Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"It will be like falling asleep.” 

He didn’t dream. He drifted. And he remembered.

Those last words echoed from nowhere over and over, the only thing that came to him clearly in the thick fog of magic that kept him senseless and silent.

That last lie in a string of many, repeated ad infinitum, mocking him. He’d trusted that voice and it burned to hear the deceit so vividly now where he’d missed it before.

He didn’t dream. He remembered.

And he waited.

They’d been playing phone tag for two days now. Arthur had waited to tell her about the ruined tower’s new ownership until after the legal paperwork for the inheritance went through and the property was definitely his. By the time he’d known for sure she’d already left for the west coast to collect a rare document she’d hunted down, so he’d had to leave her a voicemail.

To say she’d been excited in the message she’d left him in response would be a massive understatement; he’d had to listen to it three times to decipher the whole thing. They’d never managed to catch each other, instead trading a string of increasingly confusing messages: answers disjointed from the questions they belonged to, until Arthur had finally decided ‘fuck it’ and told her he’d explain everything when he picked her up at the airport today.

He’d hoped she’d want to take a day or two to relax after traveling before getting him to take her to the tower. But since he was sure that wasn’t going to happen, he’d picked up a few pizzas for them to split on the trip out to the small deserted island where the ancient building was located. 

It stood before them now, after several hours’ trip: an hour and a half to the ferry that took twenty minutes to take them to a larger nearby island, and another half-hour’s drive over the lonely bridge that served as the only way onto the tower's island. They finished the last of their food parked in front of it, on the layered river of wide paving stones that passed for a road.

“Still, it’s pretty wild that they just left you this place,” Vivi mused as she bit into her latest slice of pizza. “And you said it’s like a family tradition to guard it? You only hear that kind of thing in movies, Artie.”

“Well, ‘guard’ is kind of a generous way to put it,” Arthur replied around a final bite. “Since the turn of the century the most an owner has really done is hire other people to keep it from turning into too much of an eyesore and then just sort of forget about the place.”

He glanced over at Vivi, who had turned her attention back to the tower, eagerness and fascination evident in the lines of her posture and the look in her eye. He smiled to himself. “It gets even more like a knock off Shakespeare thing than that, too, though,” Arthur continued. “Apparently the people who’ve owned the property since the 1600’s are a side branch of the family? ‘Kingsmen’ is the main branch, so according to the inheritance laws– this place has its own  laws  written just for it, it’s crazy– but according to them it’s mine ‘by right’.” He made air quotes. “The kids of the previous owner were seriously pissed to find that out, even though they didn’t seem to care much about it until they found out they were losing it.” 

He had to admit, he was being a little hypocritical. He hadn’t even known about his claim on the property until he’d been contacted three months ago, and he wouldn’t have cared enough to fight very hard for it if he hadn’t known how important the site would be for Vivi and her thesis.

Other parts of the inheritance had covered the financial cost of the legal drag-out, so money was a non-issue, but it had still been an enormous hassle. Seeing Vivi this excited though-- that made the endless phone calls, the miles of fine print, the time he’d had to spend with distant relatives who’d turned out to be incredibly nasty– that made it all worth it, as far as he was concerned.

Vivi for her part was very impressed. She had seen some pictures of the place during her own research but had assumed them to be old since the tower looked to be in such good shape. And while it was a little in disarray, she had to admit the slight rustic touch to it was charming in its own way.

It was much better up close anyway. Vivi grinned over at her friend. It was more than obvious she was ready to go inside and stake the place out. “So like, have you heard all the spooky rumors about this place?” She wiggled the fingers of one hand at him as the other reached for the handle of her door, grin widening.

Arthur had, but he’d been trying not to think too hard about them. “Which ones? I’ve heard–” He mimed counting on his fingers briefly. “Way too fucking many versions.”

Chuckling, Vivi started up to the front door to the place. “Oh y’know, the usual. Spooky hauntings, curses, monsters, ritualistic sacrifices, that sort of stuff.” Anyone would be hard-pressed to find a rumor that this tower wasn’t connected to. “I think my favorite though is the one that’s a Sleeping Beauty rip off. Apparently there’s a beautiful girl waiting for you at the top, Artie!” 

She couldn’t help but tease; she was excited to the point of giddiness. Rumors or not, this place was all kinds of mysterious and Vivi couldn’t wait to explore it. She couldn’t thank Arthur enough for giving her this opportunity. “So come on! Let’s not keep your pretty princess waiting!”

“Yeah well– if she expects me to sing a duet with her I’m turning around and leaving you to deal with her by yourself,” he laughed, pulling a ring of keys from his pocket as he followed a few steps behind. “I think I’d actually rather face a ghost than a musical number.” 

The padlock holding the heavy carved doors closed-- modern-looking and incredibly out of place against the aged wood-- clicked neatly open.

Despite the irreverent words, he felt a chill crawl up his back as he crossed the threshold. Dust drifted through the blades of sunlight coming through the narrow windows lining the sides of the entrance hall. It was pretty, but also strangely intimidating. When he spoke, it was in a whisper. This felt like the kind of place you had to whisper in.

“Even the official documents call this place a bunch of different things… ‘The Treasury.’ ‘The Library.’ The um–” he swallowed. “‘The Tomb.’ I don’t know which one it really is…”

“Tomb?” That just made Vivi even more excited. This seemed like the kind of place that would be a tomb. She wondered what they would find here. Bones and any other kind of human remains seemed unlikely since this place wasn’t exactly abandoned and had been cleaned up a few times, but she could hope, right?

The inside was still beautiful, despite all the dust. Vines grew around the windows, limiting their light from outside, but Vivi could make out some things in the large entryway: sweeping stairs leading up and spreading out to both sides of the room decorated with what certainly used to be a lavish carpet, mosaics set into the walls and suits of scaled armor standing at attention. If this was a tomb, it was the fanciest tomb she had ever seen. 

“Wow…this place looks amazing, Artie!” And he really owned it now? She was so jealous!

The stairs were practically calling her to climb them but she held herself back. There were things to explore down here too. The suits of armor had to be centuries old, yet they were still in pretty good condition, all things considered. She brushed a cobweb from one of the mosaics. They had seen better days but that didn’t mean they weren’t fascinating. They portrayed various people with opulent clothes and somber expressions. She turned to Arthur. “Are these your ancestors or something?”

Arthur had to admit that Vivi was right– the place was pretty spectacular. It was hard to believe it was really his. “I– I dunno. None of them look familiar but then it’s not like I know much about my family tree. I guess they must be? Wouldn’t make much sense for them to be here otherwise…”

He wondered if Vivi thought she was being subtle about the glances she was throwing to what was visible of the next floor up. He could practically see the anime-style sparkles of enthusiasm glittering around her. In spite of his apprehension, he smiled.

“I think this whole bottom floor is mostly antechamber. Most of the really interesting stuff is probably upstairs, if you wanted to look? I think there was even a balcony garden on one of the floors that wraps around the whole building, but no one’s really maintained it so it’s probably either completely dead or crazy overgrown.” He held out his hand as a gesture of invitation.

Vivi had to hold back a squeal of delight but eagerly grabbed Arthur’s outstretched hand. The two of them quickly ascended the stairs, Vivi giggling almost the entire way up.

He hadn’t expected her to actually t ake   his hand, let alone that she’d keep it as they climbed. But if she wasn’t going to let go– well, he wasn’t either.

The faded carpet continued all the way up and only stopped because they made it to another door. It led outside to the garden Arthur had mentioned and Vivi had to squint her eyes at the sudden burst of light. 

Arthur hadn’t been kidding when he said this place was in disarray. Ivy was growing all over the place and most of the other plants that had been here once had either gotten out of control, been washed away, or were dead. She wasn’t the best when it came to gardening but she would be more than willing to help Arthur clean this up if he was willing. It was kind of sad to see something that could potentially be so beautiful in such chaos. Then again, she could almost say the same about the whole tower.

She looked over the ledge. They were quite a few feet up. It was a good thing she wasn’t afraid of heights. The ivy growing on the side made Vivi think it could be a good escape route if the stairs were suddenly too dangerous. A good thought to store away for later. 

“What do you think?” Vivi grinned as she turned back over to her friend. “Should we buy some stuff and make this place pretty?” Maintaining it might be difficult for Arthur though, especially since he didn’t even live here.

“I mean we can try–”  Arthur laughed. “But I couldn’t even keep that chia pet you gave me alive for more than two weeks, remember?” He toyed with a leaf from a large, lumpy pillar of greenery. “Did this used to be a topiary or do you think there’s a statue somewhere under there?”

Even as he wondered out loud he uncovered a glimpse of polished grey stone beneath the overgrowth. He pulled away as many of the vines as he could until he’d cleared off most of the front of the statue.

It reminded him a little of the kind of angel sculpture you’d find in a graveyard, sans wings and– a slight shiver chased up his spine– a face. The space beneath the hood of her shroud was hollow and empty.

In her hands there was a plaque with an inscription. Or three inscriptions, to be more precise. One in Latin, one in something that looked sort of like French, and one in a language he didn’t recognize at all. Pursing his lips, he ran his fingers over the Latin text as he translated what he could on the fly.

“Cloak of sleep… Heart’s silent token… Lifted– no wait– will  lift… What on earth is that supposed to mean?”

“Beats me,” Vivi replied with a shrug. “But half the fun is figuring that out, right?” As she looked over the inscription herself, she couldn’t make out much more than Arthur could. Reaching into her pocket, Vivi took out her phone and snapped a photo of the inscription. “Just in case, you know?” She grinned. “I can probably translate this better later.”

She snapped photos of the other two inscriptions as well. One of them maybe was either archaic French or Old English, although her working knowledge of either was practically non-existent. The third one was probably some sort of dead language. That would take the most research out of all of them. “I wonder if they all say the same thing…but why have the same inscription in three different languages?” If whoever built this statue really wanted to convey a message that badly, there had to be a better way than this, right?

Maybe not. It was still a mystery how Arthur’s ancestors ended up with this tower in the first place. “Let’s look around a little bit more; there might be more messages like this.”

“Jesus, it’s like we’re playing MYST or something,” Arthur laughed, prodding at a mass of some kind of flowering vine to see if there was anything else relevant hidden behind it.

Unfortunately that didn’t seem to be the case. If there were any more hidden messages in this disaster of a garden area, they were all buried under years of unkempt management. After nearly twenty minutes of looking they met back up in front of the creepy faceless statue and its faintly ominous message. Vivi sighed.

“Well at least we got something, huh Artie?” Her disappointment was evident, even as she tried to play it off. 

“We did, at least, yeah. You’re right though about the repetition being weird-- I’m not sure why they’d repeat the same message three times. The only time I’ve ever seen something like that is in, like-- science fiction when–” he paused, realizing in the middle of his sentence just how strange the idea was. “When people were hiding some kind of nuclear waste they never wanted found, so they wrote multiple warnings in languages they were sure would carry on into the future.

“Considering people have been all over the property for centuries and no one’s gotten sick or turned into a mutant I highly doubt there’s anything radioactive around here…” He caught her disappointed expression again. “This is only a small part of the tower, though. There might be something interesting on another one of the upper floors.” 

To his surprise he found that he was starting to feel excited about it for his own sake. He’d been joking comparing the tower to a video game, but the idea of this place being a riddle to solve was admittedly intriguing. Vivi did seem to brighten up again at the prospect, too.

“So let’s keep going then!” Sure it was a little disappointing that the garden had proved somewhat fruitless, but Arthur was right, they still had the second half of the tower to search through. And really, she shouldn’t be expecting anything much on this one little visit. Mysteries like this took a few attempts! The exploration and guessing games were what she lived for every day of her life.

She couldn’t help but grin at Arthur though when she saw his growing enthusiasm, as much as he tried to hide it. She didn’t mention it, but it was pretty easy to tell by the smug look in her eyes what she was smiling about. Arthur made sure to catch her eye before sticking his tongue out at her. Immature maybe, but he knew it’d get a laugh.

The chamber beyond the garden had definitely seen far better days. The floor looked like it might’ve had some kind of pattern in its tiles beneath the thick layer of dust and the walls seemed to be covered in more mosaics, but instead of the purple stripes and portraits that decorated the anteroom they looked like murals. What exactly they depicted was also hidden under dust. Even in its neglected state the room was pretty awe-inspiring, but it was obvious that this part of the tower was even less taken care of than the entrance. Typical. But the top of the tower wasn’t much further now.

The chamber funneled them towards a spiraling stone staircase that led them straight to the top of the tower. There were several places where an arch led off to another floor, and at the end of the stairway sat another elaborately carved wooden door, this one adorned with a small flower. A rose, maybe? 

“This is the top of the tower, right?” Vivi asked.

“Must be.” For some reason he couldn’t take his eyes off of the rose, even as he answered Vivi. “I dunno if this door opens, though. Or– hell, I’m not sure if anyone’s even been up here in centuries, let alone tried the door…”

Even as he said it his hand twitched toward the ebony wood. Something about the door– or possibly the room beyond it– seemed to draw him in and stoke his curiosity at the same time as an ominous feeling warned him away.

The idea that they were in a place that nobody had been in literal centuries just made Vivi even more excited, however. They were going to make a huge discovery here, she just knew it! With a nod to Arthur and a huge grin, she pressed her hands to the door. 

Now… how exactly were they going to get it open?There was no knob, and if it wasn’t made of wood, Vivi would have likely written it off as a part of the wall. She hated the idea of breaking down something so old, but if that was what it took… Hopefully, though, both of them pushing together would do the trick and it wouldn’t come to that. 

“Well–” she said. “What do you say? On the count of three maybe?”

Arthur took a deep breath. “Three’s good,” he agreed.

“On three, then! One…tw-”

But as soon as Arthur placed his hands on the door, Vivi could have sworn she saw a spark of some kind ignite from his touch-- or perhaps she had just imagined it? Immediately after, the door eased open, a horrible sound coming from the unoiled hinges. “…Three?”

The flicker of energy that had passed between the door and his outstretched hands was silent but left his palms feeling strangely numb for a moment. Arthur snatched his hands back, flinching away from the screeching racket of the ancient hinges.

At least they wouldn’t need to break the door down after all. “Are you okay?” Vivi asked. “How did you do that?”

“I-I didn’t do  anything…” His voice cracked unpleasantly with nerves.

The room beyond the doors didn’t do much to ease his apprehension. The only light streamed in muted and tinted rosy-violet through stained glass windows at the far end. Rows of curtains lined the rest of the walls but Arthur couldn’t tell if the dense fabric concealed more windows. Iron braziers stood empty in two neat flanks to create a sort of central aisle. What loomed at the end of it pushed the feel of the room from ‘gloomy chapel’ straight to ‘ominous crypt.’

The coffin was enormous and gleamed like black glass in the dim light. Its front bore a carving in the same style as the one on the doors– except that its roses framed a glowering death’s head, tangled in curling, thorny vines.

“I guess ‘tomb’ was a literal description, after all,” Arthur said weakly.

“No kidding…” Vivi stared at the coffin more in awe than nervousness, and walked a little further into the room.

Arthur dawdled in the entryway as Vivi made her way towards the room’s grim centerpiece. The high ceiling cupped her voice and made it ring bell-like and ghostly as she continued. “So…they made this whole tower…just for one coffin?” Whoever was in that coffin had to be someone extremely important to the Kingsmen family for an entire tower to be his or her gravesite. 

She wouldn’t lie, she really really  wanted to open up the coffin and see what remains were inside. But that would not only be disrespectful to Arthur’s ancestors, but she had a feeling Arthur wouldn’t let her anyway, and it was technically his place. “Do you have any idea who’s inside, Artie?”

Between his nerves and the eerily pretty sound of her echoes, he was distracted enough that it took a moment for him to actually register the question she’d asked. “O-oh-- no clue. There was nothing in writing about it– or, I mean, nothing credible at least…” 

Half the time the charter for the tower had read more like a fairy tale than a legal document; parsing out which bits were literal and thus binding and which were simply metaphorical had been part of why the inheritance process had dragged on for so long. “There were some references to a “Knight of Roses” but nothing to indicate they were buried  here– or that they were even real to begin with…”

Hesitantly he followed Vivi a bit further into the chamber. “I mean– is that someone you’ve seen named before in any of your research?”

Vivi paused as she thought it over. “No…not that I can recall, anyway.” Knight of Roses did sound really interesting, but not familiar. It was hard to see all of the details on the coffin with the lighting the way it was, so she went over to one of the windows and opened the curtains.

She immediately regretted it as a cloud of dust popped out as soon as the cloth was moved and she coughed and hacked as she backed away from it. “Gross…!”

But at least some sun could come in here now and they could see the coffin a little better. There didn’t seem to be anything else in the room of interest either. There were more markings along the coffin, and on the back there was an inscription in the same language as one of the plaques from the statue outside. “Look Artie, it’s that strange language again…” But it was only one of them, not all three.

Even with the fresh light streaming in and glittering off the dust motes like microscopic stars, the looming shape of the coffin didn’t become any less intimidating. Despite feeling slightly foolish, he kept a bit of distance from it as he skirted around to look at the writing Vivi pointed out.

It was a different text than the garden inscription, he could tell. It was shorter, and missing a fairly distinct crescent-shaped character he’d noticed before. He took a photo of the coffin’s inscription with his phone, though he doubted he’d be able to translate any of it. The alphabet wasn’t even something he recognized– Not Latin or Cyrillic; and though some of the letters looked superficially like Greek, he doubted he’d be lucky enough that the actual language itself would be anything like it.

A shiver spiraled along his spine, despite the room not being particularly cold. He twitched a glance over his shoulder as though he expected to find someone watching them.

“I-I–I’m not sure there’s much else interesting here, Vi–” and that was  true, even if it wasn’t the primary  reason he wanted to get out of there ASAP. “There’s a library somewhere, I know. Maybe one of those floors we passed on the way up here–?”

Vivi sighed, a little disappointed. “If you say so, Artie.” If he was uncomfortable then she figured it was probably better not to stick around for too much longer. They hadn’t found much other than a few inscriptions, and even though she really  wanted to open the coffin, she still held herself back.

Her disappointment was once again evident despite her clearly biting it down. Arthur hoped the library– or whatever else there was to find in the tower– would be exciting enough to make it up to her a little. If not, he resolved that he’d find another way to do so.

“It’s too bad we didn’t find your princess in the tower though, huh?” She teased him despite the letdown as they began to walk back to the exit. “And here I was hoping you’d get a Sleeping Beauty.” Nudging him, she turned back to the coffin for just a second. “Don’t you wanna kiss the coffin goodbye~?”

He snorted a laugh, though wariness tried to tug down the corners of his mouth as he glanced with her back at the coffin. He pushed it aside to grin at her. “I dunno– from how much you’ve brought it up you seem pretty intent on courting Her Royal Highness yourself. I’ll allow you the honor, instead.” He gave her a chivalrous bow.

“Aw, really?” Vivi grinned back at him-- their antics had cheered her up a little. She was glad they could make light of the situation, and maybe it had calmed Arthur down a little as well. “It’s your  tower so you should be the one to woo her. But fine, I’ll give her a kiss in your stead then.”  

They both laughed and Vivi blew a kiss to the closed coffin before turning back to the exit. “Darn, I was hoping to see you live out the Disney fantasy. Guess it’ll just have to wait until next time.”

As they approached the door, however, a noise made Vivi pause. It sounded like…well she wasn’t certain. Rumbling, perhaps? “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what-?” But even as he asked he heard it too: a low vibration from behind them. From– from the coffin they’d turned their backs to–

Just like the pall that had been laid over him wasn’t quite like sleep, regaining awareness wasn’t quite like waking up. No period of blurry half-consciousness, no slow-blossoming lucidity. A sudden warm shock and he was free of his invisible shackles.

Dimly he could hear voices outside of the box he’d been stored away in. A man’s and a woman’s. Something– something stirred his memory, something about the sound of the man’s voice–

The coffin lid felt like untold years of weight, and even though the light in the chamber outside was weak and thin, it burned like fire along the inside of his skull, his sight unused to the strain. He breathed deep, and orchid-colored sparks scattered on the floor in front of him on the exhale. He didn’t need it but it steadied him all the same and his head felt clearer. He raised his gaze to get a look at these intruders– saviors? If they were responsible for bringing him back, he wasn’t sure how–

But once he got a look at the man’s face, that face he’d recognize anywhere , he no longer cared about the how of it. 

“Atrus…” His voice felt foreign in his chest, a cold hollowness that quickly turned hot, smoldering hotter and hotter until it spread all through him along the veins he no longer had.

He could have blinked and missed his own movement; in less than the space of a moment he had crossed the chamber and balled his fist into the front of  that lying, traitorous bastard’s  shirt, jamming him against the wall. Violet light distorted and chewed into the edges of his vision, but that face–

That face that he’d trusted. That face that had turned on him.

That  was crystal clear.

Chapter Text

It all happened so fast that Vivi would have refused to believe it if she wasn’t watching it unfold right before her own two eyes.

A creature, a - skeleton? Some sort of impossible  something  had walked out of that coffin. It had no skin; just a bare skull floating above where its neck should have been but wasn’t , crowned with bright pink flames that almost looked like hair. It was half out of the coffin one moment, and was now right alongside them and-

And it had her best friend!

Vivi didn’t think. Quickly she reached into her bag to pull out her collapsible metal bat. It was for ‘just in case’ emergencies and this certainly  qualified. 

“Let him go you –you –Ghost Rider reject!!!” And with that she swung her bat right at the creature’s head. 

He’d forgotten about the young woman until the moment she’d relieved him of his head. His mistake, and a nuisance, though he couldn’t help but begrudgingly admire the strength of her attack, and even more so the sheer audacity of it.

But he had little time to spare for being impressed. He called his errant skull back, pulling himself back together; and with a quirk of his wrist sent heat into her somewhat curious weapon. Not enough to burn her, merely to dissuade her grip. Thus he turned his attention back to the cowering Atrus.

Vivi watched in morbid fascination as the creature like behaved like it didn’t even care its head was now halfway across the room. When the skull flew back to its waiting hand it caught it flawlessly, setting it back into its original position. Distracted by the ghoulish scene, she didn’t immediately notice her that fingers were suddenly burning. She yelped, more from the surprise than any real pain, and quickly dropped her metal bat.

She was shocked into awe. It had just conducted heat into her bat and made her drop it. How? Was it magic? She would be asking a million questions a minute if  she wasn’t so preoccupied with the fact that this thing was after her best friend.

Arthur, for his part, had barely managed to register just who– just what – came out of the coffin before he was lifted clean off his feet, the back of his head smacking against the stone wall behind him. Bells had clanged between his ears and he was dimly aware of a glare that seared like fire before he’d suddenly found himself dumped back onto the floor.

The impact shook his spine and knocked the breath from his lungs and he dizzily tried to tell himself that he couldn’t trust his eyes– because his eyes sure seemed to be telling him that before him stood a nightmarishly huge figure, wreathed in smoldering purple light and missing its goddamned head Jesus Christ had Vivi fucking decapitated the thing–!?

A dozen different reactions rattled through him but all he managed to voice was a hoarse, confused croak.

Without hesitating, Vivi wedged herself in between Arthur and the creature. It paused, seemingly in shock that Vivi could still be so bold (or stupid). 

“Hold it! I don’t know what your problem is pal, but whatever your beef is, it’s not with Arthur!” She exclaimed. “He doesn’t even know who-- or what –- you are!”

Once again the young woman interfered, blocking him from Atrus with her body as a shield. He paused, examining her hard expression, the determination in the grim line of her mouth and rigid set of her jaw.

He could find only tiny traces of fear in her eyes (Atrus’ practically glowed  with it), largely smothered by resolve and– …curiosity? Not an average reaction to being accosted by a monster– he made an effort to stifle any trace of intrigue that might reflect back to her from his own gaze. Again he refocused on the man hiding behind her.

“You always were a coward, Atrus. Using her as you did me– for a shield. Tell me,” he snarled. “Will you dispose of her too, once she starts to see through you?”

Vivi risked a glance behind her. She searched for some sort of recognition on Arthur’s face, a sign that he had any idea what was happening or what this thing was talking about…but no. He was just as clueless and frightened as she was. A part of Vivi was relieved. Arthur wouldn’t hide things from her, not something like t his  anyway.

The answer was simple then. This…  whatever  it was (Ghost? Monster? Both?) was mistaking Arthur for someone else. It was angry, that much was obvious. The first step was to try and calm it down and make it see that it had things all wrong.

“He’s not using  me for anything,” Vivi insisted. She was honestly surprised that this creature wasn’t more angry at her for batting its head off, instead just treating decapitation like a minor annoyance. Whatever it thought Arthur did must have been even worse than that. “Look, whoever you think this…Atrus guy is, this isn’t him.”

She softened her expression, trying to show they didn’t mean any harm to it (him?). Any more harm at least. “This is Arthur. He’s my closest friend. I’ve known him forever. And…I don’t know how long you’ve been in that thing,” Her gaze left the creature to look at the coffin for a split second before refocusing. “But whatever you think he did, he didn’t do it, I promise!”

Vivi turned her head again to Arthur. “Right?”

Was he supposed to speak in his own defense now? Oh–

With an unpleasant churn in his stomach he realized that the thing was at least partly right. He really was using Vivi as a shield… How could he just sit there and say and do nothing while she stuck her neck out for him like this?

He didn’t quite trust his knees to hold him up if he attempted to stand, but he did try at least to prop himself up a little straighter.

“——…” He tried to speak, but at first all that came out was a noise not unlike the tower doors had made as they’d resisted opening.

Okay, Arthur, think goddamnit -- The…figure’s… tomb was ancient, and its (his?) clothing-- the long and embroidered tunic and draped woolen cloak-- looked like it would be right at home in Vivi’s books of Januterrine art. Even his way of speaking was archaic, and laced with an accent completely unfamiliar to Arthur, as though it came from a language he’d never heard. He was without a doubt as old as the tower itself, and the enemy he thought he saw in Arthur was surely dead for centuries. But how exactly was he supposed to convince this thing of that?

“What year do you think it is?” He could have smacked himself. Saying something so completely useless and random wasn’t going to help matters. “I-I-I mean– this place is– it’s almost a th-thousand years old– I-I think? But I don’t– Jesus I don’t know anything ab-bout– you…?” Oh excellent job, Arthur– very articulate.

The creature seemed to be caught off guard for a second before its anger brought it back once more. “You’re a liar,” he spat, purple flames flickering around its arms. “A thousand years? You honestly expect me to believe--”

“He’s telling the truth!” Vivi asserted, and the creature shifted his gaze to her for the moment. “Look around you! This place hasn’t had people in it in years! Arthur and I were probably the first ones to step into this room in centuries!”

He paused, and for the first time, looked around at the state of the tower. The room was covered in a thick sheet of dust, only disturbed by their recent movements. The drapes were in tatters, and even the mosaics were faded and missing tiles.

It was true…nobody had set foot in here for a very long time.

“Please…” Her voice was suddenly gentle and pulled him from his thoughts, bringing his attention back to her. “We don’t mean you any harm. We didn’t want to cause trouble. We honestly didn’t know there was…was, um, anyone here. And we’re, uh, really sorry for disturbing you and your…sleep?”

This girl... Truth be told, she baffled him nearly as badly as the idea that an entire millennium had left him behind.

She was afraid, and that he was unfortunately used to. But she made no attempt to hide it beneath a lacquer of false bravado; he could see it in her eyes and hear it in the subtle quiver of her voice, present but simply less important to her than her goals. He’d encountered true bravery before, unusual and rare but not unheard of.

But it wasn’t the courage that shook him, or the anger or even her loyalty to the man still shaking on the floor behind her, which was admirable even if it was misplaced. There was something else in her look, her posture, her voice.

It was sympathy .

Despite that he’d threatened her and her… companion; despite her having, mere minutes before, bludgeoned him with enough force to kill a man; despite the inescapable fact of what he was– she offered him that simple, genuine bit of human grace. It left him reeling.

“Then why have you come here?

The woman lowered her arms a little, as though to show she didn’t want to cause him any further harm, but she didn’t move from her position or fully let her guard down. 

“We got a key to this place,” she said. “Junuterrum and its history has been my field of study for years now. We just came here to do research. Most of anything else that’s left nowadays is in ruins, but this place is still in good condition. Or at least, good enough to still go inside. But uh...” She looked him up and down. “We weren’t expecting to find anything quite like you in here.”

He wasn’t sure whether he should take that as a compliment or an insult. Judging from the intrigued way she was inspecting him, perhaps the former? The girl was one surprise after another. “And how did you come to possess that key?”

“Uh…it was given to us.”

His eyes narrowed at the cagey shift to her tone. He knew evasiveness when he heard it. “By whom ?” He pressed, despite suspecting he already had the real truth figured out. Hapless explorers didn’t just stumble on millennium-old keys and happen upon the equally ancient doors they unlocked by pure chance. 

Either they were trespassers and possibly thieves, or the key was theirs (or rather his, based on the uncanny familiarity of his face) by right. Part of him almost hoped it was the former, but that hope was almost certainly in vain.

“Um…” Again she turned to her cowering companion. “Who did you say it was again?”

Arthur quailed when the thing’s gaze followed Vivi’s to look at him, penetrating and judgmental. He really wished she hadn’t all but told him that the tower was Arthur’s. If this Atrus was its original owner, and if Arthur looked enough like him to be mistaken for him, then he was probably Arthur’s direct ancestor. There was no way that was going to endear him to this thing in the slightest.

“L-Lance’s a-aunt I think–” he croaked. His voice was thin and his reluctance probably obvious, but couldn’t bring himself to try and lie under the pressure of the creature’s stare. “She’d w-willed it to her own son, b-but somewhere some lawyer figured out it was supposed to be–” he swallowed hard, almost painfully. “s-supposed to be mine…”

Vivi bit her lip. While she hadn’t directly said that the tower was technically Arthur’s, it was pretty easy to figure out. She had tried to be as vague as possible, but the creature had seen through her. “Right…so we just came in here to look around, not to disturb anyone.”

It was incredible to imagine that Arthur looked enough like his ancestor from over a thousand years ago that this whatever-it-was could mistake them for the same person. She wondered vaguely if his portrait could be found among the mosaics in the atrium, so she could see the resemblance for herself. But that of course would require getting out of here in one piece. “But you see now, right? Arthur isn’t who you’re looking for; he’s not this Atrus guy.”

For a moment Arthur thought that Vivi had managed to talk him down. As unreadable as his face was, the creature had very human body language, and he clearly relaxed as she spoke. Or at least leaned back to loom less over them.

“Perhaps not.” He crossed his arms. Now that he got a better look at this ‘Arthur’, he could see the little differences. His face was much more youthful than Atrus’, and his hair was a different color: more hammered gold than polished copper. Not to mention those clothes were…very strange. But-- “The resemblance is uncanny. It seems clear to me whose blood he comes from, and if he can lay claim to part of his birthright, he should be prepared to accept all of it.” His hand twitched and another lick of flame trailed up his arm.

“Don’t you dare!” Vivi threw out her arms again. “Arthur’s not responsible for whatever happened to you! You can’t hold somebody accountable for something that their ancestor did a thousand years ago!”

She took a step forward. “Look…can’t we just…start over?” For a second she looked down at her shoes before gathering the courage to look up at him again. “I’m sorry for hitting you.”  The specter remained tense, his resolve to his grudge apparently renewed, and violet sparks and fire hissed from his clenched fist.

And Vivi still kept trying to talk him down– what was she thinking!? Perhaps this thing was capable of being reasoned with, but he clearly wasn’t in the mood to be. Arthur wanted to bolt– to grab Vivi’s hand and sprint out of here to the safe familiarity of the van as fast as his legs could carry them and hit the gas to leave this batshit place behind for good.

But he didn’t, couldn’t budge; just watched, wide-eyed and dry-mouthed as Vivi once again extended the olive branch. The creature– sighed? As much as someone with no mouth and probably no lungs either could do. When he spoke, Arthur thought he almost sounded… regretful.

“I have no quarrel with you. I don’t wish to hurt you,” he told Vivi. His voice hardened as he continued. “But I cannot– will not – allow you to stand in my way.”

He raised his hand, now fully engulfed in roiling flames that threw an alarming pink glow and spasming shadows throughout the chamber. The heat of them was so intense that Arthur could feel it even across the distance between them. When Vivi continued to hold her ground, the specter’s eyes narrowed dangerously and the fiery mass of his hair lost shape, melting into a mantle of flickering heat over his shoulders.

Vivi winced and closed her eyes when the flames began to expand, fearing the worst. If she had to take a hit while defending Arthur, well, so be it.

Arthur’s voice all but leapt from his throat, loud and shrill with panic.

“S-stop–! Don’t hurt her! ”

She could hear Arthur yelling behind her, but that was pointless. This creature seemed determined and she would hold her ground no matter what. She awaited the inevitable scorch of heat.

Nothing came.

Nervously, Vivi opened her eyes, and they blinked wide at what she saw.

The creature was frozen. It looked like he had stopped in mid-attack, and even the flames had died down. But…why?

“H…hello?” Vivi lowered her arms again, briefly fearing that he was just waiting for her to let her guard down, but he already had her cornered, so what would be the point of that? No, something was wrong. She took a step forward and that seemed to snap the creature out of it, as he immediately took a few steps back.

If looks could kill, Arthur would be dead ten times over. “You…!”

Vivi didn’t get it. Had Arthur stopped him? But how? She turned to look at her friend. “What did you do?”

“I didn’t–? I-I don’t know??” He’d obviously done something. The creature wouldn’t have so much as hesitated, let alone stopped entirely otherwise, and he and Vivi would be…

But all he’d done was–

Oh.

Oh, no– there was no way, there was no fucking way–

Arthur hadn’t been aware that literally feeling the blood drain from your face was more than just an expression, but that was precisely what he could feel happening now. He doubted there was much they could have done to appease the creature to begin with, but even that slim chance was definitely toast now that they knew just what kind of power Arthur apparently could wield over him…

Fury foamed in his chest– at himself as well as Atrus and all his accursed descendants. How stupid of him, to not realize the scheming bastard wouldn’t settle for only one set of chains to bind him. Worse even than that– he’d put him on a damned leash.

The girl didn’t seem to have caught on just yet, but the whelp himself had, judging by the waxen pallor he had taken on. He seethed as though taking unnecessary breaths, banking back his rage until he could speak past it.

“And what else would you command of me?” he hissed.

“Command…?” Vivi murmured, more to herself than the spirit. He wasn’t talking to her, more like glaring multiple daggers in Arthur’s direction. For a moment Vivi was afraid it was going to attack again but…it just stood there. Arthur’s voice appeared to have failed him; he wasn’t speaking anymore. What in the world had happened?

The ghost had started to attack, Arthur had yelled something…and that was it. It was almost like the ghost had stopped at Arthur’s words, his command…

…Oh. Now she understood. The distaste for Arthur’s ancestors, the fact that Arthur now owned this tower-- and presumably all its contents…it wasn’t hard to figure out what was going on here. “You can…command him?

The fact that he’d wound up using Vivi as a shield again weighed on Arthur like an albatross around his neck, and the creature’s furious, judgmental gaze silenced him like a knife pressed to his throat.

He had only ordered the creature not to harm Vivi , after all. The impossible hate in the specter’s eyes made it clear that the only thing holding him back from tearing Arthur apart was knowing that she would never let him get in dismembering range. Not unless he– possibly literally– went through her first.

Arthur struggled to control his breathing and tamp down the panic attack he could feel brewing in his chest. “P-please–” he finally managed to rasp out. “Just let–” 

He interrupted himself, sucking in a deep breath to try and clear his head as much as he could– he needed to focus as much as possible on how to phrase this– “W-we just want–” he hesitated again. “We just want to go h-home– i-i-if you’ll let us go…?” 

He’d started out making an effort to look the creature in the eye, but by the time he’d finished his nerve had failed and his gaze latched onto his own hand, curled into a fist against the cold stone floor.

The ghost had frozen the moment the command seemed to ready leave Arthur’s lips, but when it was cut off, he relaxed a little. But he looked more than a little confused. His narrowed sockets were entirely focused on Arthur now. 

With a huff, the wraith turned and stalked back to the coffin. He knew when he was beaten, and he wouldn’t bother conceding victory to them. They could take it at their leisure.

Vivi wasn’t sure if she should be relieved or disturbed. He had given up so easily after all of that smoke. But perhaps it was better to cut their losses now. If nothing else, Arthur needed to get out of here before something else happened. “Th…thank you for letting us go,” she said and bowed slightly. “We truly are sorry for invading your home…”

“He just–” Arthur wheezed so quietly he could barely hear himself. He just left . Arthur stared after the specter’s retreating back, jaw slack with confusion. Not even a verbal parting shot. Maybe it was a stupid thing to be so shocked about after everything that had preceded it and he really should be feeling relieved above all else but the sheer absurdity of the creature just up and giving up after all its bluster was apparently the last straw for Arthur’s nerves.

His limbs felt like rubber and his senses oddly detached from his body as Vivi hauled him to his feet and all but dragged him behind her as she fled. The creature didn’t react, didn’t even turn to glare at them.

The tower seemed… different on the way down. The very walls seemed to hum with a new, restless energy, almost like blood had started flowing anew through hidden veins in the stone.

Or maybe it was just his buzzing head messing with his perception. 

God, he hoped it was just his buzzing head.

His legs folded under him barely a moment after they made it through the front doors into the sunlight. His knees crashed hard against the paving stones; they were sure to bruise and give him hell later, but for the moment he barely registered the pain.

“Whoa--!” Vivi almost collapsed right with Arthur when he accidentally pulled her down. She managed to stay on her feet, but not for long when she saw that Arthur was well into the throes of a panic attack. “Arthur? Hey!”

“What the fuck–” he wheezed. His chest felt tight, his binder crushingly so on his ribs; even the collar of his shirt seemed chokingly restrictive. “Wh-what— what the fuck –” The last word splintered into a croak and he couldn’t get his breath back. He felt overheated and sick and tense as piano wire all over and he couldn’t get a breath–

This wouldn’t be the first time Vivi had to calm Arthur down like this, but it had certainly been a while, and even longer since it was anywhere near this bad. She hoped she remembered what to do. “Arthur can you hear me? Listen to my voice, okay? Just focus on me and breathe. Slow and deep breaths…”

It wasn’t like she could blame him. If she wasn’t so caught up in making sure Arthur was okay, Vivi would probably be freaking out herself. That was… crazy. An actual ghost tried to kill them. Mystery would never believe it, or he’d be distraught that he wasn’t there to help.

“O-o-okay– okay– f-fuck, okay okay okay–” Arthur finally sucked in a breath– it was croaking and slightly painful but he managed it.

“It’s okay, we’re safe now, we’re alright…” Vivi continued in a low, reassuring tone, to give Arthur something else to focus on. “Remember what we talked about before? Counting down from a hundred? Let’s start doing that, okay?”

“H-hundred– fuck I can’t r-remember what’s a-after a hundred–before a hundred– nnghh–”

Vivi’s hands on his shoulders did more than his own babbling to ground him and steady his nerves– for given value of ‘steady’ anyway. He concentrated as best he could on the slight pressure of her hold, on using the soothing sound of her voice as a metronome to match his breathing to. Slowly, inch by inch, it did start to help.

“Ninety-nine–” Breath. “Ninety-eight–” Another breath. “Okay– ninety-seven– do I need to get all the way to one what are we supposed to do about this…?” He gestured vaguely towards the suddenly much more imposing shape of the tower behind them. “A-are you okay? You’re okay, right? You aren’t hurt or–?”

“I’m fine,” Vivi quickly cut him off before he could get too worked back up and squeezed his shoulders a little more. “It –he didn’t hurt me at all. See? No burns or anything. I’m okay. We’re okay, Artie.”

Although just to be sure, one hand left his shoulder to brush against Arthur’s neck. That thing did have Arthur for a few seconds and she had to check the damages. “Keep counting…at least until it feels like you can breathe, okay?”

It didn’t look like there was any harm done. Luckily the…ghost? Sure, ghost worked just as well as anything-- it looked like the ghost had just grabbed his shirt and not Arthur himself. Vivi sighed in relief before starting to count down with him.

Eventually Arthur’s breathing began to even out, but it took quite a long time. Arthur had counted down into the 30s until Vivi was somewhat satisfied. “…Can you stand…?” They needed to get out of here before the ghost changed his mind.

“Y-yeah– I can– I can, yeah….” He allowed Vivi to help him to his feet, but still felt like they didn’t quite want to stay under him yet. “I think you’ll need to drive, though. I dunno if I’m good for it at the right now–”

He passed her the keys to the van, palming them quickly when the way they rattled while dangling made it a bit too obvious how much his hands were still shaking.

He cast a last, nervous glance at the tower as Vivi busied herself adjusting the driver’s seat and side mirrors. The vibrations of the engine were so intensely familiar that they calmed him enough to quip, albeit quip very tiredly, as they pulled onto the road.

“Some fucking Sleeping Beauty.”

He felt them cross the threshold back out into the world he’d been left behind by, but it was a fair while before he actually saw them leave, taking their retreat in a garishly painted carriage that seemed to power itself from within.

Why had they lingered so long on the grounds when they’d been in such a hurry to get out of his tower? Why lurk close enough to it that it hid them from his view?

He almost wanted to conclude that they were scheming against him, searching the grounds for some weakness to exploit– better to be paranoid than vulnerable. But– at the same time they had seemed genuinely clueless about his presence, and if they hadn’t known about him, how much could they know about the tower at all? And there was still the matter of Atrus’ descendant refusing to take advantage of the power his bloodline granted him, as well…

The same thoughts swam circles around his head, over in over until he’d lost himself in maze-like knots of doubt and increasingly unreasonable logic. By the time he resurfaced night had fallen, and even that wasn’t as he remembered it. 

The horizon seemed to glow, as though a fire burned hidden just behind it, but there was no smoke. He didn’t know if this was simply a trick of his state of mind, but there seemed to be fewer stars than the last night sky he’d laid eyes on, and the vault they were set into seemed a paler, more watered-down black.

He turned his back to the window before he could dwell too much more on what else had changed while he’d slept.

Chapter Text

Recovery from their misadventure in the tower was not easy. Arthur had been a jumbled bundle of nerves since they had left, edgy and skittish as a rabbit and sleeping even less than usual. He’d ended up having to take time off of work in the end; Lance had insisted. After a few days, finally it seemed like he was mostly back to normal, but he would still jump at the slightest thing.

Even as Arthur seemed to get better, however, Vivi felt as though she was getting worse. After a week she could hardly take it anymore. The ghost hadn’t left her mind the entire time.

She’d tried pouring the restless mental energy into research, deep dives into texts and archaeological journals for any more information on the tower and its history, but all she seemed to find were dead ends. 

There had been no references to be found anywhere about the Knight of Roses Arthur had mentioned being named in the inheritance documents; not in historical texts nor in any poetry or song. She hadn’t wanted to pester Arthur to get her the tower’s charter itself while he was still so on edge either, so she was out of avenues there for the time being. 

Nor had she been able to find any reference to anyone named Atrus who could have been connected with the tower. The name itself had popped up twice, but both instances were centuries out of date with the tower’s construction. Trying to work backwards through genealogies to him was fruitless as well; records of the Kingsmen family tree fell apart in the sixteenth century, which was probably also when the mix-up that had landed the tower in the possession of the wrong branch of the family in the first place had occurred. Perhaps the charter would have an older family history in it, but again, she didn’t have access at the moment.

So now she was at a standstill, out of leads and out of distractions from the fact that it wasn’t the tower itself that she was really hung up on, but its ghostly inhabitant.

She would be lying if she said she didn’t feel pity for him.

She knew she shouldn’t. He had tried to kill her best friend, after all. But the only reason he had done that was because he had mistaken Arthur for someone who had obviously greatly wronged him in the past. And being imprisoned in that tower for over a thousand years…he must have felt so lost in this new world. Lost, confused…and probably more than a little bit lonely. Vivi wouldn’t wish that on anyone, no matter what they had done.

“Uuuugh!” She groaned and buried her face in her pillow. She just wanted to stop thinking about this and get on with her life! Arthur was safe and that was really all that should matter, right?

Something wet nudged the top of her head and Vivi turned her cheek onto her pillow to side-eye the culprit. “What is it, ‘Stree?”

“Penny for your thoughts?” The canine smiled in amusement, eyes gleaming behind his bifocals. “You’ve been whining for almost a week now.”

Her response was a very mature raspberry sent his way, followed by flopping her face back in her pillow.

“Oh, how charming,” Mystery said wryly. “Takes me back to when you were little and hated being told ‘no.’” When her only response was a sulky huff into her pillow, he decided that sinking to her level was called for.

So he stuck his cold nose directly into her ear. Vivi yelped and glared, clapping an affronted hand over her ear. Mystery just offered his most charming tail wag and ‘I’m a very good boy’ face before draping himself over her torso, crossing his paws primly in front of him to prop his chin on. “You can either tell me what’s wrong now, or you can tell me what’s wrong later after I’ve bothered you incessantly for an hour,” he said pleasantly. “You may be stubborn, little one, but we both know I’ve got even you beat there.”

The gentle ribbing belied real concern; he hated seeing Vivi upset for any reason. She was a grown woman now, sure, but he couldn’t help but fret over her even so. 

He knew she was still worried about Arthur after that encounter in the tower, but if that had been the only thing on her mind, surely she would have talked to him about it? So it was something else that had her tying herself up in knots at the moment, and there wasn’t anything he could do to help until he knew what it was.

Vivi huffed at him once more, but eventually she sighed and began to scratch behind Mystery’s ears. She knew when she was beat. And if there was one person she trusted with everything, it was her precious pooch. “I just…feel…really weird,” she started. “Like I know that ghost guy is a huge jerk but…he must’ve gotten that way for a reason, right?”

Mystery seemed confused as Vivi bit her lip as she tried to figure out how to word this. “I guess…I don’t know, I kinda feel bad for him. I’ve never seen anything like him before, and I mean, we did wake him up into an unfamiliar world after being asleep for way too long. I don’t even know how we woke him up in the first place, but we did, and well…now he’s all by himself in that huge tower.”

She groaned and flopped onto her back. “I don’t want to feel this way, Mystery. He tried to kill Artie and probably would’ve if I didn’t stop him. So why do I wanna see him again?”

“I don’t suppose curiosity has anything to do with it? Not that I’m discounting your sympathy, of course, but sympathy is something that can be satisfied from a distance; curiosity can’t.”

He couldn’t blame her for being curious, really. The specter, as she’d described him, represented a source of knowledge she could have never dreamed of: an actual, first-hand account of the long-lost country she’d devoted her studies to.

Privately Mystery also hoped that framing it as an academic interest might ease some of her guilt about empathizing with the spirit. He couldn’t blame her for that empathy either– she’d always been a fiercely caring person, and she was right that something very unjust seemed to have befallen him. But he understood how she could blame herself for it. Anything he could do to dispel that feeling, he would.

Vivi seemed to mull over his suggestion, her hand going still as she got caught up in her thoughts. He butted his head lightly against her palm to get her to continue her scratches. She barely reacted beyond obliging him (Mystery had trained her so well) and hummed in thought. “Yeah…yeah I guess that could be it. I mean, how long have I been researching Januterrum and the paranormal?”

Well those were easy answers: she’d been enamored with anything paranormal ever since she’d discovered her god could speak. And she’d been set on her path studying history when she’d found that book of world folklore in her grandfather’s study and read the translated Januterrine myths in it. She’d pored over those pages again and again until the book’s spine had worn out around them. 

“And– and this is like, this is both of those mixed into one!” She gestured wildly. “He was a part of it somehow, he could have more information than any history book-- and context and nuance you just can’t get from scraps of texts in sacked libraries or inscriptions on monuments. This could be a treasure trove!”

The words spilled out faster as she went on, until she was outright gushing over the thought. First-hand experiences were the best sources of knowledge, Mystery knew that well, and she was right that she was unlikely to ever see a richer one than this. Her excitement was palpable.

“And this is the first time I’ve ever seen a ghost, or whatever he is, in person. I got to talk to him, I-I got to see him make –fire I guess? I don’t know if it was real fire or not, but it felt really hot. And I knocked his head off but he put it back on like it was nothing! And then –and then Arthur made him stop with just his words, like he physically couldn’t do anything anymore after he yelled, and then he just let us go! It was amazing!” Terrifying, but amazing.

She looked so torn. “I want to go back and see him, but I know I shouldn’t… He almost seriously hurt Artie, and I can’t forgive that, but…” Vivi sighed. “Is it wrong that I feel this way, ‘Stree?” Like she was admiring the one who had caused her best friend so much grief?

“I’m not going to pass a moral judgement on your emotions, Vivi. It wouldn’t be fair– feelings don’t care much for reason or morals.” He pawed his glasses a bit higher on the bridge of his snout. “I’ve noticed in my infinite wisdom, I mean,” he added with a slight smirk, hoping to get a smile out of her. She did smile; it was a small one, but Mystery was still so pleased that his tail started wagging involuntarily.

“Being in awe of something you never dreamed was actually real when it flashes and glitters in your face doesn’t mean you’re forgiving what he’d intended to do with that magic,” he continued, then paused for a moment before going forward very carefully. “Although– while I wouldn’t say it’s wrong , I wouldn’t say it would be particularly… wise either. Even if his imprisonment was wrongful, he’s made quite a point of showing that he’s still dangerous.

“Whatever magic compels him to listen to Arthur’s commands must follow certain rules, and they’re probably easy to guess– these kinds of enchantments don’t vary much in the end result regardless of how they’re cast. The order not to hurt you should still hold but– even so, it’s probably best not to test those restraints too much.”

“Oh…really?” Vivi tried not to show it but inside her mind was racing. She’d been under the impression that Arthur’s order would only last until they left, and then after that the ghost was free to harm her if he pleased to. But according to Mystery that order would last forever unless Arthur said otherwise. So, in theory, she could go back to the tower without fear of being harmed at all.

This was an opportunity too good to pass up! She couldn’t let this chance slip away from her.

But Arthur would never approve, and judging from Mystery’s explanation, neither would he. This would have to be something she did on her own then…when nobody was around to stop her.

Mystery was looking at her now, concerned by her silence. When she finally noticed, she knew she had to hurry to get his mind off of it. “How do you know so much, ‘Stree? I mean I know you’re a magical talking dog, but you do know a lot about other magical things, like how that enchantment works… So where did you learn all that?” A distraction, but something Vivi was genuinely curious about anyway.

Mystery narrowed his eyes at her. “Don’t even try that, little one. I know a dodge when I see one.”

He’d, after all, probably been the one she’d learned the skill from in the first place. He chose not to dwell on whether that made him the pot or the kettle in this situation, instead opting to look stoically unimpressed. “If I were the kind to make wagers, I’d bet you’re thinking of sneaking off to that tower.”

“Wh-who me? Noooo, I would never! You just said it was too dangerous!” It was a vain attempt. Vivi knew she was no good at lying, especially around her dog who had known her all her life. The look on Mystery’s face said he wasn’t buying it and Vivi huffed. “Oh come on, Mystery this is a chance of a lifetime . I know exactly where he is and how to get there. How could I pass that up?”

She shifted and at least had the decency to look a little contrite under his gaze. “I have to go. I’ll be kicking myself for the rest of my life if I let this chance get away from me. You understand that, right?”

“This sort of risk-taking could very well make ‘the rest of your life’ a fair bit shorter than you anticipate,” he shot back, then sighed. “How that sort of magic commonly works isn’t the only way it works, and I’m not exactly keen on the only real way to test that hypothesis, I’m sure you’ve guessed.” 

Another sigh, this one resigned. “I’m also sure that you’ve made up your mind and that there’s nothing short of locking you up in a tower that could stop you. But I’m not about to let you go alone, either. We’ll take this field trip together, do we have a deal?”

Vivi was stunned for the moment. She expected…way more of a fight than that, but Mystery knew her all too well. Dead on with his reasoning, Vivi couldn’t help but grin and hug her precious pooch. “Deal! Thank you, Mystery!”

It wasn’t like she was scared or anything…but the extra back-up might be nice. Just in case.

“We’ll go tonight, okay?” She said, excitedly bouncing up and down on her knees. It reminded Mystery of a child being told they were going to their favorite theme park. Despite lingering misgivings, Mystery’s tail set to wagging when she wrapped her arms around him, even as she jostled his glasses right off his snout. Vivi was the kind of soul whose emotions– the positive ones especially– were downright infectious. And her enthusiasm in particular was so boundless and jubilant that it was particularly irresistible. “It’s gonna take a few hours to get there, I remember the way. And then we– oh…”

She suddenly looked apprehensive and some of his secondhand excitement flagged. “…I don’t think Arthur is coming home tonight,” she said. “He told me he’s got a lot of work at the shop and was probably going to sleep over at Uncle Lance’s-- but don’t tell him about this? I don’t want to freak him out any more than he already is.”

“…I won’t say anything to him tonight. But you ought to tell him after the fact at least. You wouldn’t appreciate being left in the dark if the positions were reversed, right?” He hated to talk like a scolding parent– he always had, but even more now that Vivi was an adult. And he knew she liked it even less.

“I know…” She did look guilty. “I just don’t want him to worry. He was so scared, Mystery. He started hyperventilating when we finally made it out of there.” The last thing she wanted was for Arthur to worry about them the entire time they were gone, or worse, insist on coming with them. Until Vivi was certain of a few things, she didn’t want that ghost anywhere near her best friend.

Neither she nor Mystery were happy about keeping it a secret, but for now, maybe it was best. “I’ll tell him when we get back. I promise.”

Chapter Text

Every night, those strange lights over the horizon glowed as brightly as before. He truly did want to see what they were, to see what this new world had to offer…

But when he tried, he found he could not get past the entrance. So it wasn’t just the coffin he was bound to, but the entire tower as well. Another line of protective measures, he assumed. He was still trapped like some penned up animal; he’d merely been given a slightly larger cage. 

Damn you, Atrus…

The sun had risen and set at least half a dozen times since his awakening. A part of him almost missed being asleep. At least that way he wasn’t conscious and completely alone to his thoughts. At least that way he didn’t feel trapped. Pacing around the tower for the hundredth time was only entertaining for so long.

He paused in his musings, however, when an odd sound caught his attention. Making his way over to the window, one of those strange transport machines was set next to the tower, glittering like an enormous beetle in the sunset light. He was shocked when the woman in blue from before stepped out of one side.

What was she doing back here?

He heard her say something, though he couldn’t catch the words, as she walked around to the other side of the contraption and opened a door. A small black and white dog jumped out, circling her feet once and scenting the air.

What could she possibly want with this place? Perhaps the whelp hoped to gift him to her as one would some sort of prize hound– he’d be faced with disappointment in that case. Blood rights weren’t so easily relinquished.

But what could be done about the girl now that she was here? He had no desire to harm her even if he were able to, but even from their brief encounter he got the sense that nothing short of more force than he was willing or able to exert would get her to leave before she wanted to. He wasn’t especially keen on her company, no matter how heavily the solitude had begun to weigh on him, but the thought of hiding from her in his own– … domain – he refused to think of this place as ‘home’– was almost repulsive in its indignity.

He wouldn’t seek her out, he decided, but if she really wished to find him, he’d allow it. He withdrew to tend to the balcony garden and wait out her little visit.

His attention was quickly drawn away from the progress of a flowering vine, however. Whatever had just crossed the threshold into the tower was far older and more powerful than any human woman.

Just what exactly had she brought with her!?

“Do you think we should knock?”

Vivi’s hand was positioned mere inches away from the handle, suddenly frozen with nerve. It was as if it was just now dawning on her how much danger she and Mystery could be in. She didn’t want to make that thing even angrier at her.

Mystery stared up at her for a moment before sighing. “Even if we did, do you think he would answer?”

He had a point. For all they knew, the ghost could have gotten back in his coffin and fallen back asleep. 

“…No…I guess not.” Taking a deep breath, she lifted the handle and pushed open the ancient wooden doors. No sense in turning back now.

She stared when she made it inside, not even paying attention to the way the doors closed on their own. The room was hardly recognizable as the same one she’d seen just days ago. Where once it was half in ruins and covered in dust, it had transformed into a lavish foyer. Restored from its faded tatters, a regal magenta carpet welcomed the both of them, leading up the sweeping staircases. The vines that had strangled the light from the windows were gone, and from the vaulted ceiling hung a breathtaking chandelier that shone brilliantly in the golden sunset. The walls almost seemed to glow in that light, and the mosaics-- all their missing tiles back in place and their colors returned to their proper richness-- almost seemed like they could start moving at any moment. Even the suits of armor had been polished to a gleam.

Vivi didn’t understand. How had the ghost done all of this? It hadn’t even been a full week since he had been awakened, and there was no way he had gotten any help from anyone. Now Vivi wanted to see him more than ever.

Swallowing nervously, she made her way over to the stairs, Mystery following close behind, and started the long climb upwards. The further they went up, the more extravagant the tower seemed to get. 

Even the garden had been tended to. No longer the overgrown mess Vivi remembered it being, all of the plants were trimmed down expertly. Several new statues appeared that had apparently been completely hidden by greenery. Flowers had even started to bloom in various areas, most notably an enormous, gorgeous bush of purple roses.

“You came back.”

Both Vivi and Mystery jumped at the voice and whirled around to the source. The ghost had come out from the other side of another rosebush, staring them down. His gaze focused on Mystery for a moment, as if confused about what he was looking at for a moment, before settling on Vivi. “Why are you here?” He demanded.

Vivi shook but held her ground. She was just now realizing how tall this thing was. She had assumed that all of his threatening looming had made him seem larger than he actually was, but he really did tower over her by at least a foot or two. She felt Mystery press against her side, making sure she knew he was there to protect her if the need arose, and she let out the breath she was holding. “I was just…I wanted to see you again.”

Whatever form he’d expected the girl’s powerful companion to take, it wasn’t that of the little dog, whether or not it had eyes and a posture that carried far too much intelligence to belong to any mere animal. He’d clearly underestimated her again, if she could keep something like that as a pet .

His tone had come out harder than he’d intended in his effort to smother all traces of the surprise he felt about her companion. Something between guilt and confusion stung him at her answer.

She…wanted to see him? But why? Surely she hadn’t come here for some sort of social visit. He didn’t know what to think, and he certainly didn’t know how to respond. So he didn’t.

“You didn’t mention being a witch, before,” he said instead. “But you must be quite talented to have a familiar as powerful as that in your thrall.”

That was something odd about her again, that she hadn’t attempted to leverage those talents over him, either then or now. There seemed to be nothing about her that wasn’t confounding in one way or another.

“A w-? Huh?” Already this ghost had thrown her for somewhat of a loop. What in the world was he talking about? “I’m not a witch,” Vivi declared, completely confused now. “Trust me, if I was, I’d never buy groceries ever again if I could just conjure up anything I wanted. I mean sure I’ve been researching some things here and there but it’s not like I can do anything, and-”

The ghost gave her a look and crossed his arms. If he had eyebrows, Vivi was certain they’d be raised right about now. This wasn’t off to a very good start and Vivi shifted nervously. She was rambling, and ought to stop herself before she got too far. Shaking her head, she focused her attention back to the task at hand.

“We…Look, I don’t think we really got a proper introduction…last time.” Obviously. “So uh, what’s your name? I’m Vivi, and uh, yeah, this is Mystery. He’s not a familiar.” At least Vivi didn’t think he was. True to his name, her dog was still quite the mystery to her. “He’s just…my friend.”

He’d carefully hidden the spark of amusement– and intrigue, he had to admit– as she had gone on. Why study the theory if she wasn’t going to put it into practice? From how she spoke on the subject, it almost seemed like magic’s practical application hadn’t presented itself as a possibility– had it fallen out of favor?

She was clearly nervous, and it was possible this was because she was attempting to hide something. Despite what caution would deem wise, he didn’t think so, however. Even when, at his skepticism, she looked still more anxious. But instead of pressing forward with false bravado or pulling back with flagging nerve, she surprised him again.

With an introduction. As though she really was here on a social call.

“Vivi.” He was hardly even aware he’d spoken aloud. ‘Living.’ It certainly suited her nature.

“I have my doubts he’s ‘just’ anything, but I’ll concede.” He inclined his head respectfully to the dog with too-intelligent eyes, and wasn’t at all surprised when the gesture was returned. “You keep interesting company, Vivi.”

Vivi glanced between the two magical creatures. Obviously some silent conversation was taking place and she didn’t feel very appreciative for being left out of it. Something to grill Mystery about later, she supposed. Huffing, Vivi crossed her arms in a bit of a pout. “And you know it’s polite to introduce yourself when someone else does, right?”

At least that hadn’t fallen out of trend, as far as he could remember anyway. But the spirit shook his head. “My name has no meaning anymore. To anyone nor to myself.”

Sighing, Vivi let her arms drop to her sides. “Come on, that’s not an answer.”

“Why do you want to know so badly?”

“Why not? I mean, what’s so weird about wanting to know what to call you?” She grinned a little. “‘Giant spooky killer ghost’ doesn’t really roll off the tongue, you know.”

“Indeed,” he said flatly, not half as amused with her lengthy, joking title as she was. “…Ensis. If having something to call me is so vital, then you may call me that.”

…He wasn’t sure what to do next. She didn’t have any ill intent, that was well past clear now, so there was no reason to eject her. But– he wasn’t precisely sure how he was meant to entertain a guest under these circumstances.

Though to be honest, even under normal ones he didn’t believe he’d have any better idea how to handle a guest quite like her.

”….You’re welcome to roam the gardens as you like,“ he said at last. “And I suppose free to wander wherever else, as well, as I cannot prevent you. If I may have your leave.”

With a short, precise bow, he took it regardless, turning back to the nearest riot of flowering branches, which he hoped to tame a bit more, and left her to her own devices.

Vivi watched him go a little sadly. “Ensis…” she repeated, the name sounding foreign on her tongue. Mystery turned his head to her curiously as she mulled it over. “Sword, I think.” Her Latin was a little rusty. She made a mental note to brush up on it when she had time. It wasn’t much of a name but at least it was something. Progress was being made, slowly but surely.  

While Ensis didn’t seem especially keen on letting her stick around, he also made no move to ask her to leave, so Vivi would take that as a win. But he also didn’t seem too interested in answering any more questions either.

Well…there was no harm in trying, right? “Um, Mister…Ensis?” The name still felt weird to her. It was like calling someone “house” or any other object. “Would it be okay if I asked you a few things?” As beautiful as the gardens were, they probably wouldn’t shed any light on the million other things she had running through her head.

He nearly forgot to respond to the name he’d told her to use not moments before. He should have known that he wouldn’t be able to brush her off, and at the hesitant politeness in her tone he felt a bit bad about trying to do so. One hand still cupped under a particularly promising bud, he looked at her.

“Ask anything you would like,” he said. “I cannot promise that I can or will answer everything you may wish to know, however,” he added, making sure his tone was gentle; simply a statement and not a reprimand.

If he was perfectly honest, though, as carefully disinterested as he tried to act he was intensely curious about what she might ask– she’d done nothing but surprise him up until this point, he couldn’t imagine that a proper conversation with her would be anything but interesting.

Now that she was given permission, Vivi wasn’t sure where to start with her questions. At the very least one of them was answered, that it was Ensis himself that had tended to this garden. Vivi knew that there really was nobody else it could be but…seeing him so gentle with the flowers was almost surreal, after how violent he was the last time she saw him.

But she had to come up with a question quick before that gentle tone of his turned annoyed. Vivi swallowed as she tried to figure out how to word her most burning question. “Are you a spirit?” She asked, figuring that would be more polite than a ‘what are you?’ question. “It’s just, I think I said it before but from all the research and exploring I’ve– we’ve done, we’ve never seen anything like you before.” She hoped that didn’t sound too rude. Whatever Ensis was, he clearly wasn’t alive. Anything alive wouldn’t be able to just pick up their head after it was bludgeoned from their shoulders and place it back without so much as batting an eye.

“And– that thing you did, was that fire? It heated up my bat. How did you do that? What else can you do? How old are you? How did you clean up the tower so quickly?” Without realizing it, Vivi was off with far too many questions at once. Mystery sighed as she kept going on and on and nudged her leg. When Vivi got going, it was hard for her to stop.

“-are you from? What was your life like back then? What-?” She stopped when she felt Mystery’s nudge and her face burned from embarrassment. “O-oh, I’m sorry. I asked too many questions again, didn’t I?” Mystery looked amused and Vivi was tempted to kick him.

Hiding his amusement at the nonverbal exchange between Vivi and the dog-that-wasn’t Mystery– one that they clearly shared frequently– was incredibly difficult, but he managed. He bided a moment, carefully singeing away extraneous leaves around the bud to aid its growth while he decided which questions he’d answer.

“‘Spirit’ is as good a word for it as any,” he eventually conceded to the first, and left it at that. “Yes, it was fire. I couldn’t tell you how, in truth. It isn’t a spell I cast or some other manner of magic I had to work; it simply does as I will it to. The tower is tied to myself and my will as well; and that discovery is as new to me as to you.”

He was being so vague about the whole spirit thing that now Vivi wanted to know what exactly he was more than ever. But as much as she wanted to press her luck, she left it alone for now. He had answered her question as much as he’d promised to, after all.

“And no need to apologize,” he continued. “I invited your questions, after all, and curiosity is a virtue. For the most part, at least.” He was unable to keep every trace of amusement from his voice at this last comment. Hopefully she wouldn’t take offense. He looked the vine over, considering, before he spoke again. “…Permit me a question of my own: why did you come here? Not today, but the first time. If not to seek me out, what were you looking for?”

Vivi blinked in surprise, both at the sudden question and the formal way he asked it. “Well, anything and everything really,” she answered with a shrug. “I’m working on something - a thesis. This was the first time something this rich in knowledge was available to me. I - we just came here for information, that’s it.”

She would have called the expression Ensis now wore a frown, had that been possible; though the fact that he was so expressive already despite having a literal skull for a face was impressive enough on its own. 

“What exactly do you mean by a thesis?” He asked.

“You know...a culmination of knowledge. My thesis is focused on Januterum, and well, what better way to get info than from the real thing, you know?” Vivi grinned sheepishly. “Plus, there are a bunch of legends about this place, and that’s kind of my thing too. Arthur happened to get the key, so…we just decided to check it out.”

He allowed himself an amused shake of his head at her answer to his own question. So she was saying that she chose to explore abandoned, potentially dangerous places just to sate her apparently boundless curiosity. And, it seemed, for the simple fun of it. Completely baffling once more, and yet the idea suited her perfectly.

The mention of her companion lit a spark of irritation, but he pushed it aside.

“What legends would those be?” He pressed, instead. What manner of stories had they told about this place in the past near-thousand years? About– about him ? Had he been remembered at all, by anyone?

“Well!” The excitement in her voice had somehow shot up tenfold. This was obviously a very passionate subject for her. One would have thought he had presented her with her heart’s desire rather than merely asked her a question. Her enthusiasm was pleasant to be around, even downright charming.

Vivi reached into her bag and pulled out a little notepad. “There’s the classic “this place is haunted!” rumor. You see that everywhere and most of it isn’t true. But…” She looked up from her notes and gave Ensis a once-over. “I guess that one was true this time, huh?”

Her eyes darted back to her notes. “Some people said that a bunch of ritualistic sacrifices took place here hundreds of years ago and that’s what made it abandoned in the first place. A curse was placed on the tower or something. Uh, let’s see, what else…”

His mood soured some, as she presented her theory about sacrifices and curses. He said nothing, but it was correct enough– he’d been the sacrificial lamb, after all. She didn’t seem to notice if his expression darkened at all, pressing forward with her gathered speculations.

When she got to a particular rumor, Vivi had to hold back a laugh. “Have you ever heard the tale of “Sleeping Beauty”, Ensis?”

“I’m not familiar with it,” he replied. “Not by that name, at least. Although the same story can be told through the centuries under different titles, so I may have heard some similar tale.” 

Given the laughter in her voice, he could only guess that the idea of relating this particular story to him was some degree of absurd. He wasn’t sure whether that made him more or less curious about what it was.

“There’s a few versions of it,” Vivi replied with another soft laugh. “One of the more well-known versions is the Disney version– oh that’s a movie company by the way; do you know what a movie is?”

He didn’t know what a movie was, and he was fairly sure that ‘company’ as she used it wasn’t any meaning of the word that he was familiar with. He was sorely tempted to ask, but he held back for now. He had the feeling that if he started asking questions off-topic that they’d both soon be caught in a loop of distractions and curiosities left only half-answered. It seemed Mystery could imagine the same scenario, as he butted his head lightly against her knee.

Vivi aimed another pout at her canine companion. Her curiosity must be satiated, darn it! But Mystery was right, she supposed-- she really should keep on track. There were just so many things to ask and she was getting ahead of herself. Again.

“Um, anyway,” she continued. “The story. This evil witch curses this girl and puts her to sleep in a tower forever.” Now didn’t that sound familiar? “The only way to wake her up is for her true love to kiss her!”

The very basic gist of the story was close to his situation, it was true. The little addendum, however, had him letting out a brief hum of amusement. “At least we can be sure of one way you certainly did not awaken me.” The idea was entertainingly absurd.

“Yeah, it’s not like we-” Vivi stopped herself as she recalled something. While no, she hadn’t directly kissed him like the Sleeping Beauty story would suggest, they had done something to wake up this creature. In fact, the coffin had started to move almost the second she had-

…Oh. Vivi felt herself blush a little. “Um…”

His attention had been on another bud– this one just starting to open– when she cut herself off. He glanced up to see her expression shift into something he couldn’t quite place.

The blush that crawled over her cheeks and the bridge of her nose clued him in, however. For a brief moment he felt the heat of embarrassment clutch at him as well, but reason snuffed it out quickly.

“You didn’t ,” he said, with the sort of patience that belied impatience. “When I awoke the casket’s lid was closed, and you were on the other side of the room.”

That was a good point, but Vivi didn’t see any other way that it could have happened, unless the entire thing was one giant coincidence. Vivi didn’t believe in coincidences.

“Well, yeah, but I mean…” The way Ensis was staring at her, even with limited facial features she could tell that he wasn’t amused. Her blush got a little deeper. “I m-mean you didn’t move at all no matter what we did in there. We didn’t open the coffin or anything, but at soon as I uh…well um…”

It was difficult to say so she decided to show him instead, blowing a small kiss in his direction.

“…I did that. And then you woke up.”

… Well.

That gesture had apparently also survived into the present, and based on Vivi’s flustered fluttering, it meant exactly the same thing now as he’d known it to in his own time.

Despite lacking blood with which to actually blush, his own face burned, and reason held no sway over his reaction to temper it this time. “Wh-what on earth possessed you to–” He’d tried very hard to keep it out of his voice, and to his great irritation was not at all successful. He couldn’t even bring himself to finish the sentence for the very real threat of embarrassment making it crack like a teenage boy’s.

“U-um, w-well we might’ve, uh…” It was a little embarrassing. “We were talking about the whole…Sleeping Beauty thing. Wondering if it was actually true or not, you know?” It was probably best not to mention that Vivi had wanted Arthur to do the kissing instead. Ensis would probably blow a gasket if he heard that.

“And when nothing worked, we were about to leave, but I just decided to do that in the whole, um, spirit of things?” She had a feeling he wouldn’t appreciate her little joke. “I-I didn’t think it would actually do anything…”

Mystery snorted beside her, clearly amused. She nudged him once more with her foot before focusing back on the flustered ghost. 

Admittedly…it was kinda cute that he was getting so defensive about this. 

“B-but hey! You’re awake now, right? That’s a good thing!”

He took a moment to steady himself, closing his eyes and deliberately letting her little quip about spirits slide. He slid past calm directly into melancholy.

“I’m awake now,” he repeated quietly, more to himself than her. Was it a good thing? He was more alone than he’d ever been, dropped blind into what may as well have been a completely foreign country. He had no direction, no purpose, no ties to anyone or anything, except this tower.

But then– he was awake . He had his senses and wits that the curse had robbed him of, and no matter what that was better off than he’d been.

And he had, at least for the moment, some admittedly fascinating company.

“I suppose you’re right. Although,” he added dryly, “I do hope you don’t normally make a habit of tossing courting gestures at dangerous creatures you run across.”

That earned another snicker from Mystery, this one a little more noticeable than the last, and Vivi’s face turned a deeper shade of red as she puffed up her cheeks. “No I do not!” She exclaimed and then crossed her arms in a pout. “How was I supposed to know you were in there? We were just goofing off. And you wish it was a ‘courting gesture’, buster.”

It was probably fortunate for him that he couldn’t properly smirk with his excuse for a face, because at her indignant reaction he certainly would have and she certainly wouldn’t have been amused. Something about that thought amused him however.

Before anyone could make another remark, a small buzzing came from Vivi’s bag, along with a trill of curious sounding music. At least, he supposed it was music? He watched as Vivi quickly rifled through her bag and pulled out something glossy and rectangular that seemed to be the culprit of the strange noise. Vivi looked it over for a moment before sighing. “What a time to call back, Duet… Uh, sorry, I’ll be just a second.”

She pressed a finger against the object and held it up to her ear, and then began to speak to no one-- or rather, to speak to the thing itself. “Hey boss, callin’ kinda late aren’t you?”

Much to his surprise, even if it was hard to hear, there were noises coming from the device that almost sounded like someone speaking in reply. “Yeah okay…” Vivi continued. “I’m glad you did. I will be in tomorrow, I just might be a little late is all. Uh-huh…okay I’ll see you then! Thanks boss!”

The odd little device had him very curious, and he felt nearly as many questions as she’d asked him piling up in his head.

He would have guessed it to be some kind of portable scrying glass, especially since she could apparently speak to people through it, but she’d claimed to have no knowledge or experience of magic. She’d been so genuinely baffled by his assumption that she practiced it that he doubted she’d been lying– was this particular bit of sorcery simply so common now that it had come to be considered mundane? He’d known that to happen before. Sea Fire had been considered magic– particularly devilish magic– when it was a new invention, but had come to be thought of in as practical terms as any bow or blade by the time he’d– well.

All of this inquiry and speculation whirled about and tangled on itself so that the question he actually voiced was rather inelegant:

“What is that?”

“Hm?” Vivi blinked, confused for a moment before following his gaze down to her phone. It clicked. “Oh! Right, I guess you wouldn’t know what a phone is, would you?” She smiled and closed the distance between them a little bit as she started to explain. “It’s a machine; it lets you talk to someone anywhere in the world as long as they have a phone too and you have the number designated to that particular phone.”

Er…maybe that was too complicated. “Basically it lets you talk to people over long distances. There’s a lot of other things you can do with it too. You wanna see?” She held up her phone to him. “Just don’t fry it, okay? It’s expensive!”

He took it carefully. It was lighter than he expected, but it really did bring to mind a scrying mirror with its glass front and silver backing, the phantom images floating in between.

Whatever connection (one achieved by knowing a set of some kind of coordinates, he gleaned) she’d established with the person she’d been speaking to was broken now, evidently. But instead of the cloudy, formless mist that was all he’d seen before in an inactive scrying glass, here there were orderly rows of squarish icons. He had no clue as to the meaning of them.

He wasn’t sure why she was concerned about him ‘frying’ it, though. She’d just seen him handling plants far more fragile and susceptible to heat than glass or metal without accidentally damaging them, and he didn’t think she was implying she thought he might melt the device on purpose.

He handed it back to her after a moment, as delicately as he’d taken it, and indulged another question of his.

“You said you didn’t use magic before. If not magic, what makes the device work?”

“Oh, uh…” Vivi looked over her phone for a second before putting it back into the folds of her scarf. “It has a battery inside it. Like its own little portable power source, but it runs out of power eventually. Um…and then when the battery runs out, you have to charge it with electricity. It’s, uh, lightning, basically, but it’s channeled to power things.” She had no idea if that made any sense. Arthur would be a lot better at explaining this than her, but Vivi had a feeling Ensis wouldn’t listen to anything Arthur had to say.

That…really made Vivi sad. Arthur was such a swell guy and Ensis didn’t seem all that bad either, despite their rocky first meeting. The fact that Ensis was still so bitter towards Arthur’s family line would only complicate things. She hoped that somehow she’d be able to make him see that Arthur was nothing like his ancestor.

Well, one step at a time. She’d get Ensis to understand that Arthur wasn’t his enemy one way or another eventually. “There’s a lot of stuff like that! Like over there?” She pointed the lights that still glowed on the horizon even well past sunset. “Those are lights made by electricity. It’s pretty cool to see. You should check it out sometime!”

“Lightning,” he repeated. “You’ve tamed lightning to turn night into day– but you don’t call that magic.” Incredulous amusement colored his tone. “What interesting times you live in, Vivi.”

“Hm, well since you put it that way…” From Ensis’ standpoint, electricity might as well be magic. It was kind of funny how perspectives changed with time. “Although it’s not like creating something from nothing. Like, you create all that fire jazz out of nowhere, but this kinda thing-” She gestured to her phone. “-isn’t like that. We just call it ‘technology’.” She chuckled, wondering if this is what elementary school teachers felt like sometimes.

He could have argued on the point of whether magic came ‘from nothing’ as she’d put it, but he chose not to. Casually debating over philosophy was never really a favorite pastime of his. Humming a non-committal response, he gazed out over the yellow glow beyond the horizon, considering just how much else could have changed. Probably much more of one that he could ever come to fully understand at this point, with how limited his opportunities to broaden his experiences were. Even if he could have left the tower at will, he doubted he’d be able to wander openly in the state he was in. He sighed, a cascade of tiny sparks glittering briefly in the air.

He only allowed himself that one moment to mope. He’d dwelt on those sorts of thoughts far too often already these past several days. Vivi seemed happy to offer distraction, so he’d gratefully take her up on it.

“So, what other little miracles are commonplace to you?” he said, putting effort into keeping his tone light and free of melancholy.

“Uh, well-- I’m not the best at explaining that sort of thing. I think you’re better off asking someone a little more, um, qualified.” And she didn’t name any names. Not right now, anyway. Instead, pulled her phone back out and flipped through it a little before turning it to Mystery. A small clicking sound came from it and she grinned, showing the screen to Ensis once more. “But! I can show you more about my phone at least! It can take pictures too, see? And if he’s doing something, I can even– er, document it? We just call it recording, but look!”

“A scrying glass couldn’t do anything like this,” he muttered as he watched her slide her thumb over the surface of the phone, the movement bringing a new image up as though they were set on a rotating dial. There were all sorts of pictures on Vivi’s phone, and soon she came to another one of Mystery, but this picture was…moving? What she’d called a ‘recording’, perhaps? “They could only show you what was happening at that same moment. They couldn’t capture the past to reexamine later… How long do these images last? Do they fade over time?” 

Even as he asked more questions, he was amused at himself for reversing their positions as interrogator and interrogated. He had no doubt they would trade places several more times by the time Vivi had to take her leave. Until then, he’d savor both the opportunity to sate some of his own curiosity along with hers, and the companionship he hadn’t expected would be so enjoyable.

Chapter Text

It was past one o'clock when Arthur let himself into the apartment, dropping his messenger bag with a thunk onto the floor. The anxiety attack had started creeping up on him out of nowhere at around nine, and he should have guessed that he wouldn’t be able to hide it from Lance for very long. Of course his old man had noticed, and he’d sent Arthur home with strict instructions to take it easy and an only-semi-joking threat to conscript Vivi to bully him into relaxing if necessary.

”’M home,” Arthur announced to no-one in particular. He’d texted Vivi a couple of times over the evening, including just before he’d left the shop, assuming when she hadn’t replied that she’d gone to bed early. Early for her, anyway.

She slept like a log so he wasn’t worried about waking her no matter what amount of noise he made, but he slid out of his sneakers to pad through the apartment in sock feet, just in case. She wasn’t expecting him back tonight and he didn’t want to startle her. One experience being mistaken for a burglar and getting rushed with her bat was more than enough for him.

He was so out of it, stuck in a weird state between keyed-up and exhausted, that he almost didn’t realize what was off at first as he shuffled past her door. It hit him just as he crossed the threshold into his own room and he turned back, double-taking.

Her door was open, and her room was empty. He backtracked to the den, wondering if he’d missed spotting her sleeping form on the couch. He hadn’t– she wasn’t there. A dart to the window confirmed that her car wasn’t in the parking lot– another thing he hadn’t noticed despite parking the van right next to the spot she habitually used.

If she wasn’t asleep at home then where was she, and why hadn’t she answered? Had something happened? He tried to remember if he’d heard anything about bad car wrecks on the radio at Lance’s. Had he heard any sirens as he drove home? God, something had to have happened--

His hands shook as he tried to unlock his phone and navigate to his contacts. He knew he was being irrational but he couldn’t stop the stream of terrible what-ifs from hurricaning around his thoughts– each worse than the last. Nausea clenched a fist in his stomach when he got her voicemail and he redialed immediately.

“Pick up pick up–” he pleaded to himself, rocking on the balls of his feet, hoping past hope that he was just being a paranoid idiot.

“…And then when you match four candies, you get a striped one, and that takes care of a whole row of candy when it activates. Really it’s just mindless and addicting fun. When I’m bored at work, I usually play a few games.”

It was safe to say that Vivi had completely lost track of time. She had spent nearly four hours at this seemingly abandoned tower, chatting with what might as well have been a mythical creature from storybooks. And despite a part of her knowing she really shouldn’t…she was enjoying herself far too much.

From what she had gathered, Ensis was a very secretive but curious and quizzical individual. Even so, he had answered most of her questions when she had asked, though some of his answers had been extremely vague.

Mystery had fallen asleep a little bit ago, but he was pressed up against Vivi’s side just in case she needed him. Vivi giggled at Ensis’ baffled reaction to Candy Crush. It was almost cute when he looked like that.

When exiting out of the game, however, she gawked at the time her phone showed. “Holy cow.” It was almost 1:30 in the morning! Oh man, between the excitement that still buzzed through her and the drive home, she’d never get the chance to sleep. She was going to die at work tomorrow. Great… Maybe she could try to nap for a bit on the ferry ride? “Uh… I didn’t realize what time it was. I really should be getting home.”

People had apparently never stopped coming up with new ways to burn time. The thought was oddly comforting to him. While the game itself hadn’t done much to hold his attention, something about listening to Vivi explain it, watching her demonstrate, fascinated him. It had been the same with every other function of her device– which nearly seemed never-ending in their number. The sheer amount of information that was apparently packed into something one could hold in the palm of their hand was staggering.

He had to bite down a sting of disappointment at the thought of her leaving. He hadn’t run out of questions yet, and there were some of hers that he had yet to answer as well. He wasn’t sure why it seemed so important that these questions be answered. In fact, that they did feel so urgent was somewhat unnerving.

He started to rise, then hesitated, unsure if he ought to offer his hand to help her stand. She rendered the thought moot by getting up on her own. As she busied herself rousing Mystery, he crossed back to the balcony’s edge, looking out into the pseudo-dawn light bleeding over the horizon.

Noise exploded behind him and he whirled around, flames enshrouding his fists almost on reflex. Vivi seemed more startled by his sudden movement than the incessant buzzing and chiming. In her hand, the phone flashed blue and yellow, images that he couldn’t quite make out at this distance.

“Please Vi– c'mon pick up pick up—” he got her voicemail again, called again without leaving another message, grateful for redial. His hands were shaking so hard he wasn’t sure he could’ve navigated his contacts menu if he’d had to.

At least that was proof enough that Ensis wouldn’t harm her. He looked about ready to attack something when the noise startled him, but he calmed down almost immediately when he saw where it had come from. That was one hothead that certainly needed to chill out.

“What in the world…?” Vivi muttered. Turning her attention back to her phone, she frowned when she saw at least seven texts from Arthur and six missed calls from him as well. There were even three new voice messages from him buried under all of that. How had she missed them? The reception wasn’t bad here, surprisingly, and she had gotten Duet’s call earlier, but her phone hadn’t buzzed at all for Arthur until just now. Vivi swallowed. “Uh-oh.” She looked at Mystery nervously, her voice soft. “He’s home.”

Ensis appeared puzzled, but Mystery sighed and gave Vivi an ‘I told you so’ look. She bit her lip. It wouldn’t do to call Arthur back in front of the one who had so recently wanted him dead. 

Unfortunately she didn’t get the chance. Not a few seconds after, her phone went off again and Vivi juggled it in surprise. Arthur was calling again. God, he must be so worried...

“Um!” Vivi quickly muted her phone and stuffed it back into her scarf, and turned to Ensis nervously. She would pick it up in just a second, she swore, but she had to say her goodbyes and get out of here before Ensis realized who was on the other line. There was no telling how he’d react, and she didn’t want to ruin the rapport they’d built up. “Would it be okay if I came back again sometime? I really enjoyed talking to you.”

He wasn’t sure what to make of Vivi’s behavior. She hadn’t seemed truly rattled until she’d discovered the identity of whoever it was attempting to contact her, but after the time he’d spent talking to her tonight he found it difficult to imagine her being intimidated by anyone short of– well not by any mortal, certainly.

Between hiding the phone and her sudden eagerness to flee, he got the impression that she didn’t want him to know who it was. And given that, he had a good idea of exactly who. For her sake, though, he made a valiant effort not to allow his expression to sour, nor to let distaste creep into his voice.

“You may, if you like,” he said, and surprised himself by adding, “Safe journey, Vivi.” He offered a bow made a bit curt by the combination of irritation and embarrassment, and turned away once more, impoliteness be damned, before the latter became too obvious to her.

Arthur was about to dial again when the phone rang, startling him so badly he almost dropped it. He recognized the ringtone but even so he didn’t feel any sense of relief until he actually heard her voice.

“Vivi–! Jesus– Are you– d-did something happen are you okay where are you you weren’t– I-I-I thought– you’re okay right what happened–”

He was fully aware that he was babbling, that he wasn’t giving her the chance to actually answer, that he was making a huge fucking fool of himself, but none of that awareness did anything to actually stem the frantic stream of words.

“Arthur!” She was glad she had made her way down the spiral stairs and into the newly resplendent atrium before calling him back, because she had to almost scream his name to get his attention through his rush of panicked words. “Arthur breathe!” 

Vivi felt awful. The whole point of keeping hush-hush was to not cause a panic attack for Arthur, but she seemed to have failed at that. She wondered if it would have been different if she actually told him. “I’m okay Arthur, I’m fine. I promise, nothing is wrong. Mystery and I just…”

She paused and looked to Mystery, who moved his head, urging her to continue. Vivi sighed. “Look…we’re okay. I’ll tell you what’s going on when I get home, I promise, but right now you need to calm down, take some deep breaths. We’ll be home soon, alright?”

Arthur tried to follow her instructions, but nausea made it a struggle. ‘I’m fine I promise’ could mean any number of things, and if she meant it how he admittedly often did…

“You’re not hurt? Is Mystery hurt? Are you in some kind of trouble? Did–” he forced himself to stop. ‘Did you get arrested’ was too unbearably stupid a question to ask even in the state he was in.

He tried to breathe, tried to count backwards like Vivi would’ve prodded him to do if she were there, physically– but then if she was there physically he wouldn’t be making an ass of himself and need to count at the moment. “O-okay– okay– I’m okay–” An idiot, but okay. “J-just– drive safe.”

“We will.” Vivi quickly got in the car and let Mystery jump over her to the passenger’s seat. “Nobody’s hurt, Artie, or in trouble. We’re okay. Just relax. We’ll get home as soon as we can.”

She had already started up the engine before the line went dead and she stared sadly at her phone. “…I didn’t think he’d be home tonight…and I lost track of time…” Now she just felt awful. Hopefully Arthur would be willing to forgive her for worrying him so much.

Curiously, she gave one last look to the tower and was surprised when she saw Ensis staring right back at her from atop. Vivi gave him a small smile before driving off.

She would be back eventually, if nothing else to keep the poor ghost company. But for now, she had a best friend to take care of.

It’d been just about the worst argument they’d ever had, or at the very least it ranked way up there. Once Arthur’s panic had settled and the surprise at her whereabouts had worn off, something bitter and angry had crept in to take their places.

That she’d just waltzed on over to the mercy of something that was very very capable of frying her like a piece of bacon with no real idea whether he could or would still do that was bad enough. The fact that she’d snuck around behind Arthur’s back to do it–

Maybe it was petty of him to let that bother him as much as he did, and he knew she was free to do whatever she wanted without having to answer to him, but… Did she just not trust him? Did she really think he was that fragile, that much of a liability that she had to tiptoe around him? Did she just consider him an obstacle, standing in the way between her and doing whatever she wanted? 

The questions had seethed out as unstoppably as they had come when fueled by panic. Almost as soon as they left his mouth he’d known that they were meaner and more spiteful than was called for, but in the moment he hadn’t been able to make himself care.

That had been three days ago. Arthur had been staying at Lance’s since then, enough of his things still there from before he’d moved into the apartment he and Vivi shared that he hadn’t had to go back for anything yet.

And he’d spent every minute of that time absolutely fucking miserable.

He hated being angry in general, hated having arguments even more. Being angry at and arguing with his best and oldest friend– there was probably nothing in the world that was worse. Well, maybe one thing he could think of: carrying around the guilt of saying pretty awful things to that best friend. 

And despite it being such a relatively short time, he missed her ferociously. They’d been apart for longer than this before, but something about her absence now made the time stretch out like taffy and it hurt like the raw gap left by a missing tooth.

So here he was in the hall in front of their door, balancing an extra large bacon-pepperoni pizza between one hand and his shoulder and digging through his pocket for his keys. He had no idea what he was going to say, how to even begin apologizing for the things he had said but shouldn’t have–

The elevator dinged behind him and he recognized the cadence of the steps coming out of it, the little jingle of metal tags on a collar. He turned to Vivi and Mystery, swallowing and awkwardly wiggling the pizza box in lieu of a wave.

“Uh– hi.”

Chapter Text

It was completely her fault, Vivi knew that, and Arthur was more than in the right to be furious with her. She hadn’t meant to upset him as much as she did, but she had, and she regretted it deeply.

The way he’s exploded had surprised her-- Vivi didn’t think she had ever seen Arthur so angry before. All she could really do was just-- apologize. She had no other excuse other than she hadn’t wanted to worry him, but saying that had only seemed to frustrate Arthur more.

When he had walked out, Vivi didn’t stop him. Mystery hadn’t even bothered with an ‘I told you so’.

She hadn’t said much at work the last three days. In fact, she hadn’t said much at all, mostly going through the motions in her life. Vivi knew she had screwed up. But if Arthur didn’t want to talk to her, how was she supposed to make up for it?

Maybe he didn’t even want her to make up for it. Maybe he was done with her; wanted her out of his life forever. Vivi didn’t even want to think about that.

Today Mystery had all but begged for a walk. She already knew the hidden meaning was to get her outside, and although she was hesitant, eventually she relented. Maybe a nice walk would help clear her head.

It hadn’t, at least not very well, but when she stepped out of the elevator, she stopped dead in her tracks-- Arthur stood at their doorstep.

“Uh – um – hi…” She muttered weakly.

Mystery huffed and nudged her leg. She had been waiting for this, right? Now wasn’t the time to get cold feet. Vivi glared at him for a second before looking Arthur over. He…seemed to be alright. Logically, there wasn’t really much three days could have done to impact his physical wellbeing, but it was still a relief to see. His hands were full too; she could smell the pizza from here. “Oh, um, do you need help getting inside?” Well, duh-- why else would he be loitering at their front door? “Here, I’ll…” Her voice dropped but she fished out her keys from her purse and quickly unlocked the door for Arthur, waiting for him to go in first if he so chose.

The awkward silence lingered for far too long between them, but Vivi had no idea what to say. She had already said her apologies, and Arthur didn’t have any good reason to  accept them even if she offered them again.

They stood flanking the door, neither one making a move until Mystery, apparently out of patience for their dithering, marched primly between them into the apartment.

“You can go ahead…” Arthur gestured again with the pizza, shuffling his feet, and followed after her. He set the box on the coffee table and settled stiffly onto ‘his’ side of the couch. Vivi did likewise and they fell back into uncomfortable silence, each in turn staring at their own knees or letting their gaze dart anywhere but toward their companion. She didn’t go for the pizza, or even look at it too long.

“Vi–” He regretted opening his mouth immediately, because whatever he’d thought he’d been about to say up and abandoned him, leaving him with an undoubtedly stupid expression on his face and Vivi looking at him expectantly. “Um…”

The downside of not really having serious arguments was not having any goddamn clue how to make up for it afterward, apparently.

“L-look, I– I don’t want to do this anymore. I mean– I don’t want to be– fighting. Anymore… Um.” Well, this was going spectacularly badly already.

She felt panic start to bubble up when Arthur began to speak, fearing the worst, but his clarification made her relax a little and the panic alleviate itself slightly. Vivi’s gaze dropped back into her lap and she fiddled with the hem of her skirt. “…I don’t either,” she mumbled in reply. “I don’t like fighting, at least, not with you.”

Obviously. Why was it so hard to figure out what to say? Usually she was so good about knowing what to say next, but this had thrown her for a loop, apparently. “…I’m sorry Arthur,” she repeated, not knowing what else to say. Even if it didn’t mean much, she was blanking on anything else. “I really am.”

“I know. I’m– Look, I– I still don’t get it. Why you wanted to go back, I mean. And I still kind of really hate the way you did it, but– I’m sorry for getting-- like that at you.” He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to build a coherent sentence out of the jumbled mess of what he was trying to convey. “Some of--  I said some really shitty things, and you didn’t deserve any of that.”

Vivi shuffled uncomfortably in her seat. “I don’t blame you for getting mad. I probably would’ve gotten mad too. And I know you didn’t have the best week before then, and I only made it worse.” Another bout of silence fell over them.

“Vi, I-- I know I’m not in charge of you– I’m not going to try and tell you you can’t do something, whether I get it or not. I didn’t mean to act like I was, I was just– I just was… a lot … of things at the moment. But now I’m just really sick of being mad. And I’m kind of fucking terrible at it anyway.”

His gaze darted back again to the peace-treaty pizza, still untouched. “Um– are you…not hungry?”

Vivi looked surprised. “Oh-! Was that…?” She trailed off, suddenly feeling foolish. Was that pizza really for her? She didn’t even smell any oysters, meaning Arthur had gotten it specifically so that she could enjoy it, too. She was honestly touched that Arthur would go through that trouble for someone he was angry at.

“I…I’d love some,” she murmured. “And I really appreciate you getting it. But I’m honestly not – not hungry right now.” She wanted to eat it, especially since Arthur didn’t have to go out of his way to do that, but her stomach was doing flips. It didn’t feel right to eat food Arthur had spent his money on, even if he had gotten it for the both of them. “I’m sorry.”

Mystery, who was listening to them from beneath the coffee table, lowered his ears, and Arthur felt his stomach drop along with them. If Vivi wasn’t hungry then there really was something wrong-- he’d never seen her nervous enough to lose her appetite. Had he really worried and upset her that much?

“I’ll eat some later though,” she said. “I promise.” When her stomach decided to stop doing a gymnastics routine.

“…..I don’t know how to do this,” Arthur finally just blurted out, at a loss for what else to say. “I don’t– know how to fix this, I mean– I know I overreacted and you know why I did and I– I’m not sure why you did what you did but I don’t think it matters, even? I don’t care about that or about being mad, and you don’t like– have to feel like you have to tiptoe around me like I’m delicate and you don’t owe me any kind of explanation for doing things or need my permission– that’d be fucked up– I just… want things to be okay again. I miss you.”

He squeezed his eyes shut, bringing a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “O-okay– I’m fully aware I probably sound like an absolute tool but– but yeah. There’s that.”

“It’s okay.” Vivi smiled a little, still fiddling with the hem of her skirt. “Like I said, it’s okay. You had every right to get mad. I mean…I didn’t tell you and I didn’t mean to imply you were delicate, I just didn’t want to worry you, and I didn’t know you’d be coming home that night, or that I’d stay so long. I stupidly lost track of time, and for some reason my phone didn’t go off at all with your messages at all, and then suddenly they all showed up at once.”

She shook her head. She was getting off topic again. “But yeah…obviously that didn’t work. And honestly I think I do owe you an explanation because, y’know, you’re right. I did risk a lot by going there. But if you don’t wanna hear it, I understand that too.”

“I’m… not sure if I do or not. Or if I do but just not yet . I– I dunno.”

The fact that there was a bit of curiosity crawling around the edges of the rest of the chaotic mess in his head threw him for one hell of a loop, honestly. 

He was generally just as interested in myths and the supernatural as Vivi was but… it was always an academic sort of interest.  Being directly threatened by it was something he’d never really anticipated having to deal with, pretty much ever. He wasn’t sure how to reconcile curiosity and caution now that it was more than just stories and legends he was facing.

Vivi’s remark about the phone though– that was so odd. He’d assumed that she’d just had her phone somewhere where she couldn’t hear it ringing (he’d known it would never have been the case that she’d simply been ignoring it). But if she’d had it on her the whole time, why had it taken so long for her to hear it…?

“Do you think he interfered with your phone? Not on purpose I mean but like– do you think he had some kind of… I dunno like an aura of electromagnetic interference? Like in ghost stories, you know? Did he feel staticky to stand near?” He’d been close enough to him before, during the… incident… but a little too preoccupied to notice. He knew he was babbling again, but couldn’t seem to stop.

Vivi seemed to perk up a little bit at his questions, however. “…Huh. That…actually sounds pretty possible. I was showing him stuff on my phone and he was right next to me so…maybe?” Now that she thought about it, her phone did glitch more than normal when she had been next to Ensis. She had just written it off as stupid technology, but maybe there was more to it than that.

“Maybe something– someone-- that powerful doesn’t mix will with modern technology. You’re right, there are a ton of stories about that sort of thing… How did I not think of that?” Trust the tech geek to think of such things. Vivi chuckled softly. “Maybe I should invest in a more powerful phone, huh?”

He was so relieved at how her expression brightened that he could have laughed out loud, but he bit it back. It was easy enough to do so when the next moment her mention of just how close she’d been hanging around that powerful and volatile figure sent a spark of retroactive fear up his spine. Especially with how she followed it up…

“You want to go back again.” He didn’t manage to stop himself from saying it in the first place, but at least he managed to keep his tone neutral. He wasn’t mad, or judgmental, or even all that surprised, but he was nervous, and he didn’t want that to be apparent in his voice.

If she wanted to go back still, he wasn’t about to guilt trip her out of it. Whatever he felt about Arthur, the spirit apparently didn’t want to hurt her at all, seeing as he’d had plenty of chances to that night and hadn’t.

Vivi looked like she’d been caught stealing something. “Well I-” She hadn’t meant to imply that she would be going back, but there she went, blabbing things she shouldn’t be saying once again. Her face fell back into her lap, unable to look at Arthur at all now.

“…Look…” she started, her voice very small. “I – I know I really shouldn’t be as interested as I am about this. I don’t want to be. He hurt you, and I’ll never forgive him for that.”

She took a deep breath. “But…at the same time, I can’t just leave this. More than likely, it’s my fault he’s even out and about now. He’s all alone in that tower, stuck in a time he knows nothing about. And y’know, when he’s not off the wall angry, he’s actually not that bad of a guy. Maybe I can…” Vivi swallowed nervously. “Maybe I can convince him you’re not as bad as he thinks you are. That you aren’t like your ancestor. Then maybe he can…I don’t know, move on to the afterlife or something.

Arthur wasn’t really sure he wanted her to bring him up to the creature at all. He wasn’t planning on ever being close enough that his opinion of him would matter, and he didn’t think she ought to be putting his self control to the test for his sake, ‘not that bad of a guy’ or not.

How she sounded, though– guilty and about as ashamed as he’d ever heard her– struck him almost as hard as a physical blow. He very nearly leaned forward and reached for her hand, but stopped himself.

“Vi–” he said instead. “That’s not your– that’s not just your fault. We both were there, we both were…intruders. Whatever it was that woke him up, it wasn’t something you did all by yourself and it’s not something you need to take some sort of responsibility for.” He paused, thinking about her final point, brow furrowed. “Are you sure he’s dead? Like actually dead -dead, and wasn’t just always… what he is?” They’d found him in a coffin, sure, but he’d seemed awfully solid for a ghost.

“I’m not entirely sure,” Vivi sighed. “Maybe. When I asked him, he called himself a spirit. And I mean, he picked up his head after I knocked it off like it was nothing. I don’t think anything that can do that is really alive, Arthur.

“And maybe it’s not entirely my fault, but I feel responsible. I feel like I have to do something for him. And if there’s even a chance I could help him move on, I know I’d hate myself for the rest of my life if I didn’t take it.” She paused, feeling tears start to prick at the edges of her eyes. “Besides…it was my idea to go to the tower in the first place. You didn’t really want to, but I insisted.”

“Vi, I was the one who invited you there– it’s not like you dragged me there kicking and screaming. I wanted you to get to see it– If you’re responsible then so am I. You shouldn’t just shoulder it all–”

It was funny, usually she was the one saying this sort of thing to him.

“I got you hurt,” she insisted. “And I might’ve brought out a lonely spirit into this world. I have to make this right .” Tears were threatening to spill over, and Vivi turned away from Arthur and removed her glasses, quickly wiping her eyes with her sleeve before anything came out. The stress from the last few days was coming up to say hello, but she couldn’t let Arthur see her like this. 

She replaced her glasses. “I…I’m sorry. I know I’m being selfish, and I know you hate it. I don’t expect you to understand or forgive me.” And she certainly didn’t deserve the food Arthur had gotten for her.

The comparison to himself became a lot less funny with the way she turned and sniffled into her sleeve, the way she berated herself and talked like she apparently expected him to hate her now. Giving into impulse, he scooted across the couch to bundle her into a hug. “Jesus, Vivi– y-you sound like me.” He was mostly able to keep his voice from wobbling, at least.

Whether or not he sympathized with the spirit in the tower, he didn’t want her to beat herself up over the fact that she did.

Vivi couldn’t help but chuckle bitterly but hugged Arthur back anyway. She was glad Arthur was still comfortable enough to do this. Apparently he wasn’t the only one who overreacted sometimes. “I guess I do, don’t I?” She replied softly, clinging to him a little tighter.

They held there for a few moments, until Vivi felt like it was alright to pull away. She kept her hands on his shoulders when they did however. “S-see how much it sucks to hear?” Vivi teased him, rubbing his shoulders. “Maybe we should both stop being so hard on ourselves, huh?”

“Easier said than done, y’know,” he laughed, soft and watery but relieved. “I’ll give it a shot if you will, though.”

When her arms dropped down from his shoulders, Vivi wiped her eyes once more. “Sorry you had to see me like this.” 

“Aw, Vivi--  geez you don’t– you don’t have to apologize for that. You’ve seen me worse plenty of times.”

He emphasized the point by mussing her hair, knocking her headband crooked. He grinned at her protesting snort, pleased that he could get a smile out of her (after she finished sticking her tongue out at him in an exaggerated pout anyway).

“When you do go back–” He started-- and he didn’t doubt she would be going back, he just hoped he could reassure them both that that would be okay. “Just… let me know. Take Mystery with you like before; check in now and again and let me know when you’re on your way home. I don’t want to be… I dunno, overprotective but I just. Would like to know you’re okay. Is all.”

He settled back onto the couch, right where he was, close enough that their knees occasionally bumped when they moved, instead of scooting back away from her. He tried to keep his posture relaxed, and it turned out to be easier than he’d thought.

“I will.” Vivi smiled at him again, warm and genuine. She was glad he understood. He may not have liked her choices, but at least he understood her enough to know that she had to do this. And she vowed that she would make Ensis understand that Arthur wasn’t a bad guy. “And I promise I won’t be gone for nearly as long as I was before.” 

The silence that stretched between them wasn’t nearly as tense or awkward this time. In fact, Vivi realized that her stomach wasn’t even doing flips anymore. She put a hand over her stomach before looking over to the pizza. “Um…Arthur? If it’s still okay, I think I would like some of that pizza now.”

“If– huh–? Oh, no, yeah of course it is. That’s what I got it for, I mean–” He flipped open the box and extracted as slice, passing it to her. “Just make sure to leave me at least two pieces, y'know?“ 

He nudged his knee playfully against hers, offering a small, lopsided smile along with the pizza. They each grabbed a slice, waving them toward each other as though they were toasting champagne. As they ate, chatting and occasionally slipping Mystery bits of pepperoni, Arthur felt himself stabilize, as though everything was finally back into the rhythm it belonged in.

Chapter Text

It was midnight. Vivi had gone to bed an hour before, extremely early for her, but she’d said she hadn’t been sleeping well the past few days.

Technically Arthur had gone to bed at the same time, but after spending fifteen minutes that had felt like an hour tossing this way and that, he’d given up on the attempt and abandoned the bed for his desk. He’d sat there sketching by the light of his little lightning bolt-shaped lamp (a gift Vivi had won at an arcade years ago) since. A soft scratch came from the other side of the door.

”’M'up,“ he said to the last few lines he was laying down, not needing to raise his voice. He knew Mystery would’ve been able to hear him even if he’d whispered it. 

He set his pencil down and turned to the door as the dog let himself into the room despite having no thumbs and being half the height of the doorknob. He’d stopped wondering about it a long time ago; that particular trick seemed as ordinary as ‘fetch’ or ‘roll over’ to him now.

Mystery wasn’t exactly happy that Arthur was still awake, but he had gotten used to Arthur’s apparent disdain for sleep. Besides, it left them room to converse in private. 

“I hope I’m not disturbing you with whatever you’re doing,” Mystery lamented as he sat down near Arthur’s desk. “If I am, just say the word.”

“No just– I dunno just sorta screwing around. Nothing world shaking.” 

He stood, stretched until something popped in his lower back, and plunked back down onto the edge of his bed. He patted the comforter beside him in invitation.

“I mean unless you’re here to lecture me about sleep in which case actually I think I just had an idea for how to solve the energy crisis and I probably oughta hop right on that.”

Mystery rolled his eyes. “Oh you’re hilarious,” he jabbed before taking the invitation and jumping on the bed next to Arthur. Without hesitation he flopped onto his side. “And if you did actually make something like that, I would love to see it.” When Arthur didn’t do what he wanted right away, Mystery nudged his hand with his snout, demanding a tribute of petting.

“Shit, I wish. I could use the royalty money.” He idly rubbed Mystery’s ear between his thumb and hand, scratched his way down under the collar around his neck, making the tags jingle in the quiet of the room. 

Mystery sighed happily as Arthur finally caught on. “Actually, I wanted to check on you as well. I was worried about you these past few days. Are you sure you’re alright?”

Arthur merely grunted softly, before flopping down onto his back to stare up at the ceiling. “I know I shouldn’t worry but I still am. If that thing didn’t hurt her before, he’s got no reason to if she goes again. And she can handle herself. I know that. But I just– I’m just still worried. I can’t just stop myself from worrying, you know? I’m not sure what to do about it.”

Mystery hummed and waited a few moments to relish in the pets and turn Arthur’s words over in his mind. When he was somewhat satisfied, he lifted his head. “If it would make you feel any better,” he started. “I can assure you that I will let no harm come to her. Vivi is strong, but she’s not invincible, and she knows it. I’m pretty sure that’s why she let me come with her without much of an argument.”

He nudged Arthur’s hand once more, continuing once Arthur began scratching lightly at the base of his skull. “But believe it or not, she has somewhat befriended the creature. They talked for a very long time, and Vivi even managed to get a name out of him. He didn’t seem interested in harming her at all.”

Somehow the idea that the spirit would have a name hadn’t even occurred to Arthur, and shame swept through him. It seemed too much like something the ancestor that had locked him away would do– whether or not Arthur wanted anything to do with the ghost, he didn’t think he deserved what had happened to him. The idea of being in any way comparable to someone who would do what his ancestor had made him slightly sick.

“I know you won’t let anything hurt her,” Arthur murmured. “And I’m glad you were with her. Geez though, she must’ve asked a million questions. He didn’t seem bothered by that at all? Or I guess he enjoyed talking since they did so long, you said.”

Mystery chuckled. “You’re correct, she asked so many questions. Enough where she just went on and on without stopping. I had to stop her before she got even more carried away. But I don’t think he minded.”

When he was satisfied with head scratches, Mystery rolled onto his back, awaiting belly scratches. “He seemed more amused than anything, and he answered most of them, even if he was a little vague.”

Arthur snorted. “Well, if she’s planning to go back he’ll probably learn real quick that vague answers just lead to more questions.” He paused, frowning thoughtfully. “…What was his name, though?”

“He called himself ‘Ensis’. Vivi said it meant “sword”. She didn’t seem too happy with the name.”

“His name is just ‘Sword’?” Arthur didn’t sit up, but turned his head to raise a brow at Mystery as he scratched at a spot below the dog’s ribs that always set his tail to wagging. 

He could see why Vivi would be less than pleased to hear that; he wasn’t exactly either. He liked this ancestor of his less and less by the moment.

“Ensis…” He muttered. “That word sounds familiar though. Latin’s got like two dozen words for sword but– I think ‘ensis’ was in that inscription we found in the garden. 'Infodus’– no, 'inquies ensis’ I think…? I guess that poem was about him.“ 

Maybe he ought to take a swing at translating the whole thing. You never knew, it could offer some sort of insight to help them figure out what to do now.

“A poem?” Mystery tilted his head curiously. He had never heard of this, and it surprised him that Vivi hadn’t ever mentioned it. Now that he thought about it, though, there was a plaque in the garden that could have carried an inscription, but it had been too high above his head for him to see “Hm…I’d have to see this poem for myself, but maybe you’re right. At this point, I think anything is possible.”

He smiled over at Arthur, seeing the gears turning in his head. “But even if I had another idea, I can see your mind is already made up. If you want to translate it, Arthur, I think Vivi would be delighted. I can ask her to get a copy of it next time she visits, if you’d like.”

“I took a photo of the inscription when we were looking around that first time we went. I haven’t deleted them, so I could start picking at it tomorrow. Actually, here, lemme show you something–”

He snagged his phone from the pocket of his vest where it hung on the bedpost and thumbed through the photos until he found the one of the Greek-ish language he hadn’t recognized.

“Have you ever seen a language that looked like this before? I’m thinking it probably says the same thing as the Latin text, but I can’t be one-hundred percent sure, I guess. But I do know I’ve never seen letters that look anything like these.”

“Mm…” Mystery shook his head. “I’m afraid not. But I’ve never been great with different languages. You have no idea how long it took me to learn English.” He chuckled. Foreign languages was more for Arthur and Vivi, not himself. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help to you. But I’ll keep a mental note. Maybe Ensis himself knows.”

“Ahh– he probably would, yeah. Hmm…” He thumbed through the images again to the Latin inscription. Now that he was actually lying down again, with Mystery a bundle of warmth against his ribs, he found he was too sleepy to focus very hard on untangling the poem’s grammar; but he was too curious now to go straight to sleep, either. He muttered as he went over the photo, more to himself than Mystery.

“It was ’ inquies ensis ’– ‘un-peaceful sword’. ’ Secundum ’ is easy, and so is ’ sepulcrum ’– ‘second tomb’. Maybe he really was alive at some point…? ’ Studeat ’ has to do with studying, that one’s kinda easy too, but I can’t remember what tense that is. 'Cloak of sleep’ and 'heart’s silent token’ I saw earlier– I can’t tell which one goes with the 'only can lift’. ’ Noli manere ’ is 'don’t wait’ or ‘don’t stay’… ’ Ferrum ’–” his rambling petered out, and he scowled at the phone, hating his ancestor just a little more.

Ferrum was yet another word for sword, but it also just meant 'tool’.

Disgusted, he locked the phone and tossed it lightly to the other side of the bed. He got up just long enough to click off his desk lamp before flopping face-first into his pillows, careful not to knock Mystery in the head with a stray limb. 

He rolled to the side when said dog insinuated himself under his arm and curled tight to his chest, and with him softly snuffling under his chin, Arthur finally drifted off to sleep.

The days went by. Vivi and Arthur awkwardly but steadily mended their friendship, though bringing up the subject of Vivi wanting to see Ensis again still made her antsy for quite awhile. Arthur did still seem nervous about it when she’d finally told him she was planning to go, but Mystery had nudged him and assured him that everything would be fine.

So now she stood with Ensis in the garden, their conversation settled into a surprisingly comfortable lull. He eyed a small flowering tree in a stone pot critically, occasionally burning away a twig here or blossom there, while Vivi wandered nearby and soaked in all the detail that had been once hidden by overgrowth. At a particular ornament she paused.

“I do…have a question,” she said. “If it’s okay to ask.”

Ensis tilted his head. He doubted she merely had ‘a’ question; even from a mere two visits he knew better than that about her. He found, however, that he didn’t mind so much. “Ask away,” he prompted her.

Vivi turned to the faceless statue that held the plaque in its hands. Arthur had taken a shot at translating the verses, but he hadn’t been happy with the results, and he wanted to know what the poems had really meant with what they said. What better way than to learn from a direct source? 

“What do these say?” She asked, tracing a finger over one of the carved letters. “Do they all say the same thing? Why are they in different languages?”

He didn’t laugh when she proved him right, but he did shake his head in amusement. He’d seen the verses as he’d worked to tame the garden, but he hadn’t bothered to look them over until now. From glancing over the first lines he could tell that they said more or less the same thing.

“They’re seals for a spell, all three for the same one.” He didn’t specify what spell that was; she could guess. “Once the spell was cast these words sealed it as one would seal a letter with wax. In this case they also served as a warning.”

Bitterness crept into his voice with every word until he forcibly bit it back. Now wasn’t the time. He wanted, much to his surprise, to enjoy his time spent in Vivi’s company, not brood over the past.

“A warning to hapless, too-curious explorers, that is,” he added wryly, glancing at her side-long and pleased with himself when she grinned in response. Marking the lines with his finger as he read them, he recited with a carefully neutral voice:

 “Infoditur inquies ensis aestus conpescitur

Sepulcrum secundum miles aboletur

Ne numquam praelim neque laurum studeat.

The restless blade is laid to rest, the fire quenched,

the soldier banished to his second grave,

no more to devote himself to battle or honor.”

Vivi listened quietly as she watched Ensis recite the words. By her side, Mystery hummed softly. The words were matching up to what Arthur had translated so far, but much less broken up. And even though Ensis clearly tried to hide it, the both of them could catch the hint of disdain in his voice. Vivi shuffled nervously. It was talking about him.

“The second verse–” he trailed off as he read over it, glad that he couldn’t visibly blush.

“Are you okay?” Vivi asked, looking up at him with concern. Arthur hadn’t gotten to the second verse, and if this poem was the seal to a curse, who could guess what cruel or awful things it could say. “Is it…bad?” 

That she was suddenly so close to him came as such a surprise that he barely registered it at first; so much so that he didn’t react even instinctively. He was grateful– he didn’t want to frighten her or worse by lashing out on startled reflex.

…..She was so small. That was the first clear thought that came to mind. He had never really noticed it before-- her presence seemed so much larger than the space she physically took up. She looked worried, but about him , rather than what he might do. When had anyone last offered him that?

His gratitude that he couldn’t physically flush doubled, tripled. He fought harder than ever to keep his rebellious emotions out of his voice. “I’m alright. It’s nothing to be concerned about. It merely lays out the conditions that would lift the curse. It ah– seems you were right about what that was.”

Vivi tilted her head in confusion. “I was ‘right’?” She asked, not understanding at first. “What do you mean I was right? All I said was-” And then she cut herself off, suddenly getting what Ensis meant. She wondered enviously if Ensis couldn’t blush but would be if he could-- Vivi could feel the color rising in her face and wished she could hide it too. Mystery was never going to let her live this one down. “Y-you mean the…oh.”

So what Ensis was saying was…a kiss could wake him up. Vivi almost groaned. She would be the one to wake up a millennium-old ghost from just a joke. Now how the hell could she dig herself out of this situation? Ensis read on, and she liked to think she could hear him suppressing embarrassment, but-- probably wishful thinking.

“Hoc vital soporis cordis muta arrha

Oblata benigne sine crimine

Laeta foedere sola potest relevat.

This shroud of sleep

only the heart’s silent token 

freely given, free of judgement,

rich with promises, may lift.”

“So uh…” Vivi swallowed. “Does that mean I can call you Sleeping Beauty now?” She joked, nudging Ensis a little and ignoring Mystery as he rolled his eyes.

“If you really must, I’ll ask that you do it out of earshot,” he answered, taking some relief at least in that he wasn’t alone in being embarrassed. Soon enough though, all fluster and good humor drained from him as he read over the third verse.

“ O Ferrum noli manere

Noli ad ultione nisi absolutione somniare

Requietis innocentiae

Praemium hoc grate implexa.

Wait not, oh Weapon.

Dream neither of revenge nor redemption.

This gift of rest and harmlessness,

with gratitude accept.”

It seemed as though Atrus simply couldn’t resist adding as much insult to injury as he could manage. Any spell by nature required a condition that would break it, and Atrus had chosen something that– aside from under very unusual circumstances which had transpired only by unaccountable fortune– no one would ever offer the likes of him. And had made a point of rubbing that in, not even with vicious glee but a detached sort of amusement. He closed his eyes and backed away a few steps from the silent mockery in those carved words.

Vivi frowned as the words poured from Ensis, his tone becoming more and more bitter. She was with Arthur on this one: the more she heard about his ancestor, the more she just wanted to punch him in the face.

Atrus was lucky he was already dead then. But now she had something else to deal with…

She couldn’t see much, as Ensis had turned his face away from her, but she didn’t need facial expressions to know that he was feeling awful about the words. Slowly Vivi closed the distance between them once more. Her hand didn’t quite reach his shoulder so she could only pat his chest. “Hey…” she said quietly. “Screw that guy. He’s gone and you’re still here. You proved him wrong, see?”

At the touch of her hand his eyes opened, and he looked down at her. Once again he found sympathy in her gaze, and a spark of anger on his behalf, but not one trace of pity. His hand twitched at his side and he nearly reached up to cover hers– perhaps to convey the gratitude he felt but couldn’t find words for. He resisted the impulse, and she quickly dropped her hand as well.

“You–” he took a breath that he didn’t need to steady himself. “You are very kind, Vivi. Far kinder than I’ve earned, but it… it means a great deal. I will try to take your words to heart, instead of his. I don’t promise that I will manage it, but I will try.”

Vivi smiled as best she could. If nothing else, the poor guy could use a comforting gesture. Perhaps even a friend. He had been alone for so long. She doubted he would ever see her as such, but she could at least try to help. “Sometimes that’s all we can do, bud: try.

“And you have time now. You have all the time in the world. Maybe it won’t be overnight, sure, but you’re free now. And well…” Her feet shuffled nervously. “If you ever need to vent or anything, I’m willing to listen. You don’t have to be alone either.”

“I… appreciate that.” It was an exceptionally underwhelming way to try and convey just how much what she offered meant to him, but it was the best he could manage. 

He was keenly aware that it was because of her– and, he begrudgingly conceded, her companion– that he had that time, but he wasn’t sure how to thank her for it. Especially given the method of his awakening and the awkwardness even thinking on it inspired.

“I will offer you the same, to whatever extent I can do so,” he said instead. He didn’t think that extent was particularly great, and it was far less than he owed to her, but it was all he really could offer. That was better than nothing.

Chapter Text

As the weeks went by, Vivi found herself thinking about her strange ghostly acquaintance more and more. Ensis was a mystery, one that she was determined to solve despite how frustrating he could be . No matter what Vivi asked, she swore Ensis made an effort to be as vague as possible. She was going nowhere fast…and he wouldn’t even tell her why.

She wasn’t about to give up, however. At the very least, Vivi wanted him to get to see the outside world. The last few times she’d gone to visit him, she had asked as she left if he wanted to come with her-- so far he had refused. Maybe he just wasn’t ready yet, but he couldn’t stay cooped up in that old tower forever, could he?

Something had to be done-- Vivi couldn’t stand to let things stay like this. Daylight was starting to fade on her fifth visit to Ensis’ tower, and she once more asked the question that had started to become habit for her. 

“Oh shoot, I still need to grab some food for Mystery,” she said as she checked her phone for the time. “Do you…want to come with me? See what it’s like out there?”

He had thus far evaded the question every time she’d posed it, and each time his evasions seemed to trouble her more and more. He wasn’t sure why she was so determined to get him to follow her out into the world, but that determination meant it was only a matter of time before he was forced to admit to her the true reason he always refused. 

He hoped to stall that inevitability for as long as possible.

“I appreciate the offer, but I wouldn’t trouble you to escort me,” he said, as carefully and graciously as he could manage. It sounded false even to him.

He knew she did it out of the kindness of her heart, and he felt terrible about constantly rebuffing her when she reached out to him, but there was nothing else to be done about it. “I can see you out, if you wish.” He hoped the offer would both distract her from her inquiry and make it up to her in some small way.

“It’s no trouble, Ensis,” Vivi replied, and although her tone was soft, he nearly jumped for being startled. He still wasn’t used to her calling him by ‘name.’ It didn’t feel like it belonged to him; but more than that he wasn’t used to the familiarity of it– of hearing it said in conversation rather than being formally addressed.

Vivi continued on  with a soft frown and a tilt of her head. “Really, I mean it,” she said. “I want to show you what’s out there. Get you out of this stuffy old tower.”

She paused. Maybe that was too harsh a way to put it, especially after Ensis had fixed up the tower so nicely. “Er, wait. I just meant, like, if you wanted to as well. I know it probably sounds a little overwhelming, and if you don’t want to, I totally understand.”

But she had a feeling that wasn’t actually the case. Despite not really having much of a face, Ensis was pretty easy to read-- she could see it in his expression clear as day when he looked out from the tower towards the distant city: curiosity, and a yearning to get a little closer.

And who wouldn’t want to check out the world after being asleep for a thousand years? Maybe if he had someone with him, it wouldn’t be so overwhelming? “But…you know. The offer is out there. I’d love to show you around.”

“I appreciate it, as I’ve said before. But I am still afraid I must decline.”

He hated the troubled look on her face, and the fact that he’d put it there. She worried about him, and he didn’t know how to alleviate that. He didn’t suppose she’d take it well if he reminded her that he wasn’t someone she ought to worry about to begin with.

He simply loathed to admit that he was chained to this place like a dog to a stake. Perhaps it was wrong of him to be cagey and worry her so petty a reason, but...

At this point, Vivi had just about had it. He was being so-- difficult! Here she was trying to do something nice for him but he was just blowing her off! He didn’t hate her company that much, did he? “Why?” She finally asked. “I’ve seen you look at the city, you know. I’m offering to take you there. So why don’t you want to go?”

It didn’t make any sense to her. Ensis seemed enamored with her every word when she talked about the outside world. And yet not once had he made an attempt to see it for himself. There had to be something else, another reason why he was refusing…

Vivi suddenly felt slightly ill. There was one reason she could think of…and she didn’t like the implications of it should it be true. “Or…can you not go?” She asked softly after a few moments of silence.

…Damn her for being so clever. And damn him all the more for underestimating that for even a moment– of course she’d figure it out on her own. 

He drew a breath he didn’t need and sparks scattered out when he let it go. “You’ve solved the riddle,” he said. “There isn’t anything out there for me, regardless. Not among people. And if I were to wander out into the wilderness–”

If he were to do that, she wouldn’t be able to find him. And if he left the island or else wandered far enough to lose sight of the tower, he might never find his way back to where she would know to look for him. Unless he gave up the one connection he had, he’d still be on a leash in the end, even if it was a slightly longer one.  “…Then there would be no one to tend the garden,” he finished quietly. The lie left the phantom of a bitter taste where the back of his throat should have been.

Vivi sighed. She was glad that he had come clean about it at least, though he still seemed to be hiding quite a bit. She wondered what it was going to take to earn his trust, at least a little. “Maybe not, but…”

But what? What right did she have to say that he should leave? That this place was toxic for him and that he deserved to be somewhere better? Heck, where would that ‘better’ place even be?

Vivi felt slightly foolish. Her thoughts had gotten ahead of her before she had a real plan. Again. “…I’m sorry. I know it’s not my place to say, but I know I wouldn’t want to be confined to one location…even if I was a ghost, or whatever you are. I just thought – I don’t know – maybe you’d want to look around.”

She fiddled with the hem of her sleeve, avoiding Ensis’ eyes. “…Why can’t you leave? Is it because of that guy?”

“You know the answer to that already.” He was unable to suppress the bitterness rising in his chest like bile, and his words came out almost a growl. He clenched his fists tightly then deliberately relaxed them, forcing as much tension out of his form as he could. “Forgive me,” he pleaded softly. “This isn’t your fault, and I have no call to take out old grievances on you.”

Especially not after she’d forgiven him for his much more recent and direct transgressions against her. The realization did more damage to the pride he’d held so sacred than her knowing the full extent to which he was a prisoner had done.

“Why do you insist on showing me such kindness?” The question came unbidden and he felt more of a fool than ever for asking, but he couldn’t take it back now. “Even if kindness is your nature–” and it was, that was abundantly clear– “If there was ever anyone who did not deserve it, it would be me.”

Vivi frowned. “That’s bull,” she replied without thinking and took a few steps towards Ensis. Leaving was now the last thing on her mind. “Yeah you…you messed up. You hurt my best friend, and I haven’t forgiven you for that by the way.” Especially since Ensis hadn’t even apologized for it.

Nevertheless, when she was close enough, she reached out and gently touched his sleeve in what she hoped was a comforting gesture. “But…everyone deserves a second chance. Everyone deserves some kindness. We’ll never move on if we don’t give people the chances they need, you know?” Vivi tried to give him a small smile. “At least…that’s what I think.”

It was almost a relief to be admonished. That was better than being offered forgiveness he’d done nothing to earn, and wasn’t even sure he wanted.

That small, strange comfort was overwhelmed with the confusion that came from her light touch, her tiny but genuine smile, her sincere words. He almost wanted to argue her second point– not because he disagreed with the idea of second chances itself but– he couldn’t help but be baffled at how dedicatedly she persisted in treating him like a person, no matter what kind of one she thought he might be.

“You’ve been through a lot,” Vivi pressed on. “I can tell you’re not a bad person; you just…had a lot of bad things happen to you. And after all the time I’ve spent with you, I really do want to help.”

“What happened… no longer matters,” he said at length, taking a half step backwards. Her hand slid away from him. “What’s in the past is over and done with. I– do appreciate that you wish to help, but there’s– you’re already doing all you can. The chains that bind me to this place can’t be broken by you. But the small pieces of the world you bring here, to me– for those I cannot thank you enough. That alone is already worth more than I could ever repay.”

Despite the slight hurt she felt when he moved out of her reach, Vivi couldn’t help her smile widening a tiny bit. “I’m glad you enjoy my company so much,” she teased, unable to stop herself. And she wouldn’t lie; coming here was something she looked forward to quite a bit recently. Ensis, while he might put on a stoic and disinterested front, was an extremely curious soul, that much Vivi could see perfectly clearly.

It hurt to think that someone like that could be stuck somewhere with no hope of escape. She knew, as curious as she was, that if it had been her in his position she would go insane .

There had to be something she could do. Vivi wracked her brain for an answer, ignoring the way Ensis turned back to her pondering for now. This spirit was trapped here by Arthur’s ancestor. In that regard…the ancestor should be able to let him leave.

But Atrus was long dead (and good riddance, Vivi thought viciously), so there wasn’t anyone with the power to release Ensis from the tower. Unless…

Ensis had been practically forced to obey Arthur’s frantic order to not hurt her. Even if he’d actually wanted to, it was like some sort of outside power was preventing him from doing so. If the power that compelled him then was the same as the one keeping him from leaving the tower…

Something clicked. It might work, and it was Ensis’ best shot for freedom. The only problem was… getting to that point. “I think,” she said carefully. “That I have an idea of how to get you out of here.”

He squashed down the hope that tried to bloom at her words. Whatever idea she had, he couldn’t allow himself to harbor any faith that it might work-- the spell on him was strong enough to have lasted over a millennium. Even as brilliantly clever, as stubborn as Vivi was, without any training or even basic familiarity with magic there was no way she’d be able to break such a curse. Failing to remember that for even an instant would be a mistake.

Something in her tone seemed off, as well. There was a cagey edge to it that suggested there was something about whatever idea she had that he wouldn’t appreciate. So far there was only one subject that she had ever been any less than direct about.

“If you’re thinking of enlisting--” That spineless bastard. That scrawny, weak-kneed whelp. He bit back every epithet that wanted to spit forth like embers. No matter his opinion on certain company she kept, he didn’t want to insult her or spurn the goodwill behind the offer. “I would… rather you didn’t,” he finished awkwardly, avoiding looking at her.

Instead his eyes fell on the riot of color blooming from the setting sun, and tried not to resent how it somehow seemed farther out of reach than ever.

Vivi pouted slightly. Once again he could see right through her. He seemed to be extremely good at that, or maybe she was just as easy to read as he was. “But – but it could work!” She insisted. “All he has to do is just say you can leave, right? It’s not even really an order; it’d just be giving you permission.”

She sighed. This was a delicate situation she found herself in, but she didn’t see any other options . “Look…what Artie’s ancestor did has nothing to do with him. Arthur wouldn’t hurt a fly if he could help it. And trust me, he’s just as uncomfortable of having you under an influence he can’t help as you are. It was pretty much forced on him, same as you.” He still didn’t look too happy, from what little she could see of his turned-away face.

“Ensis.” She waited until he looked at her to go on. “I promise you… Arthur wouldn’t do anything to you. Last time was an accident; he had no idea that was going to happen. He doesn’t want to use that power-- he doesn’t want to have power over you at all. So…please? Just give him a chance?”

“I would have said the same of the man I once knew. Thought I knew,” he amended bitterly. “Even if you’re right about him, what a man thinks he’s willing to do with power and what he’ll actually stoop to once he has it are two very different things. Even the most noble of intentions will lose against some temptations.”

Even as he said them he started to doubt his own words. Vivi didn’t strike him as easy to deceive, or as someone whose loyalty should be taken lightly; he couldn’t imagine her as anyone’s unwitting pawn. Nor did she seem to be trying to fool him and give her companion an opening through a false trust in her.

He didn’t know what to do.

Sighing, Vivi figured there was no point in pushing the issue, at least not for right now. It was a lot to take in, and she couldn’t expect Ensis to take this idea easily. “Just…think about it, okay?” She asked gently, patting his arm. “I know he’d do the right thing.”

When it didn’t seem like Ensis had anything else to say, Vivi shifted nervously in her spot before backing up again. “I’ll see you later, Ensis. Have…have a good night.”

She turned, ready to head out the door. At least she had planted the idea into her companion’s head. Phase one was done…now all she had to do was try to convince Arthur it was a good idea.

Hoo boy…she wasn’t sure which one was going to be more difficult to convince. And she wasn’t sure if even Mystery would back her up on this one.

As she turned away from him he had the urge to call her back, though he had no idea what reason he could possibly give her to stay. Truthfully he wasn’t quite certain just why he wanted her to.

“Safe journey,” he murmured instead, but his voice came so quietly that she couldn’t have heard it.

Arthur checked the time on his phone again, trying to convince himself he wasn’t doing it nervously. Vivi wasn’t even late, so there wasn’t any good reason for him to be worried. Yet here he was, worried anyway and trying-- so far unsuccessfully-- to somehow trick himself into not being.

He was definitely-not-tense enough that he definitely didn’t jump in his seat on the couch when the apartment door’s lock rattled and Vivi came in, Mystery at her heels.

“H-hey--” he said, standing. “How was your uh-- your visit. Thing. How’d it go?” He wanted to make sure she knew he was okay with it-- as okay as he could be, at least, so he tried to ask after it when she came home from one of these trips. And, despite himself, he couldn’t help but be a bit curious about what she might have learned. He figured a little curiosity couldn’t hurt him as long as he indulged it far out of range of anyone who might have a grudge on him or his bloodline.

She smiled at him in response, but there was an unmistakable tension in it. Worry spiked back up through his calm.

“....You okay, Vi? Did something happen?” 

Vivi was silent as she waited for Mystery to come inside before closing and locking the door back up. “Well…no. Nothing really happened,” she replied and set her bag off to the side. “We just talked a lot about things. His situation and all that.” She knew that wasn’t much to go on. All they did was talk whenever Vivi made these trips. 

Arthur plopped back down onto the couch and sagged a little, relieved that some improbable disaster hadn’t gone down, but a little cross with himself for being so worried in the first place.

Mystery gave Vivi a look before turning back to Arthur. “She won’t really tell me what they talked about either.”

His eyebrows shot up at Mystery’s comment-- Vivi usually shared everything with him, even things she kept from everyone else. What could possibly make her hold something back from even him?

Vivi shot Mystery a look, scrunching her nose at him. It wasn’t that she was avoiding the issue-- more that she was mentally preparing herself for this conversation. Arthur’s worried glance didn’t help her nerves and she sat next to him with a sigh. “I wanted to wait until we were home. There’s…something I kinda want to ask you, Artie.”

He’d braced himself for some sort of bad news anyway, so her hesitant request threw him for a loop. What could Vivi want to ask him that could have her so as-close-to-nervous as she ever really got? “Sssure?” He tried to shove his trepidation to the back of his mind and keep it out of his voice. “Ask away.”

By the time Vivi had finished laying out her request, Arthur's hands were folded together, knuckles pressed against his mouth. ""Vi... you can't be serious. I can't-- Vivi I can't go back there! He can't hurt you and he probably never wanted to in the first place. But you're asking a guy who has the same face as his worst enemy to waltz in and-- Christ, Vi, I just don't think this is a good idea.”

"I know," she replied. He was probably right. This certainly wasn't one of her better ideas, and she would wholeheartedly admit that. But she didn't see any other alternative to free her… friend? She wondered if it was alright to call him that, or if he would get offended. "Believe me, I'd rather you two not see each other again, either. But Arthur, you're the only one who can get him out of there. He's trapped, and he wants to leave where he's imprisoned."

Vivi sighed. "I know it's crazy. But I just...I don't know. I should hate him for what he did to you, but nobody deserves to be trapped like that. At least that's what I think. I'd go crazy."

Arthur rubbed his hands over his face. "I probably would too, to be honest..."

He agreed with her: being that much of a prisoner was beyond anything Ensis could have deserved. But was it really alright for Arthur to make the call to cut him loose? They already knew he was  capable of unleashing some pretty destructive power if he put his mind to it-- but would he?

Based on how Vivi had talked about him, Arthur would at least like to think he wouldn't hurt people without cause, but throwing him out into a world that had changed so much while he'd been asleep would surely lead to cause eventually. Especially considering the whole thing about being a literal, constantly-on-fire phantom.

What if Ensis ran afoul of trigger-happy cops, or some vigilante type who felt like playing ghostbuster? Arthur couldn't expect him not to defend himself, and he absolutely wasn't about to order him not to.

And of course all those worries were for after he managed to face and free the ghost, which was enough of a hurdle on its own.

"I'm trying to think..." he murmured after the silence had begun to stretch too long. "Have you-- talked to him about this idea yet?"

Vivi at least had the decency to look a little sheepish. "Sort of," she replied after a bit. "I mentioned it to him at least. And I know he didn't seem… especially thrilled at the idea." There was no need to mince words, at least not right now. Arthur knew quite well how Ensis felt about him, so dodging the subject wouldn't do them any favors. 

"But I don't know. He didn't seem completely opposed either." Viv shrugged. "I'd have to talk to him again about it and see what he really thinks. But I just, y'know, wanted to make sure you knew about it too."

"Does he even--" Arthur stopped himself from asking a very stupid question. Did he want to be free? Of fucking course he would want to be free! No matter what he thought of Arthur showing up on his doorstep, and no matter how disorienting the world might be to him now, of course being free would be better than being stuck there like a bird in a tiny cage.

And even if the spirit opted to stay in the tower, he'd at least have the choice . 

"...I'll-- I'll think about it. I will, I promise, I'm not just dodging. But I just don't know yet. Sorry, Vi..."

"No no, it's okay." Vivi smiled at him, hoping that it would help him feel better, at least a little. "You don't have to make a decision right now. That'd be really jerkish of me."

A small part of Vivi was almost relieved that Arthur didn't have an answer for her right this second. That would give Ensis more time to think as well, which the two of them seriously needed. 

They also seriously needed to sort out their issues, more on Ensis' part, but that would (hopefully) come later. 

Vivi shared a look with Mystery, who looked none too happy about her decision. But she couldn't take it back now. "Just - no matter what you choose Artie, I'll stand by your decision."

Arthur returned her smile, if slightly apprehensively. He had time, he reminded himself. He had time to figure out what to do from here, and how. And whatever he ended up doing, he wouldn't have to do it alone, at least. He knew that when Vivi said she'd stick by him, she meant it. He could always rely on her.

Chapter Text

The days had passed with sluggish regularity since Vivi's last visit. The sun rose and set and he tended the garden, and precious little else happened.

One of the rare snatches of respite from the monotony and solitude had come when he had discovered a nest of swallows that had taken up in one of the garden's more secluded corners. The chicks had already been quite well along when he had first found them, fully covered in bristles and not at all shy about protesting their hunger even with him so close. He'd enjoyed watching them grow, spending so much time near the nest that their parents no longer even found him suspicious, and now all the but smallest had taken wing.

This last one had lingered two more days, availing itself of the garden’s slim offerings until they had run out. Now it hopped along the stone railing, seeming hesitant. He watched its nervous little dance, and did not move to interfere.

Finally, wings flashing like sapphires, it took flight. Soon it had vanished from sight entirely, swallowed up by the sky, and he was alone once more.

He reached out in the direction the fledgling had gone, though he already knew what would happen: as soon as his hand drew level to the outer edge of the railing it stopped cold, as though a wall that he could not see stood between him and the open sky beyond. Soundlessly he let the hand drop back to his side.

As he turned away from the scenery, he caught a glint of color in the corner of his eye. For a moment he thought the swallow had returned, but no-- it was the now familiar vehicle (a 'car', he'd been informed) that Vivi traveled in, and she herself was getting out of it now. She glanced upwards as she did, and when she met his gaze he couldn't resist the impulse to greet her with an eager wave.

Her face visibly brightened. He might as well have given her a valuable treasure instead of a small greeting with how happy she looked, and he couldn't understand why . 

Why did she keep coming to see him? Why did she always seem so happy whenever he offered the smallest of gestures? And why did he feel like he wanted to make her happy?

Truth be told, if he really put his mind to it, he knew precisely why. He had been a weapon for so long, and he’d gotten used to it… but she had done nothing but treat him like a human being. 

He watched her cup her hands around her mouth. "Hey!" She called up to him, sounding just as pleased as she looked. "So I always feel kinda bad just waltzing on in, so is it okay if I come and visit?!"

It was perhaps rather pointless to ask now, since she was already here. But he nevertheless appreciated the politeness. He willed open the door for her. 

If there was a vision for glee, Vivi certainly embodied it in that moment. He could hear her bright laughter, and she even gave a little hop, before dashing inside. Her enthusiasm for his control of this place was endearing, and made the curse feel just a little lighter. It wasn't much...but it was something.

Well! If she was being polite, he might as well return the favor. Meeting her halfway seemed like a good start.

"Oh-!" She stopped, looking pleasantly surprised when she saw him-- using the stairs like a real person, no less. "You didn't have to come and meet me, I would've gone up."

“I don’t mind repaying courtesy,” he said as he came to stand beside her. “And I--”

And he had wanted to see her sooner, he realized. Hadn’t wanted to wait the extra few minutes it would have taken for her to climb up to the garden where they always spent her visits. But he couldn't simply tell her that, of course-- 

"I thought you might like to see more of the tower," he improvised instead. "If I recall, you mentioned are a scholar, and there is a library two floors up from the garden that may interest you."

Vivi smiled so broadly it almost looked like it hurt. "Aw, Ensis, that's really sweet of you! First opening the door for me, and now meeting me halfway? When did you become such a gentleman? “ When, indeed. "Ooooh and a scholar, huh?" Vivi hummed to herself, grinning ear to ear. She was clearly flattered. "That sounds so fancy. But, quick question?"

He tilted his head, and Vivi evidently took that as a sign to continue. "Just why the heck haven't we been to the library yet? That sounds amazing! Of course it would interest me!"

An odd crackling sound left him, like kindling catching on-- a laugh? He hadn't had the occasion to laugh at all since-- Well, for far too long. He'd never heard what his own laughter now sounded like, until this moment.

"Forgive my lapse then," he said with a slight but flourishing bow. "Taking you there now should be enough to atone for it, I hope?"

He hoped the exaggerated formality would make her smile again. It was easy to amuse Vivi, and yet it felt so... worthwhile to do so.

Another bow, and a gesture back up the stairs he'd just come down. "Shall we?"

He was being so utterly charming today! Vivi wasn't sure what brought about this little change, but she certainly wasn't complaining. She liked this side of Ensis. In fact, if she didn't know any better, it was almost as if he was...

...Nah. There was no way. He was just teasing her a little, that was all.

Vivi beamed as she followed Ensis up the stairs. Whatever had put Ensis in such a good mood, it was honestly so wholesome. She had never seen him like this before. "No escort today?" She heard him speak, and he turned his head to look at her curiously. 

"You mean Mystery?" Vivi laughed. "No, not today. I left him at home, but I'll tell him you said hello." 

"Mm." It wasn't an encouragement or denial, but Vivi couldn't help but feel like it sounded a tad melancholy. "Home..." And she could barely hear him mumbling.

It wasn't hard to piece together what he said though. "Ensis...?"

"What is your home like, Vivi?" He changed the subject rather quickly. "Is it far?"

"Oh, uh..." Vivi slowed down a little on the stairs as she thought about it. "Sort of. It takes about three hours, but that’s from a lot further away than walking or even a horse could take you in that amount of time."

She made that journey each time she visited? Based on what she’d told him, travel was much less arduous in these times, but that was still quite out of her way, and for what? All to see him. He-- he wasn’t quite sure what to think of that, to say nothing of how to respond.

Fortunately for him, their arrival at the short corridor leading to the library spared him from having to think of something.

“This way,” he said, stooping down and easing himself sideways through the woefully undersized archway into the hall. He waited until Vivi stood directly in front of the library doors with their elaborately carved scrolling vines before willing them to glide smoothly open. The heavy drapes over the windows pulled themselves back at the same moment, flooding the room with afternoon sunlight.

The light  gleamed faintly off the metal clasps that kept the pages in each volume tamed, facing outward in rows upon rows of tidy stacks of books set upon rows and rows of shelves. Some were bound in plain, unadorned leather and held closed with more of the same; others sported covers that had been colorfully dyed and decorated with tooled embossments. The most opulent tomes weren’t shelved at all, but displayed on their own book stands to properly show off the tyrian vellum leaves tucked between their fine calfskin bindings, embellished with gold and silver. 

The shelves that followed the curve of the wall nearly reached the ceiling, and shorter ones stood freely in regiments off on the east side of the chamber. On the western side there were two long tables with a pair of benches each, studded with embroidered cushions. The air in the room sparkled with swirling motes of dust and hung heavy with the warm smell of leather and parchment. He had spent time with only a few scholarly types, and they had, to a one, been enamored with that scent. Would Vivi be as well?

There must be a word for what Vivi was feeling right now, but she honestly couldn't pinpoint it. At first she was in a bit of a daze, like she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Finding this kind of treasure trove of knowledge only happened in movies, after all-- a library so old, but left completely intact. She took a few dizzying steps forward to make sure it was actually real. 

Well, if it was some kind of illusion, it hadn't disappeared yet. She couldn't contain her squeal of excitement, as hard as she tried. "Oh my gosh!!!" Vivi exclaimed, and if Ensis looked closely enough, he could practically see stars in her eyes. "This-- this is amazing! I've never seen so many old books before!"

She couldn't resist and bounced over to one of the shelves. "Just...just... wow." Vivi looked over to Ensis, eyes sparkling even more. "Can I look at one? Is that okay?" He had invited her here, sure, but these books looked so old and delicate. She didn't want to accidentally make one fall apart.

He had thought that he'd seen her enthusiastic before-- he wasn't sure he'd ever before witnessed the kind of pure wonder and excitement Vivi glowed with now as she all but danced towards the shelves. 

He expected that most people only looked this way, this grateful, when someone had given them their heart's truest desire. Perhaps he even had, knowing Vivi; but even so he was more used to the way the courtiers Atrus had rubbed shoulders with would hide and subdue their gratitude, lest it be mistaken for indebtedness. There was no such pretense with Vivi-- all of it was entirely genuine. In fact, she might be the most genuine person he had met in ages, perhaps ever , even counting the days before he had been subjected to the prolonged farce of the courts. 

It warmed him, in a way that he hadn’t felt in-- Gods, how long had it been since he’d had the opportunity simply to make someone happy?

He couldn’t remember.

Something seized up in his chest, a strange, paralytic mix of elation and despair-- but as Vivi turned away from the books to beam back at him the knot loosened and most of the anguish dissolved under the force of her glee, and he was able to answer her.

“You needn’t worry,” he assured her. “They aren’t so fragile as that. When the tower was restored, so were they. There is a collection of scrolls and packets of letters that were already quite old when they were archived here, and those would require more delicacy, but the codices you should be able to handle to your heart’s content.”

"Thank you!" Instead of taking a book, however, her small hands took one of his own. She was bouncing on her feet, and looked as if he had given her the world instead of merely showing her a library. "You don't know how much this means to me! This is incredible! None of my studies even compare to what you've just given me! Thank you thank you!" 

She let him go, and went back to the shelves. It didn't take her long to pick up a book and blow the dust off of it, shoving away the rest as she looked at the old weathered cover before eagerly opening the book.

She didn't seem to notice that he'd frozen the moment she had touched him-- done so without a trace of hesitation or fear.  Even after she'd let him go to dive into one of the tomes with an enthusiasm that approached reverence, he still stood in shock, wide-eyed as a snared rabbit facing down a hound.

Her hands were so small compared to his. Small and soft and slightly cool to the touch in a way that wasn't at all unpleasant, and yet they seemed to leave a lingering warmth behind. It was all he could do not to run the fingers of his other hand over the places where hers had touched, as though they might have been changed somehow by the contact.

By the time he found himself sensible again, she had settled at one of the tables with her book and was poring over it avidly. Alongside it was another, smaller book she appeared to have brought along herself, which she occasionally wrote in with a stylus-- no, a pen , he remembered. It carried its own ink right inside it. Her smile had been replaced by a look of intense focus, but even from where he stood he could still see the elated glitter in her eye.

He hated to interrupt, but he needed to distract himself from this disorientation and-- he wanted to hear the happiness in her voice again. He joined her at the table, taking a seat across from her. "What have you found?" he asked, managing to keep his voice steady.

She jumped when he spoke, as if she had nearly forgotten he was still in the room. Her focus was honestly admirable, but Vivi certainly had a one-track mind in some cases. 

"Oh!" She beamed at him and turned the book around so he could read it as well. "I know I said I was excited for the research opportunities, but it’s actually a book of poetry-- I love Januterrine poetry, and this poet especially. And it was right there, I just couldn’t resist! And it’s a good chance for extra practice with translations, and I’ve been trying to brush up, so it’s two birds with one stone, too!"

Vivi's tiny book-- or a... note? Notepad? Was that what she called it? He couldn't remember, but no matter its name, sure enough a whole page was already covered in her cramped handwriting. How could she have so many notes already?

And she was still going, caught in another one of her verbal whirlwinds that her dog wasn't there to absolve her of. "--and it's written so differently compared to today's poetry! It kinda sucks because I like how this is written a lot better, although that's probably bias on my part. But they literally don’t make ‘em like they used to, you know?"

"Oh? What is so different about it?" he asked, and when she grinned at him again before diving into an in-depth answer, it nearly made him dizzy.

His own knowledge of what made a poem lovely or dull was meager-- he'd found more or less all of the few bits of poetry he'd gotten the chance to read to be equally pleasant.

But Vivi seemed well informed on the subject and equally passionate, and he listened raptly as she went on about rhythm and lyrical qualities, wordplays and rhymes, imagery and metaphor-- he could have sat and listened to her forever. "Will you share one with me?" He asked, when her explanation sadly came to an end. "Whichever one you like best."

"Really?" Vivi seemed surprised. Did people not ask to read with her often? That was a shame, her voice could probably halt a war as far as he was concerned. 

He was pleased when she beamed at him and nodded, eagerly settling into the poem on the page she was already on.

“ Dum dormiunt agri rusticorum
de aurea arista aesti somniando,
jam lustrum nunc exulto.
Nivem aerium sparsit Bruma;
gelum molle ex duro nimbis ferreo.
Stat glaciale occultum lacum;
hyalo quieto facti est.
Silvestres comites Dianae
supra hoc argenteum speculum se fingant,
et auritae nocti accantant.
Virgo Nemorensis caesaries proflua
cum umbra cervi decurrit.
Sola lux lunae cursum suum dirigit. ”

He couldn't help but think how perfect it was for someone like Vivi to be enamored with the image of a wild, moonlit wood. When she had finished, he felt warm despite the poem’s wintry subject. Her passion was infectious.

“That was beautiful,” he said, and she beamed and nodded brightly in agreement, wiggling a little in her seat with her enthusiasm.

"I'd show you one written kinda recently,” she said. “Winter gets talked about a lot differently nowadays usually-- more emphasis on everything being dormant where here it’s all about how everything is still moving and alive despite the layer of stillness. I didn't bring any with me, though. I had one I got on the east coast, but it’s at my work. I can bring it next time for you, if you do want to read some more recent things."

"I would like that," he said, and the words themselves didn't even begin to convey how much he meant them. The little fragments of the larger world Vivi brought to the tower were already gifts in their own right; but something she judged worthy of being shared seemed like a particular treasure. "Could you... could you read another? "

Her amused little smile made his heart (or what was left of it) flutter. “Lemme find a good one,” she replied and flipped through a few pages. 

As she searched, however, her small talk continued. “You’re a fan of winter, too?” She inquired. “I love it. Where I grew up we got proper winters with tons of snow every year, but here it’s too warm to ever get any at all and I miss it a lot. But there is this cabin up north that we sometimes visit and--” 

She paused, and then laughed. “I’m doing it again, huh?” Without Mystery to stop her, Vivi seemed predisposed to talk and talk. 

That was alright by him though. The more chances he had to hear her voice, the better. 

“Did - do you like the snow too?” She asked him kindly.

It was as though a shroud had been draped over the room, dimming the light and leeching away much of the warmth he'd felt so surrounded with since she'd started to read.

"I've never seen it. Fate never brought me to a clime where it could be found."

It was impossible to keep the melancholy out of his voice, and even if he could have disguised it better, she was so clever that doubtless she would have picked up on it anyway.

The sudden tense atmosphere hit Vivi like a truck, and her budding questions fell silent. "Oh..." she said instead. "I just assumed that - ...I'm sorry. I probably should've asked."

He shook his head. "There is no need to be sorry. You couldn't have known, after all." 

"Maybe not, but..." She shifted a little in her seat, and it didn't take long for him to catch on that her thoughts were racing once more. It seemed like she always had something on her mind. "Have you ever wanted to see the snow?

"Ever since I first heard it described." He couldn't bring himself to lie, or play it down. Vivi deserved his honesty at the very least, even if the last thing he wanted was to make her sad with the unfortunate truth. "You needn't worry on that account, Vivi. Hearing how you speak of it is enough." And it was-- it was enough for his circumstances, and probably more than he could have ever earned.

Vivi was quiet, quiet for far too long for her. He missed her voice already. "Vivi?" He called to her, and his voice seemed to snap her out of her thoughts. "Are you alright? I'm sorry. I didn't want to make you sad."

She shook her head. "No, don't, it's okay. I just..." She sighed. "Hearing me talk about it isn't the same, Ensis. I wish you would let us help you so you could go see it for yourself."

"Us," he muttered quietly. And that was the crux of the issue-- if Vivi could have released him herself, perhaps he would have hesitated at first, but he certainly would have taken her up on the offer by now. 

But no, in order to be free he had to let that boy in, had to trust that he wouldn't decide he had better ideas about what to do with a beast already so conveniently leashed.

"I cannot ask that from him, Vivi. I can't do it."

He could see her frustration the way she sighed and leaned her chin in her hand, avoiding his eye for now. He wished it was only so simple...but it wasn't. It was too much risk to allow any of that line to come near him again. He couldn't take the chance.

Something seemed to click with Vivi, as if a life changing fact had suddenly dawned on her. Their eye contact resumed, and Vivi looked determined. "You can't," she repeated. "Like, you physically can't? Is that part of the curse?" 

Before he could answer, she continued. "Or...you can. You're able to. You just won't?"

If she had lunged across the table and struck him it would have stung less than the accusation in her tone.

Did she think he was simply being contrary for its own sake? Did she think him simply too stubborn for his own good? He narrowed a glare at her.

"You seem to think this is far simpler than it is." His voice was low, and ire stirred just beneath the surface.

As hard as he tried however, his glare didn't seem to have any effect on her. "Then explain it to me," she countered, glare just as challenging. "Tell me what I've gotten wrong."

"Think of what you're asking of me, Vivi-- think of what you're asking me to stoop to, to put myself at the mercy of."

She actually had the-- the gall to roll her eyes at him. "Oh come on," she groaned. "What is it with you men and your damn pride? You don't want to ask for help because you don't want to  ‘stoop’ to some lower level? That's not putting yourself at the mercy of someone, that's asking for help when you need it!"

"You've seen , you know what I've been reduced to!" He burst out, sparks hissing, his hair losing cohesion to crawl down over his shoulders. His hands clenched and unclenched, tiny flames spitting between the gaps in his fingers when they curled into fists. "What else but pride do I have left!? It is already in tatters as it is, must I cast aside the one thing I have left to call my own?"

She didn't look scared of him. Perhaps it was the knowledge that he was unable to hurt her, but even if he could...

He'd never want to. Not after all she had given him. She must know that too.

She certainly didn't look impressed either; in fact he couldn't put a name to her expression. With a sigh, she stood up and walked around the table to his side, utterly unafraid, and took his hand for the second time that day. "Ensis. Listen to me. Please." 

Her voice was so soft and gentle and caring. It threw him completely. "I understand.” She went on. “I get it, okay? You've had something horrible happen to you, something nobody can take back and apologize for. I don't need to know specifics to understand that."

Her soft grip on his hand tightened a little. "But listen. Pride isn't all you have left. You've been given another chance at life. There's so much you could do with it, but you don't because...because you're afraid.

"Ensis, Arthur is my friend, my best friend. But you're my friend too, and I want to help you. I can vouch for Arthur. If you can't trust him, then trust me. Please?"

For a long moment he couldn't speak.

Her friend ? What had he done to earn that esteem? He'd seen the downright ferocious loyalty she offered those she called her friends, the unwavering faith, the unhesitant care. What could he ever possibly do to be worthy of her friendship?

To her, it didn't seem to matter if he was worthy or not.

"I do trust you, Vivi," he said, voice hoarse. The words alone didn't come anywhere close to conveying how much he meant it. Her motives, her judgement-- he doubted nothing of her.

"If-- if he agrees to it, then so shall I. As long as you are there, as well."

Vivi's face absolutely lit up, looking for the third time that day as though he’d given her the world. He didn't understand why she cared so much. He wanted to leave, yes, but that didn't concern her at all. She had no tie to this place, or to him, so there should be no reason for her to get so involved.

Except there was. Because they were… friends. 

"Really?" She exclaimed. "Yes! Thank you! You'll see, everything'll turn out great! I promise!"

He believed her.

Chapter Text

Arthur lay sprawled over the couch, paying barely a quarter of his attention to the tech documentary on the tv. He'd normally be very interested in it, but his thoughts were so busy running in circles elsewhere that the program was reduced to just noise. He probably looked far more relaxed than he actually felt, but he was still less tense than he could have been, thanks mostly to Mystery. 

The dog was flopped on his back against Arthur's side, paws splayed out at wild angles and tongue just barely poking out of his mouth as Arthur scratched his belly. Occasionally he’d snuffle softly or thump his tail against Arthur’s leg, flashing a little doggy grin when he caught Arthur’s attention, which was always returned.

When the lock in the front door clicked and Vivi let herself inside, Mystery did not move an inch, so Arthur couldn’t either. He waved at her with one sock foot instead.

“Hey!” He called out. Some of his nerves had returned, but fewer than he’d expected. Maybe this conversation wouldn’t be so difficult after all. “Welcome home, Vi-- how did your thing go? Your visit.”

As Vivi had left, she’d given Ensis something of an ultimatum. 

”I need you to promise me something. If I bring him here, you can’t hurt him.” 

She could tell Ensis was uncomfortable with the idea, and she clarified. “I’m not telling you to do it, I’m asking you as my friend. Please don’t hurt him. Please.”  

He’d agreed, reservedly. Vivi was glad he trusted her enough for this. Now she just had to trust he’d hold his word, and that Arthur would agree. 

“Hey,” she replied with a smile. “It went great, actually! He showed me that library you’d told me about, and-- Oh, Arthur you wouldn’t believe how incredible it was! I never dreamed I’d ever see so many old texts all in one place, and they were restored just like the tower, it was like they were new! We sat and read together for pretty much the whole time I was there. I promised I’d bring him some modern literature next time I visited.”

"Oof, has my position of 'best friend' been usurped now?" He struggled to sit up under Mystery's dead weight, and managed to do so just in time to see her stick her tongue out at him.  He grinned back, nerves forgotten for the moment. "I can picture the giant ass hearts in your eyes-- did you like, float off the floor and trail sparkles behind you like a cartoon?"

Vivi rolled her eyes but snickered. Arthur wasn't exactly wrong, but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of saying so...at least not yet. She nudged him playfully as she plunked herself down on the couch. "You're gonna have to step up your game if you can't pull huge ancient libraries outta your ass, Artie," she joked along with him before settling on scratching Mystery's belly. 

Arthur was finally able to sit up fully when Mystery wormed his way off of him to insinuate himself into Vivi’s lap and demand more attention. Some of his apprehension crept back in, but he pushed it aside. 

"What were you thinking of bringing over to show him?" He asked. Okay, maybe it wasn't pushed aside enough to bring up what he'd been debating with himself over, but he'd get there. And besides, he really was interested. What would a thousand year old, supernatural being be interested in reading, he wondered?

"Well, we read a lot of poetry-- mostly pastoral pieces about winter. He's never seen snow before, can you believe it?" Vivi stopped herself. She didn't want to seem like she was pushing Arthur for an answer, after all. "So I told him I'd bring him some other poetry books, modern stuff. The language has really changed, it's super interesting!"

Vivi had changed the subject quickly, but Arthur’s attention lingered on the exact sentence she’d probably wanted to avoid snagging him on. The ghost-- Ensis -- had never seen something as simple as snow. Arthur didn’t get to see it very often himself, since winters were usually too warm here, but he could always take a drive up north to see it again if he really wanted. Even if he couldn’t go there in person, he could pull up photos or a video of a snowy mountain or wintry forest online any time he felt like it. He’d never really thought about how lucky he was that it was that easy before.

Ensis didn’t have any of those options.

“I’m sure he’d like that,” he said absently, and scratched at his cheek. “But, um-- So.” He cleared his throat. “I’ve been thinking about what you asked before. About going back to the tower. I’ll do it.” The words didn’t come easily, but still not with as much of a struggle as he’d expected.

“You were right,” he continued. “Locking him up in there was wrong of my ancestor, and if I can set him free and I don’t just because I’m afraid-- that’s not really any better. So I’ll do it. I need you to be there with me, I just-- can’t do it alone. But I will do it.”

Vivi blinked, appearing to process Arthur’s words, and then lit up like a goddamn Christmas tree. "Really?" She asked, and even though she was clearly trying to hide the delight in her voice, she failed. "Like-- are you sure? You really wanna do this? Really?!"

He'd expected her to be happy, but the sheer level of her excitement still warmed him and helped to erase a bit more of his apprehension. "I'm sure," he said. "I dunno if I can really say I 'want' to but-- I have to. It's the right thing to do, so I'm going to do it. I mean-- as long as he's on board with the idea too."

She hadn't even had to bring it up; Arthur had gone and decided this himself without any input from her. If that wasn't proof enough that Arthur was nothing like his cruddy ancestor, then Vivi didn't know what was.

"He is," she assured him. "I talked with him about it. He said the same thing you did: as long as I'm there, you can go inside and do what's gotta be done." There was no need to mention specifics. Arthur and Ensis were both putting their trust in her, and she would never betray that trust by just abandoning the two of them to their own devices. That just spelled trouble for all parties. 

"You can choose when we go, okay?" Vivi beamed at him. "Whenever you're ready and comfortable, we'll go. We'll all go." She looked down to Mystery in her lap.

Arthur shrugged. "Unless you want to talk to him about it again first, going as soon as we can is fine." The less time to be anxious about it the better, probably. "I don't work next Friday and Saturday, we could always go after your Friday class, if you don't have anything else you have to be doing?"

Something about setting a definitive date made some of his nerves ratchet back up, but he was surprised at how relatively calm he actually felt. The assuredness that this was the right thing was apparently doing wonders in that regard. He smiled at her, and it wasn't as weak as he would have thought.

"Yeah!" Vivi nodded excitedly. “ Sounds good, I'll pick you up as soon as I'm done. The class ends at two so we can go right after that! I don't have to work until later on in the day on Saturday, so that works out perfectly for the both of us!" She wiggled in place and then, apparently unable to contain her exuberance, flung herself across the couch. She knocked Mystery right onto the floor with an indignant yip and nearly sent Arthur and herself down with him as she threw her arms around Arthur’s neck. He only just managed to catch her with a winded huff of laughter.

She’d knocked them into such a precarious tangle of limbs, kept on the couch only by one of Arthur’s legs propping them up, that it took several minutes and a lot of accidentally elbowing each other to work themselves back into sitting positions.

"...You know I've been kinda curious," Vivi hummed once she settled back down and started scratching Mystery's belly apologetically. "Did you ever tell Uncle Lance about what happened?"

An involuntary bark of laughter left Arthur. “Oh-- I uh-- lied? If I’d told him the whole story he would’ve gone full Princess Bride and stormed that castle to have a go at Ensis with just his fists.” He scratched his cheek lightly, brows pinching together. “I told him some guy tried to mug me and that you’d chased him off. So not completely a lie, I guess. I’m pretty sure the only reason I got away with even that much was that the ‘lying to Lance’ nerves were camouflaged by all the other nerves.”

There was a pause, and Arthur snickered softly again. “Christ, can you picture Lance trying to put a ghost in a half-nelson though?”

Vivi burst out laughing, covering her mouth with both hands, and even Mystery had a few snickers in there to add. "Oh my god," she hooted. "Just - Ensis is so fucking tall-- he’s a giant , but I can see Uncle Lance taking him down so easily."  

Arthur laughed with her-- the idea was just plausible enough to make the absurd mental image that went with it even more hilarious.

"Y'know..." After her laughter died down a little, Vivi propped her cheek against her fist thoughtfully. "I guess I never really thought about it before now but..." She looked down at Mystery, who tilted his head quizzically. "Do you think Uncle Lance has the same power over him that you do?" Despite looking at her dog, her question was directed at Arthur. She couldn’t help her curiosity, even though she knew Arthur didn't like talking about it, so she couldn’t quite meet his eye as she did. It was a legitimate question though. Lance was part of the family too, after all, so logically Atrus would be his ancestor as well, right?

The question sobered him back up fast. “I-- I dunno,” he said, after a long moment considering it. “I have no idea if it’s just a-- a bloodline thing, or if it has to do with who owns the tower… I don’t think he’d like the idea anymore than I do, if he did.” Even after making his decision about using that power only once, and only to free Ensis, just thinking about the fact that he had it at all sent a twisting thread of nausea through Arthur’s gut.

"Well," Vivi said as she leaned back into the couch. "Hopefully we never find out.” She had no doubt in her mind that if Lance, hypothetically, did have the same power over Ensis that Arthur did, he'd hate it. Never mind that he didn't exactly buy the whole ‘supernatural mumbo-jumbo’ thing-- that he’d have to meet someone who personified it notwithstanding-- but Lance just wasn't that kind of person, despite what someone might assume from his gruff exterior. He could deny it all he wanted, but he really was a big ol' softie underneath it all. 

“Then again,” she continued. “I can't picture Ensis ever going to the shop. Like...ever."

“Oh my god-- I-- I’m trying so hard to picture that but the mental image just is not happening at all,” Arthur laughed, and suddenly he felt at ease. He still wasn’t sure whether he was making the smartest decision or not, but he was at least sure that it felt right to him. Whatever else might come of it, well-- he’d cross that bridge-- they’d cross that bridge, him and Vivi both-- when they came to it.

Three days later saw them en route to the tower in Vivi's car. Arthur sat in the passenger seat with Mystery in his lap, watching the island's scenery glide by and juggling his knee nervously. He was still sure of his decision and he had no intention of backing out, but that didn't mean he was completely calm about this whole endeavor. 

"We're getting close now, I think?” He said. “Right?"

“Mhm.” Vivi nodded and flashed him a brief smile. “Think another five minutes or so will get us there. Once we get past the trees, you can see the tower pretty good.” She basically knew the route by heart by now. Hopefully Ensis wouldn’t mind them dropping by today. He usually didn’t, but she still felt bad just rolling up without warning. Unfortunately there wasn’t any way to contact him and actually tell him that they were coming, so he was left alone until the surprise happened. 

This would work. She trusted Ensis, and he trusted her, and she trusted Arthur more than anyone in the world. Soon everything would be okay. 

Vivi pointed out the tower when it appeared above the trees. Soon enough, they were at the entrance. She took a deep breath. Moment of truth. 

But when she stepped out of her car, she paused. A sound teased at the edge of her hearing, one she wouldn’t have expected to find here of all places. “Is that...music?”

"Music?" Before he'd even finished asking, Arthur heard the string of high, coppery notes drifting down to them from the garden balcony. He couldn't place what instrument it was, but it sounded like-- maybe something with strings? The tune was heartfelt but also stretched out and slightly halting, as though the musician was talented but a long time out of practice, and had to make an effort to remember how it felt to play. "Is that--? That has to be him, right?"

“There’s no one else it could be...” Vivi had a feeling if anyone else ever tried to enter the tower, Ensis would not take kindly to it. But-- wow! She had no idea he could play anything, let alone that there were any instruments in the tower to begin with. But it was a lovely sound, and she couldn’t help but smile to hear it. 

Knocking would be the polite thing to do, but Vivi loathed to interrupt him. “Maybe we should wait for him to finish?” she said.

"Yeah...." Arthur murmured distractedly, drifting closer to the tower as though to try and hear better. "Though, if he doesn't know we're here he might not be done playing for--"

The tower doors opened smoothly as he approached. The music sounded fainter inside, echoing in a way that gave it an ethereal and appropriately ghostly quality, but it didn't skip a single beat. Damn, Vivi wished she had that kind of concentration when she played her guitar.  

"Oh--” Arthur shuffled backwards a few steps from the doorway. “I guess he knows we're here after all."

And yet the music didn't stop. 

She shared a look with Mystery, who gestured for her to go inside. Vivi figured it would be better if she went first. Have Arthur follow behind...just in case. At least this time he'd have two shields instead of one, should things go awry. 

Which they wouldn’t. Vivi desperately hoped they wouldn't. 

"Oh yeah - it looks a little different in here," she said casually as they stepped over the threshold, gesturing around the foyer. "He really spruced the place up, don't you think?"

"N-no shit," Arthur said in hushed tones, as soon as he was able to pick his jaw back up off the floor. The only other time he'd been so awestruck walking into a building had been on a trip to an eleventh century cathedral he’d accompanied Vivi on once, and honestly even that paled in comparison. 

"He-- he Temple of Timed this place! Is the whole tower like this? Do you think this is how everything originally looked back then or like-- did he put his own spin on it? Is the garden like this too? I'm pulling a you, is this how history makes you feel all the time?" He laughed, and was surprised for a moment at the obvious nerves in it-- apparently amazement had beaten back apprehension for a moment, but it came creeping back in now.

"Yeah, he totally did!" Vivi had to smother a laugh, herself. Was that what she was like when she got excited and went off on a merry tangent with her questions? Damn, that was actually pretty adorable. Or maybe that was just Arthur.

Yeah probably just him. "It's mostly what it looked like originally, but he did put a little twist on it. At least that's what he told me." She beamed at him. "And the garden is amazing too! It’s this way!" 

Vivi ushered Arthur up the stairs behind her and Mystery. He half-jogged to catch up with her at the bottom of the stairs, and deliberately brought himself even with her. He hadn't missed how she'd placed herself and Mystery ahead of him. As much as he appreciated that she'd defend him-- he couldn't hide behind her now. Not while he did this.

The lilting notes got louder as they climbed the stairs, until they reached the archway that led out into the garden. Even through that limited frame Arthur was staggered at the change in the place. Standing just inside the threshold, he reached out to a huge, ruffly blue flower bobbing from a climbing vine, and lightly rubbed one velvet petal between his fingers. 

The music was clear and unmuffled here-- this was obviously where they would find Ensis. They barely had to take two steps in before Arthur was proven right.

He sat on a stone bench, one foot propped up on an overturned stone bowl that had perhaps once held flowers before it had broken. On that raised knee perched a small, pear shaped instrument-- it almost looked like a simplified violin, but he played it more like a cello, balancing it on its round bottom edge at a slight angle from upright, with the strings facing away from him.

He didn't look up from his playing at their approach-- he seemed far too absorbed to notice them. His brow (brow...bone?) creased with focus, and his eyes were closed (how did that even work for a skull?). The hand weaving the bow over the strings moved fairly confidently, but the other one hesitated like he had to remind himself of how to hold his fingers for each note as he played it.

Strangely, it didn't seem like he even knew they were there, and yet the door had opened. Either that was just a fluke, or something else was going on around here. Vivi could believe either, knowing their luck. 

They waited, not wanting to interrupt him or startle him out of playing the beautiful tones. The music sounded somber in a way, but nobody said anything about it, at least not yet. 

Finally, after a few more minutes, the song came to an end. Ensis sighed, as if he was unsure how well he did, before slowly opening his eyes (sockets?). They lingered on the instrument for a moment before his gaze drifted upward, and he nearly jumped when he saw he had guests, letting out an inarticulate sound of surprise.

Of all the things Arthur could have expected to happen on this trip, having to bite down laughter definitely wasn't on the list. Seeing a fiery behemoth of a ghost jump like a frightened cat and have to fumble not to drop the instrument he was holding-- it was so bizarre of an image that it couldn't be anything but funny.

For Vivi’s part, she’d seen Ensis stunned before, but never like this. It was honestly... kind of cute. She smiled warmly at him. "That was beautiful."

Arthur nodded awkwardly along with Vivi's compliment, hoping that his expression wasn't too demented from holding in his amusement. Ensis looked sheepish, even embarrassed. That wasn't something Arthur ever would have figured he'd see either. 

"You needn't--" Ensis muttered, more towards the instrument than them. "There's no need for niceties, I know I am-- rather out of practice."

"That was out of practice?" Vivi asked, a beaming smile still on her face. "Wow, then I definitely need to hear you when you have practiced." 

She took a few steps towards him, just enough to make sure Ensis could see Arthur was there without putting too much distance between herself and Arthur. "What kind of instrument is that? I've never seen it before."

If Arthur hadn't been laser focused on Ensis and and waiting for any movement he might make, he'd never have noticed the way that eerie, spectral gaze briefly darted in his direction, the tiny squint of suspicion or nervousness or both. Ensis was focused back on Vivi almost instantly.

"It's called a lyra," he said, rolling the bow between his fingers. "I found it along with several other instruments, but this was the only one I know how to play. And.... thank you." 

Arthur was struck by just how expressive Ensis managed to be with only a skull to work with. He'd definitely been able to communicate 'rage' when they'd met last; now his face looked... Soft, even shy. Bashfulness definitely was added to the list of things Arthur hadn't expected to see today. 

His gaze darted back to Arthur again and immediately away, with that same momentary shift in expression.

He seemed almost entranced by Vivi, as if her presence had a calming effect on him. After months of her visits, and her probably one of the first-- maybe only-- caring faces he had come across in god knew how long, it made sense that Ensis would gravitate towards her.

And plus, Vivi was just like that. She had that kind of personality that made people love to be around her. Arthur could attest to that for sure. 

Vivi hummed in thought. "I've seen pictures of lyra before, but they don't look like that anymore, I didn’t even recognize it. That's so cool!" She grinned at him. Hopefully the small talk could relax him before the main event of the day. 

She turned a little to put a hand on Arthur's shoulder. "Maybe some introductions are in order?" They definitely started off on the wrong foot, and now was the perfect time to start over. At least she hoped so.

It really was absolutely wild how expressive a skull could be. Arthur couldn’t have described exactly how Ensis’ expression changed, but suddenly all that shy softness was gone as his attention shifted fully onto Arthur. He didn’t look actively hostile at least, but he seemed to have closed up somehow as though to hide away any potential vulnerability.

A light squeeze to his shoulder from Vivi made him feel a little more stable, but he still wasn’t quite sure what to do as Vivi introduced him and the ghost before them formally. He settled on an awkward half wave, feeling incredibly out of his depth.

When neither Arthur nor Ensis did anything, Vivi resisted the urge to roll her eyes. There was no way things couldn’t be tense, true, but this was just getting ridiculous. They seemed bound and determined to make it worse! 

...Not that she had a lot of room to judge. Vivi knew she could definitely hold a grudge if the situation called for it. But still! She nudged Arthur gently with her elbow and gestured to Ensis. The polite thing to do would be to introduce himself, and vice versa.

Arthur looked at her aghast-- what exactly was she expecting him to do, start shooting the breeze as though the sum total of all his and Ensis' interactions hadn’t been-- well, exactly what they’d been? He nudged her back.

Ensis remained stock still except for his eyes, which darted between Arthur and Vivi, watching their wordless argument intently.

With an aggravated sigh, Vivi turned to Ensis, smile back on her face. If Arthur didn't want to do pleasantries, then whatever. They'd just get straight to the point. "So, I talked with Arthur about what we talked about the last time I was here." Obviously. Arthur probably wouldn't be here otherwise. "We - he decided that he wanted to do this for you." On his own, without any input from her. Vivi was honestly proud of him for that.

Arthur wished she hadn't put so much emphasis on the idea being his-- it wasn't like he'd come up with the thought entirely on his own, and he didn't feel like he deserved much credit or laude for doing something that anyone decent would do in this position...

Vivi was looking at him expectantly again, and he still had no idea what to do.

"Vivi's right," he finally blurted after the pause had already stretched on far too long . "Your playing-- that music was incredible." Well. A little non-sequitur, but better than a lot of things he could have said.

For the briefest of moments Ensis' expression opened and he looked surprised, and then his face became carefully neutral again. He made himself busy arranging the instrument and its bow on the bench where he sat.

  "That is a... generous description. Any of the men I learned to play from could have put me to shame," he told his fidgeting hands. He turned his gaze out towards the horizon with a look Arthur probably would’ve had trouble naming even if Ensis had a regular human face. “How did you intend to…?”

Aww... he was being so humble. Vivi laughed softly. It was kind of cute. 

They waited for him to finish, but it seemed like Ensis had lost his nerve. That was fine, this couldn’t be easy.

“Well...” Vivi spoke up. She gave Mystery the briefest of glances, and he nodded. Better to just rip the band-aid off and get it over with. “You can’t leave because that guy told you you couldn’t, right?” 

Vivi walked over and gently took one of his hands in both of hers. It hadn’t escaped her that being touched seemed to startle him, but also had some sort of calming effect as well, after the initial jump. Hopefully it would help his nerves. “If the opposite happens, then you’re free, right?” Theoretically at least. She gave him her warmest smile. “I know it’s kind of scary, but I promise you’ll be okay Ensis.”

Just watching the rapid shifts in Ensis’ expressions was almost enough to give Arthur whiplash. Vivi’s reassuring smile and the touch of her hand caused him to immediately soften again, letting the worry and hope and uncertainty that he’d apparently been trying to hide from Arthur specifically shine through plain as anything. 

And-- there was trust there too. The exact same kind of unwavering trust that Arthur had in Vivi himself. Arthur was amazed, but not actually all that surprised-- Vivi just had that sort of effect on people. She made people feel safe and like... like they could be brave.

“Maybe--” Arthur’s voice came out squeaky, and he had to clear his throat and try again. “Maybe we should go downstairs to do this? To the front doorway.”

Ensis didn't seem very keen on moving anywhere. He stood up to his full height, even letting Vivi's tiny hands stay on his own, but that was it. 

He was...really tall. Like really really tall. Vivi looked hobbit-like in comparison. Up to now Arthur had figured that terror had made the spirit in his memories seem much bigger than he really was-- apparently not. Ensis really was just that towering. 

"Here will be fine," Ensis replied after a few moments, with an expression like he was trying not to glare Arthur down but still remain intimidating.

"Are you sure?" Vivi asked, not intimidated at all. It was almost laughable how comfortable she was around a… Well, whatever the hell Ensis actually was. 

“I am." He sounded more than ready to get this over with.

Arthur swallowed, the sound cartoonishly loud in his own ears.

“I just thought-- I figured-- going down now would mean-- like, we could test to make sure it worked right away instead of-- y’know having to-- we can do it here though.” The words somehow came out haltingly and all in a rush at the same time.

Ensis just kept on silently looming. Arthur took a slow breath in and out through the nose, and counted back from five to try and center himself at least a little.

“So-- You aren’t bound to this place anymore. You don’t have to leave, but you can-- and you can come back, if you decide to. You can come and go as you please.” He’d rehearsed what he might’ve said over and over, and now he tried to go through every variant he had thought of, unsure of which would work, if all of them would have-- if any would. “You aren’t a prisoner anymore. You-- you never should have been in the first place.”

As he finished Ensis froze in place, and the whole tower seemed to hold its breath. Instead of the glowy effect or some kind of magical explosion that Vivi had been expecting (and maybe hoping for, so sue her), there really wasn't...anything. If she didn't know any better, it almost seemed like nothing had happened. 

And suddenly Vivi was fearful. Was the curse even more complicated than she thought? Had it been cast so that Ensis couldn't leave at all, ever , even if the one ‘controlling’ him said he could? Had they done this all for nothing?

Before she could voice any of this, Ensis seemed to snap out of whatever trance Arthur’s words had briefly put him under. Slowly he turned to walk over to the edge of the balcony. He reached over the railing as if searching for something, hand outstretched completely, and...again, nothing happened. 

Or had it? Ensis flared up slightly, startling even Mystery as small wisps of flame erupted from his hair. Whatever he'd been searching for, maybe he found it? Or maybe not, and that was the idea. But without warning or explanation, he leapt from the balcony and disappeared down below.

Chapter Text

"Wha-?!" Vivi was so shocked that it took her a split second too long to realize what she'd just seen. Mystery rushed past her, and she quickly followed after him. "Ensis!"

For several seconds Arthur’s head refused to wrap itself around what had just happened. He stared at the spot where Ensis had dropped over the balcony rail, thoughts blank until Vivi’s shout seemed to jump start his brain back into doing its job. 

“Holy shit!” He yelped, and darted to Vivi’s side where she was leaning so far over the railing that she looked ready to pitch over it herself, grabbing ahold of the back of her sweater as he peered over to make sure she didn’t do just that.

Ensis was at ground level, but not in a ruined, spread-eagled heap like in the image the part of his brain dedicated to irrational terror had cooked up. Instead he just stood there, peering around at the scenery and looking-- almost aimless. “What--” Arthur started to ask no-one, because Vivi was already back through the archway that led to the staircase and pounding down the steps.

Arthur scrambled after her as fast as he could without losing his footing on the steep spiral. He met her at the enormous entry doors and had to help her shove them open-- they protested in a way they never had done before. Once outside, Vivi raced straight to Ensis’ side, and Arthur skidded to a stop about halfway away, turning to look back at the tower.

It didn’t look any different. He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting-- for it to collapse behind their exit like a defeated boss’ lair?

“Don’t do that!” Arthur turned his head back when vivi’s voice snapped him out of it once more. She had grabbed onto Ensis’ arm and was tugging on his sleeve, and she didn’t look angry at least, just startled. It took a lot to take Vivi off guard, but that certainly did it. “You scared the bajesus out of me, you jerk!” 

If Arthur didn’t know any better, it almost looked like Ensis was regarding her fondly as she scolded him. “You-! You-!” 

“My apologies,” Ensis finally cut her off, clear amusement in his voice. “I didn’t mean to worry you. I wasn’t thinking.” 

Clearly. But all worry suddenly vanished from Vivi’s face in favor of awestruck. ”You didn’t tell me you could fly!!” She suddenly exclaimed, seemingly forgetting about how Ensis’ death-defying act had frightened her for the moment.

"I must ask for your pardon," Ensis said, with unmistakable humor in his voice. Arthur balked, not wanting to interrupt, but-- he needed to know--

"Are you-- Did it work? I mean, I know you're out of the tower tower but. Are you fr-- able to go wherever you want now? Can you um-- can you tell?"

Ensis looked at him, expression still cautious but at least no longer outright suspicious. "Yes. If I was able to cross the threshold, then I am no longer bound."

"That's awesome!" Vivi beamed at the both of them, hoping to settle the lingering tension. "So, so? What do you wanna do first? Do you want to go to the city? Can you fly over to the city? You really should've told me you could-"

A nudge to her leg made Vivi pause, and she looked down to see Mystery giving her a look that told her things weren't exactly as she was thinking they were. She looked back to Ensis, and to her surprise, he looked a little torn. "...Ensis?" Vivi spoke softly this time. "You okay?" 

"Ah-- yes-- sorry." He seemed a little flustered that he was caught looking so torn. "It's just - this feeling, this... freedom. It's a little...overwhelming."

He turned his palms upward, staring at them as though he’d never quite looked at them properly before. “I-- I’ve wanted this, thought about it for such a long time but now that it’s mine, I-- I’m not certain--”

“What do to with it,” Arthur murmured the words at the same time Ensis spoke them, thankfully too quiet for the spirit to have noticed through his turmoil. Should he offer any kind of suggestion? Maybe not… Even if he carefully phrased it as advice rather than a command, he wasn’t sure if that skirted the line too much. And besides, Vivi knew Ensis much better than he did, so anything she suggested would probably suit him more anyway.

Something seemed to occur to him-- his head lifted to meet Vivi's eye-- and then ducked down again as though embarrassed to voice whatever thought he'd had aloud.

"Are there mountains nearby?" he murmured after a moment's hesitation, his voice so soft Arthur almost couldn't hear it; the question had probably been meant for Vivi alone.

It seemed to take Vivi a moment to register what Ensis was getting at, and once she did, she smiled warmly. 

She really did have an effect on him. Vivi felt damn proud, if she did say so herself. 

"I can't say there are any really near," she replied. "Not any snow-capped ones within walking distance for sure. But I mean...I could always take you to the mountains, Ensis. If you wanted." 

Ensis was silent for a while, mulling over all the options suddenly handed to him. "...Perhaps. But - ah - maybe not...not right now..."

Vivi nodded. "That's totally understandable. This is big, I getcha. You probably want some time to think about things, right?"

“Yes,” he murmured distantly. He was grateful that she understood. Vivi’s boundless enthusiasm was charming and invigorating, but at the moment he didn’t think he had the fortitude to withstand being swept up in it. He felt-- delicate somehow, and somewhat displaced, as though he were dreaming again. There were so many choices open to him that he was too paralyzed to make any of them. He was more lost than ever.

This wasn’t what he’d imagined freedom would feel like.

“Perhaps…” he started. “Perhaps I will begin with the island itself.” He hated how unsure he sounded about even that. “Will you come again soon?” He didn’t even care how vulnerable and plaintive he sounded; any surety Vivi could provide, he sorely needed, dignity be damned.

“You didn’t even need to ask.” Vivi’s smile was warm and calming. Once the shock wore off, Vivi hoped he would be a bit more excited, but she truly did understand what he was feeling. This was a lot to take in after so long of being stuck in one place. But he was free to stay here and go at his leisure; hopefully Ensis took some comfort in that. 

She hummed in thought. “How about I come back in a week? Would that be okay? Or should I wait a little longer?”

He nearly asked her to return sooner, but it wasn’t fair of him to demand so much from her. It was not an insubstantial journey for her to undertake, and she had other obligations that he couldn’t ask her to abandon just because he was feeling skittish. 

“One week,” he agreed. “I will look forward to it.” 

His hand moved towards her slightly before he had the sense to stop himself. Just what was he planning to do, exactly? Clasping forearms like two soldiers who had just struck an accord was too formal, but everything else he could have done was far, far too familiar. He sheepishly tried to disguise his blunder by adjusting his cloak pin. If he’d had a throat he would clear it; as it stood, a single spark snapped briefly below his skull to the same effect.

“Until then, Vivi,” he said, and at least he sounded more sensible than he felt.

"Yep. Take it easy, okay?" If she noticed his misstep, then she didn't voice it. She merely gave him a small wave before gesturing for Mystery to follow her.

If it had been anyone else, Arthur would have tried to say something reassuring. If anyone could relate to the anxiety that was written plain as day in Ensis’ expression and body language, it was definitely Arthur. He was acutely aware that Ensis wouldn’t want any comforting words he had to offer, and he couldn’t think of anything that wouldn't sound incredibly condescending coming from him anyway, but it was still surprisingly hard to resist the impulse to reach out. He fiddled with the cuff on his right wrist.

As Vivi passed Arthur, she put a hand on his shoulder in an effort to hopefully keep him calm. She knew he had done the right thing. Now all that was left was to start the healing process.

Or at least, she hoped so. 

"Come on,” she murmured. “Let's give him some space."

He startled a little at Vivi’s touch, but managing a small smile for her was actually easy.

“Right,” he replied, and followed her to the van. Before getting in, he glanced over the passenger door back at Ensis, who was watching their departure. Without thinking, he spread out his hand in an almost-wave, then ducked quickly into his seat before he could see how Ensis reacted.

Vivi sang along with the radio, bouncing slightly with the song. The sun was bright and buttery yellow, and the worst of the summer heat was long past.

The perfect kind of day to spend outdoors with a friend, if she did say so herself.

She'd packed a lunch for herself, and extra besides. Ensis probably couldn't eat-- he didn't have a mouth after all-- but it didn't hurt to be prepared if he could. It was another aspect of the world she could help him explore!

Mystery grinned a little doggy grin at her from the passenger seat. "You're in incredible spirits, little one. Excited for your playdate?"

The use of her childhood nickname didn't deter her giddiness in the slightest. Vivi was glad Mystery was coming along this time as well; it certainly wouldn't hurt to have another tour guide. This was probably going to be a lot for him, after all.

"Well yeah!" She replied, tone more than chipper, especially for so early in the morning. She made sure to get an early start so the three of them could spend most of the day together. "He's finally gonna go out and see the 21st century, y'know? It's exciting!" 

Vivi wondered how Ensis was feeling now. Nervous? Probably. But she hoped he was as excited as she was too. 

The boat ride and the rest of the drive felt like forever, but eventually the tower came into view. When she stopped and got out of the car, however, Vivi paused. 

Something...was off. The tower looked normal on the outside, but there was something... different about it, and for the life of her, Vivi couldn't figure out what it was. She bit her lip as she slowly closed the door to her car. "Um...Mystery?" She started, sounding more nervous than before. "Does something feel weird to you?"

His ears flattened against his skull as he scented the air. He felt it too-- The energy here was flatter, duller somehow than it had been last time he'd visited. Stale.

As they approached the doors, he wasn't terribly surprised that they did not open on their own like Vivi had told him they had before. He tried not to assume the worst.

Vivi's hand hovered just above the knob. It still felt rude to just barge in, but this was different. "...Ensis?" She called out, and hoped and prayed that she would be answered. 

But there was none. And she couldn't even blame music for him not hearing her this time. 

Swallowing, Vivi finally turned the knob and pushed the heavy door open. And what she saw made her heart sink. "Wh...what the...?"

Everything was in ruins. The entire foyer looked exactly as it did when she and Arthur had first arrived in the tower all those months ago, as if whatever magic Ensis had done to the place had completely vanished. But how? Why? "I'm - I'm not crazy right?" Vivi said softly. "You're seeing this too, right?"

"I see it." His grim tone did nothing to ease Vivi's nerves. Cold dread and white hot panic warred in her gut. If everything Ensis had done to restore the tower had undone itself-- did that mean--

Had severing Ensis tie to the tower--? Had she made a mistake? Had she--?

She bolted for the stairs, taking them two at a time, not caring about the clouds of dust each footfall brought spiraling up. She just pressed on through the coughing fit, up and up until she reached the door at the top of the tower. 

It was still slightly ajar and she barreled right through into the shadowy chamber beyond. The coffin still stood at the other end of the room.

Its lid was wide open, and it was empty. Whatever it was that had happened to Ensis, at least he hadn't fallen back under the spell that had put him to sleep for so long.

She wished she could take some comfort in that, but the panic only increased. Had he left without her? Or had he just...moved on?

Vivi swallowed. Supposedly ghosts wanted that, and if severing Ensis' tie to this place had let him move on, then she should have been happy, right? 

"This isn't funny..." Vivi muttered as she looked around the room one more time before backing out into the hallway once more. "Ensis, if you're here, please say something?" 

The eerie silence was far more telling than anything else. Vivi didn't even notice Mystery following her as she inspected the rest of the tower. Nowhere in the library either, or any side rooms. 

She was relieved to see that at least the garden was still the way she remembered. There was no magic here; Ensis had taken care of the plants on his own, and they went on living with or without him. 

Her footsteps seemed far too loud as she crossed to the rosebush that had apparently been Ensis’ favorite-- he’d always paid particular attention to it, and its purple blossoms were enormous, nearly as big as her head. She buried her face in one and breathed deep, trying to let the sweet, dusty scent calm her.

“Where would he have gone?” She mumbled into the petals. “Why would he just leave without even saying goodbye?” She didn’t want to dwell on the other possibility: that without the magic binding him to the tower, Ensis had no tie to the living world at all, and had passed on. But ignoring that possibility didn’t make it go away. “Mystery, would you be able to tell if-- if he just left the tower or if he’s--” her voice wavered and she had to take a moment to get it back under control. “If he’s gone because he’s just gone .”

The moment of silence that followed didn't make her feel any better. She risked a look back at her precious pooch, who seemed to be concentrating. 

"I...don't know," Mystery finally replied, ears lowering in shame. "I wish I could say for certain as to where he might've gone, but..." He trailed off. There was no point in finishing his thought. 

Nevertheless, he walked over and nudged her leg. "Don't give up, Vivi. There's still a good chance he's just out exploring on his own. Let's wait a bit and see if he comes back."

"Yeah," she said, but she sounded far from sure. She slumped to the flagstone floor next to the rose bush, wrapping her arms around her knees and burying the lower part of her face into her scarf.

Time ticked away slowly. Vivi eventually had to stand when her rear end started to go numb, and she whiled the minutes away wandering the garden. She paced around and around the stone railing, scanning the horizon for any sign that Ensis might be making his way back and getting more and more agitated when she didn't spot him. She couldn't bring herself to go back inside the tower, however-- the idea of wandering through its decay was too depressing, no matter how stir crazy she was making herself outside.

Finally, after nearly two hours of this, she admitted defeat.

"We should go home," she said despondently. "He's not here."

Mystery had seated himself next to her almost immediately, curling up against her side in what he hoped was comfort. He made some small talk to keep her mind occupied, but that could only work for so long.

Two hours seemed like an unreal amount of time for him to be gone, and even Mystery found himself worried for Ensis' fate. "Alright..." he replied softly and stretched. Most likely they would not see him tonight, so there was no point in sticking around.

When the door opened, Arthur felt himself jump a little. There was no way the day was already over, was it? 

No-- it was still daylight. Vivi had made it clear that she would be gone until late at night; maybe even not until the next morning. 

Something must be wrong. Arthur peeked his head out from his room and his heart sunk when he saw the disappointed look on her face. "Hey. Uh...what happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm-- I'm fine, but--"

He made a beeline to her side, because she sounded just like him when he tried to claim he was fine when he definitely wasn't. "But what? What's wrong, Vi? Did something happen with Ensis...?"

"No. Nothing happened and that's the problem. Ensis-- wasn't there. He was just gone."

Arthur's gut clenched into a cold knot. 'Gone?' Did she mean--? If he was gone, did that mean that they had--?

The horrible question must have been written all over his face, because Vivi shook her head without him having to even ask.

"He wasn't back in the coffin. He wasn't in the tower at all, and it looks abandoned again. Everything he did for it got undone, except the garden, and there wasn't any sign of him anywhere on the island. I don't know what happened to him."

"What...?" That couldn't be. Vivi was only gone a week, and not even a full one since she had been getting impatient to show her friend around. How could everything have just...stopped? "He wasn't there at all?"

Vivi sighed. "No he wasn't. Not in the tower, not...anywhere." 

Arthur bit his lip. He could tell Vivi was headed towards the worst possible conclusion; that Ensis just...wasn't around anymore. And while maybe that was a good thing for a ghost-- or whatever he was-- he knew Vivi would have at least wanted to say goodbye. 

But now they were left with nothing but more questions. Maybe they'd never get answered. "Well...maybe he just went off exploring on his own. You did go kinda early, after all."

"The whole day without me? He knew we were gonna do that when I saw him again..." 

Arthur swallowed. "Well...maybe he got lost?" He took a stab in the dark. It was kind of weird being the optimistic one for once. "The world is pretty big and, uh, different. I'm sure he'll find his way back though, Vi. Don't worry."

Vivi made an odd, choking sort of sound. Then another just like it. “Maybe he… got lost?” She pressed her fist to her mouth and doubled over slightly, making the noise again and Arthur finally realized what it was-- a laugh and a sob blended together into one miserable sound. She pawed underneath her glasses, trying to wipe away tears.  Arthur’s heart clenched like a fist.

“Vi-- Jesus, Vivi, I’m sorry-- I didn’t say that to be an asshole, I swear. Hey, c’mere, I’m sorry--” He tucked her into a hug, rubbing lightly at her back in that way that he knew always helped to calm her down. Immediately she hugged him back, clutching at him fiercely and pressing her forehead to his collarbone so firmly that it ached a little.

“I know,” she mumbled, so muffled that someone who didn’t know her voice well enough probably couldn’t have understood her. “I know you didn’t.” She sniffled and took a few struggling breaths against more sobs; Arthur rubbed his cheek slightly against her scalp and waited for her to continue. “I’d brought some poetry books along because I thought he’d like them, and I was going to show him the hedge maze behind to museum, and-- and even though he was scared he wanted to see, and now--”  she trailed off, fighting to get ahold of herself again

Arthur kept quiet for a few more minutes until he heard her breathing start to even out. He hadn't seen Vivi break down like this in a long time; not since Mystery broke his leg when they were in middle school. "...Poetry books, huh?" He spoke once he was certain Vivi had calmed down a little. "I remember you talking about that before. You guys read about snow and stuff. Were they like that?" 

He felt Vivi nod. "It was, y'know, more modern... I figured maybe he'd wanna know more about today's writing. It's - it's a lot different. Everything's different." 

"Yeah..." Arthur wished there was more he could say. Words wouldn't mean much in this situation, but at least he could be there for her. She had lost someone important to her, after all…

After a few more moments of quiet, Vivi leaned back slightly-- just far enough that she could take off her glasses and grab the end of her scarf to scrub at her wet face without leaving his hold.

"Shit-- I'm sorry, I was holding it together okay before," she mumbled.

"Hey." He rubbed her shoulders softly. "Don't be sorry for anything, okay. You're stealing my schtick again, you know?" 

It got a single watery laugh out of her, and she smiled up at him slightly. It was all he could have asked for at that moment. "Thank you, Artie," she murmured.

Without thinking about it, he found himself leaning forward slightly. He almost wanted-- He could just--

He tapped his forehead lightly against hers and then leaned back decisively, giving her shoulders one last brisk little squeeze. "That's what I'm here for," he said.