Disclaimer: I don't own DP, no matter how much I ask Santa on Christmas, he doesn't bring him to me.

Sam: Are you okay?

Danny: *glares*

Sam: Sorry, standard question.

Civil War

The sun rose over the little town of Harmony that morning like any other morning, but what it lit was a town painted red. Skid marks of blood tracing through and out of the town. Emma stepped into the street, avoiding another puddle of the red substance on the packed dirt, eyes full of fear.

She looked around and saw a horse galloping through the town and as it got closer she saw behind the horse was-

"DANNY!" Emma ran forward, stopping the horse in its tracks, the creature frightened out of its wits, and she untied Danny and pulled him into her arms as the horse ran to the stables to bury its head in the hay.

Emma tentatively touched Danny's shoulder and watched him visibly wince; she glanced around town, the shining red coloring the streets, but nobody to be seen. It was lucky that she had learned to get up an hour earlier than everybody else. Emma sighed and carefully lifted Danny, wrapping one of his arms around her shoulders and her own hand on his waist. "C'mon Danny, we have to move before somebody sees you!" Danny groaned quietly in response as he was dragged along gently.

Tugging him through the parlor of her building, Emma tugged him up to her room, laying him on her bed gently and lighting up the oil lamp on her bedside. After seeing he was as comfortable as she could make him, she ran to find Sam.

She woke her friend, shaking her shoulders, "Sam, Sam!" Sam blinked awake at Emma's urgency.

"What?" Sam groaned and Emma tugged her out of bed and to the window where they had a great view of the blood-soaked street. Sam gasped, "No!"

Emma barely had to drag Sam as they rushed to Emma's room where Danny laid, eyes half-lidded. "Hey guys, when'd you decide to get here?"

Emma rushed to his side, kneeling on the bed beside him, gently shirking off his shirt to examine his wounds. The hole from the fire-poker was filled with dirt and she quickly got up and went to the wash-basin, filling it with water and dipping the cloth in and bringing the bowl to where Danny sat up weakly, Sam sitting to his side.

She carefully dabbed the hole with the cloth, cleaning out the dirt and grime from the nasty dragging he'd experienced all night. She gently slipped the wet cloth through the hole in his shoulder, pulling it out the other side as he gritted his teeth, the dirt and grime that came out was impressive. Emma gently kissed the side of his head tenderly and placed her hands on both sides of the hole in his shoulder.

A light grew in her cupped hands, a green and black glow, and she pulled her hands away slightly, the light glowing as they watched the black and green ectoplasm fusing together from her hands through his shoulder and she pressed her hands together and he nearly screamed in pain.

Emma looked at him sadly, holding her hands there for a while as he breathed heavily. When she pulled away only a wound that seemed like a scab was left and the blood coated his skin, a bit of green ectoplasm glowing there.

Danny let her quickly clean some of the smaller cuts and put cool wet cloths on the bruises while Sam comforted him. Sam scowled, "This means war! I mean, look at Danny! He had a fire poker jammed through his shoulder!"

Danny lifted a hand, "And I was tied to a horse and dragged around town."

Sam nodded, "That too." Emma sighed sadly and hung her head.

"I'm so sorry Danny, this is all my fault! She wouldn't be after you like this if I wasn't around! I mean-" Danny cut her off.

"Don't say that. All this is Lunette's fault, that or Fast-Shootin' Fenton and Nightingale's at least!" He wrapped an arm around Emma and she leaned back against him.

Emma huffed, blowing a loose hair out of her face, "C'mon now, don't blame them, they're the victims in this. Besides they're dead!"

Danny nodded, "That's true, and if they weren't there then, WE wouldn't be here now!"

"Maybe it would've been for the best if they weren't, then we wouldn't be put through this!" Emma joked.

Danny tightened his hold around her waist and kissed her neck softly, "But then we wouldn't be together and I don't really like that idea."

Emma giggled, "Oh Danny, we would've found a way to be together, you know that."

Sam fake-gagged, "Come on guys, I'm sitting right here!" Emma smirked.

"What's the big deal! We're enjoying our time together while were alive." Emma snuggled back into Danny's warm embrace, "Or at least one of us is."

Danny kissed her cheek lightly, "You're as alive as me and Sam, you know that Emma!"

Emma sighed quietly, "I know but not in the literal term."

Sam smiled, "That doesn't matter to us Emma. We're all your friends, dead or alive." Emma grinned at the two and sunk farther into Danny's lap comfortably.

"Thanks guys. I'm glad I've got you, both of you." The other two smiled back at Emma. "Now what are we going to do about the blood?" The teens blinked at her comment.

"Huh?" Sam asked.

Emma gestured to the window, "The town is painted red, red, red! What are we gonna do about that?"

Danny and Sam looked appalled, "Lie?"

Emma rolled her eyes, "That doesn't work all the time! The whole town is bloody and it reaches far out into the desert! What are we going to do?"

Sam panted in the sunlight and dropped the rake she'd been using to cover up the bloody dirt with more dry dirt. "Can we stop now, we've been at this for an hour!"

Danny looked pained as he raked dirt over his blood, "We're almost done Sam! You and Emma just have to finish those two alleys before everyone wakes up!" He stood back and paced over the new dry dirt that covered the bloody mess.

Emma heard people stirring in the building beside her, "Hurry Sam!" Sam grabbed the rake and the two girls rushed to finish. They slumped against the wall as people started streaming out of the buildings on either side, heading towards the smell of breakfast.

"They don't even notice." Emma smiled and pushed off the wall and headed towards where the food was as Danny trudged off to the Saloon as well, Sam following closely behind.

Emma gently pat his back and he smiled at her, still sore. "Man, I am wiped." Danny said quietly as the found a table. When they sat Dash passed by and shoved Danny's hat down over his eyes and Danny tugged it off and glared at him.

"Hey Fentina, you weren't in bed this morning! Sneak off again to stay with your little girlfriend?" Dash taunted as the other jocks laughed.

Danny gripped the handle of one of his guns, growling and glaring at the large teen and Emma stopped him and wrapped her arms around his waist and nuzzled his neck lightly and looked up at the other boys. "Yes he did, Dash, and we had a good time! Jealous?"

Dash blushed lightly and scowled, "No! Stupid losers, c'mon guys, let's get something to eat." Danny smirked as he watched them leave.

"Thanks Emma, but you know that was a lie." Danny smiled at her as she continued to eat.

"Of course, but they don't know that do they?" She winked at him light-heartedly, "Tomorrow is our last day here before we head home. I'm gonna miss this place, despite what that Lunette is putting us through."

Sam nodded, and pointed at her female friend with her fork, "She's right! I never thought I'd miss a place with this much sun." Danny and Emma laughed and Sam continued, "I mean, look at me! I'm almost tan!" Sam laughed along with her friends and they smiled happily, despite the bad things going on around them.

Emma grinned, "I'm dead, I didn't know I could tan!" Her friends chuckled and nodded and Danny smiled.

"I'm only half-dead, so I thought it was like an SPF one million!" They all grinned and began comparing their tanned arms and laughing.

"At least we don't have those stupid sunglasses tans, where you can still see the lenses!" Sam pointed out and they all laughed again, obviously thinking about Paulina, who snuck out her sunglasses and was left with embarrassing tan lines.

The three finished eating and went out of the Saloon and Danny slumped against a pole and Emma and Sam sat on the porch steps. Emma leaned against Danny's leg slightly and he smiled down at her as the hot sun bare down on them.

Danny tugged to the front edge of his hat and glanced up at the sky where some vultures were circling, though not of the ghostly variety. Of course they'd smell my blood; it's probably all over the place. Danny thought, unamused.

Emma was watching the birds as well, circling slowly in the sky as a couple others joined the ravenous wake, searching for what was presumably dead. "What do you think Lunette will try next?" Emma asked absent-mindedly as she watched the sky.

Danny shrugged, "She's probably realizing we're leaving soon and will pull her ace in the hole, if anything."

"Cathartes aura." Sam said suddenly and her two friends looked at her and she rolled her eyes, "Turkey vultures." She said, pointing to the birds which were now landing to roost on buildings nearby.

Danny looked confused, "What does that have to do with Lunette's next plan?"

"It doesn't," Sam said, "I was just wondering where I'd seen those birds before and I remembered that it was a Cathartes aura, a Turkey Vulture, because I found a taxidermy one in my attic."

Danny gave Sam a look and Sam put up her hands defensively and Danny rolled his eyes. "U-um, guys."

"What?" Sam and Danny asked in unison and looked over at Emma, who was looking at the wake of twenty vultures and buzzards that were perched on the buildings on either side of them, their beady eyes watching intently.

"Woah…" Danny said quietly.

"Those are definitely not stuffed." Sam muttered and the three teens stood slowly Emma and Danny pulling out their guns as they backed up to the door.

"Y-you don't think..?" Emma asked as Danny tried to open the Saloon door.

"It's stuck!" Danny told them as he pushed on it desperately and ten more vultures flew down and landed on the buildings surrounding them.

"It couldn't be Lunette, could it? I-I mean, there's so many!" Sam said nervously as the birds seem to inch closer.

Suddenly all the vultures flew at them, talons at the ready as the birds began to claw at their flesh violently, Emma and Sam screaming as they tried to cover their faces with their arms. Danny and Emma tried to shoot them hurriedly, but their bullets had little effect on the ugly creatures biting and clawing at every piece of bare skin they could reach.

"Help! Help us! Let us in! help!" They screamed and banged on the door frantically and finally someone let them in with the flurry of vultures chasing them, swooping around the large inside of the Saloon making people scream and duck under the tables.

"Sense and Sensibility, what's going on!" Lancer screamed and ducked as a vulture nearly took his head off and he scrambled under a table beside Mikey who was shaking like a leaf. Jane tugged Sam away to safety, ducking the huge birds.

Danny and Dash were beating off the black-feathered tormentors with lunch trays as Emma began shooting them again from atop a table, adding ghost energy to the bullets, making them finally affective.

The vultures just kept coming back, more and more flying through the door to the fight. Dash tossed Kwan a food tray and he whacked a vulture into the wall where it sunk to the ground. Emma jumped off the table and tackled Danny, a vulture's claws just missing his head by less than an inch.

The two crashed into the table next to that one with a pained cry. Standing shakily, they went back to pounding the vultures, Emma shooting them with her ghost-powers enhanced gun.

Mr. Viper pulled out a shotgun from the Saloon's bar and shot one of the vultures and it practically exploded in a shower of blood and feathers. "Get down!" he bellowed and the four teens battling the birds dropped to the ground and Mr. Viper pumped the gun and shot another and another, bird bodies falling all over.

They heard Paulina scream when one exploded next to her, showering her in blood. Then in a flurry of wings and feathers, the birds swarmed out the exit, leaving almost fifteen bird bodies behind, while taking some for what they could only assume was a noontime snack.

Once the birds were gone, people began crawling out from under their tables, some shaking, others looking disgustedly at the carcasses that now lay across their plates and seats. Emma huffed and helped Danny back up and looking around at their scratched and bitten classmates.

"It was like The Birds except with vultures and not crows and stuff!" Sam yelled, running over to her friends.

Emma rolled her eyes, "Not now Sam." She said, wiping her face of blood specks from the corpse of the buzzard that sat next to them. Sam poked the thing with her foot and Emma pulled her away, "Oh come on Sam, that's gross!"

Danny shuddered and felt the urge to kick the dead bird into the wall annoyedly. Danny tossed the food tray he was using to fight the birds with to the side and Mr. Viper walked up to the teens holding the shotgun at his side. "Does any of you kids know what in sam hill just happened?"

They shook their heads, "We just saw the vultures circling outside and then they landed on the buildings around us," Emma began.

"And then they just attacked us for no reason!" Sam finished, fixing her hair, annoyed. In the background, Paulina threw up and Sam winced at the noise.

Emma sighed and fixed the ribbon in her hair as well, "What will we be doing today, Mister Viper?"

Mr. Viper smiled, "We're going to be teaching all of you how to shoot a target with a gun, obviously, one of these replicas. I'll be giving ya'll different bullets than the blood-tips that way we can be more exact about where you hit on the target!"

This announcement seemed to cheer everyone up a little bit after shuffling through the remains of the birds as the unfortunate employees cleaned up the mess. Jane took Paulina away to give her something for her stomach as the rest of the class was taken to get cleaned up and get ready for the gun lessons.

Emma smiled as she washed off her face in her personal washbasin in her room, first at the thought of Sam forcing Paulina to wash her face, then because Mr. Viper was going to hold a competition of sorts, to see who would be "the best gunman in the west".

Emma chuckled, oh how she wanted to win! She knew Danny would be gunning for it as well, no pun intended. She grinned, A little friendly competition never hurt anybody. She changed out of her dress and slipped into the jeans and shirt, tugging on her boots and setting her cowboy hat on her head. She clipped her gun holsters to her belt and put the guns in and smiled before pausing in the mirror then heading downstairs.

She stepped out into the sun, thankful for the hat on her head before strolling over to where Danny and Sam waited for her. "So it's in agreement, the remake of the movie Kaw earlier is because of Lunette, right?" Sam said quietly as they walked alongside their classmates.

"No doubt," Emma replied, "But we need a plan, that was certainly no ace in the hole if you ask me."

Danny nodded, "I agree. There's more to this movie, those were just the previews."

Emma and Sam nodded and they joined their peers along the fence, facing some targets in the distance. "Alright, now that ya'll `re here, time for ya to choose your weapon!" Mr. Viper shouted over the teens.

Emma and Danny hung back as Mr. Viper tossed them two little bags with the new bullets for them to use as Sam went up to retrieve a weapon. Emma smiled at Danny, "Ready for this, cowboy?" She crossed her arms.

He grinned and nodded, "Primed and ready for anything, ma'am." He said with a tip of his hat and they grinned at one another, "And yer goin' down!" he added.

"Bring it Fast-Shootin' Fenton!" Emma challenged and she turned and ran and he chased her as they ran around laughing. When he caught her he grabbed her around the waist.

"I got you now, Nightingale." He said into her shoulder and he gently turned her head and gave her a kiss.

"It's just like watching the real Fast-Shootin' Fenton and his Nightingale!" Jane said from beside the couple and Danny and Emma jumped a little and broke apart, blushing. Jane laughed, "Sorry didn't mean to startle you."

Danny and Emma mumbled an "it's okay" before he released her and they went to their place along the fence and drew their old revolvers, replacing the old bullets with new ones and firing at the targets, each time, they both hit the bull's-eyes. Mr. Viper went along the line of students, advising them. "Hey! No horseplay! Those bullets may not be real, but these modified ones still pack a punch!" He yelled at two boys who were pretending to shoot each other.

Emma glanced at Danny and Danny glanced at Emma and they grinned at each other and crouched lower seeing who could get more rounds in the bull's-eye in a minute. Mr. Viper and Jane watched from the side, impressed with how quickly they were reloading their guns and the accuracy of their mark.

Emma and Danny compared numbers and Danny scowled and Emma did a little victory dance. Then Mr. Viper announced that the competition was going to begin soon, so they decided to save their bullets, they'd need them.

Emma looked down the street at Mikey, who was quivering and clutching his gun in both hands and she smirked. Emma smiled a bit and tossed her gun back and forth, "Hmm, a head shot is too easy, I should go soft on him." She muttered and Mikey shakily held up the gun and yelped when it went off with a bang and Emma just stepped out of the way easily.

She twirled the gun again and caught it and BANG! BANG! BANG! down went Mikey with a scream. Emma smiled and went off the street onto a porch and Mikey was sat on the loser's bench.

Danny stepped up across from Jeremy who grinned and tipped his hat to his friend. Danny gave him a two fingered salute before walking their paces and facing each other. Jeremy let off a couple close shots but Danny was untouchable and he easily took out Jeremy in one shot and Jeremy sighed but shook hands with Danny and went to go sit with Emma on the side and she grinned at him and leaned against him.

"You're going down." She whispered with a smile, not looking at him.

"Like I'm gonna let that happen." Danny muttered, wrapping an arm around her waist.

She smirked. "You'd be too busy staring at me to notice the bullets flying your way," she whispered back, unbuttoning a button on the front of her shirt and he finally turned his eyes to her and blushed at the angle of his sight before hesitantly looking away.

"N-no, I'm not." He stammered in reply quietly and Emma grinned.

"We'll see, Danny, we'll see."

In the dying light of day the last match was about to begin and Danny and Emma faced off in the darkening street. They smiled at each other and Emma grinned, "You ready for this?"

"As I'll ever be." Danny challenged and they drew their guns and turned and walked the twenty paces away and turned to face their opponent and Danny shot first and Emma dodged and rolled behind some barrels and she jumps up and let off a couple rounds but Danny dodged them and shot back making Emma drop to the dirt.

She huffed and pulled her hair back and tipped off her hat with the barrel of her gun. She could tell he was looking for any sign of movement and she pulled off her hat and tossed it through the air like a Frisbee and her fell for it and shot the hat and she rolled from behind the barrels and let off a couple more shots and he barely dodged them and Emma ran behind the edge of a building as people cheered for the gunslinger they supported.

Emma scrambled up the side of the general store and ran along the roof shooting at Danny, jump over the gaps in buildings as he ran along the ground, dust flying up behind him where the bullets ricochet off the ground.

He stopped and shot at Emma who rolled behind a chimney and huffed. She wished she'd saved her hat as she sun beat down on her. She peered around the chimney and reloaded her revolver.

Danny grinned as Emma leaped off the roof and began to shoot. He whistled and out of the stable at the end of the street, Shadow galloped towards him and he jumped on as the horse passed. Emma tried to duck but was too late and as the horse passed and Danny grabbed her and pulled her on. She then grabbed his wrists and tied them together from the back, something he wasn't expecting and she tossed him off the horse and he fell face-first in the dirt.

Emma leaped off and was about to shoot when Danny flipped over and grabbed her gun with his feet and tossed it aside and he jumped up and struggled to untie the not, the spectators laughing on the porches as he ran around dodging the bullets as he untied himself.

When he broke free he drew his guns and shot back at the modern cowgirl and she dodged it and pulled the top off a barrel, using it like a shield as she ran across the street and ducked behind another building.

Danny waited, watching carefully for any sign of Emma as the girl circled around a couple buildings. He thought he saw her and shot, but she was gone. Then, unexpectedly, shots rang out and Danny barely dodged them as Emma crawled out an upper story window from one of the buildings.

He shot at her and she slid down, the bullets barely missing her and she rolled as she hit the ground to absorb the impact and got so close that she grabbed the barrels of his guns and forced it down and stepped close, grabbing him by the back of his neck and kissing him and he dropped his weapons and wrapped his arms around her waist. Then she slipped her gun up between them without him noticing, pressed it beneath his chin and shot.

The force of the blow was enough to knock him back a foot or two and send him to the dirt. A big red splotch was on his chin and dripping down his neck, a look of distinct bewilderment splayed across his face. Emma twirled her guns and put them in their holsters and grinned. There was a loud roar of cheering and Emma lifted both her arms triumphantly as Danny stood with a grunt and rubbed at the fake blood.

Emma smiled at Danny. "You fought the good fight, Danny." She patted his shoulder and he rubbed his neck.

"That stung!" He said, looking dejected and Emma smiled softly.

"Sorry, I'll make it up to you later. Promise."

"You better." Danny replied teasingly and he heard some people demanding Mr. Viper if what Emma did was legal and he said yes and Emma and Danny laughed.

Behind Lancer's and Mr. Viper's backs money was being exchanged and Emma smiled and leaned on Danny and lifted a fist in the air and shouted, "GIRL POWER!"

Then surprisingly, almost all of the girls there raised their fists and yelled back, "GIRL POWER!"

This was enough to startle a good portion of the male population of Casper High and Emma and Danny laughed. Then the students started leaving their perches on the porches and heading to where ever they were going and Sam came over and high-fived Emma, giving Danny a bereft pat on his shoulder.

Jane gave Emma a congratulatory hug and Paulina trailed over with Star beside her, "Way to go Emma!" She said with a smile that immediately turned to a frown, "But don't think this means we're friends, mm'kay?" Emma rolled her eyes as the two it girls walked away.

Jane raised an eyebrow, "Wow, stuck up much?" Sam snorted in amusement at her cousin's remark.

"Yeah, like I'd wanna be friends with that psycho chick." Emma huffed and placed her hands on her hips, flipping her hair. They stood there and smiled and Danny slipped his arms around her waist and she blushed and smiled, "I'm not pleased you shot my hat!"

He laughed, "Well sorry if you tricked me! You're the one who knew I'd be looking for your hat!"

She gently elbowed his gut jokingly, "What was that move with your horse that you pulled! What was with that, it was like you were kidnapping me!" They laughed and Danny slid his arms tighter around her middle.

"And maybe I was, ever think about that?" He laughs and Emma grins.

The girl who beat him scoffed, "Like you could handle all this! And you say that after I kicked your sorry tail to next Tuesday."

"Sorry, kid but she did," Mr. Viper stepped up, trailing Shadow by the horse's reigns. "How did you get this horse to come to you just by whistling!"

Danny grinned and shrugged, "I guess it's just a connection, I guess." Emma nods in agreement.

"Simpler than calling their name, that's for sure. I doubt if I was about to die that I wouldn't have enough breath to yell Desert Rose!" On cue, Emma's horse rested it's chin on her shoulder and Emma smiled and pat the side of the horse's face affectionately.

Mr. Viper sighed, "Jane, get Desert Rose, we need to figure out how these horses are getting out of their stalls!" Jane grabbed Desert Rose's reigns and followed her father back to the stables with the reluctant horses.

Sam crossed her arms as the set. "What happened to Lunette's attack? She has to know we're leaving soon enough!"

Emma looked at the sky, "You don't think that Lunette is saving her energy for something bigger than the Birds."

Danny waved it away casually, "Psh, she's not that powerful." He crossed his arms then open one eye uncertainly, "Right?"

Emma looked unhappy, "If she could take over my body and hold a physical form at the same time, she's that powerful."

Danny gently grabbed her arm, looking in her eyes, "She overshadowed you! When!"

Emma pulled away from Danny's grasp, "A couple days ago, she nearly made me shoot myself over Nightingale's diary. She still thinks we're Fast-Shootin' Fenton and Nightingale."

"That's because you guys are." Sam said simply and Emma and Danny looked at her like she'd lost it, "Really, you are! You've got the horses, the guns, the skill. You have each other Emma sings at the Saloon!" Sam gestured to Emma then huffed and looked at them, "You're practically the same people!"

Danny shook his head, "Sam, we aren't them! We can't be, there's a near-century time difference! Beside's they're both dead!"

"Oh, like you aren't?" Sam said, putting her hands on her hips.

Danny waved it away, "That's beside the point; we have two different lives, us and them!"

"It's true. Besides we'd never heard of them, never heard of Lunette either, until we came here." Emma agreed.

Sam sighed, "Fine, believe what you want. Maybe it would have been safer for you guy's to go to Vlad's mansion. At least we know his plans." Danny patted his friend's shoulder and the trio started down the empty street towards the Saloon and the scent of dinner.

A raven tilted its head as it watched the three teens stroll down the road, not a curious sight as it sat on its building's perch. It nearly dropped the precious eyeball in its mouth as it gave a squaw and flew away, careful to keep the eye facing the teens.

It flew to the graveyard and landed on a ghostly arm and gently placed the eyeball in the feminine palm of the girl's hand. She wrapped her fingers around the soft sphere and jerked her arm so the raven would fly away.

Lunette tossed her hair away from her face and used her fingers to widen her empty socket and placing the eyeball in. She swiveled it around to reconnect it and smiled. "Not to worry, my love. We will be together soon." She faded away into the blackness leaving only the old gravestone where she had sat.

A/N: Finally! I told you I'd be writing more now! Hah! This was painful after finally getting over my nasty writers block. Great to start on a fresh slate. Can't wait for next chapter! ~Mimm