Arthur had his eyes closed, waiting for the moment the spikes were going to pierce through his flesh, but that moment never came. He seemed to just hang there in space. Arthur then slowly opened his eyes. The spikes were still there, but he wasn't falling towards them. In fact, he wasn't falling at all. Uneasily, Arthur slowly looked up to see that his arm was being held above his head. He followed it from his shoulder until he stared straight into two purple eyes. Arthur tensed a little, but then he felt his body being pulled up by tremendous force. He watched as he was pulled back over the edge and placed gently on his feet.

Lewis had saved him.

He looked up at the skeleton and saw that his eyes were gentle, almost sad, and he seemed to be slouching. Arthur didn't know what to say, but Lewis figured it out first. "I'm sorry…" He said slowly. "I was so blinded by rage…that I came after you without demanding an explanation. I should have expected that you wouldn't have done that to me, but I was so foolish… I'm so sorry Arthur." The words seemed to echo off the walls for a moment, then Arthur leaned back and let out a long sob.

"Don't apologize to me!" He shouted loudly, "This is all my fault! I'm the one who killed you! It was all my fault! I'm so sorry!" Arthur used his one good hand to wipe away the tears. When he outright cried like this, he resembled a young child. Lewis stared at him for a few minutes, before punching his shoulder sharply.

"Don't cry anymore!" He said harshly, "You're a man! Men don't cry like little girls! Besides! I tried to kill you! So no we're even!" No matter what he said or how light hearted he tried to make it sound, Arthur continued to cry. Lewis started to speak, when he was interrupted.

"BOTH OF YOU IDIOTS LISTEN TO ME FOR ONCE!" Vivi shouted sternly, silencing even Arthur's loud sobs. She gestured for them to follow her, and they silently followed her back down the tunnel and down the right path she had taken before. They came out to the bottom of the cavern, where all the spikes were facing the sky. Arthur cringed, expecting to see a dead body on one of the spikes, but he was stunned at what he actually found. So was Lewis.

Lewis body was hovering just over the spike, seemingly frozen in the last few seconds before his death. His mouth and eyes were still wide, and he had his arm outstretched.

"I don't…know what to say…" Lewis said slowly, being the most shocked out of the three of them.

"It's about time I explained things to you," a strange new voice piped up from behind. The three teens were frozen, and they slowly turned around to see Mystery staring back at him. Mystery was different though. He was no longer the cute, little furry dog they had all known and loved, but was now a fully grown fox. He was very large for his breed, and he had nine long tails instead of one. They could tell it was Mystery simply by the red fur and the glasses.

"Did…Mystery just talk…?" Lewis asked slowly. Of course it was the floating skeleton that questioned the concept of a talking dog. Mystery cleared his throat and stood up tall.

"I am a nine tailed fox. My job is to make sure that death occurs when it is meant to happen, instead of where demons would have it fall. What happened here would have been a tragedy. Arthur would have gone mad from the guilt, Vivi would have mourned to death, and Lewis, you were already dead. However, since this event was triggered by a demon, I can make an exchange. That is why your body has been frozen Lewis."

"So wait… Lewis isn't dead?" Vivi asked gently. The fox licked his paws for a moment, then went right back to explaining.

"Now, an exchange is hard to do, so before it is done, you must complete a vigorous test. I changed the scenario a little to see how you would react. I brought Lewis into a spiritual form, and allowed him to believe he was a ghost. From there, I let fate take hold. Lewis spared Vivi's feelings by erasing her memory. Then, Lewis sought revenge on his killer. Now, had events played out and Arthur would've died, then nothing would have changed for anyone." I stunned silence seemed to fill the room, but Lewis found his voice again.

"But…But I didn't…" Mystery interrupted him.

However, because Lewis saved Arthur's life instead, I can grant you the exchange. You may place someone else's life as a sacrifice to save Lewis. Choose wisely." With that, the little fox stood up tall and waited patiently.

"How are we supposed to choose who dies?!" Lewis shouted angrily, "It'll be bad no matter who it is!"

"And I can't kill a stranger either!" Vivi squeaked softly. They both looked to Arthur, who had fallen deathly silent. Arthur was supposed to panic and scream as he normally did, but he had an eerie calm across his face.

"I know who should die," He said quietly. Vivi and Lewis looked shocked, but Mystery perked up his ears.

"Then tell me who you have in mind," The sly fox said slowly. Arthur looked around the room for a moment silently, searching quietly for something, but then he came up to Mystery with a severed arm.

"Kill the demon that possessed me," He said softly. The room fell into silence. Mystery stared down at the arm, his teeth clenched together tightly, but Arthur didn't back down. For the first time in his life, Arthur wasn't afraid. He meant what he'd said. Finally, Mystery smiled.

"You have made the right choice." Mystery assured him as he took the arm from Arthur. The cave suddenly flooded with light, so much so that Arthur and Vivi had to shield their eyes.

Then it was over.

Arthur blinked to get rid of the spots in his eyes. He was lying on his back, with his right arm outstretched. Tiredly, he rolled over and threw his arm around Mystery, the little dog once again curled against him chest. He started to doze off again, when he realized something was different. He wasn't laying down on a hard, rocky floor, but instead on a cushioned seat. He sat up straight and immediately smacked his head against the ceiling. It took a little more time to realize that he was in the van. He leaned over the seat to see Vivi sleeping in the front passenger seat, strapped in safely. He then looked into the driver's seat to see Lewis sleeping with his face against the steering wheel. He couldn't help but shout at the top of his lungs. As soon as they both woke up, they joined his happy shouts.

"Arthur you did it!" Lewis shouted as he turned and grabbed the blonde. Lewis was back to his original self, with skin and blood covering his bones. Vivi squealed happily and kissed Arthur's cheek.

"You had me so scared!" She shouted gleefully, "But you did it! Now everyone's okay!" Arthur smiled happily. Vivi's face hardened suddenly, and she bit her bottom lip. "Mostly okay…" Arthur followed her gaze and found the bandaged up stump where his left arm was supposed to be. Lewis looked away, a little disheartened, but Arthur broke the silence.

"Who cares?!" He shouted loudly, "I'm ambidextrous anyway!" With that, both of his friends hugged him and smiled.

Arthur was more exhausted then he let on. The moment he laid his head back down, he fell asleep. Vivi looked at Mystery, who seemed to smile and panted gently. He wasn't going to talk anymore, but that didn't matter. She felt blessed having that crazy little dog in her life. Lewis seemed more filled with life now than he had ever been before. Vivi had called her mother, and was told a strange story about the events that took place in the cave a while back.

Arthur and Lewis had went off, and Arthur had joined Lewis on the edge. The both looked over, but Arthur somehow lost his footing and fell. He lucked out though, since only his left arm was hurt. He apparently had fallen on his side mid-fall, and his arm was pierced through. He hung off the stalagmite by his arm for almost an hour while Lewis had tried to hold him up. When the medical personal came, his arm was a lost cause, so they cut his arm off to try and save him from blood loss. It worked. That was the story everyone else knew, aside from the three teens are their unique little dog.

Back in the van, Vivi and Lewis were left to talk alone, with Arthur sleeping too heavily to be awakened by small talk.

"Lewis…" Vivi said softly as she leaned over and took his hand. She missed the heat that seemed to radiate from his body. Lewis looked down at her and smiled handsomely. It felt like a dream.

"Yes Vivi?" he responded softly. Vivi looked to the side, debating for a moment, then met his gaze.

"I want to go back to the cave one last time," She said softly. "I want to make sure that thing…that demon is gone." Lewis looked worried for a moment, but deep down he knew she was right. He drove the van and parked it outside.

"Mystery, think you can take care of him while we're gone?" Lewis asked the little dog. He barked loudly in response and bobbed his head. "Good. We should be back in a few."

Lewis and Vivi went back into the cave one last time. They expected to it to be foggy and cold, but the cave was empty. It was even missing its eerie green glow. Lewis led Vivi down the right path. It was finally time to see the end of this mystery.

There it was.

Stuck on a stalagmite was Arthur's old arm, pierced straight down the middle. The flesh was completely gone, and the bones were cracked, but held together. It looked like Arthur had fallen off of the peak, and managed to only pierce his arm. From a distance, that's all it looked like, but up close, they saw that the bones were a deep green color. The demon was dead.

They returned to the van to find Arthur still sleeping in the back seat, with Mystery sleeping on his chest. Lewis pinched his arm softly, making sure he wasn't dreaming, then took the chance to pull Vivi into his arms and kissed her. Vivi didn't resist him, but she did blush. She knew now how much this man meant to her. Even when he was a ghost, she still felt her heart beat towards his. They got into the van and started driving home, unsure of what awaited them next. Vivi leaned over the backseat and peeked at Arthur, and spoke very gently.

"I haven't seen him sleep that peacefully in ages," She whispered into Lewis's ear, "What do you think he's dreaming about?" Lewis glanced over his shoulder and smiled softly.

"I don't know, but I'm kind of envious." Lewis said softly, "I couldn't sleep at all when I was a ghost, so I missed out on a lot of dreams." He looked over to Vivi and smiled gently. "But…I'm sure my dreams never would've been as good as this." Vivi hushed him softly.

"Don't be too loud," she whispered softly, "I want him to sleep."

Arthur sobbed uncontrollably from inside the locker, shaking furiously from fright. He was scared of being stuck there for so long, and he was sure that he was going to die. Arthur tried to search his pockets for his phone, but had no luck. All he could do was bang against the door for hours until his hands were sore. He felt miserable and alone, but that was his fault. He's the one who chased his friends away. Lewis would have protected him if Arthur hadn't gotten so hot headed. Now, Arthur was alone. He started to doze off, when he heard a loud shout from outside.

"What are you doing!? Put me down!" Arthur recognized it as the voice of the bully from earlier, but he had never heard it so distressed.

"What did you do with Arthur?!" A very menacing voice asked, one Arthur had never heard before. At the sound of his name though, Arthur mustered up enough strength to bang on the locker door a few more times. The voices grew silent from outside. Arthur slowly leaned forward and pressed his fingers through the holes in the locker, and mustered enough strength to speak.

"Please help me…." He whimpered gently. There was a loud crash from outside of the locker, which made Arthur tremble, but soon he heard a familiar voice shout.

"Stop it Lewis! You'll kill the guy! Leave him alone! We'll let the cops deal with him!" It was Vivi. Her voice came through like an angel's. Arthur felt his heart ease up a little as footsteps sounded outside of the locker. He heard a click, and the locker door came open slowly. Arthur used his hand to block the bright light, but he immediately felt a set of strong arms pull him out. Lewis laid him down on the bench across the room, then backed up to give him space to breathe. He stared down at him for a very long time.

"How long…?" Lewis asked softly. Arthur was kind of dazed, so his answer sounded lazy.

"Maybe a couple of hours…?" He responded, though it sounded more like a question.

"HOW LONG HAVE THEY BEEN BULLYING YOU?!" Lewis shouted. Arthur winched a little, but it didn't have the same effect right now.

"Since…The beginning of the school year…." Arthur said softly. Lewis shook his head and punched a nearby locker.

"I should've know!" He shouted, more at himself than at Arthur. "I saw you running on my first day! I saw that terrified look in your eyes! But I didn't react! All I did was let you suffer!" He sat down on the floor and covered his face with his hands. "Every time I saw you, you were more covered up and seemed to move a little slower. Why didn't I realize it sooner? I didn't want to cause you any grief, so I avoided the subject with you, and started to avoid you altogether, but that made it worse! They came after you because they thought I wasn't your friend anymore today. They thought that I was going to let them hurt you like that!" Arthur turned his head towards the gentle giant and saw that he was crying.

"I never knew you were being bullied," Vivi said calmly.

"I wish we would've…" Lewis added solemnly.

"We heard those guys talking about how easy it was to beat someone up," Vivi chimed in gently, "When we couldn't reach your cell, Lewis went on a rampage and beat the living tar out of them. He dragged their ringleader back here to make him confess and release you. When he realized you'd been stuffed in a locker though, he went ballistic and knocked him completely out. We're just lucky he had the key in his front pocket." Vivi came over to Arthur and gently ran her fingers through his hair. "I'm sorry we took so long. We didn't notice that you were falling behind us. We were supposed to be there for you, and we failed. Can you ever forgive us?" Vivi was starting to tear up now. Arthur looked from the both of them, and slowly forced himself to sit up. Without saying a word, Arthur threw his arms around both of his friends.

"I'm the one who should be sorry!" Arthur bawled softly. Vivi looked at him and sighed softly.

"Don't cry Arthur," She said softly, "With your face, you look like such a kid."

"But I have a goatee…" Arthur said, sniffing softly.

"There's no reason for you to say sorry Arthur," Lewis said gently. He was a little stiff being hugged, but he didn't try to fight it either. "Come on, act like a man and stop crying." Arthur hiccupped softly and shook his head.

"I'm so sorry," Arthur said again, as he lowered his head. Both of his friends suddenly started squeezing him from both sides.

"Didn't I just say not to cry?" Vivi asked in her normal sarcastic voice.

"Didn't I just say you had no reason to apologize?" Lewis said sharply. He sighed loudly and looked to the side. "Look, we're not ever going to leave you behind again."

"We're not," Vivi added insistently, "We're friends after all, and I couldn't be without either of you!" Arthur's heart seemed to dance a little, and he closed his eyes softly.

"I love you guys so much," Arthur murmured softly. He truly felt he was the luckiest person in the world to have friends like these.

~A Word From the Author~

Hey everyone! I've been debating on whether or not to write an alternate fanfic, one where I don't make it where Lewis is actually alive, but things could work out in the end anyway. Does that interest anyone? I know it will have a different outcome anyway, so no promises. My head is pounding with ideas, so this next one will take a while. I'm going to do some research and see if I'm the first one to consider this idea or not. I don't like stealing after all! Thanks again for reading.