It was the first day of summer break, the end of Emil's first year of college, and the halfway mark to his freedom from education forever. Most people his age would be meeting up with high school friends, reminiscing on their times together as if they were real adults. Maybe they would throw a party, maybe sneak some drinks. Maybe they'd look for a summer job and save up money to move out of the dorms. They most definitely would not be in a cemetery after midnight with their semi-ex-boyfriend gathering the final ingredient for a ritual to bring their dead boyfriend back to life.

There was no avoiding it, all the notes Emil had read about the ritual unequivocally called for a bone of the deceased, and there was only one way to procure that. He had convinced Mathias to help, since Lukas had no desire to see his own skeleton, and Emil couldn't blame him. It had taken them several hours to dig, but luckily the ground was relatively soft from recent rain, and the coffin hadn't shifted too much since it had been buried eight years prior.

They thought the hardest part was over once they pried open the lid, but to their absolute horror, they discovered that bodies do not decay very fast inside of a solidly built coffin.

"You reach in," Emil commanded.

"Why me?" Mathias gasped. They were both carefully looking away from what was inside the coffin.

"You're the one doing pre-med."

"We haven't gotten to the grave-robbing part of the curriculum yet!"

"To be clear, it's not grave-robbing if we have the explicit permission of the deceased."

"I don't think his permission would hold up in court, but I'm not pre-law." Mathias sighed as Emil crossed his arms in determination. "Is one bone better than another?"

"I don't know," Emil admitted, frowning. "It just said 'a bone'."

"We don't need the...skull, do we?"

"I think it would have specifically said so if we did."

Mathias pulled his shirt over his nose, reached into the coffin, and pulled out whatever came apart the easiest before wrapping it in the towel they had brought and stuffing the whole thing in Emil's bag.

"I think that was an arm," he moaned, gasping for breath. "I need to sit down."

"Don't faint on me," Emil replied, reclosing the lid with his shovel. "We still have to rebury him."

"Oh god, please don't refer to it as 'him'." He plopped onto the ground and put his head between his knees. "Maybe I should change my major."

"Hey," Emil said softly. He offered Mathias a bottle of hand sanitizer he had brought along. The older boy accepted it gratefully and doused his hands in it. "Well, it would be strange for a doctor to be dating a spirit medium. It seems like we should be working against each other."

Mathias let out a humorless laugh. "Does this mean I'm finally forgiven?"

"As far as I'm concerned, prying a bone off a corpse more than makes up for everything."

"I bet Lukas won't agree, though."

Emil helped Mathias to his feet and handed him a shovel. "He loves you, you know. But I think the breakup was hardest on him, since he didn't have anyone to talk to other than me."

"I know." Mathias solemnly began shoveling dirt over the coffin. "I know he takes rejection really badly. I wish I hadn't..."

"Okay, that's enough self-pity." Emil scooped a large clump of dirt and threw it at the other man. "I already told you I forgave you, and Lukas is getting there, too. But I feel really weird talking about him at his grave like this."

"Oh god, please don't remind me this is a grave. What if another ghost sees us and gets pissed off?"

"If there were any other ghosts around, we would've seen them by now."

By the time they were finished, they were exhausted and covered in dirt. The sun was starting to rise, so they haphazardly replaced the sod and hoped no one would notice the grave had been disturbed. They hugged and went their separate ways, Emil promising that Lukas wouldn't look like...that...for long. Once he got home, he ran into his dad eating breakfast.

"Do I want to know what you have been up to?" his dad asked, eyeing his soiled clothes.

"Ghost stuff," Emil explained.

"Okay, well don't track any mud or restless spirits in the house, or your mother will be upset."

After a long, hot shower, Emil threw his clothes directly into the wash and turned it on high.

"How was it?" Lukas asked as he collapsed into bed.

"I don't want to talk about it, and I'm sure you don't want to know," he groaned.

"Is it...in your bag?"

"Yes, please don't open it. It's not a pleasant smell."

"There's no danger of that."

"I couldn't have gotten it without Mathias," Emil whispered as he drifted off to sleep.

A few days later Emil and Lukas were in one of the channeling chambers in the Väinämöinens' basement to finally perform the ritual. It was Lukas's birthday, which Emil took to be a good sign.

"You have to understand all the dangers," warned Grandfather, the ghostly head of the spirit medium family. "These writings tell of a price to be paid to bring someone back from the dead."

"But some of them say it is a test to be taken instead," countered Emil. He knew all of this already, he had been reading these journals of long-dead spirit mediums for almost three years now.

"Well, which is it?" asked Lukas.

"It seems to be different for every medium who has performed this ritual," answered Grandfather.

"Not that many have," Emil added. "And even fewer wrote in detail about what happened. All we know is that it worked."

"But you understand what will happen if it doesn't work, correct?"

Emil and Lukas looked at each other. Bringing a ghost back to life involved a complicated ritual that began with exorcizing the spirit. Just as the spirit was about to move to the other side, the medium would switch to another chant. There would be no practice rounds and no do-overs. If Emil didn't get it just right, his boyfriend would be sent to the other side, and there would be no way to bring him back.

"I understand," Lukas said calmly.

They had spent hours and hours talking about it over the past several months, and every time they both agreed that the potential benefits outweighed the dangers. They couldn't have a future together if Lukas remained a ghost.

"And besides," Lukas added, "I have complete faith in you."

Emil gave a small smile, feeling his nerves ease a little. He was as prepared as he ever could be, but there was a huge difference between studying theories and performing rituals. And although many of the Väinämöinens stuck around as spirits after their deaths, the last medium who had successfully brought someone back to life had moved on even before Grandfather's time. There was no one he could ask about it; he just had to do it and hope for the best.

"Did you get the, er, materials?" Grandfather prompted. Emil nodded grimly, opening his backpack. The stench of decay emitted from it, and he tried not to gag as he pulled out the towel-wrapped bundle.

He drew a large circle in the middle of the floor and filled it with smaller circles surrounded by complicated sigils. He double and triple checked them all against the notebooks he had, then asked Grandfather to triple check them all. Then he placed candles at various points around the outermost circle and lit them. When they had both determined that everything was perfect, Emil directed Lukas to stand in the smallest circle in the middle. He carefully unwrapped the arm and placed it at the ghost's feet. The three of them took a few moments to shudder at the half-rotten flesh still clinging to bone and sinew.

"I'm not going to look like that, am I?" Lukas asked. "Because honestly, I would rather cancel the whole thing."

"You won't," Emil replied, furiously rubbing sanitizer into his hands. "It's just a representation to recreate your body. Okay, I think we're ready."

"Wait, Emil." Lukas floated over to him, careful not to disturb the chalk or flames. He cupped Emil's face in his hands, so he would have to look into his deep indigo eyes. "If this doesn't work...I don't want to see you on the other side for a long time."

Emil's breath caught in his throat. "You won't," he replied.

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

"And…tell Mathias I love him."

Emil kissed him softly. "You'll tell him yourself soon enough."

Lukas floated back into the circle, and Emil closed his eyes and took several grounding breaths. He nodded at Grandfather, who nodded back before leaving the chamber. It was up to him, now.

Emil locked eyes with Lukas and began the chant, holding the notebook out as a reference even though he had the words memorized. He had studied them so much, they floated throughout his dreams. The air in the room began to circulate, blowing the candle flames this way and that. Lukas began to glow, then it seemed like he became fuzzy. His image disintegrated into swirling lights, and Emil felt something deep within him tell him it was time. He flipped the page of the notebook and segued into the next chant.

The lights swirled faster and faster, and the arm was picked up in the wind. Emil could barely hear his own voice above the gale, but he just called out louder. The lights were now blinding, and he was running out of breath. He hands were shaking, and he dropped the notebook. Still, he continued, focusing on nothing but his intent. Bring him back, bring him back.

There was a roaring in his ears, either from the wind or the rushing of his blood. Purple and green dots flecked his vision, a rainbow of colors all swimming together. There was a dull crack, like thunder in the distance, and exhaustion overcame him. He vaguely registered that he was falling, before everything went black.

Emil's eyes felt heavy. His whole body felt heavy. He struggled to come to consciousness.

"Oh, he's waking up," said a voice somewhere far away.

He registered other voices around him and some incessant beeping noise. He opened his eyes slightly and was accosted by bright white light. He groaned, wanting to fall back into darkness, but then he remembered.

Lukas.

He forced his eyes open and tried to sit up.

"Careful there, kiddo," said his dad, placing a hand on his left shoulder.

"Where's Lukas?" Emil managed to mumble, sitting up slowly this time.

"Lukas?" his mom asked. "You mean the man in the next bed? Do you know him?" Emil looked around, finally registering his surroundings. He was in a hospital bed. His right arm was in a cast. There was a privacy curtain pulled around their area and soft voices coming from the other side.

"I've never seen him around before," Mathias answered for him. Wait a minute.

"Mathias? What are you doing here?"

"Is that the kind of greeting you give your boyfriend?" replied the other boy with a grin. Emil gaped at him, and his smile faded. "Hey, you don't blame me for the crash, do you? There was black ice on the road, there was nothing I could have done."

"It's not your fault, Mathias," Emil's mom answered quickly. "Both cars slid, but no major injuries."

"Car crash?" Emil had no idea what was going on. "My arm is in a cast."

"Yeah, well Mathias's car scraped another one on both passenger sides," explained his dad. "Your arm is fractured, and you hit your head pretty hard. I think the other man has a similar injury, but nothing to really be concerned about."

"The other man?"

"Yes, Lukas, like you said."

"Lukas...Thomassen?"

"How did you know that?" Mathias asked. "I'm sure I've never seen either of those guys before."

"Well you know our Emil, he's always been kind of psychic," Mr. Steilsson chuckled.

"I'm not psychic, I'm..." Emil stopped himself. He had no idea what was going on, so it was probably best to keep his thoughts to himself. "The other car was Lukas and...?"

"Berwald Oxenstierna," came a gruff voice to his side. Berwald slid the curtain open and stepped forward. Behind him, on an identical hospital bed to Emil's, lay Lukas. At least, what Emil imagined Lukas would look like about eight years older. If he had never died...

He didn't register anything else around him when the man turned to look at him. Those deep blue eyes that stared at him, that cocked eyebrow that showed his bemusement, those thin lips ready with most likely some snarky remark. That was Lukas Thomassen, in the flesh.

"You're alive," Emil whispered, and the man frowned slightly.

"I don't think I look that bad," he responded. "And you were out longer than I was."

"What? No relief that your boyfriend is alright?" Mathias interrupted. Emil frowned in confusion.

Berwald walked back over to Lukas and placed a kiss on his forehead. "'m glad you're alright," he mumbled softly. Emil stared at them. He had a horrible feeling.

"Where is Tino?" he asked quietly.

"Tino? Who's Tino?" asked his dad.

Realization dawned on him: the ritual had worked. Lukas was alive. Not only alive, he had never died. They had never met. He and Berwald were still together. He had no idea who Emil was. Emil was the only one who remembered when Lukas had been a ghost. Tears came to his eyes.

"Emil, sweetie, what's wrong?" asked his mom worriedly. "Are you in pain?"

"Uh, just my head hurts a bit," he grunted.

They brought a doctor in, and he did a quick examination of the boy before declaring that he would recover quickly, but they wanted to keep him overnight for observation. Then he went to Lukas's side and declared the same thing. A nurse came in, shooed out the visitors for the night, gave the two patients some painkillers, and left them alone for the night.

Lukas slid open the curtain that divided them. "Do you mind? It's kind of freaky in here surrounded by these curtains."

"I don't mind," Emil replied, avoiding the man's gaze.

"Have we...met before?"

"I...I don't know."

"Huh, it seems like I recognize you from somewhere. Do you go to Danvers University?"

Emil wracked his brain for that name. It was the school Lukas had gotten a full ride scholarship to, but he didn't recognize it otherwise. There were other memories in his head, ones he hadn't experienced, but had just shown up. Like a dream. Those must be his memories of this new reality.

"No," he said finally. "I go to a community college." There was another memory he had, one that agreed with the reality he knew. "I think I live in your old house."

"On Oak Tree Road?" asked the man, and he nodded. "I heard that my parents sold that house a couple of years ago, but I haven't spoken to them in...well, a long time."

"I met them once. They seemed like unpleasant people."

Lukas laughed. "That's an understatement. They disowned me in high school for being gay. I'm surprised they even sold that house to your family, they're so homophobic."

"I guess they didn't realize that I'm gay, too." So Lukas's parents had still rejected him when he came out to them, but he hadn't killed himself. "So you go to Danvers University?"

"Yeah, I've been there since undergrad."

"What do you study?"

"I'm getting my PhD. in quantum physics."

"Oh wow." This wasn't surprising, given what Emil knew about ghost Lukas. "I hope you didn't hit your head too hard then."

"I think my brains are all intact."

They chatted for a while about their lives, since they had nothing better to do. Emil learned that Lukas and Berwald were engaged, and happily so. He realized that he and Mathias were together, although they hadn't told each other that they could see ghosts. He chose not to reveal that fact to Lukas either.

Every moment was agonizing to Emil, seeing the man he loved living happily without him. But on the other hand, he could cry from happiness that Lukas was alive. It felt like a cruel joke when the older man commented on how easy it was to talk to Emil, as if they were old friends.

They said their good nights and turned off the lights, but Emil couldn't sleep. His thoughts whirled violently in his head. Was this the price he had to pay to bring Lukas back to life? But why was he the only one who seemed to remember him being dead? What if, and this was the worst thought of all, what if the reality he knew was only a dream, a hallucination from hitting his head too hard? He could remember things from this life, even though the other memories seemed more vivid to him. How would he know he wasn't going crazy?

He heard a small sound from the other bed and looked over at Lukas. The older man was sleeping, but not peacefully. He made another sound, and Emil thought he was choking. The younger man jumped out of bed and ran over to him, shaking him. Lukas awoke, gasping for air.

"Lukas, are you okay?" Emil asked frantically.

"Oh, Emil," gasped the other man. "Yeah, I'm fine." He took a few deep breaths. "Sorry, it's this reoccurring nightmare I have. Usually Berwald wakes me up, but my body can also wake itself up if it goes on too long."

Emil's heart hurt thinking of Lukas and Berwald sleeping together. "You sounded like you were choking."

"It's part of the nightmare. My doctor thinks it's just extreme sleep apnea, but I have this dream that I can't breathe."

"Like you're...being strangled?"

"Yes, exactly."

Emil sat down on his bed. "This might be a little too personal to ask, but in your dream...are you...hanging?"

"Yes." Lukas shifted in his bed. "I've never told anyone that, not even Berwald."

"How long have you had these nightmares?"

"I guess since I left my parents' house."

So Lukas dreamed about his death. The death that never happened. At least that was a small reassurance to Emil that he wasn't making it all up.

"Don't worry, I don't have that nightmare very often anymore, so I probably won't choke in my sleep again tonight."

"Alright, well sleep tight."

Emil surreptitiously watched Lukas fall back asleep to make sure he really was okay. The more he focused on the man, the more he noticed the strange aura Lukas gave off. It was unlike any aura he had seen or read about. Apparently, he wasn't the only one who noticed it, because a ghost floated silently into the room and stared at the sleeping man.

He stood up again and silently shooed the ghost away from him, but more gathered in their room. When they realized that Emil could see them, they all spoke at once, asking about Lukas. Was he alive or dead? Did he used to be dead? Was there a way they could come back to life?

Once again, Emil felt reassured that the reality he knew had indeed been real, but he didn't want all these spirits crowding around Lukas. He drove the ghosts away one by one then set up several wards around the room, careful not to wake the other patient. He found some paper and a pen and drew up a protection ward and hid it among Lukas's things. It wasn't as good as the amulets the Väinämöinens made, but it would keep the ghosts from making physical contact for now.

By the time he had finished everything, the sun was rising. He jumped back into bed before a nurse came to check on them. They were both discharged after breakfast. Emil couldn't stand to see Lukas with Berwald any longer, so he barely said goodbye before leaving with his parents.

"Can we stop somewhere before we go home?" Emil asked.

"Sure, sweetie, where do you want to go?"

"To a, um, friend's house. I'll tell you where to go."

Forty-five minutes later, they pulled up in front of the Väinämöinens' manor.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" asked his dad. "How do you know this kid again?"

"From school," Emil said quickly. "I'll be right back, I just want to ask him something about a project."

"Couldn't you have just texted him?"

Emil ignored that comment and stepped out of the car. He had to restrain himself from running up to the door and banging on it, but luckily someone answered within a few moments of the bell ringing. Tino's aunt stared down at him with her suspicious gaze. Of course, she wouldn't remember him either.

"Can I help you?" she asked, glancing back at the Steilssons sitting in their car.

"I need to speak with Grandfather," Emil said, prompting one of her eyebrows to raise.

"Do you have an appointment with us?"

"No, but it's urgent. I'm a spirit medium, and I need to speak with Grandfather."

"How do you-?"

"Listen, if I start answering your questions, you're going to think I'm crazy. I know that the head of your family is a long dead relative who everyone calls Grandfather, and I'm sure that he's the only one who can help me. So please, just let me speak to him."

Aunt Paula studied Emil for a long moment. Realizing how serious he was, she shrugged and let him in the house.

"Crazy is pretty normal for our family, so I would like an explanation later. But I'll let you see him for now."

He followed her deeper into the house, down into the channeling chambers. She closed the door behind them and sat him down at the table. She had barely sat down herself before Grandfather appeared.

"Emil," he said in greeting. "Somehow, I'm not surprised to see you here."

"Do you know this boy?" asked Aunt Paula.

"Yes, he's training under me." Emil gave a huge sigh of relief that the ghost recognized him. "If you'll excuse us for now, I'll explain later."

She gave them both a very confused look but did as Grandfather asked her to, leaving them alone in the chamber.

"The ritual worked," Emil began. "Lukas never killed himself."

"It did, indeed," agreed the spirit.

"But I'm the only one who remembers that he was ever dead. Except you and ghosts that can sense his energy."

"Well, you were the one who performed the ritual, so it only makes sense that you would remember what happened before it. As for everyone else, we are in a different reality where that boy never died, so of course they have no memories of it." Grandfather studied the boy with a frown. "I take it you're unhappy with the results."

"No, I am happy that he's alive, but we don't know each other in this reality. He's happy in his own life with Berwald."

"That also makes sense, since anything that resulted from Lukas's death never happened."

"But I thought we were soulmates." Big, fat tears squeezed out of Emil's eyes and ran hotly down his cheeks. "He doesn't even recognize me."

"This is why I warned you before that the ritual was used exclusively by mediums who had known the ghosts while they were alive."

"I don't know what to do. I'm happy that he's alive, but I can't stand that we're not together."

"If you really are soulmates, you could probably break him and Berwald up."

"But Berwald is my friend, too. I don't want to ruin their happiness."

"Then you'll have to let go of him. You gave him the second chance at life that he wanted. Why not let him live happily?"

Emil left the manor and got back into his parents' car in a daze. Let go of Lukas? After everything they had been through together? After everything Emil had done so that they could be together? This really was turning out to be a cruel joke.

They got home, and he shut himself in his room. It looked almost identical to how he remembered, except the bookshelf was in a different spot. Of course, without Lukas there to assemble it, Emil and his dad had put it together along the opposite wall. His books were stacked chaotically on it, without the ghost there to constantly reorganize it.

Emil walked to the closet and opened the door. He had a little trouble with only one functional arm, but he managed to pull up the carpet in the back corner where it was loose. Underneath, he found the hole with the shoebox inside. Lukas's box. He couldn't believe it was still there. Inside the box were pictures and CDs, the same time capsule he had made before killing himself. The only thing missing were his ghostly glasses.

Emil was pulled out of his reverie by a notification on his phone. He was amazed to see that Lukas had added him on Facebook. He quickly accepted the friend request before looking through the pictures. There was the Lukas he knew, forever seventeen in photographs.

He got another notification, a message from the alive and much older Lukas. "I still feel like we've met before. Don't you feel some sort of connection, too?"

Emil dropped his phone. He knew what he wanted to say. "We're soulmates, we're meant to be together. That's why I worked so hard to bring you back to life." But he thought about what Grandfather had said. If he wanted Lukas to be happy in his new life, he had to let him go.

"I think we were just both on too many painkillers." He wrote back. "It was nice to meet you, though."

He carefully put the pictures back in the shoebox, replaced the lid, and hid it in the closet again. He already knew what those pictures showed and what was on those CDs, but he had to let go. He smoothed the carpet down over the hole and closed the closet door. His phone beeped again. "It was nice to meet you, too."

He laid down on his bed, holding back the tears. What good would crying do at this point? He just wanted Lukas to be alive and happy, and if that meant forgetting they had ever been in love, he was willing to do so. As he drifted off to sleep, he thought that he was willing to do anything for Lukas's sake.

The darkness pulled him down, down, down, and he felt the world swirling around him.

It felt like an eternity before Emil reemerged from the darkness. Once again, his eyes felt heavy. His whole body felt heavy. He struggled to come to consciousness.

"I think he's waking up," said a voice somewhere far off.

He began to register other sounds. Voices, machines beeping, footsteps. He opened his eyes slowly and looked up at a bright white ceiling. The hospital again?

"Emil?" A blond man was leaning over him, looking worried.

"Tino?" Emil croaked. "Where am I?"

"You're in the hospital. You've been in a coma for a week."

Emil tried to sit up but had no strength. He looked down and saw that neither arm was in a cast. What about the car accident?

"Lukas?" he managed to ask.

"He's a few doors down. He hasn't woken up yet, but it seems like the ritual worked."

"He never died?"

"What? You brought him back to life, remember?"

"But he never killed himself, and everything changed."

"You must have had quite the dream. I'm going to go call your parents, they've been so worried about you."

Tino left the room, and that was when Emil noticed Berwald sitting in the corner.

"You and Lukas...?" he began, not even sure what he was asking. The older man walked over to his bedside.

"That ended eight years ago," Berwald said. "Don't worry 'bout it."

That was all the assurance Emil needed to realize he was in the reality he knew. The one where Lukas had killed himself and met him as a ghost. And he had been successful in bringing him back. He could cry again, and he did.

After a very impatient 20 minutes, Emil had been examined by a doctor and had the IV removed from his arm. He practically sprinted to Lukas's room as soon as he had been released. He barely even noticed Tino calling after him that his gown had no back.

There he was. Lukas, exactly as he had looked as a ghost, but corporeal, breathing. Living. Emil collapsed to his knees next to the hospital bed and grasped the closest hand to him. It felt warm. Tears clouded his vision.

Tino gently draped a blanket around his shoulders. "The doctors said he seems perfectly healthy, but he hasn't awoken."

"Did I do something wrong?"

"They said his brain scans are fine, he just seems to be sleeping. You were the same."

"I was...going through something. Maybe I need to wake him up."

Emil stood up, still holding Lukas's hand. He sensed for the boy's aura and realized he had to concentrate hard to see it. "Can you see his aura, Tino?"

"Yes, but it's weak. Maybe we can draw him out together."

They both clutched Lukas's hand, and Tino closed his eyes in concentration. Emil bent down to whisper in the boy's ear, "Wake up, Lukas. It worked, you're back. It's time to wake up."

The boy's breathing changed, and his fingers twitched. Slowly, he opened his eyes.

"E...Emil?" he whispered.

"Lukas! I'm here, Lukas!" Emil smiled widely, tearing up again. He smoothed his boyfriend's hair out of his eyes. "I'm right here."

Lukas squinted up at him. "I can't see."

"Right, you need glasses again."

"I thought...you gave me a new body."

"I gave you a new version of your old body."

"What a ripoff, I didn't come back from the dead to suffer in an imperfect body."

"Sounds like he's fine," Tino said, smiling warmly. "Welcome back, Lukas."

"Is that you, Tino? I can't freaking see anything."

Emil laughed and buried his face in Lukas's chest. "Only you would come back from the dead and be unhappy about your eyesight."

"I didn't need glasses as a ghost."

"I've got yer glasses," said Berwald as he entered the room. In his hands, he held an old pair of rimless, circular lenses.

"How do you have those?"

"You left 'em at my house."

"That's kind of a creepy thing to hold on to for all these years, Berwald."

"Do you wan' 'em or not?"

Lukas reached out a hand expectantly and took the glasses from him. He put them on and looked at Emil.

"There, now I can see you properly." He placed his hand against Emil's cheek.

"You're warm," Emil said, leaning into his touch.

"I hope that's a good thing."

"It is."

"I'm hungry." He blinked. "I'm actually hungry. This is a strange feeling."

"I'm sorry that your first meal in eight years is going to be hospital food."

"I wonder what it will taste like?"

The doctor came and shooed everyone out but Tino, who had claimed to be a relative and had documentation that Lukas Thomassen was very much alive and well. The doctor didn't need to know that the papers had been obtained through unethical ghost possession.

By this time, a grand parade of people marched into the hospital to check on Emil. His parents arrived first, followed closely by Mathias. Then Aunt Paula burst in with Grandfather, and even Mr. and Mrs. Køhler filed in behind them before a nurse arrived to yell at the crowd.

"Only three visitors in the room at once, please!"

Emil's parents and Mathias stayed behind while the others left the room.

"I did it," he said. "It worked somehow."

Mathias engulfed him in a hug. "Is he awake yet?" he asked.

"Yes, he just woke up, but the doctor kicked me out of his room."

The older boy squeezed him tighter. "We'll have plenty of time to see him."

"Emil, we're so proud of you," Emil's mom began.

"Even though you crushed my dreams of having a ghost for a son-in-law," his dad grumbled.

"But you should have told us it would put you in the hospital. We've been worried sick."

"I'm sorry," Emil sighed. "I had no idea what would happen, actually."

"So what did happen?" asked Mathias.

"I had a vision, I guess? I read that I would either have to pay a price or pass a test, and I guess I got the test and passed." He shook his hand, pushing away the painful memories of his strange journey. "Do you think I can go back to Lukas yet?"

"I'll go check," said his mom, exiting the room.

"You're grounded, you know," his dad continued to grumble. "You broke curfew by an entire week."

Emil frowned at him. "First of all, being in a coma doesn't count as breaking curfew, and second of all, I'm nearly nineteen years old."

"Wasn't Lukas's eighteenth birthday technically last week?" Mathias asked. "Are we counting that one, since he came back then? That makes him the youngest of us now."

"I'm not sure he'll agree with that reasoning," Emil replied.

His mom stuck her head in the room to tell them they were free to visit the boy in question, and Emil dashed down the hallway again, this time being careful to keep the blanket wrapped over his exposed back. Mathias beat him to Lukas's room, but he stopped dead in the doorway.

"Move, Mat," Emil prompted, poking him in the back.

"It's really you," whispered the older boy.

"Well, don't just stand there blocking the doorway," came a sharp voice from within the room. "Come here."

Emil pushed Mathias into the room, and they both fell onto the bed next to Lukas. "Watch it," he said, scooting over to make space for them. "You don't want me to die again, do you?"

"Well if you do, at least we know Emil can bring you back," Mathias answered.

"Only if you rip another arm off his dead body for me," Emil retorted.

Mathias snorted, placing a hand on Lukas's shoulder. "You're warm."

"You're both so observant. Yes, a beating heart will do that." Lukas grabbed the hand and moved it to his chest. "I checked."

Emil moved Mathias's hand out of the way and laid his head on Lukas's chest. "I can hear it."

"Hey, I want to hear, too!"

"Relax, idiot, you'll get your turn." Lukas slipped a finger under Emil's chin and guided him up into a kiss. They had kissed thousands of times over the past three years, but this time felt warm and soft and new, and Emil couldn't help the goofy smile that spread across his face. "Mathias got to be your first kiss, so you get to be my first kiss in this body." With his other hand, he grabbed the front of Mathias's shirt and pulled him into a kiss next. "And then you get to be my second."

Mathias smiled widely, but tears began to flow down his cheeks. "I love you both, and I'm so glad you're back, Lukas."

"I love you both, too," Emil said, beginning to sniffle as well.

"You sappy dorks, I love you, too." Lukas's voice was as snarky as ever, but he had a big smile on his face, and Emil could swear he even saw a tear forming in those deep blue eyes.

The three of them were together again, at last.

The End.

AN: Thank you so much for waiting three whole years for me to finish this! I'm not finished with these characters yet, so I'll probably write a story or two within the Little Talks AU at some point. In the meantime, check my Tumblr for some pre-story drabbles!