Ker thought it was rather fitting for her newest victims to be the occupants of a haunted house.
In some dimensions, ghost-types liked to take up residence in an abandoned house. These ghosts would then make the house look even more decrepit than it already was, usually by breaking a few windows, peeling off the wallpaper, and dragging their claws across doors and walls to leave unsettling scratches across the building. Afterwards, they'd go into town and create rumors that the house atop the hill, which most certainly wasn't occupied with a dozen ghost-types, was haunted. It wouldn't be long for some stupid Pokemon to catch word of these rumors and explore the abandoned house late in the night, usually with their equally stupid friends.
It didn't take much of a genius to realize where things went from there. The ghosts would torment these idiots who had taken the bait, laughing maniacally as they chased them all throughout the house and out the door. And unlike Ker, these ghosts didn't terrorize anyone for food; they did it for the pure amusement of it all. Just like any respectable ghost-type should.
Unfortunately, that didn't make them immune to Ker's hunts, especially when she wanted to show off to Gallows. She wanted him to see her hunt the hunters, torment the tormentors. She wanted to see his eyes light up with sinister, gleeful delight.
It had been too long since she had seen that look on his face. She didn't just want to see it; she needed to see it.
"You ready for this?" she asked with a wicked grin as the two ghosts stood at the bottom of the hill this "haunted house" resided on.
"As ready as I ever could be," Gallows said. "I presume that you want me to watch you terrorize these ghouls all by yourself?"
"That's right!" Ker said proudly. "Though you're free to take in all of the dread I don't eat. There's going to be an awful lot of fear in the air pretty soon, let me tell you. You deserve a free meal for being such a dashing, handsome Chandelure."
The Sableye cringed. She couldn't believe she had uttered those words. She could feel the heat burning in her cheeks. She quickly turned away from Gallows, hoping he didn't catch her flustered face. However, a quick peek back showed he seemed rather impassive, as though he hadn't picked up on any of the stupid things she had just uttered.
"W-Well anyway!" Ker said quickly. "Uhh, let's get going."
The two wordlessly headed up the hill, Ker taking the lead as Gallows flew behind her. She didn't understand why she was saying mushy things like that to Gallows. She was a ghost, not some stupid hormonal mortal so easily swayed by chemicals. Yet she couldn't help but utter those words to Gallows. When Gallows opened himself up to her, however so slightly, it had changed her somehow. Somehow, Gallows was no longer just a fascinating, alluring Chandelure she followed out of morbidly twisted curiosity; now there was something deeper driving her.
She now sounded like Gallows whenever he wanted to rile her up, but she actually meant what she said. She actually did want him to know how handsome and suave he was! Gods, what had become of her?
She didn't need to think about this. Everything would only be awkward if she wanted it to be. Right now, she had a group of mortal ghosts to terrorize, and that was exactly what she was going to do! She didn't need to worry about anything else except looking cool in front of Gallows!
When Ker reached the top of the hill, she found herself before the house. As expected, it was a mansion and probably had a good twenty rooms in it. She wondered if this was a human-made structure. Most Pokémon worlds she visited didn't have homes this big; they all preferred the comfort of smaller houses, or just flat-out didn't know how to make anything larger than a one story building.
She knew better than to waltz up to the front door and sneak inside. The ghosts of this mansion were probably watching the entrance, waiting in anticipation for their guests. It would be best if she seeped into the basement and entered the mansion that way. No one ever expected company to come from the basement.
"We'll get inside through the basement," Ker said to Gallows. "You can stay down there and watch, if you want. You'll still probably be able to see through all the walls."
"That sounds fine to me," Gallows said with a shrug.
Ker gave each direction a quick glance, then sank into the ground and headed for the basement. After a few moments of drifting, she emerged from a wall and settled into the dark, underground room. She didn't see anyone around, nor did she taste anything in the air. Good, the basement really was unoccupied. She looked back to see Gallows swoop out of the wall, his flames casting light upon the area. There was hardly anything in the basement, only rotting pieces of worn out furniture and a single, dusty mattress that had probably been down there for years.
The Chandelure silently extinguished his flames, casting the room in darkness once more.
"Time to show these wannabe ghosts what a real ghost is like," Ker said with a grin.
She leapt into the nearest wall and crept up to the ground floor. She could sense the ghosts' presence, taste their giddiness, already. As she creeped through the house, invisible to their mortal senses, Ker counted all the residents within. A Misdreavus in the living room, two Shuppet in the kitchen, a Gengar in the master bedroom, two Litwick for all the other bedrooms, and three Haunter in the sitting room. Thirteen ghosts in total. An unlucky thirteen, how fitting.
Ker silently watched from the shadows as she formulated a plan. Thirteen ghosts, one house. They had all been lying in wait, meaning that a visitor would soon be upon them. Ker knew she didn't actually have a time limit, as she could still easily scare the Pokémon while they terrorized their guest. However, she preferred having these ghosts to herself without any interruptions. So, Ker only gave herself five minutes to terrorize all these ghouls and fill the mansion of their sweet, ironic dread.
She looked through all of the rooms one last time again, taking note of who resided in each one, before setting her plan in motion.
She started by knocking on the walls of the living room. They were quiet, but noticeable knocks and they quickly got the attention of the lone Misdreavus in the vicinity. She gave the room a quick glance, but was unable to spot the Sableye hiding in the walls. The Misdreavus tried not to show it, but Ker could feel her uneasy building up. She was rationalizing the strange occurrence, saying it was just her imagination, but the growing dread was there.
Ker knocked harder this time, loud enough that one couldn't dismiss the noise so easily. The Misdreavus grimaced and swooped into another room before returning with the two Shuppet from the kitchen.
"I'm telling you, I heard knocking in the walls," the Misdreavus said, bobbing uneasily.
"Well there's no one hiding around here except us, I can promise you that," one of the Shuppet said. "We're the only ghosts here!"
"Well, just stay here with me for a second and you'll see what I mean," the Misdreavus urged. "Maybe it'll start up again."
"Yeah, sure," that same Shuppet groaned.
Nonetheless, the two Shuppet stayed with the Misdreavus and waited for the knocking to resume. Ker waited a few seconds before knocking on the walls again, quietly just like the first time. The dull gazes of the Shuppet instantly turned skittish as that delectable dread wafted out of their forms. Ker grinned and resisted a giggle as she gave the wall a hard thump, shaking the doors of the empty cabinets lining the room.
The three ghosts instantly fled, swooping after their fellow ghostly companions. Ker, silent as a shadow, followed after them and watched as they burst into the master bedroom where the Gengar lay in wait. He must have been the leader of this group. It was always the biggest, most evolved Pokémon that were the leaders. Ker could sense him hiding above the lone, ornate chandelier hanging along the ceiling. Despite the decrepit nature of the rest of the house, this chandelier had somehow retained its beauty, its glamor untouched by time. It was as though the chandelier fed off the rest of the mansion, silently leeching the house of its essence to keep its diamonds shimmering bright.
"Gengar, this place is haunted!" one of the Shuppet shrieked.
The Gengar drifted out of the ceiling and settled onto the ground, a long displeased scowl stretched across his massive face.
"Of course it's haunted," Gengar scoffed. "We're the ones haunting it, remember?"
"No no, you don't get it!" that same Shuppet pleaded. "Like it's haunted by an actually dead ghost! Something was knocking on the walls in the living room!"
"Probably just one of the Litwick brothers fooling around, as usual," Gengar said dismissively. "You know how those two can't resist giving even ghosts a good scare."
"There was no one in the walls…" the Misdreavus said timidly. "I couldn't sense anyone in the room except us, and there was still that awful knocking sound…"
Gengar still seemed unimpressed. Ker watched the Gengar bicker with the others about how the noises were all in their head or that the house was just old, so of course it made strange sounds sometimes. As they continued their stupid argument, all the other ghosts swooped into the room, drawn to the sudden commotion. Very soon, all thirteen ghosts were in the master bedroom.
"What's going on?" one of the Haunter asked. "Everything okay?"
"These three idiots here think that the mansion is actually haunted, just because they heard noises in the walls," Gengar said as he pointed an accusing finger at the three ghosts. "Was probably just a Rattata crawling around."
"I told you, I couldn't sense anything in the walls…" the Misdreavus said feebly.
While the Gengar still refused to believe any of this, Ker could now taste the dread rising from the others who had just joined in. Everyone except Gengar glanced nervously at the walls, as if expecting a spirit to pop out at any moment. Ker knew she could always be that restless spirit that these Pokémon were so desperately looking for, but she had better ideas. She wasn't done tormenting them yet. Their fear was already sweet. It already filled up the room quite nicely, but she could flood the entire mansion with it if she really wanted to. She could even get Gengar's sweet terror added into the delicious concoction.
Ker snuck out of the ceiling and settled onto the ground, invisible to the group. Then, with a snicker, she dragged her claws down the nearest wall with an unsettling scratching sound. Everyone in the room flinched and shot their gaze to Ker to find a set of long, deep claw marks into the wall.
Everyone in the room screamed and cowered away. Even Gengar, for as fearless as he pretended to be, stepped back from the wall. Ker quickly went to the next wall and scratched in another set of claw marks. All of the ghosts hastily huddled back to back as they looked around frantically, searching for Ker.
The Sableye sank into the floorboards before reaching a claw toward the spooked group and lightly grazed her claws over the Gengar's ankle. He shrieked wildly, provoking even more screams from the other ghosts. Ker did this multiple times, running her claws over the ghosts' ghastly forms, ramping up their paranoia.
Their panic was escalating. Soon it would reach a tipping point and they would wildly flee the mansion. To push them over the edge, Ker had many options. She could burst out of the wall and reveal herself while taking on a nightmarish form. She could scream a ghastly wail that echoed deep into their cores.
Ker settled on something much more sinister. As the ghosts shrieked and searched for the one who tickled their forms, Ker slinked up the wall and to the ceiling, right above the chandelier. She took in the agony of her craftwork, drinking up the rising tension before all hell broke loose. She hoped Gallows was watching all this, purring in morbid delight. She hoped he savored this beautiful scene.
The Sableye slashed her claw through the chandelier and severed the chain.
A second later, the chandelier smashed into the ground right where the Gengar stood. Metal snapped and shattered while diamonds flew across the room. Debris and dust scattered into the air. A strange, inky black substance splattered all over the walls.
All of the ghosts fled in that instant. They didn't even bother checking on the Gengar. They were too spooked, too hysterical, to do anything besides scream and flee. They all bolted from the mansion, their delightful screams still echoing throughout the mansion even after they had long disappeared.
Ker snickered as she finally allowed herself to be visible again. She approached the collapsed chandelier, which had become a distorted, mangled mess of metal, and looked down at the Gengar still pinned beneath it. At least, what remained of his body. She hesitated to call him a Gengar and more of a purple splatter.
"Oh wow, I think I actually killed him, huh," Ker said. "I figured he'd just become intangible or something."
She wasn't expecting to have blood on her hands from this. She hadn't exactly killed anyone before during one of her scares. It was against the rules after all. Yet there was no way this Gengar was still alive. She couldn't even tell what was supposed to be his arm or his leg anymore.
The realization should have unsettled her, but if had to be perfectly honest, she didn't feel the least bit bothered by this Gengar's death. So what if he was dead? No one would miss him. His life was insignificant, just like all mortals' lives. He was just a speck in the endless, vastness of all the universes.
Even if Ker hadn't killed him, his death would have been just as insignificant. The universe eventually forgets all, no matter who they were. The universe had no concern for frail-minded mortals.
She admitted she felt a slight discomfort at the realization that Grim wouldn't be too happy about the death of a mortal, but that too passed quickly. Gallows would keep her safe when that Dusknoir came to punish her. He had a strange, powerful influence over others. Something about the way he talked always made everything work in his favor.
Ker smiled to herself as she peered toward the basement.
Gallows slowly rose up from below and joined Ker on the ground floor. She grinned in giddy anticipation at his reaction. She really did hope that her stunt was to his liking. She wanted him to be so enamored with her that he would instantly wrap her up in his tendrils and profuse his perverse adoration.
The Chandelure remained blank. He instead began taking in the dread that filled the room, which had become a thick haze of sweetness. Ker didn't even know if he was enjoying his feast. His flames didn't crackle like they usually did when he savored a good meal.
"Soooooooooo, what did you think, Gallows?" Ker asked, tapping her claws together nervously. "Did I amuse you with my ghoulishness? Was it what you wanted?"
"Oh yes, it was quite the sight," Gallows said, though in a faraway voice. "Quite the sight indeed. You scared thirteen ghosts at once. Quite the record for you."
"I um… I wasn't expecting to kill the Gengar though," Ker laughed nervously. "It just sort of happened."
"They're mortals, sometimes they meet their ends far more swiftly than anyone can predict," Gallows said with a shrug.
She thought he'd say more about that, how she had literally ended someone's life. She thought maybe he'd swoon over Ker finally being a murderer.
Yet he reacted as if she had told him she could see in the dark.
"Well um… I hope that you liked it," Ker said with a little giggle. "I um… I like seeing you happy."
"Hmmm?" Gallows said distractedly, not even looking in her direction as he continued absorbing the dread around him.
"Oh come on, pay attention to me!" Ker groaned as she stormed up to the Chandelure.
She gave him a good shove, snapping him out of his daze. She tasted his alarm just for a brief second. He genuinely had been startled by her. She lapped up what little he could before the fear stopped seeping out of his domed form. She couldn't help herself, even considering the situation. His dread was too good. She already wanted more of it. She could never get tired of Gallows's sweet, delectable dread.
Even still, she couldn't believe he reacted so easily to something so stupid.
"Oh don't tell me that actually scared you," she snickered. "Were you really that out of it?"
"Ah, unfortunately I was," Gallows said, laughing a bit too sheepishly for someone like him. "I had been lost in thoughts of mine as I feasted, leaving me vulnerable to your assault."
"Must have been some pretty deep thoughts if pushing you got you that startled," Ker said.
She thought maybe he'd say something back, but he refused to elaborate. He just looked away and took in the remaining fear around him. She sighed dejectedly. She hated this. She hated this whole conversation.
"Well, were you at least impressed with me scaring those poser poltergeists?" Ker then asked, desperately wanting to salvage even a little bit of her efforts.
"Oh yes, most certainly," Gallows said with a small chuckle. "You were quite a sight, as per usual. Though a common scare tactic, I must admit I found it amusing when you dragged your claws across the walls, all the while invisible. That brings dreadful shudders to even the most stoic of mortals."
"If it works, it works," Ker grinned deviously. "My favorite part was poking them from under the floor. That really got everyone real bad."
"Yes, that was also quite amusing," Gallows said.
Ker should have been happy to hear all of this. She got the validation she wanted and the pleased glimmer in Gallows's eyes, but she wasn't satisfied. She wasn't satisfied because something wasn't right in Gallows's words. Sure, he sounded fine and like his normal eloquent, enrapturing self, but something about him was off. Something about the way his flames crackled wasn't right. She could taste sweetness in the air around him too, and it wasn't from the ghosts she had just terrorized.
Why was he being like this? What had happened to her Gallows?
"Well then, shall we go?" Gallows asked. "There's not much else to do in this realm."
"Yeah, I guess," Ker said dismissively. "Anywhere you wanna go?"
"You've proven yourself enough with this current realm," Gallows replied. "Let's head to the coastline we have both grown so fond of. I wouldn't mind taking some time to recuperate."
"Well, alright..."
Ker ripped open a portal with her claws, one that led straight to their destination. She watched Gallows swoop through it in silence, disappearing into the other realm. The sweet taste of the room vanished with him, leaving the air tasteless.
So he no longer wanted to go into portals at the same time as her. Before, she could settle into his tendrils and they'd swoop into together. Now he showed no hesitance in leaving behind worlds without the little Sableye in his grasp.
Something was very wrong with him. Ever since they had opened their hearts to one another, something about him had changed. She didn't like that, not one bit. Why, he hadn't even shown even the slightest hint of frightening or teasing her since they had that intimate moment. He didn't even touch her anymore.
It was like he was afraid of her somehow.
This wasn't right. She wanted her tantalizing, ever-tormenting Gallows back whose very voice never failed to send pleasant shudders throughout her being.
She wasn't going to tolerate this anymore. She was going to get him back to his usual self, one way or another. He was too boring like this.
She vowed this silently in her mind as she entered the rift and followed after the Chandelure.
When Ker emerged from the other side of the portal, she found Gallows hovering along the shoreline, gazing into the dark horizon. The sun had long set into the distance, casting the world into soothing darkness with only the faint glimmers of moonlight upon the rolling waves to offer light. Not that Ker needed that light to see of course. With her gemstone eyes, she beheld a blank look upon the Chandelure's face as he watched the ebb and flow of the ocean. He seemed quite lost in thought. What could he be thinking about, Ker wondered.
Well, she was going to find that out now. What did she have to lose by asking him a few simple questions?
The Sableye approached the Chandelure and stopped beside him. He didn't seem to notice her, though by the way his flames flickered for just a moment, Ker knew he was aware of her presence. She smiled at him.
"Soooooo, what's on your mind?" she asked.
"Nothing of terribly important concern," Gallows answered plainly, still watching the waves with that vapid stare.
"You sure? You look like you're in another world right now," Ker said.
"Maybe I am," Gallows chuckled dryly to himself.
Silence fell between them once again. Ker frowned. This was going nowhere. She could simply believe him and take everything he said at face value, but she knew something was going on. She'd need to press him harder if she wanted any answers.
"You've been acting really strange for a while you know," Ker said bluntly. "It's worrying me."
Ker thought she saw his flames shudder for just a moment, but it was so quick that she could have easily imagined it. He remained silent, his eyes like glass.
"You're not… you anymore," Ker then said. "You're too quiet now. You don't even seem interested in scaring anyone anymore. I can tell you're just faking it so I won't bug you about it."
"You seem to be bothering me about it now though," Gallows said simply.
"Yeah, because I'm getting tired of it. I thought maybe you were just having a moment or something, but this has been going on for like what… three hunts? I don't know, ever since we were at this beach last time and you told me about your family, you've been different."
Again, nothing from the Chandelure. Ker sighed dejectedly. She hated conversations like this. They were too complicated for her.
"Is this some weird plan of yours that's supposed to scare me?" Ker asked. "Are you trying to act as weird as possible so that I get worried sick about you and then when I'm practically bursting at the seams, you finally say 'Gotcha!' and then eat up all of that anxiety I've been building up? If it is, I'd say you're doing a really good job. I feel like a ticking time bomb right now."
"That would be quite the elaborate and diabolical scheme if that were so," Gallows said. "Of course, I never would have expected it to work on ghosts like ourselves. We're not supposed to feel concern for our fellow kind, are we? We have no reason to."
"Well yeah, we're not supposed to," Ker admitted. "But you know, with you, I can't help it. I like being around you. You're… you're fun."
Gallows laughed hollowly. Ker tasted a strange emotion from him just then. It was that insatiable emotion from when they first met, that compelling feeling that latched onto Ker and ensnared her tight in its tendrils.
"That's exactly the point," the Chandelure stated. "We're not supposed to develop attachments to each other, yet here you are showing concern. It's unnatural."
"Yeah… maybe it is," Ker said, a little too quietly for her liking. "Maybe it is pretty weird that I like you so much that I start worrying about you. But so what? You like me too. You wouldn't have told me all that about your family if you didn't."
"I only shared that personal information with you because you asked. If you hadn't asked, I never would have mentioned anything about my mortal life."
"But you still told me. You could have just said no."
"I didn't want to be rude. I told you out of politeness since quite frankly, it wasn't difficult to discuss."
"So what, are you saying that you don't like me?"
"I'm fond of you, but in a more morbidly fascinating sort of way. I would compare it to how one relishes their food and takes great fondness in it, but doesn't have any sentimental feelings toward it."
Now Ker was getting angry. She knew it wasn't even rational, to be perfectly honest. She had known since day one that Gallows had only sought her company because he found her amusing and wanted more of her dread. She had also only wanted to be around him because she found him fascinating and wanted his dread in return. They were only together because they sought something superficial from each other. They were both just bored ghosts who wanted a little excitement in their eternities. Gallows had every right to keep their relationship the way it was.
Yet Ker had wanted that to change. For some reason, she didn't want to keep their relationship that shallow. She found herself liking Gallows too much. He was too enthralling, too delightfully suave and mysterious, to only be a soul to feast from. She thought Gallows would grow fond of her in return, but now he was saying otherwise.
"That's a lie and you know it," Ker spat. "I know you like me more than that."
Now it was time for Gallows to get mad. He finally turned to her, soul flame flaring dangerously as he locked gazes with her.
"You're projecting, Ker," Gallows hissed in a bitter tone Ker had never heard before. "You're only seeing what you feel and what you want. I told you from the moment I dropped my pitiful façade exactly what I wanted from you. I never agreed to camaraderie. It's as you said, Ker: we're ghosts. We don't develop attachments."
"What, you think I wanted to start caring about you?" Ker shot back. "You think I wanted things to change? I don't even know why I feel different!"
"Don't be dense, Ker. You know why you've suddenly grown a heart."
"Well I don't! If you're so smart, why don't you spell it out for me?! Come on, let's hear it!"
"Because you're in love with me."
Ker staggered back. A million panicked thoughts flooded Ker's mind as Gallows's words dawned on her. No, that wasn't it. She couldn't be in love with Gallows. They were ghosts. Ghosts didn't fall in love… they didn't. The closest anyone had was friends, and even then, no one was really close like mortal friends were. The ability to love vanished when their souls were ripped from their mortal bodies and they became as they are now.
And yet…
"Fine, you want to understand why I have become so distant for some time," Gallows said. "I'll tell you, now that I realize you lack any semblance of emotional intelligence.
"I'm no longer comfortable being around you when you've become infatuated with me. I only wanted to remain in your company because I wanted your dread. It was far too tempting and delicious for my own good. I knew no other dread would taste as divine as yours and I would spend all my eternity chasing after fear that would forever pale in comparison to yours. I had tasted the ambrosia and could not settle for anything less. I had thought I made this clear to you when I asked to be your companion.
"It seems I was mistaken."
Ker grimaced. She still couldn't fathom what was happening to her anymore. She still couldn't quite grasp the idea that she was in love with Gallows. It didn't feel real, it didn't feel right, but it explained everything…
"I have never cared for relationships, even as a mortal," Gallows went on. "I had thought I would escape that as a ghost, but it seems romance can bloom even after death. I had thought that love was a concept ghosts had long lost, but you've proven otherwise."
The Chandelure went quiet for a moment. His fire died down, becoming candle-flames before he made a strange sound from within his domed body. Ker thought it sounded like a sigh.
"I think it's best we part ways," Gallows said.
"W-Wait…" Ker croaked out, finally gaining the strength to speak. "Maybe you're wrong… I mean. I don't think I'm in love with you! It's like you said, ghosts can't love each other! Maybe it's something else!"
"No, I know love when I see it," Gallows said with a shake of his head. "You're infatuated with me. It's a special form of madness, obvious to everyone except the afflicted."
"Well then we can just try going back to how things were before!" Ker said pleadingly before grabbing hold of Gallows's tendrils. "Come on, don't leave me! What am I supposed to do if you go?"
The Chandelure didn't answer. He carefully withdrew his tentacles from Ker's grasp, somehow slipping out of her claws easily despite how firmly she held him. She grabbed his tentacles again, but her claws phased right through them. No matter how much she reached for them, she kept slipping through.
"Goodbye, Ker," Gallows said. "I'll admit I enjoyed the time we had together, and it hurts to part ways like this. I do wish it hadn't come to this."
Then with the flare of his flames, he vanished, disappearing into the night and leaving the bewildered Sableye all alone.