At last! The next chapter is here! Sorry for the delay! It's kind of hard to juggle writing two stories at once! I loved writing this chapter! Just remember I have to make some changes to avoid copyright issues! Enjoy!

Chapter 6

Prince Aragon and Plasmius inspected a picnic where a dead Lancer was lying next to. Prince Aragon found an empty pouch and took a whiff at it.

"Iocane," Aragon concluded as he handed Plasmius the empty pouch to smell. "I bet my afterlife on it." He pointed at two sets of footprints that went further down the trail. "And those must be the princess's footprints. She's still alive, or was an hour ago. If she's not alive, I will be cross."

Plasmius agreed with him, grinning evilly.

Meanwhile…

Sam and Phantom were at the edge of a steep ravine. The two stopped again for a rest. Phantom dropped Sam sharply and severely.

"Rest, Sammy," he said coldly.

Sam glared at him with narrow eyes. "I'm through playing 'Scared-Little-Girl' with you. I know who you are. You're the Dread Pirate Phantom."

Phantom bowed to her. "With pride. How can I help you, Sammy?"

"You can die again by being ripped apart molecule by molecule," Sam said icily.

"Tsk, Tsk, Tsk. Hardly civil, Sammy. Why are you cross with me?" asked Phantom innocently.

Sam narrowed her eyes. "You killed my love."

Phantom shrugged innocently. "It's possible. I've killed a ton of people," he said matter-of-factly. "Who was this love of yours? Another rich prince like this one? Ugly, rich, and scruffy?"

"No," said Sam. "He was a farm boy. Poor and perfect, with eyes like the clear sky on a cold winter day." At this point, Sam was getting close to tears as she remembered those happy days with Danny. "On the high seas, three years ago, your ship attacked. Everyone knows the Dread Pirate Phantom never takes prisoners."

He leaned back against a boulder. "Can't make exceptions," he said casually. "If word gets out that a ghost pirate has gone soft, people begin to disobey you and then it's nothing but work, work, work all the time."

Sam just about had it with Phantom. "DON'T YOU EVER MOCK MY PAIN!"

"Life is pain, Sammy," Phantom retorted. "Anyone who says differently is selling knockoffs on the street corner." He started circling Sam. "I think I remember this farm boy of yours. How long ago did you say it was? Three years ago?"

Sam nodded.

"Do you mind if I tell you?" he asked.

"Whatever," she answered dryly. "Nothing can change the fact that he's gone."

"He died well, in case you were wondering. No bribes, no groveling, no butt kissing. He just said, 'Please, please I need to live.' It was the 'please' part that I remember.

"I asked him what was so important. 'True love,' he answered. Then he spoke of a Gothic beauty, faithful to the end. I'm guessing he means you. You should be grateful I killed him before he found out what you really are."

That did it! No one mocked her heartache and got away with it. "And what am I?" she asked angrily as she stood up.

"Your enduring faithfulness," he answered. "Now tell me, after you found out I killed him did you get engaged to Aragon that same day? Or did you wait for a few weeks out of respect of us dead?"

"You ridiculed me once, never do it again!" she exclaimed her eyes flooding with tears. "I died that day!"

Before Phantom could reply with some kind of witty banter, he notices that Prince Aragon has finally caught up to them.

Catching him off guard, Sam growled, "And you can die again too for all I care!" She pushed him down the steep hill.

Phantom went tumbling down. "WHAT…EVER…YOU…SAAAAY!"

Sam immediately recognized those words. She realized who Phantom really was. "He's really my Danny! What have I done?" She leaped after him, rolling and tumbling down the ravine like Phantom.

By the time the two made it down to the bottom, both were battered and bruised. "Okay, not my best idea," Sam grunted. She turned her head to Phantom. A ring of light suddenly appeared around his waist. It split in two, turning the Dread Pirate Phantom into a scrawny, dirty young man with raven black hair. The Dread Pirate Phantom was really Danny Fenton!

Back with Aragon…

Prince Aragon and his crew make it to where Phantom and Sam were moments ago. They saw that the two fell into the ravine.

"He must have seen us coming," Aragon concluded, "which would might explain his panicking. Unless I'm wrong – and I'm never wrong – they're most likely heading straight into the Ecto Swamp."

Plasmius paled at the mentioning of the name.

Back with our heroes…

Danny came to and crawled over to Sam. "Are you hurt? Can you move?"

"Who cares? You're alive," Sam whispered as tears of joy flowed down her face. "If you want I can fly!"

Danny smiled his familiar goofy grin. "I told you I'd be fine. Why didn't you wait for me?"

"You were dead," said Sam. She was lost for words, she was so happy.

"Death can't destroy true love," Danny said softly. "All it can do is delay it for a little while. Told you nothing can stop it."

Sam smiled. "I'll never doubt you again."

Danny smiled warmly and stroked her hair. "You'll never need to."

They both have their first kiss in three years.

"Okay! Time out!" Timmy shouted. Wanda looked up from the book.

"What is it this time?" she asked. "I was just getting to the good part."

Timmy rolled his eyes. "The kissing part. Are they going to make out?"

Wanda held in a laugh. This is coming from a boy who has been trying to get the most popular girl to kiss him for years. "Why are you so bothered by it? It's not like YOU'VE tried kissing Trixie before."

"Yeah," said the sick ten-year-old boy, "but I've always thought kissing someone was just lip-to-lip. Not two people shoving their tongues down each other's throats."

"Someday you'll understand," Wanda said sagely.

Timmy rolled his eyes again. "Whatever. Skip to the Ecto Swamp. That sounded cool!"

Danny and Sam raced along the floor of the ravine. The two stopped and looked up at Prince Aragon and his men.

"Ha! Your skunk fiancée is too late," said Danny. "Few more feet and we'll be safe and sound in the Ecto Swamp."

Sam paled. "Are you insane? We'll never survive the Ecto Swamp!"

"Don't be silly," Danny said casually. "You're only saying that because no one ever has."

The lovebirds eventually enter the swamp. The swamp was filled with dead trees, green mist, and other swampy stuff that one would find in the movie "Creature from the Black Lagoon".

Danny surveyed their surroundings. "Not bad."

Sam looked at him in disbelief. Danny looked back. "What? I'm not saying we should build a summer home here but the trees are kind of cool."

The two of them begin walking deeper into the swamp. They heard a strange popping noise. A spurt of green fire erupts from the ground, lighting part of Sam's dress on fire. Sam tried to remain calm but if your dress caught on fire, the calmness doesn't last long. Danny forces Sam to sit down. He lifts his hand up and it begins to glow blue. Sam felt coldness immediately replace the hotness that was once on her skirt.

Sam was bewildered. Danny laughed nervously. "Well, that was an adventure." He helped Sam to her feet and the two began walking again. They heard a familiar popping noise. Danny grabbed Sam's hand and the two became intangible. Green fire erupted from the ground where Sam was standing. Instead of bursting into flames again, all she felt was warm air blasting through her.

The fire disappeared and the two became tangible again. Sam looked at Danny, wanting an explanation. "Intangibility," he explained. "Things can go right through me without leaving a scratch, or burn in this case."

"Oh," Sam said nervously. What happened to her love these past three years? He seemed more…confident.

"You gotta admit, though," Danny said, "the Ecto Swamp really knows how to keep you on your toes."

For a while, the two continued walking through the Ecto Swamp. Sam listened to Danny's three-year odyssey. "Soon this will be nothing but a happy memory. The Siren is anchored on the other side of this swamp. As you've already guessed, I'm Phantom."

Sam was confused. "Okay. Back up for a moment. One: how did you get ghost powers? And two: how can you be the Dread Pirate Phantom? You've been gone for three years. Phantom has been terrorizing the seas for fifteen."

Danny grinned. "I was wondering the same thing. I got my ghost powers while working on a manmade portal to the Ghost Zone. Phantom stole the blueprints from my parents. Some idiot put the 'On' switch inside the thing. When I went in to turn it on, the portal came to life with me still in it. When I woke up, I saw that my hair turned white and my eyes were neon green."

Sam nodded. It seemed to make sense. Danny's parents were ghost hunters after all. "Okay, that explains how you survived the iocane powder, but what about Phantom? He's been haunting the seas for fifteen years. How did you become Phantom?"

Another popping sound announced another burst of green flames. Danny quickly turned Sam intangible until the fire subsided. They then continued walking.

"What I told you about saying 'please' is true," Danny answered. "Phantom was interested, as well as my description of your beauty." Sam blushed. "Then I got my ghost powers. Phantom then decided something. 'All right, Ghost Boy, I've been looking for a valet. You can try it tonight. I'll most likely have your pelt on my wall in the morning.'"

"Ew," said Sam cringing at the thought.

Danny continued. "Two years he said that to me. 'Good night, Ghost Child. Nice work. Sleep well. I'll most likely have your pelt on my wall in the morning.' It was actually pretty cool. I learned how to use my ghost powers from my transformations to that little ice trick I did on your dress moments ago."

Danny's hand glowed blue. An ice crystal appeared in his hand. He gave it to Sam. "Cool…no pun intended," she said. Danny chuckled.

"Eventually, Phantom and I became friends. And then it happened."

"What?" asked Sam pocketing her gift. "What happened?"

"Phantom got so rich, he decided to retire," Danny explained. "So one day, he called me to his cabin and told me a secret. 'I am not the Dread Pirate Phantom. My name is Skulker. I inherited the Siren from the previous Dread Pirate Phantom just as you are to inherit it from me. The previous Phantom was not the real guy either. His name was Technus. The real Phantom has been retired for twelve years and is living like a king in Hawaii."

"You're kidding!" Sam explained.

"I was surprised too. They're ghosts, they can't age. Then Skulker explained to me the significance to the name thing. It's supposed to strike fear into the hearts of the bravest of souls. Think about it. No one would surrender to the 'Dread Pirate Danny.'"

Sam agreed. "That doesn't sound intimidating at all."

"So we went to shore and got a new crew. Skulker stayed and was first mate, all the time calling me Phantom. He kept that up until everyone called me that and then retired. That pretty much sums it up. Now that we're together, I'll retire and find someone else to replace me. You understand all of that?"

Sam looked at Danny bewildered. Getting captured by ghost pirates, getting ghost powers, and keeping up an evil ghost pirate's reputation. He changed a lot during those three years he was gone. He still looked a little scrawny but there was also a hint of muscle in his arms. Sure, he had muscle when he was a farm boy but now it seems more noticeable.

Sam walked ahead of Danny, trying to come to terms with the story he just told her. Without warning, the ground suddenly swallowed her whole.

Again with the cliffhangers! Why?

Sorry folks! I had to stop somewhere! Give me more reviews! It took me forever for someone to review the previous chapter! Thank you Karyn Phantom! Your review is much appreciated! Please keep reviewing!