Giving Up The Ghost

When Chili heard the words coming out of Amy's mouth, a chill ran down his spine. 

“A g-ghost?” He yelped, then quickly composed himself again, schooling his expression to the usual scowl. He had a reputation to maintain, after all! “I mean… It’s not your usual knight assignment, right? Are you certain we should go?” The vespire deflected, jerking his head to the side to conceive his spooked expression. 

Amy certainly noticed Chili was scared, but was kind enough not to comment about it. It would only serve to rile him up, anyways, and for something like that, it was definitely better that her friend could keep his composure. 

“Come on, Chili. The lon asked kindly enough - and no matter the job, knights should always strive to help whoever we can.” Amelia persuaded him, nudging him slightly with a hoof. The red vespire turned to face the pouflon with a hint of irritation, starting a short staring-competition, in which Amy kept her joyous, optimistic expression and Chili just glared at her, as was usual for the both of them. 

“Alright!” He conceded in a grumble. “But if any ghosts try to eat your face, I ain’t gonna go and save you.” Chili mumbled, already taking the first steps to the outside of the Academy. 

“Ghosts don’t do that, silly.” Amy casually commented. 

Together, the two of them flew to where St. Asphodel said she would be waiting. Amy had talked to her beforehand, and she had explained she needed help to deal with a spirit. The pouflon said she’d go back to the Academy for backup, and thus had recruited Chili.

As they arrived, Chili silently contemplated the quiet majesty of the pouflon before him, standing just under a tall tree at the edge of Redwick Forest. The vespire had certainly heard about St. Asphodel before, but as many other lons, he’d never encountered her himself. The half-dark-half-light pouflon kept her head low, as if trying to appear smaller. Even still, she had a distinctive presence about her, discreet yet solemn, that made her impossible to not notice.

“We’re here, St. Asphodel!” Amelie greeted, as one would a friend in the street. Chili looked at her, exasperated, but the somber pouflon didn’t seem offended in the slightest. On the contrary - she even looked a bit relieved to see the two knights, as if she’d been expecting Amy to decide it wasn’t worth her while. 

“I’m very glad for your help, truly. I’m really sorry I’ve got to ask something like this from you, I know knights must be very busy…” She looked apologetically to the floor. The vespire was actually surprised by her demeanor, thinking about how she was nothing like people described her. He would imagine somelon of her importance would see themselves in a high standard, regardless of their personality, but St. Asphodel seemed very shy and cautious. 

“Nonsense!” Amelie responded, waving a hoof in front of her to emphasize it was really nothing to worry about. 

“Yes. We’re here to help.” Chili complemented with a nod. He would have blushed if he could, when the saint directed a slight smile to him. 

“I suppose your friend must have given you the details, so I’ll be brief, young one.” She nodded. “I would normally do this myself, but I suppose a distraught spirit such as this would prefer someone else to approach them. It is why I would like you to follow their steps and find them. I must ask you to please be gentle when nearing them. They’re just confused, and will offer you no harm.” St. Asphodel explained, diligent in her posture and speech. 

“Leave it to us!” Amy excitedly said, like it was a walk in the park. Except the park was a possibly-haunted forest, and they would be entering directly into it. 

The air was dry and cold, and gave chills to both of them. Even Amy - the most optimistic out of both of them - seemed visibly spooked from the walk in the forest, the dark sky contributing to the creepy atmosphere. 

They silently strided through the woodland, the only sounds their quiet steps and the noises of the forest itself. The bluish wisps seemed to be getting more visible, which indicated they must be getting close to the spirit’s whereabouts. Chili gulped. Realistically, he knew nothing would really happen to him, but the way the trees curved around him and their branches curved to look like hands weren’t making him feel exactly safe, provoking second thoughts about his idea to follow Amy into the darkened forest in the first place. The air seemed denser, which only confirmed they were getting close. 

Chili almost bumped directly into Amy when she suddenly stopped moving and he distractedly kept going. She shushed him quietly, looking back and him and then pointing to something in front of them. 

At first, the vespire didn’t see anything. After looking for a few more moments, though, he could notice the rapid rising and falling of somelon’s backside, like they were sobbing. It became clear as to why it was kind of hard for him to see - they were almost see-through, huddled under a bush and some rocks. 

Their cries seemed more audible now that he focused on them - the incessant sobbing was agonizing to hear, so say the least. He looked at Amelie with a hint of uncertainness, unsure how to act now they’d found the spirit. She shrugged, and with a very quiet sigh, he slowly approached the supernatural figure. 

They suddenly lifted their head, the ghostly eyes dripping with sorrowful tears, and looked at both the pouflon and the vespire with mistrust. It looked as if they were ready to flee, so Chili intervened before it happened. 

“It’s okay now.” He said, uncharacteristically tranquil. He understood now that the spirit was probably more scared of them than they both were of them. As St. Asphodel had said, it really meant no harm - it was just scared, suddenly not recognizing themselves anymore with their reluctance in departing. 

At his words, they seemed at least a little bit less inclined to flee. Amy took the opportunity to get closer as well, and they turned to face her. 

“You’ll be fine. I’m sure it must be very daunting to do this by yourself. So allow us to help you.” The pouflon gently smiled, sticking out a hoof. 

It took several moments of quietness and tense staring between the two parts, but the spirit slowly lifted themselves up, cleaning their tears away. A sob still escaped them, but they seemed more calm now. Chili let out a breath of relief. The figure nodded almost imperceptibly. 

“We’ll take you somewhere safe.” He reassured, and started his walk back to St. Asphodel under the watchful eye of the spirit. 

Behind them, Amy looked very proud of his kindness - she knew he had in him when he wasn’t preoccupied in being grumpy.