I didn't get much sleep that night. Let alone a moment to break out and escape.

Jumba kept moving about, back and forth. Thankfully he took me out of the cage and unshackled me, allowing me freedom, however it was just to start performing the intrusive tests. When he said they were intrusive, he meant it.

He shoved tubes down my throat. Shone bright lights into my eyes and poked and prodded inside my ears. He made me open my mouth to 180 degrees again. I flinched when he put multiple needles into my body. A few times I snapped and growled at him in frustration. When I swiped at him for getting too intrusive, he pushed me down into the table.

"Don't make me shackle you again, 626 because I will!" he said angrily. "This needs to be done."

He eventually ended up knocking me out with a sedative when I got too angry with him being intrusive. When I finally came around, I was back in the cage, shackled.

"LET ME GO!" I screamed, and he jumped, dropping a tray of metallic instruments. There was a loud crash as it fell to the floor.

"I'M NOT A PRISONER!"

"BLITZNAK 626!" he roared back at me. "I KNOW THAT! BE QUIET!"

I growled even louder at him. He sighed and put his hand to his head.

"Look. You know this is being for your own good. If you do not let me test you, then how else am I supposed to be preventing this from getting worse? I am the ONLY one that knows you and I am the ONLY chance you have at fixing this. You just need to trust me, 626. The last thing I am wanting to do is hurt you and as your father is paining me greatly to put you into this situation, however is either this or face second doomsday. Which do you prefer?"

I couldn't answer him. My throat locked up again.

I turned my back and just curled up into a ball in the cage. He sighed, before leaving the room again and finally I felt tears start to leak down my face.

I wondered if this was depression I was feeling. Another voice had opened up in my mind.

It wasn't the voice I'd been hearing for the past month – no, this was something else. This voice was encouraging me that life would be better for everybody else if I was gone.

Jumba wouldn't be working himself to death trying to fix me. Nani wouldn't be stressed anymore. Lilo wouldn't have to worry about the future.

Things could go back to normal for them.

I didn't want to give in to this voice. I needed to be strong. But right now? I wasn't. I was at my most vulnerable. I felt weak and exhausted and was in no position to will up the mental strength I needed to ignore the voice.

The thought of having a simple way to destroy the Metamorphosis System from activating was alluring to me. I'd been haunted for my entire life with visions of what I'd done to Turo and I was prisoner of my own thoughts due to it. I could finally be free from those. Nobody else could ever understand how I felt and despite Jumba had been a criminal as well he wasn't the one that had decimated innocent aliens and ripped them limb from limb – I was.

I could go back to that state of not being aware I existed. I couldn't describe what it was like because there was simply no way to. It was just nothing.

An eternal void of nothing was better than constantly reliving the hellscape I'd created on Turo. Seeing the decaying bodies of aliens I'd mutilated, reaching out to me in my dreams. And if I was going to do it all over again to Kauai...

It was too much to handle. My mind was made up. It had been for a while.

When Jumba finally fell asleep from exhaustion, I broke out of the cage and shackles and ran out of the ship.

The highest cliff in Kauai was just on the outskirts of Kokaua Town. It was the same one I'd been on with Jumba only shortly before, when he'd finally revealed the horrible truth about my past. The first time I'd seen it was when I'd rode up there with Lilo on Mertle's tricycle. I'd realised there was no city here that day and that was how my destructive programming had been eradicated.

It was because of that very moment atop this cliff. How could I carry my purpose if there was nothing here for me to carry it out on?

I'd eventually forgot, and that was how Lilo had saved me.

She couldn't save me now though. Nobody could. And even though he was trying, Jumba couldn't either. He was just fighting a losing battle. The Metamorphosis System couldn't be stopped.

Doomsday was inevitable.

I wasn't going to put him through that pain again. He'd suffered enough after seeing what I'd become on Turo. He'd made a terrible mistake and I wasn't going to let it happen again because he'd been paying for it his entire life. It wasn't fair to him.

I approached the cliff and proceeded to climb up it. Once I went over it, there was no coming back.

Ever.

But as long as everybody else was safe, I was okay with that.

I was nearly there. Only a few steps away from getting up to the cliff. I was going to do this, and nobody would stop me.

...Or so I thought.

As I climbed up onto the cliff and proceeded to walk up to the edge, a shadowed figure came into view. My vision focused on their facial features and my jaw dropped in disbelief as I realised who it was.

It was Nani.

Nani looked down at me. I looked up at her. Apart from the sound of the waves crashing against the cliff ledge below us, it was a relatively calm night.

"Jumba had warned me you might try this," she finally said in a blunt voice. "That's why I'm here."

I sneered. "To what? Stop me?"

She nodded. I couldn't believe it.

"But isn't this what Naanee want?" I asked her. "Think about it. You be stress free. Everybody happy."

She was quiet for a few moments.

"Not once ever have I thought you leaving us would be the best solution, Stitch," she responded. "Do you really want to hurt everybody like that?"

"Hurt already," I responded. "Going to hurt more anyway. Wouldn't make difference."

"Yes, we are hurt. All of us are" she responded. "Even humans think suicide is the right answer sometimes, so you're not alone in that belief. I contemplated it when mom and dad died. But the one thing that stopped me ever going through with it was Lilo, because I couldn't put her through that after already losing our parents. Suicide is the ultimate form of selfishness, whether you think otherwise or not."

I glared at her. She stood her ground. "If you go over that ledge tonight Stitch, you'll destroy all of us. You'll make Lilo depressed to the point even I won't be able to save her. She only moved on after our parents death because you came into her life. Is that what you truly want?"

I looked away at that.

"I know you're stronger than me. You could easily push me aside and do what you think is best for yourself. You know I'm deathly scared of you right now, after seeing what you started to change into. But I'm doing this for the sake of your father and for my sister. Because I don't want to see them suffer through the pain I endured after losing my parents. That's why I'm here."

My ears flicked slightly. I looked at her out of the corner of my eye.

"I'm furious you kidnapped Lilo and it's probably going to take us a long time to get back to the way we used to be, Stitch. Our relationship is broken right now and I don't feel like I can trust you – I can acknowledge that. But do not think for a moment I will allow you to make Lilo suffer again, or have to tell your father his only child is never coming back. That's why I have this."

She pulled out the same dart gun Jumba had used on me last time and I eyed it in her grip. I had no chance against that thing if one hit me.

She aimed it at me. I could tell she was shaking, badly. Nani had never used a gun in her life.

"If you try to get past me, then I'll shoot you."

"And what if I dodged?" I challenged her. "You really think you can hit meega? Naanee not Jumba. Stitch, years of tactical manoeuvre training. Naanee never hold gun in life."

She went quiet at that and lowered the gun slightly. I'd dented her confidence.

"Kre'vshist dz libahx."

"Stitch, you know I cannot possibly understand you."

"Exactly."

I used her momentary confusion to dart around to the cliff ledge and kick her leg out from under her, but not hard enough to hurt her. She screamed and fell down, dropping the gun. I knew she would and grabbed it.

"NO!"

I just shook my head. I held the gun up to her. "Even with this, naga agabba. Face it, Naanee isa no match for Stitch."

She looked crushed, but then I saw tears form in her eyes. "Fine!" she rasped. "Fine, Stitch. You're right. I am no match for you. But when I break the news to Jumba and Lilo you're never coming home, I hope you at least acknowledge that you were the one responsible for destroying them beyond all repair and permanently ruining their lives BECAUSE THIS ISN'T THE ANSWER STITCH!"

I felt the air leak out of my lungs at hearing that shout from her. I lowered my head.

...She was right.

I turned and looked down at the water below, my ears blowing behind me in the wind. It was a long way down.

"..."

I really did think this was the best option. It was the only way to save everybody's lives. To prevent Kauai from being destroyed. I'd killed thousands on Turo – I didn't deserve this life. I didn't deserve to live for what I'd done, and I'd always felt that way.

I'd always felt that I shouldn't be alive, and for that reason it was hard for me to accept or believe that people cared about me as much as they claimed to, even though I knew it was true.

Lilo and Jumba had proved that to me. I looked back at Nani.

The woman was clearly ill, stressed and worn to the bone. Not to mention pregnant; she shouldn't even be out here right now. Thankfully the cliff ledge was soft and she hadn't been hurt when I'd knocked her down but yet here she was, out here to stop me from plunging to a watery grave. I'd always thought she'd wanted this. But now I realised I was wrong.

Nani might have been angry with me, but if she really didn't care she wouldn't have come out here to stop me. She would have just let me do it. And with my state of mind, I probably would have. Because of what she'd just said to me, I realised I did need to reconsider my choices. It seemed desolate now, but maybe this wasn't the only answer to fixing the problem after all.

Essentially, she'd saved my life tonight.

I stared at the dart gun, before throwing it back to her. She'd been hugging her knees to her chest and looked up from the soft 'thud' as it landed beside her, before looking at me.

"...?"

I turned to look out over the water again. "Take it."

"Stitch?" she asked.

"If you think I'm going to jump, then go ahead. Shoot me."

"..."

She stood up to her feet shakily behind me, picking up the gun and aiming at me. She was quivering badly. I turned back to look at her.

"...A-are you?"

I stared at her for a long moment, before looking away. "No."

Nani lowered the gun, but remained wary. Slowly she edged towards me. I just stared at her.

Eventually she reached out, and I felt her hand take my lower right paw. She flinched, as if expecting me to lash out at her, but I didn't.

We just stared into each other's eyes.

"Come home, Stitch." She tugged at my paw gently.

"But do Naanee want me home?" I asked her.

She closed her eyes. She knew the implications behind my question.

"Yes. I do. We are still ohana, broken or not."

That was all I needed to hear from her. I eased back with her as she pulled me away from the cliff ledge. She continued holding me until we were back on the mainland.

I looked up at her.

"Naanee really care?"

She started crying again. She didn't respond but instead picked me up and put me over her shoulder in a hug. I closed my eyes.

"I don't want you to leave," she told me. "I've had to break the news of death to Lilo once before... don't ever make me have to do it again."

"Okeytaka..." I mumbled into her shoulder. I felt awful. "I'm sorry. For everything."

She stroked my head as she carried me away.

"I'm sorry too. You're not the only one that hasn't been themselves lately."

I looked at the cliff ledge one last time as I was carried away from it and for the first time in a while, I felt somewhat at peace.

It was almost three in the morning when we got back home.

Nobody was asleep. They were crowded around me in the family room as Jumba nearly screamed himself hoarse at me. Lilo was hugging David's leg, terrified.

My father was furious with me.

"AFTER ALL I AM DOING FOR YOU, YOU STILL ONLY THINK OFFING YOURSELF IS BEST SOLUTION?! HOW ABOUT NOT THINKING OF YOURSELF FOR ONCE, EY 626! OR IS THAT TOO HARD FOR YOU EVEN?!"

"Jumba, calm down! Please!" Nani pulled him back the best she could. "The main thing is that I was there."

I couldn't look at Jumba. He always scared me when he was in temper. He knew this was untrue, but his anger had taken ahold.

"ANSWER ME YOU STUBBORN LITTLE–"

"NAGA!" I cried, pulling down my ears. "NOT THINKING OF SELF, THINKING OF OHANA!"

"Sure doesn't seem like it!" he growled in response.

"Jumba, listen to me for a moment!" Nani interjected. He crossed his arms and faced her, but he paid attention to her.

"Instead of yelling at him, perhaps try to understand why he did it instead. When my parents died, it took every last inch of willpower for me not to do the same thing..." she said softly. "And I don't doubt there was some point in your life where you felt at your lowest..."

My father just stared at her. I could tell he was thinking over what she had just said to him. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"So why did you do it then?" he muttered, eventually turning to face me.

I had my back turned to them at that point, hugging my knees close to my chest.

"Naga paso aga tabay huresto."

Jumba approached my side at that. I looked up at him. He picked me up and held me out in front of him.

We stared at each other.

"I can understand why you are doing this 626, but you know is not right solution. What if there was chance, problem could be fixed? Would never be knowing if you were gone. Death could have been avoided."

I looked down.

"Yes I was at lowest, multiple times in life. Jumba pushed on, and look where it led me. Better life... here on Earth with family, an ohana... and you, my own child. Things do get better, 626. You are not alone in struggles."

Nani nodded at me slightly from behind him.

"I know, you do not like suffering through this. Through my tests. But am doing so to save you. You are knowing they must be done. You're strong, 626. I created you to be strong and to not give up. I never once gave up on you – so don't give up on me. Don't make all my efforts be in vain."

I choked slightly at hearing that. Jumba noticed. He put me over his shoulder and hugged me.

I felt awful and foolish. I was declining so badly lately and my mental state was going downhill fast. I was well aware at this point I wasn't myself anymore.

Or so it felt like, at least.

I had just felt as though everybody would be safe if I was gone. I couldn't go through life knowing I would likely destroy Kauai and kill my family and that was what had pushed me over the edge. Like when I'd taken the ship and crashed it. The thought of hurting Lilo past the point of no return was my worst nightmare.

I had thought my decision was rational, but they all thought I was irrational. Perhaps it was time I started seeing things more from their perspective and not just my own.

They wanted to help me, yet I was shutting them out. I did so because I knew the consequences of what could happen if I lost control of myself, while they only had a small idea of what I was truly capable of. Apart from Jumba, they'd never seen me at my most destructive. Nani thought me ripping out those trees was the worst thing she'd ever seen. She had no idea I'd demolished an entire planet.

I didn't want them to ever see that side of me. I didn't want my nightmares to become their reality. And I certainly didn't want them to live through the nightmares I faced on a daily basis.

None of them were a prisoner of their own crimes. I felt Jumba stroking my back and as I'd done with Lilo, I began to study their expressions.

Nani looked worn down and exhausted, but she was still standing her ground. She'd gone out and ensured I'd come back home safe. She'd fulfilled her duty in the role of a true carer and guardian and my respect for her had gone up significantly, despite what had just transpired between us.

Pleakley was hugging a stuffed animal (it was typical of him). David was holding Lilo. Both of them were watching, trying hard to stay awake. Lilo kept yawning, but even so their worry was all too apparent.

The agents were there, but they had backed off. I looked at them, before pulling back.

"Stitch... do it because feel like enemy," I finally admitted.

They looked confused at hearing that from me. Nani came closer towards us and Jumba pulled me back again to look at me. I continued.

"Point guns at me. I feel like criminal – enemy. Stitch not bad. 621 bad. Is why Stitch run away. Take Lilo. Have to force you to believe me."

There was an awkward silence. One of the agents cleared their throat. I struggled gently against my father and he put me down.

"Stitch NAGA kaphong!" I thrust my arms out. "Go point gun at Chops, or 6-26B's instead! Actual bad aliens!"

"Stitch..." Nani began, but I continued.

"All life, been targeted. Had guns pointed at. For being meega! Enough! Don't do it again!"

"But what if... that thing happens again. Like it did before?" Nani voiced quietly, looking at me before looking at Jumba.

"I do not know, Nani," he responded. "But 626 is right. Besides, pointing guns at him will not help case anyway, you are knowing he is bulletproof. Just be hoping such incident does not occur again. Am doubting it will."

My father didn't sound too sure of himself. He looked at me and sighed.

"For now, main focus should be on events coming up. Things are bad, yes, but let's at least try focus on something good. Will serve as good distraction."

The agents dispersed after that. David took Lilo back to bed and Pleakley fell asleep on the couch, one agent remaining to guard alongside a UGF soldier.

It was just Nani, Jumba and I in the kitchen at that point. Jumba picked me up again and sat me on his arm.

"Thank you."

Nani had been pouring herself a glass of water. Upon hearing that, she turned to face us.

"For saving him," Jumba continued. "My son."

She nodded. "I almost lost Lilo to her grief. And we already have lost him once before..." she reached out and put her hand on my cheek. "Never again."

I couldn't look at either of them.

"Even if things are rough between us Stitch, you are both still ohana. Nobody gets left behind."

"Or forgotten?" I mumbled.

"Or forgotten."

Jumba nodded, holding me against him.

"Perhaps wedding will help heal open wounds. 626 and I have been through a lot," I looked up at my father at that. "Is about time something good happened."

Nani agreed before yawning.

"I have booked in a doctors appointment for tomorrow afternoon. I explained to Mr Wong my situation. He's allowed me the day off so thankfully I don't have to be up early for once."

"Stitch sleep beside Lilo?" I asked.

She looked hesitant at that. "I know that I cannot keep you away from her Stitch. But her safety is my priority."

I looked down. I couldn't control if anything happened to me.

"Lilo smart," I said. She looked confused so I elaborated. "Sense danger. If see Stitch change, she run."

"Alright," she replied softly, "I'll get her from David."

She turned to leave, but looked back at me. "I do not trust you right now. But I know that not allowing you to be near your best friend isn't the answer."

I shrugged. "Stitch cannot control."

"But you could control kidnapping her."

"Nani..." Jumba warned, but I put a paw to his mouth. I sighed.

"Yeah, perhaps I could," I muttered. "But Naanee wanted police to take me away. Not talk to me first. You in wrong too, ih?"

She sighed through her nose at that.

"You don't believe Stitch not hurt Lilo, despite you know well that Stitch never hurt her."

She paused. "Well, what would you have done to us that day? When you changed into whatever that... thing... was?"

Ugh. How the heck was I supposed to answer this? I couldn't just outright say the real reason why I'd changed.

I shook my head. "Naga nota."

"Would you have hurt us?"

I paused. "Ih, I probably would have," I admitted and I saw Nani flinch at that. "But Stitch naga in control, of body. Like when glitched. I do not know what I am doing."

"You're in control now though, correct?"

"Ih."

"You really scared her Stitch so I don't know how she'll respond."

She sighed. She didn't say anything more after that but simply put down the glass and headed into David in their bedroom. Jumba just rubbed noses with me supportively before putting me down beside him.

Nani returned shortly after with a very tired Lilo.

Lilo stared at me for a while and I stared back at her. I had no idea what was on her mind and I didn't know if she was angry with me or not for what I'd done before. I had frightened her after all, and she'd been very quiet since then. I had apologised to her before I'd been shot by Jumba and I was truly remorseful for what I'd pulled her into. I felt like the worst alien in the world.

Jumba and Nani watched us quietly.

I slowly reached out my paw to her. She looked away to the side, and I could tell she was apprehensive. I lowered my ears and tried a different approach. One that I knew always made her smile.

I started thumping my tail against the floor. Despite I wasn't happy, she knew I only did that when I was super happy about something.

Or when I saw her.

She bit her lip but she eventually smiled and laughed. She ran for me and hugged me.

"Soka..." I said over her shoulder.

"It's okay..." she yawned. "I forgive you."

Nani looked looked as us tiredly. "Bed. It's well past your bedtime Lilo. I'll allow you to sleep beside each other but only on the condition you monitor him closely, Jumba."

He nodded. "B.U.G already on it. I need to rest too. Will sound alarm if anything within 626's mind is changing. Is scanning brainwaves now on a twenty four hour basis. They will be safe with me in the ship."

Nani nodded. "Goodnight."

Jumba picked both of us up and carried us back outside to head up the the ship. One of the UGF soldiers followed us. They were odd looking creatures, strongly resembling a species called 'dinosaurs' here on earth. The guard's helmet was up and he stared at me. I stared back at him. For some reason he looked familiar to me. Then it clicked.

He was one of the guards that had shot at me during my escape after my trial. I'd dodged his laser blasts by going into an air vent.

My eyes were about to close when I heard the sound of leaves being crunched somewhere in the distance. I flipped up my ears and the guard raised his gun.

A few seconds later a squirrel ran past. My heart thudded slightly. Jumba looked alarmed as well, a prickle of sweat on his forehead.

Chopsuey and the 6-26B's were still out there. We were lucky they'd been quiet for a little while, but then again, that wasn't exactly a good sign. Who knows what they were planning?

Jumba hurried into the ship at that, the guard standing post outside. I could hear his heart pounding.

He locked the ship up tightly, before bringing us down to his bedroom. He set Lilo down gently, pulling back the covers before putting me in beside her and then climbing in himself.

I snuggled up against him, my angel right beside me.

"I'm sorry 626. I know you did not like being in that cage... feeling like prisoner," my father muttered. My eyes flickered open.

"I used to do same thing to 621. It was wrong. But... I need you to comply with me. At least until I am being finding answer."

I nodded.

"I do have more tests to perform later on, but you can have break while I spend day repairing cruiser. Have fun with little girl for once. Try not to stress about cell and focus on being happy. Trust me, will help."

"Okay..." I muttered and felt him put a hand on my head.

"Goodnight, son."

"Night papa," I responded, unable to keep my eyes open any longer.

As I drifted to sleep, I smiled at the thought of Nani stopping me from going over that ledge and for the first time in a while, I managed to have a decent sleep.