"Mom!"

"Mom?"

Yuuhime felt her boys tug on her dress as she entered her house. She glanced down at them and sheepishly smiled.

"Hello there, you." She picked them up and rocked them. Amon gave her a big hug, while Ace leaned on her, looking very tired.

"Can you tuck us in?" Ace asked softly. Yuuhime nodded, rubbing his head.

"Of course..."

She softly patted to their room. She gently placed Ace into his bed, keeping Amon on her leg and sat on the foot of Ace's bed.

"I need to tell you boys something very important." She said, her face grim. The twins stared at her, wide eyed.

"Dad isn't...going to be home for a while, ok?"

"Why?" Amon asked.

"Is he ok?" Ace asked, holding onto his bedsheet.

Yuuhime scanned their faces. They were only nine, she didn't know how she could tell them...

"...dad is ok." She said, hoping she wasn't lying. "He's just...somewhere else right now."

"When will he come back?"

"I don't know, but it will be soon."

She sat up and put Amon to bed.

"Don't think about it too much, my darlings. Just get some bed, alright?"

The twins nodded. Satisfied with their reactions, she left for the door and shut off the lights.

"Night-night, mama." Amon called.

"Night-night, my boys."

She shut the door all the way, and was met with a smell. Following it to the kitchen, she found Yamato plating something.

"Oh, there you are!" He said, holding out a plate of rice and vegetables. "Do you want some?"

"Leave." She said darkly. He flinched at her coldness but didn't move.

"Where is that husband of yours?"

"His...his name is TANG XUAN!" She suddenly lashed out and pinned Yamato to the wall, her fingernails digging into his neck. The plate of rice shattered, the white shards under their feet.

He didn't bother to get her off, he just listened to her panting and sniffling.

It was at this moment he realized—really realized—he didn't know her anymore.

Not as a friend.

Her fingernails dig deeper into his flesh, blood dripping onto her sweaty hands. Her eyes welled up with anger, sadness, pain, hate.

Not as a doll.

Her once porcelain skin was now a little tanner, as if she spent more time outside. Her hair was messier, as if she didn't care as much as she once did. As much as Kokuzan and Yamato wanted her to.

Not as his sister.

"...get out, never return." Yuuhime said silently, letting go of Yamato. Rubbing his neck, he turned and left. Once he shut the door, she couldn't hold it in any longer.

She fell to the ground, gasping for breath. Her cheeks were wet with her salty tears, those tears that made it impossible to breathe.

She thought she left the tears in her past. She thought the same for Yamato, but he made she sticky rice she was sitting on.

"Sunflower...sunflower..." she sobbed.

Ace and Amon stared at her around the corner. They weren't stupid, they knew that their dad wasn't coming home "soon."

One month later

Yuuhime and Ling silently walked through the halls of the Union HQ.

At this point, Yuuhime couldn't help but think her husband was...gone.

Ling wouldn't let go of hope, but had been advised by Yun Chuan to stay in place. It was clearly driving him up the wall, but Yuuhime could only watch.

They passed a door that was cracked ever so slightly open. Ling paused and listened.

"Before I tell you two," Raven began, "you both must swear to secrecy."

Some voices agreed.

"Tang Xuan is alive." Raven said.

Yuuhime had stopped and started listening as well. Both her and Ling looked at each other in relief.

"...that's where the good news ends." Raven continued. "He's being held captive in a Shaodw Decree location. We were just contacted by Sander, informing us of this situation."

"Why would he do that?"

"I'm not sure, but it's most definitely a trap. That's why we must keep this strictly private."

"How do you know he was telling the truth? He could have been easily making shit up."

"I assumed that, as well...until I saw this."

A video began to play. It was quiet, barely audible to Yuuhime, but gasps and disgusted grunts could be heard from the viewers.

Ling suddenly burst into the room. Falken, Li Xiao, Donar, Gabrielle, and Raven shot their heads to look.

"What on god's green...earth..." Ling's voice trailed off.

"Li Ling-?!" Yuuhime tried to pull him back, but froze when she saw the video. Xuan—her Xuan!—was alive, but...not ok.

"Li Ling, Yuuhime?! What do you think you're doing here?" Raven hissed, quickly shutting off the footage. Yuuhime was half relived, half upset.

"What was that?!" Ling shot back. Raven, irritated, ground her teeth.

"This isn't about you or for you, please leave now." Falken calmly said.

Yuuhime obeyed, not wishing to see any more. If Ling followed, she didn't know, nor did she care. Her body ached from just the few seconds she saw.

"Miss Yuuhime?" Donar asked behind her. Donar was one of Xuan's workout buddies, though she didn't know him personally.

He was quiet for a moment before continuing. "We're here for you."

She gave a small nod before quickly leaving.

***

Later that day, Raven went to Yuuhime's office straighten things out.

"May I come in?"

"...yes."

Apparently, Raven hadn't been in Yuuhime's office for a while, because the office was messier than normal.

"There was another phone call." Raven started, picking up a dirty mug. "Since you know about...this...I was wondering if you're up to coming with us?"

"Where?"

"It's a bar. I know this might be a lot for you, but I assumed you would want to make negotiations for Tang Xuan's return."

Yuuhime quietly considered. Finally, she gave a small nod.

"Let me come."

Raven nodded back.

"Do you need me to find someone to watch the boys?"

"I actually found a place for them, an...old friend. They'll be fine."

Raven gave another nod.

"We can drop them off when we're going."

Raven gave a final nod of affirmation and left, still holding the mug.

Yuuhime glanced at a photograph on her desk. It was of her and Xuan, and was almost ten years old. She smiled fondly at it, remembering the day vividly.

A second trip to that amusement park with the Sunflower Warrior ride. Although they did go on that ride, that wasn't the reason they were there.

Instead, Xuan had claimed he'd "toughened up" and could go through the haunted house without getting scared. No one believed him, so they all went to see just how "tough" he was.

No matter how much Yuuhime liked to tease her Xuan, she genuinely believed he could do it. So when he didn't scream and only held her hand towards the end, she saw it as a win and took a selfie with him to celebrate.

Just thinking of that day made her tear up. She couldn't begin to describe how proud she was that day.

And now Xuan was kidnapped again, and she couldn't help but blame herself.

She saved him before.

Why was now different?

***

Yun casually wiped the blood off his staff. Sander stood in the doorway, watching him carefully.

"Anything?" He asked. At first, all the possibilities of holding an ops chief hostage were appealing and exciting. Now, after they had exhausted every one of them, they were left with torturing information out and using him as bait.

"Nope." Yun replied, but his smirk exposed his true feelings.

Beating up his brother everyday was more accelerating than he could imagine. Seeing the blood run down his staff and on his arms felt like a drug. Any pity or love he felt was pushed out the window as all the years of hatred and jealousy bubbled up in its place.

Unfortunately, his dear brother seemed more resilient than he first imagined. Despite being drenched in sweat and blood, he still refused to spill anything. That alone annoyed Sander enough to finally suggest the thing Yun dreaded the most.

"I'm having Freddy and Leon take your place," Sander said, "you've gotten nothing but pleasure out of him, it's time for a different set of minds."

Yun bit his tongue. Outside of Hyde, he respected Sander the most out of anybody else.

Oh, but how getting pushed out enraged him. He had waited so long to finally hurt his brother just like how he did to Yun years ago. He wanted, no, needed, just a little more time!

"You can return if no one else can get anything out of him," Sander continued, "or tonight's peace meeting with the Union goes to plan."

"Peace meeting?" Yun finally turned to look at Sander.

"Well, 'peace meeting' with heavy quotes around it." Sander gave a toothy grin. "Tonight, you'll be watching Tang Xuan's cell, but that is all."

Yun nodded as he finished cleaning his staff. "Thank you, sir."

And with that, Yun quickly left, and Sander walked up to a heavy duty door. He glanced at the screen, that would display the contents of the cell with just a simple password on a small screen. Behind this door, he was certain of what he would see. As he entered the passcode, he was correct once again.

Xuan was upright and was healing himself. He shut off the screen and turned, leaving.

***

Dinner time rolled around, and Djoser once again was preparing the lackluster meal for their prisoner from the scraps from his larger dinner.

Even though it gave him strange looks, he felt as if sharing a meal would open up the red head more than beating him to a pulp.

"Can I help you?" Hearing the small voice, he looked down and saw little Blanche staring back up.

"Of course!" He said, "wash your hands and start mixing the flour and water together."

Although seeing Blanche, and Cricket in all her "glory" for that matter, made him remember his own child, he refused to let that get in his way. Besides, Blanche was a great helper. Although her love of cooking came from Lynn's questionable cooking skills, her seeking guidance from him made him feel a little prideful.

"Now just pour it on, slowly now," Djoser instructed, "there you go."

"Is it finished?" Blanche asked.

"Not without the secret ingredient."

Blanche giggled and grabbed the freshly cut parsley and sprinkled it on top of the dish.

"Can I take the food with you today?" Blanche asked, following Djoser.

"You know that wouldn't make your mo-Ahem, Lynn very happy."

"She doesn't have to know."

He eyed her, then finally sighed.

"Alright, kiddo. Just stay by me."