Glint of Gold

Chapter 2

(Author's notes: I want to first thank everyone who read the first chapter of 'Glint of Gold' and a special 'Thank you' to the people that gave me reviews as I was very surprised to find that I reached my quota of 10 reviews within the first three days of the story being posted. I never thought that you would double my views in only a few days. Pat yourselves on the back because I'm in for a third chapter.

I also wanted to address a question that was posted in a review. I wanted to keep the timeline loose so Danny and the others are between the ages of 19 and 22.

Okay, and now that I've taken up all of your time on with the story. I don't own Danny Phantom or related properties.)

Sweat poured from Danny's face with the strain of keeping up his shield as Vlad blasted away hap-hazardly, laughing madly the whole time. With the constant barrage of deadly blasts any break in his concentration would collapse his shield and leave Sam, her grandmother, and himself vulnerable to Vlad's attacks and he couldn't have that.

"Danny you've got to 'Go Ghost'!" Sam pleaded him with her eyes, seeing how much he was struggling with the strain he was under.

"No, I'll have to drop the shield to 'Go Ghost' and that would leave you and Grandma vulnerable." He couldn't look at her directly, knowing the futile desperation he would see there because he shared the feeling, even though he would gladly gave his life for theirs a hundred times over.

"Danny..." Sam began as she began to notice a curious thing that had started to happen. From the deepest depth of Danny's eyes a golden glow began to eminate and steadily engulfed his cornea. When he looked up at her his eyes were glowing gold and still growing in intensity, and Sam felt a strange sense of calm and wellbeing came over her.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you!"

"Danny?" Sam said meekly as the tranquility washed over her, "Your eyes are glowing."

Danny had no idea what she was trying to drive at, "They always glow when I use my Ghost powers."

"No Danny" Sam said, shaking her head, "Your eyes are glowing gold."

Her mystified appearance and the strangeness of what she said threw him off guard, and a stray blast hit him square in the shoulder. The blast knocked him forward into Sam and he just barely managed to keep them from falling to the ground as he put his shield back up.

The blast had tore through his shirt and charred the skin underneath. Danny could feel the damage that the blast had done to his shoulder and he knew he wouldn't be able to hold out much longer against the pounding that Vlad was giving his shield.

"Let me see!" Sam said, franticly trying to turn Danny around. Danny grasped her firmly by her shoulders and held her steady.

"No, Sam, I can't let you do that." Danny told her with a tone as firm as his grip.

Tears welled up in her eyes and she pleaded with him, "Danny you have to stop this; you're killing yourself!"

"If that's what it takes to keep you safe, I'll take it."

Vlad continued to laugh madly over the sounds of his inflicted destruction, "I guess that this won't be the epic final battle I was hoping for but if the 'mighty' Danny Phantom chooses to go down with a whimper rather than a scream, it seems only fitting to me, for as fate had decided long ago, dear boy, you are to fall to the far superior, Vlad Plasmius!"

More peals of laughter, and Danny was tired of it. No matter what, he had to get Sam and her grandmother out of there.

He cupped Sam's cheek and then ran his hand through her hair. She knew what he was going to say and tears that had welled up in her eyes began to run freely down her cheeks. She pulled his hand back to her cheek and leaned against it.

"No!"

Danny sadly shook his head and wiped away a tear with his thumb, "There's no other way. You and Grandma have to get out of here. I can't risk losing you."

Tears streamed down Sam's face and she tightly closed her eyes, "No, I'm not leaving you here to die!"

Danny brought her face up to his and kissed her. He treated her with a brilliant smile, through his heart wasn't in it.

"I'm half ghost. I don't even know if I can die."

He faced the laughing madman and looked back at Sam.

"I'm going to spread my shield out and rush him, when I do take Grandma and get out of here as quickly as you can." He told her. Sam wiped away her tears and nodded her understanding.

"I love you, Sam."

"I love you too, Danny Fenton."

He turned back to Vlad, ready for the ultimate sacrifice, and sent up a little prayer for Sam.

"Okay, get ready."

Then something strange happened.

The ceiling above Vlad began to creak and groan as if under considerable strain. The noise was so loud that even Vlad stopped what he was doing to listen. The groaning and creaking rose steadily, heading towards a crescendo of sounds. Just as it seemed that the noise couldn't grow any louder a crack broke the noise apart.

Looking up, directly above him, Vlad saw the plaster of the ceiling began to come apart at an incredibly fast rate.

"Oh no." He commented.

A large, industrial, metal, box A/C unit came crashing down through the ceiling from the roof and slammed, full force, into the surprised Vlad Plasmius, knocking him out, and pinning him momentarily to the ground.

From the dust and debris that swirled in the air came a very recognizable voice that Danny was actually glad to hear for the first time in his life.

"I am the Box Ghost! Beware! I am master of all box shaped objects large and small!"

"Box Ghost?" Danny and Sam said in unison.

The Box Ghost turned to them and made, what he hoped was, a scary face, "Do not think that this is a sign of weakness, Danny Phantom. I am simply returning a favor. Now go before I change my mind."

Danny took the moment to 'Go Ghost' and grabbed Sam and Grandma each by a hand. He lifted them into the air and when they were on his level he spoke to the Box Ghost.

"You truly are benevolent and kind Box Ghost. Thanks."

The Box Ghost watched as Danny took off at top speed into town.

Heat from behind him caused him to turn. He watched as the A/C unit melted and finally escaped the building as a mist of vaporized metal. Vlad stood up from the debris smiling to himself and dusting off his outfit.

"Why did I ever let you live?" He asked himself as he deftly rose in the air.

The Box Ghost took off and flew directly into Vlad, who seemed to simply materialize in front of him. Vlad Plasmius placed a hand on the Box Ghost's shoulder and soon there was nothing left of him; not even ash.

"I have to give it to your parents; their paranoia about ghosts comes in handy from time to time." Sam said as she sat on top of Danny.

They were back at Sam's brownstone under the Ghost Shield that Danny's parents had insisted that they install, over Danny's protests. Danny lay face down on the couch as Sam tended to his shoulder. She was carefully pulling off charred skin with a pair of tweezers.

Danny flinched as she pulled off another large patch of tissue.

"Can't you be a little more gentle when you do that?" Danny asked, his voice muffled by the pillow under his head.

Sam laughed and moved her head down to his.

"So says the guy who was all gung-ho about sacrificing himself 20 minutes ago."

She kissed his cheek and went back to what she was doing.

"I'd do it a thousand times. I couldn't bear the thought of living without you." He said looking back up at her as well as he could.

Sam pulled off another chunk of skin.

"Ow!"

Sam leaned back down and spoke into his ear, "That won't fly Ghost-boy. You need to be more careful. I don't want to have to live without you either."

Danny realized he'd never thought of it like that. The whole time he had simply seen himself, if he really thought about it, as expendable. He would throw himself into danger with only others on his mind. It hadn't even crossed his mind what effect it would have on others.

"All done." Sam declared, pulling off the last piece of charred flesh.

Danny spun around under her and pulled her down to him.

"Hey... I still have... to disinfect... your shoulder." Sam managed to get out between Danny's passionate kisses.

Back at Fenton works, the home and workshop of Jack and Maddy Fenton (Danny's parents), everyone was in bed. The Fentons didn't quite get along with the Mansons so, without anything to say to each other that wouldn't start an argument, they had mutually decided to turn in early. Jack Fenton, as was his habit, had fallen asleep as soon as his head had hit the pillow, but Maddy was reading a journal on experimental physics by the light of a headlamp. She could hear Sam's parents talking softly next door in the guest room.

Maddy mused over the situation that they had found themselves in. Not the threat of attack, which was something that they had gotten use to over the years, but Danny and Sam. Even she and Jack hadn't been surprised when the kids started dating and they hadn't been able to figure out that their own son was the ghost boy hero of Amity Park.

They loved Sam, she'd become like a part of the family even before she and Danny began to date, but her parents were another matter altogether. They were stuffy shirts from the other side of the tracks, and the Fentons, for all their ghost hunting and inventions, were blue collar types. They couldn't get past their differences. During the holidays they would all get together, both sides, and it would be a disaster. They argued about everything. Everything except; how much they all loved Sam and Danny, and how happy they were that Sam and Danny were happy.

Now they were stuck in a house with the Mansons, under the safety of the ghost shield, for an undetermined amount of time. In the movies it would have been the perfect plot device to force the two sets of parents together for them to find common interests and overcome their differences. In the real world, that sort of thing didn't happen. At least she hoped that it didn't.

Maddy put down the journal and turned off her headlamp. She was too caught up in her disgust for Sam's mother to finish it. The thought of the two of them paling around was going to give her nightmares. Too bad they couldn't develop a shield to keep the Mansons away.

If the Mansons had simply allowed them to install a ghost shield of their own they wouldn't have been in this mess in the first place. As long as they were they would have to make the best of it. At least they were safe as long as the ghost shield was up.

Maddy lay down on the bed and turned toward the window to watch the soft pulsing green light of the ghost shield. It wasn't there. The ghost shield wasn't on. They weren't protected. She sat up quickly in bed and looked around calculating how quickly she could get to a weapon. She punched Jack.

"Jack, wake up! The shield is down!"

Jack mumbled and pulled the blanket up around him. He'd be no use.

She slid out from under the covers and headed for the closet where she kept an extra collection of ghost fighting weapons behind her jumpsuits.

"Boo!"

Maddy leapt back away from the closet and landed, cat like, feet away. Vlad stepped out of the closet laughing. He bared his fanged teeth in a hideous smile.

"Well hello Maddy. Long time no see, my love." Vlad said sashaying into the bedroom and giving her a slight bow, "Thoughts of our reunion kept me warm during my long trek through space. How long I've waited for this moment."

"Are you trying to make me vomit?" Maddy asked, the harsh taste of bile eating at the back of her throat.

Vlad raised his hand and it was engulfed by flame as he slowly pointed it in her direction, but his smile and congenial manner never dropped.

"I guess that none of these reunions will go the way I had planned. Never the less, dear Maddy, once I have disposed of Jack and Danny you will be mine." Vlad's smile broadened, "Whether you want to or not."

His hand began to burn brighter and brighter, and Maddy felt only despair.

Danny woke up in a cold sweat and rose from the tangle of bed sheets. He sat up and tried to steady his breathing. His heart pounded out an erratic beat in his chest like a monkey playing bongo drums. The sweat poured from him and he used the sheet to wipe his face.

"What's going on Danny? What's wrong?" Sam asked him.

Sam stood in the doorway to the living room rubbing at her sleep filled eyes. She stumbled over to the couch where Danny had been sleeping. She was wearing a large black t-shirt as a nightgown that was provocatively hung off of one shoulder and her hair was tussled from lying on the pillow. Danny picked up his t-shirt from the coffee table and slipped it on as Sam sat next to him.

He was still breathing hard but he was getting it under control. Sam took his hand.

"What's wrong Danny? You were screaming in your sleep."

Danny rubbed the back of his neck and gave Sam's hand a squeeze, "It was a nightmare, just a nightmare, but it's over now."

Sam laid her head on his shoulder, still mostly asleep, and closed her eyes, "What was it about?"

Danny shook his head and the last of the horrible images faded as he did, "I can't remember. It's gone now."

"Good, that means we can go back to sleep then?" Sam asked already beginning to dose off again.

Danny looked down at her and gave her a little smile, "You can. I don't think I'm going to be able to go to sleep again."

"Okay..." Sam said softly, her breathing in and out in even rhythms. She had fallen back to sleep on his arm. He scooped her up and took her to her bedroom and put her into the bed, and then he went to the kitchenette and started a pot of coffee. Something had begun to bother him. He had forgotten something important and couldn't think of what it was.

As soon as the coffee was finished brewing he poured himself a cup and walked over to the window to watch the pulsing of the ghost shield's soft green light. He looked down at the bookstore where a group of Goths who had been attending Sam's weekly 'Witching Hour' poetry reading, an event she wouldn't have missed but had been too tired after the events of the day to attend, were cautiously making their ways out of the ghost shield to their cars across the street. Danny found himself chuckling at the reaction of those that hadn't encountered a ghost shield before. It was perfectly safe for humans to pass through, there was a slight tingling sensation created by the ionized air, but those that didn't know this fact would tentatively put a limb through first, as if playing Hokey-Pokey with the world, and try to slide through as fast as possible.

Humans could pass through unharmed. That phase struck with him. Humans could pass through. He nearly dropped his cup of coffee.

He rummaged through his pockets quickly for his cell phone and held down '2' to speed dial the number saved there. It was answered on the second ring.

"Danny?" Tucker asked his voice full of concern "If you're calling this early in the morning something must be wrong. Give me a quick 1 to 10."

"15" Danny said, not mincing words, "Vlad's back"

Tucker dropped his phone and Danny heard him curse as he fumbled it back up to his ear.

"Vlad Masters?" Tucker exclaimed, and then quickly added, "Never mind, what do you need me to do?"

Danny ran through the options in his head but there weren't many, "Shields are useless but weapons aren't, grab what you can but I need you at Sam's ASAP."

Tucker swallowed hard, "Did something happen to Sam?"

"No." Danny said looking back at the bedroom, "But I have to go. I forgot about the ghost shields and our parents are sitting ducks back at the house."

"Okay, gotcha."

Danny could hear him rummaging around.

"I need you to inform all the officials to let them know because Vlad has an axe to grind with this whole town and they need to be ready for him." Danny paused for a moment then added, "Oh, one more thing."

"Yeah?"

"Call Valerie"

At top speed it only took Danny a minute to get to Fenton works, but he was far too late. The whole building was engulfed in flames and far beyond saving by the time he got there. Numb he used ice to put the flames out and after far too long at the task he surveyed the charred husk of the building. Nothing could have survived the fire.

Danny sat down, unable to support himself, onto what had once been the spacious living room. So many memories and it had all just gone up in smoke. It had been Vlad, and it was as obvious as if he had signed his name. The melted ghost shield was all the proof Danny needed.

Vlad had done this.

Vlad.

Danny hit the button on his headset. There was a 'ding' to let him know that it was active.

"Call Jazz."

The line connected without a tone as if his sister had been waiting for the call but her voice was still full sleep.

"Danny?"

"It's time. I need 'Plan B'." Danny said, tears of rage welling up in his eyes.

She knew what he meant.

(Final thought: I was so surprised at the response that I got with this story. I was rolling around when I got a look at the traffic stats the day after I posted the first chapter and saw the 93 views that I got. I want to thank everyone because I never thought that I would get that kind of response and it gave me the boost that I needed. Maybe I can make a run at this writing thing. I especially want to thank the international readers because that came as a total surprise. I hope that you enjoy this chapter as much as the first one and I can't help but wonder how many people have gone back to watch the episode that birthed this story since I put it out.

Thank you and enjoy.)