Lockwood & Co. AU

Prologue

Lockwood opens the door hesitantly and his eyes widen as he walks into the room. A translucent spirit is knelt in the corner of the room near the dresser. It looks exactly like Lucy, and Lockwood feels tears stinging his eyes. "L-Lucy?" he gapes and she looks up.

George and Holly rush in after him, clearly concerned. "Lockwood, what are you--" Holly gets cut off as she glances into the room. Lucy breaks out into a grin and stands up, immediately rushing to greet them. Her mouth is moving, but none of them can hear anything. George regains his composure first and says grimly, "Lucy, we- we can't hear you. You were the only good listener here." Lucy frowns but continues to walk closer to them.

Suddenly, she was stopped.

She bares her teeth angrily and turns to look at the dresser. Her fist pounds into an invisible barrier, and she punches it in frustration. She went slack and crumpled to the floor, tears openly streaming down her face. She shouts something, but nobody can hear, and that only makes her sob harder. Lockwood nodded to himself and stepped closer. Lucy's head was still in her hands, so he kept walking.

George yelled, "Lockwood, be careful!" Lucy's head shoots up and she scrambles back away from him. Tears roll down her cheeks and she shouted something incoherent at him. He could only read a few words on her lips: "Please," and "Don't want to hurt you."

Lockwood tried to comfort her. "Lucy, you won't hurt me," he soothed. She abruptly stood up and walked towards him. She seemed hesitant, like if she got too close he could be killed. Her spirit floated smoothly to the dresser and lingered over it. She smiled sadly to herself and Lockwood made his way over to it. He followed her gaze and looked in shock at the necklace that he gave her. The small silver pendant glittered with spectral light and Lockwood seemed to come to a revelation.

"Is... is this your Source?" he asked in confusion. Lucy nodded and started to explain something, but cut herself off as she realized they couldn't hear her. She glanced back to the door and saw George and Holly still frozen at the entrance. She figured it was shock, and to be honest, she couldn't blame them for that.

When she looked back, Lockwood had the necklace in his hands and Lucy panicked. "Lockwood, don't pick that up! It could hurt you!" she shrieked. He flinched and clapped his hands over his ears. "God, Lucy, calm down!"

Their eyes widened at the same time. They looked at each other in dead silence as they let it sink in. "Y-you... can hear me?" she whispered. Lockwood stared distantly at her and nodded, clearly confused. "George! Holly! Come here!" he said excitedly. They slowly walked to their side of the room and stopped when they were a safe distance away. Lockwood eagerly held out the pendant and said, "Touch it. I want to test something."

George shrugged and said nonchalantly, "For science, I guess," as he reached out to hold the necklace. For a moment, nobody said anything. Then Lucy spoke up, "So...?"

He yelped and stumbled backwards. "Holy crap, Lucy!"

Holly looked at the boys in confusion and Lockwood chuckled. "Just touch it," she said. She touched it hesitantly and looked at Lucy. "Can you hear me?" Holly nodded and smiled at her.

A small tear fell down Lucy's face as she beamed at her friends. "I can't believe you all can talk with me," she said in disbelief.

George squawked, "That's nothing! I can't believe you're a Type Three! The third recorded in history!" He ranted blindly as Lockwood and Holly turned to look at me. "Should we get Flo and Quill over here? They don't know about this yet," Holly said considerately. Lucy nodded, and Lockwood immediately rushed downstairs, bringing the necklace with him. As he ran out the door, Lucy's ghost was pulled forward with him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Lockwood, I can't get too far from it! LOCKWOOD!" She screamed as she was dragged along with him against her will.

George cracked up and Holly giggled. They heard Lockwood yell as he continued running, "Oh, so it's like you're attached to it?" he asked. Lucy shrieked, "YES, YOU DUMB GIRAFFE! NOW STOP DRAGGING ME ALONG WITH YOU!"

George and Holly cackled at their antics and made their way downstairs. Lucy was still yelling at him even when he picked up the phone and dialed Quill's number. "Yes, is this Quill Kipps? Perfect! Can you come down to Portland Row as soon as possible?" He paused. "Why? You'll see why when you get here. Could you be a dear and pick up Flo while you're at it?" he asked with sarcastic sweetness. "Yep! See you in a few!"

He hung up the phone and turned to them with a devious grin on his face.
"Lockwood, no." Lucy admonished firmly. He smiled maliciously, "You can't stop me."

(A/N: Hello! Requests for this AU are totally open, so whatever you want to read about from this, just comment and I'll deliver! Thanks for reading!)