Legal Disclaimer: I do not own Red vs. Blue or any of the show's characters. They are the rightful properties of Rooster Teeth.

Chapter Ten:

No stranger to witnessing out of the ordinary events, the shock that had momentarily flickered across Carolina's face dissipated as the redhead took in the current situation.

…Mainly she was glaring at the chubby Orc who was currently draped over her cousin and staring back at her, equally surprised by the human's sudden appearance. Carolina's green eyes hardened as she clenched her fists at her sides.

"You." And just from the slightest inclination of her head it was obvious that she was addressing Grif, "You have five seconds to get off of my cousin, or else I break all of your fingers."

Grif blinked, gaping down at the currently way past beet red-faced Richard "Dick" Simmons still pinned beneath him, "Cousin?"

"Huh." Sarge mused out loud, "Wonder which side of the family she comes from."

"Oh, oh! We can take a crack at my genealogy charts!" Franklin Delano Donut exclaimed happily, "They're super fun!"

"¿Es eso realmente lo que debemos centrarnos en ahora?" {"Is that really what we should be focused on now?"}

"Donut and Lopez are right!" The flower crown-wearing Frank "Doc" DuFresne added gleefully despite what sounded like a sigh of frustration from Lopez, "That does sound like a better plan than violence!"

"Five." Carolina was deadly serious, and Simmons could only imagine what the current situation must look like to her.

"Gee, I don't know." Lavernius Tucker tried lightening the situation in his own special way, "It kind of looks like your cousin's into it."

"Four."

"Tucker!" Washington looked as though he wanted to slam his blond head against something hard, "Don't make things worse."

"Grif!" Simmons wheezed out in the meanwhile, shoving up at the tan-skinned body straddling him desperately, "Get off me, fat-ass!"

With both disappointment and fear looming over his features, Grif finally complied. The lanky human could feel the other's reluctance as if it was his own, and suddenly found himself missing the Orc's heavy warmth. Still, Simmons let out a visible sigh of relief as Carolina seemed to relax. At least he wouldn't be needing to use his healing powers just yet.

Carolina turned her head again in surprise, this time a reaction towards Washington, "Didn't expect to see you here, Wash."

"Hold up." Tucker glanced between her, Washington, and Simmons all at once, "How many people does the new hot chick know?"

"I'd say quite a few." York cut in just then from the Guild Headquarters' entrance, "Isn't that right, Carolina?"

There was something in the scarred man's tone that caused the red-haired woman to frown, though she ignored York at the moment to look over the gray and yellow-tinged Seas, "Niner?' Carolina asked, clearly already knowing the answer.

Washington nodded, "She was one of the few I kept in contact with."

Tucker was watching the exchange with particular interest, frowning at everything that was clearly not being said. Not that Simmons blamed him. The Freelancers were on a whole other level. The lanky redhead was tempted to try and convince Grif to duck out while no one was paying attention, just to avoid any more awkward moments.

Carolina, however, had other plans by this point in the meeting as she turned her attention back to her cousin. "And you." She exclaimed, causing him to flinch awkwardly, "Let me get a look at you."

Simmons was shocked when, a second later, he was enveloped in a warm hug.

"How did you even get away?" Carolina murmured as she pulled away from the redhead, checking him over as if for any visible signs of injury, "Last we'd heard, you had been sent to the Magic Division in Valhalla."

Simmons caught Grif's eye, the motion not lost on his now frowning cousin, "It's a…long story." He began, before a thought crossed his mind, "But what are you doing here?"

"Long story."

Just as Simmons was about to ask for more information, he spotted a figure racing towards them. When he reached the Guild Headquarters' room their party was currently holed up in, the somewhat familiar and out of shape man in cobalt travelling clothes bent over to catch his breath. With hands on his knees and sweat pouring down the sides of his dark-colored head, the newcomer's blue eyes were focused solely on the floor and not much else.

Leonard Church was practically wheezing by the time he caught up to his sister, "Fuck, Carolina. Why did speed have to be your ability?"

"Church." Carolina's voice caused the goateed man to glance up.

His eyes widened when they landed on his cousin, who sheepishly waved at him in anxious greeting: "No fucking way. Simmons?"

"Hey, Church," Simmons laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his freckled head, "I guess we all have some catching up to do, huh?"

Simmons' cousin couldn't help but snort in reply, "No shit."

Antoine Bitters wasn't sure what was going to happen as he followed Aiden Price down a long, winding corridor away from the dungeon. The guard in orange-tinted armor gripped the arm of the Seas boy tightly to keep him from tripping on the stone flooring beneath their feet.

Whatever they were walking towards though, he doubted it could be anything good. Bitters tried schooling the frown that was no doubt about to cover his features into a more practiced, neutral expression at the thought.

Bitters wasn't sure whether or not it had worked when Price suddenly stopped in front of an open doorway. The entrance had two guards standing in attendance, so Bitters thought it was safe to assume that it was their destination.

The Counselor tilted his head slightly, the only gesture he gave that seemed to indicate to Bitters that he should enter the room with the young man in tow. Bitters did so, trying to be as gentle as he could while ignoring the growing feeling of unease that was currently pooling in his gut.

The room itself was empty and very reminiscent of the cells in the dungeon that they had just left. The human guard dropped his hand from the auburn-haired Seas, standing at attention to face Price as the older man had entered the room directly after the two of them.

Out of the corner of his eye, Bitters could see one of the guards at the still open doorway leave.

Meanwhile, Price's full attention was on the prisoner. There was a smile that never quite reached his dark eyes on his face as the Counselor stood before the seemingly frozen figure with hands clasped behind his back.

"I understand how difficult this must be for you," Price started in that same eerily calm voice he always used, "But not eating will simply hurt you more in the long run."

The boy flinched, his yellow-lined face finally looking upwards. There was obvious fear in his eyes, and Bitters couldn't stand looking directly at them. That damn guilt would creep in if he did. It pissed him off.

"You're really very hungry, aren't you?" Price continued, "Well then, you must eat."

That very moment was when the guard who had left came back with a tray piled high with food, and he set it down on the floor in front of the Seas.

The auburn-haired Seas' eyes seemed to glaze over at Price's words. The prisoner bent down over the food, ravenously devouring it as though he hadn't eaten anything in a long, long time.

Bitters took a step back, shocked at the sudden change in the younger man's demeanor.

Price's smile only widened at the man with multi-colored hair's reaction, "Sometimes a gentle push is needed to get someone to do what is best for themselves." He stated enigmatically.

So, the Counselor was some kind of Magic User too then? Bitters' blood ran cold at the thought of what else Price might be capable of.

Price waited a few moments before turning his attention from the still eating prisoner back to Bitters, "See to it that he does not choke or throw up." He instructed before leaving the space without another word, the other two guards following.

No sooner had their footsteps faded from earshot, then the Seas boy's eyes returned to normal. He swallowed nervously on the last bit of food that had been in his mouth, dropping what had been in his hands as though they had burned him. His face was twisted with horror as he looked down at what he had done. The Seas looked as though he really was about to throw up.

"Hey. You okay?"

It was probably the dumbest question he could ask given what had happened, but Bitters honestly wasn't sure what else to say.

The boy flinched as though he had physically struck him, and Bitters felt even guiltier. He inwardly grimaced and bent down to be on eye level with the Seas.

"My name's Bitters." He told the younger man quietly, gently even, "What's yours?"

For a moment, he didn't think that he'd get an answer. Then the Seas wrapped his arms around his knees and started rocking back and forth as if trying to comfort himself.

"M—Matthews." The Seas finally muttered, "I want…I want to go home."

"Obviously." Bitters couldn't help but roll his eyes, though he became apologetic a second later, "Sorry."

Matthews nodded as though he was accepting the apology for everything, and Bitters felt like even more of a jerk than he did before. …Which was saying something, all things considered.

As Matthews looked down at the remaining food as though he was going to be sick, Bitters sighed, "I'll tell you what. How about I get rid of this shit so you don't have to force yourself to keep eating it? Deal?"

Matthews looked at him gratefully, a slight smile forming on his face, "Th—thank you, Bitters."

Please don't thank me. I don't fucking deserve it.

Instead of saying that out loud, Bitters simply nodded and picked up the tray. He cast one last glance at the still rocking back-and-forth Matthews before exiting the room with a sigh.

The dark-skinned man was surprised when he almost ran into the diamond woman from before out in the hallway.

Filss was regarding the tray in Bitters' hands with a knowing look in her clear eyes, "I will bring Matthews back to his normal cell, and I won't say anything about you disobeying orders."

Bitters opened his mouth to say something, but ultimately clamped down on whatever it was instead. He took one last look at the cell, picturing Matthews still in there as the knife of guilt twisted in his stomach even more.

"Thanks." Bitters muttered to her as he nodded his head before quickly leaving.

The Guild traveling party wanted to give the reunited family an opportunity to catch up before important matters dragged them away, so David Washington was currently waiting a few meters away.

Though, from the Seas' observations, it was obvious that giving Carolina, Simmons and Church room to talk wasn't exactly what everyone in their group wanted. Most of them had agreed with Sarge's "Let's give them some space" plan, while others seemed to have a harder time of it.

York in particular looked as though he had about a million questions that he wanted to ask every time he so much as glanced in Carolina's direction, but the scarred man was trying to play the part of nonchalance rather well.

The tan-wearing former Freelancer was resting against a tree, arms behind his brown-haired head. York seemed to casually be chatting with Tex, North, and Delta. One or all of them would glance over at the reunion taking place in their midst every few minutes, or their eyes would wander over towards Washington, before their conversation would start up again.

…It was enough to have Washington currently keep his distance from them. The Seas glanced around at the others in their ragtag group, hoping to distract himself if only for a moment.

Grif was standing off to the side, the orange-wearing Orc glancing over at Simmons and his cousins every so often like a little lost puppy. Washington didn't even need Tucker's voice in the back of his mind yelling "Married!" to figure out just why.

The Seas' eyes roamed to the others. Doc and Donut were conversing with Lopez, though the artificially-created man seemed to have little interest in whatever it was they were gossiping about.

Sarge had insisted on remaining on "lookout" duty, despite there currently being no threats whatsoever. The red-wearing man held his shotgun close to his chest, his dark eyes occasionally glancing over at the cousins with a frown settling over his features. When Sarge caught sight of Washington's observations, he quickly turned his head in the opposite direction and gave a very unconvincing whistle. The older man had better instincts than the Seas had initially given him credit for.

The blond noted that the two Guild trainees, Volleyball and Palomo, were standing off to the side and conversing quietly with one another.

Andersmith was chatting with a blond man named Caboose. Wash had recently found out that the newcomer Dwarf was Niner's adopted brother, so he found himself looking for any similarities between Caboose and his comrade. Honestly, Four Seven Niner usually kept her personal life to herself, though the Dwarven woman had mentioned having a younger sibling once in passing.

Distantly, Washington wondered what the odds were of running into Caboose on this mission in particular. Naturally, that brought him to the odds of Carolina meeting up with a relative too. Everything seemed to be coming full circle.

Hell, what were the odds the remnants of Freelancer would be reunited like this to begin with? That last question left his stomach in knots, and he shook his head to rid himself of it. Nostalgia and fondness could be a deadly trap in this type of situation.

Washington turned his attention away from Caboose saying something to a rapt Andersmith, his gray eyes settling on Tucker. The dark-skinned man was currently talking to Theta.

He had to admit, Tucker had a way with kids. No doubt that was due to having raised one of his own. The Beast Folk was currently bent over with his hands on his knees so that he was eye level with the younger boy, an encouraging grin plastered on his face as Theta shyly told him something.

"Fuck yeah, that sounds awesome!" Tucker exclaimed loudly not a second later, "You should definitely show that trick to Junior the next time you two get to play together!"

"O—okay!" The boy was beaming happily as he nodded his head before bouncing back over to North, who smiled down at Theta in a fatherly fashion.

Tucker watched them with a fond expression on his features before he turned his head and noticed Washington's regard, "Holy fuck, dude. Are you smiling?"

Wash felt his face warm up slightly at the comment, and he quickly schooled his expression into a neutral one, "I—I am not."

"Uh-huh, sure. Whatever you say." Tucker had definitely not bought that. The dark-skinned Beast Folk regarded Washington carefully for a moment, feline ears flat against his head, "You know, I'm still a little pissed at you for last night."

Wash's face turned bright red at the reminder, "Tucker…" he began, trailing off when he realized he didn't know how to finish that comment.

"You could at least apologize, you know." The younger Guild member continued as if Washington hadn't said anything, "You kind of scared the shit out of me."

He really hadn't meant to. But, when Washington had woken up from one of his all-too frequent nightmares, and he had seen Tucker sleeping so peacefully, ears twitching back and forth…

The truth was that Washington had a unique problem for a Seas: he majorly adored cats. He had grown fond of the tiny animals when he had gone to the Unsc for Freelancer training. In fact, Washington had found that petting cats had always calmed him down.

So last night, without thinking and in a panicked state of mind, he had reached out and scratched Tucker behind the ear. Of course, doing so had woken Tucker up a few minutes later. It had been awkward, to say the least.

"I'm sorry." Washington stated sincerely, "I wasn't thinking straight."

"Obviously." Tucker snorted, his tail swishing back and forth, "Just ask me next time, okay?"

Washington was surprised that he didn't get some kind of warning not to do it again, but then another bit of the memory from their previous night came back to him.

"You were purring." Washington muttered, more to himself really though he didn't count on Tucker's sensitive hearing, "Before you woke up."

Tucker's tail swished to and fro even more, and it was his turn to blush, "Dude, shut the fuck up! You're going to wreck my reputation with the ladies!"

"You mean, I'm going to hurt the nonexistent one you have right now?" Washington couldn't help but blurt out as Tucker gave him the finger.

"…You okay?"

Really, it was a silly question to ask given what he had just heard. Still, Simmons wasn't really sure what else he could say given the current situation.

After all, the Magic User had always suspected that his uncle was just as big an asshole as his father was, so it wasn't like this was surprising information. But, for that to be confirmed by his uncle's own children so directly was…well, it was harder to process than he thought it would be. Simmons could only imagine how difficult the past few years had been for Carolina, and especially for Church.

Church snorted, "Oh, I'm fucking peachy." He grimaced before regarding the redhead carefully, "What about you though, Simmons?"

"Church is right." Carolina quickly jumped in and Simmons recognized his cousins' favorite tactic of trying to change the topic, "Are you sure this…" She glanced over in Grif's direction cautiously before continuing, "Linking Magic is safe?"

Simmons felt his face warming up slightly at the reminder of how he had escaped Valhalla, "It…it saved my life."

The green-eyed woman frowned in thought, "I suppose that much is true."

"And you're really dead set on helping your Orc boyfriend find his sister and the other kidnapped Magic Users?" Church questioned, blue eyes narrowed as he regarded the orange-wearing Grif too.

Simmons' face was probably the hue of a tomato now, "He's not my…!" He sighed, figuring there was no point in arguing that particular subject as he straightened his shoulders, "Yes, I've made up my mind."

"Well, we're helping now too," Church couldn't help smirking in response, egotistical as ever, "So that's a plus."

Simmons smiled gratefully at the notion. He had honestly missed his relatives a lot. His green eyes glanced towards Delta and Theta then, and his expression changed into a slight frown, "I still can't believe it." He muttered under his breath, "Now I have two more cousins?"

"Make it three." Church noted solemnly, "Gamma's still out there somewhere."

"So these…"

"Empathic replications." Carolina noted, as if the phrase was totally something everyone should just instantly know off the tip of their tongue.

"They're…" Simmons frowned deeper in thought, "Clones of you?"

"More like Fragments made into individual people." Church's expression darkened slightly, "I can reabsorb them if I really wanted to, like I had to do with Epsilon. But, they're not me anymore, so it's tricky. Not to mention really fucked up."

Simmons felt a knot form in his stomach, "Uncle broke you with some kind of Remnant?"

He still could scarcely believe it. That the Director would do that to his own son, too…

Church sighed, "You know how my power is basically to just give a boost to any other Magic User around me, right?"

Simmons nodded. That was why Church and Carolina usually worked together. The siblings could do more together than they ever did apart, which was saying something considering that Carolina was practically a one woman army in her own right.

"Well, power was all that mattered at Freelancer." Church stated darkly, voice not even hiding his anger.

"But that's…!"

"The Director," and Simmons couldn't help but notice that Carolina was not calling him "Father" anymore, "Was trying to plan for something. Something big."

"Like what?" Simmons asked helplessly, anxiety creeping up into his gut.

Church shrugged, "Fuck if we know."

"Unfortunately, the project collapsed before we could find out more," Carolina's expression hardened, "And the Director went along with it."

Simmons gulped, unsure of what he could really say to any of that. It just seemed so…so…

Carolina smiled knowingly and placed her hand on his skinny shoulder, "It's good to see you though, Simmons."

He couldn't help but give a watery smile in return, happy to see his cousins even if they were giving him terror-inducing news.

"Oh, geez. Don't start fucking crying on us already!" Church stated in exasperation a second later.

Simmons' smile widened through his tears as he promptly shoved his cousin's shoulder, looking back around to see what Grif was up to.

Catching up was great, and they still had even more to fucking do, but they couldn't forget that the Guild still had a mission as well.

Sheila had taken one look at the large, assembled group when they had all stepped into the Guild Headquarters' proper entrance. After hugging Lopez, the crystalized woman wordlessly pointed them up the stairs towards Vanessa Kimball's office.

No sooner had they reached that level of the building then the sounds of vehement shouting could be heard behind closed doors. It was more surprising that the heated argument wasn't being heard all over Armonia.

"I'm telling you, the increased military presence is not necessary!" Kimball was yelling as North opened the door to her office for all of them, the former Freelancer not even bothering to knock since that would have been drowned out by all of the arguing anyways.

Dexter Grif felt as if his head was about to explode. Today was just one of those fucking days, you know? He had to fight the urge to just sneak away to take a ninja nap.

First, the Orc had been woken up from a comfortable sleep (with Simmons!) at a horribly early hour. Then, he had been threatened with finger breaking by one of Simmons' cousins who was an ace Remnant Hunter for the Guild, no less! Carolina was scary as fuck, not going to lie. To top it all off, now his head was going to explode thanks to another inane argument between Donald Doyle and Kimball.

Not to mention, all of this was happening before he had even rescued Kai. Who knew what awful things she was doing to embarrass the family at this very fucking moment? He wasn't there to stop her! Life majorly sucked sometimes.

"And, as I keep telling you, I have no jurisdiction over what the Unsc military does!" Doyle countered the female Seas just as fervently, "All they want to do is find the missing prince!"

"By tearing the Outer Regions apart in their search?" Kimball's look of disbelief was practically piercing, her dark eyes narrowed dangerously.

Now that the Guild leader was shouting about it, Grif had noticed an increase in Unsc soldiers around Armonia in particular. He just hadn't really paid them much mind so long as they weren't hounding Simmons. Priorities. He had them.

Surprisingly, it was Donut of all people who decided to break up the argument as the pink-wearing Guild member stepped forward tentatively, "Umm, are things really that bad?"

From where Kimball and Doyle were standing, leaning over the dark-skinned woman's desk so closely that their faces were practically touching, both leaders blinked at the interruption. They each pulled away from the other with flushed faces, standing straight at attention.

"No, no!" Doyle assured the dirty blond as he was the first to respond, "Things are just a bit tense while the search for His Highness continues."

Donut frowned, looking rather troubled. The purple-wearing Doc glanced at his newfound friend in concern, not that Grif could blame him. Donut must have been pretty upset to not even do a double entendre about things being tense. No doubt the medic was wondering if Donut had developed a fever.

"But I am sure the Unsc will find him soon!" Doyle continued with forced merriment, as if attempting to convince himself as well.

Kimball gave a small "Hmph!" under her breath, causing Doyle to glare at her slightly though she expertly ignored him. "I take it you have something to report?" She stated to the group instead, not even making eye contact with the Unsc representative.

Washington and Doc quickly filled her and Doyle in on the information that the flower crown-wearing man had uncovered about Charon while in Peaceful Harbor.

Kimball frowned as they reached the end of their story, sharing a barely perceptible glance with Doyle before speaking again. "So it sounds like this tournament will be our best bet at uncovering information regarding this case." She concluded, eyes clouded over in though.

"Yeah, but how should we even approach it?" Tucker asked, voicing what they were all thinking.

For a few moments, Kimball was silent with a contemplative look on her aqua-tinged, dark-skinned features. At length, the Seas finally spoke, "We'll form two teams. One team will consist of people who will enter the tournament as participants. The other team will use the distraction that the tournament will provide to further investigate the area." She looked back up at the group before concluding, "North, York, Delta, and Theta will stay here in Armonia for potential backup. But, I will leave who will be on what team to your party's discretion."

Truthfully? Neither option sounded too great to Grif. But, if it would help get his sister back, he wouldn't complain. Too much, at any rate. He did have a fucking slacker reputation that he needed to maintain.

"Carolina and Tex, I'd also like to ask the two of you to stand down from taking part in either team."

The two women in question both glanced at each other. They seemed ready to protest the Guild leader's request, but Kimball held up her webbed hand to stop them, "This is only because I have another role in mind for the two of you. One that should make our plan more likely to succeed." She stated, realizing that she needed to cut off any objections.

That seemed to calm things down quite a bit, although both Tex and Carolina still seemed oddly perturbed by the idea of working together.

Kimball tapped her fingers on her desk, "I would also like for Sheila and Doctor Grey to come along on this mission too."

"I can tell Doctor Grey!" Sarge stated, a little too enthusiastically. Grif was kind of terrified.

"Se lo diré a Sheila." {"I will tell Sheila."}

"There's only a limited time to get ready, so I suggest everyone get their things in order now." Kimball noted with a nod of her head.

Just like that, everyone began to disperse to do their own thing as the Seas leader of the Guild turned to face Doyle once more to no doubt prepare to continue their shouting match. Grif stayed behind as the others filed past him, waiting for the nerdy kiss-ass whose anxiety he could feel as strongly as if it was his own.

As Simmons walked past Grif, the Orc stopped him by gently grasping onto his wrist, "Hey," he stated as casually as he could, "Crazy day, huh?"

Simmons blinked for a few moments before he slightly smiled nervously, "Tell me about it."

"How are you holding up?" After all, it wasn't all the time that you were suddenly reunited with loved ones out of the blue. Grif was surprised the maroon-wearing human wasn't just a bundle of nerves lying inert on the floor, or punching mirrors dramatically somewhere.

"Oh, I—I'm doing fine!" Simmons told him reassuringly, "I'm just…glad to have my family back." He looked at Grif then, green eyes burning seriously, "We're going to find Kai, Grif."

Just then, he felt a radiating wave of determination from Simmons that cut through the normally neurotic redhead's anxiety. This fucking nerd could be oddly stubborn and self-assured at the oddest of times. The feeling from their Linking Magic was warm and made Grif smile.

"I know we will." He murmured as he failingly tried to maintain his apathetic reputation, "Fucking asshole."

Simmons gave a surprised look when the chubby Orc moved his hand from his wrist and wrapped it around the redhead's own. Grif gave the nerd a reassuring squeeze that Simmons couldn't help but return a second later.

"Jackass."

Author's Notes: Lots of stuff in this chapter: cousins reunited, Wash and Tucker both became embarrassed, Bitters finally got Matthews to talk, Grif and Simmons had a moment, and two very stubborn leaders are still trying to argue the other side into submission. :D I had a blast writing it. :)

Thank you to everyone who read this! :D