Author's Notes:
Hello! Apologies if the pacing of the next few chapters seems odd. I'm trying to force myself into short chapters to make it easier to be consistant with my updating while balance the pace this story demands. Thank you for your patience as I try to figure this out. If you want to hang out and stay updated on art and other projects, please join the discord server Aria of Light and I have made. Simply paste 5tT9dcE at the end of the usual discord link!

Chapter 47

Guilt

While Anna spoke with Chakis in the Bell Tower…

Jack's nightmares were often never worse than his memories.

"You're dreaming, by the way."

Jack's sockets snapped open as mist seeped into the rags that dressed his bones instead of his suit he fell asleep wearing. He turned his head toward the noise, a voice actually.

A very human-ish skeleton sat beside him, in rags that weren't much better than his. She dripped in charred flesh and blood, bits of hair still attached to her skull by shrunken flesh. She didn't seem to be in the constant pain that he remembered from many many years ago. However, she wasn't eight feet either or dis-proportioned, like herself in the waking world.

"Annalise…" he said, shocked he even knew her name in this dreaming state. "Spirit" or "Light" had been hanging on his tongue. Was this truly a dream then? Not a memory?

She glanced at him with an expression he couldn't really read. "I'm not here. Not really. I'm out there. In Halloween. This is just a dream."

Jack sat up, holding his hand out to inspect himself. "What sort of torture is Ammuttadori attempting?" Ideally, he wouldn't have fallen asleep at all. But all the spell work and fighting against those demons had really taken it out of him. His aura was still strong, but less than usual.

Haddiela, or Ammuttadori, or however many names and forms they had, had always been rather vague about how much they knew of his past. Jack was usually very careful to guard his subconscious from the nightmare keeper.

"They don't have bearing here," Annalise interrupted his private irritated thoughts, "They don't control all the dreams. Especially when the dreams are closer to visions," Spirit said.

Jack's thoughts halted. "I still think of you as Spirit in this form. I could have sworn I just called you by name."

"I know. I could never tell you my name," the dream Annalise laughed and Jack wondered how he had never recognized her voice. In this form it rasped and cracked, seeming so much older than her sixteen years, but it was still her.

He just listened to her laugh, part of his soul recoiling at her state as his sockets roved over blisters and char. He looked at her aura, not quite believing her claim that this was a dream, and only saw distorted black and silver. It was like looking at a cracked mirror. All that was visible to him were pieces of himself.

"I'm sorry, Annalise."

The specter smiled with bloody teeth, but it was a sweet smile. "It doesn't seem like I realize that, but I know you are. I'm just…hurting." The smile dropped as sorrow flashed across her face.

Jack was quiet. He saw the dream knitting together something else to say. He didn't want to think about how his subconscious decided to mix all this together. This forest. Her. His old appearance. Her cursed appearance?

He fell into his thoughts, and it was abrupt when the dream spoke again.

"What about me do you fear?"

"What?" Jack startled at her question as she looked straight into his sockets.

"I'm a kid, Jack," she said. "A teenager. I'm not frightening. Conventionally. Or I shouldn't be. Yet. I'm just a sixteen-year-old kid in a world I don't understand with no one to go to."

Jack didn't break eye contact as tears pricked at the specter's empty eyes, the water mixing with blood and trailing her cheeks.

Wordlessly, he offered his arms. Even more surprising was her acceptance of the invitation, shifting forward to sink against him.

There was the shuddering of a sob, but Jack was not sure which of them it came from.

"I've done a terrible thing to you," Jack said, whispering in the misty air between. "And I shall spend the rest of my existence paying for it with your tears and my desperation. I will do all I can to make it up to you."

"A life is a heavy dept, grandfather," Anna muttered into his scratchy rags, bitterly.

"I know. I don't fear you. I fear your hatred, I think. I fear the inevitability that nothing I do will ever be enough. It's a bitter truth I don't wish to admit aloud."

The dream was quiet. "You should actually tell me this. The real me. Or really, the one that's in town wallowing in stress, anger, and self-pity."

Jack stiffened. "I don't think it will go as well as this… I'm well aware you're a figment of my hope. Not reality."

"Probably." Annalise sighed. She was quiet as she rested in his arms. They both just listened to the surrounding trees. "Time," she said eventually.

Jack almost didn't hear her and took a moment to respond. "Pardon?"

"Time. I'll get better in time. Tick-Tock goes the clock." She snickered slightly, making Jack immediately suspicious whether this was really just a dream. A true figment doesn't make inside jokes within the dreamer's mind. He was relatively positive of this, but not sure.

"Just don't avoid me. Again," Annalise said.

A yanking in his soul wretched Jack out of the dream, the Town tugging on him as the sound of bells tolled. His sight adjusted from greens to the muted colors of his modern Halloween residence.

It took him a moment to sort his perception of things before he recognized the sensations and bolting off the couch, tripping past table legs that growled at him. He heard Sally moving elsewhere in the house but was in too much of a hurry to get out the door, not to mention a little frazzled by that dream.

A newcomer? Now? There wasn't a pattern to when their little population grew, but even this felt odd.

He stopped at the top of the steps leading from his front door as the Requiem Bell stopped.
Four?

He frowned while slipping out his front gate, petting the wrought iron as it whined.

Nevermore was at the gatehouse, clearly a bit drunk and trying to hide his irritation. His coat was haphazardly pulled on and the feathers around his neck looked rumpled and out of place. No time for preening, then?

"It's looking like the promise of a busy year, Jack," the bird said. "I was hoping we'd have a week before more drama cropped up. We just went on a jaunt in the Land of the Living if you couldn't remember."

Luckily, Jack seemed to have beaten the nosy crowd. He forced a chuckle. "My good sir. Are you implying I have anything to do with who joins us?"

"Annalise would say so."

Jack hid his flinch but the Gatekeepers's beady eyes drilled into the Pumpkin King.

"I take it you two have exchanged a few words," Jack prodded.

"She's a horrible young lady, Jack. She deserves better. I'm not even fully convinced she should be here, not in light of…"

"Gatekeeper, I understand tensions are…high regarding the situation with Annalise. Rest assured, we'll explain more at the town meeting."

The Raven stared at skeleton not-so-subtly begging him to drop it. For now at least.

No more words were exchanged as the Gatekeeper did his job and opened the gate, allowing Jack to slip through and closing it before any curious Citizens decided to take interest.

Now

"Did you know a wendigo almost ate you?" Lily asked randomly.

Anna looked down at the cat in her arms as she walked down the misty streets toward her destination. It had been nearly a whole day since Lily had arrived, with the next night's moon high in the sky already.

Lily was mostly dry but still damp. The chill trapped the moisture in her fur, if her complaints were to be believed.

Jack had been kind, or possibly scatter-brained enough, to let Annalise leave with her cat without requesting anything else.

"You've had a better response to all this than I expected," Anna said idly. She tried not to think about how strange it was having a conversation with her cat. It differed from talking with Jasper or Trouble. Talking seemed "normal" for them. In contrast, Anna had to deal with the constant urge to use baby talk and forcibly deconstructed the childish personality she already had in mind for Lily.

"I did not," she said, finally deciding Lily wasn't joking. "When was this?"

"The last time you went camping, but it was cold."

"Oh, the winter camping trip. That was last year."

"You came home, and the tents smelled of wendigo." Lily squirmed and Anna lost her grip on the Siamese mix. Lily had always hated being held for long. It was always her decision whether she approached someone in the first place. The cat darted to a few feet further down the path to lick out a spike in her fur. "Did any other humans die?" she asked, attempting to spit out a clump of fur.

Anna squinted at the cat. It was a deceptively idle question, despite the content.

"No. No one who was with us, at least. But there was a missing—" Anna trailed off. She huffed a little. "Some hiker went missing. It's why we came home early. The park rangers ask us to leave."

"Hmm. You likely had a close shave. Do you see my point?"

"What point?"

"Of why I'm not surprised about this place."

"I see it, though I think you're rambling a bit," Anna said before reciting her assumption. "There are supernatural forced beyond this and you're aware of them."

"Most animals are."

"Right…" Anna sighed, shoving her hands in her pockets. Her clothes were getting a little wrinkled. She needed to find some way to iron or steam them out. Not to mention all the noticeable white cat fur she had to deal with now. "I guess those stories of household pets seeing ghosts are true, hm? My turn. I have a question."

"And?"

"Are you dead?"

Lily heard the sadness in Anna's voice and hesitated. She stopped walking and jumped up on to a short wall as Anna came alongside. "I don't really know…" She stretched, sharpening her claws against the stone with a noise that grated the senses of both of them.

"Cause…I can hear a heartbeat from you," Anna said, scratching the cat under her chin. "And you're warm. Even with the magic in the fountain, the werewolf should have killed you."

"Maybe dog-boy is inept in his chasing skills. He's pretty old, isn't he?" Lily growled. "Smelled like he was old, anyway. Most of the creatures here do."

Anna rolled her eyes. Or tried to, technically. Still, Lily earned a small laugh before Anna's next question. "How did you get here?"

"Followed your scent."

Anna picked Lily up off the wall and continued walking, taking a fork in the walkway that didn't follow the wall anymore. "There's more to it than that. This is a whole other world, Lily."

"So?"

Anna looked down again, but the only response was purring.

"I can keep asking questions, but I'm not going to get a straight answer out of you, am I?" Anna said as she shifted her arms to open the door to the witches' shop.

She barely avoided a potted plant thrown at her skull and shouted as Lily freaked and twisted to get down, having just barely gotten comfortable again until that moment.

The pot exploded into dirt against the wall beside them.

"Hey!"

Anna's shout was a little louder than she planned, with slight reverberations echoing on the windows in a few mimicked voices that weren't all hers.

She panicked a little, recognizing a mix of Jack, Little Braid, and Chakis. Hopefully, no one would notice or ask about that third voice. She couldn't think of why they would, but the paranoia snagged her. Pesky thing.

"Sorry!" Rosie called from the counter, running around and toward Anna with a broom and, perhaps more innocent, a dustpan. The young witch eyed Annalise sheepishly. "Sorry. I was testing a new security spell." She grimaced as she looked at the plant who's home was destroyed. "You know we're not open, right?"

"Uh. Yeah. Sorry. I wanted to talk to Zelda and Helga."

"You do know they told me not to let you in until you went to move in with Jack, right?"

"I figured."

"Well?"

"I'm working on it."

Rosie shrugged. "Good enough, I guess. What do you want?"

Anna glanced at Lily. "A check up maybe?"

Rosie's eyes flicked to the white and gray cat before they widened. "What is that?"

"My cat?" Anna raised an brow bone. "She's the newcomer that came earlier today."

"Well, yeah, I guessed that, but what's wrong with her?"

"That's I want to—…wait what do you mean?"

Rosie looked at Anna like she was stupid. "It's the wrong color."

"You're the wrong color," Lily muttered sarcastically, earning a glare from Annalise.

Anna checked to see if Rosie could hear the cat, but it didn't seem she did.

Anna frowned. "Cats can be more than black…"

"I know that!" She seemed rather proud to know something that apparently wasn't common knowledge. "But…" Rosie looked back at Anna. The witch tilted her head. "Only black cats show up here. That I've ever seen, or heard at least. Didn't know they could be white."

"First time for everything I suppose…"

Rosie crouched down. "Greetings, Ma'am," she said to Lily respectfully. She looked back up up up at Anna from her much lower vantage point. "A check up?"

"Well…she doesn't seem fully…dead. If that makes sense," Anna explained. "I don't know if that's a normal thing for cats here. I was hoping to ask your…"

"Mentors," Rosie supplied. "Well, Helgamine is still recovering. Zelda?!"

"I'm in the back, dearie," Zelda replied from behind the curtain to the rest of the house.

Annalise stiffened as the witched poked her head out, immediately squinting at the nervous skeleton.

"Um, does either Jasper or Trouble have a minute?" Anna asked, smiling cautiously.

The witched rolled her eyes after a moment and gestured for them to come to the back.

Rosie's curiosity got the best of her, and she followed.

"You hear her voice, can't you?" Rosie asked as she trailed, but it sounded more like a statement. She tilted her head curiously.

"That's not normal?"

"Nope!" Rosie said, seeming really excited. "She's your familiar!"

"Uh…"

"Zelda, did you hear? Anna has a familiar? If she can…"

"Rosie."

Rosie bowed her head a little and sighed.

Anna looked confused but at least Zeldabourne was in a good mood and had pity.

"Up here if you please," Zelda said, tapping the top of the table.

Lily growled slightly and stayed on the ground by Anna's feet. "Why do I feel like you've taken me to the vet?"

"Oh shut up," Anna muttered, to the witches' amusement. She nudged Lily lightly with her foot. "I know you're intelligent now. Get up there yourself."

Lily looked insulted but jumped up on the table with an air of it being her own decision.

"How much do you know of familiars, Annalise?" Zeldabourne said.

Anna shrugged. "Witch's companion. Some of the church thought of them as lesser demons serving witches."

"Sometimes, yes," the witch said, taking Lily's head in her hand to inspect her teeth, holding her still even as the cat hissed and scratched.

Anna watched warily.

Lily had always been a bit of a bitch to others beside Anna.

The hag did not seem bothered in the slightest and Anna got the nagging sense the unbotheredness irritated Lily even more, though the cat hid it under the guise of hisses and a puffed tail.

"Some help you were!" Lily snapped at Anna the second Zelda pulled away, a tuff of white fur in a knobbly hand.

Anna hoped it was loose shed fur. She didn't see Lily sporting a bald patch at least.

Lily crouched, eying for an opening to run.

"You needed a checkup and this is the best I could think of," Anna retorted.

"Your faith is overwhelming, dear," Zelda said while Rosie giggled. "She can leave if she wishes. Perhaps catch a rat or two in the shop. The boys were rather lazy the last few days. I rather think they need a woman's touch to set their tails alight. Show them how it's done, so to speak."

"Ah yes, I smell two toms make their home here," Lily said, sounding irritated at the fact.

A mildly disturbed thought came to Anna's mind. "Uh…can you tell if you're still…fixed?"

"The fuck are you talking about?"

Anna considered that reaction. "I'll explain later…"

Lily squinted her icy blue eyes at Anna's sockets, clearly demanding an explanation.

"Don't let her bully you, dearie," Zelda said easily. "You're the mistress."

"Noted," Anna said with a short sigh. "Stay close," she told Lily.

Lily continued to squint for a moment before slipping under the curtain and leaving the three monsters behind.

The cat paused a moment to appreciate the sound from the kitchen being cut off the moment she crossed the threshold. She could smell the magic in the curtain. That was useful for privacy she supposed.

She wove under the legs of various lifted cabinets.

Sure enough she found a few rat droppings.

"Well, hello."

Lily smelled the other cat before she heard him. She craned her neck to look up into the rafters of the shop and easily spotted two pairs of glowing eyes.

"Well, that's a trick," she said idly, lashing her tail but deciding to stay polite for now. She was in their territory after all. "Glowing your eyes like that. Hope you don't mind a lady looking around."

"No, not at all," one of the toms said, getting up to stretch as the one with yellow eyes glared at him. He hopped off the rafter to the top of a cabinet before dropping to the floor. "Pardon us for showing off a bit."

Lily growled a little at him getting a bit closer.

The tom stopped a few feet away and sat down while the second one came down to the floor as well, staying a more respectful distance away.

"Jasper, Madame," the one with blue eyes said with a slight tip of his head.

"What?"

"We're introducing ourselves, I believe," Jasper purred, his tail lashing a bit as he glanced at the yellowed-eyed cat. "With words. Jasper is what my witch calls me."

"Uh…Trouble. M'name's Trouble…miss," yellow-eyes stammered, shooting his companion his own glare. "My witch calls me Trouble."

Lily wasn't impressed. In her experience, toms tended to want one thing. She lashed her tail and looked at them haughtily, not keen on putting on a demure tone for the time being.

"Lily. Unless I'm expected to choose a new name upon coming here."

"No, not unless you want to," Trouble said.

"Names are still not of importance to cats down here. Like always, they simply make it easier for our people. Just because we have a different ranking in nature here does not mean us cats must subscribe to the rules of Men or Monsters. Is that the name Annalise gave you?" Jasper asked.

"When I was a kitten," Lily answered, narrowing her eyes as Jasper stretched and started walking, circling her slightly.

Jasper played it off as heading to a cosy looking cushion under a chair behind Lily.

"You're welcome to do away with it if you wish."

"I see no reason to, especially as it will only cause confusion to Annalise.

"Well then. Welcome to Halloween, Miss Lily."

"Switching from 'Madame,' sir cat?"

Jasper, already curled up in his new bed, cracked an eye open. "You gave no indication you had a mate."

Lily clearly took offense to that. "Perhaps you partly mimic Man with your little society here, but things are a little loser out in real nature. And if you're going to make a proposition, get out with it so I can scratch your nose off. I expected more from creatures treated as above beasts in this world."

"Please don't mind Jasper," Trouble insisted. "He's just irritated."

"Your girl got me killed," Jasper hissed at Lily, flicking an ear toward where Anna was still speaking with the witches.

"Your own fault," Trouble snapped. "And you're fine. Back in your body and all. Not even a broken bone."

"I rather think my neck is full of bones."

"My mistress fixed it."

"Claws," Jasper cussed in his complaint, getting up to stretch again. "Let me wallow in my irritation, Trouble."

"While you make the newcomer uncomfortable?"

Lily had to admit she was a little amused by the back and forth. "My human…oh, I suppose that doesn't work anymore… my girl causing some trouble? Isn't that a surprise."

"Your sarcasm is the least reassuring thing I've heard in a century," Jasper said dryly.

"Well…" Trouble made a noise of the equivalent of clearing his throat to catch the queen's attention.

Lily turned an eye on him with a suspicious look.

"When you've gotten your citizenship sorted, please come back this way. Jasper and I will be pleased to show you how things work down here."

"I'm sure you would like that," Lily said bitingly. "I'm incredibly enthused."

Jasper laughed as Trouble seemed lost for a moment. "Oh I wasn't—that wasn't what I—"

"Shall I simplify it for you, cat?" Jasper asked.

Trouble said something to Jasper in a tense language that Lily didn't recognize.

"You wound me, brother." Jasper didn't seem particularly hurt by the swears his direction. "Miss Lily, more is expected of you down here. From this town. From your mistress. Your soul is given as much weight as any 'person' resembling creature that walks these streets. Granted, you aren't treated fully as 'civilized being' but it is a Citizenship nonetheless."

"Intriguing. I take it this 'Citizenship' will be explained to me fully?"

"Yes. Providing the King gets off his bony arse for Annalise's overdue explanation."

Lily didn't have a moment to ask more as Anna came out from behind the curtain, a book tucked under her arm and a small scowl on her face.

She stopped by the counter, resting the new book on the surface as Zelda dug underneath the register for something.

"Here you are. I wouldn't have thrown a journal away."

Now with two books in her possession, Anna stacked the smaller one on top before picking them up.

She bid the witches a polite goodbye but the elder witch had some parting words as she turned to leave.

"Do settling things with Jack soon," Zelda said, noting how Annalise stiffened. "This game you're playing, avoiding him, is going to cause more trouble quickly if it isn't sorted. I would hope the irony isn't lost on you, skelly."

Anna seemed to struggle to decide what to say before defaulting to nothing.

"Come on, Lily," Anna said, holding the door open for the cat as they left.