I've had a couple one shots saved on my computer, a few of which I put on deviantart, but I figured they'd be better suited to here. This is the first one, so please enjoy :)

...

I never thought hard about how I would die; you never really like to consider the possibilities, especially when your profession could throw you into a life-or-death situation at the drop of a hat. You just get used to pushing the thought far out of your mind, so far away you can barely see it, at least until that moment when you're staring into the dead, murderous, unfeeling eyes of a creature yearning to see you bloody and cold. That feeling, when everything seems to stop in preparation for your death and the world stares you down for your last, fleeting breaths—that…sensation has hit me hard a few times; it's only happened in the worst thicket of ruthless ghost attacks, that I've felt how close at hand death is for a ghost hunter. The feeling is unreal, unnerving, and all-consuming, and yet, despite the risks and the dangers, I can't help but know it's my obligation to fight, for my town, for my husband, for my children. I would accept death anytime if it meantprotecting them all. Maybe I keep things running at home; maybe Jack isn't the most competent father in the world, but he loves our children like no one's business, and he could take care of them if the worst came to pass.

They could forgive me for dying.

And, I suppose, that was the last thought running through my mind before it happened, with my eyes transfixed on the glinting steel as the ghost thrust it backwards, ready to impale the sword clean through my body. I tugged helplessly at my leg, crushed beneath the fallen bookcase of the classroom that had been ripped to shreds.

"Say goodnight, ghost hunter!" The specter's wicked eyes grew wider, sanity slipping from his face as he cracked a wide, demonic grin, cackling in a way that sent shivers down my spine.

They'll forgive me…

"NO!"

The scream seemed to shake the building, dying instantly in the confusion. His voice was silenced; the sickening squelch of metal slicing through flesh split the air, delicate, glass-like shattering overlapping the noise as fragments of the smashed object tinkered to the ground.

Breath froze in my throat, my eyes trembling, lids twitching with the added effort to keep themselves shut against the pain that was sure to come.

They'll forgive me…

One second passed—then two—until I had to crack an eye open, inane curiosity begging to know why I wasn't bleeding out on the floor.

My eyes watered with the fear and effort to remain shut, and a few blinks shed the blurring tears from my eyes, dragging the room back into focus, in time for my world to stop at the sight before me. A strained, horrified gasp swept past my lips, eyes going wide as I took in the sight. The steel had paused inches from my face, my eyes not quite able to focus on it, its tip dripping with a sickly, red-green residue. I traced the edge backward, my trembling gaze settling on the unmoving figure before me, his back to my eyes, with the remnants of a green ectoplasmic ghost-shield shattered at his feet. As though he hadn't realized, the boy still stuck his hands out, frozen where they hung, protection shattered under the strength of the creature's steel sword.

I couldn't breathe, couldn't move, couldn't find the bearings to think. Instead I laid there transfixed, as the sword thrust itself further in, the white-haired boy coughing wetly in response, splatters of his ectoplasmic blood dripping to the floor below. The swords tip scraped gently against my face, my frozen body unable to react as it drew a slight stream of blood from the bridge of my nose. The glinting steel traced down my gaping mouth, falling in turn as the young boy collapsed on the floor, hus glowing hand clutched firmly around the sword's hilt. With his free, badly shaking hand, he unclipped the thermos from his waist band, suddenly blocking it from view as he aimed it at the ghost ahead of him.

"Don't you…touch her…" he rasped, voice barely there as the attacker let loose a string of curses, disappearing in a flash of icy blue light.

The sword still lingered in existence, master gone, hilt clattering to the ground as the boy fell to his hands and knees. The tip jutted clean through his back, shaking with the sputtering coughs that convulsed his torso, blood dripping from his mouth. One, powerful yank rendered the sword free from his chest, closely followed by a tortured, painful yelp, until finally, the ghost child let his arms give out completely, crumbling to the floor with jagged, shuddering breaths.

"S-sorry…" He wheezed, chest barely rising from my vantage point.

What?

Adrenaline surged through my body, desperate yanking and twisting finally freeing my leg from the toppled shelf as I crawled, despite the shattered ankle, the few feet of distance to the prone figure. Some motherly instinct took over, forcing me to flip him onto his back, his acid green eyes, dulling with each passing second, finally meeting mine.

"Sorry…" he wheezed again, shuddering coughs trying to clear the pooling blood from his airway.

…What?

I fought desperately to answer him, forcing any sort of response to my lips, but the breath and strength to continue died in my throat; in all honesty I had no response for the terrified, fading irises trembling on the floor. Instead I kneeled there, hands supporting my weight as I struggled to understand what I was seeing. It was wrong, so wrong, my thoughts gone as it left me to lie there with my mouth gaping open, completely dumbstruck. Comprehension tried to force its way to my mind, thoughts reeling as I took in the dying (dying?) form of my sworn enemy. He was the boy who attacked our mayor, who stole and destroyed and wreaked havoc on this town. He was the ghost who'd attacked me, attacked my husband, attacked my family. Yet somehow, for some reason, he took the brunt of the attack that surely should have killed me.

"Why?" I whispered, eyes still unable to believe what they saw. "Why'd you…save me?"

"….I'm sorry…" His eyes fluttered shut for a moment, wrenching themselves back open as he fought desperately to remain conscious. "So sorry…Mom…"

The blood running through my veins turned to ice. He has a mother? The thought shook me to my core, realizing with a knot in my stomach how closely he resembled my own son, my own Danny who should be here. I whipped my head around, taking in the cowering students huddled by the wall, and the equally terrified teacher still guarding them. Jack, Danny, and his two friends were missing, though, having sprung into action to help with the sudden school invasion in a display of courage I never would have expected from the younger three. But they hadn't yet returned.

"Sweetie, I'm not your mother," I tried reasoning with the dying child.

This isn't right, ghosts can't die…

"I'm sorry, Mom," he repeated, eyes losing their focus. "Please don't be mad…" One shuddering breath forced its way past his lips, acting as a pause in his words. "I'm really sorry…Please don't be mad at me…"

"I'm sure your mom isn't mad at you," I tried soothing, watching in horror as the child's ectoplasm pooled around my knees, seeming to sap the life from him as though he were human. "She should be proud…" I added, tears starting to prick my eyes as they drank in how much Phantom looked like my own Danny.

"I wanted to tell you…" His voice was growing weaker, and suddenly, one blood-stained hand found its way into mine, wrapping loosely around it as he tried to maintain his grasp.

Tell me what?

"DANNY!"

The noise wrenched my head back to the door, watching one of our ectoguns clatter to the floor, slipping from the Goth girl's grip as she ran, nearly stumbling, to the ghost boy's side. Tears clearly stained her cheeks as she crumbled beside me, her hands hovering over the oozing wound with no way of stopping it. Tucker followed closely behind, mouth gaping open as he fell to his knees, like Sam had, next to Phantom.

I watched in confusion, taking in how readily they came to his aid. Did they know him?

"Damn it…" Sam choked, her tears dripping down onto her trembling arms. "No, damn it!" The pain in her voice grated against my ears, and I could only watch in pity as she wrapped her arms around the ghost's chest. Lost, shuddering sobs wracked her body, completely at a loss for what she could do.

I watched in surprise as Phantom's eyes dulled further in a mirrored sort of pain, his hand trying to tug itself from mine to comfort her, but he no longer had the strength to do that.

"Sam, I…Please…don't cry," his words were muffled, strained, suddenly interrupted by a wave of spluttering coughs that dotted his chin with ectoplasmic blood. "D-dying's not so bad…I should know…" With that he almost, almost, seemed to chuckle.

"No, you're not dying!" She suddenly snapped, tearstained head wrenched violently from the boy's chest. Her face glowed with a misplaced sort of anger, eyes seething with contempt. She pressed her palm against the stab wound, applying pressure with no real hope of stopping the flow of ectoplasm. "Because…" Her voice started quivering, strength rushing from her eyes. "Because…" until her composure completely shattered, lip trembling as agony overtook her expression. "Because you're taking me to that stupid freshman dance in May! You are…A-and you couldn't do that if you're…if you're not…" A strangled sob ripped past her lips, words choking themselves as Phantom took one shuddering, steadying breath.

"Thought you…didn't want to go…"

"I didn't!" she sobbed, desperate eyes drinking in the slowly fading light in his, "but I…I c-changed my mind…because I wanted to go with you…" Her voice was gone, dead, as she started to lose the will .to continue. "After you asked…I realized I just wanted to be with you!"

…

The conversation jarred me, an uncomfortable sort of confusion settling in my stomach as my eyes darted between the two. Danny had been planning for months to ask her to that dance. From the corner of my eye I caught Jack making his way to my side, confusion settling over his features as he wrapped his arms over my shoulder. I glanced up into his eyes, then back down to the other two. Three out of four…

"Sam, Tucker," I started weakly, a sort of wrongness I couldn't identify twisting in my gut. "Weren't you two with Danny?..."

"We should have been…" Sam choked out, grabbing Phantom's hand from the ground as she stroked it against her cheek. "I-I'm so sorry, Danny…We won't leave you again…"

Phantom closed his eyes for a moment, head rocking slightly in consent, as his fingers brushed weakly against her cheek. "Would have…asked you again sooner, Sam…if I knew you'd say yes…" Another weak chuckle wheezed from his airway, coughing growing weaker as he couldn't quite clear the pooling blood. "I'd have asked a thousand times over…if it meant going to that dance with you…" The light left his eyes, trembling pupils stilling themselves as they lost their focus. "…I love you…" His eyes were suddenly squeezed shut, teeth gritting as his back arched against the ground. A small, terrified moan swept past his lips, as the blood started pooling more quickly beneath him. His shoulders relaxed, dead eyes swimming in the onslaught of tears as he shut them tightly. "…Don't leave, please…" He whispered, cracking open his glowing green eyes, hand tightening against her tearstained cheek. Honest fear had worked its way into his small voice, tears dripping down the sides of his face as he shut his eyes again against the pain.

"We won't," Tucker whispered, wiping a stream of tears from under his glasses.

"We'll…be right here." Sam sniffed, a strangled sob wrenching itself from her chest. "I love you too, Danny! I don't know…why I didn't tell you earlier. I'm so sorry…"

"But…Danny…Where's Danny?" I whispered, confusion shrinking my voice to nothing as I threw my gaze back and forth between the kids and Jack, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in my ankle. "Where's Danny?"

Jack shook his head weakly, offering the only response of the three.

"So…sorry, Mom…" Phantom wheezed again, his eyes, nearly gone, making their way to mine. "Don't be…mad…Please…"

No…

"Please forgive me…"

No…

"Didn't mean to die…now…o-or in the accident."

"No…" I breathed, wrenching the limp hand up to my face, cradling it in both palms. "Oh dear god no!"

Slowly, weakly, his eyes started to shut, no resistance coming to meet his surrender as his body lost its rigid strain, relaxing as his hand slipped from mine.

"Danny?..." I whispered, tears spilling onto my cheeks as I watched Phantom—no, as I watched Danny, die before my eyes.

Can't be…

"No…" The words slipped past my lips, my mouth quivering, my eyes going wide. "You can't…Y-you're not…"

My voice died out, quieting to just a terrified whimper as I realized just how cold the pooling ectoplasm felt, just how much had had soaked into my knees.

No…

Danny…

…My Danny

My breath caught in my throat, my heart beating faster as I saw what happened. What really happened. What he'd really done to save my life.

"No…Danny, I…" I whispered, the corners of my mouth upturned in a strained smile as I pulled his hand from the floor. "You don't have to worry…I'm not mad…"

I couldn't see anymore, could hardly breathe, the world crashing around me, growing dimmer in tune to Danny's fading glow.

"I love you…But I…" My voice quivered, one hand tucking a loose strand of hair behind his ear, "d-don't forgive you…"

A shuddering sob wrenched past my lips, tears streaming as I realized I wasn't going to wake up from this nightmare. "I can't forgive you…

"Because…Danny…You haven't-…haven't done anything wrong..."

I had to shut my eyes against the sudden flash of light that engulfed my vision, fading to sparks behind my eyelids as I cracked one eye open.

"There's nothing to forgive…."

Laying on the ground, his white shirt quickly soaking up the steadily pooling blood, was the frail, black-haired boy I would have sacrificed the world for. His face, drained of color, looked even frailer now, so weak, so prone, but I couldn't look away.

"I just hope…You'll forgive me, Danny…I'm sorry….

"I'm sorry…"

The last of my composure crumbled. My shuddering, sniffling cries gave way to the growing misery in my heart, swelling to a tortured, uncontrolled, jagged sob that ripped from my mouth, my whole world gone—destroyed—in his lifeless body.

"It's okay…I forgive you."