Dreamswap Oneshots

Ghost Hunting with Ani (Drani)

Warnings: Mention of execution

***

The castle in which Justice Reigns was settled was old, it was not a secret for anyone. It has been there even a millennia before Dream was given the building, it was passed down from family to family yet not a lot of people talked about the paranormal activities that were sometimes witnessed inside the imposing walls.

Because yes, the place was haunted. By several ghosts actually.

Even Ani, while being very close to the owner of the place, had no idea spirits roamed the halls of the castle until they saw with their own eyes a pen writing down something on paper without a person holding said pen.

Children were gathered around that phenomenon with stars instead of pupils. "Emily came back!" Ani heard them say enthusiastically, waiting patiently for the pen to be put down.

They approached them and crouched to their level, a curious expression on their face. "Who is Emily?"

The orphans flinched, seemingly not having noticed them stepping closer. They stammered, all looking at each other in distress.

"What should we do??" One finally whispered through gritted teeth, eyes darting back and forth between Ani and the other children.

"I don't know, maybe we should just tell them? Mx.Ani is trustworthy after all." They all hummed in thought at the comment before nodding like one person and turning back toward them, unaware of the fact Ani heard them very clearly.

"Emily is our ghost friend." One started, a smile on their lips. "But don't tell anybody! It could be our little secret!" They brought a finger near their lips to underline the 'don't tell anyone part.

"Is Emily the only ghost here?" Many would have spooked or weirded out by the children's confession, perhaps brushing it off as this 'Emily' being an imaginary friend of theirs but Ani did see the pen scribbling down words in messy handwriting. Yet to their surprise, they weren't scared, just very intrigued.

The children shook their heads. "No, she told us there were more than a hundred here."

As Ani kept gathering information from the children, an idea gradually bloomed into their mind.

'I'm going to get a ghost friend.'

Although the children had been given some bribes of information here and there, it was still not a lot to go from, they were going to need a little more help.

Now, who would be of better help than Dream himself, who has been in this castle for decades straight, well, pan? With a newfound determination, the human walked in the direction of the latter's office.

***

"Why am I getting letters about a potted plant?" Dream wondered out loud, the question not quite meant for anyone in particular. He read the sheet of paper in his hands multiple times but the text hasn't changed, he didn't know what was more perplexing between the fact someone wrote this or the fact they sent it to the CEO of the most prominent organization in the entire multiverse.

He was about to curl it into a ball and throw it away until the two tall wooden doors of the office's entrance slammed open against the walls, the noise the collision produced loud enough to have Dream almost jump out of his skin.

'Either this is Ani and nothing happens or it's not and somebody might just get thrown in a cell.'

"Dream! It's 6 pm, why are you still working?" He looked up from his paper and caught a glimpse of an emerald poncho covering fair skin, and messy black hair falling on the person's forehead like a waterfall. That was Ani, there was no need to take out his handcuffs then, that's good.