Haunted Statues

Mess With the Horns and You Get The Devil

I was sat by my grave again. It became some sort of comfort space for me. No one ever came here so I was always alone.

I haven't been around Dew at all. Every time I was in a room with him I would walk out or faze out. I didn't want to see him. I could tell it was annoying everyone else because sometimes I would leave mid conversation with a quick sorry. I felt bad but I knew that Dew was stubborn but despite this he still loved his friends and I couldn't take that away from him. Dew seemed to catch on to this so he made sure to always walk in so I never really got to talk to the ghouls that much either.

I turned my head when there was a rustling behind me. I looked up at a ghoul who was slightly taller than Dew with Rain's body build looking down at me.

"Dove, are you there?" He asked and I quickly showed myself. "Swiss wants to see you in his room."

"How did you know I was here?" I asked the ghoul as I stood up.

   "Swiss said you'd be out in the gardens or library and when I said I couldn't find you at either Dew told me that there was a possibility of you being out here." He ghoul said softly, looking in my general direction making me realize that I faded out again. I knew I was getting stronger but I had a few hiccups here and there.

"Why would Dew know that? And why would he help look for me?" I asked, cocking my head to the side.

   "I honestly don't know, that sounds like a question for Swiss because I don't know your relationship with Dew enough." The ghoul said as we both started to walk back toward the ministry.

  "Don't let Dew get to you though. He wants you to fear him so when you do it encourages his actions and behavior. Standing up to him will make him angry at first but if you are consistent he will gain respect for you. And I don't think he hates you, I think he's envious of you and how much time you spent with his brother and how closely bonded you now are with his pack." The ghoul said and opened the door "Go see Swiss though."

   "Okay, thank you for that. I'll see you around..." I let my sentence linger like a question.

   "Phantom, my name is Phantom." He said with a smile.

   "See you around Phantom." I said before walking towards Swiss's room. I fazed into his room not saying a word yet admiring Swiss sitting on his bed playing guitar and singing. Swiss had gotten to an instrumental part in the song and smiled.

   "Hi Dove." He motioned for me to sit next to him.

   "Hi." I said quietly making myself visible and sat next to him making myself as small as possible. Swiss noticed and put the guitar down, sighing

   "Come here." He said laying back with his arms out to me. I sighed and laid next to him with my head on top of his chest and my arms around his waist. His hands didn't faze through me and he smiled more at that. "Still getting stronger I see. You feel like an actual body laying on me now and I can actually touch you."

   "Rain figured it out the other day when I accidentally scared him in the library and made myself visible to hand him a book." I said feeling Swiss's hand rub up and down my back "Being able to be touched again feels so nice though." I sighed. "Not in a weird way though!" I quickly added on with a laugh.

"I can imagine. I'm needy and can't go three days without physical touch. Touch deprived Swiss isn't fun, but enough about me. Why were you so blue when you came in here? You are usually yelling 'Hi Swissy' or something." He asked his other hand moving to untangle knots in my hair. I never gotten around to fixing my hair since I was brought up here and the way Swiss did it was so relaxing.

   "I was talking to Phantom and he said that Dew told him where I was and it confused me because he hates me. Phantom told me that he thinks it's more envy than hate because of how close I was with Azar and now you guys, but I don't know if I believe it." I muttered half into Swiss's chest.

   Swiss sighed "Dove, he doesn't hate you and I can tell you that for a fact. If he did he wouldn't have helped Phantom find you. Dew is a tough case to crack and he has a lot of emotional issues with everything that happened to Azar. When he came top side Dew was mean and the only one who talked to him and helped him not be that was Azar, so when Azar got sent back he was pissed and flooded a good portion of the woods. So-"

   I cut swiss off "Flooded? He's a fire ghoul!"

    Swiss chuckled "Let me finish and it will make sense. So Sunny, Cumulus, Rain and I were summoned and because of Dew's temper they did a ritual and forced him to transform into a fire ghoul shortly after Azar was summoned back down. It was very traumatizing for Dew and now that you are here he fears the same thing that happened to Azar will happen to us. He's just scared of his feelings and reacts by distancing himself and being hostile."

   "That's terrible." I said softly "I can't imagine the pain he was in with all of that."

   "I know and that's why I wanted to talk to you. You need to not let him win. When he's there you don't leave anymore and if he tries something you have all of us on your side. Stand up to him and show him you are going nowhere and he had to deal with it. Okay?" Swiss said "Sit up. I want to brush your hair."

    I nodded at him and sat up as he grabbed a brush and started to comb out the tangles.

"He just scares me. I feel drawn to him but him getting in my face terrified me." I explained to the multi ghoul. I had some idea on my I was drawn to him, I mean I was best friends with his brother but other then that I don't know why I couldn't stop thinking about him.

"He is scary, there is no denying that, but trust me, put on a brave face and it will be worth it." Swiss said as he grabbed one of the many hair ties dew kept in his room and braided Doves hair. "What I think you should do is let the girls dress you up and everything and be my date to the ghouls ball next weekend and make him jealous and show him how stunning you truly are."

"Why would he be jealous? And since when was there a dance?" I asked when Swiss laid back down. I followed him going back to the position we were in earlier.

"It happens every year and The room gets ten times hotter when he sees us together. I think he's jealous of me and friendship with you or vice versa, but I like to believe he's jealous of me and secretly in love with you." Swiss said before laughing and I playfully smacked his chest laughing.

"Did he tell you this?" I asked with a smile.

"No I just have a feeling. So it's a date?" Swiss asked. And I laughed and nodded.

The room got hotter as the said fire ghoul we were talking about neared the room. Dew flung the door open and glared towards Swiss.

"How can I help you?" Swiss asked.

"Do you know where my Wage War hoodie is?" Dew growled.

"Yeah hanging on the closest door knob." Swiss said and watched as Dew walked over and grabbed it.

"Do you and your little girlfriend wanna join game night?" Dew asked glaring daggers at Swiss.

"Sure!" I responded with a smile getting off the bed and holding my hand out to Swiss. Swiss got up and dew rolled his eyes at them before storming out, slamming the door behind him causing the both of us to laugh.

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