Hey everybody! Sorry for the long break, but I've been in Mexico a week and have just had general crap to do. But it's here now! Enjoy~

Chapter 3

Arthur heard his name through a thick fog. His heart ached. It was trying too hard to keep beating. It should just stop. He heard his name again, an annoying noise in the soft song that was carving a hole in his chest. He looked up. Tunnel vision. Vivi was so far away. Quiet he tried to tell her, except there was a hole in his chest and you couldn't talk like that.

/

The ghosts were getting closer.

"Okay, it is officially time to go," Vivi said more to herself than comatose Arthur. As cute as the ghosts were, Vivi was now pretty sure they weren't benign. And as much of a scared/pessimist/generally-boring-person that Arthur was, Vivi didn't want him to die. She grabbed his limp flesh hand and turned towards the front door, but without her noticing ghosts had filled the candlelit hallway, barring any chance of escape. Mystery was now barking openly at the ghosts, snapping at any that drifted too close. But his barks could not deter the purple specters, and soon they were close enough to touch. The one nearest Arthur reached out a perpetually sifting, purple hand towards Arthur. Vivi pulled him further into the foyer and away from the ghost, but Arthur seemed determined to make progress difficult, stumbling slowly after her tugs with no will to move his feet on his own. Too slow. Again the ghost reached out to Arthur, and this time Vivi could not pull him away in time.

/

Cold. Drowning. Something was pulling and tugging him, and it made him uncomfortable. Why couldn't he just stay here? But it wouldn't stop, and it kept pulling and tugging him through thick water. Thick cold water. The world tipped around him. Was he on his back? He couldn't tell. All around him was the song, but he couldn't hear it anymore because the water was filling his ears, his eyes, his head, the hole in his chest. But he could still feel it. Why couldn't he just collapse here? Give into the pressure of the water above and below him?

At the bottom of a lake, an ocean, the song reached out to him, and this time he was not pulled away from it. It reached for the hole in his chest, and for a split-second there was silence, real silence, not just the kind created by water clogging your ears. And darkness, darkness that swallowed everything and never let it go. But most of all there was nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing surrounded him and he was nothing too because for that split-second nothing was everything. Then-

AAAAAAAAUUUUGGHHIIIEEEEE! The shriek tore through the air and through Arthur

and suddenly Arthur wasn't underwater anymore and he wasn't cold he was hot, hotter than he had ever been hotter than he knew was possible because the hole in his chest had been filled with fire. He was on fire.

The song had stopped but the screaming kept on going and going and through the heat he realized it was his own mouth that was screaming, screaming, screaming and he could not stop shouting out the flames that had engulfed his heart and-

"Arthur!" Vivi grabbed him around the waist and pulled him as hard as she could away from the ghost. The sudden disconnection stunned Arthur, and for a moment he lay on his back, unable to breath, unable to blink, staring at the twisted chandelier lit with purple flames.

Then he gasped desperately for air, unsure of how long he had been holding his breath. Oxygen had never felt so good in his lungs. He closed his eyes; his head was throbbing and everything was too bright. His ears were still ringing loudly, but he thought he heard Vivi laughing, and beneath that the mysterious beat that had been following Arthur since he entered the house.

"I just saved your scared ass, Arthur!" Vivi exclaimed from where she fell on the floor, still laughing. Had she not been affected by the ghosts? Vivi must have been the one who had pulled him away from… whatever had just happened there. Arthur still felt shaken. The memory alone almost overwhelmed him. Instinctively he reached up to where the hole had been, right below the sternum, but his had met with flesh. Had it all been an illusion? It felt so real.

He never wanted to feel it again.

"You could at least say thank you, unless you're still comatose?" Vivi added after Arthur didn't respond, still lost in his thoughts.

"Thank you," he mumbled. It sounded flatter than he had intended, but he was still consumed with thoughts about the ghosts.

Why had Vivi not been affected? Did it have to do with her recent inability to feel any negative emotions? Or- a more disturbing thought- had the ghosts been targeting him? Had it trying to possess him?

This thought propelled Arthur to his feet, despite a wave of nausea that protested the sudden movement. Arthur turned in a circle, scanning every corner of the room. Sure enough, the purple figures still lingered in corners and shadows , and, worst of all- two floated innocently in the hallway they had entered this wretched house through. Even though he knew the door was locked and probably could not be opened by force, Arthur still felt a wave of panic at their only known escape route being blocked.

They couldn't stay here, they had to move. They had to find a way out and away from these ghosts because Arthur could not- he would not let anything like that night happen again. (Except it was already happening)

He would be stronger this time

You're still weak, you'll always be weak

He would not let himself be taken over

Who are you fooling? You just gave yourself away again

Not like last time

And it's going to happen over and over

And he would find a way out of here

Because you're weak

And save Vivi and Mystery

Just like you saved Lewis?

And he would stop being so goddamned scared all the time.

You worthless, pathetic sack of shit.

"Vivi, let's go," Arthur said, searching for a route without any ghosts. They wouldn't stay here and wait to be attacked again.

"Awwww, this place is just starting to get good, Arthur! We can't leave now! Besides, the door's locked."

"I know that! I mean we can't stay here. We just need to find a way without any ghosts." VIvi's eyes lit up at this.

"You mean you want to go," a brief pause, "exploring?" Vivi said the word as if it were holy. "Miracles do happen!" Arthur didn't bother to respond. All the lit hallways seemed to have ghosts in them, and others were so dark that Arthur could not imagine what would reside there. Was it the right decision to leave this place? What if they got lost? What worse things lurked deeper within this mansion?

"Hey, Mystery! Where're you going?" Vivi said suddenly. Mystery had begun to trot towards a seemingly endless hallway that Arthur had remembered seeing a ghost in. But the ghost was gone. Mystery whined.

"I think we should follow him," Vivi said to Arthur. And for once, Arthur agreed with her. Without checking to see if any of the ghosts would follow them, Arthur ran with Vivi through the door of the candlelit hall, Mystery at their heels.

RAAARGH There's some cool stuff that I am planning that is linked to this chapter but it's still about two chapters away! I'm excited about what's coming up next, though, because now I'm going to be mixing a bit more of my creative elements into the story instead of just a written version of my interpretation (don't worry too much if that's what you wanted, though. The basic story will remain the same.) I still feel bad for making y'all wait so long for this chapter, though... Maybe I'll give you a sneak peak to next chapter? Hehehe...