#Character Turned Into a Ghost

[briarruler]

DPxDC idea: The Batarang Incident kills Jason and he returns as an Infinite Realms ghost.

Humans are not inclined towards surviving incidents like having their throats cut or being in an explosion that brings down a building on them. One after the other, with no rescue or medical attention? Jason died again in that confrontation with Batman and the Joker. He returns as a Ghost of the Infinite Realms.

For one reason or another, perhaps he forms right away right next to his corpse, perhaps Batman never looks for his body, Jason is able to return to being the Red Hood without much trouble. Sure he covers every inch of skin and uses a voice changer, but he did that before, it's nothing new. If he's a bit more paranoid about it, well chalk it up to his father having stuck a batarang in his neck the last time he removed his helmet.

Jason is just glad that his suit covers up the glow. Because he does that now. Glow. All the time. Compared to the glowing? Inhuman changes of colouration are just window dressing. Getting a hang of his new powers took a couple of weeks, but the timing was convenient - people might have expected him to be out of the game for months with the injuries he should have had.

So Jason's ghost now. It's fine. When he asked his father Batman to choose between killing him or letting him kill the Joker, he can't say this was an outcome he expected. But it's fine. Everything is fine.

(It's not fine.)

[yewsoup]

Out of the Corner of His Eye

Words: 4790

Warden Ingo was a strange man. To others, but also to himself. He says words he doesn't know the meaning of. He strikes poses and is habitually loud, as if he often had to yell. He does not fear pokemon. He does not smile, at least not with his mouth. And his eyes glow in the dark.

He's also followed by a chill wherever he goes.

Ever since he visited where he was found, trying to find a clue as to where he's from, he's seen a white figure lurking on the edges of his vision.

The figure likes to stand on Ingo's right side, walking alongside him, unless there's something or someone in the way. When he points, he is Ingo's mirror. Doing the same things, but opposite. When he is by his side.

-----

What if Emmet came to Hisui as well? What if he didn't make the trip?

Can also be read Here on Ao3!

Warden Ingo was a strange man. To others, but also to himself. He says words he doesn't know the meaning of. He strikes poses and is habitually loud, as if he often had to yell. He does not fear pokemon. He does not smile, at least not with his mouth. And his eyes glow in the dark.

Nobody knew where he came from. Not even himself. Because Warden Ingo has amnesia. He does not remember where he came from. He cannot return home.

So he made pearl clan his home. Throwing himself into helping to avoid the things he did not tell people about, uncertain how to articulate them without sounding insane.

The dull pain in his chest, as if he was missing something but running anyways. A train engine with missing parts. And... Him.

Ever since he visited where he was found (where he felt a tearing in his chest and came to a stop, staring at nothing, name he was calling dying on his lips), trying to find a clue as to where he's from, he's seen him lurking on the edges of his vision. A white figure. He thinks the figure is a man, something in his heart insists so, despite the figure being too fuzzy to make out details.

He likes to stand on Ingo's right side, walking alongside him, unless there's something or someone in the way. When he points, he is Ingo's mirror. Doing the same things, but opposite. When he is by his side. 

The white figure is the opposite of his black coat and hat. (The ones his heart cries for if he doesn't wear.) And sometimes, Ingo swears he should be wearing them too. In white. But the figure isn't the right shape. Not with it's blurriness. His coat is supposed to flare, the collar, stand up and fold over properly.

He cannot tell if his coat does as well or not.

---

Later, when his coat is torn by the years, and no longer holds itself up at the bottom to flare outwards, he wonders if his coat is torn like this too.

---

Sometimes, he cannot see the figure, and worries. He doesn't know why. The figure can leave. He's seen the figure wander away from him to look at something before. (He's seen him hurry back to his side when he was leaving the area. And a coil that winds, worrying if the figure will leave, relaxes.) 

Ingo isn't even certain if the figure can get hurt. No other person nor pokemon seems to see him at all. He worries if he's imagining the figure, that he is a figment of a broken mind's imagination. 

...

He also worries if he is lonely. He wishes he could help. (The dull ache in his chest tends to grow when he wishes that.) Sometimes he wonders if he can even see him. Or if the figure walks on his own, unknowing of the mirror he walks with.

Ingo picks up the habit, when nobody else is around, to speak his thoughts aloud. (Only when no humans are around. Caliba gave him a funny look and asked him who he was talking to when he accidentally did it in her presence.) The figure seems to enjoy listening to him. He always lingers close when Ingo speaks, but makes no indication he should stop. (So the figure can hear him then.) 

---

The ghost pokemon of the Icelands do not like him. Gaeric thinks it's because of his glowing eyes ("ghosts don't like the light, that's why they haunt at night") that show no matter how dark it is. 

Ingo has other ideas.

(He's seen the way their gazes dart to his right side before they back off. Only the most determined ghosts try to fight him. Lady Sneasler takes care of those.)

He picked up the habit of waving at Ingo to alert him of pokemon that are not ghosts. Allowing him to take action. Because the figure cannot touch him. (His heart cracked when he first realized that. He does not know why.) He leaves Ingo cold when he passes through him. More than once, his hand has gone numb, and his breath puffed cold, from him trying to take it out of habit.

...

He finds he doesn't mind. Even missing it a bit, chest aching just a little more, when the figure realizes he can wave at him. (They see eachother and know it.) And uses that to grab his attention instead.

On particularly tough nights, when he wanders from lack of sleep, or lack of thought, he finds himself thanking the figure for conducting him home safely. He always tips his hat (how does he know he wears a hat) and the grin his heart swears the figure is wearing widens. 

(He knows a voice should be speaking. He cannot hear him at all.)

---

With time on their night walks, he and the figure grow complacent. Lady Sneasler trusts Ingo's pokemon and his reflexes to keep the warden out of danger. (He tried to tell her about him once, pokemon are easier to talk to, but his words still grew tangled in his mouth. He thinks lady sneasler has noticed him anyways, through Ingo's movements.) She does not always come with him on the night walks. The figure does not always stick right by his side.

The figure is not by his side to warn him when Ingo stumbles upon an alpha, tripping over the sleeping pokemon. It woke with a growl. Lashing out. Ingo could not react quickly enough. (He swears he heard someone screaming his name. But he has no idea who.) He does not remember anything after that, before he wakes up in his tent.

His body aches. His skin is clammy. His breath frosts in the air briefly. He hovers over him, worried. (Ingo mutters an apology for scaring him. And the figure relaxes, stepping back.) Slowly, warmth returns to his body, and he goes to attempt to sit up, only to be silently scolded by the figure. (Another apology escapes his lips.) He worried him. He just knows it.

Ingo checks over his side while laying down Instead. Pulling back the blankets to reveal his bandaged side.

He vaguely recalls the alpha. He does not know what happened afterwards.

---

Lady sneasler pokes her head into his tent, and cheers up, before looking back out and calling for someone. 

A few seconds pass. A distant voice speaks.

She climbs into the tent, settling by his side to look him over, churring her scoldings at him for worrying her. 

Melli pokes into the tent not long after. Shooing lady sneasler so he can check Ingo's bandages while he gripes at Ingo for scaring the living daylights out of him, turning up injured like he did. (Ingo did what?)

Later, when he finds out Ingo doesn't remember what happened, he recounts how he awoke from a pained scream in the night, and found Ingo stumbling through the dark. Eyes glowing bright enough to see by, and pale as death, blood dripping down his side.

He touches on how Ingo's breath was frosty in the night. And when Melli called out, Ingo turned, eyes wide like he was terrified, but a smile bared on his face, and whispered a simple "help." Before his eyes rolled back in his skull and he fainted dead on the spot.

Melli didn't know his fellow warden could whisper. (Ingo didn't know either.) And he doesn't admit it, but hearing Ingo whisper was unnerving.

He goes on about how Ingo was freezing to the touch. Like he had been out all night without proper gear for warmth. (He hadn't been.) And how he was lucky Lady Sneasler answered Melli's calls so she could carry him back to his tent.

(Ingo thanks both Melli and Lady Sneasler profusely that day. And he knows he thanks them too. Despite the lack of words.) 

---

He sticks closer to Ingo's side after that. Watching to make sure he doesn't hurt himself. Even on small tasks. (He prevents Ingo's mind from wandering, stopping his grip from slipping and cutting himself. Melli has watched him startle at 'nothing' a few times after that.)

Lady Sneasler and Melli watch Ingo more closely too. Melli checks in with him each day for the following week after the accident. Lady Sneasler refuses to let him leave her sight. She also no longer allows him to walk at night. Ingo thanks them both more. (They rebuke his insistences that they don't need to do this. Both have a soft spot he inadvertently wormed his way into.)

He is grateful for them all. Even if it can be a little overwhelming at times.

(He suspects Melli was quite scared when he found Ingo injured. Melli denies it. But does, let it slip one night, that he'd miss Ingo if he was gone.) 

(Ingo also suspects he's the only one who sits and listens to Melli often. He likes to think they're friends.)

---

Ingo often finds it harder to warm up, with him looming over his shoulder. An icy presence that chills him to the bone. But he finds he doesn't mind it. It's as comforting as it is chilly to have him so close, the dull ache in his chest abating slightly. Even if sometimes, he needs to put a little more effort into warming up.

Irida asks him, one hot summer day in the coastlands, (they were visiting Palina to check in, and help with a nearby alpha that was getting uppity,) how he's managing in the heat despite wearing his coat AND his pearl clan tunic. 

He does not have an answer for her. She just assumes he's used to it, like Palina, and leans into the cool fabric of his coat.

---

Warden Ingo sometimes faces nightmares. 

He never used to remember them. Forgotten worries and traumas. Even if they wracked him with worry and terror. But since the incident, one he can remember joined them. Of getting attacked by a massive alpha pokemon.

Sometimes, it is not the one that attacked him, but instead a massive golden beast. (he never remembers it past the sensation of pain and falling, someone slipping out of his grasp.) And he wakes up sweating, tears welling in his eyes as he cries for someone he does not remember, the loss of a place he no longer knows.

...

His chest is always particularly empty feeling waking up those nights.

---

He is always there those nights too. Rushing over to his side. (His heart pangs every time, he should be the one fretting over him and easing his nightmares. But he cannot do anything but talk to the figure to ease his loneliness.) He dulls the ache in Ingo's chest. Making it easier, even with the haunting, indistinct whispers, that ring in his ears.

The figure never seems to fully know how to help Ingo those nights. He does not know his presence is enough. Or maybe simply does not accept it.

His hugs are ice cold, and leave Ingo frigid, but he loves them anyways.

---

Irida, more than once, has walked in on him shivering in a perfectly warm tent, when Ingo stays in the pearl clan village. He excuses it as feeling cold from nightmares. She does not fully believe him, but he is not lying, he always hugs him after a nightmare now, leaving him ashiver. 

She stops asking after a while. Only making sure he warms up after.

(Nobody in pearl clan brings up the cold that seems to follow the stoic man no matter what nowadays. Neither side realizes the other knows about it. They appreciate Ingo's presence shooing off other ghosts.)

---

Irida thinks Ingo looks haunted in general. His thousand yard stare and lightless glowing eyes sometimes make him appear a ghost himself. 

But he always looks particularly haunted after nightmares. Or when he tries to remember things about his previous life. (She does not know of the white figure that always eagerly leans in, cheering Ingo on, when he tries to actively remember. She does not know his despair of not knowing who he is.) 

She worries about him. But there is nothing she can do, other than offer a gentle touch to wake him from his chilled thoughts. Though she offers a listening ear to him as well, he never takes it. (He has a listening ear in him. He does not need to burden Irida more.)

---

Sometimes, Ingo finds himself wandering the tunnels of wayward cave. The figure of white joins him at his side, and with time, they memorize the tunnels. Walking side by side with him through tunnels having an aching familiarity to it, just as battling does. Yet all he ever gets for trying to remember is a headache. He does not gain understanding into the meanings of the words he says, or the pointing he does, or why he is so comfortable with pokemon and in the belly of caves. 

Whisps of memory slip through his fingers like sand in an hourglass, even as unheard whispers dog his steps. Hints of meaning gleaned when he doesn't think too hard about it.

Maybe if he showed someone through. Maybe if he could find someone like him. Maybe if he could just remember -------!

---

When the space-time rift first opens, lady sneasler bundles Ingo into her den, holding him tightly. It is only when he keeps watch from the cave entrance that Ingo finds himself relaxing in lady sneasler's grip enough to fall asleep.

News does not come up to Ingo's area of the highlands quickly. Even when he can sit and listen to Melli. (He gets a little annoyed when Melli says the frenzies are a gift from almighty Sinnoh. This annoyance later grows. They remain friends anyways, much to the figure in White's bemusement.)

Ingo vows to do his best to help the skyfaller that has been quelling the frenzies through wayward cave, should it be asked of him. (It is, he does, and he does it well. He does not realize he will remember things.)

(He does not realize he will finally hold onto glimpses.)

---

The man in white hovers close when they walk in Jubilife. The skyfaller does not see the figure of same height leaning over Ingo's shoulder. But they do note the slight misting of his breath.

They meet him again outside the training grounds.

The air by him is colder. He is warm in voice, polite in words, but his presence holds the chill of death.

Irida doesn't seem concerned.

She always preferred the cold anyways.

Does she care her warden is a ghost?

(She assures them, when they ask, that he isn't a ghost. But she's pretty sure he's haunted by one.)

---

When Ingo leaves Jubilife, the white spectre lingers slightly. Staring at the skyfaller.

That child knows something.

He hears Ingo speaking to the guard duty, and hurries to catch up. (Can't lose him.)

There will be more time to observe the child later.

After all.

They'll be guiding them through the highlands.

---

Ingo watches the child approach. Their hesitance. The figure in white stands by his side, rocking on his feet as they wait. He greets them as cheerfully as he can, even as his hands are shoved in his pockets to keep warm.

They must not like dark caves. He thinks.

They have to travel with the ghost warden the whole time? They think.

How does a ghost even become a warden?

Nonetheless they listen as he gives them advice to aid against lord electrode, and muses the Pokemon's woes.

Melli, despite it all, is a nuisance. Showing up to challenge them and their resolve to quell his Lord once more. Testing their patience with his annoying personality.

They see the way he sidesteps around Ingo and his chill. Commenting that it's a bit cold out as if it were the weather, and not the unholy entity lurking beside him in a guise of friendliness.

Wait.

That's rude.

But he is a ghost or something.

Melli shivers slightly as he passes the chill of the ghostly warden. Neither one mentions it. Then he prattles on about the frenzies being a gift from Almighty sinnoh and other such nonsense. Challenging them to a battle.

They refuse. He already saw them battle Adaman. They proved their worth. They will not give him the satisfaction of a battle.

Ingo laments the man's selfish outlook when he leaves, but asks them what they want to do.

Nobody's asked if they WANT to quell the frenzies. At least, not in the way the ghost seems to. But they nod anyways.

This condemns them to walking through wayward cave with the man. For Melli has removed the torches from the path and left the cave unlit, therefore unsafe to travel.

Ingo would have guided them through anyways. But there goes their chance to debate it.

---

The skyfaller follows him into the the cave. Gaze flitting about with tense shoulders- do they not like the dark? That's fair.

He sends the white spectre a meaningful look. He moves forwards to scout. Keeping an eye out for danger.

The comforting chill follows, leaving him to warm up, and Ingo offers his hand to the child. Offering them reassurance. Though also a warning that his hands might be a little cold.

They're surprised anyways. He can see it in the way their eyes widen when they take his hand. (He has no way of knowing they didn't expect to be able to touch him, that they thought him a ghost.) And he gently curls his fingers around their little hand so as to not lose them moving forwards.

But still, they glance around warily. Their hand trembles ever so slightly. Why is a child the one quelling the frenzies? Why are they allowed to go alone?

They're fifteen, supposedly.

They look much smaller than that.

Ingo starts talking to ease their fears. Picking the first subject that comes to mind. Irida told them of his memory loss. So that ends up the subject he discusses. Despite normally coming up with dead ends discussing his memories.

He tells them he remembers a man in white. Not that he is haunted by him.

He tells them of the fragments of memory his mind can drag up. A smile that mirrors his frown. Flickering purple flames leading him onwards. (A common memory for him to get, wandering the tunnels. Not that he ever remembers it afterwards.)

The words "I like winning more than anything else" flash through his mind, and when he repeats them, the man in white shoots him a large grin.

The child seems more at ease when he speaks.

Unfortunately, fate holds no mercy for them. The tension comes right back when Ingo stops them from proceeding. Because the white spectre alerted him of a threat up ahead.

(Not that he says what or who alerted him to the alpha crobat. The skyfaller merely thinks he spotted it himself.)

Ingo resigns himself to the fifteen year old being stressed until they exit the cave.

(The man in white's features are a little more distinct in his mind.)

---

Torches set up once more, he shows them through the quarry. Only a minor stop when the ginko guild's least effective merchant stops them for a chat delaying their commute.

Volo distracts Ingo from offering the child help- If they can convince Melli- in quelling electrode.

The moment is not right again, before they reach electrode's station.

He has a feeling they would have denied him anyways. With how proud of their feats they are- at least, once he gets them talking about them.

The child can talk quite a lot about the battles and pokemon. Insisting they're strong enough to handle it when he questions how much they're doing by themselves.

No, the skyfaller wouldn't have accepted his help at all, he thinks.

(He sees the way they're relieved when he admits his departure after they beat him in battle and they have gained Sneasler's favour.)

---

He sees them again after the battle. Using the excuse of memory to check up on them. (Their hair is sticking up on end, singed, but other than that, they seem relatively unharmed by the ordeal.)

(He sees now, why they are the one quelling the frenzies.)

Ingo tells the folk present of a world he remembers. Of tall buildings and people and pokemon living, working, playing together in harmony.

He's completely spit-balling. But the words leaving his mouth pull the train whistle of truth in his brain. Images of these strange sounding things and places surfacing in the fog of his mind to fuel his recollection.

The man in white stands close. Ingo's breath fogging as a shiver runs through his body. For a moment, he thinks he can make out details. A face just as his. The same symbol adorning the hat. The large coat cuffs his coat had before they were destroyed. Large smile egging him on.

But still, the recollections end. He falls short of recalling anything detailed. And the face of his brother his face slips from Ingo's mind.

And so he takes his leave. Assured that everyone present is alright. Retreating to his station to ruminate on it all in safety.

---

The man in white sits across from Ingo outside his tent. Elbows perched atop his knees and chin resting upon the butt of his hands as he listens to the warden in black talk.

People have asked him why he has two seats always at his campfire. If he's that eager to have company. If he's that lonely out here that he always has a seat for visitors rather than making them sit on the nearby rock.

He tells them Sneasler likes to sit on the extra log. When she visits.

This is only half true.

The white spectre is alright with giving up his seat when people visit though. Instead sitting next to Ingo, warding him from the heat of the flames, or wandering the clearing, poking at the various plants and logs and leaving no trace of his presence.

People always sit a little closer to the fire when he does that.

---

Ingo catches the skyfaller once, while patrolling the highlands. They challenge him to a battle- well, once they get over the fright he accidentally gave them, calling out as he did. And the thrill of battle runs through his veins again. The ghost in white by his side. Mirroring his pose.

They tell him nobody battles like him. Nobody battles like them, either.

The suggestion of teaching comes up.

It sounds right.

And that is why Ingo ends up approaching Commander Kamado- after getting his leader's permission of course (she was thrilled to put a warden inside Jubilife to keep an eye on things like Arezu does for Adaman- and asks if he could teach people to battle in the training grounds in the village.

(Nobody in his clan, at least within the Icelands, enjoyed spending much time near him. Irida and Gaeric being the best at withstanding the chill he causes. So he has not taught much battling.)

---

The sky goes red and Ingo does not remember a single thing that happens during that time.

Melli tells him he had shown up to help with the frenzied gods. Smile stretched across his face and body trembling with how cold he was.

He was so cold his lips were blue. His breath puffed into fog as it left his mouth. His hands shook like nobody's business as he switched between rubbing them together and stuffing them in his pockets.

He was so cold he mixed up languages again.

He was so cold he had started out with the nonsense he was speaking when he first arrived in Hisui until he saw their blank looks.

He was so cold he- well. He was cold.

He was so cold his hands felt like Ice when he handed over some potions in an attempt to help when he wasn't allowed to come with.

People had thought, for a second, that he was a zoroark.

The skyfaller threw a pokeball at him.

He was not a Zoroark.

It is safe to say they made him go back down the mountain. Out of the snow and cold.

When the blue sky finally broke through the black, he had fallen over. Exhausted and shivering.

Melli scolded him for not taking care of himself in his worry when he found out.

He didn't want to stick around the mountain as much after that.

---

A new stop is added to his schedule.

Twice a week, he goes down to Jubilife village and teaches anyone who wishes to learn about battling.

Sneasler approves of him having a hobby that means he he interacts with humans other than Melli regularly.

She approves him having a hobby in general.

It is dull. At times. When there are no skilled opponents, or people willing to learn. But Zisu, the captain of the security corps, is happy enough to see him.

They have many fun discussions.

He likes the battles just as much. Standing right by the battlers, or cheering from the side. Egging them on with his silent actions.

A couple battles, he doesn't remember. He isn't sure the man in white does either.

They were fun anyways.

The best battles are against Zisu, or the skyfaller. The strongest members of the galaxy team.

People sometimes stop and watch those, and Zisu always joins in his dramatics.

---

Zisu asks him once, during a heat wave.

About how he manages to stand there with his black coat. Black hat. Black underlayer. And his pearl clan tunic.

She was wearing as few layers as possible and he was wearing at least three.

He has trouble staying warm you see. He tells her. Completely truthful as he shivers despite the warm weather. Ghost of white leaning over his shoulder as he listens in on the conversation.

That is the day she learns the best place to stand during a heat wave is next to Warden Ingo. The Icelands chilliest warden.

Which really explains why Irida immediately seeks him out if he's at Jubilife at the same time as her. That girl has the heat tolerance of an icecube in the middle of summer.

She doesn't talk about the ghost either. Beyond a couple jokes about Ingo being loud enough to wake the dead, or looking like he's seen a ghost.

Though she does ask, if he tends to be so cold, why he's partnered with a gliscor, and a tangela. Creatures weak to the ice and snow.

It's because he tends to keep his tent quite warm to counteract the chill. That it's quite warm enough for them.

---

When gods fight on mount coronet for the second time. Ingo is not in the highlands.

He is helping Irida with a project in the Icelands. Teaching the people of the pearl clan more about battling alongside Gaeric, and, because she decided to come and wouldn't leave, warden Sabi. A previous student of Ingo's.

The clan is not completely enthused by the lesson. But they learn a lot.

Ingo only hears of what happens afterwards.

He spends more time in the highlands again after that. Moving it down to one day a week he tromps all the way down to Jubilife.

He couldn't have changed the results if he was there.

After all...

The skyfaller won.

---

Slowly, since they met, the skyfaller warmed up to him. Vaguely becoming friends, perhaps.

He apologizes for not helping them with the frenzies. The gods on the mountain. The red sky.

They insist it's fine.

(They've gotten more comfortable with him since he figured out to keep a bit of distance from Ingo when they're around.)

Which means the eventuality of them sharing the theory that he's from another time. The eventuality of them discussing memories. Of places. Of people. Of pokemon.

Of homes long gone that they don't know how to reach once again.

The skyfaller still doesn't like Ingo, or being around him very much, but they recognize a kindred spirit of sorts. It draws them to him.

They would be alright to never see the ghost man again.

But they have to offer him the chance.

The chance to go home.

---

Ingo looks directly at a figure that only he can see. Staring at the ghost of his past haunting him in the form of his twin brother- the man in white. The clearest he's been in a long time.

"I don't think I can go home. I'd leave him behind."

[briarruler]

Because I have a mean sense of humour I think it would be extra funny if the ghost-bat had while making their deduction confused correlation for causation and so made some incorrect assumptions. Their train of logic looking something like this:

Fact: The Ghost King is empowered beyond their natural abilities by the Ring and the Crown.

Fact: Any ghost can become Ghost King by Challenging the current King and defeating them.

Fact: The current Ghost King closed all Portals between the Ghost Zone and the living lands.

Conclusion: A Ghost who becomes King gains the power to make Portals and so if I Challenge and defeat the current King then I will gain the ability to make Portals.

But in reality control over Portals is an inherent power of the current Ghost King Phantom because he died in the creation of an Artificial Portal. Gaining the Ring and Crown made him powerful enough to close all natural Portals across the Zone, but the ability to manipulate them is something inherent to him not the Position of Ghost King.

And add to this a Danny who doesn't particularly want to be the Ghost King, but is stuck will the Title. (Perhaps all the ghosts that like to fight him specifically avoid Challenging him while doing because they don't want to chance ending up as King.) Who hears this ghost he's never meet before Challenge him and just throws the fight like his life depends on it.

And then proceeds to nope out of there.

Phantom didn't wait around to hear why this ghost wanted to be King or what they plan on doing now. He's just like sprawled dramatically on the floor "You have defeated me! The Crown and Ring are yours!" and then once they've put them on he pops up with a cheery "congratulation on your coronation! Bye!"

Why doesn't Danny (or any of the other ghosts) want to be the Ghost King? Could be for any number of reason. Perhaps for extra irony one of the main reasons is that the Ghost King is the only ghost who physically cannot leave the Ghost Zone.

To really rub it in, perhaps another hero died in the same fight and become a Ghost but had the good sense to try simply asking Danny to send them back. So he was getting ready to make them a Portal when the bat-hero challenged him. After ditching his Kinghood Danny pops back to the hero he had agreed to help, opens the Portal and jumps through with them.

So now Phantom and this other, newly ghosted hero are back in the land of the living while the newly ghosted bat-hero is stuck back in the ghost zone as the freshly crowned Ghost King, finding out just how badly they miscalculated.

(Danny has no-idea who he just left behind to be Ghost King. The hero he's with may or may not have seen the newly crowned bat as the portal closed. The new crowned bat King may or may not have seen seen Phantom leaving with another ghostifed hero back into the land of the living.)

(Team Phantom are either Ghosts in the Zone with Danny and now heading back to the living with him or Danny is still a teenaged Halfa and they are why he was so eager to dump the crown and head back to living world - they should be about finished dismantling the Guys in White, with all of the artificial portals shutdown and no natural ones popping out ghosts to prove the organization is anything other then a waste of money as Tucker hacks away all of their evidence and Sam rallies Amity Park against them.)

Prompt I will never write myself, so u may have it:

One of the bats kicks the bucket, or more likely has their bucket kicked for them by one of the rogues, or otherwise somehow ends up as a ghost in the ghost zone. This happened, of course, during some big conflict where all hands are needed on deck, so the bat cant afford to sit around as a ghost when the rest of the family is potentially getting their butts kicked. After doing a bit of clever detective work, they finds out 3 things- 1) in an effort to keep the more troublesome ghosts from being troublesome, the ghost king has closed off just about all portals back to the land of the living, 2) this means that, in order to cross between realms on their own, one would need to be quite powerful indeed, and 3) a ghost can become the ghost king- and therefore definitely powerful enough for the recently deceased bat to get home- by beating the current ghost king in one on one combat

So obviously, the obvious solution, and definitely the only solution, is for the bat to go challenge the ghost king. Obviously. There's definitely no other way out of this. None at all.

(Cut to Danny holding back a furious bat, going "dude. dude you could've just asked. seriously-")

AHAHAHAHA this is great.

The bat trains and trains. He masters his ghost abilities and is ready to face the Ghost King for a chance to go home.

"WHY DIDNT YOU JUST ASK ME FIRST?! I WOULD HAVE SAID YES!"

[cardo-de-comer]

more off doodles <3

[lemonwrap]

I love dog metaphors and motifs, and I want a brainwashed Soap AU where, after a while, Soap genuinely sees himself as a dog.

When Makarov first gets his hands on Soap, Soap has his dignity, pride, and mind fully intact, and he fights. Soap fights hard, and he fights well, but months of harsh conditioning that stretch into years will break anybody. 

After a while, Soap no longer believes that he’s a real human, let alone a person. He’s an animal, a creature, a dog that must obey, because what else is there to do?

He was a bad dog at first, growling and biting until he was muzzled and beaten into submission, but he eventually learned that it was easier to just obey his master. Makarov was his master. He was cruel and choked Soap with the leash he had wrapped around his throat, but he was a master nonetheless, and dogs obey their masters. 

And then the 141 recovers Soap, years after they thought he was dead and gone. They held a funeral for him, and although they never quite stopped grieving, life must go on. 

Ghost is the most affected when they get Soap back. He frantically fumbles at the straps keeping the muzzle attached to Soap’s face, yanks the muzzle off, and throws it to the side, cupping Soap’s cheeks and repeating Johnny, Johnny, Johnny. But Soap doesn’t remember Ghost, and he doesn’t know what he did to make this man start crying as he crushes Soap in his arms or how to make it stop. He grovels and tries to put the muzzle back on as a show of obedience and good will, but the man gets increasingly upset. Soap just doesn’t understand. 

When Soap realizes Makarov is dead, he sees it as a transfer of ownership.

Days, weeks, months pass. Ghost reintroduces himself to Soap and keeps trying to talk to him like they’re equals, like Soap is a human too, but Soap doesn’t remember, and he doesn’t get it. He tries his hardest to please Ghost by obeying how his former master trained him, but he’s bewildered when Ghost doesn’t react favorably like he’d hoped. It simply doesn’t click in Soap’s head when Ghost repeatedly tells him that he’s still a person.

Soap thinks the world of Ghost, though, despite the man’s confusing orders. He refuses to muzzle or restrain Soap in any way, and he gives Soap things he’s never had before, like a soft place to sleep, food that isn’t bland, and physical contact that doesn’t hurt. Soap has to learn his new master’s preferences—but that’s okay, because Ghost is a good master. Ghost is kind and loves Soap, and all Soap wants to do is be good for him, no matter what.

Every dog needs a master, after all, and Ghost is all Soap could ever hope for. 

[spiritsonic]

Well well well look who it is

[blackkatdraws2]

They like to visit their favorite human every once and a while. [Original Characters]

The building is haunted, but the ghosts get attached to the workers [specifically the older ones who work there.]

The new workers are afraid of encountering them [most probably don't even know they exist and think it's just a rumor] while the older workers are used to them.

They're especially fond of this one guy in particular. He's been working here for 30+ years. They treat him like your indoor cat and he leans into their affection because he's a lonely starved old man who everyone sees as strict and indifferent.

[Note: This affection only extends to the older workers of the haunted building. (New workers have been reported fainting around their presence.) Others will not be treated as nicely. Please keep your distance and notify guards during an encounter.]

[throwawayasoiafaccount]

‘the black bastard of the wall’ moniker is the exact opposite of the ‘white wolf’ moniker and this perfectly highlights the irreconcilable differences between book Jon and show Jon

[danwhobrowses]

You know, as much as I would've loved a massive catharsis-led triumph over Athion Zathuda in battle, possibly left at the mercy of the vibrant flames of Fearne's Titan form reiterating herself with aplomb as Fearne Calloway, I actually kinda love how the narrative chose to defeat him. In many ways it is just hilarious, but also ironically in-character. Man talked all about wanting to prove himself, had a grandiose title of 'Sorrowlord' and was looking to be both a physical and mental adversary after threatening to torment Fearne into becoming Exaltant by targeting her loved ones. But then when he is pit against Bells Hells he barely does a thing; he tries to talk his way into turning Fearne again, gets jumpscared by Ira, the 'farm girl' he mocked to Fearne commandeers his dragon, he loses a leg and is thrown off his dragon, and the Hells even opt to keep him alive for some reason in 107 before kinda accidentally offing him in 108.

He thought he was the shit, but enemies of true threat like Ludinus, Otohan and Liliana (a threat before she was turned) looked down on him, and thus his attempts to prove them wrong - while also falling into the same trap as Ashton's father in seeking out a personal destiny and being willing to see their child as a tool to do it - bore no fruit at all, he was practically an afterthought through and through, his dragon really being his entire threat level. In the end, he got killed running (well, hobbling) away, and while Gloamglut's keening was a little sad in a way that a pet cannot fathom the moral complexity of having to kill their owner he still had it coming, plus following his eternal torture in the Tiki Bar of Ligament Manor, the last sorrow he wrought was his own; he achieved nothing, everything he hints he did to get to his position was for naught, and for all the fear and danger he tried to make himself possess he truly had no power over anyone, especially not Fearne - who can only pity him and, as further proof of being better than he ever was, hope that he takes the time to reflect on his sorrows.

[briarruler]

My Dead Trio AU is the one where it is easiest to justify the trio's decision to not tell anyone what happened.

How can they bear to scar the people who love them with the truth?

They died. They're dead. Yes, they are ghosts, they are still here, but they still died. How do you tell your parents (your sister, your grandma) that you died. That they failed you so horrifically? Because what else can the death of a child, your child, a person that you are so deeply responsible for be: but a failure of yours, even if it was an accident, even if you weren't there, even if they were being stupid, even if they tell you it wasn't your fault.

How can they risk telling their parents something that might separate them from the only people who understand them?

They died in Danny's basement; and yes, they weren't supposed to be there, and yes, they knew better then to have walked into that machine, but it was still a Fenton invention that killed them. And the Fentons are ghost hunters and they are ghosts: how could they convince anyone that they are safe around them when they are not even sure of it themselves?

How can they tell anyone that they were so stupid?

How can Danny look them in the eyes and say: I told my friends about the failed Portal and I let them into the basement and they died because of me.

How can Sam look them in the eyes and say: I thought it sounded cool, the Portal, so I talked Danny into letting us see it, then into taking photos in it, it was my idea that killed us.

How can Tucker look them in the eyes and say: I knew it was dangerous, big electrical machinery always is, but it was fun so I never protested, even though I knew what we were doing was stupid, was against all safety regulations, because I never thought that anything would happen to us, but it did.

So why would they tell anyone they are ghosts? When they could simply...

Not.

And who would suspect them, of the living lie they tell? When they became ghosts, before ghosts are known?

[canisalbus]

is there a reason you usually answer asks with a . and talk in the tags? i got confused when i first saw that bc usually when people do that its a 'presented without commentary' thing but you do have commentary haha it feels like you're answering just in whispers like a ghost

.

[gofishygo]

the recent skins have been so funny to me... like first they locked soap up in the ETERNAL WEED CHAMBER and then they turn ghost into unspeakable horrors mortal flesh and cerberus flavour

[oobbbear]

I’m legally obligated to draw fanart whenever my adhd brain manages to finish a long fic

One because I have some art I drew while reading might as well post it, I need to visualize whatever’s in my brain I can not think in words, I draw reference pic whenever I start reading something new because I can’t read without image aid, those authors who link reference photos bless your soul

Two because I FINISHED SOMETHING WOHOO

[x-x-nyctophilia-writes-x-x]

I hadn't realized just how much of a comfort character Ghost actually is to me until I saw his zombie skin for the first time and actually started crying at the thought of him being hurt.

I shed real tears at the mere idea of a fictional man being in fictional pain.

God help me.

[sirfetchd]

catboy time everybody cheer

[moonsbijou]

i was reborn as the disposable black girlfriend of the male lead but i am taking control of the narrative now