Opening A/N: I'm baaaaack~ Did ya miss me? I sure as hell missed all of you! Now as for the reason why I was gone so long in the first place. BTW did you know I have a discord server? (slash)GycnfTwe8H
One thing that I haven't shared with you all yet is this: In reality, I'm physically handicapped. It's not something that can be cured, nor can the effects of my disability be ignored nor erased. Long story short, this disability affects nearly every aspect of my body. My hearing, sight, strength, etc. Every now and again I will have issues that pop up unexpectedly and put me out of commission for a while. Luckily, it's nothing life threatening, just annoying honestly.
Regardless, I'm finally back to writing again and hoping I haven't lost my touch. Without further ado, I present to you "I Just Want To Be Remembered" chapter 11!
P.S. Now that I've revealed Ember's true identity, I'm not entirely sure how to have Danny address her. Of course I could abandon the "Ember" moniker, but I feel like doing so would strip away an aspect of her character that I'm not comfortable removing. At the same time, I feel like ONLY calling her Amberlyn or Amber, would do the same. So for the time being I'm probably going to switch back and forth to see what sticks. Don't be afraid to chime in and let me know which you prefer!
"Two quotation marks means speech or emphasis on a word."
'One quotation mark means thought.'
Italics mean heavy emphasis on a word, lyrics/song titles, or written/digital text.
Chapter XI: The Kiss
He returns her smile, noticing her tears had dried. She stands and motions for him to do the same. Danny complies and he watches as she pulls him into a tight embrace. "Thank you, Danny. For everything you're doing for me."
He can't keep the smile from his face. "You don't have to thank me, Ember."
"Amberlyn." She says, her voice nearly a whisper. "My name is Amberlyn."
Danny feels his heart skip a beat and his muscles stiffen at her confession. He had always assumed that "Ember" wasn't her real name, but of course, he could never ask. Nor did he feel he had the right to.
Names were a much more private thing among ghosts than they were amongst humans. Living people exchanged their names without a second thought, introducing themselves countless times across their life. But a name has a much different set of power attached to it amongst ghosts. Many of them would rather leave their old life forgotten for various different reasons. Some of them may be ashamed of things they did, or were unable to do, when they were alive. Others may have been hardcore criminals and would rather keep that part of them separate from their afterlife.
Much of the Ghost Zones populace did one of two things, they either made up an entirely new name, or kept half of their old one and combined it with a fictional half. Even Danny, even though unintentional, was guilty of this. After all, as everyone now knows, Danny Phantom was just Danny Fenton.
For a ghost to willingly give away their actual name was something extremely uncommon, at least from what he had learned over the years. It wasn't entirely uncommon for even the best of friends within the ghost community to not know each other's real name, or know of their past lives.
It took a great deal of trust and it was an enormous show of faith to entrust your true identity to someone. Once they knew who you used to be, it could have a myriad of consequences. Ranging from emotional blackmail to much nastier things, depending on what the person could find out about your past life.
The fact that Ember, no, Amberlyn decided to give Danny this information shocked him to his frozen core. Despite knowing why she would do so, he couldn't understand it. He felt inadequate of this information, unworthy.
Finally coming back to his senses, Danny blinks away the sudden confoundation and gently wraps his arms around the shorter girl once again.
"You didn't have to tell me that." He whispers
"I know." She says, her voice shaky, fragile "But I wanted to."
The question of why died on his tongue. To him it didn't really matter all that much as to why she had told him. It didn't matter now, anyway. She had trusted him with this, and he would be damned if he betrayed that trust.
"Thank you, Amber." He replies instead.
He can't see the smile that forms on her face at the slight modification of her name into that of a nickname, but Danny can certainly feel her grip tighten slightly.
"Thank me? For what?" Ember questions.
"For trusting me." Danny explains, his hand rubbing lazy patterns on the small of her back "Not just for trusting me with your name, but trusting me the moment you let me into your realm for that first time."
She gently pushes on his chest, signaling him to release her, which he complies. Despite the runny makeup, Danny still can't help but admire her beauty. Her smile betrays the sadness the ruined makeup was caused by, it's almost radiant.
"I think I should be thanking you too." She confesses, "These past few days have been the best of my life. Both of my lives."
"I didn't really do all that much." Danny says, rubbing his neck embarrassedly.
""Didn't really do all that much"? Babypop, you have done more for me than I ever expected you to. More than I expected anyone to. You didn't have to do any of this, planning a concert for me, constantly trying to cheer me up, going out of your way to try and make me happy, none of it." Ember says frustratedly.
"Of course I didn't have to, but I wanted to, Amber." He states.
"And that!" She says, raising a finger to point at him, "You're not as sneaky as you'd like to think Danny. I know you're calling me Amber and not Amberlyn because of what I told you my past life was like!"
Danny's posture goes rigid again, not expected to be called out on that. "Well, yeah… I figured that if your parents were as strict as you say they were, that they would've never called you by anything other than your actual name, the same goes with the other people in your past life. So I was hoping Amber would be better, plus it's incredibly close to Ember, which makes me think Amber was what you wanted to be called back then."
Ember's arm droops at his explanation. "You know, I really should be used to you surprising me by now, but I don't think that's ever gonna happen." She mutters "You're a lot more observant than I thought."
Danny laughs at her remark. "You'd be surprised how much I've been hearing that lately."
She raises an eyebrow at this, but doesn't question it. Her reflection in one of the nearby windows catches her eye and she notices the state of her ruined makeup. "Hey babypop? I'm gonna go freshen up. Meet me back upstairs in the living room?"
"Uh, sure." Danny says, confused, "Need any help putting things back?"
His only response is a deadpan look and a snap of her fingers, which makes the studio take on the same state it was in before they entered.
His face meets his hands as he lets out a grumble, "Realm control, right."
The laugh that makes his heart flutter is well worth the embarrassment, in his opinion. "Awww, I appreciate the gesture though Danny." Ember says once her laughter subsides.
"Yeah yeah." He grumbles in return "Danny Phantom, ever the gentleman."
A mischievous glint shines in Ember's eyes as a sudden idea takes hold. She stalks up to him and places a hand on his chest "I wouldn't have it any other way, babypop."
Danny doesn't know if it was the feeling of her hand on his chest, or the way she said the nickname that was undeniably his, either way his heart skips a beat and his thoughts come to a screeching halt.
He doesn't even register the laugh that comes from his crush as she takes in his stunned expression. Nor did he see her leave the room long before he came back to his senses.
'This girl is gonna be the death of me, I swear.' He muses. Though, he can't help but think that he wouldn't want to go out any other way.
Danny lazes around on the comfortable light blue cushions of the conversation pit as he awaits his companion, idly tossing one of the smaller pillows back and forth.
His thoughts run rampant, between wondering if he has a chance with the flame haired girl, or if he should attempt to move their relationship beyond the stage it's in now.
That topic alone makes him question things. Danny knows that they are well beyond just simple friends at this point. The near four years of chemistry, while explosive, is still there and can't be ignored.
Even when being enemies with someone for that long, you're destined to learn and even appreciate things about them. Things that can't just be ignored in the event that you move from being adversaries to allies.
It left him at a loss. Again, he knows they are beyond friends, yet he can't seem to find a fitting label that would match his current relationship with the girl he has come to care for. Then again, the only label he wants to apply to their relationship may have to wait awhile.
A frustrated breath escapes him as his thoughts once again seem to jumble and are unhelpful at the moment.
"What's got you huffing like that?" He hears from behind him.
"Nothing too important. Just thinking-" His words stop as he turns to look at her.
Her attire isn't anything too impressive. To the contrary it's just a simple white tank top and black pajama pants with blue flames, but to Danny, it's the girl wearing them that is breathtaking.
Ember's makeup is gone, not even a hint of the usual black eyeliner. Her black choker remains faithfully around her small neck, but everything else of her previous outfit has been replaced from what he can see.
Despite the lack of artificial enhancement, her features still look wonderful. Her eyes still shine that shade of toxic green that Danny has come to love. Her small lips and slim cheeks still draw his eyes.
"What?" She asks, confused, "Did I leave some makeup on or something?"
It takes a moment for Danny to realize that she spoke. "Huh? No, you don't have anything on your face, sorry. Just, not used to seeing you like this."
A smile plays on her lips at his response, "Well, this is Ember McLain au natural." She says with a shrug.
"Seeing you without makeup seriously makes me wonder why you wear it in the first place." He flirts.
If Danny wasn't so accustomed to the way Ember walks, he would've missed the near misstep at his words, which brings a small, confident, smile to his face.
"Speaking of that, your new Phantom outfit." She says.
"What about it?" He asks, transforming into his aforementioned alter ego.
"Not that I'm complaining, but what brought on the change?" Ember asks as she takes a seat next to him, grabbing a pillow and bringing it to her chest.
"It's something I've thought about for a while, but was never really able to do until recently." He says with a shrug, "These were actually a graduation gift from my parents and Tucker."
"Wait, you mean you didn't transform them?" She asks, her eyebrows scrunched together in confusion.
"No? I have no idea how to." He explains.
He notices the smile that comes to the rocker's lips, as well as the laughter that slowly builds from her.
"What?" He asks, thoroughly unaware of what is so funny about the situation. His questioning only makes the girl laugh that much harder.
As her laughing fit slowly dies away and she regains her unneeded breath, she explains. "Danny, you wanna know one of the first things that I learned in the GZ?"
"Not really sure how this relates, but sure." He replies.
"The way ghosts get different outfits is by taking regular clothes, and hitting them with a concentrated ecto-blast." She says, still giggling.
His mouth drops open, unbelieving. 'It can't be that simple can it?' He questions mentally 'Wait, Tucker said that these change with me by infusing them with ecto-energy!'
"Son of a bitch!" He hisses in frustration, sending the girl next to him into another fit of laughter.
"Remember what I said about you being observant? I take it back!" She says between guffaws.
"Shut it you!" He says, playfully as he hits her with the pillow in his hands.
He can't help but laugh when he sees her stunned expression due to his feather based attack.
"You asked for it!" She shouts before hitting him back, square in the face.
The resounding oomph that escapes him at the impact makes him laugh, but he refuses not to retaliate.
Several minutes later, as well as several destroyed pillows, and the two are standing face to face, the back of Danny's feet against the edge of the fluffy pit behind him.
He barely has time to turn intangible as a pillow flys through the space his face occupied seconds before, at speeds that actually makes him think Ember may have actually been trying to hurt him.
The projectile whooshes by and hits the wall with a WHUMP that makes him want to giggle for some reason.
"Hey! I thought we agreed not to use ghost powers!" His attacker protests.
"Habit." He says.
She lets out a growl and lunges at him. He wraps his arms around the ghost projectile and his back hits the cushions behind him, sending the breath from his lungs.
His arms slacken their hold on Ember due to the sudden impact, but remain around her and he opens his eyes to see her face incredibly close to his. He can feel her slim body pressed against his larger one, and his blue eyes stare into her green. He can't help but get lost in the bottomless green pits. His gaze travels from her eyes down to her lips, and he feels the sudden urge to mesh his against them.
Flicking his orbs back to hers, he feels his head slowly tilt and raise towards hers. Those green eyes widen briefly as she realizes what's happening, but they gently close just as quickly, her head tilting the opposite direction to meet him.
'She's not stopping me!' Danny realizes, and he feels his heart speed up considerably.
Letting out a shaky breath, he abandons all doubt and gently presses his lips to those of the girl in his arms.
Closing A/N: AHAHHAHAHAHAH I'm back in a big way baby! I REALLY hope that this doesn't seem rushed or too soon. I had other plans for this chapter, but as I began writing, it once again took on a life of its own and led me to what you just read.
I hope you've enjoyed this chapter and I'm glad to be back once again! I'll try to write and update as often as I can, but due to my health, no promises. I hope you have a wonderful day! -DraconicAnarkhy