#idk why i can't write shorter posts vbhfdjks

[heartsings]

for doyle’s ghost verse.  the progression i envision for it is also extended to a resurrection plot at some point in time  ( exact timeline, as well as the verse in general is up for discussion ).

  -   his death is excruciatingly painful. the beacon doesn’t just eviscerate him ; the supernatural nature of it causes to sever a clear link between reality from which he was taken, and the afterlife assigned to him after his sacrifice. the flash following his death drops him off in a hell dimension where many souls executed by the scourge reside, tortured and toiling for the likes of purebloods set on remaking them for their own benefit by removing whatever’s left of their humanity. first time, he’s there barely a moment before being ripped back to the docks overlooking the spot where he died.

  -   it doesn’t take long to figure out he’s a ghost, but it takes a while to get used to his new reality. he’s mostly floating at first, invisible and unheard. for most of it, he doesn’t get sent back to hell for long, but there are flashes of it every now and then that keep him on edge. he tries looking over angel and cordelia, or even harriet or his mum, but it’s hard to tether himself at first, and perhaps even harder to watch them mourn him. it gets better eventually and sometimes he watches them, increasingly more frustrated that he can do nothing else to help.  he remains invisible for entirety of season one.

  -   he finds an unexpected ally in dennis. stuck together on the same plane, doyle may just be the first person who sees and hears dennis when he answers ever since his spirit was released. against all odds, they develop an easy friendship. uncomfortable to watch cordelia at home when she doesn’t know he’s there, doyle usually comes around when she’s gone, so he can catch up on things he may have missed. dennis is usually the one he seeks first after he’s been gone a while.

  -   it’s around season two when things start to change. it may be the force of will trying to get through to cordelia stuck in a series of unending visions that triggers it. at first, he’s able to manipulate material things or possess them, then brief echoes of his voice or apparitions from the corner of an eye. it takes a series of textbook hauntings before he first manifests, to the shock of his friends, some time more for him to be able to stay longer, and then longer, and even help them in his new ghostly fashion.

  -   just as soon as that starts, the trips to hell become more frequent, though he never really tells anyone what happens when he disappears. time flies differently when he’s there. for the hours or days he spends on earth, there are years in hell. the longer he’s there, the harder are returns, and it’s dennis who’s most helpful and helps him keep track of events. it makes him feel detached, and clear on the fact he doesn’t really belong with the living, but the reality of staying in hell where it seems he belongs after all anyway, feels even worse.

  -   his stay in hell, however, is not without a purpose, though he doesn’t really know it. not all souls trapped there are lost, and he tries to help free them, and even succeeds with some. it’s not an easy task, but it’s one he chooses just as he chose to sacrifice himself, as the other option was to succumb into the torture and become the monster he already thinks he may be. 

  -   his death wasn’t without meaning, and such was his choice that it made him a subject of a prophecy, which he fulfilled and became the proverbial chosen one of half - bloods like him. now torn between hell and ghostly earth, with the former becoming a more frequent reality, it’s down to giving into the torture, or working out a way for him to return and pick up the path of becoming a champion in his own right.

  -  now, the when and how it occurs is up to plot. the longer down in the series it happens, the bigger chance that doyle’s ghostly appearances become less and less. doyle is tightlipped about things that concern him on such a level, but i imagine it becomes obvious something is going on at some point. as for resurrection, should it happen, it’s important to take note that it takes time for him to heal afterwards. his death itself was traumatic, he already had layers of issues before dying, now clearly enforced by the hell experience and the fact that he was even scheduled there in the first place, not to mention the guilt he feels, primarily about passing his visions onto cordelia that are threatening to kill her. though the whole thing was also certainly eye opening in some cases, but things like this need time. 

  -   this is mostly just a note that whichever way, i’m not assuming anything! i’d love to discuss and plot things beforehand, since realistically speaking doyle’s dead in canon. but who is canon anyway, amirite?