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gothdaddyissues · 1 year

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Ghoulies Shouldn't Play With Dead Things

For the @petrifyingpapas challenge - Week Two: INCANTATION

SUMMARY: On Walpurgisnacht, the Ghouls attempt to summon the spirit of Papa Emeritus III. Will it go wrong? Probably.... But it might not be a bad thing after all (~2600 words)

TAGS: Cumulus, Aether, Rain, Swiss, Mountain, Cirrus, Dewdrop, Sunshine, The Ghost of Papa III, summoning spirits, Ouija boards, everybody wants to protect our boy Copia (including me)

Also available on Ao3 HERE

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Deep in the bowels of The Ministry, where Siblings and Clergy alike feared to tread, lay chambers full of mystery. Well, really it was just a maze of cobwebs, damp, and empty rooms. But there were no humans brave enough to venture down there to find that out.

It didn't stop the Ghouls though. It was their favorite place to go, in fact. Away from prying human eyes, they could do whatever they pleased -drink, dance, fuck, play Monopoly, or have paintball tournaments - with no consequences.

But sometimes, just once in a while, they got themselves into trouble.

One particular night - an hour or so before dawn on Walpurgis Night, to be exact - Aether and Rain found themselves hurriedly descending the steps into their secret basement hideaway, late to meet with the others. Cumulus had "an idea" (her words, not theirs) of how to celebrate the event. But she needed a particular object that the two of them were tasked to acquire. And it took them longer to get a hold of it than they anticipated.

Aether pounded on the ancient wooden door to the farthest room, knowing it would be locked. They were greeted by the sound of scraping metal and creaking hinges before Swiss slowly swung the door open.

"Good evenink. I am Sveess," he said in his best Count Dracula impersonation, "I bid you velcome." He bowed deeply, laughing as they entered.

The windowless room within was lit only by candlelight. The rest of the Ghouls sat cross-legged on the floor in a circle around a large pentagram Cumulus had drawn there with red... paint? Blood? Aether wasn't about to check. There were other magical symbols scribbled in each corner of the room, one in the middle of each wall, and also one on the back of the door.

"Please tell me you got it?" Cumulus asked eagerly.

"Yeah," Aether replied. It had involved a trip to the party supply store and a Mission Impossible-esque operation to break into Sister Imperator's office at nightfall. She kept their prize on the shelf behind her desk, propped up on a small stand like a trophy. Because to her, it was. Hopefully, she'd never notice they'd swapped it with a cheap, plastic replica. He walked over to Cumulus while reaching into his jacket to produce the yellow toy. "Here ya go - the Kazoo of Destiny."

Cumulus clapped her hands in glee. "Excellent! I knew I could count on your guys! Thank you." She took it from Aether and placed it carefully in the very center of the pentagram, atop a Ouija board. "Okay, sit, sit. We don't have much time before sunrise."

"And why are we doing this again?" Mountain wondered aloud. "This feels like a really bad idea..."

"Because if we don't do it now, we'll have to wait six months until Samhain," she said.

"But WHY?" Mountain asked again. "Why are we summoning Terzo's ghost? We didn't even know him."

"Because we want to know who killed him, remember?" Sunshine reminded him.

"Yeah, and maybe have him scare the shit out of Imperator while he's here," Dewdrop added, a fiendish smirk on his face, "That'd be fun."

"Now's your chance to leave, if you don't want to do this," Cirrus said gently.

Mountain looked anxious, fiddling with his hands as he sat. "No, no... I'm good. I'll stay."

Once all the Ghouls were in place around the pentagram, Cumulus explained the rules. "No fussing, no moving out of the circle until I say it's okay. Don't let go of your neighbor's hands, no matter what happens. We have to keep the circle intact. First thing I'm gonna do is cast a protective barrier around us. Then we'll summon him. Y'all remember the incantation?"

They all replied with a chorus of affirmatives.

"Okay." Cumulus took a deep breath to steel herself. "Here we go."

She stood and walked around the circle three times, invoking the spirits of the old ones at each quarter. She asked for protection and guidance for the ritual. And when she finally returned to her spot at the bottom of the pentagram she raised her arms over her head, creating a swirling purple cloud out of the air. As she sat, she swooped her arms down with her, bringing the mist down as well, enveloping them all in a safe, shielded bubble.

She took the hands of the Ghouls on either side of her, and the others followed suit until they were all linked together.

"Greetings to our companions from the other side," Cumulus began in a clear, steady voice. "Tonight we gather here to contact the spirit of our lost brother Terzo, Papa Emeritus the Third. We seek your indulgence. We wish to offer you understanding and justice, Papa. We seek to avenge your untimely death. Please, Papa, make yourself known to us. Amate spiritus obscure te quaerimus. Te oramus, nobiscum colloquere apud nos. Amate spiritus obscure te quaerimus. Te oramus, nobiscum colloquere apud nos."

That was everyone's cue to join in. They chanted in unison: "Amate spiritus obscure te quaerimus. Te oramus, nobiscum colloquere apud nos. Amate spiritus obscure te quaerimus. Te oramus, nobiscum colloquere apud nos. Amate spiritus obscure te quaerimus. Te oramus, nobiscum colloquere apud nos."

The incantation was chanted 13 times and then the Ghouls fell quiet. They looked at each other, looked around them, up at the ceiling, and at the yellow kazoo lying in the center of the pentagram.

Nothing was happening.

"Did it work?" Cirrus asked in a whisper.

"How long does it take for him to show up?" Swiss asked, getting impatient.

Culumlus shushed them. She was trying to keep focused. "Papa Emeritus the Third," she called out, "Please let your presence be known to us. If you are here, we ask that you give us a sign."

A sudden whoosh of air blew through the room, extinguishing the candles around them all at once, plunging them into near darkness. Rain startled and yelped like a frightened animal.

Dewdrop gripped Rain's hand tighter, trying to keep him steady. "Fucking hell, Rain! Don't let go."

"Guys, stay still!" Cumulus was trying not to panic. Once her eyes adjusted to the dark, she realized the purple, iridescent mist that surrounded them provided a dim luminosity, like a black light. She could see the yellow kazoo in front of her practically glowing fluorescent.

And then it started to move, jittering and spinning as if someone was fidgeting with it.

"Oh shit oh shit oh shit," Rain mumbled.

Cumulus was giddy. "Papa?? Papa is that you?"

The kazoo slid across the Ouija board seemingly of its own accord, pointing to the YES in the top left corner.

The Ghouls exchanged looks, some of them full of excitement, some of them terrified. But all of them sat in suspense, leaning forward to gaze down at the Ouija board in wonder.

"Hello, Papa," Cumulus said softly. "Thank you for coming."

Again, the kazoo moved, slipping from letter to letter as the small end spelled out the next response: H - E - L - L - O.

"You are greatly missed here, Papa," she told him.

A - M... I?

"Yes! Very much. Please tell us, are you okay? Where you are, I mean?"

The toy slid back to the YES, pointing to it briefly before it began to spin. It was the spirit's turn to speak. Slowly, it began to spell: W - H - O... I - S... P - A - P -A... N - O - W?

"Um," Cumulus began. This was odd. She'd conducted many a seance in her time but had almost never seen a spirit ask its own questions like this. Even in death, Terzo was still a force to be reckoned with. She couldn't help but worry that her answer would upset him. "Copia. Copia is Papa now."

For long moments, the kazoo did not move. Had they rendered the spirit of Terzo Emeritus 'speechless' with this news? The air in the tiny room was thick and hot, and she could feel the tension in her companions as they waited. Then, suddenly, the toy shot across the board to the word NO.

The Ghouls looked at each other again, all of them growing more unsettled. "Yes, Papa. It's true."

The kazoo moved quickly this time: P - U - P - P - E - T.

"Puppet? Who's the puppet? Copia?" Cumulus asked, her voice shaky with worry. "What do you mean?"

P - R - O - T - E - C - T... H - I - M.

There were audible gasps amongst the Ghouls, and Aether tightened his grip on Cumulus' hand. "Protect him from who, Papa?" he asked.

T - H - E - M.

The faint sound of bells could be heard in the distance. Morning had come, the sun was rising, and all the residents of the Ministry were being called to begin their days. Time was running out, but Cumulus wasn't done...

"Papa, please, tell us. Who do we protect him from? The ones who killed you?"

Once more, the kazoo pointed to YES.

"Who?" Swiss asked. "Who killed you, Papa?"

They watched as the toy darted across to the alphabet once more, stopping first at the letter S. As it moved to the next letter, the shrill claxon of a cell phone ringtone echoed throughout the room, each one of the Ghouls' phones going off in unison. So jarring and sudden at a moment when they were all wound as tightly as springs, that was all it took to set them all off. Cirrus and Sunshine screamed and grabbed at each other. Dewdrop and Rain jumped to their feet in alarm, knocking the Ouija board across the floor. Aether, Swiss, and Mountain frantically searched through their coats to find their phones and silence the noise. Any semblance of keeping to the seance rules went by the wayside. The circle was broken.

"NO!" Cumulus cried. "Oh no! No no no no!" The misty purple bubble of protection evaporated around them, and the eight Ghouls were left in the darkness.

Aether's face was quickly illuminated by the light from his cell phone. "We missed Sister Imperator's morning call," he announced, "She's gonna be pissed." He turned on his flashlight, shining it around the room at his companions, all of their reflective eyes wide, thoroughly freaked out and looking like deer caught in headlights. "Is everybody okay?" he asked... knowing full well they weren't.

"I need to get outta here," Mountain whined, his voice trembling, "Please let me out."

With their phone lights as guides, the dazed Ghouls managed to find their way to the door, and Mountain sprinted away the moment it was open. A few of them muttered apologies before making their way out. Only Cumulus remained in her spot, staring down at the upended Ouija board and the kazoo laying in the dirt.

Aether approached her slowly. "You okay, sweets?" he asked, his hand dropping to her shoulder.

She shook her head sadly. "No. No, I'm not. I messed up bad. We didn't send Papa back... we didn't close the circle. What if..." She sniffled back her tears. "What if Papa is stuck here now? This is horrible. We've doomed him to wander this place as a ghost."

"Well, we already have to deal with the ghost of Nihil. What's one more, eh?"

Cumulus managed a small chuckle and placed her hand on Aether's before looking up at him. "And what about Copia? We have to protect him, he said. But he didn't get a chance to tell us who from. All we know is it started with an 'S.'"

"Sister Imperator? I mean, everybody already suspects that."

"Or Saltarian?"

Aether gripped her hand tight. "Or both? He did say 'them.'"

"Shit..." Cumulus sighed.

Again, their cell phones jingled. A text message this time, from Sister Imperator: "Where are you?? You're late for the morning meeting!"

"Come on," Aether said, helping Cumulus to her feet, "Let's go. We don't want them to come looking for us down here and seeing what we've done, or we're fucked. Don't worry. We'll figure this out, okay?"

Arm in arm, they left the room, shutting the door up tight behind them.

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Moments passed. Terzo waited until they were safely back on the main floor before he floated into the room. This was entirely unexpected. Torn away from the blissful void of the afterlife back to this mundane place, not a physical part of it, but still in it. He looked down at himself, glowy and ethereal, dressed in his finest chasuble, his hands encased in the black gloves with the golden claws...a nice outfit to spend eternity in. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

His kazoo sat at his feet.

"Hmmmm..." He reached down to see if he could touch it. The first test of his incorporeal-ness. He wasn't sure what to expect. Placing his hand over top of it, he watched in wonder as it melded into him, absorbed into his ghostly form. The Kazoo of Destiny was his once more.

He couldn't help but giggle.

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The Ghouls never again spoke about what had happened that night.

It's not that they didn't acknowledge it. They most certainly did. But not to each other. It simply became a tacit duty, an implicit agreement between them all to protect Copia with their lives. There was always at least one of them keeping an eye on their Papa at all times, never letting him linger with Imperator or Saltarian too long out of their sight.

The Ministry, and the Ghost Project, were thriving. More popular than they had ever been, with legions of new, devoted followers. The Ghouls knew that was all because of Copia's hard work and dedication. They showered him with love and affection, never letting on that they knew what had happened to his predecessors, or what they were prepared to do to keep him safe.

Cumulus spent days searching the halls for glimpses of Terzo's spirit. She lit candles for him in the chapel, asked for him to make himself known, and spoke prayers and incantations from ancient ritual books, all in hopes that he would be safely shepherded back to the shadow realm. As time passed and she saw no sign of him, she assumed that he had returned there.

But no. Terzo was just really good at being sneaky. He never appeared to anyone. He kept himself hidden as best as he could - including from the foul spirit of his shithead father that also wandered the halls. He was still around though, keeping watch over his favorite Sisters of Sin, causing upset with Sister Imperator and Mr. Saltarian every chance he could, and growing very fond of the Ghouls that had summoned him. Perhaps one day he would reveal himself to them...

And as for Copia? Terzo was so proud of him and of how far he had come. He was exactly what the Ghost Project needed. It was too bad Terzo had to die for Copia to take the mantle, especially when he recognized all the struggles this new Papa was going through: the self-doubt, the pressure, the loneliness. If only he could be there, physically, to help guide him. Instead, he did what he could.

Terzo was with him in spirit on the stressful days, on the cold, lonely nights. Sometimes he would play a tune on his kazoo that only Copia could hear. Copia would never startle or wonder where the sound was coming from. He would smile, relax his shoulders and close his eyes, and just for a moment, enjoy the company.

#ghost #the band ghost #ghost fan fic #ghost fanfiction #my fan fic #my fanfiction #papa iii #nameless ghouls #petrifyingpapas #incantation #I've had sad Copia hours for days and want to protect him at all costs...

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