Chapter Nine: Mortals Pay a Token Fee

It took a long time to get out of the cave. Estelle cried herself out until her face was as salty as the water rising around her. By the time she could make nothing more than a few choked gasps, the water had reached her waist and she realized they needed to go. Flynn was able to stand, but only just. He probably wouldn't have been able to make it without the waist-high water supporting him, and as it was he lost his balance and fell every time the tide rushed in. He leaned on Estelle as much as he could, but she couldn't offer him much help because he was carrying Yuri. The water made it easy to drag his partially-floating body, but they both collapsed onto the beach in exhaustion when they made it out.

They wouldn't have made it up to the house if not for Lucy. Her supernatural strength supported enough of Yuri's weight that she and Estelle were able to carry him up to the house and lay him down in the master bedroom, and then Estelle returned to the beach to let Flynn lean on her as he limped up the stairs. He crumbled to the soda in the living room and immediately fell asleep, while Estelle continued upstairs to check on Yuri.

She sat on the side of the bed and watched his slumbering face with a heavy frown. There were still snatches of dried blood in the corners of his eyes and in the crevices around his mouth, and he trembled slightly from the cold. He was soaked with seawater and old blood stained his clothes. There were a few splotches that seemed much fresher, and Estelle grimaced at thinking it was Flynn's.

There still wasn't time to fully stop and digest everything that had happened. Yuri needed help, so she went to his room and fetched pyjamas from his bag. Then she brought a cloth with warm water from the bathroom and returned to Yuri's room. She took his shirt off gently, in case he was still injured. There were dozens of dried wounds across his torso, thought she couldn't tell what had caused them. His flesh looked ripped, torn by something blunt. The skin that wasn't pallid was swollen and red. Estelle held her hands over him and fed healing magic into his battered body. The wounds closed and the inflammation died, and then she used the cloth to clean away all the blood. She changed him into warm, dry pyjamas, folded a towel under his hair to help it dry, and left him to sleep. Physically, he'd be all right.

Downstairs, Flynn was fast asleep on the couch. His clothing was also soaking wet, ripped, and covered in blood, but she'd already made sure all his wounds were closed so she'd let him sleep before getting him cleaned up. Her stomach growled, reminding her that she'd skipped lunch while hiding in her room. She had no motivation to actually cook, so she silently prepared a sandwich for dinner.

The evening was cool. Estelle sat on the steps of the back porch, looking out to sea while eating her sandwich. It was difficult to relax. She could still feel the remnants of terror and pain dripping in her mind after the hurricane of activity. Too much had happened to fully understand it, so she concentrated on the facts she did know.

One, Flynn was alive. He was hurt quite badly and in a lot of pain, but he was alive and would continue to be so. There was no reason to believe he wouldn't fully recover.

Two, Yuri was also alive. Whether he would fully recover was a different story, but Estelle clung to the shock in his eyes in the second between waking up and passing out. That had been her Yuri looking back at her, which meant his true self really had returned. Just what his mental state would be upon waking and remembering was a question for later.

Three, Lucy was all right. Bram and Karina had moved on and left her safe and sound. It was now up to her if she wanted to remain here or cross to the next life on her own terms.

Four, they had been wrong about Bram. While he was currently a violent and cruel man, they had misjudged his character in life. He was innocent of the crimes they'd condemned him for, and in fact it was the shock and horror of those crimes that drove him mad in the first place.

Five, Karina had murdered Lucy in cold blood and Estelle had lived it. This was why she was so worried about how Yuri would feel when he woke up. Estelle knew that nothing she had felt herself do after Karina entered her mind was in any way her doing, but that didn't wipe away the memory of how it felt to slide a knife into Flynn's chest, or the agony on Lucy's face as she screamed and died right before her eyes.

Estelle took a deep breath and focused on her sandwich. Tomorrow, the coachman would return to take them back to Zaphias. She'd rarely looked forward to returning to the castle so much.

Floorboards squeaked and then Lucy sat on the steps next to her. She rested her chin against her knees and spent a long minute gazing out to see. After a while, she heaved a sigh. "Estelle… I'm really sorry. All this happened 'cause of me."

"You didn't know how your parents would react. It's ok."

"I really didn't think anything bad would happen to Yuri."

Estelle swallowed the last of her sandwich and wiped crumbs from her mouth. "Where exactly did you put him?"

"In the other place. I dunno how to call it. It's not here, but it's not there, either. It's like… a cozy resting place where I go when I don't wanna be in this world. But it's not, like, the afterlife or nothing."

Estelle nodded slowly. "It's the place ghosts go when they're not actively manifesting."

"I dunno what that means, but I guess so."

"How did he get so bloody?"

Lucy shrugged. "I dunno. That never happened when I go there. It's a good place to nap."

Perhaps humans weren't meant to go to that in-between place, and it tried to squeeze him out. Estelle recalled Flynn's experience in the closet, and the intense pressure he'd described. Perhaps Flynn had been partially transported to that place as well, explaining why she and Yuri hadn't been able to hear him. He hadn't even been in this realm of existence, but that place was unaccommodating for mortals and tried to expel him. Intense pressure would explain Yuri's bleeding from all orifices.

Lucy rubbed her face. "I thought I'd put him there and he'd nap until I gave him back. I didn't know he'd get hurt."

"What about the blood on the floor of his room? Didn't you see that?"

Lucy squirmed on the step. "Well… that happened when I was pulling him in. It was hard to get him in and he started bleeding. But then once we reached the place, he stopped moving so I figured it was ok."

Estelle sighed. "You learned your lesson, right? Never do that again."

Lucy nodded vigorously. "Yes! I know. I promise I'll never, ever, do it again."

"Good. So what are you going to do now?"

"Uh… I dunno. Mommy and Daddy are gone now, but… it's kinda scary to follow them. What if they're still waiting? I dunno what the other side is like."

"You could stay here. Maybe if you let them cool down for a few years, it won't be so scary to move on."

"Yeah… but then I'd have to stay here all by myself, 'cause you're going back to Zaphias. You promised you'd visit, right?"

Estelle nodded, but another thought had been sitting in the back of her brain for a little while so she said, "You could always come with me."

Her eyes popped. "Really!?"

"But you'd have to promise to do what I say and not bother anyone else. You could live in the castle where you won't be lonely until you're ready to move on."

Lucy threw herself at Estelle and squeezed her tight. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Estelle smiled and wrapped her arm around her. "Just as long as you promise to never, ever kidnap anyone again."

Flynn ended up sleeping for the rest of the evening and all the way to the next morning. When he woke up, Estelle was eating toast and eggs at the dinner table. He yawned and sat up on the couch, stretching his arms and wincing as every stab wound whined in pain.

"Good morning. How do you feel?"

Flynn was used to hearing Estelle say 'good morning' like a chirping bird, so the heaviness in her words caught his attention. He couldn't blame her, though. After what she'd witnessed, anyone would have trouble bouncing back. His body seemed to creak as he rose from the couch. "All things considered, I'm all right. And yourself?"

"I'm ok, too. I checked on Yuri this morning, but he's still asleep. Do you want breakfast?"

His stomach roared in approval. "Yes, please. I think I'll take a shower first, though." Seawater had dried in his hair, making it feel grimy, and the dried blood certainly didn't help.

"I'll make some eggs while you shower."

"Thank you." Upstairs, Yuri was asleep in his room. Flynn sighed when he looked at his unconscious friend, and grabbed fresh clothes without comment. Yuri probably just needed to sleep off his injuries and the emotional shock. He'd be ok.

A shower had never felt so good. Red swirled into the drain as it washed off his body and the hot water soothed his aching muscles. He still wasn't entirely sure what had happened last night, but he knew that Bram and Karina were gone and that was good enough for him. Out of the shower, he dried himself off and got dressed. Wearing clean, non-ripped clothes made him feel lighter, and as he towelled off his hair he took a deep breath and realized that everything had, for the most part, worked out.

Dressed and straightened up, Flynn returned to his room to put his old clothes away. When he entered, Yuri was staring at him. Flynn paused in the doorway and tossed his clothes aside. "Good morning," he said slowly. "How do you feel?"

Yuri didn't speak for a long minute. His chest rose and fell slowly and his face was blank. At long last, he croaked, "…Flynn?"

Flynn nodded. "That's right." He approached the bed, but then Yuri scrambled away.

"Stay away!"

Flynn froze and held up his hands. "I'm not going to hurt you. You're safe now, Yuri. You're home."

"Get back!" Yuri thrashed blankets around like he was looking for something.

"Yuri, what do you need? What's wrong?"

"Stay away from me!" Yuri leapt out of bed, wobbling as he looked around. His crazed eyes landed on Flynn's sword, which Estelle must have set next to his trunk last night. Yuri made a run for it and Flynn charged at him. If he was going to go after him and Estelle again, Flynn needed to stop him before he armed himself.

Yuri reached the sword first, but instead of pointing it at Flynn, he turned it on himself. The blade neared the side of Yuri's neck just as Flynn tackled him.

"No!" Yuri bellowed. "He might come back! I have to stop him! He's going to hurt you!"

Yuri was still weak, but so was Flynn. He struggled to pin Yuri against the floor and kicked the sword far away. "Yuri, listen to me, he's gone. Bram is gone and he's not coming back."

"I have to stop…" Yuri panted. "He's g-gonna come back."

"No, he's not. Estelle! I need your help!"

Flynn managed to keep him pinned until Estelle burst into the room. Yuri was still panting when Flynn moved aside and Estelle pulled Yuri to his knees.

"Yuri, shhh, it's ok. Everything is fine now." She pulled him tight against her chest and he didn't have the strength to break out of her bear hug. He kept struggling until he exhausted himself and slumped against her.

"Where is he?" Yuri croaked.

"He and Karina both moved on to the afterlife," Estelle explained. "They're gone, Yuri, and they're never coming back."

Yuri's face pressed against her shoulder. Flynn could barely hear him say, "I felt it, Estelle. I felt every second."

"I know," she whispered back. "I felt it, too."

"He was in so much pain."

"But he's at peace now, and so are you."

Yuri took a series of long, shuddering breaths. "I don't think I am."

The coachman came later that afternoon to pick them up. Flynn and Estelle cleaned everything up so the house was just the way they'd found it, save for the long slashes that covered Estelle's door and the blood in Yuri's room. Estelle took the empty wooden jewellery box from Flynn's room and gathered as many bones from the fireplace as she could find. Lucy said ghosts could travel far from their remains if they wanted to, but it was uncomfortable and they often slipped back. She would bring these to the castle and bury them in the palatial cemetery. Flynn wasn't sure how he felt about bringing a ghost home, but Estelle insisted and he had to admit, leaving her behind all alone did seem cruel.

In Capua Nor, Estelle returned the keys to Mr. Yates. He nervously asked how everything had worked out, and Estelle coldly informed him that the house was safe to rent out again, but he would need to do some significant cleaning to get the bloodstains out.

They stopped in Halure again to break up the trip and spent a sombre evening explaining to Rita what had happened. Flynn and Estelle did all the talking, while Yuri sat silently at one end of the table, lifelessly picking at his food. He'd been like that for the entire trip, answering in one-word responses when spoken to and staring out the window. Estelle and Flynn filled each other in on everything that had happened while they were separated, but when they asked Yuri where he'd been for the past few days, he'd muttered something about it being dark and gone back to staring out the window.

They arrived in Zaphias in the evening, and Estelle took Yuri to her room for the night. Neither of them liked the idea of leaving him alone. The fact that he didn't utter a word of protest at staying in the castle was even more of a reason to keep him nearby. Flynn had a restless night. He struggled to keep from tossing and turning because movement hurt his wounds, and when he finally managed to fall asleep he spent his dreams running down black tunnels while his loved ones tried to kill him.

On Estelle's recommendation, he extended his vacation. After everything that had happened, he needed a day to sit at home and do absolutely nothing to get his head back in order. After taking a long, hot shower to drive away memories of nightmares, he'd stepped out and found Sodia waiting in his room.

"And that brings us to now." Flynn leaned back on the couch and sighed. "I hope you believed at least some of that."

"It is… unexpected," Sodia said. "I do believe you, sir. As unbelievable as it may be, I find it even more unbelievable that you would lie about something like this."

"Thank you." Explaining everything had helped clarify events in his head. He felt less muddled and overwhelmed by it all now that he'd put it into words, and having someone he trusted assure him she didn't think he was crazy helped a lot.

"You really ought to see a doctor, though. I'm sure you're dangerously low on blood and those wounds must still be hurting you."

"Perhaps, but what would I tell them? If the commandant shows up with a near-fatal amount of stab wounds, people are going to demand answers. They'll want to know exactly who stabbed me, and I can't expect the Council to believe my story about ghostly possession. More likely, they'll assume Yuri tried to kill me and then made up a story about being possessed to get off the hook." Flynn shook his head. "I can't let Yuri take the fall for this. He's already… I don't know. I want to believe he'll go back to normal soon, but he spent several days trapped in some otherworldly dimension, and then was possessed by an angry spirit and forced to witness himself terrorizing his friends. Anyone would be traumatized by something like that. If he's questioned on whether he stabbed me, I'm afraid he'll say he did."

Sodia nodded slowly. "Yes, I could see that. I certainly hope he recovers soon. You need to make sure you take it easy for the next few days, though."

"I assure you I will." Flynn rose stiffly. "For now, I'm going to pay a visit to Lady Estellise. If you need anything, you can probably find me in here later today."

Sodia stood and saluted. "Yes, sir. I'll try not to bother you unless there's an emergency."

The good thing about being in pain and suffering serious blood loss was that when he passed people in the halls, they could tell from his appearance he really was ill. He felt bad about extending his vacation on such short notice, but at least anyone who saw him couldn't make the argument he looked perfectly healthy. Estelle met him at the door to her room and smiled after she hugged him.

"Yuri's awake."

Flynn stepped in and closed the door. "How is he?"

Estelle's smile slipped. "Not too different. He's in my bedroom."

"Give me a minute with him, please."

She nodded and Flynn entered the room alone. Yuri sat in an armchair by the window, staring out at the gardens. Flynn approached slowly and spoke softly. "Good morning."

Yuri just grunted as Flynn sat down.

Flynn followed Yuri's gaze. A bird sat on the wall, preening itself. "It's a beautiful day."

Yuri grunted again. They sat in silence for a few minutes, until Yuri asked, "How long was I gone?"

Flynn turned his gaze on him. "About a day and a half."

Yuri slowly turned his head to Flynn. His eyes filled with surprise when he asked, "Is that all?"

"How long did you think it was?"

Yuri rubbed his fingers on the fabric of the armrest. "You know when you were in the closet for five minutes, but you said it felt like over half an hour at least?"

Flynn nodded slowly.

"Imagine that, but multiplied by over twenty four hours."

It must have been even worse for Yuri. Flynn hadn't been entirely drawn into that dimension, while Yuri had been completely trapped there. "What was it like?"

"Dark." Yuri shrugged and folded his hands on his lap. "Painful. Couldn't move. There was no sound, or light, temperature. Started seeing things eventually. Think I was hallucinating. After an eternity, I felt him crawling into my head. By then, I was too… crazy, disoriented, whatever you want to call it - to resist. He pulled me out and then… then I watched myself try to kill you."

Flynn rested his hand on Yuri's knee, but pulled it back when Yuri flinched away. "I know it wasn't you."

"Lucky you."

Flynn frowned. "Do you think it was?"

Yuri heaved a sigh and rested his chin in his palm. "I have to keep reminding myself it wasn't."

"Then I'll keep reminding you every day until it sinks in. You didn't hurt me. You didn't hurt Estelle. It wasn't you."

Yuri squeezed his eyes shut. "Thanks."

"Are you going to stay in Zaphias for a little while?"

There was another long pause before answering. "Not sure. Probably should. Don't really feel up to running guild missions."

"That's a good idea. Take it easy for as long as you need to get your head together."

Yuri nodded slowly and stared out the window again. Flynn was about to leave when Yuri said, "He wasn't evil, you know."

"Who? Bram?" Sure, he had been a victim of Karina as well, but that didn't excuse trying to kill Estelle. Flynn's sympathy for him was hindered by all the stab wounds that still ached.

"I don't think ghosts come back with their personality entirely intact. He snapped that night, and it stuck."

"He burned his daughter's body in the fireplace."

"He was afraid that if he buried her, a monster would dig it up and eat her."

"I… guess that makes sense."

"He really did love her." Yuri watched the flowers outside instead of Flynn. "Estelle became a mother figure to Lucy, and after what Karina did… he thought Estelle was going to hurt her."

"That doesn't justify terrorizing us."

"No. Like I said, he just… went a little mad." Yuri smirked. "Who am I to judge? I went a little mad, too."

Flynn tightened his mouth. While he could sympathize with Bram's grief over losing his family in such a traumatic way, he certainly felt able to judge him for how he'd reacted to it. Flynn had lost loved ones, too, and he had never gone on a slashing spree against people only tangentially related. He'd brushed so close to death down in those tunnels, and no amount of sympathetic back story would make him forgive the man who'd shoved a knife into him so many times with a smile on his face. Surely once Yuri got his head back in order, he'd feel the same way.

He sat with Yuri for a little bit longer, but Yuri didn't feel like talking again. Flynn left him to rest and returned to Estelle's sitting room. She sat at the table with the tea set out, while Lucy poured imaginary tea into a cup.

"Good morning, Lucy."

Lucy frowned as she looked at him. "Uh… hi."

"Lucy," Estelle said gently, "what did I tell you about being polite?"

Lucy nodded and then said, "Mr. Flynn, do you want to have tea with us?"

"I would love to, thank you very much." Flynn sat next to Estelle and let Lucy pour him 'tea'.

"Well?" Estelle asked, glancing at the door to her room.

Flynn sighed heavily. "I suppose we should be thankful he's physically all right."

"Do you think he'll ever… you know, be himself again?"

Flynn mimed sipping his tea. "I'd like to hope so. I think we just need to give him some time to wrap his head around everything that happened. Yuri is resilient. Once he gets his bearings back and sorts out what was Bram and what was him, I think he'll bounce back. I'm just not sure how long it will take to fully sink in. What about you? Are you all right?"

"Right enough. I've had nightmares the past two nights about…" her eyes darted to Lucy, and she frowned. "I'm ok, though."

"And what about you, Lucy? Is everything ok with you?"

"Oh, yes! The castle is so pretty and Estelle says that as long as I stay invisible and don't hurt anyone, I can go anywhere I want! I'm gonna be real good, you'll see."

"I'm glad to hear that." Flynn gave her a smile, as cheerful as he could manage under the circumstances.

"Flynn… I'm really sorry your birthday turned out so awful. I really thought this would be a nice getaway."

He patted her elbow. "I sincerely appreciate the effort you went through to arrange this. It was such a thoughtful gift and the first day was everything I could have wanted. I would definitely love to go on any future vacations with you. With all that in mind, I hope you understand I hold no judgement against you when I say… that was a terrible vacation."

A/N: The end. Thank you for reading and happy Halloween! To give proper credit, every chapter title is a quote from a movie, except for the first and last which come from the narration at Disneyland's Haunted Mansion. They belong to, in order, Ghostbusters, Poltergeist, Psycho, Silence of the Lambs, The Haunting, The Shining, and Shaun of the Dead. Have a spooky day!