Author's note: Welcome, dear Reader, to chapter 8! Enjoying the ride so far? Hold on tight, this one gets just a little bumpy.

Trigger warning: Sky reminisces about Mommy and Daddy. Nothing overly dramatic, but a little sadness. (Just a note, Mommy and Daddy's appearances are loosely based on my own parents, who come from Irish and Native American, respectively. And yes, I'm pale just like Sky. That and the hairstyle are the only things we have in common.)

I still don't own the Hosts, isn't that sad? Sky mentions "Fyre Scythe" in passing. It's an anime that doesn't exist in our world, I just thought it was a fun title. Reviews/PMs are always welcome!


-The Next Day-

Sky wasn't sure when "her boys," as she thought of them, would come over. The little voice of anxiety and paranoia at the back of her head tried to whisper that they wouldn't show up. But for the first time, Sky had no trouble at all in silencing the negative little bastard.

She hadn't slept well, but she wasn't about to let that stop her. She had a hurried breakfast, just scarfing down a protein bar and some mixed berry juice. Then she rushed down the hall and out the back door, eager to get to her studio. She rushed past the enormous pool, purposely shielding her gaze from the crystalline water.

She stood in the open doorway of her studio, looking around with her hands on her hips. She hadn't realized just how messy this place had gotten! She pulled up her favorite playlist on the computer and turned the volume up high, then dashed around, tidying up.

There were scraps of bright fabric, bits of thick foam and latex, and she wasn't sure what else scattered all around the floor. There were half-built weapons, shields, and random armor plates on various tables. Racks of half-finished costume pieces were rolled into a corner. On one table sat a plethora of foam and latex prosthetics that were ready to be used and painted. The various wounds, scars, and mutations looked a little sad without any color to them.

She stuffed the prosthetics into a clear bin, choosing not to sort and separate them just yet. She checked a few of the weapons to see if the glue and paint were dry yet, and decided to leave everything out. She wasn't about to screw up hours of work by smudging paint in critical spots. After finally locating a broom and dustpan, she set to ridding the floor of scraps.

Finally, she deemed her workspace passably tidy. It was, after all, a work space, not a display. One should expect a certain level of disorder in an art studio, she reasoned. She turned the music off and hurried back to the main house.

She dashed upstairs to her bedroom. After a quick scan to make sure nothing embarrassing was left out, she stood in front of her open closet, debating. This would be the first time the lads would see her in something other than that ugly school uniform. She wanted to make a halfway decent impression, but she didn't want to look like she had actually tried to look good. This was just too difficult. How did normal girls do this every freaking day? After several agonizing minutes, countless rejected ideas, and one extremely frustrating moment where she literally wanted to tear her hair out, she finally uttered a quiet scream and just grabbed randomly, pulling the first things that came to hand.

She ended up wearing tight black jeans with ripped knees and an overabundance of zippers, and a long-sleeved black t-shirt with a zombie unicorn emblazoned across the chest. She added a pair of dangly handcuff earrings and a choker made of black velvet with a silver ankh hanging from it. She was contemplating whether it would be worth the trouble to swipe on some eyeliner, but then the doorbell rang. Shit, no time. Oh well, this will have to work.

Her mother had beaten her to the front door, and Sky had only reached the top of the massive staircase by the time the lads had filed in. She grinned broadly, tickled that they had all come together. She couldn't be bothered with the stairs, choosing to test her balance by sliding down the highly-polished banister instead. She shocked herself by not face-planting in front of her friends. She stuck the landing and took a bow, straightening with a cheeky grin. Honey and Tamaki applauded, and the twins whistled appreciatively.

"Thank you, thank you. I'm here all week. No autographs, please."

"If you scratched that banister with those silly zippers, there will be hell to pay, my dear."

Sky grinned at her mother and adopted an over-dramatic posture of apology.

"I'm so sorry, Mother, please don't lock me in that dark cellar again!"

Suzette laughed at her daughter's antics and shook her head. She kissed Sky on top of her head and left the teens to their own devices after some quick introductions. She was too pleased that her daughter finally had some friends, but she wasn't about to intrude and make them feel awkward.

Sky gestured vaguely at the boys with a little grin. They were all dressed casually, but in a way that subtly showed their families' wealth. She thought they all looked rather dashing.

"So this is where I live, obviously. Come on in, make yourselves at home. There are plenty of slippers over here, if you want, but it's not mandatory."

"You know, ma cherie, if I didn't know better, I would swear that Miss Suzette was your birth mother. When you wear that pretty brown wig, you look a lot like her."

Sky turned and beamed at Tamaki. What an unexpected compliment!

"Aw, that's so sweet! She would get such a kick out of hearing that. She says that, even though we've only been together a few years, she feels like I've been her daughter forever."

"How precious!"

"I know, right?"

With another grin, she started wandering, giving the lads a quick tour of what she considered to be the important parts of the house. She started with the kitchen, where she had a fresh batch of cupcakes waiting on one of the long counters. Honey let out a little squeal of delight.

"Pixie-chan, you made cupcakes?!"

"Well, yeah. I couldn't have my boys come over and then not have some kind of treat, could I?"

She watched with a fond smile as Honey twirled happily around the kitchen, then patted his head when he finally stopped next to her. She gestured as she spoke.

"These with the white icing are strawberry, and the ones with yellow are lemon. I made the lemon ones a little bit tart, not quite as sweet."

"That was very thoughtful of you, Pixie."

"Aw. It's not a big deal, Kyoya, just some cupcakes. It's not like they're fancy or anything. Maybe next time you guys come over, I'll make some Danishes. They're flakey and delicious, but the dough actually takes two days to do properly. Oh, and you'll all have to let me know what kind of filling you'd want."

"You must really like baking, huh?"

Sky turned to the twins with a little smile. They were dressed similarly, but not identically today. She thought they were cuter when they weren't trying to be mirror images of each other.

"Yep. It's one of my favorite hobbies. Even when I get burned. Which, granted, isn't nearly as often anymore."

After a couple minutes, they continued on towards the back. Sky pointed down one hall they passed.

"The theater is down there. I stocked up on snacks and stuff, so we'll be set. But I said I'd show you the studio, so we'll just get that out of the way first, 'kay?"

She led them out the back door and past the monstrous pool. There were some appreciative murmurs, but only Takashi noticed how far Sky stayed from the pool, and how purposefully she avoided even looking at it. He tucked the information away without a word. She unlocked the studio door and pushed it open, flipping the light switch before bowing with a flourish.

"This, gentlemen, is where the magic happens. And the warfare. And if I forget to open the windows, occasionally some hallucinations."

There was quiet laughter at her last comment as the lads filed in and started to look around. The huge room smelled a little like chemicals and paint, but it was her happy place, and the smells we comforting to her. She watched her boys look around, then had a thought.

"Uh. Just, um… Don't touch the armor and weapons on this table. Some of the paint and stuff is still a little tacky, it might smear. Anything else is cool, though."

The lads continued to look around for several minutes. Tamaki, the twins, and Honey all picked up random things to examine, and Sky was pleased by the impressed looks they gave her work. After a bit, Tamaki turned back to look at her, and asked in a confused tone.

"But where are all the costumes from that photo album? I don't see any of those pieces here."

"Oh. Heh. Nah, that stuff is all finished. I don't keep the finished bits in here, there wouldn't be enough room. I have a room upstairs for all my cosplay outfits and props and stuff. This space is strictly for the unfinished work."

"Oh oh! Can we see the costume room, ma cherie, can we please?"

"Yeah Pixie-chan, can we? Please please please?"

Sky grinned at the two hyper blondes and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, sure. I guess I can show you. But Tamaki, you're not allowed to steal any of my costumes."

She stuck her tongue out at him, and he grinned cheekily in return. They made their way back to the main house, and Sky showed them upstairs. With just the slightest hesitation, she opened the door to her bedroom and led them in.

"Since my bedroom came with a huge walk-in closet that I totally didn't need, I just turned it into my costume room instead. It's crazy, the stupid closet is obscenely huge. It's like, half the size of the house Mommy and Daddy had."

Tamaki rushed into the room with an excited whoop, Honey following close behind. Sky leaned against an empty space on the wall near the door, watching her silly friends. The twins had caught Tamaki's manic enthusiasm, and all four boys were dashing around, holding various pieces up to themselves and playing with the prop weapons. Takashi kept an eye on them, making sure nothing got damaged. Kyoya was inspecting a piece of ornate, green and black metal-scaled chainmail, examining the details.

"This is rather intricate, Pixie. Did you make this yourself?"

"Yep. That's the dragon-scale armor for my Fyre Scythe cosplay. It looks awesome on, but it sucked to make. I lost track of how many times I cut myself with the damned scales. Next time I do something like that, I'm using plastic."

"I can just imagine how dangerous it was to make. But it is exquisitely detailed, you did a wonderful job on it."

"Aw, thank you. You're so swee- Hikaru, put that down before you put your brother's eye out! It may not be real, but it's still sharp as hell."

Hikaru yelped and dropped the futuristic bayonet he had been pointing at his twin. It fell to the floor with a light clank and the redhead grinned sheepishly at Sky, blushing slightly. He quickly picked it up and set it back in its stand on the nearby table, relieved to see that it hadn't been damaged. Tamaki ran over and slapped both twins on the back of their heads. Sky just shook her head and snickered.

"God, you guys are dorks. It's a miracle no one has been seriously injured yet."

Takashi nodded in agreement before walking over to lean against the wall next to Sky. She grinned at him, delighted when his lips curved in a small smile in reply. They watched the others in silence for a few minutes. Sky found it comforting to share little moments like this with her tall friend. She loved all her boys, but the others could be overwhelming at times, so she was especially grateful for his calm, quiet presence.

"Ok, if you're all done playing dress-up, how about a movie?"

Honey let out a high-pitched giggle and ran over toward the door. Tamaki and the twins carefully put everything away before exiting. Kyoya had a thoughtful look on his face, but refrained from saying anything. As they filed back through Sky's bedroom, something caught Takashi's eye. He walked over to a chest of drawers to look at the single framed picture sitting on top.

In the picture, a pale, pretty woman with long wavy red hair and bright green eyes full of laughter sat beside a striking Native American man with straight black hair and a proud smile. Standing in front of the happy couple was a gangly young girl with black hair in two long braids and a radiant grin, her pretty blue eyes shining brightly.

Sky noticed Takashi looking at the picture and went to him. She picked the frame up, gently running her fingertips over the happy faces under the glass.

"I wanted my own horse so bad when I was little, but of course, we couldn't afford something like that. But Mommy and Daddy found a place that needed volunteers, so I helped with grooming and feeding and stuff, and the owners let me ride the horses every day. This was taken after I had shown them how much my riding skills were improving. It was about two months after I turned eleven."

Her voice grew quiet toward the end. The others had gathered around to look at the picture, but Takashi's eyes were on Sky. She had a small, sad smile on her pretty face. He slipped an arm around her shoulder and gave her a gentle squeeze. She sighed quietly and laid her head on his broad shoulder, grateful for the comforting embrace. After a moment, she straightened up and rubbed her eye with a little sniffle.

"It's a good memory to have, Sky."

"Yeah. Yeah, it really is."

She gave her friend a little grin and leaned up to swiftly peck his cheek before setting the treasured picture back on her dresser. She gave the frame a little pat and turned back to her boys. Tamaki tilted his head, studying Sky with a serious face. She raised an eyebrow in confusion, and he smiled brightly at her.

"Your parents look like lovely people."

"They really were, they were amazing. And wasn't Mommy so beautiful?"

"She was, indeed. You know, if you had red hair, you could pass as her twin."

Sky blushed, shocked. She had never thought she resembled her mother very much. She certainly looked more like her father in that old picture. She looked at it again, really studying her mother this time. After just a moment, she grinned and shook her head.

"Nah. There's just no way. I'm far too weird, chardonneret. But thank you for saying so anyway."

She cleared her throat and flapped her hands at the boys, shooing them into the hall with another bright smile.

"Alright, enough of this! Let's go already, boys."