Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or history.

Immediately Danny reached for his fallen Henry rifle, only to find it no longer on the ground. His mind screamed for answers, demanding he find his fallen rifle, but he was forced to ignore them and reach for his Springfield instead. It didn't really matter considering his life was on the line. He could always find it later. That is, if he made it out alive.

More shouting was coming from the distance, masked by the treeline. This time there were more voices and were a lot louder than before. No doubt they were quickly closing in on him.

He needed to act! He needed to get up! He just needed to live! The mercenary got in the most comfortable position he could while still laying on the ground and aimed his rifle at the approaching noises. His rifle should have one good shot in it. He could at least take someone down with him!

A part of his mind objected to the very thought though. This wasn't a plan to live; it was a plan for one who already accepted death. Danny tightly gripped his rifle and looked down for a split second before regaining his focus.

That's when the first man appeared.

The man came running out of the nearby trees, shouting a terrible yell that made even Danny tremble. The man charged straight for Danny but was quickly put down with a bullet through the chest. The mercenary's one and only bullet.

The mercenary spared one look back at the gleaming rifle within the bushes behind him to see it not move at all. On closer inspection he noticed the bright bronze on the rifle, something distinct on Henry rifles. Did the person in the bushes take his rifle? He had no time to decide as more screaming came from behind the treeline.

Two more people ran through the trees, yelling at the top of their lungs. Danny gave a slight curse and tossed his now useless rifle away and instead drew the pistol he kept on the back of his belt.

Quickly aiming his pistol as best he could, he was about to take his shot when two simultaneous bangs sounded from the bush behind him. Immediately the two soldiers fell to the ground dead. The mercenary didn't bother looking behind him to know what happened. He already could tell that the person in the bush finally fired their weapon and probably saved his life. Of course the two shots also confirmed his theory that the person was using his Henry rifle as no standard issue rifle could fire more than one shot at a time.

Murmuring came from the trees surrounding him. This lasted for a good minute before three more shots rang out from the bush. After that he could only hear the sound of running and galloping start up and get quieter and quieter as they got farther away.

"I think they're leaving," he said to the person still hiding in the bush. "It's safe to come out now." Danny didn't try to make it obvious, but his right hand slowly went to one of the knives on his belt in case the person turned their rifle on him.

Dead silence met his ears until eventually the bushes began to rustle and a figure stood up. Sadly, it was too dark to get a good look at them. The bushes surrounding them didn't make it any easier either. "Are you sure it's safe to lower our guards, captain?" came an oddly deep, yet familiarly female voice..

"Uh," Danny said, rubbing his neck as he tried to remember where he recognized the voice; the recent skirmish making it hard for him to think properly. "I think we're safe. They must have run off after they watched some of their friends get killed. By the way, thanks for saving my life."

"Don't worry 'bout that, sir...Danny,"

Finally the gears inside Danny's head started churning and a wave of realization hit him. "S-Sam?" he all but shouted out. "What the Hell are you doing here? What happened to the people you were supposed to be guiding?"

Sam shifted in place. "They made it to the camp. We're actually really close to it right now. I just tossed the escaped slaves off to some of the night watch and came running for you once I realized you still hadn't come back. I didn't think you were about to be killed though!"

Danny looked down at the dead bodies littering the nearby ground. "Yeah, trouble likes to follow me. This isn't the first time that I almost died; it probably won't be the last either."

Sam's hand went straight to what Danny thought was her forehead while she slowly shook her head. "Seriously, sir, shouldn't you be more careful? Why'd you start lone wolfing it when you have a team? If I hadn't shown up when I did, you could've very well died here."

The mercenary was going to defend his actions, but realized how futile it would be. Now that he thought about it, his argument didn't even make too much sense to him. He stayed behind to take out the cavalryman that was quickly catching up to them, but there was no reason that he had to do it by himself. Valor or Johnny would've surely stayed with him if he only told them to. So why didn't he? "I don't work well with groups." he answered to both appease Sam and his mind. Both of which it failed miserably at.

An exasperated sigh escaped Sam. "You can't keep doing that, Danny! Give up on your stupid lone wolf attitude already!"

More silence.

"Well," she continued, "We should at least do something about these bodies." Sam moved to grab the nearest body but was stopped by Danny.

"Don't. We don't have the time to bury them. Our pursuers may have left, but they'll be back with even more numbers soon. We can't have them come back here and we can't lead them back to the forefront of our camp, so we have to leave now."

Sam hated the idea. It went against everything she ever believed in. Wasn't life supposed to be more sacred than just having dead bodies strewn across the floor. What ever happened to respecting the dead?. Still, she needed to be a team player, even if Danny wasn't going to do the same. Also he did have a point. There was no point possibly adding more people to the dead. This didn't mean she didn't know how unfair and stubborn he was being. Of course she had to follow Danny and his lead but not vice versa. Granted, he was a captain, but shouldn't she at least get a say? "You sound like my father," she grumbled out.

Danny started walking past the clearing, fully expecting Sam to follow him. "What do you mean?" he asked. "I don't sound like him."

"Well you're just as cold as he is. Neither of you like to show your emotions. You both also like to walk that nebulous gray area between being good and bad."

This caused him to pause mid-step only to hide the fact by quickening his step. "Huh? What does your father do that's so bad? When I talked to him he didn't seem to be that bad. Maybe a little protective I guess, but nothing that would be considered bad."

Sam looked downcast at the ground. "You obviously haven't seen how my father truly acts. It makes sense since he owns one of the biggest plantations in the state of Kentucky. He has an image to maintain. What he's like in the public eye and in closed doors can be very different. I've seen him in action. He's cold, cunning, and ruthless. You know how the Confederates invaded Kentucky a few years back? My father supported them and even gave them food and money just because he knew they'd pay him back tenfold in their economic policy if they won."

"By economic policy you mean..."

"Slaver labor."

"Hmm," Danny began to rub his chin. "I wonder why he decided to hide that from me."

Raising a eyebrow, Sam could only point at Danny's uniform. "Right, because you really look like you don't hate the southern cause right now."

"You know," he said after a short pause. "Since I rejoined this stupid army I can only think of us talking about the war or your father."

"Well we are fighting a war and you are here because of my father," she replied.

This only caused the mercenary to shake his head. "No, no, no. We may be soldiers, but why does that mean we can't act like people? I can't remember one time you have actually talked about yourself without mentioning your father, nor me and war."

Sam gave him a weird look. "You know you're still talking about it, right?"

"Yes," he said, letting out a groan.

A couple seconds of awkward silence followed before Sam spoke up once more. "What's up with you? Why are you acting so strangely?"

"It's just," he tried to find a proper wording. "I think I've been doing this for too long. I almost died back there, and yet was too high on adrenaline to really regret any of my decision. I wasn't able to think properly. I know I'm a soldier of fortune, but that's not all I am, is it? Everyone has something else to them. Why do I feel so empty then?" Danny began to rub his temples as a small headache formed.

Sound tried to escape Sam's mouth to no avail. She knew he needed help; that was quite obvious. How was she supposed to help him though? She barely even touched the surface of what he experienced as a soldier, and she knew it was these experiences that troubled him so much. Was she happy that she wasn't him, didn't experience what he went through? There was one experience they shared. "I just killed people," she stated.

It was Danny's turn to give her a questioning look before a wave of understanding hit him.

"I just killed people, yet I'm not as sad as I should be. Am I growing...numb to this?" Sam looked down at the rifle she was carrying, now terrified to even hold it.

Danny sighed. "I was afraid this might happen. Growing indifferent to death isn't unusual. It's actually fairly normal. That rate this happens changes from person to person. Some people," he glanced at Sam, "will grow numb rapidly."

"What about you?" she asked.

The camp came into view as a few soldiers rushed over to them. "I'm more than just a soldier." he answered before he walked past the two soldiers.

Sam watched him walked away and then looked down at her rifle. Well what did he mean by that? What if I don't want to grow numb to death?

Yeah, I know it's been a while. Sorry about that. I also realize that this isn't a long chapter either. I've been really busy lately and also had to deal with some writer's block. This was just to break through the writer's block and now I should be able to write a lot easier...hopefully. If you have anything to say, please leave a review!

Reviews:

fuk u: Because the horse was the enemy of humanity! It did not deserve to live!

Bluerider: Funny. I was actually going to use someone else as the shooter but decided that Sam would make a better choice.