"Uuuugh, do we have to?" Luke whined slumping against Stampy who led their shared horse.
Dan chuckled from his horse shared with Bitzel who was holding onto the older's middle like his life was in danger.

Though to be fair to him, Deo was mean and told him if he fell off he could get kicked and a horse's kick was fatal.

Meanwhile, Deo was fast asleep against Sparklez's back. His arms were loosely wrapped around the older man's middle, luckily the Shulk didn't seem to mind at all.

"Would you rather walk the 12 miles?" Dan teased.
Luke groaned, his grip tightening slightly on Stampy's shirt. Or whatever it was.
He doesn't know how you'd properly describe it. It was leather and it's the kind of thing you'd imagine someone stranded on an island or in the stone age to wear.

"Mreooow!" SnowBank teased, poking out from his spot in Sparklez's bag.
Luke frowned at the white fluffball and sighed.
"You're lucky you're making Deo less stressed else I'd kick you off that horse and leave you there," Luke grumbled.
"Hey!" Bitzel yelped straightening up on his horse.

Luke huffed. He'd never do it. The kitty has helped all three of them through the stress of trying to find Tommy, but she can be a bit of a b*tch sometimes. Ya know?

Any kitten threats were forgotten as Deo let out a concerning, gurgled cough.
"Ope looks like he's slept long enough," Jordan announced pulling the reigns of his horse to stop it.

The other 2 adults followed his lead.
"Deo, Deo!" Jordan gently shook the oldest of the teens awake.
He, in turn, did not wake up gracefully.

Instead, he woke up in a fit of coughs and slipped off the back of the horse.
Bitzel immediately freaked out and stumbled off of Dan's horse.
He rushed to Deo, blocking his body from the back of the horse in mild fear.
Deo chuckled and brought a hand drowsily up to block out the sun above him.

"Maybe we could walk for a little bit?" Luke offered.
Dan chuckled and slipped easily off his horse, changing the direction of the reigns so it would follow him instead and the others followed suit.

"Come on kiddos," Stampy encouraged a soft kind smile on his face.
It took a minute but eventually, Deo was up and once more they were on their journey.

●●●●

"Noooooooo! Ehzumza! I'm gonna turn to mush if this keeps up!" Jevin whined.
Xisuma chuckled as he looked back at Jevin and Beef.

Beef's feet were raw and red but he hadn't complained once. They might even be bleeding but he was stubborn so the likelihood that he'd show them was low.
Jevin on the other hand was half leaning on the Merling, his slime gooping off him dramatically.

It's not that Xisuma didn't feel bad for having them walk this far. But they needed to get to a swamp and shrunken Jevin and loopy Kevin weren't doing them any favors in finding the d*mn thing. Beef was the only one giving directions and it'd be pretty stupid not to take him with when that's the case.

"S'not 'hat bad!" Kevin insisted pulling at his twin and then staring blankly at the spot where both of their slime glooped together making an odd bluish green.

"Oh no, we've become aquamar'ne," Kevin deadpanned which, of course, resulted in Jevin bursting into sobs.
"Oh no," Hels huffed.
Exavior snickered and tried peaking Kevin off of Jevin.
"Nooooo!" Sobbing Jevin cried out pulling his older brother into a hug.
Which, you know, turned them, even more, aquamarine which made the younger sob even more.

"Thank goodness we're not that clingy," Exavior snickered whipping off Kevin's slime from his arms.
"Eeeeeeh," the Knite twins and Beef disagreed.
"WHA-?!" The Void twins shrieked.

"Can we take, like, a 5-minute break?" Beef asked.
They all easily agreed and settled down.

●●●●

"I'll be back-" Wels snapped his fingers," like that."
Hels huffed and slouched, hesitant to let his brother out of his sights again.
A silent paranoia that comes from being forced to separate for years.

"Ok, but please don't wander too far?" Hels pleaded.
Wels just laughed.
"I'm just going into town you dimwit, 20 or so minutes, tops," Wels assured flicking Hel's forehead.

"Maybe I should go with you-" Hels offered.
Finally having enough, Exavior stepped in. He grabbed the dark brown leather holding Hels' black armor together and pulled him backward.

"Hels, he's just going to the bathroom, leave him be," Exavior scolded.
Hels let out a soft whine as Wels gave the Exavior a nod of thanks and rushed away.

●●●●

Wels sighed as he ran his hands under the water. The amount of dirty looks he's received in not 13 minutes is staggering.
Jeez, why are people like this?

Wels yelped as a man shoved him more into the sink before going off to a stall. He swears he heard him say something about a "stupid girly boy" and "stop wearing dresses, punk".
At least he's not trying to take his patagium?
Win in his book.

Wels glanced into the mirror once more just as a group of kids were walking in.
Wait....

Wels knows these kids!
Wels spun around and stared in shock at the 3 teenagers that had just entered the bathroom.
Deo, Luke, Bitzel.
But no Tommy.
Of course not.

"Mr. Knite?" Deo asked cautiously.
Wels pulled the kids into a hug.
"Where have you boys been?! Why are you down here, are you hurt?!" Wels frantically asked looking everyone over.

"I just- uh-" Bitzel stammered.
"Can we talk about this in a minute, we gotta use the-" Deo offered.
Wels nodded and stepped out of their way.
"Of course, of course, I'll wait by the door," Wels responded almost too quickly and the teenagers rushed to 3 open empty stalls.

●●●●

When Mr.Knite had said he'd wait by the door Deo wasn't expecting him to still be inside the bathroom. But considering when he exited his stall the first thing he saw was a man harassing him he wasn't too surprised.

Racist sh*ts.

Deo eyed Wels and the man as the man yelled and Wels took it like a g*d d*mn champ.
Deo watched the encounter from the mirror as he washed his hands. The man was yelling and yelling until he grabbed Wel's patagium and Wels slammed his boot between the man's legs.

The man crumbled to the ground at Wels' feet as Wels growled out, "Pervert."
Wels tapped the toe of his boot against the tile floor, letting it clang like metal.
"Steal tipped boots, would recommend," Wels deadpanned with a slight tilt to his voice as the end of the sentence.
(Whenever I say this I end up saying "would wecomend")

Deo snickered and dried his hands off with the paper towels and walked to Wels' side.
He's so cool.

"When was the last time you kiddos ate?" Wels asked.
"Uh, we had breakfast about 6-7 am?" Deo answered.
"I hate public- is he ok?" Luke began but easily changed the topic as he stared down at the man writhing in pain at Wels Knites's feet.

In response, Wels softly kicked him and the man whimpered.
"Meh, Hels would have done worse. He's fine," Wels assured.

Luke nodded and went to wash his hands.
Only a couple of minutes later Bitzel came out too.

The man had long since stumbled up and out of the bathroom by then.
"What was the commotion I heard?" Bitzel asked, drying his hands.
"Wels best the sh*t out of some guy harassing him!" Deo announced.

"Hey, mind your language. Also, I just kicked him where it hurt! There's a difference," Wels waved the teens off.
Bitzel winced and Luke wheezed.
Deo eyed the Knight cautiously.
Then, "you seem happier."

Wels looked down at the teen. The 2 stared at each other for a moment.

"You guys want lunch?" Wels offered leading the teens out of the restroom.
Deo raised an eyebrow at the other 2. Bitzel shrugged and Luke didn't seem to notice.

"We're kinda with a group, so-" Luke answered.
"Oh, well that's fine! So am I. We can just buy some extra or offer for them to join us!" Wels replied easily.
"Ok! Let's offer for them all to join us! Our group isn't too big, only 6 of us, yours?" Luke responded.
"We've got 7," Wels nodded.

"Then we could split up! You and.... Deo! Can go get your group and we can go get ours!" Luke offered.
"I'm down," Bitzel offered.
Deo whimpered slightly but he nodded anyway.

"Oh, alright? We could also-" Wels began but Bitzel and Luke were already rushing the opposite way.
"Nevermind then," Wels hummed.

Deo and Wels walked to the other side of the town to obtain Wels's group.

Sitting at the edge of the town was 1 human wearing a wrap skirt and possibly the weirdest not-shirt Deo has ever seen, 2 shulks, one black and red, the other a multitude of colors as if they had changed it over and over, 1 Avian with a Red Patagium that sadly reminded Deo of Tommy, and 2 other origins that Deo didn't know about.
The Origins that Deo had no clue of were covered in an aquamarine, blue, green goo-like substance.
Wels obviously didn't mind the goo because he picked the more blue guy up from the ground and pat his head.

"Wels is back! Wels is back!" The blue gooey guy cheered.
"Yes, hi Jevin," Wels greeted with a smile.
"X?" Wels waved one of the Shulk's over and told him something Deo wasn't paying attention to.
Instead, his focus was on the gooey man who was literally bouncing at the guard's presence.

"Jevin, please be careful," the human whined.
"No- Kevin, don't start doing it too!" The human groaned trying to stop the more green-tinted goo guy.

The green-tinted goo guy, or Kevin as the human called him, was now also bouncing up and down slowly going higher as if challenging the human to stop them.

Suddenly the Shulk, X, cut in, "food helps you guys heal, right?"
Both of the goo guys stopped their bouncing and nodded at the Shulk.

"Sooo?" Wels hummed and X huffed.
"Sure, why don't we get some lunch?" X sighed.
Wels pumped his fist in the air and quietly cheered while the rest of the group gathered their things and hopped up.

Deo's never seen Wels so childish.

"Who's this?" The human asked.
"Oh! This is Deo!" Wels chirped rushing over and pulling Deo into a half hug.
"That's Deo?! I thought he was missing?!" The red Patagiumed Avian chittered back.

"I know! He is! Was? Is," Wels replied.
"Oh! Deo!" Wels quickly pulled away and tugged Deo towards the rest of his group.

He grabbed the human's arm first, "This is Beef Vintage, he's a Merling!"
"Wait, I thought Merlings had tails?" Deo retorted.
"Some do," Wels nodded.
"I do, my tail can just," he pauses, puts his hands together then peels them apart with an almost disgusting sound effect, "you know?"

"Please never do that again," Wels gagged side-eyeing the not-Human apparently.
'Beef' laughed and grinned at the blond.
Said blond moved to the next person.

Said next person was the Avian, "This is Hels Knite! He's my twin brother!"
"And before you say it, yes I have a brother," Wels huffed.
"Everyone says that! Everyone says that. Why does everyone say that?" Wels huffed and Hels nodded along.
"I dunno, I dunno," Hels replied.

Deo eyed the red patagiumed man cautiously.
"You 2 look like you could be Tommy's older siblings," Deo noted.
Wels' face turned a soft pink and Hels scoffed.
"Considering Wels was the only adult you f*cking cared he was missing we might as well be," Hels growled.

In turn, he got smacked by 4 people. Wels, Beef, the multicolored Shulk, and the bluer goo guy.
"Wha- hey!" Hels squawked.
"Language," Beef and the blue goo-guy scolded.
"Don't be mean to Wels' people silly heir," the multicolored Shulk scolded.

Hels grumbled and turned to Wels.
"I'm not wrong!" Hels defended.
"You weren't there! How would you know!?" Wels retorted.
This was Wels Deo knew. Defensive, quiet but brash. Just a few more ways he was like Tommy.

"They were good enough parents," Deo hummed.
Hels eyed Deo cautiously.
"Neglectful, sure. But they were always taking care of him diligently whenever he got sick. And he got sick a lot! Something to do with his red Patagium genetics?" Deo responded.

"What?" Hels stammered.
"Who told you that?" Wels asked.
"Wha- him and his parents?" Deo responded.
"Uuuh... Ooookay... That's not suspicious at all," Hels snickered.
"What? Why?" Deo asked his skirt fluffing up.

"Oh, it's just that... Red patagiums actually protect you more than any other does. It has multiple layerings including a soft inside, 2 waterproof layers, was on the feathers inside, and an extra layer overtop the skin of the red patagium. Normal patagiums only have 1 layer, blacks have 2 maybe 3 if they're lucky," Hels explained easily.

"Wels here got lucky in his genetic draw on that one! He got the layers but the thin color of the blue. Which actually helps you float better!" Hels snickered elbowing his twin.

Wels rolled his eyes.
"I also have the blend-in factor in the sky. Both utterly useless to Luke unless he plans to swim in a frozen-over lake," Wels grumbled.
Almost as if he was mad that Luke's Patagium didn't continue to grow.

"Yeah... It probably would have been better if he had gotten the white or the black patagium, right?" Deo huffed.
Wels smiled.
"Black most certainly would have been best. They are the best at climbing!" Wels chittered.
Deo grinned.

Wels cleared his throat and moved on. Though Deo's gaze still slightly lingered on Hels. Why was he so adamant that Wels was in the complete right?

Wels moved to the blue goo guy.
"This is Jevin Iye!" Wels introduced, "he's-"
"Is he your boyfriend?" Deo asked noticing how Wels wrapped around the gooey guy uncaring at to what he dripped on him.

"Wha- n-no?! Why would you-" Wels stammered immediately stepping away from the gooey guy. Though his remnants still stayed on his front.

"Gaaaasp! Are you dating my broooothr?" The green gooey guy asked.
Did he seem excited about that?
"I approve!" Green nodded.
Yep. He was!

"Wha- no! No! Stop!" Wels stammered, flabbergasted that this was being encouraged.
"Eeeh, I don't," Hels grumbled eyeing the 2.
"Fight me," Jevin immediately replied.
"Jevin!" Wels hissed.
"Gladly!" Hels retorted.

Wels let out a quite loud frustrated chitter and chirp.
All eyes turned to him.
"Sorry, bubs," Hels hummed.
Wels humphed and then glared at Deo who just laughed.

"No, Deo. He is not my boyfriend. Twerp. That's Jevin Iye, he's a Slimecician," Wels introduced.
"A what?" Deo asked.
"You remember Slimes from your swamp project?" Wels asked.
Deo nodded.

"Ok, remember how Enderians and Shulks are just human versions of their mob counterparts, the Endermen and Shulks?" Wels asked.
Deo nodded.
"Great, well Slimecicians are the exact same but for Slimes," Wels clapped and then moved on to the green 'Slimecician'.

"This is Kevin Iye, Jevin's twin brother, also a Slimecician," Wels introduced, and before any questions could be asked he moved on to the Red and black Shulk.

"This is Exavior Void, he's a Shulk," Wels introduced and shimmied so he was between the 2 shulks.
"And this is our leader, Xisuma Void, Exaviors twin brother," Wels hummed wrapping an arm subconsciously around the last Shulk's middle.

Huh, was he always this clingy?
Although, in turn, the Shulk wrapped an arm around his shoulders and squeezed.

"Soo, food?" Wels finished it off, pulling away.
The Shulk's brow creased and he lightly pouted but he made no move to pull Wels back as he returned to Deo.
"Yeah!" Deo agreed, grabbed Wels' arm, and dragged.

●●●●

Dan's eyes immediately fell on Wels Knite. He was still wearing his armor, gold embedded and framing his Vevenstone Healers Crystal. Dan's eyes flitted to each of the people he was with.

2 shulks, siblings seemingly, with their own Vevenstone Healers Crystals embedded into their biceps. Their outfits were made to let the gems breathe.
1 Merling clutching a water bottle and staying near the back of the group had his own Vevenstone Healers Crystal embedded into his thigh. Though it was almost unnoticeable, being wrapped over by his coral chiffon skirt cape.
1 blue Slime slumping lazily against the colorful shulk also had a Vevenstone Healers Crystal in his ankle.
There were 2 others to the group, another Slime, and another Avian. 1 clearly an Heir.

Somehow, Dan doesn't feel as bad anymore.

They settled down at a group of tables outside a restaurant, the waitress, a young-looking human, took their orders and retreated.

"Man, people here were so much nicer 5 or so years ago," Wels huffed and Beef snickered.
"Yeah, that was when we were famous though," Xisuma teased.
"Ew," Jevin announced.

"Oh! That's right, you weren't there!" Wels gasped.
Jevin snickered and shook his head.
"Why wasn't he there?" Bitzel asked large eyes surrounded by white fluff poked up from under the table and on his lap.

"I joined their group after they had disbanded," Jevin shrugged.
"Weirdo," Beef hummed softly.
Jevin glared across the table to where Beef was between the feline Stampy and the Shulk Sparklez.

"Soo, you're last name is Cat?" Xisuma asked.
Stampy nodded.
"Oh your poor family," Xisuma hummed and Stampy burst into laughter.
"What's yours?" Stampy asked.
"Void, yep. I get a lot of ignorant older women yelling at me to tell them my last name when I answer with that," Xisuma grumbled.

"Ouch," Stampy hissed, his tail flicking.
What did that mean again?

Beef could tell right away this wasn't going well. The Feline's tail was swishing back and forth, a sign they're hunting prey. This isn't very good considering he's leaning closer to and talking to Xisuma.
The Shulk had That Crazy Look™ in his eyes that all Shulks tend to get when someone is threatening their pair.

Which is someone the Shulk is close to, brought on because of a Shulk's natural nature of being isolated.

The only adult in their group that didn't seem to be imagining the Hermits dead seemed to be the other Avian who was happily talking to Wels but kept blocking Wels from Hels. Which must hurt.

Beef pulled himself out from the table.
"You ok?" The Skulk, Jordan Sparklez, asked.

"I'm fine," Beef assured, "X I gotta- yeah."
"Go for it," X chirped back and Beef started to walk away.

He turned in surprise at the sound of a pair of shoes following him.
Their Avain, Dan Minecart, rushed to be beside him.
"Sorry, headed to the bathroom," Dan chuckled.
Beef nodded and held out his hand as an offering.
Dan took it and they walked to the restroom together.

"So," Dan hummed slipping into a stall, "You Married?"
"I am," Beef replied going into his own stall.

They didn't talk while they were in the stalls but once they got out the conversation continued.
"He or She?" Dan asked.
"She," Beef responded.

"You love her?"
"With all my heart."
"You have any kids?"
"Not yet, do you?"
"I do, haven't seen him in a long while but he should be about 3 now."

Beef smiled at Dan softly. It almost made him feel bad.

"Are you banished or something?" Beef asked.
"No, they all just think I'm dead," Dan answered.

Dan returned to the table alone.
"Where's Beef?" Wels asked.
"He had business," Dan responded easily giving Wels a look.

Wels blushed and elbowed the older.
No one went to check on him.

●●●●

Beef reached aimlessly up to the sink. He couldn't reach the knob to turn it on though. Please. Please, please!
Just a bit of water. Just a bit on his hands and he could heal this sh*t!

It hurt to move any more than this though.
Looking quickly down at whatever the h*ll this guy did Beef still had no clue.

All he had done was place a hand on his stomach and now it was an awful bluish-black.
It kind of felt like cramps. The worst possible kind of cramps.

Except it also had an outside indicator too.
Beef examined his surroundings.

Dan had blocked the door, somehow. And he was pretty sure he had put the out-of-order sign on the outside. Considering he had lifted the sign up and dangled it aimlessly while at the door.

Beef's eyes landed on Biffa's bag. Honestly, thank f*ck he takes that everywhere.
It wasn't a reach away. Beef just grabbed it and hoisted it onto his lap.
He peaked the pink and yellow bag open and shuffled through it.

Inside he had; Etho's portable umbrella, 2 water bottles, Jevin's gold bracelet from Tango, and Grian's thingy majig(as he called it).
Beef pulled out one of the water bottles and then anxiously squeezed Grian's Thingy Majig.
It pressed under his fingertips and it blew out. Beef jumped slightly, the back of his head slammed into the porcelain sink and he sunk slightly.
He pulled his hand away borrowing his brow. It made no obvious noise but it still blew.

What the f*ck?

●●●●

"Was this a good idea?" Ren asked kicking his feet absently from his spot on the tree, Grian and Doc beside him on their own branches.
"We're just back up, if we get bored we can always-" Doc explained.
"Ssshhh!" Ren quickly cut him off.
"What?" Doc stammered.
"Shut up!" Ren hissed his ears flicking.
Grian's head cocked to the side.

"What is that?" Grian asked.
Ren didn't respond, instead he launched himself out of the tree and onto the ground, gone within seconds.
"Wha-" Grian stammered.
Doc shrugged and teleported. Grian launched into the air, confused but ready to help anyways.

●●●●

"Whoa!" Jevin yelped as Doc appeared behind Sparklez.
Everyone turned to look at him.
Doc waved absently eyeing all of them.
"Doc? You ok?" Xisuma asked climbing up.

"Uh yeah, Ren just went haywire came to ask if you knew how to calm him," Doc replied easily.
"You've known him the longest," Xisuma replied walking around the table to him.
"I know but I can't handle Ren and Grian getting spooked by something and going 70 miles per hour, I just can't," Doc replied exasperated.
"Ew," Jevin groaned.
"Oof, both of them?" Xisuma asked.

"Both of them," Doc replied with a grumble.
"Oh boy," Xisuma grumbled.

●●●●

Ren eyed the bathroom door. It was definitely where the sound was coming from.
He grabbed the handle and turned it. It turned all the way but when he tried pushing it opened it got blocked a bit in.
He could probably get his arm in. Looks like a job for a certain fox then.

Glancing to make sure no one was around Ren stepped back away from the door.
He steadied himself before doing a backflip.
It isn't necessarily necessary, but it makes him feel cool and the process itself isn't very pleasant to the human eye. Most of his kind tend to disguise it with a flourish.

He knew a few years younger than him boy, a ginger with white streaks, who used to do a butterfly twist and land in a pouncing pose, or as other kits called it, a superhero pose.

He loved taking him and a few of the younger pups up top to watch him do it in the moonlight. Sometimes Ren'd even do it himself. They got into so much trouble every time.

The small brown fox shook itself out. It was small. Small because it had to be. Though it could be large. As large as Doc while standing normally. Large enough to let all of the Hermits use him as a pillow.

But for now, he needed to be small.

The fox pushed the door open as far as it could go and wiggled his way through. It whimpered as he got slightly stuck but it didn't deter him.

Eventually, the small fox stumbled into the bathroom fully, the door slamming behind him.
Labored breaths seemed to echo through the small space.

"This is not as easy on myself as it is for others," a familiar gruff voice grumbled lazily.
Did he not notice the door opening and closing a few times?
He most likely did but figured it wasn't going to go anywhere. This f*cking thing is heavy.

The fox finished wiggling its way out from behind the box and bounded to the Merling.
The fox whimpered and Beef looked up at him.
"Hey bud," Beef hummed softly patting his lap.

Ren climbed onto the large man's lap as he tried healing himself.
"I don't think I have enough water for this," Beef declared.
Ren whimpered and howled.
Beef carefully carded his fingers through his fur scratching behind his ears.

The door once more opened. But this time the thing moved and shifted until it tipped and fell. Beef quickly moved his feet out of the way, hissing in pain and slightly squashing Ren on his lap.
Though Ren was small and didn't seem to mind.

"Sorry," Grian chuckled nervously.
"Hi," Beef greeted.
Grian shuffled into the room until he was able to rush to his side.
"Hospital?" Grian asked.
Ren whimpered and Beef sighed.
"Put me in water," Beef answered.
That, he could do.

●●●●

"Ren, stay here," Grian instructed.
2 tails stuck between his legs while the rest wagged his approval and he nudged Beef.

Grian stretched out his wings before taking off.
Beef sighed and struggled to unwrap his skirt-cape while sitting.

Scales broke from his skin and his legs were welded together as he took deep breaths under the water.
Soon, he began his work once more. A bright glow blocked Ren's view of his friend. The water blocked his scent.

That wouldn't do.

Ren jumped into the river himself and paddled to Beef's lap. He settled himself down, having to dig into the sand and clay below Beef in order to not get swept away.

It wasn't a necessarily strong current but it was enough of one where it pushed him and made it hard to swim or stay dormant. Beef was too out of it to register anything other than apparently the weight on his lap.

It surprisingly wasn't easy holding your breath and seeing if anything was wrong with your injured when you were underwater.
Maybe he should have thought this through first?
.
.
.

Nah!
This is fine!

●●●●

Luke yelped and fell forward as something landed behind him. A large shadow overcast him and he slowly looked back and up.

The sun outlined a winged person making him engulfed in darkness but haloed by light.
"Why?!" The man snapped.
What was he?
What was he?
What was he?

Why can't he remember?

Luke's eyes caught what seemed to be a red gem on the man's back. As the man got angrier the gem glowed brighter and brighter.

"What have you done?!" The man shrieked.
A loud, angry trill escaped from the man and Luke cowered, scrambling backwards till he was pressed against Xisuma's leg.

A gentle hand landed reassuringly on Luke's shoulder, pulling him into a semi-hug against his leg.

"Who did it?" The man asked his large wings puffed up making him somehow larger.
"Do what?" Doc asked.
"WHO HURT BEEF?!" The winged man screamed launching himself at Jordan who instinctively boxed as the man tackled him.

"Hey!" Stampy screeched his tail fluffing up and he lurched to pull him off.
"No one did anything!" Bitzel called out taking a few steps to try and get to them.
Wels quickly grabbed him.

"Not right now Bitzel," Wels whispered pulling Bitzel back to stand with Deo.

"WHO DID IT?! WHO HURT HIM?!" The winged man- Elytrian! It's an Elytrian! Ahem, the Elytrian screamed, his wing smacking Stampy back.
"Grian!" Wels called out.

The Feline hissed and tried again to yank the Elytrian off the Shulk, only managing in tearing a few feathers out of his wing.
Loud chirps made Stampy, the Bay Bois, and the Hermits look up to the sky where a couple parrots were coming to help.

The birds pecked and cawwed at Jordan and Stampy. Meanwhile, Dan just stared. Unmoving, blank.

"I did," Dan declared making everyone come to a freezing halt.

"What?" Luke asked.
Dan shrugged, his face never changing. Not even to show remorse.
"It wasn't that hard," Dan hummed, "the hard part was taking that d*mned crystal out. Especially without any blood! Now that was impressive."

A shiver ran up everyone's spines.
For the first time since meeting the Hermits, Dan smiled.

It happened too quickly.
One moment everyone was still as statues their ears ringing and watching the man claiming blame intensely.
The next; Dan was pressed under the blade of Xisuma.

No, he wasn't just pressed.
⚠
He was impaled.
His smile dropped, replaced with surprise and fear. His eyes drifted downwards to where a long, glowing, purple-tinted, falchion was deep inside his abdomen.
⚠

His eyes darted back up to his offender who stared blankly back. His eyes shone bright purple.
"Want to try that again?" Xisuma asked, but it wasn't his voice.
Instead, the voice that came out of him was deeper, gravilier, but soft. Almost grandfatherly-like?

The 2 made eye contact and for a few seconds all there was in Dan's eyes were complete and utter fear. Then...
His eyes lit up and he grinned.

"Welcome back, Universe~" Dan greeted.
Grian yelped and Xisuma turned to see why he had cried out.
Grian cradled the lower half of his face, which left the rest of his body open.
Open enough for the now unboxed Shulk to knee him and kick him off.

Doc let out a shriek and teleported to the Elytrian's side.
"I'm surprised this is the body you took over though," Dan purred.
⚠
Xisuma pulled the falchion back out of his abdomen with a sickening squelch and stepped back.
He didn't say anything to the man. Instead, he sliced at him which he not so easily dodged.
⚠

Wels pulled the children back. A distinct sound of guards rushing up to stop the fight seemed to be the only thing filling his ears.

Well, that and Luke's soft whimpers.

●●●●

"Can't we have one chapter where someone's not in immediate danger?" Beef whined his hands shaking Ren's fur and skin as he pet his face.

Ren's tails wagged and he licked the older's face.
He was probably going to apologize for that one later but for now, it was grounding enough all Beef did was laugh.

His abdomen still hurt like a b*tch but at least the markings were gone and all internal bleeding seem to have stopped. He still has a long time 9f healing he needs to do before he's done though.

Actually, he probably would still be trying to go at it without taking a break if it weren't for the fact that Ren was persistent on staying on his lap till he was better and that means he was pretty much drowning.

That wasn't fun to come back into mental consciousness to.
"Why are you like this?" Beef huffed his hand mentally brushing down to his gem.
He traced the outline of it first then traced the sharper edges and then the flat faces.

"He could have done so much worse," Beef sighed.
Ren yapped and shoved his cold nose into Beef's eyelid. Beef leaned back startled by the sudden nose in his eye and playfully swatted him away.

"Why are you even here?" Beef asked.
6 of the 7 of his tails wagged. His last tail tucked uncomfortably against his belly.
Fear? If all the others were happy why was this one scared?

●●●●

"What's happening?" Deo asked frantically.
"Shhhh, it's alright," Hels assured, a hand protectively on his back.
Luke pressed back against Hels' chest making him stagger in his movements.

"Wels?" Bitzel whispered.
Wels didn't reply, a blue-tinted Claymore held tightly in his hand as he led the group through the forest.

Jevin whimpered and Wels froze.
"Hurt?" Wels asked.
Jevin shook his head, though notably, he was globbing and smaller than before. Whether that was due to the split or the injury he obtained from getting tackled is unclear.

Wels wasn't looking back at him though, waiting for a verbal answer. Which Jevin nor Kevin gave. Kevin gently nudged his brother, trying to get him to speak.

When he didn't Wels spun around, walked to the back of the group, and scooped the blue jelly boy up.
"And he says I'm overprotective," Hels huffed.
This received a soft chuckle from the kids.

●●●●

Ren perked up from his spot making Beef's left arm fall asleep.
Ren whimpered, his nose to the forest surrounding them.
Beef looked up, following his lead.

Out walked Wels holding a pouting Jevin and a sleeping Deo.
He deposited them both safely beside the duo.
Ren nudged Jevin who scritched the puppers behind his ears.

In turn, Ren's tails all wagged. Every single one of them managed to smack Beef.
Rude.

"Are you alright?" Hels asked hunched slightly over Bitzel who was whipping at his patagium trying to get the dirt off.
And, of course, because he wasn't looking, he tripped over his patagium again and slammed facefirst into the grass below.

Meanwhile, Luke made sound effects of his trip, fall, and crash.
He's such a good friend!

"Mow!" Snowbank whined from Luke's shoulder.

Then.
Eye contact with the fox.

Snowbank hissed and dug his claws into Luke's patagium. He let out a yelp as the cat dug into him before jumping off his shoulder and hiding within Hels' patagium.
Wels chittered softly catching the children's attention.

Ren seemed a lot less interested in the cat. You know, having Jellie, Maui, Benji, Pearl, Gracie, Max, Alice, Dakotah, Teddy, Atlas, and Glados all make a revolution against him really helps the getting used to cats thing.

And that's all only happened within the year!
You chase each of the cats one time!
Ugh.

Besides, Ren had a duty to uphold! He'll play with Snowbank later. [ ;) ]

"Good boy," Beef praised jokingly.
Aha! Success!
Ren stuck his tongue out at the cat, which just ended up looking like a funny-looking mlem.
It earned him soft laughter from his pack though, so that's good.

Deo reached over sleepily and held his hand out to Ren. Ren glanced over at Beef who just nodded.
Taking the confirmation Ren leaned closer to the hand and nudged it happily, not even bothering to sniff it. He settled his head on the palm, which lazily began scratching at his chin in response.

"Snowbank, he's not gonna hurt you, see?" Bitzel assured, even as Wels chirped and wiped at the dirt on his face like a doting mother.

Is this how Tommy felt?

"Careful what you tell your poor kitty, Ren has scruffed all of our cats back home while trying to get used to them," Jevin teased.
Ren nipped at the slime who swatted back at him.

"It was adorable, but the cats were not pleased," Hels snickered.
"Poor Jellie," Beef teased.
Ren just proudly wagged his tails.

Snowbank meowed and Ren yapped back.

●●●●

The guard saluted eagerly. Xisuma snickered before fixing his stance and nodding, "at ease."
The man's hand fell and he immediately began rambling to the Hermit eagerly.

"Nothing," Doc grumbled returning from his search.
Grian smiled down at a young girl after signing her book and handed her pen back.

Grian's wing twitched eagerly and one of them spread out just in time to catch his parrots.
"Anything?" Grian asked.

Penguin bowed her head slightly, her white and black feathers ruffling. Wither squawked, annoyed, before lightly nudging Penguin as if assuring her it would be ok.
Kotah chirped, "Gone!"
Their wings opened to flap wildly, their blue feathers shifted to black in the light as she flapped.

"Ryana?" Grian asked.
Ryana let out something vaguely similar to a cat hissing.
"Stupid. Creeper!" Ryana squawked.
This, in turn, made the rest fluff up and begin panicking.

Grian rolled his eyes and bopped Ryana on the head.
"Did you find them or not?" Grian asked.
"No," Ryana chirped his head bowing down to her chest.

Grian groaned and shook his head.
"Excuse me?" Another child interrupted him.
Grian turned and once more squatted down to the child's level, signing his things and letting him pet a rainbow parrot that had stayed with him, this one named Winter.

"Hello!" Winter greeted.
"Hi!" The boy greeted back.
Grian couldn't help his smile.

"Just let me know if you find them," Xisuma nodded to the guards handing the head guard in the group a small pile of papers.
"Sir yes sir!" The guards saluted before scampering away like school girls who just talked to their crushes.

Embarrassing.
But convenient.

"Grian?" Doc called catching the youngest's attention.
The parrot perked up and nodded to the rest of the group.
"Can you go check if the Avians made it to the river and then come back to show us where you dropped them off?" Doc instructed.
Grian nodded, ruffled the child beside him's hair, and took off with his parrots close behind.

●●●●

A young man, barely a teenager, knelt before a small 2-year-old boy.
The snow was up to the 13-year-old's knees even when he was standing. The cold had turned the child's nose red, eyelashes, and hair white, and patagium stiff.

"Hiya!" The older blond greeted, "we're you left all alone too?"
The baby tilted his head like a bird and a soft chitter escaped his throat.
The larger blond slipped his thick blue coat off leaving him in a gray sweater and wrapped the baby in the coat.

"Don't worry, Hels is at the store and he'll get us some snacks! How's that sound?" The 13-year-old asked.
The baby giggled and began mindlessly babbling as the 13-year-old carefully picked him up from the steps of the path.

Pushing through the 2 ft(or 60.96cm)  tall snow and growing, the teenager walked the paths of Aviary.
Eventually, after nearly an hour of shivering, the 2 made it to the main area where all the shops and restaurants are.

"One day, we're gonna live in the center of the city! What do you think?" The teenager offered.
The baby nodded enthusiastically. How he still had that much energy, the teen had no clue.

The older heir slipped out of the tall, unshoveled snow, happy he fell back into it instead of onto the unshoveled gravel below.
Why they didn't bother to do all main paths and instead just cut off suddenly at the end of the urban area he had no clue.

"Are you alright, Toms?" The teen asked.
The baby just stared up at him with wide eyes. He looked almost concerned?
The teen pressed a hand to the baby's face and the baby happily leaned into it.

Getting up and brushing the snow off his backside the 2 began once more into the city.
"Now we just have to find Hels! He's probably done by now too!" The teen assured kissing the baby's forehead.

It took a minute or two but eventually, they spotted the red amongst the white.

"Hels!" The teen greeted pulling the older into a hug.
'Hels' gladly accepted it.
"Hey Wels, come on I have a place we can stay for the night!" Hels encouraged.
The teenager, 'Wels' nodded and followed along after his twin brother.

Hels lead the younger 2 through the city and under a fairly old house. The snow didn't make its way under here and the heat from the residents above seeped through the floorboards they were hiding under.
Hels settled the bag of food down between them while Wels settled the toddler in the center of his crisscross-applesauce nest.
Hels pulled out food for himself, then for Wels, and finally the baby, not questioning why there was a baby there in the first place.

Wels opened the granola bar for the tot and helped him eat it in small reasonable chunks.
"Aren't you cold?" Hels asked.
"I can deal with a little cold Hels!" Wels assured a soft smile on his face as he ate his own granola bar.

The 2 teenagers were startled suddenly by a very small growl and yap. They turned to find a very small, malnourished, black and white puppy, maybe only a few months old.
Very carefully Hels reached in the bag and pulled out a small piece of food for the pup. He leaned as far as he dared closer with the food in the center of his palm.

The pup came closer... And closer.... And closer...
The pup snatched the food and dashed to the other side of the crawlspace.

Later Wels woke up to the pup being curled up inside his patagium. He didn't mind.

●●●●

The village was more than willing to lend them a horse and a carriage for their travels. Which was a little concerning but at this point the older hermits were used to it.

They climbed in, making sure the children and the Slimes were on the inside/front of the carriage and the antsy Elytrian was near the outside/back of the carriage.

They made it to their destination a lot quicker this time. All completely on edge and yet still managing to laugh and hype the swamps up to the children.

●●●●

"What now?" Deo asked watching with a vague smile on his face as Jevin pulled Wels into the murky water with a devious laugh, a soft squeak escaping the mighty head guard.

"I guess we start over," Bitzel answered eyes glued to the water, watching, waiting, anxious about Wels not popping back up again.

"We left all our stuff at Dan's," Luke complained, his eyes, too, glued to the water.
Luckily, a moment later Wels breached the water's surface and began laughing and kicking at something beneath the surface which gooped to the surface around him teasingly.

"Yeah..." Bitzel sighed his eyes still glued to Wels, worried he'd slip under and stay there just as he had.
"Jevin! You know how heavy my armor is you prick!" Wels whined and an echoing laugh erupted from the water as Wels pulled himself from the murky depths of the swamp.

"Jerks, the lot o' ya," Wels huffed.
This received indecipherable looks from the other grown-ups.
"What?" Wels asked.
"You sound like one of your women but I can't put my finger on which one," Exavior commented.
"Thanks?" Wels replied.

●●●●

Gentle hands carded through blonde hair. The smaller boy sat cradled in the nest of his patagium. The carriage rocked the passengers but none seemed to mind it all too much.

This scenario was all too familiar. Wels' mind kept returning to having baby Tommy holed up in his lap as they hitchhiked on the back of someone's food cart.

What brought him out of it was the 2 smaller boys pressed protectively on either side of him.
Deo and Bitzel.
Tommy's family....

Tommy's boys.

That's really all Wels knew them as.
The Bay Bois that always had the most important business to be doing. Like dying someone's house red with smoother strawberries, or hiding in a treehouse no other adult knew about, or stealing as many little trinkets as they possibly could because it brought a sense of danger.

The boys who encouraged Tommy to try anything, everything. The boys who climbed trees in order to study because the grass was either too cold or too wet or too boring. The boys who didn't care that they were different than the other students in class because their patagium was too long or too short or not the right color or because they acted weird or hung out with "the wrong people".

They were the kids who always stopped by to visit whenever Tommy wasn't in school. They were the kids who walked the mountain paths as if they were on important journeys and not just on their normal route back to their houses.
They were the boys who once pelted Wels' window with rocks and stones to check out if everything was ok at Tommy's or Luke's house because there was yelling.

These were the kids who tackled an older kid to the ground because he was bullying another kid.

.
.
  .

Ok so maybe Wels knew them as more than that. Maybe Wels knew each and every kid in the city by heart because it was his job to keep them close to his heart. It was his job to not let anyone else have the same lonely street life that he had. And maybe... Just maybe.... He wanted to compensate for losing Hels the same way.

Wels blinked out of his stupor once more when a cold nose pressed against his cheek.
Apparently, at some point, Ren had joined the pile and was now curled into a small ball on the 13-year-old's lap. Wels let out a soft chuckle.

He's been in fox form for too long, Wels easily realizes it, but for now, he wouldn't mention it.

For now, all he'd do was pet the pup and smile at him. Later he would fret over his dog brain and his therapy dog tendencies. But that would come when it wasn't nearly 2 am and he had some help from the other Hermits.

And also maybe when he wasn't too deep within his thoughts that he wouldn't notice him climbing into their laps. . .

-----

Notes:

Milestone hit! I repeat! A milestone has been hit!
Their destiny is being set into place and it's T E R R I F Y I N G.

Don't ask why I have a thing for making Wels so incredibly lonely, I just do.
We're probably going to be hitting milestones a lot quicker now that the first notable one has been hit so prepare for that.

Also, this chapter is sitting at 7750 or so words so, whoo!

Please go thank XxFadingDreamsxX for this lovely fanart of Clara. Congrats on 4 followers by the way ❤

If you also have fanart you want me to know about, message me about it and send a link. I'd love to see it!
If you aren't comfortable with me promoting it in my story let me know and I won't.

Have a good day, and a happy Thanksgiving folks! (If you celebrate it)