Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"So you can see the dead?"

"I can do more than see them, I can commune with them, I can interact with them. In most cases I'm the only thing these spirits have left."

"And you help these spirits?"

"Of course. No one deserves to be trapped, I do whatever I can to help them move on."

The snapping sound of a branch was the first thing that alerted William to their presence. He drifted towards the window, peering out into the dark twilight forest, two flashlights bounced through the trees oblivious to the ghostly plants and spirits around them. More ghost hunters? Or just stupid teenagers?

Either way Will wanted them nowhere near the cabin. As the ancient door creaked open he passed through the floor, surveying the trio that had just arrived in the cabin. "Woah… this place is creepy" the red head gasped, looking around in awe.

"And full of cobwebs…" his friend a tall purple haired guy hunched over to avoid running face first into anymore webs. Getting a laugh out of their two buddies

"I'd honestly be more worried if the abandoned cabin had no spider webs Vyncent" the final member of the group commented, pulling a giant old book out of their bag. "Who are looking for again?" She asked, thumbing through the pages

"Uhh… I think we're looking for a William Wisp?" The red head answered "that teenager that was in the news a few years ago when he went missing"

So they were looking for him? Will lowered himself down to the ground, peering into the book, intrigued by the language he'd never seen before that filled the pages.

"Oh shit, there's a whole upstairs" Vyncent announced, peering up the staircase, "Dakota we should go look around"

"Oh we should!" Dakota agreed, "Ashe are you okay down here?"

"Yeah, I'll come up in a couple minutes, I'm just getting the book sorted!" Ashe answered, "we'll do the ritual in a couple minutes."

"Alright! Shout if you need help!" Dakota responded, running up the stairs, Vyncent fast on his heels.

Will glanced between the two groups, he still wanted to know more about the book but he was a little scared the other two were going to trash his room. And what ritual had they mentioned? They didn't have any cameras so it wasn't some stupid YouTube bit. Shaking himself slightly Will headed upstairs after Dakota and Vyncent unsurprised to find them goofing around looking through the stuff.

After a few minutes Ashe came upstairs, something felt off and Will quickly passed through the wall, peering in at them through the window. "Alright, lets do this." Ashe announced, holding out a hand towards Vyncent who grabbed it. Dakota linked his arm around Ashe's before grabbing Vyncent's other hand.

"Whenever you're ready" Dakota nodded looking excited.

Ashe took a slow breath before he began to speak the words rolling off their tongue in an inhuman way. Curiously Will slipped closer, interested in the purple flames that seemed to surround the group slowly. There was a slight gasp as Ashe locked eyes with him. Her sentence trailing off for a moment.

"Ashe?" Dakota asked just before blinding purple light filled the room as a deafening boom shook everything. The world went dark.

Something felt wrong. And that was probably the issue. He hadn't felt anything in two years. Slowly William blinked, he could feel the wood grain under his hands, he could smell the smoke in the air and he could very clearly see three sets of nervous eyes staring down at him.

"…you can see me?"

Chapter Text

They all stared blankly at him "…can you see me?" He asked, now confused if it was just coincidence or not. "Uh… hello?"

"How are you real?" Dakota asked, reaching out a hand to touch Will's face, there was physical contact as his very very warm hand touched Will's freezing cold skin. "Oh my god you're real! Ashe your book can just bring people back?!"

"No! It's not supposed to do that! It's not supposed to do any of this?" Ashe responded, looking worried,

Will sat up, running his hands along the wooden walls to confirm that yes he could actually feel it. "I can go see my mom!" He gasped, stumbling to his feet, holy shit walking felt weird after so long of just floating along. Whatever, he didn't have time for that, he needed to go. running as quickly as his legs would take him William ran out of the cabin and into the woods.

He could just see the gloomy lights of Deadwood when an all consuming pain wrapped around him, with a gasp of pain Will stumbled hitting the ground hard. His form seemed to slip slightly as the sensation of living flickered for a moment.

"Oh my god are you okay?" Dakota gasped, hurrying towards him. The pain seemed to fade and he seemed to be alive once more. A sickening realization hit Will the second Dakota crouched down next to them, he was stuck with them.

Will pushed himself into a sitting position, "I'm fine." He responded, by now the other two had caught up, "I just tripped." Dakota looked unconvinced but offered them a hand. Will took it with a small smile, turning his attention towards Ashe, "what kind of book is that?" they asked

"It's a grimoire, it's meant to just conjure or make spirits visible, the spell I was casting shouldn't have brought you back… I don't even think that's an option" Ashe explained,

Vyncent tilted their head slightly looking confused, "I don't know if we brought you back properly…" they muttered.

"What do you mean?" Ashe questioned

"He's not breathing" Vyncent pointed out

Oh… Will wasn't breathing, he lifted a hand to touch his next finding no pulse either. "Uh…" he glanced between the other three uncertain, "yeah no… I don't have a reason for that…"

Ashe was staring him down, a thousand emotions flashing behind her grey eyes, "what are we supposed to do now?" Was all they eventually said clearly unsure of what to do.

A low growling sound filled the air, the trio looked around confused "what was that?"

"Uh that's a reaper, you don't want to meet a reaper. Let's go back to the cabin." William explained,

"Woah what's a reaper?" Dakota asked, falling in step with Will

"A spirit realm thing that eats souls" Will explained, looking around for any signs of it. If he squinted enough he could see the two realms blending together, they were both eerily still.

"Wait but we're not in the spirit realm?" Dakota pointed out.

"No but we're through the veil…" Ashe responded, "how do we get back to the cabin?"

A stick snapped, echoing through the woods Will quickly spun around to see it crouched behind Ashe. "Ashe, don't turn around. Just keep moving slowly…" he hissed, holding out a hand towards her.

Ashe gave him a worried look but slowly crept forwards, Will kept a careful eye on the reaper that was still stalking slowly forwards. There was a grunt as a rock shot forwards hitting the reaper in the side of the head. It spun instantly to face Dakota letting out a low angry growl

"Uhh… now what William?" Dakota asked weakly

"Run. Run really really fast." Will responded grabbing Ashe's hand before quickly pushing Vyncent forwards, they needed to go and fast. When the cabin finally came into view Will let out a sigh of relief, doing a quick scan to make sure all three of them were in front of him. A rock caught their foot sending Will to the ground. "Shit!" they gasped.

The reaper was just behind him, in a few seconds he'd be gone. "Close your eyes!" Vyncent shouted pulling a brick of a flashlight out of their bag. William obliged still being able to make out the bright strobing light directly on him. The reaper hissed but it's footsteps seemed to back away slightly as someone pulled Will up.

"Are you okay?" Dakota asked,

"Uh- yeah... yeah I'm fine." He nodded, dusting himself off slightly "who exactly are you three?" He asked, "there's no way you're just random teenagers, right?"

Vyncent snorted, "no not exactly…"