– The Ghost –
Gilbert needed some time to relax and calm down after the shock. When he thought he was ready to speak, he turned to Matthew who had a sad expression on his face. Matthew was no longer aligning his body with the floor, now that his secret was out, he didn't feel the need to put in the effort to make himself appear more human. Gilbert tried to say something, but he couldn't get the words out and needed a few more minutes before he could fully calm down.
"My arms went straight through you. You're... really a ghost?" Gilbert asked, even though the answer was obvious. "Is that why you wouldn't meet me outside of school?"
Matthew nodded his head. "I'm sorry, I couldn't tell you."
"Why couldn't you tell me?" Gilbert asked. I have much I want to- no, have to ask him. I don't want to bombard him with questions, but it's the only way I'll find anything out.
"It's kind of a long story," Matthew said, trying to avoid answering.
"I'll listen to all of it," Gilbert said, looking serious and determined to know.
"I'm a ghost because I was unable to move on from this world when I died," Matthew began to explain. "I think that what's trapped me here is friendship. You see, I never had friends when I was living. I'd been longing for a friend my whole life, but I was practically invisible to the world, it was rare that anyone would even look at me. I think that to move on from this world, I need to make friends with someone. I thought it would be impossible; nobody saw me as a human, so I didn't expect anyone to be able to see me as a ghost. I decided that if someone ever did see me, I'd want that someone to like me for who I am as if I were still human. That's why I didn't tell you I'm a ghost, I'm sorry"
"I understand, Birdie. There's no need to apologise," Gilbert said, smiling as if everything was alright. "But why am I the only one who can see you? Well, apart from Arthur who also saw you, but he seems to see a lot of things from what I hear from Francis."
"Um... well, I uh," Matthew became really nervous answering this question. "I had always admired you; you're so cool, so I'd watch you sometimes, and I think it may be my desire to be with you that has allowed you to see me."
"So you've always liked the awesome me?" Gilbert asked, slightly blushing. "Is that why you were in my seat?"
"Yeah," Matthew nodded his head shyly. It was obvious that if Matthew still had blood pumping through his body, he'd be blushing like crazy. "I knew where you sit in your lessons and I didn't think you'd notice me because nobody else sees me. I would have moved over to the next seat when you arrived anyway, so it's not like you would have sat on me."
"So you can touch objects and not people?" Gilbert asked.
"Well, no, I don't seem to be able to touch anything, but I'm good at positioning myself against an object so that I appear to be touching it," Matthew explained.
"You are good; you fooled me every time," Gilbert said, realising that it doesn't bother him as much that the guy he loves is ghost. It's still kinda strange that he's a ghost, but he's still the same Birdie. I'll never get that hug I wanted though. Actually... "Birdie, do you think we could hug? I won't be able to hug you properly 'cause my arms will go through you, but I could loosely wrap my arms around you, and it would be kinda like a hug."
"Okay, we can try," Matthew replied with a smile, floating closer to Gilbert, and bringing his feet closer to the floor to make himself appear more human again.
Gilbert wrapped his arms around Matthew carefully. He did his best to get as close to Matthew as possible without his body going through his. Matthew wrapped his arms around Gilbert, making sure his arms weren't going through Gilbert's body. Even if we can't touch, and I can't really feel Birdie, just being like this is nice knowing that my arms are around him.
"If anyone was around, to them it would just look like you're hugging the air," Matthew decided to mention. They pulled out of the hug and both laughed at the idea of how ridiculous Gilbert must have looked.
Gilbert and Matthew were still standing really close. Matthew was no longer bothered by the distance between them. Once his secret was out, he had nothing to hide. Gilbert leant his slightly blushing face closer to Matthew's. The distance between them grew smaller and smaller, until Gilbert's lips were up against Matthew's. When he pulled away, they both smiled at each other.
"I love you, Gil," Matthew spoke first after the kiss.
"Ich liebe dich, Birdie," Gilbert spoke, but got a confused look from Matthew. "It means 'I love you'."
The two of them felt so happy being with each other. However, Gilbert still had questions that he wanted to ask.
"I kind of feel strange about asking this, but how exactly did you die?" Gilbert asked, trying not to sound rude. I hope ghosts don't get offended by that question. "You don't have to tell me if it brings up bad memories, you shouldn't be forcing yourself to answer my questions if you don't want to."
"It's okay, I'll tell you. I feel like you have the right to know, after all, you are my only friend," Matthew said, and then began to explain his death. "Hmmm... Well I guess I'll start by telling you about my pet polar bear. What was his name again? Kuma... Kuma... something..."
"You don't remember your own pet's name?" Gilbert asked. "Wait, your pet was a polar bear?"
"Oh, I remember now, it was Kumajirou! Anyway, yeah, I had a polar bear as a pet. He wasn't very big, so I'd take him everywhere with me so that I wouldn't be lonely. I even took him to school with me, and because nobody ever noticed me, I never got into trouble with the teachers about it like you do with Gilbird. However, there were some students who did notice me occasionally," Matthew began to speak with a sad tone to his voice. He had sounded so happy before when he mentioned his bear. "These students liked to bully me when they got bored and had nothing better to do. At first they used to just say mean things to me, but eventually they started to physically hurt me. I stopped bringing Kumajirou to school with me because I didn't want him getting hurt, but one day he followed me. The bullies got to him and started hurting him. They were pulling at his fur; it looked painful, and I couldn't just stand there and watch. I tried to fight back to get them away from Kumajirou, but before I could do anything to actually help, one of them punched me and then pushed me to the ground with a lot of force. I hit my head on the hard ground and died instantly."
Gilbert didn't know what to say. I never realised that Birdie had such a rough life. If only I had been there, I would have saved him and his bear from those bullies.
"Hey, don't look so sad," Matthew said, seeing that Gilbert looked like he might cry after hearing his story. "It's all in the past now, it can't be changed. It's probably a good thing I died; I didn't have the happiest life anyway."
"Don't say things like that!" Gilbert shouted. "How could your death possibly be a good thing?"
"Well, I was able to meet you," Matthew said with a smile.
Gilbert smiled back. I'm not asking him anything else, I don't want to force him to remember all those bad times. I'm not even going to ask how this school didn't get closed down after a murder took place here, or if he knows what happened to his bear. It would only bring up more bad memories.
"Gil, there's actually something else I have to tell you," Matthew said, looking very sad.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Gilbert asked, looking very worried.
"Well... We became friends..." Matthew was speaking slowly, as if he was trying to figure out the best way to say what he had to say.
"Why are you saying that like it's a bad thing?" Gilbert was confused. "You were just saying you were happy to meet me."
"But now that I have made a friend, I have fulfilled my purpose of staying here. I can finally move on," Matthew said, still looking unhappy.
"Are you saying you're... leaving?" Gilbert asked, sounding very shocked and hurt.
"I have to. Now that I am able to move on, it's difficult for me to stay here, as if some force is trying to pull me away" Matthew explained. "I won't be able to stay here much longer. Actually, before you found out I was a ghost; I was just going to make up a story about moving away. I thought it would be easier to tell a lie than explain to you that I'm a ghost."
"Is it really impossible for you to stay?" Gilbert asked, desperately hoping there could be some way for Matthew to stay with him.
"I shouldn't have gotten so close to you knowing that I'd just leave you in the end. It was cruel of me, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have told you that I love you... but... I love you," As Matthew spoke, he began to fade.
"Please don't leave me, Birdie," Gilbert cried out. "Can't you please stay with me?"
"You'll be fine without me. You have plenty of friends who care about you," Matthew said in an attempt to calm Gilbert down. His voice was becoming quieter as he continued to fade.
"But I'll miss you so much," Gilbert continued to cry.
"I'll miss you too, Gil, maybe I'll be born again and we could meet again," with his last words spoken, Matthew faded away completely.
"BIRDIE!" Gilbert cried out. He reached out to the air in front of him where Matthew was, but he knew he was gone. Gilbert collapsed onto his knees and began to cry. Tears streamed down his face. Birdie, no... You can't be gone. I'll never meet anyone like you again. I'll be lonely without you. He lifted his head up and tried to wipe away his tears. Through his blurry vision, he saw twirling down from where Matthew had faded away, a single maple seed. Gilbert managed to catch it and held it gently in his hands.
"Birdie, is this you?" he asked the seed as tears continued to run down his face. He knew the seed could not possibly talk back, but the seed had appeared out of nowhere, so the seed being Matthew seemed to be a logical explanation. "I can finally touch you."
A/N: So... yeah... Matthew's a seed now... I hope you all don't mind that... (I should be finished with this story in about 2 more chapters).
Also, I am so sorry it took so long for me to add this chapter! I've been spending all my free time playing Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright. I'll get the next chapters written as soon as possible when I complete the game, but I have a busy month ahead of me, so I apologise in advance if I keep you waiting again.