Y/n POV:

  Christ, it had been so long since I actually had seen him. The same, he was the exact same. I shouldn't have been surprised but I was(as unbelievable as that sounds). Garroth was reading the letters and it was embarrassing from how poorly the one was composed. But he smiled at it. He laughed at it.

I was starting to think he lost his shyness until his face lit up like a candle after Aphmau answered a question for me. She wasn't telling the truth, but she wasn't lying either. I honestly still don't know how I feel about it all. And after hearing Garroth's voice again and physically seeing him, I wasn't getting any answers.

  I had woken up with Katelyn propping Laurence upright in his stool to lean against the dresser. I rubbed my eyes throwing her a questioning look. She told me that Laurence had decided to watch over me and Aphmau when our bodies had disappeared. He eventually fell asleep beside my bed and had fallen down a couple of minutes ago. Aaron was the one who noticed so Katelyn was in the middle of sitting Laurence back up when we proofed back in the room.

   I thanked her before asking how her research was going. Katelyn signed in response, saying how she had stumbled upon some books on curses but hasn't found anything yet. She bid a goodbye back to her research.

   Aaron was posted like a model on his perch like normal. I gave a short wave of acknowledgement, getting a nod in response. I know I didn't like him, but it was for reasons that seemed dumb now(considering that the circumstances are much different). So giving attention to someone who's helping out when they have no need to, shouldn't be out of the question.

I turned back over to Laurence.

   He was hunched to the side some. Resting his head against his palm over the dresser. Dark circles that sat under his eyes had gradually gotten lighter with each day back in the settlement. I told myself that was the reason I stared longer than I should have.

   Deciding that the position most likely wasn't the most comfortable, I went to move Laurence to a bed. Of course the grown man was heavy, but lighter than I though which gave my pride a boost. He laid downs with some trouble. The type of clinginess you get from a kids that's cold and needs a blanket. Kyle used to do it and so does Oisín, so I didn't think too hard on the action. When I finally got him down though, Laurence looked content in his sleep.

   He's been tired lately-- well we all have. But seeing him rest peacefully left a fluttering feeling in my chest. I stopped my hand before I could touch his hair, backing away immediately. Someone was gonna see me or worse, he was gonna wake up. I rushed down the ladder at that fact, warm face and all. No way in hell was I gonna give his something to boast about for he rest of existence.

   I stopped on the stairway upon seeing Malachi. He said good morning and we chatted for a minute. Mostly about everyone's different reactions to finding out about Oisín. Aphmau and Levin were down at the docks discussing something that had been bothering him. Malachi shared a butt hurt expression with me on how neither of us were asked about the subject. "Must be Lord stuff again." He shrugged and waved as I continued to ground level.

    I was going towards Donna's house when I caught glimpse of the docks. There was a small boat that I'd hadn't seen yesterday. Upon closer inspection(squinting and leaning forward) it was Nicole's, to which I ran over immediately. She was talking to Aphmau and had smacked her hand hard against her forehead. "Nicky?" She looked up and changed her despair ridden face to a pleading one.

   "Y/n! Can you please bring me Dmitri?! I don't want anyone to know I'm here and Aphmau just told me he's in Kawaii~chan's house with Dante."

   'Shit.' I nodded, turning a heal. Aphmau being Aphmau was right next to me. I knocked on Kawaii~chan's door before opening it. Her and Nekoette were in the kitchen making dinner. They invited us over later to which j agreed before going to the basement looking for the guys. Dante had given Dmitri his old katanas, teaching him how to use them. He then took notice of the both of us and asked what was up.

   I was simply gonna ask to see Dmitri, worst case scenario I would have to pretend to be mad at the kid. "Nicole is here and she's waiting at the docks for Dmitri." I snapped my head over to Aphmau who just blurted that shit out. What. The. Fuck. Woman. It doesn't take a genius to know that he was the reason Nicole didn't want to come and get Dmitri herself. I wanted to smack Aph upside the head for her ignorance.

    Dante had blinked before telling us to invite her over. It has been forever since everyone had seen her...There was no going back now. "She doesn't want to see anyone. Only came to get Dmitri." Dante's expression slowly turned furious before he stormed out the house down to the docks. Refusing to just let her up and leave after she had ignored him for 7 years now.

   I ran after, knowing how messy this was gonna get. And messy it was. Nicole dipped back into her boat, unloading the plank laid out to get to the docks upon seeing Dante coming. She refused to turn back around as he started yelling at her. Realizing that wasn't getting anywhere, Dante lowered his voice; asking why she was ignoring him, what she'd been doing and why couldn't they be friends.

   Her answers were kept vague. That was until Dante brought up Dmitri. Complimenting him on the trait he got from Nicole. She slowly started breaking down, until she simply blurted out the fact that he was Dante's son. At first he didn't believe her. Demanding answer and yelling more questions. Her explanation was that when she left for Scaleswind, she found out she was pregnant. 3 months later she came back but he had already moved on with Kawaii~chan. She didn't want to break his new family and just left.

   Dante still wasn't having it with that plain answer. They were talking about him having a son for Irene's sake. Nicole was crying, bringing up the fact that he moved on in three months. That she was still in love with him. I interjected saying they both should calm down, maybe not be so laid with their argument. Nicole asked why I wasn't helping her with this, Dante didn't understand why I wasn't taking his side.

"Wait...Y/n did you know about this?"

   The question caught me off guard and I didn't respond to him. Anger and betrayal written across his forehead, Dante was breathing fire. "YOU FUCKING KNEW THAT I HAD A KID AND DIDN--" he had taken a threatening step forward before being knocked clean in the head by Katelyn. Nicole finally looked over at and and couldn't fathom why she had done that.

   "There are too many emotions right now, and you two are screaming each others heads off. Do you really want Kawaii~chan and the kids to find out about this while you are at each other's throats? You both need to handle this in a calm manner. I would have smacked you upside the head too Nicole if I could reach your... consider yourself lucky."

I considered myself dead as soon as he woke back up.

1306 words.