#but aside from some funky mess in the hands I’m largely still really into this piece

[mock-arts]

Remember that background I posted as a teaser for the 2021 fratt bang? In April of 2021? WELL HERES THE FULL PIECE.

The background to this AU where The Defenders aren’t superheroes is that they all know each other because they were in a terrible band together while in college in the 90s. They were Not Good, but that’s okay because the band was mostly an excuse to hang out and drink together. They played exactly one (1) show at Josie’s, and none of them discussed what they would be wearing ahead of time, beyond generally agreeing to really go all out. Danny was baked and didn’t get the memo, Foggy styled Matt but Matt got cold and put on one of those amazing colorblock wind breakers, and both Jess and Luke are kinda stuck in the 80s.

They were banned from playing in her bar again, but Josie keeps photographic evidence on the wall.

This will eventually be present in @sevdrag’s Fratt fic, He Thinks Like a King, too.

Here it is without all the “it was the 90s so I took film to get developed at the pharmacy so I could look at the picture” effects.

[the-headbop-wraith]

1_15 Stalwart Silver

Sometimes he wondered over the rational capacities of his comrades.  Given, even if he found the artifact of which Fritz Owen would have taken great care to protect, it may be unrecognizable and therefore overlooked.  Just as well they were searching through AN ENTIRE WAREHOUSE for a literal needle in a haystack.  There was no guarantee that it would be found and if so, no guarantee it would not still be under Fritz’s protection.

Alas, there was no harm in the attempt.  It was more likely that Fritz would turn rash and make his appearance known and with his cherished possession in his care, the process of separating the fractured souls a suitable option therein.  If all else, Vivi could still perform an exorcism without it, but it would be preferable to have the heirloom.

Mystery padded ahead ducking under or around the rusted legs of the long worktables affixed to the cement floor, his little boots clunked through the layer of dust.  Sounds came from the distant walls and Mystery would give pause to turn his head, ears held high as he listened to the rustle of whatever was there – animal, or something.  There would be eyes at times watching the dog from under the pale gloom of moonlight trickling from the open shutters above, but never the irritated gaze of their adversary.  These eyes watched curiously before they duck away, vague lumps keeping track of the visitors at a safe distance.  For some time Arthur kept religious attention to Mystery’s sharp movements, but as they crept deeper through the factories work zones Arthur’s nerves became frayed.

The yellow flashlight beam tumbled through the thick murk, trailing over tanks and forgotten machinery as Arthur sought comfort through enlightenment.  He had been rambling on shortly before, but quieted for a moment when he focused outward. A soft whine building somewhere in his chest as his light poked and prodded over tables, a collection of shattered chairs chair.  The blue bobbing lights drift away before the yellow torch beam finds them, and Mystery is thankful for this and continues padding under a rusted bench.

Upon picking up the carefree steps of the dog, Arthur heaves a small breath and resumes following.  “But it’s never going to be the same,” Arthur went on.  “Have you ever watched the ‘Funky Phantom?’”

Mystery snorted.  He was low to the floor, and despite his best efforts he was still sweeping the fine silt around his paws.  Mystery rubbed at the black of his nose with the inner side of his foreleg and kept walking, sniffing at the air.  The tar and propane burned his nose, but he could still pick out the traces of ozone and electrical current that was trademark of ethereal residue.  Arthur continued, darting the flashlight beam over the cinderblock walls segregating some of the larger machinery and work stations. Mystery only paid half attention to what he was saying, something about Lewis.  Very little light was needed by Mystery as he poked around corroded cables and nosed into any tight cracks that otherwise might be missed, while Arthur seemed distracted by his tangent.  When Arthur’s voice went soft, Mystery paused and waited for his charge to catch up. Arthur looked at Mystery, his light falling over the soft white pelt of the dog as Mystery stared back up at him and wagged his tail.

I know you’re having it rough.  I’m here for you.  Mystery leaned onto Arthur’s leg as Arthur reached down to rub at the back of his head.

“Thanks for sticking by me, bud,” Arthur said.  As he straightened up Arthur returned his light to their path, and Mystery trotted on ahead around the corner of a tall wall. “He’s never actually said it, y’know. I don’t blame him though,” Arthur said. He adjusted the backpack straps over his shoulders as he hurried after Mystery.  “I don’t know if I wanna hear him say it.  That’s funny, right?”

Mystery barked, his sharp voice snapped back off the cinderblock walls and rattled in the rafters above.  Mystery crossed over the floor back to the wall, from the shattered windows above in the high wall light from the full moon slipped in to coat patches of the floor and glitter on glass.  The dust coated glass crinkled under Mystery’s boots as he pranced over it, and for a while he was glad for the little extract protection.  He pauses and looks back as Arthur skid to a halt and set his light outward, onto the large barrels and broken equipment scattered beside a cinderblock wall.

“It doesn’t feel like anything’s changed.  At all,” Arthur went on, as he shuffled closer to Mystery.  In the swirling dust and moonbeams, Mystery could pick up on his shoulders shaking.  Arthur said something, and then groaned in his throat.  “I don’t know how to put it into words.  Do you feel me, though?”

Mystery grumbled something, then and spun away to hop over a fallen tank and kept walking.  As Mystery tracked he kept his nose lowered to a suitable distance from the floor, fearful he would become too engrossed and might cut his face on some hazardous end or corner missed in the dark murk.  Arthur made another sound of discomfort, and Mystery yipped in response.  They needed to focus, Arthur could talk to Lewis later about it but not before they had completed their task.  Regardless if it was possible or not.

“You’re right,” Arthur said.  “What should we even be looking for?  What would it look like?”

Mystery stopped at the edge of a grated walkway and looked back at Arthur.  Mystery shrugged his shoulders to the best of his ability, and left the wall to step along the edge of the grate and the railing that rose beside it.

“Where would you even hide something like that?”  Arthur says.  He stepped up beside Mystery and set his hand down on the clammy, gummy rail that boarded off a twenty foot drop.  Arthur began to feel uneasy, despite the safety rail, and jerked around to make certain nothing was behind him.  Arthur jolted in place when Mystery padded off, the boots on Mystery’s paws clanked on the grate they stood upon.  “Jeez” Arthur wheezed, pressing the torch to his throbbing chest.  “You startled me!  Give me a warning when you’re moving around.”

Mystery gave a non-consoling growl.  He was not going to baby Arthur.  Vivi did that enough already.

“I’m really jumpy,” Arthur said, defensive.  “I can’t see like you!  And there’s a very not nice ghost hanging around.”

Mystery grumbled, and snorted the air.  When the troch beam fell over his shoulder, Mystery looked back to Arthur and gave a soft whine.

“I know, I know,” Arthur said, lowering his voice. “‘Screaming will draw attention to us.’ Last thing we need.  What’s exactly going to keep him from bothering us?” Arthur asked.  “Aside from the little tin piece?  But even Lewis said it wouldn’t do much but irritate him.”

The grate came to a set of cement steps that descended beside the wall to an open basement floor of the factory.  Mystery gave a half bark to Arthur as he began descending.

“It’s normal for me, okay?” Arthur said, in a raspy tone as he tried to keep his voice down.  “I don’t wanna be apprehensive, but I can’t help it.  I’m always the target – weird cults, I’m there; conduit for séances, I have a great voice; vengeful wraiths, take a number; demonic possession—?”  Arthur stopped there.  He followed Mystery down the steps quietly, there light steps reverberated off the distant walls.  “I can’t blame ‘em though.  Why go after someone like Lewis, when I’m around?”  He paused on the steps and after taking a few more down ahead, Mystery stops as well to look back at him.  “Why did I never think about that?”

Mystery tugs his ears back along his scalp and whined a bit.  We needed to keep moving.

“I was blocking,” Arthur concludes.  “The truth hurts.”  Arthur turns his light down on Mystery, when Mystery climbs back up to his feet and tugs at his pants leg with his teeth.  “They won’t even mess with you.”  Mystery tugs, a low growl bubbled up in his chest.  Arthur crouched down and put his hand on Mystery’s cheek to rub the dogs face, and loosen his teeth from his pant leg.  “Thanks,” Arthur says, as Mystery looked up over the flashlight beam.  “Thanks for everything.”  Mystery pressed his forehead to Arthur’s forehead, and Arthur massaged at the soft neck of the dog.  “Have I said that lately?”

Mystery whimpered and pressed into Arthur a little more.  You say it far too often.

“I don’t want you to forget that you’re important to me,” Arthur said.  Mystery tilts his head down as Arthur pulled him onto his lap for a tight hug. “Because you listen.”

Mystery didn’t know if any of this was good for Arthur, at least Arthur was participating and talking.  Even if the search was in vain, Arthur would be safe with him.

___

Aside from the occasional crack, or unseen sound fabricated by shimmering rolls of shadow, no indisputable evidence of aggression was made apparent.  Somewhere was a distinct humming from above, as if live cables still ran electricity through the air.  Lewis had made note to Vivi that there was no current anywhere, the air was frigid and… dead. There was no doubt in Lewis good sense that since their encounter with Fritz, the other spirit was keeping tabs on them.  Though he couldn’t pick up on a presence, there was a change in the atmosphere.  A steady seep of ire crept through the solid cement beneath their feet.  Lewis didn’t like it.   They were being watched and there was no way he could divert the attention from Vivi. But if Fritz did have full intent of harming Vivi to force them into abandoning the factory, then perhaps she was better off under his watch.  It was too soon to say.

The blue beam of Vivi’s torch light led the way around the long work benches covered in decrepit rusted parts, and the few propane tanks. “Well?” Viv had prompted.  “I’ve got nothing.”

Lewis hesitates a moment, staring up at the dark shutters above and the intricate steel beams that constructed the interior of the ceiling. “It could only be entrusted to someplace of significant importance,” Lewis said.  “If not the office,” he went on, “then an area where he worked. Unless he’ll just keep it with him.” Lewis really didn’t know, and he had run out of different methods of phrasing the response of ‘we’re-not-the-same-so-stop-asking.’  Sure Fritz followed similar guidelines, but whatever that entailed was the other ghost’s own personal business.

Vivi searched wherever it looked interesting, shines her light up under the worktables and poked through some of the tools left to molder on the dusty tables.  “Maybe that place where he was blinded?” Vivi asked.  She rubbed some of the oily stickiness off on the back of her skirt, before crawling under a table.  Lewis glides up over the table, while unable to pass through solid object while he wore his physical effects.  He had been lightly reminded a few times, as Vivi took easier paths up or around obstacles and Lewis was forced to follow.  He didn’t—

A small cry came from Vivi when she dropped to her side and hit her elbow on the hard concrete floor.  Lewis was at instant alert and swept down to take her arm and help her up, his own feet slid over the slick surface as he took on some of Vivi’s weight.

“I slipped,” Vivi said, as Lewis helped guide her from the slick patch of floor.  The flashlight was still rolling away, jagged shadows stabbed up and down the tables and walls as they caught the choppy blue light of the torch.  One black drape hovered constant, perched above a large portion of partially constructed metal frame.

“That will be your final warning,” the spirit said, voice hard.

Lewis pulled Vivi behind him and kept an attentive gaze on Fritz, while the other spirit watched on with the white embers in his eye sockets smoldering.  Lewis took note the heart upon Fritz’s chest was gone, it was only the bones and dark suit visible in the haze of the flashlight.  “He’s hidden it,” Lewis hissed.  Vivi stared beyond Lewis’ elbow, as Fritz raised a wrist to the space of dark shrouds on his collarbone as if noting their warranted attention.  To Fritz, Lewis says, “We’re aware of your involvement with the factory since your death.  You may want to reconsider your following actions.”  

“What do you know?” Fritz poses, as he drifts from the cracked metal and to a table top closer to where Vivi and Lewis huddled.  “Only what you want.  I’m not trying to fight you over this, I’m telling you.  Leave.  Me. Alone.”  Tendrils of silver mist move from his feet through the rusted tools and dust, coating over whatever the white cloak settles onto with a thin fuzz.

“Lew.  My light,” Vivi says, patting his arm.  “I need my light.”  Lewis is hesitant, but he steps aside from Vivi to retrieve her flashlight from the floor. “You’re family, Fritz,” Vivi says, as Lewis ducks away.  “How long has it been since you’ve seen them?”

The lights in Fritz’s skull dim, unconcerned with Lewis’ close proximity, beneath a table mere yards from where he was perched.  Fritz looks away from Vivi.  “She… remarried,” Fritz says.  “She’s not mine anymore.  I….” The spirits voice faded off with a scratchy undertone.

“You’re not a bad person,” Vivi continued.  She took the torchlight when Lewis presented it, but angled the blue beam down at her own feet.  Lewis stood beside Vivi, his bright eyes fixed on Fritz.  “Sometimes we lose ourselves, and in our weakest moment,” she hesitates, as Fritz sways, the silver tendrils continue to work down over the table legs and out across the floor.  Vivi shudders and feels her breath mist in the moonlight.  “We strike out at others.  Even those that want to help us, or those who were once our friends. I don’t believe you could help it.”

Fritz’s skull bobbed above his collarbone.  “You’re a sweet girl,” he says.  “But you don’t understand.  They always came back.  Always. No matter how broken the machinery became, or how terrible the conditions were.  They came back!”  Flurry’s of silver spread around his shoulders and drift down, falling over the floor and the nearest tabletops.  “And that lard of a boss!  He never comes down from his office, not even during accident.  I could only watch and wait and hate.  You know what happened to him?”

“What’d you do?” Lewis asks.  He raises up his own hand, but dithers from action.  Lewis did set a hand on Vivi’s shoulder and began to draw her back, away from Fritz’s range.  Vivi recognized the motion, the mannerism.  Lewis was in bodyguard mode, and thus teetering on the offensive edge.

“Nothing,” Fritz rattles, a lightbulb fixed to the line cables on the table under him flickers.  A silver lunar halo worked out around his poise.  “Unless you count paranoia.  Worry. I wanted him down in that factory.” The ice spreads close to Vivi’s toes as Fritz’s eyes brighten, until his eye sockets are shimmering white.  “Down there with the rest of us playing in hell fire. But no.  He dies in his bed, a stroke.  Warm in bed.”  

Lewis takes a short charge away from Vivi.  Pink flames rolling down his back and from around his suit collar, the silver wisps creeping over the floor retreat at Lewis’ approach and sparks pop over the scorched frost.  Fritz recoils backwards and hovers off the table in midair.  “An illness heavily influenced by your presence, no doubt,” Lewis mutters.  He glares up at Fritz’s shape as it melts away into the shadows.  “I don’t hear you denying it.”  But Fritz has already faded from sight, if not retreated far from Lewis’ harsh accusations altogether.

There comes no sign from Fritz, while Vivi stands beside the table waiting for indication to his direction or proximity.  The blue beam of her flashlight ducks across and around the metal tables and shapes do scuttle away from the light, but none of them have the distinctions of the spirit with the noose.  “Not very cooperative, is he?” Vivi said.  When Lewis doesn’t move, Vivi asks, “Do you sense him?  Lew?”

“What?” Lewis says, as he turns to Vivi with a bemused expression on his features.  Vivi turns her flashlight on Lewis as he approaches, somewhat gliding between steps. “No, I can’t,” Lewis said when reached Vivi.  “I can’t, but I don’t know if he can detect me wherever I am.  Yes, I am more than uneasy about this.”

Vivi adjusts the straps of the backpack over her shoulders as she turns and walks along the worktable.  “You won’t let harm come to me,” she reminds, with a look over her shoulder to him. “If our biggest concerns are random patches of ice appearing underfoot, then we don’t—” Her sentence cut off when Lewis shoved her aside, at the same time Lewis draws backwards in midair to evade a white flurry of mist that crashed between them.  Fire swarmed from Lewis’ arms, cutting off the rising storm of white.    

The target had been Vivi, or both she and Lewis.  Vivi pushed herself back to her feet from where she had fallen and whips around when Fritz appears, poised not far from her on the solid floor and glaring.   She stumbles away as Fritz eyes brighten.

“You don’t know when to stop, do you?” Fritz sneers.  The air crackles as silver coils roll down his shoulders and small flakes of white drift from his elbows.

“I am very sorry you decided taking your life was your best course,” Vivi retorts.  “But you made your choices when you had life, and now it’s time you moved on.”

For a moment Fritz stares at the girl in the sweater, her breath misting as his ether seeps into the factory.  “Since the factory was shut down, I have been content,” he states. “This is where I will remain.  It is not a choice you are warrant to make for me.”

While Fritz distracted, Lewis swoops from the gloom with white mist and frost fluttering off his damaged sweater.  Fritz is taken by the sudden collision, he doesn’t get but a short screech before Lewis has his hands locked in the bare collarbone of Fritz’s shoulders, and barrels the other backwards into the sharp side of a table. “There are still the ones that met with horrific accidents during your time haunting the factory,” Lewis hissed. His eyes sockets blazed magenta as Fritz struggled to pull out of grip and dissolve away, but Lewis forced him back. “They have no closure!”  Vivi steps away from Lewis as the remains of the scorched sweater clinging to his shoulder and chest ashes and falls away, revealing polished bone and black death suit. A hot blast of flames gushed from the throat space, while a wild storm of icy flakes spiraled outward from the dazed Fritz.  

“I can’t help it if fire and ice don’t mix!” Fritz shrieks.  As fire rose from Lewis cuffs, Fritz snaps his bleached hands onto Lewis wrists and struggles to rip the grip at his collar away.  In life Fritz had been strong after working many long shifts with the inventory of the factory, but Lewis was pouring ravenous energy into Fritz’s insubstantial form. Fritz found Lewis was too tightly locked onto him, a revelation which forced Fritz to recoil back through the tables top until he had jostled Lewis’ hands.  Flames bob across the tabletop chewing at leather and thick layer of grease, the foul fuel turns the flames black.

Free floating embers simmer around Lewis shoulders as he lifts up, into midair and drifts over to stand among the black smoke rising from the table, across from where Fritz had slunk down. “You should have left when it was apparent your presence was a menace,” Lewis said.  He keeps the embers drifting around his shoulders, as Fritz sinks further beneath the table.

Vivi looked from Lewis to Fritz, and noted a tone of hesitance collide with Fritz’s skull.  Vivi shivers and wraps her arms around her as the temperature continues to drop.

“This is no place to reside,” Lewis hissed, edging forward, the heart upon his chest maintained its steady tempo.  Fritz spread flurries around his dark shape as the other ghost moves closer, white mist and frost creep over the scorched table and snuffs out the frail dancing flames that still clung there.  Fritz’s eye sockets trail a silver wisp as he tracks Lewis’ movement, slow steps and pink embers approaching.

“Don’t pretend,” Fritz sputters.  He diverts his gaze to take stock of Vivi’s position, huddled beside a table leg several feet away.  “It wouldn’t matter what my activities consisted of after death, would it?  I don’t hear you denying it.”  When Fritz raised a white misted hand in Vivi’s direction, Lewis lunged on him snaring his ribcage in one hand and with the other hand Lewis pressed a blaze of pink fire onto Fritz’s swaying skull.  Wild ethereal flames tear down the neck of Fritz, and Fritz claws at Lewis’ suit front while ice spreads frost over his own shoulders. Unable to escape, Fritz begins to rise into the open space above the table, and Lewis hang on as the rise higher.

The sharp blows and ice do no visible harm to Lewis, but the volatile contact with a resistant ghost ebbs in Lewis as he gives a last burst of heat before unlocking his grip from Fritz’s torso and backs off.  As Fritz draws back and begins to lower at a distance, Lewis keeps low and picks at the displaced ether and collects for another offense.  Before Lewis could say more, Fritz had faded out of physical sight.  There were a few apprehensive seconds as Lewis descends, keeping Vivi in his visible range as he waited for Fritz to make his presence known, but no undeniable evidence of the other spook was present.

Lewis didn’t like it.  He glides down to the table Vivi had hidden under and kept his attention to the cold walls of the factory, the silence was restored but it was unnerving. He was so on edge that when Vivi stood and cleared her throat, he had nearly turned to her with one of the embers still lingering beside his shoulder.  Vivi patted her flashlight with her palm, until the faulty blue beam shimmered through the scratched glass with strong clarity.

“Scared.  You see?” Vivi said, as she fixed the glasses on her nose.  “But I’m sure he’s watching still.”

“Yeah,” Lewis said, voice a little more than distorted.  “You okay?  From the fall?”  The ghost drifts from the tables top, a vaporous shimmer of pink light trails after his eyes as he moves to place himself close to Vivi.  As she rubs at her bruised elbow, Lewis raises his skull to scan their perimeter.

“It’ll be fine,” she answers, and walks away.  “We should keep looking.  I doubt Fritz has moved off for good, has he?”

No, he wouldn’t.  Even Lewis could relate this bit of information.  But another impression began to work in his musing, which discomforted Lewis by some good amount.  Was Fritz aware they were currently searching for his anchor?  Regardless if or not, Lewis decided not to bring it up with Vivi. They still had to find the damn thing, and that didn’t change the fact that Fritz had the foresight to hide it.

While Vivi picked up the direction of search, turning in the direction the office had been, Lewis kept his focus of the area.  At any second he expected Fritz to race out or throw something the moment Lewis dropped his guard, but the other spirit retained distance.  Fritz’s influence was not missed however, and as Vivi searched deeper among tables and the walls Lewis decided to bring up the issue.

“This may be a stupid question,” Lewis begins, as he and Vivi move along opposite sides of a long worktable.  “But are you cold?”

Vivi stood up from examining the underside of the table, while rubbing her hand and fists into the thick material of the sweater she wore. The blue beam of the torch flashed over the tables corroded surface as she struggled to keep light on the area where she stood.  Her breath misted as she nodded.  “I know it’s Fritz,” she said.  “I’m more worried about Arthur, ‘cause you know he never wears sleeves.”

One of the small embers that persisted to follow Lewis’ movement bobbed, as he gave a soft rattle.  “I’d worry about yourself first,” he said.  He tried to hide the conflicting unease in his skull.  

Maybe Arthur was in as much danger as Vivi was in, or maybe he was even dead or worse.  Lewis doubted all of this.  He followed Vivi as she led the way, ducking under the thin metal legs of scaffolding that filled the medium area of the welding plant.  Large sections of curved metal, discarded inventory, sat between the platforms that stood around like tall sentinels guarding the unfinished and forgotten.  Worktables persisted as a common theme for the factory, but in this section they were shorter and most lined the furthest walls around them.  

Lewis met Vivi as she followed her flashlight, out from under a slanted platform of fallen scaffolding.  “This might help,” he said.  Vivi hesitated from his arm, until she brought the flashlight up and revealed his arm and the dark suit coat clutched in his bleached fist.  When she made no response, Lewis became agitated. “Mi arandano?  Vivi?” his voice echoes and scratches, and he hates how it resonances when he’s trying to sound sincere.  “Is this weird for you?  I’m sorry, I –” he fumbles, withdrawing the suit from Vivi’s sight.  Until she grabs it.

“No, oh no Lew, you’re fine,” she exclaims.  Vivi steps away from the broken platform of the fallen scaffolding and moves closer to Lewis, her eyes fixed on the suit coat between them. Quickly, she glanced up to see where Lewis’ heart had been relocated, but found as always it pulsed on his chest. The only difference was that it was suspended against the stark white of his crisp under shirt, his dark magenta tie hung from his collar.  “I’m just surprised, that’s all.  I didn’t know you could take your clothes off.”  She smirks but doesn’t look up at Lewis.  “Wow.  Okay, that didn’t sound so bad in my head.”

Lewis makes a soft warble somewhere in him, as he takes the dress coat and drapes it over her shoulders.  Vivi has some trouble finding the sleeves, the coast too big for her and the tattered sides where Lewis’ ribs tore through had nearly been on level with her shoulders, until the collar had slumped down around her neck.  “This is so much better,” she said, as she adjusted the excess of sleeves over her wrists.  “But will you be okay without it?  I mean, I know you don’t feel the cold… or do you?  But isn’t it a part of you?  How—” She stops when Lewis put a finger to her lips, as she had done to him before.

“How about questions later?” he says, and he tilts his skull to examine the tall scaffolding and the ceiling overhead glimmering moonlight through the openings.  “When we can talk.”

“Yeah,” she agrees, and nods.  She directs the flashlight to the floor and follows, weaving around the metal legs of tables.  “Thank you, Lew.”

Lewis follows, careful to keep her within sight at all times. He tries to answer, but he forgets how. He knows Fritz is watching and only waiting for the moment when he is distracted.  That opportunity would come and Lewis knows he will miss it when it is most crucial, and he is frustrated with the recognition that avoiding it is impossible.

 __

An sudden eruption resounding out from the distance caught Arthur’s attention, at the same time he had his head up under a crumbling desk. A loud crack echoed and Arthur moaned as he fell to his butt and held his head with his metal arm and rocked.

Mystery draws back from where he was pawing at a bundle of filthy cloth, and looked up as the walls of the factory reverberated with the sudden wave of tension that burst in the upper atmosphere.  The shutters in the high ceiling vibrate and dust, visible for but a brief moment in the moonlight beneath, scattered from the rafters. Mystery sniffed at the air and glanced off in a direction, certain he had caught some movement through whatever it was, it wasn’t there now.

“Guess Lew found Fritz,” Arthur muttered.  He kept his eyes tightly shut, as if that would ease some of the pain.  He already felt a hot little lump forming under his flesh palm.  “Damn, that hurt.”  He gripped the side of the broken desk, he picked up the flashlight that had clattered to the floor and redirected the beam on the space of the room he and Mystery were searching in.  “I don’t think it’ll be here, bud.”  Arthur turned the light onto a section of wall where graffiti had been written out – bulbous words, some colorful writing, and some pictures. Some tacky, some art, all of it evidence that living explorers had spent time an extended amount of time here at some point.

Very little of the remaining desks had survived the test of time, with no help from their visitors.  Arthur had seen it before.  Aside from the graffiti, which he had missed throughout the backside of the welding plant, there were few explorers that would risk to venture so deep, if they were startled off or creeped out by lurking specters. Evidence of a living presence would extend to a certain undefined line, vandalism, camping, but it would go no further than what was allowed by whatever was left behind.  Some articles of clothing had been scattered in this section of the basement level, and the area in proximity had a musty reek far less appealing than the other areas that had been thick with grease.

Arthur walked along the path among the broken desks and discarded propane tanks, his yellow light crawled over the handles of the welding torches now rusted and hardly recognizable in their outdated appearance. A few goggles, rotting into the muck, survived to decay further into the tops of workbenches and crumbling racks along table sides.

Sudden movement caught his eye, and Arthur swung to it barely in time to catch the shadow as it ducked off.  He quivered and kept moving, in the opposite direction.  “No fear,” Arthur repeated under his breath.  “Don’t be afraid.  Don’t be—” He gave a small yelp when from absolute silence, a faint clatter leapt forth.  “Mystery! Was that you?”  He pivoted to the dog close at his heel.  “Tell me that was you!”

Mystery smirked and gave Arthur a dubious expression.

“I hate this so bad,” Arthur muttered, as he turned away.  He raised his light and tried to get the yellow beam to ascend to the darker areas of the rafters above.  “You know what?  Why doesn’t he just hide it up there?  That’s what I’d do?”

The small congregation of desks had fallen behind, and the floor opened up to a short span of concrete flat.  The flat was boarded by the factory walls, and a large dark shutter that was open at the base by a small crack that allowed a frail wisp of pale light through.  A distance across the open concrete floor awaited another series of steps that rose up to a garage style compartment, beside the upper floors of the front of the factory.  

Mystery stepped by Arthur and out onto the open cement floor, while Arthur became distracted with poking at a corroded cart leaning beside a desk.  Another tremor broke the still atmosphere of the air, and Mystery with Arthur glanced at their surroundings as the echo faded.  Arthur lost interest quickly, his hand snapped the torch down as movement caught his undivided attention.  Mystery saw and detected nothing and thus resumed across the floor, snuffling and sneezing when too much dust invaded his snout.

“We can even do the expulsion without an artifact,” Arthur went on. He tried to toe at a cog on the floor, but the piece of dark metal was fused tight causing him to wince when he jammed his toe into his shoe.  “I don’t get why we should waste our time.”  He took a breath, and then moved his light across tabletops, and some discarded clothing or cloth.  “That’s what I’ll do.  I’ll march right up to Vivi and just tell her, ‘This is a bad plan.  I know you don’t care, but I do.  We’ll just do the expulsion, artifact or not, and just do our best.’  How does that sound?”  He jumped when a loud squeal tore through the air, a short distance from when Arthur had gotten lost in his musing.  “Mystery! Mystery?  Where are you?”  He darts around the long tables, checking under a few before he climbed on top one and began leaping along seeking the source of the sounds.  The torch failed his search, there was no sign of the white and black dog hidden within the gloom.  “Mystery!  If you get hurt, Vivi’ll kill me!  Or… she’ll let Lewis do it, which would be almost as bad!”

After nearly losing his footing numerous times upon the tables, Arthur stumbled off and raced across the open expanse of the floor where the dogs whimpers seemed to hover.  Arthur caught sight of the upper garage floor, and below his flashlight beam fell over the white face staring at him from the stairs base.  Mystery whined when he locked eyes with Arthur, and tugged at his paw which seemed to be eaten by the lower steps.

“What’re you doing?”  Arthur cried, as he dropped the light from the dogs face.  He never liked the way those eyes glimmered behind those spectacles.  One of Mystery shoes sat beside the dog, presumably the missing paw was also a lacking shoe and inserted into a hole.  “You could get yourself hurt doing a stunt like that.  You don’t wanna wind up like me.���  Arthur stuffed the flashlight onto his upper chest and pinned his chin down onto the cold handle, he held the light steady as he knelt low and helped Mystery dislodge his foot.  “Good, I was afraid we would have to operate.”

An annoyed look crossed Mystery’s eyes and he gave Arthur a low snarl showing one side of his teeth.

“Well, we didn’t, and that’s better.”  Arthur took the little boot and tried to take Mystery’s front paw, but Mystery had returned his attention to the crack beneath the first step and scratched at the base.  “I know you don’t like them, but you have to wear them here.”  Mystery whimpered and took Arthur by the wristband of his flesh hand, and Arthur winced when his teeth grazed his arm.  Mystery paid no mind, and guides Arthur’s hand to the hole. “What?”  Another pitiful sound and Mystery paws at the thin opening and peers up at Arthur.  “Well, okay. Hold on.”  He holds the light in his metal hand, as he fits his fingers into the crack.  He feels around and jerks his hand back.  “What is that?”

Mystery leans up around Arthur’s side and tugs at his backpack. Arthur removes the satchel and goes for his tools, locating the chisel and hammer.  Mystery takes the flashlight when it is set down, as Arthur rests on his shoulder and angles the chisel up into the crack and positions the hammer at its back.  “To my right. Other right.  That’s good.”  He makes sure he has a sturdy hold of the chisels handle before he swats the hammer down. It takes some maneuvering and a few more taps, before he loosens a section of wet ice lodged within.  It doesn’t register with Arthur at first, the air is frigid enough that it shouldn’t matter.  He secures his tools then gives his focus to the crack and wriggles the chunks of ice out, and out slips a piece of cold metal  “What is this?”  Mystery sets the flashlight down, the yellow light angled to hit the side of the metal piece.

It’s a slender, molded metal with small decorations along the side, and a broken piece of wood extending from one end.  Arthur turns it over in his hand, and sets his flesh hand over the icy metal and tightens his fist.  Then it clicks in his mind.  “Flare ups,” Arthur mutters.  Mystery sits beside him, watching as he examined the odd piece of metal. “Accident.  Fritz was blind.  This… it’s the handle of a cane.  It’s a cane!” His hand sprang open and he dropped the tarnished handle.  Mystery waits, then, gives another low moan to Arthur.  With a shaking hand, Arthur reaches out and takes the cane handle. “Blind.”  He runs his fingers over the rust splattered side.  “I forgot.”

Mystery moves to his feet and begins to pad away, one foot missing a shoe.  At a few feet he turns to look back at Arthur.

Arthur heaves a breath as he takes up Mystery’s shoe and the cane and stands, he slips either item into his pockets before he snatches up the flashlight.  “We’ll head where Lewis is,” he reasons.  “Vivi shouldn’t be too from him.”  Briefly, Arthur ponders the rationale behind this reasoning.  “This is the worst plan ever.  C’mon.”

__

Since Fritz had made his first bid of confrontation with Lewis, and failed, Fritz had hidden himself and left the only evidence of his influence as the constant biting cold that filled every inch of the factory.  Or, every inch occupied by Vivi.  If not for the cold it would be easy to forget that Fritz was still lurking, and where remained the constant question plaguing Lewis’ attention.

Every other comment or question Vivi directed Lewis’ way was missed, but rather raise her voice and snap his awareness back to their current task Vivi would reach to his wrist and tug on the cufflink of his shirt.  Lewis would apologize, and Vivi would direct him to a space on the floor she could not reach or see.  For Lewis it felt as if he was apologizing every minute but Vivi never made a comment.  After some time it began to feel like the old days when he would get paired with Vivi, during the cautioned perilous assignments they would volunteer to work on and Lewis went to great lengths to do whatever was within his capacity, if only to save himself from the stress of worrying over her wellbeing.  He was content to let himself fall into the illusion, even if it would turn out painfully short and the acceptance of his current state would hurtle back into him faster than he could brace for the unforgiving impact.

Vivi was staring at the forgotten portion of a plane wing, smaller than the big commercials jets common in the skies of the modern day.  Lewis knew what she was thinking, but he made the offer before she could make the bid.

“How about I just slip through?” he said.  He pushed on the side of the plane wing slanted beside the cinder brick wall as he walked along to the furthest side.  “Stand clear, in case it falls.” He muttered, pink mist drifting from the front of his skull. He had a small suspicion if Fritz were to hide anything it would only be in a space where disaster awaited.  The little ember that had remained his constant moon faded out as he sank into the rusted side of the plane’s wing.

Vivi moved to the opposite end of the wing, where Lewis would emerge if he searched all the way through.  “Be careful,” she said, out of consideration and in part habit.  She leaned over trying to shine her light into the triangular space between the slanted wing and wall, but there was insulation and various other musty remains spewing out from the ruptured side of the metal hull of the archaic aircraft piece.  She shivered and pulled the suit coat tighter over her shoulders and adjusted the torch light between her palms.

“What are you looking for?”

The sudden disembodied voice startled Vivi more than the speaker, and she whirled around to face Fritz as he stood a distance from the wall watching with hot white embers burning with mild suspicion in his skull.  Fritz glanced to the wing where Lewis was preoccupied, then looked back to Vivi and seemed to frown over the lights in his eye sockets.  “Answer me. If it’s not too much trouble.”

Vivi stumbled beside the wing, forgetting Lewis’ warning momentarily.  She tried to answer the question as he began to glide towards her, but she didn’t understand how to phrase the answer.  What did he think they were looking for?  Vivi chokes on her voice when her shoe plants itself on a metal pole, which skids out from under her weight.  She falls hard on her rump, before she has the time to take a breath Fritz is leaning over her.  He snares Vivi by the wrist and jerks her towards his levitated skull.

“What do you think you’re looking for?” hissed the specter. Even dulled by the suit coat and her sweater, Fritz’s grip was like needles stabbing into her skin.  As Vivi whimpers, Fritz recoils and swoops back and drops to his feet.  He kneels and stares at her.  “I don’t understand you kids.” The white mist frosts out over the cement at his sharp feet. “I consider myself a reasonable person. I stay here, I’ve made my choice. That’s what I need.”  

Flakes of flurries descend around where Vivi sits, trembling. A sudden wall of flames curls around her, blocking Fritz sight of her.  Vivi winces, but the anticipated wave of heat does not roll off the writhing flames, there is only the cutting touch of the ice.

“I should have known better,” Lewis said.  Vivi glanced over her shoulder to see Lewis drift down to where she had fallen.  “I’m sorry, I let my guard down.”  He stands with her in the flames and pulls Vivi up to her feet.  The shimmering fire casts hues of red and pink over the bleached skull, the embers in its eye sockets are set on Fritz perched beyond the fire rippling through the black air.

Fritz watched the embers descend, his gaze dropped from Lewis and Vivi.  “I think… I understand what you’re doing,” he said.  “Or, what you think you’re doing.”  Fritz raised his skull in time to see a broken ladder flung his way, though hadn’t the reflex to react before it smashed into his ribcage.  The dark shroud scrapped backwards across the floor several feet through a bare space of ruin and metal legs, sparks raise around him shoulders from the metal ladder sinking through his insubstantial shape. In a flash he’s out of sight.

Lewis leaned over Vivi’s shoulder to murmur in her ear, “I’ll see if I can keep him distracted.”  Vivi looked to the locket thrumming on his chest, its rhythm in sync with her own heart, warm and radiant and nearly alive.  Practically living.  “This is the last time he touches you.  Promise.” Vivi reached up to touch the gilded heart softly beating, the fine cracks in its surface more notary than ever, but she stopped herself and drew her hand away.

“Be careful,” she said.  This time, she meant it.  She dashed from Lewis arms, and ducked beneath the thin metal scaffolding and broken platforms that had fallen in the decades of neglect.  She pulled the side of the coat over her shoulders more as she looked back and saw rosy flames spill over Lewis’ shoulders and arms.

“Making that ceiling collapse,” Lewis said, and his skull swayed with disapproval.  “Not a good call.”  

Fritz slips up through the ladder and rose higher still over the floor watching as Lewis lifts an arm engulfed in magenta fire.  The silver wraith lowers down to grab at a propane tank hidden beneath a piece of plywood, and hefts the blackened container up in his arms.  “Your lot insists on hounding me!” Fritz shrieks.  The din of his cry causes the blue beam of Vivi’s flashlight to flare and dim.  Startled, she puts her hand over the pale light. Too late, Fritz had already swung around and faced her location.  “I stand by my choice and will not be moved!”  He heaves the tank Vivi’s way, but the canister is knocked out of midair by a blast of fire.

As the tank crashes and rattles out of sight, Lewis lowers his arm from mid swing and lunges at Fritz.  A swell of tall sparks ignites at his heels as he cuts the distance.  “You’ve made some shitty choices,” he snarled, as Fritz hovers backwards through a forest of thin metal bars.  

Sheets of ice peel back off Fritz’s arms when the two collide.  They tangle in midair as Fritz wrenches in Lewis’ powerful grip, before they drop.  The frayed end of Fritz’s noose trails above his shoulder, and somehow Fritz managed to get Lewis under his grip before they crash into the base of a tilting scaffold.  Metal splinters and a swell of silver flurries whirl about as Fritz claws at Lewis skull.  Lewis scuttles onto his side as Fritz leans over him, silver frost ignites at the hostile ghosts shoulders as he fights.  

Stunned and with few choices presented, Lewis takes a gamble and frees his fists from Fritz’s bleached collarbone.  He thrusts his palms over the noose looped around Fritz’s vacant neck and fills the gap there with flames, forcing Fritz in fear or ‘pain’ to tear away.  Fritz glides sideways, out of Lewis’ range, and keeps moving back among the decrepit portions of fallen scaffolding.  Briefly, the silver ghost is close to Vivi’s location, but his attention and senses remain locked on Lewis, while the dapper spirit rises and collects the dislocated shreds of ether still displaced in the atmosphere.

A puff of pink mist trails from Lewis’ skull as he lunged through a cracked platform, white globs of flurries sputter and disperse as he tore through the barrier cloaked about Fritz.  Flames snapped and popped across Lewis’ arm as he swung out, slashing through the brunt of Fritz’s swirling mist.  Frtiz recoils several feet as Lewis followed, cutting out chunks of the spiraling cold mist that struggled to remain in place despite the consecutive assault dislocating ether.  White light engulfs Fritz’s skull as a whirlwind of ice spreads around his shoulders, the sudden cohesion forces Lewis to withdraw several feet and dip out of midair, his sleek tie followed his rapid movement.

Lewis felt his shape connect with one of the forgotten slants of inventory, a nameless mass of twisted metal which he perched upon. From the fading mirages of pink fire licking the ceiling, Fritz swept toward Lewis with frost crackling off his black and bleached collar.  Lewis simply ducks and allows Fritz to cut in close overhead, and Lewis only needs to throw an arm out to swat one of Fritz’s legs and send the other spiraling wild sideways.  Before the silver spirit could recover, Lewis lifts up and thrust an arm out with pink fire crackling over his sleeves.  The blow knocks Fritz across his sharp shoulders and coupled with the speed, manages to throw Fritz several feet sideways.

Fritz tumbles downward hard through the slanted top of a plywood piece, splinters and dust raise with a gust of frost, but he manages to dip far over on his shoulder and skid onto his feet without flying too far from Lewis’ perch.  When Fritz uncoils and rears, he twirls about and sends coils of silver ice spiraling from his shroud.  The haze mists nearby surfaces with a thick coat of glittering powder.  Lewis braces his arms across his skull and expels a swell of roaring flames from his suit and ribs, enveloping his shape with a halo of sizzling heat.  The ceiling and walls are engulfed in twisting magenta and waves of mist as the ether rolls free, before the dark haze of shadows reasserts dominance over the frigid air.

Fritz pivots back and hesitates as the bright fires subside to their source, and through the fog Lewis zips into Fritz’s view with an arm drawn back and red flames swirling over his shirt sleeve.

Another shudder rolls through the choked atmosphere of the factory as Fritz repels Lewis fire with a collision of ice, and spins around to evade the following swipe of flames from Lewis’ arm.  

Throughout the hostile exchange, Vivi relocates to a better vantage point.  She leans down beside a frigid cinderblock wall encircling the work zone, beneath the many thick legs supporting the remnants of a tall scaffolding held in place by cords and cloth.  She holds her breath and tries to cough quietly into her sweater, as she took precious moments to watch and witness as Fritz ascends higher above Lewis’ range. Below, Lewis sinks lower, content with only watching the other spirit with the embers smoldering in his skull. In the pause to follow Fritz turns his gaze off, still searching for her.  She keeps absolutely still, fearful any slight movement might catch the eye of the hostile ghost.

She jolts when a high pitched voice crackles out, right beside her. Though shaken she knows immediately what it is, and hastily reaches around to snap the walkie-talkie from the side pocket on her backpack.  “Arthur. What?”  she hissed.  She peeks over the broken platform as much as she could, to view another burst of flames ignite on Lewis in response to Fritz’s sudden charge.  She shields her eyes when the hailstorm collides with silver mist.

“Finally!”  Arthur must have been speaking, but his voice cut out mid exclamation and the walkie-talkie Vivi held scratched.  She caught the word “through,” before Arthur went on with: “I found – thingy.”  It had to be the maelstrom of activity.  At the distance she had relocated to she felt safe, but obviously the ethereal reach of the two was further than optically estimated.  She wondered if it was wise to set herself so close to Lewis while he was a raging inferno.  After all, his sweater was history.  An interesting observation she did make was that the borrowed dress coat felt much warmer throughout his outbursts, but there could be a multitude of explanations for that.  She just hoped she didn’t spontaneously catch on fire.

“Copy.  Good news,” Vivi praised.  She tilts her head up as she moved across the open floor to reach the nearest wall, through her running Vivi struggled to keep low but her legs were aching from all the crouching and running.  “Do you see me?  Where are—” There was a sharp screech from the walkie-talkie in her hands, and Vivi winced down before she looked up.  Surely Fritz heard that.

Fritz was thoroughly preoccupied by Lewis’ disruption, and she only hoped Lewis could continue on with it.  It wouldn’t take a paranormal specialist to deduce that he was losing too much energy throughout the assault, and that could be the reason why Lewis would not pursue Fritz whenever he took shelter in the rafters of the ceiling.

“Holy shit!”  Vivi could almost hear Arthur’s voice off the radio, as well as through.  “Is – a Poke’mon battle, or—?”  On the other side of the communicator Mystery yapped.

“Can you read me, Arthur?”  Vivi thought Arthur sounded near to her side.  It was difficult to see through the gloom and haze that had lifted, while flashes of pink and white crashed through the dark, blemishing the surroundings with erratic light falls.  Her flashlight was nearly useless on her path, if the strong beam wasn’t the only reliable light source that kept her from stumbling over unseen metal and insulation.  She maneuvered into the direction where she thought Arthur’s scream had raised from. “Art?”

“Over here,” Arthur called, not far from her shoulder.  Vivi spun to the vague echo of his voice, as silver and purple light flashed across the factory momentarily radiating off the decrepit metal bars around them and stone walls.  Arthur shielded his face as he and Mystery waved around to join Vivi beside a stack of metal beams.  “I could hear this mess on the other side of the factory,” Arthur said.  “Umm… nice coat by the way.  It’s Lewis’, right?”  Arthur lowers his torch and shields his eyes as another flash of silver spread like wild current, and a rasp of steam clattered through his head.

Vivi ignored his question, and angled her flashlight beam onto Arthur’s vest and chest.  “Are you certain what you found is the real deal?” Vivi asked.  She glanced down as Arthur rummaged in his pocket and produced a carved piece of metal with a splintered stick in its side.  “Is that—” Mystery barked up at her, his breath momentarily visible as another crackle of sound and light swept upward.

“Mystery found it,” Arthur said.  He pocketed the tarnished cane handle and glanced back as a metallic crash echoed, and the vague mound of metal and wood crumbed into a jagged mound. Arthur couldn’t identify what had happened, but Lewis was momentarily out of sight as Fritz seemed to glance around. Arthur lowered his voice, and indicated Mystery with a hand.  “He might be onto us.”  He nearly yelped when Vivi snagged his vest collar and hauled his around the metal legs of the scaffolding.

“Then let’s finish this,” she said, as she pulled Arthur with her. “It feels like there’s more energy flowin’ between them.  If you’re right about this, then Lewis may be at a disadvantage.  Anyway, he can’t keep this up forever and I don’t want to see him spent out again.”  Once Arthur was moving with her smoothly, Vivi let him go and the three of them raced around the encrusted pipes and broken wood pieces that littered the floor. Vivi prayed Fritz hadn’t detected the disturbance, and she worried for Lewis.  She couldn’t shake the sensation that she was somehow abandoning him. “It’ll work out in the end,” she tells herself. “Lew knows what he’s doing.  I have to trust him.  That’s all I can do.”

Fritz swung his arms down, a wave of ice flashing from his tattered cuffs as Lewis came in too near and too quick.  Lewis shook his shoulders as he glides backwards and removes the ice from his shirt sleeve with a flash of pink.  His eye sockets blaze a vaporous trail, following the shimmering embers in Lewis’ skull.  After the brief recovery Lewis lunged at Fritz with a right hook, but Fritz was able to repel the flame infused lash with a sudden wall of silver ice.

Silver flurries spun at Fritz’s shoulders as he swooped at Lewis, the frost at his collar expelled off his arms as he swung out to repel the other ghost to a more comfortable distance.  Fritz formed a wispy barrier of silver around his black shoulders, thick flurries caught on his bleached ribs and suit as they drift through his translucent aura.  

“You think what you’re doing is right?” Fritz rasped.  He slipped backwards through scaffolding legs above Lewis. The dapper spirit slows his pursuit and picks away from Fritz’s thinning silver mist, with the numerous embers that sprout at Lewis’ crisp white shoulders.  The bright embers snap and sputter, mingling with the ice as Lewis moves closer to Fritz.  All the while, Fritz struggles to maintain some distance from Lewis.  “I don’t even know your name.”

As Fritz stalls and, Lewis notes, averts his skull to scan the floor, Lewis hisses, “You’re afraid of facing your family. That’s it.”  Fritz glances up at Lewis, white flames dimming in their black sockets.  “Thought so.” The embers draw closer to Lewis’ shoulders.  Black smog rises from burning wood infused with grease, at the same time Fritz spreads ice below along metal pipes and the surface near the dapper ghost.  But Lewis keeps embers drifting around his shoulders, as he detects Fritz’s resolve waver.  The gilded locket beats with the seconds, near silent in the sudden calm. “You’re selfish for taking your life, and you’re selfish for making others join you here!”

Fritz expels thick frost down his dark suit, and flurries rise up to spiral around his bleached bones.  He looks away from Lewis, and does not concern himself with the girl in hiding. A hot white flash and then the cold black.  Why him? Why did it have to be him? Ringing.  Dampened voices through wet cotton, he strained to hear but couldn’t grasp the words.  Sometimes it was impossible to gather the distant world around him, once it had left him behind.  Fritz returns the white embers in his skull to Lewis.

“You’ve stayed here too long,” Lewis says, extending a hand towards the silver mist above that sputters when his embers drift too near.  The locket on Lewis chest thuds at its steady rate as Fritz glares, the silver spirit’s mood remains unreceptive. “Don’t you think you’ve allowed yourself to become corrupt?  You became something you’re not.  Don’t you believe that’s possible?”

“I didn’t kill anyone,” Fritz’s voice scratched, and broke.

Lewis’ flames diminished, his human face appearing briefly over the magenta mirage of his jawless skull.  “You indirectly caused accidents,” he said.  Silver ice cascaded out from Fritz’s form, shredding through Lewis’ few bobbing spirit flames.

“You don’t know that!”  Fritz dives down into Lewis, crashing his sharp shoulder into the others ribs as silver ice misted around the two spirits.  Lewis hadn’t the chance to recover when Fritz swung around, and his shirt collar was snagged in Fritz’s grasp as he slung Lewis upward.

Lewis managed to recover, embers shot from his shoulders as he righted himself and turned his feet towards the ground.  Lewis was high up, too high for his sake, and he was working to descend carefully.  Even as Fritz launched himself up, with silver waves rolling off of his bleached ribs. Lewis caught onto Fritz’s rapid approach, but hadn’t the chance to react or evade.  The only vision he could latch onto was rolling flames, gushing outward, off his soul and cascading through the dark, scorching all nightmares and pain. Burn it.  Expel it!  Away! Get AWAY!

The interior walls flood with wild fuchsia, bellowing flames chewed into the rafters and broiled across the tables, waves of fire ravaged the floor in withering heaps.  The torrent slammed into Fritz when he was mere feet from Lewis - volatile fire tore through Fritz’s insubstantial mass, before the jarring sensation released him and he plummets.

Fritz crashed to his knees dazed, noose dangling down the front of his bare ribs.  He hovered in the floor as Lewis continued his slow, rigid descent.  Fritz managed to get his bearings and pull himself into a semblance of memory as he turned once more on the dapper spirit— But halts. Lewis glares at him, but Fritz seemed to have detected… something amiss.

Then Lewis feels it too.  An uncanny pulling, a sense of calling.  Vivi? At first he is alarmed and confused by the sensation, a cold knife of fear jammed into his spine as he searched over the scorched machinery and tables when realization hit him.  Where was Vivi?  He was too low to adequately look for her, which amplified his horror. Until he happened to glance back on Fritz’s way, the other spirit remained indifferent to his gradual approach.

The heart Lewis carried still quivered hard at his chest.  He let his feet settle on a shattered platform of a low scaffold not far from Fritz’s current position.  Fritz hovers where he had stiffened, gazing off to the medium ward of the factory.  It takes a bit of pondering before Lewis decided he knew what it was, and yet it didn’t put his senses to ease.  He was further distressed when without warning, Fritz faded out.  The air was still frigid and a white mist fought to cling where the other spirit had occupied, but Fritz had vanished.

Not for good.

Lewis took one last glimpse of the area, the scorched and iced walls of metal and brick.  Though he knew Vivi was not here, he felt leery of moving anywhere now too quickly. But he didn’t know what would happen, if the others would be with her.  If Arthur would be reliable.

The allure is stronger as Lewis glides through the factory, darting around and over walls and any or all obstacles that dive into his path. He can’t discern if it’s because he’s nearing the source, or if due in fact to the nature of the source.  The sensation itself almost unnerved him, it was strong and compelling and he was not even the receiver of such a distortion. It was that familiar dislocation, of being in two places but only experiencing a sense of ‘between’ the two. Was this what it felt like to feel compelled to the call of the other side?  The compelling nature of what was beyond?  Lewis wouldn’t lie but it did terrify him.  Somehow it did.  It wasn’t the unknown that petrified him, but the realization that she would not be there. A sense of alone.  Of going away for a long time and losing someone special, but you are the one that was lost.

A soft voice came from above, and Lewis glanced across the floor to the mishmash of concrete beneath the office apartment.  Everything sounded all right, and despite his misgivings the air felt calm, collected.  He could hear Vivi’s sweet voice reciting Latin prayer, but the sense of yearning ruined it.

Lewis ascends the steps and crosses the floor, to the broken and twisted window frame.  He can see inside better now after Fritz’s tantrum knocked out some of the glass, and a new display was set out on the floor.  Vivi sits behind a circle with something atop, some sort of metal or wood. New candles flicker and burn, chasing shadows around the room while Vivi held a tattered notebook on her skirted lap. She still wears his suit and while the sleeves still seem to give her some problems, she doesn’t appear bothered and remains fully focused on reciting the last rites.  Mystery sits beside her, on another figure of circles and symbols, one of Mystery’s boot paws is on Vivi’s hand, the other paw lacks a boot and is on a small circle drawn in graphite beside his haunches. Of course, there’s Arthur surrounded by a circle of salt right by Mystery.  Additional marks and candles decorate a small perimeter around the cluster, and Lewis can only stare and detect the pulling sensation in his core. Calling.  

Given the mood of the room, Lewis decides to remain outside and observe.  It would be better if there was an off chance of Vivi losing concentration due to his abrupt appearance.  He would be better off outside.

The words come, recited as Vivi presses her hands upon the circle surrounding the lost possession.  Lewis had never been good with Latin, but the enunciations flow like unwanted attention through him.  He tries not to listen, and focuses on the ruin of the collapsed ceiling behind the group. There stands Fritz Owen, glaring down on Vivi as she delivers her notes.  Fritz hasn’t taken in Lewis presence yet, and Lewis gathers a strange glitter working over and down the spirits insubstantial shape.  Like silver beads crawling in and around his ribs, and glimmering on the noose tied over his tattered suit collar.  Lewis briefly wondered if he could still hang Fritz by that rope, or if it would pass through the vacant neck space.  Fritz’s shape flutters, it was a span or blink of a moment, and Lewis suddenly sees Fritz’s eyes wavering in the dark pits of his skull.

As the glitter of dew continued to constrict Fritz’s shape, Lewis can almost see the flesh that once cloaked that face, and the scars that once bridged across his eyes.  It was only the candlelight mingling with the black tatters of the suit, because Fritz couldn’t be trembling.  Fritz was ethereal ice, cold and selfish, he couldn’t permit a range of emotions beyond that.

“I’m afraid,” the voice whispered.  Lewis can see Vivi chanting, Arthur shaking.  The voice.  He knows that voice, and Lewis looks to Fritz as he stands there fading and brightening like a star forgotten in a pit of midnight.  “I’m afraid,” the voice says over and over, and then begins to repeat.  “Won’t let you.  I won’t let you.”  Lewis felt flames burn up his shoulders as Fritz raised his arm, silver flurries flutter from his palm as he reaches towards Vivi’s neck.  No one has taken notice to the presence behind them.

Arthur, President of bad timing, glanced up when the window across the room shattered as Lewis leaned in.  One of Lewis’ arms was partially obscured by the wall, the other was in full view as flames erupted from his shoulders and shirt collar to swell under the low ceiling.  Fritz does not look as horrified as Arthur does when the flames sweep across the room, but Fritz nonetheless received the full force of the feral inferno and stalls, hand inches from Vivi’s blue hair.  

Vivi did glance up at Lewis as he recoiled from the expulsion of red fire off his shirt sleeves, but her concentration doesn’t break.  She fumbles with a clear bottle and opens it to sprinkle water on the tarnished piece of metal.  The bottle is set aside and Vivi takes the sage to wave the coiling mist over the cursed handle, and spoke a few last phrases and the final rites of passage in Latin.

Behind Vivi, the glimmering beads spreading over Fritz’s suit ignite, engulfing the dark cloak of Fritz’s shoulders and the brilliant fuchsia embers still swirling about the stunned spirit.  Fritz tilts his skull down as a silver mist coats his translucent shape.  The shimmering haze thickens, then evaporates in the next instant and there in its space is nothing but cement walls and wavering candlelight.  The spirit of Fritz Owen was gone.

A last echo resonated within Lewis as he drew himself back from the wall and shattered window.  The pull is gone and he is all right, shaken in a wistful sense but he is still there. Lewis gathers himself and moves away from the window, and the deep hole below it.

As the silence crawled through the dark shadows beneath the candles reach, Arthur, Mystery, and Vivi looked around as the heat from Lewis’ fire dissipates and the air finally begins to warm naturally.  Vivi gave a small gasp when the broken cane became discolored, swimming from grays and gold, to blues, then white.  The marred texture of the handle became translucent as its owner had so formerly become, and melted within seconds into a small puddle over the gray symbols.

“Whoo!”  Vivi slumped over Mystery and onto Arthur’s lap.  “Lew, you were great,” she said, winking at Lewis as he crept into the candlelight from the broken doorway.

“Great?” Arthur choked, slipping his arms under the weight of Vivi in his lap.  Mystery squeezed away from the two and gave his fur a shake.  Arthur goes on, a little emotionally, “We were almost barbequed! That was fuckin scary!  What up, man?”  Vivi made no effort to help Arthur lift her, he struggled with her weight alone.

Lewis dithers within the doorway and shifts back, to glance out over the expanse of the factory and prods at the stillness of the air. Obscure and disembodied clatters linger, the building restless after the recent eruption of spontaneous activity. The dull thrum of his locket comes rapid, stressed and taxed and sympathizing with the cold factory.  It seemed equivocal.  Different, though he couldn’t describe why.

“Fritz,” Lewis answered, when he recalled Arthur’s questions. “He was trying to stop the… ritual.” Empty would be a good word for it. Lewis stepped more into the candlelight as Arthur gave one final struggle to put Vivi back upright, the task made harder with the loose suit slipping around her shoulders.  The candles that had not been knocked over when Vivi flopped over blazed cheerily along the walls without the obtrusive blaze of the cold lamp.  Lewis kept his distance from the marks set on the floor, and stared.

“You okay?” Lewis asked.

Vivi hums a confirming sound as she leans on Arthur.  “The exorcism always drains me,” she says.

Lewis keeps silent.  He only looks up when Mystery moves over to stand beside the runes drawn onto the floor, and Mystery sits down staring up at Lewis, ears twitching before they pull back and flatten.  “This night… is it even night anymore?  It’s been wild,” Lewis said.  He takes a step but doesn’t move any closer, and instead turns to look out the broken window while one hand absentmindedly fumbles with his loose tie. “We should probably get out of here.”

“Finally,” Arthur praises, raising his arms over his head. “The best plan yet this evening!”

Vivi nods as she moves herself to not weigh down on Arthur’s bad shoulder anymore.  “Agreed,” she says.  “Lew, can you get the lamp before we forget it?  I’m sure it only needs a battery.”  Vivi picked up her flashlight and plucked up the dish with the sage, but left the sage to burn out on a slab of cement.  “Art, get the candles?”

“Hold on,” he said.  He sticks his own flashlight in his back pocket, the light stabs up into the cracked ceiling and leave scattered sheets of the pale yellow curtain to slip over the harsh darkness of the room as the candles continued to flutter and sizzle. He swings his backpack aside, away from their work area and the newer lumps of cement, and begins digging inside the bag.  

Mystery detaches from the group to pace around the room, examining the walls for anything missed, small crevices and cracks in the floor or ruble that had no genuine interest but served as a means of distraction as Mystery waited on his companions.  

Arthur fits a thick brush to his foot and as he begins blowing out candles and letting the wax dry, he scrubs at the graphite on the floor with the rough brush on his shoe.  “So, you think definitely the exorcism worked?” Arthur asked.

“Had to,” Vivi responds.  “If not, we’ve done all we can.  The rest would be up to Fritz.”

“I know it did,” Lewis adds.  He hands Vivi the lamp and she returns his suit coat.  With the factory no longer manipulated by Fritz’s sway it was almost uncomfortably warm; further evidence of the spirit’s inarguable departure. Lewis watched as Vivi stashed the electric lamp in her backpack, before she resumes packing the other supplies away. “It feels… different around here now,” he said.  He turns away from the others and found the sensation was awry to him, even to his deeper essence.  But whatever imprecise trepidation it was, it slowly faded like an overused memory.  

Arthur watched Lewis pensive gaze, as the lights of the candles were snuffed out one by one until only the bright magenta hair and eyes of the skull were visible beneath the scarce light of the flashlights hovering around them.  It’d been awhile since Arthur had seen Lewis’ skeletal appearance, and Lewis absent of his large coat looked odd.  Less intimidating, somehow.  Casual skeleton Hauntdays Arthur decided.  “Well,” Arthur began, trying to sound light, “if the exorcism didn’t work, then you probably scared him off anyway with the crazy pyro effects.”

Lewis made a soft crackle in his chest, but didn’t turn to the others.  The locket, his cherished heirloom, pulsed softer and softer as he and it kept each other company.  A last echo range in Lewis’ essence, “I’m not ready.”  

While Vivi and Arthur pick up and clean up their work, Lewis does not help.  He can’t. The impression Fritz had left in him, a dreary promise void of words and conveyed through a heavy resonance. Lewis wouldn’t pretend he understood even the minimum of what was in his capacity or knowledge, but he knows what he felt.  Fritz had sent a very potent yet rarefied warning.  

[jess-the-vampire]

Sky And The Forces Of The Multiverse, Chapter 23

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"I could portal?", the demon girl looked down at her hands, as if memorized by them, " But, i'm not supposed to be able to do that without years of practice dipping down right? I mean, I've just never heard of our mewberty forms letting us.....portal before...it's never been recorded in our history at least...". Sunny of course, was still upset about her recent.....freakout, but what put her more on edge then anything was her abilities, being more overpowered then normal. She sighed, "I got my wand so young......because I was too powerful....I...needed to be able to control my power sooner then other princesses, so....it's just...a little scary to find out...what I can do...when i'm not in control of my own body.". She looked to the people in the room with her, that being for now, galexia, and judas. Judas coming here right after seeing his father, and waiting on the return of sky, and and keeping a close eye on galexia as she drew in the corner, this was lexi's room after all, anyone was welcome. "I know the feeling....it's kinda a personal fear of mine as well..".

"It's always been like this for me...you know? I kinda always felt like me being stuck at home so much, it wasn't just to keep me safe...it was to keep others safe...from me.", sunny's wings fluttered behind her, they were still new, so still soft and weak, it was going to take some getting used to for her. She was used to flying without wings that having wings felt like a bizarre experience, what were her parents going to say if and when she got back home? "I'm sure it's nothing you need to worry about, at least, not right now.....you're back in control of your body, and you seem to have gotten a good hold on yourself...", the smaller demon nodded, "I have.....but, sometimes it's a scare when you have that kinda power....especially when you want to control it.". Sunny always seemed so in control of her powers, almost better then luna was, so her talking about this, especially as dismal as she spoke on the topic, well, it was strange. Sunny was usually so sweet and cheery, and right now, she was far from it. "You gonna be ok?", it wasn't entirely like judas himself was in the best of moods after speaking to his father, but he sure didn't want sunny to feel awful considering all the stuff she must me going through, the stuff that usually seemed to hide behind her smiles. "I'll be ok...I think, i'm used to having strange things happen to me....I just need more time to process it...". He understood, he honestly would ask her further about her magic back home but it didn't seem remotely appropriate right now considering how sunny felt. "It's alright sunny....for the record though.....your butterfly form was incredible...". It seemed to make her feel a little better, smiling and twiddling her fingers together, "Thanks...I just hope i didn't scare you all TOO bad, i know mewberty can be a little....insane....not to mention how long it'll take to clean up my room of evidence...that stuff doesn't come out easily you know? How are you planning to even get rid of it? If one of the underworld servants walks in to clean it they are going to have to report it to well...your parents...". She took a seat next to her older half-brother, who tried to reassure her. "Eclipsa said she'd take care of it...i'm....still not entirely comfortable with her knowing about....you know, but, i do want to trust her. I just hope she doesn't go into any of our minds again, I don't particularly like people invading my privacy like that...", he looked over to lexi, who was still drawing to her heart's content, "Yesterday was such a crazy day my mind feels like it's turned into jelly, i can't entirely concentrate and today hasn't been much better with my dad.... I just hope sky's doing better then me...". "she's talking to angel?" "Yeah, kinda, well....inviting him to hang out....globgor is going to look into his family but we think well.....we might be better talking to angel ourselves to a degree, right now, we're better off as friends then enemies..", she crossed her arms, "Just, i hope you're not doing it just to get information out of him....he's still a person you know? I know i'd hate it if someone became my friend just to use me like that...I know he's kinda weird but, he's still a person...". She pouted, "Awhile back you got mad with me for trying to mess with Loki, for trying to trick him? I was only trying to help but I wasn't going about it the right way, I have friends back home who'd....well I guess they would've seen the situation more harmless then you did, but i get the feeling being tricked or lied to bothers you a lot...". He nodded, "I guess you could say that yeah....", and Sunny nodded, "I made you upset, and....I don't want you to make him upset....i've met monsters like him back home and....", She stopped speaking, but judas seemed to understand what she was getting at. Sunny had a real sympathy for monsters and people that need help didn't she? "I promise, this isn't just because we're suspicious...we do want to be on good terms with him, trust me.", he patted her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her, "With everything going on we need answers, and something is definitely up with angel and we need to look into it, but....I don't want to hurt the guy either....If nothing is really going on and he truly wanted to hang out with us...then.....this can't do any real harm in the end. And hopefully....things work out between us..". She seemed to understand, "Just be careful, he seems like he's going through enough.....I don't think he'd like feeling as though you didn't actually care about him.". Judas knew well enough, and after him being almost friendless aside from sky for most of his life, he wouldn't want to turn into the guy that made someone else feel uncared about either. He just hoped in the back of his mind angel wasn't withholding any dangerous secrets from him, that things could be peaceful between the three of them. There was definitely something strange with him, between him just magically appearing in the castle during the sleepover, to stealing jude's phone, to producing silk again when he shouldn't be able to? Maybe he was indeed overthinking it, it had crossed his mind that he was getting way too paranoid about everyone and everything these days, but he was getting desperate for answers. The biggest issues was mostly going to be getting them from Angel once they confronted him. He was always stern with the boy, but also friendly, despite how tall he was the last thing he ever wanted to do was come off like he was planning to hurt anyone. But if he wasn't careful he might get nothing from him, and only make their relationships with angel worse then they kinda were. He at the very least, could hope the respect they shared between being monster princes from mewni would at least allow the boy to be more comfortable if sky failed. For as long as he remembered the three had never been on the best of terms, even if he wished that were different if he had known he'd sometimes feel as disrespected or as isolated as angel did at times. If there is something on the loose out there, targeting kingdoms, they needed as many allies as they could, and if anyone in this large and insane magical world needed allies and friends at this time of need. It was the boy with extra legs and whose stubbornness matched the one of his best friend most times. No more fights, no more bitter rivalries, no more of angel causing issues. That was the dream, a nice dream at least. "I hope you three become good friends....you know, and nora, nora too.....", sunny sounded sad, her voice growing weak, "If and when we go back home, we're not going to see you anymore most likely....things will go...back to normal, and well....when i'm gone...", she looked over to him with sad eyes, "I hope you all well....are happy...at least, I want to think about you all being happy together, you, sky, angel, nora, mason...landon....all of you.". "I'm gonna miss you too sunny....it's well....it's nice to have a little sister...", sunny smirked, eyes glistening, "Well, it's kinda cool to have an older brother, i've always been so used to being the oldest I've never known what it was like to have a protective older brother looking out for me....I-I hope maybe...we can just...find a way...to talk again, when all of us go home....you know? Think about it, you could meet my friends and they could meet yours and.....it's a nice thought..". "Yeah, yeah it is....the future is always a little funky and even when your reassure yourself things will be easy it can still come back to you but....the though helps, that maybe...everything will work out.". "GUYS!", the door swung open, sky walking in, frantic and.....happy? Catching the attention of both part-demons who were momentarily scared but relaxed and eased as the princess looked the happiest she'd been in awhile. "I think......it actually worked...?". "You asked angel out?", Sunny asked, jokingly, eyebrow raised. "Uh, No......but I think, we're kinda....sorta.....friends? Maybe...well, I actually think he wants to hang out..", Judas stood up, half surprised and half in utter joy, "You actually got him to want to hang out with us? Wow I thought it would take longer but.....sky that's wonderful! What happened?". Sky shrugged, knowing full well the entire situation was kinda awkward to explain , "Well, we kinda fought together and he kinda freaked out and I actually...comforted him? And well we.....he actually.....admitted to well...not liking his actions, that they weren't helping and we.....hugged.". "You hugged?" "Don't make it weird! But yeah....he sorta...cried into my shoulder..". "He cried?! " "Yeah, he kinda went haywire for a sec and i guess it scared the heck outta him and he kinda needed to vent and talk to someone and I was just kinda there and ...look, it's not that important how it happened! I think we just....had a "Bonding moment" and well, he actually smiled, at me.....it's kinda strange when i actually talk about it." Sunny looked rather giddy, "He SMILED?! Awwwww!! That's really sweet! Did you get his number? You could-". "Sunny, angel doesn't have a compact, remember?", judas reminded the small girl, thinking back, "for several different reasons but considering he has to steal mine off me, yeah it's clear he never had one he could easily access, and to order food for some reason too....so that's kinda odd, but yeah, we'd have to go to him to hang out...though, his parents most likely would think we were there because he did something....and our parents still are on high protection of us...". "So how do you even plan on spending time with him? " "Simple", Sky said, not very happy with the solution but knowing full well where it was going, "I'm going to have to talk with my mother..". It didn't sound that bad without context but her mother wasn't very fond of Angel's antics and the only way they could avoid most issues was for angel to come to them And angel can't come to them, without Star herself intervening. Fantastic. - 'Hey celeste...", landon caught up with the girl, a little spring in his step and a compact being placed into his pocket and celeste could only assume what...or who was now putting him in better spirits. "Um....how did things uh...go....with sunny? I'm not talking to judas so....I kinda thought you'd tell me but you've kinda ignored me....", She simply grumbled, her mind feeling as if it were fighting with each other, should she say something or not? By the sounds of it Judas hadn't made it public to the whole group yet , was he even going to? Was everyone just planning on not telling luna anything? Including her? If the Nora stuff was any indication, they were definitely not telling them everything that was going on, sneaking out to see a girl? Seriously? Where were their priorities at if they were sneaking out to see someone else unless it has to do with their current task of finding their way home? It was like being stuck between a rock and a hard place, she was pissed at luna but she was also pretty pissed at judas and sky for keeping more secrets from her. Even if they may of been warranted from someone like luna. She was so lost in thought she only just now noticed landon snapping his fingers in front of her, keeping an eye on the guard following celeste nearby, "Look, we have to talk because if we don't so something and luna finds out, I kinda get the sense she'd wipe our memory or something and I'd....rather she didn't...you have to do some some questioning to figure out what's so...weird about sunny and I have to look at sky's wand and well, we kinda need to talk if we want to do our own investigating I guess..". "You still want to work with uh...luna? You seemed pretty mad with her...". "I don't like her, trust me, but....I've been doing some thinking and well.....I still want you to go home....So, i'll put up with it, but only if it means we figure out what's going on around here.....because If i catch that stupid guy who did this well, imagine that.", she could see a glint of joy in his eyes and suddenly she understood where this was headed, "No more hiding in that private box huh? You just plan on going out there and capturing the guy yourself?". "Oh you bet, i'm freaking sick of this, sick of no one knowing who i am, sick of my brother being more important, sick of people like that girl stomping all over me. I was about to back up, thinking i made a mistake in getting involved in this against my brother, but you know what? Maybe this is just what i need to show him and everyone else, you and me, we work together to figure this out, we'll get what luna needs but we capture the guy together...we both show the others we're not useless..". "You're serious? We team up and work on this together?". "I'll show them....I'll show them all...", he was definitely serious, his violin strapped to his back and his three eyes looking dead forward, "We both will, if luna and everyone else wants to tear us down...we'll shown them what we're made of...". His attitude was so....unlike landon, not to say landon never did anything, but that the boy rarely ever seemed happy or eager to get involved in anything when she'd seen him, she had a feeling luna's words got to him more then he let on. Was he really that mad? She'd seen him mad before but mad enough to push himself into situations he didn't normally like doing? She almost felt like she should talking him out of it, but social interaction wasn't her strong suit, maybe if she was lucky he'd back out of it himself, though right now she just decided to shake it off. She might be overthinking it, if the dude wanted to take charge and prove himself she couldn't really be the kinda person to ruin that for him. "Do you even have a plan?". "Sorta....". "Sorta??!!". "Look, Sunny kinda sorta lives with you, you can talk to her....she's an open book right? Just...ask about her and what's up with her.....why does luna even want to know about that anyway?", his partner shrugged, looking behind her at the guard who wasn't paying too close of an ear to their words, "I assume she just finds it kinda weird this 14 year old girl is more stupidly powerful then she is.....honestly are you surprised? It is freaking weird how good she is at magic...and she's younger then me.". Well, actually, landon had barely ever seen the girl do magic, so he technically had no reason to really know now that she thought about it, but whatever. She shook her head and moved on, "Anyways, I think luna's on edge, the longer she's been here the more and more on edge she's been getting, maybe she thinks....sunny did it?", his eyebrows were raised and his hands were placed in his pockets. "Sunny? But Sunny doesn't really seem to have much interest in like....I dunno, doing anything to hurt anyone? I mean, you've seen her, she eats dinner with our family and she's kinda....well....not really sinister...". "Well, she's also a pretty good actor I believe.....", Celeste mumbled, "I dunno, I think at one point she mentioned being in plays back home and you've seen how she talks to your dad and can get what she wants out of people, I mean....what if she's a better actor then we thought? She seems to have a way with people...". "Yeah, but she's also not tall enough to be under that outfit.....well, i guess unless she flew...but still, like....remember the portal thing? She can't be in two places at once, we were ALL there!", he had a good point, "I mean, unless.....but no, sunny doesn't know anyone else around here enough to have a accomplice, she's in a whole new dimension....and that doesn't explain sky's wand and all this other junk or why she'd do these things... and UUGGHHHH!". "Look, let's just work on talking to her and looking at the stupid wand...though, I dunno what she expects you to do with the wand...stare at it? I mean, if she holds it it would just turn into her wand so....", he grumbled and scratched his head, "I dunno, i've known sky for a long time, seen her use magic all the time, and I don't know enough about it to even know what i'm looking for! I mean, nothing seems wrong about it from the outside....I think...". "Take some pics or something, I dunno....I apparently have to learn to "Socialize" and talk to sunny....", she was clearly not too keen on having the task where she had to smile and make friends and she threw her arms up in the air, "Like, i HATE talking to most people, because most people are annoying and treat me like garbage and I have to try and get information nicely out of them? Like, Ugh.....luna sounds like my mom back home, trying to get me to make friends..". "Really?". "Don't your parents ever just....y'know....make you do these things? Try to help you make friends? Try and make you into what they want to make you into?", he shook his head almost immediatly, "Our parents never really pressured us into anything....being....anyone, judas was gonna be king but....our parents preferred we had y'know....freedom to make our friends and persue our hobbies...you know, i was shut inside my room a lot....my parents didn't try and force me into anything...". "Huh.....", she pondered over that for a moment, before turning her head away, "Well, I guess you're lucky then...". She went silent as she felt landon touch her shoulder gently, trying to comfort her," Look, I-I'm sure you can do it, don't give up...just.....be yourself or something, you can probably get what you need.". She didn't seem all that optimistic about his words but took them anyway, Well, I uh.....hey.....let's head to my room, I think there are some things from yesterday you outta know. He understood, following her. "Hey uh....is it weird to ask if....you know, why do you fall back on things you say you want to do? Like....You said awhile ago you wanted to use magic, use it to help...but don't use it..., and you hate talking about your home...but want everyone to spill their guts....it's kinda weird...". "Why do you care?". "I dunno, it's just...sometimes...It feels like you say things...looking for a fight....but don't actually mean them...". She went silent, before brushing him off, "C'mon, move it....and keep your voice down...". She really didn't want to talk about her problems right now, and just focus on getting this dumd mission done so luna didn't explode. Sunny was an interesting choice of a suspect, but her being in two places at once was an odd thing to explain for now. However, she was not the only monster/mewman that could be under suspect of being responsible behind this. Now, she knew there was another as gears turned in her mind. Meteora. - "You finally ready to go talk to her?", judas sighed, watching sky as she held out the pendent Katrina gave her, sky sighing to herself, knowing he was going to see nora alone today to tell her his progress, in which, there was none of course. Nothing to present to her besides the fact his father would be considering the whole thing, judas would be more then fine on his own of course, though he did seem sad his friend would be sneaking off somewhere else. "Guess I've been stalling long enough...huh?", she was partially laughing, but it was true, she had kinda been stalling for a long time from when katrina first told her she could contact her at any time using this...thing she supposed. Maybe something about going out there to find her made her anxious, maybe she was worried this was a set up for some bizarre elaborate trap, or maybe she was just scared she'd find her and talk to her and come back with nothing. She clutched her wand in her hands, anxious about it and using it before examining the pendent, "I'm not even sure how to use the thing honestly, it's not like this came with any instructions, or katrina told me much, just that this pendent is supposed to help me find her...somehow...". Upon close inspection the pendent was quite decorative, with a few green gems on it, but it wasn't particularly very helpful to point her the right way, because of course it wasn't. Ugh, Spies. Judas carefully took it out of her hands, looking it over closely, "Katrina.....you could at the very least write a note if you wanted to allow us to find where you go", he turned the pendent in his hands and bit at his lips, "I'm not sure sky, maybe you should try using your magic or something?". He was met with silence as he put his hands in his pockets, "You don't have to go, I mean, not tonight at least, you can come with me and nora and we'll talk and you can figure this out later...". "No it's cool, the arm thing is mostly your business anyway,  I just....there's gotta be something here...katrina knows us....there has to be something about it to help....the chick is a freaking spy, if anyone knows wat's happening outside of these walls, she would", he smiled, giving her a small hug before standing back up, "Well, if that's the case, i know you'll figure it out, call me if you figure out anything...ok? We'll talk soon enough, I believe in you....ok?". She smiled and watched him teleport away, staring at the pendent and getting a little more frustrated over time. It was nice for them to be on good terms again, reliving actually, sky could be stubborn as all heck sometimes but judas was probably the one person who could get her to soften so easily. She missed having his support and things sorta seemed to be looking up a little more recently between them being back to normal and angel and her actually seemingly working things out at a decent pace. She wished he could stay and help but, honestly after their stupid fight the last thing she wanted to do was ask too much of him. Plus, this thing with Nora mattered a lot to him personally and no doubt she would be the worst friend ever if she tried to take that away from him. She probably should take advantage of this situation to handle more matters without judas, though she kinda was always under the impression in their duo he was better suited to figuring out puzzles and stuff like this. Even if people were encouraging her that she was pretty competent on her own with magic, she doubted they could argue for her knowledge considering how much studying annoyed her and that she was far from the most knowledgeable about mewni. But she stalled this enough and she had to figure this out, at least, if only because judas was counting on her and believed she would figure it out herself. "Ok.....what am i supposed to do here...how do I find you....ugh...think sky, think like a spy....". She rolled the pendent around and looked closer at the gems, one was a little bit bigger then the other when she took a better look at it, but that was probably for decorative purposes. The she turned the pendent around, looking at it's bare back and scratching at it, "Think think......like...ok.....well, Katrina knows I like to make hats....so maybe....it has something to do with that? But this is like...jewelry! That's.....that's not the same thing! Ugh....maybe I just....". She placed the pendent on her hat, the chain around one of the ears as she frustratingly sat it there, all out of ideas, grumbling, "Ugh....this is freaking stupid....". The pendent, as if it could hear here, hit her in the eye as she moved. "OWWW! Ugghhhhh, c'mon.....". Then she froze, the gem right in front of her eye as she held it closer to her eye. Everything was green. It was a freaking spyglass to hook onto her hats, my god. And then she held it out towards the window. "Are you kidding me..." - "You came! Bluebell!", Katrina wrapped her arms around sky, holding her tightly, "It was about time, I would've thought you'd be more eager to see my other outside work....". Sky huffed and puffed as she pulled up her pendent, the one katrina gave her, "Well, this thing didn't exactly come with instructions, I had to use this weird spyglass thing at my window, till i found some weird blinking thing in the distance, to find your location, and then i had to SNEAK outside of my room to find you...". She looked over the the green gemstone on top of the wall, the stones were clearly linked somehow to find katrina magically but sky still seemed mad about going through so much effort to make it where she should've been countless times before now if she hadn't been so lazy. "And it took you THAT long? it's been weeks!" "What? No! Things just kinda....got in the way", she felt embarrassed, she should've come sooner, and she promised everyone she would, and still didn't do it. Her procrastinating seemed to never fade did it? Katrina still seemed delighted to see her though, smiling from her hideout, atop the ruins of a giant wall, clearly broken from a past war no doubt. Did she really spend her days watching things from atop a ruined wall?  What would she normally even find up here? "Ah, what kinda things?", she was smiling a toothy smile and the mewman groaned. "Trust me, nothing THAT special, but....I'm sure you've heard about the whole....."Masked thief" thing going around? The entire kingdom is kinda in a huff because of it, not to mention security is way tighter to avoid them sneaking back in...". Katrina seemed to get it almost immediately, her eyes diverting to the scene in front of her, "Oh, I know exactly what you mean Sky, I've been on watch for her ever since I heard...I think the monsters have been paranoid about her being a mewman out to get vengeance or something..". "A mewman out for vengeance?". "Yeah, against the royal families for allowing monsters rights and such? You know what some mewmans are like about monsters or half monsters these days.....you're not even a monster and you deal with some flack, i think there have always been rumors for awhile about....secret cults or assassins out to put things back to normal, most of it comes from paranoia of course, but spies like me have caught some crazies out there on the job sadly...you don't think Princess Spiderbite is kept at home or the Lucitor princes are restricted on where they go and what they do for no reason do you? There are dangerous people out there...". "And...you think this is one of them?". "Yes but....you should be careful....because i'm also hearing...you're under suspect from the commission..". "You...hear a lot of things through the grapevine huh?", she had almost forgotten the commission thought she was responsible for the destruction of the archives and tried to take her wand away, it had been awhile since being under suspect had even been brought up and judas made no mention of it when he went to meetings with his parents. Though then again, talking about his best friend like that in front of him would've been a stupid move for them anyway. "Word gets around bluebell......especially when the kingdoms become more heavily guarded and the royals don't leave without bodyguards....besides, you know me, spying is a part time job for me...things slip through the cracks eventually...for example, I assume Judas is out to meet that slime girl?". Sky's eyes widened, then she groaned, "Ugh, does EVERYONE know about that besides our parents? Cause we haven't even done it for very long!". "Oh no, just me....I can see a lot from this point, plus I'm probably keeping better eye on your then the guards anyways..."., she was partially laughing but did seem a little concerned, "Don't worry, I won't snitch, just be careful out there....there's been some weird stuff going on and I'd rather neither of you got hurt on my watch. I know you both can take care of yourselves but if I know you're sneaking out and something happens....that's on me.". "What...weird stuff have you been seeing exactly?". "It's hard to explain, though you know that ponyhead kid? He's been wandering around a lot during the night, I can spot him in the woods sometimes, other times....I spot other people out there, the high commission for one but I can't tell if it's part of their job or not, and some people out there are meant to be out there anyways...". Loki had been wandering around in the woods huh? Yeah, that didn't seem to suit the kid, though it peaked her interests drastically. "Loki's under heavy guard to keep him from running off, he hasn't been like....tagging me or judas for weeks since they locked him up...". "Really? Cause I'm sure it's him...". "Well, judas has said he's been acting strange, tired, more paranoid....dazed....". She hummed and went back to looking over the wall, pulling out binoculars, "That's not a good sign, do you know if he sleepwalks...er....floats? Perhaps he's lacking in rest as a result? Being out in the woods these days, not a good idea....I've tried to catch him, but he's too fast, even for me....and those woods....easy to get lost in. I've been sending reports to his parents you know, but either they aren't listening or whatever they're doing....isn't working..". "You know anything....else going on...that's odd?". "Well, a spy can't tell you everything blue girl...however....i'll tell you this, the high commission are still onto you, be careful, they're looking for more evidence to convict you and the only thing standing in their way of coming to you sooner is your mother..", guess regardless of her mixed feelings towards her mom, she was at least the one thing keeping her from being trialed by the high commission for possible crimes. "You have them on edge, take it from me though, i personally think someone's trying to frame you. That or...the commission is all too eager to remove you from the throne.....". "You think they would do that?". "I put nothing past them after what they pulled with Eclipsa years ago, they're no longer the credible all mighty magic users mewni once saw them. Pretty sure the reason they aren't fired is they don't have anyone to take their place.....but they are still have you under suspicion sky, just....don't trust them, I think they want to believe you're the one under that mask, that your friends are just covering up for you, the stunt that happened with the chandelier? It was only the beginning of trying to make you out worse then you are...". "I got mad during that.....my mom...". "Isn't understanding all the time, or perfect, I know....it's not entirely your fault she leaves you so....emotionally upset. Though, as someone who knew her, she struggled a lot as well, I mean "Fixing" magic? Dying and coming back to life? She went through a lot, and she was just around your age if not younger when she did....and then, she grew up, she kinda had to grow up fast going through all that....she never intended to be so....."Y'know"?". "I guess....". "That's life sometimes, things happen and there's not much you can do about it, your mom wants the best for you she's probably just not...."Good" at expressing that, it's ok though. You'll get through it, you're getting better at magic right?", she held out her wand, "Yeah, I am....i mean...my mom started training me and It did some good....but...I also failed a lot....but then eclipsa started helping and...of all people out here, ANGEL sorta made me realize a lot of the reason I screw up....is cause i lack like...confidence....or well...i'm emotionally messed up..". "Angel? Awww, that's sweet...". "Don't make it creepy.". "Oh don't worry, I just think sometimes you can learn just as much from your enemies, as your friends. And besides, angel is nice boy, sometimes a little stupid and inconsiderate, but a nice boy. I suppose your mother teaching you specifically would make things more complicated wouldn't it? Well, don't worry about it.....your friends will-". Then she went silent, touching sky's shoulder, "Shh, quiet....there the boy is....wandering around again?". Sky looked up and over the wall, squinting. "Uhh....I don't see loki anywhere, I mean...he's bright green....". "That's because he wears a black costume blue girl...., but if you look close enough you can make him out despite that....here", she handed sky her binoculars and sure enough, the outline of a pony could barely been seen as the prince rapidly moved through the woods, "Well, if he's putting on a costume, he's out for a reason....you think he's looking for something?". "Not sure, just know he's scared a lot of villagers passing by because he's so fast and hard to make out...."., the frog woman eyed sky, "I'm not supposed to leave my post tonight since my usual partner ain't here but.....you think we should catch him? I've tried tailing him but he's too fast, but maybe....", she looked to sky's wand and back to her, "You're not perfect I know, But....if you're improving as much as you say you are....see if you can catch that rouge prince before he gets back home, i'll cover for you if you get caught...". "Catch him? You mean go over there and rope him?". "Yep....ever lassoed a stray warnicorn? It's like that....except....it's flying...though, might wanna be careful considering he's royalty. If you can catch him we might be able to find out what he's doing, his parents never listen to me otherwise i'd go to their kingdom and ask myself but....yeah, you know them...". She grabbed the binoculars back as she examined the surroundings, "If you can catch that guy, we might get to properly confront him on this right here, right now...". "You sure we couldn't wait...?". "It'd make good practice....just be careful of the horn, and maybe magic possibly, but it might help you more to use magic in action.", she noted, and she was indeed right. Sky was thinking for a bit, well, if she did catch him she might be able to find out some info, but then again, loki usually lacked anything of interest, even angel at the very least, was fascinatingly annoying, loki was straight up a burden most of the time, and if he weren't being kept in his room he probably would've caught onto sky's little secret uncomfortably fast and blabbed it to the world. "Here.....you are now spy, spies wear this...", she handed sky a dark mask to hide her face, "Here....put this on, might help him have a harder time noticing you...I don't know what he's doing down there, but I think we'll both be better off knowing.". She needed only to look at the mask for a second before grabbing it and pulling it over her head, "Alright, I'll give it a shot, I don't promise i'll catch him though, I have no idea what he's even doing out there...". "Well whatever it is, we outta find out...". Sky creeped away from the way, sneaking over towards the edge of the woods, wand in hand and eyes looking out for sudden movements, she and judas had gotten into a few scrapes, never really to go after anyone of course, but she had recalled times where sneaking around and having your hair stick up on edge was incredibly common for their adventures, that was the thing about mewni at least, you never know what to expect and so much out there was deadly enough to kill you in an instant. Especially out there in the woods. Loki was lucky he hadn't been hurt yet out there, was he using magic against anything that could've killed him? He was pretty cowardly, too cowardly to really fight back that much, too cowardly to sneak into the dark woods at night where he could easily be kidnapped or hurt or worse out there. Maybe he really was sleepwalking or something? Though that probably just meant he should be slamming into every tree he came across, breaking his horn easily. She gripped her wand tighter as she peeked further into the woods, feeling a breeze as something flew past her fast. And then stopped in it's tracks, much to her surprise. "L-Loki?". He turned. He didn't seem normal at all, his eyes were glowing and she couldn't even see the prince's pupils, she barely had time to think when he darted for her and her wand, sky ducking and the prince missing her by a few inches. What? was he trying to impale her or something? He wasn't sleepwalking, that was for sure, he was under some kind of spell. And something about sky and her wand seemed to call to him, he darted again for her and sky put her wand out at him, aiming to hit him. Without hurting him of course, or judas would be PISSED. But then he stopped in his tracks, right in front of the wand, transfixed by it in fact. Sky was panting, shocked by the sight in front of her, was he responding to her being a magic user or something? Did it even really matter? She roped him no trouble with her licorice spell though, right around his mouth, pulling him along and back to katrina, who looked just as stunned as sky was as she got a close look at the spell cast prince. "You caught him...rather....easily....", Katrina reached out to touch the prince's face, he didn't react, whatever spell he was under made him kinda stiff other then the floating his species normally was capable of. "Does he...recognize me? Why would he stop?", Katrina didn't seem to know herself, "Right now, let's just get him home, "Or correction, I'll get him home, you probably shouldn't say anything....I need to report this one sky, he's clearly been tampered with magically. We won't be able to question him till he snaps out of it...and who knows how long that might...last..". Sky circled him, in fascination, "Does this mean...someone's been using him for something?". "It would explain his vanishing for awhile, seems he was an easy target to take control of..", she snapped her fingers in front of his glowing eyes and hummed to herself, taking rein of the "Rope" sky was using. "You better leave blue girl, not safe if masked person is taking control of others for their own benefit. Your safety is incredibly important and I can't risk you ending up like him....". Sky really couldn't argue with that if she tried, though he felt shivers go up and down her spine as she removed the mask she was wearing. "S-should I tell judas? About this?". "The sooner the better, if he's here it's highly likely the masked one isn't too far away...". "Alright, I'll-". Then before her eyes, Loki's eyes returned to normal, the prince fainting and falling only to be caught by katrina quickly, he came to shorty after, dazed and very much confused. He looked between the monster and half-mewman and blinked at them, "Uh....what? Sky, you're kidnapping me? Where you taking me? Tell me you're taking me away from my parents....". Sky gave him a look, and the pony went back to floating, his hair waving and gills working as normal. "Uh....w-why are you staring at me....is...what am i wearing?!...ugh...", he seemed drowsy, even if he wasn't in control of his body, his body still seemed to have all the same affects it normally would've if he had had them, he still seemed a little out of it and katrina looked back to sky as loki finally noticed he had been roped. "Don't worry your highness, I'll explain later, c'mon....we're heading out....", she looked over to sky and motioned to her spyglass, "I'll lead you back home, follow, but once we get back, don't come looking for me anytime soon....I'll come to you next time we need to talk...". "Wait, what's going on...I-I..", she shushed loki, "C'mon, we move.....". And she was out of sight quickly after, tugging the prince behind her as sky grabbed her things, summoning her bat-winged cloudy to catch up. - "Landon...sweetie?", Marco knocked on the boy's bedroom door, hearing a small "Yeah?" from the other side. Marco opened the door to find the boy.....reading a book on magic? And Celeste was with him in the corner, writing something. Marco didn't pay her much mind though, wanting to see their son specifically. Landon looked up at the sight of them and seemed a little embarrassed, he wasn't entirely over the fact he dissapointed Marco as badly as he did. "Hi mom......", he was flipping through the book, specifically on the pages about the butterfly wand, the recorded gemstones it had had in it's history and such, finding any info he could on his mission, his knowledge of sky's wand was limited, but maybe....if he knew more about it......he might have an easier time getting a hold of it and finding out what about it had suddenly gotten luna's attention. Maybe he could figure it out himself? Before she or anyone else could? Though his mom entering the room was a bit of a distraction as he put the book down, he just hoped it wasn't anything.....bad, he was getting a little too used to getting bad news for his liking and he especially hated hearing it come from his mother of all people. But his mother seemed rather happy, their first instinct being to ruffle their son's hair, being mindful of his sharp horns, "I'm glad you made another friend landon, you called bernard recently? I'd like to have him over at some point....so we can all get to know him...". "Mommmmmm~", he was giving her a childish grumble but his mom only seemed to laugh and find it adorable. "C'mon, I think it's a good idea, sky's been over for meals so many times in the past but you've never invited a friend over for dinner to meet the rest of us, I think it'd be nice for all of us to get to know him a bit better, well, as long as his parents were cool with it. I know the whole "being rulers of the underworld" thing, doesn't work with everyone...". "Well, I'll ask, I....I do want him to come over.....soon...", he couldn't see if but he had a feeling celeste was smirking and rolling her eyes from her seat, "You think he'll be cool with......all this? I mean, he saw a little of it and he says it'll be fine but....". The human covered his mouth, "Don't worry about what he thinks, if he can't accept your home and culture, then you can find better friends out there who do care about you and your culture...ok?". The queen removed their hand and landon sighed, "I-I guess....". "Anyways, I came here because I have a package for you....from your brother..", as if by magic, which it probably was, marco pulled out a box from behind them, a rather long box in fact. It didn't take long for Landon to get an idea about what it was, he just was mixed about taking it. His mother though, seemed entirely aware of this, their attitudes to each other at more recent dinners and such most likely gave it away rather quickly since landon was maybe a little too easy to read for his mom. "Open it.....please? I know you two are still mad at each other but.....at least see what he got you...". He sighed but complied, ripping open the package and the paper being used to cushion the object as he found....a new violin bow. Oh yeah, judas did promise him a new one awhile back didn't he? It was beautiful though, back and red with a small wooden skull carved on the top. He stared at it, at a loss for words when he noticed a note in the box as well, pulling it out and looking over it. Yep, it was clearly from his older brother, and he almost considered scrapping it for a moment. But his mom was there and....well....he'd kinda be the worst if he did that, wouldn't he? Sigh --------- Landon, I don't want us to keep fighting like this, but i know you don't want to speak with me so for me this was the best way I could talk to you. Listen, I don't mean to make you feel however you feel, whether it makes you feel inferior or unliked or....that our family prefers me. I never asked for this, to be cursed and have to deal with people either despising me, fearing me, or so sympathetic towards me that....it makes you and others feel insignificant. I feel like a burden sometimes, personally, especially to our family who have to spend so much time arguing about taking care of me or trying to help me that even asking for help feels like crossing a line to some degree. I don't like being the guy everyone is worried about or is pressured to be so many things or i'll blow up like a bomb. You're lucky landon, you're free to do what you want, no pressure, to go out there and make a name for yourself. Mewni has already decided both those things for me, and it's something I have to deal with whether i want it or not. I never meant to come off like i didn't care, you know how much i hate hurting my friends or family members, you're still my brother and I don't want us to keep fighting. We need to talk about this stuff more, in person, I'm not mad with you, and you don't me owe me anything but, just understand I never intended for things to go this kinda way in our relationships. Maybe i could've better, about everything...and maybe I sound kinda bad by trying to make any kind of excuses in this, I guess it just doesn't feel...fair to be blamed for something that's just....out of my control. But If you need a real apology, because i REALLY don't want to come off like i'm trying to guilt trip you...can we talk? In person? We should talk and sort this out, together. I hope you like the bow, It finally came in after awhile and I figured this was the best place i could leave a note since i promised you a bow. just....tell me when, ok? Judas. -------- Landon put the note back in the box quickly, a fast reaction and most likely a resort of his lingering anger. But his face softened a little and marco sighed, "Listen, you can't stay mad at your brother forever, you know how badly he hates hurting you or sky or anyone, he's not perfect but he does love you and mason. This.....this feels more like something you have with me and your father, not with him. And.....we're sorry if you ever felt like we treated you any different". Oh boy, this was NOT the conversation he expected to get today. No sire. He could hear celeste coughing awkwardly from her spot as his mom continued to speak, "Listen, things are rough lately, especially since all the kingdoms are paranoid and the high commission themselves are failing to help solve the problems despite our efforts, but right now, we need to work things out between us, not create a bigger divide. We love all of you and maybe we're not the world's greatest parents but you should speak up about this....if you feel.....like this.". "It just wasn't...". "Landon, we're your parents, you should be able....to talk to us...about these things, if you're afraid to speak to us then....we feel like we failed you three as parents. And you three are our whole world....", landon frowned, his ear twitching as he could hear celeste was no longer writing, in fact, she most likely was listening to the words of the human very closely in fact. Celeste of course, took no interest in in talking about her family back home, but he got the feeling whatever his mom was talking about....meant something to her. "Mom....it's...It's complicated...". "Well, when it came to my parents? For awhile we were kinda distant from each other....they barely talked to me and I barely talked to them and we were growing apart.....and when we realized it, we realized we needed to fix it and mend our bond again. Landon, talk to us....please...if you need to, and we'll do our best to fix whatever's been bothering you...at it's roots. We want to be better for you and your brothers if possible....", they sighed and took a seat on the bed, "You and your brother need to talk, work things between you, we need to sort this all out...". Landon grumbled and Marco gave him a look, making him quiet down and sigh, "Ok, sure....I guess...". This seemed to ease the human, putting their arm around landon in a sort of side hug, "He's your brother landon, you can't stay mad at him forever, look out for each other...alright?". Landon looked up at the human sadly, "And mason?", rewarded with another laugh and head rub from his mother. "Of course, he's your little brother after all, he needs you too as he grows up...". "Is he....ok?". "Well, lately he's been hanging around the stables more recently, since he's in trouble for his plants his garden time and what he takes care of has been more...restricted, we should've kept a closer eye on him and that was on us....however, the skeleton horses are fine as long as he's careful, but you know how much he loves animals. I think he just needed some time away from the garden for a little bit to get some fresh air somewhere else, he's still being kept an eye on though," they winked, "The stables are luckily indoors thankfully...considering the horses don't need to graze...". "I'm sorry mom..". "No, you're still a teenager, i remember being your age, being a moody teen who thought i knew better and had my life figured out....before i realized i was being a complete idiot. We both, me and Tom, we knew this kinda stuff was coming when we wanted to be parents...we just don't want to make the same mistakes our parents might've made and just be the best we can be. We just want you all to have a good future, and if we're letting you down.....that's rough for us...", but they smiled, laughing to themselves. "It'll be fine landon, you're a smart boy, let's all just try and do better in the future, ok?". Landon felt his head lean on his mother's shoulder, on instinct, and was he...crying? "It's alright.....just relax....let it all out...", They were looking over to celeste, hoping they weren't embarrassing their son by having this conversation, but it didn't seem to be a big concern of landon's. He wiped at his eyes, trying to calm down, "Ugh...mom can't you just let me be a bitter and mad teen?". Which seemed to make them both laugh as landon felt some of his usual makeup run down his face, great, now he'd have to wash up before it stained his clothes. Though his mom kissing at his face seemed to draw his attention elsewear as he swatted at them playfully, "Sorry, as your mom I refuse to let you stay bitter and mad at your brother for the rest of your life, it's a important rule for me as a parent.". Landon snorted at them, dear god he was still mad at judas but he knew well that his mom had this kinda affect on him, if anyone in this family could talk him into doing something, it would have to be marco. "M-MOM, Celeste is here!", he said, half amused, half annoyed. "That didn't bother you before, c'mon.....you're never too old to get kisses from your mom!", marco tugged them close to affectionate peck them more and landon was reduced to nothing but laughs before his mom finally, FINALLY let up, Landon red-faced and actually smiling. "I-I'll talk to judas...I guess....but...I'm still kinda mad at him....I can't really help it". Marco seemed to understand though, nodding along, "If you've felt that way for years, it's hard to blame you....but...please talk with each other...ok?". "Yeah mom....". Celeste went back to scrawling, trying to ignore the scene going on nearby, even though she was very much lost in thought at this point in time. Thoughts swarming of back home and she found the pen dropping from her hands once again despite her protests. Swatting away little tears before they could streak down her face. - "I'm sorry Nora...I know you were hoping for more from me today but it's gonna take longer to get what we need.". He sounded guilty as he paced around the princess's room, biting at his lips and crossing his arms, his ears twitching and listening for any signs of trouble during this meeting. He could spot nora taking small notes for her journal as she listened to him speak, but even though at times she seemed to be shyly avoiding eye contact with him, he could tell she looked worried about him, well, more worried then what he had been used to with her in the past. "Jude, i-it's fine, i didn't expect you to get it immediately anyway...your dad is nice, i'm sure he'll come around, he just needs....time...like he said. Let him have time and we can look more into this stuff in the meantime...", he nodded, she was kinda right, he was thinking about this way too much, worrying way too much. There were other matters to worry about as is and he should take advantage of the time he had here while it was still going. He felt he couldn't help it in a way though, even if he knew it was stupid. "Y-you're right, i guess i'm just stressed out...and confused and...a lot is on my mind these days..."., it was true, in the last few days he got hit with WAY too many things at once, way too many things he wanted to still talk about, mostly with sky. It was as if one problems was being topped off with another and he wasn't given enough time to recover from the last even though he wanted to desperately, he'd been trying to focus on everyone else today to distract him but it was a lot harder now, when Nora's prime focus was him. Being calm and trying to stay cool seemed to have escaped from him these days, he was trying so hard to be the most responsible and the biggest adult in the room and now all he felt like doing was letting everything out of his system, he supposed maybe he had been letting all these matters grow inside him for too long, he almost made himself the ringleader of this entire situation and having that topped off with so many other problems seemed to have formed some cracks he usually tried to seal. God, what would it be like when he was king and was dealing with even more on his plate at this rate? He almost wondered if some of those people out there were right, about him not being able to handle it, about being set off but he still scoffed at it, he was being insecure again and he almost wished he could crawl up in a ball or vent.  He felt he was almost growing a headache and he tried to quickly calm down before nora panicked about him maybe coming down with something. He was a prince, he needed to pull himself together and handle this, he needed to clear his mind and calm down. "Oh.....would you like to...uh..?", she didn't seem to know how to say it, that or, she couldn't spit it out to the boy. But Judas seemed to know what she was trying to say regardless, "I want to talk about it....but...I don't think I can.....it's....well, a lot of it is private..". "Oh..", her voice must've sounded a little saddened judging by judas's quick reaction, turning towards her, a little stressed as he tried to ease the situation and explain himself. "It's nothing against you it's just.....I think I've put enough weight on your shoulders, I feel lately like....maybe i'm making you too uncomfortable by pushing you to do these things for me, even if you want to, and for now, I don't want to push any more on your back. I sorta just, wanted to help you get out of your shell, but it feels more like i'm doing this more for me because i feel guilty about mistakes i made in the past and, I don't want to do that anymore....I just want us to hang out...like friends....no huge issues, no pressure, we hang out and work together and...yeah...". "Judas...are you...sure you're ok?", she sounded nervous, moving hair from her face and looking at his rather closely, all judas's mumbling making her rather worried. "No one...was mean to you today....were they? Is it really just....what you were saying?". Judas waved it off though, "I'll be fine, there's just so much on my mind and I wish i could talk about it more but....I can't, you don't have to worry I'll hopefully cool off and get back on track...". He went quiet, he was rambling, probably making a fool out of himself out of stress when he was supposed to be relaxed and focused, he must look incredibly stupid right now in front of nora, who had no idea about all the messy details and problems he was going through. He was lost in thought about Meteora, wondering if maybe it was too much to ask Eclipsa if he and Sky could meet her in person, though at this point it was most likely she was off having a great life, maybe married, maybe wanted to be left alone. and what would he say anyway? There was nothing to say to a person he didn't really know, who he thought was dead and knew nothing of what happened. And his dad, geez everything about that was judas walking on dangerous territory, especially with how his dad was about the whole thing. He wasn't even sure about seeing him again, dinner would just be plain awkward, and it was already awkward enough with landon. And don't get him started on stuff with angel, it honestly wasn't his top priority but if eclipsa and globgor found it strange, him finding it strange couldn't be that weird, though he was happy sky seemed to have gotten along with the boy. There was just a lot to think about, and worry about. He hoped Sky was doing better and she was not sitting in her room, still fiddling with the charm Katrina gave her. He found himself leaning against a wall, keeping his mouth closed shut, nora taking some notes in her little journal, she didn't seem to want to push him any further right now, letting him take some time to clear his own find. He wondered if this was how luna felt most of the time, constantly worried and stressed, feeling like her world was collapsing and being incredibly anxious as she worked alongside her own mother who had taken a VERY big liking to her and he obvious skills. Maybe he gave her too much flack for being such a stick in the mud, considering how much stress she was under over her situation, even if she wasn't the best about it. She was most likely already planning her own solutions, probably behind their back if she had to to get some results. He wouldn't hold it past her in all fairness, considering the results they had been getting where less then ideal, though in all fairness so much more was at risk if they were caught as opposed to her. "Judas....?" "Yes?" "Y-you don't have to be so....nervous around me, y-you seem so....scared i'll get mad...or...something like that?", she was looking at him with her soft green eyes and judas suddenly felt embarrassed, "Well no, it's just...I feel like...I keep screwing up, trying to talk to you and I just...I don't wanna come off like....like a jerk, not to you. I'm just not....I'm not perfect.....at talking to people sometimes, and I just...with everything happening...I just don't want to hurt anyone again". She blinked at him softly, it was as if she wasn't used to him acting like this, so nervous and worried and as if he were falling apart. "You're not a jerk judas..I don't think you are at least...", she hid her face in her book a little more," You're nice and you just like helping people, y-you..... ". Then she stopped. "Nora?" "My parents....I can hear them coming...your spells are sending an alert....you have to remove the magic off the door and hide....or they'll suspect something!", and sure enough, the eyes off his skull chain lock were glowing, a perfect silent alert system for them in case their soundproofing didn't work. That had to mean the arrival of King and Queen spiderbite were only seconds away and boy judas was the last person they would want to find in nora's bedroom of all places. Judas was fast, darting under the bed and snapping his fingers, the enchantments leaving the door quickly after. Hearing two figures make their way in, he kept his mouth shut and hoped he hadn't made it apparent someone else was in the room, though much to his surprise, the conversation going on had little to nothing to do with him, or the fact they may of heard something. Instead, they both sounded worried, even a little panicked. That couldn't be a good sign. "Nora, you need to come with us....", the queen was walking towards the bed, and judas could imply she was most likely grabbing onto her daughter's arm, "What? Mom, is something bad happening?". The woman only frantically pulled her off the bed, "We saw her, out the window, we need to get you somewhere safe, we're on high alert! The guards are on alert and the commission will be here any second....c'mon". Nora wasn't even given much of a time to react when she was pulled out of her room, the door shutting behind her, leaving the boy in complete darkness under the girl's bed. Her? Wait... He was only given a few more minutes of panic before he heard footsteps. LOUD footsteps. And he held his breath as a cloak, or most likely, a black dress, dragged across the floor in front of him. Oh No.

[harjii]

2018 Music | My Faves

This is a bit delayed but @genjitsu-no-yume reminded me to create a list of my favourite music in 2018. I’ve split this list into 3 sections; favourite songs, favourite albums and throwback discoveries because I am constantly discovering music releases months (sometimes years) after they’ve been released OTL. 

By no means is this a list of what I think was the best. This is simply a list of the music I discovered which I loved and none of it is in any particular order. There’s constantly so much being released and all of it is so wonderful, how to possibly pick between it all?! 

Anyway, without further ado, here’s a list of my favourite music in 2018!

Favourite Songs Released in 2018

Tell Me - Infinite

Till Sunrise (feat JW of Nell) - Kim Sunggyu

The Chance of Love - DBSK (TVXQ)

Crossing A Line - Mike Shinoda

Caste of the Nine - A9

Who We Are - FAKY

Get It - PRISTIN V

Forever and a Day (Lean On Me) - WANNA ONE

Dear My Friend (Feat. Washio Reina from E-Girls / Flower) - MACO

Warrior (Feat. John Cooper) - Ledger

HELP ME - NU’EST W

Heroine - Sunmi

Sleeping Beauty - Epik High x Sekai no Owari

Shoot Met - DAY6

Sober (feat Ummet Ozcan) - HYO

F E E L S - Safetysuit

Almost Love - Sabrina Carpenter

Growing Pains - Alessia Cara

Fakeshow - Da-iCE

If It’s Okay With You - Nam Woohyun

La Fiesta - THE RAMPAGE from EXILE TRIBE

Woman - BoA

Fake Divine - HYDE

Love Bomb - fromis_9

Upside Down - BIGFLO

Black Heart - UNB

Tempo - EXO

Pretty Sin (Oh! My Mistake) - APRIL

Hope Torture - NELL

Spring Breeze - WANNA ONE

Favourite Albums Released in 2018

1. Post Traumatic - Mike Shinoda

Having been a Linkin Park fan since I was 13, Chester’s passing hit me really, really hard. Every Linkin Park fan can relate to the heart break felt but when Mike started releasing music, it became therapy for us all. The album dropped half way through 2018 and by then, he’d already released a fair number of the tracks as E.P.’s beforehand. Even though we’d heard many of the songs by this point, listening to the album as a whole was so much more emotional and so moving. Mike’s emotive lyrics, the strife he went through after losing someone so close to him is a pain we all felt we could connect to. Truly, I’m so thankful to him for releasing this album. I replayed it so much for weeks and weeks and the more I listened to it, the more I felt myself healing. The music is incredible; as always Mike has his own unique touch when it comes to creating music and the lyrics really tell a story of grief, sorrow, heartbreak, anger but most of all, hope. It’s this hope that we’re left hanging on to by the time the album ends and if that isn’t the perfect way to end an album, I don’t know what is.

Favourite tracks:  Over Again / About You (feat. blackbear) / Crossing A Line / Hold It Together / Make it Up As I Go (feat. K.Flay) / Running From My Shadow (feat. grandson)

2. DON’T MESS UP MY TEMPO - EXO 

Honestly, I was too immersed in NU’EST to give EXO a second thought as both groups debuted at the same time but I’d always known of EXO and always had a distant appreciation of their talents. However, when they started releasing teasers for their comeback my EXO-L friend started sharing her excitement with me. I went with it, intrigued to hear what they’d release. The moment I watched the MV for ‘Tempo’, I was instantly sold. I was so sold that I couldn’t stop re-watching the MV for days and days, to the point that I was trying to find signal in the Bermuda triangle that is the staff room at work just to stream it during lunch breaks! Safe to say, I fell pretty hard. Then I listened to the whole album and I was blown away. My only question was-why hadn’t I listened to them properly in the first place? Every song on this album is a mature progression for the group and their harmonies are just unyielding. I honestly can not praise this album enough. Mostly I’m just so thankful that it exists because it got me into EXO’s music properly, after long last!

Favourite tracks:  Tempo / Ooh La La La / With You / 24/7 / Bad Dream / Oasis

3. WHO, YOU - NU’EST W

Picking a favourite album by my boys was difficult because they released 2 stellar mini albums in 2018, however I had to go with ‘WHO, YOU’ in the end because my goodness was every track blindingly fantastic. In fact I’d go as far as to say that every song on this album could be released as a promo track and every song would chart well. NU’EST W did a brilliant job in the composition and tone of this album. It’s somewhat moody whilst also incorporating EDM which just blends so effortlessly. I really can’t fault any song on this album. And don’t even get me started on the title track; ‘Dejavu’ was a masterpiece! Prior to release NU’EST W had stated that the title track would include Latin tones since that was quite a big musical trend throughout 2018. As expected, they incorporated the Latin tones so subtly that it created such a infectious and trendy song. Also that bass in the chorus-bridge is so funky! Just amazing. NU’EST W’s musical development in 2018 was such a marvel and this album really proved that.

Favourite tracks:  Signal / Dejavu

4. WARNING - Sunmi

As a Wonderful, naturally I was excited every time Sunmi released anything. However seeing just how her popularity soared after ‘Gashina’ was released filled me with so much inexplicable joy because yes, this is what she deserved; RECOGNITION. This woman has only ever worked hard to challenge herself and grow as an artist and ‘WARNING’ is certainly proof of that growth. Comparing the musical tone of ‘WARNING’ to her first mini album ‘Full Moon’ you can really hear the stark difference in styling both musically and vocally. Sunmi has always had a unique set of vocals but in her ‘Full Moon’ mini album, they were masked greatly by the production I felt. But having more musical control after leaving JYPent, Sunmi has proved release after release what a capable song-writer she is and how she can work with the production team to create an album that not only appeals to the large majority but is true to her artistry. This entire album is testament to her talents and to know that she snatched so many music awards for it fills me with nothing but pride. Every award and achievement with this album was well deserved.

Favourite tracks: Siren / Curve / Gashina / Heroine 

5. The Pains of Growing - Alessia Cara

I’ve been a fan of Alessia’s music from the moment I heard ‘Scars to Your Beautiful’, introduced to me by my sister. That was one of the rare times where she had shared music I actually loved! Ever since then, I’ve patiently waited for Alessia to release some new music, so the moment ‘Growing Pains’ was released as a single, I was instantly hooked. I replayed the song so many times in one day I lost count. I just knew that her new album would be equally if not better than her first album. She certainly matured in her lyric writing and musicality because ‘The Pains of Growing’ is such a fantastic conceptual album. The trials and tribulations of transitioning into an adult can really be trying but Alessia took all those experiences we all go through and placed them in song. Listening to the songs on this album just makes me remember those difficult times yet at the same time, there’s a fondness in the crazy and ridiculous emotions and moments which took place. That is what this album does; it takes you back to those times if you’re already grown. But for those who are growing still, it’s something you can find comfort in and relate to.

Favourite tracks: Growing Pains / I Don’t Want To / Trust My Lonely / Nintendo Game

Throwback Discoveries

1. EVOLution - Sabrina Carpenter 

I didn’t mean to completely fall helplessly in love with Sabrina Carpenter’s music especially since I just looked her music up after binge watching ‘Girl Meets World’, but that’s exactly what happened. In fact I listened to her music non-stop for so long, my sister got fed up of constantly listening to Sabrina (she should’ve been thanking me really //rolls eyes). Her first album ‘Eyes Wide Open’ was such a sweet and soft album, I really enjoyed it a lot but her second album ‘EVOLution’ really was a level up in her styling both musically and physically. It’s very experimental and you can tell that Sabrina was still finding her feet and figuring out what kind of music she wanted to release, but I always love the journey. The albums which portray the journey, the experimenting, I always end up loving them the most and this album is exactly that. Lyrically, I really love what Sabrina did on ‘Thumbs’; singing about society and humanity the way she did was brave and I couldn’t help but love her even more after hearing this song. Every song on this album holds its own and is such a fantastic testament to Sabrina’s progression as an artist. 

Favourite tracks: On Purpose / Thumbs / Run and Hide / Mirage / Don’t Want It Back / Shadows

2. Holiday Night - Girls’ Generation

Work became quite stressful for me last Spring and for a whole week, I found that ‘Holiday’ by Girls’ Generation kept popping into my head. The odd thing about this was that I’d only heard the song a handful of times and I’d never listened to the album-so then why was it in my head? How? I put it down to the fact that I actually needed a holiday, ironically (I really did though //sobs). In the end, I decided to look the album up and give it a listen. So I did. And then I listened to it some more. And before I knew it, I was just listening to it on repeat for weeks. Honestly, I’d never gotten in Girls’ Generation properly (aside from absolutely loving their Japanese album ‘Girls and Peace’); I’d just casually listened to them over the years so I was quite taken aback by just how much I loved this album. It just made me feel so happy and made me feel so good, especially after long tiring days at work. This then propelled me to look into their discography a little more...that is until I got a little sidetracked...

Favourite tracks: Holiday / Only One / One Last Time / Sweet Talk / Love Is Bitter 

3. The Voice - Taeyeon

So whilst listening to more Girls’ Generation, I thought, “Oh yes, solo work!” And I don’t know why, I went with Taeyeon’s solo work first. That’s basically where I got completely sidetracked and completely forgot to check the other members because W O W! Taeyeon has some amazing pipes!! I had watched her MV for ‘I (feat. Verbal Jint)’ years ago but just not taken to it as much; after re-watching it, I then watched the MV for her song ‘Make Me Love You’ and that’s where I fell for her music. It’s such a simple song melodically but the way Taeyeon’s vocals build throughout the song from one octave to another, gaining more and more strength and confidence just fits the meaning of the song so perfectly. I was so blown away when I heard this song that I needed more. I downloaded her album in the end and gave it a proper listen. Every song had me hooked but the song which got me the most was ‘Time Lapse’. When I saw that Kim Jongwan from Nell had written the lyrics and helped with the composition I just knew I’d love this because I love Nell, and I did love this! SO MUCH! But it wasn’t just the song structure and melody, but Taeyeon’s voice is so vulnerable in this song. When she hits that high note towards the ends of the song, it gives me goosebumps every time. Honestly, it left me breathless. No wonder her first full album was entitled ‘The Voice’ because really, Taeyeon’s voice is exceptionally. To add to it, she covered Nell’s ‘Time Spent Walking Through Memories’ which was an additional bonus track on the physical album and what a cover it is-WHAT A COVER! I’ve nothing but so much love for Taeyeon’s talent, truly.

Favourite tracks: Make Me Love You / Fine / Cover Up / Time Lapse / When I Was Young / Live in Color / Fire / Time Spent Walking Through Memories (Nell Cover)

4. Tree - SEKAI NO OWARI

What I love doing at conventions is picking up random album, just to discover something new and exciting. Although in this case, I knew about SEKAI NO OWARI already and I absolutely loved their song ‘Death Disco’ and their collab with Epik High, however beyond that? I knew very little of their music. I came across the limited edition of this album at a convention and thought, “Wow, I know this is rare so I should just get it. Yup.” Plus it was a great opportunity to expose myself to more of their music, so why not? I do think music is about timing because if past me had heard this album, I don’t think I’d have appreciated it half as much as I appreciated listening to it in 2018. SEKAI NO OWARI’s musicality is just so unique; I’ve never heard anything else like it! The more I listened to this album, the more I found myself in a trance just repeating it. I’m a big fantasy lover so when listening to this album, I realised it was like listening to something from another world, something mythical and sometimes ethereal but mostly just-unusual, in a good way. It’s very difficult to explain the way SEKAI NO OWARI’s music sounds but if you know it, you know what I mean. If you don’t know it, you should go check them out.

Favourite tracks: Snow / Magic / Fantasy / Mermaid Rhapsody / Pierrot / Death Disco / Dragon Night 

5. The War - EXO

Having finally given into EXO, I basically spent all of November and December listening to their entire discography. ALL OF IT. The hilarious thing is that my first impression of ‘The War’ was, “I’m not entirely sure what I feel about this album”. Then I re-listened to it more and more...and more...and more, until i realised the entire album had grown on me at an alarming rate. In fact, the point at which i realised just how much I loved this album was when I was trying to create a playlist of my favourite EXO songs and I put 7 out of 9 songs on this album in that playlist. What’s even funnier is that I liked ‘Forever’ and ‘Diamond’ the least when i first heard them, but after listening to the album so much, they became two of my favourite songs! This doesn’t happen often, where I end up liking an album I didn’t like much to begin with so much but this album really knocked me for twenty! I could probably write reams and reams for every single track on this album but what I will say is that this album really shows just how much EXO grew musically since their first album ‘XOXO’. I really feel like you can hear EXO coming into their own on this album like-they sound comfortable with the music they’re singing, as if this is what they’ve wanted to create for so long. They exude so much confidence vocally on this album that you can’t help but fall for every single track. At least that’s what I found!

Favourite tracks: Basically the entire album. Don’t even ask me to pick!

[maliwarm]

MERRY BIRTHMAS @neyzilla

I hope I’m not too late and apologies in advance for the lucklustre ending. I forgot where I was going with it. :,,,L

-

Shayne was terrified of heights. Terrified of the thought of pitching over the edge of some looming platform and tumbling head over heels with her breath lodged in her throat and the wind roaring, deafening and merciless, in her ears. Terrified of the thought of falling with no end in sight and equally terrified of the fall's end and becoming a red smear on the pavement somewhere. So when a picnic basket-carrying Orendi had dragged her along to Ekkunar, pointed at the stupidly largest tree she could possibly find and told Shayne they were going to climb it, she'd balked. A lot of heated back and forth had ensued, with enough no's on Shayne's part to fill the sky with stars again threefold. Yet Orendi was vehemently insistent that they climb this particular tree – this freakishly large tree that was so tall they couldn't see its top from where they stood on the ground – and absolutely wouldn't settle for any other, less insanely-proportioned, tree.

When Shayne had finally snapped out a why, the answer had been an extremely unhelpful and cryptic, "It just has to be this one!"

The argument had continued for quite some time, becoming more and more heated as their tempers and voices had flared higher and higher and louder and louder. Boomerangs and magik were thrown, though not at each other (but it was a close thing), and all wildlife in the immediate area had long since up and left because of the noise and violence. Eventually, Orendi had won by blindsiding Shayne with a very soft please and a touch of her patented puppy eyes that she could never ever resist. It was really dirty of her – completely and utterly unfair – and Shayne made sure the witch knew it. And continued to make sure she knew it when she was riding piggyback on Orendi, arms wrapped in a crushing grip around her neck; the only thing between Shayne and a splattery death on the jungle floor. For Orendi's part, there wasn't a single complaint about the tightness of Shayne's deathgrip the entire heart-stopping climb up the tree. And she nodded along to every grievance and apologised (in her usual roundabout Orendi way), but said it was going to be worth it.

The trip had been a surprisingly fast one. Orendi proved exceptionally adept at tree climbing, even with the extra weight of Shayne and the picnic basket on her thin back. All four of her clawed hands were in a constant, dizzying, state of motion the entire climb. It was equal parts mesmerising and nauseating to watch, so Shayne ended up hiding her face in the crook of Orendi's neck, breathing in her scent – campfire and sugary sweetness and a hint of something spicy and vaguely earthy and wild – in an attempt to keep calm. It worked. Mostly. At least enough to keep her from thinking exclusively of falling to her death for extended periods of time.

Now, with the climb long since behind them and shadowfire-reheated pizza and a bunch of candy in their stomachs, the pair sat huddled together closely on one of the thickest and uppermost branches of the tree, fingers intertwined. Orendi's head lay on Shayne's shoulder, her mismatched eyes slit contentedly as they both gazed at the slowly darkening skyline. Shayne's thumb rubbed slow circles across the witch's bony knuckles. The darker parts of her skin were textured differently than the lighter parts; they were slightly harder and kind of rough, almost scaly, like Pendles. If Pendles had a hundred billion itty bitty scales, anyways. In any case, the action soothed Shayne; helped her focus more on this nice moment they were sharing rather than her fear of heights. And, okay, she had to admit that it was a pretty sweet spot that Orendi had picked out. The way the sunset backlit the trees as Solus slowly sunk beneath the horizon? Stunning.

Sighing contentedly, Shayne allowed her head to rest atop Orendi's. Hat Trick had been set aside, likely in case this happened, so Shayne's cheek was met with an unruly jungle of wiry dark hair. It was kinda springy, making it a pretty good pillow, with the added bonus of smelling nice. She must've washed it, Shayne surmised with with surprise. She almost never did so of her own volition, usually forcing Shayne herself or Reyna to wrestle the witch into a bath when she was beginning to smell particularly funky. Shayne couldn't stop the small grin that sprang up; Orendi sure had pulled out all the stops for this little outing.

"See?" Orendi said into her shoulder, the touch of smugness not lost on Shayne. "I told you this was a good idea. Fresh air, pizza, and the sun's bleeding heart soaking us in its love rays. What more could you want?"

Shayne's fingers paused in their slow circling. "To not be this high up," she said flatly. "Other than that, okay, yeah. This is a pretty sweet setup. Dinner and a show with pretty company?" She pulled away enough to flash the witch a crooked grin. "Literally no complaints with those bits."

Orendi returned the grin, sharp and bright white. Beautiful and dangerous. "Such a charmer! Pretty words from pretty lips, making the sweetest music in my ears."

A flush alighted on Shayne's cheeks. "'M not pretty," she mumbled, embarrassed. She was a mess of crooked, too-big teeth, a body on the gangly side, stark burn scars, and she all over just screamed tomboy to the max. It'd never really bothered her – she was who she was, and she was relatively comfortable in her own skin; semi-crispiness and all – but she still couldn't help but be aware of the fact that she very clearly didn't fit most people's definition of pretty.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Orendi exclaimed, grabbing Shayne's face with her spare set of arms and giving it a mostly gentle shake. The witch could easily tear her head from her shoulders if she wanted to, and her nails – claws, really – could just as easily stab out her eyes or claw off her face. Instead, they cupped Shayne's face in the tenderest way, long fingers splayed across her cheeks, the nails resting feather-lightly ticklish against her skin. She gave the punk another shake, wearing a pout and furrowed brows. "Shayne... Sugar-daffodil-buttercup-cookie-with-sprinkles-on-top-" that made her snort, and Orendi grinned briefly before pouting again, though she struggled to maintain it now, "-no. You. Are. Pretty."

"No, I-"

The claws pressed into her skin a little in warning and the next forced shake of her head was even less gentle. "AH PUH PUH PUH!" Orendi interrupted loudly. "Lemme finish!" When Shayne didn't speak up again, instead arching a brow, the witch continued, "You're pretty." She made sure to add extra emphasis to pretty, giving Shayne a look that said I dare you to argue. "Your smile's pretty, your hair's pretty, and the way you shank Varelsi? A work of art. And you're strong! Not Whisk-a-lisk strong, of course; he's cray-cray amounts of strong. But! You. Are. Still. Strong! There are a million, bajillion, things about you that are great, in-cah-loooood-ing! How pretty you are, huggabutt. Do not argue with me about this or I will EAT your FACE."

Shayne nodded slowly, and Orendi began to remove her hands, thinking they'd reached an agreement. "Ok. But-"

Orendi's hands immediately clapped back into place, stinging Shayne's cheeks. "I told you not to argue with me, Shayne. I toLD YOU! Now I gotta eat your pretty face!"

Before she could even process all that properly, Orendi's face came incredibly close to hers... And Shayne was graced with a long, slobbery lick down one cheek. She yelped. Very loudly and very shrilly. Mostly at the unexpectedness of it, but also because wow... That was a LOT of saliva she could feel dripping down her cheek. "Orendi! Oh man, yuck!"

"Mmmm. Tastes preee~eeetty!" Orendi cackled, highly amused by both her own antics and Shayne's reaction. Her laughter abruptly petered off into a squeal of delight, however, when a grinning Shayne lunged forward to leave a matching slobbery trail on her cheek. Though with marginally less actual slobber. Because she, at least, knew restraint.

Shayne pulled away. Her grin had grown visibly larger. "I dunno, 'Rendi. I think you taste much prettier."

There was an obvious note of challenge glinting in the varimorph's eyes. "Oh ho HOOOOO, it is ON, gurl!" Her spindly body began to coil in on itself, legs creeping up onto the branch and clawed nails digging deep into the bark to keep her rooted in place, getting ready to literally pounce. She even wiggled like a cat in preparation.

"Nononono!" Shayne halted her with a hastily thrown up palm. Nooooo lunging. I don't wanna fall."

A disappointed Orendi slowly uncoiled. Her bare feet dangled back over the branch and kicked at the empty air sullenly. "I wouldn't let you fall," she pointed out, sulky at the apparent lack of trust.

"I know you wouldn't," Shayne sighed, fingers coaxing one thin hand away from its vice grip on the bark so she could hold it. She rubbed slow circles over Orendi's knuckles, just as she had before, to soothe the both of them. "I'm just... scared." Terrified, really, but whatever. "Scared" made her sound like much less of a weenie.

"NnnnnneeeeRRRRGH," Orendi growled. Shayne could hear the nails of her free hands digging furious trenches into the branch's bark. "I’ll eat your fear. With hot sauce and viscera.”

The corner of Shayne’s lips quirked up. The attempt at comfort was an odd one, but one she appreciated all the same. “Heh. Make sure you chew it extra good.”

[bethevenyc]

Jamie-Lynn Sigler's Push To Be a Perfect Mom Was 'Killing' Her

Jamie-Lynn Sigler has reinvented herself as an unofficial MS spokesperson. (Photo: Getty Images)

To fans of a certain age, Jamie-Lynn Sigler will forever be Meadow Soprano — the sweet, smart, scrappy apple-of-his-eye daughter to Tony Soprano on The Sopranos, who grew up before our eyes. Still, that role ended a decade ago, and since then, Sigler, 36, has done quite a job of reinventing herself — through more roles in TV and film (she’s just started shooting a new one, In the Absence of Good Men, directed by Timothy Woodward Jr.), and, since revealing that she has multiple sclerosis in 2016, as an empowering MS activist and role model.

Yahoo Beauty grabbed some time with the Long-Island-native-turned-Californian while she was in New York City recently to kick off her new “Declare Peace” campaign with Serta, talking health and wellness, self-image, parenting her 3-year-old son Beau, and, with a little help from her 27-year-old baseball-playing husband Cutter Dykstra, love and marriage.

Sigler has teamed up with Serta for its “Declare Peace” campaign. (Photo: Amy Sussman for Serta)

What are the challenges of having a serious disease that is largely invisible to others?

I don’t want to say it frustrates me when people say, “You don’t look sick,” because I agree, and I understand — and I don’t feel sick, sitting here in front of you. But one of the bigger issues for me was when I went to Israel [in early May, with best friend Lance Bass], I had to get walking sticks …for the long distances and the terrain and the cobblestones and the heat. I think you can wind up feeling like, that’s not beautiful. It’s not cute to walk with these sticks.

But you wound up doing it anyway.

I talked a lot about it with my husband before I left and he was like, “But Jamie, this is what’s going to allow you to go and do what you want to do, so it’s either sit it out and be resentful or take these freaking sticks and do it.” And so I did. It felt weird, because I could feel people looking at me and thinking I don’t look like somebody that needs these. But I do, so it made me think a lot about erasing that stigma for people, and not being ashamed. I posted a picture of me on Instagram with the walking sticks and a lot of people with MS were like, “Thank you for doing that.” Because we will fight as hard as we can and hold walls and people before we will get a device, because then it feels like you’re losing your battle. It’s a process, still, for me.

It’s true. I learned a lot from a lot of people about politics, religion, and history from ALL ends.. and these are my walking sticks. I hated having to buy them at first but they allowed me to walk around Israel this whole trip..so you make the adjustments you need to do the things you love ! #visitisrael

A post shared by Jamie Lynn Sigler (@jamielynnsigler) on May 12, 2017 at 4:11am PDT

  You were diagnosed with MS at 20, but kept it a secret. Can you describe how hypnotherapy helped you decide to come forward?

I wanted to go in the hopes of learning how to manage it better emotionally, because I was dealing with feeling embarrassed and ashamed. I was always trying to hide it, and it was just really detrimental to my health and wellbeing and my emotional health. Other than doing stuff for my son, I didn’t really leave the house…And after three sessions I was like, “I’m harming myself. I didn’t choose this.”

  Happy 1st anniversary to my two favorite humans. I’d be nothing without you. ❤????????????????????

A post shared by Jamie Lynn Sigler (@jamielynnsigler) on Jan 16, 2017 at 7:36pm PST

  How do you practice self-care?

I meditate. I try every day — sometimes it’s 10 minutes, sometimes it’s 30, whatever my day allows me. Acupunture, meditation, Kundalini yoga… My diet fluctuates, but I really feel like I’m more health-conscious than I ever have been, especially since having my son, because I want to instill good eating habits in him. I had horrible habits growing up — a lot of soda, a lot of candy, a lot of carbs, like no grain, no fruit — so I’m really trying to instill that with him and I want him to mirror what I’m eating and enjoy it.

What about beauty routines?

I don’t wash my hair a lot — like, twice a week, unless I know I have an event or something, then I’ll wash it because I know it’s looking funky. There are a couple of days of just buns for me. I’m into exfoliating my body and I love lotions, body butters — I put lotion all over my feet before I go to bed and then put on socks. I’m big into feeling moisturized.

You had an eating disorder when you were younger, but have said you’re no longer a slave to those thoughts. Why do you think that is?

I’ve found that a lot of people with MS are perfectionists and control freaks. That was the whole thing of my eating disorder, control, and we’ve all been given this disease that takes away control. So I feel that there’s a great lesson in that, to just surrender sometimes — the power to just trust and relax. So I don’t stress about things about my weight or my health.

Sigler with husband Cutter Dykstra. (Photo: Getty Images)

You’ve just started working on a new film, about Al Capone’s right-hand man. How’s it going?

I’m playing a 1920s mob wife, and she’s a flapper and a dancer, and I said to the director, “I’m real limited. Are you sure I’m your girl?” And he said, “We will work around it. We will come in close, we will get a body double…” So I’m grateful that people are allowing me to find a way to still fit in and do what I love. Even career aside, everyday motherhood, there are things I have to sit out with my son. But at the end of the day I feel like if you could ask him, and he could articulate it, he’d say, “Mommy doesn’t miss anything, she’s always there,” and that’s how I always want him to feel.

Do you suffer from “mommy guilt” anyway?

Every day, all the time. I don’t think I’m ever going to get away from it. I just this past year got a babysitter who comes every day after pre-school until bedtime. For a while when I wasn’t working I was being really stubborn — I wanted to do everything for him — but it was killing me, and I wasn’t being the best mom I could be. I was exhausted. So it’s been a wonderful balance, and also for him, knowing he can have love and trust and safety with somebody else other than mommy.

How much are you and your Sopranos cast members in each others’ lives?

Rober Iler is one of my closest friends — we talk multiple times a week, and I love him like family. I still talk to Aida [Turturro], and Edie Falco was the first person to text me on Mother’s Day.

Dykstra joins the interview.

YB: So how did you two meet?

Sigler: Through mutual friends. My friend JoAnna [Garcia] is married to a baseball player [Nick Swisher]. It was very organic, it wasn’t a setup or anything.

Dykstra: I didn’t think she would be interested in me, but it happened.

  YB: Cutter, how have you dealt with Jamie’s MS, as her partner?

Dykstra: I’m not going to say it’s easy to see her go through it. I see her deal with it every day, and it’s hard. Being there is the most important thing for me — making sure she’s always happy and comfortable, and just kind of becoming a team in the whole process.

Sigler: And I think, for me, I sometimes want us to not talk about it at all. I don’t want him to always see me as someone who needs to help. I want to be Jamie-without-MS, too, sometimes.

YB: You have a nearly 10-year age difference. How has that affected your relationship?

Sigler: The only time I notice it is when I make [pop-culture] references like “Saved by the Bell,” and he’s like, “I don’t know it,” and I’m like “Oh my god!” Or “90210,” and he’s like, “The new one?” And I’m like, “No, Brenda and Dylan!”

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