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The Ghost…is not something I enjoy talking about. But I will, for you.
It is…it is a broken part of me. A fragment of my soul, my being, separated from my consciousness and physical body. When I died it became a separate entity. My…dead form, you could say.
When I am stressed, when I do not have enough Madness, when I use too much magic or my health is terrible, I fade. I fade and I become the Ghost. I do not know what is happening around me. I have no awareness of who or what I am. I just…exist.
Luckily this only happens rarely and really only when I’m not mad enough so you will never need to worry about it…
Scarcely a week had passed since the Clubs Tea Party. Nothing amiss had occurred since then. No wayward Roses following them home. No intruders in their ghostly kingdom. Nothing but the gloomy grey clouds of incoming storms. The seasons were changing and soon the colder months would roll in.
That morning found the Queen of Spades leaned against the balcony of the royal bedroom. Wonwoo stared blankly up at the sky, watching the clouds make abstract shapes and move with the wind. Said wind was chilly but it barely changed anything to his perpetually frozen body. If anything it felt a little warm compared to his skin.
“Your highness?”
Wonwoo snapped out of his stare. He looked over his shoulder, only a little surprised to find Minghao behind him. The Cheshire Cat appeared somewhat anxious, his tail swishing side to side with a faint snap at each direction change.
“Do you have it?”
Minghao’s ear twitched this time, the two silver hoops glinting in the dull lighting.
“Yes but are you sure–”
“I need a reset.” Wonwoo stepped away from the balcony. “Come inside.”
He walked past Minghao. The Cheshire heaved a sigh but followed him anyway. Wonwoo sat on his bed, facing Minghao once more.
“Give it to me, please.”
Minghao hesitated. Wonwoo held out an expectant hand. His Cheshire sighed again, waving his hand for black cloud to mist into existence. He pulled out a small vial of pitch-black liquid. It shimmered when he jostled it, as if metallic. Minghao mutely handed it over.
The Queen had to pull some strings to get this out of Jihoon’s hands. This highly concentrated version of the Madness Drought was to be used sparingly. Jihoon made it for the worst-case scenarios – ones where Wonwoo could not perform his magic correctly or said magic escaped his control. But in small dosages it was more than enough to kickstart this.
“Sire,” Minghao broke the silence, “forgive me for overstepping but I really don’t think you should do this without the King present. He won’t be pleased to find you later…”
Wonwoo waved off the cat’s concern. Mingyu could deal with him when he found him. It would be too difficult to do this with Mingyu hovering over his shoulder anyway. His King would freak out and then nothing would get done.
“Tell him what I’m doing then,” Wonwoo said. Minghao blinked in confusion. “I’m going to drink this and by the time you are done informing him I will most probably be gone.”
He smirked as he popped open the vial. Minghao flinched, eyes growing wide.
“Wait–”
“Go warn him.”
Minghao groaned but did disappear in a puff of mist. Shaking his head with a light chuckle, Wonwoo lifted the vial to his lips. Closing his eyes, he swallowed it all in one go.
“Your majesty I’m sorry to bother you but–”
“Hao I’m kind of busy,” Mingyu interrupted the Cheshire Cat suddenly by his side.
He was processing through some of the ideas floated for the next festival. New torture methods and gruesome deaths for the imprisoned Wonderlandians who were set to die. They may not have many laws throughout the four kingdoms but there were still a few crimes that were punishable. The worst of them were sent to the Spades for the Festival of Death where they would be publicly tortured and executed for entertainment. Of course any of the visitors of the festival were also allowed to partake in being killed if they wished to but the Spades’ method was rather brutal.
“Um, I see that but I really think you should–”
“Mingyu can we go flying?!”
Jungkook’s sudden shout had Mingyu lowering his head with irritation. Why were both servants bugging him when he actually had work to do? And what the hell Jungkook?
“When did I give you permission to use my name?” Mingyu muttered, not sparing either of them a glance.
“Well it gets your attention, my King,” Jungkook teasingly said the title.
Mingyu did glare at him this time. His Jabberwocky grinned back, clearly in a mischievous mood. Minghao anxiously looked between them before taking a step closer to the desk.
“Sire please you need to come to your room,” Minghao quickly said.
That gave Mingyu pause. Wonwoo was supposed to be up there. He had said this morning he wanted to rest.
“Why? Is something wrong?”
Minghao nodded fast. Jungkook had come to stand next to him now, curious with the out of character actions of the Cheshire Cat.
“The Ghost is coming.”
Oh fuck…
Mingyu was on his feet in seconds. Jungkook and Minghao flinched back.
“Why didn’t you say that sooner?!” Mingyu reached for Minghao’s hand. “Take me there.”
Minghao nodded and teleported them up to his room. The King of Spades immediately let out a groan.
“Fuck.” He rushed to their in-room bathroom. “Wonwoo? Love are you here?”
He peered in and was met with the exact same emptiness of their main room. He cursed again, briskly walking towards Minghao. The Cheshire Cat’s ears were flicking in every direction and his nose twitched.
“I can’t hear them,” Minghao mumbled when Mingyu was close enough. “I’m sorry I tried to get you to listen but–”
“No it’s fine. This is my fault.” Mingyu sighed, running a hand through his hair. He had left his crown in his office. “We need to find them before they get too far.”
Minghao nodded once. His black mist began to wisp away his body. Mingyu waved him off in permission to search. The King did a quick double check of the royal bedroom. With no sight of his Queen, he left the room.
“Hey,” he spoke to the dark shadows on the wall. The shadows shifted and moved. Two white orbs opened up like eyes. The head of his snake emerged out of the wall. “Can you find Wonwoo? If you do can you come get me and lead me to them?”
The snake nodded and disappeared back into the darkness. Mingyu let out another exasperated sigh before taking off down the hall. He didn’t run. Running would bring a higher chance of missing them. Sometimes the only indication of them was a slither of translucent mist.
Approaching footsteps had him looking up. Jungkook pointed to the left.
“I can search the east side of the castle if you want to do the west?”
Mingyu nodded and they split up. If he found Nicco along the way he’d get her to help too. God why didn’t Wonwoo say something?!
There weren’t any real concrete places the Ghost could be. The translucent spectre would drift around the whole castle before finding an exit. That was when they definitely needed to find them. If the Ghost escaped the Kingdom of Spades then they could get lost and the last thing he needed was his Queen to become a Lost Ghost.
And sure, theoretically he could wait until Wonwoo regained their physicality and their senses but that was risking an escape. He just could not risk having Wonwoo go somewhere while in this state. If not for the Queen of Spades’ reputation then for Wonwoo’s safety.
The castle was mostly empty. It usually was. They didn’t have many living residents at all. The Playing Cards who were born into the Spade kingdom were given residency but they had no one outside of their citizens. A vast majority of the citizens were ghosts. Hence, most of their castle staff were ghosts.
“Have any of you seen the Queen?” Mingyu interrupted a group of maids chattering while they worked.
The three ghosts looked at him surprised before one shook her head, “No, sire. Would you like help searching?”
“No thank you.”
Mingyu brushed past them. He didn’t want to disrupt any of the staff either. Sure many of them had witnessed the Ghost's presence but they knew better than to interact with them. Wonwoo shouldn’t have gone too far yet. God where could they be?!
The Ghost held no stress. None of Wonwoo’s worries or negative emotions. It was a release. A form trapped between life and death for the Queen of Spades to fall back on when things just got too much. With the human world crap it had become a reset to allow enough Madness into the Queen for proper functionality.
So…for Wonwoo to feel rested…
Mingyu abruptly turned towards the library. It was possible. He had found the spectre a couple times drifting down the rows of dusty old books. Aimlessly wondering before floating off to another area.
The King of Spades quietly entered the mostly unused library. He was pretty sure only Minghao and Nicco frequently used the space. Wonwoo might now that they were here more often.
Shaking his head, Mingyu began making his way down the centre aisle to peer down each row. He looked left then right before moving to the next. He kept an ear out despite knowing there would be little to no sound. Unless the Ghost knocked something over but more often than not they weren’t corporeal enough to touch anything.
He eventually made his way to the little reading nook Minghao and Jungkook used to hang out in when they were teenagers. He frowned at the empty bean bags, sunken in from centuries of use. He glanced up at the stained-glass window, the clear backed with grey clouds.
A hiss had him looking to the wall. He perked up when his familiar slithered out of the shadows.
“Did you find them?”
The snake nodded. Its white eyes glowed as it turned its head back towards the exit. Mingyu followed the silent directions. They traversed back the way he came before heading deeper into the castle. Discomfort began to churn in his gut. They weren’t…
He paused when his familiar curled onto the basement door.
“…down here…?”
The snake nodded again. The King hesitated.
The basement was not the same as the dungeons. The dungeons were a whole floor underground open for prisoners and hauntings. Rows upon rows of cells holding the more horrific torture devices.
The basement…
Steeling himself, Mingyu approached the obsidian black door. His familiar slithered onto his arm, its tail wrapping around his wrist. He pushed the door inwards.
Musty air blew back at him. With a quiet exhale, the King of Spades began down the single stone staircase. The torch lamps flickered to life as he passed, ghostly white flames emitting an even fainter light.
There was a warmer light at the bottom of the stairs.
“…Wonwoo?” he called, his voice quieter and tentative. He peered around the corner once he reached the bottom. “Are you in here, my Queen?”
Yellow light warmed the basement floor. His boots thumped on the cool stones, loud in the otherwise quiet space. Orange instead of white flames flickered in the lamps, illuminating the corridor leading to the only room on this level.
The snake hissed and slithered back into the shadows. Alone, Mingyu face the large archway. Black marble rimmed the edges, shining like oil. It was even colder in here. Even…deader.
The King of Spades stepped into the circular room. A tiny sigh of relief tumbled past his lips.
The Ghost was here. His beloved Queen floated hauntingly still before a full-bodied mirror. They were entirely translucent and white. They ‘wore’ no clothes – instead a wispy humanoid form without either sexual genitalia. Through their body he could see the large crack in the glass, spiderwebbed fractures breaking away from the major dent rendering the looking-glass useless.
Thump.
His single footstep had the Ghost lifting their head. Mingyu froze. Not of fear but more along the lines of a hunter attempting to keep their prey from fleeing.
The apparition slowly turned their head. Just like the rest of them, their face was mostly unidentifiable. There were still the shapes and outlines of his spouse’s face, but there was no life in their eyes. Merely two white orbs, glowing against the translucency of their form.
“…what are you doing down here, love?”
He kept his tone light. As if talking to a child or a sick person. The last thing he wanted was to startle them away.
The Ghost stared at him. The silence stretched. Mingyu didn’t dare move. There was still nothing in those sightless glowing orbs. This apparition did not recognise him. It did not know who it was much less who he was.
“…were you admiring your looking-glass?”
At the mention of the broken mirror, the Ghost turned back towards it. With their back turned, Mingyu took a few tiptoeing steps forward. The shadows slid under his feet to prevent any sound from reaching the air. He’d have to thank them later.
Movement caught his attention. He paused, nearly within arm’s distance. The Ghost lifted their hand. Their wisping fingers shook as they raised them to the glass. They traced the fractured edge of a crack, something reverent yet hurt in the gesture.
Mingyu’s heart gave a painful twist. The Ghost was one of the rawest forms of his Queen. A broken part – a fracture of their own soul. A result of the pain and torture Alice inflicted upon them when she killed them. That mirror, shattered by the Queen of Spades’ corpse, reflected the fractured reality his Queen now had to exist within. One half in Wonderland, the other in the human world. Never able to fully return to their true self. Never able to fully regain what was lost.
Wonwoo must be suffering more than he initially thought.
Mingyu closed the distance between them. He gently wrapped his arms around the Ghost’s tiny waist. The apparition straightened. They looked up at him, staring with an almost innocence in their sightless gaze. He carefully pulled them to his chest, a solid thump against his flesh. Only the Royal Spades could physically touch the ghosts. His Queen was not exempt from that rule.
“Let’s go upstairs,” he whispered, his breath ruffling strands of their hair.
The Ghost looked back at the mirror. They lowered their hands to rest on top of his. Taking that as permission, Mingyu gently drew them away. The Ghost didn’t make a single move. They drifted along with his guidance, staring at the looking-glass until they couldn’t any more.
He smiled a little when they sighed. A breathy sound, mostly wind rather than a voice. They rested their head against his shoulder, glowing eyes closing. Some of the wisps in their edging started to fade away, hinting at solidification.
Wonwoo would be back soon. For now, he’d let them try to process everything this way.
“I love you,” he whispered, pressing a featherlight kiss to their head. The Ghost didn’t respond. “And I am going to help you. I promise.”
They were essentially babysitting.
Minghao hovered in the drawing room Mingyu had chosen to try and contain the Ghost to. It was just the two of them entertaining the spectre but it was enough. At the moment. Minghao couldn’t touch the Ghost but he could at least herd them back towards Mingyu who could physically grab them.
It would be difficult to discern when the Queen of Spades would return. It was different every time. Sometimes they’d fall ‘asleep’ and slowly come back into a solid form while slumbering. Other times they’d gradually start to ‘awaken’ while floating around. Sometimes it was just the items of clothing returning bringing back their Queen.
Whatever way, it was hard to tell if the Ghost would disappear any time soon. They were still genderless and faceless. Just like a Lost Soul without truly being lost.
“What did Wonwoo tell you before they did this?”
The question caught him off guard. Minghao turned a blank blink on his King. Mingyu stared right back, expecting an answer.
“He didn’t say much,” he answered honestly. “He asked me to get the Drought, which I did, then he drank it without warning.” Concern flooded Mingyu’s face as he glanced at the Ghost. The spectre was currently ‘laying’ on their stomach, hovering just off the floor while watching a bug crawl across the carpeted rug. “I had to get you before I could really do anything else.”
“Right…” Mingyu sighed. “Why didn’t he warn me? I said I’d help him…”
Minghao shrugged, his ear twitching. He glanced out the window. The sky had turned a pastel pink.
“Our Queen works in strange ways…”
A moment of content silence felt between them. Minghao bit the inside of his cheek. He could see Mingyu’s concerns. He was worried himself. Their Queen wasn’t communicating with them. And while that wasn’t really uncommon it was something the new version of their Queen hadn’t done. Mostly because they hadn’t been present to have problems in Wonderland but…still.
In the past it was always a dangerous thing if the Queen of Spades went silent. If they retreated into their own mind, plotting and planning something. It never bode well, even for their King. Minghao did not know this version of Wonwoo but he couldn’t shake the feeling their Queen still felt dealing with their problems alone was the better option.
A curious noise had the Cheshire’s ears springing upwards then back. He looked over his shoulder, eyes widening a fraction at the sight before him.
Mingyu had gotten to the floor to sit beside the Ghost. That was not the strange part. No it was what the Ghost currently had hovering in the palms of their translucent hands.
“What’s this?” Mingyu asked, keeping his tone light as if speaking to a child.
The Ghost merely lifted the strange icon higher into the King’s face. It was hard to tell what exactly it was made off. The three parallelograms created a triangular shape. It was simple but it must stand for something for the Ghost to be creating it seemingly out of ectoplasmic dust – the substance ghosts were made of.
“It’s nice,” Mingyu tried when the Ghost continued to stare expectantly at him. As if they expected him to know what this symbol was. “I didn’t know you could create things in this state…”
He reached out to touch a parallelogram. The Ghost let him and the panel evaporated into smoke. Mingyu hummed quietly, curious but keeping it on the downlow so not to startle the childlike spectre.
Minghao silently misted himself over so he could sit on the couch near them. The Ghost glanced at him, white orbs glowing brighter. They folded their hands together, snuffing out the remaining shapes. The ghost of a frown formed in the shadows playing on their blank face as they concentrated on the smoke wisping past their palms.
The King and Cheshire exchanged a glance. This was decidedly new. The Ghost was a listless spirit. They didn’t…do much but wander.
The Ghost opened up their palms like a blooming flower. Within was the number eight, made of the same translucent substance as the previous symbol. They held it towards Minghao. The Cheshire Cat tilted his head with a twitch of his tail.
“An eight?” he whispered. The Ghost nodded, leaning forward as if to hand him the number. “I don’t think I can touch it…”
If Mingyu couldn’t, he definitely couldn’t. The Ghost made a quiet sound, a faint echo of a hum on the wind, before making the eight dissipate too. They cupped the resulting smoke and spread it along the ground at their knees. When they raised their hands, a number of humanoid puppet-like shapes rose from the mist.
“Woah…” Mingyu whispered. He leaned closer and the Ghost giggled. “How can you do this?”
The Ghost didn’t reply. Instead they danced their fingers and the shapes solidified into people. Little puppets. Minghao counted thirteen.
“Are you going to put on a show, love?”
The Ghost blinked once, owlish, before waving their hand. The puppets moved into a formation. They were difficult to distinguish from one another. They had no features but differing heights. There was one taller than the rest and one shorter, the rest spaced along the middle line.
The Ghost’s fingers twitched and the puppets began to dance. Minghao slid off the couch to join them on the floor, captivated by the little show. It was cute more than anything. The thirteen puppets danced in sync, moving along to a song no one but the spectre could hear. The choreography was quite detailed as they effortlessly moved around.
The Cheshire chanced a look at the Ghost. They seemed entertained but there was something…sad, in their body language. He really wished they had a face. It would be so much easier to understand just what was going through their head…and coincidently their Queen.
The Ghost abruptly dropped their hand. Mingyu blinked, having been absorbed in the little play. He gave the spectre a concerned look.
“Are you alright?”
The Ghost did not respond immediately. They twirled their finger in the dust remaining from the disintegrated puppets.
To both their surprise, the spectre crawled into Mingyu’s lap. Mingyu held them while giving Minghao a confused look. The cat was just as confused. The Ghost was not aware enough to know Mingyu was their partner. So…this was odd.
“Ok…do you want to nap?” Mingyu asked them. The Ghost nodded, making themselves smaller against his chest. “Alright. Let’s move to the couch then you can sleep…”
Minghao pressed his lips together. This was the strangest Ghost session in…a long time…
He was in his bed. There was an arm over his middle. A familiar cold arm that felt warm against his frozen skin.
Wonwoo raised his fuzzy gaze to the person beside him. Mingyu slept soundly. He always looked boyish in his sleep. Before, Wonwoo could imagine he was younger than him when he slept.
Now, he knew he looked younger than him when he slept because Kim Mingyu looked like that when he slept and he was younger than Jeon Wonwoo.
He sucked in a deep breath, blowing it out through his nose in an attempt to be quieter in his sigh. He glanced off to the window. The thin silken drapes were drawn, most effective as a sun blocker rather than a curtain. The thicker black ones were still strung up at the corners, meaning the staff did not enter before night time to close them. But the lack of light told him he had at least been gone for the day, if not multiple days.
Wonwoo turned his attention back to Mingyu. As much as he loathed to wake him looking so peaceful he knew Mingyu would prefer to know he was back than continue to dream the worst.
“Min…” He lightly nudged him. Mingyu grumbled like an adorable puppy. “Mingyu…”
Blearily dark brown eyes opened. Fondness warmed his heart as Mingyu blinked sleepily a couple times. It took him a moment to realise it was Wonwoo beside him and not the Ghost.
“Ah – you’re back!” Mingyu propped himself up on an arm. Wonwoo hummed quietly, smirking amusedly at his spouse. “How are you feeling?”
“Solid. Normal.” Wonwoo turned onto his side. “How long was I gone?”
“Almost two days.”
“Less than I thought…”
Chuckling, Mingyu lay back down too. He reached out to rest his arm over Wonwoo’s waist.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were going to do this, Won?”
The Queen avoided his gaze. Truthfully he had no good reason. Fear, maybe, or pettiness. Mingyu had never wanted to know about Seventeen so why should he tell him now? But he knew better now, knew that Mingyu was just afraid. Afraid of Kim Mingyu and what would happen to their kingdom if he too were possessed by a human.
The White Queen might have taken their land if that were the case.
“…I was being stupid,” Wonwoo mumbled. He hesitantly met Mingyu’s gaze. There was no frustration there, only concern. “I’m sorry. I should have told you.”
Mingyu shook his head. He pulled Wonwoo closer, sliding his leg over his Queen’s.
“I’m not mad. Just tell me next time, please. If I can pre-emptively get to you before you drift off…” Wonwoo hummed with quiet agreement. He only felt guiltier knowing the stress he caused in a moment of idiotic pettiness.
“Where did you find me?” Wonwoo asked quietly.
Mingyu hesitated. A frown turned Wonwoo’s lips the longer that few seconds pause lingered.
“…in the mirror room.” …oh… “You seemed…captivated, I guess, by the looking-glass. Your one.”
Wonwoo bit into his lip, avoiding his gaze. That…that explained the weird lingering feeling of melancholy in his chest. He couldn’t remember anything except for his fleeting dreams before he awoke…
“And you made these strange puppets out of ectoplasm dust.” At Wonwoo’s confused frown Mingyu mimed something along the lines of a puppeteer with his hands. “And a symbol. It was a triangle with the point down.”
“Oh…”
Well that explained the reasons for Seventeen being at the forefront of his mind.
“Do you know what it is?” Mingyu asked.
Wonwoo nodded. He wrapped his arm around Mingyu’s middle, pulling himself closer to pillow his head on his shoulder. Mingyu hugged him tighter for it.
“It’s Seventeen’s symbol.”
Mingyu’s muscles twitched. An instinctive reaction. Then he was hugging him tighter and pressing a light kiss into the crown of Wonwoo’s hair.
“Ok. Do you want to talk about it?”
Wonwoo pressed his face into the other’s shirt. Part of him wanted to. Another part was afraid of what he’d think.
But he already promised to help. To listen. To care.
“…what do you want to know?” Wonwoo whispered.
Mingyu didn’t answer straight away. Wonwoo reluctantly pulled back, turning his gaze upwards. He blinked when he found a genuinely considerate frown on his King’s face.
“…what even was it? Seventeen.”
Wonwoo let out a shallow breath.
“That’s a loaded question.” Mingyu winced, opening his mouth to apologise. “No, it’s fine. I can…I can tell you. I should.” He sighed again, shifting back a little further so he could properly see the King. “Seventeen…it was a band. We were musicians.”
Mingyu tilted his head like a puppy.
“So you entertained people?”
Wonwoo shrugged, “Yes and no. In the human world you have to work to make money so you can live.”
Mingyu nodded, eyes wide with a childlike curiosity. It was the first time he had ever appeared interested in learning about the human world but he could just be putting it on for him. To make it easier for him. Probably, actually…
Wonwoo shook off his thoughts. Take it while you have it.
“Seventeen were what humans call ‘idols’. People who perform and make music. We would learn dances and songs and perform them for our fans.”
Mingyu nodded again, this time a little slower as he thought it over. The slightest flicker of confusion flashed across his face and Wonwoo could imagine what it was related to. Imagining his, for the lack of a better word, ‘evil’ Queen standing on stage to perform for people was difficult.
“Sooo…” Mingyu drew out, “you can sing?”
A small smile twitched at his lips. He adjusted in the bed, starting to feel a little warm with Mingyu wrapped so closely to him.
“I suppose.” Mingyu rose an eyebrow. “I didn’t necessarily sing…I was a rapper.”
“What’s that?”
“A different kind of singing. More like fast talking to a rhythm or beat.”
Mingyu made a quiet ‘ah’ sound before, “Can you show me?”
Wonwoo laughed. He rolled away, sitting up at the edge of the bed.
“No.”
He got up before Mingyu could pull him back into bed.
“Why not?” his King whined. Wonwoo looked over his shoulder, a smirk playing at his lips at the sight of those adorable puppy eyes. “I want to hear you sing.”
“I haven’t sung in quite some time, Min.”
“So? I’m sure you’re still good.”
Wonwoo shook his head. He didn’t think he was mentally ready to be delving into the lyrics of Seventeen. There were too many emotions, too many memories, tied to those words.
“Where are you going?” Mingyu’s voice floated towards where he was heading for the exit.
“The kitchens. I’m hungry.”
“Ah -wait for me then!”
Chuckling, Wonwoo left the room fully prepared for his puppy partner to chase after him. He might sing for him one day, but not today.
Today he would take the problem that was Seventeen one step at a time. He was sure the more he talked about them the easier it would become.
It had to be.