Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

MARCH ‘04

The life of a paranormal exterminator was tedious at best. With the majority of the country denying your validity, you never knew when the next job would be, and none of them ever paid particularly well. It was Grian’s luck that it was the only thing he was good at.

“So, Mr Watcher, tell me about yourself.”

“I work with ghosts. Helping them move on and suchlike.”

“You’re British? How was your flight?”

It had been horrid. For the duration of the flight, there had been a baby screaming. 10 hours. 10 hours of pure unfettered noise. And it wasn’t even a good noise at that. Had the parents even been trying? “It was fine.”

“Good, good. Anyway, how much experience do you have with ghosts?”

“I worked in my previous job for what… 4 years? Before that I did a lot of urban exploring to see where all the hotspots were.”

The man nodded. “Do you know how to use the equipment?”

“Of course I do.”

“Well done - you’re hired.”

Grian blinked as the man held out a hand to shake. No background checks or anything? He could’ve easily had a criminal record and the guy just didn’t ask. Maybe the guy had a criminal record. He took the handshake.

•

Gem wasn’t sure how exactly she’d received the job. She was 18, had absolutely zero work experience, and yet… she was in. Just because she’d looked on a few wikipedia pages in her spare time out of pure curiosity and watched a few videos of hunts that her cousin had so graciously recorded. Even so, the owner of the company (if you could even call it that), Impulse, welcomed her with open arms. Her only regret was having expected it to be fun in the slightest.

Hearing a chime, she looked at her phone. 

“U redy”

“Ready as possible xD”

“C u @ work then”

Putting her phone back in her pocket, Gem smiled. Maybe nepotism was another reason, what with her cousin being in the same job. He was a businessman if anything, so he’d probably given a few pointers. Not that this thing had much competition anyway.

The old warehouse was surprisingly homely for something on the verge of falling down from frankly extreme amounts of rust damage. Ah well. She couldn’t complain. 

Stepping over the multiple cardboard boxes still littering the floor, she made a beeline for the coffee machine. Of course, no one expected anyone to do any good ghost investigation without at least a cup of caffeine in their system. If they did, well, they were most definitely wrong. Plus, nothing was wrong with a nice flat white to start your day.

“Well, hello there,” she heard, turning around and making direct eye contact with her cousin. “Ready for your first day on the job?”

“Yep,” Gem grinned. “Finger’s crossed I won’t die. How did you get me the job, by the way?”

“Impulse is currently under the impression that you’re 21 and have an allergy to alcohol.”

“Why the allergy to alcohol?”

“You don’t have a fake ID and also you’re underage. Can’t arrest you if you don’t drink in the first place, eh?”

“Sure,” Gem rolled her eyes. She’d been quite looking forward to possibly having a few drinks. “I’d have half expected you to fabricate a fake ID, Oscar, just like you fabricated half of the things in your wallet.”

“I think that’s a bit harsh- oh, wait, I did make you a fake ID, didn’t I.”

“Am I still allergic to alcohol?”

“Well at least you can go to bars now, at least. Sadly, I think you’ll have to stick with apple juice instead of cider from here on out.”

“How thoughtful…” Gem rolled her eyes, before taking a sip of her coffee. “Where are Impulse and Skizz?”

“Getting the van ready. You know where we’re going?”

“Not a single idea. Well, that’s the fun in surprises, my friend.”

•

Grian was lost. Completely and utterly lost. It was dark as well, which certainly made his situation far from the most ideal. Repeatedly clicking the button to turn on his torch did absolutely nothing. The wind outside shrieked in a banshee-like way as it blew through the cracked windows and out again. The wood beneath his feet creaked, and he hated that he didn’t know whether there was another floor beneath him.

He continued to walk. The teen shivered, pulling his coat closer to him. It would be fine. There was nothing here. Ghosts weren’t real. This was just a stupid dare that Mumbo had coaxed him into doing for a few quid, because no one ever went into 54 Battery View. He’d thought it would be okay, until Mumbo suddenly decided to disappear on him. Now he was alone.

Breathing. He could hear breathing. He was sure he was alone- he had to be. There was no one else here, or at least he couldn’t see anyone else here. Grian looked around. Well, he tried, but he couldn’t see anything but black. He wished he’d brought extra batteries. The creaking was getting louder, and it didn’t match up exactly with the speed of his walking. He stopped. The creaking continued.

And then, without warning, he felt the feeling of a cold, clammy and dead hand on his shoulder. Screaming, Grian ran. Or at least, he tried. Feeling the front of his foot connect with a loose plank, he went crashing to the floor. He barely registered the pain in his nose and knees, instead trying his best to get out, to flee. Somewhere. He’d find somewhere.

“Grian?” he heard a shout, and he paused. “Grian- was that you?”

For the first time that night, he saw light peek around a corner, followed by a torch, and then the shadowed face of Mumbo.

“What happened?”

Grian blinked. “That wasn’t you?”

“What wasn’t?”

The sandy haired teen tried to get to his feet, heavily leaning on the wall he found beside him. “Were you the one who put your hand on my shoulder?”

“I… honestly don’t know what you mean.”

“You’re shitting me right now, right?”

“Nope.”

“Is your nose okay? It’s bleeding. A lot.”

Grian blinked, touching his nose slightly with a finger, before wincing. His finger came away covered with blood. “You have tissues?”

“I’m pretty sure there are paper towels in the bathroom.”

“Wow, yay, rank old dead person bathroom paper towels.”

“Exactly.”

As he walked with Mumbo, torch thankfully in hand, Grian couldn’t shake one thought. Who - or what, was that?

Chapter Text

Grian picked up a cardboard box, before placing it in the van. This was one of many, and he expected he’d still be picking up cardboard boxes and placing them in the van in an hour or three. Thankfully, Grian was very good at misjudging amounts of things. 

“Thanks for putting all the stuff in the van,” Immanuel thanked, and Grian smiled. 

“You’re welcome. You go by Immannuel, right? It’s what it said on Linkedin.”

“Well, I go by many names. You can call me Impulse.”

“Hey!” Grian heard from in the distance. “Dippledop! You want a coffee?”

“Sure!” Impulse shouted back. “That’s another one of my names.”

“Dippledop?” Grian questioned, and Impulse shrugged.

“Don’t question it.”

The sandy haired man placed his last box in the van, before sitting down on one of the benches in the rest area of their establishment. “So… what do we do?”

“Scar should be here in a bit. Hopefully. He’s not the most… punctual of people.”

The man who was at the coffee machine walked over, handing Grian a mug. “So… this is Gem’s replacement?”

“Gem?”

Impulse gave the man a glare. He subsequently gave Grian a very uneasy smile. “Don’t worry about it. She was an employee who ended up quitting.”

“Hm.” Needless to say, he found that very suspicious. They were obviously hiding something. However, he had the sense to not question it. 

“The name’s Skizz. Your’s?”

“Grian Watcher.”

“Well, very nice to meet you. Hope you don’t die immediately.”

“Skizz!” Impulse immediately frowned. “You don’t say that.”

“Sorry.”

Grian was busying himself with reading through his journal when he heard the sound of metal clanging. Ah. The warehouse door.

“Be faster next time or we’ll leave you behind!” Impulse yelled. “This is a job, you know?”

“Sure, dad!”

Impulse seemed to roll his eyes. Grian glanced over to the door. A tall - very tall, like… seemingly twice Grian’s admittedly short stature - brunette man walked through the door, leaning heavily on a cane. His eyes darted to the sandy haired man, and he grinned.

“I see we have a new person. Been a while since we last had one.”

“Get your torch. We’re going. Stop stalling.”

Soon enough, the van was on the road. It was apparently a 2 hour drive to the next state, which according to Impulse, would be pretty normal. Primarily, Grian had quite a few observations about the tall man. One, he smiled too much. Way too much. Two, he had a similar air to the people who tried to take your credit card information. And three, he would never ever let this man near said credit card. Ever. 

“You’re Scar, right?”

The man grinned again. “Yessiree! And what’s your name?”

“Grian?”

“Well, it's very nice to meet you, Grian. How’s the job so far?”

The blonde shrugged. “Um… you have nice coffee?”

“Well, I’m very glad about that. Are you British?”

“...Yes?”

“That’s very, very interesting.”

“...Okay then?”

Soon enough, they were at the house. Grian eyed up all of the equipment. He didn’t recognise a single piece. That was weird. Really, really weird. He thought he’d signed up for a ghost hunting job. It didn’t take long for him to realise, however, this was the wrong category. Hunting and investigation turned out to not actually be synonyms.

“So… um… what do you want me to take?”

“Crucifix, salt and UV?”

Grian blinked. He recognised all of those names. “Sure.”

“Skizz, you can have S.B, D.O.T.S and thermo?”

“Yep.”

“Scar, you get parabolic and your sound sensors.”

“Surio!”

“And I’ll go EMF and writing. Let’s go.” With that, Impulse jammed the button on the van door with the side of his fist. “We should make the most of the grace period.”

After about a minute of following Impulse through the building, Grian’s ears were finally filled with the sound of the EMF beeping.

“Alright, Grian. I’d recommend putting the salt by the door. Can you do that?”

Pouring out the salt in a neat line across the threshold, Grian stood back up. 

“Good,” Impulse smiled. “If you could hold the EMF for me while I put the book down, that would be great.”

“Okay.”

Impulse put a finger on his microphone. “We’re in the kitchen.” 

Soon enough, everything was placed down rather haphazardly in different places in the room. Meanwhile, Grian was staring at the salt. Much to his horror, as he stared, he saw a footprint suddenly emerge, and a chill went down his spine. “There’s- there’s a footprint.”

“Do UV then.”

Grian nodded, cracking a glow stick before shining it on the footprint. Nothing. “No UV.”

“Alright. Now… Skizz, anything on S.B?”

“You guys have to leave for it to work. Newbie’s still in the doorway.”

“Ah,” Grian said, realising his mistake. 

“No paradaboblical so far,” he heard over the microphone.

As that happened, Grian heard a loud crackle that sounded a lot like a human. 

Skizz promptly shouted, “We got spirit box!”

And with that, all the doors slammed shut. 

“HUNT!” Impulse shouted.

Hearing the beeping getting louder, Grian stared down at his EMF reader. Red. It was on red. All lights were lit up. That had to mean… “We got EMF 5-”

For a split second, Grian felt two freezing hands around his neck. His body exploded into pain, and then there was nothing.

•

Gem liked van rides. They were very good places to crochet, and due to the normal lengths of said rides, she could get a good ten rows in if she got a good rhythm going. 

“What are you crocheting, Gemstone?” Skizz asked, and Gem shrugged.

“It’s going to be a beanie. Or at least… that’s what I hoped.”

“Looks good so far.”

Gem smiled. “Thanks Skizz.”

That day, they were hunting at an asylum. Needless to say, regardless of ghost presence, those places gave her the creeps. The place had shut down a while ago, and was on the verge of demolition, but the families of those who had been incarcerated wanted their loved ones to pass on before anything was done. So of course, they were hired. 

Gem couldn’t hear anything as she walked. Not even her EMF made a sound. That just made her more uneasy. “This isn’t a very Sunny Meadows sort of place. It's more like a Dark and Scary Hellhole.”

“Agreed,” Oscar responded. “They’re better at scams than I am.”

“Hm… debatable. Your scams are pretty good.”

“I wouldn’t say that much.”

“Stop trying to be humble. Besides, you’re failing.”

All of a sudden, as Gem rounded a corner, the EMF went off. Finally. “We’re in John’s room, just left from the stairwell,” she said to her mic, as she picked out her thermometer. “Freezing temps. How’s van life Skizz? Bet you’re glad you’ve got a cold.”

“Shut up,” Skizz responded on the walkie talkie.

Impulse walked in, smiling. “Well done for getting the room so fast, Gem. Freezing temps, right?”

“Yep.”

Impulse absentmindedly threw a UV glow stick at Oscar, who caught it. “Go check for fingerprints.”

“Rightio,” he grinned. “I’ll tell you guys when I find something!”

Impulse placed the writing book on the ground, and then brought out the spirit box. “You want to try spirit box?”

Gem blinked. “Sure? Isn’t that the thing that talks back to you? It’s like… the scariest piece of equipment we have!”

“Well, you’ll be using it eventually.”

Gem rolled her eyes. “Where are you?”

bEHiND yOu.

As the spirit box responded, she heard the sound of the front door slamming. 

“Hunt-” Impulse shouted as he grabbed Gem’s wrist. “Go hide.”

“What about you and Oscar?” Gem asked, and Impulse rolled his eyes.

“I’ll just use another one of the lockers and Scar’s probably found another hiding place. Don’t worry.”

“You sure?”

“Just get into the locker Gem,” Impulse responded. Gem nodded, climbing in as Impulse closed the door.

It seemed like years before the hunt ended. Eventually, the static buzzing in her ear changed to a voice… finally. “-’s over. Hunt’s over.”

“I found fingerprints,” Oscar’s familiar voice responded. “There was a hunt?”

“It must have been going after…” Gem opened the locker, and her blood ran cold. “Impulse.”

“Anyone have a cursed object?” Skizz tried.

“Monkey paw work?” Oscar said over the comm, and Gem breathed a sigh of relief. Hearing a scratching noise, she glanced at the book. There were scribbles that had definitely not been there before. “Writing.”

“FUCK!” Skizz shouted. “It’s a demon. Get out of there.”

“After we resurrect Impulse.”

“...fair.”

Gem was about to go inspect the writing when she felt something dry, cold, slightly furry and vaguely humanlike hit her face and fall to the ground. Ah, the monkey paw. She refused the urge to scream in disgust.

“OSCAR YOU DON’T JUST THROW A MUMMIFIED MONKEY HAND AT SOMEONES FACE DON'T YOU KNOW HOW MANY GERMS-”

“The powder of mummies is usually one of the ingredients in the skincare products you insist on using,” Oscar grinned. “I’m just cutting out the middleman.”

“Liar,” Gem pouted, before hesitantly picking up the paw. It wasn’t fun. “I wish for life.”

One of the fingers slowly folded down, and Gem winced as she heard the sound of creaking and cracking as all of Impulse’s bones went back into their normal places. The man sat up, looking around. “How’s our sanity?”

“It’s a demon,” she quickly responded. 

Impulse paled even more than he already had. “Oh no.”

Gem helped the man to unsteady feet, and collected up all their equipment. That had certainly been an… interesting ghost. Very interesting.

Chapter Text

The pain of being dead was excruciating. One would’ve thought that that sort of thing stopped after dying, but no, it did not. Grian found himself standing over his corpse. Everything felt blurry, and every muscle and bone in his body ached tremendously. The empty figure on the floor seemed to be disfigured horribly, every joint bent in a way it wasn’t supposed to go. For one, Grian was rather sure with his limited knowledge of the human body that his neck wasn’t supposed to be on backwards.

The shouts of his colleagues sounded like mere mumbles, and eventually they ceased as Skizz ran in holding something that looked like a dismembered hand. He said something, and Grian felt his soul being dragged unwillingly back into his body.

As soon as it started it was over. He didn’t feel like he had the strength to move anything. His bones didn’t even feel that fixed.

“That ghost appeared right behind you, bro,” Skizz said, pale. “That wasn’t fair at all.”

Grian shrugged, immediately wincing as his muscles moved. “We got writing, S.B and EMF 5, right?”

“Yep,” Skizz responded, looking through his journal. “Scarface, we got a spirit on our hands!”

“Noice,” the man responded on the mic.

“We’re going now. Grian got killed but he’s back now.”

The casual way that Skizz said that slightly concerned Grian. Was this a normal thing that happened? That wasn’t too good.

“I’ll meet you in the van,” Skizz said before turning off his microphone. “Need help up?”

“I feel sick,” Grian mumbled. “Is this normal?”

“Well, I’ve never died before, so I wouldn’t know,” Skizz shrugged as he helped the younger man to his feet, acting as a sort of crutch. “Are you all good?”

“No…Does it look like it?”

“Let’s just get you back to the van, mhm?”

“Alright.”

If one had died during a workplace incident and had then been brought back to life, one would have expected to at least get a day off just to figure things out. However, Grian wasn’t that lucky.

The next day, Grian did not appreciate the long van ride. He hadn’t been able to get a wink of sleep the previous night and despite later attempts, was still unsuccessful. He’d ended up just being perpetually irritated. 

“Hm. What’s getting you down, green?” Grian heard from Scar. Ah. Trust him to be annoying.

“First off, it’s Grian, not green. Secondly, have you ever died and been brought back to life?”

“You do happen to look slightly green, and as to your question, yes, actually, and you know what helps? Cat photos. Do you have a cat?”

“2. My brothers are taking care of them back in the UK.”

“Ah… well, I have a very, very, very cute and amazing cat named Jellie.”

Grian blinked. “You named your cat after a food?”

“Well… she’s very nice. Would you like to see some photos of her by any chance?”

At this point, Grian felt it would probably be cruel to say no, however much he wanted to. “Sure.”

So, despite his wishes, he spent the rest of the admittedly long van ride witnessing Scar’s entire camera roll, which consisted entirely of his cat. 

“I dibs not spirit box,” Grian decided as Impulse was handing out equipment. “Or EMF. I could put down D.O.T.S?”

“I was thinking you could stay in the van, actually…” Impulse mused. “You seem pretty tired. It’s normal. I was like that the first time I died.”

“Excuse me?” The younger man blinked. “First time? Does this happen often?”

“Some people get unlucky more often than others…” Impulse sighed. “Van day is an option though.”

“I’ll be fine,” Grian decided. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Right then.”

The first thing Grian noticed was that the house door simply would not unlock. Weird. Eventually, he managed to pry it open.

It didn’t take long for Impulse to find the ghost room, and before long, the book he’d placed on the floor had a few scrawls drawn on top. Eventually, Grian figured out how to work the D.O.T.S projector, placing it on the floor. However, despite the effort it had taken to actually get it working, it was not used a single time. That fact annoyed Grian to no end.

“We got a shade,” Skizz said over the microphone. “EMF just went to 5 in a completely random part of the house.”

With that, Grian rolled his eyes as he packed up the D.O.T.S projector he’d worked so hard to set up.

•

Light shone through the net curtains, illuminating the green wallpaper that Gem and her parents had so tediously decorated the walls with. A solemn cactus grew in a pot on the left side of her desk, and her ongoing crochet project sat unnoticed in a corner. Admittedly, on any other school holiday she’d probably be working on it, but now that she was almost 19 and very properly employable, Gem had plans.

Ghost hunting seemed to be a fun profession, and probably wouldn’t have the worst hours. Besides, it couldn’t pay too badly, could it? Unfortunately, the only one in Seattle was the one that her cousin worked at. It’d be fine. Maybe there were different teams.

Scratching her brain for everything the careers department of her school told her class about writing cover letters for jobs, she quickly typed out just over half a page. It didn’t have to be too fancy, right? This was a ghost hunting business, not an application to Harvard. Copying the letter into an email, she checked the email. 

“‘ [email protected] ’? No company domain? Must be a really small business,” Gem murmured to herself, before sending the email through. She didn’t mention her age – something she definitely remembered from school was that they told you to not mention your age to avoid bias. She’d get to that later. Besides, it wasn’t important for right now, so she was best leaving it. 

“How’s your job hunt going, sweetie?” she heard from behind her, seeing her mom standing in the doorway. “Found anywhere with openings?”

“I did find one place which has what I’m looking for,” Gem tried. “Seattle Spectral Investigation.”

“Isn’t that…”

“Yep. Oscar works there. It’s the only place I can find within a decent drive, though, so I think it’s as good as I can get.”

Her mother sighed. “Gem… couldn’t you just do something else? You know it’s not the best paying job, and besides, it’s a scam either way. Even if it isn’t, I don’t want you getting scared to death every working day.”

“I can handle it mum.”

“Fine…”

With that, the woman closed the door, and Gem got back to what she was doing before. Picking up her crochet hook, she continued on her project absentmindedly, before deciding to send a quick “Hello” to her cousin. After that, she quickly got back to crocheting.

Not long after, her phone dinged. “Hi”

Gem smiled. “How's it going?”

“Prerty swel how’s ur crochetint goin”

“Well, lets just say this blanket won't finish itself, but I've done a decent bit and I only have about 10 or so rows to go”

“Oh so prety close :D”

“Yeah id say that if the rows weren’t more than 50 stitches long XD”

“Oh thats an abslute bummr”

“Yeah. Oh, I was going to tell you, I applied for a job. Your ghost hunting agency is the only one within an hour of seattle. I'm not joking.”

“Did u by any chance apply 4 the same job as I currently have”

“...yes XD. Could you put in a good word for me?”

“Impulse won’t let u join if he finds out ur 19 gem. He barley let me in and I was 20”

“You say that about me as if you don’t illegally fabricate everything in your wallet”

“Is this blackmail”

“Nah XD”

“lll get my compter then”

And with that, he went offline again. Gem immediately got back to her crocheting, despite being completely aware of the illegal activities she had just set into motion. Well… not exactly illegal. She couldn’t place what they were.

Chapter Text

Grian’s finger hovered on Scar’s contact. He had questions, but he honestly didn’t know if he’d get a proper answer. Skizz seemed to never check his phone, and Impulse was too good of a person for him to have the conscience to ask. Plus, he was effectively the CEO, and it felt wrong asking him about something so personal. That left one person. Scar. Much to Grian’s ultimate dismay, he was the only option. Reluctantly, he typed out the message.

“Who was in this job before me?”

Not long after, Grian’s phone dinged. “O it was Gem.”

“Who’s Gem?”

“My couzin. She had 2 quit 4 quite a few reaoss”

“What reasons?”

“She died :(”

Grian’s eyes widened. He was fully aware that this job was lethal, he’d had a taste of it. Grian just didn't think that it could actually kill someone properly. “How?” 

Suddenly, Scar went offline. Grian blinked. Suspicious. Really suspicious.

The next case was the next day, and much to Grian’s relief, it was inside the city. The long van rides were starting to get on his nerves.

“Bet it’s a djinn,” Scar decided when they were about a mile from the location, promptly getting stares. “What. It’s always a djinn.”

“In my experience, it’s never been a djinn,” Grian deadpanned. 

“Well, Grian, this is your third ghost. This is my… at least my six hundredth,” Scar shrugged.

“Dippledop is at over 3000,” Skizz chuckled. “I myself am sitting pretty at around 2500. I would agree with G-Sharp though. Djinns aren’t a standout type of ghost. They’re pretty normal when it comes to frequency. I find there’s quite a few obake.”

“Fine then,” Scar decided, rolling his eyes. “But if it’s a djinn you owe me.”

“I’ll count you on that.”

After the shade, Grian genuinely thought that ghost hunting might actually become something easy to do. Oh boy was he wrong. 

The second he entered the house, Grian felt a feeling of uneasiness and nausea envelop him. For some reason, he no longer wanted to do this case.

“This ghost is taking hits on our sanity,” Skizz noted. “Dippledop, got the pills?”

Impulse held up a few canisters of medication. “Right here.”

“Are you seriously giving us non-prescribed anxiety medication?” Grian asked. “Is that even legal?”

“My guy, it’s that or you die a bamboozlingly painful death again, and if that happens don’t count on the fact we’ll actually be able to save you,” Scar said, his voice monotone, before limping off to place the sound sensors that Grian had learnt he liked a lot. 

He glanced at Impulse, who shrugged. 

Just ten minutes later, after they’d barely managed to find out that the ghost caused it to be particularly cold, Grian heard all of the doors slam shut. His heart sank, and he quickly rushed to a closet.

“Look who’s here,” he heard the smiling yet cold voice of his colleague say. “The guy who wants to die a bamboozlingly painful death? Hi.”

“Shut up, Scar.”

“You know, how funny would it be if the ghost heard us.”

“I said shut up!” Grian hissed.

“Yeah… that’d be crazy. Imagine if this ghost was deaf and we were all worrying over nothing.”

The blonde froze as he felt the door stop touching his shoulder. It was opening. Something was opening the closet door.

“Grian, I have a really small feeling this ghost isn’t deaf-”

And suddenly, he couldn’t hear his colleague anymore. As this happened, he heard the loud sound of all the doors unlocking.

•

“So, you’re saying we’re the second team to try and close this case?” Gem questioned, Skizz nodding. “What happened to the others?”

“Every member of their team got taken out. And now, they’ve called us.”

“That’s hardly fair…” Gem muttered, before she felt someone pat her on the back.

“We’re competent, despite what dad may say to us,” Oscar reassured.

“Hey!” Impulse berated from the vending machine at the other side of the mall hallway. “I didn’t even mean that, and it was last year.”

“Last year was 2 months ago Impulse,” Gem laughed, as Impulse walked over, 4 drinks in his hands. 

“We should get going. Client’s waiting.”

She took a breath in, before nodding. “Hope this doesn’t go too badly.”

“We’re professionals. Plus, I’ve been doing this for ten years,” Impulse shrugged. “I’d never let one of you get properly killed on a case. Besides, Gem’s actually rather responsible. I’m thinking of switching jobs soon, and she’d be a great second in command to Skizz.” Gem’s eyes widened. “But yeah. I’d never let you guys get hurt.”

“That’s reassuring.”

“You three are the closest thing I have to family,” the stocky man elaborated. “And I sure wouldn’t let that be taken away from me.”

“How many times of me calling you dad did it take for you to come to that conclusion?” Oscar grinned, and Gem slapped him upside the head.

“Shut up.”

“Let me guess, Skizz is the mom and we’re the annoying children.”

“Don’t make me question what I said already,” Impulse laughed.

Gem was almost sure this thing would be a death sentence. It had proven to be for the other group, so why not them? Trying to get her hook through a stitch in her crocheting, she cursed as it once again went past the thread. She tried again. And again.

“Gemstone, you okay?” Skizz asked, and she glanced up at him. 

“As okay as possible, what with us all being lambs to the slaughter.”

“Just… don’t get so worked up. The ghost will take advantage of it.”

Finally, Gem managed to get her crochet hook through one of the stitches. She nodded at Skizz in silent thanks.

“Would that thing be called a beanie or would it work more as some sort of medieval-esque hat?” Oscar questioned, and Gem glanced at him.

“Hm. I’ve never thought of that before,” Gem said sarcastically, and her cousin grinned.

“Well, let’s just say I am of the utmost gladness to be of service, young lady.”

Gem rolled her eyes.

“So, guys, be careful. We can’t be sure that there’ll be any sort of cursed object in the house, which means if you die, that could be it for you. Thankfully, there are plenty of hiding spots, so make sure you know where the nearest one is when a hunt starts.”

“Okay dad.”

“Don’t call me dad.”

“Alright dad.”

Impulse rolled his eyes, put the van into park, before turning off the engine once they’d entered the driveway. “You three ready?”

“As ever,” Skizz grinned.

Chapter Text

Grian slowly eased himself to his feet. Being lodged in a closet wasn’t the most pleasant experience, and was definitely one he’d not want to repeat. Hitting his head on the clothing rack, he yelped. Ha. The single thing he had to bend down under. 

“Alright, hunt’s over,” Impulse said over the mic. “Mics on again.”

“Here,” Grian mumbled as he tried to get out of the closet. Eventually, he managed to get out.

“Still standing,” Skizz said over the microphone, and Grian breathed a sigh of relief.

As he took in his surroundings, Grian could confirm that Scar was definitely 100% dead. He almost felt sorry for the man. “Scar died though.”

“Was he by any chance making a racket when you two were in a hiding spot?”

“Yes.”

Impulse let out the loudest sigh Grian had ever heard. “I’m coming over. Do you guys need a cursed object?”

“Yep.”

“You go look for it then. Anything which radiates an air of unsettlingness.”

“This whole house radiates unsettlingness,” Grian muttered to himself. Eventually, he managed to find something that looked rather like a human femur. However, it was incredibly small, and was covered in small painted designs. Not the normalest thing to have in your house. He tried not to think about what, or even who it had belonged to. “I found a weird bone thing.”

“That’ll work. Bring it over.”

Walking back to his colleague's corpse, Grian handed the bone to Impulse. The stocky man nodded in thanks, before muttering something. The femur started to glow blue, before crumbling into a thin film of dust. 

“Found any other evidence?”

“Just freezing temps.”

“We saw something on D.O.T.S. Could you go check orbs? When Scar wakes up I need to talk to him about something.”

Grian blinked. “Sure?”

“In private. Um… maybe go to the van or something. You can see orbs from there.”

Deciding not to ask any other questions, Grian did as told. 

“Dippledop banish you to the van?”

Grian nodded solemnly. “Sadly.”

“Oop. He only usually does that when he’s angry.”

“Didn’t look angry…” the sandy haired man muttered to himself.

“He’s very good at not showing it. Helps keep up an image. Was he angry at you?”

“He wanted to talk to Scar. In private.”

“Oop. Good luck finding orbs.”

Grian paused. “How did you know I got sent to find orbs?”

“That’s what he tells everyone to do when they get exiled to van life.”

“Ah.”

“Don’t question it.”

After about five minutes of just staring at the camera footage playing on the monitor in the van, Grian eventually managed to spot a circular thing floating up from the ground. “We got orbs.”

“Sick!” Skizz cheered over the microphone. “It’s a yurei. I’ll go get the others. Maybe you could find something useful to do.”

“Alright,” Grian nodded. Eventually, he heard the van door open again, and Skizz walked in. “What are they arguing about?”

“What do you mean?”

“If they weren’t arguing they’d be back by now.”

Skizz sighed. “To be fair, I’m not sure how much of it is in my right to be told.”

“Fair.”

Soon enough, everyone was back in the van, and the newly arrived half of the team seemed rather discombobulated. Grian eventually spoke up. “Impulse, what were you two arguing about?”

“It’s none of your concern,” Impulse responded, his tone cutting, before it softened. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Also, second question, who was Gem?”

“I told you, she’s my cousin,” Scar immediately responded. 

Impulse glanced back at them. “You told him?”

“I told him she died,” Scar shrugged. “That was before my kettle started boiling over. So… that’s all I told him.”

“Hm,” Impulse grunted, before focussing back on driving. 

“How did it happen, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Skizz shrugged. “Ask Scarface, he was the only one there. We just found her body thrown against a wall…” His voice trailed off, and he sighed. “I’d say we don’t discuss it. It isn’t the best of memories.”

“Okay.”

After that, the van went silent.

•

Gem sat on a bench, hands clasped around a bottle of milk tea and head tilted onto her phone. The sun was almost directly above her, causing the shadows of the trees to barely touch the tips of her brown leather boots.

“Yeah, we can definitely do it in a month or two. You sure your job will allow it?”

“Mate, let's just be clear on one thing. I intend to move to where you are.”

“Oh- so no need to worry about your job, then.”

“Exactly, Gem.”

The redhead smiled. “That’s great. Best friend reunion coming up in a month or two then. You got accommodation sorted?”

“Um…”

“Screw it, Pearl,” Gem shrugged. “You can come live at my place.”

“You sure, it might-”

“Don’t worry - it’s no trouble at all.”

“I should be going now. I told my boss I’d be leaving and now he wants me to go above and beyond in my last month or so. So… see you then?”

Gem grinned. “See you soon!”

Chapter Text

“Hullo Grian,” Mumbo’s calm voice rang out from the phone. “Why are you calling me?”

“This job… I think… Someone died in my job. Why didn’t they say anything?”

“Well… people die in workplace accidents all the time.”

“Gosh, I wish I’d never left Nottingham…” Grian muttered to himself. “Anyway… how are you? How’s the crew?”

“Joel and Lizzie finally picked up the courage to ask each other’s hand in marriage.”

Grian’s eyes widened, and he stopped pacing his room. “That’s amazing!”

“How’s life been on your end?”

“Turns out I didn’t even apply for the right job,” Grian laughed uneasily. “I do extermination, not investigation. It’s all goods though. I got the hang of it.”

Mumbo seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. “You’ve really got to come back here at some point mate. A listing just came up nearby for ghost hunting, and it doesn’t have any past deaths ‘n things. Maybe give that a go. Something closer to home.”

Grian paused. “Despite appearances, I do like it here. Skizz and Impulse are nice enough, and I’m getting used to Scar. He almost killed me last week, by the way.”

“Grian- he almost killed you? Why do you even want to stay?”

“I don’t know… it’s just nice here.”

“I will never understand you.”

“Love you too mate.”

“See you?”

“See you.”

Now, Grian needed answers. He wasn’t the sort of guy to be satiated with just a “she died in a workplace incident blah blah.” What he would be satiated with was the truth. Breathing in, he clicked onto Scar’s contact.

“I need the whole truth. Not just a little bit. The whole thing.”

•

Gem fiddled with the key. She hated when locks seemed to be incapable of working properly. Darned rust. Why couldn’t stainless steel have been invented sooner? Eventually, the lock clicked, and she grinned. Finally.

Immediately as she entered the house, a chill fell about her. Whatever was here, it didn’t seem too intent on playing nice. Nevertheless, she turned on her EMF. “Let’s spend the least time possible in this place please,” she half-squeaked into her microphone.

“Definitely,” Impulse responded. “I’m not even in the house and it doesn’t especially feel like a good place to be.”

“That much is obvious,” Gem decided, rolling her eyes. She took a breath in, before continuing on her way. After a while of investigating objects that seemed out of place, it didn’t take long for the EMF to start beeping. Placing it down, she inspected the room. It seemed to be in absolute shambles. Whatever ghost was here, it was definitely a very angry one. Skizz turned on the spirit box behind her, and there was a soft thunk as Oscar put down the book. Soon enough, she heard the scratchy sound of the pen scraping against paper. “We got writing.”

“Also freezing temps,” Oscar added in.

“Thanks. Skizz, could you go get the goggles from the van? I’ll put down the D.O.T.S.”

“You do that,” he nodded, standing up.

“You know, this guy doesn’t seem so bad,” Oscar laughed uneasily. “I was expecting more hunting.”

“Don’t jinx us,” Gem responded with a chuckle. “Uh… let's try not to die. The other group probably used up any cursed objects here.”

“That’ll be easy. We’ll just… not die.”

“Very descriptive, Oscar.”

As Gem stood up, she felt her ears fill with static. Without much thought, she dived into a closet.

It was a loud silence. The noise of the ghost’s all too familiar breathing rang in her ears, and she tried her best to not make a single sound. The same could not be said for her cousin.

“We’ve got freezing temps and writing, right?”

“Oscar, shut up,” Gem hissed.

“Gem- I’m trying to figure out the ghost so we don’t have to go through this again. We can rule out spirit box and D.O.T.S, right?”

“Oscar-”

“That leaves demon… revenant… we can rule out shade. This isn’t good.”

Gem wanted to scream. “Oscar Jubin Thyme- shut up!”

“This is not good… we’re going to die.”

Gem resorted to simply placing her hand on his mouth, for lack of another way to make him shut up. Granted, he never did seem to be good at that sort of thing. She froze. The breathing was getting louder. The light of the moon curved away from them as light footsteps came closer and closer. 

“It’s okay,” she thought to herself. “It hasn’t found us. It hasn’t found us. We’re okay. We’re okay.”

Somehow, the one thing that would make her blood run even colder, the thing she least expected to happen, happened. The footsteps stopped right outside their closet door. She swore under her breath. Slowly, the closet door slid open. It was smooth, peaceful, not the sort of thing to expect from something that was trying to kill you. She glanced at Oscar. For some reason, he’d stood up. He seemed to be unsteady, and his eyes were locked on the door.

“Oscar-” Gem hissed. “What on earth are you even doing!”

“I’m sorry.”

“What?”

“Goodbye.”

The man slammed open the door, before ducking under the arm of the ghost and… he was gone. Gem was alone. Maybe the ghost would notice Oscar’s escape and follow him. That was the plan… right? Hardly likely., Oscar never made plans. It was more likely that he’d just left her alone. – saved himself and left his younger cousin to die. “Sorry” wouldn’t cut it. As the door opened completely, Gem shrunk against the wall. This was the end. There were no monkey paws. There were no weird sigil-ous things in the house. The other group had used all the monkey paws. She was as good as dead.

The arms of the ghost were cold, but comforting. Almost as if they were welcoming her home. As she felt them tighten across the sides of her head and neck, she closed her eyes. 

~

The first thing Gem ever remembered was her cousin. They were pretty close, and Oscar had never really hung out with his brother much, so it was almost like they were siblings in some way. It was an inconsequential memory. They had been playing with legos, and her cousin was explaining Death Stars and Tie Fighters. Gem didn’t understand much, but she didn’t mind that. Her head was set on making her little house-

~

“My name is Pearl,” the blonde smiled, holding out a hand to shake. She sounded distinctly Australian, which was an uncommon thing in Seattle. “How ‘bout you?”

“I’m Gem,” Gem smiled back. “Nice to meet you!”

“Nice to meet you as well!”

~

“I guess this is it, then,” Pearl smiled, her expression bitter as a lime yet sweet as milk chocolate. “It was nice knowing you, mate.”

“I wish you didn’t have to go so soon…” Gem sighed, wrapping her arms around her friend. She felt a hand pat her on the back.

“Someday we’ll see each other. When we’re adults, maybe?”

“Definitely!”

“I-

~

“I guess we can be failures together,” Gem chuckled. 

“I guess so,” Oscar shrugged. “Y’know… you’d probably be a good fit for the job as well. Plus, your parents are nicer than mine. They wouldn’t judge.”

“Yeah… I’ll think about it. One thing’s for sure, I’m not going to waste my life working in a café.”

“That’s a good-

~

And with a snap like that of two fingers on the beat of a song, it was all over.

•

In Scar’s experience, the best thing to do in any situation was run first, think later. He didn’t have time to care about other people’s wellbeing when an actual ghost was about to break his neck. He could worry about killing his knee again after he’d ran, and he could worry about Gem-

The man froze, staring back. The ghost was already in the closet. He couldn’t touch it - that would be bad. He couldn’t pull it away or distract it-

It disappeared. That meant… surely it could have ended the hunt before killing Gem. Maybe it could’ve shown mercy. Not all ghosts were bad. Maybe it could’ve been a really shade-y revenant or demon. Hopefully-

Without thinking, he limped back to the closet. Cane. He needed his cane. He didn’t want anything to give out midway through a clearly very dangerous investigation, that would be very very very bad-

His eyes locked on something. A frizzy head of short orange hair with a long fringe covering barely closed eyes, connected to a limp body, slumped against the wall. Gem . She could still be alive- she could have fainted- ghosts were really very frightening things that caused people to faint all the time.

“Gem?”

“Gem? Are you alive?”

“Gemini-”

•

The second that Impulse noticed there was no breathing coming from Gem’s microphone was the second he realised there was a problem. Standing up from his seat, he made his way over to the house just as the door unlocked. Immediately, he saw Gem’s body.

“Scar. Van. I’ll deal with this.”

“Impulse-”

“Van.”

Hearing the sound of footsteps behind him, Impulse saw Skizz run over to Gem’s body. “Impulse- they said there aren’t any cursed objects-”

“We won’t know unless we look.” And with that, Impulse ran off.

•

Skizz was not prepared to see the body of someone he saw as part of his family lying on the ground with their neck broken. His breath caught in his throat. “What happened?”

“I made a mistake,” Scar said simply. “Now she’s dead.”

“Come on, we can just-”

Scar looked up, making eye contact. “Skizz. We can’t bring her back to life. There are no cursed objects here. The owners of the house said it themselves.”

“I’m sure we can find something.” He sat down, before taking Gem’s hand and placing it on her chest. “Hey, why don’t you get a cushion from the living room. We should make her comfy.”

Searching through the bag he’d left lying haphazardly in the ghost room, Skizz found a blanket. It’d do. He wouldn’t want her to be cold when she woke back up. Just as he was about to place it over her, he saw one of the phones in the bag light up. It was Gem’s. The contact was named ‘Pearl <3’

“Hi :D”

Skizz froze. Gem wouldn’t want him searching through her phone. He let it be. 

“I found a cushion,” Scar brought up, and Skizz blinked. “What?”

“Just… I don’t know.” He smiled. “Now, we wait.”

“Okay.”

Eventually, Impulse returned. Most notably, he seemed to be empty handed. “Scar, I thought I told you to go to the van.”

“Why?”

“Just do as you’re told for fuck’s sake,” the older man sneered, before glancing at Skizz. “We need to talk.”

•

Impulse wasn’t the best at breaking news. It had hit him hard as well. He was sure there had to have been something in the house they could use, anything , but just when it mattered, there was nothing. Just when someone’s life was on the line, they could do nothing.

“Skizz-”

Just as he was about to say something, he felt a pat on his back.

“I’ll break the news. You call a coroner. There’s nothing we can do now.”

Impulse nodded solemnly. “Alright.”

Skizz nodded. “You good, Dippledop?”

The stocky man shrugged. “Just… um… keeping it together. For the drive home. It’s hazardous to drive when emotional.”

“We could always call someone?”

“I can handle it.”

“If you’re sure.”

Impulse got out his phone, and Skizz walked out.

•

Despite Impulse’s instructions, Scar had still not gone to the van. Honestly, Skizz didn’t blame him. He was talking to Gem. Or rather, talking at. It wasn’t like she could hear him, or ever would again. 

“Scarface?”

“What is it, Skizz?”

“Impulse couldn’t find anything. He’s called a coroner and then we’re going to go home. You uh… want McDonalds or something?”

“Gem never liked McDonalds…”

Skizz winced. This would be hard. “If you need time off, that’s fine. Dippledop’s not quitting anytime soon.”

“Wouldn’t guess it.”

“You need a hug?”

“I’m fine.” Scar held his cousin’s limp hand tightly. “Just, let me stay here for a bit. Don’t want to leave her alone until she’s in safe hands.”

“Alright.”

“Do you think she’ll…”

“She had a good life. She won’t become a ghost. She can’t.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

Chapter Text

“The ghost is on 6 Tanglewood Road, and their name is Gemini Taylor,” Grian started. “Why does that name sound familiar?”

Impulse buried his head in his hands. “Why…”

Skizz seemed to be verging on uncomfortable. He stood up. “I- I need to go.”

“Karma’s a bitch,” Scar shrugged, resting his arms behind his head in a way that was way too casual for the news they’d just received. “So-” 

Just as he was about to say something, there was a knock on the door.

“Who could that be?”

Grian walked over to the door, opening it. Behind was a woman in a red rain jacket (it had not rained for a week) with long blonde hair. “Hi! I’m looking for Gem. She said she works here and if she’s not home to come here.” 

Grian blinked, before his face fell. “Oh my gosh- I am so sorry, miss,” he inhaled sharply. “She… uh…”

“She died two months ago,” Scar finished. “She’s buried at Crown Hill. Furthest to the left. Can’t miss it. That’s where she is.”

The woman froze, her eyes widening. 

“You want a coffee?” Impulse offered.

“How?”

“What?”

Pearl sighed. “How did she die?”

“Broken neck. It was a rev.” Pearl seemed slightly confused, and Impulse sighed. “Workplace incident. Um… if you want, you can come with us. This may seem a bit complicated but she’s the ghost we’re about to investigate. If you want to say your final goodbyes or anything, you could come along?”

“That would be great. Thanks. Also, a yes to that coffee.”

Impulse smiled, nodding. “Alright then.”

The van ride was completely silent. Well… what was there to say, anyway? This was probably going to be the worst haunt they’d ever been to.

•

Prior to that day, Pearl had been at most skeptical about the existence of ghosts. Most of their traits could be chalked up to things like birds in the chimney, rattly pipes or the occasional mouse infestation. When she heard that her friend - who was now dead - was now a ghost, she didn’t entirely believe her ears. It was a fool's errand, going with these freaks. Ah well. She knew what her nanna always said. “Hear ‘em all out ‘cause they might ‘ave somethin’ to say.” So, she’d do that. Who knew, she could even be surprised.

As the van stopped, she climbed out, looking over the house. It didn’t seem too bad. Just your average residential home owned by a rich guy with too many houses already. A sign on the postbox denoted it as 6 Tanglewood Road. 

“I wouldn’t recommend going in. It’s dangerous,” the stocky man in the van called. Pearl scratched her brain for a name. Gem had talked about a guy named Impulse who looked as if he had a family of four, an addiction to fishing and a midlife crisis despite being around 39. The man seemed to fit the bill quite well.

“Gem being dangerous? Pah. Never gonna happen,” Pearl shrugged. “I’ll wait though.”

Eventually, the actual ghost investigation people were suited up with all of their frankly gratuitous amounts of equipment. For a scam, it seemed to be rather a lot. Seemed pricey too.

As Pearl walked inside, she was overcome with cold. This was nothing like Monte Cristo. It actually felt real. There was something in here. “Gem?”

“I’ll go EMF,” she heard from behind her, and a subsequent “Go ahead,” from someone else.

Pearl could be sure she heard someone say something . It was breathy, but she could hear it. “Hey guys, you got anything to like… hear ghosts?”

“Spirit box?” the short and sandy haired man asked, and Pearl blinked. 

“If that’s it, yep.” A small radio was thrust into her hands. 

“Be careful. It’s… loud. Also quite a fright when the ghost-”

“Gem.”

“If Gem, in this case, speaks through it.”

Pearl nodded, before turning the spirit box on. “Hi, Gem. Long time no see.”

PeARl? wHY ArE yOU HerE?

Pearl’s eyes widened. This was… “Gem?”

i KnOW, It’S A MeSs…

All the doors slammed shut, and suddenly, Pearl saw someone in front of her. It was Gem. Her frankly quite beautiful brown eyes were gone, taken away, and her neck was bruised and stretched beyond repair, but it was Gem.

“Why did you come, Pearl?”

Pearl froze. “I wanted to see you. For the last time.”

Suddenly, she felt arms wrap around her. “I seriously missed you…”

“You too, Gem.”

Gem stepped back, before glancing over Pearl’s shoulder. “There is someone I need to have a chat with. He’s probably hiding. Smart guy.”

“What?”

“Don’t question it. Also, would you mind going to the kitchen for a moment?”

“...why?”

“Look in the cabinets. Impulse, even with how nice of a guy he is, isn’t the best at searching for things. Just… go look.”

And with that, Gem disappeared.

•

Gem hated being dead. It was like what she imagined being drunk to be like. Being slightly out of it, above it all, constant drowsiness. She couldn’t sleep. No. She had to watch. Watch the world go past without her. The universe was evil. Yes, she knew Impulse treated dying as a regular thing, and was up and at it again within the second, but she’d been dead for 2 whole months. And, who knew, maybe she’d stay that way. Forever. Because no, apparently you couldn’t move on if you were murdered. That was bloody cheerful. All because of her stupid, trigger happy cousin. 

Seeing Pearl appear in that vast sea of blue tinted death was what she least expected to happen. She would have expected purgatory to be red, but for some reason, the sealike tone of her eternal torment was more anger inducing than any scarlet cloth thrown into her eyes. Ah well… at least she could teleport now. As if that was any consolation. It wasn’t. Eitherway, she had urgent matters to discuss that couldn’t wait.

Teleporting in front of Oscar, she started a hunt, before promptly slapping him in the face. “What the fuck.”

“Gem-”

“Why did you kill me?”

“I didn’t-”

She slapped him in the face again. “You did. You literally did.”

“Gem, I had no other choice. Also- stop slapping me in the face.”

“You deserve it. Also, you had plenty of other choices. You could have saved me as well. Why didn’t you?”

“Heat of the moment, Gemini. Heat of the moment.”

“You were the one who let the ghost know where we are. Bet you still don’t know how to fucking shut up. ”

Oscar froze. 

“Yeah. You could have easily gone to jail for endangerment of others. Bet you didn’t tell Impulse what happened either.”

“I wasn’t even sure.”

“Yeah right you weren’t.” Gem sighed, before sitting down on the ground. “Do you have any idea how hard being dead is? All I want is to be resurrected or for whoever’s in the sky to let me move on. Is that too much to ask?”

“Why haven’t you moved on?”

Gem paused. “You. For christ’s sake you haven’t even apologised yet.”

“I apologised when I got out of the closet. Honestly I probably thought the ghost would notice me but,” he shrugged. “Apparently not.”

“I… forgot about that…” Gem froze. For some reason, she felt a lot less angry. He’d apologised, and she hadn’t heard because... “Heat of the moment… sorry. I’m definitely a lot less mad at you now. Still cousins?”

“Uh… still cousins.”

Gem nodded. “Great. I uh-”

“Gem, mate, there’s a whole-ass furry hand in the fridge!” Pearl practically screamed from the doorway, before holding it up. “What sort of sick prank-”

Gem teleported in front of her, taking the paw. She patted Pearl on the back. “Appreciated.”

“So…”

“Be right back.”

And with that, Gem disappeared again.

•

“Have you noticed how weird the hunts are?” Impulse noted. “Very sporadic.”

Skizz nodded as he discarded the thermometer. “No F.Z here.” As he set up the D.O.T.S, yet another hunt started again. Except, in that second, Gem had suddenly appeared in front of them.

“Jesus Gemstone-” Skizz yelped. “You’re going to give me a heart attack if you’re not careful-” 

“Impulse, I have something for you. Also hi to you as well, Skizz.”

“I would expect you to be angrier…” he mumbled. 

“Are wraiths supposed to be angry?” Gem shrugged. “I should probably know.”

“You’re a wraith?”

“Yeah, I can teleport to people. Anyway…”

Handing the monkey paw to Impulse, Gem smiled. “I think you were looking for something?”

The man gasped, staring at the object. “Gem- where did you find this?”

“Fridge. They were probably trying to make it rot.”

Impulse let out a dry chuckle. “Ha. Never would have guessed. Do you… um… want me to do the honours?”

“Go ahead,” Gem smiled, closing her eyes.

Impulse breathed in. “I wish for life.”

Nothing happened.

“I wish for life!”

It was the same as before.

“I wish- Gem, why isn’t this working?”

The girl blinked. “Not sure.”

“Her body isn’t here,” Skizz sighed. “I wanted to hope it wouldn't matter in the end, but it did. You can’t come back, Gemstone.”

The woman stood silent for a minute. “Oh…”

“I’m sorry.”

Just then, three heads poked around the door. “I heard screaming,” Pearl noted. “Gem, you haven’t killed anyone, right-”

“I kind of have to say goodbye now,” she mumbled. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t spend more time with all of you. Also Impulse, never hire a 19 year old again. You’re right, this job is too dangerous.”

Impulse glanced at Oscar. “You told me she was 21!”

“I lied,” the man shrugged.

“I’ll be having a chat with you later.”

“Surio,” the man responded, before limping away. “See ya, Gem.”

The woman sighed, before glancing at Grian. “Be a good replacement, alright? Make sure no one gets too brash. And make sure Impulse double checks for things.”

Grian nodded, giving her a thumbs up.

Gem turned to Pearl. “Guess you’re stuck here now.”

The woman shrugged, wiping away a tear. “Ah- uhm- well… I don’t have a job anymore I guess… so…”

“You’re legitimately a 21 year old, right?”

“Yeah?”

“You’d suit this job. It’s surprisingly hard to die permanently, though.”

“Ah, well, uh… you’ve always been one to… to overdeliver.”

Gem wrapped Pearl in a hug. “Love you Pearl.”

“Love you too, Gem.”

Gem stepped back. “I’m guessing Oscar’s not coming back anytime soon.”

“No…” Skizz sighed, looking back through the window. “He’s waiting in the van.”

Gem patted the man on the back. “See you in the next one, Skinner,” she smiled. The man blinked.

“Ah yes, because of course you know my actual name,” he decided, rolling his eyes. Nevertheless, he patted Gem on the back too. “See you in the next one.”

Finally, she walked over to Impulse, wrapping him in a hug. “See you, dad.”

The man blushed, before patting her on the back awkwardly. “See you, Gem.”

“If you ever see a ‘best dad’ cup in the store, know I would’ve bought it for you,” Gem decided, stepping back.

Impulse chuckled. “Alright, noted.”

The woman nodded, before sighing. “Guess I’ll be off now before anyone starts properly sobbing. Best to get these things over and done with. Bye, guys.”

And with that, she disappeared. Not long after, the beeping of the EMF halted, and the room suddenly felt a whole lot warmer. Everything that would have indicated a haunt simply ceased to exist.

“She’s gone, isn’t she,” Pearl mumbled. 

“Yep,” Impulse sighed. “I would have hated to get rid of her the traditional way. She deserved peace.”

Pearl decided not to follow up on that. Instead, she nodded. Gem did deserve peace, and despite the fact it was way too early, at least she was getting it.

•

Pearl knew her life would probably never be the same as the moment when she first knocked on the door of that dingy old warehouse. However, she could maybe, possibly get used to it.

“Don’t feel pressured to follow Gem’s recommendation,” Impulse noted in the van. “It’s a very dangerous job and dying all the time is not pleasant in the slightest.”

“You die a lot? Bugger. This job is still somehow more enticing than my old job as a barista. You guys seem like nice guys. I’ll give it a think. Plus, 5 people is always better than 4.”

“You could say that.”

Pearl shrugged, leaning her head against the window and listening to the quiet buzz that emanated from the glass. It had been a long day. 

Chapter Text

NOVEMBER ‘97

He leaned back in his chair, twiddling with a hair. “Pretty neat tip. I’ll have to look into it.”

“Grian will,” his classmate laughed. “I thought you just made circuits ‘n things.”

“Pah. That is but an inch of my power.”

“Mate. You wear ties to a non-uniform school. Don’t inflate your ego even more, for the sake of all of us.”

“I don’t have an ego,” Mumbo shrugged, rolling his eyes.

“Y’know, Jumbs, do you actually believe in ghosts?”

“I believe in a good laugh,” he shrugged, standing up. “Doesn’t really matter what gives it.”

“Your loss.”

Soon, Mumbo and Grian were on the bus. “I got a tip from Martyn. 54 Battery View.”

“The old shed on the marina? I could swear that place had bits flying off of it last time the wind got too strong.”

“It’s got other things flying around in there.” Mumbo swished his arm in the air, imitating an airborne object. “Paranormal things. You get the jist.”

“That would explain the bits flying off.”

“It is also just old.”

“That would also explain the bits flying off.”

Grian hummed. “So… we going?”

“Meet at the park at 10. Try not to let your parents notice.”

“Yeah, I’m not an idiot.”

Mumbo glanced out of the window. “This is my stop. See you tonight.”

Grian grinned. “See you tonight.”

“You’re planning something, aren’t you,” Mumbo heard as he grabbed a cornetto from the freezer. “You’re going to get yourself killed one of these days. Be it from electrocution or this. ”

“Sure,” Mumbo shrugged. “They’re only ghosts, how bad could they really be?”

“I heard that one time someone got killed by one. Pushed off an overhang.”

He rolled his eyes, adjusting his tie. “Pah, they were just a dumbass, X.”

Xisuma rolled his eyes. “Self awareness much?”

“Well, I’ll have you know-”

“Shut up, Mumbo. Just be careful, okay? You and Grian both.”

“Alright then.”

That night, Mumbo packed up his torch, camera, and first aid kit. Climbing out of his window, he made his way to the agreed park. 

“You didn’t wimp out,” Grian grinned. “Epic.”

“Of course I didn’t.” Mumbo slipped a map out from his pocket. “Hm… this way.” 

Neither Mumbo nor Grian actually expected to see anything. Martyn was always one to ham things up out of proportion., and had probably just heard a red squirrel and a grey squirrel having a riveting action battle in the girders while he was scouting the location. It wasn’t impossible. Still, it would be a fun day searching through the abandoned building.

54 Battery View had been a place that had originally been meant for the youth to hang out. Of course, naturally, in Nottingham, this never went well. Now it was home to broken bottles, tetanus and one reported case of anthrax. Also, apparently (though Martyn’s word could never be fully trusted), ghosts.

Needless to say, it was vast. Mumbo could see the ceiling crumbling in several places, and dead wire falling out of the holes in several places like the building’s intestines. They said someone had died here. The bathrooms, apparently. He shivered. “Grian, you sure- Grian?”

The boy had disappeared. However, just as soon as he realised, he heard a scream.

Mumbo stood at the place he’d finally learnt to not be a dumbass. Now, 7 years later, he was at the same building. Why? He didn’t know. Grian had left just 2 months prior, and he was rather lonely. He only had himself and his electrician job to keep him company. God knew that Grian’s brothers were bad and that he didn’t want to cross them. Biker gangs were not good people to be around. Honestly, he was glad Grian had left. Sighing, he looked up at the derelict building. They’d finally put down a notice of demolition. About time. 

Strolling through the halls, he could see the moon through the long since caved in ceiling. It was bright, softly illuminating the rooms of the abandoned building. However, Mumbo could not say he felt alone at all.

It didn’t take much searching to find the place that Grian had first encountered what he thought to be a ghost. One of the floorboards had detached, pointing up diagonally like an accident waiting to happen. No wonder his friend had tripped. However, for the life of him, he couldn’t find anything that would imitate a hand. Glancing up, he saw a balcony. That would be a good vantage point to see what was up. 

One flight of stairs, two broken steps and one dead rat later, Mumbo finally managed to get up to the balcony. The wind had definitely picked up. Strange. Sitting down, he dangled his legs over the edge. Despite the location, it was quite a nice spot. Not nice enough to bring a girlfriend to, of course, but nice to an extent.

He’d originally thought the building was big, but now he was here, he could truly admire the sheer size of it all. It was huge. Standing up, he felt a breath on his neck. What was-

“Who’s there!” he yelped, spinning around. As the echoes of his words faded, he felt a hand on his sternum and the wind rushing past his ears. Only after a second did he realise he was falling.

It had felt like years since Gem had finally popped her clogs, but in actuality, it had only been a few months. Welp. Now Scar had zero family he could say he was actually close to. The man glanced at Grian. 

“So, you have a brother, right?”

Grian nodded. “2, actually. Their names are Jimmy and Joel. They’re… avoidable.”

Scar thought for a while. “Wouldn’t it be absolutely hilarious if you were named Jrian?”

“Fuck off.” Grian took an annoyed sip of his coffee, before he blinked. “Scar, someone sent you a message.”

Scar paused, picking up his phone. “They did- oh.”

To say that he was a family man was to blatantly lie. He’d cut his relatives off long ago for complex reasons mostly revolving around his mother abandoning him for his younger brother. Said brother had just texted him.

“Hi, this is Ben Walter. Mom wants to have a family function but none of her messages manage to get through to you.”

“not interesded. also the reazon 4 that is that i blocked them. that menes i probably dint want to see her.”

“You seem pissed,” Grian blinked. “Scam text?”

“My brother’s trying to make me make up with my mom,” Scar grumbled, rolling his eyes. “He’s dreaming.”

Just as he said that, a message went through. “Can we call? I do want to see you at some point before you die.”

“fine.”

Scar stood up. “Got to make a call. He insisted. Well… he didn’t, but he meant to.”

“Good luck.”

With that, Scar walked off, accepting the call.

“Wow, I didn’t think you’d actually say yes…”  

“ Hey B-Dubs.”

“How have you been lately? I haven’t seen you since you fell out with mom so I kinda feel out of the loop…”

“Surviving. You?”

“I’m good. Could I come see you someday?”

“You’ll bring mom, won’t you.”

“Not if you don’t want me to. You know, I really miss my older brother.”

Scar froze, before responding. “Miss you too. If you don’t bring mom… I’m… um… I’m at 88 S Hudson Street. I’m in between haunts. It would be nice to see you again.”

“Tommorow morning?” He could practically hear B-Dubs grinning. 

“If you want.”

“Thanks a million!”

“No problemo.”

With that, B-Dubs hung up.

AUGUST, ‘85

Immanuel Ezevee was a simple man. He didn’t have high hopes for himself, and didn’t have any plans for the future. He was perfectly content with just living life as it went by. 

“Dippledop, you gotta plan ahead. Like, you could start a business,” his friend, Skizz, suggested. “That’s a good plan.”

“I know I won’t be happy selling flower pots for the rest of my living days, Skizz,” he shrugged. “So… any other plans?”

“I wasn’t implying that,” Skizz shrugged. “You like the occult, right?”

“Yes…?”

“You know how you managed to find the type of ghost in that one classroom that one time from nothing but the way the lights flickered?”

Impulse nodded, unsure. “Vaguely?”

Skizz grinned, slamming his palm on the table, making Impulse jolt in surprise. “Make a business out of that. Do ghost investigation or something. Find ghost types for some big corporation or whatever. I’m sure there’s a market for that somewhere. ”

Impulse sighed, putting on his headphones and turning on his cassette player. “I doubt there is.”

Skizz rolled his eyes, leaning back in his chair. “You’re a difficult guy. How about… I do it with you. If it fails, we fail together. Neither of us need to take the brunt of the humiliation.”

Impulse paused his music just as it started. “Hm? Now you’re talking.”

“The prospect of me being the butt of a joke made you consider it? That says stuff about you, Dippledop.”

“That wasn’t- okay, maybe that was a contributing factor.” Impulse stifled a laugh. “You know what, we can try that. Get a few dollars in. Neither of us are doing college anyway so it’s not like we’re in considerable need for them.”

“So, that job’s a plan?”

“It’s a plan.”