Story warning: Angst, blood and gore, character death and general darkness, some language. Rated for a REASON.

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.

Prologue

The ever growing darkness was approaching us as we took our last stand. We were tired and grim, clothes torn and bloody – or, in my case, ectoplasm stained – and we knew we couldn't last. Not here, not now. Sam clutched her ecto gun tightly as she stared in the distance, past the ruins of the buildings, into the remains of the forest that had once surrounded Amity Park. Her pale face and the dark circles under her eyes had me worried, but there was nothing I could do about it.

Jazz was next to me, absentmindedly toying with the switch of her Specter Deflector, until I frowned at her. She needed to leave it on, even if it meant that the battery would be drained within the hour. We wouldn't last an hour anyway. Blushing slightly, she willed her hand away from the switch after setting it into the 'on' position again. I felt it's field uncomfortably close, stinging my skin. Both girls had a soft, greenish glow around them only I could see. I couldn't touch them, not if I didn't want to be shocked badly. But I felt like hugging them, if only to feel them for the last time.

"Here they come," Sam said hoarsely.

I tore my eyes away from her – when had I started staring at her? - and looked into the direction she was pointing. The blackened hills were still there, but now there was a distinct movement to be seen, a glowing green, coming from just behind the crest of the nearest hill.

"Here they come," I confirmed, feeling my ghostly body go even colder, a constant blue mist coming from deep within me.