"To good and true love , fear is forever affixed."
- Francois Rabelais
As three strangers were going ahead of them, a new existence made her known.
Another ghost, once a monster, followed a living pair and a fellow ghost. Clad in light armor and cloaked in black, they extended a hand to the dead human, patting their shoulder.
When the young ghost thought they were the stalker, someone was tailing them. The skeletal hand was slim, and so were its fingers. Their light tap made the human shudder, despite no longer having a body.
"Hello, partner."
Fear was replaced by confusion, again, and it seems the little ghost's past chased him back beyond life. The skeletal person also felt familiar, more so when she uttered that partner.
"Come on, we must follow those we SAVED."
"We SAVED them?"
Both ethereal beings were surprised one because they haven't spoken until now, and the other because they wondered if they met the wrong "partner."
"Do you remember anything about us? $#%€ ?"
"No, nothing at all."
The ghost monster sighed but followed the living with them nonetheless. Their human partner was bothered by how dysfunctional their memory was, especially since everybody else seemed to remember what happened to them.
Both living and dead went through the place called the Ruins. They were met with little resistance, for a supposedly hostile land. Monsters never barred their path, and traps weren't that complicated to solve.
While the masked monster scared off any potential aggro'ers, the human girl looked around for buttons and levers when needed. She also tried to talk to a dummy, which made her fellow human question her sanity for a second.
"Ah, that dummy got scared."
The young ghost did not get the meaning until they saw something floating away from said dummy.
That was their second ectoplasm meeting of today, and they wondered if they could get to know those people first before meeting others ahead.
As if fate desired it otherwise, they soon met a third ghost, one on the verge of tears. It took the living a few more puzzles and negotiations with a capricious rock, but this guy looked like a tougher monster.
The girl munched a candy, expecting to recover some energy before dodging attacks from the shy ectoplasm. Her fellow human, however, went to talk to him.
"What brings you here?"
"Ah ... um ... Hi"
Things had to be handled slowly with this ghost, concluded the not-so-dead child.
"Hey, what brings you to that narrow passage?"
The ghost formed spectral tears in his eyesockets, which naturally flowed and attacked the girl. She got hit once or twice but managed to dodge the rest.
Since the attack took her by surprise, she yelped, earning a chuckle from the masked monster. The human ghost panicked, then waved to his teary monster counterpart.
"Would you please let those people go through?"
"Uh, sure ... I am sorry."
More tears flowed downwards toward the girl, who took again one or two bits of damage. She got annoyed by this, gripping an invisible handle.
The boy froze at her expression, expecting the worst to happen if she would attack a monster. He approached her current "opponent", then tried to hug him.
Napstablook, as the girl managed to find through her monster partner, stopped crying.
" I am sorry, I just need these people to go by their way, and I never meant to upset you either."
"Um, human ... you're nice."
When the girl had a free turn, she recovered her composure and paused, looking for a weapon she knew she no longer has.
The now appeased ghost asked the girl to have him perform a magic trick, to which she agreed. She was glad she could make it out without a FIGHT and felt something phasing through her young body.
A human touch, for mere seconds, a hand brushing her own.
She blushed, it was a familiar hand, one she yearned to have in her palm if she succeed in her current run. The dead human jolted in turn, it was the first thing they could ever physically feel, and it wasn't entirely unpleasant.
They wondered why they ever managed to touch her hand until something glowed on the girl's neck.
A red, heart-shaped pendant, pulsing with life like her crimson eyes.
The girl smiled, then seemed to turn around and face the ghost - which could not see - and mumbled a poem she knew by heart.
To live and to be kept alive
The difference is nonexistent
To die and to be killed
The difference is likewise
Nonexistent
As the human slowly digested the meaning, she thanked her invisible helper, then moved towards a house.
The abode reminded the child of their own, wondering if their past still chased them this far. They had no flashbacks up until now, just voices every now and then when the girl met monsters.
Voices of monsters pleading for their lives.
"Please ... spare me."
Trembling voices, then blood gurgles or high-pitched whimpers.
"I ... I have a family ... please !"
"Please ... do not ... kill me"
Along the pleas, stabbing and gutting sounds were heard. A growl and a cackle were present all the time as if the murderer thoroughly enjoyed his work.
Was it them?
They were not totally convinced they could be this ruthless, but since they were dead, it could also be their punishment.
Sentenced to death for being a murderer by their own lover.
As the thought heavily weighed on their hazy mind, living and dead entered the empty house. The stench of burnt fur and dust soon filled their nostrils, prompting them to follow it down the basement.
They were met with a hallway, and a *thud* could be heard with every step they made. It got louder around one sharp turn, and they could finally see whoever was making that much noise.
A monster blasting a stone with magic turned around and faced them with a perfectly symmetrical black & white body.
The human ghost trembled in fear, and all except the masked monster were bewildered by the hostile presence.
The monster stopped assaulting the room and slowly turned back to glare at the intruders.
Only the girl spoke among the beings present in the basement whispered a "mother", as she fell on her knees.
The dead human was even more terrified when they saw the struggling monster in the flesh.
They remember everything they did to that once gentle being. They remember the bloody room in which they bathed, among human and monster lifeless bodies. They remember her - the motherly queen of monsters - panting as she came back from the dead.
Her flesh was torn apart, her guts were out in the open, and she no longer had eyes, only empty sockets fueled with rage.
"HA ... HA ... HA! AHAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU ARE THE MONSTER AFTER ALL ! I SHOULD HAVE PROTECTED THEM FROM YOU! YOU ARE NO ANGEL!"