Sam continued to smile dreamingly as she looked on at the night sky and at the flower, but then she stopped when she suddenly heard a noise going behind her and turned to see the statue melting and then completely broke in half to reveal Vlad Plasmius.
She glared at him as he asked, "Hey what's the buzz Sam? Now what is the weak link in ghost boy?"
"Get yourself another girl! I'm done!" Sam snapped defiantly.
"Uh excuse me? Could you repeat that for me?" Vlad said.
"Read my lips! Forget it!" Sam snapped again and started walking away but then was stopped when Vlad stood in front of her and blocked her path.
"Aren't you forgetting one tiny little detail here sweetheart?" Vlad asked with a smile but then it turned to anger and he screamed as his energy flared up, "I OWN YOU!"
They were both unaware that Theo was behind the bushes and he had just woken up feeling a headache from being hit in the head. His eyes widened as he heard voices coming from behind, he peaked over to see a now calmed down Plasmius talking to Sam.
"Have you forgotten that you work for me? If I say I want ghost boy's head on a platter; you say…." Vlad began and then Sam groaned, "Medium or well done?"
Theo quietly gasped in shock as he turned his head away from the scene and whispered, "I knew that dame was trouble. This is gonna break the kid's heart"
He then ran off as quietly as he could, heading for the stadium to tell Danny. Meanwhile Vlad and Sam continued talking and then Vlad said, "Let's not forget that since you won't help, there goes my offer of freedom out the window forever"
"I don't care! I'm not gonna help you hurt him" Sam said as she crossed his arms at him.
Vlad groaned and then said, "I can't believe you're getting worked up over some guy. I mean have you already forgotten the last guy you were with?"
"Danny is different" Sam said with a smile as she looked at the flower. "He is honest, sweet, he accepts me for who I am and he would never do anything to hurt me and besides you can't beat him. He has no weakness and he's gonna…."
She was cut off as Vlad turned her around with a grin on his face. He then grabbed the flower from her hand as he held her face with his other and said, "I think he does Sam. I truly think he does"
He suddenly burned the flower into nothing but ashes and Sam gasped as she realised she did then one thing she didn't want to do, help Vlad find a way to hurt Danny.
In the night sky as it came closer to morning, the planets were almost aligned showing only at least half an hour left. Meanwhile at the stadium, Danny was running laps and doing exercise on the equipment and couldn't help but feel happy.
Theo had just arrived and looked down as he slowly walked down the stairs, feeling bad about what he was about to do. He lightly patted Cujo on the head who was chewing on a bone.
Danny stopped exercising and asked, "Hey Theo. What happened to you?"
"Kid we gotta talk…." Theo began to talk but then was suddenly cut off when Danny picked him up and spun him around on the ground.
"Theo I just had the greatest day of my life! I can't stop thinking about Sam" Danny said as he sat down on the aerobics pole in his ghost form and sighed in bliss, "She's something else"
Before Theo could tell him, he suddenly launched himself into the sky at top speed that no-one could see him. Cujo suddenly heard a whistle and looked at the entrance to see a pink female ghost dog smiling romantically at him.
Cujo's mouth dropped and so he followed her into the stables and then suddenly the ghost split herself in half. His eyes widened in shock and fear and before he could do anything, the dog transformed into Bertrand and Box Ghost and they snatched him before he could run out of there.
Back outside, Danny landed on the ground and gave Theo a bone crushing hug as he said, "And if it hadn't been for you Theo, I never would have met her. I owe you big time pal"
"Danny I need to tell you something!" Theo shouted. "She's…."
"More beautiful than any other girl in this town?" Danny guessed. Theo had enough and screamed, "She's a fraud! She's been playing you this whole time kid!"
"Theo stop kidding around" Danny said thinking he was joking. Theo however retorted, "I'm not kidding around!"
"Is this about today? Look I'm sorry about that, but that's no reason to…." Danny began but then Theo cut him off and said, "Kid you're missing the point"
"The thing is I love her" Danny said getting angrier at Theo by the second.
"She don't love you! She's nothing but a two-timing, no good, lying scheming…." Theo began to say and then Danny snapped as he slapped him away with his ghostly strength, "SHUT UP!"
Theo yelped as he hit the equipment hard, Danny gasped at what he had done to Theo who looked at him in shock. Theo just frowned and shook his head and got up.
Danny tried to apologise, "Theo I'm sorry. I didn't mean…."
"Okay. You don't want to face the truth, fine" Theo said and then started walking out of the stadium. Danny called out, "Where you going?"
"I'm taking the first barge out of here" Theo answered. "I'm going home"
"Fine!" Danny shouted. "I don't need you anyway!"
Danny then stared lifting some weights, Theo looked back at Danny sadly and then whispered before leaving, "I thought you were going to be the all-time champ, not the all-time chump"
Danny put down the barbell and just sighed feeling guilty about what he said as he changed into his human form, suddenly the lanterns went out and he suddenly heard a voice, "Jeez what got his goat huh?"
He looked up to see Vlad sitting on the pole and just stared at him in confusion. Vlad then disappeared and then reappeared in front of him and said, "Hello. Name is Vlad Plasmius, Lord of the Dead. How are you?"
"Look not now man" Danny said and was about to leave but Vlad stood in front of him and said, "Hey look I only need a few moments of your time Little Badger. You see, I got this major deal going on and you seem to be in the constant way of it"
He then wrapped his arm around Danny's shoulders and continued, "So I would be eternally grateful if you took a day off from the whole hero business"
Danny scoffed and removed his hand from his shoulder and started walking away, "You're out of your mind"
Vlad grabbed his arm and said, "Not so fast. You see I have this little leverage you might want to know about"
Vlad snapped his fingers and suddenly Sam appeared in the stadium. Danny gasped in fear, "SAM!"
"Danny don't listen…" Sam began to say but then was suddenly gagged and tied up by Vlad's ecto energy and before Danny could grab her, she disappeared.
Danny glared at Vlad as he changed into his ghost form and shouted as he energised his hands ready to fight him, "Let her go right now!"
Vlad snapped his fingers and Sam reappeared in the stadium, on the bleachers still tied and gagged. She tried to speak but she couldn't get a single word out. Vlad then said, "I'd listen to my offer Little Badger, unless you want her to be hurt"
Danny continued to glare at Vlad and then lowered his hands and let the energy go down. Vlad grinned and then proposed, "Now here's the deal, you give up your powers for the twenty four hours and then Sam is free as a bird, safe from harm, we dance, we smooch and then everybody gets to go home. What do you say?"
Danny looked at Sam and then Vlad. He then asked, "People are gonna get hurt aren't they?"
"Nah! Well it's a possibility, it does happen but isn't Sam here more important than they are?" Vlad asked as he cupped Sam's face in his hands.
"Stop it!" Danny shouted as he didn't like the way he was touching her.
"Well isn't she?!" Vlad pressed. Danny then demanded, "You've got to swear that Sam will be safe from any harm"
Vlad sighed and agreed as he let go of Sam's face, "Fine I'll give you that one. Sam is safe and if she gets hurt, you get your powers back"
"Now do we have a deal?" Vlad asked as he held out his hand for Danny to shake. Danny looked at Sam and then nodded and then without hesitation shook Vlad's hand.
He suddenly started feeling really weak as Vlad's hand glowed and he held onto his hand tightly, Danny fell to his knees and groaned and then finally Vlad let his hand go leaving Danny now fully human.
Danny staggered to stand up, Vlad grinned as he levitated the heavy dumbbell with his powers and said, "You look a little queasy, maybe you should SIT DOWN!"
The dumbbell suddenly hit Danny and because it was so heavy, it knocked right on his back to the ground and he couldn't lift it off him. Vlad kneeled down and sneered in his face, "Now you know how it feels to be just like everybody else. Right Little Badger? After all, I'm the reason you ended up here on Earth in the first place"
Danny's eyes widened in shock and he asked, "What are you talking about?"
Vlad stood up and said, "I want Mount Olympus but you were in my way, my minions were meant to kill you as a baby but instead they turned you half-mortal. But now thanks to our little deal, there won't be anything else standing in my plans"
Vlad suddenly grinned at Sam and said, "Oh you're gonna love just this one more thing"
He walked over to Sam and snapped his fingers, removing the binds holding Sam as he said, "Sam a deal's a deal. You're off the hook and you are now free"
Danny stood up looking confused by what he said as Vlad asked while holding Sam's hands, "Oh by the way Daniel, don't you think Sam here is a fabulous little actress?"
"Stop it" Sam whispered as tears started leaking from her eyes.
"What do you mean?" Danny asked. Vlad continued to grin and just answered, "I mean that little Sammy-kins here was working for me the whole time"
"You're…..you're lying!" Danny shouted not wanting to believe it. Sam looked down in regret and sorrow, Danny's heart was now broken.
"No! It's not like that" Sam said as walked up to Danny but he turned away from her. She looked down and said, "I'm so sorry Danny. I never wanted to hurt you"
"OUR HERO'S A ZERO! OUR HERO'S A ZERO!" Box Ghost and Bertrand taunted and teased as Danny fell to his knees in despair and had dirt kicked and drink spilled all over him by Vlad's two minions.
More tears fell from Sam's as Vlad made a carriage appear with ghost horses at the end of the reins and he said, "Well I'd love to stay but there's a whole cosmos up there with my name on it"
The sun rose as Sam fell to her knees and cried, feeling nothing but regret and guilt for hurting the one guy who loved her. Vlad then took to the air, off to release the Titans from their prison as predicted by the Fates 18 years ago.
PLEASE REVIEW!