Disclaimer ½ Prince and all of the characters—aside from my OC's—belong to Yu Wo


"Remember, if Gui gives you any trouble while you're talking, call me and I'll come beat him up for you again. I'll be sure to stay nearby just in case," Dib whispered sternly, giving my arm several smacks as if he thought that would help assure me of his support. Rather than feeling relieved, I really wished people would stop smacking me. It happened all the time, for some unknown reason. Could they really think of no other way to express themselves than with their fists? Especially Dib. He seemed to always be on the lookout for opportunities to hit things.

"I won't," Gui said, glancing down at us while he restlessly shifted from one foot to the other in wait, and then added under his breath, "intentionally."

"Go away! Stop eavesdropping!" Dib commanded, shooting a glare up at him before turning back to me and saying quietly, "Really, if he does–"

"I won't," I echoed, smiling at Dib's determined expression while I stood up and took a few steps backward. "Behave yourself. See you in a while," I called with a wave as I left him with the others and walked away with Gui.

"Have a nice chat!" Doll yelled after us as we strode through the grass. "Try not to say anything stupid again to my servant, GuiGui!"

Gui didn't respond to her, aside from lowering his eyebrows slightly in annoyance. I briefly looked over my shoulder to watch while the others walked in the other direction, curious as to why that girl kept calling me such things. Perhaps I would be able to remember after some thought, but doing so all the time was endlessly aggravating. I often had to remind myself to be patient with my forgetfulness. It had only been two weeks, after all. I doubted my head would heal in such a short span of time. Though, not being an expert on amnesia, I had no idea just how long I would have to wait until I would be able to remember things again. Maybe Gui had a medical book I could flip through.

Sending a small glance in Gui's direction, I turned back to pay attention to where I was going, wondering when he was going to start talking. He was staring straight ahead, looking as nervous as I, so I let the silence continue.

"Dib sure is protective of you," he finally remarked once we were completely out of sight of the others. He smiled faintly and lowered himself onto the dark grass. I settled beside him, nodding slightly and wishing I could remember why he was. We must have been very close for him to lash out at Gui with such… enthusiasm? Or maybe he was just violent, I thought as I absently stared at the ground while waiting for Gui to continue.

"Do you all know each other in real life?" he asked quietly, looking like he was attempting to plaster a polite smile on his face, though he was failing miserably.

"Yes. And, except for Dib, we all live together," I affirmed, wondering why he'd steered the conversation in such a direction. Though I supposed it was better to talk about small things first, rather than leaping directly into the nasty parts of what I assumed we both wanted to say.

"That must be fun, having your teammates so close by," he murmured, looking somewhat wistful at the thought. "I know Ugly Wolf, and that's nice, but it would be nicer with… certain others," he ended with a small sigh, sounding like he was talking more to himself than to me. Somehow, I doubted the "certain other" would agree with his wants.

When he turned his attention back to me, he raised his eyebrows a tiny bit and briefly looked confused. "You aren't living with father?"

"Not anymore. He sent me to live at the Lin estate a couple weeks ago," I answered slowly. "So, just for clarification, I'm not here to spy on you for him, or anything of that sort. But you don't have to tell Jiū and I your address if you don't want to do so. He will probably be at the wedding, anyway, if only for appearances. If you're uncomfortable with the idea, don't feel obligated to come just because we invited you."

"Oh," he said softly, nodding for a moment and he relaxing slightly. I wondered if he was relieved that I allowed him a way out of the occasion. I wouldn't have been surprised if that was the case, but that didn't mean I didn't feel somewhat annoyed that he didn't want to come. It was just a wedding, and not like I was inviting him to stay at our father's house for a month. But the levels of our tolerance for various things were obviously quite different.

"I'm sorry for my attitude yesterday," he continued hesitantly, twisting his fingers together with an anxious look on his face. "It was uncalled for, as has been my hostility toward you all of the other times we've met. You've been nothing but civil, and I kept assuming you had some ulterior motive for being around."

I sat silently for a few moments, wondering if I was supposed to say I forgave him. It seemed rather high and mighty to say such a thing, and I was neither, so instead I settled for answering with, "It's not like you don't have your reasons," while I picked a few blades of grass and twisted them around one another.

Gui sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I know, but I still… I'm sorry," he repeated. I simply nodded in response, not wanting to look up.

"What's been going on since I left?" he asked softly.

"Nothing special. Just the usual, only more frequently," I replied, dropping the grass and staring vacantly at the black, starry horizon. "You aren't the only one who blames me for what happened."

Gui wordlessly stared at the ground in front of himself, suddenly not moving at all. That was an odd response. Was it really so surprising that our father would also blame me? Even before Gui left, such things had been happening for every little thing that went wrong. How our father treated us was another glaring contrast between Gui and I. While Gui was the epitome of perfection, I was simply a mistake. Our father had made sure to remind me as frequently as possible.

"A day didn't go by that he forgot to tell me he wished you were still there," I muttered, smirking slightly at the thought. "I never asked him, but I'm sure that if I had, he would have told me that he would prefer our roles be reversed. Having me gone, and you at home."

As I spoke, Gui's blank face was suddenly smothered with a disgusted expression. Snorting, he rested his chin on one hand and narrowed his eyes. "Well, now he doesn't have either of us, the moron. He's doing such a great job of making me want to come back."

Frowning slightly, I felt anger rise up at his words. I wasn't sure if I'd been riled up by his reluctance to to home or by my own bizarre desire to return. But I held myself back from snapping that Gui could have gone back whenever he wished, and my father would have definitely welcomed him back with open arms. I doubted he'd even open the front gate for me. He'd probably get the house security to drive me away.

"Zian?" Gui called quietly. I looked at him, feeling a bit surprised at how concerned he seemed. "Last night, what… what did Dib mean when he said father was abusive? I… I know he used to hit you sometimes, but I don't think something like that would make Dib so angry."

"I told you already," I answered, looking away again. "'The usual, only more frequently,' ever since just after you left. That's partially the reason I'm living with Jiū and the others, I suppose. I can't remember why, but Jiao said that father got angry at me two weeks ago and pushed me down the front stairs. Now I can't go to work until my injuries ha–"

Gui's mouth dropped open, and he leaned forward, suddenly looking furious while he grabbed my shoulders and shook me back and forth. "I ASKED YOU WHAT WAS HAPPENING, AND YOU SAID 'NOTHING SPECIAL'! 'THE USUAL'? WHAT–"

"Yes, the usual," I repeated, giving him a blank stare as he continued to grasp my arms. "It's always been happening, he didn't simply hit me. Just because you had your face in a book all of the time means you weren't paying attention to anything else?"

"But he never did anything to me. I didn't…" Gui's voice slowly faded out, and he looked back at me with unease. That only made me more annoyed. Why was he bothering to seem worried after he'd been the one to leave it all behind? What did he care about things going on in his absence?

"Of course he never did anything to you," I continued angrily in his place. "He loves you. Why would he incapacitate you when he has a useless son right here to pulverize on a daily basis?"

Quickly detaching his hands from my shoulders and standing up, I took a few steps away to keep myself from murdering him right then and there. I already knew he hadn't noticed my abuse while he was still home, but it was maddening beyond words to actually hear him say so.

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Gui whispered furiously. "I would have stopped him!"

"Why was it necessary to tell you?" I asked, forcing myself to stay facing the other direction. "It was never a secret. You were too focused on your own business, and just never took notice. Anyway, the only thing talking about it would have accomplished was further beatings for 'whining'."

"Why do you always assume talking about your problems will make things worse?" he snapped. "You've always kept everything you're thinking to yourself, and never tell me what's going on! How am I supposed to help you if you won't let me understand the damn situation?"

He took a few calming breaths, and then stood up to stand beside me again. "You know, if you'd simply spoken to me all those years ago instead of telling father, none of this would have happened."

Slowly closing my eyes, I barely stopped myself from smiling at how hopeless this all was. The conversation was going absolutely nowhere. We'd talked in a circle, and now we were back to how everything was my fault. Why had he even bothered to request I talk to him if he was just going to pile everything on me yet again?

"Well, hearing you say that makes things much more simple," I breathed, opening my eyes again to look him at last. "I've been wanting to say 'I'm sorry' to you for eleven years, and there you have it. I'm sorry. There is nothing I regret more than betraying the trust you had in me, and I hope that you will be able to forgive me at some point. But don't worry, I'm not expecting it to be any time soon."

"Wait, where are you going?" Gui called after me when I started off across the grass.

Pausing, I glanced at him over my shoulder. "You've made yourself perfectly clear, and there is no point in continuing this conversation. It seems I'm never going to hear anything from you or father other than how I should have done things differently. You two never stop to think that perhaps you are also at fault. I have no interest in arguing with you further."

"What? Stop putting words in my mouth!" Gui roared, moving to stand in front of me so I couldn't leave. "I meant that you should have told me what you were thinking instead of father, so we could have fixed it! If that would have been been possible! You should have said you didn't want me to leave! I would have stayed!"

"Why would you have ever stayed in that house?" I asked in disbelief. "Father may not have abused you, but he certainly never missed a chance to flaunt his control."

"I would have stayed for you," he hissed in return. "I wasn't as inattentive as you seem to think."

"You were inattentive enough not to notice all the bruises and broken bones. I realized a long time ago what's important to you and what isn't," I said coolly, pushing him lightly to one side and walking on.

"Zian, come back! I'm not finished!"

I reluctantly halted and turned to face him again. "What more could you possibly have to say? Just leave me alone, and go live however the hell you want like you've been doing this whole time."

"You were the one who approached me, so stop talking as if I forced you to come here!" he yelled. "I didn't even want to talk to you in the first place, but you kept—Come BACK!"

"We should continue this later, I don't want to talk to you while we're both angry," I replied quietly before striding away. "We're finished," I called over the team channel, trying to beat down the urge to log out. "Where are you guys?"

"Sounds like things didn't go so well, hm?" Lolidragon's voice piped in.

"As well as they could for now," I muttered, watching while everyone appeared over one of the star-lit hills. Gui thankfully made no more efforts to speak, and silently walked along behind me. What was the point of all of that if he hadn't even wanted to talk? Perhaps we would be able to continue later on, but it seemed as though he was never going to change his attitude so we could stop the endless fighting. Why was he so determined to be the innocent one?

Dib raced ahead of the others, looking suspiciously between Gui and I. He crashed into my leg a moment later, hugging it tightly. "Pick me up!" he ordered, letting my leg go and lifting his arms. Though I didn't particularly want to carry him, I obeyed. He anxiously patted my cheek once he was in place. "What happened?" he sent through a private message.

Hoisting Dib up a bit further, I shook my head. "Nothing that hasn't happened before, though this time was less heated, I suppose."

Wrapping his arms around my neck, he sighed and leaned against my chest. "What a vague answer. I don't get any specifics? Did you forget"

"You're my best friend, right?" I supplied before he could remind me yet again. "But I don't remember you, so please understand that I'm not comfortable with sharing such personal things with a person I only just met. Or so it seems from my viewpoint."

Dib made an dissatisfied grumbly noise and tightened his grip until I could barely breathe. "Why'd you pick me up if you don't know me? Isn't it weird, carrying some kid you don't remember? You coulda refused if you didn't wanna."

"I did it because you told me to," I quietly answered, "that's all."

He sighed again and loosened his arms, looking melancholic while he pressed his face to my neck. "I want my friend back."

"…So do I." After my soft agreement, we fell into a strained silence. Once we reached the others, on his request I put him down again and together, we walked with everyone back toward Star City, saying our goodbyes to the Odd Squad at the still-slightly-crowded teleporting platform.

Gui glanced at me and then hurried forward. Yanking me into a rough hug, he patted me on the back for a moment. "Don't think I'm done talking with you," he grumbled, and then pushed me backward before he turned away to join his team again.

"Come visit our new city sometime!" Ugly Wolf called, waving a clawed hand energetically, and then they vanished, teleporting off somewhere.

I stared blankly at where they'd been standing, and then glanced in bewilderment at the others. "What did he just say?"

"Their prize for winning the Grand Melee was an entire city," Wei Bo supplied, looking flabbergasted. My eyes widened at the unexpected news. That explained why so many people had entered into the tournament. Not that I would have wanted to compete, whatever the prize had been. Running a city sounded extremely tiring.

Mentally shrugging off my surprise, I sighed and turned to my team. "What should we do, now? Go back to Moon City?"

"OH!" Dib suddenly yelled. I stared down at him, feeling extremely startled when he ran toward me and grabbed my hand, excitedly tugging it up and down. One moment he was angry, the next he was sad, the next he was hyper. What a confusing person.

"Let's register as an official team, first! I bet the Adventurers' Guild isn't as crowded as it was, now that the Grand Melee is over! Let's go!" Without waiting for the agreement of everyone else, Dib pulled me away, yanking me down the dark road.

After we'd meandered through the straggling crowds of players, we stepped into the huge guild hall, and Dib broke out into a run, heading for a NPC standing in one of the corners. Dib finally dropped my hand and breathlessly turned around. "What should we call ourselves?"

He hadn't thought about that before hurrying us here? I'd assumed he had some sort of idea to act on. Somehow, this situation felt familiar.

I glanced around myself, frowning at the stifling crowds, and quickly walked to the other side of my team where I would have room to breathe beside the wall of pillars. The others chattered to one another energetically as I watched in silence.

"Any ideas?" Xiu Chen asked me, green eyes shining with anticipation.

I shook my head at her. "I don't particularly care what we're called." Nor had I ever given it a shred of thought.

Wei Bo made a huffing noise, and crossed his arms. "So, you wouldn't care if we name ourselves the Fluffy Pixies or something?"

Staring at him in amusement, I shrugged noncommittally. "If that's really what you want us to be called, go right ahead. But don't regret it later and start whining about how ridiculous it sounds."

He looked extremely annoyed, and his scowl deepened. "That was just an example!" he snapped, his face flushing slightly at my breezy response, which he apparently hadn't been expecting. He was always trying to start fights with me over bizarre things. Rather than feeling angry at him for it, his attempts were starting to become quite entertaining.

"We need something cool!" Dib exclaimed with a very determined expression.

"And tough!" Avila added, looking equally determined.

"What sorts of things are cool and tough?" Jiū mused, staring off into space.

"Ice cubes," I vaguely answered, wishing they would hurry up so we could leave. Not that I was particularly helping the process go any faster.

"Not that kind of cool!" Dib fumed, giving my leg an angry punch.

"Anyway, ice cubes are more along the lines of crunchy, rather than tough," Xiu Chen corrected in a serious tone and she frowned thoughtfully.

"Well, maybe not little cubes. But if it's a big slab, I would think one could call it 'tough,'" I continued, more out of boredom than actually wanting to explain myself. "Like a layer of ice, which could hold a person's weight, covering a pond."

Xiu Chen's eyebrows flew upward and she nodded at my words. "Oh, I see. Yes, I suppose that could be a kind of toughness."

"Quit going off-topic!" Avila and Dib yelled in unison, sounding annoyed at our lack of enthusiasm over name-picking.

"The Furious Warriors!" Wei Bo suggested.

"I'm not a warrior," Xiu Chen pointed out.

"That sounds stupid, anyway. The Faction of Royalty!"

"No! The Blades of Darkness!"

"Annihilators of Evil!"

"Muscular–"

"Please, stop trying to make up names that are 'cool' for the sake of being 'cool,'" I requested, feeling somewhat irritated at the weird suggestions being taken into consideration. "Just pick something simple, and stop arguing."

"If you're so smart, think up something, then!" Dib challenged.

"The Syndicate of Controversy," I muttered off the top of my head, "because we never agree. SoC for short, since the full name is a mouthful. See? Simple and easy, and uses big words so it sounds impressive as well."

"You want to call us the Socks?" Wei Bo stormed, looking thoroughly outraged at such a name.

"It's better than being called by your brilliant idea, the Fluffy Pixies," I countered huffily. "And I didn't say 'socks', I said 'S-o-C'! There's a big difference!"

"I like socks," Avila informed.

Dib suddenly ran off toward the team registration table. "NO-O-O!" Wei Bo screamed, chasing after him. "I wasn't finished discussing! I don't want to name us the Syndicate of Contro… Whatever! That makes us sound like suit-wearing snobs, who always argue!"

"You just described yourself," Avila mused, not that he heard her.

"TEAM REGISTRATION COMPLETE!" the game blared, cutting across Wei Bo's continued frenzy while he yanked Dib away from the registration NPC slightly too late.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, YOU IMPULSIVE MORON?" Wei Bo roared while he attempted to strangle the laughing boy. Dib shook his head and he laughed harder, his face becoming increasingly flushed from both the laughter and the choking. Not wanting to get injured yet again, I watched from a safe distance while they began to fight one another.

Was my suggestion really so terrible? Though we really could have thought about it more. It wasn't like he had actually named us the… Wait a minute. He hadn't, had he?

Jiū stared at the fight for a moment, and then hurriedly said "System!" in a somewhat panicky tone. Her gaze went unfocused. "Oh, goodness," she slowly muttered, gray eyes wide, face looking a bit pale.

"What?" I asked, feeling a bit worried at her expression.

"He really named us the Socks."