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the-headbop-wraith · 3 years

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2 _ 29 The Biljka Pact

Waiting for nothing.

That’s all it was. Bundled up in a blanket and just waiting for them to return, but when would that be? Arthur hadn’t been too elaborate about the whole thing when he burst in.

“We found Vi, she’s okay.” Arthur was frantic and spoke in short bursts of words. Dimitri had no easy time putting the sentences together, hadn’t been too sure if the little half choked grunts Arthur spat were meant to be vocalization. The scrawny blonde dove into the back of the van and fumbled around. “Something’s come up,” Arthur burbled. He took the keys, a spare bag, food, and left Mystery in charge. Mystery didn’t seem overly exuberant about the last command, but he was a dog after all.

This cryptic news barely relieved Dimitri from the stiff worry he held, since learning of Vivi’s disappearance and the probable cause. They were all correct in their hypothesizes, somehow something altered the way people thought, robbed them of empathy, and now the Mystery Skulls were out there, most likely searching for his brother. Probably. Dimitri remained apprehensive, he wasn’t there to make sure they wouldn’t fall back into the manipulation, and he wasn’t there to make sure they did find his brother. He wanted to be there, but… he was truly afraid, though he shouldn’t be. He hadn’t put up a fight when Arthur zoomed out of the van – Dimitri had been stunned, everything happened so fast, a word edgewise would not have made a difference.

With the engine was cut off the heat that had thwarted the biting chill faded in mere of moments. That did stir Dimitri to reach for the driver side door. If he hurried he could catch up before they got lost in the woods, make sure the group kept safe and focused. The police force and volunteers spent weeks searching the woods, miles and miles of land covered in the span of a few weeks. Not one prson ever reported anything unusual… or they kept it quiet.

As he scooted towards the door, Mystery rolled off his lap and maneuvered between Dimitri and the door. Dark paws pressed into Dimitri’s coat and Mystery refused to budge, his red eyes caught the moonlight and reflected a crimson light. At first, Dimitri was speechless, until he realized how close he was to Mystery’s snout.

“Calm down, Mystery. I just want some fresh air.” But the mutt only straightens his legs out and placed his paws over Dimitri’s shoulders and held onto him, in a kind of hug. “Would you move!” Dimitri struggled to get the dog off him, and get out of the blankets they were tangled up in, but Mystery was stubborn and maintained his rigid posture with ease. “Okay, fine,” Dimitri grumbled, and sank back into the seat.

Satisfied with the surrender, Mystery curled down on the blankets with Dimitri and rested his head on his paws. But always the dog kept one eye open, wary of his charge and any slight movement.

The Mystery Skulls faded into the swirling curtain of the forests edge. Dimitri watched the lawn for a span longer, wondering what it was they had found. Arthur had told him nothing, only that Vivi was located and they….

He looked at Mystery again, and the red eye gleamed amidst the blue fur. “It’s cold up here,” Dimitri said. “You wanna sit in the back where its warmer?”

Mystery only watched him unblinking. After a time of staring, the dog raised himself from the cushion and allowed Dimitri to free his legs. He wasn’t far behind Dimitri’s gradual movement, until the two had settled behind the bench seat, the blanket was dragged down after Dimitri as he wound it around his shoulders. A sudden sneeze ignited from Mystery, and his collar rattled in the dark as he gave himself a hard shake. That felt good.

“Hang on. Do any of these lights work?” Dimitri was going through the cuvees looking for the one that he usually saw Arthur pull a battery out of. He had imagined the little makeshift slots in the vans wall to be interdimensional pockets, and whatever you could need would be provided if only you sought it. It took a minute of blind searching, but Dimitri found what felt like a flashlight, and a few lost batteries that had fallen from the package. He unscrewed and screwed on the cap of the flashlight in the dark gloom, and before finally he put the batteries in the correct order.

“There. That’s better.” Dimitri shined the light around and Mystery winced, as he raised a paw to his spectacles. “Sorry.” He propped the torch beside one of the larger overnight bags the group carried, and sat down. It looked like Vivi’s, her blue color. An amber bag was not far from it, by the wall. They carried a lot of personal gear, color coordinated – blue and yellow.

Dimitri freed a hand from the blanket and tugged at the chain around his neck and pulled the glossy, carved rock out from his shirt. His eyes moved past it and to the back doors of the van, and for a short time he studied the doors as his other hand fumbled with an item he’d plucked out of a cuvee. He wondered how far they’d managed by now.

Mystery ‘oofed’ at him. And what are you doing there?

The twine was tied around its spool, but Dimitri managed to work off the tied end and pull out some slack. When Mystery ‘urfed’ at him again, Dimitri only smirked in the thin veil of yellow light and shifted to face Mystery with his back. “It’s a game,” he offered. “Cats-cradle.” He could do the bridge, a tower, and cats whiskers, but those were all easy. “It’s mostly you doing stuff with the string, until it gets into a knot. The goal is not to make a knot, but it’s tricky.”

This explanation didn’t seem too suspicious, and Dimitri was only a child after all. Curious, Mystery shuffled closer to Dimitri’s shoulder and watched as the boy pulled the string through the tied loop of the twines end. Dimitri moved a little more away from Mystery’s stare, but Mystery set a paw on his shoulder to politely deny Dimitri from further movement, and Mystery brought his attention back to where Dimitri’s hands spun and twisted. Dimitri’s hand gestures didn’t strike Mystery as complex or coordinated, but he had not managed a knot in the thread yet so it was presumably a success.

“Actually, this part is kind of hard,” Dimitri murmured. “Can you help me?” He held up his palms and shows Mystery the twine zigzagged between his hands. “You just need to take this thread right here,” he twisted his hand over to point out the specific length, “and pull it. Or… would that be hard for you? You’re a dog after all.”

Mystery drew his head back and frowned. I am not just a dog. But this was NOW highly suspicious. On the other hand (paw), if he was careful Dimitri couldn’t do much but be disappointed. As long as he wasn’t focused on running off, this little diversion could work well for Mystery. Two could play this little game.

Dimitri smiled as Mystery moved around, face to face with him, and sat. The dog raised one paw, his bandaged paw, and took the side of the indicated thread in his claw. He pried it back, and Dimitri carefully worked so as not to slip the selected thread free as Mystery tugged.

“I always have trouble with this part,” Dimitri went on. He sighed, his breath fading on the frigid air. Mystery drew his paw back as the boy spun one hand over, and gripped several loops of thread between his fingers. “Oh geez, look at that.” Somehow, Dimitri managed to coil a loop of twine around many of his fingers. “This is why they don’t let kids at my school play this game anymore. Here, can you hold this?”

Mystery reached a paw up to paw at the threads with his claws. While Dimitri spoke, he looped a coil of thread through the mess he made around his fingers and snagged it around Mystery’s raised paw. Wait a minute—

As this registers to Mystery, the dog recoils onto his back legs and Dimitri looped a lasso of thread around his other paw, then yanked the bundle taunt from the string still attached to the spool he held. Alarmed barks and yelps leap from Mystery as he twists away, but the more he tugged on his paws the tighter and closer they snagged together.

Dimitri lunged, tackling Mystery to the side and pressed the thrashing dog down with his body. Mystery’s alarmed cries became muffled as the blanket slipped over his head. “I’m sorry, Mystery! Really! I would never do this to you! You’re a good dog, I really like you!” Dimitri straddled Mystery’s shoulder blades, and pulled more of the twine from the spool. The little bundle of thread tumbled around the two as Dimitri worked. Mystery’s paws had been pinned to his side, and Dimitri hastened to get them secured together before Mystery had a chance to recover and buck him off. “Just try not to struggle, or you’ll hurt yourself.”

I’m not worried about myself! Mystery capacities were limited in Dimitri’s presence, he could only lay there annoyed and dumbfounded he’d let his guard down. Still, he fretted over what Vivi would say if she found him like this. He vowed he’d never let that happen again, and yet here he was. This was beyond embarrassing.

After Mystery front paws were secured, but not too tightly, Dimitri stood up off Mystery and took the blanket that had fallen over the dogs face. He rolled Mystery up in it like a burrito, and tightened the corner around the dogs shoulders in a thick knot. Dimitri snatched up the flashlight, then knelt low beside Mystery to smooth back his ruffled mane.

“I’m sorry. You’re such a good dog,” he repeated. “I know they’re trying to help, but I can’t sit here and wait. Not if they’re looking for my brother.” He leaned down and gave Mystery a kiss on his eyebrow. “I’ll see ya later.”

The back door snapped shut, cutting out the chill and the light and the air spun still. Mystery inhaled a deep breath and sighed. That could have gone better. Vivi! Vivi was not going to like this. He wriggled around and pushed forward his back legs, setting a paw to either side of his snout and braced his claws onto the floor. After some pushing and disgruntled snorts, he managed to dislodge himself from the dog burrito. With the cords on his paws exposed, Mystery begins gnawing at them quickly. One after the other each loop snips, he does so with a great deal of patience but no lesser amount of urgency.

The forest was thinning, the large trees aged and weary succeeding the decades their kinship had fallen due to plague, disease and age that favored natural selection. The overall terrain took noticeable change that was discernable, maybe accented upon, with the pale hue of moonbeams slipping through the thin canopy. The undercover was made up of thin silver reflections cast by ice tinged branches and soil, as with the dark contrast of the thickening creeper vines.

Never in the search did the Mystery Skulls once catch sight of the lost child; the only indication of her presence remained the disturbed patches of thin frost. They were down another slope, then around a rocky cropping of stone and weeds. Thick vines wound around across and through the undergrowth, no origin of where this originate but always present through the canopy and path. The forest scape had a quality of life unlike the town. It was ancient and mysterious, sentient in a way that it had been present within the slow spiral of history in the making. Towns grew, streets laid, hospitals built and condemned; but the forest had not changed in centuries. It remained, growing and expanding despite civilizations ambition to tame its unrelenting spread.

When the trail moved away from the sharp rise of rocks Vivi noted that Lewis had fallen back, had nearly stopped altogether. The frost cover had been thickest and bright white over the pale dark soil, and it was easy to discern the path the girl had taken without extensive study. Arthur hadn’t noticed and walked on ahead, while Vivi gave pause and waited. “What’s wrong?” She could hear Arthur shift and presumably turn, his torch flashed in the corner of her peripheral.

Lewis stood on the soil just staring off, as if he hadn’t heard. Vivi called again.

“We’re losing time,” Arthur muttered. Vivi shook him off when he took her arm, and moved back to where Lewis had alit on a patch of roots.

“Lew?” she whispered.

“I—” He began, but paused and seemed to focus. “There’s something out here.” He held up his hands, as if testing the frail breeze. “Something repelling, unwanting… I can feel it. An emotion.”

“A spook?” Arthur asked.

Lewis shook his head, the embers behind his sunglasses brightening. “I don’t know. I can feel it, but I can’t draw you a picture. I never… I’ve never experienced this. Before.”

“Can you move….” Vivi caught herself, the word she was about to use, and adjusted the question. “Are you able to come with us?”

“Yeah,” Lewis said, and he gave her a thin smile. “I just… walked into that. Like a wall.” A low kind of shudder escaped him. He was getting good practice sounding ‘normal.’ “Let’s go. No time to spare, y’know?” He hiked after Vivi on foot when she spun away, but he kept glancing over his shoulder, up into the tree branches and tangles of vines above. The night was vacant of breeze, but the branches almost recoiled from his regard. Withdrew. Bark creaked and the branches rattled, but there was nothing visible, only the sensation of… impression. The notion of it nagged at him, apprehension, evasion, a kind of lull but with more pulling. It pressed into his incorporeal sense, searching into him for something yet blundered about with no direction. If it were conscious he would have worried, but as it was the presence was more… awkward. Indirect.

At length Arthur fell back behind Vivi and slowed his steps. That deep concentration took his face, and Lewis could detect his concern. “Do you guys… hear that?” asked Arthur.

Vivi kept walking, but shook her head. “Do you hear a voice? Voices?” she whispered.

Arthur covered his mouth with the edge of his vest collar and coughed. “No… not voices.” He kept walking, but stays close to Vivi. They were headed downhill amongst tall trees that seemed to curl inward over their heads with thick bundles of creepers sagging low obscuring outward sight, a kind of natural corridor with small saplings and brittle timber. The forest was absolutely silent, no breeze tickled through, no life save for the two members of the Mystery Skulls. The air hung heavy, thick and hazed like water.

“I don’t know,” Arthur went on, fidgeting with the straps of his backpack. Never did he glance to the tall figure shadowing Vivi; only into the vine cover, and the thick grove extending into an endless maze of timber. “Maybe it’s just Lewis. Wait, I didn’t say that. Did I say that aloud?” Vivi nodded, but didn’t express outward concern for the creak of alarm in Arthur’s voice. “Crud. Um… that’s not what I hear.” He staggers, trying to catch his flashlight when it slipped from his metal hand.

“Calm down,” Lewis rattled. “Don’t get excited. I can’t think when you get excited like—” He silenced himself when Vivi shoved herself backwards, free hand pressed to his chest. Lewis halts in his tracks, and looked past her to an opening in the grove ahead. A few yards out from the thick tree trunks they stood behind, and from the distance he couldn’t be certain what he saw. A tense moment of waiting expires, but a small blur does dart around through the vines. There and gone, it keeps moving out of the grove and flitters out of range. “Ah!” Lewis would have swooped forward, if Vivi hadn’t reinforced her grip on his coat collar and held him there by her will alone.

“Arthur hears something,” Vivi whispered, her breath thick and white in contrast to the black hovering shade they stood within. Once she is certain Lewis wouldn’t just go charging off she moved forward, but refused to release his jacket collar. Lewis half glides and steps after her, eyes fixed on where the shape had darted out to. Vivi used her thumb to click off her flashlight – they really didn’t need them – she would have stashed it in her backpack, but she feared Lewis would bolt the instant her grip loosened. “I can see something. There’s a clearing.”

“Guys, guys,” Arthur stammered. He turns off his light and sticks the torch in his back pocket. Arthur mirrored Vivi’s movement, a little jerky and delayed but quiet, the only sound from the scrawny figure came from shrubs snatching at his backpack. He crept in closer to Vivi’s side, and fiddled with the straps of the backpack digging into his shoulder. It was too cold for him, and his unease was making it worse. “S’like… you don’t hear that? I’m sure it’s not Lew’s.”

“Calm down Art.” Lewis tries to grab him by the vest, but Arthur ducked away and disappeared into a bush. “Art?”

Vivi hissed, hushing them. “Look. Look,” her voice became strained, low but with force. She hauls Lewis with her, behind a large rock and tree combination and peers out. “There.”

Not far from them something crashed suddenly out of the twigs, and Lewis picked out Arthur’s shape on the other side of some brush, panting and huddled low. With Arthur accounted for, Lewis focused out and inspected what lay ahead. As Vivi had proclaimed there was a sort of clearing, filled with the remains of fallen bleached trees like bones; petrified woods. Several yards across this toothy plain, a tall wall of jagged stone rose up from the forest floor. Gnarled bent trees had grown high under its seclusion, but were dwarfed by the imposing height of the rocky peak detailed by loose brush and blue ice.

Lewis could see the girl wandering across the cavity infused basin of rocks and ice, barefoot but with no care of the inhospitable weather, no concern of the jagged edges of rocks at her feet. Void of mind. She strolls up beneath the low hanging reach of the ancient trees bent arms, staring… up?

Back through the twisted tree trucks, some distance above the base of the rock face smoldered a sort of fire brightening against the rock. It might be better described as a kind of Saint Elmo’s flame puffing yellow and blue from the rock. Willow Wisps? It zigzagged beneath the canopy of gnarled tree limbs, gliding down and down towards the child, as her steps slowed.

Lewis felt Vivi tug on his coat. He hadn’t been aware he was inching forward.

“Wait,” she said. “We need to think about this.” Vivi’s focus was forward. She had relinquished hold of her torch to raise a hand to her face, and pressed her bright glasses close to her eyes. “This… there’s something about the reports I’m trying to remember. The flawed reports. Art?”

Arthur was tugging at his goatee with his good arm. His metal arm was near the leaf cluttered ground shaking as he sputtered with a sound. “Uh… what happened when Lewis went dormant?”

Vivi glanced Lewis’ way, then turned back to the scene before them, the child and the wispy flame dipping lower and lower. Lewis waited as she took a breath and held it, her mind sifting through data she had absorbed when she had been in an unreliable state. “We got close.”

“Lewis went down,” Arthur repeated.

“We got close,” Vivi resumed. “Because Lewis, you found something. You gave us something.” She was getting excited now, and turned to Lewis wide eyed. “Do you remember what you found?”

Lewis reached a hand up for his tie, the jacket was in the way so he patted at the frayed collar. “The pattern. Harvest moon,” he muttered. “Children go missing… big forest. Searches.” He turned to Vivi, realization dawning. “The search parties.”

Vivi nodded. “This place was found,” she whispered. “And it turns people away. They didn’t stop worrying. Adults were the ones that would be looking, but it sent them away when they got close. But you’re protecting us, it… ghosts don’t know ghosts.”

“That’s no ghost,” Lewis crackled. He watched a moment, twitching internally. He wanted to go out there. Why was Vivi waiting, if she was right she would sa—

Arthur shivered and wrapped his arms around his shoulders. “That sound….” He leaned forward on his knees and stared forward, breath coming in fluffy small puffs. “You don’t hear it? You have to.” Vivi was about to answer, when it came to her. Yes, there was a sound. A humming trill. She knew that resonance anywhere. She glanced Lewis’ way, but it was not him. But Arthur recognized it too.

The flame wisp descended to the leafy floor, a transparent outline filling around the space of the flame, a heart of fire burning, swelling; crystalline turquoise distortions of blue intermixed with the smooth, glossy shape. Its manifestation could be liquid, it shimmered like molten class as it bowed towards the child poised below it. It wasn’t like a ghost, in that it resembled nothing human, yet it did resemble a person, a forgotten name. But it was something akin to energy, an 3-dimensional illumination sculpted from moon beams.

And it was singing.

“Thy hollow tis the sanctuary to the weary soul. Eternal wandering, misguided childer drifting. They are drifting through thee woods, wayward souls. Seek eternity, thy world is thine. Let me share a wish with thou, weary soul. Come to thee, hear thy song and come hitherto.” It walked, drifted, around the child, as the child watched the figure move and glide, gold wisps following in delicate lacey vapors. “Thy contentment is thine, nay shall sweep thou away. Adoration thou doth give, and the warmth of thy cradle from which thou shall never fall.” Flurries of cyan glide from the ‘sleeves’ of the sprite, drifting into the underside of the reaching canopy. The large trees lurch, their limbs bow low with tangles of the vines, bundles and wraps of creepers, unfurl and descend from the gnarled fingers of the looming trees. “Be with thee for the pact will be fulfilled. Amend what was wrong wayward soul, and thy indenture for thou will never falter.”

In the large bundles of vine coils hung faces. Gaunt, dirty, little faces, eyes closed and lost in a deep sleep.

Only a few times at night had Dimitri gone out to the woods, usually in the summer when it was warm and cool. If he and his friends could sneak out they’d play tag, or other games that were made exciting in the dark, with the potential dangers were made possible after night had fallen and the woods were transported into another realm, a new plain of existence that could not be compared to its daylight counterpart. If you got scared and went home, you were a wuss for a whole week. At least until someone else caved early and went home, but it wasn’t often they could get together and play after nightfall. It was safe in the dark, and it amazed him how easy it was for them to hide from each other.

That’s where he learned to track, more or less. In the summer the forest floor was coated in mulch from the leaf fall, and it took practice to identify where the leaves were scattered on a calm day. Dimitri was the best out of his friends and he had gotten so good he could track at night. Following the fresh onslaught of tracks trampled through the layer of frost was no new challenge. He was out of practice, out of his element, but once he got going he picked up the technique like an lost friend. The Mystery Skulls were far ahead.

Only his ragged pants kept him company and his laborious footfalls as he bulldozed through the undergrowth, shredding brush and tearing through creeper plants. He’d never come to this side of the woods before, it was creepy and old and far-far too far out from the town. There were rumors that people came through, criminals and the like to take refuge in the endless forest when they wanted to disappear- supposing like the children, may have been responsible for the children that had gone missing. That’s why, when his parents had been so adamant about it, he had never thought to question or disobey the order. Besides, he had his own section of territory he liked to hang out in, where he and his friends had a sort of clubhouse set up with old discarded construction lumber.

That was before the disappearances.

It haunted his mind as he ran. In the distance he swore he heard something scuttle, a twig snap, and a growl accompanied by the flash of hostile eyes. He ran faster, harder, sometimes stumbling over the roots and vines hidden beneath mulch.

“Why are they out here,,” his mind screamed. “Why all the way out here?” But he felt he knew. He knew why but he was fighting to avoid the answers he had thought he wanted. He tried to force away the tears, the hot betrayal that would mark up his face. He wanted to know, but the answers terrified him. What would he find? What awaited within the heart of the woods?

He had believed finding his brother would be the answer to his sorrow. But the truth, it had finally caught up to him and he could not bear it.

Dimitri barely paused, out of breath and mist swirling in front of his eyes. He checked his direction, examined the moon, then he was shooting off again. He raced away from the haunting stones, legs weak from cold and exhaustion but he pushed himself. A thought in his mind warmed him, or was that fury stoking his furnace? In the end, it wouldn’t matter what he found. He needed to know, or he could never stop running.

The frost thinned and the direction was difficult to confirm. They must have middle around, got lost too. Most times he could only identify two sets of tracks, they might’ve splint up. Dimitri skipped to a stop on a bundle of broken vines and turned his flashlight, examining the path he now stood. Which direction? What way? As he jerked around wildly, something glint a few feet from where he stood. It spooked him back several steps, but he realized in his movement that it was nothing but some polished stone, glinting white within a tangle of vines.

Something was wrong with the stone. The frost didn’t stick to it, and it lay upon a mound of something in the root bed. He shuffled forward, fearful of sounds and twitters in the heavy air, but he was alone, so very alone. He knelt and poked at the lump with his flashlight, some of the ice coating the side chipped away revealing bright colors, cloth, an arm.

Dimitri dropped to his knees in the leaves and ice, his grip on the torch tightened until his fingers and had gone numb. The sad little sack stared up at Dimitri – lifeless, stiff and cold. Its glassy eyes glimmer with light from the moon. He reached out and touched the small arm, rotted from many days pummeled by fall showers. No… no. He knew it would be awful, he knew it would hurt, but seeing it here in the state he was, he couldn’t bear it.

It was supposed to protect him, his mother made it to protect him. “Why?” he whispered. “Why didn’t you take care of him? You were made to PROTECT HIM! WHY!” He dropped over the filthy sock monster and cried onto its foul smelling cloth. His anguish was the only sound in the despondent woods. Far from his home, lost from his world. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I left you.” His mumbling died down enough that he could hear, the faint warble of… a voice.

Dimitri pulled himself back and searched through the dark with his flashlight. The light seemed to make distinguishing the shadows difficult, and he switched it off. It was there calling? No, singing. It sounded like the songs his mother used to sing when Luther was an infant. Dimitri loved to listen to her voice through the door when it was left a crack. The memory was so distant and fog laced, but that voice brought it back with such a harsh sculpted focus. Someone was in the woods. A person.

But he wouldn’t leave Dimitri. He stuffed his flashlight into his coat pocket, and then worked to untangle the little toy from the roots that had pierced into its underside. Soil and leaf bits sprinkled the blue ice crust beneath the sock monster as he raised it. He almost wanted to leave the rotted toy, it was rotten, falling apart, plant infused, but… he wanted it back. He needed it.

The voice hummed. He couldn’t make out words, but it was melodious and sweet, such as a bell, or the chime after a combat games finishing move. He brushed aside the gnarled vines that draped in his way and moved carefully through the brush. When he had moved further out from the tree grove, he stopped and clutched Dimitri to his chest.

Trees. Light. But what he saw first were the quivering vines, slithering and binding. The shape was alight, burning brighter as vines bundled over the small figure of a child no older than him. Impossible. What was it. An alien? A monster? Something inhuman doing terrible things.

And in the midst of the highest bundles of old vines was a familiar face. A face he hardly remembered.

“What do we do?” Lewis snapped. Vivi fists were remained latched to his jacket collar, but he was about ready to burst forward and do something drastic, maybe regretful. But he knew better. If Vivi was restraining him, it was for the good of those kids, and his. He wouldn’t be able to exist as his sane self if he did something… anything, that might harm them, even indirectly. He had to wait, but they were running out of time.

“They’re asleep,” Vivi reasoned. “Sprites or things, they’re not normally dangerous to the living.” She bit her lip as she watched, barely containing herself. Her fingers kneaded into Lewis jacket collar. “It… might let them go. It might not. I don’t know, I didn’t think to do extensive research into the area.” She sighed, and Lewis placed a hand on her shoulder. Vivi shook her head. “I don’t think we have the training for this. We could… try and help them, but if they’re in some sort of spiritually induced comma, interfering may do more harm than good. Their souls can be removed, lost.”

“Okay,” Arthur hissed. He was inching back under a space in the shrubs, leaning on his good arm as he pushed himself back. “Then let me iterate, WHAT do we do? Hanging out here isn’t helping.” He winced back under the brush when Lewis glanced his way.

“You were right, Art. This….” Vivi clung to Lewis jacket as she slumped to her knees. Lewis put an arm around her and kept her upright when her shoulders began to shake, her aura knotted with an inner turmoil. Vivi heaved a shaky breath. “Bad case. A Failed case. We have to call someone, get somebody out here that knows this sort of thing.” She let her head hang. God, this was hard. More than that, it felt… wrong. They didn’t fail the case, they failed the kids. They failed Dimitri. “If we risk— ”

A strangled sound came from the brush not far from where the group huddled. Lewis thought at first it was Arthur, but no, Arthur was giving his own half cry as he tumbled over and out of sight into the thicker shrubs.

Then Lewis knew. “Oh fuck,” he snarled, untangling out of Vivi’s hold. It wasn’t difficult, she must have understood from the pitch of the wail what was happening and threw herself aside, as Lewis lunged, nearly gliding out of the grove to snare the dark figure tearing from the vine cover. “Ethan! NO!” Leaves and frost scattered as he caught the back of Dimitri’s coat and held on, keeping the struggling child from falling onto the frost coated earth.

“No?” Dimitri screamed, voice cracking beneath the swirling fog in his eyes. “NO?” He twisted his coat out of Lewis’ hold and stumbled, propelling mere inches beyond the long reach. “My brother! And you say NO!”

A burst of commotion thrashed about in the thicket, muffled whining and Vivi shouting with the backdrop of an eerie hissing; hissing like water on hot stones. Lewis thought he could pick out the sporadic bursts of Arthur dodging around, but he had to concentrate on his hands. He had to get Dimitri and get away.

“All’s not lost!” Lewis shrieked, voice popping. Dimitri was too upset to notice how Lewis’ grip kept slipping through his flailing wrist, but he managed to hold enough together to keep Dimitri from racing full off. “You’re brother—” Lewis began. He would lie. He would do it. They had to get away, he had to get them all away to safety. “He’s in no danger! Are you listening? Ethan, listen! Trust me!” That word, that hurt worst of all.

The clearing brightened, snags of vines and tree branches curled backwards up beneath the stooping canopy. A flash of turquoise glinted, spun to where the disturbance had taken root among the broken memories of once tress. The hiss became louder, something more akin to slithering brush and leaves racing among root clusters of the forest floor. Vines detached from their ancient resting place between the old trees, snapping up over the glimmering light of the Saint Elmo’s flame. Earth splint and pulled back beneath the flickering orb, latching out and coiling up among the constricting layers reaching upward, higher, long shoots of vines seeking the origins of the moonbeams.

Leaves scatter and sigh as the twisting shape convulsed around the light of its core. It bent forward and arched a mass of vines, tangling thicker, locking into something like a back, but never formulating into such a structure; knowing no structure or its function. “Intruders,” the leaves wheezed. “Not welcome. Leave. Leave.” It chanted, as saplings rose up to its vaporous base. “Leave. Leave.” A mass of vines lowered from the tree branches, snapping free and drag around the burning light of its hot core. “Leave, or suffer thy retribution.”

“Do you hear me?” Lewis cries, desperation reverts his voice into a grating screech. “Trust me, Ethan! We will not abandon you! But we cannot help lik—”

“SHUT UP!” Dimitri snarled. Lewis caught his wrist and hauled him back, but Dimitri refused to relent and shoved himself back on his heels. “You’re lying! LIAR! LIAR! LIAR!” He swept an arm out, the deranged and broken sock monster sliced through the steadily brightening gloom and connected with Lewis’ head.

In that instant the panic and screaming ceased. Lewis raised his head, somewhat dazed by an obstruction flying directly through his line of sight; and Dimitri broke from his fight to gawk up at Lewis, his small shoulders quiver in his coat. He struggles to tug his arm out of the restraining hand, but Dimitri’s efforts were subdued, he just kept staring at—

“Oh. Oh no.” Lewis raised his other hand slightly and Dimitri recoiled, his small arm was about ready to pop out of its socket. “Don’t…. Don’t be afraid.” Lewis paused, despite the noises and hissing and approaching chanting. He couldn’t, he just couldn’t. “Please. Don’t— ”

“Y-you’re not human,” Dimitri whimpered. Hollowed out eye sockets gazed back, in their pits burned an unnatural light. It looked awful, painful somehow. Those… dumb sunglasses he always wore. Always. Dimitri gulped on the icy air, when he let out his breath it lingered in a thin cloud. Lewis’ breath never showed – he never slept, never ate; all these pieces he hadn’t noticed, details that were too obscure, unimportant. Until now. It all added up in one horrible congested realization.

“You’re… you’re some kind of monster.” He was prying his feet into bleached stone, as Lewis’ hold came loose. Dimitri fell onto his butt and sat there, fist digging through the frail material of the toy he clutched to his chest, like a protective totem. “That’s why? That’s why Arthur was scared?”

There was nothing Lewis could say, not safely. He didn’t get that chance either, when Vivi tore from the brush and grabbed Dimitri around his shoulders. Vivi’s gaze was not on the shaking child staring right through her, it was beyond Dimitri and on the grating shimmer of light shedding off its once brilliance. Lewis can’t see it, he doesn’t want to move. All that he can sense is Dimitri’s appalled stare, betrayed. For a moment Lewis wants to disappear, cease to be. It would be less painful than this.

“Lewis!” Vivi screams. “We have to go! Dimitri! On your feet! Wake up!” She grips Dimitri’s shoulders and shakes him. But her eyes raise to the sprite as it begins to sway, and hum.

“Sleep sleep sleep,” it sang. Roots and tangles of branches dig into the hard earth like the many legs of a centipede, swaying to a fro at its base and up to its thicker head portion. It creeps closer to the girl in blue on its crumbling segments in a flowing wave of timber, the tail end curling out and around to bar in its intended victims. “Sleep child, dream of thine eternity. Leave behind thine worries, let thou—” A ring of flames erupts between the sprite and its writhing nest of plant segment base, leaves ash and roots wilt back.

The entire length of the wood sprite coils back, vines looping around the throat base and narrow chest space, where the core of its flame was nestled, protected. It expanded the surface of its structure with vines and roots leeching from the soil, and heaved its upper half high upward. “Disrespectful soul.” It twitched and coiled back around itself as it tracked Lewis’ movement. “Thine nay human!”

“No,” Lewis said. He moved himself between his ring of fire and Vivi holding Dimitri, and stood before the woods sprite watching him with its glimmering orbs fluttering through its long ‘neck’. The fire diminished by degrees, the soft fuchsia fading from the frosted surfaces of petrified rock and tangles of foliage. “Do you have a story you wish to share?” Lewis held a hand behind his back and gestured to Vivi, trying to shoo her off. She wasn’t watching him though, she was staring at the apparition as its shape shifted and molded; conducted by the forest wound about its soul.

“Protect the forest from wandering souls, tis thy tireless contract; lost shades buoyant amidst realms of null and presence, dimension and space. Lost, lingering, erroneous.” it began to sway and hum, its tightly bound vines creaking; and Lewis began to realize the voice was feminine. Patronizing and feminine. “Life then death doth make the cycle repeat, eternal and unequivocal. Then you! Your kindred violate my sanctum!”

“Isn’t that a shame.” Lewis was trying to be discrete, but Vivi was entranced. Was it the spirit, or her drive for the discovery and the supernatural, or a little of both? He backed up as the spirit swung forward, roots knotted into the base of the frigid soil, carrying its body in its malevolent advance. Staring up at it as he backed away, Lewis half expected it to lose its balance and topple over them, but the roots anchored it as it glides lower, graceful.

“Man kin comes and doth take what tis nay thou. Thieves of life, and thieves of greed. Take even what tis already thine. Wound thee deep with thine spiteful craft, but remain thou have and stay thou shalt.” It continued, curling the length of its body down to glare with the shimmering globs in its neck. It raised appendages of long branches around its head, and its midsection sunk in as it swept down in a smooth, fluid motion.

Lewis brought his hands forward, slowly, readying his internal flame. Keep it focused on him, it didn’t like his presence. Give Vivi more time to collect herself, come out of the spell. “Please Vivi. Snap out of it.” He curled the hand behind his back into a loose fist, but he couldn’t risk a mere ember. The forest sprite edged him, was on the teeter of lunging on the slightest movement.

“The land of man kin hitherto honors the pact thou brought unto,” its bark groaned, lowly. “That thou taketh the childer to mend thy fractures. Release them back thy shalt to them. Life is not mine to take, but unto you my ire will sate.”

“Hey! HEY! Excuse me? Over here!” The spirit wrenched its head aside and up high, turning its upper half over to stare with its glimmering ‘eyes’ onto the distant side of the forest graveyard. It said nothing, only the soft rustle of leaves swayed on its back as it stared at the small figure hopping about and waving its arms, a torch beam flashed high above its shock of bright hair. “You look like you’re from around here!”

Lewis tilts his head. “Arthur?” Oh wait, this was a distraction. He gently backpedaled and leaned down near Vivi.

“I’m a little lost!” Arthur went on. He was grinning, cackling, god he was insane. “I’m looking for the nearest Pizza place? Do you know how I can get outta these woods?” He waved his good arm and signaled with the flashlight, waved the beam over towards the big whatever the fuck it was. The thing was coated in branches, and creeper vines bound its limbs together, reminiscent of veins and sinew within a body. Arthur read plenty of medical, and he’d seen… enough. It remained anchored into the frozen soil by segments, while its body curled over itself in a wave like motion alternating what sections were held down at a time; like a giant centipede or mantis.

He hated mantis men.

Timber smoldered and cinder still wavered timidly on the icy ground around Vivi, not enough to keep her trapped. Anything short of a box with no door could not hope to keep Vivi contained. On her lap lay Dimitri, fainted or put into a sleep; Lewis was frightened to dwell of what caused his swoon. Lewis edged closer to the crouched figure, though his attention does slip back to the forest sprite drifting away in its creaking, flawless momentum. “I can keep it busy. But you—”

Vivi grabbed his jacket collar and yanked him down, nearer. “Do NOT tell me to leave you! I know you can’t protect us! I know you’re gonna be the only one standing in its way! But no! No, I don’t want to hear you say those words!”

Lewis would’ve blinked. He gave an uneasy smirk instead. “Well, should I be the martyr here, and force you to run so you wouldn’t have the burden of—” He shut up when Vivi jerked him down and pressed her lips to his. Lewis raised an arm to push away, but it was Vivi. Her fevered aura singed the edges of his ethereal sense, tightening on his vague suggestion of placement. It jarred Lewis for a moment, and he let himself slump to his knees beside her.

He wanted this to last forever. He didn’t want to leave her again. His soul couldn’t bear it. He reached a slack arm up to touch her shoulder, to feel the solidity. But Vivi pushed him away.

“Arthur. Don’t let it take Arthur,” she said. Vivi gathered Dimitri in her arms and rose to her feet. She opened her mouth, but paused from saying whatever had come to mind – last advice, words of encouragement, a selfish plea. She couldn’t bring forth the words spinning in her mind. She only gave a strained, “Please.”

Lewis slowly levitates himself. He glanced aside, tightening his fists beside him. Arthur was still screaming, giggling and off kilter; he wouldn’t last much longer. “Right,” Lewis muttered. He caught Vivi by the shoulder before she managed to dart away. Lewis unzipped his jacket and draped the coat over Dimitri, sagging in her arms. The locket at his breast coat flares softly tinted blue, holding its steady pulse, its gentle tempo in time with hers. Lewis tries not to look into Vivi’s agonized eyes, instead he kicks off backwards and shoots away with a flash of flames.

“Remember,” she called, stepping away, watching the small sputter of embers at Lewis’ heels. “We’re trying… we have to get away! Don’t forget. Don’t… lose yourself.” It was meaningless talk, though Lewis might need the reminder; he was going to be very upset. The sound of it in her voice gave her hope.

Vivi adjusts the limp bundle in her arms and pivots, diving off into the ticket. She wanted to go back, more than anything she wanted to stay. The last thought she wanted on her conscience was abandoning Lewis again.

On the furthest side of the open forest, Arthur was still rambling to the thing of the forest as it uprooted itself and moved. “It’s an acquired taste,” he went on, backing away towards the shrinking clear space on his right. It was lowering its body segments across the forest graveyard, the tail section unfurling towards the rock face; herding him until his movement would be restricted, strangled. And he didn’t want to be near the tall monoliths of timber, driving their jagged knuckles into the sky. If he saw them, the suggestion of a face in the shade of a nook, he would lose all functionality. The thought brought violent quakes to his body, Arthur could hardly stay upright.

The spirit maneuvers its shape and rolls, always segments of its body latched through roots in the earth, snapping and grinding through the ice. It began to pick up pace as Arthur lost ground, the frightened man kin was becoming anxious and edging to run before it cut him off completely. There was still room, to scrape by and dive off into the grove and hide. “And my, what big trunks you have!” He bolted, legs blurring over splintered petrified wood. Too soon too late, he hadn’t thought it through; he had only one objective to dedicate his survival to. Get away, escape. Flee.

He chanced one glance up at the woods sprite, when it gave a horrendous shriek, a cry eerily like an angry woman, lost amid the snapping of timber falling, crashing. It sounded human, once it was human, and it kept that trait through the many years it had existed. The front segments of its body spun over, snaring soil in high rolling waves. This wild motion brought it before Arthur in two of its strides; but perhaps Arthur had staggered sideways when it had lunged. The wood sprite twisted its front over in front of Arthur, roots dragging the base downward as it heaves long tangles of vines outward, toward its quarry.

Arthur stalls and skids over his heels, he drops to his back and lashes out at the soil behind him frantically to crab crawl away. Eyes remain locked on the shrieking entity as his fingers scrap over icy, sharp rocks for a handhold, metal fingertips clacking. Roots snagged at his ankles and dragged him forward, while vines slithered around his shoulders, tightening fast to his neck—

A bright ball of sizzling fire smashed into the side of the forest sprites neck. The fire ignited and the spirit squealed, coiling down into the ice and spinning into roots and rock beside the cliff face it called dwelled within. The multiple limbs tore free from its captive, and slung the long tangles of vines around the cinder chewing at the glimmering globs in its neck.

“Shit! Shit!” Arthur chanted as he cartwheeled over and over, fighting for stability. Roots were flying, leaves crammed into his face and dirt clouded his eyes; he was a mess of limbs, unable to pick out where the cold space of his left side and his damaged shoulder hit, but he felt the pain sear through his torso. Through the chaos a voice was screaming at him, over the murderous shrill of the spirit.

“Arthur!” The muddled figure felt his vest snagged, and the ground fell out from under him. He couldn’t see through the swirling grit but suddenly Arthur was airborne. “Out of the way!”

Lewis spun out of the toss unconcerned with where Arthur might come down, as long as he was far out of range. The woods spirit spun over as coals cracked and fell from what Lewis decided was a neck. Its whole construction was not living, it had no organs that could be wounded critically. What consisted of its body was a shell knotted over its luminous core, enabling it to rise fifteen or more feet high, as it did now.

“Desecrate thy sanctuary,” the spirit howls. Already vines wind over the damaged kindling, reinforcing the weakened structure. “There is only one penalty for thine ilk.” But it doesn’t descend onto Lewis, not yet. It dithers back and turns the side of its head away scanning through the edge of the grove, presumably seeking the other members of his group. Fire ignites over Lewis’ fists as he launches at its base, delivering a sizzling wave of flames across its roots. The air fills with thick gray smoke, and the spirit of the woods wails as it is brought back to the forefront of his presence. Leaves rustle along its back in frenzy as it tilts, several of its pliant arms lash out when Lewis retreats around its side; fuchsia and red flames flash across Lewis face, until the bleached skull is cleansed and revealed. Momentarily, the forest sprite is static, the lengths of its vines curling back into the flint littered soil beneath it.

The woods sprite was not the only one distracted. As Lewis skied back across the field, adjacent to the path the others would have taken, he turned his flickering skull to check the cocoon of vines within the dark canopy high above. He could count one, two, at least seven children… plus one more. All asleep, each unaware, spirited away from their warm homes, their families.

A sudden mass of roots snag his ankle, burrowing into his sub-solidity of his leg before he has a chance to fade through. The forest sprite drags itself towards Lewis, while at the same time the roots beneath it twist around at the soil level and fling Lewis against the base of the ancient trees. The roots remain fixed within his leg, while more cluster and spread up over his thighs and chest, twisting through Lewis’ ribcage.

The dapper ghost manages to keep his translucent arms free and bring them close to his chest, shielding his glimmering locket from the invasive plant coils. It didn’t hurt per se, but the sensation of matter burrowing through his incorporeal suggestion was unsettling (that was an understatement). And Lewis feared there was a method of harm that it could implement that he was not yet aware of. He could do without the lesson.

The locket on his chest escalated its tempo, blues and gold pulsing, mingled over the silver glitter encrusted roots tightening on and through his form. The cool colors soon blaze with a vibrant gold and red, magenta spills from Lewis’ suit collar, his ribs are swept with a flash of fire, black soot scatters outward in a thick wave. The plant fibers are engulfed with thick smog and wither, scorched by the ravenous lashing flames. Clumps of ash ignites from Lewis suit as he thrusts his arms outward, snapping the thicker coils that remained latched into him. The displaced cinder takes flight and scatters, some catching to the brittle kindling of the old trees lowest hanging branches.

The wood sprite gives a shriek. Not from the damage inflected to its segments, but twists its neck to view the flames spreading to its craft above. “Vandal!”

“It’s not like I want to be HERE!” With a sharp kick to the ground Lewis raises himself several feet, one hand plastered over the dully flutter of his gilded locket. The sprite lashes its upper segment high intending to intercept Lewis’ movement, but it reconsiders its pursuit at a sudden flash of crackling fire swept out from Lewis’ coat sleeve; a formidable barrier cast midair. With that arm extended to the forest sprite, Lewis raises the other hand and swept fresh wisps of flame onto his lost fire. Once the spark wisps settle over the spirit fire, he grips his fist and draws his arm back. The flames along the vines and tree canopy extinguish, and Lewis lets himself drift downward as his shield scatters into a puff of colorful mist.

One flame in his skull goes out.

“Scandalous!” The wood sprite shrieks. With the barrier gone it moves on Lewis, as Lewis skits away across soil backwards, sparks glittering at his heels, steam coughing up from melting frost. The wood sprite descends after Lewis, the base of its structure digging and snapping roots through the soil, its body moving in a wave across the clearing. “Fiend! Wraith!” A nest of vines from the thickets edge lunge out the moment Lewis is within reach, snagging his suit and legs. A quick burst of flames ignites down Lewis’ back, freeing him from the hold. Light flashes within Lewis eye sockets as he propels himself at the wood sprite, directly on level with the thick armor of its lowered torso. Flames surge from his knuckles, Lewis slams his palms to its layers of vines twisted around its core. “Destroyer!” The forest spirit howls as it recoils and twists down, coils of roots from the icy soil tear forth to loop over the spreading fire. Lewis adjusts his midair posture and forces flames from his sleeve cuffs; his eye sockets flash out, turn black. From the grove more vines shoot, snaring Lewis by his torso and haul him off of the master. “Slay my children!”

Fire gushes from Lewis’ collar, obliterating the coils digging through his suit edges. “They’re not YOURS!” They’re far enough from the canopy that he can risk throwing himself at its head region, and Lewis digs his claws into a set of the bright globes in its throat. The thing stalls and shakes, leaves and soot coughs up as it rolls over and down into the icy crust of the soil. The roots that build up along the wood sprites arms snap out, binding through Lewis and wretch the flaming ghost off. “Let them go!”

“Not by thou command, wayward soul.” The wood sprite jerks away from Lewis, smothering its long shape down into the soil as fires and black smoke bellow forth on the cold air. Lewis is a wild blaze as he scorches at the knots of roots tangling through him, fighting to reach the momentarily stunned sprite of the forest as it knots its body into the toothy soil, the lights in its neck glowering. A mass of vines tear from the high canopy and snare Lewis back, drag him high and whips the dapper ghost skyward at its end.

It’s too high, and Lewis lets loose a piercing shriek as he ignites an inferno of fire across his suit and skull, shredding out a large spherical circumference around himself; a trail of black flakes follows his rapid descent. When Lewis comes down within the shelter of the canopy, he alights on a sturdy branch and crouches for a moment; not balanced precisely on the branch, but hovering and using its permanence to keep his form stable. Lewis raises a hand and inspects the gray wisps of his glove, drifting off in a scarce breeze. Most of the knuckle is exposed in his hand, but that isn’t his concern.

The forest sprite throws itself into the thicket, moving along the branches and vines dangling, pulling its large shape towards Lewis as he waits. At the moment it reaches him, Lewis ducks aside and presses a palm blazing with sizzling flames onto its head. He holds onto the sprite by digging one hand through its vines, his fire infused palm punches through its blackened skull. A cloud of soot rises, but not all of it is from the shrieking mass twisting about in the canopy.

There’s no advantage to the scheme, the sprite’s body snaps the branches and vines tangled into its mass as it spasms; it and Lewis go crashing to the forest floor. Ice flurries upset from their branches drift down with clumps of mud, along with smoldering leaves from the sprites body. As Lewis wrestles to get his shape insubstantial or rip himself from the constricting thing, he presses fire and more untamed heat into what should be the sprites shattered skull; his other hand is pressed across his chest defending his locket from the feral battering of the sprite as it struggles away from the fire.

What neither spirit has yet to notice is that they are the only ones in the thicket. All other members had fled, and Lewis was alone.

#msa #mystery skulls animated #msa fanfic #mystery skulls fanfic #msa fanfiction #mystery skulls fanfiction #msa lewis #msa arthur #msa vivi #msa mystery #mystery skulls #animated #fanfiction

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braveskyered · 4 years

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Knights (Part 16)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15

(Special Thanks to @nebulous-rain for providing one of the illustrations for Part 16! Please check her out if you have time!)

As mentioned before, please be aware that there may be some topics from here on out that you as a reader will find uncomfortable. Elaborating what they are in the beginning will be considered spoilers.

Do remember that this story is a work of fiction. Any similarities between characters or events to persons - living or dead - in our real world are purely coincidental.

Only those that have understood and thus agreed to the above have the privilege of continuing to read Knights to the very end with a clear head.

Do you agree?

Yes ←

Should you fail to uphold your end of the agreement...

(Chuckles) Well, that’s your own fault,

Part 16: Yes, Things Just Might Be Strange

- - - - - - -

So many things didn’t make sense.

So. Many. Things. Didn’t. Make. Sense.

So what the hell is going on?

Arthur knew for a fact that life in Tempo would change over the years while he was away. He knew for a fact that removing himself from the town seventeen years would have improved the lives of all those affected by his existence.

He didn’t know what to think when he overheard the conversation Elaine had with Mr. Yukino…

…

“I know I’m asking a lot from you, Mrs. Knights,” Mr. Yukino spoke with a strained voice, “But the real reason I hired you wasn’t just to put a ghost to rest.”

Elaine rose a brow and crossed her arms, unimpressed, “I know, you hired me because you knew that my husband always comes with me during my jobs. It was Arthur you wanted, not me. I won’t be giving your money back if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“No, I paid for what I requested. If it came down to it, you might have to put Lewis to rest by force.”

“And this ‘Lewis’ is the one that abused Arthur,” Elaine spoke rather than asked, “Funny, I was told that they were best friends.”

“…And that is correct.”

“Being his best friend or being his abuser?”

Mr. Yukino closed his eyes and nodded, then gave Elaine a look that she understood very well.

But all it did was make Elaine feel conflicted.

And Arthur hated it.

…

… So why does it feel like he has committed such a grave mistake?

...

He couldn’t bring himself to think about it right now as Elaine drove away from the Yukino residence with him riding with her. Even though the Yukino family wanted him to talk to their daughter, Arthur knew that he has no right to speak to Vivi, let alone see her, no matter what her parents may think. Mr. Yukino wanted Arthur to talk to Grandma Yukino again, but the objective to avoid Vivi took precedence once he learned that she would return to their home in a matter of hours.

And also…

I wasn’t wanted by them anymore. I was hated for being the cause of Lewis’s death, for being the cause of Vivi’s amnesia, for being the cause of everyone’s suffering. They ignored me back then, they ignored me after. I was hurt by them back then, I was hurt by them after. I left their lives quietly like they wanted.

“Arthur?”

…Didn’t I?

“My star, are you okay?”

He tensed briefly when he felt a gentle touch on his shoulder once they returned to the parking lot of Kingsmen Mechanics and looked over to see Elaine giving him a supportive expression.

“Before we get inside, I think we need to talk about this,” she nodded to him, “There are so many things that just don’t add up. What Mr. Yukino discussed with me regarding the ‘job’ he hired me for, and also, regarding the kids…”

Arthur shook his head and looked away. Upon receiving silence as a response, he turned back to Elaine and saw her mulling something over.

“I guess there are still some things you need time to think about for now,” she sighed, “But we do need to talk about this eventually, so I will wait until we return to our hotel room later tonight, when we’re alone, and then we’ll talk. I don’t want you to run away in fear by yourself anymore. You understand this, right?”

Even though Elaine knows the general gist of what happened to the loss of his arm, and that it had something to do with the abuse he went through afterwards, Arthur knew that his wife, his light, has so, so many questions to ask. Knowing that he didn’t have a choice once Elaine decided on matters like this, he nodded slowly.

Elaine smiled gently, then pulled him closer to whisper into his ear, “It will be okay, my star. It will be okay. That I promise to you.”

She kissed him, then left the car with him following and held his hand.

- - - - - - -

“You know, Arthur, I can’t even begin to tell you just how much I missed doing this with you.”

Arthur looked up from the engine of a semi-truck he is currently repairing to glance at his uncle working beside him.

Elaine and Morgan had left the uncle and nephew duo to “catch up on lost time” while they went out on errands and to explore Tempo with the car Lance had lent them. Arthur was reluctant at first, but then Lance assured him that Belle won’t be returning for the remainder of the day. Thus, with a heavy and even more reluctant heart, Arthur allowed Elaine to leave his side, the latter promising to come back if he ever needed her.

It’s okay. Arthur thought to himself as he clutched at the moon pin on his vest. So long as I have this…

“I mean, I’ve been able to keep this place up and running by myself, and business has been great and all as of late, but…” Lance looked down at the engine with a weary look, “It’s just… It wasn’t the same without you, you know?”

Arthur turned away to grab a different wrench that allowed a longer reach. He isn’t sure what to say to his uncle, a man who is essentially his father figure for most of his life. If anything, Arthur knew for a fact that it was selfish for him to leave without saying anything. He just didn’t have a choice, either he remained and die from a painful death by the wraith, announced his desire to leave and die a painful death by the wraith or possibly the kitsune, or leave with no one knowing and possibly die yet another painful death from something else.

…Which never came to pass due to Elaine’s family saving him back then, of course.

Lance seemed to get the hint that Arthur didn’t want to talk, so he kept going, “If you want, I can update you on what went on after you left.”

Arthur didn’t acknowledge Lance’s offer, instead focusing on the engine that needed a desperate repair. Those cylinders aren’t going to realign themselves.

Unfortunately, his uncle seemed to have taken that as an affirmative, “On the day you left, I waited for you to call, because you said you would once you had reached your ‘destination.’”

The wrench almost slipped from his hand as his gripped faltered. He remembered saying that.

“But you never did. I tried to call you, but it went directly into your voicemail. I figured you had just found a motel and went to sleep. So I tried calling you the next day. But again… I could only get to your voicemail.”

He tightened his grip on the wrench and removed one of the nuts.

“After I realized that you weren’t going to respond, I thought something bad had happened to you. I actually called Vivi and asked if she heard from you, and when she told me that you never said anything about going on a solo vacation, I went and called the police to see if they could find you. Tracking you by your cellphone was a no go, and you didn’t take any credit cards with you. They said that they lost your trail by tracking the buses you took once you reached the Tennessee area. It’s… kind of funny now since that’s where you’ve been all this time. You went right under their noses.”

Arthur gritted his teeth and tried not to listen to his uncle’s ramblings. He’s well aware of how much he worried Lance when he left, but he had no choice. He did worry about police finding him here and there, but the Knights family had hidden him so well that, until he had married Elaine and took her name, he had rarely ventured out in public on his own.

After all, no one in Tempo would believe that Arthur would have the nerve to marry someone and start a family, as unintentional as the latter is. He didn’t deserve such happiness, after all.

…

NO ONE WOULD EVER LOVE YOU AFTER WHAT YOU DID.

…

“I wanted to know why you suddenly ran off, so I started my own investigation, and that’s when…” Lance trailed off, looking more upset and angrier at the words he was about to spew out, “That’s when I found all that evidence in your room at your old place with Vivi and Lewis and…” he sighed in frustration, “Damn it, I couldn’t even believe it, to think that they were even physically hurting you ever since you moved in with them--”

CLANK!

Lance’s voice had cut off once Arthur slammed the wrench against the metal table.

Arthur is trembling in fury, biting his tongue to keep him from screaming. What does Lance know? His uncle hadn’t suffered the despair and pain and suffering like he had, and still is just by standing in this town. Vivi had never hurt him, not on purpose, and never physically. If anything, the only way Vivi had hurt him was due to her own ignorance or insensitivity at times. The wraith, on the other hand…

…

THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!

…

“…I’m sorry.”

Arthur glowered at Lance’s apologetic look, then turned away and picked up a screwdriver. Part of the cover needs to be removed.

“I should’ve known you didn’t want to talk about it,” Lance sighed, “There’s just so many questions I have and… I know I said in my letter that I accepted that I wouldn’t get any answers from you, but I can’t help but want to know why. Why all this happened and why everything had fallen apart for all of us. Even Joe and Lokia are desperate to know why once they came to regret their actions.”

Lewis’s parents. They hated Arthur for being the cause of their son’s death. Their hateful and hurtful words, his last conversation with them, were the least he deserved from them.

- - - - - - -

“Why did it have to be our son?!”

He could only apologize.

“It was you that--!”

Something cracked.

“Why couldn’t it have been you?!”

It hurt. He could only apologize again.

- - - - - - -

“They’re not wrong, Lance.”

“No, Arthur. They were wrong. They said so themselves within a week after you left once we had realized what Lewis had done. They’ve been ashamed of themselves ever since. Hell, even their restaurant took a nosedive of sorts once some regulars of ours overheard what happened, and you know how quickly word spreads around here.”

That does explain why the Pepper Paradiso looks so run down when I saw it. Arthur mused.

“I did tell Belle not to say anything to her family about you being here, but I still think you should visit them at least once before you leave. Or see her sisters, at the very least. I think it would cheer up Cayenne if she sees that you’re okay. She’s already… Ah, it’s not my place to say it.”

And it’s not my place to know. Arthur thought cynically.

While it did pain him a little to hear that the Peppers seems to be having some problems, Arthur knew it was for the best that he doesn’t get involved with Belle or her family. He had taken her brother’s life, after all, and ripped her family apart. Why Belle even tries to speak with him like he isn’t her brother’s murderer is beyond him.

It has only been two days since Arthur and his family arrived in Tempo, and he already wants to go back home. He also hopes that his children will return soon. They’ve been out practicing their monster forms for over three hours now.

Gwen. Percy. Vivian. Arthur’s heart ached. Come back soon and be safe. I don’t ever want the three of you to be forced to pay for my sins.

“Back off, you monster!”

Setting the tools down, Arthur walked away from the engine, ignoring the concerned response from his uncle. He went outside, then took his cell phone out of his pocket, and dialed Percy’s number. It rang a few times, but soon reached his voicemail. Right, Percy can’t use the phone as a kitsune due to a lack of thumbs. Duh. He then dialed Gwen’s phone number and waited as he heard the ringing.

“H-Hey, Daddy!”

Arthur smiled upon hearing Gwen’s voice, even if she sounded a little out of breath, “Hey. I haven’t heard from you since you left. Everything okay?”

“Oh yeah, everything’s just fine!” Arthur could hear her giggle while trying to catch her breath, “We had a little encounter with a, uh, a couple of really stubborn coyotes. Apparently, they thought Percy was competition for, ah, food. Percy’s got a couple nicks as usual, but he’ll be fine.”

Typical of Percy to get into fights with wild animals. “And Vivian? How is she doing?”

Right on cue, “Daddy! I love you!”

“Need I say more?” Gwen asked.

Arthur gave a low chuckle, “No. So long as the three of you are safe, that’s all that matters to me.”

“…Don’t worry, Daddy, we’re about to finish up over here. We should be back iiiiinnn…” Gwen hummed for a moment, “An hour or so, give or take.”

“Okay, let me know when you're back in town.”

“Of course,” Gwen went silent for a moment, “Hey, Daddy?”

“Yes?”

“No matter what, we’ll always love you. You know that, right?”

Arthur smiled, a warm tender feeling began to flow in his veins, “I do, and I love all three of you and your mother with all my heart.”

“…Thank you. We’ll see you later, Daddy. Bye!”

Arthur hung up and placed the phone back in his pocket, relieved to know that his son and daughters are safe. They haven’t been discovered by the wraith or the Mystery Skulls, and that alone helped put his mind at ease. Of course, he knew better than to get all his hopes up, but at the very least, he wanted his children to not get hurt by anyone here. He doubted things in Tempo will ever be smoothed out between him and the residents here, but at this point, he’s not sure if it’s even possible, or if anyone but Elaine wanted it to.

With the green demon being unaccounted for, there is no one else to blame for the death of Lewis Pepper.

“Where—”

“Bad girl… Bad girl...”

Although he never wanted it, Arthur knew that taking the blame for himself is what allowed everyone he knew in Tempo to remain steady. If there’s nothing they could blame, how else would anyone that had been affected by it all move forward?

He stared off into the distance as he tried to make out some of the buildings. The police station for Tempo is small, and the crime rate is relatively low. If anything, Tempo is one of those places where people are more likely to get speeding tickets or some other traffic violation than things like robbery or murder.

Arthur did try to turn himself in to the police once, a week after he learned that he had a hand in Lewis’s death, however indirect it may be, but somehow Vivi caught on and brought him back home before he could reach the street leading to it. The wraith wasn’t too happy when Arthur tried to bring himself to justice, as some of the old burn scars on his arm and back can attest to.

Those who have been murdered or those closely acquainted to the victim would almost never want the killer to be brought to justice by the police. It would take too long because of due process or some other bull as some would put it. A phrase Arthur once heard while overhearing customers talk at the Pepper Paradiso…

- - - - - - -

Once you violate the rights of one person, you forfeit your own in the same regard.

- - - - - - -

… or something along those lines can make one think that they deserve “justice” as soon as they desire for it. They want their own version of justice, so they can get closure and quickly move on, whether they were wrong in their judgment or not.

Sometimes, Arthur felt it would’ve been easier for everyone else had he been the one that died back when everything went wrong or when the wraith had thrown him down in that cave. But no, he had to survive both incidents with scars that will never truly heal and suffer punishments and emotional pain for over half a year until that question was asked by Vivi with the wraith smiling beside her, until he couldn’t take it anymore and ran away as a result. He pulled out his phone again and opened the app that shows the photo gallery. He went through several folders and soon opened the first one.

The first photo has him and Elaine shoulder-to-shoulder with one another with the tall mountains of Cantabile as the backdrop. Arthur remembered this one, being the selfie Elaine took as a memento of their first official date, before he learned what her family is capable of. He browsed through the photos, watching things transition from how tired, pale, and thin he was to photos that has him with more color in his face and back to a healthy weight. He could see some of the scars on his neck despite wearing either summer scarves or turtlenecks in an attempt to hide them, but as he browsed over the photos, they were gradually fading over time to where they're barely noticeable unless one looked closely.

Photos in another folder showed the path at how he and Elaine were casually dating before they made their relationship official. More photos showed the record where they are becoming engaged to one another, then having a simple wedding ceremony and enjoying the cake. Yet another folder has him seeing the chronicles of their marriage while Elaine’s belly swelled with life before it reached to a photo of the two each holding a newborn baby in their arms the morning they were born at the hospital, Elaine still in her hospital bed, with Arthur sitting in a chair by her side.

The remaining folders has photos full of the twins growing up from mere infancy to their current ages, their accomplishments and stages of growth with Elaine holding the measuring tape to record their height, to photos of Elaine being pregnant again and another holding a newborn Vivian in her arms at the hospital bed with Arthur lovingly staring down at them. One has the few rare pictures of Vivian herself having short hair until she gained her long hair trait on the fourth day of life. The last few photos were of his children celebrating their recent birthday, trick-or-treating for Halloween just a few weeks ago, and then finally…

The last photo…

“Arthur?”

Arthur tilted his phone towards his chest to prevent Lance from looking. Not that he has a reason to hide them, but he didn’t want to talk about the stories behind each photo, and each treasured memory.

These memories are his and his alone, and he will not let anyone, not even his uncle or the wraith, taint them.

“I failed you as your uncle, didn’t I?”

What.

He gave Lance an incredulous look.

Upon seeing his nephew’s reaction, Lance sighed, “The fact that you’re not willing to talk to me kinda gives it away. I know you’re angry with me.”

…Angry?

“Even though I’m your uncle, I couldn’t do anything to protect you,” Lance then gripped at his face, the anguish not leaving his expression, “I should’ve known that you, my one and only nephew, were hurting. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve blamed myself for not stopping you that day. I could’ve gotten you help like I should’ve done years ago even before that incident.”

“You know I would’ve refused it again, Lance,” Arthur rose a brow, “And you know the reason for that is because the therapists we could afford around here weren't fit for me. They were of no help.”

“Even so, I should’ve done something. When you left, it was only me. I’d wake up and when I go to work, I’d look at the clock wondering when you would show up for work or just to visit, but then I would remember that you were gone. We all lost something ever since that incident, Arthur.”

“Understatement of the decade,” Arthur averted his eyes briefly before facing his uncle again, “The Peppers lost their son and brother, Vivi lost her boyfriend and a chunk of her memory, and the Yukino family themselves are at a loss on how to handle said memory loss. All because of me, I’m well aware of that.”

“And I lost my nephew,” Lance gave Arthur a sad glare, “All because of them hurting you enough to drive you away in exile and my own incompetence.”

“I left of my own accord,” Arthur narrowed his eyes as he checked the time on his phone before putting it back in his pocket, “No one drove me away or exiled me.”

“What? But… Joe said that they talked to you about a week before you left and--"

“If it was just that, I would’ve forced myself to just grin and bear it,” Arthur rolled his eyes, “The worst thing that could've happened is them banning me from their family and restaurant, which I was already sure would’ve happened anyway,” he turned to go back into the garage and resume work on the engine, “There’s nothing for them to be ‘ashamed’ about when everything they said is true. It didn’t matter that I never wanted any of this to happen. I caused their son’s death, so they had every right to say everything they had told me."

"Wait, so they didn't--? No, wait! Even so, it wasn't fair for them to do that to you!"

"Enough, already!" Arthur snapped, "The point is, is that I have no business, let alone any right, to see them! It's because of me that Lewis died, and therefore, ripping their family apart was my fault! They said so, and the wraith said so. So it's a fact, whether it's true or not."

Lance blinked, looking worried and dumbstruck at the same time.

"Arthur… Did… Did you just--?"

"We're not going to talk about this anymore," Arthur struggled to keep his anger in check, "You yourself said that you won't involve them if I wished, and I don't want anything to do with them anymore. It's for the best."

"But-"

"The end!" Arthur cut him off with a glare.

Thankfully, Lance finally got the hint, and didn't say anything else about the subject. Arthur felt bad about having to snap at his uncle, but it was the only way for it to stop. The last thing he wants is to get beaten by the wraith for something his uncle insisted on doing. Things were quiet for a while, and full of tension, but Arthur did his best to ignore it. Checking the time again, he saw that an hour had passed, but he has yet to receive any word from the children.

Immediately, Arthur grew worried. Moving away from the work desk, he dialed Gwen's number.

"Hi, this is Gwen Knights. I can't come to the phone right now, but if you leave me a message after the beep, I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Thank you!"

Arthur hung up the phone, his brow raised. Gwen has always been good with keeping in touch. He waited a few minutes, then tried again. When he reached Gwen’s voicemail once more, he started to get worried. He sent a text message to Elaine to ask her to check on the children or see if Niniane could keep tabs on them. His phone soon vibrated, and saw that Elaine is calling him, and he quickly answered.

“Elaine, I—"

"Don't worry, Aunt Morgan’s driving and we're already on our way there. Percy called us asking to pick them up, saying that he's too tired to return with the others as a fox. I'll let you know when I meet up with them."

Well, that's a relief.

"As for Nana Niniane, she said that she's still investigating on who destroyed that grave marker we saw earlier. She also said something about looking into a bookstore with a strange name. It was… Time Two or something?"

A bookstore with a strange name? He pondered over Elaine's words for a moment before it clicked, and a chill went into his spine, "T-The only bookstore with an odd name I know of is the Tome Tomb. They sell used comics and books unless that changed."

"Do you know anyone there?"

"Unless they sold it, I think it's still owned by someone named Duet, but I never saw them that much. Someone I used to know worked there for them as an assistant manager, but I don't know if she's still there."

"Are either of them someone we can trust?"

Arthur looked down and bit his lip. He has nothing against Vivi, but the wraith hated it whenever he so much as looked at her. Duet…. Arthur’s not really sure what to think of that person from the few times he had met them, someone so obscure that not even Vivi could figure who exactly that person is.

“I don’t know, but I don’t want anyone knowing that I’m back here again,” Arthur started to tremble, “I… I can’t do this, Elaine. I can’t… This is all so--!”

“Arthur, listen to me. I can see the kids from here, so…” Elaine trailed off.

“Elaine?”

“…We’ll be back in thirty to forty-five minutes,” she responded quickly, “Just hang in there and everything will be okay. Nana Niniane will always be nearby, and she will protect you in the few times I can’t. You’re strong, Arthur. You can do this. I love you, my star. I love you so much."

“I-I love you, too.”

Elaine… Thank you.

When Arthur ended the call, he gently grasped the moon pin on his vest with his free hand. The pin’s smooth surface became a comfort for him as he rubbed his thumb against it. He could feel the message engraved on the back of the pin, and the four little gems embedded alongside the words. Every material that was used by Elaine to make this pin with her own two hands were all carefully chosen to represent not only her love, but to also protect him from afar. Even now, after seventeen years, the little moon made with a surface of amethyst has kept Arthur safe.

“You really love your wife, don’t you?”

Arthur narrowed his eyes in annoyance at his uncle briefly before relaxing, “I do. I love her and my family more than anything.”

“…Could you tell me more about them? What they’re like?”

Tell someone from Tempo about his family?

Arthur had hidden himself and his family away from his past in Tempo for so long that he didn’t know if he should. But this is his uncle that’s asking about them, not the Mystery Skulls, or the wraith, or anyone that hated him after everything went wrong and fell apart. This is his uncle; the only person Arthur could even remotely trust enough to send letters to. His uncle, the only one he knew for a fact would love the children for who they are. His uncle, who cares more about his family than anything else.

His uncle, who lost his nephew and only close family for seventeen years. His uncle, who just reunited with him, to find that his nephew is married with children, and missed the events that have been ingrained in the nephew’s mind for seventeen years.

Elaine and the children are not his only family, Arthur remembers. Lance is his family, too.

Why does he keep forgetting that? Why is forcing himself to do this? Has he been away for so long that he can’t even associate himself with anyone from Tempo at this point?

Lance is family. That’s all Arthur needs for a reason.

“I don’t even know where to begin,” Arthur chuckled in a low and a slow tone, “There’s just so many things I could tell you, but…”

“Then, your wife, Elaine,” Lance suggested, smiling a little as he held up a hand while talking, “How did you meet her?”

Arthur smiled at the memory.

“Do you remember Galahad?”

“So it was you.”

- ----- --- --

When Elaine and Morgan returned with the children, the very first thing Arthur did is check the wounds on his son’s face.

“Dad, I’m fine!” Percy protested as Arthur carefully traced a small bandage on the boy’s left cheek, “It’s just a scratch! Grandaunt took care of it and it’ll heal in a few days! Really, I’m fine!”

Arthur only gave a small hum of acknowledgement as he took Percy into his hold.

Percy is safe. No one hurt him. Not the wraith. Not the Mystery Skulls. Not the fox. Not the Peppers. Not the Yukino family. No one had hurt him.

He extended an arm to look over his older daughter’s condition. It doesn’t look like she got hurt too badly, if at all.

“I’m okay, Daddy,” Gwen smiled at him as she held his hand, “Really, we all are.”

He embraced her, happy that she is safe. That no one had hurt her. That the wraith or the Mystery Skulls hadn’t discovered her. That she is alive and well.

That the twins are safe.

“Daddy?”

Arthur could only smile as he extended the same hand from Gwen’s hold to Vivian, who quickly grabbed it and floated up to his hide, her hair wrapping itself around his shoulders. Normally, he would gently scold Vivian for using her power around those not aware of her power, but Arthur made an exception this time. He’ll let Elaine explain everything to his uncle.

“Wait, her hair just—!”

“Don’t worry, Mr. Kingsmen,” Arthur could hear Elaine laugh gently, “She’s done this plenty of times. When it comes to her, it’s best to just go with it.”

Later that evening, both Arthur and Elaine were in Lance’s kitchen, which looked a lot cleaner than what Arthur remembered years ago but decided not to comment on it. After what happened earlier during lunch, Elaine decided not to take any chances from getting food from any of the restaurants, whether it was from the Pepper Paradiso or any other place, out of consideration for Arthur.

“You don’t have to do all this for me,” Arthur started to protest as Elaine set the pot on the stove, “I could--“

“Arthur, I don’t want you to feel left out of anything our family does,” Elaine smiled as she set the flame to medium before turning to him, “Besides, this will be cheaper and healthier for us to do in the long run, and the kids love the pasta we make. Heaven knows your uncle could use a good home-cooked meal from his own nephew and niece-in-law.”

He smiled back at her, unable to deny his light’s words. His uncle never did have the best eating habits even before he left. His mood shifted downward a bit when he realized that Belle might have helped take care of his uncle while he was gone, but in the end decided to discard the thought, it wouldn’t do if he lets himself feel sad over the past that cannot be changed.

Lance had taken the twins to look over cars and engines with while Morgan went with them to keep the children under her supervision. Before that, Elaine had put Vivian to bed for a nap in the bedroom that is still Arthur’s.

Arthur furrowed his brow a little at the earlier conversation regarding his… “former” bedroom.

…

“You… you left it just the way it was?”

Arthur silently looked at what used to be his old bedroom.

…No, it’s still his old bedroom. The room is clean of dust, the bed is made, and the desk is cleared of items except for a few books about robotics. He recognized that the posters that were on the walls that depicted either an old cartoon about a man controlling a giant robot or events that took place at either a concert or a small convention out of town. And he saw that all of them are now framed.

Some clear sheets covered the bed and other furniture to protect them from dust, making the room look like it hasn’t aged a day. Even Galahad’s old cage with all the various tubes Arthur had gradually added to it for the long late hamster remained, even though it’s clean of bedding.

This meant that Lance never used this place as a storage room… for all these years.

“When I said that you will always have a place here, Arthur, I mean it,” Lance said roughly as he crossed his arms, “I even went through the trouble to keep everything clean for you. I had to put the individual parts of your projects away in boxes to make it easier to clean, but I left them next to the desk if you ever want to… resume on them, I guess.”

Arthur didn’t say anything until he felt a tug on his pant leg and looked down to see Vivian looking up blearily at him. He then heard footsteps and looked up to see Elaine kneeling down at their youngest child.

“Oh, Vivian,” Elaine gently lifted the little girl off her feet, “It’s almost time for your nap, isn’t it?” She looked into Arthur’s bedroom and saw the empty bed before glancing at him, “Do you think it would be okay if we let her sleep in there?”

Lance glanced over at his nephew, but Arthur is already smiling a little as he softly moved a lock of hair away from Vivian’s face.

- - - - - - -

“And also,” Elaine gently cupped Arthur’s cheek, “I don’t ever want you to have the feeling of not being allowed to eat or feel anything like that painful hunger ever again. You are my husband and my star.”

She gently pulled him closer until their lips almost touched.

“And I want us to eat together like we always do.”

She kissed him, then released him from her gentle hold to continue cooking. Arthur could only smile at her. Elaine always knew how to make him feel loved, and that everything will be okay. She always kept her promises as best as she could, and in the few times she couldn’t, they always sort it out as best as they can. Arthur in turn always made sure to keep his promise to her.

The first is to know that he will always be loved by someone, especially by Elaine and their children. The second is that no matter what comes their way, they are to take it head on together.

With the happy thought in his mind, Arthur went to Elaine’s and worked beside her.

“I’m happy that your uncle has accepted us,” Elaine smiled as she broke the dried spaghetti pasta into smaller pieces before dropping them into the pot of boiling water, “We weren’t so lucky with Dad’s relatives. His family refused to acknowledge us ever since they learned what Mom, and the rest of the women in our family, are capable of.”

“The funny thing is… is that Lance always tries to stay out of the paranormal side of things since he never wanted anything to do with it,” Arthur shrugged as he passed her the salt, “He never actually understood my interest in robotics, either. But he always tried to understand me, so I guess that counts.”

Elaine placed a hand against Arthur’s shoulder as she stirred with a long wooden spoon, keeping an eye on the pot, “Even though he knows about what the kids are capable of, I’m glad he’s wanting to spend time with them.”

“I think that so long as they don’t use their powers around him, or rather, here in town too often, it should be fine,” Arthur placed a hand over Elaine’s. He opened his mouth to say something else, but then thought better of it.

Elaine gave him that look, “Out with it, my star.”

He really didn’t want to say it, especially since it involved the children’s safety. Upon realizing that, he mentally smacked himself and took a deep breath to steady himself, “Do you remember what the Yukino family told us?”

Elaine had a brief expression of alarm before shifting back into a look of understanding and nodded.

“I don’t think we should let them explore Tempo on their own after this. I didn’t realize how much of a close call it was, but if the Mystery Skulls had come across them while they were playing…”

He looked away and felt Elaine’s grip on his shoulder tightened briefly.

“Don’t worry, my star, we made sure that nothing will happen to our children,” Arthur could hear the smile in Elaine’s confident voice, “Otherwise they’ll just have to deal with more than just a protective parent,” Elaine then released Arthur’s shoulder, “Now let’s say we finish making this, all right? No more chitchat about the past or the job I was hired for. Right now, we’re going to have a lovely dinner with family members, and everyone will like it.”

Arthur simply shook his head at her in amusement. Her being so confident is always what kept him going.

- - - - - - -

“Wow, you’ve really improved on cooking, Arthur.”

Arthur gave his uncle a nod of thanks with hardly a glance as he kept his focus on Vivian, who is still gradually learning how to eat without getting too messy from her booster seat. The pasta, which is simple rotini with tomato sauce mixed with ground chuck and asiago cheese, is a family favorite, especially since it is one of the few dishes that Vivian will eat without complaint.

There’s still the trouble at trying to get Vivian to eat her vegetables, but Arthur has his tricks, such as sprinkling carrot shavings into the sauce beforehand among other things. Granted, Vivian usually eats whatever he or Elaine give her, but like every other human being that exists in the world, she has her likes and dislikes. Instead of just forcing her to eat the foods she didn’t like, Arthur and Elaine would try a variety of things, such as cooking it differently or trying different seasonings, or finding alternatives if nothing else.

On the other side of the table, Gwen and Percy were eating at their own pace, occasionally asking Lance or Morgan questions about the last car that needed work outside. Elaine, meanwhile, also kept her eye on Vivian to make sure that things don’t go out of hand.

As he watched Vivian eat, Arthur always made sure to mentally thank Caelia for teaching him the trick of hiding vegetables in one’s favorite food, and how to cook better in general.

“You can actually be amazed at what you can hide in brownies,” Caelia once told him, “Broccoli, black beans, and some other… herbal… stuff…” She trailed off briefly before shaking her hand, “But you get the gist.”

“I am, but it’s too bad that Vivian doesn’t like brownies that much. I’m not sure if it’s too sweet or if it’s the texture she doesn’t like. Any other ways I could hide things?”

“Well, there’s plenty of things. First off, you can…”

As Arthur recalled the memory, he also remembered the time when he first started living in Cantabile in that small apartment that Vivienne somehow had at the time.

Even back then, Arthur knew how to cook simple meals, such as scrambled eggs, grilled-cheese sandwiches, or rice, but he often relied on instant cup noodles or the occasional fast food as sustenance. Sometimes, he went on without food for a day or two at a time, but just before he and Elaine had started dating, Caelia somehow caught wind of Arthur’s eating habits once she had noticed that Arthur almost never brought anything as lunch while working for Four of a Kind Queens. Needless to say, Arthur resisted the urge to laugh when he recalled Caelia and Vivienne making sure he had a balanced diet, with Elaine taking over later on.

It was a weird feeling back then, Arthur admitted, having someone care about him again after being thrown away.

He snapped out of his thoughts again when he noticed that Vivian managed to get a little sauce on the left side of her face, enough to where even some of her hair came into contact with it, so he quickly made the move to wipe off as much as he could.

“Hm?”

As Arthur brushed his fingers against a section of his youngest daughter’s hair, he went still briefly. He isn’t sure how Elaine didn’t notice it when she groomed Vivian’s hair earlier, but it looks like…

The section also felt unnaturally cooler in temperature compared to the rest of Vivian’s long hair. He’ll have to ask Elaine or Gwen and Percy on what happened later. Vivian didn’t seem too bothered by it, judging from the way she looked up at Arthur. Or maybe it’s possible that she doesn’t understand about the unnaturalness of her hair being cut and not immediately growing back afterward.

Hopefully, the hair will grow back given time.

Later on, as everyone was finishing up on dinner, they heard a knock on the door.

“Were you expecting a guest, Mr. Kingsmen?” Morgan look up from washing the dishes and rose a brow.

“No,” Lance shook his head softly, “I’ll answer it, though. Just wait here.”

Arthur, as he held Vivian in his arms, immediately took that as his cue to walk away to his former bedroom with Elaine following, and gestured Gwen and Percy to follow him, which they did with no argument.

No matter who is outside, he didn’t want to risk them being seen, especially Percy. Granted, his son is only up to his chin in height, but since Percy heavily resembles him, it wouldn’t be too far off the mark in that someone would mistake Percy for him. Arthur did not want his son and daughters to suffer for something they didn’t do, so he did what he could by hiding them from anyone that knew him here in Tempo.

What used to be Arthur’s bed already had the sheets disturbed when he and Elaine had put Vivian in here for her mid-afternoon nap, so he had no problem sitting on the bed, so long as he ignored the nostalgic feeling.

“Hey, Daddy?”

He shifted eyes to his left when Gwen sat beside him, and gently held Vivian’s outstretched hand.

“Will no one here but our granduncle will accept us for what we are?”

Arthur blinked, and turned his head to properly look at her. When he briefly glanced at Percy, he saw that both his son and daughter have the same troubled expression. Thankfully, Vivian didn’t seem to fully understand Gwen’s question, but…

“Honestly, Gwen, I don’t know,” he could answer as truthfully as he could, “After… everything went wrong, I was rejected by everyone I knew, I just knew I couldn’t stay.”

“Even by our granduncle?”

A pang of guilt tugged at his chest, but Arthur knew the answer to that.

“…No, he still accepted me.”

Thankfully, no other questions were asked. Percy looked like he wanted to say something but shook his head when asked about it by Elaine. So he sat down on the bed to be at his father’s right. Elaine stood nearby at the doorway, keeping an eye on what’s going on outside. If the guest is someone undesirable, Elaine can just close the door, and no one would be any wiser.

The sound of some muffled voices could be heard, but Arthur had no idea who the guest could be. He doubted it would be Vivi, since she’s the type of person that would just barge in past Lance without any regard if she knew he was here. Or at least, that’s how he remembered.

Elaine suddenly straightened her stance upon what Arthur thinks is either Lance or Morgan gesturing to her and walked out of the room. Arthur held Vivian a bit closer to himself while Gwen and Percy looked a little tense. What could they want?

Not a few minutes later did anyone get an answer.

“Arthur?”

He looked up to see Elaine peek into the door.

“It’s Belle,” she gestured with her head, “She wants to talk to you for a bit. It’s fine if you say no, but…”

He looked down at his feet while mindful of Vivian in his hold. He knew he isn’t supposed to talk to the Peppers. He doesn’t have the right to.

“I know how you feel about her family, but do you think you could set aside your feelings on it just this once?” Elaine asked him, “While I don’t know the exact circumstances, I really think Belle needs this, that you need this. I’ll watch over the kids if you want me to, so she doesn’t have to see them.”

“Does Miss Belle hate us or something?” Percy asked, concerned.

“No, baby, far from it. But we don’t want to risk you or your sisters getting caught in a confrontation should one occur,” Elaine held Gwen and Percy’s shoulders, “And also, this is something between your father and Belle. It’s best that we don’t get involved right now.”

In all honesty, Arthur didn’t want to talk to anyone in Tempo other than his uncle, but if Elaine’s the one to ask him to do so…

“I almost forgot to mention this, Arthur,” Elaine said as she took Vivian from Arthur, “Belle wanted me to tell you that no matter what anyone says, if anyone complains, they’re to take it to her. I guess both her and Mr. Yukino want to make up for…” she trailed off, “Whatever it was that happened.”

Arthur furrowed his brow as a feeling of anger and sadness welled up in his chest.

You are not to go near them.

Ignoring the voice of the wraith that plagues his mind, Arthur made sure to swallow the uncomfortable lump in his throat before standing up.

“Fine, but if things get bad, we’re going home,” he tried his best not to growl so as not to scare Vivian. Upon seeing Elaine nod at his answer, he walked out of the bedroom that he had abandoned many years ago.

You have no right.

He is well aware, but he cannot ignore their demands.

Upon reaching the front door, Arthur saw Morgan and Lance both noticing him and looking a little worried.

You just don’t know your boundaries, do you?

No, no, please! No! Don’t burn me again! Not in front of them!

Lance’s guest, Belle, also took notice and looked pained, “Arthur, I…”

Do I need to remind you of your place… again?

No! No! I already know! I don’t need a reminder!

He didn’t say anything. He just stared at Belle with a glare, hoping that she would leave. Let her think that Arthur is as unsympathetic as the wraith portrayed him to be. Seeing Belle wince made him realize that she wouldn’t be fooled by it.

Belle sniffed and wiped a tear from her eye, “W-Will you come with me to see Cayenne?”

You are never to approach my family again.

I won’t! I promise I won’t go near them! Just let me go, please! It hurts!

Without drifting too much of his attention away from Belle, Arthur suddenly recalled something back at the Yukino residence, when Vivi’s grandmother made an outburst, didn’t she mention something about Cayenne? Regardless of whether she did or not…

“Why should I?” Arthur rose a brow, “You and your sisters didn’t want me near you, remember? Your parents made sure that was made clear to me. It’s pretty much been a rule ever since.”

For all I know, you could be biding your time to kill them, too.

No, I would never do that!

You think I believe you?

At that moment, Arthur knew that he couldn’t convince anyone of anything anymore.

Belle looked as if she’s been struck but didn’t deny Arthur’s words, “I know. I know we don’t deserve your forgiveness. Especially after what we did to you on Paprika’s birthday--!" Her breath hitched, “I’m so sorry, Arthur! I’m so sorry!”

As much as it pained Arthur to see Belle break down, he started to turn away.

“Arthur, please, I need you to see my sister!”

Upon feeling a hand grab his right arm--

What did I tell you?

“LET GO OF ME!” Arthur forced himself from Belle’s grasp and took a few steps back. He tried his best not to tremble, but his slow and heavy breaths were betraying him as some kind of burning feeling started in his throat. He glanced over at his uncle, who looked regretful, then back to Belle, before realizing the truth.

His uncle was in on this.

Even now, everyone in Tempo would look down on him. Arthur knew that, and accepted it, but to think that even Lance felt it was necessary to break the rules that he has been forced to follow due to them being drilled into his very bones by the wraith and later the Pepper family…

Never did he feel so betrayed.

Arthur gritted his teeth and tried to keep his breath steady to prevent himself from snarling. He knew that he is feeling frustrated, if the feeling burning up in his throat is any indication. Another feeling started to surface, once Arthur knew very well, and didn’t want it to happen.

No. No! I won’t!

He walked away from Lance and Belle.

“Arthur, please, we really need you to help Cayenne! She’s already--”

Arthur smacked away Lance’s hand, glaring at him as tears started to form, much to his irritation as he saw Lance regretting the decision even more.

He isn’t in the mood to listen to whatever pleas – excuses – they have.

“If it hadn’t been for Elaine,” he spoke quietly, his voice thick with emotion, “I wouldn’t have ever come back here.”

He quickly ran out from the house before anyone could grab him again. As soon as he was outside, he rushed to the camper and locked himself inside. Upon feeling the rush of safety drift over him, he collapsed on one of the beds to face the ceiling and began to weep. It wouldn’t do if his children saw him break down, and he would never cry in front of Vivian.

W-Why? He didn’t even try to stop his tears from falling. Why did I come back? Why did I let her convince me? Why are they trying to make me break the rules? Why did I even speak…!

What was he thinking, having a vague feeling of hope that this would be a meaningful reunion with his uncle, his only family in Tempo, the only one who still accepted him despite what happened that had resulted in so much loss because of his existence? He knew he shouldn’t have gotten his hopes up. Even though he had sent Lance those untraceable letters as away to let him know that he’s still alive and safe, he realized with a heavy heart that it wouldn’t stop any opinions his uncle would have of him.

In Tempo, Arthur is truly, truly alone.

His place here was long gone.

With a heavy heart, his tears yet to cease, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and sent a text to Elaine.

- I want to go home.

Not even a minute passes when he received Elaine’s reply.

- I know.

He held his phone close to his chest as he curled up on the bed. His tears never stopped falling, and he didn’t make any attempt to stop.

He didn’t know long it was since he came into the camper, but the timestamp on the next text message he received from Elaine showed that it was at least thirty minutes later.

- Unfortunately, we won’t be able to leave until this Wednesday before Thanksgiving, as per the requirements of the job Yukino gave us.

- Know that I love you, my star.

- And I’m sorry.

Arthur tightened his grip on the phone as he looked at the date. It’s only Sunday evening, and his family had arrived here just the night before.

- Aunt Morgan and I will handle the situation in here. Just stay in there and cry it all out.

- Know that you didn’t do anything wrong and say that to yourself three times.

- Can you do that?

He sat up and read Elaine’s text again. Wiping the tears from his eyes and sniffling, he started to read it out loud, but then found that he couldn’t. He tried to speak again, but the words were caught in his throat. His breath hitched, and he held a hand over his face as new tears fell.

“Damn it…”.

He thought he could finally move on and be free from the danger. To allow his children to grow up happy and healthy without such a poisonous past to bog them down. If he hadn’t let Percy wear the Mystery Skulls pin, if his son hadn’t resembled him, then Arthur would’ve remained hidden from Tempo, living happily in Cantabile with Elaine.

If only Percy hadn’t been bor-- No! No. Arthur slammed a fist against the wall as his thought rapidly swirled in his head. I—I can’t! I can’t blame him for this! This isn’t his fault! It never was! I saw how guilty Percy looked when he learned that it was because of his existence that Mr. Yukino was able to track me down! I can’t have him blame himself like I’ve been blaming myself this whole damn time!

In the end, Arthur knew that he only has himself to blame for everything.

I’ll need to find a way to make Percy understand later tonight. He looked at his phone to see the photos of his children. We’ve only been here for one day and everything’s already falling apart for me... He closed his eyes. I can’t let things fall apart for the kids, too.

His phone vibrated.

He checked the text message sent to him and hummed to himself as if answering to it. Wiping the tears from his eyes, Arthur stood up and unlocked the camper to let Elaine in. Holding his hand out to her, he gently pulled his beloved into the camper.

“Hey,” Elaine brought him close and kissed him, her eyes full of love and understanding, “I missed you, my star.”

“It hasn’t been that long,” Arthur could barely chuckle before the feeling of sadness returned, “I’m sorry for what happened earlier, I… I don’t know what came over me.”

“It’s trauma, my knight,” Elaine said as she guided him back to the bed. She paused upon seeing the tear-stained pillow but made no comment about it, “Aunt Morgan’s giving your uncle and his assistant the scolding of a lifetime. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen her that angry.”

“What about the kids?” He never meant to leave them.

“They’re outside the camper waiting for you to calm down. They know that you don’t want them to see you in your current state. That, and I didn’t want them to witness Aunt Morgan’s wrath,” Elaine went quiet for a moment, then turned to Arthur with a serious expression and held his hand like they usually do in their late nights of being awake, “Are you okay? Did you have flashbacks of when you were hurt?”

“…Yes,” Arthur knew that there is no point in hiding it as he brushed his free hand against the front of his neck, which still shows faint signs of a large burn scar shaped like a handprint, “I thought I was going to be burned again. Whenever I went near them, or I spoke to them, or even if they’re the ones who insisted on having contact with me, I’d get burned. It hurts so badly. I… I couldn’t stay in there. If I did, then Vivian might have… you know.”

“It’ll be okay, my star,” Elaine pulled Arthur closer to herself and gently ran her fingers through his hair, “You did okay, and Vivian is fine. So long as Gwen and Percy are with her, she won’t lose control.”

Arthur could only feel somewhat relieved. Vivian would be destructive with her power should she get upset, even with the charms, and seeing Arthur break down are one of the few things capable of doing just that.

“I want to go home,” he trembled as he spoke, “I know we can’t leave yet, but I can’t be here, Elaine. I can’t do it.”

“I know, my star,” Elaine whispered soothingly into his ear, “It’s true, you can’t do this alone. So I will be there for you all the way. You were hurt by them, and that trauma is not something you can forget so easily. Even though they’re desperate, they should have known that.”

Arthur leaned against her and closed his eyes. He felt so exhausted from everything today, from unwillingly setting foot to Tempo to even more unwillingly learning what had happened ever since he left. He knew for a fact that the people in Tempo want him back, but he can’t bring himself to forgive them for their rejection, for their painful words and actions when all he tried to do is apologize. Although whether his inability to forgive stems from anger or disappointment, Arthur isn’t sure which.

Ever since he met Elaine, while his life in Cantabile had some rocky moments here and there, he was living with a happiness he never thought he could have, and he didn’t want to let it go.

Both Arthur and Elaine were startled out of their embrace somewhat upon hearing someone knock on the camper’s door. After giving Arthur a kiss on the cheek, Elaine stood up and went to answer, and immediately backed up to let the children in.

Gwen shut the door behind her and locked it, then collapsed into one of the side seats, “Ugh, the drama is getting too ridiculous. I don’t even know what’s going on anymore!”

Arthur could’ve sworn he heard someone crying and wailing, but upon seeing his children not having any signs of tears on their faces, he shoved the thought away.

“What happened?” Elaine asked as Vivian immediately went to Arthur’s side.

“You know how Miss Belle was asking Dad to see if he could talk to her sister?” Percy raised a finger and looked uneasy, “Well, her sister’s here. She saw me, and, well…”

“What happened?” Elaine repeated and gestured for Percy to continue while Arthur listened.

Percy grimaced, “She mistook me for Dad and broke down crying. Sobbing, even. I couldn’t really tell what she was saying, but she was definitely apologizing for something regarding Dad.”

Elaine’s phone vibrated, which she quickly answered, “Aunt Morgan?”

Arthur could barely hear Morgan’s voice over the phone, but not enough to know what she’s telling Elaine.

“…What?” Elaine’s eyes widened, then looked at Arthur with a shocked expression before looking partially devastated, “But, that’s just…!” She blinked for a moment, then hardened her expression grimly, “I know. You know as well as I do that none of this is Arthur’s fault. How can it when he wasn’t even here when that happened?”

What is Morgan telling her?

“Yeah, I’ll let him know. Thanks,” Elaine hung up and took a deep breath, “I agree with you, Gwen. Even I don’t know what’s going on anymore.”

“Mom?” Gwen looked up, “What did Grandaunt say?”

Arthur has no idea what is happening anymore either as he gripped at his hair with a free hand. Things are spiraling out of control. More and more people are knowing about him being in Tempo and the kids are getting involved and everyone is starting to know about the children and--

“Mr. Yukino and Mr. Kingsmen were not kidding when they said that things were never the same after your father left. Not only have they lost so much, but they kept losing even more as punishment for their actions. First a son-in-law from the Yukino family died in an incident, and later that day…” Elaine trailed off and looked grim but did not show any pity.

“Elaine?” Arthur stood up to stand by her with Vivian still in his arms.

“There was a stillbirth in the Pepper family,” Elaine shook her head, and Arthur could tell that she was trying to restrain her emotions, “Cayenne lost her son.”

Wait. What? Did Arthur hear Elaine right? She couldn’t be talking about Cayenne, one of Lewis’s sisters and the prankster of the Pepper family, right? Cayenne Pepper, the little girl who often spiked his milkshakes with hot sauce or spicy peppers so long ago, had been married? And lost a child before it was even born?

But why would Cayenne Pepper cry upon seeing “him” through his son? She hated him and said so herself! The pranks that were more malicious that usual after learning what happened to her brother proved it. Replacing the icing of some cookies with toothpaste that made him vomit when he ate one and placing tacks in his coat pockets and shoes were just some of them…

“And from what Belle had told Aunt Morgan, she had several mental breakdowns and attempted suicide a few times, saying that she had to receive ‘punishment’ for what she did to you.”

…but Arthur knew he deserved Cayenne’s… hatred.

It was his… fault that her family was… torn a… part.

…

…Right?

- - - - - - -

My eyes wide shut!

And I feel your touch!

Part 17: Fantasy

#mystery skulls animated #msa fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #msa arthur #arthur kingsmen #msa #msa knights #elaine knights #gwen knights #percy knights #vivian knights #...?

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vilevenom · 6 years

Note

How about “you’re not going to starve yourself on thanksgiving?” W/Mystery skulls?

Ow. I hurt my own heart.

Vivi stomped her foot on the floor outside of Arthur’s bedroom, glaring the door down, as if she could make it disappear with her sheer force of will alone. “Arthur, come out here, right now! We’re leaving in a few minutes, and you are coming with us, damnit,” she snapped at the door, slamming her fist into the wood a few times.

“Just go with Lewis, Vi,” Arthur’s voice came back through the locked door, sounding resigned and tired, “He doesn’t want me there, and I’m fine by myself. Lance was never big into thanksgiving, so I’m not missing anything.”

“Yes you are! Lewis told me about how we used to go to Pepper Paradiso every year, since my family waits until the weekend and your uncle couldn’t cook a turkey to save his life. And I know you haven’t even eaten yet today, Kingsmen! You’re not starving yourself on thanksgiving because of some messed up guilt complex you still have! Get out here!” Vivi smacked the wood once more, ignoring the slight ache in her palm from it.

“It’s not a stupid guilt complex, Vivi! Lewis and I still aren’t exactly on the best of terms, and you know it. And, yeah, used to is the key phrasing there. When you guys started to get serious, I stopped going to those dinners. Your argument is sort of invalid since you still don’t even have all of your memories back, yet,” Arthur called back.

Vivi let out a shrill cry of frustration at the door that blocked her from smacking the blonde around, and instead opted to storm down the hallway and glare at Lewis, who was sat in their armchair looking somewhat put upon. He jumped when she stomped over to his seat and yanked him up by the cuff of his sleeve. “You go talk to him! He won’t listen to me because he thinks you don’t want him to come, and he’s being a stubborn jackass and locked me out,” she seethed, pushing Lewis to the hallway.

Reluctantly, the purple haired ghost let himself be pushed, turning to watch Vivi go back into the living room to scream into a pillow, before heading to Arthur’s bedroom door with a sigh. While it was true enough that he knew about the demon possession in the cave now, and he and Arthur were fine coexisting in the same household, that wasn’t to say the two of them were even close to where they once stood in their friendship. If Lewis was being honest with himself, he really didn’t want Arthur to go to dinner with them, and had hoped Vivi would drop the whole thing more easily. Turning his back to Arthur still made him uneasy, and he knew his true form left the blonde quaking more often than not. It would’ve been a whole lot easier if he had’ve fudged his recollection of their past holidays and not included Arthur in this particular family tradition. But that wouldn’t have been fair to Vivi.

“Arthur?” Lewis called out, lightly rapping his knuckles against the door, not wanting to barge in on the blonde and potentially startle him, “Arthur, come on. You’ve got Vivi screaming into a pillow. You need to come out so we can get going. My sisters will start to get into the potatoes and make a mess if we don’t get there in time.”

A long pause followed Lewis’ words, before Arthur finally responded. “Just go without me. Please. I’ll be fine.”

Lewis rolled his eyes before simply phasing through the door, the dimness in the room making him blink so his eyes could readjust. He hadn’t been in Arthur’s room since the cave incident, so seeing how much had changed threw him a little. Where there was once car schematic print outs and photos pinned to the board above his desk, now there were only blue prints for his mechanical arm and maps of the area around Tempo, scribbled on with various coloured pens. The tools that were once haphazardly strewn across his desk were now neatly lined up or tucked into a tool box, and the chili pepper lights Lewis had helped him hang around his window ages ago were nowhere to be found. The floor was clean of the heaps of dirty laundry that once covered it, and Galahad’s cage had grown substantially with additions that snaked down to the floor to give the hamster room to exercise, though said hamster was currently in the top corner of his cage, as close as he could get to where Arthur was sat on his floor, huddled into a ball against the side of his bed. There was an open shoe box next to the blonde full of the pictures that Lewis knew used to be up on his pin board, a few scattered on the floor as though Arthur had been looking through them before turning into a ball.

Lewis floated forward to get a better look at the photos, frowning slightly in guilt at the fact that they were all taken during holidays the three of them had spent together. Smiling and happy in every photo, save for one separated from the rest on the floor, with only Arthur and Vivi in it. Arthur looked tired with dark circles under his eyes, though he had a crooked smile on his face for the photo, Vivi squishing him next to her and making a funny face at the camera. She had a tiny candy cane stuck to her cheek, so it must have been last Christmas, while he had been wallowing in the cave. Lewis’ stomach twisted at seeing Arthur in the picture obviously trying to be happy for Vivi, juxtaposed to Arthur now, who had yet to realize that Lewis was even in his room, looking tiny and miserable. The fact that Lewis had even thought about excluding the blonde, after an entire year of working himself to the bone to try and find Lewis, made him want to puke. He and Arthur used to be nearly inseparable, even after he’d started dating Vivi. He’d heard what Arthur had told Vivi earlier, and it hadn’t entirely been a lie. He had missed out on the last thanksgiving before Lewis had died, but it had only been because Arthur had been sick with a bad cold and didn’t want to get the Pepper girls sick as well. Lewis and Vivi hadn’t even stayed at Paradiso long, and had brought Arthur home enough food to nearly recreate the feast set out at the restaurant. He’d never wanted to leave Arthur out, not until now, letting his lingering bitterness get the best of him.

Finally, Lewis took real stock of how Arthur looked. It was somewhat difficult with how the blonde was curled into himself, but Lewis could see how much weight he had lost, with the way his shirt clung to his frame and draped strangely near his stomach. When he’d still been alive, Arthur was certainly lean, of course, but with how he and Vivi had forced food at him near constantly, he’d never looked thin the way he did now. It made his anchor throb against his chest to think that Arthur still wasn’t letting himself heal and get better, even though Lewis was back, and he knew it was in part his fault. He tended to avoid Arthur the same way the blonde avoided him, and with the way Lewis tended to entrench himself in the kitchen, it was really no wonder Arthur apparently wasn’t eating. And Lewis hadn’t exactly made it a mission to rekindle his friendship with Arthur the way he was working on his relationship with Vivi. He’d forgotten just how much Arthur needed them. They were his only family after Lance, and Lewis had been making little to no effort in making sure that Arthur even still considered himself their friend. As a matter of fact, he’d been making an unconscious effort to push Arthur away, with the way he’d been acting.

“Arthur?” Lewis finally announced his presence, making Arthur jump and curl into himself further, ducking his head down to his knees. “Arthur, we’re going to be late. You need to get ready.”

Arthur simply shook his head, wrapping his arm around himself, trying to make himself as small as possible. It made Lewis want to wrap him up in a hug and never let go. Instead, he opted for kneeling next to Arthur and placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Come on, Artie. Everyone is waiting.”

Arthur hissed a breath out between his teeth, lifting his head high enough so he could speak without being muffled, but not looking at the specter next to him. “Look, Lewis. You and I both know you don’t want me to go and you’re only doing this because Vivi is upset, so just…I don’t know, tell her I’m sick or something so she’ll let you go. I’ll be fine here on my own.”

Lewis unconsciously tightened his grip on Arthur’s shoulder, making the blonde flinch and jerk away, which caused Lewis to pull his hand back as though he’d been burned. He looked contrite as he tried to figure out what he could say or do to soothe Arthur, fretting even as the blonde finally turned his face to look at Lewis, a forced smile on his face and dried tears on his cheeks. “Paprika is going to insight mashed potato wars if you don’t get going soon.”

Lewis couldn’t help himself when he finally saw just how tired and gaunt Arthur’s face looked, yanking Arthur into a bear hug and nearly crushing the blonde to his chest. Arthur squeaked in surprise, too startled to do much more than lay limply against Lewis. “We’re not leaving without you, Arthur,” Lewis said with conviction, smokey wisps of magenta tears leaking from the corners of his eyes as he felt how thin Arthur was against his chest, “I won’t leave you again. I promise.”

A moment or two passed of silence between the two, before a hacking sob left Arthur and he buried his face in Lewis’ chest, shifting so he was more fully in Lewis’ lap and clutching near desperately to the ghost’s shirt as he cried.

It was a solid ten minutes before either of them moved again, and Lewis was certain his parents were contending with Paprika shouting for revolution over the turkey, but he figured the clean up later was a good trade-off for mending the bridge he’d nearly let crumble to the ground with Arthur. Carefully he helped Arthur stand and get dressed, watching with morbid fascination as Arthur connected his prosthetic to his shoulder before pulling his shirt on over it, and helped with feeding Galahad, distracting the hamster with a treat while Arthur filled up his food bowl.

“Ready to go?” Lewis asked as Arthur rubbed at his bloodshot eyes, the ghost unlocking and pulling open the bedroom door. Arthur gave a small nod, reaching up to pat Lewis on the arm with his good hand as passed him to walk into the hallway, a hint of a genuine smile on Arthur’s face for the first time that Lewis could recall in recent memory.

“Oh my god, finally!” Vivi’s annoyed shout came echoing down the hall as Arthur walked into the living room and Lewis slowly floated after him. “I’m starving! Let’s go!”

#mystery skulls animated #mystery skulls #lewis pepper #arthur kingsmen #vivi yukino #drabble prompt #things that i wrote

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charlie-and-yoshi-rp-hell · 5 years

Text

Episode 47 Part 5: Return

If his human half is erased, there´ll be nothing left of the Lewis Arthur fell in love with.

----------------------------------------------

Yoshi Raven: The fire was burning his soul - at least, it felt like it was burning. It hurt so much but there was no time for caring about that. Arthur grabbed the ghost´s hand and tried to pull it from his neck. He needed more air.

"Stop... don´t you dare attacking the other! You need him, he´s a part of you...!" he begged, hoping the ghost half would listen. Without his mechanical arm, he couldn´t use the more powerful spells against ghosts. Arthur let his soul generate more chains that wrapped around the ghost, hoping they´d stop him.

Charlie McCarthey: Arthur's words only seemed to insense the ghost more.

Need him!? I don't need him!

"Grnh--" Lewis managed to pull himself free a fraction, getting in some much needed air. "You wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for me, hermano." The human reminded with a snide grin, effectively getting the ghost to turn his full attention on his human side.

ENOUGH!! The wall shuddered with his roar. The ghost tossed Arthur effortlessly back, where he landed on the bed. But the human half he lunged at, hard, sending them crashing through the doorway and into the hall. There was a powerful blast of fire and a sickening cracking noise of flesh and bone colliding with plaster--one of the Lewis' cried out.

Only the ghost got back up.

Yoshi Raven: Arthur heard the sound and hoped the human half was still fine. If he lost him, it´d mean he had lost the real Lewis and was bound to a full ghost... bound to a ... monster. One that didn´t care about his well-being and would use their connection for his advantage.

He got up from the bed, afraid of walking to the twins. Afraid of what he´d see, but he had to. He slowly walked to the door.

".... Lewis? Human Lewis... are you okay?"

Charlie McCarthey: The human half of Lewis lay facedown and still, his neck at an odd angle. The ghost dusted off his suit lazily, unphased by the murder he'd just committed.

I forget how fragile and weak fleshbags are. Good thing I'm not one of them, right? The ghost kicked the human's leg to test for himself if he was still alive, and when no response was ellicited, the ghost cackled sharply. Ghost Lewis turned his hollow, glowing gaze to Arthur and advanced on him slowly, crowding him back into the bedroom, where he was trapped.

Now, where were we...

Yoshi Raven: "Why... why did you do that?!" Arthur screeched at him, tears forming in his eyes. He had lost Lewis a second time and it was his fault - again. Just because he was selfish and wanted to keep both of them. But it was too late regretting his decision. He had to erase the ghost half. Arthur would never see Lewis again and it hurt so much.

He noticed his mechanic arm and jumped over to it and reattached it. Arthur turned some plates, revealing the magic circles. But he hesitated. He still saw him as the real Lewis - the kind, gentle Lewis that was always caring for him, the one that loved him more than anything -

"I´m... I´m sorry Lewis... I never wanted it to end like this..."

Charlie McCarthey: That skeletal face stared down at the arm, then followed its connection up to his shoulder, neck, and finally Arthur found himself staring down the business end of that horrifying visage. The skeleton's jaw opened wide, showing that deadly fire coursing inside its body as his maw opened impossibly wide, breathing awful sulfur at the human as it laughed at his distress.

No... I think you did, Art. I think you knew all along... this was the best way. The easiest way. The ghost's voice was fire and silk all at once as purple smoke billowed toward that remaining flesh arm. Arthur's pain and fear were almost palpable, and the ghost was quick to capitalize on it. Those weak festering emotions were a one way highway into the other's mind and body.

This was the ONLY way, don't you think? It's so much easier. Just let go. Let ME be in control. Purred the voice as Arthur's fingertips began to turn dark purple.

Let me in.

Yoshi Raven: The awful, cold feeling of something taking over your body was one of the few things Arthur feared the most and now it was back. It was Lewis who tried possessing him but it was no warm blanket that gently covered his soul. It felt cold as ice and it hurt and the only reason he wasn´t controlled immediately was because this had happened before.

"No!! I won´t let you possess me! Stay away from me!" he growled, fighting against the ghost´s control and pushing him back - away from his mind and soul. The colour change of his hand stopped and was fading slowly.

"I´m not... your puppet...! Never!"

Charlie McCarthey: The ghost growled at the human's pathetic squirming. Fine time to grow a spine--I'm trying to help you, idiot! And again the ghost reached for him, this time pushing a hand straight in his chest. It was ice cold and it was like a hundred sharp little needles sinking into his heart as the ghost pushed into him more.

Fine. If you won't welcome me, I'll just enter without your say so. Sucks to have that cobweb soul of yours, doesn't it Art? Lewis reminded cheerfully as his arm dissapeared into the mechanic's.

He had Arthur's smaller body pinned against a wall, no where to run. The anchor was starting to take residency in Arthur's chest, and the ghost's cold, cruel laughter was the only noise.

Yoshi Raven: The pain that this unwanted possession caused was paralyzing the mechanic. Arthur could barely breath and with the ghost taking over more, his resistance weakened and his vision became blurry.

"No... please don´t do this..." he begged with a quiet voice, knowing he wouldn´t listen. There was only one who could free him with an anti-ghost spell-

"Vivi.. help me..." Arthur whispered.

Charlie McCarthey: And then a baseball bat came down over the ghost's skull, so fucking hard it sounded like a gun shot.

The ghost form crumpled like a wet bag, and a very much alive and panting to prove it Lewis stood over him, arms still raised clutching the impromptu weapon he'd used to knock out the ghost side.

"Man. I really miss ghost powers." Lewis panted, bending down and pulling Arthur from against the wall and from the ghost's body before he got sucked in anymore.

Yoshi Raven: He looked at the human Lewis, eyes wide with surprise. Why was that half still alive? Did the ghost create an illusion to break him?!

"Lewis... why... you´re not dead? But how?!"

Arthur carefully touched him with trembling hands, fearing he´d fade away or turn into his ghost half, fearing it was another illusion to bring down his attention - but no, this Lewis was warm and didn´t disappear.

"You´re no illusion... but w-what happened?!"

Charlie McCarthey: "Easy, buddy, take it easy." Lewis soothed, rubbing Arthur's boney back.

"It occured to me that the less the ghost was like me, the younger that made him." He explained as Mystery trotted in, his fur turning from a familiar magenta back to white. He licked his chops, looking rather pleased with himself.

"Which meant the ghost would be less likely to spot an illusion. Mystery let the ghost see what he wanted to see. In this case, him beating me."

"Since when has Lewis spoken spanish, Arthur?" Mystery pointed out with a warm look, nuzzling the poor mechanic soothingly.

Yoshi Raven: Arthur hugged the human Lewis, fingers clawing into his back and when Mystery was calming him, he gently petted his head, smiling a bit. It was just an illusion. One that tricked him too but the ghost had to believe his human half was dead, so he wasn´t mad at the kitsune.

"... oh my god, you´re right. I didn´t think about that and I didn´t care but yes. He never did. It was an obvious hint, but you´re forgetting that I was a little too busy dealing with a dangerous version of Lewis." Arthur gave both of them a scolding look but hugged them again.

"We shouldn´t waste time and get the real Lewis back."

Charlie McCarthey: Lewis hugged Arthur right back, squeezing him gently to assure him he was real, and soild and wasn't going anywhere.

"Dangerous or not, it's still a part of me, Artie." Lewis reminded sadly, stil wielding the bat and keeping Arthur pointadly away from the ghost's form in case he woke up before they were ready.

"...and I think it's time I get put back together, okay?" Lewis asked softly as Vivi walked in, holding a book. "I know you've liked this but...it's time."

Yoshi Raven: "I know... I know he´s a part of you but - the real Lewis would never try to hurt me. You being split like this has unbalanced your personality in a bad way." he mumbled, leaning a bit against him. When he noticed Vivi, he took a step back from the human half, smiling at him.

"Yes, it´s time. It´s better for you and me. I wanna have my Lewis back. I love you." Arthur turned to the still unconscious ghost "... and I love you. Even if ghostie was a bit evil, I´m sure as soon as you´re back together, you´ll regret that you attacked me. I won´t be mad at you."

He walked to Vivi´s side, asking "How can I help?"

Charlie McCarthey: "Well, the problem lies with the fact the spell has made them two whole bits. You, uh, you need to be half ghost Lew. And the ghost needs to be half human."

"Oh, well, that's great. I'll kill half myself and the ghost only comes back to life halfway--will that make the book happy?" Lewis moaned, facepalming with his free hand.

"Not quite mister. See, we need to do three spells technically. One for each of you--then in the middle of both we need to hit you with the joining spell and--voila! You two should be back together."

"You said should."

"I haven't done a spell like this before, Lew! just trust me?"

"I, I do Vi." Lewis said, watching the ghost half warily. "It's me I don't trust."

Yoshi Raven: Arthur listened to Vivi´s explanation, looking at the ghost and the human half.

"Well it does make sense. You can´t mix oil and water because they´re too different and I think it´s the same with a complete ghost and human half. With ghostie over there... I can trap him in an anti-ghost sphere so he can´t escape or attack and we´ll have enough time for the spells. Alright?"

He switched the plates on his arm to the magic circle for that spell, getting ready to use it.

Charlie McCarthey: "When he wakes up, he's not gonna be happy." Lewis warned.

Mystery circled the body, sniffing.

"It gets worse. They need to be in contact for the union spell. You're gonna have to let the ward drop Artie, but only after they've become their half selves. I think we'll be able to know when, but if not, I'll give you the cue." Vivi informed as she started drawing two small circles. She instructed Lewis to stand over one, and for Arthur to put the ghost Lewis over when he got the chance.

"Everybody ready?"

"Uh, yeah?" said Lewis warily.

The ghost half only groaned, still not with it.

Yoshi Raven: He sighed. "Well that´s going to be fun. Good luck for that." he mumbled, patting human Lewis head gently. Arthur walked to the ghost and activated the spell that formed a white sphere around him. He pulled Lewis on the other circle Vivi had drawn, then stepped back, ready to deactivate his spell when he had to.

"Alright, let´s do it."

Charlie McCarthey: Vivi winced sympathetically at the only-conscious Lewis. “I’m so, so sorry about this.”

“It’s okay, Vi. Really. Besides Arthur I wouldn’t trust anyone else to handle this, okay? Let’s just get it over with.” Lewis murmured. She nodded, her jaw clenched tight and spine straight at his faith in her.

And so Vivi got to work.

She had to do the splitting one at a time, so she started with the human side. If the ghost side was distracted just before she joined them together, she hoped it would buy them some time. Lewis had thought being turned into a half ghost would hurt as much it did—but he was grateful that’s all it did was hurt. It wasn’t like Vivi had to split them again and make 4 versions of Lewis Pepper.

Yoshi Raven: He watched the twins - the human because the change seemed to hurt, the ghost because he was moving slowly now. Arthur felt sorry for the human half, he thought the spell wouldn´t hurt him but, well. This was the only way getting the real Lewis back. He was concentrating on the sphere just in case the ghost would wake up before Vivi was done with changing him - a mad ghost right now would be bad. Especially because he would still go after him.

Charlie McCarthey: "Okay--next one." That was the only warning Vivi gave before she left the human side and moved to the ghostly counterpart. Lewis was left hanging in an odd suspended state, half his face skeletal, looking mildly dazed but none the worse for wear. The socket of his skeletal face was completly black--since the ghost half was actually missing.

The ghost instantly started fighting back upon the spell working through it's body, but its struggles were weak at best.

Like the human side, ghost Lewis sported a semi-solid human face on one side. This one had a completly milky white eyes, and the two of them turned to look tiredly at one other, the ghost trying to gnash its teeth and glare.

Human Lewis smiled weakly and just tried to wave.

Yoshi Raven: For a moment, Arthur thought the ghost half would be strong enough to fight back, that he´d get out of the sphere and attack but then he saw he wasn´t strong enough. The twins looked strange like this but this was a sign that Vivi´s spells worked.

"Alright... time for the last spell. Ready?" he asked and placed his right hand on the magic circle that´d deactivate the sphere. A nod from Vivi was enough.

"Go!" Arthur let the sphere drop and the white glow vanished.

Charlie McCarthey: The second the sphere was gone, the ghost tried lunging. He either didn't care about Vivi's new spell or couldn't hear it. But before the ghost could get to Arthur the human side of Lewis was there. He had the ghost by the wrist, and tugged the startled creature against his side as they began to glow. Their bodies touched, and began sizzling, the strange, powerful magic zipping them together from the sides like it was nothing.

The two of them screamed, because coming back together hurt like a bitch. Their sides conjoined even more, by the time it was up to their hips, the ghost couldn't fight back and the human's face was screwed shut.

There was a clap of noise, almost like thunder through the air, and with a sizzle of electric magic, the two of them were yanked into one being. Lewis, in ghost form but with no fire hair and a faded locket, dropped to the ground like a stone.

They had been split for almost a whole week, and every single memory from two people were linging up and fighting for each other.

No one could blame Lewis for being out cold during this time. His brain was a war zone of memories, thoughts and emotions.

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#death #violence #msa #lewthur #magic spell

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