Matthieu smiled and poked Peters nose. "You're a devil. A cute one."
Peter giggled lightly. "Bloo! Can we fly?"
Matthieu hummed. His feet were starting to get worse. "Sure kiddo. Come here." He picked Pete up again and lifted into the air carefully.
"Yay! SO cool!" Peter thought it was awesome that "Bloo" could float like this. "Bloo! Bloo! I wanna see Mama!"
"Mama?" Matthieu glanced back in the direction of the banquet hall. "Alright..." He couldn't just say no to him.
Matthieu stepped down as they entered the hall. Luckily Mattie and Karma were gone. Probably going to look around. However James Charlene and someone else remained.
Pete squirmed out of Matthieu's hold and to the ground. "Mama!" He toddled on over.
Charlene smiled and turned around as she heard that. "Hey Petey." She bent down and in doing so revealed who else was there.
Matthieu was out of the room before a pin could drop. He ducked behind a wall and curled up on the ground. Of course. Of course he would still be here. Of course the one person he wanted to stay dead was still here.
Matthieu felt panic rising again as he buried his face in his knees. Were the other two still alive? What if they found him here. If they hated him before... he could only imagine what they would do now. And there was no way he could expect Mattie to stand up for him. He was already on thin ice.
"Matthieu..?"
Matthieu looked up carefully tears streaking down his ghostly face.
Matthew was immediately reminded of their childhood. He used to find Matt like this all the time when they were younger. "I was walking into the banquet hall when I saw you leave."
Matthieu wiped his face. "I'm fine."
"Is this about the guilt again?" Matthew asked.
Matthieu huffed. "No."
"Matthieu-"
"Its not. Really."
"Then what is this about? You never told my why you always were like this. What the hell sets this off." Matthew didn't possess the patience he once had.
"The guards!" Matthieu snapped.
"The guards? That makes no sense. You WERE a guard."
"You don't get it. They hated me. They said I wasn't real and they said I didn't have feelings and they called me horrible names- It drove me insane and they were always on my case and they said if I kept hanging out with you it would get worse. Go ahead and laugh. I know its stupid to be upset about."
Matthew thought back. "Is that why you were always covered in bruises? And the time your head was split open? And the time you "fell" out of the tree?"
Matthieu sighed. "Yes."
Matthew wrapped his arms around the spirit. "Why did you never tell me?"
Matthieu froze. He couldn't remember the last time Mattie gave him a hug. "I don't know."
"Matt its okay to be frightened."
"No its not. I don't get to be frightened after-"
"Matthieu. If you finish that sentence so help me." Matthew gave a stern look.
Matthieu shut his mouth. "Sorry. I've ruined your good mood."
"No you haven't. C'mon. Peter started crying when he couldn't find you." He went to tug Matthieu to his feet.
Matthieu winced and lifted his feet into the air. "Kay."
And for the first time in forever the two walked side by side.