Xander's POV:

I stepped out of my room in nothing but my sweats, aiming only for the stack of mail on the little table before stepping right back in.

Doe hadn't even committed to getting out of bed yet, and still grumbled into the pillow she held to replace me.

I rubbed an eye before flipping through the envelopes.

Info from my parents that I had to catch up on, more info from my family that I had to catch up on, upcoming territory plans and festivities...

I stopped at the fourth one, looking at a name and address that looked vaguely familiar.

My eyes squinted the longer I looked at it in thought.

As soon as the realization hit me, I was wide awake.

"Doe!" My sudden excitement caused my voice to be louder than I'd planned, getting a louder groan from her in return.

I set the other letters on the desk, speeding back over to the bed

"We finally got a response!" I told her with just as much excitement, but a lowered tone.

She pulled her pillow closer, pressing her face into it with scrunched eyes before muffling out some words

"Response to what?" she grumbled

"You're last name, love."

Hypothetically at least. With being such a well-known shop in that territory I only assumed that they'd have that kind of thing on the record.

She paused for a second before the pillow got pulled away to reveal wide, very awake eyes.

I held the envelope out to her while she pushed herself up into a sitting position.

She just looked at it with unsure eyes after taking it, looking at it every which way.

I sat down and scooched back beside her in the silence, getting met with an envelope in front of my face as soon as I was settled.

I rose a brow in her direction at the action.

"I want you to read it... first," She began, "You're the one who got me this far and... and if it's a bad last name you can just lie to me with a better one."

I smiled at her last statement, plucking the envelope from her hands.

I figured she'd want to be the one to see it first, but this made sense given how she'd handled the rest of things involving this topic.

She wasn't too confident about this new way of life just because it was new to her, and with this last step, it'll all tie together into the result we aimed for from the beginning.

Elongating a nail, I sliced the envelope open and pulled out what was inside.

The handwriting I was met with was a very elegant and flowy cursive.

'Dear Alexander Vanderwood, I was most surprised to find your family's seel on my desk and even more so to hear that you'd favored my shop years ago and snuck under my nose of your position. I'll go ahead and guess that your purchase has suited you well given that she still lives, and for that I am most proud. ABP163 was always a good human. Excelled in her classes and urged her peers to do as they should. I'm happy to hear that she's kept you entertained all this time, as she does hail from a lineage that produces much success. To answer your question, however, I had to trail back a few centuries to locate the surname you've requested, but I found that her bloodline trails all the way back to a Donovan Virez...'

I stopped reading right there, ignoring the... weirder and somewhat uncomfortable aspects of the letter in favor of the answer we finally had.

Virez... Doe Virez... Doe Lilligan Virez.

Holy shit it was perfect!

"Well?" She questioned, nudging at my arm after the smirk crawled its way onto my face.

I folded the letter back up and set it to the side.

"Doe Lilligan Virez," I said, letting her hear it in its entirety.

Her eyes grew wide as she processed it.

I did hope that she liked it. I felt like it fit in the way she was always thinking that names needed to.

"Virez," She softly repeated, eyes narrowing.

"From a Donovan Virez if that's any help."

She was quiet for a moment longer, eventually hunching down to a relaxed sit, a small smile on her face.

"Doe Lilligan Virez," She repeated back to me.

"It's beautiful," I commented, "I think it fits you."

"I think so too." that smile of hers grew wider.

Her words were calm, but I could see that excited shine in her eyes.

I think that it was just a bittersweet moment to finally have this. A full name to call her own instead of that mix of numbers and letters she was before.

The weight of it was still probably sinking in.

I couldn't even begin to put myself in her shoes during all of this, but just watching it and seeing it unfold for now was enough.

"So, Should I finish off what's left to solidify your citizenship?" I questioned.

She just nodded, leaving me to go ahead and get to it.

Everything was done, I just needed to fill out her full name and then sneak it past the office downstairs and right into the pile that immediately gets my parent's stamp of approval-

I was stopped by fingers hooking around my arm, holding me tight.

Her eyes were expectant when I saw them again, pink timing her cheeks and nose.

"I um- Thank you," She got out, " For all of this. For going as far as hunting down the name yourself and getting it all together for me."

I was going to respond, but she beat me by leaning into a soft kiss on my cheek.

"I appreciate it more than I can even think to express or know how to deal with. Appreciate you."

Now my cheeks were heating up at the pure tender moments that were hard to get out of her without prior buildup.

I blinked at her in my temporary stupor before turning my head and returning the kiss for one on her lips.

"It was truly the least I could do. I just wanted you to find something that felt like you."

She nodded, rubbing my jaw with her thumb.

"I love you," She whispered, deepening that color on my face.

I leaned into another quick kiss, speaking words against her lips, "I love you too."

~~~

My 'mission' was a success, having placed everything I needed in the proper pile with minimum questioning from the last who worked directly with citizenship stuff before my parents.

When I returned to my room, Doe sat crisscrossed on the lounge facing the fire.

She knew the plan. I told her that I wanted to burn the papers that marked her as a pet and I meant that quite literally.

"Is it all set?" She asked as soon as the door was closed.

"It is indeed, "I replied, grabbing the file that held all of her prior info before heading over to join her, "Should be all done and solidified within the week, though you should practice your new signature for when you get your ID Card."

Her face dropped, telling me she hadn't thought about that aspect of this yet, but she accepted and moved on rather quickly.

She took the file while I turned the metal knob that made the fire burn just a tad bit more.

To give her a steady flame to work with.

She was flipping through the pages by the time I sat down beside her, seeing her discomfort crack through the exterior she tried to hide it behind.

Disgusted by her past I hoped, and her next words aided in it.

"None of this... feels like real memories." She began, talking through a far-away tone.

I didn't say anything yet, just sat and let her talk.

"I mean, I remember it. Vividly infact, but whenever I do it just feels like it's not my eyes that I'm seeing them through. Like I'm watching it through fogged glass."

"It's because that's not the you that you became," I spoke after a moment of silence to make sure she'd finished her thought, "You didn't get the chance to grow into the person you are back then, so putting yourself back in those moments are always going to feel strange."

She flipped the papers back to the first one. The one that carried all of her basic information.

Her old 'name', age, date of birth, blood type. Followed by many more random facts and a few paragraphs at the bottom detailing how she acted as she grew up in that place.

I'd never read it. I never had a reason to.

Her fingers traced over the small picture of her 16-year-old self in the top right corner, teeth biting into her bottom lip.

"I know I should be happy- I am happy, but why does it feel like I'm leaving that poor girl behind?" The sudden ache in her voice caught me by surprise.

That poor girl..? Her younger self?

The realization pulled hard at something in my chest.

Reaching out, I placed my hand over the side of her head, and pulled her onto my shoulder, immediately feeling her slouch into me.

"You can't leave behind someone who's not there anymore," I eased, "She got out, you got out, and fought for her like no one else could. You turned her into something magnificent despite what they wanted her to be. She's safe now. You forever will be."

I rubbed her arm as I spoke, feeling her further lose that new tension with every breath she took.

It took her a moment, but my words sunk in and she nodded with a steady exhale.

Releasing her as she sat up, I just watched as she took that front sheet of paper and held it to the flame.

She eased it back as soon as the corner caught fire, watching as it made its way down the page, eating away the history and knowledge that came with it. The binds I hoped no longer had any sort of mental or physical grip on her.

She tossed it fully into the fire once it neared her fingers, moving on to the next sheet.

This one had more facts like her clothes sizes, her skin color match for makeup, her disposition notes, so so much more.

Again she followed the same pattern, letting it burn away in her hand until the heat drew to close.

She always skimmed what was on each sheet before deciding how they'd be burned.

Some she went her usual route, others she crumpled and tossed in, and some got torn before getting roasted.

The room began to smell like burnt paper, but I welcomed it.

A short laugh jumped from her, handing the next paper over to me.

It was the certificate of ownership signed by me.

A pit fell into my stomach at the sight, hating myself for the situation I put her in from there fighting with the knowledge that if it wasn't me who took her that day, her situation would have been much different.

I held it close to the wood it burned until the paper began to blaze, holding it with the tips of my claws to let it burn away in my grasp.

She wasn't mine anymore, not in that sense.

She wasn't with me out of ownership, and I wanted nothing left existing to tell us otherwise.

It only took about ten minutes before the file was empty, and even that got to join the rest in the firepit.

She sighed in a way which I couldn't discern the source, but I gave her her moment of silence regardless.

Usually, by now she was hounding me to get some breakfast, so I knew something else had to be on her mind.

I placed my hand on her back, and she leaned back into me, allowing me to kiss the top of her head and run my hand down her back as she had her time with her thoughts.

I could see a difference in her stance after she decided her silence was done, and I just hoped that a mental weight got lifted from all of that as well.