The Day the Music Came Back to Life: Rewrite

Chapter 1: Tough Decisions

Hello, dear readers. Many of you remember my first three stories. While they seem to be the most popular of my writings, after looking back through them, I realize that they are fairly rough. Not quite up to the standard that I am currently writing at. So I have decided to rewrite all three of my original Danny/Ember stories with some additions and alterations. I hope that you the readers will enjoy. I do not own Danny Phantom or the cover image. Also, check out my page for a new poll involving new stories you think I should write next. R&R and Enjoy!

***7 AM, Danny Fenton's Room***

BEEP BEEP BEEP

As the alarm clock continued its annoying wake up, a white hand slowly emerged from the cocoon of sheets on the bed before shutting off the alarm. Out of the sheets, Danny Fenton sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"Another day of school, getting beat on by Dash, and possible ghost fighting. Hooray." he moaned sarcastically. Rolling out of bed, he made his way to the shower in his bathroom. Stripping out of his PJs, he set the turned the water on. As he waited for the water to reach his favored temperature, he walked over to his MP3 dock and shuffled through his playlist before stopping on a song that brought a smile to his face. Hitting the play button, he went back into the bathroom and got into the shower as the first notes to Remember by Ember McLain began to play. As the water cascaded down his body, his mind was relishing the melodious voice of the ghostly rocker.

A few people might find this odd that Danny Fenton, AKA Danny Phantom, would be enjoying the music and former hypnotic tune of one of his ghostly rivals. The two rivals had an interesting relationship, to say the least. Twice they had fought each other, not counting the Girls Night Out, and both times Danny had beaten her. Under normal circumstances, there would be no reason these two teens would be remotely friendly to each other.

That would remain the case if it were not for recent events. As Danny scrubbed shampoo through his mess of black hair, he remembered back to the Christmas Truce. After dealing with the Ghost Writer, the remaining denizens of the Ghost Zone helped Danny spread Christmas cheer through Amity. Afterwards, he went back to the Ghost Zone and enjoyed the party, having a chance to better know his enemies. As he was heading back to the Portal, however, he bumped into Ember. After both apologized to each other, they made some small talk before Ember noticed what was hanging above them. She had given him a sly grin before saying "Merry Christmas, Babypop." before giving him a kiss on the lips. Even now, as Danny scrubbed himself with soap, he couldn't help but remember the warm and tender feel of her lips on his. It lasted only a few seconds but it was enough for him never to forget, especially since it was his first kiss.

After rinsing off, shutting off the water, and then grabbing a towel, Danny dried himself off before grabbing a pair of fresh boxers and going to his wardrobe. Taking a look at his clothing selection, he realized for the first time that he rarely deviated from his usual attire of a white shirt with a red dot, blue jeans, and Converse. It was near the left wall of his closest that he noticed something, or rather two somethings, that brought the smile back to his face as well as another trip down memory lane

A couple weeks ago he had gotten word that Ember was planning on performing again. Needless to say, Danny was quick to go ghost and speed over to the location of her concert. He had caught her as she was warming up before the show. It took a while but she was able to convince him that she was having a non-world dominating concert. Reassured, he was surprised that she gave him a backstage pass and a concert shirt. The concert itself was awesome. While she did play her signature song and Girl's Night Out, she also did some cover versions of songs like Dance the Night Away, Satisfaction, and Sweet Child O' Mine. Even without her musical mind control, Danny was entranced with her voice. When the show came to a close and she stepped off stage, he told her how amazing she had been, causing the ghostly rocker to blush. On a whim, she was able to get a picture of the two of them taken, each giving the camera their best Gene Simmons tongue. The next day when Danny woke up for school, he found the picture framed next to his bed. She even took the time to sign it leave a set of teal kiss prints on it. Unfortunately, Danny couldn't keep it on his nightstand, lest his parents and friends got suspicious.

Breaking from his memory, he decided to change things up for the day and wear the concert shirt Ember had given him. It was black with the flaming blue E on the front while the back listed all the tour dates. With the shirt, his usual jeans and shoes on, he grabbed his backpack before heading downstairs. Entering the kitchen, he could hear the sound of machinery emanating up from the basement, letting him know that his parents were once again working on some new piece of ghost tech. Meanwhile, his big sister, Jazz, was eating a bowl of cereal while reading the day's newspaper.

"Morning, Jazz." Danny said as he made his way to the toaster and popped in two halves of an English muffin.

"Morning Danny." She replied, briefly looking up from her reading before returning to the paper. It took until Danny's muffins exited the toaster and while he was spreading butter and grape jelly that she put the paper down and gave her brother a better look.

"What's with the new look, bro?" She asked, indicating the shirt.

"Just thought I would try something new." Danny shrugged, taking a bite of his breakfast before taking a sip of milk.

"Where did you get the shirt?" Jazz asked, popping her eyebrow and closely inspecting what was printed on the shirt.

"A concert." He replied, now a little worried about where this conversation might lead. His fears were confirmed when he saw the Cheshire cat grin blossom on his sister's face.

"And what concert would that be?"

Danny mumbled under his breath, hoping his sister would drop the subject.

"Sorry. Didn't quite hear you." She teased.

"Ember McLain." He said.

"Aww." Jazz said. "Does my little brother have a crush on one of his enemies?"

Danny's only response was a blush coming to his face.

Jazz giggled at her brother's discomfort.

"Danny and Ember, sittin' in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G" She sang.

All Danny could do was burry his now red face in his hands.

"Come on, Danny." She said, reaching over and giving his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "You know I'm just teasing."

"Sure you are." He moaned before popping the last of his breakfast into his mouth.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'll support you and I won't tell mom and dad."

"Thanks." Danny said, giving his sister a smile before they both got up, put their dishes in the sink, and made their way to school.

After several minutes, they ran into Danny's friends, Tucker and Sam.

"Dude! Awesome shirt." Tucker complimented. "I didn't know you bought one of her shirts when she came to Amity the first time."

"Yeah." Danny nervously chuckled.

"I wish I still had my souvenirs from when Ember first came to town. Unfortunately for me, 'somebody.'" Tucker said, rounding his annoyed gaze on Sam. "Decided to toss it all in the trash."

The goth girl sighed in frustration. "Grow up, Tucker. You shouldn't be promoting one of Danny's enemies. As a matter of fact, why are you wearing her shirt instead of your usual one?"

Thinking on the fly, Danny came up with a brilliant response. "Because I wanted to stop the monotony of my usual attire and wear something new, even if that means other people don't appreciate it."

Sam was speechless. Her best friend and secret crush had just used her logic against her. Looking down at both her and Tucker's attire, she saw that they were wearing basically the same outfit they usually wore.

"Touché." She replied, a smile crossing her face. "So does that mean you are going to become a vegan and protest the use of animal dissection with me?"

"Nope." He said, causing Tucker to pump his fist in the air and yell "Yes!"

Sam frowned at this. While she was glad that Danny was taking the steps to end conformity, she still wanted him to accept all the changes she was trying to get going in the school. Also, she was rather annoyed that Danny was not getting the subtle hints she was trying to send him that showed her affection. Maybe it was time for more drastic measures. Plans began to form in her head on how she would do this as the teens entered Casper High.

***Meanwhile, In Ember's Realm***

Ember McLain was not in a good mood. The reason why was standing in front of her in the form of her soon to be ex-boyfriend, Skulker.

"This is the last straw!" she yelled at the metallic hunter.

"Now, Ember. Let's be reasonable." Skulker said, trying to calm down her fiery temper.

"No! I have been reasonable. I was reasonable when you made me pay for the dinner on all our dates."

"But baby..." He started.

"You don't get to call me pet names and even if you could, you pick the most generic pet name." She retorted.

"Ember, I told you. My scanners picked up some rare specimens that I needed to track before I lost them again." He tried to reassure her.

"Do you know how selfish that sounded? You putting your stupid tech and hunt above our date?" She retorted. "Moving on, how about when you forgot both our one month AND our two month anniversary, deciding to hunt Phantom instead?"

"I was sure I would catch the Ghost Child."

"And yet you returned, beaten, suit-less and no Babypop." She said deadpan.

"One, you aren't looking at the bright side of our relationship. Two, why do you keep calling the whelp pet names?"

"What bright side is there to our relationship? You have been pretty inconsiderate to me in this relationship while I've tried to work through this shit. As for why I call Danny Babypop, he has earned that name through our fights." Ember replied, hoping she was able to keep the blush at the mention of her pet name for Danny at bay. Lucky for her, the mechanical menace was oblivious to it.

"But you know what the worst part is? The fact that I bought us tickets to the Dawn of the Dead Rock Stars concert going on tonight, which I told you about months in advance, only for you to tell me out of the blue that you want to hunt Babypop all day today."

At this, Skulker's short fuse finally burst. "Who cares about your stupid concert? All those musicians you are going to see are already dead so you can see them anytime you want. Also, I'm sure that I'll be able to capture and kill the whelp this time."

Ember couldn't believe it. Once again, Skulker was forgetting about her in order to pursue his own personal goals.

Having enough, Ember snapped her fingers, causing her realm door to open. Then, channeling her inner Leonidas, she forcefully kicked the metal chest of her now former boyfriend out of her realm before slamming it closed.

The spectral hunter, surprised at Ember's actions, sighed in frustration before speeding off to the portal. What an ungrateful bitch, Skulker thought. She couldn't see the importance of his hunts and his attempts to destroy the whelp. So what if he never paid for their dates? So what if he forgot their anniversaries? Those paled in comparison to his goals.

Whatever, he thought. Today was the day he would prove her wrong.

Meanwhile, Ember was contemplating on what to do now. She was going to the concert, no doubt about that. What she wasn't sure about was what to do with the spare ticket. Johnny and Kitty already had a set, neither Desiree nor Spectra wanted to go, and there was no way in Hell she would invite Box Ghost or Klemper.

Sighing, she looked around her living room before her eyes landed on one of the framed photos she had on the coffee table. In it, she and Danny had their arms over each other's shoulders while flipping the camera the bird while doing their best Gene Simmons tongue impression. The chuckle at the memory soon brought a blush to her face. Ah, Babypop. What she wouldn't do to hang out with him and...

"That's it!" She exclaimed. "I'll invite Babypop to the concert. We'll enjoy some great music, indulge in drinking and debauchery, and maybe..."

Her voice became quiet when she came to her last hope. "Maybe I can tell Danny my feelings. Maybe he will share them." Ember whispered.

With a newfound determination, she walked over to her bed and pocketed her tickets. She was about to leave her realm before a thought occurred to her. Rushing up to her bedroom, she crouched beside her bed before pulling out a guitar case. It was sleek, black leather with a silver EVH logo emblazoned in the bottom left corner. Opening the case she looked upon a brand new EVH Wolfgang Special electric guitar. It had a matte black body with a maple neck. A couple of guitar picks were already lying in the bottom of the case.

"Thank you Eddy." Ember chuckled before tossing a sliver Sharpie into the case and locking it up.

"I got a feeling Babypop will appreciate this to get some souvenir autographs."

Heading back downstairs, she exited her realm and made her way to the Ghost Portal, hoping to both avoid any confrontation with Skulker and get some alone time with Danny.

***Casper High Cafeteria, 12:30 PM***

The trio was just finishing their lunch. An empty salad bowl with fruit juice sat in front of Sam. A lunch tray with a few stray French fries, a can of Mountain Dew, and a half eaten bacon double cheese burger was in front of Tucker. Lastly, Danny was enjoying his roast beef sandwich and a bottle of water. Currently, Sam was trying to broach the subject of relationships with Danny.

"So, Danny, We've been friends for a while, haven't we?"

"Yeah." Danny said, finishing the last of his sandwich before washing it down with his water.

"So would you say that we are pretty close?"

"Why not? We have and always will be best friends." he replied, wondering where Sam was going with this.

Inwardly, she was screaming. Either he was absolutely clueless to her advances or he wasn't interested in her as a girlfriend at all. On second thought, it had to be the first one. There was no way he wouldn't want to be to be in a relationship with her. Time to be absolutely blunt.

"Danny, what would you think..." Sam started before she saw a sliver of mist slip out his mouth, signifying that a ghost was nearby. Incidentally, the bell signifying the end of lunch also rang out.

"Fuck." Danny cursed. "I'll try to deal with this quickly."

He quickly rushed to the bathroom and went ghost. Phasing out and turning invisible, he saw Skulker shooting off missiles in the cafeteria, scaring several of the students off.

"Your aim is pretty terrible, Davy Crockett." Danny teased.

"So you finally show yourself, whelp. Are you prepared to die?"

"Nope." Danny said, popping the p, then firing off an ecto ray at Skulker.

The hunter dodged the shot before retaliating with even more missiles. Danny simply gave him a smug smile before going invisible and allowing them to detonate on the wall behind him. Chunks of concrete flew off the wall but the building was still structurally sound.

"Did you bother to check the weather forecast today?" Danny asked.

"Why would I do a pointless thing like that?" Skulker replied.

"Because if you did, you would see that a FREEZE IS COMING!" Danny said before firing off his ice powers. The blue beams connected with the mechanical hunter's feet before slowly creeping up his body.

"What? No. Stop! My suit can't take the cold!" Skulker yelled as his body began shutting down the further up the ice traveled until it finally encased him. Once he was completely covered, he fell to the ground like a ton of bricks before shattering into a thousand pieces of ice and metal.

Chuckling, Danny landed on the ground before slowly walking towards the wreckage. Stooping down, he picked up a chunk of ice that happened to contain the true form of Skulker.

"The ice man cometh, doesn't he, Skulker?" Danny teased. He was not 100% sure but he thought he saw the green blob attempt to give him a glare before he was sucked into the Fenton Thermos.

Changing back to his human form, Danny grabbed his backpack before heading off to Mr. Lancer's class. Looking up at the clock, he saw it read 1:30.

"Damn." the teenager said to nobody in particular. "Time sure does fly when you are having fun."

Upon entering his class room, he was met with several different looks. Tucker and Sam tried to subtly see if he had successfully captured the ghost. The A-Listers gave him several condescending laughs with one or two whispers of "Loser" thrown into the mix. Finally, Mr. Lancer was looking both inquisitive and displeased.

"Well, Mr. Fenton. So nice of you to join us. Would you mind telling us why you didn't come to the classroom when the ghost started fighting in the cafeteria and why it took you so long to make it to class?" the teacher asked while Danny took his seat.

"I wasn't expecting a kind of Spanish Inquisition." Danny said, slightly annoyed at the interrogation.

Out of nowhere, dramatic trumpets blew before a most unusually trio came through the classroom door. All three of them were dressed in the robes of Cardinals from the Vatican. The one on the right had a red hood covering his hair and ears, leaving only his face exposed. The one on the left was sporting what seemed to be a pilot's cap with goggles. The one in the middle had a wide brimmed red hat. After a moment of stunned silence, the one in the middle spoke up.

"Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!" He exclaimed. "Our chief weapon is surprise. Surprise and fear are our…Two weapons are surprise and fear and ruthless efficiency…Our three weapons are."

"Stop, stop, stop." Danny said, standing up and walking towards the confused clergy. "You guys are in the wrong FanFiction."

"What do you mean? You said the line." The middle one said.

"I know I did but you are only supposed to jump out and do the sketch in your FanFiction universe. This is a Danny Phantom FanFic, see?" the black haired teen explained, pointing to the title and description of the story.

The three looked up and saw that what Danny said was true.

"Ah. I see." The middle one said. "In that case we shall take our leave."

With that, the three members of the Spanish Inquisition left the story.

"How rude of them." Paulina Sanchez remarked.

"Yeah. What a bunch of losers." Dash agreed.

"Now, where were we before that little interruption?" Mr. Lancer asked after Danny took his seat again.

"You were asking me why I was late and where I was." The teenager replied.

"Right." The balding teacher said before composing himself. "So, do you have an answer, Mr. Fenton?"

"I was in the bathroom when the attack started and thought it best to wait it out in there rather than risk getting hurt." Danny replied nonchalantly.

After mulling over the boy's answer, he finally nodded his head in acceptance.

"Very well, Mr. Fenton. That seems like an acceptable excuse."

And so the day continued until the final bell went off, signifying both the end of the school day and the start of the weekend. Our trio made their way towards their lockers, discussing the various classes they had and their plans for the weekend.

While Danny finished stuffing the last of his books into his locker, Sam finally got the courage to speak her mind to Danny.

"Danny, you remember what we were talking about until Skulker interrupted our lunch?" She asked.

"We were talking about our friendship and how we would never lose it." He replied.

Taking a deep breath, Sam continued. "Yes. I was hoping, though, we could take our friendship a step further."

Despite popular belief, Danny wasn't completely clueless. He could see where this conversation was going and it was thin ice.

"You like me, don't you." He replied.

A broad grin spread across Sam's face. Finally, she had broken through to him.

"Yes!" Sam said in both a relieved and excited tone. "I do like you Danny and I want you to be my boyfriend."

Danny frowned at this. Being honest with himself, he did like Sam. Yeah, she had her faults in relation to her pride and trying to get her views accepted by others. Still, for the most part, Danny knew he could rely on her. Yet that was all Danny saw her as. His friend.

Taking a deep breath of his own, the teen replied.

"I'm flattered Sam. Truly, I am. But you deserve my honest answer since you gave me yours. I like you but as a friend, not as a girlfriend."

On the outside, Sam was calm and collected. On the inside, Hiroshima just went off in her head. A nuclear explosion of destroyed emotions and feelings. Tucker could sense in inner turmoil from his friend and decided to back away slowly.

"Alright." She said, managing to keep her voice in check. "Fair enough. Might I ask who you have your heart set on?"

Danny was hesitant to answer, knowing her jealous streak. How could he tell either of his friends that he had a crush on Ember? How would they react to such news?

"Well…" Danny began before his ghost sense went off.

"Damn." He said, although inwardly he said a prayer of thanks. "Duty calls. Can we talk about this later?"

"Sure." Sam replied, giving him a half-hearted smile before he ran off to the bathroom and went ghost for the second time today. Phasing through the roof, he began to search the area for any ghostly presence.

"Hey there, Babypop." The melodious voice of Ember McLain said from behind the halfa.

Turning around, Danny was face to face with the ghostly rocker. He took a moment to take in her beauty. She had the perfect hourglass figure. Her beautiful flaming blue mane was contained in her usual pony tail. She was wearing her usual loose fitting tank top, black skinny jeans, and rocker boots. One her back was her guitar that she used in both her mind control and her normal concerts. Curiously, she seemed to be holding a guitar case in her right hand.

Blinking twice to break from his inspection of her, he saw that Ember had a sly grin on her face.

"See something you like?" She asked teasingly.

All he could do was blush at having been caught.

Transitioning back to his human form, he ran a hand through his messy hair, trying not to look her in the eye out of embarrassment.

"Aww." She said. "No need to be shy, Danny. I was checking you out as well. I must say I'm flattered you decided to wear the concert T-shirt I got you."

"Thanks." He mumbled, his face turning a deeper red at her comment. "So what are you up to?"

"Just blowing off some steam. That jackass, Skulker, decided to blow me off again to hunt you."

At this, Danny laughed. "Yeah. He did seem a little annoyed when we fought." Pulling out the Fenton Thermos from his bag, he shook it around before saying, "Let's just say I've put him on ice."

Now the both of them were laughing at the mechanical hunter's misfortune. Putting the thermos back in his bag, his eyes returned to Ember.

"So what are your plans for tonight, Babypop?"

"Nothing much." He replied. "Maybe listen to some tunes or play video games. What about you?"

"Well…" Ember said, sauntering over to Danny before stopping in front of him. "I'm going to this once in a lifetime concert called Dawn of the Dead Rock Stars. I have an extra ticket and I was wondering if you would like to come."

Danny was shocked, to say the least.

"Who all will be performing?" he asked.

"Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, John Lennon, George Harrison, and several more acts." She replied, ticking them off on her fingers. "So…You want to come?"

Danny took a moment to think. This did sound like an amazing opportunity. So many legendary legends of rock he had wished to see live were actually putting on a show. Also, this might be the chance he was looking for; to see if he could share these feelings he had for Ember.

"Sure." Danny said, cracking a smile.

"Really?" a surprised Ember asked.

After Danny nodded she drew the ticket from her pocket and handed it to him. Mentally, she was doing summersaults and cartwheels. She was hoping that he would accept so that maybe she could see if he was someone she would want to be with.

"Awesome. The concert starts at 7 at Warehouse 13, outside of town. You can just wear what you have on now. Oh! Before I forget…"

She pulled him down into a crouch before opening the guitar case, displaying the beautiful EVH Wolfgang guitar she had taken from her room.

"This is for you. So you can get autographs from all the stars at the concert."

She watched as he gently lifted the guitar from the case and inspected it.

"I…I don't know what to say. This is an amazing gift." Danny said in awe before an embarrassed smile came to his face. "I just wish I knew how to play it."

Ember chuckled before gently tilting his face up to her.

"If you want, maybe I can teach you sometime after the show."

"I'd like that." Danny replied.

"Good. See you there, Babypop."

With that, Ember captured his lips in hers for a brief moment before teleporting away in a whirlwind of flames.

"You too, Ember." Danny said to himself, gently touching his lips to see a faint trace of blue lipstick on them. "You too."