ɢᴏ ꜰᴏʀ ɪᴛ, ᴍᴀᴛᴛʜᴏʟᴏᴍᴜʟᴇ!

feelings (+ finale!!)

Bria screeches again, staring horrified at her hands. Gus keeps crawling closer. Bria starts to rant to herself, but attempts to calm down. "No. This is just an illusion. It can't hurt me. It can't even touch me!" She looks down at Gus, and for a moment I think she can see him- the real him, and not whatever illusion he's laid on himself- 

and then he grabs her ankle.

She gasps, yanking her ankle out of his hold. Screaming about the graveyard being cursed, she disappears into the mist. Letting out a huff, Gus seems to release something and a wave of blue smoke comes off of him. Keeping up such a complex illusion for so long clearly took it out of him, and I can see beads of sweat on his forehead. 

I hurry over to him, but before I can get a word out, the Guardian begins to gush about Gus's illusion skills. (Not that he wasn't amazing out there, though. I'm not sure what happened, but he did what I could never do- stand up to Bria.) 

The illusion track boy replies, "There are some limits. I wish I could repair all the damage that's been done." He looks so sad, so I can't help it when I nervously say "Um... Maybe I can help." 

I inspect our work. The statue pieces that my careless "friends"  had broken off were placed back together to make the statue look slightly more whole. 

"Thank you for protecting the Looking Glass Graveyard, witchlings," chirps the Guardian. Something comes over him, though, and his next words are spoken in a voice dripping with sadness. "Perhaps.. it's time I hid this place for good."

"But there's so much history here!" Gus protests. Quickly, I blurt, "What if we came back on the weekend to build your defenses?" (Oh my Titan I said we.) "I would like that very much," the Guardian says with a smile. "You're welcome back any time!" He walks away, doing strange motions with his fingers as he does.

"He is definitely a ghost," I say as Gus and I wave. "So, does this mean we're like.. friends now?"

No.

The thought comes suddenly and sharply, and I can't deny it this time.

I don't want to be Gus's friend. I want to be more.

But I save that thought for later. Maybe someday, when I get to know him better, I'll confess. But for now? Being close to him is more important.

"I... don't know," I say, avoiding eye contact as I walk out of the graveyard.

Oh my Titan. Matt. You fucking idiot. WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY YES. 

Resisting the urge to slam my head into the nearest tree, I instead opt to give Gus another playful shove- more lighthearted this time. "Squirt." I grin. "Jerk!" he shoves me back as we begin the trek back to Bonesburrow, giggling all the way.

(A/N: IT'S DONE BUT I DON'T FEEL DONE!!!!! there will be a sequel, more info on that coming soon)