`Sup folks. I came with another commision for the awesome /gumballfanatic1 on twitter, based on an au i thought of.
There isn't much to say that isn't in the description, so enjoy it!
Anne was quietly watching the news, putting her working boots on, when she noticed the TV was getting smaller. A second glance revealed that wasn't the case; the couch had started to levitate. Again.
Soon enough all the furniture in the living room was freely drifting in the air.
"Sasha! Make it stop," Anne shouted.
In front of her materialized a ghostly form, emanating a fiery red aura.
"Morning Anne. What should I stop?"
"Don't play dumb with me." Anne hunched over to not hit her head on the roof. "Come on, I gotta rush to work."
Sasha sighed. "Fine. Careful with that step."
The couch did a 90º spin, throwing Anne toward the floor. She screamed as she braced for the impact that never came. She was floating three inches from the ground.
"Uff. Close one. Thanks, Mar-Mar."
Marcy's gloomy green aura became visible. She was holding Anne by the waist.
"No prob, Bob." Marcy winked at her.
Anne stood up and made a quick roll to dodge the falling furniture.
"What's wrong with you?" she shouted Sasha, floating by the roof.
Sasha laughed, mouth full of sharp teeth. "I'm haunting you. It's what I do, girlfriend."
Anne blushed furiously. She hated that nickname. She picked up her other boot and put it on.
"Well, you'll have to try harder to scare me out of this house."
Anne packed everything she'll need for her shift at the aquarium. As she was leaving, she stopped at the door.
"I have a long day at work today and more work to do at home, so I want no ghost shenanigans from you," she told Sasha. "Marcy, please make sure she behaves."
Marcy saluted. Sasha blew a raspberry.
Anne left the house, got into her van, and drove away. Sasha slumped on the couch, channel surfing for a while. After a few minutes, a piercing sound shredded her ears. It was Marcy, vacuuming the kitchen floor.
"That's pathetic," said Sasha to herself.
She unplugged the vacuum cleaner. Marcy looked dumbfounded.
"What exactly are you doing?" Sasha hissed.
Marcy shrugged. "I think it's pretty obvious I'm keeping this house neat and clean."
Sasha raised an eyebrow. She pointed at the vacuum cleaner, which combusted into fire and then exploded. The accumulated dust fell over the kitchen, like snow on the streets in winter.
"Well, that was mature," said Marcy as the dust passed through her incorporeal form.
"Oh? And what are you gonna do now?" Sasha challenged her. She'd never met another ghost, but she knew Marcy was a particularly strong one, even if she didn't show it often. She was anxious to see what she'll do.
Marcy grabbed a broom and began to sweep the floor. Sasha facepalmed.
"Are you serious?" she boomed. "Why do you clean the house every day?"
Marcy took a while to answer. "Because it's dirty? And between her work at the aquarium and the fixing of this house, Anne's too busy to worry about cleaning up."
Sasha went rabid. "Earth to Marcy: this is my house, 'k? I died here, and I don't want tenants. I would've gotten rid of Anne already if you weren't playing guardian angel with her."
Marcy chuckled and stopped sweeping. "Sasha, I know you have been TV and internet free for three years-"
"Five years," Sasha corrected.
"But you should know the real estate market is a mess! A house this big, in the middle of the woods, and at such a low price? It would've sold immediately if it wasn't falling apart and it haven't been taken over by a ghost with anger issues."
"It was already a wreck before I 'moved' in," Sasha added.
"But trust me, even if you had dropped the couch over her head, Anne wouldn't have left," Marcy kept going. "She's fear-free. I should know. I haunted her."
This picked Sasha's interest. She sat over the table and watched Marcy work.
"Haunted? Not anymore?"
Marcy stopped briefly as if hit by a frozen spell, before going back to sweeping.
"No, but I used to. And man, I was good at it! Anne nearly got bald 'cause of the stress. But after a whole year of haunting, I thought 'you know what? Forgiving is a good policy'. And I made peace with Anne."
"If everything is so peachy right now, why don't you ascend?" Sasha pressed on.
Marcy held her chin over the broom. "Just because I made peace with Anne doesn't mean she made it with herself. She's still guilty she got us killed."
The air turned somber and cold.
"Anne's not dead, 'tho," Sasha rebuked.
"She kinda is. On the inside. So now I don't haunt Anne in the physical world but in her noggin. I went from a ghost to being her personal demon."
Marcy stared at the dust mountain she'd accumulated on the floor. On her side, Sasha began to plot.
"So what I hear is that you're earthbound because Anne is bound to her own guilt."
"Pretty much."
What Sasha got from all of this is that Anne's easily influenced by her emotions.
Marcy went back to work. "Anyway. Anne and I are staying for good. So if you could get used to it, it would be very poggers of you."
Perhaps that wasn't a bad idea. If Sasha was on good terms with Anne, maybe she could manipulate her into leaving. It beats haunting someone who isn't afraid of ghosts.
Sasha floated until she was nose-to-nose with Marcy.
"Suppose I want to be 'poggers'," said Sasha with a plastic smile. "What should I do?"
Anne came home late at night, carrying a bag of cement. She was assaulted by a delicious smell gusting from the kitchen. Sasha was by the stove, stirring the dense content of a cooking pot.
She eyed Anne. "I don't know if it's good since I can't taste it, but it's not poisonous —if that's what you're thinking."
Before Anne could ask 'why', Marcy shouted for her and Anne rushed to the bathroom. When she turned the lights on, she nearly collapsed. Before she left in the morning, the bathroom floor was half naked, with only a few ceramics in place. Now the floor and the shower wall were carpeted with the baby-blue ceramics Anne had picked. She let the bag of cement fall. She won't be needing it anymore.
"What happened here? Marcy, did you install the whole bathroom by yourself?" she said to the air.
Marcy's form became visible. "Sure I did! Do you like it?"
Anne was stunned. Marcy took that as a yes and dragged her to the kitchen table. Sasha presented the stew and, after stirring it to see if it didn't have eye of newt, witch's tongue, or anything weird, Anne tasted it. She nearly melted. It was delicious! She finished the plate and asked for seconds.
Sasha and Marcy sat on the chairs and chatted with Anne. Sasha found herself enjoying this little moment. 'These aren't your friends! They invaded your house. They are the enemy!' said the voice of reason in her head, who was always right.
When she was done eating, Anne said bashfully, "Thanks a lot for all the help today guys. The food was great. And the bathroom? Man, it's perfect."
Marcy beamed. "I'm here for you Anne. For as long as you need me."
Anne lowered her head. Sasha felt this was a topic overdue for a long talk, but she won't be the one to bring it on.
"Well, since the bathroom's d-done, I-I think I'll go to bed early," said Anne and dragged her feet up the stairs. She stopped midway, glanced at them, and gave a sad smile. Then she disappeared to the second floor.
Marcy's comment had bummed Anne out. And herself as well, if her fading, sad, puppy-in-the-rain aura meant something. Sasha found herself hating Marcy a little bit less than this morning. That was a problem.
"Do you want to, I dunno, watch TV or something?" Sasha asked.
Marcy made like a daisy and flowered with good mood. "I'm always down for TV. OH! We could marathon War of the Warlords! If you do it, I'll let you scare-awake Anne tomorrow."
The price was big to pay. But the reward was too tempting.
"Let's get down to it, girlfriend," said Sasha.
As she half-heartedly watched the blockbuster film, with Marcy's form so close to her their auras interweaved, Sasha realized her afterlife would be much different from now on.
She wasn't sure how to feel about that.
And that's that. It was a real interesting concept to work around. Too many emotions to pack into too short amount of words. So maybe i'll return to this AU later. The angst (and fluff) possibilities are endless.
Anyway if you liked it and would like to contact me, read my analysis of the series i watch or see the art i post every full moon, you can follow my tumblr (wolfinshipclothing) or my twitter.
See you guys later, and as usual, like and comment if you liked it!