#spoiler about nettles ig

[belle-keys]

I just love it when characters possess contradicting qualities like Daemon Targaryen is both a loyal slut and a philandering malewife and like, it doesn't get much better than this innit

[waybrights]

Spare ghost hunters au?

ig i now have 2 ghost aus heheheh I'VE MISSED THIS ONE THOUGH!!!!! here's a little thing for it <33 this is based on a convo i had w @skibs-scribbles dhakdhkd

putting it under a spoiler for vague mentions of blood !!!

--

"c'mon! i heard that there's this really cool forest 'round here!" anne says with an excited gleam in her eyes. "its supposed to be haunted," she giggles, wiggling her fingers in front of her face as she speaks.

"i-" sasha gulps, her usually brave face falling into a worried frown. "i dunno annie..."

"what? you scared of a few ghosts?" anne snorts, though her smile falls as she takes in the skeptical faces of her friends. "oh, you guys really don't want to go, do you?"

marcy sighs, opening her mouth for a few seconds almost as though she expects an explanation to form, but nothing does. she closes her mouth and shakes her head, glancing as sasha out of the corner of her eyes. next to her, sasha takes a deep breath and sets her eyes on the treeline. "no, no let's go!" she says cheerily, puffing out her chest as she takes anne and marcy's hands in her own cold ones. "you're right, annie! there's nothing to be scared of!"

"sash, we don't have to-"

"no annie! you're excited," sasha argues, pulling the pair over to the dark line of trees. "besides, if we're in a ghost hunting club, i should get over my fear of ghosts, right?" it sounds forced but her smile stays fixed on her face the whole time. anne and marcy share a look as they stumble behind her, but follow her all the same.

the forest wasn't anything special, just a few lines of trees next to a usually empty highway. anne had heard about families going for walks in them during the summer months, though most would leave after a few minutes on account of strange energy in the area. anne though that was stupid, as someone who could see ghosts she knew that ghosts didn't usually give off 'bad energy' - most were actually rather approachable. but even anne couldn't deny the weird feeling she got the moment the trio stepped past the first line of trees.

a coldness began to overtake her. her hairs rose up her arms as they walked along a trail, sasha in front and talking about anything and everything (to distract herself, anne thought distantly). a feeling of dread settled in her stomach as they continued further. even marcy had stayed quiet as they went off the path, delving deeper into the undergrowth.

they appeared to be following a smaller trail, one that looked more like disturbed ground than any trail people walked. sasha seemed to know what she was doing, guiding them over tree stumps and nettles, around blocked off paths and rocks sticking out of the dirt. anne didn't know how sasha knew this place so well (practically off by heart by the way she was walking and talking at the same time), she'd never struck anne as an extremely outdoor-sy person in their short time as friends but anne knew to never judge a book by its cover. hell, maybe sasha goes on regular walks off the beaten track with her family - yeah, that was probably a better explanation that what had been slowly forming in the back of anne's mind.

the stop was abrupt. one second they were walking, hopping over fallen branches, and the next they were still, the silence of the forest falling over them like a blanket. the feeling in anne's stomach had grown from a pit into a chasm as sasha fell silent, her eyes settling on a tree. from where anne stood, it looked like a pretty normal, standard tree, one that had it been her leading, wouldn't have caught her eyes. but something had made sasha stop. the same thing that had caused anne's hairs to stand on end and marcy to hold her hand in a vice grip.

sasha doesn't say anything when anne steps around her to stand by her side, only stares at a spot at the bottom of the trunk, where it begins to branch off into thick roots. "what are you looking at?" anne asks quietly, her voice a mere whisper (she feels wrong talking any louder, with this feeling she's now identified as grief settling over the trio).

"anne-" marcy's voice cracks as she speaks, she sounds as though she wants to say more but movement cuts her off. sasha's arm raises, a shaking hand points to a dark stain anne hadn't noticed before. she squints, staring at the large stain on the tree.

"what is it?" the words slip out before she has time to think about them. deep down, anne knows what it is; she knows that the little blonde strands attached to it aren't from some plant but a head of hair, she knows that the dark stain isn't just burnt wood but something far more sinister. anne doesn't need all the pieces to know that something happened under this tree, something sasha was involved in, something she didn't want to talk about.

"oh."

"yeah," sasha mumbles. the three of them stare at it for a few more seconds before sasha turns sharply on her heel and walks back in the direction they came, marcy following close behind. anne stays though, just for a moment. she sits on her heels, staring at this dark stain with a few blonde hairs attached, and the reality of it all seeps in. that's sasha's hair.