It's a Wednesday, that's what Nya said.

Kai wasn't able to read the calendar, she was.

Kind of-

It's clumsy but she could do very basic reading.

Kai couldn't.

He didn't know what it meant. Either if it's a Wednesday or a Monday or Thursday, all days were the same anyways.

They've fallen onto a routine where the days of the week aren't important.

Not really, the only thing is that they all had to go back to the swamps on weekends.

Almost like a vacation or break, but it wasn't, not really.

Krux brought them with him for most of the week, staying at the lair below the museum, he's trying to teach them how to read.

"If you can't read then what good are you?" He said.

There was a threat hidden there.

And despite it Kai just couldn't grasp his head around it, at least Nya was doing better.

He didn't know how to feel about that.

He was happy for her, he really was but he couldn't help the feeling of inadequacy that started to emerge every time he sat at the table.

Krux wasn't happy to say the least.

"You're useless!" Groaned the man as the five-year-old failed again at grasping the basic words.

Nya didn't bother looking up. She had been doing that a lot lately.

"Sorry"

The Time elemental scoffed at that before getting up abruptly. "Don't " sorry " me, get back to it, don't bother me unless you actually got something to show"

Kai murmured a "Yes Sir" under his breath and flinched just slightly at the slam of the door.

He looked at the book in front of him, fists tightening and tears swelling onto his face as he sniffled, fighting hard to keep the swelling frustration at bay.

He wasn't going to cry, Krux would definitely mock him and Nya might get onto the crossfire, he didn't want that.

So he looked at the paper sheets in front of him, words not making sense and he sighed, fidgeting with his pencil before just throwing it across the table, watching it slide all the way towards the edge and fall over, the sound of the wood pencil too loud for the quietness of the room.

The kid sighed, frustrated.

"Ar' you mad?"

Muttered Nya under her breath, she still didn't look up to him.

He sniffled a bit, she had been getting a lot better at talking too, it made him felt… worthless.

"About what?" He muttered back.

She shrugged, finishing her wobbly work (somehow less wobbly than his ) and finally looking up to him.

For a moment she doubted, flickering her focus between him and the worksheets in front of them.

Then she licked her lips with nervousness before finally tapping the papers with her own pencil.

"This"

He frowned, well, yeah, he kinda was angry with the stupid work but he was more angry with him than anything else.

"This?"

"And… And me" Her voice just got smaller as she spoke, it broke Kai's heart.

It was in that moment that realization struck him, so that's why Nya was silent, she thought he was mad at her for being ahead.

He tried not to groan at that, that would make her feel worse, instead-

"No, of course not, not with you" He leaned into her side, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and squishing.

"You su'e?"

"I'm sure"

And to top it all-

"I'm proud of you"

When she smiled Kai thought it wasn't so bad she was ahead of him.

The good thing about kids is that they grow up fast.

The heartbreaking thing is that, if you aren't paying attention to them you'll easily miss their milestones.

So one could only imagine the mix of pride and sadness that invaded them when both former elementals saw their kids appear at the Forge entrance, both way taller than the last time they saw them.

(When had that been?)

They're also way more demure, standing there and not running towards their parents, when Krux made himself known behind them and the snakes start to make sound around the building everything made sense.

"Ah Ray, Maya!" He spoke a bit too cheerfully, like the voice he used to do whenever he visited them as Dr. Saunders, almost as if they were old friends he hadn't seen in so long.

But there's a glint of malice on those eyes that made it more than obvious he wasn't here to just set them free.

Or with good intentions for the matter.

"Krux" Maya spoke with an icy voice and blazing glare that made clear she wasn't happy to see him let alone see him with her kids.

Ray only glared, small pointy fangs poking from below his lip, a trait Kai and Nya both had inherited.

"Oh, why the long faces?" He smirked, "I told you I would take good care of them, didn't I?" He put one hand on each shoulder of the kids, making Kai flinch ever so slightly at the sudden movement.

It didn't go undetected for the former elementals who only glared harder at Krux yet neither said anything.

At the silence that met him he groaned, the cheerful act he had been putting off disappearing quickly.

He cleared his throat before lowering his voice to his usual tone pitch.

"Well, I figured since it's been such a long time since you've last seen your children we should, you know, visit"

No one moved.

Ray and Maya share a look because Krux is no one to trust, that's what got them into this situation to begin with.

He pushed the children forward.

"What are you waiting for? Move"

The children looked back before doing as they were told, walking towards their parents, Nya, now more happy she hugged her mother's legs as Maya cooed and patted her head, Kai on the other hand went to sit on the bench below the window.

Ray came by to sit beside him, patting him on the back as he asked how he was doing.

It all feels so alien, talking about stuff that they never experienced together, hiding things they know will make Krux angry and just tiptoeing around everything no matter how hard Ray and Maya try to get even the slightest bit of information from them.

They try to ignore Krux that never leaves the room, he analyzes Ray's work, silently, running his fingers through the metal as he listens to the family.

There must be a underlying plan here but none of the former elementals can figure it out.

They talk as if everything is good, as if they've been in a boarding school all this time.

"Food is good"

"We sha'e a 'oom"

"We're doing fine"

"Miste' Krux takes ca'e of us"

"He teaches us things like histo'y and all that"

It's mostly single phrases that end up coming out but they'll take it over nothing.

"We're learning to read and write," Muttered Kai, dejected.

That, that made Ray and Maya look up, sharing a pained look.

They knew they would start soon, hell, Kai had kind of trying to do such things back at Ignacia and Nya seemed to be able to understand at least a little bit.

Their little genius.

A deep sadness settles inside them, thinking it had to be Krux and for a moment Ray thinks this should be it, their kids are with him there, he had taken them two times already, there shouldn't be a third.

But just as quickly that the thought appears it fades away as the snakes slither by the entrance.

It just wasn't worth the risk, not at all.

But wasn't it really?

Sure they didn't seem harmed but this wasn't their personality before, but on the other hand, wasn't it better to be able to look at them a little than to not see them at all.

They've talked about this, of course they did, ever since the first night they passed here but they always circled back onto "it's too risky".

Had it been the two of them, maybe they'd have gone ahead and tried to fight the small army of snakes and Krux, they might've not had their powers anymore but it didn't mean they couldn't fight.

They were in a fight for First Master sake!

But risking their kids? Especially when Krux was the one that had most of them? That was a hard "no", either they ended up injured (or worst), Tay and Maya themselves ended up injured or dead or they managed to escape.

The majority of the options that could end in disaster and so they decided to yield.

As long as they were alive they could meet each other and that's what mattered.

And the kids did seem fine .

Kai never voiced his struggles and Nya didn't think twice when talking about how happy she was about reading and writing.

"Miste' Krux said we could w'ite you now!" She chirped happily.

Kai didn't say anything more than a silent "Yes" when he was asked if he was doing fine with his reading and writing work.

He didn't want to say it aloud because then it would be real he just couldn't, besides, he had a hunch Krux wouldn't be happy with his answer either.

So he kept his composure, even if he wanted nothing more than to cry and never let go of his parents.

It was a nice and happy reunion even if for a moment, even if Krux was there, everyone tried to ignore him the same way he did with them.

And for a moment Krux looked back at them, before scoffing and going back to look outside the window, thinking.

He couldn't keep up this, not for long, the kids couldn't have strings attached, but at the moment this was the best he could come up with, he needed to keep their spirits up, just for a bit more.

And, maybe figure out a way for them to learn Blacksmithing or some kind of work that would be beneficial for his plans, especially for Kai.

He let out a heavy sigh as he went through several plans again and again.

"If only Acronix were here" He couldn't help but think bitterly.

The siblings hit four and six years officially but there wasn't a single celebration.

Ray and Maya had lost the sense of time long ago, the kids didn't remember, and even if they did they weren't allowed to speak about it.

Truthfully Krux couldn't care less, he couldn't have them clinging onto such a thing like birthdays so the days passed by like any others.

The only difference was two things.

Two good things in his opinion.

First of all, Krux had put them into training, formal physical training with the snakes.

He had to oversee it though, not only no new snakes had been born (they weren't ready, it was a miracle he had some already at his command to begin with) but he didn't trust the snakes to train them correctly… or not kill them.

He wanted to mold the kids not kill them, he had the water and fire elements right on his hands, it would be troublesome if he were to lose them, they were kids, the elements would go off on their own for who knows how long before they choose another wilder.

He couldn't have that.

It would put a heavy stop on his plans, sure he could find them again but he didn't have the time, especially not since Acronix wasn't here, not yet.

There was too much and yet too little time for this plan everything had to go perfectly.

If that meant having to train Kai and Nya himself then so be it.

As he gave them saw them walk towards a small clear he found and stand there, waiting he clicked his tongue.

This wasn't gonna be fun.

Nya looked at her brother from his corner on the room, he still couldn't write, not really, not anything beyond wobbly letters and words that made little to no sense, he couldn't read properly either so whenever it was time for them to wait on the museum he would just made Kai stand on a corner, head down and arms behind his back until he came back.

"Like a dog" Krux had said. It didn't sit right with her.

But she didn't say anything either, what was there to say? Especially against someone like Krux.

Still, she couldn't help but steal silent glances every now and then, it felt wrong having her brother being so… silent.

Eventually she guessed that as long as she did her job Krux couldn't be that mad right?

So she took her work sheets and walked towards where Kai was standing with his, sitting on the cold floor right beside his feet. Kai didn't look towards her, she bit her tongue.

"Hey" She murmured, [enterrando] her pencil slightly on his leg to catch his attention.

He didn't move.

"Hm?"

It's not like she wasn't expecting a… reaction from him but now she didn't know what to say, she looked down at her sheets, wondering what to tell him before her eyes landed on one of the addition exercises

"How much is uh… three plus two?"

For a moment he stopped, blinking confusedly before-

"You're doing maths?"

"Y-Yeah"

"Why?"

And she shrugged because really she should be focusing on reading as Krux had wanted.

"Words bored me"

"Words bored you?"

"Yes?"

And then he scoffed, he scoffed and smiled.

Nya couldn't help but smile back.

"Five"

"Five? "

"Your question" He said as he moved just that little bit to point on Nya's paper what he was talking about. "Five"

"Oh"

And she quickly scribbled down, Kai smiled warmly towards her and she smiled back.

But just as quickly as it occurred the moment was over and Kai went to look down at the floor silently, hands on his back.

".. And two plus one?"

"..."

"Kai?"

"Five"

"Two plus Two? "

"Four"

Nya would ask, Kai would answer and she would try to scribble down the answers, first maths and then vocabulary and soon enough Kai was sitting besides her on the floor, at the corner Krux had assigned to Kai as punishment.

That's how they ended up passing most of Kruxs museum shift that afternoon.

When he entered he suspected he didn't say anything, not this time and Nya could only sight, relieved.

She really didn't need help with the assigned work, but if it gave her just a few bonding moments with her brother then she would never say no to that.