Slices of Life and Family

by bluefrostyy

PART 3 of The life of Sebastian Pines! (Read that first, I doubt you'll understand what's going on) The story follows Seb's life after Gravity Falls. Bill was defeated, but the Pines family still have thousands of adventures together. Old characters will come back, new characters will make an appearance, all to accompany Seb through his journey as a human (Cowritten with Mizuuma)

40. Chapter 39 Humanity comes with a price

Warning, this chapter contains a lot of cruel words and graphic violence/torture)

Mizuuma: Mwaaahaaahaaa! There was too much cute, so we decided we needed ANGST!
Blue: :(

---

(Several months later)

"So school's going well," Dillon told Mabel over their group chat via Miz's Screens, it was just easier to use than voice chat since not all of their friend group had cell phones. "Sasha isn't terrorizing my classmates anymore. I also got my classes for next semester picked out. I liked my classes, but I am so glad summer is here, I NEED a break."

Mabel laughed loudly, kicking her legs around. She was wearing penguin socks. "That's so coooool! I also had a good semester! I made so many cool friends! And they loved the photos of Waddles!" She was going home soon, and she'd see her baby again! The dumb school didn't let her have pets in the dorms!

Amelie giggled. "This Sasha person sounds like a lot of fun." Mermando nodded. "A good bodyguard. Some of my guards would love to be able to follow me everywhere." Miz sighed. "Luuuucky~ I want to have a battle maid following me around everywhere~" she paused. "I miss Google…"

"Who?" ("Oh, just a maid I used to employ. She passed away ages ago.")

"It's not as fun as you seem to think it is." Dillon deadpanned. His cousins and their cryptid friends laughed.

"So how've you guys been doing?" Miz asked Amelie and Mermando. The selkie sighed. "My relatives had to move, since the human fishing boats have been getting too close to their territories. It's also harder to find food."

Miz frowned at that. "Well, the space around the Island is much larger now, I even built another island several miles away, which is currently unoccupied. Was planning to start evacuating more people away from the public world to there, but if your family or relatives need a place to stay for a while…"

Amelie smiled. "Thank you, I can ask them if they're comfortable with the idea. At least as a temporary place to stay." ("Tell them its protected by a dragon. That might help?")

Mermando gave Amelie's screen a sympathetic look. "The ocean's been in turmoil. Has been for a long time. But me and my people are doing alright. The manatee can't go into the deeper waters, so there's some problems I've been trying to keep on top of."

Dillon, Dipper and Mabel winced. Neither of the cryptids said it outright, but they all knew the reason for the problems. Humans ruined everything.

"You and your people, your kingdom, are also invited to the Island." Miz told him. "It's a place of sanctuary for people in need. So I don't even need to ask Stan, Ford and Fiddleford for permission to invite people there."

The mood decreased a lot and Dillon coughed. "Um… anyone have happier news?" Dipper raised his hand with an awkward smile, "I published a few animations online. Um… people really like them."

"What's an animation?" Mermando raised an eyebrow but Dillon and Mabel cooed. "Aaaww! That's awesome, man! Share the link to give it love!" The oldest cousin grinned and Dipper blushed.

"I'll get some waterproof cell phones for you." Miz told Mermando. Dipper frowned "-I don't think they'd resist that much-". Mabel poked at the screen. "Miz~ how've you been doing?"

The dragon blinked. "Ah, well…" she blushed. "Well, me and Ford are doing well. The twins are also doing well. Zach's having a lot of fun at school, Zoe's still starting fights. Same old." she shrugged. "Still sneaking Amanda out to hang out with us. Carol is being such a bitch."

Everyone groaned, even Mermando and Amelie, having heard all the rants about 'Carol'.

Dipper sighed. "Can't you just… I dunno? Educate her?"

"I tried. I showed her a bunch of scientific papers about how there are more than just two sexes, and how gender identity isn't tied into that." Miz groaned, "She slammed the door in my face."

"...I don't think just approaching her is going to work." Dipper pointed out with a wince. Miz flopped over. "I'm not patient enough of a person to be able to talk to Carol. I still want to bite her head off."

"Yeah, definitely don't do that." Dipper deadpanned.

"Well, in other news, Yun's Delivery Service is going well." Miz grinned, pushing herself back up. "I mean, it's not actually called that. Apparently there's a copyright. But Void Deliveries just opened 30 more locations, I've been working with Tio Rico on the business side of things, for how to handle my finances and such."

"...still think it's super weird." Dipper said blandly. The fact that Miz was running her own company now. The public didn't know much about Yun Lin. She was the mysterious CEO of Void Deliveries, which had good reviews from how well they treated and paid their workers, and how quick the deliveries were. Shipping was within 24 hours, anywhere in the world. Same price.

Of course, it was because Yun just teleported all the packages from one building to another to be picked up and brought to the address. And buying/building more buildings in all sorts of places around the world made it easier. Yun was planning to get one building in every city. She made a lot of money from her company, but she spent a lot of it on paying taxes properly, paying her workers, giving them healthcare and a retirement fund amongst other things, and buying more buildings to convert into 'teleport spots' for the company. It was a good thing she didn't need any of that money for herself. She still had leftover cash even after paying off everything else, which she was saving up to buy out an orphanage or at least to start her own. Heck, she was confident that she'd be able to get her first orphanage/foster house up and running by next year. Even in just the past few months she'd made a huge profit, and the info she was learning from her Care Units at the Island were helping her improve on their 'programming' to be better caretakers. Seriously though, a shipping company was incredibly profitable.

Online shopping and shipping was really popular.

Dillon knew about her company of course. Everyone did by now, as Void Deliveries rose in the ranks, in terms of both popularity and profits. He thought it was such a great thing, knew some friends who worked part time there and they said it was awesome working there. Still, he couldn't mention it was owned and run by an alien. They'd think he was crazy...

Dillon sighed. "I'm surprised you haven't been contacted for an interview."

Miz shrugged. "I am a 'private person' and I answer emails and stuff. I don't see the need to appear in person as Yun to the public. Not the least of which because I'm quite clearly an alien."

Everyone nodded. "You could hide the extra arms?" Dillon suggested. Miz snorted. "Hell no. Bad enough I have to hide them when I'm out with Ford and there are tourists around. It's Gravity Falls! It shouldn't even phase people by this point!" she complained.

"Yeah, people here aren't immune to being weirded out." Dipper looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Miz huffed. "Well, they should !"

Mermando ran a hand through his long floating hair, and drew attention again. "Mabel dear, how is Max adjusting to the human world?"

Mabel grinned widely and leaned closer to the screen. "We are literally a month away from reaching our first anniversary! He's doing sooo well! He loves learning from Uncle Ford and Miz and he doesn't stop talking about it and he's so adorable when he gets so excited about nerd stuff!" Mabel babbled away. "He's also keeping up his priest training, practicing his runes and spells and stuff! You should talk to him too! He misses you!" Mabel pouted.

Mermando chuckled. "Oh, I'm sorry, I'll talk to him more, our schedules don't line up most of the time, though." Mabel pouted harder and everyone chuckled.

"Speaking of romance~" Amelie grinned. "How're you and mister Stanford doing~ beyond just that basic 'doing well' thing?"

Miz blushed. "Ah, well…" she giggled as she placed her hands on her cheeks. "He's more comfortable with touching me now. More than just petting, wrestling or massages." He was stroking her sensually now, in the ways that made her feel good. Long strokes down Yun's neck, back and across her arms. Stroking along Xin's tail and antlers, light tugging on his feathers. Miz blushed harder. Even along William's bricks~ "His wonderful hands all along my skin…"

"Aaaaaand I'm out!" Dipper cut the call. The rest of them laughed. "Dipper, you're still so shy about this kinda thing." Mabel said fondly. "It's fine, not everyone's comfortable with talk like this." Miz pointed out. Amelie nodded. "There's no shame in it."

"So… anything else interesting happen?" Dillon asked.

"Well my therapy has been going well, I think? I made a few epiphanies." Miz shrugged. Everyone congratulated her.

They all continued chatting for a few more minutes before signing out. Keeping in touch with friends far away was hard, but they wanted to make the effort to do so.

Mabel threw herself onto her bed and stared at the ceiling with a small smile. Oh Maxini... She loved him so sooo much. He was supposed to come today for a visit, he was back in his village at the moment. She sighed loudly. She knew this was going to be serious, she just knew it. She loved Max, she was so invested in his life, and Max clearly cared a lot about her... She hugged her pig-shaped pillow with a happy, enamoured smile.

And Mabel's romantic little heart was all for making this a serious commitment. She buried her face in her pillow and squealed as she rolled around on her bed. (Heck, all she's ever wanted was a serious romantic relationship!)

She opened her eyes when someone shook her (she must have fallen asleep) and she was met with deep green eyes. "Hey~" She grinned sleepily and moved so Max could lay down too. "How was your day?" Max asked as he cuddled. Mabel sighed. "Better now that you're here~"

Max would have blushed hard if he could.

(More months later)

Mabel couldn't stop talking about how she and Max had finally reached a year together. A glorious year of cuddling, talking and some- ahem, sexy times.

The moments they got to see and visit each other thanks to their magic amulets were unique, special. They only learned more from each other (Max would tell Mabel about the lessons with Ford and the great dragon, which in turn would teach Mabel about the subject matter, while Mabel was showing Max how to knit and crochet the human way, and Max would teach her the Heeyatl Pak style of woven fabrics), their weaknesses and strengths (Mabel could rework an entire room with gorgeous decorations down to the very last ribbon, but she didn't have the attention span for complicated mathematics, Max had trouble with literary analysis but he learned science facts quickly as long as it was explained in detail), their likes and dislikes (Max admitted that helping Sebastian make cookies had been fun, mainly because he loved the smile that lit up Mabel's face when she ate the cookies he made, so Max wanted to learn to make more treats for her, Mabel was looking up ways to cook chicken since Max loved them so much), their dreams for the future… (Mabel had too many ideas for what she wanted, too many things she liked to do, and was good at doing. Max was somewhat evasive about his own career path, to be fair he didn't fully know what would be chosen for him yet.) They had very close and intimate moments as well, each other's company was precious and treasured.

For their one year anniversary, Mabel gave Max a huge colorful letter with the photos of them together this past year, and helium balloons (in his year in the human world, he hadn't seen balloons and Mabel couldn't allow that to go unrectified! Miz disapproved of Mabel purchasing a helium balloon so she simply gave Mabel a balloon that wouldn't leak helium) while Max wove/knitted her a blanket. It was a kind of blanket the Eix Leel used for nests, especially couple nests and while making the color pink was incredibly hard, he managed to dye his blanket a light red. Mabel adored it and said she'd use it forever and show it off to her college friends.

They had a very special dinner eating fried chicken while watching a movie in Mabel's college room. Mabel liked it and Max thought it was the most delicious thing ever (Dr. Pines explained that fried chicken tastes so good because of the fattiness, something Max didn't normally eat. They compared food pyramids and Max made one for his own species. But essentially Max's tastebuds were being overwhelmed by the flavor of the chicken. Dr. Pines also told Max that too much oil would be bad for his health so the fried food would be a treat every now and then.)

After the movie and some kisses which had only improved over time, they went to bed and had some quality time together before actually going to sleep.

In the morning, Max tried leaving, but his girlfriend's strong grip didn't let him, even in his Eix Leel form. "Mabel, sweetie I have to leave." "Noouuu~ I want you to stay here." She snuggled her naked body against his own, she had nothing on but the blanket that Max made for her.

Max chuckled and pushed her with his tail, passing her a plushie instead. "I gotta go see the priestesses. I still have my duties to my tribe and I've stayed far too long on this side, I have been...how you say…'procrastinating'." He grabbed his collar from the table and cast the human illusion again before putting on clothes.

Mabel pouted. Well that was true. Max intended to go back to his priest in training duties after winter ended, but he got entertained with other things and ended up staying an extra half year to 'serve the great dragon by remaining in the human realm' (wasn't technically a lie). She might be to blame for half that delay...Having him close was just so awesome!

"And you have classes, so no sleeping in!" Max scolded with a grin.

"Blergh. You sound like Dipper…" Mabel groaned.

"I'll take that as a compliment, I think Dipper is very responsible." Mabel rolled her eyes. "You're a nerd, too much nerd influence on you. You should consider going to my other uncles' houses instead of hanging out with uncle Ford all the time." Mabel joked with a smile. "They're fun guys!"

"But Dr. Pines and the great dragon are still teaching me stuff." Max frowned. Mabel yawned and hugged her plushie. "Ok, ok~ Gimme another kiss though."

Max happily complied before he went back home.

-.-

Before going to see the priestesses, Max first went back to his parent's house. He wanted to see his little siblings. They should have hatched by now! Since he spent the winter and more at Dr. Pines's house (the Great Dragon told him that if he wished, he could rest in their house after winter ended, so as not to tire himself teleporting from place to place) he hadn't seen his family since the rift got temporarily closed. Max missed them and was worried about how much he must have scared them when he didn't return all winter.

(Miz wasn't very sure about that. She strongly suspected Max's family didn't really care one way or another, but she kept that to herself, since she managed to realize such information would upset him.)

The little hatchlings (not pups, as they were only a few months old) were gnawing on his dad's hot tail or dragging themselves around.

"Hello Father!" Max called out to him with a smile. The older male actually looked happy to see him. "Oh, Maxini! You're alive!" The older male ran up and nuzzled him. Max blinked before letting out a confused chuckle. "Ah, yes. The great dragon allowed me to stay when I was locked out. And when winter ended, I had other duties in the human realm for her." The older Eix Leel nodded and pulled away. "The great dragon's mercy is a blessing upon us all." he brightened as he realized that if Max was alive then... "I have the greatest of news for you, son!"

Max smiled and he picked up one of his baby sisters. She tried to snuggle him but whined when she realized he wasn't warm. "What is it?"

His father put his hands on each side of his little snout. "The Queen received a message from the south, from a different village. It was from a very rich and influential female. They're used to having many mates and she has come to know that you're a male with green scales. She's interested in you, she's weird, but apparently she thinks you'd be interesting to have for her harem!"

Max's breath hitched.

"We were praying every day to our Gods to allow you to come back for this! Your mother will be delighted! This female's even willing to pay your mother a bountiful dowry and you're single so it's perfect!"

Max's smile was wiped off his face. "N-No!" He wasn't single! He wasn't-but his parents didn't know that-

"What? Why not?! This is what we always wanted for you! You'll be married off to someone rich! We're not asking you, Maxini. You are getting married, you'll finally have a use !"

Max put the baby on the floor. Was-Was this the first thing his father thought about? "No! Yoq, thtithiix! I don't want to! I'm-I'm studying! I'm an apprentice already! And-And I'm studying human culture! For-For the Great Dragon! I am NOT letting you sell me off!"

"Maxini!" His father growled, but Max was already out and getting away from his house. Coming back was a terrible idea. What was he going to do?! He wanted to keep studying and learning! He wanted to be with his girlfriend, he had already chosen her, he wanted to marry her! To become someone that she would want to marry-

He paced angrily and ended up going to his brother's house, whom he also hasn't seen since winter began. His brother was sleeping as a bunch of his kids ran around, many tried climbing over him too. "Uncle Max, I'll be a big brother." One of the pups said proudly.

"What do you want, Max?" his brother groaned, looking a little worn out.

Max grimaced a bit. Was his brother nesting another clutch so soon? The Great Dragon had been giving him lessons about inequality nowadays in humans. There were cases of human males getting their partners pregnant to know they're loyal, and did not allow them to protect themselves from this happening...That...was this case too...right? With Mikkai's partner off to war again…Mikkai's partner had never taken the herbal mixture physicians sell to avoid egg laying...or allow him to take the one for males that stopped fertilisation. Mikkai's partner always left his brother burning with nesting heat, raising their ever growing clutches.

"Are you ok? Maybe you should see a physician after the eggs hatch?" Max reached out to his brother, but Mikkai growled loudly, spines flaring. "Why are you in my house?!"

Max lowered his head and curled next to his quadruplet. "Mikk, Father said someone wants to buy me off for a harem…"

"And?"

"I don't want to." Maxini admitted. Mikkai growled and adjusted himself. "Oh mister priestess apprentice and ambassador doesn't want to stop playing special and do what he was made to do? Boohoo~" The older quadruplet mumbled annoyed, reeking of jealousy for his youngest quadruplet.

Max shifted. "No...It's not that." Ignoring the harsh words his brother used. "...I have a partner, Mikkai, and I love her...I don't want to marry someone else." That caught the blue male's attention. "When did you marry?"

"...We're not married...Um, but we will! She promised!"

"...From this village? How could someone like someone like you ?!" Mikkai scoffed.

Max shifted nervously. This was his brother. It was safe to confide in him. "She's...not Eix Leel...She's...from the other side of the rift...Um...human…" Max confessed with a little wince.

Mikkai gasped loudly. "Please, Mikk, this has to remain a secret. Please . I haven't told our parents yet, or the priestesses, I don't want to leave her!" Max begged. His brother blinked.

"Have...Have you mated with it?"

"She's not an it…"

"Answer the question." Mikkai frowned.

Max nervously wagged his tail. "...Yeah…But it's ok, we're serious, we'll get married."

Mikkai gagged and massaged his temples. "Why are you telling me about this... blasphemy?"

"It's not blasphemy...I love her!" Max exclaimed and Mikkai grimaced even more. Eeeww. GROSS. His dumb brother mated with a human ?! That was so disgusting !

"I-I just need to figure out what to tell the priestesses and our parents so they don't sell me off in a marriage to someone else… I want to continue studying in the human world, there's so many things I haven't learned yet and I need to take the human knowledge exams and I want to learn more about movies and the internet and I want to learn to make human food! It's so amazing and tasty and- Please . Can you help me? Please?"

"...Sure…" Mikkai grimaced when his quadruplet nuzzled his side before wrapping his arms around him to try and kill him ! "What the hell?!" Mikkai gasped.

"This is a human hug. You hold the other to tell them you love them!" Max giggled into his brother's side. "Ew, disgusting! Don't do your human stuff on me!" Mikkai shuddered.

"I love you, brother, thank you! OH!" He pulled out….some glassy thing from a bag. "I mentioned to Dr. Pines, my human tutor, that his glasses made me see blurry, and he says glasses are to make people who see blurry see clearly! So he got me this for you! I remembered you see all blurry all the time. If you put it on, you'll get to see things as clearly as if they were close! Ok, I gotta go now, I'll come the day after tomorrow!"

Mikkai watched Max leave and he bristled with anger. Max was a freak! He was disgusting and yet-! Max got to do more things than he'll ever do! Max was supposed to be suffering! Not...Not seeing other worlds and mating with disgusting humans! An-and having FUN!

Didn't anyone think Mikkai would have LOVED to become a priest apprentice? Or a physician?! Instead of being forced to go into nesting heat after every mating season because his wife didn't want him to ever have the freedom to even leave the nest?! After he had to marry her at 16 because she raped him and he entered into nesting heat and his family was so embarrassed about what HE did, for not being careful?!

(Nevermind the fact that with Mikkai's bad eyes he wasn't good for anything other than warming the nest, as his mate always told him.)

It wasn't fair...And he hated Maxini...Maxini was ugly ...he wasn't supposed to have it better than him. Mikkai held the strange glass thing Max handed him and weirdly put it in front of his eyes. It made very strange sounds (as Ford had created it to adjust to the way the wearer's eyes attempted to focus to help them hit the correct prescription) until the house...suddenly looked beautiful...He gasped. He could see the details in the walls, the clothes, the dents in the pots, the scales of one of his kids running far away from him…

It was so beautiful ...And he hated it. Because Maxini the freak was the one who gave it to him. The oldest kids gasped when dad angrily threw something against the wall, effectively breaking it. Some curious ones went over to fiddle with it. He was so done with Maxini not getting what he deserved… it wasn't fair! It wasn't fair!

Mikkai always kept in mind that Max was the ugly one and surely would never amount to anything, it was the only way Mikkai could feel better about himself. He couldn't stand the fact that Maxini the ugly runt was doing so well for himself. It just wasn't fair! Even though Mikkai had always been told through his childhood that with how beautiful he was, he would surely be chosen by a good mate in spite of his terrible eyes- this was so unfair!

Once he collected his thoughts, Mikkai gathered up his eggs carefully in a blanket he wrapped around his body and made his way to the palace.

He swore it was of vital importance and because he was carrying his eggs, one of the guards let him into the main patio where he waited. The Queen and the King were there and Mikkai bowed. "What are you doing here? It's not good to be out of your nest while taking care of eggs." The King told him softly.

"I know, your Majesty, but greater troubles have forced me to come," Mikkai lowered his head. "I've come to know that my brother, Maxini, the dragon's ambassador, has been courting and mating with a human while outside the rift." Mikkai didn't have a single ounce of regret for spilling what his brother confessed to him so trustfully. He wanted Maxini admonished by the Queen for his freakish ways. He wanted Maxini to lose his Ambassador status. He wanted Maxini to be sold off to the harem so that he would suffer like Mikkai did.

The Queen and the King gasped loudly. The Queen thought about how the dragon's blessing had seemed to be decreasing recently, clearly it was because their ambassador wasn't doing his job properly as he… fornicated with some human like a savage! (In truth, Miz had to pull back a little on making the crops grow to allow the soil to heal, push the fish out farther into the ocean so they could breed and grow.) She growled. "We'll take care of this sacrilege. Thank you for your information, young man. The guards will escort you back to your home."

-.-

Max felt so embarrassed to meet with the priestesses after he visited his brother. They all knew about the 'news' of how a woman from another tribe wanted him. They weren't insisting on the 'harem' thing, but they did demand to know why the hunting and the crops hadn't been flourishing as before. "You aren't doing your job well! It was the only important thing we assigned you! Bring foreign meat and keep the dragon blessing us?! Is it too hard for a male to understand that?!"

"...No, no it's not. I'm sorry. I'll speak to her, I promise." Max bowed. They scoffed but threw a scroll at him for him to read and practice on his own with no instruction from them. And Max thought about how Dr. Pines or the Great Dragon would always sit down with him, looking through work together and how much fun it was…

Max left the town to go and buy some meat from his old boss at the butcher shop. Might as well get this part of his duties done while he could. He had enough money to make the purchase, luckily enough. Human economy was still very hard for him to understand, but he only traded the paper numbers when it was necessary, Dr. Pines gave him a box with a small slot so he could keep the papers in there. Max chuckled. He had a lot of them by now with lots of 20s! Mabel said that was amazing and he should keep saving to buy himself whatever he wanted! "Maybe a phone!" That wasn't a bad idea. He still didn't understand how phones worked and he considered them magic. (The Great Dragon pointed out that Max would need human identification papers if he really wanted to do more in the human world and cited that she was going to ask 'Tio Rico' for help with that. Max didn't know what it fully meant yet, nor did he understand what the Great Dragon was saying about 'adoption papers'...)

But Max tapped on the pendant the Great Dragon gave him and asked about why the blessings upon his tribe's land had lessened.

"Ah, I've been building more Islands. It uses a lot of energy. Besides, your tribe's got more than enough right now and the land needs some rest time to restore it's health. Same with the fish. But if your bosses have an issue with that, I'll come by tomorrow to talk to the Queen directly."

Max nodded at that, understanding the need to allow for nature to heal.

So Max dropped off the bags of meat with the Priestesses and returned to his brother's house to see if maybe Mikkai had calmed down...He wasn't there. None of his kids were home either. "Mikkai?" Did his brother take the children out to play? He shouldn't have been moving around while nesting eggs.

He waited outside kicking a few rocks around and suddenly a group of guards walked towards him. Max's heart skipped a beat. "Come with us." One of them grabbed him roughly by his arm and pulled him along.

"U-Uh...Do-Do the priestesses want me? I-I talked to them earlier, and I talked to the Great Dragon, she says she's coming here to talk to the queen herself to negotiate, um, What-What do they want me for?" Max was getting nervous with their silence.

People murmured as they walked past, pointing at him, grimacing explicitly and snarling at him. "I didn't do anything this time…" The group grew larger as they followed him and the guards, their tails wagging excitedly.

When they got to the temple, Max caught a glimpse of his aunt, guarding the outside of the fortress and she sent him the most disappointed and slightly disgusted look she had ever given him. Shaking her head, she turned away and Max whimpered as he was dragged inside, with the tumult of people pushing to see what was going on.

He tried to breathe calmly, because he knew he didn't do anything wrong. He just had to explain that the Great Dragon was coming tomorrow to negotiate for fish and-and the hunting problem would be solved. It was ok… (Some of the fish were starting to have issues with breeding so quickly, so she wanted to give them a break along with the soil.)

Max was dragged to the throne room, where his queen and high priestess were scowling at him.

"You-Your Majesty...I-I already talked to the Great Dragon, she prefers speaking directly to you, your Highness-I am unworthy of making the town's deals for her. I promise, she-"

"SILENCE!" The Queen roared and Max tucked his tail between his legs, trembling. "I-I am sorry…" he shook, not used to having people shouting at him.

The high priestesses shook her head. "You...you're so disgusting , boy...Your unnatural colors and hideous form has perverted your mind as well…"

Max looked more confused now, but he didn't dare speak.

The Queen growled. "We allowed you to go to the outside world to work! Not to meddle with the humans you-you degenerate! How dare you commit such bestiality and mate with a human?!"

Max had to look up at her, which was a big mistake because while humans maintained eye contact, you definitely MUST NOT look at the Queen in her eyes. It was seen as an act of defiance. But Max was confused, he had gotten used to looking at people while talking to them.

The queen snarled, and the guards shoved Max to the ground. "YOU WILL TREAT YOUR QUEEN WITH RESPECT, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" Max nodded quickly and sobbed softly.

"Weren't you in the human world tending to the Dragon's needs?! And learning...whatever the fuck it is to please her?! Why in the name of our GODDESSES have you been DISOBEYING US! INSULTING ME AND THE GODS WITH YOUR ATROCITIES?!"

"No! I'm sorry!" Max sobbed loudly. "I-I've only been respectful towards the Great Dragon! I learned everything they taught me! I got foreign meat to send back to you like I was supposed to! It's-It's not what it seems!"

"SPEAK! DID YOU MATE WITH A HUMAN OR NOT?!" she thundered, the sound made Max flinch back. Max choked on his tears and sobbed loudly. He looked down at the floor, ashamed. "...Yes…" The guard holding him down only let go because of how disgusted she was of him.

"Not married and already mated with a HUMAN for the Gods' sake! You are completely useless...Couldn't even stay a virgin! And a foreigner wanted to buy you for a harem...you, nothing more than a useless and common slut… " The high Priestesses snarled with venom in her mouth.

Max lowered his head until it was touching the floor. "I beg your forgiveness…"

The high Priestess looked at the Queen before she started speaking. "You see, Maxini...Our village is very tolerant...Unlike other cities with harsher punishments…" Max winced at the word. Was he going to be hit? Was he going to lose his job?

"But there are things we absolutely don't tolerate… especially from such a lowly confrontational male like yourself." She shook her head. "For one thing… bringing human artifacts into our world," The Queen threw the broken pieces of a pair of glasses at him and Max gasped. "H-How did you-?!" Was Mikkai alright?! Was that why he wasn't home?! Was he hurt?! Had the Queen taken him for the crime of having a human artifact?

"Secondly...causing confrontations against the Queen or ourselves…" The High Priestesses grinned. "And you just created a new addition to the list that guaranteed our harshest punishments…Committing such an atrocity as copulating with a damned human."

Max shrunk into himself, wishing the Great Dragon was here. He clenched his teeth and just waited for his punishment. (So scared was he, that Max didn't remember he could contact Miz through his necklace. And with how much she'd been working nowadays, she wasn't watching Max at that moment.)

"If you wish to lay with humans, Maxini, then you'll be human...A DISGUSTING damned human, FAR AWAY from the world you profaned!" The priestesses snarled as the lower priestesses brought some scrolls and materials.

"Bring 'im." The guards once again grabbed him and dragged him towards the priestesses. Max struggled and screamed against their hold. No! Nonononononono! What did they mean?! What were they doing to him?! "No! No please! What are you doing?!"

"It's quite the procedure really." The fifth priestesses smiled. "Its complex though and we reserve it only for the worst scum we don't want in our world anymore~"

Max had never heard of this, he was visibly trembling with fear. He was terrified. "NO! PLEASE! NO! PLEASEEE! MERCY!" Max felt the guards and the lower priestesses strip him naked and he screamed loudly. He fell to the floor as he struggled. His amulet to communicate with Mabel was crushed but he managed to reach the triangle pendant and hide it in his mouth (as he had nowhere else to put it) before he was once again grabbed roughly and shoved onto a cold flat stone.

(((((((((((((((((((((((((((WARNING FOR VERY GRAPHIC VIOLENT TORTURE)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

The doors of the temple were opened wide for the town, in an extraordinary event that happened so rarely it was almost a myth.

Max turned his head a little to face the cheering crowd. "HELP! HELP ME! NO! NO!" He sobbed, tears dampening the rock under him. "PLEASE I'LL LEAVE! I'LL LEAVE!"

"Oh we know that, but you should have left sooner, before tainting our village with your disgusting acts."

He could feel someone grabbing his tail, pulling it straight. His arms and legs are pulled wide as well, and tied in place. "We strip you of your clothes, for you are no more than an animal." The high priestess intoned, a few of the lesser priestesses set Max's clothes on fire. Max gasped. The priestess waved her hands and Max's eyes quickly saw his parents there among the crowd, they looked disgusted with him, his mother had her spines raised as she hissed. His dad was looking down, ashamed, but Max couldn't help the soft "Dad…" that escaped his mouth. His dad always protected him as a pup...he wasn't going to help him this time...was he? More tears streamed down his face.

"We strip you of your braid, for you are not part of our society anymore." Max made a pained sob when, with a swift cut, his little braid was gone and thrown into a fire. His family's ancestry, his culture and tradition...just gone.

"We strip you of your feathers, for you have no need of them out there with the savages." The priestess continued and Max screamed as the others began yanking his feathers out, he tried to move his head, but there was nowhere to go, so he just screamed as they tore out clawfuls of his feathers, leaving his head bleeding and bald.

The spectators gasped, others cheered. His parents left, unable to be in the place where they could smell their son's blood.

"We strip you of your claws, for those humans you love so much have none." Max screamed again as they clamped down on his fingers with metal clamps and twisted . His fingertips were burning and he couldn't even move, it hurt when he moved. Max hissed for air between his teeth, clenched tightly in pain as his tears blinded his vision. It all hurt, so much.

Why? Why was this happening?

Max was in too much pain to even call for the Great Dragon, he was stuck in a mental loop of 'why was this happening?' and 'Everything hurts!'

"We strip you of your tail, for you are no longer Eix Leel." The priestess said solemnly, and Max's eyes flew wide. No! No! They couldn't possibly be-

He saw his aunt walk up, holding a large hatchet in her hands. The blade was gleaming, freshly sharpened. Max began to struggle, despite how much that hurt, he pulled at the ropes and tried to curl his tail back up, but it was pulled taunt by the ropes, stretched straight out. "NO! NO NO NO! PLEASE! AUNTIE PLEASE NO!"

The Eix Leel watching all screamed loudly and everyone turned away from absolutely the most grotesque thing most of them have ever seen. Blood sprayed everywhere. Silence.

And a blood curdling scream followed suit.

The scream petered out into a choked sob, a shallow gasp, as Max fainted from the pain, only to wake again from said pain. He couldn't move, his tail- his spine- he was in shock, numb and cold and bleeding and-

Why wasn't he dying yet? When was he going to die already?

And when he finally thought it was going to end, a hot metal was pressed against his chest, and Max could smell his flesh burn and sizzle away as they branded a rune right over his heart.

He didn't even scream anymore, pain had completely overwhelmed him.

"We strip you of your scales, you are no longer an Eix Leel, and never shall be again." The priestess glared as the spell-seal burned into his skin began to glow. It was like the magic to take on a human appearance, but this time, instead of an illusion, it was forced through his body, infusing into his flesh and bones and blood. His bones shrank, painfully compressing together and his legs cracked as the bones snapped and rearranged themselves. His arms and shoulders snapped as well. And his small muzzle felt like it was in a vice as it was forced inward, rounding out into a different shape. Brown human skin replaced his green scales as they began to flake off him like a shed, but the shed only left behind raw, sensitive skin that scraped against the harsh stone and tore, bleeding even more. The fins attached to his ears, the only thing helping their very bad hearing, shriveled and peeled off, leaving his ear cartilage pointy instead of rounded like a human. Everything became...much more quiet despite the inmense pain.

And somehow, Max managed to keep the pendant under his tongue. He was a little more aware now, as the pain had gotten so wide spread he went into shock and could barely even feel it anymore. He couldn't feel anything at all.

Max couldn't breathe. He tried to, but he couldn't inhale, he just kept exhaling air. His head was pounding. Please, please just… just like him die...

There was a rumbling inside his skull, it was all around him, the only thing he could hear, his chest was burning, he was burning between his legs too, barely feeling something painfully tear its way down- he couldn't see very well- he needed to breathe-

"And we strip you of your voice, so that you always remember your downfall. A male that couldn't remember his place. Silent." The priestess came right up to him and pulled his mouth open, Max gasped for air, heaving in a breath- and then choked again as she poured something into his mouth. And it burned all the way down, blistering his mouth and throat. Max snapped his mouth shut, not wanting anymore of that inside him, he spit it out, the liquid burning the sides of his face as he spat through his teeth, but the damage was already done. He could feel the pendant in his mouth and he held onto it, even as everything hurt, he- he had to call the Great-

And then Max fainted, his body finally giving out.

(((((((((((((((((((((((((Okay it's safe now))))))))))))))))))))))

"It is done." The priestess said. "Look upon this disgrace! May this serve as a lesson! For all of you to never disobey your Queen! This is what awaits those who would so disgustingly mate with a human ." She motioned at Max's still body.

The Eix Leel fearfully retreated back as Lexki and the other guards untied the cursed boy and held him upright. "Look at this disgrace! He enjoyed mating with beasts! So he'll live among the beasts as one of them!" The townsfolk recoiled at how hideous he had become. Those who didnt see the Pines up close gagged. Was that what humans looked like?! How disgusting!

The guards carried the lanky naked human outside the temple, requiring far less effort than before, covering themselves with his blood as it left a trail on the ground.

Max's dad was sobbing into his wife as the woman looked pale. Both looked away when Max was carried out past their house. They couldn't. They couldn't bear to see their son like that...His dad blamed himself. He should have educated him better, he should have found a mate for him much sooner! Then Max wouldn't have been desperate enough to mate with a human! Instead of being bored and curious- All that education and experience wasn't good for a male, it wasn't! It made him confused and reach for things he was never meant to- Max was just a stupid young male who didn't know better- and now it had come to this. That was how Max's father felt upon seeing the grisly sight.

One of Max's sisters was in shock, while Mikkai...he was covering his mouth with both hands. The body of his brother, looking disgusting and unrecognizable, passed close to him, paraded around town so everyone could see, and the young Eix Leel let out a choked sob.

He didn't know THIS would happen, he just thought they would force Max to marry and be sent off to the harem to be made to nest with eggs! He… he didn't know they… that they would do THIS to him. Oh, by the gods, the stench of his brother's blood and burnt skin was everywhere.

What had he done?! What had he FUCKING don- Between tears that blurried his vision even more, Mikkai watched his oldest quadruplet, his sister who joined the military, Milai, quickly stomp up to him and handed him the piece of the glass from the human artifact Max...Max gifted him… which he showed to the Queen as proof of Max's betrayal... "I hope you're happy, Mikkai. You just killed our brother." she hissed at him, before she turned away.

Mikkai curled up on himself and she ran past him, following the crowd of people who were cheering for his brother's banishment.

The guards had reached the rift where the young soldier, Milai, worked patrolling around. The crowd stayed far away from the rift, screaming, as the guards crossed it and minutes later, came back empty handed. They said nothing as the group coordinately marched back to the palace with the diligence and obedience any soldier of their species was taught to have, and the crowd slowly dispersed.

The young female soldier, against any common sense, crossed the rift after her brother. Unnoticed due to the distraction of her colleagues. She searched around for her brother's body, but it was nowhere to be seen, (she found human clothes and a satchel hidden behind some rocks, most likely put there by Maxini himself, and his cape as ambassador which Max always transmutted into a cloth belt when he was in the human world, not that Milai knew about that)

If he wasn't around here then it meant his body was taken up to the surface, to the actual human world. Fearfully, Milai made her way up and from her hidden spot, she saw his body laid on the wet sand, with the salty water hitting his open wounds. She winced. After making sure no other human was around, she ran towards his brother's fragile form. She gently picked him up, Max didn't even complain as he was still out cold, and she made her way through the systems of caves to one far away enough from the rift.

A twitch from her brother told her he wasn't dead yet, which actually saddened her more. "I can't stay until you die, Maxini...I'm sorry." She sobbed for her little brother, very unladylike of her. "They-They'll notice I'm not there soon...But I can keep your body hidden for you to part in peace…" Instead of up on the surface where the humans could find him and desecrate his corpse.

Max let out a dry cough with his sight black, he knew he wasn't dead...but almost. He wished he was… because maybe then he could be spared this pain.

His sister stroked his cheek as his body spasmed hard. "Vichun will receive you, Max, you'll enter his world where the pain and cold doesn't exist, where every soul rests under his wings." She prayed softly. "Don't let go of his hand...I love you...I-I'll miss you so much." She put the strange human objects she'd found next to him, in a sort of very improvised burial site and wrapped him in his blanket to cover his disgustingly weird new human body. She licked his bloodied forehead, and covered his face before quickly running away, leaving her now human brother seizing from his nerves and muscles protesting all the abuse they'd gone through. And the disconnect his Mind had with his new Body, due to the Cursed seal burned right over his heart.

By some miracle (or further torture) Max wasn't dead, though much later he would learn that it was due to the faint traces of the Great Dragon's magic within the pendant. Unfortunately, the Great Dragon hadn't been able to See what was happening since it was inside Max's mouth and therefore her Eye was covered, but it's presence was enough to keep him alive.

The poor shivering boy laid on the floor, going in and out of consciousness a couple times. He felt cold, but he was also BURNING, he vaguely and deliriously thought he was nesting, for what other reason would he be hot? (Max would later learn that such a feeling was called a 'fever' and it was a thing that human bodies did when it was sick and trying to heal itself) So he curled his feverish body against the satchel for a long while.

His mouth felt dry, as if he had sand in it, and he couldn't close it, he couldn't move it beside twitching it. His muzzle hurt too, a lot...was he bitten? He...he wanted to sleep...but...he didn't...he needed the illusion first, human form, humans hunt… Max blindly tried to move his hand to find his illusion amulet, his fingers had scabbed over, but they still hurt as he touched the stone ground. He didn't find his amulet, nowhere to be seen or felt, where was it? He couldn't really move, there was something on top of him.

He tried pushing the heavy thing off him, but couldn't, his arms were far too weak. It was warm though, but it didn't stop him from moaning and complaining at the aching pain all over him.

Max woke up again, feeling worse than before but less delirious despite his fever, he didn't like his body spasming, it hurt...Hurt a lot...Everything was too painful...He attempted to lift the blanket again and succeeded in lifting it for a second. He was naked. What was that down there? Didn't matter. He was naked. But humans wore clothes right? He didn't have any…

He could make them? You could make clothes? Yes you could...He knew someone...Mabel, Mabel did pretty….not clothes? They were clothes, but...not enough. He needed more clothes because humans didn't like it...they-theyburnedyourclothesforyouarenothingbutananimal-

Half delirious from the fever and his wounds, Max's brain only managed to get stuck on the idea that he needed clothes, human clothes, because he was naked right now and... Mabel, yes, her name, so sweet, his mate, had explained that humans didn't like it when people were naked in public- so he needed clothes-

Mabel's uncle made human clothes! Yes- that-

Max stuck his bloodied and dirty hand in his mouth, after much struggle to move it, and in the puddle of saliva pooling there, he grabbed the preeetty wittle pendant and held it in a weak hand. So pretty, preeeetty...clothes...he had pretty clothes too. He wanted to see Mabel's uncle who makes clothes...to-to get clothes too… "..." He couldn't speak his destination into the pendant, but it still understood his intent, what he wanted. Max closed his eyes again, fainting again, but the pendant obeyed his request.

Max (and his belongings nearby) were teleported away to where Max wanted to go.

-.-

Seb had to do everything around in this house! No, even Wanda wasn't free because she was a mess from work! Everything was falling to shit in this country and she was working overtime on cases. And ok, Miz, helped too but now she spent more time with Ford and he was going to snap! Really, Miz had waaaay more patience with the kids than he did. Sebastian knew that he, as the father, should be taking care of his own kids, but he'd been spoiled by Miz's help and couldn't remember how to function without his soul sister.

"Move already you're late for school! URGHH!" Seb stressed himself as the twins took their sweet time.

He searched for his car keys when suddenly the twins both screamed. "The FUCK are you screaming again for? I'm not falling for it tw-AaAAAAHHHH!" He put himself between his kids and the bloodied body that just APPEARED in his living room and was staining HIS carpet with it's BLOOD!

Zoe frowned and Zach covered his eyes, knowing he wasn't going to sleep tonight and Seb carefully flipped the covered figure around with his powers. It rolled around, the blanket slipping off him and revealed a… very naked and unconscious dark skinned man. And bleeding. He was bleeding. Even on his head. Gross. He covered the twins eyes but Zach frowned and pushed daddy's fingers away because...something felt familiar (?)

"...Max?" Zach called but of course there was no response.

"MAX?!" Seb gasped and pushed the twins even back-er to kneel next to the injured young man. Seb examined his face and opened one of his eyes. Green. Teeth. Sharp. Holy shit. This was MAX! FOR REAL! He glanced at his watch and then back at the kids. Ok. There was no way they were getting to school on time anymore. And he sure as fuck wasn't asking Carol for help. Fuck Carol. Besides! Helping someone was better than going to school! Being a good human was made of good actions towards others without waiting to receive something in re-

"Dad! Come back! Max's dead! Help him!" Zoe demanded and she shook the...former Eix Leel...not that they knew about the 'former' situation.

"Ok, right!" Seb carefully picked Max with his mind, but still held him in his arms and before debating where to go and what the FUCK he should do next, he took him to the bathroom to wash off his blood and grime. "Also, he's not dead. If he was dead, there'd be no way for me to help him. I can't raise the dead." Seb deadpanned. " Also also, one of you remind me to call your school and tell them you're both skipping today because of a family emergency."

""Kay~"" the twins nodded.

The twins changed into more comfy clothes as they waited for dad to give Max a bath. He smelled pretty bad, in their 6 year old minds, that was the first thing that registered. Like blood, sweat, dirt and...like the burnt chicken mommy accidentally made that one time, Dad laughed at it and then he had to sleep on the couch that night. Yeah, this was that smell.

They were also pretty worried though. They might be half demon spawns, but they weren't monsters! The twins cared for family! And Max was gonna be Mabel's husband someday, like how Phillip was gonna be Dillon's, and Pacifica was gonna be Dipper's, so that meant that Max was family too.

Inside the bathroom, Seb was close to washing Max with blocks of ice, he didn't know what he should do, Max was painfully hot, which was odd since he was normally cold to the touch. But his lips and damaged fingertips and toe tips were blue and that confused the hell out of Seb. Was he cold or not?

"Oh kid, what the hell happened to you?" Seb grimaced. He closed his Eye to see, but looking into the past was so blurry for him, even after he had been practicing and it gave him a headache. Whatever, it didn't matter right now, not this instant. Taking care of his wounds was more important. "It's ok, I'll take care of you." He poured some water over Max's face to clean off the dried blood that came from his head and the burned looking borders of his mouth. It didn't look like a heat burn, like on his chest. Max's cheeks looked like chemical burns. "Did you fight someone? I doubt it, you don't look like the fighting type…" He carefully wiped Max's face with a soft cloth, as if washing a baby. Max was Mabel's boyfriend! And he loved Mabel! If Max got hurt or died, she'd be destroyed ! Especially since they just reached a year together and Seb had been so happy for them! So he couldn't let Max die!

Seb took Max to his room after washing him and dressed Max in his clothes which, to Seb's not surprise, didn't fit him in the sleeves or pants because Max was a TALL kid ok?! He was definitely taller than the Stans. Seb covered Max with a lot of blankets though, worried the boy was also getting hypothermia, carefully covered his abused head with a cute beanie and kept a cloth of water on his forehead, to bring down the fever.

He definitely needed painkillers, and something for Max's burn, would have to call the pharmacy. Seb pulled out his phone to do so, using the App for Void Deliveries. That delivery service Yun started up was really the best, quick, to your door packages within the day.

She'd explained it was almost like Uber, in that someone will make a request by buying something and asking for it to be shipped to them, and then the closest transportation employee at Void would get an alert on their Void-Employee App to tell them to head to the nearest Void Deliveries building to pick up a package to bring to the address. Or to go to the store that had the item they wanted and purchase it with their Void Card (which would ONLY buy the requested item), which would transfer over the funds from the customer when they bought the requested items. Then they would bring the items to a Void Deliveries building to drop it off for someone else to pick up to bring it to the address. All they had to do was place the items into a chute and then leave. No one knew what happened inside a Void Deliveries building, but the items always ended up packaged and ready for pick up by the next transport employee in a location nearest to where it needed to go.

The company was still just starting up, but it was quickly growing in popularity for the speed of it's deliveries, and the very generous salaries for their employees.

So Seb quickly ordered some medical supplies and the App told him it would be arriving at his front door within 10 minutes.

Great, Seb just hoped that would be good enough.

Max wasn't waking up. Seb injected him the painkillers and put the cream around his mouth and on his fingers. In just two hours Max had wet himself twice as he was unable to control his bodily functions, followed up with small seizures. And after the third time Seb had to hold Max's head while the poor, poor boy spasmed, Seb was starting to get really scared. He needed to call a doctor. But he knew he couldn't! Max was a reptile! Seb was still wondering how Max was holding up his human form without that glowy pendant of his.

Ok. He couldn't do this alone anymore. This shit was serious. Now that the initial panic had faded somewhat, Sebastian could actually think properly. He dialed Ford, as he was the closest thing he had to a doctor(?) for cryptids. "Sixer! Your pupil appeared in my living room today-"

"MAX IS WITH YOU?! SEB, WE WERE WORRIED SICK! MIZ COULDN'T FIND HIM! SHE'S IN HIS TOWN RIGHT NOW!"

"...Um...yeah, he's pretty beaten up...the base of his spine has like...I'm pretty sure I can see a bone? I...I first thought he was, you know, abused after seeing all the blood, but after cleaning him up I think it's worse…" Seb pouted. "It's where the coccyx should be...I bandaged that but I-I can see his bone , it...it's sticking up and it's not pretty…"

"I'm coming over." Ford hung up and seconds later, a portal appeared in the room. His triplet rushed over to Max and gasped at his appearance. He fearfully traced his cheek, and noticed there was no hair under the hat. "...What have they done to his hair…" Ford choked in shock and pity. "His scalp is red and was bleeding when he came." Seb informed.

"...Seb, Max holds a great importance with his hair, well, feathers, his braid and beads are important to him. Whoever did this knew. ..and did this to him as painfully as possible." Ford winced as he could see the spots where Max's feathers had been plucked, the skin was raised and irritated looking.

"I tried keeping him warm... he's still freezing but-but his fever isn't coming down and he had seizures like, four times already, and-and I don't know what to do anymore!" Seb whimpered in frustration. "Got him painkillers though, via injection…"

Ford was checking Max over, grimacing at the wounds. How was he still alive? "We need to call Miz. This isn't something I'm equipped to handle." He called her a few times, but she didn't pick up her phone. Damn great.

He sat down next to Seb to hold onto his pupil. He held his bruised, scarred hand and gently massaged the palm. "Who could have done something like this?"

"No idea...Tried looking, but couldn't get my powers to work...Could it be a hate crime?" Seb frowned. He really did need to have Miz help him practice his powers. He didn't need them much in the day to day, but now that he needed them… he didn't like feeling so helpless.

Ford was about to say that was improbable until...he realized Max's human form was brown skinned, he spoke another language and if Ford had to be honest, Max looked Native (Ford's theory on why Max's human form looked like a Native was because he was a Native. The Eix Leel were native to the American continents, north and south. And it was possible his ancestors based their human illusions off the human DNA that were prominent on the continent. And with how magic and the supernatural used to be more prominent in the past, Ford wouldn't be surprised if they were closely connected in some way.) "I wouldn't be surprised." The scientist growled.

"He had Miz's pendant in his hand when he arrived, albeit covered in saliva, I'm starting to think he managed to escape whatever torture he had been subjected through…" Seb grimaced. "But I still don't get why he came to me ...I mean, sure, I'm awesome-" Ford couldn't help the exasperated eye roll at that, "-and we talked that one time during Christmukkah, but you're still his teacher, doesn't he have more trust in you to take care of him? Did you have a fight or something?"

"No! Not at all! Max left a few days ago, he went to stay with Mabel for a while, I gave him some modified glasses to give his quadruplet and he was supposed to come back a day after… and even when he was late, we weren't worried at the time..." Ford looked very distressed and he looked even more so when Max's body once again seized.

"Oh god, help me hold his body." Seb ordered as he gently turned Max to his side so he wouldn't choke in case-Ok, he threw up this time. The other times he didn't. Did that mean he was getting better, getting rid of his disease, or worse? Everything he threw up was bile, as if he didn't have food in him.

The two brothers held onto the boy for long and agonizing minutes (so he wouldn't hit himself against something and hurt himself) until he finally settled down again. Seb tearfully looked up at his oldest brother and noticed Ford had tears in his eyes as well. Sixer really bonded with this kid huh?

"Ford...I think we should keep him hydrated? We'll need IV packs...Is there something like that in the center?" Ford took a deep breath and nodded. "I'll bring the equipment here…and-and keep dialing Miz… she went to Max's village and she's not picking up her Com..."

While Ford was gone, Seb changed the bandages on Max's rear and he gagged a little. God the kid's spine was outside, god, god, god. "For Ax's sake, what the fuck happened to him, don't let him die!" Seb even glanced up and glared. "You bitch! Don't you DARE let him die!"

(The Axolotl sighed. Still as demanding as ever. It wasn't like the Axolotl could even control something like that...)

Seb changed Max's head towel for a colder one, his fever wasn't coming down, and pulled the blankets off him a little, to let his body breathe. And then Seb saw Max's skin was bleeding lightly, especially in his elbows and the back part of his thighs (his entire body, all his skin was raw and irritated though) and was dampening the sheets again. Seb was just emphatically crying by now because despite how much he didn't want it to happen, death would be a blessing for Max right now. If only to spare him from this pain he was in. But then Seb shook his head. No. No! Sebastian refused to believe Max would be better off dead. He refused to let the boy die.

Seb decided against putting new clothes on Max for the moment, because damn him, if the clothes were irritating Max's skin- and Seb ordered more bandages for his entire body as well as more cream to relieve his sore skin. Why was his chest even more swollen than before, it was red and- was that blood around his nipples?! Ok, no, this was terrible, this was horrible and Seb felt terrible because he couldn't do more for Max.

He only put a towel over Max's...crotch and brought all the heaters in the house to his room because even as Seb was trying to deal with Max's fever, the boy's body was freezing . Seb didn't know that was possible. He also didn't know Max could shiver...

"...Daddy…" Zach poked his head into the room, covering his eyes because just being close to Max like this made him feel sad.

"What's up, baby?" Seb asked tiredly. "...We want-we want lunch...but-but we don't know how to make…" the little boy sniffled. They didn't want to bother dad while he helped Max.

Seb took a deep breath. Was it lunch time already?! "No, it's ok, don't worry. I'll order a pizza, yes? You two want pizza?" Zoe poked her head into the room as well and the little blond kids nodded quickly before leaving.

Ford came back and after Seb explained why he had untucked Max, Ford carefully put in the IV with the nutrients and hydration, he also got a small portable heart monitor. Stanford was very worried for his pupil, he had been teaching him for months and he was so proud of everything Max had achieved. Ford didn't want him to die. Ford didn't see Max as 'his baby' like Xin did, but he still really cared about him.

"I can't get Miz to pick up, I guess she's talking with Max's Queen about the new deal for a blessing…" Ford tiredly informed Seb. "We'll just wait for her then…"

The twins got their pizza, but the two-third triplets couldn't stomach anything right now, as worried as they were. They debated on whether or not Mabel should know about this and finally decided against it. They didn't want to stress her with seeing her boyfriend like this. They would tell her once Max was stable.

Miz came home almost at the same time as Wanda did. The blonde woman screamed her heart out at the blood on the floor and Miz ignored her mom to go into the guest room.

She needed to see her baby. Her baby, Max- he was going to die if she didn't do anything. Why hadn't she noticed sooner?

She saw him, saw his terrible state, and she trembled with suppressed rage. Still, she climbed onto the bed and placed her hands gently on him to begin the healing process. And as she worked, she thought back to the conversation she'd had with the Queen of the Heeyatl Pak.

"Where is Max?" Miz demanded, in her dragon form as she stared down at the queen. Her baby wasn't here! (And Miz, stupidly, didn't just use her Eye to find him, thinking about respecting his privacy.) "The male wasn't an appropriate ambassador. We have banished him. You may choose a new ambassador." the Queen gestured and showed off a line of other males, dressed nicely, with vibrant, beautiful colors, carefully groomed feathers and elaborate braids. The Queen had been prepared for this of course.

"Where is Max?" Miz repeated, starting to get suspicious now. Banished? What the hell?!

The Queen glanced at the high Priestesses and nodded at the dragon. "Great Dragon, why do you like such an unworthy male? He's been banished from our lands for his animalistic acts. These males are virgins, ready to please you in any way you desire, even learn about human culture as well, if that is what you wish." The young males, all of them kids or teens, shifted nervously. They were terrified at the idea of serving the Great Dragon. She was so big, and would surely crush them easily.

"I. Want. MAX!" Miz's eye flickered because she wasn't going to just wait anymore. She wanted to know what happened NOW- and she Saw what these...these horrible sexist, racist assholes had done to him… "You-" she looked around, searching for the place where they'd tortured him in front of the whole village. The Queen and the high priestesses gasped when Miz left in the direction of the temple. "Where did you put it?" Miz snarled, stomping around, purposely, since she could easily float but chose not to.

"What?" The high priestess asked. "His tail!" Miz snarled. If she could find it, she could still reattach it. It would hurt less than helping him grow a new one...

"It's been burned, as was everything he owned. They were tainted. He was depraved! He mated with a human !" the priestess explained. "We couldn't allow someone that disgusting to remain here. He had to be banished-" at the great dragon's glare, she added, "Normally we execute such deviants, but we spared his life for your sake, as you favored him. But he isn't suitable to be your ambassador." The priestesses explained, she didn't even sound regretful, she actually thought what they did was completely reasonable.

"You don't get to decide that for me." It was gone...She couldn't...Max would...His back was so bloodied and his spine-

Miz growled at the leaders of this tribe. Her eye narrowed and the two women made a choking sound before they slumped over in place, their very lives stripped from them. The guards let out terrified screams as the dragon's giant jaws swallowed the priestess whole and then chomped the queen in half, in less than three seconds. Miz growled at the guards and approached them-

- Miz shook off that mental image. Oh, she really wanted to do it. She wanted to do it so badly~ but she promised mommy not to kill people who weren't attacking her first, or while they were in the act of trying to hurt someone else. (And she was logical enough to know that killing the queen and high priestess would cause the whole tribe to fall into a panic, and it would end up hurting any innocents here as well.) So, sadly, she couldn't. Even if the fantasy of doing so was incredibly satisfying...

"Great Dragon. Great Dragon." The Queen smiled and Miz blinked down at her. Ugh. She was still here. "Great Dragon, my village is at your service, our farmers are willing to learn from your infinite abilities on how to produce the vegetables you desire, in exchange that we're all blessed by your protection and prosperity in land and sea."

Miz stared down at the Queen, blinked and then burst out into laughter. They were still trying to get her favor? Even after she'd outright told them that she just wanted Max?

"Great Dragon Miz?"

"Dude, fucking FORGET IT! I don't care about your village, not after what you did to Max. Your banishment of my Ambassador means our partnership has ended. I'm revoking my Blessings." Miz snorted.

The Queen and the High Priestess tucked their tails between their legs, shocked and visibly pale despite their green scales. "Great Dragon! This punishment has been executed for centuries on the worst of our village! I saw my own mother banish a horrible couple this way!" The Queen's voice cracked a little, actually looking scared of losing the dragon's favor over something she was convinced didn't matter. "He's not worth it, please take any other male you desire!"

"You don't get it do you?" Miz turned to regard her. "It's not about them being male or good looking, it's about Maxini being someone I care for. And the only reason I blessed your lands was because he lived here and he loved his home." Miz told her simply. "Since he no longer lives here, I have no reason to keep up my blessings. Good day and goodbye." and she turned and flew away, toward the cave and it's rift. Fuck them all. She had to go find her baby.

Miz blinked herself back into the present. Well, at least Max was alive. If he had been killed, well, Miz wouldn't have held back from devouring the high priestess and the queen. And just dealt with the fallout as it happened.

"Have you resolved the land problem with the Heeyatl pak?" Ford asked softly. Miz looked at him. "Yes, fuck them." she growled under her breath.

"...Oh." Ford frowned.

"Miz, can you see what happened to Max?" Seb asked almost as soon as Wanda burst into the room screaming about blood everywhere (the twins were pulling at her pants to be quiet for Max to sleep!) and then screamed at Max's state. She was totally freaking out and why was Ford here too?!

Miz let go of Max's forehead. "Sh, mommy, he needs quiet…" The demon stroked her pupil's cheek. "It's ok, they'll never hurt you again." she wouldn't allow it. "Miz? What happened? Do you know?" Ford asked.

She lifted her head up to stare at the triplets. "He was turned human."

""He does that yes."" Seb and Ford said at the same time. Miz wanted to slap them, but instead, she pulled gently at the bandage on Max's chest and showed them his brand. "He was TURNED human. He's not wearing his necklace anywhere, Fordsie…" She reminded him.

Wanda was not understanding anything, Seb was very confused and Ford frowned hard. "Is he having seizures because of the imbalances his body is going through?" He asked softly.

"That, among other things." Miz said sadly, stroking his cheek. "Once he wakes, I'll ask him what he wants me to do…" because this Curse was powerful, not in terms of its effects or the spell itself, no. The issue was that this spell wound itself around the person's Soul. And Miz… couldn't fix that. She was a master of the mind, not soul. Any of her abilities with manipulating the soul was due to years of practice and observing her dad working, not from her own innate abilities. And when working with something as delicate as a Soul, she didn't trust herself to 'operate' on him. It was like asking her to perform surgery after only observing operations from through a window. And she wasn't going to risk Max with it.

Fuck those reptilians for doing this.

"He's been having seizures?" Wanda caught that. "Isn't that...super dangerous for his brain?"

"These seizures are caused by his brain adjusting to the change in his body. It'll settle out, but it'll be painful." Miz winced. She curled up against the boy to warm him up naturally.

"So...What should we do?" Seb asked. "We've been here for hours controlling his double fever AND freezing temperature, how's that even physically possible? He's supposed to be human now..."

"How does a cold blooded species adjust to having a partially warm blooded body?" Miz shot him another question. Seb pouted and rubbed his arm before looking at Ford. "I bet you wanna take your pupil back home, huh?" He didn't think it was a good idea to move him, but surprisingly, Ford knew Max better and he thought it'd be better if he woke up to a familiar face (not in the sense of literally, they-they had the same face…minus one eye...) "Also, Wands doesn't want more strays around the house."

"Seb, I'm not a monster!" Wanda gasped, feeling very offended that Seb would casually say something like that. "The poor kid's sick! I have no problem with him being here. I- that isn't what I meant when I said I didn't want any more strays-" she groaned. "I was talking about Rico specifically."

"No. He's staying." Miz declared as she changed into a smaller version of her dragon form. And then she curled around Max. "My baby now. His parents don't want him. So he's mine now." she hissed. "They let him be taken away, dragged onto a cold stone to tear his skin open and have his suffering turned into a show for the rest of the town. They left him alone and abandoned him! So he's MINE now."

She carefully pulled closer and touched him again to continue healing him. She focused on his spine, she didn't want him suffering later from permanent damage for not acting quick enough. The loss of his tail wasn't just the loss of an appendage. It was his spine. It was tied into all his nerves. Not to mention the tissue damage to the flesh around it. His balance would be fucked.

So she began to regrow his tail, checking often and carefully to make sure it was hooking into all his nerves properly.

The adults decided to leave Miz to take care of Max for now, she would be of more help than them, and left the room. Wanda and Seb didn't make a fuss over the carpet anymore and, with Ford's help, just threw it away.

-.-

Ford spent the night with them. He wanted to be with Miz and Max, but he knew Miz would get overprotective of the young man and Ford wasn't sure if his partner would be ok with having him near Max while he was in this state. (Ford had noticed some very… animalistic behaviors from Miz, which fascinated him. But now was not the time to be asking or testing about that.) He woke up early to check on them, as did Seb. Wanda said she could take the twins to school so Seb could watch over Max. Wanda called into work and the school to explain that there was a family emergency.

After the three had a small breakfast (surprising in Miz's case) Max slowly opened his eyes and pain hit him like a rock. He moaned softly. Noo! He wanted to go back to being dead…

""Max!""

Miz was curled around him, dragon once more, and her warmth infused into him, soothing away his pain. "Shh~ It's ok, It's ok, I got you now." She purred as she nuzzled him.

"Nnngh…" Max made a sound and he snuggled against the warmth. His pain started evaporating, but his throat still hurt. Where was he? What happened? He forced himself to look around him and saw a...face...brown eyes, big nose, glasses...Dr. Pines. He was here...Why was he here? "NnhPh…" his voice was hoarse.

"No, it's ok, don't try to speak, you're still very weak, can you understand me? Do you know who I am? Blink twice for yes, Max." Max slowly blinked twice.

"You're at my brother Sebastian's house. Do you know how you got here?" Max looked down before only blinking once. No. He...Had no idea. He just knew that he was so tired, and there were random aches along his body...but something was incredibly warm.

"It's ok, don't worry." Ford nodded at his pupil with a small smile.

"I won't let anyone hurt you anymore." Miz purred, licking him gently. Max sighed softly. That was the Great Dragon. Yes...So warm. And her tongue soothed the aching and itchy skin on his face. He felt… safe. Max relaxed. "...should we get him some soup?" Seb asked.

"No, his throat hasn't healed yet. Hot liquids would hurt." Miz told him, "And I don't want to upset his stomach in case it hasn't settled down yet." She paused. "Nutrient jellies should be fine. Refrigerated ones."

"Nutri-what?" Seb blinked. But Ford nodded. "Dr. Wexler's been working on them, with Miz's help. All the nutrition of a full meal in a soft jelly-like form."

"The texture's closer to tofu, since we don't use actual gelatin, but essentially yes." Miz told them. "They're cheap to make, and would be good for people who can't afford to get full meals, to still have everything they need to stay healthy."

"I haven't heard of that anywhere…" Seb pouted. "It's still new. First sold in town." Ford responded. "The townsfolk agreed to be our test subjects."

"The town gets the best stuff." Seb chuckled.

Max shakily raised a hand to pull at the scratchy thing on his head, it was getting itchy on his forehead and his head hurt, but when his fingers ran over his scalp, his green eyes widened in shock.

What…

Where were his feathers?!

Max started panicking, breathing hard and trying to stand up and see why?! Whywhywhywhy! They were gone! gone! Gone! Where was his braid?!

"Max, calm down! It's ok!" "Maxi, please, you have to lay down!" Max couldn't move his legs yet though so he only managed to make choked sobs and squirm from side to side. And the memories began flooding in, something he wished had not happened. His feathers! They pulled them off! His braid was gone! "Aaumghh!" Max wailed.

Miz held him tight so he couldn't touch his head anymore and made some purring sounds to calm him down. Max had his eyes wide, terrified and ashamed green eyes full of tears staring off in horror for what had been done to him. He could feel the great dragon licking his head. "If you need to cry, then cry. But be careful, your throat's still healing." she told him. She'd been busy working on the rest of him, wanting to be careful about healing him, instead of just slap-dashing it. She cradled him against her bricks, really wanting to eat the high priestess and queen for doing this to him.

Max's shuddered and cried silently to himself, trying from time to time to touch his head, but Miz didn't let him, because rubbing the raw skin would hurt him more. He was an outcast...They cut his braid off...They-He was nothing...He didn't have a home anymore, no family, no culture or tradition, he wasn't welcomed there.

And he must look HORRIBLE! Like a bald-bald...horrible...thing. And his tail was gone- it should have been gone...He could feel it, he could vividly feel it crushed on the bed...but he saw his bloodied tail burn. Wasn't his tail supposed to be gone?

He was so sorry...He shouldn't have...He shouldn't have...He should have been more careful. Of course they'd find out eventually! It wasn't Mabel's fault, it was his...for agreeing to do something the priestesses would condemn, for being too loud when talking to Mikkai, someone must have heard...and his brother...he might be in danger too because of him. Max sobbed more until he was too tired to do that, and just stared at the wall in front of him with a defeated look.

The great dragon continued purring, wrapping her warm body around him and Max sniffled. He could feel his wounds healing, but even if his body was mended, his heart was still in agony.

-.-

"...what...whah I do now?" Max asked later in the day after he had a sad nap. His throat still felt hoarse as shit, but at least he could talk again. Drinking water helped too.

Seb, who was watching over him, smiled slightly. "Well, first you rest and rest as much as you can." He adjusted Max's blankets. "And then you can do whatever you want. I'm sure Ford and Miz would love to have you back in Gravity Falls with them...you can work or study on your own...I'm also here, if you still want to learn more about clothes or cooking." Seb giggled, remembering their conversation from Christmukkah.

"...nowhere to go…"

"That's not true! You can come here and stay as much as you need it. You have Ford too, and you and Mabel are adults now, you can rent an apartment together."

"...with paper money?"

"Yeah, with those damned papers." Seb smiled and Max managed a small smile before sobering. "I...I look bad?"

"Yeah, you look like shit." Seb said sincerely. "But that can be fixed with rest, water, MORE rest and my delicious food you'll get to taste when Miz says you can eat more than jellies." He gestured at the sleeping dragon wrapping around Max.

Max hummed. "Mabel… would she even like me now? Look bad...n-no feathers…" Seb laughed, "Kid. Mabel will still adore you." Max's face felt a sudden rush of warmness he thought was from sickness, he'll later discover it was a blush.

"Mabel absolutely loves you!" Seb assured the boy. "With or without hair. With or without scales. Because she loves you , not your forms. Sure, she thinks you're attractive, but looks only go so far. She loves you ." Seb patted his hand gently. "Besides, hair grows, if you're really worried about that kind of thing. You'll grow back your hair, and your illusion had pretty hair, you'll have pretty human hair. Almost green, which is awesome. And you can braid it as much as you want."

"...Don't know...to braid...hair." Max said sadly. Hair and feathers had different textures. He remembered having trouble with braiding hair, when Mabel had asked him to brush her hair. It got caught in his claws.

"Don't worry, you've got me for that." Seb gave him a sharp toothed grin and Max replied with one of his own. Max also liked this uncle.

-.-

Ford visited Max every day while his health improved. It really made Max happy to have BOTH uncles teaching him stuff. Miz wanted him to just rest while he got better, but...he had nowhere else to go, his pendant to visit Mabel was destroyed and he didn't feel like showing his...pinkish reddish ugly BALD human face to her right now. He had come to like the beanie. It covered the horrible disgrace on his head. And eventually, Miz finished healing his fingers so Max could actually touch and hold things again.

Dr. Pines came and he continued his classes, it helped distract his mind from the pain in his chest, or the coldness welling up inside him. It just didn't feel the same anymore though...Mr. Seb brought him yarn and they knitted together, it also helped to pass the time, and to adjust to wiggling his human fingers. The Great Dragon said he'll have trouble with his body again, as it was not the same as the illusion, it was changed completely...

He...He was a human now, for real...His human hands touching things were his actual hands...not his Eix Leel claws, hidden with magic. His balance was so off and anything he brushed felt weird and foreign. His tail had been regrown, but it was still very sore and he still felt off balance. Of course it did, it was a tail in a body where it didn't belong...

Mr. Seb also talked to him, and listened to him. Max told him that he felt very sad, about everything, how...he saw his parents there, looking at him and no one did anything, no one helped him... and Mr. Seb understood .

"I know what you feel, Max...I was also kicked out from home, I felt really alone for a long time…" Seb squeezed his shoulder. "But you have a huuuge advantage-You have us , you're not alone, kid. I promise I'll take care of ya." Seb felt so much for this kid. He had to help him, because that's what Matsuda did for him even when he felt he was worthless and horrible (how Max saw himself now) and it meant so much to him.

Seb wasn't going to let Max go through what he did. He would make sure Max got all the love and support he needed. And as Seb saw Max truly begin smiling again, he wondered in his heart if Matsuda would be proud of him?

"I...hate going to the bathroom." Max groaned in relief when he finally reached his bed. He was wrapped up in a blanket because he was still cold, but his fever had died down. He flopped face down onto the bed, his tail was still numb and dragged alone the floor. He couldnt feel it.

"Well, it's that or diapers and I don't think you'd like that option." Seb said unbothered. "Yeah! Like a baby!" Zoe teased their new housemate and Zach rolled his eyes. "Don't bother Max!"

"No, I don't want diapers...but...humans go to the bathroom way too much." Max dragged himself to his pillow and laid face down.

"I mean...I have nothing to compare it to, so I'll just say, Yeah." Seb laughed. "Wait, so when you had an illusion on?"

"With the illusion I didn't feel the need to go...and in my...normal form I didn't need to go like a human did." Max grumbled. "I just had to squat over a hole like… once every few days."

The Pines all made faces. Well, Seb and Zach did, Zoe was laughing. Because she was crazy and poop was funny. "Yeah...Not talking about it." Zach shook his head solemnly.

Max groaned as he laid down. His joints hurt all over, there wasn't much the Great Dragon could do about it, just give it time. Apparently straight up shutting off his nerves so he didn't feel the pain, or changing his pain receptors to be pleasurable instead was a bad idea. And the human painkillers worked a little, but they couldn't give him the really strong stuff because apparently he could get addicted to it if he took too much, and was sad during it. "Sorry Zachary, but I'll be complaining for the rest of my existence." Max muttered. (Seb found it a good sign that some sass was coming out now.)

"Wow, dramatic much." Seb crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

"I am!" Max complained. "Because...I never thought how WEIRD and IMPRACTICAL they are! And it's impracticalness is making me hurt!" He pouted. "Why do humans even need to go to the bathroom three times a day or more? Why can't it all just come out once a week? And why are there two separate places for stuff to come out? And from the-" Max gestured at his crotch. "That is for mating! Why does waste come from it? Waste from the back is fine, and normal, and the eggs come out there too- but the male's aren't supposed to-"

Zoe climbed next to him to listen to his complaints, because they were so funny! She was kicking her little legs as she hit a pillow.

Seb tried a smile, but it turned into a grimace and a hard blush. "Yeah...Sucks to be us, I guess."

"-and why is it always out? Just… dangling there and hitting against things? That's awful and it hurts! And I can't sit down unless I make sure not to sit on those-"

Seb grabbed the twins and floated them away, even as Zoe complained that she wanted to stay and Zach was covering his ears repeating 'lalalala!' to himself.

"Yeah, um...Tip for ...humanness. It's not really a thing to talk about private parts. Those are called 'private' for a reason, and if you want the full on body explanation~ you got your mentor dear old Fordsie for that!" Seb couldn't help but grin, imagining Ford's ace ass having to explain this.

Max pouted and crossed his arms. "How long will it take for my hair to grow?"

"It's already growing back." Seb pointed out. "It's really short, but it's there. We call that fuzz and it's fun to touch."

"Ooh?" Max's eyes widened as he heard the great dragon behind him. And then Miz was there, staring at Max's head. "Can I touch it? Please? Pleasepleaseplease?" She was making grabby hands at Max's head.

Max sighed. "Alright." and the great dragon squealed and shifted into her dragon form to begin licking, grooming him. Max sighed, but he smiled. It felt really nice. Reminded him of when he was a child, and his father would groom him to sleep. The memory sent a pang of pain through him. He wondered how his family was doing. (They might have needed the money from the harem deal, that might have been part of their insurance on it.) He wondered how his brother was doing...

"Yeesh, I thought you hated hair." Seb made a face at Miz licking Max's short hair back.

"I don't like hair because it gets stuck between my teeth when I eat it. But I'm not eating it. I'm grooming him!" Miz said cheerfully. "Besides, I'm encouraging it to grow faster!"

Max seemed happy with that information. He could endure some more grooming to grow it faster. He...He wanted to see Mabel again soon.

Speaking of Mabel, she had contacted them when she realized she couldn't call Max, to find out where her boyfriend was. She didn't know the details and hadn't even spoken to Max directly (Seb spilled accidentally to Shermie, who in turn told Dipper, who had to tell his twin, because...twin empathy? And Mabel was really worried. Mabel only knew Max was at her uncle's house and that she couldn't see him. Not yet.

"Not even facetime?!" Max didn't want to be seen and despite how Seb had told him that Mabel wouldn't mind, that Max was still handsome, Max still wanted to look prettier before even trying it. He was terrified of Mabel being disgusted by him. They did use the phone though and it was clear Max really missed his girlfriend and needed the talks.

-.-

Max's walking adventures had extended from the room's bathroom to all of the hallway. His legs were stiff and every time he saw them, it sent shivers through him. They were facing the WRONG way...Not in, out...It didn't bother him before, because he knew it was an illusion, but...knowing those were his bones ...It was a terrifying thought. Hugging his tail really helped, even when the sensation of it was still very low, it felt like having an arm or leg falling asleep and going numb. But at least it gave him a sense of familiarity.

The twins motivated him to walk with the salty snacks Mabel once gave him, the orange colored ones and the potato ones. Max was going to say those were the best human inventions ever. He carefully made his way downstairs, feeling a stinging sensation from time to time coming from his lower back, where his tail twitched weakly, and sighed in relief when he reached the kitchen. He was getting better at the balancing thing. The railings helped.

"Good Max!" Zoe cheered and handed him the Cheemtos bag.

"Now my turn!" Zach jumped but Max had enough moving for a lifetime. His knees hurt and his back too, so that was a no-no for him.

"Lets watch a movie! This one you haven't seen!" Zoe pointed at him as she grabbed the remote control to turn on the Nexflit. She reached to get snacks from Max, but the young man growled at her.

Instead of getting scared, Zoe glared, growled at him right back, stuck her tongue out and they settled down to watch the movie. Max stared at the Tv with a little pout. "Can you make it louder?" Zach frowned but agreed.

Seb appeared about half an hour later, and wasn't very happy the twins were using Max to escape schoolwork (clever brats), but at least Max was out of bed too and that was a great thing.

"Come on. Homework now. I know it sucks, but getting it done would make the teachers less of a pain." Seb rolled his eye.

""Aaaw!"

"Also, Max, Ford didn't leave you a book to read?"

"...I read it already."

"Really." Seb deadpanned and then the boy just made the same "Aaww!" the twins made! It made him laugh. Seb reached to hold Max's arm to help him back into his room.

Maxini sighed when he sat down on the bed again munching his last snacks. "The movie was interesting…" He liked the protagonist's hair, it was orange and he hadn't seen that form of hair before, so curly.

"I've got better movies in my opinion." Seb shrugged.

"Mr. Pines I'm vibrating again. Cold."

"Oof, your temperature must have dropped, I'll turn on the heater." He said as he floated the book towards Max. He stared at how big it was and sniffled. While reading it weeks ago would have made him jump for joy, today...he just felt numb.

"Mr. Pines...I don't...I think I don't want to learn anymore…" And he felt so dumb for it. "I don't feel like reading anymore...I like listening to Mr. Ford but...I can't learn again."

Seb sighed. "That's totally normal, Max. Kid, you went through something horrifying...Your first thought can't be 'I need to do my homework!' It's ok if you're tired of that. I'll tell Ford that you're not up for work right now."

"I'm sorry…" Max looked down, "I'm wasting Dr. Ford's time…" Seb wrapped an arm around him. "Don't say that, kid. He'll understand if you need a break." Max snuggled against him and sniffed Seb softly. He liked his smell, it was nice.

"Sometimes we're feeling sad and confused and we need to take breaks from time to time. When I was younger I was also very, very sad, and I couldn't do anything either, couldn't work or study. I didn't have someone to help me through it, but I'll be here for you, until you're motivated again." Seb hugged him, putting his chin on Max's head.

Max nodded into his chest. "Thanks, mister Pines…"

-.-

The nightmares were unusual, fortunately.

They shouldn't be, but Miz was always making sure Max didn't have to suffer in dreams. With everything being as bad as it was.

However, sometimes she slipped up, during Max's naps throughout the day, and the young man woke up sobbing, with tears dampening his entire face. Reliving the torture again and again. He was alive, but he'll never go back to his real form...never...And then he'd hurt all over. His sore tailbone, his little useless black nails, his rounded up (but not quite) ears, unable to move anymore and having trouble hearing anything too far away, his chest, where he could again relive the horrible smell of his burnt flesh.

He'd try not to cry, but he always failed, and Mr. Seb would hold him tight and whisper nice words to him. "You're doing awesome, kid...Keep breathing...It's ok, it's over now, I'm here…"

"I...want to die...Why didn't they execute me." Max lamented in torn wails, clinging to the older man's shirt. He was both being dramatic, and also just crying out for help. Acknowledgment. Reassurances. He was delirious from a nightmare and just couldn't handle himself.

"No, you don't. You want to live , because you have so much to look forward to, Maxini!" Seb told him firmly as he rubbed his back, careful with his healing scars. "I know you're terrified, and tired and hurting, I know, Max." Seb felt his shirt dampening. "I know you just don't want to continue like this, but I SWEAR it'll pass, it gets better, son, I promise...I promise." His own crybabyness just made him sob as well and hug this poor hurt soul.

He'll hug Max and hold him until he wasn't hurting as much anymore, until his heart settled back and he could realize he was safe, away from them . That he wasn't alone.

And then Miz would be there, wrapping around him and purring away until Max fell asleep again, safe this time from nightmares. But Miz couldn't always be by his side. She still had to take care of the twins. And she wasn't sure if putting a 'no dreaming' spell on him was acceptable or not.

"It's fine." Seb told her. "He needs to come to terms with what happened to him. He wouldn't be able to move on otherwise."

And then, in this long healing process, the Pines tried to settle into something of a routine. Taking care of Max whenever he needed them. Like when Max thought that he could eat a salad now, since he was 'human'. Everyone liked the little smile he made, trying to see the bright side. "At...least I can try more human food…" "That's the attitude! Food's delly!"

But then his stomach went 'hahahaha, no.' and then Max vomited it back out.

He had 'belly aches' all day and the twins got him hot water bottles. Max lamented his still inability to eat plants because those plants tasted so gooood! It had lettuce, avocado, tomato, NACHO CHIPS, chicken and 'B.B.Q' sauce! It was so delicious! Max moaned again.

"Your organs aren't fully human." Miz told him. "This spell's pretty fucked up. It reshaped you into being a human, but your underlying DNA and such haven't really changed… I mean, it changed a little, but your organs are still partially Eix Leel. And eating plants raw is gonna make you sick. If you want to eat them, cook them first." She scolded softly, poking his nose.

"Ok, cook plants. Got it." Max rubbed his stomach again. The twins patted him all over, even on his chest, which nubs of flesh still hurt like hell and their little pats weren't helping. "There, there you baby." Zoe tutted. "Not my chest please." Max groaned, and they switched to his shoulders instead, which was better.

Max had to learn to wash his clothes. Miz and Seb got him clothes of his own. Focused on underwear and socks mostly. He got to choose some clothes but he wasn't really sure what he had to do, he only had 1 pair of human clothes before all this, a jacket he made himself and his boots and those didn't get dirty, no matter how many times he dragged them across the sand.

He was aware that Mabel helped though, she gave Miz lots of different ideas for different types of shirts and jackets and pants, as well as sweaters she knitted for him. He sighed. Mabel truly was the best...Even...though he refused to see her. (Max sighed. He knew he shouldn't be avoiding her, but he still felt too self conscious.)

The washing machine was the best invention ever. And clothes smelled so nice~~

He liked watching it work which worried Seb about what things Max chose as a distraction around the house. Max didn't feel it yet, but his tail wagged softly.

What he wasn't very fond of was taking baths, which was a MUST in the schedule Seb and Wanda had made him.

"Yeah, no. You can't go more than 2 days without a bath!" Seb crossed his arms and used his ultimate dad mode. "Don't be like Dipper. He's an awful smelly child."

"But WHY? I don't have grime on me and I'm human now so there's no point in washing away my human smell, now is it?" Max narrowed his eyes back.

"One thing is human smell and the other is STINKY human smell." Seb sighed, this was going back to discussing with the toddler twins...and Dipper, back in that summer.

Where was Miz when you needed her? Oh right, she was back on her side of the Door right now. "Humans need to bathe, our skin is gross and it flakes off constantly so you need to wash that away! And when you grow your hair back, it WILL get greasy and you don't want greasy hair. You've already got oils on your head, accumulating in your hair. It's still short right now, so it's not an issue yet, but you're gonna really notice it once it grows long. And you sweat! And that makes you smelly."

"Why?"

"...Eh...I don't know…" Seb hummed. "Glands and body shit, I guess? Something about bacteria too?"

"Bacteria...Is...I saw that with Dr. Ford I think...They live on humans?!"

"Yeah ugh. Like millions of them."

"Gross."

"Yeah. So go bathe, son. And then I can let you try a new snack!" Was bribing kids bad? Yes. Did it work? You bet you eye it always did!

"Fine…"

"With lots of soap! Everywhere! Except on your open wounds!" Seb told him.

"Xhu, deelith." Max nodded with a frown.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Max shrugged. "If you want to." Max hadn't quite learned modesty yet. Being naked in front of Sebastian was fine anyway. He wasn't out in public, and Max only knew that humans had issues with public nudity.

The twins thought Daddy was being very funny, teaching Max how to take a bath was for babies! He surely knew how! Or how to hold their spoons. They knew that better than Max did!

Max was very exhausted from human rituals. With bathing, came brushing his teeth, which had the same explanation plus...something that made him reconsider its importance.

"You know, Max, brushing your teeth is important for your health." Miss Wanda began saying. "But think about when you give Mabel a soft kiss. Wouldn't it feel better to give and receive a nice kiss, which smells and tastes nice, rather than a smelly one?"

"...Yeah." Max understood that and readily agreed to the teeth brushing from now on.

"Also, if you don't brush your teeth, they can get infected and you'd lose them, and...we humans don't grow them back."

"...Oh. But, the paste is all spicy in my mouth...It burns...what can I do?" Wanda grinned and handed him a kid toothpaste with pictures of the dogs from that cartoon that the twins liked. "This one's way less spicy. And it tastes really good. If you brush 3 times a day, it's yours."

"Alright."

Wanda later discovered that like Zach, Max ended up eating the toothpaste...Seb waved a hand at her when she told Seb what his stray puppy was doing. "Wands...He is Mabel's boyfriend. She eats glitter . Toothpaste is the most edible thing she eats. I'd be worried if he didn't. "

Wanda stared. "Your niece scares me." she deadpanned. Seb laughed, "She scares a lot of people."

And so they went, teaching Max about humans, but in a more day to day life sort of way, as opposed to history and culture. Things like clipping his nails when they got too long. Or shaving. Oh, Max hated shaving.

"Why do I grow fur everywhere?!" He whined. It was everywhere! On his face, his arms, legs, his armpits and even on his-

"It's called hair, not fur. And yeah, I hate it too." Seb deadpanned. He patted Max's back. "I feel ya, son. Here, this razor's the best for you right now, it's got a bunch of soft parts, it's meant for people with sensitive skin. I'll show you how to shave without cutting yourself."

Max nodded, holding the tiny (dangerous) object warily.

"Once your skin's not so sensitive, we can see if you like waxing more?" Seb suggested. "What's waxing?"

"It's when you put hot wax on your skin along with a fabric strip, and then you pull it off, and it plucks out the hair-"

"NO PLUCKING!" Max screamed, eyes wide. And Seb cursed himself internally. Of course Max wouldn't want any sort of plucking. Shit! "Son, breathe. I'm here. No one is going to pluck you." Seb held onto Max as he breathed much too fast for his comfort. Max was sobbing in between his gasps for air and Seb winced. Well shit, he should have expected this, but Max was most probably suffering from some sort of flashback. Ok… yeah… he needed to tell everyone to never mention plucking in front of him.

And perhaps get Max a therapist once he was well enough for one.

Max entered the kitchen, watching Seb cook something that smelled delicious. It was so cool how he chopped and sliced and cut and put all sorts of things into the delicious looking meat.

"Did you bathe?"

"Xhu." Max nodded. "Even used the nice smelly stick."

"Good boy~" Max grinned and searched for snacks. "We're gonna eat in a while, don't eat snacks now. You won't want lunch later...And this is your third bag."

"I can assure you I'll definitely want to eat your food anyway! It's so good!" Max said as he poured the delicious saltiness into his mouth.

Seb preened under the compliment so he let the subject drop. Though Miz came in to flick her fingers and hide the rest of the snacks. "You're gonna make yourself sick, eating snacks constantly." she scolded lightly. "High cholesterol is still bad for you."

"What's that?" Max asked, finishing his bag.

"It's when there's so much fats and oils in your blood that it clogs up the arteries, meaning your blood can't flow as easily, and then you get tired more often, or even get a heart attack or a stroke." Miz warned him. "Also, snack foods have other issues too, but I'm not gonna get into all that right now."

Max frowned. But...fat couldn't get in the blood. That sounded so weird. "I guess I can eat less of it…" Even if it was delicious.

"There are healthy snacks too. We can find something that's better for you to snack on." Miz patted his arm. "Xhu."

-.-

Max woke up to the most amazing sight. His FEATHERS-well HIS HAIR! It had grown so long that it finally formed little strands. " AAAAHHHHH!" He ran around to find Seb or the great dragon. He was so happy!

Seb, waking up the twins, turned to look up at him. "What the-?"

"LOOK!" Max dramatically threw the beanie away. "Max's got hair!" Zoe cheered.

"My sweet baby's got hair!" Miz cheered, sweeping him into a hug. Seb grinned as well. "Congrats Max." Zach ran over to hug him as well. "Now we can be bald and then have hair buddies!"

Max blinked. "You were bald before?" Zach laughed.

"Daddy says I was! When I fell!" "You fell and lost your hair?!" Can that happen to humans?! Max took his hands to his head.

"No, silly! Zach had an accident as a baby and they had to cut off his hair so they could stitch his head up, but then his hair grew back!" Zoe pulled her twin towards her and threw him to the floor. "But he has a spot with no hair!" Zoe manhandled her whining twin to show the little bald spot where the scar was. "Zoe!" Zach sputtered, slapping at her hands. Miz carefully separated them, "Zoe, no pushing your brother onto the ground." she told her little sister. Zach huddled behind Miz, sticking his tongue out at Zoe.

"Huh…" Max sighed relieved. "I-I think I can see Mabel now…" He glanced at the Great Dragon with a hopeful smile, as Seb went back to dealing with the twins. Miz nodded, forming a new pendant for teleporting to and from Mabel. "She's missed you, you know?"

Max nodded solemnly. "Xhu. I've missed her too." and he held the pendant and there was a bit of a sound as Mabel popped into the room. "MAX!" and Max found himself enveloped in a sweater-filled hug. He relaxed fully and hugged her back. Then they finally pulled away to really look at each other.

And Max was a little worried, even after they all reassured him that Mabel wouldn't mind what he looked like. His hair was still short, he had eyebags from restless sleep and exhaustion and scar marks trailing down his mouth onto his neck, where the liquid burnt him. He still had some self esteem issues due to his appearance. But Mabel just gave him a wide smile and pulled him down for a kiss.

The twins gagged, ""Eeewwww~!"" and ran away to go do something else while their cousin did the gross kissing thing.

"Are you still in your pjs?" Seb laughed at his niece, who scoffed. "It's 7:30 and I wanted to see my baby."

"WE'RE LATE AGAIN!" Seb cried and ran away to look for the twins. Miz giggled. "At least I got them ready." she glanced at Mabel and Max, "I'm just… gonna step out and give you two some privacy~" she gave Mabel a thumbs up before slipping away into the kitchen.

Max smiled nervously at Mabel. "Ah… hi?" he said, unsure how to feel. Mabel clearly still liked him, but he wasn't sure what to do now. Maybe kiss her again? "I-My hair isn't that long now, but at least it covers my head and...and I use shampoo already, it smells nice." He informed her sheepishly.

"Max, I don't care if your hair is as long as Rapunzel's, even though that'd be hot , I love you for You . Got it? And don't doubt it again or the tickle monster will get you!" She threatened with a smile.

"...I still want my hair to look nice...My father…" He swallowed. "He always said I had to take care of my feathers and I did, I groomed them and never forgot to decorate my braid...I want to keep...doing it...even though I'm not welcomed home anymore."

Mabel stroked his chin softly, wanting to go kick some Eix Leel ass. "Hey, it's ok, you can still practice your own culture, it's YOURS, you can do whatever you want with it. And I'll help you with whatever you need! I've saved like thousands of beads and pretty ribbons for braiding! And I have lots of videos I've seen to make your hair softer and longer and pretty and we could prepare them together!" Mabel squealed.

Max grinned widely and heck, decided he WAS kissing her again because he was just that happy! The sensation on his tail was also coming back, and he felt himself wagging his tail.

Something he realized during the kiss was that, while he counted the seconds to sadly end it...wasn't he supposed to run out of air as well? If he was human now? Well, the great dragon did say his organs were partially Eix Leel yet...and a lung was an organ.

"You've been washing with the puppy cops toothpaste haven't you?" Mabel giggled as they finally broke from the kiss.

"Yeah, it tastes nice, I like eating a bit of it."

"Pfftt! You're missing out, you Newbie! The delicious one is the Bardie, the dinosaur one! It's Bubblegum flavored! It's an explosion of deliciousness in your mouth!"

"I need to taste that to be sure." "I'll bring you one for you to taste, don't worry."

Miz, (definitely not) spying behind the door, frowned a bit. Were they talking about eating toothpaste? Bleck. They WERE made for each other…

-.-

Miz served them lunch while wearing a maid outfit. They weren't going outside since Miz was still protective about Max's health, so Mabel declared that they would have a breakfast/lunch date right here in Seb's house.

"Oh sure, just use my house!" Seb threw his arms in the air dramatically. "No funny stuff please Mabel!"

"Oh please, the guest wing is technically my space." Miz said smugly. "And I'm fine with ALL the funny stuff!" she turned to Mabel. "Just use protection. Even if you're different species,"

"I know, and we do." Mabel nodded.

"...I'll ignore that you ever said that!" Seb gave her a thumbs up, because no matter how old she was, to him she was still a little baby. ""Grow up!"" Miz and Mabel groaned out at him.

Max rubbed his arm sheepishly, reminded again that all this was caused by the fact that he loved Mabel and they did the 'funny business' before marriage. The young man was under the impression (for some reason ), that it'd be somehow better if he had been married to Mabel first...or more importantly, if SOMEONE would have approved of that marriage.

The poor thing…

"Seb~ get out so they can have their brunch date~" Miz whined, pushing Seb out of the kitchen. "Geez!" Seb just rolled his eye.

Mabel was so lucky she didn't have classes that day, it was DESTINY allowing them to be together again! And good timing, but DESTINY!

Miz had set up the dining table with flowers and candles, pulling down the curtains to make it seem more 'romantic'. And then she pulled out the handmade pasta and meatballs from the oven (having baked the meatballs with some mozzarella cheese rolled up into the meat, and sprinkled on top) and served it in one large plate for the two to share. And then, Miz pulled out a violin from seemingly nowhere and began to play soft, relaxing music.

"You. Are a very lucky boy." Mabel told him as she waved a breadstick around. "You get to eat Uncle Seb's and Miz's food every day!"

"Their food is really nice…" Max agreed sheepishly. Mabel chomped down her free food eagerly as she looked at Max. "So~Are you...going to tell me what...happened?" She still didn't know much. Only that Max was banished from his tribe and had been hurt. He went quiet. "It's… not a nice story." he said. "I know. And if you don't want to talk about it, I'm fine with that. Don't feel like you have to tell me." Mabel placed her hand over his own.

"I...I don't want to." Max whispered.

"And that's fine. If you don't want to, then you don't have to." Mabel reached around to hug him. "Let's talk about happy stuff instead." She started telling him the plot of a series she was starting to watch and that he should watch because it'll add to his audiovisual knowledge! Max said he'd ask Mr. Seb if he was allowed. Miz told him that Seb can't control that, and that she furnished a few of the guest rooms in her 'wing' of the house with televisions.

Of course, instigating disobedience towards Seb, the oh so mighty figure everyone respected… was totally fine in Mabel and Miz's eyes. Max, a good boy, chuckled before turning down the offer. "I'd much rather watch it together with you anyway." He told Mabel.

Mabel sighed. So cute! "Have~ You been working with Uncle Ford?" she heard him gush all about his lessons on science and literature and math from Ford and Miz. She loved how excited Max was about learning new things.

Max looked down, poking at his meatball. "Not, since I...came here…" He mumbled. "I'm kinda tired and don't feel like having lessons right now…" He confessed. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's ok, Maxi. If you still need time to yourself, then fuck everything else!" Mabel declared. "How you feel matters more." The couple kissed again, just ignoring Miz in the corner of the room playing violin for them. And they went back to eating.

"Did you paint your nails?" Mabel asked curiously. "They're black and I LOVE it."

Max stared at his hand. His nails were growing human shaped but...black...like his claws. At least it seemed to be excusable? "Uh...yes." "It was surely Seb's idea, right? I love it!" Max smiled. "Thanks…"

They fed each other little forkfuls of pasta and meatballs.

And at one point Mabel insisted that Max begin slurping one of the noodles, ("But mister Seb said I shouldn't slurp?") but he did eventually get convinced that it was fine this one time because Sebastian wasn't here right now.

So they slurped a noodle and it was connected together, making them slurp it up until they kissed. Miz fist bumped the air.

Mabel gave Miz a thumbs up behind her back, even as she continued kissing Max.

Seriously, Miz was the best for helping Mabel set up this date.

-.-

Max had been living with Seb for a month now. The air was getting chilly and with it, colds and the flu were running rampant. One of them (had to be them because Miz didn't get sick) came home sick and made Max experience his first cold/flu ever. The poor guy wasn't doing well.

And then Seb panicked, remembering and realizing that if Max was turned human, he was as helpless against diseases as a newborn! Miz could help him heal again, but she didn't want to be responsible for his life, not because she didn't care, but because she was terrified of that sort of pressure. Healing him from his current injuries? Great. Taking care of his internal health? Terrifying. What if she messed up and made him worse? Miz couldn't handle that sort of stress.

"So what are you planning? Telling some doctor, 'yeah, he used to be a reptile, but now he's human and got the flu?'" Seb deadpanned at her.

"We can make them swear secrecy!"

"I wouldn't trust that, didn't you say his organs don't work like human ones? His ears are pointy!" Seb flicked his own ears. "And his temperature is half a degree away from being hypothermia!"

"Well then, I'll find a doctor who can take care of him!" Miz huffed. "You know there are cryptid trained medical personnel at the Center, right?" she told Seb with a raised eyebrow.

"Where the hell?!" Seb gasped. "It's not the institute of ODDOLOGY for nothing!" Miz rolled her eyes hard.

Seb simply scoffed. "Don't care. Does not apply to my adopted son."

"Urgh! Fine!" Miz threw her arms in the air. She knew Seb wasn't really angry at her, they were play-fighting and also expressing their worry for Max. Still though, she was too afraid to trust herself with Max's internal health. Viruses were tricky, and Miz always had trouble with healing people from that sort of thing. Viruses weren't… they were weird in a way that Miz had trouble with (they weren't alive, she couldn't feel or understand them like she did with bacteria. She couldn't kill them like she did with every other living thing.) She could heal the person's body, keep them alive, until their own body fought off the illness, but certain things were just too delicate. It'd be easier to just build them a new body-vessel and move them into it, destroy the old body.

But she didn't want to do that with Max. He already went through enough.

And while passing Max another tissue (as he lamented his entire existence and the day he crawled out of his egg), she had the wonderful thought that there might be some reptilian posing as a doctor. Probably not Eix Leel, but would be close enough! And also, there were many cryptids undercover in hospitals around the world. There had to be one she could find!

She made a big exhausting search, all around the world, going in extreme detail to not miss anything. Catching even the slightest bit of weirdness was hard work but Seb made her food as a reward. What a sweetheart~

For each blip she found, she scanned them and discarded the non doctors. If they were doctors, she looked into their history. They had to be good people to take care of Max after all.

She got a few good points from a hospital in Germany until suddenly she caught two blips, very close, some states away, she almost missed it with how faint their weirdness felt...Like Amelie...but even less...Almost like...how she felt Max now…These two...were human Eix Leel . As in, they had the same banishment curse that he did!

She definitely needed to contact those two.

-.-

"Aaarghh! I can't breeaaattheee!" Max moaned weakly as he coughed into the open air. His throat burned and he kept coughing up a slimy substance. He wanted Mabel, but Miz said that she could get sick as well or bring even more viruses. Ew. viruses.

"Oh, cha stop that moaning, a gentleman doesn't do that. And cover that dirty mouth, xhuth, thtuothil."

Max coughed again without covering his mouth and weakly looked up at two people. Did she just…

It was an older human, around Mabel's grandma's age. Her skin was brown and her dark hair, almost green, was streaked through with gray. She also had dark green eyes. Behind her, a man the same age looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He was also brown skinned, had bright brown eyes, almost red and he sported a long braid in his brown graying hair.

Miz poked her head into the room. "Maxini, these are Allhiax and Diohan, or as they're known around here, Allie and Dylan Sprints."

Max blew his nose. "Wha-"

"They're doctors, Allie's also a midwife." Miz patted his hair. "They...are also Eix Leel."

Max gasped. "Wh-What?! You-You were…cursed too?" The man made some gestures with his hands and Max frowned. "What?"

"He says Yes, and the dragon contacted us to help you with your first human disease." Allie translated easily.

Max couldn't believe what he was hearing or seeing. "Wha-How...How are you alive ? Weren't you tortured and-and hurt like me?"

"Dylan can't speak because of that, sweetie. It's been around 40 years. Tailbone always hurts, sometimes we limp, but we survived." Allie said. "We lived just from sheer spite and to give the Queen and priestesses the big middle finger." Allie crossed her arms. Dylan nodded solemnly. Max smiled a little.

Dylan moved forward to check on Max. He pulled out a stethoscope from his bag and the rest of his equipment.

" I feel like crap ." Max unconsciously switched to his native language.. Allie smiled. "Oh we know. It freaking sucks doesn't it?"

Miz was lingering in the back. They were going to help her baby. That was a relief. She made a copy of Max's body and tested all sorts of stuff on it to see how Max reacted to treatments, but after a bunch of the vessels died, she got too distressed to keep going. So having experts here was super helpful.

Zach came over to pull on her shirt. "Miz? We're hungry." he and Zoe looked up at her. Miz placed her hands on their little heads and ruffled their hair. "Alright, come on, I'm gonna make some noodles."

Max listened to everything the couple told him about his new biology, and what to watch out for. Sadly, he was just going to have to take some antibiotics if he got sick with some things, and he was going to need to get all his vaccination shots up to date.

When Max asked what a vaccine was, Allie said "Unlike us, humans got these medicines to prevent bad diseases from getting to you. They have weaker bodies but they have more protection for it. It's the same virus that makes you sick but it's weakened so it doesn't affect you. Then, your body learns how to fight it off so when the real thing comes, it's prepared"

"Ooohh~" Max looked around and noticed Miz or Seb weren't around, he sighed. "How...How did you move on?" The young man sniffed and wiped his runny nose. "I...I feel so tired all the time and...my girlfriend is human, and I liked my illusion…but I'm scared, I'm so scared… " He pulled his blankets a little. "And I have nightmares sometimes and I can't help but think about my family, I-I feel so bad thinking they...they didn't do anything for me back then, I mean, I know they couldn't have...But my aunt...my aunt brought the blade- to have my tail cut off...she didn't help either and-and I'm sorry…I should have...I should have-" Max sobbed now. "I should have the spite to live on...but I don't… I'm not strong like you." He sobbed.

"There's nothing wrong with that." Allie told him, stroking his hair back. "You don't have to feel differently just because you think you have to." Max coughed into another tissue. Allie helped to wipe his tears away.

Dylan signed Alli something. "Hey, we took a lot of time to get used to it as well. Dylan and I felt very sad as well, and you know, we missed our home, cursed our carelessness for getting caught..."

"What did you do?"

Dylan signed something. Allie gasped. "I'm not telling that to the boy, you bad mouthed man!" she gave her husband a playful slap before turning back to Max. "I was becoming a priestess, and...I might have given Dylan a human illusion as well so we could see the human world together. Which I wasn't allowed to visit. We found amazing technology and humans have made even more amazing ones since then! And we wanted to bring it to town, to show how it worked and improve things for everyone...But it didn't go as planned." she said sadly.

"We were declared heretics, for trying to pollute our culture and people with human ideas and inventions. So we were brought before our Queen and given… banishment." She had a calm look in her eye, despite how awful that had been. It was years ago, she and her mate had moved on. And she was sure that this boy would learn to move on too, he already had an emotional support system right here for him. She smiled at the thought. He was so young. He wouldn't have survived on his own. At least she and Dylan had each other.

Max wiped his nose on his sleeve and shifted so he could free his tail from under the covers to poke at it. He could feel it almost completely now, sadly he knew that it would never feel the same, because of his new body, because of the physical trauma his spine and nerves went through. The back part of his tail was still soft like it used to be, but...it felt more like his human skin, just in a different color. His scales also felt...weird. Nothing felt the same anymore. He was sure the Great Dragon tried her best to make him a tail compatible to this new form...but...

Allie and Dylan's eyes widened and immediately welled up with tears. "Wait...is that...You didn't tell us you…"

"The great dragon made it…" Max mumbled as he poked at the appendage, not understanding how lucky he was right now. The throbbing in the older human Eix Leel's backs made them come back to reality. It was ok. They were glad their patient wouldn't have to feel the same pain they did. They were so happy for him. Losing their tails had been… the worst part of everything they'd gone through. The daily pain they felt was something they wouldn't wish on anyone.

Dylan smiled softly and stroked Max's short hair. Max rubbed his eyes and asked curiously. "Do you have kids?" The male doctor nodded and lifted up 4 fingers. Max gasped. "So...you could…?"

Allie nodded. "It all worked decently enough."

Max blushed. "So...I might...maybe...I could have...babies with...Mabel?" He coughed and clawed at this face. Hot! Too hot! Allie laughed. "Is that the girl you've given your heart to?" she grinned. Max continued blushing and nodded. "Sh-she's really smart, and kind, and she always makes me happy. I love her."

Allie patted his hair, grooming it back. "That's wonderful dear. And yes, you will be able to have children, if you both wish to."

Max covered his face with a pillow as he blushed hard. "Thanks for the medicine, bye!" The couple rolled their eyes and exited the room after finishing the check up. They met with the dragon who'd found and called them up downstairs in the kitchen. "He will be fine. He just needs rest, and plenty of water." Allie told her, to the dragon's relief.

And really, the Eix Leel couple were very surprised by all this. A dragon, of all things, contacting them. But she had called the young male her 'baby' so they figured Maxini had been lucky enough to have a dragon reverse-imprint on him. That was quite lucky for him. Once a dragon has claimed something, they would never let it go. Maxini will always be protected.

"I'd send Max over to your hospital to get his vaccines! He needs to get out of the house from time to time." "Xhu." Allie said as Dylan nodded.

"Also...I'd suggest for Max to register himself as native. We did that to get papers so we would be allowed to enroll in school and get into careers. His blood would show up as 100% native after all. I can help you figure which tribe, if you don't know. It'd give him options for scholarships in white schools." Allie said. Dylan signed at Miz. [Does he have human knowledge?!]

"He does. But he's taking a break from it, he's not motivated at all." Miz pouted. "He just eats snacks in his room… were you obsessed with junk food too?"

"Burgers." Allie shrugged. [Oreos] Dylan signed guiltily.

Miz blinked. "So...is that a thing ?" Eix Leel loving human junk food?

"Maybe." The couple shrugged. Miz shook her head and bid her farewells to the former Eix Leel doctors before creating a portal for them.

Then she went to go and change Max's cold towel and wipe off his sweat.

Zach and Zoe, eating their food, couldn't help but feel a little… miffed that Max was taking up all their big sister's time. And daddy too. It… it wasn't Max's fault, since he was hurt and now sick. But they still didn't like it. It felt like Max was taking their daddy and big sister away. And with mommy away at work (which they never minded before, since daddy was always there) they felt a little… alone.

-.-

Speaking of junk food…

Max was hungry.

He was ravenously hungry and went after anything edible he could find. He spent his days finishing the house's stock of sweets, Zoe even cried and bit him because he finished all the cookies. Seb and Wanda were done with this behaviour, he was going to make himself sick! So they hid everything.

But Max wasn't just chosen to be a priest's apprentice because he was cute. (Actually, not at all, quite the opposite, he was considered very unattractive back there). The young man was very intelligent and learnt quite a few things during his time there. One of the things he learned in order to be allowed to go into the human world in the first place, was the illusion spells. He didn't have his collar anymore, so he needed to make himself one. He only needed a branch from that tree in the backyard! He made his sneaky way outside.

Nothing had quite motivated him to do anything nowadays like his need to get that salty deliciousness in his tummy. And he WAS getting it one way or another. He pulled off a small branch and quickly ran back to his room, holding in excited sounds. There, with a kitchen knife, he carved two semi rounded shapes and made a hole to put the string in. Finding the string was easy. He just used some yarn.

Now the tricky thing, carving the illusion rune into it. Making runes and making it work was easier close to the rift, the source of the magic his species learned to use, but they had worked a lot to learn to infuse their own energy into the rune, they learnt to control the magic they could use. Max learnt that too, faster than most apprentices, which allowed him to go out into the human world in the first place.

He was recreating one part of the spell he used to appear human, the very important one to hide all his extra features from view, making them invisible and intangible, or as he had heard the Great Dragon call it, "ethereal". He just needed it for his tail now though, because he couldn't go to the store and buy food with paper money with a tail. Humans didn't have them and he was still scared of what humans were capable of doing to him if they discovered it.

Now. His ticket to get food in the outside world (because Mr. Seb and Miss Wanda were being so mean, not giving him any food here) was ready! He gently wrapped the smaller amulet onto his tail and hung the bigger one around his neck. And then he closed his eyes and touched it with two fingers. A shiver ran down Max's spine, telling him it had worked. When he looked back, his tail was by all sensible means, gone! He wagged his invisible/intangible tail around, laughing and shivering a little when it went through the bed and part of the nightstand.

He grabbed some money and searched for the twins. "Hey guys!" The blonds looked up at him. "Do you know where you buy food with paper money? I can get you something as well!" Zoe and Zach grinned deviously at the bribe, held Max's hands and headed outside.

-.-

"Gotta give credit to the boy, that was clever as hell." Miz told Seb as he groaned loudly at his charge's behavior. They had found out almost TWO WEEKS after Max conceived his plan. Miz found out just now because she was trying not to spy on people. See? She was good! But both Seb and Wanda had been so confused as to how empty snack bags were still found when they had hidden all the snacks.

"Goddamn with this kid!" Seb was very impressed and proud. But also angry at him for disobeying him. No one respected him! "Ok, so how do I tell Max in a NOT screaming way that he's literally not doing himself any favors eating chips everyday?" Seb bit his fingers as he looked at Miz desperately.

"He's stress eating, most probably." Miz said simply. "And it's not good, we need to help him find some other way to deal with his stress." Her poor baby...

Max froze when he saw both of them in the kitchen and tried to sneak away but Miz shook her head. "I hope you're not here for cake, because I hid it."

"...Not for me, Zoe sent me." Max tried to excuse, his tail swinging back and forth.

Seb shook a finger. "Zoe does her stealing herself. Don't lie , Maxini, it's not good doing it to people who want to help you." Seb had noticed this change in him as well, from when he first met him "Or demons who can sense lies." Miz added.

"ALSO! I know you've been sneaking outside to get junk food!" Seb called and Max winced. "Max, god! You don't have all your vaccines yet! There are idiots in this neighborhood who are not vaccinated- you can get sick! Or you can make others sick! And two! Why did you lie to me?! I want to help! But I can't if you don't let me help you!" Seb sighed. Ok. He could see why he was so frustrating when he was a teen himself.

"I'm sorry…" Max turned back to go to his room. He just wanted to eat, he didn't feel hungry, but he had nothing else to do.

Seb pleaded at Miz with his eye. What should he DO?! Miz rolled her eyes and got up to stretch.

"Hey, I gotta check on Fordsie, why don't you help Seb make lunch, Max? I know you liked cooking fish back in the village, right?" she 'suggested' while giving Seb an expectant look. The former demon grinned, yes! Thank you Miz! She rolled her eyes with a smug look before she teleported away.

Max nodded slowly as he thought about the great dragon's words. "My sisters always complained that cooking took longer than just cleaning it and eating, but it was much better…" He mumbled.

"Well, I'd love to have a cooking partner, come here!" Seb waved his hand. Max nodded with a small smile, actually very excited because he was being invited into the kitchen to help!

"Well there might be a lot more steps than what you're used to for cooking, but it'll be fun!" Seb grinned. He started explaining what everything was, and how to use them. Max watched and tried his best to remember all the things Sebastian was telling him. It was like learning from Ford or the Great Dragon, but on cooking instead!

Outside the kitchen, the twins pouted as they listened to their daddy and Max laugh as they had fun cooking.

Daddy never let them cook with the knives and the stove. Well, neither did Miz, but she did let them help her make food. Daddy didn't do that. He told them that they were too little.

But Max didn't even know how to take a bath and he was allowed to cook with daddy? That wasn't fair!

After Sebastian and Max made food, Sebastian wondered about anything else he could do with Max to get him to do more than stress eat.

Well, Sebastian always found sewing to be calming. So he invited Max to his office to teach him how to use a sewing machine.

The twins watched them go. Zach was clutching Zoe's hand. Zoe was scowling.

Daddy never let them play in his office!

Seb was trying to make a list of other fun things Max could do to feel less depressed.

"I could take him to the gym? I don't know if Eix Leel could climb stuff? We'd have to find a sport he likes!" Seb told Wanda as he got ready for bed.

"He just caught the flu from one of us recently, he still doesn't have all his vaccines." Wanda sighed. "We need to get him up to date on those first, and he doesn't have health care, paying out of pocket for them would be…"

"I don't mind. I'll pay for it." Seb said. Wanda narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you even hearing yourself?!"

"W-what?" Seb looked taken aback by her glare. Wanda leaned forward. "Sebastian, Max is not your son. I know you want to take care of him, and I want him to be ok too, but this is too much." she told him. "You've spent all your time with him."

"He needs me-"

"Yes, he does." Wanda agreed. "But so do your children!" Seb's eye widened. Wanda continued, "Lately, you've been spending more time with Max than with the twins. And Miz has been trying to give them all equal attention, but she's not their father. Seb," Wanda placed her hands on Seb's cheeks. "They already don't get to see me for most of the day, you're supposed to be here for them." Wanda told him. "And Miz tries her best, but she can't replace you or me. She's their sister, not their parent."

"I-I'm still with the twins and they hang out with Max…"

"They are feeling left out...They understand Max needs time, but they're also just six." Wanda tried to reason with him. "They need you more. You're their father!"

"I'll spend more time with the kids, ok...But Max still needs me...He's been through so much and-How can I say I'm grateful to my own dad if I don't do for him what Matsuda did for me? If I don't give him somewhere safe and someone he can trust!" Seb growled a little, frustrated because Wanda didn't get it!

"I'm not saying you can't help Max, I'm saying that he's a grown young man, and the twins are children." Wanda told him. "Max can more or less take care of himself, he doesn't need you babying him. But the twins need you."

"I'm not babying him- if anything, Miz is the one who's-" Seb was cut off by Wanda placing her hands on his shoulders. "Miz is Miz, and you are you." Wanda said simply. "And Max needs to learn to be independent. If he needs help, he'll ask you. And if he doesn't, then tell him that he can ask you."

"...I don't think Max is prepared...At that age, how could he be? And-And he's only been human for 2 months, like, there's so much he still needs help with…" Seb crossed his arms over his chest. "So sorry, I'm saying no. The twins want to play and cause problems, I get it. That's fun! And I will spend time with them too, but I'm not going to ignore Max."

"I'm not asking you to ignore Max! That's not the point here!" Wanda threw her hands in the air with exasperation. "I'm just asking if you love Max more than our own kids?! Because you're certainly acting like it!"

"...How can you say that?! I love my kids, damn it! I can't care about anybody else?! Wasn't I supposed to be a good person and give a damn about people?! Lets just kick him the FUCK out them, if you are somehow thinking me showing this kid some kindness is basically neglecting the twins! God!" Seb shouted.

"The problem," Wanda kept her voice level. "Is that the twins were feeling lonely. I'm not going to kick Max out, I care about him too! But the twins thought that you loved Max more than them!" Wanda trembled. "It has nothing to do with whether you're actually caring or not caring- the fact that you made the twins think that you didn't love them, is the problem here!"

Sebastian growled and groaned loudly, leaving Wanda there because he couldn't continue arguing. He'd talk to Zach and Zoe and see why they were feeling like that, he didn't even think he was spending enough time with the boy (who only saw Mabel, ate and sleep, he was dealing with his circumstances HORRIBLY), but Seb wouldn't admit to Wanda she was right or something. He was a bitch like that.

Seb walked to the twin's room, about to go in and have a talk with them, when he heard voices. "-uke Luck licks lakes. Luke's duck licks lakes." The fuck?

Seb pressed his ear against the door, listening to Miz talking about licking lakes?

"Ooh! I wanna read the next part!" That was Zach's voice. "Duck takes licks in li-licks-" a frustrated sound. "Licks in… lakes." ("Very good.") "...lakes Luke Luck likes." Zach finished. Seb heard some clapping and Zoe screaming, "I WANNA DO THE NEXT LINE!"

Were they reading something?

"Luke Luck takes lakes- I mean… ah, licks. In lakes duck likes!" Zoe read out.

"You two are good at this." Miz praised. The twins giggled. "You read much faster though." Zach pointed out. Miz cackled. "Well I've been reading this book since before you two were born."

""Whoooa~!""

Seb pushed the door open. "Hey you three."

"Daddy!" Zoe ran towards him, excited. "Miz is teaching us tongue twisters! It's saying words that sound the same very fast!"

"They make your mouth go all weird!" Zach explained.

"Oh they certainly do~I heard ya. Good job." Seb nodded. "Hey I wanna ask you two some stuff, you're not in trouble, so please don't run away, Zoe." he said when the girl's eyes widened and she tried to dive under her bed.

"Ok…" Zoe crawled back out.

"Well, ya know how Maxini's been living here for a while and me and Miz have been teaching him lots of stuff."

"Yeah...like brushing his teeth or bathing like a baby." Zach nodded.

"He's not a baby. He was an Eix Leel and didn't know all this stuff…" Seb explained quickly, he didn't want the twins to make fun of Max for not knowing stuff. Then Seb got to the subject at hand. "Do you feel bad that I spend so much time with him? Talking to him about things?"

The twins looked at each other. And then they slowly shook their heads. "Talking is fine. You can talk to whoever you want." Zach said slowly. "But you don't play with us. You…" Zoe took over, "You like to play with Max more!"

Seb sighed with a small smile. "Hey, you two are the best playmates, ok? Max unfortunately doesn't play with me, we do teaching stuff, we spend more time together now because he's still very sad that he can't go home anymore, I want him to stop being so sad, and you two know I'm the best at everything-" The twins nodded because of course they have the best daddy. "-so you're actually helping him too by sharing me with him, he doesn't have a dad, or anyone. When I take him out, it's not to the park or somewhere fun. We do more adult stuff, I've taken him to one of my stores, so he learns more adult stuff, when we go into my office, I teach him to sew and to work like I do, so he could get a job if he needed one...I don't want you to think I like being with him more. Max's our guest, but you two are MY gremlins."

And Seb kneeled down with his arms open and the twins ran over to wrap him in their little hugs. Miz smiled at the sight. Seb looked over at her. "Oi, what're you waiting for? Get over here for a family hug too."

Miz's eyes went wide. And then she had a huge grin as she ran over to sink into the group hug too. And if she was trembling a little with suppressed emotion over the reminder that she was also 'family', well, Seb wasn't going to point that out.

-.-

"Ow!...Ooowww! Oooooww!" Max complained loudly as he walked behind Seb, rubbing his arm. They just finished getting Max all his vaccinations. Well, as much as he was allowed in one appointment anyway.

"Don't be a baby. Babies get those as...babies."

"Dr. Allie didn't give me candy." And he saw the lollipops right there! That was so mean!

"Yeah, you don't need more sugar in your system." Seb shook his head. Even with his best efforts and hiding stuff, Max had put on weight, and not in the healthy way since it was from consuming non-nutritional snacks that were doing hell on his bloodwork. The Eix Leel couple told him their own bodies took time to adjust to all human hormones and chemicals, which made them very unstable and that was one of the reasons he was gaining weight absurdly fast. She told Max to watch his diet, and reduce his high cholesterol and sugar intakes.

Mabel said he was so soft and cuddly and perfect as he was, even more chubby than before, but Miz told her he could be it without the large amount of junk he shoved down his throat due to stress. "Him gaining weight is good, he was sick a while ago, and lost a lot of weight due to stress, so getting some fat in him is a good thing." Miz explained. "But there's healthy fat and unhealthy fat. And he's been eating too many things that are bad for his body! Cholesterol is an issue, and that's why we're gonna need to not have any snacks in the house for a while." she told everyone. (The twins were angry at Max for weeks because of that new rule)

"He'll be fine though, right?" Mabel asked, rather worried about Max getting a heart attack or something in the future. Miz scoffed. "I can take care of my baby!" she turned to Max. "If you're hungry, just tell me and I'll cook something for you. Snacking on chips 24-7 isn't a good way to get the chemicals your body needs." she scolded lightly.

Max pouted hard, puffing his growing hair off his face. Mabel rubbed his back and made some calm shushing sounds. "I'm sure you're allowed some snacks, sometimes. You just need to eat healthy food too."

Seb began taking Max to the store he opened in Oregon more often. Now that he spoke with his kids about what was going on with Max, and made a bit more time with them, they were happy again (Though Wanda was still a bit pissed at him, but HMPH! He could be pissed too!)

That way Max could start working again and moving on with his life instead of sadly sulking all day. To be honest, Seb felt very excited at the prospect. Him, getting an assistant who already had a basic idea of sewing and knitting. Then he develops his talent and he helps Max grow as well!

Seb's eye was Max's Matsuda . He felt very proud of realizing the parallel himself...and he'd live up to the title!

Max was hardworking. He listened to everything Seb told him and helped in the store and with the personalized dresses. He always looked forward to lunch though, and not just because food was delicious, but because Mr. Seb had been letting him help! Miz sometimes let him help, but she was very protective of her kitchen-time. The only people she was ok with sharing her kitchen with were the twins.

Max still liked learning from Mr. Seb so he wouldn't tell him sewing wasn't his thing. Sure he made his own boots and jackets, but he had to or the priestesses wouldn't let him leave for the first time...Besides, working in a butcher store was boring, at least sewing was kinda fun and he got more paper money than in the butcher store (Seb paid him around the same, but his salary wasn't cut off by being paid partially in old meat.)

Sewing was fine, but Max was happier helping out in the kitchen. It took a while, but the great dragon eventually allowed him to help out, along with the twins. Only when the twins told her they were ok with it. Either way, Max was learning all sorts of cooking techniques. Like spicing and marinating meat before cooking it. He was amazed at how meat could be flavored like that. The same cut of beef could taste entirely different from another one simply using this method. The great dragon also told him her secret ingredient, honey, to help make the meat more tender and sweet.

It...It was amazing...He wanted, he needed to learn more...After work...of course…He really only went through the day because he looked forward to helping more with lunch or dinner afterward.

Seb didn't seem to notice that though, so powered by the fantasy of getting a designer pupil that he couldn't see it. He had no way of knowing how Max felt though, Max hasn't told Mabel to be able to let Seb know. And there was no way Max would tell Sebastian directly that he wasn't having 'fun' working as his tailor's apprentice as Seb thought.

Wanda did notice, even though she hadn't interacted much with her guest. Max looked down, uncomfortable when the blond woman approached him. He knew Miss Wanda wasn't bad, but he felt he wasn't very liked by her. Also, Wanda was the matriarch of this family, and Max still instinctively felt like he was in a more subservient position in relation to her. Wanda, for her part, noticed. She noticed all of this. And she sighed. "Hey, Max?" she said, as gently as she could.

"Y-yes miss Wanda?" Max wiggled in place.

"You don't want to be a tailor and designer like Sebastian, do you?" She asked him, her tone calm and non-accusatory.

Max's green eyes widened. He tried seeing anything on her expression, if she would be angry, but she looked sincere. He rubbed his arm. "I…" he shook his head. "No. I don't want to be a tailor." he admitted. "Mr. Pines is nice and he is very good at teaching me stuff, but I don't see clothes as important as Mr. Pines do... I don't want to be a tailor as my job."

Wanda relaxed with a sigh. "I thought so. You should tell him." she tilted her head. "You like cooking, don't you?"

Max brightened a little. "Yes! The great dragon shows me all sorts of interesting ways to make food different! And it's fun! It's way funner to cook with Mr. Seb than sew. And then I get to eat it, or give some to Mabel and she looks so happy when she eats it!"

Wanda smiled. "Well, would you like being a chef, maybe?"

"A chef?" "That's someone who works at making all sorts of dishes and serves them to lots of people?" Wanda smiled at his bright smile. "Oohh! So like the-the one who cooks for the queen!" Max gasped when she nodded.

"I didn't know I could work on that! But, Mr. Seb would be disappointed I don't want to tailor with him…"

Wanda shook his head. "Seb is really fond of you, Max. You have no idea. He wouldn't get angry just because you like something else. He'd even be happy to teach you something you like. And he would support you all the way, if you chose to be a chef." She reassured the young man.

"How can I work as a chef? I really wanna learn that!"

Wanda hummed in thought. "Well, from what I know, being a chef is no easy job. You can start learning from Seb and Miz but you need to be professionally prepared for that, you might need to study and take courses too, to be prepared and be hired in good restaurants. Some places won't hire you without credentials."

Max pulled his sleeve. "So...I need to take courses? And that...that requires that I...take the human knowledge exam...right?"

Wanda nodded. Hopefully, having a goal Max actually enjoyed would pull him out of his unmotivated state and allow him to go back to studying. And also on moving forward in his life.

Max pursed his lips and nodded. "I-Would- would you help me find a good place to learn the courses to become a chef? Please?"

"Of course! We'll all help you with that." Wanda smiled kindly and put her hand over Max's own and squeezed gently. And Max smiled brighter than he'd done in all the time he'd been with them.

And so Max studied, he worked hard with Dr. Pines once again. They followed the list of subjects he needed to know to get his certificate while Mabel worked on her side to get him papers. She had done her research (or forced Dipper to do it for her as a favor in the name of love) and both found out how Max could register as native american, as he looked like one and was actually genetically one. (Since the spell for creating the human body he had was made using the humans that his people used to have interactions with, years and years ago. The native humans of this land.)

Once he was proved native, he got citizenship and thus, they could say Max needed a birth certificate, as he had lived in an independent group that never got him his. So they got him registered (Max qualified as a foundling child and thus didn't need to list who his parents were) and he was now a full fledged American citizen. Able to go to school and get a job. He was so excited at the prospect.

Max took his time to learn about and appreciate the tribe that would be taking him in (the Lenni Lenape, a tribe from the Jersey area), he felt like an intruder to these native humans, taking the name of their tribe just because his blood said he was like them. He went to meet with the tribe he was claiming to be from. He didn't want to be taking advantage of them, even if he needed to use their name in order to make a proper identity for himself. The paperwork in the human world was ridiculous. He wanted to pay respect to them, and properly thank them, he'd honor them to the best of his possibilities. The chief was quite pleased with this, knowing the strange guy who appeared out of nowhere wasn't just using his ancestry to get a free pass to whatever he wanted to do, he actually cared to want to learn his people's culture.

What Max appreciated the most was feeling part of a group again...even if it wasn't really his own.

-.-

(December 2019)

Max was celebrating his second Christmukkah, or first one as a human. It was spent covered in blankets and vibrating (shivering) all day. At least his kind of warm blood now let him get warm by himself and didn't rely on external sources, but a heater or a fire were very much appreciated. All of Mabel's family had come to Mr. Seb and Miss Wanda's home this year. Mabel gave him a new sweater (YAY!) and cuddled him.

Mr. Ford also gave him a phone as a present, made by Mr. Fiddleford's company and he'd just need to pay for the service (which was the thing that made phones actually be able to call and have access to the internet). Mabel had made him a lot of 'profiles' and stuff like that, including a 'mail', which he was awaiting nervously.

"Max, relax! You won't get word of them until maybe mid January! Or even February!"

"I know what school I wanna go to! I need my certificate!" Max complained and shook his phone again, as if that'd speed up the process. Mabel rolled her eyes and just cuddled him.

"Why are you like, both Miz and Yun right now?" Seb asked curiously to his soul sister. "In family reunions you're usually just Miz."

Miz grinned. "Well I set my Miz vessel to slowly grow up into an older form. Dispersing it would ruin all my work." She patted her chest, which had been growing a little. "Both in my height, and other places." She had actually gone up a whole two inches in the past year. It was something she was quite proud of.

Yun shrugged, having refused to disperse herself since late fall. "I have my reasons for sticking around. Also, since Fordsie and I are officially dating, I figured I shouldn't give people the wrong idea by being affectionate while looking like a child." she said, snuggling into her boyfriend's lap. "I'm working on my multitasking anyway. I don't want to have to pull Miz away from Zach and Zoe when they need her." (Miz nodded. She still helped Ford in his lab, while leaving Yun's vessel sleeping in another room. Or vice versa. But she needed to have them both awake and aware at the same time.) Yun was wearing a very loose, poofy sweater. She'd been wearing only loose sweaters recently. Though, when they asked her about it, they got a response along the lines of, "I don't like tight clothes to begin with. And I'm just having too much fun wearing Ford's clothes right now." which got everyone blushing.

"Y-Yeah. What Yun said." Ford nodded fast.

"Why are you sweating so much?" Shermie narrowed his eyes.

"NOTHING!" Ford cried, nervous as anything.

Yun threaded the fingers of two of her hands together, looking immensely smug about something as she purred against Ford. "Mmm…" she rumbled out seductively. "Speaking of 'being an adult'~" she took Ford's hand and moved it to rest against her belly. "I would like another 'petting session' soon~ I've been feeling rather sore…" she batted her eyelashes up at him. Ford gulped. "Ah, excuse us please." He told his family as he got up, holding Yun close to him. "I… um… need to handle this…" and the couple shuffled out of the room. Miz had a wide shit-eating grin on.

Stan shuddered. He didn't need that mental image.

"Oh my gosh!" Max stood up, throwing Mabel off him accidentally as she had fallen asleep. "I GOT the mail! It says it's a present for the holidays!"

"Someone with a heart must have programmed the messages to be sent." Shermie approved.

"I-I passed! I can pick up my certificate in January! I can finally go to school!" Max sobbed happily. Mabel squealed and clung to his back like a monkey as the family (minus Ford and Yun) cheered loudly and clapped his back. Seb was screaming as well and hugged his (son) ward tightly.

"Imagine how he'll react when Zach and Zoe finish school." Carla and Abigail giggled as Wanda already imagined the drama. "He'll be insufferable." Wanda said fondly.

Eventually, Ford and Yun came back, and she looked much happier. Ford looked even more embarrassed. "Hey, Maxi. Why don't you serve your cake, eh?" Yun told him, looking immensely proud of her baby.

Max jumped and hid behind the blankets. "Yoq! Yoquet! I take it back!" Mabel pulled the blankets off him and made him stand up. "Oh come on don't be a baby! I bet it's great!" And dragged him to the kitchen.

"Enjoy my baby's food!" Yun exclaimed. "Any unhappy faces when you eat it, and I'll get angry !"

"Is that a threat?" Dipper frowned. Yun and Ford nodded ""Yes."" Both said at the same time. Miz was playing with Zach, Zoe and Diego, muffling a giggle at the adults' antics.

Max hid in the kitchen as Mabel skipped around to pass out the little cakes Max made to her family, basically giving the same threat to them that Yun did, except to the little kids, because they didn't want to ruin their little stomachs for dinner later and the children would get cakes after dinner. No one made any unhappy faces, it was very good!

"Max! Come here and see the results of your work!" Seb called.

"No!"

"Maxini Pines!" Seb scolded.

Max emerged from his safe place, face red at the full name. (It wasn't his 'legal' name, but Seb had declared Max an honorary Pines.) Mabel had to cover her mouth to muffle her laughter but the rest of the family couldn't help but grin or chuckle. Max was going to flinch, but then, he saw the family eating the dessert.

"I need a big one of this for myself!" Stan pointed at him. Max fidgeted with his hands and smiled, puffing his chest with pride. He loved seeing people enjoy the things he cooked...It felt so good!

"I taught him~" Yun said proudly.

"Dont lie, Yun! It was me! You only do desserts with magic!" Seb growled defensively. "Hey, I'm not using magic all the time! I'm perfectly capable of baking cakes without having to cheat." Yun scoffed. "I've been practicing."

"You substituted orange juice for milk in your last cake because you were curious!" Seb threw his hands in the air. "And it still tasted good!" Miz protested, taking over the argument. "After you had to bake it in the TOASTER OVEN because the oven wasn't focused enough to make it actually cook all the way through!" Seb shot back.

Everyone groaned. Not this agaaaiin!

The children just shrugged at each other. Adults were weird.