N/A: 'Been slowly writing bits and pieces for this since January or so when I came across a prompt I've linked on my profile. I have a basic outline for things but the fic is more going to be snippets from everyone's lives tbh. Chaper 1 is just a little flashback summary to start off. : )

Chapter 1

(1)

"Mummy?" Makoto calls in a hushed voice, head just visible through the crack of his bedroom door.

Mrs Tachibana drops her jacket onto a peg and slips out of her shoes in one swift movements before hurrying through the house. Kneeling down in front of her son, she whispers, "Makoto, honey, what are you doing up?"

"The door woke me up and I was hoping you were coming home," he replies, receiving a tender kiss on the forehead. "You're always going away," the seven-year-old continues.

Mrs Tachibana smiles sadly, eyes welling up. She strokes his hair, wraps him up in her arms.

"I'm sorry, baby," she says quietly, massaging circles into his back. His small hands find their way to her back, his fingers entwine into the fabric of her shirt. "Mummy's not going away any more, okay? She's going to stay right here, with you."

(2)

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Nagisa stares ahead at the monitors sitting between the two beds, watching the spikes form little, never-ending mountains across the screen. Mr and Mrs Tachibana sit by Makoto's bed; Mrs Nanase by Haruka's. He tries his best to ignore how his friends' chests rise only the slightest as the little plastic masks over their faces pump air into their lungs.

Little nine-year-old hands grip the sides of the box on his lap.

The door opens and his mother enters. She closes out the noise from the halls outside as she shuts the door and takes a seat next to her son, who immediately tilts his head to rest against her shoulder. She runs her fingers through his hair, rubs gentle circles onto the back of one hand.

Her eyes fall to the shoebox in Nagisa's lap. "What's that you have there, sweetie?"

"Memories," Nagisa replies.

"Memories?"

"Mmhm." He nods his head, cheek brushing against his mother's shoulder. "They're Haru-chan and Mako-chan's."

(3)

"What cha' reading, Haru-chan?"

Remaining engrossed in his book, Haruka leans away from the blond peering over his shoulder. Nagisa, however, is as persistent as his eleven-year-old self ever has been and practically shoves his face into the book. Haruka retaliates by shutting it firmly on his nose.

Nagisa squeals and reels away. "Ow! Haru- chan, that's mean!"

"Your face was in the way," Haruka replies simply. He eyes his younger friend carefully before opening the book again and returning to where he left off. Makoto laughs lightly from Haruka's other side.

"Mako-chan!" Nagisa whines, "It's not funny!"

He receives an apologetic smile from Makoto. "Sorry, Nagisa. You know how Haru loves reading."

Nagisa nods in defeat and settles back down, sipping his juice box. "What are you reading though?"

When there is no response from the dark-haired boy, Makoto tilts his head to catch a glimpse of the book cover. Haruka lifts the book a fraction to aid him. "It's about supernatural stuff, like werewolves," Makoto supplies helpfully.

Nagisa's face drops. He almost snatches the book out of Haruka's hand. "What are you reading that for, Haru-chan? That stuff is so silly! I mean—of course werewolves don't exist! How would that even work?" He laughs loudly as he rambles, though all the while he looks utterly distraught.

Makoto is staring at him. Even Haruka has raised his head from his book.

He considers for a moment, replies with a quiet, "Makoto's mum thinks we have a guardian angel," and with that promptly returns to the book.

The blond turns two large eyes to the other boy, who still looks most distressed by his reaction.

"W-well, after the accident, mum said we were in critical condition…." His eyes are downcast. Two years is still not that long ago. Nagisa doesn't need to remember to feel sad, just looking at Makoto's face without a smile on it will do that to anyone. "So it was a miracle that we survived okay. Haru-chan's gotten really into angels and supernatural stuff since she said we must have a guardian angel."

"Drop the -chan," Haruka mumbles. Makoto's expression brightens a fraction.

"B-but none of that stuff exists, silly!" Nagisa nudges Haruka playfully, grinning all too widely. "They're just stories, Haru-chan. Angel's and demons and stuff don't exist!"

Makoto cocks his head to the side. "Nagisa, usually you'd believe in this sorta stuff…"

(4)

The door to Makoto's back garden swings open. Haruka doesn't have to look up from his lunch to know that Nagisa is once again making one of his dramatic entrances. Newly 14 and he is still acting like he's just turned 9 years old. Beside him, Makoto calls a greeting to Nagisa before he has even entered through the door. Haruka decides instead to focus on his mackerel.

"How did you know it was me, Mako-chan?" Nagisa exclaims, taking his usual seat on the other side of Haruka. This time, however, he has brought someone with him.

The redhead stands awkwardly in the doorway, glancing between the three of them. With a prompt from Nagisa she closes the garden gate but doesn't make to sit down. Makoto looks expectantly at Nagisa.

"Oh, sorry! This is Gou-chan!" he says brightly.

"It's Kou."

The blond waves his hand indifferently. "Same thing, same thing. Anyway, remember Rin-chan? This is his sister. She's in my class at school."

"Um, hi," Kou says, giving a small wave.

Makoto smiles kindly. "Nice to meet you, Kou-san. Come sit with us." He pats the mat in front of him and Kou takes a seat next to Nagisa.

"Ma—an," Nagisa says, flopping back on the picnic mat. "I miss you guys now that you're in High School."

"You'll be joining us soon enough, Nagisa," Makoto says.

Haruka, finished with his mackerel, looks up and directs his attention to Kou. He squints his eyes a fraction, trying to see the family resemblance outside of the Matsuoka family's outrageous hair colour. And eye colour, at that. Kou squirms uncomfortably under his stare.

"Is Rin still in Australia?" he finally asks.

"Yeah. He's planning on coming home next year," she replies. When Haruka's eyes light up she continues with, "I-I don't think he's going to go to Iwatobi though… He's thinking of going to some swimming school?"

The corners of Haruka's mouth twitch upwards nonetheless.

Kou looks down at her lap, fists clenched slightly. "He doesn't talk much though. He's really secretive…"

"Then you should look through his things when he gets back," Haruka says in all seriousness.

"Haru!" Makoto chides, though the quirk of his lips give way to a smile. Nagisa is laughing and even Kou is giggling, though with the way Haruka's eyes are boring into her she's not entirely sure whether he's joking or not.

(5)

It has been three months since Rin arrived home from Australia and he has still barely said more than five words per conversation with her. Kou has had enough. She's going to look through his things; the vast majority of which fill his room in a dozen or more cardboard boxes. Kou finds it rather handy that he is staying at Samezuka and not at home. She doesn't have to worry about being caught in his room.

Oh god, I'm turning into Nagisa, that little shit. It's his fault for constantly nagging me to do this.

She decides to start with the larger boxes at the back, in particular the ones with the black X's scrawled over them. They're bound to hold the secrets to his never-ending emo phase, right?

The first one holds nothing interesting; some weird photos of things she doesn't recognise. Maybe he took back a friend's stuff by accident. Oh! The next one looks more interesting; she soon finds herself elbow deep in files and sheets with graphs and statistics and goodness knows what else. That's weird, what could—

Three hours later and she's still reading everything from that one box with a rather furious concentration.

"Nothing here makes sense!" She exclaims in frustration, throwing the most recently read paper into the air. The whole room is a mess from her findings; one more paper won't make a difference. "I mean, it does! But it doesn't!"

There is only one thing to do.

– Nagi, I went through Rins stuff x

She doesn't know what else to write. She's not even entirely sure what she has even discovered yet.

She gets a reply a few minutes later, devoid of its usual bubbly emoticons.

– Gou-chan I'll talk soon xx

– Haru-chans parents have gone missing

She stares at the text for a second. She had just been reading files on strange disappearances. This is a strange coincidence… Nagisa always was one to be all into secret conspiracy stuff, too…

– Oh gosh, I'm so sorry! Is Haru okay? I thnk I might have some info on why tho? x

(6)

"Haru, I'm sure everything will be okay. The police are working really hard to find out where your parents are," Makoto soothes, trying to bring Haruka out of another stupor.

Haruka leans into him. "It's been three weeks."

He may be 17 and used to living on his own for good year but his parents would still call every few days to check up on him, text every other. No matter how often Haruka had feigned indifference it obviously meant a lot to him. He has practically been living in the Tachibana household after foregoing six days without any means of communication. Another two days and the police had confirmed the Nanase residence to be empty.

Makoto rests a hand on Haruka's shoulder, gripping gently. I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding, the other boy understands. When Haruka has relaxed, Makoto offers, "Do you want a drink?"

Haruka gets to his feet silently and allows Makoto to lead him to the kitchen. On the way there they hear an intense debate between the Tachibana's that stops them in their tracks, however. Makoto exchanges a look with Haruka; his parents haven't had that heated a discussion for as long as Makoto can remember.

"Mum, dad?" Makoto calls quietly, cautiously pushing open the study door. "Is everything—"

He's stopped in his tracks from the sight of the room. Haruka almost walks into him.

Papers strewn everywhere. Dozens of pictures pinned across the wall, lines of red and blue marking them to areas on a blown-up map of the country. Various books lying open over the worktops; so many that they have begun to devour the floor with their presence too. Another area of the wall is entirely dedicated to pictures of—what even are they? They look—oh god, they look awful!

"Makoto!" Mrs Tachibana steps quickly in front of the two boys, a far-too-happy smile pasted on her face. "Honey, what are you doing in here?"

She tries to usher the two teens back out through the door but Makoto doesn't move.

"I heard you and dad…" he trails off, eyes still darting around the room; but always falling on the wall of horrors. "What… Oh god, what are all of those freaky looking creatures?"

Dead silence.

Makoto catches sight of the numerous files on the Nanase family and points ludicrously at them, wordlessly demanding answers. Makoto's parents look to one another, lost for words.

"I knew it." Haruka breaks the silence and all eyes fall on him. "Nagisa was far too disbelieving all those years ago. "

(That little shit, Makoto hears him add in his head.)

Mr Tachibana exhales slowly and finally steps forward. "Well, this must look strange… I can explain."

(7)

Kou Matsuoka, his phone reads. Rin contemplates whether or not to answer. He may be sprawled over his mattress at present, but he's busy, alright? He has English work to do which, despite being like a second language to him now, is still equally frustrating when colloquialisms aren't deemed acceptable. He doesn't want to talk. (He never does, really.)

But she usually texts him. It could be important.

"Uh, Rin?" are the first words he hears. No, it's not important. He's less than curious.

Rin sighs. "What is it?" he asks brusquely.

"So…" He hears her take a breath, and then her words tumble out all at once. "When you were in Australia you, uh, started hunting?"

Now his interest is piqued. In fact, it's more than just piqued. Fear courses through him and he shoots upright, promptly smacking his head off the bar supporting the top bunk in the process. "Ow, fuck—Kou,what?!"

"Is that why you're all angsty since you got back?"

Her voice sounds too playful. Is this some sort of test? Is she making shit up to get him to talk to her? 'Hunting' is oddly specific. Surely if she was just winding him up it would have been something else - "did you over do it on the barbeques over there"? - he doesn't freaking know, but he doesn't have the slightest clue as to how she could have found out.

He decides to tread lightly. "Kou…"

"I went through your stuff."

Rin has to repress a growl. "Kou, what the fuck? I swear to god, if you go looking into that stuff—"

The phone crackles from her end and he can hear shuffling, as if she's moving quickly. Then he hears—was that howl? Shit, is that—

Her voice is low when she replies, "It uh, might be too late for that…"

"Oh my god, what did you do?"

"Well, you had this unfinished case, and I thought—"

"Kou—"

"Hey, I prepared!" she insisted from the other end, her pitch rising. "I did research! It just turned out, um… harder than expected."

"Jesus Christ, where are you?"

(8)

Nagisa is practically bursting with excitement. "So you guys finally all know about the thing!" he exclaims, lunch completely forgotten in light of this new information.

The four of them sit atop the roof at school, enjoying the breather from the almost-end of their first week of 2nd and 3rd year. Makoto has just finished telling the tale of his family's winter excursion to find Haruka's parents. It wasn't particularly detailed – there are certainly a few details that Makoto would prefer to forget than risk getting queasy – but Nagisa was enthralled nonetheless.

Makoto is still recovering. Haruka barely seems fazed.

"What happened, though? Why were they kidnapped?" Kou asks carefully.

The tallest of the four rubs the back of his neck. "I'm not too sure about all the details. Something about demons, uh, looking for a prophet because there is one in Iwatobi? I think they have more details now though and this, um, prophet is supposed to be around our age…"

Nagisa looks positively entranced. "A prophet… Wow, your parents sure know how to pick their first case in like 10 years!"

Kou, still too confused about the whole thing in all honestly, simply nods. That… mostly makes sense. She's not entirely sure what the importance of a prophet is - but neither is Makoto, so she supposes that at least she's not alone, particular since he's likely the smartest here - but at least everyone is okay after that escapade.

"Gosh, I can't believe you guys know now!" Nagisa says excitedly again. "Wow, it's going to be so much easier to explain all of my absences to you guys now. I mean at least I could tell Gou-chan a bit at the end of last year—"

"Sorry to interrupt Nagisa but—Kou? You know?" The tallest teen's eyes are almost blown wide. This is information he had Haruka had failed to be informed off until now.

"Oh," Kou says sheepishly. "Yeah, uh, I didn't want to disrupt you guys when Haruka's parents went missing. But uh, I looked through Rin's stuff—" at this, Nagisa positively beams at his work well done, "—and found out he stated hunting when he was in Australia."

"That's why he was so secretive," Haruka interjects, looking up from his lunch for the first time.

Kou nods.

"Anyway, I uh… kinda followed a trail of a werewolf without telling anyone and had to phone him for help."

Nagisa flings himself forward. "You did what? You didn't tell me that detail!"

"A… werewolf?" Makoto looks incredibly uncomfortable.

"Hey, in my defence, Rin's notes are really hard to read and I saw nothing written about a werewolf. Plus, I thought he had this code for difficulty so I thought - hey, this doesn't look too bad, one star, I got this - but it turns out the stars marked how much information he'd gathered on the case, soo…"

"How mad was he?" asks Haruka, and Nagisa swears he sees a shadow of a smile on his face.

"Oh my god! If there hadn't been a werewolf there, I swear he would have killed me instead!"

.