Author's note: HEYYYYYYYYYYYY EVERYBODY! It's been a while. I've, uh, been going through some things, so I've struggled to get my life back together recently. Nothing serious, just annoying. Anyways, I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible because there's going to be a jump in time and it'll pretty much explain the Warner and Milers' daily routine so we don't have to put up with ten chapters of them just training. That said though, the next chapter isn't the most exciting one, which is why I want to get it out of the way. Maybe I'll be able to make it more interesting, but it's looking difficult.

For now just read this one; the voice is both adorable and a twat, Rose gets too high on her already high horse, Yakko does not appreciate this at all, and the bbs are sad.

Yakko hadn't known what to expect when he had been led down a creepy staircase that seemingly had no end by a blond haired princess that was frankly too snarky to be royalty, but he definitely hadn't imagined he'd be in a cavern that had been remodeled to look like a fancy conference hall. The rock ground was covered in what looked like an expensive red carpet with golden trimmings at the corners, the walls had various paintings that Yakko had to guess had been stolen, and there where torches stuck to the walls of the cave illuminating the space. The back was too far for him to be able to see if there was an end to the cave, as the torches stopped at one point. In the very middle, there was a long wooden table that could fit at least fifty people, and Marilyn, StarDust and his siblings were sitting at it.

He could tell by a glance that Wakko and Dot wanted to jump to their feet and go greet him the moment they laid eyes on him, their expressions of both relief and happiness a dead giveaway, but something was keeping them in their place. Marilyn was giving them a soft but firm look, while StarDust was staring back at him and Rose, calculating, eyeing his movements.

His siblings didn't seem pleased at being stared down into their chairs, but Yakko knew them enough to be sure that they never followed orders unless they knew there was a good reason behind them. Rose hadn't told him why they had come here, so he was a bit nervous about what awaited him, but what worried him more than that was what the other two blondes had told his siblings, since they looked nervous themselves.

Something was up and he wasn't sure he liked it very much.

"Okay," he said once the silence had become too much for his ears "Spit it out. What are we doing here?"

"Simple," Rose replied, walking forward a few steps until she was in front of the table, turning to look back at him so that Yakko was on one side and everyone else was on another. He didn't like that either.

"We're here for three things. One, for you to decide whether you'll join us or not. Two, to test you in order to accept you into our group should you accept, and three... Well, we need to get a few things from here and get them back to base. Nothing too exciting about that last one."

- I'm telling you, I don't like this. I don't like them. -

The voice was clearly distraught, but Yakko couldn't tell if it was on edge because the three girls didn't seem trustworthy, or if it was because it was just as paranoid as he was. Yakko usually listened to it, but this wasn't the time to think about whether he could trust them or not. This was the only road he could take, so why should he agonize over it?

- Calm down, I'm sure they're nice people... I'm sure. -

- ... -

He was not sure, but with a deep breath he decided to at least listen to them because, in case you conveniently forgot, Yakko, Wakko and Dot were stuck with these three unless they wanted to starve in the streets.

"Alright" he shrugged, still trying to appear casual "Then, what do we do first?"

He could tell Rose noticed his change in demeanor from the time in the forest to now, since her eyes were silently asking him what he was playing at with his clearly uncomfortable casualness. It didn't seem very important to her though, because a moment later she was walking away from everyone else and toward him.

"What we'll do first... is give you a small test."

Yakko stared at her curiously as Rose stopped five feet away from him "I thought I had to agree to join before doing that."

The blonde merely chuckled at his words as she took a fighting stance; her feet were a shoulder-length away from each other, her hands fists when she raised them up to the sides of her face. Her tail wagged behind her as she gave him a challenging smirk.

"I for one thought I only needed you to confirm the fact that you'd be joining. You already made the oath. Besides..." she trailed off, rotating her shoulders once, her eyes a green inferno waiting to be challenged "I'm more interested in seeing how swift you are on your feet."

- ... Blondie wants to fight. -

Oh. Yakko realized with a start that the voice was right; Rose wanted to fight him. Like, really fight. Fight 'till one of them dropped to the ground, defeated and humiliated.

He was pretty sure he was going to be the one humiliated, but oh well, she did say this was a test. No shame in failing at something he'd never done before, right?

At least that's what he told himself. Surprisingly, he did still have a pride to bruise. It wasn't much, but it still existed.

"Okay then" he took a deep breath, trying to mimic her stance. He, frankly, was a bit scared of how hard her fists were clenched; she did look mighty strong, at least compared with how lanky he was "Just saying though, I've never actually sparred with anyone, so don't complain if I'm not a challenging opponent."

Rose laughed lightly, de-tensing a bit as if to reassure him this was a casual fight "Relax, I'm not asking you to beat me- though it'll certainly be more interesting if you try. I just want to see how well you'd do in a fight without any training whatsoever. If it's promising, then you'll already have a good base for us to build your skills on. If not, well, there's nothing to worry about, since I'll be teaching you how to fight anyway."

Wakko and Dot looked excited to see their brother fighting for some odd reason, but Yakko didn't question it too much, because he appreciated the support when they took to cheering for him. Marilyn laughed lightly at them and said that she wanted popcorn to go with the show, while StarDust shook her head and decided to explain the rules of the "sparring".

"The goal is usually to incapacitate your opponent, but as this is merely a test, try to keep your force to a minimum. We don't want either of you ending up in the infirmary. Punching, kicking, and throwing your partner to the ground counts. When one of you can't get up anymore the fight ends" the oldest Milers sister said, waiting for them to get ready so she could announce the start to the fight.

"Ready?"

Yakko kept his gaze trained on Rose, inspecting her more closely than he ever had since he'd met her. Aside from the sleeveless turquoise dress she was wearing, a belt much like his was wrapped around her waist, and the dress was held from her shoulders by three thin stripes of red cloth on each shoulder. On her neck, she had a light violet choker holding a star of David as a charm.

He hummed silently, wondering if she was Jewish.

"Set..."

Trying to get his mind back to topic, Yakko lightly shook his head and eyed her stance. Suddenly, he saw Rose's lips mouthing a 'good luck' to him before smiling and he was so surprised he almost didn't react when StarDust finally yelled:

"Go!"

Immediately, she sprung into action. Her feet gave a firm push from the floor, allowing her to use the boost to reach him, throwing the first punch directly to his chest. He had honestly not expected her to react so quickly; Rose was a sneaky devil, trying to distract him so he couldn't react accordingly.

However, if there was an ability he had that he was proud of, it was his reflexes.

He caught her punch into his palm, and used her surprise at having been grabbed to try and make her fall by sweeping his feet under her own. Instead of falling as expected though, Rose saw it coming and jumped over his attack, using the chance to take her fist out of his hand.

Just as she was landing though, he tried to throw his own punch- except he aimed it at her stomach.

In the middle of trying to land, Rose couldn't properly deflect his attack and got a fist in her stomach, though it was a rather light one, all things considered. Neither of them were really trying to hurt the other...

He hadn't taken into account the fact that, since his punch wouldn't really hurt Rose, she had the perfect chance for a counter-offensive. And that was exactly what she did.

Yakko really should have thought this through a bit more.

Swiftly, she grabbed at the arm he had used to attack her, kicked the leg he was putting most of his weight on, and jumped behind him just as he was falling to the ground, face first. As a result, he ended up on the ground with her knees on top of his back, both arms restrained by her hands.

He coughed weakly, trying to get Rose's hands off him, but all she did was hold onto him with more strength and lean over to give him a mocking smile.

And in that moment he realized what the true purpose of this exercise had been; a show of power. Of dominance. For as nice as Rose had been before, she didn't trust him just as much as he didn't trust her, and this was her saying that if he tried to betray them she could, and would, snap his neck easily.

So much for making new friends.

"Match set!" StarDust called from her seat, her face completely impassive. Of course she had expected this.

- At least you tried - the voice sounded a little upset, most likely because it'd figured out the same thing he had, but tried cheering him up anyway. It might have as well just said "there, there, you'll do better next time".

Yakko wanted to growl and tell it to shut the hell up, because he was already plenty embarrassed and annoyed without its help, but he didn't get to because immediately after that Wakko gave an excited shout of "That was awesome!"

Marilyn chuckled at his enthusiasm, while StarDust only sighed. He wondered if StarDust was always tired or if she was just not used to having such rowdy companions with her. Well, aside from Marilyn anyway.

"Our brother got his butt kicked in less than a minute, Wakko" Dot tutted at him, as if his exclamation would hurt Yakko's feelings. It didn't, really... Dot's words hurt his pride far more than Wakko's had.

"... It was still awesome" Wakko mumbled under his breath, giving his older brother a thumbs up and a big grin while Dot kept looking at him with a pout on her lips. Yakko only snorted because he couldn't return the thumbs up with his hands still restrained.

Speaking of which, why was Rose not off him yet?

He looked up at her with a glower, one that said "I know what this was about." Rose merely smiled wryly at him, animosity oozing from her tone.

"Let me enjoy my victory a bit more, will ya?"

He huffed, resigned to his fate by this point. His front hurt a bit from having been thrown to the ground, but the plush red carpet cushioned most of the fall. Rose wasn't very heavy on his back either. All in all, it wasn't... that bad. Aside from the light sting the aggressive declaration of power from Rose caused, he wouldn't be too upset if she kept him there for a few more minutes to rub it in. Nobody had actually expected him to win anyway.

"Guess I lose" he mumbled, letting his face fall onto the carpet.

Rose laughed at him, but his answer to being made fun of was cold indifference "Yup, but that was to be expected. You did pretty well for a beginner, if it makes you feel any better."

"No. It really doesn't" he snapped against the carpet, his words muffled because of it.

"Really though, "never done this before"?" she huffed, either not hearing his words or just ignoring them, easing off of him and extending a hand for him to grab. Even that gesture didn't seem that friendly anymore "I sincerely doubt that. You're fast as hell, for one, and if you hadn't been holding back on that punch to my stomach you might've been able to get the upper hand. Add a weapon and you could've won."

Yakko sat up and rotated his stiff shoulders a bit, giving Rose an unimpressed stare "Sure. I'm Rocky incarnate and I was just going easy on you, whatever" he pointedly ignored her hand completely and stood up by himself, frowning as he tried to brush the dust clinging to his pants from the carpet off.

A little bit of trampled pride would normally not leave him this pissy and snappish, but he did not like to be personally shown how helpless he actually was. He already knew he was backed into a corner from all sides, there was no reason to go around poking at an already raging fire of fear.

"I assume that's some kind of famous human fighter. And I wasn't being sarcastic, you were actually not bad at all" at least Rose did seem to notice that she'd gone a little too far as she slowly lowered her hand, looking to the side a little sheepishly. She'd probably not expected him to take it this hard, but then again she was just starting to get to know him.

"Yeah, okay" he replied coldly, turning to look at a fidgeting Rose "Can we move on?"

"You don't want to wallow in your loss a bit more?" she sent him an unsure, tentative smile, but when he only glared at her with genuine malice she let it go.

"O-Okay, we'll move on then."

Rose looked at StarDust and the oldest nodded once, slipping off her chair. When Marilyn saw her move she got off her chair as well.

"So… Let's get that confirmation out of the way first, yeah?" Rose turned to face him fully, becoming serious (though still seeming a bit awkward and apologetic) as Marilyn whispered something to his siblings so they'd stand up as well.

What was even the point in asking him, they already knew he had no choice just as much as he did. They already knew he was trapped, and had no way to loophole his way out of it.

Now that he was thinking about it, screw making new friends. They all end up backstabbing you anyway.

"Can I talk to my siblings about it first?" his voice warmed up a little as they walked hesitantly over to him, his cold stare to Rose turning into a caring a reassuring look as his eyes posed themselves on Wakko and Dot "This concerns them too."

They were a family, they worked together. He didn't make decisions by himself, even if they all had little choice in the matter. If they really hated it that much… he'd find something else. Somehow. He'd do the impossible for his siblings.

"... Sure. I get it. It's been a rough day" Rose nodded lightly and stepped a little further away from him, her whole posture still radiating regret. Whatever, he had other things that required his attention right now.

The moment she gave the okay and started to walk off the two flew over to him and envelopped him in a hug. Yakko hugged back with as much force as he dared, feeling his sour mood lifting into a relaxed sort of happiness. It really had been a rough day… They weren't used to being that far away from each other for that long.

"We'll start gathering supplies we're supposed to take back while you talk" Rose said as they separated, already walking further down the cave where there was a large cupboard StarDust was already inspecting "We're not in any hurry, so you can uh… take your time."

"Right... Thanks" he felt a bit of his anger dissipating when Rose smiled softly at him in response, but that didn't put her back on his good side just yet.

Rose stopped at the cupboard along with Marilyn and began taking some things out of the shelves. He could spy some guns and even some food they were putting in plastic bags, and he could only wonder how many things they would have to take back.

"Yakko?"

Shit, don't get distracted. His focus moved to the two small children in his arms when Dot called him softly "Yeah, sis?"

"... We don't really have a choice... Do we?"

His heart clenched with sadness so tightly in his chest that he almost gasped in pain.

Both their faces were crestfallen, staring up at him with sad black eyes, their little hands clutching at his green tank top tightly. Their fists were shaking a bit, their eyebrows furrowed in worry.

They understood perfectly what was going on, and they were scared. He would fight a thousand soldiers with just his fists to keep that expression off their faces.

"Did they say that?" his words were both soft and angry as he took a glimpse at the three sisters, who were taking out more objects and putting the plastic bags full of things into three duffle bags on the table. If they had really said that then they would get a lot worse from him than just a few sarcastic and cold comments.

"No," Wakko interrupted, tugging gently at his wrist so his attention returned to them "They didn't. They gave us a history lesson about WarnerStock, mostly."

He hummed in agreement, his anger fading. So they had just told them a version of what Rose had told him. Granted, it still wasn't a very happy story, but they had the right to know what they were getting into.

"It was an easy guess. We can't go back and we can't stay in the forest so... We figured we have no choice" Dot continued, shuffling her feet. She looked completely put out.

"We just wanted to ask you what we'll do about it" Wakko was obviously trying to be a bit less affected, most likely for the sake of their sister. The youngest brother shrugged with as much nonchalance as he could fake, and then they both stared at him with expectant expressions, clearly begging him to tell them what the way out of this was.

"I..."

The words got stuck in his throat. He couldn't reassure them that everything would be alright. That was his job. He was supposed to make them feel safe and happy, was supposed to provide for them, give them a home, basic needs, security.

Yet he couldn't do any of that. He couldn't even keep them safe himself, he would have to rely on the three Milers for that, and even if he did choose the stupid route and tried to start from the ground up in WarnerStock… God, no matter what he chose, this was practically family suicide. Guardian of the year right here.

"I don't..." his voice threatened to wobble, but he couldn't show how bad the situation really was. When the people you rely on start panicking you will inevitably panic too "We…"

He just felt so useless.

- It's okay, calm down. -

- Breathe. -

Breathe.

- Come on, breathe with me. -

Count to ten.

- One… Two... Three… -

Pretending like he was thinking things through instead of having an internal panic attack, Yakko eventually calmed his racing heart enough to regard his siblings seriously "We're going to have to listen to them" he bit his lip as their eyebrows furrowed further "… I'm sorry I can't give you any other options but I… really don't know what else to do..."

He could be strong for them, but he couldn't lie. With his main issue being distrust, the three of them had come to the agreement that they would never lie to each other. They could… omit some details, but they couldn't lie. He couldn't stand having to doubt everyone constantly, so this agreement made him feel better about it.

"... Okay..." they both spoke quietly. He knew they appreciated his honesty and the fact that he was treating them as adults, but it didn't change the fact that their helplessness was depressing.

- Yakko... -

- ... Yeah? -

He felt the voice frown slightly.

- I just wanted to say... You're not alone, okay? -

A small smile broke through his face. It made his siblings smile softly, sadly, back at him.

He felt the voice smile back, care and reassurance being transmitted to him.

- I know it's hard to realize sometimes but… Look at them. You're loved. And as long as you have that, everything will turn out okay. -

How did the voice know exactly what to say to make him feel better?

- … You're amazing, you know that? -

If disembodied voices in his head could blush and gush gleefully at a comment, the voice would totally be doing that, letting out a small dorky, happy laugh and quieting as if in embarrassment. It only made it easier for Yakko to charge his smile with genuine joy and attempt positive thinking.

"I know it… kind of sucks, but we should cheer up, shouldn't we? Treat this like an adventure instead of a punishment."

Wakko and Dot looked up at him again, their expressions skeptical, but still listening "We won't be running into this blind… Rose said they would train us."

"Train?" they repeated like parrots, and he almost snorted at the fact that they had the exact same reaction he'd had.

"Yup. Right, Rose?" he turned his head over to the nearest blond, who was putting what looked like an AK-47 into one of the duffle bags on the table.

"Huh?" she looked up from the gun in her hands, her expression confused and guarded, most likely from hearing his voice when he was still mad at her. At least she hadn't been listening in on their conversation. That got her points for being a decent human- er, warner… being? Semantics were weird.

"I was just saying that you were going to be teach us how to do... whatever you need us to do" he gave her a meaningful look, hoping she understood that he needed to reassure his siblings somehow and that no matter how annoyed he may be with her, he needed her help.

"Ah" she blinked, getting the hint, and probably thinking this was a chance to redeem herself "Yeah, we'll teach you everything you need to know. We're not going to throw you into a mission unprepared."

"Have no fear, Teach is here. Until you're ready all you're gonna be doing is training" letting go of the gun, she gave them a smile and Yakko noticed that his siblings' shoulders seemed less tense than a few minutes before. Thankful, Yakko sent her a small smile, to which she nodded once in response.

"What'll you be teaching us?" Dot asked, her voice a bit more relaxed and curious.

Walking back from the cupboard with another gun in her hands, StarDust decided to answer the question "It won't be simple, but we will go slowly so that you can get acquainted with the way we do things. Rose is in charge of field training, Marilyn works with machinery, and I do medical procedures. We will all be training you in our different areas of expertise."

"You three will probably be best at one of these, and after knowing which one that is, one of us will be teaching you the advanced parts of our area" Marilyn added, a smile on her face as she put an old-looking book into another duffle bag that was next to the one Rose had been putting stuff into "Still, you need to know the basics for all three."

Rose nodded in agreement "You need to know at least hand-to-hand combat, how to pick a lock, how to treat a wound, and all that good stuff. You need to be able to work in any area in case the expert isn't there to help. What would you do if, in the middle of a mission, your partner is bleeding from a wound and the medic isn't there? If you don't know how to treat it, they'll die. That's why this is absolutely necessary."

Yakko found it rather convenient. Wakko liked how machines worked and had fixed some of his own toys a few times, while Dot was the only one in the family who knew how to properly use a medical kit. When it came to himself though... Could he really learn to fight properly?

He wasn't particularly gifted at anything- Rose had 'praised' his quickness, but that didn't mean much. He just hoped he wouldn't be a burden and would actually be able to do something.

"... There we go" Rose suddenly said, zipping up her bag and cleaning the sweat off her forehead. StarDust and Marilyn did the same with theirs.

"You're done?" he asked, just about ready to go back and sleep his worries away. Besides, who knew when the Milers would start to actually train them. He'd need all the energy and rest glue could get.

She nodded her head a few times, walking toward him "Yeah, we just had a lot of stuff to grab" with a tired sigh, she cracked her neck (making him flinch a little) and stopped a few steps away "So, you ready to confirm or do you need more time to think about it?"

The air became tense again.

Right... He still had to do that.

Yakko looked down at Wakko and Dot, silently asking them if they had their final answer, telling them with his eyes that there would be no going back once they said "yes". Dot gave a sure nod, while Wakko bit his lip and gave a slightly unsure nod. Well, he wouldn't complain. God knew he wasn't a hundred percent in for this either.

He opened his mouth to give Rose their answer, but just before the confirmation escaped his lips, he closed his mouth. Rose looked a bit miffed at him stopping right there, but he only ignored her for a moment to ask the last person whose opinion mattered to him.

- What do you say? -

There was a moment of silence in which the voice seemed to think it over.

- Sure. Nothing else we can do, right? -

- If I can't make sure you aren't in any danger, I can at least protect you from getting hurt. It's not like the world is ending. -

Yakko smiled jokingly, internally, back at it.

- What are you, my knight in shining armor? -

Laughter rang through his head.

- Maybe. -

- Who's the conceited one again? -

- You, because you're still the queen of drama. -

- And you're the king of drama. -

The voice's laugh only rang louder.

- Does that mean we're married? -

- Pfft, you wish. -

The voice continued it's snickering as Yakko could only send waves of annoyed amusement at it.

- But that's what you implied, wasn't it? -

- I'm not talking to you anymore, nerd. -

Yakko huffed indignantly and the voice laughed again.

- Okay. Talk to you later, honey. -

It sniggered and he shook his head to clear his head of it, but couldn't help the smile on his face as he did so. The voice could really be a doofus when it wanted to be.

Getting back to the world outside his own head, he saw the expectant looks of the three sisters. He considered being a bit cruel and prolonging their tenseness, but he honestly didn't feel like it. He'd be mean another day, when the voice would somehow be unable to lift his mood.

"Yeah. Yeah, we've decided" he said, his voice convinced. Their relief was practically palpable.

"Great" Rose breathed a sigh, and then smiled at him "Then, your answer?"

Yakko only took a second to look at Wakko and Dot, who turned their eyes toward him as well. They only echoed his own doubt back at him.

He smiled back at Rose... only his was slightly crooked with worry.

"We'll join."

... Jeez, what had he gotten them into?

Author's note: The voice is both adorable, sweet and a twat, Rose gets too high on her already high horse, Yakko does not appreciate this at all, and the bbs are sad. I think that about sums up this chapter.

(In Rose's defense she was only being a little bitchy and mostly playful, Yakko just isn't close enough to her yet to look past the bitchy part)

On another note; I seriously love the voice, I wanna wrap it in a blanket burrito, kiss its forehead a bunch and cuddle with it. Anyone who doesn't like it can FITE ME. FIND ME IN THE PIT SCRUBS (jk but seriously if you have any constructive criticism toward any OC I invite you to tell me. Not only because I want to be a better writer but also because it'd be interesting to hear you guys' opinions on them. Just, uh, be gentle with me pls I really love my babies).