A/N: Hey everyone! It has definitely been a while, huh? I know my stories have been dead in the water for too long now (whoops) but I'm back with a collaboration with one of my close author friends KelseyAlicia! She wanted to help me bring my alternate universe idea to life, in a way that I never could have scraped together enough motivation for alone. So props to her, and please go check her out! She is posting this same story on Archive of Our Own and DeviantArt, so if you prefer those sites feel free to find her posts over there.
We will be alternating who writes each chapter. I wrote this one, she wrote the next one, and so on. Then she edits them, and we talk about them and do additional edits until we're happy with them. I've never collabed on writing before, so it's a neat adventure! Also, it helps big time with my awful work ethic since someone else is waiting on my writing. XD
EDIT 8/8/2022: It should also be noted that we are collaborating on the designs of many of the original ghost and human characters, but most of the personalities, names, and other details are credited to KelseyAlicia. I couldn't do this without her, so many thanks! *heart emoji*
Anyway, without further ado, we hope you enjoy the story! :)
The town of Peace Valley was a nice place to live... until spirits of the dead started showing up in droves.
Peace Valley had never been a stranger to paranormal occurrences and ghost stories. Ghosts were rumored to be gliding about in forsaken parts of town. Tales of supernatural creatures hiding in the woodland were spread around. But unfortunately, those rumors were dispelled by most until they became nothing but stories to terrify children.
People became less quick to disregard the tales when the resident ghost hunters and scientists moved in. The town watched with weary eyes as three children were born, one after another. The townspeople came to discover that Maddie and Vlad Masters were friendly individuals. Additionally, it was unmistakable that they were knowledgeable, unconventional hypotheses and beliefs aside.
Cecilia Masters was their eldest daughter, a spirited girl with rich brown hair that almost always held a hair bow. Charlie Masters was intelligent beyond his age, even as a young child, with his nose always hidden in a book. The youngest, Felicity Masters, was adorable, toting around her dolls and prompting smiles wherever she went.
There seemed to be peculiar energy surrounding the Masters' house that no one could explain. Unnatural chills would cause individuals to shiver even in the middle of summer. There were often whispered complaints of feeling like someone, or something, was watching. But for the most part, people moved on with their days like usual. Then one day, something changed.
The mysterious energy surrounding the house seemed to swallow the entire town. Brilliantly glowing orbs were seen floating throughout the town, destroying property and disrupting the peace. Suddenly, the people of Peace Valley began to acknowledge rumors that had once seemed laughable.
Suddenly, they realized they were significantly outmatched and vulnerable in a world where the supernatural was no longer fiction. So they went from being wary of the ghost hunters to looking to them for guidance. And guidance they brought, which came in the form of futuristic-looking weapons and ghost hunting gear, and assurances that they would get it under control.
But they weren't the only ones working to hold the ghosts at bay. The Ghost Investigation Ward, an obscure government contractor that dealt with spirits and the paranormal reports, was periodically witnessed in the town, evidenced by their pristine white suits. Other ghost hunters and enthusiasts occasionally came to investigate. However, their visits were often short-lived once they realized how dangerous the ghosts were.
A mysterious ghost hunter named the Blue Baron began helping to keep the ghosts at bay with futuristic glider wings and ghost weapons, recognizable by their lustrous black and sapphire blue color.
In addition, the ghosts themselves did not seem to be all on the same side, with factions, alliances, and enemies of their own. One in particular commonly made an appearance whenever another ghost did, who appeared to be a teenage girl with cyan hair and striking pink eyes, clothed in an aquamarine and white jumpsuit.
Some viewed her as a conniving delinquent looking for trouble. On the other hand, some theorized that she was genuinely attempting to stop the other wraiths that plagued the town for one reason or another, and therefore she was trustworthy on some level. It became a controversial topic.
This "ghost girl" was no ordinary ghost. Many people noticed some discrepancies. She seemed noticeably more solid than the others and never inflicted harm on the innocent.
The truth was, she was undoubtedly not an ordinary ghost. She was secretly the eldest daughter of the ghost hunter family and had been in a serious accident with their ghost portal prototype, causing her to be trapped somewhere between ghost and human. Alive and dead.
Thanks to the portal device, she'd been infused with a lethal amount of ectoplasmic energy that had leached in from the ghost dimension. Well, theoretically fatal, but she survived nonetheless.
Her name was Cecilia Masters. She was a star student in her high school, Waverly High, and the class Vice President of the Junior class. She never failed to impress her teachers with her leadership, confidence, and eagerness to learn.
While on the side, she was balancing way more than it seemed. Ghosts were bombarding her hometown, and she doubled as the controversial ghost heroine Spirit. She was not alone in this endeavor; she was joined by her best friends Denise Duquesne and Jamie Ramsey. Denise was a well-known cheerleader, and Jamie was very active in the school's drama club.
They may have become a well-oiled machine with months under their belts, but the beginning of their experience with the supernatural was nothing like it. Instead, it had been horrifying and traumatizing, thrust into a world they never knew existed and in constant physical and spiritual danger.
They had no allies. Ceci's parents may have been specialists in the field. But, they didn't know how they would react to such information about their daughter.
Furthermore, the ghosts weren't to be trusted either. Since every ghost they had ever encountered wished harm upon their town. So there was no one but a group of three scared sixteen-year-olds who could scarcely drive, let alone patrol an entire town from the paranormal.
After countless sleepless nights, scratches, and bruises, they settled into a routine. They became even more like family and inseparable.
Some ghosts became well known for showing up in the town. For example, the Mailman frequently stole mail from mail trucks and post offices to deliver to the townsfolk, often at inopportune times.
He never comprehended that 3:00 a.m. was not an excellent time for running deliveries. While the Mailman wasn't a menace to their safety and was ultimately harmless? His presence quickly irritated citizens, ghost hunters, and other ghosts.
Another frequently sighted ghost was the Huntress, known to hunt unique and rare ghosts for pleasure. Another was a witch ghost who was generally sighted around the deserted log cabin on the edge of town. There was continuously intense energy surrounding her. Then a pirate ghost appeared to be on a never-ending quest for treasure, even in strange and improbable locations. Another frequently spotted one was a lady in a white dress who never spoke. She was repeatedly spotted gliding through the town in the late hours of the night.
Some ghosts were more violent and destructive than others, but their presence was continually unsettling for the living.
The ghost girl would inevitably materialize at the scene whenever a ghost was spotted. Sometimes odd things would transpire during her struggles with other spirits. Wherever she was, it seemed like there were continuous tricks played on the eyes of witnesses, making them see things that previously weren't there. It seemed that the ghosts were deceived too, and it often resulted in them being pulled inside a shiny metal device the ghost girl carried.
Were they hallucinations caused by the ghosts? Were the people of Peace Valley going insane from all of the bizarre circumstances that transpired? Was every witness thoroughly influenced by some drug or toxin and therefore unreliable? It remained a mystery. A cloud of wariness often settled wherever the ghost girl went, with people anxious over the possibility of having strange visions.
She also made things out of nothing. Sometimes they observed her pulling something out of thin air! Whether a piece of rope, a knife, or animals like birds. These would evaporate, presumably back to wherever they came from.
She was an enigma, as most had only glimpsed her from afar. After all, ghost fights and encounters could get exceptionally dangerous quickly, specifically for those unequipped and vulnerable to attacks.
The trio's adventures eventually took them through the ghost portal machine that had set everything in motion. On the inside was a whole unexplored realm filled with ghosts and peculiar landscapes like mysterious floating islands and limitless doorways that led to the unknown and even more ghosts. Hundreds of spirits, including those who had come to their town and those who remained in their own dimension.
They discovered that the "Ghost Zone" was actually known by ghosts as the Infinite Realms, and infinite it was. The Infinite Realms and the Earth were connected closely. Anything that happened to one could drastically affect the other. Time and space were wonky inside the Infinite Realms, too, with the possibility of portals opening up anywhere and anytime in history.
An all-powerful group of ghosts called the Ancients watched over ghosts and humans alike to prevent catastrophes. However, periodically things could slip past their careful watch.
This is where the story begins.
If you're interested in more about this world, chapter 19 of my fanfic If Vlad Wasn't a Fruitloop features several of the characters. I have art of Ceci on my DeviantArt page (PhantomS14) and additional info linked there too. Anyway we'd love hearing what you think and look out for more updates! :D
-Specter14