Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Martin had just left True Strike, noting that he had stayed much later than usual once again because the sun had clearly been down for hours already. He debated going out to dinner, but a quick glance at his house revealed that Cecil was clearly already home and Martin was hit with a impetus of guilt at the thought. He knew his little brother worried about him more than he let on, but this was for Cecil in the end. Martin could get the money to ensure that there was always a non-leaking roof, sturdy walls, good furniture, warm clothes, enough blankets, food available and the freedom for Cecil to pursue the life and career that he wanted. The close by sound of cast magic made Martin turn his gaze away from the lights of his house towards the SEED Outpost. A smile fell over his face when he noticed the familiar form of his...girlfriend waving goodbye to her monster companions as they departed for the evening. Alice turned away from the departing lights and began emptying out her rucksack into the storage bin sitting by the fence.

She must have just returned from an expedition then.

Martin’s smile fell into a frown. Alice hadn’t been by True Strike for about a week now. She hadn’t invited him along with her on any of her recent expeditions either. He internally winced when he remembered their second date and how stupid he had been. He had been so excited by their rare find and she had encouraged him to go. Still, he had been lectured by Darroch, Cecil, Lucy and even Ryker on why he had massively screwed that up. He had been distracted for three days before Alice returned and asked him on another date. To say that he had been shocked was an understatement – he had been told by Lucy that if he did see Alice again he should expect a break up, at best, Alice being mad at him for weeks before she wanted to talk to him again and he better be humble about it when she came around!

He watched as Alice stretched and turned around to head up the stairs to her rooms. She didn’t appear to notice him. He reasoned that it was late, it was dark, she probably just hadn’t seen him due to the lack of light. He licked his lips and craved the taste of those sweet fruit sandwiches she brought him on a regular basis. At one point she had been dropping them off nearly every day. The work he had always looked forward to becoming even more of a desire since it meant he would get to see her and eat her cooking.

But – after everything with the Royalty Commission, him being exhausted, dragging her down with his mood and her missing their White Day date – he wondered if maybe everything had gone too far. Perhaps his upset attitude had made her decide that it wasn’t worth meeting him for White Day. Yeah, he had complained about her missing their date. However, as he turned and made his way to his house – convinced it wasn’t a good time to drop in on His Fire – he attempted to reason it all out. She had just gotten busy, it was fine. He had literally abandoned her on their second date because of an ore. Therefore, he shouldn’t be taking it so seriously and they had talked afterwards – had promised to communicate more clearly with one another. The Royalty Commission was sealed and Master Darroch was healing and returning to his work slowly but steadily. Martin would still be working more overtime until his Master was completely healed, but he would have more free time soon.

He reached his house and took a deep breath as he walked inside.

“About time Martin!” Cecil was leaning against the kitchen door with a pout. “Hurry and sit down. I made your favorite.”

Martin smiled at his little brother and made his way to the table at the back of their house. “Thank you, Cecil.”

Their meal was like most evenings. Cecil went on and on about his adventures and all the mysteries he had started investigating while Martin patiently listened. The fruit sandwiches were half great, a reminder that his little brother did care about him despite how strained their relationship could be (a consequence he supposed of having to be a big brother and a parent), but half rough as he was reminded of how he hadn’t gotten any from Alice in weeks. Cecil was better at baking, so his fruit sandwiches always tended to be a little lighter and fluffy, more bread than the strawberries while Alice’s farming meant she always had a lot of the sweetest strawberries for her dishes – more fruit than bread.

The only surprise came when Cecil seemed to speed through his own meal and retreat to the kitchen. Martin shrugged it off, Cecil probably had a case to get to for Terry. Martin had promised a lot of people that he would get some rest therefore he had no need to rush his meal. So, he was surprised when Cecil did not rush off to his room to get to work on a case but exited the kitchen with a familiar looking box.

Oh – Martin felt his stomach drop at the sight.

The cookies.

Martin himself was passable at cooking. Lack of any improvement was due to how busy he was with his job and looking after Cecil, but he wasn’t a terrible cook. Cecil was just better and had more time. Still, he had slipped Cecil a little more in his allowance to help guide him through a rather fancy cookie recipe. He had taken half a day and five batches to get them as perfect as possible. And Alice hadn’t even shown up...

Still, it was his own fault for dragging her down with his attitude.

Cecil walked over and slid them towards him on the table. “Look, I know it’s been a week but they’re going to go bad if you don’t do something with them. Either give them to her or eat them yourself.”

“I- it’s not White Day anymore.” He tried to argue.

Cecil huffed. “Alice will like getting White Day cookies from you regardless of if it’s actually White Day or not.”

In all honesty Martin tried not to bring up the topic of his girlfriend with his brother. He never wanted Cecil to think he was less important to Martin than a girl he had only known for about a year, no matter how strongly his feelings were growing for her. He didn’t really bring the relationship up to anyone else either, he wasn’t much of a talker anyway.

“She didn’t show up last Friday. She doesn’t want them.”

Cecil blinked a few times. “Last Friday?”

Martin nodded.

Cecil blinked a few more times and Martin felt himself growing worried. “Cecil? Are you OK? Feeling sick? You promised you’d tell me when you’re not well.”

Simone was generous but medicine was still expensive. He had extra gold from the latest commission work though. It would mean less in savings and if a bad storm blew in during the last half of Winter that’d be more firewood to purchase and less food…

Before his mind could rattle off into the financial balancing of their budget, (the voice in the back of his head reminded him that the neighbors would never let the two of them get too cold or too hungry or too sick and Simone was fine with payment plans – he always failed to listen to it), Cecil darted to the far wall and pulled down the calendar in the main room. Martin put up things and crossed them off to mirror his personal calendar in his bedroom – his brother normally never bothered with the calendar himself, but Martin had been distracted lately with that commission…

Thinking that maybe his little brother was going to jump to some bad thought about Alice he preemptively tried to remedy the situation. “It’s OK Cecil, Alice and I talked about it. She apologized and we agreed to work on our communication.”

She had also referred to herself as the absolute worst person ever for missing their date, which he immediately shut down. He got lost in his work on a regular basis and forgot important events and dates, he didn’t blame her for getting busy with something. Plus, she was a ranger and her workload could be a lot more diverse than his, requiring her to dart from place to place and person to person, as he had learned when he shadowed her patrol. She was too good to go around talking about herself poorly like that.

Cecil stopped in his pathway back to the table, his hands curled tightly around the calendar. “Talked about it? She apologized?”

“Yes?”

Cecil dropped one hand from around the calendar to smack himself in the forehead. “Martin, you idiot!”

OK, now he was offended, no matter how much he agreed with that statement. “What? She missed-”

“She didn’t miss your date!” Cecil scowled, stomped over to the table, slapped the calendar down, pointed to the White Day square and dragged his finger up to the matching day of the week. “YOU missed your date! White Day was Thursday – not Friday. Darroch got hurt that morning and YOU ran off for the entire day. Beatrice and Heinz both saw Alice at the Plaza from 6:00pm until 10:00pm, four hours of waiting for YOU.”

The last bite of the Fruit Sandwich he dropped. It hit the edge of the table before dropping to the floor.

Alice breathed a sigh of relief as she finished her stretches and drank an orange juice. She peered out over the field dotted with her monster companions and grinned. Finally, clearing, tilling and planting all of the fields on all of the dragons was done. Her monsters and her were close enough that they were planting and watering every tilled plot. She also finally had Monster Barns on each dragon, and each was now full so her companions could rotate their field chores. Wrangling and befriending that many monsters had been tedious, and she bet Palmo and Ryker were tired of seeing her rushing in with another request for more Monster Barns and additional rooms. Ryker had already whined about her making him have to work more and torturing him. Why did she do this to him!?

Secretly she thought if he’d be a little nicer to her and others, she might have waited a day or two to make another request, but jerks were going to be jerks she supposed. Besides, after the Typhoon had hit on Monday and most of her crops had met premature ends, she wanted to overcompensate in prepping all her fields. Plus, this would see more profit from the monster products and crops overall. More Gold for her and she had made certain to plant a lot of strawberries. Thy seeds were on the more expensive side but produced multiple harvests. She could stock up on flour from the general store and get back to her previous goal of pursuing/spoiling her boyfriend. Well, more like convincing the guy to take a break occasionally. Not that she was one to talk in that regard. Still, doing all this prep work should only require her to pick a few herbs, break a few rocks and clear a few stumps each day. That should free up a lot more time for dates, sleepovers with the girls and more expeditions. She was determined to find another dragonic ore. Martin had been beaming like a kid in a sweets store on their second date when she had shown him the one that she had stumbled across. She wanted to find one in the next few weeks in preparation for Christmas and New Year’s.

She just had to find the ore, visit True Strike when Martin wasn’t there and speak to Darroch about prepping her gifts for Martin. Her only lingering thought was perhaps she should ask him on more dates before New Year’s. They could certainly use more time together after everything that had happened. Emotions had been high and flying every which way. In fact, due to that, the typhoon and her net loss of her last crop rotation she hadn’t seen him for a good week. A handful of strawberry plants had survived so she had a decent supply of strawberries.

Catching sight of one of her Wooly watering one of the surviving strawberry plants she began smiling at the thought of getting back to making Martin his favorite food and visiting True Strike regularly again.

Giving the field a last unnoticed nod, she turned to make her way back home.

Thank goodness for warp magic. In-between one breath and the next she was back in her room at SEED and energized as she made her way to her kitchen. She could feel she was low on energy, but she was certain she had enough for a few dishes.

The left side of the largest room she had set up as a kitchen and dining area. It now held her chemistry and crafting tables as well since she had gotten that combo upgrade on the cooking utensil sets. The right side of the room held comfy couches and tables. Warm blankets and soft pillows were thrown about them. Alice let her eyes rest on the door to the next room and held her breath for a minute contemplating. She worried that it might be too much in the end – to prep that room, that Martin wouldn’t agree to it, but she told herself that she had nothing to lose by at least offering it.

With that she turned to her cooking and checked the time. If she hurried, she could see Martin right before his lunch break. Tomorrow she shouldn’t have much to do given all her post-typhoon prep-work. It would be a nice day for a date and heaven knows Darroch encouraged Martin to take more time off. The few times they disagreed about something was about Martin taking breaks.

Tired, but with a few perfect sandwiches, Alice hummed a little song under her breath as she made her way out of the kitchen and to her bedroom to change. She may as well spend her day in town afterwards given how tired she was. A trip to the hot springs would do her a lot of good. Her back would certainly appreciate it. She slipped into her casual outfit, scooped up her bag with the sandwiches and made her way down the stairs. True Strike seemed the same as usual in the distance, radiating heat and the smell of charcoal. She only stopped for a moment when she reached the end of the path and failed to hear the typical double hammering she was used to, not even the recent single hammering due to Darroch’s injury. The song faded from her breath and mind and she grew worried. Was Martin not here? Had he left early? Had staying up late working on that commission made him ill?

Biting her lip, trying not to freak out Alice reached out and opened the door.

The creak of the door quickly revealed what was obviously a worried and very exasperated looking Darroch, who was standing in the back corner beside the desk where Martin was normally polishing his weapons and tools. The over-sized man was motioning to the space behind a weapon rack where Alice guessed Martin was sitting – getting a lecture about his health.

Biting back a sigh, Alice figured she might have to drag the guy to the Hot Springs again. At least Darroch was always on her side about that. Standing up straight she made her way over to the lecture and waited to be noticed. Darroch noticed her immediately and turned pleading eyes on her. Oh, he was going to ask.

“Alice, thank goodness you’re here-”

There was a gasp from behind the weapon rack – so Martin was there.

Oh Darling, you never have to hide from me.

“Would you please take this boy out? I’m running out of patience with his attitude and his shoes.”

“His...shoes?” Alice had to blink a few more times.

“Master Darroch!”

Oh, she hadn’t heard his voice in so long. Even if it sounded distressed it was wonderful to hear again.

“The boy is so distracted he keeps dropping his hammer on his foot. He’s-”

“Oh my gosh!”

Fear striking through her at the thought of something else placing their royalty commission in jeopardy and the more concerning general physical and mental health of her boyfriend, Alice darted around Darroch and found that Martin was leaned back against the desk and his eyes had widened upon her appearing. His foot was up on the chair he normally sat at. Thankfully, it didn’t appear that he had broken his foot or anything of the sort. However, Alice did notice that the plates that normally covered the top of his shoes seemed thicker than usual and looked a bit dented. Typical consequences of the trade were burns, bruises and bent armor after all.

Noticing her gaze, Martin blushed and looked away. Darroch noticed her gaze too and cleared his throat.

“I keep reinforcing the plates but if he keeps dropping his hammer on them, they’re not going to hold out forever.”

Alice glanced up at Martin’s face and stepped closer to him. He seemed to shrink back for a moment. That was strange, he looked almost afraid of her.

“Darling, what’s wrong?” she finally asked.

Upon hearing her voice Martin pulled his foot back to drop it to the floor and stood up straight, eyes growing a bit softer.

“Take him to the Hot Springs and convince him to take the rest of the day off, please Alice, I’m begging you,” Darroch pleaded.

Alice nodded and held out her hand towards her boyfriend. “Come on, it’ll be a nice date.”

“D-date?”

Alice blinked a few times. This was so weird. Yes, date. They went on them. This was her boyfriend; she was his girlfriend. They went on dates. She was clearly lacking some information.

She saw the boy gulp before he hesitantly reached out to slip his hand into hers. “O-OK.”

Chapter Text

The truth was that despite promises of better communication they weren’t doing that. At all. Not at all. Alice kept turning her big green eyes on him and Martin felt his hammer striking his scrap metal heart.

He had messed up.

He had messed up big time.

He hadn’t argued when he was guided to the Hot Springs and Murakumo followed asking after him about what was wrong. He almost said something but, he wasn’t good at sharing things. Most of the village didn’t even know he and Alice were dating since they didn’t talk about it much. He ended up not spending much time in the water and quickly made his way to the dining area. He was surprised to see Ryker heading up the steps towards the area after he had sat down.

“Seriously, again!?” the other guy was scowling at him in no time.

Ryker. Could always trust the guy to insult him for any little thing. Biting back a sigh, Martin considered the fact that maybe Ryker calling out his short comings could be beneficial. It had helped before.

“Hmm?” he asked.

Ryker crossed his arms over chest. “What, did your girlfriend finally breakup with you after realizing you’re as emotional as a boulder?”

Martin scowled. “Leave Alice out of this.”

Ryker rolled his eyes. “If she hasn’t, just get it over with already. You’re dragging everyone down with your attitude.”

“Get lost.”

“What if I don’t want to?”

“Ryker.” the hooded man turned and met angry green eyes. “Oh, hi Alice.”

“Don’t ‘Hi Alice’ me. Get to your bath and leave us alone.”

Ryker scoffed and stomped off. When he was finally gone Martin could only lower his eyes to the table. That was twice, twice now someone had told him that his relationship was going to end. Alice wouldn’t – but she could. Probably should.

Lost in his own thoughts, he didn’t realize that Alice had moved closer until he felt her lips pressing to his right temple and her soft voice murmuring her name for him. “Darling?”

Darling. A dearly beloved.

Was that still true? After everything?

He could hardly believe everything that had happened. The royal commission, Master Darroch getting injured to protect him from a monster, running away like a coward, working day and night failing to craft a decent sword, swearing to lay down his hammer forever if he failed, getting chewed out by Ryker of all people, finding the inspiration in the woman he loved.

Worst of everything: finally gaining the courage to ask Alice on a date himself, planning the date for White Day, (the day specifically assigned for lovers to exchange homemade cookies - as she had gifted him with on Valentine’s Day and said she was serious about their relationship), checking with Master Darroch to get the day off, bribing Cecil for baking help, numerous attempts at baking not so perfect cookies, finding a fancy box, and preparing himself to let her know that he was just as serious - only to vanish for the entire day and leave her waiting for four hours in the Plaza. Alone. Abandoning her. Like he had on their second date. Like his parents had abandoned him and Cecil as children. Alice hadn’t argued even though he was wrong. She just went along with it and let him blame her. Degraded herself for missing the date even though she was the only one that had showed up.

Alice had been so wrong at the restaurant that day. She wasn’t the worst. She was the best, the absolute best. No one in their right mind would put up with this, this absolute mess that he was. His smile was frightening, he was too blunt, not emotional enough, couldn’t pick up subtly, he got distracted by shiny rocks, he abandoned people, he-

He was the worst.

“My Fire.” he murmured back as she tilted her head down to look over his face.

He knew that still had the cookies in his bag next to his feet under the table. He had placed them carefully into his bag that morning after Cecil convinced him to come out of his room and told him to just apologize.

Apologize?

There was no apology for this. He felt his eyes grow damp as he glanced up at Alice’s wide eyes before he looked back down at the table beneath his hands. Unfortunately, this caused her to panic.

“What is it? Darling, what is it? What’s wrong?”

He bit his lip. He wouldn’t cry. It wouldn’t do him any good.

“Wo-would you sit down?” he asked, motioning to the chair across from him.
Alice was clearly confused and worried, but she nodded and sat across from him at the table. “What is it Darling? Please tell me. We said we’d communicate more.”

He had to know. More than anything. Regardless of what had happened, what was going to happen. When it all ended here tonight, in the next minute – he HAD to know.

Martin took a deep breath and reached for his bag under the table. He pulled the cookies out and set them on the table between them.

Alice stared at the box and smiled. “A gift? That’s so sweet of you Martin.”

She reached out to grab the box, but before she could pull it towards her, he placed his hand on top of hers. He wouldn’t grab it. He knew his strength and while Alice was a fighter, she was far more akin to lighter weapons and armor than he was.

He saw her gulp. Was she scared? As scared as he was? He was so scared of this.

Why was it the more pain life and his own inadequacies caused him the more in love with her he fell? Why was it so easy?

He had to know the truth.

“Why-”

Martin had only continued to confuse Alice the entire night. She had had to chase Ryker off of her boyfriend, again (she doesn’t wish pain on Butterfly-Guy but a lightbulb had to go off in his head eventually), and set to trying to cheer Martin up. She needed to know what was wrong, even if she couldn’t do anything about it. She continued to be confused when he motioned for her to sit across the table from him. She felt a little more at ease when he reached under the table and produced a box. A quite decorative box, like ones she had seen at Sweet Hearth for baked gifts.

It took her a minute to come to a possible conclusion. Were these the cookies he had intended to give her for White Day? Perhaps she should start apologizing again or were they just having their own White Day?

Either way, “A gift? That’s so sweet of you Martin.”

She reached for the box but nearly jumped out of her skin when Martin reached out and set his hand down atop hers, both still hovering inches above the box.

She felt herself gulp. What was this? For all that they had been together he had never been the one to initiate any contact between them. Was he trying?

“Why-” Martin began. “Why did you let me yell at you?”

And it was back to the confusion. “Yell? At me?”

Was this guy even capable of yelling at her? She’d only seen him yell three times in the near year she’d known him. Once at Ryker for insistently poking him at a town meeting, once at Cecil to warn him about a falling rock down by the beach and once at a slime that had stumbled into town and thought Julian looked like a nice snack.

She saw her boyfriend take a deep breath and clench his teeth. “White Day. Why did you let me blame you?”

Oh.

…

….

“You were upset.” Alice said, finally finding her words.

Martin glared down at the table and took his hand back. “I wasn’t so upset that I couldn’t have showed up on the date I asked you on and planned.”

Alice shook her head and pushed the cookie box to the side, letting her hand rest palm up on the table halfway between them. A passive offer.

“I had a feeling that the night wouldn’t happen. You were really upset and ran off.”

“I left you waiting there, for four hours.”

Alice tried to smile, hoping to calm him. “It was alright, I had a nice walk around town. Interesting conversations with Beatrice and Heinz.”

Martin shook his head. “Everything with the Royalty Commission and Master Darroch too.”

“I understand Darling, you were under a lot of pressure.”

“Dragging Cecil to our first date.”

“You were nervous, it’s OK.”

“I blamed you for White Day when I was just being an idiot and failed to actually look at the calendar.”

Alice suddenly frowned and leaned forward, glaring until her boyfriend raised his eyes to meet hers.

“You were upset. You were under a lot of pressure. You blamed yourself for Darroch. I understood. I still understand. I will always understand. You and Cecil are a package deal – I confessed to you already knowing that.”

“...I’m sorry.” he finally muttered tipping his head forward and bending forward to grab Alice’s hand.

Alice took a deep breath, astounded to see her boyfriend’s shoulders shaking. Not knowing what else to do she pulled his hand towards her and pressed her lips to his fingertips. She heard his breath catch and his head snapped up to meet her eyes with his own. While he was watching she shifted her hold and pressed another kiss to his palm.

Again, Martin had never been one to initiate contact between them. He always left that for her to do. To take his hand, to step closer to one another, to press a kiss to his cheek or lips. That was her basis for being surprised when he got to his feet and pulled gently at their intertwined hands. Not forcefully, just short, small tugs of her hand – letting her know that he wanted her to stand up. She curiously got to her feet and let the further pulls guide her around the table and to his side. He stepped away from the chair to meet her part way and dropped her hand. Only so he could step forward and wrap his arms around her. He bent his head slightly to whisper into her ear.

“I love you. I’m sorry.”

Alice smiled and snuggled closer. “I love you too, and I forgive you.”

“Please,” he whispered into her ear. “Please, don’t ever take any false accusation from anyone. Especially not from me. I made the mistake, let me deal with those consequences – they aren’t yours to bare.”

Alice took a deep breath. “Alright, you can make it up to me. Are those the cookies? We can have our own little White Day celebration if you want. I still have yours too.”

She felt Martin take a deep breath before he stepped back slightly to look at her. Shocking her yet again, he made another move, reaching up with one hand to cup the side of her face and bring her closer into a kiss.

The moment would later be ruined by Murakumo entering with their dinner and tripping over a forgotten fork. He kept apologizing among the splattered meals (no broken dishware thankfully – how had that happened?), Martin was his typical awkward self who didn’t know what to say or do, but Alice just laughed and said it was alright. They had cookies to eat!

It was only when they had finished their cookie exchange and a replacement dinner that she revealed her next surprise, distracting Martin for a couple of seconds, just long enough for her to slip a fruit sandwich on to his plate. He glanced at it in shock, reminded Alice that he loved her and scoffed it down in a couple of quick bites.

“It’s been too long.” he said as an excuse when she just stared at him.

“So, does this mean you want the others too?”

“I can have more?”

For Christmas Martin panicked, internally at least. He wouldn’t be broadcasting it to everyone. Winter was coming to a close, Master Darroch was all healed and they were ahead of schedule for the Royalty Commission. Master Darroch always insisted he take Christmas off anyway. He kept the morning open for Cecil, finally getting to reveal the desk he had commissioned from Palmo and Ryker full of hidden compartments and decoding instruments from Terry. Cecil loved it and set up discovering its secrets while Martin took over breakfast. They settled down to breakfast and had their typical talk about their parents – what they remembered of them, what they wanted to happen, what would happen if they found their parents in what state, what it would mean.

It was during this conversation that made this specific Christmas a bit different than usual.

It had followed a ‘what if their parents suddenly returned’ question. What would they do? It was a typical question they had every year. It had always been consistent for the past handful of years at least. Cecil would find them; they would return with him to Rigbarth and they would all be a happy family again. Martin always found himself reluctant in this belief though. There were so many problems with that. It had been years. Martin always left the ‘if they were going to come back, they would have by now’ comment for the end of the meal because they always discussed what they would do if they never learned anything. A possibility that they had to face.

Still, there were differences this time.

If they returned before Cecil became a full-fledged detective there was always this belief that they would return to living as a full and happy family. However, Martin’s view of their parents had shifted over the years and he began giving a different answer. Their house here in Rigbarth had been a small two room place when their parents had left. Darroch providing Martin a decent wage with his apprenticeship had allowed him to slowly expand into their current four room house. Previously their parents had had the larger main room while the two brothers had shared what was now Martin’s bedroom.

Cecil argued it wouldn’t be difficult to add another room for their parents.

Martin had decided three years ago that if this miraculously did happen, his parents could have his room and he’d move out on his own. Use the back room at True Strike again until he could find/commission his own place.

Then came the line.

“You could just move in with Alice then.”

The comment set Martin’s face burning. “Wh-what?”

Cecil raised an eyebrow at his brother. “You love her. Move in with her.”

Despite how, wonderful that would be, it was sacrilegious to move in and live with someone you weren’t related to, apprenticed to, or at least engaged to.

“D-Don’t be ridiculous. I’d have to marry her.”

“Then make her a ring and propose.”

“Shut up Cecil.”

Besides, this was only a hypothetical if their parents ever showed up eventually. On first thought, it sounded good. Their parents return, finish raising Cecil, freeing Martin to live his life without that responsibility. However, that would mean trusting his parents blindly to not abandon Cecil again. Martin didn’t think he could do that.

Unfortunately, as they cleaned up breakfast and readied themselves to go their separate ways, Cecil to see Terry and Martin to visit Darroch, Martin found himself...stuck.

Alice. Marriage. Living together.

There were problems there. He loved Alice. He would love to live with her, but-

He glanced around the house he had built up over the years. Despite the expansions, he didn’t know if he could expand where his room was due to the slope of the ground. He’d need a bigger room if Alice-

No, wouldn’t work. SEED Rangers were provided room and board at The Silo. That would be asking Alice to give up her job. He could never do that. It would be pointless to ask Alice to move into his house. Plus, there was Cecil. Martin would want a space of his own with Alice. The only logical option would be to move into The Silo with her. He’d seen the expansions on the upper floor. Clearly, she had the room but -

Cecil. Cecil couldn’t be here on his own. Martin could never just abandon his little brother to be on his own.

Plus, he and Alice would need the room if they decided to ever have a family of their own.

That was the thought that made him miss the open door as he was exiting his house and smack face-first into the door frame.

Family. Children. Their children.

An image came to his mind of an infant with his hair and Alice’s bright green eyes.

Then another, his eyes, her hair. A little her. A little him. A bright-eyed baby looking around curiously, a perfect reflection of when Martin had been younger and was handed Cecil for the first time at the clinic. Could they even be tiny look-a-likes of his parents?

This time he deliberately hit his forehead against the doorway.

Shut up brain!

He pulled himself together, took a deep breath and made his way outside, closing the door behind him – thankful that Cecil had already left to see Terry.

-No need to make a fool of himself in public, after all.

He could hardly believe where his thoughts had gone. Alice, of course. Marriage? Living together? Children?

This was Cecil’s fault; he had brought up the idea of living with Alice.

Martin was at the door of True Strike when an errant thought stopped him in his tracks. None of this would matter, because none of it would ever happen.

He wasn’t a good boyfriend; Alice would break up with him sooner or later. Even if she desired a home and a family with him – he couldn’t leave Cecil alone.

The thought dropped a stone into his stomach when he realized why things couldn’t work.

By the time he had checked on Master Darroch he had packed the bad thought away, pushing forward his joy when his mentor gifted him a new Rawhide Mallet. He admittedly spent a little bit of time trying it out on some sample pieces before he left, and the heat of the forge allowed him to forget his troubling thoughts for a short time. He headed into town, ducking into Sweet Hearth to check in on the metal kitchenware and tools. Yuki and Rudolph, of course, insisted on pressing some baked goods on to him for the Holidays and as thanks for checking in on them. He tried to decline, but he had learned the hard way before what kind of look Rudolph could shoot through you if you made his wife upset. He walked out with a fair collection of breads and sweets.

With that he made his way to Studio Palmo, hoping he didn’t run into Ryker. If the guy could just be sleeping while he talked to Palmo – that would be great.

Perhaps some spirit of luck was looking out for Martin because while Ryker wasn’t asleep, he wasn’t at the Studio. Thank goodness. Martin was able to get through a conversation with Palmo, as ridiculous as its context was and dropped off his gifts for Palmo and Ryker. He had crafted Palmo a new multi-tool as the older man had a habit of running them down rather quickly and yes, he had crafted Ryker new twin blades. Master Darroch had been adamant that Martin attempt to ease the arguments the two young men would find themselves in.

It wouldn’t work. It never worked. He had tried this for years. Ryker was always determined to antagonize him.

He made his exit rather quickly and then made his way to the Plaza as he judged the time by the sun in the sky to be much earlier than he had agreed to meet Alice at. He ended up waiting for two hours but, he recalled his mistake and he found himself striking up conversations with the others going to and from throughout town. He still had issues holding conversations with most of them. Hina, Julian, Rudolph and Yuki were rather rare exceptions to that rule though. He’d never really thought about it too in-depth, but he’d been left with enough time to analyze it.

With Rudolph and Yuki, their elderly age gave them a level of patience with people that most of the Rigbarth citizens just didn’t have. The silences were comfortable and when they wanted to talk Martin was happy to listen to Rudolph’s tales of adventures from his younger days. He might have run away from Yuki because she had a habit of just doting on him and giving him compliments – especially since she and her husband were some of the handful of people aware of his relationship. If there was one type of conversation that he could get into it was one about Alice’s accomplishments and fumbles. The only unfortunate part was that Yuki turned that praise on him just as much as she did Alice. Thankfully, Rudolph and Yuki were also able to sense when it was getting a bit too much for him to deal with and toned it down.

The other surprise was Hina and Julian. In retrospect, he surmised that it shouldn’t have been much of a surprise. He had raised Cecil after all. It didn’t help with those thoughts from before about the idea of his own family of course. However, children were easy to deal with. Hina had gifted him a flower crown, almost everyone in town had gotten one from her apparently, so he wore it proudly along with the others as she promised she’d make him a better one in Spring, when there were more pretty flowers. Then she nervously asked if he would pet her head. He had been confused for a moment before smiling at the obvious thought of – of course, she was a Were after all. Young ones really liked head pets. He’d clearly gotten better at smiling too as she beamed afterwards and took off claiming excitedly that she had gotten him to smile!

Julian had been a bit of a different story. He had handed over a crudely constructed slingshot. If Martin had been handed it by anyone other than Julian, he would have immediately explained why it was terrible and told them to go rebuild it. He could take one look at the boy though and see that Julian wanted to say something else. He was fidgeting and looking back and forth at Martin, the ground, then back at Martin. Drawing on his knowledge of interacting with a younger Cecil and True Strike’s customer service manual, he thanked Julian for the gift and inquired if the young boy had something to ask him.

The boy frowned, blushed, shook his head erratically and glared at Martin determinedly. “How did you get Alice to like you?”

Hmm...he wanted to ask: Can YOU tell ME how I got Alice to like ME because I am frankly drawing up a blank.

Unfortunately, he was the adult, so he was supposed to know the answers to things. He hadn’t done anything different with Alice as far as he could tell. She had actively seeked him out, invited him on expeditions, told him how she felt and asked him out on dates. The one time he had suggested a date idea was a disaster and the one time he planned a date had been proof of why he was a terrible boyfriend in the first place. Why did she find him attractive? She had horrible taste in guys! How had this happened?

“I was just being myself.” he explained. “She would ask to spend time with me, and I’d say yes. I guess...she already liked me.”

Which was somehow news to him in this moment. He’d never considered that answer before. Alice had already liked him. That was the only logical conclusion. She wouldn’t have asked him out if she didn’t. It was real. She meant it. (The cookies on Valentine’s Day really should have been a War Hammer driving that into his skull)

Julian huffed and kicked at the stone that made up the base of the plaza. “What if Hina doesn’t already-” he trailed off.

Perhaps it would be better if he drew from Alice’s example rather than his own? The girl had never hesitated after all. Julian seemed more like an Alice than a him.

“Be yourself. Spend time with her. Be nice to her. Give her things that she likes.”

“Oh!” it appeared that Julian had an idea as shock fell over his face.

The boy quickly turned around and took off, waving back a “Thanks!” before vanishing down the street.

Martin hoped that he didn’t get lost again. With that thought, he checked the setting sun and took a deep breath. It was getting close to time to meet with Alice. He tried to distance himself from the last time he had done this – showing up the night after and wondering where she was. What he had done to upset her – convincing himself that it was a sign that the entire situation had shown her he wasn’t worth the trouble of pursuing.

Not that he’d ever known anything about being pursued or courted or even crushed on.

It was difficult to think of himself as an object or being of desire.

No one in Rigbarth had ever showed those kinds of feelings towards him.

“Darling?”

Martin glanced up and smiled at the sight of his girlfriend. She had dressed up in a more festive outfit for the holidays. He himself had forgone the protective metal sheets and thick leather apron and guards of his work clothes, but they were still his work clothes at the base.

Yet again, failing at the boyfriend thing. He couldn’t even dress nicely for her. Why did he always fail at this? Ugh! This was something he never had to deal with before. His vague plans had been to raise Cecil until he could survive on his own and become a Master Blacksmith. He didn’t ever consider romance or a romantic relationship to be something to factor into that. Still, it couldn’t ever be permanent but, he could enjoy this in what time he did have with her.

With that he smiled and stood up from the bench, opening his arms which she didn’t hesitate to throw herself into. This. This was it. She was always so happy to see him, sad when they had to be separate. He was happy whenever he saw her, bemoaning as the time spent apart seemed to stretch longer and longer each day. Would being married alleviate that? The same room? The same bed? Waking up to her every day?

He beat back the thoughts and presented her with the newest sword he had forged her. He nearly fell back when she presented him with a raw dragonic ore.

“Found it on my last expedition. I love that look on your face.”

“Huh? What look?”

“Look at the ore. You see? That face.”

“I can’t see my own face.”

She laughed. “It’s OK, just know your smile looks really cute.”

“I smile?”

“Rarely, but that’s how I know what’s precious to you.”

“My Fire, I love you – so much.”

They went on a walk along the beach, Alice taking a moment to catch a squid that Beatrice had requested earlier. He was neutral on fish, Master Darroch loved it though and Martin later made it up by being distracted by some iron-rich fallen boulders when they were circling on the way back. She took out her own hammer and joined him, giving him all the ore. They stopped by the Blue Moon, got cleaned up and headed to Lackadaisy for an early dinner. Conversations dotted their travels, her recent expeditions, Martin’s uncertain thoughts of having his name on a handful of the order pieces going to the capital. Her frustration of trying to get Redea to open up to others around her, his joy at seeing how excited the new desk had made Cecil.

“You’re a good big brother.”

He admitted. “I like to believe I did OK with Cecil. That he’ll always be happy and successful. That it’s still OK. I’ll never believe I didn’t mess some things up.”

“I guess that’s a thing all parents or guardians will feel about their children. Cecil will never hold that against you. I know he loves his big brother.”

That old thoughts of ‘parent’ and ‘children’ slipped back into the front of Martin’s mind but, he successfully beat them back once again. Reminded himself that he was now just walking her home – had to focus on that. The sun had already fallen, though it wasn’t very late as most of the town was still out and about. Still, Alice held his hand and pressed a kiss to the corner of his lips whenever he did or said something ‘cute’. He could never identify what exactly these ‘cute’ things were, so he just continued being himself. The ‘cute’ things seemed to be in there, so it was best not to change anything, he reasoned.

Thinking back to his brother he subjectively knew that Cecil loved him – as he loved Cecil, but he’d never been blind to the fact that he worked a lot – a desire to push his own skills and craft, but consequently taking away opportunities to spend time with Cecil. Bonding as brothers had been on the backburner for so long because there were bills to pay, furniture to purchase/upgrade, tools to forge/repair, food and clothes to purchase.

He’d make a New Year Resolution to spend more time with Cecil. Cecil was already spending time with Terry and practicing his own skillset for the future, already on a move to independence. They wouldn’t be like they currently were forever, and Martin would give the next few weeks more thought about Alice.

Was there a future with her? Did she want that?

As they approached The Silo, he recalled the dragonic ore she had gifted him. It would make a rather sturdy and eye-catching ring inlaid with gold for a good shine – even if it would be impractical for a ranger.

But – there were so many things that could -

His thoughts were cut off when they reached The Silo and Alice turned towards him, all wide-eyed, almost nervous about something?

“My Fire?”

“Do you want to come up, Darling?”

To her bedroom? It wasn’t like he hadn’t been there before. They’d trudged back from enough expeditions to the very room to take a breather after a warp spell. Still, there was an essence of tension in the air. He’d heard about enough social situations with this same build up. If this was one of those where…

He didn’t give himself time to think about it. He nodded and let her lead him up the stairs.

Chapter Text

When everyone woke up to the turning of the New Year there was a mass gathering on the beach to watch the sunset that evening. The day had been one free from work, outside of personal chores, and had a number of games to be played and dishes to be sampled. Fishing, gossiping and roasting various things over a large bonfire.

Martin was half keeping an eye on Cecil and half keeping an eye on Alice. The girl had managed to somehow snag a shark on her fishing line and almost been reeled into the ocean herself. He’d rushed to her aid immediately while Master Darroch, Reinhard and Rudolph had jumped on and beat at the thrashing catch until it lay still. They had successfully managed to stun the creature. Why Palmo had instantly taken it by the tail and dragged it off shouting WOO-HOO, Ryker following his master with an extremely constipated look on his face, anyone’s guess was as good as Martin’s. He didn’t even remotely understand Palmo or Ryker. No one really wanted to know what Palmo had planned for the stunned shark.

Martin breathed a little easier once he and Alice were strolling along the beach, their boot-covered feet swishing through the somewhat still icy water as she laughed joyfully. Turning around once she got a bit ahead to run back and throw her arms around him. He smiled, she called him cute and pressed a kiss to his lips.

People were staring. More than likely because the two of them weren’t normally very physically affectionate in public. This was a holiday, however. He could swallow his pride for a special occasion. As they made their way back to the large group, together, they were congratulated by those who were unaware of their relationship. Others just remained quiet, their eyes a bit narrowed. It took a few minutes to recognize what were clearly signs of jealousy from some of the guys and girls. Ludmila seemed upset for a few minutes until Alice began cuddling with him and peppering his face with kisses, then the flower shop owner’s face lit up in joy. She was, a very strange woman.

Lucy seemed a little angry and Priscilla looked heart broken. Reinhard had slunk a bit off to the side, Beatrice following him in concern after applauding and congratulating them. A sudden thud made Martin turn and see Ryker stomping off. Clearly, he’d been making his way back from the Studio. It was the one reaction Martin didn’t feel bad about. He could understand falling for Alice, he had after all. He didn’t blame anyone for liking her, but he didn’t want anyone else touching her in a romantic or sexual sense. He tried to hide it though. She was his girlfriend after all, but he wasn’t so blind to think that it could all be forever.

Still, the evening ended with the two of them relaxing on a fluffy blanket she had purchased from Yuki, cuddling in the air between the hot bonfire and the quickly warming air as winter slowly made way for the upcoming spring. Everything wrapped up quickly, all the food eaten, spare blankets collected, and fishing poles retrieved from the beach’s edge. The night had been wonderful.

“Oh, would you wait right here for a minute, Darling? I need to talk to someone really quick.”

“Of course.”

It wasn’t like he had plans himself. She beamed at him, released his hand, pressed a quick kiss to his lips and made her way back down to the beach.

Murakumo passed him a few moments later with a smile and a thumbs up. “Way to go!”

Martin blinked a few times. He would never understand Murakumo, but he said a quiet “Thanks.” and the older man went on his way, laughing and humming. Well, Martin could at least conclude that one bachelor in the village wasn’t upset about his relationship with Alice.

Alice wasn’t gone for a full minute when she came back around the bend of the trail, clearly chatting with someone. To Martin’s surprise, it was Cecil. What did Alice need with him? When they were close enough, he almost asked but thought better of it. Maybe Alice needed Cecil to request something from Terry? She had worked for him for a short while after she was on leave from SEED. His girlfriend turned her eyes back on to him, smiled and went back to holding his hand. One of his favorite things!

“I’ve got a gift back at my place for you and Cecil. If you two don’t mind visiting?”

“Of course not, Alice!” Cecil said with a grin.

The boy looked so excited. Sometimes it felt like Cecil was happier about Martin’s relationship than he himself was. Martin was almost confused but reminded himself – Cecil was his little brother, he wanted Martin to be happy. He had to keep reminding himself of that until he knew it without thinking about it.

“We’d love to, My Fire.”

Alice blushed behind her grin and started pulling him up the trail, back towards the center of the town. Martin only looked back once to see Cecil following with a large, knowing, teasing grin on his face. Oh no! He knew that smug look!

“Cecil, don’t start-”

“She’s got you on a leash.”

“Shut up Cecil!”

His little brother only laughed as he scowled back at him. Alice either didn’t hear or pretended not to hear as they reached the main street that ran through the center of Rigbarth. The snow and ice were already fading, making way for spring as the closed flowers on the ends of the branches were beginning to open. Funny, he had never actually noticed much about the blossoming trees that lined that main road until that one expedition. They had had a long session in the Mines for ore collection and were tired by the time they made it out. Alice had apparently tamed a Griffin at some point and invited him to ride with her and apparently, her walking with or riding monsters throughout the town had been a pretty common occurrence for a while.

He really needed to get out more.

Sure, he had seen her bring some monsters along on their expeditions, but those had primarily been for the battles against wild monsters.

Still he had accepted the offer of the flight, though he’d never been on a flying monster before, but this whole event had been before they were dating, and he was still nursing a crush he was convinced wouldn’t go anywhere. So, it had been nice to indulge riding behind her, his arms wrapped around her, the initial take off that had her leaning backwards slightly, her back touching his chest for a short few seconds as he tried to avoid getting smacked in the face by her hair. He loved the woman to death, but she must be using rock or metal wash for her hair. The ends of those follicles were like needles!

Regardless, in the end, he hadn’t felt his crush grasp him so harshly than when they were flying along the main street, high in the air over everyone’s heads and through the sakura petals on the high trees. Pink petals everywhere, a bright blue sky, flying above everything and everyone, her wrapped up in his arms. He imagined it was pinnacle scene of a lot of romance novels.

-Not that he read them or anything.

“Hey, there goes Ryker.” Cecil commented.

Both Martin and Alice turned to see the blur of a shadow duck behind a nearby tree.

Ryker was being weird again. What did he want?

Alice sighed and shook her head as she continued to guide the two brothers along the main road and to the bridge that lead to The Silo.

Oh yeah, she was going to show them something back at her place. Martin had almost forgotten. He turned his thoughts away from wondering what Ryker was doing following them and turned them towards what she could want to show them both. The last time she had invited him to her place had been...a wonderful experience, but he certainly didn’t want his little brother around for that!

Another minute of walking found them at The Silo. Alice waved to Scarlett as they passed her by the front entrance. The girl nodded back, but quickly looked away from the trio before entering the building. Martin didn’t give it much thought as he was guided along up the stairs to her apartment. She dropped his hand long enough to open the door and allow him and Cecil passage inside. The door finally closed on the world behind them, isolating the group from the rest of the world. Alice had clearly made updates to the layout, new flooring, new curtains and wallpaper now making the areas pop. Martin saw Cecil subtly sliding closer to the bookshelf, he really needed to discipline Cecil about stealing his girlfriend’s books. Alice was clearly too nice to yell at him about it.

“Alright, first is in here.”

Alice made her way to the double doors that Martin recalled leading to a storage closet. However, he was shocked when she threw open the doors and revealed a large room bigger than their own house. The left side was clearly a kitchen, a large fridge, a few kitchen layouts, and a large dining table with six chairs. A fireplace against the far wall was already burning wood logs for the chilled evening. Something that would probably see less use as the warmer season came in the next few days. The right side of the large space was lined with couches and small low tables with a few bookshelves between them. The only difference being the smaller corner near the double doors sat a small dining table with two chairs.

Martin recognized the table and chair set. It had previously been in her first room that night, they had woken up and set about cooking breakfast together and ate at the table before he left early to check on Cecil and head in to work.

“Wow! This is great Alice.” Cecil mentioned, curious eyes scanning the area for what was probably a mystery about the area and eyeing the bookshelves – again!

Martin supported his little brother, even if he didn’t always understand him.

Oh, he was probably supposed to say something, right?

“This is wonderful Alice. Great job.” he finally said to her, smiling back.

Her smile grew before she turned and guided him towards a single door on the side wall. She didn’t guide Martin directly to the door though, she stopped short of it and then turned back to where Cecil was inching towards the bookshelves. Clearly curious of what else Alice had added to her collection.

“Cecil.” Martin finally warned.

The younger guy jumped and pouted. “What? I’m not doing anything.”

Alice laughed and winked at the boy. Martin didn’t know what that was or what it meant, but Cecil brightened and looked at the single door. What was so exciting about another room? What had Alice done? What? Was she keeping a dragon in there? He’d believe it, she would do that after all.

“Go on, Cecil. Open the door.” Alice said.

Cecil smiled at them both and walked past them, reaching out to turn the knob on the door. He paused for a short second and then threw open the door, his foot twisted to turn back to them. However, he stopped and stared in shock. Martin finally took his gaze off of his brother, glanced inside of the room and he had to stop himself due to slight confusion. Then, it was just more confusion. The entire room appeared to be its own small apartment. A corner sported a bed, a side table, a couch, a low table in front of it, another fireplace, a bookshelf and a small cooking counter, all sectioned off from the rest of the room with screens.

The other half of the room faced an additional door with two symmetrical windows, a desk, a chair, two couches, a low table and numerous bookshelves lining the walls.

“Go on Cecil, look around. 15 minutes.” Alice said and the boy, clearly in a shocked trance stepped inside and let the door close behind him.

He and Alice were now alone, she pulled on Martin’s hand to guide him to one of the couches on the far wall of the current room. He sat down in shock and he kept looking towards her and then the door Cecil had vanished behind. Martin was trying to puzzle out what this all meant, but he couldn’t seem to articulate the words that he needed to say aloud. He wasn’t sure what had just happened. What it exactly meant.

“My Fire?” he finally managed.

Alice seemed a bit distracted, fidgeting as she glanced at the floor, bit her lip and then glanced back up at him. “Yes?”

“What – what was that?”

He saw her swallow, she was nervous. Then she took a deep breath, closed her eyes as if prepping herself for something, reopened them to look at Martin with determined eyes and spoke.

“It’s for Cecil, if he wants it – if you…”

She trailed off and Martin leaned closer to her as his heartbeat began racing.

“If I – what?” Why was his heart racing?

She smiled, quaintly, a little fear bleeding through. “Martin, I know it hasn’t been that long since we’ve been dating-”

On the contrary it had felt like a lifetime to him, but she didn’t need to know all of his secrets.

“You don’t have to do this. Cecil’s welcome to the room regardless. He will always be welcome here.”

What about me!? He considered whining, but he wasn’t one to whine, so he chose not to voice that thought.

“I love you.”

He would never hesitate with this. He reached out and took her fidgeting hands into his own. “I love you too.”

He smiled at her which caused her smile to grow and cheeks to flare up. She giggled and leaned closer to him, quickly pressing a kiss to his lips. Unfortunately, it was over as quickly as it happened as she pulled back and glanced away from him again. That wouldn’t do. He wanted her to look at him.

“OK, not much time.” He heard her mutter under her breath.

Confused, he asked. “Not much time for what?”

She licked her lips and took another deep breath before she slipped her hands out of his. Unfortunate. He wanted to keep holding her hands.

“I-I the thing is-”

Strange. Alice was never one to hesitate.

Martin glanced over at the single door, the wide, open kitchen and living space and the double doors that lead to the bedroom with the large bed. Old thoughts suddenly raced back into his mind. There were memories in there. The day and things Cecil had brought up.

Wait a minute! Was that why Cecil had left them alone!? Why he had been giving him those smug looks all day!? Martin gulped as he stared at his girlfriend, who was still trying to find her words somewhere as his mind drifted to the box in his pocket. He had gone through so many gems and ores, because he had thought about it. Thought about it so much. The day after Christmas he had shown up earlier than usual to light his forge at True Strike. He had turned to Master Darroch in his hopelessness. He knew how to forge weapons, tools, even gears. His knowledge on accessories was rather shallow. The pendant he had made Alice for her birthday had been frankly a shallow disaster of great proportions, though she still wore it to this day. Perhaps his choice to make it a love-resistance pendant should have been a lot more telling at the time?

Still, when it came to the idea of crafting her an engagement ring, he was floored. When he realized what he wanted he had simply blurted it out to his Master. Darroch had blinked at him for a full minute and then sat down on the floor and proceeded to cry. Which caused Martin to freak out. Darroch assured him that they were tears of joy and he’d have his support when he proposed to Alice. Upon hearing the word proposal finally voiced aloud, Martin had to sit on the floor next and contemplate his existence in the Universe. The two sat on the floor way past opening time, contemplating lots of things. It wasn’t until Fuuka walked in and asked why they weren’t making sparklies that they finally got back to work.

A dozen attempts throughout the week, during lunch breaks and well into the evenings, Martin finally found a design, ore and gemstone he was happy with. Yuki and Hina had had ideas they thought were pretty (Julian had tagged along to take notes?), Heinz was ecstatic to provide rare crystals and gems for the inlay. The man had pride in his eyes when he realized what Martin was making for Alice. He had teared up a bit too. How Alice had managed to develop a quasi-father-daughter relationship with Heinz was beyond Martin, but he would never begrudge the woman he loved whatever made her happy.

Back in the present moment, Martin realized his own face was flushing while Alice was taking deep breaths.

This was it. This could be the moment. He subtly shifted to reach into his pocket, and mentally fought back the arguments beating at his mind: the ‘not forever’, ‘he had his work’, ‘she had her work’, ‘he had his little brother’, ‘the house’, ‘he already wasn’t good at boyfriend-things’, ‘he wouldn’t be good at husband-things’. Well, those would be things that Alice would have to decide were trouble or not. He would be upfront about those things and allow her to decide if they were worth living with and fighting for.

His hand had just closed around the box and he had dropped his eyes to the floor to quell his nerves, so he made the mistake of not noticing what Alice was doing. His right hand was reaching for the ring, leaving his left free for her to reach out, grab and pull close.

“Darling?” he heard Alice breathe.

He glanced up as he began pulling the box from his pocket. He should look at her. You should look at the person you plan to propose to. Probably. He wasn’t certain about that. However, his hand fumbled with its hold around the box, allowing it to slip back further into his pocket as he caught sight of what she wanted to draw his attention to. She had placed her right hand under his left, to cradle it softly and used her left to place a black box atop it. He felt his eyes widen and jaw drop as her left hand curled around the box to lift its lid.

Inside, gleaming with a silver-shear, was a ring. A familiar glint and shine of a magenta dragonic ore in the center made his breath catch in his throat along with what his eyes could see were diamonds surrounding it. His hands were shaking, he had no hope of grabbing the box that was just in his pocket! He felt water rise to his eyes as they flew up to meet her emerald green gaze, and he fought to find words.

“My Fire, what – what is this?”

Alice’s eyes fell away from his own and on to their hands, her face warm, her smile small and eyes happy.

“It’s an engagement ring. I want to marry you, Martin.”

In half a second every reason flew back on why this was a bad idea, why he was a horrible choice.

“I’m sorry.” was his immediate response.

Failure. He had failed!

Alice’s eyes widened, flew up to his face and her mouth fell into a frown. “You? Don’t want it?”

She looked devastated. “No! That’s not it! You just – beat me to it.”

Martin gulped and fought back the tears beading in his eyes. He finally managed to curl his hand around the box in his pocket and withdrew it. Lifting it to sit beside the other, he tilted the box back for the lid to slip back and reveal his own creation.

“I forged this ring with more care and detail than even your sword.”

He saw tears spring to her eyes, surprise filling them before she closed them.

“My job requires long hours.” he explained.

Alice’s eyes opened and met his again, determined. “I’m a Ranger, Darling. I’ll be gone on expeditions a lot. Sometimes for multiple days.”

He gulped. “I’m not good at reading emotions. Subtly goes over my head.”

“Yeah, I never have to second-guess with you.”

“I have a little brother that I’m responsible for.”

“Cecil is welcome here, that room is his if he wants it.”

“I forget dates and events when I get busy.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“There are nights I won’t be home. Can you live with that?”

“Yes, I WILL live with that, Darling. For the remainder of our lives.”

OK. So, she wanted this. She wanted him. All of him.

“Then, My Forge Fire – Will you marry me?”

She beamed, leaned forward and threw her arms around him with a shout. “Yes!”

He breathed out a large sigh, wrapped his arms around her, careful not to disturb the ring in his hand and buried his face into her shoulder. He finally let the tears in his eyes spill over. He knew she wouldn’t care about him making her outfit wet. In the next few moments Alice had pulled back, one hand wrapped around the box sill in his left hand, the other reaching out to turn his face down to hers so she could press a kiss to his lips. He allowed himself to get lost in the sensation for a fair half a minute before he was freed of the pressure. Then Alice removed the ring from her box, allowing the box itself to fall to the floor as she took his hand into her own and slipped the ring on to his finger.

Suspiciously perfect fit…Cecil!

Ignoring the discovery, Martin turned to removing the ring he had forged from its box, allowing it to fall to the floor as well, taking her hand into his own and slipping the ring on to her finger. (Thank you, Captain Livia!) Feeling so much happiness inside of him, Martin decided to take some charge, standing up to pull Alice on to her feet. Another deep breath and he pulled her up against him, pressing a rougher kiss on to her lips that she readily returned. After they parted for breath, he found Alice curling herself into his neck, beneath his chin, arms clamped tightly around him.

“Thank you.” he breathed. “Thank you.”

Alice pulled away to wipe at her eyes before she turned towards the single door and called out. “Cecil!”

Wait! That was right! Cecil was still in the next room!

With that call there was a scramble from behind the door before it opened and Cecil came stumbling out. His eyes darted to Martin, then to the ring on his hand and then over to the one on Alice’s hand.

“He said yes?”

Wait-

“I knew you were in on this.” Martin said with a glare and an accusatory pointing finger aimed at him.

Cecil laughed and shrugged. “Hey, I promised Alice that I would help and besides she commissioned me for the ring size.”

She had paid him!? How much money had Cecil gotten out of the both of them these past few weeks?

“Do you like the room Cecil?” Alice asked.

“Yeah! Though I’d want to move my new desk in! You’ll love it Alice, it’s so cool! It’s full of secrets!”

Alice laughed before Martin unwound his arms from around her and started walking towards Cecil. The boy immediately paled, threw up his hands in surrender and began subtly inching backwards while laughing uncertainly.

“He-Hey Martin, you wouldn’t do anything in front of Alice, right? Can’t look bad in front of your fianceé, after all.”

Martin continued moving forward, narrowed eyes focused on his little brother until he could reach out and force the door closed so Cecil couldn’t run away. Cecil gulped and Martin lost the control he had been holding on to. He knelled down and reached out to quickly pull Cecil into a hug.

“Thank you, little brother. I love you, Cecil."

“You’re embarrassing.” Cecil muttered, but returned the hug anyway.

Then Alice was kneeling too and hugging them both.

Unknown to those inside, wide gray eyes watched from outside of the window. Ryker pulled himself up, silently made his way across to the opposite side of the roof and quietly dropped to the ground, reaching up to harshly rub the tears from his eyes.

Why? Why did he ever think it could have been him?

He didn’t remember the trip back to Palmo’s, didn’t remember crawling into bed, forgetting his nightly routine of ensuring any clues to his secret were tightly hidden away. He didn’t even bother changing, crushing the butterflies beneath his chest as he turned on to his side and cursing the thought that he had favored not getting a full body cloak that he could have pulled around him in the moment. His hood had fallen back during his walk and his hair now fell in front of his eyes. The darkness let him sleep as he tried not to imagine what the trio was doing. Martin and Alice were probably curled up on one of those over-stuffed couches beneath warm blankets, beside the fireplace, talking about their...future together. Cecil was probably nearby the couple, Ryker could imagine the younger guy lying on the new rugs Alice had purchased, books spread out all around him as he read by the firelight.

A quick pitter-patter of rain echoed against the roof momentarily. Great! As if the scene over there needed to be any more romantic and lovey-dovey than it already was! The idea stabbed at his heart and he reached up to curl an angry fist into his pillow, gritting his teeth as tears sprung to his eyes.

He was a fool!

But he wasn’t!

He had never deluded himself into thinking that anything like THAT was ever going to happen. Not to him. Especially with who he was.

The secret that he had to keep.

He fell asleep to heartbreak and dreams of things that he could never have.

Chapter Text

It was his own fault, in the end.

He had let his guard down and Alice had followed him to his hideaway. He was typical in his response. He didn’t have to explain anything, especially to her. Until the family he had liberated the crown from contracted SEED to investigate, that was. Up to that point Alice had not mentioned anything. Too busy planning her wedding, he supposed. He was still flabbergasted on how she had found the secret door to his hiding spot, or that it was in the empty building to begin with. When she confronted him with the stolen crown, he had told her the truth. The crown hadn’t belonged to that merchant family he had taken it from, they had stolen it from a poor family in the lower quarter who had been banished from the royal lineage for their son daring to marry a commoner. The crown had been an heirloom passed down by a great grandmother, a prior queen who was known for going against traditional protocol and encouraging her grandchildren to do the same. Something the current ruling class did not tolerate. Rich scumbags that would abandon their own to the sharks if they didn’t like their decisions. He had no patience for them – he barely had patience for SEED in the matter.

Still, faced with the crown, he told her more truths. His lineage, his plans, his ultimate goals. He didn’t help the Bandit King; he WAS the Bandit King. Yeah, he had lied. Had it not occurred to her yet that he wasn’t a good person? He took back the crown and left her a challenge. She could find him at Basara’s Hideaway the next evening. If she caught him, he’d turn himself in. If she didn’t, she would keep her mouth shut and he would continue as he always had. He was confident in himself, as he learned was perfectly fine.

She showed up the next night as he had challenged her to, admitting that she hadn’t told anyone...yet.

He mocked her into chasing him. Right into the large room, right into his trap that caught around her foot and pulled her to the ground, holding her there and not letting go as wires bound her limbs to prevent her from reaching for any weapons or spells. He allowed himself a laugh and walked back towards the girl, a little bit of hurt easing from his heart at the sight of her stuck and helpless. He could do anything, true. He was a thief though, not a creep.

“Looks like I win.”

“Ryker!”

“A promise is a promise. Take this to your grave, got it? I’m gonna go deliver a calling card to my next target. And don’t wait for me...I won’t be coming back”

“Ryker!”

Hmm, oh please. It wasn’t like he cared or anything. He just had to leave, and he wouldn’t have to deal with this problem anymore. No more worries. No more heartache. She couldn’t tell anyone this way, by her own word she wouldn’t, and he could continue doing what he loved.

It was that phrase that stopped him as it crossed his mind.

What he loved.

He stopped as he crossed the doorway into the next room and almost glanced back.

He thought back to his dreams he’d been having each night as he heard the townsfolk toss ideas and plans for the wedding back and forth. How he’d dreamed of the townsfolk saying his name among those plans. If it had been his wedding.

What he loved…

He loved…

Loved…

Love…

Tears rose to his eyes, but he blinked them back this time. There was no point in crying over ‘what-could-have-been’ because that idea, that happy ending - he always knew that it was going to be impossible. The thought of that rainy night came back to him, curled up, imaging the scene at Alice’s place. Where Alice and Martin had probably drew out soft blankets, cuddling on a couch near the fire with one another, soaking in its warmth on the winter night as the incoming rain began melting the last of the winter’s snow, giving the soon-to-be small family a nature-song to fall asleep to.

Days later and it still hurt.

Still, something made him turn around. He glanced into the room, seeing her still bound there. He almost began mentally telling himself to run while he could. None of the deal meant anything if she found a way out and caught him.

However, he stopped short at the sight of the large, green monster appearing behind her. The girl still defenseless.

No! He hadn’t thought of that!

For a just moment he could see the future. The unsettled population coming together to organize into search parties. Maybe one person stumbling upon the hidden entrance. Finding the sliced-up body of Alice inside. He saw a gravestone on the hill, Martin on his knees in front of it, tears pouring down his face, Cecil and Darroch at his sides, each with a hand on his shoulder as mourned the loss of the woman he loved.

For a moment. Just a moment he imagined... He thought...

But it wasn’t right.

He couldn’t stop himself from screaming. “Eyes open, dumbass!” and he threw himself between her and the monster, launching his twin blades as the monster reared back and exposed its throat. He hit his target and the monster hit theirs as well. Ryker felt the claws catch in his clothes and rip into the skin of his chest in a long, vertical, slice. He staggered for half a moment with a last thought:

They’d find his body here too.

He hoped distantly that more than one person would mourn him. He hoped the butterflies on his costume were OK from the attack. He knew how much Hina liked them. She could have them. After he fell back, he managed to turn his head to look at Alice. He smelled blood and from the look on her face there was probably a lot of it coming out of him.

“Sorry,” he tried to whisper to her, his speech congregated by blood.

Hmm, either he had bitten his tongue or there was internal bleeding. Either way – great way to go he supposed.

“Ryker,” she breathed and began trying to wiggle her way out of the trap, the wires further tightening around her.

Oh, if only he could crawl over and cut her free. He couldn’t move though, and his blades were still buried in the monster’s throat. He could use her weapon; she had her sword in its sheath on her back but – he couldn’t move. Still, at the thought that he was going to die here, he tried. He tried to move, turn over. The pain wouldn’t let him and the ground beneath him smelled and squished like bloody flesh, or that might have just been his own sliced up torso.

It smelled of iron. He smelled of iron. It made him think of how long it would take Martin to panic about his fianceé being gone.

He had to tell her. If he was going to die, he had to let her know. Maybe someone would come along and she could live beyond this moment. There was little hope for that dreamed-of future before, there was absolute zero now. He was going to die – right here.

He spat the blood from his mouth and tried to speak again. “Alice I – I...”

“Shut up Ryker, we’re getting out of here. I’m getting you help.” Alice said, promising, trying to twist and grab her sword.

It wouldn’t work, he was too good with traps. His worst regret was the sorrow this would bring. He hadn’t thought this through!

“Alice, I- I lo- I love-”

The girl stopped and stared at him. “I know Ryker, I already know.”

He was thankful for the shock causing a few extra beats of his heart. He needed to know one thing though.

“Don’t tell-”

“Shut. Up. Say it later, when we’re back in Rigbarth.”

He chuckled and felt his lungs fail to expand. Great!

Like he ever would. He closed his eyes and let the world fade away. It was almost, nice, hearing her call out his name.

Alice had finally ceased her struggling. She couldn’t do it – she couldn’t reach the sword at her back to cut herself free! Ryker was bleeding out! Worst of all, nobody knew where she was!

She tried to think back. Someone – there had to be someone. Livia and Radea knew that there was a place, but not where it was. Ryker was severely injured and needed help!

No! The only person she knew that had been here was Oswald and…Ludmila!

Ludmila! Ludmila knew this place!

But would she bring up the possibility or be able to rescue them in time? Ryker would die if they had to wait too long!

Think! She had to think!

Her limbs were bound. She couldn’t reach her sword. Ryker was unconscious and bleeding out. They couldn’t wait too long. If she didn’t try something Ryker would die! She hadn’t told anyone where she was going. Ludmila had no reason to think she would be here in the next few minutes. The building closest to the Hideaway? Ugh! She couldn’t even remember! Who would be nearby? Who would be in the forest? Maybe Scarlett could be patrolling nearby? They had extended their patrols a bit into each of the outward pathways ever since...

Finally, her mind landed on one thing. One small possibility that may get her a way out. A memory. An assignment from Livia that had led her and Scarlett to learn about…

“LUCKY! LUCKY! CAN YOU HEAR ME! COME HERE LUCKY!”

She was betting on a slim chance. Ever since she and Scarlett had allowed Heinz’s Cluckadoodle to freely roam, Alice herself was normally requested by Heinz to escort his precious pet to different areas for...various reasons. More likely whatever excuse Heinz could come up with to spend some time with Lucky and tease Alice once he figured out about her crush on Martin. How he had figured it out she had never known-it wasn't like she was obvious about it, but their last outing had left Lucky in this area. If there was any possibility that he could hear her...

“LUCKY! PLEASE! HELP ME!”

She kept shouting, taking short breaks to regain her breath and lick her lips. Only to start shouting again.

Mere minutes later, the decision paid off. There was a loud and familiar cawing in the next room, the characteristic sound of ruffling feathers and as Alice turned her head to wipe away her tears of relief on her shoulder he appeared in the doorway.

“Lucky!” she called out, the Cluckadoodle tilting his head at the scene before him, but dutifully running to her side in haste.

She smiled and held out the wire to him. Probably thinking it was a toy or worm he immediately began pecking at it. In a matter of seconds, it snapped, and Alice’s arm was free. She grabbed her sword and cut herself free from the remainders of the wires. She rushed to Ryker’s side and pulled his cloak off him, ripping it into strips for wide bandages that she wrapped around the long wound on his torso as she cast healing spells. She had to get him to the clinic – quickly!

She pulled him into her arms (Why was he this light?) and ran for the exit. She thanked whatever deity was on her side (Thank Lucas?) that she had cleared the rooms on her way to meet Ryker and quickly found herself riding atop her Earth Dragon on a rushed flight back to Rigbarth. She didn’t notice until her descent that Lucky tried to follow her. She shooed him into her monster barn (she really needed to get Palmo to build Heinz his own mini barn nearby his shop) and then descended into the town. She rushed to the clinic’s front door and shoulder-first, burst in, scaring Julian where he was behind the counter. He screamed and shouted for his mom.

Simone came racing around the corner, eyes widening at Julian’s terrified face before her gaze shot over to where Alice was gasping, the front of her uniform covered in blood that was clearly dripping down from the wound in Ryker’s chest.

Simone pointed to the side. “Lay him on the bed, then run and get Lucy! Julian grab my red bag! Quickly!”

Alice had laid Ryker on the nearest bed, watching the white sheet stain red with his still leaking blood. With that done she quickly raced out of the clinic, around it, up the hill and left towards the general store. She thought she passed Murakumo on the way and heard his shout in shock, but she couldn’t stop. She stumbled into the General Store, frightening a shopping Reinhard and causing Lucy to vault over the counter and run right towards her – demanding to know why she was bleeding and what had happened.

“Not mine. Clinic. Ryker. Your mom.” she gasped.

Lucy nodded and shot out of the front doors.

“Alice! Alice are you alright!?” she heard Reinhard demand; one hand reached out to grasp her shoulder.

Knowing that there was someone there trustworthy Alice let herself tilt backwards and pass out from the stress of the whole situation, feeling Reinhard scramble to catch her.

Her last thought was that she really needed to let Heinz know where Lucky was.

Chapter Text

Martin hadn’t considered the day anything unusual. He was hard at work, spending more overtime standing at the forge, extracting metal from the ores, selecting the best extracted metal he could find, shaping them into the basic shapes he desired, and selecting the ideal diamonds for the inlays, provided by an overexcited Heinz the previous day. With Alice being a Ranger and he a Blacksmith’s apprentice, it didn’t lend to the idea of them wearing rings made of low-grade metal or soft metals. Therefore, the rings could be nothing short of pure platinum. Alice’s ring would need to stand up to intense monster strikes, making diamonds the obvious choice. His own was going to be good for diamonds as well, able to withstand the heat of the forge. The main concern was going to be locking the diamonds in without damaging them. They’d have to hold out during a lot.

Suddenly, behind the sound of his hammering and Master Darroch’s, he heard a loud and long whine come from the corner of the store. He glanced over and saw that Fuuka was shaking her head back and forth. He might have asked if Master Darroch hadn’t beat him to it. He had ceased his work and walked over to the young Were.

“Fuuka, what’s wrong?”

Master Darroch still couldn’t hear very well and Fuuka’s language could be difficult to grasp so Martin paused his own work and made his way over as well.

“Bl-bl-blood.”

Blood!? Was she hurt!? They had warned her against touching the blades!

“Did you cut yourself on one of the weapons?” Darroch asked.

Fuuka whined again and pointed at the door. Martin stepped outside and saw Livia, Scarlett and Radea racing out of The Silo. Why would they be running? Livia, outside? Didn't she-?

His heart stopped. ALICE!

“Master Darroch everyone’s running toward the town center, including SEED. It-It might be-”

“Go Martin!”

“Thank you!”

With that he raced down the pathway and towards the bridge, across and on to the main street.

No. It couldn’t be. She was fine! She had to be OK! She wasn’t allowed to be not OK! His heart raced faster when he was stopped by the large crowd surrounding the Clinic. His heart dropped into his stomach. No! He couldn’t see her anywhere! He-

“Martin!” he turned his head swiftly to see Cecil walking around the edge of the crowd.

“Cecil is it-?” he couldn’t finish the sentence.

“It’s not Alice, but she is inside. She wants to see you.”

With that Cecil grabbed his hand and snaked their way through the worried crowd. It was a relief when the door of the Clinic closed behind them.

“She’s fine.” Cecil assured him.

And to Martin’s utter relief – she was. Alice was sitting up on the edge of one of the beds, Reinhard and Livia were both standing beside her, eyes worried.

“My Fire?”

Alice glanced up, Martin now noticing that she wasn’t in her normal Ranger Uniform. He took one step forward and then another before he was closing the short distance, falling to his knees and pulling her in close, breathing in her scent and trying to reassure himself that she was here. It was only after a long minute that he realized she was combing her fingers through his hair while whispering comforting words to him and that his forge-outfit was probably pressing uncomfortable divots into her skin. He pulled back; eyes misted at her.

“My Fire, what happened?”

“Something I would like to know.” Livia said, eyes still worried with an impatient foot tapping.

“As would I.” Everyone looked over to see Scarlett stepping towards them as well from around the corner.

In the end Martin, Reinhard and Cecil were all requested to wait downstairs while the SEED Rangers and Field Captain borrowed the upstairs to discuss the situation. It was during this time that Cecil finally informed Martin that it was Ryker that was hurt. Seeing that his fianceé would be busy for a while and he was worried for Ryker, Martin decided to leave Reinhard to entertain Cecil and visit the other side of the clinic. He found the guy laid out on a far bed while Simone was busy seeing to a mass of bloody sheets, stripping them off another bed.

“What happened?” he couldn’t stop the question from escaping his lips.

Simone turned towards him in surprise but shook her head. “It’s pretty obvious when you look at the wound, but I’m afraid I’m bound by doctor-patient confidentiality and now SEED legality about saying anything. He’ll be out for a while. Don’t try to wake him or move him – that wound is sensitive.”

He nodded and made his way over to where Ryker was lying, trying to make sense of everything. Why had Alice been out on an expedition with Ryker? From the sound of everything SEED was getting involved now. Had they discovered something dangerous in the area? A dangerous monster?

Ryker.

Someone needed to tell Palmo. He would go himself if he felt it was OK to leave Alice alone. It was true that she didn’t appear to be physically injured, but he could tell something had happened. Something had shaken her to her core, made her uncertain to a degree that he had never seen before. He wished he could know but – from the sounds of the rising voices upstairs it was probably something he wasn’t allowed to know, if the noise and secret didn’t just spill over the railing and downstairs that was. To his surprise, he suddenly saw Livia, Scarlett and Alice making their way back down to the first floor. As they finally reached the bottom of the stairs, he took one step forward towards his fiancée, but stopped short as he took in the hardened gazes of her coworker and superior. Was – she in trouble?

He stood still as Alice finally met his gaze, her eyes sad. He wanted to rush over and hold her, wipe it all away. He saw and heard Livia sigh before she guided Scarlett over towards where Ryker was lying before saying. “Go on.”

Permission granted he walked over to Alice slowly, arms opened. She smiled sadly and stepped into them, burying her face into the bend of his neck, pressing her body against his.

“Can you – talk about it, My Fire?”

A sudden clearing of a throat made Martin turn his gaze over to the gathered group, noting that Simone had joined them and seemed to be in state of indecision. To his utter shock, both Livia and Scarlett were cuffing Ryker’s hands to the bed frame.

“What is going on?” he asked aloud.

He felt Alice flinch against him.

Livia cleared her throat again. “Well, we might as well tell you.”

“Captain!” Scarlett clearly had a rebuttal.

“It’s going to have to be public anyway by tonight and Alice is going to be on leave while we wrap this case up. You should focus on taking care of her for the next two weeks, Martin.”

Scarlett seemed to deflate and nodded her understanding. “That is true. I will prepare the report.”

Disturbed by everything happening Martin held Alice a little tighter. She curled into him for a few more moments before letting go of him and stepping back. “No, I’ll tell you and Cecil back home myself.”

He nodded and lead her back to where Cecil and Reinhard were discussing something and motioned for Cecil to come with them. The boy nodded and walked over to Alice’s side, raising a hand to place on her arm in comfort. She smiled at him and then turned to Reinhard.

The Knight got to his feet and turned concerned eyes on her. “Alice, are you certain that you’re well?”

“I’m fine, thanks for catching me.”

“What do you mean catching you?” Martin asked, his eyes darting between the two of them.

Reinhard was quick to explain. “Alice rushed to the General Store to inform Lucy that Simone wanted her help with Ryker’s injuries. Alice fainted afterwards so I caught her and brought her back here.”

“You said you weren’t hurt.” Martin muttered, his eyes now scanning his fiancée for injuries he had clearly missed.

Alice smiled at him and re-centered his gaze on her face, her fingers resting beneath his chin. “I’m fine, Darling. Tired, exhausted – but I’m not hurt. I just really need to sleep.”

“Let’s get you home then, Alice.” Cecil said. “Martin can carry you.”

Alice blushed. “I don’t need anyone to carry me.”

“You needed me to carry you 15 minutes ago.” Reinhard reminded her.

Her glare back at him was clearly shouting: Shut up! You’re not helping!

Martin thought all of this was ridiculous. He had fully intended on carrying her anyway! Which is what he did, bending down slightly to scoop her up into his arms. She squeaked and Martin heard Cecil laugh.

“Cecil?” he turned to his brother.

“Yeah?”

“Could you run ahead and inform Master Darroch that I won’t be back until tomorrow?”

“Sure thing, and you guys should probably go out the back while I distract the crowd up front.”

Martin knew that Alice intended on telling him what happened, but as he made his way carefully along the back road of Rigbarth towards the West and The Silo neither of them said anything. Alice continued to say nothing, and Martin was fine with that. They arrived at the Outpost, he climbed the stairs, she opened the door, they went inside, and he laid her down on her bed. She almost said something, but he shook his head.

“Tell me later, My Fire. Get some rest. I’ll make dinner.”

With that he motioned to her to get under the blanket and close her eyes. He bent down to press a kiss to her lips, which she happily returned.

“Rest.” he ordered.

“Wait.” Alice said, reaching out to grab his hand.

“Rest.” he reminded her.

“I am just – could you send Heinz a message?”

Heinz? Was he involved in this mess too?

“Tell him: Lucky is safe.”

“Lucky?”

“He’ll understand.”

“Alright, but you better be resting.”

With that Alice finally laid down and Martin set to removing his forging gear. That couldn’t have been comfortable for Alice to be pressed against as he carried her home. He found the ingredients for her favorite food inside her fridge and set them out. He then took a quick detour downstairs to find a SEED Ranger that he wasn’t engaged to and asked them to deliver Alice’s message to Heinz. As soon as the Ranger left Cecil entered, his face stricken with worry.

“Cecil, is everything, OK?”

“I kind of overheard Simone telling the crowd what was going on. Part of it at least. Do you want to know?”

Martin shook his head. “Alice will tell us, later. She’s resting now. Want to help me make her favorite food?”

Cecil managed a small smile. “You mean you help me make her favorite food.”

“Precisely.”

With that, the brothers ascended back up the stairs, past the sleeping Alice and into the next room to prepare dinner.

They abruptly apologized for using her supplies and utensils after Alice awoke, but she waved away the worry and they all sat down to a nice dinner. They dined in forced cheer until they food was gone. When the only looming thing was the dishes, Alice finally admitted what had occurred. How she had been looking for something left behind by a criminal that SEED had been commissioned to investigate. How the evidence had pointed to Ryker being involved. How he admitted he was more than just involved with the Bandit King, how he was the Bandit King.

Martin found himself pacing up and down her bedroom floor, while Cecil sat at her desk taking notes and Alice lay quietly in her bed.

“I can hardly believe this. Ryker was always lazy – but, a criminal? That was a joke.” Martin said.

Cecil paused in his note taking momentarily to glance up. “I guess this explains why he was always tired and sleeping during the day. He was being a thief at night.”

“Still, he’s not a cruel person. He never has been.” Martin argued.

“I thought you didn’t like him?” Alice asked, eyes tired, but curious.

“I don’t. He’s annoying, lazy and nowhere near thankful enough to Palmo for everything he’s done for him.”

“He left Alice tied up at the feet of a monster.” Cecil said.

Alice sighed. “That’s true. If I hadn’t been able to escape...”

“But he saved your life, right?” Martin asked.

“He put her in danger in the first place.” Cecil pointed out.

Martin walked over to the table near the stairwell, sat down in one of the chairs and buried his face in his hands. He should be marching over to the clinic and giving the guy a pair of black eyes for what he did to Alice.

“What should I do then?” Martin asked. “He’s already gotten his torso sliced open. SEED’s already arrested him.”

“Captain Livia and Scarlett are moving him to the dungeons when Simone says he’s stable enough to be moved.” Alice explained, kneading at the blankets, clearly wanting to say something, but unable to bring herself to do it.

Cecil took note of this, closed his notebook and got to his feet with a stretch. “Well, nothing else is happening tonight.”

“You’re right.” Martin agreed and got back on to his feet with a sigh. “We should head home. My Fire, please send a message if you need anything.”

Alice nodded, but didn’t look at him. That was strange. Martin almost said something but thought better of it, turning towards his brother. Cecil though, had his analytical face on. He met Martin’s gaze and motioned towards Alice.

“You should stay with Alice tonight.”

“What?”

“Stay with Alice tonight.”

“But-”

“I can make it home by myself, it’s less than 50 ft away from this building and I've spent more than one night alone before. She needs you more right now.”

“Cecil.” Alice began and then stopped.

Cecil flashed her a thumbs up and then left through the exit. Martin almost chased after him. Would have if he had any energy left over from the day. Instead he turned towards his fiancée. Her eyes pleaded with him. He sighed at the inevitability of giving into those emeralds and turned out the lights before making his way over to the bed and crawling in beside her. She didn’t say anything, just pressed herself into his chest and lay still. He let his hands roam across her back, rubbing circles and symbols into it at random.

Exhausted by the day, it didn’t take long for them to sleep. However, Martin heard some mumbled words as he drifted off.

“Ryker’s in love-”

But he failed to hear the rest that evening and paid it no mind the next morning, unaware of what else was coming.

The next day Alice breathed out, staring up at the ceiling in her bedroom. She was...bored. She glanced sideways at the crafting, forge and cooking sets she had moved back into her bedroom and then scowled. She had already seen to her fields/monsters, reunited Lucky with Heinz, moved her furniture around and then spent most of the morning making things. All the items were in the shipping container to go out the next morning so now she was just bored. She glanced at her clock and sighed deeply.

All of that and it was still only the morning.

She couldn’t go out on patrol since-

She turned on to her left on the bed and eyed her SEED uniform hanging in the wardrobe. Well, her NEW SEED uniform, Yuki hadn't been able to clean her original one. She bit her lip and tried not to feel too bad about the situation.

It’s not that she couldn’t see the logic in it. She was emotionally compromised with the situation concerning Ryker. Between agreeing to keep quiet and experiencing the guy get his chest sliced open a few days ago Livia had deemed her too involved with the investigation and set her on Probation. It wasn’t like the Leave situation from before, it was Probation. Livia and Scarlett were now questioning her ability to do her job.

Aggravated about being still she got to her feet and exited the building, taking the backstairs to the field. She stared longingly over at the rising smoke of the forge but shook her head. Darroch was still healing, starting to work on pieces again, but most of that work was still on Martin so he was still pulling long hours most evenings. For all that Darroch was tough, the guy was not a quick healer. Alice couldn’t wait until they were done with the Royalty Commission entirely, then they could spend more time together. She wasn’t about to discredit her fiancé’s career though. He’d certainly never done that to her. She supposed she was just jealous given he was still working, even if the Probation was her own fault. She wanted to believe that everyone in Rigbarth was genuine, but now she didn’t know what to think. Was anyone else hiding secrets and a double life?

Well, she supposed there was one more person in Rigbarth hiding secrets...

Turning her gaze away from True Strike she walked around The Silo and glanced at the two buildings down the way.

She finally caught on to an idea. Terry had extended some employment during her Leave, even if she couldn’t pick up the job right now – there was a thought coming back to her. Shortly after she had defeated the Giant-Bone-Fish-of-Doom, Terry had admitted to her afterwards that he had been investigating her since she had arrived. He had some information on her life from before. In the moment she had decided that she wasn’t interested in knowing because she had crafted her own life here. She hadn’t wanted to look back.

Now, she was...curious.

It was probably because of the situation with Ryker, wanting to carry a legacy. Had she had any family elsewhere? Friends? Another career? The most prominent point that frightened her though was-

She raised her thumb to rub it against the engagement ring on the same hand.

What if she had been dating someone, engaged, married? Did she have children somewhere?

She hadn’t considered it before, but now it was looming in her mind like a nightmare that she couldn’t shake. Still battling the thoughts, she set off to the Detective Agency – uncertain if she would ask Terry for the files on her or not.

Chapter Text

Martin stepped out of his house in the late evening, after looking in on Cecil to ensure that he was asleep, that the laundry was done, the dishes clean, the inside woodpile full and fridge fully stocked from their last trip to the General Store. After also ensuring that the doors and windows were locked, he made his way down the pathway to The Silo. He’d been making trips after work to check in on Alice ever since their engagement. Having already disposed of his gear, he turned the engagement ring on his hand in nervousness. He honestly, shouldn’t be nervous. There was no reason to be. Well, he did have that lingering thought that perhaps Alice wouldn’t continue to put up with his late hours. Still, Master Darroch was getting better and they were being particular with sanitizing and dressing the wound on his arm. It still wasn’t to a point that he could take over everything but, they were getting there.

Besides, with SEED’s current case – Alice hadn’t been working. She was just as much a workaholic as he was, so she had to be bored out of her mind. Maybe they could invite her to work at True Strike for a short time? She certainly had the customer service experience.

He finally reached the stairs below her apartment and headed up. He knocked and heard her call out. “Come in, Darling!”

He sighed and smiled. Apparently, he’d done this often enough it was now habit for both of them.

He opened the door, expecting her to be at one the crafting stations she had set up. However, he found his fiancée sitting in one of the chairs at the table by the inside stairwell. She had a folder sitting closed in front of her with her name on it. Was it trouble? About SEED?

Not wanting to jump to conclusions, he made his way over to her and set his hands on her shoulders. “My Fire, is everything OK?”

“Would you sit down, please?”

Feeling a sense of dread, he let his hands drop from Alice’s shoulders and took the chair next to her, concerned eyes trying to meet her own.

“What’s wrong?” He said quietly. “Can I be of any help?”

Alice took a deep breath and finally looked up at him, she was biting her lower lip harshly and her eyes seemed lost. He wanted to hug her or at least-

He reached out with his right hand and cradled the side of her face. She immediately leaned into it with a smile, closing her eyes and breathing a soft sigh of comfort. Martin smiled quaintly, taking pride in the fact that he was good at bringing her comfort.

“What is this?” Martin asked, motioning to the folder once Alice reopened her eyes.

She grabbed the hand he was holding to her face with her own, ignoring the folder. She took a deep breath and then told him everything. Terry had tracked down events about her past and had a folder full of the information. She had been reading it all day.

At first, he failed to see what the issue could be.

“Is it, something bad?” Martin asked, reaching out with his left hand to take her right hand.

“No? Maybe? I don’t know. I’m from the Capital. My mom’s deceased, no clues on who my father is. Apparently, he left before I was born.”

Martin tilted his head slightly, seeing Alice try to hold back tears. “I understand. Is your mother buried in the Capital? I’m assuming you want to go see her grave.”

Alice took a deep breath and nodded.

“Alright.” he said with another smile aimed at her. “I’ll help you pack for a visit.”

“That’s not all.” Alice suddenly said.

He nodded at her to continue.

“I was worried, if there might have been someone else. I didn’t know what kind of life I had. I worried-”

Here she stopped and gulped in fear. Fear that settled on Martin’s shoulders quite heavily.

“I worried if I had been romantically involved with someone else.”

Martin’s heart plummeted into his stomach and he dropped his hand from her face. It didn’t feel like his heart was beating at all – just turned to stone. It took a full minute of staring into her eyes, watching the held back tears spill over and travel down her face. He knew. He already knew with that expression on her face alone. His stone heart finished falling and shattered as he disconnected their hands.

“Darling?”

He turned away from her to face the table and raised his hands to bury his face in them, hiding the tears springing to his own eyes. There was someone else. Someone she had already loved.

“I’m sorry, Darling. I still love you. I’ve never lied about that. I still want to marry you.”

“Are you?” he muttered. “Are you married to, whoever it is?”

“No.” she said but trailed off. “All I know is that neighbors in the area said that we were dating. I don’t know if it was serious. I don’t know for how long. I don’t know how I met him.”

“What’s his name?”

Martin felt something pushing at his elbows, so he dropped his hands from his eyes and glanced down. Alice had pushed the folder over to him, now open. On top of the papers was a drawing of Alice with a guy about her age with black hair and ice-blue eyes. Above Alice was her name and above the guy, written in Terry’s handwriting, was the name: Apollo.

“I have a twin brother in the capital too. His name is Ares. He’s the one Terry reached out to. They’ve both written and are anxious to see me, even though I don’t remember them.”

Martin gulped, wondering what this meant for them and their relationship before shaking his head and pushing away the thoughts. This wasn’t about him; this was about Alice and her memories and loved ones. He took a deep breath of his own and tried to calm himself.

“What are you going to do?”

Alice shrugged. “I’m going to go to the capital. See my brother, visit my mother’s grave and as for Apollo – I’m going to tell him that I can’t go back to how things were.”

“What if you fall in love with him or are still in love with him?”

Alice reached out and turned his face towards her, her eyes narrowed in determination. “That’s not going to change the fact that I’m in love with you. That you’re the one I am going to marry.”

“What if he still wants you?”

Alice shrugged. “I’ve moved on. I have a career, I have a life, someone I love, friends I care about. A future to look forward to.”

He finally gave in to the urge to pull her close, press a strong kiss on to her lips and run his hands down her back on to her hips. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Alice wasn’t someone to waste time. He helped her pack for the journey that evening, Alice constantly dropping her current packing to go over to kiss and reassure him that he was the only one who had her heart. That she would be back and run into his arms when she walked back in town. She’d write every chance she got. He agreed to stay the night, no matter how much it hurt. They didn’t get too intimate that night, it was more she spent so long peppering his face in kisses and whispering sweet words for his comfort he worried that she wouldn’t get much sleep in preparation for her departure since she had already decided to leave the next morning.

Would he let everyone know?

Well, would he let Cecil know and let the boy run around informing everyone?

He agreed and intertwined their hands together, engagement rings clanking together as they breathed in the darkness.

Darroch, Ryker, Alice?

How many more events were going to unbalance his world?

Martin was no stranger to waiting around patiently for something to happen of for a process to finish. Waiting for the forge to heat, waiting as he hammered out the ore extractions. He had more than enough patience to see those things through, much less waiting on his fiancée. The harshest wait had been prior to their third date. Then the White Day Mistake wait was a close second.

His Master got injured protecting him, ruining his chance to be recognized by the Royal Family of the capital.

His Friend and Rival was revealed to be a criminal, compromising his fiancée’s job and life, getting himself fatally struck by a monster.

His fiancée found out that she had had a life in the Capital, a twin brother and someone she had been in a romantic relationship with.

Alice was in the Capital, seeing her mother’s grave, trying to reconcile with her twin brother and finding out about her...boyfriend? Ex-boyfriend? Lover? Ex-Lover?

-Martin wasn’t sure.

He focused on his work...again. He was craving the feeling of wrapping his fiancée up in his arms. He’d never known that he was so tactile of an individual until he had dived into romantic intimacy with a partner. He compromised this lack of attention by folding metal repeatedly and perhaps ruffling Cecil’s hair a bit more often when they saw one another. Cecil yelled at him for it, but he shrugged off the complaining. He wouldn't be able to dote on Cecil for much longer, he'd take what he could get.

If his life were less chaotic and a bit more tragic, he might have considered the whole instance of the distance between he and his fiancée something to bemoan as he buried himself in his work. However, it had only been 72 hours after Alice had left when a letter arrived via a royal messenger. He had panicked for a moment. At first, he thought it might have been about the Royal Commission but felt at ease when he saw Alice's name on it. On the other hand, people knew very little of the younger members of the royal family or its branch relations. For one moment, one crazy moment, when he had been handed the letter over the counter at True Strike and saw the name, he feared a crazy coincidence where Alice was some long-lost Princess, Duchess or Lady. Thankfully, once he read the letter most of his fears left his heart. She was methodical, right to the point, blunt in a short, bulleted list.

She knew him scarily well...

Her and Apollo were not lovers.
She had reunited with her twin brother Ares and recovered some memories.
She had located and visited her mother’s grave.
The royal messenger was a favor from a friend.
She loved Martin with all her heart and would be rushing home the next day.

Relieved and brimming with as much joy as he could show, Martin dove back into forging their wedding rings. He was determined to have them ready for the next day. He wanted to see that smile on her face when she took them in.

However, as he slipped into bed quietly that evening trying not to disturb Cecil, he hadn't been prepared for the morning that he would face when he next reopened his eyes and all that the next day would bring.

The morning was dark and damp as usual. Martin had always been up before the sunrise and the day Alice was set to return was no exception to that rule. Master Darroch had already insisted that he take the day off. He had tried to argue at first, but it was getting easier and easier to find his focus directed elsewhere. Martin had worried that such distractions would affect his work, but according to his Master, it had done nothing but help his designs and forging. So, given his day would be free, he set about preparing breakfast, trying to be quiet to allow Cecil to sleep in. He spent his time while cooking glancing around the kitchen and through the door to the main room that he had left cracked open. It was getting more difficult each day to remember when his parents had walked around the house, maps spread everywhere as they planned their next adventure. At the same time, he was realizing how much he would miss the place. He'd long ago contented himself that he would remain in this house for the rest of his life, traveling next door to work most of the day and returning in the late evenings. He always imagined that Cecil would find a career and someone to love, move out and have his own life - but Martin had never imagined himself going anywhere.

Now, as he divided the food on to two plates on the counter, he wondered at the question of what he would do with the house. By law of inheritance it was his property now. Would it be better to keep it and gift it to Cecil when he was old enough and living his own life? Perhaps it would be better to sell to someone looking to move to Rigbarth? It would certainly fetch a good amount of money, even split between Cecil and himself. He didn't think Alice was short of funds, but if-

If the whole 'family of their own' thing came to be, it would certainly help if they needed to take time off work.

He shook the thoughts away and took the plates to the table in the main room.

It was something to think about, something to talk with Cecil and Alice about certainly.

With their plates full and utensils in place Martin glanced out to see the dark sky brightening slightly and stopped for a moment. Cecil was normally up by now. He bit back a sigh, perhaps his worry about Alice had been bleeding over on to Cecil? Well, no better time to fix that than the present. Martin turned and made his way over to his little brother's door. He knocked quietly and called out to him. When he received no answer, he opened the door and peeked in. Cecil was curled up into a ball on his side as usual, quiet and unaware of the world. Martin considered closing the door and letting him continue sleeping but reminded himself that he needed to ensure that Cecil got three good meals a day. It was important and his job to make ensure that Cecil had three meals a day.

With that he called out to Cecil again and when that failed to wake him, he walked over to shake his shoulder. When Cecil still failed to respond, he gripped Cecil's shoulder tighter and pulled at his arm to roll him over. Had he exhausted himself on some riddle or mystery yesterday?

Martin's heart stopped-

Cecil's face was blue.

Chapter Text

Alice took a deep breath of relief as she felt the connection of the Farm Dragons returning to their normal strengths within her-meaning she was nearing her home. Once they were in a forest, she had captured two Elefuns to help them navigate the landscape. Ares had been ecstatic to see how it worked and said he couldn’t wait to try it for himself. After hearing about her life in Rigbarth, her twin brother had been adamant about returning with her. He’d been wanting to quit his job at the capital’s post office, and she had apparently given him the perfect excuse to do so. Still there were some things that were weighing on Alice’s mind.

Mainly, this-

“OK, so does he have any past injuries that would give me a weak point to target?”

Alice sighed. “Stop talking about how you’re going to drop kick my fiancé. You can’t take him on. He’s far stronger than you are and a lot sturdier.”

Ares pouted at her and waved away the concern. “I can take him, besides if he can’t beat me, then he’s clearly not good enough to protect you and would fail my test.”

Alice raised an eyebrow at her brother. “You couldn’t even beat Apollo at arm wrestling, and he was a freaking twig.”

Ares was back to pouting. “He used the eyes on me Alice. I can’t win a fight if beautiful boys are giving me bedroom eyes.”

Alice rolled her own eyes. Why her past self ever agreed to fake-date the guy as a cover for the two of them-she would never know. Still, it had been rather gratifying to see her fake-ex-boyfriend deck his bigoted father in the face and help him get his own place afterwards to escape his family.

“Are you still upset about Apollo?” she asked, deciding to get the awkwardness over with.

Ares blinked away from petting his Elefun behind the ears and glanced back at her before beaming. “Not at all, we had a mutual break up months before you showed up. We’re still friends.”

She nodded and felt the sudden silence around them grow stilted.

“So,” Ares began. “This fiancé of yours?”

And they were back to this again.

“His name is Martin.” Alice said with an eyeroll.

“I just need to know…”

“Know what?”

Her twin brother was smirking. Oh no, was he going to-?

“Is he hot?”

She pushed him off his Elefun and encouraged her own into a gallop. True, they weren’t the fastest monsters around, but ideal for the underbrush they had to stomp through.

“ALICE! NO FAIR!”

“LOSER!” she called back.

By the time he had managed to remount his Elefun and catch up they emerged through the forest and on to the main road heading into Rigbarth. Alice smiled, full of relief at the lingering emotions of homesickness fading away. They both jumped down off their mounts and she released them back into the forest. Rorschach would be upset if she introduced another one to the barn so quickly. With that done her and Ares began making their way down the dirt road towards the stone gate. Though Alice noticed that Ares was puffing himself up for what he believed would be a fight. She rolled her eyes and hurried her steps. She had hoped to see Martin and maybe Cecil waiting at the gate. Darroch had already given her his word before she had left that he would force Martin to take the day off to spend with her-getting those necessary, maybe awkward talks out of the way as quickly as possible. Her eyes narrowed on the gate and she was surprised to see a group there.

The very unmistakable shout of Lucy rang down the path: “There they are!”

She began running and was intercepted by Lucy wrapping her in a hug just before the gate. Then Ludmila was pressing up against her from behind, Priscilla was pressing in on her right side and Hina had her face buried in her left hip. Each girl yelling variants of: “You’re back! You’re Back!”

The girls finally let go, except Ludmila that had to be peeled off by determined-eyed Lucy; Ludmila whining the whole time. Alice was glad as Simone stepped between everyone and gave her a smile. However, something about the smile appeared to be slightly off from her usual smile. It had that typical slash of deviousness in it when she was looking for someone willing to be experimented on, but there seemed to be something uneasy about it. That’s when Alice glanced around and opened her mouth to ask the obvious. However, before she could Simone spoke first.

“It seems you’ve brought us another resident for this town, Alice. Good work. Aren’t you going to introduce us?”

“Uh, right! Everyone this is my twin brother, Ares.”

She lost herself in introducing Ares to everyone in the group. It was true that not all of Rigbarth was present and she wasn’t exactly surprised at some of them being absent. Terry was absent, probably involved with a case. Darroch wasn’t there, but she passed it off as Martin not being there to help and the Royalty commission, so he was probably busy. Cecil wasn’t present, probably off with Terry. She wondered momentarily if Ryker had awoken and been moved to the dungeons at SEED. Palmo had been quite recluse since learning about Ryker. Captain Livia and Scarlett were probably both at SEED, working (or whatever Captain Livia considered it).

Worryingly, there was one person of prominence missing from the scene. Not that Martin typically joined many non-holiday gatherings in town but-Alice knew Darroch had given him the day off, so, where was he? Why wasn’t her fiancé here?

Surprisingly, it was her brother that beat her to the inquiry.

“So, where’s this guy I need to threaten regarding the health and well-being of my sister?” Ares said, wide grin over his face and one fist raised. “Pretty negligent of him to not be here to sweep her off her feet upon her return. I’ve got expectations you know?”

The words made Alice want to punch him upside the head, she might have considered doing so if it hadn’t made the crowd grow quiet and the air grow heavy and taught. The weight of the moment settled over Alice’s shoulders, which she felt physically slumping down. Her heart raced and she felt herself grow focused on every sound as the thought that she should be worried stepped to the front of her mind.

“Where’s Martin?” she asked, first at the crowd and then at Simone directly.

The Mayor and Doctor of their little village frowned and took a deep breath. “Listen, Alice. Something happened earlier this morning-”

Alice felt herself glaring and took one threatening step forward. “Where. Is. My. Fiancé?”

Simone turned around and gestured for Alice to follow her. “It’s not Martin, Alice. It’s Cecil.”

Ares followed the two women, noticing how tense his sister was now moving. “Wait a minute. Whose Cecil?”

He knew very little of what to expect. He was still partially reeling from the fact that his once-believed-dead twin sister had strode into the capital, clearly alive after two years of being gone. Everyone had long ago given up her fate as meeting a premature end. He too, had done the same-though he’d never quit having the same dream.

He’d always wake up in a forest, a bush would rustle nearby, and Alice would simply walk out and say hello to him. He guessed that maybe-that part of him had never really given up on the hope that she was still alive.

And no-he had been completely in his rights as an emotional human being when he had followed shouts from neighbors to the uniformed girl in the town hall, and completely bowled everyone else over to wrap his arms around his sister and spin her around numerous times before completely breaking down in her arms. She had even been nice enough to not freak out and shove his snotty face away from her. In hindsight he might have been being a tad too familiar with her. Still-she was HIS sister, excuse him for being a little possessive!

So, to make the entire, long story as short as agreeable they had spent days inside his apartment going through photos and old belongings, shut off from the world as they laughed and cried and she got a lot of headaches from some memories being recovered and some simply being gone. Thankfully, Ares was a great storyteller and was able to reconstruct the memories she couldn’t completely recall. She was so lucky to have him! In return she had informed him of everything that had occurred from when she had lost her memories and stumbled into Rigbarth. Her friendships, her new occupation (she’d always had a hero complex, Ares blamed it on her smaller stature, she always had to prove she could judo flip someone or something twice her size since they were three), her new pets, her new apartment and most importantly-

She had fallen in love and WAS. ENGAGED.

She had feelings…romantic ones…

Ares had had to take half of a day to process that. It wasn’t like Alice hadn’t found people attractive before, but it had always been studies and work with his sister. She had tried dating but when they complained about her work, training or education she always dumped them. Ares hoped whoever this guy was liked workaholics. Maybe an introvert that didn’t get out much. Seemed like her type.

Speaking of which. THERE WAS A GUY!

There was a guy that was doubtlessly holding hands normally with Alice, who probably held her close, who likely…kissed her.

His sibling bond said both:
“EWWWWW!”
and
“Gotta take this guy out!”
-simultaneously.

They had taken only one extra day to agree on their next actions. Nothing was holding him in the city now that he and Apollo had broken up and Alice’s and his only parent had passed on. Well-to be fair-dear old dad could be alive somewhere, but they weren’t in a rush to find the guy. It had only taken a short afternoon to sell to a housing service in the area and pack the essentials. He had been amazed at how his sister tamed different monsters for their travels, warping some of interest away with magic that he was desperate to learn for himself. They had only been on the road for three minutes when he had decided that he wanted to join SEED as well. Alice had mocked him for it. OK, so he wasn’t the best fighter now, but he could learn! Delivery for the post office hadn’t exactly been a lightweight job. Those mailbags and packages got heavy!

He had been surprised but happy at the group of people waiting for Alice’s return at this small village. The girls were pretty and cute, and the boys were quite handsome. His poor heart! Still, he had to single out which one was Alice’s intended. So, he was confused when she didn’t start kissing anyone. Though that Ludmila chick that got called out for something that only just borderlined cuddling seemed to have heart eyes for his sister. Sorry Ludmilla, the sister is unfortunately straight. Nothing you can do about it. He was introduced to everyone and said his polite greetings to each of them, learning that not all the villagers were present. However, he had a mission in mind:

“So, where’s this guy I need to threaten regarding the health and well-being of my sister? Pretty negligent of him to not be here to sweep her off her feet upon her return. I’ve got expectations you know?”

That’s when Alice spoke a name.

Martin.

AH-HA! This was who he needed to aim for! He had a name!

-But obviously he wasn’t here. What the heck!? What kind of fiancé was he? Not here to shower his sister in deserved affection and attention after she had been gone for days?

Everyone had grown quiet and Alice was getting clearly…ehem-agitated with a lack of information. He only watched in silence and a feeling of dread as the eyepatch-wearing mayor/doctor of the village turned her back towards them, the small crowd parted out of her way wordlessly and she motioned them to follow her.

“It’s not Martin, Alice. It’s Cecil.” She finally answered.

“Wait a minute. Whose Cecil?”

Was he threatening a Martin or a Cecil? He refused to threaten someone on principal if he didn’t at least have their name.

He frowned in worry at his rushing sister and tried to reach out to her only for her to flinch away from his hand on her shoulder so she could run towards a building that the Mayor-Doctor was heading for. Dashing after her, they both reached the building before the Mayor, Simone, her name was Simone. He hesitated-which meant Alice got into the building first.

He heard Alice gasp as he reached the doorway.

“Darling?”

He heard a voice answer back clearly strained with exhaustion. “My Fire?”

That made him falter in his steps as he heard Alice’s familiar steps rush forward and a distant thump. He shook himself to sense and finally stepped inside. He came to a desk, a young boy behind it, who blinked at him in surprise before narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

“Who are you?” He demanded.

“Uh…” Forgive him. He’d never been mentally dissected and skinned by a child that young before. “My sister just ran through here?”

The boy blinked again, and a frown of worry crept over his face. He finally huffed and pointed to the right. Ares followed the finger around the corner and located his sister. OK, she was in the arms of a guy.

OK.

The two had obviously embraced and unfortunately, he wasn’t able to get a good look at the guy’s face because he had buried it in his sister’s opposite shoulder. Still, he got to see the rest of the guy. He looked to be a few years older than him and Alice, he could spot his hair that was somewhere between green and silver (had to go with the rare genetic type there-huh sis?), his skin was pale and he spotted many scars on what he could see of the guy’s hands and arms.

He hoped this guy didn’t like wrestle monsters or something.

The guy was wearing what appeared to be older clothing with stains that looked like soot. The strangest things though were his boots, dark brown and sturdy with metal plates over them? Maybe his job involved kicking hard things and a lot of walking? The monster wrestling was seemingly more and more likely.

Well, he wasn’t going to figure it out just standing there! With that he took a few more steps around the corner, his mouth open and ready to greet/threaten the guy. However, he had to stop, because the two of them were embracing near a white sheet covered bed. In hindsight, there were a lot of beds like that-of course there were, it was a medical clinic, the village’s hospital-but this one had a figure on it. Tucked under what was clearly a damp sheet was a boy, a handful of years probably younger than him. The boy had hair he would almost dub red if he wasn’t getting peach-pink vibes from it. His eyes were closed, his mouth open, and he was breathing very heavily. There were two loud wheezes followed by a round of coughing that made the guy in his sister’s embrace flinch suddenly before he was pulling himself away from her and falling to his knees beside the bed.

Finally, he could see the guy’s face.

Eyes were on the narrow-side of shapes, thin eyebrows, his face was tight, though that might have been the stress he was clearly under, his face had a redder tint to it than the skin he could see on the guy’s arms, and his eyes were freaking gold! To be fair, they appeared to have been stressed and clouded over with what were clearly recent tears, but still-gold eyes!

UNFAIR!

He tried to be petty in the moment, but he couldn’t once he heard the other guy speak to the one on the bed.

“Easy Cecil, just breath normally. You’re fine. You’re-you’re going to be fine. You’re going to…be OK. It’ll be OK. I-I promise.”

“Martin.” Ares heard his sister finally speak. “What happened to Cecil?”

Oh, OK. So golden-eyed boy was the Martin-Fiancé that he had to threaten…later. Bed-guy was clearly Cecil but-who was Cecil to this guy and Alice?

“I don’t know.” Martin muttered. “I went to wake him for breakfast this morning and-he was already blue. Simone’s said something is causing his throat to close up.”

“Has she tried any treatments?”

Martin nodded. “One of the medicines she mixed this morning is working, for a few hours at a time. No one knows what this is.”

Then Alice was kneeling next to her fiancé and bringing him into her embrace again. Ares took another step forward, clearly feeling awkward at coming in at a bad time with this situation but stopped at Martin’s voice growing quieter.

“I can’t lose him. I can’t lose my little brother.”

Ouch! That hit Ares’ heart.

OK, the whole arriving at Rigbarth was bad timing! Really bad timing!

What was he supposed to do here?

Well, he was already here-might as well get involved even if he didn’t know how to act. Yeah, he wanted to threaten his sister’s fiancé, that was his duty as her brother, but her fiancé apparently had a little brother who was having difficulty breathing right now. Great! The two of them had something in common and a mutual understanding of protecting siblings (Ares was 4 minutes older-yes, Alice that counted!), which meant he couldn’t just come out with the threat like he originally planned. Great!

Finally, he managed to speak up at the situation. He almost spoke Alice’s name but then stopped himself and thought better of that choice. “Sis?”

The new voice apparently shook them both to attention. Martin got to his feet first, turning towards Ares swiftly, stance straight, wide and protective, like he was prepared to amount a defense for a sneak attack. However, he appeared to relax the tiniest bit when he took in Ares’ appearance and the word he had said. The next movement almost made Ares retreat for a few days with more confused meditation because Alice promptly got to her feet and pressed herself into the guy’s side, facing Ares, before turning and curling herself further into him to tuck her head under his chin. The guy seemed to relax another smidgen as his arms fell from their guarded stance and reached up to wrap around her slowly and carefully.

“You must be Ares.” He finally spoke, taking a long few seconds to stare down at the woman in his arms before raising his gaze again.

Ares gulped; he finally got a good look at the guy’s arms. OK, Alice had been correct, this guy could probably throw him with little trouble. He’d have to use Alice’s flipping technique, but later.

“And you must be Martin. Uh, clearly this was bad timing.”

The guy almost seemed to be glaring at him or was he one of those people that that was his normal face? Yeah, seemed to be Alice’s type. Of course. Martin said nothing in return, just turned his gaze down to Alice, pulling her all the bit closer.

The door opened behind them and Simone walked through, ordering the boy at the counter to hold the fort while she briefed Alice. She approached them slowly, Ares noting how intently Martin was watching her, as if he was expecting the doctor to have reached some answer or epiphany. Before she could speak though, Alice opened her eyes and turned her own gaze on Simone as well, speaking up before she could.

“I’ve only been gone for five days-what happened?”

Simone took another deep breath before she began explaining. “Martin rushed in here this morning, he was carrying Cecil, whose face was already blue due to lack of oxygen. I was able to reopen Cecil’s airway to allow him to breathe again. Worried he might have gotten something lodged in his throat I set about examining him. I found a red colored mucus stuck to the inside of his esophagus dotted with small white spores, which instantly swelled and resealed his throat. I managed to scrape out some for study, but no one knows what the substance is.”

Simone stepped to the side and picked up a small green box from one of the desks. “After some quick experiments I found a mushroom-based elixir that can counteract the swelling, but it’s temporary and has to be reapplied every four hours. Plus, my supply of the mushrooms is limited. I’ve already ordered another barrel; it should arrive in a few days. I’ve got enough of the elixir to hold him out until then, but the mushrooms are rare and expensive.”

“I’ll pay it Simone.” Martin said.

“I know you will Martin. You always do, but let’s leave that for after Cecil is back home with you.”

Well, not good.

“But what happened? Where did that red mucus-stuff come from? Can’t you just remove it?” Ares asked.

Simone shook her head. “We don’t know what happened. Terry is retracing all of the places where he believes Cecil went yesterday and Darroch went to the caves since our best guest with the red mucus would be related to-“

“Fire slimes.” Alice interrupted, stepping away from her fiancé but still reaching back to hold his hand.

“I should be there helping him.” Martin said. “But-”

He cut himself off and glanced back at his brother.

“Don’t degrade yourself Martin. You’re helping by ensuring Cecil’s taking the elixir.” Simone explained.

“I’ll go.” Alice said, turning to face her fiancé, dropping their joined hands to reach up and hold his face in her own grasp.

“My Fire, I can’t ask you to-”

“You haven’t. I’m doing it anyway. I’ll check in with Captain Livia and see if we have anything on the Fire Slimes causing something like this. Then I’ll go join Darroch to check out the mines.”

Martin was quiet for a few seconds before he grabbed her hands and lowered them between them. “Be careful.”

Alice smiled and answered. “Always.”

She quickly stretched up to press a kiss on to Martin’s lips, which he slowly returned.

Well, Ares felt all kinds of awkward. He had to flip this guy at some point, but wanted to comfort a fellow person worried about their younger sibling, his sister was probably about to charge towards a place filled with monsters, more worry, and he did have a vague plan about building a life here so he was supposed to get started on that. Maybe he could help with the monster thing?

“Can I help with anything?” Ares asked.

Alice had broken away from the kiss with her fiancé and walked towards Ares. “Actually, yes. Help Martin with giving the elixir to Cecil. Make him take a break once in a while-he’s terrible at it.”

Martin pouted and glared at Alice, causing Ares to smile. So, he was just like her!

“Like you’re one to talk, Sis.”

Then she was pouting at him. Not his fault if his sister’s love story was pot meet kettle.

In the next few minutes, Ares had gotten a crash course from Simone on how to administer the elixir, pulled up two chairs to Cecil’s bedside (seriously had his sister’s fiancé-er, his future brother-in-law just been standing the whole time?), and was promptly left alone with Martin as Simone retreated to the opposite side of the clinic to do more chemical experiments and Alice gave Martin a last kiss before rushing back out the front door. Deciding to start with the important stuff, Ares took a seat in one of the chairs, motioning Martin to join him. The other guy seemed reluctant, but eventually sat down beside him, eyes still fixed on his brother.

“You know?” Ares began. “Despite all of this going on. As Alice’s brother I still have to threaten you.”

Martin turned his gaze away from Cecil and on to him. Looking almost confused if he just didn’t look so stoic. Eh, Alice sure knew how to pick them.

“Threaten me with what exactly?”

“Uh, I’ll flip you if you break her heart?”

“You can’t.”

Uh! Rude! Ares went to retaliate, but Martin cut him off again.

“Besides, she’d feed me to one of her dragons first.”

“My sister has dragons?”

“Did she not inform you of that?”

“Where is she keeping dragons!?”

Martin shrugged. “Not my story to tell.”

Jerk!

Martin wanted to present a calm and collected appearance to his future brother-in-law. He was happy that Alice had found him, happy that she had returned to Rigbarth, happy that he wasn’t having to compete with some dark-haired guy named Apollo for her hand in marriage. Still, all of this was being overshadowed by the fact that his little brother kept having to fight to breathe. Worse was that he couldn’t do anything about it. He didn’t know healing arts, medicine beyond basic field aid, chemistry or detective skills to narrow down a root cause. He carried around hammers after all, he was just built to hit things hard, not much else. That was the problem with illness, there was nothing to hit. All he had was patience to wait illnesses out.

He did curse at the bad arrival timing of his fiancée, but there was nothing he could do about it. She was out there with Darroch. No problem, he knew they worked well together in the field. Even if part of him wanted to be out there with them. He’d been reluctant about adventuring before, disappearing parent-omen and all, but had rarely turned down Alice when she asked him to join her. After all, even if she was a capable Ranger he still wanted to protect her when he could. Half of his problems was simply the fact that she got to the monsters before he could hit them. Between them and Terry, they had to find the answer. Simone was good at her job; she would find or create a cure.

He did get one distraction when Hina visited with a basket full of breads and sweets from Yuki and Rudolph. He thinks he did OK introducing Hina to Ares. He knew the Head-Pat-Were thing and the young girl had brought some flowers that she had picked for Cecil. Simone brought over a vase for them and and box to set them on, placing it beside the bed. For hours, that was all Martin did. Watch and listen to Cecil breathe, administer the serum when it was time and try to listen to Ares. He catches himself from falling asleep multiple times, since he had had a late night but his fortitude apparently still needed work because he knew the moment he couldn’t fight it any longer, his head fell forward and he heard Ares say a “Hey...”

He remembers his lips shaping Cecil’s name before he finished passing out.

Chapter Text

When Alice returned she was exhausted, worried but now happy.

After an extensive retracing of Cecil’s steps the previous day with Terry’s assistance, they had finally located what they were certain was the cause of Cecil’s illness. She knew the characteristic look of the fire slimes, but the white spots throughout were not a common characteristic she had noticed. The closest she had been able to give Terry and Darroch had been a best guess of plant spores. It was only when Terry mentioned that he had had a similar theory that she felt a bit more confident in herself.

With that they had turned their search to the mushroom plants and the mushroom monsters in the area. The problem there was that the Kelve Lava Caves weren’t known for any such things. The mushroom monsters didn’t wander into the environment because they were in danger of catching fire and the mushroom plants didn’t tend to grow in the area due to the lack of water in the area. They attempted to focus on the grassy area just outside the lava area but there wasn’t much to find. The closest thing found was an old abandoned metal box that contained a single mushroom, but it had been dried, was not of a poisonous variety, and had clearly been in sealed storage for a long time. The result had left them struggling to work out another possibility.

After an hour of fighting off monsters with Darroch, Terry had finally came out with what he decreed was the obvious answer. Something had eaten the spores of a mushroom plant and migrated to the area before being eaten by the slime that had poisoned Cecil.

“How do you know that?” Alice had asked.

“Neither the mushroom plants nor the mushroom monsters would have a reason to migrate to this area. There’s been no recent human interference so no one person could have done this deliberately. The only explanation is that something else carried the spores here. Some animal or monster that the fire slime would have preyed on.”

“Maybe an insect monster?” Darroch asked.

Alice shook her head. “I doubt it. All of the insect monsters living here are immune to the spores, their bodies won’t absorb them. Couldn’t be the ghosts for the same reason. The slimes don’t feed on the panthers either.”

“Can’t be fish.” Darroch mentioned. “The slimes wouldn’t cross over the boundary, they’d light all the grass and trees on fire. The whole area would be scorched by now.”

“Exactly, so what’s left?” Terry asked.

“Reptiles?” Darroch guessed.

“Birds?” Alice asked.

Terry nodded. “Both good guesses. Why would they end up here through?’

Alice bit her lip, thinking. “It would be unusual for a bird to be drawn here. All the heat would make it difficult to fly and there’s no viable food source for them here or place to build a nest.”

Terry nodded. “Good deductions Alice. What about the lizards?”

“That would make more sense but, how would any lizard around here get mushroom spores in them? They don’t even eat mushrooms, they eat insects.”

“Maybe they’re not from around here?” Darroch proposed.

Terry smiled. “Excellent work, Master Darroch.”

The Blacksmith blushed and tried to look away. He was not good with compliments. Alice giggled.

With that Terry turned to look at the strip of land that divided the lava landscape from the greenery of the other. Both Alice and Darroch watched with dropped jaws as he slipped a glove onto his hand, reached behind a rock and pulled out a small lizard. It was clearly long dead but bright red and orange, the entire body was caked with saliva and dotted with familiar-looking faded ivory colored mushroom spores.

“You’re both correct. It is the migrating period of the Capped Telkua and they do love their Sticky Sokcegs. Capped Talkua’s are known for building their nests in old hardened lava flows and Sokcegs are some of their favorite prey options, though Sokcegs don’t live in this area. I’m theorizing that this specimen was dropped in by a little migrating Telkua that thought this area would be a good place to nest, not knowing about the monsters in the area until they were too close. Likely a ghost got close enough to try to eat the Telkua, who dropped its meal. An injured and spore poisoned Sokceg was an easy enough meal for both the Telkua to snatch up for its journey and afterwards for the Fire Slime that came across it.”

Alice did not know how Terry had concluded all of this but that was why he was the detective. Once they had known what they were looking for they had started searching out the area to locate any infested monsters, closing gates and grabbing samples at Terry’s requests. Once done clearing the area, they made their way back into town. Darroch returned to get some rest and Terry headed directly to the clinic-wanting to see his apprentice and promising to check on Alice’s fiancé and brother. Meanwhile, Alice headed straight for The Silo to inform Captain Livia and Scarlett of their findings. The three huddled together in Livia’s office, laying out a plan to quarantine the area and begin planning patrols around the border. They would have to keep an eye out for the birds and lizards, and start deploying the antidote to the monsters once Terry and Simone could develop it.

Alice knew it wouldn’t be so easy. Fungi were so diverse in the area, no one species crowded out the others. So many were poisonous and so many were not. They all did different things, one could knock you out the moment it touched your tongue and the one directly beside it could double your strength for the entire day. Some poisoned, some paralyzed, some sealed your magic, some even gave you frostbite, others gave you literal depression. Knowing it was likely a paralysis mushroom spore that caused this, Alice breathed a bit easier. Mediparalyze was probably what Simone was enchanting the serum with, so they were probably close to a solution already.

Once they had notes and a plan in place, Alice darted upstairs to give herself a quick wash, throw her uniform into the laundry, grab another outfit and make her way back to the clinic. When she walked inside Julian was sleeping at the front desk, whom she decided to leave alone. She spotted Simone in the corner, shuffling through powders and potions in a quick rush. Must have thought of something. Alice turned the corner and stopped, not sure what to think. Her brother had apparently tried to sleep in a chair, which he was not good at, as he was slumped forward down on the floor on to his knees, head tilted downward as he slept. Martin, on the other hand, was leaning forward, head resting on his arms, face turned towards Cecil. At least he was still in his chair. Cecil himself was still sleeping away, though his breathing sounded better than it had before.

On the opposite side of the bed was Terry. He was kneeling and had one hand pressed to Cecil’s forehead.

“Darroch’s influence.” Terry muttered.

Alice glanced up at the voice. Terry glanced back with a smile before looking at the younger guys. “Don’t worry, Simone slipped them sleeping aids. They’ll be out for awhile.”

Alice nodded and walked over, one hand reaching out to curl over her brother’s shoulder to maneuver him into a more comfortable position in a nearby bed. She tried to move Martin, but one of his hands was clinging to Cecil’s in his sleep and she decided to leave him as is. She’d drag him to the hot springs later for the soreness he would inevitably be dealing with later.

“Darroch’s influence?” she asked, taking Ares’ now empty chair and reaching out to run a hand through Martin’s hair.

Terry let his hand fall from Cecil’s head. “I never thought about having an apprentice, that was more Darroch’s and Pal-well other people’s thing. There’s not much actual detective work for me outside of side jobs for SEED so I’ve never been up to my neck in cases, Cecil was so eager to learn and I knew Martin wasn’t home very often. It seemed a way to keep Cecil occupied.”

Alice sighed. “I’ve been trying to convince Martin to take more time off.”

Terry smiled at her. “I know and it’s been working. Cecil always comes in smiling the next morning when Martin gets home in the early evening. I do worry sometimes though.”

“Why? The whole parent-thing?”

“Well, that’s part of it, but I always wonder if maybe I’m stepping in too much? Martin is his guardian, after all. ”

“I doubt that.” Alice said. “I think Martin appreciates it. He wants Cecil to grow up doing what he loves. As long as Cecil is happy, you’ll always have Martin’s appreciation and respect.”

Terry’s smile fell a bit, becoming sad. “Well, I can’t say this latest event makes me look a responsible Master.”

Alice tried to think of what to say, she couldn’t really find much. She did find one thought though. “Hey, if you didn’t train Cecil about journaling his days we wouldn’t have known what to look at today.”

“SEED operatives would have recognized the slime.”

“Maybe, but it would have taken us a lot longer if you didn’t have that knowledge about the migration patterns. It might have happened to others before we figured it all out.”

Terry shrugged. “Maybe. I still want to talk to Martin when this is over. Cecil’s scared me, but I can only imagine how Martin’s feeling.”

Alice fell silent and took the time to glance around the room. She didn’t see-

“Where’s Ryker?” she asked, her eyes on the distant bed that had held the bloodied form of Palmo’s apprentice turned night-thief.

Terry turned to glance at the bed and then back at her, a confused frown now on his face. “He woke up and turned himself in to Livia and Scarlett. Not sure what they’ve done with him. Either they’ve got him locked up somewhere or they sent him off to the capital.”

Alice gulped and glanced over at her fiancé.

“Is there something going on with you and Ryker?”

“Whoa! Hey! Nothing like that he just-told me something when he got hurt that we really need to talk about.”

Alice sighed and glanced over at Ares. “I’m going to take my brother back to The Silo. Will you watch over them?”

She gestured to Martin and Cecil.

Terry nodded. “Of course, take your brother home and get some sleep yourself. Lucy should be down soon, we’ll take shifts.”

“Oh, and Terry?”

“Hmm?”

“I agree you should talk with Martin, if only to ease your own worries, but if you’re wanting to take a more proactive approach to teaching Cecil then maybe you should talk to Darroch as well. He’s taught Martin all of these years after all, he probably knows best how to teach them better than anyone. For all that they have different interests, Martin and Cecil are equally passionate about them.”

“I might do so Alice, thank you.”

With that Alice stepped over to the bed, hauled her brother up on her back and walked out the door. Thankfully able to warp once she was outside. Good thing she had that extra bed in her apartment. In no time she was dropping Ares into the bed and looking towards where she had upgraded the other into a double bed. She had done so ever since she had started planning her proposal. Well, her brother was going to be a ranger as well. Now she was wondering how exactly all of this was going to work. As far as she knew all of the bedrooms at The Silo were full. She supposed there was little trouble setting Ares up in the extra room. The trouble was when she got married. Obviously the small family was favoring the larger place to live in. However, now she was wondering if she should be asking Palmo about a separate house. There wasn’t much room to expand Martin’s house, but there were a handful of vacant houses across the river, however she knew that her fiancé and herself wouldn’t want to be very far from work. Alice sighed and made her way over to her bookshelf in the corner.

Maybe some renovations were in order to transform her upstairs area into more separate housing areas?

Or maybe another floor?

Or…

She glanced outside where the light in her room casted itself into the backyard. Her eyes landed on the field. She hadn’t favored using it much since her tamed monsters helped with the farm dragon fields.

She made the note in her mind before she went to sleep.

Ares woke up much earlier than he ever had in his life. He blamed Rigbarth being a bad influence, pushing people to wake up before the sun. He was surprised to find himself lying in a bed in an unfamiliar place. He was laying in a full-sized bed, beside him was a double bed and the layout was very practical. Minimal but practical. He almost began panicking when he recalled that he had been in the clinic when his eyes were last open. He would have panicked had he not overheard his sister’s familiar muttering in the next room.

He got to his feet, stretched and made his way to the double doors. When he pushed them open he found a huge room filled with cooking counters, a large dining table with chairs and lots of comfy couches. In the corner he found Alice, already awake and aware. (He could only ever do the former in the mornings, not fair!) He stumbled his way over, she glanced up from where she was mixing something in the skillet, smiled at him and motioned to the dining table.

“Sit down before you fall down, Leadfoot.”

“Morning Person.” He grumbled as a curse before stumbling his way over.

Thankfully he only had to stare at the table for ten seconds before she slid him a cup of coffee.

Best. Sister. Ever.

He loved her.

Martin better appreciate her.

"I was in the clinic, why am I here? And where is here?"

Alice sighed. "You're at The Silo, where I work and you will be working. This is my apartment above the main office."

Ares motioned to the area around them and spotted an additional door on the far wall. Was there another room? "You need this much space?"

This time his sister huffed. "Considering this place would be holding my husband, brother-in-law, me and now possibly you-yeah we're going to need the room. More room if Martin and I decide to have kids."

Ares spit out his coffee. "Ack! What? Kids? Since when do you want kids? You never wanted kids!"

Alice rolled her eyes, as if she was just barely tolerating him this morning. Ouch.

"I was never against having kids. I was against having kids in an unstable environment. I don't have to worry about that anymore and I've got a partner who will stay with me."

Ok. Ok. That message was clear enough, no bringing up the ex-boyfriends. Fine by him anyway. He hadn't liked any of them.

Ares finally took a non-choking drink of his coffee and breathed out the stress in his lungs. "So, kind of a crappy situation to come home to."

Alice had made her way back to the kitchen counters to continue cooking, still he saw her shoulders tense. "Yeah, I'm going to go check on them after breakfast, paperwork and my morning patrol."

"What am I supposed to do?" Ares asked.

"When I go downstairs to finish my paperwork, you can talk to Captain Livia. Now, scrambled or over-easy?"

Ryker breathed slowly as he shifted on the old cot in the dungeon beneath The Silo. Hey! Points to them! He didn't even know that there was a dungeon here and pretty well built cells too. He had tested the steel bars the first night when he had turned himself in and found them sturdy. He couldn't escape through the bars, but the lock was child's play. Sturdy as the bars so it wasn't going to give under brute force but picking it was easy. He'd already done it a few times. Not like he was going anywhere though. His only confusion at the moment was why Livia and Scarlett weren't delivering his food. There was always some other ranger delivering his meals. What were the others so busy with that they couldn't feed him?

He'd only requested to speak to Alice once the first day, only to be informed that she'd been placed on probation for being too close to the case. So, he might have put her job in jeopardy.

Half of him was smug about that, the other half felt guilty.

Yesterday he had requested to speak to Palmo, a ranger had delivered his request, but responded last night that Palmo had refused to speak with him.

That. THAT-was why he found himself curled up under the thin blanket he'd been given. It was terribly itchy and he was fighting the urge to complain about it. It was a bit easier to keep quiet about, because the Palmo-thing was hurting his chest the most. Palmo-Palmo of all people didn't want to talk to him!? His own apprentice? Palmo didn't want to see his apprentice?

As much as Ryker hated Martin's Master-Pleasing attitude, Ryker was no exception to taking it harshly when he disappointed his own Master. Palmo was so carefree, he'd talk and good-naturedly mock Ryker's sleeping and habits, but he never looked down on him for them. He'd always suggested more work, but never demanded it.

But if Palmo didn't want to talk with him...

If Palmo didn't even want to see him...

Ryker felt his throat close as he grounded his teeth.

He tried to make himself feel better. What was the point? He'd be hauled off to the Capital soon enough, taken prisoner by SEED. Maybe he'd even run into his father in the prison. Good. He could finally give the guy a piece of his mind. He'd still escape there too. Once he was done punching his father in the face, he'd leave and find a new small village to run his operations from. Everyone in the village had to know the truth by now, no doubt he wouldn't have a place here in Rigbarth any longer. Besides, it was better. Being associated with a criminal would destroy Palmo's brand and reputation, along with Rigbarth's-so it was better in the end that Ryker be taken away from the village.

Better for everyone.

...Besides, it wasn't like anyone actually liked him here. It wasn't like Palmo actually believed he could be his business partner and a great architect. It wasn't like the majority of the parents thought he was a good influence to their children. They had Lucas to show them magic tricks and perform for them instead.

It wasn't like the person that he lov-

His thoughts were cut off at the sound of the entry door of the dungeon door swinging open. He felt his heart race in fear as Alice made her way into the room, eyes already meeting his.

"What do you want?" he growled.

She took a deep breath, opened her mouth and then asked the question he didn't want to hear.

"Why?"

"Why what? Why am I thief? We've been over this. You really are dumb."

Alice glared. "I'd watch your mouth Ryker. How you act will affect how you're treated."

"Like I care."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you an asshole?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you. Get lost."

Alice glared. "People greet you, you're rude. People give you something, you're rude. People keep being nice to you, you're still rude."

"Oh boo hoo! I'm not a nice person. What was your first clue?"

"You're rude, yet you still want someone to love you."

Ryker felt himself go still. No. No, she wasn't bringing it up now. She did not come down here just to bring THAT up!

"Like that actually matters! It's not like your wedding is going to get canceled." He felt himself losing control to the anger.

He was supposed to be calm and collected. Damn it!

"True. I just want you to realize that if you'd spent two minutes actually showing that you cared, you'd be the one walking down the aisle."

He dropped the blanket and rushed the bars slamming his fists against them. "What's that supposed to mean!?"

Alice turned around and back towards the door. "Nothing. It means nothing now, Ryker. You're far too late to do anything. You had a happy ending in reach and you ruined it yourself."

He slammed his hands against the bars again. "Fuck off!"

"Gladly. Enjoy your guest Thursday evening."

"What? Who?"

Cecil would admit to a bunch of things. Mainly because he had always been told by Terry that if he wanted to be a good detective he had to face the facts-no matter how unfair or unfamiliar they seemed. Too good to be true was too good to be true. He'd been reluctant to apply the practice to his own life and himself for so long. He wanted to help other people. His only personal desire was to locate his parents or, at the very least, discover what had happened to them on their last adventure.

Now, laid up up in his bed, recovering from being slimed, he huffed at the ceiling and contemplated his own life. It had been such a shock to wake up and see tears streaming down his brother's eyes. Martin, didn't cry. He was strong, steady. When their parents left he'd only ever seen his older brother cry once and it was only because he thought Cecil had been asleep. No one could deny that their relationship was strained. Cecil could admit these days that he probably had been a bit of a brat at certain times. Objectively he knew that Martin had to stock the fridge with food and Cecil had never had to go a winter without new, warm clothing. Still Cecil had always told himself that a week without one meal or a few weeks with a tight coat would have been fine. He would have dealt with it.

Would have dealt with it if it meant his brother was home more often. These days he half wondered if Martin's enthusiasium was partly just hyping himself up because if the work didn't bring him enough joy, he wouldn't have continued to pursue it. Still, nothing had shocked him more when Martin kept crying and asking if he was OK. He kept taking breaks from work to run next door and check on him. Cecil glanced out the window and up at the night sky. He wondered what Terry was doing while he was trying to sleep. He didn't want to sleep! He'd been sleeping for hours!

Chapter Text

Martin had run so many apologies throughout the day: Cecil, Alice, Darroch, Ares, Simone, Lucy, Julian and Hina.

He'd agreed with Darroch to work overtime at True Strike to make up for the missed hours. Then his Master had gone and paid him the next week in advance! He'd tried to return it, but Darroch had shaken his head and pointed out he'd need certain foods to help Cecil recover and even if they now had an antidote, it was still expensive. Plus, it was spring, Cecil was probably due for a growth spurt soon. He'd need cooler clothing for the warmer weather.

Martin had reluctantly accepted it, but compromised with an extra hour of work every evening and shorter lunch breaks. Darroch had tried to refuse but Martin reminded him that he did have a future wife to think about. A wedding in the next few weeks.

Getting back on that topic had them doing the sitting-on-the-floor-while-thinking-too-much exercise.

Darroch then gave him a raise! Martin couldn't believe him!

He finally finished up in the evening and waved goodbye to his Master. As he walked past The Silo he eyed the lights on the upper floor. He wanted to run over and check on his fiancee. Plus, he was still quite a bit confused by his...future brother-in-law? The guy definitely needed to be putting on some muscle if he was going to be a ranger. However, his conscious was pulling him towards his home, where Cecil was resting. Yuki, Lucy, Simone and strangely Heinz had been checking on Cecil throughout the day when he couldn't. He was so grateful. He'd have to make them something. Hoping his fiancee was staying busy with helping her brother-

"AH!"

"A wolf isn't going to hesitate! Don't think I will!"

"Sis! Help me!"

"Ha! No! Go Captain Livia!"

-He turned towards his house, deciding he'd wake up early and check in on Alice and Ares in the morning. After all, Alice understood. She had to. He tried not to dive back into thoughts he'd had previously, before their engagement-when he didn't think anything permanent would happen. It was still rather a strange switch to go from believing he would have his work and his little brother and that would be it because he would never trade his career and family for something as silly as a crush. No lover would tolerate the idea of Martin having other priorities. It was a miracle in itself for Martin to find himself in his current position. He never imagined he could have all of that. Those ideas had always clashed. One or the other, brother and career or a lover. Alice had been such a shock since she'd expressed interest in him, his life and family. God, he had to marry her quickly. Seeing her upset because of Cecil had burned some new chamber of his heart-something that had only been touched when she offered Cecil the extra room in her living area. She acted like Cecil was already family. So, Martin couldn't screw this up.

With a deep breath of the cool night air he released his long held worries for the moment. He needed to focus on Cecil for the next few days.

Speaking of his little brother, Martin was surprised when he reached his front door and he saw a figure standing outside of it, staring at it. He assumed that it was one of his neighbors checking on Cecil. He would tell them thank you and offer them a snack. However, as he got close enough to make out that the form was Terry he was a bit confused. Not that it was unusual for Terry to check in on Cecil. Terry was Cecil's Master after all. It wasn't like Darroch didn't check on Martin in the early days of his apprenticeship, especially whenever he made a mistake at the forge and got hurt or caught an illness that kept him bed-bound.

"Hello, Terry."

The Detective of Rigbarth turned towards him, eyes growing a bit wide. He smiled, though it was tighter than Martin normally saw on his face.

"Good evening, Martin. I was hoping to..."

He grew quiet and glanced away with a frown. That was strange to Martin. Terry was a quiet guy for the most part but not a hesitant one.

"Check on Cecil?" he guessed.

Terry glanced back at him. "Well, that's one thing. I was actually hoping to talk to you as well."

Martin was confused but nodded, opened the door and lead Terry into the house. He motioned to Cecil's bedroom door and they both walked over carefully to peek inside. The boy was on his back, chest rising and falling, his breaths echoing throughout the room. Martin breathed a sigh of relief as his racing heart slowed back down and he closed the door. He motioned for Terry to take a seat in the main room while he fetched some tea. When he returned he found the detective looking some of the papers that Cecil had left on the table, he'd even pulled over and was glancing at some of the designs that Martin had scratched out on paper over the past few months.

"Every morning." he muttered, bringing over the old tea set that Yuki had gifted to them three Christmas Holidays ago.

The designs of the flowers and swirls were faded and stained and yeah maybe they were more feminine than they personally preferred, but they had been a free gift. Besides, the first rug Martin had ever purchased had been bright pink. Not because he particularly liked the color, more Hina's and Alice's thing, it had just been on sale for 10G since no one had been interested in purchasing it and they had needed a rug.

"You both do this every morning?" Terry asked, his eyebrows raised.

Martin nodded and handed Terry a cup. "I apologize, we're out of coffee."

"It's fine. I imagine you've been using it a lot these past few days."

Martin felt his face burning and tried to hide it behind his tea cup. There were, a lot of dishes that he hadn't been doing. He should probably adjust his wake up time tomorrow to a bit earlier and get those done.

"No shame, I'm about out of my supply too. I know Simone is."

He was going to have to give so many people coffee...which meant less for him. Maybe he could plead his case to Alice again for more potions? She might still be mad about the last time though. He'd have to balance if it would be a good idea to push his luck with the request or not.

"Thank you, for helping cure Cecil. I'm not sure how to thank you exactly." Martin said, his eyes on his drink.

"You don't have to thank me Martin. Cecil is my apprentice after all. I've actually come to apologize."

Apologize? Martin blinked away the mass of confusion and surprise, turning his gaze up questionably towards Terry.

"Why?"

"I suppose it doesn't look good on me that a job I sent Cecil on got him hurt. I guess I'm not a very good Master."

"It's not your fault." Martin muttered, paused for another drink and then spoke again. "I get hurt frequently while working at the forge. I've never set blame on Master Darroch for it. I mess up, I make mistakes. Master Darroch always assures me that it's a part of learning."

"Still, you've never been a position that nearly cost you your life."

"I almost was." Martin muttered, explaining when he realized Terry's eyes were back on him. The Royalty Commission, Master Darroch getting injured, Martin's unwillingness to craft what he needed to, the long nights, the wake up call from Ryker, his collapse after he'd managed to buy them time with the Royal Messenger.

"Master Darroch got hurt protecting me when we were gathering ore. Looking back on everything, sometimes I believe it would have been better had he not been able to guard me from the monster. Had he just let me get hit."

"You could have died."

"Maybe. Maybe I just would have been hurt. He would have been free to complete the Royalty Commission while I recovered. I wouldn't have learned the lesson that I did though. Not that it would ever be worth Master Darroch getting injured again. He's still healing."

"You can't know that."

Martin turned the tea cup in his hand and set it down. "No, I can't. I have to respect that it was his choice. So, respect that it was Cecil's."

For Terry, it was almost a shock to hear Martin's take on the situation. The young man had always been a rather mature individual. Everyone in Rigbarth knew that, but there had been rare times where he seemed every bit of a guy just leaving his teenage years. He fussed over and bickered with Cecil, like an older brother would. It was simply that most of the time he was defining himself by his apprenticeship or playing psudeo-parent to Cecil. Terry knew Cecil was left alone pretty often, never neglected or abused, but lonely.

Terry had never even touched what existed around the mystery of Rigbarth's most well-known missing persons' case. Simply for the reason that he, like most of Rigbarth, saw the high probability and likely result. Still, he knew Cecil was determined to find them some day. Terry just worried about what his reaction would be when he found nothing but what was left of their remains. Cecil was still a kid, he didn't want to see horror wash over his face at any point. Were apprenticeships always like this? You got to caring about them-as if in another world they could have been your own? Terry raised his gaze from where he had taken to staring at the ground as he made his way to the back entrance of True Strike. He had decided to take up Alice's advice and talk to Darroch as well. The two of them had never had much in common. The blacksmith was hard of hearing, not well-read and couldn't follow many complexities of thought.

Still, he could shatter stone, ore and monsters with a single swing. Also, for all his strength and gruff appearance he was undoubtedly one of the gentlest people you'd ever know. Terry could still recall after the dissaperance, Martin and Cecil had only stayed home or traveled to the entrance gate for weeks. After that, rumors started that Martin was running deliveries, doing odd jobs and stocking for every store in town, exchanging work at the clinic for medicine and the bakery for bread. It wasn't until Martin approached him that Terry realized that more might have been going on with the children. Terry himself still hadn't been fully established in his practice as he'd yet to even begin working with SEED and Simone had requested that he run the General Store. Lack of a labor force due to a lack of a population had left it without an overseerer, but everyone needed their base ingredients for food and clothing. Martin had arrived before he opened the store one morning, asking quietly if there was a sale on any items or if Terry needed any work done? He did have some seeds to unload from the back and to place on shelves so he assigned Martin to that. In the meantime he gathered some random items and tossed them in a spare crate. Food items about to go bad, some seed packets that he'd resealed since they couldn't be sold, some old shirts and hand towels that hadn't sold well, etc.

Martin had thanked him quietly for the crate of things, respectfully said a goodbye and walked off towards his home. Terry had stared after him for a bit wondering what was going to happen. It had been weeks, the likely result of the parents' adventure was that they had met with an unfortunate end, either from a monster or a disaster. In hindsight, Terry wished he had kept looking at the walking figure of Martin. Instead, he had turned around and went back inside. He half wanted to go ask Simone what the plan was. Martin was only 12. Did that mean someone from the Capital would be coming to collect the boys? What was Simone planning to do about it?

The day went by normally and he had convinced himself to go visit Simone. Out of curiosity he convinced himself. Nothing more.

However, he didn't end up talking with Simone because when he walked into the clinic she was standing next to one of the beds, the familiar form of Martin unconscious atop it. On the other side of the bed, Darroch was holding on to a crying and very young Cecil. He got the explanation from Simone. She'd gotten curious when Martin had been helping out at the bakery the day before and Yuki reported to Simone that Martin had asked for extra bread and if he could pay her back in a couple of days.

When she had asked what was wrong Martin had just shrugged and said. "Cecil's hungry."

When Martin had been on his way back from helping at the General Store he had collapsed. Darroch had come out to gather some more coal for the forge when he spotted the boy passed out. He'd gotten Martin back to his house to find that Cecil was hiding under his bed. The place had been relatively clean for two young boys, but Darroch checked the kitchen and found that there wasn't any food. There was no money in the house either. He had taken the boys to the clinic and Simone found herself panicking. Both boys were malnourished and once they had calmed Cecil down a little they found out that their parents hadn't stocked the fridge and had had most of their money on them when they left. They had promised a big shopping trip with a large feast when they returned, promising to stop by the capital for their sons' favorite treats. The bread that Yuki had given Martin had been their only food and Cecil cried more as he told the adults his brother said he had to eat all of it yesterday. Martin had refused to have any himself, promising Cecil that he'd help at the resturaunt the next day and get them some more food. He'd promised to eat something for lunch.

He had lied to him!

Terry didn't want to point out that Martin hadn't even made it to lunch.

They left the boys to get some rest, Terry and Darroch not saying anything to one another. Terry eventually said goodbye and returned to his shop. From what he would later hear, Martin would wake up and both boys would sneak out of the clinic to go wait at the entrance gate again. It was quickly becoming winter and Simone couldn't get the boys to come back. She wasn't in much of a position for more children. Her husband traveled, Lucy was a handful and Julian was still an infant. Hina kept her mother and uncle busy, especially with the hotel business and recent passing of her father. They all weren't certain about leaving a child in Palmo's care, either. Darroch, of all people, had come to collect the boys, but surprised everyone when he took them to his place instead of theirs. From there Martin had been enchanted by the idea of blacksmithing and Rigbarth had their first apprenticeship to put on record. Darroch provided Martin with work and while the boys borrowed on good faith for the next few weeks, soon everything was turning around. Martin came into the shop, favoring sale days still, but always had the money to pay for things. Cecil always had clean, neat clothes, three meals a day and when a representative from the Capital finally showed up (Rigbarth was so small apparently their concerns could be put off for four years) Martin was already 16, old enough to inherit the property and have custody of his younger brother. The representative left with a little huff but Simone and Terry both had pointed out the Statue of Limitations on the law. It was the Capital's own fault for not acting on the notice Simone had sent. Yeah, maybe she had used the slowest, most unreliable, most-disaster-prone carrier she could commission for the job, but incompetence wasn't a crime. Both boys were in good health, the older one had a steady job, the kitchen was stocked, the house was in good shape, Cecil had clean clothes and was clearly keeping up with his studies.

So, here Terry found himself, standing at the back entrance of True Strike-raising his hand to knock on the door. He hesitated for a few seconds before letting his hand fall against the door. Darroch must have still been up as he was quick to open the door, surprised to see him but, welcoming all the same.

"Terry? Something wrong with our boys?"

Our boys. He tried not to think about that too much.

He shook his head. "Martin's home and looking after Cecil. Cecil's recovery is going well."

"That's good. Glad to see Martin taking a break. I hope he at least takes a day off for his wedding."

Terry smirked. "Have Alice steal his hammers."

Darroch smiled. "You know? That might actually work. He gets laser focused on work when she's around, but is more willing to take breaks. Oh right, come on in. Want coffee?"

Terry felt his eyes grow wide. "You have some left?"

"I have to hide it or Martin drinks it all. He always pays for it, but it's a headache keeping in stock with his late nights."

It took a few minutes, but they finally settled down with two cups of coffee, Darroch saying out loud that he hoped Martin couldn't smell it from next door. Terry doubted it with the burning smell of the forge still lingering but decided not to comment on it.

"So, what are you doing here?" Darroch finally asked after a few sips.

Terry sighed and scowled at the table before glancing up to meet Darroch's eyes. "I want to be a better Master."

Darroch blinked. "I think I misheard you, Terry. What was that?"

Terry spoke slower, thinking it was Darroch's hearing-problem. "I want to be a better Master. For Cecil."

Darroch blinked a couple more times, took another sip of coffee and rubbed the back his head nervously. "OK, I guess I didn't mishear you, but uh, why come to me?"

"You're literally the only other person with an Apprentice in this town, and our apprentices are brothers. You know how to do this better than I do."

"Hey, Palmo-"

"Darroch." Terry said stoutly.

"Huh? Palmo's-oh, right. I had almost forgot among everything else."

Terry sighed. "The world on the brink of destruction, betrayal, reconstruction, an engagement, an upcoming wedding, a new resident, A God, Royal Residents, A Succubus, a health disaster, seven ancient dragons, all on top of the normal monster problems. Remember when Rigbarth was quiet and not dramatic?"

Darroch shrugged. "Not really. Your days have probably been more interesting since Cecil took an interest in your craft."

"Can't argue that. If there's one thing the brothers have in common-it's their passion."

"What can I help you with though?"

"Look, they're brothers. You did great with Martin. I have no idea what I'm doing with Cecil. Please, help me."

"How?"

"Just start with a typical day. What do you do? What do you look for?"

Darroch frowned but tried his best to describe the morning Master and Apprentice would share. The most prominent thing to look for was tensed muscles from excess stored energy or signs of exhaustion. Maybe Terry would have better luck getting Cecil to rest and take breaks than Darroch did with Martin? However, maybe Cecil idolized that part of his brother and would copy him that stride? Darroch wished Terry luck on that particular trait falling a bit closer to the other side where Cecil was concerned.

Chapter Text

Alice made her way downstairs, dragging her brother behind her. He'd finally passed Livia's tests and gotten his own uniform. She herself was finally off of probation as long as she kept away from the Ryker-case. Radea and Scarlett had been spraying Monsters and the general Kelva Lava Cave area with the mist forms of the antidote. Scarlett had already reported two other monsters carrying similar spores, one a panther and the other a ghost. Both had been cured and sent back to the Forest of Beginnings. They'd be slowly treating all the other areas nearby as well, hopefully preventing anymore of the lizards and birds from invading and upsetting the ecosystem.

Alice could hardly believe it was only a Thursday. So much had been happening and she wanted a long rest. Still, she had her own work to get done. It'd be up to her to collect the herbs and fruit in various areas. They needed to see if the spores could be absorbed by vegetation and the whole town had to fully cook all their current food just in case. They'd also frozen exports for the time being as they didn't want that Capital coming down on them with fines for any infected products. She had to check on her own tamed monsters, locate Lucky, check his health and report back to Heinz. Not to mention her fields probably needed major attention and a check for spores. Thankfully she had always kept excessive amounts of fodder in storage for her monsters.

Also...

"Lucky Day Ares! You get to go on a mission with Scarlett today!"

"Yeah! First Mission!" he cheered quietly, head still rolling forward in drowsiness.

Eh, Scarlett could perk him up! Alice wanted to run by to check on Cecil and Martin before she headed out.

However, she stood still, surprised at the sight of her fiance downstairs in Livia's office talking with her. Martin was holding a piece of paper in his hand and frowning down at it. On no! Was everything OK? Stepping away and ignoring her brother falling over, as he'd been leaning on her as he fell back asleep, she stepped into her boss's office. Livia, Radea and Martin all glanced over at her.

"Martin?"

"My Fire." he smiled at her and she calmly walked over to pull him into a hug, which he was quick to return.

"How is Cecil?"

"Much better. Terry is looking after him today."

She pulled back and moved her hands to his shoulders. "What are you doing here?"

Martin held up the paper. "A SEED agent delivered this a few minutes ago. Ryker wanted to talk to well-us?"

Alice felt her throat tighten. Maybe that meant that Ryker was going to-

She clamped down on the thought. Unlikely.

"Well, either way you'll have to wait for a bit." Livia said. "Palmo showed up early."

"I thought he wasn't supposed to be here until tonight?" Alice asked.

Livia shrugged. "Who can make sense of Palmo?"

"She's got you there." Martin said. "Remember the shark?"

"I'm trying not to."

"It will make a perfect children's bed post! They will have a bed post, aquarium and petting zoo all in one!"

Radea finally spoke up. "Who actually bought that?"

"According to the finance records, some rich family in the Capital." Livia sighed.

"Sis, humans are insane. I don't want to be here." Radea whined.

Livia scoffed. "Too bad, get back to work and where's my flan?"

"You already ate three this morning!"

Alice saw Martin looking at her for a few seconds before he pulled her close into a kiss and then moved to whisper into her ear. "Thank you, My Fire. Thank you, for everything."

"Hey, we're family. He's my little brother too." Alice muttered, reaching up to kiss him again.

"Abandoned! I've just been abandoned!" a voice from the doorway shouted out.

Oh yeah, she had just abandoned her brother to fall on the floor outside. Oops! She pulled back from the kiss and turned to watch as her brother rubbed the sleep from his eyes and finally made his way somewhat unsupported and on his own two feet! She was so proud! He looked like he was trying to glare at Martin too, but she didn't think her fiance understood since he looked more worried for Ares than worried about him.

"Hey future-bro. Great, two morning people!"

Alice kept her mouth shut about Scarlett. No need to warn him.

Ares walked over to them and his slightly hardened face fell a bit, his eyes still on Martin. "How is he?"

Martin smiled quaintly. "Recovering quickly, but restless to get out of bed. He already tried doing the dishes this morning."

"Oh great, he's a busy-body morning bird too-isn't he?"

"Get used to it Ares." Alice said with an eyeroll.

"Never. Is there more coffee? I need something to wake me up."

Alice saw her fiance open his mouth and she wanted to interrupt that they had only had some this morning because a pack had fallen behind the flour she had cooked with this morning and there really was none left in The Silo. However, before she could utter anything the double doors of the office opened and the whole group was staring. Scarlett was standing in the doorway, a single hand held behind the back of Ryker, who was staring down at the floor, eyes glazed over. Behind them Alice gasped when she recognized the sight of Palmo exiting out the front door, another SEED Ranger holding it open for him.

"Forward." Scarlett ordered Ryker.

Ryker blinked, his eyes clearing as he glared back at her, he shifted at how his arms were bound behind his back but made no move to break the restraints. Then, he set his gaze forward, eyeing everyone in the room. His eyes narrowed at the sight of Ares, suspicious before his gaze finally settled on Alice and Martin. In response, Alice felt Martin pull her that bit closer to him. She must have made some kind of noise because Ares looked over to them and then stepped in front of them. Alice couldn't see if he was glaring but considering Ryker was now glaring back at a greater intensity she thought it was a safe bet.

"Ryker." Livia stated, motioning for everyone to back up before waving Scarlett and Ryker forward.

"Captain." Scarlett gave a salute while Ryker just scowled.

Livia cleared her throat and leaned back in her chair. "We looked into your claim about the object being stolen from a different family and, after a thorough investigation, found it to be true. Further investigation of the individual that reported the crime was also found to be in possession of countless items registered to other individuals and families in the capital."

Alice watched Ryker's jaw fall.

"A fair number of items were registered and easy enough to return. The rest are being held by a third party to be redistributed to their original owners. It's still a large amount, but I can speak for her intentions."

Ryker scoffed. "Yeah, because you're all incorruptible angels."

Livia smirked. "She's a dragon actually, with no interest in human items. Well, except pancakes."

Alice heard her brother try to cover up a laugh with a cough.

Livia sighed. "Regardless of the good results, means do not justify the ends. You're still guilty of breaking and entering, trespassing, structural damage, thievery, attempted conspiracy, assault of an officer and three jail breaks."

"What? I didn't break out!" Ryker yelled.

"You picked the lock three times, that counts as jail breaks. Punishment's just a little softer since you chose not to leave. Alice is not pressing charges. The broken window seal on the estate you stole from is a cheap repair. Lucky for you Mr. Big shot in the Capital stole and swindled from every carpenter in the city so there's no one willing to give authorities an estimate much less actually do the repair. The remaining crimes will each have their own set fines and punishments."

"Whatever."

"Now, you had requested to speak to your Master, Palmo. We carried out your request, he denied it but later changed his mind. You also requested to speak to my officer and her fiance. You've already spoken to her. If the remaining party member consents you may speak to him now or after I deliver your punishment. I will give you that option. Martin?"

Martin nodded.

"Ryker?"

"Just get the punishment over with already. Kept me waiting long enough-wasting my time."

"Very well. Radea, the rune spell."

Radea stood up, glowering as she walked over to Ryker, her hand glowing with a dark energy. Ryker tried to take step back but Scarlett pushed him forward.

"Face your punishment with honor, coward." Scarlett said with a scowl.

"I'm not a coward!"

"Then stop running away from your problems."

Alice felt herself gasp a dark rune stream tied itself around Ryker's right ankle. There was no grunt of pain or uncomfortableness though. The rune remained in a semi-circle around his ankle and Ryker blinked a few times before he looked up at Radea.

"What is this?"

"Shut up before I claw your face off!" Radea yelled.

"Radea. That's enough." Livia commanded, ordering her back to her station in the corner.

Livia shook her head in exasperation before turning her eyes back to everyone in the room. "Ryker, in light of the crimes you have committed we were at a standstill for some time. Much of the elite or the Capital would love nothing more than to see the Bandit King's descendant publicly persecuted, or at the very least humiliated."

"Like this isn't humiliating enough?" Ryker muttered.

"Luckily a fair number of stolen items have demoted some elite to poverty and elevated some poverty to the elite class. So, the capital and royal family is currently very busy dealing with chaotic class wars. Many individuals want to place that on you as well, but allowing it to happen in the first place is their problem to solve-not ours and not yours."

Ryker said nothing, just glared confusingly at the Captain.

"Scarlett, you may remove the cuffs."

"Yes, Captain!"

Scarlett released her hold on Ryker, deactivated the spell-lock and pulled the cuffs away.

"What the hell? You're letting me go?" Ryker growled.

Livia raised a single eyebrow. Alice will never admit to practicing the same look in the mirror once she saw it work on a jewel thief.

"Hardly." Livia breathed out. "Now, Martin's consented to listening to you. Radea, Scarlett, Ares, Alice-"

Alice nearly jumped at her name.

"I'll be witness to this meeting, the rest of you may leave."

"What?" Alice breathed, her hands tightening into fists.

She wasn't going to leave Martin in here alone, especially not if Ryker was going to say it!

"Leave the room, Ranger-that's an order. That rune stream is bound to Rigbarth, he won't be able to leave town. Ryker, fair warning, should you try to make your way out of town the rune stream will teleport you into my office and I will turn you over to the Capital for whatever punishment they deem fit to give you."

Ryker huffed. "Great, so I'm a prisoner."

"This is the law Ryker. Either put up or shut up. Now, your punishment will include a number of fines, you will be bound to this town for a minimum of five years and you will deliver an apology and thanks to Palmo."

Ryker flinched. "Pa-Palmo?"

"Palmo has agreed to continue housing you and continuing your apprenticeship."

"Wh-what!?"

"Don't get too happy. He'll be giving us reports on your work progression. Fail to meet expectations and you will be back down in that cell."

Ryker was silent.

"Anything else you wish to say, Ryker?"

Alice watched the now silent guy shake his head.

"Alright then, Rangers-outside. I won't remind you again."

Alice felt Martin staring at her worriedly. She bit her lip, stretched up and kissed him. He returned it hesitantly and clearly looked like he wanted to ask her what was wrong, but Alice knew she couldn't say it. Not out loud in front of Livia. She simply smiled at her fiance and said she'd see him in a few minutes. She didn't think the situation would take long.

With that she made her way out of Livia's office. Livia and Radea having a bit of a shouting match before the younger sister agreed to leave. Alice felt that the world was a bit cloudy until a becoming-more-familiar hand was on her shoulder. She turned and found that she had made her way to the far window in her haze and the hand belonged to her brother. He was asking so many questions with his eyes.

But mostly-Are you OK?

Alice bit her lip and spoke. "I'm OK, Ares. Just-got a little too involved."

"Who is that guy?"

"He was-well I guess still is-our town's architect's apprentice."

"OK, but thievery, prison, and did I hear something about the Bandit King?"

Alice sighed. "You can ask Scarlett for the reports during your mission. Since this is over they'll be open source for you to examine."

"Do I need to worry about him?"

"I don't think so. I might have to, though."

"Why is that?"

Everyone outside jumped when there were two loud thumps echoing from Livia's office. Scarlett had been sitting down at her desk to look over reports but now sprung to her feet and ran towards the doors.

"Captain!?"

Alice and Ares were right behind her. Alice jumping back when she noticed the doors parting slightly and quickly. Ares wasn't as fast, but Scarlett was able to reach out and yank him backwards to avoid tipping forward. Thankfully the doors opened inward or they might of all gotten knocked over. Alice felt half happy and half worried at the sight.

In the middle of the room Martin had both of his hands clenched into fists and he was clearly grinding his teeth as he glared at the floor. Alice gulped and stepped forward.

"Darling?"

His narrowed eyes flew up to her and softened a small bit. He took a very deep breath, trying to relax and calm down.

"My Fire, I love you, but I really need to go to work."

Alice nodded. OK, she could see that he didn't want to be touched right now. With that Martin stepped around the group and headed to the door.

"Meet me for lunch?" he whispered back at her.

Alice breathed out a quiet. "OK."

"What the heck?" Ares muttered after Martin vanished out the door. "Why's he being a jerk?"

"You are injured!" Scarlett said, stepping away from Ares and into the office.

Alice glanced towards Livia's desk to find that Ryker was now on the ground, one hand held against what was clearly a bloody lip. Livia was chuckling.

"Hey! He assaulted me!" Ryker said towards her.

"And you violated the laws of consent first."

"What just happened?" Ares demanded, eyes trained on Livia.

Alice sighed and rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "Read the reports Ares. As for that-"

She motioned to where Scarlett had produced a gauze pad for Ryker to press against his bloody lip.

"Ryker and Martin have never gotten along."

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with your fiance being that punch happy."

"Oh, get off of it-Rookie." Livia said. "Ryker grabbed Martin and kissed him without permission or consent. He took his shot-he got slapped. Now, Alice you have your duties to return to. Scarlett see to our new recruit. Ryker, I would suggest you head back to Palmo's."

"Come, we will begin with the shortest patrol routes." Scarlett said, walking back over to Ares' side and motioning to the door.

"But, what about...?" Alice watched her brother motion to her and she shook her head.

"I have my own job to do. Good luck...Scarlett."

"What? Hey! No fair!" Ares protested.

Ares had to drag himself up the stairs at the end of the day. Stumbling into the large sitting/dining area, he stopped suddenly at the sight of his sister, her fiance and said fiance's younger brother. After a few seconds they all looked up from the large dining table and the young boy was beaming. He quickly rushed to his feet and dashed across the empty space, worrying shouts from Martin and Alice following him. The boy stopped right before Ares and pointed up at him with a smile.

"You're Alice's brother!"

"Uh, yeah. You, feeling OK, Cecil?"

"Of course I am. Everyone is just being a worry wort."

"You weren't breathing, being a worry wort is the minimal reaction to that."

"Cecil. Come, sit back down-now." Martin ordered with a glare.

Cecil sighed and made his way back over to the table to sit down. Ares followed him with stretch of his arms above his head.

"Man, Scarlett is such a slave-driver. How do you deal with her?" he asked Alice as he finally sat down in a chair that had apparently become his own.

He glanced down to find that everyone had already set in to having dinner. His placement had already been laid out and he reached for the dishes in the center.

"Scarlett is just, by the book." Alice muttered.

"Nothing wrong with a routine." Martin muttered.

He was getting a new family, of morning people and workaholics. Great! At least one of them was a good cook. Also, Livia was more laid back when she wasn't throwing her paperwork at him. It wasn't until he was chewing a bite of boiled pumpkin that Ares realized that Alice and Martin were looking at him strangely. Cecil was looking back and forth at everyone.

"What is it?"

"Ares, with you joining SEED we're going to need more space." Alice admitted. "That's why Martin and I wanted to talk to you and Cecil."

"Oh." Cecil and Ares manged to say it in the same moment.

Right. They were engaged. The wedding. They were going to get married. Move in together. As a SEED Ranger's spouse, Martin was welcome to move in to The Silo and Ares was recalling what his sister had said about a possible future family. Also, as the legal guardian of his younger brother, that welcome extended to Cecil as well.

"Oh, I get it." Cecil muttered, mouth falling down into a frown. He glanced longingly over at the door to that third room that Ares had only glimpsed at.

He hadn't understood what it was for previously, but at the sight of Cecil's glance and the guilty looks on Alice's and Martin's faces, he reached the logical conclusion. He turned to his sister with a frown.

"You had all this planned out for them-didn't you?"

Alice bit her lip but nodded.

"And I'm mucking everything up?"

"No." Martin said, now looking at Ares with a glare. "It's simply a problem to solve and there is a solution, many solutions."

Ares frowned back. He didn't see how. Whoever moved in would need that third room for Alice and Martin to have any kind of privacy and if they wanted to have kids of their own no doubt this room itself would be renovated as extra rooms. Is this really what Alice and Martin wanted? Two potential live-in Uncles to their kids?

"We could split the third room?" Alice suggested.

Cecil pouted. "And when Ares wants a family? What if I do?"

"The house will be yours Cecil." Martin said. "I already set it for you to inherit it when you turn 18."

"But if anything happens and Alice isn't a Ranger anymore-"

"That's taken care of." Alice said. "SEED has a retirement plan in place and I have plenty of savings."

"Still, Ares needs that room more than I do. I get it. I'll just stay back home." Cecil said, face still drawn down.

"You're still under my guardianship, Cecil. You can't." Martin reminded him.

Cecil glared at his brother. "You have a fiancee to think about."

"You're my brother before she's my fiancee." Martin said.

Alice frowned but ultimately nodded.

"Alice!" Cecil protested.

Ares watched his sister shake her head and explain. "Martin is correct Cecil, he's got documented guardianship of you. If he doesn't put you first nothing could stop an official from the Capital coming here, making you a Ward of the Nation and taking you away to a facility. It's why Martin and I have considered...postponing our wedding."

"What!?"

"No!"

Ares scowled. "Shouldn't SEED be taking care of its own housing issue anyway?"

"Which is why we're discussing it."

Ares thought and suggested towards Martin. "Maybe I could rent your place?"

"SEED agents have to stay at The Silo." Alice reminded him.

"Well then why don't they make this place bigger?"

"They've considered it." Martin muttered. "Palmo's taken measurements and drafted plans, the problem is that the foundation can't hold anything else."

"We don't want to delay our wedding, but it's the only solution in the moment." Alice explained. "I've already requested that the field out back be turned into additional housing, but it's been slow work. Palmo hasn't been...as ecstatic as usual."

"Well, maybe now that Ryker's back there, things could speed up?" Cecil suggested.

"Maybe." Martin said, glancing around at the remaining food and grabbing another fruit sandwich. "Until then we believe delaying the wedding would be for the best."

"Delay until when?" Ares asked.

Alice and Martin glanced at one another and then back to their brothers. "Summer. Mid-Summer."

"Is there anything I could do to help?" Ares asked.

Alice smiled. "You could ask Palmo."

Ares beamed. "Then it's settled. I'll help get the place built. You two have to promise me though, as soon as I have a place there you have to have your wedding."

Martin smiled and reached out to hold Alice's hand. "We promise."

Ares watched the two brothers leave for the evening, even not flinching away when Martin kissed Alice. Still, he could recognize the look on Alice's face when she closed the door. He quickly abandoned his prep for readying for bed and approached her to bring her into a hug.

"I promise sis, we'll work as quick as we can."

She didn't say anything but hugged him back tightly.

Chapter Text

In the end, they were done by the end of Spring. Ares found himself being a quasi-apprentice architect to Palmo alongside Ryker. Who, he admittedly did not get along with at first. Ares had finally found a free afternoon to read up on "The Bandit King" investigation, entered the field out back where they were laying foundation and punched Ryker in his pretty face. He'd never been much of a workaholic himself but ratting on Ryker for being lazy had been its own kind of thrill. There also appeared that the whole incident had not been forgotten between Master and Apprentice. While Palmo acted no different towards others, he always spoke in a lot more subdued voice to his apprentice. He wasn't rude or intolerable, but always looked to be disappointed in the young man. It wasn't like Ares had had any sympathy for the guy either.

Alice could have been dead. His sister would have died here and he might have never known about what had happened. Maybe at some point the town's detective would have sent Ares a letter, informing him of her death. He knew Ryker was paying fines and serving a house/area arrest in Rigbarth but it wasn't good enough.

How had he gone from wanting to threaten his future brother-in-law to decking the architect's apprentice?

He'd gotten suspended from SEED for a week, not that Livia was being serious about it. It was only during another lunch that Ares recalled something.

Alice was gone on an expedition and Ares had just finished lunch when Martin knocked on the door. Martin had apologized and went to leave but Ares had invited him in anyway.

"Come on in Big Bro-I'm not going to bite."

He'd been doing that ever since they (AKA SEED) had started planning on converting the field to more housing for additional Rangers; referring to both Martin and Cecil as his brothers. He thought that maybe it helped with the feelings behind the wedding delay; that Ares had already accepted having an older brother in his life. The wedding would just make it official, on paper. He was starting to call Cecil his little brother and enjoying teasing him. Frankly, it was just easier in his mind. Throwing hyphenated titles back and forth was getting draining on his mind.

Big Bro was easier than sister's-fiance or future-brother-in-law.

When they were sitting down with fruit sandwiches (Alice had let it slip that they were Martin's favorite-easy way to charm the guy and easy enough for Ares to make as long as Alice made the bread ahead of time) Ares recalled when Livia had given Ryker his sentence.

"He kissed you."

"Huh?"

"Ryker, that jerk lead my sister into a trap that could have killed her, compromised her job, and kissed her fiance."

"Yeah?"

"He liked you."

Martin scoffed and rolled his eyes. "He was just messing with me. He's always been like that."

Ares clamped his mouth shut. He wasn't so certain. He'd seen Ryker glance up from his work with the field foundation when Martin would visit for a meal with Alice or when he would leave after. He was always glaring with what Ares was convinced was jealousy.

"You sure?"

"Positive. There's never been anything remotely even peaceful between the two of us. I could never understand how he always took Palmo's generosity for granted and slacked off. Never mind him anyway, how's the construction going?"

Ares hummed around a bite of a sandwich. "Good. Foundation's down. We should get the support walls up soon."

Martin's eyes almost seemed to light up and that made Ares feel warmer, knowing that Martin was just as anxious to see his wedding day as Alice was. So, Ares tried to put the resentment towards Ryker out of his mind. As long as the jerk didn't try anything on his sister's wedding day. He would show the guy no mercy if he did.

His worry about the wedding and the housing proved to be nothing to worry about. Despite the existing tension between Rigbarth's architects, it only seemed to increase their productivity speed since they spent a lot of time ignoring each other. Before Ares knew it, the first floor was up and the foundation laid out for the second floor. Each floor would have four separate apartments and he would be the first to move in. When he signed off paperwork on the place Alice informed him that her wedding was going to take place in one week. He'd balked at the idea of so little planning, but was reminded that they'd had a lot planned already.

He'd had to rush to get a suit, because he'd forgotten that part. Most of Rigbarth didn't have formal clothing, but he was going to be standing next to his sister and there was an unspoken understanding that he wouldn't be ruining her image. He avoided mentioning her hero status of the place or that he didn't think anything could ruin her image.

Overall, nothing went wrong.

Well, there might have been a small confrontation between Martin and Ryker, but it hadn't lead to anything physical. Then, Ares had joined in on his new little family after the ceremony had ended. He'd spotted his now official, older brother, fidgeting in a strange manner so he'd quickly made his way over. Alice and Cecil had been smiling though so Ares wasn't sure what was happening. To his surprise, Martin excitedly told him that Darroch had officially ended his apprenticeship. He'd been promoted to his business partner. He was now co-owner of True Strike!

The whole family celebrated together, Cecil the loudest of all. Ares thought that Martin's promotion might have just excited Cecil for his own future. He could see it in the boy's smile. He was imagining being business partners with his own Master, co-owning the Detective Agency.

Their little circle meant that the sight of the individual in the distance was only in sight of Cecil and Ares. Ares knew Cecil wasn't about to do anything though and Ares wasn't even certain about himself. Still, he had been working closely with the guy for the entire Spring season. So with an excuse to his new family he started off away from the festival area and down to the beach. He found Ryker sitting near the edge of the water.

"Hey, Ryk."

The white-haired halfling glanced up and then looked away. "What do you want?"

Ares frowned. "You know, if you want people to like you, maybe you should try being nice?"

"I'm not nice."

"Someone's got to bend Ryker, and it ain't going to be other people wanting to be treated decently."

"Leave me alone." Ryker growled, eyes on the horizon.

Ares ignored the command and sat down next to his...coworker, he supposed. He tried to start the conversation. "Look, I know that couldn't have been easy-"

Ryker snorted. "Easy? What part of today do you think was EASY for me!"

He was glaring now. Ares leaned away slightly and took a deep breath. "I don't understand you, Ryker. If you wanted Martin to like you, why weren't you nice to him? Show the minimal amount of care for Cecil and Martin's loyal to the end. It's literally his weak point."

"Why do you care? Thought you didn't want me starting anything at your sister's wedding?"

"I don't and if you dare to start anything I will come at you with my new Battle Ax. I'm saying that right now you've got few people willing to hear you out, so if there's emotion bubbling, get it out here and now before it gets to THEM and becomes a problem."

Ryker growled and looked away.

Ares sighed. How'd he end up a counselor? "OK, let's try this instead. When did you start liking Martin?"

Ryker sighed. "Yeah, sure why not? Let me just say everything. Not like anyone is going to care."

"I care...somewhat. I think Palmo would care if you opened up to him."

"Leave Palmo out of this!"

"Then answer the question."

Ryker crossed his arms over his chest, resting them on his knees before glancing back out over the water. "When I first saw him. He'd come by to ask Palmo about an ax handle and I was..."

"Let me guess, taking a nap on your work bench?"

"Shut up!"

"Am I wrong?"

Another growl. "Palmo introduced us. He didn't say much beyond hello, and then ignored me to keep talking to Palmo!"

"So, you got mad because a good-looking guy wasn't distracted by you?"

"He could have talked to me about the ax handle! I could have made one!"

"Didn't he just meet you and would have had no idea of your work?"

"He still could have asked!"

"You could have volunteered. Were you unable or unwilling to open your mouth and say it?"

"Shut up!"

Ares shrugged but stopped talking, motioning for Ryker to continue. However, the other guy had fallen silent. Ares kept his eyes on the fish jumping in the water. He watched them for a few minutes until the sun reflecting off of the water began to hurt his eyes. He decided to leave the Architect's apprentice alone, as he had wished, and turned to say goodbye. He froze though, at the sight of silent tears running down Ryker's face. Still, Ares said nothing, looked away and went to get to his feet.

"It was a few weeks later. A bad day. I couldn't do anything right. I failed my thieving mission in the night, I overslept...much later than usual, I fell out of bed, I couldn't measure or cut anything correctly, Palmo constantly looked disappointed and kept having to deal with complaining customers that were taking it out on him. We kept running out of things and eventually Palmo just had me running for supplies. Which meant I ended up at True Strike a few times."

Ryker shifted to wipe the tears away from his eyes. "Darroch was just giving Martin a lesson that morning, he looked so amazed and focused on it. Something I could never be. He'd thanked Darroch and reproduced the tool they'd been working on perfectly. I hated that. That I couldn't do that. I got the nails Palmo needed and left. Then we needed a few more things so I went back in the early afternoon, some hinges and bolts. Darroch let Martin make them himself. Darroch was never short of praise for him."

"You were jealous."

Ryker nodded. "I worked harder for a few hours and then it was lunch time. I went to the restaurant and saw that Martin was there too. He and Cecil were eating together and Cecil was so happy, he was beaming that Martin had taken some time off to spend with him. It was then I asked Fuuka about their parents. She told me everything. How they had left and never came back, how Martin was the one supporting and raising his little brother. I was furious."

"What? Why?" Ares asked, utterly befuddled.

"It made me think about my own family. How my father had given up on our legacy, how my siblings and mother had scattered to the wind after. It made no sense, older siblings don't just drop everything to take care of and raise their younger siblings-they run off to find their own lives. So what was that guy playing at? He wasn't obligated to be a pseudo-parent to a lonely kid. So why did Martin?"

"You mean, why didn't one of your siblings do that for you?"

"After that it was just easier. His Master took him seriously, he wasn't looked down on by the townsfolk-they were proud, openly praising, he wasn't living a second life, he had no legacy to uphold and he raised a child he never HAD to be responsible for in the first place."

"He'll be a good father." Ares muttered.

"...Yeah." More tears

"It still doesn't make sense Ryker. You saw something-someone that you wanted to be close to and you decided the best way was to insult and belittle them out of jealousy? How does that make any sense? That's not how you get someone to like you. What guardian of yours taught you that, or was that just you?"

"It was easier." Ryker defended.

"It was easier on you because you were scared. Since you never even tried, now you'll never know because he's already happily married."

Ryker buried his face in his arms.

Ares sighed, trying to find some sympathy. "We're getting more people coming in these days. I've heard a lot of tourists thinking about buying places here. There's other fish in the sea, you know?"

Ares did feel slightly bad for the guy even if most of it was his own fault. Trying to be comforting he reached out to lay his hand on top of the hood that covered the top of Ryker's head. Curious, he tugged on the edge and Ryker made no attempt to pull it back into place, allowing it to fall back and cause his white hair to fall down to hide his face from view.

"There's other guys in Rigbarth you know? Lucas is handsome, Reinhard is a stand up guy, Murakumo could always use someone to slow him down and ease up on his excitement."

Ryker mumbled something too quiet to hear.

Ares sighed. "Just think about it-OK?"

With that he patted the top of the guy's head and got to his feet before turning around and heading back up to the wedding reception. He didn't look back. He didn't see Ryker staring at his retreating form, his face flushed.

There was only one big confrontation post the wedding.

Martin had become accustomed to the new normal. The new normal being a much larger living place, a wife and more benefits from being a Ranger's spouse. Rigbarth was growing, new neighbors, more houses going up, more festivals, everything was good. After a few months of successfully running True Strike as Darroch's partner, he brought up the idea of children to Alice. He was surprised that she had been waiting for him to ask. The preparation for a child was a lot, but easier than he had thought. The most hilarious things had been Cecil hunting down "How to be the Best Uncle" Books that he inevitably got Ares tangled into a competition about and the fact that Darroch had voiced his worry about how someone like him was supposed to hold something as delicate and small as a baby!

Martin hadn't thought about the Ryker-thing for awhile. He had spent so long believing that Ryker had held feelings for Alice that he had been utterly frozen when Ryker admitted to liking him and then kissed him. Of course he'd punched the guy. He had been happily engaged! Aside from business dealings with Palmo, the two didn't interact these days, their hard-headed rivalry had seemingly faded after his wedding. Fine by him.

The day however, came when there had to be confrontation.

It had started poorly at first. Alice had awoken feeling ill and they'd rushed to the clinic. Then the day had turned joyous. She was pregnant with their child! He had taken extensive notes from the advice Simone gave, gotten Alice home and comfortable, before sharing the news with Cecil and Darroch. Most of the village stopped by at some point, some baring gifts, some just congratulations.

Most of the knocks had been frantic-excited/worried at the news they had heard from Cecil. However, near sunset there came a knock that was soft, quiet and all kinds of reluctant. Martin reached for the door, still confident it was someone there for Alice's news. However, when he pulled the door open he found the very slumped over form of Ryker. What was surprising though, were the numerous twin blade knives in his hands, pressed between all of his fingers. Instinctively Martin pushed himself out the door, closed it behind him and laid his hand on his War hammer.

Because if anyone showed up at your house wielding multiple knives when news just got out that your wife was pregnant-you got a little suspicious and protective.

"What do you want?" he demanded.

Ryker sneered and dropped the knives on to the platform below, the sound of metal hitting wood made the architect apprentice wince. Martin hadn't let his eyes leave Ryker's hands though; still cautious.

Ryker pointed to the knives at his feet, his voice ringing out accusatory. "You made these."

Martin supposed that was possible. He made the guy new twin blades for his birthday every year, sometimes for Christmas, but he didn't keep count. Well, he left them on the guy's windowsill without a note. He figured leaving the note would just leave him open to more mocking and critique of his work from Ryker, so he never did. To be fair, Ryker never questioned who had made them or delivered them.

"I didn't think about it before." Ryker admitted. "A fairy floated past the gate so I chased it off. Started thinking about the blades. I always found them on the windowsill. I always thought Darroch made them, that you just didn't ever want to deliver them to my face."

Martin took his hand off of his hammer. No danger. Just Ryker. He shook his head and answered. "I forged them every year."

Ryker glared. "Did you ever-"

"Ever...?"

"Did you ever like me, even a little?"

Martin closed up, crossing his arms and leaning back slightly. "Romantically? No."

Ryker slumped forward even more, his hood and hair hiding his eyes.

"I was never against being your friend, though."

Ryker raised his head and went to take a step forward, but Martin glared-stopping him from his next step.

"You lead the woman I love into a trap that would have killed her-why do you think I ever want to see your face?"

"I-I messed up. I'm-I'm sorry." Ryker breathed, his gaze back down at the knives scattered at his feet.

Martin had run out of patience. "I've got nothing to say but this Ryker, stay away from my family." With that he turned around and reopened the door before quickly stepping through and closing it behind him.

Just as it closed he heard Ryker mutter. "I'm still in love with you."

Chapter Text

Ryker tried not to think back to the trap he had set and caught Alice in, because for a moment, he had imagined a future where secrets had stayed buried. What would have happened had he let the monster end Alice? Would anyone have found her? Could he have stumbled back to Rigbarth with her cold body in his arms, claiming to have found her already gone?

He imagined it and would have been there. A weeping Martin in front of her grave, Ryker coming along because while he had always teased and irritated Martin he wouldn't have taken this advantage. He would have been a comforting presence during the sorrow. He would have let the guy weep on his shoulder, held him if he needed. Would have whispered quiet comfort to him and reassurances every day.

And maybe one day Martin would have looked at him differently. He would have laid himself emotionally bare in a certain moment and Ryker would have promised to always be there. From there Martin would have pressed himself close, soaking up the warmth and companionship before he looked at him with grateful eyes and moved closer to press a kiss to his lips. Lost so long in sorrow, pulled from misery by Ryker. Thankful, grateful, loving.

There would have been so many new things, to explore, to discover. They'd get along, Rigbarth would be supportive. They'd talk a lot, about the future, what they wanted.

Maybe-maybe Martin would have understood the family legacy Ryker wanted to uphold? Or maybe Ryker would have dropped that legacy when Martin dropped to one knee with a ring he had forged with his own hands, with metal he had extracted from ore that he had mined himself. And there would have been a great celebration, a grand wedding because Palmo would have been happy and taken nothing but extravagance as good enough for his apprentice. Both of them accomplished enough to become partners to their masters.

Ryker imagined a child, cradled comfortably in his arms; his own white hair shining silver in the moonlight atop their head as they opened Martin's golden eyes up to the stars above them. Martin's arms around them both as the citizens of Rigbarth awed and cried at the new addition to the village.

He had to stop thinking these thoughts. Losing his mind to this ridiculous fantasy. There was no going back. There wasn't any fixing any mistakes already made.

He had scooped up and counted every one of his gifted twin blades. He'd separated out those he had commissioned from Darroch and those that were Martin's gifts. He'd always kept his room minimalist but he finally forced himself up early one morning as he wanted to build something for himself. Palmo said nothing about his early rising but smiled at him, making him embarrassed, but proud. He set about making a display case for the blades. At first he had intended to only display it in his room, but made a hasty decision. Each pair of blades were crossed into a display stand that rotated each in and out of view at random intervals. Light runeys lit each up upon being the top display-an array of colors and shadows to catch peoples' eyes.

He decided to place it out front, item not for sale but a showing of his work. Palmo had approved.

However, Ryker kept two sets of the blades. The first pair he had ever found on his windowsill and the last ones he had found the previous year.

He went to sleep, thinking of Palmo's praise of his display case idea and more fantasy that made his stomach turn. This time, thinking of the scars across his chest and stomach, from the monster that he had defended Alice from. If Alice hadn't pursued Martin-if she had taken interest in someone else-Murakumo, Reinhard, Lucy, Priscilla, Lucas, heck-Terry! Would he have found a way to get close to Martin? Would Martin have perceived him as brave for the fight? Surely Martin wouldn't have been disgusted by the scars. Had they been more would they have found themselves tangled together in passion, would Martin have traced the scars carefully and lovingly as they exchanged breaths?

-Martin wouldn't make him another pair of blades ever again.

What might have been.
What could have been.
What would have been.
What should have been.

He slept angrily. Woke up determined. He'd set the last blades he had received on the windowsill exactly where he had originally found them. The first blades he had ever been gifted sat on his bedside table during his sleep, otherwise they lay wrapped in leather in a hidden pocket of his cloak.

When the baby was born he watched from a distance, on the rooftop of Lackadaisy. The young girl held lovingly in Martin's arms was nothing like his imagination. The day was bright, Alice was still inside, resting, and even if Martin's touched, shocked look was the same as in his imagination-it wasn't a young boy with white hair and golden eyes. Ryker had already heard the townsfolk as they came to join the crowd to fawn over the new addition to their village. The young girl was the spitting image of her younger uncle. Pink-peach fuzz atop the little girl's head and wide blue eyes as she curiously and cutely flailed at her father and the group around her.

"Stay away from my family."

He had promised silently and today he had kept his word. He was nowhere near the family. He wouldn't bother them.

So, life went on in Rigbarth. He'd paid his fines, he'd served his time. He'd been banished from ever being able to set foot in the Capital. Half of him felt sorrowful about that. While his family had scattered to the wind, he knew that they had more than likely found some place in the Capital to settle down into new lives. If any of his siblings or his parents were there, he had no hope of reaching out to them now. If there was ever going to be any contact, it had to come from them. He got his magic-ankle-bracelet removed and got promoted to be Palmo's partner in his business. He'd been building his own clientele for years.

He watched new people move in to Rigbarth, while others packed up to leave:

A quiet, soft spoken fisherman down on the beach with a sweetly smiling, farmhand wife. A crazy scientist up on the cliff side. A red-headed traveling girl who didn't stay long with nothing good to say to anybody. A purple-haired man decked out in jewels that became best friends with Yuki and Heinz. A loud man who wrote advertisements.

Lucas was the first to leave Rigbarth, citing callings from distant lands. Cecil was next, now a partner to Terry, off to discover what had happened to his parents. His first solo case. Livia and Radea were the last, leaving running the branch of SEED and it's new militia of Rangers to Alice and Scarlett. Ryker could admit that they ran it well.

Ryker would glance across the river occasionally as he left the bakery or general store and spot the children running around The Silo. Martin's children-their oldest a reflection of her youngest uncle, down to the magnifying glass he had gifted her before he left. She had taken to studying agriculture. Her younger brother was all gold, golden blonde hair from his mother with Martin's golden eyes and he was all about smithing like his father. The third and Gold's twin had inherited his father's silver-green hair and his mother's green eyes. He'd taken to adventuring like his grandparents, always off to explore whatever he had just discovered.

Ryker never let himself fantasize beyond that image of silver-white strands and golden eyes, but he'd gotten to the point that he'd stopped trying to move on and get over love. He sometimes thought about leaving. Maybe trying to set up somewhere else, in some other village or small town, but always talked himself out of it.

He stood back and watched the world change without being part of it.

What if-
What if-
What if-

One night he glanced up at the stars and took his last gifted blades to his long hair, telling himself that it was time to grow up somewhat. He cleaned, sharpened, oiled and placed them back on the windowsill of his bedroom when he was done.

He hadn't responded to anyone looking to date him. It seemed he'd had a doomed heart from the beginning.

He'd stayed away. He'd kept his word, but children were curious little things. However, he was not a nice person and children could hold grudges for a long time. When they got curious enough to approach him and ask why their mommy and daddy didn't talk to him like the other people - he didn't hesitate.

"I hurt them. I'm a bad person."

It scared them off.

In the end he wasn't sure what had happened with the family. Ryker had simply gone to a hidden fishing hole nearby in a cave during their fish festival. Of course, it was a cave, so of course rocks-for-brains would know about it. Maybe the children had said something. Maybe Alice or Ares had pushed for resolution. Maybe pressure from the villagers. That was half of why he avoided the family though, especially Martin. Nothing of resolution is real if it's pressured by others. It has to be personal decisions to extend olive branches or offer trust. Any influence of others' perceptions taints the intention and actions that result. If there was anything left to be salvaged, Ryker couldn't reach across the chasm with pleading or begging, nor could any citizen of Rigbarth push Martin to that edge and force his hand. If either happened, it meant nothing but empty words and gestures. So he hoped that when he pulled back his line and dropped it to the side that Martin was standing in the entryway of the cave because he wanted to, because there was something to be said.

"I'll never forgive you for what you did to Alice."

He nodded, accepting the reality and turned away to grab his fishing pole, but he was shocked still at the hand on his shoulder. It turned him around and Martin was frowning, but his eyes were soft. Here, in cave, away from the town and overhearing ears, he whispered his next words.

"I'm ready to forgive you for everything else though."

Ryker felt a few tears leak from his eyes. Then Martin's arms were around him, his own face was pressed into Martin's shoulder and he was breathing shallowly as Martin pulled the hood away and commented on his now shorter hair.

"Is it OK?"

"Of course."

They both disregarded the fishing contest and sat down at the edge of the small waterway to talk. Ryker was not scared to admit that his feelings hadn't changed; that he was still in love. Martin took a deep breath after that confession and admitted that if this and if that hadn't occurred, if Alice hadn't been a thing, he could have seen himself loving Ryker in return. In time, after a lot of talking and bickering and working things out; they could have been a thing.

It hurt, it hurt a lot; but it was a healing kind of hurt. It felt like a stabbing at Ryker's heart, but a warm stabbing at his heart, like an immediate healing spell after a wound.

When Martin stood up, he offered Ryker a hand and offered to carry his fishing pole. Would he like to join his family for dinner? The feelings were complex mixes of happiness and sorrow, pride and hurt. Ryker took the hand, got pulled to his feet and said he'd love to.

They'd be having fish.

Both guys laughed and returned to the city, catching the eyes of the citizens as they made their way to The Silo.

Alice welcomed him with a hug, commenting that the shorter hair didn't change the fact that he was just as pretty as ever. The children were reluctant, but the eldest approached him first, the young girl looking up at him through her magnifying glass. The twins followed suit once their big sister claimed he was OK. Ryker couldn't be certain of what Martin and Alice had told them about him, but at the end of dinner he was telling the children stories as their parents finished up paperwork, the twins leaning against him on each side while the elder was taking notes. Her idolization of Cecil was adorable.

Eventually all the kids fell asleep and their parents put them to bed. Both Alice and Martin saw him off for the night. He told them he didn't think he could be an uncle, but he was good to be a friend. He got one more hug from each of them and maybe he cuddled a bit closer in Martin's arms for a few extra seconds.

As he walked away from The Silo, he breathed a bit easier. Not fully, because his heart still ached; but it was easier to not look back.

When he got home, because that was Palmo's place-home, he took out some sheets of paper at his desk and began writing. He wrote through dozens of passages and paragraphs over the next few days. Letters to his father, mother and siblings. Everything he felt, admitting to his crimes, telling them about falling in love, losing his chance at it, how much it hurt-still hurt, his apprenticeship, his master and now business partner, his passion for carpentry, his love of architecture, his punishment for the crimes, his ceasing of his night job, his plans of moving on.

He mailed them at the end of the week. He knew that they were more than likely to simply be returned. He knew no actual addresses outside of the prison that his father was in. They'd stay at the post office, open for claiming. Claims that would never happen, letters to never be opened or read. Maybe, maybe his father would write back to tell him how stupid he had been.

He'd be fine with that. When he got that and the rest were returned unclaimed-he'd bury them all in a capsule by the cave where Martin and he had finally come to some kind of understanding beyond the hurt. He thought back to the wedding, that moment on the beach with Ares. His heart skipped a beat and he cursed its tendency to fall so quickly. He convinced himself to try, to reach out to Ares as he had to him. Like to his family, he wrote a letter and left it for Ares to pick up at The Silo.

In the end, he guessed he shouldn't have been surprised that it was returned to him ripped in half and that the very next day, he spotted Ares holding hands with Scarlett.

He buried that letter too.