He was a messenger of reassurance. The voice of reason. The wise mediator. Mystery prided himself on this role, even if he had lost himself for a time, but the speech he'd painstakingly constructed for Arthur continued to fall apart as he spewed his shock. "Cayenne is pregnant!" Mystery pointed an accusatory finger at her. The finger moved down and over a little to indicate the children. "With THEM! Right now! What…?"

Arthur sagged back against Kay, howling like he'd heard the world's best joke.

Arthur was old. Not as ancient as he had been when Mystery left him in the depths of Dib's labs, but that face was too lined and his cheeks sagged. Gray mixed evenly with the blond in his hair. He smelled of newly begun brittleness.

Now, shame scrambled Mystery's words. That gray resulted from the threat he himself had presented. Mystery's hands rose to his mouth as he tried again to form words, to apologize for forcing Arthur's hand, but there were too many ways to begin. Hadn't he known how to do this, once upon a time?

Arthur was still laughing, wheezing in Kay's arms. Kay kept her eyes on Mystery, but she smiled like she understood the joke, too.

The girl—Vivi had called her Ginny—darted toward him, something clutched in her hands.

A hawk. A child. A flash of green. A bony beast, wreathed in flames. Tearing flesh. His soul, wrenched from his throat.

Mystery stumbled back, his lips pulled back from his teeth. "Yyyyyou!"

She paused on the other side of the fire pit. "Hi, Mystery. M'really sorry, but I had to stop you. You told me so."

"I… I… I…?!"

She flashed a nervous grin. "I mean, you tell me so. Later. But you know what's going on now, so I can talk to you about it since you just smelled us. But you didn't know that before, right? I caught you when you were chasing Dad and you never smelled me coming. Here, see?" She opened up her hands and held out a small glass vial. "Miss Shiro helped… she's going to help us. She gave… gaved? Giveds?... us this and said use it to keep hidden, but she also said when it runs out something big would happen. We used the very last of it and that's the day you came back."

Mystery snatched the vial and uncorked it, sniffing. His nose went numb. He touched the tip of his tongue to the lip of the vial and it lost feeling. Most certainly Mother's elixir.

"Is your mouth okay?" Ginny laced her fingers together and twisted them. "I scratched you up. I'm sorry. I never fought you for real before. Just practice."

Mystery thumped down on his rear, staring at nothing. Mother had found a way to reach backwards in time? That wasn't within her power. It made no sense.

"His face," Arthur gasped, water streaming from his eyes. "Do you see... his face? Oh… oh that… I'll always…"

Mystery tilted his head all the way back, then forward as far as it would go. The sky was still up. The ground was still down. There was still an impossible set of children nearby, so he checked a second time.

Ginny watched his actions, her face scrunched up. "You look like you're gonna be sick."

That was a distinct possibility.

"Can I whisper you something? It'll help."

Mystery tilted forward a little, inclining his ear. Ginny crept closer and cupped a hand around her mouth. "Persephone's doing a special dance. She's dancing together with lots of other goddesses while Auntie Aji sings a beautiful song. And Miss Shiro's there, too. It's a long dance. Persephone used the dance to put us backwards and said Auntie Aji would bring us home later but I don't know when."

Of course. Perfectly sensical. Special dances in the immortal realm twisted time, like how down was now up.

"Don't tell Dad yet, okay?"

"Naturally," he answered, feeling light-headed.

"Hey shavetail! Where's our ride?" Arthur's call cut through his bewilderment.

Mystery couldn't muster any indignation. He put one hand on the ground, hoping to keep himself sitting upright at the very least. "Torque couldn't maneuver it up the path, so he parked in town."

"Great." Arthur jerked his thumb over his shoulder, indicating the broken down shack as Kay vanished through the doorway. "Kay wants to do a last clean up and lock down a few things for our next visit, so she'll catch up with us, but we're ready to go. I'd like to start now."

"N-now? You're ready?" Mystery floundered.

"Unless you want to rest here a bit." Arthur stood, stretching his back. "Personally, I've got limited energy, and I'd like to make it to town before I have a chance to change my mind."

Gareth retreated into the cabin, then re-appeared with a mug and Arthur's prosthetic. He handed the prosthetic over to Arthur and approached Mystery with a mug of water, gingerly holding it out. Mystery accepted it, drinking slowly. When he caught sight of Gareth's cartoonish clothing, water spurted out his nose.

Ginny giggled, then winked at Gareth. "Hey, maybe Mystery wants to talk to Dad alone, yeah? He's safe again. Race you down the mountain!"

Before he'd finished sneezing his nostrils clear, the children were replaced by a hawk and a fox. A moment later they tore past him toward the path.

Arthur approached with a grin, offering his hand to Mystery. "Come on. We don't want to fall too far behind."


At first, Mystery kept his mouth shut as he trailed Arthur down the path. A string of idiotic questions cycled through his mind. The sheer pointlessness of most of them mortified him, but his mind refused to let go.

"Would you carry this for me, please?"

Mystery blinked, focusing on Arthur, who held his prosthetic out to Mystery. Dib had mentioned something about the malfunctioning limb. Mystery accepted it. "There are tools for this in the RV."

Arthur leaned down and picked up a long branch. He braced one end against his chest and snapped off smaller dead shoots along the shaft. "An RV? I thought we were getting an armored car."

"I advised that you be made to feel more like a welcome guest and less like a prisoner of war."

"Smart." The smile Arthur gave him was warm. Genuine. How long since he'd seen that sort of look on Arthur's face? "Thank you, Mystery. I think that will help pre-empt last minute fears. Plus it'll make things more comfortable for Kay and the kids. I really appreciate that."

His eye color fluctuated as he spoke, but the expression on his face didn't change. Arthur shifted the branch to his right hand and continued down the path with his new walking stick.

Mystery stayed close behind Arthur. "I told Mother it was only you," he said, quietly. "Just Arthur. I know I'm right, but I still don't understand this."

Arthur shrugged. "We don't understand every single part, but we understand enough."

"We?"

"I speak to you. I am Arcturus, and I hold the memories that are not ours. Artie is closer to the person that you knew, though he cannot speak aloud. But we are Arthur." He paused, then turned to face Mystery on the trail. "Thank you for believing that, and telling Mother. We know that you have always looked out for us when you could."

Heat radiated from Arthur. It was like standing by a bonfire. "How are you so full?"

"How are you still so cold, pup?" Green eyes measured him, and he felt like a fresh onetail under that gaze. "You are full, but where is the goodness? Why are you running on grief and regret?"

Mystery clenched his fingers around the prosthetic. "Saving up the love," he answered, hoarsely. "Wrecked everything with Vivi. I don't know when… I don't know if…"

Arthur chuckled, but there was only affection in it. "Foolish. She would never leave things this broken between you forever." He sat down there, in the middle of the trail, and laid the walking stick across his lap. He pointed at the path in front of him and Mystery sat as well. He reached out and clasped Mystery's hand. "I have a gift for you, little one. I cannot give you very much because I need it to face Mother, but the love you have taken is soaked with all Vivi's fear and grief."

It was like liquid fire flowing up Mystery's arm, burning away frost and ice. Like the sun rising inside his body. Tears flowed, unbidden, uncontrollable.

Arthur held on. "You were the last one Mother made. You warned her what was coming for the pack. You would have been a strong, loyal packmate to the rest. Instead, you became a strong packmate to us, a group of lost human children constantly stumbling into matters far bigger than we could handle. You always looked out for us. This," he tilted his head to his left shoulder where the sleeve hung empty, "was terrible, but even that day you looked after me. I was not permanently overtaken by the traitor."

Mystery scrubbed his eyes, whimpering like a kit.

Arthur continued. "Because of your action, I gathered enough information to overcome him later. It was you who reminded me who I was when I didn't even look like myself and no longer had Kay. And you yourself know the ways you have cared for Vivi through the years. Gods only know what we'd have done if you weren't there with us through this whole mess, but you have shouldered our group's pain and confusion alone for too long, pup."

Arthur leaned forward and wrapped his arm around Mystery. "Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for all you have done for us."


"It has a flatscreen TV!" Ginny shouted. She ran up the path with Gareth right on her heels. "It has a big ol' shower and a closet that's like another room and a real kitchen with a real oven and a real fridge! Dad, Mom... Uncle Dib sent a tiny house on wheels!"

The group paused at the last bend in the trail. At this point, they were less than thirty minutes from town but still out of sight. Kay, who had just caught up from behind, smiled at Mystery. "I bet Torque has been living off fast food the whole drive."

Mystery affirmed her guess with a snort and a nod.

"Well. We'll have to pick up some groceries in town. He'll get a couple days of real meals if it has the sort of setup you say."

Mystery perked up. "Real food prepared by a real chef will be most welcome, Cayenne. Though it's probably not much of a change for you, Arthur." He glanced over, but received only a strained smile in response.

He'd traded stories with Arthur all the way down the mountain, each catching the other up to speed. However, the closer they got to town, the more Arthur had withdrawn into himself. But at Ginny's express-train approach, Arthur lit up. Dropping the walking stick, he lifted Ginny off the ground in a one-armed hug. Gareth peeled off to the right and wrapped his arms around Kay's waist, receiving a warm embrace in return.

"Tiny house on wheels, huh? Sounds like all kinds of fun," Arthur said. "Maybe on the drive back, you and Gareth can help me wrangle the prosthetic. Get it functional again."

She made a face. "Gareth's better at the little tiny bits than I am. Wrenches are easier."

Arthur laughed, kissing her forehead. "I've got a pair of wannabe mechanics, huh? This is too wild. There's so much to show you. I can't wait. Do you know how to…" he trailed off, lifting his head.

Mystery caught the scent a moment later and a chill washed down his spine. The smell of damp, decaying leaves and wildflowers, of mushrooms sprouting from the earth, and a dozen different kinds of trees. Wild rose vines crawled out of the ground around them, accompanied by clumps of daisies and dandelions and a profusion of wild rice. There was a song on the breeze, and Arthur's eyelids dropped halfway. He sank to his knees, his arm dropping limp at his side.

"That's Aji!" Kay cried.

"No!" Ginny clung to Arthur's neck. "No, not yet! We were going to do it all together! We have to be there when it happens and make sure she fixes everything! Gareth, you gotta wake Dad!"

Gareth darted to Arthur's side, grabbing his shoulder and shaking it like he could wrest his father free from paralysis. Arthur's chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm, and his eyes remained partly open, but he did not respond.

There were words in the air around them, weaving themselves around the five standing on the path. Mystery could sense something… growing. Like a vine spreading across his skin. But there was nothing there.

Dance ye hours. Revel, fates!

Open doors, fling wide time's gates!

A goddess' curse to see them through

And siren song to cast it true

Ginny was already fading. Mystery could see Arthur through her as she screamed, "Not yet! No, I'm not ready! Dad! Mom!"

Gareth clung to Arthur, even more transparent and sobbing. "Dad, tell her to fix it! You have to tell her I didn't mean to mess it up! I need you to be okay, I need you to stay! Dad! DADDY!"

And then, it was just Arthur, kneeling half-awake in a careless riot of wild foliage, with Kay at his side and Mystery right behind. The song was silent and the twins were gone.


Note: Happy New Year! Pipefoxesonthemoon is helping me check over chapters for this and the next few, my thanks! Chapter title excerpted from the fic title song, Laughter Lines by Bastille.