Gauche sighed softly as he walked out of the bedroom he, Grey, and Aloys had dropped Maelie off in. The young girl was fast asleep, and hopefully she would stay that way for a while. Aloys decided he was going to sit and wait for her to wake up so he could explain what was going on. Grey and Gauche agreed and decided to leave the siblings for now.

The two walked out of the hallway and were greeted with several eyes staring at them, Grey let out a small yelp and quickly hid behind Gauche. He shook his head, he didn't think she'd ever get over her shyness at this point, but he didn't mind too much. He walked towards the group and could feel Grey had a firm grip on the back of his shirt as they walked.

" How's the kid?" Yami asked as he stood up and walked over to the couches and sat down, Gauche did the same and a few of the others came and sat in the common room as well.

" Which one?" Gauche asked as he crossed his arms. " Aloys is fine, relieved that he found his sister and that she's safe. As for Maelie, she appears to be ok, but she hasn't woken up yet." He shrugged.

" W-We found her in the center of the Northern Woods," Grey stammered as she kept her face partially hidden behind her hands, Yami frowned.

" I thought her brother said they landed in the East woods." Yami crossed his arms as he leaned back on the couch, Charlotte walked over and sat down next to him as Gauche shook his head.

" No, the brat assumed she landed with him in the East woods." Gauche muttered as he unfolded his arms and rested one at his side while the other moved to rest behind Grey. Whether it was a conscious placement no one knew, but it did seem to give Grey a little comfort as she moved her hands further down her face so she could see everyone a bit more.

" So how did you manage to find her?" Charlotte asked curiously, the brunette looked over at the blue haired woman sitting next to him, he watched her face turn a bright shade of red as she looked away from Captain Roselei.

" W-Well, Gauche and I talked about how we pretty much looked through all of the East woods, and so we decided to l-look around the other woods that surrounded the Capitol. We were going counter-clockwise which was why we went to the North Woods first, a-and Maelie was in the center of it just like Aloys was in the East Woods." Grey said fairly quickly as she felt her face burn with embarrassment even more.

" There was a circle of trees almost identical to the ones where Aloys said he woke up, and that's where we found her. The kid hasn't woken up since we found her, so we aren't sure if she's exhausted or if somethings wrong with her." Gauche shrugged when Nebra suddenly let out a small chuckle.

" Or she could be like the Coral Peacocks Captain and just sleep all the time." Nebra suggested as another chuckle escaped her lips.

" Maelie isn't like that," Hikari jumped in suddenly, causing everyone to look over and her and Alistair, both were still standing by the door as the other kids continued to eat at the dining table. " she's a pretty active 9 year old, although she can be pretty shy sometimes, but she doesn't 'sleep' all the time or anything." Hikari explained as she came over and leaned forward on the back of the couch between Yami and Charlotte.

" If I were to guess," Alistar chimed in as he placed a hand under his chin in thought. " Maybe the younger you are, and the less mana you have, the more exhausting the trip is?" He added thoughtfully. The others shrugged or nodded in agreement, that seemed the most logical conclusion. Yami noticed Zora was eyeing Alistair suspiciously and he frowned.

" Something on your mind Zora?" He asked, Zora blinked a bit, apparently he didn't realize he had been staring at the white haired boy for quite some time. Zora looked away with a small smirk.

" Quite a few things on my mind actually Captain, obviously the first of them being all these kids and how many more we can expect." Zora shrugged before his smirk turned into a knowing one. " But I have a feeling someone in this room already knows all the answers to those questions." He looked pointedly at Alistar.

Alistar just smiled warmly at Zora and appeared to ignore the insinuation. 'feigning innocence eh? I gotta admit, that cool facade you have is very impressive, I didn't even see him flinch.' Zora crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall.

" Are you accusing Alistar of something Zora?" William asked as he came to his son's defense, Zora shrugged innocently.

" I'm not accusing anyone of anything," Zora suddenly got a wicked thought in his head and chuckled a bit. " Well actually, I am accusing your son of something; I'm accusing him of fooling around with Captain Yami's daughter."

You could hear a pin drop at the bombshell Zora dropped onto the small group. The kids at the table stopped eating, the adults eyes were wide and shocked, Hikari was frozen in place as she stared at Zora, and Alistar, well, his reaction wasn't exactly what Zora was expecting. The white haired boy paled considerably, but his smile stayed in place, he watched as Alistar's blue eyes looked over at Hikari and her family.

" I don't know what you're talking about, Hikari and I are just friends and colleagues. Nothing more." Alistar said firmly, the red haired man's eyebrows shot up in surprise, he was expecting to see at least nervousness in the boy's eyes, but there was nothing.

" It's true, we're just friends." Hikari agreed with a nod, Alistar almost flinched, whenever Hikari called them 'friends' it always sent a sharp pain through his chest, but he pushed it aside as Zora scoffed.

" Then why did I see him," he pointed at Alistair. " leaving your room the other night?" He asked with a raised eyebrow and for a split second he saw the cool exterior of Alistar Vangeance crack. Alistar paled a bit more and his eyes widened in surprise before his head snapped over to Yami's direction.

You could feel the anger and protectiveness oozing off of the Black Bulls Captain at this point; Yami was beyond furious, Alistar was fooling around with Hikari? Nope. No way was that going to fly! Yami instantly jumped off the couch and grabbed Alistar by his head forcefully.

" Who the hell do you think you are? Thinking you can fool around with my daughter?!" He shouted and quickly, chaos ensued.

William, Hikari, and Charlotte were trying to get Yami to let Alistar go, while the poor boy was desperately begging for Yami to listen and that it was all just one big misunderstanding.

" S-Shouldn't we stop them?" Grey asked Gauche nervously, the brunette shook his head as he crossed his arms.

" No, just let them kill each other and be done with it." Gauche shrugged, he was more than happy to let them all fight it out, especially since he knew his Captain would win.

" Gauche," Grey started softly, he almost didn't hear her, but he raised an eyebrow to let her know he heard her and for her to continue. " are you mad about Aloys and Maelie?"

Gauche paused for a minute at her question, when he looked away from the fighting and saw her face he noticed she seemed sad, or like she had done something wrong. He shook his head and sighed softly.

" Well, I'm not exactly happy about them," he told her honestly, he watched the blue haired woman flinch at his words but he placed a gentle hand on top of her head. " but no, I'm not mad about Aloys and Maelie. So stop worrying, alright?" He told her softly, he felt Grey nod quickly before someone cleared their throat.

" Um, what's going on?" Aloys asked in a confused tone, causing everyone to stop and look at him and who was behind him.

A little girl with short dark blue-brown hair stood behind Aloys's leg as she watched them, she had big brown eyes, and wore a blue and white dress. She looked over at the couch and saw her 'parents' and smiled brightly, Gauche blinked a couple of times; instead of looking like him and Grey like Aloys did, she looked like Marie and Grey. It was strange, but her smile was almost the exact same as Marie's.

" She looks like your sister but with blue hair." Yami said suddenly as he dropped the white haired boy, Alistar groaned as he held his head. Hikari quickly moved and stood between him and her 'father'. Yami turned to look back at his daughter and William's son.

" I'm his bodyguard, and as long as I'm around you can't hurt him, and if you try too, you'll have to go through me." Hikari announced firmly, her eyes meeting her 'fathers'. The two Sukehiro's stood there staring at each other, as though seeing who would back down first.

" I think it's too late for that Hikari." Alistar grumbled as he rubbed his head, Hikari rolled her eyes at her friend's words but ignored them for now and continued to stare at her father.

" That's enough you two," Charlotte announced as she came to stand between them. " We can discuss this another time. But for now let's just finish eating." Charlotte suggested. Hikari nodded, grabbed Alistar by the hand, and drug him towards the dining table to eat.

" C-Can you guys," Maelie started, her voice so quiet you could barely hear her. " Can you guys, s-stop yelling and arguing please, i-it scares me." She asked them. Gauche felt his heart melt instantly, she was absolutely adorable. He smiled softly at her and nodded.

" Of course angel. I'll make sure no one fights around you so that way you don't get scared." Gauche told her kindly and Grey had to suppress a smile at his actions. He was treating Maelie just like he treated Marie and, sometimes, herself. He was much kinder and more gentle with her then he was with Aloys. Maelie smiled shyly at her 'father' but you could see the happiness in her eyes as Aloys sighed.

" C'mon let's eat." He guided his sister towards the dining table and pulled out a chair for her to sit down.

Charlotte smiled a bit as she watched all the kids laugh and eat at the dining table, it was like they were a small family. She looked over at Yami and shook her head as she saw he was still glaring at Alistar.

" You've really stepped into the 'protective father' role haven't you?" Charlotte chuckled softly, Yami turned to look at her and he rubbed the back of his head nervously.

" I'm just trying to look out for her is all, I don't need some idiot kid trying to take advantage of her." Yami grumbled, Charlotte shook her head.

" I don't think Alistar would take advantage of Hikari, and besides I think she would put him in his place if he ever tried." Charlotte told him, Yami nodded in agreement, Hikari did seem like the type who would let people push her around.

" You seem to have stepped into the 'caring mother' role pretty easily." Yami commented with a smirk, Charlotte blinked at him as she blushed faintly.

" I-I wouldn't call it that, I'm just trying to get to know her is all." Charlotte tried to cover up, but Yami saw right through that excuse.

" Right," Yami said with a roll of his eyes, but he let it go for now. It seems they both have stepped into their parental roles without even meaning too.

" Do you think Maelie is the last one?" Charlotte asked suddenly as they had taken a moment to watch the kids, along with the other adults who had moved to the dining table, all talk and laugh and just hang out together. It was a nice scene, especially considering what everyone had gone through with the Spade Kingdom recently.

" I hope so," Yami said with a sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose. " and if not then the next kids had better not be from my squad. It's another squad's turn to have a bunch of kids come from the future and stir things up for them." He grumbled as he walked towards the table as well. Charlotte laughed softly before following behind him.

Luckily for Yami, his wish would be granted.