Wakko and Dot's eyes never grew so big in their lives. Had they heard right? Did Yakko really say he was... They felt their legs grow weak. They didn't think they'd be able to get up for a while after this. Their bodies were shaking along with Yakko's. No wonder he was such a wreck. They wouldn't be able to sleep tonight, not after this revelation.

The idea that something so..sinister happened to their elder brother rocked them to the core. How could anyone be that cruel? How could someone do that to Yakko? What had he done to deserve such a horrific act of inhumanity?

As they stared at the crying mess that was their brother, thoughts raged through their minds. Before, they already hated this man that attacked Yakko. But after hearing this, just simply going to jail was too light of a punishment. The Warners aren't particularly violent usually and generally act good-natured towards anyone. This man, no this thing, this monster, would be an exception. No mister nice guy around him. He needed to be punished.

It kind of scared them that they thought like this. They never had such ill wishes directed towards anyone. They thought that no one could make them hate them that much. This man proved them wrong.

They redirected their thoughts to their sobbing brother. He needed them now more than ever. They felt horrible for leaving him alone. That was a mistake. They would never make that again. They moved in closer to Yakko, pressing their bodies against him to make him feel safer.

"Oh Yakko..." Dot said, wrapping her arms around Yakko's head and pressing her face against his forehead. "I'm so sorry..."

"A-a-ah begged him to step, but he just kept going and..." Yakko's voice broke into sobs and pressed his head against Dot, unable to speak anymore.

Wakko's lower lip wobbled. He wanted to say something, anything. Nothing would come out. He reached out with an arm and rubbed his brother's back soothingly. It was the only thing he could think of to make his brother feel better.

Eventually, Yakko cried himself to sleep. Wakko and Dot carried him into the bedroom and laid him on his bed. As they watched him sleep, they turned to each other. Determined looks plastered on their faces, they knew what the other was thinking.

They needed to tell Plotz about this.

sss

The reaction Plotz had was just as expected. The man had gone into a rage and he immediately got on the phone, demanding why the madman hadn't been caught yet. Dot and Wakko immediately left his office. With what happened last night, the two weren't in the mood to listen to Plotz's rage, even though it was quite justified this time around.

The two went to find Scratchensniff and Brain. Plotz mentioned that the two, being some of the most intelligent people on set, had a meeting at the hospital to discuss possible theories of what happened to Yakko. This new revelation had shed new light on the situation and made it all the more dire.

Locating the pair was difficult. The hospital felt larger on the inside than it did the outside. Every nurse they spoke to sent them in different directions. It was hard for the two to tell if it was because Scratchensniff and Brain were moving all over the place or if the nurses just didn't want them to see them.

When they found the pair, they were in a back room filled with testing equipment. They were sitting in chairs, talking to each other, when Wakko and Dot knocked on the door. Scratchensniff and Brain weren't surprised to see them. They gestured for them to come inside, but advised them to shut the door. When asked why, Brain said they didn't want rumors about Yakko to spread and how it would hurt the investigation more than help it.

It was difficult telling what happened to the two. The memory was still very painful to think about, let alone talk about. They told of how Yakko was attacked by the man in the water tower, how he had almost killed him. They brought up how Yakko revealed the man had raped him and that was why he was so terrified.

When Wakko and Dot were finished telling the uncomfortable tale, they sat still. They looked at the two, waiting for their responses.

Scratchensniff was, unsurprisingly, horrified. He had expected bad, of course. But he never would have imagined it would have been something like that. "I...I can't believe it..."

But Brain, on the other hand, had a different reaction.

"It wasn't rape." He said in an almost blunt voice.

The other three stared at him in shock. Dot bared her teeth in anger. "How dare you, I..."

Brain waved his hands in front of him frantically. "No no! That isn't what I meant!" He waited until Scratchensniff and Wakko held Dot back and tried to pacify her. Only when Dot's expression relaxed a little did he continue. "What I mean to say is that it only looked like rape; judging from the injuries Yakko recieved, this...monster...didn't...do that to get some kind of sick gratification. It was to cause internal injuries so he'd bleed out slowly."

Dot's eyes widened in realization. "So he was...trying to kill my brother the whole time?"

Brain nodded. "Yes, by causing internal bleeding, and to spread infection. He may have lied to Yakko and said he wouldn't hurt him if he never spoke of the incident. But he was a liar; this was his plan the whole time, and when it had failed, he came to finish the job." Brain closed his eyes. "But he kept up with the act; he obviously doesn't want Yakko to know he wants to kill him. Put him at ease and he can sneak up on him."

As his mind struggled to digest this information, Scratchensniff turned to Wakko and Dot. "Where iz Yakko?"

"We left him at the water tower." Wakko said.

Dot interjected quickly. "With Slappy. We called her up and she said she was willing to stay with Yakko until we came back."

Scratchensniff nodded his head. "She iz a feisty gal, she iz."

"Enough of this chitchat. We need to seriously talk about what we are going to do." Brain said. "The good news is that this may not be too tough now. You two have seen what this man looks like. Would you care to share us the details?" He looked at the two one by one. "From there, we can run a list of suspects and narrow down the possibilities, and find the culprit."

Brain hopped onto the ground and began to walk towards the door. He stopped when he heard someone tap the floor to get his attention. He looked over his shoulder to see Wakko walking up to him, holding his hat in his hands.

"D-Do you think there's a chance that..." It was hard for him to speak. "That Yakko could return to his old self? Is there a chance that he'll recover from this?"

Brain was at a loss of words. Showing sympathy wasn't something he was used to. He was used to spraying insults at Pinkie, who never really fought back. He just wasn't that kind of guy, er, mouse. That was the worst thing he could do to Wakko. Brain swallowed and tried as hard as he could to come up with a reply that at least sounded comforting.

The only thing he could say was, "...Time will tell, Wakko." He walked away. "Only time."

sss

Yakko slowly opened up his eyes. It took some effort because some gunk from his crying had hardened in his sleep. He sat up slowly and rubbed his eyes. He looked around and let out a shudder. It was strangely quiet. He whimpered at the thought of being left alone.

No, his siblings wouldn't do that to him, would they? He poured his heart out for them. They wouldn't abandon him like this. They must be out in the living room making breakfast or something. Yeah, that was it.

Yakko got out of bed and walked out of the room. He tried to hide his pain and forced a grin on his face. He didn't want his siblings to see him still hurting. He wanted to be strong for them. He had to be. He was the responsible one. He looked after them. They relied on him. He needed to be there for them.

His heart started pounding when he didn't see his siblings anywhere. He moved faster through the water tower, lifing up furniture, boxes, and whatever else, hoping to find them. After a few mintues of looking for them, he dropped to his knees. His siblings wouldn't abandon him, so why weren't they here?

Oh no... Could that man have...?

Yakko completely panicked. Sweat covering his face, he rushed to the phone. He pulled it off its hook. It fumbled in his hands, sleak with sweat. He started to dial a number when he heard footsteps coming from the hallway. Yakko's eyes widened when he saw a tall thin shadow on the wall. Yakko felt the fur on his body stand on end.

Feeling cornered, Yakko did the only thing he could think of to do. He went down on all fours, arched his back, and bristled his fur to look bigger and more intimidating. If this guy was coming after him again, let him come. He made a big mistake when he messed with his sibs.

When the shadow came into view, Yakko reacted on instinct. He made a dash towards the intruder, teeth bared like some kind of feral dog. His fear temporarily forgotten, he lunged at the intruder...

...only to be greeted by a large skillet pulled out without warning. His face smashed against the object. His body crunched up against the skillet and he fell to the ground. His face pressed against the hard floor.

Standing over him was Slappy. With her usual wry smile, she looked down at the fallen Warner, tsked, and shook her head.

"Now that's sad."

A small brown form rushed to her side. "Auntie Slappy! How could you do that?"

Slappy looked down at her nephew. She tossed the skillet aside. A loud clanging crash was heard as it hit against some various objects out of sight. "I didn't hit him that hard. And he needed a good slap in the noggin'. He was gettin' all worked up and what not." She put her hands on her hips and stared at Yakko. "Maybe dat'll teach 'im to calm down before attempting a sneak attack."

Skippy walked over to Yakko. He grabbed his arm and helped him up. As Yakko wobbled back and forth, Skippy said, "Are you okay, mister?"

Yakko had a goofy expression on his face, tongue hanging out, and continued to wobble. "Yesh...never felt better." He fell flat onto his back.

Skippy jumped onto his chest and bounced up and down. "Get up, mister!"

Slappy grabbed Skippy by the wrist and pulled him away. "Knock it off, kiddo. Don't break his ribs."

Yakko managed to get up. He supported himself with a shaky hand. He looked over at Slappy and said, "Wh-Whaddar you guys doing here?"

Slappy folded her arms against her chest. "I'm your babysitter. Your sibs are out telling the doc and rat about what happened to ya. They'll be back soon, donchuu worry!" She walked over to Yakko and grabbed his arm, supporting his body against hers. "Now let's getcha onto the chair. I made some breakfast for you. Walnut soup! It'll perk you right up. You'll see!"

Slappy led Yakko into the kitchen. She helped him sit down. In a swift zip, it took her only seconds to produce a bowl with steamed walnuts and walnut broth to him.

Yakko stared at the soup curiously. He never had this kind of soup before. He didn't want to be rude to Slappy, so he started to drink it. The first bite caused him to shudder. The taste wasn't foul, it was just really salty. It was like the squirrel dumped a whole carton of salt into the soup. By the second taste, he got used to it, and by the third, he was practically sucking it down his throat.

After he was finished, Yakko wiped his face and pushed the bowl away. "Thanks, Slappy.."

"Don't mention it, bucko." Slappy said, smiling at him.

"So when are my siblings going to be back?" Yakko asked.

Before Slappy could answer, the water tower door swung open. Dot and Wakko ran inside, along with Scratchensniff, Brain, and Pinky. Yakko didn't have a chance to great his siblings when they came rushing into the kitchen, holding a newspaper.

"Guys, you gotta see this!" Dot said.

Yakko scratched his head. "Uh, sis, this paper is a few years old..."

"Just look!" Wakko cried.

Dot pointed a picture on page 5 of the newspaper. The others gathered around. There was a picture plastered in an article. What the article was about, they didn't know nor did they care. They instead stared at the picture. Yakko's white pupils shot wide open.

"Th-That's the guy who..."

"But this is...an..." Dot breathed under her breath.

Skippy whimpered, "A-A-Auntie...?"

"That's...not good." That was all Slappy could think of.

Brain said what was on everyone's mind. "I have now idea how this is possible, but Yakko...your assailant..he's been dead for seven years..."

Everyone went silent.