Chapter Text
Valerie was getting real sick of this particular spook. He was near impossible to get rid of and had just as many weapons, if not more than she did, tucked away in his metal suit. ‘Skulker,’ as he likes to call himself, seemed to always appear in Amity to hunt down other ghosts. The only problem?
He was a bully. He went after the weak and small ghosts that could barely even appear in a human’s vision.
These were the ghosts that people usually wrote off as shadows out of the corner of their eye. They were harmless and are only strong enough to stay in the human realm for a few days at most . Valerie soon learned that hunting these ghosts were a waste of her time. They seemed content to look at the trees and water and sky before disappearing. It was almost like they were merely sight-seeing where they existed in their past life before returning home.
Although Skulker seemed to prefer hunting the most harmless of ghosts. He preyed on those much weaker than himself, and left behind a wake of terror and property damage that she and the Fentons had to clean up, along with Mayor Masters.
She was starting to want to destroy the ghost despite Mayor Master’s wishes to spare him. She doesn’t know why the mayor wants this particular spook kept intact, but she was not in the position to defy him, no matter how much she disagreed.
Instead, she would simply have to capture him and hand him over to the Fentons for them to put back in the ghost realm. She swooped down to reveal herself, when she spotted the ghost he seemed to be hunting. It was a small ghost, smaller than her, trapped in a glowing blue net.
She leveled her rifle at the so-called hunter, but before she could pull the trigger, the ghost trapped in the net did something she did not expect.
The net began to glow green before completely disintegrating from the small ghost’s power. The ghost rose several feet in the air, eyes burning an acidic green and hands alight with green fire. The ghost had white, wild hair and a black suit. The most surprising feature, however, was his power. He was radiating a powerful aura that sent chills down her spine despite how far away she was from the scene. Her scanner began to frantically warn her of the strong ectoplasmic signature a few yards in front of her and she swifty covered it to quiet the noise.
She could tell Skulker was taken back by the ghost’s strength, as well. He took several steps away from the ghost before composing himself and aiming a gun at the young spirit’s chest. He fired several shots and Valerie watched as the white-haired ghost dodged and blocked every blast before sending a powerful blast back to Skulker.
The hunter was knocked to the ground and skidded to a stop several yards away, displacing the ground below him. The young ghost raised his hand again as he appraised the downed hunter. Instead of the green plasma, his hand was glowing blue, unnatural snow and ice forming in his grasp.
Valerie shivered as the temperature around her plummeted. She noted that the ghost’s eyes had also changed from toxic green to a freezing blue. Ice was spreading like fire across the grass where the ghost hovered and inched its way up the trunks of the trees nearest him. The ghost aimed his icy hand towards the hunter, and Valerie leveled her rifle at the surprisingly powerful ghost.
A ghost this powerful could not remain in Amity.
Just as the ghost was about to strike the hunter, he seemed to notice Valerie. His entire posture tensed and he wilted under her gaze, as if ashamed. The power radiating from him seemed to vanish and her scanner went silent as if it could no longer sense his signature. He stared up at her with wild and frightened eyes. She had a lock on the ghost’s core, but something about him made her hesitate to pull the trigger.
The young ghost was frozen in what looked like fear, but at her reluctance to pull the trigger, his eyes flickered over to Skulker who was slowly recovering. Valerie glanced over at the hunter too, who was also looking at her. He, however, was not afraid and instead seemed pissed that she had interrupted his hunt.
She glanced back at the young ghost, only to see him gone. There was no evidence that the ghost had been here at all other than the remains of Skulkers destroyed net. Even the ice had seemed to vanish. She didn’t have much time to contemplate this, though, because she was suddenly locked into a brutal fight with her least favorite spook, the ‘hunter’ that existed only to bully those immensely weaker than himself.
Unlucky for him, she was much stronger than his normal choice of prey.
The next time she spotted the disturbingly powerful ghost, it was almost a full two months later as she was returning home from her late morning patrol. Since it was winter break, the streets were crowded, making the ghost even more difficult to spot. Her scanner had, however, recognized his ecto-signature, even though it was much weaker than it had been in the park, and so she had dutifully gone to investigate. She had to admit, she was curious about this particular ghost. His core readings seemed to fluctuate which was abnormal to say the least.
Said spook was hovering invisibly over a group of young children. The children were laughing in their colorful and puffy winter coats, running around wildly and throwing clumps of snow at one another as their parents followed behind, locked in their own conversations.
According to her scanner, the ghost was keeping a pretty good distance from the kids, which was the only reason she didn’t shoot him on sight.
She kept her eyes trained on the ghost, all while trying to remain unnoticed so as to not scare the ghost away again. She wanted to watch what transpired. Of course, she’d be there to intervene if he appeared to be in any way a threat to the children.
The children were locked in battle, throwing chunks of snow at one another, the ghost watching intently. He seemed fascinated by the children and tagged along as the group turned towards the park.
She stayed as close as she dared, weapon in hand as she tracked them to the park. The ghost retreated to a tree branch, watching the children play.
Several long and boring minutes passed and Valerie was contemplating revealing herself to speak with the ghost. Sure, he might run and her presence might freak out the people in the park, but was she really going to sit here all day when there were potentially dangerous ghosts running free in Amity?
Just as she was about to fly over to the tree where the ghost was hiding, she noticed he was using his powers. Specifically, his ice powers.
He appeared to be forming more snow on the ground where the children had scrapped up the ice to reveal the dying grass below. He was ensuring they didn’t run out of ‘ammo’. Their rudimentary snow forts also seemed to be gradually becoming more sturdy and larger, a ghostly blue shining faintly off of the snow. The children didn’t seem to notice and were far too invested in their game. After several more minutes of screaming and pelting one another with never ending snowballs, the children flopped down in the snow, exhausted, and resigned themselves to making snow angels.
She almost missed the ghost leaving because she was watching the colorfully dressed children making horribly deformed snow angels. She noticed only because he passed close enough to her for her to feel a chill down her spine.
How does she differentiate between a ghost chill or just being cold in the middle of the winter? She couldn’t. But his was freezing . It was hard to not notice.
She allowed him to put some distance between them before following after him.
She tracked him, not entirely convinced that he was harmless. She needed to ensure this ghost wasn’t a threat. Once that was determined, she could work out a truce.
Once she discovered that most of the harmless ghosts only wanted to come to the human realm to look around before returning to their home, it was easy to get them to agree that as long as they stayed away from humans, she wouldn’t bother them.
This ghost, hopefully, would be no different. However, he seemed to like interacting with humans, even if he did stay out of sight.
She followed the ghost across the town until he seemed to find interest in a couple of teenagers walking towards a water fountain. They sat on the edge of the fountain, talking to each other and laughing. The ghost was watching carefully, seemingly fascinated by their interaction. They were talking to one another and one of them got up to excitedly yell a story at his friends while making wild gestures.
The ghost was watching, head resting on his arms as he hovered invisibly near them. He was smiling as he listened to the story, but Valerie was more interested in how the fountain was slowly being encased with a thin layer of ice. The water slowed before coming to a stop, freezing and looking more like an ice sculpture than a fountain.
The kid telling the story took a step backwards as he gestured to the fountain with a bewildered stare, but he lost his balance and began to fall. However, he somehow didn’t fall and seemed to be just as confused as to why he didn’t as his friends. He looked confused for a moment before he shrugged it off and continued eyeing the fountain sceptically. They began to pull out their phones and take pictures of the odd yet beautiful sight.
Valerie zoomed her goggles in to focus on the teen and saw a small wall of ice that had formed behind the teen’s foot preventing him from falling. As she watched, the ice slowly disappeared as if it had never been there.
It was weird… a ghost using his powers to help people with minor daily inconveniences? First helping the children in their snowball fight and now entertaining a group of teens and keeping them from falling?
Usually ghosts would make people fall and feed off the laughter of those around them and the negative emotion from the embarrassed person.
She risked getting closer, intending to speak to the confusing ghost, but paused when she noticed the ghost looking at her with wide, icy blue eyes.
She waved, holstering her blaster and hoping that the ghost was intelligent enough to understand her attempt at peace.
He tilted his head in confusion, and she tried to slowly approach him, but he backed away.
He allowed himself to appear visible to the human eye, startling the teens by the fountain.
“Yo, dude. It’s the Huntress!” One of them said, the rest all taking their phones out to record.
Great, just what she needs… more publicity . She thought bitterly as she tried to approach the ghost slowly. He backed away again, eyes full of suspicion.
“Hey, ghost kid. I just want to talk,” she said hands in a placating gesture, trying to keep her voice calm and sincere.
At this, he seemed to eye her for a moment before grinning. “Sure… if you can catch me,” he said playfully, before turning and darting off.
She huffed and rolled her eyes, but dutifully chased after him. After several minutes of chasing him, she knew she wasn’t going to catch him. He wasn’t even playing dirty, he was just insanely fast. She hasn’t had to move this quickly in a long, long time.
She eventually lost sight of him and slowed to a stop, angry at both herself and the annoying, immature ghost. Admitting defeat, she turned to finish her patrol before turning in.
She had wasted enough time on him as it was.
She kept an eye out for the ghost for the next several days, but she didn’t find him snooping around any humans. She decided it’d be best not to seek the ghost out unless he gave her a reason to, but still adjusted her scanner to constantly search for his particular ecto signature. She needed to know if a ghost that powerful was anywhere near her town. Sure, he seemed harmless, but she was nothing if not thorough.
On this particular morning, she’s walking down the street, intending to grab breakfast from the local coffee shop before her patrol when her watch beeps, notifying her of a ghostly presence. She knows who it is before she can even check the signature readings. The intense cold feeling encases her and she scans the sky for the ghost. She spots him sitting on top of the coffee shop watching the sunrise and stands staring at him for several moments.
She contemplates risking being late for school and changing into her Huntress attire to try and speak with him. For some reason, however, she thinks he would simply run off again and she doesn’t really want to disturb him. He was harmlessly watching the sunrise… there was no risk of harm.
He must have noticed the human that’s been staring at him for an awkwardly long time and he looked at her nervously before offering a slight wave. She waved back, not really knowing how else to respond. He turns his gaze back to the sky and she decides to leave him alone and just get her breakfast.
She begins spotting the ghost more frequently, but leaves him alone for the most part. He was powerful, but never seemed to interact with humans beyond observing and occasionally keeping them from slipping on ice.
She had tried to approach him a couple of times, but he always ran off, even though he no longer appears to be scared of her. She assumes he thinks it’s just a game of cat and mouse and likes when she chases him, so she stopped chasing. Maybe he’d stay around if he knew she wasn’t going to ‘play.’
A few days later, she’s on an early patrol and spots the ghost again. She’s picking up a pattern. He’s only around early in the mornings or late at night. He disappears for most of the day, and she assumes he either returns to the ghost zone or stays out of the city. Right now, he’s hovering over a subdivision close to the school.
She pauses in her search for ghosts to see what he’s up to. She skakes her head and smiled. He was using his ice powers to clean snow out of people’s driveways? He surely was one strange ghost.
He noticed her, but instead of running off, he just continued clearing the driveways. She watched for a few moments before leaving to finish her patrol.
She spots him again later that same day, but this time he was talking to a human. She pulled her blaster out. She needed to make a treaty with this ghost and soon. He was becoming more brave with his interactions with humans each day.
He was wearing a blue hoodie and sneakers, as if trying to disguise himself as human. It was definitely crossing a line.
He was escorting an older, blind lady holding grocery bags across the street. She stayed out of sight, using her enhanced goggles to watch from afar. She watched as he took the bags and guided the lady into an apartment, and she switched to infrared to watch them climb the stairs.
The lady was behaving as if she knew the ghost and invited him into the apartment and allowed him to help put up her groceries. She risked getting closer to watch through the window and hear their conversation.
“Thank you, dear,” the lady said while escorting him out of the kitchen to sit in the living room. “I do love when you visit me.” The lady said in a kind voice while going back to the kitchen.
“No problem, Mrs. Sharon, it’s always nice to talk to you,” the ghost said while sitting down on the couch. The lady came back and poured them both a drink before sitting down in the living room as well.
It was day time, but the sun was blocked by clouds. The lady, being blind, hadn’t thought to cut the lights on in her apartment and the only real way Valerie could see into the house was due to the ghost’s aura. The ghost didn’t seem to mind the dimness of the room as they continued to talk to one another.
They continue to talk, but then the ghost paused, a mist of blue leaving his mouth. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Mrs. Sharon. I have to go, but I can bring you coffee tomorrow?” He says standing with an awkward look on his face.
“Oh, that’s fine, dear. You’re still a kid; I’m sure you have much more trouble to get into before the day ends,” she says with a smile, standing and ushering the awkward looking ghost to the door. He looked as if he didn’t really want to leave, but she didn’t give him a choice. “You’re young, dear. You shouldn’t spend all your time entertaining some old hag. I know you’ll come visit me soon, now go!” The lady spoke with endearment, shushing the ghost every time he tried to argue.
He finally leaves, and Valerie watches as he exits her door before flying away, searching for something. Her watch goes off, alerting her to a ghost nearby that wasn’t Phantom. She began to look for the spook, and finally saw it as it was about to play a prank on a man walking with a briefcase. Just as she was about to engage, Phantom flew forward and confronted the ghost, both remaining invisible.
“Hey, YoungBlood. I told you that you can’t mess with people,” the ghost said,crossing his arms. The man startled at the voice, turning around to try and see where it came from.
“Yo, Phantom! I wasn’t going to do anything bad… I promise! Besides, you never come to the ghost zone anymore. Who am I supposed to talk to?” The younger ghost complained, shooting an accusatory glance at ‘Phantom’.
The ghost, Phantom, seemed ashamed and flew closer to the smaller ghost. “I’m sorry, YoungBlood. I’ve kinda made a new lair in Amity. I really like the winter,” the ghost said with a small smile, ignoring the human man as he yelled and ran away from the weird, invisible voices.
“You made a lair here? Are you gonna come back to the zone?!” YoungBlood seemed disturbed at the thought of Phantom staying in Amity.
“Yeah! I’m gonna go home, I promise,” Phantom said while making a placating gesture. There was an awkward pause between the two before Phantom visibly brightened. “Hey, wanna see my lair?”
YoungBlood paused in thought, but seemed to drop his anger at the other ghost before grinning and following Phantom as he darted off.
Valerie decided to follow as well. I’d be useful to know where Phantom stayed and his other alliances.
She followed the ghosts as they flew to the park through the populated part and off to the very edge of Amity, where the trees were thicker and the forest was much more ominous. Nobody ventured this deep into the forest, and for good reason.
Apparently, this is where Phantom was building his lair. When the ghosts ducked deeper into the forest, she stopped following them and began surveillance. She noticed that unlike every other time she ventured to this part of the forest, there were very few ghosts. Sure, Phantom and Youngblood’s signatures were a few yards away, but the small ectoplasmic entities were nowhere to be found. Maybe Phantom’s powerful aura scared them off?
She waited, perched in a tree for hours, needing to finally force a truce with the unnaturally powerful ghost. Either he agreed to her terms, or she would have to take the ghost down, no matter how powerful he was. She looked at the stars nested in the sky above her, upset that she had lost another shift at the Nasty Burger. She had already called her friend who was more than okay with picking up the shift for extra cash. Extra cash that Valerie needed, but no, she was sitting in a tree waiting to speak to a dead person. God the things she does for this town... It’d be easier for her to just kill the two ghosts at this point, but she would really prefer making a truce with this ghost. He was helping people and as long as he agreed to stop interacting with them and to stay off of their radar, she didn’t want to force him back into the zone.
She wasn’t, however, comfortable with him living in Amity.
She eventually gives up after her third time of drifting off and almost falling out of the tree she was perched in, leaving to grab herself a coffee. Once at the coffee shop, she decides to grab a second coffee as well.
She ventures back out to the woods and almost runs face first into YoungBlood. He seemed startled, but when she didn’t attack and just stared at him, he quickly flew away, seemingly terrified. Brushing the encounter off, she returns to where she thinks Phantom’s lair is before lowering herself into the thick woods.
It was now or never.
She sees a soft white light and follows it through the darkness, and enters a small clearing where the air is frigid and the snow is much thicker with an urethral blue glow. Ice dances its way up the trees surrounding the clearing and branches between the trees forming a thin mesh covered with intricate designs that almost resembled stars. Ice dangled down from the edges of the meshwork creating the illusion of four walls.
It was like a small tent created by ice. It was admittedly beautiful. And the ice dangling down did offer privacy since Valerie couldn’t tell whether Phantom was actually in the makeshift home. His signature indicated that he wasn’t and was instead a small ways away from his home.
The glow she had followed seemed to have been from the snow itself. Perhaps since he had made it, it contained some form of ectoplasm within it that gave it the unnatural blue glow.
She was, however, slightly afraid that her simply being here might scare him away from his makeshift home. She honestly thought this entire clearing that Phantom had made was gorgeous. Hoping she hadn’t already chased him out of his home, she decides to wait in the clearing, sipping on her coffee and waiting for the ghost to return.
She wanted to create a formal truce with the ghost and resolve any problems they may have in the future. For some reason, she was saddened at the thought of forcing the ghost back into the ghost zone. He seemed to be kind and created some really beautiful things.
She only had to wait for a few moments before he returned, staring at her suspiciously. He emerged from the tree line cautiously, as if he had sensed that she was here before he could see her.
“D-did you follow me here?” He finally asked, landing several feet away from her as if afraid she might attack. His voice was soft, as if not wanting to spook her .
“Yes,” she answered honestly before holding out the extra cup of coffee. He cautiously stepped forwards and accepted the offered drink, but instead of drinking it, eyed it as if the cup was going to attack him. “I didn’t poison it or anything, ghost kid,” Valerie said in an amused tone. “Or should I call you Phantom?”
He glared at her, almost pouting, before taking a sip of the coffee. “Yeah, you can call me that or Danny. But seriously, there’s this thing called privacy. It applies to the dead as well, you know,” he said before taking another drink and she couldn’t help but laugh. “You could have just asked for my name instead of spying on me and YoungBlood.”
“I just had to make sure you weren’t a threat. I gotta protect my town,” she said, trying to ignore the flash of guilt at spying on the ghost. She shouldn’t feel guilty about her job. She has to do whatever it takes to protect her town, including snooping.
Phantom nodded in agreement and then gestured for her to follow him as he entered the makeshift ice tent. Valerie went, feeling somewhat excited at seeing the inside of the tent. Phantom pulled aside some of the dangling ice and Valerie absentmindedly wondered how the ice remained flexible almost as if they were small ice beads connected to a string. Perhaps ghost ice behaved differently than regular ice. Since Phantom created the ice, maybe he could manipulate it beyond what should be physically possible.
She entered nonetheless, eyes widening in amazement as she looked around the ghost’s home. Surprisingly, it was much warmer in here than outside, despite her still being surrounded by ice, snow and a ghost with an ice core. She should be freezing .
“So, what did you come here for?” The ghost said casually as he sat down in a small pile of snow that seemed to shift around him and take on almost a bean bag appearance.
Valerie took a moment to take in the admittedly homely place as she too sat down on a pile of ice that also conformed to her to create a soft seat.
The tree's almost black bark contrasted beautifully with the snow illuminating the entire space with a soft blue hue. Valerie ran her gloved fingers over the soft sheet of ice dangling beside her and basked in the feeling of the ice shifting unnaturally around her fingers. She looked to the ceiling and saw that it really did resemble stars. Underneath the thin mesh were crystals of ice in varying sizes arranged in different constellations.
There were also different knick knacks sitting propped in the snow. She spotted a small stack of books sitting on a raised bed of snow along with what appeared to be a pile of clothes. She saw the hoodie the ghost had been wearing earlier among the clothes and wondered just how often he pretended to be human.
Her eyes finally fell back on the ghost himself and saw with astonishment that his cheeks had a green tint, as if he were embarrassed, or flattered , at her marveling at his home.
“I-uh… I’m here to make a truce with you,” she finally said, hating how her voice was much softer than she had intended. The ghost gave her a skeptical look and shot a quick glance towards the exit, as if wondering whether it would be better to run.
When he didn’t answer, Valerie continued. “I make truces with a lot of the harmless ghosts in Amity. As long as they don’t cause any damage or mess with any of the citizens, I won’t hunt them.”
The ghost looked at her in disbelief before his gaze turned angry. “What do you mean mess with any of the citizens?”
Valerie took a deep breath, knowing that the ghost wouldn’t like this part. “You can remain in Amity if you leave the people alone. You shouldn’t be seen or sensed by any of them. This usually means keeping a small distance,” she took a long sip from her coffee, silently debating how quickly she could draw her blaster if the ghost became aggressive. Either he could coexist with humans in peace, or he wouldn’t be allowed in the human realm.
The ghost didn’t answer for a long time, but when he did, it wasn’t at all what she expected.
“I won’t do that. I help people, and I won’t turn my back on them due to your fear,” he set the coffee cup, their proverbial olive branch, down in the snow and gave her a serious look.
Valerie could sense the change in the atmosphere. His once welcoming home dropped to a frigid temperature and the ice crystals dancing their way up the tree began to grow, continuing their trek up the black bark.
Her scanner beeped in warning at the increase in ghost energy and Valerie watched as the ghost’s aura began to brighten. He seemed to be preparing for a fight, and although Valerie was prepared for that, looking at her scanner sent a jolt of fear through her. He was immensely powerful and she was sitting smack in the middle of his domain.
She decides the best course of action is to calm the ghost down. “I, uh, noticed that none of the smaller entities that lived in the forest are around. Did you chase them away?” It would be good to know whether he was territorial, but she had assumed not when he openly invited another ghost into his lair.
His aura returned to its natural color and the temperature in the ice tent began to warm again. He gave her a confused look before answering: “No, but most of them didn’t want to hang around a powerful ghost. Most powerful ghosts are powerful because they absorb the cores of other ghosts.”
“Is that why you’re so powerful?” Valerie asked, hoping the question wouldn’t offend the ghost.
“Is this an interrogation?” The ghost said, crossing his arms and pouting.
“No, I just want to know if I can trust you,” Valerie answered, taking another drink of her coffee.
The ghost narrowed his eyes. “That sounds exactly like an interrogation.”
God, Valerie wasn’t going to get anywhere at this rate. Ignoring her instincts screaming at her, she clicked a button and retracted the mask covering her face. She needed the ghost to trust her if she was going to get what she needed.
The ghost looked stunned and after several moments of gawking at her, averted his eyes and quickly scooped up the coffee cup and fiddled with it. After several more moments of silence, he answered. “No, I’ve never absorbed another ghost. I don’t really feed on energy, but maybe that’s just because I don’t know how. Also, it sounds kinda gross,” the ghost said with an awkward laugh before taking a long drink of the coffee before continuing. “I, uh, don’t really know why I’m powerful. The only thing different with me than any other ghost is that I reformed in the human world right after I died. It takes most ghosts months or years before they can reform in the ghost zone. So, I’m kinda a freak for doing it here.”
Valerie nodded, suddenly filled with more curiosity. This ghost was weird . Kind to humans, stupid powerful, and he doesn’t feed on energy or have to regain strength from the ghost zone? “H-how do you feed if you don’t consume emotions?”
Phantom gave her an odd look before shooting her a grin. “I like cheeseburgers and pizza. Oh! And Mrs. Sharon cooks the best food; it's like insanely good,” the ghost says while looking off as if lost in a daze. “She’s a kind person,” he finally says before his face settles in a frown. “All of her children have moved off and left and her husband died last year. I’m the only person that visits her and I won’t let some truce stop me. She likes it when I visit and-and I like her. She treats me like I’m human,” he shoots her an accusatory glare and Valerie nods again, deciding it would be best to discuss this particular topic later.
“And you can live in the human world? You don’t have to go to the ghost zone to ‘recharge’ or anything?” She asks, resting her head on her hands and leaning forward slightly.
The ghost nods and then looks away.
“What ties you to the human world? Like, do you know why you reformed here?” She asks, watching his facial expression carefully.
He seemed reluctant to answer and wouldn’t look at her. Valerie thought he wasn’t going to answer after several minutes of silence, but finally, he did. “My family’s still in Amity,” he said, voice quiet and remorseful.
Valerie was stunned into silence. It was always so easy to forget that ghosts used to be people and that people had families . God, what if she knew him when he was alive? She tried studying the ghost’s face, but couldn’t quite place it, although it did seem familiar. Maybe she was just freaking herself out and trying to draw conclusions when there weren’t any.
“They, uh, they don’t know I’m a ghost. A-and I’d like to keep it that way, if you don’t mind,” Phantom said, still not meeting her eye. “They hate ghosts. They would... it’d hurt them… if they knew,” he finished.
“Is that why you stay hidden? Why you rarely go into town and only show yourself to a blind woman?” Valerie questioned, feeling as if she was starting to understand the ghost.
He nodded, and then offered her a weak smile. “So, how about you? What made you a ghost hunter?”
She chuckled, before answering. “Ghosts began to find their way to our world. Some just wanted to scare people or drag their petty arguments into our streets, others wanted to take over the world. I had to stop them,” she said, watching the intensity in the ghost’s green eyes match her own.
The ghost nodded in understanding. “Yeah, I try to keep my friends away from humans. Like YoungBlood... He feeds on negative energy,” the ghost finished before scooping his coffee back up and continuing to drink it.
They continue in conversation for most of the night, speaking about everything from their pasts to the current movies playing in the theaters. Valerie must have talked to him for hours until she finally starts having trouble keeping her eyes open. She leaves, the ghost wishing her safe travels and reminding her to put her mask back on. It’s not until she’s almost home that she realizes that she never actually got the ghost to agree to her treaty. She smiles to herself, wondering how she managed to forget her entire reason for even being there.
Somehow, the ghost seemed to have befriended her even without a truce or an agreement on whether he could stay in Amity. She doubts it was intentional, but her ‘interrogation’ had turned into a conversation that had soon turned rather friendly. She remembers the sound of the ghost’s laughter ringing out through his marvelous ice home and the way his cheeks heated with a soft green hue when he laughed too hard. She reflects back on their conversation and feels like she knows him somewhat. She is positive that she learned a lot about ghosts, but especially about Phantom himself. He acted as if he had nothing to hide, which was good for her.
He told her a little about his family and past friends and how he came back to Amity primarily to see them and ensure their safety if he could. She told him she became the Red Huntress for similar reasons and they had spoken about a potential ‘team-up’ in the future. Phantom had fallen out with laughter and suggested they should have a team name.
After several ridiculous suggestions from him, she too began to laugh. It was too easy to relax around the ghost, and she noticed that the more comfortable she got around him, the more playful he would become.
She grins at the memory of him trying to create balloon looking animals out of ice for her to guess and her commenting playfully on his shoddy artsmanship.
He could stay for now, even without a truce. She would talk to him about it later to at least ensure the safety of her people, but she seriously doubted that he would ever intentionally harm someone. He seemed like a goofy kid that just wasn’t quite ready to leave this world.
She could work with that. Hell, he was powerful and it could be beneficial to have a ghost that powerful as an ally. She would have to speak to him about that more, perhaps in a more serious conversation. Although she doubted that he would be willing to have a serious conversation now that they weren’t potential enemies.
She climbs through the window leading to her room and retracts her suit. As she starts preparing for bed, she gets the odd feeling that she just made more than just an ally.
Had she just gained a friend?