[Third Person Pov]
Danny, of course, didn't spend the entirety of his suspension locked away training and studying under Bruce's watchful eye. While that certainly took up a large portion of his time, there were still moments carved out between brutal sparring sessions and long lectures where he was free to just be a teenager again.
Whenever those rare breaks came, Danny usually split his time between his friends—hanging out with Dick, Tucker, and Sam whenever their schedules aligned. Sometimes it was just casual downtime, other times it was a much-needed distraction from the constant pressure building up around him.
But more often than not, he found himself spending that free time with Ember.
The reason was simple enough. Ember was a ghost, and ghosts didn't need to attend school, didn't have homework, and definitely didn't have suspensions hanging over their heads. Her schedule was wide open, which meant whenever Danny needed an escape, she was there.
When they had the chance, the two of them would retreat to Danny's family home, usually locking themselves away in Danny's home studio. Hours would pass without either of them noticing as they worked on music together—Danny helping Ember refine her songs while Ember poured her energy and passion into every lyric she wrote.
Danny had started to notice just how deep Ember had fallen into the rhythm of songwriting. She'd written several new songs already, each one more confident than the last. All she really needed was help tightening the melody, finding the right beat and rhythm to bring them fully to life.
Danny sat behind the audio station, headphones resting loosely around his neck, fingers hovering over the controls. Ember, meanwhile, occupied the empty space nearby, sitting on the edge of a table and lazily kicking her feet back and forth.
"So?" she asked, tilting her head as she watched him. "What do you think?"
"Hm…" Danny hummed, eyes scanning over her lyric notebook as he carefully read through the words.
'Isn't this basically that song—Centuries by Fall Out Boy? he thought, biting back a grin. 'How did the melody go again…'
"I'm just having trouble with the melody," Ember complained, her expression twisting into one of irritation. "I know what I want it to feel like, I just can't get it there."
Danny smirked. "How about something like this…?" he said, rolling his chair closer to the audio station as his fingers began to move.
Thirty minutes later, Ember's face lit up like wildfire. She clutched the headphones tightly to her ears, eyes wide with excitement.
"That's perfect!" she exclaimed. "Woah—seriously, Danny, this is so good!"
Before he could respond, Ember eagerly flipped to the next page of her notebook, already buzzing with energy.
"Do you think you could help me with the melody and rhythm for these ones too?"
Danny raised an eyebrow as he queued up the next track. "Just how many lyrics and songs have you been working on?"
Ember rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Uh… a lot. I've had way too much free time, and whenever inspiration hits, I just start writing. Some of them are only halfway done, others are almost finished."
Danny suppressed a snicker as he skimmed the next page, immediately recognizing another familiar structure—Girl on Fire by Alicia Keys. He flipped again, paused at one he didn't recognize, then moved to another that strongly reminded him of Play with Fire by Sam Tinnesz.
He slowly looked up at Ember, giving her a very pointed stare.
"I can't help but notice a certain… theme here. A lot of these songs are very… fire-related."
Ember straightened proudly. "Of course they are."
She hopped off the table and planted her hands on her hips. "I'm trying to make an official album—my very first one. This is going to be the start of my entire career."
"Oh?" Danny leaned back slightly, clearly intrigued. "I'm guessing you already have a name and a theme picked out."
Ember grinned and declared dramatically, "Yup! The name of my first album is going to be 'Remember My Name as You Watch the World Burn!'"
"Too long," Danny said instantly, shaking his head. "Way too many unnecessary words." He snorted softly before adding, "How about 'Remember Me as the World Burns'? It's shorter, cleaner, and the message stays the same."
Ember blinked—then clapped her hands together excitedly. "Perfect!"
She hesitated afterward, her confidence faltering just a bit as she glanced at Danny and pressed her fingers together nervously.
"Uh… did you notice the hidden message I tried to put in there?"
"Hidden message?" Danny asked, then shook his head. "Nope."
Ember's face flushed as she quickly explained, "Well, as the world burns, they'll remember my name because all that will be left are embers and ashes. And—y'know—my name is Ember."
"Oh, Ember…" Danny muttered, burying his face in one hand. A snort escaped him before he could stop it, forcing him to clamp his hand over his mouth.
Her embarrassment deepened instantly.
"Laugh and I'll hit you," she warned, her glare making it very clear she wasn't joking.
Danny raised his hands in surrender, backing off before she could actually make good on her threat. He decided it was probably in his best interest to spare himself.
"Alright, alright," he said with a placating grin. "Honestly, Ember and Ashes sounds like a really cool album name. Why not make that one your next album?" He shrugged casually. "It would fit the narrative perfectly. Like you said—after the world burns, all that follows are embers and ashes."
Ember froze for half a second.
Then her eyes sparkled, her hair flaring up in a sudden blaze of excitement.
"That's genius!" she exclaimed.
Before Danny could react, she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. Her words spilled out rapidly, as if someone had lit a fuse under her.
"We'd have to decide the style for it—not just the genre but the vibe—and the progression from the first album, and oh my god, we cannot forget about the album cover!"
"Okay, okay!" Danny laughed, gently peeling her off of him before she crushed the air out of his lungs. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. You haven't even finished writing all the songs for your first album yet. Let's focus on that one before planning the sequel."
Ember nodded enthusiastically, practically vibrating with excitement. But then—suddenly—she stiffened.
Her eyes widened as she watched Danny continue flipping through her lyric notebook.
Oh no.
Her brain caught up far too late to what else she'd written in there.
She reacted instantly, lunging forward to snatch the notebook from his hands—but Danny's reflexes, sharpened by constant training, kicked in. He yanked the book up and out of reach.
"A song for Danny?" he read aloud, blinking. He lifted the notebook higher, eyebrows rising. "Huh? What's this about?"
"No!!" Ember shouted, utterly mortified. "You weren't supposed to see that!"
She leapt at him. Danny yelped, scrambling onto the chair and launching himself backward into the air, hovering just out of reach while keeping his eyes glued to the page.
"Don't you dare read it!" Ember roared, fire igniting in her eyes as she vaulted over the chair and hurled a fireball at him.
Danny twisted midair, narrowly dodging as the blast exploded against the far wall.
"Oi! Watch it!" he shouted. "This room is full of expensive equipment! If anything gets destroyed, it's my allowance paying for it!"
"Then give it here!" Ember yelled, tackling him midair.
They crashed together, hit the ground, and immediately phased straight through the floor, tumbling into the room below. They rolled along the ceiling before dropping back into solidity, laughter and shouting echoing through the house.
"Come on!" Danny laughed as they phased through the wall into the living room. "It can't be that bad—it's just a song! You can't expect me to ignore it after seeing my name on it!"
"Daniel Phantom," Ember snarled, reaching for the notebook as he stretched it just out of reach, "I will turn you into a spit roast and light a fire under your butt if you don't give it back!"
They slammed into the dining table in the kitchen, knocking chairs aside. Ember ended up straddling him, pinning him to the table. She grabbed his collar in her fist, twisting the fabric tightly as she glared down at him.
"You're not supposed to see that…" she growled.
Then her grip loosened.
"At least… not yet. Not while I'm still working on it."
Danny stopped laughing.
The guilt hit him all at once. He suddenly felt less like he was joking around and more like he was being a jerk. With a sigh, he gave in. He gently tapped the notebook against her forehead before handing it back.
"Okay. Fine," he said softly. "As long as you explain what it's about."
Ember snatched the notebook back and sat down on his stomach, clutching it to her chest. She hesitated, staring down at him while he looked back up at her, curious and patient.
After a long moment, she sighed.
"Fine…" she muttered. "It's just… a song I was writing for you."
Danny blinked. "For me?"
"Yeah," Ember admitted, looking away as she scratched the back of her head. "You've been kind of depressed lately, and I didn't really know how to help. Music's the only thing I'm actually good at, so… I figured I'd do what I can."
Her voice dropped, growing uncertain. "I know it's not much—"
"It's fine," Danny interrupted gently. "It's more than enough."
He smiled up at her, sincere and warm.
"Thank you. I can't wait to hear it."
Ember's cheeks darkened as she looked away again.
"Sure… I'm almost done with it anyway," she mumbled.
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