Hiro knelt down.  “Okaasan is right.  There’s some sort of…film over your eyes.  It’s barely noticeable.”

“I can still see just fine so it’s not affecting my vision,” said Vivi.  “Any idea what it might be?”

“Hard to say, but it definitely shouldn’t be there,” said Hiro.  “The problem is we’d likely need to see it active to know what it does exactly, and it might do something harmful.”

That was a catch 22.  Vivi wanted to know what it would do, but she didn’t want to risk damaging her eyes or something.

And that reminded her of Sydney again.  She started crying again, leaning into her mother.  “I had a fight with Sydney.”

“Friends fight sometimes,” said Serena in an attempt to console Vivi.

Vivi shook her head.  “Not like this.  There was yelling.  She said I wasn’t taking our investigations seriously.  That I wasn’t paying attention to how often we ended up in trouble.  That I wasn’t letting her and Arthur do other things they might enjoy.  That we needed breaks!”  Vivi sniffled.  “I think…I knew she had a point, but I didn’t want to admit she was right because that would mean I was being selfish and careless.  So I said it wasn’t that bad, that we would be fine, and that she could choose the next place we went to.  She wasn’t happy.  We ended up yelling at each other.”  Vivi took a breath.  “She was right!”

And as Vivi broke down crying she wondered if her friends would ever want to talk to her again.

Vivi was still crying when Lance arrived with a few other people she didn’t recognize.  Lance initially ignored the Yukinos, instead checking in at the front desk.  The people who had followed him in came over to the Yukinos.  “Vivi, are you okay?” asked the man.

Vivi blinked.  “Uh, yes…”  Why did he care?

“Did you guys get attacked by a ghost?” asked one of the girls.

Vivi frowned.  Her head was starting to hurt.  “I don’t know.  I can’t-”  Her head was pounding.  “I’m sorry.  Do I know you?”

The whole ER seemed to fall silent.  Vivi looked around at the shocked faces and felt like she’d said the wrong thing somehow.

Suddenly everyone started talking over each other.  Vivi wasn’t sure why, but it felt like her head hurt more and more as the volume increased.  She couldn’t breathe!  She…she…

Blood.

Vivi passed out.

Once Vivi was placed on a bench with Serena watching after her and the Pepper kids, the rest of the adults met in Sydney’s room to discuss things.

“How is Sydney doing?” asked Mrs. Pepper.

Sydney Sr. put a hand on Junior’s forehead.  “The doctor’s say she should be okay.  She probably won’t wake up for another day or two.”  Sydney Sr. sighed.  “I guess she won’t be going to any archery competitions for a while…”

“She should still keep some arrows on her,” said Granny Yukino.

“No now, Mother,” said Hiro.  “The most pressing issue right now is Lewis’ location.”

“He wouldn’t have just abandoned them,” said Mr. Pepper.  “And they wouldn’t abandon him.  So…so what happened?”

“Vivi doesn’t remember him,” Lance said suddenly.

“What?  But they’ve known each other for a decade,” said Mr. Pepper.

“I think it’s a curse,” said Hiro.  “There’s a…film of some sort over Vivi’s eyes.  It’s barely noticeable, but when you arrived and started asking about Lewis, it suddenly became much worse until she passed out.  I think it’s keeping her from remembering him.”

“Wait. So it was a ghost or somethin’ like that?” asked Sydney Sr.  “I thought Sydney protected them from that sort of thing.”

“She’s too tired,” said Granny Yukino.  “She exhausted her powers enough that protection wasn’t possible.”

“Her aura does seem a lot weaker than usual,” agreed Hiro.  “It would still take something powerful to do that sort of damage though.  It’s not something most investigators ever encounter.”

“Would this entity still have Lewis?” asked Mrs. Pepper.

Hiro crossed his arms in thought.  “It’s possible, but Vivi can’t remember where the events took place.  I will probably need to wait for Sydney or Arthur to wake up and tell me.”

“Actually, I talked with the nurses before, and it sounded like Sydney didn’t know what happened either,” said Sydney Sr.

“Yeah, the doc said Arthur’s probably gonna have some memory loss,” added Lance.  “…And maybe other brain damage.”

Everyone winced at that, but no one knew what to say to console Lance.

“Maybe I can look at Vivi’s travel plans and figure out where they went,” said Hiro, giving Mystery a significant look.  Mystery gave a subtle nod.  They’d be working on the problem later on.  “And…if you’d rather Vivi stay away for now, I understand and would prefer if you tell me now so I can pass it on to her.”

“Damn straight I want her to stay away from Junior!” said Sydney Sr.  He gestured towards Sydney Jr.  “Look what she did!  I know Sydney’s got a habit of getting in trouble, but she doesn’t go lookin’ for it!”

Lance nodded.  “Yeah, yer family’s done a lot to help us, but Vivi’s not coming near Arthur until she understands why I’m angry with her.”

“That shouldn’t take too long,” commented Granny Yukino.

Mr. Pepper sighed.  “I personally don’t mind, but considering what happened when we saw Vivi before…”

“You probably have to avoid Vivi for her own health, yes,” admitted Hiro.  “But rest assured we will be working on figuring out what happened to her and how to reverse it.”

“Aaaand…how long is that gonna take?” drawled Sydney Sr.

Hiro sighed.  “I have no idea.  It depends on how strong the curse is, what is necessary to remove it safely, possibly the position of the celestial bodies.”

“As it is not actively harming her we are going to be as careful and thorough as possible,” added Granny Yukino.

Hiro nodded.  “It’s very inconvenient for all of us, but if circumstances were a bit different it wouldn’t be an issue.”

Lance paused. “No idea.”  It had been a while since he’d spoken to the rest of his family. “I got a cousin living in the states.”

“Percival Kingsman?”

Lance nodded.  “Yeah.”

“We determined Percival Kingsman is the name of Arthur’s father, but when we suggested reuniting Arthur with the rest of his family, he had a panic attack.  We checked the records and found your name listed as a relative.  Do you have any idea if Percival might be abusing Arthur?”

Lance shrugged. “Can’t say.  I haven’t seen Percy in 20 years, but he did have a bit of a temper. I lost touch with him after he joined that cult.”

“Yes, the Return to God Movement…”  The agent seemed rather unsure.  Not that Lance could blame her.  He found the whole concept confusing.

“So, what’s gonna happen to Arthur?” asked Lance.

“Well, he’s being evaluated.  If he’s mentally stable, he will be placed in foster care.”

Lance briefly wondered why the kid’s sanity was in question before deciding it was unimportant. Then he made another important decision. “Nah, I can look after him.”

“That’s…allowed,” admitted the officer.  “But you just found out about Arthur.  Are you even prepared to look after a child?”

“No idea, but I intend to give it a try,” said Lance.  Maybe it seemed to come out of the blue to the case worker, but Lance’s father and uncle had been trying to get Percy out of that cult almost as soon as he joined and had made plans and preparations in case he left.  When they’d gotten old and become sicker, they’d asked Lance to take over in case Percy or anyone else got out.

Lance hadn’t actually been expecting to keep that promise, but he wasn’t going to just abandon his kin.  “Now, where is he?”

“Calhoun, Mississippi.”

After exchanging a bit more information, Lance promised to be there tomorrow and hung up to go get ready.  He threw his things into an overnight bag, made some calls to customers to let them know he’d have to delay some repairs, and cleaned up the guest room.  He called in a guest room, but it was more like a storage room that someone had shoved a bed into for some reason.  He’d have to find somewhere else to keep the boxes now.

Most of them ended up in Lance’s room.  He decided this was fine for now, got into his truck, and started driving.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lance got to Calhoun with no problems and went to the CPS building first thing in the morning. He introduced himself to the secretary, was taken to a large room in the back, and sat down to wait.

After several minutes of waiting, the door opened to a middle-aged woman with a clipboard.  She smiled at Lance.  “Hello, I’m Wanda Byrd.”

Lance nodded in greeting.  “Lance Kingsman.”

Wanda nodded back before looking behind her.  “C’mon. One foot in front of the other.”

A kid, 11 or 12 shuffled in.  He was hunched over and hugging himself.  He glanced at Lance nervously before looking away.  Lance noticed that he had the Kingsman hair: Orange hair that quickly faded to bright yellow with a black lock at the front.  The kid also had the odd orange-brown eyes that sometimes popped up in their family.

“Hey kid.” Lance got up off the chair, noting he was about the same size as the kid.  “It’s Arthur, right?”

Arthur nodded. “Yes sir.”

“Right, I’m gonna be honest.  I have no idea how to do this,” admitted Lance.  That got Arthur to look at Lance again.  “I have no experience with kids.  I’m making this up as I go along.  I might say something that upsets you, but it’s not intentional.  I’m just blunter than most people.”

Arthur blinked in confusion.

“Now, we don’t know each other.  That’s not your fault.  It’s not my fault.”  Personally, Lance thought it was Percy’s fault, but he wasn’t going to say that within the first five minutes of meeting the man’s son.  “But we are kin, and I would like to get to know you and help you. I’m not sure how much I can help you, but I’m certainly going to try to do as much as I can.”

Arthur shuffled. “I…Why is everyone trying to help me?”

Wanda smiled at Arthur.  “I know the leaders of your community said that the world is full of horrible people, but most people are genuinely good.  People who will do what they can to help others.”

Arthur looked away. “But I killed-”

“Someone who was going to hurt you,” finished Wanda.

Lance’s eyebrows rose to his hairline.  Seems that someone had forgotten to share that piece of information with him. Arthur’s eyes darted towards Lance. “I’m not gonna judge ya.”  He turned to the Wanda.  “So, how are we gonna do this?”

“Well, we need to see how the two of you interact with each other.  Then we have to determine if you’ll be able to deal with Arthur’s particular needs.”

Right.  Kid probably needed therapy.  Lance had some money saved up.  They should be okay.  He just needed to be sure the kid liked him.  He still wasn’t sure how to go about that, but he figured they could at least sit down while they got to know each other and pulled out the chair at the nearby table.  It took a few moments for Arthur to follow his example with the caseworker right behind him.

“So, what do you like to do?” asked Lance.

“I…”  Arthur paused.  He looked lost.  “I don’t know.”

“…”  Okay, this was just wrong.  Lance turned to Wanda.  “Do we have to do this here or can it be anywhere in the city?”

“As long as the two of you have supervision.”

Lance nodded. Seemed reasonable.  “You got any arcades around here?”

Wanda winced. “Arthur doesn’t seem comfortable around crowds yet.”

“Ah, sorry, didn’t think of that.”  Lance thought a bit more.  “What about a comic store?  One with chairs?”

Surprisingly, the center listed three comic stores like this.  Lance asked if any were near restaurants.  That narrowed it down to one.  Lance loaded them up into his truck and they were at the store roughly 20 minutes later.

“If you see something that looks interesting, go ahead and grab it,” said Lance as he looked for anything he might like.  Lance wasn’t a huge comic fan, but he had read some as a kid.  And comics had come a long way since then.  Some comics were serious and had plots that were genuinely interesting even to adults.  He should be able to find something he can read.

Arthur was just staring at the various comics in confusion.  “Which comes first?”

Lance paused. “Most of these comics have been running for decades.”

Arthur stared. “But-how does anyone know what’s going on?”

Aw Hell.  This might be more complicated than Lance had thought.  He looked around for maybe a graphic novel or a one shot and noticed several thick books that were the first volume of various Marvel titles.  That ought to work.  “Try these.  They’re the first few issues from the 60’s.”

Arthur stared at the thicker volumes in confusion for several minutes.  He eventually picked up The Incredible Hulk and cautiously read the first few pages.  He frowned. “Science doesn’t work like this.”

“Hm?”

“Radiation poisoning does not give people special abilities.  It causes random mutations that vary cell by cell and causes the body to break down rapidly to the point where organs break down.  If one somehow survives, they would definitely suffer from various types of cancers.  Besides that, Dr. Banner breaks the Law of Conservation of Mass.  Perhaps energy could be converted into mass, but that would only be possible during the explosion, and changing back into his normal form would cause some sort of release of energy.  And the physics are all wrong…”

“They care more about the story than the science,” interrupted Lance.  Arthur abruptly seemed to shrink back from him.  Lance mentally kicked himself.  “Sorry, that came out wrong.”  Arthur gave him a surprised look.  “What I mean is…people don’t read ‘em for the science.  It’s to see people overcome odds that they normally wouldn’t be able to, and powers make it so that they are more capable of that. Yeah, some of ‘em don’t make sense. The writers aren’t scientists so they have to do some guesswork.  It’s just good fun.”

“Fun…”  Arthur stared at the comic.  “I…Can I have fun?”

Lance nodded. “Yeah, you just have to figure out what you enjoy doing.  You sounded pretty passionate about science just now.  Want to tell me a bit more about what the writers got wrong?”

Arthur glanced between Lance and the comic a bit more before hesitantly nodding.  The three of them sat down at one of the tables with their purchases.  Arthur took a few minutes before he found something else that bothered him and started talking about it, showing more knowledge on the subjects than Lance would have expected from a kid his age.

Lance made a note that Arthur was probably smarter than him.

Around noon, Lance decided it was time for lunch and hustled everyone to a burger restaurant.

Arthur stared at the burger and fries and milkshake like he’d never seen something like them before.  Maybe he hadn’t.  “What do you usually eat?”

“Roasted meat. Cooked vegetables.  Bread.”  Arthur picked up a fry.  “What is it?”

“Hamburgers are beef between a couple of slices of bread basically,” said Lance.  “You can add things like tomatoes and lettuce and onions to them.”  He pointed at the fries.  “French fries are potatoes sliced and fried in oil and salted.”  He pointed at the milkshake.  “That’s ice cream blended with milk.  Ice cream is cream mixed with sugar and some other flavors and then frozen.” Lance took a bite of his own hamburger. “Just take one bite of each and we won’t nag you about it.”

Arthur cautiously bit a fry in half.  He blinked in surprise as he chewed it and decided to eat the rest of the fry.  Then he ate a few more.  He took a cautious sip from his milkshake and blinked in surprise. He took another sip.  He ate the rest of his fries.  He drank some more of his milkshake.  He studied his hamburger and took a bite, less cautious than before. He ate about half of his burger before Lance noticed Arthur was starting to look a bit sick.  “You don’t have to eat it all.”

Arthur winced. “But…you can’t waste food.”

“You shouldn’t,” agreed Lance.  “But accidents happen.  As long as you don’t make a habit of it, don’t feel too bad about it.”

Arthur gulped but stopped eating at least.  Lance decided to count it as a win.

Lance wasn’t entirely sure what to do after lunch.  He considered a movie, but thought maybe it would be better if Arthur got his first movie experience in a controlled environment.

They ended up going to a library instead.  Books were practically the same as movies except you had to come up with the pictures yourself.

Arthur seemed a lot more comfortable in the library than anywhere else they’d been.  He went straight for…the nonfiction section? Arthur studied where various subjects could be found and headed for one particular shelf where he grabbed a book on robotics.

Lance took a moment to grab a book on refurbishing cars and glanced towards Wanda.  She just shrugged.  Fine.

They went to a set of chairs where Lance and Arthur started reading.  Lance occasionally glanced towards Arthur.  Arthur seemed engrossed in his book.  “So, you like robots?”

“Oh, uh, I like mechanical stuff,” explained Arthur.  “And I’ve never gotten the chance to learn about robots before.”

Lance nodded.  “I’m pretty fond of mechanical stuff too.  Even repair cars for a living.”

Arthur looked up. “Really?  What’s that like?”

It was the first time Arthur had asked about Lance’s life, and Lance was relieved to answer.  “It’s more fulfilling than you’d think.  Been doing it since I was a kid.  Got a junker of a car to fix up when it was getting around time for me to get a car.  It was a lot harder than I thought it would be.  More expensive too, but I didn’t give up.  Asked local mechanics for advice.  Read some books.  Eventually, I got it running again, and I enjoyed working on it, so I thought I ‘d see if I could make a career out of it.  It was hard work, and it took a while to pay off my student loans, but I can’t see myself doing anything else.”

Arthur turned around the book he was reading so that a robot arm was showing.  “Could you make an arm?”

Lance chuckled. “That’s a bit outside my area of expertise.  I mostly work on cars.  I know enough do some repairs around the house, like the air conditioning unit or the oven.  That’s…” He pointed at the picture.  “…a lot more complicated.”

Arthur frowned and turned the book around to look at the picture.  “I wanted to build robots, but we didn’t have anything like that.”

“That’s…specific,” said Lance.  He wasn’t sure what Arthur could do with that, but with how many things were automated nowadays he could probably find something.  “Well, I don’t think you’ll be able to take any mechanical courses until high school, but I can get you started on the basics when I have some free time.”

Arthur gave Lance a startled look.  “What do you mean?”

Now Lance was a bit confused.  “You like robots?”  Arthur nodded.  “You like science?”  Arthur nodded again.  “Would you like to make a living building robots?”  Arthur nodded.  “Then you’ll need to take the proper courses to get into college and learn how to do that.”

Arthur gaped at Lance. “You-you’re okay with me making robots for a living?”

Lance nodded.  “The way things are going it’ll be a good field to get into, and even if you decide robots aren’t for you, you’ll still be pretty good at fixing things, and things’ll always need fixing.”  Arthur was still staring.  “Okay, I’m thinking I’m missing something.  What’s got you so gobsmacked?”

“You’re letting me choose what to do!” exclaimed Arthur, getting a few hushes.

Lance grunted.  “’Course I am.  It’s your life.  You should get to choose how to live it.”  He paused. “Well, as long as you’re not hurting yourself or anyone else.  No drugs or stealing or the like.”

Arthur nodded, still looking shocked.  “Are children always allowed to choose what to become?”

“Well, they might change their mind.  Can’t grow up to be a dinosaur.”  That got a snort from Arthur.  “And well, you shouldn’t encourage someone who wants to join a gang or the like.  Still, it’s best to let people choose what they want to be on their own.  Most people want to do what they enjoy, and that makes sense.  If you enjoy something, you do it when you have free time, and you become good at it.  And people want jobs done well and correctly the first time since it saves everyone time and money.”

Arthur blinked. “Huh.  I never thought about it like that.  I was always told my role would be chosen by my commander when I was old enough.”

Lance snorted and shook his head.  “Stupid.”

Arthur bit his lip. “So, you would be all right with me pursuing a career in making robots?  Even if it was unrealistic?”

“I don’t think it’s unrealistic,” said Lance.  “And even if it was, I’d at least let you give it a try while making sure you had useful skills for a backup job.”

“Like fixing cars?” suggested Arthur.

Lance nodded.  “Or cooking or child care.  Things that will always be in demand.”

“I’m not allowed near children,” said Arthur rather nervously.

“Why?”

Arthur’s eyes widened. “I, uh, I wasn’t…They didn’t…” Arthur trailed off.  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Fair enough.” Arthur would talk about it when he was ready.

“So, um, you want me to live with you?” asked Arthur.  Lance nodded.  “And you don’t mind me doing what I want as long as no one gets hurt?”  Lance nodded.  “Including working with robots when I grow up?”  Lance nodded.  “Even though we’ve never met.”  Lance nodded. “Just because we happen to be related.”

“It’s more than that,” said Lance.  “You need help.  Have needed help for a while from the sound of it, and no one would step up.  Now, a lot of people could help you.  Would you trust them?”  Arthur shook his head?  “Do you trust me?”  Arthur shook his head.  “Didn’t think so.  Can’t really blame ya either.  But I know a thing or two about our family.  Like the fact that’s your natural hair color.  Your family had a Knights of the Round Table naming theme.”  He gave Arthur a pointed look.  “That your old man had a short temper and refused to believe anything was his fault.”  Arthur winced.  “Yeah, and I bet the sort of people he fell in with were pretty similar to him.” Arthur nodded.  “That’s all the reason I need.”

Arthur looked down in thought for several moments before finally looking up and looking Lance in the eye.  “Okay. I’ll…I’ll try to make this work.”

Lance chuckled.  “That’s my line.”  He glanced towards Wanda, who gave him a nod and a smile.

The only problem was that she had no idea what happened.  They’d been on a road trip, on their way to…she couldn’t remember where. Some place rumored to be haunted of course.  Anyway, they’d been on their way to the location and then she’d been driving the van and Arthur and Sydney had been injured in the back and she had no idea what had happened between the two.

Vivi tried to figure out what had happened.  Something…They must have been attacked or something, and Arthur and Sydney had jumped forward to defend her and Mystery like they tended to do, but that didn’t make sense because Arthur tended to hang back when the threat was ephemeral, and Sydney was a long-range attacker.

Okay, maybe it was a physical attacker.  Arthur at the front, Sydney supporting from the back.  And they managed to get past Arthur’s defense and remove his arm, hard as that was to believe, and then ripped out Sydney’s eye.

Wait.  No.  The threat would have done more damage to Sydney if that was the case, and Vivi would’ve gotten hurt too because no way was she going to let anything hurt her two BFFs.

Different direction. It looked like Sydney’s eye had been ripped out of its socket.  So something got up close to her.  Still probably a physical threat because Vivi didn’t see how a metaphysical threat could get close enough to Sydney to do that.  Maybe it caught them by surprise and went for Sydney first, maybe considering her the biggest threat because of her powers.  Then Arthur tried to defend them and got hurt.  And Vivi did nothing?  That didn’t make any sense.  There’s no way Vivi would just sit back and let them do all the work!

Maybe she’d just somehow gotten really lucky?  Mystery seemed uninjured too though, and wouldn’t it make more sense for three of them to be injured if it was just luck?  Maybe they managed to get to the safe zone they set up, but how would Vivi drag both of them to the safe zone?

None of this made any sense!

Vivi took several deep breaths, relieved that the police were leaving her alone.  Let’s try this one more time.  Arthur missing an arm.  Sydney missing an eye.  No other injuries?  Hard to say. They’d both been covered in so much blood it would hide any other injuries.  Vivi and Mystery are both okay, if shaken and missing memories. Were Sydney and Arthur missing memories?  Sydney had certainly been confused so it seemed likely.  Maybe she could ask Sydney if she was still awake.

Except she couldn’t find Sydney anywhere.

Oh God.  Had Sydney had another serious injury Vivi had missed?  Vivi waved down a passing nurse.  “Excuse me, my friends, they were hurt really bad, and I can’t find Sydney.  She was-was missing her-”  She couldn’t finish.

The nurse seemed to catch on.  “She’s in the operating room.”

And Vivi slapped herself upside the head.  Of course she needed surgery!  Parts of her skull and optic nerve had been visible.  “Are Arthur and Sydney going to be all right?”  Vivi didn’t think she’d survive if they didn’t make it.

“Sydney should be fine.  Losing her eye is going to affect her for the rest of her life, but her life isn’t in any danger.  Arthur, the young man…?”  Vivi nodded. “He lost a lot of blood.  The doctors stabilized him, but it did a lot of damage.  We’ll just have to hope that he’s strong enough to pull through at this point.”

Vivi swallowed. “I…I see.  Thank you.  I-I need to call their families.  Excuse me.”

It had only just occurred to Vivi that she needed to call Lance and Sydney Senior.  She wasn’t looking forward to it.

Vivi took a few moments to pet Mystery and calm down and gather strength.  Then she dialed Sydney Senior’s number.  She kind of wanted to put off talking to Lance a bit more.

“Hello, Sydney Scoville Sr.  How can I be helping you?” asked Sydney Senior in a fake accent.

Vivi sobbed. “Mr. Scoville…”

“Vivi?”  All joviality disappeared from Sydney Senior’s voice.  “Is everything okay?”

Vivi shook her head. “No, no, there was some sort of…some sort of accident.  Arthur and Sydney were hurt really badly and I need you and Lance here.”

“Okay, okay, how bad is it?”

“Sydney’s eye is gone.”

“Her eye is gone?!”

“And Arthur’s arm is gone.”

“Bloody Hell, what the %@^%*&^ ^$**% happened?!”

“I-I don’t know.”

“How the (*)(&( do you not know how your friends lost their body parts?!”

Vivi sobbed.  “I don’t know.  I just remember being in the van, and then I was suddenly driving, and there was blood everywhere, and I found Arthur and Sydney and Mystery in the back, and I drove to the hospital.”

“Okay, okay, just tell me where you are, and I’ll get there as quickly as I can,” said Sydney Senior.

It took Vivi a moment to track down someone who could tell her the address.  As soon as she rattled it off, Sydney Sr hung up.  Vivi sniffled.  That had been bad.  Lance was probably going to be worse.  She needed a moment before dialing his number.

Lance took a few moments to answer.  “Kingsman Mechanics.”

“Lance, it’s Vivi.”

Lance was silent. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. I woke up in the van, and Arthur and Sydney were hurt, but I can’t remember how they got hurt or what happened at all, which doesn’t make any sense-”

“How bad is it?” interrupted Lance.

“Sydney lost an eye. Arthur lost an arm.  They’re in surgery.”  Vivi let out a wail.  “They don’t know if Arthur’s going to wake up!”

“That bad then. What about you and Lewis?”

Vivi’s brain skipped a painful beat.  “I’m okay.  I’m okay…”

“Good.  And Lewis?”

Vivi’s brain skipped a painful beat.  “What?”

“Is Lewis okay?” Vivi’s brain skipped a painful beat. “You didn’t mention him.”

“Didn’t mention…Are you talking about Mystery?”

“How did you get-I’m talking about Lewis!”

Vivi’s brain skipped a painful beat.  “Talking about who?”

“Lewis.”  Vivi’s brain skipped a painful beat.  “Your boyfriend.”

Vivi blinked. “I don’t have a boyfriend,” she said mechanically.

It took several moments for Lance to respond.  “How many people are in your ghost hunting club?”

“Three plus Mystery.”

Lance let out what Vivi suspected was a Gaelic curse.  “Vivi, you need to call your parents.  I’m going to call the Peppers.”

Vivi’s brain skipped a painful beat.  “I already called Sydney’s dad.”

“Good, now give me the address of the hospital slowly so I can write it down.”  Vivi had to say it a few times because she wanted to rattle it off too quickly for Lance to write it down.  “Got it.  I’ll close up the shop and drive down.”

“Great.”

“And we are going to have a very long talk once I get there,” said Lance, the threat of a promise in his voice.

Vivi swallowed. “Yes sir.”  This was going to end badly.

Now it was time for her parents.  She stared at it for a moment.  They’d warned her.  She hadn’t listened.  Why hadn’t she listened?  They’d known what they were talking about.  She knew they knew what they were talking about.  She still had chosen to ignore their lessons.

It took Mystery whining and pawing at her arm to get her to finish dialing the number.

“Hello, this is the Yukino residence,” greeted Serena.

Vivi let out a sob. “Mom.”

“Vivi?  Honey, what’s wrong?”

“I-I-”  Vivi took a shuddering breath.  “I think I got Arthur and Sydney hurt really bad…”

“Did you call their families?” asked Serena.

Vivi nodded before recalling that her mother couldn’t see it.  “Yes.  They’re not happy.”

“They’re just worried,” Serena reassured them.  “Now, do you know where you are?”

Vivi nodded and rattled off the hospital address for the third time that night.

“Okay, your father and I will be there as soon as we can,” said Serena.  “We’ll see if your grandmother can come as well.”

“Okay…”

“Until then, you kids take care of yourselves, and keep Mystery nearby at all times,” instructed Serena.

“Yes ma’am,” said Vivi.

“And remember, we love you.”

And then a couple of 6th graders sat at his table on the first day of school and spent the whole lunch speaking with him.  And they did it the next day, and the next, and the rest of the week.  Then the next week.  Then they started meeting before lunch started.  Then Lewis started bringing lunches for Arthur.  Then Sydney started bringing comics and videos for Arthur to borrow.

And Arthur realized that he wanted to spend more time with them.

That was kind of tricky though.  He spent most of his time after school learning from Mr. Yukino, and he didn’t really want to explain to Lewis and Sydney why he needed those lessons. They’d been so accepting so far, but he didn’t want to push them.

He guessed that they could maybe spend time with each other on the weekend, but he had no idea how to go about that.  He guessed they’d spend time at someone’s house, but he didn’t know how to ask. Would their parents be all right with a strange kid spending time at their house?

Arthur only had one person he was comfortable with asking.  “Vivi, how do you ask someone if they want to spend time with you?” he asked as soon as Mr. Yukino ended the religion lesson.

Vivi blinked and then grinned.  “Arthur! Did you make a friend?”

“Maybe.  Plural.”

Vivi squealed and gave him a hug.  “Oh, I’m so proud of you!  Talking to people and making friends!”

“They, uh, actually just sat at my table and wouldn’t leave,” admitted Arthur.

“But still, you talked to them.  You didn’t leave or turn them away,” reasoned Vivi.  “That’s wonderful!”

Arthur blushed. “I-thanks. I think?”

“So, what are they like?” asked Vivi.  “C’mon details!”

“They…their names are Lewis and Sydney.  They’re a boy and a girl.  Lewis is really tall.  Sydney’s small.  Sydney talks about pretty much anything.  Lewis adds to what she talks about.  Sydney really likes comics.  Lewis likes…Japanese cartoons.”

“Anime,” corrected Vivi.  “Some people really take offense at calling anime Japanese cartoons.”

“Do you?” asked Arthur.

“Normally, yes,” admitted Vivi.  “But you’re kind of a special case.  You didn’t even know anime was a thing until a few months ago.  Now, tell me more about these two.”

“Lewis likes cooking. Sometimes he’ll bring food for Sydney and I.  Sydney says he should use his free time to have some fun, but Lewis says cooking is fun. He has to cook separate dishes for Sydney because she’s a vegetarian.”  He grinned.  “Sydney isn’t a very good cook.”

Vivi took a moment to memorize and appreciate the rare smile on Arthur’s face.  “It sounds like you guys are getting close.  Do I need to be jealous?” she teased.

Arthur’s smile was instantly wiped away and replaced with panic.  “N-no!  You’re my friend still!  I just kind of want to be friends with them too!”

Vivi pat his back. “Relax.  I’m joking.  You can be friends with all three of us.”  She grinned.  “Actually, why don’t you bring them over here?”

“No!”  Vivi and Ben both jumped at Arthur’s shout.  He winced.  “No, not yet.  I’ll have to explain to them why I’m getting lessons from your dad, and I don’t want them to know about the…”  Arthur swallowed.  “It…It was a cult, wasn’t it?”

Whoa.  That was the first time Arthur had ever acknowledged he’d been in a cult.  At least around Vivi.  He looked like he was about to cry.  Vivi wrapped him up in a hug and rubbed his back for a bit.  “Hey, it’s okay.  You’re out of there.  You’re safe. Nobody has to know about what happened to you if you don’t want them to.”  She paused.  Actually, if he really wanted to be friends with these two, he would probably have to tell them eventually.  Maybe not now, maybe not even for a few years, but if Arthur didn’t want to lose their trust…he’d have to come clean.  But for now, it was way too soon.  “Is there any reason we can’t go to their houses or your uncle’s?”

Arthur sniffled. “There’s not room at the garage, and Uncle Lance will be working.  And I’m a stranger.  Their parents wouldn’t want me around their children without supervision, would they?”

Vivi chuckled. “Oh, Arthur, if that was an issue, no one would ever make any friends.”  Her father had left them alone after all.  “If it bothers you that much, you can ask if they want to meet up at the local arcade.  I’ve been meaning to take you there anyway.”

“That’s where they have a bunch of videogame machines that you have to pay to play, right?” asked Arthur.

“Pretty much. Don’t worry.  It’s pretty cheap,” reassured Vivi.

“Uncle Lance has been giving me…he called it an allowance.  I don’t know why he’s giving me money.”

“Eh, some people make their kids do chores in exchange for spending money, and some just give ‘em money,” explained Vivi.  “He might change that once you get more comfortable living with him and have more free time.  Or if you really misbehave, but I can’t imagine you doing something bad enough to lose allowance privileges.”

“Um, well, I have money for that.”  Honestly, Arthur hadn’t used any of the money Uncle Lance had been giving him.  He didn’t have anything in particular he wanted to buy, and Uncle Lance was supplying him with everything he needed.

Vivi nodded. “Okay, so, just ask Lance for permission since you’ll have to go on the weekend or skip a class.  Then ask Sydney and Lewis if they want to hang out outside of school.”

Arthur bit his lip. “What if they say no?”

“What if they say yes?” countered Vivi.  “You gotta at least try.”

Arthur swallowed. “Right.  You’re right.  I’ll…I’ll talk to them about it.”

 Arthur brought it up the next day before he could lose his nerve.  “I want to hang out with you guys after school, but I don’t know if you’re allowed to have strangers over so we could go to an arcade, and maybe my other friend Vivi could come with us?”

Sydney and Lewis blinked at Arthur.  “Wow, you talked even faster than me just now,” commented Sydney.

“Oh, uh, should I say it again?” asked Arthur.  He wasn’t actually sure he could though…

“That’s okay.  I think I got it,” said Lewis.  He turned to Sydney.  “Would you mind?”

“Nope, but how would that work?”

Lewis winced. “We’ll have to go to my house because I look after my little sister for my parents,” he explained.  “I guess we could go to the arcade during the weekend if Sydney’s mom or dad wouldn’t mind looking after Belle.”

“Oh, no, that’s okay! I don’t mind going to your house,” said Arthur.

Lewis chuckled nervously.  “Um, yeah, that’s, uh, because you don’t know.  I live in a former funeral home.”

Arthur blinked. “Oh.”

“That’s got a cemetery right behind it,” continued Lewis.

“Oh…”  Arthur was starting to get a bit nervous.

“It’s haunted,” interjected Sydney.

“The house or the cemetery?” asked Arthur.

Sydney nodded. “Yes.”

Lewis chuckled nervously.  “I’ve lived there since I was a little kid, and Sydney’s been coming over for almost as long.  It’s perfectly safe,” he reassured Arthur.  “It just makes some people uncomfortable.”

Arthur nodded. Just hearing about it was making him uncomfortable.  Plus, what sort of effect would he have on the haunting?  What if he attracted something nasty?  Or made the ghosts already there violent?

Sydney noticed the subject was bothering Arthur and clapped a hand on his shoulder.  “Don’t worry.  I’ll protect you from the ghosts,” she promised.

Lewis nodded. “The ghosts are less active when Sydney’s around for some reason.  We don’t know why.”

Sydney leaned in close to Arthur.  “I think they’re scared of me,” she whispered conspiratorially.

Arthur blinked and studied Sydney.  She was smaller than usual, skinny, no muscle tone, had a large pair of glasses, and pretty much no attention span.  She wasn’t that scary unless you were afraid of talking to people.  Actually, she was kind of adorable when she wasn’t being overwhelming.

She’d definitely take offense to that.

“I…”  Arthur took a deep breath.  “Vivi likes ghosts,” he admitted.

“Oh, right Vivi. You’ve mentioned her a few times,” said Lewis.  “She’s a few years older, right?”

“She’s 14,” clarified Arthur.

“Okay, that might be a bit iffy,” admitted Lewis.  “But I’ll ask my parents if she can come too.  I’ll let you know what they say.”

Sydney’s hand shot into the air.  “And I’ll bring videogames and comics and videos and DVDs!  Maybe we’ll find something new you like!”

Arthur nodded. “Right…Thank you.”  He couldn’t quite bring himself to say how much it meant to him.

The next day he and the Scovilles went to the hospital.  Lewis stared at the door, his stomach doing flip flops.  Sydney slipped her hand into his and gave it a reassuring squeeze.  Her dad pushed the door open.

Savina was lying in the hospital bed, holding a pink bundle, Frigg by her side.  Both were grinning.  Lewis swallowed.

“Lewis, come over here,” asked Frigg.

Lewis did so automatically.  Then Savina was slipping Belle into his arms and Frigg was arranging Lewis’ arms so that he was supporting Belle’s head along with holding her.  Lewis froze up and stared at the tiny newborn in his arms.

Sydney peered at Belle.  “I’m not the smallest anymore!”

Lewis let out a laugh. Belle wiggled and let out a cry. Lewis panicked and tried bouncing her a bit.  She seemed to calm down.

“How come she’s wearing little gloves?” asked Sydney.

“Because her nails are thin enough that she could accidentally cut her skin with them,” explained Savina.

Sydney and Lewis both shuddered.  “That’s scary,” said Sydney.  She poked at one of Belle’s gloved hands.  Said hand grabbed at her finger.  “Babies actually do that?”

Lewis continued to study Belle.  She was…smaller than he would have thought.  Do people really start off this small?  And her skin was a shade of pink he wasn’t expecting.  She was breathing quietly as she slept.

She really was completely helpless.  More so than Lewis could ever remember being.

And Lewis felt a sudden surge of protectiveness towards the newest Pepper.

Sydney was hunched over Arthur and rapidly trying to wrap bandages from the first aid kit around where Arthur’s left arm used to be while Mystery was whimpering nearby.  Vivi vaulted over the chairs.  “What happened?!”

“I-I don’t know,” slurred Sydney.  “I’m just here but I wasn’t here, and I dunno how I got from there to here.”

Vivi ripped off her scarf and quickly wrapped it around Arthur’s chest and injury.  Vivi knew it wasn’t clean, but it was a lot more effective.  “What’s going on?!  What happened?!” demanded Vivi.

“I dunno,” murmured Sydney.

Vivi was about ready to demand Sydney try and remember when she noticed blood dripping off Sydney’s face.  The blood pattern on Sydney’s shirt indicated contact transfer rather than being sprayed by the blood.  There shouldn’t be enough of Arthur’s blood to be dripping off of her.  “Sydney, are you okay?”

“…My face hurts,” muttered Sydney, finally looking up.

Vivi nearly lost her lunch (dinner?) when she saw that Sydney’s right eye was gone, and whatever had removed it had made a mess as the skin around the area was badly torn up. Vivi swore she could see bone and even something that she suspected was Sydney’s optic nerve.  “Holy shit!”

Sydney blinked. “Is it bad?”

Vivi chose not to answer, instead ripping open a clean package of gauze, pressing it to the injury, managing to slap a bit of tape on it, and pressing Sydney’s hand to it. “Press down on that!”

Sydney blinked and glanced at Arthur.  “But what about…”

“Try to keep pressure on him too!”  God, Arthur was so pale, and he was barely bleeding.  Was there any blood left in his body?

Vivi studied the man for a moment.  He looked pretty tough even though he wasn’t that much taller than her.  His body shape sort of reminded Vivi of how dwarves were often portrayed in fantasy series.  Plus she was pretty sure that was a wrestling championship belt he was wearing.  Also, his hair was pretty cool looking.  Orange and yellow with some black thrown in.  It even extended to his beard.  “Hi mister!”

He glanced over the top of his magazine.  “Hey.” Was that an accent she heard?

“I haven’t seen you before.  Are you new?”

“Nah.  Just prefer to keep to myself,” said the man.

He definitely had an accent.  There were some elements of the typical southern accent a good portion of Tempo had, but it also had a lilt that she hadn’t heard from anyone else local. Vivi wondered if she could figure it out if they talked some more.  If not, maybe after a bit of talking she would be able to ask without coming off as rude.  “I’m Vivi. Who’re you?”

“Lance.”

She got a name! “Did you schedule the private lesson?” asked Vivi.  “Dad doesn’t get many of those.”

Lance was silent. “My nephew needs some help.”

That caught Vivi’s attention.  Nephew, not son.  Was said nephew just visiting?  Or was this a permanent situation?  Was it a recent change or had it been like this for a while?  Was there a way to ask without being nosy?  “What’s his name?”

“Arthur.”

Vivi giggled. “Like the king.”

Lance groaned. “Yeah.  The king.”  Huh? Sore point?

A loud thump came from the dojo.  Vivi looked in that direction in surprise.  Wow, what were they doing in there?  Vivi glanced towards Lance and saw him looking in the same direction with a furrowed brow.  Was he worried?

Ben suddenly sat up and looked towards the dojo doors right before they were opened by Hiro. Vivi’s greeting died on her tongue when she noticed that A: He was bleeding, and B: He looked furious. “Dad?”

Hiro’s eyes darted to her before turning his attention to Lance.  “Why does your nephew know how to kill?”

Vivi’s mouth dropped open.  Lance winced, but didn’t seem too shocked.  “That bad?”

“He just…If that knife had been real…”  Hiro frowned and started pressing down on his head wound with a sigh.  “Were you even aware?”

Lance glanced at Vivi. “I only know what I told you before.”

Feeling curious, Vivi peered past her father and into the dojo.  Inside was a boy a bit younger than her who was clearly related to Lance. He was hunched in on himself and looked like he was about to have a panic attack.  He didn’t look like a killer.  He looked like a scared kid.

Ben stood and walked into the dojo.  “Ben?” Ben walked over to the boy, Arthur, and sniffed him.  Arthur blinked and held out a hand.  Ben licked Arthur’s hand before Arthur started petting him.  Vivi debated for a moment before following Ben into the dojo. Arthur stopped petting Ben and looked up at her with wide eyes.  Vivi waved. “Hey.”

“Hi,” said Arthur.

“So…You live with your uncle?”  Arthur nodded.  “I’m kind of surprised you managed to land a hit on my dad.  He’s pretty tough.  Must be getting old.”  Speaking of which, she could hear the two men talking in hushed tones that she couldn’t quite make out.

Arthur looked a bit uncomfortable.  “I didn’t mean to!” he said, an accent similar to his uncle’s coloring the words.

Vivi blinked. “Oh, did you mess up a move?  I do that all the time.”  She huffed.  “I just can’t seem to move correctly when I try to copy what Dad shows me.  I guess I’m just not suited for fighting.”

“You’re lucky,” muttered Arthur.

Vivi blinked. “Huh?”

Hiro walked back in, pressing some gauze to his head.  “Vivi, please step out so Arthur and I may continue the lesson.”

“Can I watch?” asked Vivi.

“Yes, you can. No, you may not,” responded Hiro.

Vivi pouted at her father’s grammar correction and walked back outside with Ben on her heels. Hiro closed the door behind her. Vivi huffed and sat down near Lance. The silence was awkward so she turned towards him.  “So, where did Arthur learn to fight anyway?”

Lance gave her a look. “That’s personal.”

“Okay.” Something about Lance just made it clear that was settled.  “So, where’s Arthur’s parents?”

“Not here.” Once again Lance somehow made Vivi not want to pursue the subject even though she wanted to know.

It was like some sort of mundane super power.

“You guys have pretty cool hair,” commented Vivi.  “How do you get it like that?”

“Gel.”

Vivi waited. Lance didn’t go into detail. “Wait.  That color’s natural?!”

“Yeah.”

How did that even work?!  She guessed the orange to yellow could be the color fading somewhat, but what about the bits that were black?  Especially the end of his beard?  How do you even go from orange to black naturally?  Vivi thought that sort of thing only showed up naturally in anime.

…Actually considering some of the anime hair people came up with, this was pretty tame.  Vivi fingered her own black hair.

Her family’s hair turned blue when their power awakened.  Her father died his hair black to avoid questions simply because he didn’t think he had the personality that would make dying his hair blue believable.  Her Obaa-san’s hair had turned gray before Vivi was born.

Vivi wanted blue hair. She didn’t like the way black hair looked on her, didn’t like how it looked with her clothes.  “I’m thinking of dying my hair blue,” she randomly said to Lance.  Lance gave a grunt in response.  “It’s kind of annoying how limited hair color is in humans, don’t you think?  Mostly black and brown.  Some red and orange and yellow.  I think it would add more color…More eye colors would be nice too. We have more eye colors than hair colors, but it’s still mostly brown I think.  Some blue.  Some green. Hazel.  Gray or purple if you’re lucky.  I guess red if you’re albino.  No orange or…”  She trailed off.  “Actually, your eyes look kind of orange.  Maybe those are just super rare too…”

“Pops up in the family,” said Lance as way of explanation.

Did Arthur have orange eyes too?  Vivi made a note to check when he came out of the dojo because she was definitely sticking around for that.

“So what do you do?” asked Vivi.

“Car mechanic.”

“Oh!”  A couple of things snapped into place in Vivi’s head. “Kingsman Mechanics!”

She’d never been there.  Tempo was just big enough to have three garages.  Two were big chain garages that you could find anywhere.  The last was Kingsman mechanics, which everyone preferred to the other two.  It was a bit out of the way and owned by the only employee, but the work was second to none, and the owner (Lance if Vivi was right.) was willing to do payment plans that other places wouldn’t consider.  Was apparently willing to barter to an extent if someone was in a tight spot.  Even had a junkyard behind the shop that Vivi could only assume was for scavenging or something.  When her father needed to have the car’s oil changed, he’d schedule at Kingsman Mechanics if he could get an appointment and they weren’t too busy.  The way he’d described the owner, he was shorter than most, muscular, no nonsense, practical, and Scottish.

Huh, so his accent must be a combination of Southern and Scottish.  No wonder it was so unusual.  “What got you into cars?”

“…Seemed like a waste of money to buy a car when I could fix one up for myself.”  Lance shrugged.  “Turned out I liked fixing up cars.”

Vivi nodded. “Yeah, it’s lucky to get a job you enjoy.”  She huffed. “I know what I wanna do, but I’ll probably have to get a second job or something.”  Paranormal investigating wouldn’t pay all the bills.

At this point, Baa-san suddenly appeared, walked over, and plopped several ofuda on Lance’s leg. “Put those on your windows. They’ll repel negative spirits.” Lance raised an eyebrow as Baa-san walked back into the house.

Vivi was more surprised by how many ofuda Baa-san had given Lance.  Why would he need that many so suddenly?  If he’d never needed them before…

Unless they weren’t for him.

“What exactly does your grandmother do for a living?” asked Lance.

“She’s a former miko, Japanese shrine maiden, a sort of priestess,” explained Vivi.  “Ofuda are…sort of like charms for luck or protection.”  Vivi took a closer look.  “Like Baa-san said, these are for repelling negative spirits that might try to hurt you. Kind of surprised she just came over and gave them to you.  Usually she asks a bit more about what’s going on.”  Actually, now that Vivi was looking closer, she could see these were ofuda that Baa-san had made, not Vivi, which would make them stronger than what they usually gave out.  “Are you being followed around by something nasty?”

Lance glanced toward the dojo.  Something to do with Arthur?  Lance looked back at Vivi.  “What exactly does your family do?”

“Well, like I said my Baa-san is a former miko, but still does little things out of habit. Dad is a theology teacher at the community college and teaches martial arts.  Mom’s a psychologist.”  Vivi grinned. “But we also occasionally do paranormal investigations.  Not a lot though.  Not much happens in Tempo.”

“Uh huh.”  Lance studied the ofuda for another few moments before stuffing them in his pocket.  So he was keeping them!  “Any other way to keep away ghosts?”

Vivi grinned. “Having a priest bless your house usually helps.  So does burning sage while praying.  Some places sell sage bundled into sticks specifically for that purpose.”

“Hm.”  Lance looked down for several moments.

Vivi opened her mouth to try and ask Lance if anything odd had been going on at his house, but Ben headbutted her in the stomach.  She huffed and gave him a look.  He just yawned.

“Does your dad give religion lessons?” asked Lance.

Vivi blinked. “What?  At home?”  Lance nodded. “I don’t know.  He already has his lectures at the college.”  What did religion have to do with seemingly unnecessary defense lessons and a possible haunting?  “You could probably sit in on Dad’s classes for free if you don’t care about getting credits.”

“It’s not for me.”

Wow, what was up with Arthur?  Before Vivi could ask, the dojo door opened.  Her dad walked out, Arthur following a moment later.  “That’s it for today.  Lessons will be Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.  The lessons on Saturday will be longer since school will not be an issue.”

Arthur looked at her dad in surprise.  Lance nodded. “Thanks.  Was getting worried I wouldn’t anyone.  Any chance you could teach him theology or something?”

Hiro blinked, frowned, and studied Arthur.  Arthur looked away, grasping at his arm.  Hiro nodded. “That might not be a bad idea. Can you bring Arthur after school on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays?”

Lance nodded. “I’ll make it work. Somehow.”  He gestured turned, gesturing for Arthur to follow him. Arthur gave the Yukinos one last confused, lost look before leaving as well.

“What was that about?” asked Vivi.

Hiro sighed. “Arthur has had a rough life.  He needs a lot of help if he wants a chance at living normally.”  He turned to Vivi.  “Would you mind sitting in on the theology lessons?  It might help him if someone his age is present.”

An opportunity to figure out what’s going on?  “Sure.”

“And don’t try to push Arthur for answers.  He’s nowhere near ready,” continued Hiro.