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burndownthehousetonight · 7 years

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((This was absolutely not how @tinyredartist and I originally drafted this part of the recovery narrative and I don’t care one bit I like it anyways:) ))

Of course Aria and Terra couldn't stay at their old apartment, not after what had happened. The room had already been searched when they came to find Aria, what if they came back? And of course, the many wilting flower bouquets didn't help make the place seem any more appealing. All they had do to was find a new house, and they would be fine.

Easier said than done. With Manic living with Scourge, the only places the couple could crash were the castle and Fiona's loft. Not bad places by any means, but tense locations. Fiona was still seeing the king from time to time, leaving several relationships in the house up in the air to some degree. The only person out of this battlefield of emotions was Faolán, who could make anyone's presence happier, as long as he wasn't complaining.

Usually.

"Ariaaaaa," he said as he ran into her, a loud handheld system in his left paw. "Can you take me to the video game store? I can't find mom." His normal pep seemed diminished, as hard as the beeping music tried to make things upbeat and exciting.

Aria dried off her hands after washing them clean of paint. “Sure thing sweetie. What are you going to get while we are there?” She asked, grabbing her purse and checking for cash. Fiona usually repaid her after she took Faolán anywhere. "There's- There's that Hishiko game! I've got the new moon, not the full moon version... but! But, there's a new one! The eclipse version!" He was getting a little more of his energy back as he spoke about something he loved. "Mom said I could get it if I got an A in my math class, and I did! I got it!"

Satisfied with the money, she helped the little boy get his shoes and coat on. She knew Terra was at work, and Fiona was… Well… Either working or with the king. Neither warranted any more than a brief text to let her know where they were going. But the child concerned her

“What’s up buttercup? You’re not as cheery today” Even his energy had to run out, and when it did, the little fox wore his emotions on his sleeve. "It's been a week and she's always too busy. She promised me...!" He did everything short of stomping his paws on the ground, but his voice never got to a yell. A tinge of regret flashed over his face, and he looked away with a grumpy face. "Sorry," he said, meaning it but no less annoyed with his mother. For his age, he seemed well behaved. Whatever leash Fiona kept him on must have been very short. “It's okay sweetie. You’re allowed to be mad. I’ll talk to her, see what I can do. As for the video game store, I want proof of that A in math mister. Go get me your report card”

As she sent him off, she sighed. Things had changed badly from before. She was more panicky, nervous. Terra was too. But Faolán was taking this worse than them, because Fiona was too busy with the king. Aria pulled out her phone

{Fao got an A in math. I’m taking him to get that game he wanted like you promised.)

{I don’t know what you’re going through right now, but maybe you should come home and play with your son for a bit. He misses you a lot) The fox had made herself busier just to distract from everything that had happened, and much of her spare time was spend with the king. She was indeed busy then, and the few other people she spoke to in private were just as invested in figuring out Fiona's normal business. "Police presence is getting stronger near the old bread factory," she said to another pinned location on a map. She thought for a moment, taking a marker and X-ing out a few locations on the other edge of town. "Bits, stir up trouble over here Thursday night. Get as much attention as you can. Get most of them to leave the area, then we'll push the rest out. We can't let them get any ideas-" The quiet buzz was massively out of place in an otherwise serious environment. She reached into her pocket, expecting another spam text... "You're staring." Someone pointed out. She wasn't expecting such a heartwarming message. "Something come up?" "...No, it's nothing." Fiona lied. She'd handle that soon enough. But for now, the 'read' receipt was left on Aria's phone. It was going to be a while before she could talk with Fiona, but not before she could talk to Faolán, running back down the stairs with a slightly crumpled, slightly torn report card. Sure enough, there was a low A in math, barely edging up to the grade. A list of skills a student should have for a class, with progress denoted by a letter grade. Sure enough, most of the math section was filled with As, leaving him with a big shiny A and a smiley face drawn on by his teacher. Aria inspected the card, humming and pretending to think, clearly teasing Faolán. She couldn’t stay serious for long around him, and giggled.

“Welllll okay. Because you’ve been so good. You all set to go munchkin?” She asked the tiny child, scooping him up and nuzzling his face.

She also sent a text off to her mate, asking if she needed her to pick any games up for her gamer wife. At least Terra understood Faolán’s obsession with games. Aria a little less so, but she had grown fond of it when her mate and the pup had constantly spoke about them.

She opened a warp and grabbed her purse. ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ All afternoon, the little wolf had been playing his game with a passion. New places, animals, everything! He sat huddled up in a throw blanket with the volume up, late into the evening. So late, in fact, he ended up falling asleep where he said, music still playing from the device. When her warp back was opened, Fiona went to investigate the noise. "Fao... how are you, Fao? Are you liking the-" He was asleep. Fiona sighed. Too late to talk to him again. She turned back to the king who opened the warp, closing the device. "Your... people have been giving Fao his medicine, right? When Aria's not here?" Not something she needed an answer to, just something less depressing to talk about. “Yes, of course. Rosy is a mother herself, she knows exactly what to do, and so do the other four or five guards that rotate.”

He bent over, lowering the volume on the device and plugging it in to the wall to charge so the boy wouldn’t lose his save data.

“You should take him to bed,” was all the king could say. It wasn’t his place to tuck Faolán in, but he strongly implied it. Fiona knew, first handing her phone over to the king. "Can you type something," she asked as she picked up the little boy in her arms. Surprisingly strong, given how she looked. "I need to send a message to Aria..." {It's hard to make the time. I miss him too.) She seemed totally used to carrying the wolf, as though she'd carried him to bed many times before. "His doctor says he shouldn't go near those forests, he shouldn't be near poison ivy." The words were spoken in a hushed voice as she draped the blanket over the sleeping child. She rubbed her temples. "Make sure he doesn't leave the castle alone. He doesn't get how dangerous immunodeficiency really is..." She leaned against the wall outside the room, sighing and looking like a massive weight was taken off her shoulders. "Long day," she said. Those texts from Aria sure didn't make her feel better, either. Scourge did as he was told, and listened intently to Fiona’s orders about Faolán.

“I already told the guards he’s not to go near the forest, I wouldn’t want him getting lost. Don’t worry. He’s safe here… It sounds like he’s missing you a lot. Maybe take tomorrow or the day afterwards off? Spend some time with him? Fiona I guarantee that one night won’t hurt anybody.”

He wanted to hold her, but the lines of their relationship were blurry. Was he allowed to touch her when they weren’t hidden behind closed doors? He put his hand on her shoulder. Close enough. "I know," was all she said. she didn't protest the hand on her shoulder, onto rubbing her temples as she tried to calm down from her day. "He's been angry at me a lot lately, too. I don't blame him." What was she supposed to say from there? It was just a depressing situation to be in. All she wanted was some kind of comfort. She stopped rubbing her head to look up at the king. "Do you have any of that amaretto left?" She asked, not particularly caring if anyone saw them being close. "I need to forget today for a while." “Of course. But only one glass for you then bed, okay? Sleeping it off may help, he insisted, leading her by the hand back down to the living room and pouring them a glass each before putting the bottle away.

“A glass for the lady,” he joked. Making a fool of himself again to lighten the mood. He didn’t know what else to do for her, so he sat and waited for her to start talking. When the silence grew too unbearable, he prompted her.

“Did you wanna talk about today? It might make you feel better.” "You don't want to hear about it," she promised him. But he was making that begging, almost puppy dog face, and she knew she wasn't getting out of it. "Ugh. I've been trying to handle some stuff with an old factory and some new stores popping up, but I kept getting called for all kinds of problems. There was a university smartass trying to count cards who wasn't confessing, then some thugs trying to break into the nightclub under the building, then a... ..." Problems piled and piled on top of each other, with the smooth drink loosening her up a bit more. Maybe the king was making an ass of himself, but he was making her laugh, and she was at least starting to look more fondly on this stuff in hindsight. "...it turns out they WEREN'T from a gang I hadn't heard of." Fiona chuckled as she put her glass down. "They were just some college kids spray painting some internet meme thing on random walls." He laughed at the story, the two leaning on each other to support themselves. He loved the sound of her laugh and the fact that he could make her happy.

“Kids. I swear sometimes there's just no understanding them. But at least that’s a little less of something to worry about”

He didn’t want to mention the last time they had been drinking in this room. They had created a tangled mess of emotions for them to sort through. And the king was doing his best to straighten himself out. Fiona was similarly concerned, but not as much as the king. Her emotions had leveled out again, and she was enjoying being with the king. And this didn't really count as drinking, right? Just one glass of relatively weak alcohol? It was a kind of warmth she didn't often get the chance to feel. But all things had to come to an end, and even after sipping it as slowly as possible, her empty glass was placed down on the table again. "I should get some rest," she said, "I need plenty of it." Yet they sat. Companionship was more than rare for her, and it almost felt like a waste to end a friendly chat then and there. “We should. It's late. And you have some university punks to teach a lesson or two in the morning.”

He didn’t move either, just enjoying her company. They hadn’t spent much time together as of late, not any kind of time that would matter anyways. He truly had missed her, but it wasn’t something he knew how to explain. He almost pressed closer, just to see how she would react. But he didn’t want to push her too far. She saw the subtle movements, so subtle that it didn't even seem like he knew them. Was he trying to get closer...? No, she could go further with him tonight, she was too exhausted. Legs uncrossed as she stood up, carrying her glass over to the bar and looking at the king. "Good night, your highness." And Fiona was gone once again. Would they get to talk again the next day? Maybe not. Her son missed her too much, and was too young to have the same understanding Scourge could have, but that didn't necessarily mean she couldn't see them both. ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ "Are you going to play your game the whole walk over?" Fiona asked. It wasn't really supposed to be a long walk, just through the castle rose gardens with Scourge and Faolán. But the wolf was too enamored with his game to stop playing, even then. Scourge reached out and lifted a branch that Faolán was about to run into, chuckling. “Careful kiddo. We don’t want you getting hurt.”

The king leaned back a little to whisper to Fiona. “Maybe we should stop and let him sit to play for a bit. After all, as much as he wanted to see you, he doesn’t care for sharing the time I don’t think. Maybe talk about the game with him?”

The king shrugged as he gave suggestions and idly inspected a wilted rose or two, sighing. “The heat is killing these flowers.” Fiona put her hands on Fao's shoulders, starting to redirect the child as they changed course. Just enough to move them towards a gazebo near the center of the area. Faolán quickly hopped up onto the bench inside, with Fiona sitting down next to him shortly after. "I've never played one of these games," she started. "What exactly is it about?" She could almost see the stars in his eyes. "Well... Well, you're a guy called a skyglider, and you're on this quest to find someone called Eris, and... ...!" He was excited to talk about his game, for sure. But it definitely wasn't what Scourge was planning on talking about. It seemed like what one of them liked, the other wasn't interested in. 'This was a terrible idea,' she thought silently. Scourge did his best to give Faolán time with his mother, while also trying to follow the conversation. He also tried to avoid acting like Faolan was his child. It wasn’t easy. The little one seemed upset that his mom’s attention was being diverted between the king and himself.

Yet he still listened and asked questions as Faolán explained the game, trying his best to make the other boy comfortable. It was nice seeing Faolán chipper though. Lately they all needed to spend time with him, his unwavering source of innocence and purity was a break of fresh air. For just a few moment, Fiona truly did relax. She forgot about her many stresses, and just focused on enjoying this time with the two- All of the bleeping music was joined by an inharmonious buzzing sound. Not long after starting her break, Fiona had already gotten a message she was quick to reply to. {Card counting punk from yesterday snuck a gun in, holding him in the cell. Says he wants to sue the owner, need you to scare him.) {Can't you handle it?) {He's serious, only wants to talk to you.) She let out a heavy sigh as she weighted her options. "I'm sorry... Fao, I've gotta go, there's some stuff at work." She said, patting the child on the head. She looked at Scourge, annoyed. "We can talk tonight, can you watch Fao before Aria gets back?" “Sure, not a problem. Guess its just the two of us, right kiddo?” He nodded at Fiona and turned to Faolán, trying to make light of it all.

The kid didn’t like him. Maybe he thought he was stealing Fiona’s attention? Or trying to replace Castillo? He certainly saw the fox more, but that wasn’t his intention at all.

“So what’s new kid? How’s school?” "School's done," he said simply. Perhaps summer break hadn't started there yet? His normal excitement when talking to people was gone, but at least he wasn't ignoring the king. He hadn't done anything REALLY wrong. And it was back to his game. Without Fiona there to talk to them individually, all that was left was an awkward quiet that left them to come to their own conclusions. Fiona had already rushed into the castle and out of sight. Scourge was stuck with the child. "Why haven't you let dad and Manic come back?" He asked, but he didn't seem to blame the king, or even sound angry. All that was left in his voice was acceptant sadness. “Wow, already with the big questions? I’m not surprised… Well, it’s kind of complicated. Let’s just say that your father and Aria got into a really big fight before… Well… Before that thing happened to Aria and Terra. They need time to readjust and cope with it. Your father being around her might make it worse. But when she’s not here, that’s up to your parents to decide, not me. Listen, you’re lucky to have a dad like Castillo. I promise when everything gets better, that you and Castillo and everyone can come over whenever you want. Deal?”

A sudden paused, then he looked back over at the pup. “This isn’t anyone’s fault. I don’t want you getting mad at Aria or either of your parents, okay?” "I won't," the boy promised, sounding no less sad. It wasn't the answer he wanted, but it was the one he was stuck with. Those tall ears flicked a little while he mulled over what the king had said. "Manic's my dad, too. But I won't get angry at him, either." That hadn't helped the way Scourge had hoped, he wasn't any less sad. He still missed his dads. He missed his mom. He even missed Aria a little. But instead, he was stuck waiting. Stuck with this king, who only felt like some cold tease. "Can I go get a sod- a juice?" All he had to do was distract Scourge, and then he could run somewhere else in the castle. Somewhere alone! Yeah, that could work, right? “I really am sorry kid. I can’t even begin to imagine how this feels. But I promise, it’ll get better”

When the other requested a drink, the king saw right though his plan. “Sure kid. Let’s go back inside, get you a drink, and then you can call your dad and see if he’s busy. Aria won’t be home until late.”

The king got up and tilted his head, motioning to the pup for him to follow. “I know you don’t wanna spend much time with me, but you can’t run off. Your mother would not be happy with either of us”

From behind Scourge, the ghost Fiona appeared. She pressed a finger to her lips and motioned for the little boy to follow the king. It took all of the manners Fiona had tried to teach not to stuck his tongue out at the ghost and run away anyways. But he didn't really have a choice. Every step back towards the kitchen was grumpy, but he was moving. Making Fiona angry at him sounded good, though so did talking to dad, and that's what he really wanted. That and a cola, but that was a different kind of want. "Where do you keep the soda?" He asked, maybe just a little curious in case he wanted any late night snacks. When they reached the kitchen, Scourge pulled two colas out of the fridge and handed one to Faolán.

“In the fridge, where else?” He seemed a little confused until he realized that Fao was used to having junk food hidden from him.

“Imma go get my phone. Please stay here? I don’t want you to run off and get hurt.” The king ran out of the room as fast as possible, only leaving a slight breeze.

Ghost Fiona appeared and sat on the counter. “Hello again little one. So, what’s bothering you?” How long would he have to talk? He didn't particularly want to talk anyways, and spent a good few seconds just puffing his cheeks and looking down. "Everyone's fighting again." Not entirely accurate, but it was succient enough. "I just wanna see mom and my dads, not just..." This was the same thing. Sure, she was fun and liked to go on adventures. But she just felt like another carrot dangling in front of him, taunting him. Cheeks puffed out again in frustration, and he shut his mouth. “I'm sorry. But the king is trying his best. I don't know what else to do to help sweetie. I can only imagine how awful this feels for you. If I could help, I would but… The king can’t see me. And your mom… She would only get scared. I don’t want to do that. But I promise everyone loves you sweetie. A lot.” She kissed his forehead and the king returned with his cell, already talking to Castillo. “Yeah, here he is.” The phone was given to the child, and Scourge could have sworn he had seen someone else in the kitchen. But it was empty. Maybe he should go to the optometrist. The little paws fumbling to hold the phone were totally audible to Castillo, who was relieved to finally get a call in. "Kid! Buddy, how you doing?" He said, trying not to sound desperate to talk to him, but it was still his son. "You hear there's some kinda... what's the word, eclipse version of-" "Yeah, I got a copy!" Already, the child's tail was swaying a little even as he clung to his crabbiness. "It's fun. ..." For once, he didn't really want to talk about it. "When are you coming back?" All he could do was give a heavy sigh. "I hope soon, kid. But if mom don't want me picking you up, I can't do nothing. Uh, we could always... ..." The words evaded him. "Gimme that" was said in the background in Manic's voice, and he reached forward for the phone. "Hey, brumby! I got Scourge a copy of that game! Hey, maybe you could play over the internet? Would that work?" The surprise of him having that game was enough to stun him out of the mood he was trying to force. "What...?! What, really?" The phone was handed back to Scourge, who only stopped listening to his son's overexcited babbling when Manic leaned in to whisper something. "I think I have buy you a video game now. And a console." He admitted, scurrying out the door in a moment. Scourge merely laughed and smiled at the kid’s tail thumping against the counter top. He was glad that Faolán seemed to feel better.

Fiona clapped, excited for the boy as well. “See, told you so!”

Scourge looked over at the child’s enjoyment and thought about talking to his mother. The fox didn’t trust Castillo, but she trusted him, didn’t she? When she arrived in the evening, she was in a hurry to see how her son was doing. And she was thrilled at seeing how excited he was. She even let Fao stay up a little later than usual, just to make him happy. "Whatever you said, remember it. He doesn't always get this happy." It was a fiddly process that involved Fao talking on the phone with his dad, his dad making a character, and the two sending some communications stuff back and forth. But they were on the internet, in this little game, able to interact from miles away. That didn't mean he dropped the phone, of course. No, they were playing this live with each other. It was so many of the things he enjoyed at once... it was too perfect. They didn't want to interrupt, so Fiona and Scourge sat at a distance, letting them make sure he wasn't doing anything bad but give him space. "Maybe you should babysit instead of Aria?" Fiona teased at Scourge. "You're great with kids." “I said nothing, just gave him the phone. Ah, I’m not half as good as she is. She helped raised her little siblings, and there is a lot. She was pseudo adopted by a woman who had 19 kids and she helped raise them all. My first contact with other kids was when I was 13 and the kingdom demanded a ball for me. It was horribly awkward.”

He clearly was uncomfortable with the compliment but smiled all the same. “So how was work? Lemme guess, that guy isn’t bothering you anymore?” He teased back, playfully.

Ghost Fiona floated around the two and rolled her eyes. Her dorky husband was still just as awkward now. Fiona just laughed and leaned forward. "Well, he wasn't lying. His daddy really was a lawyer," she started. "A lawyer who specializes in inheritance disputes. I asked one of my guards to crack his knuckles in front of him; You could watch him turn to jelly!" This time, she didn't even have to drink to get to laughing with Scourge. Putting a dumb kid in their place and seeing her own kid this delighted was more than great, it was stellar. It just felt good. Good in the simple way, in the deep emotional way. It was a thoroughly warm moment that she just wanted to revel in for a while longer. A rare happiness. "But you still didn't tell me what it took!" She said, not wanting his little subject change to distract her too much. "What's making him so happy?" “Fiona, all I did was give him the phone. Castillo did the rest. Well, Manic mostly, but Castillo for sure. I can’t say anything that wouldn't be more effective coming from them. Hell, Faolán doesn’t even really like me, and then I can’t blame him! Just…” The king paused to collect himself. “Look. I’ve been in something similar to Faolán’s situation before. I was raised by one person and I never got to see my mom. Well, she was dead, but you get the point. And while it’s not exactly the same, I can see why being with Castillo makes him so happy. Maybe you could let him come over here to hang out with Castillo every once in a while? Just to have a neutral ground?” Fiona's hand swirled around, but she wasn't making her normal disgusted face at the news. That was a good sign. "If he's had fights like those, he'll have fights like that again." Fiona said. Yet she was still in thought. "When is Aria coming back to babysit? They shouldn't be in the same house together." “I don’t know. She’s doing something with Terra and they didn’t say when they would be back. I agree, but maybe after all of this settles down it wouldn’t be a bad idea? Faolán would like it a lot I bet. It would be nice to see him this chipper more often.”

He looked over to her, studying her expression. He never could understand what she was thinking. Maybe this time her face would give it away. All it belied was sadness and deep thought. "I don't know why he looks up to him." She grumbled, but not sounding as angry as she normally would. "He needs more friends in general, not just adults. He just needs company." But then again, Aria and Terra needed all the support they could get, and even Manic and Scourge leaned on each other. "We all need company, I guess." She held her head in her hands. "It's hard to meet new people who can look past my job. It gets sickening." “I can’t say anything to that. He needs to find friends on his own. There isn’t anything you can do. And yeah, we all need company, you’re right.”

He brushed his hand against hers with a soft smile, trying to stay within his boundaries. “I get it. I do. I’m the nations favorite punching bag, it's not easy. People get intimidated or scared off or they try to use you… I've been lucky, managed to pick those ones out right away. But still…” "We've all had that, but fuck me if we don't have it worse than most." The line had a short laugh, that kind when she was still warming up to something uncomfortable. Namely, her own betrayals. "I don't want that to happen to Fao..." She just looked on, at her ecstatic child poking away at his device and getting absorbed into the fights alongside his dad. A lingering, longing kind of look. A look that just for a few seconds, wondered if this was in a way her betraying her child's needs. "...Fine. You win." She admitted, quieter than usual. "But keep him under close watch, you know how he runs off, I don't want him to get hurt." Her own hand patted Scourge's, a thank you without needing the humility to say the words. He blushed, and kissed the back of her hand gently. Luckily Faolán didn’t notice, far too absorbed in his game. “It's good for all of them… But I don’t know if I can control Faolán all that much. When we were in the garden he was gonna book it until I mentioned how disappointed Castillo and you would be. I think we need to set Aria and Castillo up for a talk or two. This needs to be worked out.” "If they can," Fiona said. "He's too stubborn. If I was in her place..." For once she couldn't finish the thought. Fao was so genuinely happy to be with him. She wanted to bash him to hell and back, but not if it meant hurting her kid. Her emotions tumbled between anger and sadness at a moment's notice. There wasn't a way out of this without a little sacrifice. “Aria is her own creature. We can’t control her or decide anything for her. We just need to get him and Manic in a room with her and let them talk it out.” The sound of a grandfather clock chiming played in the background, but became more apparent in her mind. Eight chimes. This was normally his bed time, but he was so happy...! "Hey... hey, Fao?" Fiona walked up to her son, hoping to juice this happiness as much as she could. "If you promise not to be too loud, I'll let you stay up tonight. I'll let you have the room and the TV all to yourself!" Scourge wouldn't be able to hurt him through a phone call, right? She knew she was going to regret it immediately, but she forced herself to say them through her own emotions.

He was presently surprised when she offered Faolán a later bedtime, and the whole room to himself. She was sacrificing just a bit to make Faolán happy and Scourge was relieved. At least she was giving in a little.

But where was she going to sleep? Fao couldn't have been more excited in that moment. Sure, he hugged his mom and told her and Scourge goodnight, but both hurried rushes were followed with him rushing to get back to the room... only to run back downstairs after his father suggested he raid the kitchen for snacks. Fiona didn't stop him, thinking he was only going to take a soda. Seeing him like this was genuinely heartwarming for her. "You have a lot of guest rooms, right?" She said, rubbing her temples. "I'll just use one of those, or maybe warp back to my home. I don't know." Their relationship had draped a sexual tension over everything they did. Fiona wanted Scourge to say it himself, but she knew he was probably not going to want to say it himself. "You... don't believe that, do you?" She said, giving a bit of a smirk and a laugh. “I mean… The offer is always open Fiona. I wouldn’t mind.”

He was blushing. Sexual tension wasn’t something he knew how to deal with, and certainly not with a child in the room. His hand found hers again. and if nothing else, he gave her a cheesy and awkward smile to laugh at. Getting up, he made his way over to the bar.

“Did you want the usual?” He asked, mixing a nightcap for himself and holding the fox’s favorite booze up. He didn’t have any preference for it, bit he knew that she did. "Absolutely," she said with a smile. Yeah, a little alcohol would put her nerves at rest, and the sound of her son scampering up the steps with crinkling bags of chips just said that they wouldn't have to worry too much about him. For now. Because he did have a blast, flipping through channels and going even farther in the game, but he was used to falling asleep around eight. Eleven was a new record for him, and just about then, even he had to admit his exhaustion, closing his device to charge and flopping onto the bed, bloated and tired from many types of chips and junk food. Exhaustion only meant that he was going to go into a deeper sleep with more vivid dreams. This was a familiar place, a dreamscape he had seen before plenty of times. It was a fake home, resembling the architectures he'd seen but with rooms at strange angles in strange shapes, and details that were always shifting just a little. He once again started walking through this house as though he'd been there many times before, straight to where he somehow knew the kitchen would be. Two faces greeted him there. One was familiar, his mother, eating another strange food he'd seen but couldn't identify. But the other wasn't anyone he knew. It wasn't really anyone. More of a vague, mouthless mass of a being, an anthropomorphic body seemingly controlled by robotic parts. It tilted it's head to look at the child, but there were no features on its translucent blue flesh. Surreal was the perfect word to describe the scene. The child took a wide circle around the… Thing that sat in the kitchen and hopped up onto a seat next to his mother.

“Mom? What’s going on? What is that thing? What are you eating? Where are we?”

The dream Fiona laughed, but it sounded hollow, artificial. “Full of silly questions aren’t you?” The house was a mishmash of rooms he had seen before, distorted in his imperfect memory and further by the normal distortion of a dream. It felt familiar, like it was almost home. Almost.But Fiona was important to home, and this wasn't her. It was more like a caricature of the two Fionas he knew scrambled together and stretched. She wasn't ugly by any means, but everything about this room and this person felt like they shouldn't have existed. And that blue thing was just looming, watching with a blank face from a distance. In his normal style, Faolán ran. Ran into some kind of adjacent long hall he somehow knew his way through - an amalgam of the castle halls. What wasn't familiar was a quiet clacking, squishing sound, and through that door he had just left, there was that thing. Peaking it's head out and slowly walking forward, in a totally natural yet entirely unnatural gait. He ran as fast as his little paws could take him, but fear was starting to distort whatever this was even further. Did it get bigger? Was it taller, maybe a little faster? This was like nothing he'd seen before, and he dearly wished he hadn't. Out of nowhere, his mother called from far away.

“Faolán ~ Faolán why are you running? Don’t you wanna say hello? Faolán~ Faolán ~ FAOLÁN!!”

The last shout was the ghost Fiona who had woken him up once she saw he was having a nightmare. She hugged him as best she could.

“Shhh… Its okay… I’m here.. It was just a bad dream.” Right then, the wolf was running on a mix of adrenaline and fear. It wasn't scary in a normal sense, instead leaving him completely unnerved, on edge. The ghost was trying to hug him, and it was clear that she was trying to comfort him. But her faint embrace would only make things worse. "No... No!" He yelled, jumping away from the ghost and stumbling towards the door in a fit of confused anger. "You're not my mom! You're NOT!!!" Where was his mom?! She always stayed up late, maybe downstairs? Maybe it was in that living room again? The steps pattering along the cold stone floor and his nervous panting were lost on the sleeping castle residents, yet he could swear he heard a step that wasn't there! Was it that- No, it couldn't be! But the fear was there, list there was something following him, and he sped up. Speeding down the stairs, making a beeline right for that living room they always spoke in. The door creaked open, letting out no light. "M-mom?" He said, stepping in nervously. His eyes were adjusting to the dark, and he couldn't see anything. He was just left alone in a dark room, with the unshaking feeling something was chasing him. Scourge and Fiona had vacated the room long before, leaving the fox’s cell phone behind in their haste. The ghost knew Faolán would panic even more, so she flew upstairs into the bedroom where the two had fallen asleep.

The ghost shook Fiona a little, but when that didn’t work she was hesitant to … Well she had no choice.

The ghost shook Fiona awake. “Wake up! Wake up! Can’t you hear your own son calling for you?” She hissed, trying to make the form that Fiona could see less person-like and more of a vague spirit. She wasn't awake enough for words to even register, and swatted away whatever was in front of her. Through tired vision, the blur of a specter just turned into a mass of colors that could be mistaken for some kind of groggy delusion. "Can't you hear your son calling..." Those words finally started to register. Was he in danger? She hurried to get out of bed, grabbing her clothes quickly and stepping out into the hall. "Faolán?" She asked. But the long hall didn't sound of anything, aside thequiet sound of some kind of television. It sure sounded fine. "Fao, are you alright?" When the door was opened, she had to take a moment for it to sink in. Faolán was gone. Scourge didn’t hear anything, but he felt his bedmate leave and got up as well, throwing on pants.

“He’s probably gone for a snack, come on,” he insisted, walking down to the kitchen. The ghost followed, finding Faolán covering in a corner of the living room. They wouldn’t see him on their way to the kitchen!

She faded completely, even Faolán unable to see her, and started knocking bottles off of the bar shelf.

“The bar?” Scourge asked, allowing Fiona to lead the way. He couldn't help but duck and cry. Whatever was following him was clearly trying to attack him, and he had no way to fight back. He was trapped. He was trapped. The light flicking on was a major scare for him, but seeing his mom rushing towards him relieved him just a little. Just enough to run up to her and cry into his mom's hug. She didn't even know what to say to him. "You're safe, Faolán, no one is going to hurt you." This didn't seem to null his fears. All Fiona could think to do was pick up her son and sit on the couch, letting him cry as much as he needed. "What happened, Fao?" "I- I had a dream, and-" He sniffled and cried the whole while, not able to say more than a few words at a time. "And then they were chasing me, and I woke up, and they were- they were still chasing me!" The king, still exhausted from his earlier ‘exercise’ with the fox, rubbed his face. The poor kid much have been terrified to have run behind the bar.

He walked over to the mess and started cleaning the glass away, them mopping up the alcohol. Odd. If Faolán had run back here, wouldn’t he have had to step in the liqueur? But the floor was clean.

The king looked over at the shaking child and grew concerned, but merely snapped a photo on his phone of the spill and then cleaned it all up.

From the shadows, the ghost queen cried, upset with herself for scaring him more. "Buddy, there isn't... that might have been us." Fiona said, comforting the child. "There's no one here who can hurt you, I wouldn't let anyone get that close to you." But the child was still crying. "I wanna- I wanna see dad...!" The more quiet ways Fiona protected him didn't stick in his mind as firmly as the brute force Scourge tended to scare people away with. It took Fiona a moment to think of what to say. "Baby, he's not here right now." She told him, doing her best not to sound desperate. "But the king is here, and we can always call your dad." "I don't want the king here..." The words came out of nowhere, slapping Fiona in the face with their bluntness. "I'm sorry?" "I don't WANT HIM HERE! He's not my dad, I hate him!!!" The king couldn’t stop his ears from flicking back as the child screamed he feelings out to the world. The ghost queen grew angry and the room grew cold.

The king quietly left the room, stopping at the door. “I’ll call Castillo and see what I can do.”

The alternate was called and Scourge fiddled with a warp ring. “Hey, Faolán had a nightmare and he’s not calming down. He wants to see you.” "Huh?" The alternate sounded groggy. "Fuckin' hell... Alright, get the warp here." He didn't waste a second, running straight into the room as soon as he passed through the warp. Fiona was too stressed out to feel anything more than annoyed at Scourge's entrance, but it was what Fao wanted. "I'm here, kid, it's me." The wolf had barely turned his head when Scourge was already sitting down. If it weren't such a stressful night, he would have been thrilled. But all this meant was he had someone else to cry with and keep him safe. "Dad, there's- There's someone following me through the castle, and I woke up, and they were still-!!" "Hey, no one's gonna hurt you." Scourge told him. He was actually hugging the little boy, not caring about looking soft for once. His crying was slowing down, but he was far from comfortable. "You wanna watch some TV, kid? Stop thinking about this crap?" With a nod of the little wolf's head, Fiona was already searching for whatever channel would be playing kids cartoons past midnight. The king left them to their bonding, feeling just a little bit hurt. He didn’t know why. Fiona would always choose Faolán over him, and could respect that. But he had been nothing but nice to the wolf, and he was still hated.

The ghost queen, still quite upset, followed her husband out. She couldn’t let him see her, but that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t try to help.

Scourge cleaned up his room, folding Fiona’s clothes and returning them to the bedroom she and Faolán shared. He shut and locked his door for the night and thought back to his own wife and child.

“Maybe it was for the best… I would be a shitty dad,” he thought aloud and then rolled over to get some sleep. The little boy was starting to calm down as he clung to his dad and watched some young children's show. The normal silence of the castle felt even quieter somehow late at night, almost eerily so. The scared little boy had two parents to help him through a rough night, and he was starting to calm down. Slowly, bit by bit. Until he was sleeping against his father, Scourge himself dozing off not soon after. She wanted to move him so Scourge couldn't hurt him, but his unconscious arm around the child swatted her off in his sleep. All she could do was drape a blanket over the kid and turn off the lights. "Good night," she murmured. The king's door was locked from the inside, and faint snoring could be heard through the door. So much to talk about, and no one to talk to. In her tired state, she went to her room to get a piece of paper, and slipped a note beneath the king's door. "3rd floor balcony walkway - 9 AM - We should talk" At 9 am the next morning, the balcony walkway was much chillier than usual. The king had grabbed them both a coffee and waited for Fiona to arrive

Of course, Ghost Fiona was there as well, and several other ancient ghosts, who had been watching it all unfold.

He half expected the living Fiona to ditch him, leaving him waiting on the balcony alone while she went to work or fought with Castillo. He hid his surprise when she shows up, and merely offered her the coffee. A small container of milk, cream and pot of sugar were left for her. The coffee itself was untouched. His own little payback, he knew how she liked her java, but he was still a little resentful for no good reason. "I'll get Fao to apologize for what he said," she started. Only a small amount of cream was poured in - she didn't seem to mind, she felt more in control this way. "He's... just a kid. He's a kid who was scared, I don't think he really knows what that means. Scourge is eating breakfast with him, but he's still scared." But that wasn't what she brought him up there to talk about. If she had known there was a small number of ghosts watching, maybe she wouldn't have spoken, but it was a question that needed to be asked. "You've been different." Chilled breezes only made the warm coffee in her hands more comfortable to hold. "You've been kissing and hugging me more lately. You remember what you said last night before we fell asleep?" He probably did, but just in case. "You called me beautiful. I could feel your heartbeat getting faster, too." The cup was slowly put down back on the table. "Do you... need to tell me something?" “Don’t. Faolán needs to learn that while outbursts aren’t productive, they need to happen. It just doesn’t feel good when a little kid doesn’t like you, you know? Makes me wonder what kind of person I am, if a little kid thinks I’m awful.”

Her sudden change in topic surprised him, and but shrugged slightly. They weren’t quite ready for that deep of a talk. Not after the most important person in her life made it clear he despised the king.

“Just looking for a little attention is all. You don’t usually instigate. And of course I remember, I meant it. I mean, its not like you didn’t already know.”

Clearly there was more to be said, but the king didn’t know where the line was. Where did she want him to stop, what statement would make her shut down? He didn’t know. Didn’t want to push it. He was growing closer. Much closer than Fiona had planned on. Spending time with the king was always nice, but this wasn't the way she cared about him. And what would Scourge do if he ever heard what she thought the king felt? Fiona didn't know either, and she didn't want to get an answer. She didn't even want to keep talking about it. Another long sip of coffee. "We're driving him mad," Fiona admitted. "He needs to see his dad more... and you less. But Scourge has lashed out before, I don't know how to keep him safe. And he sure can't be near Aria, whenever she comes back." If her nose was any more scrunched at that line, it would fold into her face. She put her hand on the king's shoulder, careful not to graze him with her claws. "You're a good guy. But we shouldn't sleep together for a while. It's for Faolán, alright? It's the best we can do for him." “I completely understand. Faolán is still young, he needs you two more than anyone else right now.”

He drew closer physically and stole a kiss on her mouth. A quick one, and his blush afterwards was bright.

"Sorry… Figured I’d grab one for the road." he joked, trying to bring some humor into the conversation. The tone was too serious. He had to pretend it didn’t hurt as much.

“Yeah… Well her and Terra got back from their honeymoon two nights ago. Maybe we should have her talk to Castillo tonight. Maybe you can take Faolán to a movie? I don’t think you want him around those two right now.” She didn't react too much to the kiss. She was barely surprised, and almost seemed to brush it off like she was annoyed. "Let me see what I have on my schedule." While Scourge couldn't see what Fiona was reading, how much she was scrolling through her messages said that it wasn't a negligible amount, and a tense expression as she got further down the list only hammered in that point. "I'll see who I can get to cover for me," Fiona said. not making any promises. Words had gone cold again, her face back to her default sternness. She tilted her head. Even with her eyes closed, it seemed like she was gazing into Scourge and silently judging. "And how are you going to restrain Scourge tonight?" “He’s not going to attack Aria. And even if he does, she’s going to cut him into ribbons. Manic and Terra and I will be around to control him somewhat. And if you can’t get the night off, we can always have Terra or Manic watch him.”

His ears flicked back, ashamed of himself, and he shifted away from her. He was always fucking up around her. She was always annoyed with him. It was a plan. His common sense had put together a solid plan, but Fiona wasn't totally convinced. She didn't have the time to dwell too much on it, her phone immediately getting a text. And another. A few shot back at her in fact, and she ran down the list of names. "...I've dropped most of my tasks for the day." She said. Her body deflated in the chair. This only left club maintenance and orders, legals on the hotels, and auditioning entertainers. A very easy day. "I need to- spend time with him anyways." This judgement towards Scourge was gone from her eyes. "I'll send someone to help protect you anyways," she said, "I don't want any of you to get hurt." She didn't give that a moment to sink in, immediately standing and walking for the door. "Thanks for the coffee." She was gone again, down to do whatever business she had. Later that evening, Aria and Terra had come to the castle for dinner. Castillo was an unexpected surprise, and Aria's jovial mannerisms dimmed.

However you couldn’t be sad for long when Faolán showed up. The ball of innocence and joy was scooped up into a hug. “Oh I missed you munchkin!"

Terra laughed, ruffling the pup’s hair and then turning cold when Castillo tried to say something to Aria. "Hey." Nothing more, just hey. He tried to put on a smile seeing his son like this, but he couldn't even look up at Aria. Whatever was going to happen to him, it was going to hurt. "Ariaaaa!" He pretended to be annoyed, pushing her hands from ruffling his orange fur. "We're gonna go see 'Princess Rosella's Magic Whirlpool!'" Fiona was standing in the doorway, happy but slightly dreading a movie that looked like it was animated on a budget of about five dollars. "He's been missing you both," Fiona said, pointing the words straight for Castillo. The girls set him down and Aria gave the boy a wrapped box.

“We were on vacation all over the place, and found this for you.” In fact, everyone received a gift. Faolán got a region exclusive case for his handheld, Manic got a pair of drumsticks, with a design of musical notes and scores hand carved into them. Fiona received a necklace, her favorite jewel the accent on the golden pendant depicting a F. The king received a locked titanium briefcase and a hug. Castillo, the only one left. He was given a leather jacket, made of quality but lightweight material.

“For the summer.” Was all Terra said, clearly still glaring at the hedgehog, but only subtly. She didn’t want to make a scene around Faolán.

The king took the case and left the room with Sergio. They returned a few minutes later without the case. The jacket hurt more than any insult could. The sheer humility of it was enough to make Scourge's guts twist. "Thanks," was all he could say, the words carrying new meaning as the gesture ripped away his pride for a short while. "You shouldn't have," Fiona said, graciously accepting the gift. Perhaps not her taste exactly, but she always needed new clothes anyways. Manic and Faolán seemed like they were having a contest to see who was more excited about their particular gift, and each was happy to give Aria a hug. Or in Faolán's case, her legs a hug. "What, you buttering us up to get you REALLY good weddin' presents?" Manic teased. "Nah, really man, you're too nice, thanks a ton." The hug was more to give Scourge time to fold the jacket and leave it on the side table. Looking at it was only going to remind him of his own failures, and Manic needed to give him space. The jacket was meant well, and Terra was reprimanded by Aria, mumbled in a quiet, rushed tone. It wasn’t supposed to be something vicious. It was all kept quiet, and Faolán was unaware of it all, too distracted by Manic.

Manic's statement made Aria roll her eyes. “Haha. No. Why bother with wedding presents?” She shrugged.

Time passed quickly and soon it was time for Fiona and Faolán to leave. Aria gave Faolán a tight hug goodbye. She really had missed him, and she wasn’t sure if Castillo would allow her anywhere near him if he was so pissed off about a present. Pissed off... it certainly looked that way, maybe even dismissive of the gift, but he seemed just as ashamed at his place at the table. Anger wasn't there - or at least, not as much as she first thought. Manic sat down next to his husband. The king and Manic were on either side of Scourge, and he was sitting directly across from Aria. There was no doubt why they were there now. "I think it's time you guys figure this mess out," Manic said, patting his husbands hand. Scourge just stared back, his face creeping towards anger. And a blush. Actually, he looked downright pissed as he held his head in his hands, looking down at the table in total shame. This wasn't an anger focused at Aria, this was entirely pointed right at himself. He mumbled something, but the words were illegible. “What is there to say?” Was all the hedgie asked, curious to see what the two green hedgehogs thought was going to happen.

“I mean really. He destroyed my home, and then his actions got your -” she pointed at the king, “- reputation ruined. And you think flowers I’m allergic to and a heartfelt apology are gonna make up for that? Because you couldn’t let Fiona go, because you had to have her fixate on you, you put yourself in the spotlight and almost got me and my wife killed. You’re real fucking stupid Castillo. And so are the two of you if you think that an apology is worth my time.”

Dinner was served and Aria pushed her plate away. Suddenly losing her appetite. His heart rate increased, his breathing got tense. Everything about Castillo implied that he was getting worse and worse the more Aria said, pounding home points that he had already nailed into his skull. Regret was just multiplying, and Scourge was doing everything he could to stop it from turning into anger. "What's it gonna take." The words would have sounded pissed if he wasn't so visible terrified. He looked up, clearly restraining himself. "What the hell else was I supposed to do, nothing? I wanted to save your life, kid, I just- I couldn't!" Anger only fueled desperation. "There was fucking nothing I could do! I tried investigating and coming in to get those assholes, I'm trying everything over here! What's it supposed to take?!" One fist slammed on the table as he tried to hold back horrified frustration. "I don’t know what’s its gonna take, maybe we need to physically fight, who knows? I sure as hell don’t! Hell, I don’t even understand the logic that got us to this point? All I know is that I’m not going to forgive you just like that. It's going to take time. And fuck you two for thinking anything different. I’ll be civil for the sake of Faolán but that is it.”

She got up from the table and left the room, headed for the back garden. Terra followed her wife, glaring at Castillo.

“Well… That wasn’t totally useless.” Was all the king said, thinking. “I mean… Maybe duking it out would help you both. If we get Damian on standby maybe you two can relieve some stress.” Castillo was just cringing in fear. He sure as hell didn't want to fight Aria, there was no good scenario there. But Manic was thinking differently. Far, far from how these two were. "She thinks this all comes from... from you needing attention," Manic said. "Like, the kidnapping, I mean." "Don't remind me..." "That's not what I'm saying." He held his head in thought. "Yeah, Radon joined in, but wasn't he just there as like a last minute change? And like, he wanted to trade out Aria for him, right?" He was spinning his spare hand around as he spoke to keep him thinking. "But like... Aria wasn't even brought up in those tabloids. How the hell did Chrissy and Bobtail know where to look for Aria?" “… Didn’t Chrissy work for Rosolio? Aria's employee information would have been on file… But those files are sealed. And how did she know to get to Fiona?”

The room was silent again. The three boys thinking. The king thought of something, but didn’t dare speak it aloud. Fiona… Fiona couldn’t be involved, could she? No. She cared for Aria too much and wouldn’t put Faolán in danger. But then again, she was an amazing actress. Regardless the king stayed silent. Thinking.

Aria and Terra were in the garden, snuggling on a bench as they looked up at the stars. Oblivious to the men inside and their conversation. If they knew their stars, maybe they could identify a few constellations. The lily, the cannon, the nautilus all twinkled invisibly above them. But to them, it was just a wide field of stars to relax and contemplate under, not that they wanted to contemplate. They wanted to stop thinking. Stop thinking about Scourge and live their lives. Manic and Castillo were definitely trying to think at that moment, Manic speaking through their dinner before it got cold. "I'm just saying," Castillo said, "Fiona's men are ace with security, I don't think it'd be that easy to get in. Not to mention getting old Rosie's files." "Bobtail screwed up the emergency stairs security, he carried one of 'em back down, and Chrissy took the other out the window." Manic was toying with his fork while he tried to speak. "We already heard all that. But how'd they even know she was at Fiona's place?" "We saw 'em on camera, they broke into her place and tried to talk to you." Scourge said. "Someone had to be giving them info!" “Aria mentioned a bull that was waiting at the bus stop. She said that she assumed it was security of Fiona’s but what if it wasn’t? What if that guy told those two?”

It was worth looking into and the king started a small investigation into the matter. Very quiet. A two man job. For now though, the king drank his wine and swirled it in his glass. Not thinking. Trying not to think.

No one wanted to think. No one wanted to try anything of the sort. Not Aria, not Terra, and not Scourge. They did their best to eat. Do something, stay happy, try not to get too somber. There was one thing they could count on to bring them a little joy, and they could hear his tiny footsteps clopping down the hallway. "Hey, squirt." Scourge said, trying to act casual but silently thrilled to see the little boy. He was still clutching to an oversized cup of orange soda. Even with his orange fur, they could just tell he'd spilled plenty on himself. "So come on, kid, tell me about it." Scourge said. He peaked over, watching Fiona leave to get something at the bar before whispering. "And tell me if you took my advice." He didn't even need to explain. Faolán silently reached into his jacket, pulling out two boxes of sour gummies and one box of chocolate caramels he absolutely did not pay for. "Atta boy." He wasn't worried about the king or Manic seeing, as they were silently distracted by something on Manic's laptop. An IM chat with Damian, as a matter of fact. "The orange boy returned, can you think about it some more? You said you recognized her, anything you can remember would help." Damian’s respond was short. Nothing about the bull at the bus stop made any sense to him. He suggested asking Fiona and Aria. Maybe even Faolán. Soon, Aria and Terra rushed into the room laughing like children, drenched from head to toe.

“Okay, so who turned the sprinklers on outside?” Aria said with a laugh, clearly not angry. Terra left and reappeared with some towels for them to dry off with.

“Oh hi there munchkin! How was the movie?” She asked, bending down to Faolán’s eye level for a hug. "It was great!" Fao said. He was sitting around so many people who he cared about at once, he couldn't help but wear a massive smile. "It was really pretty, and the songs were really nice, and...!" Fiona plopped down in a chair next to the king. She had a glass of wine in her hand, and looked as though she had survived a war. "You could count the frames of animation," she groaned to him so Fao wouldn't hear. "...and there was a cool town with bright colors and a really funny dog, and...!" "I couldn't tell you where the jokes stopped and the convoluted plot began." She took a long gulp. She was going to need more than one glass. The boxes were safely stashed with Scourge, but he couldn't help opening one box of sour gummies right there. "You wanna candy?" He asked Fiona and Terra, holding out the box after cramming a few in his mouth. “You had leftover candy? That’s not like you at all munchkin, are you feeling okay?”

She checked him for a fever and politely declined the candy. However she noticed that there was no ‘proof of purchase’ sticker on the box. The theaters liked to slap those on any candy that was bought to show it was their product. And they never forgot.

“Faolán sweetie. Did your mom buy those for you?” She asked, using a slightly more inquisitive tone than usual. Terra stopped what she was doing and looked nervously over at Fiona, who was already being poured a second glass of wine by the king. Then the bat glared at the two green hedgehogs. "That was all me," Scourge said, not missing a beat. "Thought things'd be tense, went out and bought him a little something to distract him." Not something that could really be proven wrong, especially since he'd never admit he sat in the van and yelled at himself in anger after dinner. He reached under his jacket and pulled out the second box of gummies, leaving the chocolates right where they were. "Figured he'd be pumped full of sugar anyways, what's a little extra gonna hurt?" Aria didn't look like she was buying it. Manic didn't look like he even realized what was going on, too caught up in looking up reviews to see just how bad that movie was. Faolán ate a few more gummies, just rolling with the lie. "Can we get some- some 'poison sludge' next time?" Not a request for a lethal poison, but for some sour candy. Scourge just grinned and pointed his thumb behind him. "We can get some right now, if you're up for getting outta here." I.E., 'Please, for the love of all that is good and holy, give me an excuse to leave before Aria casts her unholy vengeance on my soul.' Aria looked over at Scourge. Then at Manic. Then at Faolán. Then at her wife. Then at Fiona, who was eyeing the bottle of wine again. Then back to Faolán.

Oh she wasn’t buying it. Not at all.

“Faolán sweetie. Look at me. Where did you really get those candies?” She asked, seemingly calm. But Scourge could see the glare she shot at him and the tenseness of her shoulders. Faolán would not be yelled at. But Castillo was not as lucky.

It was all riding on Faolán right now. And Aria hoped she was wrong.

If Terra wasn’t blocking the door, he would have ran.

"Guys..."

The voice that spoke up wasn't Scourge or Faolán. Manic was looking over, head in his hand and looking exhausted at the news. "Scourge is an ass, but he's just trying to protect him, y'know?" Manic said with a grimace, genuinely believing what he was saying. "If he's picking this stuff up off of anyone, it's me. I know it. You know it."

The little wolf's ears were lowered in shame, knowing what he did was wrong. Rather, knowing being caught felt bad. Scourge's heart may as well have broken at the sight.

"Don't protect me," He said, "We know what's up here." Scourge resigned himself to his fate, if it was for his child's well being. "I went out and lifted this crap for him, he didn't do anything."

But Faolán's face belied all. Scourge leaned up to give his son comfort, knowing Aria would not give him another chance any time soon.

Thank the stars Fiona had downed half the bottle. The king had carried her off to bed so she wouldn’t skin Castillo alive. Aria rubbed the bridge of her nose and sat down. “Okay Faolán. Come here for a second. I’ve got a story for you.”

The child walked over and Aria sat him in her lap. “I shouldn’t have to tell you stealing is wrong. You can hurt a lot of people like that honey. Maybe not with candy but I don’t want to see you get caught up in things that will get you in serious trouble. When I was 10, I stole some things too. I admit it. But Faolán I was living on my own and unable to afford food. I needed that stuff to survive. And I got caught. And I got in a lot of trouble. And I was almost sent to jail. Granted I was in a very slummy area of a less developed city and they didn’t always follow the law, but that’s beside the point. I don’t want you stealing again, okay? And I don’t want you to steal just because your fathers or anyone else asks you to. Not unless its life or death. Do you understand munchkin?”

Faolán nodded, and Aria continued, petting him gently and trying to be stern but gentle.

“Now. I won’t tell your mother, because I know you aren’t going to do it again. But if it ever happens again, I will. I don’t want you to feel the need to steal things either. If you want something, ask one of us, okay?” Faolán was sheepishly holding his hands together. "I'm sorry" was all he could say. "I just... I really wanted some, and mom didn't want me to have 'em, and-" "You don't gotta explain anything," Manic assured the child. "We understand." ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ "You don't understand." Scourge was definitely angry at Aria, but he was restraining himself. Thankfully, they were out at the van, and Fao was safely inside and out of earshot. "I already taught him- He's learning guitar already. I wanna teach him something, and this is all the crap I know! I can't teach him bartending and I can't have him doing anything violent, that's all I've got to teach him!" “And breaking the law is a better option?!? I understand wanting to bond with Faolán but come on!! Use your brain! Did you want Fiona to take him away? You need to think ahead!”

She scolded him, eternally more pissed off than he was.

“Do you want Faolán to be where I was? He’s the son of a major crime boss and a scourge, the cops will NOT go easy on him if he gets arrested. Kids like him get shot all the time because the world sees them as carbon copies of their fathers or their mothers.” "I KNOW!" Scourge's attempts to hide the intensity had failed, but he wasn't yelling at Aria. His screams were more generalized, mostly aimed at his own stupidity. "I know, I know! I'm tying to teach this crap so he knows how NOT to get caught! I don't want him to be a big thief, I want him to- to know how to hide, and-! I'm just an asshole who doesn't know what to do!" At this point, most of his masculine facade had decayed, leaving him looking like he was going to fall into a kneel and scream. Manic silently took him and dragged him away, opening the back of the van and leading him in before anything happened to him. His husband left to his self loathing in the van, Manic leaned against the side of the van facing the still fuming Aria. "He doesn't like people seeing him cry." What else could he say? To distract from himself, distract from what his nephew did? "I don't want him doing this stuff either, but... you don't see how much Scourge hates himself for not doing more for him. It's... pathetic." Aria rubbed at her temples, squinting her eyes shut.

“Listen… Scourge and I are fighting. I get that. He’s not happy with anything about the scenario and I am not either. But he needs to think ahead Manic, what if Faolán gets caught one day? The justice system is not kind. Not to children, and not to sons of crime bosses and thieves. Faolán could be put in a lot of danger. If he wanted to do something for Faolán, he can try literally anything. Even if he learns some new skill, just to teach Faolán. But this is not the way you do it. He’s far too young for that sort of thing” Manic could only nod and think. He knew all this. He knew hearing it was going to hurt. All he could do was sit and accept the awful sting, cringing at some of the lines. "You're totally right, man." His whole body deflated in an instant. "We're all scared for him. We're just... We're just dealing with it in a real stupid way." He could only throw his head back. "He doesn't deserve that kind of life. He ain't done anything wrong." “Tell… Tell Scourge I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. I’m just worried and stressed…”

She curled into herself, shoulders huddled. She couldn’t say anything more, so she turned around and left. The bat waited on the castle steps and slowly kissed her wife, hugging her close.

“It’ll be fine… I promise.” Two people uttered those words in that house. The second being Fiona, sitting with her son and the king. Faolán was suddenly racked with guilt, his face red and looking like he was on the verge of tears. "You admitted it and promised to stop. That's more than your dads ever did." The little wolf was being coddled close to her chest, hoping he wasn't going to burst into tears. "I'll look past punishment just this once, alright?" He nodded, happy but still scared. "Bu- but what if the police come and... and take me to jail?!" Another coddle to the child. "The police won't come after you. I promise." In reality, Fiona wasn't too surprised by this. She's seen her son sneaking around the house and 'stealing' things, but it was never anything more than maybe a few pieces of candy or loose change, small things that she really wasn't concerned about losing. It was no doubt where he picked it up from. The idea of them teaching Fao was definitely planted in her head, but even she found it a bit ridiculous. They wouldn't be dumb enough to do that to her kid, right? Oooh they most surely were dumb enough. Scourge knew it. However he valued Manic's life and Faolán's happiness so he said nothing about it.

As the king, he could make it all go away. But Faolán was only 6, far too young to be charged with anything. He sat there, feeling awkward and useless. "But you aren't getting away this easily," Fiona warned her son, stern but not angry. "You still have someone you need to apologize to." He looked confused for a moment, until his mother motioned for the king. For something he said days ago? But he wasn't in any position to argue. He did feel like he really didn't like the king, those words were all true to him. So why did he feel so guilty? "I'm sorry," he said. "And what are you sorry for?" "I'm sorry I said I didn't like you." He looked ashamed. Maybe it seemed mean, but he needed to learn the consequences of his actions. "It was mean." Scourge patted the kid on the head. “It's okay buddy. If I were you I wouldn’t like me either. However I’m pretty sure its past both of your bedtimes.”

He was teasing Fiona and joking with Faolán, clearly trying to a laugh out of either. Its was late and he knew the drowsiness from the wine would hit Fiona like a truck. He got up and gave a little mock bow to Fiona.

“Sweet dreams the both of you.” Scourge was totally understanding. It was almost suspicious how calm he was about Faolán's actions, but Fiona was a cautious woman. Faolán didn't read that deep, only seeing the good of what he said. "Good night." The little wolf was the first to say it, mostly to end this uncomfortable talk sooner. The evening had been horribly tense. Everyone needed a rest. But even as angry as Aria was, she didn't need a rest as much as Scourge did. "Babe, we'll figure this mess out." A kiss on Scourge's lips and closeness was the best think Manic felt he could give to his husband. "Maybe if he's still here tomorrow, you could take him to a different movie. Or to the park or whatever. If someone else comes along, I mean." That was a very big 'if,' they both knew that, but there was still a chance, right? Maybe Scourge would have to come along, maybe Fiona would put him in handcuffs while he was out, but the sooner he could resolve this mess, the better. The fact they were sleeping in the van so Aria wouldn't have to see them didn't make quick forgiveness seem likely. "Maybe," Scourge replied, clinging to something. Aria was leaning on Terra. Everything was tense and awful. She hated it. The bat kissed her ears gently and cooed, trying to make her mate smile. It didn’t work. Not even rambling about the perfect house they had created in their minds would calm her.

In the morning, someone knocked at the van door. Surprisingly it was Aria. Even though it was rather early (and least for them) she still looked like she had been up for hours.

“Can we try… Making up again?” She asked quietly. Embarrassed and upset. The sight of Aria made his guts wrench, even through groggy eyes. Scourge was wearing some old tank top that was clearly just worn when he was sleeping. Was she honestly offering some form of forgiveness? Not without work, but still, he was almost handed the chance to make things right somehow. "...where we gonna talk?" Scourge said, stretching his arms. "Let's make it somewhere with coffee." He was a good actor, sure. But even still, nervousness flickered on the edge of every motion. Manic smirked in his 'sleep.' Let them think they were alone, and let them patch things up. There was hope. She held up the takeout cups she had brought with her. “Figured you’d say that… How about a walk in the garden? It's quiet there.”

She was just as nervous and actually looked a little off color. Slightly green, but she only seemed nervous, not sick.

“I’m.. I’m sorry.” "For what?" A pause was left so he could throw on his leather jacket. He didn't seem to care about grabbing his shoes, hopping off the van onto his paws. "I was an ass. I mean... everything. Everything I did was the worst." Attempts to stave off total self hate mostly worked, but his attempts to make the brush of his quills casual didn't look it at all. He happily took the cup meant for him and started throwing it back, before they had even begun their walk through the garden. "Where do I even fuckin' start...?" The grumble was low and strangely small for something out of his mouth. "You... got your old place fixed up. Right?" “Yeah, we’ve mostly packed. I’m going to miss that place… I’ve lived there since I was really young. The landlord rented to me at a reduced rate when I was a kid and saved my life. And now its just… Sad. But Terra and I can’t live there together, it was time for an upgrade… Thank you for all the flowers, by the way…”

It was silent but peaceful. In the morning light, everything was damp with dew and quiet. Tranquil.

“None of this was your fault you know…” "Pretty much is." Scourge didn't seem to buy that more a second. "All of it. Your home, the king's shit, And now all this crap with the kidnapping and-" He had to stop himself. It sounded like he was fishing for compliments now, and he didn't want to be too whiny. "I don't know how you don't want to punch me. I wanna punch myself." “I do want to hit you, but what good will it do? Other than make me feel slightly better. We need to talk this out because Faolán is suffering because of it…” The silence was awkward as Aria lasped off.

“Maybe we can just pretend we weren’t fighting at all?” She offered as a suggestion, clearly out of ideas. Scourge wanted to say yes and have it be done. Oh, he wanted everything to be better. But... "Around him, yeah. But we can't pretend crap's alright, it'll never work." He admitted. "You guys deserve better than some punk who pulls this crap, but you're... trying to make it up anyways." He pushed his quills back in humbled surprise. "If you're willing to do that, don't think we need to fake anything." It wasn't a major gesture, or wouldn't be from anyone else. But a hug from Scourge was rare. "I ain't soft," he told her, hoping that would somehow gloss over him acting completely soft. She hugged him anyways, laughing. “Bitch please. You’re a marshmallow.” Of course she was joking with him, and maybe wasn’t at 100% forgiveness, but it was better.

The atmosphere was less tense by the time everyone woke up. Terra had stolen her mate away for a bit, and the king looked over at Castillo.

“Did you two talk it out?” "I think, yeah." He was propping his head in his hand, looking quite tired. This was more an emotional exhaustion than anything physical, but his short, remorseful sleep sure wasn't helping things. He took a long sip of his coffee, contemplating everything. "If I hadn't run that chick over, we probably wouldn't be here." Remorse out of Scourge was always a flash or a spark that faded as soon as it appeared, never anything this long lasting. "Can't believe she even wanted to talk to me." "About that..." Manic was fiddling with his fingers. What he was nervous about was anyone's guess. "Radon's wife, Gamma? She had- there were two autopsies due to some kinda crap department stuff. The second guy was barred from practicing a few months back for forging results in other cases. Like, he was bribed to say results that weren't there. The first dude..." He swallowed. "The first dude said she died of a fall, and the car accident was after that. You... you were a patsy, man." Manic fidgeted and looked at the king. "Do you wanna tell him about the cat, or...?" “I checked Chrissy and Bobtail's finances. About three weeks before all of this started, they were paid a large sum of money, one of many transactions from different account for the same amount. Offshore accounts. But then, Bobtail started looking around for Aria and her file was lifted from Rosolio's belongings. They didn’t want Aria as a trophy. Whoever this is wants her dead.”

He sighed and looked up at the ceiling. “Someones trying to kill Aria and we have no idea who they are.” "Bobs was an assassin." Scourge said quietly, closing his eyes and leaning his head back in thought. After what he did to Radon, he couldn't be too surprised, but the thought that Aria came so close to dying... "None of this is your fault, babe." Manic sat down next to him, putting one arm around his side. "It ain't even totally those two, either. There's something even worse going on than we thought." It looked like Scourge had suddenly been given a bolt of energy. "That's how I'll make it up to her," he said with pissed determination. "I'll find 'em and wring their neck." “More like you’ll find them and hold them down while she makes mince meat of them.” The king joked, trying to lighten the mood.

“Out first plan is to track those accounts. Manic, you handle that. For now I’ll see if I can find anyone Bobtail had contact with who had the money to pull this off. And who would want Aria dead… It’s a short list”

The three set to work, rummaging through files, and throwing theory’s out for consideration. Aria pressed herself closer to the door frame for support, and Terra pulled her in closer.

“Don’t worry. I’ll keep you safe,” she whispered. This work was going to take a while. A long while, in fact, as they tried to find data on accounts that weren't supposed to have any data linked to them. And with Fiona out of the house, that left a little wolf up to his normal troublemaking ways. It usually would. But there was something different in the air this time. Things were still tense, but in a more unified way, as if they were fighting the same enemy rather than each other. As though a crushing pressure in the house was suddenly gone. Who was this enemy, no one knew. But Faolán heard just enough to want to fight whoever they were. "I will, too!" The little wolf seemed to show up behind them out of nowhere. His hands were already out, tiny claws extended. "I can fight them off for you!" Aria paled a bit as Terra laughed. The thought of endangering him was not something she wanted to have to think about. She scooped up the little one and snuggled him tightly. “Thank you sweetie. But I think your mom would have a problem with that.”

Inside, the king looked over the suspect list and grew confused over a question mark “Hey Manic? Who’s the question mark supposed to be?” He asked, holding up the list.

Aria snuggled into Terras hug, the two squishing Faolán a little bit. Aria laughed at his protests and kissed his forehead. “Faolán sandwich!” "I dunno, I was thinking..." Manic swiveled in his chair to face the king. "I'm thinking that like, there were already people that found Aria's family, right?" The polite way of putting what happened. "But we still don't know who they are... and we don't know how they found them, neither. That's kinda supposed to be a catch all for them." And then they heard the child's embarrassed giggling from outside. Scourge looked up, his paternal instincts triggered at the sound of his son laughing. "What's going on...?" He god up and rushed to the door, grinning at the sound. "Hey, you put him down!" Scourge said, only to immediately scoop his son up again. "He's mine to squish." This only got another laugh from the child, and a goofy ruffle of his hair from Scourge. Manic looked back from the open door towards the king. "I don't think a short break's gonna hurt," Manic said with a goofy, cheeky grin. “Hmmm… Good point. They weren’t ever caught so… But don’t tell her were looking into this. I wanna avoid the trauma resurfacing… You go take a break. I’ll keep at it.”

Aria protested the lack of Faolán squishies she was getting. "But that’s not fair," she pouted playfully, to which Terra stole a quick kiss.

"Stop being so cute,” the bat mumbled, clearly teasing her wife. Manic eventually joined them but the king just kept working. Everyone needed a chance to calm down after everything that had happened. The emotions still stung, and having someone like Fao around who was so innocent and happy was something they all needed. Even if Scourge and Manic would get back to work soon. Even if the stress of whoever was after Aria was still heavy in the air. Hell, especially because of the stress. But ever brake had to end, and they were soon back to their work. "Uuuuhg." Manic made a noise of total annoyance and sunk into his chair. "I'm trying to find anything on Aria's people for any hints on like, who did that to her, and like- there's nothing. We can't really peek into the past or anything, either..." "We can’t ask anyone either. We can’t bring it up to her, and Damian wasn’t even in the country when it happened… Why would someone want to kill all of those people? What makes someone order a genocide? What did they do to warrant this kind of treatment?”

The king grew frustrated, rubbing his temples. “Let’s have Fao ask to go back to the forest. Maybe there’s clues there. He can distract Aria, while we snoop around.”

He looked at the empty list of suspects and felt horrible. "Yeah, we'll go and..." Manic stopped mid sentence. The same awkward thought was shared through the room. "Uh, maybe Scourge should stay away from there?" He was missing a chance to see his son, but lord knows what would happen to him or his son if they went to her homeland after what he did. "I'll keep looking up these last few guys here..." He didn't give any blatant signs he was sad, but this newfound anger was more than enough to tell them what was going on. Manic huffed and walked up to his husband, hugging the grump from behind and giving a half goofy glare over Scourge's shoulder. "We'll get him out with you sometime, alright? Tomorrow, if this stuff goes well?" Scourge said nothing, but was definitely moved by the statement at least a little. Manic backed away and strolled back towards the door, whispering to the king, "he's always asking to go outside, this'll be a cakewalk." With very little bribing, Faolán followed the plan to the dot, begging Aria to go see the forest again. He even used the puppy dog eyes. Terra escaped as she had to go to work, leaving Aria to fight his adorableness alone.

“Oh fine! We can go! Just stop the eyes please!” She faked flopping onto her bed dramatically. Aria packed up her things, told Fiona where they were going and they were off.

“What else is there here?” Fao asked, holding Aria's hand and looking around the trees.

“Well there’s some flowers, the river… Some cool rocks.” She listed things that might interest him, but they came across of field of poppies and geraniums. For some reason Aria paled and stopped, choosing instead to lead Fao around the flowerbed quickly. His gazed focused on those flowers for a couple of seconds, but there was so much to see in the forest that he was easily distracted from it. Once again, he was rushing through the woods to look at whatever interesting thing Aria would show him next. Following behind were Manic and Scourge, walking at a slower pace and falling behind Aria intentionally. "Where should we start?" Manic said. "I mean the graveyard's obvious, but she's acting kinda weird with these flowers, right?" “This is a good place I think…” He walked around the flower bed and into some trees, returning seconds later after inspecting their surroundings.

“Okay, so I know that the giant field over there was where they lived. And the graveyard is to the west. But something doesn’t make sense, why are these flowers here? They don’t grow in this area, the soil is too acidic. Most soil is. Rosy loves geraniums so Glare tried to grow some for her, but it didn’t work.”

He picked a flower, one of the poppies, and inspected it. Something wasn’t sitting right. Manic squatted down, looking closely at the soil. He couldn't see anything on the surface. "Look, talking here as a criminal... dead things release some kinda gasses or something that switch up the soil." The exact science well eluded him, but he knew the very basics. "It might be a dead mole or whatever, but it kinda looks like a body dump to me." The moment hung, as well as the implications. "Aria's not the type," Manic said. "May just be some kinda dead animal or whatever... I dunno, maybe I'm dead wrong. What are you thinking?" “I don’t think so… I mean, this is a big field. How many bodies would it take? I mean at least a hundred, maybe more-”

The king stopped for a second and looked out onto the field, suddenly disgusted in its beauty. Dropping the flower in disgust.

“Aria mentioned her family was celebrating when the attack happened. This is near a river, and I bet that when night falls this area is right under a constellation of some kind. This is where they were killed. All of them.”

The blood of culture stained the ground beneath their feet, and the kings quills fluffed slightly, in the same way they did when he was angry. Their companions were too far ahead for them to hear. All that left was a view of a large field and a cold silence. Striking cold. Like the spirits were sitting right there, chilling the air with every haunting motion. Maninc stepped on the grass, but not where these flowers grew. Careful, silent tiptoes around the trees where the grass was lighter, shorter, less vibrant. "I don't think Aria could handle coming back here too much. Especially not if no one else comes back here." It felt like stomping there would be sacrilege, but if it would help them, maybe they could forgive. "You think there might be something left behind? A remnant of the festival, an... anything?" “No. In fact, I don’t think the forest wants us here… Does that make sense?” The king asked, backing away from the field.

Manic could see something shining in the middle of the field. Something metallic. While he creeped around the edges of the flower patch, the king sat down to think on a large rock.

“Maybe the graveyard. Maybe… And I’m hoping I don’t get attacked by a tree for this, maybe it was an inside job?”

The trees stood quiet. It was just a theory worth considering. "I guess it's like... has this place always been so protected?" Manic couldn't help but ask. His gaze over the field yielded very few rocks and pebbles. "If yeah, then that's probably true."

Before he could get an answer, his head rolled around to crack his neck. "Alright, tree guys, I'm not trying to disrespect you or anything, it's for your own good... I'll be quick, promise!"

Thieving skills weren't all specialized. His footsteps were virtually silent as he hopped over the field of grass and flowers, careful to step on the very few rocks when he could, and touching the grass as little as possible. Whatever that object in the field was, he had to grab it quick and back out of there.

“The way Aria explains it, it’s like the graveyard always was protected but the rest of the land wasn’t. She told me a story about how her brother got shot in the shoulder by poachers. And she used the word "poachers”. Maybe it was their land and people just didn’t notice? But that answers no questions, and raises more. I think the graveyard will explain some things. What did you find?“

It was a simple bracelet, covered in dirt but otherwise free from rust. Three charms were pristine, and once washed in the river, shone brightly. The fourth was black. Tarnished. Clearly damaged on purpose.

"I’ve seen one of those before. Aria has one. I don’t know what it means though, we have to ask her.” The king shrugged. Manic didn't even look at the bracelet until he was next to the king, and off of the bloody field. He wasn't dead. That was good. But once he saw the bracelet, he was distracted from that little fear. "Uh... This is really nice. Like, REALLY nice." Manic dangled the bracelet in the air and watched it sparkle. "This is silver... not sterling purity or anything, but it's still pretty nice. And look at these charms..." The charms were distinctly shaped and carefully crafted by some kind of expert. A ginkgo leaf with a round blue stone - "blue agate," Manic said in a second. He could also recognize the tiny rose quartz stones on the lotus and dandelion charms. The fourth charm, the blackened charm, was a sunflower with it's gem removed. "This one ain't tarnished, it's all scratched up, too." Whatever this was, it must have meant something, as a nearby tree was starting to move, yet didn't seem angry. Manic immediately chucked the bracelet back to the field, back to the grass, and watched the tree slowly revert to it's old position. "It's gotta mean something if the trees are keeping it safe..." Manic said. "I mean, it's kind of a big hint, right? That's really nice, so it must've been someone rich. And one blue stone, two pink, I'm guessing they had two daughters and a son. And I mean... Aria's kinda left a gallery of everyone who's lived here, right?" "Right… And judging by that fourth charm, we are looking for a fourth child too. They had big families here, according to Aria. Four is smaller than average. We should be able to find them, but we still need Arias help. There’s a lot of people”

Aria and Faolán return to the field to look for the two, and Faolán ran up to the two men. “Aria just showed me the coolest tree! Come and see it!” He insisted, pulling on his step-father’s hand. The stopped and spotted the shiny bracelet in the field, rushing into the field and grabbing it, presenting it to Aria. The aforementioned tree stood still, silent.

“What’s this? Is it yours?” He asked, and Aria bent down to inspect it.

“Well sweetie, its a bracelet. Usually they’re made of silver or gold, and usually ones like this are given to mothers. Each charm is a child. My mother had one just like it.” Manic had to act like he didn't know what the field was about, for Aria's sake. Faolán's discovery was the perfect excuse. He ran over the flowers, still careful not to trample any and looked at the little bracelet. This was too perfect. "Wooooah, man, that's sweet!" Manic said, looking at the bracelet with genuine looking wonder. "But maybe we should leave it. Y'know, someone's mom might want it back." Not necessarily untrue. Lord knows what tree beast might want to hurt Manic for that. "Oh, look, it's a weird leaf!" He loved seeing new types of plants. The various flowers he could vaguely recognize, but the fan shaped leaf was totally new to him. "Who was the weird leaf kid?" Aria sat down on the ground to inspect the charms, thinking. Which family was this? There were so many friends she had lost it was tough to find a name.

"Tonic. His name was Tonic. I didn’t know him very well. But of what I remember he had a crush on my oldest sister. Then again, everyone had a crush on my older sister… The sisters are Milia and Erro, they were constantly in the water. Makes sense, they are all otters… ”

She looked intently at the forth charm, sighing. “This one was Leo. He was… Well. A little odd. But he used to babysit me so I can’t be too mean about him,” she shrugged, giving it back to Faolán.

“Why don’t we go find Miriam, that’s their mother, and give this back?” That was better news than they could have ever hoped for. She actually knew the family? And was even willing to walk them to the gravesite, at that? This had to come with some kind of catch. It was a catch Manic was quick to catch on to, digging out some paternal instincts as usual. Manic motioned to hand the bracelet back to the wolf, and spoke quietly to Aria. "You sure we should show him that place?" Manic asked. "He's still super young, dude." "He’s already figured it out. Fiona told him when he asked her.” She scooped up the little one and they walked over to the tree that had been shaking earlier. Aria bowed to the gorgeous birch which twisted at an odd angle, and took the bracelet from Faolán.

“Here’s your bracelet back,” the child squeaked, and Aria slid the charm onto a bough of the tree. The tree herself straightened out. Bright blue eyes shimmered in delight at watching the tree almost make peace as it's bracelet was returned. There were so many cool trees in this forest, Faolán couldn't help but feel delighted at seeing another!

"Guys! Guys, there's this beach, and- And there's a bunch of trees in a row, and two of them are next to each other and growing together!" The things that could happen in his life felt limitless. This just seemed like another fascinating thing about the world. "Wooooah, really?" Manic said, acting like he hadn't seen the gravesite on the beach before. "You go running there, we'll catch up." They weren't lying. The three were walking down the paths he ran down, but the real purpose was to get Faolán far enough ahead that he couldn't hear Manic's question. "Hey, you notice that one really jank charm?" Manic asked. "You know what's up with that?" "Yeah. Leo was exiled. His father was on his deathbed, and he tried to sell the land that we were still living on at the time. The girls were never the same, and Tonic took up the ownership of the land instead. Then when all to this happened I was the only one left, so the land fell to me... Miriam died of a broken heart.”

Aria caught up to her nephew of sorts, scooping Faolán up as he rambled on about the tree to his step father. The king fell behind, texting the information to Castillo.

As they approached the trees, several rustled their leaves, clearly displeased with the conversation. Aria stopped talking. Manic turned around and walked backwards, doing his best to look apologetic for the trees. "Sorry, guys," he whispered, "we'll stop." Once out on the beach, Manic knelt by his stepson, listening intently as the child pointed out all kinds of details, from tiny scratches to totally obvious observations. His talking constantly brought up climbing the tree, something Manic was quick to shoot down, not wanting to be the victim of a tree spirit attack. Silently, a messaged buzzed back to the king. {Get me a last name, I'll look him up)

{I don’t know if I can. Trying to keep Aria out of this.)

"Please don’t climb the trees sweetie, you could get hurt.” Aria insisted, listening just as intently as Manic and answering all of the questions the little boy had. One of the trees was a peach tree, and she harvested a few, washing them in the river and giving one to the boys.

She used her claws to peel and cut the peach, happily eating it. The tree that Faolán had taken an interest in rustled its leaves. Clearly enjoying attention. "I think it likes you," Manic joked. Fao was the only one who didn't realize that this was exactly the case, but he was young. He was allowed to be naive about the supernatural trees. "Why didn't you show me this earlier...?" He said in a half whiny tone, not really angry at all. "Oh yeah, dad! There's a really cool place we found camping! It was- There's a place in the forest over- in there, and there are all kinds of fruit on the ground, and- and there are a bunch of beetle bugs eating them all!" They were certainly distinct types of beetles. Also the type that had a tenancy to fly straight towards people's faces. "Aria, can we go to the beetle place?" "Alright. But if the beetles wanna say hi to your face, that’s all on you munchkin.” She got up and walked with Faolán over to the beetle area.

“Hey, maybe in the fall when all the trees are making fruit , you can come and help me pick them all? We can make some jam from it all” she offered Fao and Manic.

Scourge pulled Manic aside. “We need a last name. But none of these trees are labelled… How on earth are we gonna find this guy? I don’t wanna ask Aria but…” Faolán and Aria were distracted enough to have a quick few words. The beetle patch could be heard chirping and making noises from a short distance, and already, a beetle with a metallic purple shine was flying straight at Fao's face. Rather than Aria's disgust, he was delighted at getting to see a bug up close, trying to catch it into his little paws and examine all the tiny details of the bug. "You go back and check that bracelet, maybe it's carved in there or something." Manic shrugged. "That's his mom, right? Maybe see if you can get her to write the name in the dirt with their roots or something? Uh... Just play along, act like you're gonna be noble and head back for me. I wanna stick with the little dude for a bit." Immediately, he was patting his head, down to his vest. "Craaaap, I think my earring came off." Manic said. Sure enough, the post in his ear was now empty. "I mean... I had it by the tree, I know! Uh, I'm gonna head back there and-" Aria raised a brow at the conversation, but at Manics statement about looking for an earring, she relaxed and watch Faolán try to catch a bug.

"I’ll get it dude, no worries” the king offered and walked back to the tree. He bowed to her, formally.

“My lady, could you help us? We think that Aria may be in danger. In fact, your son may be in danger too and he may not know it. We need to find him but we can’t without his full name.” The tree ruffled her leaves and pointed at her husband’s tree. An apple tree. The king looked a little confused.

An apple was thrown at his head.

“Okay! Guess its Apple?” More leaves rustling, another apple thrown. “Ow! Or… Wait a minute you guys don’t speak English… Okay, thank you!” Not English... what were all these names derived from again? Latin? The message was sent off to Castillo, and his search with this new information began again. Someone had to be out there, right? In a way, the king had to be thankful he didn't stay with the child, as there weren't any beetles curious about the random passersby approaching him. When he'd come back, Manic had had enough insects pelting his face, and the sight of Scourge running back was a more than welcomed sign. "You find it?" He asked casually, standing in front of Scourge so Aria couldn't see him passing off the earring to him. "Yeah, here. Man, Lady Miriam has some good aim.” He tossed Aria an apple and “gave back” the earring.

“The bugs must like you,” he joked, receiving a text from Castillo.

{I can’t find it. Try asking her what apple actually is)

“Hey Faolán, did you know Aria has her own language?” He started, motioning for Manic to play along. Fao seemed interested. "Riiight!" Manic perked up like he had just remembered. "Yeah, that's why we can't talk to like, the spirits here or whatever, they don't understand us talking. But they can understand Aria!" "Woooah, is it like a secret code?" Fao said. He was holding onto one particularly large bug, a gold-hued beetle with a long horn he wanted to keep. "What's the word for beetle bug?" "Its just a language sweetie. Just like English. Bug is cimex. And apple is malum. And adorable is venerandum”

She booped his nose playfully, clearly thinking nothing of the king’s sudden texting to Castillo. Hopefully that name would give them a hit in the national database.

As Aria rambled on, some of the trees rustled their leaves, clearly happy to hear her speak in that native tongue. They technically had what they came here for, but Manic's husband WAS on the case right then. They could definitely take a quick break to stop investigating and enjoy time with Faolán, who was not holding the golden beetle in his hands and petting it with one finger like it was a very small dog. "Oooooh, look at that little dude!" Manic said excitedly, kneeling down to look at the beetle. "You're trying to keep him, ain't you? Sweet, man, you got a cage for it?" "I can just- I can put it in a box!" He said, as though that was much of an answer to the problem. "And I'll give it water, and- what do they eat? Leaves?" Manic tilted his head to look at Scourge with a smile that belied he had absolutely no idea what beetles ate, and was desperately hoping Scourge had some kind of an answer. Aria stepped in. "Fao sweetie, I don’t think its a good idea. He’s probably got a little beetle family to take care of. It might be best for you to leave him here. We can always come back and visit him!”

The look she gave the boys hinted that something about the beetle made it a bad pet. Faolán put it down reluctantly.

“Okay aria… Bye beetle!” He waved and the bug burrowed into the soil at the base of a tree. Aria shivered a little. "Tell you what, buddy." Manic knelt down, pulling out his phone and pointing it at some of the beetles nearby. "I'll go to all kinds of pet stores, and see if I can't find any of these dudes for sale." Golden horned beetles. Shimmering metallic beetles. Beetles that almost seemed pearlescent. For a bug lover like Faolán, this was paradise. Even to a casual observer like Manic, this was a vaguely pretty assortment of screeching disgusting bugs. Faolán's little journey through the area was joined by all the other travel companions, having gotten what they came for. Anything that warranted anything from a "woah" to a "look!" was stopped at to satisfy his curiosity. Fao didn't need to be caught in all their drama, he was happy doing what he was going. And they were happy to be along for the ride. ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ The results of Scourge's search had been laid out plainly for the other two hedgehog. "Nothing." Head in hand, Scourge sat, not sure what to say. "He appeared in the city when Ari would've been young, then his name never comes up again." "Did you search everywhere? Social media, job application websites, marriage certificates, name changing forms, death certificates?” The king asked, rubbing his chin. Where was this guy? You don’t just drop off the face of the planet.

Aria had carried Faolán upstairs and they thought she was still up there. Really she was hiding in the hall, listening to the boys talk. Why were they looking into a disowned teenager? What could he have done wrong?

“Don’t give up. We need to find this guy. Either he’s the cause of all this or he’s in danger.” Scourge huffed, looking at the computer screen again. "Didn't see any name changes from his last sighting, but someone was still paying rent on his old place." Manic and him were thieves, and they knew enough about these kinds of disappearances. "No deaths or marriages or nothing, neither. You ask me, he's going under a fake name." "Greeeeat." It was all Manic could think to say. "I mean... Alright, he was paying rent, so he was still in town, right? Maybe... Okay, this could be a long shot, but can you look up names that just appeared? He's a newbie at this stuff, he had to leave some kinda paper trail." His eyes sparked up. "Who was still paying rent? Who was living in that place after he 'left'?" Castillo checked and raised a brow. "Just one name. Insignis Satis… What does that mean?”

Aria stepped out from behind the wall. “It means "very noticeable”… What’s going on? Why are you guys looking into someone I think is dead?“

Terra was behind her, holding her waist. It looked comforting but it was for the boys' protection. There were many looks shared between the three of them. Looks of confusion, questioning, fear. The kinds of looks that only told Aria she wasn't going to like the answer. Manic only had to step forward for Castillo to interject with a "Wait, Manic." Manic wasn't deterred, she was worth learning the truth. "There's kinda a lot there. We've been looking at- Bobtail's an assassin. He was hired to kill you, but changed his mind for his own reasons." The words would hurt, but she deserved an honestly explanation. "We're looking at, like... We think he might know who hired Bobtail, but we can't find him." Not a dishonest answer, just not the full story. Manic's specialty. “Leo? You think a kid who probably doesn’t even remember me tried to have me killed? Why would he do that? I have nothing of value.”

Terra made a move to scold her wife but aria help her hand up for silence. “You know what I mean.” Whoops. Half lies had only gotten them so far, it was time to break out the big lies. "Look... We know when businesses are just crime fronts," Manic told her. "And before he just dropped off the map, he was hitting up a lot of them. Like... a LOT. It looks like he accidentally got caught in some illegal stuff, and didn't really have a way out of it." "Kid gets exiled, he's talking with criminals, and weeks later your people get attacked." Scourge leaned forward. "Don't seem like a coincidence to me." “Why… I knew he was mad at his dad but why on earth would he try and kill me… ” She paused, seemingly concerned. “Wait… He was banished for a reason he… His dad was dying and he wanted his inheritance early… He would have inherited the land I own now…” Aria mind was running faster than anyone could keep up as she chose to switch to mumble in her native tongue to herself. "We aren't saying he wants you dead, man." Manic comforted her. There were many explanations, but that wasn't the one he was thinking of. "We doubt he'd wanna see you all dead, especially if he was friendly to y'all. We're saying, he must have let something slip. He probably knows who's responsible for this crap, they'd be the people who hired Bobtail." Scourge wasn't assuming the same innocence, not for a second. This was pure malice in his own mind. He didn't dare say a word, not wanting to be on the receiving end of Aria's fury. “He tried to sell the land we were living on. He had a multi million dollar deal in the works but Tonic found out about it and their father banished him before he died. The company he tried to sell to also tried to claim the land as theirs, but I managed to win that case because they woke up the guardians… If Leo… If he killed me and Terra, he would inherit the land according to customs…”

She wrapped herself in her mates embrace and the bat hugged her tightly, trying to comfort. She wasn’t listening to Manic. Another round of looks, before a concise statement. "I'll find that case," Scourge said, "Gotta find that company." Where on the spectrum of fear and anger did Aria fall, Manic couldn't tell. But she definitely needed some comfort, and anything he could offer could at least be progress. "Woah, Ari... Ari, you want us to get you like, a drink or anything?" His attempt at acting businesslike was over, shifting straight back into being a friend. "You gonna be okay?" “I… I don’t know…” She stuttered out, clinging tightly to her wife. Terra tried to calm her with little kisses, and it worked, at least slightly.

“We should call Damian… He shouldn’t be a target but I wanna tell him.” Aria insisted as the king and Castillo got to work.

It took a while but they found a clipping from a newspaper about a bunch of businessmen attacked by a monster in the woods, and a tiny Aria stating that the monster would only listen to her or anyone she deemed worthy of control. "We've got people with connections to him, we've got a name, we've got a description, we've got everything a criminal's supposed to hide." Manic was satisfied with this information. "That's a hell of a lot to start a search with." The search, of course, could be held out by field officers, random schlubs from the police, it didn't quite matter who was asking the questions. What did matter was who was talking to Aria, and there was one person who knew exactly what to say to Aria. Nothing. Faolán saw the blubbering eyes, and sat down in Aria's lap for her comfort. Aria snuggled him close, cooing at him. “Shouldn’t you be in bed cutie pie?” She was thankful for him thought, and made sure he knew it. She hated having to lean on him for support. He was a child. He didn’t need to see any of her trauma. She wiped her tears quickly and tried to hide it. “You’ve got school tomorrow pup.” "It's summer!" He said with a laugh. Or were the adults just playing a joke on him at this point. The laughing was the least he could do. There were many ways to approach trauma, and he got his own way from his father; keep the mood light, no matter what. His gaming device was left sitting next to Aria, but if she didn't want to play, it was staying off. Manic creaked the door open, balking immediately when he saw Aria sitting with his son. They did look peaceful, but it was getting late. "Sorry, buddy, you've gotta get to sleep, don't wanna be tired for school." "Guuuys!" He said with an amused, annoyed groan. Aria giggled, faking it. He didn’t need to know that though, as she scooped him up and nuzzled him, purring.

“Still, pups have bedtimes. Off to bed you go." She gave him his game and ushered him to his father for him to be put to bed.

She was tired, and laid on the couch, rubbing her eyes. "Hey." Long after Manic had left, there was a voice from the door. Castillo creaked it open wider, stepping in slowly. Things were still far too tense for anything like this, but Scourge didn't feel like he had a choice. He at least had experience with these kinds of emotions. "Thought you'd wanna talk to someone" was all he could think to say. He sat in a chair a short distance from Aria, the awkward air hanging for a few more seconds after that. But he tried being patient, waiting for Aria to say something, even if it was just 'get the hell out.' “Everyone keeps getting hurt because of me.” She started, an almost random thought. She reached to play with her wedding ring, and only felt guilty.

“Terra has almost died so many times because of me… And you and Scourge and Manic and Fiona aren’t safe either… Maybe I should look for Leo on my own. It would be safer. No one would get hurt.” "I don't know what those trees were," Scourge admitted, "but those hings were some kinda supernatural beast. They couldn't kill me, some asshole with an inheritance ain't gonna get me. So I'm searching." It wasn't an option in his mind, after how much he'd screwed up. "Ain't your fault what some moth or some kid you didn't know did. You were closer to most of that pain than any of us, don't blame yourself for being a victim." “Well those trees were my family, and they almost killed you, and they could and would have if I hadn’t said not to. And all of this is just stemming from me. Literally everything is my fault.”

She buried her face in a pillow, wanting all of the pain and stress to go away. She just wanted a normal life, a normal family. Scourge had heard these kinds of thoughts many times before. From Manic, from himself, even from Fiona years before. So he knew what to say. "Yeah, your actions are gonna cause pain. That's life." As blunt as the words were, he didn't condescend on Aria. "And if you're trying to do good, you're gonna do good. And you've already done a lot for all of us." This was punctuated with Scourge leaning forward, resting his arms on his knees and looking at Aria. "Can't save the world, kid. I've done shit worse than anything you think you've done. You're trying to be a good guy. You're doing fine." “I put you, Manic, Fiona, Faolán, even my WIFE in danger. I can’t forgive myself for that.”

She sighed as he his speech did what it was supposed to. Covering her face she groaned. “I hate that your right. It doesn’t make the mood go away though.”

Well, that was as close as he was gonna get. "Sleep on it, Ari." Scourge assured her. "We forgive you. Your the only one holding out." The sound of the door clicking shut was immediately followed by both hedgehogs sighing. Scourge bucked up and marched onward. He had a criminal to catch. What he instead ended up catching was Faolán as he rocketed down the hall, the king watching from the door with a thinking look on his face. "Dad, dad!" He squealed, holding up Manic's phone and showing Scourge his photos of the beetles. "I put them on that bug site I like, and- And I told them about them, and no one knows what they are! What any of them are! They said they want me to catch some!" "That's... real neat, kid." The beetles didn't look normal to him. The colors on their backs were all bright, ranging from metallics to smooth patterns to even backs that almost looked crystaline. Faolán saw the momentary interest in his eyes and immediately tried milking that opportunity. "Now I HAVE to have a pet bug! It's super rare and they'd all be jealous!" The king followed and gave Castillo a look that showed his son's plan was a bad idea.

“I don’t know about that buddy, but we have to ask Aria once she gets up. She would know more about the beetles than anyone.” The king stated, and the three returned to the main room where the search for the criminal was underway.

“They eat magical rotting flesh. I doubt anyone wants to try and find a source of that," the king whispered to his alternate. "Magical flesh...." The words dangled there, and Scourge immediately knew the answers to all the questions he didn't want to ask. "Sure looks pretty for a flesh-eating bug mutant." There were many angles of attack on this. Who was there they could ask, what might give them information, what could they do? Fao's photos gave his dad an idea the more he looked over just how bizarre these bugs were. "These beetles look real magical. Seems like you'd need a hell of a lot of magic to do this." He could only guess, but something like this had to be hard to do. "A lot of people'd wanna use that kinda magic themselves." “That doesn’t help us… We need to find this guy and we need specifics. There’s no other properties with his name, so he isn’t paying rent on the books… Is anyone else here thinking that he couldn’t have done this on his own?”

With Faolán in the room, his word choice was limited, but he heavily implied the genocide was more than a one man job.

“That land is steeped in magic. Heavily steeped. The forest is leeching off of it, and it's the reason those bugs are rare. Aria said they started showing up when she was younger, just after that thing happened.” "What if..." Manic stood up, looking down in thought and moving his hands in circles as he tried to find the words. "So, after all that, a bunch of magic was released into the forest, right? And now there are magic bugs and plants and stuff, right? Could magic have gotten into whoever did this?" "And we're looking for Ari's clan. She said the family's otters, right?" For once, he started to grin, finally having a solution. "We're looking for an otter with claws an' some kind of magic powers. If they did that, they've probably got a police record under some other name." “Well, yeah, but how do we find him? That record could be from years ago. He could have left the country. He could be anywhere…” The king mused.

“What about facial recognition software? If Aria has a photo we can use it, age him and put it through!” Terra suggested.

“How long would that take?” The king asked, skeptical. "Aging the photo?" Manic huffed, humored. "No time at all. It'd take few minutes to comb local records if we know his species, we'd just gotta compare the photo to those. But like, if he could be anywhere in the kingdom, I dunno..." Castillo stood up, a plan already in his mind. "Get every station to find every record of otter arrests we can, send up anyone who'd be in the age range. And get that photo aged." Manic leaned back, smug as he thought up another part to the plan. "Maybe... I mean, we don't wanna dig up more bad memories for Ari, right? Maybe Damian'd have a photo instead? Or maybe Aria's sketched him already?" The king bit his lip. “We would have to go through her things. She wouldn’t let us… Unless…”

Everyone collectively looked at Terra who sighed. “I’ll try my best.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Wake up beautiful,” the bat cooed as Aria got up. Kissing her gently and making the hedgie purr.

“Morning sweetheart.” Aria sighed, pulling the bat down on top of her, content.

“I was thinking… With all this stuff going on about your family… Maybe we should go look at that trunk of your mom’s things? It might make you feel better.” She brushed her hair back and smiled. Aria nodded, snuggling up to her. The trunk itself was an old, well organized stash of memories, bitter and horrifying and warm alike. The fabrics were ones Aria knew like the back of her hands, lovingly handcrafted patters with tiny mistakes in the patterns from the delicate hand crafting process. Even just the strange smell of them carried the air of the forest, a nostalgic kind of scent that has never quite been replicated since. And there was even her mother's own bracelet. All mothers had their own ways of representing their children, some literal, some more figurative, some with wishes for the child. But none of them could mean the same as little trinkets Aria could remember playing with as a little girl. And there it was. By a mass of letters and photos. Aria, maybe seven or eight, with two male otters older than her. It didn't directly say that these were Tonic and Leo, but for as small as Aria's homeland was, it was hard to believe there would be two sets of similarly aged otter brothers in her clan. Though maybe asking would be best... Aria opened a separate box, which contained a bracelet like her mother’s, devoid of charms.

“This one is supposed to be mine.” She told her wife, who smiled fondly at her and kissed her cheek. The promise of ‘someday’ hung in the air. Aria grabbed the stack of photos and started going through them.

“This one is of me and my baby sister, Carrissimi. She’s was so small when she was born. So delicate. She would have been as beautiful as our oldest sister.” Aria held out a photo of a herself with a gapped tooth smile, holding a baby .

She noticed Terra's fixation on the otters in the photo and sighed. “Yes, that’s them. The shorter one is Leo. The guy whose shoulders I’m sitting on is Tonic… Its a shame really. They were so nice to me.” She gave her mate the photo with a sad smile.

“I know this is what you were looking for. You can go bring it to Manic now.” She implied that her mate didn’t want to hear about her family. The bat wasn’t happy about that and set the photo aside, snuggling up to her mate.

“So who is the old man?” She asked, about the next photo in the pile. It would be at least an hour before they finished going through the chest. And in that hour, they had managed to get all the records they needed. Arrests of otters with a broad range of birthdates, collected from most every city they could contact. Sorting through the files was going to be a long process, but with facial recognition software and a photo of the suspect, they would easily be able to find him if he was in any of those records. They just needed that photo. Terra would come back with it eventually, and Scourge reached out for it impatiently. "Perfect," he said, handing it over to the king. "She getting suspicious?" “She figured it out. There’s no use hiding it from her. The guy you want is the short one.” She motioned to the photo, and the king scanned in a picture of him for Manic and Scourge to edit and search for.

It wasn’t a surprise to anyone that Aria figured it out. She was smart. These were also her people. She knew then better that anyone.

Of course, that didn’t stop Terra from calling Damian and asking him to warp over to the castle in order to keep him and his family safe. Manic did all the hard work with programs, compiling data and photos, figuring out settings for the facial recognition software. Castillo mostly watched and did any grunt work Manic needed immediately, which wasn't much. "Hey, Scourge." It took Manic a moment to wave his hands and clarify "no, no, not you, the king." His gold eyes were full of hope. Fear and worry, but glimmering hope that they almost had some answers. "What do you wanna tell Ari? If we find him, I mean?" “Keep his location a secret. If she knows where he is she’s gonna walk right into his trap. Instead, we wait until we have a team of operatives sent out. And then we tell her. Keeps her safe and involved.”

Terra nodded. It was a solid plan. Aria wouldn’t be happy, but she would understand. “She says he’s got tracking powers, but they’re limited. No offensive magic”

“Good. That might help. Write down everything she told you. It’ll help the task force.” Maybe Aria could help the task force, but they were going to have to wait for the results to arrive. So until the results came through, they anxiously waited and waited... ding A tiny noise from the large projection screen caught everyone's attention. There was a match. And Manic couldn't have been faster to check out the results. "We've- we've got it! Four years ago- yeah, this is him!" The huddled crowd around the computer say a photo of someone. Name general face as the otter in the photo, just older. And it appeared he was using a pseudonym. "So he's going under "Milia Malum..." ding Another one? Manic didn't know what to make of it, but after a few moments of confusion, rushed to open the second case file. "Tonic Malum," he announced. "One month ago, it looks like, just an overnight stay for some bar fight." Malum, malum, he'd heard that name before... "He's using his sisters and brother's names as pseudonyms," he said. "Erro! Erro Malum, we're looking for someone with the name Erro Malum!"

"I’ve got an address! It’s apartments for a corporate building. And it seems like he’s been there this whole time! Every few years he cycles through names. Looks like the next cycle is gonna happen soon.” The king called out, dialing a number and sending out a tactical team to apprehend him. A video feed was brought up from a camera on an officers helmet.

“Go get Aria. This is it.” He told Terra, and the bat ran off. Seconds later she returned with her wife who was seeping with anger. She gripped the table with white knuckles and looked at the group of friends.

“Let’s do this.”

#TinyRedArtist #Strong Language #There's A Melody Playing #((I.E. Faolan's mere presence does more than their bad attempts at therapy))

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