Chapter 16: Alone Together
Vivi stared in complete and utter silence.
She had once hated the lack of noise that followed her around like a bad omen, the hushed whispers of past memories hidden and the sympathetic glances from those she had known but forgotten to the telltale wind, but in this simple instant of lost and absolute wonder it came naturally to her ears. Once the silence had been threatening, deafening, the sound of death and loss and greed and destruction of the life around her. Now, in front ot the shadowed ghost who had left her wondering she felt no need for the frivolity of words, not waiting for sound to jump into her throat eagerly. Any questions pondered were lost upon her, and as the mystery before her took a very gentle and quiet step forward, she could feel the silence thicken and the biting tears well back into her eyes.
"Vivi, is it really you? What happened?"
He was reaching ever so slightly, a large hand lifting no further than his thin waist as he maintained the intimacy of eye contact with those same, worried sockets, his bare head no longer ablaze with the animation of pink flames but bald and smooth, his eyes darkened without their ring of unearthly light. He looked fatigued and faded, transparent almost, but all of his waning attention was diverted from his state of disrepair and focussed on his blue-haired angel.
How had she called him to her? When her hands had pulled apart and her eyes had opened up with fitful currents of salty regret after a first attempt, every little bit of hope had been lost to the bright young woman and she had simply given up on the phantom of her divine heart. Even if her tears stung and her head throbbed strongly with the sore remnants of the man long forgotten and lost, she couldn't help but convince herself that he was gone for good, forever, for the rest of her eternity. Now here he was, staring at her with unwavering focus through the darkness of his unlit eyes with the complexities of anxiety never leaving his bony face, and yet with this she could feel her entire body freeze in place as her palms grew sweaty and her skin shuddered in something akin to pleasure, anticipation, something very near to excitement. How had she called him to her with nothing more than the inking of a heart, how was he here?
She couldn't stand the intensity of his eyes any longer, couldn't stand all of the emotion running from them like dry waterfalls in the summer heat. Her eyes moved down to her hands resting lightly now on the bed, sheets blue and white to match her pale skin and so much different from the faded forest green of the motel just moments prior. The phantom followed her gaze loyally and true, looking at her sheets and then diverting his gaze to the room around him in a sudden rush of understanding. It was so white and pure, filled with the sharp scent of rubbing alcohol, and even if he lacked a mouth to frown Vivi could feel it. A wave of displeasure like a solar flare swept through the hospital room, a sense of guilt wrapping around the skeleton like a coffin to bury him six feet under.
There was a crackling to his voice, an open flame flickering in the darkness and wavering as it felt itself smothered by its own hand, "Vivi, you...you're not hurt, are you? Oh, god, what did I do? You aren't...I didn't...kill you, did I?" He was suddenly turned towards her without the memory that she held, without the knowledge that this was simply the bed and room she had woken up in after losing her memory to whatever that green cave had held for her and Arthur two years prior, the only place she truly remembered in full, "I'm so sorry, Vivi, I didn't want to explode like that, I swear it wasn't me in there, not truly. I would...I never wanted this, any of this at all. Oh, Vivi, please don't be dead…"
He reached out in full now, making to move towards the girl with heavy feet against the linoleum but stopping as she flinched back and away from him and further towards the edge of the bed in a subtle but heartbreaking attempt to get away from the phantom. His gaze fell, ashamed by his actions earlier that night and clearly pained as the one person he had waited to see most of all fell away from him as she always had. It hadn't been voluntary, simply a reflex as the spirit who had nearly killed her and her best friend approached so suddenly and quickly, and she could feel herself growing heavy with awkwardness and the bright spatterings of blush upon her embarrassed cheeks.
"Look, I'm fine. This isn't...I don't think I'm actually here, in a realistic sense. You didn't hurt me back there, not physically."
She could see him noticeably relax at her reassurance, his shoulders falling and his head tilting as he gave a ghostly sigh. He had stepped more into the natural light of the sun now for her to see, his suit darker than a moonless and his bones bright and glaring against their celestial rays as they wrapped around his chest and towards his unbeating heart. The blue glass was broken now, a long dark line running down the middle with the shattered glass noticeably chipped and the flame within mysteriously and sorrowfully gone. Something within her responded as though by instinct, and Vivi had to stop herself from reaching out to grab and kiss the heart she had so suddenly broken within that mansion, within his home, to bring back the little flickering light that she had held in her hands and let die to the fear of danger and the running of her cowardly feet. This was all her fault, she could feel the reality of the situation sinking into her skin to settle like a lump at the bottom of her stomach. She had broken him, she had been responsible for his happiness and life in those few moments and yet she still let it slip through her fingers and to the hardwood floor below. She moved to speak back to him, started to let a whisper flow from her lips, and yet his deep and ghostly voice tinged with feedback and layers of voices rose against her instead.
"If you aren't dead, Vivi, then why are you crying?"
Her mouth was open still to speak, but she couldn't bring herself to do it as his eyes bore holes into her skull. She exhaled deeply, letting the breath leave her body slowly and completely as she closed her eyes and ran a gentle yet searching finger through her tired and sore mind. He was before her now in whole, a beacon of longed for answers, the lighthouse to guide her sinking ship to solid shore and yet nothing would leave her traitorous mouth beside the release of wispy air through her hissing teeth and still sniffling nose. It took all of her willpower to look up at the ghost then, her eyes hard set as she prepared herself to answer. What a loaded question he posed.
"Why am I crying? You tell me, why am I crying?" She looked away quickly in a tiny bout of frustration, not able to continue staring into the softness of those two caverns without feeling herself weaken in reply; with the furiosity of darkness bursting from her throat, she couldn't let herself weaken in her heartfelt replies, "I have no clue who the hell you are, and yet I am so drawn to you. No matter what I do, you're at the front of my mind like some sort of obsession, but I have no clue who you are. You tried to kill my best friend for fuck's sake! I want to hate you so much, I want to want to cut you from my life and even this realm of existence for even thinking of laying a finger on the only person I have, but...I've never felt like this before," her hooded eyes were lifting now, not quite looking at him so much as the floor beneath his feet as she watched him shift to one leg uncomfortably, her voice softer now, "After we left, I felt so...elated, so overjoyed, and yet more depressed and frustrated and temperamental than I ever have through these past two years. You awakened something inside of me, an emotion I never knew existed, and so I ask you: Why am I crying? Who are you, and why does your absence bring me to tears? And since Arthur won't give me a straight answer, why don't you tell me what you have to do with the night Arthur lost his arm, the night we came to the hospital...the night I lost my memory?"
The phantom paused for a moment, silenced by the power within the blue girls words and the force behind her wavering voice. He turned away slightly, his shoulders hunched in defeat and loss as he lifted his hands to cross his arms across his barrel chest. His eyes tilted to the floor just as Vivi's had been, and the spirit who had once been larger than life became so small within the hospital room, within the confused anger of the girl he loved, that she feared he might just disappear. His voice as it blossomed into existence was no more than a wisp of smoke as the tiny candle fizzled and left the two defenseless within darkness, and the shadowed spirit faded even further with his ghostly voice turning to broken shards of glass, "You...you really don't remember me?"
She nodded just slightly, her head falling onto her chest as she replied halfheartedly and felt her own beating organ break into two upon the floor beneath his feet, "...I've never seen anyone like you in my life," she hated to see him so downcast, she could feel the heart of the man of her memories shattering again as though it were her own aching pain and couldn't stand the sorrow of it, "I remember...a little bit, I think. Your name is like a song, it starts with an L, two syllables that are so soft to speak...I nearly had it, I almost remembered, but I just can't! I can't, and it's my fault you're hurt so bad. Please, stopping being so sad, I can't be angry at you when you look so battered."
As her kindness seeped back into her words, the ghost couldn't help but smirk a little with his eyes, the edges glistening bittersweetly as his broad shoulders turned slightly back towards the girl in blue. Arms still crossed protectively, he stared straight ahead with threatening tears itching at the side of his bony face and a little mutter left to escape his quiet thoughts, "I guess my wish came true, then."
Vivi could feel herself growing slowly more frantic as he became more and more like the wall behind him, his body fading little by little as his eyes closed in acceptance and a little tear glimmered down his cheekbones. She looked around the room quickly, trying to find a way to make him stay within the confines of a hospital bed, hoping to prevent his sorrow from reaching its fever pitch and forcing him to disappear into the darkness and leave her so soon. More than anything, she needed him here for the answers he held locked inside his broken heart, she needed someone to fill her with stories. Her eyes hit the window with its bright light the same as the day she had woken up, the same as the day she had been born anew, and a thought struck her searching mind.
"I don't know if it will help, but this place is the last place I truly remember, the most vivid place in my mind, the hospital room I woke up in when Arthur was in a coma and I couldn't remember anything that happened. The place we were taken after some horrible incident in a cave, one with teeth and eyes and filled with green smoke, maybe fog. I...I don't remember anything before that, not truly. They play out in my mind but they aren't me and something is missing, it's like watching a movie. I see Arthur and I and I can feel that I was close to him, but the things we did are a dream to me. I see his mother and my past, I see the alleys and the gangs, I...I can see my father and my mother, and her lying dead, but it isn't me holding her head in my lap, it isn't me he's leaving behind. The only memories I can truly recall as my own are from this day forward, the day I woke up here with the sun shining so brightly and the doctor telling me I had amnesia. The day I had to relearn my name and who I was." she shifted in her bed, feeling her body squirm under the sideways glance of her ghostly listener, "Its been two years, and I still don't remember what happened in that damn cave."
He was coming back to life again as a bit of curiosity lit a match against his short wick, but his form only came to very slightly as he stepped from the shadows even further. He glided over to her bedside table and began rummaging through the drawers one by one, pausing as he glanced at the translucency of his bone-plated hands with a little bit of surprise. With each drawer, he ruffled through their contents with care, moving the papers aside of one, two...but there was nothing held inside drawer number three. With a little bit of relief escaping through his tense shoulders, the ghost stuck a hand carefully into the dark abyss that stretched on forever at the bottom of Vivi's drawer, somewhere she had never really looked into without any need to.
"Good, it's just a memory then." She looked at him, eyes tinged with confusion as her hands fell apart from each other in the ruffled sheets of her lap. He glanced at them quickly and saw the hearts inked into her palms, reaching out very slowly as to not scare her a second time. As he turned her palms over in the fading hands of his own, he began to tut like a disappointed parent, shaking his head rhythmically with a voice swinging low, "Oh, V, you shouldn't have used such a dangerous spell! I'm surprised that you were able to call me to you without a name, but if I had been dangerous, if I had wanted to hurt you...I could've, I still can without any wards set up. You're putting too much trust in some monster you don't even know."
She pulled her hands away as though she had been burned by the words of the phantom, finding his knowledge of her actions to be somewhat unsettling, "What are you talking about, how can you know what's in my books?"
Vivi could feel his smile as a warm rush of light fluttered over her skin, and aura spreading across her and him both as she sensed his happiness tinged with the childish sense of pride that swelled in the rising of his chest as he lifted his skull confidently, momentarily sidetracked, "Who do you think translated the Spanish notes? I read that book so many times, over and over again-they were once mine, you know. And I remember specifically that spell as especially dangerous to the summoner. Without strong wards ghosts like me can take over your mind and body without any trouble whatsoever. Other, more complex spells bind spirits to so many rules that they can't possibly dream of hurting their tether, but this one is too simple, too risky. You could've been really hurt, V."
She was more than a little surprised by this sudden development, recalling thoughtfully the conscious script written delicately beside the cursive words within every book she had found in the van so far. Her eyes met his hollow ones with eyes knit, grabbing their attention as she became tense and wary towards the spirit. No longer did she feel safe, only confused.
"Who are you? No more stalling with chatter about books and spells, how do you know so much about me?"
The ghost held her gaze steadily then, his expression changing swiftly from pride and excitement to the serious and sorrowful glare of someone holding more than enough heartbreak in response to the heavy words she carried. Twice he went to speak, made to fill the silence between them with truth and honesty, but each time his flickering flame fell to nothing but smoke. He looked at his feet, knowing it would take more than matches to light the truth beneath the feet of his bright summoner.. With a hand reaching up to cradle and hover above his broken and dying heart, Vivi watched him stammer and fail to bring words to his actions. It wasn't until his arms held the heart out at full length towards her that his fire enveloped her, and it was with these words that he finally spoke with hushed certainty.
"Vivi, I wanted you to forget for a reason. If you truly want to remember me, you must take into your own hands the pain that I felt, that pain that I saved you from. V, you...you didn't deserve what happened."
She glanced at the glass between his hands and began to reach forward without hesitation or pause, but as she neared the glass heart so beautifully held in front of her she began to wonder, to think back upon the last two years of her life, the only times she could remember with utmost certainty and clarity. This was it, the moment she had waited so bitterly for since waking up in this hospital, in this bed, with the same light shining through the same windows on the same sunny day, but was this truly something she could handle? Her mind skipped to Arthur, so adamant and obstinate in his withholding of the memories she couldn't seem to find; never had he been one to keep secrets from her in their entire life together, and yet when it concerned the ghost of her past and what happened so long ago, he became so aggressive, so sad. Every time she found a clue, a little hint into what might have been the answer to her questions, the headaches would take hold and she would be left in the pain of a lost mind held under lock and key by some dutiful guardian, the pain she felt nearly tangible as she attempted to recall little tidbits and scraps left to gather dust in the back. Someone-supposedly the one standing in front of her right now-hadn't wanted her to know, didn't want her to remember whatever pains she felt while inside the confines of the cave, but then again...there were so many questions, so many things she couldn't explain. In the hospital, why had she felt the need to wear the mourning black instead of her usual bright and vivid blues? Why had her heart sunken so much when she looked upon Arthur, reaching out for feelings of love she hadn't truly felt towards the orange boy in their extensive lives together, and would this be her answer? Which option weighed heavier in consequence, and was her choice the right one?"
Without further thought and a little flash of teeth to bite her quivering lip in concentration and determination, Vivi reached forwards to cup the broken heart she had so carelessly dropped in her hands with the gentleness of a mother, vowing not to let it slip from her grasp a second time. Without the heat of the flames it had once held hostage, she could bring her hands closer to the surface as she hadn't been able to before, and with his eyes staring so fondly and worriedly into her forehead she let her decision ring true. Her fingers brushed the glassy surface, and with that simple touch the locket burst open in a shock of light.
There was a rhythmic pulse through her body as, rested between the cage of blue glass, she gazed upon a fading photobooth picture cut fastidiously into shape and guarded so carefully by the ghost's lifeline and force of being. She was hit with a burst of pain, a glance at remembrance as she lifted a finger to run a small circle around the face of the girl, so blue yet with the brightness of a smile lighting her cheeks and her hands gripping the side of her face, a giant so gentle in his loving embrace. This wasn't just a photo.
It was a picture of Vivi, and next to her was…
She was pushed back to a life long lost to her, so different and yet parallel with the memories she had only so recently unearthed. They were in some ways the same and yet in many ways different, and yet there was one more person riding in the van with Arthur and her, one more team mate to fill the empty seats of the van, one more companion to cling to when the nights got too cold on the floor of the old car. With fondness she remembered huddling in the back against the couch together with boxes of books at their feet, minds open and pens flying as they took notes against the yellowing paper of her notepad and his copies; she remembered running and laughing and hunting the mystical creatures and spirits they so furiously studied, hair whipping in the wind as Arthur cried and she shouted back in delight; she even remembered the nights where she'd wake up in a cold sweat, the nightmares that haunted her gone to her memory but lingering in her fear, only to find herself safe in the arms of someone who enveloped her so wholly; but most of all, she remembered those purple eyes. In all their verdure, she remembered the living beauty of his shy violets, always so bright as they followed her every movement. Anyway she might turn, she could feel his adoration documenting her with loving attention, keeping the glowing wonder and child-like curiosity safe within his own mind. Nothing could stop the sweet smile that spread from cheek to cheek across her face, the joy and sugar within her lips taking in the happiness of days long past all at once and reveling in the simple yet cheerful days she had tried so hard to go back to with Arthur.
But then she saw the cave appear beside their van, looming and ominous and billowing green as it opened its maw to consume the little investigation team whole. Her memory still held the lingering traces of happiness, and yet Vivi was beginning to piece together the puzzle in her mind, beginning to realize just what happened in the cave that fateful night. A whimper escaped her lips, but no matter her struggles she could not leave the memories without seeing them through, without fully reliving the pain she must have suffered in those moments before it all fell black. Lewis and Arthur branched off to leave her alone and she left to explore the lower cave, covered in jealous green fog as it wrapped around her and obstructed her view. And yet, even with the area turned blurry she could still see the dot of pink above her on the cliff, she could still see him clear as day as he fell with arms reaching up towards Arthur. With utmost clarity, she could hear herself screaming her throat raw as his eyes, those shy, violet, angel eyes, turned to meet hers. Her tears never even touched the ground as everything within her view grew to a blinding pink, a deafening crescendo of bright light, and yet she could see his heart rising, she could see his chest...his chest was…
Vivi fell forward suddenly, growing faint as she came back from the haunting memories. There was a sharp pain through her breast, a puncture as though she had been the one impaled upon the reaching stalagmites below within the glowing green fog. It was terrible and absolute, all of the love and pain her heart took in only a few minutes time, and as she watched the ground in front of her grow closer still she could feel his arms catching her, wrapping around her, just as they had so many nights ago, so many times before. As he lowered her to the cold floor beneath to rest in his arms like a sick child, she could feel the subtle pinpricks of recognition grabbing at her eyes and sending the bright pinkness of tears to cascade down her full cheeks, glowing and shining against her pale skin. With a moment's time she felt her entire world come back to her, and in that moment she reached up to caress his face and sob his name and pull him as close to her as was physically possible, all the while keeping his heart suspended in the air between them.
"Lulu! Oh, Lew, I'm...I'm so sorry, I can't believe I...how could I ever forget you? Lulu, Lulu, how are you here with me right now with your heart beating and your hands so whole? You were falling and then I...I couldn't save you, I couldn't run fast enough or reach high enough, I couldn't remember anything. I swear, Lewis, I never wanted to forget you, I...I…"
He pulled her face to his chest, so warm and living as he stroked her hair and closed his eyes in bittersweet bliss, wishing this moment could last forever, "Lewis, I remember everything. I remember hunting with you and reading and...cuddling, sleeping, being safe like this. I can't believe I forgot your...your…"
As she was hit by another rock inside of her throat, she had to close her eyes to stop the flow of rushing water from flooding the spirit in front of her, from taking him so deep underwater that his fiery heart couldn't burn bright. He lowered his head and buried his face into the ocean covering her untamable head with the softness and carefulness of a big brother, inhaling and basking in the presence of his divine darling, "It's alright, Blueberry. I'm the only reason you don't remember, I never wanted you to get hurt like you did. I wanted you to live a life free of my memory, a life where you could be truly happy," he pulled her even tighter into his breast, almost as though she might flutter away as she already had before, "I'm just glad you're here now, Vivi. I'm just glad you're safe."
She looked up at him, pulling her head from his to look into his eyes without restraint now, without the shyness and awkward quiet of not knowing the one who knew you so well clouding her view of this familiar stranger, "No, Lewis, I wasn't happier without you. I remember everything now, but even when I didn't...I still missed you, even if I didn't know who I was missing. I can't believe I forgot your...your…" She looked away and shook her head, closing her eyes as she questioned and berated herself, "Lew, If I had...if I had known you had...I would have searched to the ends of the Earth for-"
"And that's why I wished so hard that you might forget." he assured, placing a hand gently against her cheek to gently guide her eyes back to him as he rubbed her jawline, delicately and adroitly, "I wanted you to live like nothing had happened at all. I wanted you to live as normally as a ghost hunter can, maybe even go back to our home town and settle down back at the Tome Tomb, find your own way to happiness. I wanted your life to keep on going without me."
As these waves of fondness rolled off of him, Vivi saw Lewis begin to regain his form, no longer see-through as his dark hands touched her skin opaquely. She grabbed his large palm in her small and chubby fingers, mimicking the picture held tenderly between them by some magic, the locket still open and glowing in the little space above his chest. With so much happiness flowing around them, so much unbridled giddiness and glee of remembrance of shared compassion, Vivi felt an inkling of fear tug at the edges of her ecstatic soul. What came after this, what came when the hospital faded and she woke up, alone in her motel room, just as she had feared? Still curled up in Lewis' lap, she pulled her arms around his neck, smushing the heart gently between them with speculation and hesitation thick on her tongue.
"Lewis...what happens when this is all over?"
His tender hands paused in their curling of her hair, pausing with a handful of her river pouring through the bone plates of his fingers. She could feel his chest rise as though he were taking in a massive breath, but his head didn't move and Lewis' eyes didn't close or shy away from their gaze upon the wall behind her. He stared straight ahead, unmoving and frozen in this instant.
"What do you mean?"
She swallowed, turning her face to the side so that her cheek rested on the softness of his suit, "Will you fade away? Lewis, is this merely a last stop before you go on to whatever afterlife waits for you? Will I...will I forget about you again once I wake up in the motel, once the hospital is gone and I...and I…" she looked up at him, chin digging into the black fabric and pink tears staining it dark with salt, "and will you disappear for good? I saw you fading from the window of the mansion, Lewis. This is all my fault."
Lewis paused only momentarily before taking her hands lightly from around his neck and holding her at a distance, no longer intertwined and tangled together as he looked deeply into the soul her bright blue eyes held. He wrapped her hands in his own, revelling in the contrast between her tiny little digits and his oversized fingers before molding them around the broken glass of his heart once more. It gave a pulse of light, blinding orange filling the desperate blue with flame once more before falling dark again in a rhythmic motion, a beat. With each stroke of light through the locket, the cracks mended in the sensitive grasp of Vivi's pale hands, yet it was only as she lead the heart to her lips with a whispering kiss that the heart finally began to glow on its own. With this newfound life, Lewis became truly whole once more, and the stars lighting the glass beneath the surface were beautiful and brilliant and mesmerizing, a reflection of her curious eyes imprinting upon its surface. As she guided the heart back to its tender body, she was pulled with a new vigor to take refuge in the folds of Lewis' body, and it was with this living passion that he spoke back to her.
"No matter what, Vivi, I will never leave your side ever again. If you will have me, I will be beside you for the rest of our tiny eternity." she could feel the air around her grow warm with the dryness of flame, the rising of his rebirth crackling around them with the heat of sparking embers gripping and playing with her skin. Her tears came thicker and faster, taking the moment and finding it hopeless as her voice poured into the ocean.
"Lewis, don't go just yet! I don't...I don't want you to move one. Please don't fade away, we can stay here forever, we can be like this for the rest of our lives, I promise. Just please don't move on. Please don't go to the light. I'm not ready to let you go, not yet."
He chuckled, so warm and strong now that his life force had been restored and was running strong through his bones, a wildfire tearing through the remnants of his veins, "V, you got it all wrong. Look around, I am still with you, am I not?"
Her eyes sprung up from the lingering warmth of his undead body to gaze around the room once more, finding her glance met not by the hospital but the motel room from which she hailed. No longer were they surrounded by the blue and white of the pure and sacred place but the darker, earthier tones of forest green and a deep brown. The backpack filled with her toiletries, the book turned upside down on the bedside table, the folds in the bed where she had summoned her phantom and failed...everything she had was there, she was truly back to where she had been with Lewis still holding her, still solid.
"I always thought I was tethered to the locket around my neck, Vivi, that the only thing keeping me whole was my glass heart and the hatred that pulled me from the darkness, the despair I felt for so long, so long...but it wasn't like that at all. The reason I'm here is not because I attached myself to some necklace I wore when I fell, but to the memory guarded inside of it. I was tethered to this world by my love of you, by your memory and your laughter and the stars that fill your eyes." He was so confident now, so sure of himself as he spoke that he nearly didn't even realize the proclamation that he let slip through his mind, the gentle and nearly unnoticeable declaration that scurried from his heart full and true and beating. As his bones filled with embarrassment and he stepped away quickly from Vivi with newfound pompadour glowing near white with heat, he looked away like a shy elementary child after letting go that he might have a crush, "I mean, platonic love that is. Of course, uhm, we were really good friends."
Vivi blushed for the ghost with a delicate smile hidden behind her hooded eyes and gentle lashes growing bashful, her hands reaching out to grab his as she took a moment of thoughtful silence, a moment of crucial planning and careful thought. Things like this didn't come lightly, she knew that after so many years of pure existence.
"You know," she grinned, turning his hands in hers observedly, "I'm actually really surprised that I can touch you, Lulu. The only other ghosts I've known with that much control were the ones guarding you, your little friends in the mansion. It's unique, it's very special."
He lifted one of his hands to reach behind to where the back of his neck used to be, letting it hover as he gave in to a cute and old nervous habit of his, "I've been around long enough to gain a good amount of control I guess, I'm just glad you guys didn't find me before I began to lose it. That would've been a lot rougher. I mean, you remember how ghosts age from my abuela's book, right? It said that-"
"It's good...I'm glad."
She had muttered so gently that Lewis almost didn't hear her. Her eyes were still pinned to the hand that she held, her thumb running circled along the bone plates and the inner darkness of his palm. He could feel his face growing hot, could feel his emotional control sizzle into that of a teenage boy as the woman he adored ran her skin against his fingers, "W-why, what do you mean?"
Her blue eyes met his at once, the rings of pink glowing brightly with energy and confusion as she suddenly leaned in closer to him with her little smile lighting up the room and her arms pulling his digits to her chest, letting the ghost feel her beating heart within. She let her voice out as a whisper of mischievous rain, and with the slow drop of water from her lips Lewis could feel his entire being begin to melt.
"I'm glad because...because I was afraid I'd never get to do this."
Her body pushed her onto her tiptoes in an instant as she reached with her tiny hands to grip either side of Lewis' bony face, pulling his skull to her lips with eyes closed and heart hurrying quicker than she had ever felt it fly. There was a sudden and blinding puff of pink fire as she met the part of his face where his mouth had once been, his pompadour bursting into large flame atop his head with the surprise and wide-eyed confusion of a kiss, and yet as she held herself there he couldn't help but close his glowing eyes and let his wild hair come to rest. Whatever anxieties plagued him before flowed away down her river, and just as he had always dreamed, Lewis enveloped Vivi with both of their hearts running and jumping and sprinting away. Even as she pulled away, her eyes opening to dust his cheekbones with gentle kisses from her eyelashes, Lewis could feel his head growing numb and his body falling weak in the wake of her brilliance. He held her in his arms without relent, his phantom muscles shunning release as he felt his voice rise back into his head.
"Vivi, I'm never letting you go." He whispered, a voice so filled with pain and heartbreak and missed opportunities that it felt broken to the ears of the sorrowful beholder, "No matter what happens, I am never letting you go. I promise you this."
"Well, you see, the thing is…" Vivi giggled, beginning to squirm like a child in his grasp as she remembered something very important, "before we go on embracing until the end of time, I'd like to get my pajamas on at least." she was so happy, so electric as he released her to begin walking towards the cheap motel bathroom, "The key to a healthy relationship is comfortable boxers, I can assure you that. Just give me two seconds."
"Oh. Uh, yeah, good idea." His hair had settled down now, no longer jumping into the air and threatening to burn the motel down but still dancing at the base of his skull with animated excitement and thrill. As he was struck with a dizzying pain to his newly rejuvenated glass heart, he began to follow Vivi to wait outside the bathroom like a loyal hound dog, leaning against the wall as she began to bang around with the mandatory teeth-brushing and face-washing. He let his hands drum against the wall half mindedly, and after a few moments of silence, her timid voice rose from inside, tinged with awkwardness.
"Uhm, Lew, what are you doing waiting outside my door like that?"
If he had blood and skin, the skeleton would have no doubt blushed as her words caught him in the act. Instead, he let his hair lighten in color, growing hot and white with embarrassment as he answered back with just a little bit of guilt gripping his tone, "Well, a-as a ghost, I'm tethered to, uh, people and things. It, well, I was originally attached to my mansion and was able to roam about because of the Deadbeats, but, uh, when you drew the hearts on your palms and summoned me you became a new tether in a way." His arm crossed, and he could hear Vivi resume her nightly ritual as he continued to speak shyly, "I don't know how far away from you I can be before I begin to fade, but it was kind of hurting when I stood in the main area away from you. I don't feel as dizzy when I'm over here."
The faucet rang loudly with the promise of freshly running water, and Lewis had to strain to hear over the noisy sound of rushing liquid through the piping, "What'll happen if you get too far away from me?"
"I honestly don't know," he admitted, crossing his legs now as he looked out the motel's large windows, partly covered by the blinds, "I'm hoping I'll merely be forced to you, teleported or dragged maybe. Or, if that isn't it, maybe the tether will be broken and I'll go back to my mansion. Worse comes to worse, I'll fade away or totally lose control of myself and became a being of rage, so its not something I'd like to test out. In all the years we hunted ghosts together, no spirit ever left the side of their tether, and so I'm going to assume there's a good reason for that."
A car pulled into the lot, loud as its belt screeched and the wheels came to a shouting halt outside of their large windows. Lewis looked away in the hopes that the man who stepped out wouldn't see him and call the police or another ghost investigation team. He didn't exactly look human.
"You have a point. I called you to me with these drawings on my palms-do you think the tether will break if I wash them off, or maybe if they fade with time?"
He nodded despite the fact that she couldn't see him through the bathroom door, "I'll probably just be transported back to the mansion, but I wouldn't want to risk it. I remember reading that the drastic breaking of a tether can cause abnormal and premature fading."
Instead of dread or worry, her voice rang out with laughter from behind the walls of the bathroom despite the seriousness of the subject, making Lewis jump in surprise as he watched the light pouring from beneath the door, "I guess I'll just have to get some tattoos, then? Might as well get that tramp stamp I always wanted as well, spice things up a little. I hope the place across the street cleans their needles is all I have to say."
Lewis could feel a smile tugging at the edge of his eyes, his own voice thick and playful as he answered back, "I'd join in getting inked, but I don't think bone would retain pigment very well," with this, his smile faded a little and he looked deeper into the implications that such a simple tattoo would have for Vivi, "You know, it really takes 'spending the rest of our lives together' to a whole other level. I literally wouldn't be able to leave your side."
The door opened suddenly and banged against the wall opposite him as, dressed in a bright white T-shirt sporting the Cabin in the Woods logo and a pair of bright blue ghost boxers, Vivi looked up at Lewis without restraint or worry and responded to his words cheerfully, "To be honest, that doesn't sound half bad."
She headed towards her bed cutely, her head bobbing and her chubby body busy with moving the comforter as the clock flashed angrily at her to announce just how early in the morning it was. Lewis followed like a puppy, enamored by the beauty of the woman he so loved as he sat down in the armchair at the foot of her bed dutifully. She began to curl herself into an impossibly tight little cocoon of blankets; it wasn't even that cold outside, but Vivi could only sleep well when she felt warm and coddled and protected. she could feel the heat of her body radiating through the blankets, her feet sweating as she pulled them up and into the fetal position, but as she closed her eyes she couldn't even begin to rest. Too much was frolicking through her mind, and it was with a dry and shy throat that she spoke up towards Lewis.
"Hey, uh, Lulu? Could you...could you cuddle with me, just for a little bit?"
The skeleton, now staring into the distance thoughtfully as his link prepared for bed, jumped at this startling request. Before he had died, the two had shared a bed more than a couple times when the van grew too cold to handle, but in the motels they only ever snuggled up together three times, when she had those debilitating nightmares. Despite this surprise, Lewis wasn't necessarily disappointed, and it was with excitement that he stood up to head to the bed after a few moments taken to compose his taken aback self.
"You know, I might not be as warm as you remember. I am a ghost after all."
She shook her head as it poked out from the comforter, grinning wider than the Pacific, "No, you're still warm. You're like a campfire, kind of toasty and dry but it feels really nice. I just don't want to sleep alone tonight, not after I just found you. I feel like…"
Her voice trailed off as, still in his suit, Lewis crawled into bed next to her. She opened up the sheets to allow him the comfort and closeness of the blanket, and he heaved himself in closer to her with a hint of timidity in his hold. Knowing that she felt the same way for him, what had once been a simple and brotherly act took on a whole new level of intimacy, and he could feel his bones tingling as she curled up against him.
One of her hands found its way to his chest, barely there as she pulled her legs up tightly into a ball and rested her head in the crook of his neck, "I missed you so much, even if I didn't know it, Lew. I was mourning without knowing who I was weeping for-I wore black, I couldn't sleep, and I cried so much without knowing why or what for. I...I love you. I love you, and I missed you, and I especially missed this."
He pressed his skull against the top of her head, her voice tinged with sleepiness and running slow as honey against the quickness of his now beating heart, "I love you too, Vivi. We're together now, we don't ever have to miss each other again. Just close your eyes, and I promise I won't disappear tonight."
She yawned, her face stretching as she inhaled deeply and ended with a grin lighting her closed eyes. Lewis could feel her breathing slow, her chest rising gradually less as she was pulled into the deepness of the rest she would receive. Even as her smile fell away and her eyelids became loose and without tension, Lewis couldn't help but stare in wonder at her innocent beauty. Fit together like a puzzle, nothing but this moment mattered