Here I am, back with the main plot! This is officially the longest fanfic I've ever written, once this chapter is up. So thanks to those who have reviewed for motivating me to keep moving! I had decided to mush several chapters into one for this, I didn't want to stall. xD So a few pointless things and then shit gets real.

Onward!

Ari sighed and buried her head into her pillow, grunting as the hand on her shoulder attempted to wake her.

"Ari. Come on, wake up." Vreagon spoke softly,

"Nn… No. Go away I want to sleep." Ari mumbled, wrapping her arms around the soft pillow. Vreagon sighed.

"Okay, Water spider. Your turn."

"Water spider?"

Ari's eyes snapped open at the sound of Mnem's voice, and before the man even touched her she sat up, stretching. "Fine, fine, I'll get up. I can never get enough sleep around you guys."

"Ari you've been sleeping all day."

Ari paused, frowning. "…oh. In which case, why the hell didn't you wake me up earlier?"

As she passed, Mnem narrowed his eyes in confusion, crossing his arms and huffing. "…What the hell just happened?"

"Welcome to the real world, Mnem," Vreagon simpered, "Women are far too much trouble sometimes. Why do you think I'm not interested?" he offered, and as he left the room Mnem was left standing in the middle of Ari's home, attempting to piece together the events so far.

When it hit him he chuckled. "Should've known…"

"Hey! Could you toss me an axe?" Ari shouted, clinging to the tree branch. Mnem watched from below, frowning deeply.

"I am not going to toss you something that could potentially kill someone!" Vreagon called back up, shaking his head. Hey looked at Mnem, breathing in, "You can climb trees pretty well, right?"

"…Yes…?"

"Take this up to her."

The axe was shoved in his hands a moment later and Mnem sighed, looking up at Ari. He paused and watched her as she swung and wrapped her long, slender legs around a branch, the muscles working themselves easily, the sweat making a soft shine on her skin as the sun hit her directly. He always wondered why the girl always wore such revealing clothing – after all, it was a dangerous world. Anything could come by and shoot an arrow at her, and it wouldn't matter where it hit her, she'd still be crippled. In fact, he'd even asked her the night before, to which she'd answered, "If I wore armor I'd be going against everything my parents taught me. It's more important – and safer – to just run instead of fight. And how fast can you run when you're weighed down with armor?"

He had a feeling she was just stubborn.

He chuckled and jumped up, catching a branch with one hand, grunting painfully as he tried to pull himself up. It was quite different holding something and attempting to climb – even more difficult was holding something sharp while attempting to climb.

Even so, he made his way to her and handed her the axe.

"What exactly do you need it for? Are you actually cutting the tree down?"

"Nope. Just a few parts of it."

"…why?"

"You'll see."

He jumped, frowning as his heart leapt when she struck the leaves in front of her. He could faintly hear the sound of a kitten…-

"Ari what are you doing!"

"Just calm down. I'm trying to get her out. I couldn't move the damn branches by hand, I have to cut them."

"You might hit her-"

"No I won't. Relax." She hit the branches again and he could hear a crack! And worried that she'd hit the cat instead – but she pulled the axe away cleanly, looking down to make sure nobody was below, before dropping the weapon and allowing it to fall.

"Here, kitty kitty…" She whispered, and Mnem watched as she pulled out a little kitten, the white fur only tainted by black paws and chest as well as dirt. The cat seemed to fight her before it relaxed, mewling softly as she held it in her arms. Mnem couldn't help but smile – the kitten found itself at home in her bosom, purring as Ari stroked its fur. Clearly, it knew who it owed its life to.

"C'mon. Let's get her some milk, shall we?" Mnem smiled and climbed down, watching Ari carefully descend. She made a few missteps along the way, but landed on the ground safely and with the kitten still held tightly.

"That damned cat has not left your side since yesterday." Vreagon pointed out, laughing as Ari nodded, petting the kitten on one side of her and Duck on the other, giggling softly as one purred and the other clucked. Mnem shook his head as he laughed, sitting next to the cat. It looked up at him with bright green eyes, pulling away from Ari to sit in his chest, curling up there and falling asleep.

"Aww, it looks like she likes you." Ari teased, and Mnem huffed.

"I'm… not a fan of cats…"

"but she's so cute!"

"…No she isn't." Mnem lied, though he scratched the top of her head, playing with her ear as she purred. "Okay, maybe a little."

It didn't take long before Mnem was playing with the cat, teasing it with his fingers as he waggled them in her face, laughing as she lifted her paws to catch him.

"You are like a child…" Mor managed through his laughter, and Ari nodded. Vreagon, too, agreed, watching the man look up and chuckle nervously, moving his attention back to the cat.

"What are you going to name it? Vreagon asked Ari, and the girl tilted her head in thought.

"Hmm…"

"If you name it Dog, I'll kill you," Mnem piped up from behind them, making all of them laugh. As she calmed down, Ari shook her head and crossed her legs, patting Duck's back.

"I'm not sure I should be the one naming her. I think Mnem should do it."

"Why me?"

"Admit it. You love the damned cat."

"I do not!"

"Yes you do."

Mnem scoffed, looking down at the cat as she mewled, licking her paw. He exhaled. "…Alright, alright. Fine. Aah… names."

Silence took them over as they waited, watching Mnem curiously.

"Rio."

"…Rio?"

"Yep. Rio."

Ari looked at the cat, chuckling. "…alright. Rio it is."

Weeks passed. Rio was growing into quite the cat, following Ari and Mnem around faithfully. When Mnem left for home she would sit at the river and wait for his return, curling up at the shore when the time for sleep arrived. If Mnem stayed over, she would sleep on his chest or his stomach, sometimes between Ari and Mnem if he was on his side.

Mnem and Ari's relationship seemed to be at a standstill, neither saying a word about it to each other or their friends, even if Vreagon and Mor knew. Currently they walked through the forest, Mnem speaking softly while Ari scoffed and shoved him playfully, running away. Vreagon stood at a distance, watching the two run after each other.

Mor caught up with him, leaning against a tree. "…Did you ever think all this would happen?"

"Hm?"

"…Y'know. Ari appearing in our lives, and once she did, that Mnem would show up?"

"Well I can't see the future, so no."

Mor huffed and flicked his brother, who snickered and shook his head.

"You know what I mean. It's just… it's been crazy this entire year. Ari showing up, then Mnem showing up and- it's just odd to think that if we'd done one thing differently, Ari may not be with us."

Vreagon sobered considerably, chuckling. "…yeah. Yeah, I know. But let's not think about that. I never thought that somebody like Mnem would go for somebody like Ari."

"What makes you say that?"

"Ari's… sensitive. She doesn't seem like it, but she is. She's constantly changing moods and always so damn stubborn. She's unpredictable at best; she can be a straight up bitch when she wants to be. Mnem on the other hand seems… calmer. He seems level headed, kind and maybe just a little shy. If anything, Mnem would have feelings for her that she wouldn't return. Yet here they are."

"Sometimes opposites attract, Vreagon." Mor murmured, glancing up at his brother. The other knew all too well what it was like to fall in love, but he also knew what it was like to lose that person. He sighed and looked down.

"…Hey." Mor whispered, touching his brother's shoulder. "You alright?"

"…Yeah. I'm fine. Just tired." He spoke softly and Mor frowned, nodding.

"You know he's in a better place, right?" he whispered, to which Vreagon pulled away, ignoring him and walking home.

Vreagon sighed and rolled over. He couldn't sleep for the life of him. Memories seemed to plague his mind and stretch his life out before him, pointing out mistakes he's made and moments lost. He closed his eyes, groaning.

He remembered his lover, years ago. They'd both been rather young – seventeen, to be exact. They'd been much like Ari and Mnem were now, laughing and simply kicking back through life, doing their work quickly so they'd have more chances to just relax together. Mor had been rather confused at first… seeing as both were men.

Yes, yes, he played a whole different game than Mnem – he'd been afraid to say it for years, but meeting that man… it changed everything. He didn't care what anybody else thought, anymore, he would rather just… be himself.

It'd been raining, when he lost his lover. He hadn't heard him scream in the wind, hadn't heard much of anything. But he'd seen it. He couldn't get there fast enough, he couldn't move his legs across the field before the arrow pierced and blood stained his armor. It'd gone straight through the one weak spot, hitting vital organs. By the time Vreagon reached him, the pale face was already relaxed, eyes closed. He'd been numb to everything else around him, panicked. It'd been Mor who jumped to his rescue, killing the Skeleton without a word.

From that day on, Vreagon refused to fight with a bow and arrow. He'd picked up a sword after that, leaving the archery to Mor. It had once been the other way around, but now…

Vreagon rolled back over, gulping and opening his eyes. Somewhere along the line he'd fallen asleep, but he awakened now to the laughter of Mnem and Ari, the two returning from their walk. Mor passed the window and looked through in concern, but Vreagon waved him off with a weak smile. It was hard to imagine that it'd been so long ago… So long that he had difficulty remembering his voice. He supposed it didn't matter anymore, but it still didn't help. With a shaking sigh, Vreagon closed his eyes again, fighting away the depression. It didn't matter anymore. It was all in the past. He had his friends, now. Besides, the other had never been happy when Vreagon cried.

So why make him unhappy now?

Ari sat on the bed, sighing. A long day of work was finally behind her, and she freed her feet from the shoes she'd grown tired of. Wiggling her toes, she giggled and looked up at Mnem, who chuckled at her and rolled his eyes. "You look tired." She pointed out, noticing the dark circles under his eyes.

"I Aah… I haven't been getting much sleep since the encounter."

Ari shuddered, pushing the scene from her mind, "Yeah? I'm sorry."

"It's fine. It's my job, after all, remember?"

"Yeah. I know. But… I mean, do you know what my place is yet?"

Mnem shrugged, sitting next to her as she moved over. Both of them lay themselves down, facing one another. Rio hopped up onto the bed and curled up at Mnem's feet. They both chuckled and Mnem sighed, unconsciously setting one hand on her hip. She blushed and squirmed uncomfortably before Mnem pulled back, apologizing quietly. "…No, I don't know what it is. Clearly you have some part, if your dream is telling us anything. I've been searching through my family's notes, believe me. I can't see anything mentioning anything like this ever happening."

"Notes?"

"Mm. Every Protector writes something of a diary of day to day events. He or she leaves them behind for their offspring and other descendants to read for references."

"Oh. That's rather handy."

"Mhm. They date all the way back to… I think ten years after the attack by Them was over."

"Wow. And how long is that?"

"Five or six generations, I think. Maybe a few more."

Ari lifted her eyes to Mnem's in surprise, smiling wryly. "Wow. That's… quite a few."

"Mhm. More than you were expecting, isn't it."

"Yeah."

They fell silent and Ari sighed, moving closer to Mnem, wrapping her arms nervously around him. He smiled and set his chin on the top of her head, holding her closer. He couldn't help but admit it – he was surprised that he'd allowed himself to miss out on this. All this time, he could have felt this. Perhaps it was only Ari; perhaps it was just his desperation to feel like everyone else, to be around other people. Either way he didn't particularly mind, living only in the moment. He closed his eyes, taking in a breath and clearing his mind as he fell asleep.

Ari sighed and walked through the fog, looking around. She was put to the task of finding more food, but she was noticing a severe lack of animals lately. Not to mention it was freezing…

She sighed and crawled up a hill and climbing into the tree, popping her head over the top and attempting to look over. She could see no animals, but… but that shape in the distance looked oddly humanoid. She felt her chest tighten and her stomach rolling.

Get out of here. Her mind screamed at her, and she jumped out of the tree, hitting the ground painfully and sprinting in the other direction. She didn't know why she was running – it wasn't a big deal. Just another human. If anything she should have run over there and made sure he was alright, maybe ask him if he'd seen any animals about. But something told her to run. And fast.

She turned the corner to run back to camp when she spotted three or four shadows in the distance. She gasped and backed up, hiding in a small opening to a cave. She waited for several minutes, listening to the high gurgling and strange 'zip' sounds all the while. She shuddered and looked down, biting her tongue in attempts to stay calm.

Don't look. He said don't look, and don't make a sound. I can't sneak by them, either…

She jumped when a chain was revealed in front of her, as well as an arm to hold it.

Her necklace. The very necklace she'd thrown to the ground when she'd discovered Mnem's disappearance – but who was holding it. She did not move to take it, nor did she speak, but whoever was holding it decided to appear. They jumped down with their backs to her, and the first thing she noticed was the brown hair. It was messy, dirty, and altogether unappealing. His skin was tanned, though his hands looked as if he'd been digging through something. She felt that strange sense of dread once more and she knew, without a doubt, that this was the man she'd run from in the fog.

"I think this is yours, my dear…" the man whispered, and her eyes widened. Her head shook slowly, and she backed further into the cave despite the man's stepping further.

He was familiar, alright. His eyes may no longer be gray but white instead, but she knew him. She knew who he was, thanks to Mnem. His father. The man who had supposedly been sent to The End.

She hit the wall and stared at the man as the darkness consumed them both; yet his eyes remained illuminated. She couldn't stop herself. She knew what was happening – and this scared her to death.

She screamed.