On the Street, near sundown

Luke ran as far as he could. He moved until his lungs burned and his shins felt like they were about to burst. He knew for a fact he did not like the sound of what was going on in the ship, and knew that was the last place he wanted his brother to be.

Now that he was sufficiently far, almost half way across the city, he knew he couldn't run much farther. While still gasping for air, he found himself a wall to lean against, his back sliding down it until he hit the ground. Between gasps, he grumbled, "We're no' going back t' the ship tonight."

Alistair was a bit winded himself, but had enough practice sprinting away at a moment's notice to avoid collapse. "Nope... I think a hotel might be just the thing..."

"Maybe after a res'," Luke responded, still trying to ease his hurting lungs.

It took Luke a good ten minutes to get himself more rested up, enough time for a casually walking Garrett to appear in the small crowd that took up the street. He stopped by the two resting brothers, offering them an easy going smile. "Well, I see charging in blindly went well."

"Oh, shu' yer bloomin' mouf," Alistair snapped at the kid. "Be'er 'im than us."

A look of surprise hit Garrett at the sudden change in accent, though it was quick to revert into his somewhat smug smile when he caught himself reacting. He was going to need to ask about that later. "Suppose that shows how much you really care," Garrett replied with a shrug. "Send in your own brother as the canary in the coalmine. That's cold."

The reply from Garrett got a glare up from Luke. "Didn't see you doing anything."

"That's because there were two goons standing outside the ship. I usually don't go running into the hands of goons, they're pretty good at messing you up good."

Alistair didn't hold back his glare either. "I care abou' me bro'er. I jus' fink 'e's less likely to 'ave trouble where we 'ould. Never encouraged 'is stupidi'y, mind, bu' 'e can generally take care of 'imself, if you 'avn't noticed. An' we was right there in case things didn' work out so well." He turned his eyes on Luke. "You know 'at was the case."

"Don't think that at all, I volunteered if you don' remember," Luke responded, still irritated.

Garrett shook his head, sticking the hand that wasn't holding his umbrella in his pocket. "Keep telling yourselves that. It'll turn out right in the end no matter what, right? You can recover from any mistake as long as you've got your love to hold you through, right? Hate it say it boys, life isn't that nice most of the time. What exactly could we have done if something happened in there? Maybe blast our way past the guards, but what about inside? Not much water there."

It was around that point when a new ghost appeared on the scene. At least, it had to be assumed to be a ghost when he just sort of appeared there. With a confidence and easy that tended to be disciplined as grace by most people, he calmly said in a Coxish accent, "I was hardly expecting to find another soul out here, pardon the pun."

"You underestimate my ability," Alistair answered calmly. "Who said there needed to be water inside to begin with?"

"Oh?" answered John. "We're al'ays 'ere. Well, leastaways, we're always following my dunder'eaded bro'ers. Need someone t' watch, eh?"

"According to the laws of magic, at least what little bit I know of them, can't create anything that's not already there. Can't create stone out of thin air, can't create water out of thin air, can't create fire without heat. can create air out of air, but can't really create it out of nothing," Garrett responded smugly. While he had taken a class on magic theory, he honestly couldn't remember much on the subject and found himself making educated guesses based on the few magic users he had encountered.

Luke, on the other hand, had gone quiet, trying not to alert the other two to this new hallucination before him.

"Hardly. I have been watching the same person for months, much to my disappointment. I believe that would be one Alistair Fairchild you're following. I've seen him before, at a seance he was trying and failing to set up. It seams my son is not the only disappointment to the family," the Former Lord Fairfax replied.

"I never said anything about creating it from nothing." He looked around at the falling rain. "Do you call this lot nothing?"

"Children never quite turn out as you mean them to," grumbled their mum. "But you have to love them all the same. I can tell you we never taught our Ali to rip off old widows. What's yours done?"

"Last time I checked, that ship wasn't full of holes," Garrett responded. "Kind of hard to use water if you can't get it to ya."

"He plans to marry the daughter of my murderer while taking it out on your son," The Former Lord Fairfax replied dryly.

"It has a perfectly functional set of doors," Alistair answered, and again you underestimate my ingenuity."

"Anything Luke can do abou' it?" John asked, pointing at Luke. "'e's eavesdropping on us, y'know."

The ghost Fairfax glanced at Luke, an idea turning in his head. "He can hear ghosts can he? Would that make him an ectomancer?"

"Thanks, John. You're a real 'elp," Luke grumbled sarcastically, still keeping to his crouch near the wall. "I'm one. You're making me look crazy again."

"You know ectomancers are much more skilled at channeling ghosts than a regular person? That means I could probably use him to deliver a message to my son..." The Lord replied, keeping his eyes on Luke.

"I can tell 'im-"

"I meant I should like to give it personally," The former Lord Fairfax replied, keeping a stern gaze on Luke.

This caused the older Fairchild brother to stiffen up in worry, a look of fear appearing on his face. "I don't like the sound of that idea."

Garrett, meanwhile, had abandoned his conversation to watch Luke talk to himself with some interest and a hint fo concern. He grumbled to Alistair, "Think he's gone nuts?"

"Don't know," was all Alistair muttered back.

"Just don't get him into trouble," their Mum said, wringing her hands. "Your son don't much care for the name Fairchild thanks to Ali, and... well, he doesn't seem all there. Ali's right scared of him for a reason, I think."

"Don't I get any say in this?" Luke asked from his little corner, his anger only barely surpassing his terror. "It's my body, I don' wan' people jus' 'opping in an' out like some sort of carriage."

"This is too important a matter to ask," Lord Fairfax replied, moving to bridge the gap between him and Luke. "This must happen sooner than later if my message is going to have any effect. I would prefer to borrow your body with your permission, but I will take it by force if I must."

The look of terror remained as Luke slowly got back to his feet. He didn't hesitate before trying to make a break for it further down the street.

"Oy! Luke!" Alistair yelled. "Where the bloody--" He ran after him, slipping a bit on the wet pavement. "Oy!"

Garrett took a little bit longer to be bothered to stand up and follow after the two, pressing his bowler hat against his head as he ran to follow.

Luke himself found himself glancing back at Alistair when he heard him calling, his eyebrows knitted together in distress. He wasn't about to stop running though, not with the threat of possession looming over his shoulder. Figuratively. Apparently the ghost had disappeared in the time it took him to look back.

He looked forward again with a certain sense of dread knotting in his gut. When he couldn't see the ghost, that meant it could be anywhere. Including right in front of him, much to his dismay. The former Lord Fairfax offered Luke a look of scorn, lowering his glasses to glare over. "You seam to be under the impression that you can simply walk away from something that lacks a corporeal body."

Luke stopped in his tracks as best as he could and tried to reverse directions, though to little avail. His spectral attacker was quick to shove a hand through his head, leading Luke to grab it and curl in a feeble attempt at keeping his own body. It didn't take long for him to relax again, his entire posture changing. His back straightened and his shoulders squared off, taking on more of an authoritative and elegant stance than he usually did.

"What the hell was that?" Alistair demanded as he stormed up to his brother. "You just take off without so much as a hint of where you're going to all of a sudden, or why. Now why the hell are you in such a bloody hurry."

"Mr. Fairchild, would you kindly be quiet? I have more important business to deal with than you at the moment. I will address you after I've spoken to my son," "Luke" responded in a clear Coxish accent, a startling contrast to his usual grumbled cockney accent. He looked at Alistair with a gaze that help a certain amount of disdain and a certain feeling of superiority.

"You haven' go' a son, Luke," Alistair answered with a glare. "Wot are you on abou'?"

"And so the wolf sheds his sheep clothing and shows his roots. You seam to be a foolish one, so I will make this clear: I am the previous Lord Fairfax and I have business I need to borrow this man's body for. Do stop distracting me," He replied sternly before trying to turn to leave again.

Garrett took that time to catch up again. With a bit of worry, he tried to grab on to Alistair's arm subtly, growling as quietly as he could, "Think he's gone flat out mad. Either do something about it or run."

"Luke!" Alistair called, trying to grab his brother's arm to stop him. "Where are you going?" This was definitely not right. Luke was acting too strange, completely unlike himself and much too refined to be the common laborer he was. Alistair almost believed he was possessed. "Don't go back there! That bastard Fairfax could kill you!"

"Luke" stopped in his tracks. He looked down at the hand that grabbed his arm and tried to brush it off like a bug, replying, "A pity. Perhaps you should have been more careful about what enemies you make and what sort of tricks you try to pull. A commendable show, a nice touch with the lights on the eyes, though rather infuriating when you're watching someone trying to mimic you."

Alistair stared at Luke in shock, barely able to believe it, then sputtered, "Let him go. I'm not going to allow him to be bloody well killed over my mistakes. He's my... He's my only family."

"I hardly believe that this Luke is going to get killed. I will leave once I can get my message across," "Luke" replied.