A/N: Hey everybody! Back to typing again ;p and I miiiight be in my philosophy class… but eh? It is philosophy so sometimes it's hard to see the point and it's nice to have something to ground myself in the conversation. Sometimes we just end up talking in circles and it just makes my head hurt… so typing fanfiction it is for now

Disclaimer: Philosophy.

Settling In

Madeline sighed as she set down the last box then groaned as she looked around at the piles and piles of boxes in the room.

"Why do I have so much junk?" she mumbled, Anthony poked his head around the corner and looked at her between some boxes.

"You have a lot of stuff." He said simply and Madeline groaned, flopping down onto the couch that still wasn't really where it belonged. Anthony chuckled lightly and began poking his head into boxes, trying to figure out where everything ended up. The older woman sighed and stood up from the couch, she wasn't about to let a ten year old start unpacking without her. She pulled the old CD player from one of the boxes, it was one thing that she made sure to know where she put it, and plugged it in, tuning into the first radio station that had a song she knew and then began to pull things out of boxes and lay them into organized piles. Anthony watched for just a moment and then began to help, only occasionally asking questions or where something went, usually trinkets and decorations.

"We're gonna have to paint the kitchen, I don't think I'll be able to stand this yellow." Madeline said as they made a trip to the moderately sized room. Anthony wrinkled his nose as he turned back to the living room.

"What you like the yellow?"

"No, I don't like paint." He said, his face still slightly scrunched up. Madeline laughed and he glared at her slightly "It hurts my nose." The older woman nodded, that made sense, she had come to understand that the boy's senses were much, much stronger than an ordinary persons'.

"Well then, I'll keep it yellow." Anthony made another face and she started laughing again

"No, it's a bad color, I'll deal with the smell." He grumbled, Madeline ruffled his hair

"What color should it be?"

"Blue." He said immediately, the older woman smiled

"You like blue don't you?" he nodded and wandered back into the living room, head nodding slightly to the beat of the music coming from there. Madeline looked after him, it felt good to her that he had started to relax, she saw more of the ten year old boy and not the scarred traumatized being that had come home with her that night nearly a month ago.

-The Boy in Blue-

A couple hours later found the two sitting in the freshly arranged living room, watching a movie now that Madeline had finally gotten the VHS player working. Anthony sighed and leaned over, resting his head on Madeline's side. She looked down at him and smiled, he looked so much calmer when he was sleeping, the stress of who and what he was didn't seem to weigh down on him as much, he seemed to be more at peace. Madeline sighed herself and adjusted into a more comfortable position, completely ready for an afternoon nap.

She woke up some time later to Anthony poking her shoulder gently, she yawned and opened her eyes, blinking sleepily at the half devil next to her.

"I'm hungry." He said softly and she just smiled and shook her head as she sat up.

"Alrighty then, let's make something to eat then." She stretched and stood up, hitting stop and then rewind on the VHS player. "What do you want?" she asked, looking in the fridge, there wasn't much in there, she had made sure that there wasn't much food to try and transport, it wasn't an easy thing to bring when moving.

"Food." Anthony said blandly, hopping up onto the counter next to the fridge. Madeline sighed, leaning back to look at the ten year old.

"You're impossible." She stated, he shrugged, swinging his legs absently. She looked back into the fridge before looking into the cupboards instead.

"How does spaghetti sound?" she asked, Anthony shrugged and she gave him a flat look "Yes or no?" he paused for a moment and then nodded

"Okay. Was it that hard?" Anthony grinned a little bit and then nodded again, Madeline huffed and grumbled

"Just grab me a pot you little hellion." The half devil grinned and then looked over at the other cupboard, staring intensely at it for a moment before vanishing and reappearing next to the cupboard. The older woman jumped at the action and jumped again when he appeared next to her again. He seemed slightly worn but was grinning from ear to ear.

"What was that?!" she demanded, completely stunned by the action.

"Something I can do." He answered, handing her the empty pot, which she took with shaking hands, turning it over a couple times, uncertain if it was real.

"H-how?" she turned to the sink, trying to concentrate on the task at hand and not have a minor panic attack while filling the pot with water. Anthony tilted his head as he thought about it

"I just…feel myself in the other place and then I end up there."

"O-oh, okay." She put the pot on the stove and turned it on, tipping the sauce into another pot to heat it up.

"Is it a problem?" he asked

"No, no!" Madeline objected "You just surprised me, that's all, I wasn't expecting you to just poof from one place to another."

"I'll try and tell you next time." He said with a sly grin. Madeline rolled her eyes and gave him a light shove, calming now that the surprise of the action was starting to wear off.

"You're one hell of a surprising kid." Anthony grinned back at her

"I know."

A/N: I'm sorry if there's any weird words in there since I wrote during class and was trying to pay some attention…

Till next time,

-Winged Element