Ghost Streaming System

"Mas-!"

"Mast-!"

"Master!" A voice is incessantly needling in his ear and the man turns to face it, slightly annoyed.

"What?" He questions with a slight frown showing his disapproval.

"Do you have to do this? Wouldn't it be better to stay?" The person asks. 

"...what do you really want to say?" He cuts to the root of their question, he has no want to hear pitiful half-truths.

"I-I don't want you to go, I want to stay with you…how am I supposed to protect you if we're not together?" The person stutters out. His face softens at the words, it seems like he pampered his poor servant too much. 

"I have to do this, but I'll try and make it easier on you, how does that sound?" He questions, patting his servant on the head. 

"...fine, just don't leave me for too long." They pout. 

"I promise, if everything goes well, I'll see you on the other side one day, " He chuckles.

"One more thing, how will I find you again?"

"Our threads of karma are attached, if fate wills it we will meet again."

"Okay...…"

"Wa-!"

"Wak-!" Belle stirs as a noise enters his head, rattling his thoughts around. The noise is unclear but it's annoying, he wishes it would shut up. 

"Wake up!" It's a voice shouting at him, he vaguely recognizes it, but he'd rather go back to sleep and enter the comforts of a dream. A dream? Right, he had been dreaming about something, what was it again?

"WAKE UP!" 

"Could you shut the fuck up I'm awake!" Belle shouts, tearing his eyes open and staring into Steven's wide eyes.

"Then fix this!" Steven shouts, moving his body to the right to let Belle see past him. The hot springs are in ruins, pieces of fence strewn about, rocks dug up from the ground. Cam is in the middle, flinging ropes this way and that, creating gashes in the ground. The red woman's limbs block every strike but get destroyed each time. Her face is twisted into a grimace as she works on overdrive to replace the missing limbs.

"What's the situation?" Belle asks. A twinge of pain rolls through his head as he stares at Cam, but it quickly recedes. 

"Your ghost friend over there went crazy and their fight started destroying a bunch of shit. I think Jen went hiding somewhere but the miasma is too strong and our ghosts disappeared." Steven explains. 

"Shit, alright I'll see if I can fix this," Belle states, using the wall behind him to stand. He catches Steven slinking away out of the corner of his eye. 

"Ay, don't think we're done here, I've got some questions for the both of you and if you don't comply I am not above chopping off a few fingers." He threatens. Steven jumps before placing his hand on his head in a salute.

"Yes sir!" He yells, before scurrying off the hide. Belle scans his body for any injuries, everything seems fine but his head is aching slightly. He brings his hand up and presses down lightly, it's sticky, and when he brings his hand back it's covered in blood.

"That can't be any good, I should finish this soon." He mumbles, turning his attention back to the fight. Cam's fighting style is wild and out of control, it's damaging the surroundings and he's even hitting himself in the process. He's winning, but Bele doesn't know how much longer he can keep this up, his feet look slightly blurry, almost like they're fading. The red woman must notice it as well because she has a smirk on her face, which is very different from her previous grimace.

"Cam! You have to stop! You can't win like this!" Belle shouts, trying to raise his voice above the sound of the fight.

"Can't you see it won't work boy! He's too far gone!" The red woman cackles. 

"Please, Cam! You're disappearing! It isn't going to work!" He tries again. 

"Shut up! I almost have her just let me finish this!" Cam yells back, his legs are fading now, going quicker with each passing second. 

"Look, I don't know what happened to you, and I don't know anything about who the Ghost King is, but would he be happy or proud to see you like this now? No, he would be pissed off and think you were being stupid! I don't know where that guy went, but I know if I were him he would want to meet you again and if you die like this then that'll never happen, you idiot!" Tears prick the edges of his eyes as he yells. He doesn't know what he'll do if Cam disappears, they weren't super close but he wanted to get to know the ghost. 

"Hk-!" Cam makes a strangled noise, his ropes suddenly stopping in place. The red woman takes the chance to toss her limbs at him, leaving her body entirely unguarded. Belle reaches for the system grabs out the gun and pours his feelings into it, he feels it grow heavier in his hands as he aims it at the woman…and shoots. The blast flies toward her head and hits.

"Huh?" She remarks in confusion, glancing around. Her limbs have stopped inches from Cam as her body slowly starts to disappear.

"This can't be! This kind of power is impossible! How!? How does a human like you have this!?" She shrieks, her gaze turning toward Belle. Her eyes bore down on him, stripping past his flesh and staring into his soul.

"Oh…I see, so that's how it is! Hahahahahaha! You-" Her voice cuts off as her head disappears, the red woman is no more.

"Woah! That was awesome!" Steven exclaims. It seems he never left the courtyard, but Belle doesn't think much about it, or about Jen slowly removing herself from a pile of debris. Instead, all he can focus on is Cam, his arms hung limply at his sides, floating in the middle of the hot spring. 

"Are you okay?" He asks the ghost, walking toward him slowly. Cam turns his head toward Belle, tears splash on the ground as he shakes his head. Belle opens his arms and the ghost floats toward him, collapsing against his shoulder.

"You don't have to talk about it now, but will you tell me what happened?" There's a slight nod against his shoulder. Belle rubs his hand in a comforting circle along this ghost's back.

"It's okay to go to sleep and think for a bit." He says gently, Cam goes still in his arms for a second before relaxing again and nodding. Belle stands there as Cam leaves, disappearing back into the system. 

"Hah, now that everything's over, I need to talk with you two." He turns to glare at the duo who tried sneaking out a side gate.

"U-uhm…okay." Steven stutters out. Belle watches them both as they find a place to sit down, ensuring they don't try to sneak away again.