The young girl awoke without opening her eyes. She felt weightless, as well as someone's strong arms keeping her from touching the ground. It made her remember another painful memory.

She had run away—away from her siblings and from her father, and twisted her ankle for her efforts. He had found her late that night and carried her back up the mountain without a word shared between them. He carried her past her inquisitive siblings and tucked her into his giant bed. He started sleeping outside every night since then. "To watch the stars," her father said, but she knew he was lying. It was to watch her. Like everything else he did, it was to protect her and her siblings.

Ruined it.

            "What are you doing here?" someone asked. Someone who wasn't her father.

            Maple opened her eyes and saw a giant, black horse standing before her, and before her familiar, Kat.

Kat and the horse shared a quiet, but intense look before her familiar spoke again. "You're supposed to be with Foxy right now," she said to the horse. "He needs you."

            Foxy. Just hearing his name made Maple's head hurt. It made the voice speak.

            Burn him.

            But Maple held her breath until she felt dizzy and the voice quieted. It was a trick she learned a long time ago. If she wasn't thinking clearly, the voice wasn't so loud.

            "I'm doing the safest thing for him," her familiar spoke up again, like she was having a conversation with herself.

Or, more than likely, with the horse. It stamped one of its hooves and shook out its mane like it was growing agitated with Kat and the things she was saying. Maple's familiar shook her own head and the witch felt Kat's hands tighten on her thighs.

"I'm not myself when she's around--I'm a danger to him. It has to be you who protects him now. You're all he has left, Stallion."

The black horse, Stallion, huffed and stepped closer to Maple and Kat. The witch reflexively gripped her familiar a bit tighter around her neck when the latter jumped back nearly five feet. One of Maple's legs fell limp when Kat reached down and pulled the knife from it's holster.

"Do not try and stop me," she hissed, her voice cold as ice. "I am doing what's best for him."

Hurt him. The voice persisted. It dug its dark claws and made every inch of her brain ache. Burn him to ash.

Maple bit the inside of her cheek. She bit down until she tasted blood, but the voice did not go away.

Burn him. Hurt him. Ruin him.

"I don't have a choice," her familiar said, and Maple could feel Kat's shoulders shake as she said it. Her voice had lost its cold certainty. It was weak. A voice the witch had heard before. "Don't you get it?"

I don't have a choice, Gust had said. And then he ran off after Foxy into that damned cabin. Her brother. Her last sibling. They could have escaped, they could have left everything behind and started over somewhere else, but he had to show up and ruin it all.

Not that it was entirely his fault.

You had a choice, Gust, Maple thought bitterly. You just made the wrong one.

But not you, Maple. The voice spoke up again. This time, it's words did not hurt her. You followed him and burned it all. You stopped that witch from ever hurting anyone again.

That's my job, Maple thought back. I'm the big sister. It's my job to clean up after them.

"Do what you want," she said out-loud, and her familiar froze up at once. When Kat didn't move for a few seconds, Maple spoke up again. "Did you hear me, Elizabeth? I said do what you—"

The witch was dropped to the ground. Kat took off back the way she came, and Maple hardly stood up and dusted herself off before her familiar was out of sight.

"You're no better than a child," she muttered to herself.

She caught the dark horse moving in the corner of her eye, and threw out her hand in his direction. Flames shot up from around the horse's feet and he let out a high-pitched whiney as he nearly fell over himself in his bid to back away.

"Don't interfere," the witch spat at him, and she pushed her flames to chase after the retreating animal until he too was out of sight. Then, with the aches in her head dulling to a gentle, rhythmic pounding, she followed after her familiar.

Though Kat was leaps and bounds faster than her, Maple found her easy enough. Her familiar was never truly lost to her, no matter the distance. Though their connection would weaken, there was something that always kept them close. Some emotion or specific thought that bound them. Maple wasn't entirely sure what to call it, but it kept Kat from ever truly being apart from her.

That feeling couldn't be further away when the witch reached her familiar and found her kneeling over Foxy's unconscious body. She had her hands around him, her forehead pressed against his, and was saying over and over: "Sorry. I am so sorry. Foxy, please forgive me."

Weak. The voice hissed, and Maple could only agree.

"I'll give you this," the witch said, noting her familiar falling silent and freezing up again before continuing, "but in return you will not try and hide me away. I am going with you two to see this Knower of animals, and I will do everything in my power to keep her alive."

Kat nodded slowly. "He wants to give her a chance, too," she said, stroking his head. Looking at nothing else but him. "Even if it means keeping us bound to our Masters, Foxy doesn't want to have to kill her."

He is weak. He is making you weak.

"And what do you want, Elizabeth?" Maple asked, gritting her teeth against the pain flaring up in her skull. When her familiar didn't answer, the pain intensified. "Tell me."

"I want to be free of you," Kat answered.

She turned and looked at Maple, and the little girl was forced to take a step back at the glare sent her way. She had only seen it once before. It was the same look Foxy has given her after Kat stabbed herself.

Why? Maple almost asked back. But she didn't, because she knew why.

Burn her. The voice said.

Maple stared at the scars on her familiar's face and body. At the tight red skin and the cold, blue eye.

I already did, she thought back to the voice.

"You are mine," Maple said to Kat. "I won't give you up. Even if you want it."

Maple stepped closer. She didn't stop when her familiar pulled out her knife and hovered over him. She instead wondered if Kat would be able to stop herself from killing the fox if her Master ordered it now. There wasn't the same distance like before. She was right on top of him. It would take less than a second.

Do it.

But Maple held her breath until she nearly fell.

No, not now.

The witch walked until she stood over the two of them. Her familiar continued to glare with her one good eye, while her enemy remained on the ground with his eyes closed. He almost looked peaceful.

I wont let you off that easy, she thought as she looked down at the boy. First, you are going to help me get back what you took away.

You left them. The voice returned. When he gets them back, they'll want him, not you.

With a steadying sigh, Maple gripped her wrist. With a muffled shout, she burned the browning skin beneath her palm. Her familiar's glare was replaced with open shock while the voice faded away to nothing.

"I am going to put an end to all of this," Maple said to Kat—to him. She kept her wrist in her burning palm as sweat pooled down from her forehead. "I saved us before and I am going to do it again. Whatever or whoever is keeping my family from me will burn."

The witch looked from her familiar, to the boy lying unconscious in the mud, to the other witch who watched everything from behind a nearby tree.

August yelped a bit before ducking out of sight. "I got it!" he shouted, throwing out a thumbs up while keeping the rest of his body behind cover. "L-Loud and clear!"

Maple almost smiled at his antics as she released her wrist. Recently, she had almost forgotten why she spared his life and protected him these past few months. Now she remembered; he was a very good listener.

"Foxy and I will help you," Kat spoke up. She still kneeled over him, but her eye had warmed a fraction as it stared at Maple. "He wants them safe, too."

The witch snorted. "I'm sure," she said. "Let's see how he feels when he wakes up and sees that I'm still here."

"He'll understand," was all Kat said back.

Maple gritted her teeth and gripped her arms, but resisted the urge to do something else she might regret. "We'll see," she said instead and nothing more.

And, with that, the small group fell into silence and waited. Kat maneuvered herself and the boy until she was sitting with his head resting in her lap. August disappeared behind his tree and did not emerge. Part of Maple wanted someone who wasn't a familiar to talk to, but another, bigger part didn't mind the silence.

Not that it was very quiet apart from the lack of words. August's rain fell at a steady pace, making the leaves dance over their heads and filling the air with the sound of their light pitter-pattering. Maple watched their display for awhile until her eyes fell on blackened, soggy wood. An immediate ringing in her head forced her gaze away, unintentionally falling to rest on his sleeping face.

Kat had completely wiped clean the mud and was in the middle of smoothing back thick locks of his red hair. It had grown much lighter in color since Mary last remembered, and it was almost twice as long— which was saying something. He wasn't as thin as the first time she had laid eyes on him, but he definitely had lost a good amount of muscle. A lot of him had changed, but even more of him stayed the same.

Like his eyes. They were the exact same blue. Bright and fierce. And when he slept, his lashes were still long for a boy's. His lips stayed the same shape, too. Thick and a little wide, but not too wide. Almost vulnerable when he let them part just ever so slightly in his sleep.

Kiss him.

Maple and Kat jumped at almost the same instant. The familiar looked up at her Master, her own mouth slightly open.

"What did you say?"

"Th-That's what you want to do, isn't it?" Maple struggled to say as her eyes darted between her familiar and the ground. "Do it already. K-Kiss him."

Weak. The voice burned in her head.

But Maple did not look away when Kat's eye dulled, or when she lowered her head. The witch forgot to keep breathing as she watched the older girl's lips close on top of his. They stayed together for just a few moments until a single tear trickled down his face.

Kat shot her head up. She kept her face turned away from her Master and wiped an arm across her eyes.

"Please don't make me do that again," she said.

"Alright."

The witch wasn't even entirely sure why she commanded it in the first place. She only knew that watching them kiss, and seeing her familiar cry, made the voice in her head go away without having to hurt herself or give in to a demand. It was new. It was interesting.

"I'm in way over my head again," August muttered as he huddled closer behind his tree.

...

*Author's Note*

Poor August. Puberty can be a scary thing if you aren't prepared for it.

It looks like Foxy's traveling party is going to be taking on a few new members. Members he may or may not be thrilled to see again when he wakes back up. But what do you guys think will come about this reunion? And how will this affect the outcome of the familiars meeting with their creator? Whatever your thoughts, I would love to hear them!