Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

William lay peacefully on cold rock, staring at the night sky from the bottom of a ravine. In his sleep, a pool of blood formed, staining the stone underneath him. He stayed asleep as his skin paled, his eyes emptied of shine, and his body went into rigor mortis.

He continued resting as his cracked phone buzzed frantically. Shouts of his name echoed through the forest, but the sound fell on deaf ears. The sun rose. Cars screeched to a halt next to the ravine, the spinning red and blue sirens shone into the gorge. Choked sobs of a heartbroken mother rang throughout as William's body was lifted out of the ravine. Janet Wisp clutched her child's dead body tightly, trying to wake him from his sleep. Burying her face in William’s chest, she wailed.

 William heard a ringing in his ears. A small blue light appeared at the end of the infinite black tunnel he had been travelling across for what seemed like days. 

“It is not your time yet.” A voice said. “Welcome, Whisperer.”

William’s eyes shot open. He gasped for air and his lungs filled for the first time in hours. His fingers twitched, quickly healing from atrophy. He hugged his stunned mother back. The scene was awful. Everyone he knew stood in a circle around him and his mother. A police officer was coaxing Janet away from the body. William sat surrounded by horrified people; people he loved. Tear stained faces turned awestruck at the sight of him. William starred up, his once brown eyes now a vivid and bright blue. William started to laugh. Nobody else did.

William was guided home by his parents. His mom didn’t stop crying  and his dad didn’t say a word on the drive home. Will tried to make conversation, but there wasn’t much he could say. His mind was consumed with worry. William was supposed to be dead. Why wasn’t he dead? According to his parents, he’d been missing for eleven hours. Dead for eleven hours. He looked down at his hands. They were sickly pale, almost grey. He let out a shaky sigh. He didn’t know what this meant at all.

The next few days went by. People stopped by his house to visit. Everyone had questions, including William, but every time the topic of his resurrection came up, everyone got quiet and started talking about something different. William wished that they would just bite the bullet and ask . It wasn’t like he had any answers, he knew the same as them, but it would mean something if they just asked. 

“Haha… But yeah, I’m uh… I’m back!” Will sat on his bed cross legged. He was wearing wolf pyjama pants he’d had since he was 10. His sheet-white hands picked at the edges of the blanket he sat on. 

“Wow, uh…” Summer said from the floor. She laid on his rug, twisting the buttons on her cardigan restlessly. “How’d it happen?” The question was a breath of fresh air.

“I was following a creature I saw. It was bright blue, and looked kind of like a wisp,” He said. “I chased it for a while, and then I uh… I fell.” He paused. It was kind of a pathetic way to go, falling. He was knocked off with some gust of air, which was only sadder. He was knocked over by the wind like a card tower. “Then I hit the ground. It was like falling asleep, until I heard this voice, some british dude…” William recounted what the voice said before he woke up.

“Did you recognize the voice?” William shook his head. “Huh… Well, uh… We could investigate it, when you’re feeling up to it. With the others.” She raised her hand in a fist. “Unwitness Protection?”

“Unwitness Protection.” The two fistbumped eachother. William was still a bit annoyed that that was the name that stuck. They’d named the group when they were what, eleven? He forgot whose idea it was. Xavier, maybe. Probably not Jade. He hoped it wasn’t him and he just didn’t remember naming it, because that would be embarrassing.

He wanted to investigate with them soon. He missed the feeling of looking through newspapers and social media blogs to find news of supernatural sightings (which weren’t hard to find), and going out into the woods with a notebook and a granola bar ready to stop whatever creature was out there. They usually didn’t have much of a plan to get rid of them, they typically just wrote down some descriptions. One time William hit one with a stick. It was a pretty good day, and to be honest, he was still proud of it. 

The two talked for a while longer, joking about things that happened years ago and stupid things they did. “Well, I’ve gotta go to dinner now, but it’s good to know you’re okay.” Summer said, picking her jacket up off the floor. “Hope we can hang out with all of us soon!”

The clatter of cutlery being set down rang through the air as the smell of roast chicken filled the house. William set the table carefully, setting things up so he would be farthest away from his step-brother, David. David had flown into town after he heard the news about William (though Will highly doubted it was David’s idea to come), and was going to be staying at the house for a bit. Will’s mom set four plates on the table, and everyone sat down. David picked up his fork to eat before Janet interjected. 

“Tsk, not before we say grace, David!” She scolded. She clasped her hands tightly with Will’s and her Husband, and William reluctantly held Davids hand. “Bless us ‘O’ lord, and these thy gifts which we are bound to rec-”

William recoiled from a burning pain in his hands. “OW!” He yelped, grasping his hand. After inspection, there were no marks of anything other than the tinge of grey at the tips of his fingers, but that had appeared a day after the fall. 

“What’s wrong, William?” His father asked, a worry on his face. 

“I dunno, it just hurt really bad, and I…” William trailed off. He was going insane. He died, and now he was going insane. “It was probably nothing, haha…”

Ms. Wisp continued the prayer. William bit the inside of his cheek to distract from the pain. When she finished, William could taste blood. 

William sat on the couch with a cup of tea and a blanket over him as rain fell on the roof. The Twin Peaks intro played. William was rewatching the whole show for the millionth time. He sipped on his tea while he heard David arguing with his mom in the other room. He kept the volume on the TV high so he didn’t have to listen. A few years ago William would have eavesdropped, but now William had heard all the arguments he needed to hear.

He picked a piece of yarn off the bottom of his Halloween socks. He wore them because they were comfy, and he didn’t feel like dressing seasonally at the moment. Plus, Deadwood was in a perpetual state of either Autumn or Winter. Even in summer it was chilly. William wished Halloween was in summer, because then he wouldn’t need to ruin his costume by wearing a jacket over it. And if Halloween were in summer he would have had the chance to have died on Halloween, which would be a pretty cool day to die. Instead, William died on July thirteenth. A Tuesday the thirteenth too, not even a Friday. 

After the arguing stopped, William’s mom sat down on the armchair in the living room. William glued his eyes to the TV screen, unsure whether he should say anything.

“We’re holding a small ceremony for you tomorrow in church,” William’s head snapped towards her direction. “About how God saved you.”

“Oh, uh…” William didn’t know how to respond. He didn’t know how much he believed in God, to be honest. He thought about the burning sensation he felt while praying, and wondered if it would hurt just entering a church. “Do I have to be there?”

“Yes, you do. The whole town is going to be there.” Of course they were. “I know you haven’t been to church in a while, after you uh…” William sighed. After he transitioned. His family had been supportive, but they still danced around the topic like their lives depended on it. He supposed it was better than if they were constantly talking about it, but he wished it wasn’t treated so taboo.

“I’ll be there…” 

The two sat awkwardly watching the show. Credits rolled, and William stood up to go to his room. He grabbed his blanket and dragged it to his bedroom, only tripping on it once. 

Grainy and muffled pop music  played through the radio alarm William had on his bedside table. He slammed his hand on the alarm to shut it off. He got out of bed groggily, and stumbled to the kitchen to pour himself a bowl of cereal. He hadn’t had much of an appetite since the fall, but he forced himself to eat. The smell of sewage was strong as William washed out the Rice Krispies from his bowl. The sink always smelled bad when the water was hot.

As William looked at his closet to pick out what black hoodie to wear that day, he remembered that he had to go to church. He dug to the very edges of his closet to find the ugly button-up collared shirt he used to wear every Sunday. He wrestled his body into the shirt and dress pants, and examined himself in the mirror. His binder showed through the thin white fabric of his shirt, so he put on a tank top in between the layers. He was probably going to overheat in the stuffy church, but he didn’t care much.

The car door slammed as William sat on the passenger side. David and his dad were out for breakfast, so they were driving to the church in a different car. 

“Some of your friends are coming.” His mom said. “That Summer girl. And the boy, oh what was his name? I always get him confused with your brothers friend.”

“Xavier.” William stared at the rain filled potholes on the road.

“Oh right. Well, Xavier and Summer are going to be there.” Great. More people to witness some zillion year old priest talking about what a miracle it was that Will survived, and how it was truly an act of God. William didn’t know who was talking to him in that tunnel, but they didn’t sound very godly. Too evil. And British. 

They arrived at the church parking lot. It was actually a joint parking lot with a Dunkin Donuts, so there was a lot of litter and broken glass on the pavement. William took one step out of the car and immediately regretted wearing dress shoes. The shoes were two sizes too small and looked like something a Ken doll would wear.

He wobbled his way into the church, and sat down on one of the glossy benches. He was seated next to a lady whose face was so taut she looked like she had eaten an entire grocery store's worth of lemons. As William tried to find a comfortable sitting position, he heard a strange thunk behind him. He swiveled around to see what the source of the noise was, and saw that the cross over the door was now upside down. Weird, he thought. 

Before he could investigate further, the sermon began. The priest started with the usual talk about God, but then he mentioned William by name. He talked about how William had been revived by the will of God himself, and how William was now “holy”. William almost scoffed. He was a lot of things, but holy wasn’t one of them.

As the priest continued speaking about William's miraculous return to life, William felt a burning in his chest. He had felt it faintly when he walked in, but it was ignorable at first. He tried desperately to hold in a cough, but his throat felt dry and hot, and it was impossible to ignore. He coughed once, hoping it would be enough, but he continued hacking and choking. The whole church went quiet. His mom patted him on the back several times, as if that would do anything.

She kept turning to people and mumbling things like “oh he’s just a bit sick,” or “Allergy season, you know?”. Finally, the violent onslaught of coughing ended, and William sat awkwardly on the bench.

The old lady he sat next to gave him a glare. The sermon continued, but William couldn’t pay attention.

What the fuck was wrong with him? 

The ceremony came to an end, and the Priest began to light some small red candles. But, as each candle was lit, the previous one seemed to snuff out as if by magic. After some struggle, the priest gave up, and joked about “trick candles”. William thought for a moment if he was causing this problem, but he quickly swatted away the idea. That was stupid. As people started to talk amongst each other and start to leave, David looked at William.

“The fuck was that?” He asked bluntly.

“Language, David!” His mom said sternly.

“Sorry, sorry…” He turned back to William as soon as his mom was distracted. “But seriously; what was that?”

“I dunno.” William crossed his arms. He didn’t really feel like talking to anyone at the moment, and certainly not his step-brother. “I just started coughing.”

David didn’t pry further. 

As William left the church, a brunette boy in a button up black shirt came up to him.

“Hey, Will.” Xavier said. He was the least close with William out of all the Unwitness Protection members. Things had always been a bit strained in their relationship, not for much reason, it just was. The last one-on-one interaction they had had was when Xavier had an asthma attack in ninth grade and William had to take him to the office. Otherwise, they only hung out around Summer and Jade.

“Hey, Xavier…” He kicked his feet, scuffing the floor slightly. “That was kinda intense, ha…”

“Uh… The sermon or the coughing?”

“Sermon. But I guess the coughing too.”

“Yeah.” He looked out the stained glass. “We were thinking about doing another investigation or whatever. Tomorrow. Usual place.”

“Oh, yeah, I’ll try to make it…”

“Uh…” Xavier’s dad waved at him across the parking lot. “Seeya tomorrow…”

William raced full speed to his bedroom the moment he got home, and ripped off the stuffy clothes he was wearing. They felt like they were pasted onto his body. He sighed out of relief the moment he was back in a hoodie and jeans. He collapsed onto his bed, but something strange happened; instead of hitting the soft mattress, he went straight through and slammed his face on the dusty floor under his bed. He tried to stand up, but hit his head on the slats of the bed frame. As he wormed himself out from under the bed, he was completely puzzled on what just happened. He carefully reached out to touch the mattress, and his hand sat on top of the blanket like it should. After more testing, Aka smashing different parts of his body onto the bed to see if they went through, he deduced that he was going crazy. Before he could spiral, he remembered that he needed to ask to meet with Unwitness Protection the next day. 

He walked into the living room where he saw his mother researching furiously on the family computer. 

“Hey mom.” He said, moving next to her. 

His mom immediately closed the tab she was on. William was a fast reader though, and his eidetic memory made it kind of hard to forget things. She was looking at an article titled ‘Best Doctors For Struggling Youth’. “Hey hon’. What's wrong?” She asked.

“Nothings wrong, I just was wondering if I could hang out with some friends tomorrow?” Ever since he fell, he was treated like glass that would break at any touch, so he was fairly sure his mother would say no.

“Oh, William, are you sure you’re feeling up to it after today?” Her brow was furrowed, and her dark brown eyes looked tired. William felt guilty.

“I’ll be fine. I haven’t hung out with them since…” He swallowed. He knew his mom didn’t want to talk about the event in any context other than being saved by God. “I haven’t hung out with them in forever.”

His mom sighed, but to his surprise, she nodded. “Sure, just… be safe.” William nodded. He could do that. Stay safe for one day. How hard could that be?

Rain pattered on the glass of the car door. Most of the stars were obscured by clouds or trees. A car whizzed past. An eardrum bursting HONK sounded.

“HEY! SLOW THE FUCK DOWN, ASSHOLE! THIS AIN’T NASCAR!” Mark laid on the horn. Ashe cringed.

“Dad–” She obscured her face as her father held up two prominently displayed middle fingers at the driver in front of them.

“These fucking guys…” He muttered as the car sped away. He turned to Ashe. “Good thing we’re movin’ to Deadwood, ‘eh? No more crazy people on the road!” 

“Yeah…” Ashe said quietly. She guessed it was a plus, not having to listen to her dad road-rage. She didn’t really know why they were moving. Mark said it was a work thing, but Ashe knew that “work thing” was code for “bullshit you’re too young to understand”. She looked behind her at the stack of boxes in the backseat. They didn’t get a moving van, but they didn’t have much furniture they cared to keep anyways.

The car pulled up in the driveway of a small suburban house. The paint on the sides was peeling off in huge flakes, and the sidewalk had huge cracks in it. The yard had a Slushie cup lying in it, its Blue Raspberry contents watered the lawn. Ashe held onto a box as she walked through uneven terrain to the front door. The cardboard hit the ground with a thud, and a dust cloud formed. She dragged the box to her new bedroom. It was a small room with purple accent walls, beige carpet with furniture dents, and a wall heater with dust on the grate. She laid her twin-sized mattress next to the window, and threw her blankets and pillow on it. Mark said she would be getting a bedframe soon. 

After some setting up, her room looked decent. Peeking her head out of the doorframe, she looked at her dad. He was lugging the box of dishes to the kitchen.

“Can I help?” She asked.

“Uh, sure kid.” He responded, gesturing to one of the smaller boxes containing silverware. The cardboard was a bit soggy from sitting in the rain. Ashe set the box on the kitchen counter and started placing the knives and forks in a drawer.  

“So, dad…” She started tentatively. “Do you think I could go to school here? It’s a small town, so it would be safer than back in Rockfall, and–”

Ashe was cut off by a loud exhale. “Ashe, kid…” Ashe looked down, defeated.

“I know…” She said quietly. “I just thought I’d ask…” The sound of plates clinking against each other was deafening. Ashe threw the last few forks in the drawer before looking back at her dad. “It’s getting late. I’ll uh… help you unpack in the morning.”

Ashe’s purple Pokemon socks quieted the sound of her footsteps as she walked down the hall. She hadn’t been a Pokemon fan since seventh grade, but she felt some sort of obligation to keep liking it. Her dad bought her those socks for her fourteenth birthday. As she lay on her mattress, she wondered if the move had been a good thing. The town was tiny and cold and rainy, but she had a hopeful feeling. This town was associated with the supernatural, and whether that was just urban legend or not, she didn’t know.

She knew one thing though; if she had even a sliver of a chance to bring her back, she would do anything.

Dakota laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling. The bumps on the ceiling kind of made a star shape in one area, and a cat in another. Dakota tossed a miniature soccer ball up and caught it. He repeated this process over and over while listening to the official Harlem Shade Soundcloud. He was running out of space on his iPod, and the sound was a bit crackly. He should ask Tide about that, but he always felt guilty about asking for things like that.

Not long ago, he was doing parkour in Save On Foods parking lots, and now he was a hero. Kind of. At least, he was working with WATCH. He wasn’t quite sure if that made him a hero, because all he did was train for missions he never went on. Actually, in the three months Dakota had been living at WATCH HQ, he had never gone on a single mission. 

Suddenly, the door to his room swung open. Dakota dropped the soccer ball on his face, smashing his nose.

“Dakota!” Tide said, picking a fallen poster from the ground. “Sorry if I scared you. It’s dinner time.”

“What’s for dinner?” Dakota probably didn’t have to ask. Tide held up an empty box of beef stroganoff. He leapt from his bed, his bare feet landing on carpet. 

Dakota got to the dining room before Tide did, but he got to most places before anyone . He sat on the stool that was pressed against the kitchen island. This place was so nice, he couldn’t imagine how high the bills were. Two other heroes in training sat on stools, a small boy named Arthur with big curly hair and huge glasses sat on the right of Dakota. He was the apprentice of Wordsmith. Arthurs hero name was Bookworm, but Dakota always called him ‘Wormy’. The other boy, the one on the left of Dakota was a taller, more built guy. He was older than Dakota, and he had almost mullet-y blonde hair. His blue eyes was the same colour as his varsity jacket, and his hero name, Inferno was sewn onto the fabric. He was talking about something with Arthur, making him laugh loudly. Doug was pretty cool, Dakota decided. As Kota dug into his plate of beef stroganoff, Tide stood with his hand on his hips, ready to announce something. 

“Ahem.” He cleared his throat, getting the attention of the three. “You heroes in training are getting your first mission!”

Dakotas eyes lit up, and he grinned widely.

 “Really?!”Wormy asked excitedly, as Doug raised an eyebrow in interest.

“Yes, really.” Tide said proudly. “There are three different missions, so you’ll all be splitting up.”

Bookworm looked a bit less excited at the news that they would be splitting up. He and Dakota were friends, and he didn’t do particularly well on his own. 

“Don’t worry, you won’t be all alone. You’ll all have fully trained heroes working with you.” Kota couldn’t help but wonder what kind of mission he’d be going on. He hoped it was a big one, where he could beat up some evil guy and his squad of other bad guys.

 “Bookworm, you’ll be going with Wordsmith to check out some villain activity in Freedom City.” Wormy excitedly flipped through his collection of books, as if already planning on what could be useful. 

“Inferno, you’ll be checking out some villain sightings in northern Rockfall with Lightspeed.” Doug smiled at Dakota. 

“And D.C., you’ll be investigating some supernatural activity in Deadwood with me.” Dakota’s face fell. Supernatural investigation? Deadwood? Investigation wasn’t really Dakota’s thing, and neither were ghosts. He liked things he could kick and punch , but this mission didn’t seem like it would be good for either of those. From what he knew about Deadwood, it was a small grey town in the north that never stopped raining. 

“What?” He couldn’t help but say. “No, I want to deal with villains . I can’t-”

“I assure you Dakota, this mission will be great for you.” Tide explained. Dakota refused to believe him. He quietly grumbled until dinner was over. 

Dakota was in his bedroom, packing his things into a backpack. He didn’t have much in his room other than clothes, CDs, and a Ms. G poster. He felt guilty that he was so upset. He was getting a mission; why wasn’t he grateful? He should be happy he got a role as a hero in training at all. So why did he feel so angry? As he was shoving his glow in the dark Hexpert pajamas into a bag, Tide knocked on his door. Dakota mumbled for him to come in.

Tide sat at the foot of Dakota’s bed, looking at the short red-haired boy. “Dakota, you know this mission is for the good of everyone.”

“I know…” Dakota said quietly. “I could help more people if I could do something I’m better at though!”

“It’s too late for that, Dakota. We’re leaving tomorrow.” 

Dakota sighed.

“I’m sure there will be something that suits your skills there.” Tide made unreciprocated eye contact with Dakota. “Maybe it’ll be fun there!”

“Yeah…” Dakota grumbled, knowing that no matter what he said he couldn’t change the outcome. “Why’d I get this mission?”

“I don’t know, Dakota. I’m just the supervisor.” Tide said, as if he had recited this. “Come on, Dakota. There are plenty of kids there, and there may be monsters to fight.”

This made Dakota feel a bit better, though he hated to admit he was easily swayed. 

“Okay…” He looked up at Tides' empathetic eyes. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine, Dakota.” Tide smiled kindly. “Now you should go to bed, you have a big day ahead of you.”

Dakota slept in his galaxy print sheets, or at least tried to sleep. His mind raced with worry and thoughts of what the mission might be. He finally managed to nod off, but it felt like the moment he fell asleep, his radio alarm started blaring the soundtrack of Origami's first movie. The songs were objectively horrible, but Dakota still loved them.

Dakota dragged his two backpacks to outside the HQ where Tide was packing the car they would be taking to Deadwood. 

“We’re taking an RV?” Dakota asked, walking up behind Tide.

“Yes, we aren’t able to rent a whole house, and there aren’t any hotels in the area.” He answered, pushing a bag inside. “And it’s not just an RV, it’s a Winnebago.”

Dakota sat in the passenger seat as Tide drove the 8000 pound vehicle across the country. Tide kindly gave Dakota full control of the radio, which he regretted immediately after Dakota started playing his playlist. It was a ten hour playlist of Blink-182, Green Day, and the most horrendous superhero music ever made. As they got closer to Deadwood, the road became slick with rain. Tide slipped and pressed on the gas a bit too hard, leading to the loudest car horn Dakota had ever heard blaring through what probably reached the entire country. The man driving the Prius the horn had come from held up two middle fingers directly at Tide. Dakota noticed a girl with white hair blocking her face from view, clearly embarrassed.

As the Winnebage pulled up at the trailer park of Deadwood, Dakota stared out the window at the forest. He hadn’t been to a forest since he ran away to train with Mato Cole. After some staring at the car's ceiling, Dakota drifted off, a bit excited for the mission to come. Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad, he thought.

The sun cast a glow on the vibrant wildlife of Fauna. A three headed rat scurried through the forest, weaving under tree roots and through hollow logs. The creature stopped a moment, looking around for an escape route. The rat froze in terror as a towering figure loomed over it, and it barely made a squeak before a golden knife stabbed through the creature.

“Nice!” Virion exclaimed excitedly to himself as he pulled the small thing off his knife, and tossed into his satchel. He wiped his bloody knife on the side of his pants and continued walking through the forest. He looked up at the sky; the sun was dipping down slightly. He had a few more minutes until he had to be back home.

He ran between towering trees, some had purple leaves, others pink, others green. As he raced through the forest, a bird flew directly into Virions ear, nicking  the pointed cartilage. 

“Ow-” Virion exclaimed, holding his ear. It only stung a bit, he would be fine. He looked around to see what did this, only to see a very strange sight indeed.

A small bird on the forest floor, looking around very disoriented, as if it shouldn’t be there. The strangest thing however, was the fact that the bird was a pale brown, a colour he had never seen a bird in before. The bird had only one head, and only two wings. It was puzzling.

As Virion observed the bird, trying to figure out what was wrong with it, he felt the air get colder, and realized he needed to run home before his mom freaked out. As he dashed away, he looked back for just a second at the strange bird. 

He made it back to the village just before sunset. The door slammed open as Virion crashed through, panting the moment he made it in.

“Someone was in a rush.” His mom said, observing her son. His face was dirty, and his purple braids were going every which way. 

“Yeah, sorry.” He kicked off his shoes. “I saw this crazy looking bird, it hit my ear and then-”

“Calm down, Virion.” His mom interrupted him. 

“Oh. Yeah.” He held his neck awkwardly. “Uhh… I got a bunch of rats!” He mentioned, snapping out of his quiet moment. He held up his satchel, and inside was about thirteen dead rats. His mom took his satchel to the kitchen, and Virion followed close behind. He sat down at the kitchen table as his mom prepared the rats for a stew. He continued talking excitedly. His mom didn’t seem to find the bird to be of interest, but something about it felt very off to Virion. Almost as if it wasn’t supposed to be in his world…

Chapter Text

The streets of Deadwood were empty, and the cracks in the pavement were filled with water. A tin can skittered across the sidewalk, landing in front of a small house with even red brick and a lawn of dandelions. William rang the doorbell, and waited patiently for someone to open the door.

“Hey.” Jade opened the door. Her hair was freshly dyed purple at the tips. She was wearing a leather jacket and a skirt with an absurd amount of belts. 

The two went up the stairs, Williams converse sunk into the carpet of the steps. He remembered falling down the stairs when he was a kid; he got rugburn and he cried.

William hoped for a second that he was getting another chance at normalcy after the fall as he entered Jade's bedroom. Summer was perched on the spinny chair while Xavier rested his arms on the headrest, looking at the computer. Summer spun the chair around to look at Will, knocking the chair into Xavier, who jumped away. 

“Okay!” Summer started excitedly, standing up. “We’ve found some more sightings, and if we can go off of your experience, we might be able to catch whatever did… that.” 

“And then what?” Jade asked skeptically. “We just throw a rock at it? We need an actual plan, this is a big deal.” 

“I mean… We can document it, and uh… see how it works, see if it has weaknesses.” Summer offered. “We’ll just do what we always do!”

“I don’t think we have another option, Jade.” Xavier added. “If you have a better way of dealing with this, be my guest.”

Jade sighed. “Fine. Let’s just figure out whatever stupid monster killed Will so we can figure out why shit’s been so weird.” 

The three listened intently as William told everyone about the events of his death. When he was finished, Jade was already searching through their documents of creatures. She sifted through page after page, and article after article, until she found it.

“Maybe it was a wisp?” She asked, holding a photo of a ball of blue light. William nodded; it was exactly what he was chasing the night he died. There wasn’t much information on wisps, as they soon discovered. They always managed to stay away from humans, which made it quite odd that William had seen one, let alone nearly touched one.

After much time of studying and planning, the group headed out. The plan was to capture one and see what it was, and possibly what it did to William. Will decided not to mention the fact that he had very little hope in this endeavour.

Four teens trudged through the woods, each with a backpack and a small glass jar. William clutched his tight, his eyes flicking around frantically at every sound. Despite his skepticism, he still wanted to find one. 

And find one he did.

It was small, a ball of fire that dimly lit the foggy forest. William braced himself, and lunged at the wisp. The jar went straight through it. Of course.

Why did he think that would work? As if he was going to just catch it. What was he going to do, snap it up in a mason jar like a beetle? Stab some air holes in the lid? It was a spirit, not a bug. 

He turned to the others, bewildered. Now what? 

Xavier opened his mouth to say something snarky, but a rustle in the bushes shut him up. A stag walked out of the brush, which would be normal. Except this one had six eyes. Six. It looked almost alien. It was also blue, and a bit transparent.

“The fuck…?” William muttered. He reached his hand out towards the strange animal, but noticed the others giving him a strange look. “It’s weird, right?”

“What’s weird…?” Summer asked.

“Oh I dunno, maybe the alien deer?” William remarked sarcastically, before realizing that they seriously didn’t see it. But that made no sense– how could they not see the deer? It was right in front of them. And blue, for crying out loud. 

“There’s no alien deer.” Jade said, concerned. William reached out to touch the thing. His hand passed straight through the creature, and he could see his hand through the deer. It felt like he was dipping his arm into cold water, and he pulled it out only a second later. 

“I went through it!” William yelped, panicked. It was almost like it was a ghost. “A ghost,” William repeated, this time aloud. It dawned on him. “That- that thing is a ghost! I can see ghosts.” 

“Uh…” Xavier looked at Summer anxiously. “You sure you’re not just–”

“I’m not crazy!” William snapped. “I swear, this is a ghost. There is a BLUE deer with SIX EYES looking at me, and if felt my hand went STRAIGHT through it! If this isn’t a ghost, I don’t know what it is!”

“Yeah…” Jade mumbled. “Let’s get out of here…” As she turned around to leave, she saw a small wisp in front of her, just like the one they had chased down. “Am I seeing ghosts too, or–”

“Just catch it!” William yelled.

Xavier ran at the wisp with a butterfly net. It worked as one might expect, which was poorly. “SHIT.”

As Xavier swung the net again, another wisp appeared behind him. He snapped around to try and catch that one, but his net passed through it as well. It passed through the third wisp too, and the fourth, and fifth, and the seventh. 

They were surrounded by wisps.

“Uh… Summer? Did you happen to read what happens when a bunch of wisps circle you?” William asked. Summer shook her head. Will's eyes darted around as he tried to form a plan. Xavier swung wildly at the wisps, but it did nothing. 

Wisps weren’t dangerous, William remembered. They wouldn’t hurt anyone, they wouldn’t kill anyone. These weren’t monsters; they were spirits. The worst they could do was… Well, quite frankly, he didn’t know what the worst would be. They killed him , but it was more of a trap. 

They couldn't just… kill his friends. 

Could they?

No, they couldn’t. William had to stop thinking like that. No one was going to die. Not if he stopped it. He figured that the wisps wouldn’t hurt him. He didn’t know why he thought that, but he had a feeling. “Guys, don’t just stand there; leave! Run away! You can’t fight them!” William yelled, running in front of the others.

“What?” Summer asked. “No, you’re in danger–”

“No, I’m not!”

“What are you saying, of cou–” Summer stopped. “Are you… floating?”

William furrowed his brow. What? Of course he wasn’t floating, that would be ridiculous. But he still checked, against his better judgement. He looked down in horror, to see that he was levitating about two inches off the ground. He tried to jump down, kick, swing his legs, do anything to get back on the ground. Nothing worked. 

“I- Fuck, you need to leave .” William sputtered. 

don’t make them leave… we want more.

Who said that? William swiveled around to see the source, only to see nothing other than his friends, and of course, the wisps. The sound felt like it came from inside his head rather than anywhere near him.

we did. don’t send them away. we want more. you want more. they’ll make you powerful. don’t you want to be powerful?  a whisperer needs his wisps.

“Whisperer? What are you talking about?” William said aloud. He heard that word before; when he un-died.

let us take them. 

“No! Who even are you? I’m not letting you take-” William stopped when he noticed his friends looking at him strangely. He probably sounded crazy again. “Can you guys seriously not hear this?”

“What the fuck are you DOING?” Xavier yelled.

He stood in stunned silence for a moment, before he heard Jade say something. He turned around, and saw her. 

She was hunched over, struggling for breath, as if some kind of spectral hand was choking her. William ran over to her, but Xavier stopped him.

“You’ve done enough.” He glared at William, and Will had a sudden feeling that everything was his fault. He barely managed a strangled sorry before Xavier pushed him away. “Jade are you okay? Summers calling 911. They’re on their way, just tell me what happened.”

Jade kept gasping for air. Summer was pacing with her phone next to her ear, trying to explain the scenario. It was his fault. He brought them here,  he told Xavier to catch one, and he had the feeling that the Wisps were doing this for him . 

“Get away from her!” He shouted at the wisps. “You’re killing her!” The wisps did not listen. He tried to push them away, he tried to do anything; but nothing worked. They didn’t listen, they didn’t move. Xavier glared.

When the ambulance came, William couldn’t say anything. The wisps had disappeared the moment they arrived, and Xavier wouldn’t even look at him. William stayed in the forest as Summer and Xavier left. He thought about calling his mom to pick him up, but she would get too worried. So he waited. And waited. And waited...

A small breeze blew in through the window. The smell of rain wafted in, and Ashe was suddenly transported back to her bed. She checked the time: 9:34. She hadn’t slept in as long as she’d hoped, but there was no falling back asleep at that point. She figured that she had been awoken by the sound of pans and plates being put away into cupboards. Her dad. 

“Morning.” She said, walking into the kitchen. It was significantly smaller than the one in her old house, and the cabinets were much lower and old looking. Her dad grunted a response, putting a stack of plates away loudly. She grabbed a box of Rice Krispies from the “Fun Pack” of cereals they had gotten on their drive. As she opened the fridge, she realized they didn’t have any milk.

Dry Rice Krispies don’t taste very good, Ashe decided, scooping up another spoon. She scrolled through tumblr. Nothing too exciting, though she did find an account called “Deadwood unofficial” run by some high schoolers. It was just photos of the fog and weird things in the forest. Pretty cool.

“I’m headin’ out.” Ashe looked up from her phone; her dad stood in front of her, his jacket on. He had a duffel bag in his hand that she didn’t remember being in the car when they packed everything. 

“Where are you going?” Ashe asked.

“To… work.”

She didn’t know why she expected an actual response. “Okay.” she nodded.

“I’ll be back in at least two days,” he said. “You know how to order food, and there’s some ramen packets in that cupboard if you want those.”

As Ashe watched her dad leave the house, she sighed. Deadwood wouldn’t be any different than her old home. Mark would be as busy as ever, and Ashe would be just as alone. God, what she wouldn’t give to bring her back.

Ashe laid on her mattress, listening to music through her speakers. The stickers she put on them were peeling off. They must have lost their stickiness in the move. 

She felt her stomach growl at around noon, and trudged to the kitchen once more. She filled her pot with water, and waited for it to boil. She searched in the moving boxes for a pair of scissors to open the noodle packet, but found nothing. She opened them with her teeth instead. 

As she ate, she boredly flipped through a magazine she had gotten for free with her soda at a gas station on the way in. It was one of those teen magazines about the cutest boys in pop, the trendiest outfits, the coolest music, all that. It was kind of stupid, but she found it fun to read. It was weird to see other people live normal lives, go to the beach, mall, to school even. She looked at one of the girls in the pictures, smiling with her friend, both of them in small swimsuits. 

Ashe had only gone swimming twice, and both were from before her mom… was gone. She had refused to go in the water because she hated her swimsuit. It wasn’t like the swimsuit she wanted was going to fit her anyways, but she wished it would. On her second time at the beach, she went in the water, but only because she convinced her mom to let her wear her t-shirt while swimming. Her mom had always kind of understood Ashe, even when Ashe didn’t understand herself. 

Ashe had a feeling her mom always knew she was going to be trans. She never made Ashe wear boyish clothes, or play with toys only for boys. Her dad understood, sure, but only after she explained everything to him, which took a lot of work. Her mom helped with explaining things to Mark. 

One of her favourite memories was going shopping with her mom for new clothes after she came out. 

Things weren’t ever the same after she died…

DING!

Her phone buzzed. It was her dad, and she checked the message. 

Lock the door plase

It buzzed again. 

*Please

Ashe sighed, then grabbed the keys and got up to lock the door. As she held the keys in her hand, spinning the key ring around her finger, she had an idea. What if she left the house? A little walk wouldn’t be the end of the world, and it wasn’t like he would ever find out.

She started to leave, but ran back in and grabbed her book.

“Sorry dad,” She  mouthed as she closed the door behind her, book at her side. Hey, at least she was locking it, just like he asked. 

As she made it about five minutes away from the house, she realized that she had no clue where anything was in Deadwood. At all. Really, she didn’t know if there was anything in Deadwood to do. The only thing she knew Deadwood had was the forest, so that’s exactly where she went.

It was pretty easy finding the forest, especially because at any point in the whole town, if you walked in a straight line, you could get there within ten minutes. Ashe didn’t know what she would do when she got there, but she ran anyway. 

The forest was huge; the trees towered like skyscrapers, and there was a fog that made it impossible to see farther than a few meters ahead. She walked through the thick mist for what seemed like eternity, tripping on roots and rocks. Then she heard a voice.

“Fuck. Fuck.” It said. “What do I do?”

Ashe peeked at the voice from behind a tree. Someone in a black hoodie with scraggly black hair and ripped jeans stood, no, floated, in the forest. Ashe had a strange feeling when she looked at it. It looked human, but everything in her screamed that this… thing wasn’t. It was the same feeling she got whenever she looked at a demon she summoned. 

“I- I killed her! Jesus-” It coughed. “What the fuck do I do?”

Killed her? Was this thing dangerous? She opened her book and flipped to the humanoid section. Vampire? No, not that. Zombie? No, it didn’t look decayed. Ghost? No, it looked pretty corporeal. Then she found it. The Whisperer. A grim reaper like ghoul that was extremely dangerous. This thing could command wisps to do its bidding. 

She leaned in closer to look at it. It looked like any other teenage boy, just paler and floatier.  As she inched even closer, her foot caught on a root, causing her to stumble forward into its view.

“Holy shit!” It yelped, looking at Ashe on the ground. “You okay?” It held out its hand for Ashe to grab. She pushed herself up by herself.

“I’m fine.” She said, backing away from the thing the moment she stood up.

“Have you just been… watching me?” it asked, looking inquisitively at her.

“No, I just-” She stammered. “I didn’t mean to.”

“Okay…” It looked awkwardly at Ashe. Probably plotting ways to kill her, Ashe thought. “My name’s William, by the way…”

She considered not telling it her name, but from what she knew “William” didn’t work like a fae, so she was safe. “Ashe.”

“Ashe,” It said, as if testing the name in its mouth. “I uh.. I’m not usually floating.” It said, noticing Ashes eyes glued to its hovering feet. 

“I figured…” Ashe muttered. “Why are you here?” She asked.

“Oh. I uh… I had an… argument. with my friends.” It admitted. “I stayed here.”

“Huh…” Ashe said slightly suspiciously. “Okay.”

“So, Ashe, do you want to… hang out?” It asked.

Say no. Ashe thought. This thing is dangerous, it can and will kill you. This thing will torture you, it will hurt you. Say no and run away.

“Yeah, sure.” She said.

Chapter Text

Dakota woke up from his regularly scheduled nightmares to the sound of plates clattering. His immediate thought was that Tide was in danger, that some villain was in the house.

Dakota leapt from his bed, his fists up at his chest, ready to beat the shit out of the villain. 

“Dakota, do you want toast?” Said Tide from the kitchen, holding a bowl towards him. He was wearing a pink frilly apron that said “worlds best mom” on it. Dakota wondered why he was wearing an apron if he was only making toast.

“So, what do I have to do today?” He said before biting into a piece of toast, kicking his legs under the small table. “Beat up a ghost? I could totally do that, just punch ‘em right in the-” Oh right. This was an investigation only type mission. 

Tide smiled, looking down at Dakota. “You’re looking for clues today! Anything related to the supernatural, that kind of thing.” 

Dakota finished his food quickly, and grabbed his backpack. He shoved three granola bars, a flashlight, and a comic book (you never know when you might get bored) into his bag.

He jumped out of the Winnebago, one backpack strap over his shoulder. He zig-zagged between different cars until he left the trailer park. As Dakota ran through the town, it dawned on him how small it was. Rockfall was a huge, sprawling city, but this? It was tiny. There were barely any shops, and the few that were there looked almost decrepit. All the houses were uniform suburban houses that followed the streets in a straight line. 

Dakota also realized that he had no idea what he was looking for.

Supernatural things, what did that even mean? Sure, the town looked like it was from a creepy movie, and the forests nearby looked straight out of the Blair Witch Project, but it didn’t look particularly supernatural. 

He looked around for any locals to talk to, but didn’t see anyone. Maybe this place was haunted; it sure seemed like a ghost town. 

It was almost six, and Dakota was ready to throw in the towel. Just before he was about to give up, he saw a girl walking down the street. She looked about his age, and had long brown hair. She wore a black zip hoodie, and underneath was a Pencilman t-shirt.

“Hey!” He called out, sprinting towards her. She looked a bit alarmed, and she swiftly took her headphones off.

“What?”

“Hi! I’m Dakota Cole, and I was wondering if you knew anything about supernatural… things? in this town?”

“Uh… Hi. I’m Ruby,” She said, startles by the red-heads bluntness. “And no, I haven’t seen anything. But my sister has this weird agency thing? It’s called the “Un-Witness Protection Program”. Pretty dorky, but yeah.”

“Un-Witness Protection…” He mumbled. “Where is that?”

“It’s at my house,” She started. “But I dunno if I should give you my address, you’re kind of a stranger…”

“Please?”

“Tell you what, I’ll give you her number and you can call her. I think she might be out though,” She pulled out a receipt from her pocket, along with a pen, and scribbled some numbers on it. “Don’t be a weirdo!” She yelled to Dakota as she ran away. 

Dakota watched as Ruby ran away, holding the piece of paper in his hand. He didn’t have a phone, but he figured Tide must’ve, so he sped back to the Winnebago, leaving a trail of dust behind. He slammed the door open and ran over to Tide.

“Tide! I need your p-” He stopped. Tide was holding his phone to his ear with a serious expression on his face, not paying any mind to the loud red-head that was yelling at him.

“Yes, of course. No information yet, no. Yes, I’m working on it– no, he is fully competent. It’s been a day! You- yes, sorry. Of course. I’ll get back to you. Goodbye.” He hung up the phone, and turned around. He jumped when he saw Dakota looming over him. “Oh, Dakota, I-”

“Who were you calling?” Dakota asked. Tide sounded worried, which made Dakota really worried.

“It’s really not important, Dakota.” Tide said calmly, though his fingers were tapping wildly against the table. “What do you need?” Dakota explained, and Tide reluctantly handed over his phone, clearly worried he might get snooped on. Dakota didn’t plan on doing any of that yet, so he took the phone and dialed in the numbers. 

The phone didn’t pick up the first five times, but Dakota was sure that six would do the trick. The voice of an exhausted sounding teenage boy answered.

“Jade can’t come to the phone,” He said. “Agency is closed until further notice.”

“Wait!” Dakota yelped into the phone. “Please! I need help with figuring all this out!”

“Can’t you understand? I said no .” The boy said, before being cut off by a distant voice.

“No, Xavier, we should-” She coughed. “We can help him.” After some bickering (and a lot of coughing) on the other end, Xavier came back to the phone.

“Fine. Meet us tomorrow. At the hospital, room 203.” He hung up.

Hospital. Why didn’t Ruby mention her sister was in the hospital? Maybe she didn’t know, maybe she forgot, whatever it was, Dakota didn’t care. He was going to get a lead, figure out this weird town, and kick some ghost butt.

Virion was doing his usual walk through the forest looking for rats, when he saw The Greats packing for some kind of voyage. Typically his dad told him about stuff like this, so Virion ran over to check it out. His dad paid him no mind as he strapped a bag of supplies onto his horse. It took Mins keen eye to notice Virion standing directly in front of the group, waiting to be acknowledged.

“Virion!” She exclaimed, looking at the strange purple haired elven boy. Despite them being extremely famous and powerful, he never saw them as more than family friends. Chungus walked over and squeezed Virion into a tight hug, ruffling his already messy hair. Virion thought he might’ve died from lack of oxygen, but Strider kindly notified Chungus of the suffocating teenager he held in his arms. He chuckled and dropped Virion to the ground. Virion's tail stood straight up as he gasped for air. 

“Now now,  don’t go killing my son!” His dad joked as he patted Chungus on the back.

Virion remembered why he came over there. “Wait, where are you guys going?”

“Just a short trip,” His dad said, dodging the question of where . “We’ll be back very quickly.”

The amount of bags didn’t seem correct for a “short trip”, but Virion didn’t pry. He said goodbye to The Greats, and watched them ride off. The moment they left eyeshot, he started following, hiding in the bushes. He wasn’t going to pry, but he was most certainly going to spy. He launched himself through the woods, staying a healthy distance. It seemed normal, disappointingly. Maybe he was just overreacting. Tree branches swiped across his skin as he ran, but he didn’t care about that.

Well, it was normal until they got off their horses. It got weird after that. Virion was crouched in a bush nearby, staring at them intently. It wasn’t night, so they wouldn’t be setting up camp, and Virion had no clue what else they might be doing. His dad jumped off first, followed by the others. He laughed something in common, which Virion didn’t know very well, especially not from a distance. Then, something strange happened. His father drew his sword. Not at a foe, not at a monster, but at his own companions. Virion was taken aback. He must have missed something.

Min took out her staff, and held it threateningly towards Virion's father. She was shaking. Strider gripped his dagger, Alphonz drew his sword, Ram pointed his gun, and Chungus put his hands into fists. It was five against one; they were going to kill Virion's dad, and he was going to watch. Virion wanted to help his dad– surely he had a good reason for this, though as Virion watched his own father swing his sword towards Ram, his closest friend, Virion became unsure of who to trust. 

He decided that the best course of action would be for him to jump into the group, and defuse the situation. Leaping into the clearing, Virion gripped his knife. He yelled for them to stop, but he was pushed back by Alphonz. While he stood helplessly, Virion watched as his father swung again, this time striking Min in the leg, causing her to stumble  as her leggings bloomed a red colour. He attacked again and again, not saying a word, as if it was hurting him to do so. Of course it was, he wasn’t a monster, but watching him plow through his allies like that…

He slashed at Alphonz this time, denting his armour. Any attacks The Greats made had little effect on the man, and they were quickly disarmed and injured.

“Dad!” He shouted, standing between the fighting Greats. “What is going on?” His father paid him no mind, though he had a pained look in his eyes. As his dad readied a final blow on Ram, he was interrupted by the deafening roar of wind behind him. Like a sword through flesh, some kind of rift opened in the sky, pulling the environment in towards it. 

His father latched onto a tree tightly, hugging on it for dear life. In hindsight, Virion should have done the same, as the powerful winds pulled him and The Greats in. He had barely a second to react as he flew through the portal, and slammed head first onto a tree on the other side. 

The last thing Virion saw before it went dark was a canopy of green leaves above him, and a small brown bird flying past.