Ollie only had a second to realize how much danger he was in before the creature was on him. One moment, it was many steps away, and the next, it was right beside him, solid as can be, and grabbing his hand as if they were friends. Ollie screamed in fear and he went to yank himself free, but then he just didn’t. His limbs suddenly feeling heavy, he just stood there, tears welling in his eyes as thoughts that sounded like his own filled his head.
Did you really think Noble would like you? That he loved you? That Jahla was really your friend? That Red was actuallyyour family? Ollie, stupid, Ollie, you know better than that. Don’t you have enough examples already?!
“S-shut up,” Ollie whispered.
Why do you keep trying? No matter how kind you are, or how bright your smile is, they will always leave you behind. Because you know, as well as everyone else, that not a single soul wants you around.
“Shut up!” he said, louder this time, as more tears fell.
Deny, deny…that’s all you do. But you know the truth. You know that no one cares. Not even you care anymore. You are just tired…so very tired. You tried so hard, but shouldn’t you rest now? It’s okay to rest. To let go. It hurts less, I promise?—
“SHUT UP!” Ollie screamed. A roaring heat burst outward from his center, as anger, that he knew full well was his own, flared to life. The cluster ghost yanked its hand away with a hard tug the moment the fire tried to consume it, causing Ollie to tumble onto his hands and knees, small rocks cutting into his palms as he landed.
Sobbing softly, Ollie glared at the thing as it desperately tried to pat out the flames engulfing its hand. “Y-you arewrong! Even if no one in this world wants me,Istill do. And that isenough! You will not, and cannot, win that way with me, because I know life is worth living. Life is worth experiencing, no matter how much pain comes with it. I will take joy from every little thing I can, becauseyouare WRONG!”
The cluster ghost looked sharply at him with a hiss as the fire was finally extinguished. With one hand now burned and blackened, the thing stared at him with pure hatred for just a moment, before suddenly leaping towards him. Its hands, that had been perfectly normal, were now tipped with long, sharp, wicked-looking black claws. When Ollie tried to move, he found his limbs were still heavy, weighed down by whatever the thinghad done when it touched him. He closed his eyes, not wanting to see the strike coming.
But it never came. Instead, he felt a breeze above him, as if something had flown overhead. Ollie’s eyes snapped open at the sound of a loud thud, accompanied by the creature letting out a startled shriek.
He stared wide-eyed at the familiar back that he thought he might never see again, and as more tears flooded his eyes, he rasped, “N-Noble…”
“Are you hurt?” the man asked, without taking his eyes off the cluster ghost, who was crumpled on the ground across the alleyway, shaking its head and producing far too many cracking noises than he was comfortable with.
“I… No…”
Well…his heart hurt, and his hands were cut up, not to mention his sliced feet from before, but otherwise, most of his pain was mental and emotional. Ollie also wasn’t sure how he was supposed to react to Noble being there at all…
He shakily pushed himself back onto his feet, as Noble moved inhumanly fast to meet the next attack from the cluster ghost, batting away a strike of very sharp claws with his forearm. The hunter didn’t seem to react, or care in the least, as they sliced into him. Instead, he used the moment of shock it created to seize one of the creature’s wrists and spin it around.
One arm now restrained behind its back, Noble sent it to the ground with a hard kick. A loud crack mixed with a shriek from the cluster ghost, as the man clearly dislocated its arm. The screams from the thing grew louder as Noble drove it further down, pinning that arm tight as he held it there with his full weight, his knees pressed into its lower back.
Ollie was transfixed for a moment, just watching the muscles beneath the sweater the man wore bulge and strain as thecreature struggled, before snapping out of his stupor when Noble yelled, “Ollie, the potion!”
He quickly pulled the second bottle out of his bag, and hesitated for only a moment before rushing closer. Uncorking the bottle, he dumped it over the creature’s head, as he once again repeated, “I command thee, abomination of Jack Hayes. Unmerge what should not have merged, un-trap what has been trapped, and disperse all to where it belongs!”
Just as it had the first time, the cluster ghost let out a piercing screech as purple smoke rose up the moment the potion touched it. This time, though, there was a faint sizzling sound, and part of its face seemed to begin crumbling. But by the time the purple smoke disappeared, just as with the first bottle, the cluster ghost remained, and now it was even angrier than before.
When the cluster ghost bucked hard, sending Noble slamming into one of the surrounding walls, Ollie jumped back with a frightened squeal. His arms flailed as he tripped over some garbage and landed hard on the pavement, while the empty bottle in his hand went flying, and smashed into the wall beside him. He found himself locked in the cluster ghost’s gaze as it crouched before him, almost spider-like.
But as he watched it slam its arm back into the socket—the movement not sounding quite right, with the multiple loud pops that it made—whether his ass was throbbing or not, he started scrambling back. Ollie started screaming when the creature began rapidly crawling towards him on its hands and feet. But just as his back hit the dead end, with the cluster ghost almost on him, Noble suddenly appeared to drag it back.
One hand left burnt skin behind as it clawed and tried to dig into the ground to break free, just to get at Ollie. Each time the cluster ghost failed, it released screeches of fury, before suddenly it gave up, rolled, and launched itself at Noble, taking the hunter down to the ground. As the two rolled violently, switchingpositions again and again as they fought for dominance, Ollie could only watch, as he was hesitant to get too close or risk being in the way. Though he couldn’t help but time how long the cluster ghost’s hands directly touched Noble—how long it spent in his head.
Yet Noble never reacted, never flinched at its touch. He just kept fighting until he managed to get the creature into a headlock. Now partly immobilized, the cluster ghost shrieked and bucked again and again, trying to crush the witch hunter beneath it, who had also locked his legs around its middle.
Fear for the man, despite all he now knew, twisted in his stomach, as the creature began to claw at the arms around its neck, leaving gouges in its wake when touching the man had failed. In its many voices, it screamed, “WHY ISN’T IT WORKING?!”
Noble let out a breathless laugh. “Doesn’t work on me, motherfucker! Ollie, do it!”
Giving his head a shake, he crawled across the ground. Hurrying over to them, he didn’t stop, even when his pants tore and his bare legs scraped across the pavement. Kneeling beside Noble’s head, he pulled out the last potion and uncorked it, but as he went to pour, he hesitated. He knew he shouldn’t care about hurting or accidentally poisoning Noble…yet he did. Even now, he was worried about all the blood and the many scratches the man had gotten, and his previous bullet wound… He…just…
“Ollie!” Noble growled, when he didn’t use it.
“I-It’ll…get on you.”
“Just do it!” the man roared, grunting in pain as the cluster ghost slammed him hard against the ground, almost managing to flip them again.
With the hope that Noble’s jeans would keep him safe from the toxic ingredients inside, Ollie stumbled to his feet and threw the remaining potion as hard as he could at the lower half of thecluster ghost’s body. As it shattered, the purple smoke returned, and Ollie, hopefully, for the last time, repeated, “I command thee, abomination of Jack Hayes. Unmerge what should not have merged, un-trap what has been trapped, and disperse all to where it belongs!”
