Logan was going insane. Seriously, that was the only explanation.
He'd spent all week thinking about Lilly, remembering her and finding a way to blame everyone for her death, himself included. And now? Now he was walking down the beach, and he could hear her, and when he turned, he could see her. Lilly Kane, sitting in the middle of the sand in her pep squad uniform, with blood running down the side of her head.
Well, it was good to know that his imagination was as morbid as ever at least.
Logan couldn't help himself though, and at the risk of sounding crazy he said her name.
She was still staring at her fingers with an expression a mix of confusion and disgust when she heard Logan's voice and twisted around to see him. Okay, so he wasn't her dad, but he'd do.
"Ugh," she told him and gave a bloody wave before trying to get to her feet, her muscles protesting the movement and that was just weird. It wasn't like she was out of shape or anything. "This?" she continued, clearly talking about the blood on her hand, "Is digusting. Jesus. You want to help me get it off?"
Logan just nodded a little, cause illusion or no, it was .Lilly, and he was sort of used to doing whatever Lily wanted... You know, despite the fact that she had been dead a few years now.
He didn't take her hand, not wanting to risk hurting her more (even if she wasn't real. Which she wasn't. She couldn't be.), and instead put his hands under her arms and carefully lifted her to her feet... and stared. A lot.
Fuck it, illusion or no, he could touch her, and Logan had his arms around her before he knew what he was doing. He was probably getting her blood all over him, but whatever, he didn't care about that.
Uhm, well that was a bit more than she'd really asked for and Logan just kept looking at her all, like, mistified and amazed or whatever and it was seriously starting to creep her out. Plus, he looked different, though she couldn't quite put her finger on how. Just... weirdly older? That couldn't be right.
She placed her hand against Logan's chest, fingers pulled back because she honestly didn't want to get blood on him, and pushed him back a bit, her eyebrows creasing in the middle. "Okay, what's your deal?" she asked, her voice a little sharp, but hey, she'd just woken up in some strange place with a fucking head wound or something; she figured she had the right.
He had been smoking up, but dude, he could not be this high, because right before his eyes was Lilly fucking Kane. And she was all bloody, just like all those gross crime scene photos come to life. Jesus...christ.
Lilly was still staring at her bloody fingers when she heard Dick's voice, the sound startling her and she immedately turned in his direction and shot him a glare.
"What, bleeding?" she asked, making no effort to hide her growing irritation with whatever the hell was going on. "Apparently. And it's seriously disgusting."
Dick, for one of the very few times in his life, was actually quiet and speechless. She was real. She was alive. Lilly was alive? She was, wasn't she?
He just wondered where Ronnie was, because dude, she needed to be like, there now. Or Duncan, cuz dude...Lilly. "Not doing you any favors," he agreed. "Eau de Murder Victim though never should have been your thing, though." Did she like, even get it?
She raised an eyebrow at that, just staring for a long minute. Dick was stoned, that much was obvious. And also useless, but what else was new?
Twisting around a bit, she managed to get to her feet and stumbled forward because ow and her hand went up to her head again like she was trying to keep it in place.
"Great, so like, you want to help me wash it off or something? Or are you just gonna stand there and stare at me?"
After the weird weekend, Duncan wasn't actually hiding out, he just... wasn't meeting new people. The people that mattered (Veronica, Logan, and occasionally Dick), he saw more or less every day, but the King of Neptune wasn't looking for new friends, just yet. He still hadn't figured the place out.
But, apparently, the place had figured him out. He was walking along the beach in board shorts, contemplating a swim, when he spotted a familiar blonde head... and a familiar blood pattern (OhgodLillypleasecomeback... don'tdothisLillyplease...) on her head. He touched his fingertips to his cheek, recalling the last moment he could before his four-day blackout. It was seeing her there, and the world had lurched, shifted to black and white, went gritty, meant less.
He tried to say her name, but he just hitched a gasp, frozen in the sand, water lapping at his feet and ankles.
Lilly just stared at her fingers in disgust for a second before touching her head again. Ugh. Her hair was gross and matted and just what the fuck was going on?
She glanced up and saw her brother standing dumbly in the water and let out a breath of relief. For a minute, she thought she'd entered into some kind of Time Warp or something and that Rod Serling guy was going to pop up all black-and-white and start talking in a low, creepy voice.
"Duncan," she called out, trying to wake him from whatever stupid daydream or whatever he was lost in and tried to get to her feet.
She was talking to him. His beautiful sister, his best friend, was... Well, even after she'd died she was still talkative. He couldn't doze off on the couch without her talking to him about (her death, justice, bringing the fucker down and you did, Duncan. Oh, you did) ridiculous things like fashion and how he had no sense for it. Not even death could curb Lilly, and that was comforting.
He finally managed to stumble forward, mouth slightly agape as he stretched his hand out, hoping it wouldn't be like Ghost and her hand would reach for his and slip back through...
"Lilly..." He was just trying the name on for size. He'd wanted for so long to be able to say her name without the waving ache in his chest, the breakdown surging at his temples, and the looks of knowing pity from third parties who knew nothing. Nothing.
"Uhm, yeah," she replied with an exasperated sigh and attempted to roll her eyes, an act that would've been a lot easier if her head wasn't throbbing in pain. It took way more effort to stand upright then it should've, but she didn't think on it much. After all, she had bigger things to worry about. Like, the fact that she didn't know where she was and, oh, that she was bleeding from the head.
"Hey, you wanna help me out or something or are just gonna keep standing and staring like a retard? My brain isn't actually oozing out of my skull, is it?" She reached a tentative hand back up to her hair to feel around. Just in case.
Veronica had wanted to sing the Pirate King's song from Pirates of Penzance, walking along the beach with Wallace, but Gilbert and Sullivan hadn't exactly been mandatory listening at Neptune High. So she had settled for singing "Yo Ho A Pirate's Life for Me" instead; a lifetime of trips to Disneyland had been sufficient for her to learn, oh, a quarter of the words. The rest was la-la-la-ing.
Wallace's company had, at least, taken her mind off of everything that had been bothering her. She'd thought so, anyway. But maybe she was wrong. "We're blackguards and black sheep and real-"
Veronica's breath caught in her throat. A mirage. A hallucination. The side-effects of too much penicillin? It didn't matter. Biting her lip, she swallowed hard, and her voice shook as she called out, "Lilly?"
Veronica had been prodding him to sing with her since they started walking. No matter how much he loved his best friend, he was not going to be seen walking down the beach singing the Disney ride song.
He eventually began humming along as the wong went on - damn thing was catchy. He swore that was all he was going to give her. He hadn't been looking where he was going, which was probably why he nearly bumped into her when she suddenly stopped both walking and singing. He glanced up, looking confused for a moment, his gaze following Veronica's
( ... )
Lilly let out an immediate sigh of relief and twisted around to where the voice came from. Her hand was still covered in blood, but she doubted that any of her grey matter was actually falling out. Just hurt a hell of a lot.
Her smile faded the second she saw the look on Veronica's face and jeez, what had she done to her hair?
And who the hell was that guy. Not Duncan, that was for sure.
"Veronica?" she asked, suddenly not sure it was her, after all. What kind of messed up dream was she having exactly?
"Oh my God, Lilly," Veronica breathed, and ran across the sand to throw her arms around her best friend. She swallowed again, and pulled back, head shaking in wonder, craning to examine the wound. "We need to get you to the clinic now."
She was panicking. She wasn't a panicky person, but this was cause for panic, even if her heart was constricting with sheer joy. That wound had been the death of her, and Veronica had no way of telling what its effect would be here. Losing Lilly a second time - she couldn't think of it.
I'm half asleep under a tree with my toes in the sand when I hear the voice, and my eyes pop open like I been hit with Veronica's taser. I'm thinkin' I must be imagining how much the girl sounds like Lilly, but either way I gotta see if whoever it is, is okay.
I get to my feet, brushing sand off my jeans, and turn toward the voice. I'm not prepared for the familiar curves, the hair, and Jesus, the blood, when she turns around it's oozing down the side of her face and I'm havin' a hard time breathing. I just stand and stare at her, totally at a loss for what the fuck to do.
Lilly's nose crinkled at the sight of the blood on her hand and she touched a finger to her thumb, as thought testing it before reaching back to her forehead again. This was just gross. Like, it hurt, but not enough that she felt she should be bleeding. Completely weird.
And then she noticed Weevil standing a few feet away and looking at her like she was some kind of ghost or something.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, trying to get to her feet, and then realized she didn't really know where 'here' was. It wasn't home, the beach splayed out before her told her that much. "Uhm. Wherever here is," she mumbled, again looking down at her hand.
I gape like a fucking fish for a few seconds, and then it kicks in that she's got no fucking idea what's going on-- from the looks of things, she's one of those who arrive upon the event of their death, and she probably hasn't got a fucking idea she's dead either.
"Lilly," I say, hating how soft I sound saying her name even now. "You... you aren't where you think you are. You're... shit, Lil, you're bleeding," I say, my voice breaking a little.
"Yeah, thanks for noticing," Lilly answered, rolling her eyes and then tried to bite back a groan of pain as she stood up. God, she hurt. Why did everything hurt?
And Weevil was still looking at her weird. "What?" she asked, sounding almost huffy. "Is my brain oozing out or something?" She lifted a hand to her head again just to make sure. It hurt and was definitely bleeding, but there didn't seem to be any grey matter leaking out. She didn't think.
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He'd spent all week thinking about Lilly, remembering her and finding a way to blame everyone for her death, himself included. And now? Now he was walking down the beach, and he could hear her, and when he turned, he could see her. Lilly Kane, sitting in the middle of the sand in her pep squad uniform, with blood running down the side of her head.
Well, it was good to know that his imagination was as morbid as ever at least.
Logan couldn't help himself though, and at the risk of sounding crazy he said her name.
"Lilly?"
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"Ugh," she told him and gave a bloody wave before trying to get to her feet, her muscles protesting the movement and that was just weird. It wasn't like she was out of shape or anything. "This?" she continued, clearly talking about the blood on her hand, "Is digusting. Jesus. You want to help me get it off?"
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He didn't take her hand, not wanting to risk hurting her more (even if she wasn't real. Which she wasn't. She couldn't be.), and instead put his hands under her arms and carefully lifted her to her feet... and stared. A lot.
Fuck it, illusion or no, he could touch her, and Logan had his arms around her before he knew what he was doing. He was probably getting her blood all over him, but whatever, he didn't care about that.
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She placed her hand against Logan's chest, fingers pulled back because she honestly didn't want to get blood on him, and pushed him back a bit, her eyebrows creasing in the middle. "Okay, what's your deal?" she asked, her voice a little sharp, but hey, she'd just woken up in some strange place with a fucking head wound or something; she figured she had the right.
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"Lilly?" he asked warily. "Are you like..." Real?
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"What, bleeding?" she asked, making no effort to hide her growing irritation with whatever the hell was going on. "Apparently. And it's seriously disgusting."
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He just wondered where Ronnie was, because dude, she needed to be like, there now. Or Duncan, cuz dude...Lilly. "Not doing you any favors," he agreed. "Eau de Murder Victim though never should have been your thing, though." Did she like, even get it?
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Twisting around a bit, she managed to get to her feet and stumbled forward because ow and her hand went up to her head again like she was trying to keep it in place.
"Great, so like, you want to help me wash it off or something? Or are you just gonna stand there and stare at me?"
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But, apparently, the place had figured him out. He was walking along the beach in board shorts, contemplating a swim, when he spotted a familiar blonde head... and a familiar blood pattern
(OhgodLillypleasecomeback... don'tdothisLillyplease...)
on her head. He touched his fingertips to his cheek, recalling the last moment he could before his four-day blackout. It was seeing her there, and the world had lurched, shifted to black and white, went gritty, meant less.
He tried to say her name, but he just hitched a gasp, frozen in the sand, water lapping at his feet and ankles.
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She glanced up and saw her brother standing dumbly in the water and let out a breath of relief. For a minute, she thought she'd entered into some kind of Time Warp or something and that Rod Serling guy was going to pop up all black-and-white and start talking in a low, creepy voice.
"Duncan," she called out, trying to wake him from whatever stupid daydream or whatever he was lost in and tried to get to her feet.
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(her death, justice, bringing the fucker down and you did, Duncan. Oh, you did)
ridiculous things like fashion and how he had no sense for it. Not even death could curb Lilly, and that was comforting.
He finally managed to stumble forward, mouth slightly agape as he stretched his hand out, hoping it wouldn't be like Ghost and her hand would reach for his and slip back through...
"Lilly..." He was just trying the name on for size. He'd wanted for so long to be able to say her name without the waving ache in his chest, the breakdown surging at his temples, and the looks of knowing pity from third parties who knew nothing. Nothing.
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"Hey, you wanna help me out or something or are just gonna keep standing and staring like a retard? My brain isn't actually oozing out of my skull, is it?" She reached a tentative hand back up to her hair to feel around. Just in case.
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Wallace's company had, at least, taken her mind off of everything that had been bothering her. She'd thought so, anyway. But maybe she was wrong. "We're blackguards and black sheep and real-"
Veronica's breath caught in her throat. A mirage. A hallucination. The side-effects of too much penicillin? It didn't matter. Biting her lip, she swallowed hard, and her voice shook as she called out, "Lilly?"
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He eventually began humming along as the wong went on - damn thing was catchy. He swore that was all he was going to give her. He hadn't been looking where he was going, which was probably why he nearly bumped into her when she suddenly stopped both walking and singing. He glanced up, looking confused for a moment, his gaze following Veronica's ( ... )
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Lilly let out an immediate sigh of relief and twisted around to where the voice came from. Her hand was still covered in blood, but she doubted that any of her grey matter was actually falling out. Just hurt a hell of a lot.
Her smile faded the second she saw the look on Veronica's face and jeez, what had she done to her hair?
And who the hell was that guy. Not Duncan, that was for sure.
"Veronica?" she asked, suddenly not sure it was her, after all. What kind of messed up dream was she having exactly?
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She was panicking. She wasn't a panicky person, but this was cause for panic, even if her heart was constricting with sheer joy. That wound had been the death of her, and Veronica had no way of telling what its effect would be here. Losing Lilly a second time - she couldn't think of it.
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I get to my feet, brushing sand off my jeans, and turn toward the voice. I'm not prepared for the familiar curves, the hair, and Jesus, the blood, when she turns around it's oozing down the side of her face and I'm havin' a hard time breathing. I just stand and stare at her, totally at a loss for what the fuck to do.
[late, i know, but clearly i could not resist.]
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And then she noticed Weevil standing a few feet away and looking at her like she was some kind of ghost or something.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, trying to get to her feet, and then realized she didn't really know where 'here' was. It wasn't home, the beach splayed out before her told her that much. "Uhm. Wherever here is," she mumbled, again looking down at her hand.
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"Lilly," I say, hating how soft I sound saying her name even now. "You... you aren't where you think you are. You're... shit, Lil, you're bleeding," I say, my voice breaking a little.
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And Weevil was still looking at her weird. "What?" she asked, sounding almost huffy. "Is my brain oozing out or something?" She lifted a hand to her head again just to make sure. It hurt and was definitely bleeding, but there didn't seem to be any grey matter leaking out. She didn't think.
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