Author's note: I'm still alive bitches! Lol sorry for the delay, things have been a little rough lately. Emotionally, I mean. This chapter was also pretty difficult, it's all over the place OTL I even ended up changing a few story bits. Hopefully I'm not shooting myself in the foot by revealing a few things too early haha but tbh the part that I swapped out with this one was way more obvious to another mystery so it should be fine.
On another note, HOLY CRAP so many people reviewed last chapter! I was so happy when I saw all of them, you guys are gems ❤
Sadly I can't reply to the ones who reviewed without an account on pm, so I'll do it here! They're gonna be at the very bottom, below the warnings.
Speaking of warnings... this chapter has a pretty heavy part, might want to check them out. I've done worse already though.
On another NOTHER note, I've finally decided to make an official Romance Poll. You can find it on my profile! Even if you've already voted in a review please vote in the poll; I've never done one before and I'm worried I'll screw something up haha I don't want to leave anyone's vote out!
Enjoy the chapter!
"... What exactly is he doing here, again?"
Yakko couldn't help it, he was annoyed. Despite the fact that the prince had been relatively amicable after the whole misunderstanding had been put straight, the guy was still trying to take his family away from him. It made hot anger boil under his skin, made him want to punch Elias straight in his face. The face that was... infuriatingly similar to his.
"Look, I know he made a bad first impression with you, but just… Try to be nice?" Rose sighed, patting his shoulder once and sending him a pleading look "We can't risk getting into trouble with the king because you felt the need to insult his son."
Yakko gave a soft scoff. Still, he did appreciate that Rose thought the worst thing he'd ever do was insult the guy a little. It seemed like Rose's impression of him was mostly pacifistic, and honestly? It was kind of nice.
"Can you blame me though?" he allowed his anger to recede a little, if only for Rose's benefit. With no irritation left he would default to sadness, and he really wasn't in the mood to mope "He's the one who came barreling in and trying to break families apart."
"You know I can hear everything you say, right?"
Elias, still with his packed bags in hand, stared at Yakko in a deadpan. He was standing right outside their door, eyeing the base with curiosity, but Yakko was pretty sure he was just thinking that he would have to live like a peasant and how undignified it was. Just the thought of that sort of high-and-mighty attitude made him even more annoyed.
"Oh, I'm sorry Your Highness. Did I upset your fragile ego?" he bowed mockingly, sending him a sneer, and Rose actually flinched at his level of sass "My most sincere apologies."
Apparently deciding he was not worth answering, Elias huffed a very snooty huff and walked forward, completely bypassing Yakko like he was just an annoying fly and making a beeline for where Marilyn was standing a few feet away, cheerily welcoming him. Yakko could only glare at his back as he walked away.
"Yakko. C'mon" Rose sighed in exasperation, watching the prince walk off with tired eyes and then shifting them back to him, raising an eyebrow "You know you're going to have to see him every day now, don't you? At least try to be civil."
"I know, I know" he was about to cross his arms, but he realized how childish the action would make him look and put his hands on his hips instead. Now he just looked like a nagging mom "I'll try, but I'm not making any sort of promises."
Rose's response was to send him a 'really?' expression even as he walked over to where his brother and sister were standing aside. Their arms were crossed and they were sending glares to Elias, who was currently being begrudgingly twirled around by an extremely happy Marilyn. Wakko and Dot perked up a little as he approached them, turning to look at him instead.
"Are we really going to have to see his butt face every morning?" Dot's words could have been interpreted as mere annoyance, but Yakko could detect the genuine animosity just from her tone of voice. He could tell she held a strong grudge against Elias for what had happened when they'd first met.
"Why is he here anyway? What's he supposed to contribute?" Wakko's own biting words expressed the same amount of resentment for the prince as his sister's had. It seemed that if Elias wanted to earn their favor, he was going to have to work hard.
The thought improved his mood a little, and Yakko shrugged, relaxing the slightest bit "Dunno. He's probably just the king's messenger."
"I bet Marilyn bribed everyone else to let him stay."
Wakko's pouty murmur was interrupted by a slightly agitated Rose, who quickly walked toward them from where Yakko had left her "Guys, I'm serious. Please try to be nice, there's no point to us being at each other's throats. Besides, Elias is an okay guy when you get to know him."
"Do you actually mean that or are you just saying it so the group won't have problems?" Dot's narrowed eyes oozed suspicion.
In response, Rose fidgeted a little. Her expression was somewhat sheepish "I mean... He's not that bad."
"That doesn't exactly sound like an endorsement" Yakko raised a brow.
"Okay, so I don't really know him that well" she sighed, shrugging "I've never been particularly close to him, but that doesn't mean he's a bad person. Besides... considering the circumstances, it's understandable that he's upset."
Rose sent him an expectant look. Yakko wanted to pretend nothing was wrong, but she'd probably already guessed that he hadn't done it. This thought only intensified when her expression turned sad.
"... You haven't asked them, have you?"
He almost snapped at her that no, of course he hadn't. He hadn't had the courage to; the fear of losing them and never seeing them again had gotten stronger than ever since Rose had asked that of him. He couldn't just give them away, but at the same time he knew he was being selfish. In the end, it was their choice... He just hadn't been able to make his mouth form the words to ask them. He was too scared.
He didn't think he could stand losing them.
When he turned to her though he saw the soft warmth of affection and sadness in her gaze, and he just couldn't find it in himself to be mad at her. This wasn't her fault, he shouldn't treat her like it was.
"I just didn't get to it" he spoke, instead, with a perfectly calm expression, a fake look that he'd practically perfected. Despite the fact that everyone who didn't know him well was fooled by it though, he saw his siblings weren't falling for it. Wakko and Dot glanced at each other with a slightly worried expression and Rose, who was just starting to be able to read him accurately, looked conflicted.
"… Right. I'll be the messenger then" she was clearly uncomfortable, but determined enough to push through it "I have to ask if you two would be interested in meeting with the king... who could very well be your father."
Immediately after her words Wakko and Dot's eyes widened.
"Do you..." Dot was the first to speak, her gaze almost... scared as she stared up at the blonde "Do you really think...?"
Since finding out that the king was actually alive and Elias hadn't just been hallucinating, everything had become more real to the three of them. There really was a man out there who claimed to be their father, and he apparently really did miss them. It wasn't just an unfunny delusion anymore.
"Well... I can't really say for sure" Rose sighed, giving them a compassionate look "I'm not exactly familiar with the Warner family, but I think you guys should give it a chance. Who knows, you might really have found your father."
This whole situation felt like there was a spike being slowly stabbed through his chest, getting closer and closer to pulverizing his heart with every word that was uttered. The word "father" made the pain flare especially hard.
"How come we haven't seen him in over seven years then?" Wakko looked almost angry at the thought that their parent had been alive all this time and hadn't bothered to come for them until now "If he's the king, shouldn't it have been easy if he really wanted to find us?"
"Look, I'm not going to give you a big speech on how your parents will love you no matter what and that you should always listen to them because they're always right" Rose rolled her eyes "'Cos frankly, I know first-hand that that's bullshit."
Yakko almost flinched from how hard Rose's voice had suddenly gotten. Yeah... She would know, wouldn't she?
That was... He should forget about it for now. He would only get more upset if he started thinking about the things they'd said a few days before.
"I'm just saying to maybe listen to what the guy has to say? I'm not going to force you or anything" Rose continued talking, oblivious to the way he was cracking in half "In fact, even William seemed like he was going to accept it if you guys just said you didn't want to have anything to do with him. But... I don't know. You two do whatever you think is best. You don't have to see him at all if you don't want to."
The conflicted spark in his siblings' eyes only intensified, and at Rose's words, Wakko's anger appeared to subside and he joined Dot in feeling only doubt and fear. This time, they both simply looked up at him with an expression that screamed "What do we do? Help. Please."
Seeing them look like that made the pain flare stronger than ever before, his fear reacting to the feelings and screaming at him to grab them and never let go, never let anyone make such expressions appear on their faces ever again.
As the adult that he was supposed to be though, Yakko just told his fear to shut up and spoke like a proper older brother should.
He grinned in such a fake way he was surprised nobody called him out on it immediately, trying to lighten the mood with incredibly forced humor "Just do what you feel is right. I mean, wouldn't being the king's children be awesome? Just think of all the luxuries!"
He wasn't surprised when they didn't buy it.
"But Yakko..." their big black eyes stared into his soul, watering just the slightest bit. It made his heart break all over again.
"Guys..." he felt his own eyes water, biting the inner walls of his cheeks so he wouldn't do something stupid. With a sad exhale, he willed himself to calm down.
Reassurance. They needed reassurance, and he was the only one who could give it to them at the moment.
"... Even if you figure out you're royal and you're actually related to this dolt," Yakko waved a hand vaguely in Elias' direction who, again, just sent him a bored look in response to his mockery, even if it was half-hearted "doesn't mean I'm going to stop being your brother, okay?"
"... It doesn't mean I'm going to stop loving you. Ever" the smile he sent them could have, probably, been called the most sincere smile he had ever given.
Practically instantly, the tiny drops of water that had been inside their eyes turned into a river, and then it was impossible to keep the tears in. Their lips quivered and suddenly the oldest was almost toppling over from the strength with which his siblings threw themselves at him.
"YAAAAAKKOOOOO" they sobbed at him, their tiny arms wrapping around his middle and hugging the life out of him "We love you too! You'll always be our brother!"
He laughed softly, hugging them back. For a moment, everything was right with the world.
"Yeah. I know."
He chanced a look to the side and was surprised to see Rose looking at them with the most "aww" face he had ever seen. Her smile would probably split her face in two.
However, what surprised him even more was when he looked further beyond and, beside a squealing Marilyn and a softly-smiling StarDust, he saw Elias looking on with... Anger? Sadness? He probably thought he should be the one sharing such a moment with Wakko and Dot.
Yakko only hugged them harder and glared daggers at him, a challenging look on his eyes. He was pleased to see it made the Little Prince look to the side with what he thought was a snarl, and then, his eyes posed themselves on Yakko once again with a look that said "Enjoy it while you can, asshole."
His eyes spoke smugly back to Elias. "Do your worst."
As if to provoke him, the prince asked to the two younger warners, completely ignoring him "So, your answer?"
Yakko wanted, once again, to punch the guy in his stupid face, but he decided to refrain because his siblings turned their heads to look at the prince. They looked like they were still thinking it through, but after a few moments, they just nodded at each other and looked at Elias with decided expressions.
"We'll hear what he has to say."
"And if we don't like it... We'll just pretend he didn't say anything at all."
Woah, he didn't think he'd ever heard Wakko and Dot be so resentful. It was already amazing that they were even considering meeting up with William from what he could tell; if they actually forgave him, it would be a miracle.
Elias seemed conflicted. He looked happy that they were giving his father a chance, but worried that the stakes were so high. He also appeared to finally realize that the distance that had been made between him and them since their supposed disappearance seven years before was bigger than he had originally thought.
"I'm glad you're giving us a chance… but I don't want you to feel pressured. Father doesn't either" his eyes turned sad, and he looked at the younger warners in melancholy "Just knowing you two are alright… It's already enough of a blessing."
Wakko and Dot only seemed more conflicted by Elias' words, their faces confused as to whether they should express happiness or look uncomfortable. They hadn't exactly warmed up to the prince and king but, from Yakko's perspective, they weren't actively trying to dislike them anymore. Aside from being resentful of Elias for bringing the issue into their lives at all, they didn't see any reasons to actively hate them.
Yakko, however, had plenty of reasons to dislike Elias. The way his face mirrored his, the fact that he was trying to steal his family away… And perhaps what he hated the most about the prince, the way he could turn his feelings for him from hatred over to guilt with the flip of a switch. It wasn't fair that Elias made him feel like scum when he was the one who was trying to destroy everything Yakko had worked for. He shouldn't have to feel guilty whenever Elias showed how elated he was to have Wakko and Dot back in his life.
"Okay! Well, after that, um, "heart-warming display" I feel like we should actually focus on something that is pretty important for our quality of life" Rose interrupted the awkward silence with an equally as awkward grin, looking back and forth between the three siblings and the prince.
"And what's that?" Elias asked disinterestedly, mood still slightly sad.
"Shopping for clothes of course!"
The reaction of all four Warners was to let out an incredulous "What" in perfect unison.
"I can't believe Rose convinced us to go on a shopping trip" one could tell by the bored drone of his voice that WarnerStock's prince was not very amused. And if one couldn't hear that properly, the deadpan way he turned to look at Rose was a dead giveaway. Rose pretended she couldn't see him all the way from her seat.
"Oh don't be such a grump, Ellie" Marilyn pat him on the shoulder, leaning closer to his cloak-covered form "When was the last time you went shopping?"
"Never, and I'd like to keep it that way."
Elias continued to sulk in his seat, ignoring Marilyn's pokes and prods to get him to lighten up, and though the prince wanted to evade those touches, it was practically impossible, seeing as the cheery blond was seated right next to him. Behind them sat Wakko, Dot, and StarDust, the younger warners trying to entertain themselves with making silly faces at each other while the oldest Milers looked on with mild amusement. At the very end Rose was trying to pretend that the fields that were passing by were extremely interesting, and Yakko stared at her from the other seat, trying to catch her attention somewhat passively.
"The weather sure is nice outside."
She didn't stop looking out the window, her brows furrowed.
"Mn."
"... Do you think there's gonna be cool clothes were we're going? I wouldn't want to end up looking like a hobo."
"Sure."
Seeming to tire of her one-worded responses, Yakko stopped beating around the bush, sighing "Okay, you're obviously super distracted. What's up?"
"Sorry, it's nothing. I just-" she made a worried noise "I'm thinking."
Suddenly, Yakko started patting down the pockets of his khakis. She raised an eyebrow as she watched him fumble around for a bit until finally, his expression lit up as he seemed to find what he was looking for. Then, with an incredibly pleased grin, he showed her what he'd found. It was a penny.
"Penny for your thoughts?"
She couldn't help it, she snorted in an incredibly unattractive way and pushed at his shoulder a little in her hilarity. Yakko started snickering at her reaction and pushed back.
"You're such a dork" she giggled, finally coming down from the bout of laughter. She couldn't help but note that as Yakko stopped laughing as well that his expression seemed to sadden immediately, as if it were something he was all too used to. Her smile fell away.
Rose hadn't noticed before, but Yakko's smiles hardly ever looked real. Even when it was clear he had been amused by something, or had been happy about something, the smile he showed never felt right. Like it was always a little bit forced, never fully happy. She wondered why.
But it wasn't the first thing on her List of Things to Worry About; what she was actually fidgeting about at the moment was the fact that she was still hiding her suspicions about what the king had told them. It wouldn't be such a big deal if it weren't for the fact that she felt like telling Yakko would be a terrible idea, and yet the thought of continuing to hide it from him made her sick.
She didn't know where these shivers of terror were coming from, but something sinister was going on in the shadows, and her mind knew it. For whatever reason, she had this indescribable urge to keep Yakko hidden, away from prying eyes. She felt like amongst those eyes, there were people who wanted to harm him. She didn't know why they would want to hurt him, but she was convinced that they would, and if they wanted to do anything to him they would have to do it over her dead body.
This, somehow, connected with what William had told them. Yes, he was most definitely searching for Yakko... or so was her main theory. Was he searching for Yakko because he wanted something to do with him, or was the man doing it for someone else? All Rose knew was that word travelled fast, and if someone, say the king, heard of Yakko's existence, others could end up hearing too. People who shouldn't know about Yakko.
She wondered who could possibly be after him, and why. Maybe she was just being seriously paranoid. Maybe there was nobody after him, not William nor anyone else. Maybe everything was okay and she didn't need to make sure there were no snipers over the city searching for a chance to blow his brains out.
But the fact of the matter was that her instincts were hardly ever wrong, and she felt like not heeding her guts' warning would be a stupid choice.
At her perpetual silence, Yakko started looking a little concerned, enough that he seemed ready to go "seriously though, is something bothering you?". And just as Rose was getting worried that he would manage to pull the truth out of her via puppy dog eyes and a worried look she saw someone approaching them, wearing the silly-looking blue uniform that had never suited him.
She almost blessed him for the interruption, perking up as he reached them "Hey, Nico."
Amazingly, Yakko's soft look toward her changed almost immediately into a glare that he sent in Nicolas' direction. The man returned the sentiment, but continued walking until he was next to them. His posture was stiff.
"Sorry for interrupting your kindergarten fieldtrip; I know you've got brats to take care of" he smirked at Yakko's glower "But there's something kind of important I've got to report."
"Huh, it's been a while since there was anything to report about the train station" she was genuinely surprised, but by the man's nervous glancing around it really was something important. Her expression immediately turned serious, her voice a whisper "Should you really be doing this here though? What if someone who's not supposed to hear-"
Nicolas shook his head quickly, leaning closer to her seat "Doesn't matter, everyone knows about it at this point. And it really is important."
"... Well then. What is it?"
With an uncomfortable grimace, the man hissed out his next words.
"Nobody's seen the Pass Watchers since last month."
She could feel the way Yakko jumped at the mention of them, no doubt remembering his first encounter with the officers. Rose merely took to staring at Nicolas in shock.
"… They just stopped coming?"
The man nodded with a frown "One day they up and disappeared."
"What… Why? Why would Athena stop searching for spies?" she blinked quickly, incredulous. There was no logical explanation for this. What exactly had changed for Athena to do this so suddenly?
Nicolas leaned against their seats inconspicuously, but his caramel eyes were constantly moving, checking for any danger. His moustache twitched once "I mean; I would be glad that they haven't been kidnapping anyone else, and it's great that it doesn't look like any more innocent blood will be spilled…"
Rose felt Yakko shudder next to her, but was too focused to address it at that moment "But something's not right."
"… Call me paranoid, but I don't think that she's been searching for spies."
The shivering stopped, but instead, she got a blank-faced Yakko staring at the seats on the other side of the train. If she wasn't worried before, she was worried now, but what Nicolas was saying was important and she needed to pay attention.
Thus, she responded, but her gaze was fixed on Yakko "You think she's been looking for something else."
"I think she's been looking for someone in specific; and whomever she's been looking for, she's found it."
At the top row, Marilyn suddenly grabbed Elias' shoulder in a vice grip, causing the prince to jump and thus get the attention of the whole group. She'd clearly heard.
"Please tell me you've used a credible fake passport" her voice took on a frightened stutter.
"Who do you think I am, an amateur?" Elias huffed, but when he realized that Marilyn was legitimately scared, his gaze softened and he put a gentle hand on top of the one she had on his shoulder "... It's fine Mary, promise. Father's no fool when it comes to espionage."
She seemed to calm slightly, but not nearly enough not to ask "Do you think she's been searching for any surviving members of the Warner family line?"
Nicolas clicked his tongue, frowning "Probably. That's all I can think of. I mean, who else could she be searching for?"
Right. Who else could she be searching for? Why would she be searching for anyone else?
For some reason this wasn't sitting right with her at all.
"I don't like this" Rose murmured under her breath, frowning "She's definitely up to something. But we don't know enough to do something about it..."
With a soft resigned groan, Nicolas spoke "You can continue your little excursion… I'll collect as much info as I can and report to you later."
"You'd do that?" Marilyn sounded surprised.
He shrugged "It's not like I have anything better to do, and besides, you've got to take care of your protégées, don't you?"
Just a glance at Yakko's still expressionless face said everything she needed to know "Yeah. We do."
Carefully, she put a hand on his shoulder, and was not surprised when he jumped and his eyes cleared suddenly, turning to look at her like he'd been dreaming for the last ten minutes. She wouldn't be surprised if he told her he'd been in the middle of a flashback.
"... You okay?"
Yakko's response was to look back to the seats, blink a few times, gulp, and then look at her uncertainly. He looked twitchy.
"I, uh… I think so."
The rest of the trip to the clothes market was uneventful- well, for everyone but him. Rose seemed distracted most of the time, probably thinking about the whole Pass Watchers deal. Yakko was too distracted himself to really care about whatever that was about.
Ever since they had come to WarnerStock he had felt weird. Not weird like "I don't belong here" but weird as in "something is very wrong here". This strange feeling had only been proven correct since he had started to have the most intense hallucinations he could ever remember having, and his flashbacks had never been as bad as the one he'd had at the butcher's.
The voice wasn't helping either. His relatively calm suggestions of not looking at the hallucination he'd had back at the freezer had turned into terrified, hurried pleads to look away from... whatever the hell that thing was.
As was apparently going to be routine for every time he was triggered by something, just a few words or an object set off a flashback, and before or after, a hallucination would take place. This time the flashback was more violent than the last one. Less clear as to what was going on, but equally as bloody.
Images overlapped; one moment he was tripping a child double his size to the ground, another he was stabbing an older person in the eye with a pair of rusty scissors, their screams echoing in his skull. The next he was holding his bloodied hands and trying not to cry. A large hand patted his head one moment, and the next a child was sobbing, holding onto him like he was something precious.
Save them, he had... he had to save his loved ones, because if he didn't hurt these people, didn't kill, his friends would be killed instead.
Save, save, save them. He had to save those important to him. He'd made the mistake of not fighting hard enough already, of having mercy.
Kill, kill, kill them. He had to kill those who wanted to hurt those he loved. He'd never show mercy again, not to those who would hurt the people he lived for.
One moment he was in one place, the next he was in another, but the only thing in common between them was…
The blood. The violence. The fact that he'd dirtied his hands when he'd only been a child.
Although Rose's tap on his shoulder had cut off his flashback, it had unfortunately brought forth the hallucination of the week, a… strange blob of red shifting and stretching like a small contained pond on top of the few seats he could see on the other side of the train. It wouldn't have been too traumatic, all things considered, if the red of the "pond" weren't blood and if there weren't a bunch of decapitated heads screaming at him whenever they surfaced.
The worst part was that he was pretty certain that he recognized a few of the people who'd been "decapitated". He wondered who they were. Had he failed them? He wouldn't be surprised.
- Yakko- Yakko. Listen to me this time, please. Just- Why don't you talk to Blondie? I bet she has interesting things to talk about. -
Yakko could hear the desperate tone the voice was speaking with, his words quick and shaky. Yakko could almost imagine him with a scared, forced grin.
It wasn't as easy as he was making it sound though. It wasn't like Yakko wanted to stare into the empty black sockets that were on their faces instead of eyes. It wasn't like he wanted to listen to their pleas, their curses, their blaming. It wasn't like he didn't want to plug his ears, pretend he couldn't hear them crying out "Help me! Please help me!" or "It's your fault! Everything is your fault!"
But it was almost mesmerizing in its morbid-ness, or at least it seemed to be if the way his eyes were glued to the image was any indication. He couldn't look away no matter how much he tried. It was eating his sanity from the inside out, but he couldn't even move his head to the side to stop it from happening, so the voice's words were pretty much useless. Not that he didn't appreciate the concern, but…
- Okay- fuck- I get it, you can't do anything. You just- relax, I'll figure something out. Just stay still and… I don't know, try not to think too much about it, just don't panic. -
He didn't know what exactly the voice could do, but he was willing to hear him out. He didn't have any way to say no to him when he was trying not to go insane anyway.
As if to hurry the voice up, his brain started acting up even more, slowly distorting the train cart until it looked like a Dali painting. Hung bodies began appearing from the ceiling one by one, falling a short distance until the rope's length forced them to stay elevated in the middle of the air, bouncing a little from inertia before stilling. He was pretty sure the bodies were all corpses and they weren't supposed to be alive, but they still somehow managed to lift their heads and turn dead eyes to him, grinning at him with a mouth full of yellowed teeth. There was meat stuck in-between their teeth.
He tried to remain calm, but it was impossible. It was almost as if he was suffering sleep paralysis, why couldn't he move?
If only Rose would tap his shoulder again. Maybe then he'd be able to look at her instead of at… all that.
- Holy- -
The voice seemed to need to collect himself after seeing what the hallucination was becoming, inhaling shakily.
- Okay… Okay, I'm going to really hate myself for this later but- this is the best I can do. Try to focus on what I'm going to show you, okay? Please. -
... Show him? The voice could do that?
But he didn't doubt his words when he felt another flashback coming on, unprompted.
When he managed to focus on the memory, Yakko saw...
Himself.
He was tiny, so so tiny, but his grin was big and happy. The huge white shirt he was wearing only made the fact that he was frightfully thin more obvious, but he was unhindered by this, running through a hallway with pasty white walls and poor lighting.
"Come on!" the child version of him urged, giggling. Staring at Yakko as if he was an entirely different person-
Wait. Was he...?
"You're too fast! At least slow down a little!"
Yakko felt his lips move, but the voice that came out wasn't his. It was a little less squeaky than his had been as a child, a little lower. Yakko could almost... recognize it. That was when he realized, eyes widening.
He was seeing one of the voice's memories, from his perspective.
That was why he could see himself.
Now having completely forgotten about his hallucination, he watched with awe, intrigued as to where the memory would go. He was sure the voice wouldn't have picked anything gruesome or upsetting, which only made him giddier to explore. It was a change to see his past without being in danger of seeing something... less than happy.
Sadly though, most of what he saw were more white hallways as the child version of himself and the voice ran. There were some children whose faces he could see and recognize, and some that he couldn't, their faces nothing more than black squiggles. It seemed like the voice had also forgotten details as the years passed.
One of the things that alarmed him however, was that there seemed to be an... unnerving amount of adult warners in lab coats. Worse than that, most of the children he could see seemed to shy away from them, walking as fast as they could in the opposite direction. They were all worryingly thin, all of them wearing the same white shirt that was far too big on all of them.
Also, were those... tags on their ears?
- I think that's enough. -
The memory suddenly began to cloud, the voices slowing down until he could no longer hear them. His vision was slowly being overtaken by blackness.
With panic, he tried to stop the voice from getting him out, fought against it as hard as he could.
- No! Wait! I-! -
And just as suddenly as the memory had begun it was over. He was back in the train wagon.
- ... wanted to see more... -
- ... -
"Yakko?"
Rose's voice stopped him from sulking, causing him to shake his head to try and get back to reality. When he turned to look at the row of seats at the other side of the train, there was no weird mutant blob screeching at him, nor any hanging people staring.
Well, at least the voice's plan had worked. If only he had gotten a bit more time in that memory though...
He turned back to look at Rose again and he was surprised when he saw her gazing at him with a soft expression, a hand once again on his shoulder. He heard Nicolas mutter something about them reaching their destination, a loud intercom proudly announcing "Arriving at Athena's station. Please be careful when you step off the train".
"Are you okay? You seem... really out of it" she repeated, this time sounding like she was getting legitimately concerned. As the rest of the group stood up and prepared to get off, since they hadn't seen his little episode, Yakko gave her a tiny smile.
For a moment the world sounded like it was underwater, muffled and distorted, and his image was slowly coming in and out of focus, but a few seconds later the ringing in his ears stopped and the memory of his hallucination was nothing but a tiny bit of a headache. He felt... almost normal.
"Yeah, I'm okay" he said, this time confidently. He could almost feel the voice and Rose's relief at how he'd calmed down, Rose expressing it with a smile and the voice merely huffing out a relieved sigh.
Rose gently tugged at his arm to get him to stand up "Well, let's go then. Even you need a change of clothes, don't you think?"
"I guess so."
He stood up and followed her out, but his head was somewhere else entirely. He just couldn't get over the fact that he'd just learnt something very important about the voice.
... He hadn't always been in his head.
Warnings: Hallucination, mentions of blood, mentions of murder and violence, images relating to suicide, light gore
Now onto the replies!
- Mememe: Ahaha don't worry, Rose will get romanced, promise. Even if the Main Story ends up not having romance there will still be short stories! I'm glad you like them and thank you so much for reviewing! ❤
- Anonymous-1: I've been calling it Rokko this whole time, but I dunno, I don't really like it that much. If anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear them! Nice theories btw. Thank you so much for the review and for the love Uwu! I hope you continue to enjoy the story! ❤
- Blah: Here you go! An update for your soul (Psst this is a secret to get faster updates: Reviews literally make my day and get me pumped for writing. Even a pm filled with wacky theories makes me super motivated!) ❤