Kyle:

Eventually, Allen picked me up and put me in the car. It had been a long time since I didn't feel awkward being carried, but today...

Back at Allen's home, I could move normally by myself again. The others left and Allen and I just stayed in the car, Allen asking if he could talk to me alone.

He tapped the steering wheel, me moving up to the passenger side. "So, I'll say, I admire what you did Kyle, it took a lot of courage." I sat back after I had squirmed into my seat. "But why do it? And even then, why not talk to us?"

"Couldn't afford to talk to you guys. You would have tried to talk me out of it."

"I would have tried to help you find a better way than leaving your family."

"Like what?"

"I mean, you could have told your dad to just take the guards and leave, no need to disown. Give yourself more time ya know? Maybe we could come up with something."

"He wouldn't have listened. As his son, I couldn't tell him what to do. He would only have to listen to a request to be left alone if I was a fellow citizen, not a dependent child. I get that things work differently on my world, we age slower, but you can understand at least what I'm saying right?"

"To a degree. As long as he was your father he had more power in your life than yourself." Allen said. I nodded to that. "So then, just take the guards and don't talk to them about the gargoyles?" I gave him a lazy eye. "Can't count on that huh?" I shook my head.

"And if I tried to convince them their ideas on gargoyles were wrong... a while back, I used to believe that if you did everything right, you could make others do what you wanted, make everything work right. I've learned, that kind of control is waaaay outside my hands. If I were to try to debate them-" I just shook my head. "I'm a hundred, the youngest of my guards would have been over four hundred years old. Compared to them, I'm an infant."

"Afraid you'd be... intellectually punching above your weight class?"

"Yeah... a bit- just a bit." I chuckled at the analogy.

"It takes a while to know what fights to fight and which to avoid. I'd say that was a safe bet." I nodded again. "But Kyle, you could have just explained that. We would have understood."

"Would you?"

"Can you trust us? Trust me or Jessica?"

I looked out the window. "I've trusted a lot of people Allen- dad. I trusted Joran, Fay, the people of my country... some lied, some probably didn't understand what they did... I don't know."

"Hard to trust after all that huh?" He put a hand on my shoulder. "Hey, we'll figure this out." He whistled, "I tell you this much, if you're that able to control yourself now, you are gonna be a force to be reckoned with as a man."

"You won't be there to see it."

"Don't need to, I already know it's gonna be amazing."

(***)

We spent another week with the Reigns, Jessica wanting to give me a chance to mourn before we went on another adventure. No one close to me had really passed away, but it sure felt like they had. The future for me was now just so uncertain.

In that house Xao and I slept in Jaden's room, Jessica sleeping in the house's third room- which was basically just known as the "girl's room" by this point.

We all expected to be woken up by Jaden's alarm on the seventh day- yeah, that didn't happen.

There was a pounding on the door at around six am. "Any of you naked?" Jessica shouted.

"Not particularly," said Xao.

"Okay the- wait, how does that wor- Imma find out!" the door flew open and the light came on, Jaden and Xao rolling over making grumbling noises. "Everyone's just under their covers- that's disappointing."

"What were you expecting?" I snapped from my sleeping bag on the floor, chucking a pillow at her. She casually caught the projectile and tossed it away.

"Get dressed we're gonna go find someone Ky!" Jessie replied, moving on in an instant. She tossed me a milk carton with the face of a child on it. I shook my head looking at the face. "You're feeling up to it right?"

"Yeah, I'm good," I said.

"GOOD! Imma go make breakfast!" out of the room she bolted.

Jaden stretched and yawned, getting up with me and Xao. "Kinda like sleeping in a bit on Saturday.

"You don't have to join us," I said.

"Wanna see you guys off- should we trust Jessica with cooking?" Jaden asked.

"Ummmm..." I started. "I mean she can..."

"We should probably get dressed quickly just in case," Xao said.

"Can I go with you guys on your next adventure? I have the day off!" Jaden asked.

"You're a bit young," Xao said. "Maybe when you grow up."

"I'm bigger than Kyle."

"Not much of an accomplishment," Xao said.

"Jerk!" I grumbled. I quickly changed from jammies to a shirt and jeans.

"Hey Kyle, where do you think they keep the cute bunnies, that thing was actually pretty goo-"

"Oh get off that already!" I shouted down to her.

The end.