Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim all rights to all characters (save for those of my own creation) in these few interactions… especially for the one who has so much to wrap her brain around.

~保護者~

"Inquisition"

~保護者~

Espio decided they had gathered enough for now. They hadn't been gone near as long as anticipated, but in light of the… argument? Disagreement? Whatever the hell it was, he just wanted to put distance between himself and Armaris. He couldn't do that out here. She was strong, yes, but not physically. Her strength was in her powers, in the energies she commanded. Against Hollows, who were themselves beings of Darkness… Well, he wasn't fond of the idea of her being alone around those beasts. That left him with one course of action he could take for now. Teleport back to the village with her in tow, leave her somewhere fucking safe, and then go… somewhere. Maybe see if the house was repaired yet, lend a hand if it wasn't.

He cursed his emotions, the familiar burning of anger that teased up his Darkness a little and the equally familiar suffocating anxiety that made his thoughts wander and jump around and struggle to remain on topic. Mostly, though, he cursed himself for letting his emotions take hold to begin with. For having let them rule so much of his life for so many years that everything was now going to shit as a result.

All the more reason to separate himself for a time… to give himself space to think.

They returned to the village in silence, him teleporting the instant he'd made his decision and simply taking Aramaris along with. He left her close to his parents, but not so close that it would cause her further upset if that was where she didn't want to be - further proving to him that his anxiety was getting the better of him and he was being an idiot and just needed to go somewhere else. So, seeing that the matter of his home was being taken care of, he promptly teleported away again, leaving Armaris where she was.

Armaris looked around briefly before a faint concern that had trouble breaking through the small storm of other emotions hit her. She knew that Espio had teleported her here, who else could have? But… she didn't know where he was. Internally cursing herself for causing him more problems than he'd already had, the cat curled up and laid on the ground quietly. She was there for a few minutes before a portal opened up nearby, her father stepping out and walking over to her. He wasn't surprised when she didn't make a move to acknowledge his presence, nor did he let it bother him. "Armaris… are you okay?'

The cat shook her head lightly. "No."

Ylden sighed and sat down beside her, a soft frown on his face. "Talk to me." It took her time to make the decision to bother speaking about this, pushing herself up to lean against him and explain what had happened since Zareil attacked. How her fighting style wasn't good for her and how she'd upset Espio were the main focuses of her talking, and it was plainly obvious to Ylden that these things were really bothering her. When she appeared to be finished, the man sighed gently and set a hand on hers. "Armaris, forget about the fighting thing. That's not as important to you as Espio is, right?"

Armaris blinked a few times. How could she just forget about that? It didn't make any sense, and she made sure that such was known. "Do you expect me to let myself just be useless?" she asked incredulously.

"That's not what I said," Ylden countered lightly. "My point was for you to focus on one thing at a time. You care about Espio, right? More than most things, I assume."

The female cat turned her gaze and huffed, crossing her arms. "Of course I do. Every time I get a good chance to be with him, it feels like something goes wrong. I'm starting to think this is just… a bad idea."

Ylden stopped for a moment and let his own gaze minutely shift away. It hurt that she was in a dilemma similar to what he had been in so long ago, the very thing that had caused his daughter so much pain throughout her life. This time, though, it was different. "If you care about him, if you love him, you shouldn't back down from that. Everyone is bound to make mistakes, and this just so happens to be the ones you make." He stopped for a moment before adding, "And the big point is for you to learn from those mistakes and not let yourself meaninglessly repeat them."

Armaris had the initial thought to respond snarkily about his own choices in the past, but something kept her from doing it. "I'm not sure I can just… not make them again."

"I never said you wouldn't make those mistakes again. What matters is that you don't meaninglessly repeat them, as I said. Make a conscious effort to not do it again, and if you do, apologize and try again to do better. If you care…" Ylden turned to her more fully. "You'll get it right one day."

The female cat was quiet for a moment before pushing herself to stand. "You were watching over me even when you were stuck there, weren't you?" Armaris asked. "It's not like you to just not show… so you were stuck, right?"

Ylden smiled faintly. "I'll always protect you because I will always be your father," he answered lightly. "And it appears that I'll be around a lot more." There was something in his expression, something that Armaris couldn't quite decipher that bordered on concern or upset. Though… she didn't question it. Instead, she simply wrapped her arms around him and sighed softly. Ylden returned this action gently, holding his daughter close in his arms. "I love you, Armaris."

"Love you too, dad…"

~保護者~

Following the nerve-wracking encounter with Aniko's parents, she and Shei returned to the village quickly. The internal warring between his own energies and the demonic energies that Kal and Ryuji had teased up again from deep within him left Shei weak and exhausted. Spots of color rose high on pale cheeks, clear visual evidence of a rising fever. For that reason, he was unable to work on rebuilding his son's home as he had planned on doing. Instead, he was forced to rest beneath the tree with Aniko and the children while Calypso (who had once again volunteered her magic and energy in order to help, furthering the respect he had already been developing toward her regarding similar efforts she had made prior to this) worked high above them.

Both to stay out of the way and to satisfy his own need to protect the family he had claimed as his own since hatching so many eons ago, Aku had emerged from the tree some time ago and curled around the four chameleons in a protective circle while he (being as old as he was) got in another nap. However, he woke promptly when he sensed someone coming. He rumbled lowly, a sound of annoyance and not aggression, and raised his head. "A shinobi approaches, lady Aniko," he grumbled. Then, as his species possessed a special ability to read the hearts of those around them, he added, "She bears no ill intent. Merely a desire to talk."

The chameleon from before… Aniko remarked to herself mentally, climbing over Aku and watching the young chameleon approach. "You are unharmed, correct?" she asked.

Tyria gave a silent nod, approaching Aniko and giving her a respectful bow. "Thank you for allowing me to talk with you, Lady Aniko."

"Rise and leave behind the formalities, young one," Aniko answered. "You aided me and my partner greatly. I owe you much respect in return."

A few blinks served as the initial response, but Tyria did hesitantly nod once more and do as she was bid. "How is Shei?"

Aniko crossed her arms tightly and sighed. "Not… particularly well," she said honestly. "The demonic taint left within him was dragged to the surface. It has left him feeling unwell."

Tyria nodded slowly to this before glancing to Espio's home. "Where is Espio-sama?"

A twinge of pain ran across Aniko's features, almost imperceptibly. "He is currently busy."

"I understand," Tyria answered before walking closer. "Who were those chameleons?"

A noticeable flash of anger entered Aniko's eyes, hardly concealed. "My parents," she answered venomously. "Horrible shadows of what our ancestors were."

Tyria frowned gently at this, imperceptibly rubbing a hand against her neck. "Your father's threat was serious, correct?"

"Undoubtedly," Aniko answered without hesitation. "I appreciate your efforts, but please do not do that again. I will not have them harming my people."

Suddenly, Tyria seemed satisfied. Perhaps it was possible that she hadn't approached with much to say in the first place, but whatever the reason was, Aniko couldn't place it. "Thank you, Aniko. I will do my best to stay safe in the future."

Aniko nodded and gently bowed to Tyria. "Thank you once more for your intervention, despite the danger. I greatly appreciate your actions."

Tyria was obviously flustered and she nodded quickly. "Thank you, Lady Aniko."

Once more, Aniko rose and gave the young chameleon a gentle smile. "You may go now. Do not feel as if you must stay and converse at length." Tyria took this as it came and vanished, a blink coming from Aniko. Our kind is gaining more and more unusual abilities over time. I hope that this is enough to keep them from relying on their Darkness. She quietly returned to her husband, wrapping an arm around him gently to keep him close.

Mostly due to the fever stripping away his normal reservations, his immediate response was to sign a sort of half-conscious complaint. "Don't… it's hot."

Aniko was visibly displeased, but did so if only for him. "I dislike seeing you in such a state." He didn't have much of a response to give, only answering with a vague nod and shifting the way he was reclining against Aku so as to be a bit more comfortable. She sat beside him quietly, watching carefully out of sheer worry for her partner. "What do you think we should do?" This time, he shrugged in reply. It was simpler than signing out the words to say that he didn't know. Aniko sighed gently before suddenly standing again. "The wolf is back." Rather than wait for a response, as he likely wouldn't even give one, Aniko teleported to where she sensed Li and Novei.

Li yelped at her sudden appearance, exhaustion plainly obvious despite him having recently rested. "Oh, please don't do that!" he cried out, resisting the urge to hide behind Novei.

The chameleon was mildly confused about his reaction, not sure how to respond in kind. "How is the job going?"

The wolf managed a smile. "I finished the weapons. I just need a way to transport them all, and I'll be able to bring them all here very soon. I thought you might want to know that it was finished."

Aniko blinked once. "You work… quickly."

"Yeah…" Li rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I have to be able to work pretty quickly sometimes. I used to have a whole storehouse of weapons, but that kinda got… wiped out." The wolf's eyes filled with unspoken sadness before he gave another smile. "I'll get them to you all as soon as I'm able to."

"Thank you for your work, Li. I am very grateful," Aniko answered gently, a smile on her face as well. "I will find a way to compensate you in the future."

The wolf shook his head. "Oh, that's not really necessary. I enjoy doing this."

Aniko's eyes narrowed and Li let out a quiet 'eep' in response. "I will find a way to compensate you," she repeated, a touch more firmly this time.

"I- Got it." With that, he quickly walked off with Novei in tow.

Hmph. He is far too timid. With this observation, Aniko teleported back to Shei. "The wolf said he has finished the weapons we asked for."

That prompted Shei to blink open his eyes and look blearily at her for a minute. "All of them?" he eventually signed in a moment of coherent thought.

Aniko nodded. "According to his words, yes."

Aku chimed in. "That is impressive."

"For an outsider, absolutely," Aniko answered. "I will have to see them in action, however. If they stand up to our requirements… then I will have no choice but to say that he went well beyond what I expected." Shei nodded slowly in vague agreement, shifting his position again in an effort to find comfort. His whole body ached from the heat… but he tried to focus more on the conversation than that. Aniko gently set a hand on his shoulder, a deep concern growing within her as she noticed the pain he was in. "Should we get aid from those beings of Light?"

Rumbling his displeasure, Aku laid his head down in the grass. "I would normally not advise it, but… it may be necessary in a situation like this. She can ease the corruption once more, but it will put him through more pain for a time."

"Temporary pain is better than continuous," Aniko answered lightly. "I assume Rose will return soon, considering her sister has. I will collect her when she arrives." Some time passed and she became keenly aware of Rose appearing, as well as another familiar being. She took a moment to observe them, watching as the two interacted.

Kial carefully held Rose in a soft hug, obviously pleased with her presence near him. "It has been far too long since we were able to speak at length," he murmured gently. "I am very happy to see you far less… burdened."

"I finally achieved my life-long goal," Rose answered softly. "My sister is now back with me."

The bobcat took a step back, plain confusion on his face. "Your sister is with you? How is she no longer corrupted?"

"Nothing short of a miracle, I suppose." Rose grinned brightly, and something in her said that Kial could somehow tell as he smiled as well. "I am simply… happy to have her back in my life."

"I am excited to get to meet her," Kial answered easily, returning to holding her close.

Rose nodded and wrapped her own arms around him. "You are doing well, too."

"Aside from the death of my mentor… life has been well enough. Being a god is… odd, though, considering I was merely a mortal before," Kial answered. "Do you understand what that means?"

The female cat blinked a few times in confusion before it clicked. "Your lifespan… you will not die of old age?" Kial's grin said it all. Out of pure joy, Rose kissed him and hugged him tighter. "Truly… life has showered miracles."

Kial nodded gently. "And one of them was being brought back to you." Rose somehow managed to hug him tighter, and Kial coughed lightly due to the immense strength she displayed. "When did you get so strong?" he managed to ask.

Rose released him and blinked before looking over her body. "I suppose it was… over the course of my life."

"Sheesh," Kial commented lightly. "You'll crush me if you do that again."

The female cat smiled gently. "I have something I must do," Rose murmured. "I would love it if you would join me."

Kial smiled as well. "I would have nothing less."

With that, Kial followed Rose as she approached Aniko. The chameleon once more climbed over Aku and stood before them. "Is there something you need, Rose?" Aniko asked.

"I wished to discuss something with you," Rose answered. "About Espio. Though, I would wish to speak with you and Shei."

Aniko frowned and turned to Shei. "Rose wishes to speak with us both. Do you think you can handle conversation, or simply focusing on it before I ask for her help?" He didn't really know whether or not he could actively converse much, and even listening was difficult. He was honestly exhausted, on top of everything else. So, in an effort to be as honest as possible with his answer, he just… shrugged. Again. Aniko nodded and turned to Rose. "I require your help. A situation arose and the demonic taint within him was drawn forth. Could you-" Before Aniko could finish what she was saying, Rose was already on the move and next to Shei, working on purifying him once more. Tch. She should have waited for me to finish speaking first.

Once this was finished, Rose turned back to them and cleared her throat lightly. "Regarding those questions I posed to you some time ago… I believe I have come with a diagnosis." As his fever ebbed as a result of the purification and healing, Shei frowned and slowly sat up, listening intently now that he was capable of doing so.

There was a moment of confusion before Aniko nodded and glanced around. "Hold on a second." Mere moments later, Aniko returned with Armaris beside her. "Continue."

Rose simply nodded and continued as she had been. "I spoke with another professional on the matter, and we both came to the agreement that Espio is highly likely to have a form of autism. We compiled a list of his known symptoms for you all to read so you do not have to listen to me for an extended period of time." With this said, a notebook appeared in Rose's hand and she flipped it open to the page she and Marthal had worked on, handing it over to Aniko. "Please read through this carefully, and do not be afraid to keep the list for your own reference."

Aniko nodded slowly to her before beginning to read over the list with Shei now by her side and alert once more.

The first few notes were short and to the point.

-He makes eye-contact, but it's generally infrequent, and he has no issue looking directly at people's faces. He makes eye-contact more frequently and easily with people he's comfortable around, such as his parents.

-Aside from when he was a child around just his parents, chiefly his mother, he has seldom ever smiled overall. He can be caused to automatically smile when happy enough, like "normal" people can, but he has never been one to do so much. Some of this is due to training not to do so, but this trait was present even before he reached that point in his training.

-He made no friends as a child and showed no interest in doing so. He didn't gain his very first friend, Vector, until he was an adult and that friendship took multiple years to even develop.

Aniko felt a pain in her heart at the mention of Vector, knowing that this meant Espio had lost one of the few friends he'd ever made in his life. She was quiet about this pain, however. Armaris frowned lightly at this, but said nothing.

-He has a very reduced interest in people, their activities, their thoughts, and so on. Throughout his life, he's barely shown any outward desire for connection with most people (though there are a few exceptions). Typically, he ignores other people, entertains himself by himself, seldom checks on what others are doing, and the like.

-As a baby and young child, he didn't always respond to his parent's displays of affection. This issue has become more pronounced as he's grown, to the point where he doesn't always react to things like hugs and kisses (whether chaste or otherwise) or even simple "I love you's". When he does react, sometimes his response is negative for seemingly no legitimate reason. Sometimes he reacts anxiously or with irritability, even when nothing should have warranted such a response.

Armaris's hands curled up tightly and her ears folded somewhat at reading this note. She had no idea that this was such an issue. And I only made things worse by not knowing…

-For the duration of his life, he has most typically failed to seek comfort from other people for any reason. The one exception would be with his mother, whom he would often seek comfort from (usually in response to being made anxious by something) during his youngest years.

-He displays great difficulty in asking others for help, voicing his thoughts (this is usually something he can do easily enough, but not always) and feelings, and reading and understanding emotions (both his and other peoples').

-Though to a certain degree this is exceptionally normal for a chameleon, he does display an unusual preoccupation with blades and combat. His interest isn't obsessive, but it does dictate a lot of aspects of his life and how he behaves.

-Even taking into account that he comes from an incredibly intelligent family, the intelligence he displays (particularly in certain areas) is still beyond what could generally be considered normal. One example of this can be seen in just how frighteningly quickly he learns new things (regardless of what they are or how difficult it's supposed to be) and picks up new skills.

-As a baby and young child, he rarely liked being held, rocked, bounced, cuddled, and so on. He couldn't tolerate it, and it stressed him out greatly. It was one of the main things people tried to do that caused him anxiety when he was young. The only exception was with his mother, partially due to his instincts as her baby to allow her to hold and cradle him. He grew so used to it that he would seek out hugs from or to be held by her on his own, but only from her.

-To this day, he is averse to touch, though his reactions to it aren't exactly uniform and predictable. Sometimes he won't react. Sometimes he'll just stiffen or at least tense up. Sometimes he'll become anxious and seek to quickly escape the touch. Sometimes he'll be made irritable, or even angry. In the very worst of cases (which are rare), he'll respond with varying degrees of physical violence. Some of this stems from trauma he experienced as a small child, but there's clearly more to it. He seems hyper-aware of the sensations when people touch him, and while he normally has the coping skills to just deal with it he simply can't do so all the time.

Armaris's eyes widened at this particular note, a sense of dread filling her. Oh, fuck… Once more, she couldn't help but blame herself for just not knowing. Sure, she had observed it, but there was no way she could have known it was that bad.

-Although some of this stems from being raised in the far, far north, the degree to which he's sensitive to heat can potentially be considered abnormal. He normally seems to be able to ignore it and just go about life, but it severely affects his ability to sleep, eat, remain in a decent mood, display as much energy as normal, and so on. Conversely, he thrives in the cold.

-He could never have been considered hyper-active, but he certainly does display a higher need than most to live an active life. He becomes stir-crazy, irritable, and stressed out when he's cooped up for too long and unable to at least go out and take a walk. For his whole life, he has always needed to have plenty of exercise for his own mental and emotional health. So, while not hyper, he is energetic to a potentially abnormal degree.

-He has always had a tendency to wander. Wandering away from his parents and other caregivers, wandering away from where he's supposed to be, wandering in and out of situations he's involved in (or supposed to be involved in), wandering away from conversations, and so on. It seems much less pronounced of an issue now that he's older, but it does still happen fairly regularly.

-From infancy, he suffered from acute insomnia, to the point where he would remain awake for unhealthily long periods of time before finally getting a short amount of sleep. To make matters worse, he suffers to this day from unspecific, baseless, and utterly random nightmares (often outright night terrors) whenever he does sleep. This is a common issue amongst the autistic community, though it's not yet clear why.

-He's never been known to display any typical stims. Stims are a behavior that many autistic people display to self-soothe and/or self-stimulate (hence the term "stimming"). Stimming can stave off meltdowns and whatnot and often comes in the form of a harmless behavior (i.e. spinning in circles, waving hands up and down, etc.). Stimming is often compulsive, but not necessarily always.

He doesn't do things like rocking, drumming his fingers, watching things spin, and so on. However, he did display a disturbing propensity for self-injurious behavior with his knives as a child. When overly upset, stressed, or whatever, he would sometimes be found to have cut or even slightly stabbed himself as a means of regaining focus and control over himself through the use of pain. Whether or not he still does this is unclear, but he does still use pain for the same purpose by letting others hurt him in combat if he feels the need.

Armaris winced lightly, vividly remembering the last interaction she'd had with Espio. Knowing that this was a recurring issue… this brought the memories she'd experienced during their foraging once more on top of guilt for how she'd reacted. There was a similar wince from Aniko, a deep frown on her face as she read over this. The fact that she hadn't been fully aware of this greatly concerned her, especially since this was her son. Shei, meanwhile, remained outwardly reserved like his normal self, eyes glued to the page.

-He has an incredible eye for detail and will notice many things that most people just won't, even with great effort. His mind can take in even the most minute details in mere seconds.

-His facial expression doesn't always match his mood. His expression is often regarded as calm, blank, and unreadable, which again doesn't always actually match his mood. This is rather common amongst autistic people. It's also something commonly taught to shinobi, but he displayed this trait even before that point in his training.

-He has a borderline extreme desire to be left alone much of the time. However, he does tend to ignore this just often enough that it's not necessarily readily apparent to others just how severe it really is.

-His father is mute, but obviously that's not something that can be inherited. Nevertheless, Espio himself was mute until he was six in their years. He couldn't even so much as hum until that age, but he picked up speaking skills incredibly quickly once he was able to start talking. Even to this day, there are periods (typically not long ones) where he'll revert back to using sign language to speak to people instead of actually talking. The cause of him doing this is unclear and he's never seemed to be able to provide an explanation himself.

-Sometimes he struggles to read people's expressions and body language to determine how they're feeling and what they're thinking. This isn't always true, though, especially once he knows a person very well. Regardless, the more openly expressive a person is, the easier it will be for him regardless of how well he knows them.

-Empathy is not a concept he seems to grasp terribly well. It's normal, to an extent, for chameleons to be like this, but for him to mostly be incapable of experiencing it toward most people isn't normal.

-He has always displayed difficulties in taking steps to start a conversation, and, in spite of possessing an unusually high vocabulary, he often has a hard time continuing a conversation after it's begun. However, this does not always remain true when he is around people he is comfortable with, such as his mother or Armaris. Still, it's extremely common for him to remain completely silent, regardless, even when he has something to ask or say.

-He's always been abnormally rebellious, stubborn, and temperamental (even as an adult), rejecting most people of authority and seeming to chafe against anyone interfering with his solitude.

-Particularly as a child, he was known to have emotional outbursts (though they weren't terribly common), even in seemingly normal situations. For example, he would get very angry and hostile for no other reason than stress over being in a new/strange environment. This doesn't happen much in his adult life, however. It's unknown if he's ever truly had a meltdown, but these may well have been meltdowns themselves. Even if they weren't, they were still unusual because chameleons do not typically suffer tantrums as babies and children. And even if they did, these tantrums were too serious to be considered truly normal.

-Starting in his late teens and early adult years, he began suffering from acute depression that was so severe he had to be formally diagnosed and medicated by a modern doctor. His depression didn't seem to have any particular root cause and isn't ever-present in him, but when it strikes it does so with frightening force.

-He never engaged in imaginative "pretend" play as a child, which can be a red flag that indicates (when in collusion with other symptoms) that the child in question has autism.

-While not severely dependent on routine (whether those of his own creation or those created by others) the way some people can be, it can still seriously disturb and upset him when what few routines he does have are trampled on. He can usually keep his reactions under wraps and move on without too much of a hitch, but often his mood will still be left soured for a prolonged period after the event.

-He is sensitive to textures and physical sensations in general, which plays into his sensitivity to heat. This also extends to food, rendering him unable to tolerate eating some things because of the way they feel in his mouth. Taste plays a great role in that as well. The most obvious way this symptom has revealed itself in the past was by the taste and/or texture of a food causing him to gag, nearly vomit, or actually vomit almost straight away.

-Though he masks it very well typically, he does suffer from anxiety. It typically seems to stem from social situations and interactions, but sometimes it'll crop up seemingly for no reason. It's usually nothing he can't just ignore and move on from, but sometimes it's bad to the point where his thoughts begin racing out of control, he struggles to focus, his heart and breathing quicken, and so on. That is much less common, however.

Armaris looked up to Rose, a deep frown on her face. "Is this all… true?"

Rose nodded. "I gathered this information from not only his parents, but from someone he traveled with for a long time in the past. This is a culmination of many years of observation."

Shei frowned and finally 'spoke up' by signing a question of his own. "You stated this person was some form of professional?"

"Yes. He was licensed as a professional, and he was performing this type of work before such even existed. I would venture to say that he is far more experienced than I am," Rose answered.

"Well…" Aniko murmured. "I… I am not sure what to do with this information, truly," she admitted quietly. "How can we help Espio?"

"There are a… number of things I would need to teach you and doing so all at once is foolish, truly. It would be best to begin with attempts at therapy to gauge his reaction to such as well as teaching you three especially on how to help him with his symptoms in the best way you can. From there, we can personalize how his treatment goes so that it will work the best it is able to," Rose explained.

Kial frowned lightly, as he'd simply stayed silent due to his own inability to read (being blind was exceptionally interesting, at times). "I'm also assuming that we'll have to find a way to get him on board with this?"

Rose bit her lip. "That… may be the most difficult part when we start. From what little I know of him overall, he will likely be very unwilling."

"He will resist," Shei confirmed slowly. "He is… unaccustomed to needing help, much less receiving it from anyone. Similarly, he does not like to need help." How he managed to put so much emphasis on that one word with just his hands was anyone's guess at this point.

Armaris sighed. "It'll likely take a lot of convincing, especially if you're the one providing the therapy. He doesn't know you well, so it would take time for him to trust you at all."

"I understand and expect such. If there is another that you know of he would be more willing to speak with, I would encourage you to reach out to them. Otherwise, I am here, and I believe that he might be willing to speak with the person I worked with," Rose answered softly.

"Who were they?" Shei silently asked, frowning.

"His name is Marthal. He was a part of the group Espio joined long ago," Rose said. "That is the extent of what I know."

Suddenly, Shei seemed to understand. "The yokai?" he questioned.

Rose nodded. "Yes."

Shei immediately turned to Aniko. "Speaking with him ourselves may be wise. He may have yet more knowledge than just what was written down."

Aniko nodded. "I would prefer to do so."

"So… for the time being, what do we do?" Armaris asked.

"My recommendation is to do your best to avoid triggering any of these symptoms where it is possible. Refrain from being forceful, and if it seems that your reaction is garnering a bad reaction from him, take a step back and try to approach it differently or leave the problem as it is," Rose answered. "He has a communicator, so do not be afraid to attempt to use it to contact someone in the group should you need help. They will surely send the best aid they can."

After a brief pause, Shei turned his attention squarely onto Armaris as a new question entered his mind. "You two came back far earlier than expected. Why? Was something the matter?"

Armaris's ears folded down more than they had been and she lowered her gaze. "Yes." It was immediately clear that she didn't want to get into the details, even to Kial who was only getting pieces of the conversation.

Aniko frowned and set her gaze on Armaris. "What happened?"

"I made mistakes," Armaris muttered quietly. "I saw him cutting and tried to get him to give me the knife, and I also tried to convince him to talk to you two about what you think of him," she admitted, curling up once more on the ground as she had before speaking to her father earlier. "He teleported me back here and left somewhere."

Those two disjointed initial details made Shei frown. He decided to focus on the most important one first. "Cutting?" he repeated.

Armaris nodded lightly. "Some small blade he could conceal in his hand. I… barely noticed at first."

Rose very quietly knelt in front of Armaris and leaned down to where she could see the black cat's face. "Armaris, this is very important. In order to help, we need to understand what happened. I beg of you, please explain what happened."

"We were talking about him having kids, and as the conversation drew on, he kept making comments about how he didn't trust himself around them and didn't want to let them be around him," she started, uncurling slightly. "I got upset because… that's what my father did, and we argued a bit on that matter. Then I tried to explain to him that we don't believe he's evil, but he didn't agree. Argued on that for a short time… then I saw he was squeezing that blade. I tried to get him to give it to me, but I just got so overwhelmed and went away from him," Armaris explained quietly. "We haven't spoken since that happened."

That concerned Shei greatly, more so than he let on in his expression. "Where is he now?"

"I don't know," Armaris admitted quietly. "He teleported me here and went somewhere else."

Frowning, Shei signed to Aniko, "We should find him first and ensure he is no longer harming himself before we speak with Marthal."

Aniko nodded and frowned. "I should be able to do so."

Rose held up a hand, signaling for her to wait. "Before we search, there was one more thing that Armaris mentioned. You said that he believed he was evil and did not want to speak to his parents about it, correct?"

"Yeah," Armaris admitted.

Shei's earlier frown deepened. "What, specifically, did he say about this?"

"He said that I was the only one who believed he was not evil," Armaris murmured. "And when I wanted him to speak to the two of you regarding that, he said he would not and didn't know how."

Aniko frowned deeper and crossed her arms tighter. "I… I suppose I should speak to him about that."

"It would be best," Shei nodded. "He will accept the truth far more easily if he hears it from you, as opposed to anyone else."

"You should tell him as well," Aniko answered. "To further show that his family supports him and trusts him."

"Of course I will," Shei replied with another nod, this one more solemn than before.

Aniko looked to Rose. "Is there anything else we need to talk about?"

Rose shook her head lightly. "We can look for Espio. I wish you the best in your conversation with him."

"Thanks," Aniko answered, vanishing in a blur of speed.

Shei looked up at the house high above as he stood, then signed to Armaris, "It appears that Calypso has left. That likely means she has finished. You may go inside and rest, if you wish." After signing this, he gathered up the children (who were fast asleep again) and then took them in. He laid them down in Espio's room before returning outside just as Aku began to head up into the tree like usual. Armaris, rather than go and rest, was quick to begin searching for Espio as well.

The chameleon in question was on the other side of the village entirely, seated in the branches of an unoccupied tree several hundred feet away from the nearest building. He had pulled his glove off of his right hand and was busy bandaging it, the blade he had been using earlier discarded on the branch beside him as he worked. He at first barely noticed it when he was suddenly joined by another person, so occupied with his thoughts was he, but a second later he glanced down sharply to see… the furthest thing from a threat in these woods. That god… the meek one. Li, was it?

The wolf approached the tree calmly after having told Novei to not come over here for fear of her somehow pissing the chameleon off. He looked up to Espio with a heart full of burden before saying, "Hey… I need to talk to you about something. It's really important."

Espio watched Li for a long moment, silent and expressionless, then simply resumed tending to his hand. "Talk," he stated finally. In truth, it was less of a command and more of an invitation than it sounded like.

Li nodded slowly and glanced around before finally speaking once more. "It's… about Cream. She wanted me to tell you something, but we've both been so busy that I'm just now getting to tell you."

That immediately made Espio tense up and stop what he was doing again. "...Cream?" he finally asked, his voice significantly quieter than before.

"Yeah," Li answered quietly. "Right before she died… she wanted me to tell you that she said goodbye. That was all, but… I wanted to make sure that wish was granted for her," the wolf murmured. "I'm really sorry it took me so long to tell you."

Espio was completely silent for a time, his thoughts taking his mind far away. When he finally spoke, he surprised even himself with what he said. "Thank you. ...For telling me."

Li nodded. "You're welcome. And… I'm sorry for not being able to save her. Everything happened all at once, and I couldn't even fight for myself…" The pain showed on his face, along with some level of guilt that he tried to control. Espio was now at a loss for words, and all he found himself able to do was shrug a little. Li then decided to speak once more. "If you need anything from me… a weapon, someone to talk to… whatever, just find me. I'll do what I can."

In truth, he did need a weapon. Now just felt like the wrong time to ask. Espio wasn't even convinced he wanted to ask. He let out a small sigh and simply said, "Go rest. You are tired."

"It's that obvious, huh?" Li asked, chuckling lightly. "I will, but just please keep that offer in mind. You and your family are more than welcome to come to me for anything, as long as you don't stab me or Novei."

That earned him a small nod, perhaps even one borne from some degree of amusement. "Understood." Li nodded and waved a farewell before walking to Novei and teleporting away with her.

~保護者~

Wave joined the family cooking shenanigans just as Jet was pulling Lucas's treat out and setting it aside to cool off. Sein was engrossed in his own antics while Alana made efforts to both supervise him and find something for herself to eat. Kath was seated on a stool beside a counter with Azerel sitting beside him, idly scratching behind the wolf's left ear while staring off into space, no doubt lost within his own thoughts. Cere busied herself with preparing a meal of her own, meanwhile.

All in all, everyone seemed busy and in good spirits. It brought a smile to Wave's face, even as some lingering worries nagged at her. Jet was so distraught earlier. He's almost too calm now. That usually means he's bottling things up, which will just make things worse for him farther down the line. She watched him work, smile fading and eyes growing sad. You often hurt yourself nearly as much as those around you have, Jet… and you never seem to realize that.

He seemed to notice her before too long, which wasn't surprising. Somehow, her smile managed to grow back when he turned to face her, an almost questioning look in his eyes. "I was just watching," she offered by way of explanation. "It's been a long time since I've seen you mixed up in this kind of happy chaos."

Jet thought about that, then huffed. "I would not call this 'chaos'," he disagreed. "This is tame compared to how it used to be."

At this, Wave couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, I remember. Everybody's great-great-great-however-many-other-greats grandkids used to drive you up the wall with their craziness." This earned her a soft hum of agreement as he turned back to what he was doing - namely, shifting Lucas's leita onto a plate once it was cool enough to do so. Wave walked over. "You going to frost that thing or what?" she teased.

"If I did it myself, Lucas might never get over the devastation," Jet replied, amusement faintly coloring his voice. "His heart might well and truly break."

"So let him do it, then, you big bully," Wave teased, flicking his shoulder.

"You were the one who suggested I do it," Jet returned. He flicked her right back without even batting an eye.

"Well, now I've changed my mind." When his eyes rolled, she chuckled. "Where is the little munchkin, anyway? I thought you brought him in here."

"He went to see the horses," Jet answered, moving to put the cooking utensils he'd used into the special machine that washed them. They were clean nearly as fast as he'd put them in there, and dry as well. Once they were taken care of, he started putting everything away. "He has no patience for sitting around and waiting."

Sein glanced over around this time, seeming to stop whatever he had been doing before to turn and blink once. "We going to see the horses?"

Jet glanced at him and then shrugged. "You can, if you want to."

"You're going too, right?" Sein asked, a smile on his face.

When Jet hesitated and looked back at all the food still being prepared, Wave gave his shoulder a playful nudge and insisted, "Go on. I'll monitor things in here and make sure the food stays warm. Besides, you love the horses and you know it."

That earned a huff, but Jet relented. "Fine," he agreed, already turning and heading out of the room.

Sein passed a bright and thankful smile to Wave as he quickly moved after his son, catching up to Jet and walking alongside him. "So, all things considered, you probably had a horse, right?"

"Neila," Jet answered. Then he added, "She still lives. I did not want any other horse, so I tied her life to mine. As long as I live, she will as well."

There was a faintly bittersweet smile on Sein's face for a moment. "I never had a chance to do that," he answered lightly before adding, "I'm glad you did, though. It's so cool that you still have your horse."

His comments made Jet think a bit. He knew that these horses, along with some other animals, had survived the demise of Planet Babylon and made it here with the Babylonian people themselves. But now he had to know… "You had a horse of your own?" Sure, that was common now, but had it been back then as well?

"Mhm," Sein answered easily. "Lovely horse. Had a mind of his own and uh… was a bit mischievous like me. Liked to find puddles and buck me off into them." Sein grinned brightly. "The fucker was great, though."

Jet considered that briefly before asking, "How long did you have him?" By now, they were outside and walking through a courtyard headed toward the wide pastures where the horses often roamed and grazed and ran and played. He had so many fond memories here… Strange that his fondness for them felt a touch faded, though.

"A long time," Sein answered. "I was pretty young when I decided to insist that I wanted a horse."

"Did you all have horses?" Jet decided to ask next, purely out of curiosity.

Sein nodded gently. "Absolutely. All four of us had a horse." That was definitely very interesting, Jet decided, but ultimately he didn't have too much to say about it. They had arrived, anyway, and Lucas was in sight now. The child was standing on the side of the fence, grinning brightly as he watched the blue flaming manes and tails of the horses ripple beautifully while the animals moved about in the lush grass. Upon spying Sein and Jet coming toward him, he gave an energetic wave using his full arm. Sein smiled brightly before looking to Jet. "I didn't mention it, but my horse's name was Fafnir. I got the name from some mythos I read as a kid. Thought you might wanna know."

"Mythos?" Jet questioned, eyes scanning the group of grazing horses ahead of them. His was elsewhere, it seemed, but there were some individuals he recognized.

"Myths, mythology, that kind of stuff," Sein answered. "It's… actually a part of the reason I became who I was today. Reading about all of those cool heroes doing amazing things…" The older man smiled, chuckling. "I wanted to be like them."

Jet nodded slowly, but was prevented from saying anything when Lucas exclaimed in what had been modern Babylonian at the time of his death, "Literai metan, batol!"

This earned a faint smile, and Jet answered in kind, "Satsub'ar. Eitan." Knowing Sein might not understand, he translated, "Apparently he's impressed by that black mare over there. He says she is especially fast."

Sein nodded briefly. "Interesting," he remarked lightly, a smile on his face.

Finally, Jet decided to locate his own horse and neatly jumped the fence. A bit of peering into the distance told him another group of horses was gathered that way, so he began walking. Eager to join him, Lucas scrambled over the fence as well and ran after his father. "C'mon, Sein!" the boy called.

There was a laugh that escaped Sein as he vaulted the fence and took off lightly after them. "I'm coming!"

After a bit of walking, Jet pointed out a pure white mare and calmly told his father, "That is Neila. She is the one with grey eyes."

"Huh… kinda reminds me of Fafnir," Sein said slowly, walking toward Neila curiously. "Odd."

The horse in question, having been through wars and other horrible events in her life, showed no signs of skittishness or fear in response to being so suddenly approached by a stranger. She openly welcomed the two familiar faces, however, even going so far as to nudge Lucas with her head several times. It seemed she was thrilled to see the child after so long. Jet smiled very faintly and patted her neck lightly with a hand while he asked Sein, "How does she remind you of him?"

"Her eyes…" Sein answered immediately. "Her aura is pretty… similar too." There was some contemplation plainly on his face as he continued to observe the horse.

In particular, that last comment caught Jet's attention. Similar auras nearly always denote family relation. Whether or not it was truly likely that their horses managed to be related was a matter up for debate, but the idea was certainly interesting. If not outright strange.

It seemed Sein had come to some sort of solution, but he hadn't bothered to say what that might be. "Well, that's definitely interesting if nothing else."

Jet nodded slowly just as Lucas began bouncing on his heels and excitedly asking, "Can we go on a ride? Please?"

"He does not have a horse," Jet pointed out, "and none of these are young enough for you to ride on your own. They are too grown for you."

"But I can ride with you!" Lucas said. "And he can use one of the others, can't he?" He turned to Sein, eyes pleading. "Can't you? I really wanna go on a ride!"

Sein shrugged. "If the horses don't accept me, then it's a no-go. They get pretty angry if you try to ride them and they don't like you, after all."

"Each horse typically accepts only one rider," Jet patiently explained to his son. "It is why your sister could never ride on your horse. She was also too young, but that was only part of the reason."

Lucas immediately set about pouting. "But I wanna go."

"As much as I'd love to ride horses with the both of you, we have food inside that's most definitely waiting on us by now," Sein answered. "Probably best if we head back in for now."

Immediately, the child brightened. "Oh, yeah! I have leita!"

Jet managed a more visible smile this time. "Yes, you do. And you still need to frost it." With a hearty cheer, Lucas tore off back toward the palace.

Sein laughed briefly at this display before turning back to Jet with a faintly more concerned expression. "You alright? You've seemed a bit… blank, for lack of better words. Outside of interacting with Lucas, that is."

"I'm fine," Jet told him without hesitation, a fact which generally meant that he was likely not lying. But, of course, given what he had been through all too recently… it stood to reason that he was. "I've just had things on my mind." He started walking after Lucas.

There was a moment of silence from Sein as he began following Jet. He then smiled once more to his son and said, "If you need to talk about anything, I'm here for you." Jet merely nodded and continued walking, opting not to say anything else about it.

~保護者~

Tails landed his ship and opened the cockpit, then unbuckled and stepped out onto the wing. Knowing that Wery still had a lot to process and might not have been paying attention, he gently said, "Hey, we're back now. Need any help getting out?"

Wery shook her head lightly to him before pulling herself up and over the side of the ship to drop onto the ground, her natural clumsiness leading her to nearly fall over on the landing before she collected herself and stood upright. "I'm good!"

With a small nod, Tails jumped down, his twin namesakes briefly twirling so as to slow his descent and give him a gentle landing. "Okay," he said as he did this. The cockpit to the ship closed seemingly on its own, as if it had detected that there was no one left in the vessel anymore.

The female fox turned to him curiously, eyeing his tails before looking up to him. "You can actually gain lift with your tails?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah." Tails rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "More than that, though. I can properly fly with them, too. That, and the fact that I have two of them, is why I have my nickname."

"Woah…" Wery murmured. "I never thought they'd be aerodynamic! That's awesome!" She smiled brightly. "You're so full of surprises."

This earned a small laugh. "Genetic abnormalities and mutations for the win, I guess. I'd probably be way less interesting without them. I'd just be a normal guy who builds stuff. And, you know, has friends who are practically superheroes. But otherwise a normal guy."

Wery frowned. "You are still like, the best inventor Mobius has ever seen. You're far from some 'normal' guy." She seemed… intent on keeping this opinion, whether he wanted her to or not.

"Maybe… but I honestly hope that doesn't remain true forever." Tails gifted her with a bright and surprisingly bold smile. "Innovation is all about new ideas, new and great minds working at old problems and finding better solutions than those in the past. So, for that reason, I really want someone to surpass me someday. Honestly, people like you are very capable of it, in my opinion."

"And I know a really good place to start," a voice called, the owner of said voice being Steam as he walked over to the pair. He knew that what Tails had said would fluster Wery beyond belief, so he chose to save her ass and change the subject somewhat. "There's two projects I have in mind, both being pretty technologically demanding."

Tails looked over at him immediately, spying Sonic not too far behind the green hedgehog. "What've you got in mind, Steam?"

Steam crossed his arms lightly. "One is a way to communicate between timelines so my wife doesn't murder me for not keeping in touch, and the other is something that would allow us to fight the demons far more easily."

Wery seemed to choose now to resume her existence mentally, as she had finally processed what Tails had said without losing her mind. "Communication between what now?" she dared to ask.

"Timelines," Tails reiterated. "Some people might also call them alternate realities or something similar, since that's essentially what they are. Realities that are in many ways like our own, but different in just as many other ways. For example, one timeline I visited was really bizarre because, in that version of reality, everyone who is one gender in this reality was the opposite there. It was super weird to see, so I didn't stay long." As he said that last sentence, he let out a short laugh. Sonic was making a bit of a perplexed face now, but he chose to not say anything just yet.

"I-... I'm not gonna question anything that was just said and pretend I understand to the fullest," Wery answered before looking to Steam. "We… might be able to do that? I don't know much about that kind of tech, but I'm sure Tails could work on figuring something out and I'm not against helping."

Tails was already thinking hard about this little conundrum. "You know… some races have these really interesting blends of technology and magic that allow them to do these weird, amazing, fantastic things. Babylonians can do the same sort of thing, though they don't do it often. Maybe if Wave and I have a bit of a chat between ourselves and Wery, we can work out a device that would allow for communication between our timeline and yours, Steam."

Steam smiled brightly, a somewhat unusual sight from him. "That would be amazing."

Before anyone else had a chance to respond, Wery suddenly caught onto the second part of what Steam said. "Wait, what do you mean? Allow us to fight the demons more easily? How?"

"It depends on one factor, and that factor is currently Rose. In my timeline, she has a power that allows her to create crystals. One interesting capability of her crystals is that they can store energies," Steam explained, hoping that someone else would catch on.

Sonic finally decided to speak up. "Are you thinking that we can store Light in those things?"

"I'm not thinking, I know we can," Steam answered. "Tested it in my timeline. They can hold fire, Light, Darkness, and some other energies. Very useful, honestly."

Tails's eyebrows shot up. "That sounds incredible. Something like that… that could be immensely useful."

"What does this mean? Are they weak to light? Wait, light isn't an energy…" Wery trailed off on some tangent about particles and some other things that quickly grew inaudible before realizing what she was doing and returning her attention to the others only to suddenly remember. "Oh, right. Light and Darkness as energies. Right. Makes total sense." She was lying about the last part and did not attempt to hide that fact.

"It's okay," Tails gently assured. "It definitely takes time, but you'll get used to all of this, especially once we have time to better explain everything. I promise, it doesn't stay this confusing forever."

Wery nodded before looking back to Steam. "So… I assume that they're weak to Light, but how do we know if that Rose has this power you're talking about?"

Steam chuckled nervously. "I have to go find her and hope she doesn't think I'm there for her sister, honestly. From there, I just ask and see if she'll help."

"Gotcha," Wery answered. "We can probably get started on the other plans while you go do that, or whatever, I suppose." The female fox shrugged. This wasn't making any sense but she wasn't against helping people.

"Go ahead and do what you need to do," Sonic invited, sinking into a random chair. "We'll handle whatever we can here in the meantime."

There was a moment before Steam suddenly did the same. "I just realized I haven't slept in fucking forever. Everything hit me all at once."

"Yeah, that tends to happen," Sonic shrugged. "You get used to it eventually."

Wery raised a hand with a single finger pointed up. "I have several questions."

Sonic gestured vaguely in her general direction with a hand. "Shoot."

"Allow me," Steam volunteered. "Sleep doesn't always come for everyone, no it's not good for us to skip it, but yes we are capable of going without sleep for a while."

Wery's mouth hung open briefly before she started backing away towards Tails's house. "I'm just… gonna head inside now."

"Uh… yeah. Okay." Tails turned to Steam. "What was that?"

"Answered those exact questions in a very similar circumstance before. Just happened to remember," he answered with a faint chuckle. "She's inquisitive, and I'll always appreciate that about her."

"You weirded her out a lot," Tails sighed. "She hasn't even met you yet, you know."

Steam blinked a few times before facepalming. "Dammit, I forgot about that. I knew I was doing something wrong when I answered."

Sonic laughed quietly. "It'll be fine, guys. She's definitely not some shrinking violet. She's got some strength to her, I can tell. So she'll be fine, given some time to process things."

"Yeah. The first couple weeks are a lot for her, but she does fine." Steam turned to Tails, a smile on his face. "You two work really well together."

"She could be a great partner," Tails smiled. "I've never had many people to work on things with before. It's actually pretty exciting."

"Enjoy it," Steam answered. "She's good at what she does as well."

"Definitely." Tails was silent for a second, then changed the subject. "You can rest in the house for a while before you go see Rose, if you want. And you should rest, too, Sonic."

The blue hedgehog sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right. I don't even know when I last slept." He stood up. "So, what, you just gonna call Wave?"

"Probably," Tails smiled. Nodding, Sonic turned and headed toward the stairs leading out of the workshop with Steam not far behind him.

~保護者~

10,581 words this time. Many thanks as always to Blazing Winds for all of his help and support. Posted (at about 8:52 p.m.) 07-26-20.