A/n: hey guys I'm back. I hope you enjoy this one. It's a complete rewrite from my other story; this one is adapted from. I had to rewrite it because I realized the old chapter was a shit show. So, I hope this is better. Yes, I used two quotes get over it. I felt they are both fitting.
Chapter 4: The Hunter and The Haunted
"Happiness is such an elusive creature, isn't it? We all wish for it, but very few ever really find it."
~Lex Luthor; Smallville
"To live is to be haunted."
Philip K. Dick, Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
Overlookers POV
Sam Manson lay awake in her bed. A feat she was all too used to. Most nights, she had a hard time sleeping. She didn't know what kept her up, but she rarely dreamt when she slept. It was like she was dead floating somewhere between this world and the next, and even when she did dream, she rarely remembered, and it would always be strange and borderline acid trippy.
The truth is she didn't really like to sleep. She got more done while she was awake. She didn't really like being in her apartment period. When she was at the Times, she could focus on her writing. When she was out in the field with Danny, she could concentrate on the hunt for the story. That's what she was; she was a hunter. She couldn't rest until she'd found the truth. This made her a great investigative reporter but a terrible sleeper.
If that weren't enough to keep her awake, the second she was in her apartment, she couldn't hide in her work anymore. She had to face the truth that after everything, she came home to an empty apartment, an empty bed, and, overall, an empty life.
As much as she hated large crowds, it was worse when she was alone; when she was alone, the white noise was deafening. She was haunted by the utter emptiness she felt way too often; what an ironic and bitter play on words.
A sudden chill busted through the room as Sam, who had finally fallen asleep, shot up to go check the AC. Getting up, she grabbed her black silk robe that hung on her bed frame and walked over to the AC controller only to come to the realization that the AC wasn't on. She began racking her tired brain for an explanation. Soon she went to a very unsettling one.
The only time the temperature changed without any rational explanation was when Phantom entered the room. She had come across him somewhat frequently in the 2 months that had passed since their interview. However, there was no way the ghostly hero just broke into her house, so that left one possibility that there was another ghost in her home.
Her eyes went wide with the realization of the ghost, whoever it was didn't know what she was capable of. She was smart and cunning. If there was a ghost there, he hadn't attacked yet, which meant he was bidding his time. He was watching her. She couldn't let him know that she knew he was there. Perhaps if she played dumb, he'd leave, and when she saw Danny the next day, she could mention it to him, and he could tell Phantom. That sounded like a good as a plan as any she figured.
That plan was quickly dashed as Sam found herself being thrown into her wall, her head banging against the wall hard, blood trickling from a spot in her head. Her vision blurred, and her head throbbed vehemently. The last thing she saw was what seemed to be metal skin and terrifying glowing green eyes before everything went black.
Time seemed to blur together as Sam slowly came to. Her head was filled with different memories, all melding together. It was as if her whole life flashed through her eyes. First memories of her lonely childhood, where her grandmother had been her only saving grace. Then it melded into high school and her torrid yet ill-fated love affair with Joe Masters, and then the blur of her life after.
She realized at that moment that her life after joe was a blur. College was a blur. Her whole damn life was a fucking blur, she realized.
One night stands and far too much whiskey, and nothing… nothing that meant anything. She realized she had nothing that meant anything. Her job met something, her stories of hard-hitting truth meant a lot to the people she helped, but what was it all for?
What was the point if she didn't have a life outside of that. When she ended things with Joe she told herself trying again wasn't worth the heartache, and she damn sure didn't want to end up like her parents, so she figured why bother.
Now though, as she looked at her life as a whole she realized she was about to die, and she hadn't really lived.
A moan escaped her lips as she reached to put her hand to her head only to realize it was tied to the arm of a chair. Sam was now almost afraid to open her eyes.
Still, she had to. She had to fight. This couldn't be the end. She wanted a life damn it!
She opened her amethyst eyes, slowly squinting at the light. She looked around her surroundings. It was still nighttime. There wasn't much around her, but she wasn't in her apartment anymore. It looked like she was in the abandoned warehouse district if the cobwebs and crates and boxes long were forgotten were any indication.
She inspected her prison further, where was her captor? She looked down momentarily thanking whatever deity that she at least put her robe on over her negligee. She began struggling against her binds only to realize they weren't ropes, they were metal binds binding her to a cold metal chair. Realizing her captor was nowhere in sight, she let a tear slip from her eye. Was this it? Was this how she met her end?
Suddenly finding her strength…"Hey!" She screamed aloud, the sound reverberating through the hollow warehouse. Where was her captor? More importantly, what the hell did he want? Why had he come for her? Why had fate always been such a cruel Bitch? All Sam did know was that she didn't work her ass off through college and the workforce to die in this empty warehouse. She would fight tooth and nail until her last breath.
"Come out, you coward! Show yourself!" She bellowed involuntary tears, slipping out of her eyes. Her resolved never wavered. She was going to show him no fear. She would never give it or him or whatever that satisfaction. If she were going die, she'd go out like a blaze of glory.
Suddenly she got her wish... though a part of her wished she hadn't. There, in front of her materialized what she could only describe as a monster. He had a metal suit of some sort, with nuts and bolts sticking out at odd angles, he had glowing green eyes but not beautiful human-looking ones like Danny had, but horrible acid green ones that looked as if they were filled with nothing but malice. His hair, if you could call it, that was flaming green and menacing. In his hand, he held a large sword that glowed the same otherworldly glow.
For a moment neither of them spoke. They sized each other up, and Sam did her damnedest not to show how scared she was. "Well, girl, here I am." The thing said tauntingly. Any fear she had seemed to vanish, in truth, buried it deep. "What do you want!" Sam gritted out. Her heart was racing, but her fear was replaced by anger. How dare this thing kidnap her? Where did he get off? "You are a strange human, most of your kind practice the intelligent art of fear in situations like this." The apparition said, holding the blade in a teasing manner.
Sam scoffed at this, "well, tough shit, buddy, what the hell do you want!" The girl growled. The spook just laughed as if what she said was a mild annoyance, as if it was laughable that she dared to be angry, he kidnapped her instead of terrified. After the laughter subsided, it said, "you want to know who I am and what I want fine. I am Skulker, the ghost zone's greatest hunter. I am being paid a pretty bounty to hunt down the prince, and for reasons, I can't imagine he seems to have come to fancy you. So that means he'll trade his life for yours." Said Skulker.
Sam took all this information in, as she figured out what to say next. So, this Skulker wanted to use her as bait so his prince would go with him. Who was his prince? Then she remembered Phantom told her he was originally the prince of Zona Temporis. If that was the case, then it means that she was being used as a pawn to lure Phantom into a trap. She didn't like what that entailed one bit.
"What makes you think he cares about me at all. He saved my life once, and I interviewed him. We met a couple of times after that, but it's not like I know him well. Trust me, you are barking up the wrong tree." Sam said, trying to talk some sense into her captor, unfortunately to no avail.
Skulker laughed again this time at the irony. "You mean more to him than you know girl." Skulker said. At this, Sam decided to try a different approach. "I won't let you. I won't let you take him from the earth. My life means nothing in comparison to him. He is good and kind and pure. He is selfless and risks everything to save New York and the earth asking nothing in return. You can do whatever you want to me but don't hurt him please." The girl said as a few tears slipped. She didn't want to die by any means but she knew the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.
She hated her selflessness, but if it came between her and him, it was no contest.
Phantom was good for the world, and she was more than willing to sacrifice herself for the good of the world. Who would miss her anyway? She had thought.
Skulker seemed to pause as if he was mulling it over, then he said, "you're right, your life means nothing, but fortunately for you even insignificant insects as you who wish to die as a martyr mean something to him. You mean something to him, and he will come for you." He said. Sam didn't know what to say to that. She couldn't counter that if she tried. But she also couldn't let Phantom sacrifice himself for her. What could she do? She looked to where Skulker once towered over her only to see he had vanished once more.
She heard voices below her. This had to mean she was on the second floor of this old abandoned building. Suddenly her captor this Skulker was blasted through the floor, and Sam could only watch as his back hit the wall. Phantom followed him through the now gaping hole in the story, wasting no time he froze Skulker in his entirety and then blasted him with his ghost ray. Shattering him into pieces, unknown to Danny, the real Skulker was a tiny blob and was still very much alive. The green blob scurried away from the enraged Phantom and slithered back to the ghost zone to regroup.
Danny fell to his knees; a tear had escaped his eye. He had vowed long ago never to use his power to kill only save. It all happened so fast when the ghost told him he had Sam, all Danny could see was red. He flew the fastest he could to come and save her, and when he saw Skulker, he lost it. He let out a scream of pain. He had broken his vow.
He had killed someone, but he did it for Sam, and that made it all worth it. He realized at that moment that he'd through everything away for Sam if it came to that. He took this time to calm his breaths and regroup before turning around to free Sam from her binds. She looked terrified. She had never seen such power and such rage all at once. She didn't know what to make of it. Phantom was a good and nobleman, but he had just killed someone.
He noticed the terror in her face and recoiled in fear, fear of losing her. That was his biggest fear, far more significant than he would care to admit. She had become his greatest strength and greatest weakness. He wasn't supposed to fall for anyone. He had thought he could come here to live a life and settle down and find a woman but, how could he?
At this moment, he realized the cruel reality of where he stood. He had put her in danger, and they weren't even together. He had made it his sworn duty to protect the earth. She had become the thing he wanted to protect the most. So that meant one thing. They could never be together. She could never know he was Phantom. He would be her friend and her partner, yet nothing more.
He couldn't be selfish; he couldn't endanger her life. He didn't belong in her world. He didn't fit on earth, he never did. He had been fooling himself. His purpose on earth was to protect, to serve, to be a beacon of hope in a hopeless world. He had let something as trivial as emotion cloud his judgment. He had forgotten his duty. He couldn't love her. He wasn't supposed to, but alas, he did a feat he buried in the deepest depths of his heart.
He had to keep her safe, his heart and his happiness be damned. He could never touch her.
Sam looked at him strangely as he seemed deep in thought she wasn't afraid of him. She was just taken aback. Yes, he had killed the ghost, but he had been her protector. Could ghost even die she briefly wondered, how did it all work? The bigger question that plagued her mind was why Phantom had reacted so violently. Why did he care so much about her? Or did he? Could ghost feel? She didn't know, but what she did know was that Phantom was different. He wasn't like the other ghost. He could feel, and he did feel. He felt a lot. As he gently froze the metal binds and broke them off her and tenderly picked her up bridal style in the most loving manner, she realized he cared far more than he let himself.
She didn't know how she knew that, but it was like she felt him, like she understood him in a way she didn't recognize herself. She looked up at him as he lifted her in the air, and amethyst eyes met neon green ones, both of their breath hitches in their throat, and neither said anything for a moment.
"Thank you, Phantom," Sam said, softly breaking the silence. Phantom phased them through the and ceiling and out into the cold night. Sam shivered violently in her sheer negligee, and Phantom immediately felt guilty. "I'm just glad you're okay." He said with a sheepish grin that was all too close to Danny's. She found herself smiling back despite the biting air. "I'm fine, I always am." She said, responding confidently. She then realized that he seemed to be flying in the direction of her apartment. How did he know where she lived?
"How do you know where I live?" She inquired, now suspicious. He got sheepish as he flew through the night silent thinking of a way to fix his screw up.
"Danny mentioned the general direction I don't know exactly where you live." He lied. She could tell he was lying, and she decided to push a little. "And how do you know Danny?" She said, trying to feign innocence. She knew there was something odd between them. They knew each other well, but how?
Phantom didn't seem to have any friends or much human interaction; still, whenever Danny called him, he came. What was the deal between these two? Danny got nervous every time she mentioned Phantom and Phantom got nervous every time she inquired about Danny. There was something strange going on between them, and the hunter in her had to know what it was.
Phantom's shiftiness in her inquisition made her fire light up further. "We have a connection," Phantom answered stoically trying not to lead on the truth of the matter. Sam quirked an eyebrow, as phantom neared her apartment. She needed more than that.
"I know that, but how. I feel like I'm wrapped up in something that I don't understand. I just need to know what's going on here. I almost died tonight, one of you must give me something. I don't want to push. I don't want to investigate this, it's your secret whatever it is, but if I'm involved, I need to know something, please," Sam said sternly, but there was a plea behind the decree. Phantom sat her on her balcony once again, not realizing his mistake.
"I can't tell you, Sam. It's not that I don't want to. It's for your own safety. These ghosts haunt me, and anyone who I get close to anyone who they know I care about they will hurt them just to get to me. I know you have this thing where you want to hunt the truth, but this once I'm asking you not to. I'm asking you not to follow my trail where it leads because it will get you killed, and I won't be responsible for that. Just let it go." He said, and he tried not to hear his heartbreak. He knew he was giving up the thing he loved the most, but he knew it was for the best. He'd do anything for her. He'd kill, he'd lie, and he'd give her up.
Her eyes softened as she looked up at Phantom, who now floated above her balcony. "If you care about me, you can tell me Phantom. You don't have to be strong all the time. You can let someone in. If you want to let me in, I'm here." She said, sensing pain in him; loneliness she knew all too well. She would never wish that loneliness on anyone, not even her worst enemy.
He looked deep in her eyes, wishing for a second that he could be selfish, but he never could. All he ever wanted was to save the world, except for her. Still, he had to let her go. Tonight had proven that no matter how hard he tried to pretend that he was a normal man, he wasn't, he was a being gifted with tremendous power but also cursed with it. It was a high price to pay for his power, his burden. He used to believe that his power wasn't his burden but rather how he used it.
Now he knew that was a load. The power was his burden, his curse, and the reason why he could never be happy. He was a ghost. He was Phantom Tempus Prince of Zona Temporis. He was the last son of a dead world. He was cursed to be forever alone, and that would haunt him more than any ghost ever could.
"I do care, but not for the reasons you think. I care about humanity. I believe I was meant to protect the earth, and that includes you. There's no more to it. Danny and I are friends, that's all there is no story here. I saved you because it's who I am and what I do. Goodnight, Ms. Manson." Phantom lied, and his heart broke with every word. He couldn't look her in the eye as he said it, and he couldn't wait around for her response. He said his words and flew away, into the dead of the night, the cold, unforgiving air nipping at him, but he never felt it. His core was cold, so it never bothered him. Still, his heart was far less numb and far too broken.
He had thought he had gotten used to being alone, then she came into his life. "Damn her," he muttered. For the first time, he hated being a hero. He hated his internal goodness. He hated his want to save. He hated his heart. He hated being alone. His heart broke as he flew into his apartment and turned back into Danny and got into his empty bed and took in his empty apartment, and cursed his empty life.
I wish I was cold as stone
Then I wouldn't feel a thing
Wish I didn't have this heart
Then I wouldn't know the sting of the rain
I could stand strong and still
Watching you walk away
I wouldn't hurt like this
Or feel so all alone
I wish I was cold as stone
Far away in the ghost zone, Clockwork looked over his son through his time window as he watched his life play out. He switched the window to the day he gave up his son and sent him to earth. He watched this image a lot.
He torchers himself with his impossible decision day in and day out. His wife Elizabeth entered the room. Her long blond hair flowing freely and her dress fluttering with grace. The former Queen of the now-dead world was tired and wished her husband to retire to bed.
She had grown lonely herself with her son gone, and her husband slowly going mad. It was hard not to go mad herself. It was a cruel existence. She and her husband were responsible for the end of their world. All of this was their fault, their pain, and their sons. Still, Elizabeth had to keep her sanity. She had to hope her son would defeat the great threat and bring peace to their people so they could finally pass on. Then perhaps he could find some solace himself.
She hated that their burden fell on their son, but it was a necessary evil.
"Clockwork must you torcher yourself, day in a day out?" The wife inquired Clockwork barely heard her. He was haunted by the world he had failed, and by the son, he saw only through a window as he watched him call another man father and another woman mother.
He watched through the window as his son adopted earth as his world and loved the humans as his own.
He watches as his son torchers himself for them as he bent over backward to be their hero. He watched as his son pretended to be one of them. A mild-mannered reporter at that. He watched as his son drifted further and further from him. He torchers himself for it knowing it was all his fault. His stubbornness and pride had cost a whole world of people their lives. His people. He was a king who had doomed his own people.
The other nobilities knew Armageddon was coming to Zona Temporis, but the mighty king refused to listen. He punished himself always for everything he had done, to everyone who had ever known him. He didn't deserve peace, he thought. He deserved to be damned.
He rarely allowed himself to look away from the window. In his mind, it was his penance. His curse was to watch his son from afar. To watch him be a better man than he could ever hope to be. He had to watch his son be this man because of the man he called father, and that was what killed him the most.
"Yes," he replied, not bothering to look away from the window. Elizabeth approached him further. She grabbed his arm gently. He wished she would abandon him. He wished he didn't have such a noble wife. She had lost so much. It was his fault; still, she stood by him, no questions asked.
He could barely look her in the face when he did all he could see was his own broken reflection is her beautiful blue eyes.
Sometimes she could get him to look at her, though he never really saw her. He hadn't seen her since the day Zona Temporis died. He had only seen the window. It broke her heart to see her husband this way. She tried to reach him many times over the 25 years it had been since they gave up their son, and their world died.
Today she was putting her foot down. She couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't watch her husband suffer anymore. She had to try to reach him.
"Clockwork, please, it won't do any good. Our son is gone, and our world is dead. Replaying that day on your window won't change that, nothing can change that. There are certain truths that we must accept. We gave him a chance to live. He is alive, my love." She said as he finally looked at her, his eyes wild and sad.
His cloak cast shadows on his face. "Skulker failed. He was supposed to bring him back to us. He was supposed to begin his training." He said almost as if he was in a trance. He refused to hear what she was saying. He refused to be comforted. As far as he was concerned, he had no honor. He had destroyed his world and his family, and there was no way he could ever allow himself to be comfortable.
He stared at her as if she was transparent. He was haunted by the weight of everything he had lost. It weighed him down and buried his heart in the ground.
"My love listen to me. He has grown to adapt to this world. Earth is his home. Zona Temporis is dead and it-" she began softly, trying to reason with her husband. He snatched his arm away from his wife. A wild, manic look filled his eyes. He leaned over her as he cut her off. "He is our son, and he will return to us. I don't care if I have to send every ghost in the ghost zone. They will not take him from me. He will train, and he will defeat the great threat." The man bellowed. His wife shook in fear, her eyes holding much grief.
All Clockwork had left, all he would allow himself to have was the hope that their son would return and defeat the great threat and let them all pass on. If his son couldn't right his wrongs, then he had nothing. He had turned his back on everything else long ago.
Elizabeth had turned a blind eye. It was easier to believe that he was still the kind and noble king that she had loved since her youth. She couldn't see that he was nothing but a shell a ghost in every sense of the word. Just as he wouldn't allow himself to be at peace, she wouldn't let herself see the truth of her husband's descent into madness.
His own brokenness had killed the man she loved long ago.
She has had 25 years to grieve her world and her son, and she had come to find peace in that; she only hung around so her husband could see reason and pass on after the great threat was dealt with. For the first time though she realized her husband was gone, what remained was a shell.
The shell of a once honorable and noble king whose own guilt and grief had driven him mad. Still, he was her husband. He was her king, and she would stand by his side until the bitter end.
Clockwork had calmed his self and went back to staring at the window, not even noticing that his wife as retreated to their bedchambers and laid down in an empty bed that she was all to use too.
Clockwork watched as his son slept, he watched as he tossed and turned in his sleep. His heart Panged for him. He didn't deserve this. He deserved to be happy. Unfortunately, happiness was a luxury that their family hadn't been able to afford in quite some time.
"Soon, my son, I will bring you home." The ghost whispered to no one in unparticular.
A/n: so that's that. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. If any of you read the original version of this story, I did a complete rewrite of this story. I hope this is way better. If anyone would like to volunteer to be my beta, please help. I do my best with editing, but I'm not very good. Also, I do not own cold as stone by Lady Antebellum.