It was warm, and she nestled in the warmth. There was a pleasant, spicy scent that stung her nostrils, and she rubbed her nose sleepily. She felt safe and protected, and someone was holding her.

She opened her eyes and looked up to see a skeletal face staring forward. She blinked, finding it odd that a skeleton was holding her, but she was not afraid. It didn't seem to want to hurt her, it merely held her as they stood… where were they? She craned her head around. They were in a hallway. Behind the skeleton was a bedroom, and a bed with covers thrown back. Nothing looked familiar. She looked up at the skeleton and reached up, gingerly touching his chin.

The face immediately came down, staring at her, the eyes full of something she couldn't name. Why did the skeleton seem so sad?

There was a horrible racket from the room at the end of the hall. She couldn't see around the corner at the far end, but something large was crashing around, beating against the walls and shaking the entire house. She clutched at the skeleton's suit, and it shielded her head with a large hand, protectively. Why was the skeleton protecting her?

"It would take the binding of a Kitsune to wake you." The voice was instantly familiar, and Vivi shrank in the skeleton's arms in terror. She'd been found. Suddenly she was glad she couldn't see what was happening.

"Mrs. P, you're a little older than the last time I saw you." She didn't recognize the male voice. It was hard and angry, but she could hear slivers of fear in it. "What's it been, only five years since you made me c-cookies? By the way, always loved 'em. Always felt they were mi-issing that special ingredient though, a touch of a-arsenic. Or maybe strychnine is mo-ore your style?"

"Sarcasm doesn't become you, Arthur, and your stammer gives you away."

"Couldn't care l-less right now. You're n-not welcome, Morgause. Get out of my house."

Vivi's eyes widened. Whoever the strange voice was, he knew who Morgause was. Arthur? Who was Arthur?

"Gladly, but first I'll be collecting my belongings."

"She's not your belongings."

Vivi's hands knotted in the silken fabric of the skeleton's suit. "He knows!" She pleaded upward, terrified. "How does he know? Nobody knows!" The skeleton pressed her head against its chest, saying nothing.

"Ah, I see. Arthur thinks he is still King. He thinks he understands, and then he hands down his judgment from on high, like he always has. But you're wrong. Father was right. Children are only property, and Vivi is my property, and I will have her now." Vivi's heart clenched as Morgause's voice rose higher. "Do be a dear and bring her out. I know she's back there, and you know I will always find her."

The skeleton walked forward, his steps like lead as he carried Vivi down the hall. She closed her eyes, burying her face into his chest like a little girl, unwilling to face what her mother had become. Not again. From the crack between his chest and arm, she could see them passing into the room, past a thick carpet of black and white fur that roiled with blue flame. She raised her head, and nearly screamed at the sight of a giant kitsune, bound nose to tails in cords of vibrant blue flame. It thrashed helplessly, unable to even open its mouth and give warning.

What was this place?

"Too kind of you, Lewis dear." Vivi buried her face back in the skeleton's chest, hiding from the owner of that voice. "Quite accommodating, but she's a bit more fearful than I recall. Disoriented even. You wouldn't have happened to tamper with my property, would you?"

The skeleton set her down, still holding her close. "She doesn't remember me." His voice was ragged with grief, but firm. "Or Arthur. Or Mystery. You can't use us against her. She doesn't know."

Her head whipped up, eyes round. This skeleton… she knew him? She finally turned, averting her eyes from the hunched figure in the room, staring at the other man. He sat on the sole piece of furniture still intact, the couch, as if he'd just risen from sleep. His orange hair was tousled, and he had a robotic left arm. And the cold anger in his face was somehow frightening to see. She knew him?

Morgause sucked in a whuffly breath through her nose, releasing it slowly from between her lips. "Well, they have brains and they use them. What a marvel. It truly is a shame about your heart though."

Vivi saw the skeleton's eyes darted to Arthur, and Arthur's hand twitched toward his pocket. She opened her mouth to cry warning, but Morgause stretched a hand in Arthur's direction, giving a guttural command. A heart-shaped locked, cracked down the front, leaped out of Arthur's pocket and sailed into her open hand. "Too easy. You use your brains, but impulse control is far too low. So young." She curled her hand inward, her fingernails digging at the crack in the locket. "So naïve."

The skeleton staggered back from Vivi, dropping to one knee. His hair blazed uncontrollably as he gave a strangled cry, and it flickered shocks of blue flame.

"Lewis dear," Morgause's voice came from behind Vivi, and she wondered if it was all just a bad dream. She turned to see Morgause's fingernails digging into the cracks on the locket. "A broken heart can be dangerous if left in the wrong hands. Vivi had so much to say about you. She would do anything for you, so please, be a dear and return those memories right away."

The skeleton—Lewis—groaned in pain. She could see his hands glowing blue, and his body jerking about as he tried to keep control of himself.

She hadn't been afraid of the skeleton, even though she'd never seen him before. He'd held her so tenderly. If it was true, what Morgause said, then she knew this skeleton, and he was trying to protect her from something it was impossible to protect her from, but he was trying anyway.

No matter what he did, this was the end for her. She could at least spare him. As he struggled against the magic drawing him toward Vivi, she walked straight into his arms, and placed his glowing palm to her forehead.

Lewis.

Mystery.

Arthur.

It flooded back to her an instant, and she felt her heart begin to crumble. Lewis, dear Lewis. She could strangle him and kiss him all at once. She reached up, pulling his face down and pressing her lips to his bony face.

"You," she said thickly, "Are the biggest, stupidest, deadest idiot I've ever met in all my days. And I would give you a much longer what-for if I had more time. But thank you for trying." She pressed her nose against his, tears running down her cheeks. "I love you too."

"Vivi…" His voice was barely a whisper.

She turned, finally, to face Morgause.

"So good to see you yourself again darling." Her mother smiled widely. "I've been trying to get in touch the last couple of days, but you were busy with company all the time. It is rather urgent though, and it seems you've aired our dirty laundry. Fitting they should watch, don't you think?"

Vivi's eyes landed on the locket in Morgause's hand. "I think you need to drop the locket first."

"Of course Vivi, anything for my daughter. Would you be so kind as to return my necklace? You haven't a daughter to give it to yet, so I will hold it for safekeeping. Then I will be happy to return the locket."

Vivi's breath caught.

"If that isn't enough, I'll throw in little seven-tails' safety for good measure."

Mystery rolled, slamming against the wall in pain as the fiery cords burned brightly. Morgause's fingernails dug the cracks in the locket wider, and Lewis thrashed behind her on the ground, his entire form flickering under the attack on his anchor.

"Stop!" She screamed. "Just stop!" Her hands went up to the chain on her neck, but her hands were shaking, her instincts screaming against her actions. She kept fumbling the clasp, and couldn't pull it free.

"Do you need some help, dear?" Morgause chuckled. "You seem to be having some trouble. There's no need to be nervous."

Vivi kept trying to unlatch it, but her hands were shaking too hard. Suddenly she grabbed it and began to yank. She pulled and tugged and jerked on it until it cut into her skin, and with one final yank she broke the chain. She panted, clutching the pendant and its broken chain in one hand. She didn't look at Lewis again, she didn't dare lest she lose her nerve, but instead turned to Mystery. Sinking to her knees by his snout, she put one hand on the end of his nose, staring him straight in the eyes. "You do whatever it takes to keep my boys safe. You hear me?" Her voice shook. "Whatever it takes."

His eyes were pained, but he closed them once in acknowledgement, whining lowly.

"Vivi, dramatics are such a bother. Can we dispense with all that? I'm not getting any younger."

Standing again, Vivi turned to Morgause. Slowly, she placed herself directly in front of the old hag, and held out her hand. Morgause cupped a palm underneath, waiting.

Vivi raised her head, catching Arthur's eyes over the head of her mother's body. He sat there, looking as lost as she felt. She wished she had more time. She wished she could make things easier for him. She wished above all else that he had not been born into the family Morgause hated so much.

Arthur. Lewis. I'm sorry.

Her hand opened, and the pendant dropped into Morgause's hand.

Her mother's body crumpled to the ground like an old dishrag, and she felt a force rushing into her body. It was like a hurricane of rage flooding into her, pushing and shoving and ramming every bit of her into a tiny, tiny corner, and then expelling her in a long, drawn-out wail that must have roused neighbors three houses down. And in a moment, she was floating in front of her body, seeing her own eyes turn ebony, and her mouth twist into a cruel smile under twin tear streaks.

She turned toward Lewis, already feeling the pull from her anchor, when her motion was arrested. Her body's hands, glowing blue, had her soul fast between them. And as she hung there, helpless, the hands clenched and began to rip and tear.

It was like nothing Vivi had ever felt. She screamed with a pain she could never have understood existed as the hands raked and tore deep wounds into her soul, before releasing her. What was left of her hurtled toward Lewis' breast pocket, and the last thing she heard was her own voice say coldly, "That was for making me wait so long."