"Are you sure about this, Keith? I don't feel ready for this."

Keith turned to the nervous bat in his bag. Nestled next to the red bat toy was Brian. The junkie shrugged and said, "I don't feel ready for this either, but if you're sticking around, I feel Anita has the right to know what really happened."

They'd been spending the few days finding a new chalet and patching that up with help from Sandra as well (she was still kind of traumatized, but otherwise she was okay). Keith and his family hadn't lost many of their personal belongings due to the fact they'd been traveling from Nice to Montreux. Still, even beyond the possible financial losses and property damage, Keith just felt that, above all else, he should finally explain the truth.

Especially since Mick was having the hardest time between the five of them in terms of getting used to his powers.

"Keith? When I saw you declaring that you are unkillable, what on earth did you mean by that?"

"I've had enough drugs to kill an elephant. Besides, if strychnine poisoning doesn't kill me, I don't know what will."

"With your part-vampire abilities nothing is going to kill you."

"We all die someday, I learnt that from you."

Brian let out a chirp.

"You ready? I told Anita I have a surprise for Marlon."

Brian hesitated for a few moments. Finally, he nodded.

"Ready."

Keith opened the door, embracing Anita tight.

"I've got a surprise for both Marlon and You."

"Is it a toy bat for Marlon? you gave that away in the paper." Anita said.

Keith snickered.

"Well you're right for that but I want you and me to be alone for the next surprise."

Anita raised an eyebrow.

"Keith...really?"

Brian let out a nervous squeak.

"What was that?"

"Uhhhh the toy?"

"Liar"

"Alright, alright. Let's go upstairs now and I'll tell you."

She nodded.

As the two went upstairs, Brian dug himself further into the bag. He didn't want to see Anita, not after everything they did to each other. For all he knew, this whole encounter could end with another screaming match.

And that appealed to him even less now that he had incredibly sensitive hearing.

At least Anita's English was a lot better now.

Once Keith and Anita were upstairs, she asked, "So what else is in the bag? Aside from the toy you got for Marlon?"

Slowly, Keith reached into the bag. He took out the small red bat, who was still chittering nervously. He then placed it on the ground.

The bat then transformed into Brian. He was hiding half of his face in the oversized sweater Mick had lent him, but even then, those eyes were unmistakable.

"Brian?" Anita asked.

"H-Hey...it's me."

They stared at each other for a few moments, Keith being unable to read the expression on either one's face. Then Anita asked, "How on earth are you... alive?"

"Well, the truth of the matter is that I did drown that night. ...I was just resurrected by a vampire and forced to serve him for three years. He then planned to turn the rest of the Stones into a gang of vampires."

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine," Keith added.

"Also I'm-" Brian started

"Sorry" both him and Anita said at the same time.

All three of them blinked. Then Brian asked, "What on earth are you apologizing for? I certainly wasn't an innocent player in... any of what happened."

"We were both at fault there"

"Well, I cheated and threw a bowl of fruit at your skull that night in Morocco."

"We were both on drugs. And besides, I should have just said I was unhappy before pursuing Keith. I was just scared because.... Well... you could get scary back then."

"I know. I've looked it up, it's something in my head. I've thought about going into therapy, but between being legally dead and being a vampire's butler, I haven't exactly gotten around to it."

Anita looked at Brian. Despite having changed a bit, Anita still felt a bit on edge looking at him. It wasn't going to take an apology to fix everything.

Brain knew this as well. Sure, drugs and mental health issues could explain things, but it certainly was no excuse for how he'd behaved back then.

It would take time until they could both call each other friends.

And honestly, that was the best probable outcome either could hope for.

As the two stared at each other, Keith watched the emotions on both Brian's and Anita's faces. Brian had both regret and that famous blank stare that he held, while Anita looked wary and confused.

And truth be told, he still had a lot of conflicting feelings on the whole matter. And there were certain wounds that might not heal even with time.

"Can I go now?" Brian asked, turning back into the tiny bat.

Anita nodded. "Yeah, we can talk more about this later."

Keith nodded, slipping the bat in his bag and taking out the bat toy.

Brian then poked his head out of the bag, he waved a little wave goodbye to Anita as Keith headed back downstairs.

He still kinda hated to admit it, but they were cute together. But the deep wounds that were the result of said relationship with him were still there, and he knew he might never be able to make it up to her entirely.

But if they could be friends again, that would be nice.

That could never happen but that friendship was the best case scenario.

Worst case scenario was things ending just as badly as the first time around.

"You did great Brian, we'll take this one step at a time, okay?" Keith said.

"Yeah, as long as I don't drink Anita's blood, males turning females and the females consenting means marriage." The red bat chirped sadly.

"Hey Brian?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't know what will happen now that you're back. But I'm excited for the future."

As the two men headed back outside under the beautiful moon, Brian smiled.

"Me too Keith."