La Vie en Rouge || Alastor x Reader ONESHOTS

Shalebridge Cradle - Part Two.

Ghost!Alastor x Male!Thief!Reader
My own oneshot

***

Every week you came back to the Cradle. Came back to see Alastor. He was always excited, perhaps you could even say overjoyed. He had been sitting in this place all on his own for the past fifty something years, after all, and some company was really doing him some good. The first day you came here, the day you met Alastor, he led you to his holding cell and showed you what was left of his body. Bits of his brain were rotting on the floor and the whole skeleton was draped with gray, decomposing flesh.

He had almost seemed woeful of what had happened, but had moved on from the issue and was now focused on you, the thief that had walked into his life.

"So what are you here for today, master thief?" the phantom asked cooly, his eyes fixated on your form while he hovered down the hall next to you, his smile never faltering, chin held in hand. "Come to steal my heart?" Your eyes involuntarily rolled. "Listen, I'm not interested. I feel like I've made that clear," you snapped rather viciously, though deep down you knew you didn't mean it.

Alastor scoffed, manifesting in front of you before shoving his finger into your broad chest, something he did to make himself sure that he had been seen, heard, and understood, even as a ghost. "You say the same thing every damn time yet you always come back to this asylum! Why is that? Do you just like getting my hopes up?" he spat. You shrugged and walked around him. "Not at all. I'm here because my fence enjoys what I bring back from this place so I won't be leaving until I'm certain I've gotten everything." The ghost glared at you, following as you tested a door handle to see if it would open. Unsatisfied, you took out your lock picks and got to work.

"The only reason I'm letting you come back is because I enjoy your company. But you have to remember that I never underwent the lobotomy," he murmured softly and placed his hands on either of your shoulders, moving his head so it would be right next to yours. "I'm still untreated. I'm still unwell. And I'm still a monster. I could kill you if I wish." A low chuckle left you and you stood up from where you had been crouched, you waving the phantom away nonchalantly.

"Of course, but you won't." You wrapped your hand around the handle and pushed it down again, this time smiling when the door creaked open. There wasn't much in the room, only a few documents and some nice silverware, but one thing did catch your eye. "Huh. Patient 6." Carefully, you reached for the urn of the dead child, picking it up and lifting it out of the small, wooden cradle it was laid in.

"This could be worth something..."
"I won't allow you to take the infant's ashes," Alastor's voice of authority pierced through you like an arrow. "The child needs rest, even a man such as myself knows that. Put it back, or the Cradle will punish both of us." He made a valid point. Perhaps taking the ashes of a stillborn was being greedy. But the Cradle...?

"Why do you refer to the Cradle as a living thing?" you asked softly, setting the urn back down. Alastor smiled. "Because it sees everything. Why do you think I haven't been allowed to leave? It's because it remembers me, (Y/n). Not because I'm here, but because of what was left behind. My corpse, my old rags, the vial of my blood in the basement. All of such things keep me anchored here." His icy fingers danced across your cheek, turning your face towards his. "And one day it will remember you too. You've been coming back an awful lot. It will start to catch on soon, and at that point, leaving will be a difficulty."

"For someone who likes my company, you're putting in an awful lot of effort to try and scare me off," you hissed and stormed out of the room. Alastor swept after you, smiling like a fool. "But I speak the truth, my darling! You must believe me, I'm only trying to warn you of the dangers this place holds!"
"So far, you've been the only danger, and only annoyance. It's starting to get on my nerves." The ghost stopped you in your tracks again by appearing in front of your gaze, arms folded over his chest. "Such a cruel thing to say. Have you no regard for one's emotions?" he whispered to you, brows furrowed and a scowl pulled on his normally smiling face.