by Taitofan

Rated PG for het, crossbreed, and necro

Disclaimer- I don't own Neopets, though I am the owner of three Aishas, Ranchiki, Izabera, and Torasuki!

Author's note- Oh my gosh, I wrote het. Neopets het! But no original characters here! If you've played the game The Castle of Eliv Thade, this fic will make more sense, though I certainly added some things to make the story work better. This was also submitted to the Neopian Times, though it will probably never make it in... Oh well, this is still my fave Neopets couple! This is romance/humor as well as romance/angst depending on where you are in the fic, so beware of that.

Flames don't bother me in the least bit. In fact, they usually do nothing but make me laugh. CC is always appreciated though. Please read, review, and enjoy! Finished 07-14-04

-

Eliv Thade wondered if it were possible for a spirit to get a headache, having a corporeal body or not. Because if it was possible, then he most certainly was getting one. What, or more specifically, who was the source of his potential headache? The answer was a small Usul bouncing around his old castle. The same Usul who had been the only one to solve all of his anagrams without running away scared and thus had earned his respect... Gilly.

The same Usul who was about to lose an ear if she didn't stop bouncing soon.

"Gilly!" Eliv shouted at the currently hyperactive girl. "Stop that right now! I might be dead, but this is still my castle and you are still my guest. Now stop before you make my headache even worse!" Gilly did as she was told, opting to stare at her friend (whether he liked it or not) and give him a confused look.

"You can get headaches?" Eliv sighed, nodding his head.

"It would seem so. You certainly seem to be giving me one..." Gilly giggled, a thing she hadn't done often before she'd met Eliv. But back then she was all alone, no friends or family. And even if he would never admit it, Gilly knew that Eliv considered her to be a friend, meaning she was no longer alone and lonely. Those days she found it hard not to smile.

"Oh Eliv, don't be silly. I was only dancing; how could that give you a headache?" Eliv raised an eyebrow, looking at her as if she were crazy.

"You call that dancing? You were bouncing around like a rubber ball." Gilly resisted the urge to giggle again.

"Dancing has changed since you were alive," she explained. "Nowadays, that's the most popular dance style." Eliv slowly nodded, silently saying that he believed her, even if it sounded ridiculous. She might have been poor, but she had been outside the castle, whereas he hadn't. Besides, Gilly would never lie to him.

"Very well. Yet I must insist that you stop. It makes me dizzy." This time Gilly couldn't contain her laughter. Eliv was just so... Funny. Unfortunately, he didn't find himself to be quite as amusing... The glare he shot her way was proof of that.

"Oh don't be mad," she said in between giggles. "You know you love me!" Eliv said nothing, his anger towards the young woman disappearing as quickly as it had come. He could never stay upset at her for long.

'Oh Gilly,' he thought to himself, 'if only you knew how right you are...'

Still silent, he waited patiently until Gilly had calmed down. It took a few minutes, but the laughter eventually died down. Wiping a few tears from her eyes, she grinned at her spirit friend. Tentatively, he smiled back. Though he'd never tell her, she meant more to him then the world.

The two were snapped back to reality when an old grandfather clock began to chime. Eliv hated that sound; it meant Gilly had to go home to her small house just outside of the forest, leaving Eliv alone for yet another night.

"I have to go," she regretfully informed her friend. "I'll see you tomorrow after work though, okay?" Eliv nodded. During the morning, Gilly worked at a small shop that sold second-hand clothing. But she always spent the afternoons and evenings with him.

"Of course. Good night Gilly." She smiled as she turned to leave the castle for the night.

"Good night Eliv. Pleasant dreams." Eliv watched her go, cursing the fact that he didn't actually sleep, thus he didn't dream. But he was sure if he did, he'd see Gilly every single night...

-

The night had dragged on painfully slowly, as had the morning, and the afternoon came at just the right time. Too much longer and Eliv thought he might go crazy. Sometimes this fact upset him, as he'd gone for so long without any companionship and now he depended so much on Gilly for sanity's sake, but then he remembered who he was referring to. It was Gilly. Gilly was special and if he wanted her company, then he wouldn't let a little thing like pride stop him.

There was only one little problem that day...

Gilly decided that she wanted to try her so-called "dancing" again.

Needless to say, Eliv felt yet another headache coming on. And to add to that, the irritation he felt towards the Usul was rising steadily. Hadn't she listened yesterday when he'd said how watching her dancing made him dizzy? Had she not believed him? Had she thought he was joking? Did he look like the kind of Kacheek who joked around?

Of course, it was true that he wouldn't have gotten dizzy in the first place if he wasn't watching her dance so closely. But as Eliv viewed it, he had no will power when it came to Gilly, so it wasn't his fault.

That didn't mean his infamous temper couldn't get the best of him though.

"GILLY!" Unlike the day before, his yelling had an extremely peeved tone, and the intensity of it shook some on the furniture that wasn't bolted down. Gilly immediately stopped, spinning around to face the angry spirit.

"What's wrong Eliv?" She asked innocently, not knowing what had made her friend so mad.

"What's wrong?" He shouted, seeming to completely forget who he was talking to. "Didn't I tell you yesterday not to bounce around my castle? Did you think I was saying that it gave me a headache just for the sake of hearing myself talk? If you think you can come into my castle and disregard my rules, then you're wrong! If that's the case, then you can just stop coming in the first place!"

Suddenly, Eliv stopped and snapped his mouth shut, finally realizing what he was saying. And more importantly, who he was saying it to. There was a long, uncomfortable silence before Eliv found his voice.

"Gilly, I-"

"Fine," Gilly said, cutting him off and blinking back tears. "If you don't want me around, I won't come here anymore. Good bye." She ran to the doorway, where she abruptly stopped and turned around. She opened her mouth to say something, but thought better of it and continued to run out of the room. Moments later Eliv heard a door slam, indicating that Gilly had left the castle. Possibly for the last time. And he hadn't even tried to stop her...

For the first time in his afterlife, Eliv fell to his knees and cried.

-

Eliv honestly hadn't thought he was even able to cry, even with his corporeal body, but after the headaches he wasn't all that surprised. Though he would have preferred a headache to heartache any day.

He still couldn't believe he yelled at Gilly, the only girl to ever capture his heart. And because he hadn't been thinking, Gilly was gone. Maybe for good. And he couldn't even leave his castle to look for her and apologize for his stupidity. He swore that if he ever saw her again, he'd swallow his pride and tell her the truth. Everything, even if he was sure there was no way she'd ever return his feelings. After all, she was a pretty young Neopet and he wasn't even alive. He didn't care though; he'd still tell her.

But what were the chances that she'd come back? Not good... And Eliv wouldn't blame her if she didn't come back. So all through the night, sobs racked his body as he mourned the loss of his only friend and love, before he'd even really had her. By morning, he had cried more then he ever had when he'd been living. He only stopped when the tears simply would no longer flow.

All morning long he stayed in the room where he'd last been with Gilly, not being able to find the will to move. If only he hadn't gotten mad at her and lost his temper. If only he could leave the castle to find her. If only he'd told her sooner! So many if onlys, and no solutions to be found...

At noon, the grandfather clock chimed twelve times. Normally, Gilly would arrive at any moment, saying good morning and telling about how work had gone... He'd miss that, and he hadn't even liked it. After all, work was the one thing that kept Gilly from staying with him all the time. Looking at it now, he would have rather had her company in the afternoons and evenings than not at all.

'Gilly, please, forgive me...'

"Eliv! Hey, where are you? Are you playing hide and seek or something?" Eliv blinked. Then he blinked again. Was that..? It was! It was Gilly! This was proven true when Gilly's head popped in the doorway seconds later.

"Oh, there you are!" She exclaimed, fully entering the room. "What are you doing in here? You didn't stay in here all night did you?" His blank look was more than enough to verify her suspicions. "Eliv, I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have left you like that!" Well, that certainly got his attention.

"Gilly, what are you talking about? If anyone should be sorry, it's me. I yelled at you and made you cry." Gilly smiled a bit sadly, shaking her head.

"Yes, but I did too. I'm sorry I left you alone, I wasn't thinking... I- I was a wreck today. I couldn't even make it into work. All I could think about was you... And- And how I should have told you..." She trailed off, adverting her gaze to the ground.

"Told me what?" He was curious now, and there was no way he'd let her off the hook on this one. She looked back up and locked their gazes together.

"I should have told you that I love you."

Time, at that very moment, all but stopped. Gilly loved him... Gilly LOVED him! It was almost too good to be true!

"I don't care that we can't be like a normal couple, for obvious reasons; I just want to be with you. I understand if you don't feel the same way. I- I can leave if you want." Eliv didn't say a word, instead simply rising to his feet and walking over to the one he loved who loved him back. He was inwardly smirking; he could really get used to saying that.

He stopped in front of her and lifted a hand to her cheek, feeling her warm skin beneath his cold hand. This was it; the moment he'd waited so long for...

Eliv took Gilly into his arms, holding her close. She looked into his eyes, partially startled, partially delighted. Wasting no more time, he closed the distance between them and pressed their lips together in a sweet kiss. There was no other world at that time, just Eliv and Gilly.

They parted after a few seconds, though Gilly stayed in Eliv's arms. He didn't even need to say that he loved her too. After all, some actions speak louder than words. In fact, it was Gilly who eventually broke the comfortable silence.

"You know, I think I'm going to have to move into the castle with you. So neither of us is ever lonely again."

Smiling sincerely, Eliv was very inclined to agree.