"England? What's back there?" Vivi asked.

Arthur grinned, shaking his head. "Can't believe I didn't see it before Vivi! Well, I was pretty preoccupied with Callie but still. Check this out." He raised his hands, then blinked as nothing happened. "Eh, Lew? Little help? Projecting things?" He frowned. "Um… well, while he's working on that, I'll just tell you."

He dropped his hands, leaning forward. "So, I had a nagging feeling like I was missing something, and it's kind of been around ever since Callie showed us her past. I asked Lewis to play it again, then I picked out two scenes. Guess what Vivi?" He bounced slightly on his wrists. "At Callie's lake, at the very end when she gets thrown back in, there's an extra tree."

Vivi blinked.

"An extra tree! Like a big huge honking oak that wasn't there before, and couldn't have grown that big, not even in the time she spent with King Arthur!"

Vivi's eyes widened. "I-"

"I know!" Arthur threw his hands in the air. "Right away Lewis pulled one of his memories, where you two were debating in 12th grade English whether Merlin was turned into a tree or sealed into a tomb."

Vivi guffawed, punching Arthur's arm lightly. "Lew, you owe me ten bucks! So we're gonna find Merlin?"

"It can't be that simple!" Mystery gaped. "He can't have been there the whole time!"

"Wanna bet? I'm taking Vivi's side on this. I'm telling you, there wasn't an oak in that spot in the earlier memories, and then there's a giant oak!" Arthur waved his arms in the air to emphasize the size of the tree. "Tell me it's not possible, and I'll drop it."

"It's possible, but why would he do that?" Mystery pushed his glasses up. "It doesn't make sense."

"Who cares? We can ask him when we get there! He can fix all this, he can fix Callie, he can tell us how to shake Inari Okami! Hah, I haven't felt this good in weeks! No… months…" he shook his head. "Nope, can't remember the last time. It's gonna get better Vivi, I knew it!"

Vivi lunged forward, wrapping her arms around him tightly. "About time too. Good to have you back, Squire."

He squeezed her back tightly. "Good to be back. Now, let's scram. We have a pond to hop."

"We need a cover story for your sudden healing." Vivi grimaced, eyeing his bloodstained bandages.

"Just tell 'em I wanted to recover at home, and that nurse down the hall checked me out. They'll spend half a day trying to figure out which nurse before giving up."

Vivi rolled her eyes. "Got it. You and Mystery head out the window. I'll tell the desk." She paused. "What about her?"

Arthur glanced at Excalibur, still leaning against the bed. "I've got her. Meet me outside as soon as you're done. We shouldn't split up, even for a little bit. I get the feeling we're Inari Okami's main target right now."

Vivi flashed him thumbs up and headed out the door. Arthur stuck a leg out of bed, before whipping it back under the sheets. "Um, Mystery. Did they bring my clothes?"

"The only salvageable item of clothing was your pants." Mystery pulled a pair of fairly torn and stained jeans from under the bed. "You can mourn the vest later."

Arthur grabbed the jeans, slipping them on before climbing out of bed. Mystery passed him Excalibur's scabbard, which he buckled around his waist. He slipped Excalibur back into the scabbard and made for the window.

Mystery grabbed Arthur's shoulder. "Arthur?"

Arthur turned his head. "Kinda gotta get out of here, Mystery."

Mystery released his arm. "Yes. You're right. Nevermind."

"Besides," Arthur added, sliding the window open and popping the screen free, "if I have to explain why I don't think differently of you one more time, I might go crazy." He crouched in the window, slipping his legs down. "What was it you said… 'The state of his soul is in his own hands. He has to learn how to move forward himself.' Sounds like good advice, you should take it."

"You heard all that?" Mystery followed him out, landing next to him.

"I was hurt, not deaf." Arthur stuck his hand out to Mystery. "Congratulations."

"What for?" Mystery took his hand, confused.

"The leg. I'm glad you got it back."

Mystery looked down, shaking Arthur's hand slowly. "I still don't understand, Arthur. She was supposed to kill me if I became a threat."

"I'm sure. And she was supposed to obey my order to fall back, but she didn't. I don't think we'll get a straight answer out of her right now, but we can try once Vivi's back. Hey Lew, you figured out what's going on yet? Come on out already."

Arthur stood there for a moment, the smile on his face fading slowly. "What do you mean you can't? Lewis, this has never been a problem, just come on out." A few more seconds passed, and Arthur swallowed hard. "Okay, okay no big deal, we'll figure it out, why don't you take over for a bit and explain to Mystery, maybe he can figure it out."

Ten seconds passed, and Arthur exploded. "What do you mean you can't take over? Lewis, what's going on?" He turned on Mystery. "Mystery, talk to me! What happened? This wasn't a problem before…" He paused, alarm building as the color drained out of Mystery's face. "Before the healing… what happened?"

"I… I don't know. I did all the right things, I told Vivi how to direct energy, she read the spell, she focused on the image of healing. She felt stronger when she thought of Lewis, but it shouldn't matter."

"What shouldn't matter? And where's your shirt?" Vivi asked, coming up behind Mystery.

"Lewis can't get out!" Arthur shouted. "Or take over, he's stuck! What did you do?"

Vivi took a step back, hurt. "I just tried to heal you."

Mystery's eyes dropped to the sword. "Callie is shouting."

Arthur gritted his teeth. "Come on. Let's get clear of the town." He stalked off, muttering, "I swear we should just set up camp outside town limits and just live there."

…..

"I know you're scared, but you don't have to be a jerk to Vivi about it."

"I'll apologize later," Arthur muttered. "Still stuck?"

The fingers on his right hand wiggled. "Well, that's more than I could do a few minutes ago. Maybe it's not permanent."

"It better not be. You've got it bad enough as it is."

"I want to hear a really heartfelt apology to Vivi when we get to where we're going."

"I will." Arthur rubbed his eye. "I promise. I'm just mad something went wrong again."

"Are we clear of the town?"

"Few more minutes."

"You can apologize to her now, on the way."

"One track mind, Lew. One track mind." Still, Arthur dropped back to where Vivi followed at a slower pace, dragging her feet. "Um… Vivi, about back there… I know you were trying to help. And you did get me back on my feet. I'm sorry I yelled."

Vivi trudged on, her right hand clutching her left arm. "I talked to Mystery. Is Lew stuck 'cause of me?"

Arthur sighed. "We don't know why Lewis is stuck, or if it's even permanent. Look." He lifted his right hand, and his fingertips wiggled. "That was Lewis, not me. It's already getting better. Deep breaths Viv, we'll figure everything out."

"I guess. Think we're out far enough?"

"Yeah. I guess." He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Might wanna stand back guys. No telling what will happen." Clearing his throat, he called, "Callie, come on out."

Vile black liquid spewed from the sword, forming together and rising up to hover in front of Arthur. Her arms shot forward, plunging into his chest. He gasped, dropping to his knees as Lewis screamed.

"LET GO!" Arthur roared. She jerked back, leaving no wound as her hands slid free. Arthur braced himself against the ground with his hands. "Lewis, are you okay?"

"YOU FOOL KING!" Callie screamed, lashing the ground with her arms. She dug her fingers into the soil, tearing up clods of dirt and flinging them at Arthur. "YOU IDIOT! YOU DARE STOP ME FROM DOING MY DUTY, RELEASE ME!"

"No!" Arthur rasped. "You don't get to run around killing people at will."

"THIS ISN'T ABOUT THAT!" She shrilled. "EVEN THE DUTY OF KEEPING YOU SAFE IS DENIED ME, RELEASE ME BEFORE THE PARASITE KILLS YOU!"

"Stop that!" Arthur stood to his feet. "This isn't about Lewis, the situation is fixing itself. Don't you dare come after him again, do you hear me? Or Vivi or Mystery either?"

Callie threw herself on the ground, thrashing and tearing up everything in reach. "YOU'RE NO BETTER THAN THE SIRE, YOU NEVER LISTEN! I HATE YOU, I HOPE YOU DO DIE, THEN I WILL BE FREE OF YOU!"

"What do you mean die?" Mystery demanded. "What do you know?"

Callie laughed bitterly. "The dog speaks. Tell me, what did you do when you smelled cherry blossoms? Did you stop the ill-conceived spell that you performed without the supervision of a REAL healer, or did you keep going?" She hurled a spray of dirt in Mystery's face. "YOUR MASTER WOVE THEIR JUSTICE INTO YOUR AMATEUR SPELL!"

Arthur stared at Callie, comprehension dawning on him, then lifted his right hand. "Lewis, don't move my hand at all, no matter what, okay?" The fingers went limp. Arthur stared hard at his hand. His eyes narrowed and his muscles tensed. Seconds passed, and sweat broke out on his forehead. For nearly three minutes he stared at his limp fingers, before lifting his head. "I… I can't move them."

"Of course not!" Callie raged. "You can't move them because they're not yours anymore! THEY BELONG TO THE PARASITE! And if you don't let me remove him PERMANENTLY, you will vanish from your own body in a matter of days!"

….

Note: Apologies if this chapter isn't quite up to par. Feels a little rushed to me, but I think I'm hitting a bit of writing burnout. For that reason I will be taking a break until early next week on this fic, and recharging my fictionloving batteries by reading and watching stuff I enjoy.