Welcome back to the hellhole. The sarcastic greeting rang off the hollows of Arthur's chest as Lewis settled back in. Would you like to order us some shoe leather steak while you're here? Seems I'm not going anywhere for awhile. Hell, maybe you should just take over, I'm obviously not doing anybody any good.

Lewis sighed. All he was getting was Arthur's emotional state. Arthur's mind was too clouded by the drugs to weigh in, and Lewis needed both working together. He located the IV that was feeding them painkillers and gingerly slid the needle free. It would take awhile to wear off, but they could at least start somewhere.

"Hey Arthur," Lewis focused his response internally, making sure he didn't move their shredded lips. He could see a gentle orange glow in the dark of their shared thoughts and drifted toward it. "Cheerful as always."

Don't joke like you think it's funny. I know you don't.

"Yeah, but sometimes if you don't laugh you cry, and I'm already on the edge." Lewis settled beside the orange glow, floating next to it.

If it's about the beating me half to death thing, forget it. Had it coming anyway. Besides, you weren't fully you.

"Is it just me, or does that run around our group a lot?"

It's not just you. Arthur's soul flickered morosely. Remember when ghosts were just ghosts and demons were just scary and objects were exactly what they looked like? When did ghosts become friends and demons become protectors and objects become anchors for spirits we care about?

"Arthur, that doesn't matter. There are other things we have to figure out."

You figure them out. You and Vivi. I'm tired, Lewis. And I'm not doing anything, I'm just sitting back and watching the rest of you fight for me.

Lewis snorted. "You… you really think…" He shook his head. "Arthur, you're an idiot."

Thanks. I knew that.

"No, I mean it." Lewis stretched, reaching for Arthur's memories. "Seriously, how many reminders do you need?" He pulled up a memory, stretching it between his hands like a screen. Between his hands, Arthur was facing Lewis for the first time since his death, running for his life and cowering behind Vivi. Lewis took the memory and set it just to his left, then pulled up a more recent one. Arthur leaning on Excalibur for support, facing an enraged Lewis.

"Think, Lew!" The memory snapped. "You don't have all the pieces. Think about what doesn't make sense!"

"I don't know about you, but I'd call the ability to break through to a raging ghost pretty useful, and a fairly new skill you picked up pretty quickly. You went from 'Don't kill me Lewis!' to 'Lew I don't have time for your crap' pretty fast."

Yeah, well, that's 'cause it's you.

"You're right, okay let's go digging."

Let's not and say we did.

"Too late." Lewis plastered up a memory of Arthur, pinned to a stone table, addressing a rather murderous Vivi.

Yeah. That turned out great. Morgause didn't listen to a word I said.

"Who said anything about Morgause? Morgause isn't who you got on your side that day."

Up behind Vivi rose Callie, eyes flashing, her mouth a hard line.

"Oh hey, what about this?"

Another memory surfaced, Arthur flinging himself in front of Mystery, taking the killing blow. Mystery turning on the Cave Spirit and taking him down.

"Yeah, Arthur, you're pretty useless. Let's not forget who figured out we should go to England, or who went in to find the sword, or who won't give up until we're all back together again."

The orange glow was silent.

Lewis put a hand on the glow. "Do you honestly believe that just because you can't shoot fireballs or cast spells that you don't do anything?"

Arthur's mind flicked back to the fights he'd been in, where he'd stood by holding his sword and doing nothing.

"Arthur, you don't get it!" Lewis smacked the glow lightly. "You already did something and that's why you don't have to when you get there. You know what you're good at, Arthur? You're good at getting allies, allies who care for you so much they'd do anything to keep you safe, and you even get them wanting to keep each other safe when they can't stand each other. You're good at figuring out what the next step is and how to get there. And you're good at keeping your promises." Lewis pointed at the memories of Arthur standing by with his sword. "I don't see you using Excalibur as a weapon, just like you promised her you wouldn't. Which is what you do for allies, and family. You keep your promises, you support each other, you protect each other."

But she's-

"I know how she is right now, but that's something else entirely. She did something, and we don't know why, but it wasn't because of you and how useless you think you are."

Now who's going 'I don't have time for your crap'?

"Yeah well sometimes someone has to knock sense into you too."

Both of them winced, the first flickers of pain breaking through.

Drugs are wearing off.

"I noticed."

Do you hear Vivi?

"Yeah. She and Mystery were going to try some healing voodoo or something from one of her books."

That'll take awhile. Mind sticking with me? We should get to work.

Lewis grinned. "So you're done moping?"

Shut up already. Can you pull up the time Callie showed me her past?

"Sure." Lewis reached for the memory. "Why?"

Call it a hunch. I feel like I missed something important. I wanna see it again.

"You got it." Lewis swept the others to the side and laid the requested memory out in front of them. "Let's see what you missed."

….

Vivi returned to the hospital room, a sling-bag full of books over her shoulder. Mystery sat exactly where she'd left him, cross-legged in front of Excalibur.

"Hey," she called softly. When he didn't respond, she crouched down, resting a hand on his shoulder. "I'm back. C'mon. We gotta help Squire now. We'll figure out how to help Callie together afterward."

Nodding, he stood, still favoring the leg he was used to taking extra care with. "Yes, but first I need to know something. When did you learn to shoot fireballs? It's obviously not a skill Callie taught you."

She shifted. "Is it that important?"

"I need to know where you draw the guidance for your magic. It's obvious you draw the energy itself from living things in your surroundings, but the guidance is equally as important."

She cleared her throat. "Well, it wasn't that hard. Callie taught me basic energy output, usually as a shield, but I noticed whenever Lewis blows his top he's a fireball. Callie wasn't going to teach me any attacks, so I practiced by myself. If I wasn't mad, I'd find a memory that made me angry, but if I was mad it was easier. Like today."

"So your emotional state is your guidance, not your mind." Mystery bit his lip. "It can pack more of a punch, but it's a fickle thing. Nevertheless, it's somewhere to start. Let me see what you have."

Vivi handed over her bag. "If I'd known you could read these this the whole time I'd have shaken you day and night 'til you talked."

"Yes, well, had I known you had Morgause's library of knowledge I would have removed Arthur completely. As it was, situations resolved themselves." He settled back into the chair, opening an ancient volume and paging through it.

Vivi sat in the chair on the other side of Arthur's bed. "His IV's out," she noted.

"Likely they want to be able to think clearly." Mystery watched as Vivi slipped her fingers into Arthur's metallic ones, his left arm the only part unbandaged.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Vivi asked.

Mystery turned his eyes back to the book, paging through faster. "Physically he will be fine. He will be even better when we are through with him."

"Mystery."

"The state of his soul is in his own hands. He has to learn how to move forward himself." Mystery set the first book down and picked up another.

Vivi held Arthur's hand, knowing neither he nor Lewis could feel a thing through that arm. "What about you?"

Mystery did not answer.

"Don't make me go over there."

"Vivi, you do not frighten me, and now is not the time."

Scowling, Vivi pulled her phone out of her pocket. She might as well text Lance some updates if she had time.

arthur s working thru stuff w/lew. mystery & i are gonna try healing

A few seconds later her phone buzzed.

if heeling works get food cover story. *good

"Fultonberries." Vivi tucked her phone away, biting her lip. "Gotta explain a full recovery to the hospital."

"We can worry about that later." Mystery rounded the bed to stand behind her. "I found what we need."

"Great, but how come you can't do it?" She squinted up at him. "I'd think you'd have a better handle on it. I mean, it's a spell, right? It doesn't have to be an inherent ability."

"Exactly, but that is a difference between humans and spirits. You can harness magic through spells when you don't have the skill inherently. With a spirit, either we have a skill inherently or we consume a spirit with that skill. We cannot cast spells." He set the book face-up on the bed and placed his hands on her shoulders. "I can, however, pass you the energy you will need so that it doesn't cost you." He pulled his hands off very quickly. "That is, if…"

Vivi grabbed his hands and put them back on her shoulders. "Mystery, I've had it about up to here with everybody's self-pity party. I don't trust you any less than I ever have. If anything I trust you more. Now, talk me through this."

He touched his forehead to the top of her head briefly, and she could swear she heard amusement in his voice as he said, "As you say. Now, pull the bandages back from his chest and place your hands there."

She shifted to perch on the edge of the bed and reached over, feeling for any loose end or gap between the bandages. "No go, got something sharp for me?"

Mystery reached past her, and she started. At the end of his wrist was a set of knobby black digits with lengthy talons. He sliced a clean line through the bandages before returning his hand, human once again, to Vivi's shoulder.

"Dragon?" She asked, awed.

"Not now, Vivi."

She pulled the bandages aside, grimacing. There was a horrible black and green bruise covering most of his skin, and she could see several deep punctures from the thorns. She pressed her hands flat against his chest. "Okay, now what?"

"Look at the spell. Try and commit it to memory if you can, it's more effective if it comes from you and not the book."

Vivi studied the few sentences on the page, mouthing them silently to herself for a few minutes. "Okay, got it."

"Now, do you want to see Arthur healed?"

"Of course I do."

"Think about that. Think about what it felt like to see him get hurt. Focus on that feeling, and channel it through your arms, just like the fireballs, and speak the words."

Vivi closed her eyes. She reached for an image of Arthur being hurt, but what came to mind was not Arthur.

Lewis.

Her head drooped as she tried to think of Arthur, but all she could see was Lewis, still struggling to draw breath around a spike.

"It's okay." Mystery squeezed her shoulder. "Emotion is only the guidance, you are still touching Arthur. If it is stronger for Lewis right now, use it."

Her throat tightened. I wish I could have saved him. I wish I had this knowledge then. I wish he hadn't wiped my memories, I'd have given whatever time I had left to her…

Warmth traveled down her arms, and she spoke the words from the book. As the warmth hit her fingertips, the faint scent of cherry blossoms drifted past her nose. Behind her, Mystery snarled, his fingers digging into her shoulders. She didn't dare stop, she didn't know what an incomplete spell would do. She continued pouring the warmth into Arthur's body until she reached the end of the spell.

The punctures began to seal themselves before her eyes, and the mottled green-black bruise faded to a healthy flesh-tone. Arthur's metallic arm reached up, tearing the bandages free from his face. With Vivi's help, they pulled the gauze off. There wasn't a scratch to be seen.

"It worked!" Vivi cheered, throwing her arms around Arthur. "It worked, are you two okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine Vivi." Arthur smiled, hugging her back. "Good job, and thanks."

She pulled back. "So, you two work things out alright?"

Arthur nodded, rubbing his light brown eyes. "Yeah, he got my head on straight again. You won't believe what we figured out."

"Well spill!" Vivi demanded. "Where'd you send him?"

Arthur paused. "What do you mean where'd I send him? He's still in me."

Vivi blinked. "Squire, your eyes are brown. Whenever you've got Lew, they glow pink. You're telling me you didn't send him somewhere?"

"No, he's still here." Arthur shrugged. "Maybe it's a glitch," he joked. "Anyway, guess where we're headed? Go on, guess."

"Um… where are we headed?"

A wide grin spread across his face. "Back to England."

…

Note: Just so you all know, as of this chapter there was a massive plot hijacking contributed to by Tumblr users path-wanderer and R5h. Not apparent yet, but will unfold shortly.