"Mother?"
It wasn't the first time Sayo had found Julia resting her eyes at her desk. The woman worked harder than she let on. It was one of her better qualities. She slipped to the door on the other side of the room, letting her mother doze. Peering her head through, she looked at Duke, the regal knight standing at attention with his arms crossed. He peered down at her with one cold, blue eye.
"Is she asleep?" he asked. She nodded and he let out a sigh. "Wonderful. Do you mind getting her bed ready? Glare won't be home tonight."
Sayo nodded again and went to do so. It used to bother her a little, that her parents had to work on opposite sides of the CITY she had grown up in. It used to bother her that their schedules rarely aligned over the years, but she had grown to understand: adulthood was funny that way. It didn't mean they loved each other any less, though people thought it would.
If only it made Taiga pine any less.
"Is he all right," she asked aloud. Her father's side was cut off from Darkmoon and gods did she miss him. Half the reason she had gone into Light Fang at first was for him, to keep an eye on him as the exhaustion wore on his shoulders.
ChaosDukemon shook his head, carrying her mother like she was little more than a doll. She knew her partners could do that if they tried, even though it was really weird. She wasn't sure she liked the idea of being helpless enough to be carried places by anyone that wasn't her parents. "He and Ophanimon have been jittery as of late. He's been spending even less time at home, you notice."
Sayo agreed, expression shifting to a frown. Even though she tended to stay at her own Tamer Home, she had noticed his absence over the past few weeks. "Everything is disconnected," she mused.
"Quite." Chaos Dukemon kept his voice soft as he carefully changed Julia's clothes. Sayo politely turned away, even though this was her mother. She should not have been embarrassed and wasn't. Still. "By the way," he continued casually. "Someone tried to hack into your account."
Sayo's eyebrow quirked as she went to tuck the comforter over her mother's neck. She had slept peacefully throughout, a true symbol of her utter exhaustion. "They got through my security."
The fallen knight led her from the room, voice low. "Hardly," he said, patting her hat, the most affection she had ever felt him give. "Your security is top notch and he was no hacker. I've tracked him, if you're curious."
Sayo smiled. Ah, she knew who it was. "That boy Mother picked."
ChaosDukemon smiled back behind his helmet, a rare occurrence to be sure. "Aye."
"He wants to play," Sayo said, mostly to herself. She whistled for her cats. "I shall oblige him."