Author's note: Heyyyyyyy I'm back again. Edited this while on vacation and now I have to work on finals... So I dunno when I'll have time to edit the next one. Also I think I might be fixing a few more things than just those first 10 chaps. On one hand they're not entire chapters and the content will be better! On the other... this'll mean those will be a bit slower coming. I'm having a hard time trying to make something that's more a metaphor than anything else make sense to you guys. This is what happens when you take a complicated and long as heck story like this and make it your first real story that you're actually intending to finish *groannnnnnssssssss*
On other news, I wanted to get something out of the way; this story will focus specifically on feelings of guilt and touch. Innocent touches ahaha, the rating's not M because there's gonna be smut, relax. Just wanted to get it out there that just because certain characters are really touchy with each other doesn't mean they're going to get romantically involved. In fact, and this is something else I wanted to explain before anyone freaks out, nobody is outright going to say "I love you" romantically in this story, though there might be some alluding to that (characters demanding to know if character B loves character A and character B responding in a dodgy way, leaving it up to interpretation if they love character A romantically or platonically). There might be platonic I love you's, and there will definitely be romantic undertones; it'll be pretty obvious some characters love each other that way, but there won't be kisses or anything like that. Just cuddles. Lots. Of. Cuddles.
I'll leave the romance for separate short stories after I finish this one. Characters confessing to each other, dating shenanigans and all that. Take this as... I dunno, kinda like the relationship a pair of friends who are interested in one another have when they're still in the "do they like like me?" phase. They don't really have time to bother with feelings anyway, with everything going on. So, there's not really going to be any YakkoxOC, they're all just... real good friends. Who might love each other. But no one's going to do or say anything.
I... really hope that doesn't bother anyone? I promise everything's really developed and this friends-acting-more-than-friends thing wasn't planned, it literally just happened and I think I had them have too much chemistry accidentally. At one point when I was writing one of the later chapters (30 something I think) I actually thought they might kiss because the romantic tension was ridiculous. But then they didn't, and I was relieved lol.
Anyway, there's no warnings in this one either. Enjoy!
(Also please do tell me if the whole romance thing bothers you, I don't want to lose a reader to something like that.)
"So we have to cross this gigantic field every day to get to town?"
"Yep."
In front of the mountain they'd gotten out of were miles of plain green, a few trees scattered here and there. The view was refreshing when he considered the bland grey of the city he'd been subjected to before, but after a while of seeing nothing but grass, it started to get boring.
Yakko groaned, moving his legs, which felt like stone, slowly in front of him. It took all his willpower not to raise his arms up to the sky and shout 'why God?!'.
Instead of asking God, who would no doubt respond by throwing a lightning bolt at him because apparently God hated him, he questioned Rose.
"Why on Earth do you guys live so far away from normal civilization?"
The blonde crossed her arms and merely smirked at him "If it bothers you so much you can go back."
That was a terrible idea because: a) he'd already crossed the damn field, and b) he still needed to find his siblings.
He sighed deeply through his nose, trying to stop the imminent shouts of frustration. Even with all his willpower, he could still not contain the annoyed glare he sent to Rose "I'll just keep my unresponsive legs moving."
She grinned mockingly at him and patted his back once roughly for that "That's the spirit."
There had to be at least a few mikes from 'the base' to town, and to be honest, Yakko hadn't thought his tired body could take the trip. They had reached WarnerStock at sunrise the day before, and he would say that he had woken up by midday at most. Meaning: he had barely slept, and his legs hadn't felt like walking before resting for, at least, four more hours. At least he was clean from the shower he'd taken before going to sleep.
Since he hadn't had much of a choice, to distract himself, he'd tried asking Rose more about that place they'd been in and what she and her sisters did for a living. She hadn't told him much, but he learned that what he'd originally thought to be a house was actually a base. He didn't know what the base was used for, but it was a start. Well, being "part of the police force" as Rose had described them meant that it was probably a government secret of some kind, but he could only guess with the limited information he'd been given.
Currently, they were standing in the middle of WarnerStock's market, which was inside Artemis, one of the three towns in the small country. The three towns were named after their most beloved Greek goddesses. They were called the "triple A"s; Aphrodite, Athena, and Artemis. Incidentally, Rose had told him the current queen's name was Athena as well.
- Athena, the goddess of war... -
When he'd asked Rose about it, she had only stared at him and muttered under her breath that she wouldn't be surprised if they went to war soon. She'd sounded particularly bitter about it, her feet stomping as she walked, so he had tried to keep quiet about the subject from that moment on.
He wondered how bad a state WarnerStock had to be in to be in danger of a war, walking next to Rose through the market. The place was crawling with people- er, warners - browsing through vegetables, meat, fruits and other produce. Blonde, brunette, red-headed warners, even some with their hair dyed, walking around without stopping in their tracks to stare at him and scream. Because here, he was normal. Their eyes did seem to linger a bit on him, but they looked away after a bit and he chalked it off to them being confused at how he was taking everything in with wide eyes.
He couldn't describe the feeling of relief that passed through him as he walked around. For the first time, he wasn't persecuted, he didn't need to hide himself. He, in a way, belonged. Sure, the studio staff had gotten used to them relatively quickly, but they'd been considered more attractions than employees. Pets, rather than people.
His shoulders relaxed a bit. He didn't feel quite as desperate to find his brother and sister anymore. They weren't in any danger, right? StarDust and Marilyn were with them, and surely others of their race would keep an eye on them, would help if something bad were to happen.
It was amazing what feeling like part of a group would do to your outlook of everything around you. It made him feel secure.
"Do you feel better now?" Rose looked at him from the corner of her eye, grabbing an apple from a stand and flipping what looked like a gold coin from her pocket onto the waiting hands of the fruit merchant. The man gave her a small smile and pocketed the coin before resuming his task of cleaning the wooden stand.
He wondered if Rose was hungry, but instead of eating the apple, she extended it to him with an expectant face.
He accepted the fruit with a 'thank you' and his mouth contorted in a small smile.
"Yeah, much better. I'm not normally this comfortable in crowds, but then again, before I had to hide from humans." They'd snuck off the lot quite a few times, but he'd been a nervous wreck every time. With faces like theirs, pretending to be human was almost impossible.
The blonde nodded at him in understanding "Makes a world of difference to be amongst your own, doesn't it?"
He shrugged, taking a bite of the apple. He could feel Rose scrutinizing him with her gaze, as if analyzing him for strengths and weaknesses. Surprisingly, he didn't feel bothered by this.
"It's alright. Will probably feel better once I adjust."
Rose hummed and elbowed him playfully "So you are thinking of staying?"
He smirked and elbowed her back "Maybe."
He was debating it still. Well, he was sure they would stay in WarnerStock, because as previously stated they didn't have any other choice, but rather he was debating about whether staying with the Milers was a good idea. If he was being honest, he would be much more comfortable being guided through this new society instead of having to explore it alone, but that didn't mean he trusted the blondes enough to live with them. He was slowly beginning to warm up to them (Rose mostly, he'd have to spend more time with the other two) but he was still skeptical. Two days weren't enough to get to know the people you would live with after all.
"That gives me so much hope" she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes "I guess I can tell you a bit more now that I know you're not spies. Would that make you trust us a bit more?"
He perked up at that, his ears raised in interest.
"It would help."
"Okay then. I'll tell you..."
She smiled as if she was about to tell him an incredible secret. He leaned closer to her with his eyes wide open and ready to listen-
"... Once we reach the station."
He visibly deflated "You're such a tease."
She just grinned smugly at him "I know."
With a skip in her step, as if she was having the time of her life, Rose continued walking, dodging passing warners and staying two feet ahead of him. To his surprise, many turned their heads after having passed them to get a second look at the blonde, as if surprised to see her. He wondered what made them cast her another glance. Maybe it was because she looked so cheery, when everyone else seemed so glum.
Actually… now that he was past the surprise of seeing all the warners, he noticed more about the market and the citizens in it.
There weren't that many stands, especially for a town market. Most of the stands held only food, and there were many that had a plank in the middle saying it was closed in red paint. The warners selling looked mighty tired and depressed, counting the few gold coins they had as if they had been given lint. The buyers were not much better, taking out coins from their wallets as if they were about to give away a fortune, appearing physically pained to part with them.
Yakko frowned when they passed by the only stand he'd seen that didn't sell actual food, instead it proclaimed to sell spices, and an old-looking woman looked mournfully as a man seemingly of the same age nailed the same plank that read "closed" onto their stand. Then, the man walked over to the woman with the same expression of sadness and put an arm around her shoulders. They walked away with empty hands.
He felt his chest hurt in sympathy at the misery in their eyes.
- ... This doesn't look like a nice place. I bet this has to do with the war Blondie was talking about. -
"Rose?" He called her in a small voice, terrifyingly sensitive to others' pain. She somehow heard him, stopping her happy hopping to walk, though she did so slower for him to catch up to her.
"You noticed."
The smile was gone from her face, her voice having dropped to a monotone. He chanced a glance at her face; her eyes were narrowed, full of a silent rage. Her mouth was a grimace and her shoulders were tense.
"Yeah... Kind of hard to ignore" he gulped. Thankfully her anger wasn't directed at him, but it still made him nervous.
They kept walking until there were barely any people around, down a darker street. They had left the market.
There were no skyscrapers around, only houses and even huts, along with some shops. In the distance he could see a castle, standing tall and grey. The surroundings were actually quite humble, and he wouldn't have been too surprised if he were told he'd suddenly gone back in time to the middle ages. That seemed to be the general style of Artemis.
Most of the ground was of cobblestone, and he didn't see any cars. The streets were too narrow for any large objects to pass through; at the most, two carriages could move through it at the same time.
As they reached a huge stone staircase leading down in the middle of the road (he presumed either for a subway or a train) he couldn't take the intrigue anymore "Why's everything like this?"
"Athena" she just hissed out between clenched teeth.
Then, Rose stopped in her tracks at the end of the staircase. Yakko tripped on the last few steps and almost fell on her.
"Come on, we're taking the train" was all she said as she turned to the right and continued walking through a stone tunnel. He followed her, completely lost as to where they were going or where they were at the moment.
The tunnel was crawling with the homeless and the poor, begging for money. Poverty didn't discriminate, the beggars were all of different ages. A few of them were even younger than his own brother and sister...
A knot formed in his throat at the thought that he didn't even have a measly coin to give them. Without the three Milers' help, he and his siblings could very well end up living right there at the train station, dying of hunger and depending on the good will of passerbys. He was starting to think he didn't have much choice in staying with them either.
Suddenly, Rose grabbed his wrist and tugged him closer to her, looking down at the floor. He stared at her in surprise, but she only motioned for him to look down as well.
"Keep your head down and don't make eye contact with anyone."
She leaned toward him to whisper for him to walk faster, palming the pocket of her dress that was right underneath her belt for something. Logically, he found all this odd.
"Why? You..." she didn't have a phobia against homeless people, did she?
Instead of looking ahead in disgust though, she turned her head left and right, as if searching for witnesses, and took a small sown sack out of her pocket. One of the warners ahead of them was wrapped in a blanket, only showing bright brown eyes, giving Rose an expectant look as they sat leaned against the wall. They extended a small black furred hand from under the fabric.
Almost as if doing a shady deal, when Rose passed by the warner she dropped the sack in their extended hand inconspicuously, staring ahead as if she was doing nothing except walking. The warner instantly dragged their hand back under the blanket and looked around for anyone who might have seen, and gave Rose a quick nod she returned. The other warners all throughout the tunnel gave a small sigh and quieted their begging.
Nobody else asked them for money.
"What was that?" he asked, astonished, as he followed the blonde up another set of steps that led to the platform. She jumped the last few steps and walked to where people were waiting to board the train, not saying a word.
Why was she suddenly mute? Had she given them smuggled goods? What in the hell had happened?
"Rose, what was that?"
"Don't be so impatient, Yakko. I told you I'd explain a few more things in a bit, didn't I?" she didn't seem inclined to answer his questions at the moment. She preferred to stare at the ground in what looked like silent hatred.
He bit his lip to keep himself from asking what she was so angry about, or, again, what had just happened. He hated being left in the dark about anything, but thankfully just at that moment, he heard the sound of a train approaching.
Instead of spilling out words of worry and doubt, he asked something else.
"Where are we going?"
"So now you decide to ask me. You know, for someone who questions things so much, you don't ask the important questions" her words weren't annoyed, merely thoughtful, as if she was just getting used to the way his mind worked. It sounded like she was changing the subject, rolling on the balls of her feet as she stared at the train, painted red, rushing down the tracks with the sound of one of those old trains that ran on coal. The black smoke coming out from it confirmed his suspicions. Apparently warners didn't have electric trains.
"Sorry for being too focused on the poverty and you doing an odd deal with a homeless person to care about where we're going."
She finally turned to look at him in a deadpan, only holding his sarcastic stare for a moment before she sighed and went back to staring at the train. The machine had started slowing down to reach the station.
"It's… complicated."
The train came to a stop and the doors opened. Wait, didn't they have to buy tickets to get on?
Ignoring that rule he'd learned about in human territory, Rose jumped on and held out her hand for him to do the same. He was about to ask her if it was alright for them to go on, but he was interrupted.
"You gonna get on any time this century, kid?" he heard the annoyed voice of the conductor, a warner man seemingly in his twenties that was giving him a withering look. Yakko almost laughed at the whole blue button-up uniform (complete with the little cap on his head) because it looked ridiculous on a warner, but he kept quiet so the man wouldn't shut the door in his face.
He accepted Rose's hand, got on, and the conductor closed the door behind him.
Although the engine of the train was old, the model looked to be of this century; the inside was clean and the seats were modern. There were many warners other than them boarding the train, most being left standing because there wasn't enough space. Curiously, they all made sure to leave three seats free.
Rose didn't waste any time sitting down on one of the three free plastic blue seats, patting the one next to her in invitation as the engine began purring and the train moved forward. She still looked a bit angry, but he could tell she was trying to cool down for the sake of not shouting at someone for no reason at all.
He was tempted to ask her if they were allowed to take those seats, but the blonde only looked at him like she was telling him to stop thinking so much, and he decided it didn't really matter. Also, his feet and legs were begging him to sit down.
"Yo, Rose."
The conductor from before leaned against one of the walls, staring at the both of them as Yakko sat down. The man looked him up and down in suspicion and turned back to the blond, his brown mustache flapping against his lips as he spoke.
"This guy with you?"
"Relax, Nicolas. I already checked, he's not a spy."
Yakko felt a bit uncomfortable being talked about like he wasn't right there, but it was nice that Rose was standing up for him. Said blonde then leaned forward in her seat and put a hand to cup her mouth, as if not wanting him to hear a secret she would tell the conductor, a smirk on her face. She spoke loud enough so that Yakko could still hear anyway.
"He's too stupid to evade the whole police force like that."
"Hey!"
He took back every single nice thing he'd ever thought about Rose.
Nicolas chuckled, crossing his arms smugly, and Yakko already decided this guy was annoying "Always searching for fresh meat, aren't you? The kid looks like he'd shoot his eye out if you gave him a gun. "
Rose shrugged, a grin on her mouth "Probably, but that's what I train them for, isn't it?"
Yakko couldn't help but hang onto that sentence, confused as to what she was talking about "Train?"
Both warners turned their heads to him like he was the dumbest thing they'd ever seen. Rose in particular rose an eyebrow and smiled amusedly at him.
"Yes, Yakko. We're on a train."
Nicolas turned his eyes to Rose, deadpanning "Not very bright, is he?"
Yakko facepalmed.
"No, I mean what you said just now. Train who to use guns?"
Rose's mouth threatened to break into a grin "Oh, so that's what you meant."
He just rolled his eyes at her obvious amusement "Obviously."
The warner with the funny mustache stared at him as Rose explained, his hand tapping at his thigh nervously. Yakko would've described the movement as him itching to attack.
"We're searching for volunteers. My sisters and I train those volunteers for different activities- which I can't tell you about."
"Come on, Rose. I'm not going to go spill the beans to anyone" he complained, annoyed at the lack of info. All this secrecy was making him think that there was something dangerous going on that he didn't want to be a part of, and unfortunately, he felt like he was already tangled in it.
"How can you be so sure?" Nicolas kept his gaze locked on him, his eyes dark. He seemed to be judging him silently, his brown irises constantly eyeing his own black ones as if looking at poison.
Yakko frowned, preparing himself to tell the guy to stop being a jerk, but Rose did it for him.
"Nicolas, I told you back off."
Her voice was low, commanding, and her eyes were piercing the warner where he stood. Yakko was a bit surprised when Nicolas growled lowly but didn't comment further, keeping his place and looking around the wagon. He'd abandoned the conversation.
Then, as if nothing had ever soured her mood, Rose turned bright green eyes to him, giving him a calm smile that spooked him a bit, considering how she had sounded like the commander of an army a few moments before.
"I know you won't rat us out, but I can't just go around telling anyone about what I do. If you really want to know, you'll have to take an oath."
"An oath to what?" Yakko confusedly looked around when everyone's eyes were suddenly on them, feeling as if he was in the middle of a conference, where Rose was the speaker and the others on the train were the listeners.
The blonde seemingly ignored everyone's stares "Well, first of all, I'm going to tell you we're traveling so we can go find those kids of yours."
She gave him a smirk when he realized he'd forgotten about it. He was so surprised by his inability to remember something so important that he blinked several times, his eyes wide.
"Oh. Right."
"There, I'm going to make a very important question to you three. I'll need your approval, mostly."
Yakko nodded once, slowly, concerned about where this was going.
She burrowed herself in the seat, making herself more comfortable, and cleared her throat as if to begin a tale. He could tell it wouldn't be a very happy 'tale', because her eyes became hooded and dark, intimidating him into silence. She looked painfully serious.
"Second of all, there's a few things you should know before I tell you what's going on."
She started counting with her fingers as she talked, the wagon uncomfortably quiet, even with the sound of the train engine working.
"One, if I don't tell you something, it's for a good reason. Two, everything we do is in good will. Three, this is like a silent contract; once you listen to this, you have to swear not to talk about it with anyone not "in the know", if you get what I mean. It doesn't matter whether you think it's right or wrong, you will not speak of this."
Rose looked up to stare at him expectantly, and he felt like the whole mass of warners standing around him had their eyes on him too, urging him to give her a positive answer.
"... Or else?"
He didn't know why he'd asked. He hadn't been intending to talk about it anyway. Damn his smartass mouth.
"Well, if you rat out our plans to the enemy..."
Rose's eyes narrowed and Yakko felt trapped.
"I'll have to kill you."
This was serious. This wasn't the girl telling him some gossip, or betraying the secret of the location of a clubhouse. This was classified-government-information serious.
"... Alright..." his consent was careful, keeping his eyes on Rose so as to ignore everyone else.
Though her expression wasn't any better, it was less anxiety inducing than staring at the faceless drones all around him, staring at him with their soulless eyes.
"You are absolutely sure?"
Just listening to what was going on couldn't be that bad, right?
"As sure as I'll ever be."
Rose chanced a look to the crowd, and she received barely seen nods from a few of them, though others kept looking at him in distrust. They were all "in the know". They were all in on it.
God, what has he gotten himself into?
"Perfect." She cleared her throat and put one of her hands forward, the back of her hand facing upwards, as she spoke what sounded like a chant to enter a cult. He hoped that wasn't what this was.
"Do you swear to always protect thy neighbor, to keep WarnerStock at peace, and above all, to keep our secrets under lock and key?"
"I… don't know what to say to that."
Rose broke her serious demeanor for a second to groan, grab his hand, and put it on top of hers, his palm touching the back of her hand. She lightly glared at him.
"Just say you swear."
He shrugged "Swearing isn't very nice. Think of the poor children's ears."
"Yakko" her tone was giving him a warning.
"Geez, can't take a joke."
- I kindly suggest you stop being a smartass. Blondie looks ready to kill you. -
Rose's glare became darker, but Yakko rolled his eyes, trying to appear nonchalant.
"Fine, I swear."
In truth, he was borderline claustrophobic, feeling like the train wagon was becoming smaller and smaller the longer he spent in it with all this tension and all these people. The way Rose was looking at him didn't help, honestly. It only made him feel like he was in a room full of murderers and that he had no allies.
The fact that the voice had chosen to speak up now, when it had mostly been silent throughout the day, only increased his feelings of worry. The voice wasn't speaking all the time, but it was always listening. It always warned him when things were about to go wrong, whether it be something stupid like the food starting to burn or something bigger. At the moment, its tone was rough, ready to fight if need be. Though Yakko didn't know how something that didn't have a body could fight anyone, it was worrisome that the voice was being cautious.
He just didn't want to give Rose any more indication that he was weak. He had bared his worries and fears to her and her sisters while walking through the forbidden forest, and though he felt a bit lighter for having shared it, he had understood the moment he had said those words that he had made a mistake. He'd been too stressed from everything that had happened and he'd slipped.
They knew he was emotionally weak. They could use that against him, and he couldn't let that happen. He had to make them think he'd just had a small moment of weakness and that he wasn't like that usually.
He had to put up a strong aloof front.
The blonde huffed at his words, but she accepted them nonetheless, letting go of his hand. As Yakko moved his hands to rest on his lap, he scooted himself as close to Rose as he could, trying to get away from everyone else. He might not want her to think he was weak, just in case, but he definitely trusted her more than he did these people.
"Alright. I'll put my trust in you."
The train suddenly started decreasing in velocity. Rose, who had been more than ready to begin his "initiation", paused and frowned "We're not supposed to get off yet. Why are we stopping?"
Yakko felt something cold go down his spine when everyone, including Nicolas, went pale. The mustached man's crossed arms fell limp and useless at his sides, his eyes shakily turning to look at the door of the train.
One of them, shivering uncontrollably with their arms hugging their body, whispered "Pass watchers."
There was a collective whimper and everyone started nervously patting their pockets, beads of sweat slipping down their hair and onto the fur of their faces. Rose only raised the cloth of her pocket a bit to check for something, and she did so calmly, though her shoulders were tenser than they had been before.
There was a string of forceful knocks at the doors. Nicolas shivered and slowly moved from his perch against the wall to walk toward it, probably to open it for whomever was outside.
"Pass watchers? What're those?" Yakko asked Rose in a low voice, confused and worried when he saw that warners in uniforms with guns in their hands were waiting outside the wagon, biker-like helmets hiding their faces. Nicolas shook and moved out of the way as they got on.
"They're part of Athena's special police force. Since she's always searching for spies, they come on the trains and ask everyone for their passport" Rose's low whisper answered him, patting his shoulder as if saying "don't worry", but instead of being relieved, Yakko felt his heart beat faster in panic.
He didn't have a passport. He was an outsider. His siblings didn't have any either, oh God-
"Yakko, I've got it covered. You think I didn't anticipate this?"
The blonde smiled at him and took out a small, thin, hard covered blue book as the armed officers took a few people outside and others checked some passports. One of them walked toward them and Yakko reminded himself to act natural, even if he felt like a wreck on the inside.
"Passports."
The gruff voice that came out of the uniformed warner almost made him jump, mostly because the helmet he was wearing, covering his whole face, made it hard to anticipate the moment the man would speak. Yakko only bit his lip to stop himself from saying something incriminating as Rose showed the officer her passport, watching intently as the warner looked through it for a second and gave it back to the blonde. Then, when the officer turned his covered head to stare at him, Yakko gulped and looked nervously between the girl and the man.
"He's with me. Just got out of his parent's house and didn't get the chance to make a passport yet" Rose spoke with a big confident smile as she put her arm around Yakko's shoulders as one would a longtime friend. He flinched at the contact.
He almost let out a "The hell? You think that's going to work?" and wondered what his chances of getting out of the train without being killed were; but that wasn't necessary.
"You understand the situation... Don't you?"
Rose's eyes went from wide and cheery to hooded, looking at the man much like she'd stared at Yakko when he'd been joking around. She was warning him against making a fuss.
The officer only stared for a few more seconds before he nodded in understanding, and only replied by saying that Yakko better get his passport soon or next time he'd be "shot fulla holes", walking away. When everyone who had been led outside was allowed back on the train and the officers left, everyone let out a relieved sigh and Nicolas closed the train door as if they were keeping themselves safe from monsters that roamed outside.
Yakko was so relieved he practically melted in his seat when the tension left his body.
These people would be the death of him.
"See? Nothing to worry about."
Everyone got back in place and the train began moving again. He was frankly surprised by how quick that had been; considering how everyone had reacted, he'd thought it would be worse.
"Any particular reason why they let such a suspicious thing go just like that?"
Rose smirked at him, grabbing her passport and waving it in front of his face, like that would magically prove something. Yakko only looked at her with an exasperated expression until he realized that there was a small crown-shaped stamp on the very top of the cover. When he looked around them, he saw that the passports that everyone else was putting back in their pockets or purses were red.
"So your passport is special, is that it?"
"Precisely. I get privileges."
"Why?"
"Because," Rose smiled "I'm one of the princesses."
…
"Wait, what?"
Author's Note: To everyone who's reading this story and especially to those that left comments: thank you so much! I hope I'll meet your expectations and that you guys get sucked into the mysteries, 'cos I worked real hard on them. I still think the answers are kinda obvious but I'm really trying OTL