Chapter 15

"Ghost story? What are you talking about?" The doctor demanded even as his eyes glanced back at his arm. Gestalt could still the hook sticking out of it, even if the doctor couldn't.

"Don't have time to explain now," Gestalt said just as Jackson got tired of wildly swinging and choose to charge straight at them. They ducked down and jumped out of the way just as the ghost crashed into the wall. "Like I said, I'll explain later."

And with that, they turned around and left the room. They looked off to one side and spotted a couple of nurses emerging from the other direction. Fortunately, it was from the direction they weren't going. Gestalt ran back the way [He/Zach] came, turning the corner and reaching for the door to the stairwell.

They swung the handle down and slammed the door open with their shoulder. They glanced back to make sure Jackson was still chasing them and ducked underneath the hook flying towards them.

It stuck into the door right above their head as Gestalt raced into the stairwell. They started climbing up and made it to the next floor before looking back down. Jackson was floating in the center of the stairwell and was slowly ascending.

Perfect, they'd started out shaky, but things were going to plan. All they had to do now was keep the ghost's attention on them and lead them up to the roof.

"Just try and catch me," they taunted from the fourth floor. And of course, this was the exact moment the doctor emerged into the stairwell.

"Oh I'm going to catch you all right," the polite tone in his voice was gone. He looked up and Jackson stopped ascending. "Kid when I get up there, you are in so much trouble."

He wasn't yelling, but it was enough for the ghost to turn around and take another hook out.

"No, this one's mine," The doctor flinched, as Gestalt's eyes widened. They needed to keep the doctor safe and get Jackson's attention back on him. And they had just the plan to do that. They gripped the railing and gulped before jumping over it.

They fell through the air as Jackson got ready to slice at the doctor with a weapon the man couldn't see. He was just about to swing as Gestalt reached him.

Before the hook could come down, Gestalt formed a circle right below his feet and right above Jackson's head. The doctor's jaw dropped as Gestalt seemingly jumped in the air and landed by his side.

Gestalt got back to his feet and grit his teeth when he spotted Tyler standing on the other side of the entryway. He took a step to the side, far enough to lead the ghost away if he attacked them, close enough to do something if it went after someone else.

"Just now, did you see that Doctor Lekli?" She whispered as she tried to back away.

"I did Ms. Jones, but what was it?" The doctor said as the ghost recovered. His eyes fell on Gestalt as he pulled out two more hooks and five more appeared before swinging around him.

"Brat, you'll pay for that!" He dove towards Gestalt who jumped out of the way just as all seven of the hooks came down. The two other humans covered their ears as a screeching sound filled the stairway and seven slash marks appeared on the wall.

"You saw the thing I'm trying to save you from, so stop chasing me and let me lead this thing away!" Gestalt called out as they struck their hand out at Jackson. They took a deep breath as the blue energy appeared around their hand before forming a small blue sphere the size of a baseball. Tyler and the doctor both stepped back when he did, almost like they could see what he was doing.

"Hey Jack, over here!" Gestalt called out before firing the sphere in a blast of blue energy. The ghost's empty eyes widened as the sphere dug into his gut before exploding. The ghost clown went reached for his stomach while giving Gestalt a low growl.

"So what's it like feeling pain for the first time in eight years Jackson Smiles?" Gestalt taunted as the doctor stiffened. Despite their bravado, they couldn't help but feel a tinge of fear after their attack failed to do anything to the ghost. Looked like avoiding a regular fight in favor of an ambush had been the right call.

"Wait, Jackson? But he's…" he trailed off as the ghost let out a roar which left both the doctor and Tyler covering their ears again.

Gestalt, on their part, just started running back up the stairs. This time, Jackson wasted no time in any theatrics. He got all seven of his hooks spinning again and started flying upwards, chasing down Gestalt.

The evenshadow gulped as the sound of seven metal blades sang through the air. They glanced down and noticed Jackson slowly catching up to them. They stopped for a second to aim his finger down the stairwell. The little blue ball of ghostly energy dropped down… and was sliced apart by thee of the hooks hitting it all at once.

"Well that could have gone better," Gestalt gripped right before the three hooks which destroyed their attack came flying up towards them. They scrambled up the stairs, the hooks burying themselves into the wall behind them. As they ran upwards, Gestalt felt the truth in their twin souls.

They were in no way strong enough to fight against this ghost, and their only chance was to make it to the roof. And that had its own issues. Jackson had stopped for a few seconds to make new hooks, but he was done with that and already moving again. All it took was a single glance for Gestalt to know who was faster and it wasn't them.

There had to be another way out of this. Some way to get up faster… That was it. They had an idea. Jackson had only fired his hooks when he had a clean shot from Gestalt stopping. As long as they kept moving, the plan should work.

Gestalt reached the next floor and rushed to the railing. They climbed atop it, making sure to get a good footing before jumping forward. They waited until they reached the top of their jumped forming a circle under their feet and boosting right to the fifth floor.

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Their hands reached out to grab the railing before pulling themselves up past it. They had a lead on Jackson now. Just one last glance down to make sure he was still chasing them and…

Gestalt titled their side to the head as a hook flew past it. Jackson was scowling, quickly approaching, and looked to only have eyes on Gestalt.

Perfect. They kept running up the stairs, thankful for all their days jumping and running through the woods. Without them, they'd probably be kneeling over by now.

By the time they made it to the seventh and highest floor, Jackson was still hot on their tail. Just one last jump and they'd be at the roof access. They pulled themselves up to the railing to make that last jump.

Gestalt order their screaming muscles to put in one last effort before they launched themselves into the air. The next floor was right in front of them just as they felt a sharp pain on their leg. They reached out to the grab the next railing just as they felt a sudden pulling sensation.

Gestalt hissed in pain as they managed to just barely grab onto the ledge of the top floor. The door to the roof was right in front of them. The only thing holding them back were the railing in front of him and the hook which they figured was lodged into their leg.

They felt another pull as they realized their big issue. They needed to climb up the ledge, but couldn't due to Jackson pulling them down. They needed to blast Jackson, but they couldn't do that without letting go of the ledge and maybe falling anyway. He couldn't do either without first doing the other one.

"Come on, has to be something," Gestalt hissed out as they felt another tug on their leg. They quickly glanced down and just as quickly came to regret it.

Going through their leg was a large blue hook. Even with its blue coloring, Gestalt could make out the rusty texture. Attached to the end of the handle was a long, thick, blue metal chain. And on the other side of that chain was Jackson, slowly climbing his way up, making sure to tug at the chain with every inch upwards.

Gestalt steadied his breathing and tried to think of a way out of this when they noticed something moving right in front of him. The handle to the roof, it was slowly turning and he could just barely make out a shadow on the other side of the small window right above it.

It swung open and Gestalt heard the sweetest sound they'd heard in their [life/unlife].

"Zach, are you… Zach!" Beth quickly went from peeking her head out through the crack in the door to swinging it open and rushing through. With a single well practiced motion, she took out her camera from her bag and aimed it downwards at Jackson.

Gestalt griped the ledge tightly as the weight on their leg intensified and a loud wail erupted from below. A split second later, the weight subsided and Gestalt looked down to check to see what was going on.

Jackson had flinched n pain and let go of the chain, but still close enough to grab it again and put Gestalt right where they started. As they watched Jackson slowly recover, a sudden memory crossed their mind.

They let go of the railing, ignoring the sudden yelp from Beth, and gathered the blue glowing energy at the bottom of their feet. Jackson finally went to grab the chain only to look up and behold a glowing blue circle right in front of his face.

The blast from the energy sent Gestalt flying back up. Beth flinched back as they reached the top of the railing and grabbed it tight.

"Come on," Gestalt barked, "help us up!"

That was enough for Beth to rush forward and helped them scrambled over the railing. Gestalt landed on the ground and reached down to pull the hook out of their leg. The rusty hook clattered on the floor just before a sudden tug sent it flying back down.

"Glad that's over," Gestalt hissed as they knelt back down to get a quick look at their leg. Despite the rusty hook they'd just pulled out of it, there was a distinct lack of a hole. Instead there was a small trail of blue ghost energy floating off the spot where the hook had gone in.

"Um Zach… and Blue?" Gestalt's head snapped back up at the sound of their two names. Beth shrunk back for a split second before narrowing her eyes. "We need to get moving, he's still coming up after us."

They jumped back up and quickly peeked over the edge. Jackson was still rising towards them, and picking up speed every second. They had maybe twenty seconds before he reached them.

Gestalt back up and went to the door, Beth covering their back with her camera up and ready to go. They heard another snap just as they made it through the door.

"Gestalt? What are you two doing?" Andrew demanded as he grit his teeth. Lady Gray simply stood by the side frowning disapprovingly. "What happened to bringing your friend up here?"

"Jackson was already attacking her when we found her," they quickly explained while the three of them back off from the stairway, "we had to lure him out a bit more forcefully."

At that very moment, Jackson emerged from the stairwell. At the same time the door at the other side of the rood flew open. Standing there was a familiar doctor right in front of a one armed girl.

"Oh you have to be kidding me," Andrew groaned as he alternated between the two sights. Gestalt couldn't blame him, things just got a lot more complicated.

Jackson roared in rage, wildly singing his hook towards Tyler. She shrunk back as the ghost clown raced forward, the bells on his clothes chiming in the wind. Gestalt and Beth hit the deck as Jackson raced across the roof towards Tyler.

Normally, Gestalt would have gotten between the ghost and the girl. And part of them still wanted to, but they knew the plan. They didn't like the plan, but they'd already messed it up enough. Jackson flew over the pair, made it more than halfway through across the roof.

And then hit an invisible wall. Gestalt smirked as Jackson smashed against the wall. He even took his hooks to it, the blades scratching against the air as blue sparks flew. On the ground below him were four small stones, forming a perfect square to box him in.

The Marble and Blue Flame Heart shook as Blue felt satisfaction as she watched another ghost deal with the same problem she did. Zach fought her back down before they could split apart, but they still felt a sharp pain in their back before the two halves went back into synch.

"Okay we have him locked down!" Andrew called out as Beth drew her camera and Lady Gray took out a small candle. Andrew, for his part, took out a lighter. Gestalt's first through was that he'd run up to Lady Gray and light her candle, but both adults stood perfectly still on opposite sides of the trap they'd laid.

And then to Gestalt's surprise, both objects flickered to life at the same time. The two older exorcist concentrated on the flames as they produced a strong warm glow. Each a bit too strong for how small the flames were.

And then they began to grow.

Each of the two flames began to produce a glowing trail of golden light which started flowing around the ghost trap. Neither of the two exorcists moved a muscle as the two trails each met the other flame on the other side, finishing the circuit.

As soon as the circle was complete, a wall of warm glowing light appeared around it. Jackson screamed and began to wildly swing his hook against the wall, his bells ringing all throughout the night. But after a couple of swings, he began to slow. The constant ringing of bells slowed as his arm did the same.

After one last half-hearted slash, Jackson's arm dropped to the side as his hook clattered onto the roof. He looked up into the sky as bits and pieces of him started falling away before crumbling to dust.

Neither of the two adult exorcists twitched a muscle until the ghost was completely gone. Once the last of the ghost's dust was flowing in the wind, Andrew dropped his lighter with a sigh. The ring of light around Trevor disappeared as Lady Gray did the same. Before it was even gone, Andrew turned towards Gestalt and narrowed his gaze.

"Alright kids, start explaining." He demanded as Lady Gray moved up to intercept both Sam and Doctor Lekli who were quickly approaching.

Gestalt blinked as they split apart, the young exorcist and his ghost partner quickly getting back up off the floor.

"Okay in our defense, none of this is our fault."