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It was abnormal, for exactly two ghouls to be summoned at the same time.
Typically, a full new pack was summoned together, or individual ghouls were summoned to replace old ones.
But two was…unusual.
And so were the ghouls in question.
The quintessence ghoul, Phantom as he was being called, was smaller than most of his element, but seemed to still carry the strength of his predecessor. His hair and fur were both stained white in uneven patches, and his horns appeared scorched at the tips.
He was energetic, eager to impress, and a bit too active for the others to keep up with him.
The air ghoulette, dubbed Aurora by the siblings, somehow managed to be even smaller than Phantom. Her hair was a gradient of deep blue and brilliant seafoam green; the image of the astral phenomenon she’d been named after, wavy and shoulder-length. Her skin was a lavender gray, her claws sharper than a typical air ghoul’s.
She was off-putting, awkward without realizing it herself; she fiddled with her hands and played with her hair when she spoke, had to constantly ask everyone to repeat themselves because she kept spacing out.
The bond between the two of them was something no one in the ministry had seen between two ghouls before; they walked around the halls hand in hand, as if afraid someone would try to pull them apart. They spoke to each other in hushed whispers, slept in the same bed, even shared their clothes together
Strangely enough, none of it seemed even remotely romantic.
The two were fiercely protective of each other, and catching one without the other was a rare occurrence.
But as it happened, one afternoon, a group of sisters came across Aurora, all alone, wondering the hallways like a lost vixen.
Aurora knew she was disliked. She wasn’t oblivious to that.
But she wanted to keep trying.
She tried her best to be kind, sweet, unthreatening.
None of that saved her from the fact that she was just weird.
Something about her.
Maybe if she was intimidating like Cirrus, no one would’ve dared to treat her like this.
Or if she was beautiful like Cumulus, in that elegant, conventional way that she was.
And if she was charismatic like Sunshine, maybe she would’ve been popular.
But she was just Aurora.
And so, she dreaded the footsteps behind her.
“Oh, wow, your costume is so cute, Aurora!”
Here we fucking go.
“Ah- Sorry, that’s not your costume, is it? Isn’t that Phantom’s? I can’t tell, I guess you both just have such similar body types…similar chests, y’know.”
Aurora willed herself not to hear the snickering the sisters had burst into, instead focusing on taking a deep breath, and forcing her face into the sweetest, most innocent smile she could.
“Oh, yeah, hah- He’s letting me borrow it, since he’s off swimming with the others.”
Two of the sisters rolled their eyes, the other two looking at her with false amusement. The tall one at the front assumed a wide smile that matched Aurora’s own.
“You two are just so cute! So, when are you planning on making it official?”
“Sorry, I don’t really know what you’re talking about-”
“Oh, come on, no need to be coy! You’re clearly meant for each other! It’s been so long since we had a good romance in the ministry-”
“I’m not interested in him romantically. Nor is he interested in me romantically. For the record, I’m not interested in anyone romantically, I’m a-”
The blonde pretended to gasp in shock.
“Surely you don’t mean that! You’re a servant of the Dark Lord, you embody lust!”
“That’s not what I said. I’m all good for lust, I’ve had it on with Phantom several times over, but I don’t do romance. I’m ar-”
Suddenly, one of the sisters was very, very close to Aurora, all faux warmth and friendliness gone. She seemed angry.
“I knew you were a no good whore. You’re just stringing that poor boy along, aren’t you? Using him for sex, not even giving him love in return. Is it because he’s the only one who’ll have your flat manic pixie dream girl ass? I can see those claws of yours- You hurt him, don’t you? Be honest, do you give him scars? Fucking monster.”
The others had stepped in to calm their friend down, finally walking past the ghoulette with various disdainful glances in her direction.
//
By the time Phantom returned from the pool, Aurora’s blood was still boiling.
The other seemed to catch that something was wrong immediately.
“Rora? What happened?”
A low growl rose in his chest.
“Was it those same fuckers again? I swear, I’ll sniff them out and-”
“I need to fight something.” Aurora simply stated, and Phantom nodded, answering her call for a classic form of ghoul stress relief.
They all knew it didn’t make sense to humans. Most humans considered violence inherently cruel, something you only did to people you hated.
To ghouls, however, physical violence was an essential part of their self-regulation.
Often, it only brought members of a pack closer together.
Aurora wondered, briefly, what her adversaries would say about this tradition. They’d probably see it as mindless cruelty, even abuse.
They didn’t understand. They couldn’t understand that this was just another aspect of their relationship; as ordinary and affectionate as a trip to the movie theater.
There they stood, outside the ministry, in the pouring rain, beating each other up with all they had.
Aurora’s claws pierced Phantom’s skin as Phantom’s fangs pierced Aurora’s, fists met bones and joints and eyes, shoes met ribcages.
Phantom had a lot of anger to give to their fight as well; Aurora wondered if it was his own, or if he was boiling with rage at what she’d been through as well.
Eventually, they fell on their backs in the wet grass, all blood and bruises and numb aching, all anger depleted from both of their small vessels.
Back inside the church, Phantom gave Aurora a quick squeeze, before heading to the showers.
Aurora was left alone in the hallways. Again.
She felt like she was floating above her own body, waiting to crash back in.
“Ghoulette? What are you doing up this late? Is everything alright?”
Papa.
Her Papa.
Copia was an awkward, timid, but ultimately charismatic and kind man.
Aurora briefly felt guilty about not having tried to get to know him better ever since he’d summoned her; she’d been so attached to Phantom.
Copia knew better than to question the frankly horrifying physical state his newest, smallest ghoulette was in; sporting a nosebleed, several new bruises, and a chipped tooth, her hair damp and messy from the weather outside.
Copia knew better than to question all this, because a long time ago, he’d decided to stop trying to understand everything ghouls did.
Including the physical violence. As long as they didn’t permanently injure each other, Copia was content to merely acknowledge that this was something they enjoyed, and leave it at that.
But there was more than the physical damage going on with the ghoulette now, he could tell.
Aurora was so sweet and optimistic most of the time, a star bright enough to light up every room she entered.
But now, she seemed…upset.
“Papa…can I trust you?”
//
Copia was horrified by the things his precious, adorable ghoulette had told him.
About the harassment she’d faced, the blatant erasure of her identity, the frankly misogynistic attacks on her character based on absolutely nothing- He was disgusted that something like this had happened within these halls, without his knowledge.
“Oh, ghoulette…”
He couldn’t help it. He pulled her into a tight hug.
“You should have told me earlier…I- I could have stopped them-”
“I just wanted to know why.” Aurora whispered, voice surprisingly stable.
She wasn’t good at crying.
“I wanted to know why they hated me so much.”
“People like this…more often than not, they do not need a reason to hate.” Copia explained, suddenly reminded of the way he’d been treated when he was a Cardinal.
“They accuse you of harming your friend, while actively harming you…it is the hight of irony. But trust me, they will be dealt with. Verbal abuse and false accusations are not taken lightly. If this ever happens again, you come straight to me, okay?”
“Okay, Papa. Thank you.” She nodded against his shoulder.
Finally, he let go of her, expression giving away that he’d just had an idea of some sort.
“You know, these people are such cowards that they only harass you when you’re alone, because they know you’re too kind to hurt them…but I assure you, the others are not. Maybe it’s time for you and Phantom both to bond with the rest of the band.”