Chapter Seven: Only a Dog

Flynn lay in Estellise's bed with his hands folded on his chest. Yuri was still in Flynn's room, fast asleep in his bed. "I'm not really sure what I got myself into, but I feel like I did the right thing. I just hope I don't regret it later."

"I think it's really wonderful what you did." She lay on her side with her hands folded under her head. "I'm sure Yuri will be really happy to stay with someone he knows."

"Yes… I'm just worried I won't be good enough. I have such a busy job, and I don't know anything about raising children. Sometimes I feel like I'm still a child myself."

"You take care of the Knights, don't you? I think it's the same, sort of."

Flynn smirked. "Right. If he misbehaves, I'll court martial him."

"I'll help as much as I can, too."

Flynn's chest rose and fell with a deep sigh. "Actually, I need to talk to you about that. I accepted this responsibility for myself, but it isn't fair on you to have this burden. Our relationship has been wonderful so far, but my workload has just doubled now that I have a child to look after, and I don't want you to feel compelled to take responsibility for him as well. You're even younger than me and if you're not ready for this new aspect to our relationship, then I completely understand."

"Flynn." She reached out to rest her hand on his arm. "I love you and I'm not going to leave you just because Yuri is here now. I don't think I'm ready to be a mother or anything like that, but I'll help you however I can."

"Thank you." He smiled a bit. "It's not so bad. I always did want a family one day. This isn't how I imagined it starting, but here we are."

Estellise giggled. "You sure like to be exceptional."

Flynn rolled on his side so they were close together and then brushed her hair behind her ear. "It's not really fair, is it? We got saddled with a kid and we didn't even get to do the fun part of making one."

Her cheeks pinkened and she leaned forward to bump his forehead. "Maybe some other time."

After breakfast the next day, Yuri followed Flynn to his office. Flynn dragged a chair against the wall and pointed at it. "Sit here."

"What for?"

"You're going to sit here today and think about why stealing is not acceptable no matter what."

Yuri gaped at him. "All day?!"

"You can have a break at lunch time."

"That's so boring!"

"That's the point. This is a punishment."

Yuri stuck up his hands. "Thought I already got punished?"

"That was not an appropriate punishment. You're not off the hook just because you got hurt."

"That's not fair at all."

"Neither is life. I'm very sorry Cumore hurt you, but the punishment for theft is being grounded for the day. Now sit down."

Yuri folded his arms. "Make me."

Flynn reached down, picked Yuri up, and placed him on the chair. "Do not leave this seat unless I give you permission." He returned to his desk, but once he sat down and looked back up at Yuri, the boy had stretched his legs to reach the floor. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing. I haven't left the seat, have I?"

Flynn rolled his eyes. "Fine. Put your legs wherever you like as long as your butt stays on that seat."

Naturally, this inspired Yuri to find the most radical position he could place his legs in without leaving the seat. He held them in the air, turned backwards and lifted them onto the chair back, scooted as far to the edge of the chair as he could to stretch his toes out, and then sat on the edge sideways, leaned forward while clutching the bottom lip, and tucked his legs under.

Flynn saw the direction physics was going to take a few seconds before Yuri. He started to stand up on instinct with the image of the chair toppling over and crushing Yuri hot on his mind. Yuri's fingers, still sore and stiff from last night, gave out before gravity took hold of the chair. Yuri dropped and landed on his chest with a grunt.

Standing now, Flynn frowned and asked, "Are you hurt?"

Yuri wriggled upright with a wince. "No."

Flynn sank back down. "Good. Now you have ten extra minutes of time-out for leaving the chair."

"What!? I didn't do it on purpose!"

"The laws of the Empire, much like the laws of gravity, don't care about intent. You left the chair, you get extra time."

"You suck."

"If you don't get back on that chair by the time I finish this sentence, it will be twenty minutes and a reduced lunch break."

Yuri scrambled back to his seat.

Flynn bowed his head and got back to work. Yuri continued testing his limits, but after a few minutes he realized Flynn wasn't even looking anymore and this was doing nothing to annoy him, so he gave up.

Around eleven, Flynn finally finished enough work that needed to be done before noon so that he could take a quick break. He shuffled his papers into orderly stacks on the desk and rose from his seat. "I'm going out briefly. I have no idea how many minutes it will be before I burst through that door again. If you aren't in the chair when I return, you won't get dessert for a week."

Yuri crossed his arms. "I don't want dessert anyway."

"Yes, you do."

Yuri glared at him, but a lie as great as not wanting dessert easily showed through his face.

"I'll be back anytime." Flynn left, wondering just what the chances were that Yuri would actually still be seated when he returned. He supposed it didn't really matter. The caning he'd gotten from Cumore was more than enough punishment, but Flynn didn't want to send the message that Yuri's theft was actually acceptable just because Flynn condemned Cumore's choice of punishment.

Flynn journeyed through the castle until he came to the lab Rita worked out of when she was here. He knocked and then walked in to find Rita hunched over sheets of notes on her desk. "Good morning."

"Hey." She looked up from her work. "Need something?"

"I was just wondering if you've discovered anything about Herbert's research."

"Actually, yes." She straightened up and spread the papers further. "From what I can tell, it's not an exact science. That figures, since it's based on a natural system. It's supposed to work much more powerfully on living creatures, so that animals get pulled forward several hours but the sand they stand on jump only a few seconds. What happened is those mages used way too much power, so the inanimate rocks went forward by hours and living things showed up years later."

"Interesting. So… is there any way to send him back?"

"That's what I'm trying to work out. I remember when we encountered that thing, it kept flipping us back and forth between day and night, but weeks didn't pass so it must have been shifting back and forth."

"So you can return him to his own time?" Flynn wasn't sure how he felt about that. It would be great for Yuri to go back to his proper time, but Flynn sort of liked the idea of taking care of him. It was scary to suddenly have the responsibility of taking care of a child, but scary in a good way. Plus there was the fact that he had no idea how time worked and wondered if sending Yuri back would cause his reality to cease to exist. He wouldn't notice because he wouldn't exist at all, but as someone who currently existed he didn't like the idea of stopping that.

"Well…" Rita frowned. "The thing is, I don't think I'm ever going to be able to send things back in time, or at least with any accuracy."

It wasn't like Rita to be pessimistic about her abilities. "Why do you say that?"

"Because I decided if I ever managed it in my lifetime, I'd send a note back at a certain time yesterday. That didn't happen, so I have to assume I never will."

"Or maybe you will, and sending it back will cause this time to branch off in a new direction and we're stuck in the timeline where you didn't."

"Yeah… that too." She ran her fingers through her hair with a growl of frustration. "I hate all this time stuff. Blastia were so much simpler. I didn't have to worry about interfering with the nature of causality when I worked with them."

"I have to agree."

"There is something else, though." She pushed her papers away and folded her arms on the table with a frown. "Herbert came to talk to me today."

"What about?"

"Yuri. He was asking questions about where he came from. I just told him he was your nephew, but I'm not sure he believed me."

"Do you think he knows?"

"I think he's suspicious. He said something about how that dog they sent through was on his mind lately and how he wished it had come out again so they had the chance to study it. Something about checking how time-travel affects biological processes. I told him the dog was probably dead and Yuri was just some kid your estranged sister saddled you with, but keep your eyes peeled. If he's the guy who sent Yuri here, he might recall his face."

Flynn nodded slowly with a sigh. "Thanks for the warning."

"Speaking of staying alert, how's the planning for the parade going?"

"It's fine, thank you. I've managed to get everything in order."

"Are there any security concerns?"

Flynn shrugged. "Just the usual death threats."

"Against you or Estellise?"

"Me, mostly."

Rita visibly suppressed the urge to say, 'good'.

Flynn knew she didn't mean it as wanting him to die, and he found her intense friendship with Estellise sweet. "Anyway, I should head back and see if Yuri's still where I left him. He's supposed to be in time-out for the day, but I really don't know if it will stick."

"Oh, right. Estellise told me about your plan to raise him. All I can say is good luck and don't look at me if you ever need a babysitter."

Flynn smiled at her. "I appreciate your support, Rita. I'll see you later."

When Flynn reached his office's hallway, he was only half surprised to see Yuri near the door, still sitting in the chair. When he heard footsteps, Yuri whipped his head around and smiled triumphantly.

"Do you want to explain yourself?" Flynn asked as he approached.

Yuri crossed his arms and looked very smug. "You said I couldn't leave the chair. You never said the chair couldn't leave the room."

"You know exactly what I meant." He opened the door to his office and grabbed the back of the chair.

"But you didn't say. You said not to leave the chair and I didn't leave the chair!"

Flynn tilted the chair back and dragged it, Yuri and all, back into the office. "So what was your plan? Wiggle and scoot your way to freedom?"

Yuri grumbled as Flynn dragged him back to the wall. "Better than sitting here all day."

"If you don't want to spend the day sitting in my office doing nothing, you shouldn't steal."

"Okaaaaay, I get it. Lesson learned. Can I go play now?"

"Nope." Flynn left Yuri and returned to his desk.

"Can I at least go back to your place and lie on the couch where it's more comfortable?"

"No. Besides, my apartment is crowded." He'd arranged for servants to clear out his unused storage room and furnish it for Yuri. If living together was going to be permanent, he couldn't keep sleeping on the couch or Flynn's bed. It was nice to be able to delegate the task of buying furniture and dragging it into position.

"Oh, yeah, you said you're getting a proper room for me, right?"

"That's right." Flynn didn't look up as he flipped through the next stack of forms.

"Can I have a bunk bed?"

"You don't need a bunk bed. It's your own room and there's no concern about saving space."

"Yeah, but bunk beds are cool."

Flynn breathed a little more heavily through his nose. "I'll see what I can do."

Two days later, Yuri lay on the floor in his room. This was rather exciting, because he'd never had his own room before. The deep blue walls still smelled of paint and he lay on a thick, round rug covering the hardwood floor. He didn't have a bunk bed, but Flynn said if it was so important to him, he could hang a hammock in the corner and sleep on that. Yuri was still debating this; hammocks were cool, but it probably wouldn't be as comfortable. Plus, no one had ever bought a bed for him before and he was excited to have his own.

It was mid-afternoon. He'd had lunch with Flynn, but Flynn had to go back to work and Yuri was left to entertain himself again. Repede lay in front of him. Yuri placed his hands over Repede's paws and then leaned forward to bump his nose. Repede responded by licking Yuri's face and then moving his paws away when Yuri pulled his hands up to rub his slobbery face.

Then there was a knock on the front door. Repede looked up and Yuri automatically assumed someone else would answer it. Then he remembered he was home alone, and got up to see who it was. On his way there, he remembered Flynn's mom telling them not to answer the door if they were alone, but he didn't think that applied here. It wasn't like he lived in a normal house; anyone who would be knocking had already passed castle security to get into the building.

Yuri swung the door open and immediately regretted that decision. "What do you want?" His glare alternated between Herbert and Cumore.

"Hi, there." Herbert crouched and rested his hands on his knees. "You're Yuri, right?"

Yuri kept one hand on the door as he scowled at them. "What's it to you?"

Herbert put on a warm smile. "I think we've met before, haven't we? Captain Cumore told me that Commandant Flynn was asking about a little experiment I was working on a while ago, and considering you just showed up out of the blue, we guessed that you're probably the boy involved, right?"

"I dunno what you're talking about. Flynn's my uncle and I'm living with him now. Buzz off." He tried to shut the door, but Herbert's hand shot forward and caught it.

"It's ok. You don't have to be scared. Just think about how famous you'll be! The first person to travel through time!"

Yuri pushed on the door to try to close it, but he couldn't overpower Herbert. "My uncle's the commandant and I live with the empress. I think I'm plenty famous."

Herbert stopped fighting him for the door and instead grabbed his wrist. "I just need to do a few tiny tests to see if there were any biological effects of time travel and see if we can replicate it to control how far we send you forward next time."

"Not interested." Yuri tugged his wrist, which was still sore from the beating his hands had taken three days ago.

Cumore rolled his eyes. "There's no need to be difficult. Why, we already asked Flynn and he said you could come with us. Plus, we'll… we'll give you candy."

Yuri gave him a disgusted look. "How dumb do you think I am? I'm eight, not six."

"Don't be afraid," Herbert said with that same mockingly friendly smile. "We just need you to come with us for a little while. When you help us perfect time-travel, we'll even give you some of the profits! How about a whole thousand gald, huh?"

"I don't need your stupid money and I'm not going with you."

"It would make this so much easier on all of us if you'd come nicely." Herbert yanked Yuri forward and then Cumore grabbed him around the waist, lifted him up, and flung him over his shoulder.

Yuri slammed his fists into Cumore's back. "Put me down!"

"Oh, hush," Cumore drawled.

"You're going to be in so much trouble for this!"

"As if people won't believe I'm merely apprehending you for petty crimes again."

They started walking away, but then Yuri heard a snarl. From upside down, he watched Repede tear across the apartment and pounce at Cumore. Repede barked as Cumore gasped and lost his grip on Yuri. While Cumore flailed his arms to defend himself from the dog, Yuri crashed to the floor.

"Get - off - you - mongrel!"

Yuri dashed into the apartment and slammed the door shut while the men were still distracted by Repede. He slammed the lock into place and shouted, "And stay out, you jerks!"

"You idiot!" Herbert snapped. "It's only a dog!"

Repede snarled again and Yuri heard running footsteps as Cumore and Herbert finally skedaddled. Repede woofed more gently to let Yuri know it was safe to come out, but he wasn't taking any chances.

"Repede, go get Flynn."

The dog ran off and Yuri hurried to his room to fetch the wooden sword Flynn had bought him. Weapon in hand, he sat behind the couch and took deep breaths to calm down. That had been a close one. It was so frustrating to think that he would have been able to kick those guys' butts easily if they weren't so much bigger than him. He wasn't even four feet tall; how was he supposed to fight grown-ups? Being a kid sucked.

As he started to calm down, he was able to pay attention to the words repeating in his head. It's only a dog…. Why did he feel like he'd…?

"It's only a dog. Stop blubbering and find a new subject…."

Layers of fog peeled away from his brain. Shadows of memories took form out of the mist.

He was standing tip-toe on a box, trying to see through the small window. Yuri had no idea what the mages were doing inside, but Flynn was being dumb and refused to even try to find out. The mages weren't doing anything exciting for now, though. They seemed to be arguing.

"What do you mean, it's dead?!"

"Poor thing was slumped against the wall. I think the heat got to her."

Someone grumbled, "I think old age got to her, but sure."

"Well leaving her outside couldn't have helped!" This guy sounded younger. "I told you guys to at least get her some water!"

"Ah, well, we were busy. And she kept barking! It was very distracting."

Yuri grabbed the sill of the window and pulled to try to get a better view. He had no clue what they were talking about, but apparently they'd accidentally killed a dog and that made them huge buttheads. This magic experiment they were working on had better be really impressive to make that worthwhile.

His grip on the ledge slipped and he wobbled. The crate creaked and his feet scuffled to regain his balance. Argh, he was too short to see inside. This sucked. He'd have to make do with listening.

"Gentlemen, you're ignoring the important part-"

"'Portant part is she was just a sweet dog…."

"The important part," he said louder, "is that we have the system prepared for the first major trial, but nothing to test it on. I have half a mind to shove you in there instead!"

Serves him right, Yuri thought. Only a huge scumbag would let a dog die. As much as Yuri wanted to find out what this experiment was, he couldn't see a thing so there wasn't much point sticking around. Besides, Flynn would be looking for him by now, and he needed to find a good place to hide to prove him wrong.

Yuri was just about to turn around when a hand gripped the back of his shirt and yanked. With a yelp, Yuri toppled backward onto the dirt road.

"What have we here?" A young knight with short blue hair sneered down at him. "Trespassing on imperial territory, are we?"

"We live in the Empire." Yuri pushed himself up to his elbows. "Everywhere is imperial territory."

The knight grabbed Yuri's arm and jerked him to his feet. "And this is a confidential government-sponsored research project which you have no business sticking your snivelling little nose in."

"Bet you have experience sticking your nose in things. I mean, you couldn't avoid it. Does the tip have a different time zone?"

The knight's eyes narrowed and then he twisted Yuri's arm roughly behind his back.

"Ow, hey!"

The knight shoved him, forcing him to walk forward. "Let's see what the mages think of your eavesdropping."

Yuri stumbled forward as he tried to pry his arm out of the knight's grip. "Hold on, I'm in the middle of a hide and seek game. It's against the rules to go inside a building."

The knight apparently did not care about the sacred rules of hide and seek and forced Yuri into the old warehouse. A group of four men in mage robes stood in the centre of the room. Behind them, a pair of blastia sat on the floor with a glass flask containing a bright turquoise fluid between them. In the air above was a shimmering disc of crackling energy and blue light. The air around the edges distorted like a heat wave.

"Whoa." Yuri's eyes locked on the light with fascination. At least he was getting to see what the mages were up to, even if he was going to get in trouble for this. "What's that for?"

"Cumore?" one of the mages, a portly man with round glasses, turned around. "Who's this?"

"I caught this little rat snooping outside."

"Little brat," another mage said. "Didn't your parents ever teach you not to eavesdrop?"

Yuri, who had given up trying to escape from Cumore, stuck his chin out. "I don't have parents."

"Figures," the fat mage said. "Another orphan wretch in this disgusting neighbourhood. I can't wait to get back to Aspio."

"It's not disgusting! We may not have much food, but at least we're not mistaken for balloons."

Cumore smacked the side of his head. "Shut your mouth. What do you want me to do with him? I'm not sure how much he heard."

Another mage, who had red-rimmed eyes and was probably the one crying about the dog, waved his head. "What does it matter? He's just a kid. Throw him out and we can get back to work."

"What if he heard details about the project?" a third mage said. "He could tell others. A project like this is going to make us a fortune and I wouldn't put it past others to try to get in or steal our ideas. He might already be paid off by someone trying to snoop."

"We're not going to make any gald because you louts ruined our test," the fat mage grumbled. "Do you know how much it will cost to shut down today and set it all up tomorrow when we've found a replacement stray? This is your fault, Cumore. You were supposed to be patrolling the perimeter and keeping snoops away. You deal with it."

Cumore grumbled something under his breath. "Very well…." He looked down at Yuri and started to move backward, but then he stopped. "Actually… Mr. Herbert, I have a suggestion."

"Eh? What's that?"

"You need a moderately-sized animal to send through the portal and test if it works on complex mammals, right? Well…" Cumore shoved Yuri forward. "We also need to get rid of this brat. If it doesn't work, we'll be killing two birds with one stone."

Mr. Herbert raised his eyebrows. "I see…. now there's an idea."

"What?" The dog-loving mage looked between them with shock. "You can't be suggesting we test it on the kid."

"What's the harm?" the third mage said. "No one's going to miss an orphan from the lower quarter."

"No way!" Yuri didn't know what their weird circle of light was, but he'd figured out they intended to chuck him into it and he wanted none of that nonsense. "You guys are crazy!"

"Come on, guys…" Loves-Dogs frowned as Cumore pushed Yuri closer to the light. "He's just a little kid… we have no idea if this is remotely safe."

"Listen to that guy!" Yuri kicked Cumore's shins and twisted his arm to try to escape. Mr. Herbert grabbed his other arm to help Cumore rein him in.

"Maybe you fools should have thought of that before you let our test dog die," Herbert snapped. "This kid's about the same size and weight of the dog. Perfect substitute."

"I'm nothing like a dog!" Yuri's feet scraped the floor as they dragged him forward. "You guys better let me go! My best friend's gonna be a really powerful knight someday and he'll make you regret it!" He kicked, he struggled, and he shouted, but none of it did him any good. He had to stay angry, because if he let that anger slip he knew he'd fall into terror. The worst part was realizing that Flynn had been right, that he shouldn't have come poking his nose in, and now something terrible was going to happen and it was all his fault.

"You'll be in so much trouble if you don't let me go! L-let me go!" Yuri was loathe to show weakness, but with tears welling up in his eyes and an unknown fate a foot from his face, he couldn't help screaming, "Stop it! Help!"

How could everything fall apart so fast? Fifteen minutes ago he'd been talking to Flynn, and now he was more scared than he'd ever been in his life and wanted nothing more than to go home. Flynn really was never going to find him this time.

And now it was only week later, but actually thirteen years. Flynn had lived a whole life growing up while Yuri missed all of it, and it was all those mages' fault. They and Cumore had done this to him and now they were back and trying to screw things up again. They said they wanted to try sending him through time again, but what if next time he came out fifty years in the future? What if Flynn was dead? He couldn't handle that! Flynn was the only person he had left; Yuri would be ruined if Flynn died just like his parents had.

Yuri clutched his toy sword and tried to calm down. This was all too much. He'd lost his old life and his best friend was really different and there were bad people trying to hurt him and he just didn't know what to do.

There was a sound at the door and he gasped, fearing it was Cumore again. He pressed himself against the back of the couch to remain hidden, because he knew he was powerless if it really was Cumore.

"Yuri?"

It was Flynn! Repede ran into the room and immediately found him behind the couch. Flynn followed and dropped to his knees beside Yuri.

"What's wrong? Repede started barking at me and wouldn't calm down until I followed. Are you hurt?"

Yuri shook his head and then threw himself at Flynn. Everything was scary and confusing, but Flynn, at least, provided protection. "Cumore and that mage from before came and they wanted me to go with them 'cause they want to do experiments or something and I told them to go away but Cumore picked me up and tried to carry me but Repede attacked so they ran off."

"He what?" Flynn shifted so he sat fully on the ground and leaned against the couch. One arm wrapped around Yuri and held him against his side. "Cumore actually tried to carry you off?"

Yuri bobbed his head.

"That…" he sounded like he wanted to call Cumore something, but stopped himself. "That's it. This is the last straw. He's going to be punished for this."

"That's not everything. I remembered. I know how I got here."

"What? Everything?"

Yuri nodded with his face still pressed into Flynn's side. He was still shaken from his near abduction and the memories of how terrifying getting thrown into the portal had been hit him with fresh fear. Flynn was safety, and he didn't ever want to let go.

"Can you tell me?"

"'Kay." As clearly as he could, Yuri babbled through a description of what he remembered. It was jumbled and rushed, but he was sure Flynn understood the important parts.

When he finished, he said, "I'm really sorry, Flynn. It was all my fault. You said not to bother the mages but I did and now I made all this happen." He'd be lucky if Flynn let him stay with him now. That was how it always worked - he had a home with someone until he became too much trouble. "Don't bother finding me another family. I'll be ok on my own."

Flynn was quiet for a long moment while digesting Yuri's story. Then, he grabbed Yuri under the arms so he could pull him into his lap and wrap both arms around him. "Oh, Yuri…." His arms tightened so his hug squeezed Yuri against Flynn's chest. "I told you, didn't I? You can stay with me forever. From now on, you're my kid. No matter what."

"But I made you worry for so long. You spent such a long time being sad because I was gone and it was my fault for going there in the first place."

"I don't care. As far as I'm concerned, that was thirteen years ago. I will never give you away or get tired of you, and I will never let anyone hurt you."

"Really?"

"I promise."

It was such a lovely idea. He could actually have a permanent home, one without conditionals. It was hard to bring himself to believe he really would never have to leave, but if Flynn said so, it had to be true.

"Are you hurt at all?"

Yuri shook his head. "Nah. I'm fine."

"Good." Flynn ruffled Yuri's hair and got to his feet. "Go to your room and get any toys you want for today. I want you to spend the rest of the afternoon in my office."

"What?!" Yuri's head shot up in fury. "But you said you weren't mad!"

"I'm not. You're not being punished, I'm just worried about you being on your own in case they come back. Humour me and play in my office instead of your bedroom?"

"Oh, ok." Yuri ran to his room and grabbed the box of toy soldiers. When he returned, he placed the wooden sword on the box and said, "Hey, Flynn, can I have a real sword?"

"What? No."

"Why not? If I had a real sword, then you wouldn't have to be worried about me 'cause I could fight off bad people on my own."

Flynn shook his head. "You're not old enough for a real sword."

"Sure I am. I'm really good with a wooden one, right?"

"No, Yuri, you can't have a real weapon."

"When can I?"

"Hm… we can talk about it again when you're thirteen."

Yuri gaped at him. "But that's forever!"

"You'll live. Now come on."

Yuri scowled at Flynn's back as they left. It wasn't fair that Flynn got to decide when he was allowed to do things. They were going to live together, but it wasn't like Flynn was his dad. Still, he wasn't annoyed enough to make a big deal about it. As much as he hated to admit it, spending the rest of the day in Flynn's office seemed a lot less scary than being on his own.