"It is only all the more that something is obviously out of sorts, Mr. Jeakel." Mr. Mann continued to speak, which put everyone off of their meals.

It was soon enough when Hannah came to them and sat by his side… Worried, she had her arms over his shoulders. Surrounded by love, Charlot was able to fully process Anya's words that were supposedly familiar to him in some way. Feeling so buzzed still, he still could not connect his memories properly. He felt that he knew something about this tramp but why couldn't he reach far back? Was he mentally ill?

So far, he was very convinced that some knew more than he did, if this distant character or muse in the past was rearing its head into his view. It was only until after the meal when he and the adopted girls were granted a just moment of peace, for once… returning to his shop's backroom… Hannah, Anya and Shelly observed him as he paced the backroom, so unsure and worried. He propped one hand on his hip, the other the top of his forehead as he faced the wall, clearly as ruffled as an angered rooster. Somehow now the room felt different.

"Charlot?" Anya felt that her heart could break any minute.

"Are you all right?" Hannah asked, coming right forward, keeping both hands over his shoulders.

"Am I?" he asked, more so to himself. "Yes— well, no. No. No actually." he admitted, still feeling unclear in the head no matter how hard he tried… He could not remember things clearly.

"If I had upset you, Charlot… Sir, I am sorry… I was only trying to —"

"Don't— don't…" Shelly pressured her, a bit angry with her.

"Anya, I clearly did not follow you about this Tramp~ however, it was the way you said it — It… It felt so familiar to me." Charlot spoke, clearly in a deep brood, where he stood, facing the window.

Hannah bit her lip emotionally before sharing a hopeful yet scared look to the duo.

"Charlie…" Hannah began.

"…what did you ~?" he then turned, getting hit with another wave of recollection.

"Charlie. It is what I used to call you." Hannah admitted. "A bittersweet time ago."

Tenderly, she took his hand. "I know you do not remember. You were injured in the war."

Charlot shook his head, in disbelief at what she was saying.

"Hannah~"

Anya shut her eyes in pure relief that this replaced something that she and Shelly truly dreaded. They were preparing for the worst… Shelly rubbed her face in her hands, honestly scared of where this could have gone. The news of the town was what almost caused this emotional rockslide, but this was a seriously close call. Although, it was heartbreaking to see all this fear in them, it could be a hopeful sign that precious memories could be found, no matter how strong the spell. Even Obliviation could be thwarted, despite rarely, by strong bonds becoming rekindled once again. The emotions stay… Memories could be meddled with, yet the heart was a whole other concept.

The girls saw that it was crucial to leave the couple alone for the time being… Shelly, for one, was eager for a little heart to heart chat…
The only one who noticed that they left the roon was Hannah as he seemed so deep in trying to remember that it was painful to do so. He wiped his cheek as a tear finally fell, soon seeing a flash of a vision in his mind's eye of him walking with Hannah, arm in arm, at sunset, to nowhere in particular. What followed was that green flash from that nightmare he shared with Anya prior ~

"I-I should go." Hannah strained, loathing to see him upset but he prevented her from standing.

"No, no. Please…" his often soft airy voice dived again. "I am realizing what a horrible existence we are in — But I know your face. I've always known it, despite never knowing why. Something about you keeps me content in this misery — this numbness, a knowledge that something is gone. I was someone else before… Hannah… Wasn't I?"

"You are still that same someone, Charlie." Hannah sniffled, lovingly holding his hand. "Nothing is gone, only changes."

"W-we were penniless, weren't we? You were so desperate that you stole bread from a merchant…" he found something finally, connecting as much as he could.

"And… you tried to spare me from being arrested by taking the blame. You remember that?"

"…however, I believe it was I who sought to be arrested… Modesty forbids…" Charlot tearfully smiled and they both laughed. He thoughtfully focused on the floor for a moment. "Odd it was of me to believe being jailed was far better than being homeless."

"It is not odd at all." Hannah smiled, stroking some astray hair aside from his brow.

"Whatever this is~ I am certain Anya is aware of something…" he began. "However, let us live in this moment — for a while… I feel as if I've been so lonely for the longest time."

"You do remember me…"Hannah softly began to weep. She wrapped her arms around his neck and nuzzled her face into him. "I've really missed you."

"I've missed you too…" he choked then, in her ear.

It all began to cave in on him when she whispered, faintly… "I love you~"

The girls both gotten themselves in the backroom behind the Jeakel's kitchen and Shelly pressed her back to the door as soon as she shut it. Anya ruffled her hair, in the same behavior as a ruffled bird…

"I am such an idiot!"

"Yeah, you are." Shelly bluntly agreed, however she was thinking about the situation a little more critically. "I think it was a good idea to have me make my debut here."

Anya looked back at her, trying to think of how all this would end peacefully.

"Granted, we do not have much time left. Obviously. So… good on you to get the ball rolling." Shelly mentioned, still stressed over what happened during supper.

That made some form of laughter come out amidst her tears of stress and empathy. However, how it gone quiet in his quarters back there, her heart began to feel warm. Warmth of love, indeed… so at least something good came out of all this. They were destined to marry and be with child eventually… The family line was still safely kept.

"I hate seeing him in pain." Anya remarked, wiping her eyes with her bare hand.

"No pain, no gain —" Shelly replied. "As hard as it is for us, so it is for him. There's no other way around this."

"…where did you hide the box, Shells?"

"It's on the roof, beneath an ale barrel." Shelly whispered.

"We need them again. This charade is over and … God — Charlot's going to ask. He knows we're… that we're not who we say we are."

"We both knew it wouldn't work." Shelly continued, reasonably. "Above all else, we're protecting these people. The least of our problems is faking our identities. By the way, he deserves to know. Such a loving man shouldn't be a prisoner to all this magic."

"He took us in. Do you suppose, even after all this, he would still want us around?" Anya asked.

"That's up to him." Shelly said after much thought. "If I found out that someone I was trying to help withheld truth from me in order to protect me and my loved ones, I would be pretty okay. It may hurt a little but… I'd still love them."

"You love him too?"

"Hey, you're not the only special snowflake in this old town." Shelly smirked, admitting that she too felt close.

Feeling less depressed, Anya sighed and Shelly heard shuffling on the other side of the door. Mary came knocking.

"Are you two all right?" came the woman's voice from the other side. Shelly drew in a deep breath, seeing Anya was too much in a fit to speak.

"We're all right, ma'am, we're just talking." Shelly replied, calmly, as best she could in the moment.

It came the time to come out though. They simply could not stay in that room all night. Silencing themselves, Shelly courageously opened the door again, to reveal not only Mary, but her husband and the hat-wearing Mr. Mann and the old Mr. Agar of next door. They were so in for it now…

"What has happened…?" Mary asked.

"I knew there was something mysterious about you two~!" Mr. Mann edged in, interrogatively.

Mr. Jeakel was nearby, cross armed and stern, spying the fear in both of the girl's eyes.

"Aye, now Mr. Mann, do not be unkind~" he warned the smaller man. "You know how our Charlot is."

"That is who I'm worried for, Mr. Jeakel~ Who knows after him, this entire Ghetto is living in a haze. Ever since you two have come to us, things appear to be getting worse. I knew I should have trusted my instincts!"

"Have you any proof, Mr. Mann? That connect to them, exactly?" Mr. Jeakel challenged.

"Do not believe I am as blind as the rest of you. The animals hanging around, following us, the past evening dance? Charlot being wrapped around her thumb, and now all of you?" he then prodded at Anya, who looked guilted. "I have a feeling that these ladies know a lot more than milking, or singing for that matter…"

The old couple then looked stunted at them, soon very worried. Anya was at a loss for words for a moment, but Shelly was feeling compelled to lash. She had to refrain herself, especially in front of the old couple.

"Is what he speaks of true, child?" Mr. Jeakel asked, hurtfully softened.

Anya determinely looked at Shelly who gave her daggers in return for this, as there was no other option.

"To an extent," Anya humbled herself. "Th-that we know more than we naturally let off…"

Mr. Mann made a silent victorious gesture behind the couple, which made the girl's stomach drop.

"We swear, Charlot knows too…" Shelly added.

"What does he know?"

"You were there when I awoke from that nightmare? Yes?" Anya began, fighting the temptation to look to Shelly for approval.

"Quite the stir." the old Patriarch stated. "What did you tell the Barber? Hannah spoke none of it~"

"Don't think bad of us, we're here for modest reasons… We truly are friends, she and I. We've come a long way…We came here after we encountered someone outside. Someone dangerous." Anya explained, painfully, keeping her voice down.

"…and we discovered that they were seeking a way into the Ghetto," Shelly continued, hoping for the best. "…so we had to beat them here before they got to any of you."

"Especially, Charlot." Anya finally said.

"Who is this?"

"We cannot say for sure, but they disguise themselves well… We configured a way to keep them outside the city…"

"Who are you two?" Mr. Mann asked, in brunt shock of it all.

"I'm a former circus act and she… she bounded from home to home." Anya tried to keep explaining.

"… keep your voices low. Can you imagine the whole block hearing of this fiasco?" Mr. Jeakel hissed. "There will be an uproar!"

"…for Heaven's sake, even after what they had done to Charlot?"

"No, no… nothing has been done to Charlot~ it was his own choice to help me —"

"Poppycock!" Mr. Mann cursed.

"We'll leave if you feel that we sh-should —"

"No." Mr. Jeakel stated. "We can't hurt Charlot that way… and I am sure you already know that by now. We have no room here… for traitors." he went on, with his voice gruffened with anger, and rightfully so.

As it turned out so obvious, the night turned out to be a tense one. Now that the family was pretty much in the solid know, the girls were kicked out to the doghouse, as it were. Mr. Jeakel had asked them to leave the kitchen, as if they had stolen from them… and in a sense, they did. Being extra mouths to feed and being housed here, and then having a pretense up, Shelly knew something like this would happen!

"…all I can say about this is… wow." Shelly was first to break the deathly silence that fell over the barbershop rooftop.

"No, not right now…" Anya groaned.

"Yes, right now. This has settled the entire Ghetto's paranoia into one moment. THAT was it."

"That little man that keeps bugging them every day, he started it…"

"Or was it you who fell under peer pressure…?"

"I don't know, okay? This whole thing~ This entire trip is piling down on me and yes, I am starting to crack under it — okay? I am sorry I am not MRS. PERFECT in this regard."

"Look, you idiot, that wasn't what I meant… Lying was never your strong suit — but let us agree, Mr. Mann, if it wasn't just his voice ~ he has a very punchable face."

"He was right though… He had the right inclinations about us~ for Charlie's sake to boot. What went down was solid proof of how strong willed this family is. What really worries me right now is what Charlie will think of this come the morning…"

Shelly looked like she had some food for thought slipping off her tongue.

"What do you think he'll say?" Shelly then asked, encouragingly.

After Anya faced her, with her supposedly, shocked expression, Shelly kept on going.

"Okay, let's recap then. So that you'll get my point eventually… On the first day, it was HE who bumped into YOU. After that, it was HE who suggested that you should never be alone at night. Then, get this, he fixes your hair for work that would help the job better~ like he would do his own daughter. Welcomes you in, smiles when he sees you… Anya, you really never realized how much you can trust this guy, who practically adopted you. Again, what do you think he'll say?"

"You're not actually suggesting it could be possible, are you?" Anya asked.

"He is a halfblood, so yeah… As with those dreams. It's ancient, it's been around since Creation. Anyway, why are we fussing over their opinion of us when we need to focus on him — his safety? I am just stating observations…"

Anya steadily breathed to calm herself down after such dry words of encouragement.

"He would say that I would be a fool if I let what they say ground me…" she said, after searching her own heart for a solid moment.

"Good girl… It was never them you worried over, it's the Eldens. As it should be right now. It's going to be okay…"

Anya finally willed herself long enough to sit down beside Shelly.

"In Lyra's case, it was always her and Severus — Prince. No one else, you see?"

"… but, how could it happen so fast to me? Lyra was raised by Prince, years long."

"I don't know, but I've heard that it took a gaze into her eyes that helped it along and it was fast… in the span of a couple of days."

"I am not even from this era…" Anya stated amidst her disbelief.

"Well, some of us believe we are born in the wrong one sometimes."

At the moment, the hour was late and Hannah and Charlot were already turned in, it seemed, assuming being in each other's company as they never heard a word from either of them after the tense reveal in the kitchen. As everyone bore their own pain during such devastating times, it was pain that made love stronger. It made the girls sleepless, no doubt, even as they took room near Hannah's bunk on the second floor… Not a word was spoken to them ever since they left the kitchen.

"Do you supposed he's okay?" Shelly asked, wrapping a quilt about herself.

"Yes, he's okay." Anya sighed. "If what you explained before is true, then… I can tell."

The blonde held a tiny smirk as she settled on the seat beside her. "Yeah~"

Beneath the bed, there was an old shoebox. One that held two eccentric looking long pieces of ornate wood.