Cold As Ice

Author's Note: Yes. Ash is evil. I wrote it in big red glossy letters, and I'm sure you all feel quite pleased and yet apparantly seething with hatred. I'd like to see how many of you change that opinion over time... and that's all I'll say on the matter. I recently saw Maternal Instincts. They pretty much showcase everything Danny can do in the beginning, so now I almost feel like Danny's powers should be more evolved... like the duplicate thing. So they will be... soon. Thanks for all of your reviews, I did my best to get this out ASAP!

This chapter holds many of the things you've been waiting for as well as some things you may have not expected...

Understanding

Danny and Tucker stood beneath a tree, shaded from the little light left in the sky. Tuckerleaned against a rock, relaxingwhile staring at the few stars that were beginning to appear. Ten feet away, Danny stood with the walkie-talkie in his hand, staring at it in frustration.

"Sam!" he yelled into the device. "Pick up already. Where are you? We told you to keep this with you." He released his hold on the button and waited for a reply. After a few seconds he threw it into the air and aimed a glowing hand at it, destroying it with one blast.

Tucker sighed and glanced at his wristwatch. It was almost eight o' clock. They'd been trying to contact Sam for a few minutes now to tell her that they were on their way back. It had been a few hours since they last spoke to her, though. Personally, Tucker wanted to just go ahead and get out of the bitter cold.

He saw a pair of legs appear in front of his face. He looked up to see Danny's tired face. "Can I see your walkie-talkie?"

"If you promise to behave with it," he warned, reaching into his pocket and holding it up to him. Danny walked away again, repeating her name into the speaker. They could always just fly back. Sam didn't need to know they were coming, did she? The boy was just fitting too well into the unrequited lover role.

"I don't get it," Danny finally said, tossing the walkie-talkie back to Tucker. "Why won't she answer?"

"Maybe she's busy. Ash was with her," Tucker said. He regreted the words the moment he said them as Danny's face contorted in annoyance. "Sorry."

Danny sighed and looked up at the sky, much as Tucker had been. "Let's just go back. We didn't find any sign of either of them today, and the Box Ghost actually grew some brains and didn't show up nearby."

"Good plan," he agreed, grabbing Danny's wrist as he felt the ghost energy surge through him, becoming intangible and weightless.

It took only a few short minutes for the two to reach the resort. They landed on the balcony to their suite and Tucker cracked the door open a bit, peeking inside. "Hmm," he whispered. "No one's inside." Danny transformed and walked in behind Tucker to an unwelcome scene.

"What happened here?" he cried, looking around the empty room. The chairs at the table had fallen over, the laptop was on its side on the floor, and the walkie-talkie was lying a few feet away from the table.

Behind him, Tucker was spazzing out, picking up his fallen computer. "My baby! Are you broken? Are you dented? Dirty? In any kind of pain?" He held it up to the light. The screensaver was on, which meant it wasn't badly broken.

"Forget about the stupid computer," Danny growled. "Where's Sam? Where's Ash? What the heck went on here!"

Tucker shrugged and set the laptop on the table. "Maybe the answers on here."

Danny sighed in frustration. "Look, Tuck, whatever happened isn't going to be on some file on your computer. Let's go downstairs and see if..." He paused when he saw the shocked expression on Tucker's face. "What? What is it?" He walked next to Tucker to look at the screen.It was some newspaper's homepage, the obituary section."It's dead people, Tuck, why are you --"

"Oh my God, Danny, are you stupid?" Tucker yelled, hitting the back of his head. "Look at the article!" He double clicked one of the scans and a bigger image came up. Reading the words aloud, he said, "Ashton Highlander, born on May 14, 1967, presumed dead on August 4 along with Alice Tollison after a mysterious disappearance and avalanche in the mountains." Looking back at Danny, he exclaimed, "Look at the picture. It looks just like Ash. This is from 1982. We had it totally wrong, Danny. Ash is the Specter. And if he's the ghost... that means..."

Danny yelled in rage andslammed his hand on the desk. It went right through the wood, green smoke rising. He looked at his hands and saw they were glowing, and looked at the rest of him and saw that he'd unconsciously transformed. "I can't believe I'm so stupid!" he yelled. "If he's a ghost, why didn't I ever know? I cannot believe this!"

He clenched his fists and made to hit the table again, but Tucker grabbed his wrist as it was over his head and pulled it behind his back. "Shut up, Danny," he said in a strangely calm voice. "You can beat yourself up about this later. Right now, you need to get your head straight and think a little before running off to help the damsel in distress, got it?"

As much as Danny's instincts, adrenaline, and heart wanted to fly out the window right then and there, his brain somehow overpowered them all and he stayed put. "Why the hell didn't my ghost sense ever go off around him?" he asked. The question was baffling him."I mean, he looks human doesn't he? He acts human, he knows human things... what's the deal with that?"

"I don't know," said Tucker. He picked up a chair and sat in it, closing the window. The email Sam opened appeared on the screen. "But Ash being the Specter makes a little sense, you know."

Danny raised an eyebrow. "It does?"

"Yeah," continued Tucker, pounding on the keyboard and pulling up the article about the Avalanche Specter/Ash. "I mean, we were wondering why some random ghost would take on a human's task, right? Ash being the boy in the legend as well as the ghost is way more plausible." He used the mouse to highlight another section of the text. "A three year absence, two of them being the previous ones. The other year was never mentioned. Maybe Ash was in the Ghost Zone and finally, somehow got loose."

Something clickedin Danny's head. "My dad made his first Fenton Portal about twenty years ago in college, remember?" he said. "The same one that transformed Masters."

Tucker pressed his lips together and looked at the keyboard. "It also explains why he was flirting so much with Sam."

"Huh?" Danny raised his head and looked at Tucker with interest.

"All of the girls he kidnaps have some guy that really likes them," he explained, "and they chase after her. The girl doesn't seem to have a clue that they felt so strongly about them. I think he knew you liked Sam before even you did... but how?"

Danny hit his head against the back of Tucker's chair. Stupid, stupid, stupid Danny! Not only did he completely miss that Ash was a ghost, but now he'd fallen into the trap just like he was meant to. He had to go after Sam, there was no way he wasn't going to. When he did, Ash would kill them both...

Unless he put up a fight.

"He must have no idea who he's messing with," he muttered. Did Ash know he was half ghost? If he did know, then he wondered why Ash hadn't tried to strike him personally. If he was as powerful of a ghost as the legend said... then again, how powerful did a ghost need to be to cause some snow to fall?

Danny walked to his bag and rummaged through it, pulling out the Fentom Thermos. Slinging it over his shoulder, he turned to his friend. "Tucker," he said, "go downstairs and tell them that you can't find Sam or me. My parents should still be out searching somewhere, so you won't have to deal with them freaking out about it, but expect them to ask you a lot of questions. Shut your yap except "I don't know" or "I haven't seen them". If anyone asks about Ash, say you don't know about him either."

"No way, man!" Tucker exclaimed. "I know you're the love-struck hero in this story, but Sam's my best friend, too. I'm going with you."

"And do what?" Danny argued. "Tucker, you're not going anywhere unless I take you. And I'm not, so forget about it. Besides," he added, indicating the computer, "If you find out anything else usefel, you can tell me."

He looked like he still wanted to fight over it, but Tucker realized that the longer the fought, the more harm could be done. "Fine," he said. "Don't do anything stupid, Danny, okay?"

Danny laughed bitterly. "Since when did I do stupid things?"

"Don't even play."

Danny opened the glass door and walked outside. "Join a search party or something, if you absolutely have to do something," he said to Tucker. "Rachel and Paul are both out there somewhere." With that, he flew into the cold night as fast as he could to search for Sam.

The groundwas hard and warm, but her head lay on what he considered to be one of the softest pillows he'd ever felt. He'd taken it from her bed in the suite, just for her. Even though she had passed out, she looked peaceful and warm... she was always warm everytime she touched him. He bothyearned for and hated that warmth. He knew that it wasn't meant for him, that he wasn't the only one who longed for it.

She would be cold, soon... and so would the other one.Just like he was.

Until then, he wanted her to be as comfortable as possible. He'd found a small cave in one of the mountains, maybe three miles away from the resort. A green fire raged next to her unmoving body. He sat across from her, leaning against the wall. The firecaused shadows to dance over her beautiful face... the face that looked so much like her's...

She stirred. He head moved across the pillow quietly. Suddenly, she opened her eyes, staring into the fire. She gasped and sat up straight, her hair flying into her face. "Where am I?" she cried, looking around the cave. Her eyes landed on him, and her gaze turned from confused to disbelieving, and very quickly into one of anger.

"You!" she yelled, standing up and facing him, fists clenched. "What have you done? Where am I?" Her shoulders fell and she breathed heavily. Her face fell, returned to disbelief. "Why did you do this?"

Ash stood up from where he sat and walked to Sam. He took her wrist tightly in her hand and pulled it up between their face. She tried to squirm away defiantlybut he was much to strong for a normal human. He smiled maliciously and bore holes into her with his eyes. "Do not ask me that again," he whispered threateningly. "It is not the concern of a human. You could not understand."

"Like hell," she whispered back. "You're sick. You manipulated me. You lied to me. I know what you're going to do... you're going to kill me. So why not do it now?"

Ash let go of her arm and walked away silently. His steps looked unstable and forced. Sam didn't care. At that moment she was so filled with anger that whatever admiration she had once felt for Ash had vanished. The traitor... how could she be so stupid... he didn't care about her at all. He just wanted her dead.

She had given her first kiss to this creature... she felt forever violated by the thought.

Ash's back was to her. Looking out through the entrance to the cave, she saw that it was deep into the hours of night. It must be freezing out there, but she could at least try and make a break for it. She took her first steps with slow caution, making sure he wouldn't turn to see her. Finally she started sprinting, ready to leap into the trees when-

A stabbing pain erupted in her back and she fell forward, turning somersaults until she came to a halt. She gasped for breath, the wind knocked out of her by the blast.

Ash appeared in front of her, looking at her with a face only insanity could create. "DON'T MAKE ME DO THAT AGAIN!" he bellowed. "Don't make medo that toyou again! You will stay here damn it! Please..." The rage in his eyes faded away as an entirely different person surfaced. The initial tone of his voice now sounded likehe was near sobs. "Don't. Stay. Don't make me do that, please."

Sam stared at him, mouth agape in shock. Was he... sorry for doing that to her? His voice sounded alien... only then did she begin to take into account the situation she was in. Alone, captured by a ghost with every intent to kill her. That was her basic dilemma, but there was more.

She glanced back to Ash, who was sitting against the wall again, staring into the green flames he must have made with ectoplasm. She knew he was evil; why else would he do such things to so many people? But simply looking at him, he didn't seem much of a threat. He just looked like an anrgy, broken teenager.

Don't let your feelings get in your way, she told herself. He's a liar. Liar or not, though,she wanted answers to ease her confused mind.

She stood up from the ground, her back aching still but not as badly. Tentatively she walked back to the fire, sitting down and glaring at him. It took her a while to find how to word her demands. "You can at least tell me why it's me here and not some other random girl. Or maybe I am just a random girl," she added thoughtfully. "While we're at it, you can tell me if you even know where Rachel and Paul are."

Ash smirked, not taking his green eyes from the fire. Sam waited quietly as he continued smiling at the ghostly flames. "Humans," he finally scoffed. "Human women, I should say." He looked slowly to her, the bitter smirk plastered on. "No, I don't know where the two children are. Their disappearance was a lovely cover for me, though. Also, no, you aren't some random girl. If you were researching me," he spat, "then you should know better than that."

Sam curled her legs in front of her and wrapped her arms around her knees. She supposed that she did know better, but she wanted to hear from someone else's mouth before her own mind would even think the name.

"That friend of yours... Danny," he said, his smile widening. "It was obvious to me, even with prior knowledge, that he's smitten with you. He doesn't even know how much he cares for you himself. And if he didn't know such a thing, of course you wouldn't. You were, and still are, oblivious. At least he has confronted it." His smiled dropped and his tone changed drastically again. "You are here. I'm sure that soon he will follow. And you are a fool for never noticing, and never returning his feelings."

Sam's eyes were as wide as saucers. Great... so this was her fault. She bit her lip and crawled away from Ash to the other wall, where she curled up again and stared outside into the night. Ash was right. He would come for her. That's just who Danny was, and she expected nothing less of him. But if she could, she would tell him not to search for her. Her stupidity set the trap. His rescue would trigger it to capture them both.

"Danny," she whispered into the cool air. She buried her face between her legs and chest. "I'm sorry." Before she knew it tears escaped her eyes, tears she hadn't shed in so long. Despite herself she gasped loudly, signaling to the insane ghost with her that she was weak enough to cry.

An icy cold hand touched her bruised back, and she held her breath from the feeling... not the cold, but the knowledge of who it was. She wanted to curl away and hide from him in the shadows. She didn't need him to taunt her more. She hated him, he was just a ghost.

Instead of speaking, her knealt besides her and wrapped his arms around her. She shivered from the cold and the fear. What was he doing to her? He pressed his forehead against her shoulder and whispered, "I don't want to do it." His grip around her tightened. "I don't want to do it to you... but you have to learn. Just like the others. You don't know the pain like I have known. I killed her... I didn't mean to. But she didn't know." He turned his head and now hugged the baffled girl."She killed me first!" he cried."You're killing him! Don't you see? It has to be done until you learn your mistake..."

He let go of her slowly and looked looked into her eyes. "You look just like Alice," he said softly. "So beautiful... the same eyes." He used a finger to wipe a lingering tear from Sam's cheek. "I never met any except the two of you with such eyes."

Sam shut her amythest eyes tight, hating that he was talking to her like this. She was so confused now. His first words sounded nothing like the Ash she had known just hours ago. The way he spoke just then, though... it was as if he did care about her.He did, and she knew it. But Danny did, too, and that hurt her more than Ash's feelings for her did.

She was killing Danny, and he wasn't even there yet.

She looked up at Ash and stared into him with hatred. "How can you say that to me?" she said. "How can you talk as if you love me when you're going to kill me, too?"

He didn't answer. His face was hard again, and he stood up. "It is because of my love that I must show you your fault," he said, turning around. "Besides... I'm not meant for your warmth. He is."

"Why were you missing for two years," she asked quickly, wanting to change the subject. "People thought you were gone for good. Where did you go?"

Ash laughed again at her words. "It's a funny story, actually," he said, quite casually. "Some other ghost... I knew he was some villain, he had his hair in this evil slicked back style... somehow found me in the mountains and trapped me within a box. It's much like Danny's Fenton Thermos, only different I believe."

"How do you know about the thermos?" asked Sam.

"Did you think I didn't know about his powers, now?" he asked. He turned to her, and this time his eyes were red... why did they change colors so? "Well, let me finish. It turns out the box was sent to a mueseum in Amity Park. Lucky for me, that idiot opened it and let me escape. With a little pulling of his strings I had him to believe we were partners. He told me about the ghost-boy, everything he knew, in fact, including the two humans he was always with. You and Tucker. Well, et cetera, et cetera, here we are." He smiled. "No more talking now. I think you should be satisfied at this point, Sam." He walked into a shadow and emerged with a blanket. "Sleep if you wish. I won't hurt you yet."

That was reassuring, she thought bitterly. He handed the blanket to her and she took it reluctantly. Sleep wouldn't come, that was a given. If she did, she knew she'd have nightmares.

It was early morning. The sun had come over the horizon but was shadowed by the mountains that were to the east. Tucker had gotten very little sleep before his search party had to leave. As in possibly three hours. He'd been questioned and prodded for a very long time by authorities trying to find out where Danny and Sam had disappeared to.

Under the pressure, Tucker had been very nervous, but two years of ghost fighting (or assisting) had taught him a little about keeping cool. He was glad that Danny's mom wasn't the break down and cry type, rather the protect her cubs type. Especially if ghosts might be involved. And boy, were ghosts involved!

The late night chills were disappearing, favoring a less brisk wind and warmer sun. He got his own snowmobile, and had to restrain himself from jumping in childlike joy. This was serious.

If Rachel and Paul weren't the real victims of the Specter, had they really just ended up lost on their own? It was so coincidental... maybe they just wanted to mess with everyone and take advantage of the fear around the area. If that were the case, Tucker hoped he was among those who found them so he could slap them or something.

"I just hope Danny and Sam are okay," he whispered beneath the roar of the motor.

Author's Note: I needed a conclusion scene. I think I could've done better, butI wanted to catch everyone up on just what Tucker was doing. He's going to havehis own bit to tell soon.So, a little backstory on Ash. Ooh. I want to hear your thoughts on that. This is the fastest I've EVER written a fanfic ever. My others are 3 years in the making... and not even this far along! I suppose it's because junk's in my life lately, and I write when there's junk. I feel better afterwards, though . So I hope you enjoyed this piece!

XKismetX