Alright, here it is. The big reveal of several things going forward. I have a feeling some of you are going to be surprised by all of this, but I think you'll like it all the same. Not to mention some favorites of yours are coming in to the cast now.
On an unrelated note, there's something I want your opinion on. It for stuff not related to the fic (kinda), so don't worry about it. I'll explain at the end.
Okay, let's get on with it. Enjoy the chapter!
Karkat would deny being excited about seeing some of Redglare's library. Admittedly, not all of it was about the Ghost Zone, but there were still several there he could see.
"Jesus, this is a lot of books." He floated near a shelf, noting some of the stranger titles. "I'm not an English major, but I'm pretty sure Hemingway didn't write this while he was alive."
"He didn't. I'm not sure if it's all still around, but he certainly added a few things to the Infinite Realms collection of lost literature when he died." Terezi was checking over the books herself, somehow, making sure everything was in order. "A lot of literature that gets lost gets added in here somehow. Nobody's found anything too big yet, but a few series were finished here rather than the human world."
"Library of Alexandria, here I come." Karkat mumbled, making a note of that for later. He looked further on the bookshelf, noticing something concerning. "There isn't a lot of maps here. Do cartographers not turn into ghosts or something?"
"The Infinite Realms tend to change or cycle around. Some landmasses can drift towards each other, actually." Terezi shrugged, tapping her fingers on her cane. "A lot people don't really put in the effort. Kind of a lack of scientists, really."
Karkat grunted at that, checking over every title on the shelf. Neither of them said anything for a little while until Terezi finally sighed. A patient irritation flittered across her face.
"You know you can't stay in here." Terezi's tapping on the cane got a little louder after saying it. "That presentation's going to happen whether you show up or not. You might as well be there to mitigate any damage."
"I know, I know." Karkat rolled his eyes, sighing bitterly. He had been doing his best to distract himself from it all day, but nothing really worked. "I tried to find a way to put it off, but my dad's been excited about this. Even recited his speech ten times in the mirror this morning."
Terezi sighed. She picked up a book from the shelf, handing it off to him. "Here. This book has some basic information about our world in it, including some stuff about the Furthest Ring. It's not that in depth, but it's certainly a start."
Karkat hesitantly took the book, knowing what it meant. "You're literally going to kick me out if I don't force myself to go there, aren't you?"
"If I have to." Terezi smirked, twirling her cane cockily. "Now, you gonna get the hell out of here, Karkles, or are we going to have a rematch?"
The halfa rolled his eyes good-naturedly. He put the book away in his backpack, sighing. "Fine. I know when I'm not wanted. Feel free to message us during the shitshow, though. We're going to need something to make us forget what'll happen after."
"I'll make sure check on you guys. Nepeta too." Terezi clapped Karkat on the back, causing him to stumble in the air. "Don't die."
"I'll do my best." The ghostly teen saluted her sarcastically as he exited the home. He already knew his way back. "I don't have a good track record of staying alive, though."
Terezi barely laughed at that, which he considered a win in his book. He kept floating towards the opening of the portal, looking over the cover of the book.
Today was going to be interesting.
The activity center was surprisingly packed for what was essentially a high school reunion. Somehow, despite what was going to happen in a little bit, Karkat couldn't help but relish it.
Having the portal active may have meant more ghosts streaming into Amity Park, at least people would know his dad wasn't crazy. Well, not as crazy as they thought. Spades would get on national news for this, that was for damn sure.
"Well, if this doesn't make it all feel real." Speaking of his dad, Spades was the most excited he's ever been. Anticipation turned to full on excitement after seeing the amount of people. "I know people say succeeding out of spite ain't healthy, but it's going to be worth seeing all their faces."
"Yeah," Karkat didn't even know most of these people, yet a small part of him wanted to see how they'd react too. "I'm expecting a riot. You didn't happen to grow up in a religious district, right?"
"I don't know, I sure as hell never went to church." That explained a lot. A religious man wouldn't take so much pride in the amount of people he was going to shock today. Spades picked out an iPad, looking through the guest list. "This is a better turnout than I thought. The Fenton's, Foley's, and even the Manson's came."
"I don't even know half of those people." Karkat raised an eyebrow. "I'm starting to think you just invited random people for the sake of drama."
"Why not? They'll be talking about this for decades. Might as well give them a chance to say they were here for it." Spades kept scrolling down, eyes perusing the names carefully. He eventually stopped, though, eyes catching onto something. "Huh."
"Something wrong? That Doc Scratch guy's here, right?" Karkat tried to look over his dad's shoulder to see the screen. He barely registered the fact he had apparently jumped in height since he almost did it with little effort.
"Nah, he's here. Heido confirmed that." Spades turned the iPad's screen off, a weird look on his face. "Just surprised to see a couple names on there. Let's get inside."
Spades was already heading off towards the activity center, somewhat stiffly as he looked around. Like he was expecting to see someone moving around the place.
Karkat huffed, rolling his eyes as he adjusted the suit he had. Technically the event was supposed to be casual, but since he was helping his dad with the presentation, he figured dressing up for it would be a good idea. Wasn't like he was the only one dressed up either.
"Karkat!"
He turned to see Aradia and Sollux jog up to him. It only gave him a small amount of relief seeing them, considering the circumstances.
"So," Sollux dragged out the word, eyes drawn out to the crowd. A faint amount of anxiety was on his face, despite doing his best to keep cool. "This is happening. All of it is certainly happening right now."
"Real encouraging words there, Captor." Karkat dryly replied. It was a relief to hear it, though. Reminded him he wasn't the only being affected by this. "Hear anything from your parents about the set up?"
"Your dad's making sure to have a full-on demonstration. Moonwalk and everything." Aradia patted her side where her weapon was. "We're armed and ready for anything that might come out. Not sure what we'll do if anything else happens."
"He wouldn't do anything like that if he didn't have a plan, I guess." Karkat shifted. This all felt so business like by now. They really needed some type of long break after this, especially if things go off like his dad expects it to. "I'm really starting to wish I faked sick. At least I wouldn't have to be at the center of this timebomb."
"At least you can rub this in everyone's faces at school." Sollux subtly jerked his head. "Trizza and Ardata is here too. I might just livestream their reactions for the hell of it."
Karkat made sure to subtly look towards where Sollux pointed. Lo and behold, the two queen bees of the school were here, in all of their horrible glory. Okay, there was a lot of silver linings to this than he thought.
"Mind livestreaming everything then? Especially during the presentation?" He figured it would make his dad happy to reach as big an audience as they could.
Sollux wordlessly brought out his phone, waving it slightly as he walked towards the crowd. He was already messing with something, starting to film everyone around them with ease.
Aradia gave a look towards Karkat. She smiled in a way that was meant to be positive, but it only showed that she was as nervous as he was.
"Well," She shrugged, sighing as she moved towards the crowd with set path in mind. "Welcome to the panic room."
Karkat sighed, straightening out his tie with careful flourish. He felt like it was suffocating him, making him wish he had picked out the clip-on rather than actually tying up one in a knot.
He didn't even notice someone was watching him before he joined his friends inside.
The reunion had been going great, surprisingly. The halfa didn't exactly know how one of these was supposed to go, but he figured that everything was going well enough. No disasters to speak of, scientific or otherwise.
There was definitely alcohol being shared among the adults though. He could hear all of them gossiping from various points in the room, mostly about his dad. Spades never really talked about high school for some reason, something about a few accidents.
Turns out his father hadn't changed that much since his high school days. An explosion here, setting the chemistry lab on fire there, and maybe even an incident where he nearly got into a physical fight with a physics teacher. Nobody mentioned anything about casualties thankfully, so Karkat was mostly okay with it. Some of the more derogatory shit was ignored since the presentation would be enough for revenge.
It was honestly kind of exhausting. He'd taken a glass of some cider and decided to just people watch on the centers second floor balcony. He'd seen brief glances of Sollux and Aradia around, usually giving him the signal that everything was okay. He'd even seen Tethis giving him the stink eye too, so obviously she hadn't seen anything weird.
Despite his earlier worries, he honestly couldn't wait for the main event. This was boring as hell.
He debated just heading backstage right now before he heard two new voices, these much closer in age to him. Weirdly, he felt a tickle in his throat.
"I don't get why we have to stay in here. There's absolutely nothing to do." A male, but semi snotty voice. It had a strange lisp to it, messing up on the w's. "Can't even sneak any wine off the people here. Surprisingly, people in this backwater actually keep track of it."
"First of all, Mr. Grumpy Gills," A feminine and much more relaxed voice replied. "Wine tastes terrible. I don't know how you stand the stuff. Plus, I thought I said we weren't going to insult anyone here. This is a nice place if you give it a shot."
Karkat subtly looked for the voices, finding they somewhat matched his expectations.
The guy himself looked pretty snooty, wearing dark glasses and slicked back hair. Wearing some black dress pants, a dark purple shirt, completed with a scarf, he looked stereotypically preppy, with the weirdly thin body of a hipster. The only thing that broke that stereotype was the pale skin, along with a dash of royal purple decorating his hair.
His friend, though, looked considerably different. Chubby, but obviously containing some muscle behind it, she wore a pair of jean shorts and a fuchsia sweater with a matching headband. She wore a considerable amount of jewelry on her neck and hands. Her pink, coke bottle glasses, sat upon her scrunched up face as she berated the boy, dark skin shining due to the lights.
"I'm pretty sure I've seen two people our age here, Fef." The boy tapped his foot on the floor, huffing. "That's it. Even if I wanted to have fun, there ain't a lot of choices here."
"Look, it's a small town. Were you expecting Miami or something?" 'Fef' rolled her eyes, putting her hands on her hips. "Besides, aren't you interested to meet people that knew my mom and your dad in high school? It has to be interesting to see how they changed."
"If father never said anything worthwhile about it, then I'm not interested." The guy waved off the suggestion haughtily. He looked around again, a scowl forming. "And I wasn't expecting much, but I figured there'd be something. Not much else in this backwater."
Karkat frowned. He wasn't exactly the type that had a lot of pride in his town, unlike some weirdos, but he did live here. Some city boy getting all uppity about it wouldn't do in the slightest.
"Sorry to disappoint there, but she's right." Karkat sneered, taking a sip of the sparkling cider. "It certainly isn't Miami. Not sure what you expected."
'Fef' and the guy were jarred by his input, which was what he was aiming for. To the girl's credit, she seemed embarrassed while the guy only glared in response.
"Sorry about that, my friend here is just a bit of a pessimist." She elbowed her friend before he could speak what would've been an insult. "I'm Feferi Peixes. This is Eridan Ampora."
"Karkat." The halfa took another sip of cider, noting the tickle in his throat wasn't going away. His gaze lazily went between the two as he did. "Didn't know you two were on the guest list. Pretty sure dad would've mentioned if you did."
"Maybe he doesn't have good taste." Eridan adjusted his glasses, the glare never leaving his face. Karkat was starting to wonder if that was just his default. "I don't know why my dad brought us here. He didn't seem to care about it before."
"He probably just wanted to brag like my mom did." Feferi vaguely motioned to some part of the room. "I don't think I've ever seen her this spiteful. Except for that one time with the police officer. Or that seamstress."
Karkat made a mental note to look up their last names at some point. Eridan's attitude and Feferi's clothes really made him wonder if these two bathed in money. "I really wish I could say my dad wasn't doing the same thing, but I'd be lying."
"What, your father started up a successful company too?" Eridan finally had something else on his face other than frown. It was a smirk instead, which wasn't much better.
Feferi punched his side again, sighing loudly. "Shut up, he's being nice." She smiled once again and Karkat would be lying if he said it wasn't kinda cute. "Hopefully, he isn't being as insufferable."
Karkat's phone buzzed in his pocket, prompting him to pull it out. It was a text from his dad.
Time to get ready.
He frowned. Showtime.
"Looks he's about to be." Karkat moved up from his position. "Hope you enjoy the show. My dad sure as hell will."
He heard a faint, curious goodbye from Feferi, but got a scoff from Eridan. Rolling his eyes, the halfa figured he'd be knocked down a peg or two when this was all over.
Slipping through the crowd was easy with light intangibility. The slightly drunk adults didn't seem to notice or care as he made it backstage, having no one stop him. Sending a quick text to Aradia and Sollux to get into position.
He was able to move behind the curtains to his own position when he saw his dad walk out through the curtains. Spades tapped a microphone, smiling as it worked perfectly.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen." It was a cliché start, but it got the job done as the crowd quieted. Some jeers started up in the back, but they were a murmur compared to the polite silence. "I'm glad to see so many alumni here today. Of course, not all of you are alumni at my old school, but members of several scientific institutions I've worked with in the past."
The crowd seemingly realized all at once what this was and started to collectively.
"Yeah, I get it, groan all you want." Spades didn't look discouraged, starting to pace on stage. "I know my reputation. Had it since high school and I'd normally see no change in that within the next few years are so."
He stopped eventually, smirking as he waved his hand towards Karkat's direction. "That changes today."
Karkat slowly moved the portable portal, doing his best to ignore the eyes on him. Other than curious murmuring, no one was outright saying anything just yet. A brief look into the crowd and he could see those two rich kids from earlier, Feferi actually looking curious while Eridan seemingly got more skeptical by the second.
"I know I've had a few torrid moments when it comes to my experiments considering ghosts. Hell, a lot of you believe they don't exist and I'm crazy." Spades nodded smile growing wider. "Well, I kinda am. But I was able to find out where exactly they are."
Karkat didn't waste time plugging it in, taking a step back as his dad reached for a lever. He took a deep breath as he flung it downwards.
The portable portal sputtered on quick, a sound like static reverberating in center. This quieted some people down as the temperature dropped, the ectoplasm sucking the heat out of the room. Despite the lightshow, some people didn't look convinced.
"Now, you're probably all wondering whether what you're seeing up here is real." Spades waved at all of them dismissively. "Maybe you think it's a special effect, or some trick of the light. I planned for that too."
Spades snapped, projectors and screens moved out, turning on carefully. The hover pack was brought out seconds later, the connection between the two turning on.
"That's why I'm asking for a volunteer." Spades smile could almost be called dastardly considering the circumstances. Some of the crowd seemed to think so, nobody immediately throwing up their hands. "Come on, doesn't anyone want to do something for science? Your name will be in history books!"
After a few moments, one hand did rise up in the front of the crowd. "May I be of assistance?"
Spades looked towards the voice and smiled widely. "Doc Scratch, you did make it!"
Doc Scratch himself walked up to the side of the stage, confidence in his gait. Wearing a white suit, green undershirt, and red bowtie. His pale face was accentuated by his bald head, which shined under the lights of the stage.
"I'm not sure why your surprised. You had one of my old workers contact me." He moved towards the hover pack with interest, as patronizing as ever. "I figured if no matter the result, this would be interesting."
To say that Spades and Scratch had history would be an understatement. As alumni of the same college, Scratch was the skeptic to Spades believer. With competing research grants, accolades, and other academia, the two had fought on the concept of ghosts for years.
And Scratch was about to be the cherry on top of the sundae of spite.
"What does this little device of yours do, Slick? Very interesting look." Karkat started to suit him up while he talked, Scratch being way too relaxed for someone who knew Spades reputation. "I suppose I'll brave the chance of it exploding to see if it works."
"Trust me, you won't be as smug when it does." The man pulled out the device that controlled it. "Here we go!"
As soon as Spades pressed the button, Scratch was thrusted up into the air. The smug smile was indeed wiped off his face as he reacted to the jump upward by scrambling. The crowd laughed only a little at that, though, the reaction going from skepticism to quiet awe.
Karkat couldn't help but be cheeky. "What's wrong, Doc? Why would you participate if you didn't think it would work?"
He received a brief glare for that as Scratch tried to wave his hand above himself. "No wires. You-you invented hover technology. I'll have to admit, that's impressive."
"Yeah, I did." Spades signaled for Karkat to turn the portal to the side. It was mostly to make sure no one doubted that the portal was real. "Now, I'm going to see if you can do a small spacewalk for me. Last chance to back out."
Scratch twitched at that, some of the amazement from before switching back into old competitiveness from their college days. He brought the helmet down onto his face. "Fine then. Send me in and prove me wrong."
Spades cackled at that, making sure the camera was on and ready before using the controls to move the other man inside the portal.
Karkat took a deep breath, keeping a close eye on the screen. Despite the work Spades had put into, the audio feedback was still somewhat shitty. The turn from calm to audible breathing set him on edge at first, but it was calmed when it seemed like Scratch was at an unoccupied place within the Ghost Zone.
His somewhat panicked response aside, he looked over the crowd, gauging things from on the stage. Everyone was too focused on the screen to notice him.
The reaction was mixed, but silent. Most people had looks of wonder on their faces as Scratch turned to look around at the floating islands. Others, notably the conservative looking crowd, seemed more horrified with the prospect.
His eyes drifted over, eventually finding Eridan and Feferi again. He was almost taken aback with the amount of fear that showed on their faces.
A round of gasps made him look back at the screen again. He almost gasped too.
A building, almost a castle, was not far where Scratch was floating. It was far enough that Karkat figured he'd be safe, but close enough to see some details.
Covered in what appeared to be gold and green was three story building, older in architecture. It was wrapped in chains that appeared to be just as old as the rest of the building, covering it all as if something were inside. It reminded him of a tomb, a mausoleum that was meant to keep the dead keep something out, or something else within.
And a green skull, flashing all kinds of colors, sat on top of the structure, unblinking.
Karkat grabbed the rope, pulling at it before his dad could say anything. Scratch had gotten silent after seeing the tomb and he didn't want to push anything more than they already have. Scratch eventually floated out of there with little fanfare, slipping through the portal as easily as he went in.
As if a spell was broken, Spades eventually blinked, turning off the hover pack. He turned off the portal too as Scratch took off the device he'd been strapped too, frantically, if carefully.
Karkat carefully escorted the guy off stage, his gait more unstable than it had been before as Spades eventually knocked himself out of it too.
"So," A confident turn and smirk later, Spades looked at the crowd with expectation. "Who here is willing to admit they were wrong?"
At that, the room immediately descended into utter chaos.
Karkat wasn't sure what set it off first, other than his dad's bold declaration. Maybe it was the scream from the back, the woman fainting in the front, or maybe it was the shatter of glass after that waiter dropped those drinks. Whatever it was, everyone descended into yelling and panic in seconds.
After setting Scratch back down, Karkat actually had to duck as something as thrown on stage. His father was receiving the same treatment, dodging a glass of wine thrown at him.
"The hell was that for?!" Spades was answered by more food being thrown at him, causing him to grab the portal. "Kid, we're hiding out backstage! I don't know what the fuck this is about, but obviously this ain't calming down anytime soon."
Karkat would've argued about that if someone hadn't made a swipe at him to grab his suit jacket. He made sure to grab the hover pack before he joined his dad behind the stage.
He was followed by the noise outside as the crowd rioted.
"Why am I being questioned so much?! The experiment didn't even explode this time!" Spades argued with the local police, irritated beyond belief. Karkat could only wince as the man pointed at one of the officers. "Ask him! He saw the damn thing work!"
The halfa sighed, rubbing his hand over his face as the officers tried to calm the man down. He turned, refusing to make eye contact with any members of the crowd that were being taken in as he moved to his friends.
"That definitely didn't end like I thought it would." He watched as Sollux tried to fix the lens of his glasses and Aradia check the statistics on the phone he used to stream it with. "Anything happening online? I can't imagine it's any better than this."
"Some people thought it was fake at first, but since it was a livestream, they couldn't really say anything against that." Sollux finally fixed up his glasses, putting them on his face before the lens could fall out again. "Couldn't keep track of anything after people started rioting. Had to make sure my shit didn't get destroyed."
"A lot of mixed reactions on the aftermath, though." Aradia scrolled further into the comments, noting every single one, positive or negative. "A lot debates. That's pretty normal, but I've been finding a lot of copycat videos online too. This is going to blow up."
"Great." Karkat ran a hand through his hair. If the reaction inside the activity center was any indication, the internet's reaction to this would be an absolute shitshow. "I guess it's time to encrypt my social media again. I'd really like to not get hacked before all of this is over."
"I'll be right on it." Sollux leaned against a nearby pole, looking around at the crowd. "Turns out a bunch of people being proven wrong about their faith can be really fucking testy. You think you'll be visited by the pope?"
"If you do, ask him what the hell's going on in that church. Seriously." Aradia crossed her arms. She debated texting Damara about this, wondering how she'd react. "We should really tell Damara and Mituna to watch out. I have a feeling if they don't get contact with you, they'll try to reach us."
Sollux nodded, though his attention was caught by something else. "Does anybody know that girl coming towards us? She seems a little surprised."
Karkat turned to where his friend was looking, blinking as he recognized Feferi, who was walking towards them somewhat nervously.
"Peixes?" The halfa ignored the other two sent his way. He mentally prepared himself to get asked some pretty awkward questions now, as well as later. "Something wrong? Presentation didn't set you off too much, right?"
"No... ok, maybe the crowd kinda scared me there. I never thought I'd see people want to kill each other so much." Feferi rubbed at her arms, the sweater not hiding her from the chill. Her eyes went from one person to another. "Sorry to interrupt. I was wondering if Mr. Slick would take a message."
Aradia looked over to Spades, who had calmed down slightly when talking to the police. "He's still busy. We can leave a message. Karkat is his son."
"He's adopted, before you ask." Sollux waved off the look of surprise on the girl's face. "What do you need to say?"
"I was just wondering if he'd seen Eridan anywhere. Or his dad." Feferi looked at Karkat curiously. He squirmed, as if he were being put under a microscope. "I haven't seen either of them since the presentation and wanted to make sure they weren't doing anything."
"Don't you mean you want to know if they're safe?" Aradia raised an eyebrow at the wording. "They're probably fine if you're wondering. There was a lot of hair pulling and biting, but I didn't hear anything about anyone getting trampled."
"What she said. I'm pretty sure the guys okay. Hopefully, he knows how to fight through a crowd." He felt a little bad when her worried look only grew. "I'm sure they'll turn up. We just got to wait for a bit, let the police sort things out."
Feferi's eyes shifting everywhere signaled she didn't necessarily believe them. The caution was almost concerning considering how she moved from one foot to another.
Sollux noticed someone else walking to them. Figuring it would break the tension, he waved at her with a smile on his face. "Mrs. Jenkins, how's it going? Did you enjoy the show?"
The old, frail looking woman didn't verbally answer, walking up to the four with a stoic face. Before they could question what she wanted, she pulled out a bottle from her jacket pocket, opening it, and splashing Karkat with its contents.
Karkat could only stand there, eyes closed as the others just gaped. Mrs. Jenkins was promptly grabbed by policemen before she could do anything else. Spades could be heard yelling in the background, already demanding blood.
"...I'm going to guess that was a no." Sollux lowered his hand, putting his hand into it once it was low enough.
"Did she just douse you in holy water?" Aradia, scandalized, watched as Mrs. Jenkins was practically dragged away, mumbling something under her breath. "Jesus fucking Christ, she's praying. That bitch."
"I'm sorry to have seen that." Feferi looked like she wanted to fuss over Karkat, especially since he still didn't move from where he stood. "Are you okay? That wasn't really cool, or anything even remotely Christian-"
"It's fine." Karkat wiped off some of the water that still clung to his face. He mentally thanked whatever god existed that holy water wasn't a weakness for ghosts. "I had that happen once when I was thirteen after some woman thought I had the devil's eyes. This isn't much more fun now, but at least I have experience."
Feferi wasn't sold on that explanation, judging from the fact she glared at the woman as Spades himself was arguing with her. The group figured she was alright if only because she was angry on their behalf.
A puff of smoke escaping Karkat's lips broke that thought down before it could keep going forward.
Karkat mentally cursed, motioning for his friends to play along.
"Hey, Feferi." He jerked his thumb at the building casually, a little water flinging off his suit. "I'm going to go dry off and see if your friends there. Maybe he just went there to cool off after seeing all of that."
The girl in pink relaxed at that. "Thanks. I really hope he hasn't gotten into any trouble."
Karkat nodded, giving the other two a look to keep her busy while he was gone. He made a beeline to the place, throwing open the doors when he was sure no one was looking.
The center had been emptied of people already. He didn't see anything too obvious, remaining cautious as he made sure no step of his made a sound, the halfa knowing there wasn't any camera's in here. His hand went to the thermos, ready to pull it out at the slightest sound...
"I am the Box Ghost!"
Karkat would later consider it an overreaction, but the Box Ghost receiving a blast to the face seemed like a perfectly normal reaction at the time.
"Wha- oh for fucks sake!" Karkat pointed an accusing finger at the ghost, cursing under his breath. "Don't do that shit! Don't you have better things to do?"
"No!" The Box Ghost (the halfa should really figure out his real name) rubbed at his face, grumbling. "The Box Ghost has no care for your time constraints! I must release my cubed fury!"
"Release it somewhere else, I'm having a rough day." Karkat uncapped the thermos, turning it on before the ghost could move. "Come back when I'm in the mood not to hit something."
"Wait, no, I just got here!" The Box Ghost's pleading was ignored as the thermos brought him in, stopping whatever tirade he was about to start. Karkat grumbled, cursing his luck.
He debated getting out of here before someone saw before an ugly cough rattle through him. It rattled him enough to cause him to stumble, something catching in his throat. If felt like his ghost sense was going off, but no smoke was coming out.
He quickly got up, eyes frantically through the room. His hand lit up with an ectoblast at the ready.
"Who's there?!" The coughing was dying down, but the smoke still wasn't coming out. "Show yourself and maybe I won't shoot!"
"Well, I can't say any of this was ideal. Really do wish the other one hadn't shown up."
Karkat cursed, looking upwards. Of course he should've looked there. The energy in his hands lit up more, if only to reassure him with his own power.
He could see two figures slithering up in the rafters, moving around slowly. They eventually moved out into the light, the larger one leading as the other trailed behind. Karkat wasn't sure how to describe them.
These two ghosts were a bit more aquatic in nature, looking a bit like lungfish in how they moved. Their hair looked like purple fins, slicked back slightly while still sticking up slightly, a light stripe in the smaller ones. Their hands ended in claws, eyes flowing purple, without pupils. Their teeth were looked thin and sharp. Like an angler fish.
What really caught his attention was the older one had two scars across the upper half of his face. Jagged, they looked like lightning bolts. They stood out the most among the rest of his features.
Karkat debated blasting one, but decided not to, lowering his hand. He didn't want to start a two on one fight.
"Who are you?" It was cautious. He was surprised that with his dad's rigorous testing for the presentation, he hadn't noticed anything on the radar. "If you're from the Ghost Zone, you might want to go home. A lot of people are freaked out right now and if someone sees you, another riot is going to start."
"Oh, we're perfectly aware what's going on. Kind of what drew us here, actually." The tall one's voice was... smooth wasn't the right word. It was a cousin of it, one that was somehow sneakier and less trustworthy. Oily. "I heard something was going to happen that would positively rock the crowd, and I figured it would be interesting to watch."
"Well, you had your fun. At least, you better have." Karkat narrowed his eyes, the energy in his hands still not going out. "Not sure what else you want around here, but I think that might be enough entertainment for today."
"I disagree." The tall one got closer, inspecting Karkat's glowing hand. He backed off after the halfa raised it barely, taking a step back. "I've never seen another human do that. Or any of this for that matter. A thermos is certainly an interesting choice for capturing other ghosts."
Karkat tried not to growl, eyes switching back between the two to make sure he wasn't being surrounded. The tall one hadn't moved much more, while the smaller one just looked at him with a mix of suspicion and curiosity. It almost looked familiar.
"I don't know what kind of game you're playing here, but I'm going to ask you to stop." His hands reached towards the thermos's cap carefully. "Seriously. There is a ghost hunter outside this building, and he'd be happy to have test subjects. I don't know about either of you, but I don't think you'd want to be on a dissection table."
The short one squirmed, eyes twitching at the doors before speaking up for the first time. "Father, can we please hurry this up? He's kinda got a point there."
Karkat almost uncapped the thermos right there, not expecting him to speak at all. The only reason he didn't was that he found the voice familiar. Hell he honestly kind of fucked up on the w's...
Hand finally lowering, the energy disappearing, Karkat took a long hard look at the smaller ghost.
"Ampora?" He questioned. He got a flinch from the ghost in response.
"Oh, you two have already met. That's good." The taller ghost straightened up, putting his hands behind his back. His smile was wide, disconcerting with the number of teeth in it. "I was hoping to move this along. Let me introduce myself."
A ring appeared around the ghost's waist, separating into two as they went across his body. The scaled body gave way to an expensive looking suit as the figures hand reached out towards Karkat.
"I am Oberon Ampora." The older man smiled; his teeth were still sharp in his human form. "And I believe we have much to discuss."
I'm going to guess none of you say this coming? Good. That's how I like it.
I'll explain my reasoning for adding certain characters into where they are later, after this little arc is done. I think you'll understand why I've made these decisions and you'll enjoy them as time goes on.
For the unrelated note I mentioned in the above note, let me just say; I want your opinion on what kind of longfic you'd like for me to work on when this or the other fic I'm doing is finished. It won't be for a while, and I have an idea of doing a BNHA x Persona 5 crossover already planned out, but I also want your opinions on other stuff I could probably do. The ideas are on this post on my Tumblr, which I'll link below.
Link: post/626575601015373824/possible-fics-for-the-future
Feel free to suggest in the reviews/comments below. Even submit your own if you'd like! I'd just like to hear your opinions.
Either way, I'll see you all next chapter!