Cold As Ice

Author's Notes: See my profile for review responses and an update on my stories to come. I'm now on two C2s (I still need to know what that stands for), 19 favorite stories, 7 favorite authors, 4 author alertsand 27 story alerts, and at this point 78 reviews. You guys rock my world so much! Ah, Ultimate Enemy gave me so much to use. The movie was grand, way better than even Reign Storm, I cannot wait for the new episodes to follow it! I see a bright prosperous future for the show. BK toys and Cap'n Crunch endorsements mean money for Nick and we all know how much Nick loves money... so much. mounrns loss of good Nick shows

Blanketing the Heart

"This is the Channel Five newsroom, informing you live on current events." The TV screen showed a red-haired woman in her early thirties who looked like she always already going through her midlife crisis. "It's been five days since the first disappearance of Rachel Kline. Since then, three others have gone missing, two of which were lost just last night. Early this morning, search teams returned with both Kline and classmate Paul Tollison. The fourteen year olds were sent by helicopter to Providence hospital. Our information tells us that it is possible that Kline has a severe case of either pneumonia or hypothermia, and that she is being given immediate care. Their families are being taken to the hospital shortly.

"Samantha Manson and Danny Fenton are both still missing in the mountains, and it seems that the supposed link between the four children is invalid. Samantha is the heiress to the toothpick cellophane wrapping machine fortune. The Manson family has funded more search teams to scan a wider radius of the area, though they were both unavailable for comment. All search squadrons have been reprioritized on finding Manson and Fenton.

"The Fentons, infamous ghost-hunters from Amity Park, have been on the search teams since before their son's disappearance. They had responded to the legend of the Avalanche Specter, but since Kline and Tollison were found, rumors of a ghost kidnapping are growing less popular. However, new theories about the true Avalanche's victims are rising."

"I remember seeing the two of them around a lot, so I take it they were good friends," said an employee from the resort. "Samantha seemed to be with this other guy, though. I'm still keen on the fact that the Specter's back and that these two are the real victims, bless them."

"I swear, if I hear one more stupid story about this ghost," hissed a woman in a ski jacket. "No, I don't doubt ghosts are real. I live nearby Amity Park, so may lightening strike me down if I don't believe in ghosts. It's just that the whole Avalanche Specter thing is an old folk legend used to intrigue tourists and now everyone believes in it. Show me proof that there's a ghost involved and I'll believe you, but without it, we have to keep a rational mind about these kids in danger."

"All possibilities of reason to these missing cases are being taken into consideration, according to officials," said the reporter. "It is quite well-known that Newhart, who has commanded search teams here before, is the most outspoken to the ghost theory. As new information comes, the Channel 5 newsroom will keep you posted."

From her bed on the bottom bunk, Jazz sighed loudly and turned the small TV off. Pretty much as soon as she had unpacked all of her clothes, books, and other possessions into her new dorm room in the northern part of the state, her parents had called. At first she thought it was all going to be about her dad wondering if she'd seen any ghostly activity. Finding out Danny was missing wasn't what she'd expected.

Of course she had a good idea of what was going on. If the words Danny and ghost were ever in the same topic, there wasn't much else that could be happening. Duh.Since she wasn't able to just call Danny and ask him about it this time around,she had donethe one thingshe could do best: research.The fact that Sam was the other missing person made sense, though. It didn't relieve her of her stress one bit, if it hadn't totally skyrocketed.

"Hey," said her roommate Nicolefrom the bunk above her. She dropped her head over the side of her bed and stared at Jazz with interest. "Did that lady say something about Fentons? Isn't that your family?"

"Yes," she said, biting her lip and laying back on her pillow.

"So that's your brother that's missing? Oh, man, Jazmine, you must be so worried!" she replied, her voice dripping with forced sympathy.

"Yeah," she answered again. "He's always getting himself in and out of trouble though… I'm sure he'll make it through." Her voice sounded optimistic, but that was all of her that did.

Just don't loose your head, Danny, she silently willed him.

Danny opened his eyes into the shiningthe light and smiled. This scene was familiar. The bright sun reflecting off of the smooth, untouched blankets of snow was a sign of salvation to him at this point. All of this was seen past the face of the one thing that had made him smiled widest. Sam hovered over his body, her hair falling into his face.Her eyes were so close to his... all he had to do was inch up a little bit and…

"Oh my God, Danny, you're awake!"she cried. She leaned forward pass his face and grasped him around the neck for deal life.She sounded like she wasready to sibon his shoulder. "We have to get out of here. You've been unconscious for so long, Danny. Ash stunned you with a ghost ray and carried us both to a mountainside even further from the resort. He's insane, he's not going to stop for anything!"

Definitely not the response he was expecting,and her words caused his head to spin. Wasn't... wasn't this the dream?

Oh, wait. Yeah. Crap.

"Don't worry, Sam, I've got him," he reassured her, once he had his head back in the game. He took his hands from his neck. "I'm going ghost."

He waited for the familiar feeling of his ghost self overlapping his human body, but nothing happened. He looked at Sam worriedly as she diverted her eyes to his wrists. He followed her gaze and saw two metallic cuffs on both hands, glowing green. "No," he said disbelieving, dropping his head in his hands. Stuck in the middle of nowhere, no ghost powers, and a ghost totally bent on destroying him and Sam.

Sam took him by the hand and looked at the cuff on his wrist. After Ash had stunned Danny into unconsciousness, he had summoned the Box Ghost back from where he'd blasted him off to in anger to place them on Danny. They looked makeshift, but they did the trick to keep Danny from transforming. "The thing Ash had been working on in the cavewas preparing for you. The whole time we were with him, he knew you were Danny Phantom. I think he got it all out of the Box Ghost."

"Did he hurt you?" Danny asked. She shook her head slowly, looking at the ground between them. Something was obviously wrong with her. Her voice was low and her movements were mechanical. "What is it? Sam, what's wrong?"

"What isn't wrong?" she asked, laying his hand on the ground. "I fell for Ash's trap, you can't go ghost, and I've spent the last day or so with an obsessive compulsivelovesick ghost. It's like he has split personality disorder or something. Sometimes he's all nice and caring, others he's bitter and closed up, and then he can change right from worrying about me to yelling at me and wishing death on me…" she stopped there, feeling the words begin to just spill from her mouth. Looking up for Danny's reaction she saw his eyes glowering with anger.

"He is going to pay for this," he said defiantly, "one way or another."

"Danny, what can you do?" Sam sighed. "You're powerless. We have to get out of some other way, but how?"

Danny looked away from her and out toward their surroundings. He seemed to be deep in thought. "Where'd he go?"

"I don't know. He just flew back in the direction we came."

"Do you know wherethe thermos is?"

"I don't know," she repeated. "You dropped it when he hit you… are you okay, Danny? He hit you hard, way harder than he hit me-"

"I thought you said he didn't hurt you!" Danny exclaimed, looking back to Sam. Jeez, the girl was telling him the facts but none of the important stuff. He had to ask her everything. "So, what, the thermos is at the cave?"

Sam nodded. "I guess…."

Danny sighed and rubbed his forehead. Sam usually wasn't this depressed... well, okay, maybe she was just a little, but in a different way. The way she talked and moved worried him. Was it because she thought they weredefinitely going to do? The chances of that were very high, but she never gave up like that.

Why she was acting this way wasn't important. If he wanted to get them off that giant rock, he had to think straight. Of course... Sam was smart. She had been kidnapped by the Specter which was the biggest clue that Danny did like her a lot he could think of without him wearing a sign. If she was thinking about that, and even if she wasn't, now was as good of a time as any to tell her. He took a deep breath and with all of his sixteen year old boy strength said, "Sam, I have to tell you that-"

Sam tapped him on the shoulder and pointed at the sky. "Danny, he's coming back," she yelped. "Danny!"

A figure that was unmistakably the Specter hoveringin the air was growing closer quickly. He stood up and moved in front of Sam, holding his fists up. Yeah, like he could do anything in this body! Ash came closer to them, and Danny saw his ghost form for the first time. It looked so similar to his human form except his skin and his eyes.

"Oh, so the baby's woken up from his nap," mocked the Specter, setting down on the ground before him. Danny clenched his teeth and Sam stared at him blankly. "By now I'm sure you realize that your powers are useless. As though a ghost like me couldn't pick you out easily. How could you not think I knew?" You have no choice but to sit and wait for your deaths. But first, why don't we have a little chat?"

"Mind if I pass?" Danny asked. In a suddenrush ofanger he ran forward and swung his fistat Ash's face, but his hand slipped right through. His momentum carried him forward through his bodyand he landed on his chest. Snow caked his face as he sat up and muttered, "Okay, having my powers would be much better than this."

The Spectershook his head and smiled. "I'm sure you want to take out all of that anger and jealousy you've been put through for the last few days. I must say that I'm quite sorry, Danny." He smirked smugly. "I know how you must feel."

"Spare me the bonding, please," retorted Danny, wiping the remainder of snow from his face. "Too bad you don't even want a fair fight, though, isn't it?"

"For you, perhaps," he said. "Yet you still don't even understand…" Ash turned and pointed a finger at Sam. She screamed as he sent a shot at the snow beside her. "I hold all the cards, so you might want to shut up and listen to what I have to say before you get all heroic on me."

This caught Danny's attention like nothing else could. He gave one last glare to him before returning to Sam's side. A spot where the snow had once been was now reduced to a steaming puddle. He placed a hand on her back, as she was hunched over in a reflex.

"You act as if she cared for you as you do," Ash commented from behind them. Danny shot another look at him, aiming all the childish dislike and his present contempt to him. Looking back to Sam, he found her head turned backtowards them, and their eyes met. It was as if she was silently telling him to keep his cool. He couldn't help but feel likehe had already spilled the beans about how he felt, what with how he kept talking about it without Sam flinching.

"She does," he finally said, still looking at her. "Not as much as I do, but she definitely cares."

Even though she had known, hearing it from Danny made it all the more clearand bright to her.It seemed to both wrap her in guilt and happiness at once. Mostly guilt. She bit her lip to keep herself from saying anything that would sidetrack him.

"It's funny," said the Specter, "that you still feel that way. Wasn't it her who ignored you and went to someone else, totally unaware of you?"

"Isn't that mostly your fault, anyway?" Danny retorted. He looked back to Sam. Her eyes were downcast now, and he really needed to her be looking at him.

"Just how much pain have you endured over the last few days?"Avalanche taunted, hovering just over his head. "You are right, though; it is partially because of me. But she told me herself that she would have willingly stayed with me if I hadn't kidnapped her. How does that make you feel?"

"What?" Danny asked, thrown off. She still liked Ash, after knowing what he was, after knowing what Danny felt about it? What was that about?

"Don't pay attention to him, Danny!" Sam urged, grabbing his arm.

He nodded and, ignoring the new information for now, took the opportunity. He winked at her and moved his wrist slightly. At first sheseemed puzzled, butit came to her. They both looked back up at the Specter.

"Sam, if he had been paying attention at all he would notice all the times that I was near him and he didn't even sense me," said Ash, lounging back on the air above the two humans.

"Why, then?" asked Danny, remembering his own question. "Why the hell didn't I ever sense you?"

The Avalanche Specterturned over and looked straight down at him, his red eyes boring into his blue. "Haven't you ever been around a ghost that hasn't set off your sense? Some of us ghosts have that rare ability where, apparently, we're near enough human to pass as them sometimes."

Now that Danny thought about it, he remembered some ghosts that escaped from his ghost sense. Spectra, Johnny 13, Kitty, all three he'd been in close contact with at certain times and he hadn't even known they were there. Well, now it seemed obvious.

"Whenever you did sense me," he continued, "like, for example, the first time I met her in the gas station." His villainous air faltered as he glanced at Sam and smiled. "I kept the Box Ghost near to divert your attention, leaving me to get to know her better."

Sam grit her teeth together, tightening her grip on Danny's arm. "Screw you," she hissed.

Avalanche shook his head sadly, turning back to Danny. "It is only fitting, don't you think," he said with a conversational tone, "that since you've already felt such pain, that she not feel it as well in your death? She's killed you, I know this has hurt you,so she dies as well. You die together, if you cannot live together. You're hearts will be blanketed by the cold!"

"You know," Sam interrupted, glaring into Ash's eyes,"you've been with the Box Ghost a little too long. You're getting awfully repetitive."

With that she reached for a rock that lay next to her, held Danny's hand down to the ground, and in one swift motion smashed the device around his wrist to pieces. She destroyed the other as well, and with a quick smile from Danny, he stood up and looked Ash in the eye.

"Boo."

"What!"Ash cried, staring down at the smashed ghost-deflecting cuffs in Sam's hands.

"Here's some advice," said Danny. "Don't trust the Box Ghost to get you decent equipment."

The anger that ran through Avalache's ectoplasm veins flashed across his eyes as the red glowed brighter than ever. Roaring, he clenched his fists and aimed both at Danny, flying straight toward him. His glowing fists made contact with Danny's chest, pushing him back as Ash continued to fly forward. The impact blew the wind out of him, but he recovered quickly. He grabbed Ash around the elbows and lifted his legs. He kicked Ash's chest and back flipped in the air, pushing him off of him.

Danny adjusted himself in the air just as Ash returned. Red ghost rays came toward him. Hastily he made a ghost shield around him, and the rays were deflected and instead hit the snow below them. The power from the rays, though, sent him backwards and the shield faded too easily.

"Well, you are good, aren't you?" the Specter commented, crossing his arms. "It is difficult to get much of an image from the Box Ghost. Not good enough, though." With both hands, Avalanche created one ghost ray, powerful and fast, shaped like a red icicle.

Before Danny could react, it grazed over his shoulder. He cried out and grabbed the wound leaking ectoplasm. Only a flesh wound, but he figured the fact that it was glowing red and something to do with the pain. From somewhere behind him, he could hear Sam's faint voice, but she was so far away he couldn't make out any of her words. He couldn't think about what she was saying now, though. He had to focus on the Specter.

He had to think of something. Could he use his ghostly wail? Maybe, but only as a last resort, since it usually drained a good amount of his energy. The best he could think of was duplicating himself, so he closed his eyes and tried to make his double as fast as possible. Opening his eyes he saw the double, but gasped in surprise when he saw a triple as well.

"Awesome!" he laughed. Him and his two clones flew toward the Specter, the clones aiming ghost rays at him and Danny jabbing his face. The siege continued, Avalanche working more on his offense than before, seemingly weakening. That was,until he yelled in frustration. Reaching out both arms and pointing them to the ground, his hands glowed blue. This sudden change in colorcausedDanny and his clones.to pause and watch as the snow below them rose into the air and compacted, forming three gigantic snowballs.

"Oh... you can control snow," commented Danny. "That figures."

Ash grinned and the three snowballs flew toward the different Dannys. Danny shielded himself with his arms and went intangible, but his duplicates were both wiped out by the snow.

"Even your fancy tricks aren't enough to beat me," Ash sneered. "You can't defeat me. You and your precious Sam will never be found!"

"Look, reality check," replied Danny. "I've been up against way more powerful ghosts than you, and I've beaten them all. When I was fourteen! So you don't necessarily scare me." That was a lie. At least the fact that he wasn't scared was. Not by him, but by what he said he would do. No way was he letting that happen to them.

"Oh,"Avalanche said casually, shooting an unprepared Danny with a ghost ray. He cringed in pain."Are you so certain that you're not scared?" He smirked and looked tohis rightside towards where they had been earlier. Danny followed his gaze and gasped.

The Box Ghost had Sam by her wrists and was pulling her through the air to the treeline. Pinning her against the trunk, he took out what seemed to be handcuffs and pushed them into the tree aroun her wrists and ankles. She fought against them but they wouldn't budge, and she screamed. It was so faint he could hardly hear her.

"Sam!"

Author's Note: Ugh... I should've read like 6 chapters in my book, but I was so itching to write this chapter. Alas, another cliffhangar. Please don't kill/maim/hide in thelaundromatany ferrets (if you're an Eclipse of the Skyfan, you get the joke). Well, I need to read as much as I possibly can of the last hundred and fifty pages of A Tale of Two Cities now, so adeiu... and please give me feedback on how it's going!

Saramis Kismet