Work Text:
Ashe had always known she was somehow different. She couldn’t say what exactly it was that made her different, but the way roaming ghosts seemed to flock to her implied that there must have been at least something.
It never used to be much of a problem. People thought she was talking to an imaginary friend when she was a child, and she’d learned well enough the quick differences between ghosts and living humans by the time she was in middle school. The worst that ever happened was when she’d see one out of the corner of her eye and think it was a human, or when she’d accidentally walk through one and receive a shudder up and down her spine.
She hadn’t foreseen any possible problems arising when her housemate started dating with the apparent ghostly resident of their new house. She honestly should have known better. The ghosts that came later were quite a bit less friendly than the house’s original occupant and spent a majority of their time knocking things over and shouting at Aesling to leave. Thog had dealt with them, but of course that could only ever be temporary.
It was winter when it happened. An unusually strong snowstorm had hit and none of the local facilities were equipped to handle it, resulting in a majority of the house’s occupants (discluding Thog, who agreed with everyone that he had the worst job ever) being stuck at home, surrounded by candles and hoping the power came back on soon so they wouldn’t have to sleep with twenty layers of blankets on.
Board games wound up taking up the majority of their time, between arguing over who’d have to get up to relight the kettle on the gas stove for another round of hot drinks, and Markus finding scary stories to tell off his phone whenever the data actually made itself available.
They’d already played LIFE three times, chess five, and more games of cards than Ashe even knew existed. Markus had won most of those games, though Ashe managed to gain the upper hand on him in a few card games from her home town. Gregor just seemed to be enjoying the company, though he was far too good at Snap for anyone to play more than one game.
It was Gregor’s turn to fill and set the kettle, his ghostly boyfriend, trailing after him. Markus rummaged around in the cabinet that held all their game boards for a moment before producing something that set Ashe’s hair standing on end before she even properly read the “game’s” name.
Markus either didn’t notice his friend’s reaction or didn’t really care as he pulled out the ouija board and began to set it up, placing candles around it in an approximation of a pentagram. “I thought I’d surprise Gregor and give him a way to talk to Zalvetta without needing you to translate all the time. Inien said it was a fun idea.”
“Inien’s ideas aren’t always the best ones, Markus,” Ashe was quick to point out. “Besides, aren’t you not supposed to play that alone? Either way, Gregor’s got the chalkboard in his room already.”
“It’ll be fine, Aesling. Besides, what you’re worried about only happens in movies, and we’re not playing alone, are we.”
Ashe gave Markus one of her skeptical looks, but said nothing more, letting the blonde explain things to Gregor when he came back with tea. They boy had thought it was a great idea, though he did express some skepticism about the candle placement’s necessity. Aesling went along as they placed their hands on the strange pointer and Markus began some weird chant that he’d probably found on the internet.
Ashe knew immediately that something was wrong. Out of thin air over the ouija board, a great stony hand suddenly appeared. It reached out to Ashe and grabbed her, enclosing her completely in its massive fist before seeming to vanish. Her arms didn’t feel attached to her body anymore as they moved the pointer to various letters in answer to Markus’ inane questions. She knew that it wasn’t Zalvetta doing this through her, she could see the tiny blonde ghost sitting on Gregor’s opposite side, next to Markus, and looking worried. No, something else had her.
Markus soon came to realize they weren’t talking to the ghost he’d intended and tried to end the little ritual. It didn’t go well. Ashe felt her entire body go stiff and her consciousness thrown to the back of her mind. It was like watching all her movements on a theatre screen, but with no popcorn and no way to get out of her seat to leave. She felt a distant horror as her body lurched forward at Markus, making to grab him but missing by a few inches as he scooted backwards. He was shouting something, but it was like listening to him speak from underwater, a garbled echo of what might be a voice or the pool’s filter.
Her body lurched forward again, snarling, but Ashe found herself tackled to the side by Gregor. He shouted at her as he had her pinned to the floor, but again she couldn’t make out any of the words. Her body looked at Markus again and she saw him staring wide-eyed at her, phone in his hand as he made a frantic call. Must have been a moment of cell service, Ashe thought briefly.
With some fighting, Markus and Gregor managed to lock Ashe in the bathroom. Her body stood at the door, occasionally scratching at it but otherwise not doing much. It felt like hours to Ashe before anything happened. The door opened slowly to reveal Inien, face red from the cold outside and long black hair flecked with snow.
Ashe’s body tried to tackle the self-proclaimed witch, only to be counter-tackled by Gregor right into the bathroom’s wall. Ashe could just make out the word “possessed” formed on Inien’s lips, amongst others, though she’d guessed as much already. Inien also said something about “spirit-sensitivity” and “you idiots”, but that was about all Ashe was able to make out. In this one instance, it was nice that Inien had a bit of a big mouth and liked to use it to it’s fullest potential when telling someone how wrong they were.
Ashe was soon dragged into the kitchen, surrounded by a circle of salt, then forced to watch a blurry display of her friends running around and grabbing things for Inien. She’d stopped paying attention when there was a sudden loud banging of a pot and spoon and she found herself doused in various herbs from their spice cupboard. Ashe felt something lurch out of her and she was suddenly thrust back into the front of her mind, regaining control of her body only to collapse to her knees, shivering and slightly disoriented.
“And that, my friends,” Inien announced, flipping her hair off her shoulder, “is how you de-possess someone. Now, it’s freezing and I want tea. Ashe probably does too, given how much she’s shaking. Chop chop!”