Author's note: First of all, I'm so sorry this took so long to publish. Uni's been kicking my ass and I've had such severe writer's block that I couldn't even edit this chapter. Which is to say that yes, this chapter was written a while ago. Like on 2014.

I'll explain a little why; basically I have 32 chapters written for this story, but I'm editing/re-writing the first 10 or so. First of all because, as I said, they're old, and also because a bit of the information was also old. I'd updated a few plot elements that, although they didn't really make an appearance until much later, there were inconsistencies when they were briefly mentioned. A major thing in the plot was mentioned in chapter 4 that was different now, so I can't leave it un-edited. This chapter and chapter 1 went through an edit and a re-write before being posted.

But have no fear, even if updates are sporadic, I'll never abandon this story. I've been writing it since I was 10 (I'm 19 now) and it's been through so much development that I would probably die of guilt if I didn't finish it. I have to end it for myself. So, it will be finished, I just don't know when.

Anyway, that was mostly what I wanted to talk about. You can check on my profile if you want a sneak peak at other warner stories I'm writing. No pressure of course.

There's no warnings this chapter, so enjoy!

To be frank, Yakko had no idea what was going on.

They had been chased off the Warner Bros. Studios, the place that had taken them in, given them a job, shelter. And now they were halfway across the "Forbidden" forest with three girls of their same species who apparently came from a country filled with them.

The world officially made no sense.

It hadn't been easy, escaping the lot, both literally and emotionally. Though the last few hours had been uncannily close to one of his worst nightmares, it had been their home once. Their happy memories of the show, the late-night marathons they'd had while eating pizza; hell, memories of growing up... They'd lost every memory they had as a family. He hadn't even been able to save the few pictures he'd taken throughout the years.

And now? Now they were on their own, following three strangers through a forest at night. Not to mention one of them had tried to shoot straight through his head.

Had they had any sort of safe place to go to, Yakko would have immediately ditched the three blondes and ran there with his siblings, but being as it may, they were lost in the world. They were their best bet, and he thought it said something about their situation that he'd thought that of the people who had threatened his life.

Speaking of, Rose kept glancing at him as they walked, as if waiting for him to say something. While Wakko and Dot walked ahead with Marilyn and StarDust, chatting as if they'd always been best friends, she decided to stay behind a little, next to him. Maybe she worried that he would run off, but being so far away from his siblings and knowing he wouldn't be fast enough to take them with him, he would never even try it. Escaping by himself was simply not an option.

Wakko and Dot, while not gullible in any way, were a lot more trusting than he was. After staying silent for 20 minutes with the two strangers trying to start friendly conversation, they'd warmed up enough to them to at least chat semi-relaxedly. He wasn't entirely sure how he felt about that. On one hand it was good that they weren't panicking, but letting their guard down so quickly went against a rule that he'd lived by for most of his life. The rule that trust can only be given to those that have proven to be worthy of it.

In contrast, he felt the paranoia he'd come to accept as part of his character eating at him as he walked, sensing that there was more that the blondes wanted than just to talk. And besides, even if the three did only want to talk... then what? They would just... learn to live in the forest like some kind of cavemen for the rest of their lives? They couldn't go back, but forward didn't hold anything either, if the legends were to be believed, and they didn't really know much about living away from civilization, seeing as they'd basically been coddled for the few years they'd been at the studio. What were they going to do?

... What was he going to do? How could he protect them in this environment?

His thoughts hung heavy on his psyche. The forest was mostly silent, only the occasional calls of the wolves breaking the quiet, telling them they had to hurry to wherever the hell the girls were leading them if they didn't want to be eaten. Crickets sung throughout their walk, and he attempted to listen to the animals to calm his racing heart. It wasn't working too well.

Rose somehow seemed to feel his distress, since she began walking just the slightest bit closer and her previously blank glances became worried ones. When she spoke it was in an almost quiet and friendly tone.

"You don't have to be scared, you know" when she looked him up and down as if gauging his reaction he couldn't help but protectively crossing his arms over his chest "We just have to ask you a few questions. Standard stuff, really, like what you were doing in the forest, where you came from, things like that."

"So what, I have to give you my life story?" he grumbled. He thanked the stars that he had crossed his arms beforehand, because they'd started to tremble and it made it less obvious "You just ambushed and tried to shoot my head off, I'm not exactly in the mood to give you details. Besides, why should I tell you anything?"

His sudden bad mood appeared to surprise her, but she quickly countered it with a glare. It was weak and seemed almost sympathetic, but it was a glare nonetheless "Like we said, it's protocol. We're just trying to make sure you aren't a spy who slipped through our radar, and we can't exactly shirk our duties when they're so important. Do you even know what would happen if the humans knew about us?"

He only sent her a much more intense glare. Of course he knew. He'd seen enough about how humanity reacted to things they didn't understand to know.

"They would kill us. We don't have the advanced weapons they have, we would be dead in a few days. It would barely even be a war" she hissed out to him, clenching her fists. In the face of her anger, most of the empathy left her eyes "Just the fact that you come from the human world is enough justification to get rid of you to save our species from extinction, so if you don't want another gun to your face, I suggest you start acting a little less pissy."

And there it was. Beneath the mask of concern and gentleness she still didn't trust or like him, so why should he be any more amiable?

She did literally hold their lives in her hand though. Maybe he really should be a little less rude, all things considered.

"... I'll tell you what you want to know if you give me some information about "your world"" he bargained, toning down the glare to a silent stare "We really don't know anything about it, and I'd rather not stumble blindly when we actually get there."

At the mention of an information exchange, she raised an eyebrow, but seemed almost impressed by his guts. A lesser person would have probably spilled upon realizing the danger they were in, but Yakko, regardless of his fear for most situations, was more likely to punch someone in the face than hide and cry.

"Fine, it's not like it's top secret information anyway" Rose gave a thoughtful hum as she moved leaves away from their vision, even being nice enough to hold them for him so they wouldn't hit him in the face when she inevitably let go of them "Our world, that is to say, where warners live, is really a place called WarnerStock. I guess you could say it's a small country. We've been on Earth for almost as long as humans, but our ancestors used to live deep underground, so we were hidden pretty well. We decided to rise to the surface around... When was it that the humans built Ancient Rome?" she thought about it for a moment but ultimately shrugged "Eh, around that time. We took a liking to their gods and most of us still believe in them even today."

Wow, even as early as Ancient Rome? That shocked him silent for a moment, but he ultimately countered with "How come people haven't noticed you guys going above ground?"

"We've stayed hidden the whole time and interacted with them as little as possible, only stealing a few pieces of technology here and there and mostly watching from a distance. We searched for a place they hadn't taken over yet because of old superstition and made a settlement here, keeping humans away with legends. Any who passed over this forest wouldn't go back to tattle to their friends."

"You killed humans who got too close" it was more a statement than a question, his tone almost accusing. Was she trying to sugarcoat it because they came from the "human world"?

She looked sheepish at his jab so maybe that was it "It was the only way to keep our existence hidden from them... I already told you how dangerous it would be for them to know about us. They've enslaved their own race and have no qualms with murdering others who aren't quite like them; a whole new intelligent species that can pose a threat to their spot as highest in the food chain would be disastrous."

Much as he would like to defend the humans, he knew all to well they were far from saints and that she was right. He just hoped she knew they weren't all like that.

"Anyway" she shook her head to clear the thought from her mind, cutting down another branch with a grunt "You know how this place is called the Forbidden Forest? Humans' own legends faded away far too quickly for our taste, so we just made new ones. They don't seem too keen on exploring places where many of them have died, so we haven't had to kill any in quite a while if that helps any. On the other side of the forest is WarnerStock, our country... but what you really want to know is why we were so sure you were intruders, right?"

He shrugged "Can't say it isn't. I mean, you three were in here so why can't we be without being spies?"

She rolled her eyes before frowning at him "Because this is part of our job, smartass. We're qualified to be here, and nobody else is supposed to be in these woods, let alone so far away from our country. If you're this far in you're either supposed to be there, or you're not. In which case, you're an intruder" her expression slowly eased from aggressiveness to tiredness. His shocked reactions probably helped his story that he didn't know anything about this little country she was talking about "Look, our boss is ripping her hair out because there's been a few recidents recently that vanished overnight and we haven't found them since. Suspicious-acting residents, if you get what I mean. There's the possibility they're working with the humans for something or another and we've been told to be severely strict with anyone we find. This really isn't personal."

It probably wasn't, but she still kept a watchful eye on him to see how he reacted to the news of the residents under suspicion. Probably trying to gauge if he was involved in any way, but there mustn't have been anything incriminating on his face, because she quickly moved her stare back to the trees around them and changed the subject "That's as much as you're getting out of me by the way, so you better start talking if you want to be out of suspicion."

As much as he wanted to be able to walk near the three without fearing for his or his siblings' safety, he wasn't sure he wanted to tell them about their lives. Aside from being really personal, some of it might make them view him in a negative light, and that was the last thing they needed right now.

He also felt a deep sense of unease inside him.

- You don't have to tell them anything, Yakko. -

- ... I do if I want them to stop treating us like prisoners. -

His choice made, he sighed "What do you want me to tell you?"

"Well, uh" she looked surprised that he actually complied, scrambling for a question "Lets start with what you told us back there. You said you were being chased? I assume it was by humans."

"You assume right. They were chasing us because our boss' replacement figured that the only thing we could still be useful for was to become lab experiments, tried to make one last profit off us" he huffed out, still unsure how to process this. Suddenly the people they'd learned to rely on had tried to hurt them, and it wasn't something they could get out of without at least holding lingering resentment "We just ran, we couldn't really see where we were going. It was pretty lucky that we ended up here. Anywhere else and they would have eventually caught us, or another human would have done something worse."

The sympathetic stare was back, and Rose stayed quiet as he continued ranting "It just isn't fair! We worked hard for them, put our trust in them, laughed with them... And this is how they repaid us. By making us fear for our lives and end up homeless without anything but the clothes on our backs" he sighed out in frustration, but kept going for Rose's benefit "We used to be actors. Our old boss had the brilliant idea to cast us as cartoon characters when the movie studio found us, and our show was a hit for a while. Everything has to end though, and after a movie that was our last hurrah, we were no longer useful. Our old boss kept us safe for a while, but... Well, I already told you what happened."

Rose sent him a small soft smile that was probably meant to be reassuring, but it only made him fake a smile back in reflex. He had so much practice with it it'd become almost instantaneous. Instead of feeling happy, he was starting to feel a little nauseous, his heart beating more quickly, probably reacting to the anger and the fear. He was so afraid, so afraid of what the future would hold for them.

The forest seemed even darker than before. Even though they had gotten to a point where the trees weren't as thick and so the moon was shining bright onto their heads, he felt like his airway was being constricted. What if they ended up on the streets? How was he supposed to support his siblings without a job? How was he supposed to have a job with no qualifications? All he knew how to do was act, sing and dance, maybe play a few random instruments half-way decently. What was he supposed to-

- You'll be fine. Calm down. -

- If only it were that easy. Maybe if you could provide a solution I would calm down. -

- It'll be fine. Trust me. -

The moon was at the highest point in the sky, so he supposed it was very late. The soil under his feet was moist from the previous downpour. His spirit was being crushed in the mud.

After a while the silence became deafening. Rose seemed unable to tolerate it for a single moment more.

"You really don't know anything about us?" she asked. Her smile had fallen a while ago "Warners, I mean."

"... We've lived with humans for as long as I can remember" Yakko felt his heart sink further. She was prying more than she should be and he didn't think it was a good idea to deny her information "We didn't know there were more like us."

Her eyes turned back to the ground in front of her "... Where are your parents?"

Ah, there was one question he loathed the answer to. He wondered how long it would take for her to get to the other bad questions.

"As far as I know, we don't have any" he tried to say it with as little emotion as possible, but it was difficult when most human media focused on the importance of family and parents having good relationships with their children "It doesn't really matter anyway, I took good enough care of us."

"You've... been alone this whole time?" her voice turned soft. Her eyes were just plain sad and it was starting to annoy him a bit. He didn't really enjoy being pitied "You and those two?"

"The studio was pretty much the only reason we managed to survive" Yakko shrugged. He gulped, trying to ignore the feeling of ghost fingers clutching at his throat.

- Just. Stop. Asking -

His anxiety was getting worse.

- Slow down, it's okay. Deep breaths, remember? -

Right. Deep breaths.

Following the instructions, he inhaled and exhaled deeply, his breath slightly shaky. He hoped Rose hadn't noticed his current state.

"I couldn't have taken care of all three of us at the age of nine in a world filled with people wanting to hurt us, especially considering we're not humans."

There was a short pause, and he immediately knew he'd accidentally said too much.

"At the age of nine...?" Rose caught on to that stupid little detail he'd let slip "What happened before that?"

He coughed. The choking feeling got worse.

This just had to come up, didn't it?

- You don't have to answer her, Yakko. Ignore her. This is far more than she needs to know. -

He stayed silent and stopped walking. He was too busy clenching his fists and trying not to accidentally suffocate himself.

He figured Rose understood her prying was practically sending him into a panic attack, because she backtracked almost instantly "I mean- you don't have to tell me that, I'm sorry. That's totally personal and you've already told me enough anyway-"

"I don't know."

She stopped her nervous babbling abruptly when he'd hissed out the words.

"... You don't know?" she frowned, but he couldn't tell whether it was in frustration or concern. He wasn't used to her facial expressions yet.

He started shaking a bit, unwilling to answer but knowing that he couldn't just not answer now. She frowned deeper, didn't push him into answering her, just... stared. She probably couldn't see his anxiousness, despite the moon it was still very dark, but she did seem to understand that he'd stopped walking out of discomfort. Even the four waking ahead of them appeared to have sensed the tense atmosphere and quieted.

After a few tense minutes that were only filled with the sounds of crickets and the occasional call of wolves, he couldn't take the quiet anymore.

"I..."

"... You don't have to, you know"

He appreciated Star's comment, one she said quietly, in that calm and collected way he supposed was one of her traits. Her wise eyes searched his for hesitation.

"No... It's okay" he answered, feeling a bit less pressured to talk, though not exactly willing. Wakko and Dot had also turned their heads back to peek at him, looking worried. They knew what came next in the story, and though they'd been too young to really remember much, they knew this part in particular wasn't happy "I... I don't remember anything from before we got to the studio" luckily, this admission brought about more self-consciousness than it did panic.

"I don't know where I spent my childhood, or who our parents are. My earliest memory is from when I was nine."

"You... have amnesia?" she questioned quietly, almost sounding concerned. Star and Mary didn't resume conversation, apparently listening intently to what he was saying. Wakko and Dot kept silent, keeping an eye on him.

"Pretty much" he shrugged without much energy, not really caring at this point. He had spent the seven years he remembered of his life trying to remember something, anything and had only come up with smoke. The only clues he had were his dreams, if you could even call them clues. They were so bizarre he was more inclined to believe they were just weird images his imagination came up with to replace the lost memories.

At least... he hoped they were just things he imagined. Their past might be a little concerning otherwise.

"In my earliest memory I was in a hospital bed" this, he felt even more defensive about, clutching at his hands in a nervous but useless action. He couldn't stop them from judging him for the stupid mistake that almost took his life, but he could at least attempt to brace himself against it "Most of my bones were broken and I had some serious head trauma. Apparently I fell from the water tower where the studio put us."

"You fell from a water tower?!" her eyes were wide with disbelief and something akin to horror "There's no way you could've survived that-"

"They figured I fell from the ladder a few feet down, that's the only explanation they could come up with" he quickly interjected, knowing all too well how it had felt like he should have died, with how much his body had been screaming at him. His bones had felt like they'd been made of glass "But I can't remember where I was when I fell so, it was useless speculation."

"Still," StarDust spoke up, thankfully trying to steer the conversation away from the incident itself "You remember absolutely nothing? Not even a little bit?"

"Nothing, and there was no one who could tell me anything about my past to try and force it either. Dot had been too young to remember anything and Wakko couldn't really tell me much either. He would just ask about where some people where, but I couldn't recognize their names. It was a struggle remembering my own name, let alone try and remember someone else's."

"... Sorry" Rose said, her voice almost nonexistent it was so quiet. When he turned his head to look at her, he saw her staring at the ground, as if ashamed that she had asked about such a sensitive topic. She looked truly upset.

"No, it's... fine. You didn't know" at least that bit of information was out of the way, nothing else would be as bad as that one. Well, maybe some things would be worse, but none that she would think to ask about.

"I shouldn't have pried anyway" she frowned softly "I don't even know your name and I already know a heavy, personal thing about you. It's pretty bad."

That was true, he mused. The solution to this was pretty simple "Should we present ourselves then?"

Somehow this made her perk up, sending a soft smile to him. Maybe she was relieved he wasn't angry.

"Sounds good. Us first, though" she said, and immediately pointed at herself and afterwards, at the other two "I'm Rose Milers, and those are my sisters, StarDust and Marilyn Milers. Star's the oldest one of us, she's eighteen. Mary's my twin, we're both sixteen. Now it's your turn."

"I'm Yakko, and those are my brother and sister, Wakko and Dot. Warner is our surname, which is pretty weird now that I think about it" He figured he should mention their ages too, since Rose had included theirs "I'm sixteen, Wakko's eleven, and Dot's ten."

Introductions concluded, his siblings gave a small wave to the three sisters, which StarDust answered with a "pleasure to meet you" along with a small smile, and Marilyn responded with a cheery "hey there".

"Your names are interesting. They'd definitely fit in a cartoon" Rose gave him an amused tilt of lips that was almost a grin.

"I won't take that from someone named after a flower" Yakko tried hiding his own smile behind his palm.

"Hey, it's a popular name!" she sounded a little defensive when she said that, but didn't seem to take it to heart because the smile didn't disappear from her face.

Now that the air had cleared and the anxiousness had mostly left his system, he was content to start walking with them again. When he looked ahead, he smiled a little when he saw that his siblings had engaged in happy conversation with the two Milers once more, but he couldn't help but wonder why they'd been walking for so long and they still hadn't reached their destination.

"How long do we still have to go?" he asked, legitimately curious since he wasn't quite a pit of nerves anymore. He was starting to get excited, wanting to see this new civilization full of people like them... but that would have to wait until morning. The three of them were way too exhausted from running in the forest almost the whole night.

Speaking of night, the moon was no longer visible. The first rays of sunlight passed through the sky and shone on ahead. It was the sunrise.

"We just have a few more minutes to go" StarDust informed him, still looking ahead.

"I didn't know this forest was so big" he commented, a bit surprised. He could see how someone could get easily lost in it.

"We plant a few trees every year, so that we can slowly make the border longer" Marilyn explained, skipping as if she hadn't been walking the entire night. He envied her energy "That way there's less chance of someone finding us even if they get in here."

"And then the wolves do the job for us" Rose looked at him with a bit of shame when she said that, as if he would put it against her "The humans who come in these woods are usually just curious to see what's on the other side, or interested in the rumors of the curse we spread, so there's no need for us to get directly involved as long as they don't find us. In this case though..."

She let the thought trail off, suddenly frowning "Hey, now that I think about it, you guys are literally homeless."

"Well, thanks for reminding us" he drawled back, deadpanning "Not like it hasn't even been twenty-four hours since then."

With a click of her tongue, she pouted at him "Don't be like that, I was going somewhere with that thought. You see, I'm sure you've realized you can't stay in the forest. Aside from the obvious danger of wolves and a need to build a house, it's literally illegal. So I was thinking..."

"... We could stay in WarnerStock?" he finished her thought, skeptical. When he looked ahead though, he saw how his siblings had turned their heads to look at Rose in what seemed like excitement. He could already see this was a losing battle.

She looked proud at him having figured it out "Yup. There's always need for more people, especially in our line of work" Rose nodded in satisfaction, as if they'd already agreed "Having three more mouths to feed won't be a problem."

"I don't know, we don't really have any skills that could help with anything other than entertainment" he drummed his fingers together, a little ashamed at this even if they hadn't exactly had a choice "I mean, none that could be developed enough to get us a job."

"That won't be a problem" Marilyn assured him, sending him a big grin "We'll be taking care of that."

Well...

They couldn't exactly go back to the studio, they'd be sent to a laboratory. They couldn't stay on the human world's streets, someone would see them and make them a zoo attraction. They couldn't stay in the woods, the wolves would eat them (and apparently it was illegal). WarnerStock had people like them, security. They already knew the Milers sisters, who... he hoped would keep their word and help them set their new lives up. They would have new jobs, a new home, food and shelter. They wouldn't have to hide anymore, because they would be surrounded by people like them. Honestly, it sounded like their quality of life could even be better than before. So then... Why?

Why was he scared?

For some reason, staying in WarnerStock sounded like the worst idea he'd had in a while. It made his stomach churn, and his knees shake. He felt a sense of unease that was more instinctual than anything. Like something was inherently wrong with WarnerStock, which didn't make much sense because, somewhere deep inside him, he was sure he hadn't seen much of it in his short life.

... Maybe that made some sort of sense, somehow.

The sisters seemed intent on getting them to move in, however.

"Just think about it," Rose said, her smile staring him right in the face "It's a nice place."

- No. No. -

"You'll be able to be with others like you."

- This is a terrible idea. -

"Who knows, you might even find your parents."

- We shouldn't be here. -

"You can do much else, to be honest. It's your best bet."

- We can't be here. -

In the face of his situation, he probably shouldn't follow these three strangers who he had just met yesterday. Especially not since they had kidnapped them and brought them halfway across a forest they couldn't hope to cross alone.

But... he didn't have any other choice.

- Don't follow them, Yakko. -

He ignored his instincts that were telling him to run.

- Don't. -

Looking back at Rose, who was staring at him with wide expectant eyes, he opened his mouth and said-

- They're going to find us. -

"Okay."