Kane happened to be coming out of O.W.C.A. at the same time as they approached. Marius was now carrying Elouise in a bridal lift, which worried Kane considerably. "Oh, my gosh, is she okay?!" he screeched, racing towards them.

"She had an...experience," Marius replied hesitantly.

Kane studied him. "Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I...might have."

Kane frowned as Marius told them the story of what had happened. "So... You BOTH saw Kirk this time?"

"Yes." Marius nodded firmly. "I know it's hard to believe, but we did."

Kane frowned again. "Did he say anything this time?"

"Well... He said to tell you he's alive..." Marius hesitated. "He had been talking to Elouise, but, well..." Marius gestured with his head down to the girl in his arms, who had fallen asleep on the walk back to O.W.C.A. "He also said to tell you 'Kegan'. That was it; he then left."

Kane's reaction was instant. His face paled and he staggered back a few paces, bending over as if he was about to be sick. "No...!" he moaned. "No, no, no...!"

Marius raised an eyebrow. "Yeah...?"

"I-I should have known!" growled Kane. "I should have known!"

"Would you mind explaining for the completely uninformed, conscious person?"

"I can't," Kane said, narrowing his eyes at Marius.

"That seems to be happening an awful lot lately," commented Marius coolly.

"Elouise deserves to know before a total stranger," snapped Kane.

"Speaking of which, she's getting heavy. Is there somewhere we can put her inside?"

"We'll take her to the medical bay," Kane said, helping Marius support her weight. "Katrina and Apollo can help her."

"Got it."

The two men together carried Elouise to the medical bay. Apollo's head shot up as soon as they brought her in. "What happened?!"

"She's just asleep, but she's had a shock," Marius replied.

"And who are you?" demanded Apollo.

"Marius Monogram," he sighed. "Seriously, I'm honestly surprised you don't know me."

"Oh, you're the Major's son," Apollo realized. "Sorry. I know your siblings Monty and Mavis better."

"Of course you do," Marius sighed.

Apollo tried not to grin. "Okay, so, did you see what happened to Elouise?"

"Yeah." Marius explained what he and Elouise had experienced, and Apollo's eyes widened.

"Oh..." The doctor shot Elouise a guilty look. Katrina also looked guilty, even though she hadn't actually said anything to Elouise, because she too had disbelieved Elouise.

There were a couple minutes of awkward silence before Elouise moaned and slowly sat up on the cot she had been placed on. "Wha-What happened?" She glanced up and found four people looking down at her. She blushed awkwardly. "H-How did I get here?"

"I carried you." Marius smiled sympathetically. "That encounter took a lot out of you."

Elouise exhaled and closed her eyes. "No kidding..."

"How are you feeling?"

"Sore," Elouise replied truthfully.

"Makes sense."

Apollo sighed. "Elouise... I'm sorry we didn't believe you." Elouise didn't reply. Apollo awkwardly said, "B-But please try to understand what was going through OUR minds..."

"I-I-I..." Elouise inhaled. "I get it. But I think he needs our help." She turned to Kane. "K-Kane, he said..."

"I know," Kane replied quietly. "Marius told me."

"Said what?" asked Katrina.

"Just...a name...?" Elouise answered in a confused tone.

"Kegan," growled Kane.

"Mind filling us in on what's obviously an inside joke between you two?" Marius asked, crossing his arms.

"An inside joke?" Kane's voice went quiet and dangerous. "So it's "obviously an inside joke", is it? This all seems like a joke to you, doesn't it?"

"Hey, I was just joking," Marius defended. "Now, on a scale of one to ten, about how bad is this?"

"To the whole world? About six." Kane shot a look at Elouise. "To Kirk, a full ten."

"Well, then, what do we do?!" Elouise snapped worriedly.

Kane hesitated. "To tell you that, I have to explain who Kegan is and why he poses such a threat to my family... Which means revisiting some painful memories." Everyone waited quietly for him to explain.

Kane sighed. "When I was a little boy, my father walked out on me, Kirk, and our older brother. He took our sister, who was just older than Kirk, with him. From then on, our mother had to work two jobs in order to keep enough money coming in to feed us, which meant she was never home. She relied on our older brother to look after us pretty much 24/7. But he... He terrorized us, basically. He kept all the good food for himself and quite often starved us. He bullied us, pushed us around, and treated us like we weren't even human beings, let alone related to him.

"Once, he... He and Kirk were climbing a tree and he kicked Kirk off. Kirk almost broke his neck. But our older brother didn't even care, let alone take him to a hospital. I was only ten years old, but I still managed to drag Kirk all the way to the hospital.

"When we all grew up and went our separate ways, I thought I would never have to see our older brother again." Kane took a shaky breath. "Except now..." He hesitated. "You've probably worked it out already, but Kegan is our older brother. And if he has Kirk, then he's certainly not treating him very well."

Elouise put a hand to her mouth. She felt like she would be sick. Her breathing quickly became erratic. Kane wasn't much better. He turned away from the group and closed his eyes, pressing his hand against his stomach as nausea rose up inside him.

Wordlessly, Katrina moved to comfort Elouise while Apollo placed his hand on Kane's back, steadying him. "That was very brave of you," Apollo said quietly. "Nobody likes reliving painful memories."

"I was so glad when we separated," Kane mumbled. "But now Kegan... H-He's back... A-And K-K-Kirk... H-He's my little brother..."

Apollo frowned sympathetically. "Is there any way to beat him?" Elouise also looked up, wanting to hear the answer.

Kane hesitated. "Y-Yes. There is a way."

"What?"

"Kitty."

Aw, poor Kirk and Kane :( :( Also…. Who's Kitty?! xD xD xD You'll find out next chapter