Author's Note: Hey... Long story short, my anxiety's gotten worse since getting back from vacation and I've barely been able to do anything. I'm fighting with it 24/7 and am a shaking mess. BUT! I will not give up. Just know that, like I said at the beginning of this story, updates are most likely not going to be regular. I'm really, really sad that I can't update like, once a week or something, but like I said, I'm finishing this no matter what. That's my goal.

With that said, enjoy the chapter. It has a lot of information, so I would suggest not rushing through it.

Hope you enjoy!

Yakko didn't know what to think of the fact that the famous prince Elias, who would inherit WarnerStock, looked almost exactly like him. He could only hope that the voice had some clue as to what was going on, since he knew of his past better than he himself did. If Elias looked so similar to him, it had to mean something, right?

- You... Do you know this person? -

- I... I don't... ? -

The voice sounded just as dumbfounded as he was, and Yakko was sure that he was trying his hardest to recall who Elias was, if they'd met him before. But to no avail clearly, because the voice only sighed.

- Nothing? -

- Nothing. I'm just as lost as you are. -

Speaking of the prince, he had briefly stopped staring at Yakko like he'd just seen a particularly gross insect to direct his gaze to his siblings. He looked like he was thinking hard about something, but the two younger kids only sent him frowns.

"Wakko and Dot, huh..." he muttered, his eyebrows pulling into a light frown.

"Yes, those are our names" Dot's eyes narrowed, as if challenging Elias to say something against them "What of it?"

There was silence. Tense silence, silence that was so dense you could have cut it with a knife.

"... Star, where did they come from?" Elias suddenly turned to look at the oldest, who was staring at him with eyes that said she understood what he was getting at, but was kindly advising him to shut the hell up.

Yakko didn't like this in the slightest. Not Elias' sudden interest in his brother and sister nor the way the three blondes suddenly looked very sad.

"So they aren't with you..." Rose muttered under her breath.

"We found them in the Forbidden Forest" StarDust answered calmly, and Elias took in a sudden sharp breath, as if he'd been able to get air after being robbed of it "They've been with us for about three months now."

"In the forest...? Then they could be..." the prince took another glimpse of his siblings, and by this point Wakko and Dot had lost their threatening expressions and were instead staring at Elias with confused and wary eyes "How old are you?"

Still not understanding anything, Wakko turned questioning eyes to Dot, and when she just shrugged, he answered "I'm eleven and Dot's ten. But why's that-"

"Ellie... I know what you're thinking" Marilyn sent the boy a sad frown, and put a hand on his shoulder. She looked understanding "If when the revolution happened they didn't leave with you... I'm pretty sure that-"

"No, Mary, this can't be a coincidence."

Elias shook his head desperately, like he was fighting to sweep away a nightmare from his mind "The same names, same ages, same hair and eye color? How could this be a coincidence?"

Okay, he decidedly did not like wherever the prince's thought process was going.

Yakko took a step forward, shielding his siblings from the prince's gaze, his eyebrows contorted in a challenging frown. He and Elias had a staring contest, and Yakko tightened his hands into fists.

Nobody messed with his family. Nobody.

"Careful Ellie, Yakko looks about ready to bite your head off" Rose sent the prince a small smile, though there was no amusement in it at all "I would stay away from those two if I were you. He's awfully protective of them."

Elias froze.

Yakko knew that was a message to Elias, that under the "joke" Rose was saying "They're with him. Stop deluding yourself." When he was reanimated though, instead of taking Rose's advice, Elias turned cold eyes toward him.

"Him... Yes, he's what I can't understand."

Fighting the urge to punch the guy in the face, Yakko took a deep breath to calm himself down "Excuse me? I have no idea what you're insinuating, but if you're about to incriminate me of something-"

"I know you're Athena's pawn" Elias hissed, and he took a few more steps forward until they could have easily bumped heads. It wasn't the time to notice that the prince was slightly taller than him and a little intimidating, but he noticed anyway "You have to be. I don't know how she got such a good copy of me, but if you think you can impersonate me and have Athena pull the strings with you on the throne-"

"What the hell are you talking about?" his expression was one of bewilderment, completely unable to wrap his head around what the prince was saying "I didn't even know we looked alike until a minute ago!"

"And now you come out of nowhere with them in tow? I knew Athena started the revolution, but I didn't think she had such a contingency plan" Elias continued on as if he hadn't spoken at all, snarling at him "Where have you bastards been keeping them, huh?!"

Now Yakko was getting very angry and confused, and he expressed this by clenching his teeth and raising his fists slightly, showing he was ready to fight if need be. Even as Elias loomed over him and leaned forward enough that Yakko had to lean back a little, he stubbornly remained in place "I. Don't. Get. What you're saying. If you have business with my siblings-"

"Your siblings?" Elias gave a sarcastic laugh and dared to finally knock their foreheads together in a show of aggression. Yakko jumped at the contact "You mean my brother and sister you've somehow found and probably kidnapped."

He actually did a double take.

"What?"

What was funny was that Wakko and Dot had the same reaction at the exact same time.

"God damn it-" Rose facepalmed. Thankfully it seemed she thought this was as unbelievable as the three Warners found it "Elias, Athena had nothing to do with Yakko being here and I highly doubt Yakko's the type to kidnap people. Even if he was, which he's not, you haven't seen him interact with them. They're all really united and protective of each other. "

Yakko didn't even have the time to feel touched by how strongly Rose was defending him and his relationship with his siblings, because Dot immediately joined the attack.

"We don't even know who you are" she growled at the prince, making him flinch in surprise "You can't just accuse Yakko and say whatever you want, especially without any evidence."

"But- I- Uh-" it was funny to see Elias stammering and trying to find an argument against a ten-year-old who was a lot smarter than he was "You were very little when we were separated, so it's understandable that you don't remember me- But you are them! You- You have to be! I've been searching for you two for so long... It... I can't be mistaken..."

And... for a moment, Yakko actually felt bad.

The prince suddenly sounded so heart-broken, like the thought that he hadn't found them again was destroying him from the inside. And if he put himself in his place, Yakko understood the deep sadness he must have been feeling. If Wakko and Dot suddenly disappeared from his side and he couldn't find them anywhere for a long time, thinking the worst but still holding onto a thin ray of hope that they were somehow alive and well, he would feel horrible too.

Unlike his suddenly sympathetic self though, Wakko snorted without a shred of amusement "And we were "separated" when?"

Elias sighed, as if fighting a losing battle.

"... Seven years ago."

The three siblings froze again.

Suddenly Yakko didn't feel so sympathetic anymore.

The fighting continued in front of him, the three sisters joining in on the debate of whether Elias was jumping the shark or not, but he couldn't hear any of it. He felt suddenly detached from reality, like he was floating in a deep black space with nothing in it.

His heart was sinking, everything felt like it was moving in slow motion.

... Seven years ago.

- Shit- -

He didn't even remember anything from seven years ago.

- Y- It's okay. Don't let that guy's words get to you. -

It was possible that Elias was telling the truth.

- He's- He's lying. -

How had he met his siblings?

- Everything's fine. -

Neither of them remembered.

- Yakko... -

He didn't either.

- Listen to me. -

It had never seemed very important. But now it was and... Now that he thought about it, he... did remember something...

- Yakko. -

His head started feeling light, but instead of stopping, he prodded harder at his memory, trying to find an image, a sound, anything that could tell him that Elias was just confused and that everything was alright.

- It's okay. You don't need to remember, he's lying. -

A forest.

He gasped, holding his head. Suddenly the image in front of him wasn't moving slow like molasses, he could hear what was going on.

"We don't remember anything about WarnerStock- This is the first time we've been here!"

"Yakko's taken care of us ever since we can remember! Of course he's our brother!"

"But you were four and three years old when we were separated! You wouldn't really remember anyway!"

"Then where's your proof!?"

"Elias, I think you're being too hasty."

"Um, Ellie, I think you should talk to your dad first? Surely he'd know his own children..."

"Besides, you don't know Yakko, right? He has to have come from somewhere."

It was noisy, tiring. He was so tired.

So, so tired.

"We got separated when the castle was burning, mom was supposed to get them outside, to the forest-"

The forest. It wasn't just any forest, it was the Forbidden Forest. Burning buildings.

Blood. Running. Children crying and screaming.

Escape- They had to escape.

His head felt like it was splitting in half.

- Yakko! -

Rose seemed to notice finally, stopping her yelling for a moment to turn to look at him. Her expression instantly turned into one of concern, rushing over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder and examining his expression.

"Woah, Yakko? What's wrong?" she was talking to him softly, but all he could do was hiss and hold his head harder. Maybe the pressure would stop it from cracking into two.

"Forest... The forest..." he mumbled, letting out a small pained sound when it started hurting worse. He wondered if Rose could even hear him over all the yelling "We were... running, in the forest... "

- Listen to me! -

"Running? You were running from someone?" Rose sounded completely confused, trying to understand what he was talking about "From who? What happened?"

"T-They were big, they had... guns- We... We were... so small-" the pain was so great he was forced to kneel on the floor, hissing, and Rose looked a bit scared now.

- You're hurting yourself! -

"Guns? Who had guns? C-Come on, stay with me" frightened, she kneeled by him and started shaking his shoulders, trying to get him to react. By this point, the others had noticed and had walked over to where they were, all except for Elias, who looked curiously and distrustfully from a distance.

It hurt, it hurt so much, but amongst the sudden influx of memories he could remember Wakko and Dot, and he could remember the forest. Wakko and Dot were small, and looked... lost. Sad. Little toddler Wakko was holding a crying baby Dot by the hand. He remembered thinking that the bigger figure laying on the ground near them, unmoving, had probably meant to take them somewhere safe before their wounds had gotten too grave. There'd been blood everywhere, the grass completely coated.

It hurt.

- Yakko! Stop it! -

He was lost, terrified, mourning, and didn't know where the hell he was going. But he saw the tiny kids in front of him, clearly in need of assistance, and his bleeding heart told him that wherever he was going to go, he had to take them with him. He couldn't leave them behind, not when they were still out there. It was too dangerous.

So he... held out a hand. An invitation.

It burned.

- Don't do this! -

"... I guess we're all lost. Do you want to be lost together?"

And after a single moment of hesitation, looking him up and down as if judging his very soul and finding that he liked it, little Wakko smiled... and took his hand.

"Okay."

"What's wrong with him?" Marilyn sounded just as concerned, and Wakko and Dot had fallen to the floor at either side of him, each holding one of the hands he had on his head. They looked scared.

"His headaches have never been this bad" Dot hissed out quickly, her eyes moving all over him desperately "What could he have been trying to remember so badly?"

Wakko let out a shaky sigh, but was clearly trying to keep calm as he held his brother through it "Trying to find proof that Elias is wrong, probably."

- Listen to me. You are okay. Nothing is wrong. You are safe. -

"Nightmares and headaches?" StarDust paid close attention to him, suddenly in medical mode and making mental notes "Does he get these often?"

"Nightmares, yes" Dot rubbed his back, cooing soothing words to him that sounded shaky to her own ears "Headaches, no. He must have been trying to remember something really hard."

Yes. Yes, that was exactly what he was trying to do. If he stopped... the headache would stop too, right?

- Yes. It will go away if you stop. -

- Stop... -

"So this is what happens when he tries to fight against his amnesia?" why did StarDust sound like his psychiatrist?

Then a voice none of them were expecting spoke up.

"Amnesia?"

Elias suddenly chimed in from his spot a few feet away, frowning like he'd been told new information that changed everything "What do you mean by amnesia?"

"Answering your questions isn't really our top priority right now, Elias" Rose turned to glare at him, and the prince looked surprised at her sudden hostility "If you haven't noticed, he's hurting."

- ... It's okay. You don't need to be scared... I'm here. I'll always be here. -

The voice's tone turned from panicked and forceful to sad, gentle and reassuring. It felt like a warm embrace, like a summer day. Yakko could barely let out a hiss of air and respond, confusing images still swirling in his head.

- ... Yeah... Okay... -

- Just breathe. Stop thinking. It won't go completely... But you'll feel better. -

- ... Really? -

- Really. I promise. -

The headache slowly subsided as he kept his mind in a blank, taking deep breaths and letting them go.

It was almost gone, a barely annoying buzz in his head, running in his mind along with the memories he'd just recovered. It felt... weird.

- There you go. Better? -

- ... Yeah. Thank you... -

- ... I just want you to be okay, Yakko. There's no need to thank me. -

He let a small smile grace his face, tuning back into reality.

Marilyn, who seemed in better terms with Elias, answered his earlier question, clearly giving as much information as possible so that his doubt in Yakko would abate some "He fell and hit his head hard enough that he doesn't remember anything from before he was nine."

Elias kept quiet for a bit, his gaze on what was happening in front of him but his mind clearly somewhere else.

Then, he asked one more question "And how old is he?"

"Sixteen?" Marilyn looked at him oddly, like she didn't understand the point of that question.

"... Huh" the prince looked confused and thoughtful then, turning his frowning face to the side "Looked younger. He's got quite the baby face."

"... Screw you" feeling a little better, Yakko looked up to glare at Elias, who only shook his head and started walking to the group circled around Yakko.

When he was right in front of the still kneeling boy, the three sisters looked up at him with a question in their eyes, but Elias merely crouched and searched for Yakko's. Wakko and Dot glared at him with everything they had.

Elias, trying to ignore this, looked up. He and Yakko locked gazes, and suddenly, some of the coldness in the prince's gaze left.

"... You really have no idea what's going on, do you?" he asked in a hushed voice, like he was worried that if he spoke louder, it would hurt Yakko's head further.

He was surprised at Elias' consideration, and even more shocked when, the moment he lightly nodded, the prince sighed and reached up a hand to flick his forehead, making him scrunch up his nose. Why was he suddenly... awkwardly playful? Was that the right word for it? It was weird.

But there was an air of familiarity around him, and Yakko was absolutely convinced he, somehow, knew the prince. Could they all be related, somehow? It would make sense, but if that was the case, then how?

"You look like a kid who's about to start crying" Elias huffed out as an explanation for his actions, standing up again "Can't really be angry at you, not when you don't look like you did anything wrong... I think you might just a victim of circumstances."

"I'm not a kid" he complained, rubbing exaggeratedly at his forehead like Elias' flick had actually hurt him and trying to ignore the victim comment "How old are you anyway?"

"Sixteen."

"Then you can't call me a kid."

"You look like a kid, so you're a kid."

Yakko was about to retort again, but Rose interrupted him.

"You've got his same baby-face, Elias dear" she smirked at him "It's like insulting yourself."

The prince sent her a glare, but didn't comment, only huffed something under his breath and walked off, signaling for Marilyn and StarDust to follow him. They shrugged and complied, turning once to look back at Yakko and Rose.

There must have been some sort of mental message they all sent each other, because Wakko and Dot just gave Yakko a swift, but strong hug and ran over to join the rest, leaving Yakko and Rose alone.

"He's always so stiff and boring, I much prefer being able to joke around with you" Rose sighed next to him, holding a hand for him to take, so she could help him stand up. Then, she side-eyed him "You feel better, right?"

Oh. Everyone had left them alone to give him some space so Rose could comfort him... Why had they all decided on Rose though?

"Yeah" Yakko wondered if her words were Rose's way of trying to cheer him up. It... kind of worked.

Just a tiny bit though.

"But... He might be right, you know."

The flashback he'd had hadn't given him too much to go off of, but he knew that that'd been his first meeting with his siblings, based on his thoughts. Did... Did that mean Elias was technically right? Had he accidentally kidnapped them because he'd thought they'd had no place to go?

Did that mean Elias would take his siblings away? Make them part of his own family?

Would he never see them again?

He unconsciously ignored Rose's offered hand, making himself smaller on the floor. He didn't want that. They were his... family. Technically? Perhaps not by blood.

... He didn't know anymore. It hurt to think about.

"About what? Wakko and Dot being his brother and sister?" when he nodded, depressed, Rose patted him gently on his back "Don't be too worried. You three grew up together, right? You love them and they love you and everything's sunshine and rainbows" as a second thought, she lightly punched his arm, giving him a reassuring smile "Blood related or not, you're a family, and he can't take that away from you. They wouldn't let him, either."

That made him look up at her "Who? Wakko and Dot?"

Rose groaned like he was stupid "Obviously. I don't know what you're so worried about; they adore you, Yakko. They're your little brother and sister, and you're their big brother. Speaking as a younger sister myself, I know I wouldn't let anyone rip me apart from my family."

He stayed silent for a bit, enough for her eyes to warm up and lightly tap his hand with hers "It's all going to be okay. I know Elias enough to be sure he won't do anything too drastic."

He... did feel a bit better. A bit. Enough for him to take Rose's hand and let her lift him up.

"... Thanks."

"Anytime."

Rose sent him another smile before she took a few steps closer to the rest "Come on, we should join them. Elias did come for something other than to turn your world upside-down, you know."

Yakko sent her a smile back, truly appreciating her concern and her jokes. His day had gone from okay to awful in just a matter of minutes, but... she could still lift his spirits a little.

And besides, this didn't mean the world was ending- it just meant that he might be an "added" part of the family, which was weird now that he thought about it. The prince knew Wakko and Dot, said they were his brother and sister... but didn't know who Yakko was, and his siblings hadn't known him either, judging from his memory. That was all fine and dandy if that meant that he and his siblings weren't related by blood, really, Rose was right about that but...

Like Elias had said, where had he come from? He'd thought he and his siblings were in this together, that none of them had any idea of who their parents were. He was glad that they had found their roots, if they really had, but what about himself? Aside from the thought that Wakko and Dot might not really be his blood-relatives, that was what had him sad and depressed.

He still didn't know who his parents were, where he'd come from. He still didn't know what the voice was, or his name, and he was still missing a huge chunk of his memory.

- Are all my memories as bleak as that one? -

- ... Not all of them. -

- That's... really not very reassuring. -

- Sorry. Just don't wanna lie to you if I don't have to. -

Shaking his head, he walked alongside Rose to where the rest of the group was, all of them having moved over to the living room table. When they got closer, StarDust was shaking her head like something impossible had been said.

"We were told he was dead and nobody has heard anything about him in the last seven years. It's impossible" she said, sending Elias an exasperated look, as if saying "I am getting extremely tired of your shit today."

"Yeah, well, I hadn't heard anything about them for seven years either, yet here they are" the prince vaguely gestured to where Wakko and Dot were sitting, who merely sent him unamused looks.

"We still don't think we are who you think we are, but, okay" Wakko shrugged, and Dot crossed her arms, still glaring.

"Anyway," Elias decided to ignore that "What I'm saying is that I've been hiding with him for all these years. I know, for absolute certain, that he's alive. And he told me to come find you."

"Are you still on that?" Rose asked, a frown on her face, as she sat down in an empty chair "I thought we'd already established that that's ridiculous."

"Have you even been listening to me?" the prince lifted his hands up in exasperation "I was with him-"

"I know what you said, I'm just saying I highly doubt it and that you're likely hallucinating" she crossed her arms and scoffed, apparently angry with him for having sent Yakko into a bit of an episode "Just based on today I'm more likely to say you've gone insane from the isolation."

"Who are we talking about?" Yakko felt out of the loop, and he silently sat down in the last chair available, conveniently in the middle of Wakko and Dot "I'm kind of late to the party."

"The king," Marilyn answered, sending him a look, as if daring him to question Elias' sanity too "Ellie says that he sent him to meet us."

"Yes, as I was saying" Elias scoffed and rolled his eyes, seeming legitimately angry at the implication that he'd been seeing things "He told me to come see you, because he wants to meet up with you."

That sure shut the whole table up.

"... Meet us? Where?"

"Back at the ruins of the old castle, where we've been hiding for the past seven years. Of course you all think father's dead- That's what we made everyone believe. To protect my father we had to keep his existence, as well as mine, a secret. We have been hiding under the ruins for years, and we sent soldiers in disguise to learn about what was happening outside. A while ago we heard about the Freedom Squad that wanted to dethrone Athena and that you were doing a good job-"

"Oh my God" Yakko snorted, hiding his smile behind his hands "You guys're called the Freedom Squad? That's adorable."

"I think I preferred you were you were on the brink of consciousness" Rose sneered at him in jest, and then turned to Elias "Continue, please."

"Thank you" the prince sent Yakko a glare, who pretended not to see it, and carried on "So we sent guards to look for you, but nobody could find your hiding place without being obvious about following you. Which made father decide to send me instead. I wanted to follow you before, but something always came up or I couldn't find you, so it took me a while."

"It just so happens that I saw these three with you a few times" he gestured to the three Warner siblings "and since I saw them alone today I figured it'd be easier to follow them. I thought uh, he was a spy at the time so I... got a bit carried away when I didn't see you here. Thought he'd hurt you or something" he coughed once, glancing at Yakko from the corner of his eye and avoiding calling him by name as if his mere existence made him uncomfortable. Yakko hoped he felt guilty.

"But I get that he's not a threat now, so, uh, everything's cool! But yeah, father still wants to meet with you to... talk things over. He wants to get Athena off the throne too, obviously."

The three sisters looked at each other, as if asking "Should we believe this?", but they eventually shrugged and decided that they had more to lose by dismissing him than not.

"Sounds fantastic, when is this meeting going to happen?" Rose looked successfully cheered up, deciding to accept the fact that the man whom they'd thought was dead for years was suddenly alive. Well, if Elias was okay, then there was a good chance that the king was alive too.

"Tomorrow, if you could" Elias also looked much more cheerful, and Yakko saw a small smile on his face "That aside... I'm glad to be able to talk with you guys again. It was... kind of lonely, all those years by myself, with just my father and some servants. It's not like I could go out often."

"But... You can visit now, right?" Marilyn sent him a hopeful look.

"I'm sure I'll manage" his smile was brighter when it was directed to Marilyn. Yup, something was definitely going on there.

"Anyway, I'll see you at three pm at most. I trust you know where the ruins are" Elias easily stood up from his seat, taking a step toward the garage door "I'd love to stay longer, but father is waiting for me and I have to tell him about the... new developments" he side-eyed Wakko and Dot. They only narrowed their own eyes in response.

Yakko wondered how this guy could just come out of nowhere, tell him everything he knew was wrong, and then just head out again without even apologizing. He already heavily disliked the prince.

The sisters, however, merely waved at him in sign of goodbye, except for Marilyn, who stood up to help him pass through the door with the code. He heard the mechanism of the mountain turning for the door to open, and then a yell from Marilyn that sounded suspiciously like "And make sure you visit, jerk-face!" before she walked back to them, a tired expression on her face.

When she sat back down, everyone turned to look at Yakko expectantly.

"... You want dinner, don't you?"

"And you think we're just interested assholes, don't you?" Rose rolled her eyes, and StarDust glared at her for swearing "We wanna know what happened back there."

Oh, yeah. His headache'd been pretty bad.

However, instead of making a big deal out of it, he just shrugged "My head hurts when I'm trying to remember something really badly. That's literally it." They really shouldn't take it as something too important. It wasn't like it was something that he could change.

"That looked pretty intense to me" Marilyn looked at him with concern instead of brushing the subject off "You didn't hurt yourself too bad, did you?"

He was about to answer Marilyn, but instead, he yawned. Trying to force himself to remember always left him with tired limbs and drooping eyelids.

"That was because I was forcing it too much" He shook his head at the second question, rubbing his eyes. The voice had easily taken care of that "And no, I'm fine now. He knew what to do so-"

He closed his mouth shut, suddenly wide awake.

Oh. Shit.

He'd unconsciously mentioned the voice and he hadn't noticed.

"He?" StarDust blinked at him, confused "Who's "he"?"

Wakko and Dot sent him a look he nervously returned. They were probably wondering if he wanted to tell the sisters about the voice, right that moment, but Yakko really didn't want to talk about it unless it was completely necessary.

He didn't want them to think he was a lunatic. Not when he'd just become more a friend than an acquaintance.

Instead, he laughed lightly, like he hadn't said anything weird at all.

- Acting skills, please don't fail me now. -

"Oh, nobody, slip of the tongue. Meant to say I, I'm just really tired."

"... Right."

Rose looked at him oddly, but stood up anyway. She clearly suspected something "Now that we've established you're okay, it's time to make dinner. And, well, since you're tired today, I'll help you."

"Thanks" Yakko sent her a grateful smile and they both got into the kitchen, away from the other two sisters' curious gazes.

When they were a bit further away, Rose talked to him in a quiet tone.

"It wasn't a slip of the tongue, was it?"

Yakko froze. He'd known she'd called his bluff, but he hadn't thought that she would confront him about it so soon.

Rose looked at him, but kept taking out the ingredients they would need for a simple meal "I won't ask but... You'll tell us eventually, won't you?"

He bit his lip, not sure what to tell her. He would tell them eventually... He just wanted that time to be as far away from now as possible.

"... Yeah, I will. I... I trust you guys but..."

She put up a hand to stop him "I understand. You need time and we're ready to give it."

When she passed by him, a bowl in her hands, she smiled warmly back at him "I'm glad you trust us."

That made him less tense, and he sent her a smile back.

He was glad he could trust them too.

Warnings for this chapter: Narrowly avoiding a panic attack, mentions of blood and death. Nothing too heavy yet.