.:TIMESKIP:.

LATER THAT DAY

Tightly drawn blinds blocked out most of the persistent sun, and painted bright lines across the shadowy yet messy floor and cast a glow of twilight everywhere else and across the sleeping form still in bed. A nearby digital clock glowed even more brightly, its neon-red numbers a beacon in the room.

11:44 AM

The room itself was quite, not a sound could be heard from within or without, except for the soft breathing, half snore, and groan that came from the bed.

The digital clock beeped.

11:45 AM

A second beep, and the alarm started up. Thankfully, this was one of those clocks that had the option of setting two types of alarms. The first being that annoying loud kind that forced you up and out of bed in a generally bad mood, or the second being the radio station of your choice that lulled you out of bed over the course of five-to-ten minutes.

Of course, Danny being Danny and being a tired Danny at that, had thought ahead and set the clock to the second option. So instead of being forced out of bed by a obnoxious racket and perhaps expending his energy vaporizing the clock (no matter how much it was worth the energy), he awakened slowly to a radio station playing a strangely familiar song, sung by a strangely familiar voice, and accompanied by a strangely familiar guitar.


Danny groggily tried to identify the song and singer. He could swear he had heard it before, but for the life of him could not remember who or where. But he had to admit to himself, the song was good and whoever was singing had talent.


Through his still sleep clouded mind, Danny tried to place the name Ember. He could swear up and down that he knew it and it was important in someway or another, but nothing came to him. So he just groaned, rolled onto his back, and decided to listen to more of the song before he strained his mind. But whoever this Ember lady was, she was a really good. He could almost feel the emotion in the song, and her voice had this almost otherworldly tone to it.


Just as the song ended, it hit him. Ember. As in Ember McLain. As in the ghost Ember McLain. As in the evil ghost Ember McLain. Danny jumped up from his bed, suddenly remembering what had happened last night. Glancing over at his desk, he saw the sheets of music and piece of paper with the address that proved it.

He had been hoping that it had been a rather weird dream, and that his prayers would be answered in the form of the Box Ghost or any other ghost popping up for a convenient thrashing, normally started with a good bout of witty banter all around. But apparently it was not to be, and he ran a hand through his raven hair while he thought to himself.

“God, do I miss it that much? Barely a week without ghost fighting and I'm going nuts! I even miss the witty banter, but then again… gah! Enough! I got to figure things out for today, like if I am going to finish considering to go to Ember's place or not and join in for her practice. Chances are it’s a trap, and if not then there is always the question on the other hand. How the heck did Ember rent a studio apartment, much less anything at all? Don't you have to be alive for that?”

Danny shook his head to clear it.

“Better to just not think about it, and ask about it when I get the chance. Or if I get the chance, that’s what I mean.”

Figuring that now was a better time then any to really look it over, Danny grabbed his guitar from the closet and sat down at his desk to run through the song a little and figure it out before he went down stairs for breakfast.

With his first look at it, Danny had every belief that Ember had added all the little color coding and notes for the sake of throwing him off. But after Danny took a closer look, he smiled at just how easy she had made it instead. The notes were for the sake of telling him little facets of the song and band members that he would not have known, and the color coding and highlighted parts where he would have to change to certain notes and chords.

To tell the truth, this was almost how he organized the songs that he practiced and he was a bit surprised that Ember followed the same style. He would have to talk to Ember about it if he did go, but for now it was practice time and then he would grab breakfast and make his choice.

Or that was the plan till Danny looked at his ever-trusty digital clock.

11:55 AM

Okay, perhaps make that a brunch. And looking over his mental plan for the day, Danny came to realize again that Ember had been right. He did have nothing better to do.

“Alright, Mom and Dad are out again on whatever private projects they have been doing on commission to the city, and Jazz is out of town with her friends. Chores are all done and the ghost portal is locked down tight, not that it’s stopped them before. Sam and Tucker are still not due back for another week, and Val is gone for another two. Even Vlad apparently has something better to do, since no one has seen hide or hair of him forever. Dash and his merry band of idiots are probably out spreading their special brand of jock summer time fun to anyone they can catch again, so just hanging out around town is a bad idea.”

Danny snorted and leaned back, the chair balancing on two legs while his guitar was held snug to his chest.

“And even the ghosts are on vakay, I have not seen a single one of them since the fight with Freakshow. Not even the Box Ghost has shown up to try and destroy me with his special brand of 'corrugated cardboard vengeance!' and even my more respectable enemies have been laying low. Skulker is apparently skulking around somewhere with no intention of coming to collect on my pelt anytime soon, and Technus has been blissfully quite. Ember is the only real ghost that has bothered to show herself, and even she just seems to be enjoying summer vacation.”

So this was how Danny decided what to do. After grabbing a quick brunch, he ran back up to his room to grab his stuff and write his parents a note in case they came home early or something. Last thing he wanted was to end up grounded during summer vacation, and ditching when Ember apparently was expecting him as not a good idea. Ghost girls and human girls had that same thing in common that if you left them hanging they tended to get upset.

Sometimes Danny hated being such a good guy; Ember knew that he would not be able to resist a chance to escape his boredom, and that his hero-streak would never let him rest knowing that Ember was out and about and doing who knew what. At the very least, he could keep an eye out on her to see if she was really telling the truth about this being an honest show.

As he hoisted his guitar case over his shoulder and made his way through the kitchen, he slapped his note telling his parents he would be out for the day as well, just in case they came home early or to pick something up from the lab.

The lab...

That was right, he had almost forgot. Danny dashed down the stairs, and into the stainless steel of the lab. Ignoring the half-finished inventions and items under repair, and avoiding the Fenton Ghost catcher like the plague, Danny grabbed a Fenton thermos and a pair of Fenton phones. Better safe then sorry, and hanging around while Ember played her guitar with no protection was a bad idea. Last thing he needed was a free zombification courtesy of Ember's music.

Happy that he had everything he would need, from guitar to assorted Fenton gadgets, Danny locked up the house and started walking. He could fly, but he figured that it would just be easier to walk. That way he could at least find the building he was looking for without attracting attention.

Danny just hoped, for the weirdest reasons, that Ember was telling the truth. He needed something to do, and this was the only thing to rear its head. If not, then there was always an enjoyable fight with Ember to look forward too.

AN:All right, that’s it for the first chapter of this little side project. If you happen to read my other fanfics and have been wondering where I've been, well I was moving. Now I live up on the side of a mountain in a little city that you don't need to know about. Anyways, to those that are wondering when MBSTS and TFA:TS are going to update, the answer is soon.

Signing out, Nocturne No Kitsune, Insanity at Large