Another request from Tumblr. This one was Lewvithur with Arthur losing his memory and the rest of the gang sharing stories to try to get it back. I don't think I followed it very well...but I like how it ended anyway. I might continue this.

Lewis had decided that if there was anything worse than dying, it was losing a precious memory.

He had lost precious memories of Arthur, growing up with him, the blonde practically becoming part of his family. He had almost completely destroyed them in favor of a false sense of peace. Vivi had lost memories of Lewis, namely his death.

The difference between that and this was that the two of them had only lost certain memories and they had gained them back. Lewis had hoped he never had to deal with it again. But fate was never so kind to them.

It started out like any other job. An abandoned library this time, but instead of retaining information, the stories all said that people would forget. In retrospect, it was almost ironic.

They hadn't been prepared for the spirit. The gang had split into two groups and this time Arthur had gone with Vivi while faintly muttering to himself that at least there weren't any cliffs in this place. That promptly earned him a smack from Vivi.

It only took him looking away for a second but soon enough Arthur had lost Vivi. The girl never did know how to slow down. "Shit…" Couldn't she wait for him just one time?

Arthur suddenly felt a chill. "Guys?" It wasn't Lewis. Lewis wasn't cold, he was extremely warm and smelled like peppers.

"Give…them…"

Double shit. The voice was coming from all around; there was no way to pinpoint it. "Uh…g-give what?"

"Can't…remember…n-need more…"

By the time Vivi realized she had left Arthur behind, she wanted to smack herself. How could she have done that? She wasn't thinking! Quickly she doubled back to where she was pretty sure she lost her boyfriend.

He was there, right where she thought he was…but something felt off. He was just standing there, unmoving. Nervously she approached him. "Hey…sorry about that. I thought I saw something and you know me, I go off without really thinking about it…"

No answer. Not even a twitch. "Arthur?"

All she did was gently touch his shoulder but it was enough to have the blonde crumple to the ground. Vivi let out a surprised shriek and was immediately by his side. "Arthur! What happened?!" His eyes were wide open and those amber irises she loved so much had paled to the point they were almost white.

But his expression was lifeless. He looked awake but nobody was home. Vivi shook him a few times and desperately calling out his name. It didn't take long for the other half of their group to come looking.

"What's going on?" Lewis exclaimed; his human guise abandoned in a panic.

"I-I don't know! I ran ahead of him a little and when I found him again, he was…he was just standing there…"

The way Arthur's eyes looked made Lewis nervous. He couldn't help but think he had seen that exact same expression before…but where?

"We're leaving. We'll come back later but we've got to make sure he's okay first." Vivi nodded without hesitation and watched as Lewis picked up their boyfriend, manually closed his eyes, and bolted to the exit. The ghost still couldn't shake this horrible feeling.

Whether he listened to his instincts or not wouldn't have mattered. Once back in their hotel room, Vivi had removed Arthur's robotic arm so he could sleep off whatever had been done to him peacefully. The first thing Arthur saw when he came to were two faces looking down at him. One human and one…

"Arthur?"

Again there was no answer but the blank expression from before had vanished. But Lewis wasn't sure what was worse. There wasn't any recognition in Arthur's now pale eyes. In fact, if Lewis didn't know any better, he could swear that Arthur looked-

"AAAAAHHHH!"

…Terrified.

"SKELETON! GHOST?! WHAT THE-?!" The blonde scrambled out of Lewis' arms and promptly fell off the bed. "OW!"

"Arthur, calm down!" Vivi's hands may have been tiny but they were firm as they grabbed onto the mechanic's shoulders and held him steady. "What's wrong with you? It's just Lewis!"

"Are you crazy?! That's a skeleton!" Arthur yanked himself away from Vivi's grip. "L-listen, I don't know who the hell you people are, but I swear I don't-!"

"What did you just say?"

Arthur paused. These people didn't look ready to hurt him (or at least the girl didn't, it was sort of hard to tell with the floating skeleton head). In fact, they looked hurt themselves. "I…said I don't know who you are but I don't have anything worth stealing?"

Silence. "Arthur…" Vivi spoke up this time.

Lewis quickly changed his appearance to his living form and gestured to himself and Vivi. "You don't recognize us?"

"N…no…? Should I?" Okay, that form was a little better, but those eyes were really creeping him out. "Uh…n-nice trick there, buddy…"

Now Lewis understood why the look Arthur had before seemed so familiar to him. Back in the cave…Vivi had the same look when he erased her memories.

But it hadn't been to this extent. He had only erased one thing; his death. She still remembered Arthur, Mystery, even himself…

So that begged the question: What did Arthur remember?

Vivi seemed to be thinking the same thing. "Yes, you should… Do you remember anything?"

"…" That seemed to set off a few bells in Arthur's mind. "A…actually…" His flesh hand made it to his temples. He'd meant to raise both arms but one look at his stump of a left arm had him pale. "Wh-where's my arm?!"

After they managed to calm him down, Vivi decided the easiest way to figure this out was a good old fashioned game of twenty questions.

"Okay, so do you remember your name?"

"Arthur Kingsmen."

"Right! And do you remember what you do for a living?"

"I'm a mechanic."

"Right again!"

Lewis sighed. Baby steps first, he supposed… But as riveting as this was, he'd rather hurry up and get to the root of the problem. Vivi had told him to wait in another room so he didn't startle their boyfriend any more than he already was.

"It seems like he remembers everything…except us," Lewis mumbled to the not!dog next to him. "He didn't even remember you could talk."

"…"

"…Mystery?" Did he refuse to speak now because of what Arthur said? This was getting more annoying by the second.

A few minutes later, Vivi walked out looking for forlorn than Lewis had ever seen her. Apparently, besides his name, Arthur also remembered working at Kingsmen Mechanics and sort of remembered his uncle as well. But when it came to anything about the paranormal, their gang, their friendship, and even their growing feelings for each other…nothing.

Vivi had decided they should try to jog his memory. As long as Lewis was in human guise, Arthur seemed to be fine. "Do you remember introducing us to the van? You were so excited. Said your uncle had given it to you to fix and do what you want with it. We all fixed it up and now we travel around the country with it."

"And remember our first job? It was in one of those stereotypical warehouses. You always wondered why all the hauntings were in warehouses. But the whole thing turned out to be a hoax. Just a guy in a mask."

There was still no recognition in Arthur's eyes, though he seemed extremely amused. Again Lewis and Vivi were stunned by that look in his eyes. Something was different about Arthur. The memory loss was obvious but it was something else… "A guy in a mask, huh? That's cliché."

"Y-yeah…" Vivi swallowed. "And…and remember the Mystery Inc.? We've always had a huge rivalry with them. Of course there was that one time we had to work together at that weird…theme park. Was that it, Lew?"

He nodded. "I think that was the first time we actually saw a real ghost before. All of us." Arthur almost winced at the dry chuckle that echoed from the magenta ghost. He'd almost forgotten the guy was dead until he heard that echo. "And it had friends. We all had to work together to get rid of them."

"And after that, we vowed to never work with each other again."

"Yeah…"

They both stared at Arthur, who was trying his hardest not to laugh. "Any of this ringing any bells…?"

It was disappointing but the blonde shook his head once the laughter had died down. "Sorry…" He replied with a shrug. "To be honest, I didn't even believe in ghosts until I saw this big guy." Arthur gestured to Lewis. "How did you die anyway? If it's okay to ask."

If Lewis still had to breathe, it would have caught in his throat. That was the one question Lewis didn't want Arthur to ask.

Realization hit Lewis like a ton of bricks. Why Arthur seemed different. He wasn't scared. Perhaps he was at first but once he warmed up to Lewis he seemed to be okay. He didn't have that permanent sad look in his eyes. He was peacefully oblivious to what had happened two years before…

This was Arthur before the accident. Before the guilt had nearly overtaken him. He was happy. The golden locket on his chest sagged and turned a pale blue.

"I-I…don't remember…"

"Why did you lie, Lewis?" Vivi demanded after Arthur had fallen asleep. Lewis gently stroked the mechanic's hair. He looked so peaceful…the most peaceful he had seen him in years.

It was a few moments before Lewis found the courage to answer. "I couldn't tell him… Vivi, he doesn't remember what happened. Being possessed…or killing me."

Finally he looked up to the bluenette, and Vivi was shocked to see those hollowed eyes stinging with tears. "This is the most happy I've seen him in ages. I can't ruin that. I…I can't."

Click. "Y-you mean…"

A nod.

The silence was overwhelming. It was only broken when Mystery lifted his head and finally spoke up. "The ghost in the library… I've figured out what she did. She was a spirit who had lost the memories of her true love. According to folklore, it was her most priceless memories of all. It seems like…she takes away the memories of others in the vain hope she can regain hers."

Vivi quirked an eyebrow. "But why was she so specific? Arthur can remember things about himself and a few things about his family… So why can't he remember us?" Her question made Mystery's ears lower.

"…Because she only takes away a person's most precious memories. Just like those of her lover were her most treasured, any memories of us were most precious to him…"

It was beginning to make sense. "And…the reason he can remember things about himself…" Lewis started as he turned back to Arthur.

"…Is because he doesn't consider any memories with him precious. Yes…"

Vivi felt her heart break a little. It was true. Arthur never considered himself a valuable part of the team… And after Lewis' death, it only got worse. "Do you…do you think…he should stay like this?"

Canine ears perked up but Lewis didn't move. "Vivi?"

"I mean…Lewis is right. He's so much happier this way…"

They didn't know. There was a difference between what they wanted and what the right thing to do was. The only problem was deciding which one was which.

None of them spoke for the rest of the night.