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[spelleton]

Catchall post for "fucked up sad dead ghosts" AU

This is a catchall for whatever we decide to do here since it's cleaner just to keep all threads in one post for easier reading and also sadness.

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[spelleton]

[ He just shakes his head. ]

Do you really think I'm that cold? [ It's not quite a serious question, but it's a little pained, all the same. ]

If I'd wanted to, I could have left this place behind. [ He could have fled into the forest and never returned. The contract had only specified bringing him back; it hadn't bound him to anything. Mad with pain, he could have run and kept running - probably forever.

Some nameless wraith that would have eventually been pitied -or feared - and run to ground; exorcised and freed from torment, history and memories disregarded and long forgotten.

His voice is quiet and tired. ] The contract you made didn't bind me to you. I've always been here because I willed it to.

[subconmodo]

You know about the...?

[He shakes his head]

Of course you know about the contract.

[It was etched into Ekkehardt's soul as well. Hard not to notice, wasn't it?]

Still, I'm... I'm sorry you got wrapped up in all of this.

And you know how much I hate apologies.

[spelleton]

It is what brought me back. [ It's one of the things he does remember, with clarity. Perhaps it was another little laugh the daemon had at his expense, attempting to stir some kind of hatred or ill feeling towards the person who had ultimately caused its demise. ] It's not as if I can forget.

[ Another short shake of his head. ]

I did it to myself. I didn't have to argue with her, or fight with her.

So you don't have to be sorry. My fate -- wasn't your doing.

[ Apologies - guilt - is a bad look on his friend, Ekkehardt thinks. Maybe that's a bad thing to excuse, but...

It mattered more, once. Now it matters less.

All they really have in this world is each other, after all. ]

[subconmodo]

[He's not entirely sure he believes that, but he wants to. He wants to more than words can express.

But Ekkehardt believes it, and he's here and for the first time in a long time he doesn't feel so alone.

He glances over, and a small smile appears.]

So you hereby agree to deal with anything I get up to from now through the rest of eternity?

[spelleton]

Oh, you can only speak in contracts now? [ His voice is teasing. ] It's not as if you'd need to bind me to your service.

But yes, of course I agree. I hope this isn't going to be a contract that requires signing, because I don't know if I remember how to write. [ It's half a joke and half him not having tested it out yet so he really doesn't know.

Eternity is a long time, certainly. But he doesn't mind at all. ]

[subconmodo]

[He's gotta get use out of this law degree somehow]

We'll just make it a verbal agreement this time. I'm out of ink anyway.

Hope you don't mind if I make you work for this agreement, because oh boy do I intend to!

[spelleton]

This time? [ His amusement is clear. ] All you need to get me to agree to things is ask, you know that. You already have the advantage there.

[ He huffs a laugh. Some things really don't change, and he can't keep the relief out of his voice, that little undertone of guilt that goes along with it, at that realisation.

It had been his fault, dying. It only follows that leaving Avery alone all this time, worse than leaving him alone - being there but not being present, just another representation of everything he'd lost - is his fault, too. ]

You say that like you don't already make me work for everything, Avery. [ If his hair wasn't already white, Avery would have turned it white from stress. ]

[subconmodo]

[That earns a laugh, his head held high and his nose in the air]

Gotta make you work for it, Ekke. Make sure you get that sense of pride and accomplishment! That's what friends are for.

[It feels good to talk to another person again--one he doesn't intend to kill later. It almost makes Avery feel a little more... human.

Just a little.]