Twilight Walking
Chapter Ten

And they continued on.

Together, as friends, as partners, and as outcasts, they continued fighting their way through the wilderness of the northern United States.

As they traveled, a noticeable change began to fall over Danny. His emotions seemed to be split two ways, right down the middle. He was either extremely happy or optimistic – just like his old self, thanks to his 'union' with Sam – or he was a silent recluse, not speaking to anyone for hours.

It became apparent that there was something wrong within him. Tucker and Sam had known it all along; something had happened to him right before they left Amity Park.

But what it was, they had no idea.

It became colder and colder, and they were getting closer and closer to the border of the state of Wisconsin. Danny knew that, once they got there, Vlad would try his hardest to seek them out.

Right before they got there, however, they became involved in something that ended up being larger than they were.

"We need backup!" the officer yelled into his walkie-talkie, one hand clenched on his hat to keep it from blowing away. The rain that had been pouring earlier had turned into snow from the severe drop in temperature.

A ghost who had been torturing a young family in an apartment complex had finally snapped, holding the youngest baby hostage inside. The distraught family was outside, clinging on to the rabbi that had come to help them.

"Should we get an exorcist?" one officer asked another. The second one shrugged.

"Are there Jewish exorcists?"

"Do you think it even matters at this point?"

"What's that?" the young mother screeched suddenly, launching herself onto her husband. "There's something up there!" A shadow had zoomed into the apartment, slamming the window behind it. Tucker and Sam were hiding behind the cop cars, Sam rubbing her legs together to keep warm.

"Be careful, Danny," Sam whispered, her long, dark hair being blown around her by the powerful winds. Because of the wind, Sam began to cough violently; her hacking cough still plagued her, making her notably weaker. Tucker was beginning to doubt if she could even survive the winter.

Danny stood deathly still, listening with all his might for the ghost. His brilliant white hair seemed to glow in the darkness, as did his vivid green eyes as he walked forwards, the dark apartment seemingly hiding shadows in every corner.

"Where are you?" Danny called out. He walked into the next room, a tiny little kitchen. It looked like a small tornado had come through and destroyed everything.

"I know you're—"

He heard a small hiccuh from behind him. He spun around and found a small door. He pulled it open, the door coming clean off its hinges. He found himself in a small bedroom.

A bedroom where a young girl and an infant were sitting on the floor.

The girl's skin was nearly white, her eyes a dull red. She couldn't have been a day over twelve. Her hair hung limply from her head, and her thin arms cradled the (clearly living) infant.

"What're you doing with that infant?" Danny asked carefully. The girl looked up at him.

"He's mine," she said, holding the baby against her chest. "I saved him."

"You… what?" Danny said, perplexed. "Saved him? How?"

"I got the medicine," the girl said, her expression turning from angry to hopeful. "I went out, just like Mama said, and I came back, in the snow, with the medicine for Elijah."

"What… what're you talking about?" Danny said, walking forwards. He could have sworn he heard the officer call the baby Matthew… As he got closer, it dawned upon him what was happening.

This little girl had died trying to get medicine for her baby brother. Or something of the like.

A residual haunting. Danny sighed. It was his worst fear that he would end up like this one day, trapped in the last moments of his life, trying to reconcile for what he did.

"Yes, you did," Danny said, playing along with the girl. "Now, can I have him?"

"Why?" the girl asked. Her eyes began to glow dangerously. Danny could feel her power building with her anger. "Why would you do that when Elijah's so sick?" Danny stepped back, the dress the girl was wearing finally catching Danny's attention.

She couldn't have been older than twelve… but she looked like she popped out of a 1930's history book.

"Now, now," Danny said one hand behind his back, "I just want to take him to his mother. You can see him after that, I promise."

"NO YOU DON'T!!" the girl screeched, Danny jumping with surprise. Her anger had suddenly reached its boiling point, with Danny saying nothing more than a few simple sentences.

"What—?!" Danny shouted, a blinding white light filling the room. The infant, who was now on the floor, had begun wailing with terror, his screams echoing louder than the girl's cries.

Outside, the young mother buried her face into her husband's chest, her arm around her daughter's shoulders. The top floor of the apartment building's windows flashed a blinding light out of them, illuminating the area as bright as day.

The snow had begun to pick up in speed—

CRAAASH!

Glass shards from the windows suddenly rained down on them, and everyone ran out of the way, some of the officers crouching behind their cars for protection.

"Danny!" Sam cried without thinking. Tucker hit her hard in the leg – and then immediately regretted it. Sam, whose legs were already freezing, doubled over in pain, clenching her teeth to keep from moaning. Tears squeezed out of her eyes and rolled down her cheeks as the pain seared through her.

"I'm so sorry Sam!" Tucker whispered, putting his arm around her. "C'mon, let's go see if we can help at all."

Up in the apartment, Danny was busy trying to get the infant out of the girl's clutches. When he had come in, he felt confidant. He always won, no matter what the circumstances were. He couldn't think of one time he had lost. Not in recent memory, anyway.

But he was beginning to have doubts. He had never once lost… but he also had never been malnourished and tired constantly, either. Not only that… but that was all before… it happened.

Danny dove underneath the bed in the room, the infant in his arms. The baby had stopped crying and was instead sniffling, clearly out of breath. He had to get the baby out soon – or he would die.

"C'mon!" Danny hissed, trying to work up enough energy to shoot a powerful blast from his hands. He felt the palm of his hand warm up, and he aimed it up at the bottom of the—

Ker-RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISH!! The bed had been torn away by the rogue little girl, who had transformed into a big, black, ominous entity. Danny wasn't sure what the hell was going on with this specter – but he didn't want to stick around and find out.

Danny felt the wind being knocked out of him as the girl shot some kind of energy blast straight at his chest, nearly knocking him through the floor. The baby began to cry again.

"Get… Get AWAY FROM ME!" Danny cried, shooting his own blast into the air. He soared up, trying to regain breath, when he realized that the apartment was on fire.

What the hell? He thought. What kind of demon is this?

It was then that he realized he wasn't going to win. At least, he wasn't going to entirely beat this thing. So he took the baby in his arms and soared through the wall, going as far as he could away from the apartment.

He landed with a soft thud, clutching the baby in his arms. The police ran over to him when they realized what had happened.

"You!" they said, some of them shocked at who they were seeing. The young family looked over, still holding one another.

"I've got him," Danny said in a soft, tired voice. But as Danny showed them, he got the horrible realization that the baby had stopped screaming. As a matter of fact, the wiggly little worm in his arms had stopped moving altogether.

No…

The officer took the baby from his arms and opened the bundle, his face falling.

"He's… he's not breathing," the officer said, and began to run over to the ambulance. "He isn't breathing!"

Danny stood, dumbfounded, watching the young mother ran over to the officer, tears streaming down her tired face, begging to see her son. The EMTs took the baby into the back of the ambulance, apparently trying to revive him.

This can't be happening!

"You! You're under arrest!" An officer said, and Danny realized he was completely surrounded.

"What? What did I do?" he said, startled. "I just saved that baby from that crazy spirit!"

"That doesn't matter that you're wanted man!" another officer (the head officer, apparently,) said, stepping up to him. "Danny Phantom, or should I say, Danny Fenton, you're under arrest by the state of Minnesota." Danny stared at him, his remorse and anger building inside him.

No, no, control it, his mind pleaded. This is the reason they think you're dangerous! Your emotions and your powers are connected – control them!

But Danny couldn't control it. His hands clenched into fists, his breaths increasing in speed.

"If you come quietly, it'll look better for you," the officer said, approaching him. Danny was still staring at the ground.

This officer clearly has no idea what he's talking about, Danny thought, all rational thought being shoved into the back of his head. I just saved that baby!

No you didn't, another side said. That baby is as good as dead. You lost. You lost a fight, and a tiny baby boy just paid the price.

More thoughts flew around his mind, causing his anger to build even more. His entire body began to heat up, so much that he actually started to glow. The officer stopped approaching him, and instead pulled out his gun, steadying it on him.

"I'm warning you," he warned. "Don't you even think of—"

"WHAT?" Danny yelled suddenly, spinning around to face the officer, his fluorescent green eyes illuminating the man's face.

Tucker and Sam gasped from where they were half hiding, half standing near a police cruiser.

Danny stormed over to the officer, and, without thinking about it, clutched the man's throat, lifting him into the air.

"Or you'll do what?" Danny asked, his lips playing into a slightly insane grin. "Arrest me? Kill me? There's nothing worse that this stupid government can do to me!" All the while, Danny's hands glowed a bright green, his grip getting tighter and tighter. The other officers backed away, some of them yelling into cell phones and walkie-talkies. The man's face contorted into obvious pain, his air way being cut off by Danny's glowing fist.

"You think you can do anything ELSE?" Danny bellowed, his entire body glowing with rage. "You think—"

"DANNY!"

Sam's arms grasped onto Danny's waist, holding him tightly. Danny stopped, surprised at the sudden grip. His grip loosened around the officer's neck and the man fell the three or so feet to the ground, breathing heavily as he massaged his red neck. Danny slowly lowered after him, Sam burying her face into his back. The snow was still falling around them, dusting the place over.

Danny's rage subsided, and he slowly transformed back into his human self. He looked around at all the terrified faces, the officers who clearly wanted nothing than to be as far as they could be.

He couldn't believe it.

I really am a monster.

Edit: I've done it! I just finished this story. I have it all typed up in a master file. I've just been having issues with some of the middle parts, the end, and how to end the epilogue. But it's all done, and it's 90 glorious pages, not counting the epilogue, which is about 10 pages or so. Now all that's left is posting the chapters, which I'll probably do every Friday now that I can. Or every other Friday. Which would you prefer? This also frees me up to work on other things.

Ahh, the big battle scene. I remember coming up with this aaaaages ago. Just as a warning, the next chapter gets a little... lemon-y. It's not graphic or anything, but, just so you know. Wow. Haven't written one of those in forever. Anyway, the plot is starting to tie together, I suppose. :) I still have to write the middle of the story, hah. Oh, the fic I talked about in the last chapter is posted, although now it's called Recovery as opposed to Recovered. And for all you people who read Ticking, once I flesh out the rest of the story, I'll be posting that one under the title of Misplaced Heartbeat. It's not going to be very long, but it will exist eventually.
Shibby-One