Don't Go

It had been one hour—only one hour—since the ghosts began ravaging our town. And it had only taken them one hour to virtually destroy everything that was in it.

Most were being killed right at this very moment. Those of us who were lucky enough made it to the Fentons' house and were protected by the shield. But the lucky were few.

We sat in safety, but that ghost shield did not block the horrific views out the windows, nor did it block the bloodcurdling screams of terror, nor the maniacal laughter of heartless ghosts as they killed off our town one by one. And Danny sat in the house, as powerless as the rest of us. He didn't talk about what had happened and he didn't need to. Tucker and I had been there.

It started as what seemed like a normal fight with Vlad Plasmius. But we were wrong. Oh, were we wrong.

I can remember clearly as Plasmius pulled out some sort of weapon none of us had seen before and shot it at Danny without a second thought. As Danny fell, stunned, Vlad had grabbed him and flown him to his mansion in Amity Park.

Tucker and I, concerned and bewildered, had followed in hot pursuit. We ran as fast as humanly possible. Unfortunately, humanly possible wasn't fast enough.

Vlad was implanting something into Danny, who was now in human form. It was intangible and he pushed it into Danny's stomach. Danny screamed louder than I could ever remember him screaming before as Vlad took every necessary measure to make sure that whatever it was he was implanting inside of Danny was going to stay there, ghost gauntlets and all rendered useless in its removal. Vlad stood in the way of our view of Danny, so we couldn't tell what Vlad was doing, but Danny's back arched in pain and he tried flailing around to escape it, but it was unsuccessful. We came to the conclusion that Vlad had him tied down.

"Stop it!" I had screamed, more for my own sake than for Danny's. I couldn't bear to hear his cries of anguish any longer.

Then the screaming stopped and Danny just laid there, eyes half-closed in exhaustion, sweat rolling down his face and breathing ragged. Vlad turned to us and said, "It's already done."

"What's already done?" asked Tucker warily, backing away from Vlad's unnaturally menacing presence.

"I can't have you little miscreants interfering with my most well-thought out plan yet. In precisely five minutes, every ghost in the ghost zone is going to fly out of my new and improved portal and help me to take over this pathetic town," he said, disgustingly calmly.

"You're already in control of this town. You're the mayor," Tucker rebutted.

Vlad scoffed. "You think being mayor is the same as having control? Do you realize the sort of stress I have to go through everyday keeping with the checks and balances of our oh-so-lovely government system? No. This way, everyone will submit to me," he laughed menacingly. "And no one will be able to stop me."

He "went ghost" and prepared to blast both me and Tucker into the wall behind us. But by this time, Danny had recovered enough that he began to sit up on the table and he was about to go ghost before Vlad's sickening laughter cut him off.

"Ah, ah, ah, dear boy. The device which now rests in your stomach is a bomb. Only one thing will trigger it: your transformation into ghost mode. After you do so, you will have precisely 10 minutes before you explode into smithereens."

Danny looked horrified, then questionable. "Why ten minutes?"

Vlad stamped his foot, "Because the company I bought it from had a ten minute policy. It was ten minutes or a trigger, which I would have to pull manually. I can't keep track of all of my ghostly minions and you, Daniel. This is going to have to do. Unless you'd like to transform now, then the trigger objective can be arranged…"

Danny gulped in helpless fear.

"I'm not a villain, Daniel. I don't want to kill you. Only if you get in my way will that happen. Your great oaf of a father is another story, however."

"Yeah, well, there's one thing you forgot, Plasmius. We have a ghost shield. We'll take as many people as we can into my house and we'll be safe from you!"

"All very well, my dear boy, but how many is 'as many as we can', hmm? And how long will it be until your house runs out of backup energy to run the ghost shield? No doubt my ghosts will disable any electricity and don't think for even a millisecond that I will abandon Amity Park and move on to the next city without my beloved Maddie," Vlad made his points, smiling.

I could tell Danny's mind was racing. Vlad had really thought this plan through. And it wasn't looking good for us.

Realizing that Danny didn't have another retort, Vlad snickered victoriously and drew his cloak around him, disappearing in a cloud of smoke, most likely to welcome and instruct his cohorts as they came through the portal.

Danny looked to us, his blue eyes full of thought and concern. "We've got to warn everyone. The ghost shield may not hold up for long, but it might give us enough time to think of a plan."

And so here we were. Stuck with as many people as possible that we could warn (which wasn't a lot) inside a deteriorating ghost shield, forced to watch and listen to hundreds of innocent others being murdered or transformed into ghostly slaves.

"Where's that Danny Phantom kid? He should be out there somewhere fighting those ghosts!" yelled an angry member of the town that had made it into Danny's house.

I glanced at Danny and saw him wince a little.

"I don't think he would be able to take on this many ghosts," said Maddie Fenton. "If he was, as many of you mistakenly believe, a good ghost, of course."

Danny winced again. I could tell he was being tortured by this more and more every second.

"I wish there was something more that we could do, too, Danny," I told him quietly, taking a seat next to him on his couch.

He looked up, straight ahead of him, not at me, a determined look on his face. "There is more I can do."

Realizing what he meant, my eyes went wide. "Danny, no. You heard what Vlad said, you know what would happen to you!"

"Yeah, I do. But I can help these people, Sam. And I need to. I have the power. I need to use it."

I grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into the bathroom, the only unoccupied room in his house…for now, anyway.

"Danny, that's crazy talk. It would be pure suicide! Those ghosts would whip your butt all the way to Spain and back! It wouldn't make a difference. We would only be losing you."

He glared at me. I had struck a nerve. "Yeah, so what am I supposed to do? Sit back for the rest of my life and watch all of these attacks go down and do nothing? I can't do that, Sam."

"Yes, you can. That's what everyone else in this town has to do!"

"Only because they aren't able to do anything else. If it wasn't for me being able to do something about these ghosts, a lot of the rest of the town would be dead right now!"

"And so will you if you go through with this! What would we do without you?"

Danny gave me a grave look, "Hopefully, if this plan works out, there won't be too much of a threat of ghosts left, if Vlad was telling the truth that he's got most of the Ghost Zone working for him. You guys are competent. You'll be able to take care of yourselves."

My eyes began to water as I listened to Danny talk as though he was going to die. "Danny…what are you thinking? What about…what about me?" I asked shallowly.

Danny's face suddenly turned into a puddle of sorrow. "I'm so sorry, Sam. But this is the way it has to be."

As tears streamed down my face, I sat on the lid of the toilet, unable to stand any longer. I couldn't help but keep trying to convince him in some way to stay. I tried the guilt treatment, "This is all my fault."

Puzzled, but still sad, Danny knelt down to look into my eyes, "How is this your fault?"

I sniffed, "If I hadn't told you to go into the Ghost Portal, you would never have become half ghost."

Danny laughed hollowly. "And what would have happened when my family and I went to see Vlad for the first time? My dad could have been killed! I was able to stop him because I'm half ghost. Everything happens for a reason."

I looked up at him, "Yeah? Then, what about this? How is this happening for a reason?"

Danny sighed. "I'm not sure, exactly. But maybe it's so that all of the ghosts will be together in one place so they're easier to terminate."

"By sacrificing yourself?" I asked dryly.

Danny nodded slowly, remorsefully.

I laughed hysterically through my tears, "But what about us, Danny? I never even got to tell you that I love you!" I blurted.

His head jerked up at me in surprise. "You just did."

I shook my head, "But it's not the same."

Sighing, he stood up again, "I love you, too, Sam. But maybe…maybe our relationship would have been too complicated. I mean…if we tried to do anything," Danny was now blushing profusely and making wild hand gestures, "I probably would be interrupted by a ghost attack or something. You wouldn't want to date, or even marry, a ghost fighter. I wouldn't be able to spend much time with you."

"I'd be able to spend more time with you that way than if you were dead."

Danny once again knelt to my level and the resolve in his eyes forced me to look into them as he spoke sternly. "Listen to me, Sam. This is the only way. I'm not going to sit back and watch others die, just for us to be together. I love you, Sam and if there was any other way, trust me, I would take it. But if I don't stop this now, you and I could both be dead in a matter of days."

"At least we would die together!" I said, as one last desperate attempt to try to convince him to stay. But the truth was, he was starting to convince me that he needed to go.

Danny smiled slightly, hearing the doubt in my voice. "No, Sam. I could never die with you, knowing I had the power to stop it in the first place. Now listen. I want you to be happy. Find someone who will make you happy, Sam, because you deserve someone so much better than me."

"It doesn't get any better than you, Danny. Don't go," I pleaded.

He lifted my face and brushed his lips against mine. "I know you hate me for doing this, but I have to, Sam. You don't have to love me right now, you don't even have to like me. I just hope that someday…" he brushed a tear from falling down his face embarrassedly, "I hope that someday you'll be able to forgive me."

With that, Danny thrust open the bathroom door and scurried out as I stared in amazement after him. Never would I find someone as good as him.

Suddenly realizing I was sitting in the bathroom like a buffoon, I ran out and searched around desperately for Danny, getting some odd looks from people who saw that Danny and I had just been together in the bathroom.

"Danny, no!" I heard Jazz cry from the front of the house.

I ran in that direction to see her latching onto his arm, crying uncontrollably and begging him not to go. Tucker was on his other side, holding him back, and his parents were looking on in confusion.

He looked up at them, "Mom, Dad. There's something I have to tell you. I've been meaning to tell you for a long time, but I wasn't sure how you would take the news. Now it doesn't matter how you take it because I'm going to protect this town and nothing is going to stop me," he said, gesturing to his distraught sister and best friend.

Before he could get any further, I saw Maddie's hands fly over her mouth, as though she knew what he was talking about before he said anything more.

"Mom, Dad, I'm Danny Phantom."

Maddie suddenly lost control of her emotions and broke down into an even more confused Jack's arms.

"No…not my baby…" she cried softly. "Don't go out there, sweetie! I…" she couldn't go on. The confusion and sadness that had welled up inside of her overtook her and she sobbed uncontrollably.

"We won't let you go, Danny!" Tucker yelled sternly at him.

But Danny seemed confident that he would.

I realized that, if Danny was going to leave the house, he would have to do so first as a human to get past the ghost shield. He couldn't phase out of Jazz and Tucker's grasp.

So why did he look so sure of himself?

Suddenly, it came to me. I ran up to Danny, who gave me a baffled look, and I took his face in my hands and kissed him full on the lips. It was strange because his arms were being held back, but I could feel him smile, and I knew he knew.

Once it was over, Danny couldn't bear to open his eyes for another few seconds. When he did, we looked straight into each other's tear-filled eyes.

"I forgive you," I said quietly, knowing he knew what I really meant.

I looked to Jazz and Tucker. "Let him go."

They were appalled. "What?!? Sam, this is suicide! Do you want Danny to die?"

"No, of course not," I said strongly, making sure no one doubted my true feelings. "But this is the only way. And I realize now that he has to go, or everything will turn out wrong."

I still wasn't comfortable with Danny leaving…but when would I ever be? I just knew I had to convince Jazz and Tucker to let him go. Danny was counting on me to do so.

Still looking at me strangely, wondering how I had come to such a change of heart, Jazz and Tucker loosened their grips on Danny's arms and he ran toward the front door and swung it open. He stopped in the doorway and looked at me.

"Thank you, Sam."

Those were the last words he said to me.

His plan became obvious after the first few minutes. He flew through the town trying to save as many people as he could, then yelling back at them to get to the Fentons' house. This, of course, angered the ghosts, so they all focused their attention on him. This was what he wanted.

For the next eight minutes, we watched worriedly out the window as Danny was bombarded by hoards of angry ghosts. We watched as he was tortured by their powers. We watched as he tried his best to fight back. But try as he might, even at full power, he was no match for their combined power.

I looked at my watch. It had been nine minutes since Danny left. I felt my heart jump into my throat and instantly regretted helping him leave. I was going to lose him in one minute.

But Danny wasn't deterred by the fact that inside of him, a powerful bomb was ticking away. He fought with more conviction than ever before.

He had thirty seconds.

At last, all of the ghosts were focusing on him. He flew upward. I tried to follow him with my eyes, but he flew too fast. And all of the ghosts followed him.

Well…all but one.

"No! You imbeciles! It's a trap. He's got a bomb in him; he just wants to take you with him when he explodes!" shouted Vlad Plasmius. He had caught on to Danny's plan, but none of the other ghosts were paying attention to their leader any longer. They were too infuriated with Danny for screwing with their plots of conquest.

I looked back at my watch. "Five, four, three, two, one."

Time seemed to stand still for and eternity at that moment. We saw a bright flash coming from the sky. Then, all was completely silent.

Too shocked to cry, I opened the front door and walked outside. Amity Park looked like a literal Ghost Town.

Most of the buildings were burning and charred. Bodies were lying in the streets. It was a catastrophic sight. But my attention was focused on the only living thing left outside the Fentons' house. And I wondered with pure hatred and loathing why he was the only thing alive.

He should have been the only one dead.

And I was going to see to it that he got his due.

Making sure I had my weapon, as always, securely tucked in the back of my ghost-fighting belt, I rushed toward Plasmius.

He turned around to look at me, horrified. "Samantha…I didn't mean for…"

Before he got another word out, he was dead. I didn't need to hear his pathetic excuse for Danny's death. It was his fault Danny and many others had died. He deserved nothing less than the same.

I replaced my Fenton Bazooka in my belt and fell to my knees, completely overwhelmed. I felt Tucker come up behind me and he held me as I cried in his arms.

The other townsfolk had begun to emerge from the house as well. The horror on their faces was evident, but none of them would ever be able to feel as horrible as I felt right then, save perhaps Tucker and the Fentons.

I felt someone tap me on the shoulder and I turned around to see Jazz, tears streaking down her face. She was holding something out to me.

I grabbed it from her hands and stared as I smoothed out the material. By some miracle, Danny's symbol from his uniform had remained relatively intact. It was battered and a hole had formed in the middle. It was the final proof that Danny Phantom was a hero.

But to me, he was so much more.

I'm finally back in the realm of DP! I couldn't come up with a new storyline, so I decided to write this one which had plagued me ever since I "left" the fandom. But I'm here. And I might just stay if I get some reviews…please? I want to know what you people think. Did I kill him well, or are you completely infuriated that he's dead? Did I capture Sam's character or is she too emotional? Do you like my OOC Vlad or would you prefer him to be IC? Should I have let Tucker talk more? Jazz? Should I have spent more time on the Fentons' reactions? Did I get Danny's character right? It's been so long since I've written for DP, I hardly know anymore. Or did you like it? Please review and let me know! Thanks!