Chapter One
Disclaimer: Do I really have to put these up in every chapter? Just, from now on, just assume I don't own either version of this show and call it good, ok?
He blinked. What just happened? The last thing he remembered was following Sally through the door to her house and...Oh. So they made it back. Who brought them back? It was probably the vampire. Bringing people back from Limbo was heavy magic. The werewolf probably didn't have the spine to pull off something so dark.
He supposed he should take a look around and figure out exactly what was going on. Let's see. He was in that wretched apartment that Sally insists is her home. Why the woman couldn't have picked somewhere with a little more style was beyond him. He was still in his favorite black suit, which was good. If he had shown up in some form of plaid or flannel, he would probably have shredded himself back to Limbo in sheer horror.
He walked slowly toward the kitchen, taking stock of all the changes and similarities since his last visit. As he accidentally passed through part of a dining room chair, he added, ghost, to the mental review of his situation.
Now, where was Sally? She had to be here. He could feel her consciousness in the back of his mind, like a whisper. She must be upstairs.
As he made his way up the stairs, he heard the voices of the wolf and his girlfriend. Nora, he believed her name was. They sounded excited. Sally must be there, then.
He followed the voices into one of the bedrooms, passed through the door and promptly froze. There, lying on the bed, was Sally: weak, and dazed, and most assuredly alive. If he were not already a ghost and if he was not above such human reactions, he probably would have passed out.
He stood there, swaying slightly, watching her friends celebrate in the fact that Sally was back with them. He could tell the moment that she saw him. Her eyes widened and her breathing became a little harsher and her focus immediately snapped to his face. Then, the wolf-bitch noticed Sally's sudden change in demeanor and she turned to look at him, although she viewed him with more curiosity than fear. He would have to change that.
"Sally," asked the she-wolf, "who is this? Do you know him?"
Sally merely gaped as if she didn't quite remember how to make words with an actual throat and vocal-chords. The man-wolf, Josh, turned in my direction, but could not seem to see me as he once would have. Interesting. Just then, however, Sally finally found her voice.
"Yes," she stammered, voice scratchy from disuse and eyes still staring unblinkingly, "This is Scott...The Reaper."
There was a beat of silence before both wolves leaped up in a defensive stance. Ah. So Nora had heard of him. Excellent.
"Seriously? The Reaper?" cried Josh, "Where is he? Is he ghost? How is this even possible?" His voice had begun to take on an edge of desperation.
"Josh, just calm down." said Nora, the logical one in the relationship. She turned back toward me.
"Reaper-" she started.
"Please, call me Scott."
"Um, ok. So...Scott, what exactly are you doing here?"
He gave a dramatic pause. No sense in wasting a good opportunity to make the dogs squirm.
"I followed Sally here." At this, Sally sat up with a gasp. "Come now, Sally. You didn't really think I would just vanish when you shredded us, did you? As I said, I am a part of you. As long as you exist, so do I. You can't get rid of me."
"But, when I was in Limbo, you weren't. I looked for days to make sure you hadn't followed me."
"Yes well," he gave an indignant huff, "it seemed that Limbo had created some kind of disconnect between us. I tried to get your attention, but you just wouldn't listen. It's not my fault you didn't bother to sense me."
"Sense you? I may have been a ghost, but I'm not a psychic. How exactly was I supposed to 'sense you'?" By now, Sally had gotten out of bed completely.
"As I have already said numerous times, I am a part of you." Scott was starting to get angry now. The walls began to quiver and the lights flickered. On the bright-side, Josh seemed to be well on his way to freaking out. Good. He turned his attention back to Sally. "I can feel your mind in the back of my consciousness. If you had bothered to check, you would have found that you can do the same for me."
She paused and I could feel the gears turning in her brain.
"So, what? Are we like Vulcan mind-melded, or something? How come you never said anything before?"
"And when exactly would I have been able to say something? Between you watching the TV at deafening levels and trying to throw yourself in Limbo? Even if I had spoken up, do you honestly think you would have believed me?" One of the pillows from the bed went flying across the room to hit the wall.
"Ok, Ok!" said Nora. "Let's all just take a deep breath and calm down. No one needs to get violent. Obviously, you two have some issues you need to work out so Josh and I are going to go out and get dinner. Right, honey?"
"What? No! We can't leave Sally alone with him!" But Nora had already grabbed Josh's arm and was dragging the still protesting wolf out of the room and out of the house.
She couldn't breathe. Everything she did to get rid of him was for nothing. She shredded herself for nothing. Ok, technically she had also shredded herself to go try to rescue her friends, but mostly she just wanted the Reaper gone. Now, he was telling her that it was impossible to get rid of him and she was starting to believe him.
Just breathe, Sally. Close your eyes and breathe. You can do this. Just calm down and when you wake up, this will all have been a dream.
Except she didn't really believe that either. There was no waking up to a better world when you were a monster like her.
Sure enough, when she opened her eyes after a few calming breaths, the Reaper - sorry, Scott - was still standing there look at her like she was equal parts fascinating and disappointing.
"So, umm..." she started, hoping to break the awkward silence that had enveloped the room since Nora and Josh had left, "you followed me out of Limbo?"
It was stupid question, and by the look on his face, Scott knew it too, but at least the silence was broken.
"When I saw you leaving, I had to follow you. Without you, I can't exist. Sally, don't you get it? I can't be separated from you. Not won't. Can't."
"You really can't exist without me?"
"No. I can't."
What was she supposed to say to that? If he's telling the truth, she was stuck with him. Forever.
"Okay. So umm...if what you say is true-"
"It is."
"If what you say is true, then we need to set a few ground rules." Oh god. This was it. This was going to be another incident like last year. Why did she think she could stand up to him like this? He was going to get angry and he was going to start closing all the exits and someone was going to get hurt or killed or-
"Okay."
"O-Okay?"
"Yes, Sally. Okay. I accept your conditions."
She breathed out a sigh of relief. "Wait, seriously? Just like that? No screaming, or smashing lights, or rearranging furniture?"
Now it was Scott's turn to sigh. "No. I will abide by your rules. Being in Limbo, able to see and hear you, but without you being able to do the same for me made me appreciate your attention. So, while I do not like your 'friends' and I strongly dislike sharing you, I will attempt to be civilized. However, should you start to try and shut me out again and I will be forced to take more...drastic measures."
"Well, first: No hurting my friends. They are probably going to be wary of you anyway after what you did last time and you lashing out will just give them an excuse to exorcise you."
"...Fine."
"And no spying on people. Nobody wants to have to be on guard for ghost while they are showering or...doing other, more fun things."
"If I recall correctly, peeping was more your thing."
She glared.
Scott sighed.
"And lastly," she paused for a second, knowing that he was going to hate this, "I reserve the right to salt my door if I need some space."
Scott growled and the lights flashed.
"Look, you need to learn that I am not here to entertain you 24/7. I am alive now and sometimes I will need to be alone."
"Sally, what am I supposed to do when you are not there? Make friends?"
"You could try! Josh and Nora aren't bad."
"They're wolves."
"They are my friends." She fixed him with her best doe-eyes. "Please? For me?"
"Ugh. Fine. I will try, but I won't like it."
"I knew you would see it my way."
Now, she just had to figure out how she was going to break it to Josh that there was going to be another houseguest.
A/N: So, Sally and Josh are going to have to figure out how to live with Scott as a permanent houseguest and Scott is going to have to learn to get along. What could possibly go wrong? After this chapter, each of the following ones will cover one episode from Season 3. I'm going to try to stick as close to canon as possible, but with Scott thrown into the mix. Let me know what you guys think. I really would like some feedback. I probably won't update another chapter for a week or so because of classes, but I wanted to get the first actual chapter out there right away.
