(wouldn't it be funny if Austin up and leaves Moku to join Kai in an anger-fueled need for revenge? leaving his brothers still fighting and in shambles? yeah wouldn't that be something--)

Figuring out where Sekah was hiding was hard enough; finding his dad's tree was even harder. If the cocos weren't so lenient to reveal his location to Bri, they would've been searching all of Moku for hours.

They traveled down to the mouth of a relatively small cave not too far below the island's surface. They both looked around for his brother, squinting in the faint darkness, not seeing him but could hear incoherent sniffles coming from the tree in the middle.

"Austin's go-ooone," Sekah drew out in a weeping cry. "First Colin lies, then Austin just leaves me here alone, now Colin and B-bri are going to go off as a couple and I'll never see them again and, and- ahhhhhh!"

Bri glanced at Colin, face scrunched up in worry. "How old is he again?"

He sighed. "Too young for all of this, but at least now I know what's wrong. Come on." He led her into the cavern and they treaded the looping pool. He listened to the batting water, hoping the soothing movements of the still waves would calm him down, but it only made him more anxious. As soon they touched foot on the tiny island, the crying upscaled.

"Why are you heeeere?" Seek sniffed. Colin peeked into the tree and could see a tattooed arm clutching another just out of sight. "If you're going to just rub your dating in my face, I don't want you here." There was a slight hesitation in his voice and Colin rubbed the back of his neck.

"I'm not going to just walk away from you when we need to find Austin and you're sitting in here bawling your eyes out."

"Didn't bother you before," Seek bit out.

Colin took a deep breath, shoving down the annoyance building up. Just because Austin wasn't there, didn't mean he had to act like him. "What do I do whenever you cry over the Paka'a brothers, Susie, Austin setting you on fire, or anything? I always come looking for you, every time since we were kids."

"Not since you started dating Bri."

Colin and Bri shared a confused look. Guilt ran over her expression and she gestured to the matching circlet still on her head. He mentally hit himself in the face. "Sekah, that was one time. And Austin said he would check on you-"

"I didn't even seeeeee him!" he interrupted, the shrill expanded word cutting at their eardrums. "He was probably too b-busy planning on asking Bri to the ball and betraying me, too."

Colin groaned. " This again? Look Sekah-" He caught a glimpse of Bri and cut himself off. She stared at the ground, biting her bottom lip with nervous jitters. Her face was clouded over and it reminded him of how she looked right before Kai kidnapped her.

You're the middle brother, Colin. Act like it. He sat down with his back against the tree, the bark stretching at his skin. "That's a conversation between you and Bri, for later. But right now we need to settle what's wrong between us. To be honest, I hated lying to you guys but I thought it would help save your feelings. I knew it would hurt you, and I didn't want to see you anymore upset, so I tried to prevent that. I should've known that would just make finding out later worse. I guess if that makes me a bad brother and friend then so be it.

"But I promise you'll always be my brother Sekah. No matter what happens or who comes into our lives, girl or evil cousin, that won't change the fact that we're a family." Colin's voice choked on the last word. Water lapped up onto the little island, splashing onto Bri's feet. "A real family, not whatever Kai put into Austin's head."

Bri stepped closer, watching her boyfriend's face for any sign to back off, and knelt in front of him. She placed a hand on his knee and he took it, smiling gratefully.

"Plus Bri's a part of our family now, too," he continued.

"Dating or not," she added. She heard a weak sniffle and hoped it was a good sign. "I wouldn't have stayed on Moku if I didn't care about all of you guys. It hurt seeing you fighting each other at the ball because....I didn't want to be the reason your family fell apart."

"It wasn't completely your fault. Austin might've been right on one thing, I shouldn't have stopped spending time with you guys. It's just that..." Colin paused, mulling over his thoughts. Ones that have been dwelling in his mind since they met their first visitor. "We've spent the last, at least, ten years with only each other. Getting to see and experience other people is good for all of us!"

"Yeah," Bri agreed gently. "Broadening your horizons is what the camp is for. Even if you three weren't the ones meant to come here, it can still be a good thing."

Seek didn't answer and Bri bit her lip, thinking. Seek had always seemed so easy to read, now it was like he was determined to prove that wrong. Suddenly, Colin's face lit up and he knocked his head back against the tree. "No one else I meet in camp is going to replace you and Austin, Sekah. And having new friends yourself doesn't mean they'll replace us. Meeting Bri hasn't changed our family, it's just...made it grow."

He still didn't answer right away and Colin shut his eyes, breathing in deeply. He dropped his free hand onto the ground, kneading the blades of grass and sinking his energy into the soil. 'Kane? If you're listening, for some reason, please...help your son for once. Help him understand. Austin and I have been helping parent him for years, but there's only so much we can do. Just...please.'

Colin hadn't prayed to any god except his father in a long, long time. But now was as good a time as any to start.

Shuffling sounded inside the tree. "I've only known you and Austin m-most of my life," Sekah muttered through tear stained and strained vocal chords. "Th-then we met Bri and she was so nice and pretty, and she stayed with us. But then you two started hanging out by yourselves and I-" A sob echoed off the stone walls and Colin winced. "I was afraid you would leeeeeave us."

Colin's eyes primed red and he chuckled lightly. "I could never leave you, Sekah; you're my baby brother. Eeeven if you tried to kill me."

Bri smiled and squeezed Colin's hand. "Anything you want to say to that, Seek?"

Seek hiccuped through more tears. "I'm sor-ry, Colin! I'm s-sorry, Bri! I miiissed you, my coco has been so-so mean to me!"

Colin stood up, helping Bri to her feet. He turned to the opening of the tree, looking down the stairs where he could still see the edges of Seek's pants poking out. "Like I said, you and Austin will always be my brothers. And right now, our brother needs our help."

"Waaaaaahh!" Seek burst out from underneath the tree and collapsed into Colin's waiting open arms, sobbing into his shoulder.

Colin gently patted his head, sighing in relief. "There we go, just let it out bro." His brother blubbered out a response and wiped at his eyes, accomplishing nothing as more tears flooded down his cheeks.

Bri kept her distance but caved in on her own emotions and joined in the hug, wrapping her arms around the both of them. Seek gripped her arm as he cried, but not like he used to,she noticed. It was the same way he was holding on tight to Colin, like he didn't want either of them to leave anymore.

And as Colin comforted and teased his whimpering brother, she had no plans on doing so any time soon.