Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Arthur was being haunted by his best friend. And no, not like you're imagining.

Somehow this made some things easier. Others not so much.

Currently the most inconvenient thing about it was that the guy was late.

The moonlight streamed in from the window, the sky was perfectly clear. He had pushed his chair up so he could see the street outside, waiting. Arthur didn't really know what time it was but he was waiting for a while. Rubbing his eyes, he pulled the blankets tighter around himself. It usually didn't take this long. The weight of his head drooping roused him for a minute and Arthur forcefully shook his head.

"C'mon man," he murmured before a jaw popping yawn snuck up on him.

As if on cue, a tap at his window scared the hell out of him. Arthur rushed to the window and nearly tripped over his blanket. Throwing it open he was greeted with nothing but the chilly night air. He squinted, leaning out a bit and looking around.

"Ow!" Arthur stumbled back, hand flying to his forehead.

Another tinking sound and he finally caught what it was. A teeny tiny pebble fell to the ground and landed silently in his yard. Suddenly the window was occupied by a larger body, a wide grin on their face.

"Did you really have to thrown one at me?" Arthur said. His excited tone betrayed him though and Lewis only laughed.

"That's what you get when you lean halfway out of a two story window." He easily slipped inside, not having to bend as his arms and legs simply passed straight through the walls.

"Yeah well," Arthur huffed, crossing his arms, "I didn't sign up to be target practice."

Lewis stood to his full height now, hands in his pockets. If someone were to walk into Arthur's room they'd think Lewis was a perfectly normal guy. At least at first glance. He still looked the same, big smile, kind eyes, ridiculous pink hair. The clothes he wore were even the same. Still, if someone looked for more than a second it would be a little hard to miss the fact that he was floating a few inches off the ground.

"Well where's the fun in that?" He shot back. "I gotta do something with all that practice."

Arthur shook his head before kicking his blanket out of the way and reaching under his bed. He felt rather than heard Lewis moving behind him, stopping at the small cage on top of his bookshelf. From the squeaks he heard apparently the noise woke Galaham up. Arthur finally came up for to see Lewis bent over a bit, looking into the cage.

"Hey little guy," Lewis stuck his whole hand into the cage through the bars, "remember me?"

Stopping short of just touching him, Lewis held his hand out for inspection. The hamster stretched, looked up at Lewis, sniffed at the air once or twice and then promptly ran back into his little hideout. Disappointed, Lewis sighed and turned around.

"He still doesn't like me!"

"Eh," Arthur hedged. Now his quest was to find a pencil in the mess of his desk drawers. "I don't think he liked you much before."

"He loved me and you know it."

"Aha!" Arthur crowed, finally getting hold of a pencil. Picking up the blanket he fell onto the bed and sighed into the covers. He felt a presence over top of him.

"You're gonna give me a heart attack one of these days, man," he said into the mattress.

"Rough day?" Lewis asked instead. When Arthur looked up he could see his friend hanging in the air above him, legs crossed and hands back in his pockets.

Arthur sighed and pulled himself up into a sitting position. "About the same really. I don't think anyone really knows what to say to me half the time."

Lewis' expression fell, glancing away for a moment.

"Lewis I swear to god if you apologize again I'm gonna find some way to punch you in the face."

He sputtered before throwing his hands out. "Well I am! Half of this is my fault anyways!" He lowered his voice a bit, looking concerned. "You sure you don't want me to come with you at least?"

Already shaking his head, Arthur opened the notebook in his lap. "No. I can't talk to you there anyhow and it'd just be boring for you." He looked up to see Lewis still wasn't convinced. "You really want to sit through trigonometry with me?"

Seeming to deflate a bit Lewis let out a breathy sigh. "Not like I have much else to do."

It was muttered under his breath but hard to miss in the quiet of the room. Arthur shifted, uncomfortable. He focused instead on the words scrawled onto the paper, reading over his meticulously kept notes. If he focused on flipping the pages Arthur could ignore how his hands shook for just a moment.

"But hey," he said suddenly, cutting through the silence, "you've made a lot of progress already."

Lewis scratched the back of his head. That same unreadable expression from earlier was still there but he still leapt at the change in topic. "I did, huh?"

The pencil trailed along the notes from the past nights before scratching in new ones. "Yeah. Remember how long it took to just move a toothpick?"

A snort. "Ah, finally. I've graduated to rocks."

"Rocks are respectable," Arthur muttered, "we can work with rocks." He glanced up at Lewis. "How difficult was it?"

His friend shrugged. "Not really? I didn't have to think about it too hard for the first one at least." Lewis clenched and unclenched his fingers, watching them move. "The third one was harder though."

Arthur nodded, making a note of it. They'd been at this for months now. At first Lewis struggled to move even the smallest of things, frustrated that he couldn't even blow away a dust bunny. When he finally managed to pick something up it was a toothpick. It only stayed in the air for a moment before falling back to Arthur's desk but the sheer look of elation on Lewis' face made it more then worth it.

"You're gonna be lifting cars in no time, bud," Arthur said, closing the notebook with an audible slap.

Lewis huffed a laugh. "I don't know about that one."

He lowered himself to the floor, looking around in distaste. Which was fair considering Arthur's room was kind of a disaster at the moment.

"Jeez man I can't even see the floor," Lewis kicked at an empty energy drink can only for his foot to go right through.

"Finals are coming up, I was gonna get to it eventually..."

From the look on his friends face, Arthur's excuse sounded as flimsy as it actually was. Lewis crossed his arms, looming over him with a very familiar air of Disapproval ™. It was enough to send people in the other direction and even now Arthur laughed nervously, looking away.

"Lemme guess," Lewis said, tone even, "you haven't had enough time to sleep either?"

"Well," Arthur drew the word out, staring up at the corner in his ceiling, "not necessarily."

"Arthur."

"Well it wasn't just for the finals!"

Lewis' frown only grew. "You don't have to wait up for me, Arthur."

"But-"

"Nope," Lewis said, popping the P, moving towards the window, "if you fall asleep waiting for me we'll just meet up again later."

Arthur sighed again. "Fine. You're worse than Lance, I swear."

"I'm gonna take that as a compliment." Lewis floated back over to his window, giving him a little wave. "I'll see you later, Arthur."

"See ya," Arthur's voice was quiet. When he looked back over at the window he was already gone. Feeling more tired than he did before, Arthur pushed himself up and closed the window. There was nothing amiss outside like their conversation didn't even happen. Before Arthur climbed back into bed he put the notebook back under his bed.

His best friend was haunting him a d Arthur was going to help him as much as he could.

Chapter Text

The next day was a bit warmer so Arthur sat outside after school. His head bobbed to the music blasting from his headphones as he watched the cars roll by. The final bell had rung a while ago so most of the other kids were gone at this point, either walking home or piling into a school bus. 

Arthur drummed his fingers against his leg, leaning back against the bench and watching people walk by. The few kids who were still trickling out didn't take much notice of him. When Arthur did make eye contact with someone accidentally they quickly looked away, turning to the people they were with and talking in hushed voices. Weird as it was, after a few months he had gotten used to it. Though he didn't know if he preferred people actively antagonizing him or this new... whatever.

Their school was pretty small and his graduating class would be less than a hundred people. Everyone knew everyone else there. Even in a bigger school Arthur figured he'd have some notoriety after the accident. People didn't really know how to act around him. Teachers offered their condolences and referred him to the counselor more than once. Other kids there seemed to actively avoid him, whispers following Arthur down the hall. The kids who used to give him a hard time even gave him a wide berth now.

No one had actually asked him what had happened but he was unfortunate enough to hear the rumors anyway.

Arthur subconsciously rubbed at his arm. Glancing down, he turned the music up a bit more. Lance would be here soon-ish at least. Despite Arthur insisting he was old enough to just walk to his appointment after school, Lance insisted.

"It's a fifteen minute walk kid," his uncle had said, giving him a stern look over his mug, "you're gonna wait."

So here he was.

Something landed in his hair and Arthur caught sight of an acorn falling into his lap. He looked up to find a familiar ghost towering over him. He took out his headphones and made a spot for Lewis on the bench.

"Good to know you're expanding your horizons," Arthur joked, stuffing his phone into his bag.

"Well I could hear the music before I even got close to you," Lewis floated onto his side of the bench. "Think my plan worked pretty well."

One of Lewis' bigger concerns after coming back was that if someone did see him they would freak out. Which, granted, given his initial appearance after death was understandable. Alongside trying to train him to move and interact with things, Lewis had given himself the task of relearning how to walk and sit. It was harder than it sounded when you could float through everything. They hoped he'd be able to do it without worrying about falling through the chair at some point.

Now though it still needed some work. Lewis was less sitting on rather than in the bench, body going through it just a touch too far.

"You're in the bench, dude," Arthur said. 

Lewis looked down and cursed under his breath. His body rose an inch or two and he turned back to Arthur.

"Is this better?"

Now he was just a smidge above the bench. Not enough that anyone would notice but Arthur was close enough to see he wasn't actually touching it.

"Yup," he said instead.

Lewis looked relieved, nodding to himself. "How were your finals?"

"Pretty sure chemistry kicked my ass," Arthur sighed, idly kicking his feet. "Don't think I did that well on the AP exam either so at least I'm consistent."

"Oof," Lewis had his hands in his pockets, giving him a sympathetic look. "If it makes you feel any better you already did way better than I would've. Your homework didn't even look like English. How'd your other classes go?"

Arthur shrugged. "I don't know what I got in English but I'm pretty sure I got APUSH in the bag at least."

"Well hey, one bad grade isn't that bad," Lewis grinned. 

The one Arthur tried to return wasn't as bright. "Yeah, I guess. There's always next year, right?"

To be honest Arthur had been checked out for a couple months now. Classes fell a bit by the wayside in the face of everything else. He still studied, even a little more than usual to catch up, but he didn't care much at this point if he passed or failed this year.

Lewis knew this was because of the accident on some level even if the two of them never actually talked about it. He dropped in quite literally sometimes to offer his help with studying or just to lend an ear. Arthur very rarely took him up on either. Lewis was the one who died and to ask him to comfort someone grieving over his own death seemed weird.

"How uh-" Lewis paused, eyes following a group of stragglers as they passed by before turning back to Arthur, "how are you doing though? Really?"

Like now. This was weird. Everyone was asking Arthur this in some way or another. The police asked him what happened, the therapists asked him how he was coping, teachers asked him if needed extra time on assignments. Weird but he could deal. 

(Arthur very pointedly didn't think about the Peppers, hugging him and crying at the wake, asking him if he was alright).

But this was too weird for him to deal with. Some part of him should've expected Lewis was the kind of person to be more concerned with everyone else when he was a literal ghost.

"I'm good." When Lewis looked ready to argue, he continued. "Really. Or I’m going to be at least.”

Arthur at least had people around him. Even if he didn't talk to most of them he had the ability to. They could still see him. Ghosts didn't get therapists.

But it wasn't really the time to talk about it. Lewis didn’t seem totally satisfied but he quickly changed the subject. 

"What are you planning to do then? Over the break I mean."

He was probably just trying to fill in the silence. The question was something they probably would've talked about before had Lewis been alive to plan with. 

As it was, Arthur hadn’t given it much thought. "I don't know. I'll probably work at Lance's shop for a while. He mentioned letting me have one of the old yard cars if I help fix it up."

"Nice," Lewis nodded, staring at something in the distance.

The silence that fell over them was heavy and awkward. Arthur cleared his throat. "Not to mention our little side project. I hope you're ready for ghost boot camp, man."

That got Lewis’ attention. He turned to Arthur, bemused. "Ghost boot camp?"

"Yeah," Arthur smirked, patting his bag, "I got the whole plan in here.”

“And what we’re doing now isn’t ‘ghost boot camp’?” From his tone Arthur guessed they might have to workshop the name.

“Nah, I figured if we have time might as well go for it.” He grinned over at Lewis. “You’re gonna get ghost ripped man.”

"Arthur-" 

"A swole spirit."

Lewis snorted.

"Just picture it- paranormal pecs."

Lewis laughed, awkward mood forgotten. Arthur snickered along not caring since there was no one around to see him laughing by himself. It only increased when Lewis forgot himself and fell back through the bench.

The ghost recovered, this time abandoning the bench altogether and floating around to stand before him. It was a small thing but the warm smile on Lewis' face made the day worth it. 

"Can't wait," despite the joke Lewis sounded like he actually meant it, stuffing his hands in his pockets again.

It felt like something was being squeezed in his chest. Arthur coughed, trying to think of something to else to say. Lewis luckily spared him from having to as he looked to his right, eyebrows furrowed.

"What is it?"

"I think that dog is giving me the stink eye," Lewis said, sounding confused.

Arthur blinked and turned to look in that direction. Sure enough, a ways down the sidewalk there was little black and white dog with a shock of red fur at his ears. He was standing there, staring at Lewis. Arthur didn't think dogs could emote much but well- this one was definitely glaring their way.

"Animals really don't like me," Lewis almost pouted.

"They can see you more reliably than people can. I wonder if they think you're a threat or something?” Arthur muttered to himself. There had been stories about animals sensing bad weather or other events. Maybe this was in the same vein?
Regardless, Lewis had it right. Animals from Galaham to random stray cats either ran at the sight of him or tried to pick a fight with the ghost. 

Lewis sighed, having heard his musings. "I've gotten chased by at least three separate dogs so far. It sucks.”

"What?" Arthur turned back to him. "They can't actually bite you though? Why'd you run? And why run instead of float?”

From the way Lewis paused Arthur guessed this hadn't occurred to him. He watched as the ghost flushed, embarrassed. It was an odd darker purple tint Arthur noted, half amused and half intrigued.

"Well!" Lewis' voice had pitched up. "They were big dogs! I didn’t think I just ran!”

Arthur had enough mercy to leave it at that, smiling and nodding understandably. Instead, he stood up and threw his bag on, walking towards the dog. Normally this would probably be a bad idea but Arthur could see the leash that the little guy had trailing behind him. Someone was probably freaking out right about now.

The dogs ears stood at attention as Arthur neared. It shifted from foot to foot, nervously glancing between Arthur and Lewis. Now that he was closer Arthur saw the dog was wearing little glasses? 

"Didn't know they even made those," Arthur muttered, holding up his hands as he got close. "Hey little guy, where'd you run off from?"

The dog turned to him and wow, it was a new experience to feel judged by a dog. It huffed, relaxing only slightly as Arthur knelt down to pick up the leash. He offered his hand up before carefully giving the dog a scratch behind the ears. 

"That is the most dour dog I've ever seen," Lewis said, floating closer. “He looks like he’s eaten a lemon.” The dog let out a rumbling growl and the ghost stopped, raising his hands in surrender.

"Let's see here," Arthur kept up the scratches in hopes to appease the little guy, working his way down until his finger hit the collar around his neck.

"Mystery, huh?" Arthur read from the tag. "At least you got a phone number I can call."

Just as Arthur went to go digging in his bag for his phone, a girl with blue hair rounded the corner. 

"Oh my gosh!" 

Arthur looked up, going to stand only to almost get tackled in a hug. He grunted from the impact, stumbling back a step. The only that kept him from falling on his ass was the girl who was still hugging him. And holy hell was she strong. Seeming to realize what she was doing, the girl pulled back.

"Sorry! Are you okay?"

"Fine," Arthur wheezed, hand over his chest. It was a combination of surprise and the fact that she probably could've snapped him like a slim jim if she wanted to.

"Sorry!" She apologized again before starting to ramble a mile a minute. "I just saw Mystery and I wasn't even thinking! I've been looking for him forever and I was really worried he might've gotten hit by a car or-"

She cut herself off, putting her hands together and exhaling. Arthur was stood there, awkwardly glancing down at Mystery who was still giving Lewis the stink eye. Maybe even more so now that his owner had shown up. Lewis just looked amused, raising an eyebrow when Arthur caught his eye. 

He almost jumped when she thrust out her hand for him to shake.

"You can call me Vivi! Thank you so much for finding him!" She offered with a toothy grin. 

Arthur smiled back, a little confused but willing to go along with it. "Uh, Arthur. And no problem?”

They shook hands and he handed the leash back to her. Vivi took it before leaning down and picking the dog up. She held the dog out at arm's length, glaring at him. If anything Mystery just looked offended.

"Don't think you're getting off the hook for this one, mister!"

Arthur watched as she tucked the dog under her arm, wrapping the end of the leash around her wrist a few times. Mystery was just a little too big to be held like that but Vivi didn't seem bothered. 

"Guess who's gonna be getting a bath as a reward later?" Vivi sang, looking down at Mystery with a smirk.

Arthur almost felt bad for the little guy by the way he drooped, letting out a breath.

Vivi turned back to him. "Thanks again!"

"I didn't really do much," Arthur scratched the back of his head, "I was just about to call the number on his tags when you showed up."

She blinked, reaching for the tags and reading them over. With a sigh, she said, "well it's a good thing I did. We just moved so that call wouldn't have actually gone anywhere." 

Vivi turned back to him with a smile. "Thanks for reminding me to get those changed too.”

Arthur was a little overwhelmed. This was probably the most he's been thanked in such short time. Especially for not even doing anything.

"Do you go to school here?" Vivi plowed on, pointing to the building behind him. “I'm starting next fall!"

"Oh uh," Arthur muttered, seeing a certain ghost from the corner of his eye get a touch closer, "yeah I'm a senior next year."

Vivi grinned, a gleam in her eye. "Me too!"

Lewis had gotten much closer now, floating just beside Arthur. For a moment it almost seemed like she could see him, eyes catching on something in the ghost's general direction. Just as quickly though her gaze passed him over and she was focused back on Arthur. Mystery, however, could see Lewis just fine. This was as far as the dog was going to let him get, growling out a warning.

Frowning, Vivi shushed him with a boop on the nose. "Sorry, he's usually a lot more friendly. I don't know what's gotten into him today."

"It's a mystery," Arthur laughed nervously, side eyeing Lewis.

Vivi snickered at the pun. "I'm gonna steal that one. I hope I see you around again, Arthur!"

He nodded as she turned to leave, Mystery still tucked safely into her side. The dog didn't break eye contact, craning his head around to stare at them as she walked away. Arthur didn't think much of it, Mystery probably had it out for Lewis. The dog let out a little woof before the two of them turned the corner and they were gone.

"Well that was," Arthur said, "something?"

"Yeah," Lewis muttered, staring after her. 

Arthur looked back to see the ghost was pensive, posture slumped over. Oh. He almost wanted to smack himself. Lewis didn't like going out in public much anymore since almost everyone couldn't see him. It was a feeling Arthur couldn’t even begin to imagine. The first time someone actually walked through him Lewis looked like was going to throw up. 

As far as they knew so far only two people, including Arthur, could actually see him. 

"Sorry, Lewis," Arthur said, tone solemn. 

His friend just shook his head, trying for a smile and not quite getting there. "It's fine."

Before Arthur could say anything else on the matter, Lance's car finally pulled up. His uncle beeped the horn impatiently and Arthur grabbed his bag. The two of them shared one last look before Lewis jerked his head towards the car, telling him to go on.

He hurried over to his uncles car before he honked again. Lewis simply watched him leave, expression unreadable as they drove away.

Chapter Text

Tempo, being the small town that it was, didn't have a whole lot to actually do. The downtown area had little shops here and there. Even an old timey ice cream place. They thrived in the summer off of high schoolers who had nothing else to do.

Arthur fit into that category but luckily had his own money to fund the boredom. The first few days he had spent learning the ins and outs of Lance's shop. He’d always been able to help but it was never very involved stuff. Now he was a full time employee with a salary. When he asked why Lance was paying him though his uncle had just given a weird look and went back to work. Part of him suspected Lance would give him a raise out of spite so Arthur left it alone.

Most of what he doing so far was simple stuff anyway, tire rotations or an old lady's broken headlight. Lance assured him there’d be more interesting stuff in the future but it was no skin off his back. He already had a plan for his first paycheck. After the day wa sober he was in such a hurry Arthur didn’t even bother to ditch the coveralls.

Pushing open the creaky door, Arthur was immediately hit by the smell of old paper. The air inside the Tome Tomb was always a bit stale. They always kept the lighting a bit dimmer, giving the whole place a more comfortable feel. Shelves were lined up in the front filled with well loved comics and merchandise. Most of it Arthur still didn't recognize.

The clerk at the desk looked up from the book she was reading as he came in. Arthur luckily didn't recognize her so he got to avoid any conversation. He and Lewis used to come down here all the time. Lewis was the one who heard about it first and he checked in to see if they had any new Sailor Moon manga. The guy had had a real collection going.

Arthur gave the clerk a nod before heading towards the back of the store. Technically it was a comic store but they also had used books in the back. At the back of that was the speciality section. He'd only ever ventured back here once or twice but the dust was about the same. The shelves were piled high, some beginning to sag beneath the weight. There was only a set amount of room to work with so books were shoved in wherever they could fit.

When he finally came to the corner of shelves he was looking for, Arthur sighed. There was no rhyme or reason to where books were other than general theme or genre. He had no idea if anything useful was even here and the shelves were taller than he was.

Well, he didn't have anywhere to be. From one of the middle shelves he grabbed a book at random. Just as he turned it over, a voice piped up from behind him.

"Are you looking for something in particular?"

Arthur definitely did not yelp and almost knock into the precariously full book shelf. Duet stood behind him, arms crossed with a little satisfied smile on their face.

"Jeez, uh, no I'm good," Arthur straightened.

"Hmm," Duet nodded and peered around Arthur. Something shifted in their eyes and Arthur felt very boxed in all of a sudden. Buying occult books shortly after your best friend died? That was gonna raise some questions.

Mercifully though, Duet didn't say anything. They merely hummed again and took the book from his hands. Arthur stepped back and watched in confusion as they slotted the book back onto the shelf. Before he could ask, they reached up higher and plucked another one off the top of a stack.

"This is the one you'll want," Duet held it out to him.

There was no telling what Duet was thinking, their expression perfectly neutral. Arthur hesitated a moment before taking the book. It was thick and surprisingly new looking. The thing weighed a good few pounds and Arthur already knew he was gonna regret this when he had to lug it back home.

Before he could ask how Duet knew what he was even looking for, they had already wandered off. He stood there for a moment, still not quite sure what just happened. Duet was always mysterious in a way, at least in that they never gave a straight answer to anything. Arthur wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth though. Especially considering this book actually looked promising!

On his way to the register the colorful shelves full of manga caught his eye. He used to rag on him a little bit but one Christmas Arthur had shelled out to get a box set and Lewis had looked ready to cry. Only problem being Lewis had a ton already so there was no telling shat he’d already read. Arthur finally grabbed the one with the most eye catching cover.

The clerk only looked a little surprised at the range of his books as she rang him up.

When he actually got home he was regretting not getting a bike. Arthur shouldered open the door and trudged inside. On the way back he had finally got fed up and pulled back the top of his coveralls. Even with the sleeves tied around his waist and just a tank top underneath, it was enough he was starting to get sweaty.

"That you, kid?"

Arthur panicked a little, now entirely aware he had a giant shopping bag in hand. Knowing his uncle, he'd ask questions. Lance finding out he's been researching ghosts was gonna lead to a conversation neither of them wanted to have. There was a clattering in the other room and muffled cursing. Arthur kicked his shoes off and went to bolt up the stairs just as Lance rounded the corner.

"Arthur," Lance squinted, zeroing in on the bag. He was rubbing his hands off on an already filthy rag and already looked suspicious. The one word was more of question. An opportunity for him to explain himself before Lance actually had to ask.

Arthur held up the bag. "Just went downtown."

Lance grunted and seemed to get a bit more interested in the stubborn dirt on his hands. The silence lingered a bit too long and Arthur was getting fidgety on the stairs.

Finally Lance said, "Don't blow all your money, kid."

He would've sighed in relief if he thought he could get away with it. Arthur nodded even though he still had more than half of his first paycheck.

"I will. Did you need me to help with anything or...?"

Arthur felt like he should ask even if he knew Lance would say no. His uncle was shaking his head before he even finished the sentence.

"Mostly done anyway," Lance stuffed the rag into his pants pocket. "Damn air conditioner. Got a van that needs transmission repair tomorrow so don't stay up all night."

"Great," he glanced upstairs, taking another step. "I'm gonna-" he gestures towards his room.

"I mean it!" Lance shouted after him as Arthur fled the scene. "Bright and early, kid!"

Not bothering to shout back, Arthur tossed the bag onto his bed and shut his door. The room was exactly how he left it. That is, a gigantic mess as he nearly brained himself after tripping over a sweatshirt on the floor. Arthur cursed, doing an awkward hop and kicking the sweatshirt off his foot. It somehow managed to get into the pile that was currently doubling as his laundry basket. He gave the mound another half hearted kick for good measure.

Galaham had woken up from all the noise, watching as Arthur snatched up his laptop. He grumbled, looking for the pens his desk always seemed to swallow. The laptop and hard won pen got unceremoniously chucked onto his bed before he went fishing for his notebook. Arthur had just grabbed it when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. The room took on a slight chill despite the warm summer weather.

Sure enough, he heard Lewis laugh at him considering he was still half under his bed. Arthur scrambled out to see Lewis perched at the edge of his bed.

"Have you ever organized a single thing in your life, Kingsman?" Lewis cast a critical around the room, tsking in disapproval. It might've been effective if it weren't for the grin.

Arthur huffed, shoving his hair back and clambering to his feet. The ghost slowly looked him over as he did, raising an eyebrow.

"What's with the outfit?"

"Huh?" Arthur looked down, forgetting that he was still in the coveralls. "Oh yeah, ran out of clothes to ruin so I got this."

For the past few years now Lance had been teaching him odds and ends. Either about cars or things breaking in their house, it couldn't hurt to be prepared. The very first day Lance actually brought Arthur in as an employee was a bit more of a learning curve, almost like being in class again. Then came time for an oil change. He’d done it loads of times before but this was the first time as an actual job. So of course Arthur also managed to get the oil all over himself and the floor.

Lance had looked less than impressed after he got out from under the car.

Lewis grinned, leaning back a bit. "You got a little uh," he points to his forehead right over his eye.

It took him a minute to get it. Arthur cursed, running over to the mirror to look. Had he been running around town with God knows what smeared on his face? Thankfully he didn't see anything immediately obvious. Lewis snickered behind him as he turned this way and that to make sure.

"Oh you asshole," Arthur definitely wasn't pouting. Lewis looked entirely too pleased with himself. "This is why I have trust issues."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Lewis said through the last of his laughing.

Arthur hummed. "Well, guess I'll just have this bag of goodies all to myself then?"

Lewis' curiosity was peaked as Arthur grabbed the shopping bag. When the ghost tried to peer around to see into it, Arthur held it close to his body.

"What on earth would you even get me?"

It was an innocent question but Arthur's grin faltered for a moment. What do you get a ghost who can't touch anything bigger than an acorn? But, he absolutely refused to ruin the moment. Arthur made it a show of rummaging around in the bag. Lewis huffed as Arthur hummed, acting like he really couldn't find it in a bag of two things.

Finally, Arthur decided to have mercy. "Aha!"

With a flourish, he pulled out the Sailor Moon book. Lewis' eyes widened, mouth dropping into an O of surprise. Then surprise turned into downright delight. This was probably the most excited Arthur had seen him since... well.

"Oh my God-" Lewis was upright now, hands held close to him but clearly desperately wanting to take it. "Tome Tomb?"

"Yup," Arthur laughed, feeling a little awkward, "I saw and it and thought you might not have had this one so, why not?"

Lewis paused for a moment, looked ready to say something. And then didn't.

"You already have this one don't you?"

Lewis scratched the back of his head with an apologetic look. "Yeah. But hey, it is one of my favourites!"

"Is it or are you just saying that?"

"At least top five."

Lewis had such a dorky grin on his face that it was hard to argue. Arthur wondered for a moment if it'd be weird to ask to see some of Lewis' actual collection so he'd have more to read. He scapped that idea almost immediately.

The ghost trailed after him, practically radiating excitement. Arthur had to shove things out of the way but eventually made a clear spot on the desk to open the book up to the first page.

"Figured it'd be good practice too," Arthur said as he smoothed the pages out. "The papers light and you can try grabbing one at a time."

"Ever the pragmatic," Lewis was right behind him sending off a chill. "Really though, thanks Arthur. I was starting to get kinda bored."

Arthur coughed, a little glad he was still turned around. Giving the page one last good press to keep it open. He turned to see Lewis giving him that same sunny grin.

"Anything for you.”

Stepping aside, Arthur did his best Vanna White. Lewis didn’t need any more invitation as he hovered forward and began to read. Arthur meanwhile went back to assembling his little research pile. He had only managed to take the other book out of the bag when Lewis shouted in triumph.

"Arthur, look!”

Lewis was still hovering over the book, looking back at him like it was Christmas morning. Sure enough, the ghost was in the middle of turning the page. It was a little less turning than it was him pushing the page over but it was moving!

As he watched, Lewis slowly and with a bit of concentration, pushed the page the rest of the way. He'd made it to the second page. Arthur whooped, the excitement contagious. Lance might be wondering what the hell he was doing up here but that was a problem for future Arthur.

"I've never been so excited over something this stupid," Lewis said reverently, going to give the next page a little nudge.

"Hey, not stupid," Arthur argued, flopping onto the bed, "one of the first things I knew about you was you obsession with that show."

Lewis gave him a look before noticing his spread of materials. "What's all that for?"

"Oh! Well the reason I was downtown in the first place was for this guy," Arthur hefts up the occult book he picked up. From how his brows knit together, Lewis didn't exactly approve.

"Really?"

"Well, yeah!" Arthur let the book fall with a thump into his bed. "I could've just Googled whatever but anyone can write something weird on a forum and call it fact. I'm covering all my bases this way."

The ghost didn't seem convinced, giving the book another glance. "Still, is it the best idea to go digging around more? This is like the start of a horror movie."

"We gotta start somewhere! There's only so far we can get with just observation and practice, man." Arthur opened his notebook and grabbed a pen. "Besides, I'll be careful. Especially since you kinda prove at least some of this stuff is real."

Lewis hesitated for a moment, hanging unnaturally still in the air. For a moment he looked ready to argue with him again but Lewis just sighed.

"Alright but if you bring back a ouija board I'm out," Lewis said.

It was meant to be a joke but the tone didn't quite come across. Arthur had no intention of getting that far into this. Half of the stuff he'd found before online was more along the angle of an exorcism than anything. Others reminded him more of those cheesy ghost hunting TV shows.

Arthur frowned and clicked off the tab. Another forum post of just speculation. Lewis had already gone back to reading. Occasionally Arthur would glance over at first to see if he was still able to turn the pages. That stopped when Lewis was about halfway through the book. If they kept it up he'd have to get more. Maybe Lewis could hold the book itself eventually.

The sun had begun to set by now and he could hear the cicadas outside. It didn't take Lewis very long to finish the manga though Arthur kept hearing the pages turn. He saw Lewis looking back through it again, a nostalgic look in his eyes.

His own reading was less than helpful. The book was more theory than anything concrete. In place of giving any one answer, if offered a few for nearly every question. It talked about how maybe ghosts kept going from energy. What that energy actually was the author could only guess but it was clear the more a ghost had the more they could do.

Arthur yawned, stretching his arms over his head. It was gonna take him a while to get through this. The book wasn't exactly a fun read. Pushing the covers around, Arthur was half lying on the bed, propped up on one elbow. That proved to be a mistake. Lewis might've said something later but Arthur had already fallen asleep.

The sun streamed in from the window and Galaham was making a racket. Arthur blinked, rubbed his eyes and looked around. Lewis was gone, the manga closed on the desk. When Arthur sat up he had to grab his laptop to stop it falling. Huh, he didn't remember closing it.

Arthur huffed, shaking his head and making a quick note of it before getting up to feed Galaham. One glance at the clock had him moving a bit faster. Oh man, Lance was going to kill him.

Chapter Text

Some nights were better than others.

The good ones were usually when Lewis was around. The company helped, he guessed. It would almost be like when they used to hang out even. The only difference being Lewis couldn't really take up his customary spot on the bed anymore.

But some nights Lewis didn't show. The first time Arthur about lost his mind, thinking his friend had faded away or that he'd imagined the whole thing to begin with. Then Lewis wandered into his room again and scared the hell out of him. Again.

Whenever Arthur asked what he'd been up to, Lewis would get uncharacteristically cagey about it. His go to answer was that he was just... wandering around. The tip off was that he'd never actually look at Arthur when he said it. He never really was a good liar.

Still, Arthur didn't press it after the first couple times. Even if he had a pretty good guess, Lewis was his own ghost. That didn't stop his stupid brain though.

Before the accident Arthur never had the best track record with sleep. Insomnia was one his oldest friends and he'd lay awake in bed for hours at times. When he was very small, he remembered being tucked into bed and told to count the bumps in their ugly popcorn ceiling. Like counting sheep but with more eyestrain.

Luckily, Lance had taste and no popcorn ceiling. So now Arthur stared upwards and just twiddled his thumbs. He was tired but his body wouldn't cooperate sometimes. With nothing else to do, his mind turned back to Lewis. It was easier for him to think of the situation as a project. You could fix a project. Arthur knew the exact spot under his bed where he'd stashed the books and his notes, hands itching to write.

Arthur groaned, turned over and tucked an arm under his head. If he started on that he'd be up all night. At some point during his staring contest with the wall, Arthur finally dozed off.

It wasn't a restful slumber.

Barely two hours later after tossing fitfully in his bed, Arthur woke up with a gasp. For a moment he stayed still and fought to get his breathing under control. The room was perfectly silent. It was only him and Galaham, who was still asleep in his cage. When Arthur finally got his body to move, he grimaced. He was covered in sweat and the cold air made him shudder.

Well, he wasn't about to sleep after that.

It was about the same as it had been since the accident. He'd be somewhere in the dark, in the bottom of a pit. No matter how many times he had the same dream it went the same way. There was no way out and he was forced to look around.

Arthur shuddered again, feeling nauseous.

It wasn't the first nightmare he'd had but they usually weren't too bad. This one though, was getting up there. Arthur sighed before heaving himself up out of bed. For a moment he stood in the middle of his room, listless. Whatever sleep he got earlier clearly wasn't enough.

Despite running on empty, Arthur trudged out of his room. Luckily he was an old pro at avoiding the creaky floorboards on their stairs. He was blearily stumbling around in the dark, confident he knew where he was going until he stubbed his toe on an errant couch.

"Ah! Mother-!"

Arthur sucked in a breath, hobbling towards the kitchen. Moonlight streamed in from the windows and it was a little easier to see. The dishes from dinner were still piled into the sink. Lance wasn't a terrible cook but he definitely burnt his fair share of food. More often than not the poor guy just admitted defeat and called in a pizza. It was probably a good thing Arthur at least knew the basics of cooking.

He opened the fridge and squinted against the light. Ah, they definitely needed to go shopping soon. They had the basics like milk and eggs but not a lot else. There was a tupperware shoved in the back he definitely didn't trust along with a jar of olives in the door. Arthur spent longer than necessary looking over his options. If he stared long enough something would show up in his fridge right?

Even after Arthur closed the door he still felt a cold chill. But turning around revealed he was alone. Arthur frowned, feeling kind of stupid. It was around three am. Even if Lewis was a ghost he still had manners.

"Arthur?"

Arthur yelped, jumping back. His feet slipped on the tile and would've fallen if he hadn't grabbed the counter on the way down. The culprit at least looked apologetic.

"Hi?" Lewis said quietly, giving him a half hearted little wave.

"And here I was just thinking you had manners," Arthur grumbled.

"What?"

Arthur sighed, standing up and looking over his friend. Lewis looked nervous. Not in the way that he was when he pulled the whole mother hen thing either. The ghost kept glancing at the door as if making sure that he still had an escape open. Nevermind the fact that he was a ghost.

"You okay buddy?" Arthur asked, eyebrows furrowed.

Lewis started at the question, eyes blown wide for a second as he looked back to Arthur. Though he tried to cover it up like nothing was wrong, Lewis was still a terrible liar. The more Arthur looked the more his concern grew. Not only did he look kind of flighty in general, Lewis' entire outline seemed to be fidgety. It wasn't obvious unless you actually looked for a few seconds but it was there. Every now and then he seemed to fuzz at the edges like static on an old television.

"I'm fine just-" he swallowed, "sorry about coming over so late I uh- didn't want to be alone."

Arthur blinked. He took a step closer and Lewis seemed determined to keep his eyes somewhere over his shoulder.

"It's nothing! I'm fine," Lewis seemed to jitter again. Was he restless maybe? Distressed? What the heck did this mean?

"Did you want to talk about it or-"

"No I just," he was twisting his hands together, looking around the room. "Would it be weird if I stuck around a little while?"

Arthur was shaking his head vehemently. "No, no you're welcome here whenever, you know that." He tried to lighten the mood. "I can't sleep anyways."

It was a shaky, barely there smile but it was there. Lewis forced a bit of a laugh. "Yeah neither can I."

A beat passed and Lewis grimaced.

"I made it weird didn't I?"

"No weirder than it already was, man," Arthur said, stifling a yawn.

Lewis looked him over for a moment, frowned and then glanced over at his stove. Another jitter.

"Well, I have an idea that might help."

Arthur was a bit thrown at the sudden subject change. Normally he might be suspicious of why but Lewis still seemed close to panicking. There wasn't anything like it from when Lewis was living that Arthur could remember. This was the first time he'd seen him so nervous.

So Arthur played along. "An idea for what?"

Lewis seemed relieved, a bit of the tension leaving him. He pointed to one of Arthur's cabinets. "Not being able to sleep. Grab a pan?"

He wasn't going to even pretend he knew what was going on but Arthur grabbed a saucepan anyways. Lewis directed him to open more cabinets and grab things. A spoon, sugar, cocoa, spices. Arthur might have been surprised that Lewis knew where everything was better than he did but it was Lewis. The guy liked to cook and he really liked to cook for his friends.

"Okay, now what?" Arthur asked, setting the last bottle on the counter.

"Well," Lewis was hovering over his shoulder, giving him quiet instructions, "turning the stove on would be a good first step."

At least Lewis seemed to be calming down a bit. It was a bit difficult for him to cook now, not being able to grab anything, so they settled for the next best thing. Arthur was absolutely terrible when comparing the two of them but he could follow along easily enough.

"Normally Mama would use actual chocolate but cocoa powder will work fine."

It was pretty hard to mess up putting stuff in a pot and stirring, Arthur thought. Though he didn't really know when he'd make this again. As everything came together and heated up, the kitchen was filled with the smell of warm chocolate and spices.

There was a bit of a lull in the conversation as Arthur stirred. By now the nerves seem to have disappeared. Lewis was watching his cooking rather than him. Arthur figured his mind was elsewhere since there wasn't much to watch. There was the slight chill from Lewis being this close as well as the warm aroma wafting up from the pot.

"I think we're ready," Lewis said, making Arthur jump slightly. Guess his mind had been wandering too.

"Right," Arthur went to grab some cups, almost forgetting to turn off the heat. Opening the cabinet he grabbed two mugs without thinking.

"Uh Arthur..." Lewis started and he froze. It took a moment to realize and Arthur cursed internally.

Lewis probably couldn't even hold the cup, let alone drink from it. Feeling like an ass, Arthur quietly put the second mug back. The fact that Lewis wouldn't be able to taste anything he made seemed cruel.

They were silent as Arthur poured himself a cup. He was keenly aware of Lewis' presence the whole time. It was awkward and he hated it. Arthur turned, leaning against the counter and took a sip which he immediately regretted.

Lewis' lips twitched into a smile as Arthur's face scrunched up.

"Don't you laugh at my pain," Arthur said with little heat.

Lewis hummed, hands in his pockets. "Figured the steam and all that would be a bit of a tip off."

Arthur huffed and blew on his drink, hoping to cool it down a bit. After a bit he decided to risk another sip. He wasn't a huge fan of hot chocolate but Arthur could get behind this one. The spice was subtle but a nice touch at the end.

"Well?" Lewis asked. The ghost was trying to appear casual but it was hard to miss how he was studying Arthur for a reaction.

"It's good," Arthur wiped his mouth to make sure he was mustache free, "did you learn this from your mom?"

"Yeah," Lewis smiled. It was a sad, nostalgic little thing. "Used to get nightmares. She'd just smile, make me this, and send me back to bed. I don't know if it was her or the drink but it worked."

There seemed to be more to say than what Lewis was letting on. Arthur glanced down at his mug again. All of a sudden he felt like he was intruding on something. Even if this was Lewis' idea, Arthur definitely didn't think he should be the one standing here with him.

"I went to see them."

Arthur was snapped out of his musings, looking up with wide eyes. Lewis wasn't looking at him, shoulders hunched. His expression from what Arthur could see was pained.

"Oh god, Lewis," he mumbled without thinking.

"I know it wasn't the best idea but..." He glanced up and Arthur was struck with the question of if Lewis could actually cry anymore. "I just-"

Lewis lets out a world weary sigh, gesturing tiredly with one hand.

Arthur's mouth was dry and his hands tightened around the mug. "Did she see you?"

That seemed to just make it worse. Lewis looked stricken, frustrated with himself. It took him a moment to gather the words to respond.

"Yeah. I don't think she realized though. Not really." Lewis swallowed roughly. "My- my parents were downstairs. Talking about what to do with my room I think. I didn't even mean to stay as long as I did and then Paprika came wandering downstairs."

His voice had started to shake. "She must've had a bad dream or something. I just turned around and she was there." Lewis' form shuddered again and Arthur was getting a better idea of what that meant. "I didn't stick around after that."

Obviously the whole Pepper family was torn up after the accident. If Arthur had to pick one though, the person who took it the hardest was his youngest sister Paprika. Arthur remembered the wake and had never seen the three sisters so quiet. She was probably just beginning to grasp the concept of death being an irreversible and final kind of thing when Lewis died.

Which made this situation all the worse considering Lewis hadn't come to Arthur first afterwards.

"Oh, Lewis," Arthur blew out. He didn't really know what to say. "I'm sorry."

It wasn't much and Lewis simply shrugged, disturbingly quiet. He simply stared down at the floor and Arthur was struck with the thought that his friend really looked dead then. Despite the little obvious differences that were always there, Lewis sat deathly still. Not even breathing with that crushed expression on his face. Arthur bit his lip.

"We're gonna figure this out," Arthur said, sounding more confident than he felt. "And you're gonna be able see them."

"How."

It wasn't a question. It was entirely wrong to see Lewis sound and look so defeated. The image of him beaten down reminding him too much of those first few days after he came back.

But to be honest, Arthur had no god damn clue how he was going to make this happen. He wasn't an expert by any stretch. Even with the research tucked away upstairs, most of what Arthur was going on were theories. Nothing concrete and most were slightly dubious at best. Even with that weighing on his mind, Arthur tried to project confidence.

Lewis needed it right now. Besides, he'd been brave for Arthur plenty before.

"You're getting stronger," Arthur gave him a reassuring smile, "you've already made plenty of progress. Imagine where we're gonna be in a month or two."

A beat passed before Lewis scrubbed a hand down his face and took in a shuddering breath.

"If you say so..." His voice shook and he sounded wholly unconvinced.

Arthur frowned and looked down at his mug. The same silence from before came back with a vengeance, weighty and suffocating. Arthur glanced up at Lewis for a moment before sighing. His friend didn't react as Arthur set the mug down and only seemed to notice he even moved when Arthur was right in front of him. The ghost startled a bit as Arthur raised his arms. It was a little awkward, especially since he was trying not to touch Lewis. With the height difference only increased since Lewis was floating a few inches off the floor, Arthur was only a little successful.

As far as hugs went it was pretty sad. His hands brushed against, and through, Lewis' back. The sensation was one Arthur found difficult to describe. It was a bit like skimming the surface of a pool but less substantial than that. More obvious than that was the shock of cold at the contact.

Arthur did his best to adjust his hands. It ended up less a hug and more just him making a circle with his arms. Lewis for his part had gone deathly still again.

"I'm sticking with you, Lewis."

The words seemed to shock Lewis out of his stupor. His shoulders shook and Arthur jumped as he felt that same shock of cold on his own back. Lewis was trying to return to gesture.

It wasn't really enough. Not in the way that it mattered anyways. The barrier of not being able to actually touch anyone was still there. But the mere attempt seemed enough to bust through the calm and casual front that Lewis had put up. No one who just died would be able to crack jokes like normal forever.

They'd take what they could get. As Lewis cried it out in his kitchen, Arthur thought it was as close he could get to someone who actually knew he was there since his death.

After a long while, Arthur drew back. Lewis scrubbed his face with his sleeve and laughed a bit.

"Haven't cried like that since I was little," he said, voice shaky.

"Yeah?"

"Cayenne broke her arm falling out of a tree and I ah..." Lewis sniffled, "kinda panicked."

Despite everything that got a bit of a laugh. A watery one on Lewis' part at least.

"Thanks." Lewis was still a little subdued but Arthur would take it. They've known each other for years but one friend was hardly a replacement for an entire family.

"I should be thanking you for this," Arthur grabbed his mug again.

Lewis hummed, noncommittal. "What you should do is finish that before it gets cold."

Arthur didn't need to be told twice. The drink has cooled enough at this point where he wasn't scorching himself. They lapsed back into silence again.

Somewhat resigned to the fact he wasn't going to be sleeping tonight, Arthur jerked a thumb towards the living room. "I still got some movies recorded if you feel like sticking around."

"Sure," Lewis said softly after a bit of a pause. As he followed Arthur into the next room he asked, "What do you have?"

"I don't know, some weird comedy movie," Arthur took another sip, "Lance recorded it for me a while ago but I have my doubts."

A little laugh. "Sounds like we're in for a real treat then."

It didn't take long between the movie, the hot chocolate and the comfy couch for Arthur to conk out. The next morning he woke up alone with a crick in his neck and an empty mug on the table beside him. What actually woke him up was Lance's confusion about the kitchen being even messier than he left it.

Chapter Text

“Are you sure about this Arthur?”

Arthur plopped down in the grass, notebook and pencil in hand. He grinned up at the ghost floating in front of him.

“There’s nothing to worry about, man,” Arthur swept out an arm, “there’s no one out here to see anything so we can do whatever!”

The place Arthur had picked out was about a five-minute walk from the forest’s edge. They’d entered near the back of the school after Arthur had finished up at the shop that day. Lewis had seemed curious as they finally came to a small clearing. He’d watched as Arthur gathered up the materials he could find for their little training session.

Lewis hummed, looking over at the series of objects Arthur had scrounged up. “That’s what I’m worried about.”

“Dude. It’s not like a bear is gonna wander up on us.”

“Doesn’t have to be a bear.”

“Look, I got my phone in my bag and I got you out here with me, its fine!” Arthur pointed with the pencil towards the rocks he’d gathered up. “Plus we’ve got all the time in the world to train since all I’ve got to do is work at the shop.”

Lewis frowned but complied anyways. Arthur had spent a few minutes after getting to the clearing looking for rocks of varying sizes before lining them up on the ground. The largest was a little smaller than a basketball. Lewis looked at that one with enough doubt it was practically dripping off him.

“We’ll start with the smallest one and work up to that,” Arthur said before Lewis even had the chance to ask.

The ghost laughed a bit. “I don’t know what I expected but you’ve actually got a whole training course planned out, huh?”

Lewis didn’t need to know Arthur had a good portion of his notebook dedicated to just that. He was probably going to need a new one at this rate too. Arthur spun the pencil around with a smirk.

“If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s planning.”

Lewis rolled his eyes with a small smile and went to the other end of the line. The smallest thing Arthur could find, a pebble. It was only about the size of a pea so Lewis was easily able to lift it was almost no concentration involved. He turned to Arthur with a raised eyebrow who was busy making check marks on the paper. Arthur motioned for him to keep going.

The point of the exercise was basically like… well, exercise. Weights to be specific. They were going to find out how much Lewis could move at the moment for a baseline first. From there Arthur could figure out what rock Lewis could practice moving. It was like lifting weights. They had to figure out what weight was good and how many reps he could do. It was mostly just a theory Arthur had at the moment but it seemed similar enough to physical muscle strength.

Lewis kept lifting the rocks with little to no effort involved until they got around the size of a tennis ball where his hand passed through it on the first try. The concentration was plain on his face as he tried again. This time he was able to pick it easy, even tossing it up in the air a few times.

Arthur made a note of it. “Doing great, Lewis!”

The ghost gave him a half hearted smile before continuing. Though he was pushing himself, Lewis was clearly struggling at this point. It finally got to the point where he couldn’t pick up the rock at all. That one was a little bigger than a grapefruit. After a few tries, Lewis stepped back, huffing in frustration.

“Now what?” he asked.

Arthur scribbled down a few more notes before getting up. “Okay, we have a baseline.” He picked through the discarded rocks before finding one a bit smaller. “Now comes the actual training bit.”

Lewis looked a bit doubtful. Even after Arthur explained his thought process he still seemed a little discouraged from his earlier failure.

“It’s just like building physical muscle,” Arthur said, dropping the rock back onto the ground, “we just gotta build you up before we take on the big stuff.”

Lewis had his arms crossed. “And what about the other things? Even if I can pick up a car that doesn’t help with the whole being invisible thing?”

“Baby steps, dude.” Arthur reassured him. “If we can figure out this aspect that’ll make the others way easier, yeah?”

Lewis sighed but obliged him and picked up the rock and dropping it again. In the time that Arthur went back to get his notebook, the ghost was starting to have trouble again. After a few repetitions his grip seemed to be getting weaker. On the fifth try the rock slipped out of his fingers on the way up and the way Lewis glared at it could’ve set the damn thing on fire.

“Hey it’s fine-“

“It’s not-!” Lewis shouted for a moment before taking a breath, speaking in a softer tone. “It’s not fine.”

Taken aback, Arthur only watched as Lewis ran a hand down his face. “How long have we been at this? Two months? Two months can I can barely move something that weighs less than a few pounds. I know you said baby steps and I get it just-“

Lewis turned, glaring again at the rock at his feet. Arthur watched as Lewis reared back a leg and kicked it. He watched with amazement as the rock shot off like a bullet, ricocheting off a tree with a thunderous crack. That must’ve been at least thirty feet. The trunk has been dented in, splintering from the impact.

When he looked back to Lewis the ghost was equally shocked.

“Did…” Lewis glanced from the tree to him and back to the tree. “Did I do that just now?”

Arthur swallowed. “I think you did.”

Lewis looked down at the ground where he’d kicked up a bit of the dirt and the grass as well. “I don’t even know how I did that.”

Looking back down at his notebook, the cogs in Arthur’s head were beginning to turn. Maybe he was tackling this the wrong way. He was up in an instant, grabbing another rock and holding it out to Lewis.

“Get mad.”

“What?” Lewis looked at him like he’d grown a second head.

“C’mon you saw that! You were mad, yeah? You may as well have launched that rock from a canon.” Arthur emphasized by shaking the rock in hand. “Get mad and knock this rock out of my hand.”

“Did you see what I did to that tree?” Lewis moved back a bit like he was afraid he’d do it without meaning to. “I’d break your hand!”

Arthur frowned. “Well, maybe not mad but something. I’m thinking I tackled this too literally. You don’t actually have muscles to train, maybe it’s less concrete than that.”

His research had hinted as much. The main focus of the literature (and Arthur was using that word very generously) was on vengeful spirits. Powerful emotions of anger or regret both kept spirits on the human plane of existence and allowed them to interact with people. Arthur had written it off at first since Lewis didn’t seem to fit into that category. He obviously hadn’t come back seeking revenge so it had to be something else.

Now Arthur wondered if that was what they were missing.

“In the heat of the moment you managed to do more than you’ve been able to in the past couple months,” Arthur tried again, “so humor me just this once?”

Lewis glanced from his face down to the rock in his hand. After a moment he sighed and closed his eyes, seemingly concentrating. The anticipation made it difficult for Arthur to even stand still. Finally, faster than Arthur expected, Lewis reached out and smacked the rock out of his hand. It sailed up in a lazy arch before falling to the ground with a dull thump. Arthur stood stock still, shocked into silence. Not only did Lewis managed to hit the rock away, he didn’t even seem to hit his hand at all. No, Arthur amended, he didn’t hit his hand but Arthur had felt something more substantial than before.

“Are you okay?”

Arthur looked up from his hand to see Lewis hovering worriedly over him. After a moment Arthur’s face broke into a grin. Oh, they were in business now.

Chapter Text

Arthur was thrilled to say the least. Finally, finally tangible proof that everything they were doing was actually worth something. That they were making progress. The brief touch wasn’t much but he’d felt something more than just cold air when Lewis batted that rock away.

It took a moment for the implications of what he just did to sink into Lewis’ head. You could pinpoint the exact moment they did by the smile creeping on his face. Lewis was looking from his hands up to Arthur, absolutely beaming. If Arthur was happy about it, Lewis was downright ecstatic.

“Did you feel that?” Arthur asked.

“Yeah, yeah I-“ he laughed, “I really did.”

Lewis laughed again in disbelief, looking back down at his hands. He shook his head and rubbed at his eyes. “I felt you.”

The look he gave Arthur then was almost indescribable. Lewis was staring at him like he was the only other person on earth right then. Unprepared for the scrutiny, Arthur gave a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of his neck.

Distracted as he was, Arthur was totally unprepared to be lifted into the air. The wind was knocked out of him in a rush and he had to take a split second to even process what was happening. Arthur was just picked up like he weighed nothing. By Lewis.

His brain short circuited for a moment as his friend laughed. When Arthur put out his hand to steady himself, it met Lewis’s shoulder. He almost immediately drew back from the shock. Instead of the chill Lewis usually brought with him now, he was warm. Too warm for a living person. It was like he was a ghostly space heater.

Lewis wasn’t concerned with the details though. After going as far as picking Arthur up, he laughed again and spun around. It was a little dizzying considering Lewis was about a foot off the ground now. But the smile Lewis gave him made it worth it. It was infectious and Arthur couldn’t help but mirror it.

“Holy hell, big guy,” Arthur said with a laugh. And here he thought the rock thing was their big break. Real and solid arms around were around him. It was more than Arthur dared to even think about let alone getting as far as hoping for. Lewis was just enjoying the moment, still holding Arthur and eventually coming to a stop, floating in the air but looking more alive than he had in months.

Arthur glanced down at the ground and then back to Lewis. His hands were settled on Lewis’s shoulders. An idea briefly crossed his mind. Just as quickly Arthur banished it back to whatever corner it came from, mentally affirming that that was probably a bad idea. His cheeks were still a little warm anyways.

Luckily, the moment ended abruptly right after. The arms holding him up very suddenly weren’t so solid anymore and Arthur fell back with a yelp of surprise. For once he didn’t end up on the ground, only stumbling a bit, though that didn’t seem to make Lewis any less apologetic.

“Oh, sorry!” Lewis said in a rush. After Arthur waved the apology off, Lewis gave himself a once over with a frown. The disappointment was obvious.

“Hey Lewis that was great!” Arthur cleared his throat, mentally steadying himself. “Can’t expect to go straight from crawling to running.”

For a moment his friend was silent, concentrating. When he reached out Arthur held still. This time his hand passed through Arthur’s shoulder like it was nothing. A bit like the rock situation, something more substantial than the first but a far cry from actual contact. Lewis sighed quietly, drawing his hand back to his chest.

“Yeah,” though Lewis was smiling it was a far cry from the beaming one from earlier, “got a bit carried away there, sorry.”

Now the guy was apologizing. Arthur shook his head. “Don’t worry about. You don’t see me complaining do ya? Plus who would pass up the patented Pepper bear hug.”

Lewis rolled his eyes. “Thanks. For well, y’know...” He ran a hand through his hair and looked away, seemingly frustrated.

“Don’t mention it.” Arthur quickly grabbed his belongings and shoved them all back into his bag, jobbing back to Lewis. “Think we’ve made more than enough progress for one day, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Lewis waited while Arthur let out a yawn, stretching for a moment. “Still having trouble sleeping?”

“Eh,” Arthur shrugged, adjusting the bag. “Nothing I haven’t dealt with before.”

Lewis frowned but said nothing. Soon Arthur had launched into theories about their progress. Mentally he was already planning new things to test his ideas. Would different feelings produce different results? Arthur paused for a moment and turned.

“What were you thinking about just then anyways?”

The question caught Lewis off guard and his eyes went wide for a moment. He seemed to shake it off though and shrugged, looking past Arthur.

“A lot of things really,” he said, “I don’t know if there’s any one thing I had in mind during that whole thing.”

Arthur hummed in thought, continuing on. Made sense considering the excitement of the situation. If they were eventually going to go reunite Lewis with his family they’d need a sure fire way for him to manifest and interact with people.

“Okay, I think the main issue you’re gonna have is concentrating. I think you might’ve dropped me when the rush of the moment passed maybe?” Arthur tapped his fingers against his bag. “Do you think having a picture of your parents or your sisters might help? Something to focus on I mean.”

When Arthur looked over Lewis seemed to jump. “Uh, yeah. That might be good I guess.”

“You okay?” Maybe they went a little overboard today?

“No, I’m fine,” Lewis ran a hand through his hair, giving him a reassuring smile, “just trying to process everything.” Arthur let it go, thinking he’d press more if it continued to be an issue.

The conversation meandered back to Arthur planning out loud as they made their way back through the woods. Lewis offered some confirmation he was listening but seemed to be lost in his own thoughts. It was late in the afternoon by now. The trees shielded them from the sun overhead and it had just started to get cooler. The only sound was Arthur and the wind.

“And I think if we can pin that down-“

“Hey-“

“-then we can move onto trying to get you visible.”

“Uh, Arthur,” Lewis trailed off somewhere behind him. The warning in his tone made Arthur pause, turning around.

His friend was trying to stand between him and... whatever it was. When Arthur tried to lean over and get a better look, Lewis held out an arm to stop him from moving any closer. Even with the better view the spirit was hard to see. It wasn’t much more than a faint outline at the moment, general suggestions at form that might’ve been a person. The faint wisps around it’s lower half may have been a dress or a skirt of some kind but it was impossible to tell.

“Oh wow,” Arthur’s voice shook and he cringed a bit at how loud he was. He swallowed, continued, “is that another ghost?”

“What do you think?” Lewis said, barely glancing back at him.

Though it didn’t seem to understand them their voices did register in some capacity. The apparition stopped and turned towards them, the wisps suggesting clothing and hair splaying out around them like they were underwater. The only other movement was a tilt of the head, listening. It gave Arthur chills.

“We need to leave,” Lewis pressed, “now.”

Arthur was too busy watching the other ghost to actually listen. Before his eyes the silhouette of a person slowly started to fill in. The color seemed to return to the ghost like smoke, lazily coiling around until it settled in. Slowly the figure of a women took shape. She was deathly pale and floating there with a blank look on her face. For a moment it seemed like she didn’t know they were even there.

He managed a step back.

Her form seemed to shudder for moment, head snapping up to attention at the slight noise. Slowly her eyes seemed to roam until they finally found the two of them. Lewis was still mostly in front, trying to shield Arthur form view though he had the distinct impression she was looking right at him anyways.

“Arthur,” Lewis hissed, not taking his eyes off the other spirit, “you need to get a move on.”

The fact that it changed from ‘we’ to ‘you’ wasn’t lost on him. Unbidden, memories came rushing back to make helpful comparisons as the woman took on more detail. The tips of her fingers were blue, veins standing out on her arms. Red dribbled down her chest like it’d been spilled onto her.

She was starting to make sounds too. Raspy, dry hissing and crackling like she had something in her throat. The ghost began to meander towards them.

“Arthur!”

Lewis had only looked over his shoulder briefly, probably trying to break him out whatever train of thought he was in. That was all it took though. In a sudden burst of speed the other ghost was there, charging right at the two of them and Arthur fell back with a shout. He half expected her to go sailing right through Lewis and straight at him.

Instead she crashed headlong into Lewis.

He fell back a bit, sounding like the air had been knocked out of him. She didn’t even seem to register he was there at first. The temperature suddenly dipped and the woman screeched and Arthur clapped his hands over his ears. She was trying to push herself past Lewis now, hands scrambling and scratching for purchase against him. It seemed like holding her back was all he could manage to do right now.

“Run!” Lewis yelled over the other ghosts shrieks. He grunted as the woman clawed at his face, now deeming him an actual threat instead of just an obstacle. The last thing Arthur saw before he ran was Lewis throwing the woman back.

His friends shouts were barely heard over the screams of the other ghost.

Arthur glanced over his shoulder at the crashing sound of a tree falling, nearly tripping in the process. He wasn’t even entirely sure which direction he was going, only that it was away from here. The screams were gone now but he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing.

Arthur yelled as he was roughly yanked to the ground, a vice like grip on his ankle. He looked down and immediately wished he hadn’t.

The ghost had her hand around his leg, the skin already going tingly and numb. Arthur could hardly even manage to scream let alone try to get away. She was sprawled on the ground behind him and gurgling. Being this close it wasn’t hard to guess why as blood continued to ooze from the wide gash across her neck. If he wasn’t living this right now Arthur would say this was straight out of a horror movie.

The woman bared her teeth before her other hand shot out, grabbing a fistful of his pants so she could pull herself forward. Her movements were stiff an awkward like she hadn’t moved in a long time. Finally Arthur got himself together enough to try and kick her off of him. Too little too late at this point. Her grip was much too strong to get out of and trying to pull himself forward was also getting him no where. In a desperate bid for freedom, Arthur managed to get his bag off and chuck it at the ghost’s head. It bounced harmlessly off and spilled his notes everywhere.

Arthur let out a choked whimper as she reached his back. Ice cold fingers were on the back of his head before his face was shoved into the dirt. From this angle he couldn’t see anything but dead leaves and twigs. He could hear her breathing just fine though. Horrible, wet gurgles sounded like they were just above his head now. It was getting colder. Much colder than it had any right to be. Much colder than being around Lewis ever was.

Blindly, he reached up. The moment his hand found her the sheer cold was enough to burn. Arthur winced as she pressed down harder, nails digging into his scalp. He couldn’t fight back and he couldn’t escape. The cold was seeping into his bones and his breaths were coming in quick, frightened gasps.

Oh god, he was going to die here.

Arthur squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for the inevitable. Laying there with his eyes closed he felt the sudden rush of air as something crashed into the ghost sitting on his back. His eyes snapped open to the sound of growls and screeching. Before he could get his muscles to cooperate, there were hands on him, helping him up. It took him a stupid amount of time to actually register the person in front of him.

“Hey, hey look at me! Are you okay?”

He blinked at the hand patting at his cheek. The face in front of him was a little familiar but it was hard to forget the mop of blue hair. She was trying to get his attention, glancing over his shoulder towards the sounds of gnashing teething and screaming. When he tried to look Vivi didn’t let him.

“Jeez, you don’t have a head wound do you?” She said hurriedly, hands already in his hair trying to check. This was just a little too surreal for him to deal with right now.

“Uh,” he managed, clearing his throat, “I don’t think so?”

“Oh great!” She thankfully stepped back out of his personal space but Arthur had no time to breathe as she was trying to haul him to his feet. Wow, she was stronger than she looked. Arthur shivered and found himself being pulled along.

“So we should probably go now,” Vivi said, quickly scooping up a bat with her other hand.

The noise abruptly stopped. With only the sounds of the wind and leaves under their feet the silence seemed almost threatening. Finally, Arthur’s brain seemed to reboot. Where the hell was Lewis? Was the woman able to hurt him? Vivi was practically dragging him along now.

“Wait,” he panicked when Vivi looked back at him, “my- my friend-“

That seemed to get her attention at least. She let go of his hand and held up her bat like she was gonna smack the next scary thing they came across with it. Hell, with that look in her eyes the situation didn’t seem to be the first time for her.

“Where did you see your friend last?”

“He was back-“ Arthur glanced back, hearing footsteps behind him, and did a double take, “there...?”

Just when he thought he was able to get a handle on the situation, the universe saw fit to throw him another curve ball. The creature walking into view was too tall to be anything natural. Arthur stumbled back a step and fell, gaping up at it. It looked like a fox but the sheer size put that out of the question. The comparison also wasn’t helped by the several massive tails.

Then he noticed the collar and glasses.

“Mystery, we talked about this,” Vivi seemed entire unfazed, hands on her hips and scolding the not-dog.

Mystery merely huffed, giving Arthur a passing glare as he continued. Jesus, those claws would shred him like tissue paper. The languid way Mystery walked in front of them betrayed nothing but ease. Arthur was left gawking as the not-dog looked back in the direction he came from.

“We aren’t alone,” Mystery rumbled. Oh, of course he could also speak.

Just as Arthur and Vivi we’re both about to launch into very different floods of questions, movement caught their attention.

“Arthur?!”

Shit, Lewis. Arthur scrambled to his feet and ignored Vivi’s confused look. His brain was going haywire trying to think up a plan to get out of this mess. Vivi obviously couldn’t see Lewis but Mystery probably could. The same Mystery who could masquerade as a small, innocent dog and probably ate that other ghost.

“Wait-!” He rushed forward without thinking, Vivi going to try and pull him back.

The glare Mystery leveled at him could’ve killed him on the spot. Arthur flinched, falling back a step before swallowing his nerves. He tried to take a breath and held up his hands placatingly. “You don’t need to hurt him,” Arthur managed.

Mystery’s only response was to stare him down. His heart was beating out of his chest and his hands were shaking but Arthur managed to look him in the eye. What if Mystery didn’t listen to him though? Arthur knew there was no way in hell he could actually stop him but maybe he could buy enough time for Lewis to get away.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Arthur nearly jumped, breaking off his staring contest with the not-dog to look over at Vivi. She was glancing between him and Mystery with narrowed eyes. “Who are you talking about Arthur? Your friend?”

“Uh-“

And of course that was the moment that Lewis broke through the trees. He didn’t look hurt, thankfully, but he also didn’t look... well. Arthur’s breath froze in his chest at the sight of the suit and flames dancing around his friends feet. Half of his face just seemed to be gone. In its place was stark white bone and purple fire for hair. The flames seemed to gain more energy at the sight of them, picking up in intensity and sending sparks off into the air. Whatever relief might’ve been on his face was immediately replaced by shock.

“What the hell,” Lewis said, breathless.

As Mystery crouched down in front of them Arthur went into full on panic. One moment his brain was screaming at him to do something and then the next he suddenly was. That something just happened to be staring down a mouth full of deadly sharp teeth. Arthur had his arms spread and planted his feet firmly in between ghost and demon dog.

“Don’t-!” Arthur sucked in a breath through his teeth as Mystery turned his full attention back to him. “He’s my friend.”

After a tense moment Mystery stood back up to his full height and huffed.

“Mystery, what-“ whatever Vivi was about to ask was drowned out as a tail or two shielded her from view. From the sputtering it also apparently hit her in the face.

“What the hell. Arthur-“ Lewis only got a couple steps closer before Mystery let out a warning growl.

“That hardly changes things,” Mystery said. “He’s still a threat.”

Lewis was gobsmacked. If the circumstances were different Arthur would’ve made a note of how the flames around him seemed to respond in kind. “He’s also right here,” Lewis said, more than a little annoyed.

Arthur saw a mop of blue peaking out from around Mystery. From how her eyes were scanning around the environment she apparently still couldn’t see him.

“Look,” Arthur hurriedly continued, “thanks for uh- saving my life, I guess, but we’re good now, see? Lewis isn’t a threat to any of us, he- he hasn’t hurt me and he hasn’t hurt anybody else, okay?”

Mystery gave him a look that was just a smidge too close to pity for his comfort. Slowly he turned, keeping his eyes on Lewis the whole time as he began to pace to the side. Arthur didn’t know if he was trying to just protect Vivi or get a better angle to attack Lewis. When he gave Lewis a glance the ghost seemed just as on edge. Carefully, Arthur took a step back. Better to keep himself in between them.

“He already has,” Mystery said before coming to a stop.

“What?” Arthur stopped short, confused. He shot a look at Lewis who seemed taken aback by the mere mention of it.

“Tell me,” Mystery carefully turned, pacing the other way, “have you noticed anything... different lately?”

“Wha- different how?” This line of questioning made no sense. Of course things were different. What was he even implying? That Lewis had changed somehow? “He’s still the same old Lewis,” Arthur argued, “this guy wouldn’t hurt a fly!”

The not-dog rolled his eyes. “I’m not asking about him. Have you noticed anything different with yourself? Fatigue, less energy, nightmares.” Carefully Mystery took his place back in front of Vivi who was still trying to figure out who the third party was. She stood back with a frown, glancing between him and Mystery with a tight grip on the bat.

Almost casually Mystery sat down, examining the ground next to his paws with little interest. “Among other things, anyways.”

“No, not-“ Arthur paused when he realized he actually had to think about it.

Was there a difference? He’d always had trouble sleeping before. Nightmares, insomnia the whole nine yards and then some. After Lewis’s death it picked up a bit but he assumed that was just the trauma. Hell, his therapist had talked about it with him enough. They’d been increasing over the past few weeks though so Arthur really couldn’t say.

He was spared having to respond when Lewis cut in. “You’re lying, why would we take you at your word?”

The not-dog looked entirely unimpressed as he raised an eyebrow. At least that was a step above the about-to-maul-you face from earlier. Mystery continued, “You may not have intended any harm but doesn’t change the fact that you being here, near humans, is dangerous. Don’t try and tell me you don’t feel the difference. Even the youngest ghosts can tell.”

“I didn’t-“ Arthur glanced back at the uncertainty in his tone. Lewis swallowed, taking a breath. “I wouldn’t do that.”

“It’s not a matter of want,” Mystery huffed. “Spirits are like batteries. Your time here is limited so you have to get your energy from somewhere. Some are so full of lingering regrets and anger they can continue on that alone but everyone has their limits.”

Mystery’s gaze darted over to Arthur for a moment before settling back on Lewis. “You obviously don’t have that so you have to get your energy by different means.”

What he was implying was slowly falling into place. Arthur turned to see Lewis standing stock still, the only movement was him still struggling for air he didn’t need.

“You’re lying!” Lewis yelled it this time, voice shaking a little touch, throwing off bright purple sparks in the process. No, no, no. Arthur was sure there had to be some other explanation. They couldn’t have this dumped on them after making so much headway!

Mystery didn’t even look sorry. “Most spirits either don’t stay around people or they eventually siphon off too much. The result is the woman you just encountered. You have nothing anchoring yourself to this plane, Lewis, and you’re eventually going to burn out.”

“Mystery-!” Vivi chided, glancing between him and the vague area Lewis was in. She had a looser grip on the bat now, one hand reaching out to push at the giant not-dog. When she tried to step forward the not-dog blocked her path again.

“So yes,” Mystery turned back to Arthur now, completely ignoring what the girl said, “your friend is a danger to not only you but to everyone else around him.”

Arthur swallowed roughly, taking another step before turning towards Lewis. The ghost wasn’t paying attention anymore. It seemed up until this point he wasn’t aware of the change in his appearance and now he was simply staring down at his hands. They clenched and unclenched until finally Lewis looked up at him.

“Arthur-“ Lewis started, voice thick. When Arthur tried to take a step forward, to reassure him, to offer some way to help, Lewis faltered back as if he were afraid of him. “Don’t- just stay over there, okay? I-“

“Lew-“

“I never wanted this.” Lewis hugged himself, shaking his head. “God, I- I think I was doing it to Paprika too. That night she came down the stairs she’d been crying-“ For one long, terrible moment Lewis locked eyes with him. Arthur couldn’t even begin to guess at what was going through his head but the abject horror on his face was telling enough.

“I’m sorry. I need to go,” Lewis muttered.

“Wait, Lewis don’t-!” Arthur tried to reach out to him but Lewis was much faster than he gave him credit for. Arthur could only watch as his friend disappeared back into the trees without a sound. Arthur tried to take a breath. It didn’t help.

Mystery huffed, alerting him to the still present audience of this horror show. When Arthur turned he that same self assured, smug look on his face and for the first time in a while Arthur felt truly, legitimately angry.

“Why? Why did you do that?!” Arthur demanded, pointing an accusing finger in the direction his best friend disappeared to.

“My apologies,” Mystery mocked, “next time I’ll leave you to die and your friend to lose himself.”

The not-dog looked down as Vivi finally managed to climb over the little prison that he’d made with his body. She immediately picked herself up, dusted herself off, and turned the meanest glare on Mystery.

“I can’t believe you right now, Mystery. When did you become such an absolute ass! I taught you better manners than that,” Vivi planted her hands on her hips, clearly steaming.

Mystery sighed, drooping a bit with the action. “You can be mad with me later, Vivienne. I need to make sure the forest is clear.”

With that the not-dog stood back up to his full height and hurriedly bounded in the opposite direction than Lewis went. His size didn’t diminish his speed at all and Arthur quickly lost sight of him in the trees.

“You’re not getting out of this one, Mystery!” She shouted after him. Huffing, she retrieved her bat and turned back to Arthur. “I’m really sorry about him. He’s very… blunt?”

“Yeah no shit,” Arthur was too preoccupied collecting his notes to notice Vivi’s guilty shuffling. He did, however, nearly jump out of his skin as she waved a few loose pages in front of his face. “Thanks,” he said tonelessly.

He really couldn’t take it out on her. Vivi didn’t even know that Lewis existed and by that display she certainly didn’t condone the whole situation either. Still, Arthur desperately wanted to be angry with someone, something. He roughly shoved the papers into his bag and stood up, coming face to face with a sheepish Vivi.

“Look-“

“Was he telling the truth?” Arthur interrupted.

Vivi cringed and that was nearly an answer in itself. “Well, I only really got half the conversation but if you friend is a wandering spirit… then yeah? I’m really, really sorry but I don’t think he was doing it on purpose!”

Arthur pressed a hand to his eyes. Okay, this was… so much worse than the worst case scenarios he dreamt up. He didn’t even know if Lewis was going to come back after this.

“But-!” Vivi continued with forced cheer, “I think there might be a way to fix it! At least from what I’ve read, which if Mystery would’ve clued me in a little earlier-“

“You can fix it?” Arthur had interrupted her little rant before it even began. This seemed entirely too good to be true.

“Yes,” Vivi said, a more serious tone to her words than before, “it’d take some work but I think we can solve the little energy problem your friend has!”

Arthur let out a breath before nodding. It sounded far fetched but what other choice did he have. “What do need to do?”

“Well first,” Vivi continued with a smile, “we need to get out of these woods. Let’s get some grub and talk it over, my treat?”

Chapter Text

The lights buzzed overhead, the only other sounds being the muffled clamouring in the kitchen. After leaving the forest Vivi insisted on getting him dinner and since she'd only been here for a few weeks, this diner was the only restaurant she knew was good. Arthur had tried declining but it seemed Vivi was a force to be reckoned with. He could only watch in muted horror as she absolutely inhaled her strawberry milkshake. They remained mostly silent since leaving the forest, making Arthur fidget uncomfortably.

The burger and fries in front of him didn't seem remotely appetising. Arthur pushed the plate aside with a frown.

"Not hungry?" Vivi asked, popping a fry into her mouth.

"Uh, no sorry," Arthur tapped his fingers against his glass. He felt a little guilty since Vivi was pretty pushy about paying but he just couldn't do it.

The place was practically deserted at this point. Night had fallen and the only other person in the restaurant was an older man tucking into a slice of pie at the counter. Arthur looked back, confident that no one would be paying them much attention.

He cleared his throat. "You said you had a way to... fix this?"

Vivi nodded. "Yeah! I think I'd have to do some research on the specifics but I'm pretty sure it'll work."

She had worked through her plate at this point so Arthur pushed his to her side. Vivi paused before continuing.

"Okay, so, ghost's need energy yeah? Most of them, your friend included, don't have anything strong enough linking them to our world." She hesitated, glancing away from Arthur for a moment. "They have to have the energy to stay here."

"Right," Arthur sighed. Neither of them seemed to want to talk about that particular detail.

"Anyway," Vivi tried to plow through the awkwardness, "I think we can make a tether for him. An anchor!"

"Anchor?"

"Yeah it's just something that keeps them here, y'know?" Vivi was gesturing with a few fries. "Some ghosts are tied to a place or person or something. Depends on the person really. Doesn't matter what it is, it's just gotta have enough meaning to keep him here."

Arthur bit his lip. For the first time in a while he started to consider something. Something he didn't allow himself to dwell and was too nervous to actually ask Lewis about.

"Um... if he did have an anchor," Arthur said haltingly, gripping his glass, "would he be stuck here?"

The fries paused on the way to Vivi's mouth as she gave him a questioning look. "What do you mean?"

Frustrated, Arthur huffed. "I mean that- I mean that I don't want him to be stuck here forever y'know? If we do this is he ever going to be able to- to pass on?"

A beat passed as Vivi dropped the fries back onto the plate. "Nothing lasts forever," she explained, voice carefully neutral. "Part of it depends on him too, y'know?"

Nodding, Arthur sat back in his seat. Vivi pushed the plate back towards him. "You should eat something."

The protests died in this throat as Vivi levelled him with a look. Arthur picked up a fry, not eating it as he continued. "Can I ask you something?"

Vivi seemed grateful for the change in subject but Arthur didn't like the sudden mischievous look in her eye. "Only if get to ask you something after."

That seemed fair, he guessed. Arthur nodded his agreement before hesitantly asking, "What's the deal with your... uh, dog?"

It seemed like way too many weird happenings for one lifetime let alone one year. Arthur hadn't even begun processing this. Instead he was wondering what mundane things he could talk about with his therapist instead of well... any of this. Keeping this to himself may just make him explode though.

Vivi on the other hand didn't even blink.

"Oh, Mystery?" She sighed, long suffering like Mystery was an unruly child instead of a giant talking fox. "Don't mind him. He's old and he's got a stick where the sun don't shine but he's not dangerous or anything."

Arthur would beg to differ but kept that to himself. "Right uh, where the hell did he even come from?"

Despite answering exactly none of his questions, Vivi wagged a finger. "I get a question, that was the deal. Now then, who's your friend?"

Well he probably should've expected that question. How was he supposed to answer though? Arthur sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, he's uh... he's Lewis. You've already met him. Kind of."

Her eyes widened and she nearly choked on the remnants of her milkshake. "Really? When?!"

"Yeah, back in front of the school?"

She couldn't see him back then either. Vivi seemed to think for a moment, narrowing her eyes. He managed a small laugh, half-hearted and full of nerves.

"Do I have something on my face?"

"Nope," Vivi said simply, turning her attention back to her milkshake. "Your turn."

This had turned into a game now apparently. Arthur slumped a bit, leaning on the table with his arms.

"Okay well, I still wanna know what Mystery is and how the hell you ended up with him as a dog."

With a grin that was just a little too smug, Vivi said, "Well, he's a little mum on the details but I can do my own research. Plus my grandma knows a bunch about the supernatural. Some of the stories she tells are nuts like this one time-"

"Vivi."

She paused. "Oh, sorry. Anyway he's called a kitsune, sort of like a fox demon? Not that he'd confirm it one way or the other. As for how I got him as a dog..."

Vivi shrugged and Arthur sat there for a moment.

"You can't be serious."

"Why not? He's been around since I was little!"

"Because you have a demon for a dog!" Arthur gripped at his hair. "Why the hell is he pretending to be your dog in the first place?"

"Well technically-"

"Cuz he doesn't seem like the type who likes to play fetch, Vivi!"

A fry bounced off his forehead. "Shush," Vivi rolled her eyes like he was being the unreasonable one. "It's not a big deal."

"I can't understand how you're so casual about this."

Vivi shrugged. "Hard to take him seriously when he's gotten his head stuck in a jar a few times."

Trying to compare that mental image with the intimidating display in the forest was going to give him a headache. Arthur leaned back, rubbing at his temples. A diner chair squeaked as the older man stood, throwing a few bills down on the counter as he left.

Arthur sat up again as the man passed. "Maybe- maybe we want to meet up tomorrow and plan more?"

Vivi shoved a few more fries into her mouth as she nodded. "Here, gimme your phone."

She typed away on his phone as their waitress made another round. Arthur shot her a small smile, faltering a bit in the face her annoyance. The bill was dropped on the edge of the table.

"Can I get you two anything else?" The woman asked, tone making it clear the answer better be no.

"No, we're good thanks," Vivi said distractedly, holding his phone in one hand and rooting around in her bag with the other. The waitress let out a small sigh as Vivi slapped money down on top of the bill. "C'mon, then."

Vivi roughly pressed his phone into his hands as she passed. He had to scramble to follow after her, only managing to skim over her contact info. The little turtle next to her name was a nice touch. As they walked back, Arthur went ahead and texted her a Hi just so he didn't have to put in his number. From the amount Vivi was typing she seemed to be making a few embellishments to his name in her phone anyways.

"Okay, are you doing anything tomorrow?" Vivi asked. She seemed to get a bit of bounce in her step when he shook his head. "Great! I'll text you my address and we can get started!"

She made this sound more fun than it actually was. As they walked the rest of the way, Vivi was talking out loud about the things she needed to find.

"Oh and I think I have a book with a couple rituals that might be useful!" Vivi frowned. "Ah, I just hope they didn't throw it out."

Arthur didn't offer much input, not that it was needed anyways. From what little experience he had, Vivi seemed to be the type without much of a filter. It was less of a conversation and more of a stream of consciousness from her. Not that he minded, really, considering he didn't know if he had the capacity to talk much more tonight. Vivi was clearly passionate about this and he found it reassuring. Someone who had the knowledge and confidence she did helped quell a bit of the anxiety still churning in his gut.

That was until Vivi stopped. "Alright, this is me!"

Arthur glanced up at the house before them. It was a two story affair, nothing notable on the outside aside from the boxes piled next to their garage. Despite the hour a light was still on in the window.

"Uh, when do you wanna-" Arthur's hesitant question was cut off by Vivi.

"First thing in the morning!" She shifted on her feet, already looking restless. "We've got some stops to make anyways."

"Right." Arthur wondered what all Vivi had planned out if he was only hearing about these errands now. Part of him wondered if this was a good idea after all.

”You good on your way back?” Vivi asked. Despite wanting to say hell no Arthur didn’t want to impose more than he already had.

Arthur waved off her concern and all too soon Vivi was waving her goodbyes and running towards her front door. Arthur wondered briefly if the fox demon was back to pretending to be a lap dog inside, maybe curled up on a couch somewhere. He shivered at the thought and got to walking.

Now, Arthur wasn't going to say he was a brave person by any means. Half the time he'd overthink things and get stuck in a loop of anxiety in his own head. But he never felt as hunted as he did now. He was never afraid of walking down an empty, well lit road at night.

With Lewis he'd had confirmation of the supernatural being real but he hadn't felt scared then. Now he knew there was more. Things hiding in plain sight. Arthur rationalized he wasn't going to just get plucked off the sidewalk by some creature but that didn't stop him from glancing behind him. It didn't help his heart not jump into his throat at every errant sound.

Arthur couldn't be more relieved when he could shut and firmly lock his door behind him. He let out a shaky breath. Luckily Lance didn’t seem to be waiting up on him. Though the snoring coming from the living told him that was probably his uncle’s plan. The motions of getting ready for bed were automatic, on autopilot. Now Arthur lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling again.

Sleep didn't come for several more hours and there were no visitors tonight.

Chapter Text

When the alarm on his phone started up, Arthur didn't feel any more rested than he had the night before. Bleary-eyed, he just managed to hit the snooze before smooshing his face back into the pillow. Curse past him though, because he set another one for five minutes later. Giving the thing a betrayed glare didn't seem to do much. Admitting defeat, Arthur rolled out of bed and silenced the alarm. He had to squint to actually read the text on his phone and fumbled to turn down the brightness.

There was Vivi's name attached to a text with her address. Not that it was super necessary since he'd seen her home but it gave him confirmation they were still doing this at least. Arthur yawned as he went to stand.

His ankle twinged in pain so suddenly Arthur hopped off it, nearly losing his balance as he grabbed at the bed's edge. The dark, mottled bruising on his leg wasn't exactly a surprise. Arthur huffed, poking at it. He hadn't even realized the ghost grabbed him that hard but he was probably lucky that was the only injury he walked away with. Briefly he wondered what became of the spirit. She must've died long ago and had been stuck wandering for longer still. Was Mystery powerful enough to put an end to her though? Part of him hoped so, even if the thought weighed on him.

Trying to shake it off, Arthur pushed himself up again. Taking a few tentative steps, his ankle only gave protest if he bent it too far one way or the other. Good enough for him.

"Hey little guy," he muttered as he crossed the room to Galaham's cage. Going through the motions of changing his food and water was a nice breath of normal for once. Though it seemed to be too early for the little hamster too.

Over time Arthur had added onto the cage, making plenty of spots to hide and play for him. He was actually wanting to try expanding it with some hamster tubes but well, other things happened.

"There ya go," Arthur set the bowl back into the cage, peering into one of the little hidey holes. Galaham for his part seemed more interested in sleeping than anything else. "Yeah wish that was me too, buddy."

Carefully shutting the cage, Arthur rifled through his clothes, giving one shirt a sniff before tossing it aside. Luckily he found some that were acceptably clean. Another thing that had fallen on his priority list was laundry. For now though, he kicked yesterday's stuff into a pile and left the room.

Whatever hope he had about Lance not being up were dashed as soon as Arthur opened the door. Already he heard something cooking, the smell following soon after as he walked downstairs. It was a familiar one but didn't do much to put Arthur at ease.

One of the few dishes in Lance's wheelhouse was pancakes and even then he only learned it so that he could impress a girl he was dating back in college. According to his uncle, it wasn't without a few failed attempts either. They'd broken up years ago but the pancakes were here to stay.

Lance didn't turn as Arthur entered the kitchen. From the plate sitting on the counter he'd been at it for a while. The smell made Arthur's mouth water and it was only then he realized he didn't each lunch or dinner yesterday. As if the man could sense Arthur nervously glancing at his phone, Lance pointed towards the table with the spatula.

"Sit."

The tone brokered no argument and Arthur resigned himself to his fate, watching warily as his uncle cooked. Lance plopped the last couple pancakes onto the plate before making his way over, not looking at him. The sound of the plate hitting the table seemed too loud. Arthur watched as the man speared himself a few pancakes.

"Eat kid," Lance muttered. "Ya look like I don't feed you."

Hesitantly Arthur got himself a pancake. A plate of bacon and a jug of milk were already sitting on the table. It might've been a nice breakfast if not for the awkward, loaded silence. Arthur looked down at his plate as he ate. Only the sounds of forks on plates broke the silence.

Lance must be really pissed then. They ate in the relative quiet before Lance finally got down to it.

"Where were ya last night?" Lance asked. His casual tone was betrayed by him stabbing a bite of pancake. The clink of fork on plate was quite loud.

Arthur swallowed, glancing up. "I told you I was going for a walk."

"That was noon yesterday and you didn't get back till dark. Try again, kid."

"I-" Arthur huffed, annoyed as he pushed his food around on the plate. "I just lost track of time."

Telling him any part of what'd been going on would only increase the man's concern. Arthur worried his uncle would think he was losing it. Hell, he wouldn't blame him if he did, this stuff didn't happen outside of movies. It was just easier to make something up.

"You lost track of time?" Lance had finally looked up at him. From the look on his face it was clear his uncle didn't believe him.

"Yeah I just- I had a lot on my mind," Arthur hedged before taking a big bite. If he was drinking or eating he didn't need to talk.

Lance hummed, glaring down at his plate. The man wasn't much for talking about feelings and probably found the last couple weeks unbearably awkward. Which was why it threw Arthur off when he continued.

"Care to share with the class?"

Arthur blinked, swallowed and looked down at the table again. The urge to spill was there, sure. Lance wasn't as much of a hard ass as he wanted people to think. Despite not being good at comfort, the man offered his presence and a listening ear when Arthur needed it. It was usually Arthur coming to him though. Now that it was the other way around he wondered how much he'd been making Lance worry.

"It's fine," Arthur managed instead, voice carefully even.

He jumped slightly as Lance slapped his fork back down onto the table. "It sure as shit isn't fine, kid. Ya look like death and you've been disappearing to God knows where for days now!"

Lance took a breath and slowly took his hands off the table. Arthur was too busy staring a hole into the wall to notice.

"Look, Arthur," Lance sighed, scrubbing a hand down his face, "I'm worried about ya. Can ya at least call or something so I know ya haven't-" he cut himself off, huffing, "so I know nothing's happened."

That was fair. Suddenly not hungry anymore, Arthur sat his fork down. "Yeah, sure."

The admission was quiet but Lance didn't comment. For now at least.

Oh, if only he knew something had already happened.

Lance was a guy who didn't like sitting still, not when there were things to do and stuff that needed fixing. People liked to talk about the guys work ethic but Arthur knew better. That was just a side effect. When there were problems he couldn't fix, Lance kept himself busy and it used to mean Arthur ended up busy too. There had been plenty of little projects when Arthur had first moved in so it worked out. His new job now was probably the same, at least partially.

And this problem? Certainly not one Lance could even try to fix. He couldn't talk through it, clearly struggling with what he'd said already, so instead Lance got busy with the dishes. Already he was scraping off the remnants into the trash and running his plate under the sink.

Arthur did the same, quietly handing off his plate. Lance merely grunted his thanks, going to grab for the dish soap.

His phone chimed again and Arthur didn't have to look to know who it was. Arthur gave an unconvincing smile and a bad excuse, saying he was going out. For a moment his uncle seemed to deflate before waving him off, giving him the go ahead.

"Call me if you're gonna be out past 10," he muttered, annoyed and quiet.

Not needing any encouragement, Arthur was pulling his shoes on and running out the door. He felt a bit guilty as he left though. Maybe after things calmed down he could make it up to Lance somehow. They had plenty work to do at the shop come tomorrow morning too. Resolving to try and assuage his uncle's concern, Arthur set off down the sidewalk.

Cars zipped by occasionally, the rush of air not doing much against the already mounting morning heat. People passed by and he's relieved he's not alone out in the open for once. The atmosphere had changed drastically since last night. It was a sleepy, small town again. People were walking and enjoying the weather and sun. Arthur even thought he recognised a few kids he knew from school. His steps quickened again and soon he was nearing his destination.

Remembering suddenly, Arthur checked his phone to see Vivi had texted him again, asking if he was still asleep. After shooting off an apology Arthur hurried down the road. The response came surprisingly quick, telling him to come right in since she was still looking for supplies. Arthur blinked down at the text, eyebrows furrowing. Who invites a virtual stranger to just walk into their house?

Sighing, Arthur walked up the steps to her house. He noted that a few of the boxes from yesterday were gone. Were they still unpacking some things then? Maybe, since he could see someone moving in front of the windows.

Arthur stopped before the door, hesitating. He hardly even knew her, he wasn't just going to walk in! The right thing to do was knock, he was going to knock.

But as he raised his hand, the door was already opening. His eyes traveled down to see a short, elderly woman standing in front of him. Dressed in a kimono and face set in a stern glare, she was more intimidating than expected. The woman narrowed her eyes at him, seemingly already suspicious. Arthur hurriedly took a step back.

"Uh," Arthur stuttered in the face of such a severe expression, "is Vivi here?"

The woman huffed, not moving. "What business do you have with my granddaughter?"

That wasn't a question as much as it was a demand. Now Arthur kind of wished he'd let Vivi ramble a bit more about her grandma because it was looking like most of those stories would be true. What should he say, that he was a friend of hers? As he tried to think of something less insane than the truth, he was saved by Vivi coming down the stairs.

"Grandma! Leave my friend alone!" Vivi admonished, though without much heat.

Her grandmother merely huffed, moving out of the way so Vivi could drag him inside. Vivi pointed to the both of them with a grin.

"Arthur, this is Grandma Yukino. Grandma this is my friend Arthur, the one I told you about?"

"I remember," the woman said, already turning to walk off.

Arthur could only stare after her. "She knew I was coming and she still interrogated me?"

Vivi shrugged, grabbing his hand and pulling him along with her. "Eh, that's just grandma. She likes to mess with people, that's all. Come on, I think I've got most of the stuff we need."

Vivi kicked her door, getting a dull thunk as she pushed a pile of books out of the way. Her room was barely organized chaos. Bright colors and shelves lined with souvenirs and old books packed nearly all the available space. For someone who'd been here for barely a few weeks, she'd made the space her own already. Or at the very least claimed it by shoving in as much stuff as she could.

In the center of the room was a few piles of books. Arthur couldn't tell how they were organized but they all seemed very old and too worn to be on the floor. Some of them didn't even seem to be in English, how many languages could she read?

"Okay," Vivi let go of his hand, carefully tip toeing over the piles of books, "make yourself at home!"

Well Arthur might've done that had he not spotted a certain dog laid out at the foot of the bed. Mystery hardly paid him any mind, not even lifting his head as they entered the room. All Arthur got was a half hearted glare before Mystery closed his eyes again.

At Vivi's expectant look he ventured in, closing the door behind him when she asked. Arthur carefully plopped onto the floor. The whole time aware of where he was putting his legs and keeping Mystery in his peripheral.

"Right so," Vivi clapped her hands together, "even though my mom threw out a few of my old books, we still have lots to work with."

From her tone it seemed like something her mom did often. Arthur didn't get the chance to ask as Vivi continued, pointing at each of the different piles of books. Colorful sticky notes poked out of the pages, with neat small writing all over them.

"Okay so these ones could be somewhat helpful, stuff about ghosts and spirits in general. These ones are more what we need considering they talk specifically about them and what ties them to our plane of existence." She pointed at the last pile, frustrated like this was a homework assignment or something. "And these aren't gonna help at all since they're about banishing and exorisms. Useful to know but not for this situation."

All he could do was look over the piles, wondering how long it took her to do all this. Had she read all these before or did she do it after they parted ways last night? It certainly beat the research he did on his own, though the last pile was distressingly larger than the others.

"Where did you get all of these?" Arthur asked.

"Well most of them are from my grandma," Vivi picked up one with care. "She had a bunch back when she lived in Japan and gave me some as long as I took care of them."

As she spoke a small, nostalgic smile crept up on her as she ran her hand over the cover. She carefully put in back onto a stack. It was clear she held her grandma in high regard. From the huff in Mystery's direction during the conversation, it seemed the not-dog didn't share the sentiment.

Arthur shot him a quick, nervous glance but Mystery gave no other indication he was listening. What was the history on that one? Vivi, however, just ignored him. She reached over and pulled a sheet of paper from between some books before waving it in his direction. "I made a checklist! We're probably going to have to make a few stops today, if that's okay."

Arthur took the paper and read it over. The first item was finding Lewis which made sense. The guy probably had to be present for this to work. Arthur hoped that he showed up sooner or later. It wasn't like he hadn't disappeared before but the circumstances were different this time. He had no idea how they'd find him if Lewis decided to just stay gone. The thought of the guy wandering around, alone, made something in his chest twist.

One thing at a time, Arthur.

The next was something that meant a lot to Lewis. That was going to be much harder. Everything the guy was close with was undoubtedly tucked away in his room and Arthur hadn't seen or talked to Lewis's family since the funeral.

The anxiety already building over that prospect froze as he read the next item.

"'Grave dirt'? Vivi what-" Arthur looked up, taken aback.

She was already waving her hands to placate him. "We don't have to dig at all! Just a little bit is more than enough."

"But why?!"

Vivi sighed, looking through the pile of books before pulling one out and flipping through it. The pages were yellowed and appeared to be written in Japanese.

"Okay so basically all we need in this is something to act as an anchor. An object he'd have a connection to." Vivi's brow furrowed as she continued to skim through the book. "The grave dirt is just to help it stick, I guess? Or maybe to help him make the connection? Something to link him to the anchor we're gonna make. Like a bridge."

Arthur bit his lip, looking back down to the list. "You guess?"

"Well my Japanese isn't that great anymore," Vivi said, picking the book up and holding it in front of Mystery. "Hey lazybones, what's this passage say?"

Mystery blinked one eye open but didn't even look where Vivi was pointing. The not-dog huffed.

"What are you doing, Vivienne."

The book was not so subtly nudged into the dog. "You know what. C'mon I need you to double check this, don't be stubborn."

Napping out of the question in the face of Vivi's insistence, Mystery sat up. He glanced at the book before turning to glare at Arthur for a moment as if this was his fault. Mystery took his time standing up and stretching out. Arthur caught Vivi rolling her eyes and wondered if this ordeal was a usual thing.

"I'll be of no help here, I'm afraid," Mystery explaining, not sounding very sorry, "I can understand and speak it but I can't read it."

Vivi groaned. "Mystery c'mon..."

Mystery's claws ticked against the floor as he jumped from the bed. "I can't help you Vivienne."

"More like won't."

Mystery rolled his eyes. "That's besides the point. This a fool's errand anyway."

Arthur frowned, watching as Mystery weaved his way through the books. "Why do you say that?"

"Because the spirit has to be willing for it to work," Mystery batted at the closest book with clear distaste, "binding one against their will is straying a touch too far into necromancy for my tastes."

Lewis might've been more willing had someone not run him off. "And who's fault is that exactly?"

The words slipped out before he could think better of it though Arthur didn't regret it much. Mystery shot him a withering glance and rolled his eyes.

"Ah yes, next time I'll simply leave the spirit to feed off of you until you die or worse."

Both of them jumped at the clap of a book slamming shut. Vivi looked pissed, the relationship between her and her grandma even more apparent now.

"Mystery, stop being an ass. If you're not going to help," she pointed to the door, "get out."

Girl and dog have a tense stare off for a few moments too long. Eventually giving in, Mystery huffed and walked off to the door.

The door that was still closed.

Mystery looked from the knob, to the floor and back to them. He looked embarrassed and angry in equal measure. The stilted silence reigned as Vivi got up and opened the door for him. Maybe in an effort to save face, Mystery held his head high as he walked out before Vivi none too gently shut the door behind him.

She sat back down with a sigh. "Sorry. Again."

"Is he always this-" Arthur hesitated.

"No," Vivi growled, going back to sorting through her books with a scowl, "he usually just ignores other people. Took him forever to even like me."

"Right." Not a lot better to be honest. Being indifferent to human lives, outside of Vivi maybe, was barely a step above actively hating them.

"But that's okay," Vivi continued, "because he's probably going to find an excuse to tag along even if he's too stubborn to help."

Arthur would very much rather he didn't. "Can't you just ask your grandma for a translation?"

"Eh," Vivi glanced away sheepish, "she'd probably be less than thrilled. The spirits she used to run into were usually less than friendly."

What the hell was daily life even like in this house? Did her grandma use to go around and exorcise spirits? Before he could even think to ask, Vivi had passed him the book so he could look at it himself. The page was covered in aged, handwritten text and diagrams. It was all in Japanese but Vivi had taken the time to translate some of it on some post its. The general gist was to bring the spirit as close to their realm as existence and then create a bridge. Something to pinch the two together. An anchor.

Vivi pointed to an intricate drawing in the center, ink worn away in parts from time. "The idea is we put the anchor we're making in the middle, here." Her finger tapped against the center of the page before following the lines trailing out towards the edge.

"These are to channel the energy into it, kind of like a road map. Which is also where the grave dirt comes in. Earthly stuff to go with the unearthly stuff."

"Is taking that even legal?" Arthur looked up, the prospect of collecting grave dirt still wasn't exactly appealing.

"Uh," Vivi shrugged, "probably?"

"Great," Arthur sighed, motioning for her to continue.

"We just gotta find a nice, quiet space big enough for this and make sure we don't mess up the circle along with the ingredients," Vivi closed the book, looking proud of herself. "Any questions?"

Arthur frowned, glancing down at the paper he still held in his hands. He didn't know if he could face the Peppers. Even after all this time and all their reassurances, the memory of them at the wake stuck with him.

"Are you sure this going to work?" He asked, quiet.

Vivi nodded without an ounce of hesitation. "I know it is!"

"Okay," Arthur blew out a breath as he stood, trying to gear himself up for what was surely going to be an exhausting day. "I think I have some ideas about what we could use for an anchor."

Chapter Text

"Maybe- do you think you could go do something else for a while?"

Vivi blinked at him, not even really surprised. "Sure. You do what you have to."

They were stood just across the street from Pepper Paradiso. Him, a girl he barely knew, and a kitsune pretending to be a dog. People could be seen eating through the windows, not full but far from empty. Just a flash but Arthur was pretty sure he saw Mr. Pepper passing in front of the window.

"Or maybe we could do this later," Arthur mumbled. Maybe when there were less people.

"If you want to," Vivi said, glancing between him and the restaurant. "But you can't put it off forever. You shouldn't. Not just for this, anyways."

Arthur had to tear his eyes away from the window to her. Vivi had her hand up in the air, hesitating before setting it on his shoulder. She had a point. He couldn't really argue against it, damn it, she had a point. A beat more of hesitation, a squeeze to the shoulder and she took her hand back. Arthur wished they were good enough friends to hug or something maybe. Something to ground him to the now.

Letting out a breath, Arthur nodded. "Right, I'll uh- I'll text you later. Don't worry about waiting around for me."

"Not like I have anything else to do," Vivi offered with a smile and shrug.

"Right thanks again I uh-" Arthur took in a breath, "I guess I'll go now."

Before he could talk himself out of it he was off, walking quickly across the road. When he glanced back Vivi and Mystery were still watching. She gave a little wave and then he was walking inside.

They had spent so much time in here when Lewis was alive it ended up being a second home. Lewis was always helping with waiting tables or tasting new dishes. Arthur ended up here a lot too and always remembered the warmth of the place. The Pepper family always welcomed him with open arms and now he was going to have to ask them to do it again.

The guilt over the reason why was coiling in his gut. Not to mention that, knowing them, the Pepper family was going to invite him in regardless.

Music was playing from a radio somewhere and there was laughter a few tables over. The smells coming from the kitchen made his mouth water. Arthur stood in the entryway, hesitating and looking around. He wasn't sure what he should do now. The familiarity of where he was warred with the strangeness of his circumstances.

He shouldn't just... get a table somewhere. Would that be weirder than standing here though?

There was no way to make this any less awkward. Arthur sighed and walked in. People gave him odd looks as he went back towards the kitchen door. He raised a hand, took a breath, and knocked twice. Before Lewis' death they'd make a beeline to the kitchen after school. Usually to snag something to snack on but sometimes they'd help out a little too.

Man, he hoped someone was actually back there.

Lucky for him, the door actually opened to a somewhat harried looking Mr. Pepper.

"Sorry sir if you'll just-" the politely annoyed look on his face turned shocked. "Arthur! Why we weren't-" He glanced back towards the kitchen before turning to him again, brows furrowed. "How can I help you, Arthur?"

"Is- can I-" Arthur bit back a groan, "is now a bad time?"

Mr. Pepper was already shaking his head. "No, no, not at all! Please-" he steps back, pushing the door open for him, "come back and stay a while?"

He almost sounded hopeful. The man looked tired, the circles under his eyes just as pronounced as at the wake. Arthur tried for a smile and walked into the kitchen. The couple staff members recognized him, either giving him a nod or looking after him with surprise written plain on their faces.

"Sorry for the bustle," Mr. Pepper said, weaving through the kitchen with an ease borne from years of practice, "we're closing a bit early today though so-"

He brought him to a smaller table back in the kitchen. Arthur remembered doing his homework with Lewis at this table after school. Lewis showing off his cooking. His little sisters sneaking in to try and mess with them.

Arthur took a seat, feeling a bit numb. Mr. Pepper apologized again before rushing off, probably to someone's table. The kitchen had to work through the customers they still had before closing early. He didn't remember it they ever closed early before Lewis died. Arthur sighed, propped his chin up one hand and watched the flurry of activity. He hadn't seen Mrs. Pepper yet but the kitchen still ran like the well oiled machine it was with her at the helm.

The floor creaked underneath the table. Arthur blinked, leaned back and pulled up the table cloth. Peering up at him was tiny Paprika, busy peeking out from the other side of the table.

"What're you up to?"

She started, whirling to face him. He'd only meant to tease her but the wide eyed look of fear was a little hard to stomach.

"Hiding," she said simply before carefully peaking out again.

"From what?" He was trying and failing to keep his tone light.

Instead of answering, Paprika pushed out the chair next to him and crawled out from under the table. The way she looked around the kitchen was a little too vigilant, too wary. She turned to him again and it was even worse to have that look directed towards him.

"Is Lewis with you?"

The question hits him like a two by four. He knew that Paprika could see Lewis, knew that she was frightened of him but... Arthur didn't quite trust his voice to answer and shook his head. It seemed to satisfy Paprika though. She nodded and climbed up into the chair next to him.

"Okay."

Arthur nodded, voice a bit strangled. "Okay."

He didn't get much chance to say anything else as Mrs. Pepper came in like a force of nature. She paused a moment at the sight of him before turning towards Paprika, the stern look back in her eyes.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to play in here, hmm? There's too many things for you to get hurt with."

"I wasn't playing," Paprika muttered, sinking a bit in her chair.

"Uh-huh," Mrs. Pepper walked over, running a hand over Paprika's hair, "come on. Upstairs."

Paprika obliged, though not without some pouting, and weaved her way back towards the stairs. Mrs. Pepper sighed, pinched the bridge of her nose, and turned to him.

"Hello, Arthur," she gave him a tight smile, "if we'd known you were coming we would've made something special."

"I'm... sorry to just drop in like this," he said, shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

"Don't be," Mrs. Pepper waved him off. "Stay for dinner if you'd like."

"I'd love to but-"

"But?"

Arthur tried not to squirm. "I have uh- dinner planned with Lance. Guy can't cook his way out of a wet paper bag."

She hummed in agreement going to pull out a chair across from him. Arthur watched, silent as she rubbed at her temples.

"What can I do for you, Arthur?" She asked.

"I just wanted to-"

Go through your dead son's belongings to find something to turn into an anchor? For your son that is a ghost now, by the way, he says hi.

"Just wanted to see how things were going," he finished lamely.

For a moment it seemed like Mrs. Pepper might call him on his bullshit. Then she sighed, nodded and leaned forward to put her arms on the table.

"Thank you. It's been... rough since, well."

"Yeah," Arthur rubbed the back of his neck.

God, why was he doing this?!

"We're thinking of closing the restaurant."

Arthur froze. He kept looking at her like she'd say sike at any moment. The longer he met her eyes the further his heart fell.

"Closing the restaurant?" He repeated faintly. "But you guys built the place."

"I know, I know. It's not been an easy conversation and we're not decided yet." She huffed, looking away and covering her mouth. "Lewis... it's been hard on all of us. Trying to manage the restaurant, the girls, and everything else has been a strain. It wouldn't be forever but..."

Arthur swallowed, mind flashing back to the wake.

"How are they doing?" He asked. "How are you doing?"

She gave him a small, brittle smile. "We're managing." That same smile died a swift death as she continued with a sigh. "The girls are taking it the hardest, I think. Cayenne has been acting out, Belle hardly talks to anyone but her father now, and Paprika-" she sighed, "she still has those nightmares."

She spread her hands out on the table before drawing back.

"I know it's a shock but we're hoping taking a step back will help the girls heal, you know?" Mrs. Pepper frowned. "We may decide to start fresh. Once we get back on our feet at least."

Arthur swallowed and looked down at his hands. They were going to close the restaurant. Maybe even move. How far though? Was... was it right to just let them leave when Lewis was still here? Even if he couldn't be around people? If Paprika was terrified of him? They were trying to heal and Arthur wasn't even sure if this would work. Or if Lewis even wanted his family to know.

"Sorry to unload on you like that," Mrs. Pepper continued, snapping Arthur out of his thoughts.

"No, no I wanted to know," Arthur was quick to reassure her. Biting his lip for a moment he said, "I hope it helps you guys."

"So do I." Mrs. Pepper smiled, a bit less melancholy this time, and stretched her hand over to cover his. "But I want you to know no matter where we are, you're always welcome Arthur. You know that, right?"

Arthur felt his eyes stinging and nodded. "Yeah... Thank you."

She gave his hand a little pat before pulling back with a sigh. "I should go help with tear down."

Before she even finished the sentence, Mr. Pepper had reappeared. He gently pushed her back down into the chair as he passed.

"You sit," he said, "you've been running yourself ragged, my dear."

She rolled her eyes but acquiesced with a tired smile. Mr. Pepper turned to Arthur now.

"Oh! And are you staying for dinner, Arthur? We would love to have you! The girls ask after you, you know."

The words got caught in his throat. They'd asked about him?

Mrs. Pepper, bless her, did the talking for him. She reached up and patted her husbands hand. "Not tonight. Arthur has to stop his uncle from burning their home down."

"Ah yes," Mr Pepper winced, "perhaps another time then."

One of the staff called for Mr. Pepper and he bid them a quick goodbye before hurrying off again. It left them in awkward, suffocating silence for a moment. Arthur fidgeted and then took a breath. He had to ask at some point.

"Mrs. Pepper uh-" he rubbed the back of his neck, "I actually came by to ask you something?"

She raised an eyebrow, interest piqued. His stomach did a somersault and he had to look away.

"It's ah- it's about Lewis. I was wondering if I could- I just wanted to see..."

He stuttered to a stop, shame burning red hot. Christ, why did he think asking a grieving mother for her son's stuff was a good idea?! Maybe if he dropped it now he could flee with whatever respect they still had for him.

Arthur was jolted out of his thoughts when Mrs. Pepper grabbed his hand with both of hers. She gave him a kind, small smile.

"Whatever you need Arthur, we're here for you."

He nodded, managing to make eye contact for a moment. "Would it uh- would it be okay if I just looked in his room for a minute? I-I'll be gone in like five minutes-"

If Mrs. Pepper thought his request was odd she didn't give any indication of it. With an expression just a bit too understanding for his liking, she nodded and stood up.

"Don't worry about it Arthur," she said, "besides, the offer for dinner is still on the table."

Quickly following her upstairs, Arthur felt a dread he hadn't since Lewis' wake. The house was quiet as the sounds of the kitchen faded away. There, at the third door on the left, was Lewis' room. Mrs. Pepper opened the door a bit and stepped back.

"Take as long as you need, Arthur," she didn't hesitate before drawing him in for a hug, "you're part of this family too."

He was frozen for a second, not even able to return the hug before Mrs. Pepper was standing back up. She quickly wiped at her eyes before nodding and going back downstairs.

For a long moment all he could do was stand there at his bedroom door. He hesitated, even though he'd been in that room countless times before, it felt like crossing some sort of boundary now. Especially with what he had in mind. Finally, he gathered his nerves and gingerly pushed the door open.

Lewis was always a pretty organized person. Methodical, neat and tidy. He was hardly ever late and liked to razz Arthur about his messy habits. His room was about the same. Even now the bed was still made, a blanket with a star pattern neatly tucked in place. A few plush alpacas were set up next to his pillows. Everything had its place. His book shelves were full of old manga and novels. Pictures of Lewis and family filled one shelf with more than a few frames made by his sisters.

Arthur took a few steps inside. It felt... odd. It was too normal. For all he knew Lewis would just pop back in and they'd go back to hanging out like normal again. The plushies and pictures felt less comforting now and more like a monument.

He sighed, clutching his arm hard enough to hurt. "I'm sorry."

Even though his voice was too low to carry anywhere and Lewis wasn't even here, part of Arthur hoped his friend could hear him somehow anyway.

Walking over to Lewis' desk, Arthur looked it over. His eyes finally landed on what he hoped would make a good anchor. The little heart locket was simple, made of cheap plastic and painted gold. It probably didn't cost more than a few bucks but Lewis made sure to show it off anyway.

His sisters had seen it at the store a few years ago, sometime before Christmas. They'd wanted to get him a more personal gift and had their father help pick a picture out.

Arthur carefully opened it up, seeing a group shot of all three of the Pepper girls smiling for the camera. The next time Arthur came over Cayenne had gleefully informed him that Lewis cried like a baby. The guy hadn't even tried to argue.

The door creaked behind him and Arthur jumped. Paprika stood there, peeking through the doorway at him. Her eyes bounced from the locket in Arthur's hands to his face.

"Uh-" he managed. Real eloquent, Kingsman.

"Are you gonna take that?" Paprika asked, pointing at the locket.

Shit.

"I was gonna- borrow it," he said, fidgeting from foot to foot.

"When are you gonna give it back?"

He cleared his throat, looking down at the locket and turning it over in his hands.

"I was going to give it to Lewis, actually," Arthur said quietly, "he um... he needs it."

Paprika blinked. "Regular Lewis or scary Lewis?"

The air left him in a rush. Scary Lewis. God.

"Regular Lewis, Pap," he said with a shaky smile.

She seems to think about it for a moment before nodding. "You can borrow it then."

With that she turned and ran back to her room. Arthur heard her open and close her door and slumped. He wasn't sure whether to be relieved or crushed. Lewis was never gonna hear about this part.

Feeling like he was being watched, Arthur shoved the locket into his pocket and hurried out of Lewis' room. After gingerly closing the door, he was out of Pepper Paradiso like a bat out of hell.

Chapter Text

For a long time after leaving the Pepper household, Arthur sat at the first bench he came across. Watched cars roll by. Idly he rolled the plastic pendant in his hands.

What would Lewis say if he was here right now?

Would he be angry that he involved his family in this? That he took a gift from his sisters meant for Lewis? Would he even stick around this time?

With how Lewis fled back then Arthur doubted it. With a sigh, he stuck the pendant back in his pocket. He could deal with that later. Preferably after they got this anchor for him. Arthur thought he would take Lewis being angry with him if he was able to actually be around people or even see his family again.

Deciding he couldn't put it off any longer, Arthur fished his phone out. He sent a quick text off to Vivi and hoped he hadn't kept her waiting too long. The phone wasn't even back in his pocket before it vibrated. If he thought today was going to get any easier, Vivi's reply thoroughly smashed those hopes.

She wanted to meet him at the cemetery.

His grip on the phone tightened a bit. Arthur took a breath. Okay, he already talked to the Peppers. He just had to get in, get what he needed, and get out. Didn't even need to talk to anybody this time.

The thought inexplicably made him feel a stab of guilt. Logically he knew Lewis, the real Lewis anyway, wasn't there. Not really. It was another thing entirely to grapple with the thought of his best friend being underneath his feet. The prospect of just scooping up some dirt and leaving felt wrong.

Arthur shook his head, trying to shake off the thoughts in the process. If he sat around like this they wouldn't get anywhere. He forced himself up and started walking.

It was getting later in the afternoon now. With the sun starting to set the air turned a bit cooler. Still, it was a nice day out and people were enjoying it. Arthur hardly took notice. The pedestrians thinned out as he left downtown behind. Store fronts had been swapped out for housing. There was no breeze today, leaving Arthur to walk in an odd sort of silence. He half wished he brought some music along just for the distraction.

He could see the old wrought iron fencing in the distance. It wasn't anything fancy, the town being relatively small and all, but the cemetery was well maintained. The grass was cut, bushes were trimmed, and flowers laid out on some of the graves. Vivi stood there with Mystery at the entrance, looking over the plots with a serious expression.

The sound of gravel crunching under his shoes got her attention. Vivi gave him a wave but this time it lacked some of the enthusiasm.

"Hey," she said carefully as he approached, "how did it go?"

Wordlessly he held up the pendant he brought. "It was a gift from his sisters. Do you think that'd work?"

Vivi glanced between it and his face. "As long as it meant something to him, yeah, it should work fine. Do you-"

"Can we just- Arthur sighed, tucking the pendant away, "get this over with?"

Vivi frowned, looking like she wanted to say something, before nodding. "Sure. Uh..."

She turned towards the cemetery, giving Arthur a look. Ah. Vivi didn't know Lewis's full name or where his grave would be. Which meant he had to lead them.

Arthur swallowed, stepping into the cemetery proper and began to make the familiar trek. He heard rather than saw Vivi and Mystery following behind him. Row after row, head stones were neatly lined up around them. They weren't walking for very long when Arthur took a left, slowly making his way towards his friends last resting place.

The Peppers were obviously distraught over Lewis's death. Arthur didn't even consider the actual planning that went into a funeral. He heard from other people that they couldn't chose for a while. Agonizing over both the big and the small details, the funeral was almost delayed over it. They didn't know what he wanted. Hell, the Peppers didn't even know what they wanted. It wasn't like they'd planned a bury a child.

In the end they settled on a traditional burial. A simple headstone with a carved pattern serving as a border. Lewis's name was front and center, his birth day and date of death underneath.

The epitaph at the bottom read:

"A loyal son, brother and friend. A bright light that was snuffed out too soon."

Vivi was at his side now. The silence felt heavy as they looked down at the tombstone. Arthur had very deliberately stopped to the side of the grave. Even Mystery remained silent, sitting a ways back and simply watching.

"I'm sorry," Vivi said suddenly.

Arthur glanced over at her. "Not your fault."

She shook her head, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small plastic bag. Looking down at the grave she seemed to hesitate.

"Can you... tell me about him?" She asked, fiddling with the bag.

"What do you wanna know?"

Though from the look on her face, Arthur could take a guess. She bit her lip and shook her head.

"Never mind, I can do it if you want to and then we can go."

Vivi bent over, reaching out to grab a handful of dirt. She stopped as Arthur put a hand on her shoulder, looking back with wide eyes.

"It's uh-" he cleared his throat, "it's fine. But... this all feels a little weird." Vivi nodded slowly and Arthur decided to just bite the bullet. "You can ask, y'know."

Caught out she looked a bit embarrassed, standing back up she was already shaking her head. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"No. You deserve to know too since you're helping and all." Arthur breathed out. "They ruled it as an accident."

"Yeah?"

"He uh," Arthur swallowed, looking down at the grass beneath his feet. "He fell. They told me later that he broke his back on impact. Even if he lived he would've been paralyzed."

"Oh God," Vivi said.

"But um- see I was trying to avoid coming back here," Arthur shook his head. His eyes were stinging. "Cuz I know he's not really in there anymore. He's out there somewhere and I can fix that but-"

He turned to face her, voice shaking. "I can't because it's all my fault."

"What?" Her brows furrow. "Arthur it's not your fault-"

"Yes it was," he bit out. "You weren't even there. God, I still have nightmares about it, Vivi!"

Arthur ran his hands through his hair. There was a lump in his throat now and he felt like if he didn't do something he was going to start crying right then and there. Arthur took a step back, starting to pace over a short distance.

"We were in this old factory, a fucking ancient building. They didn't bother with the upkeep and it was never gonna sell," Arthur said. "Lewis, he- he fell because the walkway underneath him gave way. Rust or- or water damage or whatever."

He stopped then, turning back to Vivi. The bag in her hands was crumpled up she was holding it so tightly.

"Vivi he was only in there because of me," Arthur threw his arms up. "I didn't cause it but Lewis would still be alive if it weren't for me."

For a long moment Vivi didn't say anything. She looked at him with something almost like sympathy. Arthur realized then that his cheeks were wet and angrily wiped at his face.

"God, I'm sorry," Arthur said with a sniffle, "I didn't mean to unload that on-"

He cut off with a wheeze as Vivi practically ran into him. For a moment he just stood there as she hugged him, looking down at her in surprise. Just as suddenly he was returning the hug, hands bunching up in the fabric of her sweater as he tried in vain to stop crying. Vivi was rubbing his back as he shook. Nothing was said. Nothing could be said, really. It was a simple gesture and Arthur was so grateful for the contact he was holding onto her like a lifeline.

It was a long while before he pulled away. Wiping at his face again, he grimaced.

"Sorry," he said, voice thick.

Vivi shook her head. "Don't be."

Hesitating for a moment, she took his hands in hers and gave them a squeeze.

"I know we're not really... friends," she shrugged a bit, "but if you ever need anyone to talk to I'll be here, no questions asked."

Arthur nodded, trying for a smile. He couldn't quite bring himself to say anything or else he might start crying all over again.

But at the end of the day they still had a reason to be here. The little baggy, crumpled though it was, had to be filled. Vivi asked him if he wanted to do it. It seemed like he should. Arthur was the guy's best friend and all. But the thought was making his stomach do all kinds of twists and turns.

Vivi, bless her, understood. She was stooped down now and carefully getting a handful of dry grave dirt.

"Thanks, Lewis," she said under her breath.

Arthur was still trying to collect himself when he noticed Mystery staring at him.

"What?"

The question came out a bit more accusatory than he wanted. Still, Arthur was surprised when Mystery's ears flicked back and he looked away. The not-dog seemed to fidget a moment.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Mystery said. The words were stale and the tone was awkward. But this was the first time Mystery had given him anything but derision. Arthur didn't quite know what to do with that.

"Thanks," he finally settled on, feeling just as awkward.

The kitsune glanced his way and back to Vivi before finally standing. He darted over to her side as she approached.

"Now what?" Arthur asked, feeling exhausted.

Vivi had a new sort of fire in her eyes. She grinned and, sounding confident as ever, said, "Now we have a ghost to find."