Splatoon - Reunion Chapter 9: Reunion I (Cousins), a splatoon fanfic

A/N – The first time I uploaded behind schedule my schedule… whoops.

Sorry for the delay, I got some… other plans that I have in mind during the mid of June, so I'm sorry to make you all wait, now, I have the chapter done, and it is full of dialogue and maybe drama this time. Enjoy!

Chapter 9 – Reunion I (Cousins)

There she goes…

She said my real name…

Kael… Kael Yun Zhao…

Well, so… uhh… I think we'll have to call Kthulhu 'Kael' at the moment. The Author is contemplating whether or not he'll call him by his nickname again in future chapters and stories.

Back to the story; the two cousins stand still in front of each other, with Kael suddenly felt a wave of emotions swirling and churning in him, and Tarã stands there with a shocked expression and misty eyes, her tears are threatening to fall down to her cheeks. She's in disbelief, but she knows that she's looking at the same cousin they thought went missing for two and a half years.

Looking at his cousin's facial expression, it was a painful sight, and he couldn't contain eye contact with her as he looked away to his right in guilt. He couldn't handle seeing his cousin's face without feeling guilty and/or sadness mixing inside his heart like two big chunks of clay with different colours mashed together to create one lump of messy clay.

Kael could feel eyes of those of his teammates and Tarã's Rising Tsunami members on the two cousins, tense and confused about what's going on. They are asking questions to each other, to Tarã, and to Kthulhu, but both cousins ignored it as they are too focused with their emotions to notice or even mind the questions they are asking. They started to add up to the already tense atmosphere both of the cousins felt, and it gets worse with more question are getting asked.

What should he do? What should Kael do in front of his own cousin? Just look away and wait for her response? Or should he response to her and face her? He is unprepared for this encounter, his heart is beating faster than his sprint, and his anxiety only makes it even worse.

No… I can't just look away in shame… He thought, I don't wanna look like a complete asshat in front of my own cousin that I adored so much when I was with them two years ago… He has to look at her in the eye, and tell her that he's sorry for leaving them so suddenly. He has to… he needs to…

He then looks back to his cousin, "Tarã, I'm-"

SLAP!

Tarã, who is already in front of him, slapped Kael right in his left cheek, making his head flinch to the right and wince at the surprisingly strong slap. This made him open his red and green eyes involuntary in shock, surprised by the strength of Tarã's slap that hits his left cheek. Damn, did she go to the gym often, or her hands are just naturally that strong…? His eyes didn't stay opened for long as he quickly closes it, and his expression quickly mellowed out into sadness, as his head looks down at the floor again.

The slap was so strong; the sound can be heard all across the lobby, and it immediately silenced them, and everyone slowly backs away from the two cousins a little.

"K-Kael, where h-have you been…?" Tarã asks him; as tears slowly falls down to her cheeks, her eyes couldn't hold it hold it any longer, "W-where have you been after all of those years…?"

Without an answer, he slowly looks at her with a mellow, guilt-ridden and sorrowful expression on his face; only to look back to the floor his eyes were interested in, "Tarã…"

"Tell me, Kael!" She demanded, but this time, with a more powerful and angry tone on her voice with a tinge of sorrow and sadness also mixed in her voice, "Where were you've gone and disappear to!?" Kael didn't answer, as sounds of gasping of other Inklings that are inside the Lobby came plunging into his ears. The truth has been revealed to those who don't know about it, and to those he lied to.

She kept going, emotions have taken over her, "T-The day you disappeared from Karaga along with Uncle Kyro, Kyla… she couldn't stop… s-she couldn't stop crying…" Kael's heart immediately dropped in an instant, feeling his heart break into a million pieces once again. Back in the day, she couldn't stand to see his sister cry, and he is always there for her whenever no one is there to comfort her. Now, his guilt and regret is immeasurable now after he lets her live without a brother by her side for two and a half years. He made a mistake by looking back to her, as he is now facing her with a sullen expression, and her fingers are pointing at Kael's chest, "And it's all your fault that you made her cry in her room for four days!" As if that didn't worsen it…

Her misty Orange eyes are now directly at Kael, she then spreads out her three other fingers and places it on his chest before saying, "Four days, Kael! FOUR DAYS, she locked herself crying in her room, and it's all because you and Uncle Kyro vanished without a hint or trace of where you have gone to!" Her hand then formed a fist that is now resting on his chest, "During those days… we-we've been looking for you two… Papa, Mama, Aunty, Serõ, even our friends back there… we all tried to look everywhere…" She said through her sobs and tears, as she looks down at the Lobby floor, letting her tears fall down without touching her cheeks.

"…with everything leads to damn nothing…" He could feel her fist tighten on his chest and he feels he is getting slightly pushed by the chest, "Nada de mierda, Kael!" She pulls her fist away slightly from Kael, and she puts it back by punching his chest. Her punch is not as strong as her slap, but it still pushed him one step back, expression unmoved, "NADA DE MIERDA! NADA!" And there, she broke into sobs in sorrow, with her tears are now freely flowing from eyes in a fast pace.

Everyone is in complete silent, as the gloomy atmosphere is being strengthened by the sobs from her and with every tear dropped to the floor from her eyes. Kael, for the second time, felt stumped and he has no idea what to do. Seeing is cousin cry and shouts out her emotions to him, just left him frozen, and a gives him a big punch in the gut thanks to it.

With his closed eyes, he observes the surrounding Inklings in the Lobby; all we're glancing at each other silently, surprised and confused of her outburst. Even Yeran and Verique couldn't comprehend easily to what is going in front of them, and are left speechless and with a look mixed with confusion, surprise, and sympathy for both of their captains.

His eyes then looked back at his crying cousin; her fist still on his chest, looking down, and her tentacles are hanging like threads. The long he looks at her and listens to her sobs, the more hesitant and frozen he gets, and he still has no idea what to do. He wanted to hug her, but he can't move his body. He wanted to speak to her with something that could comfort her, but he can't open his mouth either. His is dead cold standing in front of his cousin, waiting for a movement from either himself or from Tarã.

But the longer he waits, the urge is getting powerful and is about to overpower his hesitance of doing anything. He doesn't want to see her like this, and he definitely doesn't want to stand around there moping just because of his own anxiety. He needs to do something… he can't just stand… He must do something…

Sadly, he wasn't able to do anything again, as Tarã begins to lifts up her head slowly; her eyes are slightly blue from the corners, hurt from crying her tears out. She then weakly said, "…W-Why…? Why do you… have to come back now…? Why… didn't you come back…" She started to lower her head down, and Kael felt her fist is starting to loosen up and weaker, which in his case, knowing her well enough during his childhood, is not a good sign, "…why didn't come back… when we needed you the most…?" And there, she went limp and is about to hit the floor face first.

"Ghh…!" Eyes widened in shock, he stifled a gasp and he hastily and frantically catches his cousin, hearing again the shocked gasps of everyone inside the Lobby, started to say things his ears couldn't make out, as he was too focused on Tarã. Realizing she had passed out due to stress and maybe depression, he crouched down and he adjusted her limp and unconscious body to hold her firmly in his arms. Verique and Yeran immediately crouched besides Kael.

"Tarã! W-What happened to her?!" Yeran frantically asked, worried about her friend's condition.

"She passed out," Kael answered, "Don't worry, it's nothing serious. She'll be awake for the next few minutes."

"Will she really be alright?" Verique asked, "I've… never seen 'zhis side of her. 'Zhis… emotional breakdown…"

"Yeah, she will be…" He answered in a reassuring tone, "For now, let's take her home, lay her on a bed, and let her rest."

"B-But how will we get her home if she is like this?" Rodhann asked in a very frantic tone, his roller is on his back, "We can't let people see her like this."

He's right; if other Inklings saw them carrying her in that state, they might eye on them suspiciously, or worse, a friend of hers saw her and it will only make things more complicated than it should be. Luckily, Kael had a solution for that problem; he moved out Tarã's left tentacle hair aside, exposing her ear in that side. He then moves his fingers behind her ear, firmly grabs a small ink muscle from her neck that is near the left ear, and twists it gently, turning her into her squid form almost in an instant.

"Wha…?" Rodhann, along with the other Inklings inside except for Tarã, are surprised at what he just did.

"Everyone has that, so don't be too surprised," Kael then stands up with his cousin in squid form in his arms. He then puts her squid form into the pocket of his big hoodie, perfectly fitting in. Then, he puts on his hood and adjusts his Skull Bandana up to cover the lower part of his face, "Alright, lead me to her house, whoever knows where it is…"

Location: Inkopolis Suburbs

Time: 11:43PM

The Rising Tsunami, Masquidteers, and Trix have successfully ran their way to Tarã's home without raising any suspicion from the crowd. Tarã hasn't woken up yet during the run, but it's alright; no one wants to wake up inside someone's hoodie pocket in their squid form. They arrived to the house in just a few minutes of running to the de Rodrigo household; it is a medium sized two-story house with the second floor is a little bit to the stone walls that are six feet tall, and a metal door. The house itself has grey walls, with light brown roof, and a balcony that is on the second floor of the house, possibly where a bedroom is located.

So this is where they live in, The Suburbs is rather big for an industrial area. Verique then opened the gate to make way for Kael as be enter first. Behind the walls, in his right has a small garden that has various flowers planted in the garden. In his left, there's a room that looks like a garage, despite having no open pathways for vehicles to come out. Then again, it doesn't look like a car would likely to fit into that garage. Believe it or not, that is actually a thing that the de Rodrigo's would put in a house, because their father is a-

Not now narrator, just get your focus on us and not on our family history, dammit, Ok, ok, whatever. Back to the present!

After Kael has entered, the others followed him inside, as he tries to open the door, but soon discovers that it is locked. Of course it's locked, no one is stupid enough to their house unlocked when they leave their comfort zone. He then looks back to his companions, and asked, "Are there any other way to go inside?"

"Balcony!" Yeran shouted as she points out to the balcony that is on top of the garage. She receives a disapproving look from Verique.

"We can't just go through 'zhere, Yeran," Verique protested, "What if someone saw us and think we're... what do Lapunians call them again...?"

"Mga 'akyat-bahay?" answered Kael.

"Yeah, that one."

"What does that mean, Kael?" Yeran glances at Kael with a curious look.

"Other words for Robbers or Burglars or Trespassers that goes up to your house through the roof and snatch some shit up."

"Oh, ok."

"But we don't have choice, though," Raei added as he goes beside Kael, who takes out Tarã's squid form from his pockets, and holds it in his arms, "Nobody wants to be seen by someone while we wait here in the front door. People will also be suspicious either way, anyway."

"Ehh, I dunno, lad," Verique scratches his head, "It doesn't felt right to just go in through there. And the door there might be even locked, and it's way too convenient if it's not even locked!"

"We'll soon find out," Raei then pats his fist two times on Kael's shoulders to gain his attention. He then bobs his head to the left, motioning to do something for him. Kael nodded, who seems to know what he is about to do, as he puts Tarã back to his pocket. With free hands, Raei then turns into his squid form and jumped to Kael's right palm. His squid form is quite heavy, but he can still easily lift him and threw him to the balcony possibly to the room to either of the de Rodrigo siblings.

As he thrown past the balcony railings, Raei turned back to his Inkling form, and attempted to slide the balcony door. It conveniently opened, meaning either the siblings have locked the doors as they left the house.

"You say?" Yeran glances at Verique with a sarcastic expression.

"That is a little too convenient..." Verique answered, frowning.

"Alright, door's open," Raei announced, as leans over the balcony railings, "Kthulhu, hand me Tarã over, this is her and her brother's room, I'll lay her on the bed before I open the door."

Kael then takes Tarã's squid form, approaches Raei on the balcony of the house, and hands her over to him. Both him and Raei are tall enough for Raei to grab her, and lifts her up to him, "Ok, give me a moment, I'll open up the door after I put her to bed," He then disappears inside the bedroom.

Later…

The group then waited for about a minute at the de Rodrigo front door. While they wait, some of them asked some questions, mostly from the members of both Tsunamink and the Masquidteers, regarding to the relation between the de Rodrigo siblings and their cousin, Kael, and they talk about for a while. He answered every question they throw at him, while he and the others talks about it for a while. Surprisingly enough for Kael, no one asked about what she said about his supposed "disappearance."

One of the Inklings, specifically Rodhann, suggested that they should call her brother, Serõ, to inform of what happened to Tarã. He thought about it for a moment, and he was initially against it, since he doesn't want to meet up with him yet, but he thoughts about it again for another moment, and decided to let them call Serõ about the situation. He was her brother, so he deserves to know about this, or things will only get too complicated if he didn't get informed. Verique then volunteers to call Serõ as he goes a few feet away from the group as he dialed his number of on his phone.

Before they continue their conversation and after Verique have finished calling him, they heard the door open from the inside, as Raei came out behind it, and motioned everyone to come in.

Inside the house, it has walls that have the same color as the wall outside of the house, just with more things inside; there's a couch set that is placed in front of a flat screen TV that is attached on the right wall of the house. In between of the couch and TV, there is a glass table with metal legs, and a wooden table underneath the TV, that contains a SquidBox One and a InkCube in it, as well games from perspective consoles. Nice, hope they have Cephalopod Arena in that game collection...

Next to the couch and TV, has a collection of pictures of both siblings. He went over to it, and he saw both Tarã and Serõ in a picture, with Tarã smiling happily with her fingers formed a peace sign and her left arm around Serõ, while he smiles timidly. Serõ has green five piece spikey tentacle hair, and he looks like their father, Gyro de Rodrigo. He has grown up to be a young man, although by the looks of this picture he still looks timid as heck, just like I know him back in the day...

He then looks to his left, he saw a table set with four chairs in each side, with the kitchen around the table, with a window that shows the backyard that is just above the sink, a door that leads to the backyard, another door that may lead to the bathroom, and an electric fan right beside the fridge. It's the house's dining and obviously the kitchen area, which is pretty decent sized.

He then looks behind him, seeing a staircase that probably leads to the bedroom or maybe some set of rooms.

This looks like a house a Lapunian would live in, then again, the de Rodrigo siblings are half-Lapunian and half-Valearican, so it is to be expected that they will get a home like this.

Kael then glances back to Raei, who's at the stairs glancing at Kael as well, "Eiy, Kthulhu, she's upstairs, room on the left. Be seein' ya there, lad," Raei said to Kael before he disappears with Yeran and Verique upstairs, leaving him, Trix, Mika, and Rodhann in the living room. The four of them glance at each other for a few seconds, before nodding to each other, as they follow Kael up the stairs.

The four Inklings entered the room, with Kael going in first, then Mika, Trix, and lastly Rodhann. Tarã's room is a medium-sized bedroom with light purple-blue walls and ceiling, with the sliding door that leads to the balcony Raei entered from, the bed with purple bed covers and blanket is on the middle of the room, a long desk that is placed on the left side of the bed with a desk lamp and a laptop on it, a TV in front of the bed and a polished wooden desk below the table, and a closet that is just on the right side of the bed. This is... basically the room that Tarã used to have back in Karaga, just with different arrangements, and in a different house.

Laying on the bed is the squid form of his own cousin, eyes closed and resting peacefully with a blanket covering her lower squid body, with Yeran and Verique is on the right side on the bed, sitting on chairs while watching over her, and Raei is leaning on the wall beside the TV.

"I'll be back," Kael said as he exits the room again, and goes back down stairs that leads back to the living room. In the corner, there are a stack of chairs there, total of eight chairs stacked with each other. He took out five from the stack together, takes out another two from the same stack he is carrying for easier carrying and he goes back upstairs with it without having too much difficulty, "Here, take a seat."

The remaining Inklings that are stood up took a seat from the chair stacks he brought up into the room. They take their respective seats and sits down; as well Kael taking the last chair, drags it to the left side of the bed, and sits on the chair, as he watches over the unconscious squid form of his cousin.

"Welp… here we are…" Raei said, as he leans forward, putting both of his arms onto his knees, "You finally met up with your cousin, albeit in a… completely unexpected way possible…" He then sighed, while slightly shakes his head. He didn't expect the encounter between Kael and Tarã would make such a scene back in the Lobby, neither do the others would expect such an emotional outburst from her.

Neither do Kael; neither did he expect that his reunion with one of his cousin will be literally a slap to the face full of emotions, "Yeah… not the way I wanted to go through…"

Silence ensues as all of them watch over the unconscious Tarã on her bed.

"Alright, that's it for now," Yhavin announced as he takes off his Splash Goggles and got out of the Lobby that is underneath the Inkopolis Tower along with us members of Maverinks, "I think it's time for lunch."

"AHH, finally! We could eat!" shouted a Girl Inkling beside me that has Orange Tentacle Hair with Purple Tips and light pink eyes, wearing Squidvader Cap, Navy Stripped LS, and Orange Arrows, while carrying her Aerospray PG with her right hand, "I'm really hungry after those hours of matches. Don't cha agree, Sero?"

"E-Eh, Yeah, si, si, I agree," I timidly answered with a little bit of stutter as I scratch my head with a free hand. I'm not too good on socializing with others than my own sister and Kyla, even if I already knew her for at least a good amount of time. Not that I'm too shy and/or timid, but…

"Aww, come on, me amigo," she wraps her left arm around me, "Put some more energy on ye' voice, Sero. You have some dashin' good looks, and you act like a shy and timid little squid." … she's just a little too flirtatious for my taste. It makes me anxious around her when she gets all flirty and physical… and I don't mean in the wrong way, either…

"Quit it, Leora, you're making me uncomfortable," I protested as I gently push her away from me, making her playful frown at me. Before she can even speak, the pockets on my short vibrated loudly, making me shift my attention to it and grabs the phone from my pocket; Verique's calling. He wasted no time pressing the green answer button, and puts it beside my left ear, "Hola, Verique."

"Hallo, Sero," The caller greeted back, but he sounds a little anxious and distressed.

"What seems to be the matter? You sound strange."

"Well, ehem… I have something urgent to tell you."

Something urgent? This is one of the rare moments that Verique called to us with something like that, but his voice definitely tells something is wrong. It made me suddenly nervous and I felt something wrong in the air, "W-What is it?"

"Erhm… it's… it's regarding about Tarã," My heart suddenly dropped when I heard my sister's name, "She… passed out after a match."

W-What…? My eyes widened in shock, and I remained frozen standing still of the sound of what happened to my sister.

"Is something wrong, Sero?" Yhavin asked worriedly, noticing my facial expression. Too shocked to answer, I continued listening to Verique, saying that I should come there if I wanna know why and how did she faint. It's not the thing I like to hear when it comes to something that happened to my sister, but I complied anyways before I hang up the call.

After the call, I stood there, still frozen and shocked after hearing the news about what happened to my sister, with so many questions in my head that are swirling like a whirlpool. Yhavin and Leora worriedly ask if there's something wrong, but I kept ignoring them, as I was still in disbelief that my sister have fainted for the first time again in years. Another moment later, without paying attention to my teammates, I started to sprint my way back to my house without stopping, ignoring their please to wait up.

Hold on, Tarã. I'm coming!

"Do you think she really is alright, Kthu- I mean, Kael?" Yeran asks in concern, as Kael watches over the unconscious squid resting on her bed, "Her… outburst really took a toll on her badly."

"Don't worry, Yeran, it's nothing too serious like a heart attack or something like that," Kael reassuringly said as he glances at Yeran, "she just fainted because of stress…"

"Oh, man…" Rodhann let out a worried sigh, as he scratches the back of his head, "She really got worked up back there thanks to that little scene. I haven't this side of her, this… emotional side of her, until now. I don't know if she really will be alright after that."

"Yeah, she's usually happy, lively, and really confident, not like this… sad and…" Yeran stopped, having difficulty saying the next word that could describe Tarã's hidden side. It really pains her to see one of her best friends like this, as well as the others in this room.

"I know, Yeran…" Kael sympathizes with his friends as he gazes back to his cousin, "I know…"

The room's air has been filled with a gloomy atmosphere as they fell into silence again and continued to wait for Tarã to wake up. With every second passes of waiting for her to wake up from passing out earlier, the worried expression and anxiety from some of the Inklings in the room has strengthen the gloomy atmosphere that covered the entire room. The silence was finally broken when Verique grabbed Kael's attention with a question, "So, uhh, Kael… about what she said earlier before she… y'know, passes out… Is it true 'zat you have gone missing before 'zey started Turf Warring?"

He could sense the nervous that is within his tone of voice as he glances to him, maybe fearing that the subject he asked about is a touchy subject to Kael. He did answer his question, by saying, "If I were to answer in her perspective, yes, I went missing, along with my father. But…" He paused for moment, as memories started to flood in to his mind again.

"But what?"

"… but in truth, I didn't really go missing… it's more like, I got taken away by my own father."

"What? Taken away?" Verique couldn't contain his surprise, and it also grabs the attention of the other Inklings in the room, even Raei, who has already heard the story, Wait, why? Your father had a fight 'vwith your mother or-"

"No," Kael flatly answers as he abruptly cuts him off before he could even continue with his ridiculous guess, a little offended, "Him and my mother loved each other unconditionally, and that will never change."

This made Verique receives an elbow from Yeran, who also shot him an annoyed look, "Don't jump into conclusions so quickly, Verique, geez!" Yeran retorted as she elbowed him to the side of his body.

Ignoring Yeran, he continued to ask, "'Zen why? 'Zhere must be a specific reason why he has to take you away to whatever place 'zat place is…" Everyone who is conscious, then looked, other than Raei, expectantly at Kael, waiting for a reasonable answer that he can give them. He didn't answer immediately, contemplating if whether or not it would be a good idea to tell them the very reason why and how he got the moves he did during the Duel and during the battle between his team and the Rising Tsunami. He felt like telling them about his training with Kyro, as he felt that he trusts them enough, including Trix, and the other two members of the Rising Tsunami that he only met a few minutes ago. They deserve to know as well, since they are friends with Tarã, and anyone who is friends with her is also a friend of his.

He then took a deep breath before he finally answers the anticipating Inklings, "To train me."

"To train you?" Yeran repeated in confusion, "For what, exactly?"

"He trained me because of some… really strange premonitions he is getting. And one of those premonitions came to reality…" A harsh reality…

"I suddenly got a bad feeling about that statement you just said," Yeran commented, who became uneasy, "So… uhh, if you don't mind me asking, what is this premonition exactly?"

The question immediately gives him flashbacks that are beginning to flood back into his mind yet again; a memory about his father telling the premonitions he is getting, and a memory of his father dying in front of him, saying his final words and wishes before melting and merging with his favourite tree. Those memories always haunt him till this day, and it won't go away soon while he's alive and kicking.

He went silent again, but only for a few moments, as he answers her question, "Not now, maybe some other time. I don't want to remember these bad times at the moment," Not until he is comfortable enough to tell everyone inside about the full story before the start of his TW Career. This is not the time to relive all of those painful memories, especially not the place to do so.

He could hear the disappointment from her sigh, but she seems to quickly understand, as she tried to change the topic, "From the voice of yours, I think you've been through some tough shet. Well, I can't push you from telling us either if that's the case. So, is this how you get all of those badass moves that do during the Duel and from the previous battles that we fought on?"

"Yeah, most of my techniques I got from training with my father, at least. The rest of them are made with my own improvision."

"Wait, so you redirecting that Inkstrike is just you improvising, not something your own father taught?" Trix deducted. Actually, Kyro did told him about him redirecting an Inkstrike during his prime, but not actually teaching him about how he do it, saying that he'll learn it someday. Well, that someday happens to be during the Duel.

"Uh-huh, what do I suppose to do during that, run away from it? Besides, I don't think I would've dodged it; that Inkstrike looked big enough to cover the entire centre. And also, I was just too angry to run away." He then glances at Raei, who just rolled his eyes with a frown. Tinker pa more, bruh...

"Fair enough, I guess…" Hmm, that she might've noticed too, the size of that Inkstrike is barely noticeable unless you managed to grab it and maybe even try redirecting it, which is no easy feat and something that is pretty much prohibited in an actual Turf War match. An Official says so after the match.

"Really? He redirected a freakin' Inkstrike?" Rodhann asked Trix, baffled and a little bit in disbelief, "No way can he redirect that damn thing. I haven't watched the supposed-" He then raises both two hands at head level, with the middle and index fingers in each hands pointed up, doing the quote-on-quote gesture, "'Duel' whatever that is, but there's no way he could redirect an Inkstrike without breaking any liquid bones or whatever or leave unscathed."

"Well, if you have watched the Duel, then you'll be awed for what he did. It's freakin' badass!" Then the two continued to have a friendly exchange regarding the Duel, with Mika joining in the conversation and Raei watching the interaction between the three of them.

"Hmm, almost all of 'zhose techniques are training," Verique said as he rubs his chin, "Training must've been difficult to achieve 'zhose moves, am I correct?"

That is an understatement, I went through hell just to get my physical strength that I have now, the training Kyro gave him is effective, but… hoo boy, Kyro is very strict when it comes to training his son. Details of the training will be told some other time, "Yeeaah… difficult…" Kael's eyes rolled behind his closed eyes. They never knew the hardships and hell he went through during the training, but at least he can tell that all of those training didn't go to waste and it was damn worth it.

"Am I wrong?"

"No," Before they continue, everyone conscious in room heard a metal door creaking outside. Verique looked behind him, stood up from his chair, and went to the room's balcony.

Another second later, he looked back to the room, and said, "Serõ's here." Then, they heard a voice with a slight Valearican accent, "Verique! Is Tarã there?"

"Ja, she's here, safe and sound sleeping on her bed!" He answered as he looked down over the Balcony, "Wait there, I'll open the door!"

"Please, be quick!" Verique then ran out of the room and goes downstairs to open the door for him. Oh boy, meeting two cousins in one day… Oh my…

As Verique goes downstairs to open the door, they can hear Verique and Serõ talking downstairs, although they couldn't make what their saying. Except for Kael, who hears them talking about Tarã's condition. Serõ's voice is in distress, really concerned for his sister's condition, while Verique tried to calm him down and saying that it will be alright. He then heard another voice that is somehow familiar to him, asking what happened. Verique then answered with a short explanation of the situation, and he offered to go upstairs to Tarã for further explanation, and they immediately heard rapid and frantic footsteps from the stairs. He's coming…

After a few rapid footsteps that are getting louder and louder as he got up the stairs, he finally arrived and enters his sister's room, panting. Serõ looks exactly like in the picture; orange five piece spike tentacle hair that are in the above of his forehead, blue eyes, and the face that looks like his father. He wears Pilot Goggles that are on his forehead, Squid Layered LS, and Zombie Hi-Horses, and his expression is frantically concerned and anxious.

"W-Where's Tarã?" He demanded with concern, as he glances to the bed. His head couldn't get any wider as he slowly approaches the bed, "… w-what happened? How did this happen?" He then glances to Kael, who is watching over Tarã's unconscious squid form, "…and who are you…?"

Without answering, Kael slowly looked up to Serõ to let him have a look on his face. It took a moment for Serõ to finally recognize him, and his eyes couldn't get any wider that it already is in shock, "Wait… is that… really you…?"

Kael slowly stood up, towering his male cousin for about two feet, and there, he confronted one of his cousins that both haven't seen each for a long time. "Hey there…"

"I… oh mi mierda…" Serõ couldn't contain his immense shock, as he slowly and shakily back away one step from Kael, his cousin that he thought have went missing for two and a half years, suddenly returned to them, "I… I can't believe… my eyes… Kael, is that…"

"Paniwalaan mo ang iyong mga mata…" Kael said in Lapunian, "Ako talaga to… long time no see, Serõ…"

A/N – And that's a wrap! The Reunion of the Cousins has begun! Tarã has finally met with her long lost cousin, but not in a very… happy way. After she spat out some of the hardships that she, her brother, and Kyla have went through during his absence, it costs her to fall to a state of unconsciousness due to the intense stress and her emotional outburst. Her brother, Serõ, was informed about it, and immediately rushed home to check on her, only to meet up with Kael that along with his brother and Kyla have to went missing. Will they be able to reconcile and relive the good times they had since they were a child? You'll see that in the next chapter!

Hah! The Master of Cliffhangers strikes back once again! Damn, this took way too long, and had too many delays during production. I don't want to give you any excuses, so I have to say that I'm just a lazy individual. And I hope this is worth the wait, because I feel that this chapter is kinda rushed, especially the ending.

Now to add something for the nationalities list;

Valearica - a country that is a neighbouring country of Iberia, just below said country, and one of the nationalities of de Rodrigo siblings,Tarã andSerõ. It is the Splatoon Incarnation of Spain, and it is named after the ship Victoria, one of the ships Ferdinand Magellan used during his voyage through out the world via circumnavigating, and also the based off the Balearic Islands. Citizen, Natives, and Language is named Valearican.

Anyway, if you want to get updated on the story progression, be sure to follow this story! If you like the story, press that heart button and favourite the story! And let me know what you think about this story by leaving a review for this story! Thank you for reading the chapter and the story, and I'll see you guys, in the next chapter!

Development starts – After a few days

Chapter will be uploaded in – Early July