And we're onto chapter 2!

Trigger/spoiler warning for: assumed child death, background torture, and weighing of lives.

Being a familiar had gotten easier over the years, in Archie's opinion. He had no idea why no one was taking up the profession anymore. It had gotten easier as Douxie had learned to talk in full sentences instead of just babbling and pointing. It had gotten easier as Douxie had figured out how to con people and pick pockets instead of relying on whatever Archie could hunt and the two of them trying to beg for food. It had gotten easier when Merlin had taken them in.

And, it had gotten easier in many ways with the modern world. Archie had tried following Douxie to the school he was having to attend, taking on the forms of flying insects, but eventually Douxie had told him to stick to the apartment. Apparently, it was strange for him to be followed by butterflies and bees. And, well, Archie would certainly admit that it was easier to lay about in one place, occasionally masquerading as the bookstore's cat.

Maybe he should have gone to the Battle of the Bands today. Been supportive of his familiar's musical prowess. Douxie had been so excited for today, though it wasn't like he was expecting much, if any, competition. Besides, Archie had been to Douxie's other concerts in the past. He had improved so much from the lute he had found and attempted to play, only to drive Merlin, Morgana, and Archie to agree that teaching Douxie how to use magic to soundproof a room might not bring more harm than good.

Archie had been tempted to leave the apartment, but the sky outside had turned orange. There was probably yet another fire going on. Pity. Even though he was a dragon, Archie wasn't a fan of smoke inhalation. It wasn't good for Douxie. It was bad enough that he had gotten so sick in those first few months after the two of them first came here because of all the pollution he hadn't been used to.

And Douxie hadn't come home, even though the sky had returned to normal.

Maybe he was out with friends, and he had forgotten to call. Or maybe he had been called into work at the bistro, and he had forgotten to call. He was fine. Archie was going to lecture Douxie when he got home, but it wasn't like Douxie was hurt or anything. He was seventeen and could take care of himself; Archie was just worrying too much. That was why he felt so strange.

There was a loud, familiar knock at the door. Perhaps that was Douxie now. Archie flew to the door and peered through the peephole.

Oh.

Archie opened the door. "What are you doing here?"

Merlin looked old. He had always looked old, having been elderly when he achieved immortality, but he looked older than he had ever. At the very least, he looked so much more tired than Archie had ever seen him.

"Archie, I'm so sorry."

Merlin never apologized. On occasion, he would say things that sounded somewhat like apologies if you knew what to look for, but he wouldn't outright apologize. Then again, it had been longer for Merlin than it had been for Archie, so perhaps he had changed? Gotten kinder in his old age?

Archie tilted his head. "What for?"

Merlin sighed. "So it wasn't recent, then."

"So what wasn't recent?"

"Hisirdoux's death. I know it must be incredibly hard for you since you… were his familiar."

"Excuse me? He's not dead, I saw him just this morning, so it would've had to have been recent, and since you didn't find a body –"

"No, but I didn't sense his magic, either."

Archie opened his mouth to make a snarky retort towards the wizard, but then he closed it.

Archie couldn't sense Douxie's magic. He had always been able to sense Douxie's magic, even before they had sealed the familiar bond, but after sealing the bond he would always be able to sense Douxie's magic, no matter how far away Douxie was.

But Archie couldn't sense him now.

"There, there could be another reason."

"Like what?" And that sounded more like the Merlin Archie had known. Cantankerous, as opposed to mournful. "It's not like there are any antimagic zones in Arcadia, and I highly doubt Hisirdoux has learned how to create one in the years since I sent the two of you here."

Archie narrowed his eyes and flattened back his ears. His tail flicked. Merlin had never cared about Douxie, had never recognized just how much skill and potential Douxie had. "Why are you here? Last I heard, Morgana was your largest priority."

Granted, it had been a long time.

"Morgana's threat was finally neutralized today; in case you didn't notice her attempt at the Eternal Night. I'm going to the other side of this continent to find a Heartstone as well as to take care of some personal matters. You're welcome to come with; I'll keep the trolls from eating you," Merlin said.

Archie sniffed. "I'm not abandoning him."

Not like you did.

"Hisirdoux is dead, Archie. We both know it to be true."

"No, you've just given up on him!" Like you did before. "I won't. There has to be another reason why we don't know where he is. Besides, I'm his familiar. I know him far better than you ever have."

Besides, Archie had never abandoned Douxie. His parents had, Morgana had, Merlin had, but Archie had been with him through it all. Merlin didn't get to lay claim to Douxie's life and death like that. He had no right to.

Merlin rolled his eyes. "Fine, then. Stay here, waiting for someone who will never come back for you. I'll come back later when destiny permits it." He then closed the door behind him in such a way that Merlin had once lectured Douxie about.

What a hypocrite.

"Oh, sure, wait here for someone who will never come back for you, he says," Archie complained to the too-empty apartment. "Never mind that that's exactly what Douxie did for you, you selfish old man."

And just like Merlin did, Douxie would come back.

No, not just like Merlin. Archie would welcome back his familiar.

Though, Archie supposed that it wouldn't hurt to find Douxie instead of waiting. If Morgana had finally attempted the Eternal Night, Douxie could be hurt.

As a cat, Archie travelled the streets of Arcadia Oaks. Troll bodies littered the streets, though there were a couple gruesomes already beginning to eat them. Archie frowned as he stepped on a piece of smooth wood instead of rock. He looked down.

Surely that wasn't Douxie's guitar laying broken beneath Archie's feet. Even if Douxie had run away he would have taken his guitar with him. Besides, it had been the Battle of the Bands. There would have been so many others with guitars, and surely this wasn't the only red-and-white electric guitar that had been present. Archie pushed at the base of the guitar, checking to see the underside. The only marring of the wood would be from battle.

The underside had a portion where the initials CO'D had been carved, crossed out, and replaced by HC.

The guitar belonged to Hisirdoux Casperan. He'd bought the guitar at a thrift store, had gotten Zoe's help to fix it up, and then had made it his own. Douxie had been so happy to have this modern version of a lute.

Douxie wasn't here.

Archie curled up on top of the broken guitar, mewing pitifully.

Douxie couldn't be dead. Archie would know if his familiar had died. He had raised the boy. He would know.

He would know.

Right?

"I mean, I don't exactly know where here is. You do?" the caged human asked.

"An Earth military base called Area 49-B, but I thought they just studied and tortured life beings that aren't from Earth." Krel's voice shook with terror. He wrapped his arms around himself. Kleb, oh kleb. He was going to be tortured. And experimented on. And they had taken his clothes; how had they taken his clothes? They were meant to be difficult to remove and helped to regulate responses to the environment as well as protect his core. He felt so exposed. "And you're human, so, why are you here?"

"I mean, apparently to be tortured," Douxie said, trying to hide the panic that rose with every heartbeat. It seemed that humans hadn't changed by much after all these centuries, still trying to hurt those with magic because they didn't understand it. Well, magic or whatever this alien had. "But I'm a wizard."

The four-armed boy stared at Douxie. Douxie suspected he was raising an eyebrow in disbelief, though the lighting made it hard to tell. And, well, Douxie would have expected such a reaction from his classmates (especially before the Gumm-Gumm attack), but this guy wasn't from Earth. And on one hand, wow, he wasn't from Earth, but on the other hand, shouldn't he not be like everyone else assuming that magic didn't exist anymore?

"I mean, I'd show you, but my magic isn't working right now." He'd tried to use it to break out. It didn't help that his bracer had been replaced with these stupid cuffs. The only good thing about them was the fact that they gave off a very small amount of warmth, because the cage was otherwise very cold, and his white gown was very thin. "But these Area 43-"

"- 49-B," Krel interrupted.

"-goons took me out when I was using magic," the wizard said, not seeming to care that he was interrupted. "I just hope I was the only one taken from my… community. I, it's not like I'm the only wizard on this side of the continent, and I wouldn't want them to be waiting to get tortured."

"I think I understand," Krel said. "I'm not the only one from my planet here on this mudball, and I hope they weren't captured, either."

Maybe this could work. Krel wasn't a fighter, but neither was Stuart, and Stuart had escaped all those keltons ago. Plus, Krel might have an ally. One who could talk, while it seemed like Buster was unable to. They could discuss an escape plan together.

The wizard shifted the way he was sitting and looked upwards. "Huh, so other planets do exist? I guess they really weren't trying to mess with me and Arch when they said that there were more than four other planets and none of them revolved around the Earth."

No, this wizard could not be considered a useful ally. He was clearly an idiot, more so than everyone else on this mudball. More than metaphorically the wizard seemed to actually think Earth was somehow the center of the universe. If Krel were to somehow escape on his own, he would leave the wizard behind.

Even if Krel felt horrible right now, watching two of the orange-suited scientists remove the wizard from his cage, hitting him over the head when he tried to fight back. Figuring out a way to escape – hopefully without getting tortured at all – so Krel could save his planet was more important than saving this one life-being Krel had shared a conversation with. Krel wrapped his arms around himself and shook his head. Besides, this wizard might be even worse at physical challenges than Krel was, and Krel already knew that figuring out how to escape without outside help would be difficult even without factoring in the burden of taking someone else with him.

But, hopefully, Krel wouldn't need to figure out how to escape. Surely Aja was coming to rescue him right now with Stuart, Zadra, and Luug in tow, and Krel would even let her gloat about it.

Aja woke up to the sound of birds. Ah, what a happy sound to wake up to. Their chirping was so lively. It was another good thing about the Mothership being so far from the city. Aja liked the humans, but some of their technology was far noisier than any similar equivalent back on Akiridion-V. But chirping? Chirping was a happy, lively sound.

Aja climbed out of bed, running a hand through her hair, and stretching two of her other arms. She yawned. She and Steve had stayed up late talking. It was good to know that they wouldn't have to start worrying about having a long-distance relationship yet.

She walked over to the breakfast nook. Lucy was making pancakes, and Zadra was reading reports while Ricky tried to strike up a conversation.

Varvatos wasn't there because he had sacrificed himself for her parents. Aja frowned at the memory, and then she frowned even harder when she noticed another absence at the nook.

"Krel's not up yet?" she asked. That was odd. Even on nights where he stayed up late, he was still up early in the morning, grumpy and pretending that he had gotten far more sleep than he actually had. "Or is he skipping breakfast again?"

"The king-in-waiting is not down in the lab, I already checked when I tried – and failed – to contact the resistance at the start of the delson," Zadra said. "Eat, and then we'll go wake him."

Aja nodded, frowned, and began eating. The taste of Lucy's pancakes cleared her frown but not her worry.

That really didn't sound like Krel. Well, not unless he had snuck past Zadra to get to his lab. Aja hadn't even realized her brother was interested in doing things like sneaking off before yesterday evening. Back on Akiridion-V, he had never gone with her, even when she had asked him to sneak off with her.

Aja swallowed the rest of her food, and she and Zadra made their way to Krel's room. She placed a hand on the doorknob.

"Krel, come on, you don't want to miss –"

Krel's room was empty. Was this what it felt like for Krel every time she snuck off? Had he been afraid every single time?

"Uh, are you sure he isn't in the lab?" Aja asked, trying to mask her fear.

"I'll go check again," Zadra said, frowning and narrowing her eyes. Aja followed her, wrapping one pair of arms around herself.

Krel wasn't in the lab.

Krel wasn't in the Mothership at all, and they had checked every room, calling for him.

"I thought he came home last night," Aja said, quickly scrubbing away the tears that threatened to form.

"What?" Zadra asked.

"He snuck out yesterday evening."

"And you didn't stop him?"

Aja shook her head. She should have, or she should have gone with him.

Zadra stared at the ground away from Aja. "I don't understand, he's never snuck out before. This isn't like him."

But it's exactly like you, came the unspoken accusation. Zadra had dragged Aja back to the castle so many times in the past, but never Krel. Krel had been the quiet one, the child who stuck to the background and his technology. He didn't go outside.

He was the good sibling, and Aja wasn't. She was the one who usually snuck off. She was the one who didn't protect her little brother. She was the one who prioritized talking to Steve instead of making sure he would be okay.

Whatever had happened to him, it was her fault.

Aja waited for the lecture.

It never came.

"I'm going to go see if I can find him near the ship," Zadra said. "Stay here. Akiridion-V can't lose you as well."

As soon as Aja was out of Zadra's sight she pulled out her phone and called Steve. He picked up on the third ring.

"Hey there, my ninja-kicking angel!"

"Hi, Steve. Have you seen my brother?"

"Uh, not since the trolls attacked yesterday. Why do you ask?"

Aja burst into tears.

The scratched-out initials on Douxie's guitar are based on the initials of his VA; they will not be important to the fic.