Disclaimer, Please read - The early building blocks for this story may be seen as dark, containing loss, but not detailed.
I own no rights to the Ghost and Mrs. Muir Tv show.
Thank you for reading. I hope that you enjoy the adventure.
On the Mirror's Edge
Chapter 1
1 o'clock in the morning. Everyone in the Gregg Muir household lay asleep in their beds. Even the little one found sleep easily this night.
It was not so for Daniel Gregg. The sandman of his visiting human traits would not be seen this evening. Resuming his watchman position, the sea ghost captain paced the length of the widow's walk. Now with hands leaning on the railing, his eyes scanned the horizon. A clear onyx sky that shimmered with stars bid their nightly welcome to the seaman. But not even the soft ocean breeze could unwrinkle Captain Gregg's furrowed brow.
'It's coming. I know it is. Any moment now…' His palms that braced on the railing began to sweat liquid beads of guarded anticipation.
Every night for the last 6 nights, the same scenario unfolded. Daniel had not breathed a word to anyone about it. Not even his wife knew. He had managed to keep a few things hidden from their empathic link that connected the couple on an intimate level. Things that she need not be troubled with, he decided. They had already been through so much over the last several months with Muir, Vanessa and the Black Veil group. The seaman couldn't bare the thought of more drama seizing down on his family. He remained quiet, determined to handle matters on his own this time. If he did need help, the Samurai General would be there for him. Of this he was certain.
His deep set eyes kept a steady gaze on the ocean waves that swept themselves upon the nearby shore. Something was coming. With whispers of a deep masculine voice on the wind, it was moving closer.
'There!' Daniel leaned his corporeal body heavier against the railing that groaned with resentment. His thunder boomed in the darkening cloud line above the cottage.
"Come on, you! I've been waiting!" He roared with a curled fist that sliced through the chilled night air. His eyes changing over to white and red flames, the sea ghost loosed a deep throaty growl with a vehement promise to protect his family.
Thick fingers of misty fog stole across the ocean's surface, blotting away the lines that defined the horizon. Seeping their way to shore, the fog twisted and curled around trees and other obstacles before overtaking the sea side cottage. Hushed voices reverberated inside of the moist anomaly.
"What do you want!?" Daniel's voice raged, rattling the entire second floor of the home.
Prior to that night, the captain had not received a clear answer. Only one word had flashed through his spirit being. That word was, 'come!'
Increasing in velocity, winds buffeted the sea spirit causing him to stiffen his stance. Pushing deeper into the realm of the unseen, he heard the voice.
'You must come here at once!'
With one foot at an awkward angle, Captain Gregg stumbled backwards. Was he hearing correctly? The voice that carried through the wind, seeking his presence, was his own. Mind racing, he entertained the thought that it may be some kind of trick. Something of a scheme.
"Who are you!?" he demanded in a tone of equal aggression. "Show yourself!"
Swirls of fog came together then parted. The image left behind was rough and incomplete. Within moments, lines intertwined sharply to reveal a face.
Captain Gregg viewed the image and likened it to a whitened reflection of himself. The face was his. Only this face seemed time worn and sickly.
'I am you! I am from the mirror world that held you captive. Come! I must speak with you at once. The Carolyn, Candy and Jonathan of this world are still alive… but barely.' The face began to sag and loose stability.
From behind Captain Gregg, came a voice that trembled.
"You-you have to go. You have to help them, Daniel." Holding their young child, Carolyn entreated her husband. Her hands quivered and tears ran down without any attempts of restraint.
"Carolyn!" The sea captain rushed over to his wife and child.
"What are you doing up here? You brought Ealasaid with you?" He cupped the baby's head with his hand.
'Please, you must come soon. If you do not help, my family will perish.' The reflected image finished its plea and disintegrated along with the fog. The night air once more grew still, eerily still.
"That came from the mirror dimension, didn't it?" Carolyn sniffled and wiped her eyes. She held her child tighter to her chest with a resolve only a mother would know.
"It most certainly looks that way, my love. We should get you and Ealasaid back inside." Daniel placed his hand on her back, nudging them into the warmth of the cottage.
"You're going to help them aren't you, Daniel?" By instinct or by habit, Carolyn sat in the rocking chair and began to nurse their young daughter.
Captain Gregg nervously gave a tug to his ear. "If I can, Carolyn. If I can." His knee touched the floor next to the rocker, looking his wife in the eye. "I will return at the earliest convenience, my love." Daniel kissed his wife soundly and his child gently before vanishing.
Carolyn rocked the chair with a greater fervor. She felt her nerves on edge. On the edge of what, she couldn't be sure.
—-
He was back… again. Only this time, his reasons were different, if not altogether unknown. A rank gust of cold air hit Captain Gregg as he passed through the caverns of the former Black Veil compound. A place that he would not want to visit unless it were to see his good friend General Ito. Daniel had let the Samurai know of his arrival. Now he stood in front of the door that lead into the room of mirrored dimensions. Hundreds of mirrors, each containing a possible reality of the one viewing into them. Entering in, the sea ghost covered his ears. Interactions within the mirrors could still be heard and influence the hearer, if not entrance them altogether.
'One broken mirror should be easy to find, should it?' He consoled himself and levitated through the reflective maze.
Left to right, then up and down, he hunted for the one mirror that had trapped him in a world not his own. The one mirror that threatened his entire existence with his family. The one mirror that would have made him a casualty of one woman's price for vengeance. It was only by accident that he discovered a weakness in his prison in which he could capitalize on. With help from his friends, an escape was eventually achieved but not without cost.
Revisiting the memory, goose bumps shivered over the seaman's corporeal skin and then down his spine. A desolate and unforgiving place it was. Human and animal life no longer survived there, or so he was told. Only remnants of a prior life haunted that world. 'Ghost towns' would be a correct term for it. Plant life and endless ghost towns of broken abandoned buildings and homes. Evidence of life that no longer existed. Even Gull Cottage had suffered damage and decay.
Now he stood before the world that almost became his world.
"Captain Gregg!" Shouting his own name sounded chilling as it left his lips.
On the other side a loose human form came into sight. The image of this man spirit appeared tired, worn and ill. He looked older than he should have. The once blue eyes now dulled to a slate gray. His tall stance withered down at least an inch.
"Finally, you're here! Thank goodness! I couldn't be sure that you'd come," the reflection admitted, birthing a sigh of relief.
Even joy looked dismal in that world, Daniel noted quietly in his thoughts.
Having been trapped there for a time, he felt compelled to ask the question. "What happened in this place?"
"A nuclear holocaust decimated this world. Nothing here is alive except for the plants. Eventually, even spirits succumb to the radiation and are no more."
More than just dead air hung between the two spirits in their separate worlds. By the haggard appearance of the mirror captain, Daniel believed that his statement was true.
"When I realized what was happening, I was able to take Carolyn, Candy, and Jonathan into my spirit being and place them into the empathic link. There they are being held in a form of suspended animation. Their human bodies are hidden within my corporeal spirit body."
Opening himself up, the reflected seaman shown the attached three to his spirit body. The sight was more on the disturbing side, but the feat itself was impressive nonetheless.
"What is it that you want of me?" Captain Gregg pursued bleakly.
"I have used the last of my reserves to contact you. And what I seek from you is to be taken with utmost seriousness." The captain in the mirror cast an icy glare as if he were summing Daniel up for a perilous voyage.
"I want you to take my family and insert them into another world. One where they will live out their normal human lives. I cannot take them. This body has absorbed vast amounts of radiation and should not leave here."
"I do not understand. I never sensed your presence while I was trapped there." Daniel swallowed against the lump in his throat as the weight of this man's family sank on his shoulders.
"I have traveled this world over and over trying to find a place not contaminated by the radiation. There is none." The spirit's expression darkened and fell. Thunder crashed and rain came down in glimmering sheets outside of the cottage. "It was only upon my return that I realized you had been here. Since then I have watched the other mirrors pass by. Other duplicates of ourselves in worlds that thrive. But there was only one that I saw where that Captain Gregg had indeed lost his family and grieves. That is the world where my family needs to be placed." He held his bearded chin higher.
Madness. What the mirror captain spoke of sounded like utter madness. Is there a way to take one family and move them into a different world? Is it even ethical to do so?
One sentence broke through into Daniel's critical thinking process. It guided his existence with his own family. Something he swore to uphold.
'I will do what I must to keep my family safe.' Daniel recalled the many times he had recited his code.
This captain in the mirror was doing what he needed to. Keeping his family safe… no matter the cost.
Daniel's emotions mixed together like a soupy mess with no recipe for success.
'Blast!' He cringed.
"How am I to do such a thing?!" Daniel spat the question out like wine that had passed its prime.
"First you must speak with this other Captain Gregg. See if he is willing to take my family into his world. If he is the man we are, then he will do so."
Daniel turned his face away and shut his eyes. "How will I find him?"
A malformed smile clung to his lips. "Look for the captain holding a baby and having a one-way conversation… in a cemetery. He goes often. I have seen him several times. If he hesitates to believe you, give him this. I dearly hope that it holds meaning for him."
A small perfume bottle sailed through the air from the mirror dimension, barely being caught into Daniel's lunging hand.
"I…I will see what I can do." A mask of uncertainty seem to cover his face. Daniel took one step back and stopped. Opening his mouth, hesitation captured his tongue. "They don't know, do they?" He glanced off at one of the mirrors to the side.
"Carolyn and the children?" Through the mirror, the other captain flinched, caving his shoulders forward. "No, there was no time. They should be kept asleep until after they have arrived in the other mirror world. Here is a box that I have prepared for Carolyn." He held it up for Daniel to see, but the seaman would not turn his face. "It contains some memories of happier times for us. I have also included a personal letter to her. Perhaps it will bring her a measure of… comfort. I must move into Eternity soon before this body fails."
With his back still turned, Daniel nodded his consent. He couldn't begrudge this captain any more than he could himself.
A new hunt commenced. One that Daniel held no desire to find.
—