lawly

by footfungus

lawly

15. Chapter 15

Chapter 1: Chance of a Lifetime (?)

Chapter Text

„You are finally done for Bondman!"

While calmly trying to focus on his newspaper, Twilight wondered how many times he had heard the exact same sentence over the last couple of months. He had lost count at some point around 134.

"This time you walked right into my most sophisticated trap yet! I bet you would like to know how I was able to deceive you so miraculously, don't you Bondman? Muhahaha!"

Of course. Now the big bad evil of the episode was about to explain his whole plan to the cornered hero, so he does exactly know what to do to stop him.

If only things were that easy in real life.

Twilight was glad this was a kids show, otherwise he was sure it would have been cancelled a long time ago due to weak ratings and he would have find something else to occupy his energetic daughter with, when he was to busy to entertain her himself.

"You see, Agent Penguin has been working for me the entire time! Muahaha!"

Seriously? Who would be shocked by-

All of a sudden he heard a noticeable gasp right beside him on the couch.

Turning his eyes away from the newspaper to look to his left, he half expected to see Anya clinging on to Bond out of sheer shock, until he remembered… Anya wasn't home yet…

"Everything alright over there Yor?" His (fake) wife has had the day off, just like he had and they both decided to simple relax for a change, since they had been working themselves to their bones lately.

So now the matriarch of the Forger family sat beside him on the couch, intensely watching a TV show for children, gripping at her knees so hard that her knuckles were turning white.

She was so intoxicated by the program that he didn't even get an answer.

"Y-Yor?"

"Shhh!" She quickly held one hand in front of his face to make him shut up, all the while pulling out a notepad and a pen to quickly write something down.

…was she taking notes?

"No! I don't believe you! Agent Penguin is the most loyal person I have ever met and a dear friend of mine! You must be lying!" The TV drama continued to unfold.

"You have no idea! You see Bondman, Agent Penguin is actually…" the masked villain revealed his face to the audience "My long lost twin-brother!"

…there was another penguin under the mask.

"Nooooooo!"

Loid desperately wanted to facepalm himself as the show actually ended on a cliffhanger, right after that scene with Bondman screaming his lungs out before cutting to black.

A long lost twin brother. Of course. How original.

Then he heard the pen drop to the ground.

Yor was holding both her hands in front of her mouth to suppress a scream as it seemed. She honestly looked beyond shocked. Was Twilight missing something here? He wanted to ask her about it, but since he didn't know what to expect from her when she was like this, he waited for her to snap out of… whatever this was first.

"T- that's it?!" Were the first words that came out of her mouth. "They cant leave it like this! How could they end the episode without a satisfying conclusion?! Such cruelty!" Nonetheless she continued to scribble away on her notepad.

Still a bit unsure if it was safe to address her or not, Loid finally decided to answer the question.

"Ehem, well, maybe it is because the show is airing daily and they wanted to keep their audience guessing for at least the next 24 hours?"

Yor´s head snapped back to him and immediately proceeded to turn as red as her favorite sweater.

"L-L-Loid! I totally forgot you were here! Weren't you going to take a shower?"

"I kind of already did. That was about an hour ago and when I came back you were totally focused on the TV." A comforting smile found the way to his face before he knew it. Sometimes he still wondered why she was getting flustered so easily even when they were at the safety of their own home. He really wanted her to be comfortable around him.

For the sake of the mission of course!

"Honestly, I never thought you were that invested into Spy Wars as well, Yor. Maybe Anya isn't the biggest fangirl in this household after all." He offered her another grin, so that she knew it was all in good spirit.

His efforts seemed to work, as she notably calmed down and returned his smile.

"Actually, Anya asked me to watch it for her today, because she knew that she wouldn't be able to make it in time, because of her school gathering and wanted me to explain to her what happed in great detail." She showed him the notes she had taken "Since I forget easily, I needed to write it all down, but it looks like I got a little bit too into it, if I didn't even notice you come out of the shower… I´m so sorry Loid!"

Suddenly she looked heartbroken, at least from his perspective, and he felt the overwhelming need to reassure her once again.

"Everything is fine Yor. There is really no need to apologize. You were simply focusing on the favor you were doing Anya. As any great mother would."

As he was saying the word mother, Yor´s eyes began to water slightly.

"Thank you so much Loid!"

This woman was simply the polar opposite of himself, he once again remembered.

She wore each and every one of her emotions on her sleeves. If he wouldn't know any better, he would believe that she wasn't capable of hiding anything from anybody. But, well, she was keeping their fake marriage under wraps fairly well.

He was 99% sure that that was her biggest and only secret.

Wanting to calm the situation down for good, he gave her a small pet on the arm, only to immediately withdraw, when she looked like a tomato again.

"No need to thank me for stating the obvious Yor." He explained while standing up from the couch. "Are you hungry yet? Anya should be home any minute now, so maybe the both of us could start making dinner? You could try your hands on the cucumber-salad we have been practicing."

His heart somewhat unexpectedly seemed to skip a beat when her face lit up in excitement.

"Of course Loid! Great idea! I will give it my all!"

They were nearly done with all their preparation, which included a slightly weird looking salad that Loid judged as at least edible, when roughly twenty minutes later the door flew open.

"Anya is back in the- Whoa!"

With a little more energy than usual Bond tackled the little girl to the ground and proceeded to shower her with all the pent up affection of nearly half a day without his best friend.

"Stop it Bond! Anya is no ice cream!" The giggling betrayed her pleas as none serious.

While lying on the floor with the huge ball of fur all around her, she held out her tiny left arm, which was holding her schoolbag and Yor gently took it from her, as she had so often done before.

"Welcome home Anya. You are right on time for dinner. Including the salad I have been working on!"

Yor proceeded to store away her (fake) daughters bag in the living room and didn't even notice the shocked expression on her face, because the giant dog was still hiding it completely.

"I think that's enough now Bond, otherwise she would have to take a shower before eating and you would have to wait for her to get out." Bond reluctantly pulled away from his buddy at Loids words, but received a couple of head scratches from him as a reward regardless.

"Go and get yourself ready for dinner Anya. Oh, and don't worry, the salad is truly fine, I guarantee it." He whispered the last sentence in her ear with a half-smile on his face so that Yor wouldn't hear him and it earned himself another giggle from the peanut loving firecracker, followed by a quick salute.

"On it Papa!" And with that she was already dashing to her room. Loid didn't even got the chance to ask her how her day had went. Well, another topic for dinner then.

The family meal was as pleasant as ever. Anya chatted away with her (fake) mother about the Spy Wars episode she had missed and showed a similarly shocked reaction to the cliffhanger ending as Yor had done before. Even shedding a tear or two due to agent penguins apparent betrayal of Bondman.

Both came to the conclusion that they had to send a letter to the TV station and politely demand that they don't end episodes on such nerve-racking cliffhangers anymore. Somehow, Loid doubted it would be a successful petition.

Not only because it was kind of ridiculous, but because this time of year, petitions usually piled up in many areas of public life. He knew. He had infiltrated nearly all of them at some point in his career. What he wasn't so sure of was the reason for it. Maybe it was because people simply had less to do during the winter season. Or they got annoyed a bit faster because of the missing sunlight.

He wasn't able to think about it too much, because Anya suddenly addressed him. "Oh Papa, I almost forgot! Anya´s got some big news today at school!"

"Oh no, did she get another Tonitrus bolt?! Please no. I really don't want to go and change her school data for real this time. Although, maybe it´s my fault, I should have taught her better! You still have much to learn to perfect the ideal father role Twilight! How could you put Operation Strix in such danger?!" He lectured himself in his head.

Before he could respond to her, she simply raised an eyebrow at him. "Ehm, don´t worry Papa it´s not a Tonitrus bolt." Oh. His worries must have shown on his face. He was really slipping lately. "However, Anya has a bad feeling about that math test from a couple of days ago…"

"What?"

"Oh, never mind that. What Anya has to tell you is faaar more exciting than that and it actually concerns you too Mama!"

"Oh really? Well then go on and tell us sweety." Yor was already clearing the table, but because the story seemed to be important, she sat back down besides Anya.

The little girl collected herself once more and tried to look as serious as possible.

"Mama, Papa, both of you have been selected to accompany Anya and her class to the upcoming snow trip next week!"

"Huh?" Both responded in unison. What was she talking about?

"Mister Henderson called it schki-trip or something. Anya didn't know that word, but Becky explained that it is a funny sport somewhere in the snow! Oh and its next week."

"A skiing-trip? Wait, how come we never heard any of this if it is already next week?!" So many new variables and Twilight had been totally out of the loop. How could he let that happen?!

"Well, ehm maaaybe Anya kind of didn't realize it was coming as well. Very difficult stuff. It´s not important anyway, the important thing is Syon-boys Papa and Mama are the other parents who are coming along, from our class!"

Now it was Yor´s turn to look confused, clearly not understanding why that was the important part of the story.

Twilight understood though.

His chin nearly fell on the desk. The Desmond´s were actually joining a regular school trip?! And if that wasn't enough, his family had been selected as well? Was this his lucky day or did somebody plan the whole thing? Maybe somebody was trying to set him up. Had Operation Strix been compromised?! But how? By whom?

Yor wasn't totally pleased by the news as well as it seemed. She looked to be thinking something over and repeatedly shook her head as if to dismiss whatever it was.

Seeing both her parents so conflicted about the whole thing Anya´s extremely bright demeanor from before lessened slightly. "Maybe Anya needs to explain in a little more detail."

"That would be great." They again both said as one.

"She will need some peanuts first…"

"Anya…"

"Fine, fine peanuts later. It aaall started during school today."

*Flashback to earlier in the day at Eden Academy*

"Young students of Eden. As you well know, an elegant and all-encompassing education does not end in the classroom. Nor does it end in the library. It continues on and reaches out to every facet of your everyday life. At this time-honored institution, we dedicate ourself completely to the task of molding your minds and personalities into the most elegant version possible! Day and night we try to…"

Anya´s eyes were already falling shut.

Why did this keep happening to her? Of course Mister Henderson was babbling about complicated and boring stuff as usual, but it seemed like all the other kids were somehow able to stay awake just fine! Maybe some enemy spy had poisoned her fathers cereal and when she snacked some out of his bowl this morning it had gotten to her too!

Still didn't explain the many other times though.

She was still trying to come up with another explanation when a hand landed on her right shoulder slightly shaking her awake.

"Anya!" a whispered shout from her best friend got her attention more than anything her teacher had said until now. "You simply can´t nap right now you hear me? Mister Henderson is about to tell us the details of our Ski-trip. Eventually at least… I hope." She didn't seem so sure.

"What´s a Schki-trip?" She was only barely able to hide a yawn. Anya wasn't very happy about the fact that she had to stay at school longer than usual because of this gathering thingy. Hopefully Mama would be able to tell her in great detail about what had happened in the newest Spy Wars episode later!

"Oh right, I forgot, you were asleep for that as well. Oh boy, I should have told you sooner. Cecille and Wald Hall are all going on a little sport-trip next week! Into the snowy mountains in fact!" Becky seemed to be looking forward to it all, so the whole thing quickly grabbed Anya´s attention. "Apparently it's a regular date for first years here at Eden and I heard from some upperclassman that it's really fun!"

"An Ooting?!" Any louder and Mister Henderson would surely notice her most likely misplaced enthusiasm.

"Shhh! Be quiet! But yes, an Outing."

"How exciting! Wait, you said it was already next week?!" Sleeping in school was a bad idea after all.

"Yes. I really should have told you sooner. You of all people should have been the first to know about it, seeing as your family is much more involved that most of us." Becky tried to put up an evil grin, but Anya didn't really buy it. Her mother and father could look much more scary.

"More involved? Why?"

"You see, a couple of weeks ago, when he first told us about the trip, Mister Henderson asked us to tell our parents about it and question them if some would like to join in to help the teachers keep an eye over the many students! I knew my parents were far too busy that week, sooo I recommended yours!"

Anya should have feared the evil grin after all. "What?!" She hadn't even noticed that she stood up from her seat.

"Miss Forger, I´m sorry if you couldn't understand me well enough up there. The auditory is quite huge indeed. I´ll try to speak a little bit louder, but please refrain from further interrupting the class like this unless you want to be rewarded accordingly. It´s not very elegant." Mister Henderson, apparently used to this kind of scenery, simple continued on with the topic after his little lecture.

Anya´s face burned and she silently sat back down.

"I know it´s cause for celebration that you are awake for once Forger, but there is no need to show it off that much." As usual, his two goons snickered at that sarcastic remark. "Maybe you should listen for a change instead of quacking with Blackbell over there."

"Oh, zip it Syon-boy. Anya has a lot of important problems to deal with."

"Sure you do." He didn't seem to believe her and his thoughts proofed as much.

She hadn't actually noticed that he was sitting next to her for a change. Usually he would sit a couple of rows behind her and Becky, even though she knew that he thought about them often. So, how did that happen?

Disregarding the question for now, because she had a more important topic to concentrate on, Anya turned her back to him without a second thought and focused on Becky again.

"Why would you want Anya´s parents to come along in the first place?"

"Fufufu. Well, it´s not so much about BOTH your parents, you see, but every opportunity to spend time with my precious, dashing Lord Loid, is an opportunity I simply cannot miss! I bet he is an extraordinary skier!"

Oh yeah right. Anya had nearly forgotten Becky´s obsession with her father.

To be completely honest, Anya didn't really mind having her parents come along. Quite the opposite actually. They were great! And she too believed that her father would be awesome at that, whatever it was exactly. Simply because he was pretty much awesome at everything.

She just didn't really believe they would actually join on a field trip. Too many risks for the both of them she supposed.

"You are very weird Becky."

"Weird, or diabolically clever?" With her pinky at the corner of her mouth she actually looked a little bit sinister in Anya´s eyes, but she wasn't about to tell her that.

"Weird."

"I would second her on that one just this once." Damian seemed to have listened to their whole conversation, even though he tried to look as disinterested as he possibly could.

A quick thought popped into Anya´s head, one in which she and her "target" could become best friends by defending her father from Becky together. She quickly called it "Operation Bodyguard" and it would surely secure world peace!

"Thanks Syon!" She beamed at him.

"W- whatever. Just shut up, okay? I´m trying to listen here." He was such a difficult target. Why would he never react in a way his thoughts would suggest!

Becky of course wouldn't take the insult lying down. "Oh yeah, of course you would want to listen right now Desmond, because from what I´ve heard your parents have accompanied your brothers class on their Ski-trip just two years ago, right? So I´m sure they would love to come with us as well this time, huh?"

Anya knew that Syon-boy´s Mama and Papa were not showing themselves in public that often, because that was the whole reason for Operation Strix. She also knew that this was a sensible topic for Damian.

Which is why it surprised her when he suddenly looked all smug.

"You are completely right Blackbell! And if you would just listen to Mister Henderson for even a minute, you would find out just how on point you really are."

All of their eyes turned to the front where Mister Henderson was currently writing something on the board.

"We will be staying at the Bad Emser Inn for the week and there will be apartments for two or three persons per room, so it would be ideal if you could let us know you preferred roommates by the end of tomorrow. Furthermore the parents who will be accompanying us, which are the Watkins, Greens, Forgers and Desmonds by the way, will also have rooms provided for them should they be required. Furthermore…"

Damian smiled at them and it was an honest one filled with proud.

"You girls should count yourself lucky to sleep in the same Inn as such VIP´s like my parents!"

Becky, who couldn't believe that those two were actually coming just looked away in annoyance "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

Anya on the other hand just got even more excited! Her father and the Desmond boss in the same hotel? For a whole weekend!? World peace truly was in their reach! Surely her parents would come along now! Which meant she could ski with Papa and Mama! Whatever ski was exactly. But who cares?! She could ask her parents about it on the trip!

"That's so awesome Syon-boy! Anya wants to meet your parents!" Once again her smile lit up the entire auditory.

Damian couldn't even stutter out a coherent response to that.

"So forward Anya!" Becky seemed to be holding her breath. "I must take notes! That is how I should approach my dear, lovely Loid as well!"

"Papa is married to Mama, Becky…"

"Yes. Buuut for how long? Fufufufu."

"Miss Blackbell I must ask you to stop this diabolical laughter right this instant. It´s… really frightening."

*End of Flashback*

"And that's it!" Anya pulled out her signature smug face after finishing the recap of the day. "Isn't that exciting?! Anya only has one question left."

Twilight, who couldn't believe that the possibly biggest step to the success of his most important mission up to date had just been handed to him on a silver platter, because of some sort of prank between two little girls nonetheless, was still to stunned for a reply. So, it was up to his better half, who didn't seem quite so out of it, to do so.

"And that would be…?"

"What exactly is this "skiing" and is it really so much fun as Becky said?"

As Yor, patiently as ever, explained to their daughter the general concept of skiing, Loid was mulling over every conceivable risk and every benefit this opportunity could possibly provide for his mission.

Of course, this was an unbelievable chance to get into contact with his target. Almost too good to be true in fact. They would likely live under the same roof for a significant period of time. Next to nobody out of the inner circle of his party and his closest friends would ever get such an opportunity and even for them they would be rare. He could finally build a connection between the two. A foundation for further interactions.

On the other hand, this was all very sudden. He only had a couple of days to device a bulletproof plan for success. Normally that would be more than enough time for him, but this wasn't just any regular run of a mill mission. If he made one single mistake, one minor slipup, he could ruin the whole operation on which so many agents had been working hard on in just one move. He could render the whole of Operation Strix obsolete. He could render Loid Forger and his family obsolete.

A scenario that horrified him to his core.

It was unlikely of course, but he needed to consider even the most absurd of sceneries.

Still, he definitely had to take that risk, hadn't he? Judging from his appearance from the first time they had met, Donovan Desmond didn't seem like the unforgiving type. Otherwise he might not have reacted so openly to Loids subtle criticism of his parenthood, which in retrospect he really shouldn't have voiced at the time.

He was ripped from his thoughts when he heard his daughter raise her voice slightly.

"Why Mama?! You make it sound like so much fun! We could learn it together if you like? Please!"

"I- I don't know Anya. Somebody needs to look after Bond right? A- and I think I´m not really suited for such a trip with your whole class in the first place… I don't know if I would be of any help if I can´t properly look after the kids, seeing that I cannot ski at all." His wife was nervously fidgeting with her fingers while explaining herself.

"So, the first obstacle already, huh? No problem Twilight, you got this."

He put on his most comforting smile and grabbed one of Yor´s soft hands. Firstly to get her attention, which he got right away, together with a high pitched squeal and secondly to stop her nervous behavior.

"Don't worry so much Yor. I will teach you and Anya how to ski in no time at all, you have my word. Plus I think it would make a very good expression if we would show up at such an event as a complete family. You don't have to be nervous about making a bad impression either. Every school event we attended so far, you have shown yourself in the best light and I believe that you are truly incapable of making a bad impression on anybody!" Okay, maybe he was going a bit too far here, but once he had started, the words just came pouring out of his mouth.

Somehow she still didn't look convinced. "A- are you sure about that Loid? You know how awkward and clumsy I can be sometimes…"

Why was she making herself sound so small all the time? From everything he had witnessed so far, Yor was amazing in all but cooking and she was improving in that area as well!

"You are neither Yor."

"Yeah, Papa is right Mama!" Anya had left her seat at the table to grab her mothers free hand. "We will have soo much fun together! We can learn schkiing from Papa together or we could build a snowman! And have a snowball fight! Becky already challenged Syon-boy and his family to a duel!"

"What?"

"What?!" "A duel?! Oh please no."

"Eh, never mind that!"

Finally Yor seemed to calm down and a small smile showed up on her face. "Well, if you two want me to join so badly then… then I guess I´ll have no other option but to join, have I?"

Anya cheered loudly and hugged her mother and Loid´s inner self cheered as well, but his outer self only squeezed her hand a little more to show his approval.

They spend the rest of the day telling Anya about skiing and the snowy mountains some way in the north. It sounded like she had never even seen snow… which kind of depressed Loid a little, though he quickly suppressed that thought, because he would be able to show her soon enough. He was sure there would be time for that. Plus; Anya seemed to be kind of close to the son of his target at this point, so spending time with her would by extend mean time spend on the mission.

Somehow… that made him even more excited about the whole thing.

The only one who still wasn't as enthused by the prospect of the trip was of course Bond, who would have to stay at home and away from his family for a couple of days.

And Franky, though he didn't know it yet, because he would have to be the one to look after their fluffy friend as usual.

The next days practically flew by in a blur. Loid spoke with the school about the details of their departure and about the parents responsibilities during the trip. Turns out, it was actually of benefit that Yor couldn't ski, because, surprise surprise, most of the kids couldn't and so she could have a close eye on them in the beginners class!

He also conferred with his Handler about the implications for operation Strix and she was even more enthused about the prospect of getting into contact with Donovan Desmond in such a private setting than he had been. She had left the planning totally up to him. Everything about it would be left to his judgement. There wouldn't be any WISE agents accompanying him in secret, because of the slight chance that Desmond could recognize them and suspect something was up. Twilight simply had to send daily reports if possible.

The responsibility to maintain peace was now totally on his shoulders.

He made sure not to think about it nonstop, it might cloud his judgement.

So he distracted himself in the best possible way. With his family.

For example when Anya tried to push her new pink helmet, they had bought her for the trip, onto his far to big head and he softly made her stop. Or when he complimented Yor on her first ever winter sports outfit, which was all in red and quite frankly gorgeous.

It worked better than any other distraction technique he had learned during his training.

Then, the day of departure came.

Totally unlike herself, Anya had been on her feet without having to be dragged out of bed this time. Her childish excitement was contagious and even Yor, who had still been a bit doubtful about the whole thing during the last couple of days, was getting overwhelmed now. The whole atmosphere nearly made him forget about the possible risks of the trip.

If he was being honest with himself. This wasn't a particularly new feeling. His family, however confusing they could be sometimes, always made everything feel easier.

It made him feel… optimistic. Something he had rarely felt when on his own, even though he was confident in his abilities of course.

After a heartbreaking goodbye with Bond, they arrived at the schools bus station right on time, where they were already greeted by the four teachers who would accompany them on the trip, Mister Henderson included. He looked perfectly organized as always. Around them some students from the dorms and Anya´s best friend Becky Blackbell had already arrived.

Becky, who energetically tried to greet them personally, was quickly dragged away by his daughter, seemingly to store away their luggage together.

Loid just smiled through it all. He didn't mind that sort of chaos. It was good to see that Anya was well integrated at Eden and had found friends so easily. Plus; the Blackbells were potentially an excellent source of information as well.

He was a tiny bit worried about the fact that there was no sign of any member of the Desmond family yet, but, well, they were early.

As he was about to put the rest of their luggage away, they were approached by Mister Henderson.

"Mister and Misses Forger!" As if on que, Yor latched on to his arm and he almost lost hold of the bag he was carrying. Her grip was a bit hard as usual when she was nervous, but it was nothing he couldn't handle.

It wasn't all together unpleasant and he was well prepared that this was going to happen. Just… maybe not so soon.

To ease Yor´s anxieties they had agreed beforehand, that she should just seek out his company right away anytime she felt unsure. Surprisingly, they had figured out that it was more comfortable for her if she could actually… hold on to him in any form. Quite unusual to be sure, but Loid wasn't bothered by it at all. It was all for the success of the mission of course!

What he didn't account for was the distraction that the smell of her freshly showered hair would provide for him when theory eventually turned into reality.

"Mister Henderson. You look well. Are you looking forward to the trip?" He needed to remain calm.

"T- the weather forecast looks great, hehe." Well, even at his worst, he was still a lot smoother as his wife.

"It does indeed. And yes, I must say these kind of trips always held a special place in my heart. Furthermore it is a most elegant experience in the life of these young scholars." This man really was the epitome of elegance. "I just wanted to thank the both of you in person for providing well needed assistance on this journey. Eden Academy and me personally honestly appreciate it greatly."

Loid believed it to be a little much when the head teacher of his daughter actually bowed before the two of them, even though it was kind of in character for him.

Before he could reassure the man that it wasn't a big deal, Yor beat him to it.

"Oh Mister Henderson, it´s no problem for us at all! You look out for our little Anya every day at school. We are glad to help you just this once!" She actually let go of his arm and bowed as well.

Why was she so afraid to interact with people again? He made a mental note to boost her self-esteem more in the future.

The teacher just smiled at them and muttered something about elegance in return.

"Still, I´m afraid I have to inform you that we are one less parental figure than expected, so we will have to rearrange some tasks during the bus ride."

"Oh? Really? Who is missing?" Twilight was already nervous about the answer, but of course didn't let it show in any way.

"Unfortunately, the Desmond household called this morning. Mister Desmond had to fly to Tresden unexpectedly to attend an ad hoc party conference and so he will sadly not be able to join us. However…"

Twilight stopped listening at that point.

The whole plan he had devised over the last couple of days shattered in front of his inner eye. Like a mirror getting hit by a sledgehammer.

He had thought about every scenario that might threaten the success of this mission and how to prevent it from occurring, but not once had he actually considered that Desmond wouldn't even show up! How could he have been so delusional?! After all, his first thought had immediately been that it was totally out of character for him to show himself at such an event in the first place!

There goes his once in a lifetime chance to connect with his target on a personal level. Now how should he tell his Handler about the fact that this five star operation just turned into a simple holiday for him and his family? She was definitely going to be furious. The woman had a short temper lately.

He didn't even notice Henderson leaving to talk to his colleagues, nor Yor tugging slightly at his arm to get him to turn around.

"Yor! It´s good to see you again. And this handsome fellow must be your husband, right? Oh my, he looks a bit distracted, everything okay?"

He didn't recognize the female voice addressing his wife, nor had he ever seen her face before. He just absent-mindedly shook his head a little.

Should he maybe fake an illness to get out of this trip? No he couldn't do that, Anya and Yor would be extremely disappointed in him. But was he really allowed to waist precious time on this trip? Especially when his target and the party were potentially plotting something big in Tresden?! Then again, he had to think about the big picture…

"Oh, he is just a little concerned about the fact that we are one adult short I think. It´s a shame your husband couldn't make it, Melinda." Wait. Husband? "Oh, and you must be Damian! Our daughter has told us so much about you already!"

"N- nice to- to meet you misses Forger and nice to see you again Mister Forger."

Finally Twilight focused on his surroundings again and just on time, otherwise he would have missed the outstretched hand of the young man that was standing before him.

"Nice to see you too Damian." He shook his tiny, slightly shaking hand and showed him an honest smile. "Are you looking forward to the trip?"

"I do. It´s just.. I was looking forward to well… my father…"

"Oh stop it with that Damian! Your father has important duties to take care of and we should respect that. We will have our fun anyways." The boy's mother ruffled his hair a little bit. Judging by her sons expression, her cheering up only seemed to work to some extent.

"Your mum is correct." Twilight wasn't one to miss an opportunity and reached his own hand out to Melinda Desmond, one of the most powerful women in all of Ostania. "Nice to finally meet you Misses Desmond."

When he took a step closer to her a massive tree of a man swooped in from the side, obviously trying to shield the lady from any potential danger. He glared down at Twilight with the same cold blue eyes he himself possessed at times.

"Oh stop it Bruno! You really think those nice people are a threat?!" Melinda slightly punched him at his arm, but he didn't even so much as flinch.

Of course the Desmonds wouldn't leave Berlint without some personal security.

"…just making sure mam…"

"Oh please, we will be fine! Bring our bags to the bus if you really want to be useful and I swear, if you make a scene during the bus ride like last time, I´m actually going to lose it." After another glare he slowly stepped aside, taking all the luggage of the Desmonds with him to the bus.

"You must excuse the manners of our bodyguard Loid. Last time he searched the bus for bombs for a whole hour… Oh, is Loid okay by the way? You can call me Melinda in exchange. That seems fair!"

The wife seemed to be nothing like her husband.

Yor had told him that she was different to other women of her station, so he wasn't surprised by the casualness.

"Of course Melinda. To be honest, I like Loid better myself."

"Papa! Mama! Have you seen that huuge gorilla-person next to- Oh, Syon-boy!" Anya simply had a natural talent to gather all the attention on herself the second she entered a scene. "Wait, is that huge person your Papa?! You don't look like him at all!"

"Of course not! He is our bodyguard Bruno! My dad is not coming..."

His daughters eyes found his own and it was like she instantly knew what had happened, because she all of a sudden looked… shocked?!

"Critical mission failure…"

He didn't hear what she was muttering on about now, but it seemed to discourage her.

Anyways, as Yor went on to introduce their daughter to Melinda, Twilight felt relieve filling his body. The mission hadn't failed just yet, he could still make it a complete success. The wife and son of his target were right here. If he could get close to them, chances were he would get close to Donovan as well. Eventually. Handler would never be able to label this trip useless now.

He was going to make the best out of the coming days!

It went unnoticed by him that Anya perked up again at his thoughts.

"World peace is still in reach!"

Chapter 2: Traveling with the Forgers.

Chapter Text

"Are we there yet?"

"For the 10000th time, Anya. Just look outside!"

She wondered why Becky would get so easily annoyed at her questions. All she was, was being curious. It was her first bus tour after all. Well, besides the one she took to school every day…

"Anya is looking."

The seat near the window had been her place of choice, because she wanted to see the snowy landscape once there were finally there. They were in the second to last row of the bus and Becky sat next to her as usual.

All around them their classmates were either chatting, playing or sleeping.

Her parents were further in front. They had talked with the other parents as well as the teachers for a good while now and they seemed to enjoy it. Although she could never really be sure when it came to her father. He was a master of disguise after all.

Becky pointed with her finger out the window for her look to follow.

The ground had gotten much whiter since they had left Berlint, but it was still far from a winter wonderland in her opinion.

"You see any mountains yet? As long as you can´t see those, we are nowhere close. I would guess we are about half way there at the moment."

*gasp!*

"Only half way?!" How could that be?! The earth really must be as huge as the geography lessons suggested! She always believed it to be a joke. "But we have been driving since forever! Shouldn't we be at the north pole by now?"

The rolling of Becky´s eyes suggested that Anya had asked another stupid question.

"We are not traveling to the north pole Anya. That would take much longer and we would have to take a plane!"

"I´m never going to travel again. This is boring." It truly was. She wondered if this was actually worth it.

"How rude! You are still enjoying the pleasure of my presence after all." Becky´s small smile made it clear that she was not really offended. "And it´s not like I didn't offer to play some games."

"… Becky, you just wanted Anya to ask her Papa to come and play…" She didn't even need to read her mind to know that one.

"So what if I do? It would be fun."

"Papa has fun with Mama and the other adults." At least it looked like it from her view.

Papa had looked discouraged only for a second, when he had heard that Syon-boy´s father, the big, bad boss, was not coming along after all, but his thoughts had quickly turned positive again.

Their mission was still going on! Only the target had changed. Now they had to get close to Syon´s Mama! That seemed to be relatively easy, because she was very nice and her thoughts only affirmed to Anya, that she was really looking forward to this trip. Apparently she didn't get to go out too often.

She wondered why that was. She was a rich, popular Lady after all. Shouldn't she be able to have all the fun in the world?

"Oh whatever, we are much more fun than those old geezers!"

"Mama is not old."

"Tzz." Becky didn't answer, she just looked at the front of the bus, where the Forgers were currently involved in a pleasant conversation with the Watkins. Bill´s parents. His father was even bigger than that bodyguard from before! She wondered how many peanuts she would have to eat to ever get this big.

"You are pathetic Blackbell. Mister Forger definitely has more interesting things to do than play with the likes of you."

Both girls turned around to the last row, where Damian, Emile and Ewen were currently playing their usual card game. They had been at it since the beginning of the drive. Didn't it get boring at some point?

"Bossman is absolutely right!" Ewen nodded.

"I would even say that everybody has better things to do than play with you!" Emile added.

"Oh, is that so onionhead? Then why have you guys asked us both to play cards with you about a dozen times already, huh?" Sometimes Emile truly wasn't the smartest cookie in the jar.

"Onionhead?!" He began to stutter back a response, but Damian only shrugged.

"Well it´s more fun with more players, it might distract your pink haired neighbor enough so she doesn't ask if we are there yet any 5 minutes and I simply like to see you lose Blackbell."

"But last time we played cards, you were the one who lost Syon-boy!" Anya remembered it well, he sucked at the game, even if he let her win on purpose in the end.

"S- shut up stubby legs!" *Gasp!* Anya does not have stubby legs! "I have gotten much better at it since then! Right guys?."

After a small hesitation, Emile showed a thumbs up, while Ewen gave a thumbs down.

"Ewen?! What the hell?!"

"I thought we should be honest with you, boss? You excel at a lot of things but card games aren't one of them."

"We still have to back the boss, when it's in front of someone else, man! That's the code!"

"Oh, you are right! Paragraph three, wasn't it?"

"You guys have a code?" Both girls wondered at the same time.

The three turned their attention back towards them. Apparently flabbergasted by their question "Sure we do."

While Becky looked like it was the stupidest thing in the world, Anya actually thought it was kind of exciting.

"That´s dumb."

"We should get a code as well Becky!"

"What?!"

"Dear young scholars of Eden, Ladies and Gentleman, could I please have your attention for just a moment?"

All of their heads snaped back towards the front, where Mister Henderson had risen from his seat and grabbed a small microphone to address the whole bus.

In Anya´s eyes, he looked hilarious by the way. His winter outfit was designed just like a tux, but water proof! It was adorable somehow.

"We are approaching the halfway mark of our journey towards Bad Ems. As is tradition on this trip, we will stop for a short break at the next roadhouse. There you can get a little bit of fresh air, go to the bathroom or get something to eat and drink. Please refrain from leaving the group alone though. Always stay together in groups and have at least one of the adults as your supervisor. That would be more than elegant. We will meet back at the bus in roughly 30 minutes after arriving. Thank you all for listening."

With that, he took another one of his signature mini bows and went back to his seat.

To her right, Anya noticed the devilish glare on her best friends face. It was all the reason she needed to not let her father out of her sight during the break.

When they arrived at the roadhouses parking lot, the both of them more or less stormed to the front of the bus, nearly tackling Loid to the ground, each trying to make sure that he was not going away without the other.

As usual he seemed slightly perplexed, but of course was willing to accompany them both to the small shop for a quick snack.

Unfortunately, her mother was staying at the bus to keep Syon-boy's mother company and even more unfortunately, her father was all for it, because he believed it to be of benefit to their mission. Anya understood that, she was nothing if not a professional after all, but mission "keep Becky away from Papa" was of much higher importance to her at the moment.

As it turned out, it was much easier that she had feared. Becky seemed uncharacteristically nervous whenever Papa asked her any kind of question and even dropped her ice cream cone, which he had bought for them both, in shock, when his hand accidentally came in contact with her own.

Of course she got another one, but it seemed to have broken her spirit for the moment since she was not trying anything more from that point on.

Anya had a sarcastic comment on her lips, but decided to keep it for herself. However annoying she thought Becky´s attempts to woo her father to be, she was still her friend.

And hey, he could do a lot worse than her! She wasn't Mama, but she was awesome!

Speaking of which, when they arrived back at the bus, they saw her signature black hair at the back of the vehicle in her beautiful red winter outfit. Standing next to her were Syon-boy, this mountain of a bodyguard and one of his goons. They looked too similar to recognize who it was from the distance in her eyes.

Didn't matter anyway, she sprinted forward to her mother to show off her ice cream.

"Mama! Look what Papa bought us. Peanut flavored ice cream! It´s delicious!"

Yor knelt down to be eye to eye with her.

"How nice Anya! Maybe I should have come with you guys after all."

"Oh, no! Anya should have thought about that. Papa should go back and buy you some!"

"No, no Anya wait, it´s all right!"

While Becky and Loid caught up to them and Anya tried to convince the spy that her Mama definitely couldn't miss out on the peanut ice cream, or else she might leave them, Damian seemed to be getting impatient with something.

"Have you found it yet Ewen? It´s getting pretty cold out here. Sure you don't need any help?"

Apparently the other minion was somewhere inside the busses big trunk searching for something, because the answer came from the inside.

"I´m pretty sure I can see the suitcase, but it´s stuck! I can´t get it out."

"Huh, hold on I´m coming."

"Lord Damian I don't think it is safe for you to climb in there." Wow, this bodyguard sure was concerned for Syon-boys wellbeing. The trunk didn't look to scary to her. She would manage.

As if he was the one with the mindreading powers, Damian took one quick look at her and then went into the trunk with a small huff. The gorilla could only mutter a slight protest.

"That game you have in there better be good. Where is it exactly?"

"Thank you bossman! It´s this one right there. Just help me pull, okay?"

"Okay, on three. One. Two. Three! Pull!"

Anya couldn't see what was happening inside. It was far too dark, she could only see the stacked luggage swinging more and more, until finally the whole structure began to collapse.

To her, it looked like a skyscraper tumbling to the ground, or an avalanche or… something else she had only seen on TV!

"Oh no! Watch out guys!" Her warnings were futile, they would never get out of there in time and their at least slightly panicked screams seemed to indicate that they knew that as well.

In a flash, something red, which she wasn't able to fully identify, swung past her and into the still existing hole in the luggage. Only moments later, that same hole, which had allowed the boys to crouch in there in the first place, was covered by a lot of suitcases and the like.

They should have brought Bond along after all! He would have been able to predict that this was going to be happening and then she would have been able to do something about it!

The gorilla stormed past her and his thoughts were even more panicky than her own. It nearly gave her a headache. He immediately began to throw luggage pieces left and right, to force his way into to where his boss was supposedly buried.

She wanted to join him, when a hand on her head held her in place.

When she turned around, her father was standing behind her and he looked like calmness personified.

"Don't worry Anya. They are fine. Mama made it in there didn't you see?"

Oh. So that had been the red flash she had seen!

As if on que, Bruno threw the last piece of luggage out of the way and revealed Yor, who, in a crouching position held a bunch of suitcases on her back, shielding the two boys under her without any visible effort whatsoever.

"Do you have the game?" She smiled down at them as if nothing had happened, while everybody except for Loid and Anya just stared at her in awe.

"We- we only got the bag..." Ewen stuttered out.

"Well then grab the game out of it and let us clean up this mess, okay? Damian you can go on out ahead. Mister Bruno seems to have been worried about you."

"Y- yes mam. I´m on it mam."

Anya couldn't resist and listened into his mind for a second.

"Is she a superhero?! That was totally awesome! But how the heck did she move so fast and how is she holding these heavy suitcases without even breaking a sweat?"

It was impossible to hold back a knowing smile, as she and her dad approached him, after he had crawled out of the hole and had been thoroughly checked for any injuries by the still slightly panicked gorilla.

"Everything okay Damian?"

"Yes, sure Mister Forger, sir. Thanks to your wife! What kind of a move was that? She totally saved us!"

Now it got a little irritating to her. Why did he seem to love every single member of her family except for her?! She was awesome as well! She was Starlight Anya after all!

"Well, where do you think Anya got her amazingness from, huh?" With her hands on her hips and her head held high, she tried to do a superman pose.

It didn't work.

"Nobody asked you, stubby legs. I have seen your amazingness when you lost us that volleyball game a couple of months ago! I was talking to your dad."

Okay, she was even more glad that he wasn't hurt at the moment, because now was definitely the time to punch him again! Question was, could she somehow take on the gorilla as well?

Loid, who had sensed the danger, quickly moved between the two and tried to defuse the situation somehow.

"Please calm down you two. No violence Anya, I thought we had agreed on that." He was one to talk with his "punching therapy". "And Damian, please refrain from calling my daughter stubby legs from now on, would you? An insult to her is an insult to me, you know."

The ice cold blue eyes of her father seemed to bore deep into the chest of the little boy, because he visibly gulped and then violently nodded with his head.

The cold stare was gone as quick as it had appeared and Loid went on to help her mother and Bruno clear things up, checking if she was truly okay while he was at it, which made Yor freak out more than the entire incident before.

"I have to admit it, Anya." She hadn't even noticed that Becky stood by her side again. "Your mother is a worthy rival indeed."

"You have no idea."

After the little accident with the Desmond boy, the rest of the journey had went by just as smoothly as the first half for Twilight.

He had made sure to have a closer look on his daughter and her little friends group after that one to be sure, but was kind of relieved to see them actually playing some games together, even if it still got heated a few times.

What he also made sure of was that Yor got plenty of praise for her heroics, even when she tried to play it down like usual. Firstly, because it was sure to make a good impression on Melinda, which was of vital benefit to the mission and secondly, because he had promised himself that he would boost her sometimes far too fragile ego no matter the circumstances.

The result was definitely proofing him right.

It was not like she had been completely unsocial before, far from it, but with every passing minute they spent together with the other parents and teachers, she calmed down more and more and laughed increasingly frequent. She also stopped grabbing his arm as tightly as she had done for most of the first half of the trip, which was very good for his blood circulation, instead opting to only slightly lean on him now.

He took it as a compliment that she hadn't abandoned the physical contact all together.

Oh and a sudden loss of visible intimacy could have compromised their cover of course, so it was very well thought out on her part, surely.

As time passed by, the landscape got a lot more mountainous and a majority of the children in the back got big eyes, because an increasing amount of snowfall accompanied that change.

Now it was really starting to look like a proper winter wonderland out there.

He even took the chance to go back to his daughter for a quick visit to tell her and her friends a little bit about what they were seeing out there. How some of the mountains were called, how high they were, why it was colder down here and even colder up on the mountains and most importantly how rain turned into snow.

Denying that it felt good that their eyes had been glued to every word he had spoken and that he loved that signature Anya glow in her eyes when she thought something was exciting would have been totally in vain. It was even an easy point for his mission as well, because Damian Desmond had clearly taken a liking to him.

When he arrived back at his usual seat, he was only half surprised that he was able to tell Yor about more or less the same things he had told the children. Apparently, she too had never been in this corner of the country before and didn't know a lot about it either.

He was reminded of her harsh childhood, where she had to provide for her brother all by herself. Surely she just didn't have the time for such luxuries.

Well, now she had the time.

Again, he couldn't deny that she looked incredibly adorable as she listened to him with her mouth just slightly open to show her awe. The time just seemed to just fly by while he was at it.

All in all he was in a great mood when they finally arrived at their destination; the Bad Emser Inn.

It was a big and luxurious hotel, in the middle of a valley that looked like it was right out of a travel advisor. A small stream, that was partly frozen, meandered right through the small town and next to the hotel. The amount of steam in the back of the building, which they had seen from afar, even suggested that there were some kind of hot springs as well.

Eden Academy really didn't spare any expense.

The interior of the hotel was equally impressive. It was designed in the style of the early 1920´s with a lot of chandeliers on every sealing, lots of wooden ornaments on the walls and copies of famous paintings on every other corner. It was also very well lit, with big inviting windows on all sides as it seems.

He really needed to remind himself that this was no vacation and that he was here for work.

Speaking of.

"Melinda, you seem to have brought with you a lot of luggage. Do you want my assistance? Our own is in the very back of the trunk, because we were so early and I wouldn't mind lending a hand."

Very smooth Twilight. Maybe you should even place a couple of bugs in the room while you are at it. You never know when that kind of thing could come in handy.

Unfortunately, Misses Desmond just shrugged and shook her head.

"Thank you Loid, but there is no need. I´m actually staying at our own little holiday home just the way down the street. I wanted to inspect it for some time now and finally the chance has arrived haha. The bus driver was so nice to agree to drop us off separately after everyone has unpacked here."

Another small piece of the mission aspect of this trip just got hit by the sledgehammer in his mind.

Not only was the main target not even in a 200 kilometer radius of his current location, the secondary target wasn't even staying in the same hotel as he was!

He was still trying to figure out a way to remedy this situation, when Melinda softly elbowed him in the side.

She had a suspicious look on her face and Twilight was immediately worried. Had she seen through him and was wondering why he wanted to have a close eye on her so badly?!

"Besides, I laid in a good word for you and Yor and Eden has actually granted you both the honeymoon suite for the next few days, sooo you should better go and explore it together with her, don't you think?" The wink that followed actually achieved what so many terrorists and enemy combatants had tried in vain for years. Twilight brought out in a cold sweat.

"The- the- the-" Great and now he was stuttering! Get a grip "greatest spy in the world"!

"You can thank me later! I guess we will see each other again when it's time to discover the city!" With that, she was already on her way.

For the first time in his life, he was frozen in place. And it wasn't because of the particularly cold weather around here.

The mission was in serious danger now.

He was so out of it that he only recognized Yor and Anya approaching when they were already standing right next to him.

"Oh, Loid! This place is unbelievable! Have you seen the size of the dining room?! I´m so glad you two convinced me to tag along. I´m truly grateful."

"Mama is right Papa! The big hotel is sooooo-"

Then, she stopped talking midsentence. Apparently to analyze him, like she so often did before.

Her face turned from overly enthusiastic to thoughtful, to an all-out smirk.

"Papa and Mama are sleeping in the honey room tonight, hihi."

How did she know?!

"We sleep where Anya?" Yor still wasn't getting it.

Both of them had never thought about the fact that of course Eden would book only one room for the both of them.

How could they have never thought about that?! They were married for Christ sake!

"She means the honeymoon suite…" It had never been so difficult for him to look Yor in the eyes.

"Ooh, now I get it. The honeymoon- WAIT WHAT?!"

Twilight was sure the steam that was coming from the hot springs was nothing compared to the amount that was coming out of his (FAKE!) wife's ears right now.

The next days were going to be a challenge.

Chapter 3: Adventurous Days and Sleepless Nights!

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

During missions he was used to spending consecutive days without proper sleep.

When shadowing a suspect or while protecting a VIP, it was crucial for a spy to keep all his mental and physical abilities razor-sharp, regardless of circumstances.

The slightest slip up could result in the failure of the mission and subsequently dire consequences for the world in the worst case.

Twilight had both the training and the experience to perfect the needed skillset and yet, right now, he was dead tired.

However, he tried his best to not let his face give it away, because people would definitely be worried and he didn't like it when anyone made a big fuss over him.

But more than that, they would surely ask questions. Questions about last night. Questions he was not willing to give an answer to. Questions he not even knew an answer to himself!

It was bad enough that his daughter seemed to have looked right through him the moment he and Yor had showed up for breakfast. Her signature smug face had made him shiver. She was far too perceptive at such a young age. It made him fear the day she would turn into a teenager…

If he was even around to see that happening by that time.

He dropped that thought the moment it showed up and instead tried to focus on the here and now.

"Becky, Damian you two are doing great. Your form is almost perfect already. Just keep practicing. Melinda, I would say you should move your legs a little closer together while skiing down the hill. It will give you better control. Bruno is already doing a good job with that, so maybe he can give you some advice." Then he glared to his side, in the direction of possibly his most difficult student. "Anya… it would help a great deal if you would stop building a snowman and get back up on the practice hill. I know you will get the hang of it eventually, if you keep trying."

"… it´s a snow-chimera Papa…" The look she gave him was one of utter disbelieve. "Schkiing is difficult and dangerous and Anya can´t risk being hurt, because she is essential for world peace."

Well, she kind of was, but she didn't know that, so this was just her being a drama queen.

"Don't be like that. Everybody else hasn't given up yet, you see?" He pointed into the direction where a whole bunch of kids were happily applying the skills he had taught them over the last one and a half hours. Gliding down the practice hill and shaping their ski into a V-form to slow down. Many of them were still a bit shaky, but he thought the class was doing well for the most part.

He had feared far worse, when mister Henderson had asked him if he could handle the beginners class for today, because the original teacher had caught a cold. At first, he was reluctant to accept, until he saw the participation list, which included both Desmond´s as well as Yor and Anya of course.

This was in fact ideal, because this way he would be able to further advance the success chance of operation Strix on all existing ends. Firstly by spending time with his family and having "fun", secondly by getting closer to the Desmonds.

"Look at Becky. See how much fun she is having and how much she has improved in such a short amount of time?" It was really rather impressive. "You can do just as well as she can. You have to believe in your own capabilities."

Anya didn't seem the slightest bit convinced. "Papa… Becky has been schkiing since she was four. She was already good before today."

Huh?

"What are you talking about? Why would she chose the beginners class then?" That didn't make any sense. Surely Anya was just making stuff up to give herself an excuse somehow. She was clever like that.

"Who knows… she is waving at you again by the way."

He turned around and started to believe in what Anya was saying, because when he returned the wave, Becky slid down the hill with hands before her eyes and in a backwards position, but still managed to catch herself with a pirouette at the last possible second without any notable effort at all.

Children were weird sometimes, he concluded.

Then he heard a loud crack somewhere on the right of the practice hill. It was a sound he unfortunately was all too familiar with by now.

Together with Anya, who had immediately jumped on one of his skiers and was holding on to his leg, he quickly made his way towards Yor, who was laying on the ground, with a broken pair of ski beside her.

Again.

It was the third pair she had managed to annihilate today… somehow.

Even though they had seen her recover from that accident like it was nothing a couple of times by now, both were still very much concerned for her wellbeing.

"Are you alright Yor?"

"You are not hurt, are you Mama?! I knew schkiing was dangerous!"

Thankfully, Yor wasn't hurt at all and with their help, was standing on her own two feet again in no time. She knelt down right away after she had shoved the snow of her jacket, to softly pat her daughter on the head in an attempt to calm her down.

"I´m fine sweety. Mama is just a bit clumsy, it´s not the skiers fault and it is not as dangerous as you think, if you are being careful, I promise you that." That soft smile of hers was giving him flashbacks from last night. Another thought he had to push away right that second, because otherwise he would have definitely blushed and that was something he couldn't accept under any circumstances whatsoever.

"If you say so…" She didn't seem to believe her completely. "Anya will go back and ask Becky for help again so that Papa can stay here and help you!" Yor protested, but Anya was already trampling through the snow, ski in hand, towards her best friend.

"Don't worry Yor, I will get back to Anya right away, once we get you another set of skiers. It´s really fortunate that Eden has prepared a whole bunch of reserve ones just in case." The school was not leaving anything to chance.

His wife was slowly standing back up from the ground. Her back was still turned to him, so he couldn't see her expression, but he noticed that she was slightly shaking.

Was she hurt after all? She tended to play down something like that most times.

He made a step towards her and put his hand on her shoulder, gently nudging her to turn towards him. "Yor? Are you okay?"

When she finally looked at him, his eyes went wide.

"Why? Why can't I do this Loid?" She was nearly in tears. "Why do I destroy them all the time? Why am I always so clumsy? I should just stop trying at this point and rather focus on looking out for the kids…"

Oh no. She was doubting herself again. He had to do something and quick!

Without so much as a second thought, his arms were around her seemingly smaller than usual frame in a (hopefully) comforting hug.

She stiffened at his touch.

"It´s okay Yor. Nobody can be great at everything." He was rubbing circles on her back in a, by his standards, relatively clumsy attempt at comforting her. "You are just… a little bit too strong for a pair of ski as it seems. I have seen your technique. You are doing exactly what I told you to do, so that is not the problem."

After a second of him just holding on to her, she actually returned the hug, if only slightly and his heart skipped another beat.

"Y-you really think so?"

He made some room between them, so that he could look her in the eye again. "Absolutely! Maybe we should try a snowboard. There aren't as many strong movements necessary to maneuver on it so that could make it easier for you." He tried his most reassuring smile and judging by how her face lit up, it seemed to work. "What do you think? Wanna give this another shot?"

"Yes!" He was more than surprised when she jammed her head back into his chest "Thank you Loid! I really don't know how I deserve you. You and Anya of course!"

They just stood there in each other arms for what felt like an eternity. All the while a flashback of last night was playing in Twilights head.

*Flashback to the night before*

"So, ehm, Yor. What did you think about dinner? Quite delicious wasn't it?"

"Great opening question Twilight. Why don't you ask her about the weather next?"

"Oh! Oh yes. Very delicious, indeed. Not that your cooking at home isn't delicious as well! Far from it! I just meant that the food here also tasted very good! Oh god, please don't take it as a criticism Loid!"

"It´s fine Yor. No insult taken whatsoever. I´m glad you liked the food here." He tried his luck with a smile, which she returned, but then both immediately looked the other way again once their eyes met.

This was probably the most awkward elevator ride in the history of elevators. All because both of them knew what was laying at the end of the elevator…

Well, it was the hall on the fifth floor.

But at the end of that hall was the honeymoon suite! THEIR honeymoon suite. Which was even more ironic, because they hadn't even had a proper honeymoon yet.

Twilight wondered why that was.

Oh right.

BECAUSE THEY WERENT ACTUALLY MARRIED!

"Calm down Twilight. You can do this. You will just offer to sleep on the floor (because for some reason there isn't a couch in this overly huge room!) and eeverything will be okay. It will be fine. You won't even notice your (fake!) wife sleeping right beside you. You won´t even hear her quiet breaths or see her slightly shifting silhouette under the moonshine, because the damn bed is right beside the window and it's a nearly full moon tonight! For god sake focus Twilight!"

"E-everything alright Loid? You-you seem a bit worried…"

Oh god, he needed to snap out of this right now. He was acting suspicious and it showed. Of course Yor would, somewhat, understand why he was so stressed right now, but everyone else would question him about why he was so uncomfortable spending a night in the same room as his lovely young wife!

Of course there was nobody else here at the moment.

The kids had went to bed long before the adults. Most of them, including their daughter and her best friend who had both fallen asleep in his arms already on the way back to the Inn, had been extremely tired after they had spent the whole day exploring the town, which had admittedly been very nice.

After making sure the kids were safe in their rooms, the adults had met up again in the common area and had spent the rest of the night organizing the coming days as well as getting to know each other some more.

Melinda and her bodyguard had been the last to leave for the Desmond´s holiday home and so after that Loid and Yor had been completely left by themselves, forced to deal with the fact that they would now have to face a situation in which they were both sleeping in one room for the coming nights.

They had already seen the suite, when they had brought up their luggage. It was huge, with a king sized bed, a gigantic TV, a balcony and even a small heart shaped whirlpool in one corner.

…there were a LOT of heart shaped items in that room…

"Yes, yes. I´m fine Yor. More than fine in fact. No need to worry."

The elevator door opened at a small bell like sound and they stepped out into the hallway.

Twilight wasn't sure why he was so unbelievably nervous. He had slept with women during the cause of his missions many times before. Heck, he had done much more than that when it was required of him. Why was this time so incomparably different?

The best answer was also the easiest one, but he refused to accept it, because the consequences which would come along with it would possibly be apocalyptic. For him at least.

Neither of them said another word until they were standing right in the middle of their suite. A picture of cupid to their right and a heart shaped miniature tree to their left, neither of them knew what to do next.

Normally, he would start to write his report right about now, but that was of course of the table for the moment.

One look at Yor, who was scarlet red from head to toes, was enough for Twilight to be sure, that he would have to be the one to break this silence. Otherwise they would be standing here until kingdom come.

"You can take the bed Yor, it is no problem for me at all. I will just take one of the pillows and sleep on the carpet over there. That should be fine, right?"

He was pretty much satisfied with the solution and the way he was maintaining his calm appearance for now. "Yes. Very good Twilight. You still got it. There is literally nothing on this planet that can shatter your composure. Nothing. At. All."

"No! That sounds horrible for you! I can´t let you do that for me!" Huh?! "If anything I should sleep on the carpet. It is yours and Anya´s vacation after all. I´m just a tagalong."

Oh, she had got to be kidding him.

"What are you even talking about Yor?! You are not just a tagalong! And I can´t let you sleep on the carpet, that sounds horri- never mind that, but I simply can´t let YOU sleep on the carpet."

Why was she so difficult! Literally all of the other women he had met during his missions would have gladly accepted the offer that he made. Only that he would have never offered, because it wouldn't have been necessary.

But Yor just turned… stubborn?!

"No Loid. I cannot accept this. If you are insisting on sleeping on the carpet, then, honoring the role as your wife, I must sleep on it as well." She crossed her arms and looked at him completely serious. He returned the favor.

There were a couple of seconds of silence between them, both apparently fighting for moral supremacy by staring at each other, before Loid sighted a little and spoke up again, seeing as she didn't seem to budge even one bit.

"Well, before we both sleep on the carpet, we could also both sleep on the bed."

Yor turned back to her embarrassed self in an instant.

"O-on the bed?"

"Yes."

"Together."

"That is correct."

"You and me, Loid?"

"There is no one else here."

"For the whole night?"

"Yes."

"We could swap positions around midnight?"

"No."

"How about sleeping just half the night?"

"No."

"So the whole night?"

"Yes."

"Together?"

"The only other option I see, is me sleeping on the carpet, because I will definitely not let you sleep like that." He was putting his foot down.

"Neither will I!" She was as well.

So, after their more or less usual evening routine, they found themselves both standing on opposite sides of their bed, wearing their usual sleeping outfits, which wasn't particularly remarkable because they had seen each other in them countless times before, but still resulted in a weird atmosphere.

"Time to go to sleep."

"Yes indeed."

"Together."

"Yes…"

"The whole night."

He couldn't help but chuckle. "Please don't start that again, Yor."

It got a laugh out of her as well, because they were both just so ridiculous. It also eased the tension significantly.

Next thing you know, both of them were lying in bed, with the lights out. Only the moonlight shining through the window provided the room with a little bit of brightness, so that both of them weren't completely blind.

Twilight knew he couldn't look her way now. Seeing her in this light… he would never fall asleep.

There was one advantage of sleeping in the honeymoon-suite at least. The bed was truly enormous. Nearly double the size of their regular ones. Both of them had plenty of space left between them as a result.

Maybe this wouldn't be such a dangerous thing after all.

"Well, good night Yor. Oh and you don't have to worry. I´m a silent sleeper and I don't move around at all, I can assure you of that."

"Y- yes, me too, of course. Sleep well Loid."

With that, they both turned away from each other.

Only problem was, Twilight was still definitely not sleepy. He had problems with getting to sleep anyways and with Yor right next to him, even if he didn't look at her, it was even more difficult.

So he just kind of, laid there for a while.

He didn't know how much time had passed, when he suddenly heard a voice.

"Oooh enough with the compliments Anyaa. The salad is not even my best woooork."

So, apparently Yor was talking in her sleep. He knew she had lied before about being a quiet sleeper, so it wasn't that much of a surprise. Plus he was awake anyway so what did it matter.

It started to matter once she babbled his name.

"You want seconds Loidy?" Loidy? "Well then say aaaa." Was-was she feeding him in her dream? Well that was a little awkward, but anyhow, he made a mental note to compliment her more whenever she made something edible again.

He also took it as a great sign that she had been able to drift off into sleep so easily with him close by. Their chemistry was improving indeed.

"Yuurii stop being mean to Loidy or I will have to stab you." Ehem, slight overkill there on her side.

She continued to babble on about everyday topics of their lives and he couldn't help but find it endearing that she cared for it so much that it would follow her to her sleep.

Weirdly enough though, her voice seemed to become louder and louder over time. He quietly turned on his back at some point, so that he could have just a quick peek at her, only to be shocked half to death, because she was already completely laying on his side of the bed and her head was only centimeter away from his own!

Okay, he needed to flee. Right now! This was getting out of hand!

Unfortunately though, his eyes lingered on her lips for a little bit too long, because they just looked… hypnotizing.

When he finally found the strength to rip himself away from her face, it was already far too late.

Without him even recognizing her hand had wondered over his chest until she was gripping the side of his shirt and one of her legs had intertwined with his own.

Oh god. How could he let that happen! He was taking advantage of her while she was sleeping! Or wait… was she taking advantage of him while she was sleeping? It didn't matter, it was definitely wrong! It went against every sort of boundary they had set for themselves.

His plans for an escape were finally put to the grave, when her head followed her hand and she full on used his body as a pillow.

"Soo tired Loidy. Just let me rest a little bit." He wondered if the crazy beating of his heart would wake her up before or after he would be able to move again, because he was frozen in place right now.

"Was it the second time this day? ….Maybe it was the third? Yeah, that was what mattered at the moment you genius!"

Twilight didn't sleep at all that night. Instead he just… watched her. He was sure that the calmness she emanated during the night would disappear as soon as she woke up an realized what they both had done.

In the end, he decided he couldn't let that happen under any circumstances and slowly but effectively moved her back to her site of the bed, right as the firsts rays of sunshine burst through the windows.

It was a difficult task, because her grip was strong and she was so incredibly soft under his touch that he was afraid he could hurt her in any way by being too rough, even though that was stupid of course, because he knew how strong she was.

As with most things, he succeeded with it at last.

Could he have done that before? Maybe. Had he been willing to do so? Not a chance.

When she woke up, he was already up and about and assured her that the night had went by swimmingly and that their arrangement worked without any problem. She could only agree. More than that in fact.

A little later, during breakfast, he couldn't quite describe the feeling when he heard her talking to Melinda about how this had been the best sleep she had ever had. The devilish smile on his primary targets face almost made him spill his coffee, though.

*End of Flashback*

"Look at your parents over there Anya. Behaving like the world couldn't see them. I think they should get a room."

"A room? Why?"

"I don't know, but that's what all the ladies in Berlint in love say when two people are being nice to each other in public and they don't like it, so I guess it fits here."

Anya took a look over her shoulder and was as pleased as ever to see her parents hugging and smiling at one another. She knew they liked each other very much, because their thoughts made it crystal clear to her. For some reason they simply weren't good at expressing that out loud. Although they were definitely getting better at it!

"Anya likes it!" She turned her attention back to putting on her equipment. In hindsight, she should have known this sport would suck, the moment it had taken her nearly half an hour to put on the clothes for the first time!

"Not fair. As my best friend you should be in my corner. If I would be your mother, I could actually teach you how to ski, you know?" Becky was not one to give up easily that's for sure.

"…I thought you were going to teach me anyways?"

"Oh. Right. Well, have you finally put the ski back on then?"

"Anya is working on it!"

She was still fiddling with the clips, when all of a sudden, Becky shrieked and as she looked up to see what had happened, they both were covered in snow.

A certain somebody found it veery funny.

"What's the matter Forger? Ready for another go already? Because I think your snowman over there needs company." Damian really enjoyed being good at stuff. Unfortunately he was good at too many things for her liking.

"You are just cheating Syon-boy! You are just like Becky, you can already schki!"

"Hey! Don't compare me to him. I´m actually trying to help you here."

"And I´m just a fast learner. Why would I lie to get into the amateur group, if I could just as well go to the real runways with Ewen and Emile, huh?"

Oh, he thought he was soo clever, didn't he? But Anya knew the truth. She always knew the truth!

"Wild guess. You want to spent some time with your Mama."

His shocked face was worth every headache she had ever had because of her powers as always.

"Y- you are out of your mind Forger!" "Why in the world is she able to read me so well?!"

He didn't risk any further embarrassment and instead made his way back up the hill, where, ironically, his mother was currently practicing her breaking skills together with their bodyguard. Apparently she had skied before, but it was such a long time ago, that she had already forgotten most of it. Bruno on the other hand had never skied before and was an actual beginner.

Damian himself had learned it from his "personal assistant" on some holiday only a short while ago.

Disregarding that, Anya didn't even know why he felt the need to hide the fact that he wanted to spent time with his mum. Wasn't that a natural thing? She wanted to spent all the time in the world with her parents and was willing to let everybody who asked her know about it.

"I got it!" At last the flipping shoes were back on. She could finally begin her way up the hill.

While she fought to even make one step into the right direction in those monstrous things, Becky seemingly strolled beside her like it was the easiest thing in the world. She didn't even think about how she was doing it, no, by all means, that could actually be of help for Anya. Instead she was still trying to think of ways to make her father notice her more.

When they finally arrived at the top of the hill, Becky explained to her one more time what she needed to do to not fall flat on her face again. She really tried, but unfortunately, leaning from theory alone was not really her cup of tea. Her grades, although improving, were proof enough of that. Even more tragically, in this case, learning by doing didn't really do the trick either.

Her head was spinning so much from Becky´s instructions, that she didn't even notice when she slowly began slipping.

Becky was also distracted, because her parents had returned with a new snowboard for Yor and it actually looked like her mother was doing much better with the new equipment. At least it didn't break in two right away.

Before Anya could even so much as smile about it, she really began sliding down the hill all of a sudden.

It was only the practice hill, so all things considered it wasn't such a big deal, but being a small child who didn't know a thing about controlling her own motions in ski, it felt like she was sliding down Mount Everest itself!

"Heeelp! Anya is going to die in the snow!" She knew her parents would help her if they could, but they were all the way over on the other side of the track. There was no chance they would be able to catch her in time, because she was surely sliding at the speed of light right now!

She quickly took a glance behind herself, only to see that Becky wasn't even trying to help her! Instead she was simply shouting some instructions after her!

"The snowplow Anya! Do it now!" She was forming a V with her hands!

The snowplow! Of course! The one thing that could safe her now!

…If only she had listened to her when she had explained what exactly that was!

It was too late now anyway, she decided.

Anya couldn't watch anymore, so she just closed her eyes and waited for her inevitable demise! Whichever shape or form it would come in. Maybe Big Foot would snatch her away, when she was far enough gone from the group!

Turns out, it came in no shape or form whatsoever, because after she felt something reaching for her arm, she was turned a little bit to the side and came to a complete stop slowly after.

Had angels saved her? She had been a good girl after all. Wait, wouldn't that mean she was already dead?!

Familiar thoughts finally brought her back into reality.

"Jesus. She is so clumsy all the time. Oh god. She looks totally scared. I should ask her if she is alright, but then everyone would think that I like her! I already blew my cover by saving her. Oh no, what to doo?"

"Syon-boy?" She slowly opened her eyes, only to see that she was standing halfway down the practicing hill, with the second son by her side, holding her in place by her shoulders so that she wouldn't slip down any further. "Did you risk your own life to safe Anya?"

"W-what are you talking about! I just happened to catch you, because you were screaming so loud that it distracted everybody else!" He was already beet red and retracted the hands which were holding her stable in a flash.

"Uwauh" Right away she was beginning to slide down for the second time, but was stopped once more when he grabbed her again.

"You really suck at this Forger." He was moving around her a little. "And you suck at teaching Blackbell!" Her best friend only showed him her stretched out tongue.

"Here, I´ll show you what to do. Just move a little bit more into your shoes, just like that. And don't worry, you can't fall over, I promise." Somehow, she believed him, and since he had already caught her once, he would surely do it again if it didn't work out, wouldn't he?

"This way?"

"Kind of. Now look at our ski. See how they are slightly turned? That's the reason why we aren't moving right now. You need to do that every time you want to slow down and the best way to do it is in a V-form straight before you."

The snowplow! Of course!

He was showing her everything he was talking about in great detail and for the first time Anya thought she understood what she had to do.

"Roger!"

"Okay, I´m going to let you go now and then- WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

Anya had grabbed his jacket so that he couldn't let her go without her consent before she was ready!

"Anya will die, if you let go of her right now!"

"N-no you won´t you scarycat!"

"…better not risk it."

"I swear to- Here, we do it together okay? I promise I won´t let go of you. J- just grab my arm."

Anya was the one at risk of dying here, why was he the one being so nervous?

Slowly she stopped grabbing his jacket and instead moved to his arm.

"You double promise? No mean joke this time? Because if Anya somehow survives this, she will pay you back double!"

That actually made the dark haired boy chuckle. "I double promise Anya, now take my arm before I change my mind!"

Wait. Had he ever called her Anya before? Doesn't matter now. She had to get back to safety.

Arm in arm they slowly began drifting down the hill. He instructed her to keep her eyes open, to see how she should position her ski and it actually worked!

Only seconds later they were standing still again at the bottom of the hill.

She let go of him immediately and threw her hands in the air. She had to celebrate.

"Yataaah! Starlight Anya survived the adventure of the death mountain! Uwaah!" Aaand she lost her footing and was lying in the snow again after all.

Alive, but annoyed.

Even worse, Damian stood over her and laughed.

"Haha, that was great Forger! The celebration came a little early there, didn't it?"

Bach to Forger again, huh?

Anya pouted at him, but without any hesitation, he reached out his hand to help her up and as soon as she took it, her annoyance evaporated as quickly as it had arrived.

When she was standing upright again, she did the only thing that seemed appropriate and hugged her "savior" like there was no tomorrow.

"Thank you for saving my life Syon-boy! You are a far better skiing teacher than Becky!"

"Let go of me you- you- you-" He was puffing red and his thought process was once again in utter turmoil "Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod."

Up on the hill, she could hear Becky´s screaming thoughts as well, like she was standing right next to her. "So bold Anya!"

Soon after Loid, Yor, Melinda and Bruno came to check on them.

There never was any real danger, but Anya insisted that Syon-boy had saved her life.

"Even if I wouldn't go that far, that was an impressive reaction and a very skillful movement with your ski Damian. Are you sure you want to be in the beginners course? You look ready for the more advanced runways in my opinion." Oh no. Her father had seen through the seconds sons impeccable charade!

"I-" He wasn't able to answer before his mother interjected.

"That's true Damian! I was wondering why you were here with us in the first place, since your last ski trip was only a couple of months ago with Jeeves, wasn't it?"

Damian simply stayed silent.

Not sensing the problem at all, Melinda continued.

"You can only learn by challenging yourself, son! Tomorrow you will go to the advanced class! Surely, Ewen and Emile will be happy to see you."

The young boy didn't object. In fact he accepted it like it was no big deal, playing it down, saying that he only wanted to see if he still got it and had planned to move to the advanced course tomorrow anyways.

But Anya, again, aaalways knew the truth.

Syon-boy really wanted to spend time with his mum, since he saw her almost as rarely as his dad. Now that wouldn't be so easy, only because he had blown his cover by saving her!

…and by showing off beforehand when he had covered her and Becky with snow.

…and by giving her a lesson in schkiing.

Syon-boy really wasn't as smart as his grades would suggest she concluded.

However, she wanted to make it up to him.

Later, when they were making their way back to the Inn, she pulled him aside for a second, earning her a knowing look from Becky and a snicker from both their mums.

"What is it now Forger?" He could be a little nicer. She was about to help him after all.

"Syon-boy, since you saved Anya´s life-"

"There was never any real dang-"

"Since you saved Anya´s life! I want to do you a favor as well."

"…and what would that be?" he looked skeptical.

"Anya will help you spent time with your Mama!"

"What?! I Thought I already told you that I-"

Now it was Anya´s turn to look skeptical. She did a good job at that by raising her eyebrow like that guy she sometimes saw in those wrestling shows on TV.

And better yet, it seemed to work.

"…let's say I´m interested. How would you manage that?"

She showed him her signature evil glare.

"Don't you worry Syon-boy. Anya has her methods. Fufufufu."

"…"

"You´re insane and I´m leaving."

*gasp!*

Notes:

Please share your opinion on the Yor-Twilight back and forth dialogue. :D

I really liked it, but I don´t know if it´s just my own weird preference. ;)

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Chapter 4: Twilight and Damian at their limit!

Notes:

Merry Christmas everybody!

Chapter Text

It was the third night that they spent in their shared room in which Twilight seriously thought about waking his wife up around midnight, only to show her what she was doing to him.

Once again she was using him as her personal pillow. She was even drooling on him a little! But what was even worse was the fact that he was starting to somehow get comfortable with this situation.

Not with the drooling in particular, that he could deal without, but with their whole sleeping arrangement in general.

Except the part where he wasn't able to sleep at all.

Last night he had tried, really tried, to somehow keep her on her side of the bed.

He had built a wall of cushions between the two of them as soon as she had dosed off into sleep. His hope had been that it would maybe prevent her from sneaking up on him again and it had worked.

…Sort of.

Instead of slowly coming closer to him like last time, the sleeping figure of Yor had torn the whole thing down like it was the Berlint Wall itself, fighting her way towards him with overwhelming force.

His second plan had involved a human sized pillow, which he had made in secret the evening before. The idea had been to place it in her arms as soon as she was about to reach out for him. That had backfired right away, because apparently Yor must have been a snake in her last life and was somehow still able to sense temperature. He didn't know how else he could explain that she had immediately thrown that thing out of the bed, only to hold on to the real him that much tighter.

The biggest problem however, was the fact that he was not willing to go with the easiest solution at all anymore. That would have been simply leaving her alone in the bed and sleeping on the carpet. He knew, that if she would find out somehow, she would be heartbroken again.

He was not going to risk that. He had just strengthened her self-esteem to a not unsignificant degree during this trip and made her feel at ease with him at practically all times, even alone at night in the same bed! The consequences of betraying her trust so cruelly, could potentially be dire.

For operation Strix of course!

So, once again he was about to spend a night simply looking at Yor´s sleeping form.

How her long black hair fell down on his chest and how he had to carefully brush some of it away so that it wouldn't tickle his chin. The way her heartbeat somehow synchronized with his own as it seemed, giving the whole atmosphere an incredibly calm vibe. Her hands on his arm and chest, which were so incredibly warm and soft, he couldn't believe they were also capable of crushing an entire pumpkin in one strike.

He had never felt so… so loved (in a platonic way of course!) since his childhood.

It wouldn't have been half bad, if it wasn't the third night in a row were he would get next to no rest.

What was he doing here? Yor didn't love him (even platonically)! She wasn't aware of what she was doing. It was all just an accident. One he was responsible for, because he had convinced her to join this trip in the first place.

"Focus Twilight! You are letting yourself get distracted! The mission is what´s truly important."

He should just leave her be and concentrate on being properly rested, so that he could focus entirely on getting closer to his targets. That is what he would have done without hesitation only a couple of months ago, without a second thought about who he would have to hurt in the process.

It was all for the bigger picture after all. He needed to maintain global peace at all costs.

But now was different.

THEY were different.

He silently wondered if it was him who had changed or if it were the circumstances. Was he finally slipping? Most agents, even the best of the best, were able to succumb to the pressure at some point…

Then again, it wasn't like he was doing nothing. If he thought about it, this new closeness with Yor had actually resulted in a more intimate relationship with Melinda Desmond than he could have ever hoped to achieve on his own. From his point of view, it bordered on friendship after only a couple of days and the major reason for that was the person, who he was holding in his arms at this very moment.

Yor was Melindas closest confidant on this trip as it seemed. Even if she was being nice with everybody to be fair. Hell, she even got some chuckles out of mister Henderson. A Feat Twilight himself hadn't accomplished yet. All he got were polite compliments or, more often, a beyond shocked expression when Anya told one of her "everyday" stories to the man.

The important thing was, she like to spend most of her time with his wife. He couldn't really blame her, Yor´s presence was a delight 99% of the time. She got even more fun, once they found out that snowboarding was far more her type than skiing. While she had broken three pairs of ski on the first day, on snowboard, he could have sworn she had performed a picture perfect backflip just yesterday when she thought he wasn't looking.

More than that, she had actually motivated Melinda to switch to a snowboard as well and was now kind of tutoring her. She had told him that she was beyond glad, that she was able to lift at least some of the responsibilities of his back at last. In a way, the student had become the master. All in just two days.

She was simply an enigma.

One of a kind.

Both the girls in his family were actually.

Anya had been especially useful to the mission as well, without a doubt.

Just like Yor she had struggled on the first day, but by now she seemed to have really found her groove. He himself and Becky had tried to help her a lot to be sure, but most of the credit had to go to Damian Desmond himself.

His secondary target on this mission.

On the morning of the second day, Anya had loudly announced that she only felt confident in her skiing abilities, as long as Syon-boy was by her side. The kid had turned red like a cherry, but had agreed to tutor her right on the spot. Being a little overly dramatic for Loids taste, the young man had explained that for the sake of everlasting peace (?), he was willing to teach his schoolmate until she would be independent, even if he had to stay in the beginners course for the time being.

Mister Henderson had described it as an extremely elegant decision and seconded his plan without hesitation. His two best friends had been disappointed to not have him by their side, but had expressed their admiration for his noble "sacrifice". Melinda had been touched as well and their personal bodyguard, Bruno, actually had a tear in his eye.

It had been quite the dramatic scene...

Although… If he remembered it correctly, Twilight could have sworn that Damian had his seemingly impromptu speech written on the napkin beside his plate, but maybe he was just getting paranoid at this stage.

Even if it were true, he didn't particularly care, because the result of it all was, that the most important people of the mission were still around him the entire time.

Melinda had slowly gotten better at skiing, but since she had decided to switch to snowboarding for now, she stayed in the beginners class with Yor and because the original teacher was still sick, Loid was still in charge of teaching them.

Some of the employees at the Inn had even complimented him on his teaching skills, saying that if he ever wanted to switch fields for some reason, he could easily start working as a professional instructor.

He didn't intend to switch jobs anytime soon, if at all, but it was nice to know that a spy had options.

At the end of the second day all of his students had gained enough practice and confidence that they could move away from the practice hill and onwards to the easiest runways.

Even Anya! Although she was still clinging on to poor Damian´s arm for dear life in most situations. Twilight really hoped the boy wasn't getting sick, because he seemed to have a very high body temperature at some times, judging by all the steam that he was evaporating.

It was kind of weird, now that he thought about it.

He knew that Damian and Anya had made up after the rocky start to their relationship, but he had never thought the two to be so close as they seemed on the trip. They spent so much time together that Becky was actually starting to get jealous.

That should be good news by all means, but something inside him felt conflicted about it. Like it was a sign of potentially horrible things to come in the future…

He was shaken out of his thoughts, when Yor slightly changed her position. If anybody had asked him before, he would have said it was impossible, but somehow she got even closer to his face. Her lips were even slightly tingling at his neck!

…Maybe he was getting a fever as well…

*somewhere on another floor in the Inn, one or two hours earlier*

"What on earth is taking her so long? She was supposed to be here over a half an hour ago! I´m willing to bet my families fortune that she fell asleep!"

Damian was getting impatient.

He had finished all his secret snacks a while ago and since Emile and Ewen were both already snoring in their beds, he didn't exactly have that much to do other than wait.

It was already… half past ten now! They were six! His normal bedtime was like eight! Nine tops!

"I never should have agreed to any of this! She promised me she would get me some time with my mum, but how the hell is that going to happen, if I spent the entire time teaching her how to ski!"

…

"N- not that I mind it so much, it's just that- oh great Damian now you are even stuttering while justifying yourself, to yourself in your own dream! I´m really losing it here…"

Finally, he heard a hesitant knock on the door. Their room was huge and his bed was the closest to the entrance, that's why he thought it safe to allow her to come to him at this hour to discuss their upcoming plans.

Even if he doubted that she actually had any.

He got out of bed and on silent feet made his way to the door.

They had agreed on a password to identify that it was her. Otherwise it could have been a bad guy or a monster.

…She had insisted on it.

Trying to be as quiet as possible, he slightly leaned his head against the door and asked in a hushed tone "Password?"

"…" No answer.

A little louder this time, he tried again "Password?"

"…Anya forgot the password…"

Oh for heaven's sake.

He opened the door regardless.

She was standing in the hallways fully dressed like it was the middle of the day. Well, her middle of the day. At school she always looked like she was about to fall asleep. Which she usually did.

The only difference this time was the stuffed… animal(?) she was holding in her arms.

"Just get in here Forger! Quick before anybody can see us and get suspicious. Oh, and be quiet. Emile and Ewen sleep like a rock, but I know how much noise you usually make." He expected and promptly received, one of her signature glares. "The password was, ehem, starlight by the way… A-anyways, what the heck has taken you so long?"

While he closed the door behind them, Anya went straight to his bed and fell down on it, like she was knocked out cold.

"Oh Lord Damian, may I please sit on your bed? Oh thank you Lord Damian, you´re the best!"

"I guess I will sit on the floor then."

"That would be nice "Lord" Damian." She muffled into his sheets and it instantly made him a little uncomfortable.

"W-whatever. Now explain, why are you only coming now! It's the middle of the night!"

She lifted herself up from his bed and turned incredibly serious for a moment. It was the face she made when she was trying her best to accomplish something. Like solving a difficult math equation, which in her case subsequently meant any math equation.

Damian visibly gulped "D-did something ha-"

"Anya fell asleep for some time, because mister chimera here didn't keep me awake like he promised that he would and so Becky had to wake me up. Sorry!"

…Maybe he didn't know her looks as well as he thought he did.

"… sometimes I just want to scream when I´m listening to you."

"You do that often Syon-boy."

"Not often enough." He needed to get back to the point, or else she was definitely going to fall asleep in his bed! That simple couldn't happen! "Anyways, you said you had figured out a plan for me to spent some time with my mum, right? What is it?"

His question earned him another one of her signature faces, the smug one. "Yes, Starlight Anya has devised another perfect plan for operation "Mamatime"!"

If she continued on like that, he was definitely about to wake up Emile and Ewen at some point tonight, because she was driving him nuts!

"I told you not to call it that! And what do you mean "another"?! Your first plan hasn't worked at all! Even if I was allowed to stay in the beginners group, I wasn't able to spent any quality time with my mum, because I had to teach you airhead how to not constantly fall on your face!"

He slightly moved away from his bed, when he saw her hand twitching after his last words.

No special punches for him tonight!

Breathing a little louder than usual, Anya definitely was trying to calm herself down, before she spoke up again.

Thank god.

"There may have been a tiny little hole in the previous plan… Anya admits it. But I´m doing my best! There is no way I will let our mission fail in the end! You need to trust me!"

He was taken aback by her seriousness again. "She is so determined! All for my sake? How incredibly nice of her!"

"W-whatever." "You need to play it cool Damian!" "Just tell me about the next plan already."

Anya pulled out a sketch block from her jacket. Apparently she had… drawn the plan.

"Anya calls it "Operation Hot Water". She showed him the first picture, like a proud artist. From the context alone, he was pretty sure it should show the hot springs, but it much more resembled an actual volcano to him.

*gasp!*

Oh, did he accidentally say that out loud?

"Yes, go on, I´m listening."

She quickly cleared her throat and showed him the second picture. That one was even more surreal! It looked like two monsters, a red and a green one, boiling together in the hot springs!

"Those are Anya´s and Syon-boys Mama´s!" Damn, his interpretation must have been readable on his face again. "Both are planning to go to the hot springs tomorrow on the day off. You and Anya will tag along and Anya will distract her mother, while you can spent the whole ooting alone with yours!"

She swapped to the final page, which was definitely supposed to show them all smiling together, but rather looked like they were about to eat one another with their apparently extremely sharp teeth.

"…" He didn't answer, just looked at her with wide eyes and an open mouth.

"I see, you have lost your voice, because of the greatness of that plan. Anya understands. Don´t worry, you don't have to understand all facets of it, Anya will lead the way!"

She was definitely serious about all of it. This wasn't even a bad joke.

"Forger… there is one minor problem with your excellent plan if I might say so."

"Whassat?"

"I´m a boy you moron! I can´t spent my day together with my mum in the hot springs, because we don't use the same ones!"

*gasp!*

"Oh and also, if you spent too much time in these things you will get knocked out at some point, because of the heat!" He knew that one first hand from his last trip. A fact he kept for himself of course.

*gasp!*

"Operation Hot Water: a total failure! World peace is in serious danger now!"

The look on her face said it all. He had just popped a major bubble in her mind. Kind of sad, but also extremely easy! And what was it with the world peace every time? She was so dramatic.

"So, that was it? That was your big plan to get me and my mum together for once? You don't have anything else?!"

Why the hell did he stay up so late?!

He was about to quietly yell at her again, when he was able to take a closer look at her and recognized her deeply depressed expression.

"Oh no. She´s not about to cry is she? I didn't mean to make her so depressed! I was just… hoping she would find a solution somehow… she always finds a ways out of trouble, so I just thought…"

He was again stabbed with a dagger through his heart when she looked up at him and he saw the building tears.

"Ohnoohnoohnoohnoohnoohno!"

What should he do? He had no idea. Nothing had ever prepared him for this! Should he run away like last time? But it was the middle of the night! S-should he try to comfort her? But he had no idea how to do that! What if he said the wrong words? He could make it worse. She could resent him for it. Forever!

This was a nightmare.

Thankfully, he didn't have to do anything at all, because next thing he knew, she rubbed the coming tears away, chuckled lightly and then showed him an honest smile.

"Don't worry Syon-boy. Anya will think of something. I promised, didn't I? We could pinky swear, if that makes you feel safer?"

His heart filled with relieve. She was okay! Dodged a bullet there!

"No, its alright. We still have a couple of days. Just go to bed already. We are never going to find a solution if we are tired."

"You are so wise sometimes Syon-boy. Anya is impressed." He was panicking again, until suddenly, she threw his blanket over herself and laid down in his bed.

"Well then, good night!"

"…" She wasn't serious. She couldn't be. She was crazy.

Finally, he snapped.

"Out of my bed Forger! Go get into you own one you- you- you- tormentor!"

*gasp!*

Now, he had actually yelled!

Emile and Ewen literally flew out of their respective beds and on to the ground. Anya, faster than the speed of light, jumped out of his bed, sticked her tongue out to him, even though he could swear for a second that she smiled while running past him and was out of his room, before the other boys could start asking questions.

This girl was definitely going to be the death of him. Some way or another.

*The next day*

Twilight needed a break. A break from this vacation. Desperately.

Around 72 hours. He was awake for 72+ hours straight at this point and his body was already about to break down before breakfast.

It would surely have made quite the spectacle if he collapsed in front of the whole class.

Thankfully, today was their day off.

Some of the better skiers still went to the runways together with mister and misses Watkins, but otherwise the group had split up into multiple tiny fractions. Many went to town again, exploring Bad Ems historic sites and tourist attractions some more, guided by a very knowledgeable mister Henderson. Others simply stayed at the Inn, playing games with their friends or simply enjoying each other's company.

Twilight had decided to accompany his wife and Melinda to the hot springs behind the Inn. That way he could be (appropriately) close to his target and family, while also possibly sleep for just a couple of hours. Maybe even relax a little bit in the hot water. It sounded like heaven on earth at this point.

Until Anya, Becky, Damian and his two friends announced they were tagging along.

Anya and Becky weren't the problem, although both of them had really tried to be close to him over the last few days. Mostly when the two of them were together.

No, the problem were Damian and his friends, because they were going to be in the same bath as he was and so it would be his responsibility to look after them. Which meant no chance of sleep. Which consequently meant it wasn't a question of if, but only when he was going to break down.

That was the situation he found himself in when he stepped into the warm, comfortable water of the hot springs. He tried to move in slowly, enjoying every second of it and letting the water cleanse at least some of his stress away.

For a split second he felt completely relaxed.

Then two of the three boys literally jumped into the water right next to him.

"Oh my god! It´s so warm! How awesome is this!"

"Yeah, maybe Anya was right and the whole thing is truly built on top of a volcano! T-that would make it dangerous though."

"She-she doesn't know what she is talking about, Emile. R- right mister Forger, sir?"

Impressive. Anya had in fact listened to him for once. Although it seemed like she didn't explain the whole thing properly.

"Actually, in this case she is not wrong. The water is getting heated by an underground volcano. But it is nothing for you to worry about. It´s a different kind of volcano then the ones you usually see on land, which could erupt and cause devastation. This one only makes us a warm bath. So don't worry about it." Even tired beyond believe, he still had the strength to comfort a bunch of small children. Truly a professional Twilight

The two boys lightened up and continued to play together in the water.

Twilight on the other hand was about to doze off again, when the third kid stepped into the water right by his side, but without making as much noise as the other two had.

Damian really knew how to behave gracefully like a true Desmond. Most of the time anyway. Well… when his daughter and her best friend weren't around at least.

"You are looking tired mister Forger. Did something keep you up at night?"

Something? No. Someone? Definitely.

"I´m okay Damian. The cold weather here is a little bit rough for my sleep rhythm, but it´s nothing to worry about." He comforted him. "Besides, the hot spring will help with that. That's why I´m here to be completely honest."

The second son of the Desmond family and his secondary target on this mission only nodded in response. Judging by his appearance, something seemed to bother the young boy, but Twilight wasn't about to push him into talking right now, if he didn't want to.

At least if it wasn't relevant for the mission.

So, he closed his eyes for a second.

.

.

.

"Mister Forger… could I ask you a question?"

…So much for closing his eyes. "Sure Damian, what is it?"

He wasn't looking straight at him, instead his eyes were heavily focused on the water.

"I was just wondering. You are a busy man, right? A-Anya often speaks about the many mission that you do." She what?! "You know, for your clients." Oh. He didn't mean actual missions. Of course not, how should she know about that anyways.

"Well, I´m rather occupied with my work that's true. Anya speaks about that often, you say?" Was she bothered by his absence? Did he need to make more room for her? If she would come to reject him because of his many side missions the whole operation was in danger!

"Yeah. Mostly to Becky of course, but I sometimes hear what they are saying. B-by pure coincident of course!" He was too preoccupied with the imagined possibility of failure for operation Strix and the millions possible ways of fixing it, that Twilight didn't even notice the embarrassment in the young boys voice.

"Sure."

"Anyway. What I wanted to ask was… I wanted to know… What I meant was…" Damian's struggle slowly brought him back to reality.

"Yes?"

"…How do you do it?"

He didn't understand. "Do what exactly?"

"Well, Anya also can´t stop talking about all the funny things her parents and her do together all the time… going to museums and to the park, renting a castle! Even going on an awesome cruise together!" That sounded so much more exciting than Loid remembered it. "… eating dinner together at home… almost every day…" His voice kept getting more quiet as he continued. "How do you do it? How can you be there for your family like that while still having such a time consuming job?"

Now he understood what this was about.

"Your parents don't have that much time for you do they?"

For the first time of their conversation Damian truly looked at him. If only briefly. Then his gaze turned back to the water and he slowly shook his head.

"I don't get to spent as much time with my family as I would like to as well, you know?" That grabbed the boys attention again. "It is true that we do and did all these things together. But there are also the days when I arrive home late and miss family dinner, as well as bedtime. Where I don't see either Anya nor Yor for the whole day… I try to keep those days to a minimum, but they do happen." Far, far too often, now that he thought about it.

"I´m only a psychiatrist, most of the time I can manage. You parents have far more important duties to take care of, if I had to guess." He wasn't telling the whole truth here, but his goal was to comfort this innocent boy, so the truth was not the most important thing right now. "I´m sure your parents would like to spent time with you, too. Every parent wants to spent time with their children. Your mother even came with us on this trip! If you want to spent more time with them, take the initiative. Ask them straight up. Don't take no for an answer. I know that Anya at least can be very convincing this way. I think you can be too, Damian."

The kid was now full on looking him in the eyes. He hoped he had said the right words. They came from the heart at least.

Chances were good that he did, because he was rewarded with a small smile.

"Thank you mister Forger. I´ll try to keep your advce in mind. Even though I´m not sure if everything you said is really applicable in my case to be frank…"

Hmm? What was that supposed to mean?

He didn't get an answer, because Damian left him alone to play with his friends. A good sign he supposed. Hopefully, he had been at least a little bit helpful.

Relaxing back into the water, the collected tiredness of the last few days came rushing back with a vengeance. He knew it was dangerous to fall asleep in an hot spring, especially when he should actually watch out for the boys, but his batteries were simply empty. The last couple of days had taken its toll on him.

So, he closed his eyes.

What happened after that was a blur.

He remembered someone dragging him out of the water. Were it the boys? That wasn't good. He shouldn't make such a weak impression in front of his secondary target…

Then he definitely remembered Anya. Nothing was as recognizable to him as her adorable pink hair. She looked worried. He didn't like that one bit, but couldn't comfort her right away, because he was too weak.

His primary target also showed up before his eyes. She looked worried as well, although not as much as his daughter had and was apparently checking on him as well.

Was he ruining the whole mission by just a short moment of weakness? Or was it a good sign that she looked at him with concern? A testament that he had indeed gotten closer to her over the last couple of days, maybe?

Lastly, he was convinced that he was carried away by some kind of black haired goddess in a red towel, only to be laid down in the softest and most comforting cushions he had ever felt in his entire life, but that seemed far too absurd to be true.

When he woke up again, his mind went into panic mode right away. He had fallen unconscious. For god knows how long. In an unsafe environment. He, Twilight, Westalis´ most competent spy! The best and probably only hope for global peace!

That wasn't supposed to happen! Ever! No matter how tired he was. This was inexcusable.

The mission was not complete yet. He needed to get even closer to the Desmonds. He needed to be productive. Wasting time, lying on his bed was out of the question.

It was then that he noticed; this wasn't a pillow he was lying on. It was soft and warm to be sure, but it definitely wasn't a pillow. It felt different…

He feared that he knew what it was, because the feeling was kind of familiar. As if he had laid on it sometime before.

Deciding not to be a coward, he opened his eyes and was greeted by the comforting smile of his wife, who was looking down at him, humming some sort of melody, just like she had done when she had kicked him unconscious that one time in the bar.

He was lying in her lap again. And she was lying in their bed.

Before he could get up again and panic some more, she put a stop to it by calmy stroking his hair, nudging him to stay where he was in the same move. He didn't know how to react to that.

"It´s okay Loid. Just relax a little bit more okay? You passed out in the hot springs, but the boys saved you and got you help. They were really great. Anya and I were worried about your health, but Melinda assured us that you were fine, just extremely tired. She has a little bit of medical experience, did you know that?" Of course he did, it was all in her files.

Despite himself, Loid actually began to relax again. He couldn't help it. Yor just had that effect on him.

"Y-you know Loid." He was about to fall back asleep, but apparently Yor had a little bit more to say. "I had some very interesting dreams these last couple of days. Something about destroying a building and throwing some statue that looked like you out of the window… Oh! Apologies for that by the way!" She seemed uncharacteristically bolt at the moment. Or did he only feel like it because he was especially vulnerable right now?

"Anyway, the one thing those dreams all had in common, was that you were always there, watching over me. Comforting me, holding me close to you, e-even brushing my hair out of my face. Maybe… maybe those dreams were the reason I slept so well these last few days you know. If that's the case, then I wanted to thank you Loid and maybe return the favor." She smiled at him and he noticed that her face had become red again, if only slightly. If his mind wasn't so clouded, he was sure he would have the same reaction, however inappropriate it would be. "So please, just rest a little okay? F-for me."

With that, she had washed away all his previous panic. He had nothing to worry about right now. Everything was still going smoothly, with the sole exception being him.

"Thank you Yor. I think I might take you up on your offer. Is that really okay?" It was all he truly wanted to do at the moment, but if it made her uncomfortable in any way, he was willing to stop, even though he didn't actually know for sure, if he could.

"Of course Loid. I will tell Anya that you are fine when she returns. She and the other kids promised to bring us some of today's dinner later."

…She was still stroking his hair while she talked in her soothing voice, which he liked to listen to very much he noticed.

"One more question, before I fall back asleep Yor."

"Sure, Loid."

"…Did you have something to drink?"

"They had an open bar in the female department of the hot springs and Melinda wanted to try it out, so I had a few." She smiled at him as innocently as Anya did when she came home with a Tonitrus Bolt. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, only sheer curiosity."

He drifted back into sleep soon after. He would be back at work tomorrow. Right now, he just wanted to enjoy this tiny bit of personal bliss.

This time he actually slept well.

.

.

.

"So, how is your dad? Still sleeping?" Damian looked totally calm on the outside, but in his head, he sounded extremely worried.

Well, good news! Her father was advancing on his mission! In his own way anyhow.

"Yes. Anya and Becky brought up some dinner for them a couple of minutes ago and he was snoring like a little baby in Mamas arms." She could still picture it in front of her inner eye. If she wasn't so hungry, she would have just stayed with them to take advantage of the situation for some family cuddles!

"Huh, that sounds-" "sweet" "interesting."

Everyone who had stayed at the Inn tonight was currently eating dinner together. At first, she had doubted that she would be able to eat much, because her father really had her worried there for a sec, but everyone around had assured her that he was going to be okay in no time and her mother had sworn that she would look out for him, so she had decided to have a bite after all.

"It´s the opposite of interesting if you ask me!" Becky was not amused by the situation in the slightest. "But, since its all for the good of my dear Lord Loid, I´ll let it slip just this once." She nearly annihilated her hamburger after that.

"How mighty big of you Blackbell."

Anya couldn't help, but wonder. Was it an accident that Syon-boy was once again sitting right next to them? That happened a lot recently. Was he about to find out about her secret mission?!

…

Nah, just a coincidence probably.

It was then that he leaned a little bit towards her and began whispering in her ear, so that Becky wouldn't hear it.

"Well Forger, we have wasted another day without you making good on your promise. Have you figured something out already?"

Oh right, she had promised him something hadn't she?

"Not yet. But maybe the events of today have given Anya an idea…hehehe…" She tried to look like evil personified.

"Why do you always have to be so crazy?"

*gasp!*

"Could you two speak up a little? I feel like I´m missing something exciting and I want in on it!"

Busted by Becky! *doublegasp!*

Chapter 5: Operation-Rescue-Syon-Boys-Mama!

Chapter Text

"Alright everybody. All of you know which role your are going to play, yes? Then let's do this!"

It was another perfectly sunny, but also bitter cold day in the mountainous regions around Bad Ems and Starlight Anya felt like she was on top of the world!

Her father had recovered pretty well from his "sleepattack" since yesterday, but was still watched by her Mama like a hawk. Both of them were given another full day of relaxation, so that there was no risk for his health, but he had insisted on only half a day. Papa badly wanted to get back to the mission, even though he secretly appreciated how Yor cared for him.

Anya had wanted to stay back with them, but both had pleaded with her to go ahead with the others and not let the unfortunate circumstances ruin her snowy fun. They would rejoin the group soon enough.

She wasn't particularly happy about this outcome at first, but the absence of her parents had one productive consequence at least; she finally had the time and space to completely focus on her other activities.

Currently, she was standing on a medium sized wooden box, she had found somewhere near the backdoor of the restaurant, where the class would take their midday breaks. In her left hand she was holding her sketch block and in her right a stick from some random tree she had picked up along the way.

A power she had never experienced before was flowing through her veins right now.

Starlight Anya was the mastermind behind a whole operation and all her trusted subordinates were gathered before her at this very moment. Surely looking up to her in both awe and fear of her sheer genius.

After this, her father would want to recruit her for sure. If he would ever find out about it of course. She was working in secret, naturally. Like any top class agent would.

Before she got the chance to finally go to work, one of her underlings raised his hand.

"Yes "Lifesaver"?"

"…It´s still Damian… and Forger, I think I speak for everybody here if I tell you now, your drawings kind of suck" *gasp!* "and nobody here understood what you really had in mind when you just scrolled through them in like ten seconds, while mumbling something to yourself none of us could even hear!"

She nearly fell from her box out of pure shock. Had she messed up so badly?! Surely not! Syon-boy was just being rude as usual.

Fortunately "Lookout Two" was there to help her stay upright.

"Don't be so mean Desmond! She is doing all of this for you, after all! But… yeah, he does have a point Anya. I´m sorry!" Becky was also stabbing her in the back?!

How did she come to deserve this?

Her new plan was absolutely bulletproof! She had spent like half an hour on it after all!

"Bossman is right, Forger!"

"Yeah, if you want our help, at least explain it one more time!"

To nobody's surprise "Snowroller One" and "Snowroller Two" were also standing against her.

As if that wasn't enough, judging by his expression, it even looked like her trump card, "Muscleman", wasn't fully on board with her ingenious plan.

"Miss Forger. I must admit I don't know why you asked me to come here. I very much doubt people of our standing should be gathering at the back of a restaurant without proper oversight by an adult. My father would definitely disapprove, so I must ask you to get this over quickly."

"Yes, yes. Anya understands that Bill. If everyone would have just listened, we could already be on our way right now…" five voices wanted to interrupt her, but she only continued on a little louder "Buuuut, no matter!"

One more time she reached for her sketch block, where she had drawn the different stages of the plan in excruciating detail.

"The mission is called "Operation-rescue-Syon-boys-Mama"!" She expected applause, but the overly critical crowd gave her nothing but silence.

"Ehem, I admit, it is not the best name I ever came up with… but that is irrelevant! The Operation has a couple of different stages and everybody has to play their assigned role for it to work."

Her first drawing was one of the snowy mountains, with the restaurant they were currently at right in the center.

"It´s all going to take place right here! At the way up to the entrance of this nice food place!"

Choosing to ignore the thoughts of her subordinates, who were clearly not recognizing the beautiful mountains at all and instead had believed it to be a relatively well drawn picture of hell itself, she continued on with the second sketch.

"Syon-boys Mama is currently at the Inn, to look after my Papa together with Mama, but they promised Anya they were going to come join us soon, which means we are short on time."

And she was running short on patience, when she again listened to their thoughts and how they believed her drawings of the adults to be some sort of aliens! "Everybody is a critic nowadays!"

A little annoyed, but far from giving up, she switched to the next page.

"Before they arrive, we have to prepare a gigaaantic snowball on top of the small hill to the right! That will be the job of Snowroller One and Two."

The determined look she threw towards Ewen and Emile, together with her stretched out pointer, could have pierced through rocks, just like she had learned it from her mother and both boys simply nodded.

"When the time comes, we will need Muscleman´s muscles to roll it over the cliff!"

Time for the next page!

"Lookout One and Lookout Two will be… well, on the lookout, to greet the adults when they get out of the ski lift and to give the signal to Lifesaver, when they are on their way towards him! Becky, because she is great at making animal noises" she gave her best friend a wink and got a big smile in return "and Anya, because she simply wanted to say hello to her parents when they arrive and had nothing else to do!"

One look at the crowd and she felt like her power was limitless again!

Everybody was actually listening to her now! That was so exciting! It was time for the penultimate drawing!

"This is where Lifesaver will come in! He will have to give the signal to Muscleman when the Mama-target is in place and he is ready to safe her! Then Muscleman will roll the snowball off the cliff and Lifesaver can swoop in and safe the day! She will be so thankful for this, that she is going to want to spend all the time in the world with you Syon-boy! And with that, world peace is finally within our reach!"

There was another small moment of silence, before Becky slowly started clapping.

"Such a devilish plan Anya! I like it! Mostly, because I finally get to be around my Lord Loid again, but I like it nonetheless!"

"If I may ask Miss Forger; wouldn't it be dangerous for your parents to be near the target in this case? Lord Damian surely won´t be able to rescue them all at once. It sounds risky."

Hm, a valid point.

"Anya thinks it´s going to be fine, because her parents are awesome and can handle themselves!" With a thumbs up, she tried to calm his mind.

She truly believed what she was saying. There was no doubt her parents would be able to handle themselves.

"Ehm, that's great, but-"

"Oh, Becky and me will be right there too. We could safe them!" Bill possessed no capable argument he could throw against her disarmingly honest smile.

Finally it was Damian´s turn to speak up again.

"I- I cant believe what I´m saying here, but I think we should trust Anya on this one. Firstly, because I admittedly don't have any other great ideas and I´m running out of time and secondly… because it looks like she actually worked hard on this plan."

Ooooh! Everything was going exactly as planned! If this operation succeeded, Syon-boy would truly be her friend and Papa could finally succeed with Operation Strax, or whatever it was called again!

"Lastly… I want to thank all of you for helping me. Sure we haven't seen eye to eye at all times-"

"Ehm, how about never? I´m only here, because I can´t refuse Anya a favor when she asked so nicely!"

Emile and Ewen wanted to intervene, but Damian held them back.

"…yes, right, of course Blackbell. The point is; no matter your reason. I´m really glad you are helping me out right now. If I can ever return the favor-"

*gasp!*

"and it isn't something ridiculous," "Why was he looking at Anya like he mistrusted her, when he said that?" "I will!"

Anya threw her sketch book away and jumped from the box directly in the middle of the group.

"Let´s do this Team-Operation-rescue-Syon-boys-Mama!"

…

"Yeah, yeah. I´ll think about a new name soon, I promise."

And so, the operation could begin!

.

.

.

"Are you sure about this Loid? As I said before, if you don't feel well, we can always stay at the hotel. Mister Henderson told us he would have everything under control up there. Even without us. You don't have to push yourself."

Somehow, it was nice to see how much his wife cared for his wellbeing, although he believed it to be a little much that she would hold on to his arm like he was an 90 year old grandpa ready to collapse at any moment.

"Don't worry about me anymore Yor. I´m completely fine. I just suffered from a lack of sleep. Me sleeping through nearly the whole day and night yesterday consequently solved that problem. Back me up here Melinda, would you?" When they stepped into the ski lift, he couldn't help but be proud of himself, that he was able to address his primary target so casually now, without seeming suspicious whatsoever.

In fact, for all the times she had scolded him for being to formal with her during the trip, he was pretty sure it would be more suspect if he kept up that distant demeanor. Sometimes he wondered if, deep down, Donovan Desmond had such a soft side to him as well…

"Well, I would love to back you up Loid, but I just find it too adorable how Yor is taking care of you!" She grinned wildly at them both and his wife's hold on his arm immediately tightened.

Forget about that soft side part. Such a devious woman. He could only pray that her husband wasn't cut from the same cloth. Maybe getting her so involved in his private affairs was not the best move in retrospect.

"Besides, as your "doctor", I can only certify that you are in peak condition, if I know the exact cause of your illness. Since you don't want to explain to my why you lacked that much sleep in the first place, I´m afraid I can´t help you out right now. Sorry!"

They sat down at the bench in the lift and Loid couldn't help but feel a little warmer than usual. He threw his primary target a daggerlike look, which he regretted right away, because, even if he was quietly laughing about it, Bruno, the fourth person in the lift, didn't appreciate such a gesture at all.

He wanted to justify himself, when Yor slightly tugged on his jacket.

She was still looking at him like he was frailty personified. At the same time though, it seemed like she had made up her mind on something.

"Let's make a deal Loid. I´ll stop worrying for the moment and in return you will let me make sure that you sleep well tonight okay? It´s the least I can do as your wife!" Both her hands were formed into fists and she beamed up straight at him. Her cherry colored eyes were tearing down his carefully rebuild security walls, like it was nothing.

"M-make sure that I-" In his entire life prior to meeting his family, he hadn't stuttered as much as he had in the few months in which he knew them. "H-how do you plan on doing that?"

Since she was his main hindrance in regards to a good night's sleep, he was pretty certain, that she wouldn't be able to solve that problem successfully. Not unless she decided to change into a different room. Which it definitely didn't sound like she planned on doing and even if she did, he would definitely veto that proposal.

Her health and consequently sleep came first.

Surprisingly Yor just winked at him. "Trust me on this one Loid. Yuri had sleep problems once as well. I have a couple of ideas!" Even though the back of his mind tried to remind him of all the other stuff Yor supposedly did to her brother in the past in an attempt to care for him, when her face lit up again with that mesmerizing smile, he came to enjoy so much over time, he couldn't help but return it in kind.

What was it about that woman that made him let go of practically all his defenses so easily? He had no idea. He only knew that she had become his biggest weakness at this point. There was no point in denying that fact.

With his growing care for her and Anya came an increased danger for both their lives, should his real identity ever be discovered. That's why spy´s were discouraged from having any real attachments to outside people. The fear of what could potentially happen to them could make them hesitate to do what's necessary and make wrong decisions in the face of danger.

However, he wasn't just any spy. He was Twilight, the absolute best Westalis had to offer. He was going to be the exception, as he so often had been before. He was not going to let anything happen to them, because he was not going to fail. On the contrary, they were going to help him succeed!

"Ehem."

Both Loid and Yor broke eye contact in a matter of seconds and turned their attention back towards Melinda. Apparently they had gazed at each other for a little too long.

"I would like to remind the two lovebirds of the fact that there are still four people present in this lift. I said it was cute before, but no funny business directly in front of me and my trusted Bruno here! How would I ever explain that to the poor children!"

Yor went stiff as a brick. "I´m so sorry Melinda! Mister Bruno! I swear we weren't-"

"A joke Yor! A joke. Geez you are so easy." She laughed softly and his wife visibly relaxed. "Still, there are going to be children by our sides in just a sec, so keep it together you two."

Bruno, apparently used to this sort of behavior of his boss, laughed again, while Yor vigorously nodded.

When they finally reached the middle stage of the skiing area, on which the restaurant was located, they were already greeted by Anya and Becky. Both of them storming towards Loid right away when they saw him exiting the lift.

Another evidence to his regained strength. If he wouldn't have been at his best, he would have never been able to keep standing upright, while the two girls tackled him.

"Papa! You are finally back! You won´t believe it, but Anya managed to complete runway B on her own today! Without falling a single time! Even mister Watkins praised me!"

"That's great Anya!" That was a massive step forward for her!

"What are you even talking about Anya? Did you forget about the fact that Desmond and I held on to at least one of your arms the whole time?!" *gasp!* "I on the other hand have cleared four different runways today Lord Loid! All thanks to your marvelous teachings on the first couple of days!"

"T-that's also great Becky." Well, it sounded a little more realistic at least.

"K-kids please, don't be so harsh with Loid. He is still recovering from yesterday." Again, he appreciated Yor´s concern, really, he did, but he was absolutely fine for gods sake! He needed a chance to prove it to her.

While Becky only glared at her, Anya let go of her father and tackled her mother next. Who, of course, took it like it was nothing and swept her into her arms.

"Mama! Did you take good care of Papa? Maybe gave him a big smooch to help with his recovery?!"

"A-Anya!" Their daughter only giggled while the black haired beauty tried to convince her that this had definitely not been necessary.

Even though the subject made him feel a little bit uneasy as usual, the feeling was far outweighed by the joy he gained from seeing his family reunited and smiling again.

Because that's what he needed to continue the mission of course.

"Oh, don't listen to your mother Anya. She just doesn't want to admit it. I promise you, she didn't let go of your daddy once since we left the Inn. Who knows what the two of them did together behind closed doors…"

"M-Melinda!" Yor was beet red as her winter jacket at this point and Anya exchanged a tiny high five with the matriarch of the Desmond family.

His primary target was definitely becoming a problem, he concluded. Now she was teaming up with his own daughter to undermine his parental authority! Was she trying to sabotage him?! Did she perhaps sense something was up?! Was he about to be found out?!

He dismissed the thought as quickly as it had arrived, when he saw an annoyed Becky throwing a snowball towards Melinda, who dodged gracefully, only for the bullet to hit Bruno straight into his face.

All of them were laughing together as Becky, apparently fearing for her life, apologized to the mountain of a man for her slip up. The gentle giant simply smiled at her.

There was no way Melinda Desmond was faking her enjoyment. Twilight had seen countless of fake smiles and laughs over the course of his career. Some of them were better than others for sure, but this one right now would have been the most accurate fake he had ever seen.

No, she was simply having fun. He wondered if interactions with "normal" people were a rare occurrence for her. Maybe, Yor´s company was providing some kind of escape from her everyday life. If so, it should be another opening for progress once the trip was done.

…even though he felt a tiny bit guilty of taking advantage of such a weakness.

When they finally began their way towards the restaurant, it had already began snowing a little.

Around midday, the sunny weather had slowly begun to make room for more and more clouds, which by now were covering the sky in its entirety. The weather forecast had predicted as much and apparently the snowing should only become more intense over the coming hours and days, developing into a full blown snowstorm and making this most likely the last day of skiing for the group.

Anya and Becky, energetic as ever, had run slightly ahead, while Yor, embarrassed as she might have been, still stayed close by his side, enduring every teasing comment that might have come her way with an iron (although still red) face.

It was at a corner, when Loid heard a weird sound from up ahead. If he didn't know any better, he would have believed it to be an owl, it was pretty authentic. Only problem was, there weren't any owls around in this area of the country.

Which meant… this noise was made by a human.

However relaxed he might have been, this put him on guard straight away.

His mind was going a million miles an hour, when the noise was reciprocated with another type of scream, one even he couldn't identify.

An indication for amateurs. Apparently only one of them was capable of imitating the sound of a bird to some extent.

Whoever they were, they were working in a group and they were communicating with each other in some way. But what was their purpose?

He needed to pick up the pace, because he had lost sight of the two girls in front. His range was not indefinite and in the unlikely case those two were the target for something, he had to be able to act fast.

The rest of the group hadn't noticed anything unusual as it seemed and was continuing their light hearted Smalltalk.

But they all weren't the professionals Twilight was.

What kind of potential danger was he dealing with here? The terrain was great for an ambush coming from the hillside, now that he thought about it more intensely. Even the decreasing weather conditions were on their side!

Whoever had planned this operation had calculated well. Maybe they weren't amateurs after all.

Were they after Melinda? Most likely. Nobody else in their small group was a worthwhile target, except if they knew who he truly was.

…That seemed a little farfetched even in Twilights mind.

Of course, they could always be after somebody outside their group. There were a couple of other people around. Neither of them seemed to scream "potential target" to him though, at least at first sight.

Regardless, right now, he could do nothing more, but simply wait and see.

When they finally caught up with Anya and Becky, the restaurant was already in sight.

However, the two weren't alone anymore. His secondary target was standing right beside them. All of them were discussing something Twilight couldn't hear and at the end, Anya actually gave the boy a little push.

"What is she doing? I told her to be nice to him! Plan B is in serious trouble if they don't get along after all."

The three of them walked back towards the group, once Damian had began to move. He looked slightly nervous in Loid´s eyes.

He wouldn't have noticed it right away, if he wasn't so focused right now, but the young man was looking towards the hill every now and then and he seemed to be sweating a little bit more than usual.

"What is going on here. Something is up. Maybe waiting for them to make the first move is not the right way to go… perhaps I should go and check on the hill. Just to be sure nothing is up there. That way I could also prove to Yor that I´m completely healthy. Yes. That's the way to go Twilight."

"Papa!" All of a sudden, his daughter was standing right in front of him. "Hold me!"

"What? Again?"

"Anya is tired from all the schkiing! Hold me please!"

Normally, he wouldn't hesitate to grant her wish, but right now he needed the freedom to act. With a small child in his arms, he was severely handicapped in case of an attack.

"Just a second Anya, okay? I´m quickly going to check on something over there."

"Nooo! Papa needs to hold Anya right now!"

"I can hold you if you like sweaty." Yor to the rescue!

"N-no Mama, wait- I-!"

Even if he was curious why his daughter was behaving so weirdly all of a sudden, Loid continued to slowly make his way towards the hillside. It was neither that steep nor particularly high, only a couple of meters at most, but the snow interfered with his view.

To his left he noticed Damian talking to his mother. They were now slightly in front of the group he noted. Bruno was still by their side. Maybe he was worrying over nothing.

Then he heard a crack, coming from the top of the hill.

Next thing he knew an enormous snowball was rolling down the cliff, gathering momentum as it came closer and closer.

It was heading directly towards Melinda and Damian!

"Mother! Look out!" The boy was fast to react, Twilight had to admit, but he was still faster.

Before he could reach his mother, Twilight stepped in front of the two protecting them from any potential impact.

"M-mister Forger! What are you doing? Get out of the way!" Loid just showed him a quick thumbs up.

If this was the attack he had been waiting for, then surely the snowball wasn't just a regular snowball, maybe there were explosives or knives in it. Possibly even poison! It didn't matter anyway, he had to be the one to take the blow and not one of the innocent bystanders.

Unfortunately, one of said bystanders was his unpredictable wife and, as it turned out, she wasn't going to stand down by any means.

Before he knew it, she stepped in front of him and jumped at the snowball, which had nearly reached them by now and was about to hit the path they were standing on.

What came next resembled a scene right out of an action movie.

Yor, with Anya still in her arms, used a technique that looked like the thousand fists of doom! She punched the ice ball so quickly, so precise and so often that it just evaporated once she was done with it!

Instead of the massive snowball, all that hit them was a fog of light snow.

The entire group just stood there, watching his wife in awe as she landed gracefully back on the ground. The remains of the completely destroyed snowball glittering around her like stars in the night´s sky.

There was nobody on this big blue planet quiet like Yor Forger. Once again Twilight was reminded on how pure convenience had brought him together with a unicum like her. Whatever the odds were, he was unbelievable happy that he had beaten them as it seemed.

"You okay Anya? Sorry for the sudden movement, but I would have been too late otherwise."

"Mama! That was sooo cool! I mean no! What the-! You rui- I mean rescued Anya! How will I ever repay you?!" Curious, it sounded like she was angry at first.

Twilight checked their surroundings for a sec. There was nobody nearby. The snowball hadn't been a diversion to draw away their attention from something else.

Could that snowball have moved on his own?

Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see a couple of smaller figures running in the direction of the restaurant. Children? Although… one of them was significantly bigger than the other two…

Was it all just a prank by some of Anya´s classmates? The second noise did sound remotely like a kid now that he thought about it.

Seeing as the snowball was truly only made out of snow, he decided that the danger had been minimal and that his survival instinct once again had gotten the better of him.

"You okay, Yor? That was an impressive move. Something they taught you at your many self-defense classes I gather?" He stepped a little closer so that he could inspect her better.

"O-oh, yes! Yes exactly. They teach us the craziest of moves there, haha…" She was rubbing the back of her head shyly.

"More importantly; are you okay Loid? Nothing hit you right? You still want to lay down perhaps? Just to be sure?"

…Hadn't they made a deal for her to stop worrying for the moment?

"I´m completely fine Yor. Stop worrying already- whoa!"

"Oh. My. God! Yor!" Melinda had forcibly squeezed herself between him and his wife.

"That was incredible! How fast you moved! And how you absolutely wrecked that snowball! You saved Damian and myself with that move. Next time you go to that self-defense class, give me a call! I definitely want to learn something like that too!"

"Oh, ehm, of course. I´ll do that." Yor was as humble as ever.

Loid turned around to check on Damian, only to see that Bruno had already made his was over to the small boy.

"Are you okay Lord Damian? You look so shocked. I´m sorry that I couldn't move faster! That will not happen again, I swear this to you!"

"I-it´s okay Bruno. Nothing happened after all." Damian didn't even look at his bodyguard. Instead he seemed to be looking at his mother, who was still praising Yor for her quick reaction.

Something about the whole situation seemed off to Twilight… could it be…

His eyes found those of his daughter and she looked like she had seen a ghost. Then she suddenly avoided his gaze, fidgeted around with her tiny fingers and actually… began to whistle?!

She couldn't have looked more guilty if she tried… something was going on here and Twilight was about to find out.

*gasp!*

.

.

.

"I´m sooo sorry Syon-boy!" It was the third time she apologized towards the boy, since they had arrived back at the restaurant and had split up from the adults.

She had dragged him aside into the hallway right away, so that they could have a quick talk. After all, she had been the head of the failed operation and so she had to take responsibility!

"I told you it´s fine Forger! That wasn't your fault after all." So he kept saying, but his mind was telling a totally different story. He wasn't fine at all. "Just… drop it, okay?"

"The trip isn't over yet. Anya will definitely think of another plan! Can you maybe perform a magic trick? I bet that would get your Mama´s attention!" She was reaching for straws at this point.

"No. I´m done with all this. It´s not a big deal." To her surprise, he smiled at her. "So I don't get to spend some time alone with my mum. Who cares, right? I can still hang around with her and the rest of the group."

"B-but Syon-boy-"

"I think we should get back to the rest. We still have to explain to Emile, Ewen and Bill what exactly happened."

"Yeah... yeah, okay."

Without another word the two kids went back towards their friends.

Anya was not satisfied with Damian´s reaction at all, but she didn't know what else she could do about it right now. She needed more time to think and come up with another plan.

All she knew for sure was that she couldn't let things end like this. Maybe there would be one last chance for her to complete her mission.

Wasn't there a small party scheduled for tomorrow evening, since it was their last day in Bad Ems? Becky said something about that, she remembered.

That would be her last chance for success and she had to take advantage of it! Not only for the sake of the mission, but for Syon-boy himself!

She was so distracted, she didn't even notice how her father, standing on the other side of the hallway, had been listening to their every word.