My Dead Friend And Me
Summary: Ellen, when bored, would sometimes wonder what Viola would do if she somehow came back as a ghost. She figured her 'friend' would want revenge. Well… she was… sorta rightish?
Disclaimer: This is a nonprofit fan-based... fanfic... and stuff. Yeeeah.
AN: I have other things I probably should be working on but for some reason inspiration apparently hit me to do this instead. Enjoy!
xxWHxx
"Give me my body back."
"No."
"Give me my body back."
"No."
"Give me my body back."
"No."
"Please give me my body back?"
"No."
"…Give my body back you bitch."
"NO. And if I said 'no' when you asked politely, why the hell would I say anything else when you say it like that?!"
Viola's ghost shrugged. "Meh, I figured it was worth a shot."
Ellen groaned and buried her head in her pillow.
And so another day began in the Fummy household. Such was life ever since about a month ago, when Viola's ghost first dropped by for a visit….
xxWHxx Past
It had been about 3 years since that fateful day… or tragic day, or rainy day, depending on who you asked. Ellen had been living the life she'd always wanted since stealing Viola's body, loved and not having a sickness. She'd matured a bit in that time, although that didn't necessarily mean she was particularly regretful of anything she'd done. Although the incident with Viola was largely a footnote in Ellen's long history of x-ing people, at the same time the foolish girl was rather memorable, since, you know, Ellen kind of had her body now. And the big chase through her old witch's house certainly helped with that as well. As such sometimes Ellen did entertain thoughts of what might happen if Viola came back as a ghost, despite that being eaten by a demon kind of made that impossible – hey, boredom did things to people, alright? In any case, she usually came to the conclusion that her old 'friend' would be out for vengeance. After all, who wouldn't be? The thought was often dropped as quickly as it came up though, as Ellen frequently had better things to think about. Like school, or shopping, or whatever.
Speaking of which, Viola's father – Dolin, was his name – had quickly decided to move away from the village where he and Viola had lived as soon as possible, as a result of the witch's house incident. The man didn't want to be anywhere near that forest after the incident, understandably. And so as such the school and shops the currently 16-year old (in body, if not mind) Ellen now frequented were those of a quaint place called Calmtown, a fair distance away from the old village and yet not all that far from it. It was certainly still fairly rural.
And yet as much as things changed, they also stayed somewhat the same. Dolin still went hunting, and Ellen still dressed much like Viola herself likely would if she would have made it to the same age – not because Ellen really needed to to keep Dolin unaware of what happened though, rather she actually sort of liked Viola's sense of fashion, oddly enough. The only real point of difference was that Ellen let her hair out of Viola's braids and grow largely freely, so it was long, and she put a red bow in back. In other words, she looked kind of like her old self if she had blonde hair and green eyes. And, you know, no flesh-eating disease. And a body that wouldn't attract pedophiles.
True to its name (that Ellen could swear was just begging to be made ironic), it was just another calm day in Calmtown when it happened….
"Hmmm… what to buy, what to buy…" Ellen hummed to herself as she strolled around a mall. By herself. Yeah, funnily enough, though Viola did have friends, they were, obviously enough, all living in the old village… and Ellen hadn't really bothered making any efforts to keep in contact with them since moving to Calmtown… or make any new friends either, for that matter. She didn't particularly mind, though. It meant she could act more freely (to an extent, since even if she didn't need to act like Viola around people that didn't even have any idea that the girl had existed at the same time she did kind of need to act within acceptable social guidelines in order to not jeopardize the life she'd worked so hard to get - which meant no killing people for funsies or out of boredom, or sociopathy in general, no matter how much she wanted to sometimes), since Dolin was the only person she was particularly worried about acting like Viola around, and she was quite satisfied with Viola's share of love from the man. Friends were for chumps anyway… like Viola. Tee hee.
As if hearing the narration and getting mad at Ellen, a random can rolled out from somewhere. Not noticing it while thinking things to herself, Ellen –
"Whoa- oof! Damn it…" … Ellen slipped on it and fell on her ass. Rubbing her behind, she got up and glared at the can, almost wishing it would be worth it to bother taking out her self-defense (or so she claimed) knife and stab it. Snapped out of her thoughts by the slip, however, Ellen felt something… odd. She glanced around a bit.
It… felt like she was being watched. A stalker…? Well, amidst the various other people walking about (some of which she had to remind herself to not try to kill, given they were snickering or outright laughing at what had happened with the can), she could see no one obvious… hm.
Well… she was still annoyed with the can – and the laughing people – and wanted to stab something. Maybe this was her chance… it would be nice to be more natural for once. And the best part was she could probably claim self-defense really easily if this wound up going the way she thought it might.
Smirking to herself, Ellen started making her way to somewhere tucked away and isolated from random passerby so as to lure out whoever was watching her. She settled on a back alley near the mall, though she hoped it wouldn't be too obvious as bait.
The former witch didn't have to wait long. Concealing her smirking, she turned around and asked, innocently as possible, "Um, why are you follow-"
And then she saw who – or perhaps 'what' would be better – was following her.
"Boo," Viola's ghost said. Rather smugly, at that.
Ellen stared for a bit, not believing what was in front of her. She rubbed her eyes. Nope, she still didn't believe her eyes. She went to pinch herself –
Plunk. "Gah!" A levitated piece of trash smacked her in the face.
"Ghost powers are fun," said Viola, ever so sweetly.
And that's about when it finally sunk in. "V-Viola?! How?! You- You're supposed to be dead!" Ellen exclaimed, surprised… and perhaps slightly scared. Not that she would ever admit or show it.
Viola glanced at her semi-transparent body – which, Ellen passingly noted, looked much the same as 3 years ago, except older… somehow… and one of her eyes, the left one, was red instead of green - for a minute before giving Ellen an odd look.
"…Okay, bad phrasing," Ellen conceded, before getting annoyed, "I meant, you were supposed to be demon cat food."
"Well," Viola began sweetly, "after you mutilated yourself and by extension me before we swapped, betrayed my trust, led me on a wild chase, and tricked my dad into killing me, yeah, that cute kitty of yours ate me."
Beat. "Okay firstly, witches – which you were at the time – can't die unless they're in despair, so all that stuff was necessary –"
"I seem to remember you enjoying it a lot." Viola interjected, gaze half-lidded.
"…Okay yeah I totally did but don't sidetrack me." Ellen replied before continuing, "Anyway, secondly, you seem to be a lot more sarcastic than I remember –"
"You try spending 3 years in a demon's stomach after being brutally betrayed by your 'friend' and see if you come out the same." Viola said flatly.
"…Okay, fair point," Ellen noted, "but that brings me to my third and final thing: you were eaten by a demon. How are you even here right now?!" Emphasizing her point, the ex-witch gestured wildly in Viola's direction.
"Well," the ghost girl began, "I really, really wanted to get out of the demon's belly. So… I kind of spent 3 years clinging to life, trying not to be digested, and more or less clawing my way out." Viola blinked. "I think I might have become part demon myself somewhere along the line because of the sheer effort involved or something, but I'm not entirely sure," the ghost girl casually noted.
Ellen also blinked. "I guess that might explain the red eye, but," she crossed her arms. "You're lying-"
"I'm not you, Ellen."
Ignoring the ghost's jab, Ellen continued, "I mean, getting out of a demon's stomach?! There's just no way!"
"Actually…" Came a third voice from below the two girls. They looked down.
"She's telling the truth, Ellen." Said the demon cat. "Yo."
"Oh great, another person I never wanted to see again." Ellen could feel the beginnings of a migraine forming.
"Oh, I'm hurt." The cat said blandly. It was annoyingly difficult to tell if he was being sincere to any degree whatsoever.
"Whatever," said an irritated Ellen, who pointed at the ghostly Viola, who seemed to be a little apprehensive in the cat's presence. "If you're going to be here, make yourself useful and explain."
The demon looked at her for a moment, as if pondering whether to try to squeeze another contract out of her in exchange for the information. But then, unbeknownst to either of the girls, he decided the events that would surely follow this reunion would be amusing enough to constitute payment on their own, and inwardly relented. "What's there to explain?" asked the cat nonchalantly, moving to begin licking himself. "Viola was quite determined to escape for some reason or another, and indeed, managed to force her way out of me after 3 years of constant trying, at which point we would not too long later find ourselves here. I'm actually sort of relieved; she'd been causing me stomach pains something dreadful with her struggling, she was so determined." The cat looked at the anxious ghost girl. "Relax, I don't plan on trying to eat you again. I mean, you forced yourself out once after all, I don't doubt you could do it again. Not to mention the indigestion was bad enough the first time around…" 'And though I don't ever plan to tell you, I admit I rather respect the effort you put in…' This seemed to calm Viola somewhat. "Now then," The cat shifted back to a sitting position, "I'm quite curious, what exactly was motivating you all that time? It must've been quite a powerful thing to get you out of there."
"You really have to ask her?" Ellen interrupted, "She obviously wanted to get revenge on me! Am I right?" The ex-witch glanced at her former friend, as did the cat.
"Well, um…" Viola pressed her index fingers together embarrassedly, "Maaaybe a little…" The ghost punctuated the statement by levitating another piece of trash into Ellen's head.
"Gah! Bitch!" The former witch yelped, getting a chuckle out of the demon even as she began attempting to plot a way to get back at the ghost.
"But it wasn't the main reason, I swear!" Viola said firmly before giving the other girl a meaningful look. "And… it was the same reason I chased you through your house back then, actually, Ellen."
Ellen rubbed her head, annoyed. "…Sounds like revenge to me…"
"No Ellen," said Viola, "I was, believe it or not, actually fine with you taking my body, even in spite of you mutilating me." Ellen gave her an odd but clearly disbelieving look, causing Viola to blush slightly. "Hehe, um… like I said, I don't care whether you believe me or not about that, but anyway…" Viola once again became firm, "The reason I chased after you, and the reason I went through so much trouble to get out of the demon… um…" Viola gave an awkward look at the cat. "Do you… have a name…?"
The cat would probably be smiling if he didn't have the face of… well, a cat. "I do, but as it's nothing pronounceable to human ears, you may simply call me Cat," said Cat, before noting amusedly, "Funny, you've asked to know more about me in 3 years than Ellen ever did in centuries."
"Shut up before I kick you." Ellen said flatly.
The demon likely would've grinned even wider if he had a face that could, and both girls could feel it, but he simply glanced back at Viola, which she took as her cue to continue.
"Um, anyway, the reason why I went to all that trouble to try to catch you back then, and escape Cat, was because I was, and still am, worried about my father…" She looked at Ellen "…And what you might do to him."
Ellen blinked, before glowering at Viola. "Dolin? He's fine. Still a nice, loving father giving affection to the girl he thinks is his daughter." And then with a sickly sweet smile, "So yeah, since he's fine, can ya get lost and never come back ever?~"
Beat. Another piece of trash plunked Ellen in the face.
"GAH! Ew gross, that one had old fish bits in it, uck!" She yelled, flailing about.
"…This girl killed people horribly for centuries to feed you and she starts gagging at rotten fish guts of all things?" Viola asked incredulously.
"It would seem so," Cat noted amusedly.
"I hate you both." Ellen seethed, wiping the fish gunk off herself, "Anyway, seriously, get lost. I'm not gonna hurt him, not after I spent so damned long trying to get a better life where I didn't have a sickness and trying to find someone to love me. This is everything I ever wanted and I'm not gonna muck it up."
Inwardly noting the irony of some parts of that statement given Viola cared a lot about the girl once upon a time – not to mention that one boy that had been Ellen's first friend and later first victim after becoming a witch, whose existence she became aware of due to Ellen's memories - outwardly the ghost girl said, in quite a deadpan manner, "Ellen, I have your memories. You'd kill dad without a second thought if you so much as suspected he didn't love you anymore or found out about the truth."
Ellen stared at her former friend for a bit. "…I am not that bad." She denied, just the slightest bit indignant.
Viola raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? How many times over would you have killed me if I wasn't already a ghost just during this conversation?"
"27 times, why?" Ellen asked.
Beat. Cat could be heard making a token attempt to stifle a snicker. "Yeah, I'm not leaving you alone with dad as long as I unlive."
"Screw you."
"You know Ellen, you could make another contract with me to deal with this…" Cat suggested slyly.
"Screw you too. I do not want to get involved with demons again. Feed your own damn ass, I can take care of this myself."
"Well…" Cat grinned through his voice, "I'll be around if you change your mind" 'There's no way I'm going to miss this sitcom waiting to happen…'
Ellen gave another look at Viola, who appeared to have been in the process of levitating another bit of trash to toss at the former witch, quickly hiding it behind her back and whistling innocently… and given her semi-transparent body, Ellen could actually still see the trash. '…I might have to reconsider that later…' She thought, annoyed, before saying, "You're not gonna leave me alone no matter what I do or say short of figuring out a way to kill you again, are you?"
Viola tossed the trash, which Ellen managed to dodge this time. The ex-witch took that as a no.
xxWHxx Present
Some other morning of a day that's not the one depicted at the beginning of this chapter…
"Give me my body back."
"No."
"Give me my body back."
"No."
"Give me my body back."
"Why do you keep doing this?! It didn't work the first dozen times, why would it work any other time?!"
"I figure it's kinda like Chinese water torture and you'll crack eventually." Viola's ghost smiled winningly. "Give me my body back."
"Look on the bright side Ellen," said Cat as he sauntered in from the bedroom window and sat himself down on once-Viola's-now-Ellen's bed, "At least you don't need to ever worry about buying an alarm clock. Yo, by the way."
Ellen groaned and buried her head in her pillow. "At least I could smash an alarm clock…hate you… hate you both… so very much…"
"I think you're my bestest friend in the whole wide world too, Ellen~" Viola sang in the most cheerfully sadistic manner possible. Must be whatever demonic energy she inadvertently absorbed on her way out of Cat's stomach. Or maybe it was the delicious revenge.
Either way, Ellen groaned louder.
Cat just chuckled.
Dolin stood downstairs making breakfast for (the person he thought was) his daughter, blissfully unaware of anything going on upstairs, bless him.
…And so another day began in the Fummy household.
xxWHxx
AN: This is what happens when I think to myself 'An ex-witch, her dead former friend, and a demon cat sounds like it'd make a great sitcom'. Also, I tried to keep the prequel novel, The Diary Of Ellen, in mind while doing this.