Chapter Nine: The Wall Begins to Crumble

For once, the cold, metal floor actually brought a bit of comfort and ease of pain for Sam. A few hours ago the two men, if anyone even considered them as such, came back again to try and take her by force. Of course, Sam still didn't let them win. One grabbed her arms and twisted a bit, but she kicked him hard in the shin and escaped his grasp. Unfortunately she didn't see the other guy right in front of her. He punched her hard in the left jaw and sent her to the ground. She had enough sense to roll away before the other one could pin her to the ground. After a few more hits from Sam- one of which she could have sworn had sprained one of the guy's gentiles- the two men retreated again.

They would be back. Desire would make them. And she'd be ready for them. One thing did confuse her beyond recognition. Why would Desire make the two men go through all the work? Why not just freeze her and get done with it? Humiliate her? Break her?

'Because he's a sick fuck,' she thought to herself and laid herself out on the floor after she heard the last of the locks click into place. The cold metal felt good on her jaw and she felt it almost numbing the thumping pain away.

She pulled her arms around herself in a desperate attempt to stay warm. She knew she was already sick from her exposure to the cold, and not to mention they only feed her once every other day. They did that to punish her for fighting. Apparently the other women didn't put up that much of a fight when they brought them in. They hunted the weak and defenseless. She was an exception. Desire's exception.

Her stomach growled from the lack of food. She was even tempted a few times to eat some of the meat still sitting on her plate. She shook her head and looked away. She wasn't going to go against her beliefs. She was going to fight the temptation, just like she was going to continue fighting them. Hunger was one thing she could overcome. It was physical and it had to do with the body, just like pain. She could numb it away. But she couldn't numb the pain in her mind or her heart.

Every so often the two men and Desire would play mind games with her. Desire had snuck into her room one day when she was asleep and must have peered into her dreams. In it, she was calling out to Danny to come and find her. He did, and they both went home and just stayed in bed. Just laying in one another's arms and forgot about the whole world around them. When Sam woke up, Danny mysteriously was outside of her door, telling her the exact same words from her dream. At first she believed them. Called out to him. Told him to take her away from this place. And then the laughing started. And she knew it was all a lie.

Desire would take on Danny's voice, or the voice of police, Jazz, or even her parents. Anyone that would have the remote chance of finding her and cared enough to bring her home. Most of the times she fell into believing it because she wanted to. She wanted to believe that she was only moments away from rescue. Moments away from home. The ones that hurt the most was Danny's voice. It sounded just like him.

Sam lifted her face from the metal and cringed from the numbness. It would keep away the pain, even if it was only temporary. She walked to the wall and leaned against one of the metal pieces, sniffing a bit from her running nose. She was going to get another sinus headache, but she didn't mind those as much as the swollen jaw.

Looking up, she found a small piece of glass in the ceiling. Probably a camera. She wondered why she had never seen it before now. If only she had a plasma beam to shoot at it like Danny… Danny… She did miss Danny and her temporary home in the Fenton household. She would do almost anything to get back to him.

It's been two weeks since she was kidnapped. There have been twelve attempts to take her by the two men. Each one she's had enough energy and ferocity to fight them off. At one point they actually got her into another room where they made her sit and watch as they tortured another young woman. Sam turned her head away, but couldn't block out the noise. She had to sit and listen to the horrible sound and smell the stench of rape. One of them came up to her after they were done and whispered to her.

'You're next…'

She spat in his face and they threw her back into her room.

As Sam floated back to the present she began to go over the kidnappers actions. They may in fact kill her one day if Desire lets them, but she didn't care as long as she knew they couldn't have her when she was alive. They may have her corpse, but at least her soul and being would be far from it. She would be floating through the clouds and sleeping with angel wings if God would let her in. She would feel no pain, she would have no fears and she would finally be safe for all eternity.

"But that would be giving up, wouldn't it?" Sam asked herself, "I can't die. Even if they never rape me, I still would be giving up if I die. I can't give up on Danny. I never have and I promised I never would. I never will."

"That's good to hear, Sam."

Sam closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The door muffled the voice, but it sounded just like him. His voice echoed through her head and her heart. The memory of his laughter and his smile burst through all the darkness. She wanted to believe more than anything that it was really him. He was really there. He was going to take her away from here and keep her safe.

"Stop playing, Desire. I'm not falling for it this time," Sam spat at the door and folded her knees into her chest and put her chin on top.

"Sam what are you talking about, it's me. It's Danny…" he sounded so hurt.

"Stop it," she said through her teeth, "You're not Danny."

"What are you talking about, Sam? What have they done to you?" was that concern for her? They couldn't fake that, could they? She quickly shook her head.

"You're not Danny!" she began to shout and felt some of her hot tears run down her cheeks. It hurt so much inside to be strong on the outside like this. To keep everything inside where nothing physical could touch. To make herself turn against everything else that was telling her to trust in the voice outside her door. She wanted him to be here for her so much. It hurt more than her jaw. It hurt more than anything.

"Leave me alone, dammit! You're not Danny! Stop it!" she screamed at the door, closing her eyes shut and hitting the metal floor with her fists, "Stop it!"

"Believe me," the voice pleaded with her.

"Then phase through the door," she mumbled. After a moment or two she took a deep breath as more tears ran down her cheeks, "You're not Danny."

"You're not Danny," a voice imitating her came through the door. It was one of the men. She was right. It was just another joke on her. Another game. This time, she didn't want to play.

"You're pathetic," the other one said, "He's not coming for you. If he cared, he would have come all ready."

The two men laughed and began to walk away. Desire's voice was muttering something at them. They laughed louder and kept walking down the hall. They thought it was great fun to torture and take advantage. It was going to be their down fall one day. Hopefully that one day will come soon enough.

Sam clenched her fists tighter and curled into her own ball. Her senses began to shut down as her little cage began to fall away and she curled deeper into her mind. Eventually, it reached a point where she could almost curl into her own world. A world where it was just her and her dreams. It was a place where she was warm and healthy. A place where Tucker was still alive and there was never any Desire. It was a perfect world in her own mind, inside her sanctuary. It was where she and Danny could do anything, be anything with no stupid ghosts interrupting or any preppy Paulina to poke and make fun. It was her call on any and all decisions. It was her world. It was her mind. It was her haven.

She opened her purple eyes to the dark, metal confinement once again. She would never have that world because Tucker wasn't coming back. Desire made sure of that. She wasn't warm and she was sick with some kind of flu. And Danny was still on the outside looking for her. She was sure he was still looking. He would find her. It was just a matter of time.

She was sure he would find her. There was no question in her mind that he wouldn't. The question that was plaguing her was much more sinister. He will find her, but will she still be alive when he did?

Danny stared at his reflection in bathroom mirror. He just got up only five minutes before hand, and still had to get the signal to his hand to pick up the right kind of brush for his teeth. He's been having nightmares every night for a week. Most of them he can't remember, but he knew they had to be bad. He always woke up in a sweat and tears in his eyes… calling out Sam's name. Nothing made the pain go away. Or the fear.

Two weeks had already passed and he was almost positive that the rapist must have done just that. Raped Sam. He physically cringed with the thought, both with fear and anger. To think that some one could do that to Sam- his Sam- was unthinkable. The cringing made his hand come to life and it finally picked up the toothbrush and applied toothpaste to it. He shoved it in his mouth and began to clean his teeth.

'I'd rather die than to live after a rape…'

He shut his eyes tightly against the memory, 'Why? It's not the end of your life you know…'

"You got me," he took the brush out and spit in the sink.

The man who even thought of touching and hurting Sam like that will regret coming to Amity Park. Danny rinsed out the rest of his mouth and rubbed the rest of the toothpaste from his face with the back of his hand. He threw his toothbrush back into its holder and he marched out to his room to get dressed. If Sam did keep her word, like she always did, she may all ready be dead. Killed by the man that did this to her, or by her own hand. Both possible circumstances hurt him more anyone could understand. Sam was his support, his best friend and his heart. He couldn't loose all that in one blow. It was bad enough that he all ready lost a best friend; he couldn't bare to loose another one.

After brushing through his hair with his fingers and throwing on some clean clothes he went down to join Jazz for some breakfast. Since she arrived Jazz had done most, if not all, of the cooking. Even when their parents were still in town, she made breakfast lunch and dinner and set the table. Before Sam disappeared she held Jazz in the kitchen.

'Great, now even food brings her to mind,' Danny thought in his mind.

"Hey Danny," Jazz greeted and put some toast and eggs in front of him on the table, "Mom and Dad called again this morning. Asked how you were and how the search was going."

"Just great…" he took a bite of his toast and watched Jazz sit down next to him.

"They said they should be home in another week and a half. They would be home sooner, if they didn't have to be there to sell off some of their inventions to more of those ghost hunting nut jobs," she tried to make a joke, but didn't find Danny laughing, "They're worried about you, Danny. So am I. You've become depressed. Withdrawn… You don't go out hunting anymore, not that there are many ghosts to hunt, but you just float around her or are gone hours at a time, flying aimlessly around Amity. You need to get over this."

"Get over this?" Danny looked up at his sister as if she were crazy, "Jazz, my best friend, and the girl that I am in love with was kidnapped. She has more than likely been raped and killed. No one has found her, not one freaking piece of evidence, and I am worried sick about her!"

"We all are."

"But you are telling me to get over it?" he stood up from the table and leaned toward her, "I can't get over it! She is my support and my shoulder to lean on! She's always been there for me! Always been a constant! You think that I can just get over something like that? I can't! I ca-can-…"

His voice became softer and almost weaker. He slid back into his chair and put his face in his hands like the night Tucker had died, "I can't live without her, Jazz. I don't know how."

Jazz took a deep breath and put a hand on her brother's back, "We'll find her Danny. I know we will."

Danny's head slowly nodded. The phone attached to the kitchen wall began to ring and Jazz got up to answer it. Danny put a hand on her arm to stop her, "No, I got it. Sit down. If it's mom and dad than I want to tell them myself how I'm doing."

Jazz nodded and Danny got out of his chair. He took the phone off the hook.

"This is the Fenton residence, Danny speaking, how may I help you?"

"Daniel Fenton?"

Danny froze by the phone. Everything in that moment stopped in time. It's like Clockwork was back and used his scepter to freeze everyone including Danny. He wasn't even sure if he was even breathing anymore. He knew that voice. And he knew that it wasn't going to be good news.

"Mr. Fenton?"

"Detective Chasin?" Danny's voice squeaked and he heard Jazz's chair move against the kitchen floor, so she heard.

"You wanted me to call if we found out anything," she said in an almost monotone voice.

"Yes," he shook his head to function, 'Say you found Sam and that she's all right. Please tell me she's coming home. Please.'

"We found a body near the bank of the central park lake," Chasin began and took a deep breath, "It looks like they are beginning to kill their victims, Mr. Fenton."

Fear. That's all Danny could feel. Absolute, numbing fear that his best friend was dead. They disposed of her by one of their favorite places in town to go and just sit and talk. She waited for him to rescue her and he let her down. It couldn't be Sam. It just couldn't be. Please don't let it be Sam.

"I-is it Sam?" Danny nearly chocked into the phone.

"No."

Relief fell over him like a ton of bricks. She wasn't dead. She was still alive and waiting for a rescue, "Did you find out anything?"

"We found some particles on the clothing that seemed to come from a special kind of medical solution. But according to our medical examiner, no one has used this kind of solution for many years. We checked the local hospitals, but nothing has come up. I'm sorry, Mr. Fenton. Nothing too much more, but I wanted to keep you informed."

"Thank you, I appreciate it," Danny spoke slowly into the phone and hung up. He turned to Jazz, "They found a body."

"Oh my God, S-"

"It's not Sam," Danny reassured his sister.

"Thank God."

Danny had a thoughtful look on his face and looked at the ceiling. A fast flash of a building passed him by and it finally clicked in his head. He let a small smile of hope cross his features and looked at his sister, "But they just gave me a clue to where she is and I'm going."

Jazz watched as her brother turned toward the door, grabbing his sweatshirt from the back of the couch, "Bu- Danny, where are you going?"

"About a week ago I had this dream," Danny explained as he pulled his sweatshirt over his head with his sister hot on his heels, "In it I told Sam I was coming to find her, but I didn't know where to go. All of a sudden a bright light went by and I saw a flash of an old building. I didn't know which building it was until now."

"How did Detective Chasin bring light to that mystery?" Jazz asked, handing him his keys.

"She told me that there was a specific kind of medical solution that no one uses anymore on the clothing of the dead girl," he took the keys and saw the realization rise of Jazz's face, "You were right, Sam isn't in Amity Park, Jazz. She's on the outskirts of town."

"In the abandoned hospital," she whispered, "But Danny how do you know the dream was right?"

"Because Sam and I have a physic connection, Jazz. I needed her to help me find her, and she helped me. Whether she knew it or not."

"You want me to come with you?" she grabbed her coat.

"No," he shook his head, "I'll bring her straight here and I want you to be ready when I get back."

Jazz nodded her head and hugged her brother around the neck, "Be careful little bro."

"I'm bringing her home. I swear it," with that he left the house and flew off straight for the hospital.

A/n: I don't know what it is, but this chapter didn't set too well with me, even though I went and tried to revise it a few times. I just hope you all liked it in some small part. I've been looking foward to writing the next chapter, soit shouldn't take me all that long to finish it. I hope you all will continue to read. He's almost there! Next chapter: Guardian Angel in Black. Please review!