Author's note: yoooooo wassup my dudes; sorry about the delay, I'm starting to realize that if there ever was a consistent schedule somewhere it was that I seem to end up posting on the 18th of each month (if everything goes well) but that wasn't possible this time. I went on a trip to Spain with the folks (really pretty place btw) and then had to catch up on college work (I still am catching up haha...). Still, it's here! Woop woop!
Oooooo lookie that! We're starting to earn our M rating at the bottom! Seriously check the warnings if you need to, I've already warned that there will be a lot of violence on the first chapter but still. It's relatively light when compared with a lot of stuff that happens later. There's several POV shifts between Yakko and Rose here, but it should be fairly easy to figure out whose POV you're seeing. If there's any confusion please do tell, I always appreciate help.
As always I'd like to thank you all sooooo much for reading, and even more if you take the time to review. You guys are my fave people Owo
Enjoy!
After being shown to their seats, the three Milers listened intently to anything and everything the king had to say. William was unexpectedly talkative, and threw any and all questions that came to mind at them about no subject in particular. Their likes, dislikes, what animal they each liked, what flower, color, season they liked best, and other such meaningless things that none of the sisters were prepared to be asked. Rose didn't get the point, didn't understand what any of this had to do with dethroning Athena. She rather disliked small talk and wasting time talking about frivolous things; in her eyes, it was much better for people to refrain from trying to get on her good side by making her feel like they were interested in her, for them to get to the damn point. They were here on a mission, and William was just asking if they liked gold or silver better (saying that he, personally, preferred silver because he felt it was less ostentatious).
"I simply wanted to know the kind of people you are, considering that my son used to hang around you three quite a bit, if I'm not mistaken" the king admitted after Rose asked, very rudely by her older sister's standards, why he was asking about their preferences.
Elias went ramrod straight in shock, while the three sisters' eyes widened out of proportion "Y-You knew!?"
Back when he'd been little, Elias used to sneak out of the castle a lot because of boredom. On one occasion he'd been curious enough to wander into Aphrodite and ended up meeting the three sisters by complete accident. Thus, a friendship was born. He'd started sneaking out every couple of days to see them after that.
Marilyn had always been Elias' favorite, and Marilyn had always had a not-so-secret crush on Elias. StarDust had gone along with their games (though, being two years older, it had felt like she was babysitting them more than anything), but she had fun most of the time. Out of all three of them, Rose was the one who knew Elias the least. Why? Because almost every time he visited, she was away, only coming back almost an hour before Elias had to return home, saying she'd gone to see "her friend who lives in the forest".
Rose almost chuckled at the memory of Elias pouting at her when she got back from her visits, disgruntled at not having her undivided attention. Being the spoiled prince at that age, she understood that he'd needed all eyes to be on him or else he'd been doing something wrong.
William laughed at their reaction to his discovery, putting an arm around the tense prince's shoulders with a youthful energy that made him seem far younger than he really was. With a five-o-clock shadow like a Warner who'd just turned twenty, it was easy to see him as a little childish. However, Rose found it a little reassuring that the king wasn't a hard-ass like she'd been expecting. Quite the contrary actually; he seemed like a very laid back warner.
"You underestimate your father, Elias. I knew from the very beginning that you snuck out of the castle every few nights. Who you'd hang out with was a mystery, but your enthusiasm when I asked you to search for the Freedom Squad was quite telling."
"I didn't know I was so transparent" Elias mumbled, trying to discretely escape from his father's half-embrace, his face having fallen a bit after what he said next "... Are you angry at me?"
With a soft smile, William held him tighter "Of course I'm not mad at you, son. You know, I used to do the same thing when I was your age. Though..." he chuckled, exuding happy energy "I wasn't nearly as popular with the ladies as you are."
Elias' face instantly became a color resembling a very ripe tomato, and Rose had to put a hand to her mouth not to snort so loudly that she would suddenly be the center of attention "D-Dad! That's not what this is!" finally able to escape from his father's grip, he tried to hide his face in his hands "And besides, we have more pressing matters to attend to than my love life!"
"As much as I like seeing Elias being embarrassed, he's right" Marilyn sent a smile to the king, but accommodated herself so that they could start talking business. Truth is, they had all been waiting for an opportunity to bring up the real reason for their visit "Athena's not going to wait for us to get to know each other."
"Sadly very true," William nodded, also adopting a more serious posture. The smile on his face did not disappear, but it certainly diminished a bit "We should try to end this dictatorship as soon as possible."
The childish side of the man was hidden away at that moment, and his authority as king took the stage. His eyes became hard and his back was suddenly straight as a board, not even thinking of saying anything remotely humorous anymore "I have been planning a counter-attack against Athena for quite a while now, and I have the necessary soldiers to do it. However..."
He sent the three sisters a serious look, showing them the map of Athena's castle on top of the table which had battle strategies written all over it "Just getting her out of the throne with another revolution won't do anything, considering she's got all the power in the country. She's too well guarded, and has too many resources, which would most likely allow her to rebuild easily and take my soldiers out without issue. We have to take her down little by little, debilitate her until we have an opening my men and I can exploit."
"I assume this is where we come in" StarDust interrupted, keeping her eyes set intently on the king, never once breaking eye-contact. She was silently studying him, Rose realized, probably wanting to form her own opinion on the man without being clouded by other people's words of praise or hatred.
William nodded, letting a small smile once again grace his middle-aged face "Precisely. You three already have the perfect cover to do this job, and my soldiers going around sabotaging Athena would be too suspicious. It could alert her to the fact that I am alive."
"Knowing her methods of getting information, that's very possible" Rose muttered.
She was pretty sure that if the king decided to do anything himself, Athena would immediately notice and would find William's hiding spot sooner rather than later. It was better to get them, an already established group who was known for sabotaging Athena already, to do his dirty work. That way, Athena would think it was all the Freedom Squad's doing, and would never even suspect that they were working with the king on the side, or that he was even alive. And then, when they finally decided to strike, Athena wouldn't be prepared for a battalion.
"My point is that I think an alliance would benefit both of us" the king continued "In the end, we have the same goal, do we not? Or were you thinking of establishing a democracy after dethroning Athena?"
"No, having a monarchy is fine as long as nobody like her tries to take over again" Marilyn answered, thinking it through. It would be hard to get the people to agree to a democracy, considering their kind had always been ruled by monarchies. That would have to be a 'let's think about it later' kind of plan "We were planning on searching for Elias to take the throne because... Well, we were pretty sure you'd kicked the bucket."
William, instead of taking offense like Rose thought he would, merely smiled at Marilyn's remark "I don't blame you for thinking that, after all, I was hiding myself on purpose. It merely means that my plan worked."
"So, quick question: Are you going to be telling us what to do, or is this just a formal arrangement with no changes to the way we've worked 'till now?" Rose, searching for further answers, dared to ask. Was there a point to this alliance at all?
William seemed happy that she'd brought the matter up, smiling at her "Neither, actually. I will not control your movements as a group, as you are already doing a fantastic job, though you may be getting there slowly. I might give you some advice as you go along, but what I would like you to do are a few specific things while you do your thing. Nothing actually concerning our plan to get Athena out of the throne."
That got the three Milers' attention.
"What sorts of things?" StarDust asked, her eyebrows slightly turned up in question.
The king, yet again, became serious, but was even more so this time around. His eyebrows furrowed a bit in worry, and he wrung his hands together, showing distress.
Considering he'd been calm up until then, this concerned the three sisters. What could have possibly bothered their king so much?
Finally, after a few moments of silence, he spoke "Elias bought to my attention that you found two kids whom he believes to be his brother and sister. The fact that their names are the same leads me to believe they really might be my children."
Rose tensed.
... That fucking blabbermouth.
Marilyn and StarDust looked over to Elias with displeased looks, not changing their expressions even after he embarrassedly shrugged at them. Rose, however, sent him a poisonous look, because damn it, Yakko had felt really bad about that and Elias just had to go and tell the king right away. He could have waited a bit or... something. Anything so that they could have thought of a back-up plan.
"Yes, he said that," Marilyn begun, looking slightly uncomfortable. Seems like Rose wasn't the only one who had been upset about Yakko's reaction "But we're sure it couldn't be, because they don't remember Elias and, besides, they already have a brother-"
Suddenly, as if he had remembered something that had been eating at his mind, the king blurted out "You mean there was someone with them?"
There was silence for a moment. A tense silence.
"... Someone, sir?" StarDust questioned, sounding confused "I'm afraid you will have to be more specific."
While her older sister asked that, Rose's mind's cogwheels were already turning.
The king's question had been said frantically, which could only mean that he was expecting someone in particular to have been found alongside Wakko and Dot. The question, however, was why he would be expecting this.
Besides, why had he suddenly changed the subject? Wasn't it more important to find out if his son and daughter were alive and well?
... Why was the person who was with them just as, if not more, important than his own children?
Instead of continuing to anxiously question them, William didn't respond for a few moments. He looked deep in thought, but like he was calming down. When Rose went to look at Elias, she saw, surprisingly, that the prince looked just as shocked at the sudden question as them.
Elias didn't know of this third person.
Why?
Finally, the king spoke tentatively "... Another branch of our family has asked for me to help them in their search for their missing child. They used to play with Wakko and Dot, and they were all very close."
Elias, who had been quiet for the duration of the talk, sent a bewildered look to the man, finally questioning him "Father? What are you talk-"
Hurriedly, William shushed him "Don't interrupt me, son."
Something wasn't right here.
Marilyn sent Rose a look, one that, instead of looking accusing, looked confused. "Why is he acting like this?" she was asking, not bothering to consider that the king was actually...
He was lying.
He was lying about something, but why would he lie? What could he possibly need to hide? Why were the origins of this person so secretive?
"I was simply thinking that they could have crossed paths with this child. It wouldn't have been possible for them to survive on their own at such a young age, after all. They had to have had someone who could protect them" William sighed, clearly trying to come up with excuses for his sudden question "This is merely speculation on my part, of course. I was just hoping to find them, as my cousin is desperate to find her child. They have black eyes and black hair just like the rest of the Warner family. Are you sure they weren't with Wakko and Dot?"
Rose suddenly tensed when a stray thought went through her mind.
A person being found with Wakko and Dot, secretive origins, black eyes and hair like the rest of the Warner family line-
He was looking for Yakko.
It hit her very suddenly, and she didn't know how she came to that conclusion, because William's description could, probably, fit many other warners in the family line, but she was sure. She could swear that she was right.
Was the story of his cousin true? Was that what he was lying about? Did he have a reason to lie about it anyway? She didn't know, but she knew, for a fact, that the "child" he was talking about was Yakko.
Perhaps, she thought, the reason why he was lying about Yakko's origin was simple. And then she thought, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable, that maybe the reason why Elias didn't know Yakko existed even though they looked so stupidly similar, was because William could have had a mistress. And perhaps, just as a theory, Yakko was the son of said mistress. Perhaps William was now searching for him because he'd been alerted to the fact that he was alive and wanted to make sure that he wouldn't tell everyone in WarnerStock the truth.
That could actually wrap up the mystery easily.
And when she turned her head, when she saw Marilyn opening her mouth to, no doubt, say that they had indeed seen someone with Wakko and Dot who fit that description, Rose rudely interrupted her.
"No."
The king turned his head to her when he heard her sudden words. She'd said them calmly, so that he wouldn't suspect anything.
After everything she'd just thought, for whatever reason, she felt that, even if her theory was wrong (which it very well could be), she shouldn't let William know about Yakko. Call it what you will, but she didn't know the man well enough yet and she felt that as the leader of the Freedom Squad and as Yakko's friend, she had to protect him from potential harm. Not that she thought William would harm him or anything, but she didn't know his intentions and she wasn't about to risk Yakko's safety.
"They said they used to have a brother, but he got sick and died a few years ago."
... It was better to make him think Yakko didn't even exist.
Elias sent her a look and Rose just hoped that he would understand she'd had her reasons for lying and not tell the king the truth. Her little faith in him was already fading from the fact that he'd gone and tattled to William about Wakko and Dot so quickly.
William's eyes, which had been eyeing her doubtfully before, turned tired. Sad, almost. It kind of made her feel that maybe her theory had been more wrong than she'd thought (or maybe William had wanted to find Yakko to make him an official member of the family? Had she ruined his chance at finding his family again?), but for now, the point was that he'd believed her story.
"I see" the man sighed, and only nodded solemnly "I'm sure he was a good boy. Going back on topic, I would appreciate it if I could meet with the children. If there is even a very slight possibility that they're mine..." he put his forehead against his hand, looking, for the first time since the matter had been brought up, like a father mourning the death of his beloved children "I... I need to know that my babies are okay. It's not that far-fetched to think that they are alive... is it?"
StarDust, feeling suddenly very compassionate, sent the king a soft look "Of course not, your majesty. We'll arrange a meeting with them somewhere in the near future, if it will put you at ease."
"I would greatly appreciate that" William sent her a small smile, regaining his composure and sitting straight once again. However, the bags under his eyes gave a lot away "There is no need to rush it though. Make sure the kids are comfortable with that first... Perhaps they no longer wish to be found."
He shrugged sadly, looking put off but he didn't talk about that any further "Anyway, we've gotten off topic. We've said all that needed to be said, so to summarize: You do your thing, see what you can do about the children, and we will talk about further plans of action, perhaps by letter. I'll send Elias like I did last time; I'm sure you would appreciate seeing him more often as well. If you would like, I could allow him to stay over with you so long as it doesn't inconvenience you."
Elias, his eyes lit up, sent an infinitely grateful look to his father, but didn't move from his seat at the table even as the three sisters were standing up. He knew they'd need to do arrangements for anything like that to happen anytime soon.
Marilyn also looked extremely happy at the suggestion, and as they slipped past the door with an acknowledgement of the king's words and a goodbye, she chirped "Thank you so much, your majesty. We'll definitely keep it in mind."
"Oh, and one last thing," the king called out to them just as they were walking away, his eyes concerned "If you do find someone who matches the description of my cousin's child, notify me, will you? It would certainly be a weight off my shoulders."
Rose's mouth became a thin line, but she responded anyway "Will do, sir."
Like hell she would.
As they went up the stairs and out to the ruins of the castle, with the rain thankfully gone, Rose suddenly remembered that Yakko might still be angry at her even after they returned. That shouldn't have bothered her as much as it did, but considering what she'd just thought about his well-being...
Yeah, she cared about the idiot, not only as a subordinate, but also as a person, as a friend. She hoped he wouldn't be too angry, at least not angry enough to poison her food, because with how good he was at cooking, she'd probably still eat it even with that knowledge.
And that thought only made her wonder what was wrong with her as they made the trek back to base.
- I told you she was trouble! -
- It was my own fault. I brought it up, and she was right. -
Yakko, with a sigh, rolled around in his bed and did what he'd mostly been doing all day: moping.
He just couldn't believe he'd gotten into a fight with Rose over something so stupid; he actually hadn't cared that much about not being able to go see the king, he'd just been overall irritated because not only had he slept terribly, but he also had gotten this foreboding feeling that had followed him around all day. He'd felt anxious, like he was waiting for something awful to happen. Was it just his imagination or were his instincts out of whack?
He chanced a peek at the small calendar he kept at a corner of his bedside table and wondered if it had something to do with the date. It felt like that, but he didn't understand what today's date meant. It wasn't his birthday, nor any of his siblings'. It wasn't a holiday.
Had something specific happened on this particular day? He couldn't remember anything bad having happened on this date from previous years...
Then he thought: Maybe he just couldn't remember that something had happened because he didn't have that particular memory. Maybe it was something from his past.
At that thought, he shook his head and tried to ignore the sickness that he felt to his stomach. Why exactly was this the first time that he felt like this in this date? Shouldn't he have felt uncomfortable each time this day came around in that case? Every year? Had something started triggering that memory but hadn't been able to quite get it out of his thick skull?
... Regardless of what had caused his bad mood, he'd been out of line, and Rose had simply put him back where he belonged. There was no reason to be angry at her.
The voice didn't agree though.
- It wasn't your fault. In the end, she shouldn't have treated you like that over something so meaningless. -
- I shouldn't have said those things to her either. -
- It really doesn't excuse her behavior, Yakko. -
Yakko shrugged.
- What do you want me to tell you? People make mistakes sometimes. I made a mistake and she did too, I guess. I'm willing to forgive stupid stuff like this. -
The voice paused a moment, and then sighed. Yakko could feel him crossing his arms.
- You forgive people too easily. -
- Not always. -
- ... If you say so. -
Yakko's mind began to wander. What could the sisters be talking to the king about? Would it be super important secret stuff, or would they just fill them in the moment they came back? However, most importantly, he was wondering, a bit nervous, if Elias had told the king about his siblings, if they would come to take Wakko and Dot away.
He knew it was a ridiculous thought because his brother and sister really did "adore him" as Rose had said, and he wouldn't let anyone take them away from him, but that didn't mean the fear wasn't there. If they really belonged with William and Elias, and if they wanted to be with them, then Yakko wasn't going to interfere no matter how much it would hurt. He only wanted what was best for them... Maybe the place they were meant to be just wasn't by his side.
Starting to feel depressed, he pressed his face against the pillow, ignoring the knocking on the door. Unless the person on the other side was either Wakko or Dot telling him they were not going anywhere, he wasn't interested in what they had to say.
"... Yakko?"
When the voice that came from the door proved to be a hesitant Rose however, he reluctantly sat up, sending a tired look to her face that peeked from behind the door.
"Hey" was his only response, and when he saw that she'd acknowledged his words with a small nod, he let himself fall back on his bed, putting his face back against his pillow.
He heard her enter quietly, tentatively, closing the door almost silently. It was as if she was trying not to disturb him. Was she worried that he was still angry?
Nah, that couldn't be it, right? Rose wouldn't care. It wasn't really in her nature to be concerned about that sort of stuff. She knew she was right, so why would she be worried about his thoughts on the matter?
As Yakko heard her sit down on her own bed, Rose let out a sigh.
"You didn't even make the bed before falling face-first into it."
He only groaned in response.
When she didn't say anything for a while, he dared peek from the small space between his face and the pillow at her. She was looking to the side, a small frown on her face, with her hands in her lap. She looked thoughtful, as if she knew what to say but wasn't sure how to say it.
"Did anything happen while we were gone?" was the first thing to come out of her mouth, like small talk.
Yakko only sent her a raised eyebrow "No. Should it have?"
"No..." Rose bit her lip with a frustrated expression that betrayed her thoughts. 'Why is it so hard to have a conversation with this guy?' "It's just that with your tendency to bring about strange things, I wouldn't have been surprised if something weird had happened. I mean, we just sent you to go grocery shopping and you ended up with Elias. Well, more like ended up being pummeled to the ground by him."
"Darn it that was one time" he complained, turning to give her a disapproving look. For some reason Rose looked pleased at his movement.
- Was she just trying to get me to look at her directly? -
"If you don't want me to hold that over your head for the rest of time you better show me you can do better" she sent him a grin but he was still too mopey to think about a proper comeback.
He sighed "Look, is there a point to this conversation or can I go back to feeling sorry for myself?"
And just like that, the grin on her face disappeared, being replaced by a somewhat guilty look. When Yakko declined the chance to banter it was clear that something was wrong.
"Uh, yeah, I got kind of... sidetracked" she avoided his gaze, took a deep breath, and finally looked him in the eyes again "Look, I'm sorry about earlier. I could've been more understanding and I shouldn't have yelled at you."
This, he frankly wasn't expecting.
With risen brows, he stared at her in silent disbelief. He'd been the one in the wrong, so why was she apologizing?
"I just didn't want you to misunderstand. I'm not angry at you, I just got frustrated" she sighed quietly, but looked at him with honest eyes "I... just wanted you to know that I'll try to be more tolerant from now on. Even as a teacher, I still have a lot to learn."
Then, she went silent, as if she was expecting something of him. Maybe an affirmation that he wasn't upset at her either, or maybe she was expecting him to apologize back to her. Either way, she was waiting, and it was clear that the only thing she wouldn't take as an answer was silence.
"Um, thank you? But I was the one who brought it up when I knew you couldn't really do anything about it" he awkwardly scratched the back of his head, not really sure of how to respond to such an honest apology that wasn't even necessary. He settled for being honest in return "I understand why you did that. I was being stubborn and not listening to you, and besides... You were right. I was just being a hypocrite, as if I wasn't the one who didn't want those close to me to get hurt... as if I wasn't the one who wanted to keep them safe."
Rose merely stared at him through his confession, looking sort of relieved that he understood "I'm sure it's obvious by now, but Wakko and Dot are very important to me. They're my family and... if something happened to them, I would never forgive myself. You're right, I am hoping that this is over as fast as possible so that there are less chances for them to get hurt. I also know that thinking like that is pretty pointless when I can't do anything to stop it" with a small shake of his head, looking at his lap, he continued, although his voice was sad and worried "If I'd had the possibility of keeping them out of this, I would have in an instant, but I know that's not possible. The only thing I can really do about the situation is lament the fact that we've ended up in it."
Rose stopped looking at him to stare at her fingers, her eyes once again guilty, as if feeling responsible for the hopelessness he was experiencing. However, she'd been their best bet when coming to WarnerStock, and it wasn't as if she'd forced them to join the Freedom Squad. She'd merely given them another choice. Yakko had made his choice, and though he was struggling with it, he had no regrets. At least they were warm and well-fed, with a roof over their heads. It could be worse.
To express these thoughts to the blonde in front of him, he raised his head again to look at her. Sensing his gaze, she tentatively posed her eyes back onto his "Things may be hard, but... With you guys here, it doesn't feel as bad" her expression turned into one of surprise and he attempted to send her a smile "I mean, I already feel like, uh..." he paused for a moment, a little embarrassed "... Like we're kinda becoming this big family, all of us. It's nice."
"... I'm glad you guys took us in. I'm sorry for not listening" having finished, he let out a small gust of air as he closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he saw that Rose was smiling back at him. It was warm, and there was affection in her eyes as she shuffled in place, clearly a little embarrassed by his words as well, but happy.
"You're welcome, and... thank you. For understanding."
It was funny, in a strange way, how nice it felt to be able to get to an understanding with Rose. It felt as if most of their fights stemmed from the fact that they still knew little about each other, and getting to understand how they each worked seemed to put them at ease. Yakko just knew that he'd have to learn to keep his mouth shut when he was thinking of saying something stupid that he didn't even mean.
Suddenly, Rose's smile strained a little "I know it doesn't excuse my behavior, but... Today is kind of a bad day for me."
He looked up at her in surprise at her sudden words. A bad day? Was it the date?
... Just like him...?
Yakko took a deep breath as he stared at her, skeptical. Her eyes reflected a bit of sadness and a lot of anger. He was sure that their reasons for loathing this day in particular had to be different, but he was curious as to why she considered it a bad day.
"Why? Did something happen?"
She frowned deeply and he saw her jaw tighten. Maybe he shouldn't have asked.
But she answered anyway.
"Yeah, Rob-" she cut herself off, thinking better of it and sighing "My father died a long time ago on this date."
Oh.
"Oh... I'm sorry" he mumbled out, not sure what else to say. It definitely explained why she'd had less patience than usual.
However, in an unexpected move, Rose just shrugged. She shrugged, like it wasn't a big deal "Don't be. He was an asshole anyway."
... Oh...?
Well, that explained why she'd been about to call him by name instead of saying "my father". Then again, neither StarDust nor Marilyn had acted too differently that day, which was odd.
Actually... they had had this strange aura of relief to them. Why would Rose take it differently?
It wasn't his place to ask, however, so he didn't. Instead, he decided to ask something else "So... Is what you discussed with the King confidential? Well, if he was actually there and wasn't a product of Little Prince's imagination."
Seemingly thankful for the change of topic, Rose answered in a somewhat sheepish tone "He was actually there, but we didn't discuss anything ground-breaking. He's just going to be our ally and every once in a while he might give us a mission, but according to him, we'll keep working as we have been."
- Say... Is it just me or does it sound like she's hiding something from you? -
Yakko lifted his eyebrows in surprise at the voice's statement, but thankfully it seemed Rose had taken it as him being surprised by her words.
- You were listening? -
- Obviously. I was waiting for her apology which... I'm surprised she gave, but that only got her about two brownie points in my book. -
- And how many does she have? -
The voice seemed to think about it for a bit.
- So far? Minus two. -
Yakko was tempted to snort.
- Oh come on, she's not that bad. -
- Hey, she was at minus four a few minutes ago. Be glad I gave her that much. -
To make sure Rose didn't start staring at him and waiting for a response, he replied to her, hoping he wouldn't mix up the conversations "So meeting with him was pointless?"
She smiled weirdly at him "Not quite. There is one important thing that we discussed..." at this, she frowned slightly and the smile disappeared from her face. It made him sort of nervous.
"Which was...?" he stared at her expectantly, wondering what it could be that was making her so uncomfortable. Was it something about his siblings?
Rose sighed "Yakko, there's something very important I have to ask you."
He gulped quietly, leaning forward on his bed a little "Yes...?"
There was silence for a while, and Rose looked at him as if she were about to ask him something that could change his world. All Yakko could do was wait for her question.
Finally, after taking a deep breath, Rose asked, with a defeated air "Could you ask Wakko and Dot if they would want to meet with someone who could be their father?"
He almost froze, but when he recalled what Elias had said a day before, he only slouched on his seat "Yeah... I'll ask them" of course the prince had snitched. The king wouldn't just give up when he knew that two children that could very well be his were right there waiting to be reunited with him.
Then, he looked up at her "Was that all you wanted to ask?"
She bit her lip.
"... Yeah... That was it."
- ... Something's bothering her. -
- How do you figure? -
The voice sighed.
- Didn't you see how she was looking at you? She feels guilty about something... There's a lie she told in there, somewhere. -
- It's probably for a good reason. -
- What?! You never let me get away with shit like that! -
Eh, he did have a point. It was just that Rose was a lot more straightforward and blunt, so he didn't worry as much when she didn't tell him something. And besides, the things she hid from him didn't involve him or his past...
- I'll pester her about it later? -
The voice grumbled, still clearly annoyed by the show of favoritism.
- ... Fine. But next time I don't tell you something I demand a Get out of Jail Free card. -
Yakko rolled his eyes internally at him, tuning back to Rose when she suddenly stood up. She motioned for him to follow and they ended up going out the door, through the hallway, and to the living room.
The moment they got there, Rose said "I know this'll probably feel very stupid after the fight we had, but uh, I managed to get a mission for you guys to do with us."
He immediately sprang up and looked at her with hope in his eyes "Really? We're not just going to be stuck here dying of boredom and anticipation?"
She sent him a look but smiled "Yes, really. We'll go over the details in a few hours. It's simple, so we'll go do it tomorrow" then, she punched him lightly on the shoulder "Now go cook something, I'm starving and I bet so is everyone else."
"Aye aye, cap'n" he just slipped over to the kitchen without complaint.
He decided he would cook something good, since the three sisters had missed breakfast and would no doubt need a big lunch to keep their hunger at bay (especially after Rose had jokingly complained to him). Besides, he wanted to make up for his earlier fight with Rose by making good food. Though, he thought with a confident smile, his food was always good regardless.
As he began to heat a pan over the stove to make some omelets, Yakko didn't notice the way Rose looked guiltily over at him.
As Rose's consciousness drifted off and a distinct heaviness began to swirl around in her chest, she could only think one thing.
If only she'd kept her mouth shut.
If she'd shut up and not told Yakko about the reason she'd been so tense and upset that day, she thought, she wouldn't be sitting down in her house with another person at the moment. She wouldn't be smiling with this person she considered her best friend, knowing that in a few moments, this person's laugh would turn into breathless gasps as they tried desperately to live.
If she hadn't been stupid enough to tell, she wouldn't be having this dream.
Well, it was technically a memory, but since she was sleeping, it felt like a dream. The only differences where that she could feel the cold wood underneath her, could smell the faint hint of cinnamon in the air that her house had always seemed to have, could feel a bruise still on her ribs even after a week of the time when she'd dared protect Marilyn from Robert's wrath.
Around this time of year, she always seemed to recall this day. She'd been able to avoid remembering this the last few years, but talking about it so suddenly after such a long time of having kept it secret, it had popped up again. Rose wanted to kill something.
That was probably not a good thought to have, considering what would go down just a few minutes from now in her memory.
Currently, she and the other girl were sitting on the floor of the modest house, playing a board game. Rose clearly remembered they'd been playing checkers, and that her friend had beaten her four times before Rose had declared with an annoyed expression, much to the amusement of the other child, that she wanted to play something else.
Still, this was a rather inconsequential detail of the memory. Rose only remembered because her friend had been so much smarter and better than her at everything, though she'd received her education much further down the line.
"You're not allowed to be this good at strategy games!" Rose pouted at her, and the other sent her a happy smile. Rose could feel her chest warming at the unusual sight.
"(-)" the girl continued smiling behind her hand, and Rose knew her lips were moving, but she could not for the life of her remember what she'd said or in what tone she'd said it.
It was depressing.
Still, Rose was used to this and only stiffened a sigh as she brought another game off the shelf in her memory. It was a chess board this time.
"Bet you can't win at thi-"
She'd never managed to finish her sentence.
The door suddenly opened with great force, and someone came in. They had both gone silent, tense, because no one was supposed to come back so soon. Rose had specifically brought the girl to her house at this time because she'd known nobody would see them.
They weren't supposed to see her.
Still, this didn't stop the older warner male to walk past the entrance to the living room, where they'd been playing. It didn't stop him from freezing, from posing his deep green gaze on her friend, whose eyes were huge as her body shook.
"Angela Milers-" Rose had immediately cringed and her heart had started beating faster at the monster saying her full name. That never meant anything good. His words were slurred, he'd obviously been drinking. That also never meant anything good "Who is this?"
Rose's mouth opened and closed as she instinctively shifted closer to her friend. A feeble attempt to protect her "This… is my friend… D-Dad."
It couldn't be that simple. Rose had known it couldn't be.
The man's eyes turned cold. They were freezing, and Rose shivered, as if those eyes had turned her very core to ice.
"What did I tell you about bringing "friends" home?"
Rose gulped.
"T-That I wasn't allowed… to bring another... m-mouth to feed-" she began quietly, her lips quivering, but she could only flinch as she was interrupted by a sudden shout.
"Exactly! And if you fucking know that, why the hell is that doing here!?" in a rude gesture, though that was the least damaging of the things he could do, the man pointed at her friend with an accusatory index finger.
The girl shook worse under her father's scrutiny, and suddenly, as if she'd never had an expression on her face in the first place, she stopped moving and her currently non-existent eyes turned cold. She suddenly looked terrifyingly apathetic.
… No…
No.
That horrible man wasn't allowed to turn her friend back into… Turn her back into this shell of a person. He wasn't allowed to destroy all of Rose's, and her hard work.
Rose's blood boiled. So much so, that a sudden rage coursed through her veins. She found herself standing in front of the man a moment later, her fists clenched, her expression going from submissive to one of hatred.
"Don't call her a "that"! She's not a thing!"
She should have, by all accounts, seen it coming. She'd known what the consequences for disobeying her father were. She'd known what his favorite method of solving fights was.
And she still didn't see the punch until it'd literally hit her across the face.
At that point she couldn't remember things as clearly, and that was saying a lot considering her friend had been nothing but a silhouette without a face for the whole duration of the memory. But hey, being sent flying into a wall and hitting your head so hard that it bounced back would do that to you.
She could only hear arguing and feel the cold floor against her face. She heard a monotone voice, angry shouts, someone being hit repeatedly. That was when she couldn't accept just lying there anymore. Even if the man continued abusing her, maybe even had her sent to the hospital again, Rose couldn't let her friend be hurt more than she already was on a daily basis.
She opened her eyes slowly, blinking heavily several times, and when she finally managed to shift her gaze over to where the other two people had been fighting… she wished she hadn't looked at all.
But thank God that she had, because the monster had the child in the air.
And he was strangling her.
Rose's gasp echoed throughout the small house as she shakily stood up, her legs wobbly, her breathing labored, but nothing like what her friend was experiencing she was sure.
The poor girl was kicking the air desperately, her tiny black furred hands scratching Robert's own that were constricted around her neck. Her small mouth was opened wide, trying to take even a tiny gasp of breath to no avail. Rose knew from her tiny frame that was slightly hidden by her waist-long black hair that she was too weak to fight against the man, even drunk as he was.
If Rose didn't do anything, the child would die.
Her heart was beating so fast she almost thought she would faint from the panic alone. She couldn't let her die; she couldn't let the person who'd made her happy to be alive, the person who had given her a purpose in life, die.
Rose's eyes frantically searched the room in an effort to find a weapon, anything she could use to detach the man's hands from the girl's neck, because she knew that her own tiny hands would not be enough. There were no useful items in sight though, and she was convinced that if she tried grabbing a knife from the kitchen, by the time she would be back, her friend would have suffocated.
Then she remembered that there was a pipe that needed fixing, and that Robert had left the spare under the living room cupboard for easy access.
Blessing the useless plumbing in her house, Rose ran to the cupboard, grabbed the pipe that was under it, and ran back to where the man was, his back to her. She could hear loud curses coming from him, along with the small strangled noises her friend was making as she tried to kick him off. But what really made her shaking, terrified body act had been a different set of movements from the child.
The girl's hands started slackening around her father's wrists. Her feet stopped kicking. Her head slumped. Her arms fell to her sides.
Either she'd passed out or she was already dead.
With all the fury she had been accumulating all those years, all those miserable years taking every punch and kick and curse of her existence, Rose yelled and swung the pipe with as much force as she could muster against the man's back.
Once. Twice. Three times.
The man let go. The girl slipped from his hands and fell limp to the floor.
"You piece of shit-"
Rose had effectively turned Robert's rage back toward her, but she could honestly not care enough at the moment to give him even an ounce of her attention. All of it was on the child on the floor, and as Rose desperately shook the girl, trying to get her to respond, she didn't bother noticing that the man had picked up the pipe she'd dropped.
Her thoughts were a mess of "no"s and "she's dead"s and "it's all my fault"s, all swirling in a vortex of horror and pain as tears slid down her face. She'd disregarded her own safety to the point that, when the man swung the pipe like a baseball bat at her stomach and flung her across the room, she only crawled back with a hand to her damaged body and continued to shield her dear friend from the monster's attacks with her back.
This seemed to enrage Robert all the more, and as she continued to shake the girl on the wooden floor, the man swore at her and continued trying to kill her with the pipe.
"Please wake up! I beg you! Wake up!" she cried and screamed and cried out in pain whenever the pipe would connect with a part of her body. Thankfully, it seemed the man was so blinded by rage and whisky that he couldn't aim properly and just narrowly missed hitting her vital points.
He got so frustrated by this that he eventually just flung the pipe aside and grabbed her by the hair, pulling her so that he flung her against the wall, ignoring her shrieks of pain and outrage at being separated from her friend. He just decided to keep punching her, since that seemed to work.
At that point she couldn't understand what the man was yelling at her; her head felt like lead, and though she was trying to shield herself from Robert's punches, she was quickly beginning to faint.
"… Why…?" she sobbed quietly, without any energy, as she held her stomach, which he'd hit repeatedly "Why… did you hurt her…? What did she ever do to you…?"
She continued sobbing, and the man continued beating her, ignoring her screams and squeals of pain. Rose could distinctly hear the sound of someone slipping into the kitchen, of silverware being moved around, and wondered if Robert had called someone there to help him kill the two girls and she just hadn't heard them come in.
She couldn't do anything about it though, because by the time she'd recognized a lock of black hair, a thin body, and the shine of her mother's favorite silver knife, her body gave out and her world turned black.
Rose couldn't remember much after that. She could recall waking up, could recall seeing the image of Robert on the floor in immense pain with blood dripping all over him, could remember the way the knife was being punctured into the flesh of his back.
She could remember the sounds of the blood dripping on the floor, the sound of meat being punctured. The man's screams. Her own cries of fright.
All she really knew was that Robert had died that day.
He'd been murdered.
Not only that, but he'd been absolutely butchered- apparently his back had been stabbed brutally a grand totally of fifteen times before the attacker stopped, as if to make absolutely sure that he would never get back up.
Rose didn't know if her friend had truly been the one who killed the man. She just looked so harmless, so small and so kind. Then again, don't judge a book by its cover.
Regardless of who had killed him, the man was dead, and they were alive. That was all that mattered. They were alive, and he was dead.
They'd fought, and they'd survived.
That was what had been passing through her mind as she sat there in absolute shock, staring at the slack face of the man whom she'd once loosely called father. Her friend's shirt was stained with blood; even her face was stained with blood. His blood. Rose's dress had gotten a similar, less messy treatment.
The tiny, seemingly harmless girl crawled over to her, her body shaking heavily. She was saying something, but Rose couldn't hear her. Her voice was drowned out by heavy static, one that she couldn't get rid of.
Still, in the memory, her voice calmed Rose down, and when the child got to her, she hugged Rose tightly. She didn't know what to think about her friend's actions - she was still shocked and probably thoroughly traumatized from the whole experience - but the girl's body was so warm, so full of life, that Rose shakily hugged her back.
When she pressed her ear to the child's chest and heard her heart beating wildly, the spell broke and Rose began sobbing loudly, clutching the tiny girl to her chest like she would break.
She could feel her friend's arms clutching her just as tightly, but the child didn't seem frightened anymore. She seemed relieved.
She let go of Rose, moved slightly away so that she could look at her face. Then she smiled and said the only words Rose could remember her friend saying to her, the only time she could revisit her tone and voice. For whatever reason, these words weren't scratched out of her memory like all the others.
"Don't worry Angie," she always said to her in this memory, her hold loving and her voice far too soft. Weak, but gentle "I'll protect you from now on."
In her memory, Rose was too shocked by her friend's words to properly respond aside from hugging her even tighter than before. She was calm again, happy to be with the child she'd held so dear to her heart for so long.
Still, every dream has to end.
And that was how Rose woke up with a gasp, cold sweat running down her back and hair a mess from all her twisting and turning. Just like every time she had that dream, she forgot the tone the girl had had, her voice.
She was tempted to cry herself back to sleep when she remembered that her best friend was dead, but when her gaze traveled over to a sleeping Yakko who only stirred slightly and frowned in his sleep at her whimper, she thought better of it. She didn't need him waking up and asking her what was wrong.
Rose turned around, giving him a view of her back, and tried to go back to sleep, wishing that she could remember her friend's name, and how she'd died.
That would probably not put her at ease, but it would certainly stop the churning in her chest when she wondered if the child had died because of her.
WARNINGS: Blood, child abuse, strangling, heavy depictions of violence, minor character death