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cielcreations · 6 months

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Spectrum's Doll (VSAU Story)

Based off/Inspiration from the amazing @rhapsoddity and their Vigilante Sheriff AU as well as their Head Empty Sheriff AU! Their art and story is just *chef's kiss* Definitely check them and their stuff out, it's amazing and lovely and I just can't get over it.

Also, implied hermit/empireshipping in this story. Nothing too drastic, just characters mentioning how they were exes or how they like each other, but still, it's there.

Also, also, TRIGGER WARNING: Hypnosis/Mind Control. That's kinda the whole point of this story. Cool? Cool.

When Stratos asked Sheriff for help in finding Sausage, he didn't think he would have to make a trade, intentionally or not.

Sheriff tied the llama hybrid up, the man struggling the whole time.

"Are your informants really reliable? It just seems like no one is here." Stratos asked, "Well, besides Spectrum's minions."

"Yes, I'm sure my information is correct, my informants wouldn't give me false info or lie." Sheriff said. They may be pigeons, but they see everything. He thought. He put the llama hybrid against the wall, who continued to struggle.

"You won't get away with this." The man hissed.

"Hey, that's my line!" Sheriff teased, taking out a deputy's badge sticker and sticking it on his head, "Boop!"

Stratos rolled his eyes before he and Sheriff moved to the next room of the warehouse. It was dark, making the two already on edge. Suddenly, a single light flipped on, revealing Sausage.

"Sausage!" Stratos ran over.

"Wait, Stratos, be careful, I don't like this! It could be a trick!" Sheriff exclaimed, taking out another lasso.

"Oh, don't be uptight, it's Sausage, he wouldn't hurt-" Stratos stopped in his tracks as the brunette lifted his hand, a large vine nearly stabbing him but only brushing past his cheek, "-me..."

"What the-?!" Sheriff watched as Sausage began to fight Stratos, the hero dodging and yelling at the other to stop. He took out his grabbling hook, spinning it in his hand, "That's Sanctuary's power! How could Spectrum use it? Unless Sausage is- oh god, that would make sense, but then why-"

"Too many questions~" Someone whispered in his ear, hugging his arm and wrapping their arm around his shoulder, "Don't worry that pretty little head of yours~ Just sink deeper and listen to me~"

Sheriff blinked as the colors in the room began to blur. He groaned and pulled away from the person quickly. His vision was slightly clouded by a mix of colors, but he fought against it, seeing the colorful villain. He had teal hair with heterochromia eyes, one teal and one orange. He wore a simple black bodysuit with a chest window, black jeans, and a colorful jacket, his black mask covering his face.

"Woah man, take me to dinner first!" Sheriff laughed, trying to ground himself.

"Gladly!" The villain, Spectrum, smiled, "But I don't think this location is very fitting!"

The colors moved and Sheriff saw tables and chairs appear around them. He groaned, holding his head and focusing on Spectrum. If he did that, he could see the warehouse, he could hear Stratos's yelling and Sausage using his power. He needed to focus.

"I-I'm flattered, but one shouldn't mix work with play-!" He groaned.

Spectrum stepped forward, "Awwww, come on handsome, a little break wouldn't-" He gasped, stepping back to dodge one of Sheriff's punches, the dirty blonde dropping his lasso and grappling hook, "Oh, so you like it rough, huh?"

"Gotta keep you on your toes, don't I?" Sheriff chuckled, trying to punch him again.

Spectrum dodged. Sheriff couldn't tell if he was moving slower or if Spectrum was just that fast, but he kept trying to hit him. He focused on fighting Spectrum, the villain seeming to get more bored by the minute.

"You know, I'm surprised and impressed you managed to endure this for so long!" Spectrum cooed, stepping out of the way.

Sheriff panted, smirking, kind of proud of himself, "Yeah, well, I know villains like you prefer a show and I don't mind an audience!"

Spectrum again dodged, managing to get behind Sheriff, "That's cute, but we should really wrap this up." He kicked the dirty blonde in the back, Sheriff stumbling and falling to his knees, "I don't do this for everyone, but you're quite a special case!"

Spectrum moved in front of Sheriff, cupping his cheeks, "Now, do me a favor and scream."

Sheriff gasped as he was blinded by colors, a voice in his head telling him to give in, to let go, to relax, to let Spectrum in. He tried to resist it, he tried to think of things to ground himself. Norman, Flick, he two cats. Grian, his awesome brother when he's not being annoying. Sausage, Sausage still needs help! And Stratos needs him and-

"Stop thinking. You don't need to. Let me do all the work." Spectrum's voice rang in his head.

Tears formed in Sheriff's eyes as they fluttered. He tried to fight back, but the voices telling him to give in overtook him. He closed his eyes as tears ran down his cheeks.

Spectrum groaned, holding his head as he looked down at the dirty blonde, Damn, why did I have to use so much power on him?! He thought. He stared down at the other and smiled, cooing as he wiped the tears away. Sheriff's blue eyes were glowing purple, a blank look on his face.

"Nothing but a cute little doll." He giggled before looking at Sausage and Stratos.

Spectrum smirked, picking Sheriff up bridal style before slipping out of the room. He blinked and laughed, seeing the llama hybrid still struggling in the ropes.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up! Your arm candy is stronger than he looks!" The brunette hissed.

"Oh, I know, trust me, Owen." Scott walked over, using a knife to cut him loose, "Come on, I got what I want. The hypnosis on Sausage will wear off the farther I get away."

Owen looked at Sheriff in his arms, "Oh my god, you must've used a lot of power. There are no thoughts behind those eyes!"

"That's the point!" Spectrum chuckled, "He was really good at resisting, even tried to put up a fight. But when I finally got him to stop thinking, he finally was mine!"

The two continued chatting, slipping into the night, disappearing with Sheriff.

***

"Home sweet home, my doll!" Spectrum giggled as he placed the dirty blonde on his bed, Owen rolling his eyes.

"I'm stealing your bathroom for an hour." He grabbed his civilian clothes, walking to the door.

"That's fine! I'll be here!" Spectrum giggled as the brunette closed the door. He smiled, removing his mask and jacket, placing them on a chair.

"Yo, Scott, I heard Owen." His bedroom door open as his sibling came in, "How did- oh, you got him."

"Xornoth, this is Sheriff!" Scott exclaimed, making Sheriff turn to face his sibling, "Sheriff, say hi!"

Sheriff lifted his hand and waved a bit.

Xornoth rolled their eyes, "Whatever. Just keep an eye on him."

"I will! He's going to just be either arm candy or a doll!"

"Yeah, I get that, but you also let your toys wander, sometimes. Just keep him away from my stuff."

"I will, geeeeez!"

"You okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I-"

"Scott." Xornoth looked at him, raising an eyebrow, "Are you okay? Injured? Broken?"

Scott chuckled, "I'm fine, Xornoth. Head hurts a bit from using too much of my power, but I'm fine."

"Kay. Just making sure." Xornoth waved, "Alright, I'm going back to terrorizing 10 year olds."

"Have fun!" Scott called as they shut the door and left.

Scott then changed into some pajamas before facing Sheriff, who was still staring at where Xornoth once was. He chuckled, tilting his head to face him. He removed the dirty blonde's hat, vest, and scarf, placing them on a chair before opening his closet.

"What to put you in...?" He hummed, "Hmmm... I mean, I could leave you in boxers, what do you think?" He chuckled, laughing at his own joke.

"Mmmn-"

Scott turned and saw Sheriff's face was twisted.

"H-H-Huuuh-"

"Shhhhhhh~" Scott cooed, quickly closing the distance between them, holding the other's cheeks, "No thinking for you~ Just sit there looking pretty~"

Sheriff slipped easily, his face relaxing as he once again fell under Scott's control. Damn, even now, he's still trying to fight. I have to watch what I say and order of him if me asking what he thinks can bring him back. Scott turned back to the closet, deciding a clean white shirt was all Sheriff needed.

He unbuttoned the dirty blonde's shirt and widened his eyes. Winged... surgery scars...? He looked at Sheriff's back, eyes getting bigger, Small canary wings...?! Scott was in shock before he gently removed Sheriff's mask.

"Holy- Is that-?!" Scott cupped the dirty blonde's cheeks before smiling brightly, "Oh, my god! Jimmy Solidarity Gaming is Sheriff, aye?! That's so cool! No wonder I like you so much!" He then put the new white shirt on the dirty blonde, unbuttoning and removing his jeans, "We sure live in a small world, huh? That's crazy! I can't believe you became a vigilante! And a confident flirter too! I guess that's my doing, you're welcome everyone! I mean, I am sorry I have to take this handsome hunk off the streets, but he's miiiiiiine~!" Scott giggled.

Owen walked out, sighing, "Alright, I'm done.

"Thank you so much for your hard work, Own! You're dismissed, minion!" Scott teased, playfully clapping his hands together, "That will be all!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going!" Owen laughed, waving as he left, "See ya tomorrow!"

"See ya!" Scott chuckled.

He smiled, looking at Solidarity's face, still blank. He gently laid the other down laying beside him.

"Cuddle me."

The dirty blonde did.

Scott smiled, "So handsome, doll. And all mine. Go ahead and sleep."

Solidarity's eyes fluttered closed and Scott smiled. He turned off the lights and fell asleep himself.

***

Stratos paced, biting his bottom lip, occasionally biting his nail anxiously, his whole body stiff.

"Stratos, please calm down..." Sanctuary tried.

"I-I just can't, I'm sorry!" Stratos groaned, "I-I mean, Sheriff helped me find you and now Spectrum has him! He's been missing for three weeks and-"

"Excuse me!" The two turned as two heroes came towards them, the avian placing down the brunette, "Stratos, Sanctuary, pleasure to see ya!"

"Hey, Hotguy, Cuteguy." Stratos smiled.

Sanctuary waved a bit, "Thanks again for the help, Hotguy!"

"Of course. Actually, speaking of help, um... Cuteguy?"

The dirty blonde seemed hesitant, nervous even, anxious? "...Um, well... I was wondering, do you guys happen to know someone in your civilian forms? His name is Jimmy or he sometimes goes by Solidarity?"

"Yeah, we do! Why?"

"He's missing."

"WHAT?!" The two yelled.

"Wait, wait, wait, how do you know this?!"

"Well, Solidarity is m-"

"What he means to say-" Hotguy interrupted, "-is that Cuteguy and Solidarity are really close in civilian form!"

"Uh, yeah, right!" Cuteguy exclaimed, "Anyways, I went to check on him two weeks ago cause he wasn't answering me and we had plans, but he wasn't there. I tried calling, texting, calling his and my friends, no one knew. I looked everywhere and his cats..." He sighed, "His cats kept meowing and whining at me. I fed and gave them water and they acted like they hadn't been fed in days. Which is just not Solidarity! He would never just disappear on me! And he loves those cats more than anything, he would put them over everything else in an instant! There's no way he would just abandon them!"

Sanctuary nodded, standing up, "Listen, we'll help you find Solidarity, but can you guys help us find Sheriff?"

"Sheriff? The vigilante?" Hotguy asked, "Isn't he, like, your archenemy, Stratos?"

Stratos looked away, "I owe him. He awas the one who helped me find Sanctuary, but... Spectrum took him while I got Sanctuary back. He's been missing for three weeks."

Cuteguy flapped his wings, beginning to fly, "Okay, so Solidarity and Sheriff, right? I'll do a sweep of the city again, just to make sure neither of them are hiding in plain sight and we just overlooked them."

"I'll come with." Stratos flew to stand (float?) beside him.

"Hotguy and I will ask if anyone has seen them and for details. We'll meet up in a couple hours."

The four split up and began searching.

As the sun began to set and the moon rose, the sky darkened. Stars shined in the night sky as the four met up once more, sharing what little information they had. No one has seen either of the men, and no one had any idea where they could possible be.

"Uggggh!" Cuteguy groaned, "Dammit!"

"Woah, calm down Cute-"

"Don't tell me to calm down, Hotguy!" The dirty blonde hissed, "Ti- Jimmy is missing and no one has seen him, he just poofed out of existence and I can't do anything about it."

"Actually, I know where he is."

The four turned and immediately became on edge.

"Hephaestus!" Stratos glared, "What're you doing here?!"

"Not here to fight!" The redhead exclaimed, "Temporary truce?"

"Yeah right-"

"I know where Sheriff and possible Solidarity is being held."

The four widened their eyes and looked at each other, before back at the redhead.

"And why should we trust you?!" Sanctuary exclaimed.

"Spectrum kidnapped you as part of his big plan, knowing Stratos would come for you. And Sheriff being Sheriff helped Stratos saved you, but Spectrum now has him. Right?"

"How do you know all this-"

"Doesn't matter, he took Sheriff and he also has Solidarity, but I don't exactly know where he's keeping him since I've only seen Spectrum lugging Sheriff around."

"If you know this, why ask us to help you?" Hotguy questioned.

Hephaestus looked away, "Well... truth is, me and Sheriff have some... history. We know each other in our civilian forms but our relationship is... complicated." He looked at them again, "But that doesn't matter. Spectrum has him deep under hypnosis and I won't be able to bring him back alone. Even if I could, I doubt he'd listen to me. I need your help to bring him back. And I can help you find Solidarity."

Cuteguy bit his bottom lip. He summoned an axe and pointed it at the other, "If you're lying, I will actually kill you."

"Noted. Now, come on, this way."

Hephaestus led the way, the four heroes following him, albeit from a bit of a distance. They arrived at a warehouse, the five standing on the roof and looking through the roof windows. The lights showed Spectrum, his orange clad sidekick, and a dirty blonde sitting on a box.

"Who-"

Hephaestus broke the window with his giant robot hands and fell through, glaring, "Spectrum, give Sheriff back."

"Hephaestus..." Spectrum glared, "I should have know you would find me eventually, you've always been obsessed with Sheriff."

"I'M OBSESSED?!" The redhead growled, pointing at the other, his giant robot hand doing the same, "You made a whole plan to kidnap a hero, just in case Sheriff would show up as support, and then kidnapped him instead so you can have some fake boyfriend!"

"Oh, he's not fake, he's my real boytoy!" He then looked at Sheriff, smirking, "Right, dollface?"

Sheriff merely nodded, blank face.

"Son of a-"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Stratos yelled as the heroes stoof beside Hephaestus, "That's Sheriff?!"

The dirty blonde's hair was brushed back, a little diamond clip holding back his bangs. He wore a simple sleeveless black bodysuit with black arm bands, black jeans, purple boots, and a purple belt.

Hotguy drew his bow, Cuteguy summoning a weapin beside him, "You and your sidekick surrender now, Spectrum. It's five against two, you're outnumbered."

"You're right, we are outnumbered, but you're mistaken. It's five against three." Spectrum smirked, "Handsome, take care of Hephaestus and Stratos for me."

Sheriff stood and unlatched a black lasso from his belt, spinning it.

"Sheriff, listen to me, you don't-"

The dirty blonde interrupted Sanctuary by wrapping the lasso around Stratos and throwing him into Hephaestus.

"Sheriff, stop-!" Cuteguy called before he noticed the colors start to move. He groaned, closing his eyes as he flew up, "Hotguy, be careful!"

Hotguy seemed unaffected by the colors, smirking, letting his vex wings out, "Sorry, colorful man, doesn't affect me."

"That's fine, I got three of you distracted." Spectrum smirked, "Orange, take care of Sanctuary."

"You got it!" The llama hybrid snickered.

Spectrum took out a knife, Hotguy trying to shoot at him, trying to disorientate him. Spectrum easily dodged it and got close, trying to slash at the other. Cuteguy kicked Spectrum back, the colorful villain looking at the avian and trying to manipulate him. Cuteguy groaned and held his head, closing his eyes once more. It was a dance of Hotguy and Spectrum fighting with one another, Cuteguy trying to step in only to close his eyes to not get effected by the hypnosis. Orange and Sanctuary got in a heated fist fight, Orange also using a knife to cut the vines Sanctuary summoned.

Meanwhile, Sheriff was using his own weapons, trying to stop Stratos and Hephaestus, mainly trying to lasso one of them and then throwing them into the other. Hephaestus stayed back, knowing how dangerous his weapons could be and mainly acting as support as Stratos tried to grab Sheriff or dodged the dirty blonde's attacks. Stratos flew forward and pinned him down on the ground, the brunette staring into Sheriff's eyes.

"Sheriff, come on! Don't let Spectrum take over you! You're stronger than this! Come on, get out of your head!" Stratos yelled at him.

Sheriff blinked, the glow in his eyes flicking.

"Sheriff?!" Hephaestus called, kneeling beside Stratos, "Come on, Sheriff! You're an idiot, but you're not weak! Come on!"

Sheriff groaned, eyes twitching as the glowing dimmed more, "N-Nnnngh-!"

Spectrum looked over and growled. He kicked Hotguy in the stomach, the hero groaning. He then threw him towards Cuteguy, both yelping as Spectrum ran over to the other two. He manipulated the colors, Stratos and Hephaestus groaning. Spectrum pulled Sheriff away from the two, the dirty blonde groaning.

"Nnngh, w-wha-"

"Shhhhhh~" Spectrum cooed, "Shhhh, shhhh, no thinking for you, dollface~ Calm down, slip deep again~"

Sheriff panted as he tried to fight a bit, but he easily gave in, face blank once more as he once again turned numb.

"You-!" Hephaestus growled, his eyes narrowing.

"He wants to stay with me, Hephaestus. Right, Sheriff?" Spectrum stood up, holding Sheriff's hand and standing him up.

Sheriff nodded.

"See? He wants me, not you."

"That's it!" Hephaestus held one of his arms up, pressing a couple buttons, "Stratos, cover your ears."

"Huh-"

Hephaestus pressed a button and, suddenly, a loud alarm began to blare. Everyone but Hephaestus and Sheriff covered their ears. Sanctuary, however, lifted some vines up and threw Orange against the wall. Spectrum yelled, glaring at the hero. He glared and looked at Sheriff. He pulled the dirty blonde towards him whispering in his ear. Sheriff's eyes glowed a bright purple as he fell to his knees, Spectrum running towards the brunette.

Hotguy groaned and drew his bow, ready to pin Spectrum to the wall. However, before he could let go, Sheriff used his lasso to take his bow.

Hephaestus stopped the blaring, "Sheriff-"

Spectrum helped his friend up, smirking, "Good boy, Sheriff! I'll be back for you later! Do whatever you need to do, kill them if you need to."

Sheriff stood up, protecting Spectrum and Orange. He panted, eyes glowing a bright purple, twitching as he gripped his lasso tightly.

"Sorry Sheriff, not dealing with this!" Sanctuary wrapped a vine around his leg and threw him against a wall.

The man cried out in pain, eyes closing as he fell unconscious. Stratos flew over and picked the dirty blonde up.

"Great, we got Sheriff-" Cuteguy looked at Hephaestus, "-now where's T- Jimmy?"

Hephaestus went to say something but they heard police sirens. He cursed, "Fuck, I'll go after Spectrum and Orange and get him, but I gotta go!"

"WHAT?!" Cuteguy's wings flared up as the other climbed out the roof windows, "YOU'RE LEAVING?!"

"Listen, we may have a temporary truce, but police and villains don't mix. I'll get Solidarity, you help Sheriff!" He then left.

"YOU LITTLE-" Cuteguy went to fly after him.

"Cuteguy!" Hotguy grabbed him, "He's right! He helped us find Sheriff, but the police won't care. Besides, all four of us will get in trouble if it's found out we were working with a villain."

Cuteguy's wings slowed down as he landed, "....Right. I'll stay back, explain what happened to the police, you all help Sheriff."

"I'll help you." Sanctuary stood beside Cuteguy.

Stratos picked Hotguy up, "Alright, we're heading to headquarters. See ya both later."

Stratos flew to headquarters, the two going inside and heading to the medbay. They laid Sheriff down on the bed, a staff member healing his back. Hotguy knelt beside him, holding his head in his hands. His eyes began to glow a light blue, his vex wings extending as he tried to use his magic to break Sheriff out of it. He groaned, focusing as much as he could. Suddenly, he pulled back, groaning as he held his hands.

"Hotguy?"

"I-I can't break him out of it, it's not that easy. Every time I try, I just feel Spectrum's power trying to overtake mine."

Suddenly, Sheriff's eyes shot open. He screamed and went to punch Hotguy, Stratos catching him and pinning him down. Sheriff struggled, glaring, kicking and screaming.

"C-Calm down, calm down! F-Fuck, what is going on?!"

Hotguy widened his eyes, "Spectrum's last order was to kill us..."

Stratos widened his eyes, cursing, "Sorry Sheriff." He headbutted the other, Sheriff falling unconscious again.

Hotguy picked Sheriff up, "This is going to take a lot more focus, I need to go to another room."

"What?! But, Hotguy, what if-"

"I'll be fine, I just need peace and quiet and no distractions." Hotguy reassured, going into a different room he knew had no cameras.

He locked the door behind him before he laid Sheriff on the couch, kneeling beside him. He took a deep breath, taking off his glasses. He held the other's face, closing his eyes. Light blueish-grey marks appeared around his hands and eyes, his vex wings extending slightly. His eyes glowed a bright blue as he completely focused on the dirty blonde's mind. I should be able to reach in, weave some memories together and bring him back up. Hotguy thought.

He was inside Sheriff's mind, tugging and pulling memories of the vigilante messing with Stratos, the vigilante saving the day and catching the bad guys, the vigilante... talking to some pigeons? Oh, and there he was, helping Stratos find Sausage and then there he was, talking with Spectrum and fighting his control. Finding those seemed to break Spectrum's hold a bit, as he heard the dirty blonde groan. He ignored it, focusing more. He reached deeper into Sheriff's mind, pulling more memories up, these ones more specific.

Sheriff seeing a little girl crying. The girl was lost, she couldn't find her mom or dad. So, Sheriff picked her up, calmed her down, even bought her some ice cream, before helping her retrace her steps. The girl's mom and dad were extremely grateful, thanking the man profusely. He just smiled and reassured them it was no trouble.

Sheriff almost getting caught by Stratos after helping catch a bank robber. The brunette had grabbed Sheriff's wrist, attempting to get the dirty blonde to put them behind his back. Sheriff merely spun them around, telling Stratos he loved to dance and to just ask next time. That flustered the hero and he let go, allowing Sheriff to run and playfully wink.

Sheriff arriving home. In a... familiar home. Sheriff taking off his mask, hat, and scarf, setting them down on a familiar table... Sheriff walking down a familiar hallways, two familiar cats running over and greeting him. He picked the cats up, went into a familiar bedroom, and took out his phone. He sat on the familiar bed, turned on the camera, made it face him and-

JIMMY?! Hotguy gasped as he stared at the memory playing out, O-Oh my god, no wonder Sheriff and Solidarity went missing around the same time, they're the same person! Wait, fuck, Hephaestus says he knows who Sheriff is, meaning he knows that- Oh god, no wonder he ran! He wasn't going to reveal who Sheriff was! Oh god, what am I suppose to tell Cuteguy?! 'Hey, your missing brother? Turns out, he's a vigilante! In fact, he's Sheriff! So we found both, hurray!' Oh god, if Grian ever found out, he would kill Jim for doing something so dangerous! Hotguy groaned, shaking his head, Focus. Focus, it's okay. Just... focus.

***

Sheriff's eyes fluttered open, his head pounding, body aching. He groaned, looking around the room. He saw he was in some sort of office and-

Dollface~

He gasped, sitting up straight, looking around.

"Hey, you're-"

Sheriff stood and out his fists up, glaring.

"H-HEY! I come in peace!"

"Wh-What the?! Hotguy?! Where am I?! Where's Sp-" Sheriff stopped himself and shook his head, "Where's the villain?!"

Hotguy smiled kindly, sitting down and patting the seat beside him, "He's not here. It's just you and me. Sit."

"...Am I being arrested?"

"No, not at all. Just sit."

Sheriff hesitated, but did so.

"Listen, so..." Hotguy sighed, "Spectrum's grip on you was really, really, really strong."

"Yeah, I know." Sheriff hugged himself a bit, "I... I would try to fight it, but he would just... I don't know. I don't remember anything. I just remember his voice..."

Hotguy nodded, "Yeah, I know, I could tell. See, because Spectrum's grip on you was so tight, it wasn't as simple as me just challenging the power. I tried that, but his last order was to kill us, so when it didn't work, you woke up and tried to kill us."

"'Us?'"

"Cuteguy, Stratos, Sanctuary, Hephaestus, and I all found you, but Stratos and I took you back here." He explained, "Anyways, when I realized that didn't work, I had to go deeper into your head, root around, and pull you out. And, upon doing that, I... I saw your memories. Memories of you... without the mask."

Sheriff widened his eyes and stood up, stepping back, "Y-You-?!"

"Listen, it was the only other thing I could do and I don't feel good knowing, especially under these circumstances!" Hotguy stood up as well, "I don't want to expose your identity to more people, Solidarity, it's why I took you to a private room."

"Wait, you know me?" Sheriff asked, "Like, by name?"

"Yeah, um, soooooooo-" Hotguy removed his glasses, "I may or may not live with your brother...?"

The dirty blonde widened his eyes, "...HOLY SHIT!" He sat back down with the hero, "Scar? How could I not tell?!"

"Well, to be fair, we have tech in our masks and glasses that the hero industry made. It helps conceal our identities more. So, when I put my glasses on-" He put them back on, "-the tech makes it so your brain can't accurately pinpoint features. It confuses your brain, therein making it hard for people to recognize us!"

"Yeah, that makes sense, you look completely different with those on. Weird." He leaned back into the couch before widening his eyes, "Oh my god, how long was I gone?"

"Three weeks."

"OH MY GOD-" He quickly quieted down, looking at the brunette, "Please tell me Norman and Flick are okay?!"

"Grian and I took them in when looking for you." Scar reassured, "Cuteguy and I went looking for you, er, you as in Jimmy, and Stratos and Sanctuary were looking for Sheriff."

"Oh thank goodness." The dirty blonde sighed in relief before he seemed to realize something else, "Oh god, Grian and Pearl..."

"Yeeeeeeeah, they're freaking out... Don't worry, I didn't tell them!"

"Great! Now I gotta make up how I escaped Spectrum and make it look believable..." He sighed, "So, Cuteguy and Hotguy found Sheriff, but Grian and Scar are still looking for Solidarity, right?"

"Yeah. Listen, I could sneak you out and-"

"Nah, I got this. At least Pearl is safe from all this!"

Scar smiled awkwardly, "Hehe, yeah..."

***

The colorful villain growled, tapping his foot angrily.

"Sorry man, I was care-"

"Don't apologize, Owen, Sanctuary was playing dirty."

"Thanks for saving me, Scott. Even if it meant loosing your doll."

"You're my best friend, Owen. I can capture Sheriff again. I can't replace you."

The brunette smiled up at the other, "Softie."

"Alright, next time I'll leave you." The other teased.

Owen laughed, humming, "...You know his secret identity, right? Are you going to use that to your advantage?"

Spectrum chuckled darkly, "Oh Owen..." He smirked, eyes glowing as he manipulated the colors in front of them, "Scott is going to reconnect with an old friend and see how he's doing. Whatever happens after, I can't say."

Owen just laughed.

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watcheraurora · 4 months

Text

Spirit Vision

I... wanted to write a silly GIGGS Phasmo/Ghost Hunting AU. This... is not that. Not exactly. Where did the Ranchers come from for this? I have no idea 5.3k words

CW: Phasmo-typical horror ghost elements, mentions of death and blood, mild gore described

I know Phasmo is a four player game ssssshhhh this is creative liberty

—

"You comin', Top?" Skizz called from the van, where he was loading up the last few things and strapping them in for the job.

Tango looked up from the paperwork he'd been filling out for the last... oh gosh. Three hours. "Do I have to?" he asked, the slight whine of complaint tightening his throat. "Where's Gem?"

"She couldn't make it tonight. Family obligation."

"Do you need me?"

"Five brains are better than four! Especially if one of them is yours," Grian remarked, strolling past with a box of smudge sticks in his arms. He chucked it to Skizz when he was in range.

"C'mooon," Skizz encouraged, "don't you miss field work? Don't you get bored of just filling out papers all the time? Admin is fine but, like, don't you miss the thrill of adrenaline when a hunt starts? The puzzle of it all?"

Tango narrowed his eyes behind his glasses. "Why would I? I think you just miss me screaming."

Impulse guffawed from the cab of the van. "That too!" he called.

Tango flipped him off, which only served to make him laugh harder. Tango rolled his eyes and went back to his paperwork.

"Tango?" Scar asked, his green eyes wide. "It is really helpful to have five people on a job." There was genuine emotion in Scar's voice. Scar could be very manipulative and scheming when he wanted to be. But it was always him playing it up as a bit. This was real. He was... worried? Concerned? Scared?

Therein lay the other problem. Tango could tell Impy and Skizz to buzz off and know they'd back off. Even Grian took the order to scram as a sign that he was pushing too far.

But Tango always struggled to say no to Scar. He couldn't help it. Scar was a few years younger than him and had Little Brother energy. In such a way that Tango had a hard time turning down his shenanigans.

Tango rubbed his eyes under his glasses with his fingertips, making sure the glasses were back in place before he opened his eyes again. "Fine. But we're not making this a regular thing. I left the field for a reason," he said. He clapped his pen down onto the desk top and pushed to his feet while Scar's face lit up.

"You never did tell us what that reason was," Grian remarked quietly, scooping up five doses of sanity medication. His dark eyes flicked pointedly toward Scar and then back to Tango.

"That's because it's none of your business," Tango retorted, tone sharper than he intended.

Grian gave him a look—the Grian Look™ that looked like it pierced right into his soul and laid it bare—but didn't push. Just took the sanity medication to Skizz, who loaded it in. Tango stretched and climbed into the back of the van to help.

—

"One, two, three, not it!" Skizz said, lashing a hand up to put his finger on his nose.

"Not it!" Impulse, Scar, and Grian all chorused, throwing hands up to their own noses.

Tango rolled his eyes and snatched the Spirit Box off the rack in the back of the van, glancing at the ghost's name on their pin board. "You're all children." He glowered at Impulse and Skizz, who were roughly the same age as him, rather than a chunk of years younger like Grian and Scar.

As he tromped down the ramp and headed toward the door, the radio-flashlight-combo device attached to his shoulder crackled to life. "Could you do this with your radio on? I want to be part of the experience from afar," Grian said playfully. Scar's laugh was just barely audible nearby.

Tango activated his radio's microphone and gave them both some choice words before marching into the house while they cackled.

The ghost room was in one of the bedrooms. It was a one-story house with a basement, but the bedrooms were all on the ground floor.

He nearly tripped on the camera tripod transmitting its video to the van that Impulse had set up in the doorway and rolled his eyes harder. He loved his friends but they were also idiots sometimes. Tango repositioned the tripod so he could close the door. Once it was shut, he turned off the light, muttering incomprehensible noises the whole time.

He pulled his glasses off. The camera had night vision, so he kept his back to it.

The lenses were heavily yellow-tinted. He told Grian and Scar it was because the prescription lenses had a really good blue-light filter on them so he could look at screens all day without irritating his eyes quite so much.

He lied. The lenses weren't prescription. The yellow tint just helped hide the real color of his eyes. With his glasses on, they looked orange-amber enough to pass as brown. His eyes were listed as brown on his driver's license. But they weren't brown. Even in the poor-quality picture on his license photo without his glasses on, his eyes were noticeably not brown.

His eyes were red.

Impy and Skizz knew. They just didn't say anything.

Tucking one side-arm of his glasses down the collar of his baseball shirt, he switched on the Spirit Box. "Are you here?" he asked, blinking hard and looking around the room.

The row of lights flashed red.

"Are you near?" he tried again.

Flash of red.

Tango raised a brow. "Are you friendly?"

Red.

He huffed a sigh. "Are you French?"

Impulse giggled over the radio—but the lights were again red.

Tango took a deep breath. "Where are you?"

"Where are you!" Grian sang over the radio.

"And I'm so sorry!" Skizz sang back.

A row of white lights. The Spirit Box searched nearby radio frequencies, and it skipped between two, robotically seeming to say, "Behind you."

But directly in front of him, a figure shimmered into existence. Not interacting with the D.O.T.S. projector at all. The figure was tall. Broad-shouldered and narrow-hipped. Short dirty-blond hair, dark eyes. There was a faint outline of red around the edges.

Tango yelped at the Spirit Box on instinct.

"Whoo! We got Spirit Box!" Skizz announced over the radio, knowing Tango's tells from years of working with him.

The figure smiled at Tango. "Does that still scare you?" he teased.

Tango reached up and turned off his radio, moving out of sight of the video camera. He stared at the new figure. The others would have no idea the figure was there. This one wasn't the ghost haunting this house. This one was a separate entity entirely. And Tango was the only one who could see this figure.

Red eyes were the most obvious sign of Spirit Vision. An extremely rare gift that allowed a person born with it to see ghosts all the time, rather than during events or hunts.

He swallowed. "I thought you moved on," he said.

The figure smiled sadly. "I had."

—

Five Years Ago...

—

"Jimmy Solidarity. Where are you?" Tango asked, slowly spinning around the kitchen with the Spirit Box at eye-level. Joker and Impulse were talking quietly in the hallway around the corner.

A young man popped up directly in front of Tango, outlined in red. "Right here," he said playfully.

Tango screamed.

The young man—Jimmy Solidarity—scrunched his eyebrows. "Wait... what? No. I can't... that thing doesn't work with me. I can't figure it out." His dark eyes looked at the Spirit Box. "How are you..." He reached up. Before he even got close, Tango's glasses went flying. "Why are your eyes glowing?!"

They weren't. Even when he was looking right at the ghost, his eyes didn't glow. Not to mortal, living eyes anyway. But he'd never had a ghost react intelligently to him before.

"I... I can see you," he said. "I can hear you without this." He waved the Spirit Box vaguely.

Jimmy Solidarity floated back like he'd taken a step back. "What?! How?"

"Spirit Vision."

"I'm not a Spirit though. I'm a Revenant."

"That's just what it's called. I can see ghosts. Of all varieties." That didn't usually involve having a normal conversation with one. Most ghosts were long-gone creatures driven by nothing more than a need to hunt mortals. Primal and feral.

Tango switched on his radio. "Gentlemen, we have ourselves a Rev."

"How do you know that?" Impulse demanded, striding into the room and flicking the lights on. Jimmy Solidarity whirled to look, and noticed Impulse couldn't see him. Looked right past him, even.

"He told me," Tango said, peeking at Jimmy.

"What? How—dude, what happened to your glasses?" Impulse looked around the handful of objects that had been thrown. He spotted the glasses. The lenses were plastic and hadn't even cracked from the impact of getting thrown. Impulse returned them, but Tango didn't put them on.

"Look at my eyes," Tango said quietly while Joker and Skizz were goofing off outside the room, unwilling to come in and get their sanity dropped by being in the cold ghost room with the ghost.

Impulse scrunched his eyebrows and got a little closer to Tango, who looked at Jimmy—who was floating just off the floor and looking a little uncomfortable—and then smiled at his old friend. He blinked slowly to allow Impulse a second.

"Why are they red? I thought they were brown!"

Tango shrugged and put his glasses back on. "They are with these. Or close enough to it, anyway." He looked toward Jimmy. "I have Spirit Vision. You have to be born with it to have it. I was. Spirit Vision gives a person red eyes. I can see ghosts. Just... all the time. Doesn't have to be a hunt or an event. And he's standing right there. Watching us."

Jimmy stuck his tongue out. Tango stuck his out right back. Jimmy laughed and Tango smiled.

"This one's different. He's awake," Tango continued to Impulse, not taking his eyes off Jimmy. "He's intelligent, not mindlessly hunting. But he's a Revenant. No Spirit Box." Tango handed the Spirit Box to Impulse. "Will you put that back in the van for me? I'm gonna talk to him."

"I'll check your sanity monitor while I'm there. If it's at zero, I'm not believing a word you've said," Impulse said.

Tango flipped him off. Impulse returned the gesture and left the room.

"So. Jimmy. What can we do to help you move on?"

"I don't want to move on," Jimmy said. "I have things that I need to do."

"Meaning?" Tango prompted.

"There are some people that I need to pay a visit."

Tango looked Jimmy up and down. Denim jeans, white T-shirt, blue button-up worn unbuttoned over the T-shirt. Fairly modern hairstyle. "You didn't die too long ago, did you?"

"Tango, your sanity is plummeting, man," Impulse said over the radio.

"No. I died about ten years ago."

"And you've just been chilling here ever since?" Tango asked. "That's long enough that any other ghost would have been driven to madness. Lost all human intelligence."

Jimmy shrugged. "Like I said. I have things to do. Once I get revenge, I'll be able to move on."

Ahhh. So he was that kind of Revenant.

"Did you die young?" Tango asked.

Jimmy nodded.

"We'll help where we can. How about that? Then you can move on."

Jimmy smiled. He had a nice smile—a little cheeky, with his tongue poking between his teeth. "I think we can come to some sort of agreement," he said.

—

Present Day...

—

"Why are you back?" Tango asked, breathless. His heart was hammering in his chest.

He, Impulse, Skizz, and Joker had kept Tango's promise. They helped Jimmy find the people he needed to take revenge on. That had been too much for Joker and he'd resigned eventually. And Tango had suffered so much from constant use of his Spirit Vision—which he'd always assumed was a passive ability up until that—that he struggled to stay in the field. So he'd taken the desk jockey position with their little ghost hunting enterprise. Impulse had fought him hard on that. They argued for weeks, and at certain points it seemed like their friendship wouldn't survive. Tango's ability to see ghosts all the time and communicate with them was extremely effective. But after Tango's last job in the field left him crying blood, Impulse had finally backed down. Then hired Grian and Scar to take his and Joker's places in the field. Ghost hunting wasn't any of their day jobs. There simply weren't enough real hauntings to sustain them consistently. But it was a good side-hustle... up until Jimmy.

Tango had never admitted to Impulse, Skizz, or Joker that he'd developed sympathy—and later feelings—for the Revenant they helped.

Who was now back from the Afterlife, rather than Limbo Between, looking at him like they were old friends who'd run into one another at the grocery store.

Jimmy glanced over Tango's shoulder. "She is actually behind you, by the way."

Tango whirled—and shrieked—at the presence of the mangled figure of a long-gone-mad ghost. Sunken empty eye sockets, a gaping maw of rotten black teeth, torn to shreds and covered in viscera. Tango had almost forgotten how abhorrent ghosts became when they drove themselves mad.

He backed away from her—passing through Jimmy. Who was frigid. But familiar.

She left the room and went back to roaming the house.

Tango set a hand on his racing heart.

Jimmy slowly turned around. "You alright?"

"Fine. What are you doing back? I thought ghosts couldn't... I thought..."

"We're not supposed to be able to leave the Afterlife. We're supposed to stay once we made it there. I snuck back. I've been piggybacking every haunting in town for months, looking for you. Where have you been? I've seen Impulse and Skizz, but not you."

No wonder Impulse, Skizz, Scar, and Grian kept getting Twins but only contained one ghost.

Tango shook his head, his legs bumping into the bed. "I left the field. I couldn't... after you were gone... you being around all the time pushed me to the brink of my Vision. A few weeks after... I cried blood during a job. I couldn't... I didn't want to do this anymore. Being in the field..." He rubbed his eyes. They were starting to ache—and not from staring at a computer all day. He squeezed them shut. Having his eyes open didn't stop him from being able to hear Jimmy, but his ability was called Spirit Vision for a reason. Jimmy's voice muffled when Tango's eyes were closed.

"Are you alright?" Jimmy asked.

Tango hadn't used his Vision in years, at this point. He'd forgotten the strain it put on him. The strain that he'd once been so accustomed to that he didn't realize there was any discomfort.

"I... I... I need to leave," he said. Squinting to keep his eyes mostly closed, he stumbled out of the bedroom and jammed his glasses back on his face. Staggering, he pushed past Skizz, lingering on the front door's threshold, and ran to the van. He fell to the floor and sat with his back to one wall, next to the monitor screens.

"Top?" Skizz called, rushing back toward the van himself. "Tango!"

Grian was lingering in the van, as usual, standing at the desk and monitoring the video feed. He turned when Tango collapsed. "What's going on?!" he demanded, voice high-pitched and squawky.

Tango rubbed his temples and grunted a quiet sigh. "One of these days, you'll learn to mind your own damn business."

Lightning flickered with an almost inseparable crash of thunder right as Grian's eyes... flashed purple. But Tango's eyes were squeezed shut against the strain of his Vision and he didn't notice. Just kept rubbing his temples, curled up into a ball. Hoping that Jimmy couldn't leave the house and come see him like this. Most ghosts were stuck within the house they haunted. But if Jimmy was piggybacking every haunting in the area... was he stuck?

A weight heavier than Grian's small, slight frame crashed into the metal floor of the back of the van right beside Tango. "Hey. Buddy. You okay?" Skizz asked as big, warm, callused hands wrapped around Tango's wrists and pulled them away from his face.

Tango shook his head, running a hand through his hair.

"G, will you go grab Impulse?" Skizz asked, tone noticeably frazzled.

"I don't want to go in there with a ghost!" Grian shrieked.

"G! This is an emergency!" Skizz snapped. "Go get Impulse!"

Tango peeked one eye open in time to catch Grian glaring in their general direction while storming out of the van, muttering under his breath.

Once he was out of earshot, his calls for Impulse drowned out by the rain starting to fall, Skizz's hand rested on Tango's shoulder. "What's goin' on, Top?" he asked, voice gentle and concerned. Skizz wasn't the most experienced ghost hunter of the group—that would be Impulse—but he was the oldest. And he had kinda slotted himself into the responsible one of the group role. When things got serious. Other than that, he was also the biggest goofball.

Tango pulled his glasses off, blinking dry, exhausted, red eyes up at Skizz. "It's Jimmy," he breathed. "He's back. He's here."

"You can See him?"

Tango nodded. "He's been piggybacking every haunt in the area for a bit, trying to find me. Since I can See him. I think that's why you've been getting Twins so often but only contain one ghost when the house is cleansed."

"How is he back? Why is he back?"

"I don't know. But using my Vision after four years... Skizz, it hurts."

He felt Skizz wrap him up in a hug. Skizz's hugs were nice. All-encompassing and full of comfort. "It's okay, buddy. You're going to be okay."

They stayed like that for a while before Impulse's distinct run gait splashed through the puddles forming outside.

"What's going on?" Impulse demanded as he crashed up the ramp and into the back of the van. "Grian said Tango wasn't okay?"

Skizz looked around, checking if Grian or Scar had tagged along.

Impulse noticed the look. "I left Grian with Scar, working on putting some salt down. Should keep them occupied for a few minutes," he said, kneeling on Tango's other side after edging around Skizz. "What's going on?"

"My Vision," Tango said. "It hurts."

"Because you haven't used it in so long?"

"I think so. Whatever tolerance I'd built up for the strain it put on me, I've lost it."

"Also Jimmy's back," Skizz added.

"I was getting to that, Skizz," Tango ground out around a clenched jaw.

"Wait. Jimmy? As in... Jimmy Solidarity? That Rev we helped so he could finally get to the Afterlife?" Impulse asked, eyebrows furrowed. From confusion and a bit of frustration, probably. He'd taken Joker's resignation after their process getting Jimmy to move on the hardest of all of them.

"Yeah." Tango nodded.

"What's he doing back? After all that work to get him to move on?!"

"I don't—I don't know, okay?!" Tango retorted. "I couldn't really stay in there and conduct an interview. Just talking to him for a few sentences was starting to make my eyes hurt really bad. And I can't hear ghosts very well if my eyes are closed. It's a weird quirk of Spirit Vision, I guess."

Impulse opened his mouth to reply, but at that moment, Scar and Grian came barreling out of the house. Scar was screaming like Goofy from a Disney movie and Grian was shrieking like a bird.

"Twiiiiinnnsss!" Grian shouted.

"Again?" Scar complained.

Skizz squeezed Tango's shoulder.

"It's not Twins," Tango said.

"What? But we have Spirit Box and Freezing Temps. All we're missing is EMF-Five," Grian said.

Tango shook his head. "It's not Twins. I suggest checking for UV. I think she might be a Mimic."

Grian and Impulse both glanced toward the desk. "I haven't seen any orbs," Grian said.

"Might be a Moroi," Impulse conceded thoughtfully. "Do we have a book down?"

"It's in the wrong room," Skizz said. "Scar set it down in the kitchen."

"You said it was cold in there!" Scar protested.

Tango pushed himself to his feet. "I'll go move it to the ghost room."

"Whoa. Dude," Impulse cautioned. "You're not feeling well. Are you sure you want to go back in there?"

"I need to," Tango said, stepping partially around, partially over Skizz, who was still kneeling. He ran out of the van.

Before he was out of earshot, he heard Grian say, "What's with him?" and Impulse making a noncommittal noise back.

He went back in the house, shaking rainwater out of his hair. "Jimmy?" he called.

"Yes?" The ghost in question slid right through a wall, an excitable smile on his face.

"Talk while we walk. But I can't look at you much or I'm going to get a headache."

"Okay. I remember that toward the end. Before you helped me rest. You stopped looking at me as much."

Tango headed toward the kitchen. "I had to if we wanted to be able to communicate at all," he said. He could feel Jimmy's cold presence floating along at his elbow.

"And here I've spent the last five years thinking it was because you were embarrassed of being attracted to me—I'm joking, I'm joking!" Jimmy added quickly when Tango's gait hitched. He snatched up the Ghost Writing book and turned on his heel. Jimmy stood in the way, but Tango could just walk straight through him. He'd done it before. It wasn't a pleasant sensation and it made sanity plummet, but he could.

"Move over," he said.

Jimmy did, disappearing partway into the wall. Tango went back to take the book to the ghost room. "Wait, Tango. Did I go too far? I'm sorry if I did. I just missed joking around with you. It was always—" He cut off as the light on Tango's shoulder flickered. The house—or the woman's ghost haunting it—began to groan.

"Hunt!" Impulse shouted over the radio, his voice cutting out with the ghost's interference.

Tango swore and ducked into the hall closet, yanking the door shut behind him and holding it closed in case the ghost tried to open it. Jimmy drifted through the closet door and hovered near Tango. The closet was large enough for two people, but the quarters were tight.

Tango closed his eyes, listening to the ghost's footsteps. He scrunched his eyebrows, tapping one finger against his thigh to the beat of the footsteps. The lights through the slats in the door flickered—

And then turned off.

Tango shoved open the door, rushed to the ghost room and dropped the book open on the ground, before bolting out the front door. Jimmy's cold presence followed him out the door this time. Tango grabbed the radio on his shoulder, turning it back on. "Ghost fast! Ghost fast, ghost fast, ghost fast!" He careened into the back of the van, already searching out the monitor that tracked their sanity.

"What?" Grian asked, not looking away from the computer monitor at the desk still looking for Ghost Orbs in case she was a Mimic. He snatched up his journal. "And you're sure it's not Twins?"

"Pretty darn," Tango said. "I'm genuinely thinking she's—"

"A Moroi," Grian finished. "The lower the sanity, the faster the Moroi."

"Exactly."

"Well, could still be a Mimic mimicking the Moroi," Grian reasoned, snapping his journal shut and looking up to meet Tango's eyes. He froze. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! What is that?!" His voice went shrieky again, looking over Tango's left shoulder.

Tango turned to see Jimmy also looking behind himself curiously.

"How did the ghost leave the house?!" Grian demanded. "Wait. Our ghost is..." He looked at the pinboard. The distinctly feminine name. Eve Leonard. Then back to Jimmy. "Where did he come from?"

"You can See him?" Tango asked.

"You can See him?!" Grian retorted.

Tango removed his glasses, revealing the real color of his eyes when they didn't hide behind the amber-orange of the yellow lens tint. But he said nothing.

Grian stalked over to Jimmy, glowering. "Have you been messing with our evidence tonight, fella?" he snapped.

"He hasn't," Tango said before Jimmy could say anything. "He's a Rev. He doesn't interact with the Spirit Box. He does cause Freezing Temps, but he's not skewing the rest of the evidence."

"How do you know he's a Rev?"

"I told him when we first met," Jimmy said.

Grian's gaze snapped back to Jimmy. "You can talk? Most ghosts—"

"I was never quite like the other ghosts," Jimmy remarked.

"I feel like we're not addressing the big elephant in this van right now," Tango said sarcastically. "How can you See a ghost without Spirit Vision?"

Grian met Tango's eyes, and finally seemed to register that they were red. His face blanched a little. "I'm... a little different," Grian admitted. "Please don't tell the others."

Tango shrugged. "Not my secret to tell." Grian's shoulders relaxed. "Different how? E.S.P.?"

"Not exactly. I'm, uh... I'm what's called a Watcher. A rare intersection of a few different sight-based abilities. Spirit Vision, precognition—but it's pretty limited—some clairvoyance. From what I've been able to find, it's a lot rarer for a Watcher to exist than someone with Spirit Vision or precognition or clairvoyance. Like, no more than three on the planet at a time."

"So the odds of us both being on this ghost hunting team are astronomical. And yet here we are," Tango said.

"Basically."

Tango rounded on Jimmy. "Now what are you doing back from the Afterlife? We didn't spend four months helping you with your revenge so you could finally move on for you just to show up here again because you were bored."

"No, I... I came back because... I... I missed you. I can go back to the Afterlife anytime I want, now. But I missed you all. I've just... I've wanted to see your faces again. But you weren't at your old offices, and it's hard to travel around places that aren't haunted so I couldn't follow the van back. I've been..." He cleared his throat, flicked a glance at Grian, and looked back to Tango. "I've been looking for you."

Tango scrunched his eyebrows at Grian. "And you haven't noticed?"

"Well, see, I'm the man in the van," Grian said. "I don't go inside with the ghosties if I can help it."

Tango sighed. "Fine. Whatever. Jim, can we talk outside, in private?" He gave Grian a pointed look and led the way out into the rain. Leaving his glasses off. It was annoying to put up with them when they got streaked with rain.

They circled to the side of the van away from the house. Tango leaned against the van wall, looking around. It was late. No one seemed to be awake or looking around. Maybe the neighbors had all been informed that this house was haunted and ghost hunters were coming to capture the ghost so they were all hiding inside.

"What do you want to speak about?" Jimmy asked. Tango cleared his throat but didn't say anything yet. Trying to parse his thoughts into words that made sense. Why were words so hard? Like, all the time? "Look, I know I might have messed up, coming back like this. I know you weren't expecting to see me. I know you promised that when your time came, you'd meet me in the Afterlife. But that won't be for such a long time and I missed you. Your smile, your laugh—Tango. Are you still... do you still...?"

"Am I still in love with you?" Tango finished, voice sharper than he meant it to be. He pretended not to notice Jimmy's slight flinch in the corner of his eyes. "Yeah. I am."

"Really?" The disbelief in Jimmy's voice was closely entwined with hope.

"Mmhmm." Tango still couldn't look at him directly without his Vision making his eyes hurt. "Kinda hard to explain that to my friends though. 'Ohhh Tango hasn't gone on a date in five years because he's still pining for the Revenant who moved on to the Afterlife.'" It was a poor imitation of Impulse's voice, but noticeably Impulse all the same.

"Tango... am I holding you back? There's no point in you living a long life before joining me if it's not a happy one."

"I'm keeping my promise to you. I'm living my life. You're not holding me back. No one has come into my life that's felt like you. If they do, I'll be happy to share my time with them. But so far, that hasn't happened. So here I am. Still single five years later, and fine with it. Maybe someone wanders into my life, maybe they don't. I'm living my life on my terms. And if that means missing a ghost I'm in love with, then that's what it means. I have no intentions of cutting my life short just to be with you. But that doesn't mean what we have and have had isn't real to me."

He felt the familiar frigid iciness of Jimmy's hand passing through his. And finally turned to look Jimmy square in the face. The ache in his eyes throbbed, but eased a little. Some semblance of a tolerance returning.

"Go back to the Afterlife, Jimmy. I've kept my promise and I intend to continue keeping it. To live my life to the fullest and join you when my time comes."

Jimmy looked like he would tear up if he could. But he was still a ghost, and had no tears to shed. He floated as close to Tango as he could get. The icy sensation of him cupping Tango's face in his hands sent chills down Tango's spine. "I'll miss you. I love you."

"I love you too, Jimmy. I'll miss you."

The frozen kiss against his forehead made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

His Vision ached a little less as Jimmy faded from view, blowing another kiss off his fingertips as he did so. Tango pretended to catch it, tucking it into the chest pocket of his vest.

Jimmy vanished.

Tango went back into the van.

"I don't think we need to discuss that any of this happened with the others, do you?" he asked Grian.

"What?"

"I don't tell them you're a Watcher, you don't tell Scar I have Spirit Vision and was talking to a different ghost than the one who haunts this house. Yeah?"

"Deal," Grian said, sticking a hand out. Tango shook it.

At that moment, Skizz came barreling out of the house, screaming. "Moroooooiiiii!" Impulse came jogging out after, smiling smugly, with Scar in tow, who was wide-eyed and ashen, his bronzed-tan skin blanched with fear. The three of them rushed into the van.

"Survive the hunt, did you fellas?" Grian asked.

"No thanks to you!" Skizz retorted. "You're sackin' up and getting in the war next time!"

Grian's "NoooOOO!" of protest was cut off by Impulse pulling out the cleansing and containment equipment.

"Let's get this done, gentlemen!" he announced.

Tango fell into the old routine. As he reached down to grab for a containment unit, his long-sleeve shirt slipped up to reveal the yellow feather tattooed on his wrist. Jimmy's favorite bird was a canary. No one else knew that. He got it after Jimmy had moved on. As a reminder.

He was still going to keep his promise. He owed himself that much.

With a laugh, he grabbed Grian by the collar and dragged him into the house with everyone else.

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