The world had never looked more alive to her ever before. The nasty grey and gloomy establishments which had always stabbed at the skies were blotted out by emeralds and viridans and greens. The chaotic sounds of the drones of technology gone, replaced by the silent whisper of the plants moving and shifting in the dirt. She could feel the earth, feels its pulse in her veins, sense the life teeming at her fingertips.
It was a rebirth.
Father had departed, looking to seed the world further. He left her with the children - her children - to take care of them in his absence. And to watch for the return of the ghost boy, Danny.
Danny.
Something pounded at her head for a second, and she reached up as something pushed at the forefront of her mind. Danny, her best friend. One of the people she cared about. The others were in the ground, in the jaws of the plants, being absorbed for nutrients and drained and oh god what was she doing she had to stop this, she was killing them, she had to-
No. Her hands fell to her sides, balled up in fists. They were nothing but nuisances, fleshy weeds to be exterminated so that her babies could thrive. They had been killing the earth for their own selfish reasons. They didn't care what happened to the earth, and so she didn't care for them.
All that mattered now were her children.
It was dark save for the lurid glow of the ghost portal when he came back into the lab. He held up his hand, lighting it with his ecto powers, and took in the damage. Vines and roots had twined around every available surface. The green light cast eerie silhouettes on the walls, and he'd never been more unnerved to be in the lab in his half-ghost life. It all just looked so...dead.
"If the lab looks like this, I can't imagine the rest of the town." He muttered to himself, fighting down the fear crawling up his spine. Phasing up through the floors to hover over the house, he looked down at the silent streets. Plants eclipsed the buildings, criss-crossed in a frightening patchwork of ghost plants . There was no sign of human life, not even of the zombified plant-people working on the town. And that frightened him more.
It was nothing but still silence.
"Danny."
He looked over his shoulder, the throaty whispered words tickling his ears. Sam. He thoughtlessly flew in the direction of her voice, a siren call in the quiet.
Flying down the streets of Amity Park, he looked around the town. Blossoms, thorny vines, roots, and every kind of plant winded through the streets, cars, and buildings. But it was dead, a complete ghost town.
No pun intended.
"This place is deserted," He mumbled to himself, trying in vain to overpower the suffocating silence. His voice echoed down the empty streets. "No signs of human life anywhere. I better find tucker or-"
He was cut off as a chill ripped through his body, and he curled in on himself, body shaking violently as ice coursed through his veins. His powers. "I control the power," He reminded himself, eyebrows furrowed in determination. "The power doesn't control me."
"Danny."
His head jolted up.
Well, there was something suspicious. Floating over to the giant, glowing purple topped tree, he flew through the meadow of carnivorous ghost blossoms. They were different than the rest of the plants in the town, he noticed. Larger. And, if the electric hum in the air over them meant anything, they were far more...alive.
"Welcome back."
Danny turned around, her sultry voice definitely right behind his back this time. The wood of the tree parted, and Sam - or what was left of her beneath all the ghost - came out, dressed in some disney-malificent-esque outfit. "I thought you had gone for good." she breathed, smiling a wicked smile.
He was relieved and afraid all at once. "Sam, we have to get you out of here." He stated, hoping maybe she could hear him. She had to get away from undergrowth, away from his mind control. She had to be safe.
"No," The smile didn't leave her face, unnatural green eyes focused on his. "I like it here. Undergrowth has made all things new." She floated down, and he watched in horror as some vines reached up to her, wiggling and wrapping around her, except it didn't look malicous. No, they were giving her affection. "They need me. I am their new mother."
"What!" He exclaimed. "You won't even babysit your cousins." The thought of her being some kind of mother to that horrible bush-ghosts offspring made him sick to his stomach. No, not his Sam.
She ignored his quip. "This new world is mine and Undergrowth's to mold." She crooned, running a hand fondly down the vines. They shuddered under her in joy, pressing closer for more affection from 'mommy dearest'. She didn't remove her attention from the children, but her voice softened a bit. "A world you could be a part of, Danny."
"Sam, this isn't right, and you know it." Sam was buried in there somewhere, he knew she was.
She had to be.
The vines wiggled away from her, and she turned around, looking at him softly. He took a step back as she neared. "How is it not right Danny?" Her voice had lost its wicked edge, replaced with a softer tone. He almost wished it was back, because a wicked, demented and clearly mind-controlled Sam he could handle. Not so much when she looked so caring, so imploring, so Sam. He couldn't fight her that way. Her eyebrows were tight knit together, hands reaching out in askance. "The world before was so ugly. It was littered with hatred, molded by selfish people looking out only for themselves. People killing people, killing the earth, and for what?"
She moved to stand - or suspend, or whatever those vines were doing - in front of him, and he stiffened at the proximity. Her hand reached out, running over his cheek in affection much like how she had stroked the plant. "But we can change that. We can make the world beautiful, rebuild it so there is no greed. No hate." Its electric where her gloved hand touches his skin, making his body tremble.
"We can rebuild it with love, Danny." Sam breathed.
Danny closed his eyes, releasing a shuddering breath. She was getting under his skin, offering him things he only just recently dared to think about. Him and Sam. Together. They could make a world together. And would it really be so bad? A world without fighting, without hurt? A world where Sam was his and he was hers and no one and nothing could stop that?
He opened his eyes, and her eyes stare at him hopefully.
"Sam, tell me where our friends and family are."
She hastily pulled away as if burned, and he almost wants to take it back. He could see the rejection flash across her face, before it hardened into a detached expression. With a snap of her fingers, the ghost venus fly traps extend out the ground, peeling open.
He almost hurled.
In each of the plants were his friends, his family, the whole entire town of amity park, all unconscious and hooked up to the plants. They were covered in a sickly slimy film of something that looked like it better belonged in a tissue.
"What are you doing to them, Sam?!" He asked, turning his glare to her. Her wicked grin slithered back onto her face, and she reached back to fondly pet a wriggling vine.
"They're being used as nutrients for the children," She crooned, looking lovingly at the plant and smiling. His stomach shriveled at the sight. "All that matters now are the children."
The earth rolled and thundered, and Danny jolted as out sprouted undergrowth , hissing furiously into the air "And you will make fine meal for them too!"
He has no time to prepare as Undergrowth's overgrown hand smacked him aside, yanking a scream from his mouth. Thorns and roots bit painfully into his back as he skidded across the ground and landed in a heap among the vines. His bones rattled in his body, brain rolling in his skull as he attempted to stand up. He tossed a look over his shoulder before hastily jetting away, vines whizzing a hairsbreadth away from him as they strike where he had once stood. That was a bit too close for comfort.
His mind automatically shifted to fight mode, body moving on pure instinct as he flew through the air, dodging Undergrowth's vines and splicing them with ectoplasm with practiced precision. After fighting so many ghosts, his body nearly moved on its own without any thought required. He charged up a ball of ecto-energy in his palm, feeling it spit sparks before he pitched it at Undergrowth. It hit it's mark at the base of undergrowth's arm, the severed limb crashing to the ground. Undergrowth squawked in pain, holding his shoulder, and for a second Danny thought maybe he was winning. Maybe he can beat undergrowth.
But then Undergrowth smirked, and his arm sprouted anew. Danny's heart sank into his stomach.
Undergrowth summoned up plant cactus minions to surround him, the creatures snarling furiously. Danny whirled around, unsure which one to attack first, but they took the upper hand, punching him with their thorny fists. He grunted, feeling the thorns slice across his face, his back, his chest, everywhere causing pain to bloom across his body as he soared through the air and was tossed around like a hacky sack.
He plunged to the ground, bouncing off the plants and landing not so gracefully on the ground. There was no time for him to properly compose himself before vines sprouted up and constrict around him like a boa constrictor. He writhed, trying in vain to escape. He couldn't lose! Not when the whole town was in danger like this. Not when the whole world could have the same fate.
Not when it could mean Sam being puppeteered like that for the rest of her life.
"You must take root!" His head shot up, staring in terror at Sam as she descended in front of him, malicious grin spread across her lips. Undergrowth grinned victoriously behind her. "Become one with us!"
The vines compressed his lungs, making it difficult to speak. "Stop, please! You can't let him win, Sam!" The vines reach up, tangling around his throat and pressing his windpipe. His heart stopped as he realized he was being pulled under by the roots, more piling on to encase him. No, no he can't lose!
"I know you're in there Sam!" He shouted at her, voice raspy against the vines trying to silence him. He kept his eyes on hers as he was pulled under, struggling against the vines to try and stay up just long enough to make her to listen. Her eyes flashed with indecision for a moment, and he dared to hope he was getting through. She was in there, he knew she was! "You control the power, it doesn't control you!"
The last vine clamped over him, and he was yanked under the surface.
Thank you for reading! I will be updating as regularly as I can manage, and if you wish to see some art and possibly be spoiled, I have a blog for Sam's plant-ghost character on tumblr. The blog is AskDivineLady