A/N: Chapter #26~! I'm going to apologize in advance – I HAVE told you guys that I'm awful at fight scenes, right? I hate them. I just want to say "They fought and _ won. Yay." ;P Anyway, I'm sorry that the last chapter was a little confusing. I hope this one isn't so…but hey, the next chapter is the Epilogue!

HEB807: Probably. Not sure…Definitely not for the same reasons, though. Plasmius isn't that noble.

Guest: Please remember to choose a specific nickname when you review. You are not the only "guest" here. In regards to Death: No, I don't think he's canon. However, the personification of death is a nearly world-wide phenomenon and is very common. It's only natural that he's shown up in more than one fic.

KuriMaster13: The best way to follow that conversation is to remember: Italics = Impurity. Bold = Death. Underline = Spirit. Plain = Humanity. Also, quick appearance note: We don't see Death, but Impurity is black-haired-red-eyed Danny. Humanity is blue-eyed Danny. Spirit is Phantom.

Moon's Meow: I'm not sure if he's the type to retaliate, or if he's more like Clockwork and less prone to get involved. He might show up again, he might not. We'll see. :D

Thankfully, most of you showed positive reactions to Impurity, rather than Dan. I didn't want it to be Dan. I think Danny's overcome the primary struggle with Dan, and I'd rather focus on other things.

Chapter #26: Lady Luck

"Danny…no," she pauses, "Impurity, you don't have to do this. You can't. You said that you do whatever protects Danny, but if you kill someone…he'll blame himself. Can he handle that?"

"We can't let them live," he replies quietly, the tip of his sword still resting in the hollow between Ramirez's collarbones, "They have to be…eliminated as a threat."

"Then let me do it," the words fall from her lips before she can think.

"I told you," he growls, his eyes sparking a brighter shade of red beneath his black bangs, "I…Danny…we're the only one you're allowed to kill. We're not sharing you."

How should I scare you?

"It's the same…" she whispers, "That day…in Circus Gothica…"

"Oh, so you've noticed?" he laughs, "Yes, I believe that was the first time we actually met…even if it wasn't completely by my own discretion. While I had to comply to Freakshow's orders, he was always…vague. I worked out details on my own."

"So he wasn't controlling Danny…he was controlling you."

"Bingo!" he grins, showing his sharp teeth, "And then I had that staff in my hands, all that power…the ghosts I could've commanded! But then someone had to fall from the train. Yet again, you ruined everything."

"So why do you keep that sword pointed at Ramirez, huh?" she snaps weakly, "If I'm the one who keeps foiling your plans?"

"Because," he frowns, "As much as I hate you…for every molecule of me that hates you, I have another two that crave you like a drug. I'm Danny's obsession, remember?" his voice breaks softly, and the sword lowers, "I'm Danny, as much as he is. He wasn't kidding, Samantha, when he said he loved you with every fiber of his being. Even the part of him that wants to hate you, the part that wants to blame you for every misfortune he's suffered…can't," he stabs the blade into the deck of the ship.

"Impurity…"

Within the blink of an eye, he's suddenly in front of her, his lips on hers.

"In the same breath that I want to kiss you senseless, I want to wrap my hands around your throat. I want to tear you limb from limb, but I also want to feel you beneath me," he breathes, his voice strained, "I'm going to tear myself in half at this rate!"

Heat rises in her cheeks, "You—"

"I am Impurity, Samantha," he chuckles against her neck, "Humanity is merged indistinguishably to Spirit. His fantasies are boring. Trust me," he growls, "anything interesting is mine."

"Oh, and how are his boring?" she challenges, "Give me an example."

He lifts his head, an arrogant smirk splitting his face, "It's the more typical white-picket-fence. You've seen them. Cuddling in the sunset, holding hands and walking on the beach…"

"And what are yours?"

"Are you going to make that an order, My Queen of Thorns?" he rumbles, lifting her chin with a finger.

"Oh," she smirks, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, "So you've decided to rule with me?"

"Your most dedicated slave," he lifts her fingers to his lips, "For as long as you're mine."

"…I'm up for a threesome if you are," Ramirez interjects after a few moments of silence.

Sam sighs, "…You should've stayed quiet."

"We do still need to decide on their fate," Impurity growls, vanishing from her embrace, only to appear, hovering, in front of Ramirez once again, "I'm still up for killing them."

"But think about Danny – or rather, about Humanity," she argues, "You know him as well as I do. Maybe even better. Do you think he'll be able to shrug it off? He's already paranoid about becoming him. If you kill them…"

"And you killing them isn't an option," he rumbles, "I've made it perfectly clear – you're ours."

"What if we promise to keep our mouths shut?" Ramirez inquires, "We'll all disappear underground, and our lips will be sealed."

"Until someone offers enough money," Impurity snarls.

"I'd rather keep my life," he argues, "I don't need a ghost hunting me down."

"As if we'd trust a pirate," she snorts.

"I'm curious, though, kid," he shrugs, "Why did you leave Burgess behind?"

"I figured Tucker would prefer to have an opponent," Impurity grins, "I can't take all the fun for myself, can I?"

"He knows your secret," he challenges, "He can spread it through the internet, and then you'll never be able to hide!"

"Unlike you and Kovich, Burgess isn't motivated by a love of chaos and bloodshed," Impurity retorts, "I'm sure that he and Tuck can…come to an agreement," he wrenches the blade from the deck, the ice screeching against the metal.

"Don't kill them," Sam pleads, "You'll destroy Danny. You'll destroy yourself."

"There's no other viable option," he growls, "What do you think will happen if they end up in government hands? Do you want me to end up on a dissection table?!"

"I doubt they want to end up in prison," she counters.

"If it isn't the government, it'll be spread through the criminal underground. Then the CIA or another government agency will hear the whispers. The whispers saying that Daniel Fenton is a ghost hybrid. Tell, me, Samantha!" he shouts, "What else can I possibly d–"

A shot rings through the air, piercing through the halfa's left shoulder. He falls to the deck, the sword clattering against metal. He quickly presses his hand to the wound. Kovich stands on the other side of the craft, a revolver in one hand.

"How did you–?" Sam begins.

"Good work, Ramirez," the captain pants, lifting a vial of blood-red liquid. More of the same paints the spot where he once sat, tied by ghostly restraints, along with shards of glass.

"Thanks, Boss," he smiles, "Mind helping a fellow out, though?"

"Sam…" Danny gasps, his eyes flickering between blue and red, "Sam, help me…"

"Danny!" she begins to move closer, but a hole is punched into the deck in front of her.

"I think not," Kovich sneers, "You don't move an inch, understand? I have more bullets soaked in the poison, and I can and will shoot him again if you don't listen to me. I want you to put your gun down. Move slowly."

She slowly crouches, placing the Glock carefully on the deck, before rising just as slowly, her hands over her head.

"Kick it away," he orders, and she obeys. He creeps closer, his revolver now trained on Sam, until he spills a few droplets onto the glowing ropes that bind his cohort. Ramirez, freed from his restraints, rolls his shoulders.

"I'll get Ross," he accepts the vial from his mentor.

"Only if he's not having an episode," the Russian adds, "Leave him tied up if his head's not clear. He'll just impede us otherwise."

"Yes, Captain," he nods seriously, watching the two teens as he strides to the former soldier. Ross stares straight forward, his eyes far away.

"Ross?" he crouches.

"John Ross, I'm a U.S. soldier. Two-thirty-eight, forty-five, fifteen-fifty-six."

"Come on, Rossy," Ramirez sighs, "Come back to the present. You're with Captain Kovich and I, remember?"

"John Ross, I'm a U.S. soldier. Two-thirty-eight, forty-five, fifteen-fifty-six."

He sighs, "It's no good, Boss."

"Then leave him as he is for now."

"Yes, Sir."

"I should have just kept you depowered and taken off. We would've gotten a good payout. Or just gotten a ransom for the boat as originally planned. Now I'm floating around who knows where with a rabid ghost and his girlfriend!"

"What's wrong, Kovich?" Danny laughs weakly, his eyes still flickering between blue and red, "You wanted to know everything about the ghost zone, didn't you? Well, what better way than to drag you there?"

Sam looks around carefully, looking for familiar shadows, "We're way out here, Danny. You could've chosen somewhere more…instructive."

He chuckles, but it turns into a cough.

"How do we get back?" Kovich demands, his weapon still trained on Sam.

"Gee, I wonder," Danny strains, his eyes red, "Why don't you ask your precious Lady Luck for guidance?"

Kovich's face contorts with rage, "She's not sailing with me anymore."

::Hold your breath, Sam,:: Danny whispers mentally, his eyes blue once again.

She takes a slow, deep breath, and Danny's hand wraps around her ankle. Everything goes white as Kovich fires, the thunder reaching her ears as she watches him from behind.

::What the…?::

::I'll explain later,:: Danny pants, ::Just get him. I didn't train you for nothing, did I?::

She lashes out with a foot, catching him in the knee. He mutters something in Russian – probably a curse – and swivels his gun on her again. She ducks beneath his outstretched arm and jams a knuckle into the nerve at the base of the arm. The weapon falls, and she kicks it away with her heel. Kovich massages his arm, trying to restore feeling to the limb.

"Not bad," he growls.

"I was taught well," she smirks.

Danny pulls himself against the railing with a grunt, leaving a bloody handprint behind. His body feels hot, and the wound in his shoulder is still bleeding. He keeps his ghost half shoved as far down as he can. Even now, he finds it hard to catch his breath – the teleportation, even with its minute range, had sent a wave of pain through his body, setting every nerve on fire.

He smiles as Sam dodges a punch and rams an elbow into Kovich's stomach. However, movement behind them catches his attention.

Ramirez pulls a knife from his boot and begins to circle around towards Sam.

Danny lifts himself to his feet, black collecting at the edges of his vision momentarily. I'm in the Infinite Realms and I can't even absorb emotions in this state, he laughs internally, my luck is the worst.

"Well, well," Ramirez smirks, "You can stand."

"It's my nature," Danny grunts, "I get slammed into walls, punched through buildings, thrown hundreds of feet into the ground…I'm the hero, you know? I have to get back up."

"Sounds painful," he coos, tracing the edge of his knife, "Perhaps I should just put you out of your misery?"

"I'll be fine once these stupid blood blossoms wear off," Danny laughs, "You'd be amazed at what I can heal from in the Ghost Zone."

Ramirez lunges, slicing at Danny's neck. Danny shifts inches to the side, his hand snapping up to grasp his opponent's wrist. He begins to twist, but Ramirez drops the knife, catching it in his other hand and stabbing at Danny's midsection. The halfa turns, ramming his knee into his stomach.

"This reminds me…" Danny growls as the knife slices shallowly across his calf, "you said some things about Sam."

"She's even better than I thought," Ramirez grins, avoiding a fist thrown towards his jaw, "just look at her!"

Her hair fans out around her as she twirls in a kick to Kovich's jaw. The captain blocks with a thick arm, but Danny knows that the impact of her steel-toed boot has to hurt. A bruise is forming on her cheek. Her hands are still red and bleeding from her rappelling attempt, but she doesn't show any sign of pain.

"She's pretty awesome," Danny smiles, flipping him over his shoulder. The knife skitters across the ground, along with something else that catches the halfa's attention.

The ring! He yelps, watching it bounce and roll towards the railing. He lunges for it, leaving the stunned Ramirez on the deck.

It bounces over the edge just as his fingers close around it, and he slows the heart thudding in his chest. He leans back against the railing with a groan, noting the blood leaking from his shoulder that soaks the left side of his shirt. More blood stains the calf of his right leg. Ramirez groans and rolls onto his stomach.

"Not bad, for a guy who can barely stand," he gasps.

"My stubbornness is one of my defining traits," Danny retorts, pocketing the ring and pulling himself up again, sitting on the railing with one legs crossed over the other, "I've been known to support myself of pure willpower."

"Have you?"

"Yeah. How do you think I defeated Pariah Dark?" He can feel the blood blossoms beginning to fade. It was only a trace amount on that bullet, he smirks, allowing his cold core to rise a little higher, maybe my luck isn't so bad.

Ramirez lunges towards Kovich's discarded pistol, his fingers closing around the handle as Danny freezes it in place. A curse hisses between his teeth.

"Ah-ah-ah," Danny clicks, beginning to absorb small amounts of emotion from the Ghost Zone around him, "I'm not going to let that happen," his eyes flick towards Sam and Kovich, where Sam prepares herself to take a punch, "Or that," he waves his hand, and Kovich flies back as his fist makes contact with the flat green shield. Ice creeps up from the deck and entraps the two pirates.

"About time, Danny," Sam pants, "I was wondering how long I'd have to wait."

"Sorry," he rubs at the back of his neck, "I…well, I suppose you know the whole deal now, don't you?"

"Were you ever going to tell me?" she whispers.

"I think so," he replies softly, "but I wasn't sure how to bring it up…it was…really personal, Sam."

"I understand," she smiles, "But we still have to wonder…what will we do with them?"

He frowns, glancing over the three pirates. Ross is still tied securely, while Ross and Ramirez are retrained by icy manacles, "I don't know. Impurity was right – the cleanest solution would be to kill them, but I'm not going to do that, and I'm not letting you do it. We could leave them here, let them drift around. That's a bit cruel, though. They'd starve to death all the way out here."

"It's a pretty big problem, Danny," she sighs, leaning against the railing beside him.

"Maybe we can give them to Dora and her prison. Walker's out of the question – he'd let them loose in the mortal realm just to spite me."

"Dora might work," she agrees.

"I'm not sure if I'd wish that on her though. Or Frostbite."

"So you want to get rid of them without burdening anyone or killing them," she clarifies.

"Yeah," he frowns.

"Then you do have a problem."

"Having a secret identity sucks."

"Sorry."

"I am too."

They sit in silence for a moment.

"So…you can open portals to the Ghost Zone now, huh?"

"Apparently," he laughs, "…what if I sent them to a different time?"

"So you want to visit Clockwork?"

"No," he grins, "remember? Portals in the Ghost Zone travel through space and time. It's why so many boats and planes go missing in the Bermuda Triangle – it tends to create ghost portals."

"So you're saying that open one up to another time and toss them through?"

"…that's a bit irresponsible, isn't it?"

"I'd say so."

"So..."

"I say we leave them with Pandora. She's tough enough to handle them."

"But–"

"I doubt it'll change her life at all," she snorts, "Dora would have to worry about them teaming up with Aragon, but Pandora? She'll be fine."

"Sounds like a plan," he grunts, twirling a finger. The boat begins to turn, "Want to fly ahead and warn her? Maybe she can send something to make this faster, because it'll take days to putt over there at this rate."

"Yeah," she laughs, "Just keep a sharp eye on them, okay?"

"Definitely," he agrees.

She flies away, in the direction he'd pointed her, and he turns to Kovich once she's out of sight.

"It may be ectoplasmic in origin," he smirks, "But the blood blossoms aren't going to melt this ice, Ramirez. Nice try, though."

"So, what, are you going to kill us while she's gone?" he challenges.

"Nope," Danny empties the chamber of the revolver, leaving only one round inside, "but you might be a little worse for wear when she gets back," he slides from the railing, spinning the chamber and pressing the barrel against Kovich's knee, "So…tell me, Captain Yulian Kovich," he begins, the smallest flicker of red showing in his eyes.

"Do you think your Lady Luck is going to favor you right now?"

A/N: I told you. I hate writing fight scenes. I'm awful at them. Maybe it's because I feel that if two well-trained people really duke it out, it's not going to last forever. Fights happen pretty quick. Especially once someone starts getting his ghost powers back. Two little unarmed humans are not going to fare well against an angry halfa.

I giggled like an idiot when the ring went bouncing across the deck. Ramirez was still keeping it in his pocket. I feel like it has a tendency to go bouncing away at the most unfortunate times. Danny wasn't worried about the ocean as much, but the Infinite Realms are…well…Infinite. It could LITERALLY fall forever and he might never catch up to it. Not a concept he found interesting.

ShadowWarrior85: You genius, reading my mind. :D I hope it doesn't mean I'm getting predictable!

Anyway, next chapter is the final chapter, and it'll be back to my Amethyst Ocean fluffiness, probably some Tucker/Val…I read somewhere that their ship name is Hunter Silly…but I don't like that. Let's come up with some better ones, why don't we? It doesn't fit my Val and Tuck. JI'm looking forward to your submissions.

Oh, and someone that you've all been looking forward to will be showing up in the Epilogue in preparation for Crown of Fire…