A/N: Tissues are recommended for this chapter.

FLASHBACK:

HALF A WEEK AGO...

AT MATT SANDERS' HOUSE...

30 minutes outside of No-Name Town, Balin and his BFF Matt Sanders, an also 7-year-old boy with a cute golden mullet, were doing their signature handshake.

"You happy?!" said Balin.

"No, you happy?" replied Matt.

"No, no! You happy?"

"Cupcake." giggled Matt, lifting up a cupcake in his hand.

"Aw, no fair!" Balin pouted playfully, pulling his friend in for a noogie. "I was about to pull the cupcake."

"Snooze you lose, mate." he laughed.

Balin's parents, Elton & Raven, watched this delightful scene as they chuckled. They were two loving parents in their late 20s who adored Balin, spoiling him but still teaching him all the proper human qualities at heart.

Elton had a beard and hair the shape and colours of a toasted marshmallow, and Raven looked a lot like Loona; a thin body with long wavy black hair, but with a sheath dress.

"OK, Balin, we're off now." said Elton as they were preparing to leave the house. "Be good for Matt's family, okay?"

"I promise, daddy." replied Balin.

The two were off to a club somewhere in town for their first dinner date in years and couldn't take their little boy because of his age.

"Thanks so much for watching him again." smiled Raven, speaking to Matt's mother.

"Anything for their mateship." replied Mrs. Sanders. "You two have a really beautiful kid."

"Yeah. He's sure to be a lady's man someday." joked Elton.

"No way, the way I see it, chip'll be taking after you, Elton."

"Exactly." Elton backfired to his wife, causing the three to laugh. "Well, see you in a few hours."

"Bye!" Mrs. Sanders closed the door as Balin's parents left the front porch.

She then went back to the living room where Balin and Matt were talking as Mr. Sanders was sitting in his armchair, watching the Olympics and drinking a beer.

"Why don't you two play in Matt's room, and we'll get supper started soon." suggested Matt's mother, kneeling down to the boys. "Show him your games and movies and everything."

"Okay mom. Come on Balin, there's so much to see!"

The two then ran through the hallway to Matt's bedroom.

"Have fun, boys!" Mr. Sanders said on his armchair, as his wife sat down on the couch and started knitting. "Those lads really are something."

IN MATT'S BEDROOM...

Balin and Matt were already at it, playing a card game called 'Blockbuster', based on the classic video chain from the 90s.

They loved movies together so much, they had their own little cinema in their school clubhouse where they could watch movies off of Matt's laptop during lunch breaks. But that's a different chapter.

"Alright, I'm now thinking of a movie, that begins with... Spider." said Matt, hiding his cards.

"Spiderman... 2?" Balin smirked at his best friend with a giggle.

"Alright! Why are you cheating?" Matt playfully splashed the cards on his bed at Balin, and the two laughed and laughed.

"Okay, okay, how about my game now?"

"Eh, why not? You win anyway." shrugged Matt, while Balin went through his backpack. "What did you bring?"

"This." Balin showed his friend his favourite card game, 'Muzo'.

'Muzo' was a game for music-lovers where you could play or sing a song based on the correct genre or category it was in, and the player with the most poker chips saying 'title', 'hit', or 'artist' wins a round of the game.

The duo held their three cards close to their hearts, showing sneaky faces to each other.

Since Balin was the oldest by 9 months, he went first. So he placed one of his three cards on the bed face-up, saying; 'favourites'. So now, Matt had two minutes to find a song to play.

Which was no problem for him, since he knew one song that fit the bill. He grabbed his iPhone and played the song 'Twist & Shout' by the Beatles, ...which Balin was able to guess straight away and laugh at.

Matt gave a chuckle as well and gave him a winning token, before placing his card on the bed saying; 'one-hit wonder'.

It was now Balin's turn to pick a song. In fact, he began to sing it.

BALIN: "Birds flying high, you know how I feel... Sun in the sky, you know how I feel... Breeeeze drifting on by, you know how I feel. It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life... for me... (falsetto note)"

Balin waited for Matt to guess after singing, but every time he heard his voice, he'd the chills.

"Balin, it's games like this where you forget about the game and enjoy the show instead." he smiled. "What was this one?"

"Feeling Good. By Nina... Someone?" replied Balin. "Doesn't every kid our age know that song?"

MATT - "Every kid our age, about 50 ages ago."

BALIN - "Hey, I like those songs. A lot of rock 'n' pop came from the olden days. Even Bohemian Rhapsody."

MATT - "Either way, your voice is amazing. *Pats his shoulder* Have you ever thought of singing, as well as acting?"

BALIN - "A little, lately. But I haven't found the right time to do it yet."

MATT - (Grinning) "Well let me tell you, maybe they'll be one where Amy finds out."

BALIN - "EWW! No, stop. Eww! We're just friends, Matt. We like each other, and that's what friends do."

"Lies! Lies!" Matt's pet macaw, Blood Orange, said. "Boy loves girl! Boy loves girl!"

"Blood Orange!" flushed Balin as he laughed at the bird's behaviour, and Matt tried to contain his.

"It's okay. I understand." Matt winked to the readers before turning back to his friend. "Has she found out you can sing yet?"

"Not yet. She's the only thing about singing that I'm scared of." replied Balin. "Has there ever been a girl like enough to call a friend so you can sing to her straight after?"

"No? Not yet." shrugged Matt, before rubbing Balin's back. "But until then, just be you. Even if it's the sensitive type. My mommy told me all the girls go bananas for that."

"Matt!" Balin playfully moaned, punching Matt's arm in embarrassment.

"I'm just joking!" chuckled Matt. "Now come on, let's play around some more. And if you cheat on this one, I'll punch YOU."

The two laughed some more as they went back to playing their music game.

THAT NIGHT...

The entire Sanders household, including Matt's two slightly older siblings and Balin, all sat around the dining room table with some plates of store-bought pizza for dinner.

Normally, they'd have goulash, considering the Johnsons love to buy it from them at the farmers markets every first Saturday of the month, but they decided to go different tonight.

As they ate their pizza, the rotary phone on the wall rang. Mr. Sanders stood up from the table to answer it.

"Y'ello? Sanders residence." he said in a nice tone. "And no, I will not buy a family bible. My family believes in God enough to read."

Soon, he started hearing what the phone had to say. Mr. Sanders kept on saying; "Oh." and "Uh-huh?" and "I see...", looking at Balin and Matt in worry, making them confused.

"Yes, yes, of course. I'll tell him. Alright, see you down there." he spoke on the phone again before hanging up and turning to the family.

"Dear, what's wrong?" Mrs. Sanders asked.

"Balin?" Mr. Sanders stuttered looking at his innocent face. "Your parents. They want me to pick them up, from the police station."

This statement made Balin gasp with worry.

AT THE POLICE STATION...

At the station, Balin's parents were chatting with the chief detective in the interrogation room.

"So me and my husband were just leaving the bar, when he got a little inebriated." Raven explained.

"And how are you feeling now, sir?" asked the chief.

"Much better." replied Elton. "But I was starting to sober up once I saw it."

"Saw... what?" Balin asked, hearing the whole thing from the bottom opening of the door outside.

TWO HOURS EARLIER...

It was dusk, when Raven was carrying a little sick Elton to the car by her shoulders, when he saw something unusual at the end of the street.

"What the... what?" Elton slurred a little, making Raven look to where he was pointing.

He was pointing to some strange activity with the lights at a nearby hotel.

Elton was able to regain his balance for now and decided to walk towards it, with more of Raven's help.

As they got closer to the strange hotel activity, they were now able to see movement through the windows. It was blurry at first, but seeing a hammer in the shadows, it did not seem like the good kind.

"You're right, hun." Raven softly said to him. "What the fuck is that...?"

Elton then shook out of his fever and fully regained his balance, then shouting: "HEY! You okay up there?! Hello?!" before Raven shushed him.

As she did, a pillow was then thrown from the window, shattering the glass from the window and splatting to the ground in front of the married couple. They were shocked as hell to see the pillow was full of glass shards and blood.

"Oh. Dear. God!" shouted Raven, before shouting to Elton. "Run, run, RUN, HONEY!"

"I STILL NEED BALANCE!" Elton yelled as she wrapped her husband's arms around her shoulders once again, before running from the crime scene.

With the amount of strength and speed she had holding him, they were able to make it back to the car before the perpetrator in the hotel looked around the town to see if there were any witnesses.

Luckily for the couple, the perp didn't see them hiding behind their vehicle. But they did hear the screams, so it was evident that Elton's yelling made them throw the pillow out of the window by accident.

As they crouched down next to the door to the driver's seat, Raven quickly picked up her phone to call the cops.

PRESENT HOUR...

"So that pillow is all that you've claimed to see, is it correct?"

"Yes. We have no idea what else we witnessed afterwards, except for the assassin behind it, but even that one was a blur." Elton replied to the chief.

"Hmm, well, we had a sweep around said hotel and we've come to these little pieces of missed evidence." said the chief, grabbing out a dossier. "We gathered that the victim's name was Percy Amorim. Around this time, he was adjusting to civilian life after his parole from 15 years behind bars for blackmail. He reportedly suffered a suffocating to the face followed by quick stabbings, but that pillow in evidence only showed the DNA and nothing on what kind of weapon was used in the slaughter. Not even 'A' weapon was found at all."

"So what are you saying? It could've been any knife?" asked Raven nervously.

"Affirmative, ma'am." the chief replied. "And with that, there's also a chance the murderer's still out in the open. Which hereby entitles you two as possible witnesses."

"But they didn't see us." protested Elton. "They looked on the balcony for a few seconds and saw nothing, so going after us would be like... oh..."

"Which is why effective immediately, we're putting you two under house arrest for safety measures." the chief continued. "Over the next two days, an investigation will be underway from the hotel to the public eye. But if we find nothing, you two will have to apply for more than just possible witnesses."

He finished that last part ominously, making Elton, Raven, and Balin extremely nervous.

A FEW DAYS LATER...

The parents were now standing before a jury in the witness protection court, while the Sanders family and Balin came into the room.

Seeing them in front of him, Balin then ran up to his mother and gave her a big hug by her hips.

"Shhh... it's okay, baby Balin." she soothed him. "We're here now."

Soon, the judge and a jury of forensics units walked in and took his seat.

"All rise!" the bailiff said, making the judge clear his throat at him. "Bailiff, they're already risen."

"Oops. Sorry." the bailiff then cleared his throat before saying: "Will the loved ones retire from the courtroom until further notice?"

The two grown-ups then kneeled down to Balin's level as Raven softly kissed his forehead.

"Balin, mate, go with the Sanders. Okay?" Elton softly spoke to his son. "Mommy and daddy will be out in a while."

With a little lipstick on his forehead from the kiss, the boy walked alongside Matt leaving the court. And then, the three and the jury were all that was left.

"So, is there anything, Your Honour?" Elton asked.

"Jury?" the judge looked to the forensics crew, in which the lead scientist then held a piece of paper documenting the research on the incident.

A few minutes later, as Balin was waiting in halls with the Sanders, Elton and Raven walked out of the room with sad news.

"Sport, they couldn't find the bad guy." he said. "So... we're gonna be going away."

"To where?" asked Balin.

"We can't say, sweetie." replied Raven. "But we're going to a safe house."

LATER ON...

As the family of three packed up their old house, mainly Balin packed up his bedroom full of toys and kept some of his essentials in his backpack, they all stood on the lawn to suddenly see TWO buses out front.

"What...?" Raven asked. "What is this?"

"Insurance, Mrs. Johnson." the judge said stepping out of one of the buses.

"For what?"

The judge then sighed giving an unbearable answer. "Your son. But he can't come with you."

"WHAT?!" Elton and his wife gasped loudly.

"Yes. I'm sorry." added the judge. "Even to you, mate."

"What...?" Balin sounded more shocked at this. "B-B-But, why can't I go with my mommy and daddy, Mr. Judge?"

"Son, this won't be easy to explain." the judge knelt down to him. "But your parents were the only ones to see this murder. And this means the murderer could be out for their blood next, having seen too much. We don't know for sure if they've seen them, but the witness protection program we've put them in is very strict on taking chances. So we're putting you in a foster home until we catch him."

"A foster home?!" Raven gasped. "Why a foster home?!" added Elton just as shocked.

"Because as long as the suspect's out there, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson..." he continued. "Your son, is a liability."

Balin then tilted his head in confusion at that word, but was still scared of what else he was hearing.

"A liability?" the parents stuttered.

"But he's just a kid!" Raven was almost about to cry.

"Yes, Mrs. Johnson, I understand." the judge continued. "But even so, I couldn't bear to see his childhood broken at such an age of potential, such as 7-years-old, if the suspect does find his way to you, THROUGH him."

"With all due respect, Your Honour." Elton interjected, becoming bold with tears forming in his eyes. "Just because our son may not have witnessed it, that doesn't mean he's a GODDAMN LIABILITY! HE'S THE KID ME AND MY WIFE LOVE, END OF STORY!"

"I know, Mr. Johnson! And I'm sorry, because I agree! But it's like you said, he IS still just a kid! And whether or not they do find him, I just don't wanna see children like him go through a changing phase like this, worrying about that kind of fate! IT'S DONE!"

The judge soon pinched the top of his nose, and breathed, calming right down again.

"So until everything blows over, he'll be placed under the care of the state. I just don't want to see him gone so soon, as much as you do. Good luck, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson."

The judge then left the house, walking down the street, away from Balin and his family.

"So... I'm not going with you?" Balin asked sadly, as hisparents' tears started running down his cheek.

"Sorry mate!" cried his daddy. "We can't take you with us!"

"It'll only be until the bad guy is caught." Raven sniffled. "Maybe a change at the foster home would be nice for you."

Balin showed a face where he was about to cry as well and slightly moved away from Raven.

"Am I... am I a problem to you?" he started sobbing, as the parents each said stuff like 'No! You're not!"

"Aww, come give mommy a hug and kiss, baby." his mum opened her arms out to him for a hug. Balin just ran into her arms crying louder.

"DON'T LET THEM TAKE ME AWAY, MOMMY!" he screamed in tears.

"You won't be away from me, baby. We'll see each other again. Someday. Shhhhh." Raven soothed him, until the foster home bus driver walked up to him and gently touched his shoulder.

The boy grabbed only his backpack and then got on the foster home bus. As it drove away, his parents tried to wave goodbye to him, but the saddest part, he didn't wave back. He was crying so hard in his seat to do so.

The parents both cried as they got on the bus as well, but none more so than Raven, who had her head buried in the just-teary Elton's shoulder.

MONTAGE (Imagine any sad instrumental music playing over this.)

As he stopped crying on his bus, Balin soon thought long and hard about what his mom said. The foster home could be a nice change. But he couldn't help but still feel hurt by the judge's words, breaking him apart from his family.

Was he really a liability risk for being a kid?

At the foster home, Balin unpacked his baggage in his new room and went downstairs to watch TV in the living room, all by himself as everyone else played.

During his time at the TV, he saw the news of a gruesome attack, likely made by IMP or Loona, and ran out of the games room to cry some more, seeing what his world had become.

Throughout the next few days, he saw all the kids rough-housing with each other, bullying him, even seeing one night of abuse from the caretakers during a dinner fight. Every night, he couldn't sleep so much, he just slept his eyes open, afraid he'd cry again.

Until, on the fourth day, he had enough. He wrote a note that night saying; 'Please. Don't look for me.' before putting his clothes and belongings in his backpack, ready to walk out the door unnoticed.

The next morning, he snuck into a hotel, grabbed a room key, and snuck into the room to put his gear in the closet then sit on the bed to relax.

Luckily, the receptionist didn't seem to notice, thinking another guest had it.

Over the next few days, he walked all around the town. He even went to a Burger King for lunch, paying for it with his pocket money, as well as getting bullied by a few big kids. Until, a teenage female employee shooed them away before hugging him, kissing his cheek, and even giving him a free ice-cream cone.

At the end of each day, Balin would sneak back into the hotel room and get ready to sleep in the closet.

To make sure nobody got in, he put a 'no-cleaning' sign on the room door, just in case.

Before he went to sleep one night, he felt something in his pocket, and it was a necklace carrying a picture of him as a baby holding his daddy's hand. It was Balin's first experience of learning 'ignorance is bliss' is a very true motto about humans.

He still thought life was beautiful nonetheless though.

Before long, having found the comfiest spot in the closet, he closed his eyes and soon fell asleep.

FLASHBACK ENDS

Balin was then shown back at I.M.P, present-day, as he started crying his eyes out after telling his new demon friends that entire tragic story of his.

And they, were, very upset.

Blitzø was heartbroken, Moxxie was speechless, Millie had tissues in her hands, but no-one was more emotional than Loona. She tried to hold back her sad expressions, but also went into tears now feeling bad for what he went through before she scared him tonight.

"Christ on a stick, we're... buddy, we're so sorry." apologised Blitzø with a lot of sorrow.

"So am I, kid." said Loona softly, as she started rubbing his back with her paw. "But hey. You're safe. Just like I told you."

Balin then looked up at her and opened his arms, surprising the imps even more at what he wanted her to do.

He wanted Loona to hold him again.

"Oh? Ohh..."

It may have been against everything she normally does in front of the gang, but she knew it was what he needed.

"Come here." she softly spoke again.

As Loona lifted him up in her arms and hugged him, Balin began sobbing into her furry shoulder, not being able to hold it anymore.

"Shhhhhh. Shhh, shhh." she soothed him quietly. "It's gonna be okay, kiddo. Loona has you now."

Seeing Loona comfort this poor human child with all her heart now had the imps SHELL-SHOCKED! They would NEVER have seen that coming from her.

Millie, however, stood up from her chair and walked over to the two. Loona saw her and then crouched down to let her rub Balin's hair.

"I'm so sorry for what happened to you, sweetie-pie." she sobbed in a calm tone, wiping away his tears.

Balin then looked at her as she soon showed a sympathetic smile, before Loona made him look at her.

"That was so, so brave of you, kiddo." the hellhound smiled tearfully.

"Thank you Loona." sniffled Balin. "But... will you still hold me?"

"Shhhhh. I will. Please, don't cry anymore, sweetheart. I've got you."

Loona may have been known what it was like having to fend for oneself alone, but seeing her smile while consoling this kid made her realise she knew it all too well.

Soon, the three imps slowly left the board room to give the two peace and quiet, knowing this emotional moment would still go on for a long time.

A/N: See y'all in the next chapter.