4This is another oneshot that is my theory about something. This time it has to do with a certain body-snatcher.
They were after him again. Just because he had been born with red eyes instead of yellow ones. They called him a demon. A beast. A monster.
Wearing a ratty sheet over his body, the only thing of his he managed to salvage from the house before they had ransacked it, he stuck low, hoping the stained sheet would somehow camouflage him among the slight greenery that he was hiding in nearby.
He had been in his deceased parents' house just on the outskirts of the city when he heard the Twilighters coming. While his home didn't have much to begin with, everything, even the door was taken and piled outside before they lit it on fire.
Unfortunately for him, one of them spotted him and shouted, "There it is! Catch it!"
Abandoning his hiding place, the child ran with the sheet still over him. As he passed the next stretch of land, he noticed a massive, nearly dead tree nearby. He shut his eyes as he kept running. He had promised his father that he wouldn't use his powers!
"Don't let it get away!"
That did it. He hated being called an "it." His red eyes gleamed as he glanced at the tree. It was a simple transformation; all he did was "transform" it from a tree to a broken tree. As the tree splintered and started falling, he slipped underneath it, his formless body working to his advantage. Still, he kept running, taking flight and heading towards the forest.
'Why do they treat me this way…? What did I ever do to them?' he wondered.
As he went deeper and deeper into the forest, he found himself running into an old building. It looked like the steeple of a church sticking out of the ground with a round, ornate window seeming to stare down at the forest. The metal gate was chained up, but he easily floated over it. He was still scared, but everything in his old home was destroyed. Maybe he'd be able to find shelter in here.
Easing open the gray door, he noticed that it had a bad squeak to it and had to be budged open. 'This place must be really old…'
Once he closed the door behind him, he noticed that there were different colors on the floor from the light. Looking to the source, the child's jaw dropped at the image he saw in the stained glass window. It was himself. Wearing an odd hat, but it was definitely him.
He had noticed a while back that it wasn't just his eyes that were different from his parents'. His parents couldn't fly, they couldn't use the magic that let him play with the other kids sometimes, they had different bodies that weren't sensitive to light without a sheet.
One time he realized he was in the body of one of Eve's sons and the villagers reported that a shadow that looked just like that same boy was wandering around confused. It was when that happened that, after undoing the spell, his parents had made him promise not to use his magic again.
"But…" he wondered aloud, "why does this place have a picture of me if my parents are Twilighters…? They never mentioned this place…"
He noticed another door at the end of a walkway that ran just under the image, attached to the wall. Floating up again, the child went through it, the door kicking up dust as it moved. Once inside, it revealed a spiraling staircase that led straight up. Gingerly walking up the steps that seemed to be made for his short legs, he reached the top and found a rusty spring. When he looked at the ceiling, he saw a hole that led to what looked like the top floor of the steeple.
Ignoring the spring, he flew up. It was then that he noticed that a lot of flying was used around this place. It seemed like it would be difficult for anybody that couldn't do that to get around.
So why have a spring in place?
When he reached the top, he saw that it was an expansive room, but it was mostly in ruin. The only defining features were what appeared to be a throne, although it was toppled over and badly damaged, and a massive bell up in the rafters. Also, the window that he saw from outside turned out to be just a window frame, all the glass gone. As he walked around looking at the room, he heard some paper crinkle. Looking down, he saw a letter there. Relative to his surroundings, it seemed pretty new. It even had less dust than other things.
Picking it up by reaching down and gripping it through the sheet, he looked at the blank envelope and slid it under his sheet so he could open it without exposing his hands.
Son,
As your mother and I feel that we may be taken away from you at any time, we saw fit to leave you this letter explaining your heritage. If you are reading this letter, then that must mean you've wandered too far, or you were forced to flee our home. In either case, you deserve to know the truth.
The building you are standing in was once known as Creepy Steeple, a home (or playground, rather) for ghosts. Residing within this haunted dwelling were Boos, round ghosts that enjoyed scaring people, and Duplighosts, your brethren.
The child felt his breath stop short at those two words. Brethren? There are more like him? Then why aren't they here? He kept reading.
Duplighosts have the abilities that you've displayed as you grew in our care. Although you seem to be a special case, with more potent transformation magic. I suppose you're wondering where your kind are now.
He grinned and kept reading, but his grin fell slowly when he read the next lines.
I find it hard to tell you this, even on paper, but… They are gone. Twilighters were fearful of the ghosts that lived in Creepy Steeple, especially the Duplighosts, who could walk among us without our knowledge, mimicking our voices, our appearance. They demanded that something be done about them.
The Boos were sealed in a box somewhere within the steeple, and your kind were exorcised. Death for one who is undead and partially ethereal. Everybody within the village was examined to make sure none tried to slip into our town. All, except for you.
I was one of the people who left to "cleanse," as the more radical individuals put it, the ruin. As I searched the tower that you reside in now, I found you. You couldn't have been much more than an infant before your original death that made you a Duplighost, so you knew nothing about what was going on around you.
I thought you could be raised to be good, that if you were harmless, you would be able to live. But as I write this letter, I can see that I've put too much faith into the citizens' goodwill, and not enough awareness into their fear.
Please, we beg of you, do not exact revenge on the people of Twilight Town. You know how the pipe works. One must have an item with their name written on it. When I found you, I found a slip of paper nearby that had your name on it. I committed it to heart, burned it, and never spoke of it to you. For speaking the name to you will severely weaken your magic, and you must use it to escape.
Please, do not tie yourself up in revenge. Use your name to escape Twilight Town. Find your purpose in life. While we could not completely shield you from the people's hate, Doopliss, do not let it corrupt you.
-Woe
As Doopliss read over his name again and again, he could feel its power. It resonated with his very being. Whispering it, he said, "Doopliss…"
"Funny name…"
The ghost's head snapped up and he saw a green-colored bird perched on the frame of the window.
The bird tilted his head, "Is that your name?"
Doopliss pulled the letter back under his sheet and crumpled it. He advanced toward the bird and held out his hand, "Say, you look lonely, like me. Will you be my friend?"
Doopliss turned from the door in the basement, the bird's muffled protesting squawks falling on deaf ears. As he walked, he also saw an ornate box that he guessed contained the Boos, but he ignored it. The last thing he needed was more people trying to learn his name.
Doopliss flew back up the hole he'd jumped in and moved a star statue back over the hole. Deciding to take a closer look around, Doopliss found a small hole in the wall. Slipping through it with his semi-formless body, he found a store-room of books and some old furniture. On a small table was also a hat and bow tie that looked just like the one on the stained-glass window. Grinning under his sheet, he put it on.
He took a look in the nearby mirror, but found that he was still wearing the ratty sheet from the shack that his guardians had called a home. Looking around again, Doopliss found a pure white dust cover over a nearby armchair. What a waste.
Pulling it off and shaking off the dust, he took off his hat, the bow tie and the old sheet, putting the dust cover over himself. Focusing his transforming powers, he formed two eye-holes that were angular to make his round red eyes appear as the pupil to a set of black demonic eyes. Along with that, he formed a jagged smiley mouth and put an extra charm to make it move with his speech. That letter had been right, his transformation magic was good.
It was time to spend some time seeing just how good…
Looking back at the furniture, he willed it to transform into smaller furniture. Once that was done, he held it under his new cover to go through the hole, making sure to grab his new accessories on the way out.
'Time to spiff up that bell room.'
Soon, the room was remodeled with no small amount of Doopliss' transformation powers in the process. It was still a little dusty, but there was a rug, a TV, a shower (two things he'd never had at his last home, but that he'd read about), and a green armchair. He'd tried the throne and found it to be too stiff for his liking, so he transformed that too.
He looked out of the window frame, seeing Twilight Town in the distance. His new mouth grinned.
"Hate to disappoint you, ma and pa, but if these people called me a monster, they'll get a monster. They were always wallowing in gloom unless they were after me. Let's see if they enjoy wallowing in mud. Maybe I'll move on after I turn Twilight Town into a pigpen…"
As the steeple's bell rung, his ruby eyes stared at the town and glimmered. Several miles below and beyond, one of the Twilighters that had been chasing Doopliss turned into a pig with a puff of purple smoke.
I posted this because I find Doopliss to be an interesting character, and despite my digging, I couldn't find any legitimate backstory or even theories about him. Sure, he seems to be a one-dimensional bratty villain, but he doesn't seem entirely evil. If I were to label him, I'd put it… chaotic neutral.
You may, of course, feel free to accept or reject my headcanon. This is just my take on what I feel is an unexplored character. A blank canvas.
Anyway, there's another reason that I'm writing this which won't appear until I finally complete some of these fanfictions that I have in the works.
See you when I see you.
-AJ203