Den of Ghouls | Ghost Band One Shots

⚠️ Broken [Terzo & his ghouls]

❗️Pre- and After Lawsuit ghouls❗️

CW/TW
• grieving
• mention of shots and gun violence
• death wish

>>Extremely sad, get your tissues out, babes🤧<<

Always remember: Communication is key and only consent is sexy. Stay safe🫶🏻

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Idk what to say.
This flowed out of me and idk where it came from.
Read for yourself but proceed with caution...

Credits for the idea that 'she' was involved in the passing of the pre-lawsuit ghouls go to GhostofDemon

(This does not fit here...)
Anyway, I hope you enjoy and lmk what you think🫶🏻
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Terzo PoV
His heart was full of loathing. Loathing for himself.
The question of how he could've been so stupid haunted his mind since the first day they had been gone.
He hated the silence in the ministry, only interrupted by the broken sobs falling from his own lips, making him sound like a fatally wounded animal.
He hated the tears constantly streaming out of his eyes and the exhaustion in his bones.
But most of all he hated the dull ache in his chest, where his heart once had been before it shattered into thousands of sharp-edged fragments.

The only thing he remembered from this day was how he said goodbye to Omega. The tall quintessence ghoul was clingy that day and Terzo had laughed and joked that he would definitely come back. If only he had known...
Their final words still echoed through his head, Omega kissing him deeply and whispering "I love you so much, don't you ever forget that." and him whispering back "I won't. My love for you is equally eternal."
The worst part wasn't even that they were gone, but the uncertainty what happened to them.
As he came back from his visit in Nihil's chambers, they were gone. Their rooms empty, all of their belongings gone. No trace of them remained, as if they had never existed in the first place.
If Terzo hadn't kept all of their photos hidden in his bedside table he couldn't even be sure that their time together was real.

Terzo still didn't believe one bit that they had gone voluntarily, Omega wouldn't do this to him. The pictures in his trembling hands were proof enough. One could practically see the love oozing out of their eyes as they looked at each other. Alpha had playfully gagged as Terzo showed them his collection of photos, Pebble and Mist had "awwwww"-ed and Aero had fist-bumped Omega's shoulder with the widest grin he was capable of.
These were all just echoes of the past, since he was left with a whole new litter of ghouls now.

There was Aether, the new quintessence ghoul. He was not quite as big as Omega, but had similar purple eyes which made Terzo wary of him.
Then Dewdrop, the new water ghoul. He was loud and reckless.
Ifrit, the new fire ghoul, was very energetic but missed the kind of natural coolness Alpha had to him.
Ivy, the new earth ghoul, seemed sickly and Terzo didn't give him much time until he would be gone again.
And last but not least was Zephyr, the new air ghoul. He had a lofty aura, seeming as cold as the north wind. His hair and lashes looked like they were covered in frost, completely white. He also seemed to have health problems, but tried to hide it.

When it knocked on the door to his bedroom he was willing to ignore it, but his sobs had probably already given him away.
"Come in." He called out while wiping his eyes with his wide sleeve, at least he could try to look presentable to his visitor.
A small head shyly appeared at the door. It was Ivy who coughed slightly before speaking again. "We thought you might want a bit of company." Terzo sniffled and was on the verge of declining, but then decided otherwise. "Why not. Please have a seat, excuse me that I look like shit, I'm having a really hard time at the moment. And who is 'we'?"
The last question was answered as Ivy pushed the door open, revealing four other heads peeking in the room from behind him.
Like Terzo they were all dressed in ugly pajamas and carried different things with them. A bowl with popcorn, a laptop, DVD's and lots of fuzzy blankets.
At the sight of this he nearly chuckled. "What is this going to be? A pajama party?"

Dew squealed loudly and was quickly silenced by Aether with a 'we already talked about that'-look.
He then proceeded to put down the laptop and the DVD's on his nightstand. "We brought 'Legally Blonde' and 'Mean Girls' to cheer you up."
Now Terzo was smiling for real, his face muscles hurting slightly at the unfamiliar movement. "Thank you all. Even though I have no other place to sit, let me offer you a spot on my bed."
They all took him up on his offer, tails swishing happily and pointed ears waggling in excitement for a movie night.
At the end of both movies they didn't sit anymore, they were all huddled together under the blankets.
Terzo had to confess that he indeed felt a little better than before, a small spark of hope glimmered in his heart.
Maybe they could work through all that chaos together and discover that the other ghouls were still alive.

Into the comfortable silence of the room, suddenly the phone on one of the cabinets rang.
All the ghouls and Terzo stared at it. Only one person had the number to that phone.
The Papa stumbled over and reached for the receiver with trembling hands. Could it be? Had he manifested it enough to make it come true? "Hello?"
The silence on the other side of the line was deafening. "Hello?" Terzo asked again, his voice sounding desperate in his own ears.
"Someone asked me to deliver a message." An unfamiliar voice said.
"Who..-" Terzo wanted to know but got interrupted by the other person playing a tape with a definitely familiar voice on it.
He would recognize that voice everywhere. It was Omega.

"I don't know if this will ever reach you...", loud shouting and wailing in the background let the quintessence ghoul hesitate for a second before he quickly kept talking. Now apparently running, "We haven't left you on our free will. She threatened me, that she would kill you if we wouldn't leave. I hope you understand that I could've never let that happen, so we decided to go.", Heavy sobs now interrupted his speech and a gunshot echoed on the tape, followed by a whimper from his lover, "Ugh, fucking hell! I really hope this record finds you. You need to live. Live for me, baby. Be happy and all that shit, I love you, you hear me? I LOVE YOU!"

Then the tape ended with a click.
Apparently he had witnessed the last seconds of Omega's life right now. The unfamiliar voice on the other end hesitated. "...Sorry." And then the person hung up, taking every last bit of life in his heart with them. With a loud clatter the receiver landed on the cabinet, Terzo's body was shaking uncontrollably, the ringing in his ears so loud he didn't hear the new ghouls coming closer until they turned him around.
He couldn't breathe anymore and he didn't want to. Suddenly everything had become meaningless.
The slap someone delivered to his face would've brought him back to his senses under normal circumstances, but not in the state of mind he was in right now.
They yelled at him, screamed his name and "BREATHE!" but why should he? The others weren't breathing anymore. He wanted to die, just to be with them.

Their faces appeared in front of his inner eye. Pebble, his sweet little earth ghoul, what had they done to him? And Aero, who was heartbroken since Delta just vanished without a trace but tried to hide it. Mist, the new girl in the band, who seemed to be so cool and a good fit for their dynamic. Then Alpha, his hothead of a guitarist, and... Omega. They hadn't gone down without a fight, trying to protect him and their bandmates.
Tears streamed down his face, his lungs screaming for air. He didn't care for it, suppressing the reflexes of his body with all his might in hopes to just suffocate from the crushing sadness that ranked around his chest like vines.
When he registered a familiar pair of purple eyes, a gasp escaped him, the air flowing back into his lungs again only for him to realize that it was Aether, not Omega.

"No..." The whispered word slowly turned into a scream. Feelings, way to big to handle alone, flooded his heart and made his head feel like it was going to explode in the next second. Nothing would bring them back, he realized with crushing certainty. He wanted to beg or hurt someone, but deep down inside he had already given up, they wouldn't come back to him.
At some point he must've landed in Aether's arms, clinging to him like a spider monkey. His scent, so similar to Omega's, yet so unfamiliar, gave him some weird sense of security. Like the reality wouldn't slip through his fingers and let him go insane.
The new quintessence ghoul seemed to be a bit overwhelmed by the crying and wailing human in his arms but did his best to comfort him by whispering meaningless phrases like 'it's going to be okay' and 'don't worry, we'll get through it together'.

Other hands and tails were put on him, shyly trying to dry his tears and ruffling his hair. Someone even tried to comfort him by licking his hands that were crossed behind Aether's neck.
They all touched him in some kind of way, trying with all their might to soothe the pain roiling in his heart.
But it would never be okay again.
Never.