Life continued.

It felt like nothing was real, not anymore. It didn't matter that bad things were happening, it didn't matter that the two of them were scared, life continued.

The three kids sat at the table in silence, Yellow absentmindedly stirring his cereal while the other two stared at nothing. Things had been so strained lately, and now Yellow knew exactly why. But he wasn't just going to sit around and let it happen. That would be extremely rude of him.

"You're scared, aren't you?" he finally spilled.

Red looked at him with a mixture of confusion and a glare. "What do you mean?"

"Something really bad is happening to you guys, and you're scared," Yellow explained matter-of-factly. "I don't think you guys should be keeping it hidden."

Strangely enough, Duck's eyes lit up. He shot a glance at Red before grabbing the both of them by their wrists and sliding into a secluded area of the kitchen. He peered over the counter before sliding back down to continue the conversation.

"How'd you find out?" Duck and Red simultaneously asked, although Red in a much more accusatory tone.

"Hm? Oh, I overheard him yelling at you," he pointed to Red.

"I wouldn't call it yelling, more like... ominously talking."

"So you know all about it?" Duck interrupted.

"Mhm. He's being very rude to you all, and I think it's about time I did something about it!"

Red double interrupted with, "And you know how he's hurting us? How he..." Red trailed off into a scowl.

"What?! Like, hitting hurting?" Yellow's face melted into horror. Duck awkwardly nodded. "But... but he wouldn't go that far! He's my dad, he wouldn't do something that awful!"

"Yes he would," Red rebuked bluntly. "I could barely fu- fricking" he enunciated, "breathe after what he did."

Yellow's face fell again and he rubbed his eyes. "No... he wouldn't. I thought he'd stopped... I was just gonna ask him to be nicer but..." The boy shook his head and glared at the floor. "I'm going to talk to him. Right now."

As he stood up, Duck almost immediately pulled him back to the floor. "You can't do that! What if something bad happens?!"

"Well then we'll figure something else out! This is more important!"

Red felt a strange sting in his chest at the sight of the kid, his little brother, being so determined to fix things. He really had been giving him less credit than he deserved. Still, that didn't mean he was gonna let him walk into the fire just for them.

"I agree with Duck," he pulled on Yellow's arm. "You shouldn't do this."

Yellow's face softened for a moment, as if in consideration. He stole a quick glance at the door to the hallway before sighing. "I'm sorry guys."

The little boy kneed Red in the stomach and shoved Duck across the room, bursting out the door shouting "It's for your own good!" behind him.

...

Yellow slid into his dad's room and slammed the door behind him, locking it shut. He turned around to see his father staring at him in confusion, or at least, the closest approximation of confusion he could get. Yellow had learned to read his father's inexpressive face well over his 7 years of being alive.

"Hello, my little rat. What's troubling you?" Roy murmured in the same monotonous groan he always wore.

Yellow sucked in a breath, and reminded himself that his dad wouldn't hurt him. He was nice, and this was probably a misunderstanding, or a mistake, or something.

"Is it true, that you've been hurting Red and Duck?"

A flurry of furious emotions tumbled in Roy's chest and for the briefest of moments, his face distorted into rage, but Yellow pretended not to notice.

"...perhaps I have. But what of it? Surely you don't assume I do so without reason?" Roy inched towards his son and kneeled down to stare him in the eyes. "They must have done something to deserve it. Did that ever cross your mind?"

Yellow was half inclined to believe him. After all, any times he got yelled at, he'd done something bad. And his dad never did anything without reason, at least, that's what he said. But then his mind wandered back to a conversation he'd had with Red a long time ago.

What could kids their age have possibly done that was worth this?

Yellow shoved his dad away and shouted, "No! No no no no no! You can't do this! You can't hurt them like this, it isn't right! You're supposed to be our dad, that means them too! I don't want them to be scared of you, I DON'T WANT TO BE SCARED OF YOU! I HATE IT I HATE IT!" Yellow found it hard to breathe as he ranted on. "If you don't stop hurting them then- then I WON'T LOVE YOU ANYMORE!" The little boy found tears spilling out of his eyes. He didn't mean that, not at all! He loved his dad very much! And he hated lying but this is what he had to do to keep them safe! It was okay! Everything would be fine! So why was he crying so much?!

Roy seemed taken aback. "You'd really do that for them?"

Yellow nodded as he frantically wiped his eyes.

"You must really care for them," Roy's voice lowered to a grumble and his eyes darkened. "They seem to have quite the... influence on you."

"Of course! They're my brothers!"

Roy glared at his son, not even trying to restrain his hatred this time. For the first time in a very, VERY long time, Yellow remembered what it was like to be afraid of his father. He held his breath and tried to smile up at him, to relax his body and show that he wasn't upset with his dad. But on the inside he felt a very old and unused emotion. He couldn't show it, it was gross and mean and he couldn't be like that, like him. He had to keep acting like a dumb little kid. He WAS a dumb little kid, nothing more. Nothing more.

Roy finally resumed talking.

"I understand. I'll refrain from such forms of discipline from now on."

Yellow's eyes lit up and the gross emotion immediately fell out of his throat. "Oh, thank you thank you thank you I love you so much!" He hopped up to his dad and gave him a great hug before bursting out of the room.

Roy made a mental note to himself.

We're going to have to fix this. Fix THEM. He's not right anymore, they broke him, they broke MY rat. They all need to be educated.

...

Yellow slid into the winners circle, AKA the little corner of the kitchen they'd met in, and hopped into his seat excitedly. Red and Duck tackled him both physically and with questions, that he soon answered.

"It's okay it's okay! He said he'd stop! Nothing bad happened, and it all worked out!"

"What?!" Duck's electric voice peaked with his confusion.

"Are you sure nothing bad happened?" Red pestered.

"Absolutely! We're gonna be okay! Everything's going back to normal and we'll be happy! YOU'LL be happy!"

Red looked away. He wasn't quite sure they could ever go back to normal, or look at Roy the same way again, but at least it wouldn't keep happening. If he were to believe in Yellow of course. He supposed he had underestimated his brother. Those few months where it had been all too physical were burned into his mind. But it was over now, wasn't it?

He supposed that was good enough.