AU Where Shadow's death is not a final death- he's something between dead and alive, and trapped in the darkness. He needs Vio's help to get out, before a fate worse than death catches up to him...

Primarily going to be Vio x Shadow-centric; if you don't like it, don't read it! (Might eventually contain hints of Blue and Red, if you look closely ;D )

Late that night, when he was fairly certain that everyone else in the house was fast asleep, Vio was still awake. He was sitting up with a book in hand, reading but not really comprehending. Saying he was distracted would be an understatement- completely unfocused was closer to correct. Every so often he would notice this, frown, and make a renewed effort to continue reading. Each time he would slowly lose focus again.

"... Dammit." He sighed heavily, getting up to put the book on the dresser and perhaps pick another. He glanced up to mirror again as he was switching out the novels, and froze. There was a deformed figure in the corner of his room, standing just as still as he was and staring at him from blank eye sockets. The thing had no mouth, just hollows for eyes and- oh. A jagged line across its spindly upper torso opened, parting to show rows and rows of serrated teeth. Vio dared not turn around, afraid to either prompt it to attacking or lose sight of it.

He stayed completely still, fighting even the urge to blink. He couldn't resist the urge to blink forever, though, and when he did, the abomination vanished. He shakily let out his breath, unnerved. "What...?" For the second time in as many minutes he cut off in mid-sentence, falling silent as he heard unmistakably audible breathing.

This time he dared to turn around, locking gazes with a pair of scarlet irises belonging to a young man on the opposite side of his room. Shadow was slumped against the wall, visibly shaking and obviously just as surprised to see Vio as Vio was to see him. "... Vio?"

"Shadow?" Vio put down the book he'd been so intent upon reading, not trusting himself to believe his eyes. He would blink, and Shadow would be gone- just like that... thing. He had to tell himself it wasn't real, just to fight down the unexpected flare of hope and excitement at seeing him again. But he blinked- more than once, even- and Shadow remained there, just as dumbfounded.

"Vio..." Shadow's expression switched rapidly, originally doubtful and more than a little afraid to wonder, then almost instantly to a wide grin. "Vio! You can see me, right?!" Vio nodded dumbly, not trusting himself to words for fear of tripping over his own tongue in confusion. Shadow's whole face seemed to light up at this, and he immediately struggled to get to his feet and started stumbling towards him. "I can't believe it, finally...!"

Vio found himself wearing a smile almost as large as Shadow's, much to his surprise, and he started towards him as well. There was so much he needed to ask- where had he been? Why hadn't he showed up sooner? How had he gotten here? He had to tell him even more, like how he'd been in his dreams lately, and how thankful they all had been for his sacrifice, and how much Vio had missed him...

Vio reached Shadow, wanting to embrace him, grab his hand, his shoulders, do something- but drew up completely short when his arms passed right through him. Shadow seemed just as shocked, staring at Vio with wide eyes. "What just..." Once again his expression transformed, immediately morphing to anger, frustration, and more than a little desperation. "What?! No, no, this can't be right.. I don't.. it..." He tried frantically to grab Vio's wrist, hissing when his hand passed through without a hitch. "No!" He backed up, all the happiness from before now replaced with despair.

Vio finally found his voice, stumbling verbally for once. "Shadow, what- I don't... What's going on?" The flame of hope dwindled sharply, leaving a cold, hollow feeling where it had burned briefly.

Shadow bit his lip, staring at his hands and apparently not hearing Vio. "I've gotten to this point.. Why didn't it work?! I did everything right, I can't still be trapped like this!" He sunk down to his knees, clutching his hair tightly and shaking. "I can't be! It's not fair, I just want to get out!" He yelled.

"Shadow, what's going on?!" Vio demanded, kneeling before him and trying to grab his shoulder to get his attention- that didn't work, and Vio shivered at the feeling it produced. It was like the feeling of slowly thawing after being in the cold for too long- numb, icy... Cold like death.

Shadow looked up at Vio, seeming to recall Vio could see him. There were frustrated tears gathering in the corners of his eyes as he tried to calm himself enough to speak. "I... I..." He took a shuddering breath, then slammed his palm onto the floor beside them. "DAMN IT!"

Vio jumped from the unexpected action, reflexively reaching out to try to calm him again before remembering it did no good. "Shadow, calm down, just tell me what's going on, will you?!"

"I'm not dead," Shadow muttered, picking his hands up and resting them in his lap as he attempted to stay calm. "I'm sort of... Stuck."

"Stuck." Vio repeated. "How?"

"I'm in that grey area between dead and alive- you know how everyone is sure you can't come back once you pass on? That's true. But I didn't make it to that place where you have the option to keep going- I was trapped." Shadow grunted, hands forming fists. "For a whole damn year, I tried to find some way to either go back or go on- it was hell."

"Literally?" Vio asked before he could consider the wisdom of asking a question like that.

"No, not literally," Shadow rolled his eyes. "Close, though. I'm no expert on it, but it's..." He shuddered. "I don't want to talk about it. Point is I was stuck there for a long damn time, and only now was I able to get you to notice me."

"Get me to notice you...? How long have you been trying to do that?" Vio raised both eyebrows.

"Since the day I died." Shadow didn't miss a beat. "It doesn't take long to figure out you're stuck in limbo."

"Ah... I've seen you before today- when I dream, mostly," Vio hastily clarified, as Shadow's face lit up and then fell. "It's been really frequent this past month or so... Maybe that meant something?"

"Who knows," Shadow grunted. "It didn't work- I'm still not back." He reached out to prod Vio's shoulder for emphasis; it tingled. "I'm as bad as a fucking ghost."

"If you consider yourself a ghost, haunt me all you wish. I've missed you." Vio said plainly. Shadow glanced up at that, giving a little smile.

"I caught onto that- I tagged along today when you went back to that grave you made for me. I'm flattered, by the way. I never expected anyone to even remember I existed."

"We all remember," Vio shook his head. "Don't worry about that- I wouldn't let them forget you so easily."

"Heartwarming," Shadow snorted, a glimmer of his humor returning. "Unfortunately, though, we're still stuck here with the problem of me not really existing."

"I'm talking to you; you exist."

"You know what I mean, Vio." Shadow 'poked' him in the forehead.

"Fair enough." Vio frowned. "Well, perhaps I'll be able to look something up and shed some light on the situation... Proverbially, anyway."

"Maybe now that you noticed me, yeah," Shadow nodded. "You wouldn't believe how painful that is- being right in front of someone, being this close-" He held his hand in front of Vio's face, about an inch away, "- to them, talking and screaming at them, and them not noticing a thing. No matter how loud you shout or what you do, you're completely invisible." He glanced down again, pulling his knees up and resting his forehead on them. "You're powerless to even get their attention, so you're forced to just sit there and hold back the tears, keep in the pain, and above all keep trying to be noticed."

Vio's frown deepened sadly. He could imagine the situation- Shadow right in front of him, panicking and trying frantically to get his attention, getting completely ignored in favor of a book or someone else or even sleep. "But you're here now..." He pointed out softly, coming as close as he could to laying a hand on Shadow's shoulder. "That's something. Progress."

"But how much more am I gonna have to do?!" Shadow glanced up, distraught. "You have no idea what it's like, Vio! I'm not the only being like this! There are other things stuck there with me, and I'm nothing compared to them! There are monsters, demons, I don't even know what half of the things in that place are!" Could that have been what Vio had seen earlier? "I can't stay there much longer, I'm going to... Something bad is gonna happen!" The tears of frustration from earlier were on the verge of returning, now partly born of fright.

Shadow was not a man who feared much; this Vio knew for a fact. If that place could drive him to this state... He reached out to him and made as if to take his head in his hands. "Look at me, Shadow." Shadow obeyed, shivering. "You made it through a whole year of that all by yourself- the worst is past you. Now you've got me on your side- if I remember correctly, you always wanted a trustworthy ally, didn't you?" He ran his thumb over the partly-transparent surface of Shadow's cheek, tracing a tear that fell despite Shadow's strictest efforts to keep them back.

Shadow gave a small nod, rubbing his eyes with his sleeve. "Yeah... T'be honest, I'm surprised you remember me saying that..."

"Well, I wasn't the one who was drunk at the time, so..." Vio teased lightly, giving him a small smile as he snorted.

"Okay yeah, I might've had a bit too much to drink that night," Shadow admitted, pointed incisors showing as he grinned a little as well. "Stupid."

"Just a tad." Vio agreed with a chuckle. "Now cheer up- I deal with both Blue and Red's emotional outbursts every day, I don't need yours as well."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Vi," Shadow snorted, mood beginning to lighten. "Goddesses, not gonna lie- I'm honestly just happy you can see and hear me..."

"I am too." Vio smiled, placing his hand over Shadow's on the floor; he ignored the odd feeling it produced. "I promise we're gonna find some way to get you back to normal."

"You'd better," Shadow snorted. "Bad idea to get a guy's hopes up and do nothing about it, y'know."

"I keep my promises, don't worry," Vio smirked. "If you've got me on your side, you're gonna be okay."

"Man, I hope you're right about that..." Shadow gave him a grin in return that still held a bit of trepidation.

"I'm always right." Vio allowed himself a moment of bragging as Shadow snickered.

"Just as humble as ever- now I remember why I liked ya," Shadow rolled his eyes. "Am I keeping you up?"

"I would rather talk with you than sleep," Vio denied. "Sleep I can do every night."

"And ideally, I can show up every night too," Shadow assured him. "Or whenever, really. I don't think there's like a time limit or anything."

"Do you think the others will be able to see you too?" Vio asked.

Shadow shook his head. "I doubt it, at first."

"Then why me?"

"Because I wanted to see you the most." Shadow answered. Vio smiled a little.

"Well, I feel flattered now." He stifled a yawn, but Shadow noticed.

"I seriously think you should sleep now," He advised. "I'll still be around in the morning. Promise."

"If you insist..." Vio warily agreed. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to watch you sleep," Shadow snickered. "As creepy as that sounds."

"It sounds extremely creepy," Vio acknowledged, getting into bed. "Whatever happened to sleeping when you're dead, hm?"

Shadow scoffed. "Please. You think a body needs rest from sleep if it's not growing and functioning?"

"Fair enough," Vio conceded, about to shut off the light; he halted and frowned as a vivid memory of the creature from earlier flashed behind his eyes. "Shadow... If you can see me like this... Can those other things?"

Shadow shook his head. "Nothing big that I know of. If anything tries to get you while you're asleep, you can be damn sure I won't let it, either."

"Good to know you've got my back." Vio's tone was joking, but his meaning was genuine. "On that note, I think I'll go to sleep. I will see you in the morning, Shadow."

"You betcha. G'night, Vio." Shadow leaned against the wall, passive now.

"Goodnight." Vio rolled over and dozed off quickly.

Gettin' Shadow back into play, aw yes. If it seems a bit weirdly executed, I'm sorry x.x it's unbeta'd. More explaining to come, as to things like 'where was he?' and 'how did he get back?' Vio wants answers too. Hehe. /also this small chunk is rather old writing. I might come back and edit it to give it a little more life later. Thank you for reading! R&R always welcome and appreciated!

~Artimus-Maora