Some scholars believe the paranormal world is a figment of our imaginations to ease the pain of loss. The death of the people we hold close is a burden. It's a weight we carry throughout our lives until it either crushes us or we break through it. When we could hurl ourselves into a world of disillusion to prevent a fallout, why wouldn't we?

Perhaps, that was true for most humans. After all, those oscitant, cocky beings would do anything to make their own lives better. Their understanding of the supernatural world was skewed. A human soul would never have the strength to maintain it's life force in our world. From the second it leaves the body, it's dragged to the underworld's gate so furiously, it was like a tornado took it away.

Lost ones are different in those regards. The spirit that lies inside of them isn't like a human's, or most creatures for that matter. They are born with only half a soul, hence the reason they must mate to survive. There is a difference between two lost ones feeding off of each other's energy, which is what a binding causes, and two souls becoming one. Love can be so dysfunctional and disturbed that the universe typically won't allow the two halves to merge.

Sometimes, it does happen. When the relationship is so unconditional, so understanding and deeply rooted, their souls become laced. Shortly before Ricky and Ryan had met their demise, they were lucky enough to be given this gift. Though their physical bodies and minds were two separate entities, they shared one soul. In death, they continued on as one.

Somehow, Ghost had figured that much out. Considering there is a barrier between living and dead souls, they never really knew what came of spirits that were laced. Until now, that is. She still couldn't believe what she'd seen that day. Among all the fluttering snowflakes and uproars of wind, twisted in the cosmic energy that made them, she saw their eyes; One a haunting translucent, like looking through water in a marble sink, and the other as blue as the Indian Ocean.

"I know you're here." She quietly said, "Will you two just show yourself already?"

Her hand clenched in top of the dresser. The flame of the candle next to her began to dance vigorously. It's light seemed to become stronger as she felt the tension in the room shift. Cautiously, she turned around, finding she really wasn't alone. Part of her feared that she could've been foolishly wrong. On the contrary, she had never been more right about something in her life.

Sat on the end of the bed, that cosmic being had appeared. Ghost had never seen it sit still this long. Now, she could truly see every detail she'd missed before. The previous image in her head was just a blur, but now, everything was clear. In death, Ricky and Ryan's soul had become one. Instead of leaving behind two spirits to roam the world aimlessly, their lacing resulted in only one ghost.

They kept their face, and the majority of their body, well hidden. A studded leather jacket hung over a torn black shirt. It seemed the damage Ryan had sustained in the battle that killed him followed him over to the afterlife. Under the shirt, it was visible that the flesh was still very torn and bloody. A black scarf wrapped over their mouth and nose, falling down around their neck and chest. The remainder of the face was covered by their hair, of which was black with bullets of red.

Strangely, they seemed ashamed. They kept their head down and elbows rested on their knees. When they spoke, their voices were still separate. Ryan, in his crudeness, stayed silent. It was Ricky's voice that quietly broke the silence, "How'd you figure it out?"

"When you saved Vinny the other day, I saw your eyes." She answered, "I already knew after what happened in the theater that whomever it was that was protecting us had to be someone we lost, but I would've never guessed it was the two of you sharing one body."

"We aren't sharing a body. We don't have one anymore. We're sharing a soul." Ryan responded.

"When we laced our souls in life, it meant we became one soul. That follows over to death." Ricky explained, "We decided to watch over you guys initially because it was the right thing to do. Then, we realized there was something wrong with the fact that we weren't sucked into the afterlife. I guess since so much supernatural energy was been drained from the world by the ravagers, there wasn't enough to help us get to the gate. We need to get there just as much as you guys do."

"We're not meant to be in the living world anymore. We can only survive here for so much longer." Ryan said.

"So, why didn't you tell us? Why'd you hide?" Ghost questioned, desperate for some sort of clarification. True, she didn't know them for long before their passing, but Chris and Vinny did. After being forced to walk away from Ryan-Ashley and Josh, it would've been nice to have some of their family back.

Ryan sighed, "It takes a lot of energy for us to appear like this. The only reason we're willing to do it right now is because we know you'll be stopped for a few days. We'll have time to regenerate some of it. We found that when we kill Sullen, it helps us get a little energy back. We can't survive like this forever though."

"If you've been watching over us, you must know then that Kuza is sick. We'll probably be here for three or four days. From there, isn't a four and a half day walk, without sleeping, to the river. I expect we won't be reaching the gate for two weeks. Do you think you can hold out that long?"

"Yeah," Ricky replied, "We'll be fine. Don't worry about us. Just, try not to get in any fights with massive Sullen again."

She softly smiled, "I can't make any promises. The others are reckless... I'm guessing you don't want me to tell them about this?"

"We'd prefer if you kept it between us for now. I don't know what it could do to the others if they found out." He responded.

"Probably nothing good." Ryan said, "We're wasting too much energy. We have to go."

"We'll always be watching, though. I promise. We'd never abandon you guys. You're our family." Ricky spoke in his unforgettable lighthearted tone. It was hard to feel hopeless when he could bring light to any situation. Their frame faded, and with it, the candle blew out on it's own.

| | |

With no access to water in this small town, Chris didn't have many options to help his love's fever. It seemed what worked best was using the coldness that naturally radiated off of him. Being in Earth's scolding temperatures, his body had to produce it's one frost to keep him from dying. It might sound drastic, but it's just survival. It's no different than when a chameleon simply changes it's colors to blend in.

He stayed close to Kuza, having to constantly hear him whimpering in pain. It was his own decision to kill the parasite this way. Truthfully, it was the only was he could get rid of the horrid bug. Regardless, Chris absolutely hated the fact that he couldn't ease his pain. Watching the one person he held higher than his own life suffer was utter agony for him.

His eyes slid open a sliver. Sleepily, he gazed up at Chris. He had that suffering look in his eyes, as if he was on the verge of death. Kuza said previously that he couldn't kill himself with his own venom. For both their sake's, Chris was hoping to Hell that that was true. His soft black hair had become drenched in sweat. Somehow, he was even paler than normal.

Chris leaned over and softly blew air along his face. His breath was even colder than normal. He took advantage of his species ice tendencies and used it to cool off his mate. It helped Kuza to go back to sleep for now. This'll pass eventually. According to Ghost, when he'd done this in the past, it made him deathly ill for only a few hours. Afterwards, he had to remain on bed rest for a few days to get back to his punchy self.

"Isn't that just my luck?" Chris murmured to himself, "The second he tells me he loves me, he gets sicks." He laid down beside Kuza, wrapping an arm over his hips. The coldness radiating off of him helped to keep his mate's heart rate from skyrocketing again. Chris gently kissed his temple, whispering, "You aren't allowed to die on me, okay?"

"Stop being so over dramatic." He muttered.

His partner grinned shortly, "I thought you were asleep."

"I am." Kuza stubbornly replied, keeping his eyes closed. He turned from his back onto his side and snuggled back against Chris' torso.

"Whatever you say, Babe." He intertwined their hands, Kuza's hot skin nearly melting his. Normally the bloody eyed creature kept a pretty low temperature for a human, even. At the moment, his fever had to be somewhere around 103. That kind of heat could actually kill Chris, but he didn't fucking care.

As long as he could be by Kuza's side, that's all that mattered to him. Love is meant to be patient and enduring. We stay in the storm for the ones we love, even if they tell us to run. Chris didn't care if the heat radiating off of Kuza killed him. At least they would be together. That's all he's ever wanted was someone he could call his own; Someone that was his home. No matter what happened, no matter where they were to go, his little fire dragon was his beacon home.