Explain It Like I'm Tree

Roots

Arthur didn't answer at first, too focused on breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth. Mystery waited until he finally answered, "Yeah. Those are my feelings. But, they were... not that huge, before. Like, this feeling just got bigger than my whole body. And the words feel different than mine."

Mystery lifted one ear. "Different words than you'd choose?"

"Yeah. I keep getting words like... like 'collapse' or 'fall apart'. Like somehow I'm the one holding everything together? And this whole rant about never listening... I mean, yeah I feel like Vivi doesn't listen that well, but I can't stop thinking about a whole other level of not listening that isn't... isn't really about Vivi." His eyes focused a little more and he frowned. "It's like... everything I was already feeling is amplified? And also tangled up with something else, or someone else." His eyes darted back to Mystery. "You're positive I'm not being possessed? Because if I am..." his throat spasmed, cutting off his words.

Mystery licked his cheek once. "No, you're not. And no, there would be no 'finishing the job' if you were. Don't look at me like that. It doesn't take a mind-reader to know where that sentence was headed. You're a ridiculously anxious pup, you know."

There. A ghost of a smile on his face. Then it washed away, replaced with an expression that was all hard lines and edges. "It's still there, the feeling."

"Tell me more about it. You may be picking up signals from whatever happened here."

"It's the same things I told you already." His breathing was ragged. "Loud, angry screams about not listening. And... a horrible... hollowness. Like... like I'm dying slowly, and I know it, and I don't care." He sucked in a breath through his teeth. "Haven't felt that since... since Yettle found me again. But, it's... it's not mine. Not my emptiness."

"How can you tell it isn't yours?"

Arthur pushed himself up, and Mystery slid down into his lap. Arthur turned his head, scanning the front of the house. "Haven't had that feeling in a long time. It's mostly healed over–filled up with better things. This feeling is like... almost like I've been kidding myself about healing at all, and that I've really just been withering away for as long as I can remember. And it's... it's outside of me? I'm empty outside of myself... hah... for all the sense that makes." He lifted a hand and gestured vaguely at the house. "Something over there is dying."

Mystery laid his ears back. "I suppose if we really must explore the house, then–"

"No." Arthur's voice was quiet, now. "Not in the house." His hand drifted to the right, pointing at the architectural atrocity stabbing up into the sky. He grimaced. "Shit. I really did not want to crawl around in that."

Mystery gave a growl of agreement. "You are sure it's in there?"

"I'm not sure of anything right now except that I'm not feeling totally like myself. And that I don't like it." He paused. "And that the feeling is coming at me hard from that side of the house. But also from... under me?" He lifted his hand off the ground and stared at the patch of grass under his hand as if it would tell him something.

Mystery rose to his paws. "I think it is time to get Vivi back here and up to speed. We need all heads together on this."

"No, wait. Wait a minute." Arthur put his hand back down, the frown deepening. "Under me and over there. Under... and..." his head snapped up. His eyes refocused on the tower. "Roots."

Mystery paused a moment, then whuffed softly. "Roots. Are you saying that you...?"

"I think I need to talk to their tree."

................................................................

Note: Seems to be coming up on almost a year since my last update here, my apologies. It's kind of been crazy, and I think my fic-writing is slowing way down in general. I don't think I'll ever fully stop fic-writing, but maybe possibly I might finally be cracking open original writing one baby step at a time. So, theoretically, fic-writing is starting to take its place as a hobby instead of a main drive. Also I've been trying so hard to finish up Laughter Lines, which is the final fic in the longest-running highest word-count saga I've ever written. I'm three chapters from the end of that, wish me luck...

Also, I'm aware I left Lewis and Dib in a horrific cliffhanger moment, I'm very sorry. I always hate it when fic-writers I follow leave me at a cliffhanger for months at a time, and then the next update is about a different group on a much lesser cliffhanger, yet here I am. All I can tell you is that Lewis' story cannot move forward until the Skulls are ready to regroup, so I have to deal with Arthur and Vivi and their case first. I don't think that will take longer than this and one more chapter.