A/N: I'm not entirely sure if this is how the Ghost Lupe (who I call Gordon, for some reason or other) died, but, nevertheless, here I go!
PS: From late 2005, by the way. Another one that took me more than one week to finish.
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A lonely yellow Lupe walked along the shore, every step measured and heavy. He heaved out a long, sad sigh. His Lira had died yesterday in a nasty attempt to escape the Mystery Island natives.
Actually, that wasn't true. The Jubjubs had honestly tried to save Lira, but she was too far out, and within seconds, she had drowned…
Gordon stared out at the small island floating in the distance. He only had one option.
To kill himself.
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Gordon faced the waves the next day, as if defying them, but he wasn't. He was realising in sadness, tears welling up in the corners of his eyes, that Lira had really died and that he was going to become one with the sea. He would be able to see his beloved wife again. He let out a long, sad sigh and, without seeming to actually walk into the salty Neopian Ocean, made one with it and submerged briefly before pushing himself back to the surface. Treading strongly, he made his silent, drifting way to the little rock-island ridge that stuck up in the middle of nowhere, the place that he knew he had to go. Little did he know that doing this would, rather than fulfilling his destiny, corrupt the fabric of time and he would be a land-bound spirit forever. Little did he know that his problems wouldn't end as soon as his life did. He would be doomed to his fate -- if he killed himself the two would be inextricably tied.
Gordon plunged in the frigid waters, not even feeling the cold in his depression, and plucked a large rock from the sea floor, testing its weight in his paw. It was smooth and black, pointed at one end, and perfect for what he planned to do with it.
Fighting the current, he swam back to the surface, a yellow blot pushing up against the waves. Without missing a beat, he jumped onto the rocks and held the rock at arm's length before driving the pointed end right into his chest.
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Gordon stared at his paws, blue-green paws that were as solid as the morning breeze, constantly twisting and rearranging themselves even as he watched. Now he was only known as the Ghost Lupe, a spectral figure no one knew much about. He occasionally helped lost Neopets find their way out of the Haunted Woods, but the old grief for Lira had cropped up again, and as a result he was alone in his cave, pining.
Gordon looked up through a small slit in the cave wall, sighing. His deep red eyes shined with tears in the darkness. He could, somehow, feel the hot wet drops sliding down his ghostly, weightless cheeks in sadness as he poured his heart out for his dead mate.
The tears coursing down his cheeks made him cry even more.
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MEANWHILE….
"It's here! It's here!" Flotsy the Island Flotsam shouted excitedly as he rushed and stumbled to grab the package from a very confused mailman standing at the door.
"Uh, here you go, sir, but I need to see your owner before you can keep it," the mailman told Flotsy, his eyes wide in shock as he watched the energetic Flotsam snatch the box from him and hold it up to the side of his head, shaking it.
"Flotsy?"
He turned to the sound of the soft voice. There, standing before him, was his Light Faerie owner, Sweet-sweet, tapping her foot impatiently.
"Oh, yeah. Right," said Flotsy, grinning and handing the package back to the postman.
"I'll sign that," Sweet-sweet added kindly, taking the clipboard from the man's hands. "I'm his owner."
"Oh, that's right! You own the Neopet orphanage!" exclaimed the mailman excitedly as Sweet-sweet handed the signed clipboard back to him.
"That's right," Sweet-sweet acknowledged, smiling.
As the delivery man made his way to the next house, the Light Faerie turned on Flotsy. "Flotsy," she groaned. "Be nicer and more patient next time, OK?"
Flotsy nodded excitedly before running off.
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Flotsy burst into the living room, where his best friends were lying around, doing nothing in particular. Chee, the intelligent yellow Chia, was carefully measuring bubbling, fizzing liquid into beakers. The Lupe, Brownie, was watching her intently.
"It's here!" Flotsy cried excitedly, snapping the package wrappings with his pointed teeth and ripping the brown paper to shreds.
Brownie and Chee came over to watch, the Chia carefully placing her beakers on the shelf on the wall.
"That's it?" Brownie exclaimed when they were done. "A Ghost Lupe statue?"
Flotsy nodded excitedly. "Uh-huh. I thought maybe it had magical powers."
Chee surveyed the small golden figurine through her green chemistry goggles. "Maybe it's enchanted," she suggested, carefully picking it up and turning it over in her hands. "I heard some statues are."
"Probably not, though," said Brownie. "Where are you gonna put it?"
"On my dresser, I guess…Oh, guys, I'm getting a crazy idea!" exclaimed Flotsy, staring in new wonder at the figure of the Ghost Lupe. "Let's go help the Ghost Lupe!"
Brownie and Chee groaned in unison. Flotsy was known for wanting to help pets like the Spider Grundo and the Vira out of their misery.
"Well, how'd he die?" asked Brownie, trying to stick on the bright side of things. "He must have, no? He's a ghost."
"I think he died on Mystery Island," said Chee thoughtfully. "His mate died or something, so he killed himself."
"And now he's a Battledomer," concluded Brownie.
"Exactly," agreed Flotsy. "Now we just have to show him that she's not really dead, and maybe he'll become alive again."
"Is it really that simple?" Chee wondered aloud. "She might really be dead, you know."
"Sure," agreed Flotsy easily. "Anything's possible. Why not?"
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Three Neopets stood on the shores of Mystery Island the next day, gazing into the ocean's watery depths. The surface reflected the faces of a yellow Chia, a brown Lupe and an island Flotsam, but not what they were looking for.
"Well, we'll find her," said Flotsy confidently. "Guys, follow me."
Brownie and Chee looked at each other, shrugged and followed their friend into the deep, where he was swimming, flashing his brilliant yellow tail as he waited for them.
Bubbles spurted out of Flotsy's mouth as he talked, but, being a Flotsam, they could hear him clearly. "Come here," he said, beckoning to them with one flipper.
A little hesitant, the two pets glided forward, and Flotsy placed his flippers on their backs, closing his eyes thoughtfully, looking like he was at peace with himself. A few seconds later, Brownie and Chee pulled apart, and surprise, surprise! Swimming was easy and they felt as if they'd lived underwater all their lives.
"Now you can breathe and talk underwater," Flotsy explained, treading water with his tail. "Maraqua isn't far from here," he added, cool as anything.
They swam, feeling just as agile as the dolphin-like pet dipping and diving ahead of them. Pretty soon, they came to a subaquatic world. Round, domed houses and buildings were built onto the soft Maraquan sand, glinting in the somewhat eerie underwater twilight. Lush, spreading pink coral swayed softly in neat little pots in the square, where a lively, bustling marketplace was rigged up, and they watched in fascination as Flotsams, Kois and all sorts of owners and Water Faeries bought fruits and souvenirs at booths. The cheery atmosphere resonated with talk, laughter, and happiness.
Flotsy dived deeper, flipping over so fast that he was just a white and yellow blur. The other two followed to where he was hovering gently above the crowd.
She wasn't hard to spot. After a few seconds of zipping around Maraqua, Flotsy pointed out a tall, beautiful bluish-green Aisha with flowing, shining hair. Whitish sea flowers had been stuck in her watery-green hair, making her look even more beautiful.
"Sh." Flotsy held a flipper to his lips, and, before they could do anything, he had floated downward and tapped the Aisha on the shoulder.
"Pardon?" She looked up, and in those twinkling navy blue eyes Brownie and Chee could see only kindness, tenderness and warmth.
"I, uh, see you know, have something to tell you, you know…" Flotsy suddenly became very nervous, looking down at the blue sea floor and wrapping a flipper around his neck, embarrassed.
"Well, why don't you come to my house? You can tell me there," volunteered the Aisha, her eyes sparkling. And she darted off, a turquoise blur.
As soon as the Aisha had left, Brownie swam up to Flotsy to find the Flotsam's mouth wide open, with a dizzy, swirly look in his glazed eyes.
"Flotsy?" Brownie waved a paw in front of his face.
Chee grinned. "I think Flotsy's got a crush," she said.
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They followed the Aisha all the way to her house, a humble dome-shaped structure at the edge of town. She swirled and rolled over as she swam, straight and true as an arrow, bubbles floating off her gracefully gyrating body.
"She could be a gymnast," breathed Flotsy. His eyes had lost their glazed-over look, but he now seemed in awe of the Aisha's power.
Chee moved aside a large pink alga that served as the door. The Aisha had already disappeared inside. "I think she went here," she suggested, her voice slightly muffled by the water.
Flotsy sped ahead of them, a yellowish blur under a tornado of green seaweed. The next thing they knew, he had darted through the entrance and they had no choice but to follow him.
Brownie nervously poked his head through the door. The Aisha was sitting there, a cup of cocoa in her hand. Flotsy looked somewhat insane as he listened to her, nodding excitedly, a crazed look in his eyes.
"Oh, brother." It was Chee. She swam from behind the Lupe and much more boldly poked her head through the doorway.
"Come in." The Aisha gestured a paw to the rounded bluish chairs grouped around the table.
"So what do you have to tell me?" Her fingers gripped the mug as she pushed them a tray of steaming cocoa.
Brownie accepted the gift, his paws curled around one of the round white mugs. "Well, you could start by telling us your name," he suggested.
"And then we'll tell you ours," suggested Chee.
She smiled. "I am Lira, resident of Maraqua."
The told her their names, and then Flotsy launched into their story.
"Well, see, I ordered this Ghost Lupe statue a few days ago, and…"
At the Battledomer's name Lira gave a sharp intake of breath. "Sorry," she apologized, blushing a little as she noticed the group's confused stares. "Yes, continue."
"'Kay, and Chee here is smart-" here Flotsy gestured to Chee with a thrust of his thumb, looking cool and at it before he went on -"So she said that the Ghost Lupe's wife died on Mystery Island and he killed himself…Well, the point is, we figured maybe if his mate was still alive we could help him." He stuttered as he was done, enraptured by the bright midnight blue of Lira's eyes.
Lira looked down at her mug, earstalks drooping sadly. She heaved a sigh, her whole frame seemed to hunch down, and she looked very much like the good Aisha Isca. "I was his mate," she sighed, looking down at the mug of hot chocolate clenched in her blue-green paws. Her voice was barely a whisper. "And then we were honeymooning on Mystery Island. There was this raid or something…Everyone thought I had drowned. But I had sunk to the depths of the sea, but something strange came over me. My body was changing. I could feel my insides turning, grinding, as they changed shape as they allowed me to breathe underwater. (All right, I did get that from Animorphs. Heh heh heh). I made my way back to the surface, but everyone had disappeared. I searched for months on land and never found them. I realized that my true destination was in the water, and fled back to Maraqua." She sighed again, and when she looked back up her dark eyes were filled with worry and sadness. "What's your plan?"
"Huh?" said Flotsy. Crazy guy that he was, he (evidently) hadn't thought of a plan.
"I said, what's your plan of action?"
"Erm," said Flotsy, frantically looking toward the ceiling.
"He doesn't have one," joked Brownie.
Lira bustled around, taking her mug and putting it into the pearl-encrusted sink. It was as if she was working her sadness away. "Well, we should go to the surface."
They spent an enjoyable five minutes following a very twisting and almost graceful Flotsy to the surface, breaching and diving dramatically. It was like he was trying to impress Lira. Chee suppressed a snort.
Brownie, Flotsy and Chee scrambled over the rocky outcroppings on the shores of an island. It was at the edge of the Haunted Woods, dark and deep and hidden. Palm trees loomed, huge and dark, over the island, their shadows long and dangerous on the darkening ground.
Lira, meanwhile, was walking behind them, her earstalks shining with an unearthly light. A cave rose on the on the horizon.
They neared it, Brownie and Chee scared, Lira nervous, and Flotsy positively excited. The island pet pushed away some hanging vines, saying, "Showtime!"
His eyes were glowing with a mad light, Brownie and Chee looked at each other, and twin groans arose into the still night air. They trooped into the cave, moonlight dappling shadows on the Lira's smooth skin.
A figure appeared by a crack in the wall, his ghostly pelt shimmering softly in the semidarkness.
The Ghost Lupe turned deep red eyes on them, and the voice that issued from his transparent mouth was almost a growl.
"What do you want?"
Lira stepped forward, her paws behind her back. "It's you I want, Gordon."
The Ghost Lupe smiled, his eyes crinkling with happiness. Even as they watched, a rippling yellow blemish spread down his body, making him solid before their very eyes. His ghostly aura dissipated with the deep red of his eyes, making them pure and green and gentle.
"Lira, it's been so long," he whispered, his voice barely a hush in the darkness.
And then it was over, and the not-so-ghostly Ghost Lupe and his mate were with each other again, two unearthly shapes together forever once more. Brownie and Chee grinned. Flotsy, however, gagged and looked totally grossed out.
Well, the end, and, like they say, peace out, all!