Note: Kicking it off! The title fic song is Flaws by Bastille, I recommend listening to the songs that I title the fics after, because unlike the lyric fragments I use to title the chapters, the fic songs actually carry the weight and feel of the fic's theme within the whole of their lyrics, so if you want to get a feel for what the fic will be like, listen to the song! CHAPTER title excerpted from You're Not Alone by Erutan.

…...

Lewis drifted restlessly over the tops of the bookcases, keeping one eye on the door. Mystery had herded Kay and Arthur to a separate room so Lewis could manifest. Neither had spoken, and their silence gnawed at Lewis. Arthur's eyes were flat, devoid of the gleam that accompanied the planning and scheming Lewis had come to mark as normal over the past few days, and Kay's jerky movements struck him as more bird-like than human. Teles had followed them, not acknowledging Dulcie.

After insisting Vivi-chan would find them when she had everything settled, Chloe had wedged herself behind the front desk, resting out of sight on the floor with Dulcie curled up against her flank. Neither had moved much since, and Lewis assumed they slept.

"Lewis-sempai?"

Obviously Chloe hadn't quite drifted off. Lewis settled on top of the foreign fiction section. "Yeah, Chloe?"

She nibbled her lower lip, a subtle movement greatly exaggerated by her massive muzzle so that she nearly chomped on it as she hedged, "You knew me once, didn't you?"

"Of course. Nobody got me my Sailor Moon merch faster." He cranked up a grin.

"I mean before I was a girl."

"Oh." He stared down at his knees. "Yeah. I guess I did."

"Can you tell me about that?"

Lewis flickered, his face giving way to a skull. "It was a bad time. If you can't remember it, you're lucky."

"But I do. I mean, not all of it. Little bits, and only in certain times. Like when you brushed my coat and tried to get me to eat Stir-Fry-A-La-Honey. When you did that and talked like you did, I felt safer, like you had said that to me a hundred times before while doing the same thing."

Lewis didn't respond.

"And when Arthur-sama was burned up and I held him, I said, 'No little boy, not again,' and I don't know why I said the word 'again' as if I'd seen these injuries before. And I healed him without knowing how to do it, like my body remembered what needed to be done. Lews-sempai...?"

"Yes," he answered softly. "I was the little boy. You said there were other children, but they were all too afraid to talk to you. You said I was the only one that ever talked about getting away and breaking you out too. You helped me hold onto my name every time I started to blank out. I couldn't say your real name, not the way you whinnied and snorted it out, so I called you Chloe. You said that was fine."

"And what-"

"Chloe. I know it doesn't seem like it, but forgetting is the greatest gift Duet could have given you. If you have fragments, don't pursue them. Let them go." He raised his eyes. "Focus on what you have now. I know people are very keen to tell you what Duet would have wanted, and truthfully I don't think he wanted you to stay here. But more than that, he would have wanted to see you happy and content, and you won't get that trying to remember. What's left of that past isn't a threat to you anymore. If it was, I'd be the first to tell you everything I remember."

The corners of Chloe's mouth pulled back, but one ear twitched toward the door, and she ducked her head lower. Lewis sank back behind the bookcase, peering around the side as the handle jiggled.

"Hey! Flamebrain!" Vivi hollered through the door. "Good call on the lock, but it's me!"

Lewis lit up, phasing through the bookcase and then through the front door, scooping Vivi up in his arms and spinning her around.

"Well. Hi to you too," she laughed. "Geez, it's like I was gone for a year or something. Miss me much?"

He couldn't answer. Could only hold her, his outline shimmering blue. The Mystery Skulls had won, had beat the Shiker and his mistress at their own game. And Vivi was still here. He touched her face with his fingertips, tracing the faint scars across her face.

"Hello? Lewis Pepper, Earth to Lewis Pepper, use your words please." She rolled her eyes. "C'mon, big guy, put me down."

Reluctantly, he did, and Vivi patted his arm. "We've got a lot to catch upon, and I have an idea I'd like to go over with you, but first, I've found us a safe place. Now, it's not going to sound like a safe place at first, but it's the best I can get. Remember that TA I used to moon over in 12th grade?"

Lewis nodded.

"Well, he's a pretty big name now. And while he was the one that had your parents under lock and key-hear me out!-he acknowledges his methods weren't anywhere near kosher. He's offering us a safe place to hunker down as long as he gets to watch us and take notes. Any tests will be run with our full consent, or not at all."

Lewis crackled with alarm. "Vivi, we can't trust another team! The whole point of teams like us is to contain or dispatch the paranormal."

"But he's not on a team like us, he's more interested in the research of it all." She took one of his hands, squeezing. "Don't worry, Lew. I'm not interested in losing you a second time, it's not going to happen. What is going to happen is that you and I are on cleanup detail for a long time. We owe Squire and Kay that much, yeah?"

Lewis subsided. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well. I't still pretty fuzzy, but I've got some nice snippets in my head of a certain hulking purple-haired hunk hanging around, taking very gentle care with and around me, until I wanted to come out from under the covers again. Y'know, in the bad times."

He turned to glance at the front door of Tome Tomb. "This isn't like a swing, Vivi."

"Of course not, I'm no daft-headed fan spinner. I know this is different, but you'd be surprised how effective the things you did were. And I think they need some of that now. And Mr. Pepper, too, I'll need you to get him from Lance's place. Dulcie and Teles can help, but not in the same shift as each other. So, I say we get in there with Team Recovery and bring them up to speed with the plan before the vans come."

"Vans?"

"Yeah. We can't travel over there in the open, so Dib's sending over vans to bring us in. C'mon." She tugged at his arm. "Unlock the door, we have to get ready."

….

You don't know where you are. You think there are people around you that are familiar, but you are only sure of one of them, and that is the one you hold to.

Something has slipped inside. A fault line-mind or soul?-gives way. You were sure there would be a struggle for control, but now find both of us paralyzed. How is this?

It doesn't matter. Stop churning. Too much, too fast, there has never been enough time. Only hold onto what is in front of you and do not let go. Letting go may mean the end of us.

Every sound sharpens. The drag of the second hand across a clock face. The quick, shallow breaths at your ear. The staccato heartbeat, never slowing now that it has begun again. Her fear will become yours if you do not calm her.

You are numb, and numb is only the thin ice above a chasm. Calm her. You lift your hand and stroke her hair. This moderates the heartbeat a fraction of a second, but still too fast. You stop, working your fingers under the hair at the base of the skull, pressing the tips of your fingers into the skin and muscles supporting her head.

The pulse slows drastically, the breathing settling into a different rhythm. You continue working the tension out of her neck, wondering if it is anxiety or rigor mortis you are ridding her of.

Something to do. You work, with one hand, from her neck down to her left shoulder and all the way down her arm. She is dressed in the same stupid greek drapery as you. Gods help the first trick or treater who shows up at your door looking like this. You work down her arm slowly, then switch to the other shoulder. The second hand drags insistently, but you do not count. Neither do you count the sighs from the other side of the room, you only listen to the contented pulse and breath before you.

She lists forward and you catch her, startled from your mindlessness, or was it mindfulness? It is hard to tell the difference right now. She is asleep already, and the sight is infectious. There is a wall behind you. You are the cushion, and that is all right. You lean on the wall, and she leans on you.

Sleep comes in the space of three sluggish breaths.