Chapter Text
The last thing Bella felt before everything went dark was rage.
How dare he? She thought on a loop that Grew dizzier and dizzier as the blood drained away, as she got colder, as the doctors bustled around her, as she didn't hear crying. She didn't hear crying. Why didn't she hear crying yet? She was in pain, and it was getting dark, and all she could think was how dare he?
He had agreed this was at least as much his responsibility as hers. How dare he leave her Now of all times.
In her very last seconds of consciousness she knew that she was dying. She must be because the doctors had calmed down. She finally heard crying. And no-one seemed concerned with her over much anymore. She was adrift.
In the darkness of her mind there was shifting visions, inscrutable sound. Then a woman's voice through the dense velvet in her head.
“That’s enough. Get up, kid.”
She shot up in bed with a sharp inhale, her heart pounding in her chest like she just woken up from a nightmare. Her hand dropped down to press against her stomach feeling a shock of panic at the difference. Fuck, right, right. It had happened, it had been done with. She couldn't catch her breath.
The room was bright and as her eyes adjusted she looked around and realized she didn't recognize it. This wasn't her and Arthur's room. It didn't even look like a hospital. She…. didn't know where she was. The dread clawed through her as she tried to get her head about her.
The room seemed to spin when she shifted in place but she hauled herself out of bed, an ache making its home just about everywhere in her muscles. Darkness crept in at the edges of her vision when she stood too fast and her empty stomach rebelled for a moment, clenching in threat.
She steadied herself on the bedpost. Through the window she saw a dense line of trees orange and yellow, fluttering in the midday sun. A perfect picture of autumn.
…It had snowed as she headed to the hospital. A real late December blizzard. She was surprised it hadn't stuck.
She made for the door, stepped out into the hallway and looked up and down.
There standing in the center of the hall was a man with short golden hair that curled around his ears and just above his eyebrows. He was clutching a fire poker in one hand and a heavy looking statue was raised in the other, as though to bludgeon. He took a step back as she exited the room.
“Who are you?” Bella said, drawing back through the doorway. Maybe she could get the door closed and lock it before this stranger could come at her with either object.
“Who are you? Where am I?” He demanded.
“...Do you not know where you are either?”
The man relaxed ever so slightly, almost invisibly, in the shoulders, “...no… who- Who Are You?”
He kept his distance carefully, not encroaching into range to be at all threatening.
“I'm Bella Sa- …Bella Lester,” she said the name because it was true. It made her chest feel hollow. She didn't know if there's anything she could do about that, but God knows that anything would be better than bearing that man's name when he fucking left her to- what? Go do a show? Play cards with their friends? While she was-
“I'm Bella Lester,” She reiterated, trying to focus, “Who are you?”
“I'm- Lester?” His lip curled, “As in Arthur Lester?”
She shifted, uncomfortably, “You know him then?”
“Yes… are you related to him?”
”Married, actually,” she said, then moved on swiftly, “so you don't know why we're here?”
“No, I was just in my-” He stopped, “...home and then I woke up here. I should have fucking known it was Arthur.” There was a deep well of Rage in the way he said the name. It wasn't unfamiliar to her, but she did wonder where it came from.
“Well. If we both know him and both of us simply woke up in a house with no idea of how we got here, then let's go find out what he did,” She said, trying to keep her voice light.
“You're angry with him too?” He said.
Apparently she had failed to keep it light.
“Oh more than words can describe,” She brushed past it quickly, “You didn't say what your name was?”
“...Yellow King .”
“Very nice to meet you, Yellow, I wish the circumstances were better. I don't suppose you feel like sharing one of those considering I don't know you and am also unarmed?” She asked, pointing toward Yellow’s weapons.
“Oh…” Yellow hesitated for a moment and then dropped the poker on the floor and backed up a few feet.
“Thank you. You’re very kind,” She said as dipped to get it, not removing her gaze from the stranger quite yet.
“Sure.”
“Alright let's just-”
From further down the hall two voices started to approach and Bella immediately raised her poker at the same time as Yellow raised his statue, they found themselves shoulder to shoulder as two figures came round the corner.
“Hey there?” A voice called out
Yellow went very still.
“Who are you?” Bella demanded.
“Hey easy easy,” The other of them held up their hands as they approached, “I'm Parker, this is Noel, we're detectives okay? We're just trying to figure out what's going on here.”
“We don't know what's happening,” Bella said, “We just woke up here.”
“Alright alright, us too,” Noel said. “And who are you two?”
“This is Yellow,” she said, gesturing because Yellow wasn't introducing himself.
“Yellow?” Noel demanded.
Yellow’s jaw was tight, “Yes.”
Noel nearly snarled, “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“I don't want to be here anymore than you do! I don't- I don't know what's going on.”
“Likely story,” Noel said.
“I don't!” Yellow spat.
“...Do you two know each other?” Bella asked.
“Something like that,” Noel glared at Yellow, “Old friends.”
Yellow sneered, but dropped his gaze.
“...Right,” Parker said, “And you ma'am?”
“Oh I'm Bella Lester.” Both of the newcomers stopped, looking surprised in much the same way that Yellow had.
“Lester… Do you happen to know an Arthur Lester?” Noel asked.
But Parker… Parker became very still his face drained of blood and he stared at her, “Not like-?... Fuck. Like from the picture…”
“What? What picture?”
“Fuck no, no no, because you're dead,” he said, he took a slow step back, “Does that mean I’m dead? Is this- Are we-?”
His horror was evident and she didn't know what she could say to explain herself. Why did he think she was dead?
New footsteps came up the stairs at the end of the hall, she whipped around to face them, and then there was Arthur.
His hair was longer than it should be, he was thin, pale.
Directly at his side was a tall man with dark hair who looked very much like Yellow.
Arthur lit up, eyes coming alive.
“Parker!”
He rushed down the corridor and hurled himself into Parker's arms, clutching him like he was precious and had been gone a long long while.
Parker accepted him easily, holding Arthur just as closely as Arthur buried his face in Parker's shoulder, he looked confused, “Artie?”
“Parker, I- I just-” Arthur broke off, his hands were fisted in the back of Parker’s shirt.
“Arthur what’s going on? Where are we?” Bella said suddenly. An attempt to break up the reunion in front of her, she realized after she’d done it. She didn't understand it. She didn't know that man.
Guilt tore at her when they pulled back and revealed tears streaming down Arthur’s face.
He looked at her surprise and breathed, “Bella…”
“Where am I?” She asked, “What happened?”
“I- well-” Arthur let out a laugh, “You’re at my home.”
“Your home I-? I live with you, Arthur. What do you mean? I Live At Your Home.”
He gave her a complicated guilty little smile, “It's new.”
She blinked at him, trying to not Outright look at him as though he was very stupid, “It must be quite new considering the last time I saw you yesterday, we were leaving our old house so that we could head to the hospital.”
Arthur flinched, “That's- It's not what- Bella there's been a lot going on, and I can’t explain just yet s-”
Then a new voice echoed through the hall, muffled by some door.
A young child calling for their father.
And Arthur froze, “oh.”
Then the child began to cry.
“Go Arthur. Go on,” The man by his side urged him.
Then Arthur was running down the hall to one of the doors, not acknowledging any of them for even a moment. He threw it open and the crying stopped.
“Daddy?” The voice sniffled.
“God. Faroe,” Arthur's voice broke on the name. He fell to his knees through the door and opened his arms.
A small figure folded itself into his arms, still largely obscured by the doorway.
The child started to cry again, Arthur's voice was soft and soothing even through his own tears, “I know little girl, I know.”
Bella found herself stumbling down the hall to the doorway, stopping as she saw Arthur embracing a small girl rocking back and forth slightly.
She looked up. Her face was familiar. She couldn’t have been three. Dark hair curled to frame her face.
She looked just like Bella did in their family photo from when she was young.
“Who- Who is?” Bella stuttered out.
Arthur turned around, face running with tears and snot.
The small girl sniffled and patted him on the cheek, “You okay. You okay, baby. You okay.”
“Oh, oh, thank you, darling,” Arthur sniffled, looking back at her and putting a hand over hers smiling.
“Arthur, who-” Bella felt breathless, dizzy, unwell. She clutched at the doorway to keep herself upright.
“Bella,” Arthur said, still looking at the girl, “this is Faroe…”
The girl looked up and smiled, tears forgotten for now, “Hi! Hi hi!” She repeated herself like it was her favorite word. Each repetition just as friendly as the first.
Arthur continued, “Our daughter.”
Bella felt the air leave her lungs, and she couldn't seem to pull in a breath big enough to make up for it.
“You- You were gone a long time Bella,” Arthur told her.
“No- I don't- No,” she stuttered out and then she stared down at the girl who stepped over to her and placed a hand on Bella.
“You sick? Daddy, she's sick. We get her soup?”
“Yes, darling, we can get her soup.”
“Yay!” She ran out of the room brushing by Bella who was still clutching the door frame. Bella heard the rapid little footsteps stop in the hall.
“Hi! Hi hello!!”
“H- Hey there little bit,” Parker said quietly.
“Bella,” Arthur drew her attention sharply. It was clear that he had been saying her name softer a few times now, “Are you alright?”
She couldn't get a breath. She wasn't breathing. And then she was flat out sprinting. It seemed impossible with the dizziness and a few times she stumbled against the wall and leaned against it long enough to push herself back up. She didn't know where she was going, but she ran down the stairs and through a large living room, searching for a door, any door. When she found one she threw it open.
Outside she saw the field and just beyond it the dense line of trees that could go on forever for all she knew. And she was running again. Barefoot across the grass and straight into the darkness of the trees. Not stopping when she felt sticks and rocks beneath her feet.
She only stopped when her dizziness grew so much that she couldn't stay upright. And then finally she collapsed there in the fallen leaves and screamed.
*
Arthur's explanation seemed to stretch on for years unnecessarily. Yellow understood Parker and Noel lacked context, but the time it took to arrive at the only part Yellow cared about was interminable. Finally it boiled down to the one word Yellow needed to understand. Lilith. Yellow hadn’t bothered to stay for the rest.
Arthur had wanted to immediately go after Bella, or so he said, but reasoned that she probably needed some time to process.
Yellow watched as the late fall sun dipped down toward the horizon. She must be cold out there. She was the only other one here who was behaving like her life had been at all upset by Arthur uprooting her. Except Parker who had cried when he found out he was the risen dead.
Yellow watched out the window.
The sun sank lower. In a few minutes it was sure to be below the horizon. Even inside the temperature was dropping.
Yellow pushed himself to his feet and took a few steps toward the door.
“It wasn't him who asked for you,” John's voice came from the doorway of the sitting room he was in.
Yellow turned, “What?”
“Arthur. When Lilith offered to bring back everyone we cared about I specifically asked for you. Arthur had the others already, but I- I’m sorry I just wanted a chance to see you again. I didn't know what the circumstances would be.”
Yellow stalked toward him, “You and your friend ripped me from the only thing that I have ever been able to call home to come play house with you all?”
“You're welcome to leave,” John told him, but it wasn't as much of an insult as it sounded. It was a reminder that Yellow wasn't caged here.
“I have nowhere to go,” Yellow said. He knew what it was like out there without power.
“Okay. Once things have settled around here, I'll see if we can find a way to get you back- back home, Carcosa.
Yellow could see in the way John's eyes cut toward the kitchen where everyone else was talking that he meant it, and that Arthur wouldn't approve.
“...Fine…” Yellow said surprised at John’s willingness to help. Then Yellow turned and headed for the door again.
“Wait where are you going? I thought you just said that you would be staying!” John called after him
Yellow picked up a lantern from the side table next to the door. It was just sitting here ready with a pack of matches next to it. Like Lillith had known what they would need.
“I am. It's just getting cold out.”
He lit the lantern, picked it up, and went out the front door without further explanation.
He was able to follow footprints in the otherwise untouched grass as far as the edge of the woods.
He peered into the Deep darkness that had settled beneath the trees for the night. She could be miles away or she could be just a few feet in front of Yellow face and Yellow wouldn’t know the difference. Yellow held the lantern out as far as he could looking into the woods and considered for a moment going out looking, but shook his head. No point getting them both lost in the woods. So he crept a few feet forward and settled the lantern on a large flat stone. Leaving it there to cast new shadows deeper in.
He backed away, turned, and made his way back to the large house that they were all staying in now. On the front porch there was a bench swing. And so Yellow settled down on it, and watched.
*
Bella, once she had settled herself, was not lost exactly. She hadn't yet decided where she was trying to go, so it was difficult to be lost. But it was dark now and it was getting cold and any ideas she’d had of walking until she found a town or village somewhere were dashed against the rocks. She knew that with the way she was feeling and the gathering chill, if she didn't start making her way back to the house now she would-
She cleared the sharp bolt of fear away with a shake of her head, and kept walking, and as she did she hit just the right angle to see a flash of light in between some leaves. She frowned, took a step back, and ducked her head so she was able to peer between them a little better.
There. Just a dim point of light some ways off, and if she remembered the direction of the sunset correctly she was fairly sure it was coming from the house. It must be them. Maybe she could slip in through the back without anybody seeing her.
She followed the point of light, pushing branches aside, and hopping over small shrubs. Her feet were bleeding, had been for a while, the rocks and branches had done it she supposed.
It was a lantern, she found, coming upon it pushing back the shadows in a steady pool. It's warm glow flickered out of its sides, designed with twisting metal in the shape of birds. She picked it up. It was warm. Of course it was warm.
Her eyes had adjusted to the proper light and she was able to look up and realize that it was placed here at the very edge of the woods. She could see the house. Every window was dark as though everybody had turned in for an early evening, but there on the porch one figure swayed back and forth. She lifted the lantern and made her way back.
The stretch between woods and the house in this meadow was longer than she recalled. Now that she was walking on the soft downy carpet of grass she was aware of the way her feet stung sharply with each step, the slight relief drawing her focus to how bad it had become in the first place.
It was Yellow.
He sat on a small bench swing in front of the house. She gingerly climbed the wood steps up to him, set the lantern on the porch in front of him, and took the other half of the bench. The relief on her feet was immediate. She knew she'd left footprints through the grass.
They were silent save for the wooden creak from their gentle rocking.
After some time Bella found herself saying, hushed and hoarse, “I died.
It was the first time she had let herself think it since her flight earlier. Certainly the first time she said it.
“You did,” Yellow said it simply, like it was a fact. One that was entirely neutral and needed no justification from her. He said it like he didn't care that she was a monster sitting next to him.
“...Thank you for the light.”
Yellow nodded. And they sat on the bench swing many hours until the sun came up.
The next day Bella was a person.
She stood from the bench swing and that dizziness attempted to overtake her again. A cool hand pressed against her shoulder keeping her upright and releasing as soon as she was steady. She looked at Yellow and his eyebrows were furrowed with concern, but he said nothing.
She didn't say thank you, it felt somehow not enough. Instead she reached down and pressed her hand against Yellow shoulder with equal pressure and then she gave a nod and went inside. She stood in the entry taking in the largeness of the house for the first time. A corpse in a mansion. She pushed down the absurdity of the situation and tried to take the morning for what it was.
She was awake earlier than everyone else in the house. She was trailing blood over the floor, even still. All of the scabs that had closed over in the night, reopening with movement.
So she went first to the kitchen and with some exploration found two towels and tied them around her feet so she could climb the carpeted stairs in peace. Even this much cushion on her feet was a blessing. She glanced back at the path she had taken and the footprints were not so bad as she thought, but still visible, and there was still a child in the house…
So she would need to come back down to clean this up. First she went upstairs and found the room she’d woken in. She hopefully opened each drawer and was pleased to find things to wear other than the plain white dress she’d taken into the woods and so thoroughly destroyed. She collected her things and had a quick bath then got dressed. She put on some shoes with two pairs of socks for cushion.
Finally she went downstairs and hunted through cupboards until she found a mop. She had no time to do this properly, she could already hear rustling and movement from upstairs. So she merely wet the mop in the sink and cleaned the trail she had made from the front door to the kitchen.
She managed to put it away before anyone came down. And started some coffee. The first one down was Noel, she smiled at him and nodded.
“I'm glad to see you feeling better,” He said politely, and she did her best to not duck her head in embarrassment. It was, of course, humiliating that so many people had seen her so unwell, but she was not unreasonable for having been so. She was, after all, a dead woman.
“Thank you, Detective, so how is it you know Arthur?” She smiled the smile of a hostess, and brought him a mug and poured coffee into it.
This was the question she was going to hand everyone, formulated in the night sitting next to Yellow as she considered over and over saying it to him.
She hadn’t in the end. However it was that Yellow knew Arthur, it would be an unpleasant story. She knew that in return she would have to offer her own. She hadn't been ready for either.
Everything since the hospital felt like a blur, like she woke up one morning in her and Arthur's marriage bed and she had lived one continuous long day since. It was far more than a day if Faroe was anything to go by.
Faroe, Faroe, he’d named her without Bella.
Bella shook it off and continued to listen to Noel’s tale. She had never heard anything more obviously censored for her delicate constitution. She tried not to hold it against Noel. She understood that in a world where she could come back… she understood that there were things that might be unnerving. But the very first person to explain any of it walking on eggshells around her made her skin crawl. She nodded along as his tale continued and silently waited for the next arrival.
It was the man who had walked by Arthur's side when they arrived.
“Good morning,” She said pleasantly.
He looked surprised to see her, “Miss- Mrs. Lester-”
“Bella is fine,” She cut him off as gently as she could. She needed information and whoever was closest to Arthur was clearly where to get it. And that was either this man or Parker.
He nodded, clearly nervous, “Bella. I’m John."
“So tell me, how is it you know Arthur?” She said with a smile, “You can join us, we were just talking.” The detective turned his back to Bella and if John’s look was anything to go by the two of them were on the same page.
“Probably best if we wait until Arthur comes down,” John said slowly.
She set her jaw.
“Right.”
Yellow came down next. She spared Yellow the question once again. The way his shoulders tensed as he entered the room told her enough about whether he'd be comfortable answering personal questions now.
But next was Parker. Parker, the one who had told her what she needed to know in the first place.
Parker would give her answers. She rose to greet him.
“Hi Parker right?”
“Hello ma’am,” he said his smile was kind and uncomplicated.
“I was… obviously not very well yesterday,” She said.
He shrugged a shoulder and laughed, “Yeah well I don't know that any of us were in great form yesterday, you got to miss my breakdown.”
“Your breakdown?” She asked.
“Yeah,” He held out a hand, “Afraid that two of us are in fact the Living Dead together, ma'am. I’m in good company.”
She took his hand and shook it as the meaning soaked in, “You…? You too?”
“Yeah. Different circumstances, but yeah,” His eyes cut over to John.
She glanced in John's direction and took a step away from him. His back was turned but something in Parker's look upset her.
“Well… I wanted to thank you for telling me yesterday. I don't know how long it would have taken Arthur to get around to the news.”
“Quite a while,” Parker laughed, “if how long he took to tell me was anything to go by, but you know Artie, hard to stay mad at the fucker.” He said it with a smile that she could not relate to.
“Well, why don't you tell me how you two know each other? Evidently you knew him even after my death,” She said it as lightly as she could and still her voice wavered on the word, “How did you meet?”
“I didn't know him when you and Faroe were around,” Parker admitted, “I-”
She cut him off, “When Faroe was around?”
She watched Parker's tale dry up in his mouth.
“Yeah, uh, oh man, hey, I'm sorry I actually- I need some water,” He cleared his throat, “I'll be- I'll be over here.”
He smiled awkwardly and made for the sink, being very careful, as he found a glass for himself, to not make eye contact with Bella further.
Bella was going to scream. She was in a house with a bunch of overly protective-
She let out a breath. She was a person. She was doing very good at pretending to be one this morning. Nobody was any the wiser and they’d stay that way so long as they didn't look at her socks which she was sure must be soaked through with blood.
She let out a sigh, “I think I need a cigarette.”
She knew that in this group she could get away with lighting one right here. The ashtray on the table indicated that they all had smoked plenty last night, but she wanted the air more than the smoke and the back door was just there.
She cast around and saw a cigarette case sitting on the counter, “Whose is this?” She looked it over. Pine trees engraved on the side.
Parker says, “Oh yeah it's mine, feel free.”
“Thank you,” She opened the case, took one, and as she glanced around for a lighter, Yellow offered her a match book without a word. She nodded and tilted her head slightly toward the door. A question. Yellow rose and followed her out.
The door shut behind them. Yellow pulled out a match and offered it to Bella.
Bella struck it and lit her cigarette. A long inhale. Her nerves settled.
She finally asked, “What happened.”
Yellow looked at her for a long time, “After your death your daughter died as well. After that Arthur became a private investigator. He touched a magic book and a fragment of an unfathomably ancient god of Madness became attached to him. They became,” Yellow hesitated a moment, “close. Then-”
“Whoa stop. God of- What on earth are you talking about?” Bella cut in, head spinning, from the smoke or the standing or the seriousness with which Yellow told the story.
“Bella,” Yellow said, “You died and came back to life, there's much that's beyond your comprehension.”
“I can-” The outrage on her face was clearly obvious.
“I'm still going to tell you. I'm just saying some of it may seem unbelievable.”
She looked at yellow’s face a long moment. He was watching her, interested, but there was no joke here. Only candor and a curiosity as to how she’d handle it.
“Everything does,” She admitted.
Yellow nodded, “So. John lived in Arthur's mind, but John was taken away. Arthur begged a different god to get John back.”
“A different god,” She said.
Yellow nodded, “One of chaos and blood.”
“Okay.”
“And instead of giving John back, they gave Arthur the other half of that Madness God without any memories. That's me.”
The words sunk slowly through her, “A God of Madness.”
“Precisely. Do you want the rest?”
“...Yes,” She decided, slowly.
“He went on to be a huge ass and I eventually got free of him. John was placed back in his head and they had to fight the god of chaos I told you about to stop the end of all worlds. As a little treat for their good behavior afterward, a goddess named Lilith dropped us here to play happy family with them no matter if we were dead, or how far away we were.”
“That's a lot.”
“It is.”
They stood quietly for another minute or two and Bella forced the pieces Yellow had handed her to fit into her picture of things.
“...Thank you for telling me, Yellow.”
“They all treat you like you couldn't handle it,” Yellow said with disdain, looking at bella with a hint of something pleased in his eyes. He slid the pack of matches back into his pocket. Bella took one last drag off of the cigarette, appreciating the feeling of smoke filling her lungs, and then she stubbed it out and they went back inside.
When she came in there was Arthur putting Faroe into a high chair.
Everybody turned to look at them.
Yellow swept in and settled himself at the table like nothing had happened, and Bella squared her shoulders.
“Good morning Arthur,” She said lightly, “How have you been?”
“I’m alright. I’m glad to see you made it back.”
The rest of breakfast was a nightmare of awkwardness. They all made small talk waiting for Arthur to explain anything to Bella at all, but his eyes stayed fixed on Faroe. She wanted desperately to have sympathy, to be a good enough person to look upon him with grace.
She had no scale for what Arthur had been through. She’d never had a child. She looked at Faroe feeling a strange uncanny sort of feeling. That was the child that just a few days before had shared her blood. That was her daughter. And she was here and a sweet friendly child, but an absolute stranger to Bella, and Bella a stranger to her.
And Arthur was endlessly fascinated by her.
Finally everyone else cleared out of the kitchen, leaving the three of them. Arthur seemed a little surprised when he glanced up and realized it was just them left, and that Bella was looking at him expectantly.
He let out a sigh, “Alright. I'm sure you need answers, but not in front of her.”
“Alright.”
Arthur picked up Faroe, “Come on little girl do you want to go see John again?”
“Yes!” She said, eyes getting wide, she turned to Bella to explain, “John carry me on his shoulders.”
“Yes I'm sure you can ask him too again,” Arthur said, amused.
Bella started unpleasantly, “You're going to leave her with him?”
Arthur visibly took offense, “Yes I'm going to leave her with my best friend. You wanted to have this talk, yes?”
“I'd like you to not leave our daughter in the hands of a God of Madness,” She hissed
Arthur's eyebrows shot up, and looked at her appraisingly, “Oh yes? And how's your time with Yellow been?”
She drew herself up sharply, “I'm a grown woman and Yellow only told me what I wanted to know.”
“Hey,” Faroe said, “Gentle voices.”
Bella set her jaw, “Leave her with Parker .”
“What? But-”
“Leave her with Parker. I- He is a normal person. He's a normal person and he’s nice.”
“Fine,” Arthur said through his teeth, Arthur left the kitchen for a moment with Faroe. Bella heard Arthur and John just outside the kitchen door having a hushed argument.
“Are you sure you want to be alone?” John asked.
“I don't, but if you're in there, she is evidently going to be more on edge. I'll be right out, okay? You can wait here, I promise I'll call if I need you.”
“...Fine,” John said, sounding tense.
Then after a minute or two more Arthur entered the kitchen.
“Done saying your goodbyes?” Bella said, not sure she liked the venom in her own voice.
“You don't know anything about it,” He snapped.
He was right, she knew he was right.
“I know enough,” she said, evenly.
“You know nothing, you know what Yellow has told you,” He said.
“Hey,” She said sharply, feeling oddly defensive for Yellow, “You could have given me that news, but instead I heard that I died from Parker and I heard that my daughter died from Yellow.”
“You ran,” Arthur sneered.
“And no one came looking except Yellow,” She said it with teeth.
The room was quiet for a moment, long enough for her to regret losing her temper.
“...Yellow came looking for you?”
She pressed her palm to the underside of the table, feeling the cold leach into her skin, “Yes.”
Arthur looked surprised.
“So. I suggest you don't hold back, because I'll go to others and I'll find out,” She said, with a soft breath.
Arthur clenched his jaw and said, “Fine. Where do you want me to start?”
“What on Earth possessed you to leave the hospital?” She asked.
Arthur somehow seemed surprised by this question, “It- you wouldn't understand.”
“Wouldn't I? You think I wouldn't have preferred to be out doing literally anything else? Was it just a little too inconvenient for you? You had plans that night?”
“Bella,” Arthur began.
“No. I'm allowed to be angry at you, Arthur! If anything I am allowed that. Christ I'm dead. I'm allowed to be angry at the man I was meant to be married to for letting me die alone,” She bit her cheek to keep herself from continuing. She tasted copper.
Arthur was silent for a moment, finally he spoke, “...After some time I went back to the hospital and you had already passed.”
“Bled out.”
“What?”
“Bled out,” She repeated, “I bled out. I didn't ‘pass’ I didn't go in my sleep.”
“Yes. Fine. By- By that time- Faroe was there,” his voice wavered, “She had been there for an hour and no one knew about her.”
“And how did she die?”
Arthur flinched.
“She drowned,” his voice broke.
Bella felt chastised. She imagined the picture of it. Perhaps a day at a pool. Perhaps a slip into a pond. Falling off a boat. There was no gentle way to drown and she thought of that bubbly little girl who was just in the other room.
“God,” She said, voice hushed.
The tension in Arthur's shoulders was coiled too tight, “As you might expect I wasn't well…”
He seemed to get lost for a moment but he shook his head, “I- I tried drinking myself to death. Before I could, Parker caught my fall. He taught me how to be a private investigator.”
The story from there was a fair deal more complicated. Arthur walked through the tales of his Adventures, detailing horrors in a way that made Bella sick, and explaining the way he had treated Yellow. Even now when he said his name there was still a complication there in his voice. Not quite dislike. but a clear confusion on How to talk about him.
When he was through he pushed himself to his feet, inhaled a shaky breath, and said, “Satisfied?”
“…yes.” She didn't know where to start with Arthur, the lives he had taken, the people he had saved, the way he could go into all the detail in the world when describing beasts of nightmare, and her death had been summarized in the space of a sentence.
She stood, feeling ill, and stepped out of the kitchen. Standing there was John.
She didn't really know how to look at him either, after what he had done to Parker, after the affection with which Arthur spoke of him. So she stopped trying. She turned away, marched down the hall, back up the stairs, and in the direction of Faroe's voice.
She came to the doorway of Faroe’s bedroom. Parker was there looking painfully amused. He had clearly been roped into a tea party and a big dress up hat had been placed on his head. He was squeezing himself into one of the small chairs at Faroe’s little table as Faroe wagged her finger at him.
“You have to say peas and thank you ,” She scolded.
“I'm sorry,” he said trying to hold back a laugh, “It was an accident. I promise I won't take any more sandwiches without saying please and thank you.”
“Good,” she nodded and crossed her arms. Then she turned and her face lit up, “Hi you!”
“Hello,” Bella smiled despite herself.
“What's your name?” Faroe asked
“Oh… I'm-” She began.
Arthur's voice came up behind Bella, “Faroe, this is a little bit complicated.”
“I smart,” She said, seeming a little offended.
Bella couldn't help her laugh, “Yes, Arthur, she's smart, she can handle it.”
Arthur shot her a glare, "I know you're a smart darling, but this lady… she's nice yes?”
“Yes! Did you get her soup yet?”
Arthur shifted, “Not yet. Soon.
Faroe frowned, “She's still sick Daddy.”
“I know Faroe. So… she's nice right?”
“Yes! And pretty like me,” Faroe said succinctly and with a little nod.
“Yes,” Arthur said hopelessly fond, “Well, this is your mommy.”
Faroe's face scrunched, “But I don't have that?”
“You do now. She had to go away for a while, but she's back.”
Faroe frowned, “She go away forever?”
“Yes she did go away for a long time, but that wasn't her fault. She was sick, but she's finally better enough to be here.”
“Oh,” Faroe walked up, “I'm sorry you're sick.” She held out a hand and Bella gently placed hers in the Faroe’s and Faroe gave it a big gross toddler kiss.
“Oh, oh thank you,” Bella laughed.
“You get better yeah?” Faroe said.
“I will do my best, little one.”