Taking Over Me

Summary: With Sam gone, Danny has enough to deal with. At the same time he runs into the first ghost he can't beat, and that's Danny Phantom.

Rating: PG-13 for mature themes and language.

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom, Butch Hartman does. I do not own Taking Over Me, Evanescence does.

Chapter Twenty-four

I have to be with you.

Sam froze. Her breath caught in her throat. This wasn't happening. Any moment now she would awake screaming all alone. She looked to her side to see a white gloved hand with dark red stains on them clamped onto her trembling hands. She wished she could make it go away. "Hello, Blake. Hi, Ryan," he cooed with a sickeningly false sound to his voice. Both boys stared wide eyed from the door at the figure with crimson eyes and white hair holding there sister hostage.

"Leave them out of this!" Sam screamed. She twisted her back, throwing her weight away from him. Bloodstained fingers dug into her flesh. Tears began to form at the edges of her eyes. "You aren't Danny," she hissed.

Crimson eyes regarded her. His eyes held the appearance as if he could see right through her. A shiver crawled up her spine at the look. "Who am I then?" His voice held an almost taunting edge.

Sam stopped pulling for a moment. "I don't know," she spit out. "But you're not Danny."

She yanked again, but suddenly he let go. Sam fell forward, barely getting her arms out in time to break the fall. Her hand hit a damp, sticky patch of carpet that she knew instantly was blood. She shoved herself to her feet. She turned to face him, not entirely sure where to go from here.

Crimson eyes looked her over and it was all Sam could do not to take a step backwards. "Tell you what," the phantom drawled. His gaze traveled to the doorway where the two young children were standing. "You boys like games, don't you?" Ryan's arm around Blake's shoulder visibly tightened. "Sam and I used to like games, too. So for old-time's sake, we'll play one last one." A demonic grin seeped slowly across his face. "It's called hide and go seek. It's really easy. You run for your lives and I give you till sunset."

Sam bit her lip which she knew was quivering slightly. "What makes you think we're going to play into your hands?" What happened to him? The Danny she knew would never have done this. He would have died before he hurt her. She knew that. It hurt her to think that he could possibly do this to her.

"Because I've known you since kindergarten. Better than you know yourself. You hate seeing things hurt on your account. That's why you became a vegetarian."

She shook her head. "You obviously don't know me," she hissed. "Cause if you were the Danny I knew since I was little, you wouldn't be doing this."

Something flared in his eyes for a split second and then it was gone replaced by a look that just oozed hatred. "You're not the Sam I remember either. The Sam I remember cared about me flaws and all. She wouldn't have just left me."

"I didn't leave you! I got sent away!" Sam swallowed her throat tightening as the feelings of being ripped away from everything she'd ever known resurfaced. "I died that day."

Garnet eyes met amethyst. "Maybe it would have been better for both of us if I'd let you."

Everything inside Sam went numb. She drew back, her steps shaky. She shook her head. He wanted her dead! He actually wished he hadn't saved her. In that instant, she knew that it wasn't her Danny. Her best friend since kindergarten was dead. There was no way he could have looked her in the eye and told her that she was nothing to him. Sam turned on her heal and darted to the door grabbing both boys and shoving them backwards. She slammed the door behind her, her mind whispering to her that it wouldn't do her much good. Danny, no it, could just faze through the door.

She grabbed both the boys by the shoulder and took off as fast as she could go, which wasn't easy considering the snow covering the ground and the fact that she was getting a little to far along to be running for extended periods. She pulled Ryan and Blake's small gloved hands into hers. In that moment, an eerily cold voice echoed through her mind, "Till sunset."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sam shuddered slowing to a brisk walk. She had no idea where she was going. She didn't know the town that well since she didn't go out much. She couldn't go to the library. For one, it was way too obvious. For another, she was risking other people's lives. She couldn't bring herself to do that. It was bad enough that Blake and Ryan had been dragged into this. It should have been just between her and Danny. Actually, it shouldn't be happening at all. It was all horribly wrong. She wanted to wake up back in her bed and be a freshman again. She wanted to have nothing bigger to worry about than Danny's secret and her changing feelings towards her best friend.

She didn't want to be a mom. She didn't want to be the only person left in the world that Blake and Ryan could look up to. Sam shuddered as that thought crossed her mind. What if Tammy and Everett were already dead. What would become of Blake and Ryan. She couldn't take them back to Amity Park with her. The county would probably take custody of them. They'd probably be put in foster families and split up.

She glanced down to Ryan, who was staring off into thin air, a pensive look on his face. Sam's throat closed. Her gazed dropped to there joined hands, her fingers were turning a pinkish red from the cold. She thought about putting her hands in her pockets, but she couldn't bring herself to let go of the boys' hands. At the moment they were her only tedious lifeline to sanity. Sam glanced up. It was only slightly after four-thirty but the sun was already getting low. How could it get dark so early this time of year? She pulled the boys hands. "Come on guys. We've got to hide." Strangely both still remained quiet.

Sam flashed the child on either side of her a reassuring smile and gave there hands a slight tug and pulled them towards a gateway labeled Dimsdale Municipal Cemetery.

Hey. We're finally up to the point of prologue. So if you want to hop back and re-read it, it probably wouldn't hurt. But yeah. Hurray for all my reviewers: pinkXfairie x2, YAY!!! X6, Lady-Ashanya, RainbowSerenity x6, The Fuzy Llama, Dragonslayer257, Airie x2, lonesome K, the good girl, Kagome51, WormmonABC x2, Cooperstar and Blink x2, Ryo's Destiny x2, Wind Cat, Spice of Life, Mr. Delmont, Chicken Person, autumngold, q.t a.k.a spice, Hwoarangsguardie, Sakura Scout, getfuzzyfan04, cheerin4danny, Medisti, none, Danielle Phantom, MayB, Chibi Millenia Phantom, Samster the Hamster, and Mrs. Ganger-Weasley. This will be finished before "13" comes out.

Huge kudos to RainbowSerenity for being reviewer 600! I love you RS!