Chapter 17: Girls Day Out

"I'll be at work until about five today," Lloyd was smiling as he placed his hat on his head, grabbing his suitcase and holding it up, "There should be enough food in the refrigerator for lunch, and I will take bring us something to cook for dinner."

"Of course," Yor nodded, still blushing slightly, still feeling a bit of embarrassment from earlier. She had almost forgotten that she was now married, and had moved out of East City. She had slightly panicked when she had woken up, and it had taken a full minute of her wondering around her room to remember that she had not, in fact, been kidnapped, but had accepted this new experience herself. It was honestly lucky she and Lloyd had diffent bedrooms or she might have killed him in her daze, "Be careful out there, you never know what you might run into in a new city," and to that Lloyd nodded back at her.

"Also," he adjusted his coat slightly as his hand wrapped around the door knob, "Make sure Anya takes some time to review that last book. She doesn't need to do a practice test, but some basic review of the history and literature pages might be really helpful before her test tomorrow. Don't let her just sit in front of the radio."

"Right," she looked back at Anya, who had finished up her peanut butter toast, and was currently listening to another radio play. The girl did have a big day tomorrow, if she was going to live up to her deceased mother's wishes, "I'll have her review the materials, and...maybe we will go out to the park for a bit today. Might be better for her than just sitting cooped up in here."

"Yes, fresh air will be good for her," Lloyd nodded at that, before opening the door, and moving out the town home into Central itself, he smiled as he looked back, and then finished off with, "Have a nice day dear."

"You do to," she responded, waving as he closed the door behind him, "dear."

...

She pressed her hands together, and felt a creeping small panic into the back of her head. This was the first time she'd ever been left alone with a child that hadn't been Yuri, and she wondered if she was even capable of serving as a fake "Mom". Yor quickly pushed the thought out of her head, however.

'This is a chance for me to take on a new experience,' she gripped her hands tight, and then released them, and stared at the girl, "Anya, we need to do your review."

"Can't listening to the radio," Anya didn't even turn her head back, eyes still glued to the little box.

"Anyaaa," Yor warned, trying to pull out her best stern voice, "Your father said that you should study these materials for the test tomorrow. We need to make sure you are ready as possible for it."

"Just another five minutes, until the show is over," the little girl said. At that, Yor nodded. Of course, these are stories after all, and it's wrong to take someone away from an ending, that would be mean. Just give her a few minutes, and then she'd be ready to do her studies. Yor smiled, and then walked away from the little den they were in.

"Alright Anya, that is fair," Yor turned her head back to watch the little girl for a second, "I have a few more things to unpack, so just make sure you get studying as soon as possible."

"Sure, sure," Anya responded.

Yor then thought about the about the last box she had to unpack. It was her weapons obviously, which she had originally placed in a small wooden chest with a lock on it so neither of her new "family" members would open it up accidently, and see several deadly weapons inside, including her needles. Beyond those were also several knives, a half dozen poisons, and even a few minor explosives. Honestly, it was lucky that Lloyd had gone out last night, because she had only just realized she had left it out in the open, and had to specifically make sure she was going to find a place in her room to hide the box so no one could see it. She supposed it looked so old, after all, it was a box that the Shopkeeper had passed down to her from a previous member of the Garden, that someone might think it was a jewelry box. That'd probably be enough on it's own to explain the key, but she'd rather not have it sitting out in the open. Less chance of someone seeing it.

'It should be easy enough," Yor considered, as she walked into her room. Slowly, she got the chest, and held it in her hands. She swung her head around a few times, trying to identify where it would be best to place it, 'Maybe in the drawer,' she thought, looking at one of several dressers that had come with their new home.

'Honestly,' Yor considered for a second, 'All of these are nicer than anything I owned in my old place,' she began to push the small chest into one of the drawers. It slid in and nearly filled the whole thing, but it seemed to fit. Yor nodded, and then pushed the drawer in as a final hiding spot for her assassination tools.

THUNK

Unfortunately, it was a bit too large, and the drawer only closed halfway before it suddenly stopped. Yor then pulled out the drawer, and then tried to slam the door again. Again it thunked and stayed open. She glared at the drawer, and this time, with perhaps a bit too much force behind it, she tried to close it once again.

CRACK

"Ah!" she shouted, as she almost jumped back. She reopened the drawer, and saw that the chest had splintered, and was now open. And when the chest broke, it had sent some of the splinters from the broken top out. She had just barely been able to dodge them. And now, she looked, and saw all her weapons and poisons out in the open.

'I can't let these lay out in the open,' even if she just took everything and put it in the drawer without the now broken top, all anyone would need to do to find this huge pile of deadly implements would be to open the drawer. If Lloyd opened, it, he'd probably suspect her of something. And if Anya somehow opened it...

The image of Anya playing with a knife suddenly entered Yor's head, only for her to slip, and the knife to instantly get stuck in Anya's neck. Then another image of Anya drinking a green potion entered her head, and she saw the little girl collapse onto the floor, a little pool of vomit on her side saying "Dead".

'I have to find a place where no one will look,' she looked around, and then saw the closet and remembered putting her clothes up last night.

She opened the closet, and saw a little ledge on top of the rack that her clothes hung from. She grabbed up the box, using a bit of masking tape from inside it to help hold it shut, and stuffed it above her clothes. She then twisted it to the side, and slid it in, and smiled. The closet extended a bit past the door, so there was enough room to squeeze it in. She adjusted it a few times, and then stepped back. She finally smiled, as even with the doors open, she couldn't see the box itself from only a few feet in front of it. Someone would have to actively be looking for something up there, if they were too actually be able to find her weapons box.

'No one besides me even knows that it's there,' she smiled at her handy work, 'and even better, it's high enough up that Anya can't reach it. So she can't stab herself. Of drink some poison.'

She stopped, blinked, and looked over at the clock on the little side table next to her bed. She saw that it was now the top of the hour. She caught her fist in her palm and remembered that radio programs were always only an hour long.

'I need to make sure Anya is getting to studying,' she thought, walking out of her room. She turned down the hallway, and opened her mouth-

"I'M GOING TO STUDY MAMA!" came an almost panicked shout from the other room, as she heard the radio switch off, "I'LL BE A GOOD GIRL. YOU DON'T HAVE TO STAB OR POISON ME! I'LL STUDY! I'LL STUDY!"

'Why would she think I'm about to stab her?' she thought to herself. She had thought about stabbing people when she was younger, but probably not exactly when she'd been at Anya's age. And it had always been about stabbing other people, not being stabbed herself, 'maybe something on the radio program?'

Anya came into view along the hallway that lead to the front of the home to the back, and her eyes bulged and her mouth dropped open. She then screamed again, this time nearly loud enough to nearly cause Yor to cover her ears. Anya then booked it towards the table.

"I'LL STUDY! PLEASE DON'T CUT ME!"

'Why would she think I wou-' it was only then, that Yor felt a drip of liquid along the ridge of her nose. She pressed her fingers to the liquid, and pulled them back to see a red stain on the tips. She then looked over towards the mirror that was open in the bathroom, and saw that she had a cut along her forehead, 'One of the splinters must have caught me from the chest,' she then considered the poor girl, 'I must have been making a racket in there, and she might have thought I was doing something violent,' she sighed, realizing that a young girl might jump to the worst conclusions about loud noises and blood.

"Good job Yor, you scare your daughter half to death the first time you look after her," she turned on the faucet, and began to wash her head wound, "Some Mom you're turning out to be."

"Anya do you like your ice cream?"

Anya smiled as she walked alongside her Mama. It had been a scary morning, but Mama hadn't actually been planning on killing her. She'd only realized it halfway through finishing up her test, but she did manage to finish all her work in an hour. But...well she hadn't done very well at all on any of it. She just couldn't rap her head around so much of what was being written, and she still wasn't a very good speller. But Mama had basically said she only had to do the review, not that she had to do well at it, so once it was done and graded, they had left their house, and gone walking around Central after a quick lunch of peanut butter sandwiches.

"I like it a whole lot Mama," she said, as they walked out of the Bourne's, the nearest ice cream shop to their house. They had mostly wandered the streets for an hour, walking until they had found a boutique. Yor had actually taken her in to try on some nice new clothes for when she was part of the class for the mission, and they had been there for a while. Also, Mama had to get a few of her own things cleaned, as some of the blood from her forehead had fallen onto her nice black dress.

'Honestly, it might be good to get it cleaned,' Yor had thought at the time,'Will be good to get any stains or wrinkles out before I go back to East City this weekend.'

After that, and a promise to come pick everything up Friday, they had gone out, and saw the Ice Cream Shop. They took the time to go and pick up some ice cream, and now they were walking to one of the parks inside Central. As they entered the Park, the passed by the steel grating on the outside, and saw the massive space. The whole place was really huge, with lots of rows of trees and big pools of water. There weren't many people out today, so really only she and Mama were out in the garden.

'So symmetrical, it feels almost unnatural,' Mama stared at the trees and hedges as they walked by, 'They must spend so much time cutting these gardens and plants to be exactly as they want them. Never letting the plants grow how they usually would.'

"Mama doesn't like the park?" she said aloud, and then Mama looked over at her, and placed a finger to her lips.

"Well, Ms. Anya," she seemed to consider what she was about to say next, "I clearly think they are doing a good job at making everything organized. They must spend a lot of time and effort keeping everything how they want it to look," she shook her head, "I just don't think nature should be so constrained like it is here."

"Ah, I think I understand."

Anya didn't understand, but she knew at times it was better to say that so people wouldn't keep talking about things you didn't understand. Sometimes, they just wanted to be told you agreed with them, and then they'd stop talking. It was something she'd heard Papa mention in his thoughts a lot on how to keep yourself from being suspicious as a spy.

Mama led Anya further around one of the large pools, and Anya got to put her hand near the fountain as it sprayed water into the sky. It actually helped wipe away some of the ice cream she had had, so it was okay. Honestly, this was the most fun she'd had...ever. She got to go out, got to put on a cute dress, got to eat ice cream. But...

'She seems happy,' Yor was looking over at her as she played in the water in her hands, 'Though I don't think she's happy with me, just with the stuff we've done,' Mama just shook her head, 'Am I really only a good Mom if I just buy her things she likes. Anyone can do it. It's not even my money, it's Lloyd's.'

'Mama,' Anya thought.

And then, Yor looked out through the gate, and saw a supermarket, 'Maybe, I can be more of a Mom if I cook well...'

Less than five minutes later, they were walking into a supermarket. Mama had admitted in her mind that she'd not cooked in years, but her wanting to attempt to cook to prove that she could be a normal Mom. Anya wasn't sure that was a good idea, but she wanted Mama to be happy, so if trying to cook would make her happy, then she was ready to eat it. Though her mother's current flailing while looking over a bunch of different meats was not making her feel like it would be very good.

'So, should the Salisbury Steak be made with sirloin or ribeye?' she continued to look back and forth trying to decide which steak was the meat she should be using, 'I've never made it before, but it's supposed to be pretty easy...'

"Oh miss," a new voice sprang out, and Anya and Yor looked up to see a woman about the same age as Yor, though she was slightly shorter. She had short brown hair, and a small basket just like Yor, and right next to her was a little girl with little blonde pigtails, "Are you having some trouble?"

'Poor woman looks like she's about to have a panic attack,' this new woman thought.

"Umm, I'm kind of new to this," Mama nodded, and waved at the butchers shop, "I've never really cooked before, I just left my job, and I was wondering about a recipe."

"Oh, what is the recipe?" the woman smiled.

"Well, I was wondering if rib eye or sirloin would be better for Salisbury Steak."

'Oh dear,' the woman thought, 'She really has no clue,' she looked at Yor for a minute, and considered, 'Did she just retire or something.'

"Actually, a Salisbury Steak has ground beef as the main ingredient," and at the sudden drop in Mama's face, and at the despair, the lady raised her hands and placed a hand on her shoulder, "I'll help you get some ingredients. I was actually going to be making that tonight too, so we'll just get that stuff together and-"

"Hi!" Anya was suddenly drawn away from the adult talk by the little girl, "My name's Elica, what's your name."

'She's a big kid,' the little girl thought, 'I wonder if she likes hopscotch.'

"My name is Anya, and I do like hopscotch," she said without thinking, only to slap her hands on her face. She had answered without thinkin-

"Great!" Elicia said, "You're my friend now!"

"...Can we just be friends now?"

"Yup. Daddy says I can do whatever I want to."

"My Papa says I have to study."

"What's study?"

And the next bit was a lot like that. Mama and Mama, Elicia really didn't quite remember her mother's name fully, walked through the store, getting groceries for their dinners, while Elicia and Anya would both talk about things, and generally just run around one another. It was honestly kind of fun, especially when they realized that-

"So your the new family that move in next to us," Elicia's mother smiled, all the while they were both checking out from the register, "What a small world. I'm Gracia Hughes, in case I didn't mention it."

"Oh, I'm Yor Br-Forger," she said, "I actually only got married," she rubbed the back of her head, "A couple of days ago, so I'm still getting used to the new name."

"No, I never would have guessed," Gracia said, the lady at the check out only now pulling out the first item from her basket.

'Knew it.'

"Anya!" Elicia shouted, "Let's race to the outside. First one there get's to lead at hopscotch when we get back home!"

"Yeah!"

"Don't run off too fast you two!" Gracia shouted, as the two little girls charged towards the door. Anya, for the first time in her life, had longer legs. So she was also for the first time in her life naturally faster than someone she was competing with. She quickly gained a lead, and smiled as she was about to slam through the open door, and win her placement.

And then she felt it again. A dark feeling, like back in the Dark Place or on the train. She almost immediately brought herself to a stop, skidding slightly on the floor, as she could feel lots of people hurting a lot right outside the door, even though she couldn't see anybody. She began to take a step back, to get closer to Mama, when suddenly, she saw Elicia pass her, the little pudgy arms of the girl up in the air as she waddled forward. Before Anya could say anything, Elicia was standing outside the door, and turned back, happily jumping up and down.

"I won!" the little girl declared, "I wo-"

And then a plain looking man, but one who was filled with dark voices, snatched up the little girl. Anya only had a moment to blink, before she shouted, "Mama! Mrs. Hughes!"

"Elicia!" he heard the other lady scream, and yet in a second, Mama had charged out the door. A second later, Mrs. Hughes was behind her, and Anya quickly was behind her, 'Even if it's a dark person, I can't let them take Elicia.'

As soon as they were outside, they caught sight of the kidnapper. He hadn't been able to make it more than half a block before they were outside. He was apparently struggling, trying to control the little girl in his arms, and he was still trying to move as he tried to keep her fidgeting. But that fidgeting was proving too much, and he just wasn't making any progress.

"Hey!" Yor shouted, pointing at the man who had taken up Elicia, "Let her go right now!"

"And if I don't," Anya didn't recognize the voice, but the dark presences was so great, and the last time she had read one of it's minds had been so scary, she didn't want to try and read who this was. She just stood there, next to Mrs. Hughes and Mama, as they stared down this kidnapper. He had short red hair, and a large stuck out nose, and was really skinny, and a sneer on his face. His clothes seemed to be a bit like Papa's, if Anya could guess, but dirtier. And into that dirty jacket, he pulled his right hand free of the girl he was holding leaving his left hand holding her mouth closed, and pulled out a gun, "Take a step closer, and I'll blow your brains out."

"Please," Gracia stepped forward, trembling, "You can have all the money I have, but please give me back my daughter."
"Ha, money," the kidnapper laughed, "I don't need what little money you have in that purse."

'A ransom,' Gracia thought, 'Is someone really about to try and blackmail a member of the intelligence agency,' her eyes widened, 'Could this be one of those WISE agents Maes was talking about?'

'I need to get closer,' Mama was looking over the gun pointed right at her, 'But I need a distraction. If he get's a clean shot off, I might get hit, and we'd lose him. Or he might try and use it on Elicia.'

Finally, Anya turned her attention to Elicia herself, being held by the dark person with a hand still over her mouth, and then heard, 'His hand tastes yucky.'

"ELICIA!" Anya shouted, "Bite his finger!"

"What th-"

CRUNCH

"YAAAOUUHCH!"

Elicia had done exactly to what Anya had said, and the kidnapper let out a great howl. The grip on Elicia's face loosened, and a second later, the little girl fell to the ground on her bottom. She then pushed herself up, and began to run towards them, shouting, "MAMA! MAMA!" as she ran as fast as her little legs could carry her. But while she did so, the kidnapper recovered for a second, and pointed the gun at Elicia's back as she ran towards her them, and for the first time, Anya could hear his thoughts.

'You fucking little bra-' and then his thoughts were cut off. Anya pulled her mind out of his head, and suddenly saw why the dark person had stopped thinking.

Mama was now standing right in front of the man. Before the sound of the gun could go off, Anya saw Mama's leg suddenly shoot up, well above where she had seen someone kick before. She wondered what had happened, and then wondered why she hadn't heard a shot go off, like in those radio shows. That was answered with the gun suddenly landed right in front of Anya, just behind the returning Elicia, who was quickly snatched up into Mrs. Hughes arms. Anya, blinked, staring at the gun as it laid harmlessly on the ground in front of her, and then she returned her attention to Mama.

"What the-"

And then Mama brought her leg down, slamming the back of her heel into the man's head, causing it to slam into the ground. The head of the kidnapper bounced off the sidewalk, and Anya could see blood pouring out from the impact. Mama caught herself, turned around, and glared back at the bad guy she had just beat.

"Don't ever let me see you again," she declared, her eyes having this dark slant to them.

And then for a moment, there was no sound.

And then sound suddenly returned as Gracia rushed over to Mama, and, while still holding Elicia in her arms, hugged the taller woman.

"Thank you so much!" Mrs. Hughes was crying, though even without actively reading her mind, Anya could feel that she was very, very happy, "I don't know what I would have done if he'd managed to get away from Elicia. I couldn't imagine not coming home to my family, and if...Waaguhgh!"

Mrs. Hughes lost control of her emotions for a second, and just began to cry while continuing to hug Mama. At first, it seemed that Mama didn't know what to do, but then Anya saw her slowly wrap her own arms around Gracia too. Then they all just stood there for a moment, and let the fear out for a moment.

"Mama's the coolest," Anya finally spoke up.

Mama then looked down at Anya, her eyes wider than she'd ever seen them.

"Really?"

"So how'd it go?" Lust was reading a little paperback as she watched Envy slink into the little room they were to meet at in Lab #3. It was a three pack of novels by that Furst fellow. Entertaining enough to distract herself for a moment.

"Great," Envy smirked, "Smashed her little head in."

"No you didn't," Lust closed her book, and just glared at the smaller homunculus. Envy was about to retort, when Lust continued, "I was literally across the street. On a balcony to observe what happened. You tried to snatch the daughter from the mother when she was distracted, but were disrupted, and got your ass handed to you. You then crawled away when they weren't looking because you know we can't reveal ourselves in the middle of a busy street," she shook her head, "I will give you that you at least showed some dignity in that, but your plan was stupid, and you deserved that kick."

"I nearly had her!"

"No you didn't."

"She was in my arms and I-"

"And that's the other problem," Lust slammed the book on the table next to her, "You went after the wrong girl. They were 1908, not 1910," she just shook her head, "Honestly, that you ran into them while following the other woman was just a mix of really bad and really good luck."

"Wait...then that bitches daughter is the target," and then a cruel smile crawled up Envy's face, and he almost began to cackle, "Oh man, when I get my hands on that little girl, I'm going to rip everyone of her little fingers off, and leave it on the bitches doorstep."

"No you aren't."

"Why the hell not!" Envy pointed back at her. He wasn't thinking clearly, and Lust supposed had she been humiliated in quite the same fashion, she wouldn't think clearly as well. But she had to end this before it got out of hand.

"Envy, you can't kill Subject 007, not just because she just isn't worth our time, but because her mother is our employee," when Envy blinked at that, she rubbed her temples, a gesture that was far too human for her liking, but one that her fellow homonculi had driven her too, "That woman, the one who knocked you around like a rag doll, is the Thorn Princess. The legendary assassin."

"You mean-"

"Yes," Lust confirmed, shaking her head. A smile formed on her lips, "she's the one who we hired to go kill Scar this weekend."

"What a day," Lloyd Forger groaned. He'd had to spend all day doing paperwork and meeting the staff at his new hospital. That alone wouldn't have been enough to exhaust him, but he had also taken the time to scout out all the pathways and escape routes through the building, and to memorize the names and faces of all the staff he could. The pure amount of work he'd put in today was exhausting, and he was just ready to be done. But more than that, he'd been stressed out thinking about Anya. The girl still needed to pass her exam tomorrow, and he hadn't been able to check in on her or Yor.

"I hope that everything is ready for tomorrow," he shook his head as he finally walked up to his front step. He pulled out his key, "I'm just glad I get some peace and quiet for a while. I'm filled with nothing but worries."

He placed the key in the door, and as he was about to make to unlock it, the door opened. And standing in front of him was the smiling face of Maes Hughes, with his almost opaque glasses and stubble covered chin. He was smiling an unusually goofy grin, and seemed to have found Lloyd to be quite amusing as he stood out there on his front step.

"Howdy neighbor!"

"Lieutenant Colonel Hughes," Lloyd couldn't contain Twilight's exhaustion, "Why are you in my house."

"Well our girls had an adventure, and after everything me and my lovely Gracia decided we should all have a great big dinner together!" he grabbed Lloyd by the shoulders and pulled him in, "Hey Gracia, Lloyd's finally arrived!"

"Oh, Lloyd, it-," a short haired woman stopped, and looked him up and down for a second, "is nice to meet you," she was in an apron, and Lloyd could already smell some of the food being prepared in the kitchen, "You are younger than I thought you'd be."

"I told you," Maes laughed, pulling his wife into a hug, "Still, his boyish good looks haven't got anything on my devilish charms, do they?" he seemed to wiggle his eyebrows and now Twilight wanted to die.

"Of course not dear," Gracia laughed, before making her way back to the kitchen, "Anything special about your potatoes?"

"I'll," Lloyd sighed, "I'll come in and help make those in a minute," he was already doomed. If they were already in his house, he probably wasn't going to able to get them to leave. He then blinked, "Wait, where is my family."
"HYAH!" he heard an adult female voice carry out of the den.

"HYAH!" he heard two squeakier voices follow in unison.

Lloyd, against Twilight's better judgement, twisted his head, and saw Yor, now in a large white exercise shirt and tight fitting exercise pants. He almost thought about how muscular she looked in that outfit, but then he noticed not one, but two little girls, both Anya and the little girl he remembered from Hughes's standing beneath her. They all had one fist forward, in what was a fairly standard fighting stance. He blinked, and stared at the scene in front of him.

"Yor," he finally got out, "What are you doing!"
"Self Defense HYAH!" she punched her other fist forward in a standard training motion.

"HYAH!" the two little girls followed in unison once more. Lloyd might have been impressed by the discipline they were showing if he didn't want to jump out a window this very moment.

"Just look at my little Elicia," Hughes seemed to wiggle right next to Twilight for a moment, and never before had he questioned the reputation of one of his enemies as much as he did now. The stubbled man then bent down in front of his daughter, "Isn't she just so strong and brave!"

"HYAH DADDY!" the little girl's other fist shot forward, though it only ever hit air. A second later, Hughes grabbed his chest, and fell over backward in a heap.

"AAAGH! You got me!"

'Yup,' Twilight considered the hell he now found himself, 'Nothing but worries.'