A/N Hello again to all of you amazing readers. We had another great week as far as views and reviews go. 10 more beautiful reviews and I love each and every one of you for them. We also had 2100 views alone in the last 7 days which was incredible. There wasn't a single day that didn't surpass 200 total views, making it the most viewed week yet since I started this story. Here's looking forward to another great week and another exciting chapter from this story that I am still having a blast writing. Without further ado please enjoy and as always remember to leave a REVIEW at the end.
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Both girls were completely frozen where they stood while staring at Danny with open mouths. However both had completely different thoughts going through their head. On the one hand, Sam was feeling completely crushed hearing Danny profess his love to not only another girl, but one who she deemed to be one of their enemies. Ember on the other hand felt as if her entire body had come back to life hearing the words that she had long given up on ever hearing someone say to her. Now that she had heard them she couldn't believe it, nor could she keep a tear from leaking out of her eye.
"Wh...what did you say?" said Ember slowly while her lips slowly moved into a smile. Danny was looking right into her eyes with a loving smile of his own, his blue eyes shining with sincerety.
"I love you Ember," said Danny stepping closer to her again. "I don't think I realized it until just now. I know we've only been together a couple weeks and I don't exactly have years of experience with these feelings, but I just know. I love you."
Ember couldn't help herself nor did she want to, she threw her arms around Danny's neck tightly and pressed her lips against his in the most passionate kiss they'd shared yet. She didn't care that Sam was right there and would probably want to vaporize her again, this was the happiest moment of her existence and she was going to savor it. Danny's hands also went around her body as he pulled her against him, also leaning into the feelings that were overwhelming both of them right now. Ember's hair was going crazier than ever, lighting up like it was a bonfire.
Sam was so stunned at what was happening in front of her that she couldn't react. There were so many things she wanted to say but her voice had completely vanished, leaving her unable to say or do anything. She should be charging at Ember and attacking her with the ghost gauntlets again, or blasting her with her wrist ray, anything to get her off of Danny, but she couldn't find the willpower to do any of it. All she could do was stand there, completely frozen while the two deeply kissed each other.
After several long filled moments, Danny and Ember pulled their lips away from each other and just looked into each other's eyes. Their foreheads rested against one another, the rest of the world not mattering to them.
ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAR
That snapped them all out of it as the bear ghost was coming back, charging at them and looking more enraged than before. Ember brought her guitar back around to her front and turned the knob to fire an ecto fist at it.
"Stick to the forest Smokey, this is one fire that can't be contained," said Ember smirking as the bear flew backwards again after being hit.
Danny looked at her and couldn't help but chuckle at her pun.
"Smokey, fire, genius, since your hair is fire and he's a bear, that was beautiful," said Danny with an amusing chuckle, which Ember returned.
"Well it looks like your charm has been rubbing off on me Baby Pop," said Ember winking.
Sam had finally seen enough and was starting to get her thoughts back, shaking her head to get her focus under control.
"WHAT THE HELL?" screamed Sam with her arms flying up to her hair, grabbing a fistful in each. "Danny, how the hell are you with her like this? She tried to take over the world less than two months ago, and now you're saying you love her?"
Danny looked over his shoulder at his best friend, forgetting momentarily that she was there. But he did feel she deserved an explanation, just not right now.
"Sam I promise when this is over I will tell you everything, but right now we need to focus on Plasmius," said Danny getting serious again. "I'm still out of commission for 25 more minutes so we need to be smart with this. Ember can you provide the element of surprise while Sam and I confront him? He won't be expecting you but seeing Sam wouldn't surprise him."
Sam once again let her mouth drop, unable to believe what she was hearing. Danny just asked Ember freaking McLain to not only help, but be the one that actually attacks? This was utter madness.
"Well I prefer to leave the hero stuff to you, but I guess I can make an exception this one time since you're about as powerless as a dipstick right now," said Ember, nudging Danny in the side with the neck of her guitar. "But when this is over I have plenty of stuff I need to tell you myself, mostly about how the hippie and I got much better acquainted earlier."
Sam shot Ember a look of hate which Ember gladly returned with interest. She had every intention of telling Danny exactly how she had came to her realm and tried to end their relationship, but first things first.
"Sam, you keep the gauntlets, but let me have the wrist ray, I need some kind of weapon for this," said Danny holding out his hand.
Sam was actually hesitant and delayed a few seconds before sliding the device off her wrist and handing it to Danny, her eyes never leaving Ember's as the girls stared at each other. Both of them would both really enjoy resuming their fight.
"I'm still keeping my eye on her and I don't trust her one bit," said Sam, narrowing her eyes at Ember, even slowly trying to step a bit between them as she handed Danny the wrist ray.
"Fine by me hippie, just as long as it's clear that you're my sidekick for this one," said Ember smirking, knowing she was poking the hornets nest again, but she didn't care.
Sam started shaking with rage, almost deciding to just ignore everything else and throw a punch at Ember again, but Danny stepped between them.
"Hey, I know this is not exactly ideal and not how I thought everything would be revealed between me and Ember, but this really isn't the time," said Danny putting his arms up between the girls. "We've got bigger fish to fry, then we'll all talk."
Sam very reluctantly lowered her arms and looked away, so furious at the situation right now.
"So where do we find this plasma guy?" asked Ember looking around.
"He's been lurking around while I was being terrorized by that bear, so there's a chance he's been watching since you arrived and is regrouping, but hopefully not," said Danny looking around himself. "I have a hunch we'll find him over there by the rocket, which he paid for and used to try to bribe me into joining him. The ego on this fruit loop is unbelievable."
"Wow seriously, how much money does that guy have?" said Ember as she looked in the direction of the rocket.
"Who knows, probably more than the five richest people on Earth combined thanks to the way he uses his powers," said Danny frowning. "Let's go, time to serve up a big bowl of fruit loops with extra milk."
The three of them started making their way towards the rocket, Danny in the middle with both girls on his side. Both were trying to stay closer to Danny than the other, and they almost bumped into him which would have caused a pileup. It took about ten minutes for them to get there since they were all the way on the other side of the base to start.
"Ok, Ember, go invisible and flank him from the side while Sam and I confront him and his minions," said Danny as he readied his wrist ray. "The bear is probably here too still since I didn't see it come back after you blasted it. I've still got 15 minutes until I get my powers back."
"You got it Baby Pop," said Ember giving Danny a quick kiss before vanishing. Not letting the opportunity pass, she flew past Sam first and bumped her shoulder against her roughly while flying up high.
"Ugh, hey, watch it or I swear I'll..." Sam started to say furiously to the air.
"Sam enough, focus," said Danny as they rounded the corner to see the rocket straight up ahead. And sure enough, there was Plasmius hovering right at the base of it with a smirk on his face, not looking deterred at all that Sam was now there.
"Well well well Daniel, it seems you were able to avoid the bear long enough and actually call for help, quite impressive really," said Plasmius pulling out a pocket watch. "Oh but it seems you still have 15 minutes until your powers come back, surely you didn't think calling your girlfriend here was going to make a difference, regardless of how fast she got here."
Ember heard his words from up above and wanted to charge right at him to tear his head off. Anyone suggesting that the hippie was his girlfriend and not herself deserved to suffer severe pain.
"Well it's more than you will ever have Plasmius, so I wouldn't be so comfortable mocking others in that regard," said Danny posing for confrontation, Sam punching her gauntlets together. "I'll be sure to have my dad sent you a letter about how much he loves being married to my mom when I get home."
"Don't see the bear ghost anywhere, but we better keep our eyes open," said Sam looking around but not seeing anything.
"Oh worry not young ghostbusters, there won't be anyone else for this, I'm more than powerful enough to take on the two of you myself," said Vlad smirking and posing himself. "I've had my fun watching you squirm, so now I think I'll take my turn at playing tag. But first I'd like to add a few more players to the game."
Making his body glow, Plasmius suddenly created three copies of himself, leaving it now four against two. Danny frowned in jealousy seeing his arch enemy once again show off his greater experience.
"Ahh, I hate that I still can't do that," said Danny with a groan.
All four editions of Plasmius were simultaneously grinning as they moved to flank the two teenagers. Putting themselves back to back, Sam had both gauntlets raised while Danny was aiming his wrist ray back and forth between his two.
"Danny, cover your ears quick," Sam whispered to Danny over her shoulder. It worked well on Ember earlier, so it'll probably work well again.
Danny quickly covered his ears as Sam spread her arms as wide as she could, clapping them together to once again create a huge ecto shock wave. Not expecting the sudden attack, all four Plasmius figures started shaking in agony and reaching up to cover their ears. Quickly taking advantage of their subdued position, Sam leapt forward, punching both of her Plasmius' in the gut before grabbing them by the collar to slam their heads together. Both fell backwards while rubbing their temples in pain before they raised back up and out of Sam's reach. Danny had taken the opportunity to quickly blast both of his two multiple times via rapid fire, sending them backwards and against the building with a loud crash. The one unfortunate thing is that all four seemed to be equally strong and they couldn't tell which was the real one. And these attacks seemed like they were doing minimul damage.
"Ha ha ha ha ha, oh you young naïve teenagers, surely you don't think that meager attacks like that could possibly stop me," said Plasmius as all four of them floated up to form a line side by side. "Allow me to show you what real power can do."
All four Plasmius' ghosts started charging their fists with ecto rays before firing together right at Danny and Sam. The teens were momentarily stunned before diving for their lives to the side. A huge blast erupted as the beams hit the ground, chunks of gravel even erupting. Apparently Plasmius wasn't playing around.
"I'm giving you both a chance to surrender right now and I can see myself being merciful," said Plasmius as the four of them floated a little closer to them on the ground. "All I want is for young Daniel to join me by my side so I can train him to be just as strong as me, and in turn to help convince his mother to come with me as well. Not too much to ask I don't think."
Danny, Sam, and in the air Ember, all couldn't believe the ego on this fruit loop. Surely he wasn't deluded enough to possibly think that any of that was ever going to happen in this lifetime.
"You might need therapy more than anyone I've ever known in my entire life," said Sam getting back to her feet and helping Danny stand up.
"Well your alternative is that I destroy you both right here and now, since it's not like either of you can do anything to stop me, even if you did still have your powers Daniel," said Plasmius as all four crossed their arms looking smug.
"I may still be powerless for another ten minutes, but maybe there's someone else that can stand up to you," said Danny smirking. Ember heard from above and got ready to charge in, holding her guitar by her side.
"Oh really Daniel, and who could that possibly be?" said Plasmius looking unworried. "Expecting another rescue attempt from the Dairy King? I chucked that lactose ghost back into the ghost zone once I found out he was in my mansion."
"Oh no, just someone who's really gonna rock your world and make your head roll," said Danny looking up into the air. Even though he couldn't see Ember he knew she was there.
Getting the signal, Ember charged right at the four Plasmius figures at top speed, getting her guitar ready as if she were about to smash mailboxes from a moving car.
"Surprise grandpa, hope you're ready to go for a ride," said Ember as she swung her guitar so hard that she slammed all four Plasmius figures into each other before they went flying away like baseballs. "Never did like authority figures anyway."
"Oh yeah, and that's a grand slam," said Danny punching his fist as three of the clones vanished from the impact, the real one flying into the air and slamming right into the Green Starr rocket, crashing through the exterior and landing inside.
"Ugh, butter biscuits, that hurt," said Plasmius while rubbing his head.
Looking up he saw the huge hole that was now in the side of the rocket, which meant millions would have to be spent to fix it. But right now he had more pressing matters, like finding out what just happened. It was so fast but he could swear he recognized his sudden attacker.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that was Ember McLain, but what in the name of hell is she doing here?" Plasmius asked himself as he moved back to the hole and looked down. Sure enough there was Ember McLain, now beside Daniel and looking up to where he was.
Danny, Ember, and Sam all stood side by side and looked up to where Plasmius had crashed, Danny in the middle. Looking at his watch Danny saw that he only needed to wait another five minutes until his powers came back. So close, just a little longer.
Flying out and now mad, Plasmius headed down towards the teens, lasered in on Daniel and intending to overshadow him before his powers could return. But Ember was ready to intercept and flew right at him with her guitar raised. Striking a chord she sent a stream of green ecto energy with skulls right at Plasmius. He dodged and instead it hit the rocket, causing yet more damage to it.
"Lay one hand on my boyfriend and I'll tear yours off," said Ember rising up to Plasmius' level and staring him down.
"What, your boyfriend? You don't say," said Plasmius suddenly smiling. This was a juicy bit of information that he hadn't expected to discover. Maybe he should shift the focus of his attacks elsewhere.
Sam heard everything that was being said up above and couldn't stop herself from feeling so mad at it all. It still hit her ears so wrong hearing that Ember was Danny's girlfriend and that he claimed it was all legit. It all seemed like stuff that shouldn't be possible, yet somehow it was and it just kept mocking her.
'Would it really be so bad if Plasmius and her just fought and took each other out?' Sam asked herself in her head, wondering if it could actually happen, saving her the trouble of having to do anything.
"Let's go grandpa, I've got more than enough power to match up to you even without a stadium cheering for me," said Ember, making her fist glow pink with her own ecto energy.
"Oh really now, well I'm more than happy to put that theory to the test," said Plasmius charging at the fire hair ghost.
Ember fired an ecto ray right at Plasmius but he dodged around it and quickly aimed a punch right for her side. Moving her guitar like a shield, Ember was able to block it. Swinging her leg around Ember aimed a kick towards Plasmius' stomach. Creating an ecto shield with his free hand, Plasmius blocked the hit and focused his eyes, firing two ecto rays from them right at Ember's face. Reacting only barely in time Ember shot her head backwards to avoid it. Lifting it back up both she and Plasmius locked their hands together, trying to push the other back with gritted teeth. Not needing her hands to use another of her powers, Ember swung her head forward and let her hair erupt like a wildfire, blasting it right at Plasmius' face and threatening to burn it right off. Plasmius wasn't ready for this one and took part of the blast to his face before he could fully separate himself and move away.
"Ahhhhhh, my beautiful face," said Plasmius touching his cheeks.
Before he could even recover from the fire he was suddenly blasted from down below by Danny, using his wrist ray to fire rapidly at his enemy as soon as Ember was out of firing range.
Ember smiled down at her boyfriend, loving the teamwork they were showing together. She noticed that Sam looked frustrated about not being able to do anything and smirked at that, enjoying the opportunity to show her up.
Vlad looked at his pocket watch and saw that Daniel only had one minute left until he regained his powers. If that happened and he joined Ember up in the air then he'd have twice as many problems. Since Ember's powers were different than his own and Daniel's he wasn't as familiar with her fighting style. He didn't need to add more to that. Looking straight at Daniel, Plasmius shot himself right towards the teenage boy, ready to overshadow him before he could transform.
"Hey, get back here," shouted Ember, taking off after him.
Sam saw that Plasmius was flying right at Danny. Raising her gauntlets she jumped in front of him, ready to throw the biggest punch yet right at him to send him to the moon without even needing a rocket. But Plasmius wasn't deterred, all he did was go intangible while flying and pass right through Sam, making a beeline for Daniel.
Danny raised his wrist ray and started firing rapidly again, but none of his shots made contact as Plasmius was zig zagging too much.
"Sorry Daniel, but I'm taking control now," said Plasmius as he smirked. Danny had a look of horror on his face now as Plasmius flew right into his body, a green glow appearing all around it and making his eyes turn red.
"No...no...won't...let you...do this," said Danny trying to resist.
When Ember and Sam saw Plasmius enter Danny's body they both froze once again just like when Danny told Ember he loved her, except this time both had looks of horror on their face rather than shock. Danny was clearly struggling to stay in control and banish Plasmius, but the adult ghost was just too strong and Danny was losing the battle without his powers.
"Please...help...me," Danny pleaded to his girlfriend and best friend as his eyes were completely red and his body stopped shaking.
Ember snapped out of her shocked stature and had a million thoughts going through her head, all of them related to how much she cared about Danny. All these thoughts gave her one and only one goal; beat the everlasting shit out of the bastard that had the nerve to attack the boy that loved her.
"DANNY," screamed Ember at the top of her lungs, eyes blazing with fire just like her hair as she sped at Plasmius so fast the naked eye almost couldn't even see her.
Going intangible, Ember was prepared to overshadow Danny herself, but only to force Plasmius out of him. Before anyone could react to stop it, Ember sped right through Danny so fast that Plasmius never even saw it coming. It only took a few seconds before two figures were expelled from Danny's chest. Ember had an iron grip around Plasmius' throat and was flying him right towards the rocket he paid for. Flying up into the air Ember slammed him into the side so hard that the whole rocket almost fell over.
"YOU BASTARD, YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR THAT," screamed Ember as she started punching Plasmius mercilessly all over his body, even more so than she did to the ghost tiger that interrupted her date with Danny. His face, his chest, his face, his stomach, his face again, over and over and not letting up.
Danny and Sam were looking up from below, both with terrified looks on their faces from how brutal Ember was being. For Sam this only made her more worried about whatever was going on between her and Danny. What if something happened and she did this to him for whatever reason? She clearly was not opposed to beating someone until they were deformed. Danny however was mortified that Ember was committing an act that seemed so evil. He didn't want to see her like this. Since they'd been together he felt like she didn't have to be this way anymore, and this could send her down such a dark path if he didn't stop her.
"Please please please hurry up," pleaded Danny, looking at his watch.
With a few more ticks, it now read 9:45. His three hours were up and he had his powers back.
"EMBER, PLEASE STOP," called Danny as he quickly transformed and flew right towards his girlfriend like his life depended on it. Ironically his arch enemy's actually could depend on it.
Ember was pulling her fist back for another big punch aimed right at Plasmius' jaw, but before she could Danny had grabbed her fist and held her back. Not expecting the sudden interruption Ember turned her head to look her boyfriend in the eye, seeing that he must have gotten his powers back.
"Let go of my hand dipstick, I'm not done with this sorry piece of trash," said Ember trying to yank her fist free.
Danny kept a tight grip on Ember's arm, trying to pull her away from Plasmius and look into her eyes.
"Ember, please stop, he's beaten," said Danny in a pleading voice. "I'm safe, he didn't win and everything is okay now, you don't have to do this."
"But he still needs to suffer for what he tried to do to you," said Ember with fire still in her eyes, but softening her aggressive tone while speaking to Danny. "He could have done something to you, and I...I would have lost you."
Danny felt her efforts to pull her arm free softening as he kept holding it. Realizing that she was now focusing on him and not so much on Plasmius, along with what she just confessed, Danny pulled her into a comforting hug. Slowly Ember's free hand surrendered to Danny's embrace and hugged him back, but still keeping one hand gripped around Plasmius, who was in so much pain his mind was begging to be put into a coma.
"It's okay Ember, you're not going to lose me, I love you," said Danny kissing her forehead. "I know you've been through so much in both your living and ghost life, but you're still better than this. Don't sink to his level. He's beaten, that's good enough."
Ember didn't really want to stop, she was actually quite enjoying pounding the bitter ghost into a pulp. While she wasn't evil anymore she did still enjoy her rebellious attitude and personality. Just because Danny was her boyfriend and she cared more about him than anything she'd ever cared about before didn't just magically make her a goody two shoes like he is. But as she looked at Plasmius' face that was bleeding like crazy, she thought maybe this one had gone far enough. Lucky for him he was in his ghost form so he'd be able to recover and it wouldn't affect his human face. He'd just be bruised pretty badly for a while until it healed.
"Fine, I guess he's had enough, it loses it's fun anyway if he can't even fight back," said Ember frowning at Plasmius. "But if he ever tries anything like this again, next time I won't stop."
Ember shoved him against the side of the rocket one last time, and that was the tipping point for the space exploring machine. With a loud creak the rocket started to slowly tip over, leaving the three ghosts floating in midair alone. Danny saw that the rocket was falling and a part of him actually felt sad. It still was his dream to explore space and seeing a machine that was capable of that still wasn't easy to see destroyed.
"Ah man, at the end of the day that still was an amazing looking rocket," said Danny with a slight frown.
"Well let's send this old fart packing so we can get out of here," said Ember as she let go of Plasmius and grabbed her guitar. Maybe she did have one more swing in her. "FOOOOOOORE." With one more great swing, Plasmius was hit like a golf ball and sent flying into the night, far away from the NASA base.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh," screamed the adult ghost in complete agony, too weak to try to stop himself from flying through the air. But he was able to process one thought as the NASA base shrank smaller and smaller from his sight.
'This isn't over you two, I'll set the entire ghost zone against you for this,' thought Plasmius in his aching head.
While watching the bitter fruit loop shrink in the night sky, Danny took Ember's hand and floated right next to her, smiling at her lightly.
"You're amazing, thank you so much for getting here so quickly," said Danny. Ember turned her body to face Danny and put her arms around his neck, returning the smile.
"Well I only did it because I couldn't bare to see that gorgeous face of yours scratched up," said Ember with a smirk. "Make no mistake Baby Pop, you become disfigured and we're over. A rock star like me needs to be with someone equally as beautiful."
Danny knew she was making a joke and just lightly chuckled, feeling good to not have to be so serious anymore after the insanity of the last few hours.
Someone still on the ground though wasn't exactly happy that she was by herself and looking up at the two.
"Um, excuse me up there, but I'm still here in case you'd forgotten," shouted Sam to the two lovebirds.
Ember looked down at her with a glare, part of her still wanting to get back to their earlier fight. Danny however looked down at Sam and figured that he needed to thank her as well, even though he still had no idea how she even knew to come in the first place.
"I'm guessing something happened earlier today between the two of you and that's how both of you knew to come here rather than just yourself," said Danny as they both started to lower themselves towards the ground.
"Oh, that's the simplest way you could put it," said Ember, not taking her eyes off Sam, and Sam glaring right back as they reached the ground.
"So Danny, any chance you're going to send some thanks my way as well for showing up?" said Sam with a tone as she turned to look at Danny now.
"Of course, I'm so glad you got here too and I always appreciate you helping me Sam," said Danny smiling, at the same time looking around to see if the bear ghost was still anywhere around. "You think the bear ghost is still here somewhere?"
Ember looked around as well, not seeing anything.
"Doesn't seem to be. If it was one of grandpa's minions it probably turned tail and ran once he got shot off," said Ember smiling proudly.
Danny looked relieved that their troubles on Plasmius seemed to be over, however he had another problem to deal with that was unfortunately just now starting.
"So now that the two of you are caught up on what's been going on here, I take it there are things you have to share with me about whatever happened with you?" said Danny looking back and forth between the two girls.
"Oh more like I've got a dozen or two things to tell you," said Sam crossing her arms with a frown. Now that Danny was safe from the whole ordeal she could finally try to get the answers she wanted. "So you're seriously going to tell me that you are with Ember McLame here on your own free will and have been for weeks now?"
Ember clenched both her fists together at Sam's insult, very reluctantly restraining herself.
"Sam, don't call her that, she's not the same ghost we fought when we first met her," said Danny while stepping between them.
"Oh yeah, not the same, which must be why she just now almost made Plasmius a full ghost rather than half ghost," said Sam narrowing her eyes. "How can you willingly be with someone that has an attitude like that and isn't concerned with possibly killing someone?"
Ember had heard enough and felt it was time to fill Danny in on what had happened.
"Um, seriously, this coming from the hippie that barged into my realm today and had every intension of destroying me?" said Ember putting her hands on her hips. This got Danny's full attention as he snapped his head to look at her.
"SHE DID WHAT?" shouted Danny before looking back at Sam. "You tried to destroy Ember, please tell me this isn't true."
"I thought she had you under a spell like she did before," said Sam gesturing her hands towards Ember. "What was I supposed to think when Tucker and I saw the two of you flying together a couple weeks ago?"
Danny was suddenly feeling incredibly angry that his best friend had tried to destroy his girlfriend. That was so out of line he couldn't process his thoughts. Whether Sam knew about the nature of his relationship or not, trying to destroy someone like that was over the line and not something they did.
Ember suddenly looked really pleased that Danny was angry with Sam, smirking to herself in her head and happy that Danny seemed like he was going to take her side. She'd expect nothing less from such a perfect boyfriend. Maybe all this really could end up being for the best if it ended up ruining their friendship and she didn't have to do anything.
"Sam while I am grateful for your help here, I am so mad right now I can't see straight," said Danny as he felt his face starting to heat up.
Sam noticed Ember smirking and looking way too happy at the situation right now.
"Danny, could we please talk about this in private?" asked Sam while shifting her eyes to glare at Ember. At the end of the day this was all because of her and she hated that she got to look so smug during all this.
"Um, I don't think so Vampirella," said Ember, no longer smirking and stepping a bit closer to Danny. "There's no way I'm letting you talk with MY boyfriend about what happened without me here to make sure you're not telling bull shit."
Both girls glared at each other and seemed ready to start fighting again, but Danny once again stepped between them.
"Ember, it's okay, I can talk to her alone," said Danny taking her hand. Even though he was furious at Sam, she was still one of his best friends since they were little kids and he wanted to fully air everything out. At the end of the day he did keep his relationship a secret so it made sense that Sam would assume what she did. But that still did not excuse her attempt to destroy her.
Ember looked upset that Danny was suggesting he talk to her alone. She was about to protest more before Danny gave her a loving look that silently said not to worry and that he loved her. She wanted to stay and fly back to Amity Park with him, but she did trust him and could tell he wasn't going to let Sam talk him out of being with her. As much as she wanted to see the whole thing, she also wanted to respect her boyfriend's wishes.
"Fine, but if I find out she tried to lie about anything or tried to get between us she and I will be going another round when this is all over," said Ember.
She was about to take off but first she had one more thing to do, just to make it perfectly clear to Sam where she stood in this whole thing. Grabbing Danny by his shirt and not caring one bit that Sam was maybe five feet away, she pulled him into her and crushed her lips against his in a searing hot kiss. Intentionally turning them slightly to the side so Sam got a birds eye view of their lips together, Ember put her arms around Danny's neck and proceeded to stick her tongue into his mouth. Brushing her own tongue against his, Ember could almost swear that she could head Sam's body shaking in anger beside them, which is exactly what she was hoping would happen. With a big kissing pop of their lips, Ember separated herself from Danny, and with one more smirk at Sam, secured her guitar before flying off so the two of them could talk alone.
Danny was really trying to keep his face from breaking into a huge grin, not wanting to gaslight Sam like Ember clearly was, but that kiss felt so amazing he couldn't help it.
'Oh man, I know I probably shouldn't have let her do that, Sam might kill me for it,' thought Danny as he watched her fly away. 'Worth it.'
Slowly turning to face Sam, Danny still had a goofy grin on his face as he transformed back into his human form. It was even making it impossible for him to be mad about Sam attacking Ember in her realm. In that way it seems Ember's kiss kinda backfired a little bit. Sam had her arms crossed and was giving him the most disapproving look ever.
"Seriously?" said Sam. "I'm just supposed to say nothing about her blatantly trying to provoke me?"
Despite Sam's look of disapproval, Danny couldn't bring himself to wipe the lovestruck grin off his face.
"I'm sorry for not telling you Sam, I really truly am, but I'm crazy about her," said Danny, not knowing what else to say.
"Danny we've been best friends for so many years, you cannot be with someone like her, it's a terrible idea," said Sam like it was obvious.
That was enough to wipe the happy grin right off of Danny's face. There was no way he was going to let that happen. He'd fallen in love with Ember and was not going to just stop seeing her. But at the same time he did want to save his friendship with Sam despite what happened between her and Ember earlier.
"Sam I can't just stop seeing her, I'm crazy about her, I've fallen in love with her," said Danny sincerely. "I should be furious at you for what you did and I still am a bit, but I understand why you thought I was under her control. Honestly had I been in your shoes I probably would have thought the same thing. But trying to destroy her was going too far, that's not what we do to the ghosts we fight."
Sam couldn't believe what Danny was saying, thinking he wasn't looking at the whole situation logically.
"Danny listen to yourself, you're saying that you love a ghost that not too long ago tried to take over the whole world," said Sam in a slightly higher voice. This whole thing seemed insane to her and she needed to talk some sense into Danny.
"No, it really isn't," said Danny pleading with her. "Ever since we first encountered Ember I've learned a lot about her, both before and after we got together. She's not evil, she was just a misunderstood person that was lashing out. But she's changed."
"How can you be so sure about that when you have firsthand experience with her mind control powers," said Sam crossing her arms.
Danny looked into Sam's eyes and saw that she was concerned for him, but she just didn't have the same experience with Ember that he had.
"I just know," said Danny simply. In his mind that was all that needed to be said, but he knew that wouldn't be enough to convince Sam.
Sam's mind was spinning like a top at what Danny was saying. This still sounded insane to her and something that she needed to put a stop to.
"What about me and Tucker? If you're actually dating a ghost that was your enemy, where does that leave the two of us? You actually gave her a device to call for help over the two of us, do you know how insulted I am by that?" said Sam putting her hands against her chest. "And Tucker doesn't even know about that part yet. You can't seriously think that the four of us can all just become chums and to welcome her into our circle."
Danny was giving that some thought. In a perfect world all four of them absolutely would be able to be close friends together. He wanted to find a way where it could actually happen. The problem was he didn't have a single clue as to how to make that happen. Since Sam and Ember had just been brutally fighting each other before coming here they probably weren't going to be in a hurry to make friendship bracelets together. Somehow he'd have to think of something to smooth this whole thing over. But he wasn't going to be able to do that here and now. Maybe if he could get all of them together in a neutral setting they could all talk it out.
"Sam I don't want to lose anyone over this," said Danny softly. "Of course you and Tucker are still my best friends, but Ember really is my girlfriend now and I want to be with her. There's got to be someway this can all work out."
"Well you're going to have to pull some magic out of your butt for that one because I don't see that ever happening," said Sam.
Danny looked up into the sky in frustration of the whole situation. What he would give just to make this whole thing work out.
"Well would you and Tucker at least be willing to sit down with Ember and myself and we can all discuss this situation?" asked Danny hopefully. "I really want everything to be okay with us and keep our friendship together."
Sam wanted to immediately shout no and that he should stop seeing Ember, but she could tell that he wouldn't do that, at least not with the current situation. As she thought it through a little more she suddenly had an idea. Maybe if she did agree to sit down with Ember she could find a way to expose that she really is still evil and doesn't care about Danny the way she's showing. It still shouldn't be plausible that a ghost that recently tried to take over the world would suddenly just completely change and be in a relationship with her arch enemy.
"Ok, fine, I'll agree to sit down and talk, but I'll be wearing the Fenton Peeler the whole time and won't hesitate to use it if she gets out of line," said Sam frowning.
Danny had some pretty big objections to that plan.
"Um, I'm not going to allow that," said Danny. "This needs to be peaceful and I want everyone to be able to coexist together. I'll talk to Tucker when we get back to town and set everything up. Just please keep an open mind about this. I really care about you, Tucker, and Ember and don't want to lose either of you."
Sam gritted her teeth, not liking this one bit.
"Fine, but if she makes out with you again in front of me like she just did I'll spray her head with a fire extinguisher," said Sam seriously.
Danny didn't like the sound of that but didn't really have the energy to fight it anymore. He knew that once he told Tucker about this he'd probably get another scolding. And Ember probably wasn't going to like the idea of all of them sitting down together to talk. But he didn't know what else to try at this point.
"Well for now let's just get out of here and head back to Amity Park, I've had enough of this disastrous trip," said Danny as he looked at all the destruction that had been caused. "I'm gonna get my bag and then fly home. No point staying here until Sunday now. I'll think of something to tell my parents on the way home."
Sam still didn't look happy about any of this, but agreed that they should probably be getting out of this place before anyone could show up and find them here.
"Alright, I'm gonna take the hovercraft and I'll see you there," said Sam a little roughly as she started walking back to where she'd left the vehicle, cursing Ember in her head the whole time for complicating her friendship and possible relationship with Danny.
Danny watched her walk away for a moment, not exactly satisfied with the way things went but glad that they hadn't escalated any worse. He was still upset that Sam and Tucker had attacked his girlfriend the way they did, and would be sure to bring that up when they all sat down. But all in all this whole thing had completely spiraled out of control which is exactly what he'd feared when he and Ember first got together. Now he had the unfortunate task of trying to make peace with everyone. That was sure to be an enjoyable activity.
With those thoughts on his mind Danny started to walk back to where he'd left his bag when the ghost bear had found him and he had to start running again, hoping that at the end of all this everything would turn out ok.
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A/N
This was by FAR the most difficult chapter for me to write so far, and it's not even close. I had terrible writers block most of the week despite knowing exactly how I wanted it to go. But I was eventually able to power through it and got it done in time for my regular posting day. Anyway now that everything is out in the open it seems that we need to figure out if Danny can find a way to both keep his friends and be in a relationship with Ember. Seems a lot easier said than done, but only time will tell. First things first, we need to get them back to Amity Park and all together without the threat of disintegrating each other. Also what will now happen with Plasmius since he also knows about Danny and Ember's relationship? We're still only about halfway through the story, lots more to come. I hope you all enjoyed this newest chapter, love you all, and please remember to leave a REVIEW!