Chapter Text
The sky over the valley was the color of fresh - bruise purples and heavy grays that threatened a down pour that never came. A low, clinging mist crept over the jagged hills, swallowing the road behind Wind Archer as if to cut off his retreat. The air here didn’t just feel cold, it felt stagnant, carrying the faint, metallic tang of wet stone and ancient rot. As he pulled up to the property, the wind died down entirely, leaving the house in silence so thick it was intentional.
Recently Wind Archer has moved into a new home. A cheap and broken down house that was known for its disastrous history.
He bought this home with the intent of starting a new life and business. Moonlight recommended this area as it was a perfect place to start a new business and could help him thrive in his career.
The small house had two rooms, a torn down kitchen that had peeling paint coming off and broken tiles that could be seen throughout the entire house. The walls were covered with dust and unknown black substance.
He picked at the piece of paper that was in his bag as he proceeded to take it out and read through it. Burned down…huh? The house had a house fire that took place 30 years ago…
He steadily placed the sheet back inside his bag as he shuffled inside the house. Dust flew where he stepped as he began to pull boxes inside.
He placed his bag on the burned counter as he approached the supposed bedroom that was missing a door. The room was slightly better then the rest of the house as the window was still intact and covered in the years of dust it has collected over the years.
Wind archer leaned against the wall as he sighed, planning on how the hell he was going to clean this catastrophe.
He checked on the time as it read 3:40 pm on his phone. Stormbringer should be here soon…
“I should go to the store…” he muttered as he made his way towards the front door and entered his car, it was a green micro with car air freshener of pineapple.
The store was down two blocks as the car was parked at the head of the store.
Smoke filled his lungs as he glanced toward the small alleyway beside the store as there was a group of junkies smoking off. “Disgusting….”
The well kept man made his way inside as he walked through the aisle until he found what he was looking for.
Placing the broom into the small basket he held, he continued deeper into the aisle as he threw in a couple of towels and sponges. He eyed the baking soda and vinegar as he placed it in, along with a mop and bucket that came with rubber gloves.
He made it to the cashier as he scanned the items and it came out at a total of 43 dollars.
Back inside the car, he drove home and noticed a familiar vehicle that he knew all too well. In front of his house was Stormbringer as she waved quickly and had the biggest smirk plastered on her face.
He stepped out of the vehicle with his bags as she approached him. “Hey stormbringer…”
“Heya wind. I see your house is…worse than mine.” She snatched the bags out of his hands as he blinked.
“Storm…I didn’t invite you to just hang out. I invited you to help me clean up. It’s late and I’m not planning to sleep in a mess of a room.” He proceeded to sigh to get his point across.
Unlocking the front door, both made their way to the room he planned to sleep in as she was gagged at the condition of the house.
“Wind archer, why the hell did you buy this ditch. It’s literally falling apart”, her finger glided across the wall of his room as ash and dust sat on her finger.
“It was cheap. Simple.”
“I mean…if you have the money to build it back up…It would have been a brilliant idea…but your quite literally broke.”
“Just get to work,” he snuffed out as he opened the bags and pulled out a broom and towels. Throwing the towels at Stormbringer as he handled the broom.
“You scrub the walls, I’ll broom.” he stated firmly as she groaned in annoyance, but listened either way.
The broom swept firmly and the towels scrubbed loudly as stormbringer turned for a minute and a smirk creeped onto her face.
“How about some music, huh? You know…lighten up the mood, hmm?”
“Fine, if it gets you to work,” he gave in as stormbringer ran out the room quickly to her car before returning with a speaker.
“It’s paaarty time!” she squealed as the speaker began to play some music.
She danced and cleaned at the same time as wind archer smiled quietly, appreciating the moment as they continued to work.
Everything was soon a blur as it was night time, stormbringer helped unpack his things from the boxes and set up the bed before saying her goodbyes. “Byeee, see you later, you bug!”
The door shut as some dust from the main room fell off as he made his way towards his room. Quickly taking off his pants and got into bed as he shivered from the coldness of the room.
He was restless as he tossed and turned in bed, struggling with the new environment. It shouldn’t be this hard to sleep…
He glanced over to the open window, as the moon's light filtered in, leaving a clear pattern on the cracked floor. He noticed the broken closet that contained junk inside, it had a faint glow as the moonlight gently lit it.
Making his way toward the closet, he ravished through it before pulling out the reflective object that had caught his eye. It was a small ring with a small circular, red gem that glowed softly.
“Interesting…” he softly rubbed the gem to remove the dust that covered it as it began to glow brighter.
He blinked surprised as he rubbed it harder as it continued to glow even brighter. He returned to his bed as he placed it next to him, observing it as its glow began to fade.
His hand immediately returned as he rubbed it once again, as it began to radiate once again.
I’ll look you up online tomorrow… he then closed his eyes as the darkness lulled him into a deep sleep, allowing his mind to wander off.
———
The sun's light softly covered his sleeping form, as he shifted in bed. Feeling an unfamiliar weight on his bed as he blinked, rubbing his eyes at the same time.
He shifted his eyes as he stared forward.
“Morning sleeping beauty~” He immediately flinched as he noticed that there was someone in his room, quickly looking around but to see no one.
“Who’s there?!” He yelled out as he sat up quickly.
“Woohoo, over here!” He turned his head to the other side of the bed as he took a closer look and noticed it was…a ghost?
He stared in disbelief as he crawled over and suddenly noticed the cold temperature in the room.
“W..who are you…what are you doing here….?” He muttered quickly as he scrambled out of bed and quickly grabbed a shoe from the ground and pointed it at the see-through figure on his bed.
The phantom raised a brow as his figure became more clear, as he sat up and thought quietly.
“Im a ghost…duhh?” He said as Wind Archer observed over him, he had a reddish outline with long flowing hair that resembled fire and his eyes, were red. The ghost seemed to have dark spots on his hands and legs, as though he was burned.
He wore a black vest with a red blouse underneath, with long black, flared pants with pointed shoes.
“Well…I know that.” He simply said as he approached the ghost with a firmer hold on the shoe.
“Names Fire spirit. I have been dead since 1994, so actually! You're in my house.” Fire spirit smirked as he floated up and toward him as Wind archer threw the shoe.
“Did you really think that was going to work?”
“Not really..” Wind archer muttered as he kept his eyes on him. “…Why were you…sleeping on my bed?”
Fire spirit eyes flickered with realization as he took a hold of Wind archers shoulder, “Because of you, my Prince Charming, you let me out!”
Confused, he stepped back as he glanced back at the spot the ghost first appeared as he took notice of the ring. “What do you mean?”
“Well basically, I have been stuck in that damn ring for about 10 years, I was originally free to roam around the house. Before some dumbass teenagers decided to explore MY home.” He made his way to the bed as he sat down, rocking his legs back and forth.“They discovered the ring and then left me in the closet.” Fire spirit finished as Wind archer nervously sat on the ground and asked him a new question.
“What does that ring have to do with you?”
“Well, for some reason my ring needs to stay in a constant state of warmth after a certain period of time. And you, my friend, happened to find that very ring and left it in bed. And so when the sun came up,” His view was then changed to the window that had a clear view to Wind archers bed.
“…but then I felt the ring warm up and that’s when I came out.” He finished.
Silence filled the room afterwards as Wind Archer pondered at his words before straining his lips, feeling awkward as he slowly shifted, “how long have you been out and…staring at me..?”
“For a couple hours. It’s been a while since I seen another human being,” as his gaze traveled against the missing tiles and weathered floor. “I noticed you cleaned the room a bit, are you planning to stay?”
Wind Archer, still not used to the extravagant being in front of him, answered the questioned carefully, “Yes, I’m planning on rebuilding it”
The spirit's hair shrinked before bursting once more as if reflecting his emotion, the room growing colder as Wind Archer was careful with him.
“I won’t allow that,” a whisper flew off his tongue as both felt a tension begin to build before them, “like I said, this is my house.”
“That’s unreasonable. I bought this house with the intent to start a clean slate, and I won’t allow..some…ghost to ruin that. Besides, you're not even the slightest bit of scary,” He immediately got up as the floor creaked with whispers of the past as fire spirits' eyes wandered down to the pantless person in front of him.
“Where’s your pants?” The mysterious beings smirk grew as he laughed at the man in front of him. Wind Archer, usually so composed, realized his predicament as he blushed furiously.
“That’s- that’s just how I sleep! Is there something wrong with that” he sneered as he snatched a pair of dark brown jeans from the open box on the side of his bed before shoving it on.
The spirit continued to chuckle as he flew over curiously, “also, I never catched your name?” He hummed out as he checked over his nails, attempting to hide his interest with boredom.
He ignored him as he pulled out his phone and checked the time, before a reddish figure emerged through the phone and their eyes stared at his, narrowed as the phantom observed him.
“I’m warning you boy. If you don’t leave my property right now, I will patronize you, ruin your day to day life, and haunt every corner of this hold till you leave.” He sneered as he stared back at the green figure.
“Go ahead, I won’t be driven out.” Wind Archer spat back as he walked out the room. Already planning his day out. And that would be to finish making his room.
Fire spirit form dimmed as he was completely invisible to the naked eye, already planning on how to drive the determined man out of his house.