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Part 6 of static
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2024-12-21
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2025-07-06
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7/?
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purgatory

Summary:

The final instalment in the static series, for now.

READ PREVIOUS WORKS FIRST

Notes:

hi hi!
it’s been a while since i updated static (sorry not sorry), but i present this fic as an apology :D
i plan for this to have quite a bit of lore, so (if procrastination and writer’s block don’t get me again) buckle in for the ride :D
and yes, this is the last planned fic in the series. maybe at some point in the future i’ll add more, but for now this is the last you’ll see of my silly little universe.

on a better note! guys i got beta readers :D
shoutout to jasmine and floof from my discord for helping with some tags and beta reading!
link to discord will be in the end notes!

with that, enjoy :D

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1: Insert Cool Chapter Name Here

Summary:

little gang of protagonists :D

Notes:

no tws (i think)!

Chapter Text

The phone rang.

Squiddo hesitated, eyes flickering to the device. Its shrill tone continued to blare through the suddenly silent apartment, all four within staring at it with bated breath - as if waiting for it to explode, or something similar. But it was just a phone, and it only rang.

With cautious movements - why were they all so scared? It was just a phone call. - Squiddo reached out and picked up the receiver.

“Hello?”

Static crackled. Ash, across the room, shrugged.

“Hello, Squiddo Real.”

Squiddo blanched at the use of her full name. She very rarely saw it aside from legal documents - it was highly likely these were the hunters. Taking a deep breath, she set the phone to speaker mode, letting her friends hear the next words.

“We need to talk.”

Across the room, Kab frowned. That voice was familiar, but she couldn’t quite place from where.

“Who are you?”

The phone crackled. Squiddo tapped it lightly against her tabletop, then harder.

Kab’s eyes widened.

“They’re the KITC.”

Everyone else blinked at her. “What?”

“The KITC! That group of guards who were helping us when we invaded the hunter guild headquarters. They called themselves the KITC.” The blue-haired girl pointed at the phone, still in Squiddo’s hand. “I recognise that voice.”

Silence.

“Who said that?”

Stepping forward, Kab grabbed the phone. “Recognise me?”

“You’re that blue-haired girl, aren’t you? The one who was with the Jester.”

“Bingo! Now tell me what you want, or you aren’t getting it.”

“I swear we don’t mean any harm.” Kab could feel Ash raising an eyebrow from across the room. Red began to speak, but the next words from the phone cut him off. “We just want to talk with the Jester.”

Clown hissed, voice low and dangerous. “And what would you want to talk with me about?”

“Branzy.”

The word echoed in the sudden silence. Squiddo glanced at Clown, confused. Red and Ash stood silent sentinels, unmoving, expressions emotionless. Kab opened her mouth, then hesitated.

Clown’s jester mask grinned.

“What about him?”

“How do you know him?”

“This is not the conversation to be had in this form.” The Jester tilted his head. “Why not meet in person, hmm?”

“Very well.”

The words from the phone fizzed into static and humming. Kab glanced at Clown, frowning. Red sighed, turning away, and Ash stood silent for a few moments more. Squiddo hid her worry well, but all in the room had known her long enough to pierce that facade.

 

4C paced the pavement with a worried frown. Cube was equally nervous, worrying at the hem of his shirt with jagged nails.

“Why did we agree to meet, face-to-face, with literally three Ancient spirits, again?”

Mid sighed at Jaron’s outburst. “The Jester proposed it, anyway. And we need info on where Branzy went.” She stared off into the distance, where none of the others could see the fear in her eyes. “You know the guild says he left, but they wouldn’t let him, and he didn’t even say goodbye. Something must have happened to him. Talking to the Jester is the only way to do this right now.”

“Well, let’s hope we don’t die. Come on, do you really think Branzy is still alive? For all we know, he’s most likely - ”

“Jaron.” The man stilled at Cube’s words. “Just - don’t.”

“I didn’t expect to see you again.”

All four members of the KITC jumped at the sudden words. Mid turned to see a familiar blue-haired girl - Kab, if memory served - grinning at them, standing alone on the pavement.

“I thought we were going to talk with the Jester.”

“Bold of you to assume he’s not here.”

Mid felt Jaron shift worriedly behind her, but she paid him no mind.

“Very well then. We need to talk about Branzy.”

Kab nodded. “Yes, I know. I was there when you made the phone call, you know.” Her grin didn’t waver. “So. Tell me how you met Branzy, and we’ll let Clown finish the story.”

Mid sighed, and adjusted her crown. “Fine.”

 

Squiddo pulled a book down from her shelf. She huffed at the title, then tossed it aside to land in a pile of similarly discarded books.

“Where did I leave that?”

She sighed, dragging her fingers along the spines of the other books. All of them were distinctly occult in nature, be they on spirits or how to summon them, but all this knowledge had long since been interred into the hunter’s brain.

No, she was looking for a certain topic that one wouldn’t often find in a ghost hunter’s residence.

“Ah, there it is.”

Squiddo grinned, pulling down a slim book from where it was wedged between two others. Her smile faded, though, when she took in the cover.

She hesitated.

Do I really want to do this?

Yes.

Squiddo dragged a hand down her face, sucking in a breath. Hopefully this wouldn’t get anyone killed.

The letters on the book cover gleamed golden.

⍑𝙹∴ ℸ ̣ 𝙹 ᒷ ̇/╎ℸ ̣ ∷ᒷᔑꖎ╎ℸ ̣ || - ᔑリ ╎リℸ ̣ ᒷ∷↸╎ᒲᒷリᓭ╎𝙹リᔑꖎ ℸ ̣ ∷ᔑ⍊ᒷꖎꖎᒷ∷’ᓭ ⊣⚍╎↸ᒷ

Chapter 2: In Which Squiddo Meets A New Character

Summary:

new character :D don’t check tags please

Notes:

hi.

uh. happy new year?

shoutout to my beta readers jasmine and floof for chasing me to post this :D

also to the two of you camping this. have fun!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

The all-too-familiar lines of a pentagram traced in chalk along the ground caught the last flickering rays of the setting sun, peeking over cluttered rooftops and through Squiddo’s open window. She took a deep breath, glancing nervously over her shoulder even though she knew Kab and Clown were out questioning the KITC, with Ash and Red tagging along - even though if they were present they would’ve stopped her long ago.

They wouldn’t be wrong to do so. Squiddo knew firsthand the power of the occult, but whatever had brought her back to life in the hunter base was something else entirely.

Yes, she knew she’d been brought back to life. The others may have thought the blade had simply pierced too low, or that their attempts at healing had worked, but she was fully aware that, for some period of time, her soul had left her body. And whatever had forced it back in was like nothing she’d dealt with before - coming from someone who’d banished one spirit of Old and befriended three. Squiddo was no stranger to spectral power, but perhaps this wasn’t a mere spectre.

Her eyes glowed, bright white, and sometimes she wondered if it was a ghost or human who stared back at her in the mirror.

“Focus, Squiddo.”

Shaking herself out of her reverie, the former ghost hunter traced her finger along the last line of text in the book. She frowned at the ancient tongue it was written in, then gently put it aside.

She’d used ritual circles and suchlike many times in the past, of course. They were among the more common magical implements any hunter would use, even the most inexperienced. Heck, the hunters had used it to bind Ash, Red, and Clown when they’d first come for the spirits. She could probably trace one with her eyes closed.

But this wasn’t any basic circle she was drawing now. Ordinarily, such circles were used to bind spirits to restrict their power and open a temporary pathway to banish them back to, well, wherever spirits came from. Squiddo, being a rather unconventional hunter, had once redirected the channeled energy to communicate with Ash through an astral medium.

In theory, if she could open a portal into the spirit realm -

A crash of thunder.

The candles flickered, and Squiddo braced herself.

“Well, well, well.”

Gleaming gold, royal purple, a cocky grin.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the human world.”

 

Mid stared at the blue-haired girl in front of her, waiting to see what she had to say. Kab picked at her fingernails indifferently, looking up when she realised Mid had stopped talking.

“Well?”

Kab shrugged, turning to her left. “Well?”

All four members of the KITC jumped back, staring at where the air began to shimmer and warp. Wisps of black smoke congealed into a distinctly jester-shaped form, and Jaron sucked in a breath as Clownpierce materialised.

“Interesting.”

His mask stared down at them, a façade of amusement Mid sensed wasn’t fake. She swallowed her nervousness, meeting his painted gaze.

“We know Branzy, and he never said anything about you. You’ve heard our story. Where do you come in?” She hesitated. “Did you do anything to him?”

The spectre laughed. “Oh, I would never. In fact, I was about to ask the same thing.”

Cube cut in, glancing between the two. “The guild told us he left after a failed mission. But he told us nothing - it’s as if he vanished. We thought maybe a ghost we’d been involved with at some point has come to enact some form of vengeance. Either that, or…”

“You suspect foul play from the guild.”

He nodded. “Exactly.”

Clown hummed. “How about this, then? I, too, wonder what happened to Branzy. You’ve outlined two possibilities: either a spirit, or the guild got to him. Both ways, he’s in danger.” He floated down, almost contemplative lay. “So I propose a truce, of sorts. We work together to figure out what happened to Branzy, then we never see each other again. Win-win. Sounds agreeable?”

Mid glanced back at the others. Jaron’s face was set in a frown, but he nodded. 4C and Cube both had grim determination set on their faces, a willingness to work with he who had once been their foe for a greater cause. She turned back to the still-grinning jester and nodded.

Across the town, two handshakes - a ghost and a hunter; a hunter and a ghost. Alliances formed, truces established, decisions that would reverberate across time to haunt them years later.

But for now, Clown and Mid stared each other down across clasped hands, and Squiddo prayed she hadn’t made a world-shattering mistake with the entity whose palm was pressed against hers.

Notes:

wmembu

 

obligatory discord plug: https://discord.gg/Wwunda8eCp
come join! we have wonderful people, a semi-lore minecraft server, and generally a safe place to chat about stuff :D

Chapter 3: William Afton

Summary:

purple guy

Notes:

appears h e l l o t h e r e

i offer this like six hundred words. it’s short.

on a completely unrelated note, beta readers are so underrated. if any of y’all plan on writing, get a beta reader. they do like half the thinking required /hj
shoutout to jasmine and floof for beta reading!

have a nice chapter :)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

“Hey, have you seen Squiddo recently?”

Ash shrugged, not looking up from where he was prodding at Kab’s phone. “I dunno. She said she had an errand to run, I think.”

The blue-haired girl frowned. “Huh. Could’ve sworn she said she was free for me to come over and chill.”

“You can chill with me instead.”

“Ash, you’re literally trying to text Clown on my phone and impersonate me.”

“/j.”

“I hope both sides of your pillow are warm and mildly damp tonight.”

Red promptly Appeared. “I’ll make sure of it!”

“Fuck you. Both of you.”

Kab laughed.

~—~

“So?”

Mid tapped the table’s surface, where a map was spread out. “Here. Branzy’s last mission was here.”

Clown nodded, leaning slightly forward to peer at the map. “I see.”

Both were in the KITC’s current base of operations, a dingy warehouse on the corner of Westgate and Pavilion. Clown hummed thoughtfully, thinking.

“The last time I saw Branzy was a week before this mission,” the spirit mused. “I don’t see him as the type to vanish. Most likely, he interfered with the wrong spirit, and he is either MIA or - ”

“Yeah,” Mid cut in. “We’ve fully established that there are only two possibilities.”

“Not true. If his disappearance is not the result of spectral forces, it is also fully possible that your hunter guild decided to, ah, “vanish” him, if I may say so. Are there any potential reasons for this?” Clown turned his contemplative gaze to where Mid sat, idly running a hand through her cat’s fur.

“No, there’s no reason for the guild to try to sabotage us - or him in particular. We weren’t the best, but we were certainly an adept squad.”

“Alright then. I’ll look into the spectral side of things to see if there were any spirits that were hunted in that area at that time, or if any of them did anything to Branzy. As for you, investigate the guild. Try to see what you can dig up regarding Branzy.”

Mid nodded, and Clown faded away into a dark miasma.

~—~

“What do you mean, you know how to fix this?”

Squiddo stopped her pacing, turning to where the spirit who’d just spoken lounged midair in a manner that was far too relaxed for her liking. He shrugged, affecting boredom, raising his hand to inspect the nonexistent damage to his purple-painted nails.

“Well, ya know. Those funny eyes you've got. Let’s just say that I have some leads.” He finally looked up at her, grinning.

The orange-haired girl gaped at him for a moment, then crossed the room in quick strides to grab his arm. “Tell me!”

The spirit just smirked, lazily drifting apart into wisps of purple smoke moments before her fingers wrapped around nothingness, reforming next to her. “Now, now. Personal space!” He chuckled.

“And of course, I’m not giving you anything for free. Haven’t your previous life experiences taught you that everything has a cost? That little incident with the hunters, hmm?” Another laugh. Squiddo’s hands balled into fists.

“But we’re friends, so I’ll tack this onto the deal. You work a lil’ bit harder, do a lil’ bit more, and while you’re doing that, I’ll look into my leads on high-beam eyes. Deal?”

Squiddo grumbled something under her breath. “We’re not friends, Wemmbu. But fine.”

Wemmbu grinned, the smile of a man who had the world in his palm and was slowly closing his grip. “Pleasure doing business with you, Squiddo. I can’t wait for our little project to be done.”

Notes:

mhehehehe. purple guy. purple guy doin’ da evil things.

Chapter 4: Ooh, A New Chapter!

Summary:

Revelations and reveal…-ations?

Notes:

hi hi

watch me write 500 word chapters and finish this fic in like fifty chapters

obligatory beta reader shoutout! this chapter is brought to you by jasmine and floof

enjoy!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

The astral plane was an interesting place, Clown mused.

It wasn’t physical, per se. Not quite a vast, empty expanse of nothingness. But for the most part it could be described as such, desolation and dust all that one could see.

The darkness was oft overpowering.

Clown waved a hand, forcing a portal open. As unnerving as it was, even for spirits, the spectral plane was far too convenient an asset to pass up.

He reentered the human world ten paces away from the warehouse Mid had mentioned. The swirling arcana fizzled into nothingness behind him, and Clown felt cold wind wash over his newly corporeal form.

A storm was brewing.

~—~

“So, what’s your offer?”

Wemmbu reclined against nothingness, suspiciously at ease for a spirit trapped within a summoning circle. Squiddo fidgeted nervously, worrying at her sleeves. The spirit sighed.

“If you brought me here, then you want something for me. For the sake of not wasting both of our times, cut to the chase and tell me.”

“I - ” Squiddo hesitated, swallowing her words. Wemmbu cocked his head at her, a portrait of supreme unconcern. “Well? Get on with it.” He straightened back up, bending down to prod at the edges of the circle, and Squiddo couldn’t help the gasp that escaped her when he smudged the runes away.

“Silly girl. Spirit-specific summoning circles aren’t good for containment.” His cocky grin only grew wider. “Since you don’t seem to know what you want, let me offer you something.” Wemmbu’s violet eyes flashed, something dangerous lurking behind his smile, and Squiddo felt a wave of apprehension wash over her. Even so, she knew she needed his help.

“I’ll help you overthrow the ghost hunter guild. Free of charge, in fact! I just need your cooperation and effort.” Something about the deal didn’t sit quite right with Squiddo, but -

Ash, straining against the bars of an astral cage.

Kab, horrified gaze trained upon her as a gun was pressed to her temple.

Clown, ensnared within a ritual circle.

Red, ironically crimson gashes marring his back.

“I’ll do it.” She closed her eyes. “I’ll help you.”

Squiddo didn’t need to look to know that Wemmbu had stalked forward, leaning in close to her. “Perfect,” he whispered, and his exhalations grazed her cheeks. “I’ll give you the plans for what I have in mind. Meet me on the city outskirts - Mount Violaceum.”

With that, the purple ghost swept past her and away, and Squiddo was left wrangling the amalgamation of guilt and fear and hope burning in her chest.

~—~

“Uhh… Ash, any idea what this is?”

Kab frowned down at the mess of chalk staining Squiddo’s floor. Beside her, Ash tensed.

“What? What’s wrong?”

The violet spirit hesitated. “That’s a ritual circle, if I’m not wrong. A summoning circle, to be precise.”

“Squiddo’s up to something.”

He nodded. “If my suspicions are right, then…” he trailed off. Kab seemed to understand his unspoken words all the same.

“We need to talk to Squiddo.”

Notes:

ooh i wonder what the purple guy’s doin

Chapter 5: Jasmine Is God, No One Here Gets That Reference, I Bet No One Reads These Chapter Titles Anyway

Summary:

The reference. mmm yes

Notes:

um… hi?

no it has not been three months. what are you talking about.
gaslighting? what’s that?

so uh. oops! apologies for the unscheduled hiatus TwT the days pass so slowly but the weeks pass so fast

especial shoutout (and a happy belated birthday) to my dearest beta reader jasmine! who has chapter outlined three chapters after this wow

enjoy the chapter!
(tw for Implied/Referenced Character Death)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

“Cube, found anything?”

Mid glanced over to where the coder was hunched over an array of screens, colourful hair hanging in locks around his face. Cube shook his head. “Nothing yet. They’ve upped their cybersec since we left.”

She scowled, nodding and turning to the other wall of the warehouse room. “4C?”

“I might… No, dammit. Same firewall.” He turned to Mid. “The main issue right now is that we lack a passkey of high enough rank, and we can’t really hack past that because, to put it lightly, skill issue.”

“Hm.” She frowned, contemplatively, only for a bored Jaron to cut in. “Well, how do we get a passkey?”

Cube spun in his chair to face them. “We’ll have to rob someone. If we can get the physical keycard off of someone with high enough rank, we can use that to bypass the firewall.” A pause. “Someone like the Lieutenant should work.”

“What are we waiting for, then? We can’t just wait for the Jester to do all the work for us. I don’t think it’d be too difficult to break back into the guild base, or not even that! Just track down a high ranking hunter and rob ‘em.”

Mid hesitated, but the others already knew what she would say.

“Fine. Cube, 4C, can you compile a list of individuals whom we should target? Jaron and I will do the actual, ah, acquiring.”

Jaron grinned. 4C nodded. Cube spun back to his screens. “We have a plan then.”

~—~

this bit is a reference to another fic i coauthored, A Fragment Of Hope (or AFoH)! it doesn’t need to be considered fully canon to static :)
know that jasmine bullied me to write this

Clown paused. Something about this section of the astral plane didn’t feel quite right, like it wasn’t quite the same as the rest.

Little more than his battle reflexes, honed from centuries of training - both living and dead - saved him from the blade that slashed centimetres from his throat.

His scythe cut through the air, hooking on the blade and twisting it out of its owner’s grasp. The jester snarled and pivoted to slam his shoulder into the unseen assailant, only to freeze when jet-black skin came into view.

“…Minute?”

“Clown.”

But something was off about Minute, like he wasn’t quite from the astral plane like Clown was.

Another figure ran forward, grabbing Minute’s still raised sword arm and pulling it back down to his side. Clown caught a glimpse of a pink jumper before she spun to face him, and he remembered that yeah, Jumper was her name.

Minute had mentioned her in passing, back when the two had worked together. He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised to see her here.

“That’s not the Clown we know, Minute.”

Clown’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“I’m sorry. Minute mistook you for someone else.”

Minute sighed. “Yeah, I guess it would’ve been too hopeful to think that Clownpierce had died, huh?”

“You aren’t from this world, are you?”

Looking at them now, Clown could see some marked differences from the Minute and Jumper he’d known before. Both wore heavy armour, paired with an arsenal of blades he knew for a fact was obsoleted with modern technology. Strange glass bottles tinkled at their belts, filled with unfamiliar liquids. Jumper’s neck glimmered with a strange miasma, as did Minute’s chest - signs of how they’d died.

Yeah, he suspected they weren’t quite the same as he’d known.

“I don’t think so, no.” Jumper glanced at Minute. “I suppose you were right. Watchworld can take you anywhere, any universe.”

Minute sighed, and Clown fought to hold back his questions. “Just - Look, Clown, I don’t know whose side you’re on. But - ” He took a deep breath, and Clown could feel the pain in his every word. Pain that the Clownpierce, from wherever they were from, had caused, and he felt the smallest pangs of guilt.

“Just - I know you’re a good fighter. You have no allegiance to me, but if you know anyone named Squiddo, or Ashswag, or Rekrap, or Branzy, can you keep them safe?”

Clown blinked, surprised he recognised two of those names. “Of course. I don’t know you, but I trust the Minute from my world enough to trust his other selves.”

Minute studied his face for a moment, then nodded. “I know there’s nothing in it for you, but thank you.”

With that, both he and Jumper drifted away, and Clown was left alone in a void of endless white.

Notes:

hehe. i wrote this like checks version history three months ago? so yeah it’s not the most polished and my writing style has changed (which you will see in the next chapter :D)

drinketh thy water, taketh thy rest, and stay tuned for the next chapter of purgatory!

Chapter 6: What Is Grief But Love With Nowhere To Go?

Summary:

One week.

Notes:

yes. double upload

tw for missing person(s) :D

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Inhale. Exhale. A breath, another. Squiddo let air flood her lungs, let oxygen sweep into her blood, let her eyes open. The doorframe before her was silhouetted in the dark, in the glow of her high-beam eyes.

Once had a thief tried to break into her apartment from this very door; once had Ash manifested in violet-swirl-shadow and taken a human life. She hoped, prayed, that he wasn’t here now - that he wouldn’t question her leaving, wouldn’t see her go.

She didn’t know if she had it in her to explain what she was doing, not to him.

“Goodbye, Ash,” she whispered into the still night air, “goodbye, Kab, goodbye, Clown, goodbye, Red.” And the still night air seemed to hum a goodbye too, as if the gaze of the moon and stars weighed upon her back.

Squiddo moved slowly, softly, slid the door shut behind her, and didn’t look back.

~—~

“We have to talk to Squiddo.”

Ash nodded, slow. Contemplative. “She wasn’t here this morning. I haven’t seen her all day.”

Kab frowned, paused. “I’ll call her.”

They stood in silence for a brief moment - a heartbeat, a lifetime. Kab’s phone beeped a monotone dial, kept beeping, beeping, cut. She frowned, tried again. Silence.

“She’s not picking up.”

Ash’s eyes flickered, spectral purple-amethyst-mauve, and coalesced back into the contours of his face. “She’s not anywhere in the apartment, either.” She’s gone, were the words neither of them said. Squiddo was gone-missing-vanished, and she’d left questions and mysteries like scars in her wake.

~—~

[INITIATING ᑑリᑑᓵ∷∷╎ PROTOCOL.]

[WARNING: - ]

[INITIATE.]

[ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO PROCEED?]

[…]

~—~

“She’s not anywhere in the city.”

Kab looked up from where she was leafing through a tattered brown notebook, put it down, stood up. A week she’d been gone, a week of lifelessness-listlessness-hurt. “Not anywhere in the city? At all?”

Red nodded. “Not anywhere in the city. I cashed in a coupl’a favours, and none of my contacts have any clue where she is.” A frown. “She’s just - gone.”

Yes, Kab didn’t say. Yes, I know.

~—~

Ash didn’t quite know emotion.

It wasn’t just death that took his heart; even in the afterlife he did not quite feel. Not quite, but still did, some faint vestige of memories long past. He hadn’t felt anything for a hundred, thousand, years.

That had changed when the dismal apartment he called domain was broken by a ray of sun incarnate, by a glowing girl in orange-tinted glasses. He’d felt - something, then. Something he didn’t know how, didn’t want, to name.

To love is a loaded gun, he’d been told once. To love is to press the barrel to your forehead, to look life in the eye and say “I dare you to pull the trigger.”. Ash had laughed, then, had blown the man’s head off with a sawn-off shotgun. Now he felt as if the bullet was through his brain, as if he were the one cowering before the muzzle of a pistol. Squiddo was gone, without a word, trace, and he sat slowly in her apartment and inhaled love and exhaled grief.

Notes:

wow my writing style hasn’t changed at all haha i say fully ironically spamming hyphenated words and then exploding

after double upload y’all just know it’s another six months before your next update 🥰

Chapter 7: Gasp! Mango Posted Another Chapter! It Has Been A Thousand Years Since We Have Seen The Sun

Summary:

new/old/broken

Notes:

... guess what seventy-four is?

............

the number of days since i last updated this

look okay my bad gang didn't mean to i forgor

but uh. new chapter! shiny! and it's twice the usual length! and it's only 3am hajakdncmskjnc i am so tired

tws for, uh, nothing actually this is a simple chapter

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

“What do you mean, she’s gone?”

Clown’s arsenal was of scythes and blades, crimson and shadow; but his words, too, were a poisoned dagger all of their own. And Kab was not afraid of such a weapon; but even the remora knows to fear the shark’s teeth, and so did she pick her next words with care.

“She’s gone,” came the voice crackling with phone-static and astral-warp from the other end, and the Jester scowled and very nearly shattered the device over his knee. “She vanished. All of us have looked, there’s no trace. Nothing left behind but a summoning circle on the floor of her room.”

“So it was a spirit, then,” Clown whispered, words sharpened to a razor’s edge, and Kab’s “yes” was as much a reply as a sidestep of that blade.

“Do we know who?”

A laugh. “If we did, would we need to call you?”

He sighed. “I’ll assume that neither Ash nor Red can find anything either?”

“Nope.”

The Jester frowned. “But why would Squiddo want to contact a spirit in the first place? Even if it was hostile, the only way for it to get to her would’ve been via that circle. So why did she draw it…?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she wanted info on the guild, on that friend of yours you’re looking for, maybe she was scared we couldn’t handle something.” He could picture Kab’s frustration on the other end, at the insensibility of their friend, and perhaps in less dire circumstances he would have laughed. “There’s a thousand different things a human could want from a ghost, Clown. Maybe whatever she was after, you three couldn’t give it to her.”

“No clue as to who the spirit could be? Or what they could have offered?”

Kab hummed. “Nothing I can describe. Both of them say they can sort of sense some spectral trail? Or something like that. Maybe you would recognise it.”

“Alright. I’m coming back.”

“Be quick.”

~—~

No sun hung in the endless white sky, at least none that he could see, yet all the land remained bright. The man groaned, shifting the weight of his combat pack from one shoulder to another, and the spirit-ghost-soul floating along beside him gave a concerned glance.

“You okay?”

Branzy sighed and nodded. “Yeah. It’s just been, well, a long walk.” He slung the pack off his back and sat down. “You probably don’t get tired since you’re, like, a ghost and all, but I very much do, and walking isn’t very fun.”

“Don’t worry, I remember,” and S floated down into some approximation of sitting. “I think I have… memories, of sorts. I didn’t like walking around much either, at least not when walking with no goal. I liked exploring, I think. Haunted houses and things like that, searching for the eyes in the dark.”

“Wow. Didn’t expect a ghost to have lived a past life as a ghost hunter.” Branzy rifled about in his pack, searching for something, and when he retrieved it he managed to drop the bag and spill its contents all over the floor. “Ah. Oops.”

S laughed. “Wow,” they parroted. “Didn’t expect a ghost hunter to be this clumsy.”

“Oh, shush.”

He tore off the end of the ration bar’s packaging and took a bite, grimacing at the taste. “Eugh. Oatmeal.”

The spirit, meanwhile, had drifted over to the items splayed out on the ground. “Hey, who’s this in the picture?”

It was a simple question, an innocent question, and one that definitely did not merit Branzy’s reactionary choking fit. S watched, nonplussed, as the man’s face flushed, paled, and flushed scarlet again, spitting out bits of oatmeal ration bar as he imitated a confused chameleon. “Oh - uh” - a pause to spit out another chunk that had been lodged in his throat - “that’s, uh, that’s nothing! Yeah, no, it’s nothing important!”

S blinked at his prone form, having dived flat to obscure said picture with his body. “Oh…kay?” They shrugged. “Just thought I recognised the guy is all. The other guy, that is. Not you.”

 

“...Was that clarification really necessary?”

The spirit tilted their head. “I don’t know. Was it?”

“You’re insufferable.”

“No, I’m S.”

“...”

“...?”

“How the patches do you make silence sound questioning.”

“Raw skill and pure talent.”

“...”

“...>:).”

“...I give up.”

“Yay!” S grinned, looking far too smug. “Anyways, lemme see that picture. I think I know that guy.”

Branzy frowned. “Wait, how would you even know him?”

“I don’t know. But he looks… familiar.”

“...Fine.”

The white-haired man passed over the image, clearly reluctant, and S could kind of see why, because it was clearly the type of image shared only between two people very special to each other. But it served the purpose, with Branzy snuggled up close to the other person’s side, and S elected to ignore all of that in favour of that man’s face.

It wasn’t a face, per se, for his entire head was covered by a comical jester mask. Dark reds and whites coloured it in, and the spirit wondered why exactly they recognised such a visage.

“I think I was friends with this guy?”

“Oh?”

S nodded, surer now. “Yeah. I remember making friends with this guy. And a… another girl, I think? I don’t remember much.”

Branzy nodded, uncharacteristically solemn. “Don’t worry,” he told them, and it felt as much an assurance as a promise. “Take your time. The memories will return, slowly.”

“I know,” S replied. “I’m just afraid it will take too long.”

In the distance, a blindingly white pillar of light flashed, and by the time both of them had finished blinking spots out of their eyes the land was awash in alabaster glow.

~—~

“What do I need to do?”

“Oh, it’s very simple,” the spirit crooned. The girl hesitated.

“Just… look into it?”

“Yes,” he replied, and it was a simple word with the power to shatter her life.

She leaned forward, and her high-beam eyes illuminated stars with sickening clarity.

Notes:

bleh. eepy

fun fact this chapter is exactly 1000 words

Notes:

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