[A/N: Just a quick note before we start this chapter. Viper_Sky drew this amazing fanart of Ceres!! Please show them some love in the comments as they deserve it very much!!

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THIRD P.O.V

"Mama loves you, Ceres"

"It's all your fault!"

"Please don't hate Mama"

"If you had never been born, this wouldn't have happened!"

"You're all I have left..."

"Ceres, do you love me?"

Ceres' eyes fluttered open after the last voice faded. She had tried as hard as she could to get to sleep but once again, she couldn't. Her Mama's words were still playing back like a broken record in her head. She had been able to sleep so well up until now so why was this happening again?

Ceres was tired but seeing as she couldn't get to sleep, she decided to try and get something warm to drink to help her get to sleep faster.

Ceres' footsteps were quiet as she walked down to the kitchen and when she walked in, she was surprised to see her Papa and Lance sitting at the island. They were both discussing something but when they heard her footsteps they turned to Ceres.

"Ceres? What are you doing up?" Lance asked and Ceres tilted her head a little, also wanting to ask a question of her own.

"I couldn't sleep...why are you here?" She asked looking at the both of them. She had thought Papa and Lance were still on their trip.

"We got to go home early. We just got in an hour ago actually" Lance said checking his wrist watch. Ceres hummed at his answer and Arthur moved from his side of the table and over to Ceres.

"Anyways, you said you can't sleep right? Why don't I make you some tea?" He asked and Ceres nodded while thanking him.

While she waited patiently for her tea to be finished, Ceres couldn't help but continue to think back to the voices from earlier. She had been nightmare free for quite some time now and was really hoping that those voices weren't a sign of them coming back. She had done so much to be free of her Mama, so why is it that Mama still plagues her thoughts?

"You look like you got something on your mind. Wanna talk about it?" Arthur asked as he saw the look of thought on Ceres' face. Ceres' lips thinned, thinking for a moment on her response.

Roman once told her that talking about things can help one to feel better but she also wasn't sure how to talk about her problem without bringing Mama up. Ceres knows Papa and Lance said they didn't mind but she just didn't want to bother them with such a troublesome thing right after they got back from work.

"Hey" Lance said as he tilted Ceres' head up so that she was looking at him. He was giving her that kind smile that made all his other brothers resemble one another and Ceres could see in his eyes that he truly wanted to listen to what I had to say.

"I know that look all too well. You don't have to worry about troubling us. We're the ones that asked you after all, didn't we?" Lance said turning his head to his father and Arthur nodded in agreement while handing Ceres her tea. She quietly thanked him before taking a sip, letting the hot liquid warm her up.

Ceres instantly felt like more relaxed and her body felt lighter than usual. The power of tea is amazing, was what she thought.

"I wasn't having a nightmare...or at least not yet. I could hear Mama's voice in my head" Ceres said while keeping her eyes on the honey colored chamomile tea that she was drinking.

Arthur looked closely at Ceres, trying to read into her but once again, he found it difficult to do. Ceres was so in control of her emotions that it was a little bit scary to him. Old habits die hard, he guessed.

"What was she saying?" Lance asked. Ceres could feel his curious gaze on her as she drank her tea in small sips so as to not burn her tongue.

She debated on her next words for a moment before opening her mouth.

"She said that I was all she had left...and then asked me if I loved her" Ceres said and looked over to Lance and Arthur only to see Lance's lips in a frown and Arthur's brow furrowed.

They were both trying to understand what exactly was going on through Ceres' head as she spoke ever so softly to them. They could see that she was starting to give little bits and pieces of her past, something they were eager to learn about.

"And what's your answer to that?" Arthur asked and Ceres visibly faltered.

What was her answer? Did she still love Mama? Could she still love her? After everything she's done to her? Ceres was well aware that her Mama was just hurting badly and at the time, she could never bring herself to openly dislike her Mama. When they were together, she too was all Ceres had. Ceres didn't know anything or anyone else but her Mama.

Ceres was afraid. Afraid that if she hated her Mama then it would mean she wouldn't want to be in her life and Ceres would end up even more alone than she already was.

"I don't know..." Ceres muttered sleepily. The tea was starting to take it's effect on her and her brother and father noticed as well.

"Well, let's leave such stressful thinking for another time. You should get back to bed" Arthur said as he saw Ceres lids getting visibly heavy.

Ceres nodded as Lance took the mug from her. She thanked them before heading back upstairs to finally and hopefully get some rest.

Lance sighed once Ceres was gone and he leaned up against the counter.

"Lance?" Arthur said, noticing the stressed look on his son's face. Lance shook his head while slightly gnawing on his lip in frustration.

"She's too young, Dad. She should be dreaming of puppies and flowers or something, not the manipulative words of her deceased mother" Lance said and Arthur nodded with a sigh of his own.

"It's sad but true" he commented and Lance crosses his arms.

"I wish there was someway I could protect her from things like this but how can I protect her from herself? It's so frustrating" Lance said and Arthur frowned at his sons words.

"You say you want to protect Ceres but I'm afraid that in all reality you'd actually be doing more harm than good..." Arthur said and Lance looked over with him with a baffled look.

"More harm than good? How so?" Lance asked.

"Ceres is still young and impressionable. You'd be keeping her from reality; the real world. If you take on her burdens so that she won't have to, you'd be making her blind to the things she needs to be aware of. How can she gain this knowledge if her opportunities are snatched from her?" Arthur asked, keeping a steady eye on Lance as he took in Arthur's words.

"T-That's..." Lance didn't know what to say. He knew his father was right but he couldn't help himself. Protecting his siblings had always been one of his top priorities, what use to them could he be if he didn't?

"I'm not only talking about Ceres. I'm talking about the others as well. If you continue to go on as their legs, they'll never learn to walk on their own. You baby them, even if you don't think so. They scrape their knee and you act as the bandaid that never comes off even after the wound is healed; and in Ceres' case her wound still hasn't healed." Arthur said as he looked at the exit where Ceres had left through.

It was silent between the two for a moment. Arthur was thinking about what his ex-wife had done to their daughter while Lance was trying to take in all of his father's words.

"Why is it that you seem to know so much about this?" Lance asked with a dry chuckle. Arthur gave one of his own with a shrug of his shoulders.

"I've watched you do it so many times. With each and every sibling you gained, you lost apart of yourself. You do everything for them. You balanced your work life and their lives so that it would be easier for you but left no room for your own personal life" Arthur said and Lance just stayed quiet, not wanting to admit that his father was right.

Arthur gave another small chuckle before speaking again.

"You're showing me up, y'know that?" Arthur said while also leaning on the counter with Lance.

"No I'm not..." Lance muttered and Arthur just shook his head.

"You are. You've been a better parent figure to your siblings than I ever could be. I'm always using work as a reason for missing out on the important things in you guys' life" Arthur said.

Lance patted his father on the back encouragingly.

"Well, when you retire soon you'll have plenty of time to make it up to us" Lance said and Arthur's eyebrow twitched.

"Retire soon? I'm not that old yet" Arthur said and Lance gave a cheeky grin.

"You're pushing fifty, did you forget? Has your age caught up to you?" Lance said with a wink and Arthur rolled his eyes before nudging his son playfully with his shoulder to which Lance just chuckled.

~ A Few Days Later, Ceres P.O.V ~

I shivered at the cold air I was greeted with upon leaving the house. I feel like it's been winter forever, when will it end?

I was currently with Kade in the mall. He said that he wanted company and since none of the others would go with him, I volunteered.

We had been walking around for quite some time when Kade had suddenly stopped.

"Oh, you're such a cutie" Kade said as he saw a woman and her dog walking by. I tensed up when seeing the dog and made sure to stay just behind Kade so that it wouldn't see me.

I don't like dogs. Or cats. If anything, I preferred aquatic mammals rather than ones that lived on land.

"You're not so bad yourself" I heard the woman say and I looked up at Kade only to see him frown at the lady.

"I'm talking about your dog" he said and just like that the lady's face went up in flames. He sighed before leading us away from the lady.

"How annoying..." he muttered. I raised an eyebrow at Kade's words. It was the first time I've heard him speak like that. Normally, he would jump at the chance to accept a compliment on his looks but right now he just seems bothered.

I yawned a little. I was still feeling a little tired, the lack of sleep kind of bothering me but I tried to fight it so that I could enjoy my time outside.

We had a list of things to get, curtesy of our brothers and yet none of them wanted to come with us and help.

As we went to all the different stores to pick up the items, the bags in our hands got heavier and heavier until we decided to take a break in the food court.

"Ugh, this is not good. My hands are going to get callus and then I'll have meaty man hands!" Kade cried as he inspected his hands with a frown on his face.

Apparently some girls passing by had heard Kade's whines and they turned to look at us. Once they did, they instantly started giggling and pointing at him. I wonder if Kade was aware of the attention he attracted? It was most likely than not considering his assumption when me and...he who shall not be named were inspecting him.

It had been several days since I last talked to him. I still couldn't forgive him for what he had did to me. How could he? And then sit there and try to pin the blame on others?

I was truly disappointed.

Would I have been as upset if he had told me it was him? Probably but it still would of been better to hear it from him rather than going around the entire house trying to solve a mystery.

I was simply waiting for an apology which he seemed to not understand as every time he tried to strike up a conversation, it was never to apologize.

"Excuse me...do you mind if we join you?" I looked up and saw the two girls from earlier looking at Kade who was still looking at his hands. Kade looked up at them when realizing their question.

"Do you not see that there is already someone sitting in front of me?" He asked and my eyes widened at his blunt tone. What is going on with Kade today? It was just so unlike him.

The girls faltered when hearing Kade's almost rude tone and they apologized before practically running away.

"Kade...are you alright?" I asked and Kade looked at me confused.

"What do you mean?" He asked and I pointed at the two girls who I could still see.

"You don't usually act like that...it was kind of rude" I said.

"Oh. That's what you mean. Yes, I do enjoy the compliments but what kind of example would I be setting if I flirted with these women and ignored you?" He said and I just kept my surprise, silent.

I didn't think that the reason he was giving the cold shoulder to others was because of me but at the same time I was glad. It would be very uncomfortable to sit here and listen to them chat about adult things that I didn't know about.

Just then, my bladder decided that it wanted to kick in so I stood up.

"I'll be right back. Just going to the bathroom" I said and Kade nodded.

I walked out of the food court but as I kept walking, I realized that I had no idea where I was or where the bathroom was either.

"...this doesn't look like the right way" I whispered to myself as I looked around trying to find my way about. I was in some part of the mall that I had never been in since none of the stores we went to were in this part.

'What do I do?' I thought to myself as I looked around me.

It was in this moment that I wished I had a cell phone. If I did, I could call Kade and he could come help me.

Why do I have such bad luck? I sighed and took another look around once more and mentally cheered when I saw a directory on the wall.

I wasn't very good at reading maps and the only thing that stood out to me is where it said 'You are here' but the only problem is that I didn't know where 'here' really was.

I sighed in frustration before walking around some more. Why didn't it occur to me that I didn't know where the bathroom was?

"Are you lost little girl?" I jumped at the gravel like voice that spoke from above me and I turned my head up to see a shaggy looking man with gray hairs littering his beard and dangerous looking brown eyes. Everything about him screamed 'creep' and I shook my head as I backed away from him.

"N-No..." I muttered and he didn't seem to care about my answer as he came closer to me.

"C'mon, I'll help ya" he said as he grabbed my wrist and I winced at the iron grip he had on it. I tried to pull my hand from his grip but with each tug I gave, the tighter his grip became to the point where I could feel my wrist throbbing.

I wanted to cry out, for someone, anyone to help me but my words were choked up as my breathing started to quicken.

How was no one seeing this? How was no one seeing a creepy man dragging a girl to who knows where? It was ridiculous! We're at a mall for crying out loud, there has to be at least a hundred people or more here.

Why was this happening to me?

He had pulled us into some empty corner and once his grip loosened just the slightest, I tugged with all my might and he fell forward a little so I kicked him as hard as I could in his knee like I had seen this one guy do in a movie I watched.

"Fuck! You bitch!" What I hadn't prepared myself for was his retaliation and I yelped as he backhanded me and I fell to the floor.

Tears stung at the corner of my eyes and my cheek was on fire from where he hit me but I wasn't going to give up. Not giving him the satisfaction of seeing me cry, I glared at the man as I tried to get away from him and just when he started advancing towards me, a loud thud sounded and we both froze.

I looked up and instantly, my eyes were wide with shock as I saw the crack in the wall where Kade's fist landed. For the first time in the couple of months I've known Kade, I was seeing a darker side of Kade that contrasted from his bright and friendly one.

This one oozed danger as he gave the man a vicious glare that I didn't even think Kade was capable of doing. And just earlier he was complaining about getting calluses on his hands but here he is leaving cracks in walls with those same hands.

The guy trembled as he backed away from me upon seeing the murderous look on Kade's face.

"And where the hell do you think you're going? Preying on a child? That's one of the most despicable things a human being could do. And you chose my little sister of all people?" Kade said as he walked over to the man before gripping the his shirt so tight that I could see some of it ripping.

Kade leaned down and whispered something in the guy's ear and whatever Kade had said must have scared the man so bad that he peed his pants. Literally, there was a dark spot forming on the front of his pants as proof.

Satisfied with seeing the man embarrass himself, Kade dropped him to the ground, and the man didn't move an inch. Which was probably good for him considering even I was just the littlest bit scared of Kade at the moment.

Upon turning back to me, Kade's normal playful air was back as he bounded over to me.

"The bad man didn't touch you, did he? I'll kill him if he did" All throughout that sentence, Kade was smiling as if he didn't just make a guy pee his pants and threaten to end said guy's life.

"N-No...he didn't" I said shaking my head. Kade looked me in the eye, his eyes hardening ever so briefly as he spoke his next words.

"Are you telling the whole truth, honey? You don't have to protect this scum" he said and I just nodded while looking back into his eyes.

"He didn't touch me because you stopped him before he could" I said truthfully and that seemed to brighten Kade's mood as he flashed me a dazzling smile.

I sighed at his bipolar act. One minute he's threatening and dangerous and the next he's back to his playful self. Max was right when he said that Kade did have another dangerous side to him.

"I'm glad to hear that but" He said before his darkened expression returned upon he seeing my red cheek and bruised wrist.

"He may not have touched you but he hurt you and that's an act punishable by death in my book" Kade said as he looked back over to the man who paled when being met with Kade's enraged expression.

"Please...let's just go" I said standing up and Kade frowned.

"Are you sure? It won't take long. I'll-"

"I don't want you to kill him, Kade. Just leave him" I said and started walking away from the man. I heard Kade sigh before heading him follow after me.

Even now as we were walking away, I could still feel my hands trembling at the bad situation I had gotten myself into. If Kade hadn't found me, surely that man would have tried to force himself on me.

But that wasn't what scared me more than anything else.

What scared me was that my feelings of hatred for others had begun to surface but I did my best to push them back down. It wasn't everyone else's fault that one man had tried to do something despicable. But then again, no one did anything to help me.

"Oh, honey" I was confused when I was suddenly brought into Kade's arms until I felt the stinging pain in my eyes from my salty tears.

A sob left me as I clutched tighter on to Kade's shirt and I didn't even care that we were in public. If they hadn't noticed me being kidnapped then why would they notice me crying?

"I-I was so...scared...and no one did anything...it was like, it was like I didn't exist! Why didn't someone help me?" I cried and I felt Kade's grip tighten as his chest raised up and went down down from the sigh he let out. I could hear his heart beating, it was so fast that I was afraid it would explode in his chest.

"I'm so sorry. I never should have let you go on your own, this wouldn't have happened if I had been more careful" Kade said and I felt my heart clench at his words. They sounded broken, just as broke as I was over the fact that I had almost been kidnapped and forced to do unspeakable things and no one had noticed.

This made it so much more harder for me to believe that people are kind and don't only care about themselves.

Once finishing my tears, I wiped them off of my cheeks, slightly wincing as I touched the cheek where that man had hit me, before speaking.

"Kade..." I muttered.

"Yes, honey?" He asked looking at me intently, ready to answer whatever questions I may have.

"I still have to pee..."