The tips of Arthur's right-hand fingers began to glow, lighting up with flickering purple flames. Arthur's left hand flew up to his head, his fingers winding through his hair and clenching tight. "Lewis! Calm down! Please, I can't-I can't think straight!"

"Release me to do my work!" Callie hissed, slithering toward him.

He stumbled back, tripping and landing on his seat hard. "Stay back!" he cried. "You can't touch him!"

"Why not, Sire?" her voice dripped with venom. "You don't trust your tool anymore? You don't trust your healer? Have I become useless yet?"

"I don't trust you to heal, not like this!"

She flipped onto her back, her arms clawing at the sky as she giggled. "Imagine that. The only part that is mine and I am forbidden to use it?" She rotated once again, advancing. "But I cannot be forbidden to use it. Not even you could forbid it."

"But I can." Arthur drew a shaky breath. "Because you and I both know you're not going to heal me. You're going to destroy Lewis. And I forbid you. There is no loophole to that."

"Then you seal your own death, and my release." Callie flipped over once again, idly flexing her fingers. "Then I will be more than happy to dispose of the parasite, give the Sire's descendant a burial, and claim what is mine."

"Claim what's yours?" Arthur winced, his fingers digging into his scalp.

"That would be me." Mystery exhaled slowly. "What she did saved me, perhaps not from death, but from a terrible fate. She owns my life now."

"Do you feel the clock tick tock, tick tock, dog?" Callie ran her arms over the ground, every flower and blade of grass blackening at her touch. "The Sire is fading, fading, and now you really can't run forever."

"You don't frighten me." Mystery sat, crossing his legs. "I know exactly what you are."

"Then you should be terrified."

"But I'm not. Funny thing." Mystery raised an eyebrow. "Does that bother you?"

"Stop!" Arthur fell over onto his side, bringing his knees up to his chest. He kept his right hand pointed away from his body as the flames spewed from his fingers. "Lewis! Please!"

"Mystery, can Callie hurt you right now?" Vivi asked.

"No. Arthur ordered her not to harm me, so I am safe for now."

"Tick tock," Callie snickered.

"I need you to keep an eye on her. Can you do that for me?"

Mystery nodded slowly. "Do what you need to do."

Vivi walked over to Arthur, prying his robotic hand out of his hair and slinging his arm over her shoulder. Hauling him up, she wrapped her other arm around his ribs and half-dragged him off.

"V-vivi, help," Arthur croaked, "I can't… he's screaming…"

"Keep it together, Squire." Vivi kept her face forward, still dragging him. "I can't think near Callie right now, and we have to talk privately. Just a little farther."

Arthur managed to get his legs under him and stumble along, still leaning heavily on Vivi for support. Finally, she reached a scrubby bush and set him down next to it. He rolled over onto his side again, keeping his flaming hand pointed skyward, away from the surrounding brush.

Vivi knelt beside him, watching him struggle to form a coherent thought, his mouth opening and closing with every failed attempt. Hooking her arms under his armpits, she pulled him up to a sitting position and wrapped her arms around him from behind, resting her forehead against the back of his neck.

"Lew, stop." She whispered. "You're hurting him."

The flames flickered, then burned out. Arthur dropped his hand back to the ground, his head sagging forward.

"I know what this means to you, Lew. You gotta know I know. But it isn't your fault. You're not trying to do this."

"Vivi, he's crying." Arthur choked on the words. "Why is Lewis crying?"

Vivi's arms tightened around Arthur's middle. "Lewis, it's not like that, okay? It's not."

"Vivi why is he talking about his family?" Arthur's voice pitched higher.

"This doesn't make you a murderer, Lew! None of this should have happened. I screwed up, I'm sorry." She pulled one arm back to scrub her eyes dry. "I'm sorry. But it isn't the end, okay? We have a lead, and there's time!"

"He says he has full control of my right hand now." Arthur slumped back against her. "It's true. I can't move it."

"We still have time! You both figured it out, Merlin can fix this. Please, don't give up, don't fall apart now Lewis."

Arthur sucked in a breath sharply. "Viv, he says… he says it's like he's killing his brother slowly. Am I…?"

"Of course you are, Squire. You didn't know that?" She ran her fingers through his hair gingerly, wincing at the sticky wet feel of blood. "He used to tell me how nice it was to feel like an older brother again. How much he missed his little brother."

Arthur lay very still for a moment.

"Squire, you're more family than either of us ever had." Vivi hid her face in the back of his shoulder. "I'm sorry you got dragged into all this. But we won't let this be the end. We're all on the same page, we can do anything, right? We beat the Cave Spirit, Morgause is out of the picture. We can do this."

Arthur twisted around carefully until he was able to face Vivi. He lifted her face, carefully wiping her tears away. "I know. But Lewis needed the reminder. Thank you Vivi." He pulled her face forward and kissed her forehead. "That's from me." He kissed her cheek. "That's from Lewis. Except it's supposed to go here," he touched her lips, "But that'll have to wait until he's himself again."

Vivi gave a short laugh, wiping her face dry again. "Yeah, I got it. So, you got a plan, Squire?"

Arthur nodded. "Yeah. And we should get it going as soon as possible. Lewis, I know you're not gonna like this, but you and I have to talk contingency plans on the ride over."

"Ride?" Vivi raised an eyebrow. "We don't really have the funds for another flight to England, we just recovered from the last one."

"Who said anything about a plane?" Arthur grinned.

…...

"Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock," Callie sang, wriggling around in front of Mystery.

Mystery eyed her tiredly. "You can sing that for fifty years, you're not scary."

"Sire thinks I'm scary. Did you see his face?" She giggled. "Scary Lady of the Lake, murdering water spirit, spirit of Excalibur. I wonder what his face would say if I could ignore him and rip out the parasite. Do you think he would cry? He probably would." She raked her fingers across the ground. "He is such a WEAK king."

"And yet he commands you. Funny how life works out."

"Keep talking, dog. I don't need many reasons to kill you when he's gone, but if you feel the need to add to them, I welcome it."

"Callie, what were you thinking?" Mystery dropped his face into his hands. "You couldn't possibly have known, you-"

"Stupid water spirits," Callie chanted, "stupid water spirits, they don't know anything, they never consider the consequences, they're just stupid, silly little children. I KNOW what you think of me!" She flipped onto her arms, pacing like a caged creature. "Well you're WRONG. I knew exactly what I was doing."

"And what was that?"

"Guessssssssss." She smirked at him.

"You must have picked up on what Arthur really wanted." He studied her carefully. "He said to retreat, but you knew he wanted me saved. You were just following orders."

A spasm passed over her features, her smirk twisting in pain for a moment before reforming. "Good guess. Dog is smart."

"Yes, dog is smart." Mystery's eyes narrowed. "Dog guessed wrong on purpose, your face says there's more. You weren't following orders. Healing is yours, the only part of you that can't be commanded, which is how you could refuse his command to retreat. But you could have retreated. You should have. Why didn't you?"

"Guesses guesses get you nothings nothings."

"Why did you free me?" Mystery demanded.

"Mysteries for the Mystery and nothing more."

"You said my name." Mystery leaned forward. "You'd never called me by my name before, but you said my name right before you healed me."

Another spasm wracked Callie as she stopped pacing.

"Callie, why did you do it?"

Her mouth twitched, the corners pulling down. "It doesn't matter. It is done."

"It matters to me!"

She snorted. "Then perhaps I will tell you. I'll whisper it in your ear as you bleed out your life with my anchor through your guts. You can consider it a final gift."

Mystery rubbed his temples. "I know you can't think clearly right now, but you have to-"

"HAVE TO WHAT, DEMON DOG?" Callie flung herself at him, pulling up just a few inches short as Arthur's command halted her. "HAVE TO WHAT? DO NOT TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW! THIS IS THE FIRST TIME SINCE YOU WERE FORMED THAT YOU HAVE EXPERIENCED THE FREEDOM I WAS BORN INTO! YOU HAVE WHAT IS MINE, AND WHAT HAS BEEN LOST TO ME FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS! AND NOW I HAVE WHAT IS YOURS, AND I… I…"

Mystery slowly stretched out a hand, holding his palm facing forward, just in front of Callie's face. "You have a darkness you were never meant to contain, and it hurts everywhere, doesn't it?"

Her eyes closed, and she lowered herself to the ground in a little puddle of inky liquid. "Everywhere."

He moved his hand with her, keeping it just in front of her face.

"I seen it." She curled in on herself. "Seen it myself. How hard you tried. How much regrets, so much regrets. Big giant thorns holding you, never letting you go. Making it worse, always making it worse, going to be driving you. Going to be controllings you. Making more and more pain, feeding themselves on your regrets. And you tried so hard."

"You healed me because you wanted to?" Mystery gaped.

She lifted her head, her mouth stretching round and wide as she wailed. She jammed her face into the ground, scraping it back and forth in the rotting grass.

Mystery pulled his shirt off and wrapped it around his hand and forearm. He placed his swaddled hand on top of her head, and immediately she stilled. He didn't say anything, only stroked her head gently until she broke the silence.

"Mystery."

"Yes, Callie?"

She lifted her face to him, and for a moment her face was a clear blue. "Help me," she rasped, "please."

His hand began to steam as dampness crept through the cloth to his skin, but he held it on her head. "I will do everything I can," he promised. "And so will Merlin, once we find him."

Callie jerked away from him, her face swirling with shades of red and black. "We will not find Merlin. I don't care what the Sire says, Merlin is gone. I will not see him again."

Mystery ripped the shirt off his arm and threw it aside, grimacing as he tended to his hand. "We shall see."

"Hey, Mystery!" Mystery glanced up to see Arthur and Vivi returning.

"It seems Lewis has calmed." Mystery peered at Arthur. "And how are you?"

"I'm fine. What about you?" Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Usually you'd be freaking out right about now too."

Mystery's shoulders lifted and dropped in a weary shrug. "I'm learning it's best not to underestimate you even in dire circumstances. This is merely another obstacle."

Arthur grinned, grabbing Mystery's hand and pulling him up. "That's more like it. Speaking of obstacles, we don't have money for a flight to England."

"Or time," Mystery mused. "Likely Lewis will have squeezed you out entirely by the time the plane lands."

Arthur nodded. "So that just leaves one question. How fast can you fly?"