Chapter Text

Everything had gone wrong. From the moment they entered the office on the top floor something had felt off. It had been too easy. They had followed too easily. And now they were here, trapped so many stories underground, fighting Overlord. Or perhaps saying they were ‘fighting’ was a stretch. 

Dakota had been trapped in one of the tubes immediately and while at first he'd manage to break a hole in the glass, his hits were now almost too weak to even make a noise as gas filled the chamber. Vyncent was already unconscious, having only cracked the glass of his tube. Tide was still completely entranced, unmoving as he stood by the elevator. And now even Ashe had been captured, his book dropped to the floor as he was trapped in a tube of his own and coughing as he was rapidly being overcome by the gas.

The only reason William hadn't been trapped like them, despite 3 close calls, was because of his intangibility. All of his opponents now had eyes on him and he knew this was an impossible fight. Maybe, maybe, if the four of them (five, if they could break Tide free from whatever mind control he was under) could have fought together they might have stood a chance. But alone? He was completely utterly fucked.

It hurt to start backing away, and when he met Dakota’s eyes the martial artist’s expression was heartbroken. Dakota would never run from a fight, but what other choice did he have?

William turned and ran for the elevator. Nothing could hit him as everything sent his way simply passed through his intangible body and then he was inside the elevator shaft. For once in his life he got lucky as the first side of the elevator he looked through had a ladder. He stepped through and climbed up just high enough to get past the elevator cabin. Climbing the whole way up would take forever and only exhaust him, so he created a ghost platform and jumped on. 

The underground layers flew past as he rose rapidly, but truthfully he had no idea when he reached the surface. It was only a guess as he dove through the elevator doors still intangible. His roll was sloppy and remembering Dakota teaching him it in the first place nearly brought tears to his eyes. But William couldn’t stop here, couldn't break here, not in enemy territory. Several people shouted as he sprinted past and jumped through a window.

Thankfully it was only the second story and he rolled again as he hit the ground, though this one was both smoother and more painful. His intangibility had faded so he allowed himself to turn invisible and started sprinting. He was limping, but nobody should be able to track him like this. He got about two blocks away before he couldn’t run anymore and slid to the ground in an alley, panting hard. For a moment, just a moment, William allowed himself to feel everything before he shoved it away and pulled out his phone. 

Tide obviously wasn’t an option. He doubted anything would come of it, but he tried calling Miss G anyway. Nobody answered. He called Harlem three times and every time it went to the voicemail it was a little harder to bear. There was no emergency number he could call, no alert he could raise to get help. His entire team was down and there wasn’t a thing he could do. 

A flickering of blue flame caught his attention. A wisp had appeared next to him. He couldn’t remotely say why but it flew into his hand when he held it out and he pulled in close to his chest, allowing the small warmth of that blue ball of fire to comfort him a little. And slowly an idea came to him. It was dumb. It was more reckless than even the most reckless thing he’d ever seen Dakota do. But it might just work. 

“Can you call Mallard Conway? I need him. Please. Bring Mallard Conway.” William murmured to the blue flame. It flickered, fading in and out of existence for a few moments before it faded away. He sighed softly and buried his face in his hands. He pulled his knees in close as he fought back tears. If this didn’t work he was at a complete loss. He might as well go back and join his team in the tubes for all the good he’d be able to do.

“Well, this is certainly unexpected, Wisperer. To think you would call to me.” William’s head shot up to see an even paler than last time Mallard Conway standing before him. He was dressed just as formally as before and looking around, his expression disinterested as he took in the alleyway. But that disinterest faded immediately when Mallard’s eyes fell on him. 

“Mal.” William didn’t mean to speak in a whisper but his voice caught in his throat and it came out nearly inaudibly. 

“I see your team isn’t here. I presume something is wrong?” Mallard said and William had to take a shaking breath to keep from crying again. 

“Overlord. We didn’t expect it. They’re all captured. I couldn’t do a thing. The heroes aren’t answering. I know this is a devil’s deal, but I need your help to save them.” William pleaded. Mallard studied his face for a few moments before a smile spread over his lips. 

“Oh, this is a devil’s deal indeed. I will help, Wisperer, but I won’t do so for free.” Mallard answered and William took a shaky breath as he waited for the catch. “One year. In return, you will become my apprentice for one year.” Mallard’s hand, as he held it out, lit up in black flame. “Be aware, Wisperer, this is no idle agreement. This is a soul bound contract. You will be compelled to obey me, though not unconditionally, for the duration of your apprenticeship and this is not a bond that can be broken.” 

It was a devil’s deal indeed. William couldn’t help hesitating. “I promise you will learn much under my tutelage, Wisperer. You will gain strength and power far beyond anything this world has seen and I am excited to see you gain that power. And while you may not like every order I give, I do not expect you to obey every one blindly nor go against your morals.” Mallard added. And the thing was: William could believe him.

“And if I agree to this, you’ll save them?” William asked anyway and Mallard nodded. 

“On my honor, you have my word, Wisperer. Your friends will be saved.” Mallard promised and after taking a breath William accepted the offered hand. The flame enveloped his hand and as Mallard pulled him to his feet it sank into his skin, burning intensely for a moment as it left black flame-like tattoos all over his hand and forearm. “There. Now, to complete my end of the bargain.” 

Suddenly William felt himself become intangible as they sank through the ground as a pair. For a long moment they were in darkness and he had no sense of how they were moving, until they sank through the ceiling into the room he had just fled. Overlord and the other villains seemed just as surprised to see him and Mallard as William was to see them again so soon.

“Mr. Conway, what are you doing here?” Overlord’s voice was glitched and altered, clearly masked through a device. 

“Overlord. I need you to release these children.” Mallard spoke calmly, no hint of stress despite the tension in the room. William felt like a child again, hiding behind his father’s legs as the police came investigating the disappearance of his friends. He’d been so afraid then and he was terrified now too, but the fear from back then seemed so miniscule compared to now. 

“How unusual of you, Mr. Conway, to interrupt my affairs.” Overlord had tensed and William flinched as his followers tensed too. Doug’s hands lit up with fire and William did not like the way he was looking at him. If he had to guess, Doug still wanted payback.

Mallard didn’t seem bothered at all, simply acknowledged the statement with a tilt of his head. “Ordinarily that is true. I have little interest in the affairs of the living world. But there is something I want tremendously and in order to get it I need you to release them. It’s a trifling thing to you, I’m sure. After all these untrained children aren’t worth much as subjects.”

Overlord glanced at the tubes and William felt a jolt of protectiveness. His teammates were unconscious, or at least unmoving. Slumped in the bottoms of their individual tubes. “Any new subject is valuable, Mr. Conway.” Overlord stated and there was a thundering boom from above that even shook the room. 

“Perhaps. But I’m sure these three are not worth fighting the Prime Force.” Mallard said and William jerked back, away from him.

“Wait… did you know they were coming?” William asked and Mallard gave him the slightest flash of a smirk before looking back at Overlord. 

“So?” He asked and after a moment Overlord held up his hand and flicked his hand. The tubes slid upwards, releasing their occupants. William rushed over to Dakota, who slumped limp to the ground. He saw Overlord and his followers walk out a hidden door from the corner of his eye as he dropped to his knees next to Dakota. 

“Dakota, wake up. Come on, please wake up.” William shook him and Dakota’s eyes fluttered for a moment before they opened. 

“Will?” He whispered weakly and William slumped, utterly relieved. 

“You’re gonna be okay. The Prime Force is here.” Will promised. He glanced up at Mallard who had a patient smile on his face. 

“We cannot linger, Wisperer. It’s time to leave.” Mallard said and William took a breath before he nodded. He shifted away from Dakota, pausing only when his friend grabbed his shirt. Even halfway conscious he was strong. 

“Will? Is that Mal?” Dakota mumbled and William nodded. 

“Yeah. He helped me save you.” William answered. 

Dakota looked at Mallard, who was holding out his hand again towards William. “Don’t go. Will, don’t go.” Dakota pleaded and it hurt William to see Dakota weak like this.

“I have to, Dakota. I made a deal. I’ll be alright so just wait a year, okay? I’ll be back in a year. I promise. So you gotta look after Ashe and Vyncent until then.” William insisted before he stood. It was almost uncomfortable to know that he could pull free from Dakota’s grip. But despite everything telling him this was a bad idea he accepted Mallard’s hand. 

Mallard pulled him away slightly and with a sweep of his hand a rift appeared in the air, one that opened to what William could see was Mallard’s castle in the Spirit Realm. William allowed Mallard to pull him forward, but couldn't help glancing back at Dakota. His friend was weakly reaching towards him, mouthing his name. 

William offered him a smile before the world around him shifted and he was no longer in the living world. The rift was open for a few moments longer before it closed and William took a deep breath as he pulled his hand free from Mallard’s and turned to face his new teacher. Mallard looked inordinately pleased.

“Okay, so explain this to me, Mal. In detail.” William held up his marked hand.

“That is simply a mark of the agreement. I can change its shape or location if you wish. But I assume you mean the details of the agreement itself?” Mallard explained and William nodded once. “It is as I said. I will be your teacher and I will help you to get stronger, to learn and master these powers that you’ve left languishing and weakened. You will be compelled to obey any order I give, but my orders are not absolute. If you truly do not wish to do something you will be able to resist the compulsion. It’s as simple as that.”

William took a moment to think over Mallard’s words critically. There were so many ways this could go wrong but looking at the black flames tattooed onto his skin it wasn’t like he could go back on his word. As terrifying a thought as it was, he had to trust Mallard. “Fine. One year, right? Teach me what you can.” William answered and Mallard’s smile only grew. 

“Wonderful, Wisperer. Then we shall begin right away.” Mallard suddenly grabbed his hand and William’s knees buckled and he screamed as something that felt intrinsically wrong overtook his whole body. It felt like his soul was being bound tightly in razor wire. Though the pain only lasted for a few moments he stayed on the ground shaking. Something felt wrong, like some sense he’d always had but never noticed had been taken away.

“What… did you… just do…?” William managed to pant as he tried to glare Mallard but he was too exhausted to make a proper effort of it. 

“I bound your spiritual abilities. No invisibility, no intangibility, no ghost shaping, no wisp fire. The seal will be removed when you become strong enough to break it yourself.” Mallard explained and William slumped, giving himself a few moments to breathe before he forced himself to stand. 

“Fine. You’re the mentor here. What’s next? Want me to go capture another spirit?” William muttered almost bitterly and Mallard chuckled. 

“Not quite. You aren’t ready for that yet. Instead, you’ll need this.” Mallard suddenly tossed something at him, which William nearly dropped trying to catch. . It was a staff, just a long cylindrical piece of polished black petrified wood that came up to his shoulder.

William studied it for a moment and tentatively swung it a couple of times. He’d never trained with a weapon and it felt awkward in his hands. “Mal, I’ve never used any weapon, let alone a staff, in my life.” He admitted but Mallard just smiled.

“Well now is the time to learn.” He said before he snapped. William jerked backwards as a dozen ghostly spirits appeared around him. They were clearly soldiers of some kind, dressed in medieval armor and carrying shields and swords, while their limbs and faces looked almost skeletal and without hesitation they attacked him. The next few minutes were just a blur of motion and pain. William was pretty sure he managed to sloppily hit a few of them but given how short it lasted he certainly took way more blows than he landed.

His entire body hurt as he slammed into the ground on his back, almost certain he was going to die for real now as the soldiers raised their ghostly swords to strike down at him. They vanished suddenly and though the world was swimming William’s view was replaced with Mallard, who was looking down at him with a smile. “You did well for your first day, Wisperer. Now rest. You’ll be doing it again tomorrow.” Mallard informed him and William’s eyes shut almost against his will, but he was far too exhausted to argue. Maybe he’d wake up in the real world and learn everything from the past few hours had only been a dream.

Chapter Text

William took a deep unnecessary breath, but despite months in the spirit realm it was a habit he still used to help center his focus. Then he held up his hands as blue light enveloped the void space before him and slowly the island took shape. This one had been fun to design: based on something he’d seen in historical archives called Tron, it was a technological landscape with sharp outlined edges and lots of reflective glass or metallic surfaces. The buildings were tall and flying cars not unlike the ones he was used to began to make traffic lines through the air. 

He had no idea how long it took for the island to fully materialize and become permanent and solid as the wisps swirled in the void space creating his vision, but finally the island became tangible. William took a moment to look it over before he gave a satisfied nod and called out to the souls in the Dead Zone, pulling any who took an interest in the island up to take up residence there. It wasn’t long before the island was buzzing with activity and William couldn’t keep from smiling.

This was the whole reason he started making these islands to begin with and he couldn’t help feeling pride at how much happier the souls were. Soon, very soon, William was certain he could start taking on the chaos zone directly and then he would really be able to balance out the spirit realm. 

As he was savoring his success with this new island a voice echoed in his head. Mallard’s voice, ordering ‘William, come back.’ The command tugged at him and even after all these months it took conscious effort to resist, but despite how much he’d come to trust Mallard it was still a relief to know he could refuse orders. After lingering long enough he felt he could trust it was by his will and not Mallard’s, William opened a portal and stepped through to Mallard’s castle.

Specifically he stepped into Mallard’s office, where the Planewalker was at his desk looking at a book. He smiled when William entered. “You’re getting very good at that.” Mallard said and though he didn’t let it show William couldn’t help feeling a little prideful at the compliment. 

“I’ve been good at it for a while. Why did you call me back this time?” William asked, stepping closer to see if he could get a hint based on what Mal was reading. The other tipped the book away for a moment and gave him a firm look for trying to peek. William stepped back and Mallard set the book down on the desk, spinning it around so William could see what was on the page. 

“Chaos demons?” William read the section title aloud, wondering why on earth Mal was showing him this. He was already plenty knowledgeable about chaos demons and the chaos realm; Mal had spent an extraordinary amount of time explaining what it was and how his role as the Wisperer was linked to it. 

“Yes. We have a small problem.” Mallard said and William glanced up from the book to meet his gaze. 

“I haven’t noticed anything happening lately with the chaos realm.” William answered and Mallard nodded. 

“I’m not surprised. Despite how far you’ve come these months you aren’t attuned enough yet to the spirit realm to notice such a minor difference in the chaos realm’s power. We’ve had… an escapee. I need you to go to the living world and bring a lost chaos spirit back. Or just purify it, your choice.” Mallard explained and it took William a moment to fully register what his mentor was saying.

“Wait… you’re finally letting me go back to the living world? For real?” William was in utter disbelief and Mal gave him that same political smile that had made him seem so untrustworthy. It still made William mildly cautious but for the most part he could at least understand Mallard’s intentions, if not always his actions.

“Yes, ‘for real’. Your friends, the Prime Defenders, are hunting the possessed individual as we speak and without your help they will have to kill him. Which as we both know won’t help as the chaos spirit will simply find a new host. So go ahead. Give them a hand. I’m sure you’ll enjoy seeing them before you return to your duties here.” Mallard encouraged.

William stepped back feeling almost skeptical, like any moment Mallard was going to tell him ‘nevermind’ and refuse to let him leave. But Mallard just waved for him to continue and William opened a portal right then and there. It felt slightly different from opening a portal between locations in the spirit realm and as William stepped closer the thing that took him the most by surprise was the heat.

“Good luck!” Mal called as he stepped through. The heat increased almost exponentially, as did the noise. Even though it was apparently night time it was bright enough William had black light spots burned into his vision almost instantly. He had gotten far too used to the lightless cold of the Spirit World.

It didn’t hurt or make him recoil though and immediately William could tell something was odd. His body felt different, or maybe he was just remembering what being in the living world had been like incorrectly. He didn’t need to breathe, that much was clear. He could feel the heat but it was almost in a disconnected sense. Like his whole body was numb.

Shaking off the oddities William jumped into the air, allowing himself to float upwards until he had a good view of the city. For a moment he was distracted by the moon in the sky, a sight he hadn’t seen in a long while, but a crashing sound nearby had him turning his attention towards the ground. It was easy enough to see where a fight was taking place and William couldn't help smiling to himself at the familiar voices he could hear even at this distance. 

As he flew closer he began to understand what was actually being said and his smile grew more. He hadn’t realized how much he missed his friends until now, but hearing Dakota shouting out his moves and hearing Vincent’s voice change as he shifted classes felt like he was coming home. Though it wasn’t a sound he had heard before, there was a spirit voice murmuring words that he knew had to come from Ashe and their book, telling him all of them were here. Gods how he had missed the three of them.

So he flew closer and took a moment while invisible to watch the fight. Dakota had just kicked the possessed individual, who appeared to be a super of some kind as their body warped like rubber in response to the kick before snapping back into place. Their eyes were glowing red and William could feel chaos energy radiating from them. The Prime Defenders looked worn so the fight had likely been going on for a while already and it was clear they weren’t making much progress in stopping the possessed super. 

William smiled for a moment to himself again before he pulled the black staff from its holster on his back. It was significantly shorter than it had been initially, just long enough now to function as a handle as he channeled his wisp fire through it. Engravings in the black wood began to glow until the blue flames burst from the top in the shape of an axe blade.

Then William allowed himself to drop from the sky directly in front of the possessed super. He easily ducked a punch thrown his way and with both hands swung his axe towards their chest. The blade went through harmlessly, connecting only with the chaos demon inside while the handle hit the super in the chest and knocked them away as the demon remained impaled on the blade. 

The red energy immediately darted down the handle towards him, but he held the axe with one hand and snatched the energy up with the other. It wiggled and squirmed in his grip, but he could feel how weak this chaos demon was compared to him. Taking a breath he didn’t need he reached for the wisps and allowed them to swirl around the chaos demon energy. It lifted from his hand surrounded by the balls of blue fire and William continued to channel power into it until the red energy gave way to pure white, before it faded away completely. 

That had seemed almost too easy, but William could admit that all of Mallard’s awful training had made him significantly stronger; he just hadn’t really realized by how much until now. Satisfied that the chaos demon was taken care of, William allowed the wisps to disperse and slowly turned around to face the Prime Defenders for the first time in months.

All three were staring at him with wide eyes and half open mouths. Vyncent had even dropped his class form to take his normal one as William awkwardly waved. “Hi guys.” 

“You bastard!” Dakota shouted and in a blink the red head was directly in front of him. William winced, waiting for a kick or punch that would no doubt send him flying, but instead arms tightened around him tight enough he felt his bones shifting. “Fuck you, William Wisp! Fuck you! How dare you just disappear like that?! Do you have any idea how worried we’ve been?!”

Dakota sounded close to tears and his grip didn’t loosen at all as he continued to squeeze William. It was a very good thing William didn’t need to breathe because he was pretty sure he couldn’t if he tried. He allowed his arm to go intangible long enough to pull it free before he pat Dakota on the head. 

“What happened, Will? We thought Overlord took you.” Vyncent didn’t seem remotely bothered to help William get free from Dakota’s bone breaking grasp. William was grateful that he was numb to the pain of his bones creaking.

“Ah, Dakota, you don’t remember then, I guess. I’m sorry. I thought you would.” William said and Dakota finally let him go, pulling back as he wiped at his face revealing that the redhead was indeed crying. 

“Remember what?” He sniffled. 

William took a deep, admittedly unnecessary, breath. “During the fight with Overlord all three of you were captured. I had no plan, no idea what to do, nothing I could do to help. I was desperate. I couldn’t get a hold of the Prime Force. So… I asked Mallard Conway for help.” 

“Mallard Conway?” All three repeated, sounding shocked. Understandably so, if William thought back to how he’d initially felt about the deal they’d made too.

“Will, why?” Dakota demanded. “That asshole?” Vyncent said at the same time. Even Ashe chimed in by saying “He’s so dangerous, Will!” 

William couldn’t help but just shrug. “What other choice did I have? And it worked out. He’s taught me so much over the last few months and he’s not as bad as we thought him to be. He just wants what’s best for the spirit world and that means he needs me.”

“Needs you?” Ashe asked and William nodded. “Why you in particular?”

“Because I’m the Wisperer.” William answered before he glanced at the previously possessed super lying unconscious on the ground. “But that’s a long story so let’s take care of this guy first, shall we?” 

“Oh right!” Dakota dashed past to kneel next to the super and let out a deep relieved breath. “He’s still alive. What did you do by the way, Will? You hit him with that awesome blue fiery axe thing and it looked like something separated from him.”

William nodded. “He was possessed by a spirit from the chaos realm. I took care of it, don’t worry.” Will promised. 

Ashe visibly paled at those worlds. “The chaos realm?” He repeated softly.

“Is that in your book?” William asked, since it seemed clear Ashe knew what it meant, and Ashe nodded stiffly in confirmation. 

“I, um… I have a summon from there…” Ashe offered nervously. He was picking at his sleeves nervously. “I don’t like to use it…”

William was incredibly intrigued by what spirit Ashe might have contracted through that book that would come from the chaos realm but it could wait until after they took care of the previously possessed super. “Well, let’s get this guy to the hospital or WATCH or something then we can have a proper chat. I don’t know how long Mallard will let me stay so…”

“You have to go back?” Vyncent asked and William nodded. It was strange, because he remembered the way his heart used to skip beats and his breath would catch every time he looked at Vyncent. But now… he felt fondness, of course; these guys were his best friends. But that rush he would feel around Vyncent and Summer that used to leave him a blushing mess just wasn’t there. 

William didn’t want to think too hard about that and instead glanced down at his hand, still branded with Mallard's black flames. “Yeah. The agreement I have with Mal lasts a year so until a year is up…” William shrugged. He wasn’t sure what would happen after the year ended. Initially he had every intention of returning to the world of the living and going back to his home, to school, to his life. But now? He wasn’t so sure. There was so much work to be done in the spiritual world and it needed him in a way this world didn’t and especially now that he was here, feeling numb like a dead man, he wasn’t sure if he could even say he was ‘alive’.

Dakota scooped up the unconscious super and William couldn’t help snickering at the sight of the much smaller man so easily hoisting the much bigger one over his shoulder. “Okay, let’s go!” Dakota declared. Ashe brought out the book again and summoned the demon Heelys, giving them to Vyncent before taking hold of the back of his jacket. The three took off together like a well practiced maneuver, and William smiled to himself for a moment despite the unexpected pang of loneliness before he took to the skies and flew after them.

Chapter Text

They dropped the de-possessed super off at a hospital and immediately Dakota began leading them through the streets until William found himself standing before a very familiar building. Even the scent was enough to make him smile as Dakota pulled him inside. Vyncent and Ashe flanked his back, surrounding him like they were afraid William would just disappear. They claimed a booth and Dakota dashed up to the counter to speak to Antonio for a moment before rejoining them at the table. 

Vyncent sat on one side while Dakota claimed the other and it was very strange for William to feel like he was the center of attention. But both of them looked nervous, eyes occasionally darting around the room like they were looking for threats. After a moment Ashe spoke up, breaking the silence around the table. “So, what happened, Will? You said you have to go back but where?” 

“The spirit world. It turns out that The Wisperer is more than just a superhero name. It’s someone with immense power and a responsibility to maintain order in the spirit world. That’s why Mal needs me. Some stuff went down a long time ago and the Wisperer was lost. He’s been trying to maintain order in their stead and I’m not the first Wisperer to appear in the meantime, but I am the first to actually be able to do what Mal and the spirit world needs. He’s taught me a lot.” William explained. 

Dakota and Vyncent didn’t seem to really understand, but Ashe’s attention immediately turned to his book. He was flipping through pages rapidly at first until he found whatever section he was looking for. His eyes darted over the pages until Ashe looked up and met his eyes again. “I see.” He murmured softly and William just smiled. He had no idea what was written about the Wisperer in Ashe’s book but clearly Ashe at least understood the importance of his role. 

“And you said your deal with him lasts for a year, right?” Vyncent asked and William nodded. He hesitated for a moment before he moved his tattooed hand to the top side of the table to show them. 

Dakota immediately grabbed it, turning it one way and then the other as he studied the black flames on William’s skin. “It's um, Mal called it a soul bound contact. I'm still not fully sure on how it's done but I do know if I try to break out of the contact it'll be… bad. Like, my soul could be gone forever bad.”

“And you just have to do whatever he says?” Dakota sounded horrified and there was a glint in his eyes that Will knew meant he was one step away from saying they should just kill Mal.

“Eh, yes and no? He doesn't have control over me or anything like that. If I don't want to do something I can usually resist it. It was harder at first but it's much easier now.” Will added. “Mostly he just uses it to tell me to come back when I'm off in the spirit world and he needs me to do something.”

After a beat of silence Dakota tugged his hand closer and his grip shifted so the red head’s fingers were resting over William’s pulse. And abruptly Dakota’s expression turned scared and he said “Will, you don't have a pulse.”

“I don't?” William pulled his hand free and checked and sure enough, he didn't. Which actually made sense when he thought about it since he also hadn't been feeling the need to breathe since returning. “I mean, living people aren't really meant to spend time in the spirit realm and I think I was already dead before I made the deal with Mal so I guess it makes sense. But enough about me. What's been happening here?”

Despite his attempt to redirect the conversation all three of them were looking at him with wide eyes filled with fear. Dakota reached out to take his hand again, turning it over and messing with his fingers, tracing the lines of the tattoo. William hadn’t noticed before but his fingers felt a lot stiffer than he remembered them being before. 

“Uh, we’ve been training mostly. Working with WATCH to take out Overlord’s organization. Tide took over Hardawa Island, has been renovating it, so we go there regularly to see him.” Dakota offered, but it was a little stilted as the hero was clearly distracted by William’s hand. “Will, your skin doesn't feel right and your fingertips are black.” He suddenly said, sounding very concerned. 

“Wait, what?” Vyncent suddenly grabbed his other hand, the one without the tattoos, and Will studied his fingers at the same time as his friend did. And yeah, he hadn't noticed in the spirit world, but sure enough his fingers were turning black. In fact, they were black almost all the way to his palm. He could barely feel were Vyncent's hand touched those areas.

“Necrosis.” He muttered under his breath and Dakota’s head snapped towards him wickedly fast. 

“Neco… necro… what did you just say?” He demanded, catching both Vyncent's and Ashe’s attention, and William sighed softly, debating how to explain it to Dakota. 

“Necrosis. It's what happens when someone dies and their body decays. In Fauna some monsters have necrotic magic and can even wither souls with it.” Vyncent stated bitterly before Will could think of what to say. 

“Souls? William, did Mal cause this? Did he affect your soul?” Ashe sounded more frightened than William had ever heard but he quickly shook his head, gently trying to pull his hands free and resorting to doing it intangibly when he couldn't get out of either of his friends' grips. 

“No, Mal doesn't have that power. The only one who maybe could is me, but I wouldn't do that. Souls are precious. It's probably just normal necrosis because my body is dead. Has been since even before we met, and most dead bodies can't stay preserved for almost 2 years.” Will gestured at Dakota and Vyncent. “I don't think I ever really explained that when I got these powers, that when I fell off the cliff in Deadwood, I died. My body probably started decaying then, just very slowly. Dying again on the train certainly didn't help and now after spending so long in the spirit world I guess my body isn't sustaining whatever ‘life’ I had before.”

“Your body is dying?!” Dakota nearly showed and William flinched at both the noise and the way all eyes in the shop turned towards them. Dakota didn't seem to notice, was only looking at him with wide fearful eyes as he panting. The redhead was practically vibrating with nerves.

“If you want to be technical, I’ve been dead. My body is just now finally decaying.” Will corrected softly but Dakota didn’t look reassured at all by the answer and grabbed his hand again to look at his fingers.

“Can we stop this? Or reverse it?” Vyncent asked and William shrugged. 

“I doubt it, unless you can bring me back to life.” William answered with a shrug. The three of them shared a look and William abruptly felt very left out.

“Professor Cross might be able to help.” Ashe said, to which Vyncent and Dakota were nodding.

“Who's Professor Cross?” William asked after a minute when it felt like nobody was going to clue him in. 

“Oh! He works for WATCH. We met him when the Sovereign Five called us in for a debrief about what happened with Overlord.” Ashe answered. 

William could only hope the smile on his face didn't look as bitter as it slightly felt, and he felt awful for being upset about what he had missed. “That's pretty cool. Bet you enjoyed that Dakota.”

“I tried to eat Bacon Man!” Dakota declared excitedly and William buried his face into his hand to hide his laughter because yeah, that added up perfectly. “But yeah, we'll take you to see Cross. Just… maybe after pizza.” Dakota grinned as two large pizzas were placed down on raised stands on the table, and a smaller personal sized one was put in front of Ashe. 

All three of them dug in but Will just sat there and watched. He really didn't feel the need to eat. He couldn't smell the pizza either. He could tell it was piping hot though with the steam coming off the cheese and after glancing at his blackened fingers he shortly reached out and touched the bottom of the metal tray the pizza came on. He couldn't even feel the pressure, let alone the heat.

His fingers were there for barely even a second before Dakota’s hand caught his wrist and yanked it away. “Will, what the hell? Why would you do that?” The redhead was looking over his fingers, probably for an injury, though how he would notice anything on the blackened skin William could only guess. 

“I just… wanted to know if I could feel it.” William answered and Dakota huffed, finally letting go of his hand. There was a blur of movement for only a moment and then there were two slices of pizza on the plate in front of him.

“Eat. You look really frail, Will.” Dakota insisted, barely even looking at him, before he went back to devouring one of the pizzas all by himself. 

Ashe and Vyncent had both paused eating, the worry having returned to their faces, but went back to their food as well when they realized staring wasn't going to get him to eat. After taking a deep breath, purely for the purpose of being able to sigh to himself, William picked up one of the slices of pizza. He couldn't say why it was so hard to bring the food to his mouth and take a bite but it was.

Swallowing was even harder and it felt like he was chewing forever, like it was a piece of gum, before William finally got his throat to work and swallow it. It still felt wrong. Uncomfortably wrong. And he set the rest of the slice down without taking another bite. Which he quickly realized was a good idea as only a few seconds later William was certain he was going to throw up and he half-phased through the table to get outside as fast as possible.

Chapter Text

William just barely managed to duck around to the side of the building before dropping to his knees and throwing up. Almost nothing came out: only the small bite of pizza he'd just swallowed. Which made sense because he hadn’t eaten anything else in probably ten months. But he didn’t expect his body to reject food so absolutely. Even more disturbing was that the throwup didn’t look normal. It didn’t look digested or wet at all. In fact, it looked more like it was decayed or rotten, flaking like it was crumbling into dust before his eyes.

Slowly, with his limbs feeling stiffer than ever, William straightened up and turned his focus inward. ‘Kemuri. Do you know what’s happening?’

‘Your body is decaying and decay often spreads…’ Kemuri answered but even the samurai sounded unsure, which was a first.

‘Ever heard of this happening before?’ Will asked. ‘Is this normal for a Wisperer?’

‘That, I do not know. The Ghoul would know better than any other.’ Kemuri replied after a moment’s pause. William very nearly scoffed as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand like there was anything there to wipe away.

‘Fuck that, I’m not going back just to ask Mal. I’ll handle it myself.’ William insisted and in his mind’s eye he could see Kemuri giving him the slightest bow with his head, the ghostly samurai conceding to his decision. 

“Will!” He jumped when a hand abruptly landed on his back but relaxed when he realized it was only Dakota. “Are you okay? What happened? Why did you run out like that?” The redhead looked so worried, bouncing on his toes like he couldn’t sit still for even a moment. It was jarring for a moment, the contrast between them. How much life Dakota had, and how glaring the absence of it now was in William.

After a moment Will shook off the feeling. “I don’t think my body can handle food.” He finally answered, though his voice came out raspy and soft. An emotion crossed Dakota’s face, something darker and far harder than anything William could ever have imagined on the redhead’s face. And it didn’t fully fade either: it lingered in his gold eyes and the tightness around his mouth. Before Dakota could say or do anything, though, William quickly put on a smile as Vyncent and Ashe walked up and he said “so, do you guys have a base on the mainland?”

“Oh, yeah. We’ve been staying at the Defender’s Hall.” Ashe answered.

It took William a moment to realize they were probably talking about the Hall of Elements, which had apparently been renamed. “That's cool! Let's head there, yeah? So we can continue to catch up?” William stepped away from all three and into the air, though only by a few feet. 

Dakota's hand darted out and snagged his wrist, keeping William from ascending any higher. He looked afraid, like he wanted to say something, but he stopped himself and let go. After a moment he put on a grin, one that to anyone else might have seemed normal but William could see all the ways it was different from a genuine Dakota smile. “Can you keep up?” Dakota asked playfully. 

William hesitated for a moment, debating calling the redhead out for his strange behavior, before he just shrugged and said “even if I can't, I can basically teleport now so… Actually.” William dropped back to the ground and opened a portal with a swipe off his hand. On the other side was the Hall of Elements. The front was still covered in overgrown plants and looked borderline decrepit, but William could see some small additions. Namely, four symbols painted on stones placed on either side of the door. It was hard to see from this angle but William could guess they represented the four of them.

“Woah, how did you do that?” Vyncent seemed impressed and William just smiled as he stepped towards the portal. 

“I've got lots of new tricks. Wait until you see what me and Kemuri can do.” William answered as he stepped through. Nothing felt any different on the other side of the portal, which made sense since they were still in the same city, and there was a few seconds pause before all three of his friends came through. 

Ashe was the first to speak, saying “Kemuri? That was the name of the smoke samurai who's soul Mallard Conway made you absorb, wasn't it?” Ashe asked and William nodded, though he found himself feeling embarrassed and hiding a bit into his hood. 

“Yeah, so, turns out that situation was nothing like what we thought? Bottom line, Kemuri and I are cool now. He gives me advice, lets me use his powers, even takes care of my body when I'm in spirit form.” William explained as he dispelled the portal. 

All three of them looked skeptical, to say the least, and William could understand. So he took a moment to focus onwards and asked ‘Kemuri, perhaps it would be better if they heard it from you.’

‘If that is your wish. But it would be best not to separate here in the open.’ Kemuri responded and William nodded, opening his eyes. His conversation with Kemuri had taken not even a second. 

“Let's go to the gym or training room or whatever you guys have and I'll show you.” William offered aloud. 

“Yeah, okay.” Dakota agreed as he stepped up to the door. He waved some kind of badge at it and the door opened. Almost immediately William found himself being shuffled inside by Vyncent and Ashe shut the door behind them. Their overprotectiveness was touching, even if it was staying to make him feel slightly claustrophobic since he'd had next to no physical contact in the last ten months. 

Inside things looked tremendously different from how he'd last seen it. The entire interior had been cleaned up, remodeled, and updated. He could see where Dakota, Vyncent, and Ashe had a hand in designing the space but clearly someone else had worked on it too because this was clean and coherent even if the primary colors were gray, purple, and red. The thing that struck him the most was that there was no shortage of blue, his blue, in the design as well. Clearly they had ensured this was a space meant for all four Prime Defenders.

Something heavy settled into his chest, but William didn't get to linger on the feeling for long before Dakota grabbed his hand and was once again pulling him along. This time to the gym. It has undergone probably the least amount of change. The floor was the same color, though re-polished. Most of the equipment was the same, though there were a few new pieces added like Dakota’s favorite tetherball. The biggest change was the walls, all of which had been fixed and repainted with murals. Each wall was clearly dedicated to one of them and William couldn't help staring at his own. 

It was almost uncanny, actually, as the scene depicted the Wispering Wood, the Spiritual Gateway, and a silhouette, hand outstretched towards it with their back to the viewer. William reached his own hand out, almost a mirror of the figure that was nearly identical to him in size. 

“Cool, right?” Dakota's voice snapped William back to reality and he quickly pulled back from the mural. “They kinda just appeared one day. I think Tide had something to do with it.” Dakota added.

“Must have.” William nearly whispered, eyeing lingering for a few moments longer and he could have sworn the Wisps on the mural were flickering, dancing and darting around exactly like the real ones, before he turned to face his friends. “Anyway, you wanted to speak to Kemuri, right?” 

They all looked slightly nervous but nodded and William smiled before he stepped forward and out of his body. Immediately he felt weightless, lifting a few feet off the ground on instinct. He didn't allow himself to go into full spiritual form as he didn't want to catch anything on fire. Just like when he'd died on the train Ashe was apparently the only one capable of seeing him as his friend's eyes followed his movement. But even Ashe's attention was quickly drawn towards William's body as it tipped forward for just a moment, like it was going to fall.

Dakota darted forward but before the redhead could catch William's body smoke began trickling from his mouth and his entire posture shifted as Kemuri took over. His eyes lost their blue glow, becoming gray instead. Kemuri slowly looked over his team, subtly opening and closing his hands like he was trying to loosen them up, but when his gaze landed on Dakota he bowed. Dakota immediately bowed back. And they stayed like that in silence for nearly ten seconds before William rolled his eyes and said “we're going to be here all night if neither of you say anything.” 

The others wouldn't notice, but William saw the slightest flicker of a smile from Kemuri while Ashe had glanced at him. But Kemuri still didn't straighten up and after a moment Ashe said “your name was Kemuri right?”

Finally Kemuri stood up straight again and Dakota did as well. “Yes.” Kemuri answered. 

“Will said the situation with you wasn't what we thought. Is that true?” Vyncent asked and Kemuri nodded once.

“Ghoul, or rather Mallard Conway as you know him, and I had an agreement.” Kemuri answered and William couldn't help focusing on how different his voice was when Kemuri was the one speaking. They hadn't actually tried to do that before. Everyone clearly wanted more information so after a moment Kemuri added “I was to serve as a test for any new Wisperer. To determine if they were strong enough to do what the Spiritual World needed.”

Chapter Text

“A test, to defeat you.” Vyncent said and again Kemuri nodded once. “And then what?”

“Those who failed forfeit their powers as a Wisperer and we tried again with the next.” Kemuri answered. 

“And those who succeed?” Ashe asked. 

“There has only been one.” Kemuri glanced at William, and Ashe did too. Dakota looked in his direction as well but his eyes were darting around trying to find what they were looking at. 

“Wait, is Will there? Like after the train?” Dakota finally looked at Ashe and Ashe nodded. 

“It's a little different. More like what I did on Hardawa.” William answered and Ashe repeated it aloud. 

“So you aren't stuck?” Dakota sounded worried but William just smiled. 

“No.” He promised and Ashe repeated it again, sounding relieved himself and it was a sentiment immediately mirrored on Dakota's face too. 

“Wisperer, it would be wise to return to your body.” Kemuri suddenly said, which was a bit strange because they'd done this several times and Kemuri had never insisted he return like this. William nodded anyway and let himself float down and stepped back into his body.

It was always a strange sensation. Firstly, to be standing face to face with himself was always odd. Then second came the return of sensations, the loss of the weightlessness that came so naturally as a ghost. The difference here was even more intense than in the spirit realm, but at least it didn't feel like he was suffocating on nothing the way it had before his time with Mal. 

William opened his eyes and for a half second he had to reorient himself as he was facing the opposite of what he had expected. He quickly shook it off, though he was definitely feeling that same stiffness Kemuri had. Glancing at his fingers he realized with a start that the blackness had, almost imperceptibly but just a fraction of enough of be noticeable, spread. 

He hadn't even been out of his body for five minutes.

No wonder Kemuri had directed him to come back. He would have to be very careful using his spiritual form here. But there was a much bigger concern creeping up in the back of his mind: would he even be able to stay in the living world once his year was up? If he did and continued decaying would he just stop functioning? How far gone could he feasibly be before he stopped being able to function? Would he still be able to move if he was just bones? How long would that even take? Before he hadn't even noticed the decay happening, but coming to the living world had apparently taken the answer from years to maybe weeks.

‘You've noticed it too.’ Kemuri said. 

‘Yeah… did this also happen to Clarence?’ Will asked. 

‘No.’

‘Fuck, why is it never easy?’ William rubbed his face, and jumped when something suddenly touched his arm. 

“Will? You seemed kind of out of it for a moment.” Ashe was now standing just in front of him and he smiled. 

“I'm fine. Kemuri was speaking to me, that's all.” He promised. “But yeah, so… what else is new with you guys?” William so desperately wanted them to move on to a different topic. He needed time to think about this, about what could be done. If anything even could be done. 

His friends all shared looks and shrugs. After a moment something must have crossed Ashe’s mind as his expression abruptly lit up. “Oh yeah! I didn't tell you about my dad!”

“Wavelength?” William asked and Ashe nodded. 

“Yeah, so, because I joined the Prime Defenders I was able to negotiate with WATCH and he got a plea deal of sorts. Amnesty for past crimes and no jail time in exchange for all information he has on Overlord and a year probation with a power dampening collar. And he can't leave Rockfall. After that he can join WATCH or live as a civilian, as long as he doesn't do anything villainous again. He hates the collar but it's been about 6 months and I think he's used to it.” Ashe sounded so excited and William couldn't help smiling a little.

“I'm glad, Ashe, really glad.” William promised and Ashe nodded almost bashfully. 

“He also has a thing with Tide.” Dakota suddenly declared.

Ashe shouted “stop saying that! They don't have a thing!”

William glanced at Vyncent, who was chuckling and rolled his eyes playfully as Dakota snapped “well I don't know what else to call the looks they give each other!”

“They're just friends!” Ashe insisted and William couldn't help himself. 

“I mean, it sounds to me like there's a thing.” It felt a bit like poking a bear but the aghast look on Ashe's face had him nearly doubled over in laughter. 

“They do not have a thing.” Ashe insisted with a frown.

“I mean, Tide did get him permission to leave Rockfall so he go to Hardawa specifically.” Vyncent commented. To which Ashe just made a frustrated noise and left the gym with a huff. 

William stopped laughing, though there was still a grin on his face. A grin shared by his two best friends. “So now what? Do we just want to put on a movie and hang out? Do you guys have boardgames? What's the plan?” William asked. 

“Up to you, Will. What do you want to do?” Vyncent asked. 

“Oh! You said before Mal can call you back, right? How long do you think you'll have?” Dakota asked. 

“Actually I'm surprised he hasn't yet, since I'm sure Mal knows the chaos demon is gone.” It was only as the words left his mouth that he realized that he hadn't been called back yet. And the more he thought about it the more nervous that made him because it wasn't like Mal at all.

And almost as soon as the thought crossed his mind, it was followed by another thought that wasn't his own. ‘All done, Wisperer? It's time to come home.’ 

“Speak of the devil and he shall call.” William muttered under his breath. He could feel Mal’s command pulling at him, like an itch in the back of his mind playing over and over. It wasn't overwhelming, but it felt like if he stopped shoving it down for even a moment his body would move on its own to open a portal.

“What? Will? What's going on?” Dakota poked his arm and Will offered him a hesitant smile.

“Mal is calling me back.” He said and both of his friends' expressions immediately dropped. Will hesitated, not wanting to see their expressions deepen into further concern, but he added “I think it might be better for me to go. As long as I don't neglect my duties I don't think Mal will mind if I come visit.” 

Dakota and Vyncent shared a look before Vyncent quietly said “but we only just got you back.”

William found his voice caught in his throat. 

“And there's this!” Dakota suddenly grabbed his hand and held it up, putting his blackened fingertips on full display. “We need to do something about your necro-whatever! You can't just leave now.” William had forgotten how much Dakota reminded him of a puppy, wide eyed and pleading. 

Slowly William lowered his hand and Dakota thankfully let him, though the redhead didn't let go of his wrist. He offered a soft smile. “It'll be okay, Dakota. I can do some research through Mal’s books and maybe I'll figure a solution out. And if not we can work on it any time I come back. I won't be gone for so long this time, okay? I promise.”

Neither of them seemed convinced, but William could feel Mal's command thrumming in the back of his mind and while he hated asking Mal for anything, it would be better to speak to his mentor about what was happening to his body. Because as untrustworthy as he still was, there was one thing he knew for sure about Mal: the planewalker cared about his well being. And besides, if he cooperated with Mal it would be a lot easier to get to come back. And if not, well, he could open portals easily enough on his own now and Mal wouldn't notice if it was for short periods. 

Dakota was staring intently at his face before he took a deep breath and held up his hand, pinkie out. “Promise me, Will. Promise you'll come back soon and that you'll be okay and that we won't lose you.” Dakota sounded desperate, truly desperate in a way William almost never heard him sound.

William didn't hesitate to link his pinkie with Dakota’s though. “I promise, I'll be back soon, okay?” Dakota still looked hesitant as William stepped back and opened a portal. It was harder than he expected, to step through, but he wasn't going to let Mal keep him away for so long again.

Chapter Text

Mal was smiling when William stepped through the portal into his office. The planewalker was seated at his desk, but had clearly been waiting since he didn't even have a book open. “Did you enjoy your time in the living world?” Was the greeting and Will nodded.

“Yeah, it was great to see them again.” He answered. 

“And the chaos demon?”

William shrugged, a slightly awkward gesture with his hands tucked into his hoodie pockets. “Way easier to take care of than I thought it would be.” 

Mal hummed, sounding pleased. “It seems you had a very successful visit then.” William nodded, hesitating slightly as he debated how much to tell his mentor. Mal must have noticed, unsurprisingly, as he asked “did something else happen?”

“Kinda? I'm not sure if it happened was while I was on Prime or if I just didn't notice here but…” After hesitating a moment longer William revealed his hands, holding them up to show Mal his blackened fingers. 

Mal jerked out of his chair so fast it tipped over, though it was righted by black ghostly hands, and William flinched as his wrists were grabbed painfully tight. Mal examined his fingers closely and muttered “this shouldn't be happening. I know Clarence told me that once he accepted his role as Wisperer this stopped. You have been doing your duties, yes?” Mal snapped and William quickly nodded, leaning away slightly.

“Yes, of course I have.” He promised and Mal thankfully let him go. His mentor stepped away, almost pacing back and forth for a few steps, before he paused.

“You haven't been back to the Wispering Woods since you became my apprentice, have you.” It didn't sound like a question but William shook his head anyway as he rubbed his wrists. The pain was already practically gone, though it almost didn't seem like it should be. Maybe the numbness was further along than the obvious necrosis in his fingers. Mal continued before William felt the need to reply aloud. “Then this is likely not because you haven't accepted your role, but because the Wisps haven't accepted you.” 

William normally didn't have this problem but Mal’s statement broke his brain a little with how incongruous it was with what he knew. “Wait. Just, wait. Didn't the Wisps choose me to begin with? They killed me so what… How does that even work? If they chose me, why wouldn't they accept me?”

“The Wisps are fickle, you know that as well as I do. And I can't afford to lose you now, William. You are banned from leaving the spirit world until I say otherwise. If your body is decaying that quickly it's dangerous for you to be in the living world.” Mal wasn't even looking at him and William huffed. 

“I'm not your kid, Mal. You can't… lock me in my room like I'm ten. I promised Dakota and Vyncent I'd come back and see them soon.” William argued, even though he could feel Mal’s command had already taken root. He’d never felt the need to rip out those roots before, but he’d do it with his bare hands until they were broken and bleeding if it meant upholding his promise to Dakota.

Abruptly there was a hand around his throat and Mal looked angry as he glared, utterly undeterred by William's struggling. At least he knew he didn’t need to breathe, but it still left him feeling unbelievably vulnerable. “You're right. You aren't my child. You are my apprentice and until our contact ends you will listen when I tell you something. Your life is already over. It has been since you died and were chosen for a higher purpose. You don't belong in that world and your focus should be here, not there.” 

William tried to argue, but Mal’s grip on his throat was too tight to allow noise or air past. Mal seemed to realize he was trying to speak and simply sighed. And then William couldn't speak anyway: his whole body convulsed as a wave of pain rocketed through him. He knew what it was, that feeling of barbed wire around his soul that Mal had used to bind him ten months ago, but this was far worse.

He was left trembling and shaky in the aftermath and Mal's eyes flickered with black energy before he was shoved backwards. Immediately his surroundings changed into ghostly old green stone. The portal vanished in front of his eyes, revealing a solid metal door. He knew this place, though he'd never been in a cell. It was the prison Mal had used to keep unruly souls from falling into the Dead Zones; William hated it and had been working hard to get all these souls out but he hadn't been able to get it dismantled yet. After a moment William grabbed onto the door and yanked it, not that he expected it to move and he was certainly right. It didn't even budge.

He stepped back and tried to turn intangible, only to buckle to the ground as that sharp barbed wire dug into his soul again. The first time it had felt looser, like there was just one small piece that only dug in a little if he tried to really struggle, but now it felt like every inch of his soul had spikes jamming into it with every movement. He didn't dare try to open a portal and after a minute, once the pain had faded enough he could think, he just screamed with frustration as he threw a punch into the metal door hard enough he heard something crunch. It didn't hurt, which was probably the most concerning part, because his hand was certainly stiffer and he could see where a couple of his fingers were now crooked. 

‘Calm yourself, William.’ Kemuri said softly and William dropped to the ground with a huff. 

‘I can't believe him! How dare he?!’ William wanted to rant but he slumped against the wall instead. ‘And I promised Dakota I'd go back soon. I can't break that promise. But I can't even go intangible. There's no way I can open a portal.’

‘Ghoul will not leave you here for long. You are needed as the Wisperer.’ Kemuri responded and William sighed. 

‘I know. But Mal’s opinion of a long time is very different from mine. And I promised Dakota.’ William hated how helpless Mal could make him feel. From their very first meeting until now, no one else made him feel weak the way Mallard Conway did. ‘By the way, Kemuri, can you feel it when he binds my powers?’

There was a bit of a pause before Kemuri answered. ‘Not as strongly as you can. It's more like I'm leaning against spikes, rather than being bound in them.’

‘I'm sorry. I know you agreed to have your soul connected to mine but I doubt you knew that would include this kind of pain.’ William offered softly. 

There was a long silence again. Long enough William was starting to think Kemuri simply wouldn't answer him. He wouldn't blame the samurai for being frustrated with him, or at least the situation. And then Kemuri finally spoke. ‘Ghoul is an enigma. His actions can be random and seemingly cruel but it is always for a reason.’

‘Yeah, well, next time I wish he'd just ask my opinion. It's literally my life-slash-unlife on the line. The least I want to be able to do is read through his dang books for answers.’ William closed his eyes and let his head rest against the wall. 

Kemuri’s presence faded into the background, enough William felt basically alone in his own head. It has been a while since Kemuri had retreated so far, but William could hardly blame him with those spikes unceasingly digging into him. William took a deep breath purely to sigh before he sat up a little straighter and thought back to when he'd first broken the binding. It had taken almost two months of getting beaten up by soldier ghosts and fighting against the barbed wire to use his powers even the slightest bit before it almost felt like his power exploded. It wasn’t unlike when he took his spiritual form, but this had hurt. 

But afterwards everything felt easy. His control over his floating, levitation, and invisibility aside even just physically things felt easier. He could punch harder, take hits better, move faster. Even opening portals, once Mal taught him how, was easy.

But none of that helped him here. He didn’t feel the same build up of power he had before and there was no wiggle room for him to fight against the binding like last time. Well… he could. But it was going to Hurt. After a moment he decided it might be worth just going for it, but he wasn’t going to make Kemuri suffer through it. ‘Kemuri. I’m going to leave my body to you for a little bit. I’m going to try and break through the binding but I don’t want you to have to feel it.’

‘Are you sure?’ Kemuri asked and he nodded.

‘Yes? Well, no, but what else can I do?’ William replied and Kemuri fell silent. Which William took as acceptance and, while it took more effort than usual, he was able to separate from his body. Looking at his arms now he could physically see the binding, that black barbed wire wrapped over so much of his body.

He definitely didn’t need to breathe but he was tempted to take a breath anyway before he muttered “okay. Here we go.” He hadn’t tried it before, because he hadn’t tried to leave his body or take spiritual form last time, but since the barbed wire was so clearly visible like this that he couldn’t resist just trying to rip it away. First, he struggled to get a grip on it; it was wrapped so tightly he had to dig his fingers into his arm and his entire body was wracked in pain as he struggled to pull even a single barb out. When he finally got it to shift black began spreading over his skin like he was bleeding. 

He kept trying but it was barely even sixty seconds before he fell to the ground wracked in pain. William’s whole body was convulsing as waves of agony coursed through him. He didn’t need to breathe but he was gasping for air like it would help in the slightest. It took a long time for the pain to ease enough he felt like he could move. 

Kemuri was still seated at the wall, having barely moved at all, and actually looked concerned. William was never going to get used to looking at someone else’s expression on his own face. But he slowly forced himself up to his hands and knees with a deep heavy groan. “Fuck that hurt.” He muttered under his breath. His arms and hands were still trembling and he didn’t dare stand. At least the blackness that had been bleeding into him was rapidly fading.

“Are you going to try again?” Kemuri asked.

William shrugged. “Maybe not that exact thing, but surely there’s something I can do.” Kemuri nodded once and William nodded back before he decided to see if going into his full spiritual form would maybe burn away the black barbed wires. It was quite difficult to do. Even back on Hardawa it had been easy, though scary because he never knew if he could go back to his physical body. He hadn’t worried about that in a while but now he couldn’t help worrying about what would happen to his soul if his body decayed beyond being usable. 

It was hard to ignore that anxiety but with the black barbed wire constantly catching his eye in the corner of his vision William had to focus on drawing his strongest powers to the surface. Rather than trying to push the barbed wire away he sank deep into himself past it, into the power that had lingered in his chest from the moment he died. There were flickers of blue in the corners of his vision. Wisps, appearing in their cell, but he wasn’t paying attention to them as he focused on his own soul. 

He’d never tried to see his own soul before, and given that he was in a spiritual form it seemed like a strange thing to try, but the longer he focused the more he could see the burning blue wisp in his own chest. Those flames were slowly spreading all over his arms, but his human shaped body was slowly turning invisible as the wisp in his chest grew even brighter. He was so fascinated and kept pushing, wanting to know what this was and what he was looking at. Until abruptly all the energy in his body seemed to vanish and he blacked out.

Chapter Text

William didn't precisely wake up. It was more like he didn't exist and then he did. His instinct was to sit up, but immediately something felt wrong because he couldn’t. But at the same time he did? He tried to open his eyes, but he didn’t have eyes to open. And yet despite that, the world slowly came into view around him. It took him a moment to recognize where he was, and it wasn’t what he expected. Black dead-looking trees with perpetual impossible shadows under their tree cover, though it was night time now. He was home. In the Deadwood Forest, to be precise.

He wasn’t standing on the ground either; he was floating. And it was when a wisp darted up to him, swirling around him before darting away, that he realized he was also a wisp. That explained why he didn’t have eyes or a body to sit up. He hesitated for a moment before darting after and it felt freeing to fly like this. To float and dart around. It almost felt like he was teleporting a few feet at a time, from tree to tree. 

And then he froze. His guide was gone, but in front of him was a huddle of kids. The Unwitness Protection Program. Even he was there, sitting slightly further away from the others and turned to face the opposite direction of the group. He’d been watching their backs, William remembered that. But the only thing he was paying attention to right now was how alive he looked. Cheeks flushed, actual muscle (as meager as it had been) on his bones, and a glimmer of light reflecting in his eyes. 

A blue glimmer actually and that made him realize Alive-Him was staring at Wisp-Him. William bolted, racing through the trees. What was going on. Why was he here, and as a wisp. What was happening. It wasn’t until the trees stopped appearing around him and the ground vanished that he realized. He’d taken the same route he’d run when he’d chased after a wisp and fallen to his death. He could float now, hovered several feet past the ledge, and he turned just as Alive-Him came crashing out of the bushes, right over the edge. 

When he’d fallen it had felt like a cartoon moment. Realizing in slow motion the ground was no longer there, staring helplessly at the blue flame he’d chased, and then falling for what felt like forever. Hitting the ground, but his fall didn’t stop until he woke up in the Wispering Woods. But now there was none of that. Watching from the outside he plummeted like a rock, no moment of weightlessness, no slow motion, and his body hit the ground with a sickening crunch in only 3 seconds.

And then he sat up and attempted to gasp, only to immediately start coughing. Something black came up, staining his sleeve and the ground as he trembled trying to hold himself up. He was back in the prison, and back in his body. When William tried to take in a breath to speak something immediately felt wrong, like his lungs were full of liquid. He tried to force himself to cough but it wasn’t working. He wasn't coughing anymore. In a moment of panic he pounded on his chest, trying to get whatever was in his lungs out, and some black liquid came up. But not enough. 

‘Wisperer.’ Kemuri’s voice felt distant in William’s panic. Hitting his chest wasn’t working so he tried reaching into his throat to make himself gag but that didn’t do anything either. ‘Wisperer! This won’t help.’ Kemuri had never snapped at him before and that was enough to still the racing mania in his head.

William removed his fingers from his mouth but attempting to speak brought up nothing but a few bubbles of that black sludge that Will couldn’t even properly spit out and sort of just dripped from his mouth. He didn’t know what had happened but something was clearly wrong with his body. Whether it was the decay or Mal’s binding he couldn’t say. But William was willing to bet on the latter. 

‘Can’t stay here.’ He thought. 

‘Your friends would be able to help.’ Kemuri offered, though William hadn’t purposely directed the thought to the samurai. William just nodded weakly in agreement. He barely had the strength to lift his arms and didn’t think about it as he tore open a portal. He was shaking and more black was dripping from his lips, but he wasn’t feeling pain. 

He practically crawled through the newly opened portal and immediately tumbled through the air, hitting the ground with a limp thud. Everything about his body felt wrong. His vision was unfocused and black around the edges, but though it was swimming he could see the murals in the gym of Defenders Hall. So he’d at least made it to the right place. 

He blinked and only opened his eyes as a door slammed. He could just barely see a short silhouette in the doorway from where he was laying, but the red halo around the head gave away that it was Dakota. For a moment his friend didn’t move and then William was being moved, picked up by strong arms. Which was good because he didn’t have the strength to shift his body anymore. He could hear a noise, Dakota was shouting, but it seemed so quiet. Far too quiet for him to understand. And then the world was a thousand times more blurry. William could only just see enough to tell that he was moving at incredible speed.

Dakota was taking him somewhere, apparently, because the sky went from the gray ceiling of the Hall to a dark night’s sky. It almost looked like a time-lapsed picture or meteor shower because the stars left streaks across the sky. William blinked again and the night sky was gone. They were indoors again, somewhere blindingly white, and Will distantly thought ‘I hope Dakota didn’t take me to a hospital.’

But he blinked again and the light was even brighter, and close enough to block out the room around it. There was something in his throat, in his lungs, and he could hear a machine buzzing. It was strange. Because it felt wrong and like it should have hurt or been uncomfortable but it wasn’t. Whatever was in his lungs was just sorta… there. And he didn’t feel the need to cough or get it out or anything. 

People were talking around him, but the voices and directions seemed to change every time he blinked. Until the machine was making a different noise and he finally realized what it was. It had been making a vacuum-like sound, if a vacuum had been sucking up water. But now there wasn’t liquid for it to suck up. And it was as someone started pulling out whatever had been in his lungs and throat that he realized it had been a tube.

His body jerked, back arching enough to lift him up from whatever he was laying on as the tube was pulled out, and someone pushed him back down, holding him still. William wanted to thrash, but he couldn’t. And he could hear Dakota’s voice. Oh, it was Dakota holding him down. Finally the tube was out of his throat and he inhaled. It was a good sign he actually could this time and he breathed “Dakota.”

Dakota’s voice picked up in volume and speed, and the arms over his hips and chest lifted allowing him to move again, though he didn't have the strength, but William’s ears still felt stuffed with cotton and he couldn’t figure out what Dakota was saying. Dakota’s tone shifted again the longer he talked. He began to sound more worried again until finally it seemed like Dakota turned his attention to someone else and began speaking to them instead. 

That’s when William realized his vision had cleared up a little. It was still hard to see with the bright light right at his face, but he could see Dakota, dressed in pajamas with his hair an even bigger wreck than normal. He was twitching, constantly wringing his hands the way he did when he was anxious and occasionally touching William’s body like he wanted to make sure he was still there, though Will couldn’t feel it.

Someone, a voice William didn’t know, was speaking back from his other side and slowly William looked at the owner of that voice. It was a strange man who William could only describe as a picture perfect mad scientist complete with the same pointed ears as Vyncent. But hearing seemed more valuable than sight right now so he closed his eyes and focused on listening. It took effort, but slowly Dakota’s words became clear. 

“But he’s okay now, right? He spoke. Why isn’t he replying?” Dakota sounded distressed, like he might be about to cry, and William wanted to grab his hand. But it was taking all his energy just to listen to what was being said. 

“I don’t know, Dakota. But he’s awake and reacting and those are good signs. He might just need time.” The mad scientist voice replied.

There was a bang of something slamming into metal and there was a long beat of silence before William heard Vyncent, coming from where Dakota was. “Hey, come on. It’s Will. He’ll be okay.”

“No! He’s fragile, Vynce! You know that. He was before and it’s even worse now with the necro-whatever-thing. We couldn’t even put him under to drain his lungs.” Dakota sounded angry-sad and it was followed by a growl. “I’m going to kill Mal if it's the last thing I do.”

“Dakota!” Vyncent snapped and even William winced at the sharp tone. 

“Killing Mal won’t help.” Ashe sounded further away, his voice soft and calculatingly even. “He doesn’t have control over the Wisps and if this is because of them…” 

There was another bang before Dakota shouted “Fuck the Spirit World! Prof, did you manage to make any progress in bringing Will back to life?” Dakota suddenly snapped. 

There was a long pause before ‘Prof’ replied. Which at least gave William a name to work with for the strange mad-scientist guy. “Not really. There are no recorded cases like William’s and I didn’t know what I was working with. This is worse than I expected.”

“You said my heart could do it, right?” Dakota said. 

“In theory, in theory, my friend. But you’re not old enough to consent to the surgery and William would have to consent as well and he's in no state to do that currently.” Prof answered and Dakota huffed before someone took William’s hand. He could just barely feel Dakota’s touch and it was only thanks to his friend’s unnatural warmth. “Let’s give him time to recover first so we can find out what caused this in the first place. I wasn’t able to do any in-depth tests, but this much black fluid in the lungs is not normal for a body going through decay.”

Dakota squeezed his hand and the silence was overwhelming so William forced his eyes to open. Things were certainly clearer now as he could see Dakota’s expression properly. It was subtle, but William was positive there were tears in his eyes. Slowly he turned his head away from the light. Vyncent and Ashe were both there, Vyncent standing close enough to have a hand on Dakota's shoulder while Ashe was curled up on a bench by the wall, knees pulled into his chest. 

It was Vyncent who noticed his movement first as Ashe’s head was down while Dakota’s eyes were locked onto William’s fingers. “Will? Can you hear me?” Vyncent moved closer and while it was still taking effort, William could.

So he slow blinked once, nodding very slightly, and after taking the shallowest breath of his life he hissed “Yeah.”

Chapter Text

“Will!” Dakota immediately grabbed onto him, hugging him tightly enough William felt it. And maybe also felt his bones shift in a way they shouldn’t. But the hug didn’t last long before Dakota let him go and started asking questions at a mile a minute, almost too fast for William's muffled hearing and tired brain to understand. “Are you okay? How do you feel? What happened? You were only gone a few hours. How come you had black stuff in your lungs? Did Mal do that? Or did the Wisps?” 

Dakota looked ready to continue but Vyncent slapped a hand over his mouth, cutting him off. William almost wanted to chuckle at the glare Dakota immediately directed at the half-elf and then Vyncent pulled away with a grossed out noise. It was pretty clear Dakota had just licked him. Ashe had stood by then and joined them at the table. 

Thankfully, Ashe met William’s gaze and Will glanced repeatedly at the bright light in his face hoping Ashe would get the hint because if anyone would, it would be him. And William was so grateful when Ashe reached up and turned off the light. Without it the room was much darker but his eyes felt less dry and adjusted quickly. Ashe gave him a small smile. “How do you feel, William?” Ashe asked quietly. 

“Numb.” Will answered breathlessly, which had everyone sharing concerned looks. Which, yeah, there was no reason for him to be numb because if anesthesia didn’t work painkillers wouldn’t have either. 

“Do you still feel like there’s something in your lungs?” ‘Prof’ stepped closer.

“No. But hard to tell.” William barely managed to murmur and the ‘Prof’ hummed. A moment later he started moving, pulling over a machine of some kind. He pressed his face to a box on one side with the larger part held over William’s chest. 

“I think we got it all.” The machine was pulled away and practically tossed aside. “How are your other senses? Can you hear okay? See okay? Feel or taste?”

“Takes effort to hear. Vision is getting better. Can sorta feel. Not sure about taste.” William answered and it was still quite hard to speak so it took him a while. ‘Prof’ suddenly pulled out a lollipop, holding it over William's mouth, and Will hesitantly licked it. He honestly couldn’t taste much, if anything. It was hard to know if it was just faint or if his brain was filling in the gaps. Everyone was staring, waiting for an answer, and William finally shrugged. 

Everyone seemed disappointed by that. There was a faint knocking on the door before it opened a little and someone poked their head in. Dakota immediately lit up and dashed over, hugging whoever it was with a happy shout of “Lightspeed!”

“Hi sweetie!” Lightspeed hugged him back and pat his head before she looked around the room and asked “How… is William okay?” Her gaze softened when it landed on him, sad at first but full of kindness. Weirdly Will’s heart began to ache as he was reminded of his mom and realized it had been months since he’d last gotten to see or speak to her.

Dakota let her go and dashed back to William’s side fast enough the wind blew his hair a bit. Lightspeed followed at a much more sedate pace, that was clearly on purpose and for William's sake. “Oh, hi, honey. I’m so glad you’re awake. My name is Lightspeed. I’m one of the Sovereign Five who lead WATCH.”

It had been months since he last learned about the top teams within WATCH but he knew who the Sovereign Five was. Even most civilians did, to be fair. But it was strange and almost flattering one of them would go so far to check on him. His voice was gravelly and barely above a whisper as he asked “Are we at WATCH?”

She nodded. “Yes. DC brought you here about an hour ago in really bad condition. You look better now though.” She explained and William nodded. But he wasn’t sure how much ‘better’ he really was. At least the black liquid that had filled his lungs was gone and didn’t seem to be coming back, which made it the least of his present worries.

“It’s only been an hour?” William asked, looking at Dakota and Vyncent hoping they would understand what he was really asking. He wanted to know how long it had been since he was called back to the Spirit World. 

It must have clicked for Vyncent because the half-elf said “It’s been about a day since you left.” Vyncent was quiet for a long time before he added “Will, was it because of the Wisps that this happened? Or Mal?

William didn’t even hesitate as he wheezed “Mal. Bastard tried to lock me up.”

Dakota’s fingers were on his arm again, hot enough he could feel them over the numbness. And William knew he was tracing the black flame tattoo of the contract. “This is still here.” He murmured softly and Will nodded. 

“Another two months before it's gone.” William answered with a groan. It was still hard to talk, but at least almost all of his senses had returned without requiring significant effort.

“You aren’t going to last two months!” Dakota shouted, and the entire room went dead silent for a moment. Slowly William managed to move his hand, taking Dakota’s fingers into his and squeezing them. And that’s when William realized Dakota was crying. “You need to be un-dead, Will.”

Dakota’s words made him chuckle weakly and he murmured. “Already am undead, Kota.”

Dakota half-glared for a moment and said “re-alived then. Professor Cross and I have a way. See, apparently I have this mechanical heart?” Dakota lifted his shirt and set the back of William’s hand against his chest without unlacing their fingers. But Will didn’t need the reminder of how strong Dakota’s heartbeat was. He remembered. It made sense that it wasn’t natural. “The Prof thinks if we give it to you it’ll be strong enough to bring you back to life.”

It felt like William got hit with a defibrillator at that moment. And he remembered what that felt like quite clearly because they’d tried it, in addition to CPR and enough meds to kill a small animal, after he’d fallen from the cliff and he’d been awake for all of it. But he knew now, just as he knew then, it wouldn’t be enough. He’d died. Led off the cliff by a Wisp and until they let him go any attempt to bring him back to life was doomed to fail. Trying to distance himself even more from them wouldn’t help his current decay situation either. 

After a long moment he quietly offered “Kota… don’t you need it? You need a heart, right?”

Dakota shared a glance with the others and he looked uncomfortable. “It’s… well… this one isn't good for me, okay?” Dakota finally muttered. “It’s…” Dakota trailed off again, but thankfully Vyncent spoke up instead. 

“Dakota’s body is tearing itself apart because of the heart. His muscles and bones and stuff can’t take the strain. We learned about it a couple of months ago and we have time but the longer it takes to find a solution the worse it gets.” Vyncent said. “So we need to get you and Dakota healed up as soon as possible.”

There was a long moment of silence before Ashe scoffed. “Should add your name to that list too, Vynce. You know the Greats are fading and that’s pretty pressing too.” Vyncent’s glare could have lasered a hole into Ashe’s head.

William huffed a quiet bitter laugh before he said “Don’t suppose you’re hiding some deadly medical diagnosis too, eh, Ashe?”

Ashe’s hand reached down to grab onto the book, which he had on a chain at his hip, but Ashe shook his head. “No. Nothing like what you guys are dealing with.” And William couldn’t see any lies in his words so he let his head drop back down. 

“Fuck, we’re a mess aren’t we.” He muttered, to chuckles from the others. 

Dakota grabbed his hand, squeezing it again. “We’re gonna fix you, Will. I promise.” 

“Man, worry about yourself first. I’ve been taking care of myself for ten months.” William answered but Dakota just glared. 

“Not very well!” He insisted. 

Vyncent set a hand on Dakota’s wrist, that’s when William realized how tightly Dakota had grabbed him, and the half-elf said “We’ll figure it out, Dakota. We have him back and we have time. If it comes to it I’ll shove Will into a freezer myself until we find a solution.” Vyncent promised. William gave Dakota’s hand a squeeze where their fingers were still linked together. 

“We’ll be okay, Kota. We’re the Prime Defenders. We’ll figure something out.” William promised and Dakota slumped with a sad puppydog look on his face. 

“Don’t break your promise this time, okay?” Dakota murmured and William nodded. And he meant it. He was done doing what Mal told him, contract or not. He might not know how to outright break it, but he’d take a page from the mythological Fae and work around any commands Mal tried to give. He’d try and figure out what the Wisps wanted from him now, what they’d been trying to tell him by having him relive the moment of his death again from their perspective, and why his body was decaying. And in the meantime he could put his main focus on making sure at least Vyncent and Dakota would be okay.

Chapter Text

Being bedridden and unable to sleep was boring enough to make him want to die. Again. Not that William really needed to be bedridden: he was perfectly capable of walking around, much to the bafflement of the all of WATCH doctors Dakota had insisted examine him in addition to Professor Cross. But any time he tried to get up Dakota was there like a blood hound to push him back into bed. 

At least it gave him plenty of time to think, not just about his own situation but Dakota’s and Vyncent’s as well. So when Vyncent finally came to visit him about a day after he was moved to the proper medical ward at WATCH, William decided to test the waters of his idea. When Dakota wasn't there they usually just sat in silence until he came back, but the presence of another person was a huge comfort for William. 

But this time William was going to break the silence. “Hey Vynce-” was what he started to say, only for his voice to come out as more of a dry raspy cough. Immediately Vyncent handed him the water from the bedside table. William’s throat still felt dry after drinking but at least his voice came out understandable when he muttered “thanks”.

“Yeah.” Vyncent returned to his seat in the chair next to William's bed and after a moment he added “were you trying to say something?”

William nodded. “Ashe said The Greats were fading, right? I'm not… can you explain that to me?”

Vyncent looked a little uncomfortable before he sighed. “Did I ever fully explain where my powers came from?” William shook his head. “So, when I got sent here, I didn't come alone. The Greats, famous heroes on Fauna, came with me but for some reason they ended up stuck in my head. When I change forms I'm basically allowing one of them to take over my body. But recently they've been fading and I'm afraid if I don't get them out of my head soon they'll be gone.”

“And nobody here is able to help?” William asked softly and Vyncent shook his head. 

“Doubt it. This is Fauna magic. And we haven't found a way to get me home either.” Vyncent shrugged but his expression was sad and his gaze was on his shoes.

William glanced at his own hands and let the silence linger for a long moment as he flexed his fingers a couple times before he tried opening a small portal between his fingers. It sent painful tingles through his body, sharp enough he had to fight back a grimace. But he could still do it so he closed the portal and said “you know how I can create portals now?” Vyncent’s head came up immediately. William didn’t meet his eyes as he continued. “They aren’t just between locations on Prime or Prime and the Spirit World. I can open them to other worlds too. Probably including Fauna.”

Vyncent’s mouth was hanging open and after a moment the words must have sunk in because Vyncent’s eyes watered. He was covering his mouth but even his hands started shaking. “Is it really that easy?” He sounded so unsure that William almost winced. 

“Well… mostly? I haven’t been to Fauna so making a portal there might be tougher, but especially since you’re from there I don’t think it’ll be too hard. We could even go right now.” William moved to sit on the side of the bed and it would forever baffle him how, but immediately the door opened and Dakota entered growling “William…”

“Dakota, keeping me in bed isn’t going to stop me from decaying. And besides, I think I can help with Vyncent’s problem.” William didn’t hesitate to respond and that was enough to stop Dakota in place, with his hands raised as he was about to push William back into the hospital bed. 

“What?” Dakota asked and William shrugged. 

“Mal taught me how to planewalk which is why I can open portals. And it doesn’t only work on Prime. I’m certain I can get us to Fauna.” William insisted. And maybe he was exaggerating a little, but he also knew he could. It just might take a few tries. 

Dakota hesitated for a moment: his expression was one of deep concentration and it stayed that way for a few minutes. Then he must have made a decision because his expression hardened into something determined. “I want Vynce to be okay. But is this going to hurt you, Will? You’re still…” The determination faltered for a moment as Dakota took hold of his hand, touching the blackened fingertips with a worried expression. 

William let him and after a moment he quietly said “I can handle it, Dakota. And wouldn’t it be better to have one less of us to worry about?”

Dakota pouted for a moment before he nodded. “Yeah…” Then he glanced at Vincent, who was still sitting in the chair. His expression looked torn between concerned and hopeful as he glanced between the two of them. “Vynce, do you want to do this?”

Vyncent hesitated for a moment and gave a tiny nod, but Will could see the desperation in his eyes. His tiny whispered “please” was enough to make up William’s mind so he pulled free from Dakota’s hand and stood. 

“Let’s get Ashe and get going then.” William declared. Dakota still looked nervous but after a moment he nodded, pulling his bandana from his wrist and wrapping it around his head to push his hair from his face. He dashed over to the door and opened it, but he didn’t go out. 

“Come in, Ashe. Why are you hiding out in the hall?” Dakota pulled Ashe into the room by the arm and William couldn’t help chuckling at the gray haired teen’s expression. 

“Sorry, I just… wasn’t sure if you’d want me here.” Ashe said and it was clearly directed at Will. So he stepped over to Ashe and squeezed his shoulder. 

“You’re a Prime Defender, Ashe. I may have been gone but the fact you’re my friend hasn’t changed. Of course I want you here.” William promised before he stepped away. “Everyone ready to go?” He asked and each one of them nodded in turn.

As soon as William raised his hand to open the portal Dakota called “Oh! One sec.” He darted over to the bedside table and quickly wrote something down on the notepad there. “Okay. Now we’re ready.”

William nodded and closed his eyes. Before he made a genuine effort to open the portal though he murmured “Vynce, describe Fauna for me?”

“Oh. It’s an enormous island in the sky, almost like a forest. Cities are smaller, mostly made of wood and stone. There are creatures unlike anything you have here.” Vyncent kept talking but William was barely listening as he tried to picture what Vyncent was describing. The longer he focused the more he could feel something wrong in his chest. But when he moved his hand and opened his eyes the portal seemed to be working.

“Is this it?” He asked and Vyncent nodded without looking away from the view through the portal. He seemed almost dazed. “Let’s go then.” Vyncent nodded again at those words and took a hesitant step forward. Each step picked up speed like he was being pulled in by a tether and he was nearly sprinting by the time he went though. Dakota and Ashe were both close behind and as soon as they were though William stepped away from the portal to lean over the trash can. 

He couldn’t exactly cough, but pounding on his chest at least brought up something and black liquid dripped from his mouth into the trash can. It wasn’t all gone, but he got enough out for now. William wiped away whatever was on his lips before he quickly went through the portal himself. It closed behind him and William took in the sight. 

The land was impressive, but something Vyncent hadn’t mentioned was that the island appeared to be broken into several pieces. It also looked like there was smoke rising in the distance and parts of the ground looked dead or razed like a wildfire had come through. “What happened?” Ashe asked and Vyncent just shrugged. He looked distressed and confused. 

“It wasn't like this last time Mal took me here.” He murmured softly. 

“How long ago was that?” Will asked. 

“When we were leaving the spirit world with Tide. Right after you took Kemuri’s soul.” Vyncent explained and William hummed. That was long enough for anything to have happened. 

“Come on, we should get going. Try to find someone who can help you.” William pat Vyncent's shoulder and the half elf straightened up with a firm nod. His expression was determined now and he started walking through the blackened field with confident steps. 

Ashe and Dakota were close behind and the three began chatting but something held William back a little. He hadn't noticed it initially but there was something here that felt off. Slowly William knelt and placed his hand on the ground. It almost felt like there were spirits underground, but there was something distinctly different and wrong about it that made him wonder if they really were spirits. 

And then the ground near his hand shifted like something was pushing up from underneath until a hand broke through. It was decayed almost to the point of being skeletal and William jerked back with a surprised shout, only to fall on his butt. This hand wasn’t the only one either. There were a dozen or so zombie-skeleton people crawling out of the ground. 

“Will, you okay?” Ashe called and William realized there was a good 20 feet and several of the zombies between them. 

“I'm fine!” Will promised, which seemed to be true. Oddly, despite how close he was to two of them, the zombies were entirely uninterested in him even as he quickly got to his feet. His friends however were certainly not being ignored as one of the zombies reached for Ashe. 

Dakota reacted first, of course, and jumped in between them already halfway through a high roundhouse kick. He hit the decaying hand with his heel so hard that the zombie’s hand and forearm were torn off and sent flying. There was a flash of bright golden light from Vyncent that condensed into bulky golden armor. 

“Unholy monsters! I will slay you here and now!” Vyncent's sword swept through two of the zombies on his side, the blade leaving behind a streak of glowing gold in the air, and they crumpled to the ground in a clattering of bones.

Ashe's book lifted from his hand and opened on it's own, flipping through pages rapidly until it landed on one and a blue magic circle appeared around Ashe's feet. There was a tiny swirl of glittery blue that spiraled up and around Ashe’s body and once it stopped moving William recognized the little water fairy. The fairy held up it's hands and several icicles appeared in midair before they shot towards five of the zombies approaching the three of them on the far side from William. 

Four of them hit and three of the four zombies went down immediately with the icicles hitting either their heads or chests. One hit a zombie in the shoulder, which was enough to make it stagger, while the fifth icicle narrowly missed. 

William was a little startled at how cleanly the three of them were working together now. He almost felt a little left out. Clearly they'd been training together in the time he was away. But it wasn't like William had been slacking either. He didn't want to push his powers too hard right now and cause enough of that black fluid to collect in his lungs that the others would notice, but considering all the zombies that had crumpled, minus the two Vyncent slashed, started to move again William decided he needed to look a little deeper.

His friends' regular bodies were overtaken by blue wispy flaming silhouettes, each one a slightly different color at the edges making them distinct but all of them were burning strong. The strange part though was that the zombies did not show up in his soul sight at all. He could feel the strain using the power even for this long was putting on his body but he already knew what he needed and let his vision go back to normal. Without souls his powers wouldn't directly help with these creatures so he drew his ax handle, created a blade at the end that would affect them, and started swinging. 

He was aiming for a clean decapitation, but the zombie moved right before the blade landed and his ax dug into it's head instead. Rather than being deterred the zombie spun faster than he expected and leapt at him. William let the blade vanish and held up the handle with both hands bracing it as the zombie’s teeth latched onto and gnawed at the black wood. The impact was enough to knock William off his feet but at least the zombie was either too stupid or too occupied by the stick in its mouth to try and claw him.

He glanced at his friends to make sure they were all still okay. Dakota was doing just fine. He was tearing his way through the zombies with gleeful energy and had made short work of two more of them. He was about to take down a third, the one Ashe had hit with the ice spike in the shoulder. 

In contrast Vyncent was down on a knee, panting hard and seemed to be using his sword, embedded tip down into the dirt, to stay upright. His golden armor almost looked like it was flickering. There was a zombie right in front of him and Ashe was trying to get to him but the zombie that had avoided his earlier barrage of icicles had managed to grab him. William didn't hesitate and held out a hand towards them. A small wall of blue wisp fire ignited, fully engulfing the zombie that had grabbed Ashe and putting a barrier between them and the remaining zombie right in front of Vyncent. 

William only realized taking a hand off his ax handle was a mistake when the zombie that had been gnawing on it abruptly shoved it aside and sank it's teeth into the crook of his neck instead. Disconcertingly he could barely even feel it, though the wet crunch of his collarbone breaking was enough to tell him it was bad.

“Will!” He heard Dakota shout, but there were 20 feet and two zombies between them. William tried to get his feet in between him and the zombie so he could kick it away but there simply wasn’t room. And then abruptly the zombie on top of him was knocked to the side with force and it took him a moment to realize it had been struck in the head by an icicle.

Vyncent was back on his feet and swung his golden sword through the wisp fire at the last zombie by him and Ashe, cleanly decapitating it. And William let the fire extinguish as he slowly pushed himself onto his side. Hitting his chest a few times brought up blood and black liquid, which he quickly spat out, before getting to his feet. 

There were two zombies left between him and his friends. Vyncent looked ready to fall over. Ashe’s fairy sent another way of ice spikes towards the two, but they all missed. Dakota, moving at lightning speed to cover the distance between them, managed to hit one in the head with his knee and knocked it to the side but the zombie wasn’t even knocked prone. The other zombies on the ground, save for the three Vyncent had killed and the one that had been caught in his wisp fire, were beginning to move again. 

And so, after taking a moment to steady himself, William lifted a hand and snapped, igniting wisp fires on all of the zombies. They went up like dry paper and in a matter of seconds there were only ashes remaining. The wisp flames died out on their own and William immediately doubled over, hitting his chest and forcing himself to cough. It didn’t do too much but enough of the black sludge dripped from his mouth that at least his chest wasn’t feeling heavy. 

An overly warm hand landed on his back, gently rubbing it, and William offered Dakota a weak smile. His golden eyes were still blazing with concern as Dakota reached out and wiped something from William’s lip. There was a bit of black on his thumb as he slowly withdrew his hand. “I’m okay, Kota.” William promised in a near whisper. Dakota didn’t seem to believe him. 

But thankfully before the red head could voice his concerns an unfamiliar voice called out “Hello? Is everyone okay?”