Hi there! This is Dreamy Jess, writing one of her rare header author's notes!
Normally, I opt for footer A/N, for it allows you a better experience with your read. However, after realizing how... heavy the theme I gave MCA is, I must give you a heads-up.
Mentions of death and discrimination are constant. It might even get heavier in the future before things get better for Momo. This is not my usual writing trope, of course - I prefer light angst and light-hearted fun adventures - but at the same time, I'm kinda excited that I'm steering Momo's backstory toward a different direction from Lucky's.
Anyway, enjoy your read~!
~
"Momo! What's the matter?"
Momo didn't even have the strength to answer. It was as if she was suddenly drained, as if she had been running purely on adrenaline in a long, long dream and now that she had been disillusioned, it all shattered and left her battered down, desperately clinging onto the hope that she was simply entering a nightmare instead of leaving a beautiful dream. A false hope, for all it could be, but her frantic mind couldn't distinguish reality anymore.
She just lay there, motionless and out of breath, for a while too long. She saw a ghostly paw with a green hue - probably Olive's - reaching out to pat her ear comfortingly, yet this time, she felt too numb to even appreciate it. The small ghost cat frowned, dropping the piece of fish bone that she had brought along unto death and sending a desperate look to Kelly. The ghostly form of a blue-blubber jellyfish nodded and floated down the unlit hall, sending radio signals to other ghosts in the mansion.
"Hey, it's alright," Olive landed on the ground next to the crouched-down black cat and tried - keyword tried - to nuzzle her comfortingly, but then settled on meowing nonsense instead. At the time of her death, the green ghost was just a kitten, yet darkness had enclosed her before she even had the chance to see the world in its full glory. When she first woke up in this ghostly body, she was startled and scared out of her mind, but Kelly, Jade, and other ghostly beings were there to calm her down. They had then offered her the chance to proceed to the Beyond, to which she had refused due to a sudden wave of inexplicable motivation.
You will be confined within this building. They had warned her. We are not ghosts - not the ghosts you know of. They wander free, but they harbor ill intents. We are ghouls, confined, but simply wishing to enjoy afterlife, waiting for our Savior, the one who will correct the Gateway of the Two Realms. Will you be able to wait? The Savior might never come.
Olive the Green Ghoul of back then had been unable to give a proper answer - she still was, but that was where the only true ghost in the Ghost House, who went by "Muffin", stepped in: I see you find a point in hanging onto this world. Welcome aboard, Olive.
She began to spend her afterlife at the Ghost House just like that. Now, even though she might not look like it, her age would be counted to a hundred soon. Olive couldn't fathom how long it had been for other ghouls in their wait. Would they lose their patience? Hopefully not. She loved her fellow ghouls. It would be a pity if they started to leave. Besides, her intuition told her that soon, the Savior would come. She'd had that feeling for a couple of years now. 'Soon' might indicate a longer span of time than she had expected, but a cat's intuition was never wrong.
"It's alright, little Savior. We will keep you safe."
The static pulsing in the air alerted Olive of the other ghouls' arrival. Muffin was in a raging fury.
"Before you say anything, be gentle with your words," Jade warned, "A raging fit is all but comforting."
Muffin gave him a glare but slowed down nonetheless.
"What happened," he demanded.
"G-Goldi..." Momo cried, "S-s-she k-knows... t-told her f-f-fri-friend..."
"WHAT!?"
Momo only started to wail. She was gasping for air, but she still felt desperately suffocated.
"I-I'm sorry... I'm a mess, should've listened to you..."
"..." Muffin stared at her, thoughts swirling.
"I'll leave her to you guys. I'm sure I can sneak some meatballs and apples from the nearby houses," Muffin said after a while of contemplation.
As a ghost, he was free to go as he wished, but he had decided to remain inside the Ghost House most of the time. The more malicious ones had already tainted the image of ghosts as-is. Until he could witness the fate of sorcerers turning to a brighter page, he wouldn't let himself be exorcised by some warlock who couldn't tell good and bad apart.
Muffin knew, logically, he should feel happy that he was right, after all. That she was wrong for not listening to him in the first place. Yet he couldn't bring himself to. Only then had he realized that he, too, was hoping that the witch who went by the name Goldiha Avian would be different from others, that she would be willing to take care of Momo - if not as a sorceress then as a cat.
Were sorcerers born solely to suffer? To challenge what even they could not fathom? He found himself empathizing with the little black cat, hoping what she had witnessed to be untrue. Hoping that there was finally a chance.
He had half a mind to curse the witch along with her friend and her cat who had hypnotized Momo into believing in miracles, as powerful and free a ghost as he was, but he couldn't bring himself to. Momo would never forgive him for that.
His eyes were suddenly drawn to the figure of a cat striding on the rooftop. Another, much smaller creature - a frog - perched on its back, calling out commands.
The cat's actions were laced with uncertainty, as if he had never done such stunts before. Adding that to his fluffy, clean fur, he seemed to be a house cat.
One who lived in extravagance. Many times the kind of life he wished he had - and even moreso, he wished she could've had.
"By the way, do you know what a ghost looks like?" the frog asked the cat.
"Not in close quarters. There are ghosts on the Candy Race at the Candy Cup, so I've caught a glimpse," the cat replied, "What about you, then?"
"I also saw them at the race through broadcast, but I haven't encountered one before, though they said that the Academy is haunted. Maybe they're in the restricted areas, while we ourselves have our moves confined. Humans can't fully trust sorcerers yet, but that price is little to pay compared to the chance of proper magic education."
"I'm not sure that's the kind of price Momo would be willing to pay," the grey cat commented; the mention of the black cat's name perked Muffin's interest, "As far as I know, she wouldn't enjoy losing her freedom - to humans, no less. Not when she's feeling like she had just gained it alas. Heck, I'm not even sure if she's willing to listen to you, considering her trust issues and all..."
"I'll just have to try. I'm a living evidence that sorcerers can indeed get a fulfilled life."
"What if she doesn't want to live as a sorceress?" the cat retorted.
"Just let me try," the frog said.
"So you're the cat Momo told me about," Muffin glided up to their post and spoke up, "Teris, the one who convinced her of a life within the human society."
"Muffin..." Teris mumbled, startled, "...- the dead sorcerer. I'm looking for you."
"You spoke of a misunderstanding. Elaborate," the ghost demanded. And so Teris recited what he knew before Momo suddenly ran away without giving him the chance to even talk to her.
"I figured she might've come to you," he concluded.
"If I told you she was here, what would you do?" Muffin inquired.
"I'll leave that to this little sorcerer. He has some... rather curious things to say regarding our situation. The rest depends on her reaction," Teris gestured to the frog.
"And what exactly is 'some rather curious things'?" the ghost squinted his eyes, and Frodo shrunk under the pressure.
"Y-you see..."
The more he heard, the more Muffin felt the rage inside him boil. How dare this stuckup, pitiful excuse of a sorcerer associate himself with humans!? How dare he side with a witch!? And above all, where had his conscience gone, going around luring his kin to a human's grasp just like that?
Momo was a smart one, but she was also young and easily convinced. If he let this cunning frog near her...
If...
"No!" he snarled, inverted eyes narrowed and pupils turned into slits, "Nasty, despicable traitor! While others struggle to live, you proudly serve a witch and seduce them to their doom. Doesn't matter - I'll make sure not even your ghost remains!."
With each word uttered, Muffin's pale-white form grew and grew, baring teeth and breathing out fog; ghostly hair stood on end, ruffled, accompanied by unsheathed black claws, he resembled a rabied animal. Darkness settled in, and although the sun was still up in the sky, Frodo was struggling to see and the temperature had dropped so much he feared that he might fall into hibernation. Even Teris trembled. Yet, even so...
"Once I told you to, run; hop, skip, teleport, do whatever to advance to the direction we were heading. I think that's where this ghost came from, so you might have more chance of finding her," Teris said, trying to keep his voice steady, "I'll hold him back."
"What? No way! You wouldn't stand a chance against him. At least I know a spell or two - your claws are useless against ghosts!"
"Well, I'm not the one he wants to kill," Teris lowered his stance, "Now go! There are already enough misunderstandings. I have no need for another to escalate."
Reluctantly, Frodo hopped off Teris' back and started to make a run for it. He could feel the cold sizzling against his back, as if the other sorcerer was wielding a blade of ice, mercilessly attempting to slice him in half. Thankfully, Teris had somehow delayed him - the frog could tell by the cold that he could soon leave behind. He was rather surprised that the house cat wasn't finished in one strike, but he didn't dare glance back. He should not let Teris' efforts go to waste.
Sprinting as fast as his body allowed, Frodo let his instincts lead him to one of the mansions in the area that stood out. Its windows were broken, its rusty gates left slightly ajar, the garden wasn't tended and cobwebs were everywhere. The spiders scurried into hiding the moment the frog entered.
He went down the winding path leading up to the front porch of the house. It was eerily quiet, and the golden eyes shining in the dark didn't help at all.
"Muffin... Are you back?"
"I'm not Muffin," Frodo answered.
"Oh..." the voice replied, and the golden eyes disappeared for a while before reappearing. Once he got used to the dim environment of the building, he realized that he was looking directly into the wide-opened eyes of a cat.
"Are you Momo, the sorceress?" he asked.
There was some hesitation, but then the black cat replied:
"...yes, I am."
"Allow me to introduce myself, then," Frodo took a daring step closer, "The name's Frodo von Schwartz, sorcerer and the first of our kind to study at the warlock's Academy. I am here on Instructor Juliana's behalf to inform you of her proposal."
"The witch's proposal?" Momo's voice was shaking, contrary to his, "Am I even given a choice?"
"She respects that you may decide on your own volition."
"..."
"For starters, both Juliana and Goldiha know that you're a sorceress - don't panic, they've known since the Candy Cup at least, but they agreed to pretend that they don't. It's unnecessary to do that, anyway."
"T-then..."
"Juliana believes that you've reached the right age to enroll into the Academy."
"She... w-what!?"
"Here's the proposal, sorceress Momo: Instructor Juliana wishes to establish a board of education for sorcerers, believing that we, too, deserve to learn about our own magic capabilities as much as humans do; in fact, she has already scouted three sorcerers to try out her plan, with me being one of them, and I can vouch that it works. Right now, we're scouting for a second group, and she finds a lot of potential in you. Even Goldiha agrees that if you wish to enroll into the Academy, she would support you any way she could. Would you want to give it a shot?"
"Goldi knows, and her witch friend knows..."
"But they have no intention to hurt you, that's for sure."
"And they want me to go to school..."
"Sorcery is much like witchcraft, after all. It's a chance for us to learn more about ourselves and actually have a promising future."
"I-Is that really alright?"
This time, it was her turn to inch closer, "Frodo, isn't it? I know that frogs only talk a lot, but not lie, so I believe you. Still..."
"Still?"
"...I'm scared..."
"Would you... like to have a talk with Juliana? She's the kind sort of human, I promise."
Momo averted her eyes with uncertainty. The ghouls had been floating around in the room, watching the scene unfold, but as it came to a halt, one of them glided down - Iris, the child Cyclops with one large eyeball overtaking his entire face - and asked one of his usual off-topic questions:
"So... are we gonna ask where Muffin is now? He's been out way too long for getting meatballs."
~
Teris moved to dodge another slash; attracting the attention of a frenzied ghost was no different from that of a wild animal. Growing up in a rescue station, although he couldn't call himself a stray, he had had a fair share of experience facing Mother Nature and her feral dwellers.
He knew he couldn't attack. Frodo was right - his claws were useless, not that he was planning to fight. He was simply stalling time.
The grey cat rolled out of the way of yet another slam of a gigantified paw but didn't have enough time to react to an upcoming scratch.
Teris tried to make a run for it, but his eyelids were growing heavy. He was definitely getting tired from this game of tag. Still, he didn't dare to close his eyes. If he was going down, he would go down with dignity.
Huh... It was painless.
There was the sound of a bubble pop.
"Muffin, stop!" Momo's voice cried out, cutting through the mist of the battleground.
That seemed to be effective in snapping the ghost from whatever trance he was in, and he gradually reverted back to his normal size.
"Frodo is here to offer me an opportunity, and I'm thinking about taking it."
"It's very risky."
"It's not the first time you say that," Momo shrugged, "But if there's anything at all to learn from my time living under Goldi's roof, it's that I need to keep trying. Chances are chances, no matter how slim. Fate is against us, so I must take matters into my own paws."
"Haha, you've grown a lot," Teris laughed, "Still panicky, but compared to when we first met, that's a huge leap."
"For once, I agree," Muffin nodded, "Just don't let your confidence get carried away. And remember to inform me of your ultimate choice."