Hunter sits there in front of the house as his leg heavily shakes.

Krista's by his side, trying to calm him down by massaging his neck and shoulders. Hunter anxiously looks all around, trying to grab at least a glimpse of the two anywhere he can. At one point his shoulders jolt, causing Krista to remove her hands from his neck. His shoulders then relax, falling down to where they were before. Krista keeps her hands close to her body as she goes to sit down next to him. Both of his hands are placed onto his elbows as he lays them onto his legs.

She bites her lower lip as she takes her phone out. Hunter, on the other hand, only occasionally glances at Krista while he's keeping an eye out for Elora and Spyro. She said that they were coming back this morning, but the sun's already a bit over its highest point and they're not back yet. Are they taking their time? Did something bad happen to them and Hunter and Krista don't realize it yet? Did they forget to let him know about anything whatsoever? His mind is going a million miles an hour thinking about every single possibility his mind can conjure up and he doesn't know what to do.

Krista leans onto Hunter's shoulder, causing him to jump. When he jumps she jolts back as her ears fly up. Hunter lets go of a breath he didn't realize he was holding. He lays his arms onto his legs and slumps.

"Sorry, Krista." He apologizes. "I'm just a little concerned."

"It's okay." She returns her attention to her phone. "Have you tried texting them?"

He opens his mouth, ready to answer, but then takes a moment to think. Hunter takes out his phone and checks his messages to be sure he did text them. As it turns out he did, but his texts were red and it said to either resend or delete the unsent message. He sighs through his nose; he had it for a few days but already he's not liking this that much. Before he can delete the unsent message and rewrite it, he gets a text. He taps on that instead and it sends him into a group chat of him, Elora, Spyro, and Krista.

"Hòigh! Bha mi a' smaoineachadh gum biodh seo na b' fhasa don h-uile duine nan cruthaichinn còmhradh buidhne." Krista's text read.

Hunter rereads the text word by word. He's unable to understand what she's said, and he doesn't know what language it is either. The cheetah looks at the faun sitting next to her, who's looking at her screen. He hears a ding from his phone again, making him look back at the screen.

"Wat r u sayin?" Spyro responds.

Krista stares at the screen, looking at what they said and what she typed out. After a moment she realizes why he asked and puts one hand up to her face as she nervously laughs in embarrassment. Once she stops she types the message out again, but in English.

"Hey! I thought this would be easier for everyone if I made it a group chat. Sorry about that, used to talking like that with the girls."

"U gud. R we gonna do this often now or?" Spyro replies.

"It IS an efficient way of communicating." Elora says before sending another. "What do you think, Hunter?"

"If we need it, yeah, but where the hell are you two?" Hunter whispers the words as he types them out.

"Oh, yeah we're on our way back right now. Sorry, we just got caught up with the Artisans, that's all."

Hunter sighs in relief.

"Glad you two are safe."

He lays the device down and looks at Krista. She already put hers down so now she's playing with a yoyo that she always carries around. The blue faun does several tricks with it, those Hunter might never be able to do even if he tries. His eyes fixate on the movements she makes. He doesn't even know how she does it nor does he know the names for the tricks she does besides the 'walk the dog' trick. It's like she's in her own world despite never hitting Hunter with it. He can tell she's been doing this for years.

Hunter rests his chin onto his hands as his body fully relaxes. His tail swings left and right as he watches her do her tricks. If he can, he'll watch her do it all day to see what else she can do. Krista glances his way for a second before she realizes he's watching her and she abruptly stops. She immediately puts the yoyo down right next to her leg. She scratches the back of her neck, looking away from Hunter, almost like she's embarrassed.

She nervously laughs. "It's silly, isn't it?"

"What? No!" He instantly denies. "I think that's pretty cool! I doubt I could even do something like that."

"Oh, some of the tricks are actually quite easy! I can teach you some time if you want."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Hunter accepts.

Before she can say anything else, the two hear laughter in the distance, albeit a little quiet. Hunter's ears perk up and he looks in the direction the sound was coming from. He can swear he sees Spyro and Elora coming nearby. He thought he heard the colors of their voices and he ended up being correct. He gets up and runs towards Elora, who ends up seeing him coming closer and closer to her and Spyro. Once he was close enough, he picks her up and twirls around as he hugs her firmly. She ends up giggling.

"Yeesh, Hunter, you act like I've been gone for weeks." She teases.

"Might as well with how much I missed ya," he replies.

He gently puts her down onto the ground. Hunter ruffles Elora's hair, messing it up. She playfully pushes his hand away with a smile. They all walk back to the house.

"So how were the Artisans?" Hunter asks.

"They were great!" She excitedly answers. "I mean I had a couple of anxiety attacks, but still! They were really friendly. You might like the place."

"He might like the Peace Makers more," Spyro jokes.

"And you won't believe what I'm gonna be getting next week!" She adds as her smile gets bigger and bigger.

Hunter laughs. "What?"

"I'm gonna be having a staff!" Elora says. "So I can actually join you guys in battle if I need to!"

"Wait, what?!"

"Hold the fuck up, you never told me about that when we were there!" Spyro replies in surprise.

Hunter's heart begins to sink and his stomach drops. Elora, fighting, in battle? The thought of that, especially with that coming out of her mouth, makes him want to puke. He silently gulps everything back before he does. His hands start to shake. His breathing becomes heavier. He has to talk her out of it.

"Uh, do- Don't you already have that dagger? Why- Why not that?"

"I mean, it's nice for self-defense," Elora answers, "but I feel it would be more of a backup weapon than anything. Plus, unlike a dagger, there's the extra benefit of being able to reach something with how long it's going to be!"

"It's gonna be awesome having you fight with us!" Spyro adds.

Krista leans forwards. "And it would be nice to have a fighting partner! I have to brush up on my skills myself."

Okay, no, he can tell he's not going to be able to talk her out of it. She seems so set on it, and everyone besides him seems fine with it. Hunter hates the idea and, if she isn't gonna step down, he's gonna have to adjust to it. He doesn't want her to get hurt, or possibly worse, and he can't have that. He feels lightheaded, he needs to get out of here and go process everything. Hunter grabs his phone.

"I- I gotta go. If you need me, you know how- How to reach me."

He runs as fast as his legs can carry him. He got far away enough that they won't see him vomiting onto the ground with tears going down his face as he does so.

Hunter sluggishly sits down.

One would be ecstatic that their sibling wants to know how to fight, but not him. It only brings back bad memories for him and he fears that it's another way that she could get injured, or even die. Besides Kulap, she's the only one who he's known that has stuck around the longest. He can't bear thinking about it. At some point, he's gonna have to say something and he's not at all ready for it.

If he tells her not to do it, she'll ask why. If she asks why, he can't simply use the 'just don't do it, please' argument. He knows her, she would want a reason and nothing like that. While Elora understands emotions and takes others in consideration, this wouldn't work and she's already listed a few benefits of it. That makes it difficult, because that means he'll have to open up and tell her exactly why and it's not what he wants to do. He sighs, but he knows that it has to come up sooner or later in his lifetime. Hunter just needs to figure out exactly how to explain it to her and get himself to feel ready to tell her.

He drinks some of the water he brought with him. He puts the notification sound on the highest setting it can be and lays it down on the bench. Hunter grabs his skateboard from the spot he last put it and gets ready to go in. Before he starts skating, he looks back at the device he set down. His ears drop as he sighs. He knows he's gonna get chewed out for this, but this time it's mandatory for him. It's only going to be for a little bit, no longer for a day or two, he tells himself. With that in mind, he goes down the ramp.

Maybe nighttime would be a good time to tell her. No one would be around, it would only be the both of them, and they could talk. That was if nobody's gonna be around to interrupt them, then that would fuck everything up. Not that he'll mind the others being around for it, but he wants to try to do it with Elora by herself first before opening up to the others. She is practically his sister, after all, so her knowing it from him is what's most important at this point in time.

Then again, the time isn't that important compared to wording it. How it comes out is his top priority, he doesn't want her to take anything the wrong way. His mind runs over everything he can think of, and it stays like that until the sun begins to set upon the horizon. He walks over to the bench and sits down for a moment. Hunter grabs the container of water and guzzles down the rest that's in there. He then checks his device, but there was nothing new. He pulls up the group chat and starts typing.

"Hey guys. Sorry I just ran off like that earlier. I forgot I had to do something, so…" He lies.

After a few seconds, he gets a few replies.

"Tha e gu math, Hunter."

"Nah u gud, dud!"

"...Okay."

Two of them seem fine while one isn't, and he doesn't blame her.

He sighs, looking at Elora's reply. Hunter hates doing this to her again, but at least it won't be for weeks like the last time. That's not going to make her any less pissed though. He sighs before he stands up. He stretches his body out before he turns around and heads back home. Hunter braces himself for any possible outbursts Elora might have towards him when he gets back. His body tenses up but he takes a deep breath. Once he's ready, well as ready as one can be in his shoes, he opens the door.

Everyone's gathered around a single spot in the room and he doesn't know why. He walks over to them to see what's going on. They're all playing a game, though he's never seen this one before. The name in the middle is in huge, white letters spelling out 'Monopoly', which he's guessing that's what the game is called. All of the little figures are either… Moneybags himself or the clothes that he wears. Hunter rubs his eyes to make sure he's not seeing things but nope, they're actually there alright. All of a sudden, Elora jumps up and cheers while Hunter jumps back.

"Oh yeah, I won, uh-huh! Uh-huh!" She does a victory dance.

Spyro raises his hand to the side of his face. "Is she always like this, Hunt?"

"Contrary to what everyone believes, yeah Elora can be like that when she wins at a game." Hunter answers. "It's kinda funny honestly, because when she loses she takes it pretty well."

"Do you wanna join us, Hunter?" Krista asks.

Hunter looks at Elora for a split second. "Yeah of course, why wouldn't I wanna spend some time with my amazing friends and my favorite sister?" He puts his arm around Elora's shoulders.

"I'm your only sister, doofus." Elora jokes.

He mumbles to himself, "that's debatable."

"What?"

"I said 'you're still my favorite'."

She scoffs. "Yeah right, like you actually said that," she tells him with a smile as she playfully punches his arm.

"Believe what you wanna," he jokes back.

They sit down and they start another game of Monopoly. They laugh and have fun, but every now and then when Hunter looks at Elora's face, there's a look in her eyes he's all too familiar with no matter how hard she tries to hide it. He thinks that deep down, she knows what's going on with him and doesn't want to believe it.

It makes him feel worse about what he's doing.

Hunter sits on the bench with his legs up to his chest.

His tail slowly swings back and forth. He stares out into the open space in front of him. His skateboard rests in the same spot as the last time he's touched it. Hunter didn't bother touching it this time, he isn't in the mood to do that right now. His mind keeps running back to the image of Elora in battle and he hates it. He hates how it fills him with anxiety and he hates how he always thinks of the worst case scenarios. He groans into his knees.

Spyro walks up to him. "Hey, you doing okay, Hunter?"

He looks at him, resting the side of his head on his knees. "As alright as an older brother can be." Hunter nervously laughs.

They frown. "How did you meet Elora anyways?"

"I saw her being bullied by the other fauns so I went to help out." Hunter explains. "I mean, I never went up against more than one person at that time so I admit I was a little scared. Don't tell her that, by the way." He winks and has his hand up to one side of his face, as if to make sure no one hears what he said but Spyro.

He rolls their eyes in a playful manner. "You know I'm tellin' her that shit." Spyro laughs.

Hunter laughs as he playfully punches him. "Don't think about it, dude." He clears his throat. "Anyways, after that whole thing was over, we became friends. When Mom realized I didn't have anyone taking care of me at the time, she just decided to adopt me." Hunter snaps his fingers. "Just like that."

"So basically the Artisans." Spyro adds.

He looks at him. He didn't think of that, but now he mentions it, if Kulap was still around she might've gotten along with them quite well. Hunter chuckles.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." He replies. "Honestly I'm just… I'm just worried about Elora, you know? She's… The only family I have left, and the only one to stick around this long. I don't want anything to happen to her, or even die, knock on wood." He knocks on the bench three times.

"Have you talked to her about that?"

"Nah," he looks away from him, "she's someone that once her mind is made up, she won't budge. Plus she might tell me about how I'm worrying too much or being overprotective, which I can't help it. It's just… It's a lot."

Hunter puts his hands on his legs, only now realizing how shaky his hands have gotten. Not only that, but his heart's racing and his breath is heavy. He needs to calm himself down. His ears perk slightly once he sees Spyro put his hand on his and he looks at him.

"I get it." Spyro replies. "I don't have any siblings of my own really, but I get it. One of my childhood friends back home is like a little sister to me. I don't know how I would be if anything were to happen to her."

Hunter nods. Considering how different he is from him, he can't say how exactly he would be, just guestiments. It's not something he wants to think about, there's been enough of that with everyone he knew in his life. Before he knows it, Spyro wraps his wings around him and pulls him closer to them. He almost jumps from the sudden hug but he hugs Spyro back.

"Just talk to her about it. Even if nothing changes, she'll at least have an idea on why you feel like that. If you need to talk, you know where to get me."

He half-heartedly smiles before they pull away from Hunter. They jump off the bench and walk away. His wings felt so nice to have around him, but he shouldn't keep him there for more than he wants to. Hunter puts his hands on his arms as he sighs. The cheetah stands up before he grabs his helmet and skateboard. Before he goes down the ramp, he takes out a torn piece of red fabric. Hunter raises it up to his face and closes his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he whispers into it, "I'm sorry I ended up being an unbrave coward. I'm sorry I didn't end up being what you wanted for me."

He opens his eyes again and he sighs. He puts the cloth back where it was at.

Hunter goes down the ramp.

Elora is standing by the window, watching the outside.

Every minute that passes, the more frustrated she becomes. The red faun keeps twirling the dagger that's in her hand. She's way too familiar with what this seems to be, and she's hoping she's completely wrong. She wants to be wrong on this one. Elora turns her back on the window and stops twirling the dagger. She sighs through her nose. Krista walks up to her and leans her back up against the wall. Elora doesn't look at her, she only makes sure the dagger is aimed downwards so it won't do any lethal harm to anyone.

"Uh hey, Elora, are you doing okay?"

"I'm fine," Elora replies. "Is it me, or has Hunter been avoiding me the past couple days?"

Krista's ears go up. "I doubt he would be actively avoiding you. I mean, why would he? There's really no reason for him to do so."

"He did seem freaked out when I said I was going to join in future adventures though."

Krista takes her yo-yo out and plays with it. "That's true, however he's your older brother. Older siblings tend to worry about their younger sibs, my brother worries about me and we worry about our lil' brother, so it's not a weird 'Hunter' thing. Maybe he's trying to adjust to the fact you're not a kid anymore, I dunno."

"I hope that's the case…" Elora's ears droop and she puts her hand on her arm.

"Well, put that dagger down, because we're gonna go have fun and have our minds on something else!"

Before Elora can say anything, Krista grabs her hand and drags her along. Elora drops the dagger and it lands onto the floor with a loud 'clang'. It becomes impossible for her to pick it up right away, but that's way behind her now. She struggles to catch up with Krista and she ends up almost tripping a few times. Aside from that, she's unable to get her mind off Hunter and if he's doing the same thing he did years ago. No matter what Krista does, nothing distracts her, and it stays that way up to the night time with her lying in bed. Elora appreciates what she tried to do, though.

Krista would stay with her and Hunter, but she had to go back home. Elora doesn't mind it, in fact she feels like being alone for a while. She tosses her body to the side, facing towards the windows. While her mind isn't racing, it's still preoccupied and it's keeping her awake. Elora just wants to know if Hunter's doing the same thing as before and if so, she wants to know the reasoning for it. Is it what Krista said before? Is he actually busy and he's not actually ignoring her or anyone else, it just seems like it?

Elora doesn't know and she feels like she's going insane. Frankly it's exhausting to think like that all day. Her eyes close for only what feels like a moment. The next thing she knows, she hears something and her eyes shoot wide open and her ears perk straight up. Everything has a golden glow to them. Even Hunter has the glow around his body when his limbs are in front of the windows. It's a nice sight for tired eyes. She closes them, tempted by the sound of sleep.

She opens her eyes again once her mind registers how Hunter is standing in front of their front door at this time of the morning. Without alerting him, she quietly grabs her dagger and she removes the blanket. Elora quietly walks up behind Hunter. He doesn't turn around nor do his ears twitch. She makes her presence known by throwing her arm forwards, having the blade hit the door without hurting Hunter.

He jumps and turns around to see Elora. The colors in his face drain like wet paint goes down a surface.

"Uh- Hey, Elora! I'm sorry if I-"

"Hunter," she interrupts, "you're never awake before me unless you have a nightmare, and you normally come to me when you do, or someone wakes you up. What are you up to?"

He scratches the back of his head. "I'm just going out for fresh air. I can't stay asleep so I thought walking would help."

She tiredly laughs. "Oh, you're such a terrible liar. Did you think that was going to work on me?"

His eyes shoot back and forth. "Yeah? Especially since you're tired yourself?"

"Not this time." She pulls her arm back, the dagger coming out the door with ease. "Please, just talk to me. Why are you sneaking out? Are you doing the same thing as before? …I really don't want that to be the case."

All he does is look downwards as his ears drop as far down as they can. It's like he's trying to come up with a good way to answer the question, but his silence and body language gives her everything she needs to know. Elora puts the dagger down before she walks backwards into the bed. She puts the blanket around her shoulders. She doesn't even look at him anymore, her eyes aim towards the ground below her. The faun doesn't need to look in order to know Hunter walks towards the bed and sits down close to her.

He tries to put his hand on her shoulder, but when she notices it, she moves away from him. It causes him to retract his hand.

"Elora-"

"Hunter Apinya, why are you doing this to me?" She looks at him, trying to choke everything back. "You promised me you wouldn't go off and do that again. Do you really hate me that much?"

"I don't hate you at all. I wouldn't blame you if you hated me…"

"I would be pissed right now," she sniffs, "but I can't. I just can't. Why do you do this every time there's a major change? Is it that bad for you? What's next, you ditching me when I end up having a kid someday? Or maybe even-"

"Just stop, okay?" Hunter's voice cut through hers, stopping her in her tracks.

His hands tremble. She looks at his face and sees he's trying to do the same thing as her, trying to not cry in front of the other. The only difference is that it seems like he's trying to not have a breakdown.

"...I'm sorry for everything, alright? I know, I'm the worst brother anyone could have."

"I didn't say that-"

"But you implied it." He says. "You don't always need to say it outright to tell me what you're thinking. Yeah, I was doing it again, but I'm fucking scared."

"Scared of what? Me being out there alongside you and Spyro in battle? I can handle myself! I'm not a baby!"

"You're right," he stands up, "you're not a baby! But I'm fucking terrified of losing you. I can't lose anybody else, not again!"

"Mom being gone hurts me too, but you shouldn't have to do this twice!"

"It's more than just Mom dying! It's everyone who's stuck with me as family!" He roars out.

Elora pulls herself back. She takes a moment to process that. The tears in his eyes escape him and they run down his face. Hunter wipes his cheek then looks at his hand. He quickly turns around as he sniffs. He crosses his arms. What he said sticks to her mind, everyone who has stuck with him as his family. She blinks a few times which allows her tears to go down her face until they reach her jaw. When she thinks about it, it explains so many things yet at the same time, it gives her so many questions.

She stands up and slowly walks to him, keeping the blanket around her. She doesn't go to touch him, just get closer to him. Once she's close enough, she stops.

"Hunter…"

"I'm just the bringer of death to families. Everyone who takes me in? Dead. Everyone. You're the only one who's survived this long, and even then I don't know how long you'll still be here."

"You're not the bringer of death." She reassures him. "You just have horrible luck, like I do."

He stays silent, nothing to give back as a response. The only parts of him that are moving are his tail and his slowly rising and descending chest. She walks in front of him and bends down to see his face.

"...I like that you're broken, broken like me. Maybe that makes me a fool." His ears slightly raise up. She grabs one of his hands as she continues her cracked singing. "I like that you're lonely, lonely like me. I could be lonely with you."

He flatly chuckles. He moves his hand out of hers, but before he can get out of her grasp, she shoots up and she pulls him into a hug. She begins to sob. He hesitantly puts his arms around her. He tries to keep his composure but hearing her cry causes him to break. He starts crying as well. They both fall to the floor while still holding one another. Hunter holds Elora close to him; she buries her face into his chest.

"We're all broken pieces floating by," he sings despite how his voice is cracking and shaking, "we can try to fix our broken pieces, one at a time."

She holds onto him tighter after hearing that. He lays his hand on her hair and caresses her head. The two stay there and they cry together with only the sounds of sobbing and birds chirping accompanying them. After he cries as much as he can, Hunter takes deep breaths to calm himself down. He wants to be able to have a conversation with her without sounding like he's gonna cry again. Elora seems to be calming down as well since she's become quiet. She pulls away from him and they have a good look at each other's faces.

Elora averts her gaze and looks elsewhere. She doesn't know what to say or do. She tugs the blanket that rests upon her shoulders. Hunter lifts up one part of the blanket and crawls under it, ending up at Elora's side. He covers himself and Elora with the blanket. She covers her mouth as she yawns. Man, she forgot how tired she is from how shitty she slept. She wants to go back to sleep, but she doesn't know if she wants to do that or ask Hunter about what he meant on what he said earlier. She looks at Hunter, who's only looking ahead.

"You can go back to sleep," Hunter says. "You seem like you're still tired. I'll still be here when you wake up and I'll tell you everything, that I promise."

Elora nods and hums an affirmation. She leans on his shoulder and closes her eyes. Hunter looks at her as she falls asleep. His eyebrows slant downwards. It looks like he'll have to tell her way sooner than he expects to, regardless if he's ready or not.

The most Hunter can do now is mentally prepare himself while he still can.