Here we are, now, Chapter 7. Only two things to note this time. Firstly, I forgot to state that Iluem is 45, and talking of age, anyone notice the little gag I have with Big Band's age? Second thing, I'm interested in a Beta Reader, and if anyone would like to help, I'd always be willing to hear some extra input. Main thing I could use some help on is the romantic element of this and future stories, and plan on doing several other things besides Skullgirls. Please PM me if your interested.

Chapter 7: The Old Friends Reunite

The youngest of Lab 8's subjects were surprised by the events outside, to say the least. They had never seen most of the new arrivals, especially due to the fact that the only one of them had been a previous member before, and he'd left before most of them had even arrived at the Lab. Some of the older members, however, had been around long enough to know who he was, and they were ecstatic at Ragnorok's arrival. One of them, a young girl 12 years old with long black hair that sported an overall demented look walked up, and was actually grinning, which was a rarity for her.

"Your back! Big Brother Fen is back!" When Ragnorok noticed the girl, he grinned, and knelt down on one knee so that he was eye level with her.

"Well well, if it isn't little Alice. You seem to have grown a bit since last I saw you." And with that, he ruffled her hair, which furtherly made her grin.

"Wait, who are those other two with you?"

Their some people who ended up getting hurt, and need somewhere to rest. As for why Ben's carrying the girl, its because she is sleeping right now. The other one is too, but she has a friend with her to do the job himself." It was then that Alice noticed that it was not the girl who was moving, but her hair, which had the oddest mouth on top. She stared at it for a few moments, up until it started yelling at her.

"Back away a few steps girly. I am not something to stare at." Seeing that his yelling was ineffective, he proceeded to make a horrendous face and roared. "Roaaah!" That didn't work so well, either, and instead it caused Alice to just laugh. It wasn't just him, as Dr. Avian and the other Lab 8 residents were laughing as well.

"Its pretty futile trying to scare her, or most of Lab 8's residents. We've seen stuff that would give normal people nightmares, and freaking each other out is a bit of a regular occurrence. Most of us even find it amusing."

Samson was at a loss, and he had no clue how to react to someone that he couldn't intimidate. All he could do was just stay silent and move away, waiting for them to continue along to the med-bay. It was then that Alice remembered the other person that came with him.

"But what about the other person? And why is it that Ben is carrying her?" Ragnorok was stunned for a moment, then remembered the fact that Alice was always an oddly knowing girl, able to understand concepts like death and aging when she was only 7.

"She's a lot like me, and is here for the same reason I got here." While she was still grinning, she soon started to frown, clearly worrying about something.

"Does that mean she'll end up going away, like you?" Before Ragnorok could even answer, a voice he hadn't heard in years spoke, and clearly wasn't pleased.

"Yes, will you abandon us, and not even say a word again?" Ragnorok looked, and saw the source of the voice, and he took a breath as the sight of her. She was a decently tall girl, with a beelike dress, helped by its black and yellow colors, which oddly accented her blue-green eyes and purple hair. The only truly odd thing about her was this mark on her forehead, and looked like three scars pointing right at the center of her head. Next to her was another boy from his past, and he was even odder. He had spiky blond hair, which gave off the feeling of lightning, and served as an excellent accent to his electric-blue eyes. His most notable feature was that his arms and legs were mechanical, and featured copper wires all around them, and served as an odd contrast to his clothes, which featured X's all over the place, and gave off a far more subdued feel than his appendages.

"Hive, Leduc..." Said Ragnorok, as he stood up to face the pair. That proved to be a futile effort, as Hive proceeded to walk right up to him, and slapped him with a strength that did not seem to match her fairly slim frame. So strong was it, in fact, that it actually sent Ragnorok straight to the floor. Everyone was surprised by this, even Leduc, who was clearly thinking they were just going to scold him.

"Hive..."

"No! Don't you even dare try to stop me! You were hurting just as bad when he left. And you!" Hive said, now facing Ragnorok again. "How dare you come crawling back here after four years. Left without a word, and coming back without one either. Do you have the gall to think that you can just come and go as you please?" While there was clearly anger in her voice, Ragnorok could tell that there was something else behind it, and that was evident even without using his powers. Because of this, he was not too surprised when he heard what came next.

"Why did you leave us? And why couldn't you have least told us, and not just have Doc and Ben tell us the next day? Did the two years we spent as friends mean nothing to you? Do we really mean that little to you?" Hive said, now practically on the verge of tears. It was then that Ragnorok rose from the ground, face still red from Hive's slap, and grabbed the two in his arms, while looking at them dead in the eyes.

"Its because I cared about you both so much that I couldn't tell you to your faces. I see that was a mistake on my part, and for that I'm sorry." Hive was thoroughly confused, to say the least.

"Wait...What? How does that make any sense?"

"Because I needed to leave, though I never intended to be gone for so long. I meant for it to only take a year at most. Also, I never could find a way to contact the Lab while I was on my travels."

"You still could have told us when you first left." said Hive, tears now beginning to fall, and both Leduc and Ragnorok were getting watery-eyed as well.

"I had no other choice. It nearly killed me leaving at all, and if I'd told you guys goodbye, I'm not sure I ever could have left."

"Then why didn't you just stay."

"Because I had something to take care of, and I had to do it no matter what. Besides, now that I've taken care of it, I only have one thing left to do."

"And after that?" asked Leduc, speaking up for the first time, and his voice revealed he was just as sad as Hive, and he was just using his uncanny ability to keep his emotions in check when the situation demanded it. Now that he was sure how they both felt, Ragnorok put them even closer to him, so now they were all in a closely knit hug.

"After that, I'll be back here, the one true place I can truly call home, and this time, I'll be here for good." It was then that the group could no longer contained themselves, and they began to sob into each others arms. Soon, however, the sobs began to mix in with laughter.

The overall atmosphere of the room was one of a heartfelt return, as this act amongst everything else helped to solidify that Ragnorok was back. The only one who frown at this was Dr. Avian, the one man who was told why he had left in the first place.

So then, he thought, it seems like his other return did not go as planned. how terribly tragic. I suppose that now, this is the only place he has left. Dr. Avian sighed at this, but he knew that he meant every word he had said outside, and was glad for at least that. In fact, the whole affair would have gone on for longer, up until the point that Painwheel muttered something in her sleep.

"No, please. Don't make me kill again."

Despite how quiet this was, most of the people were able to hear what she said. Hive was the first to react.

"Ok, I'll bite: in all honesty, who is that girl, and why did she have to kill?" With this, Ragnorok broke their hug, and examined Painwheel, who was still asleep in Big Band's arms, thankfully.

"Like I said before, she's a former Lab Zero subject called Painwheel, and I can guess that they would have wanted to be certain that she would follow their orders, no matter what. With time, however, I'm hoping that she'll be able to be one of us, and maybe even be a part of the group." Ragnorok looked straight at his old friends, clearly waiting for their reaction. the other two looked at each other for a moment, then smiled at Ragnorok.

"Sure." said Leduc. "Any friend of yours is a friend of ours."

"Besides," said Hive, "it would be nice to have a girl my age around here. No offense to you two, but being around guys all day could get annoying. Even after you left, Ragnorok, there have still been too few a number of girls around for my taste."

"Hey, what am I, chopped liver!" hollered Peacock at the top of her lungs, which resulted in everyone shushing her. "What?" she said, though this time she was far quieter.

"Try to show a little tact, we have two people that need to sleep. Also, I'll admit that Painwheel might be a tad... eh volatile. Actually, I was hoping to find you anyway, Leduc, so that you can lend a hand in helping to keep her in check."

"Yeah, no problem. So how do you want me to help?"

"When she wakes up, she'll end up being restrained, but I think that will work as well as it did for me. Because of that, I want you to hang around in the med bay so that you can help in restraining her."

"OK. Sounds good."

"What about me?" asked Hive. "Is there any way I can help?" Ragnorok was about to say something, but then he thought about it, and changed his answer.

"Actually, that other girl is unconscious as well, and could probably use a bit warmer of an introduction. Think you could be there to lend a hand with?"

"Sure. I'll be sure to give her a proper Lab 8 Introduction."

"Thanks, both of you. I'm gonna head there too because A. It would give us some decent time to catch up...

"True enough, and we have a lot to catch up on." said Leduc.

"And B. I think I need to pass out for a little while. I've had two fights and gotten slapped today, so I'm going to be so tired when I put the last two seals in." Ragnorok said, while also pointing at the remaining nails in his hand.

"Sorry about slapping you, by the way."

"Its no trouble. I deserved it anyway, even if I meant well in my actions. Have to say, though, Ow! How is it that getting slapped hurt worse than fighting two people?" Leduc was cracking up at this, as he too had been the recipient of Hive's slaps before, and he had begged the same question himself.

"One of life's great mysteries, I guess." this set the group off again, who now got up, and were ready to move on to the med bay. Now that he was sure that everything had settled down, Samson had begun moving again, and after a few minutes, they had arrived at the med-bay. It was a decently sized area, and had about 60 beds in all, each one offering enough space for some room to work around. They did not, however, go into any of these beds, and instead went into a room that was connected to the med bay. This left Samson confused for a moment, but Ragnorok explained.

"This part here is the main area. We use it in the event a large number of us are sick or injured, but there are only three of us, including myself, so we should just be able to sleep in here instead." And with that, he opened the door, and they found a rather lovely room which had only three beds total. Along with this, there were seveal seats that could be used so that someone could come in and stay in the room. The most notable aspect, however, were that all three beds were surrounded by curtains, which meant it would be very easy for a person to have some privacy, even if the room was full of people.

"The middle bed should be good for you, Samson, and it would be best to just let Filia sleep for another couple hours." Samson nodded, and smoothly crawled himself and Filia into the bed. While Samson had healed since his fight, carrying Filia everywhere had rendered him rather exhausted, so he had no problems with just sleeping for a while.

"Before I lose consciousness, I have one quick question: why did that little girl call you Fen, and why did she call you her brother?"

"Because that girl was about six when I got here, and it would have been impossible for her to pronounce Ragnorok properly, so I just gave her my favorite nickname for my other half. As for the "Big Brother" part, that's because we here at Lab 8 consider each other to be family. Not a lot of us have anywhere else to go, or else were abandoned when we were little. Its far better for everyone to heal if they feel like they have some place to belong." While it did seem odd at first, the explanation did make everything make perfect sense to Samson. With that, he had nothing else to worry about, so he just passed out, but not before saying one last thing.

"When I wake up, make sure that there's some booze somewhere..."

And with that, Samson fell asleep completely, and was clearly going to be out for a while.

"Well, there's one. So up next, we should take care of Painwheel, so Ben, would you put her on the right one?"

"Sure thing." said Ben, and he set Painwheel down on her cot, and with a care that seemed unlikely considering his large proportions, covered her in blankets. After that, Ragnorok and Avian proceeded to restrain her in the leather bindings attached to the bed, which would give at least a little time after she wakes up to restrain her properly. With that, Ragnorok removed her mask, setting it in one of the nearby chairs. This allowed Leduc and Hive to see her face for the first time.

"Huh, she's actually kind of cute without that mask on. Once you look past the scars, at least." Said Leduc.

"Easy there Leduc." said Ragnorok. "You should give her a little time to let her heal mentally before you try anything with her. Don't even know why you would, anyway, considering the fact that you already have Hive." This comment proceeded to make both Hive and Leduc blush deep red, a trait very uncharacteristic of both of them. "Oh, have you guys not tried anything yet? I've been gone for four years now, so I would have thought you two would have had some relationship by now."

Yet again, Hive proceeded to slap Ragnorok, though this time he had deserved it far less, and as such, she did not put in the usual amount of force. Instead, he ended up just getting sent to the bed on the left, which he had conveniently left open when he had chosen to stand in front of it. Instead of standing up, he just opted to sit in his bed, as he was clearly tired.

"Judging by that slap, there is clearly some interest, so I'm just going to say this: Leduc, if, by the time I have disassembled Brain Drain, you have not at least tried to make a relationship with Hive, I am going to personally beat you upside the head." Leaving Leduc and Hive to both just be flabbergasted by his statement, he now turned towards Dr Avian. "Sorry there, Doc, but I need to sleep so that I'll be ready when Valentine comes, so in the meantime, you need to start making preparations for the attack."

"But when will it be? We may not have enough time to prepare." To this, Ragnorok looked at the clock, and saw that it was about 7:00 P.M.

"She'll get here around midnight, both for the ease of moving unnoticed and her general flair for the dramatic. Will five hours be enough time for everyone to get ready?"

"Yes, more than enough. We could probably be ready in three hours."

"Three hours, eh? Then I have a request. Once your ready, come back to this room and wake me up, along with the other two, if they aren't already awake. That would allow the time to explain everything before the fight goes down."

"Sounds good. But why do you need both up? I understand Painwheel, but why the young girl... er, what is her name?

"Filia, and as for why, call it a hunch, but I think everything here is interconnected, including her supposed amnesia." All Avian could do is stare, but he knew that by the look on his face, that he was certain, and was interested as to what could connect all these pieces together.

"All right. I'll be back as soon as possible. You too, Ben, We'll need you to hold down the front-lines," And with that, Avian and Ben headed out the door, already thinking about how to get the message across fast. Shortly there after, Peacock started moving out as well.

"If someone's coming here for a fight, then I'd best be sure to get out my biggest and best toys." Leaving them only to stare and wonder at that statement, she headed towards her own room, bearing a fairly smug smile.

Illuem gave the remaining group a qucik look around.

"I think I'll go too. The younger members will need to be kept safe, otherwise this could turn into a full out slaughter. Besides,"she said, her voice implying that she was grinning, "I need to tidy up your room a little Ragnorok. Besides general clean-up, you'll find it was as you left it."

"Excellent. And go, I have no problems, and I'll be out cold for another few hours anyway." Leaving the three to Hive and Leduc, Illuem headed out, hoping for the best that would come of tonight. Now that they were alone, Ragnorok took a look at both of his dear friends, and it was as if time had never passed between them. They all looked so much like they did when he had left.

"I owe you both a full explanation, and I swear I'll tell you everything. But first, I really do need to sleep for a couple hours. Think you could stand waiting so that I can just explain all this one time only?" He waited for a moment, and allowed them to think for a moment.

"Sure." said Leduc

"No problem" said Hive, "We've waited four years for an explanation. We're more than willing to wait just a few more hours."

"Excellent. Well, I'm just gonna pass out, then. Make sure that the other two are kept safe, and make sure that I'm woken up along with them." And with that, Ragnorok put the last two nails in his arm, and with his transformation back to his neutral state, it was clear that he was dead tired.

"One last thing." Said Leduc."Are you still in there, Fenrir?"

Alive and ready to kick your ass again said Fenrir, speaking with his typical arrogance, in spite of the fact he was clearly tired too. To this reply, Leduc could only grin as electricity coursed down his arms for a moment.

"Excellent. It definitely looks like we have a ton of catching up to do." Ragnorok grinned at this, glad to have his friends back.

"Well, if that's all, I am going to fall asleep. Night, you two, and do try not to make too much noise together." This caused the pair to blush yet again, but before they could respond, Ragnorok put his head on a pillow, and was out in seconds, Leaving the conscious pair to only stare at each other. With nothing else to do, they proceeded to grab a pair of chairs and sat down in them in the middle of the room, so that they could be ready whoever woke up first. It was notable that they set the chairs right next to each other, and when they sat down, they subconsciously grabbed each other's hand. Realizing this, they both turned a little redder and let go, and all they could do was wait and think about what all Ragnorok had said, and their own opinions on the matter. As with everything else, only time will tell.

Finally Done, and I would like to note and apologize to the fact that these stories keep getting longer. This is unintentional, but it also means that each chapter takes more time. My method is essentially type to what I feel is a satisfactory stopping point. Well, nothing else to say but read, review, and do be sure to vote on my poll. See you next time.