Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

An innate domain was the embodiment of an individual, a mental landscape that encompasses one’s mind, soul, and cursed energy

Ghost had looked into it out of curiosity after Satoru had told them of the concept. A curiosity that turned into an idea by their encounter with Ryoumen Sukuna.

The whole concept reminded them of the dream realm, how higher beings had their own ‘pieces’ within it, they had been wondering if there was a connection between the two.

It had taken until Ghost had encountered the special grade curse known as Mahito to gain the insight to connect the final dots they had needed to try accessing their own innate domain.

There was a connection between dreams, mind, and soul, and Mahito’s attempt to touch theirs had only confirmed it for them.

So here they were once everything was said and done, sitting alone in their dorm room, Dream Nail in hand.

They weren’t entirely sure what they expected to happen when they ‘pierced’ their own chest with the ethereal blade.

When familiar blaring lights of dream essence clear from their vision they find a familiar sight waiting for them.

They stood in the middle of a pitch black sea, still as the fossilized shells and hollow corpses that claw towards the unreachable endless abyss of sky.

Still as the tomb this place truly was.

(A tomb for the Void.

A tomb for a civilization.

A tomb for their Siblings.

A tomb for Ghost .)

A lighthouse stood shining in the distance.

Ghost isn’t surprised to find that their innate domain takes on the appearance of the Birthplace. The Void that made up their being purred in contentment at the sight of their homebirthplacegraveprison– domain.

None of their Siblings seemed to be around, no lights to give away any presence that they could see.

They look down at themself, tilting their head when instead of the body of flesh and bone they’d grown somewhat accustomed to, they are instead met with the form of their Shade.

Was this because the ‘them’ they appeared as currently was more a manifestation of their ‘soul’ rather than their body?

That didn’t quite seem right.

The shape of the body is connected to the shape of the soul.

Sukuna had taken on Yuuji’s form because their sibling was the ancient sorcerer’s vessel.

They themself had initially taken on the appearance of their physical body when they had broken into Sukuna’s domain.

So what was the difference between then and now ?

Was it because this was theirs ?

The abyssal sea ripples around them before a Sibling arose from the black, hovering in front of them, inky tendrils coiling around their arm.

The haunting notes of a music box echoing through their shared Void.

It tugs at the Ghost insistently.

Follow/Sibling/Lord/Sight

They allow themselves to be pulled along seeing no reason to refuse.

More Siblings emerge from the lake as they pass, glowing white eyes peering out at their Lord-  their surviving Sibling.

A pale light shone from the lighthouse, a stark contrast contrasting and cutting through the dark and gloom of the Abyss.

That it was even here was a surprise to the Ghost .

Ghost wondered why it was here. It was built to suppress Them- the lake. 

Why would their domain recreate it?

It wasn’t quite the same, they realize. The light was softer, more contained to the upper room of the lighthouse rather than imposing on the darkness of the domain.

They drift, their form unbound by gravity as their Sibling leads them on.

Something catches their eye as they approach the over levels. 

Something green amidst all the black and metallic greys.

They take a closer look.

Were those… vines?

Plantlife? In this place?

Now they were even more curious.

The vines, desaturated green, coiled and twisted around and within the framework and exterior of the lighthouse.

They were growing out of the room at the top.

The Sibling pulls.

Ghost follows.

The room did not look the same as it did when they had come through during their first return to the Abyss.

Gone was the machinery and mechanisms that powered that blinding light, gone were the containers holding unbound, untethered SOUL.

In its place was what Ghost could only describe as an overgrown altar.

(Distantly, they were reminded of the rooms the dreamers were laid to rest in.)

The vines covered practically every surface, but they weren’t quite the same as the ones outside.

No, these vines had flowers blooming along them.

Familiar pale flowers…

Now why were these here?

The plants converged on the altar-like surface in the center of the room, finally drawing Ghost’s attention to it…

…and the body laying still upon it.

Ghost drifts closer to it, the Sibling who brought them here left behind at the entrance.

The body was cradled in vines, in thorns, in pale flowers that contrasted dark hair.

It looked asleep.

It wasn’t breathing.

It–

They–

Ghost–

They blink awake with a jolt, back in their dorm.

They don’t move for a while, staring into nothing. The Dream Nail, glow extinguished, held loosely in tremoring hands.

They set it down, their fingertips feeling numb.

They’d come back to this another time.

Chapter Text

Ghost trailed after the man— curse— Higher Being, a silent shadow in His wake.

(They were tiny compared to Him, barely clearing His waist in terms of height.)

He felt similar to the Sukuna they knew except not . Ghost could almost compare it to how the Troupe Master felt compared to the Nightmare King, the same being yet a chasm between where they stood in terms of power. 

He had arrived soon after they did, likely alerted by the Cursed Energy that powered the technique that transported them here.

Ghost had anticipated a fight, an attempt on their life, not for this ascended version of Ryoumen Sukuna to actually try speaking to them.

After some convincing (and failed attempts at escaping. Ghost delighted in seeing the look, however subtle it had been, on His face when they’d simply phased through His hands when He attempted to pick them up) , the Higher Being had gotten Ghost to agree to come with Him. 

But now they were curious. This Sukuna was so much different than their own and they wanted to see if it was a trick.

The shine of the Dream Nail activating was hidden by their cloak. If the other noticed when the ethereal blade hit Him, He made no indication to them.

[—not that I particularly mind taking in another. Where they came from is still a—]

—!

They’re suddenly hit with the awareness of being perceived in a way that few before have truly managed.

Sukuna was looking at them out of the corner of His eyes, His stride having slowed ever so slightly.

[ Little Shadow ,] The other’s voice reverberated in their skull, [Did no one ever teach you that it is considered rude to pry into other people’s minds?]

They don’t answer, not breaking eye contact, nor making any attempt to sever the connection even as they feel the other poke at it. [ I see… I shall let you off with a warning just this once…]

They feel an almost gentle pressure as the other Being severs the connection between their minds with ease.