"I think he's dead."

"He looks alive to me."

"He's a cutie."

"You think all guys are cute, Kag."

"So do you."

"Naw-aw."

"Uh-uh."

Sliver groaned.

"He's awake!"

"Eek! What should I say?"

"…He's just a boy."

"A good looking one!"

Sliver opened his eyes to see two girls his age gazing down at him. One girl with dark hair leaned over him and said, "You alive?"

"Of course he's alive!" the light haired girl said.

Sliver sat up growled at the girls. "Who are you?"

The dark haired girls shrieked and ducked behind the light haired one. "I'm Whisper," the light haired one said. "This scardey cat is Kag. Who are you?"

"… Sliver."

"Sliver? Haven't heard of you. What you doing on the brink of the wilderness?" Whisper asked.

"He's probably a… a…" Kag stopped, thinking.

"I'm uh… the son of a…" he knew who he was. He just felt like he shouldn't say who his parent's are.

"Son of a thief? Oh! I know! You probably ran away, right? 'cause thieves are bad!" Kag shouted.

"Umm. Yeah, that's what I did. But… my parents… they're ok. I just uh… don't feel like returning. But uh… where am I?" Sliver stumbled out.

"You're in Edgeville! A nice small town! Well, not that small, being just a tinier bit smaller than Varrock," grinned Whisper.

"How far is Varrock?"

"About a day's walk from here," responded Kag, who moved closer.

Sliver moved away. "Oh."

Kag moved closer until her face was inches away from Sliver's. "You're cute," she said.

"Uh, thanks," he responded, blushing and not quite sure what to say. He itched away still.

Whisper pulled Kag away. They both stood up, Whisper holding out her hand to Sliver. "Come! We'll take you to our house."

"Why should you? I'll be fine by myself."

"Come on! My mommy cooks really good food!" Whisper shouted. "She's the best!"

"My mommy is!" Kag shouted at her.

"No… MINE IS!" Whisper shouted.

Sliver held his hands over his ears. Her name was 'whisper' but her voice was the opposite.

"Come on!" Kag yelled and grabbed Sliver's hand. She pulled him up. "We'll eat at Whisper's house tonight then mine tomorrow! My parents will welcome you!"

"Um… alright, fine," Sliver muttered. He followed them to the house.

A man was sitting outside the house, reading a book. He grinned when he saw his daughter and stood up. "Just in time, little lady. And who's this young man?"

"Sliver! He's staying in Edgeville for a few days. Could he stay with us?"

"What about his parents?" Came the fathers reply.

"My parents… probably are really mad at me right now. I think it'll be better if I stay here," Sliver mumbled.

"Ah, I see," the man said. He led the kids into the house…

… and Sliver's life changed forever.

The father never asked again about Sliver's parents. He never asked whether Sliver wanted to get home. Sliver seemed content there. He even started to go to a small school with combat training and mage training there. But they also did force him to learn his letters, which he hadn't bothered to learn before. School wasn't that necessary in Runescape, but it did help.

Sliver never saw his 'friends' again. They never came to get him to recruit him for the clan. He didn't seem to mind about that anymore. He was getting trained by Whisper's father in swordsmanship more than the school taught, as were Whisper and Kag were doing the same.

Whisper beat both of them.

A year passed. A peaceful year.

He had Sliver reading a book on swords. Until the father asked a question. The two being the only ones in the room, he decided to have a talk with Sliver.

"Sliver, why don't you go back to your parents? They miss you terribly," he said.

"Why? I like it here!" Sliver said. "And what do you know of my parents? My father probably doesn't miss me!"

"They do. More than you realize," the man said.

"Oh? Do you know them?" Sliver asked.

"Yes, Sliver Black, son of Sir Patrick and Lady Aay Black. You're now eleven and on the run from them. I believe you did something that your ashamed of, also?"

Sliver gaped at him then shut his mouth. He nodded slightly. "I'm upset at my father. And I did bad things."

"Like…?"

"I stole. I burnt… I burnt Calladus's hand."

"Ah, Sir Calladus. A mighty man. Yes, I saw that burn the other day. But barely. It hardly made a scratch or a scar."

"Really?" Sliver asked, amazed. "I thought I had burned it pretty bad."

"You did. Calladus just knew how to take care of it."

"But I can't go back. The parents are probably mad at me for running away…"

"That's a bad excuse. You know they can't be mad forever."

"But…"

"Let me tell you, son, that I spoke to your parents when I went to Varrock right after you arrived. I knew who you were. I told your parents you're staying at my house. You know what they did? They rushed out the door. But I stopped them."

Sliver gulped. "Why?"

"You needed time to cool down. I told them this. I would take care of you for one year and get you back safely."

"And they agreed?"

"It took time to persuade them. But they eventually did. I have gone over there with information about you. Now, I think its time you returned."

"But I like it here… I like staying with Whisper and Kag!"

"You need to go home. I'll take the two to visit you often," the man said.

"No!" Sliver yelled and ran out. He didn't want to go back yet. He just didn't want to.

XxXxXxXx

It was near nighttime and he was sitting on the roof, looking at the stars, thinking.

Something hit him about his father.

His father had never been cruel to him. Sliver had just thought that he was a bad man for going out to kill that woman so long ago. And he'd never taken the chance to know his father after that. Could his father be a good man? He didn't know what to say.

He heard a sound and turned to see Whisper coming to sit next to him. She sat down. "I heard about your parents."

"Yeah…"

"… I think you should go."

"I've been thinking about it. It's just been hard."

"The last time I went to Varrock, I remember seeing your father, Sliver. Kag and I were one of his fan girls chasing him around. 'Course, not really chasing, but just following him around. He's a handsome man."

"And I wanted to know that why?"

Whisper laughed. "I was just going to say he doesn't seem like the man you said he was. Sure, he might have gone berserk at one time but we all do sooner or later. We will all have a heartbreak sometime or later. It's just one path."

"… my mother… said something like that. That we all had a path. I thought my path was one of freedom and a life without parents. But… now that I realize and start thinking about them…"

"You find out they aren't so bad!" Whisper finished for him.

"… Yeah…"

"I saw your mother when I was in Varrock the other day," Whisper said quietly.

"How was she?"

"She looked… tired. I think she would cheer up if you went and saw her, Sliver."

Sliver nodded. "Maybe I should."

"… I'll miss you, when you're gone."

"Heh. I'll miss you too, Whisper," Sliver said. He got up, pulling Whisper with him. He jumped off the roof and rushed in to gather his things.

"You're leaving now?" Whisper asked, jumping off as Silver did.

"Yup!"

"It's near dark!"

"The sooner, the better," Sliver whispered.

Sliver put his bag on and turned to the father and his wife, who was burning with fever. "I'm going."

The man nodded. "Come back and visit us, son."

Sliver walked up to the mom and held her hand. "Get better, you here?"

She smiled up at him. "I'll try," she said as loudly as she could, which was still quiet.

Sliver gave a small bow to them and walked out of the house.

Whisper ran out and yelled to him, "Aren't you going to say goodbye?"

Sliver turned and watched Whisper walk up to him. "Sorry. Uh… Goodbye for now, Whisper."

Whisper grinned at him and stood on her tippy toes, kissing him on the cheek. "Come back soon."

Sliver blushed and nodded, stepping away. He started to take a few steps before turning back around and walking to Whisper, planting a light kiss on her lips. "I'll come back, don't you worry."

Whisper blushed a deep red and stepped back.

"Say bye to Kag for me."

"Alright."

Sliver turned and walked towards Varrock… towards home.

XxXxXxXx

Sliver opened the door to his home and stepped in quietly. It was near midnight when he arrived, and thankfully, his parents were sleeping. He set his stuff down and went into his parent's room. He lit the candle on the wall and looked at his parents.

His father was lying on his left side shirtless, the scar clearly visible down his back. He was snoring softly. His mother was hogging the blanket and had herself snuggled deeply inside them. She was obviously very cold. And snoring louder than Patrick too.

Hoping that his parents were clothed, he walked to his father and patted his shoulder, shaking him gently awake. "Dad…?"

Patrick's eyes opened up slowly and looked sleepily on him before he opened them wide. "Sliver!" he yelled and sat up, gathering his son into a hug. "I've missed you," he whispered.

Aay was still snoring.

"How are you?" Patrick asked. He was smiling.

It hit Sliver more then. His father did miss him. It even looked like he was about to cry. "I'm good. Yeah. I'm good." Sliver hugged him back. "I missed you, too." Sliver began to cry for the first time in years. "Why is mom not waking up?"

"She was mining all day. It took a lot out of her," Patrick said.

Sliver nodded his head. "I'll let her sleep. Why don't you get back to bed? I'll get up and fix breakfast in the morning."

Patrick nodded and watched his son leave, grinning because his one son was safe.

XxXxXxXx

Aay woke up to a strong smell of pancakes. Pancakes? They didn't usually smelled this good when Patrick made them. But they still smelled burned. She sat up and straightened her nightgown. She looked over at Patrick who was snoring softly. She rubbed his back lightly before getting up.

No wait. Patrick was in bed. Why did she smell pancakes? She hurried to the kitchen and stopped in her tracks.

Sliver was placing well-burned pancakes on the table. He grinned when he saw her walk in. "Sorry. I guess I take after my father about burning pancakes," he laughed.

Aay walked over and hugged him, him hugging her back with full force. She kissed him lightly on his head, tears running down her face. "Welcome back," she whispered. Sliver nodded and buried his face in her shoulder, finally giving into tears once more.

Patrick stood watching them from the bedroom door, a smile on his face and tear filled eyes of his own.

Sliver turned to his father. "I wanna learn more things. ... would you be willing to teach me?" he looked up at his mother. "You too?"

Patrick nodded and walked over, placing a hand on each of their head. "We'll do it together."

Sliver hugged his father, grinning the first real smile in a long, long time.

:O It is the end of this story! Now all I need to do is finish... so many... Hidden Away and OD:AotN should be updated soon. My FMA one should be the first updated though, because I already started on a chapter...

Thanks for reading!