#Vivi's realizing how badly she messed up.

[distractedhistotech]

MSA + 1 Between: Vivi gets the news

“I…I see.  I’m so sorry,” said Hiro into his phone.  “Is there anything my family and I can do to help?”  Hiro listened to the voice on the phone.  “I understand.  I’ll pass it on before I come over to check on Sydney.  Maybe hearing news from Lance will help her feel a bit better.  I’ll see you then.”  Hiro hung up on the call and let out a sigh.

“Is Sydney okay?” asked Vivi.

“She’s awake and fairly lucid, so her brain wasn’t damaged,” said Hiro.  “However, it appears she’s been cursed like you.”

Vivi blinked.  “Huh?  But I thought she’d be immune to that sort of thing.”

“Not necessarily,” said Hiro.  “She’s highly resistant, but there are ways around that.  For example, if her powers were exhausted and weak at the time the curse was laid on her.”

Vivi winced.  “Oh.  That…Why didn’t that occur to me before?” questioned Vivi.  “That should’ve been obvious.”

Hiro nodded.  “It should have.  No one is invincible, even if they seem that way.”

Vivi bit her lip and hugged herself.  Had she really been so obsessed with awakening her powers that she’d ignored something so simple and obvious?

God, no wonder Sydney had been so angry with her.  “Can I see her.  I…I owe her an apology.”  And so much more.

“Ah.  That’s��Sydney doesn’t want to directly speak with you right now.  Best to give her some time to calm down,” said Hiro.

Vivi suddenly felt chilled to the bone and sick to her stomach all at once.  “Oh.”

Hiro seemed to have noticed it.  “I’m sure passing on messages will be all right.  Maybe take a break from everything.”

Vivi got the feeling he was specifically talking about paranormal investigations.

“And Sydney needs some time to get used to…”  Hiro trailed off.  “She needs to adjust to…”  He went silent.  He closed his eyes and sighed.  “Sydney’s injury became infected and spread to the surrounding area.  It damaged her remaining eye in some way.  She…she’s completely blind.”

Vivi’s world abruptly came to a complete halt.  She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t hear, couldn’t see.

Nothing was right.

Nothing made sense.

Why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why

She just wanted to be like her friends.  Now she was all alone.

Vivi blacked out as Hiro called her name.

[pure-kirarin]

Slow & Steady [P2] [Sabo x f!reader] (+18)

Genre : Romance - Smut - Bestfriends to lovers General warnings : Alcohol consumption - Dark themes - Swearing - S m u t - possessiveness - Mention of ex-relationships - jealousy

A/N : This is really different from my usual writing style but I am experimenting. Please tell me your thoughts and don’t hesitate to ask to be added to the tag list :) AO3 : https://archiveofourown.org/works/31877203?view_full_work=true

In the last chapter --  «-Enough playing now, you're going to sleep. -B-but ! This wasn't what I asked for....You're really a coward after all...You virgin... » He carried you to his room, putting you on the bed and sitting next to you. «-I'd love to prove you wrong. However, it would be better if you were in a state where you'd be able to recall how good I am. If you want me to fuck you this badly then maybe ask me when you're sober.

Part I - Part II

Part II  -Yeah yeah...Pff..You're no fun Sabo. Things were finally getting interesting ! »

He smiled seeing that you were now calmer. You started to yawn and bury your face in his pillow. He loved to see you getting so comfortable in his room. He really needed a cold shower after your little show.  -Goodnight (Y/N). I'll sleep on the couch. You can get comfortable. -Are you crazyy ? You gonna leave me alone like this ? Let's sleep together~ -Come on (Y/N), you're a big girl. You could sleep alone for one night, would you ? Translation : I don't want to spend the whole night with a semi. And you're dangerously flirty, and I have wanted you for years and now I have to abstain.

-Pleaaaase. You said looking at him with puppy eyes. He rolled his eyes placing a hand in his hair. God.damn.it.

You won again. Like every time. * * *  You opened your eyes hardly next day, feeling something hard against your thigh. You looked at the ceiling

Oh...I am not in my room...Where the fuck am I ?

you turn around only to discover the embodiment of Adonis to your side. A light beam was lighting up Sabo's face. He looked like an angel as his beauty couldn't be that of a human.

Was he always this handsome ?

You didn't know, in fact, you have never had the occasion to wake up in his bed. Wait, in his bed ? This realization came slowly as your head was still foggy from yesterday's consumption.

You looked down, the thing that was pressing against your leg was indeed :

his thing.

You frowned, blushed, pulled away, put a hand on your lips repressing an internal scream, all of this in around three seconds. You then tried to calm down, telling yourself that it was very normal for a man to experience this kind of morning unconviniences, and that Sabo was a man, after all. Even if  you have always seen him as a bestfriend, he was still a man that is capable of physical attraction.

Now that this internal monologue was done with, you felt a bit calmer, but that didn't answer your question. You got out of bed, trying to recall what happened after going in the bar. And it came back. All of it. Without any mercy for your feelings.

You wanted the ground to swallow you whole. Your only wish was to disappear which meant : calling Nami. You headed out of the house, not even having the courage to face your bestfriend.

« Namiiiii -Uh ? What's the matter ? -I fucked up. I fucked up really bad. -Oh yeah ? Tell me about it. -Wait, why do you seem excited ? -O-oh I'm not excited. Come on tell me. What else could you have possibly done ? -I asked Sabo to fuck me. -Wait what ? You could hear Vivi ask Nami about what happened and her answering « She asked Sabo to fuck her ». -Nami ! Don't go on telling everyone about this. I'm on my way. -For starters, Vivi isn't « everyone », she's my girlfriend. And I'm here waiting for you to tell me what happened. -Wait, I'll come at your place. This can't be discussed over the phone. »

You hung up on her. Ten minutes later, you were at her place. Extremely confused. Nami was painting her nails bright red on the bed while Vivi was sitting comfortably on a chair. You let your whole body weight fall on a lounge pug, tourmented.  «-So tell me how you and Sabo ended up fucking. She emphasized the last word in a way that made you almost choke on air.  -We didn't actually. Nami and Vivi both sighed in a synchronized « Ah » of disappointment. -So hmm...I don't remember clearly. I was really drunk-- well that you're aware of and...And Sabo didn't want to leave me alone so we went to his place. Ace was at Thatch's so we were alone. We hugged and he comforted me. Then I started teasing him, and I don't know what I was thinking, but I kissed him, and then I asked him to fuck me. -Wow that escalated quickly. Said Nami as she continued painting her nails.

-Well, I was heartbroken, I needed something, someone, and he was there, and you know Sabo, he's a good guy ! I don't know what's worse, the fact that I asked him to fuck me or the fact that he said no.

-Oh god I'm so so sorry

- Nami please don't make things worse for me.

-No offense, but you're so dense. Sabo has always been into you. Do you want him, or do you not ? I know that going right into a relationship after a breakup is a bad idea. But honestly it's worth giving it a shot. He's a really good guy. Try dating someone nice for once.

-I don't know, he has something unsettling about him. Like « almost too good to be true » you know ? Added Vivi.

-Ohhh~ I see. Honestly, I always thought that he was a bit prude and hella vanilla. I mean, yes, he's my best friend. But he has never talked about girls to me or about sexual stuff. So I just assumed that. I never thought that he'd be packin' like that. You said as you popped a lollipop in your mouth.

-Ah ? Was it really that impressive ? asked Nami, genuinely curious.

-Yeah. On a scale from 0 to doflamingo he's a solid eight point seventy five. (*)

-Oh gosh. I understand why you're so worked up now.

-That's really...precise. Added Vivi, a bit horrified.

(*) [ The dear reader might need this clarification ; Doflamingo was Law's uncle, he sometimes came to pick him up after uni with his luxurious lamborghini. He wore extremely tight pants that left little to the imagination. And he was most known among your clique for having a nine incher. It was a running joke wether to know if Law got his uncle's genes. Needless to say that this joke wasn't to Law's taste. Now back to our adorable Y/N. ]

-So. I really don't know what to do. I am still heartbroken. -And horny. Added the ginger. -Yeah, that too. I'm afraid of ruining our friendship. -Listen dear, said Nami as she was closing the nail polish bottle, if you're not going for it, someone else would. And trust me, that girl Koala is upping her game. She's going to steal him right in front of your eyes, just like this - and she snapped her fingers. -Oh, and then, you can forget about being « best friends ». Said Vivi adding fuel to the fire. -Yeah, once he's gonna start dating, he won't have too much time for you-- and then, that Koala girl, my god, she seems extremely possessive ! -No way, your voice was detached, trying to act is if you weren't worried, Sabo has never dated any girl before.- -Yes but he seems to get along with that girl. And to be honest, she's kinda cute.

-Nami ! Vivi pinched her forearm playfully, pretending to be jealous.

-That hurt ! And don't be jealous, you know that you're my only one~

-Hmm...I prefer that. Vivi laughed. You started caughing reclaiming for their attention.

-Attention please ! We're discussing my dick-appointment here.

-Jesus you're really annoying, (Y/N), just go for it already.

-How much did he pay you to tell me this huh ?

-What ? He didn't pay me ! You're just always getting your heart broken. I'm just trying to be a good friend.

-Say that you are trying to get rid of her~ Jokes Vivi.

-Vivi, don't expose me like this- Nami plays along while laughing.

-I hate you girls ! You say as you throw a pillow on Nami. The ginger starts complaining that you messed her Nail polish, and the whole scene metamorphosed into a pillow fight.

* * *

You spent the whole day with the girls, chit-chatting about boys and girls and playing stupid games. You felt way more comfortable now, less ashamed. However, you were surprised because you didn't get a message from your bestfriend. You wondered wether he was mad at you, it wasn't in his habits.

You decided to message Ace [click for conversation] [ (Y/N) : Heyy amigo is Sabo ok ? Did he tell u smth abt yesterday ? Ace : Ouch, your hurting my feelings, </3 Only talking to me to ask about my brother~ Yea hes okay why tho ? (Y/N) : Ooo kay. He's home ? Ace : He is. Why don't u directly text him ? (Y/N) : Don't tell him I asked. Btw I didn't forget about those 10 bucks you « borrowed » from me. Give it back.] He didn't answer. You sighed and decided to go see Sabo to settle things down. It was the first time that you were embarrassed to see your best friend. You dressed up in a black skirt and t shirt. You didn't usually pay attention to your looks when you went to hang out at Sabo's, but you were really stressed out and what the girls have said about Koala made you scared of losing him. After all, you had some abandonment issues. You had to settle this down once and forever. You arrived at the guy's place, it was an apartment not so far from your own student flat. You knocked on the door and Ace opened : -Ohhh, (Y/N), he whistles, lookin' like a girl today huh ? -What are you implying you dumbass ? Where's Sabo ? -He's in his room with Koala.- -Wait what ? Koala ? What is she doing here ? Ace raised an eyebrow then said amused ; -I don't know, go ask him yourself. -You're useless as usual. -Always so sweet. You on your period or something ? -I didn't forget about my twenty bucks by the way. -I said I'm goin' to pay you back alright ? Now go talk to Sabo. You and Ace were always teasing each other in a brotherly way, but in reality, he really cared for you, it was just your usual way of communication. But it was true that knowing that Koala was in Sabo's room put you in a bad mood. You knocked on the door with a knot in your stomach. Did they start dating ? Was Sabo interested in her ? These ideas were torturing you. But why did you care anyways ? It was none of your business. He could date whoever he wants. You opened the door but there was only Sabo relaxing on his bed, still fully clothed. « - Sabo ?-Oh, (Y/N), what brings you here ? -Why ? Do I need a reason to see my best friend ? He sits on bed looking at you. He doesn't fail to notice your cute outfit, it was different from your usual sweatpants and hoodies, the way it complemented your figure was almost too much for him. Just that sight was driving him insane, but his face didn't betray his emotions, like always, he acted friendly, not an ounce of lust in his dark ebony eyes. You took place next to him. He smelled good, you thought. The same fresh minty smell as last time. Did he always smell this good ? -(Y/N) ?Huh ? Is everything okay ? His voice seemed concerned.He cared for you. And you had those stupid immature and posessive thoughts. Get a grip of yourself, (Y/N), you thought. -Oh yea-- wasn't Koala here ? Ace told me you were with her.

You tried so hard to act like you didn't care, but he knew you like the back of his hand. But still, he played along. -Hmm..Yes. She just left. I was going out as well. He says with a sweet smile, looking at his watch. You couldn't help but make a disappointed face. -But Sabo I wanted to - I'm really sorry (Y/N), let's talk later. He ruffles your hair and you close your eyes as he does so. You felt stressed out. What happened exactly ? You felt intimidated in his presence for the first time. You wanted him to stay and talk this out. It was a bit awkward for you now. You never thought too much. As he was going out of the room you held the fabric of his coat tight in your hand ; -Sabo- -Hum ? Need me to drop you somewhere ? -N-no. You let his sleeve go, realizing what you have just done, I'll stay a bit then go back home. Don't worry about me. -Alright then. See you later ? -Yeah. See ya. ]

You looked at Sabo go away and you followed him shortly after. Meanwhile Ace was sitting on the couch and watching some movies. You went back home and was quite tormented. It wasn't the right time to worry as you had your assignments and studies to deal with. On one hand, you didn't even have the time to think of your ex boyfriend and his cheating but on the other, you felt like you were let down by Sabo. But why ? He didn't do anything. He just found himself a new friend and a potential new girlfriend.

He didn't even talk about her, but why where you so upset by him meeting her ? After all, he had the right to date just like you always did.

A few days have passed and you didn't get the chance to talk to Sabo. Your exams were getting closer and closer and you didn't feel ready.

Usually, Sabo would help you with your assignments but you were too scared to ask. You realized how much you relied on him and how he has been always there for you.

Who were you exactly to him ?

Maybe you took him for granted.

As you were on your bed looking at the ceiling and trying to collect every drop of motivation in your system to study, you heard your phone ring. It was Sabo's ringtone ! ----- Tag list : @vemuabhi @chloe-abbacchio @mwls-garden @soanywaysistartedsimping If you wanna get tagged just ask for it :)

[infiniteoddball]

Just wanted to say that new Rita one shot broke my heart😭but it was so good... thoughts on a part 2?😙✌️

A/N: So, here is the original post that started this all. Angst is something that I love to write. It is something that keeps me alive and makes me want to scream. I hope this fulfills all of your needs. I REALLY, as that you listen to the song September Song-Agnes Obel !  Word Count: 1,113 Tags: Angst  Tag List: @storiesofsvu @vivis-ghost-wife @svushots @wannabe-fic-reader @zeldasbabe @wall1418 @womenlovingwomen-imagines @kiwiana145 

Rita paused, staring at herself in the mirror of your bedroom. She stared at her puffy red eyes, not caring that she looked like shit. The thing she wanted the most was to have you back in her arms. She fucked up and she felt terrible. She knew that she wanted, more than anything, to fix things. She didn’t care what it took. She would do it. Therapy, some time apart, whatever. She never realized how much she hated sleeping in an empty bed until you weren’t there.

Rita walked into the bathroom, sitting on the edge of the tub, holding her head in her hands. She rubbed her eyes, wanting to cry even more. Instead, she had only cried until she fell asleep. Rita felt her regret in the pit of her stomach. She texted her assistant, Benjamin, saying that she wouldn’t be in today due to food poisoning. Rita’s finger hovered above Y/N’s phone number before she finally hit call. She swallowed hard as she silently begged for her to pick up. She swallowed thickly when she heard the familiar voice mail.

“Y/N. Babe...I am so sorry. I know that I messed up. I hurt you and I am so, so sorry. Please come home. I miss you and I love you. I want to work on us. I want us to get better. I am so sorry thatI haven’t been giving you the attention you deserve. Look, I am home. All day. I will be here if you decide to come home. Okay...I love you. Bye,” She hung up, slowly sliding into the empty tub as she curled into herself.

**

You stared at your phone, holding your breath until your phone stopped ringing. You closed your eyes, feeling the tears slip down your face as you listened to her voicemail on speaker. You could hear the remorse in her voice, knowing that she was serious. Especially since she was taking a day off of work. You swallowed the lump in your throat, wanting to throw up, but knew there was nothing in your system to throw up in your stomach.

You rolled over in the bed. You couldn’t remember the last time you had been in a bed without Rita by your side. You took a deep breath, forcing yourself to get out of bed. You slipped into the shower, losing track of time. You took a deep breath feeling yourself wanting to cry even more. How did things get so badly between you and Rita? When did you stop communicating?

You miss the scent of her lotion that she always bought extra of because she never asked you not to use it. She knew you loved it and never forgot to buy extra. You sit down, atop the bed, pulling the hotel robe tighter as you twist your wedding band around your finger. You hadn’t taken the ring off. You couldn’t bring yourself to do it. You take a deep breath, before finally getting up to get dressed. As much as you hate to admit this, you feel absolutely exhausted by this.

A while later, you walk up the stairs to your home, knocking on the front door. You hug yourself, looking up when Rita says your name. You bite your lip, feeling extremely awkward. She doesn’t know what to say and neither do you. You take a deep breath before really looking at her, “Can I come in?”

“Yes,” She says instantly. She stepped back, allowing you in.

You keep your eyes on the hardwood floor as you hear the door close. You inhale a deep, shaky breath before turning to face her. You have never seen Rita look so small with slumped shoulders and red rimmed eyes. You look back down at your feet, wishing you knew what to say.

“I regret not stopping you,” Rita blurts out. You feel shock fill you as you look up, “I am so sorry that I made you feel as though you are small. You’re not. You’re really, really not. When I first met you, I couldn’t stop thinking how you are larger than life and I would be lucky to even have five minutes with you. Somewhere along the way, I began to take you for granted and I am so sorry about that. You don’t deserve that. You never deserved that.” She declared.

You feel your heart clench as you look down at your feet. You swipe at the tears, that seemingly, haven’t stopped flowing since yesterday. You understood how serious she was being because she didn’t go into work when you knew she had court.

You look up finally before you hesitantly say, “Thank you for hearing me. I should have never snapped in that way. I should have talked to you.”

“Should we sit and talk?” Rita ran the heel of her palm up and down her thigh.

It honestly broke your heart to see her so unsure. You could tell just how sorry she was. You step forward, hugging her to your body.

“I don’t want to lose you!” Rita blurted out, hugging you tightly to her body, “I will do anything it takes to make you come home,” She whimpered.

You swallow thickly as you both melt into tears. This was not how you pictured this conversation. You thought anger was still going to be brewing between the both of you, instead, you were both falling apart at the seams, “You’re not going to,” You whisper thickly.

Rita pulled back, wiping away your tears. She cupped your chin tightly, “I don’t- No, I can’t do this on my own. I can’t live without you. I never thought I would ever feel this way about someone. I never thought I would be so connected to someone, but here we are. I love you.”

You slip your hand to the back of her neck, pulling her into a kiss, “I love you so, so much.” You say between kisses before pulling back to look at her. You touch your forehead to hers, “I hated not sleeping next to you. I missed you warming your cold, old man feet on my calves,” You choke out a watery laugh, “I hated not waking up having your limbs entangled with mine. I missed being woken up by you nuzzling into me, wishing for five more minutes of sleep. I don’t want to lose you either.”

“I do not have cold old man feet,” Rita laughed weakly. She buried her face where your neck and shoulder met, “Let’s go lay down so we can wake up together.”

“I would like nothing more than that.” You murmur.

[the-headbop-wraith]

1_17 Hunting Haunt

Just like the old days, back when the routine was set and finely grounded so the needle of the Record Player never diverted from its long coil. Round and round they went, and always they found the suitable end to a goal and returned smoothly to the center of the long coil to carve a little more down the spiraling lone line of the turntable.

Not this night though. The lights in the foyer were off, the McHiggin’s family having turned into their own rooms for the duration of the evening in order to let the Mystery Skulls work undisturbed. A thin line of light scuttled at the base of a sizable door, which Lewis recalled led into a dining room. Briefly, he wondered if Vivi or Arthur were aware they could be heard.

It wasn’t some big secret that Arthur was still uncomfortable when left alone with Lewis, they just hadn’t taken had the time to address the issue properly. When Vivi returned from locating Mystery, she had announced the groups division for exploring the McHiggin estate. And Arthur, as discreet as a panic infused amputee could be, had dragged Vivi off to have a small ‘talk.’ They might’ve been out of earshot behind a door and in another room, but Lewis was listening nonetheless. He didn’t know if he should feel offended or hold some small slither of pleasure about the mess, but that wouldn’t benefit him either. Lewis turned to Mystery and found the red eyes gleaming in the dark, those eyes glimpsing Lewis and then to the thin glimmer of light on the floor where Arthur and Vivi were discussing.

When the two finally emerged Arthur was compliant with Vivi’s decision, and slipped a rolled up piece of paper into his back pocket as he approached Lewis.

Under Vivi’s suggestion, the McHiggin’s had locked all doors to the rooms that they did not need investigation. The halls were left dark but Arthur found some comfort in identifying where each light switch was as they explored the halls of the lower floors.

They had walked in near silence since they left the foyer, taking a side hall that led through the elaborate construction of a wing of the estate with ornate natural wood lining the walls and lamps dangling from the ceiling. It might’ve helped if Lewis made some sort of sound when he moved, a definite and natural sound. Instead, the spirit had hovered, and there was only a faint flutter as the air moved around his substantial shape following Arthur’s lead.

Little by little Arthur found he couldn’t stand the suppression of the silence, and he cleared his throat by a miniscule bit before he spoke. “A few people have seen it down this hall here,” Arthur said, as he inched around the corner to view the large and long length of darkness presented. It seemed massive in the absence of light and he so badly wanted to reach over and flick the switch to release the brightness imprisoned in the bulbs. He turns his torch along the walls and the tile floor, but he doesn’t want the beam to escape to the furthest end.

What if it was there, waiting? The light would hit the big scraggly hide of that monster and its eyes would glow, it would take one large step before it began its approach. What would he do? Arthur could turn and run, he could run like hell was on his heels. But it might catch him. If he took his eyes off it, the thing would rush at him and tear into his back.

Arthur backpedaled when a sudden crack echoed, the faint sound was made thunderous in the open air of the hall. He slammed into a sturdy mass that recoiled from him, before it steadied itself and placed a solid set of hands on his shoulders. Arthur locked up.

“Steady,” Lewis said, pushing Arthur away. Lewis had set his feet on the floor when Arthur collided with him suddenly. “It was just the house settling. We’ve heard these kind of sounds before, remember?”

“House settling,” Arthur whimpered. He moved out of Lewis grip and forced his stiff hands to set the light back onto the floor where it shimmered over the glossy tile. “A creak. Got it.” Arthur continued forward and he could hear the tentative sweep of air coasting over Lewis as he followed. Arthur said something else but he wasn’t entirely sure what he had blurted, and Lewis made no comment on it. Hope it wasn’t important. Arthur raised his light to look into the decorative domed interior of the ceiling that curved outward, above the intersecting hall they moved through. “Feelin’ a little homesick?” Arthur asked. He just needed to break up the silence or he’d start rambling nonsense again. And Mystery wasn’t here. “The halls remind me a little of your mansion, but not as rundown. I liked the suits of armor. Y’know, when they weren’t, er….” Okay, time to shut up. Arthur twitched when Lewis spoke up:

“Not really,” Lewis muttered. “I liked my place better, after all, it was raised to reflect my inner self-image, more or less.” Lewis brought his feet to the floor and took a step to calibrate his pace with Arthur. “But I wouldn’t call it being homesick. You can’t really be homesick for something that wasn’t there. Could you?” Lewis�� tone sounded uncertain. The yellow light of Arthur’s torch flashed, startling Arthur when the beam pulsed.

“I guess I wouldn’t,” Arthur murmured. He edged around the corner. He noted Lewis kept his distance from the wall and peered around the side as well, but that was due to the sunglasses he was wearing. Arthur twitched when he realized the sunglasses didn’t matter now in the house, Lewis’ eyes were blazing right through the dark plastic and trailed a faint line of magenta light as he moved. “Lew. Your eyes. Um….”

Lewis drew back from the corner and stared at Arthur, expression unreadable even with the thin haze of light between them. “Oh. Thanks.”

Arthur didn’t understand the toneless response. Lewis said no more, he just turned and walked away. Arthur decided to just follow and not mention it, unless someone came across them while they were wandering.

The hall ended to the large barn style doors that opened into the vast garage. The doors had been left unlocked, Lewis tried them and pulled one door open enough that he and Arthur could look in. Within the vast open cement there were a few cars, some bikes, furniture covered in large sheets. Arthur had moved away, unwilling to enter within, and Lewis shut the door.

They returned to the main hall that they had entered from, and continued walking by the large portraits of scenery hung on the walls, and a few doors that opened up into another hall or a study. Arthur would get anxious whenever Lewis paused to check the handle of a door, and Lewis would call Arthur over so he could shine his light into whatever gloomy room had been opened.

“You’re sure you can’t sense anything?” Arthur had squeaked, creeping away as Lewis shut the last door of a short hall. “That should be a given, right? Shouldn’t—”

“I am no more aware, than you are,” Lewis had cut in. “You and Vi just gotta get used to that, I don’t have the answers. And if I did, I probably wouldn’t be able to go over them all. Ever thought of that?” Lewis pinned his arms behind his back as he walked ahead, leaving Arthur where he stood. Lewis stepped between adjacent low standing wall segments, and stepped down a short series of steps onto a sunken sitting area. He turned to face the direction the armchairs were facing, a large window in the tall wall. “Maybe you should check in with Vivi, see how she and Mystery are doing. Let ‘em know you’re okay.” He didn’t look back, but the pause was long and extended. It became stale within seconds. Lewis focused on his locket thudding timidly within the tight jacket he wore. The house was kept comfortably warm, but to him it was still too chilled for his preference.

The walkie-talkie crackled and Arthur’s rough voice called in. There was a small exchange of information, Arthur letting Vivi know they hadn’t seen anything, hadn’t heard anything either. Vivi mentioned that Mystery had taken an interest in some of the vents, but there was no whiff of the smell she could get. The conversation ended unceremoniously with a dry bark of the communicator. Lewis was not paying attention, he hadn’t refocused when Arthur began down the steps behind him.

“We’re not even getting paid for this,” Arthur had muttered. Silence came out of nowhere, and Lewis began to wonder if Arthur had seen something and frozen up. He was about to turn, when Arthur asked, “What’d you do?”

Lewis was baffled by the inquiry and spun to Arthur, and was nearly startled by how close the other had gotten to him. Lewis knocked over an armchair as he leapt away, the sunglasses fell onto his chest as he and the chair crashed over onto the soft carpet of the floor. Arthur stared down on Lewis as the flames washed over his skull and the bleached bone was revealed. Lewis lay there, legs propped over the side of the armchair. He wouldn’t look at Arthur, he focused on a point of the wall segment that encircled the room from the hall at their side.

“Shit! I’m sorry!” Arthur gagged, when Lewis had settled and realization knocked into Arthur’s head. He ducked down beside Lewis. “You okay? I didn’t— it wasn’t my intent—” When Arthur had reached out to take Lewis by the arm, Lewis wrenched his arm back and held it away, and would only motion for Arthur to back off. Throughout this Lewis had refused to look at the concerned face knelt over him, and only swiveled his skull further away from Arthur’s gaze.

When Arthur was a comfortable distance from him, Lewis raised himself and set his feet onto the floor. Lewis turned away and pushed the armchair right side up, but Lewis remained where he stood with his hands gripping the stiff fabric. “I yelled at him,” the voice rasped.

Arthur frowned. He didn’t quite hear and he asked, or tried to ask, what Lewis meant.

“I yelled at him,” Lewis repeated. He pushed away from the armchair but still, he refused to turn his skull to Arthur. “I think, I threatened him too. If being upset is threatening, I guess it would count,” Lewis said, voice scratching his enunciation.

“Just… upset?” Arthur said, trying not to sound accusing, or anything that Lewis might attribute to hostility. Vivi will think I’m all right. I just called her. But I’m okay. Everything’ll be all right. If Lewis had been facing Arthur, Lewis would have seen the color drain from his face.

But Lewis didn’t turn around. Arthur heard the distinct sound of a zipper, but it was difficult to decode Lewis’ motions in the dark while his torch was directed down on his heels. “I was more than upset,” Lewis admitted. Arthur could feel his own heart throbbing in his chest and hear it, the tempo pounding between his ears. As if— No, that wasn’t all his hearts ruckus. It was the locket. Arthur couldn’t see it but he could hear it. Was Lewis looking at it? Why? Arthur felt uncomfortable, as if he had stumbled into something personal and shouldn’t be here to witness. “I didn’t hurt him, I couldn’t,” Lewis went on. “I just… yelled at him.”

A soft crackle lifted, barely concealing the soft click of a metal pin. Lewis pivoted to face Arthur but didn’t look at him, Lewis instead stooped over to pluck up the sunglasses from the floor. “If someone sees me,” Lewis murmurs, as he spun the folded up shades between his dark fingers, “say something random. Like, the chickens are drowning, make them think they’re dreaming.” He tucked the sunglasses into one of the breast pockets of his jacket and popped up the collar, which concealed a small portion of his vacant neck. If he tucked his skull down into the collar a bit more, that might work too.

“You mean you can’t—.” Arthur said, as he raised the torch to light Lewis’ chest as he zipped up the jacket. “I’m such a fuck up.”

Lewis cocked his skull and frowned, but it looked fearsome than intended with the way the light blotted the hard contours of his skull, and portray a vicious scowl. “Let’s just keep moving,” Lewis says. “Vivi wants some progress over our ‘magical reconnection experience’ before dawn. Eh, hermano?” Lewis glides by Arthur as he twists around to follow the ghost as he ascends the short steps and alights on the higher floor.

“Wait!” Arthur choked. “You heard us?”

“The interesting parts,” Lewis admitted. “You and I should probably sit down later and have a merry old fashioned heart-to-heart. Eh? Oh, c’mon Arthur. Where’s your sense of humor?”

Arthur hopped up onto the higher floor with a soft plop and he turned to follow Lewis into the hall, his flashlight guiding his steps and following the pink embers Lewis kicked up. “I dunno bro,” he hissed at Lewis’ back. He pushed his flesh hand into his back pocket and felt the rolled up sheet of paper still there. “I had the impression humor was meant to be fun for all.”  Arthur drew himself back when Lewis had paused to spin his skull about to glare over his popped collar, down on Arthur.  There were no further retorts when Arthur attempted to match the glower, and he felt a small coal of satisfaction burn in him when Lewis had resumed his silent glide.

__

Their route began on the stairs that rose up to the higher floors, and Vivi had decided to check in the hallway where the kids rooms were located. Alex and Lela McHiggin’s had both seem the hound beast but in separate locations, Alex had seen it in the teens and Lela had encountered it at the opposite end of the home at the base of some stairs that that connected the two floors.

The walls were decorated with family photos, and a few tables were set along the carpeted halls with some decoration or statue, or a living plant on it. Vivi tried a few doors as she followed Mystery’s pace. Of course, most the rooms were locked but some opened into hall closets or a study, she even found a library.

“Nothing. No sound, not even a smell,” Vivi grumbled. “Huh, Mystery?”

Mystery padded along the hall, going from one wall to the other as he sniffed along in a zigzagging pattern. He stopped to look back at Vivi and shake his head, then resumed sniffing. He came upon a particular spot on a wall and snuffed at the carpet and the wall.

“Find something?” Vivi knelt down and pulled Mystery back by his collar. Before looking at the space of the wall, she gave Mystery’s powder white coat another examination with her flashlight and just went over his shoulders and sides. Mystery wriggled out of her grip and moved close to the wood panel. “Sorry. Focus, I know.” Vivi angled her light onto the wood and the carpet but found no indication of disturbance. She ran her hand over the polished wood. “New home. New pool. It’s such a shame.” She stood up as Mystery padded off. “The activity might settle down once the pools completed. There’s no guarantee, but it would explain why it doesn’t want the pool to be completed. Unless….” Vivi trailed off, knuckles pressed under her chin as she concentrated.

A hall opened in the side of the wall and cut through to the next hall, where the parents wing of the estate was. To one end of the large hall was a large stained glass and a statue with flowers, an intricate little display where the light of the moon hovered somewhere in the sky as a melting glob. The hall curved in a weird way, then hit a corner and kept going straight. It was an curious layout, and Vivi just followed it as she could, checking doors quietly as they were presented. Most in the parents wing were locked, one door opened into a huge bathroom with a Jacuzzi style tub and a large sauna shower. Vivi was startled by her own reflection when the light of her flashlight caught the mirror, and she stumbled back from the door.

“I hate it when I do that,” she growled, keeping her voice low. Mystery whimpered, and pushed the door shut with his shoulder before he walked off. “Thank you for saving me from the fiendish mirror,” Vivi said, tone flate. Mystery’s response was to yawn and make a high pitched whine sound in his throat. Mystery pranced on ahead, but then stopped dead in his tracks and stared. Vivi stumbled to a stop just at his tail and looked up, she didn’t need to raise her flashlight. “Oh shit.”

At the end of the hall was a dark lump that was indistinct from the distance that it had parked. The hall was not as large as the kids wing, which seemed to emphasize the creatures impossible size between the walls were it stood making it seem as though it had huddled down. Amidst the black mass a pair of green lights glimmered out, fixed on the two. Vivi stepped aside to the wall but there was no light switch, only at the two ends of the hall. She kept close to a desk and turned her light on the creature and found the face where the lights blazed, and a set of thick black lips pulled back over large white teeth. Then the smell hit her.

Vivi shoved her sleeve to her face and coughed. “Ergh. It’s like burnt popcorn.”

Mystery growled in his throat and took a step forward. The beast thing hissed and shuffled forward. Mystery hesitates and pulls back, to press his shoulder into Vivi’s knee. He pushes into her, beseeching movement.

“Hold on Mystery,” Vivi mumbled, through the sleeve. “Stay calm.” Vivi pulled the straps of the backpack off her shoulders, and rummaged through for the iron letter opener and a vial of water. “Why are you here?” she asked, as she fixed her backpack over her shoulders. She took the container of water in one hand and kept the letter opener in the other, and began to take careful steps toward the creature. The smell was bad, but not so much as she neared it. “Duid est tibi nomen?” The hound beast took a step and as it neared Vivi, she flung the container in its direction and emptied the contents.

Mystery gave an alarmed bark, just before the creature let out a loud snarl. Vivi turned and raced after Mystery, who bounced in place but had not taken off yet. Mystery began running when Vivi caught up to him. “Turn here!” Vivi said, pointing to the hall across from them. “Keep going!” Her heart pulsed, she could hear the heavy thuds of feet charging after them. The demon hound snarled at her back as she picked up pace, twisting and charging up the next hall that Mystery darted down.

The hall ended, the walls around them open up into a large room above a staircase. Mystery only pauses at the top to ensure Vivi was keeping up, and thereafter Mystery waited until his companion had managed down several steps before he followed. Vivi dragged her backpack under her side and stuffed the letter opener away, then dug inside the sack until her finger curled around the familiar plastic shape of the walkie-talkie.

“Guys! Come in!” Vivi called into the device. She turned her gaze back to the top of the steps, while her heels slipped on the tile steps under her descent. Above the creature had restricted its movement but its heavy paws were flashing in the moonlight, the silver beams slung down through the row of windows above them. “We found it! We found it and it’s chasing us! Where are you?” Vivi released the button and twisted to the banister to her side, she swung up over the rail and dropped to the floor on the other side and kept running. Mystery squeezed between the poles of the rail and leapt off after her. Rapid barks were called out by Mystery, waning Vivi to keep moving even as his paws whirled under him before he managed his traction. Viv had slowed when she caught the dogs struggles, but renewed her stride the moment Mystery caught up.

The walkie-talkie crackled and Arthur’s voice shot through. “Really? Wh—” He cut off, or seemed to be listening as the low crackle bubbled through the speaker Vivi held. Arthur said, somewhat distant from the receiver, “Where do you come up with these bad plans?” Arthur’s voice cut out when he released the transmitter on his radio.

“Is that Lewis? What’d he say?” Vivi checked over her shoulder as she entered into a hall, the darkness swooped around her and Mystery as they departed the moon splashed windows. The torch jiggled over the walls and a desk as Vivi checked her path, then she turned and checked what progress the hell beast had made. It had just departed the end of the staircase and was turning to charge into their direction.

“He wants to come to you,” Arthur answered. A pause, and that low static hum punched into the audio. “Where are you?” The line cleared once Arthur released the transmitter, and Vivi barked through:

“No! We’ll come to you!” She and Mystery slowed when they came to a corner, two halls intersecting into opposing directions. The hall must’ve looked different in the day, even if the sunlight couldn’t reach these isolated patches among the estate. Everything looked different, the air felt different, but at least the stench was left behind with the ragged monster. “I don’t know where I am!” Vivi croaked. “It’s dark, I—” She reached over and tried a light, but the switch didn’t work.

Mystery orbited her, his ears revolving over his head as he kept track of the thudding and panting of the beast as it raced at them. He moved further from Vivi as he sniffed at the floors and moved closer to one of the nondescript halls they faced.

“Lewis thinks he can— Lew, wait!” Arthur’s voice cut off.

The sharp barks startled Vivi, but she instantly recognizes Mystery’s tone. Vivi directs her light to the white pelt, and Mystery is already motioning the hall with a slight bob of his head before he trots ahead, a few encouraging calls echo around his tapping claws.

“Are they this way?” Vivi pants. Though she can hear the rasp of the hell beast catching up, Mystery only keeps ahead of her. There comes no response of the dog, his bright fur captivated by the keen beam of Vivi’s flashlight. A crash came, and Vivi spun around to see that the creature must’ve knocked some desk over or something, because it was still racing and had not stopped but it did sway oddly as it ran. Mystery darted up to the doors as they appeared on either side of the hall, but the doors that Vivi managed to snatched the door handle of, either opened into small rooms or were locked tight.

Mystery dashed through an archway and Vivi charged after, not yet aware that she had gripped down on the call button of her walkie-talkie throught this time. Vivi focused on keeping up with Mystery, who had a knack for leading his charges in the most beneficial direction. Was Mystery leading them to Lewis? Or was he aware of a safe place that the creature could not follow? She panted as took a chance to look back, and see that the beast had caught up and was only three paces behind them. When Vivi had looked back they were running through a long bend and exited out into a sizable room, the kitchen.

It was made of numerous pantries up and down walls, large windows that the moonlight cut through to carve out the faint details of a stove on one wall and a large granite countertop center of the room. Mystery leapt atop the countertop and scrambled, his claws unable to find purchase as he tore to the furthest side of the room. Vivi followed in a similar manner, her light catching the stainless steel light dome above as she skimmed across the same countertop Mystery had slipped over.

Vivi stood on the other side of the countertop and turned to the creature, now defined better in its close proximity under the cool silver coating of the moon. It was indeed a creature coated in rough scabs and thick black fur, its forearms huge and its teeth twice as big. It snarled and reared up, its large paws came down onto the granite and it wobbled there. Vivi spun away and took the closest door to her right, ignoring the barks of warning Mystery had given from the opposite side of the room. Vivi cursed her impulsiveness, the door was an entrance into a section of the kitchen for food preparation and ovens, and some large deep sinks. There was only one other exit across from her, but when Vivi dashed to the open door a large black muzzle sliced into the beam of her light. A startled shriek leapt out of Vivi as she propelled herself backwards, hitting the side of the sink as she whirled away. She shot out of the door she had entered from and raced across the room, whizzing by pantry cupboards and a wood carved vine bar.

On the other side of the room, Mystery was up on his back legs at a door, his forelegs fumbled with the door handle until the knob spun and Mystery flopped forward. He turned his face up, amber glasses slipping sideways on his snout as he gawked up at Lewis standing in the threshold. Lewis gave the dog perched on his knees a double take, before his skull tucked back the instant before Vivi collided with him.

There was a loud crash that might’ve awoken the family, followed by the quiet. Quiet, aside from the bellowing groan of the wolf beast howling in the kitchen.

Vivi clung onto Lewis coat as she reached her foot out behind her and shoved the door shut. From beyond this door came strangled snorts and gurgles as the creature struck the heavy wood, pawed and scratched at the barrier between it and its victim. Eventually, the sounds faded and the quiet came back to evaluate the situation at hand.

“Sorry Lew,” Vivi mumbled into his tie. Mystery was whining, sandwiched somewhere between Vivi and Lewis, he had yet to make an attempt at freeing himself.

Lewis, who had his hands propped up beside his torso, lowered his arms to Vivi’s shoulders and raised his skull out of the edge of his white suit collar. He made a sound that might’ve been an attempt at a sigh, but his chest didn’t move. “Did it hurt you?” he asked.

Vivi pressed her face into his tie. “No.” She waited but Lewis said nothing, he just held onto her. Soon, Vivi realized she was listening to the steady thrum of his locket and had her face pressed into his magenta tie. She pulled her face up, prompting Mystery to untangle himself and stand away from the two. “Where’s your jacket?” Vivi piped, nervous now. “And Arthur? Lewis? What happened!”

“He’s… somewhere,” Lewis said, as he sat up. Vivi partially curled up on his lap and sat there, staring at the only area of his skull visible, the eyes blazing within the eye sockets. “He can’t go through walls.” Lewis spun his skull to avoid Vivi’s scowl. “He did try though, I’ll give him that.”

Vivi stared up at the skull as she processed his words, and the image came to her. She had thought that Arthur, with Lewis… and the missing jacket meant— Vivi slapped her brow. “Really?” She exhaled a small breath in mild relief. It was very mild.

“I can’t make this stuff up. I’m not that clever,” Lewis said, voice bubbling with an odd warmth. “Ask him about it when we catch up. Now, about that creature?” Lewis looked at Mystery when he padded over, the amber spectacles held at current between the dogs front teeth gently. Lewis reached around Vivi to take the glasses, but Mystery flinched away and instead edged the glasses to Vivi.

Vivi sighed and took the glasses, but even then Mystery would not release them. “Arthur,” she said. “Where was he last?” She released the glasses that Mystery held, and the dog padded over to her torch light and nosed the flashlight over to Vivi.

As Vivi and Lewis returned to the section of hall where Arthur had been left, she discussed the beast creature at its basic nature. It would not speak with them, and an item of casting or binding effect would not work on it. They would have to be a little more ‘creative,’ as Vivi had air quoted with her fingers. Lewis was able to somehow guide them downstairs back to the hall where he had last seen Arthur, and by some small miracle Arthur had not run off and gotten lost.

“Arthur,” Vivi had cooed, as she approached the cheerful yellow slice his torch produced. “I thought that demon hound would have eaten you!” She ran up and threw her arms around Arthur and gave him a tight hug. Arthur dropped the heavy jacket he had been holding, it Hit the floor and folded over his feet in a solid lump.

Arms free, Arthur returned the embrace with no hesitation. “Oh, y’know. Them beasties only like to rough me up,” he said into her hair. Arthur’s eyes snapped open when Lewis stepped forward into his flashlight beam. “Hey.”

“Hey,” was all Lewis would say.

Vivi shoved Arthur away and checked his face. “Did you try to go through a wall?” She pushed the dark hairs up off of Arthur’s brow until they stood up, as they should. Mystery padded around the two and gave a few soft yaps through his clenched teeth. “Another bump! You can’t keep doing this to yourself Art!”

Rather comment, Arthur bit his lip and cast his eyes down. He knelt as Mystery came around his side to face him, and Arthur took the spectacles that Mystery persisted into shoving at his legs. “I didn’t want to be left alone in this creepy house,” Arthur said, as he set the glasses onto the bridge of the dogs white snout. He stands but tries not to meet Vivi’s perceptive eyes.

“There was a door right next to the wall,” Lewis grumbled.

“It was dark, alright? Let’s drop it and move on like adults,” Arthur said. He made a point to match stares with Lewis and hold the ghosts gaze. Arthur discreetly reached into his back pocket and fingered the rolled up page. “What about monster hound?” Arthur asked, breaking eye contact. “Is he still hunting and haunting?”

“Un…fortunately,” Vivi said, somewhat hesitant. “We’ll need to stash some of our supplies back in the van, first. But, I think I know a simple method to banish this nuisance.” She moved to stand between Arthur and Lewis. “It won’t follow our conventional methods, but that won’t stop us. Will it?”

Arthur and Lewis exchanged a glance, then turn back to Vivi. “Naw,” “Nada.”

“Good. And Lew-Lew.” Vivi turned to face the dapper spirit and reached up to take his skull between her hands. Lewis stared down at her and Vivi stared back into his bright embers eyes wavering like hesitant flames in a draft. It was hard to put into words, so instead Vivi beams at him and says, “You’re a walking nightlight. You know that?” Lewis visibly relaxes, and Vivi knows she has said the right thing.

An hour later.

The plan was fairly basic and as always, Vivi took care to remind everyone (Lewis) that they would be as careful as safely possible and not WRECK THE WHOLE HOUSE. If not already noted, this mostly applied to Lewis, but they shouldn’t have any problems here if everything went smoothly. Arthur was still uncertain, and he was still paired with Lewis but that wasn’t going to change. He hadn’t expected it to. As he crept through the hall and listened for the absence of sound, the indication of safety, he took his watch from his pocket and checked the time. Only a few minutes since he last checked it. Arthur slipped the broken pocket watch into his pocket and followed the eerie misty pink beam of his flashlight.

“Why don’t you go ahead and ask?” Lewis said. His voice was disembodied and echoed in Arthur’s head with a distinct hollowness. “I know you can’t resist.”

Arthur glared at his torch, his favored flashlight he always used during investigations because he liked the cheeriness of the bright yellow beam. The edges of the once sturdy light now flutter, and from staring at it too long Arthur developed a mild ache in his head. “Okay, I bite.” Arthur rubbed at his brow with his flesh hand in hopes to massage out some of the tension. It didn’t help. He asks, “Can you now sense and/or detect weird monster dog?”

One. Two. Three. Arthur counts his steps, slowing through his steps when no answer comes, anxiousness twists at his fingertips. An uncanny sense of isolation washed through Arthur, though he knew exactly where Lewis was, as evidence by the bright light in his path. “No,” was ALL Lewis said. And then they were not speaking again, and the hall was empty save for Arthur. Arthur, and his once warm, faithful flashlight that didn’t talk at him.

“Then why the fuck did you tell me to ask?” Arthur hissed. He wanted to throw the flashlight against the wall between the pictures or smash it on a desk, but that would ruin his only good light source. He had a penlight but that thing was pathetic. Arthur found the large doors that entered into the theater room. He pushed one door open and crept inside, his eyes tracked the revealed as they are revealed, then down the canvas screen suspended on the far wall, and down still to the stage below.

“You couldn’t resist,” Lewis said. “It was making you edgy— watch your step.”

The edge of the carpet rug was turned up, from where Arthur had stumbled on it earlier. He used his toe to kick it back flat and then raised the light to examine over the couple rows of theater style chairs. “I’m edgy because we’re looking for a damn monster hound, and NOT trying to confirm a rumor,” Arthur muttered.

“Just be careful,” Lewis advised. It didn’t sound right, Lewis voice coming from nowhere. A terrible thought came to Arthur, and he smothered it down in case – though he doubts – Lewis could hear his thoughts. “I’ll take care of you.”

Arthur scoffed as he returns to the large doors and steps out into the hall. “Good to know,” Arthur says, “I’m not sure if I wouldn’t feel—” A snarl tore through Arthur’s words, and the beast lunges across the hall at Arthur with its claws flashing through the magenta light twisting around its shaggy hide. Arthur gives a shriek and tumbles away from the claws, while simultaneously throwing the flashlight at the monsters flank. “Jeez fuck puddles!” Arthur yelps, as he kicks away from the large muzzle gnashing at his shoes. “Teeth! Huge teeth— Whoa!” He tries to kick at the carpet and get onto his feet, but the beast snaps at his hip and Arthur rolls away to avoid the teeth inches from his neck.

A table’s legs thrust out at the beast’s large neck and it turns, the bright green lights in its head glare at Lewis standing beside the theater doors with a small desk in his hands. The beast snarls as Lewis prods its shoulders with the table, stabbing at the creature as it recoils from his assault. “Back! Down! Bad!” Lewis hissed. Arthur used the wall beside him to drag his weight up off his feet and watched, as Lewis jammed the table down onto the beast a few more times without letting up.

The beast shook and took one more hit, then swung its body up under Lewis’ choice of weapon and raised to its back legs. Even to Lewis who was grizzly tall when settled on the floor, the hound beast was nearly twice his size and towered. Lewis cursed and sputtered as he shoved the table up at the creatures dark chest. The flashlight, whose beam had resumed its yellow glimmer, spiraled on the floor when Lewis kicked it with his foot. With a groan the hell hound toppled down onto Lewis, crushing the table over the ghosts chest with its thick elbows. Arthur gawked as Lewis sank into the floor and faded from physical sight. Snarling and sniffing, the beast lowered its head to the pieces of table and examined the floor between its claws, then raised it large head towards Arthur.

Somehow Arthur’s body was able to stay in one piece when his legs shot off. The hall whirled by his eyes in black static, in Arthur’s panicked state his pupils had dilated to the point that he could make out enough of where he was going that he didn’t slam into a wall. He put out his good arm skimming his fingertips over hardwood panels, then plaster, then nothing. The tile fluffed into carpet, as he tore around a corner; tap – tap his hands, his steps softer but no less slower. The hell beast howled after him, pursuing, its claws cracked over tile. A destination was in Arthur’s mind but he had to reach it first, and the McHiggin estate was not a place to be measured in feet.

“Hey, Vi,” Arthur gasped, as he pulled the walkie-talkie up. His heart stabbed into his ribs at the recognition no sound was coming through, the walkie-talkie was dead and cold. Up until Arthur realized he’d forgotten to turn the walkie-talkie on. Arthur tore around a corner and nearly slammed into the opposite wall as his feet skid on top of a rug. “Vi! Come in!”

“Yellow?” Vivi said. “You find the beast thing?”

“It found US! Where are you?” he shrieked. Arthur smashed into a large door and fumbled with the deadbolt, his eyes flash up and back to the doors frame as he claws to get the latch undone. He was half blind as he pawed at the wood, and his panic interfered with his ability to focus his tension coil in his prosthetic. “It’s huge! You didn’t say it was huge!”

The walkie-talkie pops and screeched as Arthur eased his grip off the call button. “—ust head on out like the plan!” Vivi said. In the background Mystery yapped with urgency and Arthur could hear her shoes tapping at the tile. “I’ll meet you out there! I’m not far! Don’t panic Art, you’re doing great.”

“ThaaAAaAaanks!” he screamed back, before he tore the door open and raced into the next room.

It was the sunroom, a large study with chairs and sofas placed around and covered in cotton sheets that protected the furniture from the direct rays of the sun. This was to be the room connected with the – someday – completed indoor pool. Arthur flew through leaping over sofas and a desk, as he made a beeline for the tarps covering the demolished side of the room. A strangled bellow and a Crack followed inches behind, as the hell beast barreled through the large door. With Arthur in its sights it picks up pace, huffing and snarling as its paws slam at the carpet. Arthur gives a piercing squeal as he hits one of the heavy plastic tarps stretched over the dismantled wall of the home, the nails tear out of faux log cabin wall as Arthur smashes through and keeps going.

The cold air swarms over Arthur’s body as he races under the moonlight. Arthur struggles, jerking his arms around his face to remove the stiff plastic tarp twisted over his shoulders. He can’t get a half lung of air in with the plastic constricting, the coating distorts his sight. But he can hear the monster gallop after him, its pants coming nearer as Arthur tussles around and around trying to find a way out of the heavy plastic while evading its path. “Vi! Vi” Arthur hoots, hoping to hear her voice close or anywhere at all. “Where are—” Arthur doesn’t see what gets his ankle but he sails forward and falls. He falls, and he falls, and before he knows it, Arthur has hit.

The landing is soft but it comes unexpected and it jars him, right through the arm he has landed on. Arthur groans as he rolls over, the tarp untangles and drags over the side of his head and his hair flips up in an uncomfortable manner. His arm, the prosthetic aches in his shoulder and the movements are sluggish. He is stunned and tries to move and get his good arm under him. Shadows hover around him and the scent of fresh soil and dry roots stabs his sinuses. A tingling sensation uncoils somewhere in his armpit as he rocks to his bad side, struggling to get some form of cooperation from his bad arm.

He can’t see the hell beast when it seeps from the shadows, but he hears it when it plops down in the pool with him. It pants and rasps, teeth gleam under the bright moon hanging high in the sky, far out of harms reach. Arthur pulls himself away from the creature as it advances on him. “Guys? Help?” There’s barking and a voice, somewhere above the pools edge. “Anytime now!”

The hell beast rears up and Arthur drags himself away, escaping the flash of white claws as they tear through the silver light and down onto the tarp he had been tangled with. “Over here! Vi! The pool! The pool!” Arthur shrieks. He stumbles over the loose soil, still delirious from the shock of the fall. Raspy snarls pursue his butchered retreat; the friendly but alarmed barks hail from the sky, tracking Arthur’s frenzied dashes around the obstructed walls of wood and canvas. The way Mystery’s voice echoes made it impossible to track and Arthur quickly loses his sense of direction in his confusion.

Loose soil cascades down over Arthur’s face and shoulders when he hits the unset far back of the pool. He leaps and snatches the high edge of the pool with his good arm and begins to haul himself up, his feet jam into the soft earth under him. But his bad arm doesn’t react to the tension in his muscles when he works to move it and Arthur falls, more cold soil filling his sleeves and shoulders. He tries again and again, only to be met with the same result. Arthur gives a choked cry, something barely human, and calls for Vivi.

Briefly, he recalls how frantic Mystery had been earlier that day trying to perform the simple task of climbing up out of the pool. How desperate Mystery was to get away from Lewis, and how he absolutely would not let Lewis touch him. As Arthur sorts through these reflections, he neglects to take into account how wild his heart is beating. He claws at the dirt and stares up, his unwavering expectation that she will be there, she will get him out of this mess. In his panic he neglects to notice the beast at his back as it closes in.

A loud grunt scratches out, after Lewis sweeps down smashing a fist over the beasts snout with a sharp right hook. “Stop that!” Lewis drops from his short glide and straightens up as he turns to Arthur, magenta embers glimmer within Lewis’ skull. Arthur whips around and promptly falls onto his ass, he rests his back against the cold soil behind him. “Art. You okay?” Lewis asks.

Arthur presses himself further back into the wall but is silent, and stares at Lewis. He could bear it, couldn’t cope with no escape, no window of opening but for the sky high above his head. After several sharp pants Arthur comes back to himself, and sees Lewis waiting. He nods, his head hangs. “Just… yeah. Fell on my arm, s’all.” Arthur raised the prosthetic, and steadied it with his good arm as he tests the fingers by gripping. The pinky and ring finger are sluggish but seem to click back into place and curl into his palm with his other fingers. “Banged up, but I’m fine.” Arthur doesn’t look up when Mystery’s barks are directly above him, or when Vivi calls down at them. “Where were you?” Arthur says, as he looks up at Lewis.

The warning Vivi calls is missed when Lewis stutters with an answer, but his voice drags off into a piercing shriek when the hell beast rears up and tangles its claws into Lewis’ suit. Vivi is shouting, unable to aid in any direct way, but to level her light onto the scene as the screaming creature hauls Lewis across his backside. Cold soil clumps into the top of his suit collar, and Lewis tucks his head down as the creature plants its weight upon the paws pressed over his shoulders. It shoves its snout onto his ribs….

And much too close to the steadily pulsing heart exposed on Lewis’ chest. That was it, that was the last straw. The beast had yet to notice the heart, but Lewis wouldn’t give it the chance. Bright fuchsia fire fills the eye sockets of Lewis skull, and Lewis thrusts his fits into the beast’s lower abdomen. A thick swell of fire engulfs the dark hide, the pink haze immediately competes with the black smog that rolls off the beasts body.

Harsh screams tear from the hell beast. It twitches and stumbles away from Lewis, more terrible howls peel from its body becoming less fearsome and more panicked. Lewis draws himself from his prone position on the dirt and rears himself up above the creature. At his quick response the hell beast takes another swipe at Lewis, the claws nearly catch the sides of his suit. When the beast shudders and stumbles, Lewis sweeps forward digging his dark digits into the heavy snout of the monster hound. Fire licks down Lewis shoulders and his arms, the pink flames lick across the frazzled hair and burn off the sharp ears. Mystery’s barks have reached an entirely new level of panic but Lewis can’t stop, not yet. The back legs of the monster curl down and it yowls as it rolls onto its side, its voice remains heavily distorted and mangled but desperate pleas begin to peel forth.

“Help! HELP! I’m on fire,” the rough voice snorts. “Get me out!” The large paw swipes around the head of the hell hound but does nothing to relieve Lewis hold.

When the hysterical cries come Lewis twitches and draws back, his fingers rip free of the beasts broiled skull. The bright fire once illuminating the makeshift wood and canvas walls of the pools inner wall diminish instantly and the air resume its dark, frigid state. A frail breeze flitters over the sides of the pool, carrying away the dark smoke trailing off the hell hounds body. Lewis is distressed by how quiet Vivi has become, he’s not even surprised that Arthur has essentially vanished off the radar.

The situation disconcerts Lewis, and he dithers from further action. A low crackle pops from his torso as a small puff of flame flutters out from his skull’s jaw sharp teeth. “How do we get you out?” he asks, voice rough.

“The arms. Pull them off,” the ragged voice begs. Black smoke rises off the bubbling face and the hell beasts abdomen, it smells five times as bad as the creature was rumored to. “Under the neck is a zipper. Hurry, it burns!”

“Hold on,” Lewis says. He moves to the creatures front and tugs on one paw but it feels secure where it is, and Lewis doesn’t want to strain something and hurt whoever is inside. Lewis leans closer to fumble at the neck of the beast’s body, but stops and withdraws when Vivi rushes over. “There’s a zipper here.” Lewis pulls up a flap on the neck, revealing a small tag which Vivi illuminates with her flashlight. She bits the handle of her torch as she squats down, then begins forcing the corrupt zipper down the length of the dogs chest.

“It’s got melted crap all over it,” Vivi states. She shrugs her backpack off and digs into it, pulling out pieces of paper, a notebook, a camera – she shifts some of her supplies around and curses. The voice is still grumbling about burning and pleading with his ‘rescuers,’ but Vivi doesn’t blink an eye and remains focused on her backpack. She does look up when Arthur totters over, he holds out his hand and a pocket knife rests on his palm. Lewis glances down at the knife and gives Arthur a look, but Arthur doesn’t check his stare. Vivi snatches the knife and goes to work, carving through the thick material. “Lemme know if I cut you.”

“Just hurry,” the distorted voice moans.

Arthur leaves Vivi to work and wanders to the front of the beast’s body. After a short examination of the paws, Arthur takes one arm and gently twists and pulls the limb free from the elbow down. His prosthetic fumbles as he works with the other arm but he does manage to make his arm function enough to get the paw loose, and free the hands of the person within. “This is a huge disappointment,” Arthur mutters. “Should we get an explanation before we get him out?” Arthur asks. He rubs at his nose as he looks to Vivi, and she pauses in her work to look at Arthur. The gargled voice continues to plead.

“I’m gonna suffocate,” he says.

“We’d better not risk it,” Vivi reasons. She resumes tearing the hide open, and Arthur returns to her side and begins going through the backpack. They don’t notice as Lewis pulls away from the group and stands beside the wood frame and canvas covering of the pools side, and watches. Mystery appears from the gloom, he trots over and sniffs at the twitching rear legs of the hell beast. Once Vivi and Arthur get the hell beast’s operator free enough, he begins to fight them and shoves Vivi away before he grabs at Arthur’s neck.

Lewis darts over and grabs the man by his upper arms and tears him off Arthur, then he pins the man over the side of the hell beast. A good portion of the operator is still caught within the hell beasts, and this benefits Lewis procedure as he twists the man as far over the suit body as he will go and forces his prisoners hands as far behind his back as he could. “That’s enough,” Lewis hissed. He pressed his knee into the man’s back and the man gives a pained cry.

“I won’t fight anymore,” the man screams. He wears a black material suit and a mask, where only his face is visible. “I’m done!”

“Not that we don’t trust you,” Vivi says. She hands Arthur the pocket knife and helps secure the man’s wrists together. Vivi holds the flashlight while Arthur wraps a few coils of twine around the wrist’s of their captive. “But we don’t trust you.” The task complete, Arthur moves aside to kneel beside Mystery. Assured now that the man will not get far if he breaks free, Lewis loosens his hold on the captive and Vivi helps remove his legs from the interior of the hell beast suit. The man stumbles as Lewis guides him into crouch on the cool soil, and Vivi gives him a quick look over with her flashlight. “You’re not burnt at all.” The man shrugs his shoulders. Vivi then takes the hood of his balaclava and adjusts the flashlight in her hand. “If it’s not the butler it’ll be,” she said, Lewis tightens his hold on the man’s shoulders as Vivi plucks off the hood. “Not old man Jenkins?”

“Surprised?” asked Trevor.

Arthur rubs at Mystery’s shoulders and frowns, though Trevor can’t see it in the dark. “Not really,” he said. “We’ve been doing this gig for a while. Didn’t you get that vibe when we had the talk?”

Mystery barked. This person was a complete waste of time.

Vivi motioned Lewis, and Lewis released Trevor and backed away but kept his ember eyes fixed on Trevor. Vivi shines the light on Trevor chest. “How about an explanation,” she asks. “Tell us why this elaborate scheme with the demon dog, that offensive smell and the random appearances. It’s the least you can do after you wasted all our time with this.”

Trevor tugs at his binds behind his back, though he knows that’s useless. “I don’t have to say anything, do I?” he asked, glancing from Vivi to Arthur. “You’re not detectives, you have no authority.”

From where he was sitting, Arthur spied a small puff of flame ignite at Lewis’ skull briefly, which Arthur attributed to extreme ghost agitation. “You got us there,” Arthur said. “We’re just a little curious, don’t mind us. But I already have my own personal theory to why you were making all this trouble, and all the rest of your dance and show.” Arthur motions in the dark to Trevor, with his good arm. “Make this easy on yourself. I’m tried, I want to take my arm off and go to bed. Y’know, the one I fell on and mucked up because something might’ve snapped in it when I landed on it. Though, that’s not as bad as getting barbe—”

“Art! Sweety,” Vivi coos, and turns the blue beam of her light over to Arthur. “You’re rambling again.”

Arthur hangs his head. “Sorry,” he said. Mystery leans over to his face, and Arthur pushes him away gently. “It’s getting late, and I’m done with this.”

“I know, hang in there.” Vivi turns her light back to Trevor. “You’re unwilling to tell us anything? Not even why the smell, because I think that on its own would be some sort of hazardous offense.”

“No, sorry,” Trevor said. He adjusts his knees, his legs were falling asleep and he was cold in the chilly air. “Go ahead. Call the police. I made sure nothing can be proven. The most I’ve done is…. Trespassing, causing a disturbance. And if there’s something I missed, I have a lawyer that’ll look after me.”

“So…” Vivi began, as she put her other hand over the flashlight handle. “It’s safe to presume you’ve maybe done this to other people, around here? But no one’s said anything yet, and you kept your little hobby low key?”

Trevor shakes his head as she shines the light back on him. “You can’t prove a thing,” he says, assured. “Homes make all kinds of creepy noises at night. Especially these big ones.”

“I’m sure you were a moderate apprentice to this sound making,” Vivi said. She waved her flashlight along the grainy pool floor as she recalled the specific areas of the home, where the McHiggin’s reported these sounds. “You thought the overpowering stench of the ‘hell beast’ would cover up any scent you may have left behind that would, let’s say, alert a dog in with a keen sense of smell.” She directs the blue beam of light to Mystery seated close beside Arthur. To his acknowledgement, Mystery puffed out his chest and perked his ears up. “I’m confident Arthur, our mechanic, will have no problem in learning how to open up the passages in the walls you built in during construction. Some perks of an electrician.” The light of her torch caught Mystery’s amber glasses, and the gleam at his face obscuring his red eyes.

“The outer walls would be insulated,” Arthur added. “Not the inner walls. And I guess there’d be enough space for you.” He rubbed the back of his head with his good hand. “Haven’t really decided where you’d have parked your costume. You couldn’t have taken it with you and from the estate place, especially at night.“

There was the matter of the costume they had as well. Lewis considered it while Vivi and Arthur hassled Trevor with the facts. No doubt the suit would still have evidence of the home still in its fur, from the doors and table it had wrecked. If those parts were not too badly damaged. He avoids looking at the still smoking husk of the beast suit.

Trevor shook his head as Vivi concluded another indisputable fact. She could see the irritated smirk clearly between his lips. “You can’t prove a thing,” he insists. “I have the right to remain silent, and to wait for my legal representative,” Trevor says. “You kids are being ridiculous, just hurry up and call them and get it over with.”

“The police?” Lewis inquires, his voice weaving into a gentle and almost harmonic resonance. “Oh, no-no-no, padre. If we call the police, they might try to save you.” Trevor jerks his head around to follow Lewis’ vague shape as it glides out and moves to stand behind the crouched Vivi. Lewis picks up on the confusion latched onto Trevor, while their captive is unable to see enough  of the dark etches in the skull suspended beneath the pitiful scraps of light offered by the moon and stars, the white features accented and aided less by the bright embers burning in the depths of Lewis’ skull. It is only confusion and not fear, because Trevor is uncertain of what he is looking at. Lewis could fix that.

“W-what—?” Trevor said, voice dropping as his jaw slacked. He made no effort to compose himself and instead, gaped up at Lewis.

The dapper spirit adjusts his cufflinks, little magenta embers snap off as he flicks his fingers away from his dark suit. I don’t take kindly to ANYONE that would even attempt to harm my friends,” Lewis said, embers in his eye sockets dimming to points. “I apologize. It seems I didn’t offer that caution earlier in the day, when we met.” Vivi’s torch dims and flashed in her hands, she looked down at it.

Little of Lewis was visible now but for a dark mass of his outline gleaming under the starlight, and his eyes burning in the twin eye sockets of his skull. Trevor tries to ask a question, but instead gags as he swallows. Caught in the tangle of dark and doubt he scoots away from the group, and drops to his side. Pink-purple embers kick up but he can’t see where from, he can only smell smoke and scorched rock. “Who are you?” rather ‘what are you,’ wrenches from Trevor’s throat. He doesn’t want to know, and he doesn’t want to look up at what is there.

A hand snares Lewis coat collar when he began to inch forward, toward the tormented criminal. Lewis swivels his skull atop his collar and glares, hungry fire wavered within his slanted eye sockets.

It’s Arthur, his metal arm outstretched and holding tightly to the suit collar. “This isn’t you,” Arthur says, tightening his hand as best as he could on the sharp collar. “Stop.” Mystery is poised a short ways behind Arthur, facing Lewis with his ears high and a frown on the dogs face.

Lewis is incredulous at first. How dare he? How dare Arthur get in the way, as always? But… he relents when his attention moved down to Vivi, half risen with her hands out in his direction as though attempting to approach some manner of furniture with care. Her light was out completely but Lewis hadn’t noticed, he could only perceive anxiousness snagging at her inner thoughts. Doubt, fear. In short, none of it was acceptable. He couldn’t allow it.

“Right,” he said, and backed away from Vivi as she still tracked his vague shape with caution. “I’m all right, blueberry.” Vivi remained frozen where she stood, her knees tremble from the strain of the awkward angle she now stood in. She began to straighten up more as Lewis backed off.

Vivi doesn’t… he doesn’t detect her confidence, Lewis can’t even look her in the eye. Instead, he turns and drifts away from his friends. The tension lifts but it still hovers, and Vivi watched Lewis where he ‘stands,’ gaze focused on the wood frame wall of the pools side, rather than the scorched hide of the hell beast at their feet. “We need to get him inside,” Vivi says. She turns her attention to Trevor huddled on the earthy floor, trembling mostly from the cool air creeping around. Mystery gives a soft whine in the dark. “Trevor, can you—?”

“I heard you,” he muttered, but there was no force in his voice. Trevor tilts his head to catch Vivi’s eyes. She can see the scowl on his face, before she turns her attention to her dead flashlight. Trevor shut his eyes when Vivi’s flashlight blazed with life, after some skillful shaking of the batteries.

“C’mon,” Arthur said. Mystery pranced with the blonde as he stepped forward to drag Trevor up. “I’ll help you out of here. And don’t run. That never works and… you’ll just stumble and break your nose. I’ve done that before—”

“Do you always ramble when you’re nervous?” Trevor asked.

Arthur had climbed out of the pool, but paused when he reached down to pull Trevor up out of the lower side of the pool. “Uhh… yeah,” he admitted. Arthur hoisted Trevor up, and glanced across to where Vivi stood with Lewis. Trevor looked back, and Arthur heard his breathing stop.

“I’ll worry about you,” Vivi warned. “Just come in for a moment?”

Lewis gave her a waning smirk. She said he had gotten himself together in record time, and she was impressed. Lewis still had his misgivings. “I just need a little more time to collect myself. Please, Blueberry? I’ll keep an eye out, make sure he doesn’t make a run.” He gave a mischievous smirk towards Trevor. “I doubt he will, eh padre?”

Trevor stared mutely but gave his head a frail shake.

“He can see your eyes, Lew,” Vivi mumbled.

“He was hiding in the walls of a home, and fabricated a demon hound costume.” Vivi actually returned Lewis’ smile, as he went on, “After the investigations, I doubt he’ll want to be thrown in the loony bin, too.” He froze when Vivi tugged him down by his tie and gave him a light peck on the cheek.

“Then I expect to see you in the van, later,” she said. Lewis was still hunched over when Vivi spun away, calling Mystery with her. Vivi opened her arms to catch Mystery when he jumped up, then she sprang easily up the pools wall to join Arthur and Trevor. “He needs some fresh air,” she explained, as she set Mystery down. Arthur gave a soft grunt as he turned away to walk towards the home, swelling under the starlight.

Trevor followed with no word of protest, not a sound or wrong step, and just kept his eyes glued to the blue beam of light planted in his path. He should have followed his gut, he should have known better. He needed a way out of this, he needed a story his lawyer could work with. He had money, he knew he could figure it out. Trevor would get out. He could beat the system.

__

It was unfairly early in the morning. The sun had yet to show itself, but it would be within the next half hour dance in the sky with deep grays. Arthur didn’t check is watch. He glanced the clocks in the home a few times throughout the fiasco of the cops coming out, and he’d been mercifully exempted from the questioning (for now). Vivi was still inside, explaining things and taking Mystery around the house to mark out the secret panels. Arthur was left behind and he didn’t mind, he was beat.

The night was solid and placid, as nights are between the very last minutes between night and dawn. His shoes grit over the splotched gray path he walked on, towards the gate in the wall of the McHiggin estate. He wished there were crickets, he wished it was spring already, but no. It was late fall and the air was unbearably cold to his metal arm.

A part of him hoped that Lewis had stayed at the pool. Or was haunting somewhere in the mansion, keeping an eye on Vivi. Sometimes Arthur needed alone time too, but not often. Only rarely and in those moments he craved some isolation like water on a parched, hot day. But it was cold, and he wanted to get out of the air.

He didn’t bother to knock, if Lewis was inside. Arthur turned the key in the door and pulled the latch. “Jeez, fuck,” Arthur cursed, and stumbled back. He composed himself to a small amount and spun away, not bothering to shut the driver side door. “Sorry.” The door crept shut as a form of reply, while Arthur made the long walk to the passenger side of the van. He unlocked that door and climbed in, then nearly fell out backwards as he reached out for the door to drag the door shut on his shoulder. He didn’t bother to check Lewis as he clambered over the bench seat and tumbled into the back. It was cold there too. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Lewis answered. He leaned over the steering wheel and stared up at the stars through the misty clouds. Arthur fumbled around in the back, looking for a blanket or adjusting himself. The sounds faded and Lewis wouldn’t have known Arthur was there, if not for his steady breathing. “How’s Vivi holding out?” he asked, out of the blue.

Arthur mumbled something and thudded. “Well. Good,” he muttered, voice muffled. “Pissed, but she’s super patient.” He chortled, and Lewis smirked. “Trevor looked so relieved when they put the cuffs on him and stuck him in the car.”

Lewis had seen the law enforcement drive up an hour ago, to the side of the McHiggin estate not far from the soon to be built indoor pool. It had prompted him to relocate to the van earlier than he had wanted. “The mysteries were never that much fun when we figure out its some jerk in a mask,” Lewis said.

“I would’ve gotten away with it too,” Arthur grumbled, imitating a gruff voice. “If it weren’t for you brats and that darn mutt.” He made a sound, some sort of gurgle, as he tussled over the hollow floor of the van. “Hell mute was kind of interesting. I get tired of vampires and ghouls, and….” He trails off. It was at a long time before Arthur finally snapped out, “Witches.”

“Nice save.”

“Thanks,” Arthur hummed. “Viv’s will be out later, I guess.” A soft rumble came from Lewis, but it didn’t sound warm. It had a strange hollowness to it. When Arthur looked up to check if he could catch Lewis’ outline in the mirror, he saw the front seat vacant of the looming shape. “Lew?” Arthur strained to peer up, now fully awake. He was still off balance after removing his arm, and tried to compensate by leaning far over his kneels as he moved to sit up. “Lew—”

“What?” Lewis’ eyes appeared first, then his skull and his suit, across from Arthur in the corner between the van and the bench seat. Arthur would have jerked away, if he had a reaction from his missing left arm.

“Why do you do that?” Arthur hissed. He shuffled away, now that Lewis’ outstretched legs had invaded his zone.

“Why not?” Lewis countered. He stared at Arthur without expression, as if studying him.

Arthur tried to ignore the glimmering eyes as he curled down and faced the wall of the van. It was surprisingly comfortable to sleep without an arm attached. Given, Arthur’s prosthetic was heavy and pulled awkwardly on his shoulder if he slept sideways. He didn’t like waking up . with it on, after he… fell. Don’t think about. Don’t remind yourself, or it’ll be in your nightmares all night long. Think of….

“Art.”

The sunshine disappeared. The light, the warmth, the fresh air was gone. He could smell Viv’s shampoo. Did he grab Vivi’s blanket, or… ? Arthur ripped the blanket off his blunt side and found Lewis where he had last appeared, still watching, but now with an unfocused and distant expression in those bright embers. Arthur wanted to snigger. How the hell could a skull be so expressive and pained all in the same mood?

“What?” he mumbled, rubbing at his eyes. “Lew?”

“Was he all right?” Lewis asked. “Trevor? Did you get a good look at him, in the light?”

Arthur groaned and slumped to his side. He curled up back in the blanket and watched Lewis with one eye open. “There wasn’t much to see,” he admitted. “He had some black smudges on his face, but he insisted it was grease or something. Why—?” Arthur jarred where he lay and focused his bleary eyes on Lewis. He could see the ghosts outline and eyes dim, as if he wanted to tear away into the night and disappear forever. The locket thudded and kept time, always faithful to its bearer. Lewis looked away, a stream of pink mist trailing from the front of his skull.

“Don’t tell Vivi,” Lewis murmured, or tried to with the odd static in his voice. “She worries too much already, about things she has no control over.” The skull tucked down to the edge of his collar and there it hovered. “I…” His voice faded into the soft scratching, and Lewis said nothing more.

Arthur kept his words to himself, and just watched Lewis as he lingered beside the bench seat. He and Lewis pretended to be asleep when Vivi came out with Mystery, and it stayed that way as she drove the van closer to town for the remainder of the morning.

That was when Arthur volunteered to trade places with Vivi. Not that there was no room in the vans back, but Vivi was still upset with Lewis and made a mute effort to remind the ‘resting’ ghost of this by sleeping in the front seat. Before he snuggled down with Mystery in the front, Arthur glanced into the dark interior of the vans back and saw true to her word, Vivi had taken Arthur’s former spot opposite from Lewis. She tangled herself in a sleeping bag and blanket, her back facing the open van.

Arthur sighed as he found his comfortable position, with Mystery draped over his chest.  Somehow it was soothing, with a light blanket soaking onto them.  He did not recall taking it, and in the dark Arthur had no idea whose it was. He surrender to the difficult rest tugging at his eyes, and lay staring up through the windshield as the vibrant amber light thinned into brighter blues. If he lay still without breathing, he could align his thoughts with the muffled thud of Lewis’ locket; steadily beating, a persistent constant lately.  He could not get used to it.

When next he awoke it would be noon, and bright, and his face would be unnecessarily warm. But he needed to the warmth, and he needed the light. He needed a contrast to the dark place, and the dank pit of rot and pain. It was far away and nightmares were only temporary. He almost always woke up before he hit.

[artificialqueens]

Galactica, Chapter 16 (Group Fic) - TheDane/Veronica

A/N: Hello pumpkins! Thank you so much for all the love, we adore you! Click here if you’re looking for previous chapters (or here if you’d rather read on AO3). 💫

Last Chapter: Sutan was smitten with a mysterious new girl, and Fame finally approved the Fashion Week designs.  

This Chapter: A mystery, a flea market, an apology,  a high society gathering, and a bedtime story.

***

“Come in!”

Katya pushed open Pearl’s door, then stood there, arms crossed, a deeply unhappy look on her face. Katya didn’t get mad very often, so when she did, people took it very seriously. Pearl took one look at her and scrambled up into a seated position on her bed.

“What’s wrong?” Pearl asked, a little worried.

“What did you do to Violet?”

“What…” Pearl scoffed, slightly offended. “What makes you think I did something?”

“Well, this is the third week in a row that she’s turned down our brunch invite. So naturally I assume you broke her poor heart. Didn’t you?!”

“No!” Pearl exclaimed. “In fact, if anyone broke anyone’s heart, it’s her! She completely ditched me at the Vogue party and now she’s acting like I don’t even exist.”

Katya narrowed her eyes, contemplating this claim. Pearl’s eyes were wide and innocent and she looked like she was telling the truth, but Katya wasn’t buying it. Something didn’t smell right.

“Huh.” Katya sat down beside Pearl on the bed. “Walk me through the party. Everything you remember.”

“Okay, so it started out great. She looked super hot; I looked super hot.”

“Naturally,” Katya chuckled.

“She didn’t want to do the whole step and repeat thing, but of course I have to, so she kind of stood to the side while I took some pictures, and I was like, clowning and flirting with her, and she seemed really into it. Real giggly and adorable.”

“Okay...” Katya raised an eyebrow.

“And then we went in, and she just...disappeared.” Pearl groaned. “I couldn’t find her anywhere. And the next thing I knew, she was sitting at the bar, flirting with some dude, having the time of her life-”

“Go back,” Katya said. “When you went into the party, you’re saying that she disappeared without saying one word to you?”

“Well, no, she said that she was going to get us drinks.”

“And what were you doing while she was getting drinks, Pearl?” Katya asked.

“I was dancing. Waiting for her! And...oh, shit.” Realization dawned in Pearl’s eyes. “Do you think she saw that girl kiss me?”

Katya covered her face with her hands, moaning, “Peeeearl, for fuck’s sake!”

“Well it was only like a second! A few seconds, tops! And I pushed her away!” Pearl defended herself. “And anyway, why wouldn’t she have said anything?!”

“Does she strike you as the type who enjoys confrontation?” Katya asked pointedly.

“No. No, definitely not. Ugh, fuck.”

“And anyway, what did you say when you saw her at the bar?”

“Uhhh...I kinda just...left.”

“Pearl!” Katya admonished.

“I was pissed! And I don’t like confrontation either.” Pearl crossed her arms sullenly.

“You need to talk to her.”

“Well, I’ve tried, Katya, but she doesn’t want to!”

Katya placed a hand on Pearl’s shoulder and said, “Try again.”

Pearl nodded. “Yeah. Okay.”  

***

“Patrick! Patrick, come here!”

Patrick looked around, trying to locate the face of his wife in the crowd of poorly-dressed shoppers who were surrounding them.

Fame had come home last night, fully drained after a long week at the office. When her mood and her energy levels hadn’t recovered after a long bath, Patrick had made a decision.

The Grand Market Place in New Jersey was one of Fame’s favorite places on Earth. Honestly, any flea market where Fame could walk around in peace was her happy place. Patrick had gotten their car out nice and early, not telling Fame where they were going until they were well on their way to the Lincoln tunnel, where she figured it out.

Patrick finally located Fame, waving at her as he made his way towards his wife, two strawberry melon coolers in his hand, one for each of them.

“Look! Look!” Fame smiled, her entire face lighting up as she held up a small porcelain figurine of a chicken.

“It’s a Royal Copley! See! The stamp is still there!” Fame turned the chicken upside down and showed him the bottom and the brand of the figurine. “It’s an original, I have to have this! It’s an Araucana, my favorite breed!”

Patrick laughed, basking in the joy Fame was radiating. He had sworn on his life that he would never tell anyone that Fame was an avid collector of porcelain animals, but chickens in particular. Her private collection had nearly 100 small chickens meticulously on display in one of Fame’s workrooms.

“I know it is, baby.” Patrick traded the drink and held his hand out for the figurine. Fame took a sip and smiled, not a single complaint falling from her lips over the sweetness of the drink as she turned around and started to argue with the woman in the stall over the price.

Patrick smiled to himself, thankful for the dork of a woman he had chosen to marry. Fame had grown up on a farm, her dad specializing in the breeding of rare chicken breeds for competitions all over the country and he loved seeing the side of her she normally kept so carefully hidden from the rest of the world.

Patrick took a sip of his drink, watching his woman. Spending some time outside of New York where literally no one knew either Fame or himself had been the right decision for today. It was liberating in the best of ways and just what they both needed, a Saturday away from the city in the early September sun.

***

Violet would have never opened the door if it wasn’t for the insistent knocking. She had tried to ignore it, had even made a cup of tea while desperately attempting to tune it out, but as the kettle whistled, Violet’s nerves had finally broken down.

She opened the door, only to be greeted by the sight of Pearl’s face, her hand raised to knock for the hundredth time.

“Violet-”

“Go away.”

Violet tried to close the door, but Pearl shoved her foot forward, her heavy leather boot the only thing saving it from getting crushed.

“Please-” Pearl groaned, her hand grabbing the door and prying it open. “I brought you a housewarming gift.”

Pearl tilted her hip, and Violet saw that she was carrying a basket of what had to be top shelf liquor.

“You can keep it.”

Violet tried to close the door again, but Pearl’s grip was too strong.

“Listen, I’m sorry about the whole mess-”

Violet paused. Pearl never apologized. Ever. Sure, the blonde pleaded and played cute, knowing just how to say sorry without the words ever leaving her mouth, but she had just said them, and from what Violet could see, she actually meant them too.

“Can I come in, please?” Pearl sighed. “I really need to talk to you.”

“Fine.” Violet took a step back. “Two minutes.”

Violet had intended to be in control, but it wasn’t until she had let Pearl in that she realized the blonde hadn’t been in her apartment yet.

“Nice decorating.”

Violet felt a flush of shame wash over her. She hadn’t gotten anything done with her place, the apartment just as empty as it had been when she had just moved in, but with Courtney taking all her time at work, and Sutan getting what little she could spare outside of it, she hadn’t had time to get anything done.

“You wanted to talk-” Violet leaned against the wall. “Talk.”

It was clear that Pearl wasn’t used to being put on the spot, but she recovered quickly.

“First of all, I thought you were a real bitch when you randomly ditched me to flirt with some guy.”

Violet’s eyes widened. “Wha-” Pearl was being wildy unfair. “That’s not what happen-”

“And it really fucking bothered me. Especially because that didn’t seem like you. Ditching someone I mean-”

“I didn’t-”

”And I might have realized earlier today that you possibly saw me on the dance floor.”

Pearl’s admission felt like a slap to the face all over again. Violet had tried to forget Pearl kissing the redhead, she really had, but it seemed like the world was intent on reminding her of it every chance it got.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“But it does. Vivi, I swear, she’s just someone I used to mess around with. I pushed her away right after she kissed me. The only person I wanted that night was you. Pinky swear.”

“Pearl…” Violet wanted to accept the pinky swear, wanted to forgive Pearl so badly, the woman was one of the few people she considered friends, but she would be lying if she said she wasn’t hurting.

“I miss you.”

“I miss you too.”

It was true. Violet missed Pearl, missed their friendship, missed having fun and feeling young and stupid and so very alive.

“Can we please just be friends again?”

A part of Violet wanted to say no, wanted to do what she always did which was run away, but for once, she knew it was worth the risk.

“Of course.”

Hugging Pearl felt amazing, and Violet clung to her friend, her fingers buried in her blonde locks.

***

Violet hurried down the stairs, fumbling with her earring as she took them two at a time. She hated herself, but she was almost late to be picked up, the clock in the lobby telling her she only had two minutes before she was supposed to be out on the street.

Violet hadn’t meant to take so long, hadn’t wanted to be almost late, but she had changed her clothes one too many times, her stomach filled with fluttering butterflies of nervousness.

Sutan had invited her out over text two days ago, and while Violet had agreed right away, it was driving her up the wall that she had no idea what they were doing and where they were going.

He had only told her to dress up, and that he had their tickets already booked, which wasn’t really much to go on.

Violet had agonised over what to wear for hours, but had ended up settling on a red evening gown, overdressed seeming like a much better option than underdressed.

She closed the lock on her earring, but as she reached out to grab the door, she felt her phone start to buzz away in her clutch. She could see Sutan through the glass in the door, a phone to his ear.

“I’m here!”

Sutan turned around, a smile breaking out on his face as he recognised her. He tapped on his phone, and Violet’s clutch finally stopped buzzing.

“Hello lovely eyes.”

Violet was just about to open her mouth to return his greeting, when she realised that he was holding a half smoked cigarette.

“I didn’t know you smoked.” Violet bit her lip. This was the first time she had seen a cigarette in Sutan’s hand, his apartment not smelling of smoke at all.

“I don’t.”

Violet raised an eyebrow, and Sutan laughed.

“Okay, so, I guess I’m obviously smoking right now.” Sutan dropped the cigarette, and stepped on it, Violet barely holding in a groan as she couldn’t help but worry about the Gucci sole. “Raja has me by the ball with the whole new models thing.”

“Ah…” Violet was well aware, too aware, that Fame had already rejected over half of the girls Elite had suggested. “I’m sorry.”

“Let’s not talk about work.” Sutan held a hand out, and Violet took it. She had expected him to pull her in for a kiss or a hug, but instead, he spun her around.

“Suta-” Violet wanted to protest, but her muscle memory had already taken over, her body following his lead as she twirled once, twice, before Sutan stopped her again.

“You look gorgeous.” Sutan smiled, her hand still in his . “Is it Valentino?”

Violet nodded. “2011.”

“It suits you.” Sutan pulled her in, and Violet followed, the man clearly going for a hello kiss, but Violet turned her head to the side, his lips hitting her cheek, clearly indicating to him that she wasn’t going to kiss someone who had just smoked.

“Mmh.” Sutan hummed against her cheek, and Violet barely contained a shiver, the scent of cigarettes and his aftershave overwhelming her.

***

“How long does it take to get there?”

Violet leaned back against the seat, her black hair spilling over her long and slender arms. Sutan had been absolutely serious when he had complimented Violet’s outfit, the red dress spectacular. The chest was what drew his attention though,  her delicate collarbones standing out, flounces flanking the bare skin, Violet’s small breasts half covered by the fabric.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Sutan smirked, his driver pulling out from the sidewalk.

“Fine.”

“You’re not even going to pretend to want to know?” When he had told Violet he was keeping the evening date a surprise, he had expected a pointed reply, some nagging or at least a few texts, but Violet had simply accepted it, the woman he was sharing his car with once again so different from everyone else he would normally date.

“I can be patient.” Violet smiled, a teasing glimt in her eyes.

“It’s no fun if you’re not fighting to find out.” Sutan flicked Violet’s earring, which made her yelp and laugh, his move earning him a slap on the thigh. “We’re going to the reception for the new Ralph Pucci exhibition.”

“Wha-” Violet turned towards him. “Are you kidding me? Ralph Pucci, the Ralph Pucci?  Are you taking me to the reception of ‘The Art of the Mannequin’ exhibition at the MET?”

“The one and only.”

***

Violet was filled with glee.

She was at an actual reception at the MET as a proper guest. It was something she had longed for as a fashion student, and something she missed from her younger days, the atmosphere of a cultural premiere always something special.

They had already watched the opening talk and Sutan had gotten them glasses of champagne, the man offering his arm to her without question.

Violet had scanned the room when they had arrived, but there was no one there that she knew, no one who could potentially recognise her for who she used to be.

It was wonderful to walk through the exhibition with Sutan, the man saying quick hellos left and right, but he never strayed from Violet’s side. They each emptied two more glasses of champagne, sharing a few pieces of fruit from the platters the waiters carried around the museum halls.

“Oh.” Sutan leaned down, his breath hot as he whispered into Violet’s ear. “I just spotted Cory Bautista.”

“The co-owner of Model Management?”

“Of course you know who he is,” Sutan chuckled. “I have to go talk to him. Will you be okay on your own?”

“Afraid I can’t take care of myself?” Violet reached out, gently adjusting Sutan’s suit jacket.

“I’m sure you’ll be fine.” Sutan placed a quick kiss on her lips before he walked away, allowing Violet to wander around the exhibition. She had no idea if Sutan had just been lucky when he picked the night's activity, but for Violet it was an absolute joy to get to look at and read about the history and evolution of the fashion mannequin and it’s creator.

Violet was just reading a sign, when she heard a voice besides her.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” It was a soft female voice, her tone almost melodical. “An artist who is actually appreciated in his own time.”

“It is…” Violet smiled to herself. She didn’t turn around, the art in front of her too exciting. “Can you believe they’re actually showing the original 1979 action mannequins? And look, they even have some of Michael Everts prototypes. Isn’t it fascinating? I love how you can clearly see the evolution.”

“Oh wow,” The voice chuckled. “You’re a real expert, huh?”

“Hardly.” Violet shook her head, “but I graduated from Parsons two years ago.”

“And what do you do now then? Do you work for the museum?”

“No, I actually-” Violet turned around, surprised to find an unmistakably familiar face. A face she’d seen splashed across tabloid covers while standing in line for the checkout as a child, the cheerful looking redhead providing some of the most colorful stories during the late 90s and early 2000s.

“Ms. Monsoon.”

“Jinkx.” The woman smiled warmly and held out her hand. She seemed charming and sweet, nothing like the irresponsible, brazen party girl the tabloids had painted her as years back. “And you are?”

“Violet. My name is Violet. I’m sorry, I just didn’t expect to see you…” Violet trailed off uncertainly.

“Standing upright and speaking in coherent sentences?” Jinkx guessed with a chuckle.

“Well, no, I just-”

“It’s fine, sweetie. It’s always nice to surpass people’s expectations, even if they’re rock bottom.” Jinkx gave another crooked smile, the mischievous glint in her brown eyes telling Violet that she was in no way offended.

“I like your dress.”

Jinkx was wearing a bright scarlet gown. It was clearly custom made, the cut telling its own story of a competent tailor, but Violet wasn’t sure she would have ever paired it with Jinkx’s copper hair and red lipstick. The colors should be clashing horribly, but somehow, it was working

“Thank you! Coming from a Parsons alum, that’s quite the compliment,” Jinkx said. “You never told me where you work these days.”

“Oh, I’m at Galac-”

“Hey-” Violet turned around as Sutan walked up behind her, pressing a quick kiss against her temple. “Sorry I was gone for so-”

It was then that Sutan looked up, his entire body stiffening as he recognized who Violet was talking to.

“Jinkx.”

“Sutan, well well well. I’m not going to say I didn’t expect to see you here, but I certainly didn’t expect to see you in such excellent company.”

Violet couldn’t help but notice how quickly Jinkx’s demeanor had changed. She glanced from Sutan to Violet and then briefly at the ceiling, her face unreadable. She leveled her gaze back at Sutan, looking straight into his eyes, making Violet feel more than a little uncomfortable as Sutan responded to Jinkx’s stare.

“You’re looking very… radiant tonight.”

Violet could hear a sour, mocking note in Sutan’s silky voice. She had no idea what was going on, had never seen Sutan like this before and she couldn’t recognize the man who had whispered into her ear merely minutes before, the energy he was giving off now reminding her of Raja on her worst days.

“Whoaaa… Alert the presses,” a voice called out. “Since when are you two allowed in the same room?”

Violet turned to see none other than Bianca Del Rio approaching the group.

Shit. Shit shit shit.

Violet couldn’t be sure that Bianca actually knew who she was, or would recognize her out of the context of the office, but she wasn’t prepared to stay and find out. She began to back away, doing her best to obscure her face from Bianca, her heart hammering away in her chest.

“Heya, red.” Bianca slipped an arm around Jinkx’s waist. “Is this asshole harassing you?”

“Shut up, B,” Sutan said. “Actually, I was just about to take my date and-” He glanced around for Violet, who was by now standing by one of the mannequins on the other side of the room. “Um…”

“Uh oh. Boy wonder got ditched?” Bianca joked.

“I knew she had good taste,” Jinkx replied, and both of them cackled gleefully.

“I’m glad you’re well, Jinkx,” Sutan said, sounding like he had to muster all of his strength to get out the sentence. “I’ll leave you to it.” He managed a smile, “Also, Bianca? Kiss my ass.”

Bianca laughed uproariously, raising her glass to him as he took his leave.

“Love you too, Tan!”

Sutan spotted Violet and took her hand, guiding her quickly to the far side of the room.

“What was that about?” inquired Violet as soon as they were at a safe distance away.

Sutan took a deep breath. “Jinkx and I used to be…” he groaned, wincing, before finishing, “...involved.”

“Seriously?” Violet couldn’t imagine Sutan and Jinkx together if her life depended on it; they seemed too different, like night and day.

“Yes. It didn’t end well, to say the least. But...that was a long time ago. It doesn’t matter now.”

“Okay,” Violet said simply. If there was one thing she understood, it was the desire to forget your past, and who was she to probe, when there was so much she’d never want to share herself.

***

“Are you comfortable, baby?”

Katya and Trixie were together in bed, both of them wearing their matching fluffy pajamas.

Trixie nodded, a smile on his face as he snuggled into Katya’s side. Trixie came home from his bar night with Pearl pretty drunk, so Katya had brushed his teeth and tucked him into bed.

“Good.” Katya smiled and leaned down, placing a sweet kiss on Trixie’s forehead before she picked her book up. She had learned through countless nights in Trixie’s bed that there was nothing that put him to sleep easier than a book he found utterly boring.

“In 2008, a study from the University of Texas at Austin found that, ‘There are many inadequate high school facilities in Texas, and unfortunately many of these are found in areas of low socioeconomic status and high minority percentages.’ The researchers also determined that inadequate high school facilities and poor classroom conditions had a negative impact on students’ academic performance.”

Katya stopped her reading, completely horrified with what she had just read.

Trixie looked up at Katya, a sad look on his face.

“Keep reading baby… Keep reading.”

Katya smiled a little.

“The researchers found that high school students perform better on tests if the classroom has a view of a green landscape, rather than a windowless room, or a room with a view of another building or a parking lot.”

“You’re my green landscape, baby.”

Katya leaned down and kissed Trixie’s little bald spot. “You’re my green landscape too, baby.”

[rayofsunas]

repeating the past | oh sehun

A/N: if you’re sensitive to the things in the warnings don’t read.

Pairings: Husband! Oh Sehun x Wife! Reader

Summary: sehun’s wife is dealing with a very troubling dangerous situation.

Warnings: stalking, swearing

Words: 1,212

"Hey, isn't that your wife?" Lay, one of Sehun's friends that happened to be a lawyer asked. "...It is," Sehun found it odd that you came busting into the courthouse, looking a teary eyed shocked mess. Especially since the night before, you both argued, to the point where you didn't sleep beside each other that night. You didn't even greet him off this morning like you usually would've; with a kiss and a hot cup of coffee. "You look pretty shocked to see her... and she looks terrified"

"Shocked is an understatement ..." Sehun nodded, taking slow steps forward to meet you half way. But he did take notice of how frantic and panicked you looked, to say the least you seemed terrified. "Hey man, I'll leave you to it. God knows how violent women can be when pregnant," Lay joked patting his taller friend on the back. "I hope she's alright" he bid one last farewell to his colleague before waving to you — even if you hadn't noticed —  and running off to call his own wife who he still hadn't buttered up to after their last argument.

As soon as you were standing a shaking mess in front of the lawyer, he was immediately filled with worried despite the latest bickering.

"What's going on?" He felt you grip onto the sleeves of his dark blue blazer suit jacket, squeezing tightly, fear stricken in your eyes. You weren't answering though, at least not at first. You were too far into a shocked state, the reason unknown to Sehun. "Hey, what's wrong?" Once again he asked, despite your last argument; Sehun deciding it was not the time to be childish right now. Especially when his pregnant wife, the mother of his two children, and the women he loved, looked so disturbed and unhappy.

His large hand coated over your heated cheek, and he stared deeply into your irises, waiting for some kind of verbal response.

"I just saw him... in the house. In our house..." You sputtered out frantically, hands shaking as soon as they came in contact with your husbands.

"Who's in our house?" Anger flashed through him suddenly. Your lip quivered and you whimpered quietly, ignoring the few looks a few other lawyers and business people had been giving you. "...Charles,"

His heart sunk into the pits of his stomach. Charles was back... Sehun knew it wasn't impossible, because the police still hadn't known where he'd run off too. But he wasn't expecting the crazy stalker to pop up right now, especially when the family was welcoming a new addition in four months; a precious baby boy, your second son.

This wasn't like four years ago, now he was married and had two kids, a third on the way. You'd only been dating at the time when you realized you had a stalker.

You'd been dating when Charles broke into your house when you were sleeping and had laid next to you, all the while Sehun was on an overnight trip in Busan. He initially wouldn't be back for another two days, since the young man had a trial to appear in.

But this was different. You had a whole family now. Children who you wanted and needed to protect no matter what.

You thought it ended when the police started investigating more, you assumed he got scared and ran off; deciding not to come back. But you saw him... in your backyard... how he got there? You didn't know. The only way he could've possible gotten there was through the front door of the house or the garages. But those were both locked. You were one hundred and ten percent positive. So did he somehow have a key? You hoped he didn't. Because you didn't leave keys outside under mats or little hiding places out of fear of someone breaking into the house.

"Charles..." Sehun muttered, shocked and disgusted when the mans name rolled off of his tongue.

You nodded. "He's back," you cried. "What do we do?"

Sehun knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to go find Charles, and beat him to a bloody pulp for all the trauma he's caused. For terrifying his wife, making her feel like she can't stay home alone because he might sneak in and pull something, terrifying her to the point where she feels that her kids are always being watched; being a more protective and suffocating parent because of that fear.

Hell, it was worse on nights where Sehun would have to stay over in another city due to the fact that he had a trial the next day. Your anxiety would kick in, and you would pile you're two children — Sam three and Lia one — into bed with you, because you, as a grown women felt extremely terrified. Sehun had received many phone calls from you, ones in which he necessarily can't answer all the time due to the trials severity. He's not supposed to speak to anyone once he's been chosen as the lawyer, because news could get out about the trial, and that's not good.

And it pained him deeply, worried him even more when you called, especially now with two children at home and a wife who's pregnant, all alone.

"Sehun he got into our house! Lia and Sam could've been there," You we're panicking as he brought you into his broad chest. "I know. I'm listening..." he couldn't tell you to worry right now, because it felt wrong too him. You had to worry, it's how you'd finally stop Charles and end this madness.

Smoothing a hand over your hair he said, "But they're at daycare. It's safe there,"

You nodded, heaving a anxiety filled sigh. But you didn't look like you calmed down any at all, in fact you looked even more worried and nervous.

"We'll go pick them up if that makes you feel better," the man offered, reaching for your hand to lead you out of the building. You visibly shook beside him, making him feel even more terrible. He wanted to help, he so badly wanted to comfort you. But he knew that whatever he did wouldn't make you calm down any. Once you were nervous, you stayed nervous until the situation was solved and done with. This was far from done.

"Sehun I don't want to go through this again... I'm terrified" Looking down at you his face dropped. "I know. And I'm going to protect you" that helped the tiniest bit with your growing anxiety. "But we need to go to the police and file a report. I'll take some time off, and we can keep the kids home. Close with us," You nodded at his reassurance.

"I'm sure Lia and Sam would love to be home with Vivi more," Sehun couldn't help but chuckle at the mention of his dog, who also was like a fourth child.

You chuckled, shakily though. Sehun's frown replaced his small grin.

Although you managed to laugh at his little joke, you still couldn't help but worry about your two children who felt worlds away, when in reality they were thirty minutes away."I hope they're alright... I'd go crazy if something happened to them,"

"I'll kill anyone who touched them for you sweetheart"

[answrs]

Ghost!Vivi - The Beginning pt.2

(Previous)

The torpedo of energy shoots through the rooms, the ball gathering speed like a cart on a coaster as it swoops down and around in dramatic arches and dives, a long spectral tail flowing behind, the bright blue trail of a shooting star.

It had been what felt like forever (months, her mind had supplied, but the ones-like-her hadn't understood what that meant so she'd dismissed it), and in a way it was her own forever, following this mottled family (Hers) ever since she'd first formed, just a measly spark of a wisp in those horrid white halls of pain and death and grief.

The one who was like-her-but-more had let her stay and grow even when his colors towards her were those of annoyance, anger, mourning, and she'd flourished under his wary care. (The others-like-her called him Boss, but the honorific had never seemed to quite fit the large spirit to her. He was just… Lewis.)

She'd been worried as her colors had first begun to change, from the pink of her cousins to a light blue that was her own (it had just felt... right, somehow). But instead of anger there had been a flash of hope in those black eyes. It had been quickly clamped down, but that was when they had started to call her! Vivi, they'd said, an actual, proper name, and she loved it! Where before there had been only grief and silence, there was still that sad yearning, but the three would talk, even play with her!

It had been what brought her to now, Lewis (she couldn't think of him as anything else) instructing her to fetch Arthur from his room to the kitchen. It had become a common occurrence, distracting the lone human from his work to eat, even just take a break from the constant tinkering of his. He never seemed able to say no to her, and she was smug with the others for this apparent innate talent of hers. She could squirm into his arms and get all the pats, even draw out a hoarse laugh from the almost mute blond when she snuggled into his silly little face-tuft. (The thought bothered her, how quiet the human was. He should be joking, grinning, energetic... but he had always been lethargic and withdrawn, for as long as she had known him. So why-?)

None of this passes through her mind as she rounds the final bend, rocketing through the closed door and slamming the breaks in an explosion of sparks in front of the already standing mechanic.

“Artie Lewis made lunch come on get up come eat come on!”

The hospital hadn’t been able to “fix” the damage, of course, but they’d done their best to clean her up, swathe her in bandages and wires and make her comfortable. “A fighter”, they’d said. (“A lost cause”, they hadn’t voiced.) They’d known too, but denial was a powerful thing, begging her to stay with them, for them. To hold on, to pull through, even when they knew logically the damage done.

Knowing was entirely different from seeing it, however, and Arthur's scream echoes through the mansion.

To see the woman in all her dead glory, see it fresh and bloody and moving, after not seeing His Vivi for nearly a year is almost enough to break him right then and there. Still not realizing what’s happened, she cocks her head to the side, oozing spectral blood to the floor from her mangled body, head and side half caved in, arm dangling limp from where it’s broken in four places… as the glass Arthur is holding falls and shatters on the floor her concentration is lost, and the body melts back into a more deadbeat-like form. More defined than before, but hardly close to human. Mystery and Lewis slam through the doorway just moments after to the sight of a petrified blond and tadpole-like blue spectre hovering above him.

The blue spirit is confused Artie looked at her like that, why he flinches away so violently when she tries to coo and nuzzle, soothe him. Her thoughts are even more of a confused jumble now, she isn't actually sure what just happened, she'd… changed? And then things? But now she's back? To normal? Kinda? But normal doesn't feel right anymore, feels wrong somehow, feels less than she should be. She doesn't understand what's happening or why or how, brain a half-dumped jigsaw puzzle. So she's hovering and darting around the scrunched up hyperventilating stringbean, trying to comfort and figure out but he's flinching away and he never did before? (Except yes he did, often, she knows, just… doesn't know when or why or even how she knows that and the thought is washed away by a dozen others)

Lewis shoots in with Mystery hot on his heels, they'd felt a flash of Vivi and heard Arthur's scream, but now everything's gone quiet and what the fuck?!!

He gets there and immediately knows what's happened, but he doesn't know what to do, who to go to. On one hand, comforting and calming his best friend, boyfriend, who's a trembling mess already well past falling apart. On the other hand, he knows, remembers the utter confusion and eventual freakout that Vivi's newest iteration of forms entails, had even retreated to the form a few times himself. He remembers those first minutes he'd finally become truly aware of what was happening, confused and angry and scared, so should he leave Arthur to Mystery and help her, or the other way around? The fox had known her forever, but what if she didn't remember him yet? And Mystery wouldn't have the firsthand experience like he did, but-

Mystery makes the choice for him, leaping forward to wrap a single elongating tail over wide unseeing eyes. There’s a thrum of red energy and the man goes limp, sent into a resting state by the kitsune’s magic. Mystery looks over his shoulder and gives the ghost a Look, jerking his head towards the blue spirit as he lays the unconscious man on the floor and curls up around him.

Her anchor is forming still, wisps of memory, self, converging into a shape at her ‘chest’, swirling and pulsing and if they aren't careful it's gonna konk poor Arthur right on the head when it finishes forming and she's swept up into it with how badly she's fluttering all around him.

Oh so delicately tan hands curl lightly around the disoriented spirit, pulling her and her whirlwind of memories back. He draws her into a hug before turning her back around in view of the fretting vulpine and blond lump curled into his side. The blue ghost is becoming more and more overwhelmed and it’s too much and all these memories and she’s dead and nothing makes sense and that terrifies her and-

“Shh, it’s okay, you’re safe, you’re safe. We’re all here, Mystery, Arthur, and me, we won’t leave you shh you’re okay it’ll be over soon I promise. Just hold on a little longer Vi, you can rest and then things will all make sense, it’s alright, it’s okay, you’re safe here...”

His holds on her tightens as wiggling turns to struggling turns to seizing, whirling clumps of a soon-to-be anchor soon a tornado around her. He winces as they pound against him but hugs the growing ghost tight, refusing to let go. Finally, after what feels an eternity the pieces change course and crash in ball of light. She lets out a screech of alarm as she's sucked into it, the mass pulsing and swirling until an almost anticlimactic end, the morphing shape letting out one last flash of light before settling, quietly falling into waiting hands. Lewis lets a wry smile grace his tired face as a mirror image of his own heart touches skeletal-again fingers.

With a tired grunt Lewis finally bobs back across the room to the pair of living beings. Kneeling down, he places Vivi’s anchor in the crook of Arthur's arm, who immediately upon feeling the familiar shape reflexively shifts and curls around it, nestling it right above his own heart. Lewis watches as Mystery noses and licks the new metal, checking to make sure his child is really back, is safe and here with them.

A wash of exhaustion comes over the pink spectre. It turns out getting whacked repeatedly by chunks of ghostly metal hurts, apparently. So he places his own heart atop Arthur's hand, curious how the man might react to a second anchor. The blond murmurs in his sleep, before the flesh hand paws at the metal before drawing it close next to Vivi like a mother hen to a misplaced chick.

When they wake there will be much to do, to ask and say and teach. But for now, Lewis thinks as he dissipates, now they can rest. All four of them together again.

[rosebloodcat]

Revealed- Arthur p3

Arthur hated the cold. He hated the way it sapped his energy, hated how weak it left him, hated how sluggish it made his mind and body. He hated how easily it could drive him into hibernation against his will.

As a hatchling, as a child, he had been caught out in a snowstorm once. It had taught him just how easy it was for the cold to hurt him.

It had been a winter field trip at his grade school, something about winter safety that all kids should know. His parents hadn't liked the idea of sending him out into the cold (out where he was weakest), but the skills were important to know so they had allowed him to go with his classmates. With all the grown-ups watching them, it should have been okay. It should have been safe. They had been wrong.

The storm had caught them by surprise (the teachers, the coordinators, the officers keeping an eye on them), and had actually been caused by an ice elemental throwing a fit back in town. There had been no warning of it appearing at all.

One minute the skies were clear, the next; dark clouds, strong winds, and blankets of snow were pouring down on them.

He had remembered to do all the things the adult humans had told him to.

Either make or find shelter against the wind and the cold, keep your brightest garment out so people can see it and find you, blow your whistle to make sure someone will hear it over the wind, once you find a spot don't leave it, the whole nine yards. But he had needed one thing that wasn't handed out to children, a thermal blanket.

The storm had been a short one, but it had done enough.

Thankfully, the teacher who found him had known about the cryptid children in the school, and quickly realized that he had been sent into a temperature coma. The teacher was also an elemental, a fire one, and had wrapped him in heating and warmth recovering charms (they later taught him how to add more heat to the magic of his Talisman, to avoid such things in the future). They had known that the cold was dangerous for him, and they worked to help him recover from the damage. Worked to get Arthur to what would have been expected of a human child caught in such a brief storm and had done everything he was supposed to.

The other teachers had all praised him for following their instructions, as had his parents, but he knew it would have been very bad if the elemental teacher hadn't found him first. Knowing danger was an instinct, understanding only strengthened it.

He always did his best to avoid the cold because of that incident, because of how easily it could hurt him. Usually, he could talk Vivi out of cold weather cases, citing the temperature, the weather, or the distance to avoid going (most of those were pretty far away anyways, snow wasn't exactly common where they lived, so he usually had good arguments).

There were times when he lost those arguments, and that would result in him “over packing”.

He would pack electric blankets and space heaters in the van, he'd keep an extra thermal blanket with his own belongings, he would even keep a spare heating talisman hidden in the van (it was more  to raise the base temperature for his main heating spell, than a separate one), not to mention the tote bag full of hand and feet warmers he kept tucked under the back seat.

When his mind stirred, slowing pulling him from unconsciousness, and registered the weak, numb feeling that came from his entire body, he knew exactly what must have happened. He'd fallen into partial-hibernation, one that he was coming out of due to someone quickly raising his temperature again. (Just like that trip all those years ago.) He would feel sluggish and light headed for a while, but it was probably better than whatever state he could have been in.

He didn't open his eyes right away, simply letting the heat around him sink in and ease him into awareness. No need to make himself sick by forcing things.

Sound came first; the sound of hushed voices either arguing or talking to each other, of rustling paper like the pages of a book being turned, and the crackling of a fire. Smell came next; the smell of cooking food, the smell wood smoke, and his friends near by. Then came touch; he could feel the pressure under his tail that said part of it was on a raised surface with a small amount of give, then the feeling of soft, fluffy cloth wrapped around his skin and his scales. And the feel of a steady warmth coming from one side, helping raise his body heat once more.

He couldn't help the soft groan that escaped him when a dull, painful ache made itself known across his chest and back. He hadn't really expected it, had he been hurt before the cold got to him?

“Arty!”

It was all the warning he got before a warm body suddenly latched onto his slowly waking one, putting pressure on his aching chest and sending a small surge of pain through him. He let out a pained grunt, forcing his eyes open to see the offending person.

Blurry blue with a splash of pink filled his vision, and it took a moment for his eyes to clear enough to recognize who it was.

“Vivi?” He slurred, his words drawn and slow. “Wha' happened?”

She started talking, too quickly for him to keep up in his current state, but he'd managed to catch enough to get the gist of things. They's escaped from a monster, he'd gotten hurt by it, L had gone out and gotten him from the storm, he'd gone comatose and they'd brought his temperature back up. Also his talisman was gone.

Wait... What?

Arthur jolted, struggling to sit up despite his exhausted, one armed state. Gritting his teeth against spikes of pain that shot up across chest and back. He'd been laid out on the couch in the cabin's den, and wrapped in so many blankets he could barely move. Still, he could see it in the way the blankets lay across his lower body, he had a tail instead of legs.

Crap, he could only imagine what they had thought upon seeing it.

“Stop that.” A deep voice ordered. For a moment, Arthur's groggy mind thought the voice belonged to his missing friend Lewis, until a large, dark hand rested on his chest and pushed him back down. He looked up into the dark eye sockets of L, the glowing magenta of his irises staring back at the injured Naga laying on the couch. The look the ghost was giving him was firm and unwavering. “You're hurt right now, we don't need you making your injuries worse.”

He blinked slowly up at the ghost, still processing his words.

L actually sounded- worried? He thought the spirit hated him, he must've been in really bad shape to rattle him this badly. The ghost winced.

“I don't hate you, Arthur, I just- never mind. It's not important right now.” He said with a sigh.

Shoot, he'd said that out loud. He must've been more messed up than he thought. Vivi cleared her throat to get their attention.

She looked worried too, jeez, just what had happened to him?

“Arthur, what was that monster? I- I didn't recognize it, but it was pretty obvious that you did.” A monster he knew that she didn't? Well that was new. He scratched through his still-hazy memory, trying to grasp the image of the creature that injured him. It was-

He abruptly shuddered, a spike of fear running through him. Of all the monsters he knew about, why did it have to be that one? Why did it have to be a monster he could never stand against without his talisman? One with such a terrible reputation that he was honestly terrified of it.

He swallowed weakly, he had to tell them. He had to warn them.

“It- It's one of the monsters I remember my Mama warning be about. Tellin' me I should get away from them as fast as I could if I ever heard about one.” His voice was still slow and slightly slurred, but he knew he had their undivided attention. “The Wendigo. They- They're bad. Really bad. Everybody says to stay away from them. 'Cuz they come from really nasty stuff, really bad magics.” He shuddered again.

“They're demons that came from people goin' against their nature, made from people goin' crazy. Humans that got caught in snow storms an' got so desperate to live, to survive, that they started eating their own kind.”

Vivi looked horrified at the concept, of a cryptid that was made from people resorting to cannibalism to survive.

It was a horrible, outlandish idea for humans. Their lives were built on safety and community, on working to help each other overcome obstacles and difficulties. Cannibalism was considered a sick and twisted idea, a horrible concept that went against their very natures. Even L, the ghost of someone who had probably been murdered, looked like he was going to be sick (As much as a ghost could at least).

Arthur could understand why, Nagas weren't the most sympathetic creatures, but even they wouldn't resort to such a thing. The thought of someone willingly and intentionally going after their own kind? The idea horrified him.

He borrowed deeper into the blankets. He was still cold, still sluggish, but he couldn't let himself rest. He had to think back to what his mother had told him. Remember the things she'd said.

Vivi was the only (living) human in their group. She was the only one the Wendigo would target, she was the one at risk. He had to remember what they would need to do to protect her from it. A warm hand rested on his shoulder, pulling him from his thoughts.

“Don't force yourself Arthur, we're safe for now. It can't get inside.” L assured him. Arthur must have been thinking out loud again.

“No. There was something, something about the Wendigo bein' able to hurt people without getting close.” He muttered, brow furrowed in thought. His head ached a bit. Did he hit it at some point and not remember? “But I just can't remember how they did it...”

L tensed at that, but tried to give Arthur's shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

“We won't let that happen. It won't get anyone here.” He was honestly surprised by how sure the ghost sounded. It made him feel a little better, but only a bit.

He was still worried though.

[yourcroweater]

A Little Wicked - Part III

Chibs x Vivi (oc)

Part 1, part 2.

Warnings:: swearing

I’ll probably have part 4 up tomorrow. Hope you enjoy it! Let me know if you wanna get tagged in my stories.

Reminder that the gifs aren’t mine, found them on google, tell me if you want me to give you credit or take them down.

It was a shitty day.

I haven't had a day this shitty since I first woke up in the hospital after Pete almost killed me. Sure, I woke up that day feeling half dead with a needle stuck on my hand, cold like I've never felt before and a weird tingling sensation on my back from the huge slash Pete cut open.

Today was kinda like that -- except the huge slash on the back was metaphorical. Maybe I'm exaggerating, I'm known for doing that, but it's not everyday someone gets fired because they don't "represent the brand". Not when I've worked in the same clothing store for the past three years.

It was my day to open shop so I had exchanged a real great night of sex with Chibs (possibly great, I hadn't really gotten to the good part before Chibs had to go tend to club business) to be responsible. And I got fired.

"We're cutting on budget." My manager, Karen, told me after I asked why she was firing me.

"No you're not. You hired three girls last week and you're opening another store on Stockton. That's a bullshit excuse." Probably shouldn't have said that if I wanted to keep the job but my nerves got the best of me.

She gave me a sour smile behind that hideous fringe of badly dyed blonde hair.

"Okay. We're not cutting on budget. We're cutting you out, exactly because of that type of language."

I just stared at her.

"I never use this type of language with anyone here." I crossed my arms over my chest, my purse swinging back and forth between Karen and I. I had just been leaving for my lunch break, which I was going to share with Chibs, when Karen stopped me on my way out to deliver the news.

Karen looked back at me with her honey colored eyes. While her hair was kind of a mess -- if she was nicer I would have given her my hair stylist's number -- her makeup was always carefully applied.

"Alright." She crossed her arms, same as me. "You want the truth? I'm firing you because you don't represent the brand anymore." She looked me up and down to make her point.

I almost looked down to see what she meant -- I wasn't wearing anything that was so "out of brand", just jeans, high heeled boots, a red shirt that showed a bit of cleavage, I was also holding onto a leather jacket -- but I saw when her gaze stopped on the tattoo on my inner forearm. The tattoo wasn't anything too special, I had gotten black and white roses there when I turned 18. More recently I had gotten a rattlesnake that circled the roses. Suddenly, I got why Karen was firing me.

"You're firing me because I'm friends with the big bad bikers?" I said, unable to conceal my mocking smile. I went from disbelief to mockery in a flash.

"Your, um, association with the motorcycle gang is one of the reasons, yes."

"It's a club, not a gang." I said automatically.

"People are afraid, Vivienne. Places were blown up in Charming, people killed at that whorehouse you call Diosa. Everyone knows you're with the bikers. You being here is just not good for business." She tried to give me an apologetic smile to her credit.

I uncrossed my arms, feeling miserable and weirdly protective of the club. The thought of explaining that none of that was actually the club's fault crossed my mind but it would be useless. People were afraid, I could see it in their faces when the rumbling of motorcycles were heard or when I strolled down the street with other crow eaters.

If I was Gemma I would probably tell Karen to shove her opinions where the sun don’t shine and part with a threat. But I just didn’t have the energy to do it.

"This is bullshit." I repeated, pulling on my jacket before I walked out.

I sat down on the hood of my car, a chalk white Ford Thunderbird I inherited from my dad after he died of cancer, to wait for Chibs. It was parked right in front of the clothing store I (now) used to work in and I kept staring at it grudgingly.

Sitting on midday sunlight would be uncomfortable on summer but the low winter temperature made me glad there was sun. The sun on my face helped to soothe my mood. Knowing that I would get to see Chibs helped too.

I found it a bit surprising that when I went to bed last night I couldn't fall asleep right away. I kept thinking about how he reacted when I told him about Pete, how protective he suddenly became. He barely knew me but what he knew seemed to be enough for him to want to hunt down Pete. Maybe the scar on my back was enough to scare him into doing it but then again Chibs was a biker, I doubted there was much he hadn't seen.

What really kept me awake was our kiss. I kept remembering the feeling of mouth on mine, his tongue tracing my lips, his hands on my hips. It was such a nice kiss, sweet even. I had kissed almost everyone of the Samcro guys and all the kisses were lust-filled, just one of the steps before sex. But kissing Chibs didn't feel like that. I hadn't had a kiss like that in a long time, not since I was 21 and this guy I used to like kissed me. But then Pete came along with his southern charm and blue eyes and swept me away. He was all flowers, cute dates and smiles at first, yet when he kissed me it wasn't sweet. It was just fire and I thought I had finally found someone to love.

Lustful kisses are great, sure, but when you're in a shortage of sweet kisses, like I am, they feel much better. I couldn't wait to be kissed like that again. Like I was actually desired, appreciated.

My phone rang inside my purse, pulling me out of my imagination and making me jump. I looked at the number on the screen, not recognizing it.

"Hello?" I answered.

No reply.

"Hello? He-llooo?" Still no answer. "Is there anyone there?" Nothing.

I shrugged and ended the call.

I was about to put the cellphone back in my purse when it rang again. I answered it without looking at the screen this time, a little annoyed.

"Yeah?"

"Vivi, it’s Chibs.”

“Oh.” I cracked a little smile. “Did you just call me?”

“No. Am calling ye now. Lyla gave me yer number this morning.”

Okay, nice that he got my number but why would he call me? He knew where to pick me up and when. No reason for him to call me, really.

“You're not coming, are you? That’s why you're calling.” I asked slowly, my smile disappearing at once.

I heard him sigh. That was my answer. My feet started moving nervously, banging against the hood of my car.

“I'm sorry, Vivi. I hav’ to deal wit some shit. Club thing.”

I closed my eyes and nodded. Then remembering he couldn't see me I answered. “S’okay. I get it. We can do it some other time.”

I understood it. Once you spend almost everyday of the past three years among Samcro, it's easy to get how the club comes above pussy. It's a business and a brotherhood. Pussy isn't that powerful, unless you're an old lady, then you matter a little more. I lived by this, I accepted it so I felt a little stupid when I realized how hurt I was that Chibs wasn't meeting me.

We had kissed and talked, that was it. Why was I hurt?

“Aye. I gotta go.” He hung up.

I threw my phone inside my purse and ran a hand through my blonde hair. Fired and dumped. Great. Truly fucking fantastic. I reached inside my purse for my cigarettes and my lighter. I lit one, squinting at the sun and at the smoke that went straight for my eyes when my phone rang again. I let it ring as I jumped off the Thunderbird’s hood with my purse and strolled down the street to find a restaurant to have lunch.

I had walked one block when my phone stopped ringing, only to start ringing shortly after.

“Jesus fucking Christ.” I said, stopping mid step to retrieve my phone from my purse. I didn’t recognize the number. “What?!” I said loudly, getting weird looks from people going by.

“Viv, it’s me. I need you.” I recognized my brother’s voice at once and he sounded miserable. I forgot all about being jobless and dateless in a second.

“Claude?” I frowned my brows. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, I’m fine. Can you pick me up?”

“Where are you?”, I pivoted and started going back to my car.

I parked in front of the police station, grabbed my purse and got out of my car muttering curses. Being the older sister sucked sometimes.

My mom had spent most of her life drunk so she never did much to take of me and my siblings. My dad tried to be the best parent he could be but most of the time he had been clueless on how to raise three teens while my mom laid passed out of the couch. So being the eldest I assumed the mom role: I learned how to cook, how to do laundry, clean up the house, reminded my dad to pay the bills. Playing mom also came along with taking care of my brother and sister like they were my kids.

 I made sure they had clean clothes, did their homework and all that, which sometimes makes me sound like an angel, but I wasn’t. This much responsibility was too much for teenager me so I had my fair share of rebelling: I got into fights, started smoking when I was 14, drinking when I was 15, almost got kicked out of school for threatening this stupid boy with a knife.

Thing was, after the three of us became adults I assumed all of us would grow some responsibility. My sister, Juliette, was pretty responsible. She was finishing college, had a job, all the likes. I eventually sorted my shit out, got ahold of my short fuse and got married to an asshole. My brother was too pretty for his own good, he was also as lazy as they come.

I barged in the police station, my hand itching to smack some sense into my brother. He was 22, he should know better.

“Eglee!” I called going over to her. She looked up from her station with a little smile. “The dumbass you picked up last night for drunk and disorderly, that’s my brother.” I pointed at the blonde long-haired man behind the glass cell. He waved guiltily at me. “How much do I have to pay?”

Eglee looked between the two of us, probably trying to see the resemblance.

“Isn’t your last name Crane? In his driver license the last name is Morris. Just trying to make some sense here.” She explained as she pulled some files from a drawer in her desk.

I fidgeted nervously on my feet. I didn’t want to explain it to Eglee, but then again changing your name isn’t a crime. I had legally changed after all. See? No crime. I’m a good crow eater.

“I changed it. Morris is my maiden name, Brown when I got married. Now it’s Crane.”

“Can I ask you why?” She asked with raised brows while she handed me the release papers to sign and a pen. I sat on one of the chairs across her desk to sign them.

“Crazy ex-husband.” I explained without looking up from the papers, hoping she would take the hint that I didn’t want to talk about it. She kept quiet and I silently thanked her for it. “So how much do I have to pay?”

“Six hundred dollars.”

I almost dropped my pen. “Six hundred?! That’s a lot of money.”

Eglee shrugged. “It could be worse, but your brother cooperated when we got him. He’ll have to do a few months of community service, too.”

“Oh, goodie.” I sang, rolling my eyes. Eglee giggled.

“You’re gonna pay me back my six hundred bucks.” I told Jean-Claude as we walked out of the station. He smelled strongly of tequila and had bags under his eyes. He gave me a little snort, one I knew very well meant ‘as if’. I slapped the back of his head and he yelped. “Yes, you are!” I pointed my index finger at him.

“Okay, I am!” He rubbed the back of his head with one hand while grimacing. “Jesus, Viv, why are you in such a bad mood?”

“Don’t ask.” I gave his shoulder a little push so we would go down the stairs to the parking lot. He complied. “Why are you Charming, anyway?”

“I came to see you.”

I stopped at the end of the stairs and grabbed him so he would look at me. I was a few inches shorter than him but Jean-Claude always made himself look a bit smaller when I was about to tear him a new one. He kept his shoulders and head down when he looked up with green eyes to me.

“How come you always know when I’m lying?” He took a deep breath. “Okay, I sorta got evicted. And I’m broke. I was kinda hoping you’d let me live with you until I got back on my feet.”

My jaw fell a little and I grabbed my purse with both hands so I wouldn’t slap him.

“What the fuck, Claude? You lost dad’s house?” I knocked him with my purse, then, not being able to hold myself. “What did you fucking do?!” I yelled. I hated yelling at him. I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath so I would calm down.

“I lost my job a few months back, I thought I could get by with my savings until I got a new job. But I ended up spending most of the money on booze, weed and parties. Kinda forgot I had to pay bills, heh.” He forced a smile.

“Listen here, shithead.” I got really close to him and jammed a finger into his chest. “I’m gonna let you live with me because I’m your sister and I love you, but things are gonna change from now on. You’re gonna cut down on alcohol and drugs and I wanna see a real effort, ya hear me? You’re gonna get a job, I don’t care which, just don’t get a sugar daddy. That’s not a job and there aren’t any sugar daddies in this town. And you’re gonna cut down on dick too.” He opened his mouth to protest and I hit him with my purse again. “Dick doesn’t dictate your life, okay? Remember that guy you dated a while back? He moved to Seattle and you went after him without thinking about what could happen. You came back to Cali with a broken heart and without money. If dad hadn’t helped you get a job when you got back you’d be on the street ‘cause I sure as hell wasn’t gonna be so nice to you back then.” I stopped, thinking if there was anything to add and then shook my head. “Yeah, that’s it.”

“Dick can’t dictate my life, but you can?” He said, smiling.

“I raised your ass, sure I can dictate your life. And if I don’t see a real change here, Claude, I’m shipping you off back to Sacramento.” I threatened. Alright, I wouldn’t do that to him but a little threat never hurt anyone. “Where are your things?”

“The shithead who gave me a ride from Sacramento to Charming stole them. Said it was payment for bringing me here.” 

So my brother had no clothes and no money. Which meant I’d have to buy him clothes. ‘Cause I had money growing out of trees.

“You hungry?” I sighed.

I heard his stomach grumbling just then and he laughed.

“C’mon, sis, let’s feed me.” He threw one arm around my shoulders and we started crossing the parking lot to the Thunderbird.

I stopped walking when my eyes drifted to the end of of the parking lot. My chest suddenly hurt. My brother stopped walking too. He brought me closer when he saw my face and looked around.

“What is it?” He asked.

I didn’t look at him.

I stared at Chibs, sitting on his bike, smoking and smiling at Jarry, who was standing by the bike with one hand on the grip. I felt my heart sink, actually felt it. Seeing him smiling at Jarry when he should have been having lunch with me caused me physical hurt. I almost couldn’t breathe. I didn’t understand why it hurt. It made no sense.

People only hurt that much when they like someone. Was last night enough to make me fall in love with Chibs, if only a little bit? No, I decided. I was just needy, that was it. I just wanted somebody to like, or somebody to like me back.

Why was he here with her? It was just him. No Tig, no Happy, no Quinn, or Rat or Montez. None of the guys. It didn’t look like a club thing to me. It looked like a pleasant talk with his goddamn ex. Was she even his ex? He told me he wasn’t seeing her anymore, but he had skipped on our date to meet her. Maybe they were getting back together, which honestly sounded like a terrible idea to me. A cop and a criminal? Like that’s gonna work.

“Who’s that?” Jean-Claude asked pointing at Chibs, without even trying to be discreet. I slapped his hand so he would lower it.

“He’s part of the don’t ask.” I answered, glancing his way.

“Oh, I see. You give me a whole speech about cutting on dick and here you are pining after dick. How’s that fair?” He chuckled while patting my shoulder. I looked at him to tell him to shut up and leave it alone so I saw when he raised his eyebrows, looking past my head. “He saw you, Viv. He’s coming over. What do you want me to do?”

I turned on my heels to see Chibs striding over to us. He looked a bit panicked, which made me feel better. He probably knew he fucked up. I caught Jarry looking at me with a frown but her expression quickly softened when I stared back at her.

I could get in my car with my brother and speed away. I could just ignore every word Chibs would say to me. I could let him try to explain it. Actually, I was curious what excuse he would come up with.

I shoved my purse into my brother’s arms. “Get in the car. I’ll be there in a second.”

He met my eyes to make sure I was serious. I nodded at him and he nodded back. He shot Chibs a look before getting in the passenger side of the Thunderbird.

I crossed my arms just as Chibs reached me. He threw his cigarette to the side and ran a hand through his greying hair.

“Vivi…”

“It’s a club thing, right?”

“It is.”

“C’mon, Chibs, I’m blonde but I’m not dumb.” I told him.

“I know what it must’ve looked like, but it really is club business.” He put his hands on his hips and I raised my brows at him to let him know I wasn’t buying it. He sighed. “Jarry… She’s in our payroll. I hav’ to talk to her to sort out things for th’ club. She won’t talk to anyone else but me, there’s trust.”

“Of course she would trust you when you’re fucking her.” I hissed back.

Chibs stared at me, the corners of his mouth playing into a smirk. “You’re jealous, aren’t ye? Ye don’t get to be jealous when ye were jus’ hugging that lad.” He pointed at Jean-Claude inside the car without looking at his direction.

“That’s my goddamn brother, Chibs. She’s your ex. You cancelled our date to go meet your ex.” I pointed at Jarry, who was now going up the steps to the station, not really caring that she would see or hear me.“How was I not supposed to get a little bit jealous?”

Chibs looked between me and my brother, pulling a face that made his scars deepen into his cheeks. People always did a double take. All my brother and I had in common was hair and eye color.

“I’m sorry, Vivi.” He said, meeting my eyes. I almost mellowed out but then I remembered how much it hurt seeing his smile to Jarry. “I don’t know what else to tell ye. Jarry is jus’ club business now, I swear.”

I normally don’t lose my shit, but I felt like I was about to. And I did lose it.

“Look, Chibs, I’m having a shitty day. You and Jarry were just the cherry on top. But let me tell you something,” I leaned forward and did my best to lower my voice “if you wanna fuck her and fuck me too, I'm cool with it. I’m a crow eater, you tell me to fall on my back with my legs open and I will because that’s what I’m good for, right?” I forced a charming smile as I said it. “Just don't set dates with me, don't kiss me like you goddamn mean it and don't you fucking lie to me.”

He shook his head head to the sides while biting his lower lip, while his eyes looked around aimlessly. 

“I don't need this shit.” He said.

“Me neither!” I said. I turned around and strode over to the car with trembling hands.

I didn’t even know why I was this mad. It had been a while since I lost control.

Chibs called my name when I opened the car door. He called me again when I slid inside the car without looking at him.

“Keys are in the ignition.” Jean-Claude told me as I slammed the door behind me.

“Don’t do this, lass. ‘Mon, talk ta me.” Chibs stopped in front of the car, placing his hands on the top of the hood. 

I started the car and put my foot on the pedals, making the engine roar and drowning whatever else Chibs was saying to me.  

“Move the fuck out of the way!” I screamed out the window. 

Chibs raised one eyebrow with a mocking smile on his face. My body got hot all over -- I didn’t know if it was because I was angry at Chibs or if it was because I was angry at myself for still thinking he was a sexy motherfucker even after what he just played.

“Yer gon’ run me over, Vivi?” he taunted.

My hands tightened on the wheel as I stared back at Chibs with narrowed eyes.

“He doesn’t know you very well, does he?” Jean-Claude asked while placing both his hands on the car’s dashboard. 

“No, he doesn’t.” I answered. I jammed my foot on the gas pedal and the Thunderbird shot forward. Chibs stepped to the side just in time. 

I hightailed out of the parking lot, holding back anger tears.

@sam-samcro

@i-am-the-luna

@soafanficluvr1

@jaaxtellerasf

@telford-ortiz-teller

@grungedaddykinks

[phantoms-lair]

Roll of the Dice Part 2

Previously on Roll of the Dice

Next Time on Roll of the Dice

~~~~

(26 years ago)

“Geeze, Lance, People weren’t kidding when they said this place looked creepy,” Lewis swung his flashlight around the attic.

“Been abandoned as long as anyone can tell,” the shorter fourteen year old commented. “No one ever comes here so, it’s you know...”

A good place to hide. A place he could be where no phone call could force him to go ‘home’. Lewis had been in a few group foster homes in his time, but the one in Tempo was one of the worst. Locks on the fridge, locks on the cupboards. Personal belongings were confiscated, and only given back as ‘rewards’ - or given to other children to reward them.

The one bright spot for Lewis was he had a really good friend. No one had listened to Lance’s complaints any more than his own. (“If it was that bad, someone would have done something, dear.”) but Lance believed him and did what he could to help. Lewis had behaved well enough to get his few personal effects back, then kept them in a backpack that went home with Lance every night so they couldn’t be taken away.

Ms. Rubenseitz was furious when she discovered she’d lost that bit of power over him, (Lance of course denied the backpack existed when asked) and made up for it by severely limiting his time out of her sight. No matter where they went, is was soon followed by a phone call demanding he returned home.

So here they were, in a place with no phone, where no one would find him to pass on the message. Oh, he had no illusions both he and Lance would be in trouble when they went back. But for now, they were safe.

“It’s weird, isn’t it. There isn’t even dust on the floor.” And it was the attic, the place where even lived-in homes had dust.

“If we find weird cult symbols in blood, we’re out. Until then, we assume it’s good.” Lance continued, starting suddenly when he heard what sounded like ominous piano music. Turning towards the noise, Lance tripped.  “Not a word, Lew. Not one word.” As he began to pick himself up, he noticed the corner of something sticking out from a sheet. “Hello, what do we have here?” He pulled the piece of carved wood clear to examine it.

“What do you have there?” Lewis’s flashlight entered the living room. “Looks like some kind of board game.” The word Multeefecte was carved onto the front in large Gothic letters, monsters adorning each corner. “Wanna play?”

“You want to play a random board game we found in the attic of a supposedly abandoned house?” Lewis arched an eyebrow.

“Why not, it’s something to do, isn't it.” He picked up the wooden box the game was in.

“Fine, but at least let’s go downstairs where they had chairs and tables.”

“Good idea,” They headed down to the living room.  Lance opened the box which contained a board with a crystal ball at the center. He opened a flap in the case, but there was only two dice inside. “Guess the pieces go lost, oh well.” He dropped the dice on the board, where they rolled an eight.

“Lance look!” The light of Lewis’s flashlight revealed an orange figurine rising from the starting position.

“Must be magnets. I’d love to see what the inner workings are.” Between the sound effects and the pieces it must have a bunch of fascinating mechanisms. Lance was even more pleased when the crystal ball lit up and words appeared.

THESE FLYING RODENTS ARE QUITE RUDE

ANYTHING WITH A PULSE IS THEIR FOOD

“That sounds...ominous.”

“It’s a horror-themed game, of course it is. Your turn.”

“Lance I really don’t know. This is creeping me out. And I think I hear something in the chimney.” Lewis worriedly shined the light where he thought he heard high pitched noise.

“Just squirrels, everyone has them.” Lance passed the dice to Lewis who rolled his eyes.

“Fine.” Keeping his eye on the chimney, Lewis rolled a seven. A purple figurine appeared and moved

NOT EVEN DEATH IS AN ESCAPE

FOREVER YOU DWELL IN A WRATH’S SHAPE

“Okay, that does sound ba-”

“Lance, I don’t feel so well.” Lewis’s voice was faint, Lance could barely hear him. “I want to go home.”

With those words, all thoughts of cajoling him to stay were gone. “It’s okay, Lew. We’ll head back.”

“I can’t breathe.” Lewis collapsed to the floor, gasped shallowly. “Help.”

“LEWIS!” Lance ran over to him an unbuttoned his vest and undid his ascot, but nothing seemed to help. “Lewis stay with me.”

“Can’t...see.” he gasped. “Lance...scared.”

“This is scary, but you’ll be fine, you’ll see, everything will be fine.”

Lewis let out a rattled gasp and ceased to answer. Ceased to breath. His eyes unfocused and became glassy.

Lewis was dead.

“No No NO,” This wasn’t happening. This couldn't be happening. Lew couldn’t be dead. Not just like that. Not for no reason. “Lewis wake up!” He shook the body but it remained silent.

Focused as he was, he didn’t know notice the noise in the chimney getting louder and louder. Not until an entire colony of bats burst forth, biting at Lance then latching on and drinking the blood they drew. Lance tried to knock them away from Lewis, only to notice they had no interest in him.

Anything with a pulse in their food. Lewis really was dead, wasn’t he? And if he died here too, Percy or Mom and Dad might come looking for him. He had to get out. He had to tell someone what had happened.

Bleeding from multiple places now, Lance made a break for the door, the bats following him, but many of them breaking off once outside to find easier prey.

There was no sound in the house, not until a timid voice called out “Lance?” 

Lewis blinked as he pushed himself up, only to find the room empty. “Lance where did you go?” Lewis picked up the flashlight where he had dropped it and scanned around the room. There was the board game, the sofa, and - Lewis screamed as he saw the dead body. His dead body. He backed away in shock, only to have his sight occluded when he backed through a wall.

With a yelp he fled. Dropping the flashlight he ran through the open front door and out of the house. He hadn’t gotten very far when he felt something yank him back. He tried again, pulling with everything he had to escape the house, but couldn’t make any headway.

“It’s okay, Lewis,” he told himself. “Lance will be back soon with an ambulance or something and we can get this straightened out, right? They’ll be able to fix me.”

And he waited. He wasn’t sure how long. He explored the house to distract himself. He studied every nook and cranny from attic to basement. Still, nobody came. The room he felt himself pulled to the most was the living room. As a result he’d moved his body down to the basement (Something he did his best to NOT THINK ABOUT afterwards).

It wasn’t until some other kids had tried to explore the place that he had realized the truth, realized Lance wasn’t coming back.  That realization damn near broke him. But he had to keep himself together. What if the newcomers found the game and tried to play?

Scaring them (and anyone else who came) off gave him a purpose. It helped keep him together. But when they were gone he couldn't help but dwell on the fact that Lance abandoned him. Had gotten to escape while Lewis’s life had ended.

He wasn’t sure how long it had been before he’d gone to stop another couple of explorers and one of the was Lance! He’d grown quite a bit (must have finally gotten that growth spurt he always claimed to be on the verge of), but Lewis would know that hair and those eyes anywhere (Even if the goatee was a bit more Percy’s style. Percy hated having his hair long, though). Seeing how much Lance had grown, how much time Lance had to grow, set a fire in him. There was some burning satisfaction that Lewis was still taller than him, ever without that time.

The girl (Who was she? Lewis had never seen her before.) was leading the way while Lance tried to get them to go back. Was he trying to spare her, or cover up what had happened before? Either way it didn’t matter. Lance wasn’t getting away scott free anymore. He’d roll the dice and have to deal with it, just like Lewis had. The cute girl and her dog shouldn’t get involved.

Then everything went wrong. Lance rolled the dice, but a new piece was put on the board. Why unless...horror gripped what would have been Lewis’s heart as he realized This might not be Lance. The Kingsmen had a very strong family resemblance on their father's side; what if he had grabbed a cousin or something? Someone visiting and not realizing what had happened in this house.

He had not only not prevented an innocent from getting involved, he had forced them to play.

The girl came back (When had she left?) and started yelling at him, demanding answers. She deserved them, but he need one of his own first. “What’s your name? Who are your parents?” He did know some of Lance’s Aunts and Uncles, after all.

If the first name was a horrifying confirmation, the second answer floored him. “Percy?” This was Percy’s kid? Surely it hadn’t been that long? But that tall scrawny build reminded him of Dorene alright. In fact he was a perfect mix of Doreen and Percy.

His anger at just how long he’d been abandoned warred with his guilt over having gotten an innocent involved. Guilt won upon the discovery that not only was Percy dead, but the person -Arthur- was apparently an orphan, just like himself.  This was so wrong, on all accounts. How could he have messed up this badly?

The girl’s (understandable) lashing out made things worse, since she grabbed the dice to throw at him and now she was a player too.

He didn’t want to admit how foolish he felt for not looking at the instructions, especially considering how much time he’d spent in the same room as the game. He just hadn’t wanted to look at it or think about it. He was even less willing to touch it than that thing he was certainly not thinking about. But honestly it wouldn’t have done him any good. He’d need Lance to play, and Lance wasn’t coming back.

“Then we’ll bring the game to him,” Vivi said, closing the wooden box when Lewis brought up that objection. As much as she hated to admit it, the ghost was right about that. Lance was scared of this place. He certainly wouldn’t come because a ghost wanted to play a cursed board game.

“Except I couldn’t go with you,” Lewis crossed his arms a little more sulkily than he would have liked. “I’ve tried, I can't get very far from the house.”

Vivi pinched her nose. “Fine, come with us as far as you can, so we know where that is. We’ll have a better chance of bringing Lance there than all the way to the house.”

“Should we?” Arthur looked at the ghost with a mixture of apology and mistrust. “I’m sorry, but you’ve made it clear you hate my Uncle. Lance is the only family I have left. He took me in when my parents died, and I won’t repay that by luring him to someone who wants to hurt him.

Lewis felt like screaming. Not when he had finally found a way out. But as much as he wanted Lance punished, he knew he owed Arthur for how he acted and getting him involved with the game. And if Arthur had no other family... No, not even revenge on Lance Kingsmen would make him condemn someone to Ms. Rubenseitz. Especially not someone he already owed a debt to.

“I won’t promise to treat him with any kindness, but I won’t attack him either. All I wanted for him to do was play that game and we’re making him do that anyway. I want this over as much as you do. If the game ends, I might be able to move on from here.” In the back of his mind there was the teasing hope, but he couldn’t let himself cling to it. The best he would let himself hope for it that he could rest in peace.

The disapproval on Vivi’s face cracked, ever so slightly. She didn’t want to feel sympathy for this ghost. But she’d dreamed of being a paranormal investigator and helping ghosts move on. And if he really was being kept by a curse, how could she not try to dispel it.

Arthur looked at the front door. “I still don’t like the idea of Lance getting involved. But if that fog is really everlasting, it could cause who knows how many accidents.”  He sighed, “Let’s go.”

“Hold on, I want to get something.” Lewis floated to the cabinet under the staircase and pulled out a now worn purple backpack. At least he’d have his stuff while he waited for Lance. “Now we can go.”

Vivi carried the game, Mystery by her side. Lewis floated after them a little ways back. At least until Arthur pulled a device out of his pocket and started pressing buttons.

“What’s that?” Lewis asked, unable to restrain his curiosity at something new.

“My phone?”

“That’s a phone? How does it work without being plugged in? Why is it so small?”

“It doesn't need to be charged - oh right, I guess cell phones weren’t a thing when Dad was in High School. It connects like WiFi, no wait, that wasn’t a thing either. Okay.” Arthur thought for a moment. “So you know how remote control cars use a signal from the controller? Cell Phones can use signals like that to connect to large towers, which are connects to phone lines, so you can make a call from anywhere as long as you have a signal. As the technology got better, we started being able to access more and more. Like this program shows our location over a map of the roads in the area, so we can make our way back even if the fog keeps us from seeing too far in front of us.”

“Wow,” Lewis whispered. That was like something straight out of Star Trek. “And what’s that?” he pointed to the image of what looked like a dog with tiger stripes standing off the side of the road.

“That’s, er, a Growlithe.” Arthur seemed a little embarrassed to answer that.

“Pokemon Go? You’re seriously navigating our way out with Pokemon Go?” Vivi chuckled.

“Come on Vi, the maps are just as good and those eggs aren’t going to hatch themselves.”

“Eggs?” By now Lewis was completely baffled.

Arthur tried to explain the game to him, the girl (Vi, he supposed) finding it hilarious.

“Okay, how far are we from you’re stopping point.” Vivi hated to interrupt, but she didn’t want the ghost smacking into a wall of something. Out of the house and away from the topic of Lance, he acted perfectly normal, if you could ignore the floating. Arthur even looked like he was having fun explaining the cell phone and Pokemon to him.

Lewis looked up and tried to get his bearing in the fog. It was hard to see, but still- “We’ve passed it. I’ve never been able to go out so far before. Maybe, do you think the game is letting me go further since it’s going to be played?”

“Possibly,” The two living humans jumped, not used to Mystery being able to speak. “But I think there’s a far more likely solution. You always assumed you were bound to the house. What if it was more to something in the house?” He glanced meaningfully at the wooden box in Vivi’s hands.

The game. The game that had killed him. The game that was the centerpiece of the one room he felt most compelled to be in.

“You mean if I had just picked up the game I could have left anytime?!”

“It’s only a theory,” Mystery said with the certainty of knowing it was more than a theory, but not wanting to set off the ghost.

Lewis took a few unnecessary breaths. No, this was probably for the best. If he’d known he could leave he might have taken revenge on Lance, and he needed Lance to set him free by playing the game.

“At least we don’t have to come back after we find Lance,” Or ever. “So seriously, what’s so special about Pikachu?”

~~~~

(Also, Arthur and Vivi are fifteen in this, Lance and Lewis were 14 when their adventure happened)

[distractedhistotech]

The Secret Santa OT3 fic that got way out of hand

@artmayhem

Arthur’s world was pain and confusion.  He’d been dreaming…No, it had to have been a nightmare.  That couldn’t have happened.  Lewis would never do something like that.  It was just…impossible.  Like rain falling up.

Little by little, he started to hear and become aware.  He could hear…familiar voices.  He knew them but couldn’t quite identify them.  A woman’s voice that made his heart smile.  A man’s voice that made him feel safe.  Another man’s voice that made him want to cry.  And…who did that last voice belong to?

It took a bit longer, but he started to hear a bit more.  They were whispering.  And shouting. And it had to do with…murder?

Oh, no no no no. He couldn’t lose anyone else.  He forced his eyes open.

There was Vivi, standing over him like she was trying to shield him with her body.  She looked furious, and her eyes were red and puffy from crying.  There was a bandage on her face.  Lance was next to her, looking just as furious and like he wanted to shoot something but couldn’t because he’d had his gun taken away.  They were both looking at something…on the other side of the room. Arthur laboriously turned his head to see what had both of their attention…

…And found himself staring into the eyes of Lewis.  Except they weren’t Lewis’ eyes.  They were the eyes of the ghost that had tried to kill them.  But it was Lewis.  So why…

And suddenly everything snapped into place.

Tall with broad shoulders.

Silly pompadour.

Deep voice.

Purple and pink.

The ghost that wanted them dead…was…was Lewis?

It wasn’t a nightmare.

Arthur’s world suddenly snapped into sharp focus as he realized that he was in a room with someone who wanted him dead.  He screamed and somehow managed to push himself away despite missing his arm.

He fell off the bed, and his body was on fire!  He gasped in pain and panic and there was shouting and he was breathing fast but he couldn’t breathe-

Blacking out was practically a relief.

 The next time Arthur woke up he had a much easier time thinking.  He had the familiar haze of painkillers, but he could tell he was in a hospital this time.  Now that he could remember what happened (Oh my God!  Lewis had dropped him off a cliff!), Arthur realized he’d been injured pretty badly and may have almost died.  He didn’t feel too awful though…He had all his remaining limbs and could move them.  His left shoulder and back felt pretty bad though.  He looked around as much as he could without moving his head.  Vivi and Lewis (Why?) weren’t around, but Lance was. He’d probably seen Arthur open his eyes so Arthur just turned to meet his gaze.  “Hi Uncle Lance.”

Lance seemed to relax a little.  “Hey Arthur. How’re you feeling?”

“Loopy.”  He hated pain medicine.  “Achey.  Not as bad as when I lost my arm.”

“That’s…well, it’s not bad, but I wouldn’t say it’s good either,” said Lance.  He paused for a moment, giving Arthur a concerned look. “How much do you remember?”

“Lewis is…” Dead, dead, dead.  “He dropped me off a cliff,” he finally said, trying very hard not to cry.

Lance nodded. “Yeah.”

“Why would he do that?”

“Because he’s an idiot,” snarled Lance.

Arthur gave Lance a surprised look.  Lance had always been pretty fond of Lewis so hearing him talk about Lewis in that tone of voice was rather jarring even if it wasn’t surprising.  “Where-where is he?  And Vivi?  And Mystery? They were here before.”

“We kicked Lewis out,” said Lance matter-of-factly.  “Vivi’s family showed up a while ago.  Her father said they had some family stuff to talk about.  I’m guessing it had something to do with that sword and the tree lady.”

Arthur blinked. “Tree lady?”

“…”  Lance sighed.  “Right.  You were out for that.  A tree lady showed up and tried to kill Mystery and Vivi.”

“Why?”  Arthur was trying to figure out if they’d ever done anything to piss off a tree or the like but nothing was coming to mind.

“Something to do with Mystery not being a dog.”

Arthur made a face. “What else would he be?”

“Vivi called him something.  Can’t remember what,” admitted Lance.  “Some sort of fox with a bunch of tails.”

Thanks to being friends with Vivi and Lewis (and watching anime) Arthur realized Lance was talking about a kitsune.  “But kitsune are scared of dogs!”  Why that popped out, Arthur had no idea.  Lance looked just as confused and shrugged.  Arthur groaned.  “It sounds like Vivi and I need to have a talk.”  Preferably in private if it involved things like magic and ghosts.  “Do you know when I’m going to be released? I don’t feel as bad as last time…” But he had been dropped off a cliff…Wait.  There had been stalagmites.  “How am I not dead?”

“Ah, your shoulder was all torn up, but your implant was too tough for the spikes to go through. It sort of deflected you so you missed the others, but your port got caught and torn off,” explained Lance.

“Oh shit.” Arthur’s remaining hand went to his shoulder where the port was connected.  “Were they able to reconnect it?  Was my shoulder or the implants damaged?  Do I need to keep my arm off?”

“They reconnected the port and replaced the implants.  You’ll probably need to keep the arm off,” answered Lance.  “It’ll need time to heal.  The good news is that you should be able to get out as soon as the doctor is able to get a look at you.”

“That’s a relief,” sighed Arthur.  Being reminded of the time he’d spent in the hospital last time made him feel sick. “I can live without an arm for a few weeks.”

Lance nodded. “Good.  Remember.  It’s only for a little while.”

Arthur nodded in thought.  This was all a lot to take in.  Still, at least Lewis was back.  He was…messed up, but that sometimes happened with new ghosts.  He was sure he and Vivi would be able to help him recover so that he thought like a normal person…

But what made Lewis want to kill them anyway?  They’d all been friends.  Even if Lewis had been confused and delusional while getting used to being a ghost, he should recognize that.  Maybe he’d been upset about being left behind?  That was all Arthur could come up with, and it seemed like a reasonable thing to be upset about.

Arthur certainly wouldn’t want his body rotting and possibly getting eaten by coyotes somewhere.

Well, they could look after Lewis and his body now…And thinking about the fact that Lewis was dead with his body cold and motionless somewhere was really starting to depress Arthur.  Should he maybe try to talk to Lewis?

The memory of Lewis looking at him with ruthless contempt and hatred before dropping him flashed into his mind.  He inhaled sharply.

“You okay?” asked Lance.

Arthur nodded.  “Y-yeah.” He swallowed.  “Just thinking…remembering.  I think it’s gonna be a few weeks before I can talk to Lewis.”

And something flashed across Lance’s face too quickly for Arthur to properly identify what it was. “That’s fine,” said Lance.

Arthur wondered if he should push it but decided not to.  Lance isn’t someone you want to push.

 When Arthur is released two hours later, Vivi and Mystery are waiting outside with his van. She let out a rush of air as she ran up and gave him a less-crushing-than-usual hug. “Arthur!  Thank God!”

Arthur smiled and gave her a one-armed hug.  “Hey Vivi. How’re you and Mystery?  You got whacked pretty hard by that bat…”  he trailed off as he noticed bandages on her face and hand.  “Oh man, did you get cut up in the crash?”

“No, that was the crazy tree lady,” explained Vivi.  “Tried to cut my head off.”

“What?!”

Vivi nodded. “Yeah, get in, and I’ll tell you all about it.”

The three climbed in, Vivi driving for once and Mystery flopping onto Arthur’s lap. Arthur studied Mystery curiously. “So…you’re a kitsune?”

“Yes,” said Mystery.

Arthur stared at Mystery in shock, less from the confirmation and more from the fact Mystery just spoke English.  “And you can talk?”

“Yes.”

And Arthur connected a couple of dots.  “Do you know how Lewis died?”

Vivi slammed onto the breaks.  Arthur immediately panics because he completely forgot about Vivi and her not being able to hear about Lewis, but she turns to him with a panicked look on her face.  “He wasn’t there!”

Arthur blinked. “Wait.  You didn’t-You got your memories back?!”

Vivi turned away from Arthur and started driving again.  “Yeah.”

Arthur felt a grin spread across his face.  “That’s great!”

“Yeah.”

“We can talk about anything now!” said Arthur.  “Oh! How’s Lewis doing?”

“I don’t know,” said Vivi.

Arthur blinked. “You don’t-You’re still upset about him trying to kill us, aren’t you?”  Vivi’s hands tightened around the steering wheel.  “I’m…upset too.  I don’t think I’ll be able to talk to him for a while,” admitted Arthur.

“You shouldn’t talk to him at all!” shouted Vivi.

Arthur gave her a surprised look.  “Where did that come from?”

“He dropped you off a cliff!” shouted Vivi.  “The only reason you’re not dead is because the stalagmite hit that plate in your shoulder!”

“I-I forgot about the stalagmites,” muttered Arthur.  Now he can’t stop thinking about that.  “Okay, no talking to Lewis.”

Vivi must be really angry if she doesn’t want to talk to Lewis.  Maybe Arthur should give her a few days to calm down.

 When they got to the garage, Vivi made it clear she and Mystery were staying for the night. Arthur didn’t argue.  He wanted Vivi and Lance nearby after everything that had happened.

There was something depressing about how he didn’t want Lewis around right now.

Arthur was still sore from the injury and tired and loopy from the medication so they just sat on the couch with a blanket covering them for most of the day, even eating on the couch.  It was the least Arthur had done in months…He was actually a bit antsy sitting still like this after spending so much time trying to figure out what happened to Lewis.

Oh wait.

“Vivi, this might be a bit random, but how did Lewis die and I lose my arm?” asked Arthur.

“I don’t remember,” said Vivi.

Arthur blinked. “Oh, I’m sorry.  So your memory…”  He thought she’d gotten it back.

Vivi gave him a reassuring smile.  “Oh, no, everything else is fine.  It’s just that night I can’t remember.”

Arthur let out a sigh of relief.  “You had me worried for a moment there…Although if it was bad enough to make Lewis a ghost maybe it’s better we don’t remember,” he admitted as much as it grated him to admit it.  “Still, I’d like to know what happened.”  He looked down at Mystery, who was lying across their laps.  “I don’t suppose you saw what happened?”

“Of course he didn’t,” said Vivi.  “He was with me the whole time.”

Arthur blinked. “Oh.  Okay.”  That didn’t sound right though.  If Mystery had been with Vivi, he’d have seen everything Vivi did.  Vivi’s memory loss had something to do with what had happened. Mystery hadn’t had any memory loss, right?  So…either nothing happened with Vivi (Which made no sense.  Her eyes literally glowed.) or Mystery hadn’t actually been with her.

Why were they lying to him?

No.  Not both of them.  Mystery hadn’t actually been doing a lot of talking (Force of habit?).  It was Vivi who was giving all the explanations. So if he was able to talk to Mystery without Vivi around…

Easier said than done. Vivi wasn’t leaving his side.

So Arthur just continued to sit there and stroke Mystery and joke with Vivi and watch the silly cartoons playing today.

It was…nice…but sad. It still felt like something important was missing.

Eventually, it was starting to get late.  Lance went to pick up some pizza, including Surf’s Up Surprise.  No one felt like cooking.

When Lance got home, Vivi got off the couch to give him a hand.  “Want anything to drink?”

“Just some soda, thanks,” said Arthur.

“What would you like Mystery?”

“Meat lover’s pizza.” Mystery licked his mouth.  “I’d like tea if Lance has any.  If not, just water for me, thanks.”

Vivi nodded. “Be back in a minute.”  She walked over to the kitchen.  It wasn’t really that far away.  Arthur could get over there and back just fine, even with the pain starting to work its way through the medicine.

He bit his lip. He was gonna feel bad about going behind Vivi’s back like this.  “Mystery,” he whispered.  “Do you know what happened when Lewis died?”

“Yes,” Mystery whispered back.

That hurt. “Then why didn’t you say anything?”

���Vivi made me promise not to tell you, and kitsune can’t break promises,” explained Mystery.

Arthur bit his lip. So Vivi did know and just didn’t want to tell him for some reason.  That hurt.

“But Lance and Lewis know too,” whispered Mystery.  “I’m not sure if either of them will tell you, but it’s worth a try.”

Arthur nodded. “Okay.  Thanks.”

And that was when Vivi got back.  “Here’s your gross fish pizza.”  Mystery jumped off Arthur’s lap so she could put the plate there.  “And your meaty pizza,” she said, putting several plates in front of Mystery, who immediately dug in.  “And my supreme pizza.”  She flopped down next to Arthur.

Arthur chewed his pizza thoughtfully.  “You know…This explains why Mystery can eat stuff dogs aren’t normally supposed to eat. Do you even have any dietary restrictions?”

Mystery licked his lips.  “Nope. I actually have a wider range of foods than humans.  I just stick to human food because it’s so much tastier.”  And with that he went back to eating his pizza.

Arthur hummed in thought.  “Actually, why do you disguise yourself as a dog?  I thought kitsune were supposed to be scared of dogs…”

“Yes, exactly. I didn’t want anyone to think I was a kitsune, and most people with experience looking for kitsune are aware that we are typically scared of dogs.  Pretending to be one would convince most that I’m something else,” explained Mystery.  “Also, considering my power level, it seemed kind of silly to be scared of dogs so I decided to get over that fear, and turning into what frightened me seemed like a good way to work on it.  It took a while, but eventually it stopped bothering me.”  He grinned.  “Not to mention the perks that come with being a dog.  They knew what they were doing when they let you domesticate them.”

Vivi snorted. “Right, ‘cause you love to be lazy, eat all the food, and get belly rubs.”

“And now I’m wondering who was actually behind all of that,” muttered Arthur.  “So, how many tails do you have?  It sounds like you’ve been around for a while.”

“Oh, bit of a story there.  I used to have nine tails.”

Wow, so Mystery was really old.

“But I made a few bad choices,” continued Mystery.  “I ended up having several of my tails cut off and lost the power that came with them.”

“That can happen?” questioned Arthur.

“Yes, fortunately she didn’t get my original tail so I was able to survive and escape with the help of Vivi’s ancestor, who I swore loyalty to as thanks,” continued Mystery. “I’ve been with her family ever since.”

“Still can’t believe I didn’t notice,” muttered Vivi.

“Don’t feel too bad. I’ve gotten pretty good at hiding it,” said Mystery.

“You wear glasses and have a spiky hairdo!” protested Vivi.  “How did I not think that was strange?!”

“You know.  She has a point,” admitted Arthur.  “How did none of us think that was odd?  Other dogs don’t wear glasses…”

Mystery chuckled. “I may only have 7 tails, but I still retain the knowledge and tricks I’ve learned over the centuries.”

That made some sense. It was sort of like when Arthur had lost his arm.  He’d still had the knowledge to build and repair things.  It was just a bit more difficult to do those things until he had gotten his prosthetic attached.  “So, you’ll always be around then?”

Mystery nodded. “Unless the Yukinos die out, but I’ll do everything in my power to prevent that.”

“And there are other Yukinos,” admitted Vivi.  “I think Mystery just sticks with the ones that decide to go into paranormal investigation.  He belonged to Grandmother before me, and she was a priestess.  Dad wasn’t interested in that sort of thing so Mystery skipped him as an owner, er, partner?  I’m not sure how to describe this.”

“I’d prefer you not refer to yourself as my owner, although I admit that it might be necessary to do so to keep up the illusion,” admitted Mystery.  “Other than that, I don’t care too much about how you refer to our relationship.  Although I would like to be considered your friend.”

That’s a bit of a relief if Arthur is being honest.  He knows that kitsune can become powerful enough that humans can seem…he guesses the best word for it is insignificant.  They don’t live as long, they’re not particularly strong, and probably seem pretty foolish at times.  Sort of like a silly pet mouse.  Given some of the stories Vivi’s told him, he doesn’t think all kitsune share Mystery’s opinion.  “I’m happy to be friends.”  Mystery flinched.  Arthur wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t been in contact with Mystery.  Arthur frowned.  “You okay?”

“It’s nothing,” said Vivi.  “He just feels bad about hiding it from us for so long.”

“…Yeah, I can see why that would be upsetting,” admitted Arthur.  “Why didn’t you tell us anyway?  It seems like it would be pretty easy to prove.”

“I still had enemies that I would have attracted to us.  Pretending to be a dog isn’t just convenient.  It hides my energy and power so that I can’t be tracked, and there are entities that wanted to find me and would have hurt or even killed you if they succeeded.”

“Like whoever cut off your tails?” asked Arthur.  “That’s someone I wouldn’t want to run into.”  For some reason that sent Mystery and Vivi into a giggle fit.  “Am I missing something?”

“You ran her over with the van,” explained Mystery.

Arthur abruptly recalled the mad dash away from Lewis’ horrible semi-truck.  “Holy crap!  I completely forgot that we hit someone!  Oh, wait, she attacked us.”  Arthur paused.  “I think it was a ‘she’ anyway.  Was that a tree growing out of her head?”

“Yes, she was a jubokko, a type of tree yokai that feeds on blood,” explained Mystery. “It’s…complicated.  I’d rather not talk about my past with her.”

Arthur could understand that, and he was pretty sure she didn’t have anything to do with the original injuries so he let it drop.  “Is she going to come back?”

“No.”  Mystery grinned.  “I took back my blood from her, and that is what gave her life in the first place.”

“Oh, that’s…good to know.”  Spirit rules. So complicated.

 Arthur fell asleep at some point and slept the whole night.  He woke up on the couch with Vivi leaning against him.  He felt a bit sore from sleeping on the couch, and he had phantom pains that he didn’t know how he’d slept through, but he felt more rested than he had in months.  He glanced at Vivi, debated for a moment, and decided to shake her awake.  “Huh, wha-what is it?”

“I need my pain medication,” grit out Arthur.

Vivi shot up. “Oh!  Right!  Want me to get it for you?”

Arthur shook his head. “Nah.  It’ll work better if I eat something with it.  Let’s eat breakfast.”  He paused.  “In the kitchen.  Not out here.”

Vivi smiled and nodded.  “Sounds good.”

It was just cereal since they still didn’t feel like cooking.  “You should try to go to work today,” said Arthur.  “Duet’s pretty lenient, but I don’t think she’ll be happy about you taking even more time off.”

Vivi bit her lip. “I don’t know.  You almost died…”

Arthur smiled. She’d been like this last time too, staying at his place, worrying over his health, trying to do everything for him. She’d been overprotective and overbearing, but he understood why.  He’d have done the same if it was Vivi who’d lost an arm and nearly bled to death. Still, he wasn’t nearly as bad off this time, and he knew how to do his daily tasks with only one arm now.  “I’ll be fine.  This isn’t like last time.  Heck, I’m thinking of going back to work today too.”

Vivi gave him an annoyed look.  “You just had surgery.  You should be resting.”

“Yeah, I won’t work a full day, and I won’t do anything too difficult.  Mostly secretary work, some oil changes, the like.”  Vivi still looked unsure.  “C’mon, there’s no way Uncle Lance will let me do anything that might make things worse.”

Vivi nodded. “Right.”  If there was one person who was as concerned for Arthur’s health as her, it was Lance.  “You’re right.  We need to get back to our normal schedules…or at least as much as we can.”

Arthur frowned. “Yeah.”  Lewis was a ghost.  Nothing would ever be normal again.  “Yeah, I think I’ve been putting that off for longer than I should.”  And Heaven help him, but the smile Vivi gave him made him feel even better than the medicine.

 Arthur really did stick to secretary stuff for most of the day.  He’d figured out how to do most repairs and maintenance stuff with one arm, but it could be tricky and more physically demanding.

That being said, Arthur really wanted to get back in the garage, so he called dibs on anyone who came needing a battery or oil change.  Tire changes took enough physical effort that he’d save them for once he was feeling better.

And being in the garage would give him a chance to talk to Lance.  “Uncle Lance?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you know what happened when I lost my arm?”

Lance paused for a moment.  “Yeah.”

“Will you tell me?”

“No.”

Arthur huffed. “Why not?  What is going on?”

“You have enough problems as it is,” said Lance.  “I’m not adding to that burden.  Just let it go.  Please.”

Oh no.  It was bad if Lance said please.  “Okay.  I won’t ask you again,” promised Arthur.

There was still Lewis after all.

 Actually talking to Lewis was easier said than done.  Arthur was still having some nightmares about Lewis looking at him the way he had and dropping him and all the other attempts and…

Yeah, Arthur wasn’t sure he was ready to face Lewis yet.  Maybe one day, but not now.

But talking over the phone should be okay!

That was the plan anyway.  Except he was still getting that out of service message whenever he tried to call Lewis.

…

Lewis’ phone must’ve been busted when he…died.  Actually, could Lewis even use a phone anymore?  Arthur was pretty sure Lewis had something to do with the malfunctions his van and arm had experienced, and other ghosts had messed with their electronics before.

So…Arthur would have to call a different Pepper.  Should he call Mr. or Mrs. Pepper?  Or…

Well, there was one more option that might know what happened.  Arthur dialed the number and waited while the phone rang.

“Arthur!”

Arthur smiled. “Hi Belle.”

“I heard about what happened!  Are you okay?!”

Arthur nodded. “Yeah, I’m…well, I’m injured and a bit traumatized, but it’s not nearly as bad as last time.  I just have to let my shoulder heal for a few weeks before I reattach my prosthetic.”

“That’s good.”

“So, how are you guys doing?  How…How’s Lewis doing?”

Belle was silent. “He’s grounded.”

Arthur blinked. “He’s 21.”

“Well, he’s a ghost. He can’t rent his own apartment, and Mom and Dad were pretty upset with him.”

“But you’re okay with him being…you know?”

“We’re not happy about him being dead,” said Belle.  “But he’s still here so it’s not as bad as it could be.  Paprika’s kind of scared of him because of how he looks though.”

Arthur laughed nervously.  “Yeah, he can be pretty scary looking, huh?”

“Cayenne thinks he looks pretty cool though so she keeps him company,” continued Belle. “I…I know that he’s changed.  He’s not as happy.  But maybe he’ll go back to how he was before?”

Arthur winced. “I’m not sure.  He did die.  That had to be traumatic, and trauma can change a person.”

“Yeah…”

“But how is Lewis doing?  I…I wasn’t conscious to see what happened, but it sounds like he’s calmed down.”

“Yeah, he doesn’t seem like a rage ghost.  Actually, he’s been kind of emo, locking himself in his room most of the day.”

“Oh, wow, that’s bad.”

“He feels bad about what happened,” said Belle.  “And he’s kind of beating himself up over everything he did.”

“About that. Did Lewis ever say why he was trying to kill us?”

Belle was silent for a moment.  “You don’t know?”

“No.  I’m pretty sure Vivi and Uncle Lance know, but they won’t tell me for some reason.  It’s actually starting to freak me out a little.”

“Um, well, Mom and Dad did tell me, but we don’t really want Cayenne and Paprika to find out,” explained Belle.

Arthur winced. “Wow, was it really that bad?”

“Yeah.  Did Lewis zap your memory too?”

“Wait. ‘Too’.  As in he zapped someone’s memory?”

“Um…”

“Is that what happened to Vivi?!”

“Um…Yeah, Lewis said she saw him die and he didn’t want her to see that and did something, but he didn’t know he did it until he realized she didn’t recognize him,” explained Belle.  “He managed to fix it.  Maybe he could fix yours too.”

“I don’t think my memory loss is magic,” said Arthur.  “I lost a lot of blood when I lost my arm, and that can cause just enough brain damage to retain all the normal functions but permanently lose recently recorded events.” Besides, if Lewis had caused the Arthur’s memory loss, wouldn’t he have reacted the same way as Vivi?  “Although I guess he could sort of cure me by telling me what happened.  I’m kind of nervous about seeing him again though…I tried calling him, but I guess he messes with electronics?”

“Actually, Mom and Dad took his phone privileges away,” said Belle.  “They said he could have them back once he proved he could be reasonable and responsible.”

“So, he isn’t messing with electronics?”

“I think it depends on how he feels.  He’s been watching the TV just fine most of the time, but sometimes he’ll get upset and the TV goes all fuzzy until someone hits it,” explained Belle.

“That’s good to know.” Now that Arthur thought about it, his arm had functioned fine in that haunted mansion.

…

Where did Lewis even get a haunted mansion?

“So, uh, do you want me to tell you what happened?” asked Belle.  “I might be missing a few of the details, but I got the main gist of it.”

Arthur opened his mouth to say ‘yes’ but found himself stopping.  “I feel conflicted.”

“Uh, so you don’t want me to tell you?”

“I want to know, but I feel like I shouldn’t hear it from you, which is really frustrating because clearly something horrible and important happened that everyone is hiding from me for some reason!” rambled Arthur.

“Well, I kind of understand why they don’t wanna tell you,” admitted Belle.  “But why wouldn’t you want me to tell you?”

“I have no idea!” Arthur thought for a moment.  “Did you have any questions after you were told?”

“A lot.  Most of them haven’t been answered.”  Belle paused.  “By the way, were you feeling some sort of emotional turmoil when all that happened?”

“I can’t say for sure. Probably.  I’m usually freaking out pretty badly during the investigation.” Plus his general feeling of being left out and longing and jealousy.  He didn’t want to talk about that with Belle.  Oh.  “I think I just figured it out.”

“You did?!”

“There’s a lot of personal feelings involved that I’m not comfortable talking about at all, but if I have to I would prefer to only say it to the people it involves,” explained Arthur.  He sighed “Which means I’ll have to talk to Lewis.”

“Are you sure you’re okay with that?”

“No.  I guess I’ll have to make myself be okay with it then,” said Arthur.

“Uh…How does that work?”

Arthur paused. “I guess I’ll stare at pictures of Lewis until I stop panicking.”

“Will that work?” asked Belle.

“I don’t know. I gotta try something!”  Arthur groaned.  “Why does this all have to be so complicated?”

“Because you guys run around hunting ghosts?” suggested Belle.

“…Yeah, that’s probably it,” admitted Arthur.  “So, I’ll see you soon, hopefully.”

“Yeah, hopefully,” agreed Belle.  “…We miss you.”

Arthur winced. He’d been avoiding the Peppers. It was…painful seeing them without Lewis around.  “Yeah, soon. I promise.”  He ended the call.

So, now he had to learn to not be scared of Lewis.  Easier said than done.

 The next couple of weeks were spent recovering enough to work full time in the garage again, hanging out with Vivi and Mystery while watching a lot of sci-fi.  Arthur actually had to suggest a couple of scary movies to break things up a bit.

Vivi and Mystery were actually spending a lot more time with him than they had last time he was injured.  Nice as it was, this meant that Vivi wasn’t trying to talk to Lewis.

Arthur knew what it felt like to be left out like that, and that was what pushed him to go to the Pepper house a little over three weeks after the incident.

Not that it was going well.  He was just starting at the door, willing himself to knock on the door or ring the doorbell, but then he’d think about Lewis answering the door and freeze up.

Maybe he wasn’t quite ready for this.

Then the choice was taken out of his hands by the door opening.  Thankfully, it wasn’t Lewis that opened it.  “Hi Mrs. Pepper.”

Mrs. Pepper sighed. “Hello Arthur.  It’s nice to see you are doing well.”

“Yeah, you too, and I, um, kind of wanted to ask Lewis something.  Is he home?”

Mrs. Pepper nodded. “He’s still grounded.  We said he could go back to working at Pepper Paradiso in the kitchen, but he’s having some trouble making himself look human so he prefers to stay home.”

“Oh, wow, that’s not good.”  Lewis loved cooking.  He only refused to do it when he was really upset.  “Can I see him?”

Mrs. Pepper hesitated for a moment.  “If you’re both up to it.”

“I’m not sure I am,” admitted Arthur.  “But I want to try.”

“All right.” Mrs. Pepper moved aside so Arthur could come into the house.  “Lewis! Arthur’s here!”

“What?!”  Lewis appeared at the top of the stairs. Arthur winced.  Lewis was still in his suit, but had his face instead of the skull.  Thankfully, Lewis looked more shocked than anything else so Arthur didn’t get a flashback. “Arthur, what-what are you doing here?”

Arthur took a deep breath.  “We need to talk.”

“Right, I, uh, let me come down-”

“In private. I…I think this needs to be a private conversation,” interrupted Arthur.

Lewis looked nervous.  “I could…soundproof my room?”

He could do that? “Yeah, that sounds good,” agreed Arthur.

“I’ll check on you two in half an hour,” said Mrs. Pepper.  That got a wince from both Arthur and Lewis.  She used to be willing to leave them alone for hours…

Still, they went to the room, and Lewis did something that caused everything to get a purple tone. Arthur poked at the wall curiously. “Huh, does this have something to do with that haunted mansion you were in before?”

“Yeah, I, uh, made that,” admitted Lewis.

“That’s pretty impressive,” complimented Arthur.  Lewis was a pretty powerful ghost to pull something like that off.  “But why did you do that instead of coming to Tempo?”

“Because I wanted to scare you,” admitted Lewis.  He closed his eyes.  “I wanted to hurt you.  I knew that everyone else would disprove, but I still wanted to because I thought I knew better than them.”

“Right, um, that’s what I wanted to talk about…sort of.  What happened that made you want to kill us so much?” asked Arthur.  “I know it must have been something bad, but-”

“Wait,” interrupted Lewis.  “You thought I was trying to kill all three of you?”

Arthur nodded. “Yeah, you stopped all of us in front of your mansion and then tried to attack and blow us up.  And you ran us off the road and down a cliff.”

Lewis covered his mouth, looking ill and muttering something under his breath.  “That-I, uh, wasn’t thinking things all the way through. I didn’t want to hurt Vivi and Mystery. Just you.”

What?  Arthur suddenly didn’t feel nervous and scared now. He just felt numb and a bit sick. It took a few minutes for him to find his voice.  “Why?”

“I thought you killed me,” admitted Lewis.

“I could never do that,” Arthur immediately responded.  “Why would you think I would do something like that?”

“You really don’t remember?” asked Lewis.  When Arthur shook his head, Lewis handed him the golden heart that was always floating in front of his chest.  “Maybe this will help.”

Arthur stared at it in confusion before realizing that it could be opened.  Inside was a picture of Lewis and Vivi hugging each other with smiles on their faces.  All it did was make Arthur feel depressed.  “Is this supposed to be doing something?”

Lewis looked a bit surprised.  “I don’t get it.  This fixed Vivi’s memories.”

Arthur let out a hysterical giggle.  “That-I’m missing my memories because I nearly died from massive blood loss and spent a week in a coma!”  Seriously, just because they were ghost hunters didn’t mean everything had a supernatural explanation.  “I could barely move when I woke up!  How the Hell could I have hurt you?!”

Lewis just stared at him.  “You really don’t know.”

“Of course I don’t! I wouldn’t be this frustrated and upset if I did!” complained Arthur.

Lewis pinched the bridge of his nose.  “Okay, okay, I can-I’ll tell you, but neither of us is going to like it.”

“I can already tell,” muttered Arthur.

“So, we went to investigate a haunted cave,” started Lewis.  “Very creepy.  Opening looked like a monster face, and there was green mist all over the place.”

Arthur nodded. Sounded like the sort of place Vivi would love to visit.

“You wanted nothing to do with it, but we convinced you to go inside.”

That was typical too.

“And we came to a fork in the cave and decided to split up.  Vivi went to the lower level with Mystery.  We went to the upper level.”

“Why?”

“Well, we thought it would be faster that way,” said Lewis.

“No, I mean why did we split up like that.  After you and Vivi started dating you two always paired up when we had to split up. So why did you suddenly change it this time?” pressed Arthur.

Lewis’ face turned sort of purple and see through enough for Arthur to just be able to see the skull underneath.  “Well, you were really scared, and we felt like we might have been leaving you out of things a little too much.”

Arthur had felt left out.  It had felt like he only saw them on ghost hunts in the weeks leading up to whatever had happened.  The split up still seemed to come out of nowhere though.  “Okay, I’ll buy that.”  He supposed the why wasn’t that important in this case.  “And then what happened?”

“We followed the path up to a cliff that was pretty high up.”  Lewis swallowed.  “There-there were stalagmites.”

Arthur gripped at his pants.  He could tell they were getting close to the point where Lewis died.

“And I wanted to see if I could see Vivi, but I couldn’t, and you made a sound, and I turned, and your hand was on my chest-”

What?

“And you pushed me and-”

“You’re lying,” interrupted Arthur.

Lewis blinked.  “Huh?”

“You’re lying,” repeated Arthur, glaring at Lewis.  “I would have never hurt you, much less-”  Arthur stood.  “If you’re not going to tell me then I’ll just ask your parents or Belle.”

Lewis stood. “Whoa!  Wait!  Don’t! It wasn’t you!”

“You just said it was!”  Arthur reached for the door.

“You were possessed!”

Arthur paused for a moment.  He turned back towards Lewis.  “Possessed?”

“There was a demon in the cave,” Lewis rapidly explained.  “You were freaking out pretty badly, which let it possess you, and it used your body to…kill me.”

That…That was awful, but Arthur could admit it made more sense than him wanting to kill one of the people he loved.  “If I was possessed, then why would you want to kill me?”

“I didn’t know you were possessed, okay?!” said Lewis.  “I just remember seeing you grinning and pushing me!  I didn’t know about you being possessed until the demon showed up and possessed you again!”

“Again?  It happened twice?!”

Lewis blinked. “Uh, yeah, when I…dropped you.  It, uh, showed up and reattached itself and we had to rip your arm off again.”

Arthur’s hand went to his port.  “My arm?! Again?!”

“Um, yeah, it was sealed in your arm.  Did-did no one tell you about this?”

“No!  Why was there a demon in my arm?!”

“Uh, well, apparently the possession started in your arm and was mostly in there,” explained Lewis. “So to stop the possession Mystery removed your arm.”

“Mystery?!  But he’s a little-”  Arthur stopped himself.  “He’s not a dog.  He’s a kitsune.  And I never asked how big he is out of his disguise.”

“He’s big enough for you to ride him like a pony,” said Lewis.

Big enough to maim someone then.  “And you didn’t know any of this?” pressed Arthur.

“That happened after I died.  I think it took a few hours for me to wake up,” explained Lewis.  “If I had known…I swear I would have never tried to hurt you. You have to believe me.”

Arthur’s mind was racing too much for him to answer.  He’d been possessed.  Something made him hurt Lewis.  Did that mean he killed Lewis?  Or did the blame lay squarely with the demon?  Why would Vivi and Lance hide this from him?  Why didn’t Mystery warn him while he was looking for Lewis?

Why him?  Why Lewis?  What did they do to deserve this?

Why?  Why?  Why?

“I need a minute.” Arthur was barely aware of the words coming out of his mouth, but he knew they were true.  He flew out of the room, down the stairs, out of the house, barely hearing people calling his name.  He needed to get out of here.  He needed to go, go, go.

And now he was in his van and driving, driving, driving.  He wasn’t even paying attention to where he was going.  Did it matter where he went?  Did it matter if he came back?

Eventually, Arthur started to calm down.  He was still an odd combination of upset and numb, but he was thinking a bit more clearly now so he realized that it was starting to get late and he had no idea where he was.

…

Now what?

 Eventually, Arthur started to get hungry so he finally stopped at a gas station to refuel, grab a snack or two, and maybe get directions to somewhere to eat/sleep.

The door dinged as Arthur walked inside.  “Hey,” said the cashier.

“Hey,” said Arthur as he walked over to the snack aisle.  They had a few protein bars.  That would work.  Arthur eyed the energy drinks for several minutes before sighing and getting a can of coffee.  He didn’t want to stay up all night, just last long enough to grab a meal and find a motel or something.

“I’d like to buy these,” said Arthur, placing the two items on the counter and pulling out a twenty. “And put the change on pump five.”

The cashier started to ring him up.  “Sure thing.”

“Also, I’m not from around here.  Do you know anywhere I can buy some food this time of night and a decent motel I can stay at?”

“There’s a Motel 8 a few streets down with some fast food places nearby,” said the cashier.

Arthur nodded. They’d stayed at Motel 8’s before. They were usually decent and had cable. “So will do I need to head straight or take any turns?”

“Turn right out of the station.  You should see the sign in a few minutes.  There’s a few fast food places around that might still be open.”

“Thanks.” Arthur walked out, tossed his food into the van, and got his gas.  He took a moment to eat the protein bar before heading back out.

The Hotel 8 was right where the cashier said it would be.  Arthur went ahead and got a room for two nights in case the reception would close later.  Then he went and grabbed a fish sandwich and fries from a nearby McDonalds.

And now he was sitting in his room, just staring at the wall as he tried to figure out what to do. It wasn’t like he’d planned any of this. Arthur’s phone buzzed in his pocket.

Oh.  He’d forgotten about that.  He pulled it out and saw dozens of missed texts and calls, mostly from Vivi and Lance.  They mostly consisted of how he was running late, did something come up, you should’ve been home by now, are you okay, are you hurt, where are you?

Arthur felt a bit guilty.  What should he say?  He bit his lip.  He didn’t want to talk to them right now to tell the truth.  Still, he should let them know he was alive.  “I’m fine.  I know about the cave.  I need some time to myself,” he texted back to Lance and Vivi.

Then he turned off his phone.  He didn’t have a charger with him, and his phone was starting to run low.

God, Arthur was exhausted in so many ways.  Arthur flopped on a bed.  He hadn’t bothered to bring any clothes, but what he was wearing should work as pajamas.

…

…

He couldn’t sleep.

Arthur groaned and turned on the television.  He didn’t bother to change the channel.  He didn’t care what he was watching.  He just needed a distraction.

He wished he’d remembered to grab his medicine before he’d run off.

 Arthur must have fallen asleep at some point because he woke up the next morning feeling sore and with the beginnings of a headache.

Something squeezed his arm.

Arthur screamed, flailed, and managed to throw what was on his arm off and into the wall. The startled shriek and purple caused Arthur to do a double take.

It was one of Lewis’ little ghosts.  It was looking at Arthur like he’d just told it Santa didn’t exist.  “Shit!  Sorry, you startled me!”  Arthur looked around for a moment.  He didn’t see any other ghosts, including Lewis.  “Where the heck did you come from?”

The little ghost let out a warble.  It still looked pretty upset.  Arthur sighed and held his hand out in front of it.  “Okay, look, I’m sorry.  I went to sleep alone, and then woke up with something else in bed with me.  I thought you were a wild animal.  Or maybe a clever cat.  Something that might try to bite me.”

The little ghost was looking a little less contrite.  It nuzzled Arthur’s hand.  Arthur pet it.  “Huh, when you’re not trying to kill a guy, you’re actually kind of cute,” admitted Arthur. “But what are you even doing here? I’m pretty sure Lewis isn’t nearby. I guess he could’ve followed me, but he doesn’t have a car so that would be obvious.”

It was at this point the ghost let out a chirp, flowed up Arthur’s arm, curled around his neck, and nuzzled his cheek with another chirp.  Arthur shuddered.  “Uh, you’re cute and friendly, but wow that feels weird…”  The nuzzling stopped, but it stayed curled around him.  Arthur sighed.  “Okay, so I’m on my own with a ghost.  Well, now’s as good a time as any to make a plan.”  Arthur sat on the bed.  “Well, I guess I should get something to eat first.”  The ghost perked up and gave him a happy look and chirp. “…Can you even eat?  And if you do how does that even work?”  The ghost warbled.  “Then…I don’t have any other plans.  I’ll have to eat lunch and dinner at some point.  Maybe stop at a bank and pick up some supplies.  I can’t exactly live in the same outfit for the whole time I’m here.”

The ghost scrunched up its face and stuck out a tongue.  Arthur chuckled.  “I guess I’ll make it up as I go along, but for now I’d like to clean up so could you let go for a bit?”  The ghost did so, curling up on the bed instead.  Arthur briefly wondered how much the ghost understood before heading to the bathroom.

While he could clean up pretty much the same as usual with the provided soap, there wasn’t any hair gel provided.  His hair was already starting to droop.  Maybe he had a tin in the van from their last trip.

A quick search showed that A: Uncle Lance had been very thorough about cleaning up the van when he’d moved it inside the garage and B: There was no hair gel or any other styling products of any kind.  Arthur debated on whether to buy a new tin or if he could survive a ponytail for a few days.

Eh, he’d have to buy more eventually.

“I’m heading out. Do you-”  The ghost flew out of the hotel room and into the van.  “Well, okay then.”  Arthur locked the door and got into the van where the ghost was exploring everything.  “I’ll have to leave you in here during some of my shopping.  You okay with that?”  The ghost let out a chirp.  It was smiling so Arthur took it as a ‘yes’.  “Off we go.”

First stop was the McDonald’s again.  Arthur got a parfait specifically so he could save a couple of berries and see if the ghost could eat them.

They fell back out of the ghost.  Go figure.

After that, Arthur managed to find a bank and withdraw some money.  Then he found a Wal-Mart and got a few essentials that would let him survive a few days away from home.

That was really all he had planned for today.  “Well, I came here to think.  Maybe I can find a park or a nature walk or something?”  Although the latter seemed unlikely.  This was a pretty small town.

The park they had was a bit small.  There was some playground equipment that was mostly deserted except for some mothers with very young children.  A couple of people walking dogs.

Oh, right, school day. Well, it worked in his favor.

Arthur just walked for a while, going in circles after a bit.  Thinking on everything.  Lewis had tried to kill him specifically, not the whole rest of the gang.  Vivi had lied to him about why.  Lance…Well, Arthur wasn’t sure if he’d lied, but he’d made it clear he wasn’t going to tell Arthur what had happened.

And that was without getting into the issues with Mystery.  If he’d been able to talk the whole time, he could have told Arthur what happened in the cave the whole time!  Heck, Mystery could have told Lewis and calmed him down.  Or even told them that there was a demon in that cave and prevented everything!

A demon…Arthur rubbed his scarred shoulder.  He’d been possessed by a demon.  Twice by the sound of things.  That couldn’t be good.

Arthur still didn’t remember what had happened.  Not that he was surprised, but he was a bit disappointed that he was still drawing a blank.

So…what did he know about demons?  They’d never run into one before, thank goodness, but Vivi had talked about them before.

They could be repelled by faith, holy water, holy salt, could not set foot on sanctified ground, you should never say a demon’s name because that would catch its attention (Arthur briefly wondered if that applied to other means of communication before shutting down that line of thought for his own peace of mind.), they lied, they only told the truth when it would hurt someone, they could possess people, they targeted people who were emotionally or psychologically vulnerable…

Arthur ran his hand down his face.  Anxiety, fear of being abandoned by his now dating friends, longing for said friends, some admitted jealousy, and more than a little panic and fear at being in a rumored to be haunted cave where people had been horribly murdered.  He could see why the demon had latched onto him.  Vivi and Lewis had both been excited and eager to explore.  They hadn’t even grabbed half the supplies Arthur had brought.

…

That happened a lot. Lewis and Vivi would get excited and be so sure that nothing bad would happen that they’d run in with the bare minimum of preparation, like they were invincible.  Meanwhile Arthur would run after them telling them to be careful because there were bears around here, and that house is not structurally sound, and you should have a way to keep from getting lost in a cave!

…And that was the practical, normal dangers that Arthur could look up on his phone if he needed to.  The more esoteric, supernatural stuff was Vivi’s domain.  He didn’t recall seeing her take more than a bat with an ofuda on it and a few vials of holy water unless she knew they needed something specific. A lot her supplies were left in the van…

Arthur shook her head. Even if Vivi could have maybe prevented it, that was a big maybe.  They’d never know for sure…and if Arthur was being honest he probably could have prevented it by telling them…Well, not how he had feelings for them but at least that he felt left out and would like to spend more time with them.  And maybe asked if they could do something other than sleuthing, like go to a convention or something.  It might’ve helped lessen his anxiety.

Arthur had no idea if Lewis could’ve done anything to prevent his death.  He liked ghosts and stuff like Vivi but wasn’t knowledgeable enough to get the same amount of use out of Vivi’s collection.  The only thing Arthur could come up with was Lewis taking the lower path with Vivi, and who knows how that would have gone.  Maybe the demon would’ve made Arthur jump off the cliff or gone after Vivi or Lewis.

The fact of the matter is that Arthur just didn’t know enough about what had happened.  Yeah, he’d gotten the story from Lewis, but that was from Lewis’ point of view.  If Arthur still had his memories he could look back and point out every moment he’d messed up and what he could’ve done differently.

…

Maybe it was a good thing he couldn’t remember what happened in that cave.  He felt guilty enough as it is even knowing he’d been possessed at the time.  He’d probably be a mess if he actually remembered anything.

It was at that moment he saw a food truck.  What time was it?  He didn’t have a watch.  He mostly used his phone to tell the time when he was out and about.  Well, he was getting hungry and there was a line so he was going to say it was around lunchtime.  He walked over and got in line.  Looked like a Mexican food truck.  Maybe they had fish tacos.

No fish tacos. He settled for a couple of chicken tacos instead.  They were actually pretty good.  “Now what?” He felt done with walking for the moment.  He walked back to his van where the little ghost wrapped around him making happy sounds. “Want to explore a bit?”

 While exploring Arthur found an old-fashioned movie theatre.  He figured he could sneak the ghost inside so he bought a ticket for a movie he was unfamiliar with.

It was a weird movie, but Arthur would watch it again.  The ghost fell asleep part way through.  This made it easier to leave in the van when Arthur found a small library.

Arthur spent his time on reddit looking at threads about people talking about being lied to or who survived murder attempts.  It wasn’t exactly pleasant to read, but it did help Arthur sort through his feelings.

Once it got a bit later, Arthur left the library and found a semi-decent restaurant where he made a half hearted attempt to eat healthy by ordering the grilled chicken sandwich and green beans.  Then it was back to the hotel room for the night.

Arthur sat on the bed, kicking his feet as the ghost channel surfed.  “You know…That was nice.  Being on my own and just doing whatever for the day,” mused Arthur. “It’s something that’ll get old fast, and I think I’d rather be with…a friend.  But I guess it’s good to have some time to yourself every now and then so you can sort your thoughts out.”

The ghost just yawned. Arthur yawned too.  “Yeah, bed sounds good.”

 The next day started much the same, except Arthur woke up a bit earlier and didn’t panic when he felt the little ghost cuddling him.  He decided to be lazy and lay there for a bit before getting up.

He decided on pancakes for breakfast, just because.  Then he went back to the park.  He wasn’t sure it he’d be there long enough to see the food truck again, but he had seen a café he might be able to try.

Arthur had been watching a squirrel navigate some branches when he heard a dog barking.  He didn’t think anything of it since he’d seen a few dogs walking around.

“Arthur!”

“Wha?”  Arthur turned just in time to find himself with an armful of Vivi.  “Vivi?!”

“Oh God, I didn’t think we were gonna find you!”  Vivi pulled back to give him a glare.  “What were you thinking running off like that!”

Arthur winced. “I’m sorry.  I just wanted to be alone,” admitted Arthur.  “I did send those texts to let you know I was okay.”

“Anyone could’ve sent those texts!”

“My screen has a lock on it,” argued Arthur.  “How did you even…”  Arthur trailed off as he noticed who else was there.  Mystery was standing a respectable distance to let Vivi have her say, but behind Mystery was a very-nervous looking Lewis with a familiar ghost rubbing up against him.  “…Were you spying on me?”

“No!”  Lewis shook his head rapidly.  “I didn’t even mean for Anaheim to end up with you!”

Arthur blinked. “You named him Anaheim?”

Lewis did that weird purple blush.  “Um, yeah, anyway I guess he must’ve wandered into your van while we were talking.  I didn’t notice until I realized he was moving away with you, and when Vivi said you were missing I thought maybe I could use that to track you,” he explained with a shrug.

Vivi spun to face Lewis with a glare.  “I still can’t believe you told him!  Isn’t it enough that you tried to-”

Arthur slammed his hand over Vivi’s mouth.  She gave him a startled look.  “Look, we are in the middle of a public park.  Do you really have this conversation here?”

Vivi removed his hand. “We shouldn’t be having this conversation at all!”

Arthur took a deep breath.  “Vivi, you are a strong, independent woman and one of my best friends, but this is my life, not yours.  I…I think I’d actually forgotten that.”

Vivi looked confused. “Huh?”

Arthur sighed. “Let’s find somewhere private when can talk about this.”  He turned to Lewis.  “That means you too.”

Lewis looked a bit surprised and…hopeful?  Wow, he really must’ve been miserable since coming back.

 For some reason, they ended up at…Arthur wouldn’t call it a mall, but it was sort of built like one. There were a bunch of stores in a larger building, along with a couple of restaurants.  Arthur waited until they got some food (Arthur absentmindedly noticed Lewis slipped his food onto the seat next to him for Mystery to eat.) to open the conversation.  “Why did we start the Mystery Skulls?”

Vivi paused. “Because we wanted to travel around and investigate ghost sightings.”

Arthur shook his head. “That’s what you and Lewis wanted. I was perfectly fine with traveling and spending time with you guys,” he said with a fond smile.  “I love spending time with you.”  His smile fell.  “I never liked the investigating part.  I always felt scared the whole time.  I would’ve been all right with just driving you guys around and staying with the van, but…” Vivi and Lewis always convinced him to come with them.  “I guess I wanted to spend even more time with you guys…”  He shook his head.  “Anyway, I convinced myself it was fine because we were doing something you liked, but…”  He scratched the back of his neck.  “How do I put this?  Even when we went on a trip to somewhere I wanted to go, we got sidetracked by investigations to and from, even if we could’ve avoided it or left it to the local authorities.  I think at some point I convinced myself that it was okay because it’s not like you planned any of that, except…except it wasn’t okay.  Everything was about the Mystery Skulls the paranormal investigators, even when I wanted a break, even when I was scared out of my mind, even when my anxiety got worse…”  He shook his head.  “I can’t spend the rest of my life doing something that terrifies me.  I can’t be a Mystery Skull anymore.”

“Oh…”  Vivi looked devastated.  “I mean, I was going to suggest a break, but if you’re sure you don’t want to be an investigator anymore…”

Arthur nodded. “I’m sure.  I still wouldn’t mind traveling with you guys and taking care of the equipment, but I’d rather stay out of the way when you do your work.”  He shrugged.  “Who knows?  Maybe eventually I’ll be comfortable enough to occasionally go on a job with you, but I think it’s time for me to move on and do something else with my life.”  He smiled sadly.  “And I know that’s selfish, but…I think sometimes you have to be selfish to take care of yourself.  I tried to be selfless, and it ended up messing me up pretty badly, so now I kind of have to be a bit selfish.”

The whole table was silent as everyone digested that.  “Then…I guess the Mystery Skulls are over,” said Vivi.

Arthur blinked. “What?  No, c’mon, you’ve still got Lewis and Mystery.”

Lewis winced as Vivi gave him a look.  “Vivi’s only tolerating my presence because I had a way to find you.  She’s…still understandably angry with me.”

“And I disguise myself as a dog so most sane folks won’t consider me an investigator,” pointed out Mystery.

Arthur huffed. “Vivi, I’ve already forgiven Lewis for trying to kill me.”

“What?!”  The rest of the restaurant turned to stare at Vivi and Lewis’ shout.

“Sorry, sorry,” said Lewis, whose hair looked a little wispy.  “Just, caught us by surprise there.”  He chuckled nervously as most of the other patrons returned to their meals. He turned to give Arthur a confused look.  “And what’s this about forgiving me?”

“I’d like an explanation for that too,” said Vivi.

“I got possessed by a demon.  So when it pushed him off a cliff he didn’t see a demon pushing him.  He saw me pushing him.  I can understand the confusion.  Heck, the demon probably wanted Lewis to think it was me,” admitted Arthur.  “And I admit I feel awful about that.  I probably always will, but that’s not what we’re talking about right now.”  He turned to Lewis.  “You don’t have to go into detail, but what did you think when you first became a ghost?”

Lewis winced. “Well, it took me a few seconds to realize I was dead…and it took me a little while to remember what happened. Then I just got so angry I could barely think straight.  I just knew you’d…pushed me.  It wasn’t fair.  I-I had to hurt you too.  It was only fair, and I kept thinking like that…”  He turned his gaze towards Vivi.  “Until you protected him.”

Vivi gave him an unimpressed look.  “And you still tried to blow us all up.”

Lewis winced. “Yeah, I was still hazy.  I didn’t snap out of it until…until I dropped Arthur and realized I didn’t want that after all.”

“Uh huh.”  Vivi turned to Arthur.  “Is there a point to this?”

“You said ghosts can be really confused and not think straight when they first die,” Arthur reminded her.  “And let’s face it, Lewis has every right to be upset about dying!  And, well, it made sense to think it was my fault at the time, so I can see why messed up logic led him to think I had to pay for his death.” He turned to Lewis.  “Don’t get me wrong.  I’m still terrified that your first reaction was to jump straight to murdering me instead of, like, leading police to your body or appearing to your family and telling them what happened.  Yeah, one of those would have probably ended with me getting arrested, but if you figured out that you were wrong, you could appear and, I dunno, pretend you had amnesia or something.  Murder…is kind of permanent.  I would have never imagined you’d do something like that…”

Lewis looked guilty. “I wouldn’t have thought I was capable of it either.  I just…hurt so much.”

“Everyone was hurting,” said Vivi.  “Yes, that includes me.  I might not have been able to remember you, but I saw how upset everyone else was and couldn’t do anything to stop it, and Arthur lost his arm and nearly died!  And what did he focus on?  His missing friend!  He nearly worked himself to death looking for you!”

Lewis was getting pretty cowed so Arthur decided to interrupt.  “I’m pretty upset with you too Vivi.”

Vivi gave him a startled look.  “Me? Why?”

“You lied to me, and not a little lie either.  You consciously decided to hide how Lewis died from me!”  He pointed at his shoulder.  “And you knew I was trying to find out what happened even before Lewis came back as a ghost!”

“Well, it’s not like we need to find Lewis anymore,” pointed out Vivi.

Arthur winced along with Lewis.  “Ow, that’s harsh.”  Arthur shook his head.  “That’s not my point.  Would you like it if-Oh, wait.  That’s actually a pretty good comparison.”

“Hm?”

“Lewis tried to hid how he died from you.  How did that feel?” asked Arthur.

Vivi winced. “Yeah, that wasn’t…A part of my life was ripped out of my head.  That’s not the same thing.”

Arthur nodded. “I guess not, but you were still trying to cover up a major event in my life that irreparably changed it.”  He sighed.  “Try to put yourself in my shoes.  You spent months trying to figure out what happened during a period you lost your memories.  Suddenly everyone knows, but won’t tell you.  Won’t, not can’t.  You know the difference.”

Vivi huffed but was silent for several minutes.  “Okay, I can see where you’re coming from.”

Arthur let out a sigh of relief.  “Thank you.”

“But I’m still angry with you,” she said, looking straight at Lewis.

Oh come on. What would it take to get her to talk civilly with Lewis?

A throat cleared itself under the table before Mystery climbed into the open seat next to Lewis. None of the other patrons or workers batted an eye at the behavior.  “If I may, Vivi, how would you react if Arthur pushed you off a cliff to your death?”

Arthur let out a hiss. What would he do if Vivi and Lewis both died?

“Is Arthur possessed?” asked Vivi.

“No,” said Mystery.

“I wouldn’t-I couldn’t-”  Arthur shook his head.  He knew he couldn’t do that.

“Well, I guess I’d go confront him about it,” said Vivi.

Mystery raised an eyebrow.  “And is that all you would do with your temper?”

Vivi blushed. “Okay, I might’ve beaten him up…or worse…I guess if I wasn’t thinking completely clearly it would be easy to go overboard.”

Mystery nodded. “You would try killing him.”

Vivi looked away. “Maybe…Probably.”

“Oh, it seems I was mistaken.  Arthur was possessed when he killed you.”

Vivi’s head snapped towards Mystery.  “Wha-You just said he wasn’t!”

“Well, if it had been you, you wouldn’t have had any way of knowing that it wasn’t Arthur,” pointed out Mystery.  “Demons are crafty like that.  I wouldn’t be surprised if it influenced Lewis after he manifested.”

“Is that why I’m a skeleton?” questioned Lewis.

“No, that’s what happens when you’re killed by an act of betrayal,” explained Mystery.  “Or a perceived act of betrayal in this case.” He turned his attention to Vivi. “And as I’ve pointed out before we wouldn’t have beaten Shiromori and the demon without his help.”

“Oh, that’s right. Lewis mentioned I was possessed again,” interrupted Arthur.  “Did I hurt anyone?”

Mystery shook his head.  “Nothing permanent.”

Arthur smiled. “That’s good.”

Vivi frowned. “You’re not gonna ask what else happened?”

Arthur shrugged. “You guys fought a demon and this Shiro lady and won, but how’d you get the demon out of me?”

“The same way as I did before,” said Mystery.  “Although it did a lot less damage this time.”

So his arm had been ripped off again.  “Hey, wait. Does that mean my port wasn’t ripped off by the stalagmite?”

“Uh, no, that was the demon,” said Lewis.  “You…You were impaled.”

Arthur blanched. “I what?”

“Yeah, but you didn’t die immediately.”

“No one mentioned that in the hospital,” pointed out Arthur.

Lewis winced. “When the demon possessed you it made the holes close up.”

Okay…so he’d been closer to dying than he thought.  “Do I need to be worried?”

“I am not sure,” admitted Mystery.  “The demon is completely out of you, and we…sealed the arm away.  Still, it did technically change your body, but it was for survival purposes so I don’t think it will have any side effects unless you are badly injured again or run into a powerful entity.”

Arthur looked between Mystery and Lewis.  “Don’t you two count?”

“I keep my power suppressed unless I actually need to use it,” said Mystery.

“I’ve been doing that too,” said Lewis.

“Okay…” Arthur didn’t really get it, but he figured he’d find out if they had some sort of effect on him eventually.  “Actually, I was wondering.  Why didn’t you say anything to us in the cave?” Arthur asked Mystery.  “If you’re a super powerful kitsune.  Shouldn’t you have been able to pick up on it?  I mean, it would’ve been a bit of a shock to find out you could talk, but it would be a lot better than…you know.”

Vivi groaned. “He was so afraid of attracting that tree chick that he doesn’t even tell people he can talk!”

Mystery bristled. “You saw what she was like.  She would’ve killed us both!”

“So how dangerous was this lady?” asked Arthur.

“She could grow back all of her body parts, including her head,” said Lewis.  “And she could travel underground about as quickly as a car. Pretty sure she was as physically strong as me at least.  And she had those scissors…”

Mystery cleared his throat.  “As, you can see, she’s a dangerous enough opponent that I wanted to avoid attracting her attention.”

Arthur could accept that.  He understood being afraid and wanting to protect someone you cared about. “But…why didn’t you do something as soon as the demon started to possess me?”  He’d be fine with losing his arm in that case.  At least then Lewis would still be alive.

Mystery’s ears lowered.  “I…I didn’t want to hurt you.  I thought maybe I could restrain you, find a way to force it out, but it was stronger than I thought, and the possession progressed so rapidly.  By the time I realized I would need to find another option it was too late to save Lewis.”

Arthur could understand not wanting to hurt a friend too.  He sighed.  “Let’s face it:  We all fucked up, and I’m pretty sure we all did at least a couple of things that could’ve prevented all of this.  Can we just try to move on?  You guys are my best friends.  I can’t-I don’t want to imagine life without you.”  He’d already seen what it was like without Lewis.  “So, even if we can’t go back to the way things were, maybe we can at least have something similar?”

Lewis looked rather stunned by the suggestion, Mystery looked pleased, Vivi looked exasperated. “You really wanna be friends with the guy who tried to killed you?”

Arthur laughed nervously.  “Don’t get me wrong.  I’m still feeling nervous being around Lewis.  I probably will be for a while, but I know that he’s acting more or less like he did before he died, although you’re being a lot quieter than usual.”

“Of course I am!” said Lewis.  “I thought that you killed me!  Even though we were best friends!  And…I nearly threw everything away…” he muttered looking down.

Arthur and Mystery gave Vivi a pointed look.  She threw up her hands.  “Okay fine! I will try to get along with Lewis!” She gave him a look.  “As long as he behaves.”

Lewis nodded rapidly. “I swear I have absolutely no desire to hurt anyone!”

Arthur smiled. It wasn’t much, but it was something. “So, what’s the plan for the rest of the day?” asked Arthur.

“We go back to Tempo, of course!” said Vivi.

Arthur winced. “Can we wait until tomorrow morning? It took a while to get down here. We’d either have to stop somewhere on the way back or arrive at, like, 2 in the morning.”

Vivi winced. “Ugh, and we have two cars to drive back too…”  She sighed. “Fine, but at least call Lance. He was worried sick about you.”

Arthur winced. “Oh.  Yeah.  My phone should have enough of a charge for that.”  He started to take out his phone before he remembered they were in the middle of a crowded space.  “Actually, can we go somewhere more private for this?  We’re done eating anyway.”

Vivi thought for a moment and nodded.  “Good point! Lance can be pretty loud when he’s upset.”

 They ended up back at the park, Arthur sitting on a bench while Vivi and Mystery played fetch and Lewis hovered nearby.  Literally. “Uh, Big Guy, your feet are kind of…”

Lewis made an annoyed sound and lowered to the ground.  “You would not believe how hard it is to keep your feet on the ground when you don’t have mass.”

Arthur honestly had no idea how to respond to that and decided to turn his attention back to calling Uncle Lance.

…

This was gonna be bad.

Arthur turned on the phone, dialed the number, and waited for Uncle Lance to answer. Usually it took two or three rings, but he answered after only one.  “Arthur?”

“Hi Uncle Lance,” Arthur said sheepishly.

“WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!”  Even Lewis winced from the shouting.  “Do you have any idea how worried I was?!”

“I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to run off like that,” said Arthur.

“How do you accidentally run off to another town?!”

“It just happened. I just was gonna drive somewhere to be alone, but I guess I was in a sort of…trance?  I feel like there’s a better word than that, but I’m sticking to trance until I can remember it.  I was sort of in a trance thinking about all the stuff I’d just found out, and my body was on autopilot, and I guess since I didn’t have a destination in mind I just kept driving until I snapped out of it.”

Uncle Lance was silent for a moment.  “I knew you were gonna react badly to that.”

Arthur nodded. “Yeah, I can see why you wouldn’t tell me…Anyway, I wanted to work through my feelings and thoughts on my own so I figured I’d stay here for a few days and then head back.  I wasn’t expecting you to send the rest of the gang after me.”

“You saw what happened when Lewis went missing.  Why wouldn’t we do the same for you?” pointed out Lance.

Arthur paused. “Uh…That’s a good question.  Low self-esteem?”

“Arthur…”

He winced.  “I have to start seeing that therapist again, don’t I?”

“I’m going to make an appointment as soon as this call is over.”

Arthur sighed. “Yes sir.”

“…You are feeling better, aren’t you?”

Arthur nodded. “Yeah, I am.”

“And you’re all right with Lewis being there?”

Arthur looked over towards where Lewis was watching him.  “Yeah, he’s acting like his old self.  I’m a bit anxious because of everything, but I don’t think he’s going to do anything like that again.”

“If he does I’ll kill him myself,” said Lance, ignoring the fact that Lewis was technically already dead.

Heck, Lance would probably find a way to make him double dead.

“You’ll be coming home now?” asked Lance.

“I ended up pretty far away so we’re gonna wait until tomorrow morning to head back.  We should get back some time in the afternoon,” said Arthur.

“That’ll work,” said Lance.  “But I ain’t letting you out of my sight for the next week.”

Arthur snorted. Lewis gave him a confused look. Arthur lowered the phone.  “I’m grounded,” he whispered before bringing the phone back up to his ear.  “That’s fair.”

“Good.  And after that you better not disappear ever again. You got too many who care about you, understand?”

“Well, it’s pretty obvious now,” admitted Arthur.

He heard Uncle Lance sigh over the phone.  “You take care of yourself.  Stay safe.”

“I will.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow.  Love you.”

“I love you too.” Arthur hung up with a relieved sigh. “Well, that’s done.”

“He wasn’t too upset?” asked Lewis.

“Once he calmed down, no.  Just worried. Can’t blame him,” admitted Arthur. He paused.  “Hey, where are Vivi and Mystery?”

Lewis wordlessly pointed behind them.  Arthur turned and saw Mystery running around with the ball while Vivi chased him, trying to get it back.  She was smiling so she wasn’t upset or anything.  Arthur smiled.  “Huh, that’s…She looks happier than she’s been the past couple of weeks.”

Lewis winced. “Oh.”

Right, Vivi hadn’t visited him.  “Maybe we should let ‘em go at it for a bit.”

“Hm.”

The two watched Vivi and Mystery for a bit.

“So…you’ve been seeing a therapist?” asked Lewis.

Arthur nodded. “Yeah, after…the cave, when I woke up I started having panic attacks.  I figured it had something to do with what happened even if I couldn’t remember it. It’s actually pretty good, my therapist helped me work through some of my more illogical fears and got me to feel a bit better for myself.  Got me on a decent anti-anxiety medicine too.”

“I think Lance gave that to Vivi,” said Lewis.

Arthur nodded. “Yeah, I can probably afford to miss a dose or two, but if it gets out of my system I think I’ll be in trouble.” He paused for a moment.  “You know, it might do you and Vivi some good to see a therapist.”

Lewis sighed. “I…probably could use it, but what would I even say?  I can’t exactly say that I was killed by a demon possessing my…”  Lewis trailed off.  “What are we to each other?”

Before Arthur would have responded that they were best friends without a moment’s hesitation. Now though…Was that accurate? “I’d say we’re friends at least. Maybe we can work back up to best friends.”

Lewis looked away. “…At least you’re still willing to be friends,” he muttered.

Arthur looked back towards Vivi.  “Give her some time.  I think once she sees you’re the same as you are in her memories she’ll warm back up to you.”  He wasn’t sure Vivi would want to date Lewis again, but he wasn’t going to say that. “…Do you guys feel up to seeing a movie?”

 They ended up seeing the same movie Arthur had seen before.  There were jokes, lampshade hanging, and making fun of dumb decisions. It was great.

After that, they picked up a bunch of Chinese food and went back to the hotel room where they watched random stuff Anaheim and the other tiny ghosts (Lewis called them Deadbeats. Funny.) would choose.  If you took away the ghosts it was pretty similar to what they’d do when they were on their own before.

“We should get to bed. We need to get up early to head out,” said Vivi.

Arthur checked the time.  “Yeah, you can use the bathroom first.  I can change out here.”

They were all guys. Arthur just made sure to angle himself so that Lewis didn’t see the scars and port.

The problem was that there were two beds, and it didn’t hit Arthur that he probably wouldn’t be sharing with Mystery until he saw Vivi climbing into the bed he’d obviously been using.  “Uh, that’s…Should I use the other bed?”

“You’re not sharing with Lewis,” said Vivi in a tone that brokered no argument.

“He can have it to himself,” said Lewis.  “I don’t sleep anymore.”

“Yeah, that works!” Arthur quickly climbed into the other bed and Mystery jumped into Vivi’s.  “Feel free to keep watching TV.  Just keep the volume low, okay.”

He said that, but he lay there for about half an hour unable to sleep.  That wasn’t really odd.  He’d had this problem since he was a kid.  He turned, opening his eyes for a moment.

Lewis was floating between their bed in a reclining position.  “Trouble sleeping?”

Arthur nodded.  “Just the usual.”

Lewis was silent. “You…you oughta have an easier time if you shared with Vivi.”

Arthur frowned. “I don’t feel comfortable climbing into her bed while she’s sleeping.”

“She won’t care,” said Lewis.

She wouldn’t. She’d done it herself several times. “Let me rephrase that:  I don’t feel comfortable doing that to you,” said Arthur.

Lewis looked surprised for a moment before looking away with a grimace.  “She said the same thing.”

“Hm?”

Lewis shook his head. “Nothing.  I just said something stupid to Vivi before.”

“Oh.”  It seemed like more than that, but Arthur wasn’t going to press him.  “Well, if you’re okay with it, maybe Anaheim can be my snuggle buddy instead?  I was getting pretty comfortable with him by the time you got here.”

There was a chirp right before he felt something smooth wrap around him and nuzzle under his chin.  Arthur reached up to give him a good scratch only for the hairs on the back of his neck to rise.  He didn’t think he’d done anything to make Lewis upset.  He glanced up.  Lewis looked unbothered, but the other Deadeats were watching him.  “Um…Lewis…”

And then Arthur was suddenly buried under a mass of Deadbeats.  He let out a distressed sound.  “Whoa!  No, don’t do that!”  The Deadbeats were quickly removed by an apologetic Lewis.  “Sorry.  They can be…very affectionate.”

“I am not ready for that many ghosts,” admitted Arthur.  In fact he was feeling a lot less sleepy now.  “I think I’ll watch TV with you for a bit.”

 Arthur did eventually get to sleep and woke up to the sun starting to rise and shine through the window.  He sat up in bed, Anaheim making a yawning sound.  He frowned and looked around in confusion.  Vivi and Mystery were still sleeping in their bed, but where was Lewis?

Arthur glanced down at Anaheim.  “Well, he must be coming back if he was willing to leave you here.”  He gave Shaggy a good scratch.  “Wonder what he’s doing.”

Several minutes of sitting in the bed later, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye and turned to see a hand coming out of the door.  Fortunately, he recognized it as Lewis’ hand before he could panic.  Lewis’ hand groped for a moment before grabbing the doorknob and turning it so he could walk inside with a couple of bags.

Well, that explained why Lewis hadn’t just gone through the door.  “Good morning,” greeted Arthur.

“Good morning,” greeted Lewis.  “You would not believe some of the looks I got when I went to buy breakfast.”

“Well, you are wearing a full dress suit,” commented Arthur.  Could Lewis not change into other clothes?  “And…you’re wearing sunglasses?”

“I can’t change my eyes,” explained Lewis.  “Most people would panic.”

Arthur nodded in understanding.  “I get it.”

“So, uh…”  Lewis hefted the bags.  “I got breakfast.”

Arthur smiled.  “Thanks.”  Arthur got out of bed and shook Vivi.  “Up and at ‘em.”  Vivi groaned. “Lewis has food.”

That got Vivi to crack her eyes open.  “Is there coffee?”

Lewis nodded.  “I ordered a couple of large ones.”

“Mm…”  Vivi and Mystery rolled out of bed.  “Right.  Let’s eat up so we can head out.”

Arthur paused.  “Does anyone have a coin?”  Lewis dug one out of his pocket and handed it over.  “Thank.”  He flipped it.  “Tails.”

“And that means?”

“I’m riding with Vivi,” said Arthur matter-of-factly.  He turned to Lewis.  “Would you mind driving the van back?”

“Sure, no problem.” Lewis’ eyes went to Arthur’s port. “Uh, not to be insensitive, but how…?”

“Lots of practice,” deadpanned Arthur.

A quick breakfast and wash up later, they were getting into the cars.  “I think I’ll keep Lewis company,” said Mystery before jumping into the van.

“Looks like it’s just you and me,” commented Vivi as she climbed into her car.

“Yeah.  Wow, I can’t remember the last time I saw you without Mystery,” commented Arthur as he climbed in as well.

They set out. Arthur glanced in the rearview mirror to watch the van.  Still behind them.  It made him a bit uncomfortable.  Maybe if they talked it would distract him.

Actually, it was a bit odd that Vivi wasn’t talking yet.  Maybe she was still a bit upset at Arthur?  Should he try saying something.  What should he say?  “I really am sorry for scaring you guys.”

“Just don’t do that again,” said Vivi.  “I was terrified that I would find you and you’d be dead.”

Arthur winced because as much as he wanted to deny that would happen it had been what happened with Lewis.  “Yeah, not one of my better ideas.  I’ll stick with you and Lewis from now on.”

“You really care for him,” muttered Vivi.

“Of course I do,” said Arthur.  “He’s…well, he was my best friend.  I guess right now he’s a good friend, could be a best friend again once we adjust to everything.”

“Are you in love with him?” asked Vivi.

Arthur spun towards her?  “What?! Where did that come from?!”

“You forgave him way too easily for trying to kill you.  You’re trying to get me to forgive him so we can all be friends again.  You spent months looking for him at the detriment of your own health.  Before he died, you were willing to do pretty much anything for him,” listed Vivi.

“I’d do anything for both of you!” protested Arthur.  “You’re my friends!”

“I don’t want to be friends!”  Arthur felt his heart break.  “I want to be more than that!”  Wait. What?  “But every time I drop hints you ignore it, and you completely miss my flirting!  I thought it was because you’re ace, but now I’m wondering if you were willfully ignoring all of that.”

Well, that, wow. “I, uh, I did notice some of the flirting, but it was while Lewis was missing, and, well, you couldn’t remember, but you were Lewis’ girlfriend, and it seemed like it would be wrong and taking advantage of both of you.”

“Well, we’re not dating now!  Heck! He practically gave you permission last night!”

Arthur blinked. “You were awake for that?”

Vivi nodded.  “I wanted you to say yes.  Why wouldn’t you?”

Arthur sighed.  “I don’t want to be a replacement for Lewis. You were probably projecting on me when he was missing or something.”

Vivi gave him a look. “Did you seriously convince yourself of that?!”

Arthur shrugged. “It makes sense!”

“No, it doesn’t!” argued Vivi.  “Everything to do with Lewis was gone!  And you really think I would flirt with someone I’m not interested in?”

“Um, playfully, maybe. That’s what friends do, right?” asked Arthur.

Vivi made a frustrated sound.  “Do you ever flirt with Lewis or me?”

“I don’t know how to flirt at all,” pointed out Arthur.

“…Okay, I can believe that,” admitted Vivi.  “Generally, friends only flirt with each other if they find each other attractive.”

“Oh.”

“I flirted with you before Lewis died,” continued Vivi.

“You did?” Arthur couldn’t remember that.  “It seems like that would upset Lewis.”

“He was flirting with you too.”

That made his brain short circuit.  “Huh?”

“We’d been trying to figure out if you were interested in joining in our relationship practically since Lewis told me he’s bi,” explained Vivi.  “You didn’t exactly make that easy by the way.  Given, it was only like two months, but still.  How could you miss all of that?”

“But…You were dating each other,” said Arthur, still too shocked to date properly.

“You can have more than two people in a romantic relationship,” explained Vivi.  “Dunno why it doesn’t happen more often,” she muttered.

“And you…both of you…wanted…with me.”  Arthur was stumbling over his words pretty badly by this point.  Of all the things he’d been expecting today, this wasn’t one of them.

“Yeah, we were pretty sure you felt the same way from what we could tell,” said Vivi.  “Did you feel the same way?  Considering how much confessing we’ve been doing, I’d really like to hear your answer.”

“I…”  Arthur swallowed.  He’d been hiding this for so long.  It would have been wrong of him to say anything.  It would have been selfish.  He didn’t want to ruin his friendship with either of them  But maybe now…Maybe it would be all right.  “I did.  Do. I do.  I still like both of you.  Like that.”

“…How can you still have feelings for Lewis?” asked Vivi.

Arthur thought. It would be pretty reasonable to avoid someone who tried to kill you, but…

Arthur kept thinking of all the good times he’d had with Lewis, and the bad times…Well, in retrospect they weren’t so bad and showed how much they were willing to help each other.  And they were happy around each other.

Lewis made a mistake. He’d admitted as much and obviously felt guilty about it.  “People mess up.  As long he doesn’t try to hurt either of us again, I can forgive him.”

“But if he does do something like this again?” pressed Vivi.

“…”  Arthur sighed.  “Then the Lewis we knew is gone for good.”

Vivi nodded.  “If we can agree to have nothing to do with him if he ever tries something again then I’ll give him a chance too.”

Arthur smiled.  “Thank you.”

…

“I missed him too,” muttered Vivi.  “After everything he did.  It’s so stupid.”

Arthur reached over and clapped Vivi on the shoulder

“And since you’re not going to ask…”  Vivi looked towards Arthur as much as she could while driving.  “Would you like to go out some time?”

“Um…”  Arthur glanced in the rearview mirror back towards the van.  “…We shouldn’t hide it from Lewis.”

“We won’t,” said Vivi.

“Okay, but let’s not show off in front of Lewis,” said Arthur.  “It’ll be hard enough on him as it is.”

“Hm.  Yeah, best not to push him,” said Vivi.

Not quite what he meant…although it was a fair point.  “So, uh, you know more about dating than I do.  What do you want to do?”

“We could go to Nekoya.  Maybe see a movie depending on how we feel,” suggested Vivi.

Arthur nodded.  “Yeah, that sounds good.”  Nice and simple.

They broke the news to Lewis when they stopped for lunch.  The only sign that Lewis was upset was his heart turning blue with a crack in it and his skull briefly becoming visible before he looked down.  “Right.  You two. That makes sense.”

“It was my idea,” said Vivi.

“I figured,” said Lewis.

“We’ll be keeping it pretty casual for now,” said Arthur.  “And we can hang out during our downtime, all three of us.”

“…I missed that,” admitted Lewis.

“We all did,” said Arthur.

“Oh come on!  That’s the fifth time in a row” complained Lewis as they played Super Smash Brothers Melee.

Arthur stuck his tongue out.  “I’m just that awesome!”

Vivi giggled and punched his arm.  “You dork!”

“We could play videogames again,” suggested Arthur.

“Uh, I tend to make electronics malfunction when I touch them,” Lewis reminded them.

“I bet I can find a way around that,” said Arthur.

“No one’s getting left out this time,” said Vivi.  “Not after what happened last time.”

Arthur winced a bit at that.  Yeah, feeling left out had probably contributed to being possessed.

The rest of lunch was awkwardly silent.

 They got back to Tempo and headed straight to the Peppers’ house.  The living Peppers were all waiting outside.  “Arthur!”  Paprika ran over and hugged Arthur around his legs.  “You didn’t disappear!”

Arthur winced before hugging her back.  “Yeah, I’m sorry for scaring everyone like that.”

Paprika looked up at Arthur with big eyes.  “Are you gonna stay for dinner?”

…He guessed it had been a long time since he’d done that.  He should try to make a casual visit, no earth-shattering revelations, no fights, no yelling, just spending time with them.  Not today though.  “I should get home.  Uncle Lance is probably worried sick about me.”

Paprika pouted but nodded.  “But you’ll come back?”

Arthur nodded.  “Yeah, Sunday.”

Paprika smiled and nodded.  “Okay!” Then she ran over to give Lewis a hug. That made Arthur feel a bit better. At least Lewis had support at home.

Mr. Pepper walked over.  “Are you feeling better?”

Arthur nodded.  “Yeah, sorry if I frightened anyone.  I wasn’t really thinking straight.”

“I can’t really blame you,” admitted Mr. Pepper.  He breathed in.  “You know…none of us blame you for what happened.  We know you’d have to be possessed to do something like that.”

Arthur smiled at him. “Thanks.  That helps a lot.”

“I’m heading home,” said Vivi.  “I’ll see you Saturday.”

Arthur nodded.  “Okay, see you then.”

The rest of the Peppers walked over as Vivi drove off.

“Why is Vivi angry with you anyway?” asked Cayenne.

“I messed up her memory,” lied Lewis.

Belled frowned and pointed at his heart.  “Wasn’t that orange before?”

Lewis hid his heart with his hand.  “It’s changed color a couple of times before.  I’m still learning how this works.”

Arthur knew what had caused the color change and was sure Lewis knew too.  “Well, I better get going.  I’ll see you guys…in a few days.”  He’d see if he could convince Vivi to come too.

Uncle Lance was not outside when he got home.  That was just how Lance was.  Arthur walked inside.  “I’m home.”

“In the garage!” Arthur walked in and saw Lance working on a car.  Right, Lance had a larger workload while Arthur was gone.  Lance glanced over towards Arthur.  “You okay?”

Arthur nodded.  “Yeah.”

“Got it out of your system?”

“Yeah…I wish you’d told me, but I understand why.”

Lance paused in his work for a moment.  “I was gonna tell you eventually.  When things calmed down.  I was worried you’d do something to hurt yourself if I told you too soon.”

Arthur thought for a moment.  “Okay, I might not have reacted badly if it had been broken to me gently over time,” admitted Arthur.  “Asking Lewis to just tell me might not have been a good idea.  No changing it now though.”

Lance grunted.  “Did you straighten things out with him at least?”

“Yeah, I still feel kind of uncomfortable around him, but it’s not as bad as before.  Still kind of worried about upsetting him if I’m not careful, but if he didn’t-Oh, um, right.  That.”

Lance gave Arthur a somewhat worried look.  “What happened?”

“Nothing bad! Just a bit unexpected.  Vivi asked me out on the way back, and I said yes. I guess we’re dating now,” announced Arthur.  “Anyway, we told Lewis.  He didn’t shout or try to hurt anyone, but I think we broke his heart a little.”

Lance narrowed his eyes.  “Did either of them mention that Lewis thought you killed him to have Vivi to himself?”

Arthur’s eyes widened. “He-what?!  Neither of them ever said anything about that!”  He thought a moment.  “Although I guess it didn’t occur to me that Lewis would try to come up with a motive for me killing him.”  Finding out he’d been possessed had been enough reason for Arthur.  Sometimes people just suddenly turned out to be awful or sociopaths or something, but now that he thought about it even they wouldn’t risk a murder unless there was something they really wanted.  “Well, uh, that might make things…more awkward than they were already going to be, but I think we can move past it.”

Uncle Lance gave Arthur a long look.  “I’d feel more comfortable if you put down some of those protections you keep around.”

That was fair.  Arthur put those defenses up all the time, usually when he was feeling more anxious than usual.  “Okay, and since that seems like a good segue point, I sort of quit the Mystery Skulls.”

Lance raised an eyebrow.

“I say sort of because I said I didn’t want to do the investigations except maybe maintain the equipment, but I’m fine with traveling with Vivi and Mystery and maybe Lewis if we all manage to make up.  Just to hang out with ‘em, you know?  I’d just hang out in a hotel room or the van while everyone else investigated.  Vivi agreed with it and said she was going to take a break from investigating for a while.  I think she needs the break just as much as I do to tell the truth.”

“She did,” agreed Lance.  “I won’t lie, I’ll feel better knowing you’re staying away from that sort of thing, if only because I know you’ll be happier this way.”

Arthur laughed nervously.  “Yeah, I guess it was a bit overdue.”  He leaned against the car, watching Lance work.  “So, what’s wrong with this one?  Fan belt?”

“Yeah, broke and got stuck in the rest of the engine,” said Lance.  “Hand me that ratchet, will ya?”

Arthur nodded.  “Sure thing.”

The rest of the day was spent helping Lance repair the car, and thing were good between the two of them.

 Vivi and Mystery came to the garage around lunchtime the next day.  “Hey Arthur!  Hey Lance!”

Arthur blinked. “Vivi?  I wasn’t expecting you today.”

Vivi smiled.  “I thought I’d surprise you.  Brought you some lunch.”  She hefted a large box.

“Oh, thanks. That’s nice of you.”  Arthur frowned as something occurred to him.  “Oh, wait.  Is this a couple thing?  It seems like a couple thing.”

“A bit, but I also wanted to check up on how you were doing,” admitted Vivi.  “I know we should plan lunches ahead of time once you start fixing cars again since you won’t always be able to stop working on a car immediately.”

“But I could probably surprise you if I wanted to,” said Arthur.

Vivi thought for a minute before nodding.  “I might have to take a moment to finish a task or helping a customer, but, yeah, you’d have an easier time coming to surprise me for lunch than I would you.”

Arthur nodded. He wouldn’t mind doing so on a slow day. “Okay, well, let me check how Uncle Lance is doing.”  He ducked into the garage where Lance was taking a wheel off a car.  “Can you break for lunch?”

“Gotta finish rotating these tires first,” said Lance.

“Okay, well, Vivi came to visit for lunch so I’m gonna go on break with her.”

“Sure, go ahead. I’ll join you two in a bit,” said Lance.

“Okay, thanks,” said Arthur as he ducked back out.  He opened the door to his and Lance’s apartment.  “After you.”

Vivi had brought over BLT’s.  Hers was bigger than Arthur and Lance’s.  Mystery had a sandwich that was even bigger than Vivi’s that he was scarfing down.  “So how are you doing?” asked Vivi.

“It’s been pretty much the same as it’s been since the crash,” said Arthur.  “I’m doing secretary stuff and really simple stuff. I’ve had a lot of free time that I’ve been using to look my arm over.”  He swallowed. “I’m thinking of adding a heat coil to it or at least an attachment.  Cold weather’s supposed to make stumps hurt.”

Vivi, familiar with Arthur’s fight against phantom limb syndrome, nodded sympathetically.  “At least we live in Texas.  I know the prosthetics are going to be worn by people in colder climates though.”

“Yeah, might need to make it adjustable,” muttered Arthur.  Some places were colder than others.  “So, what about you?  Duet didn’t mind that you missed some work?”

“She considered it an emergency,” said Vivi.  “I might need to put in a bit of overtime to make up for it, but that’s if Duet can find something for me to do.  I’m more worried about Chloe.”

Arthur blinked. “Why would you need to worry about Chloe?”

“When Lewis and I started dating, she interrogated me about it for two days,” explained Vivi.  “When she finds out I got my memory back, dumped Lewis, and started dating my other best friend, she’s going to try and press me for all the juicy gossip.”

Arthur made a face. “Yeesh.  Is this how people feel when we ask questions about them?  No wonder they don’t seem to like us.”

“It’s not just that. I have to keep her from figuring out Lewis is dead,” pointed out Vivi.

Arthur groaned. “She’s still after an undead boyfriend?” Vivi nodded.  “Hey, uh, how do you think that would work?”

Vivi hummed.  “I guess it would depend on the type of undead. Some would be safer to be in a relationship than others, and some are more likely to take advantage of you than others.”

“Where does Lewis fall in that spectrum?”

Vivi paused.  “I’m sure.  If he’s the way he was before, I’d say it’s safe, but, well, outside of our little trip we haven’t spent a lot of time with Lewis since he came back.”

“Yeah, I guess we could’ve handled that a bit better,” admitted Arthur.  “Um, uh, you said you and Lewis wanted to bring me into your relationship.  Do you think we might bring Lewis in once we see how he’s doing?”

Vivi was silent. “I love that you’re the type of person who would forgive Lewis after everything, but like you said we haven’t spent much time since with him since he came back.  We’re not sure if he’s the same person still.”

“Oh…”

“That’s not a no,” said Vivi.  “I just want us to be sure he’s who we fell in love with before we jump into something serious.”

That was fair. If Lewis was managing to hide all that rage…Well, Arthur was pretty sure dating someone who tried to kill you counted as being in an abusive relationship.

…Yeah, best to avoid that sort of thing.

Lance came in around then so they switched to lighter topics.  Vivi and Mystery finished their lunch shortly afterwards and headed back to the bookstore.

That had been nice. Arthur thought he could enjoy that happening regularly.

 Saturday rolled around.  The plan for the date was an early dinner and a movie, but there was no rule saying they couldn’t hang out before then.

“How did you do that with one arm?” questioned Vivi.

Arthur grinned from where he was hanging upside down from the monkey bars.  “I climbed up on top of them, flipped over, and moved up from there.”  He shrugged. “It was pointless but so satisfying.” He was gonna need to get back into shape if he wanted to keep up his parkour habit.

Vivi grinned.  “Any other acrobatics you wanna try?”

Arthur thought a moment.  “Nothing I should get up to right now.  Actually, can you help me down?  I’m starting to get lightheaded.”

Vivi helped steady him as he climbed down.  “You must’ve been a clown in a past life or something.”

“Clowns are clumsy though.  Wouldn’t an acrobat be more likely?” asked Arthur.

“I dunno. Clowns have to be pretty nimble to get away from bulls.”

Arthur blinked. “Huh, you know I never thought of it like that.”  And now he was picturing himself in a clown outfit.  “So, are we gonna play fetch or not?”

“Yes, please!” said Mystery.  “I brought my favorite frisbee!”

“Quick question: Why do you enjoy fetch so much if you’re not a dog?” asked Arthur.

“Foxes are canines,” explained Mystery.

Eh, that and many videos of playful foxes was enough to explain it for Arthur.  “Okay then.  Guess we’ll run around until we get hungry.”  Then he grabbed the frisbee and threw it as far as he could.

The next couple of hours were spent on shenanigans in the park that may or may not have involved the swings, a baby carriage, and so many squirrels.

“We can never tell anyone about that,” said Arthur as they drove away from the park.

“I don’t think they’d believe us,” said Vivi.

Arthur glanced in the backseat where Mystery was playing with a squeaky toy.  “What about other people who deal with weird stuff?”

Vivi paused.  “Okay, maybe they would, but like you said we won’t tell them.”

“…We might tell Lewis one day when we actually find it funny,” commented Arthur.

Vivi hummed.  “He might not believe the part about the squirrels.”

Arthur snorted. “Really?  That’s the part that’s unbelievable?”

“He knows what we get up to.”

They were still giggling a bit hysterically when they got to Nekoya.  “So, will Mystery be coming with us?” asked Arthur.

Mystery shook his head.  “I’ll let you two have your privacy.  Just bring me some chicken.”

“He’ll probably sneak into the movies somehow though,” warned Vivi.  “We won’t be able to tell though so don’t worry.”

“Should we still get him a ticket?” asked Arthur.

“Oh, there’s no need for that.  I won’t be using a seat,” reassured Mystery.

“Now, c’mon, I’m hungry,” said Vivi.

Arthur had been to Nekoya before.  It offered mostly authentic Japanese cuisine with a few not quite authentic dishes for people who wanted something a bit closer to western fare.  Arthur had a pretty good idea what he wanted to eat: Seafood udon.  Maybe a couple of pieces of sushi.

“I’m getting a sushi boat!” decided Vivi.

“Ah.  I was thinking of getting a couple of pieces of sushi,” said Arthur.  “Mind if I poach ‘em from you?”

“Nah, go ahead. That’s not all you’re going to eat, is it?”

“I’m getting some seafood udon.”

“Dessert?”

“Oh, uh, maybe if I’m still hungry.”  Something hit Arthur.  “Uh, do we split the bill?  

Vivi nodded.  “Yeah, I know you’re sort of rich now, but I’m not gonna make you pay the whole bill when I’m getting something worth $40.”

“I’m not rich. I mean I guess I might become rich in a few years,” admitted Arthur.  “But that’s if someone doesn’t come up with an improved version of the technology that will be used instead.”

Vivi snorted.  “Don’t sell yourself short.  I know you’re always coming up with ways to make your arms better.  If anyone is going to make your tech defunct, it’s going to be you.”

Arthur blushed at that.  “I’m not gonna make any assumptions.  Anyway, since I’m stealing a bit of your sushi, I’ll pay like $10 of your bill. That sound good?”

Vivi hummed for a moment.  “Sounds fair. Just give me $10 when you have the time. I don’t think they can split an item between two people.”

They spoke a bit more about work, customers, coworkers (Not that they had a lot of those.), and any difficult cases they’d had.  While they were waiting for food, Vivi asked a bit more about his heating coil idea and asked if there was a cooling coil.  He admitted that he probably could’ve used something like that when he’d first gotten his arm attached, but he’d been focusing on other things at the time.

While they were eating Vivi spoke about a book she’d read recently.  It was a horror novel.  Arthur was a bit relieved actually.  She’d been avoiding the genre around him lately, and he’d been getting a little worried about her.

Arthur was still a little hungry so he ordered a scoop of red bean ice cream.  Vivi ordered a decadent chocolate lava cake.  Arthur might have stolen a bite.

They were pretty full when they headed to the movie theatre.  They decided to see Big Hero Six, but had a little while before the movie started.  They spent it goofing off in the small arcade.  Arthur somehow managed to beat Vivi, much to her frustration.

The movie was good. The death of Tadashi hit them hard. Vivi figured out within a few minutes who the villain was.  Arthur commented on how viable some of the tech in the movie would be in real life. He wouldn’t mind seeing if he could replicate a couple of them.

They both were rather curious about whether the fact the movie ended with two Baymaxes would come up in a sequel.

All in all, it was a pretty good night.

As Arthur stopped in front of Vivi’s apartment he turned to her.  “That was pretty fun, not that different from just hanging out.”

Vivi chuckled.  “Yeah, I’ve noticed that too.  I like to think it means we were always compatible.”

“So, do I walk you to your door?  I kind of want to.”

“I won’t complain if you do.”

Vivi’s apartment was maybe 50 feet from the van, but it was nice to spend another couple of minutes with her.

“So…we can do this again next week?” asked Arthur.

Vivi nodded.  “Yeah, if there aren’t any movies we want to see out we can go to one of our houses and watch something.”

That made Arthur feel happy.  “Great, that’s great.”

Vivi giggled.  “And now I’m going to kiss you.”

That made Arthur freeze up.  He had absolutely no experience with kissing.  At all.  He had no idea what to do.  Vivi tugged him down a bit a planted a peck on his lips.  She gave him a wink.  “We can practice kissing next time,” she promised.

Arthur’s brain wasn’t working enough to respond.

“I’ll see you tomorrow when we go to visit Lewis,” promised Vivi as she opened the door.  “Drive carefully, okay?”

Arthur nodded dazedly. “Okay.”

Vivi smiled and gave him a hug.  “I love you.”

That got Arthur to grin goofily.  “I love you too.”

They stayed like that for another couple of moments before parting.  Vivi gave one last wave as she and Mystery entered the apartment.

Arthur took a moment to recover his wits enough to get back to his van, and he was grinning goofily the whole time.

That was the best day he’d had in a long time.

 Arthur was still feeling ridiculously happy the next day as he spent the morning messing around with his heat coil idea.

He’d sobered up a bit when it was time to go visit Lewis.

“You’ll be careful? Vivi’s got those paper spell things?” questioned Lance.

“I’ll be careful, but I don’t know what Vivi’s going to be doing.”  She may in fact be bringing ofuda to the dinner.  “Other people are going to be around.  Anyway, I don’t think Lewis is interested in attacking me anymore.”

Lance made a considering sound before nodding.  “All right, but if he does anything to you, I’ll exorcise him myself.”

Arthur nodded.  “I’m sure Lewis already knows.”

“Then I won’t hold you up.”  Lance made a shooing motion.  “Get out there and have some fun.”

Arthur smiled.  “Thanks Uncle Lance.”

Arthur made a quick detour to pick up Vivi but arrived at Lewis’ house after about 20 minutes.  “…Are you as nervous as I am?” asked Arthur.

Vivi nodded.  “Yeah, but don’t worry.  I took precautionary measures!”  She rolled up a sleeve to show a couple of ofuda taped to her arm.

Huh, what were the chances?

“I wouldn’t worry. I spoke with Lewis when I was alone with him, and he was genuinely remorseful,” reassured Mystery.  “Even after you two decided to start dating.  A bit depressed, but not violent.”

Arthur could understand the depression.  “Well, let’s see if we can cheer him up and hope we don’t make it worse.”

Things were finally getting better.  Arthur didn’t want everything to slide backwards.

They knocked on the door.  It was immediately opened by a deadbeat that chirped at them.  “Hi there,” greeted Vivi.

“Jalapeño!”  The deadbeat let out a startled sound before flying away.  Lewis appeared a second later.  “Oh, good, just you guys.  The deadbeats keep trying to answer the door even though I told them to lay low!”

“They’re probably bored,” said Arthur.  “Actually, maybe you can get your parents to let you out for a little bit to let them burn off some energy.”

“Yeah, just find a graveyard or some deserted forest or something,” added Vivi.

Lewis gave them an odd look.  “That’s a nice suggestion.  Come on in.”

“Thanks.”

“Vivi!  Arthur!”  Paprika and a few deadbeats ran over to give them hugs.  “I missed you!”

Vivi gave Belle a smile.  “You saw us just a few days ago.”

Belle pouted.  “You guys left as soon as you got here though!”

Arthur laughed nervously.  “Yeah, don’t really have a good excuse for that, but we are here now!”

“Yeah, I, uh, helped cook,” said Lewis.  “It’s been a little off since I can’t smell anymore.”

“Nah, it tastes the same,” said Cayenne from the sofa.  “Wanna watch Spongebob with us?”

“I was hoping to get some samples of the cooking,” admitted Vivi.

“It’ll be ready in 10, 15 minutes,” said Lewis.  “Just give it a few minutes.”

Vivi pouted.  “Fine…”

Arthur was distracted by the Spongebob episode by this point.  “Oh, I love this one!”

“You’re an adult. How do you still like Spongebob?” questioned Belle.

“Hey, I was even younger than you two when this started airing,” pointed out Arthur.  “You don’t always outgrow what you like.”

Vivi made a sound as she came over.  “Personally, I don’t care for it much anymore except for the scary episodes.”

Arthur turned to Mystery.  “What do you think?”

Mystery barked and put his head on Arthur’s lap like a normal dog.  Cayenne giggled.  “Dogs can’t see TV screens.”

Did…Did no one tell the Peppers about Mystery?  Arthur met Vivi’s eyes, and she shook her head.  Okay, pretend Mystery’s a normal dog for now.  “He can hear it though.”

At this point Spongebob laughed causing Mystery to dart his head towards the television and growl. Guess he didn’t like Spongebob Squarepants.

True to Lewis’ word, Mr. Pepper was calling everyone over to eat within a few minutes.  It was the familiar Mexican-Spanish-Italian cuisine, spicy enough that you could feel the burn in your sinuses.  There were some lighter parts of the dishes for Arthur since they knew he couldn’t really handle spicy food.

“It looks delicious!” said Vivi as she happily started piling food onto her plate.

Arthur nodded in agreement as he got the less spicy food.  “I have missed eating your cooking.”

Cayenne pouted. “You should’ve come by the restaurant!”

“That’s sort of my fault,” admitted Vivi.  “I got horrible headaches when I visited you guys, and Arthur was keeping an eye on me, so…yeah.”

Arthur coughed uncomfortably.  “I probably could’ve made more time to visit you on my own…”  He could admit he’d been obsessed with putting his arm together and figuring out where Lewis was.  “Guess I lost sight of things a little.”

“But how ‘come you guys didn’t come to visit after Lewis came back?” asked Cayenne.

You could practically cut through the silence that arose after her question.  Arthur glanced at Lewis, who looked rather panicked.  “Partly because Uncle Lance was being protective of me. I hurt my shoulder pretty badly. Partly because I have enough of a ghost phobia that I had to work myself up to seeing Lewis again.  I still panicked pretty badly though.”

“My head hurt for a while after my memories were repaired, especially when I thought about anything to do with Lewis,” lied Vivi.  Her head had been fine after a couple of days.

“It’s been a rough time for all of us,” said Mrs. Pepper.  “Let’s not dwell too much on how we dealt with the pain and focus on moving forward.”

It was very good advice, even if it was difficult to follow.  Arthur focused on eating and trying to come up with something to talk about with Lewis.

So he realized that Lewis looked more downcast than usual while staring morosely at his empty plate.

Oh.  Oh…

“You can’t eat at all?” asked Arthur.

Lewis clenched his fists.  “No.”

Arthur had suspected as much after eating out with Lewis, but the idea was just…horrifying. Lewis loved cooking and eating with his family.  Losing that along with everything else just seemed cruel.  Arthur felt guilt and wished there was a way to let Lewis eat something.

It was another few minutes before the idea occurred to Arthur.  “Can you possess people?”

That got Arthur several shocked looks.  “I have no idea,” said Lewis.  “It’s not something that ever occurred to me to try.”

“But do you think you might be able to eat if you did?” pressed Arthur.

“I, uh, I don’t think it would affect the other person’s abilities.  I guess I could, but I’m not sure I’d actually taste what they can,” said Lewis.

“It would make sense for you to be able too,” said Vivi around a mouthful of pasta.  “You could still see and hear and touch, so you oughta have all the senses.”  She swallowed.  “Might have some sensory deprivation going on though.”

So, he needed less spicy food then?  “If that’s the case he’d be better off trying it with me,” commented Arthur.  “I…don’t mind giving it a try.”

“Whoa!  Hold on!  You got possessed by-”  She glanced at Paprika and Cayenne.  “That other thing!”

“I don’t actually remember any of it though,” pointed out Arthur.  “I’ve tried.  All I got was a headache and a weird sleep paralysis dream with a cat that turned into a raccoon.”  He paused. “There weren’t any tanuki, were there?”

“No, just a couple of bats,” said Lewis.  “What would a tanuki even be doing in Texas?”

Arthur gave Mystery a meaningful look.  Mystery was doing his best to look innocent.

“You could try later with one of us,” pointed out Belle.  “We could eat some potato chips or something.”

Lewis made a bit of a face at that.  He wasn’t a big fan of junk food.  “Nah, I think I’d rather try it while Vivi’s around in case something goes wrong.”  He turned to face Arthur.  “You’re all right with this?”

Arthur nodded.  “Sure, just don’t do anything weird with my body.”

“Okay…”  Lewis stared.  “How do I do this?”

“Maybe if you hold his head or something?” suggested Vivi.  “Or turn intangible and try to go through him…”

“Right.”  Lewis carefully cupped Arthur’s face in his hands and pressed his forehead to Arthur’s.  He was so warm…and he smelled the same he had in life.  Arthur closed his eyes and leaned into the touch.

Then Lewis was gone, but not gone.  Lewis wasn’t holding Arthur, but Arthur could still feel him, just on the inside instead of the outside.

He opened his eyes, and felt a sense of disorientation. Wow, this feels really weird.

“Where’d Lewis go?” asked Belle, looking like she was about to cry.

“I’m right here,” Arthur’s mouth said with his voice.  His head looked down to see Lewis’ heart floating in front of his chest.  “See, here’s my heart.  I can’t believe that worked,” Lewis continued.  What an odd sensation.  “I can stop.” Arthur could probably put up with it for at least a few minutes before he started freaking out.

“How do you feel?” asked Vivi.

“Off balance.”  Lewis paused before lifting Arthur’s single arm. “…Oh.”

“I think it took some time for Arthur to get used to that as well,” commented Mr. Pepper.

Lewis picked up a spoon.  “Everything seems bigger for some reason.”

“That’s cause you’re not a giant now!” said Cayenne.

Everyone else snorted at that.  Arthur would have snorted if he’d still been in control of his body.  “Yeah, ha ha,” said Lewis.  Then he turned his attention to the plate.  There was longing and trepidation.  Lewis picked up some rice on the spoon.  “I can smell at least.  It smells amazing.”  Then he spooned the rice into his mouth.

Arthur thought it tasted pretty good, if a bit spicier than he preferred, but Lewis panicked and flew out of his body so fast that Arthur choked.  He coughed for a moment, slamming his hand into his chest. Someone was rubbing his back.  “Are you okay?”

Arthur nodded as he managed to drink some of the milk he’d been given.  “I’m fine.  What was that?”

“It was spicy!” Arthur looked over at Lewis in surprise and recoiled a bit.  Lewis had his skull out and was holding his hand up to where his mouth had been.  “That’s…You ate it so I know it has to be mild, but it was like it was as spicy as the Bhut Jolokia special!”

“Well, if you haven’t eaten anything for a few months, I guess you lost your tolerance for it,” reasoned Mr. Pepper.  “I guess you’ll need to work your way back up to it.”

Lewis let out a ghostly moan as several Deadbeats patted him to try and cheer him up.  “Wonderful.”

“We’ll figure something out,” said Mrs. Pepper.  She turned to Arthur.  “And how are you?”

“My, throat’s a little sore, but uh…”  Arthur gestured towards Lewis.  “Your skull…”

Lewis’ sockets widened for a second before his face was back in place.  “Oops.  Sorry.”

“It’s all right. No one minds,” reassured Mr. Pepper, glancing towards Paprika, who was wide-eyed.

Oh, right, she was a bit scared of Lewis’ skull appearance.  She wasn’t crying or anything though.  She looked more startled than anything, so maybe she was less scared now?

Mrs. Pepper reached over to give Paprika a reassuring hug. “Let’s get back to eating, shall we?” she suggested.  “We made a cinnamon-chocolate mousse for dessert.”

That was enough to get the younger kids eating dinner again, although Belle took a moment.  She looked worried.  Arthur couldn’t blame her.  He sighed and took Lewis’ hand in his own.  “It’s not much, but if you do want to eat something when I’m around, we can do this again.”

“Or he can possess me,” pointed out Vivi.  “Or the Peppers, okay, maybe not his sisters.  They’re probably a bit young for that to be safe.  Point is Lewis can possess people other than you.”  She gave Lewis a pointed look.  “As long as it’s consensual.  Got it Mister?”

Lewis smiled sadly. “Of course.”

Dinner was more or less back on track after that with more mundane topics of conversation, although Arthur noted that no one brought up the fact that he and Vivi were now dating.

Probably for the best. It would feel too much like he was shoving it into Lewis’ face.

Lewis saw them off. “Um, thank you for coming over.”

“It’s no problem,” said Arthur.  “I…I really did miss you.  I still kind of do if that makes sense.”

Lewis sighed.  “That makes too much sense.”

Vivi patted his arm. “Hey, we’ll be seeing each other more often!”

Lewis perked up a bit. “Really?”

“Yeah, I mean I’m sort of grounded this week,” admitted Arthur.  “But after that we can come visit sometimes after work.”

“Might come over a bit earlier next week so we can spend some time with you before dinner,” added Vivi.

Lewis made a sound not unlike a sigh as he finally smiled.  “I’d like that.”

“Okay, then we’ll see you next week, at the latest,” promised Arthur.

As they drove away, Vivi turned to Arthur.  “It really didn’t bother you being possessed?”

Arthur shrugged. “I guess it should, but like I said I can’t remember the possession.  Weird I know, but at least that’s one less trauma in my life.”  He paused and glanced at Mystery.  “That was safe for me to do, right?”

“As long as Lewis doesn’t try to tear your soul apart,” said Mystery.  He gave a far too toothy grin.  “And you can be sure he wouldn’t be around for long if he attempted it.”

Arthur sweatdropped. “Oh, uh, thanks.”

“Oh, don’t worry. You’re less susceptible to that sort of thing now than when we went to the cave,” continued Mystery.  “You should be able to push him out before he does any permanent damage.”

“If you say so,” said Arthur.  “But was there anything that made it obvious it wasn’t me in control?”

Vivi snorted.  “You mean besides the heart floating in front of your chest?”

Arthur nodded.  “Okay, yeah, I guess that would give it away, but was there anything else?”

Vivi hummed.  “Well, your eyes turned violet, like Lewis’ before he died.  Other than that, nothing obvious.”

“Possessions usually aren’t obvious,” said Mystery.  “Partly because the possessor will try to keep anyone noticing and trying to remove them and partly because most entities aren’t powerful enough to affect the appearance of their host.”

Arthur wondered what it said about Lewis that he’d been able to change Arthur’s body at all. “Well, I guess we’ll be learning a bit more about it.”

Vivi nodded.  “Yeah, if only to give Mr. and Mrs. Pepper a break. You know they’re going to insist Lewis possess them daily from now on.”

Arthur winced.  “Yeah, I guess it would be nice to have a break from that.”

“And I’ll see if there’s a way for him to eat food without possessing anyone too,” said Vivi. “It wouldn’t work all the time, but it would probably be safer.”

Arthur nodded.  “If anyone can find a way to make this work it’s you.”

Vivi got a determined look on her face.  “Oh, believe me.  I will.”

 After a couple of weeks, things were getting better.  Arthur wasn’t grounded.  He was getting used to dating, although he still had trouble believing it sometimes. Things were slightly less awkward with Lewis.  There was still a lot of walking on eggshells, but if they got on the right subject they’d relax and talk and laugh, like before the cave.  Arthur liked to think their relationship was salvageable.

Then Arthur ran into a problem:  Christmas. More specifically, Christmas presents.

Arthur generally would either buy someone a toy or game they liked or something he felt they could use.  He already had an idea what to get everyone…except for Lewis.

Lewis was still causing electronics to malfunction if he wasn’t careful, and Arthur hadn’t had a chance to try and get around it so games were out.  A movie or something might not be out, but Lewis hadn’t been in a movie theatre since March so Arthur wasn’t sure what Lewis would like.

It didn’t help that Mrs. Pepper regularly bought recently released DVDs and they had a streaming service.

Getting Lewis something he would use was out too.  No electronic gadgets (again), and Lewis could literally make simpler stuff if he needed it.  Arthur had seen him make a parmesan grater once when they couldn’t find theirs.  It was actually really convenient most of the time.

So Arthur wasn’t really sure what to get Lewis.  It had happened before, but he hadn’t been trying to mend a relationship the other years.

Arthur decided to just take the direct route.  “Hey, Lewis, what do you want for Christmas?”

Lewis blinked.  “Where’d that come from?”

“I’m just having trouble thinking of anything,” admitted Arthur as he pet Anaheim in his lap.

Lewis thought for a moment.  “Huh. You know.  I haven’t put that much thought into it.  I guess if you figure out the electronics thing you could get me a new phone.”

Arthur winced.  “I haven’t really had the chance to do much about that besides look up some theories and alternate energy sources.” He had some ideas, but it probably wouldn’t be ready by Christmas.

“Maybe a good book or some manga then,” suggested Lewis.

Arthur frowned. “But that’s what Vivi gives you…”

“Yep!  I’ve managed to find some gems at work!”  Vivi proudly proclaimed.  She frowned.  “Although, what have you been into lately?”

Lewis looked very nervous for a moment.  “Skip Beat?”

“That sounds vaguely familiar,” muttered Vivi.  “I’m sure I can find some volumes.  How far along are you?”

“Volume 10.”

“Okay, don’t go any further than that,” instructed Vivi.

“Yes ma’am.”

“I guess I could just go for a book,” admitted Arthur.  “But…I just would like to get you something more if that makes sense…”

“Ah, don’t worry about it,” said Lewis.  “It makes sense that a ghost would be kind of hard to buy for.”

It still bothered Arthur though, even as Vivi showed him the romance books at Tome Tomb.  “This one is about a time traveling FBI profiler.”

“Is it violent?” asked Arthur.  “I’m not sure I want to give him something violent.”

Vivi sighed and put the book back.  “Okay, here’s…no wait, he’s not into harem stories.”  Vivi perused a bit more before pulling out a seemingly random book.  “This one’s in a fantasy setting.  It involves a princess running away from home to avoid an arranged marriage, starting a coup to steal the throne from her father, and marrying a dragon.”

Arthur stared at the book.  “Can the dragon turn humanish?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, maybe.”  Arthur took the book.

Vivi smiled.  “Now, let’s take a look at the manga.”

Tome Tomb’s manga collection was quite eclectic.  They had some well known manga, but a lot of it was obscure enough that you’d need an expert like Chloe.  Arthur was getting ready to open his mouth and ask for a recommendation when he spotted one of the manga that were on display and let out a gasp.  “That’s it!”

Vivi and Chloe gave him a startled look.  “What is it?” asked Vivi.

Arthur pointed at the manga.  “Sailor Moon!”

Chloe nodded.  “It’s a classic and a pioneer of the magical girl genre, although I prefer Digital Princess Alpha myself.”

“I think Lewis has all the volumes already,” said Vivi.

“No, not like that. Sailor Moon has a transformation locket that’s shaped like a heart!” explained Arthur.  “I could make something for Lewis to slip on over his…” Chloe was here.  “Locket to make it look like Sailor Moon’s!”

“Oh…”  Vivi frowned.  “Would you have time for that sort of thing?”

“I think so,” said Arthur already drawing up plans in his head.  “I can mold some steel in the shape, plate it with silver or chrome, something shiny, paint or enamel it, set some crystals in it, I think I can make this work!”

“Well, I know you wanted to give Lewis something meaningful this year, so I won’t try to talk you out of it,” said Vivi.  “But at least buy the book so you have a back up in case you can’t make it in time.”

“Deal.”

Arthur started drawing out the plans as soon as he got home.  He had memorized the size and shape of Lewis’ heart by now so he sketched that out first.  Then he started sketching how big the Sailor Moon attachment would have to be to keep it nice and snug.  Oh, he could line it with something nice and soft, like felt or velvet.  Velvet would probably fit with the theme a bit more.

Before long, Arthur had the plans all drawn up.  Now he had to make it.  The metal working part wouldn’t be too hard.  He just had to wait to get the final okay from the doctor to put his arm back on, which he should get in a few days.  Until then, he could order the other supplies he needed and wait for them to arrive.

Thank goodness for the internet.

A few days later, Arthur was finally able to reattach his prosthetic.  He let out a sigh as he rotated his left arm.  This was a bit of an earlier model, but it wasn’t too different from the busted up model.  It just required a lot more maintenance.  He could put up with that for a few weeks.

Arthur worked the metal into the proper shapes, connected the pieces, electroplated it with chrome, coated it with various colored enamels, set the crystals in place, and lined the interior with velvet.

By the time Arthur finished, he thought he had a pretty good replica, just in time too.  Christmas was only a couple of days away.

Arthur slipped it into the giftbox, took care to wrap it, still made a mess wrapping it, decided to just tape the box shut and put it in a nice gift bag instead, and now he just had to wait for Christmas day.

…

But first he could really use a soda.

 Christmas finally came around.  In the Kingsman household that meant sleeping in until 10, having a brunch that included cinnamon rolls and shrimp ‘n grits, and a quick present exchange.

Most people would question why Lance and Arthur only gave each other one present each, but they tended to buy things for themselves if they needed or wanted something, which made them a bit hard to buy for.

Arthur got…Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.  “Uh…Thanks, but why this game?”  Not that he didn’t appreciate it, but it wasn’t his usual genre.

“It’s got mysteries and ghosts.  Figured it would make you feel better if you give Vivi a ride to a haunted house and stay behind,” explained Lance.

That did make a certain sort of sense.  Arthur made a not to give it a try sometime.

Now, it was Lance’s turn.  He took the tissue paper out of the gift bag, shortly followed by…gun oil.  “Ah.  Thanks. Was starting to run a little low.”

Arthur nodded.  “I noticed.  I was sort of worried you’d buy more before I gave it to you.”

Lance nodded in understanding.  “I figured I could wait a little.”  He chuckled. “Now, go spend some time with your girlfriend.”

Arthur blushed but had to admit he did want to give Vivi and Lewis their presents today.  “Thanks Uncle Lance.  I’ll be back for dinner.”

He and Vivi were going to spend the day together.  They were just planning to spend time with Lewis too…assuming they could convince the Pepper parents to let Lewis out for the day.

“Please, please, please, please, please.”

Yeah, they were a couple of adults begging like little kids, so what?

Mr. and Mrs. Pepper stared at them for a moment before Mr. Pepper turned to Mrs. Pepper.  “It is Christmas.”

Mrs. Pepper nodded. “True.  I think it would be all right.”

Vivi turned towards the living room.  “Ya hear that Lewis?  We’re busting you out of here!”

Lewis was in the middle of letting Paprika stick bows on him.  “Oh, Paprika, I kinda need to go.”

“Not yet.” Paprika stuck another bow on him.

“Now?”

“No.”  Another bow.

“Now?”

“No.”  Another bow.

“Now?”

“Hm…”  Paprika stuck one more bow on Lewis.  “Okay, you’re good.”

“Great!”  Lewis stood so quickly that he floated off the floor for a moment.  “Thanks for the makeover.  I’ll be back for dinner, promise.”  He walked over to Vivi, Arthur, and Mystery.  “So, what’s the plan?”

“It’s a surprise,” said Vivi.  “C’mon.”

As soon as Lewis was in the van he let the bows fall through him and with a flash of purple fire changed his jacket and ascot into a purple sweater and lilac scarf.  Handy.

It was a short drive to a nice hill that overlooked about half of Tempo.  The grass was pretty brown this time of year so they sat in the back of the van with the doors open.  It was a bit cool, but Lewis was keeping them pretty warm.

“Okay, gift exchange time!” proclaimed Vivi.  She paused and looked at Mystery.  “Did you get us anything?”

Mystery nodded. “My blessings and protection. That means a lot coming from a kitsune of my ability.”

“You didn’t have money to buy anything,” deadpanned Vivi.

“That too.”

“I got you chicken jerky,” said Vivi, holding out the bag.  She gave him chicken jerky all the time.

“That’s fine by me.” Mystery immediately dug into the jerky.

Vivi rolled her eyes before holding her gift out to Lewis.  “Here you go.  Merry Christmas.”

Lewis carefully unwrapped the gift.  It was a romance novel and the 11th volume of a manga that Arthur didn’t recognize. Lewis gave Vivi a big smile.  “Thank you.  I love them.”

Vivi handed Arthur his gift.  “And here’s one for you.”

“Thanks.”  Arthur quickly unwrapped it.  “Ooh, Star Wars: New Republic.  Awesome.  Thanks again.”  He handed Vivi a wrapped package.  “And here’s a gift from me to you.”

“Ooh.”  Vivi unwrapped it.  She got an odd look on her face as she pulled out an odd white device. “What is it?”

“A spirit box. You talked about trying one.”

Vivi looked startled for a moment before smiling.  “Thanks Arthur.  I’ll make sure to use it next time I’m on a job.”

Arthur smiled back. “Happy to hear it.”  He turned to Mystery.  “I wasn’t sure what to get a kitsune.  It sounds like the foods you’re supposed to like wouldn’t last.  So instead I got these sweet potato treats from this lady at the farmer’s market.”  Mystery immediately stuck his head in the bag and started snapping up the treats.  “…And clearly I had nothing to worry about.” He held out the last gift to Lewis. “And then there was one.”

Lewis took the bag, pulled out the tissue paper and blinked.  “Oh wow…”  He pulled out the locket replica.  “This is amazing!  Where did-Did you make this?!”

“Yep, open it up.”

Lewis found the latch and flipped it open.  “Oh, it’s a box!  That’s pretty cool.”

Arthur chuckled. “It’s not a box exactly.  I designed it so that you could keep your heart in there if you wanted to.”

Lewis blinked again. “You-really?”

“Yeah, uh…”  Oh wait.  Maybe that was a taboo thing.  “You don’t have to use it for that if you don’t want to.  You could use it to hold other stuff if it’s not comfortable.”

Lewis studied the locket for a moment before placing his heart inside and closing it.  The locket floated in front of him.  “It’s pretty snug…soft though.”  He smiled towards Arthur.  “Thank you.  I love it, really.”

Arthur felt butterflies in his stomach.  “I’m glad. That means a lot to me.”

“I haven’t really had a chance to go out shopping, so I made you guys some small cakes,” said Lewis as he pulled some boxes from…somewhere.  Arthur decided not to question it.  He checked the labels on them before passing them out.  Arthur checked his.  Looked like chocolate with caramel and sea salt.  “Thanks I’ll have some after dinner.”

“It’ll be hard, but I’ll wait too,” said Vivi as she closed her box.

Mystery was, once again, already eating his gift.  Looked like peanut butter from what Arthur could see.

“So, do we head back or stick around for a while?” asked Lewis.

“The plan was to just sit here for a bit,” admitted Arthur.

“Might talk a bit, but mostly just watch the town,” added Vivi.

“Sounds good,” said Lewis.

The four took a moment to organize themselves.  It ended with Lewis between Vivi and Arthur with his arms around them and Mystery sprawled across their laps.  Even better, Lewis was to Arthur’s left, which meant his natural warmth was making Arthur’s arm ache less than it had lately.  It was soothing and left Arthur feeling much more relaxed than usual.  He could stay like this for hours.

It had been maybe 10 minutes when Vivi tugged at his sleeve.  He gave her a lazy look.  “Hm?”

Vivi pulled him a bit closer.  “We should ask him now,” she whispered into his ear.

Oh…She was okay with it?  He glanced up at Lewis who seemed to be trying very hard to ignore whatever they were doing.

Arthur hated that Lewis was being left out at all.

Mind made up, Arthur pulled himself up so that his and Lewis’ heads were at roughly the same level. Lewis smiled at him.  “What’s up?”

He was going to lose his nerve if he waited any longer so Arthur decided to just take the plunge and kiss Lewis.  On the lips. It wasn’t a deep kiss or anything (He still wasn’t very good at kissing.), but it got the point across.

As soon as Arthur pulled away, Vivi took advantage of Lewis’ surprise to swoop in and give Lewis another kiss.  Lewis stared in shock for a couple of moments before starting to tear up and pulling Arthur and Vivi into a big hug.  Arthur and Vivi hugged him back and kissed his cheeks.  Lewis killed them back.  Vivi and Arthur grinned at him and each other.

Mystery snorted. “It’s about time.”

Vivi snorted.  “God, yes, why did we wait so long?”

“Does it matter anymore?” asked Arthur.

Lewis shook his head. “No, I…I’m just grateful it was still possible.”

Vivi nodded.  “Yeah, now let’s just enjoy it for as long as we can.”

Arthur was going to enjoy this for the rest of his life.  He let out a content sigh.  Things were finally getting better than they were before the cave.

Life was good.

[distractedhistotech]

Between MSA + 1: Coming To

Vivi came to driving the van on a long stretch of road.  She instantly realized something was wrong because A:  She was driving.  Arthur and Sydney did everything they could to keep her from driving. B:  She had no memory of how she got here.  She remembered sitting in the passenger seat talking to the others, then suddenly she was driving and…covered in blood?!

She slammed on the brakes as she heard a scream of pain from the back.  “Holy shit!”  She threw the car into park and turned towards the back.  “Do you guys-”  The question died in her throat.

Sydney was hunched over Arthur and rapidly trying to wrap bandages from the first aid kit around where Arthur’s left arm used to be while Mystery was whimpering nearby.  Vivi vaulted over the chairs.  “What happened?!”

“I-I don’t know,” slurred Sydney.  “I’m just here but I wasn’t here, and I dunno how I got from there to here.”

Vivi ripped off her scarf and quickly wrapped it around Arthur’s chest and injury.  Vivi knew it wasn’t clean, but it was a lot more effective.  “What’s going on?!  What happened?!” demanded Vivi.

“I dunno,” murmured Sydney.

Vivi was about ready to demand Sydney try and remember when she noticed blood dripping off Sydney’s face.  The blood pattern on Sydney’s shirt indicated contact transfer rather than being sprayed by the blood.  There shouldn’t be enough of Arthur’s blood to be dripping off of her.  “Sydney, are you okay?”

“…My face hurts,” muttered Sydney, finally looking up.

Vivi nearly lost her lunch (dinner?) when she saw that Sydney’s right eye was gone, and whatever had removed it had made a mess as the skin around the area was badly torn up. Vivi swore she could see bone and even something that she suspected was Sydney’s optic nerve.  “Holy shit!”

Sydney blinked. “Is it bad?”

Vivi chose not to answer, instead ripping open a clean package of gauze, pressing it to the injury, managing to slap a bit of tape on it, and pressing Sydney’s hand to it. “Press down on that!”

Sydney blinked and glanced at Arthur.  “But what about…”

“Try to keep pressure on him too!”  God, Arthur was so pale, and he was barely bleeding.  Was there any blood left in his body?

Vivi climbed back into the driver’s seat, threw the van into drive and slammed the accelerator into the floor.