Disclaimer: Danny Phantom is owned by Butch Hartman and you know the rest.

After Danny paid his respects to his fallen comrades, the commander of the fort invited Danny to dinner. Something about a warrior's honor couldn't let Danny walk away without a proper conversation. Danny reluctantly agreed even though he had to get to Georgia as soon as possible. Who was he to turn down the commander's generous offer?

It started off pretty well. Danny passed two badly dressed soldiers guarding the entrance to the dining room. He tilted his hat and walked through the doors. The commander sat in his chair sipping a glass of wine. Their was a chair directly opposite him which Danny guessed was for him. The commander stood up from his seat to walk over to Danny and shake his hand. "Ah, you made it. Please, have a seat. The chef is cooking a chicken just for us."

Danny gave the man his friendliest smile and sat in his seat. He could already tell that this man liked to act fancy. Whether he was or wasn't didn't matter. The commander unfolded the napkin next to his plate and set it on his lap. The two men stayed silent for a couple minutes as they waited for their food. The commander finally grew impatient with the chef and decided to start the conversation. "I don't remember ever catching your name. What was it again?"

Danny looked up from his plate which he has been staring at for quite some time. "Its Danny, sir"

The commander didn't take his eyes off Danny as he thought about something. "Danny. We don't get too many Danny's. Could be because it is so informal of a name."

The mercenary fiddled with his silverware. He didn't feel comfortable with being the topic of conversation. "I didn't think Daniel fit me, and I never 've liked the name Dan. It just carries this sense of dread."

The commander nodded his head as he watched one of his African American slaves enter the room. The slave respectfully bowed before turning to the commander. "The chef has had a small problem with cooking the food. It should take a little longer than expected."

Danny watched as the commander's face turned angry. He stood up from his seat and turned to Danny. "Excuse me for one moment. I have to get something straightened out."

The commander didn't wait for an answer before he stomped out of the room and followed the slave back to the kitchen. Danny sat at the table all alone. Now that the commander was gone, he could see more of the room. Right behind where the commander usually sits is another set of doors. Most likely there are two soldiers stationed out there too. Candles lined the outer area of the room. They let just enough light out to see the very fancy pattern on the wall. A red square outlined in gold with four green diamonds on each corner. On the ceiling sat a very crude candle chandelier. It definitely wasn't great looking, but that wasn't the point. The point was that he had one in the first place. The man was trying to show off his power to Danny. He didn't want to look weak in front of him. Did he do this to all his visitors or just Danny though?

Yelling of obscenities came from the door the commander just left. It was definitely in his voice too. Several sets of footsteps could be heard as they march right up to that noise and stopped. More yelling and a man started to scream for mercy as the footsteps got quieter and quieter until they could no longer be heard. The commander walked back I to the room with a big smile plastered on his face. "Sorry about that. The food shall be ready shortly."

Bang! A gunshot was fired a ways away, but Danny still heard it. He immediately jumped out of his seat and was about to run towards the noise when the commander calmly said, "Don't worry about that, it was probably nothing. Just a deserter most likely."

Danny could have sworn the smile on the commander's face grew. It was starting to creep him out.

The rest of the meal went relatively peacefully in silence. The chicken tasted great and Danny would have given his compliments to the cook, but he had a feeling the cook was no longer alive. "So," the commander said as he cut off another piece of the chicken. "You told me you were a Union soldier, but you haven't told me why you are so far down South. In a nation you used to fight against none the less. You couldn't have come just to pay your respects, right?" the commander stared at Danny, waiting for him to answer. He wasn't even bothering with his food anymore.

Danny was getting even more uncomfortable. Something didn't sit right with him. Whether it was the way this man stared at him, or the way he treated him. Danny knew something was up. "I also wanted to see the South. Find out what the war has done to its infrastructure." the commander nodded his head and they went back to eating their food in silence.

After the dinner, Danny grabbed his supplies, got on his horse, and traveled outside of the fort back to Charleston to sleep for the night. The commander watched him leave from his position overlooking the fort.

He knew something was up with Danny's story. The mercenary wasn't there to check on the South's infrastructure and he didn't seem like he was ending his journey. He had too much ammunition and money to head back up north. That meant that he was most likely heading further south to Georgia.

"Jason," the commander called to one of his guards. "Tell Johnson that a very important person is heading into Georgia. If I were to guess, he will try to enter Atlanta."

The guard bowed before running off to relay the message.

The commander continued to watch Danny until he could no longer be seen in the distance. The commander walked over to the table next to his favorite chair. He grabbed a cigar laying on the table, lit it, and put it in his mouth. One puff and he watched the smoke that came out. No matter what, smoke always looked the same. Whether it came from a rifle, a cigar, or a burning building. It was one of the constants in life. The guard walked back into the room and bowed. "Sir, the higher ups told us not to worry about the mercenary. He is on business with the Manson's."

A smirk came to the commander's face as he took out the cigar. "No bother then. He is a dead man walking. It's only a matter of time."

There you have it. The plot thickens. Was that worth waiting one chapter for Sam? Don't worry, she will appear soon. Please review!

Reviews:

Inviso-Al: I hope that was worth the wait of four days. That really wasn't that long of a wait actually. I still hope you liked it.

AJ: Remember when I told you I was forgetful? Well not getting a response had to do with my forgetfulness. I was planning on responding, but something got in my way and I forgot to actually say something before I uploaded the chapter. Whoops. I also realize that I was technically supposed to update Make a Wish today, but that chapter really doesn't want to write itself. I guess it has to do with I actually didn't know what I wanted to come from it and had to decide what was going to happen. It will come eventually though!