigue and her desire to back up her best friend. Tucker had already dozed off, and the fatigue won. She nodded and settled back to her spot on the floor. Danny smiled and waved goodbye and headed for the Fenton Portal.
...
Danny Phantom floated through the swirling green vortex, a handful of belts clutched to his chest. One already was wrapped around his waist. "Where would she be?"
"Give me the elements!"
Danny was shot backwards by a purple guitar blast. He stared at the rocker ghost hovering above him, black eyes narrowed dangerously. "I was looking for you."
Ember scowled and blasted another purple fist. She knew her master had asked her to round up more ghost minions, but the element warrior of light was right here! Master would be very proud if she brought him to the castle.
Danny threw up a light shield and fired golden arrows. Ember blocked them with a purple shield of her own and sent dark rays zooming in on Danny.
Danny held a belt tightly in his hand and went intangible. The rays passed right through him. Ember narrowed her eyes and raised her hands high above her head. "Enough fooling around."
A large, crackling ball of dark electricity was thrown at him. Danny threw up his shield again and braced for impact. The black energy collided with his light shield and a harsh popping noise filled the empty void of the Zone.
"Give up, Phantom. You cannot win. Darkness has control of Light, Ice and Fire, and now he has control over Wind, Earth and Water."
Oh man... Danny widened his glowing green eyes. That was so not good. Why didn't Clockwork stop them?
Ember shrieked and the black energy fizzled away. Danny lowered his shield and noticed Ember was being held in a death grip by...Skulker?
"I assume that strange belt will cure Ember?" he asked, wincing as Ember tried blasting his arms off with black energy. Her guitar lay at Skulker's boots.
Danny could only nod.
"What are you waiting for?" Skulker snapped.
Danny shook himself out of his shock and zoomed for Ember. She kicked at his face and Danny avoided her foot. He slammed the belt around Ember's waist and she instantly vibrated with golden electricity.
"Aagghh!" she screamed in pain and Skulker tightened his grip. Ember went slack and moaned softly. She slowly lifted her head and Danny sighed with relief at the turquoise eyes. "Wh-what happened?"
"Everything's fine," Danny assured the rocker. Ember nodded once and went unconscious. Skulker frowned at him. "
She'll be fine. Just make sure she doesn't remove the belt."
"She won't." Skulker narrowed his eyes. "This doesn't change anything between us."
"Aw, are you saying we have a relationship? I think Ember will be disappointed."
"Get out of here whelp!"
Danny snickered and tossed another belt at the armoured ghost. "I'd advise you to wear one as well." He laughed and bolted out of the Zone with higher spirits.
...
Danny Fenton shuffled into the kitchen to see Tucker and Sam eating sugary cereal and slightly burnt toast at his kitchen table. "What's up?"
"How'd the Ember thing go?" Sam asked curiously, wiping a streak of milk off of her chin.
"It went great. She's back to normal." Danny collapsed in a chair and reached for the jug of orange juice.
It was content, eating breakfast at noon with his two best friends. And although he knew he would be getting some major lecturing when his parents received a phone call from Lancer, and he knew the Darkness wouldn't be too happy about their latest breakthrough, and he was still worried about turning into Dark Dan, he felt calm.
Sometimes it was better to live in the moment.