So this is my entry for "Smash King24's Christmas Contest 2014". It took me a while to come up with something, but it's finally here. It's ghost AU fun time! And I'm not talking about the "A Christmas Carol" kind of ghost.
Life was full of surprises; that was Rosalina's main motto. As such, she always had to remind herself that anything could happen any time. It could be simple things, like meeting a long-time friend who had been away for years, or meeting your favorite celebrity in a grocery store.
Or, in her case, meeting the ghost of a young girl on a Wednesday evening.
It all started with her car suddenly getting tired of being alive and deciding that it didn't want to work anymore. One hour she was driving through this small, suburban neighborhood, the soft melody from her personal playlist playing through the speakers and Christmas shopping bags occupying the entire back seat. The other, her car was losing speed, no matter how much she slammed her foot on the accelerator, and moved only enough for her to realize she'd need to pull over because it was going to die.
Great. Fantastic. Just what she needed after a long day.
Rosalina tried her best to revive it, but poor Polaris (as she endearingly nicknamed it) would not work, no matter how much she tried turning the key. Sure, Polaris was a rather old car and she had it for as long as she could remember, but that still didn't excuse it from dying right in the middle of a neighborhood she had no knowledge of. It could at least do it once she arrived at the garage of the building where her apartment was.
She was not having one of the most stellar days, really. Wake up, go to work, get out of said work early, shop for Christmas gifts for family and friends, even though Christmas was only a week away, because she knew that if she didn't go buy those damn presents now, she sure would have trouble later. And now her car just died, meaning she still had a long way until she reached the safe heaven that she called bed. But there was nothing she could do to make it come back to life, so she'd better call someone as soon as possible.
Rosalina grabbed her phone and dialed the number of the first person who went through her mind. "Hey, Rosalina," the voice at the other end spoke rather hastily. "How are you?"
"Palutena, hi," Rosalina greeted back awkwardly. "Listen, my car just broke here. Do you think you can give me a ride home?"
"What? How did it break?"
"Problems in the engine, I suppose," Rosalina answered. "I need some help getting home."
She could hear her friend groan from the other side of the call. "Uh, well, I'm kind of with my hands tied here, but I'll try to get there as soon as possible," Palutena said after a moment of hesitation.
"Thanks, I owe you one," the blonde sighed in relief.
"Heh, I know."
She gave the street's address to her friend and ended the call, now all she had to do was wait until rescue arrived. Rosalina turned her head to the passenger by her side, mellow cyan eyes meeting droopy, if not a little mischievous, black eyes. "I can see you trying to hide a smile," she said to him. "Don't laugh, because we're both stuck in this."
Mr. Peepers, the brown-orange mutt, just continued staring at her with his tongue exposed. Right next to his was a rather worn out duck plushy that he had been chewing the entire trip from the pet shop where he took his weekly bath and decided to give it a rest after the car stopped working. Rosalina could swear that if he was a person he would be laughing really hard at her misfortune. Mr. Peepers was starting to get agitated in his seat, however, and that could only mean one thing.
"Oh, alright," she said while she put on a leash on his neck. "It will take a while until Palutena arrives anyway. Let's go take a walk."
Rosalina giggled at how Mr. Peepers wiggled his tail like an over excited puppy and got out of the car. Getting out and getting some fresh air would do great for both of them. A gust of heat greeted her as she stepped out, making her remember just how unbearably hot today was and that she only tolerated today's weather because the air-conditioning of her car was really great. Ah, the summer of December… It almost made her want to go back to her car. Almost. But if she did that, Mr. Peepers wouldn't give her peace and might actually do something nasty to the seat of her car. Yeah, no way she would risk that.
What happened next was so fast she barely had any time to register in her mind what was going on.
She opened the door and Mr. Peepers jumped out of the car in such speed that Rosalina simply couldn't get a hold on his leash. Okay, no problem, he was just feeling a little more agitated, it wasn't like he was going to run away. Besides, they were stuck in a quiet, peaceful and devoid of life activity (besides their own) street. She just needed to calm down and grab Mr. Peepers before Murphy's Law decided to act and he decided to run into the street right when a car passed by.
"Come back here, you old mutt," she called out while she chased after the dog that continued to run the sidewalk ahead. What was wrong with him today?
She held back a curse as she saw Mr. Peepers running into an old house not too far ahead from where she was. Oh, of all houses he could have invaded, it had to be the only creepy, old looking one without any kind of lively decorations! Not only the house that Mr. Peepers had run into looked old, but she also found out it was abandoned by the time she got closer to it, which just added fuel to the list of problems Rosalina was having at the moment. There were just so many types of people who could be hiding in an abandoned building. Types of people no one would like to talk to if they valued their life.
"Psst, Mr. Peepers!" she whispered from the partially opened iron fence. "Here, boy!"
She heard a piercing bark in response and took it as her cue to go get him before things got ugly. He was still her dog, after all. Rosalina loved him like he was her child. A very scrappy child, but still. So she entered the house, following the sound of his barking and trying her best to not pay attention to the spider webs and the peeled paint of the walls. It sounded like the barks were coming from the second floor and she did not make haste in going up there, her steps causing a creaking sound every time she stepped in a new stepstool. In the end, she reached the door to some room, probably a bedroom.
The first thing she noticed once she stepped inside the bedroom was that it was cold. Not a pleasant, air-conditioning cold of a store you enter to escape the blazing heat of a summer day, but actual spine shivering, supernatural cold. And there was a good reason for that.
Standing in the middle of the room, petting Mr. Peepers, stood a small girl with her back turned to her. She was wearing a heavy pink parka with fluffy white fur, black jeans and white boots. Clothes that were not supposed to be on anyone's body in such a hot day as this one. But that was not much of the issue as it was more than the fact… well… her body was translucent. And floating. And really not acting like any normal, living body would act. The light that came through the partially opened windows of the bedroom could actually pass through her body.
To say that Rosalina let out a whimper at the sight ahead of her would be rather dignified in comparision the sound that actually escaped from her mouth.
And that was how she met the ghost girl.
Rosalina held her breath as the girl suddenly turned her attention to her, almond brown eyes scanning her up and down, almost as if Rosalina herself was the ghost, and not her. Perhaps analizying her body and seeing if she was adequate for some kind of possession? Rosalina really didn't know much about ghosts, but if she took account all the movies and stories she heard about, nothing good could come from them.
The girl simply smiled at her.
"Hey."
If Rosalina wasn't such a calm and collected kind of person, she would have fainted right there and then who knows what the ghost would do to her? Okay, so maybe by the way she said that word she didn't sound so threatening, but you never knew. All Rosalina could do was answer back with a look.
"You okay there?" the girl continued. "Or is being silent your way of saying hi?"
And then she did that thing ghosts usually did, moving from one place to another so quickly you barely had the time to process how they did that, and stood right in front of her, making her step back automatically. That gesture apparently didn't please the girl that much. "Oh, wow, so much for being polite," she muttered in a tone of resent. "Would it cost you that much to just say hi? That's the least you could do to make up for the fact that you just barged into my home."
It wasn't her fault that her dog liked to mess with her sometimes! She would never have broken in if Mr. Peepers acted like an obedient dog and stayed close to her, instead of running off to some unknown house without a care in the world. Today really wasn't her day, at all. Rosalina glared at Mr. Peepers, who watched the scene unfold ahead of him with same goofy, innocent face he had when he knew he did something wrong.
"I... I just wanted to get him, " Rosalina said, shakily pointing at him.
"Oh, this cute dog is yours?" the girl asked with a genuine smile on her face.
"Well, I wouldn't say he's cute," she glared once more at Mr. Peepers. "But yes, he is mine. His name is Mr. Peepers."
"I found kind of funny how he just came running into the house like a lost duck in the middle of a rapid fire," she giggled, petting him once more.
Rosalina did not find that funny at all. She almost had a heart attack because of him. She wanted to get him and get out of there as soon as possible. "Yes, well," she started awkwardly. What kind of excuses did you give to avoid having to chat with a ghost? "I am terribly sorry for his behaviour. I will make sure this doesn't happen again."
"Oh, no, that doesn't bother me at all. He can come visit me any time, if he wants."
Rosalina didn't want him visiting her any time.
"So, what's your name?"
"R-Rosalina. And yours?"
"I'm Nana Climber. Nice to meet you!"
How do you politely tell a ghost you don't really feel like chatting with them without accidentally making them haunt you in revenge? Nana seemed like a nice girl and all, but...
She was dead.
That was still all so surreal to Rosalina. She needed a moment to lay down and just think.
"So, what do you..."
As if answering to her prayers, the blonde's cell phone suddenly started to ring, startling everyone in the room. Rosalina gladly excused herself (being extra careful to hide the glad part) and checked her phone to see who was calling her. She had to fight back the smile that threatened to appear on her lips as she saw it was exactly the person she was expecting.
"Rosalina, where are you?! I'm where you indicated, but I can only see your car," Palutena's voice rang in her ears, her concern sounding like a chorus of angels to the blonde.
"I just decided to take Mr. Peepers for a walk," she answered calmly. "I will be there in a minute."
Rosalina saw Nana's cheerful disposition suddenly drop at hearing that. She looked like a puppy who had just received a huge kick, which made Rosalina feel a pang in her heart, in a way. Not enough to make her want to stay, but still quite guilty. "You have to leave already?" she asked.
"I'm really sorry," she said, finally being able to put a strap on Mr. Peepers' leash. "My friend is here to pick me up. My car broke and I asked her to give me a ride home."
"O-Oh, I see..." she muttered.
"It was nice meeting you."
"Hey, Rosalina, can I ask you something?"
"Yes?"
"Can you bring Mr. Peepers tomorrow?"
"I will see what I can do."
And with that vague, yet polite, answer she left the house. First in slow and cautious steps, then accelarating her walking speed the further away she got from Nana and the house. In less than a couple of minutes, she spotted a white car parked right next to her black one. She quickly retrieved all shopping bags and other belongings that were still in Polaris and moved them to the back seat of Palutena's car, only barely finding space for her and Mr. Peepers to sit in. Palutena turned around from the driver's seat in order to face her better, and byt he smirk on her face, Rosalina could already guess what topic would surface.
"I told you to get a new car soon. This was bound to happen sooner or later."
Oh, Rosalina knew her so well. "We'll see after he goes through a mechanic if he's a lost cause," Rosalina answered, still not wanting to give up on her car.
"Where were you, anyway?" Samus, who was seated on the front passenger's seat, asked. Of course, Palutena would bring Samus with her. Rosalina didn't expect anything else from her.
"Just taking a walk with Mr. Peepers. He was getting agitated inside the car."
She didn't feel like saying anything about what she had to go through to the other two women yet. First, Rosalina herself needed to believe in what just happened to her, before trying to convince anyone else of it.
Okay, so this wasn't the most Christmas-y intro ever, but it'll get better, promise. Merry Christmas to all of you who have to celebrate it in summer and have to deal with mosquitos sucking your blood at night!