A/N: I scrapped my last fic bc I lost interest in it UvU;; please don't hate me. Anywho, since then I've got the entirety of the plot sorted for BBBF, and now it's just a case of writing it. Between doing that, I've got this new fic for y'all. I've got a thing for creepy fics, supernatural shiz and all that. Having replayed Beyond Two Souls a few weeks ago, it's inspired me to write this, so if the idea seems a bit similar, it's because its a bit similar. Think of this as Arthur's imaginary thing going on, but a horror version. Sounds cool, eh? ;D So yep, enjoy whilst I get off my butt to continue BBBF! Much love~

Arthur held the flashlight tightly, gingerly stepping out of his bedroom through the small crack between the door and the wall. When darkness engulfed him, he quickly turned it on and shone it around the hallway. A chill crawled up his spine as he crept down the landing and down the stairwell. The house was small, but to an eight year old boy, it was surely huge. Arthur slid into the kitchen, eyes trained on wherever the light from the torch fell, not daring to glance anywhere else.

He walked up to the sink and procured a small glass from the cupboard beside it, and filled it with water after getting a small chair to be able to reach the taps. He turned the one tap off, before jumping back as a sudden noise resonated through the house. He whirled around, flashlight and glass in hand, eyes following the quivering rays until they stopped at the small coffee table he could see from the adjoined living room. A lone mug on the table tipped over and the lamp in the corner of the room flickered. A scream ripped from his throat when a towering figure manifested before him, clouded in a swirling black mist. The glass in his hand fell to the floor and shattered as Arthur's grip around the flashlight tightened whilst he attempted to aim it directly at the demon lunging around him. Demons hated the light, at least that he knew. As the light fell on the demon, there was a high pitched screeching and wailing before it evaporated and the lights stopped flickering.

Arthur sat on the floor, tears beginning to roll down his cheeks while the lights in the kitchen and hall turned on and his parents came thundering down the stairs. His mother was by his side in a fraction of a second, her arms winding around her fragile and sobbing son. Arthur saw over her shoulder his father standing a few feet away, surveying the mess of the rooms and casting one look at Arthur. The boy could not read the expression in his father's eyes, but knew it was not a good one.

It took at least three quarters of an hour before he could return to bed with a new glass of water in hand.

Seven Years Later

"Are you sure you haven't forgotten anything, love?"

"Yes, I'm positive." Arthur sighed, turning away from the car to face his mother. "I'll be fine."

His mother looked tired. Her hair was beginning to turn grey, and her face seemed dull. The smile she wore was effective, but it was fake. Even Arthur could see that. Nevertheless, he embraced his mother in a tight hug. He'd likely not see her for a few years from now. When they parted, he sighed again, eyes trained on the old house behind them. He glanced at his mother.

"Send him my best wishes, won't you?" he murmured, knowing they'd both know who he was talking about. At his mother's nod, he sighed once more. "I'll miss you."

"And I you," she said quietly. "Get your degrees, a nice job. A house, the works. Make us proud of you."

Arthur hummed resolutely, but then seemed hesitant. "About... him... I-I don't know if-"

"Listen to yourself, sweetheart. We've been over this; I told you this academy is the best of the best. There's a faculty for everything, even dealing with supernatural phenomena."

"I just don't want to end up as an experiment." Arthur muttered, glaring at the ground. He kicked his shoes against the cobbles. "God knows what the students will conclude about the whole thing."

"I thought you weren't going to tell them?"

"They'll think something is up eventually, so I guessed it would be worth telling any friends straight away."

The woman nodded, pursing her lips and dropping her gaze. "Don't get into trouble, love. I know things have been rough these past years, but it's for the best."

Arthur thought against sighing. "I know."

"Whatever you do, don't let anyone try to take charge over you."

"I know."

"And especially not Silas."

Arthur smiled, despite himself. "Especially not Silas. You know he wouldn't hurt me."

"Nevertheless, you've had some scrapes since you were a baby. You didn't know about Silas until you were eleven."

"I didn't acknowledge Silas until I was eleven." Arthur said evenly.

From the corner of his eye, he could see the clouds darkening in the sky. He should get going if he was going to reach the academy before the afternoon wore into evening. He regarded his mother, a tiny smile on his lips, and he bade her a quiet farewell, before slipping into his car and ignoring the tears prickling behind his eyes. As he started up the engine, his mother came to the window and tapped on the glass. Arthur rolled down the window.

"Yes?"

"Arthur, love..."

He held his breath, hands tightening around the steering wheel. His mother blinked and a tear dripped down her face. She wore a wavering smile.

"Be careful."

With a tight throat, Arthur nodded and rolled up the window again, intent on not looking back. But as he drove out of the cul-de-sac, his eyes drifted to the rear-view mirror, where he saw his father exiting the house and coming to stand beside his mother. That was the last he saw of his parents, his house, and his old life.

Arthur glanced at his watch with a flick of his wrist, distantly grateful that the rain had since ended before he had parked in the lot beside the campus. His fingers tapped against the steering wheel and his eyes flickered back and forth between the academy and his suitcases. He was on edge. When he mother had gotten into contact with the academy, she had only asked about a spiritual faculty and not explained exactly why. Arthur assumed people would think he was crazy the moment he attempted to explain his predicament. He counted the seconds that passed, following the needle-thin hand on his watch.

A sensation of some sort of comfort passed through him and he sighed.

"Silas, not now..."

Arthur bit back a sound of surprise when the car door to his right swung open and one of his two suitcases rolled out. He groaned inwardly.

"You're already making me look like a psycho! Not today, Silas, please..."

A tired sigh escaped him as he had no choice but to exit his car and procure his two suitcases, one from the floor and the other from the passenger seat. With both in hand, he made his way out of the parking lot and towards the campus. He'd been told upon his application being received that he would go straight to a department, based on the subjects he chose. Having chosen English literature, music, history, and parapsychology, he was obviously intent on visiting the parapsychology department. Arthur was incredibly grateful that this academy was varied and most certainly one of a kind. He'd heard about parapsychology before and had never expected to find a place of education to offer courses. He'd learned that the students had worked to get the subject into the curriculum, and he would be sure to constantly thank them for that fact.

Arthur hovered about the gates, looking apprehensively up at the huge World Academy, the prestigious school where students from all over the world came to study from a range of courses. There was no other place like it. Arthur wasn't sure whether that comforted him or concerned him. He closed his eyes briefly.

Silas, find out where the parapsychology building is.

Arthur could see through a distorted viewpoint, blurred and somewhat miscoloured. The students wandering about the campus were disfigured and there were black and blue mists dotting the scene. Arthur grimaced, but let his face soften when it interfered with what he could see through Silas. No matter where Arthur went, the demons and spirits would always be following suit.

Silas pulled him throughout the campus, winding around buildings and under small bridges and over passing students, until he stopped before a short but long grey building. Arthur quickly measured the distance in his head. He would only have to pass the science and language departments to reach that building. He opened his eyes, taking a moment to regain his normal sight and clear the agitating sensations clouding his brain. He pushed through the gates and hauled his baggage behind him, aware of the high pitched, almost unnoticeable wailings of the demons a while away.

He knocked on the door thrice, and it almost immediately flew open. A blonde man stood in the doorway, the trace of a smile on his tanned face. He donned a pair of goggles over thin-framed glasses, which looked quite comical. Arthur resisted the urge to laugh and instead stuck his hand out.

"Arthur Kirkland, sophomore. I was told to come to a department of my choice on arriving?"

"Yeah, dude, heard about you. Come on in, I'll show you around."

Arthur watched the American whirl on his heels and practically glide down the hallway, not looking whether the sophomore was following or not, until he halted at the double doors at one side and waved him over.

"Well don't stand there looking like a lost soul," he paused here to laugh at the irony. "Hurry up. Name's Alfred by the way. Alfred Jones. Come on."

Arthur stared incredulously after Alfred as he pushed through the double doors before making a noise of resolution and walking down the hall. He corned into the room where Alfred was waiting, and was not surprised to see a huge laboratory-like room, filled with desks and stools and technical equipment and advanced technology. It seemed quite daunting, but Arthur shook off his worry, seeing as Silas was attempting to do the same. He made his way over to Alfred, who was still waiting beside one of the desks that was cluttered with binders and papers.

"So, newbie, huh?"

"So it seems."

"How come you chose the parapsychology course?"

Arthur glanced around the room and saw at least ten other students milling around other desks and on computers. Everything looked rather technical in this room. He looked back to Alfred, who suddenly seemed hesitant with a slightly wavering smile.

"Y'alright, buddy? I know the other students felt a bit queasy when they first walked in here, but-"

"No, it's nothing like that. Just the reason why I chose the course." Arthur began unsurely.

"It's fine. I can guarantee I've heard stranger reasons." Alfred said in an attempt to reassure him.

Arthur heard a low rumbling sound from somewhere behind him, and was thankful that nobody else could hear it too. He sent a quick glance over his shoulder towards where he imagined Silas would be.

Silas, be quiet. You're not helping at all.

With a sigh, he took on a guarded expression. "I... There's... An entity."

When he saw that Alfred's neutral expression had turned to calm awe, he swallowed and continued, although with no less hesitance.

"An entity that is bound to me. I can... I can see through his vision, you see... He's called Silas."

"Silas?" Alfred echoed. "Why Silas? How do you... y'know, know he's there? How'd you know he's real?"

Arthur had long since learned these were likely questions of curiosity and not a way of expressing disbelief. He shrugged one shoulder and his gaze flicked up to somewhere in the air.

"I called him that when I was eleven. He makes these sounds that nobody else can hear. I imagine it's at a much higher or lower frequency that still sounds normal to me because I've adapted to it. As for knowing he's real, I can't quite say. There are also demons and spirits, poltergeists and what have you that follow me."

Glad that Alfred seemed immensely interested and not pulling a face that he knew meant he was crazy, Arthur waved his hands around in a mindless gesture.

"I chose the parapsychology course because I assumed the studies and experiments would help me understand Silas and the other spirits and where they come from."

Arthur did not know what he expected Alfred to do then, but it wasn't for him to remain silent as a serious expression spread across his face. "You know in the years any school or college has been open for, we've never dealt with this kind of thing? This is... this is a big thing, man. Like, super big! I mean, we have the equipment we need, but we don't have anything along the lines of what I've just heard about. Starting tomorrow, we have to find out more. Investigations, research, the works! You're a major opportunity, Arthur."

This was the exact opposite of what I wanted. I don't want to be an experiment.

"I don't want to be an experiment. This might be work for you, but it's my life."

"No, no, no, no, listen. We could help you, Arthur. And you could help us. We've got billions to spend on research here, and we can do things for the benefit of each other. Just a small team, y'know? Us, and two other guys I know in the faculty." Alfred began gesturing wildly, but no words continued to come out of his mouth.

"You're missing the point, Alfred. I wanted this course to research by myself about this... this thing, the concept of... whatever it is I'm stuck with. I didn't come here to be stuck in labs, wired up to computers and doing experiments against my will." he muttered indignantly.

Alfred shook his head. "Arthur, we can't do anything without the research that you're talking about. For the most part, it'll just be us, yeah? We'll do great work together. It won't be a worldwide deal, you know? But this could go towards documents in the department. We'll just pen you down as anonymous."

"It's not that simple." Arthur sighed.

"Well, parapsychology isn't simple. But you've got first-hand experience with this Silas entity thing. This could be a whole new project. Is there anything I can do to convince you?"

"Promise me there won't be formal investigations involved and that you won't harm Silas."

"I wasn't planning on anything of the sort. Now, I guess you wanna get to your dorm and unpack? Lucky, cos you're rooming with me. C'mon."

Arthur, saying nothing else, followed Alfred out of the building.

When Alfred and Arthur came to their dorm, the Englishman was almost stupefied to see piles of books at the foot of one bed, some shoved haphazardly into the nearby bookshelf, but most on the floor. He glanced questioningly at Alfred.

"I was told you're a book guy, so... I got all my ancient books from my family home and brought 'em here." he said, his face flushing lightly.

Arthur looked back at the bookshelf and smiled slightly. He decided to leave the thoughts of the parapsychology department and its research alone for now, to appreciate the gesture. He wheeled his suitcases to the side of his bed and began opening them and putting away his clothes and few belongings he had brought from home. Alfred closed the door and hovered around by his side of the dorm, absentmindedly cleaning away textbooks and a small microscope.

When Arthur had put the last of his things away, he settled himself on the edge of his bed. He glanced out the window at the darkening sky and sighed.

"You alright?"

He looked at Alfred, who was lounging in a swivel chair by a desk in the corner of the room. He nodded. "Fine. So, what courses have you chosen?"

"Me? Well, parapsychology obviously. I also took sports and fitness, but only because my dad really wanted me to be a star soccer player, y'know? The other two are neuroscience and psychology, and molecular, cell and systems biology."

Arthur made a hum of approval and nodded. "That must provide you with mountains of studies, I assume."

"Yeah, I guess on a bad day. But since I took the sports courses too, I can work off stress and frustration without accidentally punching someone, y'know?" he laughed.

Arthur smiled. "Mm."

"What about you? What else d'you do?"

"English literature, history and music."

"Whoa, music? What'd you play, like a violin or something fancy?"

"You're lucky I'll take that as nothing but curiosity and not as an offensive assumption."

"Ah, but you acknowledged the offensive assumption option." Alfred added cheekily.

Arthur ignored him. "I play guitar."

"Really? That's cool. I used to go to lessons in elementary school, but I gave up because I was too lazy to remember all the notes."

"But you're not lazy enough to remember advanced science?"

"Eh, there's a difference. My brain works around facts and stuff you can rely on rather than things you change up and around whenever you want."

"I suppose that's a sensible way of looking at it."

"And I'm guessing you're all about sensibility, huh?"

"Correct."

"Typical. You're just like my brother. All work and no fun."

"Sounds like he's all belt and braces. Who is this brother of yours?"

"Matthew Williams. Technically half-brother, but that's never really acknowledged. He's part Canadian from his mother, y'know? All maple syrup and moose."

"That sounds awfully stereotypical."

"Can't deny it though, he pours that weird sugary stuff over everything. The moose part ain't true, obviously. If it were, we'd be a bit concerned."

Arthur smiled, but it vanished when the pillow beside him was suddenly strung across the room. It landed on Alfred's bed, who narrowly avoided being hit. He gave Arthur a shocked look, but he only went over to retrieve the pillow.

"The hell was that?" Alfred said shakily.

"Silas gets temperamental when I don't pay him attention." Arthur responded automatically, throwing the pillow back onto his own bed.

"Really? I don't know if that's cool or worrying. So... so Silas is here right now?"

As Arthur resumed his position on his bed, Alfred began looking around the room as if to see Silas as an actual figure right behind him. The Brit watched him until he looked back at him.

"He is."

"Can you like... tell him to do stuff?"

"I don't usually, but I can."

"Can you?"

Arthur leaned back on his bed against the wall with his knees drawn up to his chest. For a moment he closed his eyes. Through Silas' body he saw Alfred in a distorted way, but still he floated over to him and around him. Through Arthur's mental processes, Silas gently pushed against Alfred's back, although the force was doubled when the American shot off of his bed and held his back protectively. Arthur's eyes snapped open after telling Silas to leave him be.

"Was that you?!" Alfred demanded, eyes wide.

"Partly."

"That was... unexpected." he said slowly, looking around again. He began wandering about the room. "Does it get cold where Silas is?"

"Or warm, depending on what's happened. I imagine it'd be a warm spot about now. He's right here, at the end of the bed."

Alfred gingerly held out his arm as he crept towards where Arthur had motioned to. His face contorted into a combination of awe and worry as he felt a warm sensation swirling around his arm. Arthur watched from his spot on the bed, a tiny smile playing about his lips. Alfred drew his arm back, staring at it as if it were a foreign object.

"That is so cool. Hey, can other people communicate with him?"

"I imagine you've seen Ghost Adventures or something along those lines. Try talking to him like that. Just... not demanding or demeaning, if you can."

Alfred backed up to his bed again and looked around. "Hey Silas? If you're listening to me, can you... can you move something?"

Both the green and blue set of eyes focused on a pencil pot sliding a little down the desk behind them. Alfred smiled, and drummed his fingers along his bed in thought.

"Wow, this is so cool..." he muttered. "Um... Silas, if I ask you questions, can you knock on the desk for yes or no?"

A small knock on the desk.

"One for yes, two for no."

One knock.

Arthur watched as Alfred spent at least half an hour talking with Silas, still looking like he was amazed by the whole concept. Honestly, even Arthur was amazed by the whole concept, even after fifteen years. Soon enough, Alfred asked an inevitable question.

"Do you like me, Silas?"

There was a pause in the tapping on the wood. For a second, Alfred's face fell, but then there came a single knock, stronger than the rest. Alfred had a huge smile on his face as he looked at Arthur.

"He likes me!"

The Brit smiled. "Yes, I had figured. But it's getting late now. Maybe all three of us would like to catch up on sleep?"

Alfred, not being able to resist one more question, turned back to the desk. "Silas, we'll carry on talking tomorrow, right?"

One knock, and Alfred laughed happily. Both of them did their routines in the bathroom before Arthur was the last to settle into his bed, blanket drawn up to his chin. He saw Alfred opposite leaning over to the lamp between them, but Arthur cleared his throat.

"Alfred, you know how I said earlier that demons and such follow me wherever I go? They despise the light, so if you could possibly-"

"Nah, bro, I got you. Mattie used to sleep with the light on anyway. I'll see you in the morning, Arthur."

Arthur hummed in response and closed his eyes. The last thing he acknowledged was Silas making a warning sound to the demons gathered outside the door.