Story Warnings:

Character death, lemons, violence.

Chapter Warnings:

None

Story Rating:

M. (NC-17+)

Chapter Rating:

T

A/N;

Hey everyone! I wanted to try my hand a slightly darker, more macabre type of fiction, because I find those to often be the best reads. There will be fluff, there will be smut, there will be character death, lots of fighting, FEELS and all the other good stuff.

You have been warned!

Chapter 1: Sam.

Started: June 12 2012

Edited: June 13 2012

Uploaded: June 13 2012

Being hunted most of your life would give you a certain advantage; crazy muscles, great agility, that sort of thing. But for me, it was just another fact of life. I'd been hunting ghosts since I was fourteen. So an army of them wasn't all that much different, right? Just a couple hundred more than normal, that's all. I sat on my bed in my dingy apartment, wondering where my childhood had gone. I was getting ready for the morning, sitting in my towel and doing up my hair, tying a strip of spikes in it as normal, the spikes preventing anyone from grabbing my ponytail and yanking, without some serious damage to their hands.

Being part of a rebellion had its advantages. It kept you in shape and sharpened your senses. But it was a great emotional toll. Constantly fighting against an army, with no way to match their strength was hard.

A small explosion alerted me to a suicide bombing near my building and I swallowed, looking out the window. It wasn't often I got to be at home, and I hated the fact that the fighting already extended to here. Getting up, I quickly put on and zipped up my jumpsuit, securing the numerous weapons to it and quickly stepped out into the living room, almost bumping into Valerie as I did.

"Morning Sam." Valerie chirped, already in her Red Huntress outfit. Despite the mirth in her voice, her eyes were steely; betraying to me the extent of exhaustion and bitterness the war had placed on her.

"Good morning Val. Is there any news about that explosion just now?"

"No..." She frowned, looking at her communicator watch. Tucker had designed them special; they were equipped with a holographic screen we all called the holoscreen that allowed Tucker's image to be broadcast to us when he was giving a message. It also allowed him to see what was happening around us. "Tucker hasn't contacted me yet."

It wasn't normal for Tucker to be anything but on top of whatever was going on in the ruins of Amity. After all, we were one of the only remaining areas fighting Vlad's hold. "I still can't believe it's come to this." I shook my head, grabbing the wine from last night's supper and chugging some of it before offering it to Val, who shook her head politely.

"I mean, Vlad was always crazy, but I never thought he'd..." My throat tightened, and Val placed her hand gently on my shoulder. She knew what I was referring to. Danny was gone. We never really knew what happened to him, but we all suspected it had something to do with Vlad. After all, Danny had been in his prime. His ghost powers peaking and he had been gaining new powers and strength every day. He had fought Vlad with everything he had. He had kept back Vlad's plans for months, almost a year before he had just suddenly disappeared.

I shook my head, getting my composer back. "Come on; let's get to base before Tucker yells at us."

Valerie agreed and was soon on her hover board and off she went. I took my motorbike, taking my time and trying to assess where the explosion had taken place. Luckily, by the steaming bricks and the scattered pieces of something that used to be human, it appeared to have taken place in a long-abandoned factory. Nothing lost, nobody else hurt.

I arrived at base, and quickly went up to the meeting room where Tucker and Val were bent over a map. "They're getting braver." Tucker was saying as I entered. "They've already bombed out here, here and here." His finger moved deftly over each area, pointing out the areas of attacks. "They're too close to our base."

"Then we either relocate, or find a way to lead them off our scent," I said coming around the table and leaning over the map. Tucker looked up in slight surprise. He hadn't heard me come in.

"Ah, Sam. How are you doing today? Your arm okay?"

I flexed it to show it was healing alright after that scuffle a while ago, and nodded. "Peachy, thanks Tuck."

"Anyway, we're one of the last strong holds against Vlad." I continued, pulling out a chair and plopping down onto it. I eyed Tucker, appreciating how much he'd built up over the last ten years. He was still, compared to when I'd last seen Danny, pretty lanky and weak, but for our purposes, he was just right. "So we can't risk being blown to bits."

Tucker nodded, "But I don't see how we can just up and move. There are things we need to pack, we have to track Vlad's movements and this is geologically the best-"

"We know, we know," Valerie said, sighing and waving a hand to keep Tucker from ranting. He could go on for hours.

"Alright, so we can't move until we know more." I said looking up at them. "I mean, Vlad's got to make a move at some point. We just have to be ready for him, right?"

Tucker nodded, rolling up the map. "It's not like we have very much to move, anyway." he said bitterly.

Shaking my head I stood. "I'm going to start my rounds."

Valerie nodded, "Good idea," she agreed, grabbing her hover board, "I'll do south, you do east?" she inquired, pulling her hood over her head.

"Yeah, sounds good. Tucker, we'll radio in if we see anything." I said, turning and leaving.

Everything seemed to be normal on patrol. A few scuffles, and the still, deathly quiet that had taken over this part of the country. Vlad wasn't trying anything, which was nice, but at the same time surprising. I supposed it had to do with the rebellions in other parts of the country. After all, we weren't alone, though we were his prime target, having the most abundant knowledge of Ghost-Warfare and anti-ghost weaponry.

He must be annoyed, I mused as I stepped over some rubble and along an abandoned street, he was sending a few of his army here, but he never sent too much that Tucker, Valerie and I couldn't handle with help from the remaining citizens of Amity.

Being a small rebellion force had its advantages sometimes. We had eyes and ears inside with the help of Danny's Mom, Maddie, who Vlad had taken prisoner at the start of all of this, and she was able to send communications to us sometimes as to what Vlad was planning. She wasn't always able to get word to us though, Vlad kept her by his side most of the time, watching her like a hawk. But we appreciated whatever help we could get.

I cautiously moved along, checking for any signs of Vlad's minions approaching, keeping my back pressed against a still stable building. I peeked around the building I was using as shelter, trying to see if I could spot an enemy before it snuck up on me. What I saw instead made me gasp, my jaw falling open in shock.

"Sam?" The familiar voice resonated in my ears and I blinked, unbelieving as I took a small step forward. It couldn't be. It wasn't possible.

"...Danny?"

He grinned his goofy little grin and stepped forward, arms open. "Sam..." His blue eyes were so alluring, I couldn't help but step forward as well, my gun lowering.

That was my mistake.

His grin suddenly turned from innocent and welcoming, to feral and murderous, before I could back away, he took one more step and...exploded.

The ringing in my ears was the first sign that I was still alive. Then the pain hit. I wanted to scream but something inside of me stopped me. Pain meant things were still responding, I could still move. Barely. I twitched a finger, the searing pain shooting up my arm and making me wish I was dead. Slowly I opened my eyes to blue skies. I was still where I had fallen.

Suddenly, I was very glad Tucker had forced us into survival classes. I vaguely remember jumping away, tucking my head in against my chest, letting my back take most of the explosion. Again, I was so glad that we had durable materials on our bodies.

No one was coming for me; I was on my own here. I realized this because my com. watch was shattered and laying in pieces next to me.

As my hearing came back, I felt slightly less vulnerable. At least I'd be able to hear if anything was coming. Slowly, I managed to turn to my side, nearly vomiting from the pain it caused me and I looked around. There was rubble around me, which made sense because of the explosion and I carefully crawled over to a stable looking pile, using it to prop myself up into a sitting position.

Even that caused my head to swim and my ears to start ringing again. I waited until the world stopped spinning before I was able to get myself to a semi-standing position.

It was a challenge, trying to stand and walk. I used the rubble for support before I came out of the destruction area, and then took to leaning against a building and catching my breath.

I hadn't let myself think about it until now; I had been too preoccupied with trying to walk. Had that really been Danny?

He looked so human, so real... It couldn't have been, I decided as I looked back over at the rubble. There was no trace of a human there. This must have been another of Vlad's dirty tricks.

The sun was setting as I got back to base; Valerie rushed out and helped me into my chair, fretting over my wounds as I recounted what I'd encountered.

Tucker was pale; his glasses sliding down his nose and his mouth open slightly. It would have been comical if I wasn't being sewn up in the process.

"...Suicide Danny's..." He breathed after digesting the information for a bit. "I can't believe the fruitloop would sink so low. And how did he do it? Does he have Danny? Is that how he got the DNA to make him so similar?"

I shook my head, biting back a groan as Valerie spread peroxide on my wounds. "I saw one too," she said quietly, avoiding everyone's gaze. "I couldn't believe it. I mean, there he was, walking along as if it were normal." She swallowed, "He walked right up to a building, grinned, and then...exploded. There was nothing left. I was glad I was on my hover board or else..." She drifted off mid sentence, starting to wrap my wounds.

"It's hard on all of us," I commented softly, "We all knew him, one way or another."

We were silent for a while, remembering his goofy laughs, corny jokes and his awkward yet confident way of moving around.

"Alright, enough." I said decisively, standing up, trying not to show how much pain I was in. "We still have some more patrolling to do. I don't know where Vlad's placed his army."

Tucker frowned at me. "I know I don't know you as well as Danny, but I know you enough to know you're in a lot of pain, Sam. Patrols are off tonight, I'll send the robots out." Tucker had designed small robots that could keep watch over our self-imposed borders. He sent them out normally at night when we all were exhausted, and sometimes on days like today, when we needed them more than ever.

I nodded my thanks and Valerie took me home to our shared apartment. I only started crying when I got onto my bed.

It was so unfair, to see Danny after all these years, and to have it turn out to be a clone; a diversion made by Vlad to throw us off his scent.

I looked at the small, sun-faded picture in the frame next to my bed of Danny, Tucker and I laughing and hanging out. It was taken just outside of Danny's old home, when we were only fourteen, just after he had gotten his powers.

How quickly things change.