Chapter 1:

"Raine!" Lloyd yells again as he runs into the camp and up to the fire where a silver haired 13-year old boy kneels cooking, and a silver haired woman of about 24 is just looking up from a book. "What's wrong Lloyd?" she asks. "This…Found…How…and…" He says panicked and out of breath. "Stop," Raine says standing up. "Breath. Now who's this?" she asks looking down at the toddler in Lloyd's arms. "That's what I was trying to tell you! It's Mithos!" Lloyd says shoving the boy into Raine's arms.

"Now that's just nonsense! Mithos has been dead a year now…" she says looking down at the young one, who looks up at her, before he screams, "'OYD!" reaching out for Lloyd.

"Re-jection!" Genis says coming over from the fire, just as Raine hands the young Mithos back to Lloyd.

"I'd like to see you do better," Raine says after giving her brother a good thwack.

"Fine," Genis grumbles and rubbing his head walks closer to Lloyd. "Hey'ya little guy," he says, reaching a hand out to the boy. "'Oyd," Mithos whispers, burying his face in Lloyd's red shirt, clutching said shirt in his hands.

Lloyd sighs and walks over to the fire and sits down. "Come on Mithos, he's not going to hurt you," he says trying to coax Mithos out from hiding. Mithos lifts his head and blinks at Lloyd. "Tarwie," he says motioning slightly to Genis and Raine. "Tarwie? Oh! They're not scary," Lloyd says tapping Mithos' nose.

"Mmmmm! That smells good! What is it?" Lloyd asks, his nose finally picking up the smells coming from the fire. "It's spaghetti…with tomato sauce!" Genis says with a grin as he comes over to continue cooking. "WHAT!! Eeww, That's just gross! You're going to pay for that Genis!" Lloyd says putting Mithos down and going over to beat up Genis. "Just kidding! Just kidding!" Genis says in an attempt to stop Lloyd "It's Cabbage Rolls! I swear, and there's no tomatos!!"

"'Oyd," Mithos' voice interrupts them. They both look to him just in time to see him pulling himself to his feet and start toddling toward Lloyd and Genis. "'Enis!" the young one says with a quick glance to Genis before looking back to Lloyd. "'Oy…" he starts before he wobbles and falls, hard, on his bottom. He looks in shock from the ground back up to Lloyd before his lower lip starts trembling, and his blue eyes start watering. "You might want to go pick him up," Raine says coming over and smacking Genis for picking on Lloyd. "Before he starts crying," She says too late as Mithos bursts into tears. Eyes widening, Lloyd runs over to Mithos and scoops him up into his arms, awkwardly patting him on the back. He turns panicked eyes to Raine, and she nods to tell him he's doing the right thing, "Talk to him," she says softly.

Lloyd looks away from her and back to Mithos. "Shush…its ok, it's alright. Don't cry," Lloyd says stopping his patting as Mithos looks up at him. "'Oyd, me hungy," he says rubbing the tears from his eyes. "Genis, how much longer till…" "They're done now," Genis replies to Lloyd after going over to the fire and checking on the food. "Come on Mithos, lets go eat!" Lloyd says as he goes over and sits down by the fire, placing Mithos on the ground next to him.

"Cut those," Raine says as Lloyd goes to give a plate with two cabbage rolls on it to Mithos, as she sits near the fire herself, Genis sitting next to her. "Give them to me," Raine says as Lloyd sighs at her directions. He hands them to her and she quickly cuts them into pieces small enough for Mithos' little fingers to hold. "Now he may have them," Raine says handing the plate of cut and cooled cabbage rolls to Lloyd, who puts it in front of Mithos. "Ank u," he says and grabs one sticking it in his mouth. "Your welcome," Lloyd says taking a bite of one of his own cabbage rolls.

--

Lloyd puts down the half of his last cabbage roll on his plate as he continues a conversation he was having with Genis. Reaching for that bit of cabbage roll he looks down in confusion as his hand doesn't find anything. "Hey, where did…" he starts before looking at Mithos. "That's mine!" he says seeing Mithos chewing on the missing peace of cabbage roll. "Ummy," the thieving toddler says around the food in his mouth. "'Oyd want?" he says holding out the destroyed remains of the cabbage roll. "No, no that's ok…you have it," Lloyd says with a sigh and Mithos smiles quickly finishing the rest.

A yawn escapes Mithos as he plops onto Lloyd's lap after thoroughly exploring the camp. "Looks like someone's ready to go to bed," Raine says "Aw man! But I'm not tired!" Lloyd complains. "Not you!" Raine says exasperatedly. "Him!" she says motioning to Mithos. "No beb!" Mithos says with another yawn as he crosses his arms. "Yes bed! Tomorrow is going to be a big day for you," she says and goes over and pick up Mithos off Lloyd's lap. "No ti-ti! No beb 'Ain!" he says as he struggles to get out of Raine's grip. "Mithos Yggdrassil! You will stop fighting me this instant, before I drop you, and go to bed!" Raine says turning him in her arms to face her. "Yes 'Ain…" he says, calming down.

"Good!" Raine says with a nod and lays Mithos down on Lloyd's bedding. "Now sleep," she says as she tucks Lloyd's blanket up to Mithos' chin. "Live with it," Raine says to Lloyd at his whine of: "That's MY bed!"

"'Oyd come beb?" Mithos asks hitting the ground next to where he was laying. "Not yet, I'll go to bed later," Lloyd says. "Goodnight Mithos," he finishes turning back to Genis and starting a conversation on something that had happened on the journey. Mithos' lower lip starts trembling before he closes him eyes and Raine turns to join the conversation.

A few hours later, with a yawn Lloyd lays down a small ways away from Mithos as Raine and Genis also head to bed. "'Oyd," Mithos mutters grabbing the edge of the blanket and crawling over to Lloyd. He lays down and buries his face in the front of Lloyd's shirt, as he pulls the blanket over himself.