A/N: *blows party horn* over 9000 overall views! 50 reviews! Second chapter in a week!

(also there's a new poll related to this story on my profile so please check that out when you're done reading this since no one did the last one)

This chapter's shorter than Monday's but it's more of a transition than anything else so it should be fine. The perspective switches halfway through, sorry about that(?)

Thank you again to Muttlpe Mike and Kitkatkatester for reviewing the last chapter. :)

Enjoy!

Apparently Mike had run into the right member of the household in the kitchen, because Noah walked in with Vito in tow not twenty minutes later. By this point Mike had not moved from his spot in the corner, having spent the majority of that time with his eyes closed and his hands still holding his crutch in front of him, but by now had opened them to readjust to his surroundings. He made sure to breathe, the headache slowly dulling with the rest of his bodily pain. He looked at the two silently, glancing first at Vito before Noah.

Noah cleared his throat and said with a reluctant but still unfeeling voice, "If you can't work because of your...condition, then you'll have to heal as quickly as possible." He seemed to hate what he was saying. "Vito, since you seem to care about something for once, why don't you oversee the servant's recovery? You're not doing much else."

Vito would have rather not had to do that, but it couldn't be that difficult, right? "'Aight..." he said, accepting the task, not sounding very excited.

"This kitchen still needs cleaning," Noah reminded them unhelpfully before leaving.

Mike and Vito looked at each other again.

"...uh, so, hm…" Vito coughed purposefully. "Wasn't expectin' that, yo." He glanced around.

"...me neither…" Mike admitted quietly. He wondered what Vito had said to convince Noah to let him recover before making him work again.

"I don' know howda take care o' stuff…" Vito said, scratching the back of his neck.

"I...don't need much," Mike insisted. "...doing certain things...just isn't...a possibility for me, right now."

"Right, right…" Vito replied.

The two of them agreed to not get in each other's way, but Vito would help with anything related to Mike's limited mobility. They also agreed to not mention this arrangement to Scott, for obvious reasons.

Mike was still skeptical of Vito's sudden insistence on not being horrible towards him, but he certainly wasn't going to complain about it. As he didn't leave much these days-and time did indeed pass by-it was nice to have someone not yelling at him or making demands all hours of the day, even if he'd done so previously.

Vito even went with him when he needed to check in with Hatchet on his progress. He always opted to wait outside, offhandedly flirting-with little success, mind you- with some of the girls passing by that were shopping. The visits didn't take too long, but it was usually tough convincing Noah to let them go, since someone had to pay up eventually.

Eventually, Mike no longer needed the crutch, allowing him to walk and move properly again, albeit with a small limp that favored his uninjured leg. His bruises finally faded away; the scars remained, of course, but they started to recess a bit in their aggressive presence. His previously ruined posture remained, but that could be worked on in due time.

Once Noah spotted Mike standing without support, he reminded him of the deal, quickly putting him back to work, and things fell into almost the same sort of pattern they had before that trip to the capital that felt so long ago, when it had only been a month or so.

For someone else, that night was the one thing that always stayed on her mind.

Princess Ella had received the news from Jo about Mike's not-dead status not long after the now-promoted guard's return to the capital, and she had nearly broken down crying in relief; she would have never forgiven herself if she'd heard the opposite. Her guilt over what occurred that night had been eating at her since his disappearance, and it was lifted away a great deal at this revelation. However, the tone Jo had used indicated that maybe he wasn't doing very well, still.

Unfortunately for Ella, she couldn't do much with that information during the time immediately following, as she was swept up into continued meetings with suitors alongside Sky, both of whom their father was still trying to marry off.

Due to the security issue at the palace that was the cause for Mike's abduction, that night had been much too stressful and worry-filled for either one of them to focus on speaking to the many men around, and Ella had to turn in early. They hadn't been allowed to leave for a few days either, until the issue had been investigated and resolved.

She wanted to see him. She still didn't know his name-they'd only met twice before, and Jo hadn't mentioned one when she brought back her report-but after all the time spent watching countless men making their not very compelling case to her and her sister as to why he should be the one to marry one of them, she'd realized how much she didn't know about the young man who'd sung with her in the forest over a year ago, and who had danced with her despite his obvious injuries; the one who'd caught her in his arms after her sister had pushed them together.

She wanted to know for herself how he was doing. To learn his name, and who he was, and what sort of life he led, and if he was still hurting...

Her family and royal obligations didn't aid her in this endeavor, but she found an opportunity when she heard two guards speaking to one another, one of whom she knew to be very friendly and cordial.

"Visiting some family of yours, huh? I'm surprised you convinced the captain to give you the time off…"

"I know, so was I! But I haven't had a chance to see my mama in ages, and I have some stuff I wanna do there as well. Since things have calmed down a bit, I figured I'd give it a shot. And it worked!"

"Lucky you. Bring me back something, will ya? I don't see much outside these days."

"Sure, I'd be happy to do that!" The two talked a bit more, and Ella heard the name of the town that the guard was from-it was the same one Jo had mentioned before, where she'd found Mike.

It was almost too perfect.

Love a good transition chapter. Haven't done one in awhile.

Please review, and follow the story if you don't want to miss out on new chapters and haven't followed already. Stay safe out there, and I'll see ya next time. :)