Phone Home, Part 3

One of the more beneficial quirks of living in what was, for all intents and purposes, an afterlife that made something of an effort to imitate the world of the living was that while its inhabitants felt like normal, living people most of the time, the fact that they weren't meant that the drawbacks of being mortal no longer applied.

Their bodies were essentially replicas of how they had been in life, formed out of their memories and sense of self-identity, albeit altered in the case of the witches. They functioned as bodies do, they moved and felt and heard and tasted and saw, but did not get there through a complex anatomical system. Their skin registered touch, but there were no nerves transmitting the sensation. Their eyes saw, but had no cones nor rods behind their irises. Their tongues taste, but the buds were merely superficial. Their ears heard, but nothing lay beyond their eardrums. They all had heartbeats, but there was no physical organ doing the beating, no blood being pumped through veins, arteries, and capillaries. Hunger and thirst were felt, food and drink were consumed and enjoyed, nutrition extracted, and physical and liquid wasted expelled, but it was not shoved through a bath of digestive enzymes, nor absorbed by a tunnel of intestines. Prick them, and they would not bleed.

As such, things that were dangerous and debilitating just simply now were not. Healing from an injury no longer took days to weeks; even an amputated body part would be back in a matter of minutes. All that was required was for their new bodies to register that something was wrong and wait for it to be corrected, and that often took no time at all.

Which wasn't to say that injuries still didn't hurt. Pain was as deeply ingrained in their spiritual memories as any other sensation, perhaps moreso, and having one's limbs hacked off or body crushed by blunt force was still agonizing. They just got over it a whole lot quicker and more thoroughly. And while a number of illnesses were no longer a problem, the afterlife did have quite a few unique maladies of its own to watch out of; they just no came with the same threat of lethality as before.

An so, despite being geared toward the care and treatment of dozens, if not hundreds of traumatized children, and despite all of is state-of-the-art facilities, the Freehaven Bureau of Integration didn't need much more for medical "emergencies" than a series of beds for its patients to sleep off even the most horrific of injuries. When one could simply walk off dismemberment, more focus was put into the victim's psychological healing than their physical equivalent.

Lindy was apparently being kept in the infirmary. Homulilly and Gretchen hadn't heard much more other than she was now awake and talking, but the caretakers wanted to keep her overnight to monitor the situation. Homulilly got the feeling that it was her emotional state that they wanted to monitor rather than her physical state. After all, when someone as boisterously cheery as Lindy did something as drastic as commit suicide, you kind of wanted to know why, though Homulilly had a few theories.

When she and Gretchen got there, they saw a few other girls gathered outside, all of them looking some variation of distraught. Heather and Lillian were standing together a bit apart from the others, speaking in low tones. Lillian looked like she had been crying. Ava, Claudia, and Vendel were standing in one group, with a look of smoldering rage on Vendel's plasticine face. Amirah, Carly, Gabrielle, and Zhao were in another group, this one closer to the door. Shiloh was sitting against the wall, crying softly to herself, while Brittney sat next to her, her hand on the younger girl's shoulder, speaking to her in a soft, comforting voice. Iris was standing by herself, fidgeting in discomfort. One of the caretakers, Dr. Gwen, was standing at the door.

The one girl they didn't see was Lucy. Homulilly slowly breathed out.

Gretchen looked around, her mouth set in a straight line. Then she approached Ava, Claudia, and Vendel.

"What happened?" she said softly.

Vendel's face whirred around in its casing, something she did when she was agitated. "You wanna know what happened?" she said in disgust. "Well, I'll tell you what happened! That little gremlin-"

Sighing, Ava held up a hand. "Ease up," she said. To Gretchen, she said, "We're not really sure, yet. All we know so far is that she was with Lucy-"

"Because of course she was," Vendel muttered.

"-and Lucy got into a fight with Iris-"

"Because of course she did."

"-and Lindy tried to get them to calm down-"

"Because that's what Lindy does."

"-and Lucy said something really nasty to her-"

"Because of course…" Vendel sighed. "Never mind. You get it."

"-before yelling at Iris then." Ava frowned. "And, uh, while that was going on, Lindy just all of a sudden walked away. And then Lucy started yelling at her, but then Lindy picks up this really big blade. We don't even know where she got it! And then…" Ava slashed her palm across her own throat.

"Oh," Gretchen said.

Homulilly titled her head, her brow furrowing. "But…Marty said that she killed herself, not that she just tried. Wouldn't the cut have just closed up?"

"She died."

Everyone turned around to Iris, who was standing nearby, her hands anxiously twisting around each other. "She cut, and there was all this blue smoke, but she just kept cutting until she fell down. She fell down and lay still, and Lucy was screaming and…" Her voice trailed off, though her cassette-tape eyes slowly and mournfully whirred around.

Homulilly blinked. "She died? She actually died?"

"Dude," Vendel said in a flat tone. "Have some class."

Homulilly winced.

Iris, however, didn't seem offended, though she was still rather disturbed. "Her eyes were open and blank, and she wouldn't move. And smoke just kept coming out of her throat, pouring out like a chimney. And Lucy just kept screaming…" Her voice trailed off.

Homulilly waited for more, but none came. She glanced over to Gretchen and then back to Iris, wondering if she should say something.

"And then what?" Gretchen said softly.

Iris blinked. And then she smiled. "Oh, she woke up later," she said in her customary chipper tone. "The cut sealed up, and suddenly she sat up and started coughing. I would have liked to ask her about her experience, but that was when the caretakers showed up and brought her here."

Homulilly glanced over to the infirmary. "So she's awake."

"She is! You can visit her if you'd like. We already have."

Homulilly nodded. "And Lucy?"

Vendel snorted. "Hiding in her room. Marty already tried to go drag her back, but she's locked the door and won't come out. Little coward."

Gretchen winced. "Um, Lucy-chan is probably feeling really bad right now, so-"

"Yeah, don't care," Vendel said. "She was the one being an asshole. She should feel bad."

Before an argument could erupt, Homulilly laid a hand on Gretchen's arm. "Let's go see how Lindy-chan is doing," she said softly.

Gretchen nodded, and the two headed for the infirmary. "Hello," Gretchen said to Dr. Gwen. "May we see her, please?"

"One moment." Dr. Gwen poked her head in. "Lindy, you feeling up to a couple more visitors? It's Kriemhild Gretchen and Homulilly."

Lindy must have answered in the affirmative, as Dr. Gwen looked back to the two girls and nodded. "Go in," she said. "But remember that is still pretty tired, so try not to upset her or get her wound up."

"We won't," Gretchen promised, and they were let in.

It was rare that an injury would occur inside the FIB that would require a trip to the infirmary, so Lindy was by herself. She was awake, though, sitting up in a bed that looked like it had been pilfered from a Sultan's private chambers, given that it was framed with gold and encrusted with large emeralds and small diamonds, a sure sign that a magical girl had enchanted it to fit Lindy's larger than normal frame and the spider legs she had coming out of her back. Other than that, she looked fine, her throat smooth and whole, with no signs of any hurt. Actually, she looked more sheepish than anything, sheepish and tired.

As Homulilly and Gretchen approached, she held up her right arm and all of her right-hand spider legs to wave at them. "Hey, guys," she said. "Um, sorry about the scare. I really didn't mean to kick up such a fuss."

"Don't talk like that!" Gretchen hurried over and took one of Lindy's big hands in both of her own. "Don't talk like you're a bother, because you're not!"

Lindy smiled and gently squeezed Gretchen's tiny palm. "Uh, th-thanks Gretch. You're the best."

Homulilly hesitated, and then approached the bed, her present held out. "Uh, I brought these for you," she said, holding the stack of picture books she had checked out from the library, the entire run of their favorite series.

Lindy immediately brightened. "Oh, hey! Homulilly, you are the best!" She took the books from Homulilly and laid them in her sheet-covered lap. "Total lifesaver. I was just getting bored out of my mind, you know? They actually want to keep me overnight, and I'm just like, why? I'm clearly fine." She tapped the base of her throat. "See? In no danger of bleeding out! Or, uh, misting out? I don't know, the whole smoke thing is weird."

Homulilly swallowed. "They probably want to make sure you don't try to hurt yourself again," she said softly.

"Yeah, but that's just so silly! I mean, okay, I did do something dramatic, but that was just a really weird impulse! It's not like I'm gonna do it again any…" Then her voice caught in her throat. She sniffed, and wiped her eyes with one of her spider legs. "…er, you kn-know."

Homulilly and Gretchen exchanged a look. Then Homulilly said softly, "Why'd you do it?"

"Man, everyone's been asking the same thing," Lindy sighed. "I mean I get it, I guess it was a really crazy thing to do, but…" She paused, brow furrowed in thought. "You know the crazy thing? I'm not really sure. I mean, it was kind of like those, what'cha call them, out of body experiences? Lucy was mad and yelling at Iris, and you know how she gets when she's upset. But she was going on and on about how nothing we do matters, how we're like stuck in a fake world and always will be, and how nobody back home even knows that we're gone. You know, stuff like that." She shrugged. "Well, like I said, you know how she could be."

Homulilly did, and felt that Lindy knew even better what Lucy could be like.

"But anyway, while this was going on, it…it was weird. I just sort of realized that…she's kind of right? I mean, we've been here for weeks, right? Had all these crazy things happen and saw so much, you know, stuff. But for everyone back home, it's only been a few minutes? So if we did go back, would any of that matter?" Her lips thinned out. "And then I thought about how, well, you know, this can't last forever, right? I mean, sooner or later the universe is going to, I dunno, explode, implode, do that whole Heat Death thing. I mean, I know the Incubators are trying to hold that off, but it has to end sometime, right? And wouldn't that mean that this place goes away along with it? I guess?"

She laid her head back, reclining against the pillows, all eight of her eyes staring up at nothing in particular. She seemed to have forgotten that there were other people in the room and was now mostly talking to herself. "But if that's true, and if the end of the universe is like a gazillion billion years away, that must mean that for us it's a google-trillion gazillion billion zillion years away."

Then her hand went to her throat, gently stroking the smooth, unblemished skin. "And that's that. We don't really get a choice, do we? I mean, we're ki-kinda dead! We had the end, and this is what we get after. Can't really die twice, you know? So we just gotta suck it up and get through all those gazillion centuries, whether we want to or not. Seems like it would get pretty tedious after a while, you know?" She blinked, and then turned her head to look at her pair of solemn visitors. "And all of a sudden, I just wanted to see how true that was. I wanted to see if we could die again."

"So you cut your own throat," Homulilly said softly.

"Yeah, it was pretty impulsive," Lindy admitted with an embarrassed laugh. "Uh, sorry about that, guys! Promise I won't do it again!"

Gretchen slowly breathed out. Then she tightened her slender fingers around the large hand in her palms. "Lindy-chan, please don't think of yourself as a burden," she said. "Please don't think you always have to hide how much you're hurting for our sakes. You don't always have to be the strong one."

That just got an eyeroll and a scoff out of Lindy, which was sort of disconcerting, seeing how she had eight eyes with which to roll. "Aw, come on, Gretch! It was just one of those things, okay? I'm seriously fine! You don't have to-"

Whatever self-deprecating statement of put-upon bravado Lindy was going to offer up was swiftly forgotten, as Gretchen suddenly leaned in to wrap her arms around Lindy's neck and shoulders to hug her tight.

Lindy inhaled sharply, her arms going stiff at her sides, all eight of her spider legs suddenly stretched straight out in shock. She blinked once in bewilderment, opened her mouth as if to say something, but nothing came out.

And then her many eyes began to glimmer with tears.

Lindy's face scrunched up, and her spider legs curled inwards, as if to form a protective shell around herself and the tiny girl comforting her. She sniffed, then she choked, and soon she was openly sobbing, with her big arms wrapped tightly, albeit still gently, around Gretchen, holding her close as she cried.

Homulilly couldn't help but stiffen up. Gretchen was just a naturally affectionate person, and was free with her embraces. Even so, it still really bothered Homulilly to watch her throw her arms around someone else. They were a Walpurgisnacht, weren't they? Shouldn't that at least be hers first and foremost?

But then again, for as fearsome as her physical presence could be, Lindy was probably the least threatening person other than Gretchen that she knew, and God knows that she needed this.

She wondered if she ought to get in on the hug, to join in on comforting the crying girl. But no. She still didn't like being touched, and Lindy had a lot of limbs to touch with. Gretchen had it handled. And besides, she had brought the books. She had done her part.

Or had she? Come to think of it, there was one more thing she could do for Lindy. The very thought of it made her stomach quail, but that fear was overpowered by another emotion entirely, one that she felt she could use to drive her to do something that under other circumstances she could never work up the nerve to do.

Anger.

Finally Lindy began to calm down, the sobbing dying away and her breathing easing out. Gretchen pulled back out of her arms, though she did take Lindy's hand in both of her own again.

Lindy slowly breathed out. There was still a ragged stutter, but it was mostly gone. "Th-Thanks," she said, wiping her eyes again. "I, uh, kind of needed that."

"Of course!" Then Gretchen leaned in to give Lindy a soft kiss on her forehead. Homulilly's stomach clenched up, but she bit down on her tongue and didn't say anything.

The two of them left the infirmary. "I'm glad she's doing okay," Gretchen said in a low voice.

"Is she?" Homulilly said.

Gretchen's face fell. "W-Well, I mean, she's still hurting, but a-at least she's not…"

Her voice trailed off.

"We really took her for granted, didn't we?" she said softly after a long silence.

Homulilly's stomach clenched up. There was no denying that. After all, Homulilly herself had tried to reassure Gretchen that Lindy would be fine, that she wasn't bothered by anything. Clearly everyone else had thought the same thing. Clearly they all had been wrong.

Especially one person in particular.

Homulilly looked down the hall, toward the dorms. She took a deep breath.

"Could you wait for me?" she said. "I need to go do something."

This seemed to shock Gretchen. She gawked at her friend, her mouth hanging agape. "B-But what are you, are you going to do?"

Homulilly's gloved hands squeezed into tight fists. "I'm going to go get a head."

…

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Even with the padded gloves she was wearing, Homulilly's pounding landed hard and loud against Lucy's door. Unless she was unconscious, Lucy definitely heard her.

Still, there was no answer.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

"Go away!"

Ah, there it was.

"I know you're in there, Lucy!" Homulilly called.

"No duh! You just heard me!"

"Open up!"

"No!"

Rolling her eyes, Homulilly pounded the door against with her fist. "Open up! We need to talk!"

"No, we don't!"

Bam! Bam! Bam!

"Yes, we do! Hurry up and open the door!"

"I said go away!"

Fine. Time to take it up a notch.

"You know what's going to happen if you don't open this door?" Homulilly called. "I'm going to go find Amirah. Or Carly! One of the Puella Magi, someone who can still use her weapons! And then we're going to break down this door and-"

Suddenly the door swung open, and Lucy was there.

The short redhead had her head on for once, but she was missing all of her usual smug mischief. Instead, she looked like she had been crying. Her face was blotchy, her eyes wet, and a dribble of snot was inching out of one nostril.

"I told you," Lucy seethed. "I don't want to talk to you. I don't want to talk to anyone. I've already had half the class come by to yell at me. I know you all hate me, okay? Message received. So go away!"

Homulilly's eyes narrowed.

Then she gave Lucy a shove, sending her staggering back a few steps.

Regaining her balance, Lucy straightened up to glower up at the taller girl. "What, you're gonna punch me now or something? Is that what you-"

Homulilly stepped into Lucy's dorm and closed the door behind her.

Then she turned the lock.

Lucy's eyes widened. "Are you crazy?" she exclaimed, hastily backing up. "If you hit me then they'll know, they'll come and take you away to…somewhere! Arrest you! Something like that!"

Rolling her eyes, Homulilly looked up at the ceiling. "I'm not going to hurt her," she called. "I'm just going to talk some sense into her."

She honestly didn't know if there were any cameras or microphones set up in the dorms (she hoped not, though she doubted that Tsuruno would have given them those memory crystal in their room if there were), but if anyone was listening on, then at least that part was clarified.

At this, Lucy's frightened expression grew dour. "Why can't you people just leave me alone?" she whined. "It's not like I told the big bug to-"

Homulilly spied a chair in one corner of the room. She pointed to it. "Go. Sit."

To her mild surprise, Lucy obeyed, scampering over to the chair and sitting down with her back rigid and her legs pressed tightly together.

Homulilly took a quick glance around the room. This was her first time being in another girl's dorm, and she was surprised to see how colorful it was. Even though she hadn't been there long, Lucy had definitely settled in, decorating it with strips of brightly colored fabric, several dried flowers, and palm fronds. Pieces of colored glass, crystal, and feathers hung on string from the ceiling, and chunk of different kind of rough crystal sat in a row on the dresser.

It was an eclectic collection of color, all of it handmade from materials that Lucy seemed to have gathered herself. Homulilly wondered where she had gotten the crystals. Was there a quarry or a mine?

Well, it didn't really matter. She wasn't here to visit. She was here to set some things straight.

"You've been really mean to Lindy," Homulilly said. "Even though she's done nothing but try to your friend."

"I was just teasing her!" Lucy protested. "That's what I do to people I like! I tease them!"

Homulilly felt her ire rise up higher and hotter. "Teasing?! Is that what you call it?" She thrust a finger at the door. "I've seen you hurt and insult her! A lot! And you've been doing a lot more lately."

"I was just upset!" Lucy protested. "We all are! So I lost my temper a few times! That doesn't mean I dislike her or anything, just-"

"You took it out on her," Homulilly said. "Just like you always do." She leaned in closer. "Because she's Lindy, and Lindy never gets bothered by anything! Because she's always so cheerful and encouraging, so you can just say whatever you want to her and she'll never get offended or have her feelings hurt. Isn't that how it is?"

Lucy didn't have a lot of color in her face, but what little pink she did have drained from her cheeks as she gawked at Homulilly, her mouth opening and closing soundlessly like a gasping fish. Then she managed to stutter out, "N-No, that's not-"

"It is. We all thought that, but you took advantage of that. You were so caught up in how much you're hurting that you never saw how much your friend was hurting, or that you were hurting her!" Homulilly came closer. "But we're all hurting! We should be supporting each other, not bullying one another! And Lindy's been trying to support everybody more than everyone. She's your friend, and you should never bully your friend! Or anyone!"

Lucy blinked. She opened her mouth to respond, only to close it again as her eyes filled with tears.

Then she yanked her head off of her shoulders, stuck it into her lap, and turned it around away from Homulilly, her hands covering the ears.

Homulilly's eyes narrowed. "Turn away from me all you want, you know I'm right! So now you are going to stop hiding, you are going to go visit Lindy, you are going to apologize for being a bully, and you are going to do your best to be nice to her from now on. Got it?"

Her face still turned away from Homulilly, Lucy shook her head with her hands.

"I'm not giving you a choice!"

"I can't go out there!" Lucy suddenly spun her head back around toward Homulilly. "Everybody hates me now! You don't know what it's like to be hated by everybody!"

Something inside Homulilly snapped. Not in half, but into place, and she found herself filled with the same recklessness that had caused her to reveal herself twice already to people she didn't want to see her.

Just like she had done with Tsuruno, just like she had done with Amirah, Homulilly held up one arm and peeled the glove right off, exposing the naked bones. And just like it had happened with the other two girls, Lucy's eyes got very wide.

"You think I don't know what it's like to be afraid?" Homulilly said, curling her skeletal fingers into a fist. "Every day I'm terrified that someone will find out about this, that they'll scream and call me a monster." She glowered at the gobsmacked Lucy through the thin bones of her forearm. "So if I can do it, so can you!"

"B-But it's not the same thing! They're not just afraid of me because I'm freaky, they hate me! It's different!"

"They'll hate you more if you don't," Homulilly said as she slipped the glove back on. "Now, are you just going to sit around here feeling sorry for yourself, or are you going to do the right thing?"

"I…" Lucy's empty shoulders slumped in defeat, and she slowly set her head back into place. "Okay. Okay. I'll do it. But just…"

"Yes?"

Lucy looked bashfully up at her. "C-Could you come with me? I don't want to go out there alone."

Hearing this, Homulilly felt her face soften, just a little. "Sure," she said. "I can do that."

"Okay," Lucy muttered. She started to take a step, but then hesitated. "Uh, do I have to do it right now?"

"Yes."

"Thought so. Okay. Okay. Let's…Let's go. I guess." Lucy took a deep breath and headed for the door.

Homulilly followed, closing the door behind them. Fortunately the hall was empty other than them, so any drama was put aside for the time being.

Lucy shuffled reluctantly along, Homulilly following her, feeling weirdly like a prison warden accompanying a prisoner to their execution. It was a strange feeling, one that she was trying very hard not to dwell upon, because she was quite sure that her nerve would break if she did.

After a few moments of heavy silence, Lucy said, "Um, Homulilly? Your arms. That's why you're always wearing gloves, right?"

Homulilly's steps almost took a stumble. "What of it?" she said.

"Why?"

"Huh?"

"Why do you hide them like that?" Lucy continued. "That's the coolest witch remnants I've ever seen! Why do you want to cover them up?"

Homulilly gritted her teeth. "Because unlike you, I don't like making people uncomfortable! I don't want everyone to be afraid of me."

To this, Lucy had nothing to say. She still looked a little confused, but she remained silent.

…

When Homulilly returned to the infirmary, this time with Lucy in tow, most of the other girls had gone back to their rooms. A few were still lingering around, however, Gretchen among them. And as soon as Lucy saw them, she froze in her tracks.

"I can't do this," she whispered.

"Too late," Homulilly said.

"I'm serious. I can't!"

"So am I." Homulilly nudged her with her foot. "Go on."

Wincing, Lucy proceeded forward.

Given her elongated neck, Vendel noticed her coming first. She stopped talking to Brittney and straightened up to stare. That drew the attention of the others, who also turned toward Homulilly and Lucy.

And when they saw who was approaching, their faces turned cold.

"Well," Marty said in a flat tone. "Look who it is. Come to admire your handiwork, eh?"

Lucy looked absolutely stricken.

Gretchen eyes flitted from Lucy to Homulilly, an unspoken question in her gaze. In answer, Homulilly gave her a small nod, followed by a glance toward the infirmary.

With an understanding nod, Gretchen laid a hand on Marty's shoulder. "Guys," she whispered. "Let's go."

"Uh, what now?" Vendel said flatly. "And just let her-"

"Lucy-chan's here to make up with Lindy. Let's not make it harder for them, okay?"

"And how do you know that?" Marty demanded.

In answer, Gretchen glanced over to Homulilly.

A few beat passed. And then Marty said. "Fine," she said. Then she shot a glare at Lucy. "But that little runt better not try anything!"

Lucy winced, but didn't say anything.

Homulilly went over to Dr. Gwen, who was still standing at the door and silently watching the proceedings with a quirked eyebrow. "Lucy-chan's here to apologize," she said in a low voice.

"I figured," Dr. Gwen said. "But that's only happening if Linda is okay with it."

"Could you ask her? Please?"

Dr. Gwen shot a glance at Lucy, who was standing with her head bowed and her hands balled up over her knees. "One moment."

She slipped into the infirmary. Moments later she reemerged.

"Well, she's surprised, but she also wants to see her." She shot a warning look over to Lucy. "Of course, it goes without saying that no one is to upset her or get her worked up. And we will be having a talk later regarding certain recent behavior."

Lucy winced again.

Homulilly opened the door and peeked in. Lindy was sitting up in bed, one of the books Homulilly had brought her in her lap, indicating that she had been reading it when Dr. Gwen had checked in with her. Not now. Now she just looked anxious, even a little nervous.

"Um, Lindy-chan?" Homulilly said. "Someone's…here to see you."

Then she stepped aside, letting Lucy enter.

Lindy immediately straightened up, her face lighting up. "Lucy!" she said. "Um…hey! Er, listen, don't beat yourself up for what happened, it wasn't-"

Lucy burst into tears.

Homulilly was nearly bowled over as Lucy rushed into the room. She fell to her knees by the now quite bemused Lindy, crying as she apologized over and over.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed, grabbing onto Lindy's hand with both of her own. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I've been such an asshole, and you were nothing but nice, and I'm so, so, so sorry!"

"Whoa, hey!" Lindy said. "Easy! It's not your-"

"No!" Lucy jerked up to glower at her friend, her wet eyes now furious. "Don't you dare! Don't you dare tell me it wasn't my fault! Don't you dare be nice to me, you stu-" Realizing what she was about to say, Lucy clamped her jaws shut to keep the insult from getting out. She growled in frustration, shook her head, and whispered. "Just don't. I couldn't stand it if you did."

Telling Lindy not to be nice was like telling Cheese the parrot not to swear. It was hypothetically possible, but went so far against their nature that doing so left them with few other options.

Sure enough, Lindy seemed quite beside herself, but since Lucy had demanded that she not reassure her of her lack of blame, she settled for silently putting her big arms around the small, sobbing girl and just holding her as Lucy cried. As she did, she looked up, locked eyes with Homulilly, and smiled in appreciation.

Satisfied with what she saw, Homulilly left the room, letting the door close behind her.

Gretchen was still standing at the other end of the hall with her friends. As Homulilly approached, Gretchen didn't say anything. She just walked over and hugged her.

"Well, hey," Vendel said. "Nice going, Flowers. Didn't think you had it in you."

Homulilly winced, but nodded.

"Did you threaten her?" Marty said, crossing her arms. "I would have threatened her."

"I…I just…" Homulilly released a long and ragged breath. Her hands were starting to shake.

Seeing what was happening, Gretchen took Homulilly's hand. "Hey, it's been a long day, so we're going to bed. Talk to you guys later?"

"Sure then," Vendel said with a shrug. "So long and nobody else decides to off herself."

Gretchen led Homulilly back through the halls to their dorm. All the while, Homulilly focused solely on the hand holding hers while mentally telling herself to just keep putting one foot in front of the other, one foot in front of the other, one foot in front of the other…

She didn't notice when they reached the dorm, but they must have, because the next thing Homulilly knew she was lying curled up on her side on top of her bed, her head resting on Gretchen's lap, her whole body shaking hard. Her chest felt tight, her skin cold and clammy, and she was quite certain if she tried to sit up, she would just vomit all over herself.

"It's okay, it's okay," Gretchen murmured in soothing tones as she gently stroke Homulilly's sweaty brow. "You did a very brave thing."

Homulilly didn't have it in her to respond. She couldn't even breathe very well. She just gave a brief nod and closed her eyes, holding tightly onto Gretchen's hand with both of her own as she waited for the panic attack to pass.

In time she began to calm. The shaking stilled, her breathing eased up, and her chest started to relax. The sick feeling in her stomach ebbed away, and she slowly felt better.

Finally she felt well enough to sit up. Having done this before, Gretchen was quick with a thermos of cool water with a plastic straw. Nodding her thanks, Homulilly drank through the straw in small, careful sips while Gretchen rubbed her neck and shoulders. It was funny: her shoulders were made of bone the same as her arms, but they also felt sensation just fine. It still wasn't the same as having skin, as Gretchen's fingers didn't sink into them as they would have had her shoulders been covered with flesh, but it still felt good.

"I'm okay," she said at last, pushing the thermos away. "Thank you."

"You did so well!" Gretchen said, thankfully still rubbing her shoulders. "You really went all the way to make Lucy-chan come back and apologize?"

Homulilly nod. "Yeah. Um, yeah."

"That was so brave! I know Lindy-chan really appreciated it. And, I think, Lucy-chan did too."

"She better," Homulilly muttered. "After all the work I put in."

Gretchen hugged her. Sighing in happiness, Homulilly relaxed into her arms, lightly draping her own around Gretchen's waist.

This was nice. Granted, what she had to go through in order to get it had been super stressful, but nice. And okay, Gretchen would have gladly held her even if she hadn't gone out of her way to push Lucy into making amends with Lindy, but somehow having gone through all that made it even better.

Of course, if what she had seen earlier was true, there might be another reason she enjoyed Gretchen's touch so much.

"Gretchen-chan?" Homulilly said after a few moments of careful contemplation.

"Hmmm?"

"I want to do it."

"Huh?" Gretchen tilted her head in confusion. "Do what?"

Homulilly straightened up, slipping from Gretchen's arms. "Go through with her plan. Bring our memories back. Go home."

Gretchen blinked.

And then her face lit up with pure joy. "You mean it?" she exclaimed, grabbing both of Homulilly's hands in her own. "You're in?"

Homulilly slowly nodded. "Y-Yeah. I am."

"Oh, that's such a relief to hear!" Gretchen breathed. "But, um, what convinced you? Was it seeing our past earlier?"

Homulilly could still feel the tingle Gretchen's lips had left upon her own. "Y-Yeah. But also, something else."

"Oh? What is it?"

Homulilly sighed. "W-Well, what Lucy was doing to Lindy…was pretty mean. And Lindy wasn't really right in the head. But she…wasn't wrong."

"Huh?"

"You know how she said about how since we can't age or die, and since time is faster we're going to be here for a really, really, really long time?"

Gretchen's face fell, but she nodded.

"Well, she's not wrong, you know? After a while, I think that would be really hard to live with." Homulilly sighed. "A-And maybe if we can unlock our old memories, we can also unlock our old selves. Be, you know, normal again."

At this, Gretchen looked a little concerned. "But I thought you didn't think you were the same person as your old self."

At this, Homulilly couldn't hide her wince, but she still managed a small smile. "Well, may-maybe I was wrong! That memory had to come from somewhere, right?"

Gretchen didn't look entirely convinced. "Homulilly-chan," she said, gently laying a hand against Homulilly's temple. "I really want to do this, but I don't want you to agree just to make me happy. So tell me honestly: are you sure?"

In answer, Homulilly laid her hand over Gretchen's, pressing Gretchen's warm palm more closely against her face. "I'm sure."

"Yes!" Gretchen again threw her arms around Homulilly in an enthusiastic embrace. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! I know our families will be so happy to see us!"

That would be nice, but Homulilly was more interested in what she had seen in her vision than what Gretchen had seen in hers. To be truthful, she wasn't all that focused on her family. She just wanted to be with Gretchen; not just the two of them being roommates, but to be with her, out in the open, happy, unafraid, and unashamed.

Then, as Homulilly held her happy friend, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror on the other end of the room, of her delicate, pale face and long, raven hair, of the red spider-lily that had closed up into a tight bud for some reason.

There had been one point that she hadn't been entirely truthful about. She still wasn't sure if she really was that girl in that memory or something else wearing her face. And it was quite possible that if she continued down in this path, that girl might come back.

If so, Homulilly would no longer exist.

It was also possible that she was that girl, just with a blank memory and a few new additions, that she would remember her time in this strange afterlife and not lose her current identity, only unlock her old one as well. That would be nice. But either way, it didn't matter. One way or another, she was going to hold Gretchen with normal arms and no longer be afraid.

Even if she had to erase herself in order to do it.

…

Yeah, I know this arc was only going to have one more update, but the Lindy stuff got a little long, so I decided to chop off the resolution to the Tsuruno stuff and make it its own chapter.

And just to be clear on where I stand: I don't consider Lucy a bad person, more of a hurt kid who let that hurt bring out her more toxic traits and took it out on those around her. Granted, that's how a lot of bullying starts, but at the very least she got herself a major wake-up call. It was just way more dramatic than most are, but at least she now knows and can work on improving herself.

Until next time, everyone.