An: Let's just... aaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAA *explodes*

Some very light warnings in end notes.

"Okay, you promised me a burger and nachos but… does this run-down place even have those in stock?"

After a while of trying to trip each other up with no luck, Yakko and Rose had gotten bored of the physical banter and had decided to stick to following Wakko, Dot and Elias to the food court. Them having found Elias outside the store hadn't been a coincidence as Yakko would find out, because Marilyn and StarDust were waiting at a table big enough for all of them once they got to the court. Seemed like Elias had been tasked to get the four of them back for food, and they all took their seats as soon as they were able to.

"I know the place looks a little deserted" Rose countered his sass, rising an eyebrow and smiling at him "But the one restaurant that's still open serves fast food. There's no need to despair."

"Even when we're not in human territory anymore, the spirit of McDonalds still follows us everywhere, bringing us off-brand greasy food that will no doubt take at least ten years off my life once I consume it. Praise" he spoke reverently, putting his hands together and smiling, eyes closed. Wakko and Dot tried to contain their laughter.

"God, it's like you're the living embodiment of pop cultural references" Rose laughed a little, shaking her head "Most of the time I don't even get half the stuff you're saying. Like when we were back at the store, and you showed me that ungodly combination of pizza pants and a t-shirt that had a human woman on it. You just shouted 'IT'S BRITNEY, BITCH!' at me with this terrifying excitement on your face like I was supposed to understand what the hell you were talking about."

"Rose. C'mon" he sent her a serious look "Britney Spears is a Queen. A Goddess. I don't know how you people survive without being able to listen to 'Hit me baby one more time' fifty times in a row. It's practically a national anthem, and it's a sin that you guys are being deprived of happiness like this."

While Rose merely seemed amused, Wakko and Dot were losing their shit in the background. Dot was half-way to the floor and banging on the table, trying to contain her laughter, and Wakko was coughing up a lung with a smile of hilarity and tears in his eyes.

"Ugh, okay I'm done" Elias suddenly stood up from the table, his chair making a loud scraping noise as it moved away from him. It got the attention of the whole table, and they looked at him as he started off in the direction of the restaurant with a grimace "I'm getting my food. You all can sit around like idiots if you want."

And then he walked off.

"… Well, I think it's safe to say he's really mad at you" Rose said, turning to look at an already disgruntled-looking Yakko.

"Nah, you think?" he asked sarcastically, letting out a small sigh of irritation.

Rose merely deadpanned at him.

"Yakko."

"I know alright?" he stood up with annoyance himself, frowning the whole time "You don't need to mom me, I'll go talk to the idiot."

As he followed the prince's footsteps he couldn't help but wonder… why was this bothering him so much? So what if Elias was mad at him? That'd been the whole point!

… Well, he reasoned, annoying him had been the whole point, not actually upsetting him. His comment had been a little more of a low blow than he'd meant, using the fact that Elias had lost experiences with Wakko and Dot back in the human world that Yakko had instead. It'd been a play on his jealousy, and while it usually would have mostly just made him angry, Elias seemed a little more… sensitive than usual. Perhaps something was bothering him? Honestly Yakko could relate… He wouldn't normally hit that low either.

And that was exactly why Yakko ended up standing next to him at the only restaurant in the entirety of the food court, waiting for the prince to stop glaring viciously at nothing. The locale was nothing too interesting. It was small, with only one register and one clerk who looked bored out of their mind, looking at the distance with an exhausted expression only someone working in customer service could achieve. There was a small kitchen behind them with a few warners lazily preparing some food, though whether that was for customers or for themselves was debatable, since it was time for lunch and there wasn't a single person aside from their group in the food court. Above there were several plastic signs that detailed the food that could be ordered there, and Yakko lazily perused the selection, searching for his promised burger and nachos.

"… What do you think you're doing?"

Finally the prince was alerted to his presence, and he didn't seem particularly happy about it, the glare that he'd been directing at the distance now burning Yakko where he stood. Obviously Elias was asking why the hell Yakko had followed, but he only shrugged in response.

"I'm ordering food 'cos I'm hungry, what's it look like?"

Elias rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, pouting like a child "As if. You're looking to humiliate me some more, aren't you?"

Yakko paused at that. Humiliate him? That had not been his intention. Sure he'd been looking to upset him but that word was a little…

But Elias continued, ranting as he gestured with his hands. His mouth was on its way to a grimace "So what if I don't know anything about the human world? So what if I have nothing in common with my siblings anymore? So what?" he turned then, his expression vicious as he pointed and angrily poked at a surprised Yakko's sternum. Yikes. He must have been having a very bad day "You think you're so special because you have inside jokes with them. Because you can go 'hey, remember that time when' and they'll know exactly what you're talking about, rather than stare because they can't remember anything from when they were babies."

… Oh. Ouch, that was kind of…

"Um" Yakko started, feeling sheepish "I-"

"No, no, it's fine!" Elias laughed sarcastically and with no humor, eyebrows furrowed in frustration "By all means, rub it in my face! After all, I'm just an enemy to you, right? It's not like I have feelings to hurt, so it doesn't matter!"

The prince was fuming by the end of it, breathing heavily. Yakko felt small as he shuffled in place, ears drooping down in shame. It took him a few moments, but Elias finally seemed to calm down, closing his eyes to let out a sigh and opening them. He turned to look at the menu again, not even blinking at seeing the cashier staring at them with wide eyes.

"I know I haven't been cordial with you either" Elias muttered, crossing his arms again. He squinted his eyes as his mouth turned downward even more "But I haven't been outright trying to hurt you. I'd appreciate if you could do the same."

There was a long silence. The cashier was still staring, but less openly, and Elias was either still fuming, or genuinely couldn't decide what he wanted to eat, because he'd been staring at the menu for five minutes. Finally, Yakko's pride broke and he sighed, rubbing at one of his arms.

"… I'm sorry" he spoke quietly, almost hoping the prince wouldn't hear him "I didn't say it with the intention to hurt you, more just… annoy you. But it did, and I'm sorry I said it."

The only indication the prince made to show that he was listening was shift a little in place and peek at Yakko, but he stayed quiet and went back to staring at the menu a moment later. Goddammit, fine.

"I'll be honest, I've… kinda been taking my frustration out on you" he sighed, unable to even try to look the prince in the eyes "More than just about this whole thing. You're just an easy target, I guess… because I have a reason to dislike you. But… that doesn't give me the right to do that."

Elias didn't change positions nor move his head, but he did look at him. It almost felt like he kept saying 'and?', and the worst part was that Yakko was actually playing along.

Ugh.

Getting a little annoyed but still knowing he did wrong, Yakko's posture became less apologetic and more pouty "I'm sorry I was a jerk, ok? I was provoking you on purpose."

"… Well, at least you admit it" the prince huffed a little, his posture relaxing minutely. He still looked upset though "But this is less about whatever's bothering you and more about our little… rivalry."

Yakko couldn't really refute that. He managed to look Elias in the eyes after a bit of internal struggle "I could say the same to you" when the prince looked surprised, Yakko raised a brow "Anyone who's been around you for a few days can tell the difference between regular pissy you and when you're actually upset, Princy. Apparently we're both volatile today."

Thankfully, Elias didn't argue, just stared while Yakko continued "But even if we're more likely to fight today than any other day because we're both upset… It doesn't change that this whole rivalry thing is still going on, and if we don't stop it, who knows when it's gonna end."

"… When one of us wins?" Elias suggested, though almost quietly. He was frowning, and didn't look as enthused by the idea as he once might've been "Though when I say it like that… It sounds kind of stupid."

Yakko sighed "That's because this whole fight is stupid. We hate each other because we both feel like the other is trying to take our siblings from us… We're acting like children who're getting their toy taken away."

The prince didn't refute, but he did start looking less sure of himself. Looking guilty. Yakko understood, because the more he spoke, the more he realized what exactly they've both been doing and how shitty of an older brother he'd been recently.

"… It's not fair to Wakko and Dot…" he spoke quietly, looking down at his feet. To think that he'd thought he couldn't feel more like scum that day, oh how wrong he'd been "… It's not fair to treat them like some kind of prize to be won."

That seemed to hit Elias hard, because he flinched and ended up mirroring Yakko's own posture, looking down at the ground with an expression of pain. Yakko clenched his hands into fists, gritting his teeth.

… They were both so stupid. What had they been expecting out of this? That Wakko and Dot wouldn't be hurt by their rivalry? A pleasant thought, but a naive one at best. Aside from hurting each other, they were also hurting the siblings they'd been fighting so hard to keep. Something about this has to change.

So… with a sigh, Yakko put out a hand, noting the prince looked surprised at the offering. Yakko smiled slightly wryly, shaking his hand in the air a little to call more attention to it.

"… Truce?" the prince still looked unsure, so Yakko continued "I'm not saying this will change how we feel about one another… In fact, it probably won't. We clearly don't like each other and I doubt that's going to change anytime soon… but let's try to keep it civil. If not for each other, then… at least for them."

Elias took a moment to stare at Yakko's out-stretched hand, and for a bit Yakko thought he might actually refuse… but then he grabbed it. They shared a small, forced smile as they shook hands.

"… Truce" was all the prince said as he dropped Yakko's hand and turned back to the restaurant, where the cashier was blinking at them, wide-eyed.

"Um…" they started, scratching lightly at their short blue-dyed hair. They looked a little older than him and Elias, but not by much, though they look… familiar somehow? "Welcome to Mc Fridays, what can I get you?"

The prince immediately looked back at the menu as if he'd spent all the time he'd been scrutinizing it earlier just fuming and not paying any attention, so Yakko decided to go first. Despite the fact that he was calmer thanks to the truce with Elias, he was still hungry as hell "Yeah, so I was told you have burgers and nachos?"

"… We do" they said. Their eyes narrowed as they looked both him and Elias up and down, looking confused for some reason "Would you like some numbers with that?"

Yakko paused "… Would I like some what?"

"Fries" they said, but their eyes were jumping from Elias back to him and it almost looked like he was trying to tell them something "Would you like some fries with that?"

If they were trying to insinuate something, it wasn't smooth at all. Quite clumsy in fact. 'Numbers' didn't sound even remotely like 'fries'…

But something told Yakko that it was in his best interests to try to figure out what this cashier was about. It might've just been instinct, might've been the fact that their face was familiar… It also might've been the fact that he'd felt the voice stiffen when the whole exchange had began, an could practically feel his nervousness even when he wasn't saying anything.

Yakko decided to play along.

"… Yes. Is there a combo for that?" he quickly thought up a more discreet way of asking what kind of numbers they were talking about, because this felt kind of really important for some reason and Yakko wasn't sure if Elias should know about what was going on. There had to be a reason why the cashier was looking at them both as if unsure which one they should be addressing "What number is it?"

The cashier immediately looked a little more relaxed and completely settled their gaze on him, leaving Elias out of the conversation, as if they'd finally found the sign they'd been looking for. There was something intense in their eyes…

"It's number H-302."

Yakko froze. He felt the voice make some sort of extremely nervous noise practically at the same time that his face went pale.

Oh… Oh fuck. This was way worse than he'd thought.

This person knew something about his and the voice's past. There was no other reason why they'd mention those specific numbers… They were too random.

"What?" for some ungodly reason Elias decided to jump back in, looking confused. Yakko feels the hair at the back of his neck stand on end "That doesn't sound like a combo number-"

"Dude, wait your turn" Yakko interrupted him rudely and a little shakily, waving him away. Was he shaking? Fuck, don't give anything away, the cashier clearly doesn't want anyone other than him to know about this "Actually, why don't you tell me what you want? I'll bring it over to you once it's done."

Elias frowned at him, rightfully suspicious. Yakko probably looked like he was on the verge of a minor panic attack so, not surprising "… Why?"

"What's wrong with me being nice?" Yakko shrugged, mentally begging him to leave "Just think of it as an apology for being a jerk to you."

When Elias just kept staring at him, eyes narrowed, Yakko felt sweat run down his neck "… It'll make me feel better about it, okay? I'm doing this for myself, not for you."

Elias didn't look very convinced, but after glancing between the cashier and Yakko a few times, he sighed and turned away "Fine. Burger with fries, hold the ketchup. And you better not be planning on putting hot sauce on it or something like that."

Honestly that sounded great for a future prank, but right at that moment all Yakko could think about was the relief of the prince finally walking away. He just smiled as Elias went back to the table, yelling at him that "I won't prank you, promise!", before turning back to the cashier with a serious expression.

"Explain."

The cashier tried their best to not look intimidated or serious in the least, giving him a fake smile and looking around them as if at any moment someone could jump out of one of the abandoned stalls and cut their throats. It instantly put Yakko on guard and he stood up straight, looking around a little more inconspicuously but with the same amount of concern.

"Here valued customer, let me show you where exactly your combo option is on the display!"

The cashier said their line cheerily, still slightly shaking, as they went around the counter and stood beside him, their side touching his. One of their hands pointed at the menu overtop as if showing him something, but their other poked him in the arm and pointed downwards, the hand hidden by both of their backs. Yakko could immediately tell that the hand pointing at the menu was a distraction and moved his head up to pretend like he was looking up, but he looked down instead. He felt his throat constrict when he saw that, after idly scratching at their left ankle with their right foot, the hem of their trousers pulled up enough for him to be able to see their ankle in full display.

In bright blue, the code H-240 was tattooed there.

He fought not to make any outward tells, only breathing a little heavier as he made a thumbs-up, again hidden by their backs, so that the cashier could know that he saw. Immediately, they pulled the hem of their trouser leg back down with their other foot, acting like they were just scratching it again.

"Ah, I see" Yakko said, his voice a little shaky. He pointed at the same spot as the cashier for added realism "Order H-302. Yup, that's the one I want."

The code wording seemed to be enough for the cashier, and they nodded as they stepped away from him and back around the counter again. They grinned brightly at him and Yakko tried to return it, even if all he knew about this interaction was that he'd just found someone from his and the voice's past that was absolutely terrified of others knowing about it and had looked around as if ready for someone to find them and do away with them.

… Not a good sign.

"Your order will be done in just a moment. A burger and nachos, correct?" they asked, probably because Yakko had never actually confirmed his order, and Yakko nodded slowly. They grinned again "Coupled with your friend's order, that will be thirty gold."

He paid with a shaky hand and thankfully didn't have to wait very long for the order to come, although… When he did get it, the cashier grinned wider than was normal and looked between his eyes and something on the platter way too many times before handing it to him. Yakko looked down at it less obviously and noticed that it was a slip of paper.

"Thank you for eating at Mc Fridays! Have a good day and don't forget to pocket your receipt!"

If that wasn't an excuse for Yakko to pocket the paper he didn't know what was, so he nodded, smiled, and did exactly as instructed before he took the platter and slowly walked back to the table.

- God… What the hell was all that about? -

He was mostly thinking to himself, but wouldn't be upset in the least if the voice had deigned himself to give Yakko an answer. As usual though, he stayed quiet. It felt like a particularly stressed quiet, so Yakko decided not to mess with him for a bit. He'd let the poor guy cool down, especially since Yakko knew he wouldn't be getting anything out of pressuring him.

"Oh nice, two orders done" Rose smiled at him the moment he got back to the table with his and Elias' food. She immediately turned to StarDust "Can you go get Wakko and Dot's orders along with your own, sis? Mary and I can go last."

"Aw, but I'm so hungryyyyy" Marilyn whined, plopping her front onto the table and pouting, to which Rose sent her a look "Fine, fine. Children first, I get it."

"Of course, Rose" StarDust replied calmly and stood up, turning to look at Wakko and Dot so that they would do the same "We will be back shortly."

And with one final amused smile at Mary, StarDust led the younger warners to the restaurant, leaving Rose, Marilyn, Elias and Yakko behind.

"So…" Rose began, looking at Yakko with a raised brow as he put down the tray and then sat down on his chair like his toothpick legs were suddenly unable to hold him up anymore "What exactly happened over there?"

At first Yakko stiffened, thought Rose had seen the exchange between the cashier and him, but Elias rolled his eyes and saved him.

"We're on a truce," he said with a sigh "I can't promise anything, but we'll try not to be at each other's throats anymore… Or at least, not as much."

Rose seemed pleased at the response and, as she nodded, Yakko felt the remaining tension in his body melting and leaving it. He let out a soft, almost unnoticeable, sigh of relief.

"I'm glad" Rose replied genuinely, and smiled at them both. Yakko smiled back, but his thoughts were somewhere else entirely "I was getting tired of both of you guys acting like some sort of momma bear protecting her cubs."

Yakko looked down at his pocket instead of following the conversation, desperately curious. What exactly was in this piece of paper? What had the cashier been trying to tell him? He didn't know and he was anxious to…

"What?" Elias complained, huffing "We were just trying to stop the other from taking our siblings away."

There was something about his past in this piece of paper, wasn't there? No wait, the cashier didn't know he didn't remember anything, so probably not information. But what else could it have been?

"You two are so dense- There was no need to worry about that! It's not like they were going to be forbidden from seeing either of you."

Think, think… If he were someone from a group and found one of his own, only to make sure they're one of the group and give them a piece of paper… what would that paper say?

"Well, we'd have to settle with whom they would live, Rose."

… Coordinates? He'd give them the location of where the group is gathering, hoping they'll go there and reunite.

"And now you're acting like a divorced couple."

Oh… He held his head, gulping. He must have been more stressed than he'd thought… He felt pretty woozy. Kind of like he might pass out. Cold sweat ran down his forehead.

"… Yakko? Are you okay?" Marilyn, who had been fairly quiet until then, suddenly spoke up. She was looking at him, worried "You're not looking so hot…"

Both Rose and Elias looked back to him at her words, both blinking at him in surprise. Rose immediately looked worried, and to his surprise, Elias looked a little concerned too.

"Um…"

He tried speaking, but his throat was closing up. Yup, probably panicking. He needed somewhere to cool down.

He stood up suddenly, making everyone else flinch a little "I'll be fine… Just feeling a little dizzy. I'll be back in a bit, just gonna… go to the bathroom."

He rushed to it, though thankfully it wasn't too far away from the food court. He couldn't see their table anymore however, having turned a corner. With uncoordinated feet, he stumbled into the men's bathroom and immediately put both hands on the counter top with the sinks, head down, breathing heavily.

- Okay… Okay, you've got this - he told himself as he shakily got his head to look back up, his eyes looking sunken in and so tired he didn't understand how he was still awake - Just throw some water on your face and you'll feel better. -

He blinked a few times at his image in the mirror, frowning a little when he noticed his eyes… flashing? They looked weird… He could have almost sworn they'd looked red for a split second, but that was impossible.

He shook his head to snap out of it and splashed some water on his face, rubbing it in. He only felt woozier.

— … Maybe you should sit down. —

He wanted to argue with the voice that he was fine, but he legitimately felt as if he might pass out, so Yakko did what he said. The moment he was sitting, he felt his heart constrict in panic and something inside him telling him to look at the paper, but the world looked distorted and he could barely see. Still, as he blinked black spots out of his vision, he reached for the piece of paper with a shaky hand, and as he was pulling it out-

Darkness.

….

…..

…

…

He woke up on the floor, back pressed to it, staring at the ceiling of the bathroom. The smell of something burning reached his nose, and he looked around as he slowly sat up, trying to see what could be the source of the smell…

Ah. The metal trashcan. It's contents were burning…

Where was the piece of paper? He was sure it'd been in his hand before he'd passed out. He looked for it in his pocket and around the floor, but couldn't find anything. The only thing he could think of was that it was in the trashcan, burning with everything else.

… That'd been deliberate. He knew it had been. He wasn't stupid enough to believe that he'd just happened to pass out when he'd been going to look at a suspicious piece of paper and then it'd gotten burned like unwanted evidence of a crime.

- … What did you do? -

— Who, me? I didn't do anything. —

The voice tried to sound innocent, but Yakko could feel his nervousness.

- … Of course you didn't. -

— … —

In any case, he didn't have any proof, and the voice would never give Yakko the answers he wanted. So, feeling endlessly frustrated and pretty angry, Yakko got up on shaky legs with a deep frown on his face. He threw some water on the trashcan until the stupid thing stopped spitting fire and washed his hands, hoping he wouldn't get blamed for that.

On his way out of the bathroom he got intercepted by Rose, who had apparently been waiting for him outside, standing with her back to a pillar with her arms crossed. She perked up when she saw him, but immediately walked over with worry on her face.

"Hey, you were in there for a bit, got worried. You okay?"

"Yeah…" he scratched at the back of his neck. He still felt angry as hell that his clue had just been ripped away from him like that "I kinda… passed out for a few minutes, but I'm okay. Probably just need some sugar."

"Okay… Your soda should take care of that" Rose only looked more concerned at his admission that he blacked out, but grabbed his hand as if to steady him and gave him a small worried smile "C'mon… Let's go back to the table. Your food's getting cold."

By the time they got back, everybody was sitting down with food in front of them, and they all turned their heads at seeing Yakko and Rose returning. Wakko and Dot were the ones giving him the most concerned looks, but Marilyn and StarDust looked worried too, and even Elias looked him up and down as if to make sure he wasn't injured. Thankfully though, nobody commented once Yakko gave the table a small smile and sat down, quickly taking a sip of soda so he wouldn't have to talk.

Slowly, a conversation started, and Yakko felt his shoulders relaxing a little at how nobody was asking him to participate in it. He just concentrated on enjoying his food and getting rid of his irritation, which thankfully didn't take too long since he was already feeling much better and didn't even have a headache to show for his loss of consciousness a few minutes before.

He wanted to still be mad at the voice… and he kind of was. But mostly, he wanted an explanation, and not just for why he'd burned the paper. More-so, he wanted to know how he'd burnt the paper; he was inside Yakko's head, how could he have possibly influenced something in the real world like that?

There was such a period of silence in his head that Yakko didn't expect it when the voice spoke again, interrupting his thoughts.

— ... Say. —

- … What? -

The voice paused again, seemingly unsure, especially with how upset Yakko still sounded. Still, he kept going.

— You know how we don't actually have any clue what we're doing, or what we're fighting for, or if anything is even going to get accomplished if we risk our lives? —

Excuse me, what?

Yakko was so confused by the suddenness of the statement that he made a face. Luckily nobody was looking at him, but he was still confused as all hell.

- I. Yeah? What's your point? -

— Well. Mayyyyyybe, just saying, purely as a suggestion... —

Yakko braced himself, sure now that the voice was going to suggest something incredibly stupid.

— Maybe we should just ditch WarnerStock and live in the forest forever. —

… Aaaaaaand there it was.

He desperately fought the urge to facepalm as the voice rambled on with increasing enthusiasm, even though Yakko could detect that he was not nearly as into this as he was trying to appear. It sounded more like he was growing desperate and didn't know what else to suggest… Also, this was probably some sort of way to distract Yakko from thinking about the paper.

— We could be like Tarzan! It would be super cool! —

- First of all, Tarzan was in the jungle. -

Yakko rolled his eyes.

- Second of all, we can't just leave a whole country to fend for itself. -

To his immense surprise, the voice huffed and responded in a miffed tone.

— And we should help them why exactly? What have they ever done for us? —

- Um. Our friends live here? That's as good a reason as any to me. Besides, I'm not about to abandon the Milers. -

The voice let out a little sigh of resign, but kept going.

— Fine. They can live in the forest with us, but I want you to know that I'm strongly against it. —

The statement almost caused Yakko to make a face again, surprised.

- … Really? You'd be willing to bring them with us? -

— I wouldn't be happy about it, but it's an acceptable price to pay for being far away from this place. —

Well there went his theory that the voice's ultimate plan was to get he and his siblings away from the Milers. What was the problem then? Why the desperate need to escape from WarnerStock all of a sudden? Sure, the voice had been uneasy from the very start and Yakko understood that the country was falling apart, but why insist now?

… All these pieces of puzzle were starting to connect themselves in his brain, but it wasn't as clean as they should have been.

Okay, so. Theory time. Yakko believed the voice had somehow looked at the contents of the paper while Yakko had been unconscious and hadn't liked them one bit. Because he hadn't wanted Yakko to see the contents, he'd burned the paper along with anything else in the bathroom's wastebasket.

Now, if Yakko's assumption was right and the paper had had coordinates to someplace where people from their past were gathering, then the voice didn't want Yakko meeting them. He'd wonder why, but he'd known from the beginning that the voice didn't want him to remember the past, and meeting people from said past would likely result in remembering something.

So, the desperation to get out of WarnerStock suddenly. It felt like this stemmed not just from the paper, but from the appearance of the cashier themselves… Maybe the voice hadn't known there were still people of their past around? Maybe he'd thought they were all dead. Why would this concern him though, if Yakko couldn't go find them considering he didn't have the coordinates?

… Did the voice think they might come find him?

Ah… That made more sense… But Yakko decided to play along, idly munching at his burger as he waited for the voice to speak. There was the possibility that the voice could slip and give Yakko more information, which was exactly what Yakko was hoping for.

- ... Alright, I'll bite. Suppose we could actually live in the forest, even though there's hungry wolves in there and that it's literally illegal… What exactly would we gain from it? -

Yakko felt the voice immediately perk up with a relieved grin, and he would usually feel kind of bad for leading him on, would at least hear him out... But at that moment? Yakko was annoyed, so screw that.

— Uh, well, think about it! We could have endless sleepovers under the stars! —

Yakko snorted with some affectionate amusement. Of course the voice would suggest that, he loved the stars. Not that Yakko blamed him, they were pretty cool… Damn it, Yakko was trying to be mad at him!

- Sorry, but that's not a good enough pro. Also, stop being cute, I'm still mad at you. -

The voice snorted at that and seemed to relax a little more, smiling.

— Cute? Sure. Anyway, back to what I was saying… Nobody can tell us what to do? It's the rule of the jungle out there. —

- Forest. -

— Whatever, you get what I mean. We wouldn't have to worry about Athena, about anyone coming after us. —

... Huh.

The voice's tone was earnest, and hard. It was clear this was a very good perk to living in the forest, one that he would really appreciate. It made Yakko... weary. It reminded him of the way the cashier had looked around as if hoping nobody would notice their exchange and attack.

- ... Are you trying to tell me something? Because you made it sound like there is someone after us. Other than Athena I mean. -

Then again... Now that he thought about it, hadn't the voice stressed out so much that first day they had met the Milers that he'd told Yakko someone was going to find them? Yakko had originally written it off as the voice meaning the people the new Warner Bros. CEO had sent after them, but now he wasn't so sure. If that were the case, staying in WarnerStock would be a far better hiding spot than the forest was. They'd be farther away, it'd be harder for any humans to find them.

This had to be the real reason the voice was trying to convince him to camp out in the forest. He thought there were people after them... People from their past? Was it the others?

— Um. Maybe? I'm not… —

The voice paused and fidgeted, seeming to concede to something when he sighed a few moments later… He gave some information, but still refused to give explanations.

— I'm not sure who or how many, but I'm pretty sure there's at least a few people out there… —

He gulped.

— … People we don't wanna see. Trust me on that one. —

Okay… That much Yakko could believe. If he wasn't talking about the others from their past, then he was talking about the same people the cashier had been scared of… and that was bad news all around. That meant they all had something to be afraid of in the first place, people they had to be afraid of. Now if only Yakko could figure out who-

"Yakko?"

"Hm?"

He looked up sharply from where he'd been glaring at his remaining nachos, the last bit of his hamburger in his hand. Rose was looking at him with a risen brow, about to stand up to throw everyone's wrappers away at the nearby trashcan.

"You zoned out, like, majorly" she frowned gently at him "You sure you're okay?"

He threw the last bite of his burger in his mouth and nodded while he chewed, grabbing the small plastic basket his last few nachos were in so Rose could take the rest of the garbage. She did, but still looked at him with worry.

"I'm fine" he smiled at her once he'd swallowed his burger, and immediately went to munch on the last few nachos "I've just been thinking, wasn't paying much attention."

"Yeah, I could tell…"

He followed her to the trashcan and as Rose threw away the trash she had in her hands, he ate the last nacho and threw his little basket in the waste as well. The trays were left on top so the staff could clean them later, and Rose led him back to everyone else.

The rest of the day was spent walking around as a group, checking out stores as they went. They bought a few more clothes, and as the day was coming to an end, both Yakko, Wakko and Dot had several bags in their arms, but so did the Milers sisters, who were helping carry whatever they couldn't. Elias was carrying whatever the sisters and he ended up buying, which in comparison to the three that had actually needed clothes, wasn't much. Yakko had been thinking the whole time though, trying to remember something about these supposed 'people' after him and people like the cashier, but he couldn't think of anything.

As they were boarding the train though, he decided to ask Rose about something that he'd figured could be a clue.

"Hey, Rose?" he started just as the train started moving, putting down his bags in front of him where his legs were resting "Aside from the royal family… Are there any other uh, groups that have power in WarnerStock?"

"Huh?" Rose seemed mostly confused by the sudden question, but let him keep going when he put up a hand.

"I mean like, I dunno, a Parliament, some sort of Church power? You said you guys mostly worship the Greek gods, so maybe a group that's in charge of putting up temples or something of the sort? Anything like that?"

"Hm…" she paused for a moment as if to think, then turned to him with a risen brow "There are temples in WarnerStock where people can pray to the gods, but the ones in charge of keeping those running is the crown. Aside from them, the only real power in WarnerStock is the Council."

Yakko immediately perked up and moved a little closer to her, eyes wide "Council? What do they do exactly?"

Rose eyed him weirdly. She clearly didn't understand why he was asking all these questions, and thought it was pretty weird. He just hoped she wouldn't ask why, he wasn't sure how well she'd take the idea that there was the possibility that he was being hunted.

"Well… The Council is pretty much just a group of people that give the royal family advice. The King, or in this case Queen, isn't obligated to do as the Council suggests, but listening to them usually gives the monarch more credibility with the people. The Council's supposed to be the voice of the populace, to echo what the regular people want. That's not to say they always do, but that's what they're meant to…" she paused then, blinking at him with suspicion "But why do you want to know about that?"

Shit.

"Uh, well-" he cleared his throat and looked around, trying to come up with some form of excuse "A guy can't be curious? You forgot to mention them when you were first telling me about WarnerStock."

Her eyes narrowed at the weak excuse "That's because they're not an institution or anything, and like I said, they're advisors. The most power they have is being able to influence the monarchy's decisions, but they can't force them to listen. That's why Athena can get away with what she's doing."

Hm… Okay so this Council didn't seem to be what he was looking for… Maybe? If it wasn't the Council and it wasn't the monarchy… some sort of secret group that hadn't shown their faces to the country perhaps? Ack, he couldn't be sure. He didn't really know anything about this country. He was just relying on the information of others, he couldn't be sure of who was guilty or innocent without any sort of evidence.

Rose seemed to get tired of his ruminating face, because she poked him on the shoulder. When he turned to look at her though… she not only looked very worried, but also a little hurt.

"… You're not keeping secrets from me, are you?" she asked quietly, and he couldn't stop himself from freezing a little, which made her sigh "I'd hoped that you could come to me with anything… You don't trust me? Is that it?"

She looked more hurt the more she spoke, and he had to stop her by waving his hands frantically in front of her face.

"N-no! No it's not that I don't trust you" he stammered, still trying to think of an excuse but coming up with smoke… He deflated, couldn't bring himself to look her in the eye "I just… don't want to worry you, and definitely don't want to involve you in anything that might be dangerous."

"Are you kidding me?" he suddenly felt her grab his chin and lift it sharply, making him look at her. He jumped at the action, but stayed quiet, looking into her fierce green eyes "Yakko, I've been in danger practically every day of my life. My family was poor as fuck, my father was an abusive asshole, and I'm in a group planning to take down the monarchy at the risk of my own life. How could you possibly put me in more danger?"

He had a few ideas, although he couldn't remember much about his past… but her eyes were burning into his soul and he just… He didn't want to be alone in this, especially when the voice was trying to stop him…

He sighed deeply, but gently grabbed her hand on his chin and pulled it away, looking at her of his own volition. He stared at her with the same intensity "I really don't know much, Rose. All I know for sure is that there's people out there, people from my past, that… one should probably be scared of."

Rose immediately frowned, a bit of panic in her eyes "So you don't know who they are?"

"… Not really, no" he thought back on what he knew, of the few memories he'd seen "They might be um… looking for me" he put his hands up when her eyes widened further and she looked freaked out "I don't know for sure though! Don't even know what they might want with me."

"Don't know who, don't know why…" she muttered, putting a hand to her mouth. She still looked stressed out "That's not good, Yakko. Is that why you were asking about groups with power in WarnerStock? Did something make you suspect them?"

"Well…" he trailed off. It had been more an attempt to gather more information than anything else… since the only lead he had was 'people who might want to hurt the group he's a part of', and all he'd been able to come up with had been a large group dedicated to… doing something. Something sinister, most likely. WarnerStock's fairly small, any large group that came together for some reason had to have some sort of power or at least gather attention, right? "Not really. I was just trying to find another piece of the puzzle so to speak…"

She hummed in distress "Alright… So we can't really do anything right now…" she sighed and sat back, turning her head to look outside, her expression still pulled in a frown "Keep me updated, okay? You don't have to do this alone. And if these people are dangerous…" she looked back at him, eyes shining fiercely "Then we'll fight them together."

The thought of companionship calmed him tremendously, and he let himself fall back to his seat and get comfortable for the hour ride ahead. They shared a smile then, and allowed themselves to try and calm down from the brief stress, both of them looking out the window at the passing trees.

There was a peaceful quiet in the wagon, one that he softly disturbed after a few minutes, humming a gentle lullaby. After he sang it a few times he heard a soft snore, and he smiled when he saw that Rose had fallen asleep with her head against the windshield. He chuckled, but went back to singing shortly, keeping the melody going until he, too, started feeling drowsy.

As he fell asleep his head slid along the seat and dropped on Rose's shoulder, and after a few minutes she, still asleep, shuffled a little until her head was resting on his.

They slept all the way back to Artemis.

Warnings: Yakko gets dizzy and passes out at one point, so if you've got real bad anxiety that might be activated by that, please be careful. Aside from that, there's nothing to warn.

AN: So this chapter... Fuck this chapter... I had a general idea of what I wanted to see happen, mostly relating to the cashier and the piece of paper. Everything else was more or less either filler, important for later, or some extra relationship thing (particularly the truce between Yakko and Elias). Originally, this chapter was entirely different, and re-writing it with a lot of chapters after this one already written and thus having to be careful with what I wrote so there weren't any plot holes was a fucking nightmare. I'm hoping that from here on out, I won't have to do this again ;u; I hope this chapter isn't too bad in the eyes of people who haven't been staring at the same words for months, trying to make them better... I just can't figure out how to fix it up more so. Here you have it.

Until next millenium, when i have another chapter up *sobs*