Chapter Text
Sky was never a big fan of the supernatural
Sure, he loves seeing it in media and all that, but real real supernatural?
Nope, no, no siree
The whole thing is just way too big and messy for the average person, now imagine how it is for a motherless ten year old with an old book and not a single person to talk to about it
It's all fun and games until you are running from a giant beast in an abandoned school, and then learn about hundreds of other similar or worse entities roaming around town
That's exactly what Sky's childhood in Green Valley was like
Of course it wasn't that bad at first, ghosts appeared every, like, two weeks or so, and he had a friend to keep him company
He could just enjoy being a kid, going out with Jax to do whatever and having fun doing so
But then the ghosts appeared, one after the other, each one dragging the poor kid's mental state through the mud
He couldn't sleep most nights, even when he had just sealed a spirit he could not fall into slumber, flashes of danger inches away from his face were burned into his retinas.
The sounds were being replayed on loop inside his ears, the sound of wooden planks breaking under a monster's paws while he was hiding in one classroom, the sound of piano keys playing over and over to signal his imminent demise, the sound of laughter
His body felt cold most nights, he could still feel the cold touch of the undead grazing his skin, grabbing his arms and legs harshly and licking it
Again, he couldn't tell anyone
He risked his life constantly and he just had to try and not to trip, fall and break
So it shouldn't be much of a surprise when he turned 18 and most hostile ghosts in Green Valley were sealed, he moved
He moved to a friends house in far away city, his parents were really nice and helped Sky with the nightmares
The house was nice, the city was nice, the neighbors were nice, Red was nice
But the two things that made Sky's day when he found out were the fact that there were much less spirits in Pine City compared to Green Valley and that it already had someone who took care of supernatural things
Safe to say, Sky was internally jumping from joy
He could live a fairly normal life, get a job, go out with friends, enjoy a nice relaxing night with a cup of cocoa and a movie, without being constantly bombarded by vengeful spirits!
Sweet, sweet normal…
Or at least mostly normal
Turns out, the guy protecting the city and exorcising the spirits was a friend of his dead mom, because his luck knows no bounds…
He immediately asked to meet him at a nice shrine near the city's limit and to bring his mother's journal with him
So of course he went there
What?
Someone who knows about this stuff and to top it all of knew his mother, if he was calling Sky, it must have been really important, he couldn't just not go out with this stranger
Turns out, Sky didn't know almost anything about anything
The guy, Jay, invited Sky inside and showed him something big
A room full of statues of different animals, praying to a big statue of an elephant in the middle of the room
And under the big statue there was a trapdoor that lead to a library, full of old scrolls, strange artifacts and a heavy presence
In the far end of the room, hundreds of papers taped to a wall, full of information of a place called “the underground”
What has his mother got him into?
—
Now in the present, Sky was busy comforting a small child “there there Tommy, i'm sure your grandma is going to enjoy her new home” he said as he patted the small hyena's back
Tommy raised his hands to his face to wipe his tears away “really?”
Sky showed the small child the biggest smile he could possibly muster “yes, she will have a nice place to live, and one day you'll be seeing her again! so smile, for her”
The child looked at him with a cute smile, fewer tears running down his cheeks “ok, i'll smile for grandma!”
Sky giggled and patted the kid in the head “perfect, make her proud”
Eventually, the kid went back to his room as it was his bedtime, leaving Sky and the kid's mother alone in the living room
Sky grabbed his bag and stood up “this was lovely, but i have to go, if you guys need help again you have my number”
Tasha, the mother, stood up too “wait a sec”
She grabbed her purse and began searching for something, eventually taking her wallet out
Sky, already knowing where this was going, immediately tried to convince the woman not to do it “oh, there's not need, really” he said, but the woman wasn't lowering her weapon
“I can't begin to explain how grateful i am for what you've done for my mother, please accept this” she took one step forward
Sky took one step back “it isn't really necessary”
One step forward “i insist, without you Tommy would be dead right now”
One step back “i really was just doing you guys a favor, i don't need the money”
One step forward “oh nonsense, you surely need to buy your paranormal thingies”
One step back “i have another job”
This wasn't the first time he had to tell a customer that they don't need to pay him, and almost always, they were persistent
Getting slapped in the back of his head by Jay every time he tried to take the money engraved the lesson on his brain
When the woman took another step forward Sky noticed something important
Tasha didn't even look inside her wallet before extending her arm towards him
No
No, she wouldn't
“Accept it”
“No”
“Do it”
“Nuh uh”
After taking one last step, he felt his back touch the doorknob
He immediately turned back, opened the door and began running
He didn't get far before he felt a projectile hit him on the back of his neck
It didn't really hurt tho, it was just a small inconvenience “fuuuuuuuuck, ouch ouch ouch”
Ignore that
He looked down and then back at the house, the woman threw her wallet at him and was currently waving at him from the inside of her home “buy something for yourself!”
He grabbed the wallet and prepared himself to throw it back “NO, THANK YOU!” he yelled before throwing it and hitting Tasha in the face
He turned around and immediately got hit by the same wallet, again, harder
Ouch
He sighed and then proceeded to change his strategy
Instead of throwing it to where Tasha was, he instead aimed it a little bit higher before throwing it towards the chimney
It fell through the hole and that was his cue to start running
He ran for a few minutes before arriving to his apartment complex
He finally got home and the first thing he did was lie face down on the couch for like a few minutes, the soft animal pillow he bought felt like being wrapped around a cloud
And the near death experience gave it +10 comfort!
It was the dream
But unfortunately, no dream lasts forever, he turned over to begin writing in his notebook
‘Higher limbo activity…’ he wrote on the top of one empty page ‘...began six or seven months ago, since then ghosts have become powerful and hostile faster than usual’
He grabbed a red pen from his pocket and wrote in big letters ‘Leon’
How did Leon tie to all that? He had no idea
But Sky knew he had something to do with it
They met like a month ago, and the best way that Sky had to describe Leon was a dork
A lovable dork
And maybe also perhaps hot…
It was honestly a surprise meeting a hellhound, in his town, living in a normal house and using normal clothes
The first time they met was a combination of wanting to touch those sexy abs and wanting to escape the guy who can level the entire city
So he just left the package and left, not wanting to say anything that would anger him
Of course, since he's so lucky, his truck broke, and the hellhound had to help him fix it
Sky gave Leon a pin and left, hoping to never see the wrath cursed royal ever again
But then he began ordering multiple things, multiple times, and Sky wanted to scream every single time
It got better after that, Leon didn't seem to harbor any ill will and was actually a total sweetheart, and that gave Sky enough confidence to actually speak to the guy, he even gave him his number!
For research purposes, to make sure nothing bad happens, yep, legit
And with the knowledge he's gathered all these days together, he can safely say that Leon didn't seem like a guy who would want to make ghosts go nuts
Doesn't mean he's not the cause tho
Maybe he doesn't know he's doing it, maybe he's being forced to do it, but the fact that this began around the same week he came to the mortal realm is really convenient if he wasn't the culprit
But right now, Sky wanted to go to sleep, he'll continue his investigation later
He stood up, putted the book back in his bag and began walking towards his room
While walking to the Z catcher, he heard a small *CLANK* coming from his window
“What was that?” He questioned before going to investigate
On the other side of the sidewalk, there was that demon cat ‘did he just throw a pebble at my window?’
The cat just stared at him, and Sky did the same
Both were so concentrated that they didn't notice the black female figure hiding in the bushes, preparing herself to shoot something out of a t-shirt cannon
The moment the stare-off broke, Sky only had one second to think ‘OH SHIT!’ before getting smacked by a very familiar wallet turned black, which threw him off balance and onto the floor
“God dammit Tasha…” he muttered before standing up again and looking outside again to search for the female hyena but she was already gone
He'll give it back tomorrow, he'll tape it to the back of her head while she sleeps if it meant she would get the message
But right now it's sleeping time, and he doesn't want to piss of the sleep gods so he just closed the window and went to bed