A/N: Another chapter! Could it be? Why yes, it could, and it is! I hope you like this one.

Before you dive in, I would just like to say that I am thoroughly enjoying this story. I never knew it would come so far when I first started writing about a girl trying to get into SOLDIER by pretending to be a guy. In all honesty, I had originally planned for it to just be a comedy with no real substance other than the main plot point. As I'm sure you're all well aware by now... that's not really how it is now... ^^;

But yes, thanks to everyone who's stuck with me from the beginning and those of you who have jumped in later for the ride. I love you all. Really ;P

Now this chapter was not as easy as others to write, but I'm proud of it. I think. Yeah. Kinda. Meh. It's my own writing so personally it could always be better in my opinion, but ANYWAY! Enough of my stupid rambling. I'm sure you all just wanna read the chapter, am I right? Yeah I thought so. Okay, fine, go ahead.

Roy thrashed, his sheet constricting his body and making him hyperventilate in fear. He was sweating all over and continued trying to break free to no avail. He was trapped, being strangled. He was drowning. He was drowning!

A scream left his throat and he found himself rolling onto the floor, still tangled up in his sheet. He couldn't stop the memories, images and feelings that flew through his mind and brought the past back to him vividly. He couldn't escape it.

"Stop it!" he screamed, tears now pouring down his face. "St-stop hurting me. Please. Somebody help-!"

"Roy!"

His eyes flew open and he continued to sob, leaning into Inez's arms as she reached for him, holding him close.

"P-please," he murmured urgently. "Get it off me!"

Inez hurriedly began pulling at the sheet, carefully and quickly removing it so that it could no longer frighten him and be a threat. Then she gathered him into her arms again and rocked back and forth gently, murmuring to him soothingly.

Ten minutes later, Roy had finally stopped crying and was sitting quietly in her arms.

"Are you going to be okay, now?" she asked gently.

Sniffing, Roy slowly lifted his head up.

"You're safe here," Inez continued. "I promise I will never let anyone hurt you again, okay?"

Roy nodded but still didn't speak. He wanted Kayli. Was she okay? What if Liam had lied and actually wanted to kill her as well? She could be...

"Cheese?"

Roy looked up, startled, to see Owen standing to the side and holding some cheese towards him.

"Not now, Owen," Inez said softly.

"But it'll make him feel better!" Owen protested. "It worked last time."

Inez fell silent then and watched Roy closely to see what he thought. Owen inched slightly closer and grinned when Roy met his gaze with his own eyes. There was silence, and then Roy reached out and took the cheese.

The grin on Owen's face grew in size at Roy's acceptance of his gift and he stepped back happily to watch his older brother eat.

"Owen," Inez said softly. "Please go back to bed now."

"How am I supposed to sleep when he's unhappy?" Owen asked sadly, already sulking towards the door.

"W-wait," Roy said in a half mumble, making Owen turn back eagerly. Inez looked down at Roy expectantly, waiting to hear what he had to say. "I don't... I don't wanna sleep alone any more."

"Oh mummy," Owen said excitedly. "Can he share my room? Please? Please?"

"Well," Inez looked torn as she glanced from Owen to Roy. "There's only one bed in your room, Owen. I'm not sure if-"

"I don't mind," Roy spoke up quickly. He'd shared a bed before and anything was better than being alone again. The dark held nightmares when he was by himself, but when others were around it wasn't so bad.

"See?" Owen said happily.

"Well, alright," Inez nodded. "Come on then."

Helping Roy up, Inez lead him and Owen out of the room and across to Owen's room. Owen rushed over to his bed and pulled the covers back so that Roy could get in easier before standing back to let Roy go first. Inez watched with a smile as the two boys got in and pulled the covers up, lying comfortably. Roy's eyes were already drooping again, showing just how tired he was.

"Good night, boys," Inez said, bending over them to kiss them both on the forehead.

"Night mummy," Owen said, smiling at her before closing his eyes and trying to sleep. Roy mumbled something indistinct before rolling over to face the wall.

"Kayli, move over!"

"No, you move over! I'm already on the edge!"

"Liar! There's all this space here, see?"

Kayli giggled and tried to hide the space by draping the covers over it.

"No there isn't!"

"Mum! Kayli's-" Kayli quickly put a hand over Roy's mouth to shut him up, laughing hysterically as he pushed her away and began to laugh as well.

"Night Roy," Kayli said then, moving over to give him more room and closing her eyes.

"Night Kayli," Roy replied, sighing loudly before sprawling across the bed and pretending to snore loudly.

Kayli burst into giggled again and tried to shove him away from her.

The two settled down very quickly when their parents entered the room with stern expressions.

The next morning brought with it a bright, sunny day. Roy had managed to sleep peacefully for the rest of the night and felt refreshed in the morning, although slightly sore at the same time. His face also felt incredibly tight as he got up and made his way to the breakfast table and he wondered whether he looked worse today than he had yesterday.

"Roy! You're awake!" Inez said cheerfully, gesturing for him to sit down at the table beside Owen who was already up.

"Hey big bro!" Owen greeted.

Roy sighed, slumping down into the seat. "Morning." He looked around for what he could choose to eat for breakfast and Inez quickly moved closer.

"Look," she said. "I'm not sure what you like to eat for breakfast so I have a range of different things. You can have toast if you'd like, or cereal, and I even have some bacon and eggs if you'd like that. Or you can have pancakes. So what sounds good?"

Roy looked down, suddenly swamped by the memory of making pancakes with Kayli. They used to have pancakes every weekend and had a lot of fun making them themselves, with their parents watching from the side.

He'd never really noticed it before now, but Liam was never in any of his good memories. His older brother had always been rebellious and hung out with friends at every opportunity. Why, if he was always so absent from their lives, had Roy been so inspired by him?

"I want pancakes," Owen said, standing up from his chair. "Can I? Please? I'll even make it myself!"

"Let Roy choose, please, Owen," Inez said quickly.

"Pancakes," Roy said with a small smile. "I'll help you, Owen."

Inez stared in surprise as Roy and Owen moved over to the bench, pulling out the pancake mix and beginning to prepare it. Miel walked into the room and she caught his eye, shaking her head slightly in disbelief before chuckling. It was a miracle that the two boys were getting along so well.

After a while, Roy turned to Inez and waited patiently, trying to get her attention. Looking up, she frowned.

"Is something wrong?"

"No," Roy shook his head. "I'm just not allowed to handle hot things without supervision."

Inez opened her mouth in wonder and quickly stood up, moving over to help Owen and Roy finish making their pancakes by cooking the mixture. Then the pancakes were loaded up onto plates and the boys were allowed to choose which topping they wanted.

It was just when they were all finishing up with breakfast when there was a knock on the door and Miel stood to open it.

"Yes? How can I help you?"

Roy craned his neck to see who was there and was surprised to see the lady with green hair from across the road. She was holding something in her hands but he couldn't quite make it out.

"Hi!" she said enthusiastically. "I'm Mrs Inks from across the road and I just came to welcome you to our neighbourhood! I made this for-"

The object in her hands began slipping as she held it towards Miel and before he had a chance to catch it, it slipped further and crashed onto the floor. Food spilled everywhere and Miel gasped as he stepped backwards.

"Oops," Mrs Inks said.

"Ah, don't worry about it. Thanks for the gesture, it was very kind of you," Miel said as he picked up the plate the food had been on and handed it back to her. "I'll get the rest of this cleaned up, don't worry."

"Hm," Mrs Inks responded. "That's good to know."

Glancing past Miel, she settled her eyes on Roy and frowned slightly. Her gaze made him instantly aware of the tightness of his face and he wished he'd taken the time to check what he looked like before coming to breakfast. He didn't want her to see him like this. He didn't want anyone to see him if he still looked the way he had yesterday.

"That's your son, right?" Mrs Inks asked, gesturing with her head to Roy. Miel glanced back before nodding.

"That's right," he confirmed.

"What happened to him?" she asked bluntly.

Inez moved forward to join her husband at the door and blocked Roy from Mrs Inks' view.

"It was an accident," she began nervously. "An... accident with a tractor."

"An accident with a tractor?" Mrs Inks asked dubiously.

"That's right," Miel nodded.

"You let a boy that young near a tractor?" Mrs Inks asked. "No wonder something bad happened! Anyway, I really have to go. Nice meeting you!"

Mrs Inks quickly bounded away towards her house and Miel and Inez stood there as she disappeared behind her door.

"So nice of her to leave us to clean this mess up by ourselves," Inez scoffed icily. "I'll go get something for it."

Miel nodded slowly and moved to help her, the two adults cleaning it up fairly quickly. They kept shooting glances back at Roy and it made him nervous as they were trying so hard to act like there was nothing wrong.

A tractor accident. He had a feeling he would have to stick to that story very firmly as he grew up in this family.

"Roy, sweetie," Inez said, moving over to him with a gentle smile. "How about you and Owen go to your room and play a game together?"

"What sort of game?" Roy asked, remembering all the times he had played with Kayli in the past.

"Owen has some toys I'm sure he'd like to show you," Inez said, smiling encouragingly at Owen as the younger boy jumped up and raced off quickly. "If he doesn't have anything that interests you we can go out later today to get you some things, okay?"

Roy nodded and got up from his seat, heading after Owen and reaching the boys' room. Entering, he saw Owen already pulling out a box full of toys.

"We're gonna have so much fun!" Owen said excitedly.

"Hey, um," Roy hesitated and Owen looked up at him anxiously, wondering whether the older boy was going to reject the offer to play. "Have you ever played hide and seek before?"

A grin appeared on Owen's face instantly and he quickly began nodding, shoving his box of toys away.

"I love hide and seek!" he exclaimed.

"Do you wanna play, then?" Roy asked. When Owen nodded again he laughed lightly. "Okay, do you want to hide or seek?"

"I'll hide! You'll never find me!" Owen squealed, jumping up from the floor and running to the door where he paused and looked back again. "You have to count to twenty, okay?"

"Okay," Roy nodded.

Owen disappeared out of the room then and Roy turned around, closing his eyes and beginning to count slowly. He could hear Owen's shrieks as he tried to find a hiding place quickly and shook his head slightly in amusement. Kayli had always been frantic whenever she tried to find a place to hide, as well.

"Seventeen, eighteen," Roy ran a hand lightly over his face as he counted, but quickly dropped it to his side again. "Nineteen, twenty!"

Opening his eyes, Roy quickly left the room and began to make his way around the house. Inez and Miel were still in the kitchen and seemed to be having a private conversation so he headed in the opposite direction. Finding a back door that led out to a small backyard, Roy smiled slightly and stepped out.

The yard was fairly empty with only a few trees at the side. It didn't look like Owen would have been able to hide out here, but Roy couldn't pass up the opportunity to do some quick exploring. So he walked around the yard and peered behind each tree, familiarising himself with the terrain and beginning to memorise it.

Finally going back to the door that led into the house, Roy went in without looking back.

It didn't take him long this time to find Owen hiding in a cupboard in the laundry. The younger boy had the advantage of being small enough to fit in places like that and again it reminded Roy of Kayli.

"You were supposed to take longer finding me!" Owen complained as he came out of the cupboard. "Alright, my turn to count! Try and find somewhere really difficult, okay? Quickly!" Giggling, Owen turned and put his head against the cupboard doors, his hands shielding his eyes as well as he began to count out loud.

Roy stumbled back as he realised Owen had already begun and then quickly ran from the room, searching for a hiding place as quickly as he could.

Maybe, just maybe he could get used to living here with this family.

It was a few days later when Roy was sitting on his bed in the room he shared with Owen. The bed he'd had in the other room before had been moved so that he and Owen no longer shared one and it was much better on really hot nights.

Inez and Miel had taken the boys shopping earlier in the day and Roy now had more clothes as well as some board games he'd liked the look of. He was reading the back of one box right now to try and get the rules in his head for whenever they were able to play it, and Owen was sitting across from him on his own bed with another of the board game boxes in front of him.

"You'll have to help me a lot," Owen said as he frowned down at the box. "I don't think we've ever played anything like this before. Are you sure it's fun?"

Roy looked over at which board game Owen was staring at and then nodded. "Yeah, it really is. And I will help you, don't worry."

Owen grinned at that and took the lid off the box, pulling out the different pieces and turning them over in his hands.

The two boys fell into a comfortable silence as they did their own thing and Roy was thankful for it. As much as he was starting to love Owen, he had also come to realise that the boy had endless questions about everything. It could be very, very annoying.

Kayli hadn't been as annoying as Owen was.

Owen suddenly pushed the board game away from himself and stood up, leaving the room. Roy frowned for a moment but then shrugged it off, deciding it wasn't important as he continued to try and memorise the rules.

Owen's disappearance became shockingly important soon, however, as Roy suddenly heard Inez begin screeching at the boy from another room. What on earth was going on, Roy wondered?

Standing up and quickly moving out of his room, Roy found himself looking into the bathroom at the strangest sight ever. Inez was scrubbing at Owen's face roughly with a wet cloth and he was whining loudly, pushing against her.

"Don't you ever do that again! You hear me?" Inez snapped.

"I just wanted to look like Roy!" Owen retaliated, squeezing his eyes shut as Inez rubbed the cloth over that area of his face. "He's got such cool scars, I wanted some too!"

"Don't you understand?" Inez hissed, much more quietly this time. Roy stepped back out of view and continued to listen closely to what was being said. "Roy has been through a lot! He doesn't need you constantly reminding him how different he is, okay? We need to support him and help him get over what happened. Those scars are a bad thing, Owen, so that's all he'll see if you go up to him with them painted onto your face."

"I just wanted to be like him..." Owen's reply came out slightly choked as the small boy began to cry and his mother finally stopped rubbing to pull him into a hug.

"I know, Owen," Inez said soothingly. "I know."

Roy backtracked away from the bathroom door, slowly tracing his way down the hallway. He felt like someone had thrown him in front of a truck. This family wanted to help him so badly, and Owen looked up to him so much.

How was this possible? How could a boy who hardly knew him think so highly of such a messed up individual? And how could these strangers care so much about him to try and protect him so much?

Who was he?

"Kayli..."

Roy found himself stumbling out the back door and looking up at the trees that he recognised. They looked different through blurred eyes and he floundered towards the closest one, bracing his hands against it and then sagging down to sit beside it on the ground.

He closed his eyes and let the tears slip down his face, no longer caring about trying to keep himself together. He couldn't do it. He needed his real family back or he was never going to make it through another day.

What kind of a role model was he for Owen, anyway? A terrible one. He couldn't even protect his own blood-sister without running away. What would that teach Owen? The poor boy would never learn how to stand up for himself or others if Roy was the one he was trying to copy.

No. Roy did not want to be that kind of a role model. He had to change. If he was going to be staying with this family for a while he had to become the kind of role model that Inez and Miel would want for their true son.

There was one thing that could ensure that. One thing he could do that would make sure Inez and Miel were fine with him being Owen's role model. One thing that he could do which would turn him into the type of boy and then man that he wanted to become. One thing that would also give him the chance to go back and see if Kayli was still okay. One thing to give him enough power to protect her from anything that tried to hurt her.

Roy stood up and wiped his eyes quickly, sniffing back his tears and walking inside again. He sure didn't feel any different right now, but with time it would come. He could change himself and aim for the same goal he had been aiming for even while he was back in Junon with Kayli and his parents.

Nothing could stand in his way this time.

No one.