A/N: Hello again, everyone. I have brought to you chapter 11 of this story. Let's see what the future has in store for us, now that Jamal can actively pull things out of that store. It can only go well, right?

Rhea's POV

It was the Sun that finally woke me up from sleep. Gaia, has this been my best night back on Medius so far! Finally, I had a bed all to myself! Finally I wasn't freezing cold without my winter coat! And I was finally able to wake up before anyone else and not via Buwaro's...uh...

I sat up in my bed. Buwaro was rolled over in his bed, and I couldn't see Kieri, so she was probably behind the guy. Thadius was sitting on her own bed, and Jamal-

Wait, why did he disappear?

Jamal is just gone from his bed, and there's no sign of him anywhere. I think he woke up early and left to do something. Go for a walk? Buy the local newspaper? Sit on the bridge to watch the river with a thumb up his a—?

At that moment, Jamal came in through the door, clad in that purple jacket and pink scarf of his, holding a tray? Is that breakfast?

He placed the tray down on the dresser before he turned around. "Oh...G'morning, Rhea." He said tiredly.

"Morning." I replied, sitting up in bed. "What're you doing up so early?"

He shrugged. "I went for a walk and grabbed breakfast on the way back." He handed me a cup of yoghurt and a small plate with strawberries and raspberries on it. "Went with the second serving excuse again. Told them I needed a few extra pounds."

I chuckled. "Yeah... what have you been eating anyway? Not that many Humans your age are that tall."

"I must've just lucked out." He said, taking his own cup and two teaspoons. "It's not like I'm the tallest one out there. Farun is just full of short people." He handed me one of the spoons and sat down on the edge of my bed.

"Hmm." I took it. I was actually pretty short for a Jakkai myself, barely standing 2'8". Most of the people at my village, Ramirez included, were half a head taller than me at the very least. Plus side, their shocked looks when I promptly used my tail to tower over them were priceless.

"Sleep well?" I asked him. Though, the bags under his eyes were already giving me the answer.

"Eh, well enough." He said, putting two raspberries into his cup absent-mindedly. "You?"

"Better than I've slept in almost a year." I admitted. "You'd get tired of sleeping on rocks and getting used as a pillow too, so having a bed all to myself is...so good."

"Well, you did spend that almost-year in Hell, so..." He looked down. "Still, glad you got some proper sleep. Uh, sorry." He quickly apologised.

"Don't be." I shrugged. "I'm out, so it's not something I have to worry about anymore." I decided to leave the phantom pains out of this.

He just nodded and ate a teaspoonful of the yoghurt, with one of the raspberries. "Well, I suggest we get ready for the day in a bit." He said.

"Alright..." The two of us continued eating breakfast until Buwaro and Kieri finally woke up. The former stretched and yawned loudly, while the latter simply blinked herself awake and sat up.

"Morning, you two." Jamal said, giving them an awkward wave. "Buwaro; Kieri, glad to see you're an angel again."

"G'morning!"

"M-morning. Y-yes, I hope it lasts this time."

Jamal walked over and handed them the two remaining cups of yoghurt. "Here's breakfast."

"Thank you." Kieri said, taking her cup. Buwaro had other ideas, however, and immediately grabbed the diary, which I had left on the bedside table last night. "Snowy?" He asked, turning to her. "Can you please continue reading the diary now?"

"Buwaro," I said walking up to him. "Let's leave that 'till later, okay?" I took the diary out of his hands.

"We've gotta go look for Kieri's brother today." Jamal continued. "We have all of Riverside City to look around. There's almost no doubt we'll find something. But we'll have to hurry if we want to get any closer to reachi-"

A loud sneeze suddenly came from behind Buwaro. The three of us turned to look...and saw Kieri, once again a bunny. Well, that didn't last long at all, huh?

Kieri groaned. Jamal just walked over and picked her up carefully. "Well...look on the bright side." He said. "At least we don't have to worry about answering any awkward questions about where the extra person came from."

Oh crap, he had a pretty good point. There's no way we would've been able to pass that off with the innkeeper otherwise...nah, I'm sure I'd think of something in time.

"Does that mean we have to hide Snowy again?" Buwaro asked.

"Yeah...at least we don't have to worry as much the rest of the time, I think."

And so I got dressed, Buwaro disguised himself, and Jamal hid Kieri once again in his hood. We walked back down the stairs and into the lobby, where we were pleased to find that it was empty again. We quickly snuck out of the room and went outside. Jamal pulled Kieri out of his hood.

"Okay," He said. "Think you can turn back on your own now?"

"I don't know..." She muttered.

"You won't know until you try!" Buwaro said, picking her up and placing her on the ground. "You can do it!"

She looked up at him, and then nodded. "O-okay..." She closed her eyes, and sure enough, after a few moments:

Poing!

She was back to being an Angel again.

She breathed a sigh of relief, and looked up again, smiling. Buwaro was quick to give her a hug. "Yay! I knew you could do it!" He said happily. Kieri hugged back, still smiling. I actually felt something nice at their attitude. Even Jamal was smiling a little.

Either way, we needed to get moving. I cleared my throat. "Alright," I stated. "Now that that's sorted, we better get to work. The old man mentioned a market nearby yesterday. It'll do us good to ask around there first."

"Yeah, where there's a lot of people..." Jamal agreed. He rolled his shoulders. "We have our work cut out for us. At least it's warmer now..."

"Let's get going already!" Buwaro whined, clearly eager to get the search underway. Kieri nodded nervously. "Y-yes. Let's." She said.

My POV

It took about five minutes to reach the market, and wow, this place was bustling with activity. Riverside City certainly didn't disappoint in terms of...well, anything and /or everything. I was also seeing a lot more Jakkai in the area than I'd ever seen before. Certainly more than in Farun.

Though to be perfectly fair, I don't think I even remember seeing any Jakkai in Farun aside from Rhea. Maybe one or two in the whole town besides her.

Anyway, the comic actually hadn't done the little guys justice. There were all kinds of Jakkai, with all sorts of ear shapes, tail lengths, and fur patterns. Many had stripes like Rhea, lots of others had spots; there were quite a few with much more extravagant patterns or no patterns at all.

It wasn't just the Jakkai that kept catching my eye, however. The overall architecture of this place was about as modern as it could allow itself to be. The stores were beautifully kept and the merchandise was plentiful. Hmm...

No, don't let your thoughts go back to that. Focus on finding Kazai for now.

I mean, it's kind of pointless. Arin may have delayed him, but what's the likelihood of reaching him today? Especially since Rhea ends up getting dropped into a river-

Wait, could I try to stop that by any chance?

What about the kids that were playing on the river itself?

I...shit. I'll just have to think of something. I have time, I have time...

I blinked and suddenly found myself in a clothing store. Huh, must've zoned out or something. The four of us were here, so it thankfully meant that I didn't get lost. Kieri walked over to the shopkeeper, holding out her tabard.

"Uh, excuse me." Kieri said. "I'm looking for my brother, have you seen him around here in the past few days?"

"Don't think so..." The shopkeeper shrugged. He was a grown man barely past his prime, with blonde hair and a moustache. He sounded gruff, but understanding, he added: "Though I could've. What does your brother look like?"

"He's my twin," Kieri described him. "So, he looks like me, only taller, and wearing this:" She showed the shopkeeper her tabard. "He was with a blonde Human and a red Angel?"

The shopkeeper thought for a few moments, before shaking his head. "No, I don't think I have seen people with those descriptions. Sorry."

"I-it's okay..." she replied, clearly sounding downtrodden. "Thank you for your help, sir."

"You're welcome." He said. "I hope you find your brother soon, young lady."

She just nodded, and walked out of the store, with Rhea, Buwaro, and I, in tow.

"Well, that went well..." Rhea said sarcastically.

"At least the man was nice." Buwaro commented.

"Either way," I stated. "We have a lot more ground to cover, and the whole day to do so. I'm certain we'll find something by that time." I actually wasn't all that certain, but now that the chance to get to Kazai early is presenting itself, I'm not gonna hinder it; I just need to start thinking farther ahead once we find a suitable clue.

Jeez, come to think of it there's a lot that's to happen in the future...

I'm just feeling less and less prepared for this...

No, I have to stick to the present for now. If I remember correctly, originally, they saved the kids, got into the trouble centre, and eventually joined up with the Sinclairs after rescuing Eve for Sam...

But what about-

Damn it, focus! I need to focus...

Buwaro's POV

"Okay, maybe third time's the charm?" I said. The other two shops we had gone to failed to give up any clues as to where Snowy's brother and his friends were.

"Might be." Jamal replied. "But we may have to start searching out of the shopping district, soon."

"He does have a point, Kieri." Rhea noted, looking up at her. "I understand being thorough, but I think at this point he just wasn't in this part of the city."

"M-maybe you're right..." Snowy said.

"We'll get to him, don't worry!" I told her. "We can still check this last place before we move on!"

Jamal opened the door, and Snowy, taking a deep breath, walked inside, straight towards the...counter, that's what it's called.

I looked around. Wow, there was a lot of stuff in here. "What does this place sell?" I asked Rhea.

"Food, mostly candy." She answered.

Food? "I wanna try some!" I told her.

"Maybe later. We still have a lot more searching to do." She muttered.

"But Rhea...!"

"She's right, Buwaro." Jamal said lowly. "We have the search to worry about..."

I looked down.

"...buuut I suppose we could get some for lunch later." He added.

"Really?"

He was about to continue when Snowy came back, looking down again. "Not here, either..."

"Okay." Rhea said. "Let's go to a couple more stores, and then go outside the district; we also have to think about..."

I glanced at a nearby shelf. It was filled with lots of items I didn't recognise. They were all encased in different things, too. I wonder...

I started reaching for one of the things. But right when I grabbed it, Jamal grabbed my wrist. "Not. Yet." He told me, prying the thing out of my hand. "For later."

"I just wanted to try one..." I tried reaching it again, but Jamal didn't budge.

"Well, we would've had to buy it first." He said.

"Can we-"

"Rhea?"

"No."

Kieri's POV

We had spent a great deal of time in the shopping district. I had an inkling that Arin would've wanted to continue buying supplies; if the three of them couldn't catch the demon before it...he left the city. We checked clothing stores, food stores, and even a couple of souvenir shops. But it wasn't long before it became clear that they simply hadn't been in this side of the city.

"Okay, no leads in the district..." Rhea said. "We still have the rest of the city to search. They can't have gone too far, so we might be able to find something today."

"Yeah, we'll find something!" Buwaro added. I smiled at him and replied. "Yeah...we still have time in the day."

Jamal, on the other hand, had been quiet during the later part of the search. He had suggested a couple of stores, but otherwise hadn't spoken much. However, now he spoke up. "Maybe we should have a short meal before we continue." He suggested. "Just...a short break."

"You know what? That's not a bad idea." Rhea said, shrugging. "It shouldn't affect our search too much."

I wasn't really against the idea. Now that he mentioned it, it was noon, and I felt a little hungry. And I could just see Buwaro's eyes light up at the prospect, especially after he didn't get to have that one snack from that one store.

And so, the four of us walked down the lightly snowed street, which led out of the shopping district, and walked into a cafe. It was warm, and it actually looked really nice, with equally warm chocolate-coloured walls, and soft lighting.

The food was nice. We had opted for biscuits and hot chocolate to warm up. Though Riverside was noticeable less cold than Farun, it was still cold, and there was still snow on the ground, even if there was less of it.

We ate quietly—well, mostly. Buwaro kept going on about how good the food was. Rhea made sure he sat facing away from everyone else in the cafe, and prevented him from turning around. He didn't mind all that much, given his enjoyment of the food. It was cute to watch- wait.

I had focused then on Rhea, who simply stayed quiet except to stop Buwaro from turning around once or twice. Then I focused on Jamal, who was eating slowly and quietly. Rhea soon picked up on this. "You okay there, Jamal?" she asked him.

He looked up. "Yeah..." He replied quickly, taking a bite out of his biscuit. "Why do you ask?"

"You look a little tense, actually." Rhea said. "Anxious, I dunno."

He shrugged. "I guess I'm just as eager to find Kazai as any one of us. We're much closer than I thought at first, to reach him and his friends." He looked up at me. "We just have to take advantage of the time we have."

I nodded. Buwaro nodded too, giving me a smile. "We still have half the day to go, Snowy. We can do it." I smiled back. "Yeah..." I said, almost to myself. We would find Kazai. We're so close...

My POV

Okay, let's say the two kids playing on the river ended up stressing me out for quite a bit. That, and the very real possibility that we could bypass pretty much the entire adventure by finding Kazai here on Riverside, no matter how unlikely it was, or how much more unlikely it was becoming by the moment. It was a huge curveball, but in the presence of the gang, and Kieri in particular, there would be no good reason for me to try to sabotage the mission simply so that I could continue treading familiar ground—well, quote "familiar" end quote.

So I was pleasantly surprised to find that one district of the city was actually across a branch of the Zolle River, and there were bridges that crossed it, each one loaded with benches for people to sit and watch the river. The obvious choice was to convince the three of them to go check it out, which was very easy.

The district was almost directly next to the shopping district; they must've been passing by in the comic to be there taking their snacks. Now, I had no way of telling what time it had been for them at that scene in the comic, and I could only assume their search time was not identical to the search time we had now.

Still, as we walked over the bridge, I peaked around to look. It was quite a spectacle, actually. The city was as gorgeous as ever, and so was the frozen river beneath the beautiful stone bridge...

Heh, I'm already starting to think like I've lived here all my life...

I guess I can't help but appreciate the beauty of the physical world when I'm bored...or stressed...or just need a distraction. Or when I don't need a distraction but I get distracted anyway while doing something importa-

There they are. Those two kids, playing by the river.

By the river. They haven't moved onto the river yet.

Best to keep an eye out...

I could hear the trio conversing, and with new awareness of my surroundings, I made sure to stay by them. We were walking towards the end of the bridge the children were by.

I looked around that area to see if the kids' parents were nearby. But no such luck. The kids were too far away for me to match their faces with anyone of the commuters nearby; then again, I was never that good at telling familial similarities, either physical or behavioural.

And why the hell am I thinking to myself with such long words?

I shook my head, huffing slightly. I could see my breath again. It was the afternoon, and it felt a slight bit colder than before. It's a miracle I didn't get hypothermia...

"Everything okay, Jamal?"

"Yeah, yeah." I hadn't even registered who said that, just that the words were spoken. "I'm fine, just still feeling a bit cold."

"How warm was it where you lived again?" Rhea asked. "Riverside isn't as cold as Farun."

"I feel a bit hot in these clothes, actually." Buwaro added.

"I've never dealt with freezing temperatures... no snow, no nothing." I shrugged. I had already established that I lived somewhere with no snow. I had ultimately decided to say so, counting on that Rhea seemed to know very little about the world's full geography and couldn't think of a real location, Kieri knew very little about how society or travelling worked and couldn't pipe in, and Buwaro...well, he knew absolutely nothing on either subject.

...why am I talking about them like pawns or something...?

They're real people. They're with me. They're my friends.

Do I trust them?

I can't risk it...

My mind was racing, but outwardly, I stayed quiet. I stayed quiet and tried to listen to the voices outside rather than inside.

"Are you sure?" Rhea asked again.

I looked down at my hand. "I...can recognise things as familiar, even without memories. Like remembering a smell, or a taste. The snow was foreign to me. I know for certain that I've never seen it prior to waking up."

I looked forwards to see we were reaching the end of the bridge. I could see the people—above all, the kids—clearer now. I had to be more alert about my surroundings, lest I trip and fall into the river or something.

"Oh wow..." Buwaro said, putting a gloved hand to his chin. But then he looked up. "You kind of talk funny."

I blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

"You use big words, and you say things funny."

"That's called a lisp, Buwaro." Rhea deadpanned.

"Oi." Mixed feelings, but it was a distraction I wanted to take. I didn't want to have to be paranoid because of my accent.

Having heard the trio talk, it was interesting not just to hear their voices, but to hear their accents. Buwaro's was pretty neutral; he had little exposure to other accents. Rhea spoke with a slight drawl, which made sense given her past life. Kieri's was the most noticeable. She spoke neutrally, but every now and then she'd mix up the stressing on words. It was a reminder that Lingo wasn't her first language.

And good thing the three saw my accent as a lisp. Lingo—or rather, English—wasn't my first language either. I was more fluent than Kieri, but I might've been a slight bit out of practice.

I sighed lightly. I really need to stop worrying so much. Do I? Yeah, I do.

We were at the end of the bridge now. I could see the kids clearly now; they had already moved onto the river. I stopped and spoke up. "Guys, look."

Kieri and Buwaro turned to look, while Rhea propped herself up on her tail to see. "Oh, come on..."

She made her way off the bridge, and the three of us followed her. I have a bad feeling about this...

It was just like in the original comic now: Rhea yelled at the kids to get off the river, only for them to yell back for her to mind her own business. I could tell Rhea would either run out onto the river as well, or push until one of the kids broke the ice and she'd have to step in regardless...

I have to go get the kids' parents, now.

But do I bring Buwaro or Kieri? Who should stay with Rhea? Buwaro knows her better, but Kieri would be wiser about the situati-

Ah, fuck it, I'll just go myself.

"I'll be back. Make sure nothing bad happens." I turned and sprinted back up to the road, away from the river shore. I ran about a block before I reached the small groups at the entry to the district.

"Hey!"

Several people looked up.

"There's children out in the river! We have to get them out before something bad happens!"

Of those people, four or five of them dashed over, most likely the children's family, with a few others getting up and following, either friends or bystanders who wanted to help. I gestured for them to hurry. "Come on!" Then I made like them and dashed back to the bridge edge leading to the river shore.

We arrived just in time to see the ice break right underneath one of the kids. They were far enough from the edge of the ice sheet that he wouldn't be swept out immediately, however. We had time.

"NO!" One of the people with me shouted. Rhea was the first to run out onto the river. Buwaro and Kieri were close behind, and so were some of the faster people I brought with me. Someone else called out. "NOT SO MANY PEOPLE AT ONCE!" There was loud cracking as more parts of the ice gave way. I managed to step onto the river, only for one of those cracks to go straight through my path and for my leg to sink in all the way.

I yelped and tried to scramble out. The water was so cold it burned my leg through my pants. The ice burned my hands as I dug myself out of the hole. I felt myself be jerked up and I found my footing again. Another Human had helped me back up. "Th-thanks...". She just nodded in reply and turned back to the situation.

There were more cracks forming along the ice; people milled around, trying to avoid it. Some quickly ran back to shore, as more people appear and watched. I walked around cautiously, trying to get a better view of what was going on; there were too many people on the river.

"OKAY! Okay!" Someone else called out over the din. "Everyone stay calm! Move slowly towards the shore. One or two people at a time!"

Some left, but many didn't hear her. There was a splash as someone else fell in. There was another splash and more shouting. I ran—more like, walked briskly to avoid falling in as well—towards the where splashes came.

There were Human water mages at the ready, freezing the water to extend the ice shelf as far as they could. Kieri was among them, trying to reach the child. Rhea was keeping the other child away from the edge as they were rescuing his friend.

There was another splash behind me, accompanied by a familiar voice yelping, and I turned around to see Buwaro falling into the ice.

I rushed over to pull him out; he barely managed to hang on, the clothing must've been weighing him down. He scrambled to get out, but it was just cracking the ice around him even more. "Help me, help me! I don't wanna freeze!"

"Help!" I called out. Rhea was the first to run over, quickly shoving the kid to someone else before she grabbed one of Buwaro's hands, also wrapping her tail around it as much as she could. I grabbed his other hand once I could, and the two of us managed to heave him back out of the water, though not entirely. Buwaro's lower half was still submerged, Rhea was starting to slip, and the ice was cracking beneath us. And he was still panicking loudly.

I crouched as I pulled Buwaro's arm. I wanted to try and see if I could stabilise the ice with magic, but I could barely hold on to the guy with both my hands, I wasn't about to risk him slipping by letting go with one. I cringed as the ice made sounds of strain, and cracked more, scarily close to Rhea.

I felt other people grab my shoulders and help to pull. I felt the ice beneath us harden as the mages got to us. With one final collective yank, Buwaro was pulled to safety; he flopped down on the ice, breathing heavily.

His hat had become slightly askew, his glove had almost come off, and his clothing in general was stuck to his body. Kieri and I quickly helped him to his feet.

"Is everyone okay?" Someone called out.

"I think so...!"

I looked around. The ice seemed to have stabilised, though a good portion of the people that came were still at the river shore rather than out on the river. A lady was holding the boy who fell into the river in her arms, his friend was with them. A couple of other people were being tended to as well. I looked down at Buwaro and watched as Rhea and Kieri quickly made to fix the holes in his disguise that had formed in the mishap. Kieri and I helped Buwaro to his feet.

"Alright, now that that's over..." The one young woman who tried to take control of the situation earlier spoke up. "Everyone, let's get off the river, slowly, two people at a time, uh, wet ones first."

The lady went first, carrying her son out to shore. Next came the Human and the Jakkai who had fallen in the ordeal, helped out by their respective friends. Buwaro and I came right after. He had claimed earlier that he felt hot in the jacket, quite a feat for a fire demon who could supposedly grab hot coals with no ill effects, but now he was shivering as we got off the river. He must be freezing, soaked through, and with all the clothing he wasn't about to dry fast enough.

Speaking of being soaked in freezing water, the cold in my pants leg had finally returned, having disappeared from my mind in the chaos. I got us both to a bench and sat Buwaro down, while I sat down next to him to rub my leg furiously.

A few moments later, Rhea and Kieri came over to us. "Buwaro, are you okay?" Kieri spoke up, standing right in front of the guy.

"Y-y-yeah, just..." He shivered and hugged himself. "C-c-co-cold..."

She stood up and looked around. "We have to find a towel or something..."

"Most we can do is get 'im something hot." Rhea told her. "His clothes are what's wet, and he can't get them off outside, you know this."

"F-fine..." She walked over to the scattered group nearby to seek help.

"I'm just glad we got out of that..." She muttered. I wasn't 100% sure of what she had been thinking, but I had a pretty good guess. And on the flip side, no one in our group came close to actually drowning.

"So am I..." I rubbed the back of my head. "I...never mind..."

"What?"

"I was about to apologise..." I admitted, sighing. "But if I hadn't done that, that boy would've drowned."

"I know." Rhea said, sitting on the bench next to me. Buwaro turned to me.

"Jamal, i-it's okay, I'm f-fine." He said, still shivering, but trying his best to sound steady. He even pulled down his bandana to give me a grin. Fur or not, razor sharp teeth or not, blood red eyes or not, that was probably the most genuine smile I'd ever seen anyone have. I was taken aback.

"You helped save him, that's what matters." There was something behind his eyes. "Besides, we're all okay. He's getting the help he needs, a-and he's gonna be okay, and..." He actually had to take a moment to look away.

"Buwaro..." Rhea started. Now it hit me. He couldn't have been gladder for someone to have been saved today...he's most likely still reeling from Sakido's death. To lose a sibling, someone that was cared for so deeply...

I patted Buwaro firmly on the back. "Yeah...you're right..." I looked down. Rhea simply got off the bench to take a look at Buwaro. But then she saw something out of the corner of her eye and quickly covered his face with the bandana again, hissing under her breath.

Kieri had come with two humans, one a grown, bearded man, and the other younger, probably close to my age. The former had a clipboard while the other simply looked us over. "Okay, okay..." The man pulled out a towel for Buwaro. "Here, you're gonna need it." He gives him a smile. Rhea wordlessly takes the towel. "We'll take it from here..."

The man then turned to me. "Hey, kid. Are you the one who called us over?"

"Yeah...?" I stood up, looking at the man in slight confusion; I was at this point certain it was showing on my face.

"Well, thank you so much for that." He shook my hand firmly. "We probably wouldn't have noticed anything was wrong until too late. Parents really need to learn to watch their kids, sheesh..."

"Y-yeah." The boy beside him nodded. Was this the man's son? "We owe you one for that."

Huh. This was definitely new. Not the kind of thing I was expecting when I called attention to the boys for the group. I had, admittedly, intended it to go without a hitch: get help early, get out with all of us okay, and continue searching the city for Kazai, Sanjulo, and Arin. But...

"Well, can you sign this for us, please?" The man raised a clipboard to me, with a list of names and signatures. I spotted the smiling green badge on his jacket, and memories flooded in.

"Yeah, uh, Trouble Centre, right?" I said, taking the clipboard and pulling out the pencil slipped inside the clip.

"Yeah, I think this one's gonna end the day..."

I was about to write down my name when I remembered that I wasn't supposed to let anything slip. So I awkwardly handed the clipboard and pencil to the closest available person to me: Kieri. I was lucky she had been paying attention. She tentatively took the clipboard and pencil, while giving the two Humans a nervous smile.

"Why...?"

"He...he has amnesia..." She explained. "He d-doesn't remember his full name."

"Oh...um..."

Guess the situation was pretty awkward now. None of us knew what to say. But then we were interrupted by Buwaro coughing. Rhea hauled him to the side, keeping his back to us. "We have to get him back home."

"His clothes are still wet." The young man said. "Why can't you just remove them and dry him here? W-we have towels!"

I quickly stepped in. I'd mulled over a cover story throughout the journey; I had plenty of time to consider factors. "No." I told him firmly. "He's got a, skin condition; he's very sensitive to sunlight." All you could see of Buwaro through the disguise was his red eyes and a lock of white hair; it wouldn't be difficult to pass him off as an albino, even with Kieri present. "It'll be safer for us to get him home and help him there, we don't live far, don't worry."

"Maybe, but we have to hurry." Rhea urged. "Come on, Buwaro, let's go..." She grabbed Buwaro's hand and helped him off the bench.

"B-but we haven't found S-snowy's brother y-yet!" He objected, weakly tugging against Rhea's grip on his hand.

I turned to Kieri. "Think you can keep searching while we take him home?" I asked her.

She nodded tentatively. "Y-yes. You go on and help Buwaro." She sounded determined. Good, this is the kind of determination she needs.

"We can help!" Said the young man quickly.

"Cameron-" His father spoke up, but he was cut off.

"Listen, this shouldn't be too hard to pull off, dad." Cameron insisted.

"Son, I was gonna say that was a great idea."

"O-oh, sorry dad."

"It's okay."

Kieri sighed and looked at the two. And my fucking God, this felt so fucking awkward with what I knew. "Um...what do you think?" I asked her. "Think they could help?"

"Yes, well-" She blurted out before straightening up. "Y-yes. Th-that would be good."

"Great!" "Alright." Cameron and I said at the same time. I turned to Buwaro and Rhea. "Okay, guys, let's hurry home, we've got things taken care of." I gestured for them and walked down the bridge back in the direction we came from, the two of them following.

The last thing I heard before Kieri, Cameron, and his dad were out of earshot was; "Let's get down to business. What do you need?"

A/N: This is what happens when things are tampered with. What may initially seem like an easy fix could be either that, another problem in exchange, or even something far, far worse. Let's be thankful the latter didn't happen, and just watch as the trio turned quartet continue their journey, secretly pulled my more than one set of strings.

Ronmr: This is ultimately a matter of choice, but it's pretty likely. Angelic could do him good in the future. I say future because it's not exactly easy to learn a language.

Guest: Sounds like an interesting take. However, I do not know enough about Undertale—or enough to balance things out in ways people would enjoy—to be able to make such a story.

You can call me Randy: Thank you so much for the compliment, Randy. I'll continue this story best I can. I hope you have a nice day, and succeed with your own projects.